Why doesn’t Arsene buy? Debunking another Wenger myth.

June 7, 2011

Last week I listened to a number of end of season podcasts. Needless to say the non-Arsenal assessments were damning of the team and in particular the podcasts made by professional journalists.(SkySports, Guardian etc). Almost to a man the journalists blamed Arsenal’s failure on Mr Wenger lack of activity in the transfer market and his reliance on his youth policy.Their reasoning was thus ….

Arsene is scared of buying because his record with big signings is very poor. They cited Reyes, Arshavin and Wiltord as evidence, stating  AW’s fingers were burned by their “failures”. Is this true? It must be if the Chief Football writers of The Guardian, Mail, NOTW, Sun, and Times are to be believed. Judging by the attitude of other journalists, they are in agreement. One of these men actually said that AW lacked “bottle”.

Total cobblers I say. Firstly, let us look at their examples:-

Reyes – cost an initial £10.5m rising to £17m if he achieved certain targets (which he didn’t).  After winning a PL title, and FA Cup  in his two seasons at AFC he was sold for £12m. Probably what we paid for him. A flop? Well, it was true  Reyes didn’t live up to our hopes for him, but hardly a disaster economically.

Wiltord – Club record signing in 2000 at £13m. Scored a goal every 3.5 games for Arsenal. Voted 33rd in the Best AFC Players of all time (madness!!). 2 PL titles and 2 runners-up, 2 FAC winners and one losing finalist. Played 175 games and saw out his contract prior to leaving for Lyon. Was he a success? IMO in a limited way, he rarely showed that he was proud to wear the shirt and was rumoured to be a troublemaker in the dressing-room, but the title winning goal at OT will live long in the memory.  A flop – definitely not.

Arshavin – 9 years after Wiltord, AW broke the record again, signing the Russian for @£16m. By the end of his first season AA was voted the PL most effective player (http://rt.com/news/arshavin-effective-imscouting-england/) . He continues to contribute scoring 10 with 17 assists last season. It is true that we hoped for more from a World Class player, but a flop? Hardly.

Is Mr Wenger’s record in the transfer market any worse than his direct rivals? Has he spent £100m + for players who sit on the bench every week like SAF. Or loaned out players with a value of over £150m because they aren’t good enough for the squad, like Mancini. Look at every Chelsea manager – how many can say they bought well in every case? For every Lampard there is a Shevchenko. And then there is Liverpool …… !

Spending Big money does not directly lead to winning trophies. It just doesn’t. Best teams in Europe this season? Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund – common ground – Youth Policies. Wenger’s reluctance to buy a proven player is primarily because he believes in the need to develop a player in the Arsenal way. As London wrote recently, MU will go down this road as they realise it is the way forward, and so will all the other top teams. This does not preclude signings but the basis of AW teams will always be homegrown.

So what are the journalists talking about? These men are experts, their job is to inform non-experts, their opinions should be valuable and yet they are completely ill-informed. Is this important? Yes it is, because the majority of football fans don’t accept the evidence of their own eyes, they believe what they are told by an increasingly anti-Wenger media.

What do you think, is fear the reason for Mr Wenger’s reluctance to buy?

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Nasri to Captain Arsenal

June 6, 2011

If Cesc Fabregas leaves Arsenal this summer then you should put a tenner on Samir Nasri taking over as captain.

Let’s deal with the ‘if’ first.

There is no guarantee that Cesc will depart, but there are strong hints coming out of the club (and from people connected with the club) that this time he really is going.

Most recently Nigel Winterburn has added his voice to those saying they expect him to leave.

And he apparently bade his farewells to the staff and gave all his team mates a “little gift” as they went their separate ways last month (you know, a DVD of My Left Foot for Robin van Persie, a copy of Humility: The Finest Grace for Nik Bendtner, some Play-Doh for Emmanuel Eboue and a revolver with one bullet in the chamber for Manuel Almunia).

Last year Cesc asked for a move to Barcelona but was persuaded to stay by Arsene Wenger, whom he trusts and respects. I also believe that Cesc is not the type of man to unilaterally break a contract (“doing a Cashley” as it’s known in Brewers Dictionary of Phrase and Fable).

If (when) he moves on, it will only be to Barcelona. Manchester City and Chelsea can dream on and, although Inter may seem like an attractive move, it’s clear Cesc dreams of playing at the club he grew up supporting and where he started his career.

And so to Nasri.

The little Frenchman with the dribbly feet and feisty temperament has one year left on his contract and he’s not afraid to use it.

If he doesn’t re-sign then he knows we have to sell him this summer and, based on his form in the first half of last season, he would not be short of offers. (If potential buyers examine his form in the run-in they may think twice, but I don’t suppose they will).

He apparently gave some quotes after France’s recent international game which suggested he would be open to at least listening to approaches from Manchester United and Manchester City.

So, the first big question facing Arsene and Arsenal is: do we want to keep him?

With Cesc almost certainly going the answer has to be a resounding ‘yes’. Nasri’s form may have dipped in the second half of the campaign, but so did the form of the entire team with the exception of van Persie. Whatever the cause of the late-season malaise that afflicted Arsenal, Samir certainly picked up the virus but it does not mean he is not potentially world class.

Prior to the run-in he was in blistering form and was probably player of the season until Christmas (despite the media’s love-in with the monkey man from N17).

He is also arguably the player best suited to functioning as a direct replacement for Cesc in a 4-3-3 line-up and he has apparently made it known that that is the position in which he wants to play.

IF Cesc leaves then Nasri knows he has a fantastic bargaining position (a) to get a much better financial deal and (b) to insist that he be played in the “Cesc role”. It might well be that his drop-of-the-shoulder, show-a-bit-of-bosom comments to the French press about a potential move to Northern Chavland were a way of applying leverage in the deal negotiations.

Of course it’s also possible that he really does want to leave. Particularly if Cesc moves on, he may be thinking “I’m in a team that can’t seem to win anything; the team’s best player is leaving, which presumably will make it even harder to win things; perhaps I should leave too.”

Footballers have short careers and if they are a top talent like Nasri it’s unreasonable in the modern age to expect club loyalty from them if they think they can be more successful elsewhere.

Unlike we fans, the players still place a huge emphasis on the international game and Nasri might feel his place in the French team will be more certain if he’s playing in a side that’s winning trophies.

Which brings us to the captaincy issue.

What does Arsene Wenger usually do when he has a star player who wants to leave but whom he wants to stay?

That’s right, he improves their deal and offers to make them captain of the team. He did it with Henry and he did it with Fabregas.

In the current circumstances (and, again, IF Cesc goes) it seems almost certain to me that AW will offer the captaincy to Nasri to help persuade him to stay. I suspect he will also guarantee that he can start the season playing centrally in the “Cesc role.”

I would have very mixed feelings about this.

First, I want Nasri to stay so anything that persuades him to do so can’t be all bad. But, second, it would be a disaster to make him captain.

Arsenal of late has been a team crying out for leadership – vocal, old-school leadership of the type best personified by TA6 (with the kind of vocals that are occasionally backed up with a hefty size 12 up the jacksie).

It may be that Nasri has it in him to be that kind of leader and he has just been hiding his light under a bushel. But to me, at least, he isn’t old enough or experienced enough to carry the team forward in the deepest adversity.

Nevertheless, that may well be how we embark on next season’s tilt at four trophies.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

What was Djourou doing?

June 5, 2011

How funny was that, watching England scrape a 2-2 draw against the Swiss yesterday? Dreadful defending by England to give away two free kicks (Scott Parker and Frank Lampard obliged) that were neatly converted when the England centre-backs failed to do their jobs and allowed Switzerland two goals inside 35 minutes. Joe Hart gets a special mention for showing his ‘flappy’ skills.

One of my favourite centrebacks, Johan Djourou, then brings down Jack Wilshere – surely the future of Arsenal and England in the penalty area, and Lampard converts the penalty to make the score 1-2 at half time.

Soon after the re-start Ashley Young brought the scores back level to 2-2.

Our Big Johan wasn’t finished yet though, he earned a yellow card for bringing down Theo Walcott and some say it should have been his 2nd after felling Jack for the penalty. So this guy does know how to be ruthless, he knows that Jack and Theo are real threats and he was willing to snuff them out and take one for the team. He knows they are threats because he sees them in training all week. Or did he take the safe option?

What would we have said if Jack had put Johan’s knee out or Johan had put Theo’s ankle out? It’s a very real risk this International football.

But still, it was very nice to see that Jack really is the future of football in this country, I hope Capello can use him to influence Englands progression to the European Championships. I wouldn’t want him to be part of  two failing teams – now that really wouldn’t be good for the soul.

Written by peachesgooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

My rant about everything Arsenal

June 4, 2011

Last week we published parts one and two of GunnerN5’s rant ……………… here’s part 3.

Heart, Desire, Commitment, Passion, Pride.

Over the years we have been blessed to have players that exhibited many of these characteristics.  I’ve had the privilege of watching many of them both live and on T.V.

Names like;

Mercer, Lewis, D. Compton, Barnes, Forbes, Roper, Neil, Simpson, Storey, Mclintock, Graham, Kennedy, George, Nelson, Sansom, O’Leary, McNab, Brady, Adams, Dixon, Parlour, Winterburn, Bergkamp, Vieira and Van Persie all come to mind. They all had/have huge hearts and most of all – a winning mentality

You may remember others but my intent was to list some, not all, of the players that I remember as being worthy of mention. Sadly enough from our current squad only RVP stands out and this in my belief is the crux of our problem.

Seven are from Arsene’s early years, five of whom he inherited, only Van Persie and Vieira were his personal choices. Vermaelen and Wilshere are both showing the will that is required and could also become leaders.

When I look back on the past few years it has been really frustrating when good to great starts to a season simply evaporate away and leave us in basically the same position as previous seasons.

My contention is that our issue has little to nothing do with the size of our players or the size of our budget but has everything to do with the size of our player’s hearts.

Conditions and circumstances change for every game and we should adjust our game plan to suit the reality. Unfortunately this does occur and we end up at the end of the season wringing our hands in despair. We’ve learned to our detriment that beautiful football does not always equal winning football.

We can play Barca-ball till the cows come home and run around the meadow like little school boys – but us soon as we come up against teams of men who are used to playing in fields full of cow dung we show no heart or desire or commitment or passion and most of all no PRIDE.

We don’t demonstrate the hunger to go the extra step or track back or to make the tough tackle. Boy what I would give to see Adams heart in Arshavin’s body – what a player that would be – and frankly just the type of player(s) that we sorely need.

We never seem to learn from our mistakes……

Which brings to mind a Tommy Cooper joke.

He said doctor, “I’ve hurt my arm in several places”

The doctor said “well don’t go back to those places”“

In the end my question is “can players be taught these characteristics, or are they a part of ones DNA”?

End of part 3 of rant…

Written by GunnerN5

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

6% you’re really quite fair …………

June 3, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

Football fans are an interesting breed, we tend to be very introspective and look after our own backyard without looking at the bigger picture that surrounds us. The 6% increase has been met with calls for the Board to spend it, and that fans are being priced out of the game.

The rise has also met with comparisons to Manchester United and how they won the league yet charge a lot less for tickets, despite the obvious fact they would get a reduced crowd if they charged more, its an expensive trip from Surrey to add on to a ticket price and there is also the small fact that they do not occupy an area with the best local economy.

This season I have paid £35 for a restricted view (about 5 rows back from a pillar) at Goodison Park, £33 for a seat in Birmingham and £25 for a seat at the JJB. A varied range of prices but as we all know away fans are never given the cheap home seats, to really measure ticket prices at the Emirates we have to compare them to our London neighbours.

Therefore I have looked at Chelsea, Spurs and West Ham prices to gauge whether we are fairly treated or otherwise as fans. Chelsea have already published their 2011/12 prices, West Ham, Arsenal or Spurs have not. It is much harder to compare Season Tickets as some include cup games, some don’t and some don’t include cup games but you are charged when the game arises whether you go or not. West Ham will be irrelevant next year as they have announced a decrease due to slipping out of the Premier League.

First off lets look at the top and bottom price tickets in all stadiums for all clubs. I have only compared standard Adult ticket prices for the Premier League (Chelsea operate a different pricing structure for all rounds of CL and Domestic Cups). All teams operate a grading system to charge fans. (For the sake of these tables I have added 6.5% on to Arsenal’s 2010/11 prices)

Clearly there is not much difference between the prices, also Chelsea’s cheapest ticket is for a Family Enclosure section, the next cheapest ticket is £47 for Cat B, and £51 for Cat A.

Now there is the question of whether we have more or less Cat A games than the others.

Assuming nothing changes next year and West Ham are replaced with QPR by the other London clubs Arsenal fans get to see more games at the Cat B prices than both Chelsea and Spurs.

Now the final question is the quantity of tickets at these lower prices, as I mentioned above the Chelsea cheap seats are very limited. Also despite Arsenal charging a higher amount in the top tiers there is rather a large section of cheap prices.

When looking at the London clubs it would seem fair to exercise a cut off of £40 as being a reasonably cheap admission price. These only occur in Cat B matches or lower so that is where this comparison is based.

Look how many more fans get to see games at the Emirates for less than £40 than at our local rivals.

If the Arsenal board were unscrupulous they could probably add £10 on to every seat price  and still have a full stadium, after all football supporting is an affliction not a choice and none of us are going to choose to go to Spurs or Chelsea if they were cheaper, but the simple fact is us Arsenal fans don’t get too bad a deal when it comes to ticket prices and availability.

Like I said 6% you’re really quite fair.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Whatever happened to a boy called Wellington?

June 2, 2011

Written by WiganGooner

As with all Football Clubs, Arsenal send their scouts all over the world looking for top, top talent. Just a few of the Nationalities at Arsenal are of course French, Spanish, Swiss, Belgian, Russian, Dutch, Argentinian, Brazilian, English, Welsh, Polish, Bolivian – the list goes on.

The thorn in the side of the Premier League comes when attempting to secure talent from outside of the EU. Law in the United Kingdom states that Non-EU Nationals seeking gainful employment in the UK require a Work Permit and of course a Visa.

The criteria for a Work Permit which will also provide a Governing Body Endorsement (critical for the Visa) are as follows;

  1. A player must have played for his country in at least 75% of its competitive “A” team matches he was available for selection, during the 2 years preceding the date of the application;
  2.  The player’s country must be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA World Rankings when averaged over the 2 years preceding the date of the application; and
  3. The application for a GBE must be made by a club in membership of the Premier League or Football League and the player will only play for clubs in membership of those leagues’ competitive matches. The definition of a competitive ‘A’ team international match is a:
    – World Cup Finals game
    – World Cup Qualifying group game; and
    – Football Association Confederation game, for example:
    – The FIFA Confederations Cup;
    – The UEFA European Championships and Qualifiers;
    – The African Cup of Nations and Qualifiers;
    – The Asia Nations Cup and Qualifiers;
    – The CONCACAF Gold Cup;
    – The CONCACAF The Copa Caribe;
    – The CONMEBOL Copa America;
    – The OFC Nations Cup and
    – The UNCAF Nations Cup

Please note none of the above tournaments include youth teams such as Under 21’s, 19’s., 16’s etc.

So you see, it really isn’t that simple to qualify naturally for a Work Permit. Young talent rarely meets the requirements as set above. Clubs like Arsenal are given three choices; 1) Apply for an “Exceptional Talent Visa” – the likes of which are also given to top Doctors and Scientists, 2) Send the players to a EU country where the Immigration laws are less strict (Belgium, Spain) or 3) Stop scouting kids that will not qualify straight away.

Option 3 isn’t really a workable option, it seems our Immigration is woolly at best and even gave indications that Wellington would be accepted for a Exceptional Talent visa before refusing it.

Arsenal use Option 2 a lot, with the likes of Vela (though he is back now), Botelho, Gallindo and Wellington out across Spain in an attempt to gain time in that EU Country to then qualify for dual-citizenship as an EU National.

This is where Wellington finds himself at the moment. He is registered on loan with Levante in Spain and has struggled to make any kind of impact whatsoever this season. Reports of him being out of shape, struggling with diet, showing a lack of discipline in training etc are flooding out of Spain’s less reliable sources.

It is worth pointing out Vela had similar negative accusations, as did Botelho. Botelho’s stemmed from a rather unfortunate relationship with the daughter of the Chief Exec at Celta, Vela’s about mentality and work-rate.

I hope Wellington is able to get the Exceptional Talent Visa, I think he would be more at ease at London Colney where he can see his path to the Arsenal first team. Certainly I feel for the boy, dragged from his country and family and plonked in a new culture, new club and he just isn’t getting game time.

Levante have said to the media that he is on course to meet Arsenal’s requirements and that it’s not just about him playing games but about acclimatising to a bigger club, a different culture and a different mentality to training and preparation.

All this just to gain an exceptionally talented player who might turn out to be the next Ronaldo, Messi etc.

For the sake of the boy, I really hope it is worth it.
WG

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Early days, but how does Arsenal compare to our nearest competitors in the PL for next season?

June 1, 2011

Written by TotalArsenal

In the first TotalArsenal post for ‘ArsenalArsenal’, I focussed on the position of our manager and came to the conclusion we should let him complete his mission to turn us once again into the top team we all crave for. In the second TotalArsenal post, I focussed on the positives within our, young and quickly developing squad and why there is plenty to be upbeat about for next season. In this post, I will make a comparison between us and our competitors by focussing on the key areas of: squad, manager, transfer potential, and previous success/confidence levels. The comparisons below are of course not the pinnacle of scientific analysis, but should help to start a good debate about where we are compared to our competitors at this ‘early stage of the new season’.

 Manchester United

Squad: New goalkeeper required and doubts about Ferdinand and RB position. Centre of midfield is also an issue. They have strong attacking options with some dependency on (injury prone) Rooney as the ‘main man’.

Manager: Safe pair of hands (health permitting), with success both in the past and most recently.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium to good. Decent funds are available and they have a medium to high attractiveness to foreign and British players.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won the PL, but doubts about away form (only won 5 games). They have a fantastic home form which is likely to continue next season. Confidence will be medium to high.

Candidate to win PL title?  Strong candidate to win title again, but squad needs further investment and changes will have to be successfully embedded. Away form needs to improve drastically.

Chelsea

Squad: Mature squad with strength in all areas, with the exception of creative central midfielders. Are former key players past their best (Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Essien)? Might need rejuvenating, which would take time to embed.

Manager: To be recruited. He will start with a clean sheet, but will need time to settle in, for which he will not have very long.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Good to great, depending on Abramovic’s desperation to splash the cash once again. Not all top players consider Chelsea as a ‘top club’.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing, but became 2nd in PL. Confidence is relatively low and new manager will have to do a big job in making the players believe they can win the major trophies.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium to strong candidate to win the title. Even when some top players are added to team, it might take time for the new manager to integrate them all into the team, and put his stamp on it.

Manchester City

Squad: Large squad with potential, but not yet top class. Likely to lose their talisman Tevez who will be difficult to replace. Strength in depth though with a good average age.

Manager: Made enough progress this season to be given another year. Jury’s still out though. They have had some decent recent successes to build on further, but Mancini will feel the pressure this season more than ever.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium to good. Endless funds, but struggling to attract top-top quality players, but qualification for CL might change this.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Enough success (3rd place & FA cup) to build up their confidence for next season. The next step for MC will be a lot bigger though, and expectations will be a lot higher next season.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium candidate. They will buy more players but has Mancini what it takes to make the final step up? Expectations will be high and the pressure will be more intense then ever for them.

Liverpool

Squad: Good squad with a possible need for more strength in depth (especially in defence).

Manager: Can he do it again after such a long absence in top management? Made great impact on team this season, but there was relatively little pressure on him.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium. New American owners are not regarded as big-big spenders. Liverpool has no CL so might find it difficult to attract top-top talent.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing, but had a good recovery and beat comprehensively both Chelsea and MU in recent months. Expectations will be high in Merseyside and they have it all to prove.

Candidate to win PL title? Low to medium candidate. Expectations will be high, but will they attract the right calibre of players, and has Dalglish what it takes to guide them to the title?

Tottenham Hotspur

Squad: Medium to good squad with some strength in depth, although question remains whether they have enough quality throughout the key areas.

Manager: Seems to over-deliver at small stage but under-deliver at the big one. The team has stagnated this year under his leadership (despite some success in CL).

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Low to medium. No CL will make it difficult to attract top players and funds are not at top-level either.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing but did relatively well in CL on which they can build confidence.

Candidate to win PL title? Low. Seem a long way off to come anywhere near winning the PL and do not seem to have the funds to attract new quality players.

Arsenal

Squad: Good squad now that TV and Rambo have returned. We need to invest though in our strength of depth and to add some experience, both in defence and in attack (winger).

Manager: Safe pair of hands with successes in the past but not recently. Has been rebuilding the squad but team is struggling to make the final step to success under his leadership. Wenger will be under a lot of pressure again next season.

Transfer Potential (available cash & attractiveness): Medium. Funds should be better than previous seasons and Arsenal remain an attractive team for good-to-top players.

Success in last season & confidence levels: Won nothing and then there were the disastrous final month of last season, which have harmed confidence levels of the team. Wenger and coaching staff have a big job to do in preparing us mentally for next season.

Candidate to win PL title? Medium to strong. The basics are in place with a talented squad that keeps improving. The squad is expected to be strengthened with a few new additions, but expectations will be high and confidence will remain brittle until we win something. 

I have translated the above comparisons into a points table (1-5: 1 = low and 5 = high):

 

Team Squad Manager Transfer Potential Success & confidence Total
MU 4 5 3 4 16
Chelsea 4 2 4 2 12
MC 3 2 4 3 12
Liverpool 3 3 2 1 09
Spurs 3 2 2 2 09
Arsenal 4 4 3 2 13

 

To me the table shows we are in a decent-to-good position compared to our competitors at this stage of the season. Once again, MU will be our strongest competitor, but Chelsea and MC are equal threats. If we can get a few quality additions to the team, and Wenger and his staff can rebuild our brittle confidence levels again over the summer, we will be competing again for next year’s PL title.

 

TotalArsenal, 30 May 2011.

 

 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

What’s Arsène worth? – Debunking an Arsène Wenger Myth.

May 31, 2011

How many times do we read of the size of Mr Wenger’s wage packet? Some have said that our leader benefits from the profitability of the club which they proclaim accounts for his penchant to buy small and his insistence of selling big. Thankfully, this nonsense has been rebutted and rarely raises it’s ugly head, even in the most anti-AW sites.

We know that Mr Wenger is paid £6m a year. A huge wage. Is he deserving of it? Does this affect his performance insomuch as he is guaranteed his wage whether the team performs or not? What is your opinion?

Here is mine. Let us assume that Arsène has been earning an average of  £3m a year throughout his AFC tenure (probably conservative). 13 years adds up to almost £40m. Take away a lump in tax, say 50% = £20m in cash, in the bank. This is without the inevitable increases a man of his financial abilities will promote. Furthermore, a few years as Head Coach in a League winning Monaco team and a couple of years in the highly paid J League  – both of which were tax-free – would mean he was a wealthy man even prior to his AFC calling.

In other words, this is a man with a probable bank balance of in excess of £25m. A rich man, no let me amend that, an enormously rich man.

What would you do if you were 61 years old and had more money than you could ever spend? Would you go through the frustrations of trying to satisfy an insatiable Arsenal fanbase? Would you take the insults aimed at you from the blogs and terraces? Or would you say, “Enough. It is pipe and slippers time”?

My point is that it is totally irrelevant how much AW earns at the moment. It has no impact whatsoever upon his efficiency as Arsenal manager. He does it because he loves AFC and believes he is the best man for the job.

In my opinion, to suggest that Mr Wenger stays at Arsenal for the money is a nonsense, but if you know better …………

 

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

What should Arsenal fans realistically expect us to achieve next season?

May 30, 2011

Today is going to be a very slow news day on the blogosphere. The transfer rumours are only just gaining momentum and most expect Arsenal to either take second pickings behind the big spenders or to sign players who would not be targets for other top clubs.

Following on from yesterday’s debate, I thought it would be interesting to have a benchmark at this point to refer back to at the end of the summer, or at the same time next season.

The question I would ask is…. “What should Arsenal fans realistically expect us to achieve next season?”

Our happiness or disappointment is simply a measure of how the outcome compares to our own individual expectation.

For Arsenal to have progressed next year I would expect the following:

1. Top 3 in the Premiership

2. Top of our group in the CL and reach the quarter finals

3. To win a cup competition if we choose to put out our strongest side

4. To have shored up the defence

5. To have a strong finish to the season

These are just talking points, but it would be interesting to see how the expectations of the ‘cup half full’ers’ compare to those branded as being half empty. Paradoxically, the level of expectation is likely to be inversely proportional to the level of optimism.

What would be the least you would be happy with as an Arsenal fan at this time next year?

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Posted by Rasp

Man Utd Flops Show That Arsenal Can Dominate English Football

May 29, 2011

If you ask Pep Guardiola which team were his most difficult opponents en route to winning the Champions League, I can guarantee that his answer won’t be Manchester United.

It will, of course, be Arsenal.

In yesterday’s final at Wembley, United were clueless and gutless.

They scored with practically their only attempt on goal and for the rest of the game were chasing shadows. In the final half an hour it was clear that they had given up. They had been beaten on the pitch and beaten in their heads. It was almost embarrassing to watch their lame capitulation.

If the referee had been the same card-happy Swiss dipstick that we got for the second leg in the Nou Camp they would also have been down to 10 men long before the end.

Rooney blustered around the place with his familiar “you spilt my pint” expression. He took his goal well but otherwise was completely ineffectual. If he’s the best that English football has to offer it’s no wonder we’re so bad in international tournaments. He’d be lucky to make the bench for Barcelona.

Valencia might as well have been IN Valencia for all the good he did, Giggs looked more superannuated than super injuncted, Carrick and Park spent the game chasing shadows and I had to check the team sheet to be sure that Hernandez was playing.

The fact that Vidic and Van der Saar had good games was all that kept the score respectable.

And as for Evra… well, watching it in North America, there was a great moment towards the end of the game when the Fox Channel co-commentator said: “It’s men against boys.” (Evra, you’ll remember, made the same gloating comment about us last season).

When the cameras cut away to the claret conked Caledonian after the third Barca goal he looked as utterly defeated as I’ve seen him since the Invincibles used to dish out regular drubbings to his teams. He knew there was no chance of repeating the flukey 1999 win this time round: for one thing he could see that his players had no fight in them.

From an Arsenal point of view it just made me angry.

This is a very ordinary United side and certainly the weakest English champions for a very long time. If Arsenal had had a little more maturity and composure this season we would have won the league at a canter.

Contrast yesterday’s game with our recent matches against Barcelona.

This season we deservedly beat them 2-1 at The Grove. And at the Nou Camp we were well on the way to knocking them out until the aforementioned Swiss conehead sent off Robin van Persie in what looked then and still looks now like a premeditated act of vindictiveness or corruption.

Up until then Barca had hardly had a clean chance on goal. And even after the sending-off we were only one Bendtner touch away from putting them out of the competition. With only 10 men. In the Nou Camp.

At the final whistle Guardiola looked as relieved as you’ll ever see him.

Last season they absolutely outplayed us in the first half at The Grove, but unlike United we didn’t give up. We came back at them like tigers in the second half and earned a 2-2 draw from 0-2 down. We were well beaten in the second leg because we were bereft of half the first team through injury.

So – and I apologise for the delay – it’s time to return to the message of my headline: how the United defeat yesterday offers hope for Arsenal.

In the Arsenal Arsenal comments after the game I noticed this statement from TotalArsenal: “I reckon that over the next few years only Arsenal(‘s style of football) will have a serious chance to beat Barca in the CL. Come on Arsène, buy us a few decent players and we can do it!”

I have no great love for Barcelona. They tarnish their brilliant footballing reputation with cheating, diving and simulation. But they play a brand of football which is quite mesmerising.

It also feels absolutely modern, a turn-of-the-wheel in how the game should be played (and yes, I know its roots go back to Total Football and beyond to the great Brazil side of 1970). United’s play, by contrast, looked unsophisticated and old-fashioned.

I agree with TotalArsenal: In the EPL only Arsenal have a footballing philosophy that can hope to match the Catalans.

Which is why there are grounds for optimism for Arsenal. Our end of season collapse was pretty dreadful, but I don’t buy the argument that it was our system that made it happen. In fact it was our system that got us to a point at the end of February where we were in a cup final, we had beaten Barcelona, we were still in the FA Cup and we had a serious chance of snatching the league title.

What happened subsequently was, in my opinion, about a lack of maturity among the team in general and about a lack of quality in some of the players. Both these failings can be put right by letting some players go and by bringing in some more experienced personnel. Arsene Wenger has said that he will be doing both these things this summer.

Arsene’s experiment is not just about trying to win things with young players. It is also about trying to win things with a Barcelona style of play. This season I believe he has finally realised that the existing squad can’t quite pull it off, but his response will be to create a squad that can do it. And he’s right to try and do so.

I expect more up-and-coming coaches to start to emulate Barcelona’s style. This is the new wave and we need to surf it or get left behind in the doldrums, which is exactly where United are heading.

There is considerable talk of us slipping out of the top four next year. Some of our more negative supporters even have us finishing mid table.

But they’re wrong. I firmly expect us to come much, much closer to being champions next season than we have done for six years. I believe we will dominate the league with the same, modern style of play that has led Barcelona to dominate Europe. And then we’ll beat them too.

Saying that you trust Arsene these days is exposing yourself to ridicule from many quarters. I don’t care. I do trust him, and I will enjoy the humble pie that his critics will be eating this time next year.

RockyLives

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