Today’s article is by Dyllan Munro 

Must try harder – the man who, in his first season, has created a league-leading number of chances for his new team …

You may think the heading refers to increasing tensions in the Middle East caused by an unstable Syria, uncompromising Israel and levels of sectarian violence not saw since the last Old Firm game.  Perhaps you suspect it refers to America’s inability to stop school shootings or Britain’s apparent acceptance that class structure is forever ingrained and inescapable. You may suspect I’m talking about the rise of One Direction or the fact that Splash! somehow got re-commissioned for a second series.  The matter to which I am actually referring is the stupidity of some Arsenal fans.

Not the section I’ve previously railed about in my own blog that is dismissive of foreign fans and believe you’re only a true Gooner if you’ve battered a policeman outside Highbury.  The section concerned is those who seem to be terribly dismissive of our own players. The same people who chanted to “spen’ saam faacking munee” are now questioning the influence of Özil, of Mesut F**king Özil fame.

It’s this blatant abuse of the freedom of expression that makes me think that perhaps it wouldn’t have been that bad for the Germans to have won the war after all.  They had their faults, the Germans, but they never accused Özil of being rubbish.  In all honesty I initially assumed that the people criticising our talismanic German weren’t fans watching the games, but rather individuals craving attention that had decided they’d grown tired of issuing death threats to Bieber haters.  I then witnessed people that I knew to have full control of their cognitive processes voicing, albeit quietly, the belief that perhaps Özil wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.

This drew my attention because either:

a) People I knew had been killed off by a shady organisation and replaced by idiots

or

b) There may be some basis for the opinion that our £42.5m signing (the biggest in our history, 2^nd biggest in Premier League history and the record ever paid for a German) was a flop. 

I acknowledge that while watching games it can be very hard to focus entirely on one player so I cast aside my impressions of Özil based on watching him and had a quick perusal of the ol’ stat book.  After examining these details and combining it with having watched all Arsenal’s games I came to the conclusion that all those people were tragically afflicted with ignorant fucknugget disease.  In all seriousness it’s got to the stage that it’s probably just best for humanity to start over.

 If we ignore the fact that it is Özil’s first season with us – and to be honest there’s no reason why we should – then he has still done fantastically well.  In our 22 league games so far Mesut has featured in 17 of them, missing 3 at the start before he was signed and 2 in the Christmas period due to a “shoulder injury”.  He has created 51 chances for our team, which equates to 20.4% of our overall chances.

That is the highest total for any player in the league, if you’re interested.

He has also scored 4 goals which is surprising given his preference to pass even when on the opposition goal line. While some may criticise this total David Silva, Samir Nasri, Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard all have the same amount. He also has a shot accuracy of 83% as well as a passing accuracy of 88%. Mesut also boasts 7 assists, second only to Rooney in the charts.

If we compare him to Rooney, Nasri & Oscar who have all played well for their respective clubs this campaign we find a similar narrative. Özil shot accuracy 83%, Rooney 54%, Oscar 48% whilst Nasri has 59%. Özil pass accuracy 88%, Rooney 80%, Oscar 82% whilst Nasri has 90% with 82 fewer attempted passes than Özil.  Our Germanic talent also has the most key passes out of the quartet.  Whilst not particularly relevant, Mesut has yet to be booked in the league, demonstrating our team’s discipline whilst the others have 3 with the exception of Rooney who has somehow managed to accumulate 7.  God knows how, then again some of those referees have grandmothers…

I prefer not to use stats as a sole argument as they can be misleading and they definitely don’t tell the whole story.  I have been assuming though that you watch the Gunners play and can therefore draw on your experience of watching Özil play.  His movement both on and off the ball frees up space for our other players in a way that almost no one else manages.  He is one of the most talented players at finding space between defence and midfield, and as Thierry Henry said:

“It always seems like he has time on the ball.”

He is equally adept at drawing defenders away to open space for team-mates.  Mesut is well aware that if he makes a run, no defender or defence-minded midfielder is going to leave him open if they can prevent it and he uses this to benefit the team.

The real problem is the mind-set in England.  I’m not referring to the pessimism of Arsenal fans where a negative must be found to even the most positive of situations, or the heckling of a player new to the league, country, culture, cuisine, team-mates, manager, atmosphere and system of play.  I’m talking about the image of a blood and thunder style footballer ingrained into your national psyche.  An England fan will forever hold dear the hard men of old, the Butchers and fellow walking wounded.  Jack Wilshere even referenced it a few weeks ago when talking about national teams saying that:

”Spain are technical but you think of England and you think they are brave and tackle hard.”

It’s why a player like Kompany has built up such a strong reputation because all his actions are powerful and full of energy.  His ferocious displays full of bravado and fortitude help to mask what have been increasingly glaring deficiencies in his game.  It’s also why it has taken so long for a player like Mertesacker to garner the praise he deserves.  He won’t make these lunging last ditch tackles as he has already positioned himself in such a manner that those extremes aren’t necessary.  His determined positioning and reading of the play couldn’t be further from a John Terry-style lunge or goal line clearance which the fans so love to see.

Mesut finds himself in that category.  His glidetacular style and apparently relaxed play is foreign to those who love to see Rooney barge his way past defenders or to see Wilshere drop a shoulder and go past three.  Özil isn’t the sort of player to dribble past the team and smash it into the net nor will he ever be.  He was bought to augment our style, apply the finishing touches to our Emirates masterpiece.  Instead of dribbling past them Özil dissects the defence with a pass or lures defenders with a shoulder feint. We bought arguably the most clinical passer in the game, with the most assists in Europe over the last 5 years.  I’m sure that Arsene knew what he was buying and what to expect.  If it didn’t match some fans expectations that is their own faults for having poorly constructed pre-conceptions of what Özil would be.

Özil still has some adapting to do in the league, that’s an indisputable fact.  The pace of the play and ferocity of some of the smaller teams isn’t matched in the previous leagues he has played in.  There is also more of a burden on him here as he is the undoubted star player whereas before there were plenty of other candidates to that title.  However Özil will only improve with familiarity especially as other players return from injury.  The rest of the league is in trouble when he fully blossoms.

I’ve been Dyllan Munro, thanks for reading and be sure to comment.  You can get me on Twitter @GoonerDyllan if you fancy a chat.  Thanks everyone.

Today a guest post by  Alastair Brookshaw  @albrookshaw

A recent (somewhat transparent) PR drive by the Glazers has seen talk of a £100, or even £200, million war chest being made available for floundering David Moyes. But if that’s true, it will signal a marked change in United’s transfer policy over the past 5 years.  Manchester United are one of the English Premier League’s big spenders.  They have one of the highest wage bills in the league and have one of the most expensively assembled squads in the country. But despite all this, their transfer dealings in the last few years have had far less in common with the mega-rich, oil-funded clubs than they have with the work of the most famous penny pincher of all … Arsène Wenger.

Where’s The Money?

When United splurged £30 odd million on Dimitar Berbatov in 2008 it was simply a show of the sort of financial muscle we had come to expect from them. An already talented squad was being topped up with a world class, top-price signing.  It was the sort of purchase that had kept United at the top for season after season.  But nearly 6 years have gone by and United haven’t made a signing like it since.

A look at their dealings in 2009 sums up a general theme that has held true ever since: we see a mixture of ‘youth with potential’ and slightly underwhelming ‘mid-range’ purchases.  So in came Pogba, Mame Biram Diouf, Obertan, Michael Owen (on a free) and Valencia.  2010 read even more like a ‘Wenger window’: Smalling, Lindegaard, Bebe and Hernandez.  A year later: Phil Jones, De Gea, and Ashley Young, and so it goes on.

This is the team that spent £30 million on Rio Ferdinand in 2002.  Think for a second what an equivalent purchase in 2014 terms looks like. It’s certainly not Chris Smalling for £10 million! Robin Van Persie may have been a marquee signing in many ways, but in terms of cost even he was still very much off the M&S shelf rather than Harrods.  Would they have got him for £50m with 4 years left on his contract? The evidence of the past 5 windows suggests not.

‘Doing A Wenger’… Not So Easy Apparently

This period has also been one in which Fergie’s reputation truly soared above Wenger’s.  While Arsenal scrambled for 4^th place and famously failed to land trophies, United somehow remained at the very top, despite the extravagant spending of the oil-enhanced teams, and even as their squad appeared weaker and weaker.  There can be no doubt that Fergie’s final trophies were an extraordinary testament to his will to win and his ability to wring every last drop of talent from the players at his disposal.  I have been predicting their downfall for at least 2 or 3 seasons and each time have been left astounded at his ability to challenge for title with the squads at his disposal.

However, if last season is a testament to Fergie’s greatest strengths, then this season is surely highlighting some of his failings.  In particular, it offers the clearest evidence yet that even he might have struggled with the task that Wenger was set just under a decade ago.  If this was Fergie building a squad ‘on a budget’, it is another reminder of how impressive the job is that Wenger has done in since the stadium move.  After all, Wenger didn’t have the luxury of relying on the greats he had assembled during the good times.  Part of his task was to sell off the Invincibles – and later stars – at the best price he could get for the club.

By contrast, last season the league was won primarily by the United squad that Fergie had assembled at huge expense over the years preceding 2008.  With the notable exception of Van Persie (and I suppose if we’re being generous De Gea) there is not a single ‘post-Berbatov’ signing who can be said to have been truly instrumental.  Fergie may have had to sell Ronaldo and offload Tevez, but a comparable situation to Wenger’s would have probably seen them without Giggs, Scholes, Vidic, Ferdinand and Rooney last season.

So Where Have United Gone Wrong?

I’m being fairly kind to Fergie by likening his budgetary constraints to Wenger’s.  United may have tightened their belt in relative terms over the last few years, but they are still one of the richest clubs in the world.  And some of those average players still cost a considerable amount of money.  Jones, De Gea and Ashley Young may not have been star signings, but they still amounted to over £50 million spent.

Whilst Wenger certainly made some missteps with his cheaper signings, in the ‘mid-range’ bracket he has blown Fergie out of the water.  Since 2009 United have spent approximately £120m on: Kagawa, Zaha, Jones, De Gea, Young, Smalling, Hernandez, Bebe, Valencia (9 players).  Compare that to (over the same period) £90m on: Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla, Monreal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arteta, Gervinho, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen (10 players).  There is of course the anomaly of Van Persie being available for £22m, but otherwise, player for player the gap in quality is pretty astronomical, as is the gulf in cost. And that, of course, is the period in which Wenger was slowly allowed to loosen the purse-strings. Imagine Fergie having to live by the budget Wenger did in the 5 years from around 2005.  If his period of ‘austerity’ since 2009 is anything to go by, it might not have been at all pretty!

So What Does It All Mean?

If you’re a Manchester United fan none of this makes comfortable reading.  Arguably it hints that Moyes won’t have anything like the war chest that is being reported in the papers – surely a factor in their failure to land any of their main targets in the summer. (Perhaps it also explains why Moyes was the first choice for the job in the first place? He is, after all, a man with a reputation for keeping teams competitive on a tight budget.)  And should they fail to reach the Champions League next season those budgetary constraints will only get worse (particularly as one can only assume it will have a knock-on effect on their celebrated commercial revenue).  Sure, there will always be money available – the money they wasted on Fellaini in the summer proves that – but, unless their spending policy for the past few years has been some sort of clever ruse, I don’t think Moyes will be able to spend his way out of trouble as easily as some would have you believe.

As an Arsenal fan it is yet another reason to re-evaluate the last 8 or 9 years of ‘failure’.  Fergie is rightly considered to be one of the greatest managers of the modern era and yet even he has struggled to build and improve a squad under financial pressure that is minimal, compared to the constraints Wenger was under, in the early Emirates years.  Unlike Wenger he was under no pressure to sell his ‘big guns’ so still had enough quality in his squad to keep winning trophies, but the overall impact is now being felt.  Many of those players – Vidic, Ferdinand, Scholes, Giggs, Evra, Van Der Saar – are either recently retired or on the wane and suddenly this season we are presented with a vision of what United’s squad might have looked like if they had had to tighten their belts to the extent that Arsenal did.

It also offers a vindication of Wenger’s care in the transfer market, especially at higher prices.  If one cry has been most common amongst a certain section of fans it has been:

“We understand we can’t afford Messi. That’s not what we are asking for. Just buy top quality players in the £15m-£30 mark.”

I’ve written elsewhere that, unless you’re careful, some of the worst value in football is in this category, and United’s transfer list post 2009 shows how easy it is to waste your money.  The usual suspects are still moaning that not all of our transfer kitty was spent in the summer, but it would only take two or three ‘Fellaini-style’ missteps for that money to disappear down the drain very quickly.  There is, of course, an irony that the same people moaning about it are the ones who have been most critical of our ‘deadwood’ in years past.  As another transfer window progresses, perhaps it’s time for some of those critics to start considering just how many times Arsène has got it right and they’ve got it wrong!

A Classic Mistake (Bayern Munich 0 – 2 Arsenal, 13th March 2013).

I am told all the time “In the last 8 years Arsene has made mistakes”

Normally I reply with one of my two stock answers:

A) “No shit Sherlock”

or

B) “Perhaps, but not as many as someone else would have,and not as big as people might think”

It’s a little like basic maths.

If you ask  the question:  “What does  2+2 =  “,  you can confidently answer “4“.

However  the question in Arsenal’s case should be:  What does 2x+2y=  ?

Then unless you know the values of x and y, you can’t give an answer at all.  If you still say 4, well that makes you either something of an idiot or a fortune teller.

People ask questions and reply to them with the answer they believe is correct.  But as they don’t know x and y, how can that answer be taken to be correct.

The problem now is that some of the answers given to questions, answers that were taken by many to be correct, are being shown to be incorrect.

Will Arsene ever buy superstar players?   Old answer “NO”, new answer “YES”

Can Wenger make us competitive again? Old answer “NO”, new answer “YES”

Does Wenger do defence?  Old answer “NO”, new answer “YES”

Can Wenger change tactics mid game?  Old answer “NO”, new answer “YES”

Are these players Arsenal class?  Old answer “NO” new answer “YES”

So if you want to ask questions like: “Was it right to stick with Almunia ?”  and your answer is other than: “I don’t know, because I don’t know the facts or circumstances at the time”, then its the wrong answer.

“Could we have spent more money and sooner?”  The answer should be: “Perhaps, but I don’t know what the long term plan was”

In short then, if the answers to questions you asked have changed, it’s because you were wrong before.  So don’t assume that other answers you still believe to be correct will remain that way.

The fact is that no one has enough information about long term plans and finances to make the assumption that either Arsene or the board are wrong.

Seriously, ask yourself this every time you question Arsene, the board, tactics, formations, player purchases or abilities.

“WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF ME BEING RIGHT AND THEM BEING WRONG ?”

I could answer it for you, but that would be rude.

Up the Arse.

So, we just need to beat Villa to go back to the top of the league .

On the face of it that should not be too difficult. However, as the referees seem to be doing everything possible to help City and Chelsea, I must admit to a certain amount of trepidation.

I might be getting my excuses in first, but the refereeing recently has been woeful.  We have not benefited from it very much at all, in fact, we have suffered quite extensively. Recent awful officiating sort of makes me understand why the bookies have City, then Chelsea as favorites.

Villa are poor at home,  we are very good on the road, so we should win, but the fear remains that we could be somehow thwarted.

As ever, I wont be predicting the team, or telling Arsene how to set up, but feel free to do so in the comments section.

I hope we win, and win with a flourish. Games like this we simply must not drop points if we are to maintain the challenge.

The pressure is on and we have to triumph . The way things are going it could be like this until the last game of the season.

Up the Arse!

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 !