Ban The Divers

March 5, 2012

Lightning may never strike twice, but cheating scumbags certainly do.

It beggars belief that less than a week after Gareth Bale pulled off a forward pike with tuck to win a penalty against us, Luis Suarez went and did exactly the same thing with the same effect.

Both executed perfect examples of what’s known in coaching circles as “The Rooney.”

It works like this:

You’re closing on goal but the opposition ‘keeper has come out and spread himself to narrow the angle.

You have slightly overrun it, or you’ve taken a touch too many, so now you’re too close to the goalkeeper to chip it over him.

You’re going to have to try and go round him, but at the speed you’re running, and with the touchline looming, it’s virtually impossible to round the ‘keeper and still be in control of the ball with a shooting angle.

You try it anyway, but the touch is too heavy and the ball is heading out for a goal kick.

However, the goalkeeper has had to commit himself and here, if you happen to be of a dishonest persuasion (medical term: gerraditis), is where you seize your chance.

Following behind the now wayward ball, you trail your foot to try and effect a contact with the ‘keeper’s arm or leg, depending on which way he has gone down.

As you trail the foot, you start falling forward like a tree that’s just been felled. Whether or not you actually make contact with the ‘keeper is irrelevant now because momentum and gravity have taken their course.

TIMBER!!!!!!

Over you go… and as you lie prone, the extent of your appeals for a penalty depends only on the extent of your shamelessness.

The two penalties against us in the last two weeks have certain things in common and certain differences.

Let’s take the Tottenham one first (although before we do, does anyone have the time? Oh yes, thanks – five-to).

Primatologists have managed to get monkeys and great apes to do many remarkable things in recent decades: reasoning, reading, doing maths puzzles, even speaking. But full credit to the trainers at Tottenham for producing the world’s first ever diving monkey.

As monkeyboy bore down on our goal there was a coming together between him and Gibbs. Ironically, if Bale had chosen (note the use of the word ‘chosen’) to go down then, he might have had a more justified penalty shout because there was some upper body contact between the two.

Instead he kept going, pushed it too far past Szczesny and went for the Rooney. As the replays seemed to prove, there was either no contact or negligible contact between our young Pole and the primate, even though the latter went down as if pole-axed.

The ball was going away from goal, which probably helped keep Szczesny on the pitch once Mike Dean had bought the dive.

Bale’s appeal for a penalty was a little half-hearted, as if he knew he was trying to pull a fast one. He just sat on the turf and raised one paw in the air in mute appeal. In fact, given that he has been booked for diving twice already this season, he must have been worried about a third yellow coming his way.

Dean, it should be noted, was a good 30 yards behind the incident and could not possibly have been able to see clearly what happened. He did consult his linesman, who was theoretically better positioned, but according to one account I read all the lino wanted to do was moan about something having been thrown from the crowd.

And so to Saturday’s penalty for Liverpool. Suarez, a man with more baggage than Victoria Beckham on a world tour, hared in towards our goal from the left of the penalty area.

When Szczesny narrowed the angle Suarez took a concrete-boot touch with his right foot, sending the ball straight towards the touchline and a goal kick.

Realising this, he too switched immediately to Plan B – the Rooney, dragging his feet and falling as if he’d just been hit in the back by a sniper.

Once again the referee, this time Mike Halsey, had no clear view of the incident. He was closer than Dean had been but his line of sight was obscured by a cluster of three players.

Suarez compounded his initial act of dishonesty (the dive) by putting on an elaborate show of having been badly injured. It was pure theatre, but perhaps helped convince Halsey that there had been genuine contact.

Similarities between the two dives: both players had lost control of the ball; both went for the Rooney; in both cases the referee could not possibly have seen the incident properly.

Dissimilarities: Bale had had some upper body contact from Gibbs, whereas no-one touched Suarez; Suarez showed his out-and-out dishonesty by putting on some real theatrics.

Both were pretty awful, but the Uruguayan racist’s was particularly heinous.

So what do we do about this?

For a start, some players are now so good at this sort of fakery that the referees’ association needs to aggressively counter it. I always thought that if a ref had not clearly seen an incident he could not act on it. That certainly wasn’t the case with either Bale’s or Suarez’s penalties, where Dean and Halsey seem to have made their decision based on probability or instinct.

If refs get together to try to clamp down on this sort of cheating, the net effect will probably be fewer penalties given in these sort of circumstances (including some genuine pens which will be missed because the ref cannot be certain there was contact).

It’s not perfect, but the consequences of not awarding the occasional genuine penalty are not as great as those of giving too many fake penalties (which usually means a goal for the cheating side and often a red card for the victims).

But refs aside, the real answer to the problem is retrospective video analysis by the FA, followed by severe punishment (bans) for cheating.

Then, and only then, will cheats like Bale and Suarez know that the consequences of doing what they do will outweigh the possible benefits.

The FA already hands out retrospective punishment for serious foul play when the referee ‘did not see the incident’. So they would not need to stretch the rules too far to also come down hard on cheating in circumstances where the ref could not possibly have had a 100% view and where the offender’s play-acting has been deliberately aimed at misleading the officials.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Our hubcaps? Have them, we’ve got the points.

March 4, 2012

Smash and grab, against the run of play, undeserved, call it what you want, Robin van Persie’s two superbly taken goals gave us a very important win at Anfield and with it three extremely precious points.

Buoyed by the glorious fight back last week against spuds I sat myself in front of the telly ready for the match with a greater confidence in my heart than had been the case in more recent weeks. But, continue where we left off last weekend, we did not, Liverpool came on to us with drive, and purpose; they, it has to be said were bossing the game – this lasted all of, well, exactly two and a half minutes, lol before the good guys collected themselves and started to play.

Although, it wasn’t pretty, not as pretty as last weekend: the passing wasn’t as crisp, the creativity wasn’t quite as ingenious but enough collective self belief remained to hold things together and that is in spite of having to suffer yet another totally unjust penalty being awarded against us.

Did you see the replay on the telly at the end where they put what seemed like a magnifying glass on the incident – never touched him, not a feather?

Still, today was the day when Szczesny had decided to be Man of the Match, up stepped Kuyt and across went Chesney’s hand, have another go Kuyt, hahahahah missed again. Did you see Vermealen’s celebration, if you haven’t take another look, passion or what?

No, Liverpool were not going to score today, it took one of our own to give them a leg up. I think it was a very dangerous game that Kozzer was playing; although, I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt when he said that he knew that by giving them the lead it would fire Arsenal into action, the same way as it did last weekend, fair enough Koz I am just glad you never tested us by giving them a two goal lead. Am I making too many references to last week lol?

The truth is we were disjointed, the three elements of the team, the defence, the midfield and the attack seemed unable to link up with each other, Song was poor — there I said it, Alex does have a tendency to start slowly but he is usually covered by Arteta, although, today he was miss placing passes which is completely out of character; Theo was having trouble getting past Enrique, and offensively Benayoun offered nothing which left van Persie isolated.

But, remember when the BFG got injured and many said that the ideal CB partnership was Koscielny and Vermealen, I was one of them, well, they were magnificent, my only surprise was what took them so long to gel as a unit. Gibbs helps as does Sagna who was outstanding for the full ninety minutes which brings me back to the game and our only attempt on goal in the first half.

Be honest now, when the ball was rolled out to Bacary on the right wing which one of you expected that kind of cross? Guilty, I didn’t, what a peach, the most perfect angle met sweetly by the Boy Wonder to head us back on terms just before the break.

As both teams took to the field for the start of the second half you could tell that Liverpool’s resistance had not yet been completely broken, there was something about them that still naively thought they had a shot at fourth place, they huffed and they puffed, they hit the post a couple of times but there wasn’t really anything too troubling.

The first significant incident came when they knocked Arteta out cold but just as I was thinking ‘you hubcap thieving bunch of banned words’, their supporters silenced me by giving him a standing ovation as he was carried from the field. That kind of behaviour may be rare in football today but nowhere near as rare as an appearance of a Lesser Spotted Diaby, a real collector’s item this was.

I happily admit I was excited to see him back and his first shimmy that took him effortlessly past a Liverpool player got the blood racing even higher, probably for the first time in the match we started taking the game to them. That’s not to say we started to look like we were going to score, we never gave that impression but it no longer looked like the only winner, if there were to be one, would be the Dippers.

But, as quick as the Lesser Spotted Diaby appeared he was gone, did I dream it? On came the Ox full of fight, at the end of the game I was left thinking that it was a tough call to decide who was more effective: Diaby or the Ox?

But either way it was getting towards the time when van Persie had a decision to make. Some may have noticed him around the ninety minute mark looking up thoughtfully, obviously pondering that all important question: do I want to score, because as we all know, ‘he’s Robin van Persie and he scores when he wants‘?

Robin decided he did, all that was needed was someone to supply him with the opportunity: enter the world’s best DM, that god like, lion of a man (a bit too much?) Alex Song sent in a chip that Fabregas would have been proud of for van Persie to rifle home. Comparing Song’s pass to Fabregas is, as we all know, high praise indeed but there is a higher being in the Arsenal pantheon, sit up straight, pay attention, deference is required, I am about to use the “B” word. The way van Persie guided the ball past Reina was Bergkampesque. The away supporters went wild and deservedly so in my opinion when you consider some of the disappointments they have had to endure first hand in the not too distant past.

COYRRG

Did I mention the chavs lost? Hahahahahaha.

Szeczney: as I have said, Man of the Match, commanding, powerful, intelligent, good distribution, he just gets better and better. 9

Sagna: one of his really, really good games, I expect a great deal from him defensively and he delivered, I don’t expect too much offensively so his cross that led to a goal was a really good surprise. 8.5

Koscielny: superb I thought, it is not easy playing against that diving little Uruguayan rat but our Kozzer stopped him scoring so, 8

Vermaelen: can’t play two games of ninety minutes in a week purleese, this is Thomas Vermaelen we are talking about here. 8

Gibbs: he is getting better isn’t he? I thought his major significance this season would be what he brought to the attack but I like the way he is going about improving his defensive game. 7.5

Rosicky: hmmmmm, not easy, he did work hard it must be said but the job of the person who plays in between Song and RvP is to produce magic and there wasn’t enough of it 7

Song: a very poor first half, ponderous, wasted passes, I thought ‘I am going to have to eat Peaches’ humble pie’…….nooooooooooo, what a pass, what a magnificent piece of football to help win us the game. 12

Walcott: oh why me? I don’t think that last week’s goals change anything, in games when teams are foolish enough to come onto us then Theo will excel but they are the tiny minority of a season, the majority play two banks of four and he has never once shown that he is capable of dealing with such a situation. Still not convinced 6

van Persie: the Boy Wonder can do no wrong 9

Benayoun: I wrote above that he offered nothing in attack in the first half and I stand by that but what I purposely left out, until now, was to say that he worked his socks off for the defence; he tracked back like a demon, covering Gibbs whenever necessary. 7

PS The Lesser Spotted Diaby should not be confused with the Greater Spotted Diaby which, as I am sure you all know, is far more common.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Written by LB

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Let’s Stay Together: Match Preview

March 3, 2012

Following on from Rocky’s finely researched post about the curse of the Carling Cup:

Another lunch time fixture, another outing for our dreadful blue away kit and a tough fixture.

I am from the generation which remembers Anfield as the toughest fixture of the season. Win up there and you were a quality team, you had to be because for many, many years Liverpool were supreme: The Liverpool side of the late 80’s was the best team ever seen on British soil until the arrival of  The Invincibles.

However, times move on and this Liverpool side despite having been expensively assembled is nowhere near good enough to win the PL (not that we are!), they are as unpredictable as a Nik Bendnter finish. Scraping past a very average Cardiff is proof of their weaknesses.

The hugely expensive purchases of recent years have shown that money cannot buy success – our record signing is Wiltord at £16m approx; in the last few seasons the Scouse have bought Aquillani, Torres, Downing, Saurez, Mascherano, Carroll, Henderon, Johnson and Keane, all of whom cost more than Wiltord. And what have they won? The CC. How many times have the been in the CL? Not enough for the investment.

Still swallowing the King Kenny Dream

However, they remain a potent force at Anfield and it must be remembered they beat us at THOF. They are unbeaten this season at home and yet have won only 4 out of 12.

Liverpool have some injury problems with Agger out but Stevie Me is likely to have recovered from his half hour for England.  Carroll may be a laughing stock but we are prone to concede goals from players of his stature. Had Mr Wenger had his way Reina would be playing for the good guys, he remains the best GK in the Prem (IMO). Their defence is shaky without Agger. Midfield will be where the game is won and lost. The impression I get from L’pool blogs is that Adam has not been a success, nor has Henderson and the loss of Lucas has been costly. Which brings us to Liverpools’s most potent weapon, Suarez.

Is there a less popular player in English football? It cannot be denied Suarez is blessed with huge talent but his cheating and demeanor are appalling – he is the new El Hadj Diouf. As to the racial abuse case: Dalgleish’s stand and the general support from the fans was shameful, in particular at a club with the proud heritage of LFC. There is no possibility Mr Wenger and The Arsenal would have supported the player in this case. It has harmed the standing of a great club. Will Liverpool sell Suarez in summer as I hope would be the case at Arsenal – probably not, just look at the way MC have handled Tevez. One insincere apology from the media dept and all is well  …. shame on them.

Arsenal have the usual injury problems. There are doubts about key players: Vermaelen, Rosicky and RvP, without whom we will struggle. Diaby is back in the squad but is unlikely to play.

My team:

Benayoun played very well last weekend and it is hard to drop him but I believe Gervinho’s pace will cause the Scouse problems. Mozart is on his best run of form in his Arsenal career and will surely start ahead of the fit again Ramsey.

Inventor from Liverpool: Mr Frank Hornby. Inventor of Boys Toys Extraordinaire. Not just the Hornby train sets but also Meccano and my personal favorite, Dinky toys. At one time Meccano was the most popular toy in the world.

Calm Down now

March is Mr. Wenger’s most successful  month with a Pl 52. W36 D10 L6 record. A win today could knock one of the 3 challengers for a CL place out of contention.

Beating the Miscreants was a result of team play and pressing all over the pitch, if we can reproduce this team ethic we can win …. Let’s Stay Together!

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Carling Cup Curse Will Help Arsenal

March 2, 2012

The euphoria of last Sunday’s win will soon dwindle if we don’t get any points at Anfield on Saturday.

Not that it hasn’t been fun.

Even the densest of Spudders (which is a bit like saying ‘the tallest of giraffes’ or ‘the reddest of tomatoes’) have learnt to think twice when asked “what time is it?” by their Arsenal colleagues.

Meanwhile a quick trip round the Spud blogs reveals a hilarious outpouring of rage at ‘Arry, at Monkeyboy, at Adebarndoor, at Assou-Ekotto… in fact at anyone in a LilyLivered shirt.

But in terms of our league campaign it’s still only three points. Beautiful, heart-warming, Spud-humbling points, but still only three of them. Now it’s time to get another three in Liverpool.

With the return of real full backs and with Rosicky hitting his groove (hopefully he’ll be fit), with Theo having found his scoring boots again and with even Benny the Goon showing what he can contribute, there are reasons to be optimistic.

And there may be one other factor in our favour.

As we all know, Liverpool charged to a triumphant, buccaneering victory on penalties over Championship Cardiff in the Carling Cup Final last weekend.

You would think that would fill them with new confidence and vigour, but if you look back through the records, you’ll find that teams that win the CC often struggle thereafter.

The phenomenon is so marked it has even led to talk of the Carling Cup being a “cursed” trophy.

Look at Birmingham last year. They nabbed the cup in the dying minutes thanks to Koscielny and Szczesny’s Laurel and Hardy act, then went sliding down the table like a turd down the toilet pan, except with less glamour.

In 2010 Manchester United were gunning for the title. They won the CC final – and promptly let Chelsea in to take the Championship.

In 2008 the power and might (sorry, I meant “shower of shite”) from up the Seven Sisters Road captured the Carling Cup. They managed only three wins from the 12 games they played afterwards and ended up 11th in the table. Which sort of suits them, if you ask me.

In 2007 Chelsea had title aspirations, won the CC and gave the league away to Manchester United.  In 2006 the reverse happened – Man Utd got the CC and the Chavs got the title.

In 2004 unfashionable Middlesbrough picked up the trophy while also going good guns in the league. Like the Spuds after their victory, they went on to finish 11th, winning only five out of 13 after lifting the CC.

Liverpool were the CC winners in 2003, but couldn’t subsequently get themselves into the all-important Champions League places, finishing 5th.

Then there was Blackburn in 2002 – Carling Cup champions, 10th in the table at the end of the season; they took 8 points from a possible 21 in the seven games after their trophy win.

Liverpool again in 2001: In the five games immediately after winning the CC they took just 5 points out of 15.

There have been a couple of exceptions in that period: Man Utd in 2009 and Chelsea in 2005 both managed to win the CC and the EPL Title in the same year, but in both cases they had incredibly dominant teams during the seasons in question.

Will the Curse of the Carling Cup strike Liverpool on Saturday?

Who knows, but we can all hope…

RockyLives

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Tomas Rosicky – The Little Mozart

March 1, 2012

I usually write posts with a historical feel, stories or matches and players gone by. Wide eyed tales from the vaults of the trophy cabinets and a time of greater innocence when players could drink all night and run all day, when wistful managers had Midas touches and a loose brick in the fireplace bunged full of used twenties.

However, on this occasion, the match against Spurs made me think about the current. More specifically our Number 7.

When Tomas Rosicky arrived at Arsenal amongst much fanfare in 2006  we were entitled to expect a lot.

He was captain of the Czech Republic at the forthcoming World Cup. He had been able to shine against us in the Champions League, he was, we were told by Arsène Wenger a replacement for a modern day Arsenal legend Robert Pires. He has since that day occupied Pires’ hallowed jersey and often for reasons obvious to most of us struggled to fill those 1:50pm boots.

Back then Tomas was a world class player in the making. Several injuries later, here we are, he is a squad man in a side that has often struggled for creative input.

The mention of Rosicky on the team sheet raises an eyebrow.

The mention of his fitness  or any reliance on him in the pub pre-match is met with a wary grin.  As if you were a Liberal Democrat suggesting a  Tory increase in unemployment benefits.

Your friend may with some justification reply that you should know better. He wouldn’t have to be a sage.

If you spell-check his name on outlook it tries to call him colicky. It says it all doesn’t it?

If you put together all the time Arsène has spent giving us a Friday update on our little number 7’s injury progress then it would probably outlast a Pink Floyd album.

An album that Tomas may well enjoy given that he is a keen guitar player, one could argue that he has had plenty of time to practice in recent seasons.

He typifies Arsenal’s recent history, one of nearly moments.

All punch lines aside, I like Rosicky a lot and today of all days, is a day for fresh starts.

He is technically perfect, a one touch, two touch, pass master and a superb exponent of the outside of the boot.

His Arsenal goals have been collector’s items for the quality as much as the rarity. He has a rocket shot though we don’t see it enough.

The injuries and resulting lack of form have seen Rosicky retreat to his shell and that is a shame.

He was excellent against Blackburn and again against Spurs.

Rosicky stamps quality on the things he does. He never seems to lack effort.

Is he starting to get back his confidence? I hope so.

Against Spurs, Benayoun and Rosicky ganged up with Song and Arteta to stop the Spurs midfield. It was almost a narrow four like the 2007-2008 season. Flamini, Fabregas, Hleb and at the start a pre-injury Rosicky.

Theo still played somewhere between an right sided forward and a centre forward as if a formation didn’t apply to him but frankly they looked like free men and that is a good thing.

Rosicky’s touch and grace give him time even in a hectic match but he no longer has any pace to play out wide, as was evident in Milan.

He is like the great Pires, a player who does the right things at the right times.

The thing is that we have missed Wilshere, Fabregas and Nasri.

We have missed speed of thought, a little imagination, a little subtlety and in the short term. He really could help with that.

He could certainly help us out.

It’s just that when he turns on the ball and produces a moment of quality, you sometimes find yourself wondering what might have been.

If you are reading this Tomas, and it isn’t out of the realms of possibility that you might pick up on an Arsenal Fan site with an article about you, I would say two things;

1.       I hope your back is ok.

2.       Remember those two wonder strikes at Anfield in the FA Cup and see if you can roll back the clock at the weekend.

I still remember that goal in Hamburg.

Come in number 7, your time has come.

Written by Jamie

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Does Kroenke have a moral obligation to spend big?

February 29, 2012

Does a billionaire owner/major shareholder have a moral obligation to spend big on his football club? And, should owners of a football club be allowed to make a profit? For a while now, I have been reading comments by a number of ‘Kroenke-critical’ AA’ers, who believe that he should be spending a lot more of the club’s and his own money and, to a certain extent, I can see where they are coming from. Just to be clear: I am neither a ‘Kroenke-critic’, nor a ‘Kroenke-supporter’.

Our club needs (an) owner(s). Somebody needs to take responsibility in managing our club and achieve sporting successes in such a way that our short-term and long-term financial positions are secured. This is mightily important to all those who really care about the club and we should not take good club management for granted: it is a fine art. Running a football club is a highly risky business. Income streams can fluctuate strongly from one season to the next whilst costs are difficult to control/manage downwards in the short run.

At Arsenal, we need clever and experienced business people, with both a passion and in-depth understanding of football, at the helm of our club. Preferably, they also have an Arsenal-history and an Arsenal-heart. We are almost entirely owned by major Shareholders Kroenke and Usmanov. The latter possesses just under 30% of the club’s shares, and the former owns the best part of 70%.

Kroenke is not an Arsenal-man and neither is Usmanov. It appears that Kroenke has a more calculated business approach to our club, whilst Usmanov seems less interested in the business-side of Arsenal, but would be more prepared to spend big in order to achieve success for the club. It is not clear whether Usmanov would dig into his own pockets or whether he would be looking at entering a number of (risky) commercial endeavours in order to free up money to invest in new (world class) players and their wages. Obviously, I do not know any of the two and my above assumptions are purely based on a number of articles I have read over the last few years. However, it is clear that Kroenke, as the major shareholder, is leading the club at the moment whilst Usmanov remains in the background.

Silent, calculated Stan

Describing Kroenke as somebody with a calculated business approach, is not necessary a bad thing. Of course, I would prefer him to have a Gooner heart and past, who is happy to spend a reasonable amount of his own money on the club without the need to earn it back again in a hurry. He is a multi-billionaire, so he can afford it. But, are fans right to lambast him for not putting his hands in his deep pockets in order to spend similarly to Citeh’s and Chavs’ owners, in order to compete in this new footie world order? Is it wrong Kroenke wants to run a financially sound football-business, and maybe even wants to take a profit out of the business, say in the region of 5-8% of turnover?

I would not want us to become like Chelsea and Man City, and I am hopeful that UEFA new financial rules will put a stop to clubs being sugar-daddied with excessive amounts of oil-dollars to success. It is wrong in every sense. I am fully aware that Kroenke is very unlikely to want to be the major shareholder forever and that his strategy is based on selling his shares at some point in the future, whenever that is, at a decent profit. I do not like this of course, as we do not know who he will sell to and what would happen next with Arsenal, but there is nothing that can be done about it. Almost every football club is subjected to the same level of uncertainty.

Arsenal winning cups and financial success for Kroenke are closely linked

But one thing I know: there are a few benefits attached to having an owner who is keen to run a sustainable business and who will want to sell it one day in the future, if and when the time is right / the price is right for him. The biggest benefit is the need for such an owner to look after his club, both financially and in terms of sporting successes. What’s more: there is a strong interdependence between financial success, sporting successes and long-term value of the club – and it is this fine balance which I am pinning my hopes on. Kroenke might not have an Arsenal heart as such, but without any doubt, he will want to look after his investment. Selling a few key players every year could easily be seen as one of Kroenke’s ways of making good money out of our club, but he also knows that this could come at a high cost to Arsenal and therefore to himself. He needs sporting success in order to achieve financial success for his considerable investment – the market value of his shares being his biggest concern – and selling Arsenal’s key assets on the pitch is not going to help him in the mid to long run. I believe Arsenal had to sell players in the last few years in order to balance the books, but last summer’s sales of Fabregas and Nasri were not borne out of necessity anymore: other factors forced Kroenke’s hand this time round.

Some have argued that he is only interested in finishing in the top-4, so he can be in the lucrative Champions League, and that he will invest only as much as is needed to achieve this. However, if Arsenal were to get a reputation of only ever being able to just finish in the top-4, it would become commercially less attractive, in terms of enticing profitable sponsorships and advertising. Furthermore, Arsenal would be losing a part of its fans base, both in terms of season ticket holders and their worldwide TV audience, with further negative impact in terms of shirt sales etc. It would also be very risky to try to do just enough in order to stay in the top-four, as the short and long-term consequences could be very dire for him if Arsenal were to fail. Kroenke needs Arsenal to be successful: not just in terms of taking part in the CL but also in terms of winning trophies.

 

Does Kroenke have a moral obligation to invest a lot more money in Arsenal though?

The above gives me every reason to be optimistic about our future. It pays for Kroenke to invest in the club and sporting success: Arsenal winning trophies rather sooner than later is a necessity for him. However, by trying to achieve this in a financially sustainable way, he could be taking too much risk and, given the stiff ‘new world’ competition he has to deal with, he might fail and we might end up with winning nothing for years to come. Which raises the question again: should he be spending more of the club’s/ his own money in order to optimise our chances to win trophies?

I don’t think I can say he has a moral obligation to spend his own money in our club, or that he should never take a reasonable profit out of the business. He is the major shareholder and carries the biggest financial risks on his shoulders. We as fans, in particular the STH and those who go regularly to away-games, spend a hefty sum of our money on the club, but our financial risks are relatively small compared to Kroenke’s: we can chose to no longer spend any money on Arsenal in relatively short time, but Kroenke is in a different position.

Ideally, I would like him to spend more (but not crazy) money in order to compete better in the next few years, but if he does not want to do it, I will respect it. However, he is morally obliged to:

1.      Look after the club in terms of managing short-term and long-term financial risks;

2.      Use the club’s financial resources and commercial opportunities to the maximum, with the aim of providing all the pre-requisites for sporting successes on the field (taking into account point 1);

3.      Represent our club as best as he can and always aim to achieve as high as we can (in terms of sporting successes), taking into account points 1 & 2.

4.      Make sure he puts the best available people into the key positions at our club.

For me, the jury is out as to whether Kroenke is doing the very best for the club with regards to points 1 to 4, and I am looking forward to hearing your views on how you think Silent Stan has been performing since he became the major shareholder a year ago, and whether you believe he is morally obliged to spend more of the club’s and his personal money on Arsenal.

TotalArsenal.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Theo Walcott: An Appeal

February 28, 2012

Well done Theo Walcott.

After a frustrating first half against the enemy on Sunday he refused to let his head go down and had a storming second 45, capped with two expertly taken goals.

If you believe some of the press, our young wide man was subjected to a dog’s abuse by a proportion of the home support before half time.

Matt Dickinson in The Times had this to say:

“If Arsène Wenger had listened to the fans, Theo Walcott would have been sat on the bench in the second half. If Walcott had listened to the fans, he might have been weeping in the dressing room despairing at how they expect him to perform if he is such a “useless c***”…

“Fickledom is the way of the supporter but, truly, some of the Arsenal hardcore did not deserve to be allowed to stay in their seats for this astonishing comeback.

“They should ask Walcott if he felt buoyed when he had the chance to sprint clear of Tottenham Hotspur’s defence in the first half but instantly offloaded the ball to Robin van Persie rather than risk another volley of “P”s, “C”s and “F”s.

“Some of the angriest men in the world seem to gather at the Emirates, so quick to seize on any mistake that you wonder if they are willing failure.”

Now I should point out that some AA regulars who were at the match reported hearing no such abuse.

Yes, there were groans of disappointment when promising moves broke down, but that’s been happening at football matches since Dandan was a nipper.

I’m not suggesting that Dickinson is making it up (the press don’t do that sort of thing do they?). It may just be that there are a group of particularly angry so-called fans who sit near the press box at the Emirates.

Instead of saying “if Arsene Wenger had listened to the fans” it might have been better journalism for Dickinson to write “if AW had listened to some of the disgruntled fans sitting near me…”

But it’s a better story if you give the impression that poor Theo was being sworn at by 57,000 howling psychopaths.

As far as I could tell from watching on the TV, the support for the team was fantastic throughout the whole game, even at two-nil down.

Nevertheless, anyone who has looked around the Arsenal blogscape will recognise some of the sentiment described in the Times article.

I have seen comments on Arsenal blog sites heaping the vilest of abuse on Theo. I have seen people who call themselves Arsenal supporters wish death on him, I have seen others praying that he gets his leg broken.

As supporters of a club that has suffered three horrendous leg breaks in recent seasons these people, apparently in all seriousness, really do want to wish the same on Walcott.

They are not supporters, they are a cancer in our great club and any site that fails to remove their comments is as much part of the problem as the haters who spout such filth.

Ramsey has had similar treatment this year (his first season back, remember,  from one of the aforementioned leg breaks, in a team struggling as a whole to find its form). Yes he has found it hard  at times, as has Theo, but do they really deserve such odious abuse?

Criticism, fine. Abuse and hatred, never.

Walcott is just 22 – still a player learning his trade. He has some shortcomings and some gifts; he may never be a world class great, but some of his critics would have you believe he should be playing non-league.

Well let’s compare his effectiveness with a player whom those self-same critics would no doubt revere: Marc Overmars, one of the heroes of our 1998 Double winning side.

In three seasons with us, Overmars played 100 EPL games and scored 25 goals – a return of one goal every four games.

In the last three EPL seasons (including this one), Walcott has played 76 games and scored 17 goals – a return of one goal every four-and-a-half games. Not that big a difference, especially when you take into account that Overmars started most of the games he played in, whereas Walcott’s 76 appearances include 22 as a substitute.

I’m not for a moment saying that Walcott and Overmars are directly comparable. For one thing the Dutchman was already 24 years old when he joined us. And I’m happy to accept that Theo has limitations.

But they are both speedy, direct wingers with a roughly similar goal return. And when you’re a winger you have to take a lot of risks because you are one of the focal points of the attack. You are expected to try and beat opponents, to shoot, to cross, to set up assists for goals. Inevitably your efforts won’t all succeed.

I would need to go back and watch some full games from Overmars’ spell with us, but I now wonder how many times he failed to beat his man, or tried passes that did not come off.  Perhaps if the internet had been as prevalent in his day there would have been “supporters” wishing death on him too.

Yesterday on Arsenal Arsenal a clip was uploaded showing Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott being interviewed after crushing the jumped-up jackanapes from down the Seven Sisters Road.

If you haven’t seen it, you should (and with luck someone will re-post the link in the comments below).

You’ll see the captain of our club – and the best player in the country this year (if not the world) – giving 100% support to Theo and, in a subtle way, asking the fans to lay off him.

Do you think Robin knows what he’s talking about?

Do you think our brilliant captain, who trains with Theo every day and plays with him every week, is better qualified to judge his abilities than some slobbering lard bucket with spittle round his mouth and a face full of fury?

I know I do.

So here’s my appeal to all true Arsenal fans between now and the end of the season:

  • Support Theo and all our players in every game.
  • If he (or others) make mistakes, rein in the anger and frustration. Redouble the support. If in doubt, think about a certain two-nil-down, five-two-up victory.
  • Criticise his performance in the pub or on your favourite blog, but exercise moderation and restraint.
  • If you run a blog, remove comments that are expressed in hateful terms and ban posters who persist in such abuse.
  • If you contribute to a blog, chasitise others who express themselves in such a way and ask the site administrators to take action.
  • At games, if there’s a hater near you ask him to pipe down and support the team.
  • If you feel too intimidated to do that, drown him out with your support.

If we can deal with some of the poison seeping from the internet community and the stands I feel confident that the atmosphere at the ground can also improve, with a knock on positive effect on the team.

Sunday’s brilliant ambience should be the norm, not the exception, but the bad apples need to be silenced.

They are a nasty minority and the majority, the ones who gave unfailing support all game long against the Spuds, do not have to stand for it.

RockyLives

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A game to remember – a win to savour

February 27, 2012

Written by 26may

5-2? What a day, and not just for the bookies. Hyperbole it may be, but I can think of few more suitable games to be described as epic.

I admit it, I approached this game full of pessimism.  We’re not as bad as some make us out to be but it is beyond dispute that we have declined, while our N17 neighbours have finally, finally got themselves a decent squad.  Our fragility is such that I felt I’d have been pleased with one point today.  Not in my wildest dreams did I expect us to thrash the old enemy and in such dramatic fashion.  Scoring enough goals to go back above Chelsea was not on my agenda.

So how did it happen?

First off, Wenger’s team selection was spot on.  Having been out of the loop in recent weeks, I was surprised to see Rosicky and Benayoun in the starting XI, but they were both excellent.  Quietly, Rosicky has been one of our form players this season, mixing efficient passing with intelligent movement and purposeful dribbling.  But goalscoring has disappeared from his repertoire.  What a time to rediscover it, with a perfectly timed run to finish off a lovely passing move and put us into the lead.

And Yossi was our Duracell bunny, constantly offering an option to the man with the ball, but also having the intelligence always to probe the defenders he faced.  The obvious choice might have seen Wenger have Gervinho or Chamberlain start the match, but he had the guts to resist doing the obvious, and put Benayoun up against the excellent Kyle Walker.  I admit, I’ve been a fan of the Israeli since he joined us and have been a little frustrated to see him not given much quality match time.  He is proper quality.

And Robin van Persie was, well, Robin van Persie: excellence personified.

The Arsenal performance in first half hour was pretty uneven, with Sagna and Walcott looking especially out of sorts, and Arteta and Song not looking very focused.  But they dragged good performances out of themselves, and the midfield established control over their Spurs counterparts.

The Arsenal defence had started in pretty charitable mood, leaving too much space for Saha to run into in the build-up to the first Spurs goal and being vulnerable on the break when we were pressing for an equaliser.  They were carved open by a sublime through ball from Luka Modric to Gareth Bale, but everyone’s favourite chimpanzee took a cynical dive to earn a penalty to put Spurs two up.  The atmosphere was all anxiety and depression.

But the defence recovered its poise and was rarely tested after conceding that second goal.  Koscielny was imperious in dominating Adebayor pretty much throughout, and Vermaelen showed he is better than the shadow of a player he was in the Milan game.  Spurs helped us, giving us enough breathing space for us to recover.

And then the game began a mental phase of half an hour around the halftime break.  Spurs seemed to fold, especially in defence, where only Walker can claim to have earned his money.  Kaboul and King were terrible, and played like strangers.

First Sagna, who had seemed incapable of holding onto the ball up to then, powered home a header, then Robin the Master found a pocket of space on the edge of the penalty area from which he gloriously swept home the equaliser.  Tails were most definitely up.

At halftime, Harry “I pay my taxes, me” Redknapp bizarrely chose to put Sandro on the right wing rather than Aaron Lennon, as well as putting van deer Vaart on for Saha.  Thanks Harry, much appreciated.  Sandro’s a good player but he’s no winger, and vdV was really poor on the day.

Meanwhile, our forward players continued to rip Spurs to shreds.  With little cover from Parker, who compared badly to the inestimable Alex Song, King, Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto were carved open three times in quick succession.  Rosicky, arguably our man of the match, put us in front before incredibly Walcott remembered what he can do with the ball at his feet and just the keeper to beat.  After putting a sighter just past the post, he nailed two chances in quick succession (admittedly after some random ball control).  Heavenly stuff for the good guys, and an incredible comeback was complete.

We should remember this game for a long time to come, such enjoyable performances and results are rare and precious things.  But we also need to use this as an inspiration for the remainder of the season.  The squad has its weaknesses, and those need to be attended to in the summer, but there is also real quality there.

Player ratings from Herb’s Army

Arsenal were simply different class today and normal order has been restored.

Szczesny – No chance with either goal (never a penalty!). Has the potential to be immense next season. 7

Sagna – After a shaky couple of games, was back to his imperious self, and what a goal! 9

Gibbs  –  Is growing with every game and today he looked an Arsenal player 8

Koscielny – He has developed into a quality centre-half. 8

Vermaelen – Stepped up well today. 8

Song – When he and we got into our game, Song was colossal today. If only he could do this in more games. 9

Arteta – For me personally, his best game so far, highlighted by his exquisite cross for Sagna’s goal. 9

Rosicky – The performance we all knew he was capable of, but have waited an age to witness. 9

Walcott – A complete enigma. Confounded his critics (yes I’m amongst them), with a scintillating second half showing 9

Benayoun – Fantastic link and tireless work-rate from our much under-used Israeli. 8

van Persie – Our very own super-hero just keeps delivering the magic. 9

Thank you Arsene, thank you Arsenal.

COYRRG !!!!!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

That’ll be the Day: Match preview:

February 26, 2012

Those who regularly read my pre-matches may have noticed a softening in approach over recent months; this is due to the Jonah effect. Every time I slagged off a team they took points from us. However, if nothing else, this season has persuaded me that my “lucky” habits have no effect on Arsenal’s performance, I have used lucky socks, lucky shirts, lucky cakes, lucky beer, lucky wine, lucky scarves, lucky routes, lucky sweets, and you know what – nothing works. Nothing.

So, have the new respectful  Big Raddy posts made a difference? Of course not, and as such it is with great pleasure that I return to the bile filled Raddy posts of the days of yore  ….. Today we play a team of Miscreants whose fans are pond life. No, that is an insult to pond life.

Spurs and their fans are a waste of skin.

All season long I have heard about how wonderful the Cave Dwellers are , how they play great football, how Monkey Boy and Ratface and Adewhore are the best team in the PL.  I guess 3rd gets you the title this season, in the unlikely event they stay there.  When we finish 3rd it is at best an average season and a reason for the media to have another pop about lack of trophies!

The last decent Spurs team – No colour photos available

But thanks to Harry, the fawning press highlight our “crisis” and their “resurrection”.

The media witch hunt for Mr Wenger coincided with the adoration at the feet of Harry (no doubt, soon to be Sir Harry). Strange that! But then who wouldn’t prefer a self proclaimed East End ignoramus to  an urbane well educated Frenchman?  Mr Redknapp embodies Spurs ambitions and traditions; no class and a market boy mentality mixed with underlying boot boy aggression.

You may have noticed I have omitted any talk of onfield activities. What can one say – for the first time in 15 years there is a probability there will be no St Tottts Day. It beggars belief and is a schism in the natural way of the world. It may well happen that Spurs finish the season above us as our team move into the next era of supremacy, but they will never be top dogs in London, they are third as they have been since homo erectus first crawled out of the swamplands of  N17.

But credit where credit is due, Spurs have played the best football this season, mixing pace with guile and determination. This Spurs team do not lie down and  to whose credit  is that? Is it the superb coaching from the miscreant Orcs, Clive Allen and Joe Jordan? Or could it lie in the hands of our very own Arsenal team? I believe you can trace the resurrection of  Spurs back to that dreadful day in Oct 2008 when we drew 4-4 at THOF; for the first time in an epoch, we let them off the hook, we gave them the belief that it was possible to get something from a lost cause playing against a better team.  AFC  2 goals up in the 88th minute …. you can probably relive the rest.

As to our team, once again we are blighted by injury; it seems as one player comes back we lose another. Sagna back – Mertesacker out. Gibbs back – Koscielny and Ramsey out. Nonetheless, we can put out a competitive side.

My Team;

Given the pace of Tottenham’s attack we must pray for the good health of Koscielny. JD has always been fragile under the stress of fast running forwards.  It will require Song to be defensively aware today. We are getting used to seeing Arsenal hit with the sucker punch and it is about time the midfield as a whole showed more defensive nous. We have to be clinical in attack; Theo needs to show he deserves his place as does Gervinho. It is in the big games that players show their mettle and this is as big as it gets.

Famous Gooner? Well, a few games ago I pointed out that George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury is a Gooner. You are going to love this …. so is Jonathan Saks, the Chief Rabbi 🙂  Jonathan Saks went to Christ College Finchley where he became a fervent Gooner. Of course, Saturday games were difficult for him but nonetheless he was a regular at Highbury and is often at The Emirates.

 Should we pray for a Van Persie hatrick?

Important game today, perhaps not as hugely important as the media would have us believe, after all it is just the normal 3 points for a win. Following the two poor recent performances Arsenal need to give their fans something. Beating Tottenham today will be a huge fillip for the remainder of the season.

Spurs, Top Club in London?   That’ll be the Day.

COYRRG

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Totts 3 – Arsenal 9

February 25, 2012

Well, it makes a nice headline, but don’t get too excited about it.

This is one score line that we would much rather be on the other side of – and it goes a long way to explaining the relative fortunes of the two North London clubs this year.

It’s the score in long term injuries to important players. Tottenham have suffered three such blows this season so far. Arsenal have suffered nine.

The three Tiny Totts affected are Gallas, Dawson and Sandro*.

The mighty horde of Arsenal’s non-walking wounded comprises Wilshire, Vermaelen, Diaby, Santos, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker and Djourou.

Bear in mind that by ‘long term injury’ I do not mean three weeks out for a hamstring, or missing a few games with some knock or other. A long term injury is one that keeps a player out of action for a month or more. Sadly, in our case, it’s usually more.

Let’s examine the impact on the two clubs by looking at their five most important players.

I’m sure many of you will want to quibble with my selections for each club’s five crucial individuals, which is fine, but I’m writing this so it’s my opinion you’re getting. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments. I have not included goalkeepers.

Arsenal’s Top Five: Van Persie, Wilshere, Vermaelen, Sagna, Arteta.

The Spudders’ Top Five: Bale, Adebayor, Modric, Van der Vaart, Dawson.

Added together, the total number of EPL appearances for Arsenal’s five is 67. For the Spuds’ top five it’s 85. That’s a significant difference.

If you hone it down even more, to the three most influential players on each team, the tally is: Spuds (Bale, Modric, Adebayor): 60 appearances; Arsenal (Van Persie, Wilshire, Sagna): 32.

In others words, the shabby shower from Riot Central have been able to field their very best players twice as often as we have.

If the statistics had been reversed (and Bale had been out for the entire season so far while little Jack had played every game) I suspect the league table would be looking very different and the Spuds would be outside the top four.

They are obviously a much better outfit this year than they have been for a long time. They have always had he ability to play good football at times, but this season they have finally added some consistency, but partly this is down to the exceptional good luck they have had with long term injuries to their best players.

Many of us hoped that the injury curse that has dogged us for years would finally ease up in the coming weeks, with the return of some fullbacks and even the possibility of a Wilshire reappearance on the horizon.

But the freak injury to Mertesacker on a pitch that looked as if it had just hosted the Horse of the Year Show soon disabused us of any optimism.

The BFG had slowly (particularly slowly on the turn) established himself as a key element of our defence – as his absence away in the San Siro helped demonstrate. For my money he is an automatic starter with one of Koscielny and Vermaelen alongside him, but now we probably won’t seem him in an Arsenal shirt until next season.

The injuries have all come in different ways so it doesn’t seem as if any blame can be laid at the feet of the club’s medical staff.

In any case, ever since the club invited journalists and bloggers to view its new medical facilities (in a move with more than a hint of “come to North Korea and see our happy smiling famers” about it) the sting seems to have been drawn from that particular issue. A rare example of a PR initiative by the club actually achieving its desired effect.

But the loss of so many key players for months at a time (including the loss of an entire speciality – full backs – for weeks and weeks) has clearly had a big impact on our ability to get a consistent run of form going.

There is an argument that our reinforcements are not up to it, but not many clubs have someone of the quality of Wilshire sitting in the stiffs, or third choice full backs who can come in and do a job at the highest level.

For me it is one of the biggest factors in the way we have functioned this season and I can’t blame anyone except that evil old hag, Lady Luck.

The club may have made a mess of its summer transfer business, and there is a very strong case for saying we could have done more in January, especially to ease the full back crisis, but no club could have suffered the extent of injuries that we have and still have achieved consistently good results.

RockyLives

* Apologies if I have missed any – I had limited research time. But I believe the overall point is valid. Certainly when you focus on the very best players for each club it is unarguable.

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