Goonerboy

A grim day for all concerned and it's time for a rethink

2009-05-06T10:43:00.004Z

I don't think there's too much point in swathes of analysis for this match because it's all quite simple.

Yes, a horrible, horrible mistake from gibbs cost us early on; yes, almunia should have saved ronaldo's forty yarder.

But 4-1 was a fair refelection of the utter dominance united had over us over two legs. If anything, 1 goal for us was charitable, as was united only scoring 4 goals.

But that's whatr you get when you stick with players who don't know how to defend at the highest level. Last night we had toure, who's lost it, and Djourou, who may never get it, as our CB partnership. we played a kid at LB. United had o'shea, not the world's greatest player, but a solid one nonetheless. we even had a united cast-off on the bench. embarassing.

We had rvp sauntering around doing not very much, unable to cut it in another big game, while adebyor was almost as ineffective as he was in the first leg. nasri, song and fabregas tried but no-one really knew where tehy were playing. theo was anonymous.

But this is what happens when you take a policy of investment in talented youth to its conclusion - a lot of potential, inconsistent results. United have invested properly in their team and will defend their trophy in Rome.

So, mistakes cost us last night. Mistakes on and off the pitch. We lost because our first XI, let alone our squad, wasn't good enough and that has to come down to decisions taken by arsene.

Yes, we got to two semi-finals this year, but how many top-quality teams did we have to play to get there? Roma and villareal would not make the top-four in england, and we fell in the FA Cup as soon as we played a decent team.

If all we get this summer are more teenagers then we won't win anything because nothing will have changed. Arsene - it's time for a rethink. Look at the impact of arshavin before you go out and buy, because if you don't then your position needs to come under review, I'm afraid to say.

Tsarshavin and Silvestre: a tale of two signings and 8 goals.

2009-04-22T21:28:00.005Z

I don't know about you but I was actually physically shaking at the end of the game at Anfield. Not necessarily with rage or joy; just due to the immense amounts of adrenaline that had been pumped through my body during one of the more incredible games of football I've seen.

People have said it was a strange game as we had nothing to play for. Well, that's balls. Firstly, we're only 6 points behind 3rd place,and after Chavski's draw we would have only been 4 if we'd won. Secondly, I'm not wholly convinced that some of the players didn't have a sneaking feeling we could make a late title challenge.

The only way that was going to happen was if we won all our remaining games, and others fell to bits - a kind of replication of the '98 season.

It didn't happen, and I'm still trying to work out if we were unlucky not to win or lucky not to lose.

The game veered from the sublime to the ridiculous - Arbeloa playing a virtual one-two with Arshavin before his stupendous goal or us AGAIN being outnumbered in our own box in the closing minutes of a game we were hanging on to win (spuds home, villa away spring to mind).

On balance, a draw was probably fair. As incredible as some of our attacking play was, I can safely so I have witnessed few defensive performances as abject as that from an Arsenal team in the past.

And so for me it largely came down to two players: The Imperious TsArshavin of mother Russia; and the light-bulb headed disaster that is Mikael Silvestre.

Arshavin epitomises everything that the majority of our signings should be: established players with bags of talent who can make a difference instantly.

His goals highlighted every part of a great attacking players repertoire: speed, finesse, agility, power, an ability to use both feet, and a tenacity to be in the right place at the right time.

His fourth goal was almost hallucinatory in its brilliance. Theo sprinting half the pitch with another great Anfield assist, before Arshavin finished with the type of aplomb that I doubt any other Arsenal player could muster. I nearly wept. It was beautiful.

And within seconds, the other signing had helped undo his work. Silvestre, who has been unremittingly awful since his arrival at the club, helped stir panic in our defence and saw us again snatch what felt like a defeat from the jaws of victory. Seriously, if he wasn't good enough for the Mancs, why the hell should he be good enough for us? His performance yesterday was worse than Senderos's last year up in scouseville, and i'd never thought i'd say that.

I'd like to say it's incredible that we managed to concede with only 2 minutes to go, but it wasn't. The only incredible thing is where Howard Webb got five bloody minutes of injury time from. We have the shell of a great team at the moment, but one that still turns off too often at critical moments.

The only reasonable excuse is that we had a patched up defence yesterday. But even then, when was the last time Kolo had a consistent period of form? What was the point of losing Senderos and buying Silvestre? Does Denilson offer any defensive assistance whatsoever?

The game was thus a microcosm of Arsenal's season - moments of sublime attacking football woven into periods, and i do mean periods, of utter chaos in defence.

Can we push on from this? Yes, if we concentrate on improving our defence again. Silvestre should be sold/put-down. Kolo should be a squad player. Gibbs - who has been fantastic since coming in - should be allowed to push Clichy for a starting berth. Gallas and Djourou should be our starting CBs, and if Gallas leaves a decent replacement - not a kid or some ropey Cygan-esque CB - should be brought in. I still think a new goalkeeper isn't an awful idea.

In midfield, Denilson's place in the team should come under serious consideration. I think that playing Nasri centrally but with a more defensive mindet could really work as he bust a gut doing so last night. He certainly can't be worse than the performances Denilson has produced in the last two games.

Cesc should not play in the ridiculous support striker position he's been pushed into.

Song should be first XI - his improvement this year has been a joy, and he even pushed Arshavin for Motm last night.

The team should be built around Arshavin playing centrally in the hole.

If our defence is tweaked, and we mentally thoughen up a bit when we get ourselves into good positions, we can push on from this season. I really think that Arsene not putting out a first XI for the FA Cup was a mistake because this group of players needs to get a trophy, any trophy under its belt, and winning the FA Cup would have been easier than the Champions League. Players need to learn how to win and sometimes you have to aim a little low at first.

Overall, more Arshavins and less Silvestres. Then, one day, we might actually hold a lead at Anfield...

Thugs, dodgy barnets and goal-scorers.

2009-04-16T21:15:00.002Z

Something a bit different today: a guest columnist. Here is Russ and his thoughts:

You may not realise it but these are the groups into which every single winner of the PFA Player of the Year Award can be easily placed. Some actually fall into two camps. Consider Kevin Keegan (winner in 1982) as a clear example. Okay, okay so it’s too easy naming players from the seventies and early eighties as evidence of this rule. But honestly go through the list and place every winner in a category. The great thing about this is that there will be absolutely no protestations from friends who do the same; it’s simply always, utterly, glaringly, obvious. I will give you a few, completely at random. Again be aware they may occupy two groups.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (winner in 2007, and 2008). 2. Roy Keane (2000). 3. Peter Shilton (1978). 4. Alan Shearer (1995). 5. Thierry Henry (2003, 2004).6. John Terry (2005). 7. David Ginola (1999). 8. Norman Hunter (1974). 9. Ian Rush (1984)....

Your list above should read very similar to:
1. Dodgy Barnet and Goal Scorer, 2. Thug, 3. Dodgy Barnet, 4. Goal Scorer, 5. Goal Scorer, 6. Thug, 7. Dodgy Barnet, 8. Thug, 9. Goal Scorer...

Think I've cherry picked them? Try these bad boys on for size: Andy Gray (Thug and Goal Scorer, as delightfully evidenced by Everton’s second goal against Watford in the 1984 FA Cup Final; the elbow to Steve Sherwood still hurts the people of Hertfordshire, almost as much as their flagging Hedge Funds). Steven Gerrard (Thug and goal scorer, as evidenced when his request for “That song by Atomic Kitten” was rejected by a Liverpool DJ, and, by the way Steve, where has your forehead gone?). And Peter Reid (The Wolfman again sits in both camps) to name but a few extras easily categorised.

So this ‘fact’, as distinct from coincidence, got me thinking about the deserved winner of this year’s award. Now, it’s common knowledge, at least to members of the public, that footballers are not the brightest bunch. The inclusion of five Man Who? players on the six player short list seems to back this notion up. I still think the inclusion of Ryan Giggs (he of just 8 completed Premier League matches this season) occurred because everyone got together and had a chat about who their favourite players were when they were growing up. Someone also told me that Neville Southall and Chris Waddle were on this year’s original list before it was shortened.

Nevertheless if Giggs does win it, it will only stand to reinforce our aforementioned ‘fact’ I suppose (Dodgy Barnet).

So, I thought, if I believe their short-list to be pretty much nonsense, then who should win the gong this year? Obviously the man must be easily assimilated into at least one of the groupings to ensure our ‘fact’ remains. But, I’m sure you’d agree, we need to get this ‘fact’ a bit more attention amongst the football going public. Let’s face it, had it not been for this blog you would be none the wiser I’m almost certain of that. So who is it that can propel this ‘fact’ across the air waves and into the minds of football fans? Who is the man we need to win the Award to affirm our ‘fact’? To crystallize it? To cement it? Whose win will land on Newspaper desks and smack the editor of the tabloids right around the chops?

Well, by my reckoning there is one man that stands above all others. He is an impressive Goal Scorer (7 in the PL from midfield), a Thug (12 yellow cards and counting so far this season), and he has a really, really Dodgy Barnet (D-I-S-C-O.). We all know who he is. I shall not state the obvious. It’s just a shame Piers Morgan isn’t still at The Mirror.

******

So there you go, let Russ know what you think. Pretty decent shout for Player of the Year, for me, given the dross that's been served up for most of this season. My choice is Mikael Silvestre - what a player he's been for us, English football and france this season.

'Spittergate', Phil Brown, Sam Allardyce, Pedersen, Diouf and the real scourges of modern football.

2009-03-18T13:19:00.004Z

We should, really, be celebrating getting into the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2005, but we're not because of Phil-Brown-accuses-Cesc-of-spitting-gate.

Did Cesc spit at Brian Horton, Hull's assistant manager? No. Do I have categorical proof of this? No. But I'm far more willing to take Cesc's word over Brown and Horton's. Just look at Cesc's categorical denial on the club's website, compared with this radio interview given by Brown today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7950507.stm

One or two 'er, oh, did I say, that *silence*' moments in that interview says it all. As does Brown changing his story from saying it occurred on the pitch, to being in the tunnel. As does the fact no-one else seems to have witnessed it. You don't have to be a judge to work it out.

Yet the English press have gone mad. Because the footballing media in this country love a good scandal. And spitting, in particular, seems to be the worst thing possible for a football player to do.

And to be frank, that's bullshit. Spitting isn't very pleasant, but it's hardly a scourge of the game. We've seen three far worse things at The Emirates this week which have been ignored or brushed over by the self-appointed watchdogs of the game in our media.

Firstly: negative, scientific, soul-less football, which liberally employs time-wasting and cheating to get results.

Not from us but from Blackburn and, in the past, any team that Sam 'I could have been England manager' Allardyce has managed. And I do count this as a scourge of the modern game because it makes football boring; it turns the game into a drab parody of what it should be; it turns a work of art into a robot. Blackburn, under Allardyce's order, played football like a rugby team on the week-end. They punted the ball into touch in our half to win possession, contested the line-out, sorry throw-in, and used their designated playmaker, Paul Robinson, to take any free-kick they won, which they lumped into the box to try and win the fabled 'second-ball' which Allardyce's game is all about.

Brown employed the other side of this strategy to perfection at The Emirates last night. Time-wasting at every opportunity, such as getting players to pass the ball round the whole team, practically, before taking a bloody throw-in. That Brown had the temerity to blame Wenger for getting Myhill booked for time-wasting before accusing him of being unsporting for not shaking his hand was the cherry on this cake of crap. Maybe, Phil, Arsene didn't shake your hand because he didn't like being called a cheat? But no, it's Arsene who's at fault, clearly.

Teams who set themselves up like Blackburn and Hull only have themselves to blame when they lose. By trying to cheat and hoofing the ball towards victory they're only cheating their own fans. Don't complain that no-one respects you when you don't respect the game and the way it should be played. And maybe, journalists of the UK, you could give Arsene some credit for consistently producing entertaining football for you all to watch, instead of just accusing him of being a bad loser. As a postscript to this, where was the condemnation of Alex Ferguson after his defeat on Saturday? When he claimed United were the better team and refused to even talk to the press afterwards? No-where. That Ferguson has got such an easy ride from the press for so many years, whilst every action of Arsene's comes under scrutiny, is a disgrace and hints at more shadowy motives at work in the media.

Secondly, Pedersen's dive, which didn't even get a booking on the weekend. It's all part of the same cheating which sees time-wasting employed against us to get results. That Pedersen hasn't received any form of punishment for this outrageous piece of cheating is staggering, as was Pedersen's claim that he isn't a cheat. Yes, yes you are.

Thirdly, Diouf's tackle on Almunia. I was sitting right in front of this at The Grove and it was a horrible, horrible tackle. Late, vicious and intended to injure to gain advantage. Coupled with Kevin Nolan's tackle on Victor Anichebe a few weeks ago, it seems football has learnt nothing from Martin Taylor's career-threatening tackle on Eduardo more than a year ago. Diouf should have been red-carded and received a lengthy (more than 3 game ban) for it, but no. Allardyce even defended the challenge after the match despite the sheer viciousness of the tackle. Shows you everything you need to know about the man.

That allegations of spitting and a lack of a handshake are considered bigger issues than career-ending tackles, diving, and the negative football which Allardyce practices and champions shows how messed up the English media is. Ignore them and get ready for Wembley.

Amazing Arshavin lifts Arsenal, but Bendtner deserved better from the fans.

2009-03-15T16:44:00.002Z

Well, that was a bit better, wasn't it?

After what seems, and in fact was, months of tepid league matches with barely a goal in sight we were finally able to conjure up an extremely decent performance yesterday.

Whether it was due to the opposition or not is probably a moot point; they were certainly no worse than some of the other teams we've struggled to score against this season, although i have additional thoughts on Sam allardyce to follow in a seperate article.

What seemed to make the difference was an early goal, and attacking impetus and energy from the get-go, instead of from the middle of the second half.

Why? Better players are playing, and the performances of a few others have improved. Quite simple, really.

Song, who I was relatively scathing about a few weeks ago, was absolutely superb, looking, dare i say it, vieira-esque at moments as he broke up play and distributed the ball. For me, he looks a far more convincing future foil to Fabregas than Denilson who, whilst good yesterday, doesn't quite have the strength or defensive ability necessary for the modern holding player.

Song would have been MotM if not for the star of the show: Mr. Arshavin. What a breath of fresh air he's been. From the first time I saw him play, it was obvious that he was a world-class player, a cut above the level some of our other players have been producing of late. With Theo and Nasri at his side, Bendtner in front of him, and Song feeding him, he was sensational yesterday, not least with a truly superb individual goal. It's been a while since i've seen a goal at the emirates which has left me awe-inspired but that one definitely did.

His passing is excellent, he's not afraid to shoot (he's definitely no Hleb), and he's not afraid of the physical side of the game. He's a player who won not just Russian but European competitions with Zenit and propelled an otherwise fairly average russian side to the semi-finals of the European Championships. If ever there was a player who looked capable of winning us silverware it's him, and I sensed that the crowd felt that yesterday at the game.

Large sections of the crowd, however, also made their negative thoughts known about bendtner yesterday in a very disappointing manner. Here's a player who never hid during the game, who's build up play was excellent and, as far as I'm concerned, was vital to us winning the game as convincingly as we did. He's also, in my opinion, a far better all-round player than Adebayor, despite his current lack of finishing prowess.

I was equivocal about the Eboue booing because my problems with Ebou go far beyond his ability - they are to do with his cheating, selfishness and self-destructiveness. I simply think he cannot be trusted on the pitch and had only himself to blame for the crowd's negative reaction. I also don't think he really understands why he was booed because he's too stupid to realise how embarrassing his antics have been to supporters of the club. The fact he clearly thought that he can take a penalty when we're 3-0 up in the 90th minute to make amends with the fans shows that the has no idea why so many of us were angry with him in the first place.

Bendtner, on the other hand, is still extremely young and has the right attitude, overall. Booing and cursing him will not improve his performances and I was glad that some of the crowd tried to counter the negativity with 'super nick' chants, in which I joined in.

There's been a lot of negativity at the Grove of late; let's hope not just arshavin, but also the fans, can do their bit to counter it.

Til later.

When you win on penalties, who cares what happened before?

2009-03-12T19:51:00.003Z

A long European night in Rome ended with a penalty shoot-out triumph, and for once I'm not going to over-analyse the match.

A midfield of Eboue-Diaby-Denilson-Nasri-Bendtner was always going to struggle away from home, and it was painful at times last night. Bendtner worked hard, Diaby occasionally shone, Nasri had a few moments, but Denilson and Eboue were predictadly average and awful, respectively.

I read today that Eboue is already talking about a contract renewal as he only has one year left on his contract, or something, and that Inter are interested in him.

I would actually be prepared to organise charity events to raise money for Inter to fund his bloody transfer. He's a complete waste of space, and could have ended the tie in London if it wasn't for his predictably woeful finishing. As for Denilson, it seems his taken to being the new 'invisible wall' a little too literally, although he was visible when he gave the ball away at least.

With RvP isolated up-front and blasting the few chances he had over the bar, it turned into a two-drunkards-outside-the pub-slogfest: there was movement, a few dangerous blows, but no knock-out punch. For this, in part, we have to thank Julio 'the Beast' Baptista, who put in what some have called his finest performance for Arsenal last night. Thanks Baps.

That said, apart from a calamitous error which led to the goal, we didn't defend too badly. Sagna was predictably immense, quelle surprise, Kolo and Gallas did ok, with Kolo doing his best to look panicky at every occasion, Clichy was a bit ropey as usual this season, and Almunia was solid. I'm enjoying being proved wrong about Almunia at the moment, long may it continue.

By about the 65-70th minute I was sure the game would go to penalties, with only perhaps our bench likely to provide the spark we needed for a goal. Unfortunately, neither Theo or Eduardo were able to produce anything and the game meandered through a drab period of extra-time.

And so to penalties. We missed, I feared the worst; they missed, my hope returned; they missed again, utter relief. It has to be one of the longest shoot-outs I've seen, and credit to the players for keeping their nerve. A lot of the penalties weren't particularly convincing, but they went in, which is all that matters.

And the same can be said about the result itself. Yes, we were poor in Rome, but we completely outplayed them in the first leg, so, on balance, we deserved to win the tie. Crucially, by the time we play our quarter-final, we should have Fabregas and Rosicky (stop laughing) back, and theo and Eduardo will be much nearer full fitness.

So, with a win against Blackburn and against Hull in the 1/4 finals on Tuesday, our season may just produce silverware yet.

But for now let's just revel in the fact WE WON A PENALTY SHOOT OUT. This is satisfying enough in the short-term, for this goonerboy.

til later.

Arshavin exposes the mediocrity of an Arsenal drawing their way to fifth place.

2009-03-02T08:28:00.001Z

At a personal level, it was nice to attend a match after having been unable to get to the Grove since the Bolton match in January. Being a relatively superstitious kind of person, I had hoped that my presence at the game might be enough to break Arsenal out of their goal-less funk, but evidently not.

In some respects, it’s easy to exaggerate just how badly Arsenal are playing at the moment. The team have, after all, now gone three months and a week unbeaten in the league. We’ve also only conceded 3 goals in the eleven games since the beginning of January.

From that point of view, you’d think we be at the top of the table challenging for the title. Unfortunately – and as the debate of my article last week showed – stats can be ignored or shaped to fit certain conclusions. And, the most important stat at the moment is the most important in football: goals scored. We have only scored in 3 goals in our 7 league matches since the start of January. That is relegation form, especially when you consider that most of the team’s we’ve been playing of late have been from the bottom-half of the table. 3 goal-less home games, in particular, isn’t good enough to get into the champions league.

I was excited to see Arshavin in the flesh and almost mistook him for our mascot when he came out of the tunnel. He really is very small for a footballer.

But Arshavin’s performance only left me depressed. Why? Because he is a level above most of the dross that’s starting for the team at the moment. I would go as far as to say that out of all our starting XI, only Arshavin, Gallas, and possibly Sagna would get anywhere near a starting place in the 2004 or 2002 title-winning teams.

Arshavin does things instinctively, quickly, and efficiently. When you see him somehow produce a breathtaking, defence splitting ball after it looked like he had got the ball tangled up in his feet, you realise how good he is. He takes about a third of the touches other team members do, because he’s about twice as good as some of them. He kept intelligently laying the ball off to players and creating dangerous situations throughout the whole of the first half and well into the second before tiring, and almost giving up in the face of Clichy’s embarrassing inability to cross the ball, or for RvP to do anything but hit his passes straight at the goalkeeper.

Arshavin had at least three passes that should have been assists but he was let down by team-mates. If Eduardo had been playing yesterday we would have won; but he wasn’t and no-one else in the Arsenal team has the ability, or perhaps discipline, to realise that missed chances cost matches.

By the end of the match I felt embarrassed. Arshavin has exposed just how poor some of the current squad are; by buying too many Denilson’s, Diaby’s and Song’s, Arsene has created a team of potential. Hopefully it’s not too late for him to realise that it’s established, international players – more Arshavins - who win titles, not kids.

There were worries all over the pitch. Nasri has developed a Hleb-like ability to avoid shooting and responsibility; Vela again just looks like a talented kid rather than a seasoned pro who’s going to win us some games; Diaby and Denilson did their best, yet again, to provide us with no drive whatsoever from central midfield, although their partnership was a cut above that of Song and Denilson last week. Kolo was again made to look like a fool by Fulham’s crossing and long-balls. Arsene reiterated his belief in the Gallas-Kolo partnership in his programme notes, but Fulham would have scored if not for poor finishing on their part. What Kolo has to do to be dropped, I don’t know. Certainly, the vastly superior performances of Djourou this year haven’t been enough to dislodge Kolo from the side.

Yet, the drop in form of Clichy was perhaps the single most worrying aspect of the game. Zamora simply walked past him on a number of occasions. He’s looked more and more suspect defensively as the season has wore on, and going forward he was absolutely awful. Arshavin should have given him an earful, newboy or no.

So this has what it’s come down to: we can’t score. We have too many average players who aren’t capable of winning us games, and a new signing who has put into cruel relief just how average a lot of our players really are.

At the end of the match, boos rang out, but I didn’t partake and I still refuse to, even if I understand and share the frustrations of the fellow gooners who did.

Fulham didn’t just defend their way to a 0-0: they were excellent and fortunate not to win. We simply didn’t have the personnel. Injuries? We knew about Rosicky and Eduardo at the start of the year, so only Theo and Fabregas can really be cause for complaint.

The fact is we came into the season with a ridiculously weak squad and we’re finally reaping the consequences. Arshavin’s signing goes someway to improve the situation, but also shows that these moves should have been done earlier by a manager who’s let the club down through an over-reliance on his pet-project.

Fourth place or not, we’ve only mounted a credible league challenge once in the last four seasons. That is not good enough. These four consecutive 0-0s should be a turning point in how Wenger views certain players in our squad. Let’s hope it is.

The stats don't lie: Denilson and Song were a disaster against Sunderland.

2009-02-22T16:06:00.002Z

I hate to keep banging on about this, but it's hard not to, given how diabolical performances have been of late.

Our central midfield has been a disaster, and now I (well, the Guardian) can provide some statistical evidence that relying on players like Denilson and Song simply isn't acceptable.

Go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/create

Set it up for Arsenal, 2008-9, Sunderland, click on D Pereira Neves, then passes for the event.

You will see that Denilson did not complete one successful pass into the final third of the pitch in the entire match. In fact you will see that almost all his succesful passes were sideways ball, he had no shots on goal, and whilst he managed a rather more credible 6 tackles out of 8 attempted, his tackling stats are exactly the same as Nicklas Bendtner.

Alexandre Song, supposedly the powerhouse in our midfield, made one successful tackle in three attempts, with 5 interceptions. Again, no shots on goal, but he did actually make, incredibly, three successful passes into the final third.

Samir Nasri's passing was more dangerous, but he had no attempts on goal. That second statistic is unacceptable, I'm afraid.

What does all this prove? That Denilson and Song are not up to being a central-midfield partnership at a club which supposedly has European ambitions.

For Arsene to come out with the amount of guff, that he states in this article:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-denilson-has-key-role-against-roma

is mind-boggling.

You know why Denilson hasn't got much credit Arsene? Because he isn't very good. Not at the moment, in any case. One day he might develop in a tidy little player, but at the moment all he has is hideously over-inflated pass completion statistics from continually passing the ball sideways. We have no-one in the centre of the park at the moment who is willing, or able, to make telling, dangerous passes.

Likewise we have no bite in midfield, with barely anyone making any tackles, and only Arshavin, out of the four players who started in midfield yesterday, willing to make any attempts on goal.

So we have a central midfield that doesn't create chances, can't win the ball, and doesn't make attempts on goal.

That is why we are in fifth place at the moment Arsene. And that is why I worry when he says this about Denilson:

"I am surprised how little credit he got for what he has delivered since the start of the season. I think he has improved tactically in his first pass and physically in the challenge. He is much stronger than a year ago."

“You can see today when he makes a tackle he wins the ball. I am convinced he will be even stronger in six months.

Well, maybe. But at this rate, we're going to be in the UEFA cup in 6 months time.

For the time being, one of Denilson, Song, and Diaby has to play, but playing more than one of them at the same time is killing our season.

Arsenal's unbeaten run has become a parody of the invincible season.

2009-02-21T17:15:00.002Z

There's going unbeaten, and there's looking unbeatable. These are two quite different things.

In the 2003/4 season, of course, we didn't always coast through games, but, by and large, the Arsenal team of that season played like some form of demented force of nature. It had power, pace and technique, and, had it not been two goals in a quarter- and semi-final, we should have done a double, if not a treble.

You have to move on from the past, but you can never forget moments of history like that season. A lot of people would say that comparing the current crop of players to, quite possibly, the greatest team in Arsenal history is harsh; but to what else should we compare them? We were once winners and, it seems, this is no longer the case. So, understandably, Arsenal fans want to know what's gone wrong.

Well, we've stopped scoring goals. Our recent ability to keep clean sheets - only 3 goals conceded in the last ten games - has become an irrelevance compared to the fact we can't put the ball in the net at the other end. For all that every fan hates his team to lose, two draws yields less points than a defeat and a win.

Since the Che£sea game in late November we've only scored more than once in two games - against Hull and Villa. We've now notched up 3 goal-less league games, two of which were at home against opposition we should beat if we think ourselves to be a credible force in the league, let alone a team with ambitions of a fourth-place spot and the Champions League.

The reason we're not scoring is, ultimately, the midfield. Arshavin's arrival shows that Wenger has, hopefully, realised how pedestrian we've looked in the centre of the park of late, and, if nothing else, he will hopefully confine Eboue to the bench for the foreseeable future. The Owl certainly looked bright today in the sixty minutes he was given, and had a verve and spark that we've been missing. How much he can actually contribute to this season remains to be seen.

Aside from him we have:

- Denilson, who offers nothing, going forward or back.
- Song, who loses the ball as much as he does anything with or wins it.
- Nasri, who looks wonderful one games, then goes missing the next.
- Diaby, who looks and plays like he's half-asleep.
- Eboue, who i refuse to even talk about any more.
- Vela, who's too young.
- Rosicky, Fabregas and Walcott, who are all injured.

We have no energy in that midfield to win the ball and re-distribute it. We have a surfeit of players who expect someone else to do the donkey work for them and it shows. The Engine-room of the team isn't working; we're not creating enough chances, let alone dominating matches.

It's been a rubbish season because we haven't replaced key players who left last summer. Every Arsenal fan could see that losing Diarra, Gilberto, and Flamini (and hleb) in a period of six months was a disaster if these players wern't adequately replaced. Well, they wern't. We've had absolutely dross playing in the middle of the park this year and it's finally begun to show with our latest set of results. Relying on players like Song, Denilson, Diaby and Eboue to get you into the Champions League is the height of folly.

With an average midfield, we've coasted through games, largely relying on our reputation at times to force teams to play defensively and not expose our weaknesses too much. We've reached a point where we too good to lose, and not good enough to win; not even good enough to catch up on a team like Villa when we've got Sunderland and W Ham at home. It's rubbish.

What's been even more galling for me, in recent games, is that one of the few major pluses of this season, Johann Djourou, has been dropped, again. Why? What has Toure possibly done this season to warrant coming straight back into the side? It's a ridiculous,pedantic and pathetic decision by Wenger to continue the Gallas-Toure partnership when it has been made absolutely patent that they cannot play together, especially after he constantly bangs on about giving 'youth a chance', then drops our best young player this year!

So that's where we are in late February. Hanging on in fifth place, hoping for a cup run to paper over the cracks. Here's hoping our battle with the Romans brings some light-relief.

til later.

Turning point or false dawn? If Arsenal's season doesn't get going soon it never will.

2009-02-20T21:37:00.005Z

The club is in a funny place at the moment.

I suppose we're meant to be feeling optimistic after the 4-0 drubbing of Cardiff on Monday, but I can't quite buy it.

For one, the major, overriding positive point of that game, Eduardo's explosive return, has already been rubbed out, with the Croazillian picking up a hamstring injury.

This being an Arsenal injury, the original prognosis of two weeks was, of course, wrong. Arsene reported in the press conference today that he'll be out til at least the Blackburn game on 14 March. Without wanting to be too pedantic, that's 3 and a half weeks.

The other big positive is, obviously, the impending debut of Andrey Arshavin. I don't think he'll start tomorrow; I'm pretty confident that Vela and Nasri will continue in the wide positions, with Andrey coming on at around the 65-70 minute mark, possibly earlier if we look a real shambles. It's a tall order for a short guy: turn our season around or welcome back to the UEFA cup. Has he got it in him to adapt to English football in record time? To get fit enough to play after having not really played since November? I guess we'll find out.

Because the alternative is Eboue, who, by rights, should have been suspended for 3 matches, if not sacked, by the club for gross, and continual, stupidity and selfishness. If I was Arsene, I would torn up his contract in the dressing room after the Sp*rs game. He's had his chances and plenty of them; he should leave in the summer, especially as Vela already looks a better player.

Whether we are turning the season round or not, the important fixtures are going to be coming thick and fast in the next few days. Roma is imminent, as is a series of fixtures that could, very easily, see us through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Yet, we remain 7, yes 7, points behind Villa and 5 points behind a chavski side which will surely go through a resurgence with Hiddink in charge.

We've made this season exceptionally hard for ourselves by not sufficiently strengthening in the summer. Our midfield has been inexcusably poor since December, inspiring an unbeaten run which is almost a parody of the invincibles.

Yet with a little quality returning, and by not entirely ruling ourselves out of things, maybe there's hope left yet for this year. Perhaps we could surprise a few people yet.

Or maybe Eboue starts tomorrow.

Arshavin is still in London and will surely sign for Arsenal today.

2009-02-02T12:46:00.002Z

I wondered whether there would ever be a transfer saga to top that of Julio Baptista in 2005. I think the BBC announced on about five separate occasions that we'd signed him, before sheepishly revealing he'd gone to Madrid.

And then there was Nasri this summer, although being able to read L'Equipe everyday re-assured me that the deal was going through.

But I think the Arshavin saga has trumped them all, for sheer durability and ridiculousness. Every hour for about a month there's been new stories appearing in both the UK and Russian media about the deal.

The speculation hasn't been helped by the, frankly, bizzare, Dennis Lachter. This man seems quite happy to give out details about the Arshavin deal, or lack of one, to everybody and anyone who drops him an email or a text. To be frank, I don't believe a word he says, but that's just my opinion.

Nor has it been helped by Sky Sports News. This channel thrives on transfers - the one time it actually gets decent viewing figures - so they have spun the story out at every opportunity, especially as, aside from the Keane transfer, this is probably the only big transfer that might go through today. And on at least 75% of the occasions they've brought us an 'exclusive' about the deal, they've been wrong.

So, after falsely claiming Arshavin was in London the other day, they finally got it right this morning, showing Arshavin in snowy Hertfordshire after jetting in from Petersburg, before now claiming, along with most other media outlets that Arshavin has gone home after failing to seal a deal.

I simply refuse to believe that Arshavin would fly in to London, wake up, see the deal break down definitively, and then fly home all before lunchtime. And so despite the majority of the print media claiming that Arshavin has gone home, both 5 Live and sources within the Arsenal Supporters Trust are both claiming that Arshavin is still negotiating in London, with the AST source (credit to the Online Gooner for this) saying Arshavin is in Highbury House as you read this.

For me, the logistics of the transfer mean a deal is surely more likely than not at this point.

Petersburg aren't going to find another buyer at this point, and they're not going to get £15m+ for him from anyone else after today, as Arshavin's value starts to decline due to the state of his contract and the fact he hasn't really played of late as he's clearly lost motivation over whether to play for the club.

Especially given he's probably agreeing personal terms as we speak, the ball is in our court. I should imagine Zenit will agree to a slight decrease in the fee and he'll be pronounced our player at around 6 PM this evening.

More than anything else, this is because I find it inconceivable that we will go through this transfer window without signing anyone. For Wenger not to strengthen our squad after the tepid performances we've seen so far this season would be seriously worrying.

Arshavin is a class act and can help us solidify our top four place this season. While Arsene was right to state that no one player can be a 'saviour', he could at least save us from seeing the likes of Diaby, Eboue or Denilson shoved out onto the flanks. For that alone, I'm patiently hoping and waiting for the deal to go through.

More reaction to the transfer window as news becomes apparent.

But for now:

A Hull of a finish gives Arsenal the points, as reinforcements look imminent

2009-01-18T14:58:00.002Z

I do like my puns, so I make no excuse for the title.

What could have been another dispiriting away trip turned into a very nice little result, one orchestrated by a Robin van Persie who is really beginning to show hints that he could grow into the role vacated by his Dutch predecessor.

Robin has always been a hugely talented player, but I always felt that, until even last season, his decision making was a tad questionable. Whilst it was nice to see a player actually shoot, his play often seemed a little selfish, despite the return in goals he gave the team. Thus, he seemed to have one great game, in which he would usually get a brace, followed by two or three in which he would struggle to get involved.

This season, he really seems to have grown and matured as a player in what's been a difficult time for the club. Not only has he been scoring the usual crackers, he's also been pulling the strings up-front. A fairly incredible three assists against Hull, followed from the assist and the excellent game he had last week is really encouraging. I really hope he can stay fit til the end of the season, as the consistency in his form is surely stemming from his consistent availability.

Elsewhere, it was good to see Ade get on the score-sheet after a barren-patch, Nasri's second goal was about as good a finish as you'll see in the Prem this year, and Bendtner reprised his role as a goal-scoring impact sub. I'm sure he'll get a start next week against Cardiff, which will give him a chance to continue to make his claims for a place in the starting XI.

The only really negative notes from yesterday were both expected and unexpected. Eboue was completely rubbish, again, and his miss, when he shanked the ball wide in the first half was almost the polar-opposite of Nasri's cool finish.

Clichy was the only other note of concern. After a super couple of seasons, his form this year, starting with his dramatic error against the Spuds has been worrying. He now seems to average at least one serious error a game, and his crossing remains poor. His error yesterday stemmed purely from confidence. Instead of attacking the ball and the player, Gael backed away from the ball, fearing Mendy would again skin him for pace. This gave the Hull player far too much time to pick out Cousin, and put our backs against the wall. I really hope Gael's form picks up because he's one of the players i like the most in the current team.

So, as for reinforcements...

It appears that the Arshavin deal will be completed this week. After Arsene wrote him off as 'too light-weight for the Premiership' last summer, I have to say I am surprised to see us linked to him. His form at the Euros, aside from one game when he was marked out the match by the eventual champions, Spain, was dynamite,and he looks like the exciting type of attacking player we are often linked with. Crucially, he's already at, or at least nearing, his peak, so we are buying, hopefully, proven rather than potential talent. I'm sure the fee will be big, probably around €17 million, and I'm also sure that if the pound wasn't so weak against the euro we'd already have signed him. With Arshavin, on the verge of going on strike, there's only realistic way this is going to end.

If he doesn't come in, perhaps AC Milan's Youan Gourcuff would be worth a look, but with Kaka's alleged move to Man City on the cards, it may be the case that Gourcuff is taken back to Milan in the summer.

I hear Milan also have a French guy in their squad, who doesn't really get a game but might be worth a look, Mathieu something or other...

Til later.

With Cesc's injury, if Arsenal don't buy they will not qualify for the Champions League next season.

2008-12-23T13:26:00.003Z

I did wonder when I first heard the news whether the injury would be worse than first feared. The words 'knee' and 'ligaments' rarely equate to weeks; months are usually the order of the day, especially given our medical department. So it was no surprise to find out today that Cesc has been ruled out for the next four months, undoubtedly missing our Champions League encounters with Roma.

So, what's happened to our midfield? The midfield that took us to the top of the table last year was Hleb, Flamini, Cesc, Rosicky. Rosicky, unsurprisingly, soon became injured and I have my doubts about whether he'll ever play for the club again. Flamini messed us around over his contract all year and screwed us over at the eleventh hour, in an entirely predictable turn of events, to join the rossonieri. And Hleb buggered off to Barca.

So of a midfield that could have won trophies, some of them probably won't play for us again this season (wait and see Cesc and Rosicky's injuries suddenly extend when they're due back) and others no longer play for the club at all.

And what have we been left with? A mix of mediocrity, dross and alleged potential. We have Denilson who is neither good nor bad; Song who has the potential to be a good holding midfielder, in about five years time; and Diaby who infuriates far more than he pleases with his multitude of touches and spins and dopiness.

Added to that we have Eboue (no comment), Nasri who, hopefully, will pick up less injuries and start contributing a bit more consistently to games, and the kids: Ramsey, Wilshere, Vela, Randall, Merida, etc. Should we really be in a situation when we're relying on 16/17/18 year olds to come in and make an immediate impression? I don't think so.

Ultimately then, our midfield isn't good enough; and I don't think it'll massively improve in the short-term. As such, we're in real danger of coming 5th or worse this season, unless we get some proven talent into the squad.

This entire situation was entirely predictable when we lost players and didn't replace them, or, more to the point, replaced them inadequately. How many times do we have to say it? Losing Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, and Diarra, hoping Cesc can play every game in a season, and relying on Diaby, Denilson and Song to step up and do a job is pure foolishness. Our midfield was perilously weak already, and just became, perhaps, fatally weaker.

We need players who come in and do a job now
not later. Not young players from the French and African leagues; experienced players, perhaps even from the, wait for it, Premiership.

We could spend £30 million in the transfer window and get our season back on track. Buying 2 or 3 players for £10m each can only improve the squad. Or we could continue to put our faith in this hodge-podge of mediocrity and potential and hope for the best.

What's even more galling is that with a slightly better squad we would be top of the what's been a very poor league this season. The other clubs in the top four are stuttering, and yet we've not taken advantage of this at all.

So, here it is: merry Christmas Arsene and Arsenal fans everywhere.

Let's hope Arsene brings some presents or it could be a bleak new year.

Arsenal won't win a match in which Diaby-Denilson-Song all start in midfield.

2008-12-14T21:39:00.004Z

It was a bit of a rubbish game, all in all. Some nice early passing yielded little, with Diaby blasting wide when he should have passed to Ade, then shooting straight at the keeper when he was played in himself.

But, we took the lead from a Fabregas-Adebayor corner combination, and it looked like things actually might go our way; until Jeremie 'I only score against Arsenal' Alililliliadiere scored after sloppy defending from Clichy, Song, and Gallas.

After that, aside from a Stuart Downing effort, we dominated, but with little reward. Robin van Persie continued to show his 'enigmatic side', shall we say, by missing a host of easier chances than the two he put away against Chelsea a few weeks ago. Consistently inconsistent, at least, which I suppose just makes him a player who consistently can't produce the goods week-in, week-out.

It was all rounded off by Bendtner blasting the ball straight at Turnball, when Adebayor was practically waiting in the area with a ten-foot billboard above his head which said 'IF YOU PASS TO ME I WILL SCORE'. It certainly didn't smell of team spirit.

So, what does this match tell us?

Firstly that, again, Arsene is fantasising when he talks about us finishing in first place. This will not happen, despite the fact that if we were even a little bit better we could be making a real fist of it this year. United, Chel$ea and Pool all dropped points this weekend but we made up no ground on them. Just think, if we'd beaten Stoke, Hull and Fulham we'd now be top of the league. Really think about that for a minute. We're not first now, and without major signings, we won't be first come May.

Secondly, when any three of Diaby-Denilson-Song-Eboue start in midfield for us, we will not win. There is a chance, although with every week I watch them I wonder how great this chance is, that these players might make it and turn into great players, but at the moment they are neither offensively nor defensively strong enough to boss games. They are a sea of dross with the island of Fabregas's quality floating among them. His face after the game said a thousand words about what he thinks about the quality that surrounds him at present.

Thirdly, that, without signings, this is our level. Maybe a draw in the north-east is a good result for a team which is realistically aiming for fourth, not first place.

Lastly, Arsene's post-match comments are getting weirder and weirder. To say that it was a good result because 'we might have lost this game at the beginning of the season' is to imply that he knew how weak our squad was in September; which may well have been the case, but simply shows he failed to do his job over the summer of constructing a squad strong enough to compete for the league this year.

So, all we can do is crawl through to January where reinforcements have to come in. Because if not, we are looking at fifth place.

The Ebooing has been a long-time coming, and was a reflection of a wider malaise amongst fans.

2008-12-08T17:48:00.001Z

The Ebooing has been a long time coming, and it was evidence of wider problems.

In other circumstances we’d be talking about how the team had managed to dig out an unconvincing win, much like the one which opened the season against west brom. We scored early, had a few chances to clinch the match, let the opposition work their way back into the contest, and in the end were largely reliant on the other team’s deficiencies in front of goal, rather than our own strengths, to see the game out.

But the incident which dominated the game, and discussions of it subsequently, was Eboue’s performance, substitution and the reaction to both.

When Nasri went down injured, in many ways Eboue was the logical choice. He was the only one on the bench with any real premiership experience, and does offer a degree of defensive solidity. Those questioning why Wilshere, Ramsey or Vela didn’t come on in this situation are probably underestimating how close the game was when Nasri went off. Ironically, Arsene probably wanted to protect his real youngsters from being over-exposed to a potentially precarious situation.

This goes somewhat against Arsene’s own statements about how much he trusts these youngsters, and also against the fact that Ramsey has looked better than Denilson, Diaby and Eboue in the appearances he’s made so far this year.

Even given the fact he’d been out for 5 weeks, and that he was being played out of position on the left, Eboue’s subsequent performance was one of awesome ineptitude. He gave the ball away repeatedly, drifted around the pitch at leisure, and offered nothing going forward. His performance was capped by a tackle on Kolo Toure and an instinctive cross-field pass to the Wigan midfield.

Now, anyone who’s watched Eboue play regularly over the last couple of years will not have been surprised by this. Eboue, at best, is a half-decent link player: he can spread the ball sideways and backwards over a fairly short/medium distance. He doesn’t score goals; he doesn’t make too many tackles; he doesn’t have a huge range of passing, let alone that of a ‘pass-master’ as Arsene once bizarrely stated; nor is he anything like Ray Parlour, neither in ability nor effort, to whom Arsene once compared him.

So, his performance, though awful, was the culmination of 3 years of overwhelmingly awful performances.

This in itself probably wouldn’t have led to booing – I don’t really remember Justin Hoyte getting booed for a catalogue of errors last season.

No, Eboue was booed for his attitude; or, at least, the attitude he emits when he’s on the field. The Eboue who dives; who rolls around feigning injury, even when we’re losing; who acts like opposing players are his best friends; who shows no tactical discipline, wandering around up the field and out of position, leaving our flanks exposed; the one who ambles around like he hasn’t got a care in the world. The one, in short, who doesn’t play with a respect for the standards Arsenal fans have for their players.

When his number came up on Saturday, a large section of the crowd showed that they’d had enough of Eboue. It was a cry against the seemingly unthreatened mediocrity in the squad at the moment, and against players who don’t seem to understand what football and Arsenal means to the thousands of fans who follow the team every week.

It was also a cry against Wenger for allowing the situation to come to this. Wenger clearly sees something in Eboue, but how many other people do? No matter how badly he plays, no matter what he does on the field, he always seems to keep his place in the squad or the team. Thankfully, we now have sagna at RB, but Eboue is still too often played to a negligible or even detrimental effect. Eboue has put so many awful performances over the years that it was a cry at Wenger to see what the majority of Arsenal fans have realised: that Eboue isn’t good enough to play for the club.

But he’s one of a handful of players, to my mind, which encapsulate the mediocrity at the club at the moment. Denilson, shoved out on the right, hasn’t impressed this season, yet one gets the impression that Arsene will persist with him come the new year, instead of buying the defensive midfielders and wide-players we’re crying out for. Diaby keeps on being given chances, despite offering little in return. Alex Song seems to be improving, but is too young and inconsistent to be regularly anchoring our midfield, at least at this stage in his career, to my mind.

Arsene has fed us a series of great players and teams over the years, but now he seems to be too stubbornly attached to a collection of players, especially midfielders, who would have got no-where near his earlier title winning sides. At the moment, Cesc is an island of quality in a sea of dross, and it seems inconceivable that we could not have added more quality to the midfield over the summer. In many ways, therefore, the booing was a rejection of Arsene’s current policy of persisting with an ostensibly untouchable collection of youths at the club, which has failed to produce a team capable of winning silverware for too long a period of time, given the club’s resources.

Moreover, Arsenal fans are shelling out some of the highest ticket prices in the world for a team which costs a pittance to construct. If Arsene’s not going to actually buy expensive players, then fine, but shouldn’t this be represented in the cost of tickets? At the moment Arsenal supporters are being treated like customers of a business by the club, who then act shocked when they don’t behave like fans.

So my reaction to the booing is equivocal. I’m not going to say the behaviour of those who booed was acceptable, because supporters should back the club whenever and wherever possible. But when fans are charged a fortune to watch an obstinate manager continue to play someone like Eboue, despite all the evidence pointing to the fact he is a poor player who embarrasses the club with his antics, don’t be surprised if things turn a little nasty. Football is an emotional game; sometimes emotions spill over.

Six things Arsenal can do to get out of this crisis.

2008-11-23T21:28:00.007Z

I said after the Man United game that that win had to be the start of something bigger. It was, but unfortunately not in the manner we all had hoped for.

The club is now in crisis; it's as simple as that. Some might say that they'd quite like to be in a crisis like ours: still in all major competitions, and only 1 point away from securing champions league qualification again.

But that is not enough for fans who pay the highest ticket prices in Europe and deserve better than hollow promises about 'potential', nor for a club which has a massive stadium debt to be repaid and which, with the resources it has available to it, should have achieved more in the last few years.

So what can be done?

1) Don't blame Gallas for everything.

Yes, gallas made some exceedingly stupid comments recently. And, really he hasn't been the best captain in the club's history.

But until the Birmingham game last year, his captaincy appeared to be an inspired move by Wenger, as he scored crucial goals against his old club, the mancs and wigan and took us to the top of the table. All that ended during that horrible day in Birmingham.

It is wholly incorrect to lay the blame for the current fiasco at his door. He is still best central defender at the club and if he can swallow his ego, it'd be nice to think he could stay on, so we don't lose yet more experience from the side. If his ego continues to be a problem, however, it's time to go.

2)Make Arsene realise Arsenal is not a crèche.

Arsene's goal of taking a group of youngsters and developing them into a team was highly laudable; a beacon of decency, perhaps, in a footballing elite otherwise ruled almost absolutely by money.

But it hasn't worked. The plan would only have worked if players stayed on, year-in, year-out. But players have left and haven't been replaced, and we now have a wholly inadequate midfield, a patchy defence, and a misfiring attack.

I said before the game yesterday that if a midfield of Diaby-Song-Denilson-Nasri started, we wouldn't win, and we'd be lucky not to lose. That is a team of inexperience and inadequacy. Of the four only 1, Nasri, has showed anything to make me believe they will make it to be a top player.

Song is too lazy and over-confident; Diaby is lazy, offers no defensive-bite, and has but a few tricks to his name. Denilson might be a good squad player but is not good enough to be either a holding midfielder or a creative playmaker.

We need new central midfielders. This was clear in August. It was clear the minute we lost Flamini, Gilberto and Diarra. I don't care if these player's careers are 'killed', as Arsene puts it, if new blood is brought in. The club, not their career, is the most important thing.

3) If older players aren't good enough, get ones who are.

Robin van Persie. There's no denying the skill or the talent. But where's the consistency? Where's the work-rate, the off-the ball effort? Where's the ability to use anything but his bloody left-foot? At Eastlands he went missing, again. He increasingly appears as a luxury player in a team that can't afford luxuries, at the moment.

Almunia. Still not good enough. The mere thought of this pile of mediocrity being made captain astounds me. Two penalty saves in two years don't make up for all the saves he should have made, or for all the balls he should have claimed in the air.

Eboue. Another good start to a season; another reversion to type. Get gone.

Toure. I still think he has a future at the club but he should not be starting at the moment and that's worrying.

4) Buy in January; buy in the summer.

Given that rosicky and eduardo have been out for so long, it is perhaps justifiable to say that they will be like two new signings when they return, if they can reach recapture any of their previous form.

But we need another big, tall, centre-back (NOT SENDEROS). We need 1 if not two central midfielders. We could also do with a wide player, given theo's injury and eboue/Diaby as the alternative.

3-4 players need to get into the squad then, and 2-3 which can start contributing almost immediately. If this means paying top-dollar for premier-league players to do this, so be it. We have the money.

5) Wenger has til the end of next season to prove he can still challenge for silverware.

Wenger fucked up this summer. Intentionally, or through an inability to get transfer targets, he's left our squad in the shit.

We're not going to win the league this season, and we only have an outside shot at the Champions League. A FA Cup win, at this rate, would be a nice little bauble to get some good feeling going in the club.

But, if there are no trophies by the end of last season, and Arsene is still stubbornly sticking to youth over buying, his position has got to come under review.

6) Appoint a new CEO and end the take-over speculation.

The CEO is a no-brainer. Arsene needs someone to reign him in, and to help him get transfer targets. If Arsene doesn't like that, he needs to be told to put up and shut up. The club is in disarray at the moment both off and on the field, as we have no leadership in either area.

The speculation surrounding the club has to end. Either the fat Russian twat or the moustachioed American slightly less of a twat needs to buy or sell.

So, there you have it. None of these steps will be easy, but something has to give at the club at the moment. Because otherwise we may not qualify for the CL this season, let alone challenge for the title.

Gb.

Will Tomas Rosicky ever play for Arsenal again? Will he ever play again?

2008-11-11T19:29:00.002Z

Some disturbing news from Arsenal.com just before tonight's game:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/rosicky-undergoes-routine-surgery-in-germany

Routine surgery for what? What injury is he recovering from now? The one he picked up in January which was meant to rule him out for only three weeks? Or the subsequent one, which was only diagnosed very late on, as several unsuccessful come-backs. I think one of his tendons had detached from his knee-cap, if I remember correctly, although so many conflicting statements have come out about Tomas's health, it's hard to know what's going on. Take the Czech doctor, who's claimed Tomas has been badly treated (in terms of expertise, not negligence) by Arsenal medical staff. Then there was also the story that Rosicky's muscles hadn't developed properly in his legs when he was young, making him more prone to injury. He even had his wisdom teeth taken out at some point as part of an effort to improve his overall health.

At the start of the season, he seemed to be still in Arsene's plans, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Pretty early on, when Rosicky's 'imminent return' kept on being delayed I said to my friends that Eduardo would play for Arsenal again before Rosicky.

I stand by that statement, but I would now add a rejoinder: I'm beginning to doubt whether Tomas will ever play football at a serious level again.

I sincerely hope he does, because he could certainly help bolster a young squad with his considerable talents. Yet I wonder if the signing of Nasri, and the fact Nasri has taken up a position on the left, make's him as much a replacement for Rosicky than Hleb.

At best, any involvement from Tomas should certainly be taken as a bonus this season.

Let's hope we see him in Arsenal colours again, but maybe it's time to really start fearing the worst.

An epic win, but it needs to be the start of something bigger.

2008-11-09T20:07:00.002Z

I suppose, given how roundly Arsenal had been written off this week in the media and blogosphere, that a win was nigh on inevitable on Saturday. It was a game which confirmed something evident about Arsene's Arsenal in the last few seasons: they can beat any team in Europe in a one-off match.

Things went our way in the game which haven't in other matches recently. Despite cutting open our defence on several occasions early on, Carrick and Rooney, surprisingly given his propensity to score against us, both missed the target when presented with fairly decent chances.

We, by contrast, not only showed a willingness to have a punt from long-range, but even managed to score from one. There was definitely a whiff of the Lampard-deflection-goal-machine in evidence for Nasri's first, but that's what you want to see in that situation. Hitting a ball into a crowded penalty box may result in it bouncing pinball style into the net; it's certainly worth a go every now and again.

There was no luck to Nasri's second effort though. The goal was just about a good a one as you'll see. Too often wonder goals are thought to be those like Bentley's against us - a lucky, if spectacular, hit and hope. To work the ball in the way we did before the goal was superb, and Nasri's finish was emphatic.

The boy is, clearly, pretty good. He may not have the box of tricks that Hleb had when it comes to dribbling. But he works hard, can beat players, can pass the ball to the level required in the side, and isn't afraid to have a shot. That's 4 goals he's scored now in less than 3 months. Hleb barely managed over 10 in 3 years. Ultimately, I think Sammy has that one quality Hleb lacked - bottle.

Samir's goal was followed by possibly the defining moment of the match. Park Ji-Sung floated a ball into the box, and Ronaldo volleyed wide from inside the 6-yard box. If the ball had gone in, I would have bet on United getting at least a point from the match. As it was, the miss seemed to emphasise it wouldn't be United's day.

Not that Howard Webb wasn't trying to help them as much as he could. A series of bizarre decisions in United's favour was capped by him turning down our penalty appeal when Nasri was hauled over in the area. It wasn't a huge tug, but it was enough, and if we'd gone 3 up at that stage, the remaining twenty minutes would have been a lot more comfortable.

As it was, we had to endure a series of rather meandering United attacks, capped by subsitute Rafael's superb volley to bring United back into the game with 6 minutes of injury time left to play.

Yet, we held out and deserved the points.

A lot of people have talked about how thrilling the game was, and I would say it was one of the best games I've ever seen.

What to make of it all is harder to say.

We played the much maligned 4-5-1, and this seemed to get the best out of Diaby and Denilson. Diaby marauded around to great effect in an attacking central midfield role without, perhaps, creating as much of a threat as he could have done. Denilson stroked the ball around well, and kept things ticking over, without really presenting the type of defensive bite we still need in the middle of the park.

Bendtner worked hard, and kept Ferdinand and Vidic on the back foot for most of the game; certainly no mean feat. His profligacy probably stemmed from the fact this was his first start in a game of this magnitude. He will get better.

The defence also seemed to work. Silvestre and Gallas would now appear to be our first choice CB pairing and it's hard to argue with that given Toure's disastrous recent drop in form. Silvestre seems to have improved the defence with his height and aerial expertise, showing just how weak we were in that department before.

Almunia made some excellent saves, yet still doesn't command his area, and his distribution can be erratic. His injury, the result of a very brave attempt to grab the ball from Carrick's foot, was the result of him spilling the ball from one of the few times he came out to try and claim the ball from a cross or corner.

So what has the game really taught us? That this team can beat the very best put in front of it; that we may have found a new CB partnership; that we would still be improved by a greater deal of bite in midfield; that Diaby has to play in the middle; that Nasri might just be a really great signing.

But does it show that the team are title contenders again? I'm not sure. If we haven't lost any more games before January, and remain within 3-6 points of the top, then maybe. But we need signings in the window even if that is the case, if we are going to really build on yesterday's result. In any case, it's nice to be proud of the team, and for Arsene to get some praise.

A win to paper over the cracks? Or a defeat to end the great experiment?

2008-11-08T00:23:00.003Z

I don't normally like writing previews because I'm almost invariably proved wrong. That may sound a little arrogant, but once you start watching a certain level of football you like to think that you know what's going on.

So I think tomorrow's going to go one of two ways.

Arsenal may well lose heavily. Thankfully, I think the 6-1 was a one-off, we must have angered God in some way, moment of absolute awfulness. But the result which sticks in my mind equally is the 4-2 drubbing we received in 04/05 at Highbury. Whilst we took the lead in that game, some choice refereeing by Graham Poll(and let's not forget the equally awful Howard Webb is in charge tomorrow), and a couple of goals by a still emerging Ronaldo helped put pay to our title challenge that year.

In 2005 we had a great team on the way out; this year, we have a great team on the way in, if we're to believe Arsene.

The problem is, some of them just aren't that great; and, as painful as it may be to contemplate, I'm not sure they will become world-class. Players like Denilson, Song, Diaby, and Eboue just appear too erratic and, possibly, pampered to push on to really become the bedrock of a winning squad, let alone a first XI.

This could be extended to others in the team. Almunia - is he really good enough? Gallas and Silvestre - should they really be the future of our defence? Two players that other top-four sides have considered surplus to requirements?

It seems that we have a few really great players - Cesc, Sagna, Clichy – and a few who could go either way - Adebayor, van Persie, Nasri, and Theo. Aside from that, there’s a huge amount of filler in our squad, and that’s why we’re not going to challenge for the league this season, although a topsy-turvy Champions League run remains a possibility.

When you compare this to the United squad, who not only didn’t lose any significant players of the summer, but added a £30 million striker to their league and Champions league winning team, it’s hard to see how there can be any comparison.

But a one-off game can produce any result. And we beat United twice in 06/07, despite them having a far stronger team and a better season than us. And United aren’t stupid enough to think that they can pitch up at the Grove and walk a result there, even against a team which has lost to Stoke, Hull, and Fulham already this season, and which conceded four goals in its last league match at home. They may start cautiously, which could play into our hands.

So, there’s a chance that if we can frustrate United for long enough, a 1-0, or a 2-1 could be on the cards.

Let’s hope the latter happens – it’s certainly what a disciplined Pool side did against United a few weeks back. But if it does happen, let’s hope it’s not a win which papers over the cracks, which masks the deficiencies in the first xi and the squad this season. If we don’t strengthen in January, we will not win anything this season, regardless or not of whether we get a result tomorrow.

Flamini hasn’t been replaced, you could plausibly argue that neither has Sol, and we’re still short of the additional quality on top of that which cost us the league last year. Unfortunately, whether we win or lose tomorrow, the squad is still not good enough.

A rubbish formation, predictable goals, and Arsene's chickens come home to roost.

2008-11-01T18:06:00.005Z

Well if Wednesday's game was an embarrassment, this was just pitiful. Arsenal were outplayed by a team that have laid bare their incredibly basic gameplay strategy on numerous occasions already this season, without so much as a whimper or much of an idea of how to get the better of them.

It's a shame that Clichy's first goal for the club will, and probably should, be forgotten in the midst of all this, but this was just about as bad a performance as we've seen in the Wenger era.

What have Stoke done several times already this season? Scored from long throw ins. I believe they've done this five times already this season. And do you think they might continue to try this against us, a team that can't defend high-balls into the box? Yes, yes they did. Did we seem ready for this? Of course not.

The first goal saw Almunia, again, no-where to be seen when a high-ball was put into the area (he's cost us a handful of goals in this way already this season), and Toure simply not bothering to jump and make a straight-forward header. Given that, one decent save aside, Almunia had a poor performance all round today, will he be dropped for Fabianski? Lehmann was dropped for two mistakes in two games last season, after all.

More pertinently, this goal was entirely predictable. Entirely. Yet as soon as the ball came into the area the team acted like they had no idea whatsoever how to clear the high-ball from a throw-in. It's either poor players, poor coaching, or both.

The decline of Toure is now also become a major issue. He's becoming a liability in the box and always seems to be on the verge of a mistake. His recovery pace was always his strong point, but without a big defender next to him to do the dirty work, he looks completely exposed. Silvestre, despite an impressive debut, does not appear to be the answer either. And Djourou, inexplicably, still isn't being given a chance.

Yet the real problem, all game, was the ridiculous team selection and formation. Arsene's tactics had almost ruined things against Everton last week, and here was a formation that, from the off, clearly wasn't going to work.

Picking 4 central midfielders doesn't work, unless they have exceptional quality and discipline to stay in their designated positions. Playing Song, Denilson, Fabregas and Diaby in one midfield wasn't going to work, and didn't. We had no attacking threat, until, like against Everton, Theo came on and offered some width, speed and danger.

So, the question has to be begged, why is Arsene persisting in these bizarre formations? Does he think quality players can play anywhere? Possibly, but most of ours certainly can't. Is he so enamoured with his success of turning Flamini into a great CM that he thinks he can do the same this year? Because Denilson/Diaby/Song aren't the answer in CM next to Cesc.

So not only does our midfield have no bite, but it had 4 players tripping over each-others toes, meaning that our best midfielder, Cesc, was, again, totally wasted.

And up front we had Ade, who decided he couldn't be arsed and limped off half-way through the second-half, RvP who lost his composure and was rightly red-carded for an absurd challenge on Sorenson, and Bendtner who doesn't appear able to play with Ade.

All Arsene's chickens have come home to roost. Any Arsenal fan could have said at the start of the season that we still didn't have a dominant CB, yet this was addressed by getting rid of Senderos and replacing him with Silvestre, which doesn't appear to have improved the situation at all. That Man U were willing to let him go should have spoken volumes.

We could all tell that selling/losing all our defensive midfielders would cost the team if they weren't replaced; and yet we were greeted by Denilson, Eboue and Song now 'sureing' up our midfield.

We all knew that a major reason behind our failure to win the league last year was that our squad was too thin. Yet we have barely replaced the players (in numerical terms) that we lost last season, and did not get the extra bodies we needed in over the summer.

I'm sorry Arsene, but the experiment must end; transition has turned into stagnation.

We need a new CEO who can tell you when you're wrong.

We need experienced players, not youngsters who gain 'experience' every time they lose.

We need a defensive coach, because we keep making the same mistakes over and over again, and I'm beginning to wonder whether you can do anything about them.

The club needs a team that will challenge for honours, and justify the highest ticket prices in the Premiership, because building a team on the cheap and then charging huge fees to see it isn't fair on the average Arsenal fan.

Let's hope today is a wake-up call. But then, weren't we meant to wake-up after Hull, Fulham and the debacle on Wednesday? This could be a pivotal season in the history of the club.

Immaturity, bad substitutions and embarassement: Wenger doesn't have a league-winning squad.

2008-10-30T21:11:00.003Z

I can't remember exactly who it was, but for argument's sake let's say its Cesc, as I'm pretty sure it was him.

You're 4-3 up against your biggest rivals, who've just pulled a goal back to bring themselves back into contention with about a minute or so to go. You have the ball near the half-way line. Do you

a) play a short pass to a team mate to maintain possession.

b) put your head down and try and run toward the corner flag.

c) try an ambitious cross-field pass to a player who's won bugger all in the air all night, which has a high chance of being intercepted, and which will lose your team possession, even though you only have to maintain it for about 90 more seconds.

We all know what the answer is. And for all Arsene's talk about how we were 'too negative' at 4-2, and should have pushed on for the 5th goal, I'd say exactly the opposite. We were immature, again. We couldn't professionally close-out a game we were, ostensibly, comfortably leading, again. We started celebrating before the final whistle, again.

When we threw that lead away against Liverpool, you thought some of the players might have realised that it's not over til the final whistle. Yet we had RvP doing party tricks with twenty minutes to go, and Alex Song coming on with a huge sloppy grin across his face. We had Cesc push Sagna away when he came over to try and keep the ball penned into the corner flag through a short-corner.

And we had the same disruptive substitutions. Maybe the reason for our negativety, Arsene, was that you took three attacking players on, and put 2, if not 3, mainly defensive players on.

Why not replace Ade, who'd done bugger all apart from score, with Bendtner, a player who could hold up play and keep the ball in the opposition half. Why not unleash Vela against tired Spud legs?

Instead, we had the chuckle brothers - Diaby and Eboue - come on, who didn't even seem to know where they were meant to be playing. And Song, who usually takes a while to get into the match, again shoved into an unfamiliar position.

Just like Birmingham away last season, we put on the wrong players, started to invite pressure on ourselves, and lost control of a game we were cruising. What does Theo have to do to finish 90 minutes?

Some of this shows the problems in the squad - we have too many journeymen players who can play anywhere without playing well. Eboue, after a brief moment of starting to look good at the start of the season, is back to his old tricks, strolling round the park like he doesn't have a care in the world. No-one knows where to play Diaby, and Song is a CB or Defensive CM, nothing else.

But there are greater problems with the squad. Even if Denilson played well yesterday, him and Cesc don't work as a partnership. He's not defensive enough, nor all-action enough. With Flamini playing yesterday, we would have walked the game. It's not a coincidence that Arsenal have started to conceded so many long-range shots, or goals resulting from them, this season, when we have no-one closing down the space between defence and attack. Sort it out Arsene - even you should know that if you lose three defensive midfielders in a season, and replace them with kids, it won't work.

So we have a hole at the heart of the team; and we also have instability at the back.

Almunia has done well this season, but should never have let in the first, and made a complete hash of the second. Clichy, outstanding all season, also had a 'Birmingham moment'. Let's hope he's not making a habit of them. Finally, do we have any working centre-back combinations? I can't think of any.

So, it's as you were. The game confirmed to me that we have players who need to be told to stop being so cocky - at least until they win something. That we have a team that can blow a lead against almost any team. That we can concede goals as easily as we can score them. That our goalkeeper isn't awful, but isn't as good as he should be. And that the failure to adequately recruit in central midfield will cost us the league this season.

This year will be about a cup run, if it's about anything. Last night made clear that inconsistent, immature, arrogant teams don't win league trophies.

I'm back, but what to make of Arsenal's season thusfar?

2008-10-28T17:06:00.002Z

Hello again. If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging, try moving from Scotland to London to Paris, with a trip to the US throw in, in the space of about a month. busy, busy, busy.

And a lot has happened since Bolton away.

I was there at both the Hull and Everton games, saw the Sunderland game, but only caught the highlights of the Fenerbache and West Ham matches. And here is what I make of it all.

This season's blip was meant to be at Fulham, but it's clear that with our squad we're going to struggle in quite a few matches this season. Matches in which Denilson, Song and Diaby can't impose themselves will see the rest of the team struggle. I thought this would happen only against the bigger teams but as Hull, Fulham, and even Sunderland have shown, our midfield can be overrun and we can be shut down by almost anyone, especially if Arsene insists on playing a 4-5-1 which congests the midfield and reduces our attacking threat in any case. Against Hull, we looked hopeless and a bit overconfident, against a hungry side who wanted to win far more than we did.

Moreover our defence still hasn't found its balance, but Silvestre might turn out to be a half-decent signing. Against Everton, seeing one of defenders do the no-nonsense stuff well - winning headers, hacking the ball clear - was a joy at times. No letting the ball soar over our heads, or seeing Gallas or Toure try to dribble from defence was very nice. But it's still hard to see how it all fits together. Will either Song or Silvestre actually displace Toure or Gallas? I'm not so sure, especially, as the hopelessly imbalanced starting line-up against Everton showed, Arsene can be his own worst enemy when it comes to picking the team .

But, we've done well to get three wins in the last week or so. A dire first half gave way to a very exciting second against Everton where we seized the initiative with some panache. The game against Fenerbache saw our attacking players star, but our defenders again made to look a bit out of sorts.

So keeping a clean sheet, and winning against West Ham was important, a game in which the importance of Adebayor to the team was hammered home.

But what to make of our season so far? Where is it going? It's too early to really say anything, but we can only afford to lose one, possibly two more games over the course of the whole of the rest of the season if we're serious about winning the league.

I don't think this will happen. We should have won it last year, and I don't think the team is as strong as last season, even if our squad could be with a few more central midfielders.

I actually think that our best hope comes in one of the cup competitions, where we can motivate ourselves for one big game at a time. If anything, the season has reminded me of the 2005/6 season a bit - inconsistent in the league, mixed with impressive CL performances.

The other matter to be resolved is why the club still hasn't appointed a new CEO or CFO. The club can't afford to lose executives and not replace them. Not having a seasoned negotiator in the transfer market may have cost us a few transfers this past summer.

So, I'm still not completely out of hopes, but I think this season may be a bit tough. If the team can find consistency after its early season bump, the league still might be an option, but as it is, cups might be the real source of hope this year.

Denilson, Song, Eboue, Bendtner: who is this year’s Flamini?

2008-09-22T09:41:00.002Z

An excellent three-points at the Reebok against a team that used to intimidate us, and who managed to put us on the back foot in the early stages of the game.

Despite opening brightly, and comprehensively out-passing Bolton, they took the lead through a goal which, again, asked questions of our ability to defend from set-pieces.

Designating blame is difficult. It appeared that Gallas lost Davies, but if we were employing a zonal marking system, should that not take some of the blame? Toure allowed himself, again, to be comprehensively out-jumped at the corner, whilst Almunia, as at Fulham, allowed himself to be boxed in on his line, and was no-where to be seen. Rather than heap blame solely on Gallas, perhaps we have to think more about how the team as a whole defends corners, whether the Gallas-Toure partnership really works, and whether Almunia has it in him to dominate at corners.

Anyway, despite falling behind we then conspired to play some of the best football I’ve seen from us in a long-time, passing and moving at a quite dizzying speed which, simply, Bolton could not live with. First Adebayor, then Song both hit the post, before Eboue nipped in (slightly offside it must be said) at the back post to put us ahead.

A second goal came after a beautiful series of passes saw Denilson play the ball across the goalmouth, fining Bendtner who finished neatly.

After that, we continued to pass and move nicely, with Almunia pulling off a couple of nice saves when called upon. Theo’s introduction saw him burst through and past the Bolton midfield (it was particularly gratifying to see Kevin Nolan unable to even foul Theo), before playing the ball to Ade, who set up Denilson for another decent finish.

So, it’s been 4-0, 1-1, and 3-1 from three tough away matches. I, for one, would certainly have taken two wins and a draw before this set of matches.

One of the most gratifying things about the last couple of games has been seeing several players proving their critics (which have included myself) wrong.

Theo, Denislon, Alex Song, Eboue and Bendtner all seem to have grasped the opportunity given to them, and have all been fantastic.

Eboue was, for large parts of the first half, our best player on the pitch and richly deserved his goal. He looked dangerous running with the ball and made a series of passes which cut Bolton open.

Denilson has really come on, in a way I wasn’t sure he had in him. He looks stronger, more tenacious, and has a touch of class to his play that Flamini didn’t have last season. Song, after impressing for Cameroon and Charlton, has looked excellent: composed on the ball, often merely playing the simple, important, engine-room stuff, whilst also having the air of a hatchet man to him.

Nicklas Bendtner also seems to be growing with each game, and confirming the promise that I saw in him back in the Emirates cup in 2007. He’s a very unselfish player, extremely clever and incisive on the ball, and he scores. At the moment, he’s offering more to the team than van Persie.

So which of the four will be this year’s Flamini: a player who suddenly goes from being on the fringes of things to being a central part of our team? It could be any of them; but let’s hope it’s all of them.

Enough is Enough: The UK Government has duty to stop any more dodgy takeovers of English clubs.

2008-09-14T13:01:00.005Z

It's been a pretty sickening week for English football.

Geordies out on the streets complaining about a chairman who hires and sacks a local hero with impunity, after admitting he failed to do proper due diligence on the books of Newcastle before buying the club.

Abu Dhabi deciding, so it would seem, that Man City is nothing more to them than a vehicle through which they can publicise their Emirate. This is an place with an extremely questionable human rights record, which have already led some to ask for the FA to actually bother trying out the 'fit and proper' test on them. Today, news has emerged that Abu Dhabi now want to buy a smaller stake of the club, after finding out about the debts that the lovely Mr Sinawatra ran up before them. Man City have only paid a fraction of the fees that they owe for the big money transfers of players like Jo and Robinho, so if these guys were to pull out, the future would appear to be bleak for the club.

This is on top of unpopular takeovers at other English clubs. Indeed it would seem protests occurred at the Liverpool game this weekend, but these have been overshadowed by the result.

In the Man United case, a profitable club was taken over by Americans with no knowledge or care for the game other than the money it could produce, who subsequently saddled the club with the debt they'd used to buy it. This is standard, well at least before the credit crunch, form for Mergers and Acquisition; but it seems wrong to make fans pay for a takeover they didn't want and to make previously unknown owners even richer. Ticket prices at United have gone up, players are bought with even more debt, and United's total debt now stands at around £750 million, with interest payments alone of around £80 million last year. United will never go bust, but how, may one ask, have United fans benefitted from this takeover? (ignoring their, ultimately transient, successes last year.)

As the Liverpool fan in the linked piece suggests, Gillett and Hicks have been even more duplicitous in their takeover. They promised no debt from the takeover would be put on the club, that plans for a new stadium would procede forthwith, and that boardroom politics wouldn't affect the club. None of these things have happened. No new stadium seems on the horizon for Pool, and, again, the only ones to have considerably benefitted from the takeover are the owners, notwithstanding the abuse they rightfully get when they actually bother to turn up to a game.

A thesis could be written on the Chelsea takeover, but the main points are clear. A Russian with an extremely dodgy past comes out of nowhere, starts shelling out huge wads of cash, and brings the club success. Why? Partly as he wanted a new plaything, perhaps, but the political ramifications of the Chelsea takeover are becoming more and more apparent. Who'd heard of Abramovich before he bought Chelsea? Before then, he was a Russian oligarch probably sweating at Putin's relatively sudden turn against this hyper-rich segment of Russian society. What to do? Buy a football club, move to England, and make yourself untouchable. An English football club has become the get-out-of-jail-free card for this oligarch. Moreover, all the money Abramovich has poured into the club is in the form of loans, and Chelsea have total debts of £730 million, even if these admittedly interest-free.

At Arsenal, the situation is better. We are about to announce record profits for this year, with a turnover/wage ratio of less than 50%. We are a club, at the moment, run in just about the right way. Our ticket prices are still obscenely high (these have to come down, once the stadium debt is paid off), and boardroom politics have affected the club since the loathsome Uzbeki gangster turned up (thanks David Dein). But who knows what the future holds for the club. As Peter Hill-Wood himself said, if the club get a decent offer, the board has a duty to recommend it to share-holders. I genuinely worry for the future of our proud, historic club, if it falls into the hands of the vultures currently circling the premier league.

Of all the foreign takeovers, perhaps only that at Villa has been done properly. No huge debts, an owner who actually, despite not having strong historical ties to the club, seems to care about its welfare, and one who recognises the wider positive things a football club can achieve - as evidenced by making Acorns (a charity) their sponsor. Randy Lerner is an example that takeovers can be done in a 'right' way.

The money that has gone into football since the creation of the Premiership has not, of course, had a completely negative impact. The standard of football we see in the league is unrecognisably higher to that in the early 90s. The best athletes and players in the world populate our teams, and create great entertainment. It's also a lot safer to attend a football match, even if a lot of the atmosphere has been lost in the process.

Yet, there is now a fairly entrenched monopoly over whom wins the major honours in England. Even as a supporter of a team that, arguably,benefits from this monopoly, I would like to see a more competitve league.

I would like to see clubs owned by their fans, as frequently occurs in La Liga and the Bundesliga. This article shows how this ownership structure is both possible and beneficial. The German FA has set laws that ensure that even private limited companies are 51% owned by member associations. These clubs are thus run, or at least overseen, by those with its best interests at heart: the fans.

There is some hope. Andy Burnham, the new Culture secretary, favours the fan ownership system, and is, as David Conn puts it, 'an opponent of a clinically commercial view of football'. Burnham cites the American NFL as an example of a league where:

'which has equal sharing, and in which owners cannot simply pour money in from outside to buy all the best players. In the US, the most free-market country in the world, they understand that equal distribution of money creates genuine competition, which is good for the league. The danger in England is that individual clubs rush for the money today, without considering the long-term future, and so diminish the game.'

There are three main issues to consider, I feel, in sum:

* Clubs being bought by businessmen who merely want to make as much money as possible, thus making the cost of going to football more, and even prohibitively, expensive for the average football fan, alienating them from teams that are a major part of their lives.

* As a corollary to clubs being used as purely profit-making machines, for both players and owners, little concern is given to the grass-roots difference they can make to local communities. Robinho's salary for one week - £160k, reportedly - could fund a project such as kickz for four years, which is helping to transform the lives of youths in some of the UKs most difficult areas.

* Clubs being used for political ends by, let's be frank, crooks. Buying a football club can, potentially, buy dodgy men around the world political immunity or publicity. It is wrong they are being used in this way.

Football clubs were set up, a long time ago, to be community institutions, not global business brands. Somewhere, probably in the midst of the finanical immorality that has gripped the world since the Reaganite/Thatcherite deregulation boom of the 1980s, British football has lost its way. Sure, its great to watch, but at what cost has the present Premier League come?

The only ones that can do anything about this is the British Government. It's time to end a British society in which anything is for sale to anyone. The FA, clearly, will not stand in the way of these takeovers, and has lost so much power since the formation of the Premier League as to become an irrelevance.

Even if the present takeovers can't be reversed, future ones can be prevented, and an overall climate can be produced in English football conducive to fan, or at least responsible, ownership of these clubs, the jewels of English sport and society.

Because if nothing is done, English football is already dead.

Lovely wins at Blackburn and Zagreb cap a great week for Arsenal and England.

2008-09-14T12:08:00.004Z

Being in the North-West, where as Match of the Day so often points out 'we struggle' (really, we didn't last season?), we delivered an absolute tonking to Blackburn, and a humbling lesson to new Prem manager Paul Ince.

Theo, after his and England's incredible performance in Zagreb, was bursting with confidence. Some of his passing was absolutely sensational; he ran with his head up past players who simply didn't know what to do with him. His assist for Robin's first goal was a thing of beauty.

After years of criticism about Arsenal's lack of contribution to the England team, will the press be willing to eat a bit of humble pie, now Arsne's tutelage has got Theo firing on all cylinders, and after Jack Wilshere, at only 16 years old and a total product of the Arsenal youth system, made his premiership debut? I doubt it.

Elsewhere, Ade has clearly re-joined the party after a couple of games without a goal. His first was clearly the best, when he beat Robinson at his near bost from a excellent cross from Denilson.

Eboue played well, even if he did manage to injure himself diving to win a penalty for our third goal. It was also good to see Aaron Ramsey get his premiership debut, and to get an assist with a defence splitting ball late on.

Overall then, job done. After our stutter at Fulham we've looked excellent ever since, scoring eleven goals with no reply in our last three games. You can talk about the quality of the opposition, but you can only beat what's put in front of you, and we did just that. Nice.

So one tough away match down, two to go. Kiev, will be a hard trip, and I think a point would be a decent way to open our CL campaign, especially as Clichy, Nasri and Eboue are all doubts for the game, which could see Silvestre make his, ahem, 'long-awaited' debut.

A lovely win to cap a lovely week, which saw one of the best England performances I've seen since the 1990 world cup. England actually passed the ball. Our pass completion rate was something like 86%. And the team had balance. An attacking central midfielder, next to a defensive one; a big, imposing centre-forward next to a crafty, 'in-the-hole' striker. Wingers which actually had pace, after years of seeing Beckham act as a glorified 'special-teams' player, as the Americans might say.

Well done Capello. Let's hope he doesn't lose his nerve and put Owen back in the side, or try and play Lampard and Gerrard together again.

Also, John Terry got sent off yesterday, and, as things stand, the Spuds lie bottom of the table. Bliss. Let's enjoy it.