Arsenal celebrate failure on the pitch ……

November 2, 2010

…but off it, the football world celebrates complete incompetence and negligence.

Following the defeat at Chelsea I decided to give myself a little time to mull things over. A chance to let the hysteria die down. Losing the last game before the international break gives everyone two weeks to dwell on the shortcomings – in our case that we’re still unable to rough it against tough tacklers, that we flatter to deceive against the Mancs and Chelsea, and that Wenger’s refusal to ‘buy big’ means we haven’t won a trophy in five seasons, obviously.

I don’t mind that criticism so much. In fact, I don’t even mind the media ignoring that we took to the field against Chelsea like Christopher Reeve – with our entire spine missing (the loss of Almunia, Vermaelen, Fabregas and van Persie hardly got a mention).

And I can just about handle Mr know-everything-about-management (despite never being a manager) Andy Gray gleaming: “You have to ask how long the Arsenal fans and players will put up with this? How long can Arsene Wenger keep persuading them this is the right way?” – while ignoring what the fans of Liverpool, Everton, Middlesboro, Newcastle, Sunderland (and all those other clubs that have spent more than us over the past five years) are currently putting up with.

I can handle all of that… just.

But what I don’t understand is the media constantly waxing lyrical about Chelsea and all they achieve.

It’s true that Arsenal haven’t won a trophy for five years. And it’s true that, in that time, Chelsea won the Premier League in 2006 and last season; three FA Cups; and a League Cup.

Ignore the League Cup because it doesn’t count. Add in that Chelsea have spent more than £300m over the past five years, failed to win the league for three successive seasons between 2006-09, and still haven’t won the Champions League – and I’d suggest it’s not a great return. But you don’t hear that said in the media.

What you also don’t hear is criticism of, and this is my main point, is how Chelsea have achieved their success – and just how bad it is for football.

Chelsea’s business plan since Abramovic came in has simply been to “achieve world domination” – which doesn’t appear to be happening – and relies solely on the hope that Roman Abramovic won’t walk away.

If he does, Chelsea are dead. Chelsea say the loans given to them by Abramovic have now been turned into shares, and that the club is effectively running as a profit-making business. The truth, however, is very different.

It is true that the loans from the holding company to Chelsea FC plc were fully converted to shares. However, Abramovich’s loan to Chelsea Limited, the holding company which owns Chelsea FC plc, was not. That loan remains owing. In fact, it increased in the previous financial year because Abramovich loaned another £25m for extravagant spending and to cover the dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari and his coaching team – all of which produced losses of £47m.

The result is that the accounts of Chelsea Limited (whose name was changed during the year to Fordstam Limited), show the loan to Abramovic still outstanding. The total figure owed? Wait for it… £726m. The good news for Chelsea fans is the loan is interest free. The bad news is that it is repayable if Abramovich gives 18 months’ notice.

So if the Roman gets bored; or fed up that they still can’t win the Champions League; or if they do win the Champions League and then he feels he’s achieved all he can with that toy, what will happen to Chelsea? Do you think the club will attract a buyer willing to pay off a three-quarters-of-a-billion-pound debt to take the helm? Looking at the debacle at Anfield this past couple of weeks, I would say not.

Those activities at Anfield have finally started to persuade fans that winning silver cups in the immediate future is not all football is about. Supporters are taking an interest in the long-term futures of their clubs, and seeing that the Arsenal way – while painful for half a dozen years or so on the pitch – is putting the club in good stead off the pitch for generations to come. Online discussions like this one on BBC this week are now riddled with praise for what has become known as “the Arsenal model”.

I just hope that now the fans are seeing the light, the media might follow. I suspect Andy Gray and co will just continue to focus on the one measure of success they care about – titles and trophies. Don’t get me wrong. I would love Arsenal to have won the silverware Chelsea have since 2005. But not at their price.

I know that in ten years I will still be watching my team from where I watch it now. I wonder if Chelsea fans will be watching some re-formed non-league version of their club because they wanted ten years of success but then Abramovic walked away – and took their history with him?

Written by redandwhiteviews

The author of this article has his own site redandwhiteviews.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

One Nil to The Arsenal

October 31, 2010

League positions usually go out of the window when there is a local derby, and West Ham who had fared quite well against us in recent years came with the obvious intention of not losing. Expectations were high amongst the home supporters after seemingly scoring for fun whoever we played in the last few weeks,yet it soon became apparent this was going to be in the main an all out attack against a resilient defence. I don’t think I am being too harsh in saying that this wasn’t one of our most fluent performances as unusually Cesc and co weren’t on top of their game yet others who had been criticised lately, mainly Clichy and Sagna both had outstanding games. Koscienly is performing better with every game and his partnership with Squillaci looked solid. Fabianski had little to do, but he is reborn,oozing confidence and commanded his area well. Long may that continue.

Arshavin is just totally out of form and should have been substituted earlier and Denilson didn’t have the best of games. Chamakh is only human, and he too found it difficult to impose himself.

Nevertheless as the game progressed Nasri started to control the game and the surge continued, and he blasted a free kick from a full 35 yards which hit the crossbar. Song,who obviously enjoys his role as an attacking/defending centre back or is it midfielder kept moving forward more and more. Eventually Walcott was introduced and within minutes was unfortunate not to score, hitting the angle of the post which rebounded to the excellent Green. Green made several other outstanding saves, primarily from Fabregas and Walcott and many watching felt resigned to us drawing against our East London neighbours.

Everyone was on edge and the clock was ticking down, when Clichy cut inside from the left flank and sent in a curling ball and there was our unsung hero  Song to head the ball into the net.That is three goals in three games for the much maligned Alex.

The final minutes were a master class of possession by the lads and as the final whistle blew there were smiles all round and a huge sigh of relief.

1-0 to The Arsenal 🙂

Player ratings courtesy of RockyLives:

Fabianski: Not a lot to do, but when he had to do it he was composed and sure. His confidence is growing visibly and there was a wonderful moment when he was literally dragging Cesc onto position in the box as we defended a free kick or corner. (I gave him an extra half mark for that). 7.5

Sagna: some misplaced passes in the final third but excellent defensively. 7

Koscielny: didn’t put a foot wrong. His tackling and positional play were first rate and he’s brilliant at staying on his feet and steering opponents away from danger without diving in. MoTM: 8

Squillaci: another good game for The Squid, who is forming a solid partnership with Kozzer. He made some strong tackles when needed, always looks calm and is a threat in the opposition’s box from set pieces. 7

Clichy: comes in for a lot of stick for his positional play but he was good today (partly helped by West Ham’s lack of ambition). And a rare assist for the vital goal. 7

Song: worked his socks off playing box to box and scored the late winner. West Ham’s lack of threat in attack meant you never felt too worried about any potential holes he was leaving. Got his customary first-half yellow for diving in in a non-crucial area. 7.5

Denilson: Tidy, if unspectacular. Nevertheless with Song charging forward his conservative positioning was important. 6.5

Fabregas: Not one of his better games. His touch was off and he misplaced a third of his passes, which is very uncharacteristic. On the plus side he kept trying to make things happen and had a couple of attempts on goal. 6

Arshavin: what’s happened to the player who single-handedly destroyed Liverpool? Nothing worked for him and it was painful to watch at times. Sadly the time has come to take him out of the spotlight for a few games. 4

Nasri: not as influential as he has been in other recent games (partly because Cesc and Arsh were misfiring, so our rhythm was never properly established). But he still did well and was driving us forward at the end. 7

Chamakh: some have criticised him for yesterday’s performance but in truth he was a victim of our general lack of fluidity and West Ham’s packed defence. It’s not as if he missed a hatful of sitters, it’s just that he couldn’t get in the game. 6.5

Subs

Walcott: continued his good recent form and was unlucky not to score. 7

Bendtner: didn’t have time to make much of an impact but definitely added to our threat as we chased the winner. 7

Eboue: a typical Eboue cameo: 6

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Posted by kelsey

The Academy in Free Fall

October 30, 2010

Written by Big Raddy

West Ham United at home. I love this fixture, a love going back to the ‘60’s when the East Enders brought a frisson of passion and violence both on and off the pitch.

West Ham. Take a moment, what do they mean to you? To me, the name evokes a different era – The Academy, The Famous Three, The Chicken Run, Ron Greenwood, The Inner City Firm (hooligans), I’m forever Blowing Bubbles, Trevor Brooking’s header in the 1980 FA Cup Final. And my mate Fat Bob, who has endured 40 years of hurt.

The current Hammers are in trouble; no money, a poor team held together by the excellent Scott Parker, and a likeable but hands-tied  manager. I fully expect them to be relegated this season in the wake of the financial meltdown of the club. No money means a poor squad, and the young talent developed in the Academy has yet to have an impact upon the team. “And like my dreams they fade and die” ….. because this afternoon we will assist in West Ham’s decent towards the Championship

We go into the game on a fine run of form. Clean sheets, loads of goals from a variety of scorers, playing superb football and yet with that traditional Arsenal fragility that has you biting your nails until we get at least a 2 goal cushion. And (whisper it) we have a goalkeeper in form. – make that 2 goalkeepers in form. Chesney was superb at Newcastle and staked his claim, but Fabiansky has been very solid and finally deserves his starting place. Could Almunia have played his last game for us? I doubt it, AW is a very loyal man and Almunia, despite being in my opinion a poor GK, has done little wrong this season (little, not nothing !!)

No Jack today. Nor the unlucky Gibbs. It is a hard team to pick. With the return of Koscielny, will JD return to the bench or the older Squillaci? And who will play upfront? Two goals in two games for Bendtner, Theo looking very dangerous and confident after his brace at Toon, Chamakh consistently scoring. It is difficult to imagine all 3 starting, thoough AW will have a good idea as to whether NB can play with Chamakh. Could Chamakh play left side and NB in the middle with Theo on the right? And what happens when RvP returns?

In midfield despite no Jack, we are so strong. Denilson has played very well in his last two appearances and is pushing for a starting place. I expect Rosicky to get a rest after Weds, and Arshavin to start following his rest.

My team:

We have an embarrassment of riches 🙂

Barak Obama is a confirmed West Ham fan (wiki) having been a supporter since 2003. And according to the Daily Mirror, so is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.  Not sure how many games they go to !

This is another must-win game for us. We cannot afford to drop points at home against relegation fodder.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Should Cesc Have Been Sent Off Against Manchester City?

October 26, 2010

It was disappointing to see Cesc Fabregas apparently making the ‘give him a card’ gesture to Mark Clattenburg on Sunday.

Only four minutes into the game against the Mancunian lottery winners Boyata was beaten to the ball by Chamakh, who would have been clean through on goal, but the young central defender lunged in recklessley and brought down our Number 29. It was as bang-on a red card as you’ll ever see for denying a goal scoring opportunity.

I have no doubt that Mark Clattenburg made up his mind immediately to show Boyata a red card. So, in the seconds before the red was produced, to see our captain shaking his hand at the ref in what seemed a card-wielding gesture was a real shame.

As an offence it’s not in the same category as studs-up tackles or flying elbows, but it’s still one of those things you don’t like to see in the game because it shows a lack of respect for the referee. And yes, I know that we in the stands can spend many a happy half hour disrespecting referees, but for the players it’s different.

Some years ago the FA’s refereeing panel deemed the ‘give him a card’ gesture to be an unsporting action that could merit a yellow card at the discretion of the ref.

So… if Cesc had been booked for that gesture – as he might well have been – he would have been off before half time after receiving what would have been a second yellow for a foul on De Jong and who knows how the game might have gone then?

This has certainly been a complaint made by many Citeh supporters and, even if you leave aside the ‘what ifs’ (like, if he had picked up a yellow for the card gesture he might have been more careful about not incurring a second yellow and so would not have fouled De Jong) they may have a point.

Having looked back on the incident I think Fabregas was lucky that Clattenburg had his back to him when he made the gesture.

“So what?” you might reasonably ask. We deservedly won the game, Cesc didn’t get sent off and worrying about things that didn’t happen is a sure step on the road to madness.

Well, the reason I raise it is that it’s not the first time that our captain has shown what opposition supporters would describe as a ‘nasty side’ to his character.

His rap sheet is not long, but it does have some highlights:

  • Throwing pizza at the purple-faced Gorbalian in the dressing room at Old Toilet.
  • Telling Mark Hughes to shut the f**k up and asking him what he’s ever won.
  • Throttling Tim Cahill at Goodison Park (and earning a red card for his trouble).
  • Allegedly spitting at Michael Ballack during a European game (denied by Fabregas and, later, by the German FA who said Cesc had merely been shouting insults. Spitting vitriol, as opposed to spitting, er, spit).

And most heinous of all…

  • Wearing a puffer jacket onto the pitch at the end of a home game against Hull.

Of the above, I happen to approve of the pizza-throwing, Cahill-throttling, Ballack-barracking and Phil Brown-baiting (all actions that show our Number 4 has bottle and passion).

But I’m less impressed by a player in his early 20s insulting a manager with an outstanding playing record like Mark Hughes. That’s just disrespectful and. To his credit, Cesc later apologized to Hughes for that one.

Making the card-waving gesture in Sunday’s game is a similar sort of offence – not terrible, just unworthy of our captain.

One of the best things about supporting Arsenal is that we know we have the classiest team, manager, supporters and club in Britain.

Compare Arsenal’s honourable and private dealings in the transfer market with those of our rivals.

Compare Arsene Wenger’s intelligence and restraint with the frothing fury of Ferguson or the crass stupidity of Allardyce.

Compare the way we play the beautiful game with the gridiron approach of Chelsea and Man City.

Compare Cesc’s dignified handling of Barcelona’s pursuit this summer with the money-grabbing, media-spinning tawdriness of Wazza Rooney’s campaign for a bigger payday.

So it’s disappointing when anyone associated with Arsenal (especially our captain) occasionally behaves in a less classy way.

I don’t want to go overboard about this but, as he enters what could turn out to be a very significant period of his Arsenal career, I would like Cesc to remember who he is and what he represents. He does not need to resort to unsporting behaviour – he has all the power and eloquence he’ll ever need packed into those two wonderful feet and that one amazing brain.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Sheikh, Rattled and Rolled

October 25, 2010

Written by kelsey

By now you will have most probably read several reports about the game at Eastlands, and those lucky enough to have witnessed it will now have a broad grin on their faces.

The general consensus of opinion beforehand was that a draw would have been a good result, but with United winning, the nerves were on edge and many thought could we turn up and possibly bag three points. With Wilshere suspended, Diaby was dropped and Sagna regained his rightful place at right back and Denilson came in to bolster the midfield.

The game kicked off and within a minute Tevez tricked Djourou into a mistimed challenge and passed to the talented Silva who flicked the ball goal bound and the much maligned Fabianski made a tremendous save. To me that was even at this early stage the turning point of the game.

Within a further 4 minutes Boyata fouled Chamakh and there was no hesitation from Mark Clattenburg to issue a red card. Refs come in for a lot of criticism but he had an exceptional game and got almost every decision right, a rarity these days.

So it was ten against eleven and City were primarily defensively minded. I am one who believed that the one man advantage didn’t benefit us greatly until the final 15 minutes when City were run ragged.

Arshavin gets a lot of stick, but yet again his assist for Nasri was sublime. A second goal was needed,and when Fabregas was brought down,we thought 2-0 but Hart made a magnificent save. The first half had been feisty, with 4 of our players booked and many thought at half time we would finish playing ten again ten. Wenger must have given explicit instructions at half time, and as the game fanned out, the team grew in confidence and we added two further goals.

I have to say that I haven’t seen a keeper look as assured as Fabianski for many a game. Hopefully his confidence will be sky high and he will remain as our number one. Cesc got man of the match but to me Fabianski and the highly skillful Nasri were just as good. Overall a really good team performance and if one was to critisize anyone it would be Clichy and the ring rusty Djourou.

It was good to see a real team that has been built with integrity and patience triumph instead of a cash rich hastily manufactured side who spent a further 100 million this summer and had 100 million pounds of talent sitting on the bench – a message of hope to all well run teams who aspire to compete with the billionnaires.

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Posted by kelsey

That Damned Abusive Offside Law

October 22, 2010

Written by RedArse

There are only 17 Laws of Football. The one that is the subject of this article and which makes me bristle with frustration and anger is …… Law 11, The Offside Law.


Before we can rationally discuss the pros or cons of this law we need to know what it says!

Offside Position

It is not an offence in itself to be in an offside position.

A player is in an offside position if:

he is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent.

A player is not in an offside position if:

he is in his own half of the field of play or
he is level with the second last opponent or
he is level with the last two opponents

Offence

A player in an offside position is only penalized if, at the moment the ball touches or is played by one of his team, he is, in the opinion of the referee, involved in active play by:

interfering with play or
interfering with an opponent or
gaining an advantage by being in that position.

No Offence

There is no offside offence if a player receives the ball directly from:

a goal kick or
a throw-in or
a corner kick

O.K., so they had defined Law 11; but how did it work in practice.

Following much controversy shortly after the current rule was introduced, FIFA brought out some “clarifications” or interpretations to re-define what the terminology meant, so that Referees worldwide would be consistent in their decision making. Not an auspicious beginning and the angst was to continue!

Clarification – Decision 1;

In the definition of offside position, “nearer to his opponents’ goal line” means that any part of his head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second last opponent. The arms are not included in this definition.

Clarification – Decision 2;

The definitions of involvement in active play are as follows:

Interfering with play means; playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a teammate.

Interfering with an opponent means; preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent.

Gaining an advantage by being in that position means; playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or the crossbar having been in an offside position or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position.

So, despite Andy “know it all” Gray, it is not sufficient for a player to have his feet level with or behind the defender’s, if his head or torso is ahead of the defender’s body parts, he is offside!

Anyway, following last weekend’s games, I got extremely exercised at how Referees, or their Assistants, had interpreted the offside law, and in doing so, had materially affected the outcome of at least two games.

Let’s take the Spuds v Fulham game as an example. Huddlestone struck a terrific shot, from outside the penalty area, which flew thru a crowded area and over the boot of Gallas, before lodging in the back of the net.
The Assistant Ref flagged for offside, (Gallas gaining an advantage?), the Spurs players protested, and after consulting his Assistant, the Ref overturned the offside decision and allowed what turned out to be the winning goal.
After the match, ‘Arry the Twitch, said “I don’t know if it was a goal, or not, because I don’t understand the offside rules”. A furious Mark Hughes predictably said the Ref had made the wrong decision by overturning the Assistant’s decision, but agreed the Offside Law was very difficult to understand.

And that’s the crux. The Offside Law is difficult to understand or, more aptly, to apply, because it is open to each official’s subjective interpretation. Enshrined within the Law “clarification”, it declares that “in the referee’s opinion” is the major criterion, and this has to be a recipe for obfuscation. The result is that “goals” are allowed or disallowed, by different Referees/Assistants, in what are very similar circumstances, much to the frustration of Managers, players and fans, because each individual referee can make decisions, “in his opinion”. By definition, mistakes are being made, and far too frequently, because those “opinions” can be illogical.
I say this without wishing to castigate the match officials, who are doing their best in almost impossible circumstances.

The prime mover with this Law change was to promote more goal scoring opportunities (keeping TV audiences engaged?) coupled with the injunction to give the benefit of any doubt to the attacking side. Very laudable, you might think, but conversely, the large majority of the errors continue to benefit the defending side, thus negating the very purpose of the Law.

Part of the problem, of course, is that Referee’s Assistants are frequently unable to properly make offside calls because it is impossible for them to “compute” the many variations of whether or not a player is “active” or “inactive” at the precise moment his teammate touches or passes the ball, not least because the human eye often cannot physically see both the kicker and the recipient clearly because of the angle they are at, or his “line of sight” may be impeded by other players’ bodies.

It is only human nature that, if an official is unsure whether or not he has correctly worked out all the possible permutations, in the split second available, and does not want to make an embarrassing mistake, he will likely err on the side of caution by raising the “offside flag”, rather than not doing so and looking incompetent.
Why is this? Well if the official does not to flag, and wrongly allows play to continue, resulting in a goal, this will get highlighted and shown over and over again on TV, or ridiculed in the morning newspapers. The effect on the official’s career path could be terminal.

Back to my original point, that Law 11 is misunderstood and incorrectly applied. In a newspaper today, Graham Poll the ex-referee declared, in his inimitable doctrinaire style, that the Referee was correct to allow the Huddleston goal because Gallas was not in the goalkeeper’s line of sight. He made no mention of “gaining an advantage by being in an offside position”. The shot from Huddleston passed over Gallas’ foot, which must have caused Schwarzer, at least, a momentary delay in reaction simply by his being there in that position, yards in front of any defender.

What to do? The old Law 11 came into disrepute, because in major international championships, a lot of ill feeling was caused when stunning “goals” were disallowed because a team mate on the attacking side was scratching his arse in an “offside” position out on the wing.

Before the current Law came into effect, this “problem” was overcome by adding the simple sentence “unless interfering with play”.

Therefore, in the above example; under the “old” Law 11, a stunning goal would be allowed, even if the winger was “offside “whilst playing with himself, unless he was interfering with play, due to flashing.

The solution is to return to the old Law 11 rules. We all understood those simple instructions and it would demystify the current refereeing decisions, which satisfy no one!

A very Happy Birthday to Arsène Wenger.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Why we failed to win the Premiership last season ……. Where is our Tone?

October 21, 2010

Written by MickyDidIt89

Having professed to know the reasons why we have failed to land any trophies for the last 5 years in a rash comment on Arsenal Arsenal recently, I was challenged to put my keyboard where my mouth is and write a post to justify this claim! So here goes ……

Seasons come and seasons go, and always the same old criticism – no plan B, outmuscled and always trying to walk it into the net.  Let’s look at last season’s league campaign. We were twelve points from the title. We drew six games. So, if you concede one fewer goal in each of these, you are Champions. Or alternatively, score one more in each; same story. Just six goals to score or avoid conceding.

Now this is very simplistic, I know, but it does highlight two things. The fine line between success and failure, and the importance of goals is the other. Strangely, all too often, the focus is on elements of the game that are too far removed from the ultimate and basic objective of goal scoring/defending.

The essence of my piece  is that we are not as far away as some would have us believe. Have we strengthened the defence? I believe so. Have we strengthened the attack? No, not yet. Why not yet, because last season we had Bendy around for some of the time when RVP was injured. This term, both are injured and Chamakh is playing. So effectively, same numbers. Had RVP been fit all season, and Chamakh  on board, we would have been very close indeed. We have not won anything since we last had a consistently fit striker.

At the other end of the pitch, we all know about the goalkeeper issues. However, one all too often overlooked aspect to the winning team is the on-field leader. It was pointed out recently that when Arsene describes coming Third as a Trophy, he is instilling a losing’s-ok mentality. I have always found in life that peer pressure, values and expectations are the driving forces that really get under my skin. Would drawing any game have been acceptable with Tony Adams? Would you have wanted to be in the dressing room with Tone after the WBA game? How about in there with Almunia or Cesc as Captain? Thought so.

My two solutions are thus. One, find a Captain. I am hoping that Verm will be the man, and two, sort out the injuries. Are we overtraining? What’s with the medical team? RVP being sent for placenta treatment. Give me strength!

It is not a compilcated game. I can’t speak for my fellow bloggers, but I get sick of the constant “Arsenal have no Plan B” bollocks constantly levelled at us by commentators. I take criticism very badly (apart from when its about my spelling, when I totally ignore it), and when people criticize The Arsenal, then its personal.

Can I give you my version of Plan B. We do not have one, and we do not need one. Nice, crisp and clear. The reason we only need one plan is that we do not play to lose and we do not play to draw. Therefore, you put eleven men on the pitch, using roughly similar patterns. Then you have a few spare players who sit next to the pitch on expensive faux leather seats. Finally, you have a Leader who wears a tailor made suit of sober design with a shirt and tie.

It is my belief that had Verm, Cesc, Theo and RVP all been on the pitch against Chelsea, or sitting in the expensive faux leather seats, then we would have beaten those tall, heavy, overpaid chavs.

I can only think of one tiny flaw, and I am reminded of the words of Mr Ron Atkinson. He had just taken over at Sheffield Wednesday (I think) and it was the eve of an important local derby, when he supposedly said that he missed the “good old days, before all this tactics bullshit, when we turned up on Saturday, had some lunch, played football, had some beers, then went home”. Sadly for my theory, Big Ron’s team lost. He got fired.

If there is anything of any value whatsoever in what I am saying, it is this. I believe we are very close to domination, and we will do it The Arsenal way. Our way.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

What’s Wrong With Rosicky?

October 18, 2010

What has Arsène Wenger got against Tomas Rosicky?

For long periods of Saturday’s game, as we played tippy-tappy around the edge of the Birmingham box, it was obvious that we needed some good old-fashioned directness.

Apart from Wilshere, none of our players were willing to take the responsibility to make the quick killer pass or take the first time shot at goal.

Diaby, with his bursting power-runs, seemed to be affected by an invisible force field on the edge of the opposition penalty area. Unfortunately he also had ‘goldfish memory’ syndrome, so time and again he would charge forward only to go DOING!!! into the invisible wall.

Arshavin, I think, is suffering from sore toes. It’s the only possible explanation for his unwillingness to use the front of his boot when making a pass. Either that or he is involved in some kind of bet to see how many back-heels he can make in a single match.

Nasri, who has been a consistently good player this season, could only get so far with his dribbling runs when the opponents were packing the defence as resolutely as the Brummies were.

And poor old Alex Song, lumbering into dangerous areas and misplacing his passes, was like your 10-year-old son trying to help you assemble an Ikea wardrobe: eager to help, but generally getting in the way and making you hit your thumb with the hammer.

Don’t they know that if you want to get to Birmingham, it’s best to take the M1?

When Tomas Rosicky came on the difference was immense and immediate. Instead of zig-zagging through Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire, suddenly we were taking the fast route. Here was a player whose first priority was not to create beautiful 20-pass moves, but to hurt the opposition.

It was another excellent cameo from the little Czech – and raises the question of why he is getting only cameo roles. Why doesn’t Arsene trust him to start ahead of Diaby or the clearly misfiring Arshavin? In eight league fixtures TR7 has started two and come on as a substitute six times.

The two games that Tomas started? Blackpool (6-0) and Bolton (4-1). We certainly had ‘thrust’ in those matches. He was also in the starting line-up for the League Cup hammering of the Spuds. That’s pretty strong evidence for his impact on the team – and the fact that for the West Brom calamity he was on the bench makes me want to cry.

As Peaches pointed out in the comments yesterday, Rosicky is a ‘proper footballer’ who has played elsewhere – clocking up five seasons with Borussia Dortmund and 74 caps for his country. He is experienced and, age-wise, is at the peak of his career. He definitely adds something to the way we play.

But Wenger doesn’t seem to see it. Could it be that the Boss is more keen to persevere with the players who constitute his so-called youth experiment: the likes of Diaby, Denilson and Song?

Is he worried that Rosicky’s injury record means he can’t be exposed to more substantial amounts of playing time?

Or does he simply think that the other players are better?

If it’s the latter I would respectfully suggest that he needs to reconsider. Rosicky is a player who, at his best, can come close to matching Fabregas for ability. And above all he adds a forward momentum to our play that is often lacking.

A starting line up that includes Fabregas, Wilshere, Rosicky and Walcott has the directness to hurt any team, especially those who ‘park the bus’. We have been unlucky (again) with injuries this year, so that foursome has never been on the pitch together at the same time.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see them soon in the starting eleven?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Mr Wenger. Earn your corn….

October 14, 2010

Given the choice of players in the Premier League there are few that I would swap for our boys when they are on form, and that is the point of this post …. when they are on form.

What is the difference between Arsenal and Man IOU? It is not the talent of the players, nor is it application, no, it is Consistency. Being brutally honest, MU are a pedestrian team with two fantastic forwards who when they are off-form cause the entire team to struggle, how would it be if the rest of the team played as patchily for a season? And yet that is what Mr Wenger has to put up with week in week out.

We have perhaps two consistent players – very few of our players perform at their top level week after week, Sometimes they are coming back from injury, other times they are carrying an existing injury, but nonetheless we struggle for a constant high level performance from anyone.

It wasn’t always thus. You knew when PV, TA, Keown , Dixon, Bould, Parlour, Nutty, Seaman, Gilberto etc took to the field what type of performance to expect, they without fail delivered .

Let’s take today’s team. Cesc and Vermaelen are certainly reliable performers, yet both are/have been  injured and thus give no consistent platform to the team, which any side with Champion pretensions needs. To win the PL a team has to have at least 6 players playing at the top of their game, they need to be reliable, the go-to players when the side is struggling. Which current players carry that responsibility?

A couple of seasons ago we could look to the full backs to give regular dependable performances but even the stalwart Sagna has been poor on occasion, and as to Clichy – one never knows whether he will be brilliant or cost us a goal.

Arshavin is inconsistency incarnate. A wonderful player on his day, which is my exact point. I realise that flair players are less likely to be consistent but Arshavin is at the peak of his considerable powers and ought to be great every time he steps over the white line

Song would have been my most likely candidate to become a stand up guy, but this season he is all over the shop. One week solid and accurate, the next cannot find a red shirt. The same can be said for Diaby, a super talent who has yet to  put 3 decent performances together in a row. Rosicky is another who can flatter to deceive, he can play superb passes that offer others tap-ins. and then goes missing for 45 minutes

Theo? He had a fine start to the season and we can but hope. The form of our new centre backs has wavered – of the two; Squillaci appears to be the more reliable though to be fair they will take time to settle into the PL. The same can be said for Chamakh who has been good and sometimes very good.

There is no need to discuss the goalkeeping situation.

I have left the two consistent performers to last. Nasri and Wilshere. Both have given top notch performances every game they have played. To me Nasri has carried the inventiveness of the team in the absence of Cesc, his driving play in the dreadful team game versus WBA was testament to his desire to give of his best. He is going to be an integral player at THOF for many seasons. And as to JW. What is there to say that hasn’t been said already? What a prospect.

The difference between us and Chelsea or Man Utd is that they have players who consistently play well. Fletcher rarely has a bad game, nor do Vidic, Giggs, Ferdinand, Park, Scholes, Van de Saar, Carrick or Neville (of whom, IMO only Vidic & VdS would get in a top form AFC). With such a platform they can allow capricious performances from Nani, Rooney and Berbs. Chelsea have consistency throughout their side (and is probably why they got rid of Joe Cole) which is why they are Champions. Of course it is simplistic to suggest that the only differences between our sides is purely consistency, we have been subjected to an awful raft of injuries to highly important members of the team,  we do not compete at a financial level and on the whole we have been unlucky (I would like to see the stats of which team hits the woodwork the most). But sending out a dependable team is essential to our prospects and the old excuse of youthful inexperience is no longer valid.

So what does Mr. Wenger do about it? How does he make young but now experienced players play at the top of their game week after week? Well, he is the manager and gets paid handsomely to supply the answers; I on the other hand have no idea ….

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Posted by Erik the Red

Your girlfriend is right after all……Size Does Matter

October 13, 2010

Today’s post was written by Red Arse over the weekend and continues the discussion about serious injuries.

Written by Red Arse

Like most Arsenal fans, I greeted, with relief and joy, the news, that “Rambo” Ramsey was not far from resuming full time training, with a view to returning in the New Year. It is wonderful, not just for us as fans but for the player himself.

But it led me to think back to the horrific injury that we were shown happening to him, in all its gory detail, on Sky TV, in full HD close up. The recollection brought an involuntary, empathetic shudder as, in my minds eye, I saw his leg bending in several completely unnatural directions and how it appeared to be held together only by virtue of his red and white sock. Yeuk and double Yeuk! I felt sick to my stomach reliving it, even in flashback.

But, hold on, that was not Rambo I was envisioning, it was Dudu, smashed by Taylor; but no, oh God, no, it was neither, it was Diaby, with his ankle apparently sheared off at Sunderland. Wasn’t it?

Well, it seems that they have all become one amorphous whole, each as shocking as the other.

This week’s news, that Danny Murphy had lambasted the thuggish gorillas, sent out by even more thuggish managers, to brainlessly assault more skilful players in more skilful EPL teams, in a manner likely to cause appalling career threatening injuries was amazingly refreshing and unexpected. He even named names; Fat Sam, stupid McCarthy, sickening, self justifying Pubis. Wow!

Picked up by other publications, his comments received mainly positive responses, with many a sage nod of the head, and a general agreement that such thuggery was wrong and that something must be done to curtail these wanton acts of aggression.

Contrast this with the xenophobic “Whingeing Wenger” headlines that greeted similar comments by our esteemed manager. The same moronic “it’s a man’s game”, and “I know him, he would not do that deliberately”, yada, yada, were soon churned out by said thuggish managers, of course.

Sometime ago, I wrote a Post highlighting the cretinous cabal of professionally limited managers, who encouraged and condoned this appalling, “in their faces”, tactic, inflicted by their physically imposing but cerebrally challenged minions. To Danny Murphy’s list I had added Mark Hughes, Owen Coyle and others, on the margins, whose teams occasionally dabble too.

Surprise, surprise, several of the usual suspects popped up; Kevin Davies, Shawcross, and de Jong among them, claiming they had always behaved like choirboys and their sainted managers had never issued any such instructions, nor incited them to inflict damage on skilful opposition players.

Now, at this point, I intend to leave that stream of thought and perhaps shock you, by coupling these Neanderthal antics with our lack of success, in recent times.

Following our defeat by Chelsea, I have lost count of the number of times opposition fans have said, “Your team were out muscled and well beaten” or “They never remotely looked capable of winning, because they were up against a better team, who were far stronger, taller, heavier and more powerful”.

I also lost count of the number of times I denied this was so. “We played well, and were unlucky to have lost”, I said, “We could have won, if we had taken our early chances”, and so on, and so forth.

All the time, at the back of my mind, I was thinking the unthinkable. “These guys could be right!”

In my opinion, even though I think Arsène is the best manager I have ever seen, I think he is complicit in our setbacks against the other top 4 teams, or the intimidating tackling and long ball tactics used against us so often. This is as a direct consequence of the type and size of players he has bought for us, over recent years.

We have often argued on this site about the pace or strength of our current players, with the implicit criticism, by some of us, that they were not quick enough or big enough physically.

Underlying this argument is the indisputable fact that when we were kings of the EPL, winning not just one, but two Doubles, we had in our team colossal players like Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Paddy Viera, Sol Campbell and many others like Manu Petit, Titti Henry and the incomparable Denis “Iceman” Bergkamp. I use the term “colossal” advisedly.

They not only had great skill, but they were giants physically. All of them strapping fellows with muscles on their muscles; they were all well over 6 foot tall, with great long ball winning legs, and a hard bitten, “take no prisoners” attitude in the winning of titles.

And then it all changed!

Arsene fell in love with seemingly fast, small, amazingly skilful players. Their brand of football is an entertaining, breathtaking style, with fast flowing, exquisite passing at its core. This appetite for physically small skilful players has now extended to defenders, with our latest recruits having very modest physiques.

Unfortunately, these little guys do not win against the “Big” teams. And they do not win trophies.

That is the crux of my disquiet. For reasons I do not pretend to understand, AW has decided that our best chance of winning trophies is by recruiting players half the size of those wonderful Double winning teams of yore!

This is not working! Please, Arsene, change your mind!

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Posted by Rasp

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