togetherness – Page 7 – Bergkampesque

Report: Podolski breaks free, Ramsey surprises, Jack & Santi lead, Giroud rewarded.

January 24, 2013January 24, 2013TotalArsenal

A fantastic day to be a Gooner and we were treated to a classic Arsenal display. Lukas Podolski was fantastic and led the way for Arsenal with a beautiful goal and three assists. Interestingly enough, Arsenal have registered at least five goals in each of the last three Premier League games (prior to today’s match vs. West Ham) in which Lukas Podolski has scored in; and today was no different.

Throughout the entire match, Arsenal dominated possession and dictated the flow of the game. It was necessary to come out of the gates strong and Arsenal were up to the task, immediately settling in as West Ham gave us plenty of time and space to knock the ball around. Unfortunately, Arsenal were to concede first after an unnecessary challenge by Gibbs. The subsequent free-kick led to a string of corners that eventually led to Collison scoring for West Ham.

However, Podolski immediately responded with a cracking finish from his left foot to bring Arsenal back into the game. From that point on, we never looked back and came very close to scoring again with some beautiful build-up play. Unfortunately Gibbs’ final pass was a little too far forward and Podolski missed the open net while lunging forward with his right foot. The first half ended with two free kicks, one of which belonged to Cazorla who curled a beautiful shot around the wall, but was met with an even better diving save by Jaaskelainen.

As the second half loomed, the typical questions began to haunt the loyal Arsenal supporters. Would we become complacent after showing good effort in the first 45 minutes? How long would it take for us to settle into the second half? Would this be another game where we dominated possession but had difficulty finishing our chances?

Those fears were quickly quelled as Theo started off the second half with a blazing run down the right flank. Despite no one getting on the end of his cross, Podolski was able to gain possession off a poor clearance by a West Ham defender and sent a nice ball to Gibbs, whose shot was blocked and cleared out for a corner. Off the ensuing Walcott corner, Giroud moved into open space at the near post and met the kick with a beautiful one-time finish into the back of the net. Jaaskelainen stood in the net rather stunned, as he could not believe Giroud was allowed so much space. This goal set off a flurry of action all in Arsenal’s favour; notably, when all three of Arsenal’s summer signings connected on a beautiful Santi ‘back-heel’ goal. Instead of explaining it, here’s the video in case you missed it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwyu6yn4Xko

Arsenal scored four goals in a brilliant start to the second half and Podolski found himself assisting three of them with beautiful balls to Walcott, Giroud and the aforementioned Santi goal. Not to go unmentioned was Jack’s magnificent distribution to find Podolski and set him up for those eventual assists.

A big shout out to Ramsey as well, who proved me wrong and played well today as the deepest midfielder. He looked more effective than he has been all season, with his playmaking from a deep position and his determination in defending.

The only unfortunate blemish on an otherwise amazing second half of football was an injury to Daniel Potts, which left him unconscious on the field and required him to receive immediate medical attention. I wish Daniel all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery. Compared to our last game vs. West Ham, it was evident that they were missing Diame’s presence in their midfield: their offense looked flat, they could not retain ball possession, and our midfield was able to boss them around all game.

Before I begin on the player ratings, I’d like to explain how I arrive at the number a player receives. For me, a 7 represents that a player has sufficiently done what has been asked of him and not much more. An 8 signifies that the player has contributed more than the average player, but that either his performance has room for improvement or I’ve seen better games from him lately. A 9 or higher is reserved for outstanding performances and is usually accompanied by tangible statistics on the score sheet. Ignore previous ratings from past articles, as I’ll look to be consistent from here on out in the new rating system.

Player Ratings:

Szczesny (7.0) – Once again, Szczesny gave us the stability we needed in goal and was never really tested. He couldn’t have done anything more on Collison’s goal and dealt with all other potential dangers around the goal well.

Gibbs (7.5) – He played solid at both ends of the pitch, contributing with good challenges and runs down the left flank. He conceded two unnecessary free kicks, one of which eventually led to a goal and I’d also like to see him improve his crossing.

Vermaelen (7.0) – He also played well in the first half and cleared the danger when Collison intercepted an errant Ramsey pass and tried to push West Ham forward. Unfortunately, Ramsey clipped Vermaelen as they both went for a goal line clearance. Hopefully he’ll be ok and he was taken off the field for precautionary reasons. Difficult to rate him any higher, since he only played 45 minutes.

Mertesacker (7.5) – He had a couple errant passes in the first half that took away the momentum we were trying to build early in the game. The BFG eventually settled down and cleared away all WHU approaches through the air in the 2^nd half. Solid and defensively reliable, he led the line to leave WHU in an offside position on numerous occasions.

Sagna (7.5) – Sagna defended wonderfully throughout most of the contest, and Ramsey fortunately covered his only lapse in defensive coverage. Aside from that, he linked up well with Theo on the right and was involved in the offense from the right side. He took the bulk of the defending down the right since Theo was often nowhere to be seen in his defensive assignments.

Ramsey (8.0) – While I did not find Ramsey to be outstanding, I was still very impressed with his overall performance today, compared to past appearances. He started off with a questionable challenge on Noble and quite a few errant passes that led to quick West Ham counters. Aside from the early blunders, he filled in admirably at the holding midfield role. He was determined and dependable defensively (goal line clearance when the game was tied 1-1 is noteworthy), sprayed the ball all over the field and made nice simple passes in the final third. The beginning just appeared to be him shaking off rust and he certainly built confidence as the match continued. Hopefully he can build on this performance, and I think he more than justified another start at the holding midfield position for this weekend.

Wilshere (8.0) – Jack was great right from the start, driving our team forward, quickly challenge West Ham players when we lost possession and trying to play dangerous balls in the final third. He made a smart pass to Podolski in the first half that brought us even, and several of his passes in the second half split West Ham’s defense and eventually led to more goals. He also played some beautiful long passes to Theo when he was at full speed, but unfortunately the chances were not converted. The downsides to his game included giving the ball away a few times and occasionally being indecisive on the edge of the opponent’s 18-yard box. Despite playing further back in the midfield, he still had a big influence on the game and perhaps my rating is a bit low, but I’ve come to expect big things from our number 10.

Cazorla (8.0) – Santi gave our offense good shape today and he carried the ball forward more opposed to his typical quick, short passes. He adds good variety to our attack since he’s not afraid to take a shot from distance, yet can also deliver some devastating through balls. His back-heel finish was something to behold, and as stated earlier, he capped off a beautiful build up play between Giroud and Podolski. He’s also very astute defensively and can strip the ball from the opposition because he thoroughly understands the direction they look to move the ball to. However, Santi also fell victim to some errant passes and could have done more with a few opportunities he had at the edge of West Ham’s 18-yard box.

Podolski (9.5) – Prince Podolski started off the game working hard to deny West Ham a free kick; his incredible work rate continued until he was substituted in the 69^th minute. His overpowering finish in the 21^st minute really gave Arsenal life, as we were down 1-0 after dominating most of the game until then. Podolski got himself into all the right positions today and was the recipient of some beautiful passes from the midfield. He rewarded the midfield’s work by producing equally nice passes to Theo and Giroud (both across the goal for relatively easy goals). Podolski was definitely our best player on the pitch and he even did all the little things right today too – he contributed well defensively, had a surging run in the 1^st half, was getting on the end of clearances by the West Ham defenders and was playing smart, yet dangerous passes in the final third. The only minor faults in his game were trying to be too cute with passes in West Ham’s 18-yard box in the first half, and not finishing better on Gibbs’ pass (albeit it was slightly in front of him and on his right foot).

Giroud (9.0) – Every time Giroud steps out on the pitch, we can be confident that he will put in 100% effort and do anything to help his team win. Though his finishing can be questionable and he often rushes his chances, you can never fault him since he’s contributing in some other way. He won countless headers today and knocked the ball to his teammates, held the ball up well, linked up with Podolski on numerous occasions that led to Arsenal completely breaking down West Ham’s defense and he scored two goals. His over the top chip pass to Podolski was fantastic and he’s starting to make those types of passes a regular part of his game.

The only shortcomings in his game today were passing in the 18-yard box a couple times when he should have shot the ball, and not clearing a corner far enough which eventually landed right in front of Collison, which he turned into a goal. Aside from that, he was brilliant and I can certainly see why Bobby P has so much faith in him.

Walcott (7.5) – Despite scoring a goal and adding an assist off a corner kick, I felt Theo was a little wasteful with his chances today. Jack sent Theo in twice on stretch passes where he was on near breakaways at full speed, and he failed to even get a shot on goal. On a couple other occasions, Theo had open opportunities to put away goals in the opponent’s 18-yard box and also failed to convert. If the contest had been tighter this would have been unacceptable, but fortunately we won by a large margin. His defensive contributions left much to be desired and he was often waiting up field for the midfield to send him on breaks.

However, he did track back wonderfully at the end of the second half, going all the way across to the left side of the pitch to cover for Podolski and defend a West Ham counter. Theo also looked more confident with the ball at his feet today and dribbled around Reid and O’Brien several times in the first half. His surging run down the flank got Arsenal into the right frame of mind in the second half and began the onslaught that we were all treated with.

Koscielny (7.0) – Much like Vermaelen, Kos only played 45 minutes and was never really tested. He cleared the ball well when needed and helped the defensive line play West Ham’s forwards offside quite a few times.

Santos and Oxlade-Chamberlain (Incomplete) – Both were decent in their cameo appearances and moved the ball around quite well. Both players lacked the final end product and each could have scored if they had been more composed with their finishing. Still, they did not have enough game time or touches to accurately assess their games.

Overall, it was a fantastic match to witness and Arsenal were by far the better team by a wide margin. The connection between our three new recruits today is very promising, and we started to look like the Arsenal of old; penetrating and breaking down defenses with precise passing and finishing off some fantastic link-up plays in the final third. Ramsey’s work as the holding midfielder gives us more versatility in case of injuries and is perhaps a position that he can grow into (however it remains to be seen how he’d fare at that position against a better side).

We must not fall prey to the continual inconsistency that has plagued us this year and not waste such an outstanding team effort in our next game. For now, we can rest easy knowing we played some beautiful football today and got a much needed three points in style.

Written By: The Gooner

Wenger is here to stay: Top-Four finish or not

January 22, 2013January 22, 2013TotalArsenal

I have started to notice a growing number of fans – although still a minority – hoping that Arsenal fail miserably this season, so the BoD will have to change their policy and Wenger will get the sack.

Now, how any self-confessed supporter of our club could want it to fail is beyond me. The theory that failing to qualify in the top-four would get the BoD to invest heavily and also sack Arsene, is a short-sighted one.

I have no doubt that the BoD have been expecting a non top-four finish, and therefore no CL qualification, for the last few years at least. I have also no doubt that whatever you think of Kroenke – and let me state categorically I am not his biggest fan – he is in it for the long-term, and plans accordingly.

Some fellow supporters are still reading the final chapter of the last book of the Wenger-era and have failed to notice that the club and Arsene have moved on. This new book was started about a month ago when Arsenal signed up the Brit-pack; and with Theo’s subsequent signing of a new contract, Arsenal have well and truly started the Wenger-Brit-Ball era.

It is great news that we signed up six British talents and the club wanting to build a new team on and with them. It shows a long-term vision of how to combat the oil-money and build something truly special. It is absolute key to keep them together and let them grow and develop together, and they also need the best possible education and support.

Who else than Arsene himself is going to oversee this new project? This is probably going to be his last project and it should take between three and seven years to make it come to full fruition. Don’t be surprised if Arsene is to remain at Arsenal till 2020 or longer.

You might be disillusioned about Arsenal’s failure of not winning anything in the last seven years; and you might feel the club/Arsene should have done better with the available resources. And you might have a point, but I have no doubt that the BoD look at it differently and that they see Arsene Wenger as one of their major strengths in terms of moving things forward.

Arsene has been given the go ahead for Wenger-Brit-Ball and the club have invested in it by signing up our British talents and by paying Walcott a reported £100k per week.

There is very little doubt in my mind that part of their long-term plans is keeping hold of Arsene and giving him the time to develop a super-team again, whether Arsenal finish in the top-four or not (which they will btw).

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Nasri, Adebayor, Clichy and Toure: what a waste of talent!

January 12, 2013TotalArsenal

Hey Arsene, how many of those you flogged to Man City have become flops?

Almost anybody who is developed under Wenger’s tutelage is likely to reach their full potential: as in getting the very best out of themselves. A lot can be said about Arsene, but most will agree that he is brilliant at developing individual players to a very high standard. It does not always work out and there are plenty of players who do not make the grade, but this is to be expected at a top club. However, even if they have to leave Arsenal, they will know that they have had a first class football education, and that in the end they really were not good enough to make it at Arsenal.

Polishing raw diamonds into top class gems is a painstaking process, and many top clubs don’t bother with it but rather buy ready-made, experienced players who can be slotted into the first team straightaway. The only way to compete with those who can afford to make massive losses in order to ‘win’ silverware, is to develop your own top players and then hold on to them.

Ajax have developed so many fine talents over the years, but just cannot keep hold of them; and as a result they have suffered in Europe, and even domestically. Barcelona are able to keep hold of their youth development gems and nobody can be in doubt how powerful and successful their strategy has made them.

Arsenal are in danger of becoming more like Ajax and less and less like Barcelona, and as per previous posts, the most important thing is for Arsenal to hold on to their best players from now on. This has to be priority nr.1 for the foreseeable future.

During and after the building of the new stadium, Arsene had no other choice than buy cheap but talented raw diamonds with the hope that he could turn them into good-to-great players for Arsenal. It is not a cheap system, as talents will have to be offered good contracts, both in terms of length and wages; and there will always be a significant number of players who do not make it into the first team.

Selling players to make space for new talent, and to fund the expensive youth/raw talent development programmes is by itself not a bad thing to do, but key is not to sell your very best players. Dortmund appear to have found the right balance in that respect.

Letting Adebayor and Toure go for a lot of money to MC did not hurt us too much. Adebayor was decent but not great and Toure did also not leave a huge gap behind. Letting Nasri, Clichy and Fabregas go simultaneously in 2011, however, hurt us a lot more, and this summer’s departure of Song and Van Judas has also hurt us significantly.

Tomorrow, we face Manchester City; the club that made huge losses every season since the arrival of the oil sheikhs. Arsenal cashed in significantly on player exchanges with the Northern Oilers over the last few years.

All four players involved were missed at some point, though. We could have done with Clichy last season, when all our left backs were injured for a long period. Toure could have helped us on numerous ocassions when we were low on quality CB-cover during the last few seasons. We also missed Nasri when both Jack and Diaby were out for the season, and we could have done with Adebayor as back up striker to Van Judas during the last two seasons.

All four players went for money and, to a certain extent, for glory. Clichy, Toure and Nasri have a PL winners medal and their pockets are full of gold coins. Adebayor’s career, once looking so promising, has gone totally cold. He is now at the Spuds and that says it all really.

Clichy has played 53 games in one and half season, and it is fair to say he made the best of his switch to MC. However, his recent form has not been brilliant and I would not be surprised if he will become a regular bench warmer anytime soon. At 27 years old that would be a real shame.

Toure has been a bench warmer for quite a while now, as both Lescott and the formidable Kompany are Mancini’s preferred CB-pair. Kolo has played only 29 times in all competitions over the last 1.5 seasons, and those last two years have been his prime years, as he will become 32 in March this year.

And then there is Nasri; not so long ago a promising talent, but with 9 goals in 61 appearances for MC, and regularly not in the starting eleven this season, it looks like his career is also fizzing out rapidly at the moment. Once he was being compared with the great French players Zidane and our own Pires, but now pundits and fans question his drive and general attitude.

Leaving Arsenal for bags full of cash very often comes with a price to pay, and that is slowly but steadily disappearing into obscurity: from a first eleven player; to a bench warmer; to a fringe player; to going out on loan; and eventually to being paid off and dumped to a secondary club.

Of course things can still change again for Nasri, Toure, Adebayor and Clichy but to me it looks like four once talented players – chosen and developed to very high standards by Wenger – are all going on a downward spiral; one more rapidly than the other, but down they go. What a waste of talent.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

The beauty and horror of Arsenal’s ‘socialist’ pay-structure

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013TotalArsenal

When Arsene called our club’s wage structure ‘a more socialist model’ fans groaned and balked across the globe. Socialism was quickly confused with communism, as many believed that Arsene wants to play every player the same.

This has never been the case, and it is also not what Wenger wants. I reckon when he used the word ‘socialist’, he meant fair, more equal; as in a more equal, fairer model. Arsene believes Arsenal’s wage structure should be economically viable and not see some players paid significantly more compared to others; as he put it: “to pay something that makes sense and is defendable in front of every single player”, and adding: “We make exceptions sometimes but they are not maybe so high. If you want to keep making profit you have to respect that.”

Nobody really likes to read that a football club wants to make a profit; the idea of a football club being an ordinary business is unpalatable to most of us. But it is what it is, and running a football club comes with considerable risks, which need to be managed sensibly. Only those clubs with rich billionaire owners who have a purely ‘charitable’ attitude towards their huge financial investments, can function outside the capitalist reality of having to make a profit, or at least break even – the latter not being very attractive to investors in the club, unless they are fervent supporters who want to help the club as much as possible.

But let me not digress too much. The crux of it all is that Wenger does not believe in paying a few players significantly more compared to the rest. The Telegraph reports that Podolski is apparently on about £100k per week and that many squad players are on £60k. Theo is seeking to get close to £100k as well, and Arsene appears to be dithering about sanctioning it.

Football is a team sport and all have to work hard, and for each other, to get results. I can therefore understand why Arsene feels strongly that the wage gap should not be more than say double between his ‘first eleven’ players. Of course age and experience should be factored in, but more importantly players should be paid for the significance of their contributions to their team. It is fairer and more likely to produce the necessary team spirit.

However, with other clubs being able, and morally prepared, to pay top star players well above the reported £100k per week we pay for our top earner, the club will run a constant risk of losing our best players at the end of each season. The latter is unacceptable, and will simply mean we will remain in transition every season, as we have been experiencing for the last two years.

On top of that, there is a risk that some players are paid above their market value, as Arsene is no doubt a generous person. The Telegraph is reporting that Arsenal’s average wage is only £3000 less than Manchester United’s (£61k per player per week, compared to £64k). Luckily, we continue to see a shifting out of players who have not made the grade – albeit slowly and on loan deals rather than selling them all – which should reduce the total wage bill, although not necessarily the average wage by much.

So should the club ditch Arsene’s honourable ‘socialist’ wage structure and go for Manchester United’s polarised ‘market-value’ system, where Rooney and Van Judas are paid around £225k per week each – £1m per month – while others are paid a third to a quarter, or less than that?

Looking at what Van Judas is currently doing, it is hard to argue he is not worth the money he is being paid. He is carrying the horrible Mancs on his traitor’s back at the moment. But then looking at Shrek’s contributions in return for his £12m per year, and you can see what the risks are of giving somebody a long term contract with a huge weekly wage.

Van Judas has netted twenty times this season, but Rooney only eight times. Hernandez has scored 50% more goals than Rooney, yet is likely to be earning not more than a third of Shrek’s beastly weekly wage. How fair is that and what does this do for team morale?

Van Judas and Shrek have scored 28 goals until now this season, and are paid £2m per month for it. Theo (14) and Giroud (9) – who have not played together much – have scored 23 goals between them and are currently earning a fraction of the Manc’s ugly couple’s wages. I predict that by the end of the season our two strikers will still not be far off, or equal, to the Mancs’ couple.

Van Judas could get injured any time, and the club will have to pay his wages and get nothing back for it. After recovering from his injury he might never be the same, and yet the club have to fork out an incredible £48m in wages plus an additional £24m to Arsenal to obtain his services: this liability will not go away.

I am gutted we let him go to the Mancs; the club I despise most of all. They took an enormous risk in signing Van Judas up but they are currently reaping the benefits. It all remains to be seen whether it will pay off for them long term.

But the fact is, Arsenal let him go, and he deserted us, the fans, for lots more money and the hope for a better chance to win something. Nasri and Song also left to get more money somewhere else, and we are likely to face similar issues every summer as long as Arsenal are not prepared to adjust their wage structure in order to attract and keep the best players.

Maybe the Financial Fair Play regulations will make a real difference, but I cannot see it changing the Mancs and others being able to pay some of their best players huge wages, whilst others earn significantly less. It is more a question of ideology and approach to taking risks than anything else.

I love Arsene’s ideological approach, as morally I am totally with him on this, but in the uber/post capitalist reality of modern football in England, I reckon it will be almost impossible to sustain. Reality sucks.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Bacary Sagna – the 2013 victim of Fans Fulfilling Prophecy?

January 8, 2013January 8, 2013TotalArsenal

How can we expect loyalty of our key players, if we don’t remain faithful to them?

Sagna will become 30 on Valentines Day, and his current contract will run out by the end of 2014. He suffered two broken legs in a relatively short period of time, and he has had a dip in form recently. The best right back in the Premier League in recent years, Mr. Reliable, is going through a rough patch and we, the supporters, should support him through thick and thin now. But we are not.

Has there been a finer Arsenal player in recent years in our defence than Bacary? Our right back always, and I mean always, gives his all for the shirt and it saddens me to read comments on various blogs of a very negative nature. Bacary has had it apparently, and we should ship him out as soon as possible. Bacary is only interested in a move away and is not given his all for the club anymore. Bacary looks uninterested and is lazy, they say. Really?!

For me, Sagna embodies everything I look for in a player: a consistent performer, who always gives his all, and an absolute beast of a footballer. For years he has been regarded, by pundits and fans alike, as the best right back in the country. Sagna is the sort of player we should aim to keep and build the team on: we need more Sagna’s in the team if we ever are going to win something again.

If it is true that the club is only offering Sagna a one year contract extension, we should all try to understand his anxiety at the moment. Footballers have a short ‘working life’ in their profession and he is now at an age when he needs to secure his future.

The nr.2 for the RB position, Jenkinson, has just been offered a new contract, and Bacary must be thinking his days are over, taking into account the club’s recent history of how those who reached the age of 30 were treated. If on top of that, he has a rare spell of underperformances; it is not hard to imagine that the Frenchman is going through a tough time at the moment.

Now is the time to stand behind him and show our appreciation of what he has done for the club and how much we would like him to stay and help us fight for trophies.

If we are not careful Sagna will become another victim of a negative ‘fans fulfilling prophecy’:

A couple of (perceived) under-par performances by Sagna leads to;
Unhappy crowds and unhappy bloggers, etc;
Once Sagna becomes aware of this (and how couldn’t he) it’s highly likely that his confidence gets affected;
Sagna might easily start making more mistakes, and as a result, will take less risk and might even start hiding during games;
Leading to more unhappy crowds, bloggers etc, even less confidence and worse and worse performances;
Before you know it, we have ‘unsupported’ him into failure.

Sagna made a bad mistake against Southampton which led to us conceding a goal. Until then, The Ox and Bacary had worked their socks off to get our attack going from the right, whilst the rest did not feel like helping out most of the time. Once Bacary made the poor mistake, his confidence was shot and almost everything went wrong after that. Sometimes this happens; he is only human after all.

Against Swansea, on Sunday, he gave again his all and basically worked the entire right flank on his own, as Theo was keen to piss-mark his newly acclaimed territory, so Giroud would not feel too comfortably in the centre of our attack. Given the lack of support, Sagna did well against Swansea; there was definitely an improvement in his performance.

Bacary Sagna is a great player, an experienced player, a warrior who fights for our shirt. He is Arsenal through and through, and we need to do everything to keep him at the club and support him through this difficult period.

He deserves it for all that he has done for us. Wishing him to leave and be replaced by the promising, but raw and inexperienced, Jenkinson is totally inappropriate and utterly counterproductive. We need a mixture of young, up and coming players and experienced players who care about this club and offer real quality. Sagna belongs in the latter category, and I hope he will get our full support when we take on the Northern Oilers on Sunday.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

January and February perfect for Arsenal to start chase for second place

January 3, 2013January 3, 2013TotalArsenal

Arsenal have a perfect opportunity to move up the table in the next two months. Having taken 13 points out of a possible fifteen against supposedly weaker opposition from the last five games, we will now play in quick succession three teams who, like us, are aiming to finish in the top-four at least this season: Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

We will know what Arsene’s team is really made off by the end of this month.

In a way, I am happy we will play Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool all in January: our team need these challenges to prove to themselves how good they really are.

In January and February, Arsenal will play seven PL games: five of them are home games (Man City, West Ham, Liverpool, Stoke and Villa), and there are only two away games (Chelsea and Sunderland). Arsenal have had a relatively hard first half of the season, with all away games in – the always difficult for us – North-West already played, and eleven away games played out of a total of 20 games until now.

So, there is now a good opportunity to take points from our direct opponents and move up on the table. Man City will not have Yaya Toure available and I reckon this will prove to be a huge loss for the Northern Oilers. He is one of the few who always gives his all for the club, whilst many of their players seem to operate as contractors, or ‘hired feet’. I have also huge respect for Kompany, Silva and Hart, but ManCity is a team that struggles with cohesion and desire issues in the team, and if we give our all from the start against them, I reckon we can have them. This would reduce the gap between us and them to eight points, and with our game in hand, we can further reduce the gap.

After Man City, Arsenal play Chelsea away. Not an easy fixture for us, but the Chavs just lost to QPR at home, and will play Stoke away next in the PL; after that it is us, and I reckon this is a good time to meet them. Benitez has had mixed results with Chelsea so far, and the fact that he is still not wanted by the fans and just lost a London derby, might work in our favour. Again, Arsenal need to play their game and give their all on the day, but this is the time to show the outside world what this team is capable off.

Three days after the Chavs game, Arsenal play at home against West Ham. The biggest risk will be that we think this is a relatively easy fixture and leave our collective foot of the gas. Let’s hope the team are focussed and give their all; if so, we should take three points from our encounter with the Hammers. The same goes for the February home games against Stoke and Aston Villa.

The next home game after the West Ham game is a big one again: Liverpool. They have started to hit a bit of form recently, and might well come to Ashburton Grove with high levels of confidence. Liverpool play Manchester United away and Norwich at home before they come to us, and especially if they were to get a result at Old Trafford, and win their home game against Norwich as well, they could fancy themselves against us.

However, once again this is a game we should be able to win, given our home advantage. One of the hardest PL games to play in the next two months is our away game against Sunderland. Never easy, and it all depends on form and belief on the day, whether Arsenal can get something from the game.

But, all in all, I feel good about the next two months, and we will know with a lot more certitude whether Arsenal are going the get something from this season in the PL or not.

Now is the time to push on properly and get as close as possible to the second place in the league.

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Happy & Prosperous New Year Fellow Gooners: Ten Wishes for 2013

January 1, 2013January 1, 2013TotalArsenal

I would like to wish all fellow Gooners a happy & prosperous New Year!

Here are my ten wishes for the New Year (in no particular order):

A top-three finish: both the Chavs and the Northern Oilers are there for the taking and we can finish in the top-three, no doubt about that!
The team to keep its mojo now and to find the perfect balance between a mean defence and attacking football;
A Diaby miracle: he is fit again apparently and I am hoping he will stay fit for most of the remainder of the season to help us finish as high as possible in the league;
Theo to commit long term to Arsenal and the purchase of an additional, quality winger;
A beast of a DM (see previous post for reasons why);
Change of captaincy: TV is a great player but not a great captain. In fact, the captaincy makes him weaker, and there are good potential captains in our team: Mertesacker, Arteta, Wilshere, Szczesny;
A good cup-run either in the CL, or FA-cup. It would be great to beat Bayern Munich, and if we do, this team can get far in the CL. In a way, the same goes for the Swansea away game: a win there could mean the start of a great FA-cup run;
No return to a busy sick bay: it is absolutely fantastic that we have all key players fit and available now, and long may it continue – our bench is looking very strong now;
Holding on to all our key players for once this summer. Arsene to be given full support by the BoD to continue building a top-team by not selling any of our key players, and giving him sufficient funds to strengthen where needed;
Dennis to join our coaching staff and to get a statue at Ashburton Grove!

Victoria Concordia Crescit! 🙂

Written by: Total Arsenal.

Why Arsenal’s away support probably won us the game against Wigan

December 24, 2012December 24, 2012TotalArsenal

A personal account of a whole day of Wigan-Arsenal.

We all know that Arsenal have a fantastic support at away games. It does not matter how far away the game is and whatever bad weather has to be endured, Arsenal are always supported by a large number of supporters on their ‘tours’.

Nothing feels better than being surrounded by many thousands of fellow Gooners and singing our songs together with full passion and harmony, whilst watching our beloved Arsenal. And it was fantastic to be part of it all this Saturday in the company of fellow blog owner Wigan Gooner (WG).

It was a long journey up from Norwich to Wigan, and the constant rain – and its antidote the windscreen wipers – never seized to accompany me. Saturday was the second shortest day in terms of the sun being up, and it seemed the day just did not want to start. When it did eventually became lighter – I was already well north of Birmingham – the surrounding constant blackness turned into a permanent grey, but what did not change at all were the constant streams of red and white light on the motorway: a sea of red moving with me, and a river of white light moving perfectly parallel in the opposite direction.

WG and I met up before the game and it was great to speak about our club, and football in person rather than through keyboards for once. The weather was pretty bad but WG took me on a walk through various parts of Wigan, and it was especially great to see some of the forlorn – and in some cases refurbished into apartments – old mill and factory buildings.

One particular building stood out. It was a former, totally derelict mill/factory building that was bordered up. Although severely dilapidated, the striking redbrick walls and towers were in good condition and gave of a warm glow against the grey, heavy with rain, sky all around us. There was water gushing down drainpipes everywhere and a nearby river was in an incredible hurry.

After that we had to walk diagonally through a very large car park of a stereotypical shopping mall, in order to get to the DW stadium. It was great to see Arsenal bring some colour, and most of all warmth, to the soggy, heavy pitch and seemingly eternal grey skies, by kicking off the game in their familiar red and white (and a bit of navy blue) shirts and shorts.

The Stadium, which holds about 25000 spectators, was only ¾ full, and the away fans were more vocal than the home support from the start. The away fans showed how impressed they were with the home support by singing songs like ‘I want to go home, I want to go home, Wigan is a sh*t hole, I want to go home’, and ‘You only come to see the Arsenal’ to which the home support had no matching answer.

Basically, the Arsenal supporters verbally bullied the Wigan supporters which made them even more quiet throughout the game.

Wigan gained their PL status through their achievements on the pitch over the last eight years, but with large cities like Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, Cardiff, etc not being represented in the Premier League, and the relatively small DW stadium not sold-out for a visit of the Arsenal, you do wonder whether they really deserve to remain in the top division of football in this country.

Analysis of the game.

Arsenal and Wigan fought for the midfield more or less the entire game. Both teams played a high line which led to a very congested area in midfield. Arsenal desperately tried to control the midfield but Wigan were well drilled and competent in both keeping us from passing the ball around and retaining it themselves once they took it off us. As a result, our defence was made to look very vulnerable more than once in the first half.

Wigan’s 3-5-2 style really seems to suit Martinez’ team and if they had better strikers up-front they would have gotten something out of this game.

Both WG and I felt that Arteta did not have the power and drive during large parts of the game to put his stamp on the game. His limited ability to tackle and to out-fight players in the air was a big miss against the Latics. He never stops trying though, but I feel even stronger now that we need to buy a more orthodox, experienced DM as soon as possible.

Jack Wilshere tried very hard to add physicality to our midfield play and that’s why we all love him, but we never had a good shape during the first half of the game. Quite regularly Arsenal won the ball in a one to one battle only to lose it again straightaway. It was frustrating to see how Arsenal were not able to keep hold of the ball for long, once we had won it in midfield, during large periods of the game.

Wigan, on the other hand, were much better at keeping hold of it and pass their way through our midfield in order to launch one of their ‘wing-backs’, or play a dangerous ball through the middle or over the top. It was very worrying how easy Wigan carved through us once they won the ball in midfield and had their strikers been better, we could have been 2-0 behind at half time.

The second half was much better, as Arsenal were able to press Wigan out of the midfield and closer to their goal: the area were both Arsenal can hurt Wigan and we are not running such a big risk of being carved open with just two moves.

Arsenal were also able to use the Ox far better in the second half as a result of the pressure we put on to Wigan. In the first half, AOC had been able to make good forward runs with the ball on the right wing, but there was little support for him and his attacks were therefore often ineffectual. But with Cazorla playing a lot closer to Ox and the young Englishman being able to make runs into the Wigan box, Arsenal finally had found the formula to hurt Wigan properly.

Until we scored the goal, Arsenal had dominated the second half and Arsene’s half time team talk appeared to be making a big difference.

From where the away supporters were – right behind the Wigan goal – it looked like a clear foul on Theo and it became the pivotal moment of the game. The away support shouted ‘penalty’ in total unison and the referee pointed to the spot. For an away team to be given a penalty resulting from such a foul, you need to be a bit lucky. And I reckon, any doubt the referee might have had, was blown away by the boisterous shout from the almost 5000 strong away support.

Arteta put the penalty away and after that Arsenal kept playing for a while to get the second goal, but Theo missed a good opportunity to do so, and both Theo and Podolski could have done better in attacking a superb cross into the box by the Ox as well.

Bit by bit, Wigan started to push us back again and they were winning the midfield one-to-one battles once again. Arsene decided to shore up the midfield with bringing on Ramsey and Coquelin, for Ox and Pod. A tactic not universally supported by the away supporters, especially as we were still not able to keep hold of the ball and keep Wigan from finding openings through our midfield.

Somehow, we got there and were able to leave Wigan with three points, but let there be no doubt that we were lucky to do so, and we need to improve significantly in terms of the shape of our team and individual performances if we want to beat the Barcodes on Saturday.

On the way back from the Stadium WG and I went through the game in detail, and however much we were disappointed in some of the individual performances of our players and the general shape of our team, and however much we were drenched by the rain once more, the overriding feeling was one of happiness as a result of an ugly win that pushed us up to third in the table.

On the way home, I was once again accompanied by lovely red and white traffic streams, and the fantastic news of a goalless draw at White Heart Lane which kept us in third place at least till Sunday.

Five hundred miles through hazardous conditions were rewarded by a hard fought 1-0 to the Arsenal and fantastic in-depth discussions about anything Arsenal with WG.

Total Arsenal.

Signing up the Brit-Pack will give Arsenal much needed identity – Bayern ideal

December 20, 2012TotalArsenal

It is hard to win anything with too many mercenaries. In every organisation a healthy mixture of loyal ‘stayers’ and so-called job-hoppers is a pre-requisite for continued success. For a football club, where the players are not just employees but the entire ‘product’ at the same time, loyalty of its key personnel is absolute paramount.

Recent departures of those who were developed by the club, often with incredible patience and determination, have hurt the club; and especially the fans. For most of us, it is hard to just love the club and treat the players as a separate, temporary entity. They are not machines, but the very people who are lucky enough to wear the shirt and call themselves a Gunner: the ones who can bring us as much ecstasy as agony for one day to another.

There will always be players who simply cannot be kept at Arsenal – for one reason or another. At best these are so-called club or job hoppers (Hleb, Overmars); at worst, selfish mercenaries who are purely driven by cash (Nasri, Anelka, Tevez, Ronaldo).

But there is no way a club can build towards sustained success without a strong core of quality, and most importantly, loyal players; who intrinsically identify themselves with the spirit and culture of the club.

In recent times, Fabregas appeared to have it but the call of his childhood home became too strong for him. RvP fooled me, and I reckon many of us, when he flirted openly with Gunners immortality; by saying he loves the club and that he is a Gunner for life at the start of this year, only to let us down at the first opportunity in the summer.

And so many others have left us recently which is utterly unacceptable for a club of our stature and history. Therefore, the announcement by the club of the signing of Jack, Aaron, Kieran, Carl and Alex is really good news for us.

With Vermaelen & Koz already on long-term contracts, and last and this season’s signings secured for the next few years at least, we should now enter a period of stability and continuity. Some of these players have potential to become really loved at the club, but we just cannot tell whether they will do a runner as soon as big money is being offered to them, and/or a Spanish giant will turn their heads.

There is a better chance in achieving player loyalty with those who come from these shores and have been nurtured by the club into quality players. Our improving financial position should also enable us to pay them (closer to) the going rate by the Oilers, and therefore keep them at Arsenal for as long as we want.

The Brit-Pack should provide us with the all-important core for Arsenal, and on top of that, Arsene can buy the quality needed to further succeed. And that’s why, yesterday’s announcement of securing five key, British young players is fantastic news for the club in the long run.

Bayern in the CL

Like most of us, I did not want to draw Barca and I was also not keen on Juve or Bayern. But out of those three, I would prefer Bayern; in fact, I think it is pretty ideal.

They will be the favourites and that will suit us fine. I don’t think Arsenal can win the CL this year, but we do have a chance against Bayern and if we were to eliminate Die Lederhosen it could give us that all-important momentum in this tournament. As we all know, the Germans have the best classical wingers in Europe in Ribery and Robben, and if and when they are both fit and firing on all cylinders Bayern are almost unstoppable. But, if we can further improve our passing game and start gelling better, we have a very decent chance. Beat Bayern and we could go all they way: we have nothing to lose and I reckon we do it.

Writen by: Total Arsenal.

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

December 15, 2012TotalArsenal

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.