Could we be a stronger team if Cesc leaves?

June 14, 2010

Following Raddy’s article yesterday exposing the press reporting of ‘Arsenal’s behind the scenes dealing’ for the fanciful unsubstantiated speculation it undoubtedly is, I thought I’d be obtuse and join in with the speculation by putting myself in the shoes of a supporter who is prepared to believe some of the stronger rumours that are circulating.

Just for those who may read the headline but not the article, I am not suggesting that we would be stronger BECAUSE Cesc goes to Barca, just looking for the positives IF he does.

Here are some of the mooted changes in personnel at the start of next season if our worst fears are confirmed and Cesc leaves. FC Lorient and Fulham have both confirmed that Arsenal have made an enquiry about their players whereas the Joe Cole story is just a rumour that many are prepared to believe.

Out: Cesc, Gallas, Sol, Silvestre, Merida, Almunia (maybe not sold)

In: Chamakh (already signed), Koscielny, Schwarzer, Joe Cole

Would the balance of those changes make us a stronger team next season?

Starting from the back; even after conceding 4 goals last night, I think Schwarzer is better than Almunia. He’s not top top class but he would give Szczesny the couple of years he needs to grow into our first choice keeper. I’d send Fabianski out on loan to try to rebuild his confidence and keep Szczesny as our number two, maybe giving him the occassional start in the side.

Koscielny is an odd one. I don’t know that much about the player. Arsène is obviously very keen on him, so I suspect he will turn into a gem in the mould of Vermaelen and hopefully bed into the side as quickly. I think he could be better for us than Gallas in terms of motivation, freedom from injuries and aerial power in defence although he lacks experience. A lot rests on the continued fitness of Djourou as it is certain that one, or both of our CB’s will be lost to injury at some stage so we may have to rely on Song to fill in at the back at some stage.

A defensive midfielder to cover for Song is the player I feel we really need but will not acquire, so I hope that Eastmond gets a few first team games as he seems to be the player coming through who is best suited to the role.

OK, Joe Cole is not as good as Cesc, but he’s a clever player who is direct and creates chances for others. He can score goals and play anywhere across the midfield. He has a battling temperament and will give his all for the team. Cole would also allow us to rest Arshavin who I believe was playing with injuries for a lot of last season and struggled to come to terms with the physical demands of  the premiership. The arrival of Chamakh should mean that AA is never called upon again to play the lone striker role.

I fear we have relied too much on Cesc. He has been the focus of our play and this has created scenarios similar to Henry’s last season where players in possession of the ball were clearly looking for Cesc rather than making the quick pass to another available player.

Chamakh will give us a much greater physical presence up front.  He is strong, tall and he can head the ball. The only thing that worries me a little is whether he will be able to build a partnership with RvP (not that we will play 4:4:2), but he is a great link-up player and will be able to play wengerball.

With these changes, the spine of the team should be stronger – certainly at the top and the bottom. The loss of Cesc’s genius would be replaced by a potent attacking force in the final third with the inclusion of Chamakh and Cole. We should not forget Ramsey who I believe will become a fantastic player in our midfield. Diaby should show us more of the attacking brilliance that we witnessed in a run of games last season.  I expect Theo and Nasri to demonstrate their ambition by reacting positively to the disappointment of being left out of the world cup and put in meatier performances next season.

Obviously we will be a far stronger team if Cesc stays and we also add to the squad, but who can be sure that will happen? Consider what the acquisition of Koscielny, Cole and Schwarzer would bring to the team if Cesc leaves. I would expect either TV or RvP to be appointed captain and we would be addressing some of the areas of frailty in the current side.

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Posted by Rasp

The ‘Ramsey Factor’ will prove too much for Burnley

March 6, 2010

I am reminded of the satanic mills, Bob Lord, and for some reason a young lad with a bicycle climbing up a cobbled street  to the sound of the New World Symphony with a loaf of Hovis underarm. Such are the prejudices of youth!!

Burnley are as Northern as one can get in terms of football culture. The Tyne teams may be geographically further North but not in terms of football mentality. I have no idea why I think this way, perhaps because Burnley were the most successful Northern team of my childhood and it seemed such a bleak place. Whilst Spurs employed Danny Blanchflower and Wolves had Billy Wright (both urbane and media friendly), Burnley had Jimmy Mcilroy – hardly a household name in North London!.

Of course this was Burnley’s golden era and since the early ’60’s success has remained elusive.  Over the following 40 years they suffered a descent to the bottom of the 4th division, narrowly escaping oblivion. Under the managership of Steve Cotterill and subsequently Owen Coyle, Burnley returned to the Premier division in 2009 – just being in the Premiership is huge testament to their progress. Unfortunately for Burnley they have only a few games left at the top table, and in all likelyhood will return to the murky depths of the Championship. Of course, Burnley fans would argue that they are just 2 points from safety, but sadly their away form of 1 point this season will secure their fate.

Currently managed by Brian Laws, Burnley play attractive football. I believe Laws has a decent future as an EPL manager, though taking over from Owen Coyle just 2 months ago was a brave decision on his part. Of their team, Chris Eagles has looked the most creative player –  raised at OT under the tutelage of SAF, he has pace and trickery but little end product. Eagles gave us some problems up at Turf Moor and in Robbie Blake he has a willing central runner. In Brian Jensen they have a Danish keeper to chat with Nik, and a man who is hero worshipped by the fans. You may recall that we squeezed a 1-1 draw away in December and were fortunate to escape with a point. We scored early (perhaps the only time this season) and then went to sleep. Backed by their very vocal fans, Burnley stormed back into the game and soon equalised. They then dominated the second half, hitting the woodwork and could consider themselves unlucky not to take all 3 points.

As to Saturday, we are as usual bereft of a number of first teamers, however, we are all aware of Burnley’s away form (one point in 14 games), the dire state of their defence (conceded at least two goals in every away game), and how potent we can be at THOF. And of course there is the Ramsey Factor which will surely spur our lads onto victory. If we drop a point in this one, I will flambé my favourite hat!

Few will know that David Lloyd George, founder of the Welfare State and Liberal Prime Minister in the 20’s, was a big football fan. It will further surprise you that my father used to stand next to him on the terraces of the Clock End (Lloyd George being a man of the people). And as everyone now knows David Lloyd George was a renowned Gooner…..

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Posted by Erik the Red

Saint Ryan slain by Satanic Frenchman – and Aarons Road to Recovery

March 3, 2010

Three days on since the events at the Britannia and the debate rages on as to who is the villain and who is the victim. As any Gooner could have predicted, having the experience of Dan Smith and Martin Taylor’s interventions on our players (“Tiny” Taylor’s being especially unequivocal) to draw on, it would take very little time for it to be established by the agenda-driven media hog-pack that the victim was the leg breaker and the villain the manager of the leg breakee.

Chief peddlers of Arsenal hating utter crap being the paragon of virtue Stanley Victor Collymore ably aided and abetted by the likes of Puliss, Lou Macari, Derek McGovern and other sub-species of pond life however this is was not the first thing that occurred to me as soon as I heard of the completion of our grisly hat-trick of leg snaps.

Our young welsh mid-fielder has a long road of rehabilitation in front of him and having been in the position of recovering from major surgery I can empathise with what he will go through in the next six to nine months.

Exactly five years ago I was given what in medical parlance is called a “Cabbage”, a Cardiac Artery Bypass Graft – major surgery of a different quality to that of repairing a double leg break but both instances involve a long period of rehabilitation. In my case it was a solo effort and while Aaron will have a big medical team around him ultimately he will feel equally alone while he works his way back to fitness via hours and hours of rehabilitative exercises and therapies.

Initially major surgery results in a loss of confidence in a number of ways – you may feel too weak to want to exert yourself in any way or to test the part of you that was broken. The doctors can assure that it is acceptable to walk with your repaired leg or, in my case, put weight on you chest, but this loss of confidence meant I would fall asleep on my back for months as I subconsciously felt my chest would cave in.

Everyone will react to post operative trauma differently and perhaps Rambo will have no such fears but the loneliness of training on his own, when he would be with the rest of the squad normally, will be a different challenge that he has to face.

“I am lost to the world

with which I used to waste so much time,

It has heard nothing from me for so long

that it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me

Whether it thinks me dead;

I cannot deny it,

for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world’s tumult,

And I rest in a quiet realm!”

Based on a text in German by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)

I apologise to any students of German poetry but I thought of the above quote when I read comments questioning the wisdom of presenting Eduardo to the crowd at Ashburton Grove as he made his long slow painful recovery to fitness. I was there to see our Crozillian palpably moved by the crowd’s reaction and to my mind that is the type of encouragement that a player needs when he is training alone for long periods. To feel he is still part of the team, the squad and the larger Gooner diaspora is vital and so the same approach is needed for Rambo. When my two sons ran up to my bed in the ward a few days after my chest “cut and shut” it was a lift to the spirits similar to that Aaron will get when he takes his first steps on crutches onto the turf of the Grove.

We can all play some part in getting Aaron’s rehab off to the start it deserves, those of us lucky enough to be going to see the Burnley game can by singing his name out loud and make sure it’s sung every game till he’s back so he knows he’s not been forgotten.

There is the fear that Rambo will never be the same, as Diaby and Eduardo have suffered from a series of niggling injuries un related to the leg breaks but significant enough to hinder their progress. Time will tell just how well these three players of ours recover their abilities, skill and confidence on the pitch.

Sadly, going back to Saturday at the Potteries, we know this could all have been avoided had referee Walton applied the rules regarding dangerous and reckless play, however would we then have got the galvanising effect, admittedly at a potentially unacceptable cost to a teenagers career, on team spirit that resulted?

And that, as they say, is the hell of it.

By Charybdis1966

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Posted by Rasp

Our Way is the Right Way

March 2, 2010

We’ve had 2 days to digest the events of Saturday afternoon. The emotions have calmed and the parties involved have stated their case. Every Tom, Dick and ‘Arry has expressed an opinion. These are simply my conclusions.

The tackle was not malicious if you believe as I do, that Shawcross did not intend to break Ramsey’s leg. He was late, he missed the ball and used excessive force. A combination of over-aggression, lack of ability and poor decision making. The responsibility for the injury lies totally with Shawcross as he chose to enter into a challenge where damage to his opponent was a distinct possibility. In any other walk of life, under current Health and Safety laws, Shawcross could be prosecuted for the act.

A message to the Stan Collymore’s of this world who repeatedly trot out the line that “football is a contact sport”. The rules have changed. Tackles from behind have been outlawed. Two footed tackles are not allowed. Tackles with the studs up are not allowed.

The rules stipulate: – careless tackles are not punished; reckless tackles are a yellow card; excessive force is a red card. Shawcross was correctly given a red card because his ‘tackle’ contravened the rules. Those rules are in place to prevent players from suffering injury.

Football is not a contact sport like boxing. It is a game of skill where a level of physical contact is allowed, but that level should fall below the point where injury occurs. Would the fools who justify breaking the rules of football as a means of combatting more skillful play also advocate shoplifting if someone is short of money? – it’s an equally ridiculous attitude.

Thomas Vermaelen is a tough, physical competitive footballer, I can’t remember a single instance of him jumping in with a two footed, over the ball challenge. In fact I can’t ever remember the likes of Adams, Keown or Bould producing such crude challenges – perfectly timed slide tackles maybe. Defending and tackling are skills which didn’t require the opponent to get injured even in the ‘good old days’ that the Collymore’s of this world refer to.

The post match interviews and subsequent statements by Tony Pulis and Arsène Wenger were pretty much what you’d expect. I don’t think Pulis is a bad manager or a bad man. He sets his sides up to maximise their limited ability by creating a narrow pitch and rehearsing set plays that are hard to defend. He can’t afford to buy players with a high level of skill so he settles for brawn as it means he has a reasonable chance of getting enough points through a more physical approach to keep them in the premiership, but therein lies the problem. Arsène has built this squad on an equally low budget but managed to put the emphasis on skill by virtue of his ability and vision.

Arsène feels a huge sense of responsibility for his players and to see one of ‘his boys’ receive a career threatening injury for the third time in five years was extremely upsetting for him. I’m sure he is disappointed that football in England seems to have gone backwards rather than aspiring to the more sophisticated approach at the highest level on the continent. He must see the extreme irony in the view that some correspondents have expressed actually blaming him for the injury because he has made his players vulnerable by concentrating too much on skill.

Cesc said it all when being presented with the MotM award….

“You could ask yourself, we are not protected enough – I think so. You speak to the referee, ‘play on, play on’, I know it is England, I know it’s a great game, I know we all love this kind of play, but sometimes there is a top you cannot pass and we are sometimes victims”

– actually, a bit of an understatement I’d say!

Cesc has been systematically targeted by opposition ‘hard men’ all season. The horror tackle on Ramsey could just as easily have been against him. He has not been protected by referees and has received cards himself for seemingly innocuous tackles.

This debate must not be allowed to subside. It is a shame that so much focus is being placed on Stoke since it is actually the referees who have the power to avoid such situations by applying the rules fairly and consistently. Some referees seem to subscribe to the theory that it is OK to kick Arsenal players otherwise we have an unfair advantage due to the greater technical ability. The referee’s job is to protect the players. On many ocassions, they have failed to carry out that duty when officiating games involving Arsenal.

The players have learned from the experience of two years ago. They showed a resilience and determination after the injury that they lacked in 2008. That was due in no small part to the immense character and leadership of Campbell and Vermaelen as well as Cesc.

Every supporter would have traded the win for Ramsey escaping injury, but somehow the injustice has created an energy and will to succeed that has made even the most hardened sceptic believe we really can win the league. Justice for the good guys, for football and for a club that places the important values above winning trophies.

With the exception of our London rivals and fans of the other top four clubs, Arsenal is the team most supporters want to see win the league. We’ll win it our way or we’ll just keep trying because our way is what makes Arsenal unique and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Posted by Rasp

Unshaken hand to broken leg – how Ramsey can win us the title

March 1, 2010
An extraordinary weekend of contrasts that reminded us all why we love football so much and how cruel a game it can be. Two days ago we were six points off the lead, hanging on to the front runners, sustained by a cocktail of faith, hope and comparisons with Usain Bolt. Charity wasn’t an issue, partly because we announced record profits while Portsmouth became the first top flight club to go into administration.
Now we are one big win away from the top, with the certainty that either Chelsea or Man U or both will drop points when they play each other. A draw in that game would likely see us one point from the top. Our ‘easy’ run in is a myth, but with odds now of 3/1 for Arsenal to win the title, we are not just back in the race but coming up on the rails.

The weekend started with the biggest question in sport – would Bridge and Terry shake hands? Resisting the temptation to offer his hand then humiliate Terry by holding it up to his nose and waggling it, Bridge piled on the mental pressure by eyeballing Terry then walking straight past. The significance become obvious when Terry, for the third match in a row, utterly choked and allowed Tevez to score. Chelsea crumbled in exactly the way that many pundits thought Arsenal would later in the day. Maybe a missed handshake could turn out to hit harder than a mistimed tackle.

The scenes of Carvalho with his head in his hands while Hilario flapped at the ball slowly rolling into the net were so reminiscent of Sol and Fabianski’s efforts against Porto that I started to wonder if the footballing gods had decided that a bit of role reversal would liven the weekend up. City’s 4-2 thumping of Chelsea, every bit as humiliating for the home fans as Chelsea’s visit to the Emirates, had me starting to believe.

By the time Gooners around the world settled down to the main event, faith and hope had been replaced by optimism, belief and fear that Stoke would trip us just as we were starting our sprint for home. Within 7 minutes the famous Stoke ’12th Man’ – I mean the towel, not the home fans – had conspired with some panicked defending to put us behind. And then the gods decided to make their move. Sol started shouting, Cesc clenched his fists and Song took his iPod out of his ears. Nikki B scored a sublime goal and we started to play like a team destined to be winners. London’s classic post is worth a second read just to enjoy the match again. What we had forgotten though, is that sometimes the gods demand a sacrifice, and so it came to pass.

Aaron Ramsey’s injury has been confirmed as a fracture to the tibia and fibula, which has been successfully operated on. The injury may be a little less complex than Dudu’s but will still keep him out for the rest of the season and likely much longer. Much was made of the contrition and distress of Ryan Shawcross as he left the pitch, but his track record (3 similar injuries to Arsenal and ex-Arsenal players in 3 years) suggests that there will be no redemption for Shawcross any time soon.

Again, on a day of contrasts, the ironies of football were highlighted by Shawcross’s elevation to the Englad squad a few hours after the game. Maybe if John Terry had broken Wayne Bridge’s leg rather than sleeping with his ex, he might still have the England captain’s job.

The spectre of Birmingham two years ago hovered over us, but this is a different team and a different time. This time the horror of the injury, instead of causing the team to choke, brought out the very best fighting spirit. For me the best moment of the match was when Cesc was jogging back past a ranting and gesticulating Pulis. Cesc held his finger to his mouth and told him to shush and that’s what every manager and every fan of every club is going to have to do when we storm our way to the top of the table and win the league.

On a weekend where even Craig Bellamy felt able to criticise a fellow professional’s off-field behaviour (‘we all know what  John Terry is like’), contrasts and role reversals were the order of the day. A missed handshake caused the league leaders to choke and a tragic injury allowed our young team to show what they are truly made of.

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Posted by Alfa

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