Gervinho Ready To Fire Gunners To Glory

February 4, 2013

Good news everyone!

Gervinho is coming home to Arsenal from the Africa Cup of Nations sooner than expected.

His Ivory Coast team were knocked out of the tournament at the quarter final stage yesterday by Nigeria. It was a surprise result as Ivory Coast had been favourites to progress.

So the Dreadlocked Wonder returns to us having had a decent – if ultimately disappointing – campaign in Africa.

He scored twice in the group stages and was reckoned by observers to be one of the players of the tournament to date.

Yet it’s probably safe to assume that his next appearance at The Emirates will not be greeted with fanfares and garlands.  His name will not be ringing round the stadium. Banners saying “We’ve Got Gervinho” will not be draped from the walls.

Montpellier Herault SC v Arsenal FC - UEFA Champions League

If fans were ambivalent towards Gerv the Swerve last season, they have hardened their hearts this time round. Not all, of course. But right know he’s about as popular as an adder in your underpants.

Is this fair?

Gervinho can show touches of brilliance: he is fast, he can turn defenders inside out for fun and he has tucked away some nice goals.

But then there’s the other side of our Ivorian: what I like to think of as his “Afghan hound” side. I once knew the owner of an Afghan hound and she told me that they could be incredibly frustrating dogs.

Most mutts, when let off the leash, will hare about madly for a while but they will always zero back in on their owner. But Afghans were bred as high endurance hunting dogs and, according to my friend, once let loose they like nothing more than to head off in a straight line. And when you think it must be time for them to turn round and head back… they just keep going.

Gervinho’s inner Afghan is apparent on all those occasions when he has beaten one or more defenders out on the wing and – obviously – needs to either cross the ball or cut into the box. Instead, he keeps going in a straight line right off the pitch, ball and all. If it wasn’t for the small inconvenience of a short wall and a large crowd, he would probably be half way across North London before anyone could stop him.

I think that’s what frustrates fans the most: that he seems to do the hard work (beating people and getting into good positions) then all too often fluffs the final ball either through bizarre decision making or poor execution.

His stats make for interesting reading. Last season – his first at Arsenal – he scored four goals and provided eight assists in 37 appearances. Not bad but hardly stellar. This season he has five goals already in 15 outings, but no assists.

Contrast that with some of our other wide players:

Walcott has 18 goals and 13 assists this season in 29 appearances; Podolski has 12 and 11 in 31 and even Oxlade-Chamberlain has 2 and 3 in 23.

By those standards Gervinho is very much our third choice wing man and arguably fourth.

He should be scoring more often and, despite the skepticism of the fans, he has the ability to do so.

In the two seasons before he joined us – at Lille in the French league – he bagged 18 goals each year. That fact perhaps goes some way to explaining why Arsene Wenger played him through the middle earlier in the season: you don’t get 18 goals a season in a European league – even the French one – unless you have an eye for goal.

I would like to think that a good ACN will mean he returns to us full of confidence and ready to help us fight for a place in the top four and a run at the FA Cup and Champions League.

Unfortunately our experience of players coming back from that particular tournament is not good. If they haven’t gone off radar for an extended party or contracted a tropical disease, they often return injured or simply knackered.

Let’s see what we get with Gerv.

I still feel he has something to offer and that he can perform better than he has been doing so far – but if patience is a virtue it’s one that’s in short supply at Arsenal in these inconsistent times.

My fear is that his mistakes will continue to draw loud groans and his confidence will fall further, leading him to make even more so mistakes and more groans and on and on into the vicious circle.

So what do you think?

Is Gervinho a returning asset? A liability? Or simply irrelevant to our struggles to come?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

1 nil to the football team …..

February 3, 2013

Some thoughts on the game (some of which I have wantonly culled from comments I posted earlier this morning):

1. Arsenal looked laboured at times, but they held their concentration facing a Stoke side that did virtually nothing with the ball but which held its shape without the ball extremely well. We were too often forced to cross the ball, which only plays into Stoke’s hands, even with Giroud up front and despite the fact that Walcott put in a few very good crosses. It was certainly not a pretty spectacle, but that had everything to do with our opponents. I’m just pleased our players and fans didn’t panic, and stayed focused and patient. The substitutions were made at the perfect time, and being able to introduce a fresh Cazorla and Podolski with 25 minutes to go worked very well. It was good to see some genuine squad rotation, with Cazorla and Podolski starting from the bench.

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2. How the linesman even thought there was a possibility of an offside (whether for Theo or the deflection, if it had come off one of our players) is beyond me, it was clearly not offside. Well done to Chris Foy for putting him right. As for the complaints to the officials, both sides were doing it, so Pulis’s whinge about us being out of order is just one more example of his hypocrisy.

3. Begovic would be an excellent signing as a second choice keeper if we did try and rescue him from his purgatory in the summer. And with Butland joining Stoke then, one of Sorenson and Begovic will surely move.

4. Did anyone notice that Shotton (the new Delap) has a special piece of material fitted in his shirt to substitute for the towel he gets to use at throw-ins at the Britannia?

5. You remember that “Same old Arsenal, always cheating” we routinely get treated to by the enlightened souls of clubs like Stoke? It’s funny, when Matthew Etherington (a player I happen to quite like) dived to the floor right in front of the Stoke fans, to earn Stoke one of their very few attacking opportunities, the Stoke fans didn’t complain. And I don’t seem to hear much from Pulis when his rugged, muscular, it’s-a-man’s-game players dive to the ground in the mode of Filippo Inzaghi. Funny, that………

6. The Stoke time-wasting was ridiculous, starting in the 15th minute. Chris Foy’s laid back approach to refereeing is good in many ways, but there are times when you have to get a grip on cynical behaviour like that. A couple of early yellow cards, for example when right in front of the ref, Huth threw the ball away after fouling Wilshere, and the time-wasting would have ended there. And of course, once Stoke were a goal down, they suddenly started doing everything much more quickly. It was funny to see Ryan Shawcross complain in the 91st minute about the speed we were taking a free-kick. Well Sweet Little Ryan, if you hadn’t wasted so much time in the remainder of the game, you might have been able to get more attacks in when you were chasing the game.

7. As the pundit on Arsenal TV said (was it Stephen Hughes?), Stoke deserved nothing from the game and they got nothing. Playing ten men behind the ball the whole game is pathetic from any team, a real admission of weakness, but from a side that has spent tens of millions of pounds and has qualified for European football, it is even more ridiculous. Of course, it’s up to the opponent to deal with it and break it down, which Arsenal did – 1-0 was a pretty measly scoreline given that we carved open numerous good chances yesterday: as well as the goal, Ox, Kos, Giroud and Cazorla all had excellent chances to score. 3-0 would have been about right.

8. Any right thinking person of course hates Stoke and detests Pulis. So it was enjoyable to read that he’s been whining about unfair treatment, and tried to play the “we’re so poor, we can’t expect to win these games” card. It’s been a source of a lot of frustration for me that the journos lap this stuff up, saying in effect that it’s fine for Stoke to play the style they do, even when it verges on the violent, because they’re a poor, itsy bitsy club. The trouble with that theory is that Pulis has spent vast amounts of money. Stoke are about 6th in the list of spenders over the past five or six seasons, yet are allowed to say they are David to our Goliath. It was therefore good to see on newsnow that someone had done some sums and concluded that Pulis has spent £120m more than Wenger. Not a level playfield? On your bike, you prat, you’ve had an incredibly soft ride and, given the resources available compared with the likes of Swansea, Everton and West Brom, Stoke should be doing much better than they are.

9. In recent weeks, the prices sometimes charged for away fans at Arsenal have become a subject of controversy. Here’s a thought: perhaps the prices should be linked to a creativity index, so that the more creative or engaging the opponent, the cheaper the tickets for their fans. So Stoke would still be able to play their desperate version of the game, but their fans would be financially punished for it, while Swansea’s fans would be able to attend for about £3.50. I’m going to start writing to Ivan Gazidis now.

Some rough and ready ratings:

Szczesny: 7 – For staying awake.

Sagna: 6 – Did nothing wrong but didn’t show a lot when going forward either.

Mertesacker: 6 – Did fine.

Koscielny: 7 – Battled well, including pressing in midfield areas, and had a good effort on goal.

Monreal: 7 – It’s impossible to judge from one game but first impressions are good, especially given that he was playing against a side about as far from Spanish football as one can imagine. He was energetic, good with his passing, judicious about his overlapping runs and always seemed to track back. Of course, yesterday was hardly the most testing of attacking opponents, and we’ll have to see how Monreal goes in the coming weeks, but other than one terrible long-range shot he did well.

Arteta: 8 – Great to see him back, he makes such a difference. His tidy passing from deep in midfield is excellent.

Diaby: 6 – Was OK in the first half but tired early in the second.

Wilshere: 8 – Very sharp, often looked dangerous, his thinking was always ahead of his opponent. And lovely to see tomorrow’s England man tell yesterday’s England man, Michael Owen, where to go after the set-to with Arteta.

Walcott: 7 – Pretty dangerous at times, and managed to get behind the defence a few times. But then he was facing the weakest player Stoke have, Andy Wilkinson, so it would have been disappointing if he’d been completely played out of the game. Walcott clearly felt he wasn’t given enough protection by the referee – I’m not sure about that, we’ve seen worse, and it was a Wilkinson foul on Walcott that earned the free kick from which we scored.

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6 – Had some good moments, especially when he had a shot saved well by Begovic, but overall didn’t manage to make too many inroads on Stoke.

Giroud: 6 – As ever, worked hard, but he didn’t have the same impact in terms of lay-offs etc as he has done. Also made a poor choice to chest the ball for someone else when he had a clear chance to have a header on goal from close range.

Cazorla: 8 – Lifted the pace of the game at the perfect moment and found lots of awkward pockets of space. Should have scored when through on goal.

Podolski: 7 – Typically teutonic energy from Poldi. Got the goal of course, albeit via Cameron’s boot.

Ramsey: N/a

Written by 26may89

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

We All Love Nachos

February 1, 2013

So the mayhem is over and we bagged a player. That is one more than many thought we would get, but probably 10 too few for some fans on other websites. I can already hear those keyboard warriors punching in We__er O_t quicker than your David Beckham designer boxer shorts would disappear on a Come Dine With Me evening at Evonne’s.

To be fair Arsene had already expressed his distaste for wholesale buys in this window and had suggested 2 should be the limit, so he was hardly going to make himself look hypocritical and get more than this.

Nacho1

So who did we get. Step forward one Ignacio Monreal Eraso or soon to be better known to us as Nacho Monreal. I don’t know much about him but the early reports sound promising. I am sure in the ensuing AA discussion we will be able to collectively get snippets of information that will give us a better idea of what we have acquired. Peaches has already identified a song for him and I am sure if you all ask nicely the next time you see her she will give you her personal rendition of it.

There has been a consistent theme amongst us all on which areas of the squad we needed strengthening in, and this was one of those key areas. What it means to me is that our left flank will now be very strong with good strength in depth. With the addition of Nacho we have even, in a roundabout way, accrued a new attacking left winger who goes by the name of Andre Santos.

So both flanks look strong now to me, but what about the spine of the team. Up top David Villa was mentioned. Did we need another striker? I am not sure as we seem to be gelling and maturing in this department recently. Attacking central midfield I feel we are well covered in, possibly boasting the strongest in the EPL in this department. I had thought about an experienced keeper as back up / competition to Szczeny. We didn’t get one and I don’t feel the need to throw my toys out of the pram on this one, and am happy to see how it pans out this season. Ditto with the CD’s. I have mentioned the possible requirement of a beast of a CD in the Sol Campbell mould, but am happy again to defer judgement till the seasons end.

The one area I would like to examine a little more is the defensive midfield role. Many of us, if not most of us, and I would include myself in this, have called for a powerhouse of a defensive midfielder. A beast of a man, (I do like my beasts), a midfield “destroyer”. So I thought I would look at what we have already got and what it is that we really all want for this role. What is it we are crying out for?

You could form the impression that we are all looking for something akin to a Marvel Comic Book superhero, with superhuman strength and unusual powers, and I must admit I sometimes enter that frame of mind. However, I do try and step back and ask myself what is it I want and why? I would say that in our 3 man midfield you could set up in one of 2 key ways. The first would be with 2 deeper lying defensive midfielders who can work together to provide a defensive screen. This would leave one predominantly attacking midfielder with a more free role. The second is when you want to have 2 attacking or advanced midfielders with one lone defensive midfielder sitting behind them. That obviously places a higher degree of responsibility on the lone defensive midfielder than you have with 2 deeper lying midfielders working together.

Lets look at the current main candidates who for me would be :-

Diaby, Ramsey, Arteta, Coquelin, Frimpong.

Frimpong has gone on loan so I will not dwell on him and we can assess if he can still offer us something at the end of the season.

My opinion of Diaby, Ramsey and Arteta is that they are suited to playing in the 2 man defensive midfield system but don’t quite have the necessary strengths to play the lone defensive midfield role, especially against better opposition. Just my opinion and I would love to hear from other AA’ers on this.

The player that I feel could offer us the best option in the lone defensive midfield role is Coquelin. Not big enough or powerful enough I hear some saying. The question for me would be, is size and power the most important attribute for this role? Does this player have to resemble Frank Bruno on anabolic steroids? They obviously have to not be afraid to tackle, and be willing to get stuck in. If we all go back some 10 years, how many of us would have claimed Claude Makelele as being the best defensive midfielder in the world at that time, as many of his fellow pros seemed to think. That is all 5 foot 7 inches of him, according to Wikipedia.

I have often thought what is the most important natural physical attribute for this role, and I keep coming back to pace. The ability to cover ground quickly at a moments notice, “nippiness” if you like. I feel that the defensive midfielder plays a role that is more reactionary, in other words they respond to situations as they unfold.

Makelele, as well as reading the game well seemed to be able to quickly get from one point to the next to intercept danger or put in a tackle before the opposition could get the attacking move going. Diaby, Ramsey and Arteta, for me, all share the one characteristic of a lack of pace, that would allow them to play that lone defensive role.

You only have to be ½ second slower from point A to point B and then you don’t intercept or don’t have the chance to get the tackle in and break up play.

Coquelin

Coquelin in my opinion has that surge of pace that the other three don’t. His recent games, until injury, have seen many of us give him some high praise. So my question is, injury permitting, do we already have that excellent defensive midfielder, the one we are all crying out for, sitting there right under our noses?

Written by GoonerB

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

A point earned or 2 points dropped?

January 31, 2013

Well I will say from the outset, that for me it is the latter, despite coming from 2 goals down. Once again there were many positives from this game, in our attacking department, but that can’t gloss over the bad aspects of our defence.

theo equaliser

At the start of this season I would have happily argued that we actually had top draw defenders in our squad, but that what we lacked was the cohesive discipline to make it work as an effective unit. The sort of instinctive understanding that only comes from drilling it into the players on the training ground, so that everyone understands what their role and job is at all times when defending.

After this game, with the defensive frailties shown, which are not isolated incidents this season, I have started to question whether this is the case, or if basically our defenders just aren’t good enough for the level that Arsenal football club require, and should be aspiring to. I didn’t feel that Liverpool had to work very hard for their chances, while I felt they made us work hard for ours.

As I watched this game I remembered a comment regarding our defence from yesterdays post. I looked back through them and realised that it was Rasp that said it, and I feel it summarises my feeling after this game, so I will, (more or less), quote :

“Much as I’d love to sign a top striker I am adamant the problems lie in our defence. If we fail to make top 4 it will be down to goals conceded not failure to score”.

After watching this game and reflecting on it, in conjunction with other games this season, I find it hard to disagree with this assessment.

I couldn’t fault the general effort and urgency with which the team played in this game, which has been an issue recently, that we have all mostly been aware of. In fact I thought we were genuinely excellent in our attacking play for much of the game and should have had many more than 2 goals. Unfortunately to counteract this both of their goals involved a mix of poor positioning of our key defensive players at the required times, and a critical failure to clear our lines when the opportunity was there, in other words putting it into row Z. As a result, in addition to their 2 goals we presented to them, we offered up a few other gift wrapped opportunities to them, and could have seen more than the eventual 2 goals in the against column. This game could have easily gone either way but, for me, we were overall the better team. Our performance with the ball was very good but without the ball, well…….

A quick question to the AA faithful from me would be, “if we had Sol Campbell, (in his prime), and Vincent Kompany, currently as our 2 CD’s, would we have conceded the goals as we did in this game”?.

I have always advocated that a top notch defence gives you a platform to attack more freely through the attacking players. Better defensive players can make you a better attacking outfit. Poorer defensive players, for me, can drag your attacking players back to help bolster the defence and make you less effective in attack. I would surmise that we need serious consideration in this department and lo and behold we have less than 24 hours in which to possibly address this issue. It could be argued that it is more the way we train and defend that is the issue and not the quality of defenders, but could an issue like that really go on for so long at a club of this standing? I will let the AA responses determine whether it is the quality of the defenders, the way we drill them. Or a bit of both.

We have now been the nearly team for many years. I do however, feel that this team is close now, and that it requires only a couple of i’s dotted and t’s crossed to complete it. Onto the player ratings :-

Szczesny 6

He made a couple of his normal good stops, but was in no man’s land on a couple of occasions and still needs to make better decisions on when to come out and when to stay on his line and let defenders deal with the danger.

Sagna 6

Still improving after injury, but I still don’t feel we have the energetic box to box attacking full-back we used to have. Slipped for the comical first goal.

Mertesacker 5

At times his positioning and reading of the game is top notch. Tonight it was not so. We know he lacks pace, but when he is on form he overcomes that, but not tonight. Is it a permanent worry or just temporary? Turned his back for the comical first goal rather than take one in the face and stop it.

Vermaelen 6

Was covering a lot for under-performing team-mates tonight. Not been so good in recent weeks but I still feel he is a top CD and will get back to his best. Failed to clear for the comical first goal.

Gibbs 7

Looking the top class LFB he was destined to be dependant on injury. Lets hope the injury tonight is very minor.

Wilshere 8.5 and my joint MOTM

He is the real deal. The Arsenal and England teams of the future will be moulded around him. Most of our drive came through him

Ramsey 6

Decent, but I feel there are certain games he suits more than others, and it probably wasn’t this one. Ramsey, to his credit, is always a trier and will run all day for you, but I felt this game needed a more dominant defensive CM to release Cazorla and Wilshere. Near the end Ramsey looked like his legs had gone.

Cazorla 8

Not bad in the first half but excellent thereafter. A truly world class performer who plays with a genuine smile on his face,

Podolski 7

No goals but he is always a threat and was a constant thorn in their side. On another day he possibly gets a hat-trick.

Walcott 8.5 and my joint MOTM

Some things didn’t come off, but he always seemed to make the keeper work. I thought he was a constant worry for them whether he was attacking from wide to provide for a team-mate, or going for goal himself more through the middle.

Giroud 8.5 and my joint MOTM

Like Walcott a constant thorn in their side although in a different way to Theo. The 2 of them seem to be striking up a very good partnership working off each other.

SUBS

Santos for Gibbs 6

Not dreadful but not great either. I believe there will be many worried fans checking on the severity of Gibbs injury today, on transfer window closing day of all days.

Written by GoonerB

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Why did Wenger sell Alex Song?

January 29, 2013

Because he was………add your own four letter expletive.

I am sure this is the view of the majority of people who have stumbled across this site via NewsNow and thought they would give it a peek.

But this is not the only view: some of us rated him highly.

The list of reasons is long as to why Arsene sold him to Barcelona. They range from the straight forward idea that he was simply not good enough which is a slightly more polite version of calling him a four letter expletive but the sense is the same, to the idea that Wenger made a mistake, especially when the calls for a defensive midfielder who can play centre back are as loud as they are right now.

The most common reasons given by the group who didn’t think he was good enough were that he picked up needless yellow cards and that he was not disciplined enough in his positional play. We also had the rumour that Song was a bad influence in the changing rooms; he was late for training and acted as though he didn’t care.

I have been waiting a long time to explain my theory as to why he was so hastily despatched and it is not connected with any of those views above.

No, it is all about tomorrow. For the first time this season all the midfield heavy weights are fit and Arsene Wenger will be faced with a serious team selection dilemma when attempting to pick his side to face Liverpool.

Wilshere, Rosicky, Diaby, Ramsey, Cazorla and Arteta

So tell me, with all these players available how would Alex Song have fitted in?

The answer is he wouldn’t. We would have had too many midfielders and this, in my opinion, was anticipated by Wenger and was the reason why the deal with Barcelona was completed so quickly.

Barcelona to Arsenal: Are you interested in selling Alex Song, if so how much?

20 mil……..12………15……….done.

Alex Song vehemently denied that he wanted to leave the club in interviews given after he had signed for Barcelona; he also emphasised that he was fully committed to Arsenal. You may say, yeah, yeah, yeah but the unusual thing is that he said this after he had signed to Barça. Can you imagine Nasri or Van Persie saying such things?

Wenger can be quite ruthless when it comes to making room for the new. Silvinho was told not to return from Brazil to the UK to make way for Cole; Lauren was never played again after his injury to make way for Eboue (lets not go there).

A similar thing has happened to Jack Wilshere; our captain in waiting is Arsenal’s most prized asset; he is a player who when fit has to be played. This would have meant that Song might well have had to spend the best part of his new contract on the bench which would have been an absolute waste and so for that reason he had to go.

Alex Song brought so much that went unappreciated to the table, the most tangible evidence is just how less effective Arteta has been without him.

Song didn’t leave because he was home sick, he didn’t leave because the little boy in him was always Manchester United, he didn’t leave for City’s millions; the fact is given the opportunity he would have happily stayed.

The fondest memory I have of Alex Song is the superb pass he made to Thierry Henry enabling him to score on his return, tell me you didn’t go wild and I will tell you that you shouldn’t be on this site.

So Alex I thank you for that memory and wish you and your family happiness.

Written by LB

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Posted by LB

Oxlade-Chamberlain Out On Loan

January 28, 2013

Let me start by saying that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a very gifted young man who will become a huge player for Arsenal.

And yet… I really think that the best thing for his development would be to be loaned out to another Premiership club for the remainder of this season.

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In his 14 starts and eight substitute appearances this season, AOC has had some great moments and showed no shortage of skill and determination.

But he has also, mostly, looked a bit out of his depth.

In his last two outings (as a starter against Brighton on Saturday and a late substitute against West Ham) his displays were characterised by wrong options taken and little in the way of end result.

Against the Hammers, we were already winning 5-1 when he came on, but he twice took ridiculously ambitious shooting chances when a simple pass would have been much more likely to yield a goal.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances (aside from his age and inexperience): he was playing with unfamiliar line-ups and untested partnerships, as with Jenkinson at the weekend.

However, in the moments when he has had the ball he has seldom seemed to do the right thing and was generally not on the same wavelength as his colleagues.

Many young talents have a “second season dip” and AOC is probably just experiencing one of them right now, before he kicks on next season.

But he is not good enough to command a starting place and, therefore, his opportunities in the first team will remain limited to cameos for the rest of the season unless there is a serious injury to more senior players.

With that in mind, I feel he would learn a lot more by going out on loan to a team where he could expect to play most games – rather like the experience Jack Wilshere had during his loan spell at Bolton.

Jack came back a tougher, wiser player and I would expect Alex to do the same.

If he were to spend the next few months at somewhere like Wigan, Norwich, West Brom or Swansea he would get a lot more than just extra playing minutes. He would start to learn about the responsibilities that come with being a team player (responsibilities he has been neglecting recently in the red and white).

A few bollockings from good pros who don’t have anything like Alex’s talents but are prepared to work as hard as they possibly can for their team mates will do him a power of good.

And experiencing a life that won’t be nearly as cosseted as that afforded to the Arsenal players will also be good for reminding him just how fortunate he is.

He would – like Jack – return to Arsenal a more rounded player and man.

A final advantage will be that he will be out of the firing line of the more volatile element among our supporters – fans who don’t seem happy unless they have a hate figure to shout at.

Alex is possibly only a few iffy performances away from starting to attrach the sort of groans and abuse that have dogged Theo Walcott for years.

All this is not meant to sound like an attack on AOC. As I said at the outset, I am really confident he will turn into a huge talent for Arsenal and England.

But if a loan-out was good enough for Wilshere (and Szczesny and others), why not Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

We Ain’t Far Away

January 25, 2013

Patience, they say, is a virtue, certainly it is not one exercised by a hard core of Arsenal fans, who it would appear have not noticed the dramatic change of direction  the club has taken in the years since Cesc left.

With Cesc at the centre, in his pomp, the club was a pressing club, in the style of but not quite as effective as Barcelona. Since his exit we have gradually changed our style to one of counter attacking. The emergence of Theo to play at the tip has to some degree lessened the loss of RVP, not that a player of his class could ever not be missed, 30 goals a year is after all the stuff of dreams.

However the induction of the young British core that understands the system along with new players brought in to compliment them has provided possibilities not previously possible when everything had to go via Cesc at some point in the move.

Wednesday nights performance was perhaps the most sustained counter attacking exhibition we have seen this season. Although it has been apparent for some time that this was the way we were moving.

With the addition of a holding midfielder to break up attacks, provide the ball for our talented midfield to find the strikers along with a pacey centre half to handle their runners when we do get stretched our attack would be complete.

Put that together and the days of TH14 and the Iceman would not seem so far away.

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

Hammers Hammered – Report & Player Ratings

January 24, 2013

Five fine goals, free-flowing football and freezing fans fully satisfied.

(Whoops. Sorry about the alliteration. That sentence has more Fs than the ladies’ toilets in an Essex nightclub on Saturday night).

He signed da ting!

He signed da ting!

It would be fair to say that many of us were nervous before the game.

Would the Arsenal who dominated Chelsea for the second half at Stamford Bridge turn up? Or the Arsenal that whimpered and wallied its way through the first half of the same game?

Our inconsistency has been consistent this season and we knew that we could not afford to be off our game against a physical, long ball West Ham managed by the Walrus.

Truth to tell, it was the line in BR’s pre-match about the Hammers having put in 56 crosses in their last game that really caused a clenching of the buttocks. Fifty-six crosses? Given our ability to concede a goal roughly to one in every two crosses into our box, we could be on for a 0 – 28 humiliation.

Thankfully it was the good Arsenal that turned up. Podolski and Ramsey were in the starting line-up in place of Diaby (ill) and Coquelin (injured). The back five was unchanged, Ramsey took up the DM position behind Wilshere and Cazorla. Giroud started through the middle with Podolski left and Walcott right.

We looked threatening and up for it right from the off and created several half chances before, inevitably, West Ham took the lead. The goal followed a couple of annoying officiating errors (a clear corner to us given as a goal kick to West Ham, a clear goal kick to us given as a corner to them).

The said corner came in and was headed clear only to fall at the feet of Collison, who slammed it into the net through a crowd of players from just outside the box. It was powerfully struck and Szczesny was probably partially unsighted, but just once I would like to see him save one of those. I had the same feeling about Mata’s goal last week. Difficult to save, but great ‘keepers get some of them.

Anyway, that’s enough carping for one report, because we refused to let our heads drop or feel sorry for ourselves and hit back just a few minutes later. Wilshere set up Podolski with a wonderful little dink of a pass and the German rifled it into the side netting from about 25 yards with all the venom of Big Bertha (the cannon, not the golf club).

pod goal

At half time it was 1-1. But I don’t think any of us were expecting what happened next.

If we had been pretty good in the first half, we started the second like demons. The lightning-fast, quick-passing, rapid-breaking football that Arsene Wenger patented at Arsenal was suddenly back.

The half had barely started when we were ahead. A corner on our left saw a slick move in which Mertesacker, having taken up a near post position, suddenly sprinted (alright, lumbered) back into the middle of the box and Giroud dashed to replace him. The BFG’s movement confused the Irons’ defence and Giroud was able to reach Walcott’s near post corner first, guiding the ball into the net beautifully off the outside of his boot.

girou

Are we working on corners in training? Or was it just good, intuitive play?

Six minutes later it was 3-1. A neat one-two between Podolski and Giroud led to the German squaring the ball to Cazorla in the six yard box. Santi’s cheeky back heel steered the ball into the net and brought joy and relief to the crowd.

Our attacks were coming in waves now. Fast forward a few minutes and Podolski was provider once again. We broke down the left. Podolski held the ball up intelligently to allow Giroud to stay on side, then fired a low cross right across the penalty area for a flying Walcott to drive home.

And our excellent Number 9 completed his hat trick of assists minutes later when another
low cross was steered into the net adroitly by Giroud (a much harder finish than it first looked).

At 5-1 we continued to attack with panache and probably should have added further to our goal tally. But better than that, we were outstanding on the rare occasions when we did NOT have the ball, pressing West Ham all over the park and forcing them into errors. It was a real template for how we should approach every game.

A serious injury to the Hammers’ Daniel Potts (he appeared to be accidentally caught in the face or head by Sagna) caused a 10 minute delay and although we continued to press hard afterwards, the sight of Potts being stretchered off seemed to suck a bit of the energy out of proceedings. Hopefully the lad is alright. He was applauded off the pitch by both sets of fans (Stoke City Orc Scum fans please take note).

In summary: a brilliant performance and win; the gap on the cave dwellers closed to just four points and, surely, a huge lift to everyone involved with the club moving forward.

Many of us have complained that, too often this season, we have been less than the sum of our parts. Last night our players showed how good they can be and they need to carry this attitude, arrogance and self-belief into the rest of the season.

Player Ratings

Szczesney: Good game but I would like to see him stop somebody’s screamer some time soon (I know GiE will immediately post clips of half a dozen breath taking saves he’s already made in this campaign). 7

Sagna: Still not the old Mr Reliable, but had a better game than he has recently. He seems to have lost all confidence in his ability to cross. 7

Mertesacker: Very solid and brought the ball forward well from the back. 7

Vermaelen: Tommy is slowly but steadily getting his game back together and he, too, was good last night. Despite West Ham being a typical Allardyce team more physically suited to basketball than football, they did not cause us too many problems in the air. 7.5

Gibbs: Super game from Kieran. Good at the back and a thorn in the Hammers’ side all night going forward. 8

Ramsey: Fine job in his preferred midfield role. Worked really hard, passed well and did tons of work off the ball. No Hammer enjoyed paying against him last night. 7.5

Santi-Cazorla: A busy bundle of tricks, took his goal stylishly and contributed greatly to the speed and fluidity of our movement. 8

Wilshere: Our new talisman. Drove us forward throughout the game despite, as usual, beng on the end of several fouls. His energy and inspiration is rubbing off on his team mates. 9 (joint MoTM).

Walcott: He signed da ting, now he’s delivering. He was brave and inventive and forced West Ham onto the back foot. Some wrong options on occasion but he never stopped trying. Took his goal well. 8

Podolski: Three assists and a rocket of a goal. When the Pod is up for it like this he must be terrifying to opposition defenders with his size, speed, strength and the sheer power of his shot, which reminds me of Charlie George. 9 (joint MoTM).

Giroud: Took his two goals brilliantly and had a good all round game, even if sometimes his understanding with team mates was a tad off. 7.5

Subs
Koscielny: Deputised well for Vermaelen who was removed as a precaution.
Santos: Nice to see Andre get a run out. He’s not as bad as his last outings would have you believe and it can only be good for the squad to have him back and fit.
Oxlade-Chamberlain: Full of running and tricks. Took shots a couple of times when he should have passed, but at 5-1 up who can blame him?

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Any Given Wednesday.

January 23, 2013

These games are coming too fast and the inevitable result is injuries. Today we are without Coquelin, Arteta, Rosicky, , Gervinho, probably Diaby and Uncle Tom Cobblee. Thankfully, Podolski and Ox should be fit for duty but there are no guarantees, which leaves the squad very thin especially on the bench

UnknownA thin Bench. (no good for FFBW-Nasri)

After 2 awful results we “welcome” a Fat Sam side with the sublime skills of Nolan, C. Cole, Tomkins, Noble, etc to the Emirates. It will be a tough, cold night for our heroes. West Ham have become a typical Walrus team. Power, pace, aggression but with no small amount of skill provided by Joe Cole and Matt Jarvis. On Saturday, West Ham sent over 56 crosses into QPR’s box – yes, 56!!  With Chamakh, Cole, Nolan and Carroll to choose from upfront there is no doubting the tactics.

How do Hammers fans feel about having the Football Academy turned into The Home of Hoofball – a Southern Stoke? Well, it appears they are very happy. Allardyce will take WHU to a mid-table position which is highly satisfactory even if the football is poor.

Or is it? If you could win the FA Cup but had to play hoofball would you be happy? For many the answer would be Yes.

If – huge If – we can start as we finished in our last two games we will win tonight, but we have been saying this for too log. Arsenal, for some reason, find the first 40 + minutes tough going. They cannot find their rhythm, their passing is poor, their man-marking non-existent, their forward play toothless; all in all , crap. But second half …….

Runners & Riders:

001b

Many are saying this is a vital game and that 3 points are an essential. I have to agree. A draw is not good enough. The absence of a physically powerful DM is hurting us, and tonight we should see a potential AW target in Diame. Diame will be hoping to put in a good performance, after all he must be desperate to play for Wenger rather than the Walrus.

Today’s explorer: David Thompson (1770-1857). This man is hardly remembered and yet is one of histories great explorers and land geographers. He mapped 3.9 million sq.miles of North America! Originally working with the Hudson Bay Company as a fur trade, he started by surveying the Great Lakes and then headed South. He was the first to complete the length of the Columbia river and surveyed much of North-West America. Thompson once walked from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. He had 13 surviving children and died of exhaustion in Montreal at the age of 86.

images-1

Nice Hat.

So how should ARsenal approach this game? I would say with the knowledge that if the players underperform they will be told their parking bays have been withdrawn and they have to walk to the ground amongst the fans. We will let them know how important St. Totts day is. Maybe spending some time outside their bubble of luxury will spur them to come out the tunnel focussed and not in the land of fairies.

Get Steve Bould to give the pre-match motivational speech, or get back TA or TH or even better Al Pacino, but please lads, win tonight and win well.

Expect Jaaskalianen to give another brilliant performance.

COYRRG

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Poll: Will Arsenal Finish In The Top Four?

January 22, 2013

Following our schizophrenic performance against Chelsea there appears to be a growing consensus that we are unlikely to finish in the Champions League positions this year.

We are not as far behind the Spuds as we were this time last year but, on the other hand, can we really expect them to implode as spectacularly again?

(Actually, I can. Form is temporary, class is permanent and Totteringham are the EPL’s resident comedy act).

Trouble is, it’s not just the troglodytes we need to worry about. Everton are even more competitive than usual this year; West Brom are playing nice football and picking up results and – shock horror – even Liverpool have found some form.

All will fancy they have a shot at the much-prized top four finish.

Not that it will be easy for them. I can see the Toffees taking their eye off the ball if the Moyes-to-Chelsea bandwagon gains momentum (their equivalent of the ‘Twitchy for England’ campaign that so amusingly derailed the Spuds last year); West Brom will hopefully suffer a nosebleed before too long and ‘Pool are the other half of the Tiny Totts comedy double act. Not so much Laurel and Hardy as Laughable and Hardly Ever…

But it only needs one of our rivals to really kick on to make our grip on the top four even looser than it already is.

So what do you think? Here are two Polls to test the opinion of, if not Goonerdom, at least the survey sample represented by readers of Arsenal Arsenal.

First, the simple “will we or won’t we”.

Next – and a little less straightforwardly – if we were to miss out on Champions League qualification for next season, what affect would that have on our fortunes:

I realize that not every shade of opinion can be covered by Polls like this last one (if you think that dropping out of the ECL means that Arsene Wenger will become a transvestite pole dancer and the Emirates stadium turned into the world’s biggest Spearmint Rhino I apologise for not giving you scope to vote for your preference).

However, I expect that the results will be interesting and will hopefully prompt some interesting discussion in the comments below.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

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