Arsenal’s Season in Headlines, Part 2

June 10, 2011

For Part Deux in this occasional series based on viewing our season through the headlines of the daily posts here on Arsenal Arsenal, we have moved on to October and November.

You’ll see that the cautiously optimistic tone of the August and September headlines is carried on into October.

There are a few negative notes following the losses to West Brom at home and Chelsea away, but in general our strong away form and our good start to the Champions League is keeping spirits high.

Headlines like “Wenger’s Tactics Were Spot On” and “Another Step Upon the Road to European Glory” capture the warm glow, while with the brilliantly titled “Sheikh Rattled and Rolled” we reveled in trouncing the billionaires of Manchester City in their own back yard.

And then came November, falling on us like a humungous, steaming cowpat. Suddenly words like “failure, sunk, doom and gloom” are in the headlines as our league form continues to stutter and we blow our chances of topping our Champions League group by fielding a weak team. What would be the consequences of that, we all wondered… maybe we would end up drawing someone like Barcelona in the last 16…

Two pieces in particular in November laid out the problems that would come to nibble at our ankles repeatedly during the season before slapping us in the face in the final run-in. Take a bow Rasp, for “Arsenal: Why Don’t We Learn From Our Mistakes” and Kelsey for “Tippy Tappy Football to Nowhere.” In those two headlines (and articles) you wrote the story of our season.

In among the triumphalism and desperation there’s the usual AA mix of eclectic genius, so if you have a spare 15 minutes why not click on any of the headlines that takes your fancy. You will either get to relive part of our season or you’ll get a damned good read on a wide range of football and Arsenal related subjects.

RockyLives

October

Can We Dominate and Win at Stamford Bridge?

Staring Down the Barrel ……. Are You Feeling Lucky Punk?

Arsenal In Disgrace

Wenger Unbalanced Again

Keep it Tight or They’ll Kill Us

Wenger’s Tactics Were Spot On

Sick Note Cesc

I’m an Arsenal Supporter and Windows 7 Was My Idea

Jack Wilshere: The Surprise Star Of Arsenal’s Season

Thug Shawcross Happy to Keep On Breaking Legs

A Message to Henry Winter, Amy Lawrence, Patrick Barclay and Friends

Your Girlfriend is Right After All……Size Does Matter

Mr Wenger – Earn Your Corn….

No Subs at Half Time……. I Blame Hleb

Mr Wenger’s 800th game and Birmingham Preview

A Better Day at the Office ….. Three Points In the Bag

What’s Wrong With Rosicky?

Another Step Upon the Road to European Glory

Donetsk Forget To Mind The Gap In London As We Celebrate 6 Goals

Why We Failed to Win the Premiership Last Season ……. Where is Our Tone?

That Damned Abusive Offside Law

I Wonder What Happened to Mickey Boot?

In Cesc We Trust

Sheikh, Rattled and Rolled

Should Cesc Have Been Sent Off Against Manchester City?

A Striking Viking to Nik it

Wenger’s U-Turn? Do Me A Favour (and Player Ratings)

It’s like George Graham Never Existed

The Academy in Free Fall

One Nil to The Arsenal

 

November

Vermaelen’s Place in Jeopardy

Arsenal celebrate failure on the pitch ……

Big Night for Theo

Sunk By Our Former Comrade But Its Far From A Disaster

Are there just too many Arsenal Sites?

Manu’re Decomposing …….. Jack’s a Diamond

Another drop of Newcastle Brown …

Arsenal – a real firework display or just a damp squib

The Last Time We Were This Bad We Won The Double

No howlers at Wolves …….. please?

Fabulous Fabianski – at least for now – and three points in the bag

Musings of a true Gooner, banishes doom and gloom

Little and Large …….The Perfect Striker Partnership

Which Arsenal will turn up this afternoon?

Roll on Spurs, we just can’t wait.

Arsenal’s home form, is it a matter of concern ?

The Emirates Library …. sshhhhhh ……

Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City: Boo Boys Compared

Loan Players.

High Noon

Can you remember May 11th 1993?

Redknapp outthinks Wenger …… fact.

Strongest Squad Ever? My Arse(nal)

Braga to test the strength of Arsenal’s squad

Tippy Tappy football to Nowhere.

Arsenal …. Why don’t we learn from our mistakes?

Bendtner – Man or Mouth?

What’s with the negative vibes, man?

Arshavin lifts the November blues

We’re Better Without Cesc

Up for the Cup

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Posted by RockyLives

Can it really be that simple? Or have we settled for mediocrity for too long?

June 9, 2011

Written by Wigan Gooner

I’ve been thinking over the last few days about the season just gone, the season before that and the season before that. A whole lot of thinking you might wonder, well, I didn’t sleep particularly well on Sunday night, so I had plenty of time.

Some of the best results of the season started with one player doing everything we needed him to do, he was on his game and everyone saw the difference he can make.

The player I refer to is Alex Song, the enigma.

Bringing a recent game to the fore, Song against ManYoo was a force to be reckoned with and he kept Rooney shackled for the entire game. No mean feat, but should we really be surprised that he did so well?

I cast my mind back, through the sands of time to an age when we had an invisible wall, a wall so simple in its movement its reading of the game and ability to nullify an opposition threat.

Gilberto Silva, perhaps the most under-stated, under-rated player I’ve ever known. He had a fantastic way of scrambling across the pitch without looking like he was moving. His ability to stop an attack without drawing a free-kick was rarely highlighted but was instrumental in the invincible era.

His role was very similar to what Song’s should be. Sit, let the likes of Vieira, Pires, Ljungberg and Bergkamp create the magic and he would stop the counter-attacks. Behind him he had the pace and power of Campbell and Toure to tidy up anything he left.

Looking at our central-defence now, it’s better than that. Vermaelen and Koscielny are a better partnership and I believe that will be proven next year. We are scoring goals regularly so can the missing link be a invisible wall? Are we really missing a Gilberto? Or can we whip Song into shape?

For me, I don’t think we can take the risk that Song might not make it. I think we should purchase someone for that role. A busy, pacy and strong defensive midfielder. I don’t see any real need to weaken our defence by moving one of our defenders upfield. I can see people suggesting it, because we can all see our midfield is weak as a defensive unit, but putting a square peg in a round hole is a fruitless exercise.

WG

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal: Two World Class Players for Every Position.

June 8, 2011

Everybody understands and wants to see competition for places.

Two world class players for every position should surely be the pursuit of every top club.

This is hardly a revelation, there is nothing new about wanting two world class players for every position but just like ideal communism it is a good idea in theory the problem being it simply does not work in practice.

Many clubs have tried to achieve this utopian dream including Chelsea in their free spending hay day. I remember Mourinho saying in a televised interview how important it was for him to achieve this goal for the club – that’s to say two world class players for every position not ideal communism. Lol.

Mourinho failed just like every other manager who has since been and gone at Chelsea. The reason being, of course, is that good players are not prepared to sit on the bench watching their short career evaporate in front of their eyes.

Players want to play.

The idea that the two world class players for every position hasn’t crossed Wenger’s mind is daft to put it mildly, it obviously has and I am sure he is well aware that it doesn’t work: evidence confirms that if you stifle the progress of a talented player he will want to leave.

As romantic as having healthy competition is to us the fans the reality is that it is a very delicate balancing act. One wrong move and you have a disgruntled dressing room at best and anarchy at worst.

When a manager is considering buying a player for a particular position he must consider the effect it will have on the incumbent of that position. If the new comer is better, then the incumbent will naturally fear for his place.

If Arsenal bought Shay Given, for example, who has at least eight good years left in him, do you think that Szczesny would just quietly move to the bench and wait for his turn? You might say he should stay and fight for his place but this is school playground football politics. Szczesny would quickly realise that in order to improve he needs to be playing first team football in a top class league – in short; he would leave at the first opportunity.

If you don’t rate Given, think Petr Cezch or any other experienced keeper who at the moment would be regarded as an automatic first team goalkeeper, the point remains the same – there are consequences to signing new players that must be considered.

The very same situation applies to Djourou, if he is relegated to forth choice he will want to leave and this is the reason I go on and on about the consequences of signing new players.

Someone is bound to say: why should we worry about the incumbent if the incoming player is better and will therefore improve the squad? Any improvement to the squad will be heartily welcomed by me but if the debate is to transcend the school playground wish list then the issue of the incumbent must be understood and discussed.

Many people have expressed a desire to see a new winger; if this hypothetical player were to be better than Walcott then it is reasonable to assume that he would become a fans favourite and in turn Theo would almost certainly spend more and more time on the bench the result being that before long he would want to leave.

Theo should fight for his place — well it doesn’t work like that just look at Bendtner if you want evidence. Of course, I cannot be certain that Nikki wants to leave but is there anyone out there who believes he doesn’t due to the lack of first team opportunities?

There was an interesting little game being played on here a couple of days ago in which people were asked to put forward the two top players on their wish list who they would like to see arrive. One of the names that came up was Chiellini, I asked: do you think Song would be sold if he were to arrive? Some said no which baffled me as the idea that Song would accept playing second fiddle DM in the same way as Eboue plays second fiddle to Sagna seemed unrealistic. In this scenario Song would play equally as few games as Eboue which is not something I would envisage Song accepting and as a consequence there is no doubt in my mind that he would leave.

Herb answered my question as to the consequences to Song, after the hypothetical arrival of Chiellini, in this way.

“As for Song, I’ve never been a fan. I’d love to see Arsenal go back to 4-4-2, it is a more direct and attacking philosophy. It would render Song redundant (unless he was used as a CB), but I don’t rate him good enough to be here anyway, so I wouldn’t mind him being sold.”

Now that is what I call an honest answer, what do you think?

Written by London

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Posted by LB

Why doesn’t Arsene buy? Debunking another Wenger myth.

June 7, 2011

Last week I listened to a number of end of season podcasts. Needless to say the non-Arsenal assessments were damning of the team and in particular the podcasts made by professional journalists.(SkySports, Guardian etc). Almost to a man the journalists blamed Arsenal’s failure on Mr Wenger lack of activity in the transfer market and his reliance on his youth policy.Their reasoning was thus ….

Arsene is scared of buying because his record with big signings is very poor. They cited Reyes, Arshavin and Wiltord as evidence, stating  AW’s fingers were burned by their “failures”. Is this true? It must be if the Chief Football writers of The Guardian, Mail, NOTW, Sun, and Times are to be believed. Judging by the attitude of other journalists, they are in agreement. One of these men actually said that AW lacked “bottle”.

Total cobblers I say. Firstly, let us look at their examples:-

Reyes – cost an initial £10.5m rising to £17m if he achieved certain targets (which he didn’t).  After winning a PL title, and FA Cup  in his two seasons at AFC he was sold for £12m. Probably what we paid for him. A flop? Well, it was true  Reyes didn’t live up to our hopes for him, but hardly a disaster economically.

Wiltord – Club record signing in 2000 at £13m. Scored a goal every 3.5 games for Arsenal. Voted 33rd in the Best AFC Players of all time (madness!!). 2 PL titles and 2 runners-up, 2 FAC winners and one losing finalist. Played 175 games and saw out his contract prior to leaving for Lyon. Was he a success? IMO in a limited way, he rarely showed that he was proud to wear the shirt and was rumoured to be a troublemaker in the dressing-room, but the title winning goal at OT will live long in the memory.  A flop – definitely not.

Arshavin – 9 years after Wiltord, AW broke the record again, signing the Russian for @£16m. By the end of his first season AA was voted the PL most effective player (http://rt.com/news/arshavin-effective-imscouting-england/) . He continues to contribute scoring 10 with 17 assists last season. It is true that we hoped for more from a World Class player, but a flop? Hardly.

Is Mr Wenger’s record in the transfer market any worse than his direct rivals? Has he spent £100m + for players who sit on the bench every week like SAF. Or loaned out players with a value of over £150m because they aren’t good enough for the squad, like Mancini. Look at every Chelsea manager – how many can say they bought well in every case? For every Lampard there is a Shevchenko. And then there is Liverpool …… !

Spending Big money does not directly lead to winning trophies. It just doesn’t. Best teams in Europe this season? Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund – common ground – Youth Policies. Wenger’s reluctance to buy a proven player is primarily because he believes in the need to develop a player in the Arsenal way. As London wrote recently, MU will go down this road as they realise it is the way forward, and so will all the other top teams. This does not preclude signings but the basis of AW teams will always be homegrown.

So what are the journalists talking about? These men are experts, their job is to inform non-experts, their opinions should be valuable and yet they are completely ill-informed. Is this important? Yes it is, because the majority of football fans don’t accept the evidence of their own eyes, they believe what they are told by an increasingly anti-Wenger media.

What do you think, is fear the reason for Mr Wenger’s reluctance to buy?

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Nasri to Captain Arsenal

June 6, 2011

If Cesc Fabregas leaves Arsenal this summer then you should put a tenner on Samir Nasri taking over as captain.

Let’s deal with the ‘if’ first.

There is no guarantee that Cesc will depart, but there are strong hints coming out of the club (and from people connected with the club) that this time he really is going.

Most recently Nigel Winterburn has added his voice to those saying they expect him to leave.

And he apparently bade his farewells to the staff and gave all his team mates a “little gift” as they went their separate ways last month (you know, a DVD of My Left Foot for Robin van Persie, a copy of Humility: The Finest Grace for Nik Bendtner, some Play-Doh for Emmanuel Eboue and a revolver with one bullet in the chamber for Manuel Almunia).

Last year Cesc asked for a move to Barcelona but was persuaded to stay by Arsene Wenger, whom he trusts and respects. I also believe that Cesc is not the type of man to unilaterally break a contract (“doing a Cashley” as it’s known in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable).

If (when) he moves on, it will only be to Barcelona. Manchester City and Chelsea can dream on and, although Inter may seem like an attractive move, it’s clear Cesc dreams of playing at the club he grew up supporting and where he started his career.

And so to Nasri.

The little Frenchman with the dribbly feet and feisty temperament has one year left on his contract and he’s not afraid to use it.

If he doesn’t re-sign then he knows we have to sell him this summer and, based on his form in the first half of last season, he would not be short of offers. (If potential buyers examine his form in the run-in they may think twice, but I don’t suppose they will).

He apparently gave some quotes after France’s recent international game which suggested he would be open to at least listening to approaches from Manchester United and Manchester City.

So, the first big question facing Arsene and Arsenal is: do we want to keep him?

With Cesc almost certainly going the answer has to be a resounding ‘yes’. Nasri’s form may have dipped in the second half of the campaign, but so did the form of the entire team with the exception of van Persie. Whatever the cause of the late-season malaise that afflicted Arsenal, Samir certainly picked up the virus but it does not mean he is not potentially world class.

Prior to the run-in he was in blistering form and was probably player of the season until Christmas (despite the media’s love-in with the monkey man from N17).

He is also arguably the player best suited to functioning as a direct replacement for Cesc in a 4-3-3 line-up and he has apparently made it known that that is the position in which he wants to play.

IF Cesc leaves then Nasri knows he has a fantastic bargaining position (a) to get a much better financial deal and (b) to insist that he be played in the “Cesc role”. It might well be that his drop-of-the-shoulder, show-a-bit-of-bosom comments to the French press about a potential move to Northern Chavland were a way of applying leverage in the deal negotiations.

Of course it’s also possible that he really does want to leave. Particularly if Cesc moves on, he may be thinking “I’m in a team that can’t seem to win anything; the team’s best player is leaving, which presumably will make it even harder to win things; perhaps I should leave too.”

Footballers have short careers and if they are a top talent like Nasri it’s unreasonable in the modern age to expect club loyalty from them if they think they can be more successful elsewhere.

Unlike we fans, the players still place a huge emphasis on the international game and Nasri might feel his place in the French team will be more certain if he’s playing in a side that’s winning trophies.

Which brings us to the captaincy issue.

What does Arsene Wenger usually do when he has a star player who wants to leave but whom he wants to stay?

That’s right, he improves their deal and offers to make them captain of the team. He did it with Henry and he did it with Fabregas.

In the current circumstances (and, again, IF Cesc goes) it seems almost certain to me that AW will offer the captaincy to Nasri to help persuade him to stay. I suspect he will also guarantee that he can start the season playing centrally in the “Cesc role.”

I would have very mixed feelings about this.

First, I want Nasri to stay so anything that persuades him to do so can’t be all bad. But, second, it would be a disaster to make him captain.

Arsenal of late has been a team crying out for leadership – vocal, old-school leadership of the type best personified by TA6 (with the kind of vocals that are occasionally backed up with a hefty size 12 up the jacksie).

It may be that Nasri has it in him to be that kind of leader and he has just been hiding his light under a bushel. But to me, at least, he isn’t old enough or experienced enough to carry the team forward in the deepest adversity.

Nevertheless, that may well be how we embark on next season’s tilt at four trophies.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

What was Djourou doing?

June 5, 2011

How funny was that, watching England scrape a 2-2 draw against the Swiss yesterday? Dreadful defending by England to give away two free kicks (Scott Parker and Frank Lampard obliged) that were neatly converted when the England centre-backs failed to do their jobs and allowed Switzerland two goals inside 35 minutes. Joe Hart gets a special mention for showing his ‘flappy’ skills.

One of my favourite centrebacks, Johan Djourou, then brings down Jack Wilshere – surely the future of Arsenal and England in the penalty area, and Lampard converts the penalty to make the score 1-2 at half time.

Soon after the re-start Ashley Young brought the scores back level to 2-2.

Our Big Johan wasn’t finished yet though, he earned a yellow card for bringing down Theo Walcott and some say it should have been his 2nd after felling Jack for the penalty. So this guy does know how to be ruthless, he knows that Jack and Theo are real threats and he was willing to snuff them out and take one for the team. He knows they are threats because he sees them in training all week. Or did he take the safe option?

What would we have said if Jack had put Johan’s knee out or Johan had put Theo’s ankle out? It’s a very real risk this International football.

But still, it was very nice to see that Jack really is the future of football in this country, I hope Capello can use him to influence Englands progression to the European Championships. I wouldn’t want him to be part of  two failing teams – now that really wouldn’t be good for the soul.

Written by peachesgooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

My rant about everything Arsenal

June 4, 2011

Last week we published parts one and two of GunnerN5’s rant ……………… here’s part 3.

Heart, Desire, Commitment, Passion, Pride.

Over the years we have been blessed to have players that exhibited many of these characteristics.  I’ve had the privilege of watching many of them both live and on T.V.

Names like;

Mercer, Lewis, D. Compton, Barnes, Forbes, Roper, Neil, Simpson, Storey, Mclintock, Graham, Kennedy, George, Nelson, Sansom, O’Leary, McNab, Brady, Adams, Dixon, Parlour, Winterburn, Bergkamp, Vieira and Van Persie all come to mind. They all had/have huge hearts and most of all – a winning mentality

You may remember others but my intent was to list some, not all, of the players that I remember as being worthy of mention. Sadly enough from our current squad only RVP stands out and this in my belief is the crux of our problem.

Seven are from Arsene’s early years, five of whom he inherited, only Van Persie and Vieira were his personal choices. Vermaelen and Wilshere are both showing the will that is required and could also become leaders.

When I look back on the past few years it has been really frustrating when good to great starts to a season simply evaporate away and leave us in basically the same position as previous seasons.

My contention is that our issue has little to nothing do with the size of our players or the size of our budget but has everything to do with the size of our player’s hearts.

Conditions and circumstances change for every game and we should adjust our game plan to suit the reality. Unfortunately this does occur and we end up at the end of the season wringing our hands in despair. We’ve learned to our detriment that beautiful football does not always equal winning football.

We can play Barca-ball till the cows come home and run around the meadow like little school boys – but us soon as we come up against teams of men who are used to playing in fields full of cow dung we show no heart or desire or commitment or passion and most of all no PRIDE.

We don’t demonstrate the hunger to go the extra step or track back or to make the tough tackle. Boy what I would give to see Adams heart in Arshavin’s body – what a player that would be – and frankly just the type of player(s) that we sorely need.

We never seem to learn from our mistakes……

Which brings to mind a Tommy Cooper joke.

He said doctor, “I’ve hurt my arm in several places”

The doctor said “well don’t go back to those places”“

In the end my question is “can players be taught these characteristics, or are they a part of ones DNA”?

End of part 3 of rant…

Written by GunnerN5

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

6% you’re really quite fair …………

June 3, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

Football fans are an interesting breed, we tend to be very introspective and look after our own backyard without looking at the bigger picture that surrounds us. The 6% increase has been met with calls for the Board to spend it, and that fans are being priced out of the game.

The rise has also met with comparisons to Manchester United and how they won the league yet charge a lot less for tickets, despite the obvious fact they would get a reduced crowd if they charged more, its an expensive trip from Surrey to add on to a ticket price and there is also the small fact that they do not occupy an area with the best local economy.

This season I have paid £35 for a restricted view (about 5 rows back from a pillar) at Goodison Park, £33 for a seat in Birmingham and £25 for a seat at the JJB. A varied range of prices but as we all know away fans are never given the cheap home seats, to really measure ticket prices at the Emirates we have to compare them to our London neighbours.

Therefore I have looked at Chelsea, Spurs and West Ham prices to gauge whether we are fairly treated or otherwise as fans. Chelsea have already published their 2011/12 prices, West Ham, Arsenal or Spurs have not. It is much harder to compare Season Tickets as some include cup games, some don’t and some don’t include cup games but you are charged when the game arises whether you go or not. West Ham will be irrelevant next year as they have announced a decrease due to slipping out of the Premier League.

First off lets look at the top and bottom price tickets in all stadiums for all clubs. I have only compared standard Adult ticket prices for the Premier League (Chelsea operate a different pricing structure for all rounds of CL and Domestic Cups). All teams operate a grading system to charge fans. (For the sake of these tables I have added 6.5% on to Arsenal’s 2010/11 prices)

Clearly there is not much difference between the prices, also Chelsea’s cheapest ticket is for a Family Enclosure section, the next cheapest ticket is £47 for Cat B, and £51 for Cat A.

Now there is the question of whether we have more or less Cat A games than the others.

Assuming nothing changes next year and West Ham are replaced with QPR by the other London clubs Arsenal fans get to see more games at the Cat B prices than both Chelsea and Spurs.

Now the final question is the quantity of tickets at these lower prices, as I mentioned above the Chelsea cheap seats are very limited. Also despite Arsenal charging a higher amount in the top tiers there is rather a large section of cheap prices.

When looking at the London clubs it would seem fair to exercise a cut off of £40 as being a reasonably cheap admission price. These only occur in Cat B matches or lower so that is where this comparison is based.

Look how many more fans get to see games at the Emirates for less than £40 than at our local rivals.

If the Arsenal board were unscrupulous they could probably add £10 on to every seat price  and still have a full stadium, after all football supporting is an affliction not a choice and none of us are going to choose to go to Spurs or Chelsea if they were cheaper, but the simple fact is us Arsenal fans don’t get too bad a deal when it comes to ticket prices and availability.

Like I said 6% you’re really quite fair.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Whatever happened to a boy called Wellington?

June 2, 2011

Written by WiganGooner

As with all Football Clubs, Arsenal send their scouts all over the world looking for top, top talent. Just a few of the Nationalities at Arsenal are of course French, Spanish, Swiss, Belgian, Russian, Dutch, Argentinian, Brazilian, English, Welsh, Polish, Bolivian – the list goes on.

The thorn in the side of the Premier League comes when attempting to secure talent from outside of the EU. Law in the United Kingdom states that Non-EU Nationals seeking gainful employment in the UK require a Work Permit and of course a Visa.

The criteria for a Work Permit which will also provide a Governing Body Endorsement (critical for the Visa) are as follows;

  1. A player must have played for his country in at least 75% of its competitive “A” team matches he was available for selection, during the 2 years preceding the date of the application;
  2.  The player’s country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA World Rankings when averaged over the 2 years preceding the date of the application; and
  3. The application for a GBE must be made by a club in membership of the Premier League or Football League and the player will only play for clubs in membership of those leagues’ competitive matches. The definition of a competitive ‘A’ team international match is a:
    – World Cup Finals game
    – World Cup Qualifying group game; and
    – Football Association Confederation game, for example:
    – The FIFA Confederations Cup;
    – The UEFA European Championships and Qualifiers;
    – The African Cup of Nations and Qualifiers;
    – The Asia Nations Cup and Qualifiers;
    – The CONCACAF Gold Cup;
    – The CONCACAF The Copa Caribe;
    – The CONMEBOL Copa America;
    – The OFC Nations Cup and
    – The UNCAF Nations Cup

Please note none of the above tournaments include youth teams such as Under 21’s, 19’s., 16’s etc.

So you see, it really isn’t that simple to qualify naturally for a Work Permit. Young talent rarely meets the requirements as set above. Clubs like Arsenal are given three choices; 1) Apply for an “Exceptional Talent Visa” – the likes of which are also given to top Doctors and Scientists, 2) Send the players to a EU country where the Immigration laws are less strict (Belgium, Spain) or 3) Stop scouting kids that will not qualify straight away.

Option 3 isn’t really a workable option, it seems our Immigration is woolly at best and even gave indications that Wellington would be accepted for a Exceptional Talent visa before refusing it.

Arsenal use Option 2 a lot, with the likes of Vela (though he is back now), Botelho, Gallindo and Wellington out across Spain in an attempt to gain time in that EU Country to then qualify for dual-citizenship as an EU National.

This is where Wellington finds himself at the moment. He is registered on loan with Levante in Spain and has struggled to make any kind of impact whatsoever this season. Reports of him being out of shape, struggling with diet, showing a lack of discipline in training etc are flooding out of Spain’s less reliable sources.

It is worth pointing out Vela had similar negative accusations, as did Botelho. Botelho’s stemmed from a rather unfortunate relationship with the daughter of the Chief Exec at Celta, Vela’s about mentality and work-rate.

I hope Wellington is able to get the Exceptional Talent Visa, I think he would be more at ease at London Colney where he can see his path to the Arsenal first team. Certainly I feel for the boy, dragged from his country and family and plonked in a new culture, new club and he just isn’t getting game time.

Levante have said to the media that he is on course to meet Arsenal’s requirements and that it’s not just about him playing games but about acclimatising to a bigger club, a different culture and a different mentality to training and preparation.

All this just to gain an exceptionally talented player who might turn out to be the next Ronaldo, Messi etc.

For the sake of the boy, I really hope it is worth it.
WG

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Early days, but how does Arsenal compare to our nearest competitors in the PL for next season?

June 1, 2011

Written by TotalArsenal

In the first TotalArsenal post for ‘ArsenalArsenal’, I focussed on the position of our manager and came to the conclusion we should let him complete his mission to turn us once again into the top team we all crave for. In the second TotalArsenal post, I focussed on the positives within our, young and quickly developing squad and why there is plenty to be upbeat about for next season. In this post, I will make a comparison between us and our competitors by focussing on the key areas of: squad, manager, transfer potential, and previous success/confidence levels. The comparisons below are of course not the pinnacle of scientific analysis, but should help to start a good debate about where we are compared to our competitors at this ‘early stage of the new season’.

 Manchester United

Squad: New goalkeeper required and doubts about Ferdinand and RB position. Centre of midfield is also an issue. They have strong attacking options with some dependency on (injury prone) Rooney as the ‘main man’.

Manager: Safe pair of hands (health permitting), with success both in the past and most recently.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium to good. Decent funds are available and they have a medium to high attractiveness to foreign and British players.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won the PL, but doubts about away form (only won 5 games). They have a fantastic home form which is likely to continue next season. Confidence will be medium to high.

Candidate to win PL title?  Strong candidate to win title again, but squad needs further investment and changes will have to be successfully embedded. Away form needs to improve drastically.

Chelsea

Squad: Mature squad with strength in all areas, with the exception of creative central midfielders. Are former key players past their best (Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Essien)? Might need rejuvenating, which would take time to embed.

Manager: To be recruited. He will start with a clean sheet, but will need time to settle in, for which he will not have very long.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Good to great, depending on Abramovic’s desperation to splash the cash once again. Not all top players consider Chelsea as a ‘top club’.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing, but became 2nd in PL. Confidence is relatively low and new manager will have to do a big job in making the players believe they can win the major trophies.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium to strong candidate to win the title. Even when some top players are added to team, it might take time for the new manager to integrate them all into the team, and put his stamp on it.

Manchester City

Squad: Large squad with potential, but not yet top class. Likely to lose their talisman Tevez who will be difficult to replace. Strength in depth though with a good average age.

Manager: Made enough progress this season to be given another year. Jury’s still out though. They have had some decent recent successes to build on further, but Mancini will feel the pressure this season more than ever.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium to good. Endless funds, but struggling to attract top-top quality players, but qualification for CL might change this.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Enough success (3rd place & FA cup) to build up their confidence for next season. The next step for MC will be a lot bigger though, and expectations will be a lot higher next season.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium candidate. They will buy more players but has Mancini what it takes to make the final step up? Expectations will be high and the pressure will be more intense then ever for them.

Liverpool

Squad: Good squad with a possible need for more strength in depth (especially in defence).

Manager: Can he do it again after such a long absence in top management? Made great impact on team this season, but there was relatively little pressure on him.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium. New American owners are not regarded as big-big spenders. Liverpool has no CL so might find it difficult to attract top-top talent.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing, but had a good recovery and beat comprehensively both Chelsea and MU in recent months. Expectations will be high in Merseyside and they have it all to prove.

Candidate to win PL title? Low to medium candidate. Expectations will be high, but will they attract the right calibre of players, and has Dalglish what it takes to guide them to the title?

Tottenham Hotspur

Squad: Medium to good squad with some strength in depth, although question remains whether they have enough quality throughout the key areas.

Manager: Seems to over-deliver at small stage but under-deliver at the big one. The team has stagnated this year under his leadership (despite some success in CL).

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Low to medium. No CL will make it difficult to attract top players and funds are not at top-level either.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing but did relatively well in CL on which they can build confidence.

Candidate to win PL title? Low. Seem a long way off to come anywhere near winning the PL and do not seem to have the funds to attract new quality players.

Arsenal

Squad: Good squad now that TV and Rambo have returned. We need to invest though in our strength of depth and to add some experience, both in defence and in attack (winger).

Manager: Safe pair of hands with successes in the past but not recently. Has been rebuilding the squad but team is struggling to make the final step to success under his leadership. Wenger will be under a lot of pressure again next season.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium. Funds should be better than previous seasons and Arsenal remain an attractive team for good-to-top players.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing and then there were the disastrous final month of last season, which have harmed confidence levels of the team. Wenger and coaching staff have a big job to do in preparing us mentally for next season.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium to strong. The basics are in place with a talented squad that keeps improving. The squad is expected to be strengthened with a few new additions, but expectations will be high and confidence will remain brittle until we win something. 

I have translated the above comparisons into a points table (1-5: 1 = low and 5 = high):

 

Team Squad Manager Transfer Potential Success & confidence Total
MU 4 5 3 4 16
Chelsea 4 2 4 2 12
MC 3 2 4 3 12
Liverpool 3 3 2 1 09
Spurs 3 2 2 2 09
Arsenal 4 4 3 2 13

 

To me the table shows we are in a decent-to-good position compared to our competitors at this stage of the season. Once again, MU will be our strongest competitor, but Chelsea and MC are equal threats. If we can get a few quality additions to the team, and Wenger and his staff can rebuild our brittle confidence levels again over the summer, we will be competing again for next year’s PL title.

 

TotalArsenal, 30 May 2011.

 

 

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