Goonerboy

Time for Some New Ideas: Thoughts on Arsenal 1 Sp*rs 2

2013-03-03T17:29:00.000-05:00

Another week, another defeat. Thoughts as follows:

* The line-up was probably as good as it was going to get, given our current squad. Personally, I would have started Podolski instead of Giroud, and Koscielny instead of Vermaelen, but more on that on a bit. The amount of poor players in the squad has reached such a point that it's actually quite hard to rotate the team. Gervinho may, be the best player in Africa, according to Arsene, but he can't even get off the bench at the moment. Oxlade-Chamberlain's form is in the toilet. Who else is there to choose?

* We started well, for a change, but weren't able to turn our dominance into goals. This isn't a surprise, given that we have a painfully average striker as, seemingly, our first choice forward. Giroud did practically nothing all game. He's incapable of dropping deep to help make things happen, and he can't capitalize on the kinds of half-chances that RvP used to thrive on. There was a moment before Spurs scored where he was fed the ball in a promising position, and preceded to miskick it, and lose the opportunity. It summed up not only his game today, but possibly his entire season. Also, given that he's a pretty big bloke, he has a bizarre reluctance to get in the area, and try and win headers. I've seen enough of him this season to know that he's not going to turn into a world class striker we need, and that we can't rely on him to win us games. I feel like I say this every week, but replacing RvP with Giroud sums up our entire season - when excellence replaces mediocrity, standards slip, and games are lost.

* So, naturally, despite dominating the early phases of the match, we spectacularly self-destructed. When a suicidally high-line is mixed with a complete lethargy towards tracking runners, goals follow. Frankly, watching Vermaelen stand there, nonplussed for both goals confirms the lunacy of making him captain, and thus an automatic starter. He is, simply put, not a very good defender. Koscielny deserves a run in the team. Also, Szczesny hardly covered himself in glory, once again, by neither coming for the ball nor standing on his line for the first goal. Standing in no-mans land, Bale was able to easily prod the ball past him. Another error for the Pole in a season littered with them - but hey, we can't kill his progress and buy an experienced pair of hands. That's cheating!

* At half-time, the game felt like it was lost. I know we've had a lot of great recent comebacks against Spurs, but this did not feel like one of them. For the 5-2 last season, we had the likes of Sagna and van Persie in the mix to create huge moments that swung the game back in our favour. We also had the advantage of facing a Redknapp-managed side - an individual with even less tactical nous than Wenger.

* So, I was a little surprised when we scored almost immediately after the interval. A nice freekick from Theo was flicked into the net by Mertesacker, with assistance from Bale. At this point I half expected the commentator to start sobbing, as the whole things had been portrayed as the Gareth Bale show up to that point. He's obviously a great talent, but the idea that the entirety of Spurs' recent good form is down to him is simply not true. Their midfield and defence was very well organized today, and AVB even dropped his defensive line in the second-half that ultimately helped to keep us contained. All joking about Spurs' history (or lack thereof) aside, this is a good Spurs team, who could be even better if they had managed to pick up a striker in January (sound familiar?). As it stands, I see no evidence that they are on the verge of the typical Spurs end-of-season implosion, and I fully predict them to finish above us come May. They may not have won the league for fifty years, but they look like a club going in the right direction at the moment, which is more than can be said for the current shambles going on in our part of London.

* I suppose you could say we dominated the rest of the match, but what did we really produce? Two shots on target in the entire game is not good enough. Ramsey should have scored when put through, but Spurs also had very good chances to go three ahead. Even when six minutes was held up by the fourth official, there was no real scramble in the box, or last-ditch defending by Spurs. Other than our goal, our set-piece delivery was again abysmal, and Lloris and his defence was able to deal with most of it with relative ease.

* Another game, then, where we self-destructed and largely handed the victory to our opponents. And at some point the question has to be asked: who is more to blame? The players or the manager? If we consistently make the same types of ludicrous defensive mistakes, surely this is a case of the players not being drilled properly on the training ground, or playing in a system that allows opponents to regularly open up our defence. Even at our best under Wenger, he's always built teams that leak goals. The problem is these leaks have become more and more frequent in recent years, and, bereft of a world-class striker, we are no longer able to overcome goalscoring deficits.

Watching Spurs today I was struck by how astutely they have acted in the last twelve months. They got rid of manager in Redknapp who was ultimately lacking in the requisite tactical ideas to make them into a top side, and took a gamble on a young manger with new ideas about the game. This appears to have played off. In addition, they recruited a host of good players for very reasonable prices - Lloris, Vertonghen, and Dembele. All three of those players should have been bought by Arsenal. We weren't priced out of buying these players - we simply made poor decisions. We failed to do the necessary business in two transfer windows, and now we staring at the very real possibility of failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in a decade.

As Amy Lawrence put it, there is a weariness to this Arsenal side. Not necessarily in their energy levels, but in terms of their whole approach to the game. A tired, outdated approach to the transfer market, combined with tired, tactical inflexibility has led to this point. There's no sign that our downward slide will be arrested unless a big change is made - a takeover, a new manager, or a real clearout of the squad. Who knows if any of those things will happen - but we all know Wenger has a job for as long as he wants it, and as long as he does, it's hard to see us really challenging for honours again. It's time for change of ideas, and if Wenger isn't capable of that, we need to find someone else to take the club forward.

Getting Away with It - But for How Long? Thoughts on Arsenal 2 Villa 1

2013-02-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

A scrappy win, but a win nonetheless. Thoughts as follows:

* I didn't like the starting line-up, and the midfield looked particularly shaky. There didn't appear to be much of a sense of balance in that eleven. Yes, it might only be Villa at home, but who was going to do the dirty defensive work in midfield?

* But, for once, we got off to a good start, with Cazorla knocking home a shot at the second time of asking. I have been critical of Cazorla at times this season because I think he has the potential to play at an even higher level to the one he's currently at. Yes, he's not helped by our paper-thin squad, which necessitates that Arsene has to play him every week. But he's been wasteful with his shooting, particularly when he seems to snatch at opportunities from outside or near the edge of the area. Both his goals yesterday were measured, placed shots. He has a good goal tally this season - I think he can score even more next year if he continues to place his shots like he did yesterday, rather than thrash at them like he has done a little too often this season.

* The remainder of the first-half, and indeed the game until Villa scored, was a little odd. Both sides had chances to score. We were, overall, on top, but there was a clear sense that we could be opened up with relative ease. As mentioned above, there was essentially no sense of who should be playing defensively in our midfield. Normally this would fall to Arteta, but it's now become abundantly clear that we need a dedicated holding midfielder, not a converted attacking midfielder, like Arteta. The space between our midfield and defence was constantly exploited throughout the game, and if Villa were not absolutely terrible they would have scored more than the once. When up against better teams, like Bayern, our lack of defensive organization as a team, is fatal. More on this later.

* Regardless of our defensive failings, the game shouldn't have been as close as it was. However, until we get a new striker who is clinical in front of goal, we will struggle to see out matches such as this one. Yes, Giroud has got a fair few goals this season - but he is not good enough to lead us to trophies. It's notable, in my opinion, that barely any of his goals have come against opposition in the top-half of the premier league. He looks like what he is - a player with one good season under his belt in Ligue Un, who has struggled to adapt to a much higher quality league. He's a good back-up option, but he should not be consistently starting games. Unfortunately, that miss against Sunderland on the opening day of the season was a fairly accurate representation of his level of ability.

* But Giroud can't take all the blame. Walcott is as consistently inconsistent as ever. Yes he has 18 goals this season, but the fact that he has become the team's main goal-scoring threat is slightly terrifying, given his propensity to completely hide during games. I have said this a few times - Walcott's representatives played Arsenal perfectly - they were able to achieve a deal that reflected the club's fears that the fanbase would not tolerate the loss of another "star" player. Until he consistently produces, he's not worth whatever inflated wage he is now on. If any good comes from the Bayern game, it's that hopefully the absurd experiment of deploying him as a lone central striker is now at an end.

* Podolski must also come into some blame for a lack of prowess in front of goal. I have heard conflicting reports on the reason for his absence yesterday. There is the suggestion that he has been struggling with an ankle injury for some time that will require surgery at the end of the year. Others, have simply said he was dropped yesterday after a string of lethargic performances. So, what to make of Poldi? He's our most clinical player in front of goal, and I still think he deserves a chance in the central striker spot. But, does he deserve the chance if he can't even be bothered to run for a full 90 minutes? It's a tough call. In defence of Giroud, I know we're getting 100 percent effort and commitment from him, despite his failings as a player. I'm not always sure that this is the case with Podolski, unfortunately.

* So, after squandering a series of chances, it was inevitable that Villa would score. And, being Arsenal, that they would score in risible fashion. After another wasted corner, Villa countered. Total chaos reigned in our defence, with Monreal not knowing whether to move to the player, or move to his position, and Jenkinson generally not having a clue what to do. But, Weimann's shot was not a spectacular effort and should have been saved. Instead, it went through Szczesny and into the net. It's now clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that we need a new goalkeeper. I love Woj's spirit, and he has had big games for us this season. But the mistakes now clearly outnumber the positives, and he has cost us games and points this season. Let's man up and make Stoke an offer they can't refuse for Begovic. If this "kills" Szczesny, so be it. We don't owe any of these players a career. If they're not good enough, they're out. Enough coddling.

* The same goes for Jenkinson. Yes, he's a gooner, and celebrated our winner with enthusiasm. But so what? Is he good enough to replace Sagna as our starting right-back. No way. At the moment he is a mid-table player, at best, who would actually benefit from a loan. If we do make the mistake of letting Sagna go this summer, I really hope we have a plan beyond Jenkinson.

* But the defence can't take all the blame for the goal. The chaos in our back-line stemmed from a certain unearned nonchalance to defending in our midfield. The question is - what type of players are Diaby and Wilshere? There role within our midfield yesterday was not clear at all. Wilshere is a brilliant player. But is he meant to be staying deep? Is he a box-to-box player? Does he have a free role in the side? And as for Diaby, is he some form of bizarre attacking midfielder who never contributes significantly to our attacks? What does he really bring to the team? Not a lot, in my opinion. I hope that we finally get rid of Diaby this summer, but he's clearly a pet project for Wenger, who'll be at the club as long as Arsene is. Unfortunately, our bizarre reliance on a player who continually suffers from injuries will probably mean we won't buy the dominant central midfielder that we've needed for years.

* Our second goal was a moment of absolute joy in a much otherwise characterized by dross. Wilshere floated a ball over the top to Monreal, who cut the ball back to Cazorla, who then finished with a neat curling effort. It's easy to forget at the moment, but it's moments like these which make it so difficult to turn against Wenger. At his best, he produces teams in which players express themselves, and create moments of beauty on the field. It was nice to see Nacho pop-up with an assist as well.

* So, a win. A poor win, but a win. And as we try and climb the mountain to fourth place once more, it's a vital three points.

But it's a win that raises a lot of questions, especially in the light of our defeats to Bayern and Blackburn. From around 2006 to 2010, I was firmly of the belief that Arsene was the right man for the job, and that we were simply 1-2 players away from greatness. Now, I'm not so sure. The total lack of organization and tactical discipline that we've seen on the pitch time and again this season hints at wider faults in Wenger's management that signings potentially don't rectify. There's only so many times you can see a poorly defended set-piece, huge swathes of space left open by disorganized players, or a lack of resolve to get the job done before you start to wonder whether the players on the pitch are the only problem in terms of our performances.

I'm fairly sure that we'll up our game in the next few weeks, and we will probably get fourth place. But this season has really shaken my belief in Wenger. For the first time I wonder whether new signings are enough to make us title-challengers again, or whether more substantial change is required at the club in terms of how we approach the game. Maybe we don't need a new defender - we need a new attitude towards defence. And maybe we don't need to replace Giroud - we need to rethink the entire way we tactically approach a match. Does Wenger have this in him? I don't know.

Gb.

The Best Man for the Job? Thoughts on Arsenal 0 Blackburn 1

2013-02-17T20:48:00.000-05:00

I had, by accident, scheduled to have my cable replaced during the game yesterday. This meant I missed about a third of the game, for which I should probably be grateful. This was another season-defining moment, in a season that has largely been defined in terms of absolutely dreadful results. Thoughts as follows:

* The team selection was fine, other than Coquelin starting at right-back. He's not a right-back, and clearly doesn't want to play there. Indeed, I'd go one further and ask what Coquelin brings to the squad. I'd genuinely rather have Denilson in his place at the moment. As Arse2mouse put it, Coquelin's main ability seems to be running around a lot - i.e., the minimum of what you should expect in a game that is fundamentally based around, yes, running around a lot.

* So, I missed most of the first half, but that's not really a problem with Arsenal nowadays. Our first-half performances have become the equivalent of an extended warm-up. We saunter around a bit, stretch our legs, hit some range-finders. The days in which we put three goals past an opposing team in the first-half are long, long gone.

* Still, we certainly should have gone in at half-time at least one goal ahead, with Gervinho scuffing the ball wide when put through one-on-one with the keeper. He may well have lit up the ACN, but he still looks rubbish in the Premier League. I fear that he is soon going to be added to the lengthy list of recent signings at Arsenal who we can't get rid of once it's become apparent that they are not good enough for top-level football. Yes, he probably was really good at Lille. And I'm sure he has stood out while playing for the Ivory Coast. But the standard of much of Ligue Un, and, to be frank, international football, is not anywhere near the level of the Premier League or the Champions League. He looks out of his depth, and we need to ship him out in May.

* There was no marked increase in urgency after half-time, which was strange. You might have thought that the team would feel somewhat embarrassed at not being able to dispatch a very mediocre Championship side, but no. Rosicky, who I still feel should be no more than a squad player, did at least try to make things happen, and was unlucky not to score with a thunderous strike from outside the area which smacked against the bar.

* So, naturally, Arsene took Rosicky off when he finally decided (20 minutes too late) that we needed to make some substitutes. Abou "lovechild" Diaby was naturally left on, for reasons unknown. So far this year, Abou has played about two good games of football, both at the start of the season. Then he, predictably, had a "3-4 week" injury, that saw him miss three months of a 9 month season. Since he's returned, he's gone back to default Diaby mode. Tacking 50 touches of the ball where two will do, and generally strolling around the midfield, slowing down play. For some reason, I've always thought of Diaby as a young player - but he's now 26. Considering the position he plays, he should be dictating matches, and dominating in the midfield. He doesn't really. Our baffling, continued reliance on Diaby has meant that we haven't gone out and done the business in the market that we really need to do. Another one that needs to leave in the summer.

* The goal, when it came, was a predictable comedy of errors. Where to start? Coquelin being all over the place? Walcott not bothering to track his runner? Or Szczesny palming the ball straight back into the danger zone? It was that classic mixture of incompetence and laziness that has seen us concede so many goals in the last few years. It's one thing to be beaten by moments of brilliance by the opposition; it's quite another to consistently self-destruct in the manner that we do all so often. It's pathetic and embarrassing.

* We have to sign a goalkeeper in the summer. Szczesny needs more than Mannone and Martinez as competition. Szcz may well grow into a brilliant keeper, but at the moment he costs us more points and more games than he wins. Yes, he was amazing at Sunderland last week. But how many times has that happened this season? And how many times could the opposite be said? Too many.

* But, in fairness to the defence, their errors are always going to be magnified if we can't score at the other end of the field. And when Theo Walcott is your leading goalscorer, you know you have problems. Giroud, well, I just don't think he's good enough to be our starting striker. A willing back-up, yes. But nothing more than that. I think we've again got a player who looked fantastic in Ligue Un, but who has struggled when introduced to a higher level of competition. It drives me mad that we have one of the most clinical strikers in Europe, Podolski, but we refuse to play him centrally, and instead seem to have given this season over to developing Giroud.

* There was a bit of a scramble towards the end, but for once I just didn't see a comeback occurring and it didn't. The boos were loud at the end, and expected. Another trophyless season beckons, and this time it's happened with an extra layer of humiliation. Knocked out of the League Cup by a League Two side, and out of the FA Cup by a Championship side. And, in both cases, we put out teams that should have had enough to win the game. We may well get a draw or even a win on Tuesday, but anyone who thinks we will win the tie over two legs has a level of optimism with which I have no empathy.

* And so, here we are again. Arsenal's most successful manager is now presiding over an era that will go down as one of the most barren in the club's history. The quest for fourth place has now become more bizarre than ever. If we, supposedly, don't have the resources to compete on more than one front, then what's the point of qualifying for the Champions League. The pay day that the group stages bring? Because that's all we've really been getting over the last few years. A few good performances against group stage teams, then a swift exit in the knockout phase.

At this stage, any other manager at any other top-level club would have been sacked. No other club has given their manager as much power or as much leeway as Arsenal and Arsene. Yes, Chelsea and City are committing the equivalent of financial doping. But are United? No. They just have a vastly superior manager who refuses to accept mediocrity in the way that Arsene has at Arsenal for so long now. Would Ferguson allow players like Squillaci and Almunia to hang around the club, picking up paychecks for doing F*ck all for years? Would other top managers play the same tactics week-in, week-out regardless of opposition? Would other top managers continue to see defensive organization as a mere afterthought in comparison to pretty, possession football? No.

I have wanted Arsene to turn this around because he clearly loves Arsenal, and he has taken this club to a level that few could have dreamed of in 1996. But he is now stuck in a rut. The flaws have piled up and multiplied, and I don't know if he is capable of performing the sytematic overhaul of the playing and coaching staff that is required to make the club successful again. Because, as much as we can argue over the finances available to him (and really there is no argument - just look at the annual report), if players aren't "focused" or motivated, or continually play "with the handbrake on" that is largely due to his coaching and his management of the squad.

The final nail in my belief that Arsene is the man to take the club forward was the January transfer window. Yes, we signed Monreal, of whom the jury is still firmly out. But that was it. We still haven't replaced Song. We are still, essentially, gambling on Giroud gaining the consistency that has eluded him thus far. Wenger essentially said that left-back was the only position in the squad that needed strengthening. That, I'm afraid, is mental. We are 21 points behind Manchester United - everyone's position in the team should be under examination.

Ultimately, the question is simple: Is Wenger still the best man for the job? I think it is very hard to answer that question positively at the moment. And, for the first time, I think a majority of Arsenal fans feel that way too.

Either Wenger Strengthens the Squad, or We Get Someone Else who Will.

2013-01-13T16:17:00.002-05:00

Oh January, you've been great so far. Thoughts as follows:

* I thought Arsene again picked the wrong team, which is a worrying trend from games this season. There were three decisions that I thought he got wrong, and I'll go through them separately:

- Koscielny and Vermaelen are not an effective partnership. I think Mertesacker's form has dipped in recent games, and he was made to look a bit of a mug by Michu last week. But he does, overall, bring a calmness and sense of nous to the defence that is always badly missing when he is absent. TV and LK together just seems to be a purely reactive partnership that frequently descends into chaos. I imagine that Wenger was worried about us dealing with city's extremely mobile forward line, but, and just like against Chelsea earlier this season, it was the wrong decision and it cost us.

- Diaby's selection was ridiculous. To be frank, it smacked of desperation and arrogance in almost equal measure - desperation that we don't have better options in central midfield, and arrogance in that Arsene appears desperate for his prolonged faith in Diaby to be repaid. Diaby, on his day, is a fantastic footballer who brings a unique blend of qualities to his midfield. Unfortunately, those days are few and far between because of his appalling injury record. The fact that Diaby was removed after 60 minutes, in what appeared to be a pre-planned move, was incredible. This was not the type of game that you use to re-build a player's fitness. Players are either fit enough to play and compete, or they're not. His performance while not terrible smacked of a player who hadn't played a league game since since September. He is a player that badly needs to be released, and with talk of Fellaini having a release clause at about £22m, this would appear to be a no-brainer for me. But then I suppose I am actually somewhat ambitious.

- Diaby's selection raised big questions about Coquelin - is he good enough to be a part of this Arsenal squad, or not? For me, if he can't be trusted to fill in for Arteta, he shouldn't be at the club. He is taking up the space of a player who could contribute. Personally, I think Coquelin is not a the level required for a club that's serious about competing for trophies. Arsene either needs to give him a chance, or get rid of him at the end of the season.

- A final point about Diaby's selection - it meant that it was not clear who was meant to be playing as the holding midfielder. Given that we operate with almost zero tactical discipline, Silva was given the freedom of the Emirates to run about in the space between our midfield and our defence. It frustrates me hugely to see this, because this is down to a simple lack of coaching.

- Lastly, Theo started centrally again. More on this later, but perhaps some tactical flexibility would have been nice here, given that he was going to be playing against Kompany. Giroud should have started, in my opinion, and I say that as someone who has serious doubts about Giroud's ability.

* People will probably have forgotten most of the game's first nine minutes, but City were already on top when the pivotal moment of the match occurred. It's never a good idea to play the "what if" game, but I think they would have won narrowly with or without the sending off. That's not just me being pessimistic - it's based on the fact that our defence was already a mess, and City have better players than us. That's all. It's also worth remembering that City were without Yaya Toure and Kun Aguero today - I can only imagine the carnage if they had both played.

* Should Koscielny have been sent off? Yes. If Kompany or Lescott had done that to Giroud, we'd have been fuming if they'd escaped without a red. It was an obvious goalscoring opportunity, and Koz deserved to go. After a brilliant, apparent breakthrough season last year, Koz seems to have regressed this year. He always seems to have a calamitous error in him, and he needs to be taken out of the firing line for a while.

* Which brings me onto Vermaelen. Maybe it's the captaincy, but he seems to have regressed as both a player and a leader since August. His positioning is frequently terrible, and directly led to the first goal. Can he improve? I'm not sure. And, at a certain point, you have to wonder whether any player could come in and magically improve the defence, or whether we have a systemic problems that require a complete approach in terms of how we approach the game as a team.

* After the first, a second appeared to be only a matter of time and so it proved. The scoreline ultimately did not reflect City's dominance in the match. Only a few bizarre passages of play in the second half, where they procrastinated over who was going to take the decisive shot on goal, meant that the scoreline stayed at only two. It always felt that they had another gear within them, and I think they will come away from the game with the feeling that it was a closer much than it should have been for them.

* Gunnerblog joked on Twitter, and it's probably true - Theo's wretched performance was undoubtedly evidence that he's signed a new deal. Theo is infuriating - he frequently drifts out of games almost completely, and, I feel, he often outright hides in certain matches, which is unacceptable given the fact he is now an experienced player. I think the "Theo through the middle" experiment has had decidedly mixed results - notably, when up against quality players, like Kompany today, Theo was almost completely out of the game. That said, he almost scored when he did pop-up late on. Ultimately, it says a lot how far the club has fallen that we are being held to ransom, effectively, by a player of his calibre.

* So, Giroud should have come on. But not for Podolski, who remains the only reasonably clinical finisher at the club. Instead, Cazorla should have been removed, who was having, not for the first time, an extremely quiet afternoon. Santi is obviously a great player, but we needed him to step up today after the sending off, and he didn't. It seems that substituting Podolski is Arsene's go-to move at the moment, and I wish he'd leave him on the pitch because he is someone who will take that half-chance when it arrives.

* We were much improved in the second-half, although, as I stated earlier, I do think City were very wasteful in possession. Wilshere stood out and had probably his best game since returning from injury. Not only did he show a huge amount of talent, he has character and determination, which is more than can be said for a lot of other individuals at the club at present.

* It seems that we are really missing someone who can make intelligent runs in the final third. Our play often seems to reach the edge of our opponents penalty box, before breaking down. Losing van Persie has robbed us off someone who creates goals through intelligent movement off the ball. We desperately need to get someone who can open up space in the manner that he used to do.

* What it all comes down to, for me, is this - we need substantial investment in the squad. We are weak in almost every area of the pitch. We have three centre-backs who all seem to have one fatal flaw. We are incredibly reliant on Arteta - someone who has now finally broken down after being massively over-played. Cazorla is knackered and his form has dipped. We lack a spark in the final third. We have a goalkeeper who, penalty save aside, had a mixed game and distributed the ball terribly.

We need new blood and lots of it. If Coquelin and Frimpong have their careers at Arsenal "killed" by bringing in an experienced central midfielder, so be it. If Gervinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Theo complain about a lack of opportunities because we bring in new attacking options, so be it, etc., etc.

If Arsene claims, as he did today, that it's too hard to find quality players in January, then he needs to go, and be replaced by someone who can find quality players in January. If not Arsene, then our scouting network needs to improve. If it's not the scouting network, then Dick Law, or whoever negotiates our myriad, failed deals, needs to go.

After a disastrous summer transfer window, which perfectly set up this mess of a season, I cannot tolerate another window where we fail to make the necessary improvements to our squad. As 7 AM Kickoff said this week, Arsenal's 2004 side was almost entirely built through astute purchases in the transfer market. Much as it pains me to say this, if Arsene is incapable of effectively operating in the transfer market anymore, we need to find someone who will go out and get us the players we need.

As far as I can see, we have two weeks to find the players to save our season. Otherwise, a humiliating experience at the hands of Bayern awaits, as does the Europa League next season. Because too many of the players that we currently have are simply not good enough for a club like Arsenal, and that's why we are where we are.

Gb.

Where do we Go from Bradford? Painful Times Ahead for Arsenal.

2012-12-13T11:38:00.003-05:00

As is customary for me now with midweek games, I turned off all contact with the Arsenal world on Tuesday afternoon, and waited until I got home to watch the game “as live.” Since moving to America I’ve discovered that while getting up early on the weekends to watch games is a pain, missing matches, or having to watch them on delay, because they’re played midweek while I’m at work is even worse. It’s a major reason why I think some form of European competition will start to be played on weekends sooner rather than later. Anyway, I digress.

I accidentally loaded Facebook at about half-time while the game was playing, and was surprised to see no updates about the match. This meant that Arsenal hadn’t scored, or that we were behind, as Arsenal’s Facebook page apparently refuses to allow for the existence of opposition goals. When I sat down to watch the game, I thus had an inkling that we may have started it poorly.

As the game started, I tried to explain to Mrs Goonerboy the rules of the League Cup, and that Arsenal were almost certain to win because we were playing a team in the fourth division. She nodded, and then looked on in bafflement as Arsenal conceded, and played out the remainder of the first-half in some sort of deranged, half-baked manner.

I don’t have the energy to replay every moment of the game, so here are just a few of my thoughts on the game:

· * Gervinho. When Gervinho signed, I felt much better about losing Nasri. The ridiculous fee that we received for Nasri from Manchester City has led to an inflation of his actual worth as a player – I maintain we got about six months of good performances out of him over three years. Gervinho, I hoped, would provide a more consistent goal threat. Instead, he’s been rubbish. A few instinctive goals aside, he just doesn’t look good enough to play at the highest level. This had been, I hate to say, my opinion of him when I had watched him play for the Ivory Coast in the 2010 World Cup. He runs down blind alleys. He almost constantly chooses the wrong option. He not only misses the target with headers, he usually puts the ball out for a throw. His shooting, when not instinctive, is almost comically wayward. Maybe he has a future as a squad player, but as a member of the staring XI – please, be gone.

* * Podolski. I mentioned this on Twitter the day after the game, but it’s well worth re-reading Goonerboy correspondent Bobby’s scouting report on Podolski, as he basically nailed him. Bobby said that if we played Poldi on the left: "his mobility, fitness, and defensive abilities will be open to question." Check. Bobby also said Poldi was like RvP except "only heavier, less destructive, who moans more, and who is slower." Again, hard to disagree. Gervinho, for all his many faults, is a trier. He never hides. Part of the reason we think he’s so poor is that he’s constantly on, or showing for the ball. I have a degree of respect for Gervinho because, in a tough season, he’s never gone missing, regardless of his ability. Podolsksi? Almost the opposite. He clearly thought this match was below him. And he has been, if we’re being charitable, “inconsistent” since his arrival at the club. His inability to finish 90 minutes has become a joke and it’s only December. Poldi needs to start pulling his weight because he’s beginning to annoy me.

· * Szczesny. He has a winner’s mentality, but does he have a winner’s ability? If Almunia had collapsed into the net in the fashion that Szcz did for the Bradford opener, there would be pitchforks and torches outside his house the next day. Yes, Szcz made a few stops in the shoot-out, but I continue to believe that he has fundamental problems with his positioning, hence why he fails to save so many shots from outside the box, with players taking advantage of the fact he is in the wrong place. I would put a goalkeeper fairly high on our list of transfer priorities, because, at the least, we need someone better than Mannone and Fabianski to challenge Szcz.

I could probably go on for some time listing individual player faults, such as Vermaelen’s periodic inability to defend, or Cazorla’s failure to hit the target with about 90 percent of his shots. But the defeat at Bradford really came down to higher issues – the management, both in terms of the team and the club as a whole.

I said this on Twitter immediately after the game, and I stick by it – almost any other manager in the Premier League would have been sacked if he were in Arsene’s position. I desperately don’t want Arsene’s time at the club to finish on a sour note, because he is a demi-god. But, it’s hard to escape the feeling that, leaving all other things aside, another manager might be able to get better performances out of the current squad than Arsene can at present. And, it’s also hard to escape the feeling, that the majority of signings that Arsene has made since about 2008 have been poor. As 7AM Kickoff asked on Twitter, can you really name any signing that Arsene has made in the last five years that has been an unqualified success? I can’t. Arteta, maybe? Nasri, maybe? The majority seem to have some form of fatal flaw – Koscielny’s own goals, Cazorla’s shooting, Arshavin’s laziness, and that’s before we even get on to the Deadwood Saloon of Squillaci, Park, Chamakh, and former patrons such as Silvestre. In short, even if money is available, should Arsene be the one to spend it? It’s a legitimate question.

What is becoming increasingly apparent, is that the board are pushing a line that money is there to spend, and that Arsene is unwilling to spend it. During the Q&A with Gazidis and other management figures, this line was firmly put out by the club – Arsene doesn’t want to spend. The AST has predictably lapped this up, rushing to make some very strongly worded comments about Arsene in the press yesterday. I fear this is the beginning of an extremely messy stand-off between Arsene and the board, and if Arsene decides to take the gloves off and fight back, an extremely difficult period in the club’s history could be approaching.

But it isn’t all Arsene’s fault. Not even close. During the Q&A, Gazidis said that Stan was “obviously […] not happy with the way the team is performing” (quote, possibly paraphrased, via Darrenarsenal1). Why is it obvious that Stan is unhappy with the way the team is performing? We are still well on course to challenge for fourth, thus keeping our place in the Champions League, and keeping the value of Stan’s shares ticking ever upwards. That is his only motivation for owning the club, as far as I can tell. Stan has said virtually nothing to supporters. He has attended fewer home games than Park Chu-Young. There is nothing obvious at all about how Stan is feeling because Arsenal fans have virtually no knowledge about what this man wants from Arsenal football club. We are a ship with a silent captain, with no idea where we’re going.

For a competition that supposedly our lowest priority, the League Cup has been fairly devastating to the club in recent years. In 2007, Arsene perhaps submitted to his greatest moment of hubris by putting out a side of kids and reserves in the League Cup final against Chelsea. In 2008, we suffered a morale sapping 5-1 defeat at the hands of Spurs, just before that promising season began to unravel. And, of course, most of our current problems can be traced back to that fatal moment of miscommunication between Szcz and Koz in Wembley in 2011. The quality of the squad has diminished at an incredible rate since that day, and we’ve never really recovered as a club.

So, where from Bradford? Who knows. But it’s clear that Arsene’s actions during January are now not just pivotal to the club’s future, but also to his own. Or, at least they should be. But it’s also clear that Stan needs to drop the “silent” façade, and make clear that he actually gives a damn about this club before we spiral further downwards.

Black Scarfs and a Dire Performance: 9 Thoughts on Arsenal 0 Swansea 2

2012-12-01T19:00:00.001-05:00

A historic defeat, or the new normal? Thoughts as follows:

* Whether we had won or lost, this match would have generated headlines of "Arsenal in crisis", owing to the Black Scarf march (or "walk", or whatever) that preceded it. Judging from photos, a fairly sizable amount of people joined the Black Scarf leadership as they walked to the ground, and it's clear that their views can no longer be ascribed to a lunatic fringe. I may write about them in more length as and when they grow further in size, but I have to say that I agree with a large number of their aims. Ticket prices should be cheaper, whether we are winning or losing, and there should be a wider variety of options available to supporters to help them pay for their season tickets. And Kroenke should be made to make a firm commitment that he will not take money from the club. Some of their other aims are ill-conceived, however. If they are opposed to greed in football, why are they so keen to get another billionaire on board, especially one who has a somewhat less than transparent past, shall we say. And while I understand the notion of a "season ticket lite", whereby season ticket holders wouldn't be forced to pay for tickets for cup games, could we then blame the team for not taking these games as seriously as those in the league, if the supporters themselves openly claim them to be a lower priority? To sum up, I see the Black Scarf movement exists because of legitimate grievances, but they need to think through some of their stated aims a little more clearly before I can give them my full backing.

* It was pretty obvious from early on in this game that we were going to struggle to win. I tweeted at half-time that Swansea had almost completely outplayed us in the first-half, and that we would need to substantially up our game in the second if we were going to come away with a victory. Angel Rangel and Nathan Dyer both had golden opportunities to put the Swans ahead, owing to defensive mistakes on our part, and only a decent double-save and a last ditch block from Vermaelen saved us from going in behind at the half.

* Indeed, Szczesny had an excellent game in goals - perhaps helped by not having to save shots taken from outside the area - and was the only reason we weren't trailing at the break. While I am still unsure about Szcz, on days like this it's hard to argue against his potential to become a really top keeper.

* We upped our game a little bit in the second half but not enough. Swansea weathered a period of pressure from us, and then promptly turned the screw again. Whether Arsene had blasted the team or not at half-time, it was disappointing that we only really looked like the better team for a perhaps 10-15 minute period of the entire game.

* As the game sloped towards its conclusion, I thought that the game did not "feel" like a 0-0. It was a far cry from the dull, uninspired fare that had been served up at Villa Park last Saturday, and, if anything, we were the team who were luckier not to be behind.

*So, of course, Swansea scored almost immediately. Michu - who is surely the signing of the season, given his immediate impact and price - took advantage of the total chaos in our defence caused by a reasonably straightforward through-ball, took his time, and expertly put the ball in the net. Watching the replay of the goal is cringe-inducing. Vermaelen and Mertesacker appear to be playing for different teams, such was the total lack of coordination between the two over whether the line was stepping up or not. Tim at 7am Kickoff remarked that our high-line is now becoming a major defensive liability, and it's hard to argue otherwise, especially if we're not even going to get the offensive benefits that such a tactical deployment should bring. Until we can regain some defensive solidity, perhaps it's better to sit a little deeper, and prevent the chaos that seems to occur every time we try and play the offside trap (oh for a new Tony Adams...).

* The second goal said a lot about the problems we currently have. Jenkinson couldn't find a forward pass, and so was harried backwards, where he was dispossessed, allowing Michu to easily finish. Only one Arsenal player bothered to try and make it back and stop him, Rosicky. I.e., problems arise when you throw a still inexperienced, young defender into the Premier League, and when the rest of your team is so knackered from over-playing that they don't even attempt to track back.

* Speaking of the final point, the extent to which Arteta and Cazorla are not being overplayed is now verging on the ridiculous, and this was a problem that could be foreseen back in August. Whatever quality our first xi has is being frittered away by a lack of options in the squad. Aside from his demolition of 10 man spurs, cazorla has recently looked like a shadow of the player who lit up the league in August and September.

* At the final whistle, there was a huge amount of booing, coming just seven days after Wenger was subjected to "you don't know what you're doing" chants at Villa Park.

This is all terribly sad, but Wenger's future as manager is now a question that is legitimately up for discussion. We are enduring our worst start to a season for almost twenty years, and you have to wonder, leaving everything else aside, whether a different manager could get more out of this set of players than Arsene. Our tactics seems stale, and trying to pigeonhole players into a 4-3-3 that doesn't seem to benefit very many of them is increasingly maddening.

Moreover, there is the issue of the January transfer window. Even if we assume that we have the proverbial "warchest" of funds to spend (why always the military metaphors?) should wenger be the one to spend it? At the moment, his success rate with transfers is hardly dazzling - do we want another 20-30m wasted on the likes of Chamakh, Park, Santos, Squillaci, Gervinho, etc.? And if the money isn't there, for one reason or another, now is surely the moment for Wenger to go public, and stop fronting for a board that don't deserve him.

All I will say is that things are probably going to get worse before they get better. How we're possibly going to cope with the density of games that we're going to face over the Christmas period is truly worrying. We may be relying on the January transfer window to save our season, but how much damage could be done before then? All in all, worrying times.

The 17 Minute DVD: 13 Thoughts on Arsenal 5 Spurs 2

2012-11-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

Well, what to make of that? Quite a game of football, and another classic match in a derby that seems to produce more goals than any other I can think of. Thoughts as follows:

* If you had told me after ten minutes that we were going to win this one 5-2, I have to admit, I'd have been skeptical, even after last year's shenanigans. Tottenham were all over us in the opening stages, and simply overwhelmed us at times. After a goal was (correctly) ruled out for offside they sliced us open again almost immediately, with Szcz producing a good stop that Adebayor was quickest to react to. And while we began to pull ourselves back into it, Spurs looked good for a second until about the 17th minute.

* The reason for Tottenham's early dominance was relatively clear. Villas-Boas sprung a surprise by playing 4-4-2, and, in practice, the formation was pretty similar to that which MUFC employed against us so successfully two weeks ago. Defoe dropped off a bit, and was attempting to do to Arteta what Rooney had done to our metronome at Old Trafford - harry him high up the pitch, and thus stop us from building out play from the back. Moreover, Spurs seemed content to largely knock the ball directly to their forwards, or to Lennon and Bale, who would then come forward as a four and overwhelm our defence.

* Now, this worked well for the opening few minutes, but this was an incredibly direct way of going about things. Villas-Boas may have planned to just try and stun us during the opening stages, and then hold on for a result. So, I don't necessarily think that Spurs would have won without the sending off. I don't think Defoe would have shackled Arteta as effectively as Rooney, and I also think that, eventually, we would overwhelmed them in midfield. Moreover, we saw last year in the 5-3 against Chelsea that we like playing against Villas-Boas's high line in defence. We wouldn't have won 5-2, but it seems fanciful to me that Spurs could have kept up their initial period of dominance for the entirety of the game.

* Anyway, whatever might have been was abruptly ended when Adebayor flew into a ridiculous tackle on Santi Cazorla. On first glance it wasn't clear just how ridiculous this challenge was, but it was clearly a red card, and an utterly absurd thing to do. For me, Adebayor has always had the ability to be a world class attacking player. He has strength, is good in the air, can link up play well, and can finish. However, he's clearly a self-obsessed moron. You do not change clubs with the rapidity that Adebayor has if you have the "mental strength" that top players need. Our fans in particular seem to really wind him up, and it's hard to imagine that he would have made a similarly stupid challenge in any other game. So thanks, Ade.

* After any red card, it's important to score as quickly as possible, before the opposing team have time to reorganize and shut the game down. It was great to see us do just that, and I was particularly overjoyed to see Per get his first goal for the club in such a big game. Per was at fault for the Spurs goal, by stepping up at the wrong moment, and leaving space behind him for Adebayor to exploit. So it was great for one our better performers this season to atone for his fault, and put us ahead with a monster header - one that reminded me greatly of Sagna's goal during the 5-2 last season.

* After that came one of the most joyful periods of football that I've witnessed for some time. For about twenty-two minutes we absolutely battered Spurs, who completely, and hilariously fell apart. Any credit you give Villas-Boas for the way he initially organized Spurs must be tempered by the fact they looked all at sea after they conceded the first goal. I had fancied Podolski to score before the game, and he did - another Ljungberg-esque effort inside the area, and Giroud added a glorious third through a combination of skill and desire, outmuscling two Tottenham defenders to slide the ball home gloriously past Lloris. At that point, if the ref hadn't blown for half-time, we could have added another ten goals - we were seriously that dominant.

* The importance of getting those goals before half-time was clear once the second half started, because Villas-Boas made some clever substitutions, and tactical adjustments, which put us on the back foot for the opening stages of the half. Tottenham had little to lose at this point, and that was a palpable edge to the match on our part. Reading Zonal Marking, it seems that Tottenham's shift to a 3-4-1-1 in the second half, rather than the 4-4-1 that they had played in the closing stages of the second half, did cause us some difficulties, with Tottenham again attempting to overload us with direct, attacking play, and Dempsey seeking to limit the influence of Arteta at the back.

* Once we had weathered this opening storm, it became clear that there was an ocean of space behind both Lennon and Bale, and Cazorla's goal reflected this, with Podolski driving down the wing on the left, before switching the ball to the right flank for Cazorla to slot home. Cazorla deserved his goal for a wonderful performance that was aided by the extra space he could find against ten men, and he was, on balance, the man of the match. We need a tactical system that gives him time and space on the ball, because he destroys teams when he has this.

* After our fourth went in, I thought we could relax, and perhaps even look forward to a real tonking - but, of course, we then conceded. It was very disappointing goal - Bale was giving about fifteen minutes on the ball, in which he advanced into a dangerous position, picked his spot, and scored. It's disappointing to see Szcz concede from another long-range effort but Bale is clinical if given that amount of time. It worries me that even at 4-1 up, we still didn't have the discipline to stop Spurs from scoring.

* Indeed, there was then an extremely nervy period, and a profound, debilitating sense of deja vu. Thankfully, somewhere around 77-80 minute mark, we woke up and realised that we were playing against 10 men, at home, and 4-2 up, and so there was no need to let the game be as stretched as it was. The introduction of Ramsey helped us put our foot on the ball, and slow things down. And once we took the sting out of the game, Tottenham gave up, and we got a fifth via Theo, after some marvelous work from the Ox.

* The game was so odd, in many ways, that it's hard to produce a rational analysis. What I will say is that almost all our attacking players played well. Theo, Poldi, Giroud, and Cazorla all tore Tottenham apart at times, and all produced world class moments of attacking ability to produce the five goals we scored. Elsewhere, however, we were a bit more suspect. Neither Wilshere nor Arteta really stamped their authority on the game, despite our one man advantage. And our defence was decidedly ropy. Vermaelen does not look comfortable at all shoved out on the left, Mertesacker made a rare mistake for the first goal, and Szcz hardly radiated confidence after being out for so long.

* Theo has now shown that, without a doubt, he is worth a new contract. I really wish the club would take into account the cost, time and effort it will take to replace him, versus the cost of giving him a new deal. If he is to leave in January, which I stil think is likely, we are effectively losing out best attacking player this year for what will be probably next to nothing. Also, a new deal for Sagna please.

* So, what to make of it all? It was a thrilling match, and, at times, it was utterly glorious. We showed that, in the right circumstances, we have the attacking talent to rip teams apart. Giroud is now starting to stamp his authority on games, and Cazola showed again that he has the potential to be a huge player for us. We were aided by the sending off, but I have the feeling that we would have won anyway. The sending off simply ensured that we would win by a large scoreline. Hopefully, we can build on the confidence this game should produce going into our must-win game against Montpellier on Wednesday.

And, if nothing else, thank goodness for Spurs. Never change.

Gb.

Four more Years? 11 Thoughts on Arsenal 3 Fulham 3

2012-11-11T15:44:00.000-05:00

So, there was no post after the Schalke game on Tuesday because I flipped straight from watching the game to the results of the US election as they started to come in. Thankfully, my newly adopted country decided to not elect a sociopath - but more on that in a bit. Thoughts on Fulham as follows:

* As in Germany, we started well, racing into a two goal lead. The first was a brilliant bullet header from Giroud, from an equally great corner from Theo. Podolski then managed to get himself into the right place at the right time to put us two up. It was an important goal for him, and only his second in the league this season.Things seemed good, right?

* Well actually, no. Seeing us go two goals up with such apparent ease was bizarre and felt undeserved. But, in the immortal words of Mr Eastwood, "deserve ain't got nothing to do with it" - if we'd somehow eaked out a two goal win, I doubt anyone would have cared. But when Fulham pulled one, then two goals back, it didn't feel like an epic collapse. It just felt, well, normal. Painfully normal. That it would have been a bigger surprise to see us protect a two goal lead at home, rather than collapse in such a manner, is incredibly dispiriting, and a profound indictment of where the club is at the moment.

* The Fulham goals themselves show what a shambles our defence currently is. Surprise, surprise, dropping Santos has not led to use suddenly tightening up at the back - with TV at left-back, we've conceded five goals in the last two games. The corner was, AGAIN, an occasion on which a player had, basically, a free header in the six-yard box. The second goal saw Berbatov tear Podolski and Vermaelen apart, before somebody headed home, again, under virtually no pressure inside our box. Personally, I think Mannone should keep the second out, and you could make an argument that he could have dominated his area for the first goal. But our defensive problems are now systemic - I truly believe that they are down to coaching, and tactical philosophy at this point, and even if we picked up Lev Yashin on a free transfer tomorrow, he'd struggle behind our back line.

* Having conceded two, it always felt like we had the capacity to concede a third, and so it proved. Arteta produced a crazy tackle in the area, and Berbatov swept home the penalty so cooly that I'm surprised he didn't spark-up a cigar during his run-up. It seemed like we had, yet again, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Against Fulham. At home.

* I tweeted at this point that it seemed like the current side had no team spirit, and I stand by that point despite what happened next. Giroud and Podolski both seem to spend most of their time on the pitch throwing anguished shapes in the penalty area each time they don't get the ball. Now, if you're Henry, or even van Persie, you can do this. After a couple of months at The Arsenal, you can't. And even if we did score a third, a team with a real fighting spirit doesn't concede three goals after going two goals up. If you think that statement is unfair, you have incredibly low expectations for one of the biggest clubs in world football.

* Giroud dragged us back into the game with another header, after he had failed to finish with his initial chance. Fair play to him, he was a handful all match, even if I could do without the dramatic moments of anguish. It was also hard to know what to make of his celebration. If I scored for Arsenal, even if we were 10-0 down, I'd probably run fifty victory laps until I was hauled off the field. But when Giroud got our third, it should have been the classic scooping the ball out of the net, and sprinting back to the centre-circle routine. Again, this is Fulham at home.

* As others have said, it's hard to concede to Theo's demands for a central striker position when he's so good on the flanks. I've never been a huge Theo fan, but I feel he's done enough to earn a new contract at this stage, especially because I don't trust the club to replace him with anyone approaching a comparable level of ability. It has also struck me this season that Theo could be on the verge on gaining the consistency that he's struggled to find for so long. Maybe a stint on the bench has done him good.

* Without wanting to be harsh, a quick word on Chamberlain. Can anyone remember the last time he played well? It's been a while.

* People complain about rubbish referees, but rubbish referees have frequently benefited us in the past. The penalty we were awarded at the end was a total joke, and Fulham probably didn't deserve to lose, but who cares? Big teams win games they don't deserve to win. Yet, there was almost instantly a bad vibe about the whole affair. No one wanted to take it about from Santi, and then Arteta snatched it from his hands. He had a good record from the spot for Everton, so fair enough. But this really felt like we were stealing something we didn't deserve, and Arteta's fairly meek penalty was saved by Schwarzer. It didn't really feel like a calamity - just another moment of farce.

* In the end, a draw was the right result, and I wouldn't have argued against a Fulham win. They were excellent, and in Ruiz and Berbatov they have two brilliant attacking players. One might wonder why we weren't in for Berbatov over the summer, but, then again, I suppose this would "kill" Chamakh's career. When you see players like him play so well, who were signed so cheaply, it's hard to argue that the club has got a full handle on our transfer policy.

We, on the other hand, produced another clown car performance. Yes, there were thrills and spills and goals, but it was all a bit embarrassing. I play in defence (badly), and was brought up under the George Graham regime, where defence was considered an important part of the game. It genuinely seems an afterthought for us on days like this, and against Schalke. Seeing a bang average goalkeeper behind a ropy defence just doesn't seem like something a top club should have to put up with - at least not year, after year, after year. Does anyone still think we can win the title?

* And so, back to the beginning of my post, where I talked about the American elections. After FDR was elected to the presidency an unprecedented four times during the 1930s and 1940s, a constitutional amendment was passed in 1947 that stated that a person could only serve as president for a maximum of two terms. There have been a number of presidents since then who could have served for more than two terms - Reagan, Clinton, maybe even Eisenhower. But the US decided it was unhealthy for any person, no matter how popular they were, to hold the office of president for more than eight years.

Sometimes, this seems unfair. If a person is good in a job, why remove them? If it wasn't for this amendment, we might not have the total disaster that was the administration led by George W. Bush. But, generally, I like it. It recognizes the fact that change is a necessary part of life. More specifically, it recognizes that it can be unhealthy for any one person in a position of power to hold an office for too long.

My point is this - it is now abundantly clear that we need change at Arsenal. I don't know the exact nature of the change required, but we can't go on like this. The same mistakes happen week after week, but, if anything, they seem to have gotten worse over the last year or so. We seem stuck, caught in an endless loop of bad, predictable tactics, and inadequate replacements for top players. Where the fault lies for this, I don't know. Having an absentee owner doesn't help, nor does the fact that we have an enormously well-paid CEO who seems incredibly naive about the world of football finance. But some of the blame now has to rest at Arsene's door. Could someone do a better job than him? I would now say "probably" rather than "possibly". And, most pertinently, does Arsene deserve a new deal? Should he sign on for "four more years", as it were. Again, I'm not sure. All I am sure about is that new ideas and new people are needed at Arsenal football club - and, for the first time, I have to say not just on the field, but off it as well.

-Gb.

No Longer a Rivalry: 14 Thoughts on Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1

2012-11-03T14:36:00.001-04:00

Another trip to Old Trafford, another defeat. The site of some of our greatest victories, is now becoming the place where we no longer seem to put up a fight. Thoughts as follows:

* How many times over the last few years have you looked at the respective team-sheets for Arsenal vs. Manchester United and thought, "Y'know what, they aren't actually that much better than us?" only to see us promptly beaten. I think there is a lesson there about tactics and management ability, and I'll get onto that later.

* In the history of probability, van Persie's goal was perhaps the closest to a sure thing that you could ever imagine. The only question was how and when, and it was disappointing to see us give him such a helping hand. As we know, he doesn't need one. He's the best out-and-out striker in world football, and as recently as a few months ago he was doing that for us. Still, £24 million in the bank is much better, as Gazidis et al. will all tell us.

* The goal was marked by another profound defensive error from Vermaelen. I don't know how many times I can say this in one season, but the decision to make him captain was a blunder. Vermaelen should not be an automatic starter in our defence, owing to the large number of mistakes that he continually makes. Koscielny has been forced to the bench because of Mertesacker's form, and has lost his own form in the process. Central defence is now a mess, and it's a mess largely of Wenger's own making.

* A word for our other defenders. I can't believe I'm about to write this, but a fairly convincing argument could be made that Mannone was our man of the match. He pulled off a number of great saves, including one from van Persie that was genuinely world class. He's obviously not the answer in the long-term, but credit where credit's due. Sagna was solid without being spectacular. Santos was predictably pilloried on Twitter, but I thought he was far from being our worst player. None of the fault for United's goals can particularly be attributed to him, he did his best to be involved with our attacks, and Valencia was actually relatively quiet for much of the game. Swapping shirts with van Persie at half-time, though, while still on the pitch perhaps sums up a lot of the frustration fans have with this current bunch of players. They often don't seem to "get" it.

* In total we created very little. Untied barely had to break sweat to contain their lead, and we didn't get a shot on goal until the stoppage time at the end of the game, just like against Schalke. A big part of this was United's effective stifling of Arteta, who only complete around 60 passes - around 2/3rds of his normal amount. The fact that Mertesacker made over 100 passes shows that United were happy to let us have the ball in non-dangerous areas, knowing that we would do very little with it. We actually finished the game with the majority of the possession, but did so little with the ball when we had it.

* I tweeted in anger that Cazorla was overrated today, and I only stand by that remark in terms of what Arsenal fans expect of him. He has two assists from ten premier league games - he's not exactly pulling the strings in the way I thought he might after the first few games of the season. A huge creative burden appears to have been placed on him, and it's not clear that he's fully up to the task - at least with the current personnel.

* That said, Arshavin created as many goalscoring opportunities as Cazorla did all game in his ten minutes on the pitch. Is a recall for the little Russian beyond the realms of possibility? Yes, he's lazy, and drifts out of games. But he has the ability to create something in a manner that very few other players do in the current line-up. His performance against Reading showed that he can still change games against Premier League opponents on his day.

* The not so subtle elephant in the room is the form of Podolski and Giroud. The latter may have had a barnstorming game against Reading on Wednesday, but did very little today. He should have scored at least one of the chances that he was presented with, and, I hate to say it, but Robin would have gotten at least one goal from the service that Giroud received. Podolski is now a problem. Shoved on the left he provided Santos with almost zero coverage again, while also producing nothing of note offensively - no shots on goal, and no key passes. I worried about Podolski's flakiness before he signed, and I really hope he shakes off this current poor run of form, because he is still the best hope for goals that we currently have in the squad.

* Of course, at half-time there were no substitutions. Despite a performance almost entirely lacking in redeeming features, there were no changes, as ever, until Ramsey appeared to be forced off with injury. Why would Wenger change the habit of a lifetime? He obviously knows best. Ramsey again came in for a lot of flak before coming off, but does anyone know his role in the team? Stuck out on the right of our attacking front-three, I struggle to find the tactical rationale for his deployment in this position, other than defensive solidity that would seemingly waste his main creative strengths. After a great 120 minutes against Reading, Walcott did nothing after coming on - perhaps a sobering reflection of the level of his ability.

* At 1-0 we were still in it, somehow, and after Rooney missed another penalty against us, there was a small feeling that we might be able to walk away from Manchester with a point. Unfortunately, we decided to let Evra head the ball in, unmarked, from the six-yard box. Again, whatever the wider problems at the club, the fact we CANNOT MARK is down to coaching. Our consistent propensity to self-destruct defensively comes down to Arsene, ultimately. It's he, more than anyone, who decides how important defence is to our team, and how we defend. And I feel that until we have a coach that cares as much about not conceding as scoring, we ain't going to win many trophies.

* The red card could have been prevented. The fact that Wilshere was still on the pitch was a reflection of the total desperation in terms our squad options. After totally overplaying him in his first full season at the club, Wenger looks set to run Jack into the ground again. It was a tired challenge, born from frustration that was totally foreseeable, especially after he'd already been warned by the ref. Cleverley was lucky not to go in similar circumstances for a rash tackle when he was on a yellow. But let's contrast the reaction of the two mangers. Ferguson immediately removed his youngster, recognizing that he'd become a liability. Arsene left Wilshere on when it was clear he was tired and frustrated, and he was sent off. Yes, the player has to take a huge chunk of responsibility. But this is the essence of MANAGEMENT. Ferguson is a better manager of his players than Wenger is, and has been for a very long time now.

* The late goal was a great finish from Cazorla, coming almost immediately after Giroud should have scored. Having not bothered to get out of first gear, United had failed to kill the game, and the goal did little than completely flatter us. The final score may have been 2-1, but United's domination was almost as complete as in the 8-2 last season. And at least on that day we had a wreckage of a team on show. This was ostensibly relatively close to our starting XI, and we did not compete at all.

* I do wonder how much of this season's strategy hinged on Diaby's fitness. Since he disappeared at the beginning of September, we have slumped. I'm by no means Diaby's biggest fan, but he brings something a bit different to our midfield that is otherwise composed of midget passing machines. If Diaby was meant to be Song's replacement, this strikes me as insane. Whatever his talents as a footballer, Diaby has now proved beyond doubt that he can't be relied upon to stay fit. On the long list of new players we need, I would argue something different in the centre of the park is needed as well. A big bid for Fellaini would not go amiss in January, even if it will obviously not happen.

* Since 2004 - which now seems like a generation away, let alone eight years - we have only beaten United four times in the league. This used to be a great rivalry - it isn't anymore. United have effortlessly pulled away from us for a variety of reasons. They have a better transfer policy than us, without having the resources of an oligarch. Fundamentally, they have a better manager and better coaches than us. To go back to my opening point, Ferguson gets more from his players than Wenger does. He is tactically flexible. He doesn't coddle his squad. While van Persie's decision to move there may hurt tremendously, it's completely understandable. We are no longer at United's level, and we will not challenge for the league title, again, this season. Our greatest chance of silverware appears to be the league cup, but given how we've cocked things up in recent years, that's far from being in the bag.

I tweeted at the end of the game that we have the highest paid manager in the league, the highest paid CEO (especially thanks to his ample bonus), and yet we have a team that is quite clearly not the best in the league. Why does there appear to be a recognition that you have to pay for quality at a management level, yet not among the playing staff? If United had consistently sold their best players for the last eight years, and replaced them with others of lower quality, while refusing to pay top wages, I'm sure they would be where we are now. Instead, they don't reward potential too soon, and they pay their top players, top wages. Until we make the myriad repairs that this squad requires, which have now been needed for years, this game no longer constitutes a real rivalry. United are simply better.

Gb.

Arsenal Go One Set Up: Seven Thoughts on Arsenal 7 Reading 5

2012-10-30T23:02:00.002-04:00

Whoever said the League Cup was boring? Seven thoughts for seven goals.

* I'm not going to lie, you must have something approaching clinical optimism if you truly believed that Arsenal would win when Reading scored their fourth goal. The first forty minutes or so were simply an utter shambles, and if the scoreline had stayed this way there would have been something approaching a meltdown after the game among the Arsenal fanbase. As it is, it's hard to know where to start with the goals we conceded. Koscielny, after looking so brilliant for much of last season, now looks all over the place. It's similarly difficult to believe that Djourou briefly looked like a defensive titan during the 2010-11 season. Whatever joy we take from the game, we should never concede four goals in a half in any competition.

* At the time, it was hard to know what to make of it, but Walcott's goal just before half-time was vital. It gave a little edge to proceedings when there had previously been total Reading dominance. Sometime it's easy to criticize the players for giving up too easily, and, even if we don't take anything else from Theo's performance tonight, he showed ability and desire when we 4-0 down to start the comeback. Thankfully, we can take much more, and he showed that he can be a game-changer and a game-winner when given the opportunity.

* The second half saw a series of moments that eventually swung the game in our favour. Giroud and Eisfeld helped turn the game when they arrived, with Giroud scoring a brilliant header almost immediately. Eisfeld looked superb for much of the game, and must surely be pushing for a place on the first team bench. The referee then decided to not send off Koscielny, despite two relatively clear cut occasions when he might have received a second yellow card. That he scored the third goal will not have gone unnoticed among Reading fans. Finally, with the clock running down, Reading decided to make a substitution to try and extinguish the game's final moments. Instead, it provided us with the extra minute or so we needed to score. It's hard to take, but this wasn't "Fergie time" - it was justifiable stoppage time given the substitution.

* What happened with the fourth goal wasn't entirely clear at the time. I couldn't tell if the ball had gone over the line, if the referee had played advantage for the handball, or if he had awarded Jenkinson the goal for his follow-up effort. Whatever happened, it was a goal in the end, so who cares, I suppose.

* Once we got the fourth, I was fairly confident that we'd get a fifth, and so it proved. Chamakh stroked the ball home very nicely from outside the area, and would lob the keeper with similar panache for our seventh in the very last minute from the game. Considering that the return of RvP began his demise at Arsenal, might Robin's departure signal his resurgence? Somehow, I doubt it, but at the least it was a decent showing while he was in the shop-window. If nothing else, he remains one of only two out-and-out strikers we have at the club. Similarly, Arshavin, for the second game in a row, looked busy in attack, and a character who could provide the team with an edge at some point in a game this year. It was his run and shot that led to the sixth goal, and it always warms my heart to see our most enigmatic of players light up a match.

* After completing this most epic of comebacks, we almost predictably didn't know what to do next, and conceded again. Yes the game was crazy, but there's no excuse for leaving two players unmarked in the six-yard box when you're leading a game. I"m not sure I could have handled penalties by this point, so it was a might relief to see us actually get the final two goals.

* So, what to make if it all? It's hard to say. A four-goal comeback is remarkable, and evidence of a fighting spirit within the squad - but why do we give up so many cheap goals with such frustrating regularity? I read a brilliant article by Jonathan Wilson in the Blizzard recently when he noted that Spain now prefer to control games and win by smaller margins, than blow teams away like they used to with the increased potential for conceding goals. By doing so, they've become more consistent, yet less spectacular, boring even, in the eyes of some. I sometimes feel a bizarre pining for the days of George Graham, when we would bore our way trophies. Winning 7-5 is amazing, but I would be more than happy if we won every other game 1-0 this season, starting with our trip to Old Trafford on Saturday.

Does Kroenke Really Care?: 14 Thoughts on Arsenal 1 QPR 0

2012-10-27T14:12:00.002-04:00

Not our finest 90 minutes, but a welcome return to form. Thoughts as follows:

* The big news was, of course, Wilshere's return. And while he was only on the pitch for about an hour, he did a lot to show just how much we have missed him over the last year. Jack can open up the midfield with both his passing, but also with the manner with which he carries the ball. He was our best player in the first half, and it was eminently sensible to take him off when we did, to ensure that he wasn't overstretched, as it were. I don't expect him to feature in the league cup match this week, and, instead, I'm sure he may feature against United next Sunday. With quite a few United fans saying that Cleverley is as good, if not better, than Wilshere, it will be a fascinating battle between the two of them. In the long-term, one has to wonder where Jack will play. In his first season, he actually played quite closely to where Arteta does now - but, especially after having been handed the number 10 shirt, a future further up the field is surely in his sights. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.

* The other big news was the return of Sagna, which was largely, and weirdly, unheralded. Jenkinson has done well in Bak's absense, but let's not kid ourselves - Sagna is a better player. Perhaps not a much better player anymore, but a better player nonetheless. While Jenkinson has been largely solid defensively, Sagna is better going forward. Indeed, based on the stats, you could say that Sagna completed about twice as many crosses on average last season, as Jenkinson did in his starts so far this year. In the long-term, Jenkinson has established himself as a credible successor to Sagna, and I would not be surprised at all if Bak left next summer, but Sagna is our first choice RB.

* The first half wasn't much to write home about. We dominated possession, and tested Cesar a few times with shots from distance, but never really looked like scoring. It's the familiar story of a team setting themselves out for a draw, and we quickly looked short on ideas.

* Indeed, I was struck by how one-dimensional our attack and midfield looked for much of the game. Without van Persie's movement, and without the pace of the likes of Theo, Chamberlain, and Gervinho, QPR could sit back and watch us pass ourselves to death. Giroud may have been involved in the goal (and really should have scored from his header) but he has simply not come close to replicating the general goal threat that van Persie provided us with last season, and I don't mean just in terms of actually scoring goals. RvP dragged players all over the pitch, and provided a barrel-full of assists. Without van Persie, we often just look flat in attack.

* Which brings me to Podolski, I suppose. I think he is a good, often great player, but he hasn't quite been the goal threat that I hoped. There is also, clearly, confusion over his best position. For Germany, he often plays wide on the left, while for Koln last season he usually played more centrally. He is probably the best finisher we have at the club at the moment, but we still haven't quite worked out how to play him. This then leads into the quandry about substitutions. He does usually deserve to be the player taken off, but, in doing so, we are denying ourselves the one guy who we really want the ball to fall to in the box when a big chance does arrive. A solution to the Poldi problem needs to be found.

* I'm not going to say something as stupid as "Cazorla is overrated" but his inability to take chances is now becoming a worry. My good friend 7amkickoff.com told me that Cazorla has had 38 shots so far this season, and yet he has only scored two goals. It would be one thing if all these shots were pinged, hopeful opportunities from outside the area, but he has now blown clear chances, such as against Chelsea and again today when the ball fell to him in the area. He even had enough time today to steady himself before smashing the ball over the bar. Considering how composed he looks in his passing, it's utterly bizarre that he seems to go to pieces when he takes a shot. Cazorla needs to score more often, in short.

* Arsene appeared to recognise how one-dimensional our play was, and put on players with pace and trickery - Walcott and Gervinho. Unfortunately, it was almost predictable that Gervinho would injure himself given his recent form, and Walcott also didn't produce a great deal after coming on. The problem is, we need players like this, but who are better. We do need pacy players, and dribbly players when the game is tight. But when we introduce players who have these attributes, but who also struggle with, y'know, ball control, it's not quite the same. We seem to now be in a bizarre situation where we actually have a large number of attacking players, but all of them are quite average, in their own unique ways. It's a side of the team we really need to strengthen in January, but I am not optimistic.

* The game was meandering towards a painful 0-0 draw when Mbia lost the plot and swung a leg out at Vermaelen. After a series of poor decisions, I fully expected the ref to bottle this one as well, but he did the right thing and produced a red card. As @Arseblog_Tom pointed out, there was the possibility that this could have made the final minutes even harder, if anything, with QPR now fully content to put their remaining ten men behind the ball.

* Luckily, we did manage to press home the extra man advantage, as QPR were left short in the box when we finally scored. Arteta was clearly offside - an example of poor refereeing in our favour that will undoubtedly be forgotten almost instantly. Still, it was good to see Mikel "should be captain" Arteta with a goal, as he one of the few that really gives his all for 90 minutes.

* QPR promptly woke up after the goal, and should have equalized in the remaining ten minutes or so. Granero took advantage of Vermaelen AGAIN stepping up and leaving a man free behind him to nip into the area, and collect a through ball. He should have scored. Similarly, Mackie then bulldozed his way into the box, only for Jazz Hands to come up with a big save.

* I should say - fair play to Vito, he probably won us the game with that stop. However, seeing Cesar pull off save after save at the other end was galling, considering we could have acquired him on a free last summer. Yes he would have been on high wages, but he would have been a good foil to push Szcz as he (hopefully) grows into our number 1. Instead, we've had the Mannone "show" for the last two months, which has cost us points.

* Santos has come in for a lot of flak recently, after being largely blamed for the goals against Schalke. No matter that Vermaelen did his "stepping up/leave a world class striker unmarked" trick for the first goal, and that Affelay was completed unmarked for the second - Santos was entirely to blame. There's been a lot of talk of Santos being an Eboue Mark II, which is far of the mark, in my opinion. As I posted earlier on Twitter, Santos led the team in interceptions today, and completed 4/5 crosses, while Sagna only completed 1/9. I'm not trying to say that Santos is a world class player - he's not. But it frustrates me to see players like Vermaelen so infrequently criticised for poor defending, while the likes of Santos are pummelled.

* Ultimately, I couldn't bring myself to blog after the last two games, because I couldn't muster the energy to be relentlessly negative about the team, which both performances warranted. Today wasn't much better, but at least the team played till the end, created much more chances, and probably would have won by more if a lesser keeper had been involved. A win is a win, and sometimes you have to start with a scrappy performance to move forward. Hopefully we can edge out Reading on Tuesday, and try and build a little momentum before we play Man Utd away.

* But it is hard to be enthusiastic about the state of the club at the moment. What was clear from the AGM on Thursday, is that certain, key board members hold the Arsenal fanbase in contempt. Peter Hill-Wood's comments annoy me, but he is a powerless dinosaur, who'll soon be gone. It's the attitude of Kroenke that gets me more than anything. We aren't a "franchise", we're a club. In fact, we're a major insitution in one of the largest cities in the world, with millions of fans worldwide. We aren't the Denver Nuggets, or the St Louis Rams, or any of the other shitty franchises he owns - we're far, far bigger than that, and we deserve better than an owner who appears perplexed over why he has to attend and speak at an AGM, and why fan groups become annoyed when he openly lies about having met with them.

The reason why we have seen the last three performances is that Arsenal have had an extremely poor transfer strategy for what is now amounting to a very long time, and which appears to stretch over the majority of time that Kroenke has been involved at the club. When you consistently reward mediocre players with long deals and large wages, sell your best players, and replace them with others that aren't as good, disjointed, frustrating performances will arise as a result. All I can hope is that Kroenke recognises at some level the current frustration among the Arsenal fanbase, and that he realises that we can't go on like this if we want to maintain our status as a club that realistically challenges for the top trophies in Europe and England. In short, I hope we don't have to wait until Kroenke starts to get hurt in the pocket, before matters on the field are improved.

Gb.

Slices of Humble Pie: 12 Thoughts on West Ham 1 Arsenal 3

2012-10-07T15:43:00.001-04:00

A good win in a frenetic London derby. Thoughts, including slices of humble pie, as follows:

* I liked the line-up. I think Ramsey has done enough to warrant a start - indeed, in all honesty, I would play him before Diaby even if both were fully fit. Ramsey may not have Diaby's glue-like ability to get the ball to stick to his feet while he runs, but I just feel that Ramsey contributes more, both defensively and offensively, to games on a more regular basis. Also, he seems to be showing that he can recover from a big injury, in a way that Diaby has not been able to do. As for the rest of the team, it was good to see Per back, and to have a much more balanced forward line, with a more traditional type of striker leading up top.

* We started very well. We took the game to West Ham, perhaps knowing that Allardyce would try and see if he could get his team to bully us out of the game from an early stage. We passed the ball slickly, and only a couple of good saves and blocks kept us from scoring. However, there was a fair amount of the ball being simply thrown into the box without much thought, and despite all our possession, I felt we should have created more clear-cut chances during this period than we did.

*So, after our bright, but goalless start, it was almost inevitable that we would concede. The goal was both stupid and sublime. Ramsey will rightly take a fair amount of flak for letting Diame ease past him, but neither Jenkinson nor Mertesacker really covered themselves in defensive glory either. The finish itself was brilliant, and for once you can't really blame Jazz Hands for not making a save, such was the power and whip with which the ball was hit. But Diame had far too much time to line up his finish. It just goes to show, I suppose, how good so many players are in top-flight football, when they're actually given enough time to express themselves.

*After the goal, we appeared a little shaken, and for a while it seemed like we would concede a second. It was during this period that Phil Dowd made one of his multiple blunders, not giving Diame a second yellow for an offence that clearly warranted a booking. To go off on a tangent for a moment, it's really about time that the FA reviewed their policies that surround bookings for celebrations. It seems odd that a player can often get away without a card for scything down a player, but should they, heaven forbid, want to celebrate with their fans, or whip off their shirts in a moment of over-exuberance, it's always, always, a yellow card. Booking people needlessly makes it harder to caution them when they actually deserve a card - it's pretty simple, really.

* Despite Dowd, we hung on in there, and finally made the breakthrough when Giroud got on the end of a Poldi cross. Humble pie moment #1 for me - I had said moments before that Giroud always seemed a yard behind the pace. This time he clearly wasn't. Collins should deal with Podolski's cross, but Giroud, like any good forward should do, gambles that the ball will reach him. The result is a near tap-in, but one manufactured through positional intelligence - it was great to see. I thought Giroud had a terrific game, in all. His shooting was accurate, with four out of eight attempts on target, he held the ball up well, and he played a wonderful pass to Theo to set up our second. I'm still not convinced that he's a twenty goal-a-season striker, but he now has 2 goals and 4 assists in the somewhat limited minutes he's had this year. He is proving to be a useful player.

* The goal was also an example of what can happen if you put accurate crosses into dangerous areas. Gibbs and Jenkinson have both started the season very well, but they did not cross the ball well during the game yesterday. One of Gibbs' six crosses was accurate, while none of Jenkinson's three attempts found a player. Now, accurate crossing does depend on other players getting into good positions. But Podolski showed why he is a world class talent with his pass.

* The rest of the game could have gone either way. Right after we scored, some dodgy defending from a corner led to the ball falling to Nolan after Jenkinson completely switched off. Nolan prodded the ball wide when he perhaps should have scored, and it would have been interesting to see if we would have recovered from going behind just before half-time. As it was, the momentum was with us at the

* As you may have noticed by now, I don't think it was a very good defensive performance yesterday. Mertesacker may have been part of the balls-up that led to the first goal, but he was the one relatively solid player in a back five that otherwise frequently looked all at sea. Carroll won an absurd 17 aerial duels yesterday, and if anyone else on the West Ham team could have finished the resulting chances then we'd have been in big trouble. Carroll isn't a £35m player, but he is effective at what he does, especially in a system like Allardyce's. I don't think we dealt with him at all, and, especially after last week, it seems we may have been a bit premature in talking about a new culture of defensive solidity at the club.

* My second piece of humble pie was served up by Walcott. With West Ham pushing forward a little as they became more confident in their attacks, space opened up behind their defensive line, which Theo gleefully exploited. His goal was an absolutely beautiful finish, and, without wanting to read too much into these things, his celebration did say a lot about the passion he feels for Arsenal. I simply don't understand him as a player - at times, he seems unable to control the ball as he runs with it. At others, he can slip the ball past the keeper in a truly Henry-like fashion. It remains to be seen whether he'll sign his new deal, and I still think it's fairly unlikely that he will do so. But, for all his frustrating tendencies, he can be a game-changer, and those are always useful to have around.

* Humble pie piece #3 was served courtesy of Santi Cazorla. His goal was an outstanding strike, as he basically wrong-footed the keeper with his eyes from outside the area, before pinging the ball into the other side of the net. I maintain, however, what I said shortly before his goal - Cazorla could be more accurate with his shooting. He currently has two goals from 33 shots on goal in all competitions this season. It's nice to see a player who's willing to shoot from distance, but I have the feeling that he might have scored a few more for us already this year, given the positions he's been getting into. Just consider that Cesc has scored 3 goals from 12 shots in La Liga and the Champions League this year. Cazorla is a wonderful player, and has done a huge amount to lift the club since his arrival. A slight improvement in his shots to goals ratio is surely not too much to ask, is it?

* Overall, a good win, which was slightly less comfortable than the scoreline suggested. The last few games has seen us revert to giving away silly goals again, which is a little disappointing, but at least we have the mental fortitude to fight back from losing positions in a place like Upton Park. Looking at our fixture list, we've come through a difficult September, and it would seem to me that all of our next four games are winnable. If we can't beat teams like Norwich away, or QPR at home, then I can't see us troubling the top spot in the table this year. Let's hope we can use the win yesterday as the springboard to a good run of form.

* Lastly, when was the last time we wore a kit in three consecutive seasons? Given Villa play in almost identical colours, I imagine we will even see the yellow kit again this year.

Gb.

A Defeat Entirely of our Own Making: Thoughts on Arsenal 1 Chelsea 2

2012-09-29T15:33:00.003-04:00

After two enjoyable goal-fests, a horrible result against a horrible team. Thoughts as follows:

* Let's get straight to it - the decision to drop Mertesacker was absurd. Utterly, utterly absurd. I don't want to try and paint Per as some Baresi-esque defensive titan, but he has been our best centre-back this season. The argument can be made, and I'm sure it partly lay behind Arsene's decision, that Koscielny and Vermaelen were more tactically suited to Chelsea's collection of smaller, technical players, especially now the nightmare of having to face Didier Drogba is thankfully a thing of the past. This argument is, frankly, rubbish. If you have a player who's on the absolute top of his game, you play him. It reminded me a little of two incidents in Wenger's reign. Firstly, when Arshavin was dropped for the semi-final of the FA Cup in 2009, and secondly, when Senderos was dropped for the champions league tie against AC Milan. The first was a supposedly tactical decision (Diaby was the beneficiary); the second simply seemed to be a case of dropping an in-form player, as soon as Wenger's preferred player became available. Both incidents send out the troubling message that Arsene has preferred personnel within the squad, regardless of current form. And neither decision led to a positive result.

We saw repeatedly when Gallas and Toure played together in defence that having two similar centre-backs, who both rely on recovery pace, doesn't work. You need to have players who compliment each other, in order to make a team that is fully whole. Instead, Wenger has made Vermaelen captain, despite the fact he should not be an automatic starter. This leaves AW with the choice of either Koscielny and Mertesacker, and I simply feel that Arsene will always favour a Koscielny-style player. Let's hope today was a wake-up call, because I don't think we would have lost the game if Per had played (or at least not have lost it in the manner we did). I think Arsene tinkered our defence to destruction today, in short.

* Both Vermaelen and Koscielny had very poor games. Koscielny, owing to the fact he was "marking" Torres for the first goal, and essentially scored an own goal for the second, will legitimately come in for criticism. But Vermalen was equally as poor. He did his usual running around like a headless chicken routine, giving away needless free-kicks in dangerous positions - which led directly to the second goal. I also thought he struggled with Torres throughout the game. For me, Vermaelen is our third-best centre-back, and has been for sometime. I've always loved his spirit and penchant for getting vital goals, but he is simply not as good at defending as Koscielny and Mertesacker, who should be our first choice partnership in central defence. Arsene now has genuine dilemma over who to pick, but it is one of his own making.

* Here's a thought - it's probably not a great idea to make a player that suffers from multiple, chronic injuries the lynchpin of your midfield. I've had it with Diaby. In fact, I'd had it with him last year, before his 'blistering start' to this season in which he's already been injured twice, and it's not even October. That is ludicrous. He is not a proper football player. Get rid of him, and buy someone we can actually rely on to play on a regular basis.

* Mannone had very little to do today, but he should have done better on both goals. For the first, he actually backs away from the shot - I really can't work out what he was doing. For the second, yes he was unsighted by Koscielny, but in those situations you need a dominate goalkeeper who come and claim the ball when it's pinging around the box. Instead, he remained rooted to his line, doing his best "jazz hands" impression. I was struck today, while watching the Spurs vs Man Utd game, that the four goalkeepers involved in that match are arguably better than all of the keepers we currently have at the club. Better goalkeeping could have turned today's game into a draw, and last week's match into a win. We should have invested in this position over the summer. Instead we have a selection of dubious reserve keepers, with Szcz still at this stage only an unproven talent. By my calculations, we haven't had a goalkeeper that I've fully tusted since Jens in 2006-07. That is unforgivable.

* Gervinho scored a brilliant goal. That cannot be denied. He controlled a pass that was fizzed in at speed, and smashed it past Cech. But did he do much else? I'm not sure. He also showed a horrible penchant for being caught offside, which he needs to cut out of his game.

* Still, once Gervinho had scored, the spirit of the team, and the crowd, was palpably lifted, and I felt confident that we would score again. We started brightly in the second half, but were quickly deflated by the ridiculous second goal that we conceded. After that, much of the rest of the performance was thoroughly, and perhaps shamefully, underwhelming.

* Something happened today that I've been worried about since the first game of the season - Cazorla was nullified by Chelsea, and, with it, so were we, by and large. Cazorla has been given such an important role in the team that I worry teams will focus on trying to stop him in the coming weeks. In short, i wouldn't be surprised to see him go through a little dip in form, after his blazing start to the season. I also thought that Ramsey, after such a strong performance in Manchester, disappointed.

* Our three best players were Arteta, Jenkinson, and Gibbs. Praising Arteta has become almost a cliche by now, but he really seemed to be one of the few players trying to inject some urgency into proceedings during the later stages of the game. Our full-backs have perhaps been the revelation of this season. Neither of the goals were due to their errors, and both looked strong coming forward as well. At this stage, Gibbs is rightly keeping Santos on the bench. And with contract renewal discussions also apparently beginning with Sagna, it may be interesting to see if Jenkinson keeps his place in the team, given Sagna's imminent return. A small word for Chamberlain, who had his strongest league performance of the season. He provided an excellent assist, even if, by the end, it didn't seem if he really knew where he was meant to be playing on the pitch.

* Theo and Giroud were introduced as subs slightly earlier than last week, which is something, but neither particularly impressed. Theo, according to whoscored.com, only touched the ball nine times after he came on. Not a great advert for a new contract. Giroud seemed to be more involved, but still missed a great chance at the end. On Twitter, Orbinho revealed that Giroud has now had eleven shots on goal in the league, and only one has been on target. That is not good enough. Giroud may well turn into a handy player for us - but he's clearly not a top striker. I can't see him scoring over 20 goals a year.He's fine as a back-up player, but his inability to be clinical in front of goal has now cost us multiple points in the league. Worrying.

* Perhaps just as worrying is Podolski's almost total anonymity in our last two matches. I think he has been great in general so far this season, but he's clearly not comfortable at leading the line in the way that van Persie used to do. At the moment, our striker-less attack can look great on some days, and utterly toothless on others.

* Overall, this was largely a defeat of our own making. Chelsea are, frankly, not a particularly great team at present. They are nowhere near the terrifying outfit that Mourinho put together - they are an eminently beatable side. Today, thanks to poor defending, we more or less handed them the win. The game reminded me a bit of our 2-1 home defeat against Man Utd in January this year, where defensive incompetency and poor tactical decisions also cost us the game.

If we're serious about challenging for the league, this is the type of game you win, or at least draw. Instead, there are areas of concern all over the pitch. At our worst, we still look like a team that struggles to not make stupid mistakes, and has now lost the trump card that was van Persie. With Spurs also looking handy today against Man United, I would say that we're headed towards another battle for fourth place this year, and another season of not seriously challenging for the title.

* Lastly - John Terry is a despicable human being, and the four game ban he received from the FA is an insult to anyone who is serious about removing racism and racial abuse from the game. And yet many Chelsea fans continue to laud him as a hero. It's a sad state of affairs, and the sooner he retires for good, and the game is finally rid of him, the better.

Gb.

A Good Point, or A Missed Opportunity? 10 Thoughts on Manchester City 1 Arsenal 1.

2012-09-23T19:31:00.002-04:00

A engrossing match at the Etihad today. Thoughts as follows:

* I was surprised by the line-ups when I saw them. For City, playing Aguero behind Dzeko seemed like a classic case of trying to awkwardly shoe-horn your in-form striker into the side, at the expense of the team's overall coherency. While Dzeko has been banging in the goals recently (I maintain he's underrated) I was relieved to not see the trickier Tevez in the starting line-up. The selection of Sinclair in such a big game was more bizarre, and he was hauled off at half-time, having not done very much at all. In terms of us, it was good to see Koz back in the side, even if it was only because of Vermaelen being stricken by flu. The other surprise was Ramsey in for the Ox, and I think this was ultimately a good move (more on that in a bit).

* We dominated the first half, and should have gone in ahead. We now have the ability to knock the ball around very quickly, without things descending into the tiki-taka mess that occurred so frequently during the Cesc years. That said, we missed having a central focus to our attacks. Podolski was nominally playing as a centre forward, but dropped deep so often, or onto the wings, that it wasn't always clear where the ball should be going in the final third. It also meant that we didn't really test Hart as much as we should have done.

* Our best chance of the half fell to Gervinho, who was put through by a beautiful pass from Ramsey. Gervinho's first touch was so heavy that it would have collapsed in on itself and become a black hole had Hart not smothered it. It summed up a frustrating performance from the Ivorian. After two productive games, he reverted to type, and squandered a number of good opportunities. In particular, not only did he blast over late on in the match when presented with a clear sight of goal, he also failed to put in the much better placed Giroud. Gervinho clearly has a great deal of ability, but he must be more consistent and clinical if we're going to rely on him as a first choice player.

* The same can definitely be said for Diaby. After a poor performance against Montpellier, I thought he was poor again against City. By the second half, he was repeatedly giving the ball away, and taking those extra, unnecessary touches that so often cost us possession. Yes, he gives us some much needed height and presence in midfield - but I thought we improved when he exited the game, and he seemed to be the flaky Diaby of old, unfortunately.

* After a mostly great first half in which we failed to press home our advantage, we conceded in an utterly needless fashion. I've been waiting for a big mistake from Mannone, and, unfortunately, here it was. The goal was nothing to do with zonal marking - Mannone shouldn't have come for the ball, but, because he did, he basically prevented defenders from challenging Lescott in the air. If he stays on his line, it's a relatively routine save. Mannone did pull off a number of good reaction saves later in the game - particularly from Kompany just after we'd scored. But goalkeeper is, unfortunately, quickly becoming a problem position at the club.

* We were lethargic for much of the start of the second half, and I worried that the flaky Arsenal of old had reappeared. One player who looked good throughout, however, was Ramsey. This was one of his best performances for a long time, and a huge weight seems to have been lifted from his shoulders with the signing of Cazorla. Freed from the burden of being a Cesc-like playmaker, Ramsey has greater freedom to make those penetrative runs he's so good at, which often end with a good pass, and a shot on goal. Personally, I would have hauled off Diaby much earlier, and put on Giroud - Ramsey, Arteta, and Cazorla looked largely in control in midfield, but they needed a central outlet to get the ball to, which Podolski was not providing.

* Giroud and Walcott didn't do much with the ball once they come on. Theo appeared to largely give the ball away with the few touches he had, in fact.But they did help to further change the shape of the game. City defended even deeper, and our attacking midfielders also had a little more time and space thanks to Giroud's presence in the centre. Indeed, I think the substitutions clearly invigorated the team, and I wish Arsene would change things earlier in games where we clearly need a spark to get things going.

* Koscielny returned for his first game of the season and was superb. Given that Mertesacker was, I would argue, even better, (and my MOTM) the dilemma that I talked about earlier in the season has now reared its head. Given that Vermaelen is captain, one of Koscielny or Mertesacker has to be dropped for the game against Chelsea, barring a midweek injury. That's not fair, or good for the team. It will be very interesting to see who lines-up against Torres et al. next weekend. Ferguson has successfully rotated his centre-backs so far this season, and Arsene will have to show similar ingenuity.

* A little more on Mertesacker, who has been awesome in every game so far this season. It's wonderful to see a defender who truly knows how to read the game, and who stops other players through calm, well-timed interceptions. Frankly, he's undroppable at the moment. So, despite his goal, I think Koscielny may well find himself back on the bench next Saturday.

* Ultimately, was today a point gained or two points lost? It's always great to get a late goal, and Man City are unbeaten in their last 32 games at the Etihad. Of those 32 games, they've won 29. It may well be the hardest ground in the Premier League for a travelling team to get a result. The draw also highlighted the great team spirit that now appears to exist within the squad. But, at the end, I felt this was a game we should have won. To go to City's ground and largely dominate, with 59 percent of total possession, is remarkable, and our dominance should have been translated into a win. It's great to keep our unbeaten start to the season, but today might ultimately go down as a missed opportunity.

A Good Result, and Lots to Talk About: 12 Thoughts on Montpellier 1 Arsenal 2

2012-09-18T23:20:00.000-04:00

I have to admit it - I am jealous if you made the game. Arsenal winning, and a trip to the south of France to boot? It surely doesn't get much better than that. Anyway, a close win, and lot's to talk about.

* The selection - I'll talk about this more in my summing up, but I was very surprised when I saw the team sheet. In many respects, I can't really argue with the team that Arsene picked - it won the game after all. But I though tonight might be a chance to let the likes of Santos, Koscielny, and Ramsey get a run out, and maybe rotate a few other players in the squad as well. Given how narrow the victory was, it was probably wise to start with our best XI - but it was clear that a few players looked knackered by the end. More on that in a bit.

* I thought it was a penalty, and Vermaelen can't really have too many complaints. His game is an all-action affair, often based around busting a gut to make crucial tackles and interceptions, rather than the more composed performances that we see from Mertesacker. Unfortunately, not all of Vermaelen's tackles in and around the box are going to come off, and at least he conceded a penalty in a game we ultimately won. Still, it's an occasionally worrying aspect of his game.

* Note to all penalty takers in Europe - we get it, you watched Pirlo at the Euros. Very few people can take a Panenka without looking insufferably smug, so stop doing it please.

* It says a lot about the spirit of this new team that there was very little wallowing after we conceded. The team just got back up and put itself in the lead. Podolski's goal was a beauty - intricate passing created the chance, and Lukas was clinical in front of goal. As a I said on Sunday, I've never been fully convinced by Podolski before he arrived at Arsenal, but his effort, and his ability to put away chances have been brilliant to watch. He's quickly becoming a favourite player, especially because he seems to recognize the importance of interacting with the fans as well.

* The passing before the goal featured, unsurprisingly, Cazorla, who is now seemingly integral to our ability to direct traffic in the final third of the pitch. My growing concern with Cazorla is that he is being deployed in a manner which makes him very hard to replace - he looked very tired by the end of the match tonight, and he will undoubtedly play 90 minutes on the weekend, after playing almost every minute of the season so far. Let's hope we aren't burning such a great player into the ground.

* The other heartening part of the Podolski goal was the lovely final pass from Giroud. He may not have a goal to his name, yet, but he now has an assist, and it was a good one. He showed great strength to hold off the defender, and a deft touch to flick the ball through to Poldi. Interestingly, while he did not have a shot on target, he did win seven aerial duels during the game. As I've noted previously, Giroud is undoubtedly not going to be the guy that replaces RvP's goals, but he may well be a very useful player to have in the final third nonetheless - his combination of strength, height, and quick feet may even be the long vaunted "plan b" that we've talked about for so long. That said, I would be tempted to start him against Coventry, if he doesn't score against Man City, because he needs to get off the mark.

* Gervinho scored again, and it's hard not to get excited about his peformances in the last two games. You get the impression that he's a confidence player, and it's a welcome return to form from a player who looked lost in the second half of last season - great to see.

* The other notable aspect of the Gervinho goal was the lovely assist from Jenkinson. I've felt for a while now that Jenks has the ability to be a solid full-back, but I was worried that he might not be able to adequately replace the attacking threat that Sagna brings to our right-flank. Well, tonight he showed that he might just be developing that side of his game. A few more performances like that, and Arsene may have a genuine selection dilemma on his hand when Bak returns from injury.

* The second half was a pretty painful affair. If we're being honest, Montpellier should have equalised. In particular, Belhanda squandered a great opportunity, with an almost free shot on goal within the six yard box late on in the game. I suppose that's the natural karmic response to a panenka.

*In seriousness, it seemed that as the game wore on, our midfield looked increasingly ragged, repeatedly leaving our defence exposed with sloppy passes. Diaby, in particular, almost completely fell apart in the second half, and made a few very tired challenges for which he might well have received a second yellow card. I know he was returning from injury, but it's performances like today's that make me a little uneasy about the hype surrounding Diaby. He really struggled in the match tonight, and I was very surprised to see him complete 90 minutes, especially with Ramsey and Coquelin on the bench.

* One thing I thought I'd never say is this - Mannone looked pretty assured between the sticks. Late on, he plucked the ball out of the air when under pressure, when I fully expected him to drop it. Perhaps all those bruising nights in the Championship have paid off? I still don't think he's the answer, and you get the feeling that an enormous clanger is just around the corner, but with Szcz both injured and looking uncertain in his one league performance this season, maybe, just maybe, Mannone may become a more permanent fixture in the starting XI. I doubt it, though.

* Overall then, a good win. We rode our luck heavily during the second half, but we're coming back from the south of France with three points, and it sets us up very nicely in the group.

My one concern remains squad depth. I think we have a better starting eleven at our disposal than I thought on transfer deadline day, especially with Diaby and Wilshere apparently having turned the corner on their fitness issues. But players like Cazorla, Arteta, and Podolski have already logged a lot of hours so far this season, and Wenger seems reluctant, at the moment, to change a winning team. That's fair enough, I suppose - I'm not going to complain while we're winning. But there will come a point when we have to shake things up a bit - and let's hope that it's not because of fatigue-induced injuries.

Gb.

At Sixs, but Not Quite Sevens: 12 Thoughts on Arsenal 6 Southampton 1

2012-09-16T14:27:00.000-04:00

Well, that was enjoyable wasn't it? Thoughts as follows.

* Let me get some negatives out of the way first. Overall, I found the game reminiscent of the 6-0 drubbing we meted out to Blackpool in 2010. In both cases, we were playing newly promoted teams at the start of the season, and, in both cases, naive defending led us to score a barrel-full of goals. Yet, after a promising start, the 2010 season ultimately ended in that dreadful three month period following the Carling Cup final, when we basically stopped winning games. In short, the season is still very young, and, impressive as yesterday was, let's not rush to conclusions about this team just yet.

* The other negative from yesterday, which has to be mentioned, was Szczesny's performance. The cherry on top of yesterday's delicious cake would have been another clean sheet - instead, we handed them a goal (almost literally). While Jenkinson did block Szcz's path, Szcz should have cleared him out and caught the ball. Instead, and weirdly for a keeper who is so confident, Szcz seemed to hesitate, and dropped the ball through indecisiveness. One wonders if he's fully fit (and if he wasn't, it says a lot about what Arsene thinks of Mannone). The other negative from Szcz's performance was a rash of poor kicks in the second half - an area of his game he really needs to improve upon. It's sad to say, but, as it currently stands, Szcz is now the weak link in our massively improved defence. He clearly has bags of potential, but I know no longer feel as confident about him between the sticks as I once did.

* After so many games/years in which we've started slowly, it was great to see us race out of the blocks, and end the game before half-time. Winning games in the second-half is great, but it's obviously a good thing if we can conserve a little energy by smashing our opponents in the first half.

* It's easy to say that own goals are "lucky/unlucky", but, really, they often aren't. Both the own goals that Southampton conceded yesterday were caused by us pressurizing them into making mistakes.

* It's easy to force teams into making mistakes if you've got a guy like Podolski on your team. I admit to being skeptical about his signing, but, so far, I am more than happy to be proved wrong. I knew that Poldi would get us some goals, but what I hadn't anticipated was the sheer level of effort he puts into his performances. The first goal, which will go down as an own goal, and which came about from a shot by Gibbs, was all about Podolski. He battled in midfield to win the ball, he slipped the ball through the defence, and he harried the defender into putting the ball in his own net. Top stuff. His free kick was an absolute beauty as well. After several years of living under the myth that van Persie was good at free kicks, it's nice to have someone who doesn't just put the ball straight into the wall/the stands.

* Even more than Podolski, perhaps, the performance of Gervinho yesterday was wonderful to see. After struggling for several months now, Gerv seemed to revel in a more central role. While he can dribble with reasonable effectiveness, maybe he's better in a position where he can play more instinctively, and smash the ball on target more frequently.

* That Giroud didn't start the game, and only made a brief substitute appearance, put paid to the hopes of some that he would break his duck against Southampton, like Mssrs Bergkamp and Henry. Now, firstly, Giroud will never, ever be as good as those two. He might well start banging in a few goals eventually, but let's be reasonable, eh? I fully expect him to start against Montpellier, and I would even bet on him scoring on Tuesday. One does wonder at the moment, though, if he will be a regular part of the starting XI this season. I have a feeling that he may start more games away from home than at the Emirates, as he is demonstrably good at holding up the ball, which will help us relieve pressure in away games.

* Coquelin did pretty well in midfield, coming in for Diaby. Diaby is meant to be travelling to Montpellier, so maybe, for once, his minor injury is actually minor. I don't think Coquelin is quite ready to regularly start league games at the moment. Indeed, I think it was notable that after a shaky start to the second half, the introduction of Ramsey for Coquelin seemed to shore things up.

* Ramsey's performance was his fourth impressive cameo of the season, and he was desperately close to scoring a goal. Relieved of the burden of replacing Fabregas and Nasri, Ramsey seems to have regained a little bit of confidence in his game, and, as I mentioned above, I think he helped us regain dominance in midfield after a slightly dicey first twenty minutes of the second half. I expect Ramsey to start in Montpellier, and I think he may well surprise a few people this season who have been too quick to write him off

* Oh, Theo. Aside from a well taken goal, his cameo was laughably inept at times - the high/low point being when he failed to play in Giroud who was open in the middle of the box. It's hard to ask for the wages that he's, allegedly, asking for if you can't even dislodge an 18 year old in the side. I actually think that Chamberlain was a little too quiet once more, but he's certainly better than Theo at present. I really don't know how the Theo situation will be resolved, because, on current form, he simply does not deserve a bumper new deal.

* A quick note on the defence - they all played well, once more. Vermaelen seems to have stepped up a gear this season, and it was heartening to see Arsene stick with Mertesacker, who should surely now be first choice. Gibbs and Jenkinson also played very well, and Gibbs is making sure that Santos can't get in the side.

* So, let the good times roll. When Arsene's teams play like that, it's hard to begrudge him a new contract, which is supposedly on the table. So far this season we have shown great defensive solidity, and we now also appear to have an attacking edge as well. It helps when you have a magician like Cazorla pulling the strings, who, at the moment, looks like a more efficient version of Fabregas. It's also interesting that our best formation may well be a 4-6-0, or a 4-3-3-0, if you catch my drift. After relying so much on one striker last season, we've almost dispensed with the position this year - a potentially genius strategy. It's still too early to tell how this season will go, but days like yesterday should be enjoyed regardless of where we finish in May.

Six Quick Thoughts on Liverpool 0 Arsenal 2

2012-09-03T20:00:00.002-04:00

Most of the main points from yesterday's game have already been covered, so here are five quick thoughts to chew on:

* The defence remains brilliant, and it's a team effort. Mertesacker made several impeccable interceptions, and continued to disprove the notion that you need huge amounts of pace to be a top defender in the Premier League. Jenkinson put in another good shift, even if his lack of attacking prowess means that Sagna will get his place back when he recovers from injury. Gibbs occasionally pushed a bit too far forward leaving our left-side exposed, but Podolski filled-in admirably. Indeed, the most important thing to take from our three consecutive clean-sheets, is that we're defending as a unit. The idea that we simply needed new players to become better in defence is simply not true - the ability to prevent goals is as much about the willingess of a team to act like a unit, and have a commitment to defending as a whole, as it is about individual moments of brilliance. Steve Bould has obviously had a role in this, and one might ask why members of the famous back four were not brought into leading coaching positions earlier. But I also think that Arsene may have been stung by the record number of goals we conceded last season, and he appears to have acted decisively.

* Arteta was absolutely pivotal to our performance. I am frankly terrified of the prospect of him picking up an injury, because we just do not have anyone else in the squad that can do that job as well, except, perhaps Jack Wilshere. Diaby rightly won a lot of plaudits for his peformance, and it's incredibly heartening to see him finish 90 minutes again. But, for me, Arteta' selflessness and discipline is a site to behold. Quite possibly my favourite player in the current squad - a real team player.

* If one thing has not been noted recently, it's that the performances of Oxlade-Chamberlain have become much quieter. He also put in an decent shift defensively, but it's now been a while since he really provided a moment of brilliance, or a spark within a game. He's young, and we should not expect too much of him. He's also a considerably better option than either Theo or Gervinho at the moment. Hopefully he can score a couple against his alma mater in two weeks time.

* Cazorla was fantastic again, and fully deserved a goal, even if he was assisted by Reina. His interplay with Podolski was brilliant at times, and I think we'll see those two link up for a lot more goals this season. Cazorla has been given a really interesting role in the team - almost a free role behind the forward. It's a huge responsibility to take on, and he has risen to the occasion. What we must not do is make our attacking play overly reliant on him, and turn him into a Fabregas mark II. At the moment, defenses are struggling to deal with him, but I don't want to get to a situation where if teams stop Cazorla, they stop Arsenal.

* As I've already said, I though Podolski was fantastic - a brilliant goal, coupled with a willingness to defend. Giroud, well, he's getting into good positions, but he now badly needs a goal. It's all very well saying he needs time to adapt, but if we're serious about the league, we can't afford that time. Just like the Ox, a goal against Southampton would be nice.

* I hate to rag on other teams, but Liverpool were very, very poor in my opinion. Rodgers may well get their midfield functioning more fluently in a few more games, but they seem all over the place at the moment. If we think we did badly in the transfer market, Liverpool had an absolute nightmare, and as it stands I can't see them troubling the Champions League spots come the end of the season.

Gb

As Long as the Share Price Goes Up, Why Worry About the Team?

2012-09-01T20:02:00.000-04:00

So, here we are again - another deadline day is gone, and the world of transfers is (officially) over for the next few months. How did we make out? Not quite like bandits. Analysis as follows.

The Good

* Santi Cazorla has already shown in his first two matches that he is a top quality purchase. If we had managed to get hold of him last summer, I think we would have forgotten about the Fabregas-sized hole in the team much more quickly. My one concern about Cazorla is that too much of our traffic may end up going through him - I don't want us to be overly reliant on one midfielder again, as we were, all too frequently, during the days of Cesc. Still, Cazorla is a world-class player, and you can never complain too much when you sign one of those.

* Signing Podolski and Giroud before we sold van Persie was no mean feat, and helped to slightly cushion the blow of the Dutchman's departure. If I were to be utterly negative, I'd say this is a bit of a "moneyball" move - get rid of one world-class player, and replace him with two merely "good" players. Podolski bombed out at Bayern, and Giroud really only has one season of top-class football under his belt. However, it would be unfair to judge these two before they've had a chance to show what they can do. Podolski is quite clearly capable of getting goals, and, having watched him a few times now, Giroud also looks like he will not only get goals, but also hold up the ball well, and give us some proper strength up-front. In an ideal world, we would have these two AND van Persie, allowing the new players to settle and get used to the Premier League. But that would be the mentality of a big club.

* We did the bare minimum required in the market. All three new signings featured in both of our opening fixtures this year, and we look a more solid team than last season. Granted, we were only playing Sunderland and Stoke, neither of whom showed much in the way of attacking intent. But we looked far less like a team that will be bullied out of games than we have been on many occasions in recent years. If all three of our new players can hit the ground running, it gives us a range of new options in attack. If relatively inconsistent players like Theo, Gervinho, Ramsey and the Ox can produce the goods more regularly, and Diaby and Wilshere can come back strongly from their injuries, I think we have a pretty decent squad. Is it a squad that can challenge for the title? I don't think so. But if we're lucky with injuries (stop laughing) the FA Cup and a top-four finish is certainly conceivable.

The Bad

* Robin van Stapleton. I suppose the signs had always been there, but we just didn't want to see them. Robin is a, ahem, strong-willed individual, and refused to cower even to Thierry Henry back in the day when the rest of the youngsters were terrified of TH. I thought there was a high chance that Robin would leave the club, but I genuinely didn't think he would sign for United. Clearly, he doesn't care about the club he claimed to love, and he's only interested in himself and his career. What should hurt Arsenal fans the most though, is that top players now see a notable gulf between Arsenal and the real elite tier of teams in Europe. Y'know - the ones that actually win stuff. This gap has grown each year since about 2008, and is now a canyon, to all intents and purposes. We finished 18 points behind the Manchester clubs in the league last season, and Robin is 29. His career is coming to a close, and they are the clubs in England that are the only realistic option if you want relatively guaranteed silverware (even including Chelsea, I would argue). It was distressing transfer in a number of ways therefore - from Robin's personal betrayal of the Arsenal fan-base, to what it says about the current state and direction of the club. But more on that in a bit.

* Alex Song forcing through a move. If losing van Persie was hard to take, then losing Song was not, in all honesty. He's a good, if not great player, and we picked up a decent fee for someone who showed a real lack of willingness to work for the team last season. However, and as I have written previously, this transfer was perhaps the moment that best showed how Arsene's youth project has been an almost total failure, other than keeping the club in the Champions League. The problem with heaping praise on young football players is that most young football players already have colossal egos. The fact that Song was demanding a new deal with three years left on his current contract, after winning precisely zero trophies at Arsenal says it all. The time and effort that Arsene spent moulding Song into a good player, only for Song to then push through a move, shows that Arsene deserves better than the young egomaniacs he has to work with. Song will fit in well as a squad player at Barcelona, and I am comfortable with the club's decision to sell him in most respects, but it is another member of the starting XI who's left the club. The transfer also, hopefully, ends the association of the Dein family with Arsenal - people who have made millions of pounds from flogging Arsenal's players and shares, with little concern of the impact of those decisions on the club's overall health. Good riddance, I hope.

* Not replacing Song. I am not happy about the decision to sell Song in one huge, colossal, overweening aspect - we didn't replace him. We literally sold one of our starting XI from last season, and did not purchase anyone as a replacement. We are going to gamble big on the fitness of players like Diaby, Wilshere and Arteta, and the ability of players like Coquelin and Ramsey to have breakthrough seasons. That is a bit mental really, and a a a troubling indictment of how the club is currently being run.

* How much will we rue the decision not to purchase Sahin? A lot, I'll wager. He might bomb out at Liverpool, but make no mistake - Sahin is a "top, top quality player", and I simply don't understand the logic behind not picking him up. As soon as Wilshere, Diaby, or Arteta is injured, we are short in midfield. It's one thing not to buy players - it's quite another to openly reject quality players when they want to come to the club. This is like the Xabi Alonso situation in 2009 all over again.

The Ugly

* Theo's contract. The situation with Theo's contract is, frankly, odd. He's clearly rejected what the club feels to be a fair, and perhaps final, offer. Yet he's still here. Is he going to sign a new deal before next summer? Maybe - but maybe not. And who's going to fork out a transfer fee in January knowing they can pick him up for nothing if they wait just a few more months? Perhaps only Man City. Theo is a player who I don't think should be part of our starting XI - he is too inconsistent, and still displays a worrying lack of ability when it comes to fairly basic footballing manoeuvres, such as ball control. But losing him on a free would be a bit sickening, and another slap in the face for Arsene, after all the faith he has shown in the player. I have no idea how this situation will be resolved, but I will say it's probably more likely than not that he won't be an Arsenal player next season. Neither selling him, nor tying him to a new deal, shows how chaotic it's been behind the scenes at the club this summer, yet again. Whoever negotiates our deals needs to be replaced, as they are now openly negligent.

* Selling our best players every summer. This was a trait of Arsene's early years in charge that we seemed to get rid of after flogging Petit and Overmars to Barca in 2000. Between 2000 and 2005, we did not sell our best players and, surprise, surprise, these were the most successful years of Arsene's tenure. Since the sale of Vieira to Juve in 2005, we've sold, or lost on free transfers, a major first team player every year: Cole, Henry, Hleb, Gilberto, Adebayor, Flamini, Toure etc. etc.. At least with some of those players we could claim that we were losing people who were past their prime (although keeping older players has hardly hamstrung Manchester United). But in the last few seasons, we have started to lose our best players while they are essentially in their prime - Nasri, Clichy, Fabregas, van Persie, Song. If we look at this from a purely business perspective, we have squandered human capital on an epic scale, and in a manner that has stopped Arsenal being a competitive club at the very highest level. It's not good enough. Any enterprise that consistently loses it's top performers, and doesn't replace them with individuals at a similar level, will eventually suffer the consequences in terms of its efficiency and ability to perform. As I said at the start of this piece, I think we have done the bare minimum in the market this year to keep us at a level that we are a top four team. But we are no longer seen as a trophy winning club. And the longer that this issue is not dealt with, the harder it will be to overcome. In short, spend some f*cking money.

* The value of Stan Kroenke's shares. I can't find a valuation for the price that Stan Kroenke paid for his initial 10 percent stake in the club back in 2007. It was probably less, however, than the between £8,500 and £10,500 a share Kroenke paid for a 28 percent stake in Arsenal in 2009, and the £11,500-12,000 a share that he likely paid for a further 32 percent of the club in 2011, taking his holdings over 60 percent, and giving him control of the club. That he then offered £11,750 for the remainder of the club's share capital, under takeover rules, hints that this was around the price he paid for Bracewell-Smith, Fiszman and the rest of the director's shares in 2011.

As it currently stands, Arsenal shares are valued at around £16,600 by Plus Markets - although there have been sales of shares for over £17,000 this year.

To put things really simply, Kroenke's shares are now worth considerably more than what he paid for them. If he were to cash out tomorrow, he would make hundreds of millions of pounds from his investment in Arsenal. And this is the really troubling thing for me. If the club won the league or the Champions League, the value of the club would increase. But, the value of the club's shares are increasingly regardless of whether we win silverware. In short, what reason does Kroenke have to push for big signings, and a squad that can really compete at the highest level? If we trundle along, doing the bare minimum in the market, and keep qualifying for the Champions League, the value of the shares will keep going up. Sure, they might go up further and faster if we were winning trophies, but is the investment required for that worth the risk? Why deplete our balance sheet and the club's valuation?

Now, I'm obviously not Stan Kroenke, and I'm not going to get myself sued by casting categorical aspersions on his reasons for involvement in Arsenal football club. But ask yourself this - what motivation do you have to bet big, if you're already making a killing while betting relatively small? If the value of Arsenal shares keeps on ticking upwards, regardless of trophies, are we ever going to see serious investment in the squad?

Who knows. There's nothing for it now except to get behind the squad. But, and it pains me to say it, I foresee a season of discontent at Arsenal Football Club.

Gb.

Reasons for Optimism; Reasons for Concern: 11 Thoughts on Stoke 0 Arsenal 0

2012-08-26T18:09:00.000-04:00

Note to self - don't stay up until 3 AM the night before an Arsenal game, if said AFC game starts at 8.30 AM. Thank you Motorola, and your ridiculously aggressive phone alarm. Anyway, thoughts as follows:

* If there was one name that stuck out on the team sheet, it was Mannone. I feared the worst, but we actually defended pretty well, leaving Vito with relatively little to do. When he was called upon, he acted fairly decisively. Luckily, Stoke's attacking ambitions were very limited. Hopefully Szczesny will have recovered by next week, because whoever is in goal will have much more to do at Anfield, and I don't think Mannone is up to the task.

* Mertesacker had a quietly efficient performance, once again. I really like him as a player - just a pure defender who reads the game, and gets shit done. He's a defender that prevents attacks as much as he reacts to them, which has been rare to see in the Wenger years. Vermaelen will always pick up more of the plaudits owing to his all-action style, but it's hard to say that he's a fundamentally better defender than Mertesacker. Indeed, this raises a problem. When Koscielny returns, logically Mertesacker will have to be dropped, as Vermaelen is captain. But I think our strongest defensive pairing in defence includes Mertesacker, whether it's with Koz or Vermaelen. This is why I was opposed to the Vermaelen captaincy - I don't think he should be a guaranteed starter in the side. You could call this a "nice headache," and I'm sure injuries will soon limit our options. But I worry that Arsene sees a Koscielny-Vermaelen partnership as our strongest pairing, and I don't want Per to be dropped.

* It's also why I'm a bit surprised we're supposedly in the market for another defender. We are actually very well stocked in terms of defence at the moment. Santos has already been reduced to cryptically passive-aggresive tweets about a lack of playing time, and Jenkinson had deputised ably for Sagna so far (who is supposedly close to a return himself). The best aspect of our opening two games has been our defence - a real reason for optimism after so many disasters in this area in recent years. It's why I don't totally buy reports that we are interested in Yanga-Mbiwa, unless, maybe, Djourou is on his way out.

* To get back to the actual game, we probably should have scored one goal via a penalty. I was unsure at the time, but multiple viewings seem to pretty conclusively show that Wilkinson deliberately handled in the box early on in the game. To almost add injury to insult, he also almost crippled Vermaelen in the second half, with an outrageous foul on the edge of the area. What a dick.

* If there was ever a fanbase that deserved their team, it's Stoke. Apparently, if someone breaks your leg and almost ends your career through a horrendous, needless, absurdly dangerous tackle, this is but a minor crime. To not accept the apology of your assailant - well, this is much worse. The booing of Aaron Ramsey was sadly predictable today. This isn't banter, it isn't even mass stupidity. It's simply vicious cruelty from thugs. Since moving to the US, I've found myself sticking up for the UK and England a lot - I think it's a common reflex action among ex-pats. But large sections of the Stoke fanbase are the utter dregs of British society, the part of my country for which I can find no excuse. One day they will be relegated, Pulis will get fired, and they'll return to the hovel from whence they came. One day.

* Anyway, Stoke are such an admirable, brave side that they shut up shop and played for a 0-0 draw from about the 10th minute of the game. What heroes. This helped our defensive effort, yet frustrated our attacks. We had a lot of the ball (67% possession) but lacked sufficient guile and inventiveness to break through the massed ranks of Orcs. Indeed, despite our dominance, Begovic only had to make one save all afternoon, which is always disappointing.

* This hints at a recurring problem. Selling top players each summer, whether they are replaced or not, means we have to wait for a new set of players to gel. And when you've sold your top scorer, and your top provider of assists, it's no surprise that we struggled offensively. This is a side of the "don't sell your top players all the time" issue that people often miss. Even if we do replace said players, football is a team game, and you can't directly replace the team that they were part of - you have to build a new one, and drop points while this happens. I'm quietly confident that our new players will come good, but it's frustrating that we now seem to treat the August fixtures as part of an extended preseason. We used to thrash teams in August - now we stagger through until the end of the transfer market, and fail to put points on the board in the process.

* As already noted, I thought all three of our new signings played well. Giroud is clearly a cut above the dross that we are trying to shift, even if I wish he would have played Ramsey in at the end, rather than going for the spectacular. Cazorla looked good again, although it is a little worrying that he seemingly wants to play relatively deep. I was hoping that he might drive into the box more than he has - maybe this side of his game is still to come. Podolski looked powerful and dangerous - a goal would have been nice, though.

* Two players who did not play well, by contrast, were Gervinho and Theo. People keep on mentioning the slow starts of former greats, but I really can't see the same happening with Gervinho. There are only so many times he can fail to produce an end-product before you wonder whether he is capable of doing so at this level. Theo was abject again, and I will go on record as saying that I am happy to sell him this week if a decent bid comes in. He is not worth whatever he is asking for in a new contract. Maybe when the window is shut, and he realizes that he's not going anywhere, his form will pick up. But at the moment, he has produced two very poor performances thus far this season.

* Diaby completed 90 minutes! Wow. If he could get a shot on target from six yards, then I really would be optimistic. In all seriousness, apart from his dreadful miss, he produced a few decent moments during the game. I just wish he could drive forward through midfield more often. It's a strong point in his game that he doesn't seem to exploit enough.

* Overall, this would usually be a fairly decent result. Returning from Mordor with a point and our players' limbs intact is no bad thing. But that's four points dropped from two games that we dominated. When it comes to the end of the season, those four points might be the difference between fifth and fourth, or even better. I know almost all clubs try and get last minute deals done, but we seem to make it club policy, and it means we have started the last two seasons notably underprepared. Might we have won today with the additional inventiveness of Sahin on the pitch? Maybe - and I'm a bit pissed off that we yet again refused to speculate and bring in a player who was the best in Germany just two years ago, whatever the exact details of his loan agreement.

You can't help but feel that this is going to be a frantic week at the club, and I know that more deals will be attempted than will be completed. I think the team needs a little bit more attacking spark, given the departures. It might also be nice to make a "statement of intent" signing, rather than just looking around for whoever we can get on the cheap. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But I'm fairly certain the transfer activity of this week will define the rest of our season. Let's hope we're all happy on Saturday morning.

Alex Song and the Ultimate Betrayal of Arsene Wenger's Youth Project

2012-08-18T17:22:00.001-04:00

I remember quite vividly Alex Song's debut for Arsenal. We were coasting through the final minutes of a relatively routine home win over Everton in the autumn of 2005 when Arsene decided to introduce the slightly mysterious loan signing we had made that summer. Song ambled around the pitch for a few minutes, and repeatedly gave away the ball. It was hardly an auspicious debut, and I remember thinking that the young player looked hopelessly out of his depth. But, given that it was only a little more than a year since our league triumph in 2004, Arsene had a considerable amount of goodwill in reserve, and few were going to question his judgement when it came to young players.

Fast forward about a year, and Arsenal are playing Fulham at Craven Cottage. Despite only having a handful of first team appearances under his belt, Arsenal had turned Song's loan into a permanent transfer in the summer of 2006. Yet this was, to my knowledge, his first league start. Song was destroyed that evening by, of all people, Luis Boa-Morte. Again, the young Cameroonian looked completely out of place in the Arsenal line-up. The Arsenal fans in the away end (or at least a good deal of them) chanted "we want Cesc Fabregas" repeatedly, and Song was withdrawn at half-time. Most thought that we wouldn't see him again.

A loan move to Charlton in January 2007 seemed to mark the beginning of the end to Song's odd Arsenal career. Instead, it was perhaps the start. Song impressed while on loan at The Valley, and began to slowly insinuate himself into Wenger's plans the following season. After Philippe Senderos was destroyed by Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final, Song was drafted in to play at centre-back at Old Trafford in a pivotal league game in April 2008. He, to my surprise, acquitted himself quite well, despite our 2-1 defeat, and his stock rose considerably among Arsenal fans.

In the summer following our last serious league challenge under Wenger, we lost Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva. Coupled to the loss of Lassana Diarra in January 2008, Arsenal fans fully expected Wenger to buy a defensive midfielder in the summer of 2008. Instead, we bought Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey, and Mikael Silvestre. Opportunities were given to Song, Denilson, and Diaby in the central midfield positions that season, and Song slowly began to show why Arsene had persisted with him for so long.

During the 2008 to 2010 period, Song showed that he had the potential to become a world-class defensive midfielder. He kept thing simple. He had a knack for reading the game. He knew that laying the ball off to Fabregas was usually the best idea. And he gradually grew into a solid part of the Arsenal starting XI.

I'm not sure at what point something changed, but from 2010, Song began to get ideas above his station. Particularly during last season, with Areta's arrival and Cesc's departure, Song frequently began to go walkabout, spraying hollywood balls around the pitch (with mixed success, whatever his successful through-ball tally says) and generally leaving the defence exposed in a way he had never done previously.

There was, in short, a progressively growing sense that Song was a wanker; that he seemed more concerned with being the team's maestro than ensuring that the team, y'know, actually won. The arrogance that had grown with his game bloomed in the absurd 3-3 draw against Norwich last season, where he simply could not be bothered to track back and cover the defence when the game became stretched, directly contributing to perhaps two of Norwich's goals.

Now, Song may well have been told to play in an more attacking manner by Arsene last season. But if you see your team is being overloaded in defence, you help out. You don't shrug and walk off, as Song did on at least one occasion during the game against Norwich.

This is all a big way of saying one thing. In my opinion, Song would not be a top-flight player were it not for Arsene. Wenger plucked Song from relative obscurity, and stuck by him after a series of disastrous performances, which led a majority of the fan-base to question why the hell he was at the club. Thanks to Arsene's faith, Song grew into a pretty decent player. But, perhaps in part to the faith that was shown in him, Song's ego then grew to a size that could no longer be kept within the confines of the Emirates stadium.

After the match today, Arsene said, "He [song] expressed a desire to go to Barcelona."

Let's just consider that for a moment. After everything Arsene had done for Song, he turned round and agitated for a move this summer. Based on a number of accounts, Song's agent has been hawking his player around Europe, despite Song having three years left on his current deal. Moreover, Song's attitude in training has been extremely poor, according to multiple sources.

This is, in a a microcosm, both the fatal flaw and the ultimate betrayal of the Wenger youth project. Like all beautiful ideals, it relied upon a fundamentally optimistic interpretation of human nature. Wenger believed that after carefully nurturing his young charges, they would turn around and reward him with loyalty. Instead, why don't we ask van Persie, Fabregas, Nasri, and now Song what their definition of loyalty is.

Football is a game that is obsessed with short-term thinking. Song's agent wants his commission. Young players at Arsenal want the rewards of success without having achieved it.

In the end, Wenger's youth project has achieved almost none of the objectives it sought, except that of keeping Arsenal in the Champions League. Instead of producing a generation of players who had been developed together, and who would thus have an unbreakable team bond, it has fermented a group of egomaniacs, who care about themselves above all else, owing to the unshakable belief in their own ability that Wenger gave them.

Arsene obviously deserves better than this. He is a visionary coach, hampered by his own idealistic view of sport, art, and the world. Who knows what Song's future career will bring. But he has acted disgracefully this summer, and betrayed his mentor. Good riddance not just to him, but to all those who betrayed the faith put in them by Arsene Wenger.

It's Could be a Long, Long Season: 11 Thoughts on Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0

2012-08-18T14:24:00.000-04:00

Are you still awake? If so, thoughts as follows.

* It was an interesting line-up that hinted at the current pecking order within the Arsenal squad. Jenkinson is going to be given a chance at right-back in Sagna's absence, rather than Coquelin or Yennaris being asked to fill in. Gibbs is currently a starter ahead of Santos, and Diaby will probably be preferred to Ramsey, if it comes down to a choice between the two. People may say that the line-up today was based on a certain amount of tactical reasoning, but, really, Arsene is one of those managers who does have a first XI, and often tries to pick as close to it as he can. (Indeed, he is notably less of a tinkerer than, say, Ferguson, to Wenger's detriment, in my opinion.)

* People will accuse Sunderland of playing negatively, and for large swathes of the game they were content to stay in their own half. But they had a series of good chances in the first half, and could easily have nicked the game thanks to a few defensive lapses on our part. We still look like a side that can always give the opposition a goal, but Per and captain TV were solid for the most part.

* Fundamentally, we looked disjointed. The beauty of club football, when done correctly, is that allows individuals to become a truly cohesive unit by playing with each other over a period of weeks, months, and even years. Today, on more than one occasion, I saw players run into each other. Put simply, a lot of players seemed unsure with their positioning. In particular, their was a real lack of understanding between the banks of players - attackers ran into midfielders, and midfielders left huge gaps behind them, as they were unsure about who was meant to be shield the defence. Yes, we have a lot of new players, but isn't this a consistent problem for us in recent years? More on that in a bit.

* Cazorla looked bright. He is clearly a very talented footballer - a smaller, swifter, and perhaps fuller realization of the player Cesc was and might become. His pass to put in Giroud towards the end was breathtaking - a moment of world-class talent that lit up the entire game. Considering he'd flown to Puerto Rico and back this week (fuck you FIFA), it was quite the impressive debut. As long as he doesn't slip into a comfort zone of flashy, but ultimately ineffective passing, he could be quite the player for us.

* Gervinho was the other real highlight. He looked like a player with a point to prove, and opened up the Sunderland defence on a number of occasions. But, he still seems to be a player who lacks an end product. Beating a few players and creating space is useless if you then fall over/give away the ball, or just blast the ball into a cluster of players. Fairly or not, attacking midfielders are graded on their goals and assists, and he provided neither today.

* It's safe to say, however, that Gervinho was a lot better than Walcott, who was, frankly, appalling. His first involvement in the game was to miscontrol a pass, and let it bounce into touch. It set the tone for his performance. Symbolically, I think it's important that Theo gets a new deal, and the fact he was on the pitch today suggests he will be signing a new contract. But I just can't help but feel that he really isn't very good. If he can't grab games like these by the scruff of the neck and make a difference, when is he going to become a top player?

* One thing which was noticeable was the lack of overlapping runs by the full-backs. I fully expected Santos to appear as a means by which we could push forward on the flanks. Jenkinson did OK, but we missed Sagna's bombing forward runs.

* So Song has gone - more on that in a later post. For now, it was clear that his absence equated to a confused midfield. Diaby does not have the discipline to play as a defensive midfielder, and strolled round the pitch in his vaguely effective manner, as is his wont. This season is surely make or break (perhaps literally) for Diaby, so he will be given a chance, but I wonder if he really has the grit to make it as a top-level midfielder. Arteta does - he dropped in when it was clear that Diaby was going walkabout, and did a job, as he always does. I honestly love Arteta at this point. He is majestic. If only we'd bought him earlier. Judging by today, though, we need reinforcements in midfield. Ramsey was poor. Sahin may well come in, but is he what we need? We already have the player we really need - but when will we see our new number 10 in an Arsenal shirt?

* Giroud - undeniably handsome, but it's hard not to worry about him. One decent season in Ligue Un could mean anything. Today, he could have won the game, but missed the target with the best chance of the game. Taking chances like that is the difference between 1st place and 4th place. Let's hope he settles down soon, because I am terrified of having another Chamakh on our hands.

* I fully admit to chuckling when I saw Arshavin coming on. I didn't think that we'd see the little Russian in an Arsenal shirt again, and there's something slightly poignant about the fact that he won more trophies in a three month loan spell at Zenit than he has done during his entire AFC career thus far. I would still wager on him leaving before the window shuts, but who knows? I've always been a fan, and maybe a second act to his Arsenal career beckons.

* Today, in all honesty, was weird. The season seems to have started far too early (for once) after the Olympics and the Euros. Moreover, it really felt like a lot of people were putting on a brave face when confronted with what's been a depressing week. The fact is, we can crow about getting a good deal for van Persie, but, ultimately, we've sold our best player to a team that have left us behind. We now seem to lose our top players each summer because we no longer compete for trophies. And this puts us into a repeated, vicious cycle, where new sets of players have to try and gel as rapidly as possible, in order to keep us in the champions league qualification places.

If van Persie plays today, we win. And I'd rather win games and trophies than bank another cheque. Yes, we've bought three players this summer who may well be very good. But I still feel we need more. Otherwise, get ready for another long, frustrating season.

Are We Being Left Behind? Robin van Persie and Manchester United.

2012-08-15T20:46:00.001-04:00

I started watching football, and supporting Arsenal, in the early 90s. My first footballing memories are of us winning the league in 1991, followed by the cups that we won in the following years. But, I suppose more than anything, I was a child of two domestic football trends: the birth and subsequent explosive popularity of the Premier League, and the dominance of Manchester United of English football.

After our triumph in '91, every year seemed to be marked by Manchester United winning the league (it seemed). I have no affinity to Blackburn whatsoever, but I, like many others I assume, almost celebrated their league triumph in '95, as it seemed to break the monotony of United's inevitable league championships.

United's dominance manifested itself in other ways. They were the preferred choice of most school kids, who, thanks to Sky, were suddenly able to watch tons of United games while safely ensconced miles away from Manchester. I suppose most of these kids now support City or Chelsea, or maybe even Barca, but they were all United in the 90s.

To cut a rambling introduction short, I grew up hating Manchester United. Much more than Spurs - who, let's face it, we've hated for almost old time's sake for most of the last twenty years. Before Arsene arrived, United were the annoying oversuccessful team that won fucking everything; and, after Arsene arrived, United became our fiercest rivals in a series of compelling league championships. And then, just as it seemed that we'd finally destroyed Fergie and his evil minions in 2004, along came Chelsea's petrodollars and the expense of our new stadium. We subsequently disappeared from the pack of serious title challengers, while United regrouped and came back, if anything, even stronger.

While Chelsea may have replaced United as the opposing team that I now detest the most, you can never fully jettison the raw emotions of childhood, and the games with United are still probably the two I dread/look forward to most each year.

So, the prospect of selling our best players to United hurts. Chelsea and City? Well, we can ascribe it to pure greed. But with United, there is the undeniable tinge of pain that comes from a broader realization - we've been left behind. Even with all the debt that the Glazers have put onto United, they have seriously competed for the league title, and even won it, in the years since petrodollars became a factor in the Premier League. We, on the other hand, have dabbled with a failed youth project, and now face a yearly saga in which our best players want to leave once they've lined up a sufficient number of potential suitors. And they want to leave not just because of the money, but because, to put in bluntly, we've stopped winning trophies. We can try and pretend it away through accusations of greed - and this is a huge factor, obviously - but players want to win stuff, and we haven't been able to seriously offer them that in recent years.

Selling Robin van Persie makes sense on a number of levels - many of which I've outlined here. In short, he's old, injury prone, and he's never going to have a season as good as he had last year. (7AM Kickoff has the stats somewhere, but, basically, it's very rare for Golden Boot winners to score anywhere the same level of goals in the next season.) If we are to be rational economists about this, we should sell at the peak value of our asset, especially when we are offered 22m + 2m potential add-ons.

But, we're football fans, and hence irrational. To me, today marked a potentially sad day in the club's history. It's one thing for Cesc and Thierry to go to Barca; it's another for us to sell our best player to a team we used to rival for the league, but who have left us in their dust.

Hopefully, this is an absurdly over-pessimistic interpretation of events. But I can't help but feel a bit down after they events today. Despite our signings thus far this summer, it still feels like we've taken a step back after taking a few tentative steps forward. I suppose we'll see where we are on August 31st, and then in May 2013, but I hope, at the very least, that the club reinvest this money in the squad, rather than just bank it, as they have been inclined to do so in recent years. If not, our entrenchment as a second-tier team within the Premier League will continue, and events like today will become the norm, rather than the exception.

Arsenal Season Review Part IV: Grading the Whole Season

2012-05-25T18:25:00.000-04:00

So, it's time for the last part of my mammoth season review. Have a look round the site, and you'll find parts I, II, III, where I graded the defence, midfield and attack. Now it's time to grade the season as a whole.

***

I suppose this season was fundamentally one where we met lowered expectations.

For the first time during the Wenger era (to my knowledge) not only did we not mount a title challenge, I don't think one was ever really expected by the fans, or promised by the club's management. That's quite an epochal change, really.

It says a lot about the glacial nature of the club's recent decline. 7 years ago, we were not just a club that challenged for the league title - we actually won it. Now, after years of falling short, I think the whole perception of the club has changed.

A lot of people will point to last summer and say we did well to recover from it, which we did. But last summer happened because I don't think we are seen anymore as one of the club's that challenges for the very highest trophies - the Champions League and the Premier League. We can abuse Nasri all we want, and Clichy to a lesser extent, and, justifiably, say that money was a large factor in their decision to leave the club. But they also left because a club that has a greater chance of winning trophies was in for them, and players want to play for these teams. Both their moves were justified, ultimately, because, if they had stayed with us, they wouldn't have 2012 Premier League winners medals. Similarly, Cesc may not have won the league this year, but there is a much higher probability of him winning top trophies at Barca than at Arsenal.

Ultimately, last summer was a moment of true crisis for the club. A number of our best players stopped believing in the project that Wenger had devised, we were unable to secure top-level replacements for them, and we were unable to shift the enormous pile of overpaid deadwood that we had tied to long-term contracts in 2008-9.

So, whether or not you want to view these season as successful is largely based on your wider perception of events. If you think we did well to just compete with teams with greater resources than us, and to recover from a tumultuous summer, then so be it.

If you think like me, however, it's hard to be so sanguine. The crisis that befell the club last summer was due to an extended period of under-investment in proven talent that undermined the competitiveness of the club. The crisis was then mismanaged and exacerbated via our ridiculous transfer dealings. We then played largely in the way we have done over the last few seasons - a lot of good performances in the league, but not enough, and no real challenge for the Champions League and the FA Cup. Wenger will always produce teams that can sparkle on occasion, but the fireworks were too few and far between this year.

We were constantly 1-2 injuries away from disaster. Had van Persie sustained an injury, we would have finished 9th or 10th. Without Arteta, a player used to playing in a more disciplined side, none of our other midfielders showed any inclination to get involved in the dirty, boring midfield battles that win games. We continue to over-elaborate in possession; we continue to concede stupid, soft goals that turn too many games into an uphill struggle.

There is an overall sense, for me, that this is the best it's gonna get for the remainder of Wenger's time at the club. I think he will continue to deliver Champions League football, but not really mount much in the way of credible league or cup challenges. We will continue to lose top players, and replace them with others who will keep the overall squad's quality at a just about acceptable level.

And this is why I just can't really view the season positively. I think we could do more with what we have. Yes, we are fighting against club's with a huge financial advantage - but they can't buy everyone, and I wonder if we are really doing enough to actually elevate the squad we currently have.

Moreover, I've wondered on several occasions this season, for the first time, whether another coach might actually get more out of our players. When I see Vermaelen and Song strolling around the pitch, or going on attacking forays that leave us exposed, I wonder if another coach might actually do more to introduce a sense of tactical discipline to the side, or at least a reduction of the defensive naivety that sees us concede so many soft goals. I also wonder if another coach might think a bit harder about varying tactics and personnel to reflect the strengths and weaknesses of our opposition, rather than just continually attempting to play the same brand as football, regardless of who is available and who we are playing. Overall, I just wonder if another coach might give the team a greater amount of steel to complement its moments of skill

All I will say in that domain for now is that it can only be a positive that a George Graham-schooled defender, Steve Bould, is now Wenger's right-hand man. Surely this will improve the defensive stability of the team. But, if it doesn't, I will continue to wonder whether Arsene has just taken the club as far as he can. If he continues at the helm, it will obviously be no disaster - but this is the first time since he arrived that I've really wondered if it might be a good time for someone else to have a go. We've been promised the future for years now - I just wonder if someone else might be actually able to take us there.

Overall, therefore, this was a disappointing season. Great wins over Chelsea and Spurs don't make-up for the notably lowered expectations that now surround the club. Scraping into the Champions League just to be knocked out in the opening knockout rounds should be the absolute minimum expectations for a club like Arsenal, not, as it would seem at present, the new normal. Supporting a club should be about glory, or at least a bit of varied excitement - not just qualifying for a competition that we never win in order to keep the books ticking over. Maybe I'm a naive romantic, but I think the club can do more than it did last season.

Overall Season Grade: C-

***

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Lastly, thanks to everyone for reading this season. You've made it a pleasure to blog again.

So Long Manuel - You Won't Be Missed

2012-05-23T13:38:00.002-04:00

I suppose you could sum up Manuel Almunia’s Arsenal career through his performances during two of his first few games at the clubs.

In late-2004/early-2005, Arsene’s patience with Jens Lehmann had apparently snapped after a few chaotic goalkeeping performances (I remember one particularly erratic performance in Greece against Panathinaikos that had cost us three points in the Champions League group stage). As a Mourinho-inspired Chelsea began to pull away in the league, Wenger decided it’d be a good time to see if his new keeper could cut it or not. So, as you do, he decided to draft Manuel Almunia into the first-team for a clash in early February against Manchester United.

To say Arsene had picked Almunia from obscurity would be an understatement. He’d been playing on loan in the Spanish second division prior to signing for us in the summer of 2004, and had never represented Spain at any age level.

We were desperate for revenge over United after their referee-assisted victory over us in November, which had ended our unbeaten run. Both teams were pumped, sparks flew before the teams had even made onto the pitch, and we raced into an early lead thanks to a goal from Vieira.

You can’t really blame Almunia completely for what subsequently happened, but the warning signs about his ability as a goalkeeper, which never subsequently disappeared, were there for all to see. The first goal took an unlucky deflection, and the second was an excellent finish by Ronaldo from a tight angle.

But, for the third, Almunia decided to leave the six-yard box, run to the edge of the area, and miss the ball, thus allowing himself to be chipped, and presenting Ronaldo with a tap-in at the far-post as the goal was vacant. For the fourth, Almunia came, stopped in no man’s land in the middle of his box, and allowed John O’Shea to score an improbably brilliant goal by simply dinking it over his head.

These were to be common themes of Almunia’s goalkeeping career – hesitation, panic, and leaving the goal untended.

But let’s concentrate on the positives for a few minutes. A couple of weeks after the debacle at Highbury, which had promptly seen Lehmann regain his place in the side, Arsenal played Sheffield United in the FA Cup, away from home. After an uninspiring 120 minutes, the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Almunia saved two penalty kicks and Arsenal won the tie. In a way, therefore, he was a crucial part of our last successful cup run, although it is notable that Jens played in the final.

Jens was subsequently immense for the 2005-6 and 2006-7 campaigns, possibly because he knew that Almunia was ready to take his spot where there to be any further errors. But at the start of the 2007-8 season, big errors from Jens in games against Fulham and Blackburn saw Almunia reclaim a starting spot.

Now, I think this was an error. There is a persistent myth that says that Almunia had a good season in 2007-08. He didn’t. He had a season that you would expect from a mid-table keeper. I would say, at best, he had an adequate season in 2007-08. Accordingly, he had a few big moments, such as the penalty save against Spurs in December that helped us to win the game. But he also had his fair share of catastrophies, such as another moment of panic against Manchester United in the game at the Emirates, where he once more abandoned his area and let United score with ease. I wrote this in the aftermath of that game, which essentially said that we couldn’t rely on Almunia when it mattered, and I think what I said then was proved to be true.

Because when things started to get a little tougher in the seasons after 2008, Almunia was found repeatedly wanting. Yes, we can all cite his moments of glory, such as the incredible series of saves he made against Barcelona in the first-half of the first-leg in 2010. But people conveniently forget how he was beaten with ridiculous ease at his near post by Zlatan in the exact same game.

Ask someone to name an Almunia blunder from 2008-11 era, and you’ll probably get a different answer each time. Here’s just a few. Letting in a ridiculously speculative shot by David Bentley from the halfway line in against fucking Spurs; letting Ronaldo score from a farcical freekick in the Champions League semi-final; palming the ball into his net in a vital away match against Birmingham in 2010; or the series of catastrophic errors in our two matches against West Brom last year which meant they took five points off us in the league. This is all without remembering Almunia’s nightmare in Paris – not only getting beaten twice at his near post, but, in the case of Belletti’s goal, actively assisting it into the net.

Because this is what it comes down to for me – Almunia was not just crap, he was consistently crap and he cost us points and, arguably, trophies. Yes, Jens got sent off in Paris – but we only got to the final because of his saves in early rounds, including his remarkable performance in the home leg against Madrid.

Almunia, by contrast, was always a disaster waiting to happen. You could see this from his first games at the club, and I think it’s actually a myth that he ever substantially improved. Minor improvements due to a run of games? Possibly. But he was never anything more than a mediocre keeper that was a perennial, marked weakness in a team that was supposedly pushing for trophies.

Almunia stands as perhaps the ultimate example of certain critical problems that have beset the club over the last few years. Firstly, and maybe most obviously, Almunia represents the club’s repeated desire to penny-pinch in the transfer-market. Secondly, he’s an example of Wenger’s occasional, stubborn refusal to admit when he’s got it wrong in terms of judging a players ability and potential. I mean, you can blame Almunia for being a poor player, but I can’t blame him for being picked an incredible 175 times, when it was obvious after 20 that he wasn’t good enough. That ultimately comes down to Arsene.

But, perhaps most pertinently, Almunia represents a culture in which players were rewarded with exorbitant, long-term contracts in return for achieving the square-root of fuck all. Because Almunia wasn’t just a poor player – he was a poor player earning wages that bore almost no relation to his ability. By the end of his time at the club, we literally couldn’t give him away. Some have suggested we should feel some sympathy for him due to the year he spent in the reserves. I feel none. I firmly believe if he was really interested in playing football, he could have expressed his unhappiness and forced through a move, preparing to take a lower salary in the process. But he didn’t. He knew he’d won the lottery, and had no desire to give up his winnings.

And so that’s why this isn’t a positive piece. Ultimately, when I think of Almunia in the future, it won’t be for the fact he won three memorable penalty shoot-outs for us, or that he did, occasionally, pull off the odd great save. I will remember him as a player who represented many of the negative aspects of the club between 2005 and 2012. And, for that reason, I feel a profound sense of relief that he is no longer at the club.

Arsenal Season Review Part III: Grading the Forwards

2012-05-20T15:17:00.003-04:00

So, apparently there was a game on yesterday. As we all try and destroy the image of John Terry holding up a European Cup forever from our brains, here's something to keep us distracted. The third and penultimate part of the season review, where I grade our forward line.

Ju-Young Park: F

I have to say, I was quite excited when we announced this signing back in August. I'll admit it - this was mainly based on the fact I once signed Park in Pro Evo 2006, and he was the bomb, but there you go. In real life, he also seemed to be quite good. A lot of international goals, and a fair few for Monaco, despite their relegation. In short, he seemed like a half-decent back-up option, for a price that you couldn't really argue with.

But then, he didn't play. At first I thought that Arsene was just trying to ease him into the side, but no, he clearly just didn't rate him at all. Who knows how he must perform in training, but he must be fucking dreadful. With about 20 minutes of playing time this year, his appearances against AC Milan and Man Utd were simply bizarre, more than anything else.

I really don't know what to make of the signing, but the fact is we wasted both money and a squad place on a player we didn't use, essentially, at all. A major failing was made at some point, whether it was by Arsene or our scouts. At present, he easily makes the list of the worst signings of the Wenger-era.

Robin van Persie: A+ (Player of the Season)

Well, what can you say about Robin this year that hasn't already been said? We've all run out of superlatives, I think. 37 goals in 48 games is simply outrageous, and you can't help but wonder how much we might have achieved in the last few years if Robin had made it through a few more seasons without picking up injuries. He's scored all types of goals, and we would have been a mid-table side last year without him. To be frank, I am still unsure about whether we should be giving a player at his age and with his injury record an enormous new contract - but I do want him to stay, and I think the effect of morale on the club, especially if he were to sign for Manchester City, would be enormous if he left. Now he's gone off to the Euros without signing a new deal, I suppose this saga is going to drag on all summer. Given what we've seen this week - the Prem and Champs League both bought by oligarchs - you can't blame him for thinking that he may have to join another club to win trophies, especially the top ones.

Those are all things we can worry about tomorrow. For today, let's just applaud the magnificent season he's had. Football from another planet, and Arsenal's player of the season.

Theo Walcott: C+

Theo got to double figures in goals and assists in all competitions this season. He posted the kind of raw stats that you would expect from a top attacking talent. But there's an underlying sense of disappointment about Theo's performances. He got two brilliant goals against Tottenham, but also seemed to be unable to control the ball on multiple occasions. He went missing in more than one game, and his ability to lose the ball was a constant worry.

With all the hand-wringing over Robin's contract, there's been a lot less chat about the fact Theo is also in the last year of his deal. It's interesting, because I think that a lot of top European clubs would be interested in Theo were he to leave, but I'm not sure Arsenal fans would be that devastated if he were to go. All I will say is that Theo doesn't really look like a player with whom we'll win trophies, unfortunately.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: C

I think the huge performances that the Ox had against Milan, Manchester United and, er, Blackburn have perhaps made a lot of people overlook the fact that he only got 2 goals and one assist in the league this year. He has an extraordinary amount of potential, shown by his inclusion in England's Euros squad. But he has been, understandably, inconsistent, and he has a long way to go before he can definitively be called a world-class player. That said, he was a genuine bright spot in what's been a tough season. I think he can push on and become the type of dominant box-to-box midfielder that we've missed for a while. Let's just hope he doesn't get buried under the weight of expectations.

Gervinho: D

After a few interesting performances at the beginning of the season, his form steadily dipped for the rest of the season, something that wasn't helped by a traumatic African Cup of Nations. My issue with Gervinho is that he never really looks like a threat. He kinda ambles forward, maybe beats a player, but the end-result is usually ceded possession, or a wasted opportunity. I think he does have the talent to be a better player than the one we've seen so far, but my fear is that he could go into a Chamakh-esque downward spiral if we're not careful. Hopefully next season will be a lot better than this one, otherwise we need to sell.

Marouane Chamakh: F

That Chamakh has only started one league game this season perhaps says it all. After a somewhat promising first season, he has officially been a complete waste of space this year. One league goal all year for a guy who looks like he is fundamentally not good enough for top-level football. Not only is he useless, he also, by all accounts, is on a massive weekly wage because of his free transfer. We desperately need to get rid of him this summer.

Andrei Arshavin: D+

Ultimately, Arshavin's career ended as ignominiously as it had begun gloriously. He didn't deserve to be booed when he appeared against United, but he was, and the damage was ultimately irreparable. I still think that loaning him to Zenit was a ludicrous decision, and I also think he had a better season than, say, Gervinho. We could have done with his ability to create chances in a few games towards the end of the season. Maybe if we'd ever played him in his preferred position we might have got the best out of him, but we didn't. Perhaps he'll come back for a glorious swansong, but he probably won't. One of the saddest stories in the last few years at the club - a player who really had the potential to be a world-beater. Someone else may yet get the best out of him.

Thierry Henry: no grade

I simply can't grade TH's contribution this year. I want to give him an A, but he wasn't really here for long to warrant that mark. Hence, I've sat on the fence by giving him the old 'unrated'. His goal against Leeds was possibly the best single moment of the season, and his winner against Sunderland was utterly glorious. But he also was a bit ropey in the other performances he made, including fairly anonymous outings against Swansea and Milan. However, his time at the club this year was a fitting coda to an Arsenal career that had previously ended on a sour note. I'm glad he came back, and wish he could've stayed until the end of the season.

Overall: A+ for Robin; D for the rest.

Let's face it, our attack has basically been Robin this season. Without him, we would not be in the Champions League next year. I genuinely think we would have finished about 10th. On paper, this is a set of players that should be much, much better. Chamakh, Arshavin, Park, Gervinho all seriously underperformed, and we had to push Robin to his absolute limit as a consequence. We even had to sign an ageing legend because our other forwards were so poor.

The fact we announced the signing of a new striker, Podolski, before the season had even ended says it all. Great teams get goals from all over the pitch - next season, whether Robin is here or not, we can't be so reliant on one player to get us the goals that win us matches. It's a recipe for disaster that we only narrowly avoided this year.

*****

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