Now, I don’t know many long words, and even fewer in Italian. However, a few years ago I stumbled upon this word Sprezzatura. No other language has a word encapsulating the same qualities. It means “Effortless Grace”.
If you want to be able to sound clever, then read the bracketed bit below, otherwise, skip it.
(Castiglione wrote The Book of the Courtier as a portrayal of an idealized courtier. This ideal courtier was supposed to be skilled in arms and in athletic events but be equally skilled in music and dancing. However, the courtier who had sprezzatura managed to make difficult tasks look easy. Concerning sprezzatura, Castiglione said that: “to practice in all things a certain sprezzatura [nonchalance], so as to conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it”. In short, Sprezzatura means Effortless Grace.)
When I first discovered this word, my first thoughts were one Dennis Bergkamp. I decided the word was simply too good to waste, so I thought I’d bide my time and wait.
Enter Mesut Özil.
I believe he may become Arsenal’s Greatest Ever Signing. The Man oozes Sprezzatura.
I have heard that “He’ll take time to settle into the PL”. I say: “Bollocks he will. I have never seen someone so clearly settled”.
Look at his assists so far. On the whole they are fairly simple balls. Pinpoint accurate, yes, but fairly obvious balls. I remember Chas posting some of The Arsenal Gentleman’s genius cards, and Mesut’s “Special Move was: The Mesmertron, a hypnotic through ball”.
How many of these hypnotic balls have we seen? Very few, and the reason is that Mesut knows the players are not quite ready for him to unleash his full dazzling array of ball skills.
So, what’s going on? Quite simply, every player around Mesut is out of their depth, and he knows it, which is why he’s still playing it simple. I reckon that soon, through a combination of pitch time, as well as work on the training ground, the movement from those around him will improve.
Think back to Thierry Henry, and the impact DB10 had on his game. This is the reason I understand why some people are asking for a different type of striker. Someone who speaks the same football language as Mesut. I suspect we may see the Mesmetron deployed if either Theo or Podolski take up the central striker role.
I think we are going to witness Arsenal’s Greatest Ever Signing. He will elevate and educate those around him into superior players. Watch, savour, and enjoy. Exceptional things are about to happen in the Red and White of Arsenal.
Ahead of Sunday’s game the news about Arsenal was mostly a rehash of The Manager’s Press Conference. The important point was that both Matheiu Flamini and Jack Wilshere trained normally, Wenger was confident that the former would be available while the latter would be assessed before the game. Jack Wilshere later declared himself fit.
Risking Wilshere in a game at Old Toilet seems a bit unwise to me as he would undoubtedly be a target for some brutal treatment of the type previously handed out by the notorious Neville brothers to Jose Antonio Reyes. Thinking about it, it is sometime since we came up a against a team intent upon kicking our players off the park, perhaps they’re just too nippy to be caught.
Sunday:
Prior to the late afternoon kick-off all the news was about the bug that struck down the BFG and Tomas Rosicky. It was rumoured that a mysterious character, speaking with a distinct Glaswegian accent, and sporting a big red nose had been seen lurking about the kitchens of the hotel the Arsenal squad were staying in. Now I’m not making any accusations but…..
Monday:
OK, we lost at Old Toilet. It was probably the closest game between us and them for quite some time, one moment of slackness at a corner was enough.
Reactions were many and varied:- Patrick Barclay in the London Evening Standard “Moyes’s men strained every sinew to beat Arsene Wenger’s, who had more of the ball and worked every bit as hard only to lose because key men — Olivier Giroud, Aaron Ramsey and even Mesut Ozil — could not go the extra yard”. I did not see too much of the “I told you so” type of comment, in fact most people seemed to acknowledge that we had closed the gap somewhat on Manure.
Tuesday:
Thomas Vermaelen rubbished reports that he was looking for the Emirates exit, “I’m still confident I can play for this club and every chance I get I will do a job”. That’s what I like to hear, a player willing to stay and fight unlike one of his soon (I hope) to be erstwhile team mates, a striker who seems only intent on getting out as soon as possible.
Many commentators were saying that Wenger needs to sign a striker in the January transfer window, and LB wrote a thoughtful article on the subject for AAers to comment on.
I’ll leave the last word on Sunday’s result to Paul Hayward of The Telegraph. “Wenger will look at the transition difficulties at United, Chelsea and Manchester City and feel he can absorb the odd unsurprising setback”.
“A favourable wind is still blowing the old dark clouds away”.
Wednesday:
It was announced that an agreement was in place for Jack Wilshere to take part in only one of England’s two friendlies as he was undergoing treatment for “a knock”. If he is unfit Hodgson shouldn’t even contemplate using the lad at all.
A question was asked, in the London Evening Standard, is Mesut Ozil being overworked? After a brilliant start to his Arsenal career, four assists and two goals from eight Premier League games, he has been arguably less influential in the last three games against Liverpool, Dortmund and Man U. He is not used to playing so many high intensity games in such a short space of time. In the 12 matches he has started for Arsenal, the 25-year-old has played 90 minutes in nine of them. Contrast this with how he was used at Madrid, where he was no less a pivotal figure before his departure; of the 40 games he began for Real last season, Ozil completed only 19 of them. The season before the midfielder finished just 14 of 44 starts.
Is he being overplayed? Does he need a rest?
Thursday:
Abou Diaby gave an interview to L’Equipe stating he was looking forward to working on getting back to fitness.
“I have come off the crutches. Now I have to start walking again!
“I will start running again in a few weeks.
“I want to take my time with everything to ensure that it all goes smoothly.”
Sometimes you can’t see the woods for looking at the trees. Over the past few weeks we have all seen MoTD on the BBC or NBC with a veritable smorgasbord of pundits all praising Arsenal’s style of play, yet claiming that there is an inherent fault in our team’s setup which will prevent us from going on to win the league. They have come up with various reasons such as:
Arsenal haven’t played any of the big clubs
Arsenal have lost against the only title contender they have played
Arsenal haven’t played in inclement weather, their foreign players aren’t acclimatised to UK weather and dark nights.
Arsenal haven’t got the depth of team.
Arsenal only have Giroud up front.
Arsenal spent 42M GBP on a midfielder when they needed a defender, a keeper and a striker.
Arsenal have don’t have as much talent as Chelsea.
1. It is not the big clubs that make or break a title race. As Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd have already found out in their first eleven games, the Premier League is littered with landmine games. One false step and BOOM! In recent years Arsenal have lost against Blackburn, Fulham, Swansea, West Brom and Sunderland with a concomitant drop in morale. This season Aston Villa, West Brom, Sunderland and Newcastle have all handed out lessons in humility. So it is not just the title rivals that can cause title contenders a problem. At the same time, Arsenal have done the business at home against two “bigger” teams which is the first order of business when seeking to win the title.
2. Yes we lost. But it was a close run thing, it wasn’t a slaughter. We have 27 games left to put things right (win them all?)
3. Most of our players have a lot of experience of Northern European conditions. Either they have played in Germany where even before the winter break it still gets “F” Cold (that’s f for freezing;^) or they have played in the Premier League for at least a year – Arteta, Cazorla. The YBC (Young British Core) of course also helps. So I don’t feel we are going to as adversely affected by the changes as we have been in previous years.
4-7. We do have a shallow team, the squad is probably 18-20 players at most, but the addition of Ozil has changed the dynamics of the team so that teams have more options they have to cover. His addition to the team also means goalscoring is not the preserve of one player. Look at where the 22 league goals have come from – 10 different players.
When teams focus on any one or two of our players then someone else wriggles free to find time and space that generates a scoring opportunity. The addition of Ozil has also freed up the requirement for Ramsey to get forward every time. This combined with the addition of Flamini means that we now have three players if they are playing in the team, who can fit into the holding midfield…yet another of my beloved triangles.
I could wax lyrical but it is only 11 games and I am not someone who would have the temerity to sing about being the top of the league at this time. The only time it counts is when the trophy is passed over in Red and White ribbons.
All of this pondering leads me to wonder “Are we the team in plain sight”?. The team who no-one outside of Arsenal really believes has more than an outside chance? If it comes true it will be just like Arsenal winning in 88/89 and 97/98. where we were an Arsenal who were a stealth team, unfancied, unloved and not factored into the equation, the rogue element if you will.
This is not the first reverse we have suffered recently; losing at home to Dortmund hurt, questions immediately appeared asking if we were strong enough to handle such a defeat and yet, as everyone is aware, we did by beating last season’s Champions League finalists in their own back yard. Let’s be clear, the Germans are a better team than manu so if there is one point I want to get across today it is if we are capable of coming back from that we are capable of coming back from yesterday and the disappointment we are feeling today.
And to think, Sunday was going so well, I don’t know about you but I can’t watch three games of football back to back and I certainly wasn’t going to ruin Sunday lunch by watching Tottenham who I expected to win; so, I avoided that until it came time to digest my food and I thought I will just have a little look – excellent, one down with fifteen minutes to go, come on you Bar Codes; perfect, Newcastle saw the game out and spuds looked poor.
Hmmmm, this day is going well. Same situation with City who once again I expected to win, so I saw no reason to ruin a good afternoon nap by watching that, until I woke up and again couldn’t resist a look: one down, fifteen minutes to go, this was up and pacing in front of the telly time. Incredible, Sunderland heroically saw the game out. That was two ducks in a line; surely the third would fly in and take up its place?
No it wouldn’t, we lost and no matter how much schadenfreude I try and glean from those other two losses it still hurts. How could this happen? Well it all started after I sat back down on my sofa ready for the proper game to start when the Sky presenter announced that there would be a short interview from each manger. Great I thought, a rallying cry from Arsene is just what the doctor ordered. Wrong, the doctor had announced that a bug had gone round the team forcing Mertesacker and Rosicky to have to return home. This was not what I wanted to hear.
The loss of the BFG was going to be obvious although in the end it is debatable how much we really missed him but it was the lack of punch, in the form of fast jabs that Rosicky brings to the table that was missing more than anything else especially after we went behind.
The game, the game, you all saw it and I am curious to read your thoughts in comments. As for me: it was never going to be easy at the best of times but the loss of these two players tipped the balance. The only way we were going to get back into that game was with a stroke of luck and that simply did not happen.
We now go into the international break after which we should have all our troops back for the Christmas push. We can still do this, keep the faith.
The little boy inside me wants to write about one of the MU strikers but as The Godfather (Michael) said to his brother Freddie after he shafted the Family by dealing with Hyman Roth in Cuba, “You broke my heart, You broke my heart” and now the traitor is “dead to me”.
Some folk in the media say we go into the game as favourites – are they nuts? No-one goes to the Toilet as favourites, at least not this century. Yes, we have a better chance than in recent years but we have only managed one win and a draw since that magnificent victory in 2004 and we have beaten them only once in the last 9 meetings!
But United have never won the league on our ground, have they? 😀
So why the optimism? 5 points clear, top of our CL group, the away victory in Dortmund, beating the second placed team last Saturday, the developing genius of Santi and Mesut, the recently recognised (by the non-gooners) CB partnership, the renewed form of TPIG, the work-rate and improvement of OG. Could it be for any of those reasons?
Or could it be because of the experience and solidity of Arteta , Sagna and Rosicky? If one were to believe the red-tops Aaron Ramsey could win this on his own!
Man Utd: Are they really a team in crisis? Surely not. No, what they are is a team of reprehensible, cheating mutants who if the world was a just place would be behind bars pleading with Mr Big.
Want to see a diver? Go to Old Trafford.
Want to see a bought ref and linesman? Go to Old Trafford
Want to see 60+ thousand prawn sandwich eating remedials? Go to Old Trafford
Want to see a manager completely out of his depth? Ditto
And I haven’t even started on the supreme awfulness of Rooney, Ferdinand and Evra . Have you ever seen such a triumvirate of shitehawks?
(Chary could have written this section :-D)
But seriously, it would be foolish to write off their chances of winning and not just today. They are the Champions and won the title with this very team by 11 points ! Yes, they have lost the red-conked miscreant but apart from him the personnel is the same.
They have few injuries with just Welbeck missing from their first choice 11.
Arsenal: 252 days since our last away defeat. It should mean something but at 16.10 today the test starts in earnest. We have the team, we have the tools and we have the tactics to continue the run.
It would be boring to review our form, we all know it and the reasons for the improvement. So, I will highlight just one of the many recent positives …. Mr. Arsene Wenger.
At the end of the AV game I looked at him and thought “Arsene, I love you but this job will kill you. You are clearly not enjoying it and the stress is just too much.” How wrong could I be? The man is rejuvenated! He hasn’t looked or sounded this good for many a year.
His pre-match interview was a return to the humourous, intelligent man we all know – a man who can play with the journalists and yet retain respect. Does he miss SAF? Highly unlikely. Will he under-estimate the task this afternoon just because they have The Ditherer at the helm? Of course not, but he is confident, you can see it in his demeanor.
My Team:
I know, I know ….. hard on Rosicky who has been excellent, but he does need a rest. With the Interlull coming one could say he will get it then, but Tomas, like most of our squad, with be playing two meaningless friendlies.
The midfield battle will be interesting; MU rely upon their usual compliment of battlers and artisans; have they had anyone with flair since ….. ?? It seems to a non- MU fan that they only buy and develop flair attackers, stacking the midfield with horrible Orc types. Scholes, Keane, Butt, Robson, Ince, all grafters, and now Cleverley, Carrick and Fellaini. Sadly, this appears to work, but which midfield would you rather watch – our artists or their artisans?
The title will not be decided by this game and we will be top at November’s end come what may, but it would be excellent to put another nail into MU’s challenge and pile more pressure upon Gollum (though as we have agreed. we give him our unconditional support 😉 )
Arsene Wenger revealed that the only player to return to Saturday’s squad was Mikel Arteta.
“Basically we have just Arteta back because he was suspended. Gnabry, who was not available for Tuesday, will not be available again, and all the other long-term injuries are not back – Walcott, Chamberlain, Podolski, Diaby”. On Flamini he said “He is a short-term injury, he could be available for Manchester United. He is out for Liverpool and Dortmund” Thanks to Arsenal.com for the quotes.
Speaking at his regular Friday Press conference Wenger, when asked about the Suarez signing attempt, “Arsenal had no moral qualms about attempting to sign Luis Suarez” but refused to be drawn on whether they will try again in January.
Morals aside, the question remains had we signed Suarez would we also have captured Ozil? The prospect of them both playing in the same Arsenal team is mouth-watering. According to ‘Pool manager Brendan Rogers “Luis Suarez signing for Arsenal was never going to happen”. “The club’s owners would never sanction his sale to a rival club”.
I personally would like to see Arsenal bid for the player in January, if only to test the resolve of Fenway Sports.
Saturday:
It was reported, in The Sun, that Arsenal had given keeper Wojciech Szczesny a new four-year deal worth £20.8m. That’s £100,000 a week. No confirmation on the Arsenal website as at 10am Saturday. Could it be a move to pre-empt an attempt to sign our Pole in goal by Barcelona?
In the early afternoon kick-off, Chelsea lost to the Magpies, Man city swamped Norwich 7 – 0 and Man Utd rolled Fulham over. All of those results were proved to be immaterial by The Glorious Gunners handing Liverpool a two goal thrashing at The Emirates.
Sunday:
Just a selection of headlines;
“Arsenal ignite their title charge” Sunday Telegraph. “Aaron Ramsey strike sends Arsenal five points clear” Sunday Express, “Ramsey stunner seals Arsenal win” Mail on Sunday, “Arsene Wenger’s delight at consistent and convincing Arsenal” The Observer, “Thunderbolts give Gunners daylight at the top” The Independent, “Gunners keep Luis Suarez quiet and increase lead at the top” London Evening Standard.
On a more serious note, Gibbs and Wilshere both on the injury list and doubtful for Wednesday although Jack would probably not start anyway and Nacho Monreal will be a more than adequate replacement at left-back.
Monday:
Not much relevant news today, beyond the Sorry Spurs failing to get more than a single point at Everton in one of the most dull and boring matches for some time.
An article in the London Evening Standard by Patrick Barclay caught my eye, the gist of the piece was that Arsenal’s squad is not strong enough to allow us to compete for both the Premiership and the Champions League, by doing so we risk failing in both. It is not the actual strength of the squad but the physical strength that he feels will let us down. In his opinion, we were out-worked by Borussia Dortmund but beat Liverpool by out-working them. Tiredness will become a huge factor in the coming months particularly for Olivier Giroud, with all due respect to Bendtner a plausible back-up striker is urgently needed in January. So which competition should Arsene prioritise? The subject of a future post for someone?
Tuesday:
Jack Wilshere was ruled out of the Borussia game with an injury to his left ankle, it was his right ankle that caused so much trouble in the recent past. Gibbs was to have a test before the team flew to Germany. It seemed unlikely that Jack would have been in the starting eleven anyway but would have provided a welcome boost from the bench. Gibbs cover if required would be either Nacho Monreal or Thomas Vermaelen.
Our German stars, Mesut Ozil, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker – each took a hand at landing an Emirates A 380 airliner, nothing to worry about though, it was the new simulator. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs had all undertaken the task earlier in the summer. The next challenge is a dogfight with the English lads in Spitfires and the Germans in Messerschmitt 109s.
Wednesday:
All attention was on the team for the Dortmund game, who was out? and who was in? Gibbs has travelled and “should” be available, according to Wenger, and Gnabry was in the squad. So we had the option of some pace on the right. No Jack, Theo or Mathieu, which of the trio would be missed most? Flamini in my opinion, although Mikel Arteta had done a super job against the Bin-dippers.
There can be no denying, Arsenal are answering the questions set, the defence is getting meaner, the mid-field trickier and the goals are coming, particularly for our Welsh Wizard Aaron Ramsey. A goal or two for the ultra hard-working Oliver Giroud and we can be sweeping all before us.
OK, just one more;
“Rambo reborn turns Arsenal into contenders” London Evening Standard. I just couldn’t help myself.
Friday:
I don’t usually include Friday’s news in my round-up, you can all read what the papers are saying without me pointing you the right direction, but this morning is a bit different. The question being asked today is can Arsenal get a result at Old Toilet on Sunday?
Well confidence is high, teamwork and togetherness has never been better, the defence is performing in a manner reminiscent of George Graham’s finest and the mid-field/attack is producing goals when they are needed, so in my opinion the answer is a resounding YES!
Did anyone else suffer anti Bendtner comments during the game on Saturday?
The new people this season sitting near me seemed to think that by slagging Bendtner they would some how curry favour with the people who had been there from day one.
Well, I don’t see this at all, what exactly has he done wrong since returning? The only crime I can see was missing a chance against Chelsea, for goodness sake Giroud misses chances every game: take Saturday, holy moly, one on one with the keeper and he fluffs his lines badly. If Bendtner had done that there would have been a booing riot.
Bendtner got worse service against the chavs than you or I would receive in a greasy spoon café just off a motorway.
The thing that has struck me in every game and cameo that the Great Dane has played in is just how good his movement has been; sadly there are still so many spoilt children at THOF who do not understand such things.
I got a very uncomfortable feeling when he was subbed against the chavs, for a moment I thought there was going to a return to the Dark Ages (Pre Ozil) with full scale booing, fortunately that did not happen but it happened enough to warrant comment.
Perhaps this it’s just me, do you think he is badly treated or does a player deserve all he gets when he states publicly that he will never wear an Arsenal shirt again?
Bear with me… this is, indeed, a Post about the current Arsenal team (it will get there eventually).
Way back in the early 1990s an ex Arsenal lad who had moved to pastures new was tearing up the Premier League, scoring goals for fun.
I refer to one Andrew Cole, who had two great seasons at Newcastle from 1993 to 1995.
Such was his form and prowess at the Barcodes that he earned an England call-up under Terry Venables. He made his debut as a late substitute against Uruguay – replacing a certain Mr Edward Sheringham. As Sheringham left the pitch he offered nary a glance towards the debuant; not a handshake; nor even a quick word of encouragement, far less a pat on the back. He just acted as if Cole did not exist.
The perceived insult wounded the tender soul of young Andy and he vowed never to forget it.
Fast forward a year or so and Cole signed for Manchester United where, playing alongside Eric Cantona, he continued to thrive.
But in football, as in life, fate often has a way of putting chewing gum on your bus seat and, sure enough, in 1997 Eric Cantona left United and they replaced him with Mr Edward Sheringham.
As Cole put it some years later: “In the summer of 1997, after Eric Cantona left Manchester United, Sheringham arrived. We played together for years. We scored a lot of goals. I never spoke a single word to him.”
And during that period United were certainly successful.
So does it mean that relationships between players don’t matter? That team mates can hate each other with the sort of loathing that a Totteringham fan has for bathwater?
Well, there are certainly other examples beyond Cole and Sheringham (who, let’s not forget, went to Man United but was still a runt). The Bayern Munich and Germany midfielders Lothar Matthaus and Stefan Effenberg would each have happily seen the other fed slowly into a wood chipper; and in the days of the Wimbledon Crazy Gang (younger readers, be thankful you don’t know what I’m talking about) John “Fash the Bash” Fashanu shared mutual antipathy with Lawrie Sanchez.
In fact it got so bad that Fashanu and Sanchez decided to “sort it out” during a training session. As a black belt in karate, Fashanu was expecting to teach Sanchez a lesson – but I remember Tony Adams once described Sanchez as the hardest man in football (a bit like the Pope describing someone as the holiest person on earth).
Fash’s memoirs take up the story: “Sanch gave me a shot and, give him credit, it wasn’t a bad shot. But I thought, don’t hit Sanch, don’t mark his face, and my mind went back to when Muhammed Ali fought against the martial artist in New York, and the martial artist just kicked the back of his legs until it broke the tissues in his calves and he submitted. So I thought I’d teach Sanch a lesson and gave a sweep of the legs, but Sanch has calves like most people have thighs and he didn’t move. So I gave him another couple, but Sanch came back at me. So I thought, I’m gonna take this guy out, and I hit him with one of the best shots I’d been training with – BAM! Take that, Sanch! – right in the solar plexus, a shot that would supposedly knock a horse down. And still he stood there. Then Terry Burton came over to break us up.”
Happy days.
Anyway, this question of whether it’s better for players to like their team mates occurred to me while watching our game against Liverpool on Saturday.
You will remember the chance that Luis Suarez had towards the end of the match, as Liverpool were struggling to fight their way back from the firm slapping-down which we had been administering.
Suarez profited from a mistake by the BFG and bore down on goal from Liverpool’s left side. He tried a shot which went across the face of goal and wide, not troubling Szczesny. Daniel Sturridge had been racing into the right hand side of the box and felt that Suarez should have passed to him rather than shooting. Whether or not Suarez should have passed is neither here nor there. What happened next was fascinating: Sturridge threw his arms out and back, like a child trying to be a superhero; he jutted out his chin, his eyes bulged and he donned the time-honoured countenance of the mortally outraged (think Stephen Fry being told that – no thanks – no-one was interested in his latest anecdote).
All this was directed at his team mate, Suarez. It was not a brief, understandable moment of frustration of the kind any player can be prone to: Sturridge held this tortured pose for many long seconds. His suffering began to take on Jesus-like dimensions. Poor old Suarez glanced his way but chose not to engage.
At the time I thought: “these are two players who don’t like each other: two selfish goal-grabbers who are in this only for personal glory.” If you feel your colleague should have passed, you talk about it later – you don’t try to humiliate him in front of millions
And despite the examples mentioned above – of bitter feuds festering in successful teams – it cannot, as a general rule, be good to have disharmony within a team.
Look at Arsenal in recent years.
There is no question that we’ve had some troublesome individuals in the dressing room: Samir Nasri, who could probably make the Dalai Lama swear; Emmanuel “all about me” Adebayor; William “Slightly Deranged” Gallas.
And one of the factors in our gradual improvement has been the clearing out of the disputatious types and the forging of strong bonds between the players who remain.
There seems to be a good, mutually supportive vibe among the YBCs (the Young British Core), but experienced, level-headed foreigners like Arteta, Giroud and Mertesacker have also clearly been instrumental in creating unity and fellow-purpose.
It may be easier to say during the sort of successful period we are currently enjoying, but I really feel our squad of players like each other and are playing for each other rather than for their next big money move elsewhere. No-one exemplifies this selflessness better than Olivier Giroud, who seems as happy when he assists as when he scores.
So, to sum up, Sturridge and Suarez will continue to score goals, but football success is often down to fine margins – and not being united on the field is one of those things that can have a slight, but significant, negative impact.
Over the course of the season I would back our Harmonious Heroes to do better than ‘Pool’s Fractious Forwards. We will see.
I hate playing Liverpool, when it is a match that has a lot riding on it I hate it even more. The first two trophies I watched Arsenal win Liverpool were the side in our way, so with those in the memory bank I shouldn’t be as fearful. And even though our record against them has been good in the last few years there was the FA Cup Final and the Champions League Quarter Final, last minute penalties in the League and dodgy offside goals all weigh heavy on my mind when we come to play the red half of Scouseland.
After the last two midweek results some serious questions have been asked of the squad, the manager and our chances to challenge for titles.
The early kick off on Satutday saw Newcastle take three points off every pundits title favourites Chelsea. At that point I would have been more than happy to take a point from yesterday’s game to retain top spot.
How stupid was I? What did I have to worry about? The long and short of it is Liverpool have two good strikers, one is considered to be worth more than £40m+£1, the rest of their team is distinctly average. Rodgers thought his new tactic of 3-5-2 and hard pressing would nullify Arsenals strength and highlight our weaknesses…he was wrong.
The defence were disciplined, full backs tucking in to help the centre backs out and Arteta playing the anchor role to perfection picking up loose balls and being precise in possession.
Giroud occupied three centre backs by firstly trying to win every ball, and secondly holding up the ball to bring the midfield runners into the game.
And the midfield is where we won the game, the speed the football moved between Ramsey, Cazorla, Özil and Rosicky was electric, their runs off the ball even better. The only time Liverpool got close was when we gave them the ball, but we were ready to fight to win back possession as soon as we lost it.
This was probably as complete a performance as we have seen from Arsenal this season , and we got our reward for the way we played.
The first came from Santi Cazorla, I think we can safely say he is now over his injury, Arteta carried the ball through midfield to release Sagna who headed for the touch line and produced a cross into the area, it was behind Giroud but Santi arrived to head powerfully towards goal , the header cannoned back off the post to the little Spanish magician who volleyed into the empty net with ease.
After that goal we were all out attack but unable to extend our lead through a mixture of missing the final pass or not connecting with the final shot.
Liverpool rearranged at half time bringing on Coutinho to attempt to adopt a more natural 4-4-2. In reality this just gave us more time in midfield and less bodies in the way through the middle when playing on the counter.
Giroud was unlucky not to add a second twice in quick succession, first nicking the ball ahead of Skrtel from a generous Toure backpass only to see his dinked effort slide wide of the post. Moments later a combination of Rosicky and Santi provided him with half a chance but he could not make a strong enough contact to get it past Mignolet.
Liverpool always had a chance, Suarez can, if given the room, score a goal from nowhere, we needed a second, and it eventually came from our player of the season so far, Özil found Ramsey arriving in space, he took a good touch and as the ball bounced in front of him and the defence backed off he decided he may as well add to his total for the season and dispatched a screamer past Mignolet into the roof of the net.
During all his on the pitch troubles Ramsey never stopped working hard and showing for the ball, it’s why I always had time for him and asked others to get off his back, but I had no idea he had this kind of football in him. After the game the Sky pundits asked if he thought he could get 20 a season midfielder like Gerard or Lampard, if I was Aaron I would have said “only if I get given penalty taking duties”.
Wenger sent on reinforcements to close out the game, Monreal for Rosicky, Vermaelen for the injured Gibbs and later Jenkinson for Cazorla. Liverpool went close a couple of times in this period but the result wasn’t really in doubt.
To answer my own question in the title. It’s not a test when you play a team that are above their natural league position.
But guaranteed to be a win clear of the nearest competition come Sunday evening after ten games I am more than happy.
Ratings
Szczesny 8 – Apart from his little one two with Sturridge was assured and commanding, couple of good blocks too.
Sagna 8 – Solid performance lots of energy good passing helped the centre backs when necessary
Gibbs 8 – More defensive than Sagna as he was covering Sturridges wide runs, second half he continually nipped in front to take the ball off the intended receiver.
Mertesacker 8 -still for me Arsene’s best signing of the last three seasons, his leadership and distribution have made us so much better at the back.
Koscielny 9 – More apparently World Class centre forwards in his back pocket, he is everything you want in a defender.
Arteta 9 – Mopped up everything dropping in front of the back four, passed to a red and white shirt for 90 minutes.
Özil 7 – Slightly quiet game from the new arrival, but everything he does is wrapped in silk.
Ramsey 9 – Cracking goal capped a fine performance, goal scoring is his biggest improvement second is his ball retention and use, all this added to his work rate and energy levels equals a very special player. Shame on you who unjustly wrote him off.
Rosicky 7 – Worked hard without the ball and used it well when in possession.
Cazorla 8 – Some thought Özil’s arrival may have limited Santi’s pitch time, it’s pretty hard to see us start a game without him. The lad is class.
Giroud 8 – His hold up play makes the midfields job easier, unlucky not to get a goal that his work rate deserved. Bossed three centre backs around for 90 minutes.
Subs
Monreal 7 – I like using Nacho as a sub to give some protection in the latter stages, he is good enough with the ball that he doesn’t totally nullify our attacking threat.
Vermaelen 7 – did what was needed at left back.
Jenkinson 7 – not really enough time to give a rating but he was on the pitch so I don’t want to leave him out.
Not a huge amount of news this week but here it is anyway. . . . . . . . . . . .
Saturday:
The early afternoon kick off against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park brought us three points through a penalty by Mikel Arteta, after Serge Gnabry was brought down in the box, and a fine chipped pass by Ramsey to set up a header for Olivier Giroud. All this after an early injury forced Flamini off and Arsenal went down to ten men when Arteta was harshly red carded for a DOGSO. ( Denial Of Goal Scoring Opportunity).
Sunday:
A good day in the press for The Gunners, there’s nothing like a win to silence the pundits. Was it a red card offence? The consensus seems to be a clear no. Chamakh after moving the ball to his right then leant into Arteta on his left and fell over. Would he have gone on to score? C’mon it’s Chamakh we’re talking about here. When asked if Arsenal would appeal the red card Wenger said although there was a good argument for doing so, there’s no point as it’s only a one match suspension and that game is the Capital One Cup for which he wouldn’t have picked Arteta anyway.
Monday:
Per Mertesacker believes how Arsenal respond to the upcoming tough schedules will define their season. “Crystal Palace on Saturday was a good test for us and a good win ahead of the hard games to come in the next weeks,” said Arsenal defender Mertesacker. “There will be more tests to come and that will be crucial for the rest of the season”.
“That we have started well showed we have improved a lot over the last two years. We are in a better position. It feels much better now. We don’t have to get anything back on the other sides, so that gives us more safety and we feel much better.”
Our favourite pundit, Alan Hansen, was at it again writing in The Telegraph he once more failed to resist his in-built bias and wrote off Arsenal’s chances of winning the title this season.
Arsenal may be looking down on Chelsea and Manchester City from the top of the Premier League this morning, but they will not end the season as champions“.
“Despite their hugely impressive reaction since losing to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, which has enabled them to move clear at the top of the table, I still believe that Arsenal will end the campaign in fourth place“.
He went on “If you run out of gas in March, April or May, you will be mentally and physically shot and miss out on everything. United have mastered the art of pacing themselves, Liverpool did it for 20 years and Chelsea and City both know what it takes”. He just couldn’t resist mentioning his beloved Liverpool, while forgetting that they haven’t managed to pace themselves to a win in the last twenty years. What has this man got against Arsenal?
Serge Gnabry signed a new long term contract. Arsène Wenger said: “We signed Serge Gnabry because I believe that he will be a great player. He has technical ability, he has power, he has pace, he has finishing quality and he can give a final ball. He’s a powerful offensive player and I believe that he will be a great player for Arsenal Football Club.”
Tuesday:
Emmanuel Frimpong is set to be warned over his future conduct after appearing to claim that his omission from the Capital One Cup tie against Chelsea was because of his colour.
The 21-year-old Ghana international denied he had accused manager Arsene Wenger of racism despite responding on Twitter to a question why he was not in the squad by saying: “LOL I wanna laugh.” He then wrote: “Sometimes I wish I was white and English.”
Frimpong later deleted that tweet and added “not every tweet is football related. Goosh [sic]” and later, “Look what ever [sic] you read tomorrow has majorly been twisted. Is a joke what people will do to start controversy goodnight people.” A word of advice for Master Frimpong: Think before you twitter!
Jose Mourinho was moaning about his poor darlings having to play the Mighty Arsenal just two days after his team scrabbled to get a win against the Oilers. (A last minute cock-up by Joe Hart presented an open goal for £50 million man Torres).
“One team play 12.30pm on Saturday another play 4pm on Sunday”.
“Another team play against Crystal Palace, the other against Manchester City and now we have to play on Tuesday”.
If you can’t stand the heat Jose, get out of the kitchen!
Former Arsenal defender Nelson Vivas has resigned as manager of Argentinean club Quilmes after sensationally attacking one of their fans. Vivas – who signed for the Gunners in 1998 from Boca Juniors before moving on to Inter Milan – leapt into the stand to hit a spectator three times after his side’s game against Atletico Rafaela. The fan was said to have been insulting the former Argentina international during the club’s disappointing draw.
Wednesday:
It was difficult to find any relevant Arsenal news, other than the Capital One cup defeat at the hands of Chelsea. The consensus seemed to be that but for that back header it was a fairly close game, both sides had a decent enough number of goal attempts, not too many were on target, although Mata’s strike was all to obviously spot on.
On the injury front, no news is good news, all our players came through unscathed, on top of that Vermaelen escaped what should have been a straight red for a DOGSO. Having served his one match ban Arteta is available for Saturday.
Thursday:
It’s all about confidence, claims Olly.
Talking to Standard Sport Olivier Giroud said “It is [down to] confidence. I did well from the start of the season, I had good preparation with the team — instead of last season when I wasn’t here from the beginning —and I scored early in the pre-season games.
“I feel really confident, the boss made me feel good and that is why I feel good and try to improve every day. It is all about confidence I think”.
Posted by peachesgÖÖner 
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