Oh No!! We’re Favourites…

March 10, 2014

I don’t know about you but as an Arsenal fan of many years (not as many as some who frequent AA) I like it when we are underdogs. In fact some of my best memories supporting Arsenal and winning trophies have come when we were not expected to win, or facing the impossible task.

The first trophy I watched us win was the ’87 Littlewoods Cup, up against the all conquering Liverpool of the 80’s we had not seen a glimpse of silverware since our last FA Cup win in 1979. We went to Wembley with some optimism as George Graham had arrived to revolutionise the Arsenal team, clearing out the old guard and bringing through young talent and supplementing with purchases he had made from the lower leagues, players that were to go on to become club legends. The job was made more difficult when Liverpool took the lead, the fact that Ian Rush had now scored meant that we were now deep into underdog territory, as we all know from the commentary, up until that point Liverpool had never lost a game when Rush had scored. But Charlie changed all that, firstly knocking in when the ball bobbled around the box, and then Perry Groves came on with his pace, skinned the Liverpool fullback who was tiring and teed up Charlie to score the winner.

Then there was that Friday night at Anfield, going to Liverpool with the task of winning by two clear goals, again the stats were against us, Liverpool had just won the FA Cup, they hadn’t lost by two goals at Anfield for over three years. Smudger nodded in a Winterburn free kick, and then we had to wait wait and wait until…well you all know what happened next….Thomas charging through the midfield….it’s up for grabs now. I smashed a light in my living room having jumped high from my armchair. Arsenal heaven.

Was that it for being underdogs? Not really, the English FA hated that we were getting successful again so deducted 2 points and Manchester United only 1 for a 21 man brawl at Old Trafford (Big Dave didn’t like getting dirty or a hair out of place unless it was absolutely necessary and stayed out of it), somehow on the day Nige and the Super Swede got booked for having the temerity to be kicked whilst on the ground by Mclair and Irwin who suffered no punishment from Hackett, and the latter punishment of points deduction probably started our dislike of the FA and theory that we don’t always receive the rub of the green from the officials. Anyway come May we were telling the trophy presentation committee to stick the f’ing two points up their arse, as Manchester United players had to applaud us on to the pitch with a guard of honour in the return fixture at Highbury after Nottingham Forest had ended Liverpool’s title chances earlier in the day.

And then maybe our most famous underdog win, George Graham’s side by 1993-94 had become a dour side to watch, route one football was the order of the day, we were now a long ball side, up to Smudger, get the knockdowns and let Wrighty do the rest. We were a cup team now, this style wouldn’t win any Leagues, the previous season we had won two cups, we were neither favourites nor underdogs, Sheffield Wednesday played a very similar style to us, so fans that attended made their own entertainment whilst the ball was in the air, and in the brief moments the ball actually touched the ground got interested. But Parma, well that was a mother proposition, made worse by the injury to John Jensen and Wrighty’s suspension, the media gave us no chance, Brolin, Zola and Asprilla all featured for Parma, whilst we had Selley, Morrow and Campbell in ours. But somehow Smudger scored probably his only goal from outside the area on his wrong peg in his career, and we held out for a triumphant 1-0 victory.

So what about when we were favourites?

Well I’ll do my lifetime:

League Cup
1988 – Arsenal 2 – Luton 3
2011 – Arsenal 1 – Birmingham 2

FA Cup
1980 – West Ham 1 – Arsenal 0
2001 – Arsenal 1 – Liverpool 2

So am I disappointed Wigan knocked Manchester City out yesterday……well as the draw had been made we were only going to be underdogs for the Semi Final so in the grand scheme of things I guess it doesn’t matter. But I hate being favourites…..can we talk up Wigan please, after all surely the holders are favourites?

Gooner in Exile

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Bitesize Blasts from the Past

March 7, 2014

Today a bitesize selection of things that make us The Arsenal.

  • 1893-94 – in Arsenal’s third ever League game John Heath scored our very first hat trick in a 4-0 win over Walsall Town Swifts.
  • 1894-95 – following unsavoury incidents against the referee on January 26th, 1895 Arsenal’s ground on was closed for five weeks. The home games against Burton Swifts and Leicester Fosse had to be played on neutral grounds.
  • 1895-96 – while the modern manager might complain of having a couple of fixtures in three days two fixtures in one day was not unheard of back in the 1800’s. That happened to Woolwich Arsenal on Saturday December12th 1896 when they were due to visit Loughborough in the League and also entertain Leyton in the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. The first team travelled to Leicestershire for the League match and lost 8-0 while the reserves disposed of Leyton 5-0 in the FA Cup.
  • 1889-90 – On March12th 1990 Arsenal got their revenge on Loughborough for the 8-0 defeat by giving them a 12-0 thrashing.
  • 1889-90 – Arsenal played away in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup to Thorpe, the game ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time. Thorpe was unable to travel for the return game and Arsenal gained the victory by default.
  • 1900 – Samuel Hill-Wood, Arsenal’s chairman, playing in a county cricket match for Derbyshire against the MCC at Lords scored an incredible ten runs off of one ball which is still the highest recorded for a single delivery.
  • 1904 – On Christmas day Arsenal played against a Paris XI and defeated them 26-1 (our highest ever score) the lone goal scored by the Paris XI was by the only Englishman on their side – it’s reported that the Arsenal team stepped aside to allow him to score.
  • 1907 – on November 7th Arsenal played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the first ever London derby which Arsenal won 2-1 with a big assist going to the huge throng of Arsenal away supporters in the crowd of 65, 000. Royal Arsenal Works at Woolwich had closed for the day to allow its workers to celebrate King Edward VII’s birthday.
  • 1926 – Dan Lewis, our Welsh goalkeeper, was sent off in a game against Sunderland on April 10th 1926. He was the only Arsenal player to be sent off during the twenty seasons between the two world wars.
    • 1925 – In his first major purchase for Arsenal Herbert Chapman resigned Charlie Buchan from Sunderland, he had left previously over an expenses dispute. Buchan was responsible, along with Herbert Chapman, for Arsenal’s adoption of the WM formation which eventually brought Arsenal significant success in the 1930s. After retiring from football Buchan became a football journalist with the Daily News (later renamed the News Chronicle), wrote one of the first coaching manuals, and also commentated for the BBC. In 1947, he co-founded the Football Writers’ Association, and from September 1951 until his death, he edited his own football magazine, Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly, which was published until June 1974.

  • 1928 – Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman sent his team out wearing the numbers 12-22 while his opponents Sheffield Wednesday wore number 1-11.
  • 1930 – Arsenal wins their first FA Cup on April 26th 1930 in front of a crowd of 92,488 at Wembley Stadium beating Huddersfield Town 2-0. With Alex James and Jack Lambert scoring the goals.
  • 1931 – Arsenal wins their first League Division One Championship under new manager Herbert Chapman.
  • 1932-1935 – Arsenal become only the second club to win three consecutive League Division One Championships, Huddersfield Town were the first club to do so from 1924 to 1926. Herbert Chapman was the manager for the 1932-33 and 1933-34 titles and unfortunately died of pneumonia in 1934. George Allison managed the team for the 1934-35 title.
    • 1936 – Arsenal won their second FA Cup on April 25th 1936 in front of a crowd of 93,384 at Wembley Stadium beating Sheffield United 1-0. Ted Drake scored the only goal with sixteen minutes left in the game.

  • 1938 – Arsenal won the First Division Championship for the fifth time in 1937-38 with 52 points which was only 16 points more than bottom club West Bromwich Albion. It was manager George Allison’s second League title.
  • 1939-1945 – Arsenal lost 9 players during WW11, more than any other club.
  • 1947-48 – Arsenal won the First Division Championship for the sixth time, it was the first title for manager Tom Whittaker.
  • 1950 – Arsenal won their third FA Cup on April 29th 1950 in front of a crowd of 100,000 at Wembley Stadium beating Liverpool 2-0. Reg Lewis scored both goals.
  • 1950 – Arsenal retained their entire professional staff of fifty nine at the end of the season, which is thought to be the largest recorded number in Football League History.
    • 1951-51 – Doug Lishman scored three consecutive hat tricks at Highbury against Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers. Thierry Henry duplicated this feat during the 2002-03 season.

  • 1952-53 – Arsenal won their seventh First Division Championship, the second for Tom Whittaker.
  • 1953-53 to 1968-69 – this was a barren period for Arsenal as they went through sixteen seasons without winning any trophies.

GunnerN5

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If at first you don’t succeed…….

February 16, 2014

Apologies in advance, I have no tub to thump, and no wish to anger today’s opponents, call me a superstitious pansy but I am beginning to see a pattern….the more incendiary the pre match the more likely it is we will not win. So with that in mind……..

Today we welcome the in form Premier League team and suddenly Championship rivals Liverpool to the Emirates to contest a FA Cup 5th round match. There has been much talk about prioritisation over the last few weeks, today we get to find out whether we are going to gun for them all, or are in fact prioritising one competition over the rest.

Some say the FA Cup represents our best chance of a trophy this season, I’m not so sure, whilst it is true that we only need to win four games to do it, there are still some tricky opponents that could get in our way, and on top of that we have in our own recent memory the League Cup Final defeat to Birmingham to remind us that on any given day anything can happen in a game of football, you can also ask Manchester City fans what happened last season. Would you really have us put all our eggs in the FA Cup? I certainly wouldn’t. I am very much behind the one game at a time mentality, although I understand why we might want to rest players before the visit of Munich on Wednesday.

What do we expect from Arsenal today?

Szczesny has been playing well of late but Fabianski has done little wrong in the other cup ties this season, so he will surely start. There is little option at centre back unless we were to launch a couple of youngsters into action, against Suarez and Sturridge that would be suicidal, they have scored 60% of Liverpool’s goals this season, stop them and we have a chance of stopping Liverpool, so the centre back pairing of Mertesacker and Koscielny picks itself. I would go with Jenkinson at right back to give the ageing legs of Sagna a break and Gibbs at left back.

In midfield we have the luxury of Flamini returning from a self imposed spell on the sidelines, he surely starts to make Coutinho’s life a lot harder than it was at Anfield last Saturday, he will also help us win the ball back higher up the pitch as he is more proactive than Arteta in that respect. I would however keep Arteta alongside him, a blend of experience, passing and reading of the game should make us more competitive and provide more cover for our defence.

In attacking midfield is where we will possibly see the most changes, I would go Gnabry, Rosicky and Ozil. But I would give Gnabry and Ozil instructions to stay high up the pitch, and not to worry too much about defensive duties, Rosicky will be the man in the middle, he works hardest to win the ball back high up the pitch, and injects pace in attack by speed of passing and running from deep. This can only work if Gibbs and Jenkinson do not over commit, instead they should stay home to provide cover against Liverpool’s fast counter attacks.

My front man today would be Podolski, and that is another reason I would give Ozil and Gnabry the licence to stay up the pitch, he will need help a lot quicker than Giroud when playing with his back to goal, I also think the understanding between the three German’s could be the key to unlocking Liverpool.

So my starting eleven would look something like this:

arse v pool

Let’s hope we are celebrating an Arsenal win come this evening, and we can put this week behind us and start looking forward to an exciting run in to the end of the season.

Gooner In Exile

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Blast from the Past Part 3: The Arsenal Win The League

February 6, 2014

One year after winning 1930 FA Cup Final, Arsenal continued their rise to the top echelons of football with their first league title. Herbert Chapman’s team had the exceptional forward line of Jack Lambert, David Jack and Cliff Bastin and opposition defences simply could not cope with their combined skills. Lambert scored 38 goals in 34 matches, Jack 31 in 35 and Bastin 28 from 42. Joe Hulme also netted 14 times as Arsenal scored 127 league goals, a club record for a single season.

Arsenal handed out a number of thrashings. Grimsby Town were on the end of a 9-1 hiding in a replay of the game that was abandoned on December 6th 1930, although they could consider themselves slightly unlucky as they were leading 1-0 when the game was abandoned, due to fog after 63 minutes. Blackpool lost 7-1 at Highbury, Derby conceded six on their visit to North London, and Arsenal won 7-2 at Leicester. It was an exciting time to be a Gunner. Cliff Bastin ~ already Arsenal’s youngest scorer, became their youngest scorer of a hat-trick (at 18) in a 6-3 win over Derby on February 14, and was the all-time leading scorer until Ian Wright.

Arsenal won four of their first seven games by 4-1 and looked the only possible winners after beating their nearest challengers, Aston Villa, 5-2 on November 8 – a defeat compounded by Villa’s 6-4 home defeat by Derby the following week. Villa won the return against Arsenal 5-1 in March, but by then it was too late.

In the second-highest scoring season in top-flight history, there was any number of eye-popping results. Leeds United were relegated despite beating Blackpool 7-3, Middlesbrough 7-0 and Man Utd 5-0. Man Utd’ shapless defence let in 115 goals as they lost their first 12 games, starting 4-3, 3-1, 6-0, 6-2, 7-4. Blackpool, who stayed up thanks to a 2-2 draw with Man City on the last day, somehow shipped even more goals than United (125), including a 10-1 defeat at Huddersfield in December.

Arsenal’s first League title (and the first by any southern club) set them on their way to their domination of the 1930s. The previous year’s FA Cup final victory over manager Herbert Chapman’s old club, Huddersfield, was very symbolic, but the championship cemented the arrival of Arsenal. It took Chapman six years to win it, but then the floodgates opened, with three in a row from 1933-35, another in 1938 and a second Cup win in 1936 – although sadly he didn’t live to see most of the silverware, having died in 1934.

The 1930/31 season also saw the debut of the Gunners first player signed from overseas, Dutch goalkeeper Gerry Keyser. He played in the first 12 league matches of the campaign. Another debutant was George Male who made his Arsenal debut against Blackpool in December and went on to serve the Club until 1948; his first appearance was on Christmas Day. The team played three games in three days over the Christmas period, and won them all scoring 14 goals in the process.

Arsenal’s 66 points were six better than the previous best in League history. Villa smashed Sheffield Wednesday’s First Division scoring record of 105, set the previous season – in their home matches alone, Villa scored 86 goals. Tom “Pongo” Waring grabbed 49, a club record. Newcastle’s record crowd (68,386) saw their beloved striker Hughie Gallacher return with his new team, Chelsea, in the second match of the season. Meanwhile, in the Third Division South, the lowest ever League attendance – 469 – huddled in the vast West Ham greyhound stadium to see Thames beat Luton 1-0 on December 6.

Only Arsenal have stayed in the top flight without interruption since then, Everton were Second Division champions in their first year below the top level and won the League title the following season.

The World Cup ~ was inaugurated in the summer of 1930, though not considered important enough for England to enter until 1950.

Bill Shankly ~ started his career with the Ayrshire junior side Cronberry Eglinton.
Stanley Matthews ~ was on the books of Stoke as a 15-year-old, though he did not make his debut until March 1932.

GunnerN5

Final League Table

P W D L F A Pts
Arsenal 42 28 10 4 127 59 66
Aston Villa 42 25 9 8 128 78 59
Sheffield Wednesday 42 22 8 12 102 75 52
Portsmouth 42 18 13 11 84 67 49
Huddersfield Town 42 18 12 12 81 65 48
Derby County 42 18 10 14 94 79 46
Middlesbrough 42 19 8 15 98 90 46
Manchester City 42 18 10 14 75 70 46
Liverpool 42 15 12 15 86 85 42
Blackburn Rovers 42 17 8 17 83 84 42
Sunderland 42 16 9 17 89 85 41
Chelsea 42 15 10 17 64 67 40
Grimsby Town 42 17 5 20 82 87 39
Bolton Wanderers 42 15 9 18 68 81 39
Sheffield United 42 14 10 18 78 84 38
Leicester City 42 16 6 20 80 95 38
Newcastle United 42 15 6 21 78 87 36
West Ham United 42 14 8 20 79 94 36
Birmingham 42 13 10 19 55 70 36
Blackpool 42 11 10 21 71 125 32
Leeds United 42 12 7 23 68 81 31
Manchester United 42 7 8 27 53 115 22

Arsenal Results 1930/31

Date Opponent H/A Result GF GA Pts
Sat Aug 30 Blackpool Away Won 4 1 3
Mon Sep 1 Bolton Wanderers Away Won 4 1 3
Sat Sep 6 Leeds United Home Won 3 1 2
Wed Sep 10 Blackburn Rovers Home Won 3 2 1
Sat Sep 13 Sunderland Away Won 4 1 3
Mon Sep 15 Blackburn Rovers Away Drew 2 2 0
Sat Sep 20 Leicester City Home Won 4 1 3
Sat Sep 27 Birmingham Away Won 4 2 2
Sat Oct 4 Sheffield United Home Drew 1 1 0
Sat Oct 11 Derby County Away Lost 2 4 -2
Sat Oct 18 Manchester United Away Won 2 1 1
Sat Oct 25 West Ham United Home Drew 1 1 0
Sat Nov 1 Huddersfield Away Drew 1 1 0
Sat Nov 8 Aston Villa Home Won 5 2 3
Sat Nov 15 Sheffield Wed Away Won 2 1 1
Sat Nov 22 Middlesbrough Home Won 5 3 2
Sat Nov 29 Chelsea Away Won 5 1 4
Sat Dec 6 Grimsby Town Home Abandoned** 0 0 0
Sat Dec 13 Liverpool Away Drew 1 1 0
Sat Dec 20 Newcastle United Home Lost 1 2 -1
Thu Dec 25 Manchester City Away Won 4 1 3
Fri Dec 26 Manchester City Home Won 3 1 2
Sat Dec 27 Blackpool Home Won 7 1 6
Sat Jan 17 Sunderland Home Lost 1 3 -2
Wed Jan 28 Grimsby Town Home Won 9 1 8
Sat Jan 31 Birmingham Home Drew 1 1 0
Thu Feb 5 Leicester City Away Won 7 2 5
Sat Feb 7 Sheffield United Away Drew 1 1 0
Sat Feb 14 Derby County Home Won 6 3 3
Sat Feb 21 Manchester United Home Won 4 1 3
Sat Feb 28 West Ham United Away Won 4 2 2
Sat Mar 7 Huddersfield Home Drew 0 0 0
Wed Mar 11 Leeds United Away Won 2 1 1
Sat Mar 14 Aston Villa Away Lost 1 5 -4
Sat Mar 21 Sheffield Wed Home Won 2 0 2
Sat Mar 28 Middlesbrough Away Won 5 2 3
Fri Apr 3 Portsmouth Away Drew 1 1 0
Sat Apr 4 Chelsea Home Won 2 1 1
Mon Apr 6 Portsmouth Home Drew 1 1 0
Sat Apr 11 Grimsby Town Away Won 1 0 1
Sat Apr 18 Liverpool Home Won 3 1 2
Sat Apr 25 Newcastle United Away Won 3 1 2
Sat May 2 Bolton Wanderers Home Won 5 0 5

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Blast from the Past – 1930 FA Cup Final – How The Arsenal Won The Cup

January 23, 2014

The year is 1930 three years after the pain of losing the 1927 FA Cup Final to Cardiff, Herbert Chapman took Arsenal back to Wembley to make amends, and bring the Club its first major trophy. Ironically the opposition were Huddersfield Town, the club Chapman left to join Arsenal in 1925. He had guided Huddersfield to two league titles in the 1920s and the Yorkshire side bore all the hallmarks of Chapman’s tactical innovations, lining up in a W-M formation with wing-halves and inside-forwards. Arsenal did likewise but, with Chapman now at their helm, they did it better.

The 1930 Cup Final was the first time before a major game that the two teams came out side by side in honour of Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman having managed both clubs. Arsenal came into the game following a 6-6 draw at Leicester City, just five days prior, the highest score draw in English top-flight history, however four goal hero Dave Halliday was omitted from the Cup Final squad.

Tom Wilson led Huddersfield Town onto the pitch while Tom Parker led out Arsenal. The former knew all about winning trophies; the latter Captained a side which had never tasted glory and had survived numerous close shaves en-route to the Final. In the commentary box, that day for only the fifth live radio broadcast was the future Arsenal manager George Allison.

King George V was introduced to the players in front of a crowd of 92,486 at Wembley after recovering from illness. The two clubs were meeting for the first time in a FA Cup Final and they produced a match of high and absorbing quality, observed by the silver Graf Zepplein. The deafening roar from its engines disconcerted both players and spectators. The giant aircraft, at 775 ft. in length, was a symbol of a rising Germany, it dipped its nose in salute to King George V as it passed by.

An Arsenal Blast from the Past Zep

Arsenal won their first major trophy with a goal in each half; the first was created and scored by Alex James, the second was a product of a long run by Jack Lambert. Huddersfield Town, on the day, were worthy opponents but it transpired that their day had passed and they have never since won another major trophy. But 1930, and more specifically April 26, was when Arsenal began their transformation from also-rans to the richest and most successful club in the World. When Chapman arrived at Highbury in 1925 he said it would take him five years to build a winning team. He was as good as his word.

It is also interesting to note that the two sides dined together after the match, an innovation from Herbert Chapman that never took hold. Given the enmity between modern protaganists, such bonhomie might be well absent in the modern game.

An Arsenal Blast from the Past FAC Highbury

The victorious Arsenal team consisted of Charlie Preedy, Tom Parker, Eddie Hapgood, Alf Baker, Bill Seddon, Bob John, Joe Hulme, David Jack, Jack Lambert, Alex James and Cliff Bastin.
In this picture the Arsenal team, looking rather dapper, are posing at Wembley after winning the Cup. Herbert Chapman is on the far left, David Jack (who had joined Arsenal from Bolton Wanderers for a record 10,890 pounds – but that’s another story) has his hands in his light-coloured plus fours; Captain Jack Lambert is holding the FA Cup and Alex James is on the far right, Arsenal’s Bill Seddon, who died in January 1993 at the age of 91, was the last surviving player who appeared in the Final;.

An Arsenal Blast from the Past no 2 001

Now for a real BLAST from the PAST the game report from 1930.

26041930-arsenal-2-huddersfield-town-0-fa-cup-final-note-league-games-played-same-day-afc-played-monday-night

GunnerN5

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Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2 : And everybody breathe

January 14, 2014

I was a bit of a silly boy, on Saturday morning I decided to tell everyone that I predicted much laughter as the weekend results were sure to throw up a few results in our favour and at the expense of our rivals.

Well as we all know I got those well and truly wrong with everyone in the top 7 before the weekend winning their matches. So Monday night and a trip to Villa Park for us was starting to worry me, despite our stats at Villa Park it feels to me that they have had an indian sign over us at the Emirates, and maybe they could transfer that to Villa Park for just one night.

Arsène surprised a few of us by including Gnabry in the starting line up, the only other significant surprise was Monreal in place of Gibbs. Although in that left back slot Arsene has somewhat of a luxury as proven tonight, Monreal is a fine player and when Gibbs came on to replace him there was no change in balance or ability.

Villa were not in the game from the kick off, we dominated possession but were struggling to find a way through the parked bus, Lambert adopting the counter attacking game that works so well away from home in the Premier League, from what I have heard and read this seems to be Lambert’s default tactic not necessarily reserved for visits of the big boys, it probably explains Villa’s low points haul at home as visiting Premier League teams will be happy to take a point, only a few will push all out for a win. Anyway this is an Arsenal blog not a Villa one so on with the match report.

Young Serge Gnabry took it upon himself to start vandalising the bus, a left foot drive hit Villa’s centre back Baker on the temple and he was unfortunately stretchered off concussed having been knocked out for a minute or two. It is never nice to see a player stretchered off, but it meant that Lambert had to shuffle his pack from the three centre backs formation he decided to go into the game with, which would open up some space for us eventually.

After the restart we took some time to reestablish our superiority and Villa had a couple of nearly moments. We were controlling possession but not really finding a way through the defensive lines, that was until Özil did what he is brilliant at, dropping out of midfield to receive the ball from our defence he had the ball in space and time, his movement had also created a vacuum in the middle of Villa’s lines, Monreal made a great run into space and Özil did the other thing he is brilliant at put the ball on his toe, looking up Monreal found Wilshere who within two touches had put the ball in the corner of the net.

jw1

Less than 15 seconds from the restart Jack won back possession in Villa’s half, Giroud made a fine run and Jack flighted a gorgeous ball on to his left foot, Giroud took a couple of touches (one may have been a bit fortuitous but what is it they say about making your won luck?) and with his third drove the ball convincingly into the bottom corner. 2-0 time to relax, what was I worried about?

og 1

Both goals showed that technique that Arsène craves in his players, sorting their feet out while moving at pace and under pressure.

We played the first half out at a canter and it is easy to criticise the players for not going for the kill, we still had plenty of possession and plenty of it around the oppositions box, but there was an element of cockiness and there were one too many flicks rather than proper passing and moving.

Unfortunately someone applied the handbrake at half time and no one seemed to be able to find the damned thing in the second half.

Villa grew in confidence and played a bit better than they had in the first half, we continued to be frivolous in possession and made it hard for ourselves to control the game.

With 20 minutes or so to go, Santi gifted possession to Villa deep in our third, and the ball was swiftly delivered into our penalty area where Benteke could not refuse the invitation for a diving header.

We had been relaxing too long and found it difficult to re-establish the upper hand in possession and ended the game conceding a lot of ground and a few too many aerial balls into the box. Thankfully there was no real drama in the remaining minutes of the game and the defence held firm to see out the match and put another 3 valuable points in the bank.

The sad news of the night is that Monreal may be out for a while if as feared he has done a metatarsal, and Rosicky will probably miss a couple of games whilst his nose is realigned. Better news was the return of Oxlade-Chamberlain, and also the return of that change of pace from Jack, it’s still not there every time but he is getting stronger every game, and if he can continue to find those runs and space in the box he should be able to add a few more goals to his tally before the season is out.

Ratings

Szczesny – 7 didn’t really have a lot to do

Monreal – 8 I really like the way he plays, unlucky to get injured when trying to score a third for Arsenal, good assist for the goal.

Koscielny – 7 did very well to keep Benteke and Abonglahor quiet most of the night

Mertesacker – 8 leader

Sagna – 7.5 Some good crossing tonight strong defensively, can’t really fault his performance.

Flamini – 7.5 excellent cover in the latter stages

Wilshere – 8 one goal one assist, returning to form

Özil – 7 bit too quiet for my liking needs to get involved more

Santi – 6 very erratic with his passing

Gnabry – 7.5 thought he was roaming into the hole a bit too often first half which unbalanced the side, clearly has bags of potential

Giroud – 7.5 nicely taken goal, should have done better with an early header, and hold up play lacking

Subs:

Gibbs – 7
Rosicky – broken nose no time to rate
Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7 just for being back, actually made some nice runs and found himself in threatening positions, I’ve missed the lad

Gooner in Exile

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An Arsenal Blast from the Past ……. No. 1

January 8, 2014

Let’s all take a sad walk back down memory lane.

The year is 1925 and Arsenal were looking for a replacement for the sacked manager Leslie Knighton, Arsenal chairman Sir Henry Norris placed this advertisement in the Athletic News:

“Arsenal football club is open to receive applications for the position of TEAM MANAGER. He must be experienced and possess the highest qualifications for the post, both as to ability and personal character. Gentlemen whose sole ability to build up a good side depends on the payment of heavy and exorbitant transfer fees need not apply”

In response to this advertisement along came Herbert Chapman – who was to know that almost a century later he would be the manager responsible for our very own “TMHT” reminding us all that the “Ghosts of the Thirties were Stirring”

So let’s find out just a little bit about one of those “Ghosts”
Did you know that on April 23rd 1927 it was Herbert Chapman that led us out at Wembley Stadium for our first ever FA Cup Final?

The 1927 final was also the very first time that community singing was introduced in a final and it produced one of the biggest (91,206) organised choirs of the time. There was some doubt as to whether the crowd would join in but the response was so enthusiastic that it immediately became part of the FA Cup Final’s ritual. T.P. Ratcliff, who became famous as”The Man in White” was the song leader and the Northern Command Tattoos were conducted by Aldershot Tidworth. The tradition of signing “Abide with me” continues to this day but supporters also sign their own clubs war songs. The song sheet in 1927 included, Pack up Your Troubles, All Through the Night, Tipperary and Drink to Me Only.
Chapman led out the Arsenal to play Cardiff City, his team that day consisted of – Dan Lewis, Tom Parker, Andy Kennedy, Alf Baker, Jack Butler, Bob John, Joe Hulme, Charlie Buchan, Jimmy Brain, Billy Blyth and Sid Hoar.

Ratcliff 001

Unfortunately Arsenal became the first and only club to let England’s most celebrated trophy to be spirited away to another country. Hugh Freguson Cardiff’s centre-forward scored the only goal of the game in the seventy third minute – in a game that was largely dominated by Arsenal – huh! does that have a familiar ring to it?

In was a sad moment for our goalkeeper Dan Lewis (who was also a Welsh international) as the shot by Hughie Ferguson was straight at him – he dived down to make what should have been a comfortable save, however he fumbled the ball as he gathered it, and it slipped between his body and the crook of his elbow. He turned around and tried in vain to reclaim the ball but only succeeded in knocking it with his elbow into the back of the net.

On receiving his losers’ medal from King George V, a disgusted Lewis reportedly cried “This is not for me,” before flinging it as far as he could into the Wembley crowd.

Lewis blamed his brand new jersey for the error, saying the wool was too greasy for him to grip the ball properly; since then, according to club legend, no Arsenal goalkeeper has played in a new jersey before it is washed first.

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Fast forward 91 years it’s now January 2014 and we have just chased the “Tiny Totts” back down the Seven Sisters Road to their very own “Chicken Coop” where they were greeted by a mute cockerel.

GunnerN5

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Arsenal 0 – Chelsea 0: Progress?

December 24, 2013

In the comments following this match I stated that I thought there was some progress made last night. Whilst the point may not look that great as we could not lift ourselves back to the top of the Premier League, the way we approached the game was different to past meetings with a Mourinho Chelsea.

That’s not to say it was a great performance, the part the conditions played cannot be underestimated, against a strong wind in the first half we struggled to control possession, Chelsea were content to follow the game plan that has worked against us so often in the past ten men behind the ball, let us take possession to the half way line and them press to try and get the ball back and counter at pace with red and white shirts stretched between the half way line an their 18 yard box.

Bearing in mind we were playing against the wind I couldn’t fathom why we were trying to hit so many high balls, surely we have all played in conditions like this at some point in our lives and so must the players and the way we have all been taught to play against the wind is keep it on the deck.

I can’t really discuss the first half without mentioning Mike Dean, he seemed to have decided pre match that due to conditions he would allow a few tackles to go by without punishment, and so it was that Azpuiceleta (I had a go at spelling it right 🙂 ) got away scot free for upending Ramsey about half a second after Ramsey had played the ball, that set the standard for the rest of the half. He also allowed Lampatd to slide through the back of Sagna and take man and ball and have a throw. The two key decisions followed a little later first he allowed Mikel to get away with what looked like a dangerous lunge on Arteta, and immediately after with Arteta still lying on the floor waved away appeals for an Arsenal penalty when Theo was clearly tripped by Willian in the Chelsea penalty area, a big decision and one he got wrong, although he clearly was in a mood not to give anything controversial.

Chelsea had the clearest chance of the half and probably the match when Arteta allowed Lampard to run past him while no one pressured Hazard on the ball, he found Lampard but thankfully the ball cannoned back of the bar to safety.

The second half we promised more pressing further up the pitch and having more of the game in Chelsea’s half. I spent most of the second half urging us forward but worrying about Chelsea countering every time we over committed men forward. This is what Mourinho’s Chelsea teams have done to is over the years, and in years gone by we would get carried away trying to break them down and give away an easy counter attacking goal, and although Chelsea did muster a few attacks in this way we were rarely playing 2 on 3/4 at the back which we have seen in the past, we were not playing for a draw but we were making sure we didn’t lose if we couldn’t win. Is that progress? Well from naivety shown only a few weeks ago when playing Dortmund at home I’d say yes.

We did manage to create two chances for Giroud, the first following a lovely chip pass and great movement from the big man, but he snatched at his shot and sliced it wide, the second chance came from good work from Gibbs on the left but Cech and Terry combined to present Giroud finding the net.

The game petered out to a 0-0 draw with Mourinho replacing attackers with less adventurous players and finally a centre forward with a centre back.

So a point at home, putting us back level on points with Liverpool who face a trip to City on Boxing Day, that game will help us one way or another.

The biggest annoyance to me was not Ramsey’s off day or Giroud’s failed attempts it was seeing the basic errors made by senior pros, gambling when they should play safe, trying passes when Row Z an reorganising is a better option, I want us to play attractive football (and win obviously) but there is a time and a place, and sometimes the boot through the ball is the best option. That is the biggest lesson we need to learn, it’s down to the players on the pitch to do it, no one is going to complain of they do that on occasion, it’s how you win League titles.

Gooner in Exile

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Is football killing itself? And is there a cure?

December 21, 2013

The recent weeks have been an unsettling time for football managers, players, and supporters alike. First the Board of West Bromwich Albion decided that Steve Clark was not taking their club where they would like, and then the joke club in N17 decided that although he had the best win percentage of any previous Premier League manager for Spuds, and sitting 7th in the league and 5 points off the top 4, it was time for AVB to leave. I am no fan of AVB but you have to question the sense of the Board for removing him.

This season for the first in a long time there is an argument to say four of seven teams could make the Champions League spots, of those seven teams two are financially doped and therefore can demand qualification from their managers, if Everton, Liverpool or Spurs say to their managers that the minimum requirement is Champions League qualification they may as well give up before the season starts.

There is also the vicious cycle of players wages, represented here:

ViciousCycle

This becomes worse when we start talking about Champions League Money, and therefore clubs with ambitions to be in the Champions League need to gamble on wages over and above the normal cycle. This is why Champions League money is so important, UEFA by their promotion of the Champions League have left themselves with a dead duck of a competition called the Europa League which does not generate the TV rights that the Champions League does, they have extended the pool of clubs able to enter the Champions League to strengthen their premier competition but it has been at the expense of their other competitions.

A lot of the criticism of the current situation of a Big 4 of Premier League Clubs is seen by many fans as a result of the Premier League full stop, so with this in mind I went off and did a bit of a review of the Top 4 finishes going back 42 years, 21 post Premier League seasons and 21 pre Premier League seasons. To some extent what I found was a bit of a surprise.

Prior to the Premier League era 19 different teams finished in the top four positions, during the Premier League Era only 13 different teams have finished in the top four. Perhaps not as stark as I was expecting, so i added a final criteria, top four finishes since the Champions League qualification became four teams from the Premier League, only 8 different teams.

No of Top 4 Finishes Pre PL PL Era Top 4 CL
1 7 3 1
2 1 2 2
3 2 3 1
4 1 0 0
5 3 1 0
6 0 0 1
7 2 0 0
8 1 0 0
9 1 0 0
10 0 0 1
11 or more 1 4 2

As you can see the real evil has been that Champions League qualification. I’m sure a similar study of other European Leagues would provide a similar result.

On top of this we have the ability of players to move around Europe, many moons ago a Munich side would have been 90% German, an English side 70% English (except Liverpool), etc. Now we are lucky if we see 50% of players from the country of the team. This in itself is not necessarily the worst thing about modern football but it means that UEFAs premier competition is only going to be won by the Leagues with the biggest resources to attract players from all across Europe especially those whose teams used to be European greats but cannot afford to compete with the bigger clubs.

So what can be done to change this? To make Managers jobs more secure to allow clubs to really build again without fear of losing out on the pot of gold that is the Champions League and to make the domestic leagues more competitive?

For me I would like to see a total overhaul of European Competition. And in a three step process.

1) Re introduce the European Cup Winners Cup, as a straight knock out competition. Winners or Runners Up of the domestic competition only.

2) Reduce the places in the Champions League to 2 spots for each country.

3) Apply the coefficients for the Europa League for each country so we may have four teams in it.

What would this do? In my opinion it would increase the quality of the Europa League and hence increase the prize money and rights on offer. The Europa League would also feature teams that are traditionally big European clubs. This would probably also reduce the money on offer in the Champions League but that may be no bad thing as it will reduce the need of so many clubs to retain Champions League status.

One thing is for certain the gravy train will not last forever, the money BT have paid to secure Champions League rights indicates that the gap will only widen in the future. This cannot be a good thing for domestic football and the managers that work in it as the task becomes more impossible.

Gooner in Exile

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Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin: Napoli 2 – Arsenal 0

December 12, 2013

Arsenal arrived in Napoli knowing they had to leave with nothing more than a 2 goal deficit. That is not the best recipe for a winning performance, we have seen it in the past. Not just by us but by many other teams.

The simple fact is that when the CL Group draw was made many of us were contemplating whether it would be better to exit in totality or join that other mob on Spursday.

The fact we went into this match in such a strong position is testament to the form of the team this year.

Arsene sent an experienced side on to the pitch, this was probably one of the oldest average age squads we have seen take the field in red and white for quite a long time, only Jenkinson and Szczesny under 25. The game plan was simple soak up pressure, get the ball up to the three of Cazorla, Ozil and Rosicky and try and keep the ball for as long as possible.

To a certain extent the first half was very comfortable, we were rarely threatened and Szczesny was not forced into serious action, the centre of defence was calm and assured with Mertesacker and Koscielny seeming to build on their growing confidence together, if Mertesacker didn’t win first ball then Koscielny swept round with consumate ease. We even managed to have an effort or two of our own, Giroud denied after some lovely build up play.

But in the main this was a game of containment, Napoli were quick to pressure us with the ball, giving away a number of small fouls which the experienced heads were winning to take pressure off us.

At half time I was quite content, whilst we hadn’t created much we had not conceded many chances and a point looked assured. I was pretty sure Napoli could not keep up the intensity of their press for the next forty five minutes.

How wrong could I be? Napoli seemed to come out energised perhaps by knowing the scoreline in France and that even a 1 goal win would see them progress, they came out firing and we found it harder to keep the ball and harder to shift our defensive line up the pitch.

There were a few reasons for this:

a) Typical Italian Centre Half play preventing Giroud from bringing down the high ball.

b) More hurried long ball clearances in the second half rather than finding feet as we had done in the first half, meaning the quality of ball up the pitch was poor an coming straight back at us. This was because we were lacking options in front of the back 4, several times Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Gibbs and Koscielny were faced with three yellow shirts in front of them and no movement to find an angle from Arteta or Flamini. This got worse after Arteta’s dismissal.

c) Not shifting the line up the pitch, when we were in possession, this is maybe where Arteta’s weakness as a defensive midfielder highlights Flamini’s strength. Flamini was imploring his teammates to move forward with him to press Napoli higher up the pitch, with Arteta refusing to budge from a position ten yards in front of the centre halfs there were large gaps for Napoli to play in and leaving us defending our eighteen yard box.

Back to the game, Napoli got their breakthrough with 70 minutes on the clock, Higuain fed too easily inside the box and allowed to turn and shoot in one motion and he found the bottom corner.

Arteta effectively took away any chance of an equaliser by earning himself a second yellow card, admittedly Callejon earned a row of 10’s for the triple summersault tucked salko that followed marginal contact, but I would expect Arteta to know better, I sometimes suspect he thinks the captains armband exempts him from soft yellow cards.

Meanwhile Szczesny was doing his best to waste time at every opportunity, despite Arsene’s protestations from the sideline for him to “Play”. I was glad I saw Arsene doing that because it tells us who was responsible for the mentality shown on the pitch. More work to be done by Arsene on instilling the philosophy.

Most surprising that down to ten men and a goal down Napoli didn’t go for the jugular, they had one guaranteed way to progress, win by three, but they played it around at the back content to win 1-0 and hope Marseille could hold out.

As news filtered through that Dortmund were ahead Napoli pressed as hard as they could and found a second goal with a minute of injury time to play, Jenkinson allowing a pass round his body and Mertesacker outpaced in behind, Szczesny advancing on a bouncing ball all conspired to give Napoli the slimmest of hopes.

Thankfully the referee feeling guilty for his part in the last twenty minutes called a halt to the game within seconds of the restart.

Through to the knockout stages…again, but second in the group, at the end of the day you have to beat good teams to win this competition, if we think we can win the tournament, an easy tie in the first knockout makes no difference, if we think we can’t win it surely better to be done and dusted early?

More important is the trip to Manchester on Saturday lunchtime, rest those legs and figure out how we are going to set about them. I predict a few changes across the midfield and perhaps a run out for Theo.

Written by Gooner in Exile

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