A quiet day so I have updated an old post.We will look at the Villa game tomorrow.

Some time ago we had a discussion about what “world class” is in relation to players. Of course we could not agree on what it meant, let alone which of our current players the definitions actually applied to. Some, like me, had almost a team full of world class players whilst others begrudgingly considered Ozil may be on the fringes of being that good.

Anyway, that got me thinking about when we did have a team full? The Invincibles? Or have we ever? Was it the greatest team the Premier league has ever seen, or did the stars align and give us a gift from the football Gods? Indeed, was it even a gift or is it a curse, an achievement that means that we will forever be underachieving in the minds of some of our more demanding fans?

I have actually heard people say that we failed to build and progress from that team .What did they want, a season where we won every game? What then, would we have to improve on that?

So, for the sake of argument, I want to ask and then answer some questions about the class of 04.

1.  Would that squad win the league now?
2.  Would any of our current players make the team?
3.  Would they all have been playing in sky blue by 05?

Would that squad win the league now?  I am not sure it would.

I have no doubt that the first eleven would still be the best in the league, but I am not convinced the squad players were good enough to cope with the strength of the current league. I believe every team is better than they were then, all bar United and us that is. We say there are no easy games in the Premiership now; well I think there was then.

They ended the season with one more point than last year’s champions. Would they have dropped more than one point in last year’s league? I think they would.

On the other hand, perhaps they would have turned some of the end of season draws into wins.

In 05, basically the same team, finished with seven less points and twelve points behind the Champions. There is an argument to be made that if Chelsea were not a better team, they did seem to have bought a better squad.

The thing we are told now is “Teams win games, squads win championships” .The numbers would seem to suggest that the 04 squad would now be found wanting.

Would any of our current players make the team? For me, Sagna and Koscielny (for Kolo) for sure, but that is about it.

Would they all have been playing in sky blue by 05? The way things have gone, I believe that our team of Invincibles would not now be given the chance to stay together. As soon as Chelsea started paying inflated wages “Cashley” headed for the hills.

Because we have won nothing for eight years, players could claim they are left because they were ambitious to win silverware. That was hardly the case for young Mr. Cole. For him it was the money. Simple as that. Imagine how many would have headed up the M6 with the riches on offer today. Remember Ashley was a Gooner; if anyone should have been loyal, it was him.

I suppose what I am saying is that people, fans, do not always appreciate just how much the Oil Money has changed the game. My contention is that not only would the greatest eleven ever seen, a team with five(I think)of the best players in their positions in the whole wide world, would have struggled to win today’s league ,but it could never come to be in the first place. While at Highbury we simply would not have had the money to resist the advances of the Oily clubs.

We did have it though, didn’t we, us, no one else? Just us. And we will have it forever thanks to a certain French genius.

Today we have a brand new guest poster Tim Head (@foreverheady, should you want to follow him on twitter,I suggest you do just that)

“There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

Or so said Brutus towards the end of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, suggesting that at key moments in a life the onus is on us to see when is the time to actively determine our own fortune and then to act swiftly and decisively. Is it that time for The Arsenal? Is this Transfer Window the moment to strike and seize success, taking Fate into our own hands and bending the whims of the footballing Gods to our promptings.

It is certainly tempting to answer in the affirmative, as the tide has certainly turned for The Arsenal this season (or to be more accurate since last March) and, injuries aside things do seem to be going our way. There is a sense of irresistible momentum engendered by harmony, confidence, skill and hard work. The Emirates is beginning not just to rock but to be a rock too, and even the pundits are starting to change their tune. The TV companies certainly are: witness the constant rearranging of games so that Arsenal’s matches are beamed round the UK at prime time, and the subsequent widening of the fan base, compelled at first by results and success but latterly and more importantly by the beauty of watching The Arsenal play the Arsenal way.

And yet, despite all of this, despite the league position and the Champions League success, the nagging doubt remains in some minds that man for man our squad is not quite as strong as Manchester City’s or Chelsea’s, and that we will once again founder against the might of Bayern. That, in short, new players are needed, and in particular two talismanic figures must be bought: a Henreysque striker and a Vierra like midfielder. Costa or Cavani, Pogba or Gundogan should do the trick, for no leagues will be confidently won without them. It is a tempting dream, and one that has no doubt passed fleetingly across most of our minds, and perhaps too the minds of Stan, Ivan, and AW. And surely now is the time to make that dream a reality, continues that narrative. January is not a good time to buy may be the accepted wisdom, but a World Cup summer isn’t great either: not only may prices be inflated, but pre-season is affected too. There is definitely an argument to suggest that a positive start to the 2014/15 season would be best achieved by players who have been bedding in since February. We have the money, and not only should we spend it, we should borrow against our earnings for the rest of this giddy season and spend double: what a position we would be in with £120 Million’s worth of new players come the First of February, what a message that would send to the footballing world.

It certainly could be done, and it wouldn’t altogether surprise me if something like that were attempted. After all Ozil’s recent video on the official website is like a prospectus aimed at attracting top, top world players, and if anyone doubted Arsenal’s ambition, or the reason the move to the Emirates was made, they certainly should not be doubting it now. I would just point out though that it is always dangerous to think that only one thing is lacking, that if only we had player x or player y everything would be alright. We probably already have all we need to succeed given reasonable luck and reliable refereeing, and given the scarcity of players on the market who are better than the excellent ones we already have, I think it unlikely that any significant signings will be made. One thing I do know though is that Arsene Wenger knows exactly what he is trying to do, and that if he thinks anything is possible he will work harder than anyone to make it happen.  But he will also remember that although Brutus was an honorable man, he misjudged things horribly and ended up falling on his own sword. Perhaps after all we must count the blessings we already have, enjoy what is in front of us, and stop wishing our life away. But then again, it’s good to dream…..

George and Ronan with Geoff (@geoffarsenal) shoot the shit about Arsenal.

At about six-thirty last night I read a post on here by arse_ or_brain which simply said “Theo out for six months after scan revealed torn ligament nightmare”

Obviously this news made me sad for Theo, Arsenal and myself. It was very depressing and disappointing. Just as the lad was back up to speed he, and us,  had been dealt a horrible blow.

Of course I went on to twitter to see if I could learn more.

The news was worse than I had envisaged.

Our title hopes were dashed, over, kaput, flushed down the toilet .finished. We  were no longer challengers.

There is no denying that the loss of Theo makes the job more difficult. He is a unique player for us. But come on !

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is back in full training and was hugely impressive in pre-season.

Serge Gnabry looks every inch ready to play on the right.

Even Ryo Miyaichi could play a minor role between now and the end of the season.

Theo just made a good fist of playing up front, but that was against a team that rather stupidly came to our gaff and set up 442. We wont see that very often.

All of a sudden Theo was the answer to our striker shortage and his loss is crippling.

The screams for Arsene to “throw money at it”  have reached a new crescendo. But what has changed ?

Have more players come onto the market ?

Will clubs feel sorry for us and sell us players they intended to keep ?

Have our available funds gone from finite to infinite ?

Have our long term plans changed ? Lets not forget, Theo will be back.

Will clubs fail to notice our need and not ask for silly money for average players ?

We are top of the league and have achieved this , in the large part, without Theo.

We march on.

We adjust.

We ask others to step up.

We might even buy someone.

Come on Gooners, get your shit together !

Today,a guest post from Muppet ( @MuppetGooner )

Here we go again, it’s that time of year where everybody gets to play championship manager and decide what reinforcements we need for the assault on the title in May. Costa, screams the Twitter arsenal massive, buy him, and we secure the title. Wenger laughs off this suggestion, claiming he would be an outlay of £145m. Now, I am a Wenger fundamentalist, but, like the Earth was created in 7 days claim, cannot help think that £145m is a stretch. Perhaps £80m, unless those rogue agents are making hideously more than usual.

So, do we join the Costa chorus ? To be honest, I know nothing about the guy. Haven’t even seen him play. He’s 6 ft 2 and bangs the goals in for Athletico Madrid. Now,  I might be completely wrong in my contrary opinion, but there are reasons for caution. For an outlay of £80m, Costa doesn’t guarantee success. Sure, he may increase our chances of winning the premiership, but does he win it for us ? Is he the best in the business ? Well – he’s maybe in the top 10 strikers in the world, but for the outlay, that does not compare with, say, Ozil, who is widely lauded as the best no 10 in the world, and has the pedigree, track record and age to prove it. We may do the deal, and I wouldn’t be against it if Wenger went ahead, but it seems to be as though he would present a financial risk. And our club is very cautious.

The “pundits” say we still need to strengthen. Two players is the accepted wisdom. This is high praise indeed, as traditionally we have needed a spine and more. Striker and one other is called for, but not sure in what position. Make no mistake, like dry or wet rot, the moaners will resurface when we lose, citing all the players we need. The strident call was for a DM, until Flamini came in. Before that, the “pundits” called for new centre backs.

This bloggers opinion? Julien Draxler would be nice. Joking aside, let’s give the manager a little credit eh ? Ramsey has come good, Mertesacker, heralded as a donkey in the english press, has come spectacularly good. Rosicknote, who should have been shipped out 3 years ago, according to the gloom-brigade, put Spuds to the sword at the age of 32. Get the idea ? Like some of those dormant stocks in your portfolio,  when the money starts gushing in, so it is with some of our squad players.  People scream for new incomings, but they ignore the potential of those we have. I am waiting for Wilshere to hit form and have a similar patch to Ramsey. Ox will be back. Gnabry, for an 18 year old, looks like he could be a monster. We’ve not had the opportunity to play Gnabry, Walcott, Ox and Ozil in one game yet. The opposition will require new pants at half time.

Of course, the specific concern is if Giroud is absent. Well – the candidates are Bendtner, Walcott, Podolski and Sanogo. People wrote off Podolski  after his lack of success before being subbed against Cardiff. But I would go for another bite of the cherry. So what if Podolski wasn’t sharp. We can always try him again.

Other positions ? We seem well stocked in midfield. Flamini, more streetwise after his stint in Milan and the excellent Arteta in front of the back 4. Cazorla, Rosicky, Wilshere, Ozil  and Ramsey is an embarrassement of riches. More power would be good – maybe Diaby will provide that in March. Defence ? No complaints there. It’s the best defence in the league, and possibly the best midfield as well.

The detractors say we need to strengthen further to reverse our recent poor performances against top 4 sides. This may be a point of view. Whilst we’ve been extraordinarily consistent in beating mid and bottom of the table opposition, we have not been great in recent head to heads versus Man U, City and Chelsea. We had unfortunate results against both Manchester sides. The Man U result, for me, was down to the absence of Mertesacker. If he was in the side, 1-0 would have been 0-0. The City result came after two tough fixtures and suspect refereeing. The Chelsea game indicated to me that we were able to play a disciplined and professional game against a side who looked highly dangerous on the counter attack. One can argue that “extra quality” would bridge this gap, but on the other hand, we may be able to do this by tapping into our unfulfilled potential within the squad. Nobody saw Ramsey become the best midfielder in the country this season, and who knows, someone else may become similarly unplayable. We may also just be on an upward swing, with more incremental improvement to come.

Wenger’s pitiful eleven hold London …

Well that was all rather easy, wasn’t it?

Spurs were riding on the crest of a United-beating wave, and we were putting out a pitiful team. So I read.

From @TheHighburyInn: “Wengers pitiful starting XI Taking the FA Cup & spurzzz for granted Could end up in tears!”

I despair at these miserable bastards on twitter, I really do.

The reality was that we fielded eleven very good players. Dominated the game and won at a canter.

Were we at our devastating best? Not really, but I think we could have stepped it up, had we needed to.

All in all a very satisfying win against the hated neighbours.

Tomas Rosicky was outstanding and Gnarby looks ready for first team action.

Fabianski, who was going to let us down badly, according to the twitter experts, never put a foot wrong. Again!  When was the last time he did, I ask you?  Must be years ago now?

Right, that will do from me, we have nine days of gloating/rest before the next game.

Let’s enjoy it.

Up the Arse.

January 2014. Or as it will henceforth be known, Transfer Window: Round Two. Like all sequels it will no doubt promise to be bigger and better than ever but leave us all with an overwhelming sense of disappointment, akin to that of spending the night with James ‘Raul’ Stokes.  Matches and results become meaningless as increasingly frenetic Gooners crave news & whispers of who may potentially join the club or was once spotted in a red top age 4 that was the same shade as that years Arsenal kit. And therein lays the problem. During this period the object of fans desire is transfer news, therefore meaning an increase in the number of articles and blogs about transfers as writers seek to boost views and circulation of their efforts. This in turn leads to more people becoming occupied and so on and so forth. And if you’ve spotted the irony in that this is essentially a transfer piece and I am actually one of those bastard bloggers, -well done.

This segment is dedicated to the Twitter Halfwit Brigade.

We are currently top of the league and after examining our upcoming fixtures, you would expect us to stay there for the foreseeable future. Any points gathered though will be completely insignificant because rumour has it that the player you liked and were convinced would sign for us is now being linked with someone else after his agent was spotted having coffee with someone that looked suspiciously like a girl another teams manager had a one night stand with 6 months ago. This of course means that he will be signing elsewhere instead of suggesting that she might just be a bit dirty. How dare the club ignore your suggestions, I mean come on, this guy scored 47 goals in the Belgian second division playing as an auxiliary inverted defensive pivot master. Arsene has thrown your advice away like a pile of Zimbabwean dollars and spat in your face. The Prick.

Time and time again Arsene has chosen to betray you. He ignored your advice about how Giroud was just too  handsome to play football effectively and look at him now. Crocked after only 18 injury free months. Disregarded was your comment about Mertesacker being too slow to function sufficiently in this league. Arsenal might have the best defensive record in the league but what about the previous years, uh? Scorned was your remark about Ramsey being “shit”. Might be the best midfielder in the league at present but couldn’t even score a hat-trick against his old club, could he? As for Flamini? You said his hard-working craft is merely a fool’s substitute for brains. A two-footed challenge on Danny Rose doesn’t change that.

You know better than Arsene of course. You have the benefit of Twitter, a multitude of blogs and your trusty Squawka app full of stats about passing accuracy and distance covered. Obviously you know who is better out of Arteta and Flamini. It is apparent to you where Cazorlas best position is. You know what it takes to make Mesut hot. And even more glaring is that you know what signings we should make. Your internet searches and YouTube compilations far outweigh the research the club do. After all they only check the player’s background, medical history, family medical history, attitude, professionalism, upbringing, performances, integration ability, current contract, contract bonuses and duration, signing on fees, agent fees and image rights amongst other things.

We have a month of articles titled “Who Arsenal Should Buy” and “Why Haven’t Arsenal Signed This Wonderkid” to put up with. There will be a few out there who try to maintain a sense of normality amongst the absurdity of the situation. Not many but a few. They are of course doomed to fail, with as much chance of success as me in a fight against the Klitschko twins after I’ve goosed their wives. It should of course be noted that there is a difference between voicing the opinion that a player would improve our team and voicing the opinion that we must sign such player. Messi would undeniably improve our team but I’m not suggesting we sell off Giroud’s organs so we could scrape together money to bid for him.

To survive this month I suggest smashing all internet enabled devices in your home. Don’t even bother finishing this article, do it now! You didn’t do it if reading this, ahh well I tried to help. Next burn any tabloid filth that enters your abode. Instantly punch any of your Gooner friends who start a sentence, “I heard Arsenal is in for…”  Avoid any TV channel that uses the phrase “Our Sources”. Since it’s still horrible outside buy the Breaking Bad box-sets to occupy your time. Buy any box-set really to fill the hours, except the 2^nd Season of Homeland because that’s a pile of piss. Watch True Grit and then send me a transcript of what Jeff Bridges says in that irritating cowboy accent. If that doesn’t work then a revolver and cyanide cake is the only way to go. Good luck and May the Gods have mercy on your souls.

I’ve been and remain Dyllan Munro who can be found at goonertastic.com and on Twitter @goonerdyllan although most of my time in there is spent inventively insulting Stooookes. Thank you for reading and thanks to George for allowing this mediocre effort on his site.

I could only watch about 15 minutes of the first half. I found a steam with french commentary. Besides the beautiful way in which they pronounce the names of our players, it is so enjoyable to watch a game where the commentator describes each move with an enthusiasm that rubs off on you. I admit that when I joined the match, I searched for Bendtner among our players. Wenger had instead gone with Podolski and Walcott alternating at the centre-forward role. He would have had his reasons.

Arsenal were camped in Cardiff’s half for the entirety of the match. The only change was that, at halftime we moved our tents to the other half of the pitch. Cardiff decided to do a Chelsea and parked their less expensive double-decker right in front of their goal. I don’t think our fans or players begrudge Cardiff for parking the bus. They defended well, crowded us out and more importantly didn’t kick the shit out of us. Also, you didn’t want to punch their caretaker manager.

This was a challenge. Even though the goal was scored in the end, Arsenal kept trying right from minute one to last. In the first half, Arsenal tried various tricks to get around Cardiff’s defense. A delicious long ball from Wilshere to Walcott almost did just that. Cazorla wriggled and wriggled around the penalty box trying to feed a player or find room to shoot. Towards the end of the half, the ball fell to Podolski but he was quickly herded out before he could improvise a shot or feed a free Cazorla. Arteta and Flamini guarded the defense against counter attacks. Cardiff’s outlets were closely patrolled by Arsenal’s defense and the ball was regularly won in the halfway line.

The second half saw Arsenal increase the tempo. Like those “defend your fort” games, the waves of Arsenal attacks increased in speed, intensity and frequency. Enter game changers Rosicky and Bendtner. Rosicky shifted Arsenal up a gear and to the horror of Cardiff’s defense started playing telepathic one-twos with Cazorla. Bendtner slotted in well into the centre-forward role. From two corners, in the space of a few minutes, Mertesacker had opportunities to put us in front. Painfully for the current Mr. Arsenal, the balls went wide. The second one might have been covered by the player at the post.

As the clock started creeping towards the end, Arsenal did not panic and kept a determined focus to win the game. At the 88th minute, the video of my stream froze, but the sound was still streaming. The unmistakable crescendo and peak of the french commentator’s voice drowned out by the eruption at Emirates meant that a goal had been scored. Replays showed that Monreal’s cross was hit like a bullet by Sagna, parried by the keeper and slotted into the roof of the net, intelligently by Bendtner. Bendtner was injured in the aftermath when the keeper fell and twisted on his ankle. As the Arsenal players (with the exception of Mertesacker, who was busy roaring like a bear) piled on Bendtner, it became clear that he was in some pain. It was the sad part of the evening. Lets hope he recovers quickly. We need him. It was nice to see the Arsenal fans applaud him off the pitch and him to acknowledge that.

Now, Cardiff decided to attack to try and get a goal back. Arsenal concentrated, won the ball back and made a few more attacks. In one such attack, deep in injury time, Master of pre-assists, Rosicky while being chased by a few players, fed Wilshere who in turn nonchalantly and almost arrogantly fed Walcott. We all know what happens when Walcott is through on goal.

A good win for Arsenal.

Today’s post was by our own Sensational Arsenal.

A guest post from our very own Hunter13

The last piece of the jigsaw ..?

We have a beautiful football club. The set up, the organisation and the ethos.  All wonderful.

We also have a very good team, nice lads generally speaking, willing and committed.

We started the season in very difficult circumstances. Crowd booing plus a highly important 180 minutes which was worth £30 million +.

However, this team had already shown significant progress since last Feb-Mar. The word in the summer was about strengthening with top-top quality. The positions were identified as striker and defensive midfielder. That’s exactly what Arsene went for – Luis, Higuain, Cabaye, Flamini.  He also knows what is needed, strangely enough ….

When our midfield flows we are devastating. Without a 30-goal hitman it’s natural to seek your goals from midfielders. But when they press us and the midfield don’t have the ‘flow’, that is where you either need a Suarez to clinically kill the opposition, or mean wingers with pace and dribbling ability who can go directly and diagonally inside the opponent’s box.  In the past we had Overmars, Ljunberg, Reyes and Pires to do just that.

We had a tough period with many key players out including Theo, Poldi, and Ox, (even Ryo was unavailable), so we played with three and four CAMs all interchanging behind the target-man, but usually without width and mostly playing through the middle or beating high-line offside traps (Napoli, Marseile) usually from Sagna’s side of the pitch.

And it’s worth saying that Sagna has been a monster of a right-back this season.

Besides losing so many key players for half a season, we also had dear Santi recovering from ankle injury and it took him a while to re-settle into the side with the pace and the physicality of the English game.

So we went on with heroic Ramsey and Giroud plus flashes of brilliance from Ozil and, throughout, ‘imPERious’ defensive stability.  And the system worked.

Lately though, and taking into account fatigue, the system couldn’t produce goals. Our midfield was pressured and kicked to death and we’d either not score or score from a player’s solo effort – against Chelsea, City, and our first against West Ham, for example.

There has also been a slight confusion in terms of which games we play Arteta and in which we play Flamini. In games were we need to dominate and kick a few backsides, as well as suffocate opponents, I think the services of Flamini Rosicky and Jack are required. In games were we need a more sophisticated, composed approach we need Arteta. Against Everton for instance, we needed Flamini and Rosicky from the start, but they had played against Napoli.  Same goes for the Chelsea home game.  Flamini should have been in there to kick Ramires and Obi.  Arteta is a very delicate technical artist, not ideal to be a bully or a Gatusso.  His talents are more suited for Europe provided he remembers that in Europe you have to be careful with your fouls, unlike the EPL.

I’m of the opinion that Wenger can see his team struggling to score when midfield isn’t firing and that he will go for a clinical finisher now that his wingers are back.  I love Giroud to bits and his goal at Newcastle was both important and very difficult  to score, but the way he plays (chasing every ball)  he will inevitably suffer fatigue and potentially a lack of confidence.

Manager and club need to assist Giroud in this department.  Giroud is a great target-man.  A lad who can get you 15 goals a season and when in form has good finishing ability, too.  And whether the ball is low or high (feet or head) his abilities are unquestionable but he is no Thierry Henry to take the ball, go past two and slide it past the keeper.  There will be games when our negated midfield will need such a striker.  Wenger might think that since he got 30 goals out of Adebayor anyone can play up top since we create so many scoring opportunities for our striker.  But to win the big ones you need something else – va-va-voom.

Philosophically, perhaps, he is aiming for this group to do it as it currently is.  But realistically, for that to happen we need things to go our way.  If the board view this season as an opportunity to stake a claim of dominance, then they must authorise Wenger to spend what he wants, on whoever he wants.

I believe!

2013-2014 is for ARSENAL

Still winning the battles …

That was painful.

Horrible.

Poor football.

Oh,and one of the best wins I have ever seen.

It was a war. Problem was that only one team had a license for violence.

As Gainsbourg69 said “I believe Tiote needs to slap a Lino in the face in order to get booked.”

Unbelievable, and I do mean UNBELIEVABLE.

Foul after foul after foul. Not just niggly break up play rotational fouls, oh no, nasty break you ankle fouls.

We started like a runaway train and finished like a broken down milk cart.

Some of the boys were so below par they would struggle to make the Spurs team.

Some others were so good they would have displaced an Invincible.

Top of the league at the half way point. Wowser !!!

A special mention in dispatches for Little Mozart . What a guy.

Imagine Arsene Wenger going five at the back for the last 15 minutes. A man with no tactical nous and fixed thinking. Bouldy must have come up with that ? (What he did it against Tottenham you say ? Oh ok )

Ar-sen-al the greatest team the world has ever seen ,And its Ar-sen-al ……….

I could not be happier.

Happy New Year you wonderful lot XXXXX

P.S.  Here is what ZimPaul thought,a little bonus report ,if you like.

“We won, we won, we won, won, won, with a delicately deft and some would say a sublimely cheeky whisper of a softly-softly change of direction header from His Humbleness, Olivier G. Goal-scoring drought? That was some goal, a goal worthy of a good match, only a little piece of genius would break the deadlock.

Excellent sustained Newcastle effort all night by the way, some fine and composed players in their ranks, they are quite superior to Man United. Well done to them for making such a good match. One might say even-stevens, although I felt we were slightly ahead, a touch more dangerous through the middle, a tad less threatened by their bombardments and forays into our box. Jack lacks usual sharpness, but I think the issue is a little deeper, he’s in a transition period as a young player, finding his-self.

Lovely team stuff from our lads, no stand out player, except perhaps Tomas, but team passing and pressing was sharp, incisive and kept a confident Newcastle (7 wins in 9)on their toes. We played slightly within ourselves, and Newcastle defended very well.”