Arsenal 1st Team
Arsenal Football Club
Highbury House
75 Drayton Park
LONDON N5 1BU
Hi Guys,
I won’t be presumptuous. In the unlikely event any of you saw my open letter last week, either through the Arsenal media office or through your PR person, you may be aware that many of us Gooners have not given up on the season and are anxious to convey this to you. With 17 games to go, despite the usual nonsense from journos in mainstream media and the self-appointed experts in blogs and on twitter, an eight (8) point gap with Chelsea is not insurmountable.
I spent a lot of time in my last letter showing in the 1997/98 season, after New Year’s Day, Arsenal was dead and buried, in 5th place, 12 points behind Manchester United:
| Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Man United | 20 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 47 | 13 | 34 | 46 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 21 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 38 | 21 | 17 | 41 |
| Chelsea | 21 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 46 | 21 | 25 | 39 |
| Liverpool | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 19 | 17 | 37 |
| Leeds United | 21 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 30 | 23 | 7 | 35 |
| Arsenal | 20 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 23 | 12 | 34 |
By the end of the season Arsenal had made up the difference to beat United to the title by one solitary point:
| Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Arsenal | 38 | 23 | 9 | 6 | 68 | 33 | 35 | 78 |
| Man United | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 73 | 26 | 47 | 77 |
| Liverpool | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 68 | 42 | 26 | 65 |
| Chelsea | 38 | 20 | 3 | 15 | 71 | 43 | 28 | 63 |
A win against Leicester in late December 1997 was to be the start of a remarkable 48 points from 18 league games. You should take hope that yesterday’s win against Swansea is the start of a similar run by the class of 2017.
I would suggest that you face an equal if not slightly less of a challenge than the class of 1998. As of the completion of round 20 on January 4, the table read as follows:
| Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Chelsea | 20 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 42 | 15 | 27 | 49 |
| Liverpool | 20 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 48 | 23 | 25 | 44 |
| Tottenham | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 39 | 14 | 25 | 42 |
| Man City | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 41 | 22 | 19 | 42 |
| Arsenal | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 44 | 22 | 22 | 41 |
That is only eight (8) points, compared to 12. Some people will try to convince you that things have changed; this time it is different because Chelsea have spent so much money on quality players. Bollocks. Let’s rely on the words of the Boss, when he described the competitive environment of 1997-98:
“I soon realized when I came to Arsenal that teams raise their levels when they play against us. I would watch opponents on video tape and then see a completely different performance when we played them because Arsenal is such a big club and other sides badly want to beat us.”
This was the exact scenario in Saturday’s match vs Swansea. In the first half they came at you with guns blazing, similar to Bournemouth in the previous PL game. But you guys reacted beautifully. Soaked up the pressure, limited their chances, gradually took control of the game, hit them on the counter and score goals repeatedly. Four (4) goals on the road and a clean sheet to boot. As the Boss said you were “relentless” to the end.
As most of you guys know from experience, things can change very quickly in football. In one round of matches, after 21 games, Arsenal has moved from 4th to 5th, snapping at the heels of both Liverpool and Tottenham who at 45 are only one point ahead. Trust me, none of those two teams immediately above us have the depth in quality players as the Gunners and sooner or later the cream will rise to the top.
Despite the margin of that victory over Swansea, the usual infantile, barely literate gaggle of ex-pros who pose as unbiased pundits in mainstream media were doing their best to belittle your chances. Now most of them, you think, having played and suffered against the Arsenal, would be intimately knowledgeable of recent 20-year history under Arsene Wenger.
- Arsenal has finished an average of 3rd; no other club except Manchester United has a better average.
- No other team has a better absolute deviation from their average league position than Arsenal at 0.985, meaning that on the average the club’s position will deviate by less than 1. United is the next best at 1.28.
- All other big -6 team have in 20 years finished lower than Arsenal; City fell away to as low as 47th, way down into the 3rd
- Arsenal has never finished less than 4th.
- Arsenal has never finished below Tottenham
Yet last Saturday, after you guys hammered Swansea, Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Robbie Savage came up with the lame trope that the top-six is more competitive than ever and Arsenal will fall out of the top-four. From the mouth of Scholes on BT Sport:
“I’ll go for Tottenham and Arsenal, fifth and sixth,
“Because I think the other teams are better than them.
“Simple as that, yeah.”
Knowing as we do the unbiased data of the past 20-years, this is truly the opinion of a simpleton, yeah.
Savage is no better:
“I’m going to say Man City because Man City fans absolutely love me and I’m going to go with Scholesy, Arsenal.”
Equally a part of the blind, stupid herd was Hargreaves:
“Yeah I don’t think Arsenal are going to make it this year,”
Those of us on the western side of the pond are similarly afflicted by this mindless punditry by, of course, ex-pros from the English game. We had to put up with the two Robbies of NBC-Soccer (Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe) who discounted your demolition of Swansea and kept bigging up Spurs as title contenders. These are guys who played for clubs which in their day were regularly thrashed by Arsenal. Uhm. Do you see a pattern here?
(A friend of mine on twitter (The Big Apple@lagrossepomme) described this as “Pret-a-Porter” analysis, meaning ready to consume, standardized opinions-analyses that follow the same narrative.)
Like us fans, you guys must be wondering how silly these guys feel when, less than 24-hours later, their favorite team Manchester City is routed 4-nil by Everton, giving another shambolic display of defending. How bad was it? The Toffees had 4 shots on target; all of them scored. As for league position, the only team that moved up and into the top-four over the weekend was The Arsenal. Ouch!
There is still a long way to go in this season but there are hopeful signs. As someone noted on twitter:
” Xhaka/Ramsey pivot have played 312 minutes together we’ve scored 13 (one every 24 min.) 2 against.”
In my opinion, while this is a small sample size it is a good omen. I am sure you guys will build on that. With Santi looking set to once again go under the knife, Elneny at the AFCON until late January and Coquelin recovering from injury, Rambo and Xhaka will simply have to grow up in the heat of battle. You all know they can’t do it alone in central midfield. Teamwork is essential to overcome any weaknesses in our set-up. Fortunately you are a stronger group than last year. At the same time last January you had to depend on good old Flamini (god bless his pointy-shouty efforts) while Elneny was feeling his way into the league.
Have no fear, Chelsea is due their run of bad games. Every club has a dip in this Premier League marathon of a season. Based on the data, if the injury gods can rein peace on us, you the class of 2017 will make this a real title-race. I am convinced of this, especially because you are under the leadership of the greatest manager in the league, whose been there, done that.
Up The Arsenal!
Positively yours
@shotta_gooner, The Contrarian
Positively Arsenal 
seemingly Arsenal ladies have signed USA midfieler Heather O’Reilly (32) on a short term contract. She has played for the USA 234 times.
LikeLike
Im supposing match changing errors means not gifting offside goals and dubious penalties to Arsenal’s opponents?
LikeLiked by 1 person
think it was 16 game changing errors in 22 games.
LikeLike
Evening all,
I’ve the offer of a pair of tickets for Chelsea vs Arsenal, away end.
Any of you diva’s care to join me?
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m in Dundee in the weekend of the 4th Feb ffs – AARRGHH
LikeLike
Is Dundee that bad?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Shotts
LikeLiked by 1 person
DC
For his humble and helpful scouting guides in recent seasons* I nominate Ian!
*along with AA they kindly gave us advanced notice on Bellerin and Gnabry
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLike
Bootoomee @Bootoomee 1h1 hour ago
@Blackburngeorge Gooners who never moan about trophies: L Hamilton, Sir Mo, A Murray i.e. winners
Moaners: Piss Morgan, AFTV losers etc
LikeLike
Bigger I’ve been priced out of the market for those Chelsea tickets.
Irony, eh?
LikeLike
No ambishun
The Chinese I expect
LikeLiked by 5 people
Stew I’m way late, beyond a little bit ankle time, Doom3 Hell on Earth – What in God’s name possessed you to play WBA vs Crystal Palace on the PS4? It’s bad for your mental health.
LikeLike
ARSENAL LADIES SIGN HEATHER O’REILLY
Arsenal Ladies have signed World Cup winner, Heather O’Reilly.
The experienced midfielder is the US Women’s National Team’s eighth highest-capped player of all-time. Throughout her international career she earned 231 caps and scored 47 goals for her country.
As one of USA’s most decorated players, Heather helped her team to win the FIFA World Cup in 2015 and she has also achieved three Olympic gold medals in recent years.
Heather said: “Having come over to Arsenal last year to train, I was very impressed with the club. The facilities are world class and they have a tradition of excellence at the club that I wanted to be a part of, I’m very happy to be here.”
Arsenal Ladies manager Pedro Martinez Losa is delighted to welcome Heather to the club: “She is a world class player and one of the most respected players in the US. Her determination and character will make a big difference for this club. She will bring here a legacy of values, hard work and professionalism which will also help our young players to develop. It is a privilege for us to be able to bring her to Arsenal Ladies.”
You can see Heather in action for the first time at Kelly Smith’s celebration game at Meadow Park.
Everyone at Arsenal would like to welcome Heather to the club.
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170118/arsenal-ladies-sign-heather-o-reilly#DuaUfwpsdgts7PbZ.99
LikeLike
Positively Arsenal @Blackburngeorge 23m23 minutes ago
“Fee agreed between Man Utd and Lyon for Memphis. United have buy back clause”
Lyon insisted?
reports in France say Arsenal and Juventus are trying to sign Lyon winger Rachid Ghezzal, on a bosman free in the summer.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Jeorge Bird @jeorgebird 1h1 hour ago
Walcott, Bellerin and Gibbs in training. Coquelin in light training
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ben Dinnery @BenDinnery 6h6 hours ago
Arsenal hopeful that Giroud will be ready for Sunday
LikeLiked by 1 person
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170118/pictures-arsenal-train-at-sunny-colney
Jenkinson was in Arsenal training today
LikeLike
Van Basten wants changes to the game, one of his ideas is already being trialed by Man Utd – no offside, bit odd that it only applies to utd, and it was not expanded to all sides
MARCO VAN BASTEN WANTS TO GET RID OF OFFSIDE AND YELLOW CARDS
By arseblog – January 18, 201737
It’s pretty quiet from an Arsenal point of view, so we thought we’d cover something a bit more general.
FIFA’s technical director Marco van Basten – you might remember him from such things as being a really great striker – has released a blueprint for the future of the game which includes such ‘improvements’ as scrapping offside, changing penalty shoot-outs to a system which sees players dribble towards goal before trying to score, and doing away with yellow cards for a sin-bin regime.
“We must keep looking for ways to improve the game,” he told SportBild. “To make it more honest, more dynamic, more interesting, so that what we offer is attractive enough.
“There are lots of variations which need to be tested in the coming years.”
On no offside he said, “Without offside, the strikers could be behind the defenders, which would be much more difficult. If they move far back in front of their goal, the attacker will have more opportunities for distance shots.
“This would make the game more attractive, the attackers would have better chances, more goals would be scored.
“That’s what the fans want to see. In field hockey, the offside has been abolished, and there are no problems. The teams would also adapt in football”
While according to the Dutchman, sin-bins would, “frighten teams. It is hard to play 10 against 11, let alone with eight or nine.”
He also suggests a maximum foul limit, whereby a player who makes more than that will have to leave the field, and a run-up style penalty shoot-out thing.
He does not make it clear whether or not players should wear clown shoes while doing it.
Note: We were going to do a spoof of this stuff, making up silly things like ‘Players may only celebrate first-half goals with a manly handshake’, or ‘Referees can give a player a chance to avoid a sin-bin by challenging him to do 10 press-ups in 10 seconds’, but you can’t really satirise stuff that’s so ridiculous in the first place.
Much like Michel Platini, van Basten appears to be one of those great players/mad as a box of badgers administrators. What a shame.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Quite amusing Ed……what are,they going,to come up with next?
Getting rid of offside, aren’t they doing that with Utd already ?
LikeLiked by 4 people
well mandy, its time that like in rugby, rotational fouling or team fouling was punished, that is the one rule that urgently needs changing.
LikeLike
Sin bins sound fine to me – before they abolish offside they might have a go at working out what the rules actually are and applying them. Penalties ? Meh not bothered either way – I’d prefer some other method like corners won or shots on goal if they absolutely have to have a result – I’m still quite fond of the draw
LikeLiked by 2 people
Agreed, there would be resistance to that one though, a healthy part of the British game and all that , a bit like keepers wasting several minutes per game, usually unpunished, or at worst, a yellow in the 82nd minute
LikeLiked by 3 people
Arsenal players stats v swansea
LikeLike
southampton beat norwich 1-0,
LikeLike
Quite a quite news week, isn’t it?
Man Utd. get richer while doing fuck-all on the playing field, and duck’s arses are wet.
LikeLike
Well, the BFG has signed a contract extension, good news.
LikeLike
Great news on BFG.
Some nice pics of the squad training at Colney….Alexis has a broad smile in some of them….now that really doesn’t fit the current narrative
LikeLike
‘EXTENDING HIS DEAL WAS AN EASY CHOICE’
After 207 appearances, eight goals, two FA Cups and six months as our captain, Per Mertesacker has been rewarded with a contract extension.
The World Cup winner has become an indispensable figure around the squad since his arrival in August 2011, and Arsène Wenger says securing the German’s services for a further year was “an easy decision”.
I’ve never seen a training session where Per was not fully focused to do well
Arsène Wenger
“He is a leader of the team and he is also one of the four centre backs who has experience and can guide the team,” the manager told Arsenal Player.
“There were no negotiations in fact, because he had an option for extension. So it’s not really a new contract, it’s just an extension of the old one. We had to take that option early in the season and the decision was made quite easily.
“On the pitch he has his own technical attributes, that is his reading of the game, his intelligence, his guidance. He’s good in the air because of his size.
“Mentally, he’s a guy who brings a level of urgency into the team, a level of focus, a level of desire to do well and he’s very demanding with the people around him. He’s very respected as well and that’s why he gets a lot from the players around him.
“I’ve never seen a training session where Per was not fully focused to do well. That’s why he has improved with us a lot on a technical front, because his focus is always 100 per cent.”
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170119/-extending-his-deal-was-an-easy-choice-#WfUbvqjdIxsEcl5p.99
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘CHANGE ISN’T A QUALITY, IMPROVEMENT IS’
What does Arsène Wenger make of the latest proposals to shake up the laws of football – and what does he think is workable?
Fifa technical director Marco van Basten has put forward plans including abolishing the offside law, introducing sin-bins and only allowing captains to speak to the referee.
While Wenger is keen on the latter, he feels others are not to the benefit of the game as a whole.
“Changing in itself is not a quality, improving is the real target,” the Arsenal manager said. “Some of the proposals are discussable, some of them I don’t see any big interest.
“The one I don’t find interesting is suppressing offside, because I think offside is what makes the teams be together, it’s a big quality of a team sport. It’s an intelligent rule as well where you can use your intelligence and so that is very important to keep that in the game.
“Overall, let’s not forget that football improves as well. People say it’s too tight, too compact… but the evolution of the game has always been like that. Defence gives a problem to the attack, the attack finds the solution and the response and the defence creates a new problem again for the attack, so we have to keep that going.
“But for the improvement of the game, it’s very important that you always face new difficulties.”
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170119/-change-isn-t-a-quality-improvement-is-#qY8IIUTd974GSE43.99
LikeLike
TEAM NEWS: BELLERIN, GIROUD, COQUELIN
There was positive news from Arsène Wenger on Thursday after he revealed the latest team news ahead of Sunday’s game against Burnley.
The manager expects to welcome three first-team players into his squad, and this is what he told the media:
on the team news…
Overall from last week, Bellerin, Coquelin and Gibbs are back in the group. Not Walcott, but these three should be available for selection for Sunday. We have no injuries from last week.
on Giroud…
He is back in training since yesterday.
on Mertesacker…
He is back in training, not with the squad but I think he is a few weeks away.
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170119/team-news-bellerin-giroud-coquelin#mPo3pBKpiQbzg0HY.99
LikeLike
WENGER ON JENKINSON, PER AND TRANSFERS
Arsène Wenger faced the media on Thursday and was asked about a variety of subjects, including Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker and the transfer window.
This is what he told the press:
on Bellerin’s return allowing Jenkinson to leave…
It is not necessarily linked with that. Jenkinson is a possibility to go to Palace, yes, but it has not been finalised. It is basically down to him to find an agreement with them.
on whether that would affect Debuchy’s position…
Not really, because recently I have played Gabriel and I am very happy with him in this position.
on Mertesacker’s contract…
He has an option that we have taken. There was no negotiation, there was just an option that we took up.
on the effect of having him back before the end of the season…
Look, with the number of games we have, it’s important that we have all our experienced players back. Everybody is focused on doing well – we are going into the moment of truth now, January until May. There are five months to go and ideally you want all your players with big experience back in the squad.
on the coincidence of captains being injured in recent seasons…
It’s completely accidental. With Arteta, it’s true that he struggled with muscular problems, but Per was accidental.
on if we’ll be busy in the transfer window…
I expect it to be a very quiet period because we have Welbeck coming back. Offensively we are very strong, we have many players who can come in and overall I don’t expect to do anything special.
on if Wenger would like Payet…
I don’t need Payet because we have so many creative players. I rate Payet as a player of course, but it’s not an area where we look for players. We have many players offensively who can play in this position. You’re interested by the quality of the player but there has to be a need as well, and we have no need in this domain.
on whether it’s harder than ever to keep top players happy…
Not really. Not really. In every club every problem is different. When you have a problem with one player, it doesn’t mean the whole squad isn’t happy. Sometimes it’s because of one problem. The players have everything today to be happier than 20 years or 40 years ago. They are treated very well, they have fantastic income, they can go everywhere internationally and have the freedom of movement which we didn’t have when we played. I remember the time when you signed somewhere and you were linked with that club for your whole career because you couldn’t move. Today, there’s much more freedom on that front.
on this period being ‘the moment of truth’…
That’s why I say that every game is important and we just can focus on the next one. As you said, people speak always about big games but the big games are only important if you do well in what is so-called games where there is a bit less interest.
Copyright 2017 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20170119/wenger-on-jenkinson-per-and-transfers#IZ0xFcfbhQMl5jzZ.99
LikeLike
just as I stated the other day, we had the option to extend per’s contract, it was up to us and only us, its the same with Cazorla, can only assume that the only thing holding up his extension is his injury problems.
Wenger on Mertesacker’s contract…
He has an option that we have taken. There was no negotiation, there was just an option that we took up.
LikeLike
on twitter today George put up a link to a PA article from 4 years ago – https://positivelyarsenal.com/2013/03/10/ignorance-and-stupidity/
and all I can say is that having seen the legrove article today, that nothing has changed with the uber bloggers and the “I’m entitled to an opinion no matter how fucking ill informed it is” lot
by the way, where have several of the posters on that article gone, names there I have not seen post on here since I arrived.
LikeLike
can someone explain how
our transfer spending is at record highs
our wages are at record highs
our cash balance is at record highs
our ticket prices are frozen
and yet the uber bloggers, malcontents including AST, tell us our commercial deals are a pittance and are stagnant.
LikeLike
Eddy
only because they look on at envy at other clubs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Eduardo
I am surprised you visit Legrove.I left that blog since ages. Its Anti Arsenal blog and most of the posters are Chlsea Spurs and United fans.
Its a pity you could not figure that out.
LikeLiked by 2 people
eddy goes where angels fear to tread Ro – no matter the depth of the dung, the stench of the sewage, or the excess of the excrement eddy has to wade through daily he is prepared to get his hands dirty bringing us the goods.
I know it is a job well beyond me.
More power to his elbow I say.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Think our revenue is pretty spectacular, if one believes reports the club came close to defaulting on wages/bonus during the time of The Invincibles. The only clubs doing better have been pretty much state/state bank subsidised, the long term wordwide marketing freak of nature that is Utd, a team that has dominated Germany for…pretty much ever, with the odd season of exception or two.
As for the uberblogs, Rosicky is correct, the forums at least are little more than a Spuds and Chelsea love in these days…and guess what, our revenues outstrip those two.
LikeLike
I was banned by them years ago, so I rarely look at their spewings, but today I fell for a very misleading headline – yeah I know I should know better, but in my defense I had not realized it was a legrove article till it opened. But it was total confirmation of the stuff in the PA article from 4 years ago that George posted a link to on twitter this morning. Always a pleasant surprise when the re-posting of an article like that actually hits the spot perfectly on something only posted today.
LikeLike
no doubt he was offside
LikeLike
M1Ö @MesutOzilClass Jan 17
😄This is what Wenger out boys do when they’re not moaning on twitter @ArsenalFanTV
LikeLiked by 2 people
Chris Wheatley @ChrisWheatley_ 10h10 hours ago
Reporter: “Without going into Sanchez & Ozil’s futures…”
Wenger: “You can”
Reporter: “Is there an update on their futures?”
Wenger: “No”
LikeLiked by 1 person
SlovenianGooner @slovenianGooner 10h10 hours ago
If ALL players in our squad are fit, one of Welbeck, Lucas, Theo, Ox doesn’t make the squad. That is freakin’ devastating.
LikeLike
Woosa. That article from George, ZimPaul fighting the good fight and having the energy to tell a lion story and Frank’s fussilade of posts to himself and to the audience.
Eddy: Some are gone to the great beyond.
LikeLiked by 3 people
http://www.thickaccent.com/2017/01/20/video-filthy-skills-and-an-insane-assist-from-arsenal-loanee-kelechi-nwakali-for-maastricht-v-helmond/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Chris Willoc’s younger brother, Joe, has been offered a professional deal by Arsenal but has yet to sign it. Two years ago it took over six months for him to sign the Scholarship deal with Arsenal, with several clubs, most notably Man Utd, where another of the Willock brothers, Matthew, is a regular for their u23’s, keen to sign him, so it might be some time before he makes a decision.
LikeLike
Alexis Sanchez earlier today posted a broken heart message on his instagram account, and of course some media outlets and uber bloggers and malcontents decided to use it as “proof” he is unhappy at Arsenal and wants out. while the truth is far more serious, the lad’s cousin has died. What a shameless lot we have in the media and across Arsenal web world, that they stoop so low, as to use someone’s death to try and get clicks and drive their agenda.
this is roughly the message Alexis posted in relation to his cousins death from a brain tumor at the age of 43
“Strong people smile with broken hearts, Cry with closed doors and fight battles that no one knows.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
Adebayor chatted a bunch of shit about Chelsea being able to cope without Hazard better than we can cope with the loss of either Ozil or Sanchez. Really, Adebayor, did you not see how shit they were last season when Hazard decided to go on walkabout?
LikeLiked by 1 person