Chelsea’s Champions League victory in May was a travesty of justice, a victory for anti-football and the luckiest run of games ever witnessed in the annals of football history. I have rarely been so disheartened by the result of a game because it appeared the ends justified  the means. The only positive of the evening was the laugh JT gave the country as the cup was raised.

But, and here is the rub, the shame of winning with such an appalling display of negativity has had a remarkable effect upon the Southern Oilers footballing ambitions; the signing of Hazard , Moses and Oscar indicates a shift from the pragmatic to the artistic;  I hate to say this but I have enjoyed watching them this season. It is early days of course and the cold winter light may alter their footballing ethos but the signs are that Chelsea could once again be called “The Entertainers.” Who would have thought it?

Is it Abramovich or RdM who is directing this change?  Either way it is good for those of us who love attacking imaginative football.

However, before I run away with the idea that Chelsea have turned from bottom feeders into shining lights, it must be recalled who remains their club captain. Can you imagine such a reptilian character keeping the armband at Arsenal after his history of awfulness? Tony Adams went through some difficult times but found redemption, Mr Terry  has neither the will nor the gumption to follow suit. Let us hope for a repeat of last season’s comedy performance.

Then there is the odious fool Cashley. Brilliant footballer and possibly the best left back of the last 10 years but what a plum.

if a picture paints a thousand words…

I must admit to having a grudging admiration for Fat Frank – it must be pointed out that at no time has he publicly supported his “mate”. If anyone has made the most of his talent it is him and FF seems have grown up. Thankfully his star is finally waning because I cannot forget his fist pumping in front of my face at the end of the CL game at Highbury.

Rarely can a player have cost as much to club as Torres. Not the record signing fee but the need to tailor a whole team around him to prove his signing wasn’t an act of folly. One often reads that if he was playing at Arsenal then Torres would become the lethal striker he once was. Poppycock, the man is shadow of his former self. Occasional glimpses of  quality  and a few tap-ins are not the mark of a first class striker. Would you swap him for Giroud? I wouldn’t (at least not yet 🙂 )

So, the Blues have an array of talent only equalled by Barca and ourselves, but where are their weakness?. All over the park! They have yet to really gel as a team, they are dependent upon the midfield to score goals, the defence is aging and if Crazy Luiz (he reminds me of Crazy Ramon in Fistful of Dollars) is as “creative”as usual  there are gaps to exploit. Cech is a shadow of the keeper he was 3 years ago. They have no defensive midfield cover as Mata etc are no help, plus an over-reiance upon ObiOne Mikel will prove costly – he doesn’t have the discipline of Essien (why sell him?).

Enough of them. Let’s talk Arsenal. Early season report:. Very good but could do better. We have seen the potential of this team which allowing for good fortune with injuries, refereeing and the bounce of the ball is good enough to go all the way. If we can continue to build upon the teamwork and hard work we will win today. Why? Because we  are better than Chelsea, who let us not forget should be playing on Thursday nights. Teamwork is the key word. The triangles we have been gob-smacked by in recent weeks is entirely due to hard, hard work and of course, considerable skill.

Mr Wenger’s selection dilemma’s are in central defence and on the wings.  The return of our captain to fitness does not automatically mean a return to the starting eleven. How can you drop Koscielny after his game at the Northern Oilers? The man was superb. Mertesacker has been imperious and hardly put a foot wrong, his awareness has been vital to our defensive improvement, which is why AW bought him. Conversely, Chelsea will not be lumping long balls into the box but will rely on pace and trickery, so perhaps BFG is the man to get a rest.

The Corporal will get the biggest test of his short career. He will rarely come up against the talents of the man he will face today, Hazard is one of Europe’s finest players and regularly switches wings. How Jenkinson copes could be key to the game. Gibbs has really improved defensively and as has been pointed out tends to sit closer to his centre back. This allows for more crosses into our box but denies the runner space to cut inside (hope my poor attempt at tactics is understandable).

In midfield, can Ramsey be dropped after such an impressive outing last Sunday? Should we play 4-4-3 or the 4-4-2 which worked so well? Would you start Asharvin who looks in top form?

On the wings, Theo played midweek which indicates he will not start today, but then so did Giroud. Will they both be on the bench with The Mekon continuing centrally? Will we see O-C start on the right? It is great to have so many alternatives and that is without the return of Wilshire, Sagna and Rosicky!

The bench will be as powerful as we have seen for many seasons, though like Kelsey I worry about the lack of experienced cover between the sticks, Friedel has shown the value of  such a signing – I understand the chap below hasn’t got a club.

 Mr. Arsenal

I would like to see us start fast and attack through the flanks. Some accurate long shots to challenge the visibly impaired Cech (hopefully the midday sun will be in his eyes).  Whatever happens this afternoon we should be in for a feast of football and I am deeply envious of those attending.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

I’d be quite worried right now if I was a Northern Oiler.

Manchester City may be the champions of England, but Sunday’s game left a strong impression that they are going backwards while the mighty Arsenal are moving forwards.

They may have surged to success last year on a tsunami of oil, but now the tide is receding and if they’re not careful they might find themselves stuck in the tar.

In the equivalent fixture on December 18^th last year we lost 1-0 to a David Silva goal in a game we started with no recognised fullbacks.

I remember thinking at the time that we might just have nicked a draw with a bit of good luck. But no honest Gooner could have come away from that defeat feeling we were the stronger team.

Subsequently, of course, we earned a well-deserved three points against them at The Emirates – Mikel Arteta lashing home a memorable winner.

But in neither of last season’s match-ups were we as dominant as we were on Sunday:

Arsenal made 638 passes – 88% of them successful

The Citizens’ made 433 passes – 79% success rate

We also had nearly 59% of the possession. Against the champions. On their own turf.

In last year’s away game we clocked up only 467 passes (81% accurate) compared with City’s 416 (77%).

And even in the home win in April we made a lot fewer passes than Sunday – 539 (82% accurate) against City’s 297 (75%).

I find the statistics interesting because I did not think we were being especially “tippy tappy” at the weekend. I thought, in fact, that our attacking was quite direct at times – so it was a surprise to see that we made a hundred more passes than in last season’s home win.

Digging into the figures a bit more, I found that one of the reasons for us seeming more direct while actually passing a lot more may have been the number of times our players took on an opponent.

On the excellent FourFourTwo Stat Zone phone app (from which all these stats have been gleaned) what we used to call “attempted dribbles” are now known as “take ons.”

On Sunday we had 31 “take ons”, compared with 17 in the corresponding game last year and 19 when we beat the Oilers at our place. That’s a huge increase in the number of occasions our players tried to make something happen by beating an opponent.

For me this increase in attempted dribbles, combined with more passes and a greater degree of passing accuracy, could prove to be the secret formula that will finally enable Arsene Wenger to realise his vision of a trophy-winning team playing beautiful football.

Frankly, it’s what Barcelona do. When they are up against a good defence and can’t pass their way through them, they rely on players like Messi, Xavi and Cesc (when he’s not getting splinters) to force a breakthrough by dribbling past one or more opponents.

Nothing plays more havoc with a team’s defensive strategy than an opponent taking on and beating a defender. The beaten player is temporarily out of the game, the defending team’s organisation is in tatters and new spaces open up for the attackers.

If you only do half of the equation – the tippy tappy passing without the dribbles – you can frequently end up frustrated, which was often the case with the Arsenal team built around Cesc. Remember all that sideways passing across the opposition box in game after game?

To make sure that the number of “take ons” against City was not a blip, I checked the figures for our previous four EPL games this season and compared them with our first four games last season after the transfer window closed (I couldn’t see any point in including the games before then, such as the 8-2 at Old Toilet, when we were all over the place).

This season we averaged 26 “take ons” per game in the first four games. Last season it was a fraction over 18.

There is definitely something going on with our approach to the game. It may be partly to do with personnel (Gervinho is certainly playing with bags of confidence and looking to run at defenders all the time) but I suspect it also represents a subtle, but deliberate change of approach by Le Boss.

I’m no tactical expert, but it really feels to me as if we now have a squad capable of controlling the ball like the best of the “Cesc teams”, but with an extra cutting edge from players willing to take on their opponents in the manner of Pires, Henry and Ljungberg (even if they have some way to go to reach those players’ heights).

Incidentally, of our 31 “take ons” at the Etihad, 12 were by Gervinho. The next highest contributors were Ramsey (5), Jenks (4) and Cazorla (3). Podolski, in  a quiet game for him, had zero.

Apologies for the stats overload, but this new approach by Arsenal may be one of the reasons why so many of us feel that this year’s team is more balanced than previous years’.

RockyLives

We’re off to one of our best starts in the Premier League, 8 points out of 12, unbeaten, and only one goal against in the first four games.

Our defence has been very solid, pivoted around exceptionally strong performances by our center back pairing of Mertesacker and Vermaelen. they along with Gibbs and Jenkinson, thanks to the coaching of Steve Bould, have gained a new positional sense, and are stirring up memories of our famous back four.

Before I go overboard I must remind myself that neither Sunderland nor Stoke tried to play offensive football which made our defensive task a whole lot easier, but that’s happened to us many times before and we’ve fallen foul to a sucker punch and had a goal scored against us – so credit is given where credit is due.

The mid-field is pure magic, who could have guessed that a five foot six, two footed Spaniard would make such an enormous difference to our team? Santiago has fitted in better than O.J. Simpson’s glove.

When have we seen a stronger more in depth mid-field? Diaby has a renewed sense of purpose, Arteta is a master technician and seems to thrive in the company of Santi, Ramsey is looking like the player he was developing into, pre Shawcross, Coquelin is a star in the making and we have Rosicky, Frimpong and Wilshere in the wings awaiting return.

What an offensive display we put on against Southampton, simply as good as I’ve seen in 65 seasons – and that is not an exaggeration. Of course I recognize that we played against a defensively weak team – but they were the same team that scared the poop out of the Manchester sides.

Podolski does not just look the part – he IS the part and has improved in each of his games, on Saturday Gervinho put in a masterful display of football – and long may it last. Walcott has to get off of the fence and make a decision on his future. We need fully committed players, i.e. Oxide who gives everything he has in every game.

Giroud will come good, but the longer it takes for him to score the tougher he’s going to find life in the Premier League.

In spite of Saturday’s display I fear for our lack of depth up front, the only other strikers in our squad (until the January 2013 transfer window opens) are Arshavin, Chamakh and under 21’s, so the last thing we need is an injury to one of our main strikers.

Goal keeping has been our Achilles heel for several seasons and our reliance on a 22 year olds confidence level is a tad scary, Mannone has looked like a good replacement and after that we only have Fabianski. It looks like a major omission in not bringing in a top shelf keeper during the summer.

Can we win the Premier League in 2012/13?

Even though I have very positive vibes about our team and our performances I feel that lady luck, and good refereeing decisions, will play a huge part in our fortunes this season.

Injuries to our strikers could hurt us badly and shaky goal tending could be our downfall, the type of errors made against Southampton will cost us points against any of the top teams.

Talking about the top teams, who I see as Arsenal, Man U, Man C, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle, I fully believe that our games against them will tell a bigger story.

I’ve broken our schedule down into 4 segments to highlight our games against each of them.

During the 1st segment of 10 games (Aug 18th to Nov 3rd) we play Liverpool (won 2-0) back to back games against Man C and Chelsea and then Man U.

During the 2nd segment of 9 games (Nov 10th to Dec 26th) we only play against Spurs.

During the 3rd segment of 10 games (Dec 29th to Mar 9th) we play Newcastle, and then in consecutive weeks, Man C, Chelsea and Liverpool, and finally Spurs.

During the 4th segment of 9 games (Mar 16th to May 19th) we play Man U and then Newcastle on the final day of the season.

So, in a segment sense, our 1st and 3rd segments are critical with the 3rd segment being immense with 5 out of 10 games being against the top teams.

Having the 3rd segment (Dec 29th to Mar 9th) as our most difficult is not all bad as it falls during the winter transfer window (Jan 1st to Jan 31st) which give us an ideal opportunity to bring in new recruits to strengthen the squad.

All in all I feel that a top 3 is our most realistic goal but I would not be shocked to see us win the league – however I feel that a Cup is our most realistic chance of a trophy.

Written by GunnerN5

It’s a brave man who openly defies the word of God, especially when it comes directly from the Divine Being himself.

So no-one can fault Jan Vertonghen for courage.

Apparently when considering his future, the Belgian-born Ajax defender sought – and gained – an audience with the Almighty to ask whether a move to Arsenal or Teetering Horseparts would be the better option.

The Holy Dennis told him, emphatically, that he should not go to the Godless lands of N17. But once he had got up off his knees, we all now know that fearless, Godless Jan chose not to heed that advice.

And what happens to people who ignore the word of God? The Bible has the answer:

“…since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.”

Romans 28-29

Just turning out in that awful shirt with a skinny chicken balanced on a basketball is almost a perfect definition of “being filled with every kind of wickedness.”

Not that I’ve got anything against Vertonghen in particular, other than his choice of club. He seems a decent enough defender, though not in the same class as our own Lion of Flanders.

But I am interested in his need – and that of other players before him – to make a big issue of the fact that “Arsenal wanted to sign me and I turned them down.”

Kevin Mirallas, now at Everton, said something similar at the tail end of the summer transfer window.

I don’t doubt that in their egotistical heads these players believe Arsenal wanted them, so they are not actually lying. But they are misleading themselves – or have been misled by their selling clubs and agents – if they think they were a priority for London’s top club.

It’s the same problem that plagues the news wires all during the summer and winter transfer windows: players, clubs and agents fall over themselves to suggest that Arsenal is “after” certain individuals.

Some of the reports are downright fabrication, often from agents trying to put their players in the shop window. For them, the idea of being linked with a club like Arsenal adds noughts to their player’s value.

But I am equally sure that many of the reports of Arsenal’s interest have a grain of truth to them.

As a club competing at the highest level for the biggest prizes, you would hardly expect us to have just two or three targets and leave it at that. Such an approach would leave us exposed to the whims of players, the machinations of greedy agents and the vagaries of an open market.

Instead, I would imagine we “enquire” about dozens of players. In some cases we may approach a club simply to find out whether, in the future, the club would consider selling a particular footballer; other times we may want to know about length of contract and so on.

The vast majority of these players will never come to THOF, but our club needs to keep across their availability in case other deals fall through or unexpected departures and injuries blight us.

Arsene Wenger’s knowledge of players is legendary and I would bet he has dialogue with other managers about players on a frequent basis.

With the classier outfits these discussions stay secret, but there are plenty of classless people in football, which means many of our vague enquiries are leaked as news stories that we are definitely trying to buy player X or Y.

Returning to the Belgian Blasphemer, you have to ask yourself why on earth we would have made a serious attempt to sign him. We already have three of the best centre backs in the Premier League and our fourth choice (Djourou) is greatly under-rated by many fans who only remember his poor showings at full back last year (if you doubt me, go back and read some of the match reports when he was playing regularly at centre back. I did, and he gets a lot of rave reviews).

Perhaps we wanted Vertonghen as an alternative to Djourou as fourth choice, but that seems unlikely.

Far more probable is that we were keeping tabs on him in case one of our first choice CBs suffered a major injury in pre- and early season.

But with Laurent Koscielny – arguably the best CB in the league last year – currently unable to get a starting spot, Vertonghen – if he was ours – would not even get on the bench.

One last theory (which I kind of like) is that maybe we were making enquiries about him just to annoy the Spuds and to help push up the price they would end up paying for him.

Either way, I do not believe for a moment that we were seriously after Vertonghen, so the idea of him “turning down” Arsenal is all in his head.

Regular readers will know that the sensationalist and often inaccurate reporting of our club’s affairs is one of my big bugbears. The succession of stories claiming as fact that we are trying to sign this or that player fall into this category.

It wouldn’t really matter except that some people – including some Arsenal fans – use these essentially false stories as sticks with which to beat the management and Board.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can whip themselves into such a lather of fury about a supposed non-signing that has been nothing but a fiction all along.

Whip… “We haven’t signed Llorente…” whip… “what does that clown Dick Laws actually do?” whip… “we have no ambition” whip… “we’ll be lucky to finish in the top half this year.”

I suppose it’s a kind of sado-masochism: fifty shades of twat.

Anyway, my point is: please, please don’t always believe what you read even – maybe especially – if it comes from the mouths of footballers who have no reason to wish well of Arsenal.

RockyLives