Like many Gooners I watched the Blackburn and Wigan games and seeing our players being bossed did not make me happy. Leaving aside the goalkeeper who has been done to a fractious death over the last couple of days, I asked myself who would I have liked out there, what single player would I have chosen to put on that pitch in an Arsenal shirt.

We have had some centre halves who could look after themselves, Frank McLintock would have been roaring, getting stuck in alongside Sol making our defence more scared of him and failure than they were of any opposing player.

Tony Adams too would have had some one by the throat and Steve Bould also would have lapped it up, imagine Martin Keowne sitting watching that, he would have been beside himself. Looking back, the list is long and we all would have our favourites.

But for me, I would play Peter Storey in front of the center halves. Pete is rightly a folk hero for the 1971FA Cup semi final where his two-second half goals including an injury time penalty, pulled us back from the dead, got us a replay and eventually allowed us to do the double.

I was there that day perched high up on the banking to the side of the goal but the penalty was at the other end. I could see poor Pete putting the ball on the spot while the rest of the team were hugging each other certain that he would deliver. Gordon Banks the best GK in the world at the time facing him, swaying left and right on the goal line he swayed right Pete hit it to his left GOAL!!!, pandemonium reined

But there was much more to Pete than that, as his 19 games for England testify. Making him incidentally the most capped of that legendary side.

But most of all I remember an evening match against Leeds in the seventies at Highbury under the lights; Pete, Norman Hunter and Johnny Giles were at it all night, I think it was a 1 –1 draw. No quarter was asked or given, as three of the hardest men ever to play top-flight football fought it out.

A top journalist of the day likened Storey to a JCB shovelling up anything that got in his way that night, another begun his article “as I walked the streets of London last night after leaving Highbury, I was still shaking at the ferocity of the Storey/Hunter confrontation I had just witnessed”.

Would he I wonder have shaken after Sunday’s toothless display, I think not, unless like many of us including Arsene it was in anger. Alright I know that kind of tackling often from behind has gone, outlawed in a game that has become less and less of a contact sport, which makes Sundays refereeing all the stranger.

But the commitment, the determination to play whether injured or not, the pride in the shirt and the willingness to die for the cause and run through the proverbial brick walls if necessary would be priceless in today’s team.

I never met Peter Storey as I have several of the others, but I called him my mate because I reckoned his love of the Arsenal matched my own in those far off days.

So that is who I would play to wake this current lot up, who I wonder would you like back in the team?

By charybdis 1966

Now the cold light of reality has allowed us to fully comprehend the ramifications of the events at Middle Eastlands on Wednesday night Gooners may perhaps feel it right that a period of introspection follows.

Three quarters of the way through this game at nil nil, the score was looking acceptable however the human bean pole’s goal on 82 minutes meant that when I relayed the final score to my eleven year old son the following morning the look of silent screaming horror on his face was positively (Edvard) Munch-ian.

Bizarrely that result made me feel even worse than the Wigan result, surely the nadir of depths plumbed by our team this season.

The whole squad management question (who to buy/sell and team selection and formation) will be extensively debated, and has been pretty much ever since the first injuries started to take their toll by the autumn last year, so I’m leaving this question aside and I’m also sidestepping the “When should Wenger go” question.

What has got my goat is that during our recent disintegration in form the players on the pitch were very capable of producing the desired results. Having looked at the last 5 matches and the first 5 of this season I decided to evaluate our team’s effectiveness over those two very different periods of the season. Results wise it is blatantly clear our form has dropped; however on closer examination it is possible to look at another performance indicator (a term middle management is keen to bandy about in too many areas of our lives nowadays) to give another perspective on our downward spiral.

We all know we tend to dominate possession in most games, but to my mind meaningful possession has to result in shots on target, side ways passing in midfield ad infinitum will not win you matches, so dividing percentage points by shots on target will show you what use we make of our possession. The lower this value, the better our possession efficiency.

Below is a table which details the change highlighted by this performance indicator:

If you compare the first 5 games of the season to the last 5 you will see that while we only take about 2 more percentage points to get a shot on target in, our opponents have doubled their possession-shots efficiency, going from 13.71 percentage points per shot on target to 6.08.

This to me points to our opponents conceding possession to us in areas where little attacking intent is seen as well as Arsenal being unaware of the danger of conceding possession to a more efficient, and wily, opponent who uses their possession to greater effect as the season has progressed. Of course we have lost key personnel between the two time periods, Cesc and Robin being the two most crucial misses, and this will inevitably have some influence on our “possession effectiveness”.

Why has this happened? Therein lies my major grouse: we just don’t fight for the ball back anymore like we did in the first few games of the season and when you are happy to let the opposition keep the ball, and certainly an opposition who shoot more, you invite pressure on the defence and suspect goalkeepers alike.

We can all name examples of players not tracking back(the sight of Denilson being outpaced by a referee is an example that springs to mind) is symptomatic of this laissez faire attitude of our team to the less glamorous part of the game, namely the work you need to do when you are not in possession.

Why do we not battle for possession anymore, in the way that Barcelona, a team we aspire to, do ?

Perhaps a lot of the players are operating in a comfort zone whereby a few nifty flicks here and there will mask a performance largely made up of ineffectual strolling around areas of the pitch the opposition are happy for our players to persist in carrying the ball sideways as no one appears to want to take responsibility for forward motion with the ball.

Without Cesc in our team it seems no one wants to take up his role of driving our play forward, or at least no one has tried to do this however Cesc is a special talent and it appears to me that perhaps we are more of a one man team than we may have thought.

Now it’s fair enough for the team to struggle without Cesc, or Robin(or both at some times this season) but what I haven’t been able to stomach is the lack of effort from players who have been given ample chances to step up to the plate and make themselves first team choices.

If we lose a game where all the squad players who are replacements for our preferred starting eleven have tried their utmost and given it their all then defeat is part of supporting a team and can move on, sadder but wiser.

But when I see players in our red and white not doing that, then I’m sad and angry.

You can discuss below who these players are, for me Vela, Diaby and Denilson are three who could have made names for themselves but didn’t.

As an aside perhaps someone can enlighten me as to why we persistently pick up injuries BETWEEN games, Song, Bendtner and Rosicky all managing to injure themselves during the nine day gap between our last two games.

In every one of our last 5 games with the necessary effort put in we should have at least 5 points more than we actually have – and that’s what’s caused the anger and may lead to some form of protest at the game  Sunday.

If the “80 minutes walk out”, as I’ve seen on various blogs, happens then maybe the club will take some notice.

Even though it I believe it probably won’t happen, it doesn’t make me feel any less let down by the team than those who do protest.

We have to ask:“Where has the fight gone in our team?”

Rumour (goal.com) is that Arsene Wenger has agreed a new verbal contract. If  true, is this good news?

As you may know, I am a huge Wenger fan, to me he has been at the forefront of taking Arsenal from being a big club in London to being a major player on the World football scene. Many may argue and claim that it was the board and David Dein who masterminded the expansion, but Wenger has been the hub, because without success on the pitch everything else is ineffective. No pitch success – no 60,000 fans at THOF, and proof of this is that Liverpool did not sell out their home game with Chelsea – 4 days after losing a European semi-Final! One could say that we have gone 5 years without a trophy and thus no success, but the years prior and the superb football on offer has resulted in maintaining a full Emirates. Though it should be pointed out that there have been problems selling Club Level season tickets ….. could this be a harbinger of difficult times ahead?

However, despite Mr Wenger being a very sprightly and fit older* gentleman (*in deference to those who are of a similar age 😉 ), as with any older man, the ideas get stale. It is less easy to take onboard new tactics and ethics, one becomes entrenched in one’s beliefs. I hesitate to use the word on this auspicious election day, but one becomes”conservative”. Wenger’s management style has not permitted the presence of a strong and younger No.2. Pat Rice for all his

strengths is hardly the man you would expect to be a persuasive voice in opposition to AW, and there is no-one at the club who appears to be being groomed as our next manager.

Wenger will not want to leave his youth experiment unfinished but next year the team he has grown will have plenty of PL experience behind them, and have less need for his guidance. In Fabregas we have the Wenger brand of football exemplified. Intelligence, fighting spirit, vision, a master of the pace, superb natural skills, a desire to entertain and above all a winner. As long as Cesc stays, Wengerball will be at the heart of the team.

Many have written that players come to Arsenal just to play under AW, and that should he leave, it will herald an exodus of players. I do not believe this. Firstly, players are contracted and more importantly, Wenger would not allow it.

Perhaps we need to try something new. Not next year, which is the end of AW’s current contract, but for the 2011/12 season. I would choose for AW to have ties to the club but not be involved in team matters, and for a younger man to take over with new ideas. That said, the new manager would have to believe in WengerBall. There are candidates out there who are looking for long-term employment and not just a 2 year  Mourinho type stay.

I would like to distance myself from the knee jerk reaction to the last couple of months which has brought condemnation of AW around the blogs. It is definitely not my intention to deride Wenger’s considerable achievements.  I wish to say (in the words of the late, great George Harrison) that “All things must Pass”, and for that reason, it is my hope that Mr.Wenger leads his young team to be PL Champions next season and then retires.

Or is this sedition??

There was much talk yesterday of the goalkeeping position. Today’s news seems to focus upon the arrival of Chamakh (supposedly) in just 11 days time. And a French striker called Remy (now there is a drink!) begging Wenger to sign him. And then there is Sakho at PSG who we are led to believe is a Wenger target.

However, what interests me this morning is Jack Wilshere, having watched him grow at Bolton –  a team that prior to the arrival of Owen Coyle was a typical kick and run side, with the emphasis on kick. Wilshere has flourished. He plays the full 90 minutes, doesn’t appear to be flustered and has become the creative force in the Bolton side. Bolton have hugely improved as a team since JW’s arrival which considering he has just turned 18 is remarkable. The fans love him, the manager has already asked Wenger to extend his loan, and there is even talk (just in the media) of a possible call-up for England. Let us hope not, the last World Cup put back one of our players developments and we do not need that to happen again!

Is Jack that good? Having watched the last 2 Bolton games, I can say that he appears to have everything bar physical presence, and sadly, Little Jack Wilshere is always going to be little. However, he is the same size as Maradona and Messi.

Can Wilshere play in the current Arsenal set-up? This is more difficult because we are awash with technical, skillful players. JW is not blessed with pace and is not a winger. He is not as good as Fab4 in the creative midfield role. He enjoys a tackle and his vision is excellent but he hasn’t the presence and power of Song. His natural position is floating behind the strikers, the role Nasri or Rosicky take at present, however if I were to be Arsenal manager (and I would love to be), I would play Arshavin in this position. So, there are potentially three players ahead of Wilshere for this position (not counting Diaby).

What is clear is that Wilshere is gaining valuable experience and I would like him to extend his loan at Bolton. Coyle is the right man to educate him, Kevin Davies is a fine role model of how to make the most of one’s talents , and Bolton are attempting to play football in the right spirit.

We have a diamond coming through, the first real English talent from Project Youth. Wenger is a patient man, he knows all about  Wilshere’s abilities and is the right man to be in charge of the next England great. The last Englishman to excite at this tender age was Gascoigne and there are similarities between JW and Gazz’a game, let’s hope he doesn’t suffer the difficulties that destroyed Gascoigne’s career.

I believe some players will have to leave before young Jack gets a regular first team slot, but rest assured Jack Wilshere is the real deal.

p.s. Forza City ……