Tag: Arsene Wenger

Has there been a compromise between Bould and Wenger?

TotalArsenal

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Arsenal’s performance against the Royals was just what the doctor ordered, and there were signs that Arsene and Bould are starting to find the balance between solidity at the back and a deadly thrust up-front.

Of course, it is early days, and just as I am the first to point out that a bad result does not mean Arsenal are rubbish, it also needs stressing that a good performance and result against Reading does not mean Arsene and Bould have turned the corner. It also needs stressing that Arsenal needlessly conceded two goals, and that we in fact drew with the Royals in the second half.

However, looking at the game for a second time, there seemed to be a pattern to our play throughout the game which might indicate that Bould and Wenger are starting to find the formula for sustained success for the rest of the season.

One wing at a time

Without Theo playing on the right wing, where he formed such a formidable partnership with Sagna during last season especially, Arsenal channelled their wing-attacks through the left for most of the game. Sagna stayed a lot more behind than usually and Ox had to work more in isolation compared to Pod. The German has less tricks to his disposal and relies a lot on support from Cazorla and especially from his brother in arms; the fantastically versatile Gibbs.

Ox is less dependable on support in order to work some magic on the right wing, especially if and when he is giving the most sought after commodity of all for an attacker player: space in front of him. There were signs on Monday that AOC is slowly rediscovering his form and – closely related – his confidence.

Reading allowed us a lot of space on the left wing and boy did we benefit from it. When Gibbs went forward to support our attack the rest of our defence stayed mostly in position, which gave the defence a well-needed stability. Something Bould will have been pleased with.

Vermaelen and Mertesacker more conventional

In general, I thought both the BFG and TV played more conventionally on Monday. They concentrated hard on keeping discipline and there was a strong focus on pushing up and getting Reading to walk constantly in their off-site traps. This worked out very well for most of the game, but as the two goals we conceded showed; further fine-tuning is a must.

It was also clear that TV ventured forward less than usual and this might be another compromise between Bould and Wenger.

Arteta even more our orthodox holding midfielder and Wilshere handed the biggest role of all

I thought Arteta did really well again on Monday. When he is allowed to keep it simple and sit in front of the defence he can be very effective for us. He has got a great positional sense and uses his intelligence really well in sussing out danger. He plays in such a way that you almost do not spot him for large parts of the game, as he allows the team – and us as spectators – to concentrate on the attacking opportunities ahead. We rely heavily on him which of course is a concern, but that is a discussion for another day.

The biggest role on the night was given to Jack. I cannot tell you how much I love this guy right now. What a difference he makes with his drive, intelligence and ability. Yet, he looked so fragile at times on Monday, and we have to wonder whether his body will be able to take the continuous physical challenges he has to face in this pivotal role.

Jack was everywhere and covered the area between attack and defence tremendously well on Monday. Supported by Arteta, he ensured we could keep continuous pressure on the Reading defence, and he was instrumental in winning back possession in midfield as well.

Cazorla played a lot closer to our CF

It was great to see Santi play so close to our CF, Theo, against Reading. I thought Santi played in the DB10 role on Monday and he did remind me of him at times. I did not know he would be so effective in the opposition’s box, but his runs into it, and his general awareness and prowess to finish off opportunities, were a very welcome surprise (at least to me). On top of that, he was just as effective in what he is more known for: finding clever through balls and dictating our attacking play in general. It truly was a top performance by the little Spaniard on Monday.

Jack playing in the lynchpin role and working his socks off together with Arteta, allowed Santi this free role and boy did he reward us for it!

One question that needs answering in the next few weeks is whether Santi can play as close to Giroud as he did to Theo. Theo is a more mobile and faster striker and can exploit space so well: he makes intelligent runs which are very hard to track by the opposition’s defenders, and for Santi, Theo is a dream to play with – just as Henry was for Bergkamp – as he both loves to feed the ball to him in space and likes to benefit himself from the space Theo creates for others.

Of course, we would also need to see how the combination of Walcott and Cazorla in the centre of our attack would work against the disciplined ‘park the bus’ teams, but a more permanent switch towards Cazorla in the hole and three more fluid attackers up-front could well be the way forward.

Plenty of food for thought, I hope! So. let’s discuss. 🙂

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger gets unexpected praise from Johan Cruijff

TotalArsenal

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It has been tough for Arsene over the last few weeks with a disappointing run of form and an embarrassing exit from the League Cup. Both praise and support have become a rarity lately; in fact, a number of ex-players and pundits have been highly critical of Arsene’s tactics, general style of management and player purchases.

All of this cannot be easy for the beleaguered Wenger at the moment, so, it must be great for him that nobody less than the most famous Dutch master of football, Johan Cruijff himself, is using Arsenal as an example of how Ajax should organise itself.

Cruijff wrote today, in his personal column in the Dutch paper ‘De Telegraaf’, that Arsene Wenger has found the right formula on how to be successful in top football without jeopardising the club’s financial position. He said: ‘His [Wenger] work is also for Ajax an example of how it should be done. Don’t let yourself get crazy by the rest, but stick with what you are good at. So, that means education, efficient scouting, and sharp dealings with regards to buying and selling players.’

Cruijff believes this is the best way forward and that it is important to stick with it, especially when a team goes through turbulent times: ‘It can happen now and again you suffer from a set-back, as is currently the case at Arsenal, but in the end things will come good again by sticking with this formula.’

And there is further praise for Arsene: ‘I think it is incredibly impressive, that under his [Wenger’s] management the club [Arsenal] have remained at the top for years, without getting into depth once. Arsene has turned out to be able to identify himself as one with Arsenal.’

And Cruijff wants his Ajax to stick to the same formula: ‘That is what we should do with Ajax. We should profile ourselves as the great youth educator of Europe: because a restriction does not always mean a shortcoming.’

I bet this will bring a rare smile to Arsene’s face, and if Cruijff says it, it must be true: because he really knows! 😉

Total Arsenal.

Let’s get off Arsene’s back, and keep some perspective!

TotalArsenal

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Arsene can be stubborn and a bad listener; and Arsene makes mistakes. He surely has bought a number of rubbish players over the years and he holds on to underperformers far too long. Arsene lacks grace and humility at times, and can be a very bad loser. He also is a hopeless romantic; in search of beautiful football and fairness in our favourite sport, at the same time.

But Arsene bleeds Arsenal.

And being a child of the sixties, I will always have a soft spot for those who want to make the world (of football) a better place, and are so passionate about what they do.

He gives his all for the club continuously and unreservedly, and has stayed loyal to us when he could have easily run away.

And guess what: except for being so idealistic,  more or less all of the above characteristics can be found in any other top manager: from Cruijff to Van Gaal, and from Ferguson to Mourinho, from Capello to Sacchi. Unfortunately, for most parts, these are not very charming and tactful people, but they have become so successful because they are dominant, stubborn and powerful; and because they know football so much better than any of us do.

One of Johan Cruijff’s well-known sayings is: every advantage has a disadvantage and every disadvantage has an advantage; and the fact that Arsene is both stubborn and a romantic is in my view the main reason for him staying put at our club for so long.

Would Arsene have decided to leave as soon as the new ground was completed – something Van Gaal did to Ajax from which they still have to recover 16 years later – I am absolutely convinced we would have been in the same position as Liverpool and Spuds, and many others over the last few years: not more than top four hopefuls and absolutely no chance of winning the PL; or taking part much in the CL at all, let alone having a chance to win it. Arsenal have come short over the last seven years, but in most season we have been in with a shout of winning something.

We have all become victims of our expectations: when high expectations are not being met, it will normally lead to huge disappointment. Disappointment becomes anger and anger needs to be vented. And who do we have to vent our anger at: the players and the manager. The players are the responsibility of the manager, and as with any other football club that falls short of the fans’ expectations, the call for the head of the manager will eventually become louder and louder.

The world’s best manager of the past decade- according to FIFA’s statisticians – has been extremely consistent for Arsenal. And with that consistency come expectations of moving it up to win silverware every season; and Arsene himself has only one desire, and that is to get back to winning ways. If you doubt that, then you are a very bad observer of human behaviour and/or utterly gullible to cheap media headline stories.

So Wenger is struggling to get this team to understand the system of football he wants them to play this season; to make them believe in themselves; to make them gel and re-discover their fantastic form of the early part of the season. He is also finding it very hard to find the balance between making the team defensively sound and yet playing attacking football.

He has had to cope without two of the four best players of last season, Song and Van Judas; and Theo – another one of the four – will be leaving him in the lurch as well soon. On top of that he needs to fit in three new attack minded players and make them understand how he wants them to play.

Of course, it is disappointing that we are currently seventh in the league and already 15 points behind the Mancs; and losing out on penalties against Bradford City with a very strong team, was a painful humiliation for us all too.

However, for fellow Gooners to say that Wenger does not know how to do tactics – and  there are even those who believe that all his successes with Arsenal are simply due to luck – is the biggest insult you could give to Arsene, and could not be further from the truth.

For example, give me another manager who loses the likes of Clichy, Nasri and Fabregas and has to endure season-long injuries to the top-top talents of Diaby and Wilshere, and come to realise that Ramsey is very likely not to make the grade, and Rosicky is constantly injured; and still finish above heavy spenders Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spud-bums in third position, after such a bad start!

Was that all luck rather than tactical nous, really? Making Arteta our anchor, and Song our lynchpin player who became a main provider of vital assists, was simply genius and it singlehandedly saved our season.

Did anybody really believe after the summer that Arsenal had a strong chance to win the PL this year? Yet, if this team can find some cohesion and form, within no time it can be third in the league again. Arsenal have qualified for the last sixteen of the CL, and we are only five points behind Chelsea who are currently in third position. So, some perspective is needed here.

For Arsene, the most important thing is to get the system of football working again. Once he has that fixed, Arsenal will go from strength to strength once more. This might take a while longer, but rest assured Wenger will get Arsenal there as soon as possible, and he is the best man to fix it right now; in the middle of the season.

The squad is good and has lots of potential, but could do with some improvement in key areas. And it also looks now that Arsene can spend more in order to get better quality players in: a trend that started with the purchases of Mertesacker, Arteta, Oxlade, Giroud and Cazorla, etc. And hopefully Arsene can move it up one more level very soon with the sort of players discussed in The Gooner’s excellent, in-depth post yesterday. A beast of a DM and a proper quality winger would be very welcome.

Should Arsene be blamed for the constant need of our team to go through a seasonal transition: dealing with the loss of our star/world class players and bedding in new players constantly? This is without any doubt the main reason of our inability to win silverware at the moment.

Maybe indirectly he is to be blamed; by not agreeing to players earning a lot more than others in his team, and by his idealism that it should never be all about money. But nobody knows this for sure, and I reckon there was really little more he could have done to keep Fabregas and Van Judas.

However, I have no doubt that Arsene’s lack of pragmatism has the potential of holding us back to some extent, but ultimately he is a winner who wants nothing more for Arsenal, AND himself, than to be as successful as possible. And for me, that goes a long way.

I suggest we all need to sit back a bit more and give Arsene the credit he deserves and the time needed to turn it all round once again. If you want to vent your frustrations, aim them at the Board. They are the ones who need to ensure we hold on to our top talents and give Arsene the best resources possible – even if this would mean having to manoeuvre Arsene towards the perfect middle of idealism and pragmatism; romance and bread and butter stuff.

We need to stand behind Arsene and help him as much as we can. If in the summer we come to the conclusion our season has not come good and/or there is a strong indication we are once again going to lose one or more of our top players, I would fully understand those who want the manager, and ideally Kroenke as well, gone.

But now it is not the time to ask for Arsene’ head; now is the time to unite behind the manager and the players, by giving them our full support.

Total Arsenal.

Seriously, which top manager would want to do Arsene’s job?

TotalArsenal

arsen-wenger_2409298b

The call for a change of manager at Arsenal is getting louder and louder, as more and more fellow Gooners feel that Arsene has no longer got what it takes to win us silverware. Arsenal are seventh in the table and trail the league leaders by 12 points, which is obviously very disappointing.

However, how much can Wenger be blamed for this and is replacing him the solution? And who would want to do Arsene’s job in the first place?

Wenger builds teams inductively: he has a general vision of the sort of football he wants to play and works hard with his players – often young or raw diamonds rather than established stars – to develop them slowly but steadily into a top-team. Arsene is fantastic at building teams bottom-upwards and his approach is a world away from the here and now – spend as much as you want – team gathering philosophies of the likes of Madrid, the Manchester Clubs, or Chelsea.

The one thing that is required, though, is not to sell the cream when it finally rises to the top.

Fabregas, Clichy, Song, van Judas should still be playing in our team, but, for various reasons, Wenger was not able/allowed to keep hold of them. As a result, Arsenal are in constant transition, and I doubt any manager could have put up with the amount of change Arsene had to deal with over the last few years.

The team that Arsene built around Fabregas had such great potential. If Cesc and Clichy had stayed and Arteta, Mertesacker and Gervinho had nevertheless still joined us, how much stronger would our team have been last season? The same goes for this season: if van Judas had not deserted us and Song had not been sold to Barcelona, and Podolski and Cazorla were still added to the team, how much better would we be doing now?!

Now, we could discuss forever whether the club could have prevented the sale of our finest players, or even whether Arsene himself is to blame for this to some extent, but the fact is they are gone and Arsene has to build a top-team once again. Obviously, this takes time and we, the supporters, whipped up into a continuous frenzy by the media, are unhappy with the lack of progress and not adding anymore silverware to the trophy cabinet recently.

At least in the short term, it looks like Arsenal will be unable to hold on to our top players easily; and I have little doubt that Walcott is the next one to be creamed away. Luckily, more funds are now available for Arsene to buy ready mate, experienced replacements, and some very good young players are starting to make their mark now as well. All is not lost, and it takes an experienced and patient manager to deal with the need to keep rebuilding, or at least adjusting, our team on a more or less constant basis.

Arsene Wenger

Other than Wenger, which top manager could work under these circumstances successfully; and moreover, who would be crazy enough to do it?

Jurgen Klopp, I hear you say. Maybe: he is no doubt talented and has had to deal himself with the loss of key players. But, in Germany he does not have to deal with two oil-financed clubs; his main competitor is the (naturally) mega-rich Bayern Munich, but he has been able to outfox them for the last two years – just like Arsene used to do in his early Arsenal career with Manchester United.

Klopp also has the luxury to replace the one or two players he looses every season from the rich, and yet affordable, German recruitment pool. At Arsenal, he would find himself under considerable more constraints, and pressure at the same time: I doubt he would want to swap with good old Arsene right now!

Pep Guardiola, is the other name that is shouted from the rooftops as the ideal replacement for Wenger. Why would he want to take over from Arsene? The first thing he is likely to ask for is assurances that nobody is sold unless he agrees to it. Just like Arsene, he would want to build a team around Wilshere, Ox, Theo, Szczesny, Miquel, Eisfeld, Cazorla, Giroud, Gibbs, Koscielny etc. He would also like significant funds to bring over a few more talented Spaniards. Would he get what he wants from the BoD? I doubt it very much. Guardiola is a man who can pick his next club out of almost anyone, and he would be daft to choose ours, given the constraints he would have to face.

I have heard other names: from Mourinho to the more top-club-inexperienced managers such as Moyes, or the latest hot-shot, Michael Laudrup. Mourinho is very unlikely to ever join a team again where he has to compete with limited means, and he also has very little staying power: definitely not the sort of manager to build the future of Arsenal around.

It would be best for us to realise that it is unlikely any of the top-managers would jump at the vacancy Arsene would leave behind. Furthermore, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spuds have shown us time and again that a change of management is more likely to make things worse than better.

A promising but unproven manager is far more likely to want to join Arsenal, and maybe they could do better than Arsene. But that is a big risk to take, and this could easily go horribly wrong. I do understand, though, that some fellow Gooners just want a change, as they are getting tired with Arsenal’s seasonal blips and all the associated negativity: and don’t we all?!

However, for me it is clear that Arsene is still the man for Arsenal. If I was his friend, I would tell him to jack it all in.

As an Arsenal supporter, I hope he’ll stay and somehow gets the best out of the predicament in which he has to operate, and by hook or by crook make us win silverware again.

Arsenal can change the manager, but for the time being, we are unlike to change our predicament. Best thing to do is to adjust our expectations a bit, and to keep giving Arsene our full and passionate support.

Total Arsenal.

How Arsene should prepare the troops for the Spuds game

TotalArsenal

Despite rumours of Arsene changing from our current 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 formation, I am absolutely sure that Arsenal will line up as usual against the Spuds on Saturday. I would love it if we changed formation, though.

As I have written recently; 4-5-1 would be ideal for us. Not the formation, as that in itself does not mean anything, but the playing philosophy that comes with it. In my opinion, this would suit us so much better than the current wing-play addictive 4-3-3 (see also previous posts).

So, for now the formation seems to be a given, and I am also going to say that we have a good squad of players available for Saturday. What is far more important is that Arsene gets this team both to gel together better and to be mentally totally up for the task.

Mertesacker, Podolski, Jenkinson, Giroud, Koz, Wilshere will all be coming back today, so Wenger has less than 48 hours now to get all his players fully focussed and motivated to be ready for battle against the Spuds. We all know that if Arsenal start with the same belief and focus as we did against the Mancs, we will be in big trouble.

Now, many will argue the players should not need to be motivated for this one; this is the North-London derby for feck sake, so go out there and work your arses off like no tomorrow!

But, many players in our first team squad have not, or hardly, played in a North-London derby before, and although they will understand the concept of heated derby encounters; they do not necessarily understand what is exactly at stake on Saturday, when the Spuds visit the home of football.

If we are not fully up for the battle, we are not going to end up victoriously: the management have it all to do to get the team fully focussed before Saturday morning.

How should Wenger and Bould prepare them for battle in the next 48 hours? How would you go about?

For what it is worth, I tell you what I would do:

  1. I would tell Vermaelen privately he is no longer going to be the captain;
  2. I would tell Mertesacker he is our new captain;
  3. I would replace Mannone with Szczesny and Vermaelen with Gibbs – the rest picks itself;
  4. I would have a one-to-one with Walcott and tell him ‘to give his all or else’ on Saturday;
  5. I would ask Bould, Parlour, Dixon and whoever else is available to each talk for half an hour about what the NLD means to Arsenal supporters, and what it meant to them as players;
  6. I would then show them a video about the battles we had with them over the decades;
  7. I would ask a dozen long in the teeth LOCAL supporters to explain what winning and losing to the Spuds means to them; to let them share their experiences with the players;
  8. I would then show a summary of Jack Wilshere’s performance against the Mancs of two weeks ago, and tell everybody there and then that they all have to follow his example;
  9. I would then finish with Arsene explaining to them what a win would mean to him; and what will happen to them if they let him down on Saturday.

I would then let them go to their individual rooms and stay there till the following morning, after which steps one to nine would be repeated again.

That’s what I would do, but I am sure others will have better ideas of how to get our team ready to fight with everything they have got on Saturday.

Total Arsenal.

Why does Wenger not simply jack it all in?

TotalArsenal

It cannot be much fun for Arsene at the moment.  In fact, how much fun has it been for him over the last seven years? Many will say, he is doing a job and is paid handsomely for it; so why should it be fun for him?

But Wenger is not the youngest anymore and managing Arsenal in these demanding and frustrating times is constantly taking its toll on him. He does not need to do it for the money, as all he does is watch footie at home anyway.

I have no doubt that Arsene could have managed any club over the last seven years. If he were to announce tomorrow he is leaving Arsenal, he would in no time be managing one of the Spanish giants, or any of the top Italian, German or English teams; with the only possible exception of MU.

If there is one question I would like to ask Arsene, it’s why he did not go somewhere with rich resources and the ability to build the team of his dreams; why he stuck with Arsenal despite the hardship he must have known he would be facing from the moment the build of Ashburton Grove began.

Having read many comments on several blogs regarding Arsene’s motivation to stay put at Arsenal, I know that opinions are strongly divided with regards to his reasons to do so. Many believe it is because of his loyalty towards the club: he simply did not want to leave us in the lurch, they say.

However, there are also many who believe that Arsene is not going anywhere else because he won’t get an easier job than he has at Arsenal. They believe that other top clubs would expect better results than Arsene has achieved in recent years – somewhat conveniently forgetting that Arsene had a very successful first nine years of his career at Arsenal.

I reckon there is more truth in the former than the latter argument, but more than that, I believe he has stayed at Arsenal for so long because he wants to leave something behind that will never be forgotten, and will make him immortal at our club – and in football in general. Arsenal is his life’s work and it is not finished yet. He is too old now to start another project of this scale.

That’s the only explanation I can give for him staying and putting up with all the abuse and stress he has to deal with on a constant basis. If he were to leave now nobody would begrudge him finishing his career at another top club with far better resources than Arsenal; and what would he have to lose? In the short term, he is more likely to win something again with Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern, Man City, Chelsea, etc.

By no means do I believe Arsene is flawless. There are plenty of characteristics and managerial/tactical decisions that irritate me and wish he would do differently. As a supporter I have the right to say that, but what I will always respect is that he is no quitter and keeps fighting for his job and for Arsenal.

I would have jacked it in years ago, and I wonder whether he will regret, say in ten years, that he did not move on a few years after Ashburton Grove was completed. Let’s hope he will not, and that despite having vastly inferior funds available for buying top of  the range players, and not being allowed to hold on to those he has nurtured to world-class levels – an absolute cry and shame – he will somehow help Arsenal to silverware again in the final part of his career.

If he manages to do so, he will indeed enter the realms of Arsenal and football immortality, and his mission will be complete. If he does not, he could finish a broken man.

Total Arsenal.

Dark clouds are gathering above Ashburton Grove

TotalArsenal

Today’s performance against Fulham has confirmed what many of us have feared: Arsenal’s decline in form and performances are of a structural nature, rather than a periodic blip.

Every recent game has seen shoots of improvement: Wilshere’s return has given us more dominance of the midfield; Theo’s return on the wing has helped with us scoring more goals; and Giroud is slowly coming good.

However, as today’s game showed once again, Arsenal continue to struggle with their own identity; we are shapeless, plan-less, and organisation-less. The 4-3-3 formation is not working for us at all.

We keep playing the same midfielders who are exhausted and simply unable to dominate our midfield anymore. Arsenal are often outnumbered in midfield by opponents and I have seldom or never seen us so bad at both passing the ball round with real verve and intent, and hunting down opponents from the moment we lose the ball. We look knackered, clueless and lost at sea.

Our defence is all over the place: we got beaten from a set-piece, a counter-attack, and from a simple penetration of our penalty box (by giving away a penalty). There is no cohesion or systemic play between our defenders at the moment; no shape, no organisation and no believe.

We are all over the place and nobody is taking command. TV should do it but cannot do it, Mertesacker can do it but is not the captain. Mannone is trying hard but is visibly not part of the defence and is left to his own devices far too much.

I am sure somebody has figured it out by now, but when was the last time Arsenal gave away a 2-0 lead to go behind to 2-3? Unbelievable! We are 11 games into the season and there are no excuses anymore: let’s get back to basics again and defend a clean sheet at all cost.

Arsenal scored five goals in five days and there is hope that we are finally getting back to a semblance of a strike force. However, as a unit the strikers are all over the place and offer very little support to our beleaguered midfield, with the exception of Giroud. OG should still improve further on his ability to hold on to the ball and shield it better, but at least he is now getting better in this area. But Podolski and Theo have both been rubbish at making themselves available and holding on to the ball. As a trio: Giroud, Theo and Podolski need to gel a lot more, but this should hopefully improve over time.

Just like around this time last year, we are operating with three autonomous mini-teams – defence, midfield and attack – who are not linking up enough with their counterparts in order to help each other. Arsenal are definitely less than the sum of its parts at the moment, and by the looks of it this is not going to change any time soon.

There are very dark clouds gathering above Ashburton Grove and Arsene has his work cut out to make a swift and lasting improvement.

Patience and time are running out, and Arsene and Steve better put their sleeves up to take us once more to the land of Wengerbal.

Total Arsenal.

Wenger’s major first-team selection headaches

TotalArsenal

Mannone or Szczesny, Theo or OG or Pod, Ox or Rambo, Pod or Gerv, Jenkinson or Sagna, TV or Koz?

Arsene Wenger is facing a number of major first-team selection decisions in the next weeks, in order to get his system of football working properly again.

Arsenal are going once again through a major transitional period, which was forced upon us predominantly by the traitorous departure of you-know-who. Various new players are being incorporated into a new system of football, and it should come as no surprise this is taking some time; although most of us were fooled – including this Gooner – into believing Arsene had somehow worked miracles in gelling together the new squad over the summer, after witnessing a number of fine team performances at the early start of the season. It just was too good to be true.

It is clear to everyone, we are going through another transitional period, and in order to get out of it as successfully as possible, Arsene is faced with a number selection choices for his ‘ideal’ first team squad.

I am assuming that Mertesacker, Arteta, Cazorla, Jack and Gibbs are automatic first team starters, but for the other six team positions first choice decisions have to be made.

Assuming everybody is fit, who would you make our first team starters?

Mannone or Szczesny

They are both young and relatively inexperienced, and are both promising talents. Vito had a number of fine performances recently, and Wojcieh has had a very rough patch in his football career since the Euros. Who is the biggest talent as well as the safest pair of hands, and who fits best with the rest of our defence right now?

Theo, OG or Pod as our main central striker

Van Judas’ enforced departure and the subsequent purchases of Podolski and Giroud, Theo’s continuous contract shenanigans, and the late arrival of Santi Cazorla, meant that, except for Gervinho, Arsenal had to incorporate into the team an entire new strike force.

Giroud has been our main man up-front, but Theo and Pod really want to play there as well, and Arsene has also tried Gervinho as our central striker. Many of us have suggested we should play two up-front: Giroud and Theo, Giroud and  Pod, or even Pod and Theo, but let’s assume Arsene is going to stick with our current 4-3-3 system this season; who would you play upfront and why?

Ox or Rambo (or Gnabry)

I personally still feel that Theo should be an automatic start on the right, but we know that his starting position is a major part of the current contract negotiations, and as a result, Arsene has seldom started him on the wing this season. We played Ox there and Rambo. The latter was played there if and when we felt we needed an extra body in midfield. Both have had mixed performances on the right, and I feel it is an area in which we need to strengthen during the winter-break. But who should Arsene go for until then: Ox, Rambo, or maybe even Gnabry?

Pod or Gerv

The left wing is the most natural position for Gervinho, but Podolski has been Arsene’s first choice LW in most of our games until now, with Gervinho regularly starting in the centre or on the right. The Pod looks utterly ineffective on the left without his twin-brother Gibbs supporting him, but the young Englishman has almost recovered from injury, so things could improve again for the feisty German. Who would you choose?

Jenkinson or Sagna

Well, this is probably the most difficult one to decide on. One is less experienced, but has done very well for us this season; the other has returned from a long injury and is a safe pair of hands for us. Jenkinson is the better crosser, but Sagna is the calmest and most composed of the two. Sagna had a great partnership with Theo last season, but Theo is not playing much on the RW anymore; who would fit best with your first choice right winger?

TV or Koz

That is another hard one to decide on for us, and TV’s captaincy difficulties do not make things any easier. Some might argue they should play together and Mertesacker should be left out, but I reckon that none of them can bring to the team what the big German is giving us at the moment. TV and Koz are very similar players and are great to have in our team, and I would struggle to choose between them, but who would get your vote?

I have deliberately not made any choices yet, as I don’t want to influence the debate too much today. However, I will post my choices later in the day.

Bergkampesque always welcomes contributions of (new) bloggers, so please don’t hesitate to comment. 🙂

Total Arsenal.

Arsenal’s recovery will start against QPR – Time to get behind the team again!

TotalArsenal

It absolutely amazes me how much ‘structural’ dissatisfaction there is in Gooner-world at the moment. Just like anybody else, I am of course unhappy about the last two results, but for so many fellow Gooners this seems to have triggered a black depression of epidemic proportions.

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The reality is we lost two games in a row, and there is no reason whatsoever to believe this is not just a blip. This is the team that beat Liverpool and WH away, drew against Man City, and had some other fine results lately; playing some lovely football in all of these games. We simply have not become a rubbish team overnight: I am just not having it.

We are 6 points behind the number two in the PL and are second in our CL qualification group. We are suffering from a lack of form and confidence, but we are a big club with the second most experienced PL manager at the helm, and we have been here many times before. We will get over it and grow from strength to strength over the next few months.

Admittedly, the football we played in the last two games has been poor, and I have explained in previous posts what the most probable causes are for this. Once our wings are properly functioning again and either Jack or Diaby motor us on in midfield, this team will by firing on all cylinders again.

I am not jus saying this because I love the club and am by nature a glass half-full kind of person. I just believe in our squad and manager, to get us back out of this again, and go on a winning run.

I reckon the big, structural dissatisfaction stems from the realisation that we are probably, once more, not ready to win something major this season. Expectations are always high, and those encouraging performances against Pool and Citeh, and a few others, made us all start to believe that this new team had fully settled in, and we would win some fine silverware this season. This might still happen, but the chances are not that high at the moment.

We are a team in transition, whether we like it or not, and it will take time before our current team will find consistency in their performances; so needed if we want to win anything. Our team is almost unrecognisable from that of 24 months ago, and it just takes time to make it gel in such a way that all squad members can play at their best in Arsene’s system and philosophy of football.

I totally expect us to get back to winning ways against QPR on Saturday, and I think we will surprise a few people the weekend after next, when we take on the Mancs. Players will return to help us improve in key areas and Wenger and Bould will work hard to improve our current system, the quality of our football, and the levels of confidence and form of the players.

I totally respect that many don’t share the same believe I have in our squad and the abilities of our manager and his assistants, but this Gooners is confident we’ll bounce back in style from now on; starting with QPR tomorrow.

Whatever you feel or think, the team needs us to support them with all we have on Saturday.

Come On You Rip-Roaring Gunners!! 

Total Arsenal.

No focus and disjointed all over the park: Arsene and Steve have a job to do!

TotalArsenal

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We have all learned over the years that supporting Arsenal is a roller-coaster ride, but last night’s unexpected woeful performance against the Canaries was nevertheless a painful stab in our Gooner hearts.

Away games after long inter-lull periods are often tricky for the top teams, as they have many internationals who only return late mid-week – often tired and carrying knocks – whereas the smaller teams tend to have lots of time to prepare for their home game with more or less the entire squad.

But of course, this cannot be a valid excuse, as we should expect Wenger and Bould to both make the right call on who is fit enough to play and make sure the team will start the game with the right game plan, focus and motivation.

As a team Arsenal failed miserably last night: the whole was definitely less than the sum of its parts.

I would struggle, though, if I had to pick a player who did not work hard enough yesterday. Individual work rates did not seem to be the problem – but as a team, something was missing. We never looked focussed or cohesive throughout the game. In fact, we looked rusty, toothless and disjointed all over the pitch, and totally deserved to lose.

It is utterly disappointing that Arsenal were not better prepared mentally for this game, and I tend to blame Wenger and Bould for this.

Last night I started to sense we were not going to win this game, as early as five minutes after Arsenal conceded Holt’s goal. It was against the run of play, but, unfortunately, we have become vulnerable again to conceding this sort of goals (ManCity, Chelsea x2, West Ham, and now low-on-confidence Norwich).

Conceding that goal should have told the whole team they needed to fight once again to somehow take the three points back home to London – as we did so well against West Ham in our last PL game – but we never lifted our game enough to achieve it.

In a nutshell: Arsenal were never focussed and ‘together’ enough to win last night’s game.

Not only were our wings thrust-less, we also lacked panache and energy to find a way through the Norwich yellow and green hedges in the middle of the pitch. There was simply not enough movement with or without the ball to trouble the Norwich busses, which was very disappointing to watch.

A very disappointing performance and a very disappointing result, but most of all I am disappointed in Wenger and Bould. Sending out a team that lacks focus and is disjointed all over the park is simply not good enough.

Some perspective is needed, though. It is so easy to jump to big conclusions about how rubbish everything is at Arsenal right now. But a team that beat Liverpool and West Ham away and played fantastic football against ManCity only a few weeks ago, still has plenty of credit left. It is now about how we respond to that unacceptable performance at Carrow Road in the next few games.

The players have a role to play, but I have little doubt that most if not all the players in our first team squad are genuine hard workers who give their all. We also have plenty of very good footballers and there is good strength in depth.

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The changes we need to see are mainly the responsibility of Wenger and Bould. We need better tactical and mental preparation for games, and we need to become a lot better at absorbing forced changes to our formation. Two and a half month into the season, we should not suffer so much from injuries to the likes of Szczesny, Diaby and Gibbs: good management is about making the right substitutions without the system of our football being adversely affected.

Arsene and Steve: over to you.

Total Arsenal.