Wigan Revisited

May 27, 2010

Posted by dandan

Strange as it may seem, sometimes being a football fan can be a very lonely business.

Although you are one of millions of like-minded souls if you support a major club like Arsenal, it is still possible to be terribly alone in your own home, perched in front of the TV. Watching moments of triumph and disaster unfold in front of you, particularly when your partner or housemates have no interest or real understanding of just how important these events are. The sheer joy of the interaction with friend or foe being an essential part of the football experience, win or lose the verbal interface increases the agony and the ecstasy and makes the moment unforgettable.

Blogs like this one help immensely if you are lucky enough to have access to the Internet at home. Indeed it was a chance remark from one of our poster’s today, that he goes to sleep thinking of the Arsenal that got me thinking about this.

In my working life I covered some 50,000 miles a year by car in this country alone, always listening to 5 live, I must have clocked up thousands of hours over the years as I drove on Autopilot through the 8 till 10 slot, night after night, heading for home or a hotel bed.

Supporting a club like Arsenal meant that I got more than my share of live commentary’s as we usually did well in all four competitions and were constantly on midweek radio. But still it was not the same, how often did I get strange looks from the occupants of the other cars as I yelled and cheered my way through city traffic. But that is the point, those cheers were nothing but silent mouthing’s to all those who saw me and though I knew the old stadium they were describing, like the back of my hand it still wasn’t the same I was not part of the action.

So where does Wigan come into this, well all you who rail and rant at the what you saw as the capitulation of our club that day, think of all those poor buggers who couldn’t see, but only hear at 70 MPH on some motorway and just how bad they must have felt and know how lucky you were just to be there.

Now one of our posters described it as Snatching Defeat out of the Jaws of Victory, which brought to mind this super poem by Peter Goulding, a real football fan in Ireland who saw his team cock up their run in and lose the last match of the season that would have gained them promotion.

Gloom upon gloom

Snatching defeat out of victory’s jaws,
We threw it away once again.
Draws became losses and wins became draws
And all we have left is the pain.

We thought for a while we’d get out on parole
And walk out, head high, from this jail.
But promotion remains an impossible goal
And suddenly we’re looking frail.

Condemned once again to spend twelve months or more
In this cold and despicable prison,
Staring at walls and the cold concrete floor,
While others in here have arisen.

Conditions down here defy human rights,
The rations decidedly meagre
The minutes tick slow in this cold, lonely nights,
When you’re sentenced to be a low-leaguer.

© Peter Goulding 29th November 2009

So you Gooners how would you be feeling today if that had been your fate. Be happy we have another year in the top flight coming up.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Winning is a Win/Win Situation

May 26, 2010

……….. but not at any cost!

I’m sure the supporters of Leeds, Pompey and Newcastle regret their club’s excessive spending in pursuit of trophies, but there is an argument that the powers that be at Arsenal have erred too much on the side of caution in recent years.

The benefits of winning are obvious:

Financial – prize money, increased TV revenue, boost in merchandising sales, more lucrative deals with sponsors.

Psychological – players gain valuable experience, develop a ‘winning mentality’ and are therefore more likely to be winners in the future.

Kudos – raised profile  – the chance of keeping our best players and attracting more world class players to the club is greatly enhanced if they believe they can win trophies.

Let’s just accept for the purpose of debate, that the football club is a business, the supporters are customers and the players are assets/debits on a balance sheet. Emotion, nostalgia and expectation are traits that characterise supporters but have no place in a competitive industry. All the above is true, but what about the old business tenet ‘you have to speculate in order to accumulate’?

Would a larger investment in new players over recent years have proved to be a shrewd business move? We will never know, but what we do know is that respected figures in the game including many ex-Arsenal players have repeatedly said we are only 2 to 3 players short of a winning side. We also know that the official line this summer is that we have money to spend althought the figures mentioned vary between £30-£60m and it is not known whether this takes into account any revenue from players sold.

Mourinho took a calculated risk when he bought 29 year old Diego Milito for an undisclosed but apparently hefty sum. He identified a weakness in his team and bought the best player he could to rectify the situation. He was lucky, the gamble paid off and Inter reaped rich dividends – the treble including the Champions League title.

Arsène has not been so lucky. Injuries and players not living up to expectation have been a feature of recent seasons and it is clear that he has been as disappointed as the ‘fans’ that are calling for his head. I believe he has it within his power this season to make the difference between competing valiantly and winning. The greatest test of his resolve will surely be demonstrated by his actions regarding the goalkeeper.

Should we be grateful for the level of ‘success’ we’ve enjoyed since the building of the stadium? – yes

Could any other manager have kept us in the top four under similar financial constraints? – almost certainly not

Should we just be content to pay our money for a seat at the Emirates and settle for what we’re given – NO

……..sharp intake of breath.

We’re not paid by ‘business Arsenal’, we pay them. We have a right to our opinion as paying customers, whether it be unconditional support or rank scepticism.

Many supporters suspect that if Cesc has decided he wants to leave, the club’s failure to bring in quality players with experience over recent years would be a major factor in that decision.

Success in the transfer market is about judgement, calculated risk, ambition and luck. Arsène must exercise his judgement. The club needs to show greater ambition. Ivan Gazidis should take responsibility for the calculated risk and for once, we need lady luck to smile on us and grant Arsenal a season with just average injury problems.

Ivan Gazidis is the unknown quantity. He is clearly 100% businessman so let’s hope he and Arsène are in agreement that we should take a few calculated risks and bring in the two or three players we need.

Irishgunner put it brilliantly on Monday when she  wrote ‘Wenger is a genius held back by his own stubbornness but in the end, if most coaches were as pragmatic as him, the world of football would be a far better place’

I hope his apparent ‘stubbornness’ was simply a by-product of his pursuit of financial stability and he will spend some of the money the club can now afford to reinforce the spine of the squad. If he doesn’t, even those whose ‘cup runneth over’ with positivity will begin to question his judgement.

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Posted by Rasp

The Truth About Cesc Fabregas and FC Barcelona

May 25, 2010

Posted by guest writer Deepak Israni*

The Greatest Club In the World? Apparently its FC Barcelona. Like butter wouldn’t melt, the club from Catalonia have everyone from Sepp Blatter to Alex Hleb verbally masturbating – and perhaps otherwise – over them. They are the saviours of football – a club who won’t let any corporation adorn their shirts. They play exciting football – apparently a new brand of team attack and defence (which Sacchi’s AC Milan team of the early 90s did to far better effect). Such is their standing in the world that they can get away with all but tapping up Cesc Fabregas for the past few seasons without even so much as a call to Mr.Hill-Wood – or so he tells us.

Well I say £^&* Barcelona and so too does today’s guest writer Deepak Israni. Deepak is a Madrista at heart but is an ardent admirer and supporter of the mighty Arsenal. Below he outlines why Barcelona really need to just come down a peg or two…….. or ten!

BREAKING NEWS: In transfer rumors, Barcelona are hell-bent on signing Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas.

Well that will never get old, now will it?!

This is the story every year, and now with the Catalans having their presidential election in the summer which sees Joan Laporta doing whatever he can in his power (which includes signing David Villa) to tip the scales in favour of his backed candidate so that he can move onto national politics and STILL have a say in what FC Barcelona does,  it was obvious that such rumors would only escalate in number.

The worst part about all this is that Cesc hasn’t done a single thing to calm the rumors, instead he is signing a little kid’s Barcelona jersey, adding fuel to all the rumors.


If Cesc does indeed sign for FC Barcelona, then Cesc is the biggest most ungrateful b1tch on the planet! And if you think that I’m being harsh on the Captain, then tell me, if bailing out on the club that gave him all the opportunities that he could only dream of at his childhood club, and made him the player that he is today in pursuit of more money and trophies isn’t acting like an ungrateful b1tch, then what is?

Cesc Fabregas despite being an Arsenal academy product……oh wait…….are you guys still living in a world run by FC Barcelona and believe that he is a Barcelona product?

Let me clarify. Barcelona themselves claim that Carles Puyol is their academy product, but in fact he was SIGNED at the age of 19, Cesc Fabregas joined Arsenal at the age of 15, if that doesn’t make him a product of Arsenal’s academy then what does? More can be learned from a team at the age of 15 than 19.

There are many reasons why I believe that Cesc Fabregas shouldn’t leave which include FC Barcelona being a dirty hypocritical institution unlike the popular image of them, created by them and their controlled media. But that might not apply to Cesc, because he’s a Cule by birth and he may already have made up his mind to return home. But I won’t let that stop me from pointing out what FC Barcelona are all about!

The first and foremost reason that I believe Cesc shouldn’t leave is the lack of opportunities. He joined Arsenal for the same reason, and him leaving to be a bench player for Barcelona when he is already the captain of one of the most prestigious clubs in the world, is odd.

There is no way he will get a starting place in the Barcelona midfield. The Blaugaranas play Xavi Hernandez in Fabregas’s position, there are rumors about them selling Xavi Hernandez but it seems highly unlikely. Then the second position is of Seydou Keita, ain’t no way in hell Barcelona will remove their insurance policy in the middle, Cesc is just not big enough. The only one he can replace is Sergi Busqets who is a good enough ball winner, and has the Plan-B of winning the ball back—which is, that he’ll go down like a sissy whenever he loses the ball so that the play of the opposing team is broken down and Barcelona get the ball back. They like to play two DMs, they want all the protection in midfield they can get, Cesc isn’t cutting into that team.

The second reason is that Barcelona play like sissies though they might advertise that they play the most beautiful football in the world and that Arsenal try to copy their style of football. Those who have watched Barcelona play know that they roll the ball around between their back-line and sometimes the midfield and then take it back to their defense again, who would chuck one up for Messi or Ibrahimovic, hardly beautiful.

Their play is a different version of negative football which includes ball-hogging doing nothing with the ball so that the opposing team can’t do anything. Why leave a team which plays beautiful attacking football where you are an integral part of the system for a crappy ass team where you’d be stacking in a high number of passes and would be looked at in awe on Sportscenter, but in reality you’d be passing to the defenders!

And now the last, but not the least, and probably the most important reason why Cesc shouldn’t leave is that Cesc probably wouldn’t have the same satisfaction in winning a trophy where the success is bought. The Blaugaranas might claim that it’s only their rivals—Real Madrid who do all the spending –  but we all know it’s all false.

Their sheet is as splattered with big money transfers in the recent years as Real Madrid’s. Dani Alves, Arsenal’s own—Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic (second highest money transfer—€85 million = Eto o’ + €45 million), Dymtro Chyngrinsky (who’s apparently a waste of €27 million, a bench player), Eric Abidal (similar amount to Arsenal’s biggest signing—Andrei Arshavin), Gabriel Millito (€22 million, for a player who remained injured for the major part of two seasons, and this was his third season at the club), Seydou Keita and now the first signing of the summer—David Villa (€45 million).

The expenditure (money spent in purchasing players – money recouped by selling players) of FC Barcelona in three years is more than Real Madrid, yet they proudly say that they don’t spend money and “make” their players. It’s nobody’s fault but their own that they sign expensive players that they don’t really play and make it look like they use their own academy.

Arsenal are pretty close to a title now, actually they always are, last season showed how the Gunners have matured but the injuries to key players are a major problem, the new training regime might lessen that. With Arsene Wenger finally diving into the transfer market to sign replacements, this might be the year of the Gunners, which partly depends on whether Cesc stays or goes, if he stays good, if he leaves, then it depends on who is going to be his replacement.

It’s all up to Cesc, he can choose to be Captain of Arsenal or he can leave to sit on the bench of FC Barcelona, but need we remind him of a certain Alexander Hleb, who is still picking the thorns out of his ass!

Cesc can choose to do whatever he wants, Arsenal will be happy either way, they’ll be happier to see him stay but won’t be disappointed to bag whatever is remaining of the €60-70 million after buying his replacement.

* All at Arsenal, Arsenal would like to thank Deepak for taking time out to write up this post. If you liked what you read you can find more at his own blog on Real Madrid called “Football Through the Eyes of Real Addicts”

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Posted by criochnaithe

Delusions of Grandeur or Pragmatic Objectivity?

May 24, 2010

Posted by dandan

The Arsenal blogs are a discordant bunch this week. The mixed mood and extreme opinions are fuelled by the lack of any meaningful Arsenal football action for the next couple of months and the open wounds of the end of season disappointments still smarting.

Blog posters it seems, view the team with either their glass as half full or half empty in various ways; as either bottlers or young men brutalized and wearied by injuries who failed at the final hurdle through inexperience from which they will surely learn.

Is Wenger  a genius or a charlatan?

The Board are a bunch of misers on the make or prudent custodians laying down the foundations for future success?

Is the club on a downward spiral devoid of ambition or just a couple of players short and on the brink of the good times again?

Blogger’s frustrations are not helped by a media circus desperate to fly off to South Africa for the World Cup and who, devoid of any real news, daily publish lists of players, supposedly offered, wanted, scouted, rejected or about to be signed or sold by the club.  Most of this errant nonsense is made up to fulfill a deadline and taken up by other hacks for the same reason yet still purveyed as the truth.

The extent of this nonsense can be easily tracked on the list alongside this article.

Take for instance the Cesc Fabregas story first filed by two journalists in Spain. Both are well known for their involvement with the two major Spanish clubs and are clearly playing their part in the political machinations of the Presidents as they seek to whet the appetite of their constituents, the fans, prior to election time. At the same time and as an added bonus, they destabilise our club, often cynically followed by a mealy mouthed apology.

So whether true or not these stories are digested and reiterated across the blogs, polished and repeated not only by legitimate fans, but also by interlopers from other clubs who loving such negativity, masquerade as Gooners and post them repeatedly as the truth.

So where does the truth lie, what are we really as compulsive Arsenal followers?

Are we sad people with delusions of Grandeur about our club and it’s position in football hierarchy or pragmatists whose objectivity is only coloured by the stats and information we daily imbibe?

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Success, Failure and the Lessons of 1987

May 23, 2010

Posted by RockyLives

Let me take you back, dear reader, to a late spring day in 1987. April the 5th, to be precise. Life was very different then – no internet, for one thing – so as I and 25,000 other Gooners made my way to Wembley Stadium for the League Cup Final there was a real party air.

We hadn’t won a sausage for nearly eight years, not even one of those little cocktail ones on a stick, and in all that time we had only once managed a top three finish in the League (or The First Division as we called it then). Worse, in three of the previous six seasons we had finished below the Tiny Totts. Suffice to say that if it was today we’d have been going to the old Twin Towers gripped with angst and, no doubt, with various internet idiots demanding we show our displeasure by baring our arses at the team before kick-off or walking out before we’d arrived.

But these were more innocent times. Acid House was all the rage, Dirty Dancing was on at the cinema and we were so relaxed as a nation that we even let an Aussie win Wimbledon. So we Arsenal supporters were happy, even though everyone told us we had no chance against our opponents – the greatest team of the age, the mighty Liverpool. For the Scousers it was set up to be an emotional day, as their talisman striker Ian Rush was going to be playing his last game for the club before heading off to Juventus. Liverpool had never lost a game in which Rushie had scored.

In due deference to the scriptwriters, Ian Rush opened the scoring. The Liverpool fans assumed that was that (as did the TV commentators, I was later told) but George Graham’s Arsenal were about to stick two fingers up to fate, karma and providence. Two goals from Champagne Charlie Nicholas turned the game on its head and we lifted our first trophy since the FA Cup in 1979. I don’t remember much of the day after that.

So, apart from being the ramblings of an old fart, does this have any relevance to us now? I believe it does. There are parallels between then and now.

We went into that final after a long period where success was a stranger. A few years earlier a ‘great’ Arsenal team had been broken up. Although they never won the league, the team of Brady, Stapleton, Jennings and company reached three FA Cup finals in successive years and narrowly missed out on the European Cup Winners Cup, losing on penalties. The Arsenal team that succeeded them was unable to maintain that standard. In the five seasons before 1987 we finished outside the top five every year:

1986 – 7th behind Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, Man Utd, Sheffield W, Chelsea.

1985 –  7th behind Everton, Liverpool, Spuds, Man Utd, Southampton, Chelsea.

1984 – 6th behind Liverpool, Southampton, Notts Forest, Man Utd, QPR.

1983 –  10th behind Liverpool, Watford, Man Utd, Spuds, Notts Forest, Aston Villa,     Everton, West Ham, Ipswich.

1982 –  5th behind Liverpool, Ipswich, Man Utd, Spuds.

The main thing that strikes you on reading that (apart from: Southampton? Wtf?) is how ignominious some of those campaigns were – regularly finishing behind not just the Tiny Totts, but other London rivals like Chelsea and West Ham, even QPR for God’s sake.

Yet, as a fan in those days, I didn’t seethe with resentment about it all. It was part of the swings and roundabouts of football and, during those years, we were on the swing that didn’t work and tipped you into the dog poo when you tried to stand on it.

Anyway, back to the point. By the time of the 1987 League Cup final we had endured some very poor years following the break-up of a successful team. But the parallels don’t end there.

Although the Arsenal team that took the field that day at Wembley contained some seasoned veterans like Viv Anderson, Kenny Sansom and Steve Williams, it also relied on a core of very young players whose careers were just starting.

The following all played a part in that League Cup victory: Tony Adams, aged 20; David Rocastle, 19; Niall Quinn, 20; Martin Hayes, 21; Perry Groves, 21; Michael Thomas, 19. Which just shows that Arsene Wenger is not the first Arsenal manager to put his faith in youth.

We don’t know what would have happened if the omens had been obeyed that day and Rushie’s goal had won it for Liverpool. Maybe we would have gone on to win league titles and cups under GG anyway, but somehow I doubt it, or at least I doubt it would have happened so quickly. That win – that piece of silverware – imbued in our young players the idea that they were winners. How else to explain the extraordinary character they showed two years later at Anfield to win the title against all expectations on the last day of the season? It’s worth noting that eight of the players who featured in that game at Anfield had also featured in the League Cup win in 1987. The winning virus had been acquired and more silverware would follow in the years ahead.

Our current squad needs that winning virus too. They need to win a trophy. If they win something as a team it will carry them forward to new and greater successes. Other teams, players and fans won’t be able to say “show us yer medals” or sing “you always win f*ck all.”

That’s why I believe that in the coming season we should go all out to win BOTH of the domestic cups and not just aim for the big prizes of EPL and CL. Imagine watching Cesc walk up to lift a cup at Wembley! How great would that feel? (Please stay Cesc – it’s going to happen).

By all means we should use some of the younger players in the League Cup if it’s against lower division opposition, but let’s also sprinkle experience and quality throughout the team and on the bench. In the FA Cup, it should be our strongest team every time.

Let’s give this Arsenal team – which, to me, seems poised on a knife edge between greatness and failure – the taste of success. I believe once they get it, they won’t let it go.

For 1987, let’s read 2011.

RockyLives

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

All About Chamakh ……..

May 22, 2010

As promised by Arsène,  Arsenal have signed a player before the start of the World Cup. Maroune Chamakh will take the no 29 shirt. The 26 year old is a French national but chooses to play for Morocco through his parentage.  Its not exactly a surprise as he was expected to sign for us as early as last summer and then in January but was needed by his former club Bordeaux.

We’ve been watching youtube clips of him for months and know that he’s pretty good with his head. This is what Arsene had to say about him……………….

“Chamakh is a striker of real quality and has all the attributes suited to come to England and do very well. He is also a fighter, not only a good football player, but a fighter as well. He is very good in the air and also a good team player. He is a great addition to our squad.”

Hes come to us on a free so neither Arsène nor Gazidis will have got excited about wheeling and dealing to bring this one home, but maybe seeing a new player hold our shirt may have wet their appetites to do some deals for other players.  Hopefully the tills at The Armoury will be ringing with the sales of  ‘Chamakh 29 shirts’ in the coming weeks and that should please the money men.

We’ve got the striker we needed, how that leaves the futures of Eduardo and Vela I don’t know, now for a new Goalie and a Centre-back please.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

One more year please Cesc …. or we’ll never know

May 20, 2010

Written by kelsey

I see no reason why we can’t continue to debate all the hearsay about Cesc, even if our club is not making any statement at the moment, which is only to be expected as no deal has been negotiated.

Cesc is our best player. It may be an overstatement to say that the team has been built around him, but certainly his creative style of football epitomises the way we want to play. The belief is that this summer, we would add to the squad, a few missing pieces in the jigsaw, and see the emergence of the balanced team that would get us to the top once more. It would be such a shame if Cesc left and we never get to see how good it could have been with him surrounded by players worthy of his talent. Give us one more year Cesc – Barça don’t need you yet.

There is talk that Cesc has been tapped up by Barça, but the law in Spain is quite different to that in England, and if that was the case, it could take 3 to 5 years to go to court, and even then it would be extremely complicated and with no definite result gained.

I have no doubt that Cesc will leave, if not this summer, then next summer, it’s the worst kept secret in football. If he stays, how would you  feel if having  played the season for us fully committed,  regardless of how we do, he waived goodbye? In addition would Cesc be able to turn his back on a winning side?

The scenario is different to Henry and Vieira latterly, as they both had given us several years (as Cesc has done) but in a winning side.

It is difficult to express what I mean by writing as opposed to having an actual conversation, but personally however great a player he is, it would leave a bitter taste in my mouth if he stayed, went on to have a great season, even won something for the club and then at the age of 23/24 left.

Apparently he says he wants ‘his future settled’ before the World Cup, so surely the onus is on him to make a statement. Obviously if he is leaving, and every aspect seems to  have been discussed,  the small point as to how much we would get for him is still unknown. Barça have just spent big on David Villa – do they have the money to pay us what we think Cesc should be worth?

I think Wenger would like to keep him one more year, whilst grooming his natural successor in Ramsey, but he is still so young, and no-one can predict how he will bounce back after the injury.

One thing I am sure of is that there will be much more activity this summer with more players leaving and arriving than in the previous four years, but then again Arsène has stated that the team doesn’t need a massive overhaul ….. the torture continues.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Expect Wenger To Buy Another Spaniard.

May 17, 2010

Is it only me who wanders around contemplating the important questions about life, the big issues, the meaningful stuff like — why has Almunia been allowed to stay with us for as long as he has? Considering the amount of blunders he has made over a prolonged period of time, aren’t you surprised why he is still with us at all?

The only justification I can come up with in an attempt to make sense of this mystery is that it must surely all be connected to Fabrégas. My guess is that Big Al has taken on the role of the older brother to the most important, most valuable asset currently at the club.

Imagine the situation: the squad have to travel miles and miles on a bus making boring journeys to and from grounds all over the country. It seems to me that if Fabrégas had to sit for hours on end speaking only in English, regardless of how good he is, it would take next to no time before we would have another Reyes on our hands.

Enter Big Brother Al: what could make those journeys more bearable than a bit of friendly banter in your native tongue; well almost, I doubt that Almunia speaks Catalan but Fabrégas will speak Castilian with almost the same ease as he does his mother tongue.

Wenger has a history of trying to keep his most talented stars happy. In the case of Bergkamp I am convinced that he prioritised the purchase of Overmars for that very purpose. As good as Bergkamp was at speaking English it would still have been a chore after a while and he would have understandably yearned for the ease of his mother tongue.

Henry is another example; in his case, Wenger bought most of the French National team to keep him happy, I jest, of course — but not by much.

This suggestion as to why Almunia has been with us for as long as he has is all well and good but probably the more important question is will Fabrégas stay. As tedious as this question has become the one thing that every muck raking journalist fails to mention is why he left his beloved Barcelona in the first place? The answer, as far as I can see, was his desire to play regular football, something that he was very unlikely achieve at the time with their youth policy being what it was.

In fact, I wouldn’t’ be surprised if the loss of Fabrégas, Merida and Pique, to mention just three, there were probably others, was Barcelona’s wake up call to take their own “Project Youth” more seriously.

Fabrégas left his beloved Barça because we offered him the chance to play; we still do and it is for that very same reason that he will be with us at the start of next season.

Hill-Wood may have all the diplomacy skills as Prince Philip, exemplified by his crass comment suggesting that he wouldn’t get in the Barça team — but he is right. Fabrégas would never have the same playing opportunities as he does with us, Christ we even let him play with a broken leg, it was broken before the Barça game — you know it was.

So we arrive at the purpose of this post: Fabrégas stays but if Almunia goes expect Wenger to sign another Spaniard to keep our Captain company……….David Villa?

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Posted by LB

Winning isn’t everything

May 16, 2010

Posted by dandan

It puzzles me to see the number of Doomers and Gooners who inhabit the blogosphere including this site occasionally. Wailing and pouring vitriol over any one, who dares to suggest that five years without a trophy is purely a natural pause in the circle of life of a top premiership club.

Now of course, many will leap on me crying idiot, top is top, how can you be a top club if you don’t win things. Easy; when the club down the road celebrates and does laps of honour on finishing below us in the league whilst “winning” the chance to qualify for a competition we have participated in for the past dozen years you know someone has got their priorities wrong.

Winning isn’t always about coming first. If it was 35,000 people wouldn’t run in the London marathon every year when only one can come first’ Ok there are several races in one so you can have perhaps three winners, but the point remains the same, winning isn’t every thing, there are many victories in that race.

For clubs like Arsenal winning is a burden, an expectation that is based on the fact that we have won before. Every year 20 clubs set out to win the Premier League, but in the 18 years of its lifetime 43 clubs have tried, but only 4, Man Utd, Arsenal Chelsea and Blackburn have ever won it. Note, that Liverpool is not among those illustrious few, although in the old first division they won no less than 18 titles.

Consider that, no premier league title ever for an undoubtedly top side. There I go again, a top side I say and they have never won the premier league. But travel the world as I have and what do you see, youngsters wherever you go wearing football shirts, Man Utd usually with a 7 on, Arsenal 10 or 14, Chelsea they go for 9, Real Madrid, Barcelona and surprise surprise, Liverpool 8.

Now I have met and chatted to people wearing these shirts all over Africa, in North and South America, even on Islands in the remote reaches of the oceans from St Helena to the Falkland Islands and Christmas Island to Fiji and Tahiti and many more. These guys can name the squad and quote enough statistics to make any anorak happy. So winning is also being known all round the world, building a fan base that can finance and refinance the club over and over again.

Winning isn’t short term. Winning is taking your turn with the rest of the elite and being there or there about’s enough to guarantee a large slice of the available TV coverage because that is how the fans worldwide get to know your club, until your boat comes in and you return to winning ways.

Liverpool have of course won the European Cup in 2005 and the FA cup in 2006 but would give their right arm for the league trophy and yet, do you hear the their fans abusing the manager the way that some of our fans do. If Rafa worked at the Emirates IMHO he would have been hung from the crossbar by now.

Arsenal are by any criteria, save the narrow one of current silverware , winners. Playing a brand of football that is beautiful to watch. They remain solvent and are fast approaching debt free. They will soon own their superb new stadium to go with the state of the art training complex and an academy filled with many of the world’s finest youngsters.

If the board are to be believed, this season a war chest is available to the manager, enough to finance the  purchase of the final players to turn this  team of potential  into the pot winners that so many crave.

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Posted by dandan

Unjust Criticism Pt.1 : The case for Diaby

May 13, 2010

Some players attract criticism, others are “marmites”. We all know who I am talking about, those players whom Wenger trusts yet divide the fans. It is my intention to make a case for those players over the next few weeks.

Vassariki Abou Diaby is a player who can infuriate the blogworld. The man appears to have all the attributes to make a super player, physique, power, wonderful technique, an accurate shot, heading ability  – who can forget that wonderful header at Old Trafford? – and high workrate, yet half the fans would have him removed from the team immediately and sent to Coventry (or Wolves or anyone who could afford him).

However, let us take a closer look. Diaby is 24, just coming into his prime, and at last fully recovered from the horrific injury sustained at Sunderland. His season has been stop/start due to a mid season injury (against Wolves), yet he scored 7 goals and made 5 assists, which should be compared to Walcott’s 4 and 4. More to the point Diaby has been played all over the pitch. His natural position is as a deep lying attacking central midfielder, but as we possess the best in the world in this position (and others who crave it), he has been moved  to the left, the right, to defensive left, defensive right and recently as the holding defensive midfielder. This is clearly not his game.

Diaby’s season highlight was the home game against Porto when he and Nasri ruled the Emirates. Why? Because Song was playing DM, and therefore both Abou and Sammi were able to roam without needing to concentrate upon their defensive duties. Similarly, when Denilson is playing Diaby improves creatively. The horrendous end of season injury list which saw Ramsey, Song and Denilson injured led to our recent decline and highlights the importance of a disciplined DM, a role in which Diaby struggles. 6 of Diaby’s 7 goals came prior to Xmas and the injury epidemic, proving that given the freedom to express himself Abou can be a destructive attacking presence when played in his natural position.

It should also be pointed out that Diaby is not a first team starter when the squad is fully fit.  That he has started over 30 games this season is testament once again to our injury problems. Wenger clearly believes he has the talent to become an important cog in the team, though my gut feeling is that Abou is unlikely ever to get a starting role in our first 11, yet as a squad player, we will struggle to find his equal.

Sadly for Diaby his physical similarity to Vieira has been problematical. He is not and never will be a player of Paddy’s stature – he is a different style of player and should be recognised as such.

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Posted by Erik the Red

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