ARSENAL …. behind every great team…….

December 22, 2010

Written by dandan

Football is no longer a team game, nor in many ways is it just a squad game either, unless we are prepared to accept that all the behind the scenes experts that drive the club are squad members.

The fact is that the sports psychologist, dietician, statistician, lawyers and fitness coaches are as important to a top club and its manager as the players that wear the shirt on the pitch or warm the bench.

Many fans of course never see these guys or understand the dynamic that surrounds the word team. A new centre forward or giant goalie being far more important in the fans eyes, than the faceless entities who provide the information that any manager needs to successfully integrate the diverse individuals that are the players.

We are all aware of the clichés, like, “a successful team is more than the sum total of its parts”:  Indeed it is because its reinforced by the collective expertise of the management team that runs the playing side of the club

Or, there is no ‘I’ in team, supposedly meaning that individuals have to conform to integrate, really?  But then there is an M and an E in team and how different to ‘I’ is ‘ME’?  Not a lot, it would suggest.

So Arsène the manager is also a team leader and a squad player, he cannot be seen to be one of the boys, but at the same time must not be so remote that he is unable to give some fatherly advice, an arm round the shoulder, or a bollocking when required. The man you see on the touchline or in front of the Sky post match cameras is just the tip of the iceberg, a professional protecting his players from the Richard Keys of this world, headline grabbing, attention seeking junkies of little talent or worth. No wonder on occasions the façade slips and reveals a little more than we are used to seeing. Of course should this happen he is immediately accused by these same nonentities of being stressed or wilting under the pressure.

It is no accident that when a manager moves he often takes these backroom boys with him, for they are as important a part of his management style as the personal skills he has honed over the years. Without them and the technical support they provide the modern manager could not operate.

So when we see players being rotated it may have nothing to do with last week’s performance or the team we are meeting. But more with the scientific information supplied by the backroom boys pointing out the necessity of such a move and the benefits to club and player.

We at Arsenal have the added benefit of having a man to control all this who is a genius at team building with a talent for picking the right staff.  If you doubt this, look how often you read how national and international teams love to poach our staff, from the grounds man to the Physiotherapist

So next time you see the Emirates on TV or are lucky enough to visit, spare a moment to look around and marvel at the ambition, bloody mindedness, determination and superb management skills of Arsène Wenger the man who has made it all possible.

And maybe, just maybe you pot hunters who have no interest in the complex technicalities of running so great a club and see everything in simplistic red and white terms, will also have a new one to gloat over this year as well.

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Posted by dandan

Wenger’s Number One Apologist.

December 20, 2010

Being Arsene’s number one apologist there is a question that has been floating around out there that has been bothering me for a while: why did Wenger play a weakened side against Shakhtar and Braga away? His critics accuse him of arrogance and obstinacy; the fall out of these decisions being that we came runners up and now, unnecessarily, have to face Barcelona.

The excuse I offer will, I suspect, be easier to run with if you have man managed a group of people at some point in your life, I think this is one of the reasons I always agree with Dandan and more often than not with Big Raddy both of whom have had the responsibility for a number of people to a greater or a lesser extent.

Wenger has twenty five players to keep happy which is more people than I have had to man manage so I accept that a lot of what is about to follow is pure guess work; but hey, what is a blog for?

Twenty five professional footballers to keep happy — all at the same time — no easy task in my opinion; some of the more lowest common denominator Arsenal blogs dismiss this by pointing to his six million annual salary but it does not change the fact that the man still has to do the job of keeping twenty five very large egos under control.

Right, having established that, cast your mind back to just before the Shakhtar away game and you will remember that we had maximum points from the three games in our CL group; we had beaten Birmingham 2-1 at home, City 3-0 away and then West Ham 1-0 at home in the EPL – we were, by anyone’s standards, on a roll. Wenger had got the Red Machine humming but the problem he faced, as I saw it, was how to keep everyone content.

Bendtner had made his return against City; successfully getting on the score sheet and doing exactly the same in his following appearance against Newcastle in the Carling Cup. Walcott, being the best player at the club for the first three games of the season, had returned scoring impressively as well against Newcastle and when Wenger was asked if Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was knocking at the door he replied that he wasn’t just knocking he was banging on it with both hands; all this without mentioning Szczesny who, when it comes to demanding first team football, makes the others, including Bendtner, look shy and retiring.

My point is that it was perfectly reasonable to field the side Wenger did against Shakhtar – even more so when you consider we had trounced them only a couple of weeks before at home. Wenger said that he selected a team he thought capable of winning; all perfectly reasonable, but in my opinion it had just as much to do with trying to keep twenty five players happy.

So, all neatly tied up then, the problem I have is that on the other shoulder sits a little devil who whispers in my ear: do you really believe that? Wenger could not lose by playing a so called weakened team: if we beat Shakhtar we were as good as through to the next round but if we lost Wenger would have a more humble, a less demanding, a more malleable Bendtner and Walcott and so he did and still does. A similar story applies to the Braga away game. The other reason Wenger couldn’t lose by making those decisions was because he knew that if we came second in the group no one would blame him if we go out to someone as powerful as Barcelona.

A little something to think about on this long break without football.

Written by London but hey, you already knew that. lol

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Posted by LB

Time to move on ……..

December 16, 2010

Thursday morning and the inquest into Arsenal’s latest big match disappointment rumbles on. Arsenal fans the world over are rightly disappointed that we have now gone 11 games without victory against either United or Chelsea. Whilst I find it difficult to say that you can take positives from any defeat, I do think it’s worth noting that we didn’t lose in the same manner as we have in many of those 11 games. This was a game, bad pitch or otherwise, that saw an alarmingly low technical level from both sides. United came away victorious but they did not outclass or outplay as. There is a big difference between disappointment and humiliation.

The reasons given for this defeat have been many although none seem to hit the nail on the head.  There have been many criticisms of Clichy, criticisms which I believe are largely valid. There is no doubt that he could have closed Nani down quicker for the goal however, it should also be remembered that he did a lot of good work, on his own, against one of the Premierships best performers. Certain voices have criticised the whole defence, argued that player for player they are not good enough. Even Sagna has come in for stick in some quarters. This seems to be a knee jerk reaction. Whilst I would have preferred Djourou to Koscielny, he and Squillaci actually did well against Rooney. None of the chances we gave away, only 2 good ones to my memory, were the fault of the back four.

Alex Song has come in for his usual criticism. It seems to be received wisdom these days that he, in keeping with our ethos, goes forward too much. This clearly was not the case for him or the rest of the side on Monday. Song joined in when possible but basically stayed at home and, as a result, limited United’s opportunities. In post match anger and disappointment I expressed the view that we should be more circumspect in these games. It seems that tactically, we had tried to be just this. Take Samir Nasri’s comments post match:

“In the first half, we sat back and waited for them a bit. We didn’t want to push too high up, because they always find each other in space, whether it’s Park or Wayne Rooney playing on his own up front.

“We wanted to sit back and wait for them and we held out well until we conceded the goal four minutes from half-time.

So, on reflection then, we were actually set up ok tactically. We didn’t try to blow them away and then get caught on the break which has led to our undoing in so many games in recent years. Effectively we were beaten by a fortunate goal. Without the deflection it would not have found Park’s head and we would most likely have gone in 0-0 at half time. A 0-0 draw would have seen a different response from the media and fans a like. As it stands, we are rueing defeat by a very slim margin.

Whilst I don’t think we should all just smile and get on with it we should also try to look forward rather than back. This defeat was not symptomatic of our usual perceived short comings. At worst, we lacked the invention and creative spark to create an opening but, on balance, it’s not like United carved us open too often either. Defeats are always painful but we must keep our heads, as a set of fans and a club in general. This defeat was not men against boys, it was the sort of result that happens in big games. This may sound strange but had we not been burdened by this awful record we would not be picking over the bones of this defeat with quite so much fervour. Unfortunately, we do have this awful recent record and people are understandably disappointed.

I would argue that we can now put to bed the idea that we don’t have anyone physical enough to stand up to opponents or that we aren’t committed enough. We were just as physical as them and that is not where the game was lost. As I’ve already written, this defeat also wasn’t the direct result of a bad goalkeeper or a fragile defence. I can’t argue that the result could have just as easily been 1-0 to us as we offered very little going forward but, we do have gifted forwards so it’s not unreasonable to claim that on another day we might have done better. The main factor we lack as a team is self belief. The players appear nervous and, in this pivotal season, so do the fans. We need a good result in one of these games soon, to prove that we can do it and the harbingers of doom are not correct. In truth, we were far closer to a positive result here than we have been for some time. What better Christmas present than a home win against Chelsea? In that game we must forget what’s gone before and show togetherness, players and fans alike.

Smith14

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Where’s the grit and determination?

December 15, 2010

Yesterdays blog saw some great discussion following the defeat at Old Trafford and SharkeySure picked out a couple of comments that spurred(!) him on to the following rant.

26 May – “it really annoys me to see our players not matching the energetic determination of their opponents”

Mike – “Thirty minutes to go and I see very little urgency or intensity from any of them. There is no spirit, no real grit and determination”

My overriding thought from Monday night’s game is that with two minutes of injury time left, we have a free kick deep in our half that is passed to our keeper and three more shortish passes ensue before RVP puts a cross into the box which leads to Theo’s tame (wild?) effort.

A winning mentality would have the keeper waving his troops into the box and strarting a mini Alamo. We really are the only side that I can think of who will continue to probe for an opening with so little time on the clock. We’ll also still have a back four in our half marking no one, or at best, one fat granny shagging striker.

Ok we’re not Stoke, but would it really hurt to push Squillaci up front and start an aerial bombardment for the duration of injury time..?? After all, Theo’s effort came from a weak headed clearance !

Scratched record alert !!!!

For all of Song’s misplaced passes on Monday, I still look at his approach to games and can’t help but think that if we had more players with his attitude we would see a real upturn in our fortunes.

He’s strong, he’s quick (out paced Evra!!), he’s normally a good passer, and one of our best in the air.

For all he gets told to stay back by so many, he has scored vital goals this season and been heavily involved in a fair few of our recent goals.

Personnel and circumstances dictated that he guard the back gate for most of the 2nd half on Monday, but I for one was cursing that we had no Denilson out there to allow him to push on a bit.

So I agree with Neamann re Song and Denilson, Neamann prob got the idea from a comment of mine from Monday night !!  In all seriousness mine was a bit of hindsight insight if you like, based on how ineffective I thought Rosicky was.

Clichy is also much maligned, I thought he played Nani very well for the most part. He’s another one with the right amount of guts and determination !!!

Last point on Song. Give him credit for never hiding away. Misplace two passes, and he’ll still want the ball under pressure, yeah he might then misplace a third, but then again he might not.

Why do so many people completely overlook the great defensive work he does for us..??

Written by SharkeySure

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Manchester United Babies 1 Arsenal Men 0 (And Player Ratings)

December 14, 2010

Let’s be clear about this. We didn’t deserve to win this game. But, equally, we didn’t deserve to lose.

And what struck me most about the game was what a pathetic bunch of cheating babies the United players are.

More about that in a moment, but first a word for Howard Webb:

…………………….TIT

If he had even loosely followed the rules of the game we would have been playing against nine men for a large portion of last night’s match.

But this was Howard Webb and the venue was Old Trafford, so we had as much chance of not getting robbed as an armless man at a pickpockets’ convention.

I always thought that laying hands on the referee in anger was a red card offence. Not so at Old Trafford when the ref is Webb and the player is Darren Fletcher, who has just run 15 yards in fury to arm-check the official. It was clearly a straight red but, no, Webb just looked scared. Not so much of Fletcher as of what the purple-faced Gorbalian might say if he dared to send off one of his players at the Toilet.

Then, later, Rio Ferdinand executed a flying kung fu kick that left a foot-long gash in Bacary Sagna’s shirt, just below rib level.  If that reckless assault had happened the week after Karl Henry and Nigel de Jong’s leg-breaking challenges, Plug from the Beano would have been given his marching orders and rightly so.

But Webb bottled it again. Not a red card. Not a yellow card. Not even a foul. That’s clear then: in Howard Webb’s book, raking your studs down an opponent’s midriff is acceptable fair play. Or at least it is if you’re a Man Utd player at Old Trafford.

Then there was the ‘penalty’. Clichy fell to the ground and Nani kicked the ball against the elbow he was supporting himself with. He did not make any ‘hand to ball’ movement, he was lying with his full weight on the arm and it was tucked under his body, but the pen was given.

We all know that conceding a soft (by which I mean non-) penalty at United is a habitual hazard. In this case the fat lino flagged for the contact and Webb eagerly grabbed the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Vesuvius-nosed Glaswegian by pointing to the spot.

The only consolation was what happened next. While we were fuming about not getting the rub of the green, Wayne Rooney was clearly thinking about getting the rub of the gran. She must have been sitting in Row Y, because that’s where his big wayward ball plopped down.

His round-the-corner run-up (presumably intended to unbalance our rookie ‘keeper) was pure Jonny Wilkinson, with the same end result.

Apart from the above, the key moments of the game were two excellent saves from Chesney in our goal; some tame long range shooting by both sides and a gilt-edged opportunity for Theo to nab an equalizer right at the death (squandered, sadly).

Oh, and there was the goal, too. Gael Clichy was at fault again (all United’s best attacks were down our left flank) but there was still a slice of luck about the goal. Nani’s cross/shot deflected off Clichy’s foot onto the head of Park, who contorted himself brilliantly to send the ball looping over Chesney and into the net. Like so many of the goals we have conceded recently, there was a huge dose of ill fortune about the whole thing, but also some of our regular failings on display.

And so to the muppet display from Manchester United.

A year ago the mouthy runt who plays left back for them (you know, the one who led the French national team to the biggest humiliation in their history at the last World Cup) said that playing against Arsenal was men against boys.

Well, last night it was Arsenal’s men against United’s babies. Throughout the whole game, whenever an Arsenal player lost a 50/50 he would try to play on. Whenever a United player did he would throw himself to the ground and writhe around in agony.

Needless to say, Webb bought the play-acting every time. The chief culprits were Rooney, Nani, Anderson and Evra.

I read a hilarious comment on a moronic United blog to the effect that, because Webb called 17 fouls against us, this demonstrated that we had carried out deliberate ‘rotational fouling’ on their players. (Rotational Fouling, it should be noted, was a tactic devised by Ferguson to combat Arsenal’s superior side in the late 1990s, a fact confirmed in Jaap Stam’s autobiography). The idiot who wrote the blog clearly can’t have seen any of the ‘fouls’ because most of them comprised Arsenal players winning the ball and United players diving like Tom Daley.

To my shame, there were occasions when I was calling out for our boys to hit the deck like the United players, but we carried on playing the game fairly.

Frankly, United should be ashamed of themselves.

They are a good (but certainly not great) side, whose principle strength is their defensive organisation. But if they want to live up to their self-styled role as flag bearers for English football they really need to man up and stop the cheating which now seems endemic throughout their squad.

A few final thoughts on the game: Cesc and RvP came on as subs and played exactly as they have been playing recently (ie not very well). Our defence performed pretty well, except for the now familiar ‘Clichy moments’ that happen in every game. But United often had too much space between our midfield and our back four.

In the attacking third we tried hard but nothing really came off. There were a few half chances but we hardly troubled van der Saar.

All in all nil-nil would have been the fairest result, but Howard Webb was never going to allow that to happen.

We can take positives from a strong performance but we really, really need to get that monkey off our back: no, not Gareth Bale; the other monkey: the ‘not winning games against our title rivals’ one. We had a chance last night and didn’t take it, but there’s another one coming up fast.

This was never a ‘must win’, but for all the psychological reasons that have been much talked about, home to Chelsea on December 27th is exactly that.

Player Ratings

Szcesny: This boy is going to be a star. Can’t be blamed for the goal. Made a few distribution errors but there were two outstanding saves and he looked commanding. He already looks like our best ‘keeper.  8 MotM (not many contenders).

Sagna: Solid performance from our full Bac. Defensively tidy as usual, some good crossing and one or two wayward efforts. 7

Squillaci: Made some excellent tackles and interventions. Maintained his good form. 7

Koscielny: Relatively quiet game but managed to keep on top of Rooney for most of the match. 6

Clichy: Too many mistakes from Gael are costing us points. Should never have let Nani cut into the box for the deflected cross that led to the winner. 5

Song: Great work rate, some great defensive work but, again, some poor passing. He has been given licence to go box-to-box but still performs best when deep in his own half. 6.5

Wilshere: Very good in the first half but tailed off in the second and was rightly replaced. Glimpses of what a super talent he’s going to be. 7

Rosicky: Very good first half, pulled the strings and worked tirelessly. If you look back at the game, watch his gut-busting runs to get back every time we lost possession. He also tailed off in the second half. 6.5

Nasri: Not at the races today. He was double-marked for most of the game and, apart from a few isolated good moments, couldn’t grab the game by the scruff of the neck. 6

Arshavin: Busy, always looked like a threat, always happy to try a shot, but nothing really came off for Andrey. 6

Chamakh: Up against two outstanding CBs, couldn’t get much of a look in but never stopped running, fighting and holding up the ball for us. 6.5

Subs

Fabregas: Probably shouldn’t have come on in a match of such intensity. He’s going to need games to play himself back to form. His passing is still off. 5

Van Persie: Peripheral figure and couldn’t get into the game. 5

Walcott: looked to threaten on occasion, but fluffed his lines repeatedly. Had a great chance at the end to level the game but shot over. 5

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

The Big Game

December 13, 2010

Written by BigRaddy

The words Old Trafford always brings a shiver down the spine because Man Utd are  the biggest club in football. Perhaps Barca and Real could dispute their crown but MU play in a competitive league which they have dominated for quarter of a century. I always get excited by this fixture, it is one of the glamour games of the year and when both teams are on form almost guarantees an enthralling spectacle – however neither side is on form at present and I fear the worldwide audience will be disappointed if they expect a feast of football akin to the recent Barca v Real game.

Speaking to Arsenal fans at the Emirates and my Goonermates worldwide, there is a strong sense of foreboding – they expect us to lose tonight, which I find perplexing. I know United have only lost 2 points at home this season but we have very good away form. We are scoring freely on the road and MU are trying to incorporate a damaged goods Rooney. We are top of the League and United are not.

The positives for us are the wonderful form of Nasri and the mercurial Arshavin. Should they both play well we can and will win. We need to adopt an aggressive policy from the start and retain ball possession. The defence has to stay solid and be aware thet United do not play route one but attack at speed down the flanks – Clichy will need to be fully concentrated.

There is rumour that Fabianski is injured and that Chesney may start? If true then what better way to start your PL career with a clean sheet at OT?

Then there is the question of Cesc . Should we play him if he is back to fitness? In my opinion he has to start if fully fit, this is not a player who needs to be nursed through with warm up games, he is too important and too good. That said, this is just 3 points in a long season and should he be anything less than 100%  he must be rested, playing a 20 minute cameo should we be losing by a single goal at 70 mins.

The team almost picks itself:

We all know about United, their  problems and strengths are highlighted all over the media.

Tonight’s game is being watched by football fans all over the world, there will be hundreds of millions of viewers and the match will require a strong referee who will neither be influenced by the spite of Sir Alex nor attempt to be the centre of attraction. Tonight’s referee is Howard Webb, who by any standards has had a fantastic year; to ref the 2 biggest games in World football and then be handed the honour of tonight’s game is a huge accolade. He is not a favourite at Old Trafford because (so far) he hasn’t given the expected home decisions. Should he stamp down on Nani and Rooney’s diving plus Fletcher and Scholes savagery, we will have a chance. If not, it could be a long night.

At some point our team has to gel again. We have played wonderful football at times this season and the dreaded November has passed – we can and will win this game unless Lady Luck fortunes Man Utd (as usual!).

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Arsenal are a huge club …… are Spurs?

December 12, 2010

Written by Neamman

Well, obviously that title was tongue in cheek as we all know they are not, but a recent trip got me thinking, just who are the HUGE British clubs in the world?

Before I start let me give some personal disclosure. Born in Kentish Town I have spent over half my life in Canada, and for the last 20 years have visited Asia at least once a year and worked there for 16 months. This article therefore is going to be subjective in the sense that I can comment on Britain, North America and Asia, but have little idea about who is huge elsewhere. I will try to be as objective as possible and tell it as it is, not as I wish it were!

At the expense of reinventing the wheel and for the benefit of the younger and any non British readers lets recap how you usually choose your team. Way back when, before Sky, we saw perhaps one match a week on TV so, although there were always exceptions, your football allegiances were largely shaped by where you were born, and who your family followed. Being a Kentish Town boy I had but two choices, my Dad was a rabid Spurs fan but for some unknown reason as a kid I chose Arsenal. It was a brave or stupid choice at the time, as those were the glory days of the Spurs double side. I think it was just because I liked the colour red over white.  Being of an Irish background with relatives of orange and green family considerations made me follow Rangers almost as much as I do Arsenal, but birth trumped family history for me, Arsenal are always number one. My sister married a guy from Ilford and all her kids grew up as Hammer fans so birthplace was normally the deciding factor.

These days, with wall to wall TV coverage, I think birthplace and family ties are not so important and its quite common for someone from say, Brighton or Preston, to follow a big 4 team due to media exposure.

So who are the big teams in England? Well the obvious candidates are MU, Arsenal and Liverpool who are above everyone else. Chelsea, Everton, Villa and yes… Spurs….could all be called big teams in terms of support and history though not at the same level as the top 3. Below them we have such teams as West Ham, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Man City who border on being “big’ if they ever won anything of substance.

In North America I have to say Man U are in a league of their own, with Liverpool very close behind. Arsenal are a strong third at probably the same level as Celtic and Rangers who have huge support in the expat Scot and Irish communities. I would imagine this is pretty similar in Australia and New Zealand. For the Spurs fans reading this, if any, I am sorry but in 30 years in North America I have seen just THREE people wearing a Spurs shirt. You may be reasonably big in Britain but outside of the British Isles, you really don’t register.

In Asia once again Man U and Liverpool dominate with Chelsea and Arsenal close behind. Earlier this decade Arsenal were ahead of all but Man U but since 2005 many people have probably switched to Chelsea. In Thailand, Everton is quite popular due to Chang beer but the other big teams in terms of shirts worn are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and AC Milan. Once again you rarely see a Spurs shirt unless worn by a tourist visiting, and even then in 20 years I have seen just two.

So as Gooners we can say with confidence worldwide we ARE a big team. We have slipped a bit these past five years but given the financial difficulties Man U and Liverpool face, and given  our coming financial stability and power I am quite confident that over the next 5 years we will reach the same level of support that only MU currently sees.

In closing I am trying to think where was the strangest place I have seen an Arsenal shirt worn by a local. About 5 years ago I was doing the Yangtze cruise in China, one day we passed a barge going in the opposite direction and one of the Chinese deckhands was wearing an old away shirt of ours. I waved and gave him the thumbs up and I would like to say we bonded but the reality is he probably never noticed the strange Laowei [foreigner] waving at him. But I noticed my friend, I noticed.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Alex Song – Presser in Chief. Mens Suits £8.50, Ten shirts for £15.00

December 7, 2010

Written by SharkeySure

I started to write this on Sunday evening, and have also read through yesterday’s debate without getting the chance to comment much. So now my rambles have been requested by Peaches for a post in Song’s defence. I make no apology for the biased reporting and rewriting of recent history that follows. I’ll even steal a line of MickeyDidIt’s to make matters even clearer: “I must stress, every one of my theories and brilliant ideas have absolutely no basis on factual research or rational thought!”

I guess football is about opinions, but whilst I agree that Song wasn’t at his best on Saturday, I can’t see that he did much wrong bar horribly misplace two or three passes, and take a wild shot from a very difficult angle.

I watched it on a stream at 3pm then again on footie first at 8pm, and I was surprised to see how much closing down he did and how many balls he won in the air and on the deck, that hadn’t registered that forcefully with me earlier in the day.

Before horribly miscuing a pass to Arshavin, he won an aerial battle against two Fulham players, one of whom was the man mountain Hangeland. Credit first for coming out with the ball from a position in which he almost had no right to. Song also had a good penetrating run into Fulham’s bus garage (?) which opened them up a bit and led to Rosicky’s volley that went narrowly wide. Again, good pace shown to get in there.

Prior to his wild shot it was a long sprint after Pantsil, whom he caught and robbed (you all saw that right – Song’s slow ..Lol !) . I’m very happy to see him doing that, as it shows us pressing higher up the pitch. We started last season that way, and then it tailed off a bit, for some reason.

This season Song seems to be tasked with being presser in chief, and I for one think that he does it very well. When required, he sits deeper and is much more disciplined as a pure DM (M City, Everton and Villa away?).

Maybe part of the reason is that Song is very adept at using his strength and physicality to break up play, and perhaps Arsène feels that it’s better that he does this further away from our goal, in an area of the pitch where the opposition are less likely to roll over for a foul and set piece opportunity. Additionally he’s less likely to get a yellow for fouls high up the pitch.

Beyond his strength, Alex Song really is one of the best CMs in the Prem in my humble yet unbiased opinion. It’s rare to combine his physical strength and sublime technique. His quick feet and speed of thought get him out of many sticky situations that would have many others hoofing the ball into touch. He is also a very good passer of a football – slide rules inside the full back, chips, dinks, deft touches, he’s got the lot.

Yesterday Gunner N5 posted some wonderful stats that showed Song as being the 2nd most successful passer of a football in the Prem this season (up until Nov 27th). To see Song’s passing stats at 87% and to know the sort of cute and sometimes audacious passes that he attempts is fantastic for me, as I am just about one of his biggest fans. He’s second only to the Black Ray Wilkins at Chelsea (on 88%) who may as well be called CrabMan, and work at the CrabShack. (My Name is Earl is just about my fave comedy!)

To see Song do that receive and turn, look up to pass, then glide away in the opposite direction is a thing of much beauty and grace to me. To watch Crab Obi Mikel knocking the ball 2 and 3 yds to Ivanovic, Terry and back to Cech is horrible to watch. So taking into account points for artistic merit, Song’s a very clear winner. Simple really. So whilst I accept that his standards may have dropped a little I still believe that he remains one of our most effective and consistent players, who gets through the donkey work and adds the steel and never say die spirit (W ham at home!!) that we’ve all been crying out for since Flamini left. Anyone got Flamini’s passing stats for his final season..??

As this post lacked the humour I’d ordinarily aim for, here’s a gag to finish. A blonde (no, not our beloved Alex !!!) took her car to a garage as it wasn’t running too well. She left it with the mechanic to look at for an estimate of the problem and likely cost. One hour later she returns to hear the car running smoothly.  “Wow you’ve fixed it already,” she says, “yeah just shit in the oil filter” says the mechanic. “Really” replies the blonde, “how often do I need to do that..?”

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

The One Move Wenger MUST Make to Reclaim the Title

December 6, 2010

Never mind another swoop into the French league for Eden Hazard, or a crafty pickpocketing of the Hammers midfield to land Scott Parker.

The one move that Arsène Wenger can make this winter to transform Arsenal’s title aspirations is sitting right under his fine Gallic nose.

All he has to do is move Alex Song back to the position that suits him best.

I have banged on about this before but there’s nothing wrong with a bit of good banging. So consider this to be the Song Bang Part Deux.

First some home truths for the misguided souls who take time away from their very pressing duties watching daytime TV to write comments on the internet about how rubbish our defenders are.

  1. Squillaci and Koscielny have both started extremely well this season. They were never intended to be a starting partnership but the Vermaelen injury has thrust them into the firing line from the outset and they are showing signs of adapting quickly to the physical nature of the EPL.
  2. Johann Djourou inevitably made a slow start back to first team action after a year out through injury but he, too, is showing his class. In his last couple of outings (including against Fulham on Saturday) he has been outstanding.
  3. Bacary Sagna is back to his best form of two or three seasons ago: solid as a rock defensively and starting to put over some really good crosses.
  4. Gael Clichy is, er, no more accident prone than last year.

During the second half of last season we started to get into a bit of a groove. Our previous defensive fragility was gradually replaced with a grittier, more effective shield for whichever dodgy ‘keeper happened to be playing.

How did we manage this? Well, we had a good central partnership of Vermaelen and Gallas and we had an excellent defensive midfielder sitting in front of them in Alex Song.

Then the wheels fell off. Song got injured before the Tottenham away fixture and in that game Vermaelen suffered a serious injury and had to go off after 19 minutes. I don’t need to remind anyone how that match ended up.

Without Song and Vermaelen we went on to suffer two more bad defeats in our final run-in – the infamous 2-3 away at Wigan, where we collapsed like Rooney in the penalty area after a non-contact challenge; and the 1-2 at Blackburn.

Who knows what might have happened if TV and Song had stayed fit?

And so to this season. No Gallas, but two new centre backs came in and we could also look forward to having the fastest improving defensive midfielder in the Premiership.

We got off to a flyer but after only three games two bad things happened: Vermaelen’s achilles tendon started twanging like a country guitar; and Alex Song started thinking he was Lionel Messi.

There’s nothing to be done about the first misfortune, but surely it’s time to do something about the second.

In game after game Song has traded the defensive cover role for what is probably meant to be a marauding box-to-box role. It’s as if he’s trying to be a Stephen Gerrard (minus the punching people in bars) or a Frank Lampard (minus the pie-eating). The only problem is that until this season Gerrard could maraud because he had Mascherano watching his back; and Lampard gets all those deflected goals because Essien is watching his.

When Song charges forward the defensive cover at Arsenal is left to either Wilshere or Denilson. They’re both decent players, but JW is young and inexperienced and, in any case, has a style of play much more suited to the attacking midfield role; and Denilson, while excellent in possession, has the attention span of an amnesiac goldfish when we don’t have the ball.

End result: two central defenders completely new to the EPL are left with negligible midfield cover in most games. It’s no wonder they’ve looked exposed at times.

Clearly, as a highly paid professional, Song hasn’t dreamed up this new role all by himself, so the responsibility lies with Wenger.

In early November, after Song scored the winner against West Ham, the boss had this to say about his cuddly Cameroonian:

“Song wants to get forward. Sometimes defensive midfielders just want to defend. It’s not just his main role. He does it well in fairness. He came here as a centre-back, maybe he will finish centre-forward.

“He sees there is big competition in midfield and that helps. Nobody is guaranteed a place. We’ve had so many good players and so many players who have become exceptional here but, at the moment, Song is moving forward.”

Well bloody well tell him not to move forward then Arsène! It’s not as if his forward momentum is unstoppable; he’s not a glacier, despite the dusting of light frost on his bonce.

If it’s an experiment to create our own Gerrard/Lampard it was doomed from the start because without Song shielding the defence we don’t have a Mascherano/Essien.

Wenger has also gone on record as saying that Denilson takes the holding role when the two play together – but who, reading this, really feels comfortable with the little Brazilian as the chief protection for our defence?

There were some excellent comments on Arsenal Arsenal yesterday about this issue. As someone pointed out, last year Song was a round peg in a round hole. This year he’s a round peg who’s flirting with all sorts of squarey, oblongy and rhomboidy type holes while ignoring the lovely round hole that’s sitting waiting for him.

It almost cost us dearly against Fulham. I have no doubt he worked extremely hard and put in a lot of miles in that game, but too often he was in the wrong place when Fulham attacked.

Aside from the weakness this causes our defence, he is also not as good at the attacking midfield part of the job as most of the other candidates for the role, including Rosicky, Nasri, Wilshere, Fabregas and Arshavin.

It makes no sense to have moved him from a position in which he was becoming world class to one in which he will never be better than average.

Come on Arsène, give us back the Song we love.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Wenger Will Buy in January

December 3, 2010

The frothing fury of those who feel personally betrayed by Arsène Wenger’s recent comments on the January transfer window has had me splitting my sides.

You will recall that our leader seemed to categorically rule out taking the AFC wallet out of the club strongroom (where it is permanently protected by Peter Storey and some ‘friends’) to add to our squad this January.

I have seen him referred to as a liar, a fraud, a betrayer, a loser, a geriatric and a Frenchman. Not all of those descriptions are true.

What amuses me is how people continually take at face value the comments of a master tactician whose words are carefully framed to hit the right note for multiple sets of ears (the press, his players, other clubs, agents, his own Board and, lastly, the fans).

If some of these bloggers were writing in Renaissance Italy just imagine the headlines they would come up with:

“Lying Machiavelli Is Such A Fibber.”
“Outrageous! Cesare Borgia Has Gone Back On His Word.”

It has been well publicised that Arsenal have plenty of dosh. The last thing Arsene wants is to tip off the entire weaseldom of European football agents that we are in the market for a centre back or a new defensive midfielder.

When we buy this January – as I believe we will – it will be a bolt from the blue. The press won’t get wind of it until it’s a done deal and neither will we. Remember – Arsene left himself a clear get out if he wants to buy. He said he had no intention of adding to the squad unless he had to cover for injury problems. Well, he already has one serious injury problem (Vermaelen) that demands a solution. And given that if our team was a Mister Man it would be Mister Bump, it’s a racing certainty that we’ll have at least one more serious injury before the end of January. Which will mean he will spend.

Of course that’s no guarantee that we’ll all be thrilled with the purchase. Any new signing is far more likely to be from the Koscielny category of megastardom rather than the Arshavin one. But if we haven’t got at least one new member of the squad by the end of January I will eat my hat*.

RockyLives
*My hat is made of marzipan. It’s crap in the rain.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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