Mr Wenger. Earn your corn….

October 14, 2010

Given the choice of players in the Premier League there are few that I would swap for our boys when they are on form, and that is the point of this post …. when they are on form.

What is the difference between Arsenal and Man IOU? It is not the talent of the players, nor is it application, no, it is Consistency. Being brutally honest, MU are a pedestrian team with two fantastic forwards who when they are off-form cause the entire team to struggle, how would it be if the rest of the team played as patchily for a season? And yet that is what Mr Wenger has to put up with week in week out.

We have perhaps two consistent players – very few of our players perform at their top level week after week, Sometimes they are coming back from injury, other times they are carrying an existing injury, but nonetheless we struggle for a constant high level performance from anyone.

It wasn’t always thus. You knew when PV, TA, Keown , Dixon, Bould, Parlour, Nutty, Seaman, Gilberto etc took to the field what type of performance to expect, they without fail delivered .

Let’s take today’s team. Cesc and Vermaelen are certainly reliable performers, yet both are/have been  injured and thus give no consistent platform to the team, which any side with Champion pretensions needs. To win the PL a team has to have at least 6 players playing at the top of their game, they need to be reliable, the go-to players when the side is struggling. Which current players carry that responsibility?

A couple of seasons ago we could look to the full backs to give regular dependable performances but even the stalwart Sagna has been poor on occasion, and as to Clichy – one never knows whether he will be brilliant or cost us a goal.

Arshavin is inconsistency incarnate. A wonderful player on his day, which is my exact point. I realise that flair players are less likely to be consistent but Arshavin is at the peak of his considerable powers and ought to be great every time he steps over the white line

Song would have been my most likely candidate to become a stand up guy, but this season he is all over the shop. One week solid and accurate, the next cannot find a red shirt. The same can be said for Diaby, a super talent who has yet to  put 3 decent performances together in a row. Rosicky is another who can flatter to deceive, he can play superb passes that offer others tap-ins. and then goes missing for 45 minutes

Theo? He had a fine start to the season and we can but hope. The form of our new centre backs has wavered – of the two; Squillaci appears to be the more reliable though to be fair they will take time to settle into the PL. The same can be said for Chamakh who has been good and sometimes very good.

There is no need to discuss the goalkeeping situation.

I have left the two consistent performers to last. Nasri and Wilshere. Both have given top notch performances every game they have played. To me Nasri has carried the inventiveness of the team in the absence of Cesc, his driving play in the dreadful team game versus WBA was testament to his desire to give of his best. He is going to be an integral player at THOF for many seasons. And as to JW. What is there to say that hasn’t been said already? What a prospect.

The difference between us and Chelsea or Man Utd is that they have players who consistently play well. Fletcher rarely has a bad game, nor do Vidic, Giggs, Ferdinand, Park, Scholes, Van de Saar, Carrick or Neville (of whom, IMO only Vidic & VdS would get in a top form AFC). With such a platform they can allow capricious performances from Nani, Rooney and Berbs. Chelsea have consistency throughout their side (and is probably why they got rid of Joe Cole) which is why they are Champions. Of course it is simplistic to suggest that the only differences between our sides is purely consistency, we have been subjected to an awful raft of injuries to highly important members of the team,  we do not compete at a financial level and on the whole we have been unlucky (I would like to see the stats of which team hits the woodwork the most). But sending out a dependable team is essential to our prospects and the old excuse of youthful inexperience is no longer valid.

So what does Mr. Wenger do about it? How does he make young but now experienced players play at the top of their game week after week? Well, he is the manager and gets paid handsomely to supply the answers; I on the other hand have no idea ….

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Posted by Erik the Red

Staring down the barrel ……. Are you feeling lucky Punk?

October 3, 2010

Why Oh Why can’t we ever have a fully fit first team when we play Chelsea? I am convinced that had we Cesc, Vermælen, Van Persie and Theo fully fit and firing on all cylinders we would win this fixture, without them there lies some doubt.

I believe that if the 4 missing players could each play 30+ games a season we would win the League. We have a brilliant first 11 (bar the GK!!) but  taking out our best defender, best forwards, and the best midfielder in the world is putting enormous pressure upon our capabilities of challenging Chelsea for the title. It would on any team.

Apart from the blip last weekend and that silly overtime goal at TSOL we have played very well this season. Fantastic, high scoring wins against admittedly moderate opposition should have given us great confidence going to the Bridge, but those two games have left a major doubt over the team, and Chelsea away is not the best place to go when confidence is not 100%.

Then there is the goalkeeping issue. I am guessing that Fabianski will play and I wish him (or Almunia) the very best of good fortune, however  ….. oh, I am so bored with this whole GK scandal. Let’s just use some of the shedloads of profits on a decent keeper in January and be done with it.

So where is the hope that we can get a result? It lies within the blessed feet of Arshavin and Nasri, and the combined strength of sinew and muscle of our defence. We all know the strengths of Chelsea’s attack, they have power and pace and have undone our defence too often for comfort. However, we have a shiny, new pair of CB’s who will be desperate to show they can be the equal of Drogba and Anelka (who in a just world would be wearing an Arsenal shirt).

Even without Cesc (and there remains hope he will play) our midfields cancel each other out. Missing Lampard, Chelsea look bereft of inspiration, relying on the lung bursting energy of Essien and the power of their forwards to create goal scoring opportunities. Whereas we have a wealth of creative players who are learning to stand up to the battle. I would start Wilshere who looks a special player; there are few creative MF’s who have his appetite for the physical side of football.

My main concern is Malouda.  He can win the game single handedly, and it will require vigilance from our midfielders to protect our full backs.  We have to defend as a team and not allow the vast open spaces that led to previous Chelsea goals, Song in particular will have to curb his attacking instincts.

My team (can I keep my 100% record?)

Fab

Sagna Squid Kos Clichy

Denilson Song Nasri JW

Cham  AA

Chelsea’s record of over 100 goals last season was phenomenal and a testament to their attacking resolve. They are a fantastic side and definitely the best PL team since the Invincibles. The work done by Ancelloti has been of the highest calibre – to take a succesful but dull, mechanical team and turn them into entertainers was superb. Let’s hope they are one season wonders!

To go to last season’s Double winners and leave with 3 points is a big ask, but We are The Arsenal and We are the Best ….

COYRRG.

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Posted by Erik the Red

So far so good. Part 1. The Defence – written by BigRaddy

September 8, 2010

Written by BigRaddy

The Interlull (tm Arseblogger) allows assessment of the season so far,  and despite the paucity of games, we have much to discuss.

I would like to start with our esteemed manager. Apart from the GK blip, Wenger has been very good with 3 top class signings in close season. In my opinion the biggest signing of the summer (or of any summer) was the renewal of Mr. Wenger’s contract. To agree such a long contract (4 years) at his age shows an enormous commitment by a 60+ year old and the level of his love of the club.

It should be remembered that AW could have gone to any club in the World and yet has chosen to stay; for all their wealth and glory neither Barca nor Real Madrid have managed to co-erce him away. Ask yourself this, had AW chosen to take the France manager’s position that he was offered, would France have so badly under-performed and would we be one of the top 6 teams in the World (we currently rank 4th in UEFA’s listings)?

In the games so far we have seen nothing new where substitutions are concerned. At Anfield, 2 subs on 60 mins and RvP on at 76 –  Blackpool 3 subs within 3 minutes on the hour, and Blackburn, 3 subs , two through injury/tiredness and one to give Jack a runaround as he was annoying AW by playing with his gameboy.  I have to say that I have been infuriated in the past with AW’s subs but this season he has changed things when the need has arisen. Taking off two attacking MF’s and replacing them with Vela and RvP at Liverpool was a very positive move and one which eventually brought results.

Mr. Wenger’s tactics have been spot on as well. The first half at Anfield was the template for what we have seen since, the classic Wengerball of possession, changes of pace, overlapping fullbacks and a high defence.

Almunia. Too much has been written about him, but in my opinion he has played as he always does, pulling of some fine saves but being inconsistent on crosses. The Liverpool game encapsulated Almunia – great saves followed by coming for crosses he had no chance of catching and in my opinion a mistake for Liverpool’s goal – I hate to see a GK beaten at his near post, no matter how hard the shot is. That said, he played a blinder at Ewood, and he is our GK.

The new signings are always under the microscope and I believe we have much to be grateful for. Koscielny’s baptism at Anfield was always going to be difficult, yet he passed with flying colours looking confident and comfortable, linking well with TV and covering Sagna when he attacked. The sending off was extremely harsh, though his first yellow for a full bloodied tackle was a delight to see. He is clearly a tough man, to come back after that dreadful tackle by Cole (as deserving a red card as any we will see this season) shows a determination to succeed at his new club. How he would have fared against a fully fit Torres remains to be seen. He wasn’t bullied by Blackburn and more than held his own with the aerial attacks, but he got badly turned by Hadj Diouf (spit spit) for Blackburn’s goal.  One mistake in two games for a newbie is very acceptable.

The signing of Squillaci is very good. I cannot recall seeing him play, but the stats are very impressive. A man with huge experience, played in a CL final and a regular International. I believe he will be the first choice CB ahead of Koscielny in the big games. We have definitely strengthened in the centre of defence, by replacing the creaking limbs of Swiss Phil, WG and Sol with younger players with top flight experience.

Our two full backs have had differing starts. Sagna is in great form, both in attack and defence. One could say that he went missing for Blackburn’s goal but if he is to be an attacking threat (particularly with Theo going central), he is reliant on coverage from others. His is an awkward position because of Theo’s attacking skills outweighing his defensive abilities. How does Sagna choose when to go forward? As he is such a potent weapon both in adding numbers on the right side of attack and in allowing Theo to move centrally , his choices have to be perfect. The space behind him has to be filled by Song or Diaby, and he is dependant upon their awareness of Sagna’s forays.

Clichy has been criticised  for his continuing poor form and many call for the emergence of Gibbs, but I think he needs more games to re-establish himself as one of the world’s top left backs. He has been turned too often for comfort and his distribution has been poor, in particular his crossing.  However,class will out and Clichy is a class performer. Some of his interplay with with Arshavin is excellent as they become an effective team, I love to see Gael with the ball at his feet in a tight situation and with AA in front of him – they contrive to play almost magical football in turning defence into attack. It is also interesting to note that Blackburn were a non-existent threat down our left.

Vermaelen. Excellent as always. What a find this guy is, already the rock upon which our defence is built. Hard as nails, athletic and a fine reader of the game.  The Blackburn game was the test to see if we had learnt to defend continual long balls and he led the defence in a manner the great TA would have been proud of. The signing of Squillaci has extinguished my fears should  TV  get a long -term injury, at last we have decent cover for this wonderful defender.

3 games. Two goals conceded. We look tight and secure and the communication appears to have improved. The only negative is no defender has scored yet.

7/10

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Posted by Erik the Red

Jagielka, Cahill and Hart ….. a glimpse of what might have been? – written by Rasp

September 7, 2010

Written by Rasp

After Dawson’s unfortunate injury (ahheerrmm) playing against Bulgaria last Friday, we saw the defensive triangle of English players that many had wished we could have signed this summer – and I thought they looked pretty good, but then again, they weren’t up against the most testing of opposition.

Of course the idea of us signing any of those players was just unsubstantiated speculation fuelled by a national press expert at feeding the paranoia of football fans. There is no concrete evidence that these players were available, willing to move or even the subject of interest from Arsenal.

The likelihood is that all three will all play against Switzerland tonight, so we will get a second chance to assess them. Are they any better than our trio of Vermaelen, Koscielny and Allmunia?

Vermaelen and Jagielka are very similar in height and stature. Jagielka has had two very good seasons at Everton and looks comfortable in international football. He’s strong and brave, good in the air, reads the game well, experienced (he’s 28) reasonably quick and dependable – all of which applies equally to Vermaelen, who at 24 is just coming into his peak. TV has captained club and country and scores more goals than the Evertonian, so although Jagielka is a good player, all in all,  I’m very happy to have our future captain (?) at the Arsenal.

Cahill and Koscielny are physically quite different. Cahill is 6ft 2in and powerfully built. He too is very good in the air and also looked the part when he came on for England. Both are developing their game at the age of 24 and can only improve. Cahill looks a reasonable footballer, but I’d say Kozzer has the edge in that department. It will take time for Koscielny to settle into the English game but he has huge potential. I thought he was better than TV against Liverpool but was outmuscled too easily by Diouf against Blackburn. If LK can develop into a ‘TV clone’, we will have an excellent CB pairing. He is more capable of playing wengerball than Cahill and is said to be working on his strength for the physical challenges that lie ahead.

Joe Hart can do no wrong at the moment and on current form, is probably the best keeper in the Premier League. It’s too easy jump on the bandwagon and draw unflattering comparisons between Hart and Almunia, – so I’m just going to list a couple of elements of Hart’s game that make him such a good keeper. He is confident. He has very strong wrists so when he makes contact with the ball it generally flies out of the danger area. His distribution is good and he communicates well with his defence. I expect him to be England’s number one for many years.

Almunia has my full support and has made an excellent start to the season. It is obvious that his confidence is fragile, but the more decent performances he can deliver, the more assured he will become. He should take strength from his team-mates, Eboue and Bendtner, who defied their critics and won their way back into the hearts of the fans.  The resolve of the defence and willingness of all the outfield players to ‘defend as a unit’ will also play a part in Almunia’s fate. Of course he will make mistakes – all keepers do, what is more important is how he reacts to setbacks. Arsène’s policy will be to give his keeper total support and that’s the way it should be.

We will know by Christmas whether the affable Spaniard has risen to the challenge. I would suggest that he is in the last chance saloon and if his form slips, we may yet sign another keeper in the January window.

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Posted by Rasp

Some goals, some heroes – Back to the future….

August 2, 2010

Arsenal3 Celtic2

It was only a pre-season friendly but having taken the lead after 2 minutes following some wonderful build-up play I felt sure that Celtic were going to get a hiding. Watching the footage of the first goal again I was amazed to see Theo running back to stay on-side before LJ passed to him and he in turn flashed the ball across the front of the goal for the onrushing Vela to tap home.  There, you see, Theo does have a footballing brain  but sadly that was about the only time he used it.

Theo’s name  receives the loudest cheer when the teams are announced, the collective wills of 60,000 people want our No. 14 to be the hero and its still not happening.  His crosses were whipped into the box time and time again to no-one. Someone, somewhere has to be learning a lesson from this, if its not Theo then who??? On a positive note he did take a pretty amazing free-kick that he’s obviously been practising and was unlucky not to score.

Another player unlucky not to score was Wilshire who received the ball on the edge of the box from a Rosicky corner. His perfectly executed volley hit the bar and he was quick to head the ball as it returned to him but the keeper was as quick and denied the young mid-fielder his goal. Wilshire is also a hero in the making and there is talk of him being called up to the England squad. If he had scored with this volley he would have cemented his place in Arsenal folklore but I believe he’ll have many more chances to do that.

Thomas Vermaelen is already a hero in my book, he is aggressive in everything he does and the shot he blasted at the keeper must have stung his hands. He scored some great goals for us at the start of last season and I’m hoping that being the caretaker at the back doesn’t stop him getting the chances again.

But there was to be an unlikely hero in this game and it came in the form of Bacary Sagna who scored a fantastic goal in the last minute of the first half. All his team-mates rushed to celebrate with him and a few had wry smiles as they left the pitch for half-time thinking of the chances that had been missed.

It was hard for Arshavin and Chamakh to get any sort of hold on the game when they were introduced late on in the second half but Nasri was busy again playing in the Cesc role. Although Wilshire was awarded MOTM, Frimpong put in another solid performance and I hope he gets his chance.  He’s lively and aggressive, had a few misplaced passes but always chased back after the ball.

It was all going to plan – 3-0 up and the party atmosphere was infectious cue panic and a nail-biting finish.

Celtic were awarded a penalty as Wilshire dragged a player down in the box which was skied by Samaras and then the visitors set about ruffling some feathers scoring two goals late on. We were again left with the familiar feeling of having played some beautiful football, created what could have been some amazing goals but we could have been undone by some chronic defending.

Here we go again ………………………….

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal get it wrong again.

July 27, 2010

The closing of the transfer window at midnight on the 31st of August is still over a month away. Yet the football blogs are awash with disconsolate fans, convinced in their own minds, that the fact that their club has not yet purchased the top player they believe is indispensable, is proof positive that the club or manager lack ambition.

Arsenal are a case in point, having just paid £8.5 million for a centre half that had been scouted and watched continuously for months by the same people who had  evaluated and recommended Thomas Vermaelen for AW. We immediately find our new man is derided as not good enough, supposedly lacking class, not the world-beater the club needed. These opinions based mainly on the amount of money paid for the player. The argument being, if he was any good he would have cost more and of course it also proves no one else is coming in because AW wouldn’t spend that much on a back up.  Regardless of the fact that at this level football is a squad game.

Mind you TV himself, quoted by many judges as the best PL buy of last year, is, according to these blogging super coaches part of the problem. He isn’t big enough even if he has a big jump, he is easily knocked off the ball by bullying centre forwards and needs a giant next to him for protection at set pieces. I would love one or two of these guys to tell him  that to his face. He doesn’t look a pushover to me.

In thinking about this I am reminded of Brian Clough, “Cloughie” in his heyday loved punters, fans and pundits to tell him what he needed. Rumour has it, that on one memorable day he was informed by a reporter that the  European club they were going to play had a centre forward who was the most deadly header of the ball in the business, “Don’t you worry young man says Cloughie, we have a secret weapon, a young man from a pacific island, he is 7’3” cant kick for toffees but makes his living heading and cracking coconuts as they fall from the tree, how’s your man going to deal with that” says Brian and walks of laughing.

More than a month remains of this transfer window. More business is usually done in the final fortnight than in all the preceding weeks. Personally, I am going to sit back, watch the preseason games, enjoy the silliness on the blogs, TV and radio and await the first of September with anticipation, knowing that the boss is more likely, than probably any other premiership manager to surprise us all with quality players – in his own good time!

Written by dandan

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Posted by dandan

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