togetherness – Page 4 – Bergkampesque

Return of Cesc-y football to Emirates? Barca, Fab and Arsenal to benefit!

June 6, 2013June 6, 2013TotalArsenal

There are relationships that don’t work due to unresolved matters that one from the couple has had with his/her ex. Now, don’t worry, this is not going to be another Dr Phil-blog about how you can improve your relationship or how to get in touch with the woman inside you. It’s about one of those transfer stories that will make your fingers clickin’ and clickin’ until September 1st arrives.

If it is true that nomen ist omen, then there haven’t been too many omens written better than the one that makes Francesc Soler Fabregas’ short name “Cesc” similar to word “sex”.

He was 17-year-old when he showed that he can cope with much older people (yes, there is a cheap reference to his love life) and even impose himself as a true class player. His maturity when it comes to passing game seemed abnormal, as his pass completion was around 90 percent when he led Arsenal’s midfield on the Gunners’ way to Champions’ League Final.

During his time in Arsenal, hopefully the one we will refer to as “The First Time Cesc Was With Us”, he took the starring role from the very beginning. Arsene Wenger gave Cesc the keys of our midfield and sold Vieira to Juventus and, later, even our formation was changed to exploit Cesc’s abilities. He took those keys and led the team on the pitch with assists and goals that it made you proud that such a player plays for your club (just remember that goal he scored against Spuds or that drive that knocked out reigning champions of Europe, Milan, on their soil).

Arsenal with and without Fabregas weren’t the same; a brief look at the stats in the last season of The First Time Cesc Was With Us tells it all. Would we have had him against Birmingham in Carling Cup Final… When he was at his best, Arsenal played silky and classy, sexy football that could be called ‘Cesc-y football’ as well. And that was some consolation for the fact we have failed to win a single trophy ever since we won the FA Cup in 2005; one of two trophies Arsenal won with Cesc in senior squad (the other was Charity/Community Shield 2004).

However, there was always a story about Barcelona. Cesc is a child of Barcelona that was adopted and nurtured by Arsenal. Barcelona gave him a birth; Arsenal raised him to world-class level. Barcelona was his first home; London was the place where he built his own (metaphorical) home.

The transfer saga about Cesc’s inevitable return to Barcelona made a lot of web-site owners happy, as they had a lot of to write about. Finally, after an ugly summer of negotiations, silent strike of Cesc, and Wenger’s reluctance to accept the fact he’ll have to sell both Fabregas and Nasri, Barcelona managed to take Cesc back in their ranks. I was angry at our manager that Barca got the player of his class so cheap – especially, after knowing that any possible replacement for Cesc would cost a lot more.

So, Cesc couldn’t resist to the call of Barcelona and he has been there for two seasons. He has already won European Supercup, Club World Championship, La Liga, Copa del Rey and Spanish Supercup. Five trophies in two years – don’t sound bad. His statistics haven’t been that bad either – 20 goals and 24 assists in 60 matches in Primera is a very decent return…except something is missing. That magical thing that made Arsenal and Cesc capable of making the other one special hasn’t recreated at Barcelona. That special thing is reserved for Lionel Messi; and even Andres Iniesta, who can arguably be called one of the greatest European players of all times, can’t come anywhere close.

Arsenal – on the other hand – went through two tough seasons without Cesc. Sure thing, Arteta, Rosicky, Cazorla, and to a certain extent even Song, in his first season…replaced Cesc in terms of goals and assists, but it seems like there have been no signs of sexy football at Emirates since Cesc left the building. Arsenal have been on a 11-game unbeaten streak in all competitions – with 10-game unbeaten streak in Premiership – but most of the games in that streak were as sexy as pulling your teeth out with rusty pliers and no anaesthetics.

Obviously, all three sides can find something for themselves in Cesc’s return to Arsenal.

Barcelona have their hands tied regarding Cesc’s sale to third club, due to first option Arsenal have and a 50%-sell-on-fee clause; so selling Fabregas to Arsenal for say £10m would be a better option for them than to sell him somewhere for £15m. And it would also free up space for Thiago Alcantara, who has been labelled as the next big thing from La Masia for some time.

Cesc would get a chance to return to the place where he truly belongs and where he would get the starring role that his talent deserves. He would get another chance to win a trophy as a key member of Arsenal team, as he was still a youngster when Patrick Vieira lifted the FA Cup in 2005. He didn’t get too much credit for Barcelona trophies he has won, so he might have an additional motive: “I don’t want to be remembered as the one who was part of the squad that won trophies; I want to be the one that leads his squad to the glory!”

He doesn’t need trophies; after all, he has already been a world champion with both club and national team. He needs trophies which are won mostly as a result of his contribution: that’s something that divides excellent players from legends.

Also, this Arsenal might be more appealing to him than it was when he joined in 2004. Unlike the Arsenal that was predominately built around French players and manager, this Arsenal have Spanish flavour with the likes of Arteta, Cazorla and Monreal with important roles in the squad, not to mention youngsters like Bellerin and Toral.

What is most important in the whole story is what Arsenal would get?

Arsenal would get a fantastic player who would add creative dimension needed to play proper Wengerball again. With newly found solidity in defense, Cesc’s connection with Arteta and Cazorla in creative department would propel us to title challenging heights, and probably clean the dust from Emirates’ trophy room. Also, Cesc would come as an experienced midfielder who won a championship with his best years yet to come.

Finally, let’s not forget one important fact – Cesc didn’t play any role in 2003-04 season but he participated in 49-match-unbeaten streak that ended through the well-known circumstances at Old Trafford in 2004-05, which makes him one of the rare “Arsenal 49-ers” (this one is my own coin that I use for Arsenal players that participated in 49-match-unbeaten streak – maybe it loses its worth when you know that it’s something that players like Pascal Cygan and Jermaine Pennant can brag about, but what the hell!) who are still playing at the highest level. And that might be a symbolic connection of Arsenal history (Invincibles) and future team, the one that is still, hypothetical, built around Cesc, Wilshere, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Sczszesny, Cazorla, Arteta, Walcott…that might spoil plans of Manchester duopoly and Mourinho’s Chavs next season.

Who knows, maybe at this time next year, every proud Gunner at their deserved vacation will order “Cesc on the pitch”-cocktail!

Written by: Admir.

For some Fab Cesc pictures, check out this link (TotalArsenal):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/picturegalleries/7739588/Cesc-Fabregas-Arsenal-career-throughout-the-years-in-pictures.html?image=4

Keeping Sagna, TV and Koz is paramount – time to show our class!

June 5, 2013June 5, 2013TotalArsenal

I have been reading ‘What money can’t buy’ by Michael J. Sandel, a normally rather dry and far too serious book for the football blogging world. It explores the moral limits of market thinking, and one of the subjects it covers has always intrigued me: intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in people. This, in my view, is a subject of great importance to Arsenal football club.

Sandel gives a number of interesting examples of how money sometimes kills something that is far more important than free market transactions: moral responsibility and intrinsic motivation.

I would like to highlight two of these, and please bear with me as the link with Arsenal will be made eventually.

The first one is with regards to ‘donation day’ at a high school in Israel. During this day students go door-to-door to collect money for charity. An experiment was done by a couple of economists to determine the effect of financial incentives on the students’ motivation. The students were divided into three groups: one group was given a brief motivational speech about the importance of the cause and sent on its way; the second and third group were given the same speech but also offered a monetary reward based on the amount they collected – 1% and 10% respectively. The rewards would not be deducted from the charitable donations; they would come from a separate source.

The unpaid students collected 55% more in donations than those who were offered 1%; and 9% more than those offered 10%.

The second one is regarding a location for storing Switzerland’s nuclear waste. One location designated as a potential nuclear waste site was the small mountain village of Wolfenschiessen, in central Switzerland. Economist surveyed the residents before an official referendum was due, and 51% said they would accept the waste site being built in their community. Their sense of duty for the greater good appeared to be bigger than the concerns about the risks.

The economists than offered a financial incentive: what if the Swiss parliament proposed to build the nuclear waste facility in their community and offered to compensate each resident with an annual monetary payment – a considerable amount: how many would then favour it?

The result: support went down from 51% to 25% and increasing the monetary payment did not make any difference.

These examples show two things to me: people are motivated by things like wanting to do good, public duty, and pride; money is not always the one and only factor when trying to achieve the best possible outcome/ changing people’s behaviour.

In the premier league we have gradually started to accept that spending lots of money on fees and salaries is the only way for clubs to be able to keep hold of their players and attract new ones. At Arsenal, we have had a number of players who left us because they simply could earn more money somewhere else and, to some extent, because they believed they had a better chance of winning silverware at their new clubs.

A football career is relatively short and players will want to maximise their income as much as possible. Although most players who left Arsenal recently were already multi-millionaires, I understand and respect that, however mercenary of them, they left Arsenal in order to better themselves. And if Van Judas had not deceived us so much with his faked love for the club and ‘I am a Gunner-for-life’ rubbish, I would already have forgiven him.

However, there is something else in football too and this has to do with pride, with the desire to leave something behind for generations, with becoming football-immortal. The pockets of Adebayor, Nasri, Van Judas, etc might be bursting with shiny gold coins, and they can even show a medal to their friends and family, but immortal they are now very unlikely to become. Bergkamp is immortal, Henry is immortal, Adams is immortal, etc, and not just at Arsenal: speak to any football fan in the UK, or even Europe, and they will eulogise along with you about the sheer brilliance of these players.

I am not naïve and realise the club operated back then in a different economic reality compared to recent years, and I also realise that we have once again entered a new phase, in which we ought to be able to compete better with the largest clubs in Europe, as well as the all-over Europe mushrooming oil-funded clubs, both in terms of attracting top talent AND paying them market-rate wages.

But this will not be enough, and we only have to look at Man City to realise that, in order to achieve a period of sustained success, much more is required than an expensively assembled team of top footballers.

We need a large number of players with not just technical and tactical qualities, but also an intrinsic desire to give their all for the club, and remain loyal: to want to win and take Arsenal to the very top again.

Arsenal has history and class; we are a club with strong values and principles and enormous pride. We now have a great stadium, play CL-football year after year, and (still) have a great reputation.

But it is important that our players, new and established, feel at home at Arsenal; that they, as well as potential new signings, recognise and appreciate our class and history. It is also important they believe they can win silverware with Arsenal; that we are not an in-between stop towards bigger and better things: that we are the final destination, the football Walhalla!

For that, the club’s management needs to (further) develop and promote an ambitious vision which the players buy in to. There also needs to be a fair and yet (at least fairly) competitive wage structure, and there needs to be a healthy dose of courage and bullishness to invest money in new, quality players, if and when required. And the club also needs to stick to its values and principles.

For me, it is paramount to keep hold of all our key players; and this includes those that reach the mature footballing years.

How can we expect our players to develop loyalty and remain intrinsically motivated to give their all, and want to win silverware at Arsenal, if the club does not look after those players who have been given their all for us?!

I understand why the club had to let go the likes of Pires, Vieira, Gilberto, Henry and Ljungberg, Toure and Clichy, etc in the last seven/eight years, but it is now time to show that we do look after our players and reward them for their loyalty and hard work at the club. Arsenal need to offer their players – young and established – (a sense of) continuity and proper care, and it needs to start with the likes of Rosicky, Vermaelen and Sagna.

Players will always have to be able to make the grade and remain good enough for Arsenal of course.

But if we want our players to properly care for Arsenal and go the extra mile, they will have to feel the same from the club.

Enough now of the cashing in on established, older players who still have a lot to give to our club, and whose experience, hunger and loyalty are of great importance if we want to win silverware again, as well as keeping hold of our big, younger talents.

Let’s offer Sagna a fair and multi-year contract; let’s tell Vermaelen he is part of the team and we’ll do everything to get him back to his best; let’s tell Koz he is part of Arsenal long term plans and he is going nowhere; and let’s show all our players the club continues to have real ambition to be the top club in England and Europe.

It will give us a competitive edge against the Oilers for years to come.

“We become just by doing just, temperate dy doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.” Aristotle.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

The sad demise of Arshavin is a transfer lesson for us all

May 30, 2013May 30, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsenal’s number 23 became 32 yesterday. After almost four and a half year at Arsenal, Andrey Arshavin is almost certainly leaving the club in a few days time. I cannot help but feel a bit melancholic about Andrey’s gradual demise: with just seven appearances – mostly, if not all, as a substitute – no goals or assists, it has been an abysmal final season for the diminutive Russian.

The big question is where it went wrong for Andrey and how much he is to blame for it.

When he first joined us in February 2009, he had a great impact on our season: in 15 appearances he managed toproduce 15 goals/assists, which is a fabulous return for the position he played in. In the following two seasons, Andrey roughly managed a 0.5 goal/assist per game return, which is still okay.

However, things went rapidly downhill after that at Arsenal for AA23, with him only managing two goals and four assists in 26 appearances in 2011/12. It looked like Andrey did not care anymore and/or he did not have the required fitness levels anymore to make it in Wenger’s team.

Maybe he suffered as a result of the departures of Cesc and Nasri, or maybe he just did not want to play on the wing anymore. He seemed best suited for the central AM/nr.10 role – a position he preferred to play in as well – and it is hard to tell why Wenger never gave him a proper trial there.

Andrey Arshavin is the sort of player we all loved to do well. When he is good, he is very good: simply a joy to watch. He had that little bit extra at times: the ability to combine a high level of technical competence with incredible composure. No doubt the best example of these attributes is his fantastic finish against Barcelona in the CL: a goal that many of us will never forget.

But what let him down for many Gooners was his lack of work rate and, at times, his apparent indifference. He seldom or never looked like a team player, as he seemed more interested in scoring clever and difficult individual goals than anything else.

Somebody once wrote on a blog, after another insipid performance by the little Russian, that he wondered whether Arshavin had made a bet with one of his friends that he would back-heel the ball five times or more during the match. It made me think whether Arshavin would be capable of showing such disregard towards his profession and fellow football players, and I concluded it could indeed be the case.

Arsene did try to get Arshavin to become a full member of his team, but he clearly totally gave up on him this season.

I reckon the final damage was done during our painful defeat against the Mancs on 22^nd of January – almost three years after Arshavin arrived – when he embarrassed Arsene in front of the home crowd. During this match, as many of you will remember very well, Arsene replaced the Ox with Arshavin, to the dismay of many fans. It all was epitomised with Van Judas’ ‘I have just wetted my pants’ look towards Wenger.

Ox went off and on came Arshavin, and moments later Arshavin makes a half hearted attempt to stop Valencia from bursting through to our box. This is what the BBC match report had to say about this moment: “To the dismay of the Arsenal faithful, who could sense victory, Oxlade-Chamberlain was withdrawn in favour of the rather less popular Andrey Arshavin, and the Russian did nothing to endear himself by failing to halt Valencia’s marauding run into the box, with Welbeck slamming home the loose ball nine minutes from time.”

Soon after that, Arshavin was loaned out to Zenit St. Petersburg, and after he returned to Arsenal for the new season, he simply became and remained a peripheral figure.

We cannot say Arshavin’s career is over, as he could have a couple of good years left in him, but it will not be at Arsenal, that’s a certainty. He spend his very best years of his career at Arsenal and will have nothing to show for it accept a handful of fantastic goals and one-match performances.

Arshavin offers ample proof that signing not just good, or even great, players is enough: they also need to be able to adjust to a new culture, have a winner’s mentality and an intrinsic desire to get the very best out of themselves. In short: to be able to be successful wherever they are.

Arsene got it all wrong with Arshavin – and Reyes as well: the LW spot seems to be cursed – and it might explain to some extent why he appears to be so slow in making his mind up who he wants to join our club, especially if it involves a lot of money.

It is a real shame to see such a talented player not getting the very best out of himself, and fade away like that. I still wish Andrey all the best and hope he will find a club where he can shine occasionally and show us all once again what he can do if and when he is really up for it.

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Make sure you vote for the player of the year poll on Arsenal.com:

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/goal-of-the-season-vote-now

Is there a “generational divide” at Arsenal and, if so, what does it mean?

May 29, 2013May 30, 2013TotalArsenal

Theo Walcott, interviewed just after Arsenal beat Newcastle 1-nil to clinch 4^th place and the final Champions’ league place said something along the lines of, “We did it, which is great for such a young team, but we’re not satisfied with 4^th and now we want to push on and challenge for the title”….

Very nice Theo and a good explanation about our celebrations and how it sets the stage for bigger things. Still, it got me thinking….Are we a truly a young team, and if not, what does it mean going forward?…. Moreover, how do we get from here to there? And (finally) can we expect this team (plus the transfer business over the summer) to really allow us to push on towards our higher aspirations? It’s my belief that our manager has a “plan” which, to the extent it has panned out in the past, gives us a measure of guidance for the future.

After the stadium move “the plan” was clearly based around youth. We couldn’t compete when it came to buying the top, ready-made stars given the new power of Abramovich’s Chelsea. And, of course, this only got more difficult with the emergence of Sheik Mansour’s Manchester City, and (as always) Sir Alex determined to borrow as much as needed to keep Rooney (and bring in others) across town….

Nonetheless, the plan had a measure of promise, and, while some of our younger guys (I’m thinking of Denilson here…) didn’t really pan out, others looked (very) promising. Flashing back to the World Cup final of 2010, we saw our own Robin van Persie as the starting Center Forward for the Netherlands and (our own) Cesc Fabregas as the guy who came on and secured the trophy for Spain with his assist to Iniesta. Sure, “Young Guns” Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott got left off their respective national teams, but both squads underperformed and we thought maybe it would light a fire under the two (very promising) players. A few others (Bendtner, Song and Vela come to mind) did get to play in the tournament, albeit with mixed results.

Of course, 2010-11 wasn’t a breakthrough season at Arsenal and the plan then came in for a major overhaul in the past two off-seasons. Cesc returning to Barcelona was always on the horizon but the hope was to delay it as long as possible. Nasri having his head not just turned, but fully yanked, (Linda Blair style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO9FD7zI7k0 ) by ManCity’s offer to double the one we had tabled, was something beyond the realm of the normal. Certainly it wasn’t the plan when we bought (and developed) him from Marseilles. Arsene famously spoke of the book he could write and his quip about top teams not losing their two best players suggested that our activities in the summer 2011 window were not exactly choreographed. Queue up early season humiliations (the 0-2 vs Liverpool almost as bad as 8-2 at Old Trafford…), a series of desperation buys at the transfer deadline, and, finally, a very long haul to a final day bum squeaker at West Brom. Ugh.

And then it got worse. Summer 2012 saw another remarkable remaking of the Arsenal first team. Our top scorer, Robin van Persie and our 2^nd top scorer (and best assist creator) Theo Walcott were allowing their contracts to wind down (as Nasri had the year before) and the former burnt his bridges on (US) independence day with an outrageous message to the fans. Meanwhile, this public show of indiscipline was matched by more insidious ones from our best midfielder, Alex Song, who was well known for being indifferent to fines for tardiness. RvP and Song would be gone before the season kicked off while the Walcott contract saga persisted into the new year. The bottom line is that three of our best players threatened to leave us and two actually did. Another long year, another last day nail-biter, another “ugh.”

So, these past two summers have been all about replacing our best players, while hoping that losing them wouldn’t kill us. Two years ago, at the transfer deadline, we got Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu Young. (Earlier in the summer we also bought Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.) Last summer we brought in Lucas Poldolski, Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla.

These buy were essential (well, at least the ones that panned out…) and they completely re-shaped the squad. They have also represented a real change in policy as the players we bought were (mostly) older ones. The ones who have emerged as starters, most certainly ARE older. Among the guys who are now in the first 11 (at least when healthy) Arteta is now 31, Mertesacker is 28, Poldoski will be 28 in a week, Giroud is “only” 26 (27 in September) and Cazorla is 28. We also picked up Nacho Monreal (27) in the January window (to spell injured Kieran Gibbs, while sending Andre Santos, 30, out on loan). Add in regulars Bacary Sagna (30), Tomas Rosicky (32) and Laurent Koscielny (27) along with Captain Tomas Vermaelen (27) and a large part of the core of the squad would seem to be at that age where they are playing at the peak of their physical and technical abilities. We cannot realistically expect huge improvements out of this group in the future….

On the other hand, Arsenal also made a conscious effort to promote the idea of an up and coming British core of young players. When Theo Walcott (24) finally signed a contract extension, the team also announced that several other contracts had recently been extended. These included Jack Wilshere (21), Gibbs (23), Carl Jenkinson (21), Aaron Ramsey (22) and Oxlade-Chamberlain (19).

There are some other key young players in the team. Keeper Wojciech Szczesny is 23 and Francis Coquelin is 22.

Intriguingly we have no 25 year olds, though Gervinho only just turned 26 a few days ago.

OK, so what? Well, as research goes, that’s about as deep as I get….

Still, when I look at nothing but the ages of the players I see a generational divide. And I think this would be exacerbated if we looked at the actual contribution (minutes played) of the guys 26-27+ and those 24 and under. The bottom line is that (due to changes in plan…) we are currently NOT a young team and that we will require a LOT of new guys to come in and replace the older guys as their play drops off. Because we are not in a position to buy ready-made, prime-aged players (although maybe Red Arse and others who think FFP may mute the market for top, prime-aged players, might disagree…) I predict several seasons of significant transition for our team.

In other words, the ripple effect of losing Cesc and Nasri in Summer 2011, and RvP and Song in 2012, will be felt for years to come. Theo, it turns out, wasn’t quite right about us being such a young team….

This fact should not be seen as “all bad”….First off, against all the odds, we were able to keep our CL spot these past two seasons and this last year (in particular) saw the real development of young guys like Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey. Jack Wilshere is still sorting out his fitness issues but his talent seems extremely promising. It’s astounding that the Ox is still only 19 and his cameo in place of Arteta in the final match (and in matches with the English National team) showed that (maybe) he can do a job all over the pitch. Jenkinson, red card at Sunderland notwithstanding, did quite well in the several periods when he stepped in for Sagna.

Additionally many of the older guys look really keen to be in this Arsenal side and we’ve seen the departure of players who had big issues with discipline or keeping fit (I’m thinking of Song and Arshavin here). A collective atmosphere of personal discipline and fitness (have you seen the abs on the likes of old boys Sagna and Nacho….or the running of Rosicky?…) can go a long way to keeping these older fellows contributing in fresh ways. With a couple of additional savvy and fit older guys (maybe at Keeper and Striker, and on the cheap, of course….) this mind-set might be reinforced…

With the bulk of our transfer funds, however, we need to think about adding to this collective in a judicious, almost surgical fashion and improving the team, with a keen eye to the longer term.

This may mean using our resources to buy younger guys with real “potential” rather than ready-made, more mature players who have already shown they can produce on the biggest stages. We should, I think, be looking for guys to augment the 24 and under group rather than the 26+ guys.

Other threads have discussed the strengths and weaknesses of our squad in specific areas of the pitch and suggested where key players might be added, ideally while keeping the hard fought sense of team accomplishment (the “Springvincibles” mentality) intact.

The teams above us are using big money transfers and big salaries and new (big money) managers. Quality is quality, but sometimes a strong “team” can beat a bloated brigade of all-stars—and not just in one-offs (the Cups) but over the longer haul–if the focus is correct. This is what I am hoping for this off-season and as we start up again in August. Still, I think we must keep our expectations realistic and know that it will take time, simply given the age demographics of our squad….

What do the rest of you think?….

Written by: 17 highburyterrace

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Open letter to the Verminator: TV5, time to fight for your place!

May 26, 2013TotalArsenal

Dear Thomas Vermaelen – De Leeuw van Vlaanderen (the Lion of Flanders),

I don’t know what is going on regarding your current position at the club. As it is the ‘silly season’, and you have been on the bench for ten out of the last eleven club games, it is inevitable that rumours will be circulated regarding your future at the club. There might not be a single bit of truth in it, as we are aware of the manipulative, mendacious nature of the majority of the professional football sites and papers.

I hope you and the manager have no intention whatsoever to discontinue your stay at our beloved Arsenal.

But just in case there is some truth in the rumours you could be leaving the home of football this summer, I am writing to you to say: stay put and fight for your place. You are a Gunner and you belong at The Arsenal!

Sometimes it is good to allow a bit of doubt and humility into your life, in order to make progress. The captaincy has not worked out and I reckon this is due to you being more of a specialist than a born leader. We have all come to love you for your passion, tenacity, controlled aggression and fearlessness as our left-sided CB. But since you have become captain, your performances have often been below-par. I believe the combination of having – feeling – the responsibility to lead your defence, and the team as a whole, has diminished your ability to concentrate on your defensive duties, and this has led to a number of painful and costly mistakes.

Yet, we all know what a fantastic kuitenbijter (carves-biter) of a CB you are, and how you always play with pride and love for the shirt. That’s how we’ve come to love you, and it’s what we are all longing for you to return to as soon as possible.

Towards the end of the season, the BFG and Koz were rightly the chosen CB-pairing, and I love both guys as much as I do you, Verminator. But there is a whole summer to get back to your very best, and to give Wenger a proper selection headache for the new season.

This is the time for you to fight: laat ze allemaal een poepie ruiken! You are 27 and the very best years are ahead of you; you are the beast of a CB we all want and need.

First thing to do, is to humble yourself a bit and tell Arsene you don’t want the armband any more – that it is not for you. Wenger can give it permanently to Arteta, or even Mertesacker (my preference). Let others lead the team and/or the defence, and you just concentrate on being the best CB in the PL again.

Thomas you have all the qualities – technically, tactically and psychologically – to become an absolute CB-beast again: the one who treats his opponents like vermin that needs devouring; the one who towers above everyone, and vacuum-cleans everything up in front of, or behind, him; the one who inspires his team by example and score pulsating (late) goals which make us grab all the points.

Come on Thomas, please stay put and fight for your place. This is no time for turning. This is the time to refocus and come out fighting, and to become a footballer in full.

I want to hear the Lion of Flanders ROAR again and to see you play with the passion and power that only you possess.

Ik weet dat je het kan, je moet enkel in jezelf geloven!

This is the Verminator, we want back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvcl541r60U

Written by: TotalArsenal.

Higuain, Falcao, Lewandowski or wait for a Wenger-gem player transformation?

May 23, 2013May 23, 2013TotalArsenal

There is no “I” in “team” but there is an “I” in “champions”!

It happened a few weeks ago. I was walking down the street thinking about the law-suit I’m about to write and about the possibility that we sign Gonzalo Higuain – a striker who has scored over one hundred goals during his spell at Real Madrid – when it hit me. Has Higuain been just lucky to play for Real Madrid – a great club that always has had a lot of quality players who make their strikers’ – including Higuain – job easier; or Real Madrid should have been happy with the fact Higuain has been in their ranks?

The jury is still out on this one, and will probably come up with the final verdict once Higuain proves his prolific abilities somewhere where he won’t have a supply-line like the one he has had at Real Madrid.

Players like Higuain are rarely considered as the big guns. That category is reserved for world-class strikers like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Falcao, Aguero and Ibrahimović who have proved that they can win trophies for their respective teams, by banging goals on a regular basis and/or when it matters the most. We had had two of those not very long ago but until we find one or pair of those, we can watch statues of them.

Players like Higuain are side-kicks, those who also score important goals but they are second fiddle to their more established goal-scoring partner (in a way Higuain has been joint second fiddle with Benzema to Cristiano Ronaldo). Only those who like to check statistics will know that Higuain scored a goal at every 76 minutes in 2011-12 title-winning campaign, which means he scored more than one goal per game.

Perhaps the best example from the Premiership is another striker who has been connected with us for a long time. When you think about the Manchester Oilers title campaign in 2011-12, everyone will remember Aguero’s goal that was the championship winning one. Only a few will remember a goal Edin Džeko scored to make it 2:2. Džeko has always been in the shadow of Sergio Aguero’s non-disputable world-class quality, Carlos Tevez’ dance between madness and geniality, and Mario Balotelli’s scandals; despite the fact he had, at certain point of 2011-12, a goal-ratio of more than 1,5 goal per game, as it took him less than 60 minutes to score a goal.

Now, look what happened this season: Džeko was the best goal-scorer of City, but Aguero failed to match his performances from the last season, as well as the rest of world-class players from the City spine (Kompany and Yaya Toure), and City didn’t come anywhere near retaining the title.

On the other side of Manchester, United had a striker that delivered in the Premiership what was expected from him, especially in big matches and when United had to come from behind.

Now, what does this whole intro mean to Arsenal? It means a lot, especially given a war-chest that has been given to Arsene Wenger.

If we want to turn our excellent form from the last ten matches into a title contender team, we need a world-class presence in our attack. It’s hard to find a new Bergkamp or a new Henry – those sorts of players don’t fall from the sky on your training ground with the sign “I’m the world-class striker – recruit me!” on their parachute, land on their feet in the circle very close the ball, make a Zidanesque pirouette before making a run to the goal and putting it past a surprised goalkeeper.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I would be over the moon if we sign Higuain as I consider him to be a world-class finisher with a good variety of skills/goals in his repertoire; and to sign Džeko from the Oilers wouldn’t be a bad piece of business either.

However, if we want to make a serious challenge for the title, we have to aim a bit higher.

Apparently, Falcao is leaving Atletico Madrid for AS Monaco but there might be some problems for Monaco if they’ll have to accept the ultimatum made by other French clubs regarding taxes. I doubt that transfer – if it’s going to happen at all – will be announced before the season in Spain ends, so we can still make a move for him and offer him something that Monaco can’t (at least not this season): Champions’ League football, something Falcao hasn’t had lately (and once when he had, he scored against us!).

Robert Lewandowski is my personal favourite but there are huge warning signs, with the likes of Barrios, Sahin and, to the certain extent, Kagawa who didn’t repeat their impact from Borussia Dortmund elsewhere, which is more proof of how brilliant Juergen Klopp is.

It’s no wonder I mentioned Klopp, as there is a longer way to have a world-class striker than simply buying him, and it is connected with Arsene Wenger. Wenger is a manager who can make players over-achieve, can make them cross the thick line between a world-class finisher and a world-class striker, and the one between a world-class striker and a world-class player.

One might paraphrase that thing: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn’t exist” to say: “The greatest trick Wenger ever pulled was convincing his rivals that Adebayor’s and Nasri’s world-class exists.” If you take a look at the players who left Arsenal for greener pastures elsewhere, only Cashley Cole can say he maintained his level of performances from Arsenal (or even upgraded it). Even Van Judas has had a decline of form in the recent period, while also others who were playing in our attacking department haven’t found their level from Arsenal at their new employers: Nasri, Hleb, Adebayor, even Fabregas, Reyes and, yes, Henry, since neither of them matched their level from Arsenal, while Eduardo’s decline started in Arsenal due to an unfortunate cause.

There is no “I” in “team” – that is true, especially when you know a basic fact that football is a team sport. However, there is a reason why the word “champions” has “I” squeezed into itself, as it’s the brilliance of individuals that make the collective raise above the average.

Written by: Admir.

Review of the season and why the Arsenal faithful can be hopeful

May 21, 2013May 21, 2013TotalArsenal

How many top quality signings do we need, Wojciech?

This will be a short post but I hope I can inject some adrenaline into all you gooners. The season’s end is here!!!! I’m still buzzed that we beat spuds to fourth. Actually it’s less ecstasy and more relief. But that’s not what this is about.

This has been a roller coaster ride of a season, losing RVP and Song, beginning fairly well before collapsing then slowly picking our ourselves up and now we are here.

Believe it or not, this season has had more positives than negatives.

Negatives have been the continuation of our trophy drought, very poor football on occasions, loss of form of Sagna and TV5, and being dominated by all of the big four.

However the positives were the return of Jack, tying our best players to long term contracts, the assembly of a very talented lot, our late season form has seen us produce some devastating breath taking displays (like at Wigan), sharing of the goal scoring burden, improved defending, return of form of Ramsey, Per and Jenko, and finally, our form of late has shown that we can be consistent.

The negatives can be chalked down to the fact we had practically a new team this season in Poldi, Santi, Giroud, Nacho, Jenko AND Jack, so team chemistry was still lacking. But we are beginning to see what this lot can do, and I have always said that once the team gelled fully (especially the midfield) we will see the real Arsenal.

Wenger has come out and said that we are going into a transfer window where all the players he wants to stay will stay. He also adds that he is determined to put us in good stead to challenge for honors by (and I quote him) ”doing well in the transfer window”. That’s exactly what he needs to do.

The rumor mill is going mad today suggesting that we are on the brink of signing both Jovetic and Higuain (I truly hope we do get both). However, I won’t go into details as I’m sure that all you BKers know exactly where I stand in terms of players in and players out. All I’ll say is that my fingers are crossed.

You cant help but feel that there is an air of optimism that we will finally be able to break the curse this and finally win something this coming season.

I know that this has been our war cry for the last few years but its different this time round. we really do have something to look forward to. The coach and management are making all the right noises and it seems that moves are being made as I write this post. The difference is that in this window, if we are to buy top players, we need to do it fast. In fact now.

A good example is the chase for top strikers. Real want two, Juventus want one, we want at least one, Man Utd want a replacement for Rooney, City and Chelsea want strikers, PSG are looking for a partner for Ibra; even clubs such as Napoli, Spurs, Athletico and Ac Milan are in the market for strikers. This shows you that Wenger can not afford to dilly dally (something that has seen him lose players like Mata) and rather should make sure that by the time the UCL is concluded, and teams are coming down from the euphoria of the closed season, he has secured his top targets.

All that said, I’m optimistic. And very much so. It is obvious that with the mentality floating around the Emirates, we are about to end the trophy drought.

I’m going to miss Arsenal seriously and I’m even glad we finished fourth and not third. That way I’ll get to watch our new signings play sooner than usual (in the qualifiers).

Keep it red, keep it white, keep it Arsenal.

Written by: Marcus.

Francis Coquelin: The end of another promising youth?

May 17, 2013TotalArsenal

The Curious Case of Francis Coquelin – and our youth academy in general.

Francis on his way to Schalke 04 or will he get a chance in the first team next season?

After seeing Arteta limp off the pitch against Wigan on Tuesday, there have been questions surrounding his fitness for this Sunday’s crucial tie with Newcastle. Will Arsenal be able to cope without its fearless leader, engine, and one half of the blossoming DM-pivot partnership? Who will replace him in the starting line-up if he is indeed not fit?

The obvious choice, if healthy, would be Jack Wilshere. However, Arsene is reluctant to use Jack unless it is an absolute necessity (in which case this may be one), since he is on heavy pain relievers until he goes under the knife to remove a pin in his ankle once the season concludes.

The next logical option would be Francis Coquelin.

Once labelled as the DM of the future, together with Frimpong, the two young Arsenal academy products were seen as the ideal midfield combo to lead our team for years.

So then, what does Arsene now do with Coquelin? There is plenty of promise to his game, but he is either not receiving the minutes he needs to properly develop his play and confidence, or his progression is simply not living up to the expectations demanded from him.

In my opinion, starting Coquelin in such a crucial game this Sunday would be setting him up for failure. He has not started a match since mid-February and would clearly be off-form. His confidence will surely be very low and we cannot afford to allow a player time to “shake off the rust”, with Champions League qualification at stake.

Media circulated rumours are swirling that Schalke 04 have inquired about the availability of purchasing Coquelin on a permanent transfer. Many Arsenal fans, including myself, are extremely reluctant to let such a promising talent leave the club, only to blossom elsewhere. However, at what point is a move away from the club for first-team opportunities in the best interests of the player?

We’ve started to see academy players leave our club in search of first-team action, such as Bartley to Swansea, Angha to Nuremburg, Ebecilio to Twente etc. It remains to be seen if these prospects will ever amount to anything, but Arsenal also seems to lack the presence of a club like Barcelona, where their youth products are always itching for an eventual return to their boyhood club.

One must now ask the unavoidable question: is our youth academy failing to produce the necessary talent for the first-team, or is AW not affording our youth the opportunity to prove themselves at the highest level?

Unfortunately, I do not have the answer to this question, but I do speculate it is a combination of both aspects, with a heavier emphasis on our youth simply not developing at a rate quick enough to match, or better, the level of quality needed to compete at the top.

Now, this is not to say that the youth academy has been a complete waste, since there are some promising players coming through the ranks in Gnabry, Eisfeld, Bellerin, Zelalem, Olsson etc.

However, there are some key questions which need to be explored a bit further:

Will these players be given first-team opportunities early, and consistently enough, to satisfy their desires for top-flight football?
Or will we continue to see an exodus of our youth, and eventually have a few come back and haunt us as overlooked top talents?
What effect will purchasing top quality, established players from other clubs have on our youth and academy in general?

Fine, fellow Gooners, I would now like to open the floor and hear your thoughts. Would you start Coquelin this Sunday? Will we regret neglecting our promising youth in search of top quality players that can help us now?

Written by: Highbury Harmony

Wenger is right to believe in our future: Sustainability is working!

May 9, 2013May 9, 2013TotalArsenal

Sustainability. This has been identified as a main theme in all aspects of Arsene Wenger’s dealings with the club. Whether it is financial sustainability, our style of play being constant or the caliber of player we are now buying, sustainability is continually highlighted.

In my opinion, Arsene is a wise manager who understands the necessity of keeping the majority of a team together over the years, while only adding a couple pieces each year, so as to not disturb chemistry and morale. He is often accused of being a romantic, whose ideal of developing a squad that can grow together and form a dynasty will never be realized. Unfortunately, I believe this philosophy has not been able to come to fruition the past eight years due to the immense pressure to cut costs and operate at a profit, in order to help finance the stadium debt.

Arsenal FC appear as though they are finally ready to enter a period of stability, in which key players are retained, unwanted players are released/sold, and new top quality signings are added in each transfer window if need be.

However, this new cycle would not be possible if our club was not run on the tenets of sustainability. Being financially prudent means that we often cannot compete with other clubs for the best talent available, but that we are also not committing massive sums of money for underachieving players. This philosophy has kept the club in line and poised to take advantage of the upcoming Financial Fair Play rules. We’ve been operating with footballing profits for years without investment from our owner, and while the desired results have not been achieved, we’ve been consistent and produced respectably, when you consider our net spend relative to clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City.

One must also consider Arsene’s sustainability in fixating on one particular style of play. His infatuation with free flowing, expressive football has also helped to form an identity that speaks to generations of footballers – and supporters across the globe – and makes our club an attractive destination.

Arsene is not without his faults though. In a way, he has handicapped our club with poor signings over the years, not replacing departing players with ones of equal or greater quality. This has led to a few players whom cannot be offloaded due to inflated salaries who rarely, if ever, play.

On the flip side, his patience and unwavering faith in his players has also led to some pleasant surprises: Alex Song going from CB to DM to a wonderful creative B2B mid; RVP from injury-prone, bad boy to a top EPL striker; Theo from only pace and no finish to our leading goal scorer, etc.

Another aspect of sustainability where Arsene has come up short, has been our squad’s ability to stay healthy throughout a season. Every team experiences their fair share of injuries, but this process seems to be more potent and frequent with some of Arsenal’s key players. Squad players integral to the success of our club seem to suffer through recurring injuries or fall victim to new ones, namely Arteta, Wilshere, Diaby, Gibbs, Sagna and potentially even Podolski now.

The failure of key players to stay healthy inevitably leads to greater inconsistency and difficulty establishing chemistry with one another. Whether it is injuries or transitioning new teammates into a squad, players take time adjusting to the varying skill sets and not all have an immediate, innate understanding of where one another will be on a given play. The effects of unfamiliarity and inconsistent performances are then amplified through the combination of injuries and bedding new players into a side, thus negatively influencing squad sustainability.

The focus of my article is not to highlight Arsene’s shortcomings in sustainability, but to acknowledge that I am cognizant of them, and to point out his successes in the theme and what it means for our future (i.e. our transfer dealings).

If we follow the trend of AW’s most recent purchases in the past winter and summer transfer windows, there is gravitation towards established players nearing the prime of their careers. Further, each player has been identified as skilled, team-oriented individuals who do not beleaguer the organisation in any way and strongly believe in our manager’s long-term vision/goal.

This is a stark contrast to some of his purchases in prior years, where several bought players were talented, but lacked the focus, discipline and affection or loyalty for our club (i.e. Adebayor, Nasri, Clichy, Cole, RVP etc.).

In a way, Arsene’s new purchases have reflected his ingenuity: purchase a collective group of individuals who still have room for further development and with a good head on their shoulders, in order to form a base from which higher quality talents can eventually be brought in as to complement the established group.

My perspective is that it’s more difficult to buy top quality players and immediately integrate them into the foundation of a team, without an existing culture of stability and promise. I believe the egos and selfishness several top players exhibit are more controllable in the aforementioned environment, as they look to impress not only the fans, but the already established group of players too.

Liverpool is a distinct example of this, where players have stayed committed to the club, despite their inability to qualify for Champions League in past years and Europa league next year. Integral components to the team such as Gerrard, Reina, Carragher, G.Johnson, Skrtel, Leiva etc. have likely all played a role in convincing a top quality player like Suarez to stay.

So then, what can we expect (hope) to see in this coming summer transfer window?

In my opinion, the time is ripe to add a world-class talent or burgeoning world-class talent if the funds are available. I’m not advocating that we frivolously spend our transfer funds to purchase a ton of world-class players, as this would create imbalance within our organization. But, based on our established pillars of sustainability, it makes perfect sense to complement our foundation of skilled and team first players with a top quality talent.

As our great manager recently stated, “Everything is here to have a great future. We have a good fan base, we have now a strong financial situation, we have good young players and a squad with a bright future with the quality of players we have. It is just to manage it well now.”

In order for sustainability to be successful, it must resonate from the top of the organisation down to the individual daily tasks. The owner and Board of Directors have initiated the process, by keeping their faith in Arsene and not replacing him with a different manager when Arsenal was not winning silverware. Arsene repaid the club’s loyalty by honouring his contract, despite limited transfer funds and many top players he developed being sold, year after year. What the club must now do to maintain the theme of sustainability is refuse to sell our top players, unless they are not 100% committed.

All the pieces are finally in place to enter a cycle of sustainability and success, and Arsenal must capitalize on their competitive advantage in FFP and stability.

Do you, fellow Gooners, believe that our model of sustainability is the right one going forward?

Or do you believe it is simply an excuse to compensate for the fact that we lack ambition and are unwilling to use the resources at our disposal to compete with the top clubs?

Written By: Highbury Harmony

Silverware Next Season? Five Things Would Have to Change

May 8, 2013TotalArsenal

Who can be our Adamsesque leader next season?

There is no doubt that 2013/14 is going to be a monumental turning point of a season for Arsenal. With new financial deals in place, hopefully a summer of transfer ins rather than outs, and possibly Arsene’s final season in charge, it will be the season that will hopefully see the return of Arsenal to glory.

But in order for us to achieve that, what needs to change?

1 – Sort out the squad by the middle of July, have a consistent first team and timely rotations

One of the biggest issues that I’ve felt has had a huge impact on the club is the fact that our transfers for the last few years are all over the place right up until August. As a result, in the preseason friendlies the squad doesn’t get too much time to gel in. In 2012/13, a large part of the business was done earlier, but for some reason the first team did not really gel in well till late in the first half of the season. In fact, I don’t think we knew our first choice team till late in the season. TV, being the club captain wasn’t performing and yet was played in the hope that he’d regain some form. Poldi, Giroud, Theo and Gervinho all were tried in the CF spot before Ollie took the role as his own. Similarly, I’m still not sure who Arsene thinks is his first choice keeper, RB and LB. Ramsey came into his own in his correct position late in the season after being played in a variety of roles.

Now of course, during the course of a season, players have ups and downs, and the first team evolves. But I’ve had this nagging feeling that our first team hasn’t been what it should have been. With a consistent formation earlier on in the season, the new players coming in hopefully having had time to gel in through pre-season friendlies, and a clear thought out squad with defined back ups, I am quite certain we can start the season in good stead unlike the first two 0-0 draws this season. Also, the fact that Poldi, Ollie and Santi will be in their second seasons, and Poldi hopefully fitter, we should be stronger.

It’s also important for Arsene to be decisive in terms of picking and dropping form/out of form players. That’s another thing I believed let us down till late this season. There has to be genuine competition where back up and first team players will raise their games in order to be part of the playing eleven.

Finally, rotate the squad at the right time. I believe this season Ollie, Santi, Jack (at times), Arteta amongst a few players have been overplayed. This has partially been because there were injuries and partially because there were no viable back up options. That will hopefully change next season, because we finally have a good base of a squad with the strength of character, and with new players coming into improve the set up, players should be rotated so that form is retained and burn out minimized. I kept shaking my head when I’d hear comments in the middle of this season that so and so player was mentally or physically tired.

2 – A strong vocal performing captain

This point is again vital. Ever since I can remember it has been strong performing example-setting vocal captains who dig teams out of holes with the sheer force of their personality. Look back to Tony Adams, Vieira, even Cesc and RVP… these players believed and that belief shone through.

It’ll be interesting to see who Arsene gives the armband to if TV stays. I’m not sure if there’s been a precedent to a club captain being stripped of captaincy. Personally, my vote would go to Arteta. I wouldn’t want to give the armband to Jack just yet. It would put added pressure on him.

Or perhaps if Cesc returns, give it back to Cesc 🙂

3 – Capture the fans imagination, change the press narrative

Think of Arsenal FC, and the narrative over the last few seasons has been about the club’s financial security, selling key players, lack of ambition, sub standard signings, lack of bottle, manager losing the plot, unhappy fans etc etc. There has been little positive news.

Despite the fact that all of us, as fans, have our own opinions regarding the club, we are strongly and unconsciously swayed by the noise from news media, blogs and social media. The narrative we are being fed becomes vital in this regards, because this narrative plays a huge part in the fans going against the club rather than supporting it through thick and thin. Of course, with modern media, the fickleness of all of us has become pronounced. We don’t have patience nowadays. We need everything instantly.

Because of the above, I don’t believe the fans have been excited about the club or particularly proud of the direction of the club. It is hence vital for Arsenal to capture the fans imagination and change the narrative being spewed out by the media. So, Arsenal must make a statement of intent.

The narrative I would love to see for the next season would be “Arsenal mean business”. For this it is important for something monumental to happen. Hark back to the era of the unbeaten invincibles, did we not get excited about that? Hark back to the battles between Arsenal and Man U, despite winning/losing titles. Hark back to Lehmann keeping clean sheets leading up to the Champions League final and the run itself. Hark back to beating Real 1-0 away. Hark back to leading Barca for 78 minutes in the final. Hark back to the 0-0 FA Cup final vs. Man U when we were battered but we won on penalties. Hark back to winning the league in Old Trafford and Spurs. Hark back to Jose Antonio Reyes and Arshavin’s captures. The 4-4 vs. Liverpool. Even the 3-0 vs. Milan last season.

The funny thing is that the memories become less exciting in the last few seasons, so that has to change. My personal favorite way to achieve that would be Cesc returning. Or, perhaps another marquee signing to show we mean business. Or perhaps another unbeaten run… here’s hoping!

4 – Be strong against the top six, and clinical against lower half opposition

We have been quite abysmal this season against the top six, and I felt that has played a huge part in our struggle. This partially for me has been due to the fact that we have had many new players, and partially because of a general lack of belief in the team that we can compete with the top teams. This in particular was most visible in the first half of the season, and partially has come about because of the massive loss to Man U last season. I believe the psychological impact of that loss still resounds, and it is vital that we show the world that we can beat the likes of Man u, City and Chelsea when it matters.

Interestingly, in some of the previous seasons, we did quite well against the top six, but let in draws and losses against lower opposition. This is again something that needs to be guarded against.

We need to be consistent and clinical, and have that collective belief about us and the bit between our teeth. I was unbelievably proud of how we harried Man U in the first half of the game on the weekend, and that is how we need to play consistently. With hunger and intensity.

No fan will complain if that level of quality remains.

Against the top six, pick up home wins and away draws, and we’re laughing! Against the rest, be clinical and finish them off!

5 – Do the basics right and have clear objectives

Finally, I believe that for a large part of this season, we lost track of the fundamentals. The basics are vital, and even a poor team can get a result if the basics are done right. Solid no nonsense defending, making the right pass while up field, and pressing and harrying are things that we can be good at, but struggle to do consistently. If we get these basics right and don’t panic as we are liable to do quite often, then we will be sure to have a solid season.

At the same time, in terms of the basics, the manager and the squad need to be sure about their objectives and priorities in achieving those objectives. For me unless we don’t make the right buys, we are not in a position to challenge for the EPL, so therefore the realistic bet for getting a trophy can only be the FA CUP or the League Cup. The manager needs to know what he wants for the team, and make the right basic decisions to achieve the said. Buying an expensive quality player is just one of those decisions.

It’ll be interesting to hear what you guys think of some of these points and if you feel there can be further things that need to change!

Written by: Umair Naeem.