On 29th December 2011 when Jack Warner told the world that he got CONCACAF world cup right for $1 quite the bombshell, nepotism at it worst. However the wave it created it passed without much comment. Not exactly the Tsunami we hoped for.

FIFA responded—2 weeks later—by branding Jack Warner a liar. You see Warner claimed those rights were given to him for the years 1998 – 2014, FIFA pointed out that this was totally inaccurate, false even.

Amazingly FIFA isn’t disputing that they gave their vice-president the rights to World Cup media for $1, not at all. They are actually saying it was even earlier than 1998 in fact it was 1986. That a FIFA member stood to personally benefit by controlling the media rights for 7 World Cup competitions is not a problem for FIFA. The problem in their eyes is that Warner insinuates that these rights were given to him in exchange for his support of Blatter.

So as an organization it entirely acceptable that one of your executives has personal control of the Caribbean, Central and North American media rights to your only money maker in exchange for $1.

FIFA’s reasoning is that “Such rights were ceded in order to provide an additional source of revenue for football development in the CFU (Caribbean Football Union),” Um how? How could it provide additional income if they have to buy the rights from their own president?

Wouldn’t it be better to cede those rights to the CFU instead of Jack Warner? What purpose does it serve to sell those rights to your vice president other than to fill his own pockets? FIFA has a very strange sense of integrity.

The CFU benefited so much from FIFA’s conscientiousness so much so, that they couldn’t even elect a new president and executive due to lack of funds.

…more inaccuracies

Vincent Kompany got sent off for a tackle that was both reckless and dangerous—being reckless is usually dangerous, I don’t see the need for both anyway—which sparked much debate around the footballosphere.

The Naysayers—that’s those saying nay to the card—argues that the tackle was not dangerous but maybe a bit reckless, in which case it deserves no more than a yellow. Whilst the yea-sayers argument is that going in two-footed in the air is an automatic Red-card.

Now normally I’d say lunging in with two feet in the air is worthy of a sending off. The question is whether it’s an automatic sending off.

First off all there is nothing in the rules to say that two feet off the ground is a sending off. I said “normally” in the preceding paragraph because most of the time when you go flying into that type of tackle it is usually under great pace which is unnecessary and excessive. Excessive being the operative word.

Whilst it can be argued that Kompany was reckless, and the tackle was dangerous, what is more difficult to argue is that in this case Kompany used “excessive force” and that is the difference between a caution and a sending off.

Unlike previous campaigns, I have much more confidence in this Arsenal to hold on to a lead, the usual heart-in-mouth feeling at corners or freekicks have abated this season. I’m in no way saying we don’t have problems in defence, but it surely has improved. What have not and has probably gotten worse is our ability to score goals.

Gervihno. When has a player ever been so good and so bad at the same time. I’m talking about in the same play go beautifully past 2 or 3 players and the being scared to take a friggin’ shot. How many time do we see this guy look to pass instead of shooting the ball. I know some may claim that this is an “Arsenal” trait, I know that they are told to look for the pass, but I highly doubt that when the shot is on Wenger tells them don’t take it.

Theo. As for yesterday’s game I’ve read that he was very ill at Christmas and lost a lot of weight and strength. Still not at 100% he was asked to play against Fulham, OK. So what is the excuse for a 6% chance conversion, 6 bloody percent, and I’m hearing shit about wanting to be a striker! What kind of striker wastes 94% of chances, more than 9 in 10? Walcott does a lot of good things, and has improved tremendously this season, but 6%?

So that’s our main forwards. I’m not even going to bother with Arshavin, or Rosický. What I’d like to see is some contribution from Ramsey, Song, and Arteta . Maybe I’m expecting too much when I say that 7 goals is not enough from the midfield trio. Song and Arteta get less chances, but when is Ramsey going to learn to shoot? he has the timing to get into the box at the right time but severely lacking is the composure(6%) to get a shot on target.

Of course when referees fail to give blatant penalties, award fouls against your for non existent infringements, and your defence consists of 3 centre backs and a midfielder then chances are things will hardly go your way. Making it even more important to put away chances when they arrive, that way you have a cushion for when things inevitably go against you.

That is all.

However Arsenal would not be Arsenal if the fans weren’t put through the wringer time and time again. This time it was through squandering chances when they presented themselves. So what can we take away from what is an excruciating 2 points down the drain?

1. We shouldn’t blame the ref.

Calls for penalties, fouls against us going unpunished, being punished for no infringements it may be that these things affect our game. However the fact remains that as a team looking to be in the top for we shouldn’t be looking for excuses for failing to beat Wolves at home.

The referee was poor and he did let the game get away from him, but Stuart Attwell shouldn’t be scapegoat for what was us not being able to put 2 goals past Hennessy.

As for the red card, I hate to harp on this, but hopefully the day will come when the English football family will realise that you don’t need to break someone’s leg for a tackle to be worthy of a card. Simply that the tackler is in danger of injuring his opponent

2. We need to take chances.

Consider this. Over the course of the season so far, we have created just 4 more chances than Manchester did. Yet they have scored 13 more goals. We need to improve our chance conversion by a massive 40% to match them.

The simple fact is that we need a bit of sang froid in front of goal, and non was lacking more on this day than Robin van Persie. I am sure that getting those 2 goals to make equal Shearer’s record was playing on his mind. A player who is usually so calm with such an immaculate touch was rushed hasty and had the touch of electrons with the same charge.

The score 1-0 when Gervihno played RVP in the Wolves defender slipped, but in his haste to get that goal Van Persie tried the one-time shot not realising that he had time to compose himself for a better chance.

On the topic of taking chances…

3. What do we call Rosický’s right peg?

At least RVP isn’t afraid to take a shot with his chocolate leg when he has to. Rosický on the other hand absolutely refuses to touch the ball with his left, the guy would rather cross with the outside of his right foot than use his left.

I love Rosický, and I would like nothing more for him to get back to his pre injuries form. Yet I cannot forgive him for passing up a simple scoring chance just because it’s on the wrong foot, that’s just wrong. Take the shot, if you miss fine, but you don’t pass it up for lack of culture.

It’s time we christen that left leg of Rosa… any suggestions?

4. Way too much dependence on crossing.

Time was Arsenal would hardly ever cross the ball, whether it was a last minute desperation or not the ball would go out and the winger would most likely cut in. That lack of crossing was roundly criticized and in some circumstances rightly so.

The problem I find with crossing is that it’s a very low percentage play—23.9% accurate premier league, 22.9% Europe—nearly 4 out of 5 crosses are a waste of possession. Against Wolves we managed to give away possession 19 times by way of the cross.

You as me, we would be better off keeping the ball on those 19 occasions.

5. Fullback vs FULLBACK.

Being shunted into the fullback position from central defence is not a simple ask. It’s hard to be critical of the job done by Djourou, Koscielny, and Vermaelen in a position neither are suited. The fullback position is extremely specialised these days.

You must be extremely fit and efficient, effective both in attack and in defense. A proper fullback provide a numerical advantage in attack and good service from the flanks, but more importantly, they force the opposing wide players deep into their own defensive third. Crucially this is what we are lacking from our fill in fullbacks.

Take a look at that image. Jenkinson operates so much in the oppositions defensive third the game becomes much wider, compare and contrast with Djourou. In the Manchester City Arsenal report Zonal Marking noted that

neither of their[Arsenal] full-backs was comfortable on the ball and capable of stretching the play to provide overlaps. In fact, with both sets of full-backs contributing little to the game in the attacking phase of play, the game was quite narrow overall.

Not only does our game becomes narrow, it becomes a much easier defensive proposition for the opponent. The return of our fullbacks cannot come soon enough.

When I heard the news that we signed him on loan, I don’t think there was an Arsenal fan who was happier than I was. Yes he is older than the norm for an Arsenal player, a bit lightweight, and he surely wouldn’t be a starter.

Yossi provides the winning edge.

What he is is a skillful player that can really boost a team coming of the bench against more tired legs. What he did last night was typical of the super sub role. Coming of the bench to secure a win against Aston Villa with an atypical Arsenal header from a corner has made a few more Gooners change their mind about the little Israeli.

Arshavin would have been the one fulfilling that role, with an injection of skill, penetration and the odd bit of magic to crack a hard defence allied with the nous to keep a small lead safe and control the game when needed. Alas the Russian, for whatever reason can offer us none of what’s needed, even Rosickỳ offers us much more from the bench.

I have to agree with the popular sentiment that it’s time for Arshavin and Arsenal to part ways. No one can say we didn’t give him a chance, and as for that silly idea that he is played out of position I ask where did he play for Zenith, and when he lit up the Euro’s where was he playing?

Sadly Arshavin has proven what I said in the run up to him signing for us

Andrei is good but he also comes with a lot of baggage that is not really conducive to the atmosphere in the club right now. The Russian is on high wages, and is renowned for his parting and playboy lifestyle.

Early remarks about his tax situation had alarms bells ringing, as much as I would put down his form to money or lack thereof, there is the nagging feeling that he just doesn’t enjoy being in England. It may be a bit to restricted for the maverick that is Arshavin.

Observations about the game.

Just as we deserved more from the game against Manchester City, we surely deserved less from the Aston Villa game. That’s the nature of the game. We were at least equal to the league leaders when we played them yet we lost.

Last night Aston Villa was better than us, yet we win. Football is all about fine margins and last night the margin was in our favour. That margin could have been even greater had it not been for the usual incompetent Premier League refereeing.

Frimpong is not an adequate replacement for Song Billong. I get the character sometimes a club need someone like Frimpong, a joker in the pack, a fan favorite etc.

Take away the brand and you have a young player with a lot to learn on the pitch, if he can work on his game and improve year on year as Song has done the I’ll be fine. However at this point in time I’d go with the more, er, experienced Coquelin—Ok I’ve always liked Coquelin, but he is, more experienced—.

Francis filled in at Right Back and had to pass a stern test from N’Zogbia, before finding his feet and settling in the position. Our lack of fullback is severely restricting our attack especially now that the attacking thrust depends largely on the wingers.

Wingers who now have to concentrate more on supporting the fullbacks instead of the other way around. The return of any of our fullbacks cannot come soon enough. Hopefully we can hold out until then.

And with that, I say Au revoir. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below, you should also stay in touch by following @wengerball on twitter.

Not too impressed with our glee some people—who should really know better—pointed out that 2 less teams in the champions League means less money for Arsenal and Chelsea. The next day Matt Scott of the guardian on national radio confirmed this, adding that it may even affect the English coefficient.

Could it really be that the Manchester teams had screwed us by being so shit? I immediately tweeted that @diggermattscott was wrong. Far from reducing our cut, being the only 2 English teams left meant a bigger share of the Market Pool.

Turns out I too was wrong. So lets put this straight. The UEFA Champions league prize money split can be a complicated beast, but bear with us.

Group Stages

That’s the simplest part, prize money is straight forward distributed as follows:

• €7.2m for participation in group stages.
• €800k for a win.
• €400k for a draw

Real Madrid has already scooped €12m in the group stages by winning all their matches, whilst Villarreal did themselves no favours with their performance.

Knockout phase

Also straight forward.

• €3m for Round of 16
• €3.3 at Quaterfinals
• €4.2 Semifinals
• €5.6 Runner up
• €9m winners prize.

So if you win every game your total prize money will be €31.5m which is by no means a figure to sniff at. However considering that  Manchester United got got €29.2m in 2010 just for reaching the quarter finals you can see the real money comes in the form of TV distribution or the Market Pool as UEFA prefers to call it.

This year the market pool is estimated at €341m, which is shared amongs all teams participating in the group stages. How much you get from that pool is based on, in order of importance:

1. The size of your domestic Tv Market
2. Your final position in the previous season’s league.
3. How many games you play in the competition

The English market pool is estimated at €84m but the distribution is skewed in favour of your place in the previous season’s league table. So much so that unless Arsenal go all the way to the finals, league Champions Manchester United can still expect to earn more TV money—estimated €24m—than Arsenal despite being out of the competition.

FIG.1 —2010-11 Champions league prize money. Click to zoom

For comparison in the 2009/2010 Premier League Arsenal was 3rd and Spurs 4th. Although Spurs made it to the quarter finals and Arsenal was knocked out in the round of 16, the Gunners still took home €2m more of the market pool than Tottenham^Fig.1.

The previous year illustrates this sharper. Liverpool who was second in the league did not make it out of the group yet took home €20m of the Market Pool playing 4 less games compared to €16m^fig.2 for Arsenal who made to the quarter finals.

FIG.2 —2009-10 UCL prize money distribution. click to zoom

In conclusion, except for the small amount earned for actual games played TV money is already apportioned, and it has nothing to do with how many teams left in the competition at this stage and everything to do with how well you do in your league.

It didn’t start very well though, Moses looked to test Szcsęsny early on and Jordi Gomez looked sure to give Wigan the league but Santos was able to deflect the shot wide. However as much as Wigan started well, we were creating chances, the signs were there that we’d be able to get goals.

For some reason Wigan dropped deep and our midfield was afforded enough space to be dangerous. Eventually Arteta was allowed to pick up the ball just outside the centre circle, freely waltz to within shooting range of the Wigan goal and let fly.

A an opening goal is always a welcome relief — Although I was a little ticked off with Al Habsi for letting what seems and easy enough shot to handle but that was short lived when I remembered that I had swapped the Wigan keeper for Tim Krul in my fantasy team — and with that goal I though it would be an opportune time to take a toilet break, lo and behold when I re-emerged we had 2 goals, new striker Vermaelen was the scorer.

Usually this is the point where we — Fans as well as players — all start losing our nerves. Thing is, this is not your Arsenal of last season, you know the one who would go to pieces with a 2 goal lead. This is a more mature, more resilient and more collective Arsenal that is comfortable defending a lead. It was just a matter of staying focused and picking off Wigan when the opportunity presents.

We did exactly what was called for, we controlled the rest of the game through impeccable possession and passing football. Racking up 487 passes at a rate of 90% after the second goal — before that the passing rate was 82%. Unlike previous seasons at no time did I feel nervous or was worried about the the opposition coming back into it.

A mature, collective performance. The key word in Arsène Wenger’s post match interview was collective. Seldom can a team win games without playing as a collective and Arsenal’s 3rd goal the epitome of a collective, one scored after a 33 passes culminating into RVP’s strike being parried into Gervinho’s path for the score.

It felt that another 90 minutes would pass without a Van Persie goal, but Theo made sure that his skipper got that goal. Staying on his feet when he could have easily gone down, cutting back to RvP when he could have gone for the goal is more proof of the collective spirit on display by the team.

Individually this Arsenal team does not look better than any of the previous six seasons, but there is this sense that collectively — I promise I won’t use that word again — they are much more than the sum of the parts.

RvP, Walcott, Ramsey, Koscielny and Arteta have all clocked over 1100 premier league minutes so far this season, with Song and Gervinho not that far behind. Having topped the group we are in a position to rest players against Olympiacos next Tuesday.

For now we enjoy the rest of the weekend and look forward to the second string getting a run out against the Greeks. Thanks for stopping by, remember to leave your comments in the section below or @wengerball on twitter.

μέχρι την επόμενη φορά

This time, whether there’s been a change in attitude, or was the quality of performance on display, or the cost of opposition, this time does not feel as bad as the others.

We’ve been knocked out in the past by, Burnley, Spurs, thrashed by City away, bullied by stoke, and had our hearts ripped out by Brimingham at Wembley, but this time it feels different.

Fans left the Emirates with a positive feeling, a sense of pride, proud of the young-1 men who showed that they can perform with the best of them, proud of the older-2 heads who instilled a sense of calm, and assurance.

It shows that there is still life left in the old youth project, we also learned that the backup in some positions are not as bad as we thought, most of all it shows that there a togetherness and a fight in this Arsenal team and shows there is a “team” in this team.

Not that there isn’t anything to worry about though. The bluntness of our attack is something of a bother. Neither Chamakh or Park gave us any hint that the reliance on Robin van Persie can be abated with confidence. Sergio Aguero showed what a quality striker looked like, seizing on his only real chance to give City the win.

While Arshavin’s cameo—the less said the better.

More an more it’s likely that there will be a foray in the January transfer market to sharpen our attack. The problem lies in the availability of good attacking stock during that period. The better players surely won’t be released by their respective teams.

The best we can hope for is that a good but unsettled striker can be found. There has been talk of Podolski being the top target for that role. A well respected striker in the Bundesliga that has indicated his preference to move to new pastures. If that happens then it will go some way to alleviating the pressure on monsiuer van Persie.

Nasri eventually asked to be denched…I mean benched

Where we seem to have good options is in the center of midfield. If Coquelin or Frimpong—who made it his personal duty to make Nasri know what we think of him— can replicate their performance on a consistent basis then there is not much to worry about in the case of Song or Arteta being absent.

Defensively we already have ample backup, yet the left back position is one of some concern. Miquel played there against City but he is not a left back, in fact it may have been his 1st game in that position. His lack of experience showed earlier on in the game with Johnson getting the better of him in the early exchanges.

To his credit though he improved as the game wore on, to the point where he had the upper hand on the opposition and was quite comfortable until his substitution in the 80th minute.

So the Carling Cup has ended the opportunity for fringe players to get a run out. Some may move out on loan, and while the player of Coquelin would benefit from being farmed out it’s more likely that one of he and Frimpong will be kept back to relieve the current centre midfielders.

We all wish that we could beat moneybags City  but we didn’t. and the focus must be reset to moving up the premier league table. Wigan is up next and it is imperative that we get all 3 points from that encounter.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

It ended with a win but for a long period it did look like it would be “one of those days”. Arsenal created enough chances in the 1st 15 minutes to be up 3-0 yet it was Norwich City who opened the scoring.

Mertesacker would be the villain of the piece, but there is an argument for a foul on Morison. The German could — and should — have acted more decisively, but too often in the Premier League players get away with foul play. One hand on your shoulder and the other around your neck would pretty much impede the progress of any but the strongest players.

In any case a hefty boot would have done the job, a simple action that Per failed to perform ultimately cost us a goal. Fingers will be pointed to a soft Arsenal defence, but apart from that one lapse the defence did their job quite well.

The defence wasn’t what would keep us from beating Norwich City. It was the finishing coupled with that pesky Russell Martin, who seemed to find himself in the way of every goal-bound Arsenal shot.

Norwich’s cause was also helped by the wasteful Gervihno. The Ivorian is quite adept at getting into dangerous positions, but his erratic finishing must improve in order to take the scoring weight off Van Persie. Gervais at one point rounded the Norwich keeper yet contrived to pass the ball straight back into his hands.

Gervihno rounds the keeper... or has he?

Even when we got the opening goal Gervinho’s wasteful exorbitance was in the forefront. Walcott — My man of the match, his best game in a long time — hit a low ball across the face of goal Gervihno was in line to score, yet instead of tapping the ball in he tried to do a fancy flick which he completely missed only for Van Persie to show him how it’s done.

Arsenal second goal was also a case of RvP showing Gervais — who had earlier fluffed a 1 on 1 chance —  how a world class player should score a goal when one v one with the goalie. We all know how much RvP is in the zone right now, what I am worried about is how much we rely on the Dutchman.

Robin is on par with Messi, Ronaldo, and Gomez in terms of scoring in the league. The startling thing is that he has scored 52% of Arsenal’s league goals. Compared to Ronaldo(33%) or Messi(42%), that is quite a worrying stat especially when you take Van Persie’s fitness record into consideration.

Arsenal do create a lot of chances, but we need someone other than RvP to convert them. hopefully we will cross that bridge when it arrives.

In the meantime we enjoy our run and look forward to the Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave you comments in the form below. You can also follow @wengerball on twitter.

Plus tard.

The fact remains that this is three more points in a season that was supposed to finally put the nails in the Arsenal coffin. One where we were to drop out of the top four or even completely out of any European competition. Yet Arsenal are 3 points better off this season compared to the same fixtures of the last.

Last season a similarly poor West Brom side put us to the sword inflicting a severe wound in our title aspirations with a 2-3 reverse in the same fixture. A game that featured Gaël Clichy and that Nasri fellow. This was the type of game that no matter the opposition it still takes discipline to win. A discipline that was severely lacking last season but which is slowly coming to the fore this time around.

Being able to dispatch West Brom with such ease will no doubt add to the ever growing confidence of the team, bouyed by the last premier league outing it is not hard to see what a good run of results can do for a team’s mentality.

Passes are more incisive, players making runs where a few months ago they would have hesitated, same for passes. Defensively the team is more aware of their responsibility, and with the ever improving Jenkinson — Another impressive performance by the young man. Always full of energy, the best crossing in the team and not too shabby defensively either. —  the back five is now a bit more respectable. Vermaelen back from injury means the Centre Back position is a bit of a positive headache for Monsieur Wenger.

Thomas Vermaelen is the type of player that does well against teams like West Brom but his forays forward can also be a liability in other matches. That’s where Mertesacker will come in, games where a calm head, experience, and a better ability to read the game is needed.

The helter-skelter pace of most premier league games will take some getting used to by the German, Although he has showed that he can manage, he has still to adjust to the pacing of the Premier League. No doubt that Per is up to the task, the good thing is that fitness has now afforded us the opportunity to be patient.

One thing that I’m not sure about is the attitude of the manager towards winning the title. I understand that he is wary of putting too much pressure on the team. He has put himself at fault for last seasons collapse, by telling the players the could win everything.

This time around he is saying that we are too far being to contemplate a title challenge, yet he himself has won titles in the past whilst being even further behind. Maybe it is more to do with the strength of the current leader rather than the weakness of his own team.

Not only do we have to win points but we have to depend on City to drop quite a few, and that does not seem likely at the moment. However what we can do is keep winning.

There won’t be any Arsenal football for the next 2 weeks, let’s all hope that everyone returns fit from their international excursions.

That’s my lot for today. Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

Described as everything from fatigued to atrocious it shows that there is always something to pick apart, you can never please everyone. We did not produce the goals, but we did create a few chances.

Ramsey, who was paying pennence for that last minute winner at the Stade Velodrome, could not capitalise on the chances that fell to him. Park is obviously no Van Persie, Gervinho and Walcott looked sluggish.

I am pleased however. Pleased that we are top of a difficult group, and winning that group a a fate that is entirely in our hands.

A win against Olympiacos and we are in the knockout stages, if we’re lucky and Marsielles drop any points against Dortmund we will be group winners.

I am pleased with the attitude shown by our team. We might have been emotionally tired from the weekend highs. Passes might have gone astray, but I saw players encouraging each other. I saw players protecting their teammates. I saw players putting in the effort.
No one was coasting, they were disappointed in the result, some were disappointed with their own below par performance, but I saw a team out there. To bad we didn’t win.

It’s strange that we are getting such flak from last night, yet I thought we played better than in the away game. It’s one of those cases of the result shaping the analysis.

Marsielles was so much better this time around, and barring a poor touch from Gervinho the Stade Velodrome result would have been the same.

I am pleased for Mertesacker, who was on his game last night. Hardly put a foot wrong and won everything in the air. At least his bad game was one which we managed to win.

I am pleased that Vermaelen played a full 90 minutes at high intensity without an adverse reaction. Wenger is able to rest him for the weekend, more so if he is called up for Belgium.

We are in a situation where we don’t have to rush back players in desperation. It bodes well for the overall fitness of the squad.

Oh yes, a clean sheet. Something that is not associated with this Arsenal’s defence. Only 5 clean sheets this season says it all. We just don’t do clean sheets, last night was a minor miracle.

Sergeant Jenkinson—who doesn’t look it but really is a glass half full type of guy—looked at the positives. Saying:

“Defensively we were solid and although they did break a few times they did not really have many clear-cut opportunities. So defensively it was a good display by us and I think we will build on that now. I think you have got to take the positives. Obviously, Marseille are a good side and we have not lost – 0-0 is not a bad result. So, in my eyes, the glass is half full. At the end of the day, we have kept our unbeaten run going.”

Wojtek “Cruyff-turn-in-your-box” Szczęsny was also happy with his defence:

We kept a clean sheet, which is all you can ask of a back four. They did well today but I’ve been training with them for a long time and I see the qualities. We looked really solid today; the spirit is really positive in the team. We are very confident going into every single game. There were some tired legs but you expect that. It is hard to play a big game every three days. And at the moment, every game for us is massive.

If you want to whinge about not scoring, go ahead, but I’ll stick with a positive outlook today. Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

The assumption is that Vermaelen will partner Mertesacker in the long run, however as far as I am concerned it will be Koscielny in the driver seat with others fighting for a game.

This morning I had intended to write more about Koscielny’s rise from Lique 1 to 1st choice at The Arsenal, however in my feed reader I saw that @dstonearsenal wrote an excellent piece on that topic, so I’m just going to add a few words about the man who according to the esteemed Mr. Redknapp had finally “arrived” in the 3-5 win against Chelsea.

As Darius Stone wrote, the first thing that fans use to judge a player is the nonsensical notion of equating transfer fee to quality. So Koscielny instantly fails in this regard with his £8.4m fee paling in comparison to top class defenders. I find it unbelievable than anyone would think that way.

The fact is the transfer fee has more to do with how much one party is willing to sell at and how mush the other is willing to pay. It has more to do with the particular needs of a club and that of a player. It has more to do with vanity than reality. It has more to do with timing.

It has little to do with quality. Anelka went from £500,000 to £22.3m and everything in between, yet his quality was consistent throughout. What does that say? We’re not comparing different players or positions. The same player was traded for:

• £500,000 —Arsenal —Games per goal(2.83)
• £22,300,000 —Real Madrid —Games per goal(9.5)
• £20,000,000 —PSG —Games per goal(3.9)
• £12,000,000 —Manchester City —Games per goal(2.4)
• £7,000,000 —Fenerbahçe —Games per goal(2.8)
• £8,000,000 —Bolton —Games per goal(2.5)
• £15,000,000 —Chelsea —Games per goal(3.24)

What does this show? Transfer fee is a lottery. The performance of a player has nothing to do with his transfer fee.

More than the transfer fee, the judgement on Koscielny’s quality is gratuitously skewed because of a few relatively high profile errors. No matter that he has kept an untold number of strikers quiet, or he as the best timing of tackles, recovery pace, or positioning. He will always be shit in people’s eyes because of that Carling Cup Final.

That is a classic human failing otherwise known as cognitive biases. In particular a Negativity bias – the tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative than positive experiences or other kinds of information.

Another form of cognitive bias that Koscielny suffers from is the Von Restorff effect – the tendency for an item that “stands out like a sore thumb” to be more likely to be remembered than other items.

An all action player who put in 1 or 2 crunching tackles in a game but not much else is held in higher regard than one who times and wins 5 or 6 interceptions. Yet it should be obvious that an interception is more valuable than the type of tackle that is more often than not a foul. Even when it is not a foul you’re hardly in a position to do anything with the ball if you’re lucky enough to win the ball.

I keep hearing that Laurent is error prone, when the truth is again linked to the Wembley final. An event that sticks out like a sore thumb, and one that is out of the ordinary for the defender. An own goal against Blackburn caused the old error prone line to resurface. Yet the fact that these errors stick out so much should lead one to conclude that he is infact not error prone and these events are extreme cases.

This is the same stick used to beat Arshavin with, using a 4 goal performance at Liverpool as the benchmark. Expecting him to put in that type of performance on a regular basis is foolish, it may never happen again. The benchmark for Arshavin is an assist every other game or a goal every 3-4 games, sadly every time he fails to score 4 it’s another poor performance—madness.

These cognitive biases are present in everyone, the trick is to acknowledge their existence and ask yourself  “am I being biased here?” Obviously as football fans we will have our tinted spectacles on and it’s fine as long as we realise that those specs are indeed on.

Others will have you believe that Arsenal is a one man team, or as an esteemed hack put it:

“Arsenal is one Robin van Persie injury away from mid-table mediocrity”

You see, Van Persie wins the ball, dribbles, to the byline, cuts it back to himself, and finishes it. He may be good, but he’s not that good. I’d venture to say that without Gervinho we would not have won yesterday. It seems that as things didn’t go as the narrative demanded, the media had to come up with something else.  — Anything apart from what is actually happening.

Slowly the confidence is returning.

Having watch the match in it’s entirety this morning, the body language, movement and attitude of players seems to point to more belief in themselves. At the very least it looks better that it was a few weeks ago. One of our biggest problems at the start of the season was the inability to make incisive passes. Through balls was a rarity, players making runs in behind the defence almost ever happened, creativity was in a trough.

Ramsey in particular is finding his mojo. That pass for the opening goal would never have happened on month ago. Whether it’s getting the goal against Marsielles, playing well for his country during the international break, or simply just a the result of a few wins, his confidence is noticeably better and the creative and incisive passing is coming back.

Gervinho Showing what he can offer.

I think some of us were worried as Gervinho haven’t been the all action goal scoring hero we might have hoped for. Although that was never what he was going to be, — Yet — there was the expectation that he would shoulder some of the goal-scoring burden currently being carried by Van Persie.

While all eyes may be on van Persie at the moment, Gervinho did score the opening goal and was the one who assisted the 2 RvP goals. While 2 premier league goals so far may look a low return for the Ivorian, factor in the 4 assists in his 6 premier league games and you’ll see that he is quietly getting the job done.

Koscienly is first choice.

I have always been a huge fan of Laurent. He has made a few faux pas in his Arsenal career, but I’ve never doubted his quality. What has hindered him more than ever is a lack of a consistent partner at centre back. From Vermaelen to Miquel, injuries and suspensions, koscielny has never been afforded the luxury of developing an understanding with his partner at the back.

I have not checked the stats, but I would not at all be surprised if this six game run with Mertesacker is the longest Koscielny has gone playing with the same partner at the back. What are seeing is a confident player who is hitting some great form, and there are not many in the Premier League who is better then him.

The assumption is that Vermaelen will partner Mertesacker in the long run, however as far as I am concerned it will be Koscielny in the driver seat with others fighting for a game.

Bring on Bolton in the Carling Cup, I would expect heavy rotation and an Arsenal win… Forward

Injuries and the upcoming North London Derby(NLD)  meant that the side put out by Pat Rice would be a shadow of our best 11. Song at Centre Back, The Ox™ in for Walcott, Andrew Saint continues to get settled in, and Rusty Rosický the stand in captain.

Wholesale changes often means a lack of cohesion and a bit of caution, fortunately for The Arsenal and early goal by Oxlaide-Chamberlain settled the nerves, and when Andre Santos netted the second it looked like it would be one of those high scoring Champions League night.

To the credit of Olympiacos they didn’t retreat into their shell, but woke up and took the game to Arsenal. It seems news of our vulnerability on set pieces has spread far and wide and the Greek champions sought to take advantage of said vulnerability.

Their goal came from a quick short corner which caught the arsenal defence snoozing, Oxlaide-Chamberlain was left 2 on 1 and Olympiacos scored from a relatively free header. The scoreline wasn’t unfair, no, it indeed was unfair as the Greeks had more chances to score and were it not for their profligacy and a bit of alert defending from Arteta the scoreline would be in favour of Olympiacos.

Fuster scores, catching Arsenal asleep at the back

The second half turned out to be a more controlled affair. Whether it was coaches instructions, or simply player caution, there were no more goals to come. Although at the time gooners may have been wracked with nerves over a slender lead, in reality we were well in control throughout the second half.

In the 66^th minute Torossidis hit the bar with a thumping shot that seemed to take Szczęsny by surprise. It was a warning, one which we did well to heed. As it stood that was the last shot Olymipiacos had on goal. We did create a few chances in the last 20 minutes but the score stood at 2-1.

The scoreline made it feel uncomfortable, but I dare say it was not down to what we were seeing on the pitch. A combination of negativity and confirmation bias towards our defence made what turned out to be a relatively easy win feel much worse than reality.

The Good

The result, don’t say it loudly but that is our third win in a row although it doesn’t feel that way it’s another step towards the confidence levels that we need to sustain a good run in any competition. Arsène remarked that confidence is easy to lose and slow to regain, as it proves he is right, but we’re getting there —of that I’m confident—.

Alex Dimitri Song Billong can provide as much sorrow as he gives joy, when he is on song it is a joy to behold. The guy can be so calm, so calculating, if only he can keep his form going for a sustained period.

This season is a African Nations Cup tournament if he were to jet off to Africa he’d be sorely missed, thankfully it will take a minor miracle for Cameroon to qualify.

The Bad

Their goal was one that gave more ammunition to the Arsenal needs a defensive coach agenda. A player left in a 2 on 1 situation while the defence is getting organised, not realising the kick is already taken. By the time Arsenal realised what was happening the goal had already been scored.

Lack of concentration, switching off, not paying attention, call it what you will, but is was bad.

The Ugly

Andrey Arshavin — Walking around, playing bad passes then standing there like it’s someone else’s fault, he was shit. Although he had a ten minute spell when it looked like he had suddenly realised there was a game to be played. Amazingly the stats showed that he had covered the most ground at half time—yes you read that right.

That’s not the worst though. What’s really ugly is the way he looks at the bench with those sad puppy dog eyes pleading to be taken off. At least he gets on the pitch, unlike …

What now?

As far as the Champions League is concerned the next 2 matches against Marsielle is crucial for qualification. The good thing is that we can’t take our foot off the gas as we did in previous campaigns. Seeing Marsielle beat both Dortmund and Olympiacos by scoring 3 goals means at the very least our defence will be tested.

Funny thing is that Marsielle can’t buy a win in Ligue 1 — so far they’ve played 8 and won 1— yet they are looking so good in Champions League. We will have to be on the ball against them.

Next up is the NLD. According to prevailing thought we are going to Shite Hart Lane as underdogs. I keep hearing that they have a better team than ours, and they have put some great wins together. Footballing norms say Adebayor will score against us, but I am not sure that it is that simple.

Derby games are just that, a derby, and the form book is usually thrown out during those encounters. Fortunately we were able to rest some players and Harry has repeated hisSpurs will finish ahead of arsenal this season mantra, which is usually followed immediately by us spanking them. Look it up every time he says this they lose, it has happened the past 2 seasons.

Anyway that’s my lot for today, thanks for reading. Remember to leave your thoughts in the comment section and follow @wengerball on twitter.

The crowd was more behind the team now that there is a noticeable lack of confidence on the pitch. No one can accuse the Emirates crowd of the apathy of previous seasons. No more we sit back waiting to be entertained, we know that our support is needed now more than ever and that is manifested in a more boisterous crowd at The Emirates Stadium.

At halftime, with the score still 0-0, glimpses of wengerball was there but not having the luxury of a lead meant nerves remained frayed. Happily we didn’t have to wait long after the interval for the opening goal.

Van Persie did what he does and with a shimmy of his hips and a thwack from his trusty left peg the Emirates crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief. What a difference the goal made, we played with a swagger, passes were crisp, movement was delightful, and when David Wheater was sent off for denying Theo and obvious goalscoring opportunity we were finally in control of the game.

Bolton’s goal came under seige — 15 of Arsenal’s 27 shots on goal came after the 55^th minute — , the second goal was inevitable. We were however warned when a Bolton counter-attack was thwarted be the recovery pace of Gibbs, but these Bolton raids we few and far, far, in-between.

Robin van Persie scores 100 goals for Arsenal

Robin van Persie became the 17^th player to score 100 goals for The Arsenal when he expertly nudged home another — in what is becoming a regular combination, that has yielded 7 assists since January — low cross from Theo Walcott. Smiles broke out everywhere, a happiness that recently has been all too fleeting has returned, hopefully for a long-term visit.

The final goal came through Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong, who was excellent throughout. The midfielder was rated 8.8 by whoscored only Robin van Persie was rated higher at 9.7. Not just content at breaking up Bolton’s play, Song contributed by attempting and successfully making the most through passes, and creating joint most — together with Walcott and Arteta — scoring opportunities.

So in a day that started off with trepidation and anxiety ended with gooners full of repose and cheer after a good day on the pitch. 3-0 no other team has kept more clean sheets than Arsenal in the league so far.

Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. You can join @wengerball on twitter for up to the minute thoughts and opinion on all things Arsenal, ‘till next time.

The prevailing mood was contentment with the point, an acceptance that BVB were better on the night:

@arsenalvision
Proud of the boys tonight. Defended very well, worked hard but that strike was top draw. I would have taken a draw beforehand.
@Gooner_In_BCN
Draw away from home wiv team that never played together against German champs not bad. Helluva goal against. We will win this group IMO
@arseblog
Slightly cruel with the lateness of the goal but they deserved something, I guess. I’ll take 1-1.

Ivan Perišić scores a once in a lifetime goal? Or Arsenal concedes their usual screamer from a loose header.

There was a bit of lamentation on the way and time Dortmund equalised, most accepted that it was a once in a lifetime strike. The goalsocorer Ivan Perišić himself admitted that he’s never done that before, and probably never will again. Though some voices queried the lack of personnel defending the edge of the box, noting that we have a record of conceding that type of goal:

@benvenceremos
Not that scoreline flattered Borussia, but fuck me: Danny Rose, Toite, & now Peresic, all almost identical once in a lifetime heartsinkers!
@Sharpovic
So typical of us to concede those kind of goals, like the one from tiote vs newcastle last year.
@ArsenalColumn
Not to sound a pessimist but it’s an inevitability if Arsenal defend with all inside their box.
If there’s no one there for the second ball those kinds of opportunities are invited aren’t they?

The defence won praise, notably Szczesny, Koscielny and the second half Song, especially in light of the movement and work ethic of BVB. Whilst at the other end there is concern about the dullness and underwhelming mobility:

@binhaf
Meh. Kos and Song were outstanding in 2nd half. Szczesny awesome as usual, good defending from the boys. Non existent offensively.
@7amkickoff
Arsenal clearly set up conservatively, got the goal they wanted, and did very well to defend the lead. Great strike from Snake Perisic
@gwalcott14
Mertesacker was outstanding tonight. Not ever have I felt this safe with high balls. Song was MOTM though. Götze was brilliant for BVB
@henrywinter
Rarely seen Alex Song play as well as that 2nd half. Model of the modern defensive midfielder. Tackling, breaking up play etc.
@10akhil
I agree. [Song]stayed on his feet too. mature performance. thought Laurent Kosienly was superb too. Was everywhere.
@Marbina49
Sagna’s the best right back in the premier league, fuck anyone that tries to tell me otherwise. Such a consistent hard working player.

Outside of the game, we commented on UEFA’s treatment of Arsène, Barcelona’s Cesc effect and praise for the ref:

@littlemsgooner
how ridiculous for Arsene Wenger not to be allowed to go to the dressing room after the game is over UEFA = power crazy
@JamieDalton82
Barca starting to rack up the injuries – Sanchez out for 2 months – Iniesta now out for 1 month
@TheRSD
German press on The Ref. Error-free performance, saw little things big and small, also with a nice body language – how it’s done. true

There you have it, turns out that collating these tweets is a little more time consuming than it appears. Hover over the user names to follow or view more info on the publishers.

If you are unhappy with the publication of your tweet here, drop me a line and I’ll remove it. Thanks for reading, you can follow me on twitter at @wengerball, till next time.

We love you Arsenal

The opening goal came within the first 5 minutes, the sigh of relief in the stadium was noticeable. It also meant that a team notorious for letting leads slip would have 84 minutes to hold on to or improve on that slender margin. The question on fans minds was simple, would the defence hold out?

As it turned out that much maligned defence was, as at St. James’ Park, the best part of the team. Koscielny showed that he is massively underrated, Vermaelen was barking orders as befits the captain, Sagna was quietly efficient and Szczęsny commanding in his box. Jenkinson, who was clearly nervous, came through unscathed.

As positive as the defence was, the same could not be said for other areas of the pitch where the problems are stark. Although the defence bears the brunt of blame for our ails, it has always been the midfield who puts them under undue pressure and last night was no different.

Song, Ramsey and, Rosickỳ did not work as well as the could. Failure to keep possession meant Udinese could start there attacks halfway up the pitch. Passes were constantly miss-placed, first touches were nearly always heavy, movement was sluggish. Even when the midfield gained a semblance of control, that killer pass proved to be elusive.

It says something about our lack of control in the middle that the introduction of Frimpong brought with it some relief. Two fouls in the space of a few seconds was ominous, but once settle the youngster made us look much improved. We can be sure that far from another centre back, a midfield maestro is Arsenal’s most immediate requirement.

Upfront was a mixed bag Walcott the outstanding attacker, and were it not for an outstanding save from Handanovič he would have had a brace and we would be going to Italy with a 2 goal lead. Gervinho did everything but was time and again let down by his last action, whilst the less said about Chamackh the better. Although in defence of the Moroccan it was an improved performance, let’s leave it there.

No Arsenal fan can pretend that they are not happy with the result, given the team we had out there few would have been brave to bet on a win for The Arsenal. Injuries are already a huge problem only 2 games into the season. We can only hope that the medical staff can get key members of the squad fit in time for the return leg.

Barring medical wizardry, a foray into the transfer market is imperative and that must happen sooner rather than later.

Every transfer is a gamble.

The reality is no one can predict how a new player is going to perform at their new club, and no one is exempt. There have been numerous players who were rubbish before moving clubs and suddenly becoming world class, whilst some of the best players in the world can forget to take their talent along with them to a new team.

The art is minimising those risks and or maximising the potential. Instinctively the first step to minimising risk is the buying price, as it’s much easier to write off a million dollar purchase than to have the patience to nurture a £20m flop. Yet no one can deny that at €94m Christiano Ronaldo represents good value for Real Madrid.

While it’s easy to determine the current value of a product or a company, football managers are trying to put a price on a human being, who can stop performing because he doesn’t like the weather, or missing his dog, or food, or language, or anything else that affects a product as fragile as the human being.

Price does not equate to quality

History has taught us that in no way does price determine how good or bad a player can be. The price paid for a player is simply the product of negotiations between the two parties.

Every team would give you a different value for every player, it’s not about market value, I’d go as far as saying there is no such thing as market value for a player. Deals are made between two parties, there is no established trading price for any player only how much one is willing to pay and at what price another is willing to sell.

The difference is in negotiation acumen or style, depth of pockets, and perceived value.

What can you do for me?

The big question is how will a player fit at a club, how will he improve the team. Exactly why Barcelona placed a lower value on Cesc than they did on Villa. While they already had players to fulfil the role Fàbregas would have played in the team, Villa filled avoid on the pitch hence they paid more for Villa than they were willing to pay for Cesc—one big reason why Cesc will be staying at Arsenal.

Off the pitch there is also value in a player’s brand that must also be paid for, demand for Real Madrid’s shirts went up 350% when David Beckham signed. Whilst it is said that they (Real Madrid) sold 1.2 million “Ronaldo 9″ shirts within 6 months of his arrival in Madrid. At €74 that is almost €90m, with hindsight it’s easy to see that €94m was an absolute bargain.

Unfortunately hindsight is not available on the negotiation table, therefore clubs simply have to look at how much they can afford, and take a risk based on how good that player will turn out to be.

So if Liverpool were to sell Henderson for £30m in 2014, and Şahin were to move on for a loss after a year in Spain—like Huntelaar— then the current brouhaha about Henderson will all be forgotten and Dalglish will be hailed a genius. Only time will tell.

At the top is the Über rich, money is no object shopper. Who will simply look at price to determine quality. The type who shops at the top end luxury stores. They have personal shoppers because the have no concept of value, and will accept anything their personal shoppers recommend. And occasionally they buy at I saw you coming, or go to high end auctions outbidding each other in a vulgar display of oppulence.

The Übers depend on a high value resource to fund his spending, and will continue to do so until the resource is depleted or they just get bored of it all.

Sometimes the winner of trophies and fans, but even with their largesse trophies can’t always be guaranteed and frustration ensues, underlings are sacked, assets are written off, and new, more expensive ones are bought in an effort to regain previous adulation. Ultimately, even with all that spending nothing is guaranteed.

Then is the leveraged rich with some sense of value, but willing to risk some to earn more kind of shopper. Those will be in the high end shops but still look for value, whilst not afraid to pop into M&S now and then. Always looking to make shrewd investments but will spoil themselves every now and again.

They live the good life, but under a cloud of uncertainty where a black swan event could ruin them. Outwardly secure but knowing one false move could mean the start of a downward spiral.

Admired by many for being able to stay at the top of the hill for so long, seen as the gold standard by many. The burden of debt accumulated to gain that perch remains a constant source of anxiety.

At the bottom of the top is the value based shopper, the kind who will set a budget and not go past it under any circumstance. Every shopping trip is governed by a strict set of rules, parameters are set and a purchase is made only when all criteria is fulfilled. Let’s call him Mr. Prudent

This type of shopper never spends more than they earn In fact the always spend less than they earn leaving aside some funds for a rainy day. Luxury is not part of their psyche. Never buys anything because it’s the hot item or because we just like it, no it must fulfil a need.

No one likes going to shop with this person, mostly because it takes too long. Going to each shop trying to find that perfect deal, we get exasperated at him, yell at him to just buy something, anything so we can go home.

That’s not to say there’s no risk involved with Mr. Prudent, just a lower level of risk, he is willing to build and nurture so his risks involves buying raw material and building them into the products he needs. Those are handmade products so there are some that fail to meet the standard required, they are discarded with a heavy heart but still at a price that at least covers costs.

The really good ones we get to keep and use to maintain status amongst the elite. Those are coveted by the high end shoppers, sometimes they move on, but usually it’s after serving their purpose and at a price that pays for a few years worth of raw material, and so the process continues.

Mr. Prudent was once at the very top of the pyramid, but knew to be robust in the future capital investment was needed. He built a lovely new home so that when he passes his family will be able to maintain there place without seeking outside help.

He knew that building the new home would significantly reduce his shopping budget for a great many years, but endeavoured to make that sacrifice at the cost of accolades and prizes.

In the years since the new house the Übers moved in, threatening to nudge Mr. Prudent’s family from the elite neighbourhood. Somehow he managed to stay amongst the top, competing for honours failing by small margins. Amongst his family there is discontent, there are those who want to live like the Übers, those who want a trophy at any cost, even those who wishes him out.

However he’s playing the long game, and things are changing. New rules are in place that will prevent the Übers and The Leveraged from unlimited spending, things are going to be a bit more equal. Some of Mr Prudent’s products are at maturity, some under performers will be moved on.

The mortgage on the new house is being reduced, new commercial income is being sourced, this year Mr. Prudent has been closer than ever to winning a prize—an experience strangely more painful than not being close at all—the pieces are falling together, but the family is falling apart.

This shopping window could be Mr. Prudent’s most important, his shopping basket will be closely monitored. The products sold this summer will be of great significance, maybe more so than what he buys.

Next time we look at Prudent’s shopping techniques, how exactly does he determine value in the market. See you then.

As with all things in this media led football administration it seems that the solution for England’s woes are to copy who or what ever is doing well now with no thought for long term strategy. As such the main thrust for Wilshere’s inclusion in the U21 finals is to better prepare him for next year Uefa 2012 competition, this in itself shows some strategic thinking but is it the correct strategy?

If you’re on the starting 11 for a team that is competing for a premier league title, playing champions league football, and your national senior team what can you learn playing in an under 21 tournament? How can you learn—other than, maybe humility—when you’re the best on the pitch?

Instead of taking a deep and long look at the success/failures of others we look at the end result and try to emulate what they are doing currently instead of what they have done in the long term build up to their success.

Germany winning the U21 was a step towards the success of 2010.

Not true. For all the talk of young players in the German World Cup
Squad, the fact remains that only 2 of those U21 players were in the world cup squad, Ozil and Neuer. It’s not like those U21 stars stepped up to the next level because of the tournament. They would have anyway, U21 or not. As did Thomas Muller.

Another convenient omission is that none of those at the U21 championship was an, and this is important, integral part of the senior squad. In fact the only person who had more than one cap at senior level before that tournament was Gonzalo Castro.

In the case of Castro, I would not be surprised if those caps were just to tie the player to Germany before Spain could get their hands on him. He has never featured for the senior squad since

Once moved on to the senior squad none moved back down. Which is exactly the opposite of what the Wilshere-to-U21-tournament-campaigners would have you believe.

Another presented as an example of a player who used the U21 to move up was Iniesta, who famously represented Spain at every level in international football.

How did Iniesta situation compare to Wilshere’s? It does not. Iniesta was nowhere near Jack’s level at 19/20 years old. Iniesta had not represented the seniors before he was 20. And was never asked to revert to U21 once representing the Seniors.

And to exacerbate the delusional thinking of the FA, Stuart Pearce, and some in the media. The idea that playing in the U21 will be good for Jack is based on the assumption that England will win the tournament.

The arrogance of English football knows no bounds, every argument made for Wilshere going to that tournament is accompanied by the experience he will gain when, not if, England wins the tournament

Think about that, Wilshere should play because his development will be hastened when England wins a tournament that they almost failed to qualify for? Remember they had to depend on other results in the last round of matches in order to qualify for second place playoffs in a group that contained powerhouses such as Greece (group winners), Lithuania and Macedonia.

Amazingly no thought is given to what will happen to his development when they get knocked out in the first round.

I just can’t see what is to be gained by the inclusion of Wilshere. The experience can’t be better than playing a full premier league season, it can’t be better than testing yourself against Barcelona, and to say winning it will give him a taste of lifting any trophy hadn’t he done that at U18?

Sending Wilshere cannot be more beneficial to Wilshere than a good rest after a gruelling Premier league campaign, it will be beneficial to England but not to Wilshere, anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.

For all his genius, one quality that Wenger lacks is the prescience that every man and his dog is blessed with, case in point the current goalkeeping fiasco. Everyone knows that at some point we would have to depend on our third or fourth keeper, so why a so called genuis couldn’t forsee injuries to his starting and backup keepers is beyond comprehension.

What is more unforgivable is that, he had the money to buy a new keeper yet decided against it for no apparent reason than to save a few bucks. Even if we agree that we have one of the best young keepers around in Szczȩsny and a fine backup in Fabiański or vice versa it is important that the third goalkeeper is not a dud. Just look at the depth of the title contenders in the goalkeeping position

• Chelsea – Ross Turnbull
• United – Anders lindgard, Ben Amos
• City – Gunnar Nielsen, Stuart Taylor
• Spurs – Stipe Pletikosa

All are infinitely better than Manuel Almunia and Jens Lehman. It is nothing short of negligence for Arsène to have put The Arsenal in this situation, utter madness. We could have spent £18m on Hugo Lloris who would never make silly mistakes like Almunia, and is especially strong on corners where we let in many goals.

Or £15m on Manuel Neuer who would never get beaten by a long punt again like the Spanish Manuel does so often…

But no, because of the man’s arrogance the title race is now out of our hands, a full five points behind United and with Chelsea now gathering momentum we’d be lucky to finish 2nd. Although we were predicted to drop out of the top 4 contemplating a third place finish is unbearable, it’s just not acceptable for a club as big as Arsenal, especially as our rival neighbours are in the Champions league quarter finals.

We all knew that our keepers would get injured as is always the case year after year, we cannot afford to have just 1 solid backup in such an important position. To win the trophies we deserve we need, at a minimum, 2 world class players in every position on the pitch and 3 world class goalkeepers to cover for injuries.

All good things must come to an end and if Wenger can’t these simple problems then I’m afraid his time at the helm of The Arsenal has come to shuddering halt.

We defended heroically –as heroically as you can with that infamous backline–but barça simply was too good for The Arsenal last night.

It was always going to an uphill task, and when Robin van Persie got sent off that task went from uphill to monumental. The referee was well within his rights to book van Persie, but having the right to do so doesn’t preclude him from having some common sense and using that right in a more deserving situation.

Barça was superior against 11, RvP sending off ended any semblance of a contest.

Without the services of the flying dutchman we a left to rue what might have been. Yet, barça was always going to score and the remit was to restrict them to as little as possible while getting a sneaky way goal. A remit that Arsenal came close to fulfilling.

At 3-1 Barca still had to be wary of another Arsenal goal, and had it not been for a great tackle from Mascherano–or a poor first touch from Bendtner–it might have been Arsenal in the next round and that would have been a travesty.

As it stands we have to completely disregard last might amd get ourselves on the correct frame of mind for Saturday. I don’t subscribe to the notion that going out last night will be detrimental to the team. More than anything it should concentrate our energies to achieving the two remaining targets.

United ain’t no Barcelona.

Recent history has pointed to a week or two where Arsenal go from possibly winning everything to likely winning nought. The fear is that we are in the middle of repeating that history. I’m sure that just as we are aware of it the players are doubly so, and the are good enough to get past United.

Just as they are aware of the past they should learn from it, and I am still confident that this team is on the path to lifting silverware this season.

The champions league might have been great but the FA cup still has allure, winning the league and cup double is nothing to sniff  at. So forget about the past and look forward to a double winning season. We can do this

We easily get sucked into the media led illusion that we won’t win anything with our current defence, while blithely ignoring the profligacy we’ve shown time and time again in front of goal. Notwithstanding the poor refereeing, we would have won the game if not for our failure to convert chances.

There have been blunders at the back that have cost us games, even cost us a trophy this season. However it’s no good the defence to shut up shop only for the forwards not to score when the opportunity arises.

The reason why United are top of the league not because of their mighty defence. Do not be fooled they have conceded just as much as the soft underbelly of The Arsenal. The reason why they are up there is because they take their chances.

It’s very much the same as when van Persie is playing. We always look a better side because more often than not Robin van Persie will convert chances into goals. The dutch striker scores roughly 1 in 4 attempts while the rest of the team needs 7 shots to convert 1 goal.

Yesterday I tweeted that United has 5 more goals than us from 36 less shots, if we were as clinical as they were we’d have we’d have 69 goals as opposed to 57. Even if we were not top of the league at least we’d have a superior goal difference.

On Saturday the easy thing to do was to look at the mistakes made by the referee, the offside decision that never was did cost us. That goal would have had us 1 point behind Manchester United today.

I’d like to ask how many of us looked at that decision in real time and thought it was onside? It was so close that the only way the linesman could get that right is if he had been perfectly in line with Arshavin.

Instead of blaming the referee or linesman we should look at our own players. When Chamakh laid that cutback perfectly for Arshavin to score why did he put that it straight to the keeper when it was easier not to? Or why when presented with a clear header did Chamakh go for power over accuracy? Six inches better placed and we’d not be having this conversation.

In football it’s always easy to blame the ref or the manager, but the ones who should shoulder the blame are the individuals who make more mistakes than either manager or referee.

A point closer to the title

Despite my negative tone, I still think that it was a good weekend for The Arsenal. We have Dirk Kuyt and Livepool to thank for that, about time someone show United for the shit team that there are. Always scrapping by, fooling people into thinking that they are such a great team.

Those fuckers are like playing your little brother on FIFA, always gloating when he eeks out a win with some lucky rebound, or just waltzing right through your defender. The minute you start beating him, he chucks away the controller and decides he wants to play something else.—I digress.

Even if we were able to beat Sunderland, United might have beaten Liverpool and we would be 4 points behind instead of 3. In any case we still have to beat United when they visit us at the Emirates.

Tomorrow we face Barcelona and I’m not expecting anything out of this game. I’d be over the moon if we win, but I will not be unduly troubled if we were to lose at the Camp Nou. As long as it’s not a demoralising 5-0 defeat, I’d be happy to concentrate on the Premier League, which is a title that is more winnable.

Nicklas or Marouane, who is going to fill van Persie's shoes

I read an article somewhere recently which sought to statistically prove that Bendtner is the best striker in europe, sadly I can’t find it this morning. I’m not even sure if the point was well made, or accurate, but I do remember revolving around goals per minute goals per minute.

Sure Bendtner is not as good as he thinks he is — although he never did say he is the best in the world, merely that his goal is to be the best in the world. We never do let the facts get in the way, do we? — but he isn’t as bad as some of us make him out to be.

Now I have to confess my admiration for the lad, I love his gumption. His confidence is something that should be bottled and distributed to some of the other squad members. Yes I’m looking at you Chamakh, you’re just a tad too timid for my liking. Strikers should be arrogant, greedy, and have a supreme belief that they can score at all times. Even if they’ve missed the previous 10 attempts.

This season he has 12 goals from 13 starts which is much better than I imagined before looking it up. Going back further he had 12 goals last season, the same as Arshavin who played 11 games more than Bendtner, second only to Fàbregas both of whom played much more games that the big Dane, maybe he’s not so deluded after all.

There is this peculiar trait most of us have that tend make us dislike braggadocio, we hate the gum chewing, the nonchalance, and the lack of concern he shows when he misses or loses the ball, but if we look past the cosmetic faults we’ll find tangible results.

How many times has he come through for us, snatching a last minute goal when things are dire. He doesn’t just score against minnows like Leyton Orient, he does it against the biggest teams in the world. Who was it that kept us hanging around in the title race when RvP was nursing his ankle?

Now that van Persie is out for the next 4 weeks, I’d much rather turn to Nicklas Bendtner in this time of need than any of the other strikers in the squad. Now is not the time for the meek, now is the time for men to stand up and show some balls and no one in the squad has a bigger set than Super Nicky B.

Arsenal Barcelona is guaranteed to be the most watch Champions League game this round.

While there are well grounded reason for backing a Barca win, there are equally competitive reasons for a punt on Arsenal. What I don’t get is the lack of balance in the British Isles. I know there is an anti-Arsenal agenda —well more accurately a pro spurs agenda via the spurs in the media collective— in the British media, but that shouldn’t preclude the lack of objectivity amongst the scribes and their followers. Well maybe it does.

I used to be really bothered by this bias, but now that I know it exists and who is behind it I don’t let it get to me. Even more so knowing that for all the spin put out be them, we still remain the better team, but I digress.

While we don’t get what we deserve from our compatriots, there is a lot of respect coming to us from the mainland. There is also respect from or opposition, at least on the field. Barcelona knows full well that this is not La Liga opposition they’re coming up against,. They know that they played their best football in the first half of last year’s Emirates game yet left with a draw. They know that this was against a weakened Arsenal team and an even weaker team in the second leg.

When Guardiola says Arsenal is dangerous we pass it off as patronising whilst others know that we are. Do you really think that Barcelona wouldn’t have preferred any other team? The fact is the last time we lost at home in the Champions League was 10 games ago against Manchester United, before that you have to go back all the way to 2004 against Chelsea.

In fact the last time we lost against continental opposition in at home was that 0-3 against Inter Milan, and we all know what happened in the return leg —another thing that lot in the media tend to conveniently forget.

Meanwhile Barcelona are not known for their European away days, two wins in 12 is nothing to shout about. So while some are sharpening their knives in anticipation of a humbling from Barcelona, I will be in the kitchen preparing a batch of humble pie. Any takers?