Fenerbahce: The Wilshere Conundrum

August 27, 2013

Some time ago LB  (who at that time was London) made a case whereby he stated that Arsenal play better without Jack. Now, I am simplifying his argument, but in essence, LB said that Jack slowed us down, was neither an attacking nor defensive MF and that despite his prodigious talent Wilshere made the Arsenal team worse.

Unknown-1

I and many others rushed to Wilshere’s defence. How could it be that England’s Arsenal’s best young talent was detrimental to the team? Well, now I understand. Ask yourself this  ….who gets dropped when Arteta is fit? Ramsey? Not in the form he is in. Rosicky? Our passing between the defence and the forward line is more dynamic when TR plays, he is an excellent player. Or Santi? You must be joking. And where will Ox play upon his return?

Last season we played Santi out left but this is clearly not his best position and we play better with Podolski giving us an attacking option on the left. So where does Jack fit in?

Thankfully this is not my problem and he is sure to start tonight.

Be honest with yourself, do you see anyway we can go out the CL tonight? OK, we may lose the game but I doubt it. No, the work has been done.

Fenerbahce:  It should be recalled how well Szczesny played last Weds, which indicates that perhaps the Turks have a chance. Had they scored it could be a worry but they didn’t and there is no way that defence can keep a clean sheet at the Emirates. If we score early Fenerbahce are doomed.

Arsenal weren’t wonderful in Istanbul, it was more that Fenerbahce froze. Some of their passing was awful, their tactics non-existent, Walcott terrified his FB, their midfield coudn’t cope with our movement and speed of passing. Why should tonight be any different?

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Arsenal: It is more who gets rested. Theo has played 4 games in two weeks (inc. England), so I would allow a kid to start. Sagna can relax as can Rosicky and Gibbs – all need to be treated with care. That said, Mr Wenger has stated that he will play 95% of the team who won in Turkey, which I read to mean Monreal will start. I think he is wrong and resting the players would be the best option.

My team would be but AW’s is sure to be different:

Szczesny

Jenks    BFG    Kos    Monreal

Ramsey    JW     Santi

Gnabry    Giroud    Podolski

If fit I would start Myachi on the left and give Giroud a rest, but perhaps our little Japanese wonderkid is not quite ready.

Another big win would be great and in a way I understand why Mr Wenger chooses to play a powerful team, but what if an angry and frustrated Turk (or Frenchman – this is not  a racist site) kicks two colours out of Theo and he misses the NLD? Is it worth the risk?

Moving on …… Did you know that Martin O’Neill is a massive music fan and his favourite band is The Kinks. Suddenly, I like the bespectacled jumping loon 😀

As to this season’s theme, I haven’t decided but am erring towards the World Cup stories. It is football associated and will not require too much research, my sole doubt is whether I can find 40+ chaps to entertain both you and I.

What say you?

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

The Surprise Identity of Arsenal’s Next Superstar

August 26, 2013

Whatever you think about Robin van Persie, he is a genuinely world class player.

The same is true of Cesc Fabregas.

But, since the break up of the Invincibles, those are the only two players we have had at Arsenal who can indisputably be called world class.

Recent results (since the Totteringham away game last season) have shown that something good and potent is brewing at Arsenal. A group of players has come together and formed a powerful team spirit. The players are working for each other and they are increasingly understanding each others’ game. There is a good balance of youth and experience and there were no significant departures during the close season.

These players are a wonderful foundation for Arsenal’s next trophy-winning team.

But there is something missing.

The teams that win the biggest prizes have at least one “worldy” in their ranks and, at the moment, Arsenal do not.

That’s one of the reasons why this summer’s transfer window has seen the sort of hysteria more suited to a One Direction concert (not that any of 1D are half as gorgeous as Ollie Giroud and Tomas Rosicky… or so the ladies tell me).

Talk of players like Suarez, Higuain, Rooney and Benzema has been exciting because any one of them would add that missing “world class” dimension and, maybe, push us to another level.

Maybe an A-list name will be joining us in the next week. But even without a last minute transfer coup I believe the identity of our next “worldy” has already been discovered.

I refer to the diminutive Spanish maestro, Santiago Cazorla.

santi pic

Last season, in his first year in English football, Santi was an ever present in our league campaign, scoring 12 goals and providing the assists for 11 others. He also created more chances from open play (80) than any other EPL player except Luis Suarez (94).

And let’s remember that this was in a team that struggled for a considerable part of the season and with players whom Santi had to get to know as the campaign went on.

In its own right it was a stellar debut season.  And now we have every reason to believe that Santi can go on to do even better this time round.

He has had a delayed pre-season compared with most of the squad through having been away with Spain during the summer and then having to make a round trip to Ecuador the week before the EPL started (thanks Fifa).

But against Fulham he showed what he can do when he starts to get back to his best.

His stats from that game make for impressive reading: as well as getting an assist, he led both teams in passes in the attacking third (29) and in chances created (6); he was also just one behind Theo in take-ons (what we used to call attempted dribbles) with five. He had a pass completion rate overall of 94%, but if you look at his passing in the defensive and middle thirds of the field you’ll find he was 100% accurate: he was taking no chances at our end and saving the riskier passes for the attacking third.

But stats don’t tell the whole story with Santi Cazorla. Those of us lucky enough to have seen the full 90+ minutes on Saturday were able to bask in the warm glow that comes from watching the Spanish magician’s incredible footwork and vision.

When he receives the ball under pressure he has that rare skill (seen only in the best players) of being able to suddenly find himself with space and time when most other players – even really good ones – would be having to battle off an opponent or two. At times, when he pings the ball from one foot to the other and shimmies away from trouble you’d swear he’s taken lessons from Michael Flatley. Or that he had a previous career as a bull fighter (“El Munchkino”).

If this Arsenal team starts to achieve anything this year, then Santi may well begin to look like one of the top two or three players in the EPL.

He can bring us elements of Dennis Bergkamp, Cesc Fabregas and Robert Pires combined: time on the ball, vision, killer passes, quick possession play and an eye for goal.

If he looked good last season, he could look great this time round.

And who knows, perhaps a great season for Santi in an Arsenal team that competes well in the EPL and Champions League may even force the Spain coach, Vicente del Bosque, to promote him above one of the more familiar names in the famous Spanish midfield.

Not that I really care about Spain.

But in the miasma of negativity that has surrounded our club this summer, let’s not lose sight of the bright diamond we already have shining in the team that we love.

RockyLives

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Fulham 1 Arsenal 3 “A thoroughly professional performance.”

August 25, 2013

You have got to love Martin Jol; he sets out his teams in the same attacking formation every time he plays against Arsenal and every time they lose, ok there was the one exception but that, as far as I am concerned, only proves the rule; he certainly was never able to beat an Arsene Wenger team while manager of Tottenham and he was no where near doing so yesterday.

Arsenal carried on from where they left off on Wednesday against Fenerbahce beating Fulham at Craven Cottage in what turned out to be a convincing style. 3-1 to the good guys was just what we needed to get the media off our backs, to stop rogue Arsenal supporters taking swipes at the club and to set us up nicely for the coming game against Tottenham.

poldi v fulham

Wenger rotated his squad (lol) leaving Wilshere on the bench, moving Rosicky further back and adding Podolski to the front. This was a very attacking move that had the much desired effect, in my view, of helping Giroud avoid being isolated which he appeared to for the best part of the game against the Turks.

The tactics seemed to be to play our way past Fulham’s onward rushing attack and pick our way round their defence. This required accurate, pin-ball passing which as the game went on Arsenal were doing with more and more fluency and speed.

The break through came after a long range shot from Ramsey was deftly, yes deftly, controlled by Giroud before poking it past the keeper for his now customary goal per game. I have noticed that since the Frenchman has been scoring so regularly that the priority signing to some is shifting from wanting a striker to wanting a centre back, well not for me; I still feel that Suarez would score twice as many of those kind of goals if he were to come to the home of football. That said, I don’t want to appear to be ungrateful to Ollie, the man works like a Trojan, always putting in a shift; he really is the perfect example of what a team player should be.

Being a goal up forced Fulham to come onto us and that in turn forced the focus onto our back line which I must say I thought put in their best performance to date, there was a real understanding between them: Mertasacker oozed confidence, Sagna got better and better as the game went on, Gibbs was simply very good once again and Jenkinson never seemed to be caught out of position, as he is sometimes prone to doing, with Sagna there watching his back.

During the game I was trying to work out, if I were to write the report, who I would award the MOTM to? For ages I couldn’t see anyone who stood out as every player seemed to be doing his job very well; Ramsey may have been given it by the BT sports and indeed he did play well but no better than Cazorla who seems to have finally digested that massive paella he consumed during the close season; the magic in those boots is back, the twists and turns that takes him past opponents are one of the vital skills that makes us a better than the likes of Fulham. I toyed for ages with the MOTM going to the team but then it became clear, there was one player who produced something over and above what I think we have come to expect – Lucas Podolski is my MOTM, scorer of two goals that gave us the points and put smiles on our faces this Sunday morning.

When we are one up space appears and Theo usually starts to shine, yesterday was no exception and it was one of his runs, combined with a Cazorla shot, parried by the Fulham keeper that fell for our Johnny on the spot, Lucas Pololski to side foot in from 18 yards, no easy task, the man did well and gave us a two goal cushion to go into half time with.

If Theo starts to shine at one-nil up he becomes lethal when we go two up, it was his charging run and the quick feet of Cazorla that brought about the third goal for Pololski who rifled home, low and true.

Wilshere came on and added a bit more steel to the defence, Nacho got a run out and Sanogo got a few minutes, I can see him going on loan when the real deal arrives.

Anyway, we took our foot off the gas a bit and this allowed Fulham to score but that only had the effect of focusing the team again, enough to see the game out and bring the points home.

Happy, happy.

Be afraid spuds; be very afraid, the mighty Arsenal are hitting their stride.

Written by LB

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Posted by LB

Fulham and a Naked Beautiful Lady

August 24, 2013

Anyone confident of coming away from Craven Cottage with 3 points?

What has changed? The Cottagers remain a club destined to be mid-table and one which we should beat both home and away. Is it really the lack of new signings which has reduced expectation? And if so, why? The team which smashed Fenerbahce are more than good enough to beat Fulham.

OK, we have central defensive problems and in Bent and Berbs Fulham have pace, experience and clinical finishers. But, Bent couldn’t get into the AV first X1 and Berbs despite being a great player is almost as old as his manager.

I would be exaggerating if I said I was confident but I see no reason why we cannot do well today. The performance in Turkey was very good, Sagna is the best right back converted to CB in to country (possibly the world), Cazorla should be over his jet lag , Giroud is banging them in, Theo is in fine form (well, he was for 45 minutes). Ramsey is in the form of his life. I could go on but you know the positives.

Unknown-1

And the negatives: Think back 7 days, plus Koscielny.

Fulham: They won at Sunderland with one shot on target. Bent’s arrival will certainly add some bite as will Scott Parker – are we the only club who haven’t signed him? (rhetorical question). Taraabbt is a strange player – capable of brilliance but never consistent, he has Bendtner-esque self-confidence, and perhaps this has held him back from becoming the superstar his early time at Spurs promised. I like Martin Jol and think he would be a fine short-term manager for us until one of PV4, DB10 or TH14 takes over the long-term reins post-Mr Wenger (but that is another discussion and post). Should Fulham win today it will be the first time in the PL that they have taken 6 points from their first two games.

Arsenal: The team almost picks itself. The only areas of doubt are Gibbs or a returning Monreal and Giroud/Podolski.

Gibbs has been playing well and deserves to keep his place – he can be rested on Tuesday.

Giroud despite having scored twice has not shown enough for me. Yes, he works hard and has yet to have a decent cross to attack but I want more (which is why we are looking for strikers). There must be something going on between AW and Pod. Such a strong player but he has yet to show his true form in the red and white – how much patience can AW have with him? From Podolski’s point of view, he hasn’t been given a decent run in the team in his chosen position. I question why Mr Wenger bought him if he really wanted a left-sided winger/back-up MF; it is clearly not Pod’s game who flourishes closer to the box.

It has been wonderful to see our Little Mozart finally get a run of injury-free games. He looks a terrific player and is showing just what we missed over the past few seasons. Stay fit, Tomas.

I expect Theo to run the ageing Riise ragged. Fulham will concentrate keeping him out, which should allow space for Ramsey to take the space created by the Fulham midfield assisting Riise

My team:

fulham v arse

The bench will be a little light and I cannot understand why Bendtner remains alienated. If fit, he must be an option whatever his difficulties with Arsenal. We pay him, he should play.

Yet to think of a theme so for today I will bring you a touch of my hometown.

The Little Mermaid statue who sits so prettily not 400m from my home celebrated her 100 year birthday yesterday. Created by the sculpture Edvard Eriksen, she was a gift from Carl Jacobsen, the founder of Carlsberg beer, to the city. The Little Mermaid is  a story written by Hans Christian Anderson and has been performed as a ballet, play, and of course, a Disney movie.

Jacobsen had been to the ballet to see The Little Mermaid performed and fell for the charms of the lead ballerina, Ellen Price. Thinking to himself, “how can I get to see this beautiful woman naked?”, he came up with the idea of creating a statue which would become the symbol of both Copenhagen and Denmark. Eriksen designed the mermaid and Jacobsen approached Ellen Price who told him to “sling his hook because she was a respected professional not some cheap trollop”. So, Eriksen used his wife as the model for the body and Price for the face.

images

Hundreds of thousands visit her every year and almost everyone says “I knew she is called Little but I didn’t realise how little”.  Small but beautiful.

No need to stress the importance of a result today. Spurs play Swansea which is a home banker, Chavs already have two wins and to be 6 points behind them after just two games would be a poor start

We won at CC 1-0 at The Cottage last season and a scrappy victory it was, but I would love a similar scoreline today.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Aaron Ramsey : A Lesson in Patience

August 23, 2013

This week saw Aaron Ramsey put in the kind of performance that many of us have hoped for since his return from that injury. This wasn’t a one off this has been a slow gradual process, towards the end of last season we started to see signs of his importance to the team and how valuable his stamina and work rate were. Now we are seeing his range of passing and his shooting come back to the fore.

It hasn’t always looked like he would make it back, he suffered dogs abuse from the fans, on blogs, on twitter and in the ground.

But what he never did was hide, it’s what convinced me he we would be ok. He constantly showed for the ball and tried to do the right things with the ball, it didn’t always work, let’s be honest in some games he gave the ball away more often than finding a teammates boot.

But that refusal to shrink in to the background is now paying off, eventually things started to go for him, and now we are seeing the benefit of that game time.

This raises an interesting question, whilst Jack’s injury was nowhere near as severe as Aaron’s the lay off was as long. How long will it take Jack to rediscover the magic, and where should he do it?

The interesting question for me is the second one. Jack like Aaron is too good to be loaned out, but the team will potentially suffer as he regains his match sharpness. But he can’t regain the sharpness sitting on the bench or playing in the reserves.

We the fans will need to be patient, and learn the lesson that Aaron Ramsey has taught us.

Written by Gooner in Exile

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Posted by Gööner In Exile

Champions League, here we come.

August 22, 2013

Firstly, I think the important issue needs to be addressed: dark blue shorts? Daark — Bluuuuue — Shorrrrts……..in all my days, I don’t know?

Ok, onto the game, so it seems that news of Arsenal’s demise was a little premature, a three nil thrashing of Fenerbahce in Istanbul will certainly force the media to do an about face over their suggestions that our season was over before it was even a week old.

There will be many who point to the fact that the Turks were poor and indeed they were but it equally needs to be said that you can only beat who is in front of you and that is exactly what the boys in red, white and, umm, dark blue did and as it turned out they did so quite comfortably.

I say as it turned out because although for the first 20 minutes we looked the better side there was still more than a hint of caution in Arsenal’s play, the hang over from the Villa game lingered on; we had plenty of possession but a goal seemed a way off.

Probably the most significant incident of the first half was Koscielny getting kicked in the head, according to the telly the cut is one of the worst the doctor had seen suffered during a football match. Mah, he’s of Polish stock, they make em tough in that part of the world, I am sure he will be fine for the spud game.

Anyway, the loss of Koscielny had a useful side affect, it forced Sagna into the middle and Jenkinson onto the right. Let’s be honest, Jenkinson is far better at going forward and Sagna is a better defender, the result is that Jenkinson was able to add to the attack that had about as much cutting edge as a knife blade that had been dragged along a concrete floor.

Unsurprisingly, we went in at half time, not having scored; we were not playing badly but a little bit of magic was missing.

Queue the second half and queue the bit of magic the game was crying out for; I thought Theo’s passing had been pants for the whole of the first half but he does seem to have a knack of more and more often doing something very special in a game and that pass to Gibbs for the first goal was special, very special, not as good as the pass that Ramsey made to Theo in the first place, that was brilliant but a very good goal all round I thought and a great relief.

gibbs scores

One nil up and Fenerbahce had to come out a bit more which in turn created more space for Theo and from that point onwards he just got better and better.

Enter the scorer of the second goal and enter the man of the match: Aaron Ramsey’s low pile driver into the corner is the thing that heroes are made of. Wenger said at the beginning of the game: look at our first eleven and show me the players that are available who would improve that. He does seem to have a point, doesn’t he? Never mind all those new spuds, as far as the midfield is concerned Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla are all better.

rambo scores

On the subject of the midfield they grew in confidence as the game went on and as the goals went in, Rosicky ran, seemingly tirelessly, showing as much energy if not more than Wilshere, ten years his junior. But that is not to knock Jack; he played well but he is still not fully match fit although this should improve week on week.

Penalty? Yes, Theo brought down in the box allowing Giroud to have his confidence massaged for another game, good pen actually. Three nil, job done.

giroud pen kick

All that is left for me to say is that I thought Szczesny was excellent, the back line were fine, midfield very good, the attack?

Ahhhhhhh, spend some money lol.

Written with a huge smile on his face by LB

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Fenerbahce. A win starts our season.

August 21, 2013

How many times do we read that a match is of “vital importance”? Are they? Is any match vital to the long -term success of the club? We all have our opinions but mine is that the CL is an adventure and good for earning money – but let’s be honest, is there any Gooner who really believes we can win the thing? OK, you over there in the red & white shirt covered in dribble, but anyone else?

Unknown

Don’t get me wrong – I want us to win tonight and win handsomely but I will not be calling for the heads of the entire management team if we don’t.  Man City & Chelsea didn’t even get into the knockout stages last season which gives an idea of how tough this competition is and perhaps, just perhaps, we may be better off out of it. (I did emphasise, perhaps! ). Mr Wenger says asks what is the point of battling to get fourth spot and then losing in the play-offs; he has a point. In the unlikely event that Spurs had been 4th and AFC 5th we would be suffering badly, and yet we do not even bother crowing about it.

Fenerbahce: Don’t know much about them but they have a corruption charge hanging over them which will be resolved after the tie is over – another example of the work of the overpaid lunatics who run the CL. What I do know is that Turkish fans are committed and loud. They will do all they can to make it a torrid night for the Arsenal. Whether their team is good I cannot say, but Turkish football has been improving for many years and in Mereiles they have a decent player.

Arsenal: The fears about our lack of players are somewhat exaggerated; we can raise a decent team though there remains some doubt as to whether Koscielny and Cazorla can play as they got cards last season. Going by the info from other sites it appears that they will start tonight.

My team:

fenerbahce v arsenal

If they play as we all know they can, this team is good enough to win. My fear is that without Arteta we may be porous in defence which could prove costly. An early goal would settle the team and the tie; as such it is important to approach the game in a positive frame of mind and attack from the start.

As always patience and concentration are essentials. I would love to see Wilshere start to boss a game, we know he has the talent and the drive, a touch more fitness and confidence and he will flourish, perhaps tonight is the night.

We have come through hard CL qualifiers before – anyone recall how tough Udinese were? This will be the same with hopefully a similar result.

On a side issue. Had Newcastle agreed to sell Cabaye, would he have been available to play play tonight?

Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Falling out of love with Football

August 20, 2013

There was a time, not too long ago when football wasn’t about money, it was about a manager, assembling a squad of players to challenge for titles, promotions and avoiding relegation.

In those times many teams could win the League or FA Cup given the right manager and the right players. The manager would choose the playing style and would build a team to compete, in those times everyone started the season with a glimmer of hope star players were spread throughout the top league, some even stayed with their teams when they were relegated or not doing as well.

Fans who went to games and watched their teams discussed the players on the pitch the decisions of the manager on the day, the news during the week was not much to do with football, it might have had the odd reference to an injury or the occasional transfer (as this was pre transfer window).

Players contracts were irrelevant as the club held the registration even if the contract had expired, that was up until Bosman.

But mainly post game we discussed who had the best players, which team had employed those players best, and what an idiot the referee was or otherwise.

Normally we were biased towards our own team, and rightly so like anything we love we forgave their flaws and focus on the good. I mean I used to defend George Graham’s long ball tactics because it won us trophies? No because my team were using them. Just like Stoke fans did under Pulis.

Maybe I’m wearing rose tinted glasses, maybe I am just fed up with being out manoeuvred by Oligarch clubs, afterall most football clubs were owned by a few wealthy individuals, who normally had to reach into their pockets to find the money to fulfil the managers ambitions.

Maybe part of me wishes Arsene Wenger had never come to the club and given us the greatest football I may ever witness as an Arsenal fan. Because even if it hasn’t happened I would still be going to the Arsenal when I could, I’d still be watching every game we played on TV, but what I wouldn’t have to deal with is defending the club from those from outside and in who think we are somehow entitled to expect more than we currently achieve.

When I first started going to Highbury challenging for titles was not on my mind, all I cared about was going to football to watch my club play football. I certainly wasn’t thinking about the business side of the club, now admittedly I was a kid, why would I, but the thing is I still want to be a kid when I go to football, I don’t want to think about the things I can’t control. If we had the fortune to put a good season together of course I was excited to try and win stuff, who wouldn’t be.

I love talking football, the various tactical nuances the pros and cons of defenders and goalkeepers, but I can’t remember the last time that’s all I spoke about, now it has to be about transfers, spending, ticket prices, profits, owners etc. Things I understand admittedly, but not really what I want to be discussing. I try and explain the situation we are in to alleviate the frustrations felt by others, because seriously I couldn’t give a shit if we never win another trophy in my lifetime, I’ll always be an Arsenal supporter and they will always be By Far The Greatest Team, and I know I’ll now be labelled as the problem the unambitious type that allows the club to say 4th is a trophy, but here is the thing it wouldn’t bother me if we finished 10th I’d still go, as many of you would. In fact I think we’d all enjoy it a little bit more.

I want to discuss the one thing we can see on the pitch, the performance, the team selection and the tactics.

Take Saturday’s defeat to Villa, we missed Arteta, we were done by the ref, Wilshere and Ramsey need to find a way to work together, Sagna had an off day (even before he was moved to left back), Theo disappeared. They should have been the discussion points, but it turns into an argument about what the club have or haven’t spent who is or isn’t responsible. Is this why anyone started following football? Is this why anyone loves football, is this what got you hooked on the beautiful game?

I’ve signed my son up for Junior Gunners, I’m starting to think I made a mistake, living in Norwich I see the majority of lads wearing Norwich City shirts, the fans enjoy the ride, yes I hear them moan and complain about performances, but they are happy to go to games together as a community, if I’m near the ground on matchday I hear On The Ball City ring out across the City. I’m jealous, jealous that they still go to football for the right reasons, a sold out ground with little chance of success, but they enjoy it. I hear the moans after defeats, they are not talking about how they should’ve signed x y and z, they are talking about which players did well, what the manager should have done. That’s not to say they haven’t had issues, Season Tickets being thrown at Bryan Gunn, but this was a team that two seasons earlier were in the PL and were having their asses handed to them by Colchester in League 1, just a bit of a comedown (still a sold out ground though).

I think I need a break from blogging, I need to enjoy football again. I’m not doing that on blogs, I’ve had more rational conversations with Liverpool and Spurs fans over this weekend than I’ve had on the web.

Gooner in Exile

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

We Still Have 111 Points to Play For

August 19, 2013

The fall-out from our weekend defeat to Aston Villa has been an unedifying spectacle to say the least.

Fans turning on fans, seasoned bloggers sulking off, the Underminers* out in force.

I understand the frustration. We lost our opening game of the season for the first time in 13 years; we lost our opening game of the season at home for the first time in 20 years; our squad resembles something from The Walking Dead; we don’t have any shiny new players to get excited about…

But come on! Let’s keep some perspective.

We have lost one game – and we lost it because of an (at best) incompetent referee.

We were better than Villa for most of the match and had the chances to at least equalise even after we were down to 10 men and a goal behind. I have no doubt that if Koscielny had not been sent off we would have gone on to share the points or win.

Referee Taylor’s eagerness to give Koscielny a second yellow (for not touching an opponent, let’s remember) stinks like a week-old kipper and deserves further investigation. Not that it will happen.

But read the press and wander through the Arsenal blogosphere and you discover that actually, no: the result had nothing to do with the extraordinarily bad officiating. It was all to do with Arsenal not having brought in enough players so far this summer.

I happen to think we should have signed some reinforcements by now, but I don’t think that had much or anything to do with losing to Villa.

And at the very least I am prepared to write it off as a bad day – the sort of bad day that will also happen to Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and those darlings of the media, Toddling Potty-Smears at times during the season.

We play 38 league games in an EPL campaign, for a maximum of 114 points. Three of those points have now been flushed down the lavvy, but there are still 111 left to play for.

Talk of our season being over before it has begun is (while understandable) really a bit knee-jerk and emotional and supporters need to calm down and regain their sense of perspective. One headline on Newsnow (from a supposedly Arsenal supporting blog) scweamed: “Thanks Arsene, out of title race before it even started.” Seriously? After the first game of the season we’re out of the title race? Come on! Like no team has ever won the title after losing on the opening day.

Likewise, the idea that potential new signings will be deterred from joining us because we lost a single game while some of our rivals won their single games is far fetched.

The club itself certainly bears some of the blame for this atmosphere of irrational hysteria, as does the media, but we fans are not obliged to fall into line with such a discordant tune.

The players that managed an amazing run in the last 10 games of last season are still there. Referees won’t always be so biased against us (although they do line up in our oppositions’ colours more often than seems to happen to other clubs). Injuries will pass and we will win games.

We certainly need to strengthen the squad before the end of the transfer window if we are to have any chance of competing for trophies this season, but I am also confident that good players will be brought in (if they are not, I will be singing a different tune).

So, we can’t be happy about the Villa result, but we can keep our feet on the ground, take a chill pill, let the toys stay in the pram (insert metaphor-of-choice here) and, most of all, not despair. Better days are coming.

  • “Underminers:” opposite of “Supporters.” See Post in archives from April 15th 2013 for a full description.

RockyLives

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Arsenal 1 – Aston Villa 3 : How Not To Start A Season

August 18, 2013

I’m not even sure where to start, as no one else has offered to do the report i’m going to try and fill the breach.

I have to admit that I missed a portion of the first half between our opener and their equaliser (parenting duties called).

There were no surprises with the team and bench, we are down to bare bones before a ball has been kicked, the absence of Arteta was a concern to all. We had seen in the Emirates Cup that Ramsey and Wilshere are not yet ready to partner each other in the deep lying midfield roles, this is due to a mixture
of inexperience and lack of understanding between them when it comes to one staying and one going.

We started brightly our opening goal a lesson in how to break quickly and clinically, Rosicky playing a great ball down the line to Oxlade-Chamberlain, he in turn picks out Giroud who finished well having made a good run in the box.

What was all the fuss about? We were going to prove the doubters wrong.

What followed was a combination of our old failings, individual errors that brought pressure and lifted Villa, an injury stretched squad
picking up more injuries in innocuous challenges, and our complete inability to get a ref to do us a favour once in a while.

The Villa equaliser came from a bit of good play from Abonglahor, he drifted past too many half challenges with ease no one getting close enough in red and white and was hurtling into the box, Szczesny had few options….stand big and hope he fluffed his shot or go for the ball, he chose the latter and raced out to the feet of Abonglahor, he lost the race Abonglahor pushing the ball past him and taking the contact. Taylor let play go on to see if there was an advantage but as the Villa player stuck it in the side betting he brought it back for the penalty. (Remember this later when I give a full assessment of Taylor).

Szczesny got down well to save the initial penalty but Benteke was first to react and nodded it home. That was disappointing as when watching the replays you see Benteke stop after he takes his kick which should have meant we could at least make his second chance more difficult but Szczesny was left exposed and the Villa front man nodded gratefully home. I should say I think Szczesny made a bad choice on the rebound, he jumped towards the ball, which made Benteke’s header a bit easier…..not that I am blaming him, it’s just another lesson our young keeper can learn.

Not long after we were being forced into a reshuffle, as Gibbs challenged for a header, his forehead connected with the back of the Villa players head. I was surprised at the amount of blood on Gibbs forehead and unable to be stitched and return he was substituted, I guess with the midweek trip in mind as much as for the players safety.

This is where the first calls about our squad lightness will appear. I have two comments:

1) If Monreal had been fit it wouldn’t have been an issue, if anyone believes we should have three senior left backs in the squad please do not moan about squad bloat or paying too high wages to squad players ever again.
2) Even if Monreal was fit he wouldnt definitely be on the bench, after all you don’t have one player in each position on the bench, and we could have easily seen Jenkinson on anyway.

For me I would have left Sagna at right back rather than switch two positions, although to an extent I can understand why you wouldn’t want to young players making combination on the left.

We made it to half time at 1-1 with a couple of scares along the way and not much more created going forward.

We started the second half ok, Cazorla on for Oxlade-Chamberlain another injury….Cazorla seemed to help the team retain possession and do a bit more with it but it also unbalanced us, there was no real cover for Sagna on the left side of midfield.

That was until we undid ourselves again, the ball moved far too easily through the midfield leaving Koscielny tracking back to win possession, which he did with ease, clearly playing the ball, it looked good on first viewing it looked better on replays, Taylor and his linesman decided otherwise awarded the penalty and booked Koscielny. Koscielny’s look of disbelief and smile said it all.

Benteke took the spot kick and sent Szczesny the wrong way.

Just six minutes later Taylor decided to put the icing on the cake of one of the worst refereeing performances I have seen by producing a second yellow card for Koscielny, he had hardly touched the Villa man (if at all I haven’t watched a replay) but he made another step before sprawling himself to the floor. Taylor bought it and showed Koscielny the second yellow.

At this point it was game over, if we wanted to get anything from the game anyway, we could have opted to shut up shop and go away with a 2-1 defeat, but instead we tried to find the equaliser, which was always going to leave us wide open at the back.

We went close a couple of times, Rosicky sending one high and wide and another into the body of the Villa keeper. Giroud had a half chance to hit one with his right peg but chose instead to try and bring it back to his left.

Villa took the opportunity to add a third as we had over committed to attack and Szczesny was left 2 on 1 and no chance.

It is hard to deny we are light on numbers, however the only position that would have helped us yesterday would have been defensive midfield, as with (the panic bought) Arteta missing there was too often a big hole in the centre of the park, and I would guess with his presence we would not have conceded so much ground on Villa’s opener. But this comes down to when we want to spend and who we are trying to spend the money on…do we want a Premier League defensive midfielder or a Champions League one? In two weeks time it may be irrelevant, but surely better to wait and buy the best we can get than rush in and buy average, remember no one likes average squad players on good wages.

As I said earlier despite injury to Monreal surely spending on a left back would be frivolous unless we plan to let one go as well. A centre back would be handy at this point, loaning out Miquel seems crazy if we don’t plan to buy big in this area, as I’d prefer a young centre back raised the Arsenal way to another Squillacci.

The same goes for the spear head of our attack.

And now the ref…..where do I start. He allowed Villa to get away with numerous fouls before being booked, the same did not appear to apply to us. He played advantage on their penalty, but rarely have us advantage for innocuous fouls when we had the ball. I can remember two clear occasions, Rosicky fought to turn his man, once he had turned and had taken him out of the game Taylor blew his whistle for the foul to allow Villa to reset, a late foul on Wilshere by their full back in our half, the ball was with Cazorla ready to get moving and Taylor pulled it back and allowed Villa to reset. Garbage,

And then bookings:
Koscielny 2 fouls, 2 bookings
Cazorla 1 foul, 1 booking
Abonglahor 4 fouls (repetitive ankle taps) 1 booking (last one)
Westwood 4 fouls 1 booking (last one)

And then the curse of rotational fouling, we suffered 18 fouls, 8 on Wilshere, targeted? Just a bit! Allowed to get away with it….absolutely….but of course it’s up to Arsenal Football Club to protect Jack for England…do me a favour!!

So what did we learn, well nothing new really we already knew it all, but it makes it harder to judge when all the other footballing gods appear to be against us.

I do know that this coming fortnight is going to be very tough, and we will see signings one way or the other, it’s just a question of what level of player they are.

If anyone wants to rate the players they can, I can’t after that result because I don’t think it would be fair.

Gooner in Exile

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