I have never been a massive fan of the word so many fans have taken to using as a way of describing players they think are surplus to requirements or wasting wages.

We have had many players labelled as dead wood by Arsenal fans, some may be correct, but there are also instances where players deemed to be deadwood have actually come back to prove their doubters wrong.

After the League Cup Final Koscielny was in that category, after many injury hit seasons Rosicky was in it too, Aaron Ramsey had the temerity not to play like Messi on his return from a horrendous injury and then there was Diaby, Arshavin, Squillacci, Fabianski, Gibbs and even new signings like Gervinho who have all been tarred with the same brush.

Arshavin started off life as a fan favourite and then ended up in the deadwood pile, could Vermaelen be going the same way? Last seasons performances certainly put him at risk of being mentioned in the same breath as Squillacci. But is it fair to do so? He is a player not on form, but surely that doesn’t mean we want to bin him and forget all he has achieved before.

Before we go sticking more names in the recycle bin can we just look back at the deadwood players from the last two seasons:

Koscielny – so important during the run in, became undroppable

Fabianski – came in when Szczesny was having a blip and kept clean sheets and was a calm presence in between the sticks

Ramsey – perhaps the most criticised player on blogs, twitter and anywhere else you care to look for the last two years, well the two years before the last two months of the season when his detractors could not keep up their set in stone view on the lad any longer

Rosicky – another big part to play in the run in and generally seen to give us an added dimension.

What’s the point of this post? To make you think before you start labelling players, criticise someone for their play by all means, criticise work rate but please stop using a cheap throwaway label for an out of favour/form player. You never know when they will spark back into life again.

Perish the thought if Jack doesn’t start well or Ox or Ryo, or Cazorla looks tired after his summer excursions.

Football is about squads and not everyone in your squad can be a world class player, but you need cover and you need options when someone is out of form, everyone in the squad may have a role to play, and when they do their inclusion in a matchday squad should not be met by groans because some one on a blog has decided this player is deadwood and that opinion has circulated around the wonderweb.

By Gooner in Exile

Some years back I wrote an article on the comparative popularity and visibility of the Arsenal in Asia. At that time we were a strong second or third after Manchester United so how has 8 trophyless years affected us? I have been lucky enough to spend the last eleven weeks travelling around SE Asia and New Zealand so I was keeping my eye open on where we stood now.

What I noticed that this time around there are a much smaller selection of shirts seen. Before there were the big four [United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea] but you also did see shirts from other teams like Leeds, Everton and Villa or Spurs. This time around, with the exception of Singapore, it was the big four plus Barcalona and Real Madrid and very few other team’s shirts being worn. The Big get bigger!!!

This is what I found in the seven countries I visited, of course everything is subjective and this article reflects what I saw in the places that I visited, who knows what I missed! I also throw in a few travel tips for those of you fortunate enough to be able to visit the area.

New Zealand:

This is the land of Rugby! The EPL is readily available on TV but each night there are 2 or 3 channels at least showing Rugby at all levels. Most sports shirts being worn are Rugby shirts and I truly don’t remember seeing a football shirt even being sold. In some British or Irish pubs you will see adverts for broadcasted games but by and large rugby rules here! The good news of course is Arsenal are no better or worse than any other team. Travel tip: Drive up the west side of the South Island, Glaciers, Mountains and lonely beaches. A truly spectacular drive with wonderfully friendly people.

Malaysia:

The main paper has 4 columnists who each weekend write on Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. Of course, as everywhere in Asia, Manchester United are the biggest club but Liverpool are a very strong second and we are roughly level with Chelsea in third. Barcelona have really improved their visibility since I last visited but the EPL is still the main game in town and in a Saturday paper you will get 3 or 4 pages of EPL coverage. We were much bigger 5 years ago and have definitely slipped but each day I saw at least one Arsenal shirt being worn, sometimes more. You see the occasional QPR shirt around as they are owned by a Malaysian and he sells the shirts in his airline shops, Air Asia. Travel Tip: Kuala Lumpur has a serious violent crime problem so go to Penang which is safer and also has the best food in Asia!

Thailand:

My favourite country in the region and one where Liverpool almost matches United, the residual support from the glory years is very strong and most football adverts on television will show one or both of the clubs. I have to credit the Liverpool supporters in Asia for their loyalty when you consider their relative lack of recent success. Chelsea is quite big here and are certainly third with us just behind them.

Bangkok airport used to have an Arsenal section where you could buy shirts and casual wear. We have been replaced by Leicester City as King Power, who run the Bangkok duty free, sponsor the shirts of that team. What did surprise me is that Everton, whose shirts are sponsored by a major Thai beer company have zero visibility. Travel Trip: Skip Bangkok and go to Chiang Mai, its cooler, cheaper and there is more to do like trekking.

Myanmar:

I did not see football shirts being worn here for any team but I did see the Arsenal v Wigan game on one of their four TV channels. There were adverts around the city showing Arsene Wenger and Arsenal promoting junior football so perhaps we have our foot in the door. Travel Tip: Bring crisp US dollars, ATMs are problematic at best and shops will not accept old US dollars or even a note that has been stapled.

Sri Lanka:

I saw a few shirts around Colombo and we had a good presence, second to United but cricket is the main sport here and the level of support for football appeared much less than in SE Asia.

Travel Tip: If you plan to travel outside Colombo allow lots of time or fly, roads are bad.

Indonesia:

I was in Bali so most shirts you see are for Australian Rugby or football as that’s where the tourists come from but EPL shirts are around and United, Arsenal and Manchester City were all spotted by your hard working correspondent! Travel Tip: Bali is spectacularly beautiful but if you go then avoid Kuta which is rightly called the armpit of Bali due to it being overrun by drunken Aussie youths on the lookout for women .

Singapore:

You will have noticed I have not mentioned Tottenham as I truly had never seen anyone wearing their shirt. Imagine my surprise when on a pub crawl with my nephew I saw a banner with Singapore Tottenham Hotspurs Supporters Club opposite a bar we were in. I couldn’t resist and I just had to go over and ask one of the guys at the stand… WHY??

Even more astonishing there was around 20 people there and Glen Hoddle was giving a talk. I asked him who was the best Arsenal player he faced and he said it was between Rix and Brady but felt on balance it was Brady. He seemed a decent enough guy and as the only Gooner there they treated me well. Kudos to Singapore Spurs fans but still… WHY? WHY Spurs???

Travel Tip:. Aa night on the town in Singapore is amazingly expensive, a small bottle of beer will cost a tenner or more!! If you are a beer drinker head for Thailand where It’s still reasonable!!

In conclusion it was a tough 11 weeks of travel and we have sadly fallen back in visibility in SE Asia. We have a loyal and large following in Malaysia and Thailand but the last 8 years have seen the casual fans move from us to United and Chelsea. If we don’t start winning soon then I fear that in another 5 years we will have fallen back even further!! I found Bali and New Zealand to be out of this world spectacular and no one can beat the friendliness of the Thgai people.

Written by neaman