Andrew alerted me to a piece in the Independent last week. For those of you from outside of the UK the Indie is that rarest of beasts; a quality tabloid newspaper. It has featured some of my favourite ever journalists including Fergal Keane and the utterly peerless Robert Fisk who not only understand their subject but carry out proper research and present intelligent balanced findings in a coherent and well written manner. On this occasion Andrew didn’t link to an analysis of Rwandan genocide or one hundred years of armed imperial folly in Afghanistan, the piece he drew to my attention concerned Arsenal and their new defensive acquisition Gabriel Paulista. The headline read “Talented Brazilian could grow into world-class defender at Arsenal” and frankly, if looking a bit like Martin Raymond Keown counts in any way towards that then the accompanying picture suggested the lad is well on the way.
I wish I’d stopped reading then and there and returned to Twitter where I could have gone back to browsing photographs of Mike Wood’s latest beer du jour or read more of George’s attempts to reconcile the Israeli’s and the Palestinians and bring peace to the world. That man really is the Henry Kissinger of Twitter, the Ghandi between the goalposts isn’t he? Where there is discord let George bring harmony as St Francis famously said. I wish he could bring me closer to a loving understanding with sports journalists in the same way he brought Spurs and Arsenal fans together on Positively Arsenal the other day.
The Independent article was the usual tame journalistic froth in which sports writers excel. We didn’t learn anything much about the player or the transfer but right in the middle was this little nugget of nonsense, like a lexiconic landmine in a mundane path through an unremarkable paragraph it went off in my face causing me to spill soup into my moustache
“Villarreal’s scouting record in South America is as good as Arsène Wenger’s record for signing defenders is bad.”
Now there are two things happening here. Firstly, and perhaps most obviously, the journalist is deflecting attention away from Arsène’s role in spotting young talent by suggesting the real work was done by Villareal. As my children would doubtlessly say, meh. It’s the kind of lazy rubbish we all filter out when reading about Arsenal, but the other thing, the huge blatant lie that Arsène is crap at buying defenders stuck so deep in my craw that I barely finished reading and had to push my bowl of cauliflower and yellow split pea to one side – croutons and all. I know, I know these idiots have an agenda to feed Arsène haters as much red meat as possible until the lie becomes a cliché and the cliché ends up presented as a fact and the great man’s name gets dragged through ever more deeper mud; it’s their job, it’s sad, I hate it but I need to grow up and learn to live with it.
Before we play ‘Arsene’s great defensive signings down through the ages’ and ask which one is your favourite (and we shall, oh yes we shall play just that game) let us consider the crowning turd in the swimming pool which came at the end of the item and which we all know will be parroted by the anti Arsene brigade in various forms if for no other reason than it serves to deride our current defensive players.
“Arsenal may have found the defender for whom they have been looking for so long. One who loves defending, who rarely gets injured, whose leap gets him to most headers, whose stride carries him confidently out of defence”
In a nutshell the twerp writing this piece perfectly described both Lauren Koscielny and Tommy Vermaelen among many others. Obviously I am overlooking the nonsense about rarely getting injured, not only because it suits me so to do but because numbers of injuries cannot be predicted nor controlled and are usually caused by cowardly or corrupt officials allowing thuggish opponents free reign while they go about attacking our players.
All of which leads me back to the lesson which I should have learned a long time ago. Do not get involved in any transfer talk even after the signing has been made as we know nothing about any player and will not know anything of worth until they’ve had a run in the side, and for God’s sake do not ever under any circumstances read any published sports journalist. In fact, thinking about it, we don’t even necessarily know anything after their first or second runs in the side do we? Look at Francis Coquelin; his development so perfectly managed that when recalled he was in a position to astonish even those of us who already liked the lad. Cut out the off the ground, two footed challenges and I would even say I love him just a little bit. We didn’t know how good he could be, but now we’ve had a hint. The new signings we know nothing about.
What about today’s game. What, specifically, about our opponents, Aston Villa? Do we know anything of substance about them? Not much I’m afraid. I mentioned Brian Clough last week and like Clough’s Forest, Villa once did the impossible and won the European cup by defeating Bayern Munich in the final. Not many people know it but they also beat Barcelona in the Super Cup in the following season. Even less people know that Villa’s first ever match was played against a local rugby union team and they had to play the first half under rugby rules and the seco
nd half under football rules. Which is a bit like when we play Stoke or Chelsea except we have to play both halves under one set of rules while the opposition are allowed to pretty much choose which sport they’re playing depending upon whether they want to garotte our players or just break their legs.
Villa have had a few good seasons here and there recently, but then many teams do. There is often one pretender to the top four but they seldom mount a sustained challenge over more than one season. It takes an extraordinary manager to keep a team dining at that particular table year in year out, especially when you look at the prices on the menu and the money available to the stinking rich diners with their fat arses permanently ensconced in most of the chairs. This go around, though, Mr Lambert’s chaps are finding things a little tough. Three points outside the bottom three they are in an interestingly symmetrical relationship with our club. Their negative goal difference of minus fourteen mirroring perfectly our plus fourteen. They sit two places outside the relegation zone we sit two places outside the Champions League zone. Their name ends with an A ours starts with an A. The list is endless. Well OK so I was reaching a little at the end there but if the league placings mean anything then we should be winning this. Of course we all know anyone can beat anyone and it’s current form that matters not current league position. A glance at their recent form shows DWLLW which is as inconclusive as you can get but compare and contrast with our rather nicer looking LWWWW and I know which side I’d rather support. In fact the only thing bar an exceptional Villa performance which might mar our Sunday roasties and curdle the custard is a dramatic exhibition from the most influential man on the pitch when last they won at the Emirates.
I speak of none other than the diabolical and by now infamous Arsenal nemesis, the man aiming to dethrone Asmodeus Dean as the pretender to Beelzebub Riley none other than Berith Anthony Taylor, Prince of The Cherubim. In a breathtaking move that defies my feeble verbal attempts to encapsulate its myopic brainlessness, the man who proved himself beyond incapable on the opening game of last season gets the chance to destroy another good footballing contest this afternoon. It is an indictment of the standard of officiating in the premier league that we often worry more about the referee than the opposition players in the build up to a match but I’ll let you decide if it’s corruption or incompetence which steers so many officials to have such a disproportionately negative impact on so many of our games.
All I can say is take heart Positivistas! Look at who wielded the whistle and cards at the Etihad. If we can come through such an encounter with one of the worst referees in the history of the game they we can overcome both Villa and their twelfth man Taylor.
Now about that game I mentioned earlier. The man, who we are told is incapable of buying or spotting a decent defender, bought or raised, among others, the following. Can you pick a favourite?
Positively Arsenal 
Kane is a very good player. Eriksen too.
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Kane vs Koscielny (drools)
What a footballing feast that was. A proper Sunday roast of a performance. One man team my arse. There isn’t a team in the world that wants to play us when we got our tails up like we do right now. Looking forward to the NLD and hopefully a guest preview by our new resident Yido.
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Who is this Kane everyone is talking about? I’m assuming a player from another club? As you know I’m a little Arsenal centric when it comes to football, don’t study the other sides.
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I will admit to watching Poch’s version of Tottenham, steww. Can’t be mad at players like Mason, Kane, and Eriksen. Mason is their Ramsey and has been a revelation. Props to Pochettino for giving youngsters a chance.
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Just finished watching the game and a very pleasing result
We did not quite hit top gear but were in control throughout
Very pleased for Bellerin – the kid must be glowing this February afternoon
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Loomer – I’m not mad at them I genuinely have never heard of any of them except Eriksen. And I may be confusing him, with someone else.
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i have seen kane play against us a couple of times and he always seemed dangerous, however although further on than Chuba i dont believe he has any more potential than Chuba. Both teams on form so should be a great match
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I hope we can entice Akpom to sign a new contract. He showed enough coming on as a sub to let us see what a pacey talent he is and because at 19 he has the physique and the nous to be one for the not so distant future.
Pity to lose him, so I suspect that is why Arsene is giving him a chance to have the odd cameo appearance.
Overall an excellent performance to overwhelm the Villans, and there were many star performances including Bellerin, Monreal, the usual pair Kozzer and BFG, with Le Coq really putting in a disciplined and energetic performance.
Then, of course, Santi and Ozil were streets ahead of anything Villa had, and Giro put in his usual robust and skilful effort.
Ospina looked very much in control of their crosses and his occasional shot stopping was top class.
The only slight reservation I had was that both Theo and Rambo, despite trying hard all game, were not quite at it. However, there were mitigating factors for both of them in that they have just recovered from long term injuries, particularly Theo, and his wonderful goal was worth the admission money on its own!
All in all, and enjoyable day and it sets up the forthcoming Spuds game very nicely.
COYG.
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Its odd what you learn, but I heard that Kane, whom steww has never known – lol – was actually on Arsenal’s books as a kid, before being let go to the Spuds.
But given the understandable animosity shown to Bale after his career for the Spuds I was surprised, for no good reason, to hear that he was a boyhood Gooner!
Now that shows he did have good sense – pity we did not sign him and sell him for the best part of £90m. lol
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That came off wrong, steww. My apologies. I’d never heard of em til this season myself.
Akpom is gonna be something. He was excellent today. He will be signing da ting any day now
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I thought Aaron played well playing in a much deeper role and along with Le Coq creating a great platform for Santi, Mezut, Theo and Oli. While he is not back to his absolute best and everything he tries is not coming off I think he is still pivital to the team. With the creativity we have going forward its essential we have some defensive players in the side.
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Southampton 0-1 Swansea
the lead arsenal by 1 goal, what a pity the Ozil goal was wrongly ruled out for offside today, also we hit the woodwork twice and missed several good chances. but we have certainly been on an upward curve lately, lets hope it continues.
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So much to comment on, where do I start?
I know, with this:
“I cannot recall a defensive midfielder that just, intercepts so well and mops everything up as well as Coquelin. Makalele?”
“But, I still think we need a world class DM” (banned smiley here!)
I’m just back from the game and whilst I agree that we did not hit our top level, we did not need to. It was a controlled performance in which we were totally in control throughout. I admit that I was worried prior to the game, but that had more to do with the man in the middle. The way Villa started, they clearly thought lightening might strike twice. But I think we might be seeing the end of days – winning with mike dean and now anthony taylor in charge? Whatever next.
I thought everyone made a good contribution to the overall team effort. Theo and Ramsey not quite up to speed, but that’s why they need the games. Picking a MoTM is hard as it is very difficult to choose between a number of candidates. I’m happy for Mesut to get it though, given the amount of unfair stick he has taken since he arrived at the club.
5 different goal scorers in one match and 19 for the season so far certainly puts the lie to the ‘one man team’ label. Szczesny will really struggle to get back into the team because David Ospina is an excellent goalkeeper. I feel no sense of trepidation with him in goal. There is no showing off, he keeps his concentration high – 2 shots on target from the opposition and two saves rather than the usual 2 goals, even in the last minute of the game. I love how he is so proactive in coming for crosses and mopping up behind his defenders. Hopefully the competition will motivate all our goalkeepers to keep the standard high this season.
Finally to the post – excellent stuff and illustrates why I don’t bother to read the papers. Even when they try to say something ‘positive’ about the team, they always manage to dole out some back-handed untruism as if it were fact. As for picking a favourite from that gallery of excellence, I don’t think I can.
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Loomer
I hope you are right about Akpom, he will be some striker…..
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wenger in his after game comments said Alexis was not close at all to being in the squad today, I really hope this does not mean he will be out for a few weeks.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150201/wenger-on-victory-ozil-and-walcott
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Gooner Updates @GoonerUpdates · 2h 2 hours ago
Hector Bellerin (9 appearances) has scored more goals (1), than Mario Balotelli (12 apps) in the Premier League this season
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Why can’t we just appreciate all our players for what they can bring to the team rather than playing one off against the other? I’ve already heard people using Akpom to denigrate Sanogo. I think one 20 minute cameo when he won a very soft penalty hardly tells you that much. He looks promising, but so does Sanogo, who I still believe made a huge contribution to us winning the FA cup final with the ‘chaos factor’ that he brings to the opposition defenders. I know local fans love to see local players do well as do I, but let’s not go overboard because you know what always follows if that player has a little dip at some point.
I also can’t believe that after that team performance, some people are saying Ospina, Szczesny, and Giroud are not good enough for our team. They are still hankering after a “world class” goal keeper and striker. WTF! All those players are important to how the manager wants to play the game. Giroud has been scoring regularly since his return from injury and had a goal and assist today. He could have had a couple more if he was more selfish in the first half when he elected to pass instead of shooting, or more accurate with his header that grazed the cross bar. I don’t see what goal keeper could have done better than Ospina today and even Szczesny when his head is in the right place has won us plenty of games. Some fans are never satisfied. You can’t fill the team with 11 superstars all playing for their own glory. Football is a team game and what you need is a balance of skills and abilities. Thankfully our manager knows that, while the online blowhards continue with their pathetic whining.
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Steww
Another superb article.
Having read and enjoyed the comments, I’ll have to (happily) have a reread, but thanks.
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spot on passenal, it seems if you like ospina then szczesny has to be called rubbish, if you like Jack then Ramsey is rubbish, if you like Cazorla then Ozil is rubbish, etc etc etc
I see that Bellerin’s parents were at the Arsenal training ground yesterday, and at the game today to see Hector score his first goal for Arsenal. Has to make it even more special for the lad to have his parents watching
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Giroud has 7 goals in 8+4 league games this season
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Aw: “No matter who you select, you can be wrong. No matter who you select, you can be right as well when you have the quality.”
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the players who did not play for Arsenal today
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8xfbmIIAAAoiV1.jpg:large
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Franny doesn’t remind me of Makelele, he reminds me of Gilberto.
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I agree with Passenal. I always do.
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Well that was fun. And I still haven’t seen the last 30 minutes, so I have that to look forward to. And the Swans doing us a favor just topped off a really good day. The only downside, as others have pointed out, will be putting up with those who, after a performance like that, just have to find something to pick on. It seems this week it will be my boy Aaron, then (6? Oh, Eduardo, really?). And Theo? (Seriously?) And Szczesny, whom some people are now ready to jettison. Ah well, these boys won’t let it bother them, so I’m going to try not to let it bother me. This is a hell of a squad we have. I’m not sure why people gleefully love to pick out who needs to be thrown overboard as “not good enough” now, or who gets to be benched, or who will “miss out”. I want them all to play. They are all important – every one of them. This squad is very tight, and they are all working for each other. Too bad some supporters can’t see it that way.
I think I’ll wear my Ramsey jersey to the Super Bowl party tonight. I really don’t care who wins that spectacle anyway. I’ve already had my win for the day!
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Reading of George’s and passenal’s expeditions into twitterland, I’m quite happy to stay home here in the sanity of this blog. Idiots are always best ignored.
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The Seahawks have nothing on our Legion of Doom
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If Alexis is fit for the NLD, who do you leave out of the starting line-up?
My guess is Theo – although I said at half-time that my patience was being tested, it was actually his break and pass to Ollie that set up the second goal. And his pass and movement for the third couldn’t be faulted. But I still think Alexis will give us more possibilties to keep the Totts on the back foot, and then bring on Theo if necessary when they are tiring.
As others have pointed out, Aaron is still getting back to full match fitness – it generally takes him a few games – but him and Coquelin in midfield together are looking like a strong combination.
All augurs well for the second half of the season, especially when you look at eduardo’s team of non-starters today.
I wonder who we’ll play in the quarter finals of the CL.
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can anyone explain why guzan was not even booked for giving away the penalty, surely a clear goal scoring chance, at least a booking, I’m sure we have seen Szczesny sent off a couple of times for very similar fouls, is it merely another case of one rule for arsenal and another for everyone else
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interesting bit on Ramsey’s performance, it may have been far more influential than it first appeared
Dezil Dez @DezilDez · 32m 32 minutes ago
2nd goal: Ramsey & Coquelin pressing before we won the ball and countered.
3rd goal: Ramsey’s run drags Clark out of position for a second. That second was enough for Walcott to attack the space created & Clark couldn’t recover to cover the space.
4th goal: Ramsey’s through ball to Akpom before he won the penalty.
Ramsey was influential in 3 out of the 5 goals.
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amazing that Southampton fans booed their team today, it seems its not only Arsenal who have self entitled fans
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The ball was going out of play Eddy, it was a foul but not a goal-scoring opportunity.
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I’ve just seen the replay of the penalty incident – it was definitely a penalty and I apologise to Akpom for thinking it was a bit soft as it didn’t look like a penalty in real time from where I was sitting.
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anyone got the stats for Ozil and Walcott in the games they have played together
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PG, if you want the “scuttlebutt”, Eddy has it all!
Come Eddy -“in the first half he was through but then Jores Okore caught up with him and I think that once he’s through, you know that nobody can catch him. Okore must be very quick!”
I am curious, WAS TW really outpaced?
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With all due respect to my brethren Positivistas, it is usually the ladies who make the most sense. Passenal at 6:59pm and Aabama Gooner at 7:13pam did not merely “hit” the proverbial nail on the head, they “obliterated” it. Why, oh why, must the knuckleheads seek some member of the team to drag down when it is the complementary parts of the ubit that makes us strong, not merely the individual pieces.
PS: George – Loathe to disagree with you but while Ozil can cut a team to shreds with his forward passes, Santi is not too far behind plus he is now very good defensively. I am glad to have them both.
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Thanks, Shotta. Everybody has his or her pet peeve….that’s mine. The constant looking for the next player they can shoot down, even when things are going well.
Hey Eddy, rethinking that “6” rating now? *grins*
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yeah alabama, he probably should have got a 7
Chris Christie the Governor of New Jersey was at the Arsenal game today, did no one tell him its Super Bowl Sunday
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by the way alabama I hope you don’t think I was scapegoating Ramsey, for me although he is not at his best at the moment, he is very important to how well we are playing, we so need his running beyond our forwards, he is the only midfielder we have that does this
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Gary LinekerVerified account
@GaryLineker
The Wenger out brigade are deafening us with their silence.
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No worries, Eddy. I’m just giving you a hard time. Wouldn’t want to disappoint my PA friends who have come to expect my riding to Aaron’s rescue when he doesn’t need it. And I agree wholeheartedly about his running beyond the forwards. I said just the other day that every time he doesn’t play, I find myself yelling, “Why is there no one in the box?!” I love it when he scores, but I still think that is secondary to the other things he gives us.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8xTlkBCMAApzUR.jpg:large
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Gov. Christie doesn’t care about the Super Bowl, because his team, the Dallas Cowboys, aren’t in it. (Ignoring, of course, the team that plays in his state – but they’re not in it, either.) He’s just trying to make himself visible, gearing up for his presidential run. God help us.
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so is anyone holding out hope that Wenger will “get a call from an agent” tonight and that he will “surprise” us all with another signing tomorrow.
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I can’t confirm this stat but I’ve just been told that Ozil and Walcott have only started 8 games together, and Ozil has got 2 goals and 6 assists and Walcott has got 7 goals and 1 assist
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“so is anyone holding out hope that Wenger will “get a call from an agent” tonight and that he will “surprise” us all with another signing tomorrow.”
Not particularly. As long as our injury woes are behind us, I think we’ve got enough to be going on with. I know a lot of people are gagging for Cavani, but I’ve never seen the appeal myself.
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Joel Campbell was not in the villarreal squad for their game tonight v Barcelona due to the birth of his daughter he has returned to England
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passenal I rate Cavani very highly, and as much as I think he is a better finisher than Giroud, for me he would not actually bring as much to our overall game plan as Giroud does. I am still amazed at the amount of Arsenal fans who do not see how good Giroud is and his value to our style of play and its effectiveness
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amazing how quickly things can change for players, Bellerin, Coquelin and Akpom.
Bellerin last season was on loan at Watford and mostly got played at left back, then when a new manager came in he got no game time at all
Coquelin last season was on loan at Freiburg and he played in 16 league game and 8 other games for them, a lot of which was as a sub, he played no games at DM for them, and in fact most of his games were wide left, and this season he was on loan at Charlton
Akpom last season was on loan in League One at Coventry and Brentford and barely got a game
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