Walking in a van Persie wonderland

October 17, 2011

Yesterday was Robin van Persie’s day.  Just how important he is to the post-Cesc Arsenal was on display for all to see.  His first goal, just half a minute into the game, saw him receive the ball from Gervinho on the edge of the penalty area, and work the space before getting off a shot that wrong-footed Mignolet in the Sunderland goal.  It was decent but said more about poor defending from our opponents than anything.

His second was as sublime a free-kick as one is likely to see, deftly flighted to the top right-hand corner of the goal.  Van Persie seems to like scoring free kicks against Sunderland in October; his powerhouse shot off the underside of the bar was against the same opponents in 2007.  Seb Larsson’s equaliser yesterday was another superb free-kick, and being sat behind the goal in the North Bank, I have to admit, I felt pretty lucky seeing two perfect efforts, even if one of them was against us.

But probably the most impressive piece of van Perise’s play was a miss: in the middle of the purplest patch of the first half, the first 25 minutes, van Persie took a pass with his right foot, shielding it from the defender, and then took an early chip across to the other side of the goal.  The Belgian keeper was completely beaten and looked to have resigned himself to picking the ball out of the net.  But the trajectory of the ball bent ever so slightly and the ball hit the inside of the post.  Gervinho attempted to sweep up the pieces as the ball went across the face of goal, but it was too much for him.  Van Persie may not have scored but his effort was reminiscent of Cantona at his arrogant, puff-chested best (also against Sunderland, as it happens).  Absolutely superb.

Van Persie aside, there was some good aspects to our performance yesterday.  Carl Jenkinson had his best game for us so far, and showed that he’s learning as quickly as Koscielny did last year.  He’s prone to be a bit head-down when running with the ball, but again and again he attacked Kieran Richardson at left-back and often got his cross in.  And Tomas Rosicky had by some distance his best performance for a long time, justifying his surprise inclusion in the starting XI.  Rosicky worked hard and turned his markers well.  Despite what others might say, Rosicky also delivered a number of good passes, including the one that released Gervinho before the Ivorian laid it onto van Persie for the first goal.

Wojciech Szczesny didn’t have the busiest of games but his point-blank save from Cattermole at the end of the first half was world class – after the energetic and awkward Sessegnon undid our defence and knocked the ball across the goal, everyone in the ground must have assumed it would be Sunderland’s second goal, the ball just needed to be nodded in from a yard.  But Szczesny didn’t give up and launched himself across the goal, and Cattermole’s header just cannoned off the big Pole.  An epic piece of keeping.

Andrey Arshavin has done little to justify his wages since that goal against Barca but his sub’s performance yesterday was the best we’ve seen of him for a long time.  His desire and artistry in the dribble was great to see, and he was unlucky to see his toe-poke shot go wide after he’d slalomed through the Sunderland defence.

But there were negatives.  Sunderland were a weakened side: they don’t have their first choice keeper available, have seen their star striker bizarrely head off to the Gulf on loan, and one of their first choice centre backs is on police bail amid serious criminal allegations.  Sunderland may have spent heavily over the past few years but this is a side we should be beating more comfortably than we did.  We tore them apart in the first 20 minutes, and could easily have been three or four up, and we completely dominated the second half, but we ceded control of the game in the first half and, despite all the second half possession, we often looked laboured in attack.  Sunderland were well organised and hard-working, deploying the typical defensive 4-5-1 used against us at Ashburton Grove, including the rotational fouling tactic, which the weak and inconsistent Howard Webb was unable to deal with.

On individual performances, the one that worried me the most was Mikel Arteta’s.  I like Arteta, he’s intelligent and honest, a real team player.  But he hasn’t shown adequate quality in an Arsenal shirt yet, and yesterday he contributed little of value for us.  And he even gave away the free-kick from which Larsson scored with a needless handball.

Theo Walcott drew the customary slagging from his own fans, something that never fails to wind me up, but he didn’t have a good game, too often taking up poor positions.  That said, he undid the Sunderland defence a couple of times and carried some threat to our opponents.  Not that the haters would acknowledge that.

The defensive side of our game remains a delicate thing.  Most of the time, everything was ok, but in the 15 first-half minutes when Sunderland were on top, too often our opponents had the luxury of time and space on the ball.  We need to be far more focussed and consistent in our defending.

And finally, our crowd: Christ on a bike, where do some of these idiots get off, booing their side at halftime?  And that after a half in which we’d done plenty that was good.  I despair of some of my fellow Arsenal fans.  The volume was increased in the second half, but this impatient, hypercritical nervousness is neither justified nor productive.

We’re edging forward slowly.  We’re back in the top half of the table and within striking distance of Spurs.  But next weekend, we’re hosts to Stoke, who will bring much more of a threat than Sunderland.  Cope with that and we’re definitely on the up.

My rankings for the day:

Szczesny: 8 A world class save and generally very good, bar a couple of wonky kicks. No chance for the goal.

Jenkinson: 7 After looking like damaged goods in his last few outings, CJ showed real promise.

Mertesacker: 6

Koscielny: 6

Gibbs: 5 Didn’t contribute enough going forward.

Song: 6 Some wayward passing but pretty sturdy performance.

Arteta: 4 Disappointing.  Needs to impose himself soon.

Rosicky: 7 A renaissance for Little Mozart?

Walcott: 5

Gervinho: 6 A great opening 20 minutes, not a lot after that.

Van Persie: 9 Oh my god, what a day.  Get that contract sorted now.

Santos: 6

Arshavin: 7

Benayoun: 6 Did ok when he came on, worried the defenders on a couple of occasions.

Written by 26may89

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Pick up the Pieces

October 16, 2011

At last the chance to write about something other than rumour, tittle tattle and economics. And what a game we have today, none of that nerve wrenching, gut mangling, behind the sofa stuff of our last match against the lowlife bottom feeders – today we welcome those fine upstanding men from the frozen wasteland of Sunderland, who will be looking to gift us 3 points in their push for relegation. A day for Arsenal to get back on track and pick up the pieces.

Sunderland are owned by an American, Ellis Short, who has recently become chairman succeeding the excellent Niall Quinn. Will this isolate Steve Bruce and lead to his replacement, or will it have no effect upon the on-pitch affairs? More to the point, do we really give a damn?

There are lots of interesting stats about today’s game, my favourite being that Sunderland have not won at Arsenal since 1983. There have been 3 90th minute goals in our last 6 meetings, and whoever scores first wins – usually us.

No Bendtner today which is a shame. I watched him in Denmark’s excellent victory over the slimy Portugese (any team with Ronaldo , Mereilles and Nani is slimy and deserving of a good beating!). Nik played centrally and was, I can find no other word, poor. He finished off a fine move for his goal but even Clichy could have scored it. Nik’s absence could give Connor Wickham his first PL start, an interesting player as he showed against us last season at Ipswich.

We are just one point and one place ahead of Sunderland …  bizarre. You all know the problems, we have discussed them endlessly, unfortunately no-one has come up with reasonable solutions other than buying better players. Mr. Wenger believes he has the squad to challenge and one can certainly find reasons (not excuses) for our poor start. Injuries to key players and a rash of red cards have hindered our progress.

It will be interesting to see how Mr. Wenger solves the right back problem. Can he rely upon a very inexperienced 19 year old Carl Jenkinson to be an adequate understudy to Sagna? Or does he play Koscielny or Djourou at RB?  Another possibility is Coquelin. If there are to be brickbats (whatever they are) to be thrown at AW, it is selling Eboue without buying an experienced stand-in RB.

Upfront, RvP is in the form of his life, can he continue and get a brace today? Why not?

With Rosicky regaining fitness , will AW continue with Ramsey? Despite his critics I believe Ramsey is a fine player and should get the shirt with TR substituting late in the game

Is there any possibility of Arshavin getting the central attacking midfield role? Not in my opinion, in fact I doubt whether AA will even start.

My team:

 

 

I am hoping we will really attack Sunderland who are likely to play long ball and  look for set piece opportunities, hence the choice of Santos over Gibbs.

The Americans will not appreciate my choice of inventor born in Sunderland. Contrary to popular belief the electric light bulb was invented by Sir Joseph Swan and not by Thomas Edison.  The electric lightbulb was first patented by Swan in 1878 and his house was the first in the world to be lit by light bulbs.  He received a knighthood and the French Legion d’Honneur in honour of his invention. Top bloke, top beard.

BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

FUNDAMENTALIST ARSENAL

October 15, 2011

Here is just a quick thought to keep us going as frankly, we all wait for tomorrow.

In two hours Wales boot off against France, and just before the starting gun sounds, we will hear the whole of Wales joining in a round of  “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”, or to some “Land of our Fathers”, and what a rallying anthem it is. My Welsh Mother used to make me watch the opening of a Rugby Game in Wales just for this, and she had a point.

We all know how well “You’ll never walk alone” rallies the masses at Anfield, and even that lot down the road have their slow paced “When the Saints go marching in” adaptation, which I begrudgingly admit is fairly haunting.

Like it or not, most of us one-club-loyal fans share a tribal mentality. Now throw in a bit of “God on our side” and you have something scarily fundamentalist. One of my first games was the Leeds v Sunderland Cup Final (A Godfather of mine was a Director of Dover Athletic FC. Sincere apologies to more deserving Sunderland fans), and I remember how moved I was by the majority of the crowd joining in to Abide With Me. Anyhow, back to the Fundamentalist element. I recently had some friends around and was given an SAS Regimental bottle of Whisky with these words engraved on the back:

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go
Always a little further: it may be
Beyond the last blue mountain barred with snow,
Across that angry or that glimmering sea.

When I first read these words, on top of putting them into the context of a band of elite warriors, I nearly … myself.

Now think of the men in red and white coming out of the tunnel in the knowledge that they are going into battle serving a power greater than Stan Kroenke and the weekly envelope.

Is it time to introduce a Fundamentalist slant. A unifying anthem. Something to strike the fear of God into our enemies, or am I becoming a lunatic?

Written by MickyDidIt89

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Something to celebrate

October 14, 2011

At last this boring International break is coming to an end and we can look forward to some Arsenal Angst this weekend. Faced with another non-Arsenal news day I thought I’d have a look in the archives and see what this week had been about in times gone past. It turned out that this week 11th to 18th October is historically really very exciting.

Sneaking in on the 10th of October ( if I’m writing it I can change the rules ) we have the birth of Mr Arsenal himself, Tony Adams in 1966 and Charlie George in 1950. Two mega Arsenal Legends born on the same day – that must’ve used up a lot of luck. On the 11th October in 1976 John Devine signed professional terms but I had to google him I’m afraid. He played 111 games for Arsenal and succeeded Pat Rice.

On October 12th  in 1996 Arsene Wenger took charge of his first game against Blackburn Rovers which we won 3-1.

In 1928 on October 13th  Herbert Chapman was involved in some transfer shenanigans and signed inside-forward David Jack from Bolton for a then record £10,890.

We don’t do score lines like this anymore but on October 14th 1893 Elliott and Henderson both scored hat-tricks as Woolwich Arsenal beat Ashford Utd 12-0.

Surely something else must have happened on an October 15th other than in 1971 Ex-Arsenal striker Andy Cole was born in Nottingham. He made just 2 subs appearances.

Now this next date is really important, oh happy day, on this day October 16th in 2004, anyone want to have a guess what happened………, on this day Arsenal beat Aston Villa 3-1 to go 49 games unbeaten. Will that great feat ever be repeated?

On October 17th 1925 A Jimmy Brain hat-trick helped the Gunners to a 5-0 home win over Cardiff City.

And so we come to another amazing day to celebrate in our great history, as on this day, October 18th, in 2005 our fantastically talented  Thierry Henry scored two goals against Sparta Prague and so smashed Ian Wrights record of 185 goals scored and sent him into the record books. What would an ounce of that ‘va va voom’ do to our forward line now? Enjoy the match report here

This week we can celebrate Arsene’s first game, our unbeaten run and Thierry’s ever present ‘va va voom’. It’s possible that this most dreadful start to a season under Arsene Wenger will also find itself in the history books, maybe because we go on to crash and burn or maybe because against all the odds we’ll pull ourselves out of it and still make it to a  Champions League position. Rough ride ahead.

peachesgooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Now is the time to make Arshavin Arsenal’s Playmaker

October 13, 2011

‘We cannot allow ourselves to indulge in sadness and melancholy’

Andrey Arshavin, December 2010 (after MU away game)

 

With the departure of Cesc Fabregas and the long-term injury to Jack Wilshere, Arsenal is left with a hole, in more ways than one. It is a cruel double blow to have neither of them available for this pivotal position, especially during this transitional period. Since the start of the new season, the much-changed Arsenal team has looked unfamiliar to us, as if it has lost its identity, its USP, its typical style of football, and the main reason for this is, nobody has been able to make the ‘hole position’ theirs until now. It comes as no surprise that our results in the League have also been well under-par, and now is the time to make some bold moves so we can regain momentum and confidence again, and shake-off this mantle of sadness and melancholy once and for all.

The Playmaker position, just off the striker – the Dutch call it ‘de hangende spits’ (the ‘hanging-off’ striker) was made for Dennis Bergkamp and vice versa, back in the mid-nineties. He epitomised what can be done to a team and its style of football if the right player takes up the no. 10 position. DB10 was always able to find space for himself, so the defence and midfield had an outlet, he was able to hold on the ball and allow the attacking midfielders to move forward, but he was just as capable to set up a quick attack for his fellow striker and wingers – often with an inch-perfect defence-splitting pass that would make you go weak in the knees for joy – or to take on defenders himself and score goals from just outside the penalty area, or inside the box. Dennis had it all: brilliant first touch, superb vision, a winner’s mentality, a professional through and through, and somebody who took pleasure in doing beautiful things with a ball on the pitch. It was this quest for beauty that has made him such a special player and made him immortal to us, and, in a way, he made us all feel a bit immortal along the way.

Cesc Fabregas was a different ‘no. 10’ for us: more of an attacking midfielder than a striker, with a great ability to pass the ball within tight spaces and to boss the midfield area. However, what he had in common with Dennis was the ability to pick a defence splitting pass and to create something out of nothing, for which he also had the vision and touch. He was another great Arsenal player although not in the same category as Dennis, but then who is, or will ever be?

Jack Wilshere is a very promising player for both Arsenal and England. For me, he is our future ‘nr. 10’ as he is similar to Cesc in many ways, with great vision and a superb passer of the ball, very good in tight spaces and with a phenomenal fighting spirit and stamina. He came off age last year during our game against Barcelona, and to do so at such a young age is truly astounding. We are unbelievably lucky to have him, and I am sure he will be another Arsenal great. The only thing missing until now is Jack’s goal scoring ability/record, and until this improves he can compensate it with his vision and passing ability, which should lead to setting up many successful attacks and assists.

So, who is going to fill this position for us until Jack returns?

The candidates are: Aaron Ramsey, Thomas Rosicky, Mikel Arteta, Yossi Benayoun, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin. I cannot see Arsenal change the system to 4-4-2 in the near future, so I am going to base my views on the current 4-2-3-1 system. In the ‘2’, Alex Song is our ‘pure’ DM and there is back-up for him from Emmanuel Frimpong and Francis Coquelin. For me the best partner to Song in the ‘2’ is a typical box-to-box midfielder and either Aaron Ramsey or Mikel Arteta should play in that position. The DM’s partner should be an all-round midfielder who can defend, and go forward, create chances for others and score goals himself. Both Arteta and Ramsey can offer this, and we are lucky to have two such good players to cover this position.

But who should play in the hole: who should be our Playmaker? Ideally, a player for this position should have vision, hold on to the ball really well, a great passer of the ball and ability to score goals with an average of 0.25 goals or higher, per game.

For me, for now, it is neither Ramsey, nor Arteta. For different reasons, I find it too early for them to be given this vital role in the team. I am not convinced that both of them have the vision that is required for this key position and with PL goal-scoring records of 0.16 goals per game (Arteta) and 0.12 (Ramsey), I do not feel they are prolific enough either. However, it is early days and both could claim this position over time.

Rosicky has the vision and the passing ability, but lacks the stamina and consistency to really claim this role. When TR played in this role this season, he gave Arsenal its identity back, but he cannot do this twice a week for us and his goal scoring record is not great either with only 0.13 goals per game. For me, Rosicky should be the second choice for the Playmaker role, and he is a good squad player for Arsenal to have (just think back to his second half performance against Udinese in Italy).

Yossi Benayoun could be a possibility, but as he is on loan at Arsenal I don’t think we should give this position to him on a regular basis. His goal scoring record is the same as Arteta’s (0.16 goals per game), so not bad but also not brilliant. I would like to see more of Yossi in an Arsenal shirt so I can make a proper assessment of his abilities.

This leaves me with two remaining possibilities: Robin van Persie or Andrey Arshavin. Both are options I would like us to try out, just to see whether it works. As a captain, RvP is isolated as our lone striker. If he were to play in the ‘hole position’ with either Chamakh, Park, or even Gervinho or Walcott, in front of him, he could be both a better leader of the team and improve our attacking options. He would not be a typical Playmaker, but fill in the role similar to the way Rooney does at MU. If we were to opt for a 4-4-2 formation, as many of us would prefer, this would work very well.  It would mean a strong decrease in focussing on our passing game and continuous emphasis on breaking quickly – a bit like the Arsenal of the early parts of the last decade. We have the wing-players for it now with Walcott, Gervinho, Ryo and Ox, and with Chamakh and Park we have the typical strikers to make this system work for us. We could add to this strike-force at the next TW and all could be rosy again.

However, as I said earlier, I don’t believe we will adopt a 4-4-2 system in the near future. In the current 4-2-3-1 system, we need a playmaker in the middle of the ‘3’. As we are not talking about a classical playmaker – as in a 4-4-2 formation in which the player next to the DM would be: a role that would fit both Arteta and Ramsey a lot better in my opinion – we need somebody in this role who can hold on to the ball in tight spaces, pass it with ease, find gaps in defences easily, makes good attacking decisions in a flash, and can score goals from just outside the box as well as inside the box.

For me, this player is Andrey Arshavin. Please don’t get me wrong in thinking I am a huge fan of Arshavin: he is not consistent enough, and does not work as hard as is required, but then – as we all know – he is not playing in his best position either. Arshavin has a PL goal scoring record of 0.27 goals per game, which is the same as DB10 had for us. He is great passer of the ball and can split open defences easily. He holds on the ball reasonably well, although this is not one of his strong points. He can score from just outside the box, and I have no doubt he would link up well with RvP.

It is only a matter of time until Arshavin leaves Arsenal, but I think he deserves to be given the ‘hanging-off’’ striker position, just this once: at least until Christmas this year. He is our best option there and it would be cruel not to give him a last opportunity to show us all how really good he is. Why Arsene Wenger has not done this until now is a mystery to me, but hopefully the current lack of alternatives might change his mind.

TotalArsenal.

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Posted by Rasp

Psst….. wanna buy a football franchise?

October 12, 2011

Chelsea FC  directors say their club needs more season tickets as the ground isn’t big enough. There is a  suspicion that their Russian Oligarch wants away from financing them and it’s time for them to stand on their own feet as Financial Fair Play looms large. Player’s wages versus gate receipts cannot be justified if they stay where they are. But still their fans bemoan the current tickets prices, whilst demanding the club doesn’t move.

So there you have it, all those happy fans who loved the spend, spend, spend days are now faced with the reality of what being in debt means. Don’t want to pay, don’t want to move, while their creditors circle in case the Russian goes off and takes his money to fight his election as Putin demands. What does the future hold for them and their club?

How different are Arsenal, debt almost eradicated gate receipts enough to cover wages and a profit being returned annually, enough to keep our owners interested?

But still some fans are objecting. They want trophies and for the club to spend some money and bugger the consequences. We want trophies, 6 years we have waited it’s a disgrace, what are these yanks up to, why won’t they spend the money, fire the manager, he has lost the plot. Let’s demonstrate, with some creative thinking, I know we’ll make a banner, a bloody big one, get our message across. We buy the tickets, it’s our club. Without us fans there would be nothing.

Wrong, my friends, oh so wrong.  Arsenal FC, like Chelsea and all the privately owned clubs have the potential to become a Franchise.  Should Chelsea move to Slough, Harlow or Wapping it matters not, they would be welcomed with open arms by local councils for the money they would bring in.

Their fans, not all of whom by any stretch of the imagination live in the borough, would continue to go, maybe some of the ‘I am here to be seen’  show business lovies might find the journeys a mite  too arduous, but they in all probability are only temporary anyway.

Professional sports clubs bring in fans by the thousand and their spending power feeds the coffers of local business and the transport companies that get them there. They provide jobs, as brilliantly broken down in yesterday’s post by GIE. 600 casual staff alone work at the Arsenal on match days and the club pays business rates worth many thousands of pounds.

Take test cricket as an example. There are 7 home test matches next year and 9 counties who with the help of investment from the local councils, have upgraded their grounds in the hope that they will get one.  Lancashire’s MD has expressed the view that those grounds that don’t get one are in danger of going broke. But still the local councils invest, why, because of the revenue a successful bid generates and all will bid every year desperate to succeed and stay in business

So it is with football, and for this reason if you have ownership of a club you are in the driving seat. You have the power to place your toy where you want, forget the football League they haven’t the balls to say boo to a big club let alone tell them what to do. Ask Leyton Orient as they contemplate the hammers moving onto their manor.

Franchises based on the American model could well be on their way here and fans had better wise up or they, like their American cousins could see teams uproot and move lock stock and barrel. Remember it doesn’t only  have to be in this country for the big boys, should a European League comes to fruition, then anywhere is possible.

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

At what point do you give up?

October 11, 2011

Written by 26may1989

As someone who’s retained patience with the current regime at the club, that’s a question I’ve been asked plenty of times over the past couple of months about whether it’s time for our manager to be shown the door. I’m sure I’m far from being the only one. But I’ve no interest in getting into yet another should-he-stay-or-should-he-go yack-yack; surely, we’ve all had enough of that, at least until proper football resumes and there’s more fuel for those fires.

No, the question I’d like to pose is: when does sugar daddy money reach a point where we as football fans give up on the game?

English football has the best (worst) examples of sugar-daddyism of course, most obviously in Chelsea and City, but also QPR, and Wigan and previously Leeds and Portsmouth provide examples too; in Spain, there are Malaga and Getafe; in France there’s PSG; in Germany, there’s been Hoffenheim (though Bundesliga rules restrict the scope of the sugar daddy in Germany); and in Russia, there’s Anzhi Makhachkala, current employers of Eto’o, Carlos and Zhirkov. And just to avoid the rich and pampered superstars having to slum it in far-off Dagestan by the Caspian Sea, where Anzhi Makhachkala are based, the players are all housed in luxury in Moscow and are flown in for “home” games – a round trip of 2,000 miles. Wonderful stuff.

At the more extreme end of the spectrum are two tiny clubs that hit the big time (relatively, at least): Gretna FC, founded in the 1940s, were pumped with cash, made it to the SPL and a cup final, before their owner’s illness led to their financial collapse and ultimately the dissolution of the club. And in Romania, Unirea Urziceni was a lower league team till they were bankrolled by Mr Ego in 2003; Dan Petrescu appointed manager in 2006; promoted to the top division in 2007; European qualification and cup finalists in 2008; league champions in 2009; two seasons in the Champions’ League, including a 4-1 away win at Ibrox; and then Mr Big Bucks pulled his money out, all the decent players were sold to pay off debts, and the club’s form collapsed, leading to relegation the next season.  But it didn’t end there: Mr Big Bucks decided not to enter the club into competition at all this season and the whole club was closed down.  That was it, kaput, no more football club. It might not have been the oldest, but it was still more than 50 years old. But its fans have been left with nothing but memories.

So there are examples of money being bad for individual clubs. We, the parsimonious ones, can live in hope that our (relative) virtue will one day be rewarded by the gods of FFP.

But when I look at City, I can’t help thinking the money project will succeed, eventually.  They’ll sign all the best players, they’ll win the trophies and then all the little boys and girls will want sky blue shirts.  And in ten years’ time, it’ll be done, it’ll be irreversible, City will genuinely be part of the elite. And just like Abramovich does now, Mansour will be looking at ways of shutting the trapdoor behind them.

It may look to the sycophants in the press and on TV that the assembly of an English side of galacticos at the Wastelands is a wonderful thing, but ultimately these ludicrous billionaires do nothing but undermine and destroy the game. Competition and sport were demeaned when Abramovich bought Chelsea. It was further reduced when the Government of Abu Dhabi (through its various corporate forms) selected a club of great dignity and style as their vehicle. Why would it stop there? Why would there be no more splurging on other clubs by new sugar daddies, from Russia, the US, the Middle East, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India etc? The wonder is there hasn’t been more already.

So when would I give up? I’ll never give up being an Arsenal fan, of course, too late to change that. But my taste, my passion for the beautiful game could easily be diluted to almost nothing if this sugar daddy phenomenon continues to spread.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

The Headline Every Arsenal Fan Has Been Waiting For…

October 10, 2011

This is a very confusing time to be an Arsenal supporter.

Most of us are torn between fear that the woefulness of recent months reflects where we really are, and the hope that our new team is about to click and start sweeping all before it.

Mostly, we’re all looking for a sign: either a sign to confirm that we really are as shite as an 8-2 defeat at Surrey Towers might indicate, or a sign that the good times are set to roll again.

So in these dark days of the Interlull, I found myself wondering what would be the headline that would really lift the spirits of us Arsenal supporters.

The answer’s not as straightforward as it might seem, because the Arsenal fan base is not exactly of one mind. Or if we are of one mind, it’s the mind of someone suffering from multiple personality disorder who thinks he’s the population of China.

The following theoretical headlines (that might happen during this Interlull) hopefully reflect the full swathe of opinion among us all…

Wenger Out:

Assuming that Le Boss is not about to announce that he bats for the other side, this headline would clearly make a significant minority of Arsenal supporters happy. They have had it in for Arsene ever since the drip-feed of silverware dried up some years back. Perhaps not remembering the many fallow period’s in the club’s history, they demand success every year whatever the context and are 100% convinced that AW has lost the plot. They may be right, but I wish they wouldn’t take so much pleasure from our suffering. It makes me suspect that they like torturing small animals, and if you like torturing small animals there’s a natural progression to becoming a serial killer and if you do that you may fall foul of this Gooner: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/10/05/damien-fowkes-admits-jail-attacks-on-child-killers-ian-huntley-and-colin-hatch-115875-23467308/
so watch out! (Read down to the end to find out what he was wearing in court).

“Wenger Will Never Be Fired”: Kroenke:

The complete flip side of the headline above, this one will make all the Arsene lovers out there sleep more easily in thjeir beds. Until January, that is, when we’re lying 17th in the table and in turns out that what Silent Stan means is that although Arsene will never be fired, he may be persuaded at gunpoint to resign.

Team Bonding Trip To Lourdes Produces Miraculous Results: That’s right – Arsene takes the team to the French holy place where miracle after miracle occurs: Vermaelen, Wilshere, Sagna and Diaby all become fit and available for the next game; Arshavin’s arse shrinks by 50% and the famous back four of Winterburn-Adams-Bould-Dixon all become 25 years old again.

Fake “Doctor” Uncovered At London Colney:

Police are called to Arsenal’s training ground after it is discovered that one of the leading members of the club’s medical team is a fantasist with no medical qualifications. The man is, in fact, an unemployed plumber from N17 who faked a CV to obtain the job. Mr Wenger said: “ This explains a lot…”

Arab Spring Uprisings Reach Abu Dhabi – Man City Owners Overthrown:

It’s happened in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran and many other Middle east countries: Come on you downtrodden Arabs of the UAE! You can do it – rise up and kick your feudal overlords out of power. You know it makes sense. Then Citeh can slide back to the familiar position of mediocrity that they so richly deserve.

Fabregas “Unsettled” in Barcelona:

We’d have him back, wouldn’t we?

Messi To Arsenal:

The Argentinian genius told reporters “when my good friend Cesc Fabregas told me how good it was to be a Gooner I realized I would have to see for myself. And besides, most of my ex colleagues at Barca are diving, cheating Kants.”

Tevez To Arsenal:

“They have signed me for when Messi is injured,” said Mr Tevez.

Spurs Docked 15 Points:

After an exhaustive investigation by the Premier League, it has been decided that Spurs are an unholy collective of warthog-faced noodledicks and, accordingly, they have been docked 15 league points, more or less guaranteeing relegation. The North London club is planning an appeal on the grounds that, although they are all clearly noodledicks, only the manager has the face of a warthog. The appeal will fail when the prosecution produces Gareth Bale and Heurelho Gomes as evidence.

Arsenalisation Project Moves to Next Stage:

With a return to, and rebuilding of, Highbury Stadium.

Anyway, that’s my bit of fun. But, on a more serious note, what headline would you like to read in the next week…?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Are Arsenal a Football Club or a Financial Institution?

October 9, 2011

I try and be realistic about the current team, manager, coaching staff, scouting system and Board but whichever angle I look at I think the club as a whole are taking a huge gamble that the FFP rule will be beneficial more to Arsenal than nearly every other club in the PL and that the club firmly believes financial stability is the key to long term success regardless of current results, but at what cost?

Nothing really adds up to me. We are still carrying several players who we either can’t sell or are out on loan. Will we be able to challenge with such an under strength squad though, of course, injuries to key players such as Sagna, Wilshere and Vermaelen do not help.We have 11 PL games until January most would be winnable at least a year ago, but on current form I wouldn’t bet on it.

Mertsacker has said himself today he quite rightly needs time to adjust to the PL and the same applies to Gervinho and Santos. AW has frequently been quoted that these players need at least 6 months to bed in, so when you lose your best two players in Cesc and Nasri (when on form) why oh why doesn’t Wenger buy from within the PL?

Our wage structure is definitely wrong especially when you see our total annual wage bill.I am not picking on Jenkinson but  just as an example  are we now shopping at Asda for back up players to strengthen the squad to win trophies?

Frimpong, Jenkinson, Gervinho, Lansbury, Ramsey, Gibbs, Coquelin, Chamberlain and Park hopefully will eventually add strength to the team but knowing Wenger at least the last three named will get limited opportunities even if they keep scoring goals, or with Le Coq at Spurs be the man of the match and there are doubts about Gibbs in ability and the inevitable “liable to be injury prone”.

Why not keep a player in the team when he is on form instead of demoting him ? Is that a confidence booster? Was it a right decision to loan out Bendtner (who now vows never to come back) and keep Chamakh ?

Why has Vela been loaned out three times.He is either good enough or not to be given a chance in the first team ?

Is Benayoun a short term loan answer ?

Why did Arteta get a four year contract at the age of 29.(without having a medical as there was no time) is that the Arsenal of old ?

Why does the manager who has a world wide scouting system have players assessed countless times and often then takes their natural instincts and abilities away from them to play Wengerball ? We often finish up with an attack made up of clones of each other and the thrill of seeing an individual moment is a rarity these days.

I doubt Arshavin or Rosicky will last more than this season.Arshavin is the second highest wage earner and regardless of stats he is a luxury.

After our worst start since 1973 we get Gazidis telling us Wenger has a job for life and has complete control and now the timing two days ago that if we miss CL football this season we can handle it financially, IMO is already an admission that we are in transition yet again and their is a slim chance of any reasonable success this year or even a few more years.Is that what the fans really want to hear ?

Every statement sounds like it is coming from a bank not a top football club, and for us not to expect too much on the field but financially we have no worries.

I read on here recently that corporate boxes are available for a number of games and of course in a recession advertising and corporate budgets are trimmed. It’s likely that lack of interest is due just as much to the recession as the form at the club but still a worry financially.

I would wager RVP will leave followed by Walcott.Why should RVP especially stay when year after year there are promises that we are going to buy quality only to read months later that we just missed out, or we go to a lower tier and to an extent take a gamble that a player purchased will fit into our rigid system of playing and more so be a benefit to the team by adding quality.

dandan and others will say it’s “only a game” and he like myself and many others realise the true meaning of  double dip recession that will effect us all, but our fall from grace is dramatic and could have been avoided to an extent. The short comings in the side after the Invincibles were there to be seen especially the over 30 policy which appears to be different for every player, and remember that was before the City takeover and what I would like to hear is a real statement of intent from Kroenke.

There is an uneasy feeling as to what is exactly going on at the club,and too many questions that remain unanswered at this moment in time. It’s difficult to predict how our season will pan out. There is no question in my mind that Kroenke, Gazidis, Law and Wenger do not gel, and that is a bad omen, and yet today I read that Wenger will pick his own successor which comes as no surprise to me.

Finally the big question for me is that Wenger may have lost the respect of some players from unfulfilled promises and that creates an uneasy harmony within the squad.

 

What do you think ?  (apart from so many question marks )

 

Written by kelsey

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Why did Arsenal become ordinary?

October 8, 2011

Written by gunnerN5

The period from 1996/7 to 2010/11 has been magical for us Arsenal supporters. We’ve been fortunate enough to have seen an English club play Wengerball.

Never in our 125 year history have Arsenal supporters been able to watch such exquisite football played by such a World class assembly of players. They won 3 EPL titles and 4 FA Cups, which included two doubles

We’ve had the extraordinary pleasure of watching an assembly of players the likes of which have not blessed our pitches since the Herbert Chapman era of the 1930’s.

To name just a few —

Adams, Bergkamp, Campbell, Cole, Dixon, Fabregas, Gilberto, Henry, Ljungberg, Overmayers, Petit, Pires, Seaman, Vieira, Wtnterburn,Wright et. al.

The memories of their incredible achievements and the wonderful skills of these players will be etched in our memories for eons.

But; here we are today, in doldrums at the start of the 2011/12 season – 7 games in and we look positively ordinary. We still play attractive football arguably the most attractive in the EPL, however the rest of the league sussed that out a few seasons back and they’ve adjusted their defences against us accordingly.

Questions linger and beg to be answered –

Who caused this to happen?

What has happened to our club?

Why are we ordinary?

Where are the leaders?

When will it get better?

Will it get better?

There is nothing worse for a supporter than to experience a “no hope season”, or heaven forbid a “no hope period”.

We no longer have a nucleus of high calibre players that we can build a team around; instead we have a group of very talented youngsters that are as yet unproven in the EPL.

This is a chart showing the statistics for the 1st seven games of each of our EPL seasons, this season we have the lowest amount of points, the highest goals against and the third least amount of goals scored.

Nothing is right –

Why did our team become ordinary?

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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