Vardy to Arsenal, OR….You Vote

June 22, 2016

Let’s face it, the strikers on show at The Euros will not have filled Gunner Transfer Speculators with much hope. I have not seen anything of The Copa America, so realistically, given our place in the pecking order behind yer Barcas and Bayerns, Vardy is looking not just ok, but possibly the best we can hope for.

Personally, I think he’d be a great addition, but far from a worldy.

So, for the sake of a simple poll, we’ll look at a straight choice.  Vardy OR  a Mahrez/Mkhitaryan type. Someone to provide more ammo. from the right, as well as goals.

Incidentally, I think we could have both, but I’m interested to see which you consider would improve the side the most. Without changing formations, we have very limited alternatives to Ollie, bar moving to a Sanchez little ‘un kind of set up, whereas we do have options on the right from Aaron/Jack to Joel/Iwobi.

Remember, it’s an either/or

If Vardy is not for you, tell us who else we should be looking at …. try to keep it realistic 🙂

MickyDidIt89

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Posted by Rasp

What do we expect from Vardy?

June 15, 2016

The reason for that question was that I was watching the England-Russia game with a friend (QPR) and he said:

“Are there any Arsenal players in the squad?”

To which I said “Yes, 2: Vardy and Wilshere.”

Which, after a second, the penny dropped and he laughed and said “You haven’t got Vardy”

To which I said that “I thought it was a done deal” and then skeptically he asked:

“Do you really want him?”  and I said: “Oh yes, we are are very excited about his arrival”

And then he said “Ahhh but don’t you think he is just a one season wonder?” to which I didn’t have an answer ready but it has made me think.

What do we expect from Vardy?

Written by LB

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

4-3-3 0r 3-5-1? Be the Manager

June 2, 2016

Given our current squad, do you believe that the 4-3-3 maximizes on the available potential or would you like to see something else as there are many options to set up a team.

Juve plays 3-5-2
Bayern plays 4-2-3-1
…..

I would be quite keen to see our team as a 4-3-1-2 with

Cech – Bellerin, RECRUIT, Kos, R.RODRIGUEZ – Ramsey, Xhaka, El Neny – Ozil – RECRUIT, Sanchez

Ospina – RECRUIT, BFG, Gabriel, Gibbs – Ox, Coquelin, Wilshere – Cazorla – Wellbeck, Giroud or Walcott

What are your thoughts?

Written by RC78

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Posted by Erik the Red

A Better Arsenal? A plan for the future

May 24, 2016

My personal opinion on a future Arsenal FC management structure:

(A) Board & senior management:

Chairman: Sir Chips Keswick
Chief Executive Officer (Executive & Supervisory Board): Ivan Gazidis
Director (Supervisory Board): Arsene Wenger (replacing Ken Friar)
Director (Supervisory Board): Lord Harris of Peckham
Director (Supervisory Board): Stan Kroenke
Director (Supervisory Board): Josh Kroenke
Chief Financial Officer (Executive Board): Stuart Wisely
Chief Commercial Officer (Executive Board): Vinai Venkatesham
Technical/Sports director (Executive Board): (Thierry Henry)
Secretary: David Miles

(B) Coaching staff:

Manager: (New guy)
Assistant manager (Defence): Steve Bould
Assistant manager (Attack): Dennis Bergkamp (replacing Boro Primorac)
First-team coach: Neil Canfield (Mikel Arteta understudies him at some point!)
Goalkeeping coach: Gerry Peyton
Head of athletic performance enhancement: Shad Forsythe
Fitness coach: Tony Colbert
Head of medical services: Colin Lewin
Club doctor: Gary O’Driscoll
Kit manager: Vic Akers
Head of player recruitment (youth to senior level): Steve Rowley
1st-team chief scout: (Neil Banfield – change of roles)
Academy manager: Andries Jonker
U-21s coach: Steve Gatting
U-21s assistant coach: Carl Laraman
U-18s coach: Frans de Kat
U-18s assistant coach: Kwame Ampadu
U-16s coach: Jan van Loon

(C) Arsenal Foundation (Ambassadors)

Arsene Wenger
Bob Wilson
Liam Brady
Martin Keown
Robert Pires
(Tomas Rosicky)

============

Key points:

(1) Arsene Wenger to eventually moves up to the club’s supervisory board, replacing Ken Friar. He can still contribute with his knowledge on improving Arsenal FC further and advice to the board on footballing matters.

(2) Thierry Henry to take up a new post as technical/sporting director in the club’s executive board. He would work alongside Gazidis(CEO), Wisely(CFO) and Venkatesham(CCO) on the business side of things; with the new manager and Rowley (head of player recruitment – youth & seniors) in negotiating of players recruitment and sales, contracts and bonuses etc. Henry to help bridge the needs and wants for both the club’s senior management and coaching staff. He has some business acumen with his numerous endorsements off-field, being the public face of PUMA and has a string of business and stock market investments. He has made contacts in US (when playing in MLS), Spain (when with Barcelona), France and England. He should have some influences on Gazidis and Kroenke when making decisions.
Thus, Thierry Henry is the best candidate: one of our ex-player sitting in an important role at executive board and administrative level (as spoken by Bergkamp in his interview with Keown).

(3) Dennis Bergkamp to come in as a new assistant manager/1st team coach, taking over from Primorac. Bould would be defending coach; Bergkamp would be attacking coach.

(4) Mikel Arteta to understudy Banfield and eventually take over (Banfield to move up to chief scout role – he has already been doing scouting for the club). Arteta has the football intelligence and temperament to be a good coach. Wenger hoped that Arteta becomes a coach; both Guardiola and Pochettino wanted Arteta to be part of their coaching staff.
Arteta is multilingual, speaking fluent Spanish, Basque, Catalan and English, and speaks some French, Italian and Portuguese. (which is ideal, given our multi-national mix of players). Helps to compensate the departure of Primorac – as chief interpreter in 1st team.

(this was written before MA left the club but there remains hope he will return)

(5) Neil Banfield to move to 1st-team chief scout role.

(6) Club legend Tomas Rosicky to become the latest and new ambassador with the Arsenal Foundation.

Lucky No. (7) The new manager –
(a) Rudi Garcia (Age: 52)
Currently free agent. French/Spanish speaking. Advocate attacking football as the best means to achieve results (plays 4-3-3 offence). Favourable achievements in Ligue 1 (Lille) and Serie A (Roma).

(b) Frank de Boer (Age: 45)
Currently Ajax’s manager (plays 4-3-3 offence). Would be available when contract ends in mid-2017 (similar time frame as Wenger – currently). Arsenal’s approach with Andries Jonker, Frans de Kat and Jan van Loon managing the club academy’s development system to a one familiar to Ajax’s.

written by JM 

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Posted by Erik the Red

Kiss My Arsenal

May 20, 2016

KISS is an acronym. It stands for Keep It Simple Stupid.

There is an awful lot of sense in this, and I often employ it to navigate me through what can appear, at first glance, to be tempestuous waters. We’ve all heard the “it’s not rocket science” term bounded about, but you know what, that’s not difficult either. Think about it. I just did.

Business plan for rocket mission. Raise loot. Employ scientist for the wiring and stuff. Find someone good at bending metal into cylinders and tall pointy cone shapes. Secure take off location free from great crested newts and butterflies. Box of matches.

So. Managing a football team.

Some may say coming second in the League is good news. Not me. I say there is much improvement needed on the back of a treble, let alone coming second. So what’s needed? Well, as always, best to look upwards, and there we find Leicester City. Ok, now what the hell did they do that was ten points better than us, and what can be done?

  1. Manager.
  2. Wow, what a job. Now this really is a cushy number. There must be 100 odd paid football managers in England, and I doubt fewer than a handful could string more than a couple words together. If my wife came to me and said “we’re going out to a dinner party and you’re sitting next to a football manager”, I’d be sick, stay at home, and watch Jeremy Kylie. What I’m getting at is Ranieri was pretty rubbish, arrives at Leicester, then wins the League with a bunch of farmers. No tactical genius at work here, that’s for sure.
  3. Footballers.
  4. Arsenal has better footballers than Leicester City, and more of them. Fact. So what happened? Leicester tried harder more often.
  5. Injuries.
  6. They kept their key players fit. We didn’t.

KISS : The Solution

  1. Motivation. Get a Leader and only players who have demonstrated fight
  2. Rotate. Unlikely we will win all four comps.
  3. Be ruthless. Cruel to be kind. You cannot keep everyone happy all the time. They need to deal with it and not sulk.
  4. Same as last summer. We need three First XI’ers. Make the money if you have to. Maureen did at Chelsea. Flogged Mata, bought Hazard. Won League.

Finally, remember the rocket analogy. Get one, and remind players where it will go if they don’t pull their weight for the full 90. Don’t forget the matches.

written by MickyDitIt89

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Posted by Erik the Red

What’s going on with the Arsenal fanbase? …. Infighting, banners and disharmony …… or just a few hotheads?

May 10, 2016
The following post is based on a comment placed on AA yesterday. We are aware that many read the site without wishing to join us in comments. Once in a while, a blogger will bite the bullet when a topic that concerns them compels them to put something in writing …. this is one such occasion ……
Gooner Guest says:
May 9, 2016 at 2:06 pm

Hello fellas,

Long time reader never poster. Was pleased with the fight we showed to get back in the game yesterday (Sunday), and thought Jack’s performance was very encouraging.

The reason why I’m posting is because both my sons were at the ground on Sunday and reported back to me some horrible things. I haven’t really been to many away games apart from the occasional ones, since the 90s (went a fair bit in the 80s). For Sunday’s match, Arsenal stewards were sent up to confiscate banners which called for the manager to go. Now I’m undecided on the manager. Gun to my head, I probably still think he’s the man for now, but that’s just not on. Can the club prevent fans from having an opinion away from home (or even at home for that matter!).

More disturbingly there was lots of fighting, in the away end, at the game. My boys who are both in their 20s, (to use the terminology, one is ‘Wenger In’ the other ‘Wenger out’) said the main perps of the violence were those in favour of Arsene staying. The reason why I’ve posted for the first time is that I’m asking whether you think the fanbase can ever be united again until we get a new manager?

I’ve followed and read this blog (sneakily while at work) for years in fact and I appreciate all of the regulars on here are old school Gooners who’ve dedicated time money and infinite amounts of love to the Arsenal. You’re all wonderful fans, I feel proud to support the same club as the posters on here, but what my boys told me yesterday makes me hate what Arsenal is becoming.

If you want to see what I’m talking about, have a look at Arsenal Fan TV. I think most of the regular guests on there are clowns, Claude in particular, but disturbingly he’s being shouted at and threatened by other Arsenal fans, even in the video… He’s a 60+ man, who for all his sins is a committed gooner.

As I said I haven’t been to away games regularly for a long time, but part of the joy was the feeling of togetherness and sense of being one. What my boys told me, made me feel very very sad.

Feel free to respond to GG’s (not George Graham) post by leaving a comment yourself ……. Ed

Post from a comment by Gooner Guest

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Posted by D.I. Bongo

Why is Ozil Out of Form?

May 3, 2016

Three moths ago Mesut Ozil was a serious contender for Player of the Season, today he is a shadow of that player. Why?

Let’s look at the evidence (?). Pre- February Mesut was scoring goals, playing with freedom, setting up assists in almost every game, always had time and was without question the best player on the pitch – he was remarkably consistent.

But it all seems to have come to a halt.

i.jpeg

Today we see a Mesut who seems harried, he rarely smiles, rarely has time and space, his assists have plummeted – his last PL assist was back in February away at MU!

If you look at our poor run of form (unbeaten in 8 PL games) it starts when Mesut’s numbers dropped. This is no co-incidence because Ozil is essential to our method of attack. If we are to play the fast passing game then there has to be someone who can unlock the packed defences and it seems that Ozil is the only Gooner who has that ability. Stop Ozil and you stop Arsenal.

Is it that the opposition mark him more tightly? Are other teams more aware of his manner of play and instead of close marking him lay off and watch for the  off-ball runs Ozil is looking to pass to? I am no tactician nor do I look at how other teams are playing against, so cannot say.

Or perhaps Ozil is playing as well as ever but contributing in other ways.

What do you think?

written by Big Raddy

 

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Posted by Erik the Red

Friday Rant: Mr Wenger’s News Conference

April 29, 2016

I thought I would write a post based upon the revelations from Mr Wenger’s weekly newscast. The trouble is the same questions are asked and the same answers given.

So  … here it is …

images-1.jpeg

“Yes, he is back in training and is available for selection …. perhaps”

“I don’t know who will play.”

“Norwich are a strong team.”

“We are mentally strong and have a positive attitude in the squad.”

“The squad will all be fit in time for the Euro’s”

“Financially the club is in fine shape and we can compete with our rivals in the transfer market.”

“No, I do not worry about the fans concerns – there are always fans concerns.”

“I was very impressed with the quality of Chas’s slider videos this morning and look forward to more. It shows the strength and unity of the blog”

Let’s be honest, these news conferences are a waste of time especially for poor Arsene who has done hundreds of them. He gives nothing away and they are purely for the benefit of tired media hacks looking to trip up our manager and engender a misleading hit-provoking headline.

This morning saw a journalist putting words into AW’s mouth about the fan unrest. What the hack was trying to do was get AW to collude in the miscreant’s anti-Arsenal agenda. Thankfully our manager is too intelligent to be drawn into such base journalism.

Can we stop them, please?

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Is the ‘Parked Bus’ an Exaggerated Problem?

April 26, 2016

Extract from GIE comment

So next season, what should we expect? What do we need? Do we actually need to take a few steps backwards to go forward?

Firstly we need more goals from midfield, plus more goals from wide and up top. I reckon you need 3/4 very good to great players to have a consistently great season, so we need to be looking at Kozzer, Jack, Ozil and Alexis to offer that.

But the going backwards bit? Well we need to stop committing men forward and leaving ourselves open, I think that will lead to a lot of 0-0’s but may encourage teams to start coming out of their bus formation more?

 

Is the parked bus as big an issue as we make out? I suppose when it works against us it’s usually a smaller team that’s doing it and the result of a draw or defeat to these sides sticks in our minds more than a similar result to a Man City or Chelsea.

I’m going to suggest that it’s mainly an issue for home fixtures, as when we play away teams tend to have more of a go, and it’s us that plays on the counter. So let’s look at the results table from the last 2 seasons and see how many times we have been caught out?

14/15

Chelsea 0-0
United 1-2
City 2-2
Sunderland 0-0
Swansea 0-2
Spurs 1-1
Hull 2-2

15/16

Chelsea 0-1
Palace 1-1
Liverpool 0-0
Southampton 0-0
Swansea 1-2
Spurs 1-1
West Ham 0-2

So out of 38 home games we’ve gained 81/114 points. That means we’ve dropped 33 points:

Swansea 6
Chelsea 5
Spurs 4
United 3
West Ham 3
Liverpool 2
Palace 2
Southampton 2
City 2
Sunderland 2
Hull 2

21 of the points were lost against Chelsea, United, City, Liverpool, Spurs, West Ham and Southampton. Whilst not great results they are not exactly lost to teams parking the bus. These are all very capable, top half teams. So that means in the last 2 seasons only 12 points have been lost at home to ‘small’ teams bringing a bus:

Swansea 6
Palace 2
Sunderland 2
Hull 2

Now rather than us changing tactics, if we just defend better and stop conceding stupid goals, as suggested by GIE yesterday, then we could easily have saved points. In fact, if we’d conceded 1 less goal in each of the 14 games we’d be 13 points better off!

So in conclusion, I don’t think the parked bus is as much of an issue as we think but we cause the problem ourselves. Its not tactics that need to change, but maybe the mentality of the players. Sometimes it’s better to make sure you don’t concede than it is to push for a goal and leave yourself wide open to counters. As GIE said, it may lead to more draws, but it may also encourage teams to come out a little bit and give us the opportunities to score without as much risk of losing valuable points.

The problem? How do you think Arsenal fans would react if we were drawing 0-0 with 10 minutes to go against a side like Sunderland and we were probing for gaps rather than pushing everyone forward to find a winner? I suppose it all comes down to one thing, balance.

If we start to concentrate on clean sheets rather than winning games though, are we not one step away from becoming a side that Jose Mourinho could manage!? *shudder*

Written by fgg

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Posted by fatgingergooner

Arsenal Firing Blanks

April 25, 2016

Sunderland 0 – 0 Arsenal

Possession %

29.6 – 70.4

Total Shots

12 – 20

On Target

3 – 7

Off Target

6 – 5

Corners

7 – 7

Press Conference:

on the game…
We had good cohesion and movement off the ball in the first half. In the second half we dropped physically and the game became a bit more tight because both teams had chances. In the first half, we should have run into the dressing room with the lead. Overall, that is the story of the game.
on Sunderland making things difficult…
They did. I felt a team like Sunderland is ready to fight for their lives. They never give up during the 90 minutes and they started with a bit of anxiety. We should have taken advantage of their level of anxiety at the start of the game, but we couldn’t do it. The fact that we played Sunday, Thursday and then today, we suffered a little bit physically in the second half and then the game was much more difficult for us.

on the penalty shouts…
I wouldn’t have given any of them because the players were very close to the guy who took the shot. There was an intention to play the ball. Overall, I would say they did well on that.
on Arsenal lacking goals…
Maybe a little bit in front of goal because at the moment Olivier Giroud cannot score so you feel that he does not completely have the same confidence. You go through spells like that and I believe we have to support him and give him the needed confidence.
on Giroud’s confidence…
His performances are more about his confidence but I think he will come back. He has gone through spells like this before.

on teams fighting…
We care about that and we worry about it as well because it is a fight and there are two [different kinds of] teams at the moment in the league. There are teams that are taking it a little bit easier that you see some games and you think you would like to play them now – the teams that are safe and do not go for Europe. Then you have the teams that go for something at the front and the teams that fight not go down and they are different games.
on not winning the title…
It is disappointing, because we play to win the league and the fact that we have not won it is of course frustrating like it is for many other teams.

Player Ratings taken from the Daily Mail

Cech 7.5

Bellerin 6.5

Koscielny 6

Mertersacker 6

Monreal 6

Ramsey 5.5

Elneny 6

Iwobi 6.5

Ssnchez 6.5

Özil 6

Giroud 5.5

 

Summary:

A draw was probably a fair reflection of the game as both teams had chances to win it. Personally, I would’ve started with Welbeck and Campbell instead of Iwobi and Giroud as I felt playing Thursday was going to leave us tired in the second half and so it proved. I’m surprised Wenger touched on this in his press conference but did nothing about it in the game. With United still having to play Norwich, West Ham and Leicester I still think we will get top 4, but I would prefer if we didn’t need to go to Man City needing a result.

Stats compiled by fgg

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Posted by fatgingergooner

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