Fenerbahce. A win starts our season.

August 21, 2013

How many times do we read that a match is of “vital importance”? Are they? Is any match vital to the long -term success of the club? We all have our opinions but mine is that the CL is an adventure and good for earning money – but let’s be honest, is there any Gooner who really believes we can win the thing? OK, you over there in the red & white shirt covered in dribble, but anyone else?

Unknown

Don’t get me wrong – I want us to win tonight and win handsomely but I will not be calling for the heads of the entire management team if we don’t.  Man City & Chelsea didn’t even get into the knockout stages last season which gives an idea of how tough this competition is and perhaps, just perhaps, we may be better off out of it. (I did emphasise, perhaps! ). Mr Wenger says asks what is the point of battling to get fourth spot and then losing in the play-offs; he has a point. In the unlikely event that Spurs had been 4th and AFC 5th we would be suffering badly, and yet we do not even bother crowing about it.

Fenerbahce: Don’t know much about them but they have a corruption charge hanging over them which will be resolved after the tie is over – another example of the work of the overpaid lunatics who run the CL. What I do know is that Turkish fans are committed and loud. They will do all they can to make it a torrid night for the Arsenal. Whether their team is good I cannot say, but Turkish football has been improving for many years and in Mereiles they have a decent player.

Arsenal: The fears about our lack of players are somewhat exaggerated; we can raise a decent team though there remains some doubt as to whether Koscielny and Cazorla can play as they got cards last season. Going by the info from other sites it appears that they will start tonight.

My team:

fenerbahce v arsenal

If they play as we all know they can, this team is good enough to win. My fear is that without Arteta we may be porous in defence which could prove costly. An early goal would settle the team and the tie; as such it is important to approach the game in a positive frame of mind and attack from the start.

As always patience and concentration are essentials. I would love to see Wilshere start to boss a game, we know he has the talent and the drive, a touch more fitness and confidence and he will flourish, perhaps tonight is the night.

We have come through hard CL qualifiers before – anyone recall how tough Udinese were? This will be the same with hopefully a similar result.

On a side issue. Had Newcastle agreed to sell Cabaye, would he have been available to play play tonight?

Big Raddy

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Falling out of love with Football

August 20, 2013

There was a time, not too long ago when football wasn’t about money, it was about a manager, assembling a squad of players to challenge for titles, promotions and avoiding relegation.

In those times many teams could win the League or FA Cup given the right manager and the right players. The manager would choose the playing style and would build a team to compete, in those times everyone started the season with a glimmer of hope star players were spread throughout the top league, some even stayed with their teams when they were relegated or not doing as well.

Fans who went to games and watched their teams discussed the players on the pitch the decisions of the manager on the day, the news during the week was not much to do with football, it might have had the odd reference to an injury or the occasional transfer (as this was pre transfer window).

Players contracts were irrelevant as the club held the registration even if the contract had expired, that was up until Bosman.

But mainly post game we discussed who had the best players, which team had employed those players best, and what an idiot the referee was or otherwise.

Normally we were biased towards our own team, and rightly so like anything we love we forgave their flaws and focus on the good. I mean I used to defend George Graham’s long ball tactics because it won us trophies? No because my team were using them. Just like Stoke fans did under Pulis.

Maybe I’m wearing rose tinted glasses, maybe I am just fed up with being out manoeuvred by Oligarch clubs, afterall most football clubs were owned by a few wealthy individuals, who normally had to reach into their pockets to find the money to fulfil the managers ambitions.

Maybe part of me wishes Arsene Wenger had never come to the club and given us the greatest football I may ever witness as an Arsenal fan. Because even if it hasn’t happened I would still be going to the Arsenal when I could, I’d still be watching every game we played on TV, but what I wouldn’t have to deal with is defending the club from those from outside and in who think we are somehow entitled to expect more than we currently achieve.

When I first started going to Highbury challenging for titles was not on my mind, all I cared about was going to football to watch my club play football. I certainly wasn’t thinking about the business side of the club, now admittedly I was a kid, why would I, but the thing is I still want to be a kid when I go to football, I don’t want to think about the things I can’t control. If we had the fortune to put a good season together of course I was excited to try and win stuff, who wouldn’t be.

I love talking football, the various tactical nuances the pros and cons of defenders and goalkeepers, but I can’t remember the last time that’s all I spoke about, now it has to be about transfers, spending, ticket prices, profits, owners etc. Things I understand admittedly, but not really what I want to be discussing. I try and explain the situation we are in to alleviate the frustrations felt by others, because seriously I couldn’t give a shit if we never win another trophy in my lifetime, I’ll always be an Arsenal supporter and they will always be By Far The Greatest Team, and I know I’ll now be labelled as the problem the unambitious type that allows the club to say 4th is a trophy, but here is the thing it wouldn’t bother me if we finished 10th I’d still go, as many of you would. In fact I think we’d all enjoy it a little bit more.

I want to discuss the one thing we can see on the pitch, the performance, the team selection and the tactics.

Take Saturday’s defeat to Villa, we missed Arteta, we were done by the ref, Wilshere and Ramsey need to find a way to work together, Sagna had an off day (even before he was moved to left back), Theo disappeared. They should have been the discussion points, but it turns into an argument about what the club have or haven’t spent who is or isn’t responsible. Is this why anyone started following football? Is this why anyone loves football, is this what got you hooked on the beautiful game?

I’ve signed my son up for Junior Gunners, I’m starting to think I made a mistake, living in Norwich I see the majority of lads wearing Norwich City shirts, the fans enjoy the ride, yes I hear them moan and complain about performances, but they are happy to go to games together as a community, if I’m near the ground on matchday I hear On The Ball City ring out across the City. I’m jealous, jealous that they still go to football for the right reasons, a sold out ground with little chance of success, but they enjoy it. I hear the moans after defeats, they are not talking about how they should’ve signed x y and z, they are talking about which players did well, what the manager should have done. That’s not to say they haven’t had issues, Season Tickets being thrown at Bryan Gunn, but this was a team that two seasons earlier were in the PL and were having their asses handed to them by Colchester in League 1, just a bit of a comedown (still a sold out ground though).

I think I need a break from blogging, I need to enjoy football again. I’m not doing that on blogs, I’ve had more rational conversations with Liverpool and Spurs fans over this weekend than I’ve had on the web.

Gooner in Exile

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We Still Have 111 Points to Play For

August 19, 2013

The fall-out from our weekend defeat to Aston Villa has been an unedifying spectacle to say the least.

Fans turning on fans, seasoned bloggers sulking off, the Underminers* out in force.

I understand the frustration. We lost our opening game of the season for the first time in 13 years; we lost our opening game of the season at home for the first time in 20 years; our squad resembles something from The Walking Dead; we don’t have any shiny new players to get excited about…

But come on! Let’s keep some perspective.

We have lost one game – and we lost it because of an (at best) incompetent referee.

We were better than Villa for most of the match and had the chances to at least equalise even after we were down to 10 men and a goal behind. I have no doubt that if Koscielny had not been sent off we would have gone on to share the points or win.

Referee Taylor’s eagerness to give Koscielny a second yellow (for not touching an opponent, let’s remember) stinks like a week-old kipper and deserves further investigation. Not that it will happen.

But read the press and wander through the Arsenal blogosphere and you discover that actually, no: the result had nothing to do with the extraordinarily bad officiating. It was all to do with Arsenal not having brought in enough players so far this summer.

I happen to think we should have signed some reinforcements by now, but I don’t think that had much or anything to do with losing to Villa.

And at the very least I am prepared to write it off as a bad day – the sort of bad day that will also happen to Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and those darlings of the media, Toddling Potty-Smears at times during the season.

We play 38 league games in an EPL campaign, for a maximum of 114 points. Three of those points have now been flushed down the lavvy, but there are still 111 left to play for.

Talk of our season being over before it has begun is (while understandable) really a bit knee-jerk and emotional and supporters need to calm down and regain their sense of perspective. One headline on Newsnow (from a supposedly Arsenal supporting blog) scweamed: “Thanks Arsene, out of title race before it even started.” Seriously? After the first game of the season we’re out of the title race? Come on! Like no team has ever won the title after losing on the opening day.

Likewise, the idea that potential new signings will be deterred from joining us because we lost a single game while some of our rivals won their single games is far fetched.

The club itself certainly bears some of the blame for this atmosphere of irrational hysteria, as does the media, but we fans are not obliged to fall into line with such a discordant tune.

The players that managed an amazing run in the last 10 games of last season are still there. Referees won’t always be so biased against us (although they do line up in our oppositions’ colours more often than seems to happen to other clubs). Injuries will pass and we will win games.

We certainly need to strengthen the squad before the end of the transfer window if we are to have any chance of competing for trophies this season, but I am also confident that good players will be brought in (if they are not, I will be singing a different tune).

So, we can’t be happy about the Villa result, but we can keep our feet on the ground, take a chill pill, let the toys stay in the pram (insert metaphor-of-choice here) and, most of all, not despair. Better days are coming.

  • “Underminers:” opposite of “Supporters.” See Post in archives from April 15th 2013 for a full description.

RockyLives

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Arsenal 1 – Aston Villa 3 : How Not To Start A Season

August 18, 2013

I’m not even sure where to start, as no one else has offered to do the report i’m going to try and fill the breach.

I have to admit that I missed a portion of the first half between our opener and their equaliser (parenting duties called).

There were no surprises with the team and bench, we are down to bare bones before a ball has been kicked, the absence of Arteta was a concern to all. We had seen in the Emirates Cup that Ramsey and Wilshere are not yet ready to partner each other in the deep lying midfield roles, this is due to a mixture
of inexperience and lack of understanding between them when it comes to one staying and one going.

We started brightly our opening goal a lesson in how to break quickly and clinically, Rosicky playing a great ball down the line to Oxlade-Chamberlain, he in turn picks out Giroud who finished well having made a good run in the box.

What was all the fuss about? We were going to prove the doubters wrong.

What followed was a combination of our old failings, individual errors that brought pressure and lifted Villa, an injury stretched squad
picking up more injuries in innocuous challenges, and our complete inability to get a ref to do us a favour once in a while.

The Villa equaliser came from a bit of good play from Abonglahor, he drifted past too many half challenges with ease no one getting close enough in red and white and was hurtling into the box, Szczesny had few options….stand big and hope he fluffed his shot or go for the ball, he chose the latter and raced out to the feet of Abonglahor, he lost the race Abonglahor pushing the ball past him and taking the contact. Taylor let play go on to see if there was an advantage but as the Villa player stuck it in the side betting he brought it back for the penalty. (Remember this later when I give a full assessment of Taylor).

Szczesny got down well to save the initial penalty but Benteke was first to react and nodded it home. That was disappointing as when watching the replays you see Benteke stop after he takes his kick which should have meant we could at least make his second chance more difficult but Szczesny was left exposed and the Villa front man nodded gratefully home. I should say I think Szczesny made a bad choice on the rebound, he jumped towards the ball, which made Benteke’s header a bit easier…..not that I am blaming him, it’s just another lesson our young keeper can learn.

Not long after we were being forced into a reshuffle, as Gibbs challenged for a header, his forehead connected with the back of the Villa players head. I was surprised at the amount of blood on Gibbs forehead and unable to be stitched and return he was substituted, I guess with the midweek trip in mind as much as for the players safety.

This is where the first calls about our squad lightness will appear. I have two comments:

1) If Monreal had been fit it wouldn’t have been an issue, if anyone believes we should have three senior left backs in the squad please do not moan about squad bloat or paying too high wages to squad players ever again.
2) Even if Monreal was fit he wouldnt definitely be on the bench, after all you don’t have one player in each position on the bench, and we could have easily seen Jenkinson on anyway.

For me I would have left Sagna at right back rather than switch two positions, although to an extent I can understand why you wouldn’t want to young players making combination on the left.

We made it to half time at 1-1 with a couple of scares along the way and not much more created going forward.

We started the second half ok, Cazorla on for Oxlade-Chamberlain another injury….Cazorla seemed to help the team retain possession and do a bit more with it but it also unbalanced us, there was no real cover for Sagna on the left side of midfield.

That was until we undid ourselves again, the ball moved far too easily through the midfield leaving Koscielny tracking back to win possession, which he did with ease, clearly playing the ball, it looked good on first viewing it looked better on replays, Taylor and his linesman decided otherwise awarded the penalty and booked Koscielny. Koscielny’s look of disbelief and smile said it all.

Benteke took the spot kick and sent Szczesny the wrong way.

Just six minutes later Taylor decided to put the icing on the cake of one of the worst refereeing performances I have seen by producing a second yellow card for Koscielny, he had hardly touched the Villa man (if at all I haven’t watched a replay) but he made another step before sprawling himself to the floor. Taylor bought it and showed Koscielny the second yellow.

At this point it was game over, if we wanted to get anything from the game anyway, we could have opted to shut up shop and go away with a 2-1 defeat, but instead we tried to find the equaliser, which was always going to leave us wide open at the back.

We went close a couple of times, Rosicky sending one high and wide and another into the body of the Villa keeper. Giroud had a half chance to hit one with his right peg but chose instead to try and bring it back to his left.

Villa took the opportunity to add a third as we had over committed to attack and Szczesny was left 2 on 1 and no chance.

It is hard to deny we are light on numbers, however the only position that would have helped us yesterday would have been defensive midfield, as with (the panic bought) Arteta missing there was too often a big hole in the centre of the park, and I would guess with his presence we would not have conceded so much ground on Villa’s opener. But this comes down to when we want to spend and who we are trying to spend the money on…do we want a Premier League defensive midfielder or a Champions League one? In two weeks time it may be irrelevant, but surely better to wait and buy the best we can get than rush in and buy average, remember no one likes average squad players on good wages.

As I said earlier despite injury to Monreal surely spending on a left back would be frivolous unless we plan to let one go as well. A centre back would be handy at this point, loaning out Miquel seems crazy if we don’t plan to buy big in this area, as I’d prefer a young centre back raised the Arsenal way to another Squillacci.

The same goes for the spear head of our attack.

And now the ref…..where do I start. He allowed Villa to get away with numerous fouls before being booked, the same did not appear to apply to us. He played advantage on their penalty, but rarely have us advantage for innocuous fouls when we had the ball. I can remember two clear occasions, Rosicky fought to turn his man, once he had turned and had taken him out of the game Taylor blew his whistle for the foul to allow Villa to reset, a late foul on Wilshere by their full back in our half, the ball was with Cazorla ready to get moving and Taylor pulled it back and allowed Villa to reset. Garbage,

And then bookings:
Koscielny 2 fouls, 2 bookings
Cazorla 1 foul, 1 booking
Abonglahor 4 fouls (repetitive ankle taps) 1 booking (last one)
Westwood 4 fouls 1 booking (last one)

And then the curse of rotational fouling, we suffered 18 fouls, 8 on Wilshere, targeted? Just a bit! Allowed to get away with it….absolutely….but of course it’s up to Arsenal Football Club to protect Jack for England…do me a favour!!

So what did we learn, well nothing new really we already knew it all, but it makes it harder to judge when all the other footballing gods appear to be against us.

I do know that this coming fortnight is going to be very tough, and we will see signings one way or the other, it’s just a question of what level of player they are.

If anyone wants to rate the players they can, I can’t after that result because I don’t think it would be fair.

Gooner in Exile

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Villa Pre-Match

August 17, 2013

At last. A chance to concentrate upon what matters – the 90+ minutes of pitch time. This has been a long and frustrating summer for many Arsenal fans but in the words of Mr Wenger “what is important is the quality of what you do on the pitch, so let’s not create a crisis from nothing,”

He is right. The three points on offer today are vitally important because I fear the wave of negativity should we not win and win handsomely.

Unknown

Trouble is Aston Villa will be no pushovers. They are a team in transition but with a lethal striker and a manager who is determined to become to succeed. So let’s have a little look at Aston Villa…..

Much has been stated about how they have signed 7 players through summer. Slightly misleading as the most expensive is the Nord Sjælland Danish star Okore who has cost all of €4m. Of more interest is the Aalborg striker Helenius who is a big young bruiser and could do very well in the PL.  However, it will be the players who gave us trouble last season who will threaten today; Benteke, Weimann and a rejuvenated (?) Agbonlahor are sure to be dangerous on the break.

I am not expecting a bus-parking exercise from AV but they will attempt to close of the supply lines to Theo and OG by stifling Wilshire and Cazorla. A packed and aggressive midfield battle will be the order of the day for Villa.

Hoping not to put a bok on the lads, I expect a win. We looked very good against City and have the weapons all over the pitch to damage Villa. Podolski and Theo will need to be aware of the free running and dangerous fullbacks – Lowton has justifiable confidence in his long distance shooting.

Arsenal: Concerns rest around Arteta’s long term(ish) absence and I have to agree. Although I believe the team will cope with his loss but miss his midfield leadership. Starting 2 babies, Mozart and Cazorla, who despite being a genius is not a leader; we lack someone to organise the shield in front of the back 4. That Arteta was the league’s leading passer tells a story – we must hope his absence isn’t too costly.

Conversely, this is a chance to see the future midfield of Arsenal. Wouldn’t it be great to see Ox, JW, Ramsey and Santi start – but the risk is too great. Could Ramsey play the Arteta role or would Wilshire who sits deep? However, Rosicky will start (if fit), if Rosicky, AR and JW can gain a deep understanding perhaps we will do away with the traditional DM .

Defensively we are sound. The same back 5 which did so well at the end of last season.

My team:

arse v villa

The bench may be lacking experience but hopefully only the Ox will be required as Podolski never plays 90 minutes!

Should Villa score first we can expect the underlying frustrations to rain down upon the beautifully coiffured head of Mr. Wenger. How that helps the team is beyond me but I am an old fashioned fellow who doesn’t understand much of the attitudes of the modern generation! (e.g. what is the point  of graffiti??)

This is the space left for my non-football ramblings but a summer of sloth and excessive drinking has resulted in my musings achieving nothing …. I have no idea of the theme for the season. Any suggestions are welcome or perhaps we are better off without .

This fixture usually produces goals and I expect the same today. Benteke has proved he likes to score at The Emirates, nonetheless the Raddy gut-feeling is that after a few thrills and spills, we will pick up 3 points. Why? Because our lads play better in summer!

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

An End to the AW era?

August 16, 2013

So much angst has been expended and so many blogging hours have been spent fretting about the capability of AW to do some business on the Transfer Market, and yet what are we talking about?

After 8 fruitless years or so, Gazidis has told us the club are now in the happy position of being able to afford new, quality players. Yippee!

We have all become impatient watching the big spenders go out and buy all the goodies in the shop with a plethora of top quality players ending up with Real, Barca, Citeh, Chelsea etc, and all of them winning trophies while we end up holding the wooden spoon after buying Denilson, Santos, Arshavi, gervinho et al.

But, so far in this window what has changed? We have only one token freebie player in Sanogo to show for it. Although to be fair we have made promising noises about Suarez, Rooney and various others rumoured to be ‘eyed’ or ‘trialled’ by our illustrious manager.

This state of affairs has made even some of the longtime Wenger supporters, including me, get itchy under the collar, and others to become genuinely depressed.

There has been much understandable grumbling from fans about the cost of season tickets in an economically difficult climate, as well as the increased travel costs etc, whereas Arsenal we are told are coining it with TV deals, gimormous sponsorship deals and money flowing in from our Asian fanbase, blah, blah. We have dosh coming out of every orifice it would seem.

But where is the pay back? Why have we come to within one day of the start of the season and sod all has happened with regard to transfers?
As someone who might be called a Wenger loyalist, I have to agree that many of my fellow Gooners are on edge, and if the window closes without significant additions, there is likely to be an Arsenal fans summer revolution with boos sounding out around the ground at the first sign of a poor performance and goodness knows what will happen when we lose, heralding protest groups who will arrange marches at every turn.

The tom tom beats of disgruntled fans on the blogs should send out a wake-up call to AW and the Board that they must buy and buy now, but not just any old player, there must be at least one marquee signing!

Arsene has enjoyed considerable support from the fans over the years, but many of us will feel the urge to call for his head if this season peters out to being yet another massive disappointment as regards trophies or even at least fighting for the top 3 in the EPL.

Frankly it cannot be denied that the Board have given Arsene a huge amount of leeway in which to run the football part of the club, and if he does not deliver this season, sadly it might be time to call for an end to his era.”

written rapidly by Red Arse

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Posted by Erik the Red

If Arsenal Were A Car…

August 15, 2013

The Silly Season calls for some silly pieces and this is unquestionably one of them.

In among the unending tedium of transfer-related babble my mind began a-wandering.

I was thinking about Arsenal… and cars… and Arsenal… and cars… then… BOOM!

The two thought strands came together and made sweet honey in my mind.

“If Arsenal were a car,” I thought, “what kind of car would they be?” (I told you it was a boring day).

A few years ago (during the early Wenger period) the answer to that question would have been easy: something racy, sporty and French but with a sense of history, like a Citroen DS.

But today?

It’s tempting to lean towards a stately British icon like the Rolls Royce (under Herbert Chapman that probably would have worked) – but these days we don’t spend enough to be considered a ‘Rolls Royce’ type of club. A Land Rover maybe? But that makes you think of the wide open countryside, whereas Arsenal are very much an urban club.

We’re too grand to be a nippy little sports convertible; too stylish to be a ‘work horse’ like a Ford Escort van; too successful to be anything that comes cheap.

1994_Jaguar_XJ12

On balance I would settle for us being a Jaguar XJ12, a “full size luxury car” that embodies grace, speed, history and power. Yep, that’ll do.

But what about our rivals?

Manchester United: they probably have a claim to being the UK’s ‘Rolls Royce club’ but there’s not much nasty about a Roller, whereas there’s plenty nasty about our friends in Manchester – from their bullying arrogance to the paranoid purple-conked Gorbalian who was behind the wheel for so long only to stand down and be replaced by Gollum. So what works?

BMW 7 series

Well, it has to be a BMW 7 Series. A car that looks good, runs better and seldom breaks down – but is loathed by every other road user because of the self-satisfied front bottoms who drive it.

Tottenham Hotspur: this one’s easy. The Spuds are a Lada Sport. Lots of show, lots of brashness, always in your face, but

lada sport

however you dress it up, always still a sh*tty old Lada.

Manchester City: unsubtle, no taste, lacking in history or finesse,

hummer

driving straight through obstacles rather than round them and fuelled by never-ending amounts of petrol… yep, Man City are a Hummer.

Liverpool: a tricky one this, because it’s hard to tell what make the car actually is. All I can tell you is that it used to be red (I think) and that it’s sitting on piles of bricks where the wheels should be; the stereo’s been ripped out and the windows are broken. Oh, and someone’s done a poo in the back seat (police are looking for a Uruguayan man seen running away at speed).

Stoke City: one of those old fashion coaches that used to take work parties to the seaside on public holidays. Parked, of course.

Any Club Managed By Harry Redknapp: Del Boy and Rodney’s Reliant Robin. He could stand beside it shouting “I’m not a fackin wheeler dealer.”

Chelsea: an armoured limo, of the kind favoured by international diplomats and drug dealers. It’s dark on the outside, dark on the inside, heavy, ponderous and slow. It expects to get its way and you wouldn’t mess with it in a hurry. But there’s not a single hint of joy about it. It represents power, money and greed. And it was built in 2005.

West Ham United: a Bubble Car, of course.

Okay… over to you for some alternatives to the above or for suggestions for other teams I haven’t mentioned.

RockyLives

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What can Arsenal Realisticaly Hope to Win This Season?

August 14, 2013

We are about to enter the new footballing season. For a soccer supporter it is almost like a New Year of the Gregorian calendar, but better. All the hopes, dreams and the impossible will happen THIS season. Our team, whatever it might be except for Spurs, will reach the highest honours and we will scoop all the trophies. We can already picture ourselves attending celebrations, bus parades, the CL final in Lisbon. We must plan our holidays carefully so we don’t end up missing any of the important games! We have all heard about the idiot that handed over planning of his wedding to his fiancee and ended up missing the final in Paris!! What a div!!

So what are you hoping for this coming season? It would be nice to win a quadruple, obviously, but it is not going to happen, So let us be grown up about it and see what we can realistically hope for.

EPL – can we be the League winners again? I cannot see why not. We will be competing against Manchesters, Chavs, Pool and Spurs. All of these teams are good, with some excellent squad members, but none of them without problems. Both Mancunian teams have new managers, who are likely to introduce changes that will require time to take effect. Same with the Chavs – can Maurinho pull it off again, or has he finally calmed down after the scorching attack from Real Madrid’s representatives. Pool and Rogers are going to struggle without or with demoralized Suarez. Spurs I am not even going to entertain, they will never win the league.

CL – your guess is as good as mine. We have seen the greatest teams in Europe winning the trophy and the likes of Chelsea keeping it for at least 1 season too long. This competition is all about luck, which teams and at what stage of the season we are going to draw. Of course we can win it,but we could also be knocked out by Fenerbache this very month. Would this be a tragedy? I think not. It could be a good thing for the team – less competitions, more time to concentrate on the domestic league. We would suffer abuse for a few weeks from those supporting lesser teams, but hey,we are big enough to handle it. Please don’t get me wrong – it is the last thing I want to happen and I sincerely hope that we will go to Lisbon in May and come back triumphant.Yes, for me it would be the biggest achievement for the Club ever and the one I personally want most.

There are 2 more trophies to be won, ie the FA cup and the Capital One cup. Both of these competitions are the ‘easiest’ in my opinion because of the fewer fixtures, including playing lesser teams that we should beat. Yes, I do remember Bradford City and Birmingham, but that’s in the past and we are concentrating on the future here. Luck and referees play big parts in these competition, but a strong resilient Arsenal squad should/could win both. Frankly, if it was just the Capital One cup for takings, I’d rather we didn’t win it. It would give scope to those who love to belittle our club, so why encourage them. Let’s give the ‘Carling cup’ a miss.

I would like to invite you to vote in 2 polls

1. What is a minimum achievement this season that you are hoping for? – you can vote for up to 3 options

2. What do you realistically think we are going to win?  – you can vote for up to 3 options

And before you ask – yes, 4th spot is an achievement and if you are in doubt ask Tottenham how they feel about it.

This is not a secret ballot and you are encouraged to make your views known

And finally I would like to wish you all a Happy New Season!!

Written by evonne

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

A Big Name Signing – More Important to the Fans or Players?

August 13, 2013

After watching highlights of our recent performance in Finland and having seen the displays put in during our fundraising/goodwill tour of Asia I was left perplexed at the team that took the pitch during the Emirates Cup at home.

GunnerN5 has recently opined that the players are fearful of playing at home and that it translates into performances on the pitch. Ramsey’s display in Finland compared to his slightly misfiring performance at the Emirates, Walcott’s ease of finish, compared to lifting a very similar chance wide. Precise and purposeful forward play in Finland against turgid pass pass pass at the Emirates Cup.

Admittedly the squad is looking thin, so some signings are absolutely necessary before the season commences. And having seen the capability of our first choice players in Finland there is an argument to say that the team doesn’t need one big name, it just needs some padding to replace those recently departed, and maybe some different options in certain positions.

However it seems the signing of a “Superstar” is more important to the fans than the squad itself, the media and fans have made such an issue of the need for Arsenal to spend big that five squad players will not sate their appetite. They want a star, and if they don’t get one I think the mood in the Emirates will not change dramatically despite Saturday’s performance.

What do you think?

Gooner in Exile

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Posted by Gööner In Exile

Arteta: player of the season? No.

August 12, 2013

As things stand we don’t have a “Defensive Midfielder” that’s to say someone who by nature actually likes defending.

To help my point I regarded Gilberto as a natural defender.

Neither, Arteta, Ramsey nor Wilshere and certainly not Diaby fall into this category.

In 80% of the games we play, this lack of a defensive midfielder doesn’t matter, because the majority of teams defend against us (park the bus) and so the challenge is always to find a way of breaking them down — we need Suarez so badly it is not true.

In the other 20%, or even less, we are attacked, or the teams seriously knew how to counter attack.

We got caught out time and time again last season by the 20% and this is one of the reasons we had such a poor record against the three teams who finished above us.

It is also why I could not have voted for Arteta as player of the season, a fine player when we are playing against a Bus but his lack of pace and lack of natural defensive know how lets us down against fast attacking teams. The first game against Bayern Munich demonstrates this best for me. This also makes a player like Gustavo a must; there is no reason why he can’t play along side Arteta or give him a rest which he will inevitably need as the season progresses.

I think since Saturday most people have acknowledged that we have a good core squad, capable of beating anyone at this point in the season but injuries being what they are, I am doubtful that we can hold together for longer than — what — Tuesday week!

Written  by LB

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Posted by LB

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