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Arsenal: Quality Is Not An Act, It Is A Habit

Posted by anicoll5 on September 30, 2015 in All Posts

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Good morning Positivistas from a dark Norfolk at a little after 6 this morning.

An early start to Wednesday and just the vaguest lightening in eastern sky as I ponder last night’s events and how to describe and interpret them.

A howl of frustration and a shriek of disappointment would be appropriate to clear the system. With that important emotional ablution performed so to the game.

After the sumptuous enjoyment of the Leicester game I quipped that last night was all about the result and sod the quality of the football. And so the evening turned out. 94 minutes in which for long periods Arsenal dominated possession at above 70%, played attractive football, 654 passes, and had 18 shots, 13 on target. For long periods of the second half the visitors were penned up in the final third of the pitch and with all eleven men behind the ball. And yet the evening ended in defeat for us and triumph for the men in blue.

The events of the game I am reasonably sure are vivid in all our minds hence to repeat the sequence of events again does not seem sensible. A couple of the incidents will linger longer in the mind than I might wish.

Let me attempt to say what went right last night.

Alexis ran his arse off and was a constant threat to the Greeks every time he was on the ball. His second headed goal in a week, this time from a lovely chip from Theo was of the best quality. Theo finished his chance well and looked full of confidence in the first half. In the second, as space reduced and the Greeks were packed back around their box he was less able to contribute. Another useful learning night, and a goal to show for it. The introduction of Ramsey appeared to have been the key to breaking Olympiakos’s resolute defence and he was superb for the 30 minutes he was on. Ox’s performance came in for some ‘stick’ last night and I thought that was unfair. Being blamed for the own goal was ludicrous as the shot hitting the outside of his boot was unavoidable. He worked hard, won the ball and like Sanchez was a persistent thorn. Our attacking play and two goals were enough to have won that game.

What went less well was the defence. Clearly the finger of doom must point at our Colombian stopper for a moment of pure madness but from the outset the back five looked nervy, as though they had never come across opposition who wanted to take them on. Most uncharacteristic of Kosc and, from the times I have seen him, Gabriel. Kieran was uncomfortable all evening. Very little was smooth at the back, players showed almost no composure and that edginess encouraged the Greeks.

And to concede a soft third when we had battled so hard to score our equalizer ……….

That is one of the incidents that will stick in my mind, for all the wrong reasons.

There are lessons to be learned from last night, and mainly I think they are lessons about the players’ approach to the game. It may be that like me the players were too focussed on the ‘result’, not concentrating on their own football. I have in mind also preparing insufficiently for opponents they do not know well. And concentration – ah yes concentration – for every single one of those 94 minutes.

And our opponents ?

A really competent display from every man in blue. They came with a reputation for solid defending but having seen Olympiakos before I took that with a pinch of salt but that proved foolish on my part; Siovas and Costa were rock like, the clever Elabdeloui a top quality full back. At times they were severely stretched and twice broken open by Arsenal goals. They regrouped and stuck to their plan though. Their coach Marco Silva must be delighted.

So what next?

As with our previous recent defeats we have the benefit of no time to dwell on our disappointment with the red Mancs due on Sunday. Indeed the table-topping Mancs due, and the proverbial “six pointer” for both clubs’ PL hopes. No time for regrets or for hiding. We have hills to climb together on Sunday. Bavaria can wait, for now.

And as I draw this epistle to an end the sun is up, the day is begun, enjoy yourselves!

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Arsenal Versus Olympiacos: Sweet Surrender

Posted by steww on September 29, 2015 in All Posts

One Charmin Pig

Bloody football. Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn’t be better off without it. Sorry, getting a little ahead of myself. Let me rewind. Steve Coaches was round my drum for a cuppa and a catch up yesterday afternoon. Since getting out of the rat race I don’t see much of him or anyone else for that matter. He used to drive his fifty two seater into my car park every morning and we would pass the time engaged in pleasant badinage and all the usual meaningless conversational fripperies with which everyone attempts to season the tasteless fare that is working for a living.

So yesterday was going well. We’d covered marriage, the state of the nation and had slid inexorably towards the beautiful game. Steve was reminiscing about the good old days, and I, nostalgia never being far below my surface, was a willing ear. He recalled how on a Saturday lunchtime he might open the paper and on reaching the back pages notice that Bury were at home. From there it would be the work of an instant to phone a mate and suggest popping over to Gigg Lane. As easy as that, they would find themselves half an hour later with the newspapers blowing about their ankles, breathing Bovril fumes and complaining about the pies. Nowadays he drives coach loads of West Country Manc fans to the Old T and he couldn’t afford to watch Bury even he hadn’t moved two hundred miles south. Things change, the game is global now, not many support their local team and those that do still prefer the Premier League on the telly to a windy and overpriced terrace.

If only we’d left it there. Sadly my old pal went on to bemoan the state of the English game and trotted out the tired old line about how it was all the foreign players had caused the demise of the national team. I tried to counter but he became hot under the collar. I tried to point out how shit England was before the money came and changed the landscape, I tried to suggest that growing up among the world’s best must have made Jack Wilshere better and not worse, I tried to suggest that shit managers, shit tactics, a backward football culture encouraged by an idiot press had far more effect than foreign stars, but all to no avail. He was adamant. He was furious. He was boggly eyed in his passion.

Surrounded by a select few of the very best Twitter has to offer and coming here where the closest we get to an argument is over whether a player is actually great or just nearly great I hadn’t realised how cocooned my existence had become. Not going to the office or factory to be exposed to the full ferocity of ill informed opinion every day has left me bewildered by the zealous conviction with which people can regurgitate the lies and nonsense with which they are constantly bombarded. I was, to put it mildly, taken aback.

I read Eduardo’s excellent piece on PA yesterday and thought how helpless we are to turn this tide. The ‘Arsène Wenger doesn’t do tactics’ mantra he so adroitly exposed for the flim-flam it is nonetheless has such deep roots beyond our walls that we have not a snowball in hell’s chance of changing anyone’s mind. I had simply failed to realise the extent that the misinformation had gotten right into people. Until you sit face to face with someone ignoring facts and parroting nonsense when in all other respects they appear to be a reasonable human being you can’t comprehend how absolutely the battle has been lost. I felt like Hirō Onoda, stumbling down from the mountain thirty years after the end of the WW2 blinking, bewildered and barely able to believe that no matter how many Phillipino fishermen and farmers I shoot, the truth is I’m never going to return home as part of a winning army.

So what can we do? Not much to be honest. Watch the Arsenal and try to enjoy the football is all I’ve come up with. Although, put like that it doesn’t sound so bad does it? All football clubs have better and worse times, at the moment we as Arsenal fans have plenty to be happy about. Tonight for instance we host Olympiacos in the Champion’s League. That’s more than a good enough reason to cancel our radio shows, get in a bumper bag of midget gems and break open the cranberry and mango tea surely? So what if people are saying Arteta is past it, Arsène can’t manage and Ramsey is out of position? So what if thousands all over the world believe it to be true and repeat these and a hundred other specious facts and bits of meretricious wisdom?

Rather than waste our time trying to fight, not a losing battle but one that was lost a long time ago, why don’t we just get on with watching our team, celebrating the victories and commiserating with one another after a defeat? No one has ever succeeded, to the best of my knowledge, in teaching a pig to sing, indeed as Heinlein observed ‘…it wastes your time and annoys the pig’ so for goodness sake let’s put the sheet music away and give it a rest. I’m not talking football with anyone outside of a certain demographic from now on.

From the moment the team is announced I will be excited, anticipating how the players will line up, wondering who might be the hero on the night. Instead of bemoaning the hand wringing and predictions of disaster, which these days accompany the release of every team sheet, I’m just going to savour being part of this wonderful club competition. To relish the great good fortune that led me to support Arsenal and not any one of the lesser teams, teams that simply do not get to experience this every season. I’ll find a foreign stream or I’ll mute the commentary and I’ll envy those who can afford to go to the match in person but apart from the inevitable exasperation with the referee that envy will be the only ill feeling in which I will indulge.

This supporting lark is from now on going to be about thrills and spills and not about the bellyaches. I’ve simply had enough of the tedious arguments between people who will never change their views. The name calling, the finger wagging, it’s all so pointless and it only serves to detract from the simple pleasure of watching my team pitting its wits against the best that the opposition can throw at it.

So in a way I’m glad Steve came round and cast all this into such clarity for me. The simple pleasures of strolling through the cobbled streets of his home town, whippet at heel, sparks flying from his clogs as he headed to a cold, crumbling concrete stadium to shout abuse at his local team contrasted so sharply with the spouting gibberish he has learned from the modern day anti experts and helped me to reach this minor Damascene moment. Why not give it a try? Why not join me and just enjoy the football and leave the porcine singing lessons to somebody else? You never know, we might just like it.

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The Great Ramsey On The Right Debate

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on September 27, 2015 in All Posts

Today a post by regular contributor Eduardo which originally appeared in yesterday’s Comments section of PA.

Those with an agenda against Ramsey like to parrot the pundits and commentators who spout rubbish such as:

“Ramsey unbalances the team ‘cos he moves central and [amazingly] to the left, during games.”

This one “soundbite” suggests that many don’t actually know:

1. What ‘team balance’ actually is.

2. What Wenger’s tactics are (despite AW actually having explained his exact thinking in playing Ramsey on the right of midfield).

3. That this is not something new from Wenger.

So let’s shed some light on all of this, starting with team balance.

The Ramsey haters, it seems, only do simplistic thinking. In their world, to have a balanced team you have to have the same sort of player on each side, doing the same things. Of course, this is only true from them when it actually suits their argument. They will therefore tell you we need one attacking fullback and one who stays back. One ball playing CB and one brute. One ball winning CM and one passer. And finally, up front, a big one and a little skilled one. But, for some unexplained reason, we need two line-hugging wide men, who only cut in to have a shot or get in to score. Thus the wide role is the only one where it’s yin and yin – no yang to be seen anywhere! I always knew they hadn’t a brain cell between them, but now I realize they don’t have a yang, either (explains a lot about their —– envy).

This brings me on to point number two – ignorance of Wenger’s tactics.

Well, in thinking about why the Ramsey Haters don’t actually know what Wenger’s tactics are, I would actually suggest that this is a deliberate act. This disingenuity reveals itself when you match up the Ramsey Haters with the Wenger Haters – it seems there is a massive overlap.

So Ramsey, it would appear, is merely collateral damage in the ongoing agenda they have against Arsene Wenger.

Anyway, back to what they fail to understand about Ramsey’s role and the tactics behind it. As stated in point 1, they think we need the same on the left and right of midfield, but that little tactic died a tragic death when 4-2-4 outgrew its usefulness. It was only a bit-part tactic when 4-4-2 was the norm. I don’t see any of the successful teams who use 4-2-3-1, actually using their wide midfielders in a rigid role. I don’t see any of them having similar players on opposite sides, either.

As I said earlier, it is a conscious act to seemingly not know what Wenger’s tactics are with Ramsey wide midfield. Its deliberate nature exposed by Wenger having, on multiple occasions explained the thinking behind it. And believe it or not, it’s all about team balance.

Wenger has explained that the reasons for selecting Ramsey wide midfield has many aspects, including:

a) Wanting someone who brings a different kind of game than Sanchez. Alexis takes on players, dribbles a lot, is more of a striker kind of wide man, whereas Aaron is more of a midfielder type – someone who will help support our central midfielders, especially when opponents put three players in there against our two.

b) Bellerin is a very attack minded fullback, and Ramsey’s game complements Hector’s game in two critical ways. Firstly, Ramsey has the discipline to track back and/or block opponents’ attacking lanes when Hector charges forward. Secondly, the fact that Ramsey moves infield also leaves the space for Hector to run into – that space is not only there because Ramsey is not, but often because opponents have also followed Ramsey infield.

c) Wenger has also explained that it’s a deliberate ploy to have Ramsey pop up on the left. AW wants to “overload” on that side. Opponents already have their hands full trying to plug the holes caused by Alexis and Ozil (and even Santi drifts that side), so in a way Ramsey going there too, is to ‘bust the dam’. Acknowledgement of Wenger’s explanation of Ramsey’s role by these critics has so far failed to materialise, as to do so would be tantamount to accepting that Arsene does, after all, do tactics!  And that would never do, now would it?

Finally, point number three – it’s not something new from Wenger.

And no I do not mean, as some like to claim, playing people out of position.

In fact, in his 19 years in charge, Wenger has by and large had different types of player on either side of midfield.

Consider who was on the right when we had Overmars on the left. He was STILL on the right when Pires showed up on our left. I’m talking about the type of player whom many of the AAA/WOB say we should have bought in the summer – a player that for me, Ramsey is most like in so many ways.

Of course, I’m talking about The Romford Pele himself, Ray Parlour.

Was there ever a more opposite player to both Overmars or Pires. Didn’t Parlour, just like Ramsey, drift infield, go box-to-box, but from a wide base?

Parlour was replaced on the right by Ljunberg. Although Freddie, as a player was dissimilar from Parlour, he still played a different role to Pires. He was the off-the-ball runner; he was the guy to get on the end of God’s and Pires passes.

Freddie, just like Ramsey, would pop up all over the place.

Pires and Ljunberg were replaced by Nasri and Hleb. I don’t think anyone would suggest that Nasri and Hleb had similar types of game or roles. Then Theo became our wide right player. Again we never had anyone similar to Theo on our left playing in games at the same time.

And the reason for that, just as it is now for having Ramsey on the right and Alexis on the left, is team balance, and of course tactics.

But don’t shout it too loudly, it might upset the moaners.

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Arsenal and Sanchez Meraviglia*

Posted by anicoll5 on September 27, 2015 in All Posts

Good morning ++++ers,

And a fine one it is.

If last Sunday morning’s blank screen presented me with something akin to rolling large rock up a steep hill yesterday’s events in Leicester offer not even a vaguely similar challenge. I have had to search deep in my superlative drawer however to do the game justice.

An exceptionally enjoyable game of football played by two sides who set out to play fast and inventive football and maintained that approach to the 93rd minute. They treated each other with respect, no diving, hard challenges but no malice, and who gave referee Pawson very little to whistle about. The final score could have been 7-12. Even at 1-4 the home side were hurling themselves at Cech’s goal as if their lives depended on it. 22 shots for us from inside the box, 4 from outside – 92% on target – ridiculous !

Our lot ?

The headlines go to the goal scorers and to Alexis’ return to net stretching proficiency. If the Chilean has not been back to 100% efficiency then the Foxes offered him the stage to show what he does best. An extra half yard of space or split second allowed him to shine. His second and third goals were super strikes. I say the second was the standout, made by the perfect chip from Ozil, but Sanchez’s leap above the tall defender was masterful.

Theo made further progress, more confident, a little sharper and proactive in his movement than where six weeks ago he was not there. His craft is coming, incrementally, a game and a goal at a time. Next Sunday will be an important test to see if he can spring what is, surprisingly, quite an efficient ManYoo defence.

The relatively unsung heroes of the afternoon I would pick three; Cech and Kosc for withstanding an opening 15 minute battering with just a one goal deficit. And third Hector Bellerin who I thought again had outstanding game. Young Hector was pressed hard by Danny Drinkwater in the opening but gradually tamed the brute. His flank play going forward was brilliant yesterday. That young man is going to be HUGE.

Them ?

That Jamie Vardy did not earn the game’s second hat trick is a bit of a mystery. The goal frame was badly bruised. He is about as far from the “world class” goal scorer model as I can imagine. His touch is a bit scruffy, his movement and running is untidy, he is all ‘rough edges’ including his haircut, but what he has got he uses to the nth degree. Playing non league until he was 25 and joined Leicester so his chance in the top flight came late on. I hope that Leicester are able to hold on to him as anyone who scores goals these days is prone to be lured for big money. Stay where you are son. They love you.

Robert Hoof and Wes Morgan deserve an honourable mention in despatches. I doubted either would last on a hot afternoon and chasing Sanchez and Theo up and down. At the end I suspect both were on their proverbial knees but they kept throwing themselves about.

One mild shadow on an otherwise perfect afternoon was the injury to Flamini – after weeks of waiting quietly he steps up to his triumph at the Lane, followed by a second chance to perform against a side who I think would suit Matty’s style. Then his hamstring pops 20 minutes in. How unlucky is that ?

Onward to Olympiakos on Tuesday evening and a little more pressure for a good result than is ideal. And unlike yesterday Tuesday is about the result, not the quality.

Enjoy your Day of Rest.

* And thank you to Claudio Ranieri for the Italian term for yesterday’s contribution from Alexis

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Arsenal Versus Leicester: The Coquelin Event Horizon

Posted by steww on September 26, 2015 in All Posts

Everyone feeling a little bit happier now? A shot of league cup and North London Derby victory in the old veins has done the trick I trust? It may not have made a difference to our league position but by Jimminy the world seems a brighter place after a win doesn’t it? The league position by the by, may, as far as I’m concerned, be anything between first and twentieth at the moment. I must confess I’m one of those curious coves who doesn’t peruse the thing until the tinsel has been taken down and the old calendar put out with the recycling. The only time I’ve ever broken this rule is those few seasons where we’ve gone off like a gingered horse out of the starting gate and led the field right up to the festive season.

On those occasions I have to admit to stealing furtive and blushing glances at our standing relative to all comers. In the same way I can sometimes be caught wistfully flicking my eyes over the more fascinating profiles of young women who are more likely to offer me their seat on the bus than anything more entertaining to the lascivious imagination of a fading middle aged libido. Otherwise I simply don’t care and I simply don’t look. Can you imagine getting in a lather over the table in September? What an absolute arse you’d look come May if you set any sort of store in such irrelevancies. This is the time of year to enjoy each match in its own right – the old ‘one game at a time’ mantra was never so pertinent.

Firstly we need to get past the trailing wisps of smoke from our recent fixtures which resolutely cling to us no matter how hard we try to push forward. I refer of course to Costagate, the ramifications of which rumble on. Poor old Jose’s persecution complex is battling with both his paranoia and his bizarre, slightly creepy obsession with Arsène for dominance in his tortured psyche. The reptiles lap it up because they need something to write about and meanwhile he makes himself look ever more ridiculous.

What of our manager? As expected he remained dignified and focussed on the football. He is well aware of the form Leicester are in now and the strengths of two or three of their better players and so no matter how many Arsenal fans enjoy riding the see saw (We lose – we’re shit. We win – we’re world beaters) Arsène knows that we will need to find an exceptional performance to become the first team to puncture Leicester’s enviable record. Unbeaten in their first six matches they look a relaxed and happy side to me. I attribute this to Claudio Ranieri, the last decent man to manage at Stamford Bridge. Mr Ranieri admits his record against Arsenal is a bad one, the only time he did contrive to beat us I would happily have swapped for almost any of the other thirteen fixtures.

Since his time as Chelsea manager he has obviously not kept himself abreast of developments in London, admitting in a recent interview that he didn’t know why Arsenal haven’t won the title since he left England in 2004. Presumably no one told him about the super rich clubs who suddenly distorted the transfer market out of all recognition and the way our best players had their heads turned by ridiculous wage offers year after year. Or that all the while the club was building a stadium in the midst of a global financial collapse. Perhaps he missed those minor details.

Anyway he wasn’t being rude, he seems genuinely to respect Arsène and was gushing about our style of play so that’s all very nice isn’t it? Such a change to face an away fixture after a cup win and against a manager we can like and respect. A major improvement over the mood in the run up to our trip to Fulham last Saturday.

It’s interesting to note that the win which has so revived us and settled the collywobbles was achieved by a side which may bear little resemblance to today’s team. We are always being told the modern game is supposed to be all about squad and not first and reserve teams but there does seem to be a predictability about the line up when everyone is available. The talking point today is who will come in now that Coquelin has managed to bugger up his knee.

I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to see our captain in the role although hot shot Flamini might have genuine hopes for a recall as reward for his heroics at White Hart lane. The other choice is Chambers but it seems he’d being groomed for a centre back place. I know, I know – I don’t do line up speculation but hey, four match previews in a fortnight and I am fast running out of padding so indulge me. In any event I’m not telling you what the line up ought to be or will be. It’s just that there has been so much debate rumbling around the place ever since the end of last season over this particular near mythical part of our formation. What, people ask, lips quivering and palms sweating, will we do if Coquelin gets injured? Well today folks you are going to find out.

The Grauniad has Aaron dropping deeper to play alongside Santi and that is of course a possibility but The Welsh Wonder is more creator than destroyer and it would be a bold move indeed to face a side in their pomp without any sort of bite in our midfield, especially away from home when we can expect them to fancy themselves and come at us. Experience is surely all important, and to that end I can’t see young Calum being thrust into the role – but hey what do I know? Santi may be need to be rested and the double pivot so successful against Tottenham could be retained. It’s all guesswork, but it helps while away the hours until kick off.

One thing is certain the calamitous event so dreaded by so many has finally happened and Francis Coquelin is, gasp, injured! And you know what? It doesn’t seem quite the crisis everyone pretended it would be does it? Even with my limited grasp of the options available to the boss I’ve managed to rustle up four names to throw into the hat, any of which would be quite competent to provide a couple of weeks of cover. As long as neither Oxlade-Chamberlain nor Alexis get the job I’ll be quite content. Not only are they far more deadly up front but both have a propensity for wayward passing that I’d rather see as far away from our area as humanly possible.

Whatever the side and whatever the result I trust you will all enjoy a good hour and a half of top notch footballing entertainment. Not every sporting fixture can produce a Japan versus South Africa level of scalp raising exhilaration but we can at least anticipate a few thrills, a couple of gut wrenching moments in defence and hopefully a few goals scattered throughout the ninety minutes. I won’t be watching – it’s Likely Lads for me as I am taking me mum out for the day so if you see me say hello but don’t tell me the score will you?

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Flamini Seizes The Chance

Posted by anicoll5 on September 24, 2015 in All Posts

Tottenham-vs-Arsenal-Capital-One-Cup

Greetings on this fine early Autumn morning to you all, and above an excellent snap from the Mirror this morning that captures the moment the battle turned decisively last night.

A little more chipper in my mood this morning and I suspect I am not the only Arsenal fan with a little skip in their step, a gleam in his or her eye. If I were a squirrel I would have risen especially early to grab some extra winter store.

And the spring for this more joyous demeanor we all know. Well who would have thought it?  The man they could not hang – or allegedly Arsenal football club could not give away in the Summer – Mathieu Flamini. Deadwood to destroyer of worlds in the space of 90 busy minutes at the Lane! Well, well, well.

The game itself was what I expected. Plenty of scurrying after the ball, both sides a mix of experience and squad players. Having sat largely un-played on the bench since August these players were not going to pass up the chance to impress the crowd in the stadium or the legions at home. Fewer youngsters than I expected in red shirts, perhaps a firm indication of how much stronger our squad is these days.

Our players?

Per and Chambers I thought were excellent at the back, with Callum showing none of the nerves that characterized his start against Liverpool. He is growing into the role literally and metaphorically. Huge bad luck to net an own goal but after a brief shake of the head there was no evidence of him letting it prey on his mind and he played as well as before the accident to the final whistle.

Ramsey did his box-2-box thing which he does so well. The Ox worked hard and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet. Olly worked his arse off again and will earn his just rewards soon.

Debuchy was picking up some stick but given his lack of match time so far this season it seemed a bit unfair. Whisper it quietly to the Scarfers that Danny Rose – yes him – was actually having what is known as a “good game” and flying past Debuchy and Joel. It happens sometimes – opposition players play well; in Rose’s case unexpectedly well. Gibbs’ header off the line at 1-1 was another crucial roll of the dice. Thank Gawd for goal line technology or that would have brought the game to a standstill.

I did not see anyone in red fail to put in a decent effort. I suspect Campbell is disappointed that he did not make a bigger splash but he was eager with some good touches, more chances will come his way.

And the opposition?

It seemed Spuds had decided to go rather more youth/experimental than us but I thought they put up a decent performance that on another night, and we have had a few, might have earned them at worst extra time and possibly more. Very much in the balance at 1-1. Eriksen is a top quality footballer, Townsend did well and, as I mentioned above, Rose nearly cracked us open. Fazio looks like an accident in a constant process of happening – with a face like his surely a career in gangster movies beckons if he does not master this football lark.

So onward to the KingPowerWalkersCrispsDrome on Saturday for what will be probably a good physical working over from the Foxes and our old friend Claudio Ranieri. Am I worried? No I think we have our mojo retrieved and shining brightly.

Bring on the next one.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

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Arsenal Versus Spurs: Raise Your Weary Gloves

Posted by steww on September 23, 2015 in All Posts

I don’t want to write this, and more importantly you don’t want to read it. So as an exercise in futility today’s blog is hard to beat. After Zagreb, the last thing we needed was an hour and a half in the company of the world’s most detestable football club. Like getting beaten up on the way home from work on Wednesday only to find your husband in bed with your sister on Saturday. Not the greatest of weeks. And now we have to think about football all over again.

All we’ve wanted to do, you and I, is push all thoughts of the once beautiful game from our minds and try to find solace in other more tranquil, distracting pursuits. I’ve been indulging in an orgy of regression spending time either reading stories or playing with my friend on our bikes or listening to my favourite bands on my record player. Sadly while this attempt to run backwards towards the womb has managed somewhat to confound the morose patina which has otherwise overlaid and occasionally obnubilated my usual placid state of serene beatitude, nothing can entirely obliterate the image of Mike Dean and Diego Costa from my mind.

How do you distract yourself after a run of sporting disappointments? I must confess I can’t find a path through the woods this time. Ignoring it and hoping it will go away has failed. Taking increasing and frankly ill advised risks on a mountain bike is, for a man of my advancing years, not only an undignified but some might say a disproportionate response. Reading a book is difficult when the words either float from their place and form an image of a shiny headed, useless match official in the air above the page or the letters rearrange themselves into Football Association, PGMOL and corruption, before my disbelieving eyes. Even the anticipation of a new MJ Hibbett album hasn’t stirred me. Is everything lost? Has this proven one disappointment too many?

The answer is I’m still here. So while hope may not be springing in its usual defiance of eternity I am limping onwards and as you’re taking time out from your precious schedule to read these forced, constipated and unwilling thoughts it seems that both of us have survived the standing count and have staggered from our corners to raise our weary gloves and try to make it through another round.

One thought keeps going through my head when I try to look forward to tonight. If only it wasn’t Spurs. The league cup provides us with the perfect scenario, the ideal opportunity to wipe away our disenchantment with the game. At least it ought to. If we have to play again so soon then this is the tournament I would have chosen. It’s the least important of all the cups isn’t it? Traditionally Arsène fields a team full of fringe players of whom we usually see all too little and exciting young talent to whet our appetites for the future. The side has often played with exuberance and a freedom from pressure which has been refreshing to watch and a great antidote to the usual cauldron of anxiety that is the Premier League.

Not against Spurs though. You cannot expect the fans nor the players to take any meeting against their historic rivals and near neighbours with a pinch of salt. Factor in that this is the Middlesex cub’s only real chance of a trophy this and every other season and the stakes are higher than they otherwise would be and certainly higher than I would like. I just wanted a light hearted match with Jeff Reine-Adelaide dancing through the opposition midfield and Joel Campbell scoring a hat-trick. This could have been useful game time at centre back or central midfield for Calum Chambers and a run out for Mathieu Debuchy. The main talking point might have been how will Krystian Bielik and Alex Iwobi look alongside more seasoned pros. Instead it is now being described as a must win fixture.

God I hate that expression. Don’t you? Must win. I know ‘would be more preferable to win’ doesn’t trip off the tongue with such elegance and ease but honestly if any game was a ‘must’ win then how come the club still exists after a defeat? The suggestion of finality the conjuring of the imperative are misleading because there is no apocalypse awaiting us if we lose. It is all part of the football fans’ need the to reach for ever more fanciful hyperbole in their desperation to show how important their team is and how acute their personal commitment to the cause.

I read a Chelsea fan saying that if they lost at Goodison Park it would be disastrous. I repeated the ludicrous comment in an attempt to highlight how other clubs also have their fair share of ridiculous fans. I had hoped to illustrate that it is not only Arsenal that is so blighted with these bufoons. I was immediately taken to task by one of our own who suggested that defeat against Everton would effectively end Chelsea’s title challenge and therefore would indeed be a disaster. Where do you start with such a silly argument? With so many points still in play even suggesting that Chelsea could not still win the league was the stuff of illogic and fantasy.

The real false note ringing out from this argument was the idea that any defeat could be seen as a disaster. Even if it had spelled the end of their title ambitions it would not be a disaster merely, well, merely the end of their title ambitions. If one begins to describe as disastrous a single defeat then where does that leave us when facing that which is truly devastating? Hillsborough, Bradford, Ibrox, Heysel, these were disasters. Tragedies beyond the meagre resources of a thesaurus. If you start exploding the day to day disappointments out of all proportion you leave yourself nowhere to go when something genuinely awful happens.

So tonight is not a must win. Tonight is a hell of a lot more desirable to win than if it had been against a less antagonistic opponent and that detracts from the feet up, cup of tea and a gypsy cream insouciance with which games like this are usually to be enjoyed. But the sun will still come up tomorrow and Leicester will still be waiting for us on Saturday whatever the result this evening.

As I meander through this preview it occurs to me that the answer to the question I posed nearer the top of the page has perhaps revealed itself. The fact that just by pondering upon the match this evening I have started the gears turning once again. The only way to deal with a couple of horrible defeats is perhaps to anticipate another game. All that has passed is prologue. The sting of Zagreb, the burning resentment at Costa and Dean’s Bolero at the Bridge will only fade into the shadows when the floodlights click on in N17 tonight. Rather than dwell, the only thing we can do is to lash ourselves to the bull and open the gate into the arena once more.

There will surely still be rotation in the team tonight. Arsène must rest players after their gruelling schedule recently and who’s to say that a couple of youngsters might not shine, some fringe players make a name for themselves? Remember Cesc against Rotherham? Baptista at Anfield? The greatest league cup tie ever against Reading? How about the youngsters putting six past Sheffield United when Carlos Vela patented his dinked finish; all wonderful entertainment and the perfect curative to Premier and Champions League ills. So come on then, let’s drag ourselves out of the Slough of Despond and allow a little hope to creep back into our lives. Tonight could be a memorable night. Just this once, let it be memorable for the right reasons.

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Why Football Must Follow Rugby’s Lead On Officiating

Posted by pedantic George @arseblagger on September 22, 2015 in All Posts

A guest post from Alex Goodchild

It has been one sporting feast of a weekend, filled with drama and excitement. Despite the Rugby World Cup having just kicked off in London, the Premier League refused to be overshadowed, offering such spectacles as the next instalment in Wenger’s rivalry with Mourinho and Manchester City’s home clash against a West Ham team that had already defeated both the Gunners and Liverpool on the road. Sadly, it was also a weekend marred by controversy, with much media focus on unpleasant scenes erupting from the 17th hole of the Solheim Cup and ugly Diego’s ugly behaviour spoiling Arsenal’s London derby. With the World Cup in full swing, it’s time football learned from rugby’s refereeing example.

In recent years, the sense of enmity between London’s leading clubs has been so vitriolic as to result in a regrettable number of unsavoury incidents, exceeding what can be deemed acceptable sporting conduct. Two seasons ago it was a disgraceful personal barb from Chelsea’s manager, last year it was a reckless tackle from Gary Cahill, which prompted in a touchline row between ‘Le Prof’ and the Portuguese One. This year, the flashpoint centred on Diego Costa. A game where both sides were short of confidence and both very even as half time approached was plunged into chaos after the violent conduct of Costa sparked the dismissal of Laurent Koscielny’s team mate Gabriel.It was an incident that drastically affected the course of the game and almost inevitably consigned Arsenal to defeat.

It should be clear that one can have no complaints with Gabriel’s sending off itself; though the manner in which he raced to defend his teammate, who was struck on the face a number of times before being head-butted, was admirable, the Brazilian’s subsequent behaviour was petulant and deserving of the red card. Yet where one suspects that Arsenal fans feel truly aggrieved is how Costa was allowed to stay on the pitch in the first place. His actions were those of a forward frustrated at being tamed by an imperious partnership and who clearly has a history of violent conduct. It is excruciatingly unjust that the Spaniard was not sent off in a match that was won ultimately by Chelsea’s superior numbers and surprising that not one official caught sight of such conspicuously violent behaviour. Perhaps this is where football needs to change, where it ought to take a leaf out of rugby’s book on reviewing play.

The concept of live video technology is almost as polarising in rugby as it is in football. Some herald it, whereas other more traditional commentators, such as former England internationals, Brian Moore and Stuart Barnes see issues with it. For those of the conviction that consulting a video referee in football to review play would slow the sport to the speed of cricket, there was good ammunition from Friday night’s opener between England and Fiji. Officials deliberated incessantly over replays that were already conclusive, pondering over every different angle, such as whether or not the Fijian scrum half had grounded the ball properly to score a try. In fact, by Telegraph Sport estimates, the game was delayed by as much as ten minutes as a result of such indecisiveness. Yet crucially no pundit would contest the need for video technology. Each decision taken by the referee, however long it took, was the correct one, whether it was sending a Fijian player to the stands for ten minutes for foul play or the decision to award England a vital bonus point-sealing try at the death. The best use of the referee’s most useful tool was by Wayne Barnes in the fixture between Argentina and New Zealand, where he was able to seamlessly integrate the video referee into the game’s proceedings, which allowed for the correct decisions to be made within a highly efficient timescale.

Contrary to Garth Crooks’ claim that Mike Dean seeks to be the centre of attention, he is in reality a rather proficient referee. Granted, he has made some real blunders when arbitrating Arsenal, but he has improved greatly and is nowhere near as confounding or contentious as Anthony Taylor. Dean was unable to spot Costa’s viciousness and acted only according to what he could see. Rather, it is exasperating that he was not afforded the technology to simply consult the footage and make the right call in a sport where even goal line technology exists. It is damning of the sport’s risibly archaic method of officiating when a fan watching a pixelated stream on his computer has the insight of a television replay when the game’s man in the middle, with the most power to influence, is left blind. If video technology were introduced to the game, there were be no hiding for so-called wind up merchants like Diego Costa and the foul play he embodies and no more frustrating ‘I didn’t see it’ protestations from referees.Arsène Wenger, one of the game’s great visionaries, recently commented that he was ‘convinced that video technology will soon come into football.’ Let us hope, in the interest of fairness in our beloved game, that he is right.

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Arsenal and the Absurd

Posted by anicoll5 on September 20, 2015 in All Posts

Morning Positive people,

In contrast to yesterday’s blazing sunshine a still day with patches of brightness this morning. An apt metaphor for my mood over the past 24 hours in relation to football.

First, the game itself I think, because that is what football is about. I often barely mention the content of the game but today, I find it helpful to remind myself at least what took place, on the pitch, with the ball.

An early start at the Bridge but the concerns that some had voiced in relation to tiredness after our return from Zagreb did not appear to trouble us in a bright opening 15 minutes when the home side were forced back. Sanchez was pressing Ivanovic hard. Theo put in a couple of good runs from deep with balls played in behind the Chelsea centre back which caught them both momentarily flat footed and required a quick recovery in one instance and Begovic’s help in the other.

After that opening quarter Chelsea came back into it a bit more, Hazard was involved on their left and Fabregas was knocking some useful one-twos around the edge of the box. Kosc and Gabriel solid, Bellerin busy but in control. Aaron working nicely and the source of our one good first half shot. A stoppage for a knee injury to le Coq was worrying especially having seen the replays but, surprisingly perhaps, he was up and trotting after a sit down. Tough boy and his contest with Matic was a real pleasure to watch as both tackle hard and neither has a propensity for theatrics. For the remainder of the half the sides traded punches. No alarms at either end for the keepers. It appeared the first half would close at 0-0 with both probably neither surprised nor disappointed at the stalemate.

And then there was an incident, more of which I shall come to in due course below.

The second half commenced in an entirely different mood, ten men, a sense of outrage, and also the withdrawal of our midfield enforcer, with the relief of his earlier apparent recovery erased. A much harder task, but do-able against a side who in the opening 45 minutes had not demonstrated much in terms of attacking quality or threat on our goal. PSG had shown how to tame these blue “babies”, and surely we could do the same. My horizon for the game’s result had reduced, I admit, from the three point win to the hard earned but entirely deserved draw.

And then the Zouma goal !! Like you I watched it then, and I have watched it since. I could point the finger at Sanchez and/or Monreal so far as trying to stop the Chelsea player, or Kosc for playing the Chelsea line onside but getting underneath the ball. I There was a collective ‘switching’-off’ which the home side took advantage off. No one player was culpable. I know, I KNOW ( and you probably do too) it was a move they have practised and practised on the training ground, and you know we have practised defending against on our training ground. And yet there we were, a goal down just eight minutes into the second half and with the hill having risen in gradient appreciably.

Nevertheless, and to the credit of every player in an Arsenal shirt we did press forward at 0-1, we did take the game to Chelsea, we pushed them back and made one great chance on the hour with Zouma and Cahill floundering that Alexis put over the top from four yards out. It was no easy chance, and Begovic was well positioned to frustrate the Chilean, but the miss a symptom of our current goal scoring malaise. In its way the miss was as crucial a moment in the game as many other more vividly remembered ones. The game went to and fro. The Ox and Giroud appeared, and even with ten men the handbrake was definitely off.

Chelsea seemed to pull themselves together again and began to press us. Santi’s second yellow compounded our misery and Chelsea’s comfort. After that we rather lost momentum though not our organisation. I noticed a couple of minutes before his exit he had failed to keep up in midfield when chasing a Chelsea player so I think with so much work to do his day was done anyway. Pity because he had led from the front as a captain of the side should.

I can’t be arsed to describe the second Chelsea goal. We all saw it and it is not worth further reference.

Moving on, inevitably, from the football we have the controversies of the afternoon. Or strictly speaking just two controversies. First is the Spanish Brazilian Diego Costa who is, it appears widely agreed (save for one deluded Portuguese) a nasty piece of work, with no interest in playing football and, judging from yesterday’s and his recent displays, not much talent for it. I do not want to watch his shit. If his performance is what football is about then stadiums would be empty and television cameras elsewhere. The disappointing thing yesterday was, as Arsene correctly pointed out, Costa behaves like that game after game, week after week. And yet we, and particularly Gabriel, and the referee fell for it. As With the Zouma goal I have no doubt at all that the squad, every single one of them was fully aware and carefully briefed about Costa and yet ……..

If you want evidence the headline of the match report this morning on Arsenal.com it has us beaten by goals from Hazard and Costa ! Or is that headline humour?

Which brings me to Mr Dean and despite my general respectful support and effort to understand the difficulty of refereeing a game of professional football his performance yesterday was poor. I thought the performance of both assistant referees and of Mr Oliver as 4th official left a lot to be desired also.

I have no dispute in Dean or any damn referee pulling out cards and sending off players. There are rules in football, despite what Mourinho would have you believe, and if those rules are broken then punishments, even the red card sanction will follow. What I object to was his failure to apply those cards and those punishments evenly and to despatch the prime source of violence and bad behaviour to the dressing room when he should have done so (see above). Dean was guilty of lamentable inconsistency yesterday.

Onward we struggle towards the Lane on Wednesday, another hard contest and no time for self pity.

Enjoy your Sunday.

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Arsenal Versus Chelsea: Beware The Wounded Beast

Posted by steww on September 19, 2015 in All Posts

Chelsea. It wasn’t ever thus. There was once a time when the word evoked a different series of meanings, conjured other images. Fashionable clothes, big side burns, walking down the Kings Road, colourfully clad pensioners with shining medals and long memories, Charlie Cooke, John  Hollins, Alan Hudson, the Chelsea Drugstore (architecture meeting modern art on the corner of Royal Avenue and Kings Road), students and the Chelsea Flower Show. Everyone thinks their memories are embedded in a time of greater innocence, a halcyon era of a more simple, happier way of life, and I know I’m no different. However I do sometimes hanker for a time when there wasn’t this bitter loathing of other clubs. Did I despise Revie in the same way that Ferguson, Mourinho and Pulis make my lip curl today? Didn’t I used to look forward to a match, any match, regardless of the opposition? Maybe, maybe not, perhaps this is no more than an old man pining for his lost youth.

One thing not shrouded in a nostalgic rose tint is the fact that I was nearly a Chelsea fan. I know I’ve told you this before but it comes back to me each time their name appears on the fixture list.  They played the hated Leeds United in the first FA Cup final I ever saw and I found I rather liked David Webb for putting away the winning header. Coupled with my first league game as a spectator being at the Dell where Southampton entertained Chopper Harris & co. and it is always possible I might have decided that Peter Osgood was better looking than John  Radford, west was better than north and blue was better than red. Had the planets aligned in this way then these words would appear on Positively Chelsea and I wouldn’t be on speaking terms with any of you. Makes you think.

In any event I was never, not in a million years going to decide blue was better than red was I? While the papers shrieked about Chelsea Headhunters and bovver boot boys stalked the streets of West London my dad was quietly filling my head with talk of a different club, a club famous for innovation (under soil heating, son) class (marble, son, the halls were built of marble) and getting Bob Wilson’s autograph for me. When it came down to it Charlie Cooke was pretty cool but Charlie George was the single coolest footballer in the land. George Best? Not for me. When the other boys at school sang about Charlie being a superstar, they may have gone on to suggest he wears women’s clothes and a see through bra but I only heard the first line of their song.

So even though he was a Portsmouth fan, and even though he went to the Valley to watch Charlton Athletic when he moved to London, my dad steered me towards a life of vicarious voyeurism and masochistic joy as an Arsenal supporter. After the early seventies Chelsea never really showed up on my radar screen. It wasn’t until the silly money came along and put an end to the Ken Bates pantomime years that they surfaced as first a threat and later more of a torment. Their current manager is either trying to deflect media attention away from his troubled players or is genuinely coming unglued. I can’t tell which and frankly I can’t be arsed to give it much thought. He may be obsessed with Arsène but I’m not obsessed with him so let’s leave him to stew in his own juice and move on.

We have to travel to Stamford Bridge exhausted, dispirited and with our excellent return to form halted in Zagreb. The players had to complete much of Wednesday’s game with only ten men and our main striker Olivier Giroud is having a wretched start to the season. Replaced in the pecking order by Theo Walcott who is scoring goals for club and country with some regularity, our debonair French forward with the fine first touch and fluid passing skills was repeatedly fouled before being sent off for nothing in Croatia. Even here on what is supposed to be a positive supporters blog people prefer to blame our man rather than the referee. Honestly when a player loses the unflinching backing of the most one eyed, shamelessly partisan blog on the planet you know he is in trouble. What can be done? Well, personally I’d like to see him score a hat trick at lunchtime today but as he may not even start one wonders what he can do. Booed by sections of French support, wrongly castigated on-line at every turn by people who don’t deserve the eyesight with which they can’t see his strengths and the subject of endless transfer tattle as to who will replace him I struggle to remember a man less deserving of such opprobrium.

But football of course is a team game and the tribulations of one of our best players cannot derail the purpose of the whole squad. Per is still recovering from whatever evil spirit entered him but Aaron and ‘Ector should be fresh after putting their feet up while everyone else toiled and ultimately despaired in midweek. I don’t know how footballers do it but they have proved in the past that they can mentally compartmentalise different competitions. The Invincibles had a torrid time in the FA Cup and Champions league being knocked out of both by their two closest rivals but picked up where they’d left off in the league thrashing Liverpool in their next game. Can the current squad put the disappointment of Zagreb behind them and continue the progress they’ve been making in the league? Will Chelsea lift themselves for the big occasion in the way they’ve been unable to against so called lesser teams? These are the questions the answers to which should determine the outcome of today’s match.

Chelsea have problems, we all know that, they’ve made a shaky start to their league campaign but in the back of my mind there’s always the feeling of the beast cornered, never more dangerous than when wounded and underrated. Having said that we haven’t been riding a wave of perfect form, it’s been more a case of steady progress so I don’t think there is an air of over confidence. A draw would not be a surprise today as much as I’d rather see a few players add to an OG hat trick and give us a thumping victory, we need to temper our enthusiasm sometimes. The champions are not a crap team just because they have endured some crap results.

So two teams, both with points to prove to themselves and their fans after some unexpected reversals. Chelsea with home advantage Arsenal with the nicer fans, more intelligent manager and better looking players. Its in the balance really. They will kick us and dive and time waste and cheat as they always do, we will attempt to weave our magic patterns. It’s all a little predictable – all except the outcome. In total we’ve come away from Stamford Bridge having won 32 %, drawn 32% and lost 36% so history suggests we are more likely to get something than nothing. But as the famous football philosopher once said football is played on television not in the history books. Or something.

So, on that note I need to bugger off and leave you to your pre match routines while I start sticking pins in my Didier Drogba Diego Costa doll and polishing my lucky Arsenal mug. Not that I’m superstitious you understand, it’s just that, being entirely helpless to influence the result I feel a need to do something – anything – to appease the football Gods. I’ll be here to share the joys of victory with you, or should events unfold in confutation of this wholly desirable outcome then I shall retire gracefully into the shadows and pretend I never really liked football that much anyway.

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