Thomas Vermaelen Needs To Grow Up

May 7, 2012

I’m sure you have all heard of the “Canary Test”.

In 19th century coal mining there were no automated ventilation systems, leaving the pit workers at risk of perishing from toxic gases.

So they used to bring a caged canary down to the coalface with them. Canaries are especially sensitive to carbon monoxide and methane and would keel over dead soon after inhaling them.

If the little yellow bird kept singing, the miners knew that all was well.

I thought of this before Saturday’s game against Norwich: given the haphazard nature of our results this season and, in particular, the untimely run of form we have struck of late, it felt like we were getting our own Canary Test.

Newly promoted Norwich are a decent side who have played some nice football this year and have managed to stay out of relegation danger. But that’s about it.

They certainly should not be too great an obstacle to a side with Champions League aspirations like Arsenal, right?

And yet, and yet.

Losses to QPR and Wigan in recent games had exposed Arsenal’s fragile underbelly (apparently our overbelly is just fine, although currently holidaying in St Petersburg) and raised old questions about our mental strength and tendency to choke when it mattered most.

So the visit of Norwich was a Canary Test, but with the outcome reversed: if the Canaries died, all would be well in Arsenal Land. If they lived… not so good.

We all know what happened. The Arsenal performance can be summed up in four simple stages: dream start; abysmal capitulation; spirited fight back; stupid capitulation.

The first half, after our early goal, was particularly worrying. Our midfield vanished like a coin in a magician’s fingers and Norwich made full use of the empty acres in front of them.

But it was the Canaries’ third goal that really ticked me off and which (I’ll get there eventually) prompted the headline to today’s Post.

We were 3-2 up with five minutes remaining in a game where a win was vital.

Any top team – and I mean ANY top team, including Barcelona – would, at that point, have attempted to close down the game to see out the remaining minutes and secure the points.

And they would look to their senior players to lead by example.

But, right now, Arsenal are not a top team so we did not behave like one. Inexplicably, we behaved as if we were chasing the game and needed another goal to win it.

In the run-up to the Canaries’ third, Song gave the ball away stupidly while trying an over ambitious pass and both Gibbs and Vermaelen were too far up field and out of position when possession was lost.

Think about that for a minute. A goal up with minutes to go, and our defensive midfielder is trying fancy-dan passes while two of our back four think they’re in the US Cavalry. As it turned out, they were in the US Cavalry – unfortunately they were with General Custer. Hadn’t we learned our lessons from Norwich’s second, when TV5 was stranded up field as the away team broke and scored?

Inevitably Norwich again exploited the empty spaces and scored.

Could you imagine Chelsea behaving like that? Or Manchester United? Or Manchester City?

Of course not.

The only highly placed Premier League team I can imagine doing that are the ones who live down the road and pong a bit. So that’s what it has come to: we, the mighty Arsenal, are behaving like your common or garden Spud.

I’m angry with the manager and the entire team for the first half performance and I am angry with Song and Gibbs for the third goal. But most of my anger is reserved for Thomas Vermaelen – a man pretty much universally adored by the fans.

Not for the first time this season, his lack of discipline as a defender has cost us points.

I am all in favour of him going up for set pieces (the break in play involved in set pieces means we can make sure to keep other players back to cover) and I am delighted when he drives forward towards the end of games where we are chasing a goal. His late winner against Newcastle was testament to what he can achieve in those situations.

But to behave that way when we are narrowly winning a vital game is immature and unbefitting of an Arsenal Vice Captain.

I hope all you Gooners who think that Vermaelen and Koscielny comprise our best centre back pairing are learning your lesson.

The great Tommy V, the Muscles from Brussels*, our Lion of Flanders has, to my mind, been getting carried away with his own publicity. For all his strengths, his indiscipline makes him a liability at times.

Before everyone slaughters me, I will mention his strengths: he is powerful, brave, fierce, a battler, great in the air, strong in the tackle, indefatigable, charismatic, intimidating to the opposition.

His combative qualities put him in the top echelons of Premier League defenders. But if he does not start showing more discipline and maturity, he will struggle to be remembered as a true great.

Let’s not forget, he is 26 years old. Unlike Gibbs, we cannot blame youth for his mistakes. In those final minutes when we were beating Norwich he should have been using all his experience and authority to scream his head off at his colleagues about holding their shape and holding the ball.

That job is even more important when you take into account how wasteful Alex Song can be. He is nominally our Defensive Midfielder, but his obsession with trying Hollywood passes when a bit of Ealing Studios is called for, and marauding up field at the very times when he should be shielding the defence, is slowly killing us.

When the experienced Arteta is playing, Song’s rampages are usually covered. But Aaron Ramsey does not appear to have the understanding to do likewise, making it even more vital that the Centre Backs stick to their duties.

On Saturday Vermaelen did not.

For me, the first CB name on the team sheet (assuming all are fit) should be Per Mertesacker, with either of Koscielny or Vermaelen alongside him. Beside the BFG, I feel that either of Kozzer or Verm are excellent options, but both of them need the organizational nous and composure of the German Giraffe to bring the best out of them.

In fairness to Tommy V, our approach to defending as a team and a squad is a bit all over the place (there is an excellent and balanced deconstruction of the issue on Desi Gunner’s blog: http://desigunner.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/a-detailed-look-at-arsenals-defensive-issues-tactics-shape-mistakes/ ).

Whoever takes over Pat Rice’s job next season needs to help Arsène Wenger make us more difficult to score against. It’s about far more than just the personnel, but it is also essential that the senior players focus on their own responsibilities.

I love what Thomas Vermaelen brings to Arsenal, but if he can apply a bit more maturity to his game I will love him unconditionally.

RockyLives

*Actually Tommy comes from Kapellen, which is nowhere near Brussels. It’s on the outskirts of Antwerp, which might make him a Twerper. ‘The Muscles from Brussels’ sounded better.

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Posted by RockyLives

The season unravels again

May 6, 2012

I’m pretty fed up of having to write posts after a miserable game.

Miserable game or miserable result?

Definitely a miserable result. This was a must win game – together with all the other must win games that we haven’t won in the last four since we lost to Wigan. We don’t have long to find out whether the point gained yesterday will be of any value as todays games will either see us stay in the top four or drop out.

We all know that this season, third in the table is far more precious than fourth just in case those west london chavs go on to lift the trophy in Munich and so it would have been so immeasurably wonderful to have just won this game. Instead we scored in the 2nd minute and then failed to play for the next 45 minutes.

Miserable game? Miserable first half. Having started so brightly we then conspired in a pretty typical fashion to let the opposition into the game. What is wrong with us attacking the ball? Is it the New Arsenal way to not think about defending as a team? Not unusually, we conceded a sloppy goal as soon as the 12th minute. How many ridiculous goals have we conceded at the Emirates this season? Far too many and this was followed by another in the 27th minute.

How do we expect to get back into the game when we don’t challenge for the ball, when our mid-field just allows the opposition to waltz through unchallenged?

I really can’t be bothered to write about the nitty gritty of the game and which players did or didn’t perform  as I’m sure you can read better reports elsewhere. I know we’re missing Arteta and he has been the glue this season but there are other players who could put in more effort and concentration to ensure we’re tighter in the middle. Just challenging for the ball and working harder would make a big difference.

Anyway, on the half hour mark Sagna went down apropro of nothing and it turns out his leg was broken – poor Sagna. He was replaced by Coquelin which was a bit of luck because I think Coquelin is rather good. Someone kindly played Coquelin a hospital pass for his first touch and he was awarded a free kick following an unfair challenge by Hoolahan who should have been carded. The first half closes 2-1 down.

The mutterings of supporters around me hoping Arsene gave them a good telling off at half-time seemed to be true as they were out early and started brightly. But no, was it going to be one of those days where for all our creative play we just couldn’t put the ball in the net?

Robin could have had at least three already but we know ‘he scores when he wants’ and so it came to be that he found the net for an equaliser. Funnily enough, I had in the previous passage of play implored someone to ‘just put it in the back of the net’ in a rather unladylike way and the very nice young frenchman sitting next to me was rather shocked. Once Robin had scored I wondered whether I should throw caution to the wind and just swear like a trooper. Clearly it worked because Robin scored another to make the score 3-2.

And here it all goes horribly wrong again. There we were deliriously happy, third place almost secure for another few days, singing ‘by far the greatest team’ at the tops of our voices when another lapse in concentration allows Norwich to score for the third time. Talk about having the wind taken out of your sails, crushed is the only way to describe the feeling.

While all that was going on Ramsey was subbed for The Ox on 60 minutes and Yossi came off for Chamakh on 69 minutes.

We may be extremely lucky and hold on to third place but don’t hold your breath as some of this team just didn’t stand up to the challenge of getting us over the line yesterday and there’s no guarantee that next Sunday will be any different. Too many clever touches, too much intricate play, not enough simple football tactics.

Who takes the blame? The team or the manager. This game wasn’t a one off, I’ve seen too many of these this season to be fooled into thinking this is a transition and patience is required. We needed to win today and we didn’t turn up first half and that is just not good enough. There are many that think that success is just around the corner for this team and I believe we have some very good players but do they have the motivation to be successful? On yesterday’s evidence I’m not sure.

Written by peachesgooner

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Fight for the Right: Norwich Prematch

May 5, 2012

Today an acquaintance asked after Arsenal’s weekend opponents. After I explained the significance of this afternoon’s match he said “why worry, it is only a football game.” Firstly, this shows a total misunderstanding of the Raddy psyche, but more to the point, it indicates a lack of understanding of the nature of importance. Let us not be fooled, sex is not important (though the lack of it is!), breathing is not important (though the lack of it is!), what is important is that Arsenal finish the season above the Miscreants crawling their way out of N17.  And beating Norwich is not just important  – it is vital.

If one had to choose an opponent to play in this situation it would be a mid-table team who had an attacking, open footballing philosophy. Norwich fit the bill perfectly. We couldn’t have asked for better opponents. But ….. in recent seasons, we have seen an Arsenal team crumble under the weight of expectation so regularly that we can no longer trust them to take 3 points in these circumstances. Hence the nerves.

And there are nerves aplenty. Fans will be taking lucky routes to the ground, wearing lucky socks, knickers, shirts, hats, eating lucky sweets, drinking in lucky pubs, sitting in lucky seats etc etc. And from what I read on the site Corks will be much in evidence 😀

What is needed today is strength of character. We are a better team in every area than Norwich and under normal circumstances 3 points would be de rigeur;  should our boys perform there will be little of concern. Any doubts within the team must be dispelled -as such the team Leaders have to get in the faces of the more reticent players and fire them up.

We need some of this ….

with a large spoon of this

It is the time for RvP to lead from the front, for TV to inspire his defence and for Song to grab the game by the scruff of it’s neck . Time for our wingers to be lethal in front of goal and for our shots to be on target. No quarter must be given and every ball fought for. Norwich will not just cede 3 points, they can be a dangerous opponent. Concentration from the whole team is essential, and should things go awry we must find the Sagna spirit shown in the Spurs game.

…. none of this.

The team almost picks itself. We have a solid and dependable Back 5, with either Gibbs or Santos at LB depending upon the opposition. I would play Santos today.

My Team:

One hopes that Mr Wenger decides to be more attacking at home and play O.C from the start but I cannot see him taking the risk.  In such an important game it would be foolish to experiment and as such I expect him to play safe.

The last home game and therefore this season’s final Gooner. I think it should be a man who never gave up, a proper Gooner and a working class hero. To those of a certain age the Henry Cooper / Cassius Clay fight at Wembley is a stand out point in sporting history. Our ‘Enry was the first man to knock Clay down and had it not been for some Angelo Dundee skulduggery Cooper would have won. Instead he got badly injured and forced to retire. It was a special night and made ‘Enry’s ‘Ammer a household name. In the rematch at his beloved Highbury Stadium Cooper lost and soon after retired.  Twice Sports Personality of the Year and made a Knight in 2000 (the only boxer ever to be knighted) Sir Henry Cooper remained a National Treasure until his death in 2011.

and most of all Our ‘Enry’s courage and determination

Once again faith will be the bedrock of our game – a belief that through teamwork Arsenal will win. And today even more than normal the fans have to be behind the team. No losing patience, no getting on the players backs – we need the type of atmosphere created against Spurs, Milan and City. To those lucky enough to be going – make it loud!

Today is the 900th game of Mr Wenger Arsenal career, it is also likely to be the final home game of Pat Rice’s working life at Arsenal. So, let’s win in style and give them something to remember .

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Pat ‘MR ARSENAL’ Rice

May 4, 2012

Whatever the result at tomorrows crucial game against Norwich, no doubt there will be a lap of appreciation from the players to their supporters after the game has ended. One man deserves to have his name sung loud and proud as he walks around the Emirates pitch for the last time. It is expected that Pat Rice, Arsene’s right hand man, will be hanging up his track suit following many years as an excellent servant to the club.

The bare facts of his career do not do justice to a wonderfully loyal and gentle man, who served Arsenal so well both as player and Assistant Coach.

Patrick James “Pat” Rice (born 17 March 1949).
Pat was born in Belfast, which explains his unique London/Irish accent, because he then grew up in London.

He played more than 400 times for Arsenal, including winning the first Double, before moving on to play for Watford.

As an International player he won 49 caps for his home country Northern Ireland. He has been the strong right hand of Arsene Wenger ever since Wenger became the Arsenal coach, and reinforced his reputation by being an intrinsic part of the management of two wonderful Double winning teams.

Born in Belfast, Rice grew up in London.

But what of the man? Pat has become indelibly linked with Arsenal and has clearly become assistant, friend, confidant and advisor to the greatest manager Arsenal has ever had.

If Pat gave a soliloquy about his time at the club, it would be full of self deprecating modesty and good humour. For all Arsenal fans he is far more than that. We all will have our own thoughts and memories, both involving his playing career and his time in administrative management.

Nothing will honour Pat more than for all of us to exchange these wonderful memories of a great man among ourselves today on the penultimate day of his final Arsenal home game.

Written by Red Arse

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Another Seven Years without a Trophy?

May 3, 2012

How to be a happy Gooner, despite not winning any silverware for seven years and counting!

About twenty years ago, I read for the first time, the well-known ‘Management’ bestseller ‘Seven habits of highly effective people’ by Stephen Covey. The one bit I still remember clearly from Covey’s book is ‘Habit two’: ‘Begin with the end in mind’. He asks his readers to imagine their own funeral: who they would like to attend and what they would like the key people in their life – partner, son/daughter, best friend and best colleague/boss, etc – to say about them. Once readers have envisaged what these dear-to-them-people ideally should say at their funeral, Covey instructs his readers to turn the content of these imaginary speeches into their personal, lifelong objectives.

For a long time, I thought this was very powerful, until I spoke about this to a good friend of mine, who had an instant and very potent response: ‘what really matters is what you think about yourself’. And she was right, of course.

By now, you will be asking: but what has this got to do with football, with Arsenal, for heaven’s sake! Well, I would like you to think for a moment about what really matters with regards to your and my beloved Arsenal.

Let’s return to Covey’s slightly macabre idea of envisaging your own funeral, but this time, to the period just before your future death (hopefully very, very far away!).

You have some time left, and are not in too much pain and still very lucid by brain, so there is time to reflect on your life, and even some time to reminisce about Arsenal. Your lifelong, best Gooner mate is with you as well.

What will be your finest memories about Arsenal? What will you choose to talk about with your mate? And what will you choose to watch again?

One thing I am pretty sure about is, you will not be looking very long at statistics of how many cups we have won in our history, or even during the time you were alive, or where we are positioned in the all time league of best clubs in the UK and Europe. I am also pretty sure that you will not be looking very long, if at all, at a picture of the Arsenal trophy cabinet, however impressive it is.

As time is of the essence, you will want to make sure you’ll use it well and talk about YOUR memories, YOUR experiences that really matter, and not about objects, or facts and figures.

And there are plenty of good memories for us Gooners!

I am sure, come that time, we will be talking about the best cup final games and key title-clinching matches, but also about individual performances of sheer brilliance, about some of the best footballers that have played at Highbury and Ashburton Grove. There will also be fond memories about certain matches, which by themselves might not have led to winning silverware, but were simply a joy to experience. On top of all of that, there will be the many wonderful personal memories, often of an insignificant nature to most other Gooners.

Although I am pretty sure other periods will generate more fond memories, the recent trophy-less period of 2005-2012 will still play a key part during the final review of our time supporting Arsenal.

I bet, our home-win against Barcelona, and in particular the goals by RvP and Arshavin last season, will always remain engraved in our brains. The same goes for Fabregas’ goal, Arsenal’s second, against Milan in 2008, and Arsenal’s heroic performance with 10 men against Barcelona, in the CL final of 2006, and in particular Sol Campbell’s bullet header. And what about RvP’s phenomenal record goal scoring year in 2011, and the 2011-2012 season – epitomised by his wonder goals against Everton (home) and Liverpool (away)? And there is plenty more for us to reminisce about of from this trophy-less era!

It is also the period in which we moved to our new, 60,000+ capacity stadium, back in 2006, and in which we played some of the best ever football to have been played on UK soil. And yet, we did not win any silverware.

In the end, it is experiences and memories that matter most because objects cannot compete with experiences! It is those memories of experiences that are really important, not the number of trophies we have won. Of course, the very best memories are created by phenomenal football that leads to winning trophies, but the latter is not a necessity for us to enjoy our football. And the really good thing is that Arsenal has achieved that too, and more than once!

We don’t need to listen to the press, rival fans and, unfortunately, fellow Gooners and teasing partners, about not having won any silverware recently. What others say and think is not important, what is important is to remember the beauty and joy from the games Arsenal have played recently, because that’s what really matters in the end – that’s what we will remember more than anything else long term.

We should also not get stressed too much about winning something in the near future. Arsenal should aim for winning as much as possible, and use its resources as clever and efficient as possible to achieve this. But it might not work out, as there are – luckily, to a certain extent – no guarantees in football. Seven lean years might not be followed by seven fat ones, but seven more lean years instead.

I personally believe the ‘fat years’ are around the corner, as Arsenal has all the basics in place for a period of prolonged success, despite the enormous competition we are facing as a result of the cash-for-cups oil barons littering the football horizon.

But whatever happens, it will still be the mighty Arsenal, playing in a World-class stadium, playing World-class football, under the guidance of a World-class manager, who is the most loyal to playing the beautiful game of all managers. On the way, Arsenal will be creating many more immortal footie experiences and memories. Hopefully, it will lead to us winning silverware again, but if it doesn’t, it really is not the end of the world.

But why wait till the very last days of our lives to realise this? Let’s take a deep breath and realise how good it is to be a Gooner, right now, right here.

Well, at least that’s what I will be trying to tell myself, next time I feel a mini-bout of melancholy coming over me, when realising again we have not won anything for seven years and counting.

TotalArsenal.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Where is The Magic Hat?

May 2, 2012

7 years. We have all heard it, we are all suffering from the jibes and the media make sure it repeated regularly. What has happened?

Many on the site will have sung with gusto:-

“Georgie Graham’s Magic,

He wears a Magic Hat,

And when he saw the F A Cup,

He said  I’m having that”

If you look carefully, BR is just below GG’s shoulder!

Of, course, in later years Arsene Wenger inherited the song.

With the FAC this Saturday and another year of non-Arsenal interest, I question what is going wrong? How can a team as talented as ours, with as many outstanding players as we have, won zip for so long? Quite frankly, it is not good enough.

We have many discussions about evaluating what is success; for example, would we swap Liverpool’s season for ours – they stand on the brink of equalling our Double Cup win, yet lie outside the European places and a huge 34 points behind Manchester? What will the records show? They will show a successful 2012 for the Scousers. Arsenal can point to another season of “development”.

We can all list a litany of excuses; the stadium, the CL involvement, Project Youth, financial restrictions, bad luck, injuries etc but the sad fact is that during our barren run even Spurs have won a trophy!  A Div 1 team have won a trophy (don’t bother looking it up – it was Portsmouth) and so have a Championship side (surely you recall that one 😦 ).

So, why aren’t we winning silverware and how do we remedy this sorry state of affairs?  I will let you into a secret – Mr Wenger has no idea and neither do I. We both need some input as to how to remedy the problem.

Can you help?

Written by BigRaddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsène to be top spender?

May 1, 2012

Season end approaches and once again the phantom shopping trolleys are being pushed around the blog world by deluded supporters expecting their clubs to go to market. Well sorry folks, in most cases it isn’t going to happen the coffers are empty; the players have had it on their toes with the bread and many of them too, are in for a nasty shock.

Football has for years casually spent the huge TV revenue on player’s wages, whilst obtaining those same players on the never/never. Now club owes club, owes club, owes club, for past deals, many for players that no longer play for them. The whole system is a house of cards ready to tumble as soon as a big club goes. A bit like the inside trading that brought down the banking system when Lehman bros went.

But this time there will be no helpful taxman waiving his debt to help bail out the clubs damaged by the shock waves. He will want paying in full and don’t rule out a quick bill being pushed through parliament to make sure the taxman gets first shout as he does elsewhere when companies go broke.

So no mega spending by clubs this window, a few individuals will buy the one or two major players they need. But expect the rest to be cutting back on squad sizes as contracts run out, many players to be out of work this year and the major part of the trading to be in loans.

We at Arsenal are lucky, we are solvent, and I see no way the directors won’t keep it that way. Arsène will IMHO buy maybe a couple of key players and release many of those whose contracts run out or alternatively re-sign them on lesser terms, as will be the norm for all but the elite players throughout the game as their contracts run down. Expect young players to be ruthlessly fought over as clubs bid to stock their academies and just as swiftly dropped if they fall behind the standards required. The gravy train has hit the buffers and the fall out will be enormous.

Conversely those managers, who have proved their ability to run clubs on limited budgets, are likely to find themselves quickly elevated to “bigger clubs”. IE. those PL clubs outside the select Champions league qualifiers and those owned as playthings by the mega rich,who will try to reinvent themselves as participants in the real world, rather than the Mickey Mouse environment that has, since the birth of the premier league, been football.

Consider financial fair play, tougher tax regimes, sound business practice, higher interest on loans if indeed loans can be found by many. These all mean that clubs, players and the fans that support them have to come to grips with the new reality  that is football 2012

Welcome to the real world Gooners.

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

Gervinho: The New Thierry Henry

April 30, 2012

One of the commonest complaints levelled at Arsene Wenger by his critics is that he hangs on to sub-standard players for too long.

He is accused of having ‘favourites’ and of continuing to select them long after we supporters have decided that they are not up to it.

‘Fawlty’ Manuel Almunia, ‘Sideways’ Den Denilson and Emmanuel “the Grinning Kamikaze” Eboue all spring to mind.

Now the critics are drawing up new lists. Some are comically long, leaving us with a squad containing just Szczesny, Vermaelen, Wilshere and van Persie, who in addition to their playing duties will also have to wash the kit, mow the grass and make the tea.

Others are more considered. The names most regularly seen on these lists are Diaby (too injury prone), Almunia (too error prone), Chamakh (too goal shy) and Park (too invisible).

But as our season approaches an anxious climax, I have seen Gervinho’s name bandied about as another player who should be packed in a cardboard box and deposited in ‘Goods Out’.

Is this fair?

Certainly he has been a frustrating player in his first year at Arsenal.

Against Stoke at the weekend he actually did a lot of good things – taking on his fullback and often beating him with a combination of skill and pace. But whenever he got free, he seemed incapable of making the right decision.

As for his finishing, well, let’s just say that he appears to have been getting tips from Jon Jenson.

But if you cast your mind back to the start of the season he was a promising addition to the squad. He was exciting on the ball and very, very direct. His first touch was (and still is) excellent and he can dribble past opposition defenders at will.

So far this season he has played 27 games, including nine as a substitute. He has scored four goals and made eight assists. It’s not a startling return, but nor is it awful.

My theory, for what it’s worth, is that Arsene Wenger had a notion that Gervinho could (I stress, could) turn into a new Thierry Henry.

Don’t laugh – I’m serious.

He came to us as a fast and skillful winger/forward with a French background. I’m sure it must have crossed Le Boss’s mind that there was a possibility he could blossom the way Henry did into a devastating attacker. Perhaps Wenger even thought it unlikely that van Persie would stay fit for an entire season and that there would be opportunities for Gervinho to play as a central striker.

Right now that idea seems ludicrous because we have come to think of the Ivorian as a player who lacks composure in front of goal (and, in fairness, his recent efforts have done nothing to counter that view). That puts him at the opposite end of the spectrum to Henry, who is arguably the most composed goal scorer ever to wear an Arsenal shirt.

But what many don’t realize is that Gervinho’s scoring record in France was better than Henry’s before he joined us.

Thierry bagged 20 goals in 105 games for Monaco (less than a goal every five games). In his short spell at Juventus just before Wenger scooped him up he got three in 16 (again, less than one in five).

Gervinho, by contrast, scored 28 in 67 appearances for Lille – the club from whom he joined Arsenal last summer. That’s a goal every 2.4 games – or twice as deadly as TH14 was before arriving at Highbury. Both were playing as wide attackers while in France.

It gives the lie to the suggestion that the dome-headed flyer does not have the ability to score goals. I don’t know why he’s not bagging more for the Gunners. He scored a peach at the ACN (in fact, it was quite an Henry-like finish) but in the red and white it has not really been happening.

I don’t watch French football so I have no idea whether he was played in a different role at Lille or whether it’s just a confidence thing at the moment.

Like most players who go to the ACN, he has suffered a dip in form since returning, but I really think it’s too early to give up on this young man.

Many people had doubts about Laurent Koscielny after his first season with us. Like Gervinho he had been good in parts; but, also like The Gerv, he had frustrated too. The Godawful cock-up that gifted the Carling Cup to the McLeish Relegation Team #1 seemed to be evidence of an underlying problem with the defender.

Fast forward to now and I suspect that, were it not for Robin van Persie’s ability to pop the egg in the basket at moments of personal convenience, young Kozzer would be Arsenal’s player of the season.

I am hopeful that Gervinho’s Arsenal career will follow a similarly upward trajectory and that next season will be a big year for him

Do I think he can become a new Thierry? Probably not, because players like Henry are very rare indeed. But if he can become 50% of what TH was it will still make him one of the best players in the league.

Do I think he can become a vital and effective part of the Arsenal attack? Yes I do.

He has now had a season of adjusting to the EPL. It would be crazy to jettison him at exactly the point where we can expect him to start showing why Arsene Wenger believed in him in the first place.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Brittania Revisited

April 29, 2012

A third trip to the Britannia in three seasons brought with it some mixed emotions. The 2009/10 game was played in February, a month after being beaten by the Stokies in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Ramsey’s leg snapped like a twig but the team responded magnificently to record a fine 3-1 victory.

2010/11 at the Britannia saw Arsenal in end of season free-fall and another defeat ensued. What would 2012 bring? Stoke always raise their game against us, refusing to lie down to superior footballing ability. The touchlines are narrowed, local aircraft given warnings of possible collisions with footballs and Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army gives the pre-match, rabble-rousing speech. Could Arsenal resist the bite of the cold steel? Anxious and expectant, the Arsenal away fans gathered in the Potteries.

(photo courtesy of Stuart MacFarlane)

After an easy drive along the A50 we arrived in plenty of time to find a parking spot at a local bowls club which would enable a smooth getaway at the end of the game. A brief chat with a couple of Stokies in the pub before the game elicited the information that they were pleased not to be in Europe again as it had ruined their season. Mid-table mediocrity seemed to be the height of their ambition…..oh, and beating Wenger’s Arsenal, of course. Arsenal are lacking a player who puts his foot in was their considered opinion whereas none of their players minded being kicked!

We had a fairly good view but were much too close to the inbred hoards and soon realised the aggression between the two sets of supporters was going to colour how we would remember the game.

The first half began and it soon became obvious that only one team had any desire to play any real football. The first booking came in the first couple of minutes as Whitehead fouled Song. The Gunners began the game at a canter and Benayoun should have done better, scuffing a left foot shot after clever interplay with Robin. Then it was the Dutchman himself who drew a fine save from Begovic with a glanced header at the near post.

Stoke scored from their first effort on goal with a pinpoint cross from Etherington which found the head of the Human Pylon. Even with Vermaelen and Koscielny leaping front and back of Crouch, they still stood little chance of stopping the goal. “One Nil to the Rugby team” sang the Stoke crowd. If I was a Rugby player, I would have been offended.

Arsenal quickly responded with another straightforward goal in its simplicity, van Persie slotting home after good work from Rosicky. “He scores when he want” and “By far the greatest team” followed.

The first half petered out from that point onwards. Gervinho had a chance to shoot after a lovely through ball from Sagna but put his effort way over the bar. Another chance nearly came to Gervinho who just failed to get his immense forehead onto a whipped-in cross.

My brother went for a half-time pie and heard the following conversation in the queue in front him. Arsenal supporter, ‘What flavour pies have you got?’ Girl behind the counter, ‘Chicken Balti, Steak and Ale…. Arsenal Supporter, ‘Have you got any Meat and Potato? ‘Yes’ came the reply. Arsenal fan, ‘I had one of those last year and it was farkin horrible’. Cue the laughter from the serving assistants behind the counter. The news that Newcastle were getting thumped certainly improved the atmosphere behind the goal during the half-time break.

The second half began with the boys kicking towards us. Surely things would improve and we would earn the crucial three points. As far as the football is concerned, I thought the second forty five was pretty poor. Arsenal probed and prodded. Shots were blocked. Robin slipped on a couple of occasions when he might have sneaked a shot on goal. There were a few decent looking free-kick opportunities for the good guys but none really troubled the Stoke keeper.

At the other end Szczesny made a fine blocking save from a vicious drive and a long throw header was cleared close to the Arsenal goal line. There was a brief rendition of ‘We can’t spell his name, we can’t spell his name, Wojciech Szczęsny, we can’t spell his name’.

The other dominant impression from standing behind the goal in the second half was how hideous the Stoke fans were. They finally found their voice after Shawcross lunged in on Benayoun. They sang ‘He breaks things when he wants, he breaks things when he wants, Ryan Shawcross, he breaks things when he wants’. (It could have been ‘legs’ rather than ‘things’, it was difficult to understand the accent). Looking across at their fans there were gestures of breaking a stick in two hands which I found quite sickening. Hideous miscreants.

Yossi had a good shout for a penalty ignored by Foy who looked across at his linesman to see a totally blank expression and so he waved play on. The last twenty minutes were a pantomime starring Arsene Wenger. He began waving his arms in the air at the injustice of the penalty decision and other decisions which followed. The Stoke crowd began to imitate him by waving their arms in the air at every opportunity while singing, ‘ Let’s all do the Wenger’ and if an Arsenal player committed a foul singing, ‘He didn’t see a thing, he didn’t see a thing , Arsene Wenger, he didn’t see a thing.’

Arsène needed someone to tell him to sit down as he may as well have been the Stoke cheerleader, such was his influence in stirring the Stoke crowd to generate more noise.

At the final whistle, I felt disappointed that we hadn’t been able to rise above the overall poor quality of the game and produce a few moments of real class to win us the three points. A hard-fought point would have to suffice, a point which looks better in the light of Newcastle’s zero points. Whether it’ll look so good after Sunday’s fixtures, only time will tell.

Ratings

I don’t really do ratings but I’d say that Benayoun and Rosicky seemed to have decent first halves. The defence were resolute throughout, Sagna looking dangerous assisting the attack in the first half, too. Szczesny couldn’t do much about the goal. Sometimes I wish he would catch instead of punch, especially in the second half when the aerial bombardment was in full force. I’d probably give them all a 7, with Tomas, Yossi and Bacary 7.5.

P.S. The Man of the Match was announced over the tannoy as Dean Whitehead. Sums it all up really!

Written by chas

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Posted by Rasp

If the Kid’s are United: Stoke Preview

April 28, 2012

Some time ago I made a decision to stop belittling our opponents. This was due to a rash of defeats to lesser team following an abusive prematch (yes, I have that much power). But sometimes needs must, plus I have to be realistic and accept my  posts have no impact whatsoever of the result of the game.

So let’s get down to business.

Stoke: If there is a more miserable, wearisome, beetle-headed bunch of bum-baileys walking the planet then my name is Luther Blisset. Managed by a man who in the words of Oscar Wilde “has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.” Stoke are the reason why the PL has slipped behind La Liga and the Bundesliga in world football. You do not find teams in La Liga who cannot play the ball on the ground or rely on set pieces in order to score.

Orcs in their natural habitat

Then there are their fans. Amplified to make the armchair viewer believe they can create an atmosphere, they reflect their team. Aggressive and hard to like. And, they hate us. Pulis thinks Wenger is impolite (!), their fans think Gooners are soft southern pansies and delight in calling our team wimps and cheats. We are the positive to their negative.

But can we beat them in what is an important game for us? One thing is certain, Stoke will give 100% and we will have to be at the top of our game to win. I think patience will be vital. Add in the Ramsey/Shawcross factor and there will be some genuine needle at the Britannia. We cannot respond to Stoke’s provocation – the early season stupidity of Gervinho and Song will cost us dear if they retaliate in what is sure to be a physical game; the Orcs (Huth, Whelan ,Whitehead, Shawcross + +)  will ensure it.  A strong referee is essential because it isn’t the stupid rash tackle that Stoke employ, it is the constant physical battle.

Crouch has scored his wonder goal for the season (and a brilliant goal it was), he has a good record against us  as have Stoke. They have won 3 out of our previous 4 visits to the Britannia. Pulis believes he knows how to beat Wenger and our games are never less than highly competitive.  Should we win, it will not be an easy ride – it never is up there.

My Team:

You may look at my team and say “Chamakh?  You’re having a Turkish” but I think we have to try something different. I would play RvP behind Chamakh, give Bennie the run of the left wing and swamp the midfield. The defence picks itself, as does the midfield (in light of the fragility of Diaby), though Coquelin is likely to get some pitch-time, if fit.

The obvious solution is to play O-C or Gervinho on the wing but given the loss of our speedster and Arteta, we could start the above team which would allow some flexibility.  That said, we are most likely to start with a forward line of O-C, RvP and Bennie.

Stoke Inventor? There are a few as you would expect in any industrial area. Oliver Lodge invented the wireless telegraph, the electric spark plug and moving coil loudspeakers (according to Wiki). Whether he did or not is lost in the mists of time.

Surely, we have more than the long throw in?

Against opposition whose main ethic is unrelenting industry and teamwork, Arsenal have to respond in kind. We have yet to win in the PL without Arteta and today is the day to remedy this. Arsenal can win but it will be through endeavor, inspiration, unity  and harmony.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

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