Friday 31 August 2012

Judgement day: squad holes need plugging


The good news thus far is that Park and Bendtner have gone, temporarily on loan that is, and we have hopes of clearing out several other pieces of dead wood come midnight too.  The bad news is that nothing incoming has happened since Song's departure and most of us agree that we need at least a couple more players for the squad if we are going to be strong enough to compete on all fronts this year.

I have summarised our current squad below, players in black are excellent players, players in blue are decent squad players, players in green are promising youngsters, while players in red are not good enough:

Goalkeepers: Szczesny, Mannone, Martinez, Fabianski

Defenders: Sagna, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscelny, Vermaelen, Djourou, Gibbs, Santos, Squillaci

Defensive/all-round midfielders:  Arteta, Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere, Frimpong, 

Attacking midfield/wide forwards: Cazorla, DiabyRosicky, Gervinho, Walcott, Arshavin

Centre forwards:  Giroud, Podolski, Chamakh

Obviously the colours and the positions are very subjective, but overall this is a pretty good way of focusing the mind and appreciating where the strengths and weaknesses of our squad lie.

Overall I am pretty content defensively, we have three top centre backs and a decent 4th choice in JD.  We have two excellent full backs and decent back up, Jenkinson's performance at Stoke may well have cemented his place as Sagna's deputy.  I rate Szczesny, Mannone is ok and Martinez is  a great prospect.

When we start to move further forward the problems start.  With Song departing we are very short in terms of experienced players who can sit and play with discipline in a deeper midfield role.  Arteta is great but we need some quality to complement him, as well as take over from him when he is injured or fatigued.  I firmly believe we could come into serious trouble if Arteta gets a significant injury, it is too big a gamble to take, especially given his injury record.  The counter argument is that Coquelin and Frimpong are good enough, this is a decent point, however if we are without Arteta for any significant period then it is too much to expect these young chaps to deliver consistently.

Up front we are also short of central forwards.  Giroud and Podolski are both excellent but in different ways, Giroud is a strong and powerful player who can hold the ball up, Podolski can play centrally or as an inside forward.  The problem is that we have very little back up beyond these two and that is not enough.  When the games come thick and fast, we may get hit by injuries, so it is utterly barmy to start a season with just two centre forwards.  We need a third forward and ideally this player would be young and pacey, and someone who is happy not to be starting week in week out.

That's my two pence worth anyway.  We need an experienced midfielder and a pacey 3rd choice forward.  The frustrating thing is that we're not far off at all, but gambling by leaving ourselves short in these key areas could see us utterly shafted if we get injuries in these key areas of the squad.  We need to minimise our chances of being shafted by bad luck and a couple of additions are essential in this regard.



Sunday 26 August 2012

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!


It was sort of what I had expected today, but the solidity we showed defensively was a real positive, even if it was slightly balanced out by our lack of cutting edge when it really mattered.  Stoke provided their typical challenge, they were well organised, compact, late in the tackle and cynical with their time wasting.  They certainly deserve some credit for their work rate and organisation, however several of their tackles crossed over a line and the cynical nature of the time gaming was not impressive, typical and expected though.

We controlled the game for the most part, Stoke rarely threatened, one correctly disallowed goal for offside and that was about it from them.  We created a lot of half chances and we also opened up their defence on several occasions, it was just a bit disappointing that our final pass or cross was not quite on the money.  This was particularly the case in the first half, Gibbs got into a couple of terrific positions, the final ball was lacking, Podolski had taken up some great positions and it is one of those things that happens when players have not played together much, there is not that instinctive knowledge of where one's team mate is floating.

Podolski had out best chance in the first half, his goal bound shot was batted away by Wilkinson's arm, a clear penalty by anyone's book, unfortunately the hapless Mason waved play on, not for the last time unfortunately.  Ramsey had a decent chance from the edge of the box in the second half, unfortunately he screwed his effort wide.  Other than this there were quite a few long range efforts, some of these stung Begovic's gloves, but too many drifted harmlessly wide.

Cazorla was hugely impressive, Arteta disciplined as ever, if there were some weaknesses, then Diaby and Gervinho didn't really deliver enough final product.  Podolski and Giroud worked so hard for the team, a lot of the latter's hold up play was outstanding.  The back four were excellent, Mannone didn't put a foot wrong either.  Without the ball we played so much better than we did in many away games last season, there was some good no nonsense defending and less dangerous possession football in our own defensive areas.

Overall we deserved three points one hundred times more than the opposition but it just wasn't to be, we couldn't quite crack the nut in the end.  A special mention for Lee Mason who was typically weak in his performance, not only did he miss the stonewall penalty for Wilkinson's handball, but he persistently have Stoke some very soft free kicks in our half of the field, as well as letting Stoke get away with some terrible reckless tackling.  This was epitomised by the yellow for Wilkinson's shocking second half lunge, the Stoke players reacted as if they knew a red was on the way, luckily for them Mason is as limp and toothless as they come, a yellow was all he could produce.  It was just lucky that we didn't get any legs broken today, tackles like Wilkinson's are designed to end careers, truly appalling stuff from Pulis' Neanderthal cloggers.

Overall we must take heart from this new found defensive solidity, but we must also look at hard at our attacking options and consider bringing in some more fire power before the window shuts next week.  A point away at Stoke is definitely nothing to be sneered at, it is a very very tricky place to bring anything away from.  Finally a special mention for that large majority of Stoke fans who seem to think they are being funny with their Arsene Wenger obsession, actually they would do well to realise that 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery', this Freudian slip on their part is rather amusing and ironic, the joke is on you Stoke fans!  As for booing Aaron Ramsey for having his leg shattered by Ryan Shawcross' thuggery, that needs no comment, it just tells you a lot about the kind of human that supports Stoke City, sad really.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Zef Kolombi signs for Arsenal


It is now official, the mighty Zef Kolombi (pictured above outside his Albanian/English mansion house) has signed for Arsenal.  Arsene Wenger has an undoubted talent for spotting the unknown and Zef looks likely to be his greatest ever master-stroke.

Zef plays for the Albanian U-16s and has a fantastic record.  Such is his prodigious talent that he captained the Albanian U-12s to World Cup glory back in 2008, and despite going down to four men in the final, Zef pretty much carried them over the line single handed.  In fact, such is his talent that it is rumoured Sir Alex Ferguson's only hope of stopping Zef will be to arm Howard Webb with an M-16; even then, such is Zef's agility, he may still be tricky to stop.

Such is his dominance in the Albanian youth leagues, that Zef even needs his own possession stats, normally both sides average around and about 30% between them, with Kolombi averaging about 70% possession by himself alone!  Amazingly Opta stats have confirmed that Zef has never lost a football match in which he has played the full ninety minutes.  There are also some unconfirmed reports that Zef has been seen flying in training, we await photographic confirmation but have some reliable Twitter sources to back this up.  His mode of transport for his first Emirates home game will be eagerly anticipated by the media and Albanian royal family.

Arsene Wenger has such faith in this young Albanian that he has made him vice captain of the senior team, in fact is was a tough call for the manager, it must have been sorely tempting to replace Vermaelen at the club's helm, but a change so soon would not have been good for team spirit.  All those fans criticising Wenger and the board have yet again been proven to be first class idiots, Kolombi has the keys to the Premier League trophy cabinet in his hand, Arsenal will now be champions!

Finally for those of you who struggle to detect horse manure, I can confirm that this story is definitely not untrue and that I would never knowingly spread an unsubstantiated rumour as fact.  Zef Kolombi is now a Gooner!




Sunday 19 August 2012

Disappointing not to win but no crisis!


It was just as many of us would have expected, Sunderland were efficient and organised, we dominated the possession and the game, created a fair few chances and on balance should have won the game.  Unfortunately we couldn't quite finish Sunderland off, credit to them for their organisation and a decent goalkeeping performance, and we need to sharpen up in front of goal too.  The major positive was the fact that Cazorla sparkled.  It was certainly no disaster and a crisis?  Well, don't make me laugh!

I think many of us are far far more optimistic than at the same time last year.  The club is on the right track, the signings have been excellent and if, with Song leaving, they can add the right players on top of the bunch we already have, I think we will be significantly more dangerous this season.

Briefly on the Song situation, he simply has to go, the way he has behaved like a spoilt brat and tried to bully the club into giving him more money via some dodgy tactics using his agent is deplorable.  We do not need idiots like him at our club, especially when on considers that a significant problem we have had in recent seasons is complacency against smaller sides, Song has been a key part of this complacency and lack of discipline in my book, good riddance.

The media love to bash Arsenal because a large number of footballing hacks are a bunch of pathetic corrupt charlatans.  This has been perfectly demonstrated by the rank bias shown by the gutter dwellers on Sky's Sunday Supplement.  The BBC have not impressed with their faulty match statistics, 52% possession for Arsenal?  That is just plain wrong, very poor indeed.

It is funny that Liverpool are not in crisis, and it is also amusing how Pardew's despicable shoving of an official has been largely glossed over by the biased cronies in the media.  Imagine if Arsene had shoved an official?  The FA would throw the book at him.  However when Di Canio pushed a referee, he was rightly punished severely, yet when Darren Fletcher shoved a referee when playing for Manchester United the media didn't even comment.  We have a pathetic bunch of corrupt hacks in this country, they simply treat people well if they are given gifts and favours, hence it won't surprise me if Pardew is treated leniently.  The FA should throw the book at Pardew, pushing an official is wholly unacceptable and is a real disgrace to football.



Thursday 16 August 2012

Why RVP simply had to go


RVP has gone and the speculation as to his reasons for leaving is rife.  In fact a lot of absolute rubbish is being spouted  by a lot of people with rather obvious vested interests.  The photo of Kevin Pietersen is not a mistake, it is there to hint that the team must always come before the individual, and that arrogance can be a great destroyer of team spirit.  I don't think it takes a genius to work out why RVP left and here is my brief analysis from the evidence that is out there.  One key piece of information is RVP's disingenuous and cynical statement from the beginning of July:

"...it has become clear to me that we in many aspects disagree on the way 
Arsenal FC should move forward."

The above section is the key to RVP's departure.  The fact that a player felt he should be having such a say on the management of the club had already been made clear to Wenger and Gazidis earlier in the summer, a series of 'outlandish' demands had been made by RVP and his team, from this moment on the club knew full well that  he had to go, the only question was how to go about extracting as much money for his sale as humanly possible.  Amy Lawrence and Arseblogger have described events in more detail.

The bottom line is that RVP strengths are his weaknesses, and no doubt his arrogance has cost him here.  The player who had such an erratic history in terms of injury and form had got carried away with one great season and the captaincy.  He had become so cocky and self important that he felt he should be contributing the club's management, including the finances.  The club could not keep a player who was trying to dictate financial policy to them, he simply had to go.  In fact the club never even offered him a deal of any kind after his ridiculous behaviour at the meeting, RVP had in effect signed his own death warrant at the club.

It is indeed sad that a player who many of us thought has his head screwed on has let himself and the club down so very badly.  As Arseblogger comments today, it is likely he had some very bad advice from his agent and will regret this decision when he is old enough to grow some maturity of thought.  RVP can never become a footballing legend, he could have been this at Arsenal, and all he can be at Manu is just another one of their fickle cohort.

I am sure the same old tired arguments will spew forth from certain corners and certain people with vested interests will try to paint RVP as the innocent party, while trying to blame the club for his departure.  This version of events is nowhere near the truth though, RVP left the club with no choice, his ego had got too carried away after one brilliant season, he felt he was entitled to be player, captain, manager and economist.  No player can be bigger than the club and this is unfortunately what RVP wanted to be.  Arsenal will be bigger and stronger without RVP, we simply cannot afford to have this kind of disruptive arrogance in our midst.  Goodbye Robin, thanks for the memories.

The Olympics highlights RVP's empty greed



Football has been slowly dying for several years now, the sporting element to the game continues to diminish and is replaced by the ugly face of rampant selfish greed.  The inequality in terms of money and the domination of the elite few is not only resulting in the league becoming less competitive year on year, but it is also resulting in human nature's worst side being exposed in the form of the stupid money grabbing players who are driven on by their even greedier blood sucking agents.

The London Olympics was an absolute breath of fresh air, despite the corporate logos and merchandising, the vast majority of the sport on display retained the spirit, the sense of fair play and sportsmanship, the passion and the soul that football is so very sadly lacking these days.  Merely competing and representing one's country seemed to mean so much to so many athletes, it really was a fantastic event and was such a stark contrast to football's soulless business model.

Robin Van Persie is joining Manchester United.  He is perfectly entitled to leave if he wants and it is a great fee, the problem is that Van Persie has deeply embarrassed himself in the manner of his departure with that pathetic selfish statement.  He betrayed a club, manager and set of fans who stood by him through the thin, and there was a lot of the thin, he was injured a hell of a lot, but people kept the faith in him and he delivered in the end.   The statement was a selfish insult to those who had supported him throughout his time at Arsenal.

I won't insult RVP and I won't hate him, hate is a pathetic emotion that only destroys the person doing the hating, I merely feel sorry that RVP has made this poor decision, he has shown his greedy selfish core and that saddens me.  He could have become an absolute legend at Arsenal, instead he has destroyed all that he has built, he may well win a fair few trophies up in Manchester, but in my opinion he will look back on his decision with regret when he is older, wiser and has the advantage of retrospect.  Money or trophies cannot buy respect or cult status, RVP has let himself down with the manner of his exit this summer and that is why many of us feel let down.

On the broader topic, I am really struggling to love football these days, it is nothing to do with winning trophies I may add, frankly I wouldn't mind if we didn't win anything for many more years, it is more serious than that.  The game, the sport of football appears to be dying in front of me and I do not think I am alone in thinking this, the Olympics has allowed many of us to zoom in on football and see what an ugly greedy beast it has turned in to in recent years.

Sport should be about fun, sportsmanship, competition and healthy rivalry.  There is so little of this left in the modern game of football.  We have rotten corrupt greedy governing bodies, we have massive financial inequality that is resulting in the domination of a few bankrolled clubs at the expense of exciting competitive action, a despicable level of dissent is rife, there is a rank lack of on the field sportsmanship, there is so little loyalty, there is so much vile hatred from supporters.  I struggle to see how football can claim back its soul.

Wednesday 15 August 2012

The Olympics contrasts with Football's empty greed


Football has been slowly dying for several years now, the sporting element to the game continues to diminish and is replaced by the ugly face of rampant selfish greed.  The inequality in terms of money and the domination of the elite few is not only resulting in the league becoming less competitive year on year, but it is also resulting in human nature's worst side being exposed in the form of the stupid money grabbing players who are driven on by their even greedier blood sucking agents.

The London Olympics was an absolute breath of fresh air, despite the corporate logos and merchandising, the vast majority of the sport on display retained the spirit, the sense of fair play and sportsmanship, the passion and the soul that football is so very sadly lacking these days.  Merely competing and representing one's country seemed to mean so much to so many athletes, it really was a fantastic event and was such a stark contrast to football's soulless business model.

Robin Van Persie is joining Manchester United.  He is perfectly entitled to leave if he wants and it is a great fee, the problem is that Van Persie has deeply embarrassed himself in the manner of his departure with that pathetic selfish statement.  He betrayed a club, manager and set of fans who stood by him through the thin, and there was a lot of the thin, he was injured a hell of a lot, but people kept the faith in him and he delivered in the end.   The statement was a selfish insult to those who had supported him throughout his time at Arsenal.

I won't insult RVP and I won't hate him, hate is a pathetic emotion that only destroys the person doing the hating, I merely feel sorry that RVP has made this poor decision, he has shown his greedy selfish core and that saddens me.  He could have become an absolute legend at Arsenal, instead he has destroyed all that he has built, he may well win a fair few trophies up in Manchester, but in my opinion he will look back on his decision with regret when he is older, wiser and has the advantage of retrospect.  Money or trophies cannot buy respect or cult status, RVP has let himself down with the manner of his exit this summer and that is why many of us feel let down.

On the broader topic, I am really struggling to love football these days, it is nothing to do with winning trophies I may add, frankly I wouldn't mind if we didn't win anything for many more years, it is more serious than that.  The game, the sport of football appears to be dying in front of me and I do not think I am alone in thinking this, the Olympics has allowed many of us to zoom in on football and see what an ugly greedy beast it has turned in to in recent years.

Sport should be about fun, sportsmanship, competition and healthy rivalry.  There is so little of this left in the modern game of football.  We have rotten corrupt greedy governing bodies, we have massive financial inequality that is resulting in the domination of a few bankrolled clubs at the expense of exciting competitive action, a despicable level of dissent is rife, there is a rank lack of on the field sportsmanship, there is so little loyalty, there is so much vile hatred from supporters.  I struggle to see how football can claim back its soul.

Thursday 2 August 2012

Cazorla signs - the irony as Malaga implode



It is a done deal.  Hopefully it will quieten some of those incessant whingers who seem to love doing the club and manager down.  There is no doubt, this is a big signing, both financially and in terms of quality.  The really interesting thing will be if we add any other big names before the window is done.  Cazorla is quick, sharp, two-footed and can play anywhere across the midfield, he has a very decent goal scoring record too.

There is also a great irony here, a loud minority of Arsenal fans seem strangely keen to have a certain Alisher Usmanov involved with our football club, meanwhile Malaga have been shafted by their rich owner, a lesson we should learn from I would say, also take note, Stan Kroenke and the board are showing their intent.

I will wait and see what happens in the final few weeks of the window before casting judgement, but I have to say that the signings of Cazorla, Podolski and Giroud are extremely encouraging indeed.