A moment of madness cost us some silverware

February 28, 2011

Written by GoonerinExile

I was at Wembley as a 12 year old in 1988 and I remember that defeat clearly, Nigel Winterburn missing a penalty to put us 3-1 ahead, Tony Adams bringing down Mark Stein in the 90th minute to concede the free kick that his brother Brian scored from and won the cup for Luton. 14 years later Tony Adams retired an Arsenal legend, 12 years later Nigel Winterburn left the club as one of the best left backs we had ever seen.

Why do I mention this, well we need to remember this when the media scrum gathers to tell us yet again that our defence is weak and we have a lack of spine within the squad. Yesterday Wojciech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny combined to gift Birmingham the winner in the 89th minute. We know they are not weak we know they are capable of brilliance, only a week and a half ago Koscielny was probably our best player against Barca, Szczesny has filled us all with confidence for his persona and his command of the area. Yesterday unfortunately a blip, it just so happened, as so often a mistake does for defenders and keepers, to lead to a goal to the opposition. It was doubly unfortunate that it happened in a cup final and ultimately cost us the game. As it happened I looked on in horror, for anyone else the ball would have probably bounced back on to Koscielny and out for a corner, but for us it just rolled into Martins path, who had to do nothing more than roll the ball into the empty net.

We have probably all accepted now that Arsene Wenger will only ever concentrate on sending his team out the way he wants them to play football, he does not look at the opposition and consider sending out his team to counter their strengths, he wants them to worry about our strengths. We had all hoped that we would start with Nicklas Bendtner in the side to counter the effect of the height of Birmingham at set pieces, that we didn’t was an even bigger concern when Zigic’s name was on the team sheet as a starter, clearly from open play Bendtner would not have helped but he would have helped us deal with the threat created from set pieces. But this was not to be we would have to outplay Birmingham to win the game and hope that our defence could stand strong against the aerial bombardment.

As it was after a bright start from Birmingham and a slack opening from Arsenal the team were lucky not to be down to 10 men when Bowyer was wrongly given offside and Szczesny brought him down in the area. After that initial scare the team started to get into the game, controlling possession, albeit with little end product, but that was difficult against a well organised, solid and spirited Birmingham defence. This is where the brain and guile of Cesc gives the team something different, the ability to pick open defences with a sublime pass or two, not that we didn’t create a couple of chances in this period. Nasri playing in Arshavin a skilful turn later and he had  shot at goal saved by Foster.

Inexplicably Arsenal began to misplace passes, from one incident Sagna trying to find Wilshere missed him by about five feet and allowed Zigic to gain possession, the resultant ball into the box forced Koscielny to head the ball out for a corner. From the corner the ball was headed towards goal by Roger Johnson, and Zigic flicked the ball past an onrushing Szczesny.

Minutes later it could have been much much worse, when Gardner burst through the midfield and passed to Zigic, Szczesny spread himself well to prevent a second Birmingham goal and a mountain to climb.

As it was Arsenal had still failed to really impose themselves on the game, it took a storming run from Wilshere to stir the team, after some brief interplay he smashed a shot against the crossbar, with the bar still rattling the ball made its way to out little Russian who after some nimble footwork delivered an inch perfect cross for Van Persie to volley home with his right foot. However the delight turned to immediate concern for us sitting at home who watched as Van Persie’s celebration was curtailed by an injury to his knee.

Arsenal ended the half applying the pressure and searching for a second goal to take us into the lead. The team started the second half in a similar vain but the team were consistently thwarted by Ben Foster who had a stormer in the Birmingham goal when the defence had been breached. Despite the pressure the game was on a knife edge knowing that any breakaway from Birmingham could lead to a goal as Arsenal committed more men forward in search of an elusive winner. So it nearly did when Fahey’s effort beat Szcezney and rebounded of the post.

On 67 minutes it appeared that Robin van Persie could no longer continue, and so it was that Nicklas Bendtner was introduced to the attack. At this time Roger Johnson was showing signs of injury, was he removed as a precaution, no chance he played through it, and just once I would like to see the same from our players, maybe Robin has suffered too  many injuries to risk losing him for the rest of the season, but this was the most important game at the time, nothing else mattered, Birmingham have a relegation battle to fight but they didn’t pull off Johnson, nor did he want to come off.

Something else changed at this point for once Arsenal were shooting from outside the area form all angles, Samir Nasri, Rosicky and Wilshere all had efforts from distance, either blocked by defenders or Foster. Wenger sent on Chamakh for Arshavin, as if putting as many “strikers” as possible would bring us a goal by willpower alone. I thought Bendtner had done well when he came on, but to see him removed from the centre forward position after only ten minutes was reorganisation we didn’t need. With Cesc and Walcott injured there was no other attacking option, but clearly Wenger could have chosen any other player to withdraw, perhaps looking to the next game again?

Of all chances the one that could have won the game fell to Rosicky, the ball played to him by Bendtner he had only to scoop the ball past Foster but inconceivably attempted a back heel from more than 6 yards out with defenders on the line this seemed a very strange decision for one with such experience and technical ability. This is perhaps Rosickys biggest failure, he seems to want to do the difficult things, look for the difficult passes, look for the flicks, as a result he is more wasteful in possession than a man 11 years his junior who 95% of the time finds a teammate with his passes, beats men at will, and runs into space, and is constantly available for his team mates, that man of course is Jack Wilshere, more of him later.

Arsenal had 20 efforts on goal according to BBC stats, 12 on target, Birmingham had 11, unfortunately not one of our chances was as simple as the one presented to Martins in the 89th minute the chance that sent the blue half of Birmingham into delirium, and the chance that sent the red half of North London searching for alcohol and flak jackets.

56% of possession 20 attempts on goal, six corners, we pressed and pressed but Birmingham held firm. The BBC commentary team said that the better team won, how the man of the match was Ben Foster then I have no idea, surely he would not have had much to do if they were indeed the better team. Take nothing away from Birmingham they defended well, and always looked threatening on the breakaway, in a cup final there can only be one winner, we have been there before and we will be there again. But in between now and the next final defeat there might also be some wins, there definitely have been since our defeat to Luton in 1988.

As disappointing as the goal was there were other concerns for me, the game seemed to pass Song by, never bossing midfield as we would expect, Robin Van Persie did not see  great deal of the ball in the build up play, hindered by Rosicky’s approach of looking for a difficult ball. The team needed to press high up the pitch to stop the easy get out ball to Zigic, the desire to do so wasn’t there, we were second to the knockdowns in out half of the pitch which enabled Birmingham to build pressure which could easily have been avoided. Our best players on the day were Nasri and Wilshere.

I have heard bottlers mentioned already by some of our own fans on this very forum, to bottle the game would have been to not play to our strengths to not play with our normal conviction, to appear to be waiting to lose, as we have done against Chelsea, and Man Utd in the past, that wasn’t the issue today, the team played, they pressed, they tried but unfortunately a moment of madness cost us some silverware.

I’m not going to put in any player ratings today, I think there is no point adding insult to injury. This week we must be strong together we must support our team, for those who couldn’t be bothered to hang around in Wembley when Birmingham scored please hand back in your Season Tickets that is not support, I don’t know what it is but it definitely isn’t support. Support when you win and when you lose, the team need support and positive energy. Birmingham fans waited 48 years for this success, but I guarantee of they’d lost they would have still been in the ground at the final whistle, and applauded their teams efforts. The Arsenal end was empty before the team had even been up to collect their runners up medals, how do you think they feel seeing that.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal beat Barcelona over two legs? Of course we can

February 17, 2011


Written by Wonderman

Barcelona started the game with their one and two touch passing and movement when in possession and double and treble  teaming when not, but unlike like last year we were putting pressure on the man on the ball and holding our shape well. Which is one hell of a task when you see how Barca position themselves with their full backs playing as additional midfielders. In the 3rd minute we got a free kick on our left which Nasri floated in , but Valdes was in control as no one made any contact.

In the 4th minute Wallcott swapped passes with Fabregas and put on the gas in the direction of the goal. In my opinion he took the wrong choice in trying to slide Robin in with the outside of his foot when Nasri was in more space, but the ball ran out harmlessly as Theo hit it a little too hard. In the 6th minute Walcott danced his way into the 6yrd box, layed off to Cesc who then provided a sumptuous chip into Robins path but Valdes was equal to the shot.

Almost immediately Barca were on the counter with Messi running at our back line, Song intervened and got a yellow card for his trouble ( but very necessary) the next few minutes saw both teams showcasing their passing but we were losing the ball needlessly with Djourou and Cesc being the main culprits. In the 14th minute a slide rule pass saw Messi through on goal but Chesny won the game of bluff and Messi screwed his shot wide of the post. Barcelona then went onto enjoy 60% possession for the next 10 minutes and the scene was set.

We seemed comfortable playing on the break including a rapid break in the 24th minute started by Wilshere who found Walcott just outside our 18 yard box. Again Walcott ran at their defence attracting four players with the aid of Van Persie’s intelligent movement. This allowed Fabregas space to receive Walcotts pass, unfortunately his cross was intercepted by Pique stopping an almost certain goal from van P.

A minute later we were behind . A foul in Barca’s defensive 3rd led to a temporary loss of concentration and after a short spell of inter passing Messi fed  Villa who slotted under the onrushing Chesney. In the stadium I thought he was offside, bt replay’s showed that Clichy was playing him on 0-1. But my worry was Alex Song . Having been booked in the 6th min Song committed foul after foul and was in danger of being sent off. Strangely I still felt that we would score.

Chesney pulled off another save at his feet in the near post and another attack on the break saw van P shoot wide.  Barca were beginning to enjoy themselves , they are the masters of finding space offensively with 1 touch passing and movement but more impressively they press in 2’s and 3’s to win the ball back. However we seemed to be helping them by not using what little possession we had in a more penetrating way. Half time 0-1 but a much more even game than we had last year.

We started the 2nd half brightly and Wilshere continued where he left off  ( someone needs to check his passport). We were pressing Barca well and seemed to be  adopting the counter attack approach. Nasri was getting fitter as the game went on and we started to force corners and free kicks as Barca’s work rate  began to diminish. Koscielny was making a mockery of all those who doubted the validity of his purchase  and Jack continued to play as if he was in the park. We had eradicated our sloppy passing and were beginning to ask questions further up th field. For all their possession in the second half it was Valdes who was doing all the work. Messi was  going deeper and deeper and attempting to run at our defence . In the 67th minute he got through on their left but hit the side netting.

That could be seen as the turning point. Villa was subbed for Keita and Song removed for his own good for Arshavin. All of a sudden we were beginning to find space, it appeared the superior pace of the prem had primed our players to perform at a higher intensity for longer. Cesc was finding his range and Eboue had taken his scaredy cat glasses off. In the 77th minute Clichy and Arshavin combined on our left which resulted in a right footed chip from Clichy which put van P in at a ridiculous angle. With Bendtner’s run seducing Valdes into expecting the cross Robin lashed it in at the near post 1-1 and the stadium went mad .

 

Barca seemed to be trying to hold out for the result but we were having none of it . Five minutes later Koscielny again intercepted, fed Bendtner, who found Wilshere, one touch to Fabregas who with a sublime pass found Nasri on the right , Robin raced forward to cause confusion as Nasri delayed, cut inside and fed an on coming Arshavin to curl the ball into the net 2-1 and cue absolute madness !!! No less than we deserved and a finish not to be underestimated. Barca’s problem now was they had 6 minutes to change their mindset. They had a couple of chances but Chesney was more than up for it

Cheers of ‘we’ve got Cesc Fabregas ‘ rang around the stadium…maybe I wasn’t mad in predicting we would triumph over 2 legs after all…..

Ratings

Wojciech Szczesny– Did less work in the whole game than Almunia did in the first 20 minutes last year. This boy’s decision making was spot on last night and the defence seem to trust him implicitly. I cant see the shirt being taken from him  8

Emmanuel Eboue – A whiff of a dive here and there, and a touch of fear in the first half, not as marauding as we know he can be, but to be fair to him he was not exposed once in the game and I can think of worse back up right backs 7

Johan Djourou – Was alarmingly wasteful with his distribution in the first half , but his partnership with Koscielny is flourishing. A much better second half performance  and proved he is just as good on the deck as he is in the air 8

Laurent Koscielny – It is easier to say what he did’nt do well….misplace maybe two passes…. This guy is still not the finished article, but anyone who dares to argue that there is not potentially a world class defender in this guy must be mad my joint MOM 9

Clichy – A lot of their attacks came down his side but other than playing Villa onside for their goal, the usual aggressive quick and committed performance 8

Alex Song – Was harshly booked early on and lucky not to be sent off in my opinion. Not his best , but not his worst performance and his substitution probably saved us going down to 10 men , but battled for the cause 7

Jack Wilshere –I am lost for words for this young man. He  respects no opponent and plays with the same intensity every game. I feel the grit and determination of Jack and Kosser were instrumental joint MOM 9

Cesc Fabregas – Was guilty of many a misplaced pass in the first half but didn’t give up. Was instrumental in the winning goal with his early defence splitting pass 8

Samir Nasri – I was surprised to see him start and he looked off the pace in the first 25 mins but seemed to grow as the game went on. Excellent awareness for the winner 8

Theo Walcott – Obviously scared the living daylights out of them periodically and was double and treble teamed for his trouble . I suspect he will cause more havoc on the Nou Camp pitch 7

Robin van Persie – World Class sums Robin up . ran his legs off for the majority of the game without seeing too much of the ball but never gave up. Scored from a ridiculous angle and realy should have had another goal in the first half 8.5

Subs

Nick Bendtner– Didn’t do a lot , but I think his run was instrumental in concerning Valdes for Robin’s equaliser 6.5

Arshavin – Came on and ran at the opposition, almost gifted them an equaliser, but is back on form. I would have started him, but what do I know ? crucially scored the winner which was no easy finish 8

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

No Retreat, No Surrender

February 3, 2011

Written by Wonderman

It was back in August 2007, I remember arriving at my new seat in the North Bank Upper  for the opening game of the season, to a fantastic view of the resplendent Emirates pitch.

Our opponents that day were Fulham,  ‘easy game’ we thought,  except David Healy and Jens Lehman had other ideas. Within 52 seconds we were 1 nil down, you could have heard a pin drop when the ball went in the net. But that day the boys refused to be beaten.

The spine of Lehman, Gallas, Cesc and Van Persie complimented  by the aggression of Flamini and footwork of Hleb  pulled 3 points out of the bag,  by virtue of a Van Persie penalty and an Alexander Hleb goal. Fast forward to the end of January 2008  and we had tasted defeat only once, away at Middlesbrough and even then the squad was robbed of Cesc, Van P, Flamini and Hleb  through our friend injury.

However,  before our very eyes we were  witnessing  the birth of a new paradigm – ‘no retreat  no surrender’ we were refusing to be bullied . It took an injury of savage proportions at Birmingham’s St Andrew’s stadium  to Eduardo to disturb that mental psyche, and it has taken 3 years to regain it.

This season we have the best away record in the league. We have gone to Liverpool, Blackburn Sunderland and Everton and not tasted defeat. Phil Neville was quoted as  stating that ‘Arsenal can’t be kicked off the park anymore’ in mid November . That is some compliment !!

The most emphatic sign of our rediscovered  ‘no retreat no surrender’ attitude was the home win against Chelsea the following month. In that game we were aggressive tactically by imposing our strengths. Walcott not only kept Cole back through Cole’s fear of his blistering pace , but he also defended like his life depended on it every time they tried to attack down that side.

And aggressive physically. Djourou dominated Drogba  for the entire game like never before, whilst Song and Wilshere kept Essien and Lampard quiet whilst Cesc weaved hs magic, it was an unbelievable sight especially as we had been the better team against Man U in the previous game only to return with no points. Our attitude made the most powerful team in the league look powder puff.

Is this a coincidence ? I think not . When you look at what is emerging as our preferred back four Clichy and Sagna are two aggressive full backs who give wingers no peace. I don’t know about you but the look in the eyes of Vermaelen’s first Arsenal photo’s scared me to death  before I even saw him play for us,  but even then, I only had to recall his duel with Van P at the Amsterdam tournament to know his temperament. Who remembers Djourou almost taking the head off a Man U loan player who I think was playing for Wigan at the time, never mind his neutering of Drogba. Kosser has been a revelation for his first season

In midfield we have Nasri who showed Barton what he was about early doors , Wilshere who almost cut Salgado in half at the Emirates cup a couple of years ago, Song  who scraps as much as he delivers exquisite passes, Cesc who gives as good as he gets and Walcott who showed against Chelsea he can deliver in both attack and defence with spite.

Up front Robin is as aggressive as they come and Chamakh has shown he is no slouch.

This season I have sensed a new found refusal to be denied . The key, I think,  is to ensure that the likes of Diaby, Bendtner, Denilson and in fact who ever comes on the field to bring with them our new found mentality … no retreat no surrender once they do that we will not be denied.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal Plough their way to Wembley……..

January 26, 2011

Before I speak of a match that had all gooners on the edge of the seats for far too long, I will just say what a great night it was for my boys, tonight my youngster Reece was one of 12 lucky Junior Gunners to form the Guard of Honour as the teams came on, my eldest Luke is a ball boy all season, so all round, how jealous, but proud, am I?

Back to the match, Arsène stated in his programme, he will select his strongest team available for each match, although he started with a reasonably strong team, I always worry when Cesc and Denilson start together as I feel they don’t gel well……

Nasri and Walcott were on the bench alongside Song, but red hot Robin was on the pitch, so Wenger was certainly taking Ipswich seriously.

Arsenal started with a good tempo and had some early chances, RVP turning and hitting a shot wide.  Cesc was bundled over and from where I was sitting, it looked a stone wall penalty, but the ref waved away the claims……It should have been a scrum down at least?

A scary moment occurred after about 15mins or so when Chez went up for a corner and went straight through Sagna,  Eboue was soon into the fray as his replacement……Hope Sagman is ok……

Throughout the game Cesc took quite a bit of stick, I’d be surprised if he can walk in the morning……Talking of stick the Tractor boys were giving our fans a right bashing and clearly out sung us in the first half, milking their moment as we struggled to get the goal to get us into this tie, when will our fans learn…?

Bendtner soon floated a delightful cross over and RVP smashed a header against the bar with the keeper Fulop well beaten…….Would we score or would it be a night to forget?

Then a ball over the top, into the path of the on running Cesc, through the defence, slanting his body and hitting across the keeper, but agonizingly wide again…..

For me we were trying too hard and not holding our nerve, to get the pass right, as we tried to force the play, Ipswich stood firm and resolute, hoofing the ball away.  We needed to expand our play, and try to create an opening, rather than thread it through a gap, tighter than Wengers wallet…

The boys were trying though and notably Little Jack was growing every minute and becoming more and more involved, perhaps because most of the Ipswich team were intent on marking Cesc, that was giving Jack a little too much room, which he exploited…….

Half time came, and then the 2nd half started the same, admittedly I was crying out for Nasri to come on and make a difference, but it was a sublime ball from little Jack on 60mins that got the break through, deep in his own half, he collected the ball, looked up and sprayed a ball right to forward left, as super Nik ran onto the ball cushioned it down, ran on and cut back inside the defender, before curling a lovely right footed shot into the far corner, cue eruption and fans singing……….

Moments later and Kosser headed in a beauty from a corner delivered from the left by Arshavin, 2-0 and the boys went wild, with all the subs part of a mass team hug……It was good to see a corner actually getting into the box, when was the last time that happened?

Ipswich started to wade through mud now, looking for a Tractor to pull them out as they noticeably tired….

The 3rd goal was started with a cracking intervention by Denilson, who stole in and took the ball off Edwards and played straight to Cesc, who run forward and played onto Arshavin, who ran at the defence, cut inside and just as you felt he would go for goal, he slipped it back outside to the in running Cesc as he came into the box who then slipped it through the keepers legs, game over………3-0.

Nasri and Walcott came on for Rockin Robin and Arshavin for the closing moments as Arsenal knocked the ball about and round a now down trodden Ipswich, who for 150mins had held the Arsenal at arms length………and kept the Arsenal fans too quiet for my liking………….

Player Ratings:

Szczesny: Little to do, but oozez confidence, which I think settles the defence at times. Error of judgement when he clattered Sagna, but he will learn as he goes…. 7

Sagna: Unfortunately, short outing……..gets a….7

Djourou: Much better display than at Portman Road, strong and tenacious, read the game well and pushed forward when he saw openings….7

Kosser: A very solid game, pushed forward well, got booked harshly..Great Goal…7.5

Clichy: I think his performances are getting better defensively week by week. Good going forward, only caught out once at the back that I noticed…..7

Denilson: Industrious and plugged away against the backdrop of moaning fans, admittedly I wouldnt have started with him, but he did ok and his interception set up the move for the 3rd crucial goal….7

Cesc: Kept the team pouring forward and closed down very quickly and worked very hard, not at his dazzling best and should probably scored in first half, but still instrumental and probably would have done more if kicked less.. Scored a great 3rd goal….7.5

Little Jack: Head and shoulders above everybody else on the pitch in my opinion, he grew as the game went on and ran the show in the 2nd half, his pass for the first goal was pure class.. It was going to be something special to get the break through. Only a goal was missing from his night….8.5***MoM

Bendtner: Another player who gets the moans and groans from most fans, but worked tirelessly and made things happen, won most of his duels in the air. His goal was sublime…….8

RvP: A continual handful, who tried to get the break through and his endeavour really pushes us on. Hit the woodwork in the first half and had another couple of chances…..7

Arshavin: Kept going and had two assists on the night, better, keep going little fella, we all love you really, just we know there is so much more in your locker……..7

Subs:

Eboue: Solid and kept attacking, still throws himself around too much for me, but a great squad player for me….7

Nasri and Walcott had too little time to comment.

Overall:

After 150mins, the Tractor choked , spluttered and the Gunners blew them away with 2 quick goals, a third near the end ensured no slip ups. Wembley here we come at last……..

Wengers young team, will now take on West Ham or Birmingham as they try to win some silverware after 5 long years, so in the competition that Wenger has bloodied his young boys in over the last few years, might just be the one that breaks the Hoodoo that hangs over us, lets pray, 27th Feb will be our day.

One final note, fair play to Ipswich, you did yourselves proud with your efforts….

Written by Harry

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Wenger’s Barca Raid

January 24, 2011

If Saturday’s performance proved anything, it was surely that Arsène Wenger’s plan to bring Barca-style football to North London is succeeding.

It’s no secret that the boss admires the style and manner with which the Catalans play. Now he has shamelessly lifted their football manual (or should that be Manuel?) from under their very noses and put a red and white stamp on it.

Barca’s front six of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedro, Villa and one of Keita or Mascherano play beautiful pass-and-move football, denying their opponents the ball and carving their way through the most resolute of defences.

After much experimentation, Arsène now has his own ‘Super Six’: Cesc, Song, van Persie, Nasri, Walcott and Wilshere.

What both ‘sixes’ have in common (and why I have referred to them as ‘front sixes’ rather than the more familiar midfield/attack definitions) is that all the players swap positions at will and all pose an attacking threat.

After the two Champions League games against Barca last Spring I wrote a post saying that “Arselona is Closer Than We Think.”

Despite the outstanding first half from the Spaniards at The Grove and despite the Messi master class at the Nou Camp, I took heart from Barca’s exhibition because it showed what Arsenal could aspire to.

I reflected that there were three differences between the sides: Barcelona had more money, they had better players and they worked harder.

Revisiting those thoughts today, the picture has changed.

Do Barcelona have more money? It subsequently became clear last season that they were grossly in debt and in no position to keep making huge-money purchases. Then some rich Qataris came calling and in the blink of a cheque book Barca threw their much-vaunted principles in the bin (along, presumably, with all their Unicef shirts) and accepted a shirt sponsor in exchange for £125m. Given how high their debts were, this is hardly a licence to buy big, although it gives them more clout in the transfer market than they would otherwise have had. Arsenal, meanwhile, continue to revel in the best financial model in big time football, and you really get the feeling that if Arsène made the case to the Board for a £50m signing they would give him the money. Admittedly, he’s as likely to ask for fifty million quid as Wayne Bridge is to ask John Terry to tea.

Do Barcelona have better players? They may just still shade it, but that gap has closed considerably.  Fabregas or Iniesta? Nasri or Messi? Pedro or Walcott? Van Persie or Villa? Those questions don’t produce the simple answers they would have done a year ago. And both our so-called holding players, Song and Wilshere, have more innate footballing talent than either Keita or Mascherano. Earlier this season I was moaning about Alex Song’s forward tendencies, but he has won me over completely. He is becoming a true box-to-box player with silky skills to go along side his wrought iron commitment. Wilshere, meanwhile, at just-turned 19, is surely heading for world superstardom. We’ll certainly be cheering on little Jack long after the name Balotelli has faded from memory.

Do Barca work harder? The answer to that one is still ‘yes’ overall. The genius of that team is that they work as hard when they don’t have the ball as when they do have it. And it’s still an aspect of the game that has let Arsenal down this season. However, I truly believe that our first team DOES have the right work ethic and has demonstrated it repeatedly since the Christmas period.

To summarise, I would hazard that Arselona is just about here. The players, the style of play, the swagger – it’s all coming together beautifully.

We’re reaping the benefits in the domestic competitions and there’s no reason why we can’t also succeed in Europe.

Certainly the games against Barcelona this year will be very different. Barca are a great team and may still beat us over two legs, but I expect things to be much more competitive this time round. Our players know exactly what they’re up against and, let’s not forget, we were decimated by injuries last year.

All of which is not to say there are no concerns.

This Arsenal team still desperately needs some silverware and, psychologically, that may yet be a big step to climb. The Carling Cup would be a great way to start.

I would also like us to sign a good centre back this January. I would feel even more comfortable with some cover for Alex Song, who has become so crucial to our success. And I fret every game about the fitness of key players like Robin, Cesc, Theo and Samir.

But if Lady Luck favours us with a smile, good things could really happen this year.

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

The Stuff of Champions

January 23, 2011

If you don’t tingle with pride at being an Arsenal supporter today then you my friend have a severe case of Jaguaritis and that is not good because yesterday we walked with giants and witnessed the quality of champions.

How dare these pie eating upstarts take two points off us up North? How dare they? Well the natural order has been restored after the good guys put on a football display to make Barcelona sit up and think very seriously about what they are about to face in the not too distant future. You may say that it was only Wigan but what kind of opposition do you think Barcelona make mince meat of every week? Wigan are exactly the kind of opponents the Catalans meet save for two Saturdays in the season when they face Real opposition.

Seriously, Wigan; Spanish manager, limited resources, what’s the difference between that and what Barcelona play practically every week?………bring em on, I say, we are ready.

The game, yes, yes, the game I should say something about that; we completely out played Wigan, different class from start to finish, total domination, absolute control.

We all knew what the line up would be: the A team was required and the A team dutifully appeared. It took no time for the gulf of class to be established: chances were continuously created and missed throughout the first half, only interrupted by Van Persie’s hitting the back of the net after 30 minutes. The rest of the time Walcott was carving out opportunities left and right for his team mates, all of whom went close but all were denied by one Wigan limb or another thrown in the way. There were so many chances in the first half I honestly lost count, just to say that it was an absolute miracle that Wigan went in at half time only one nil down.

Our Northern opponents took heart from the generous score line coming out after the break and trying a bit of quick closing down themselves, it looked quite good for all of fifteen minutes, that is until Fàbregas sent a world class pass over forty yards to Van Persie who volleyed it into the Wigan net.

Two nil, game over, time to sit back and enjoy the master class in front of us; chances kept appearing until eventually it all got a bit too much for Wigan and they couldn’t stop themselves hacking down one of our players, (still haven’t seen MOTD so not sure which one) in the area, up stepped Van Persie but instead of scoring his first ever professional hat trick in his career and that includes his Feyenoord days, he skied it in what I can only describe as one of the worst penalties I have ever witnessed. We had to wait a bit longer for the Boy Wonder to break that duck and much credit has to go to Walcott who held off the Wigan defender, very cleverly enabling Van Persie to fulfil my prediction of three nil to the good guys.

————————————————————-

Player ratings:

Szczesny: had little to do but what he did he did perfectly. 10

Sagna: we have a quality right back. 10

Djourou, calmness personified. 10

Koscielny: I wonder if he communicates with Szczesny in Polish. Faultless.10

Clichy: good runs, good positioning, good tackling. 10

Fàbregas: my MOTM, he was more World Class than The Boy Wonder today even though he didn’t score. 10

Song: Rasp was the first person I noticed to use the adjective imperious to describe our Alex, it struck a cord with me, since then I use it when ever it is mertited and today Alex Song was imperious. 10

Wilshere: this young man is surrounded by world class midfield players and yet at the tender age of nineteen he still manages to hold his own which is quite astonishing. 10

Nasri: Wigan systematically clipped the ankles of our players, they were obviously not Shawcross tackles but they were dirty and sneaky, most of our players survived but poor old Super Nas caught it and hobbled for most of the game. 9

Van Persie: This man can take us to the Promised Land. 10

Walcott: good, good, good a better game than might meet the eye, watch how clever he was for RVP’s third. 10

Written by London while drinking a bottle of Rioja, Gran Reserva, 2002.

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Posted by LB

Who is the Leader of the Gang?

January 18, 2011

Were you ever in a gang at school or shortly after, maybe not a gang but a group of people you always gravitated towards?

Security in numbers: there is often a leader that others look to whose presence empowers and energises the rest; when missing there is a tangible drop in the collective self belief but on his return confidence is restored and a feeling prevails that things can be achieved when at other times they might not.

I am, of course, talking about Robin van Persie, the return of the Boy Wonder has reenergised the whole team, giving them a self belief that was clearly lacking in his absence.

The person who benefits the most from this is Cesc; the difference in his attitude is chalk and cheese, look at his play against Ipswich and West Ham, in the former he looked as though he was just going through the motions where as in the latter he was world class. It’s true that West Ham were very poor but the observation still holds true in my opinion when the Chelsea and Birmingham games are brought into the equation.

This confidence is infectious, when Cesc is on his game Nasri is lifted. Samir is Cesc’s present day Hleb: Fàbregas used to love playing with the Belarusian; he could always find him and our captain knew he would always get the ball back which encouraged him to drive forward just that bit harder. Nasri is obviously head and shoulders better than Hleb his goal tally says it all.

You can probably sense the elephant in the room right now; the one that you possibly think I am ignoring, the “I” question. To many Van Persie is a brittle as a Kit Kat, an injury waiting to happen; the most persuasive argument I have ever read on this point was written by Rocky.

RockyLives says:

December 9, 2010 at 8:13

“Where I disagree with you (I think) is when you suggest that the chances of all players suffering an injury are equal. I believe some players’ bodies are less prone to picking up strains and sprains than others’. All players have an equal chance of being Shawcrossed, or of breaking a leg in an unfortunate fall, but I don’t think they share the same likelihood of picking up smaller, niggly injuries.
I would be prepared to bet quite a few bob that in the next 12 months RvP misses more time through injury than Chamakh. Again, no blame attached to RvP, it’s just a fact that he suffers a lot of injuries. Some people have more robust physiologies than others.”

This had me flummoxed and has taken ages to put into words why I disagree:

The fact is, we only know that a player suffers more injuries than others at the end of his career, it is only then can we average out if he has spent more time in the sick bay than others. While a player is still playing there is no certainty that that player is more likely to be injured than any other. It is like the heads or tails trap that people fall into when flicking a coin; the mistake is to assume that after the coin has landed on heads five times, for example, then by the law of averages it is more than likely to land on tails the next time: this is not true, there is still only a fifty fifty chance that the coin will land on tails the next throw.

Clichy backs up the point I am trying to make; he seemed to be permanantly crocked in his early days at Arsenal but now he has the reputation of being one of the least likely to be injured. This could just as easily turn out to be that case with the present day Mr Arsenal.

Van Persie is the leader of the gang and when he is around the others are cocky as hell, he fills them with a self belief that they can win anything.

Written by London

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Posted by LB

Theo crosses Bridge …. Dutch Mastery ….. living up to the form book

January 16, 2011

Written by Gooner in Exile

West Ham 0 – Arsenal 3

This game doesn’t really require a report the stats say it all:

………………………………..WH             ARS

Possession                     34%            66%

Shots on Target              6                 13

Shots off Target              1                 7

Corners                          4                 10

As complete a victory as you are likely to see. With Song, Nasri and Van Persie returning to the starting line up alongside Theo, Cesc and Wilshere the line up looked capable of winning the game. With Eboue still in for Sagna, and Chesney continuing to deputise for the injured Fabianski we were only two players short of Arsene’s first choice starting eleven.

With those players on the pitch there could only be one outcome, couldn’t there?

To say we started well is an understatement, first to the ball, first to the pass, first to the tackle, the players seemed to be in control of the game from kick off and never looked back. Thankfully our early possession paid off within fifteen minutes, a period of possession leading to Theo having all the space and time in the world to pick a pass, which he did to perfection, a gorgeous stepover from Nasri later and Van Persie was burying the ball in the back of the net with his right foot.

Whilst we continued to dominate possession there was an occasional slip or misjudgement at the back that if punished would so easily have undone all the good work.

One of these moments came from a poor back pass from Big Johan which let in Cole, Chesney was very quick to rush off his line and make a great blocking save to spare JD’s blushes. With every game Chesney plays his stock rises, he gives me an overwhelming sense of confidence, he has the one ingredient that all the best keepers possess, belief in his own ability. He seems to be unflappable, something we have not had the privilege of seeing in the Arsenal goal since safe hands Seaman.

The team needed the second goal before half time, just to settle any underlying nerves, Theo duly obliged with a left foot strikers finish rounding off a lovely move involving Cesc, Clichy and Nasri. The great thing about the finish was Theo’s desire to reach the ball before Bridge, moving around him to apply the decisive touch like a true centre forward.

The second half was more of the same, complete domination of possession, Chesney was called on to make another fine save from Sears miscued cross, but the result was never in doubt and the players ran out at a canter.

Van Persie converted the third from the penalty spot after Theo had worked his way in to the area and debut boy Bridge completed a pretty disastrous day by bringing him down.

Nasri gave us something different today and showed us what we were missing against Leeds and Ipswich, a player who is willing to run at and past defenders either with ball at his feet or with little give and go passing. He gave another string to our bow today and he sure knows how to play it.

The early goal helps us, we now need to see that we can play this way for 88 minutes without scoring and nick a game 1-0, then we can start dreaming of trophies.

Player ratings:

Szczesny……….9

Koscielny…….. 8 (calmness personified)

Djourou……….  6 (few tricky moments under pressure from Cole)

Clichy …………. 7

Eboue …………. 7

Fabregas……… 7

Song ……………  7

Wilshere …….. 8 (continues to play with maturity beyond his years)

Nasri …………..  8

van Persie…..   8

Walcott ………. 8

Some may think the 7’s harsh, but I just think they all did what was expected of them no more no less.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

To Win the Title, Wenger Must Not Repeat Last January’s Mistake

January 10, 2011

This time last year we were on a long unbeaten run and were beginning to hint at the possibility of a serious title challenge.

There was one glaring problem – we did not have a lead striker.

Robin van Persie was out on one of his trademark lengthy injury lay-offs and Nicklas Bendtner was filling the berth next to him in the treatment room.

The result – Andrei Arshavin as centre forward.

I still have nightmares about some of those games where we played the Meerkat as our CF: his little legs scurrying around among the ranks of Jurassic defenders, those brave but pointless jumps to try and win headers against six-foot-plus titans. Sometimes his only viable tactic was to try and run through the defenders’ legs. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that Arshavin hasn’t been the same player since.

During the January window it was obvious that we needed to strengthen our injury-depleted attack and it was also clear whom Arsene had in mind for the job: Marouane Chamakh.

But the boss felt Bordeaux were asking too much money for the Moroccan international (who had only a few months left on his contract) and preferred, instead, to wait until summer to bring him in on a free.

The rights and wrongs of the Chamakh non-move last January have been much debated so I don’t want to go into them again here. But I do feel that, even if he thought it wasn’t right to bring in Chamakh at that point, Arsene should have looked for other quick fixes to the striking problem. Perhaps a loan deal, or a relatively low-money move for a veteran forward (like when ManUre snapped up Henrik Larsson in 2007 on their way to winning the title).

And so to this year’s January Transfer Window.

This time our problem is at centre back, not centre forward. Our best defender, Thomas Vermaelen, has been out for most of the season and there are real question marks about whether he’ll be back in the short to medium term.

Fortunately Johan Djourou has really stepped up to the plate and both Squillaci and Koscielny have made better starts to their EPL careers than they are often given credit for.

But what if one of those three got badly injured – particularly if it was big Johan? We would be seriously weakened at the back and you would have to doubt our ability to sustain a title challenge.

Yes, we could push Song back into a CB role, but he offers so much in the middle of the park (and has no obvious replacement for that role in the squad) that it would be equally damaging to move him.

So, as they say, it’s déjà vous all over again, only this time it’s a defender we need, not an attacker.

Chris Samba has been mentioned, as has Gary Cahill. Per Mertesacker is being linked with us (I like him a lot but Big Raddy makes the reasonable point that a mid-season arrival should ideally have EPL experience).

I really hope Arsene goes for one of them. I hope he realises that although his failure to acquire a striker last January can’t be said to be the only reason we failed to sustain our challenge, it at least played a part.

To see the same thing happen again would not only be deeply disappointing, it would also be a major faux pas on our manager’s part.

Come on boss. Make that move!

RockyLives

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Posted by RockyLives

Looking ahead ……. 2nd half-term

December 21, 2010

Written  by MickyDidIt89

Boxing Day and the visit of Chelsea marks the beginning of the second half of term, and I have some thoughts on the way that half may pan out. Should Utd win their game in hand, then in points speak,  we would be as close to 1st as we are to 5th.

Every team is always open to criticism in some quarter or other.  Knowledgeable supporters often agree on their teams’ weaker areas, however, with the 2010-11 Arsenal Vintage, this is far from the case. I think before a ball was kicked this season, most Gooners would have said the goalkeeper was the obvious area of weakness, that we had made good defensive signings and that surely one of them would be good enough to forge a strong CB partnership with TV. Song looked like he was developing into a real star last season, and along with Frimpong’s pre season displays, we had Denilson who I certainly believed was about to do a “Flamini”. After a solid World Cup, just maybe, RvP’s injury problems may have been behind him, on top of the fact that we had made a great looking signing in MC.

It is my belief that any team hoping to win top honours should be armed with three World class players. I would say that we do have three, in RvP, Cesc and Nasri. However two of them are very injury prone. Therein lies the first of two problems that I believe we have.

At the same stage of last season, we were gazing longingly into the transfer window in the belief that by adding a striker we could go the whole way in the league. This time one of my wishes would be for an injury free second half – term from Cesc and RvP.

It is very probable that the winners of the league will be the ones that keep their most influential players on the pitch. You only have to see how Chelsea have wobbled in the absence of Terry and Lampard, and the points dropped by Utd whilst Rooney was resting at The Nike Home For The Wayward, to see the importance of these players.  The other factor will be how the managers operate in the transfer window.

Would I enter the transfer market? Yes, I would, but only for an established World Class Leader, if such a person was available. This is to resolve the second of my problems. Leadership.  For which position? Here’s the odd bit. I don’t really mind. Perhaps an Adams, maybe a PV4, but whoever it may be, this man will be at the top of his career. That’s it, no resale value.  This would be short termist. Or would it? The way I see it, is that no harm would be done to the development of  JW, Ramsey, Frimpong, Gibbs, Theo, JD et al, to spend one or two seasons in a Trophy winning team developing the sweet taste of success.  It does not appear that there will be much between 1st and 5th, so with one big heave ho, we can be at the happy end!

Some of you may be evacuating to a bloggless land for Christmas ( whilst I cannot make it to the village shop), but let me take this opportunity of thanking Rasp and Peaches for this wonderful platform, thanking fellow bloggers for their wit, charm and great company, and wishing you all a Very Happy Christmas.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

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