Written by Total Arsenal

Due to a recent spell of bad results in the Premier League and the relentless complaining of our fans, we are now looking for a new Manager.

During the reign of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal won three League Championships, Four FA Cups, achieved the cult-status of the Invincibles for a 49-games spell of not getting beat, reached the CL final, played in the CL for 14 consecutive seasons, played a brand of football envied all over the world, and moved successfully to a brand new stadium, whilst keeping the club in a healthy financial position.

HAVE YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO REPLACE ARSENE WENGER, AND MAKE US WIN THE PL AND/OR CL THIS YEAR AND NEXT YEAR AND EVERY YEAR AFTER THAT?

Successful Applicants should be able to demonstrate:

• A track-record of success (titles, cups, accolades) that equals, or ideally betters that of the incumbent manager.
• A track-record of prudent financial management/ ability to adhere to the principle of ‘Sustainability’ (in-depth knowledge of Financial Fair Play – FFP – is highly desirable).
• A vision as well as a track-record of playing attractive, attacking football that is acknowledged all over the world i.e. have you developed a ‘world football brand’ during your spell(s) as a manager?
• A track-record of integrating two new defenders, a number of midfielders and a new striker in less than 21 days.
• An ability/track-record of spotting super-talented youth players and develop them into world class players (so we can sell them just before they reach their absolute peaked for loads of money).
• An ability to recruit undetected quality players in their early twenties at cut prices, and develop them into world class players as well (we like to sell those players too… ).
• A track-record of protecting the Board that employed/employs you in front of everyone and at whatever personal cost.
• The ability to stay professional and positive even when your best players let you down, the press is in your face all the time (hoping you will crack at any minute), and your BoD are hiding behind their office chairs when the proverbial hits the fan.
• Availability at short notice is a MUST.

If you believe, you have what it takes to be successful in this role then please get in touch with the major shareholder Stan Kroenke, by emailing him at: silentstanny@arsenalfornow.com

If this position is not for you, but you know of somebody who has got what it takes, please let us know the name of him/her and their contact details, including a summary of why you believe they would be excellent candidates.

TotalArsenal

Written by FatGingerGooner

So the dust has settled on a couple of dreadful Arsenal away results, and equally dreadful defensive displays. Obviously, I’m talking about the 8-2 and 4-3 defeats. There have been a lot of people coming out of the woodwork in recent days, using these results as ammunition to have a pop at the manager and also to give their opinion on the direction this club needs to go. Now I would admit that I am an avid Wenger supporter, as most of you know, and I do get frustrated when others feel the only way forward is to get rid of him, but, even I have to admit that recent results have left my support for Arsene a little bit stretched.

So, my question to you is this:-

At what point does the recent decline in Arsenal fortunes have to get to before you say enough is enough?

WHAT IS YOUR BREAKING POINT?

For me, I am yet to reach that point, and I am hoping that Arsene has the fight left in him to turn this situation around. We are probably at the lowest I have witnessed since Arsene took over 15 years ago, the fans are divided, the team is unfamiliar, and the performances are poor. Who is to blame for this recent downturn in fortunes, I don’t know. But, what I do know is that Arsene cannot and should not take all the flak.

Is it his fault that Chelsea, Man City and Man United have been able to find Billionaire sugar daddies and thus price us out of the market? NO.

Is it his fault that his best players have decided to chase the dollar rather than try to build another legacy with Arsenal? NOT REALLY.

Is it his fault that so many of the clubs key players get injured during important parts of the season? I DOUBT IT

So would it be right of the club to get rid of a man who has done so much for them?

We have all witnessed the amazing sides that Arsene has brought us whilst manager, from the Double winners of Overmars and co, to the Invincibles led by Henry and Vieira. We have all seen the transition we have made from 1-0 specialists to easy on the eye pass masters. We have all celebrated as we have won Leagues and FA Cups, and we have all had chances (apart from myself!) to visit a brand new, state of the art 60,000 seater stadium known as the Emirates. Arsene has overseen this club through some, if not most, of its greatest ever achievements.

Personally, I believe the achievements made by this man gives him the right to leave the club on his own terms. He is the greatest manager this club has ever seen, and should be given the respect he deserves. I have seen people writing comments on blogs such as ‘this man is a disgrace to Arsenal’ and ‘Arsene is ruining this club’, well, i’m sorry, but what a crock of shit!!!

If it wasn’t for this man that you hate so much, we would probably still be at Highbury, sat in midtable, playing boring, long ball football. We would never have seen the likes of Pires, Vieira, Campbell, Overmars, Ljungberg, Lehmann, Fabregas, Van Persie and Henry. We may never have reached a Champions League or Uefa Cup final. We would never have seen the Invincibles.

What some of you fans seem to forget is that Arsene loves this club just as much as you and me. He is not here for the money, or to enhance his career, after all, he could walk into any job in world football getting paid twice as much as he gets now. He is here because he wants this club to be the best in the world. He is a fan, just like you and me.

Now, I am not so blinkered that I don’t  realise that things aren’t going well at the moment, and if things do continue on this downward spiral, then there has to be a time when the manager must be changed. But, given what Arsene has done for this club, I believe it should be his choice. He is smart enough to know when he can take this club no further, and I trust that he will make the step into the boardroom when the time is right. Until then, please can we show this man some respect.

Have scum put a curse on the Emirates?

I was told this story some time ago but have never passed it on because, well, frankly, I didn’t give it much credence.

It came from a relative who worked on the demolition of Highbury and the construction of the Emirates.

He is not a football fan and has no axe to grind as far as the Arsenal is concerned.

He told me this:

During the construction of our new stadium many sub contracting companies were used and these firms hired their labour in various ways.

Suffice to say, there was a huge number of casual labourers involved in the new build.

Among these, according to my informant, were two T*ttenham supporters who were, shall we say, of a pikeyish disposition. This ill-favored pair, this brace of base-born bastards, this tickle-brained twosome came up with the idea of laying a gipsy curse in Arsenal’s new home.

They consulted some old witch of their clan and were given a small bottle containing various bits of nefarious nonsense (eye of newt and tail of Sherringham – that kind of thing). The rogues then buried it somewhere in the construction site that would eventually be The Emirates Stadium.

It’s probably balderdash.

But just look at the luck we’ve had since we moved stadium. As the classic Cream track says, if it wasn’t for real bad luck, we wouldn’t have no luck at all.

The defeat at Blackburn was just the latest in a long sequence of games where we have been vanquished by extraordinary circumstances (in this case, two own goals – one of which came from a free kick for a non-foul by Arshavin – and one clearly offside goal, as well as a blatant penalty in our favour ignored by the ref).

I know you skeptics will say the defeat had nothing to do with bad luck.

And you can certainly point a finger at our tendency to panic in defense and our adoption of zonal marking and our use of players who barely know each others’ names…

And yet, and yet… We were bloody unlucky, just as we were in the 4-4 at Newcastle and the away leg at Barca and the CC final and the CL semi against Liverpool a couple of years back and the Liverpool game at the end of last season and the Birmingham game where Eduardo’s leg got smashed and the ridiculous run of long-term injuries to our very best players and and…. well, you can all add your own examples.

Logic would have it that our ambitions have been thwarted by the financial strictures of moving stadium, by the influx of gazillionaires into the EPL, by the waning powers of a once-great manager, by the greed of young players…

But what if there is something more than this? Something from the Twilight Zone (N17) that is also holding us back.

I don’t want to put the willies up you (especially after that incident with the girl in accounts…).

And as a man of logic and science (O Level Biology, 1976) I find it hard to accept that our misfortunes of recent years are the result of mumbo jumbo and witchery.

But sometimes, when the moon slips behind the clouds and the tree branches are tapping on the window, even the sanest of us can find themselves succumbing to the power of the Other.

So, just to be on the safe side, are there any Arsenal supporting Romany types out there who might know what it will take to counteract this curse (if, indeed, it exists)?

Do we need to sneak into the Emirates on a night of the full moon and bury a small vial under the centre circle containing one of Tony Adams’ pubes, a hair from Martin Keown’s head (same thing, really), a Thierry Henry nail clipping and a bit of wee from Dennis Bergkamp?

Do we need to parade 13 times backwards round the pitch at Halloween, invoking the spirit of Herbert Chapman?

Do we need to call in Harry Potter, with an “expelliamus scumcursum” spell?

Please let us know. And if you need any help lifting the curse, count me in.

RockyLives

Blackburn – Arsenal: 4-3

 Match Report

Written by Total Arsenal

Today we saw once again the two Arsenals we got to know so well in recent years: the one that dominates proceedings and scores great goals through wonderful football, and the one that cannot defend properly. Arsenal scored five away goals and won a penalty in the last two games on the road: against Manchester United and Blackburn. Yet, we did not take home any points from those games and conceded an unbelievable 12 goals in 180 minutes of football. Between the two away games we bought new defenders, midfielders and attackers, and whether we like it or not it will take time before these players are settled in and start making a real difference. I hear you say, why oh why did we not buy them all in June/July so they could have settled in better. The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.

First half

Arsenal started so brightly. There was pressing, crisp passing, good movement upfront and especially Gervinho looked sharp. The midfield trio of Song-Arteta-Ramsey were combining well and bossed the midfield with ease and style. Arshavin did his bit on the left, but we were most dangerous on the right, where Gervinho and the always impressive Sagna combined very well to create chance after chance. Our first goal came from a simple and incisive attack: Song gets the ball in midfield, he moves with ease past a player, after which he delivers a beautifully weighted pass into the box: it quite resembled the one Theo made for Arsenal’s first goal against Dortmund on Tuesday. Gervinho makes a good run into the box and lets Song’s ball run past his body to then cleverly hit a reverse diagonal shot under the outstretched leg of Samba and past Robinson: 1-0.

Then we get the first warning sign of what was to come: a free-kick is simply aimed at – the throughout the game very impressive – Samba in the box, who is allowed an unhindered header from which he should have done better. A few minutes later, (despite Samba’s earlier chance) against the run of play, we concede the equaliser: a simple, low ball is placed past Mertesacker into the box and there is Yakubu to elegantly sight-foot the ball past Szczesny, with the outside of his foot: 1-1, and we have to start all over again.

Samba misses another chance, but it is Arsenal who score the best goal of the game, next. A beautifully worked combination between our three central midfielders: Song passes to Ramsey just outside the Blackburn box, the latter plays a clever cutback towards the D, where just in time, Arteta arrives with a clean and beautifully hit shot, high into the net: 2-1 to Arsenal! Football at its best, and surely, this time we are not going to give it away again…. The Away Fans sing their hearts out and life feels great. Just before the end of the first half we get another great chance. Arshavin uses his body strength and speed very well and makes a fabulous run on the left hand side – he passes to Gervinho who moves himself to a decent shooting position, but his shot is blocked. He could have passed to RvP who seemed in a better position to score, but Gervinho was totally entitled to take a shot himself. RvP could not have looked more Dutch if he tried, when he showed Gervinho his unfiltered dismay about not being played in by him.

Second half

Blackburn started brightly and pressed straightaway high up the pitch – with a high defensive line – putting us under pressure, to which we were slow to react. It only took five minutes in the second half before the defensive horror show to start. The lively Rosina ‘floats in’ – by a lack of better word – a free kick towards the first post: RvP gets outmuscled and cannot get to the ball, it then drops – very unluckily – on the thigh of Song, after which it disappears into Szczesny left-hand corner: 2-2.

Arsenal were still very much in the game and more than capable of winning it, but only three minutes after the equaliser Sagna had to come off and Johan Djourou came on. This turned out to be the turning point for Arsenal. It does not take long before JD gets his first yellow card and it is clear that his confidence is low.

Szczesny, despite finding the ball four times in his net, had hardly anything to do. However, in the 54^th minute, a long kick from Robinson reaches Rochina, who plays the ball cleverly to the lively Formica who takes a shot inside the box, only to be denied by a great safe from you know who. Five minutes later, another defensive howler: a corner-kick reaches Nzonzi – who before he brings the ball down with his foot was able to send a text message to all his friends – he is not closed down quickly enough, and is able to put in a clever cross towards Szczesny’s right post: a simple tap-in by Yakubu: 3-2. The new Blackburn signing is just offside, but it is not spotted by the linesman and here you go, from being 1-0 and 2-1 up, we are now trailing 3-2 against the bottom PL club. Unbelievably, and oh so cruelly, another nightmare is unfolding right before our eyes.

Gervinho has not given up though and another clever run enables him to release the ball well to the ‘hammer’ left foot of RvP. The normally prolific Dutchman hesitates for an instance and his shot gets blocked. The following corner-kick is well met by RvP’s head but the ball disappears on the wrong side of Robinson’s right post.

Then the final blow is delivered. From another corner Blackburn can break. The ball reaches Yakubu around the halfway line who passes to Olsson. Djourou is quickly there to block him, but he is already on a yellow card and seems to hesitate as to what to do: he tries to win the ball cleanly but Olsson gets away from him, and Song is also not able to block him off: he ‘passes’ the ball to Koscielny, who inadvertently puts the ball past the flabbergasted Szczesny: 4-2 – game over, so it seems. Desperately unlucky: two own goals and a slightly offside goal all in one game.

However it is not over yet. Chamakh who came on for Song for the last 15 minutes, rises well inside the box between Givet and Dann to reach a peach of a cross by RvP with some power: 4-3 with five minutes to go. A number of chances follow: a great, super-cross by Santos for the revived, and towards the end of the game real leadership showing, Mertesackter – who misses a good chance; RvP’s shot in the box gets blocked by Robinson; Chamakh misses a good header-opportunity; and Theo should have had a penalty when Robinson took him down without touching the ball. It was not to be, and despite 57% of possession and 16 attempts on target (BBC), AND scoring three goals, Arsenal go home with no points at all, once again.

The team showed fight till the end: we never gave up and that at least is an improvement from last season.

Conclusions & Player Ratings

I have decided not to score individual players this time, as this would inevitably lead to discussions about how woeful some of our players have been yesterday, leading to the identification of the next lot of Arsenal players who need kicking out of the door as soon as possible. I am sick to the teeth about our need to single out individual players to blame, if and when we have a sequence of bad games. Clearly, some players have underperformed in this game but this is a new team, in a new post-Cesc era, and for me it is obvious that we are struggling with the system-side of things such as: communication, positioning, holding a defensive line and ‘zonal marking’, ability to find each other and anticipating what fellow players want to do, how to keep possession, how to dominate the midfield, how to create chances for the front players etc, etc.

Individual performances are often significantly influenced by these factors, especially at the start of the season and within a new team. And, although it is easy and gratifying to make one or more of our players into scapegoats – we are all humans in the end – this is not what we should be doing right now. The problem lays in the simple fact that the new players will have to be integrated with the existing players, in a new football system that best suits the quality of all our players, and makes us forget the departure of Fabregas. This is clearly far from ideal, but we are where we are.

I still have full confidence in the quality of our squad and Wenger’s desire and ability to change this round. However, this will take time and there is nothing we can do but hope that we will get back to winning ways soon. Losing to Blackburn hurts badly, and it is highly likely that we will get hurt and embarrassed again in the next few months, but now is the time to stand by our club, players and manager to see this period of transition through: we will need to win this battle by battle, game by game. Next game is Shrewsbury, COYRRG!