Today  a guest post from La Gooner Vida

Morning Gooners! The lads face the daunting task of being bored to death by a posse of lack-wit Neanderthals up north today. The media would have us believe that their trainer Hughes has inspired some sort of revolution at the club. I for one beg to differ. Hughes hasn’t done more than raise the average IQ at the club to double digits. Stoke still stick to their medieval brand of football just like flies to honey.

“Stats” and “journalists” claim that Stoke have adopted a different approach to football, owing to the fact that they are no longer at the bottom of the pile in terms of passes made and average possession. I decided to put this laughable theory to test.  So I prepared myself for 270 minutes of torture and perhaps even….. death. I bid my loved ones goodbye as I sat down to review Stoke’s last 3 games.

Strapped to my chair (lest I run away from my fate), I prepared myself to be bedazzled by the Potters’  sublime skill and excellent attacking prowess. BOY was I surprised (NOT). Stoke are the same Goddamn hydra but with a different head.

Let’s start off with their attacking movements. They are boring and they’re slow. They don’t possess too many passers or dribblers in the side and hence they still go for their old formula of utilising set pieces and throw ins to the fullest. When they do somehow manage to get the ball up in open play ( and after recovering from their surprise), they opt for hopeful long range shots or opt for punting the ball into the box from the wings and hope that some random tall guy will bundle the ball in. Their  attacking midfielder  looks to make late runs into the box as well as tries to get his head to crosses. Oooh. Exciting football. Revolutionary.

Well surely they’ve changed off the ball? “Esteemed” footballing minds cannot be mistaken y’know? They have blogs! They have their own frikkin columns in “reputed” publications. Well, I’m sure you can guess where this is going. Stoke defend with 10 men. I wonder why they just don’t throw in the 11th.  Their striker stays up the pitch ready to hold the ball up, while the rest of his team move up the pitch. How novel. In terms of organisation, the Potters aim to defend in the proverbial ” two lines of four”. Their central midfield appears to be flexible, but they always utilize one holding midfielder. Stoke like to defend deep without leaving a gap between defence and midfield making movement and passing hard for their opponent . They tend to direct opposing attacks to the flanks and find it easy to deal with crosses into their own box. They also fail to close down long range efforts with surprising consistency. I was very intrigued to see how most of their chances conceded were due to fast swift moving attacking moves from their opponents on the counter attack. This is owing to the fact that at that moment, there are only four defenders behind the ball for a change. Furthermore, the Stoke defence fumbles when pressed high up the pitch by opponents. They also funnily enough, fail to deal with balls over the top and with runners who get behind their defence.

Same old, same old. I have eyes. I use them to see. I can see that Stoke haven’t changed, nor are they likely to in the near future. However, higher minds think otherwise. I expect us to win and to win handsomely, at that. Expect us to press high up the pitch, zip the ball around the park as always and utterly destroy them with pace and deliberation from the wings.

Today’s post is by PA regular Double Canister.

 “He is Arsène Wenger on the pitch.”

I was prompted to write this after I saw a tweet to George saying as much and felt I could expand a bit on why I believe it is so.

I would have to state my conflict of interest first – the only Arsenal shirt I have ever put a name and number on the back of – ever – is Arteta No 8. 

Mikel is far too highly skilled as a footballer for what other teams and commentators see as the classic Defensive Midfield role. He is not Makélélé, thankfully. He is not quite like Gilberto Silva as the Invisible Wall. We all know he is a better all-round footballer than Flamini. He is the man behind our multiple sexy attacking threats up front and the mind-fielder and is the oil in the engine of the Arsenal midfield.  His contract expires in January 2015.  He will be 32 years old this March, we may be seeing the best of him right now.

Arteta is a deep-lying playmaker. He wins the ball, see things, sees players – makes passes, and as was said by others – he can see the pass beyond the first pass.  There is no one else in the English league I would compare him to. He is always available as the recovery pass. He hardly ever gives the ball away. He is not as psychotic as Roy Keane was though.  He does the heavy pressing for Arsenal, and with Rosicky, they can both form a proper tiki-taka (the other half of what Barca used to do so well) and do what has to be done to press and win the ball back.

 Pivot ye not

So what does Arteta do so well? Is he something like a trequartista or a regista? No, not exactly.  In Argentine and Uruguayan football, a playmaker is known as an enganche – literally meaning “hook”.  In basketball it’s called the point guard. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position – essentially, they are expected to run the team’s offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right players at the right time.  Above all, the point guard must totally understand and accept his coach’s game plan; a point guard is a coach on the floor, who can handle and distribute the ball to teammates.

Situational awareness

It leads to a deeper question: what kind of football does Arsenal at the moment play under Wenger? 

Wengerball!

Is the simple answer, but what really is that?

New Wengerball© is a unique blend of possessional, direct, and total football. I have often argued that the traditional DM role is obsolete at teams like Arsenal, we expect our players to be complete; defenders attack – attackers defend.  You know – Total Football style. We also expect our midfielders to possess extraordinary levels of energy and skill (and a bit of nous too). We don’t use a holding midfielder anymore, as this would restrict our attack options by using up one of the midfield positions. Each and every one of the 6 players in front of the defence is an attacking weapon. It is a lightning quick pass-move system. Throw in one or the other of our two overlapping fullbacks as well. Teams we play against don’t know from where – or who – the next ball towards their goalmouth will come.  Most English teams usually operate with only one recognised playmaker; Arsenal usually have 4 or 5.  Arteta’s role as the point guard requires unusual skill and adaptability, combined with intelligent positioning. Look as Gerrard struggles so desperately whilst being converted into the same position so late in his career.

Festina lente

And what has this to do with asymmetric warfare?

There is as a phrase used in the military ‘Slow is smooth, and smooth is quick’.  Arteta will ensure he (or at least one other covering player) stays around no further forward than centre circle when everyone else is playing school yard football. Lying deeper, he can orchestrate the movement of the whole team. His starting position is quite deep, probably due to fading pace but that is rarely exposed as he is usually first to react to loose balls. Mikel rarely gives the ball away.  He gets criticised, unjustly, for making some side and back passes but he is no Carrack – there is a logic to what he does – the ball will be moving forward again after the next pass, often to one of the killer attackers like Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla or Ozil. The point is he can keep recycling the play from side to side, front to back, keep the passing rhythm, the tempo and speed impossibly high, until the opposition falter or make a mistake – and then BOOM!

 Why he is Wenger’s brain on the pitch

Arteta has discipline – he will stick to the task.  How many late goals have the Arsenal scored?  How many late goals are conceded when he’s around? It often takes 70+ minutes to break down teams who play against us with a parked bus. In the last 20 minutes, when Arsenal are still usually trying to make sure of the result in the match, you will see some very interesting things happen.

Santi, Rosicky and Theo will typically keep swapping sides. Sanga may drop back into defensive mode and Monreal or Gibbs will be the one pushing forward.

The first 70 minutes were merely feints, the real XXXX comes now. Ozil becomes alive, new attack angles appear everywhere. Defenses can’t cope, but we need Arteta to be the one pinging the ball around to make it happen. His passing from the deep positions has to be spot-on reliable – and it usually is. Lying deeper, he has an oversight of the entire game from his usual position around the centre circle. He can move up or back depending on the situation and provides the extra body to an attack or a defence. Oh, and he will take one for the team if he has too.  A +70% tackle success rate but he is not shy about the odd rugby tackle on an opponent if that is the last resort, and accruing the inevitable yellow card if he sees that we have been left too exposed behind him.

 This photo of them – they are soul mates

Arteta has the intelligence and senior experience to understand what must be done. Both never had international careers. It’s Arsenal or nothing for them both now.  Their careers will not go on for much longer. It has to be done now.

 Now watch this and tell me I’m wrong:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98xvudh4aB4

Double Canister can be told he’s wrong on Twitter @double_canister

Today’s post is by PA regular Anicoll5

Who – me?!

The dust has safely settled on Wednesday and we face a very different prospect at 3 bells on Saturday with the arrival of Sunderland at the Grove. It is good that we have a game so swiftly after Munich and even better it is at home.

It has been a mark of our improvement over the past year that every on-field setback we have suffered has been followed by a performance of tenacity and good quality.

 It is the mark of their character that our players respond to adversity. There has been no whingeing, excuses or mysterious ‘injuries’. We have got stuck into the next game. Character without ability is however often unrewarded, and we have invariably managed to claw at least one and usually three points from the next match.

 I see no reason that pattern will change tomorrow against Gus’ Mackems. Sunlun have come a healthy distance since the lunatic Di Canio mockingly asked the referee why he did not send him off in the September game, and Martin Atkinson duly obliged the Italian headcase. We played them and they were doomed, Di Canio driving the Wearsiders to Hell with a whip and a chair.

Sadly all good things come to an end. Now they are back with a fighting chance of escape from the drop.

 Looking at the Mackems’ away form it is not that bad, a 3-0 thrashing of their neighbours at SJP, a semi-final defeat of the Chosen One’s red and white army and a rare win for any away side at Goodison emphasise they should not be underestimated.  For once however the opposition may well have their eyes on Wembley and their tussle for the Capital One Trophy next Sunday.

 I have a small but affectionate spot for the Mackems, partly a family thing, partly a game in 1977 at Goodison, which saw them relegated.  Sunlun must have brought 10,000 on a Wednesday night. Never seen so many men sobbing.

Memorable.

 Other than Gibbs we seem to have got through Wednesday unscathed so Arsene has an almost open choice of who to put in.  The intriguing question is who leads the line?

 My guess is Sanogo to get another start and I have my fingers crossed he might just pick up his first Premier League goal.

 And if we by some strange twist of fate earn a penalty?

Well I know who I would pass the ball to!

You may pass your ball to anicoll5 on Twitter @anicoll5

Today is the view from the stand by Passenal.

Just back from the game and despite the result I’m not downbeat at all! It was a fantastic game of football for the first 30 minutes between two teams who wanted to play the game the way it’s meant to be played. And we were great when we had 11 players on the pitch. Once the referee decided to hand the initiative to Bayern we did well to keep the score down. I was hoping we could keep it to one goal as I would have been more optimistic of getting through the second game; now I’m more hopeful than expectant. Bayern are sustained by a lot of hype – they did not overawe us even when they had the extra man advantage. I think it was mental and physical exhaustion at the end that let them in for the second goal. Still, it’s not over until it’s over.

It’s a shame we didn’t score from our penalty as that could have changed the dynamic considerably and without the benefit of a hundred replays from every angle I still cannot understand why Woj was sent off? Robben did not have the ball under control it was a pass into the area and the goal keeper had as much right to go for it as the player. Robben made a meal of it and the crowd let him know it. It put him off his game too as I lost count of the balls he kicked into touch after that, each one getting a louder and louder cheer. I don’t know if it came across on TV, but the crowd, certainly in the North Bank, were fantastic tonight. I’ve never heard it so loud! As for the Bayern fans – they were silent for the first 45 – I think our team had them worried. We only heard or saw them after their team scored a goal. And that fat arsed goal keeper of their’s is another cheater making a meal out of a challenge from Sanogo to get him booked.

Ozil’s penalty was weak and I guess being up against his international team mate put him off. No doubt he’s being slammed all over Twitter, but these things happen. That was certainly the moment that we missed Arteta’s cool head. Sanogo continues to impress and showed that his performance against Liverpool was not a one-off. The only downside is that we’ve lost Gibbs and possibly the Ox to injury.

Belief.

We live in a world where every aspect of our lives is controlled by belief.

This most intriguing of psychological states is perhaps responsible for the shaping of our world more than anything else. The romantics may argue love and the cynics may argue greed is equally responsible, yet nothing is more dangerous than a man with either a lack of or an abundance of faith. From the dawn of civilisation, belief has elevated men to the heavens and dragged them to the depths of hell. Alexander The Great conquered the known world not because of his troops or unprecedented strategic mind but because he believed he could. Yet the excessive nature of his beliefs led to his downfall as his men mutinied against an invasion of India after years at war. Gaius Juluis Caesar’s belief in his abilities led him to conquer France with his faith in his political nous helped him dispatch his rivals in Rome. Yet his convictions that he should introduce reform and that he should be held accountable to no man lead to his rather bloody end.

While remarkable individuals such as these exuded faith in themselves others have displayed trust in existential beliefs. In 1095 Pope Urban II decreed that the Holy Land should be liberated from those of other religious faiths that held it due to his beliefs. Thus began almost 200 years of unabridged violence and hatred in the Middle East, the aftermath of which can still be felt today. Countless wars have been fought due to beliefs about war, land, rights and the belief in the sanctity of freedom. It has enabled our species to take to the skies, touch the highest peak on our world and even walk on the moon. It has also caused the extermination of 6 million Jews, ingrained prejudice and terrorist attacks. A sombre and most probably inappropriate time for me to finally start talking about Arsenal then you may think.

The Gunners are at yet another pivotal moment in our season and it’s safe to say that the fans have gone well and truly mental this season. I would suggest that the increased expectation this season due to our first truly world class signing in years has altered the chemical balance of several Gooner’s brains. It’s certainly more polite than hypothesising that they may in fact, just be idiots. This article is being penned on the night of our victory over Liverpool and the idea of a blog on belief occurred to me during the build-up to the game. Various degrees of belief were on show, from the belief that “Arsene has went mental” spiel from renowned doom-monger LeGrove to the belief that “We should support the team” from neutrals to the belief that” Everything will be absolutely fantastic” from the almost nauseatingly optimistic Blackburn George. I of course retained my belief that James ‘Raul’ Stokes is a filthy harlot with such perverted desires even Giroud’s mistress couldn’t fulfil them. While observers of the Arsenal online community will no doubt find that these individuals expressing said opinions hardly ground-breaking, it did intrigue me.

We are all perfectly aware that LeGrove and his cluster of likeminded individuals will spew forth negativity and general discontent until the club succumbs to their poisonous bile and eventually relents, allowing them places as Manager, Fitness Coach and CEO of our beloved club. Equally certain is that Blackburn George shall beam forth positivity, mowing down those that dare question the will of his God on his motorcycle of delusion. If one said the sky was blue the other would say green. We know they will never convince each other that their beliefs are correct.

Yet the notion that our chances should be dismissed so readily before the game is even played is incomprehensible and it shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how football is actually played. Using such warped logic surely Fulham fans shouldn’t bother existing as on paper, they are the worst team in the league and must therefore be destined to lose every game? Such fervent belief that our team do not have the capability to win is laughable, never mind that they may not even be able to compete. As a side note, what alarms me more than that belief though, is the outpouring of bile that seems to accompany it. If an opinion is posted it will typically be followed with several people posting insults to Wenger, the players, the board or anyone that crosses their path. It is shameful to see and lets all our fanbase down.

It seems strange to me that even during the good times, when we have beat Liverpool twice, Spurs twice, topped the league and progressed from the Champions League Group of Death that certain individuals have displayed a complete lack of faith in our team. To examine our players, the conviction and abilities they possess and yet still determine that they are unable to compete shows, for me, someone who struggles to comprehend that we have progressed from the team of pretty passers to a team worthy of the club. A desire to see Arsenal fail so that changes are implemented is equally as disgusting.

Our manager and players have spoken several times of their trust in each other and belief that they can end our wait for a trophy.  I retain the belief that Arsenal can win the league this year. More than that, I have faith that we can win the double of the League and FA cup. Whilst others will disagree, as is their right, I shall remain convinced of our team’s qualities, although perhaps not to the radical degree of Blackburn George and his ilk.

Since I have harped on about belief so much I thought I’d leave you with a 2500 year old quote that remains relevant that we can all appreciate:

“Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.”

Thanks for reading and to George for hosting this on his wonderful site. I’ve been Dyllan Munro and feel free to drop a comment and let me know what you think of the article. You can also reach me on twitter @goonerdyllan. Thanks everyone.

Today a guest post by @anicoll5

A mild glow suffuses my normally stern features this Monday morn, allowing my mind to meander across the memory of a fine game of football with both a performance and a result I had been hoping for.  Very nice, very nice indeed.

 Top marks to our visitors who put together a great display going forward and on another day and with a scintilla of better fortune might have come away with a replay, maybe more. A disappointing comment from Rodgers regarding the “better team lost”. That however will remind me why I try never to listen to post match interviews with managers all of whom have a tendency to talk utter bollocks, the adrenals coursing wide open, swivel eyes loons to a man.

 Of the match itself three features struck me. First, that it is a long time since I have been on the edge of my seat like that. 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0 and even our recent 0-0 was nowhere near as hard a watch as that. I suspect the level of sustained concentration required among our defensive back five was tested yesterday at the Emirates as it has not been tested this season. And did they crack ? No they did not. And the longer the game went on the less likely it was that we would crack.

 Second, I doff my ceremonial top hat to Lukas Fabianski and to YaYa Sanogo. Two players at different ends of their AFC club careers but both faced the monstrously difficult test of coming into a side from the bench, with very little first team action, in a tie that was explosive action from the first whistle. We saw how well they both did. Lukas, with a thousand snide remarks waiting to be launched  if he made one mistake, put not a foot wrong. And YaYa, while showing few of the silky skills he is renowned to possess, gave Agger and Skrtel no end of an battering. Great afternoon lads.

 Third, an unfortunate amount of attention has been focused upon the challenge of the Ox on Suarez and the alleged second “penalty”. Referee Webb excoriated across the media with the usual hysteria, Scousers setting fire to themselves in protest, novelty tee shirts etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I find the commotion laughable. A referee is entirely within their rights to have the most profound doubts concerning a foul being committed when the apparent victim of the offence launches himself into the air, performs a genuine somersault, and twists into a half pike before crashing to the floor. If the referee has a doubt then he must not give a penalty. Any player from any club who tries to cheat in so blatant a way should be punished, not praised. I trust Webb will follow through on that policy next time.

 And so we stride onward to Wednesday, a glint in our eye.

If Arsenal lose today and lose heavily on Wednesday they will be left with only the league to play for, with their confidence in tatters and the fan base in meltdown, baying for the manager’s blood.

At least that is the doomsday scenario that has been put forward by some, including John Cross and  Paul Merson among many others.

They may well be right, but why is it restricted to Arsenal?  It surely equally applies to City and Chelsea.  Ok, they don’t face the Champions of Europe, but still.

Is it that for some strange reason our fans demand more than those of the two free spending oil tankers?  Or are we more susceptible to fits of mass depression?

If Liverpool lose, what have they got left?  The league?  The much derided 4th place trophy?  I think this game will be very difficult for us.

We beat them very comfortably in the league at home, but that was a long time ago.  We were in much better form and had a certain young Mr Ramsey in the team.

Liverpool will be very confident after the thrashing they dished up to us last week and they are the form team in the country at this moment.  Add to that they will play their best eleven and we won’t have anywhere near our best, on top of the obvious that will miss out due to injuries, and there will be quite a bit of rotation given who we play on Wednesday.

All we can hope is that somehow Arsene manages to find a balance in the team that has somewhat deserted us since Aaron began to tire shortly before his injury.  I know we have been winning in that time, but it was not against teams in this sort of form.

I would love to write that I’m full of confidence and winning will be a formality, but that would be a lie.

Big test?

Indeed it is.

Today a guest post stolen  from @shotta_gooner (shhhh he doesn’t know yet.)

The idea that we would simply walk over Man Utd is simply jaw-dropping in its stupidity.  This is a good team who are currently champions of England.  After a run of poor results, pride alone dictated they would put up a strong performance against a big rival like Arsenal.  They came determined not to concede yet we were able to create five decent chances,  most in the last thirty minutes.

Yet some punters at the Emirates were booing at the end.  Frankly this mentality is stupid to the nth degree.  There is an alarming sense of self-entitlement that I hoped would have subsided given how hard this squad has worked to be in their current position.  And without two of our best players, Ramsey and Walcott.

I partially blame this emotive ignorance to the nonsense spouted by the media.  For example on my feed, there was Lee Dixon lamenting all game that we lacked the speed to go behind United and moaning that the Ox should be brought on.  As anyone who follows Arsenal could have predicted, the Ox was brought on in the 70th minute to have a go at a tiring United defense.  But he immediately demonstrated why he was a sub by losing the ball in his first attempt at a dribble setting United up for a counter-attack.  Did Lee Dixon admit that maybe he was wrong and Wenger right to focus on taking care of the ball with Rosicky?

Who is surprised he did not?

Take another example.

A tiring Arsenal in the 92nd minute, having recently mounted a failed attempt on goal, recover the ball deep in their half.  United cover all the passing lanes hunting the ball to have a final attempt on our goal.  Our midfielders and defenders play it safe, knocking it around, hoping for an opportunity to go forward.  The crowd starts howling to get the ball forward.  Lee Dixon echoes the sentiment.  Jack, the archetypical Englishman, receives the ball and instinctively does the crowd bidding, tries to force the ball forward and loses it within our half and United spring into the attack.  Happily our defenders were on their toes and win back the ball.

Does Lee Dixon acknowledge that Jack was naive and unprofessional?

Hell no.  Instead the producers turn up crowd noise to emphasize the stupid booing.

This is the kind of nonsense that have many fans emoting rather than reflecting.  It was a bloody good point and a damn better performance than last Saturday.

One point off the top.  Twelve games to go.

It’s all up for grabs.

We all form opinions based on our knowledge of particular subjects. Most reasonable people would accept that if this  knowledge is limited , then the value of our opinion is similarly limited. Why then does it appear that this simple equation is not applicable to football ?

I believe the reason is that people way overestimate their knowledge of football.

It also seems to me that the more someone knows, the less sure of their conclusions they are. In other words the more stupid you are , the more you believe your opinions are correct.

People write blogs spewing their ideas about tactics , line ups  and formations sure in the belief that they are right. Then they go back to their totally unrelated jobs (if they have one) or carry on with their homework.

A rough guide in judging a bloggers worth is simply to look at the comments section. I understand the “birds of a feather  flock together” and generally the majority of regular posters will be of like mind to the blogger, but when the comments are clearly written by halfwits, its reasonable to assume the blogger himself is none to sharp.

Of course there are exceptions. Its possible that the blogger is smart enough to have identified his market and exploits their stupidity in order to further his/her agenda, whatever that might be.

The value of these bloggers opinions is seen as being tied to the number of readers or followers. If they are getting 10.000 hits per day it could mean no more than 10.000 idiots agree with what is being said.

Unfortunately what these bloggers say is taken as gospel by those least able to think for themselves .

There are hundreds of Arsenal bloggers and the vast majority of them are so far up their own ares that it defies belief. There are of course exception who are balanced, knowledgeable and informative ,some are even funny . I wont list any ,in case I leave some out, and you know me, I don’t want to upset anyone.

Its spread now to Podcasts. Dozens of them all giving their opinions on Arsenal matters , as if they know what they are talking/shouting/ranting about.

Strikes me everyone wants to be Arseblog. Well here is the thing, he was in first and you wont be.

I just wish everyone would stop trying promote themselves and get on with supporting the club.

If you are a blogger and get upset by people questioning your credentials, here is an idea, include your CV in the next blog you write. Lets see how qualified you are ?

And yes, I am aware of the irony of a blogger moaning about bloggers.

A guest post by @MuppetGooner

The Liverpool result opened the usual can of worms in some quarters. The resurfacing of  people that want Wenger out embittered by 8 years of failure. To remind those people, yes, there are no trophies to speak about, but he has taken Arsenal to a Champions League final, a semi final, 2 quarters and the last 16 twice.

In the league we have one 2nd place, two 3rd places, and four 4th places. A lot of clubs would enjoy this record. Look at Everton, a club similar to us in stature and historical record – they come nowhere near this. Villa too, with a greater net transfer spend than us in the last 10 years, fall into this category.

With regard to the Champions League, historically, we have never been in the final or semi final of the European Cup. In the last 8 years, in the league, we have never finished below a team with a lower wages spend except for maybe Liverpool on 1 occasion, when they finished 2nd (the Rafa rant year).

Last year, we finished just behind City and Chelsea, who had a higher wage bill and substantially higher transfer bill. The people who continually attack Wenger and his record blithely ignore the huge amounts of money spent by City and Chelsea do it in a way that they somehow believe that the money shouldn’t make any difference.

Last summer showed that the small pool of the best players were mostly not available to us. Yes, we managed to get Ozil, but there were other players that we did not get, simply because they were unobtainable, in the price bracket of the likes of PSG and City. The likes of Fernandinho and Cavani spring to mind here. Other players, like Cabaye and possibly Higuain became overpriced, and didn’t represent value. The market price being set and skewed by the sheiks and oligarches.

In general the debilitating effect of not securing the best players is two fold. You are left to skirmish for the best players in the 2nd tier pool. You then have to fight the opposition, who have those best players, with inferior ones.

In the wake of the Liverpool result we hear that the transfer market in January was a missed opportunity. We should have signed a striker, a midfielder and another player. These demands are risible. We face all the problems that we had in the summer and players are more scarcely available in January.

The pool of top class players is a very small, finite one. And to get them is not easy. Every club has scouts posted now, not just in Europe, but worldwide. The trick that Wenger pulled, when he managed to secure Vieira, Henry, Petite, Gilberto etc i.e. 4 world Cup winners, will never happen again. Can you imagine, in today’s climate of information, news and awareness, being able to sign 4 Spanish players who had just won the World Cup  – absolutely no chance.

The goalposts have been moved considerably.

A couple of years ago we went to South America to sign an Argentinian player, Alvarez. Who was on our tail ? Inter Milan and Spuds. Spuds follow us everywhere. He went to Inter instead of us. We were linked to Holtby (somewhat tenuously at the time), look where he ended up. We were actually in for Vertonghen , who ends up at Spuds because he wants 1st team football. Last summer, Higuain went to Napoli when it looked like he was coming to us. There were other players too, who went elsewhere. 

For these reasons the detractors are wrong to come out with such ludicrous demands for players that we can supposedly so easily get. They are also wrong to dismiss the previous 8 years as being a failure. Moaning about a failure of winning a trophy despite a large wage bill. But we have still not underachieved based on our resources, even if you include the wage bill. You can argue that we have underachieved based on expectations, i.e your view of what we should be winning, but as an apologist,  I would argue the impact on our resources of the stadium move. One soundbite I never hear in the press is that the Arsenal stadium move cost half a billion.

The detractors complain instead about other stuff , like we don’t have a “winning mentality”, which is just pure nonsense. Or about the “Bould Effect”. Arguing that Bould should have been brought in sooner. Conceding 6 goals at Man City and 5 at Liverpool kind of puts paid to that argument I think.

The stance the club have adopted is that we should be self-sustainable, with plain vanilla economics. Yes, the long term commercial deals that we have signed give us more spending power, and we will be able to incrementally add marquee players of the quality of Ozil to the squad. But if you demand instant success, then you are deluded. Financial fair play has not yet arrived, and to my knowledge, I haven’t seen a single club sanctioned by UEFA for having massive debts and breaching the rules. Also, the science of squad building takes time. We are not able to spend £250m over a couple of transfer windows, and nor would we want to, even if theoretically possible. In any case, what Chelsea did at the time, around 2003, would no longer be possible now, as there are more players (clubs) in the market.

Despite these difficulties, I still believe we are in a great position. Even if you don’t agree, which you can do, that the Liverpool performance was a blip in an otherwise consistent run of over 40 games in the premiership, where we have amassed the largest points total.  The majority of our players are in long term settled contracts, they are young, we can hold on to them now. The Ozil transfer has proved a marquee player will come to Arsenal, which proves further players will come. But this is not a galactico argument. We are already benefiting from the long term foundation and strategy laid down years ago. The Hale End Academy with it’s indoctrination of the Arsenal way. The new training ground. Signing a core of 6 young british players on long term contracts. The realisation of the potential of young players brought in such as Szczesny, Ox, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, Gibbs. 

But being optimistic is not being expectant. It is arrogant to expect success. If you spend a lot of money on Arsenal, you may have a right to complain on the return on your investment, if you view things in that way. But for me, the point is that the winner takes all culture is nauseating. The sensationalism of the press, depicting our season as either a success if we win all 4 trophies, and a failure if we don’t win anything, is nauseating. We can hope for incremental improvement, but to call for heads to roll without any perspective of what we are up against is stupidity in the extreme. Some clever people on the board are taking the long view.