Have Arsenal progressed at all this season?

January 27, 2011

Something about this website has been bugging me for a while. It’s a very welcome home for Arsenal-oriented debate, and the regulars here are great, all bringing something different to our little party. And the format is excellent, with contributions coming from that group of regulars, meaning one voice doesn’t dominate.

So what’s been bugging me then?

It’s that “Points total” table over on the right-hand side, just below the bit about “Our day will come again” (which it will). I like the fact that the table is there, it provides a little bit of information not routinely available elsewhere. But when I’ve glanced at it this season, more often than not we’ve had fewer points than at the same stage last season. That doesn’t exactly suggest progress, does it?

I’ve been reassuring myself that this is a strange season, that all the title contenders have failed to achieve consistency, that they’re all misfiring, so no need to worry that we appear not to be doing quite as well in crude terms of the number of points bagged. But is that right? I decided to run some figures (yup, I really am that sad), comparing the standings of each of the top five with their position at the same point (in terms of games played) last season. Here are the results:

Man United
Now: 51 points from 23 games
Last year: 50 points

Arsenal
Now: 46 points from 23 games
Last year: 49 points

Man City
Now: 45 points from 24 games
Last year: 44 points

Chelsea
Now: 41 points from 23 games
Last year: 54 points

Spurs
Now: 38 points from 23 games
Last year: 41 points

The stand-out fact from these figures is the collapse in Chelsea’s form; a 13-point fall in one season is appalling in anyone’s books, let alone for the self-styled would-be world beaters. They had a run of 11 games in which they collected just 10 points, a run that has all but destroyed their title hopes.

Beyond that, a few other things emerge: the two Manchester clubs are pretty much where they were last season, being just one point up each. United’s unbeaten run needs to be judged in that context – at this point last year, they had already lost five games, so turning that into zero looks very impressive. But they’ve become draw maniacs; a one-point improvement on last season sounds a lot less impressive than the media’s much loved undefeated United, especially bearing in mind that United have had their easiest fixtures in the first half of the season and have tough games stacked up in March and April. They are annoyingly but rightly renowned for being strong in the second half of the season. The test will be whether a side built on Ferdinand and Vidic can reach those heights this year.

City could still end up winning the league, but so far their one-point improvement on last year looks a pretty pathetic return on the Abu Dhabi United Group’s enormous, gross investment. They’ll argue they’re a work in progress, but the question has to be asked: where’s the improvement?

And then there are the North London clubs. (Spurs are still North London club, aren’t they?) Both are three points down on this stage last season. That may not sound like much but it’s a significant difference, one neither side can be proud of. For Spurs, there’s no surprise, they’re having to cope with juggling CL and EPL football for the first time, and as Harry has said this week, it was a miracle they finished fourth last season, so a decline for the contenders’ weakest side shouldn’t shock anyone.

But what about us? We’re all feeling buoyant after the dominant performance against Wigan (shame we didn’t cash in on the goals though) and getting to the League Cup Final. We’ve not conceded a league goal for four games, Nasri, van Persie and Fabregas are on fire, and we are looking to have overcome blips in the domestic cups with a rejuvenated and relatively injury-free squad, so it all feels good. And so it should. But the fact is we are three points down on the same point last season, and before the Wigan game, that difference was five points. Just as United’s season is often marked by an improvement at this stage, so our performance often falls away in the home straight. Last season, United won 12 of their last 16 games, dropping just 8 points along the way. By comparison, we dropped 21 points in our last 16 games, completely losing pace with Chelsea and United as a result.

I’m often accused of being over-optimistic about Arsenal, and of showing excessive faith in Wenger. But on this occasion, with our side in danger of realising its potential, I want to add a note of caution. We really need the players to concentrate from here on. No more two-goal leads thrown away (or one-goal leads come to that), no more defeats extracted from the jaws of victory, no more dropping points against the lesser sides, no more home defeats, we had enough of that in 2010, on both sides of the summer break. With Chelsea collapsing, United retreating into their shell, City stymied by internal division and change and Spurs dealing with their biggest challenge to date, this season could have been much easier for us than it has been; it wouldn’t have taken much for us to have accumulated much more than 46 points to date, just more focus and concentration. But the failures of the first half of the season mean we’re now under much more pressure than we needed to have been, and we need to respond positively to that pressure.

I remain an optimist, I believe we’ll be fighting United toe-to-toe until the end of the season (making our home game against them massive). My comments might be read as being negative or pessimistic; in fact, I make these points because I consider our squad to be the best in terms of talent, bar none, in English football. I (like Wenger and all other Gooners) just want them to go out and show it, not in flashes but in sustained runs of victories. The frustration is we haved ceded control of this season to the weakest United side in years when we could have dominated.

We still have what it takes to prevail over all four of our rivals, and even to give the best side in the world, Barca, a run for their money in the CL. We just need the players to take each and every game seriously.

Written by 26may1989

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal Plough their way to Wembley……..

January 26, 2011

Before I speak of a match that had all gooners on the edge of the seats for far too long, I will just say what a great night it was for my boys, tonight my youngster Reece was one of 12 lucky Junior Gunners to form the Guard of Honour as the teams came on, my eldest Luke is a ball boy all season, so all round, how jealous, but proud, am I?

Back to the match, Arsène stated in his programme, he will select his strongest team available for each match, although he started with a reasonably strong team, I always worry when Cesc and Denilson start together as I feel they don’t gel well……

Nasri and Walcott were on the bench alongside Song, but red hot Robin was on the pitch, so Wenger was certainly taking Ipswich seriously.

Arsenal started with a good tempo and had some early chances, RVP turning and hitting a shot wide.  Cesc was bundled over and from where I was sitting, it looked a stone wall penalty, but the ref waved away the claims……It should have been a scrum down at least?

A scary moment occurred after about 15mins or so when Chez went up for a corner and went straight through Sagna,  Eboue was soon into the fray as his replacement……Hope Sagman is ok……

Throughout the game Cesc took quite a bit of stick, I’d be surprised if he can walk in the morning……Talking of stick the Tractor boys were giving our fans a right bashing and clearly out sung us in the first half, milking their moment as we struggled to get the goal to get us into this tie, when will our fans learn…?

Bendtner soon floated a delightful cross over and RVP smashed a header against the bar with the keeper Fulop well beaten…….Would we score or would it be a night to forget?

Then a ball over the top, into the path of the on running Cesc, through the defence, slanting his body and hitting across the keeper, but agonizingly wide again…..

For me we were trying too hard and not holding our nerve, to get the pass right, as we tried to force the play, Ipswich stood firm and resolute, hoofing the ball away.  We needed to expand our play, and try to create an opening, rather than thread it through a gap, tighter than Wengers wallet…

The boys were trying though and notably Little Jack was growing every minute and becoming more and more involved, perhaps because most of the Ipswich team were intent on marking Cesc, that was giving Jack a little too much room, which he exploited…….

Half time came, and then the 2nd half started the same, admittedly I was crying out for Nasri to come on and make a difference, but it was a sublime ball from little Jack on 60mins that got the break through, deep in his own half, he collected the ball, looked up and sprayed a ball right to forward left, as super Nik ran onto the ball cushioned it down, ran on and cut back inside the defender, before curling a lovely right footed shot into the far corner, cue eruption and fans singing……….

Moments later and Kosser headed in a beauty from a corner delivered from the left by Arshavin, 2-0 and the boys went wild, with all the subs part of a mass team hug……It was good to see a corner actually getting into the box, when was the last time that happened?

Ipswich started to wade through mud now, looking for a Tractor to pull them out as they noticeably tired….

The 3rd goal was started with a cracking intervention by Denilson, who stole in and took the ball off Edwards and played straight to Cesc, who run forward and played onto Arshavin, who ran at the defence, cut inside and just as you felt he would go for goal, he slipped it back outside to the in running Cesc as he came into the box who then slipped it through the keepers legs, game over………3-0.

Nasri and Walcott came on for Rockin Robin and Arshavin for the closing moments as Arsenal knocked the ball about and round a now down trodden Ipswich, who for 150mins had held the Arsenal at arms length………and kept the Arsenal fans too quiet for my liking………….

Player Ratings:

Szczesny: Little to do, but oozez confidence, which I think settles the defence at times. Error of judgement when he clattered Sagna, but he will learn as he goes…. 7

Sagna: Unfortunately, short outing……..gets a….7

Djourou: Much better display than at Portman Road, strong and tenacious, read the game well and pushed forward when he saw openings….7

Kosser: A very solid game, pushed forward well, got booked harshly..Great Goal…7.5

Clichy: I think his performances are getting better defensively week by week. Good going forward, only caught out once at the back that I noticed…..7

Denilson: Industrious and plugged away against the backdrop of moaning fans, admittedly I wouldnt have started with him, but he did ok and his interception set up the move for the 3rd crucial goal….7

Cesc: Kept the team pouring forward and closed down very quickly and worked very hard, not at his dazzling best and should probably scored in first half, but still instrumental and probably would have done more if kicked less.. Scored a great 3rd goal….7.5

Little Jack: Head and shoulders above everybody else on the pitch in my opinion, he grew as the game went on and ran the show in the 2nd half, his pass for the first goal was pure class.. It was going to be something special to get the break through. Only a goal was missing from his night….8.5***MoM

Bendtner: Another player who gets the moans and groans from most fans, but worked tirelessly and made things happen, won most of his duels in the air. His goal was sublime…….8

RvP: A continual handful, who tried to get the break through and his endeavour really pushes us on. Hit the woodwork in the first half and had another couple of chances…..7

Arshavin: Kept going and had two assists on the night, better, keep going little fella, we all love you really, just we know there is so much more in your locker……..7

Subs:

Eboue: Solid and kept attacking, still throws himself around too much for me, but a great squad player for me….7

Nasri and Walcott had too little time to comment.

Overall:

After 150mins, the Tractor choked , spluttered and the Gunners blew them away with 2 quick goals, a third near the end ensured no slip ups. Wembley here we come at last……..

Wengers young team, will now take on West Ham or Birmingham as they try to win some silverware after 5 long years, so in the competition that Wenger has bloodied his young boys in over the last few years, might just be the one that breaks the Hoodoo that hangs over us, lets pray, 27th Feb will be our day.

One final note, fair play to Ipswich, you did yourselves proud with your efforts….

Written by Harry

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Wenger’s Barca Raid

January 24, 2011

If Saturday’s performance proved anything, it was surely that Arsène Wenger’s plan to bring Barca-style football to North London is succeeding.

It’s no secret that the boss admires the style and manner with which the Catalans play. Now he has shamelessly lifted their football manual (or should that be Manuel?) from under their very noses and put a red and white stamp on it.

Barca’s front six of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Villa and one of Keita or Mascherano play beautiful pass-and-move football, denying their opponents the ball and carving their way through the most resolute of defences.

After much experimentation, Arsène now has his own ‘Super Six’: Cesc, Song, van Persie, Nasri, Walcott and Wilshere.

What both ‘sixes’ have in common (and why I have referred to them as ‘front sixes’ rather than the more familiar midfield/attack definitions) is that all the players swap positions at will and all pose an attacking threat.

After the two Champions League games against Barca last Spring I wrote a post saying that “Arselona is Closer Than We Think.”

Despite the outstanding first half from the Spaniards at The Grove and despite the Messi master class at the Nou Camp, I took heart from Barca’s exhibition because it showed what Arsenal could aspire to.

I reflected that there were three differences between the sides: Barcelona had more money, they had better players and they worked harder.

Revisiting those thoughts today, the picture has changed.

Do Barcelona have more money? It subsequently became clear last season that they were grossly in debt and in no position to keep making huge-money purchases. Then some rich Qataris came calling and in the blink of a cheque book Barca threw their much-vaunted principles in the bin (along, presumably, with all their Unicef shirts) and accepted a shirt sponsor in exchange for £125m. Given how high their debts were, this is hardly a licence to buy big, although it gives them more clout in the transfer market than they would otherwise have had. Arsenal, meanwhile, continue to revel in the best financial model in big time football, and you really get the feeling that if Arsène made the case to the Board for a £50m signing they would give him the money. Admittedly, he’s as likely to ask for fifty million quid as Wayne Bridge is to ask John Terry to tea.

Do Barcelona have better players? They may just still shade it, but that gap has closed considerably.  Fabregas or Iniesta? Nasri or Messi? Pedro or Walcott? Van Persie or Villa? Those questions don’t produce the simple answers they would have done a year ago. And both our so-called holding players, Song and Wilshere, have more innate footballing talent than either Keita or Mascherano. Earlier this season I was moaning about Alex Song’s forward tendencies, but he has won me over completely. He is becoming a true box-to-box player with silky skills to go along side his wrought iron commitment. Wilshere, meanwhile, at just-turned 19, is surely heading for world superstardom. We’ll certainly be cheering on little Jack long after the name Balotelli has faded from memory.

Do Barca work harder? The answer to that one is still ‘yes’ overall. The genius of that team is that they work as hard when they don’t have the ball as when they do have it. And it’s still an aspect of the game that has let Arsenal down this season. However, I truly believe that our first team DOES have the right work ethic and has demonstrated it repeatedly since the Christmas period.

To summarise, I would hazard that Arselona is just about here. The players, the style of play, the swagger – it’s all coming together beautifully.

We’re reaping the benefits in the domestic competitions and there’s no reason why we can’t also succeed in Europe.

Certainly the games against Barcelona this year will be very different. Barca are a great team and may still beat us over two legs, but I expect things to be much more competitive this time round. Our players know exactly what they’re up against and, let’s not forget, we were decimated by injuries last year.

All of which is not to say there are no concerns.

This Arsenal team still desperately needs some silverware and, psychologically, that may yet be a big step to climb. The Carling Cup would be a great way to start.

I would also like us to sign a good centre back this January. I would feel even more comfortable with some cover for Alex Song, who has become so crucial to our success. And I fret every game about the fitness of key players like Robin, Cesc, Theo and Samir.

But if Lady Luck favours us with a smile, good things could really happen this year.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

The Stuff of Champions

January 23, 2011

If you don’t tingle with pride at being an Arsenal supporter today then you my friend have a severe case of Jaguaritis and that is not good because yesterday we walked with giants and witnessed the quality of champions.

How dare these pie eating upstarts take two points off us up North? How dare they? Well the natural order has been restored after the good guys put on a football display to make Barcelona sit up and think very seriously about what they are about to face in the not too distant future. You may say that it was only Wigan but what kind of opposition do you think Barcelona make mince meat of every week? Wigan are exactly the kind of opponents the Catalans meet save for two Saturdays in the season when they face Real opposition.

Seriously, Wigan; Spanish manager, limited resources, what’s the difference between that and what Barcelona play practically every week?………bring em on, I say, we are ready.

The game, yes, yes, the game I should say something about that; we completely out played Wigan, different class from start to finish, total domination, absolute control.

We all knew what the line up would be: the A team was required and the A team dutifully appeared. It took no time for the gulf of class to be established: chances were continuously created and missed throughout the first half, only interrupted by Van Persie’s hitting the back of the net after 30 minutes. The rest of the time Walcott was carving out opportunities left and right for his team mates, all of whom went close but all were denied by one Wigan limb or another thrown in the way. There were so many chances in the first half I honestly lost count, just to say that it was an absolute miracle that Wigan went in at half time only one nil down.

Our Northern opponents took heart from the generous score line coming out after the break and trying a bit of quick closing down themselves, it looked quite good for all of fifteen minutes, that is until Fàbregas sent a world class pass over forty yards to Van Persie who volleyed it into the Wigan net.

Two nil, game over, time to sit back and enjoy the master class in front of us; chances kept appearing until eventually it all got a bit too much for Wigan and they couldn’t stop themselves hacking down one of our players, (still haven’t seen MOTD so not sure which one) in the area, up stepped Van Persie but instead of scoring his first ever professional hat trick in his career and that includes his Feyenoord days, he skied it in what I can only describe as one of the worst penalties I have ever witnessed. We had to wait a bit longer for the Boy Wonder to break that duck and much credit has to go to Walcott who held off the Wigan defender, very cleverly enabling Van Persie to fulfil my prediction of three nil to the good guys.

————————————————————-

Player ratings:

Szczesny: had little to do but what he did he did perfectly. 10

Sagna: we have a quality right back. 10

Djourou, calmness personified. 10

Koscielny: I wonder if he communicates with Szczesny in Polish. Faultless.10

Clichy: good runs, good positioning, good tackling. 10

Fàbregas: my MOTM, he was more World Class than The Boy Wonder today even though he didn’t score. 10

Song: Rasp was the first person I noticed to use the adjective imperious to describe our Alex, it struck a cord with me, since then I use it when ever it is mertited and today Alex Song was imperious. 10

Wilshere: this young man is surrounded by world class midfield players and yet at the tender age of nineteen he still manages to hold his own which is quite astonishing. 10

Nasri: Wigan systematically clipped the ankles of our players, they were obviously not Shawcross tackles but they were dirty and sneaky, most of our players survived but poor old Super Nas caught it and hobbled for most of the game. 9

Van Persie: This man can take us to the Promised Land. 10

Walcott: good, good, good a better game than might meet the eye, watch how clever he was for RVP’s third. 10

Written by London while drinking a bottle of Rioja, Gran Reserva, 2002.

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Posted by LB

No repetition of stupid mistakes

January 22, 2011

A few weeks ago I left a room in deep despair about the team I love. Having made  many changes from the team that destroyed Chelsea, Mr Wenger’s second string team threw away two points against a 10 man relegation threatened Wigan side. I was furious, particularly so because there was an inevitablilty about Wigan’s equaliser. Admit it, when Wigan attacked and won that corner you knew, you just knew that they would score, that Fabianski would be in no-man’s land, that no-one would properly defend the back post and that once again Arsenal would be soft in the centre of defence against a set play. My language was to say the least, colourful.

Yet today I have no such fears. We are at the start of a runof 6 home games out of the next 7, and I expect us to win ALL of them. We are riding high in confidence, are relatively injury free, have cover in all positions (assuming Squilacci is on track) and almost all our players are in-form. If we are going to win trophies these 6 home games have to be won and I fully expect us to make a successful start this afternoon.

Wigan arrive in a sorry state having thrown away two points to Fulham following a very late equaliser. They are rooted in the relegation zone despite playing decent football. Martinez seems to have a good footballing philosophy (though there was some vicious tackling at the DW).

Someone wrote on the yesterday’s post that a player is only as good as the team around him.  I wanted to take issue but didn’t have the time. Wigan are a case in point. N’zogbia is a quality player – only 24 y.o. with plenty of skills – he could play at a much higher level than Wigan. In my opinion, if N’zogbia was really a star player he would be able to lift his team-mates performances and  take them out of the relegation zone. Maradona took a dull Argentina to win the World Cup almost single-handedly; Ronaldo’s 40+ goals took an average Man Utd to the Double.

I hope you have seen the excellent BBC interview with Mr Wenger (on the BBC website). What a privilege it is to have him as our manager. If ever a man represented the club with honour it is Arsene. He is intelligent, polite, erudite, humourous and above all a decent man. An Arsenal man.

I expect us to start with our A team. All are fit and rested apart from Fabianski :-

I have never had the pleasure of a trip to Wigan. I know there is a pier there (thanks to George Orwell), and that it is a town which benefitted from the Industrial Revolution.  Wigan’s current claim to fame is that it hosts The World Pie Eating Championship and is the home of Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls.

If we are to win the Title we must take 3 points today and we will.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

It’s Grin Up North!

January 20, 2011

Written  by Carlito 11

A result to put a smile back on our faces, a Nasri inspired Arsenal waltzed past a doggedly determined Leeds side to halt the slide against Championship opposition.

The game kicked off with some tough challenges signalling a hard fought encounter but we soon got our passing game going, Arshavin and Chamakh combining nicely before the latter dummied the return of a one/two letting a besnooded Nasri slip through the centre of defence and bury the ball in the 5th minute. The deafening noise from the home support receded and the game was going according to plan.

Chamakh had a couple of efforts thereafter- a great powerful header needing a good save from Kapser Schmeichel and a powder puff shot from the edge of the area. It is no wonder his first touch is so fantastic when a shot aimed on target has all the power of volleyed hacky sack. Where MC’s first touch is a thing of beauty, NB52’s has all the cushioning of a ping pong shot, one of which fortuitously ricocheted off Andy O’Brien to Sagna who took a touch and smashed it from the right hand side of the area- clean off the laces- to make it 2-0 and Arsenal were cruising at 2 nil. A superb goal from our Mr Reliable.

Nasri and Song were running the show at this stage but despite a good work rate from all three forwards, Nik Chamshavin was not producing much up front with some poor decision making from AA , poor touches from Nik and poor shooting from MC leading to the odd groan. But the defence was relatively untroubled and the team was playing for each other when Arshavin was fouled allowing Leeds to continue a build up around our box in the 37th minute. The ball found its way to Johnson who scored what must be the goal of his career, busting the net from 25 yards out. It was an unstoppable shot that Szczesny could do nothing about despite leaping valiantly in the right direction. The renewed fervour of their support did little to alter the fact that we were still much the better team and despite the best attempts of ITVs commentary team to convince us otherwise, there was no Arsenal wobble this time.

The second half started with a great move and a Song shot on target. Schmeichel was busy throughout and pulled off some good saves. Leeds countered and closed us down and tried to boss the game and if Song had not been there like a rock against the tide they may have done better against an otherwise lightweight Arsenal midfield. Arshavin had the look of a man desperately trying to play himself back into form but it was not to be and he and Chamakh were replaced by RvP and Fabregas .

We immediately shifted from 3rd to 4th gear and within minutes Bendtner had the ball down the right wing and flighted the perfect cross. Van Persie leapt and hung in the air before nodding emphatically through the outstretched grasp of Schmeichel. After that it was showtime with flicks and kicks- our away supporters singing the Rocastle, Henry and Wright songs loudly enough to be heard on TV.

Smiles all round at the final whistle- Huddersfield at home in the next round!

Arsenal verdict: Good performance with even those off form grafting hard.

Leeds verdict: They’ve got better players than I had given them credit for and play a fair tough tackling game. They deserve to do well this season based on this performance.

Support verdict: Leeds started at a tremendous volume but after initially being hushed by the first goal they kept it up well until the end. Our support could be heard well too 🙂

Man of the match: Nasri, Song and Sagna all deserve a special mention.

Moan of the match: Why do other teams’ fans always sing “same old, always cheating” when their players have committed the heaviest or clumsiest fouls?

Player ratings:

Szcenzny 7 Didn’t have much to do. Was a solid calming presence when required and couldn’t do anything about Johnson’s screamer.

Sagna 9 Reliable as ever and a gem of a strike for our second.

Djourou 8 Solid tidy play winning everything in the air.

Koscielny 8 Did nothing wrong and showed he is a ball-playing centre back!

Gibbs 8 Some good runs to link defence and attack. Untroubled by and large.

Song 9 Immense presence – at times winning out against 3 Leeds players. Had too much to do at times but managed very well.

Denilson 6 Just doesn’t have the presence to mix it even at this level. Left Song to do most of the breaking up and most of the link play.

Nasri (Captain) 9 Another gluefooted display of glide and finesse. A joy to watch and a great goal to get the game plan going.

Bendtner 7 Frustrating as he can be, his cross for the 3rd was top drawer and he put in a shift. Can he develop a better first touch at this stage?

Chamakh 6 Some excellent link play and a good header in the first half. Faded in the second. Can he develop a better shot?

Arshavin 6 Really tried, but it’s not coming off for him at the moment and his passing and decision making are suffering as a result.

If you don’t agree with Carlito’s player ratings have a look at London’s ………………….

Szczesny: noticeably different from his recent performances: much calmer body language, a sign I read to be growing maturity. Kicking was much better, although, he obviously needs to keep practicing that part of his game. 8

Sagna: it is obvious to say that footballers play better after a rest but never is it truer than with Sagna, watch and notice the difference the next time this happens which will probably be after the Barcelona game, oops I almost forgot to mention, he scored a lucky goal, only joking. Dammed if he was going to try and roll another ball across the box for Bendtner to miss again. Pick that beauty out of the net Shmeichel. 8

Djourou: back to his calm, laid back, reassured, Swiss self; he has come a long way this season, not the finished article so we shouldn’t be too hard on him when he slips up and slip up he will but that is for the future; tonight, I felt very comfortable with him there. 7.5

Koscielny: top drawer performance, some superb long range passes, I know that Leeds are not Prem opposition but if he carries on improving at the rate he is we are going to be very happy bunnies. 8

Gibbs: got caught out of position far too many times for my liking; although, he improved as the game went on. I still don’t understand how people can rate him higher than Clichy? 6

Song: I have run out of superlatives for the best player of that position in the EPL, would you still take Essien over our Alex? I wouldn’t. 8

Denilson: tut, tut thinking that the English press won’t pick up on interviews given in Brazil is a bit naïve. A functional performance but nothing special; the only positive I can think of is that with Song being so obviously being first choice DM at least we have someone who is prepared to spend most of his time on the bench acting as back up in emergencies, conclusion, hurry back Frimpong. 7

Nasri: I wrote a post the other day on my perception of how certain players like playing with certain others, Nasri and Chamakh are obviously bezzy North African mates living in London and loving playing their football together. Tonight he was given a chance to practice for his inevitable, soon to be central midfield role; he is not quite ready yet as the fact that his performance tailed off towards the end demonstrated but it is now when and not if. I almost forgot his goal as well, class, pure class. 8.5

Bendtner: the first thing I would say is that there is no doubt in my mind that he is getting better with every game, that said with every game I get more confused as to what we are going to do with him, great cross for the goal though. 7

Chamakh: lots more defensive work going on tonight, lots more chasing down and chasing back. I like it; he needs a goal now to fully regain his confidence. 7

Arshavin: BR put forward the idea that it is not right to accuse a player of not trying as how could we know if he is or not (forgive me if I misunderstood). I judge a player on whether he is trying or not by the effort he puts in to regain the ball once it is lost and within that criteria I don’t think Arshavin can be criticised in the slightest tonight; he was unlucky, I thought, that the extravagant things he tried didn’t come off. 7

Subs

Fabregas: we’ve got Cesc Fabregas, we’ve got Cesc Fabregas. 8.5

Van Persie: biased moi (said in a Miss Piggy voice). 10

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Posted by Rasp

Which team would you pick?

January 19, 2011

Written by Big Raddy

Elland Road mid-week in January, 40,000 noisy fans up for the Cup, a promising Leeds team looking to cement their reputations; the joys of the F.A. Cup 3rd round.

Being honest, we were fortunate to have the chance of this replay, the very late penalty saving Arsenal from the ignominy of an early Cup exit to a team from a lower division. Leeds outfought us at the Grove, they showed a grit  we struggled to cope with and Mr. Wenger  will consider himself fortunate to have another opportunity to progress into the 4th round. One can say that we played a second team but it remained a team packed with Internationals and expensive recruits – we had the personnel, we were at home, we should have won.

Some of the media around the game is focused upon Walcott’s “dive” admission which showed Theo to be an honest, if naive, young man. The Leeds manager Simon Grayson has called for Theo to be banned for tonight (according the the Daily Mail!). We can expect the crowd to get on Theo’s case from his first kick which will hopefully inspire him, because from the moment Theo came on as sub in the home tie we looked more dangerous.

I like Simon Grayson, he did a fine job with Blackpool, giving Holloway the basis for the team who have recently done the double over Liverpool. His work at Leeds has been nothing short of remarkable. Since Grayson’s arrival Leeds have had unremitting success, gaining promotion from Div 1 and now on the verge of a return to the Premiership, and he has done so without resorting to DirtyLeeds tactics.  Grayson’s star in is the ascendant.

We saw in the first tie how Leeds play. Based upon a very solid central defence and backed by a Schmeichel they work extremely hard. A midfield that will look to harry our skill payers into making rash and inaccurate passes, and fullbacks who have pace (I was very impressed with their right back Max Gradel). Upfront Sanchez Watt will be looking to impress Mr Wenger – but not too much. Beccchio is Leeds top scorer but may be out injured tonight.

What side will Mr Wenger play?  Who knows? Will he play a quasi- first 11 with Cesc, RvP and Theo starting or will he continue with the side that escaped at the Grove? Sagna is back and rested but AW likes to use Eboue in Cup games, and we have an important meeting with Wigan on the weekend. Will he continue with Djourou who played poorly at Upton Park  and surely needs a break? Could he risk playing Miquel? The Nik B / Chamakh combination didn’t work at all in the first game, and Nik is clearly not a right winger. Either could start  – my heart goes with Nik and my head with Chamakh. One player I would be surprised to see is Van Persie who despite having a huge impact recently should be rested and I expect Theo to come on as an impact sub should we need him.

Here’s my guess:

Chesney

Eboue  JD  Koscielny  Gibbs

Song  Denilson  Cesc Rosicky

Bendtner  Arshavin

Bench:  GK? Sagna  Nasri  Walcott  Eastmond  Miquel  Chamakh  Ramsey

This team has enough to defeat any side in the PL let alone the Championship. Should the unthinkable happen, let it be down to poor refereeing or a superb Leeds performance and not lack of application and desire.

Tonight is a tricky tie, one we could easily lose but I see us beating Dirty Leeds, disappointing 40,000 fans, and moving onto the 4th round

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Who is the Leader of the Gang?

January 18, 2011

Were you ever in a gang at school or shortly after, maybe not a gang but a group of people you always gravitated towards?

Security in numbers: there is often a leader that others look to whose presence empowers and energises the rest; when missing there is a tangible drop in the collective self belief but on his return confidence is restored and a feeling prevails that things can be achieved when at other times they might not.

I am, of course, talking about Robin van Persie, the return of the Boy Wonder has reenergised the whole team, giving them a self belief that was clearly lacking in his absence.

The person who benefits the most from this is Cesc; the difference in his attitude is chalk and cheese, look at his play against Ipswich and West Ham, in the former he looked as though he was just going through the motions where as in the latter he was world class. It’s true that West Ham were very poor but the observation still holds true in my opinion when the Chelsea and Birmingham games are brought into the equation.

This confidence is infectious, when Cesc is on his game Nasri is lifted. Samir is Cesc’s present day Hleb: Fàbregas used to love playing with the Belarusian; he could always find him and our captain knew he would always get the ball back which encouraged him to drive forward just that bit harder. Nasri is obviously head and shoulders better than Hleb his goal tally says it all.

You can probably sense the elephant in the room right now; the one that you possibly think I am ignoring, the “I” question. To many Van Persie is a brittle as a Kit Kat, an injury waiting to happen; the most persuasive argument I have ever read on this point was written by Rocky.

RockyLives says:

December 9, 2010 at 8:13

“Where I disagree with you (I think) is when you suggest that the chances of all players suffering an injury are equal. I believe some players’ bodies are less prone to picking up strains and sprains than others’. All players have an equal chance of being Shawcrossed, or of breaking a leg in an unfortunate fall, but I don’t think they share the same likelihood of picking up smaller, niggly injuries.
I would be prepared to bet quite a few bob that in the next 12 months RvP misses more time through injury than Chamakh. Again, no blame attached to RvP, it’s just a fact that he suffers a lot of injuries. Some people have more robust physiologies than others.”

This had me flummoxed and has taken ages to put into words why I disagree:

The fact is, we only know that a player suffers more injuries than others at the end of his career, it is only then can we average out if he has spent more time in the sick bay than others. While a player is still playing there is no certainty that that player is more likely to be injured than any other. It is like the heads or tails trap that people fall into when flicking a coin; the mistake is to assume that after the coin has landed on heads five times, for example, then by the law of averages it is more than likely to land on tails the next time: this is not true, there is still only a fifty fifty chance that the coin will land on tails the next throw.

Clichy backs up the point I am trying to make; he seemed to be permanantly crocked in his early days at Arsenal but now he has the reputation of being one of the least likely to be injured. This could just as easily turn out to be that case with the present day Mr Arsenal.

Van Persie is the leader of the gang and when he is around the others are cocky as hell, he fills them with a self belief that they can win anything.

Written by London

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Posted by LB

Let’s Lay Off The Szczesny Hype

January 17, 2011

To listen to some people you would think our promising young reserve ‘keeper is David Seaman, Peter Schmeichel, Gordon Banks and Lev Yashin all rolled into one.

He’s not.

Right now Wojciech Szczesny is a raw, inexperienced player with bags of promise and the chance of becoming great in the future. A bit like Alex Manninger, Stuart Taylor and Richard Wright before him.

In his performances for the first team this season he has been good but far from exceptional, which is entirely as you would expect for a 20-year-old taking his inaugural steps in the top flight.

All of which makes the fashionable hysteria about his talents premature, not to say ridiculous. It is also potentially detrimental to his progress: I have seen him described as a cert to be the world’s best goalkeeper within two years, which is an awful lot of pressure to pile on a young man’s shoulders, however broad.

So where did all the hype come from?

Quite simply, it emerged towards the end of last season and early this one when Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski were dropping more bollocks than a vet at steer-castrating time. It was like their own private game of dueling banjos…

“Diddle-ing-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding… I can palm the ball into my own net…”

“Diddle-ing-ding-ding-ding-ding-dang-dong… I can hand it to the opposition for a quick free kick…”

And while we watched and groaned and cried bitter tears, a certain young reserve goalie’s stature was growing with every game he didn’t play.

If either Almunia or Fabianski had been making us feel secure would we really have gone so overboard about an up-and-coming youngster? Of course not. But they didn’t make us feel secure, so Szczesny gradually assumed the stature of a saviour in waiting, a prince across the water (even if the water was only Colney Reservoir).

What worries me is what will happen when Chesney (to use his affectionate nickname) has a couple of bad games as he undoubtedly will. He came close to some serious howlers against Ipswich in a performance which included poor kicking, bad decision making about when to come off his line and, once, handling the ball outside of the area. He got away with the latter offence, but if it had been Fabianski people would be screaming about how he’s a disaster waiting to happen.

When Wojciech screws up a few times, will he be next in line for the ironic cheers when he catches a ball cleanly? Will the home support start dumping on him the way they dumped on Fabianksi? And if so, will he have Fabianski’s strength of character to come out the other side?

There’s lots to be hopeful about with the younger of our two Poles. His stature is reassuring, as is his confidence and his willingness to shout at the defence. The way he makes himself big in one-on-ones really is reminiscent of Schmeichel, but there’s a long way to go yet before he can bracketed in that class.

Szczesny may well be a once-in-a-generation goalkeeper who will star for The Arsenal for 15 years or more. I certainly hope so. But at the moment he is, quite rightly, second in line behind Fabianski and it’s time that we, the supporters, stopped putting so much pressure on him.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Theo crosses Bridge …. Dutch Mastery ….. living up to the form book

January 16, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

West Ham 0 – Arsenal 3

This game doesn’t really require a report the stats say it all:

………………………………..WH             ARS

Possession                     34%            66%

Shots on Target              6                 13

Shots off Target              1                 7

Corners                          4                 10

As complete a victory as you are likely to see. With Song, Nasri and Van Persie returning to the starting line up alongside Theo, Cesc and Wilshere the line up looked capable of winning the game. With Eboue still in for Sagna, and Chesney continuing to deputise for the injured Fabianski we were only two players short of Arsene’s first choice starting eleven.

With those players on the pitch there could only be one outcome, couldn’t there?

To say we started well is an understatement, first to the ball, first to the pass, first to the tackle, the players seemed to be in control of the game from kick off and never looked back. Thankfully our early possession paid off within fifteen minutes, a period of possession leading to Theo having all the space and time in the world to pick a pass, which he did to perfection, a gorgeous stepover from Nasri later and Van Persie was burying the ball in the back of the net with his right foot.

Whilst we continued to dominate possession there was an occasional slip or misjudgement at the back that if punished would so easily have undone all the good work.

One of these moments came from a poor back pass from Big Johan which let in Cole, Chesney was very quick to rush off his line and make a great blocking save to spare JD’s blushes. With every game Chesney plays his stock rises, he gives me an overwhelming sense of confidence, he has the one ingredient that all the best keepers possess, belief in his own ability. He seems to be unflappable, something we have not had the privilege of seeing in the Arsenal goal since safe hands Seaman.

The team needed the second goal before half time, just to settle any underlying nerves, Theo duly obliged with a left foot strikers finish rounding off a lovely move involving Cesc, Clichy and Nasri. The great thing about the finish was Theo’s desire to reach the ball before Bridge, moving around him to apply the decisive touch like a true centre forward.

The second half was more of the same, complete domination of possession, Chesney was called on to make another fine save from Sears miscued cross, but the result was never in doubt and the players ran out at a canter.

Van Persie converted the third from the penalty spot after Theo had worked his way in to the area and debut boy Bridge completed a pretty disastrous day by bringing him down.

Nasri gave us something different today and showed us what we were missing against Leeds and Ipswich, a player who is willing to run at and past defenders either with ball at his feet or with little give and go passing. He gave another string to our bow today and he sure knows how to play it.

The early goal helps us, we now need to see that we can play this way for 88 minutes without scoring and nick a game 1-0, then we can start dreaming of trophies.

Player ratings:

Szczesny……….9

Koscielny…….. 8 (calmness personified)

Djourou……….  6 (few tricky moments under pressure from Cole)

Clichy …………. 7

Eboue …………. 7

Fabregas……… 7

Song ……………  7

Wilshere …….. 8 (continues to play with maturity beyond his years)

Nasri …………..  8

van Persie…..   8

Walcott ………. 8

Some may think the 7’s harsh, but I just think they all did what was expected of them no more no less.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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