Once More unto the Breach, Dear Friends ….

February 16, 2011

Should the unthinkable happen and United go on to win the PL, what will we say? I will tell you, we will say that the best team in England are not the Champions, because without any question this Arsenal team are the best in the country. 4 points behind but 5 years ahead in terms of footballing ability. If any team in Europe can beat an in-form Barcelona it is an in-form Arsenal.

And you doubters, think on this – last season we went to the Nou Camp level after 90 minutes. True, we got steam-rollered in the first half at THOF but more than held our own in the second.  Then we went to Barca without …  Cesc, Gallas, RvP, Arshavin and Song. Take the 5 most influential players out of the Barca team and see how well they do against a full strength Arsenal. And let us not forget, we scored first.  That night we had Silvestre playing at CB,  Eastmond, Merida, Campbell and Traore on the bench!!.

But what do we hear? We hear that AFC received a football lesson in Spain.  Well, tonight Barca will be playing almost our first XI, and I expect things to be different. Had Nasri been fully-fit, Sagna and Vermælen available we could compare like with like,  as it is we will have to beat them with Eboue.

The loss of Sagna (a dreadful decision from a dreadful referee) may well prove costly. I have made my opinion clear about Eboue, he is not good enough, and I fear for him tonight. Defensive discipline is a must and unfortunately our Ivorian has lapses of concentration. I would love for Eboue to prove me wrong but if I was Guardiola, I would target him. The combination of Messi and Alves cause trouble for the very best – both Eboue and Walcott will need total concentration.

What  a mouth-watering battle we have in midfield tonight. The emergence of Wilshere has propelled Fabregas to a higher level. Who needs Iniesta and Xavi when we have two players who are as good and are a combined 15 years younger?  Song has become the Premiership’s best defensive midfielder with the ability to create as well as tackle. And then there is Nasri, our will o’ the wisp, a man who can bamboozle any defence. Should he not play, Arshavin is returning to his devastating best and will be hungry to show the world that he remains World class. We know that Busquets is a fine player – he forced Yaya out of Barca – but Jack will have him running and tackling air. Will Mascherano or Keita play? We know all about Mascherano, a super player and  well used to playing Arsenal. I hope he is on the bench!

Then there is the form of our attack. Both Van Persie and Walcott are in fine fettle. Robin is in the best form of his life and looks unplayable, whereas Walcott has already shown Barca that his pace can and will cause them problems. An ageing Abidal should be targeted by both Nasri and Walcott, he remains a fine player but has lost a yard of pace, and by playing down the left we will force Pedro to stay and cover.

No defence can realistically stop Messi, Villa, Pedro etc. but the central pairing of Djourou and Koscielny are developing into a fine unit. They have pace and power and neither seems to panic under pressure. Djourou in particular has been a revelation – we all know that the 2 points gifted to Newcastle were as a direct result of JD leaving the field. Barca defend from the front with the strikers working the defence and stopping an easy out-ball, thankfully both JD and Kos are comfortable with the ball at their feet. Clichy will have to be alert and contribute to a secure defensive performance.

What a night for Szczezny! Still using stabilisers on his bicycle and yet playing against what is being heralded as the best football team of all-time. How will he cope? Indications are that he will be calmness personified, but who knows? It is a huge test. Fabianski wilted under pressure in the Champions League and it took him a year to recover.  It’s testament to the Other Pole in Goal that there is no talk about our goalkeeping frailties.

My team:

Bench: Almunia  Bendnter Denilson  Squillaci  Arshavin/Nasri  Rosicky  Gibbs

What makes this game such an exciting prospect is that we are playing a team like ours, a team that has one way of playing –  quick on-the-ground football, fast feet and faster imaginations, elegance and brilliance allied with pace and power …. proper entertaining football. It is easy to wax lyrical about Barca, their demolition of Real Madrid was the stuff of legend and will live long in the memory. They are fantastic in every position and have (possibly) for the first time ever, the top 3 players in the world playing in the same team, in fact Barca have 6 players in the World Team of the Year.

There has been much defeatist talk over the ‘net about the prudence of losing to Barca and concentrating on the League.  Many say that the Champions League may be a step too far, and that the prospect of fighting on four fronts is asking too much of our young team.  Nay, Nay, thrice Nay and absolutely not, this is a hugely important game in the ascent of our team to World Domination. We have to show the world we have the nuts to go on and win a major trophy, and if we can win one, why not four? 🙂

This is one of those nights when I am gutted to live 1000 kms from the Grove. Tonight the team need their 12th man and it is up to each and every one of you lucky people who have tickets to roar the lads onto victory. No lapses, just 90 lung-bursting and throat rasping minutes of vocal encouragement.

Come on You Rip Roaring Gunners

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

White hankies and lacklustre support- Let’s not turn into Barca fans

February 15, 2011

Written by CarlitoII

On the eve of THE rematch, I wanted to share my experience of living in the beautiful city of Barcelona. I moved  there (permanently in my mind) 3 days after 9/11. I fell in love with the City, Las Ramblas, the fantastic area of Gracia where we lived, and the relaxed and welcoming Spanish/ Catalan lifestyle.

Needless to say, I met a lot of Barcelona fans during my 18 month sojourn in their fair city and the discussions I had with them led me to be very disappointed in their fan culture. Admittedly, this was during the days of Van Gaal at Barcelona, and the era of Zidane, Raul and McManaman at Real Madrid. Nonetheless, it seemed to me that there was a vast discrepancy between how I thought of myself as an Arsenal fan, and how they saw themselves as Barca fans.

I find it hard to recall specific games, but it slowly dawned on me that the supporters I met would rather lose playing great football. In protest at the pragmatic tactics of the dour Dutchman, the masses waved white hankies around the ground, walked out when their team went behind and constantly complained about what the man said in the press and his lack of charisma. Being a young man who had supported Arsenal throughout the Graham years, I could not understand the fans’ complicity in their own downfall.

The great history of the club was explained to me: the amazing resistance to Franco that meant the stadium was the only place in the whole of Spain where you could speak Catalan without fear, the amazing football of the 70s with Cruyff, the Cruyff-led “dream team” that won the European Cup at Wembley and the tradition of swashbuckling football that was always, first and foremost, an expression of anarchist resistance to the Fascist regime of Franco. All themes I could warm to, yet the reality was a spoilt football public that would not sing unless winning with style and constantly sniped at their players and coaching staff.

I was unimpressed. Moreover, Arsenal were playing the best football I had ever seen us play and that Summer we won the double and won the league at Old Trafford which I watched at a great Irish pub near the Sagrada Familia. There was no comparison. At Highbury I knew that if we went 1-0 down we would not throw in the towel and signal our surrender as the white hankies demonstrated, we would sing up and urge our team on. In fact, I characterised the crowd at Camp Nou as Tottenham fans- forever in thrall to past glories, getting on their team’s back and dragging them down.

Now Barcelona were not a bad team in those days. They had Kluivert on top form, Saviola looked like he was going to be top drawer and with Overmars, DeBoer  and Rivaldo there was no doubting they were a force. But they couldn’t match Real Madrid at home (they went out to them in Europe too) and they didn’t play with enough panache for their demanding ‘socios’. I didn’t even want to go to Camp Nou, I was disgusted by the sniping and what I felt was a lack of support for their team. Angry and drunk one night, I asked, “Do you only support when the team plays well?” How they laughed at the young Englishman with his lack of class and his broken Spanish!

10 years later I find that my own team has now acquired a similar attitude from its fanbase. “We’ll sing when you play well enough” seems at times to be the dominant theme on the blogs and from the fans. I thought when I lived in Barcelona that Arsenal fans would forever be superior, would never question the club or the team as long as they played their hearts out and we sang our hearts out.

But it seems that success is a double-edged sword and despite Barcelona coming through their malaise to become the greatest football team I have ever seen play the game, their fans no longer know what it is to support their team through thick and thin, they are merely connoisseurs of great football and I hope with all my heart that even if we one day become as great a team as they are, we never fail to support our team when the going gets tough.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Same Old Arsenal, Always Cheating

February 14, 2011

After a fine win and an excellent performance on Saturday you would have to be of a churlish disposition to find any negatives.

So here I am, Churl-in-chief, primed and ready for a bit of top churling.

It amounts to this: I have one complaint about our lads.

It’s not the wayward finishing (although if some of our forwards were tasked with clubbing baby seals, my money would be on the cuddly little blubber-buckets to emerge injury-free).

Nor is it the tendency to always look like we might give the opposition a chance to get back in the game no matter how much we’re battering them.

No, my beef is with our players’ behaviour when they foul and are fouled.

We’re all familiar with the moronic baying of ‘same old Arsenal, always cheating’ whenever one of our team goes down under an attempted leg-breaker or, conversely, whenever an opponent is left on the floor after an Arsenal tackle.

Make no mistake, the label has stuck.

From the Mensa-dodging nouveaux-riches of West London to the barcoded disappointment-junkies of the far North East; from the Unconvincibles of Old Toilet to the Inconsequentials of N17 there is a veritable chavscape of received opinion that Arsenal players really do cheat.

But it’s clear from recent games that the problem with our team is that THEY DO NOT CHEAT ENOUGH.

That is the great irony: the team reviled the length and breadth of the land as cheats is actually more honest than just about any of its opponents,

There was a classic example in the Wolves game. The Mighty Zubar (I’m sure he used to be a character in Dan Dare when I was a kid) executed a studs-up challenge into Robin van Persie’s knee. I happen to think it wasn’t particularly malicious but was, rather, a cack-handed attempt to get the ball. However, it was rash and dangerous and certainly deserving of a yellow.

On impact, Robin was spun in the air and crumpled to the ground. And here’s where Zubar was clever. Knowing that he had just made a cert yellow card tackle (and possibly even a red card one) he crumpled to the ground too, mysteriously clutching his shoulder. It was enough to confuse the referee, Chris Foy, who did not penalise Zubar.

We saw the same thing the week before at Newcastle. Joey Barton, one of the modern game’s most noted thugs, turned out to have a brilliant line in rolling around on the floor whenever he went in for tackle with one of our players. From macho man to milkshake man in a heartbeat.

In that game the truly awful Phil Dowd bought it every time. Probably the worst example was the free kick given against Rosicky that led (indirectly) to Newcastle’s fourth goal. He and Barton jumped together half-heartedly, neither really touching the other. Rosicky stayed on his feet but Barton went to ground. Cue the man from Dowd Cuckoo Land: free kick, goal, two points lost.

Similar examples were littered throughout that entire game, particularly in the second half.

And during Saturday’s Wolves game there were several occasions where we were penalised for fairly winning tackles, just because the opponent went to ground and feigned injury.

Foy’s criterion for giving a free kick seemed to be no more sophisticated than “he fell over, must have been a foul.”

At the same time there were other moments where our players took whacks to the head or boots to the calf but did not collapse in agony. Our lot seldom do that – if anything they simply tend to stay on their feet and look a bit affronted.

Many people observed that against Newcastle, if Diaby had rolled around in agony after the Barton challenge he would probably have got the little toe-rag a yellow. But Abou didn’t do that because, although he knew the tackle had been a potential leg breaker, he wasn’t actually that badly hurt. He was too honest to pretend he was in severe pain. Instead he got up, tickled Barton’s neck and the rest is history.

Earlier in the same game, Arshavin also hopped straight up after another appalling Barton challenge from behind. (Mind you, Arshavin never shows he’s hurt: that tiny frame carries all the suffering of Mother Russia in its soul, so the odd smack in the mouth or boot up the arse is neither here nor there).

On one level I applaud our players for their honesty. One demented Ivorian aside, I can’t think of any Arsenal player who regularly feigns injury, whereas our opponents are doing it in every game and are winning free kicks for it, as well as getting our players carded.

Maybe it’s time we dished out a bit of their own medicine to them. I don’t mean we should pretend to be fouled when there’s been no contact, but when there is a bad challenge we should stay down and make it clear to the ref that it was dangerous. It won’t always work (Robin was clearly hurt by Zubar but Foy missed it) but if it works half the time that’s more free kicks for us and fewer for whomever we’re playing.

And when our players mistime their challenges and catch the opponent instead, let’s take a leaf out of Zubar’s book and go down as well.

The sad truth is that, with the standard of officiating in the EPL today, playing fair just gets you shafted.

That’s it. Churling over.

Now let’s go and win the League (and if, to do so, we have to sometimes be less than angels, that’s OK with me).

RockyLives

Be a Gooner, Be a Giver

One of our young gooners has signed up to do the Fun Run for Arsenal’s chosen charity Centrepoint and it would be fantastic if any of you felt you wanted to support her and the charity by donating on her giving page.

The Fun Run will take place at the Emirates stadium on the 19th March 2011. Centrepoint do such good work for homeless young people in London and Arsenal are hoping to raise £500,000 this season to help fund the refurbishment of a facility in Soho.

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Posted by RockyLives

Arsenal stay focused – bring on Barcelona

February 13, 2011

Sometimes the results of the teams around us go for us, sometimes they go against us and sometimes we just win our game playing fabulous football and I end up feeling that it doesn’t matter what everyone else does because watching us win is the most important part.

Yesterday we needed Man City to take points off of the other Manchester team which didn’t happen so we’re still 4 points behind them in second place and although it doesn’t matter a jot what happens to spuds, its always a better weekend when they lose, that didn’t happen either.

.

Here are some of the things you wouldn’t have known from the 5 minutes granted to us on MOTD.

Some, actually all, of the interplay between Cesc and Jack was magical, they were able to find each other and weave their amazing skills into this game in a way that Arsene could only have dreamt was possible. We saw Cesc’s ability to do this with Flamini and also when Arshavin arrived but his connection with Jack seems to be on another level. How stupid is Capello to want to sit Jack in front of an England back four? He has magic feet and plays so intelligently, shielding the ball, finding the pass. Shearer said that Jack is a proper footballer, well bloody right too, amazing to think he’s only 19.

Our golden-topped Alex Song was everywhere and showed how much we missed him last weekend against Newcastle. There was double-tagging going on to win the ball back and Alex was in the middle of everything. I’m really looking forward to watching him break up play aginst Barca.

Theo got himself into some terrific goal-scoring positions and had three shots all saved by Hennessy who had a great game against us. Arshavin was running his little legs off and I felt that he had definitely turned the corner and was able to have more influence on the game. Theo, Arshavin and Robin did a fair amount of switching positions in the first half which caused confusion for the opposition and I’m hoping to see more of that on Wednesday night.

Djourou slotted straight back where he left off after hobbling off against Everton and his strong head cleared everything that came his way. A great performance again from him and Kosser.

This was a largely stress free afternoon of football, which was surprising considering it followed last weeks disaster at St. James’ Park. The team was the strongest that AW could put out with only Nasri missing. The return of Song and Djourou put smiles on many gooners faces and although everyone needed to be fit for the visit of Barcelona on Wednesday is was very strong team that set up against Wolves.

It was interesting to see Arsene answer questions about the title race. Usually he would say ‘yes, we are still in with a chance’ or ‘it is very open’ but yesterday he was a bit coy, as if his little dream of winning the title might actually come to fruition.

We’re in a great place and on a day when minds might have been wandering to Wednesday nights game what we saw was a team focussed on winning the game they were playing. Mick McCarthy said his team were spanked – Oh happy days, love being Gooner.

Written by peachesgooner

Player ratings by charybdis1966

Chesney – 9, virtually nothing he did was done badly, i especially liked the forceful punch in the first half where he got some distance in a way Almunia never could/would.

Bac – 8, nothing to find fault with,mopped up everything that came his way and got forward with menace and showed he has a terrific engine.

Kozzer – 9, intelligent interceptions and flawless timing of his tackles.

Johan – 8, imperious in the air and composed on the ball although his aversion to hoofing it clear shows and a few times we conceded corners(not always rightly) where he tried to shepherd the ball out.

Clichy – 8, I heard he gave away a few balls in our area later on in the second half but as it was at the opposite end of the ground I, in the manner of Le Boss “didn’t see it so I can’t comment” however a solid performance.

Jack – 9, what a player, patrols the midfield with the grace and power of £30m player but is only 19.

Cesc – 8, the type of world class performance we’ve come to expect from our skipper. Pulled the strings and seemed to have more time on the ball than anyone else.

Song – 8, provided strength and backbone to our midfield. He’ll be vital to our season run in.

Theo – 7, got frustrated with his attempts on goal and perhaps went into his shell later, but his pace frightened the chubby left full back all afternoon.

The Arsh – 7.5, like Theo not everything he tried came off but still showed why is so highly rated by rational commentators, the crowd was buzzing with expectation whenever he got the ball.

The Boy Wonder – 8, took his two goals with clinical precision, gave us an injury scare and gave us a free kick that went close and one that was miles off – a typical Robin performance in other words !

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

The title race …. will Arsenal wait on amber or go on green?

February 12, 2011

Nothing repeat nothing in football would make me happier than for Arsenal to win the title this season, if one could add the relegation of a Mick McCarthy team life would be even more rosy. Add in  the relegation of a Pulis team and my cup would runneth over (is that a naughty expression?)

Like millions of Gooners I was down-hearted at 5 p.m. last Saturday, despairing of my flimsy team and the imbecility of 3 men in black whom I wouldn’t trust to referee a park 5 -a-side. Who would have thought Wolves would cheer us up? Bottom of the table, managed by a Cro-Magnon man (just check his forehead) and playing a team who were unbeaten – no-one could have envisioned the result (though those with hindsight would point out Wolves fine record against the top sides).

Wolves last 3 victories were against MU, Chelsea and Liverpool – this is going to be no comfortable stroll, but if we are to confirm our pretensions to be Champions this game is a must win. No silly mistakes, no retaliation to what will surely be a very physical battle, and above all no drops in application or vitality. Hopefully last week’s lapse is a thing of the past and not a harbinger of a sad end to our season.

McCarthy is “bigging up” Jamie O ‘Hara saying he will have a major influence upon the game. Get a Grip man! This is a player who couldn’t get into the first team of Harry’s Muppets. That said, I expect us to go into the game with a weakened midfield, so perhaps MM will be right.

Diaby’s reaction last week undid the fine work he put in during the first half (despite the lengthy discussion on AA I still believe he cost us the 2 points). It is a shame as he played well for France midweek and today would certainly have started, instead I expect to see Denilson start. Song is just returning from a muscle injury and with Barca midweek he will surely be rested. Same with Nasri and JD.  Had Sagna not been banned for the midweek game I would have rested him but knowing that Messi will be fearful of playing against a rejuvenated Eboue, Sagna starts.

My Team:

This team will hopefully have enough to get the 3 points on offer. Depending on the fitness of Nasri I would play Arshavin, if there is any chance that Samir will not be fit for Wednesday, I would play Rosicky and rest AA who played a full game midweek.

I guess we willl all be tuned into the midday match. I hope for a draw which should Arseanl win would put us 2 points behind MU and 3 ahead of MC with a game in hand. A loss for MC will surely put them out of the title race. Actually, what I really hope for is an abandoned game due to an 18 man brawl with 5 red cards and a 3 points reduction, but if it is not to be I will take the draw.

England’s first ever automatic traffic lights were erected in Prince’s Square Wolverhampton. This is also the home of the mighty Noddy Holder and Slade. One of my early heroes was the Wolves legend, England Captain and Arsenal manager Billy Wright CBE, whom I once had the privilege of meeting. Another of my football faves was the Tipton Terrier – Steve Bull MBE, they don’t make them like him any more (for which Koscielny will be delighted!).

Let this be the continuation of our 8 match unbeaten PL run.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Hair-Raising Issues.

February 11, 2011

Written by MickyDidIt

Unbelievably, I think I have unearthed a quite brilliant observation. Now bear with me, and if someone is reading this to you, I don’t mean “let’s get naked”.

Anyone else noticed improvements in the performances of JD and Alex Song this season. Well, I have, and do you know what, there is a common denominator. Yip, you’ve guessed it.  Dramatic change up top in the head fur department. Let’s look at the evidence. Is JD a better player with some colour up top? Yes he is. Has Song’s game improved since he yellowed up? Yes it has. You may think I am being silly, however I have tested this theory out on a person and it is bulletproof. Let’s continue. Freddie Lljungberg: did his development step up a notch with the addition of the red Mohawk. I believe the answer is: yes, it did. Stevie Bould and hair loss. Would we have celebrated his recession with “Stevie, Stevie Bould, Got no hair, We don’t care” with such relish had the lowering of the hair line not been matched by heightened performances on the green stuff.  I think not. Seaman:  poneytail and tash?  Worked for him.  Marouane arrived with a German styley short top, long back, and bingo in they flew. He has since “normalized” his hair by doing away with the back bit, and guess what? The goals dry up. Cesc: George Michaeling his trimmed beardy look, world beater. Bacary Sagna: arrived at The Arsenal with something on his head. It has remained, and he continues to be the league’s best right back. Change should not be considered.

All of this brings me to the serious point about this post and an area of deep concern that it highlights (highlights! Oh, that is so good). Jack Wilshere, without doubt the most talented Arsenal and Englishman of his era,  is but one small tub of gel away from disaster. There are very many performance enhancing hair creations, however I simply cannot stress the dangers that lie ahead of the gelster. I am not referring to the spikey-up version. There is something way more sinister and I am alluding to the wet look comb forward. This is known as the Cretin Cut. It is the chosen look of the wayward lad. There are great dangers that lurk beneath the mop that dons the gel, and it is evident that the Wilshere hair is, how can I say this, forward looking.

At this point, I want to send out a clear message to Rosicky, Denilson, Eboue and the rest of the untreated, and it is simple: get busy upstairs. I am no stats man but the evidence is overwhelming. “Normalizing the thatch” is a means of compromise, moving into the safe middle ground. Extinguishing the flames and blunting the edge. It is not clever and it is not mature.  We need the extremes for our boys. That’s the extra 5%, or the bit that separates the winners from also-rans.  I appreciate there are many football experts with a far superior knowledge of the technicalities than I, but we all make mistakes, and it is easy with all the tactics nonsense in the modern game to overlook the bleeding obvious.

This post could easily bring in the smallest ever number of comments, and I am happy to take the flak, but do you know what, I am above that kind of thing. Ego must not stand in the way of things that need to be said.  I know this post will give us nothing whatsoever to discuss today, but frankly, I think just for once, some of you should get on with some bloody work!

I hate International week.

One of our young gooners has signed up to do the Fun Run for Arsenal’s chosen charity Centrepoint and it would be fantastic if any of you felt you wanted to support her and the charity by donating on her giving page.

The Fun Run will take place at the Emirates stadium on the 19th March 2011. Centrepoint do such good work for homeless young people in London and Arsenal are hoping to raise £500,000 this season to help fund the refurbishment of a facility in Soho.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

To read or not to read – To blog or not to blog?

February 10, 2011

Written by CarlitoII

Fabrication. Bending the truth. Saying that which is not true. Lying. Fantasising. Add to this any number of adjectives that sum up what a football supporter has to put up with in the course of feeding his obsession. It is increasingly difficult to know what to believe. Does anyone really care about the truth?

A good story, as they say, has legs. But the “Fabregas to Barcelona” story of last summer was the most Godzilla-sized millipede ever witnessed. Similarly, the “Cesc disparages ref” story last week was a ridiculously nimble crustacean whereas the astonishing refereeing displayed by the same defamed ref was eel-like in its lack of limbs.

Never let a fact get in the way of a good story, it is said. The yards of column inches in our tabloid press devoted to “definite rumours” of Arsenal signings each transfer window demonstrate this perfectly. I will call out the free gossip rag on the tube for some of the more heinous examples but there are also a number of websites that seem to get a lot of coverage for breaking the ninth commandment as their stock in trade.

And herein lies the rub! We click on these websites or pick up these papers for the promise of the headline, the excitement of the story or the controversy of the author’s standpoint. These actions earn the “news” outlet their money – newspaper circulation and page clicks online attract advertising revenue. A worthy article saying that Mason had written nothing in his match report about any comments from Cesc might get a trickle of Gooners reading it but nothing like the avalanche of eejits who clicked on the “Cesc Ref Rant” headline.

But I can’t stop reading these lies, damned lies and transfer rumours. I want to know everything that’s going on with my club and have had to develop a “nonsense filter”. But now there are blogs (I know they’ve been here for a while but I’m new!) and twitter and facebook groups full of conjecture, speculation and supposition. How good is my filter now?

I have seen it argued recently that blogging is replacing journalism as a true conduit for news rather than rehashed press-statements. I find it hard to disagree that the overall standard of journalism has become sloppier, less investigative and less critical of the powers that be. I also think that in these times when anyone can cast aspersions on a man’s character, the paid journalists have a role to play in protecting the integrity of the information out there and not just picking up every rumour started in cyberspace.

Two articles recently have irked me. One claimed that Wenger was so thrifty because he was financially incentivised to make a profit on transfers. The other claimed that Rosicky was involved in deliberately throwing the Newcastle match. If either of these allegations appeared in a national newspaper they would expect to hear from the club’s lawyers but a website written by an anonymous author with an IP address outside the EU will probably be ignored. Yet some people will believe what they read, wherever they read it.

It obviously doesn’t help when managers deliberately obfuscate the truth, trying to send messages to future opponents, rivals in the transfer market, share holders etc. The number of wailing tweets I see complaining that “Wenger lied” just goes to show how powerful each written word is in fomenting opinion about anyone in the public eye. One of the dangers is the ‘witch-hunting’ tendency of the media to blame everything on foreigners, as has been much discussed on this forum lately.

I was going to end this piece by trying to decide whether it’s better to switch off the antenna that bring me this surplus of distortion and deception? Should I just get my Arsenal fix from arsenal.com, a reputable broadsheet and this fantastic forum of mainly sane people? I was going to ask whether the blogging community serves its purpose unless followed through with scrupulous attention to facts? But in both cases, I think I know the answer! You can fool some Gooners all of the time and all Gooners some of the time. But you can’t fool all Gooners all of the time!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

A Case for the Defence

February 9, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

Yet again after the weekend result it is the defence that has been called into question, the cries of weakness are again heard and the calls for a return to the glory days of the famous four of Adams, Bould, Winterburn and Dixon. Add to those four Keown and yes we had an impressive back line available. Put behind those legends, the one and only David Seaman and we looked unbreakable.

Fast forward to the current generation, our first choice back four, Sagna, Koscielny, Djourou, and Clichy, with Vermaelen waiting for permission to rejoin the trenches. I honestly think this defence is one we can build a successful side on. I also believe that in Szczesny we have a keeper who will be one of the best in the world. Suddenly this defence is looking solid, assured and dominant.

The media continue to point to our weak defence for a reason why we won’t be succesful. I think most of us who have seen games this year would agree that Kozzer and JD are forming a good understanding, Kozzer is as fearless as any Centre Back I have seen at the Arsenal for some time, and JD is becoming a considerable force dominating opposing centre forwards for entire games. In Sagna we have probably the best right back in the league and Clichy is becoming a better defender every game (5th most tackles in EPL this season with highest success rate of the top 5 tacklers (78%)).

The team went 4 Premier league games without conceding through January, when we did concede in the league in 2011 it was to a Mason assisted goal by Saha, then came Saturday and our trip to St James Park. Up until then I really believed that we had turned a corner, Szczesny providing confidence and communication to an improving back four, so what went wrong, where did this new found stability disappear to?

We went down to 10 men, but that does not guarantee the opposition a route back into the match, so scratch that as a reason.

JD got injured and on came Squillaci, one change to the back four however hopeless some Arsenal fans think he is (he isn’t by the way) should not cause a problem.

The midfield were asked to defend and dig in……now this is where I think the problem lay and is often a problem for any footballing side, but more often than not for us. Our inability to defend as a team.

I am not talking about the pressing and harrying up the pitch at 0-0, we have done this really well this season, I am talking about when the opposition start to have more possession, and push themselves into our half for long periods. Sooner or later if we are under pressure our midfielders start to give away needless free kicks and so invite more pressure.

This leads to the biggest problem, defending set pieces, this is also why I get annoyed with the criticisms of the defence, as they are not the only ones defending set pieces, watch Chelsea, and you will see Drogba, Lampard, Essien, Mikel, Malouda all doing their jobs in their own box, could you really say the same of Cesc, Samir, Jack, Theo and Arshavin? They will never be able to win a ball in the air against the Premier League giants.

We need to change the way we defend from set pieces, we need to hold a much higher line. For now I’m talking freekicks in the final third, too often we have conceded goals as the players hold the eighteen yard line and just before the ball is struck you will see them drop five yards and invite the opposition into our area and make it very tough for our keeper to come and claim the ball.

Look at the video below, the Newcastle goal and the Chelsea goal over Christmas were the two best examples I could find of this.

For Andy Carroll’s goal the defence takes up position on the edge of the D, by the time the ball is kicked we are already on the 18 yard box, and by the time it has travelled to 10 yards from goal both Newcastle and Arsenal players are in the 18 yard box making it very difficult for Fabianski to come and claim.

Even worse is the Chelsea goal, again the defence hold a position of the 18 yard box but before Drogba has struck the ball we are almost on the penalty spot and the ball can be delivered in to the dangerous area just outside the 6 yard box.

In both situations we would have benefited from holding a much higher line and when I say hold I mean HOLD, not follow runners, let them run offside. For the Newcastle goal if we had taken up residence 10 yards further forward there is no hope in hell that Carroll would have time to reach a ball played onto the penalty spot and stay onside. Again with the Chelsea goal ask yourself whether Ivanovic would make contact with that ball if the line was held on the D, the pace Drogba plays that ball it would be in Fabianski’s hands (hopefully) in a split second, with the whole area free of bodies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znq7tshzDU0

Dropping deep from set pieces before the ball is kicked is a pet hate of mine, I would never allow my defenders to come that deep into my area, it was mine I took responsibility for it, I think Szczesny might just have the confidence to do the same, then we can say goodbye to being petrified everytime the opposition has a freekick in the final third.

Anyway this is a tactical issue one that I think Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice are more qualified to put right, the main reason for my post was to stress that this current defence is not as bad as everyone would like us to believe, sometimes we have to look at the rest of the team (and not just the normal scapegoats) to dig in and help them out on occasion.

Afterall even the great Tony Adams admitted that he had to talk Wenger in the early days to explain that they needed the midfield to provide a screen for them, and break up attacks, they couldn’t do it all on their own either once the shackles had been taken off the rest of the team.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Sunny Times Are Here Again

February 8, 2011

In the course of Sundays blog discussion re the Toon debacle, a committed fan who unlike me, regularly attends games and who felt totally let down by what she saw as a capitulation by the team that day, advanced the opinion that I was too sunny in my acceptance of the team’s performance.

Now leaving aside the fact (if you will forgive the cliché) that I am viewed, rightly or wrongly, it matters not really, as a cup half full man, a Wenger apologist who can see no wrong with the great man and a purveyor of stories of times gone by.

It nevertheless seemed to me that despite the frenzied, put it in row “Z” defending we were practising. What actually undid us was: 1. A debatable penalty; 2 A nonsense Penalty; 3 A volley from outside the area that could just as easily have itself ended up back in row “Z. (remember Mr Rose at the Spuds anyone? and that cool Mr Rooney as a 16 yr old Evertonian perhaps.)

In the last two instances, that single strike was enough to sink us. This time we had three occasions when lady luck could have been a bit more generous, but it seems when shit happens, it happens big time as far as the Arsenal are concerned.

I mentioned during this discussion some famous dark days from yesteryear. Days when we really had come unstuck big time. Leeds, Swindon, Luton, West Ham all infamous days, burnt deep like  branding scars, on the souls of legions of Gooners of  varies ages,  and are now for ever enmeshed in the folk law of our club, that has elevated names such as Gus Ceaser, Don Rodgers and Sniffer Clarke, to infamy in the minds of those who like me were there.

Alongside these now will go the Courteous and diplomatic Mr Barton and poor old Diaby? Whose sending off for a half baked retaliation to a repeat performance, of the kind of tackle that has twice put him out of the game for long periods, (indeed at times we and he wondered would he ever come back, happily he has, but is now viewed with suspicion by a significant portion of our fans as not up for the job) has seen him castigated for being perceived as the catalyst for our so called capitulation.

Personally I felt the absence of the pace and height of DJ was more important as the game was switched by the Toon to an aerial bombardment, which we all know was a problem to us previously, but since the arrival of DJ and Chesney has been largely eradicated.

So sure it was dammed annoying to drop two points  from a position of such strength, was it the end of the world though? What were the net results? Well a draw and a closing of the gap on Man U.  whilst pulling further away from the newly enhanced Chelski. So hardly a disaster and city having played a game more are stuttering at best, should Tevez get injured what will happen to them?

With three home games to come we have a great chance to cement in the minds of the other title chasers the fact that we mean business. Agreed Stoke will be interesting, but we do not yet know which defensive personnel will be available to AW. Hopefully both DJ and Kos, will be fit in which case I see no problems.

Much is made of the Psychological importance of such let downs and the word momentum figures large in the populist presses reports. If this is true, what of the effect on the Mancs to losing to Wolves, invincible’s they aint, and our own loss of invulnerability by the true invincible’s, did indeed take a while to recover from, following Rooney’s dive. So maybe MU luck has run out and they are in for a tough time.

Our players no doubt are smouldering at the injustice of it all, the witch hunt of our magnificent Captain will also I think add fuel to the fire and far from damaging us Psychologically, will instead pull the team together and motivate them to take on the world and win.

So sunny yes I guess I am, why? well in football parlance: football as they say is a funny old game and this indeed, is a funny old season. Saturday was a game of two halves and I prefer to believe that the first half and the marvellous Wengerball that saw us 4 up in 27 minutes is what lies ahead of Arsenal the rest of the season.

In short, I smell sunny times ahead and trophies.

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

Why Are Referees Biased Against Arsenal?

February 7, 2011

Yes, you read the title correctly.

I’m not asking IF referees are biased against us. I want to know why they ARE.

On Saturday, at 4-0 up, we saw Phil Dowd do all he could to help Newcastle back into the game. This included:

  • Playing three-and-a-half minutes of stoppage time in the first half because Newcastle were attacking, even though the fourth official signalled for only two minutes.
  • Failing to send off Nolan for a similar (but worse) offence than Diaby’s.
  • Giving a very debatable penalty (the first one) despite there being a host of players between him and the incident.
  • Giving Newcastle the softest penalty in the EPL so far this year (again, from the opposite side of the penalty area).
  • Generally letting Newcastle’s players repeatedly foul Arsenal’s without punishment (Barton and Enrique being the main serial offenders).

In recent games we have also seen:

  • Lee Mason booking Jack Wilshere for his first foul in the game against Everton (after just five minutes), then not punishing Everton players for repeated fouling.
  • Mason, in the same game, mystifyingly ignoring the offside rules to allow Everton’s goal.
  • Mark Clattenburg allowing an Aston Villa goal against us when Carew was standing miles offside and blatantly impeding Fabianski’s view.
  • Clattenburg sending off Squillaci for a ‘last man’ foul 30 yards from goal, but leaving a Huddersfield defender on the pitch for a ‘last man’ foul in the six yard box.

There are many more examples and I’m sure every Gooner can rattle off loads of them.

Too many, in short, to be a coincidence.

At the same time Manchester United get more ‘rub of the green‘ than a self-pleasuring leprechaun: blatant penalties not given against them; physical intimidation of referees unpunished; added minutes always counted in Fergietime if United are chasing the game (like ‘dog years,’ one minute of Fergietime is the equivalent of three ‘real world’ minutes) and clear red card offences ignored.

So the question is why?

I believe one possible answer is a conspiracy among officials. By which I don’t mean that they have been bribed or that they’ve all had a collective bet on Man Utd to win the title: rather that when they get together for their referees’ seminars and the like and talk among themselves, they come to some sort of negative consensus about Arsenal.  And probably about Arsène Wenger too.

If it is a conspiracy it’s a subconscious one, but with obvious roots:

Arsène has a history of claiming that our players are not given sufficient protection. Every time he says this, he is directly criticising not just a particular ref for a specific incident, but every single one of them for the way they officiate week in, week out.

It’s human nature to dislike being criticised and to feel resentful towards the critic.

The referees also read the papers just like everyone else, so they soak up all the anti-Arsenal stories that are trotted out every week (from the utterly contrived Cesc furore this week to the Phil Brown lies and the shameful ‘Eduardo is a diver’ campaign).  You can’t tell me they’re not influenced by this stuff.

Added to that, all EPL refs are British. Arsenal is the most foreign influenced club in the country, both in our predominantly overseas squad and in the way we play football. Culturally, we have less in common with the mindset of the British referee than any other team.

English players like Rooney, Lampard and Terry are known to be chummy with some of the officials once the game is over (I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of Howard Webb relatives with memorabilia signed by the Man Utd players).  I suspect that doesn’t happen with our players (the chumminess I mean, not the dishing out of ManUre tat to distant cousins).

Finally there’s what you might call the underdog factor. We are regularly written up as being the best footballing side in the country. When we play lesser teams I think the refs have a subliminal sense that it’s not fair for all these twinkle-toed little foreign wizards to dance round the lumpen midfielders and defenders in the opposition.

It’s the only explanation I can think of for the fact that we are far more fouled against than fouling, yet we get a higher proportion of yellow cards per foul than any other team. It’s because the officials feel sorry for our opponents.

That’s what I felt happened with Dowd on Saturday. It was evident in stoppage time at the end of the first half when he ignored an appalling off-the-ground lunge through the back of Arshavin from Joey Barton then immediately penalised Diaby for failing to make contact with the Newcastle thug. This was during the well-over three minutes he allowed for added time, even though the fourth official signalled for only two. I’m convinced he played this extra extra time because Newcastle had finally realised that there was a second set of posts up the other end of the pitch and that they were supposed to be attacking them.

It reminded me of when I have refereed kids’ games and one team is getting battered 15-nil. It may be time to blow up, but the losing team finally has an attack so you let them play on in the hope they’ll get a consolation goal.

In a kids’ game it makes you a sentimental old so-and-so.

In a professional match it makes you an embarrassment to your trade.

During the second half, as the Newcastle revival grew following Diaby’s sending off (with which I have no argument), it was like Dowd got all caught up with the excitement of the occasion.

For the second penalty you can see him look at the incident, then turn as if to run away. But then the Newcastle player makes a heated appeal for the pen and Dowd stops and gives it. What excitement! Refereeing a game with a great comeback story! He must have been beside himself.

Even the fourth Newcastle goal shouldn’t have counted, given that it stemmed from a free-kick against us for a non-existent foul. But when Tiote belted in the ‘once-in-a-career’ goal that so many players seem to manage against Arsenal, Dowd knew he would be one of the top games on Match of the Day.

Quite what we do about all this, I don’t know. Arsène Wenger has highlighted the cards-to-fouls stats in the past but it doesn’t make any difference.

I fear that until European referees are allowed into the EPL the subconscious bias against us will continue.

If we do go on to win the league this year (or any time soon), we will only do it by playing better than Man Utd or Chelsea would need to do in similar circumstances (because they do not have the built-in handicap of refereeing prejudice).

We need to go out for every game in the knowledge that we really are, to use the cliché, playing against 12 men.

RockyLives

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