Letter to El Capitan: Cesc Fabregas

July 12, 2011

 Barca might want you, but Arsenal need and love you, and that is all you need!

Cesc, did you read Sandro Rosell’s comment regarding your possible transfer last week: “let things run their course and hope they go in our favour”? How do you feel about Barca’s unwillingness to meet Arsenal’s apparantly more than reasonable asking price of £40m in one go? Barcelona seem to be in no rush whats-o-ever to sign you, to make you part of their team in this crucial period of preparation for the new season, and why so? Maybe, because they only want you, but do not really need you, and certainly do not seem to love you – like really, really love you. You know what I mean: that sort of possessive, mad love that makes people jump through seemingly impossible hoops to get you, to make you theirs: to do whatever needs to be done, pay the necessary price and subsequent sacrifices, so they can bring you back home where you once belonged.

I read somewhere recently, I think it was in ‘Fraction of the Whole’ by Steve Toltz, that once you actively take a distance from certain people, they will soon double that distance between you and them. This, I find very true and you might well find, Cesc, that the people of Barcelona have also doubled the distance that you once decided to take from them, when you decided to leave your hometown and –club. At Arsenal, you are not only wanted, but also needed and loved. That is three out of three – it does not get any better than that: can you say the same about Barcelona?

What you have done for this club is immense, from a sporting point of view, but also from a gentleman’s point of view.You have handled this situation impeccably: you made it clear you would like to return to Barcelona, and we the fans understand this: how could we deny a man such a wish?! You always behaved with restraint, full of respect for the club and the fans. In this day and age, it is heart-warming to see such behaviour, and whatever you will decide to do you will always have a place in the hearts of the fans.

But Cesc, you are so close to success with Wenger’s latest version of Total Football. Patience is running thin, understandably so. We are all frustrated to have been so close to silverware last season, and yet it all slipped away, again. But, Vermaelen is back, Ramsey is back, Wilshire is fully rested and ready for battle again, and so are Song, Koscielny, Djourou, Arshavin, Sagna, Theo, Chamakh, Robin, Szczesny, and maybe Nasri as well. Wenger has promised to strengthen further our defence, and seems to be keen to buy one or two wingers to add some more bite to our team. Gervinho has just been confirmed as our latest new signing – who looks like a winger to me – and Wenger has said that he will add one or two more players this summer.

Cesc, you should be part of the impending successes, you should be the leader of the last push towards cups and accolades: if you stay with us, you could be on your way to football-immortality.

If you do decide to go, then your decision will be respected. But please Cesc, give it one more thought and do not only think about what you are likely to gain back home, but also what you are likely to lose. Arsenal will make the final push, sooner or later, with or without you. But you deserve to be part of this: you worked so hard for it during the last seven years. Leaving Arsenal now, could become the biggest regret of your life.

TotalArsenal.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Buy Some ……… Players

July 11, 2011

Written by Loh

Finally, after days of reading various rumours and tabloid stories on Arsenal’s potential transfer targets and the continuous never-ending Cesc and Nasri sagas, we at last, get to hear from Wenger himself on what is exactly happening and to be bluntly honest, it doesn’t sound too promising….

Well the good thing is Wenger has confirmed that he will be fighting hard to keep both Cesc and Nasri. How successful he is remains to be seen.

In the case of Nasri, if what he says is true, and his main motivation is to win honours, then I struggle to see how Wenger can convince him to stay especially with what he had said now on his planned transfer activities (which I’ll talk more later). If Nasri wants money, if rumour is again to be believed, we are offering him up to £110,000 per week now which is probably what he can earn elsewhere. Only difference is he is probably thinking he can earn as much elsewhere, but has a better chance of winning honours and hence, potentially further inflate his wage demand the next time he negotiates a new deal (assuming he will be a key player in his new team)! So the only chance I see of Wenger convincing him to stay will be down to 1 word:- LOYALTY! And sadly, loyalty is a rare virtue in modern football.

As for Fabregas, based on the current situation, I see him as the more likely one of the two to be in an Arsenal jersey come next season mainly because of his long term contract. All indications show that he will not want to tarnish his reputation and relationship with the fans and he will probably not publicly force a move to Barcelona (unlike Dani Alves who I now rank jointly top of my hate list with Evra). However, how the long running soap opera will affect the performance of our captain again remains to be seen. We all know his heart is probably by now, firmly set on returning to Barca although I really can’t see why he wants to move so quickly considering he will more likely than not, end up behind Xavi and Iniesta on the midfield pecking order. So perhaps Wenger can use this again as a reason to convince Cesc to perhaps give Arsenal 1 more year (again).

As I said at the beginning, how successful Wenger will be in trying to convince his 2 star players to stay remains to be seen. And I do agree with the pundits and fellow fans that a statement of intent will need to be made to prove to these players that we mean business! And what better way to do this then to really strengthen the squad and bring in some big name signings. Now unless the Board is telling us a whole load of bull c**p and Wenger is happily playing along with it,  there is money available. However, we are not seeing anyone walking in through the door!

We are led to believe that the Gervinho deal is very very close to finalisation but due to the Alvarez case, I will only believe it when it’s officially announced. Wenger’s statement doesn’t seems to sound too convincing either saying he doesn’t want to give too much details as it usually complicates the deal – a somewhat contradictory statement.

What really annoys me however is the fact that Wenger says that he is now only looking at 1 or 2 more signings!! Counting Gervinho, this means we would have signed only 2 or 3 “big name” players (assuming the next 1 or 2 signings are indeed big names). This again contradicts with the statement he made earlier where he said he will be “extremely active” in the transfer market. Is his earlier statement then misunderstood and being “extremely busy” means all we are doing is identifying players but not tabling a bid to actually get the player in?

Anyway, how is the signing of 1 or 2 more players going to help in trying to convince Cesc and Nasri to stay? All of us know that we are probably 3 players short as of last season to give us a chance of challenging for honours. With Clichy gone, to me, that makes at least 4 as I am really not convinced that Gibbs is even remotely ready to be our first choice leftback. Many agree that he should be given a loan stint first to get more experience before he is deemed ready. But Wenger seems to see Gibbs as ready and is now unlikely to go for a replacement which means the £7 million we get will probably end up as profits on the balance sheet and not reinvested! This to me is a major risk that Wenger is taking but he may see something  in Gibbs that I don’t.

Back to the issue of “1 or 2 signings”, we know we seriously need a new centreback so that’s probably 1 of the signings Wenger is referring to. Question now is who? The Cahill story seems to be getting a little stale now with Coyle stating that no bids have been received (how the tabloids is getting info on us offering Lansbury, Vela or Bendtner as part of the deal and how close are we in geting Cahill to me is a mystery unless you can buy a player without putting in a bid or you can do it without the team’s manager knowing it). There’s really not much news at all on the Samba end apart from Blackburn bidding for a new defender. Dann seems to be heading to Stoke now so who are we expecting to see in an Arsenal shirt? Hopefully it’s not another unknown French player as that really doesn’t make any statement of intent at all!

So, excluding a CB that we definitely need (assuming Wenger also sees things our way, which he has a tendency not to), is our other “possible” signing someone that we have been linked to? A player like Mata or Vidal or Benzema or perhaps it’s just Oxlade Chambelain? The first 3 names will probably makes us happier rather than the signing of yet again another untested youngster but knowing Wenger, a youngster might well be the favourite here!

But is 2 new signings really enough? Wenger had said 1 or 2, so we might even end up with 1! In my opinion, it’s NOT enough. Where is the DM that we so crave? Where is another proven striker that will complement or cover for RVP? And I haven’t even mentioned the need to find some quality squad players to replace those that are definitely not performing although our inability to offload these players now is fast becoming a major stumbling block.

How is Wenger going to convince Cesc and Nasri even if he said he is going to fight hard to keep them with a plan that sounds something like “we are buying players to strengthen but the core of the team will still be the same as management has complete faith in the existing team to finally wake up and deliver when it matters!”

I am sorry Mr. Wenger, if this is your transfer plan and your plan to keep your 2 big players, I am afraid you are going into a nuclear war with just your bare fists and a broken sword.

I have been trying very hard to be positive. I have been telling myself that things will change and Wenger knows what he is doing. I have been hoping that behind all these rumours, Wenger and Ivan are doing something preparing for some major surprises for us and one fine day, I’ll get to read the announcement that we have signed some top top quality players.

However, when I read Wenger’s statement, I just couldn’t help but to write this long post to  express my frustration and air my opinion.

Lastly, in Wenger, I probably still place my trust (after all he has led us to glory), but please Mr. Wenger, heed the advice of us fans. You might be great, you may have revolutionalised English football when you first arrived and you have unearthed many rough diamonds and turned them into precious stones, but the world is changing.

Things are not the same now. Many teams are cherry picking our young talents and it’s no longer so easy to find rough diamonds … So please BUY SOME F***ING PLAYERS!! And I do mean big name players!!!

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenals’ attraction to genuine World Stars?

July 10, 2011

Written by Harry

Last week that fine gent and upstanding journo, Martin Samuel, claimed that Arsenal can no longer attract genuine world stars, is this right?

For a start lets be honest have we actually ever signed someone at the top of their game?

Bergkamp was a truly world class player, but when we signed him, he was in a massive dip, the top teams at the time AC Milan, Madrid just were not interested……..

Vieira was unheard of in the reserves at AC Milan, Henry similar to Bergkamp hadn’t quite made it in Italy leaving the Old Lady in Turin without making his mark (needs to give Rooney lessons there).

The best ever……..

Overmar’s was a massive risk with his knees, no one else wanted to take the risk. Reyes was still very raw, as was Van Persie and Nasri. Rosicky was grabbed before he made his name at the world cup in 2006……..Unfortunately injury has stalled his career……..

Fabregas was taken under the cover of night from the Barca Creche, sneaked out in a laundry trolley…..which has been wheeled in and out again twice this summer with Bellerin and Toral-Harper been snaffled away………

So who and what is a genuine world star?

Messi, Ronaldo (Both), Buffon, Del Piero, Rivaldo, Maldini, Carlos and Zizou all of these are or were world stars, could we have ever signed one of these? Maybe if they were in the youth sides of their teams, but not at their peaks.  Realistically there are not that many world stars that move to clubs of our standing (got be honest with ourselves), they move between the big powers in Europe, the Milans, Juve, Barca and Madrid.  Now we have the wannabees who have muscled in with their oil enriched wallets, money talks and ours generally just whispers at best….

In  the late 80’s and into the 90’s it was Serie A, that had the money and no one really could compete,  Ruud Gullit, Van Basten, Cafu, Baresi, all went where the money and weather was better…….

Even as the Premier league gained power, not many world stars at their peak came until the real money was thrown in the ring by Roman, but even then, still the world stars were seen going to the galacticos of Madrid, Barca but not the premiership household names…..

Even Man United and Liverpool haven’t signed that many world stars at their peak, have they? Veron at 26million, Berbatov at 30million, the price doesn’t make them world class stars………Rooney was snatched at 16 from Everton.  Liverpool snared Torres from Athletico Madrid, but at the time he wasn’t truly world class, he still had a bit to go………Ok they have spent more money than us on players, but when have we been in awe of their signings?

If United get Sneijder I would for once be jealous, he is a world class player…….Liverpool have spent 20million on Henderson…………say no more on that one…..

Samuel was in essence just trying to make headlines and as usual by the press, having a dig at Arsenal and Wenger, success breads contempt and people are swayed by the human trait of envy, which sees them seeking to bring people down.  We do it so successfully in this country, build people up and then enjoy knocking them down, the “sandcastle affect”, what was more fun building it or knocking it down?

So I personally don’t expect any real marquee signing any time soon, Juan Mata would a big signing, Benzema would a massive signing, are either genuine world stars, not sure, Karim is close to be but has struggled at the Bernabeu, similar to Bergkamp or Henry , but I don’t expect them anyway……

Karim, in? Unlikely……..

Anyhow back to the here and now as the lads board the plane today to Asia, minus Bendtner and Almunia who are in talks with unnamed clubs. There was a shock boarder after his end of season outburst, with Denilson sneaking on through the luggage conveyor.  Nasri is on board so Wenger has a week to talk with him away from the UK, hopefully his team mates will convince him to stay,  but Cesc was left behind whilst he is having his hamstrings fine tuned……..

Gervinho, missed the plane due to visa issues with his signing, but will eventually find his pen and sign, protracted and annoyingly too public, lets keep things under wraps better, until signed. Let the press fabricate the dross…that leads to, too much line dancing and knee jerking………

So who else will come in?

After Wenger finally spoke on Friday, don’t expect too many more, I expect maybe a centre back and then another if we are lucky. There is a lot of youth getting promoted this season I feel……Gibbs will be the No 1 LB, Lansbury, Bartley, Miquel and Frimpong  amongst others, expect to see a lot more of them in the Emirates Cup…..That’s where our answers will come from……..

Cahill, one of just a few coming in?

If at least Nasri stays, then Gervinho,  one of Cahill or Samba (or maybe another CB) and perhaps a midfielder will be it, we weren’t that far away, so I don’t think we need that much, nor does Wenger…….

If we do lose Nasri and Fabregas, then we would need one big signing, perhaps that might be a world star, unlikely though, that’s not and has never been our style.

Wenger has a big big big summer, I for one will wait and see what unfolds, allow for a settling period for the team and then at December, see just where we are at……

Quietly optimistic, realistically restrained, but a Gooner to the core forever……

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Why Arsène won’t replace Clichy – The disassembly of the clique

July 8, 2011

Written by Wigan Gooner

Arsène won’t replace Gael Clichy. He believes he has a ready-made replacement in Gibbs. Similar to the transfer of Cashley in 2006, Arsène thinks he has a player-in-waiting.

I like Kieran Gibbs. I like his desire to get forward and his determination. He’s got more obvious drive than Clichy who I always felt was very laid back, so laid back he was horizontal at times and I feel that is where his complacency has stemmed from and why his performances have dropped over the last 3 years.

I’m delighted that we have sold Clichy to be honest, he didn’t want to re-sign for us and every penny we get now is better than nothing in 12 months time. Frankly, I don’t want 12 more months of Clichy’s abject performances.

Don’t mistake my happiness at seeing Clichy leave for anything other than frustration at his poor performances last season. For a quick defender with 8 years of top flight experience he spends a lot of time being tricked and then eventually falling over.

I like the guy, but its time he left. We have 3 different options at the club already in Gibbs, Botelho and Traore and I think Arsène will look at them in pre-season before making a decision on signing a replacement.

One of the big question marks over last season was the mental state of the squad. Over the course of the season we became victims instead of heroes, also-rans instead of winners. After promising so much the team delivered so little and had no excuses for it other than “there was something missing” – a quote from Alex Song.

Too many times last season we saw a little shrug here and a shake of the head there when things were going wrong. Our top-class defenders were making bad mistakes, infuriatingly so at times.

It’s the meek, victim mentality of “it’s not my fault!!” instead of “let’s sort this cr#* out and get back on the front foot against these guys”.  Our defence was too submissive and too quiet when needing help.

In the players at Arsenal I see similar traits between them. The silent strop that does not achieve anything except make the player himself lose focus, an inability to pull their socks up and regain initiative.

I think Arsène has seen the emergence of Jack, of Rambo and of Gibbs and he’s forming a new clique, a British one. A clique with fight and passion. A clique full of guys wanting to prove themselves because on the International Stage they’ve won nothing and they’re judged by the International Football community on their medals and trophies. Using their supposed lack of technical ability to drive them on and prove it’s right to have faith in the British players.

Arsène is right, but is he already a year too late with the likes of Young, Jones, Smalling already at Manchester United, has he missed the drag-curve on the best British talent?

Which begs the question, in a football context “Has Britain Really Got Talent”?

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal’s Crisis is Arsène’s Opportunity?

July 7, 2011

Written by Double98

Arsène Wenger has so far built 3 distinct teams.

The first team 96-00 was built on the rubble left by George Graham. At the time he got great credit for rehabilitating and actually improving the side but then revisionists like Myles Palmer started to justify their own agendas by questioning his achievement declaring it to be a George Graham Built Side that won the double in ‘98. It wasn’t – Graham and Rioch had left a team of mentally weak, drunks and drug addicts who were running on empty – Wenger transformed them in to confident, arrogant top class modern players. That team was broken up over the raids on our club by the Spanish giants and Wenger set about replacing the older defenders and filling the holes caused by the departures.

The second team 00-05 was built on the same blueprint but had a superstar spine with Campbell, Vieira and Henry. Wenger built a squad of players to suit Henry (on and off the pitch), youngish, french(ish) and easy going- but Henry started doing tv ads and hanging out with Roger Federer and Tiger Woods and again the Spanish Giants came in and destabilized and broke up the team so Wenger went about building his third team.

Both the first two teams were built on attacking Pace and Power – there was no great defensive system just a collection of natural defenders who knew how to beat their man. Wenger doesn’t teach defensive systems. He teaches technique.

The next team was to be built on Possession and Craft, the defensive philosophy is the same, however the caliber of natural defender is not the same. This is a hard skill to spot – you have to somehow remove the defender from the defensive unit and imagine how he’d react with out a script.

The 05-11 iteration is a team built around perhaps our most naturally talented player ever, Cesc Fabregas but has never fully delivered. Oh how the Manager has indulged Fabregas and his friends (Hleb, Flamini, Nasri etc) in an attempt to unleash their potential. He has mostly shunned older, experienced players in the transfer window, so that Fabregas can always be the Alpha Male in his pack.  Now Cesc and his crew believe that they are somehow not in the slightest bit responsible for themselves not winning medals. Cesc even said that to go to Barca is to win things… If I was Guardiola I would think twice about bringing that complacency to the club.

Wenger’s mistake was to treat Fabregas the same way as he had treated Henry. Henry was older and had done his time. His on field entourage (Pires, Lauren, Edu, Vieira) was older and had already been in the trenches. Bergkamp even lent himself to creating the “Henry” legend. Henry was also a more precious personality type who needed the “love”. Fabregas started out a much tougher character and the “love” has weakened him – Spoiled him. Look at the Cesc Fabregas Show on Sky a couple of years back – who does that? Who allows them?

Suddenly the Invincibles were gone and Fabregas is surrounded by his contemporaries in a youth team that relies on natural ability and a need to retain possession almost to the point that it borders on being an anal retentive fear of shooting.

Sure Wenger has his share of the blame. But in fairness to him, he was trying to compete in a world where he was building a new stadium in an economic collapse and the economy proof Spanish Giants were suddenly joined by newly rich Chelsea and “willing to take on huge debt” Manchester United who could buy players at any cost and forced Wenger into a different player recruitment strategy, The good news is I don’t think that Real, Barca, Man U, Man City or Chelsea care anymore about who we buy as they know they can let us take the risk and then buy the diamonds from us after we have sorted and polished them.

We need Wenger to analyze the current team in this light and build his last great team, to restore his legacy at least. He owes us this and as supporters, we owe him that. He can do it quickly, as can be seen by his rapid building for teams 1 and 2. Maybe we are better off without Fabregas or perhaps in an ideal world, Fabregas becomes the king maker (ala Bergkamp) rather than the king – If he stays, great but if he goes thats great too.

Arsenal’s crisis is Arsène’s opportunity. He has delivered great teams when faced with crisis before, he reacts better than he proacts. And this summer is a crisis in the full meaning of the word, but what a great opportunity to reinvent the team and restore Arsene’s Legacy.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Softly Softly Catchee Monkey: Wenger Secretly Moving for Bale?

July 6, 2011

Something is going on at Arsenal.

Behind the scenes there is plotting and planning on a scale that has not been seen at the club for over a decade.

Of course I have no proof of this: it’s pure speculation just like 99.9% of what you read in the newspapers and in the Arsenal blogosphere (all sound and fury signifying nothing, to quote old Bill Shakespeare).

But call it a feeling in my water, a tingle from the old war wound, the way the tea leaves are lying at the bottom of my cup: to my mind there’s no doubt – Arsene is up to something.

I really think he is going to pull a transfer rabbit out of the hat – something to surprise and delight the Arsenal faithful and to stick two metaphorical fingers up at his critics.

What could it be?

A secret move for the N17 MonkeyMan himself? He would be an ideal replacement for either Clichy or Nasri. It would be the greatest coup since we landed Big Sol.

Or a marquee signing like Ibrahimovic or Falcao? I know the conventional wisdom is that we don’t ‘do’ marquee signings, but I wouldn’t rule it out this summer.

Maybe it could be a big triple announcement of quality players like Gervinho, Cahill and Mata.

Whatever it is, something’s brewing and I am eager to see it.

So far all the press coverage has been about some of our young, overpaid players who, having failed to deliver when the chips were down, now want to move away for money, glory, or both.

Brats leaving a sinking ship?

Not really, because the good ship Arsenal is a tough old bird and she has weathered bigger storms than this. She will still be afloat long after those players’ careers have sunk into obscurity.

But the concerted media onslaught to incorrectly suggest that we are a club in crisis and facing an exodus takes a hard toll on us supporters, who so far have had a rough summer.

First we got a glimpse of the new away kit. When I saw that strange pattern and colour I thought it was a pigment of my imagination. But no. It really was our away strip.

Then there was the re-ignition of the Cesc-to-Barcelona saga, with all its tedious, morale-sapping predictability.

Then Samir Nasri got kidnapped by that odious scumbucket Patrice Evra on the Riviera (if you don’t believe me, just consider that an anagram of Evra’s name is “Rare Captive”, which is exactly what he had in Sami). Evra proceeded to pour poison in his ear and suggest he should leave Arsenal if he wanted to win things.

Then we had to look on as other clubs (Liverpool, Man United and Man City) appeared to be acting fast and decisively in the transfer window.

Meanwhile at Arsenal… nothing.

I can understand fans’ frustration with the radio silence coming out of our club, but we ought to have more faith. Arsene Wenger has repeatedly said he will be active in the market this summer and I believe he will be. He has known for a very long time that Clichy was leaving – do you really think he has not planned a replacement?

He clearly wants Nasri to stay – but not at any cost. If Samir leaves I would be disappointed, but not devastated. As many have said before me, he had a good half a season and was poor when it really mattered at the business end of things. He’s a quality player, but not as good as he appears to think he is. In fact I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if a move away turned out to be a disaster for him and he was back playing in France in two years time.

If we can get £20m+ for a player with one year left on his contract then that’s pretty good business in my book.

In the mean time I’m prepared to wait it out and let Arsene and Ivan Gazidis do things in their own way: quietly, purposefully and intelligently. I am sure they are doing it – it just remains to be seen what ‘it’ is.

But if you are of the “we won’t sign anyone, we never do” persuasion, get your napkin, knife and fork out and prepare for a big helping of humble pie.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

How many central midfielders does Arsenal need?

July 4, 2011

Written by TotalArsenal

The tabloids are full of gossip about Cesc as well as Nasri leaving. Most of us know better than to trust any of the red tops, but say it would actually happen. We would get between £50- 60m in the bank, and then what?

Well, how many central midfielders do we need? The next generation is ready to take over: Song, Jack, Rambo, Diaby and then there are Arshavin, Lansbury and Frimpong, who for different reasons can all be drafted into the two central spots.

If Cesc leaves, we might play more regularly 4-4-2 again, meaning we only need two central midfielders: one defence minded and one attack minded. The pairings of Song and Jack, Song and Arshavin, Jack and Rambo or Song and Diaby etc, all sound mouth-watering to me. The only thing we would be missing is experience in any of the combinations that does not include Arshavin. Yet Arshavin does not seem to be the sort of player who can give 100% focus and dedication to a central midfielder role during a game, let alone a whole season. So that could leave us with a problem as experience in the centre of midfield is essential. However, if we play 4-4-2 we could make RvP captain, play him in the hole (with Bendtner or Chamakh upfront), so he would be closer to the midfielders and lead and guide them where and when necessary. TV could become our deputy captain and even be our DM at times. Both RvP and TV could focus on leadership support to the midfield, if and when required.

Of course, I’d like us to keep either Cesc or Nasri, as it is always hard to get over the loss of two players in one area – in this case the midfield – in one season. Our additional fat/riches are in the central midfield positions, and the money we can make from selling one or two players should be used to strengthen in other areas. In fact, I feel we need to sell either Cesc or Nasri to make space: if we are not selling anybody in that area this season, we could start blocking the further development of Jack, Rambo, Diaby and Song, as well as Frimmpong and Lansbury, who are behind those first four in the queue. The money we would get from the sales can be used to add to our transfer budget, and buy us a quality winger, another CB and maybe a LB.

If I were on the BoD of Arsenal, I would want to sell either Cesc or Nasri, both for financial and sporting reasons. Even if we decide to let them both go (which is highly unlikely), I can see some positives coming from this. Rather than all the talk about a crisis, this is actually a great opportunity to make a few positive changes, whilst sticking to our unique and fantastic philosophy.

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Dopey Diaby – Destroyer Diaby: which one will we get next season?

July 2, 2011

Written by Total Arsenal

“When you think of your wife that she is pretty, she becomes pretty – if you think she is not pretty she slowly loses confidence and becomes not pretty. It is the same for players: you have to believe in them, that makes them feel that they have a certain strength”.
Arsene Wenger (when talking about discovering Vieira on the DVD ‘Arsene’s 11).

Seldom have I seen a football player like Abou Diaby. On the one hand he oozes class and potential, a beautiful athlete: a modern day gladiator. On the other hand he seems to struggle badly at times with being able to focus on the field, and achieving consistency in his performance. In every game he has a spell of being the destroyer: great tackles, followed by powerful, mazy runs, precision passes, regular assists and a great goal now and again.

Just have a look at this again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOs2Gf0rhd8

Unfortunately, often he also has spells in which he seems to switch off, becoming almost dopey, uninterested and sloppy; without much focus or energy.

I am saying here, he seems to switch off and lack focus and energy at times, because of course I do not know him: I have never spoken to him, and I have never spoken to anybody who knows him. I am only drawing conclusions from what I can see on the TV screen and during the occasionally game in a stadium. Yet, it is so easy to judge and label a player from the comfort of a seat at home, or at a football ground, without questioning our own motives and attitudes towards other people.

Are you a ‘Theory X’ or a ‘Theory Y’ Gooner?

For me one of the most useful classic theories in (People) Management is ‘Theory X and Theory Y’ developed by Douglas McGregor. They describe two different attitudes towards workforce motivation, which can easily be applied to football as well.

The Theory X manager assumes employees (footballers) are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can, and that they inherently dislike work. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee’s (footballer’s) interest in the job is money.

A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most employees (footballers) will want to do well ‘at work’. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivator in the workplace, and that employees (footballers) are not primarily motivated by money.

This is a simple theory and has its critics, but I have found it very helpful in dealing with people and fellow football fans alike. Seldom have I encountered a pure X-er or a pure Y-er, but people tend to polarize towards either X, or Y on a 80/20 basis. ‘Pure’X-fans tend to quickly jump on players, say that they are lazy, money-grabbing bastards, their attitude stinks, and as a result they will quickly show their dissatisfaction towards any player who falls into this category. ‘Pure’ Y-fans on the other hand, tend to give players who underperform the benefit of the doubt, believe that external circumstances rather than motivational issues are the cause of a player not living up to expectations. They are very unlikely to taunt a player and would always look for ways to remain positive and supportive.

Diaby: bad attitude or lack of confidence/focus?

The ability to focus and concentrate, and to get the very best out of yourself is a special quality. It is not automatically there in every player and it is also not simply a matter of choice by a player. Some players have focus and concentration in abundance: Flamini, Keown, Fabregas, Wilshere, Sagna, RvP for example. Other players seem to struggle with it at times: Arshavin, Clichy, Almunia and Diaby come to mind.

Yet, what really bugs me is how easy we, the fans, mix up an apparent sporadic inability to concentrate and focus and/or a lack of confidence by a player, with a perceived bad attitude of that player. We come to the conclusion so quickly that some players are only in it for the money, that they do not care about Arsenal, are lazy and that they are letting us all down. Worryingly, we are seeing now a growing trend where fans are expressing these views venomously during home games and on the blogs. By doing this, there is a big risk of a vicious circle being created for players like Diaby:

  1. An occasional lack of focus and concentration;
  2. Is followed by moans and groans by the fans during games as well as complaints etc on websites after games, which then the press is very happy to pick up on, and magnify as much as they like;
  3. Which easily leads to a further reduction in self-confidence by the player who is targeted;
  4. With the likely outcome of even more mistakes/ underperformances, leading to even more and louder jeers and taunts; etc, etc.

 

If a player truly is lazy and does not give his all for the club, he should be treated with the disdain he deserves.

But, I am going to put my neck out here by saying that we do not have these sorts of players. Wenger would not let them wear the shirt. Players like Abou Diaby need our trust, need us to believe in them and support them, and give them the benefit of doubt when things go wrong occasionally. Of course all players need this, but some need it more than others. Only then will we avoid seeing Abou retreating in his shell again; only then will we see an improvement in focus, concentration and performances; only then will we more regularly witness the Destroyer that Diaby has within him; only then will we see his full potential come through. We, the fans, have a huge responsibility to help and support our players to become the gladiators they have within them, rather than let them crumble in front of 60.000 fans.

 

In order to do that, we have to question our own attitudes and motives a bit more: suppress the X-type tendencies as much as possible, and allow the Y-type characteristics in us to come to the fore.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal Pounded out of the Top Four

July 1, 2011

Some transfer rumours are pure fabrication, some are speculation and a very few have genuine substance – having said that, it is unwise to dismiss all the current stories surrounding Arsenal players when they stall over signing new contracts and are a year away from leaving on a free.

Make no mistake, Cesc wants to go to Barca and Clichy and Nasri are looking elsewhere for big money (and possibly the notion that they may be more likely to win trophies). I believe there is truth that manu have shown interest in Nasri, city are looking to buy Clichy and are prepaed to offer Nasri silly money, and pool are also interested in Clichy.

It is likely that all of those clubs can and will offer a better deal to our players than Arsenal will table. The top four is now a case of perm any 4 out of the top five as Liverpool have shown their intent by spending big and spending early. Three out of our four rivals are looking to cherry pick players from our squad with only the canny new manager at chelski biding his time.

We are becoming a feeder club for the other top clubs and that may mean that the miracle of CL qualification that we have achieved on a minimal budget over past years is coming to an end.

Why? Well I think there are three main reasons.

1. We are being outpriced.

2. Some players have run out of patience, they are entering the peak years of their playing careers and want to taste success

3. The aura of Arsène Wenger’s managerial brilliance borne from the days of the Invincibles is wearing thin.

Where does that leave Arsenal and Arsène Wenger? If we sign Gary Cahill, some of my faith will be restored as there are plenty of cheaper options out there and we will have chosen to pay the extra for proven PL quality.

Gervinho looks like a good player, but is he any better as a striker than Bendtner? His price tag and past goals per game record would suggest not. We can only consider ourselves as moving forward if the players we bring in are better than those leaving (and not potentially in 3 years time) and in the case if Cesc and Nasri, that would be a very tall order.

Losing the Carling Cup was a humiliation. To restore belief (not just talk about it) we have to make our mark in the transfer market especially if we let big players go.

Our manager’s reputation has changed in the perception of many from a visionary genius to an over-cautious spendthrift stuck in his ways and if that perception has entered the minds of our players then we are in trouble.

Arsenal may now be being viewed by potential new signees as the most effective way of showcasing themselves to one of the ‘big’ clubs – “one good season at Arsenal and Barca will come in for me”

I know I’m going to be branded as negative, ungrateful, delusional and just plain wrong, but please don’t bother listing all of AW’s achievements, I am well aware and profoundly grateful for all he has done, but now he has to show that he can compete in this new era of football.

Like it or not, our position has changed in relation to those around us and we need to rethink and regroup, or we have to accept the inevitable that the Holy Grail of CL qualification will fall from our grasp.

Written by Rasp

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Posted by Rasp

Pure joy and life before Arsène

June 30, 2011

I watched the highlights of the Fairs cup of 1970 again last night on Arsenal player, was that really 40 years ago? I can remember that spring night as though it was yesterday.

For 11 years, ever since leaving school and starting our apprenticeships, my mates and I had stood in all weathers and shouted ourselves hoarse, as we won nothing. The modern-day supporter sitting in his comfortable seat, complaining of 6 years without a trophy. Would not believe the conditions we endured standing in all weathers.  Toilets? Do me a favour a wall, a trough and what was basically an open sewer was good enough for us.

Two managers had departed in that time, George Swindon our ex goalkeeper, had been followed by Billy Wright, ex Captain of Wolves and England, in his first attempt at club management, a universally acknowledged  nice guy, he was married to one of the Beverley Sisters a well-known female singing trio, who sat together every Saturday in the front of the East Stand dressed in identical Red And White outfits.

Billy never won anything for all his hard work and with his health suffering under the pressure,  he resigned in 1966. But the legacy he left,  was a  core of young players 6 of whom would be part of the first double winning side.

His replacement Bertie Mee, previously the team physio, was a major disciplinarian and hated by most of the players, he was anything but a track suit manager, cleverly leaving the coaching to the talented Dave Sexton before he left to manage Chelsea, then Done Howe and Steve Burtenshaw. It was Mee who moved Mclintock from right half to centre half and begun to shape the team that was destined to earn a permanent place in Arsenals history.

Two league cup final appearances at Wembley were to be reached and lost in 68 and 69. firstly against our archenemies at that time, Leeds Utd. A team loaded with skilful internationals, but ruthless and cynical under the leadership of Manager Don Revie and his on field lieutenants Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles. Matches between the two teams over the next ten years were no place for the faint hearted as we refused to be intimidated by them and adopted the same do or die attitude.

The ’69 debacle was even worse, on a Wembley pitch so badly cut up by the show jumping at the horse of the year show staged there a week previously amid torrential rain showers, that it now resembled a bogey ploughed field.

The team most of whom had been laid low by a flu like virus in the week prior to the game, were run ragged in the heavy conditions, by third division Swindon Town and a tricky little winger called Don Rodgers, who deservedly won  3-1 after extra time.

So all that baggage, expense and heartache was in the long-suffering supporters minds as we stood and watched the players run out on that May evening in 1970, to a morass not dissimilar to that Wembley horror.  But this time an hour and three quarters later it was all worth it.

Eddie Kelly one of the graduates from the reserves, a sort of Scottish Little Jack, scored to make it 1-0 at half time, John Radford then powered home a typical Raddy header and minutes later Jon Sammels so often the butt of the Arsenal boo boys, settled it,  hitting a sweet 20 yarder across the keeper  into the back of the net,  Highbury went mad and at the final whistle.  I and thousands of others sang and danced on the waterlogged pitch, our shoes filled with muddy water and we couldn’t give a monkeys, after 17 trophyless years, we had a pot.

The hoodoo was broken, allowing across the years, doubles and cups to follow. Bertie Mee’s reign lasted until 1976, since when he has been succeeded  by 7  managers or  caretaker managers, including the enigmatic George stroller Graham and the 1-0 to the Arsenal days. Before the arrival of Arsène  and his marvelous Wengerball, immaculate pitches and eventually a proud new modern stadium and training facilities.

But it all started, when Anderlecht were put to the Sword and a 3-1 away defeat was overturned on a rainy floodlit evening of unbelievable joy, at the famous old ground, that not even the first leg of the double on another wonderful night away at the Lane could equal.

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

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