A hard-fought 3 points or what?

I saw people complaining that it was a poor performance. Really? Was it?

I don’t know what people were expecting, but the pitch was painfully slow and uneven. That’s not the sort of pitch that allows a quick passing game to be played.

Palace gave everything, running themselves to a standstill, almost.

I can’t understand why it’s a crime to credit the opposition for their effort and endeavour, rather than blaming our own players .

The deadlock was broken just after half-time when a bit of skill by Gnabry brought about a spot-kick. Of course, everyone blamed the defender and ignored the skill of the attacker.

Mikel lashed in the penalty and it looked like it would be a comfortable second half as we began to make more openings.

Not to be though. A hopeful punt up the field arrived at Chamakh’s feet. Mikel challenged for it  and, as far as I could see, Marouane veered across Mikel’s path causing a tangle of legs. Never a red card in a month of Sundays.

So, down to ten men, the tactically inept Arséne Wenger made some changes. On came Jack for the substitute Gnarby.

Jack took up the position at which he played his full debut season. This was worrying for me because he had a dreadful night on Tuesday and could not find a teammate with the simplest of passes.

Naturally, Jack proved me an idiot as he was superb .

Its was a great defensive performance by everyone concerned. Not least by our young goalkeeper, who pulled off two magnificent saves within seconds of each other. He is going from strength to strength.

We wrapped it up close to full time with a beautiful link up between Aaron and our other goal and assist machine; Giroud.

Some other points of note were; Santi was average, Sagna was magnificent and Monreal is the unluckiest player in the league that he does not get starts.

I had hoped Ian Holloway would hang on at least until I’d written my Crystal Palace preview. He is the only real connection I had with today’s lunchtime opponents. I used to watch Ian from the cold stone steps of Twerton Park as he plied his trade for a then homeless Bristol Rovers during their most successful period in yonks. His playing style was akin  to Matthieu Flamini but with goals. In Bristolian the word goal is pronounced to rhyme with ball (sounding more like gall) hence our terrace chant of  “Holloway, Holloway, Holly Holloway, He gets the ball – he scores a goal, Holly Holloway.”  He was one of those combative, no frills, all action midfielders who inspire team mates and supporters alike and even though he comes across these days as more than a little bit deranged he still holds a special place in my heart.

But of course he’s gone now and so I can’t really include him here. The only other image that immediately springs to mind when I consider our hosts is the Crystal Palace kit from the late seventies that looked like a cigarette packet. You remember – the white one with the diagonal flash like a pack of Embassy Blue Regal. These days they dress better but remain one of those sides who flirt with the big time and then slip away from view for a few more years. I must say their early results this time around don’t suggest that will change any time soon. In fact if it wasn’t for the truly woeful form of Sunderland (the only side Palace have beaten thus far) then the Eagles would be anchoring the bottom of the table, already adrift and with the outlook bleak.

We have had few notable dealings with them in the transfer market over the years. In fact all that I can recall is a couple of centre forwards one from them to us and one from us to them. Whether Marouane Chamakh will go on to enjoy a similar level of success with Palace as Ian Wright did with Arsenal remains to be seen, stranger things have happened I suppose, but the portents are not encouraging. Big Nic Bendtner was rumoured to be heading their way for a while and may be sat in the dugout this afternoon wondering at how curious life can turn out sometimes, let’s face it, if the Pulis rumours are true then our Danish sumo star must surely consider himself the single luckiest man in  football today.

According to a bloke at work the game today represents a massive potential banana skin for Arsenal. Bill gets his views straight from the back pages and Sky Sports News. You can readily imagine how stilted our conversations are whenever sport is on the agenda. I employ him as a pundit barometer. I don’t need to read the gutter press nor watch gutter television to know which way their hot air is blowing, I just listen to Bill. He even likes the odd wager so certain is he of his sources and the veracity of their editorial line. In the last couple of seasons he has gleefully shaken hands with me on, among other things, Arsène’s demise. Out by Christmas was a recent prediction and that was a fiver I happily removed from his wallet. This time around however something is stirring. Arsenal are looking good this year. Arsenal have splashed the cash and have been transformed into title contenders. Arsenal, get this, have a great looking squad. Seriously. From the same people who told us all summer long how thin and weak our squad is, we now learn that the same squad bar an awful lot of departures and only one notable addition is significantly stronger. But, Bill warned me, title contenders and top teams can often come unstuck at places like Selhurst Park. Just when everyone expects you to win, you turn in a lousy performance or hit the woodwork and have goals disallowed and nailed on penalty appeals turned down.

OK so we all know these things do happen but if we have serious aspirations to the title this season we simply cannot allow such aberrations. I don’t believe in banana skins nor in bad luck costing you over the long haul. Yes maybe in knock-out competitions. Let’s face it if Chelsea can win the Champions League then it proves that anyone can win any cup tournament with phenomenal good fortune and a string of silly unlikely results. Not the Premiership though. Consistency, a settled, balanced squad with good injury cover in the reserves and one or maybe two players having the season of their lives. That’s what wins titles. I think our problem so far with that list is that we have only one player in absolutely dazzling all out amazing form and the fact that he is so very very young places a hell of a burden on his shoulders. It’s no coincidence that when Aaron is relatively quiet we don’t look so threatening. The problem as I see it is that he is still learning the game and at his age will suffer dips in form and won’t be able to achieve his best week in week out. When Bergkamp or Henry did it for us in the past they had been at the very top of the tree for long enough to deal with the demands of a long season. I think we need one of the senior players to stay injury free and get his performances up to the levels achieved by the man who is so far our player of the season.

I don’t care who the player is. Olivier Giroud has shown he can provide as well as score and if he does both or either every week he could well be the man. Santi has all the attributes, Mesut is still finding his feet in the hurly burly of the Prem so it might be too big an ask this early in his Arsenal career. As I say it could be anyone but it has to be someone. Football is a team game but successful teams have stand out players. It’s similar to cricket in this respect. In cricket no match is ever won by everybody getting forty five runs. Someone steps up and hits a ton. Aaron shows he has the skill, the lungs and right now the confidence to be that man, but when you factor in the time he has lost to that unspeakable assault at the hands of a Pulis protégé we are talking about a guy with equivalent experience of a twenty year old. It’s a hell of an ask for him to boss the midfields of every top side we face between now and May. I’ve said it before, if only Tomas was five years younger; the cruelty of the injuries suffered by Arsène’s squads over recent seasons cannot be underestimated.

So to the match. It’s an early kick off, so don’t get caught out by that. If you have the free BT channel my advice is using live pause to synchronise the timing, have the commentary on Arsenal Player and the pictures on your telly. Don’t whatever you do subject yourself to Michael Owen’s soporific insights, they will drain every ounce of pleasure you might otherwise derive from the spectacle. Of course if you’re lucky enough to be at the match you don’t need to concern yourself with such niceties, you can just sing your heart out and be the twelfth man that the away support so often is. Arsène was cagey about Jack after his ankle problems in midweek so I’m guessing he might be rested, but hey – what do any of us know? Plenty thought Aaron should be rested when he was at a similar stage in his rehabilitation as that through which Jack is currently playing. Form unpredictable, only flashes of what he is truly capable, often played out of position lacking a little composure and consistency – the parallels are obvious. Far from resting him Arsène played Aaron at every opportunity and if he feels the same will work with Jack then who are we to second guess him? With that in mind I expect the side to be similar to the Dortmund game with Santi in for Jack being the only change, after all they will want to redeem themselves and they’ll get a rest for the league cup game when the reserves will have a run out. So, given the unlikelihood of these predictions ever being correct, expect wholesale changes from Tuesday’s line up.

OK, it’s an early one so I’m off to walk the dogs and get myself in the mood. See you here later.

So. That’s how it feels to lose a football match. I was in danger of forgetting so I suppose I should be grateful that the wide kaleidoscope of human emotions has been restored to me. Or at least one dark painful part of the spectrum. We oughtn’t to be surprised and I certainly shan’t dwell, enough breasts have been beaten since Tuesday. The simple equation which we learned as children that all which rises must just as surely descend is all the lesson we need draw. Instead I find myself in reflective mood. I suppose counting one’s blessings in moments of adversity might sum up the thought process.

Those of us who have travelled the rocky road of addiction and abuse are all too familiar with the downside of our habituation. It is a familiar tale and one with which the unaffiliated should also be tolerably well acquainted. The inevitable decline, the adverse impact upon the close friends and family of the addict, the erosion of all the better human traits such as fidelity, honesty, reliability and trustworthiness are a story well told. What people reflect less on is of course the positive side, the joys of the life. The ability to shrug off a despairing guilt ridden midweek hangover with the promise of a big session on the coming weekend, being an obvious example. The way a mundane nine to five every day existence can be infused with anticipation. I refer to the simple anticipation of going home and getting trollied at the end of it. Don’t knock it  – it’s all that sustains some people. But no, we prefer to focus on the downside.

It is certainly true that while my every waking thought was not taken up with drinking, that would make any kind of functioning existence impossible, just about any undertaking requiring my participation was envisaged through the prism of the alcoholic. ‘Yes I’d like to go but will there be a bar? If not will it be acceptable to bring drink with me. If so would wine be suitable? It’s three for a tenner in Sainsbury’s right now, but would three suffice for the duration of the event? Or would the trousering of a few discreet hip flasks be more the thing? Will I need to drive? If so can I stay overnight or is there anyone available to drive me back?’ And on and on. And this applied as much to an evening at a friend’s house as to a child’s school sports day. The thing becomes all consuming.

We might also consider the company I chose to keep. This is, I’ve since discovered, a universal trait. The trick is that in order to maintain the delusion of normality in an obsessive one track lifestyle utterly twisted and distorted so that every decision is in some way informed by your addiction, you need to similarly distort the surroundings in which you live out your crazy existence. How do you do this? You envelop yourself with like minded people. Simple when you think about it. If everyone around you reinforces and reflects your behaviour then within that little bubble you can feel normal. An unspoken siege mentality would naturally form within your closed community. Deep suspicion of anyone who wasn’t as serious about their drinking as you and your buddies would be underpinned by a plethora of dubious quotations viz; never trust anyone who doesn’t drink, I drink to make other people more interesting, I am drunk today madam, and tomorrow I shall be sober but you will still be ugly, I cook with wine – sometimes I even add it to the food, Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, I feel bad for people who don’t drink; when they wake up in the morning that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day, and on and on. The purpose of this is to at once belittle and demonize those who do not behave as you choose to and strengthen the camaraderie between those who do. At all times you must cast your scorn outwards and thereby avoid ever looking at yourself and seeing what others must see.

Of course I am one of the lucky ones. Like the Mafia it isn’t an easy life to leave but I got out and at the moment I’m still out. I am now entirely free of the kind of errant behaviour I used to think of as usual or at least conventional. There is no part of my life now that in any way resembles that which I have above described.  Of course not. Why would I go through the trauma of quitting smoking, illegal and prescription drug abuse and ending the obsessive metabolising of ethanol just to replace it with similar behaviour, albeit a stimulant free one?

On a totally unrelated topic a friend took me up on the offer of a favour recently. Just yesterday in fact. I’ve been waiting for him to say when would be best for him and his family for me to come round and help them out. He has suggested a Saturday. Straight away I started to race through the possibilities of going around and getting the job done by two thirty pm so I could be back by three. Or if I needed to be home by twelve thirty then maybe I could persuade him mid afternoon would be the best time. Of course it might be I need to be home by five thirty or should I just say any Saturday is out unless we convene later in the evening. Or not. Because of course I might be completely free that Saturday. It could be Sunday where I can’t do a simple favour for a friend without it seeming paralysingly difficult or his entire family having to fit in with an arbitrary schedule to suit me and over which I have no control.

I’m also planning a week away, just my wife and myself. Saturday to Saturday is the plan she fancies. We’ll have next to no internet connection, no pubs nearby and no television. Which is part of the appeal. A lovely distraction free restful break. Unless I can persuade her that Monday to Friday would be better.  And I might need to pop home on the Wednesday or Tuesday night. But then I’ll just say I want to check on the kids. Or the house. Or something.

At least I can go on twitter or a blog and chat to people who would understand my dilemma. You see, just about all of the people I talk to these days understand the nightmare of fitting everyday life around the simple and understandable and above all commonplace hobby of fanatically supporting your football team. There are some who think we’re a bit odd, take things a bit too far but we just make up funny sounding names for such apostates and all agree that they are the weirdos and not us. I never trust anyone who doesn’t like football. Or who does but doesn’t like Arsenal. Or who likes Arsenal but not as much or in the same way as me and my friends do.

I’m so glad I got clean. Living a normal life is so much less stressful.

Thanks for letting me share. Who’s next?

Sadly we have learned that Adam (aged 38) lost his life in a tragic car accident.

Adam was an occasional poster on this site but a big contributor on Untold Arsenal.

A couple of months ago he Emailed me some articles that has been published by Untold ,asking if we would like to use them.I can think of no better tribute to him than letting you read one of these articles.

Here is what he said.It gives an of what a humble and gracious man Adam was.

“Hi, thanks for taking the time to view these. If any are to your sites taste then please use them or the information in them. It would be interesting for me to get the opinion of your regulars. Lost in Bureaucracy was my last piece and basically combines a lot of the other articles into one with the less information but highlights the transfer system for what it is, a complete bloody mess. When these were written they opened the eyes of many a reader, as to what goes on behind football, although I think your readers seem fully aware, they may be amused even educated, or I may learn something from them.”

Anyway,here is one of them.

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Scout7

Written by Adam Brogden

Scout 7 is a company founded in 2001, set to gather information on football players worldwide, with the sole purpose of becoming an online scouting network, following a player’s progress. This closed network allows its clients to monitor players and even helps identify transfer targets.

The company claims to have a vast array of clients from the Premiership to top tier clubs on the continent. Based in Birmingham, England this company works with Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham, Stoke, Aston Villa, West Ham, West Brom, Wigan, Bolton Wanderers, Everton, Southampton amongst many others.

Proscout7 has a core centre of data on 130,00 players across 130 countries, each player has their own record incorporating extensive information including key statistical analyses, contract expiry date, agent details, third party ownership on to information regarding the players history of injuries and ability to settle into a new environment.

The individual clubs can add to this information via their own scouting network adding the reports which can then be accessed by select employees of the club anywhere in the world. This is a monitoring system that will help clubs identify young talent before they become headline news and their value increases.

Also available on this system is video footage of the players and again a club can add to this player record via its own area of the data base. This also includes team sheets data and match data.

They also offer live feed footage of games being broadcast or filmed anywhere in the world all a client has to do is log in and watch. The company acquired ownership of Xeatre.tv in 2009 and offers this unique package which has raised the company above all other scouting networks or data gathering bodies involved in the football industry.

Dr David Hardman MBE, CEO of Birmingham Science Park said: “Scout7 has been based at the Science Park since 2005 and have expanded three times within the iBIC building. It has been highly rewarding to see the impressive growth of the company, with a formidable client list that includes UEFA Champion’s League winner Chelsea, FA Premier League trophy holder Manchester City, and 1. Bundesliga winner Borussia Dortmund.

Mark Ansell, Chairman of Scout7 and former chairman of Aston Villa said: “Over the past three years, Xeatre.tv has evolved into the preferred video-based scouting solution for elite professional football clubs. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, this strategic acquisition enables us to further develop a joint product offering to maintain our position as the leading supplier of scouting and recruitment intelligence to the professional football industry. We can now embark on a highly exciting new era of further growth and expansion.”
Lee Jamison, Founder and Managing Director of Scout7 said: “The extended range of data we can now provide our client base with, on demand, at the touch of a button, is exactly what is required by elite football clubs striving to find the cutting edge to enhance performance.
“In the 11 years we have served the football industry, we have seen significant changes in the way clubs structure their recruitment. Investment in online market intelligence is second nature. Today, over 2,500 professional football staff across the globe subscribe to Scout7 and Xeatre.tv products. This acquisition ensures that all subscriber content can be made available from one single source, covering video analysis, scouting reports, analytical research and general market intelligence.”

The company claims to have 90% of premiership clubs as its clients, so the question I cannot find the answer to is who the two clubs are that do not subscribe to this system?

I have found that Arsene Wenger has spoken at seminars held by the company along with prestigious names from other sports such as Billy Beane. Plus I believe this form of data collection seems to suit Arsene Wenger’s approach to football along with Billy Beane’s adopted approach to baseball.

Is Arsenal one of the two, and if they are it may go some way to answering why we miss out on some targets. But this is an assumption. All in all this seems to me like we have now truly entered the realm of computer football management. So when we claim that some people would like to buy and sell as easily as they do within these computer games, the truth it seems, isn’t far from it.

The company’s latest venture is the expansion into South American football, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on their progress in to this football minefield and the effects it may have on scouting networks and agencies already at work in this region.

Do not let the highlights fool you – this was no easy game.

Arsenal’s bright start led to Santi Cazorla having a left-foot shot saved by Ruddy. This would set the tone for Ruddy’s day. Despite conceding four goals, the Norwich keeper can throw his hat into the ring for man-of-the-match. He pulled off some excellent saves but when the Arsenal found their way through with some pinball wizardry, he had ruddy no chance.

The goal was sublime. Santi carried the ball in from the left (as he does) and then it happened. Santi – Wilshere – Giroud – Wilshere – Giroud – Wilshere – stroke it home – the world applauds. If you’ve seen it fewer that thirty times, you’re neglecting you position as an Arsenal fan.

Having fallen victim to such a pillaging, a lesser side would have rolled over, but Norwich didn’t want to play that role. A spirited fight-back saw the underdogs apply their own pressure and forced a save or two from the in-form Szczesny. Arsenal withstood and it was 1-0 to the Arsenal at the break.

Chris Hughton’s men came out in the second half in fighting form. They were “going for it”. The problem with “going for it” against a team with such a proclivity for counter-attacking is that if you don’t score, you’re screwed. And screwed they were. When Santi strode into the opponent’s half, it was only Olivier Giroud in front of him. Giroud pulled wide and it looked like the move may have been in trouble. Meanwhile, from the left came the run of a young man who wasn’t going to be left out of another fine Arsenal move. Cazorla rolled it wide, Giroud played a delectable chip straight on to Mesut’s head and the German nodded home to make the game secure. Or so we thought.

Norwich got the goal they no longer deserved. Arsenal had seen off the uprising but, because things are never as easy as they could/should be, Norwich got one back. A shocking attempted clearance from Per spun off his foot and across the Arsenal box. Jonathan Howson took a touch which would have allowed Kieron Gibbs to close down any shot attempts had the mood taken him. Instead, Gibbs tried to cover the angles, leaving only the front post at which to aim. Howson let fly with an excellent strike and the Canaries were back in the game.

Ramsey, who had replaced a dizzy Flamini in the first half, was playing well. He’d had a couple of efforts on goal and looked like he desperately wanted to get on the scoresheet. From the edge of the box, he faked a shot, leaving two Norwich defenders on their arses. Having enjoyed that so much, he did it again on his left side. Another planted posterior. At this point, another dummy would have been cruel. Ramsey spared the blushed of Norwich and finished coolly past Ruddy. If Ramsey wanted to, he could have put their whole team on their arses but our Aaron is decent and merciful young man. 3-1.

From the left side of the box, Tomas Rosicky chipped a ball to the merciful one. Ramsey knew exactly where Ozil was and he knew what the outcome was going to be if he could just touch it to him first time. Ozil had the whole goals to aim for and, just to rub salt in Delia’s wound, he placed the ball through the legs of the defender on the line. 4-1.

Sagna said afterwards that this was not a 4-1 type of game. Norwich showed a lot of belief and ability to cast doubts over our sensational run continuing. Class prevailed and the three points went to the magnificent Gunners.

I’ve really just covered the goals, the real talking points are where you come to the fore. Please feel free to comment and tell me what I should have written. That is what makes this site the finest forum out there.

Thanks for reading,

Up the Arsenal.

I don’t want to rehash or go over old ground. I told you what I thought of the recent internationals and you told me what you thought of me telling you what I thought. Back in April I told you about all of my Norwich related memories and associations and right now I wish I’d saved a couple so I’d have something personal or interesting to say.

Here’s what I’ve got. I’ve been pronouncing the ‘w’ in Norwich like Arsene does just to get in the mood for today’s match. Try it. It sounds like this – nor witch. See? Fun Isn’t it? Otherwise I tried to read up on a couple of Norwich blogs but there don’t seem to be any. So. Here we are then. Saturday has arrived, the boss is confident that three of our injured players will be back which means a first choice back five and then perm any six from twelve for the more offensive part of the team. The real question on everyone’s lips is will we get to see Santi and Mesut together at last? Arsène always plays a good game of poker at the press conference so if he seems to be dropping a hint you can bet your life it’s on purpose. To my mind when he said Santi is fit but lacks match practise it was a strong suggestion that he’ll not play the whole game. Now whether that means he starts and comes off at sixty nine minutes and fifty seconds or whether he plays for the last twenty minutes plus injury time, we shall have to wait and see. On the Arsenal Player video of the guys doing their one touch training Santi clearly miscontrolled the ball once and played with a fairly poor touch on another occasion and as such you’d expect a severe disciplinarian like Arsène to stick him straight on the bench. There was a lot too much laughter for my liking as well. Honestly if these players cannot take their training seriously they don’t deserve to wear the shirt.

When I said perm any six places from twelve I was being a little disingenuous. In truth it’s perm any five from eleven because there is one midfield berth bolted on due both to the significant relationship between the player and the defence and his proven importance to the team.

I am of course talking about Mikel Arteta Amatriain.

I am of course talking about Mathieu Flamini.

You see what happened there? This is, for me, the dilemma. Last season and indeed the one before, if Mikel didn’t start my heart sank. Put simply we were more assured and less likely to lose when he was in the team. I would have said he was the only truly undroppable player in the squad before the start of this campaign. Before, that is, Arsène pulled off the transfer master-stroke of the summer. Yes, yes there was the Özil signing, the one that excited both football fans and sports journalists alike, but as the manager said yesterday you can’t have a transfer policy based solely on players of his (Özil’s) proven calibre. For one thing there aren’t enough of them and for another there are more hungry teams at the top table and with more loot to buy them than ever before. So Arsenal works by carefully educating and promoting from within the club and by making deliciously unexpected or audacious signings like Santi Cazorla for a fifth of Gareth Bale’s fee, (just take a second or two to let that one sink in; five Santis to one Simian. Blimey, that’s what I call an exchange rate.) or Arsène pulls a rabbit out of the hat. It’s known as ‘doing a Kolo’. Back in the summer when I was being attacked by friend and foe alike for daring to suggest that any new signings would be the cherry on an already very rich cake and were in no way vital, I also took a bit of stick for adopting what appeared to be a volt-face in welcoming the return of our prodigal midfielder with open arms . I wrote that he was the perfect signing. Versatile, experienced, particularly as cover for Arteta (a position where we did look maybe a tad understaffed) and most important of all he was already well versed in Wengerball and familiar to and with the manager. Of course I am not claiming I foresaw his explosive return to the Prem. Nobody could have known he’d land like a burning meteor into the heart of our midfield and galvanise us to such a run of results and performances.

Now we have two names to bolt onto one position and two players more different you would struggle to find. It is Suavity and the Beast. ‘So how about playing them both?’ I hear you cry. Well maybe. Away from home that can work where we might expect to come under more pressure, where the defence might need more cover and a draw might seem a good result. Careful though, because do that and you are down to perm any four from ten for the rest of the team. Oh, and by the way, that’s before Podolski, Zelalem, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo are fit. Also with the Prem as wide open as never before I’m not sure away draws are quite as valuable as they once might have seemed. The top six clubs will see any sharing of points as points dropped except when playing each other. So the emphasis must surely be on control and attack. Who gives us the better platform for that? I’m going to say Mikel Arteta gets my vote. Just. I look forward to a lively debate about it in the comments. In fact I’ve already started one with myself as I try to imagine Arsenal without that rabid terrier charging about in front of the monolithic rock of tranquillity that is the Per and Kos axis.

All of this is of course just a long winded way to reiterate what has become blindingly obvious to all but a few self appointed supporter’s spokespersons and internexperts. Arsène and Ivan with the quiet backing of the board have assembled one hell of a squad. Even when down to our most threadbare we only had to slot in one youngster and of course it was comparatively easy for him to find his feet in a winning, confident team which plays in precisely the same way as all the youth teams in which he learned his trade. Which is kind of what Arsène has been talking about all these years and still was yesterday at the press conference. Promotion from within. A club ethos translated into a playing style with an educated young workforce augmented by the occasional stellar signing. The only difference for me is that a lot of the youngsters have now come of age. Kieron, keeping out an extremely good left back in Monreal. Aron, never out of his depth alongside Santi or Mesut. Jack, the saviour of the nation. Theo, a boy no more but true premiership quality.

Sorry for all the football talk, I’d love to wax lyrical about the time I met Delia in Aldi or the day I made love to a Debbie Harry lookalike while watching Arsenal put five past Norwich one sunny bank holiday weekend but you’ve heard it all before and I wouldn’t want to bore you. It’s not easy once you’ve already written about the opposition. I have to say my respect for proper bloggers who do this every day rather than occasionally (as I do) has gone off the chart. It is very easy to pick up on a phrase or two and beat someone about the head for the next few years with it, but trust me, just try walking in their shoes first and you’ll feel differently about things, I promise. Anyway on to the team predictions. No. Actually I’m not doing that here. It’s boring and pointless, but what I will do is point you to a fun tool so you can do it yourself and share your ideas on twitter, a far more suitable place for such flim-flam and guesswork. I’m talking about Line Up Builder and I’m grateful to @Limpar_Assist for introducing me to it.

I’ll see you all back here at three for the match, unless you’re going to the game, in which case, well, you’re a lucky bastard.

Thank the deity of your choice that the sideshow is over.

International football, that utterly meaningless distraction, with its attendant pandering to nationalism, racism and  general xenophobic flag waving, has at long last finished using our precious playing staff for its own tedious ends and they can now limp back to London and the treatment tables. We really can’t afford to lose anyone else in this worthless cause. I believe it has been little short of miraculous that we have managed to get to this stage of the season at the top of both of our leagues considering the butchers bill we’ve had to pay so far. It would take a man braver or more foolhardy than me to predict our continued success without a major improvement in our injury list, you just cannot ride your luck forever. This is the main reason I detest the international breaks.

It appears that  our German wonder boy may just be a little bit sore and not actually on a gurney en route to the knackers yard, but even if he has survived we’ve still lost more than our fair share of players to these irritating fixtures over the years. I have heard the argument that it’s good for the individuals concerned to play and play well for their country. They feel a sense of pride and accomplishment and this is a benefit for their self esteem and ultimately for their performances when they return to play for the clubs who actually pay their wages. Really? Say my partner went off every few weeks giving blow jobs to one of my neighbours. I can see how this might well cheer him up considerably and she could conceivably achieve a sense of pride in her performance and maybe come home a happier and more accomplished lover. Whilst I would recognise how satisfying the arrangement would be for my neighbour and even for my wife, you wouldn’t really expect me to be dancing for joy each time she set out to visit him or standing by the bedside and cheering them on would you? Especially if she came back with a hamstring injury that put her out of action for six weeks.

This is however the awful situation in which we find ourselves and there is nothing we can do to change it. At this time I would, in the past, have found myself bemoaning the loss of momentum, especially if we were in a good run of form. On this occasion I sensed the side had peaked against Napoli and that we struggled a little to contain a very good West Brom team. Perhaps for once the cursed international break came at a good time. Aaron certainly broke his long goal drought at last, albeit for a different team, and as George and his pals pointed out in the most recent podcast when Mr Ramsay is not at his industrious best the whole team lacks a little spark. If only Tomas were five years younger, he being to my mind the other inspirational player in our squad; a fizzing, crackling firework of a footballer who galvanises us with his tireless running, balletic spinning and instant passing. On the bright side we might have Señor Cazorla back available to us for the weekend and I know many of us are eager to see just how he and Mesut will play together. It is a mouthwatering prospect, almost a little immodest to start them both. One footballing wizard per midfield is surely enough for any team isn’t it? I just hope they get a good run together because no matter how talented you are you still need a knowledge and understanding of the players around you to really make things happen on the pitch.

If the worst comes to the worst and both are unavailable it could be a disguised blessing for Jack. He would be the obvious choice to play behind Giroud in what is surely his best position. He certainly isn’t a left winger and while I completely understand him doing his time out there and lets face it we can all see the benefits to Aaron’s all round game from his own stint out wide, poor Kieron has been left horribly exposed at times. If Tomas is fit he can do a job on either flank and Serge has more than proved himself on the wing. It wouldn’t be ideal to have such inexperience on one side with both Corporal Jenks and Gnabry playing, but until Lucas, Bac and Theo return we may not have a choice.

These are interesting times. With phase one completed satisfactorily we now need people back for phase two. Still top by Christmas is a rather splendid prospect, but as us recovering boozehounds will tell you, it really is one game at a time. Anyway I only popped in to say hello, I’ll be back with my wildly inaccurate and mostly nonsensical Norwich pre match gibberish, so until then let’s just cross our fingers, rub our lucky heather and pray the missus comes back from next door in one piece.

Supporting Arsenal is fun at the moment for all concerned. Well almost all. Those who are desperate to see the back of the manager, board, medical staff, goalkeeping coach, and Doris the tea lady excepted of course, are having a miserable time. But lets waste no time on those scoundrels.

There looks to have been a measurable improvement in our play.

Results , for the last 6 months have been nothing short of staggering, despite an injury list as long as the Great Wall of China.

We have bought in one of the worlds finest players and an old boy has returned and been a revelation.

Aaron Ramsay, a player written of by many as “not Arsenal quality” has been the stand out player in the league for was seems like a age now.

It looks like a contract extension for Arsene is no more than a formality.

Its wonderful being an Arsenal fan today. Isn’t it?

Remember this feeling when things go wrong. Because they will you know?

I cant understand why people cant always try to make the best of being a fan.

It must be better to take joy from the club, rather than wallowing in misery and self pity.

It was hard going for the team and fans alike for the past 2 seasons, Yet I loved them.

Watching the lads turn things around, fighting for every point under the most intense pressure, and securing Champions League qualification was terrific

Tomas Rosicky riding into the fray and making the difference, again a player written of as not Arsenal quality ,or deadwood, was a source of great joy to me.

I didn’t want to blame someone, anyone, everyone, for us being in that position, I just wanted to enjoy our efforts to put matters right.

After last years home defeat by the pride of German football I wrote this http://wp.me/p37nXa-4K , have a read and you can see that being optimistic is not always being blind.

Here is the blog I wrote after the Spurs defeat with 10 games left, have a look. http://wp.me/p37nXa-8b

See what I mean?

We should look forward with hope. support 100% and enjoy every moment.

Every point, every good bit of play , every bit of pleasure should be squeezed out of every game. Even the losses.

I hope fans can learn from their mistakes in the same way we want the team to learn from theirs.

George and Ronan are joined by the one and only Geoff (@geoffArsenal) to discuss all things Arsenal and a few things not.

Today a guest post from The Beck.

Last night, the Telegraph released an interview with Jack Wilshere.  He was speaking to the infamous/famous Henry Winter about his views on the possibility of Adnan Januzaj representing England.
This is what he was directly quoted to have been saying:
“If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English, the only people who should play for England are English people.”

“If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English. You shouldn’t play. It doesn’t mean you can play for a country.  If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I’m not going to play for Spain.’’
Immediately after I was aware, I began to ask myself if there was any way I could possibly defend Jack for his comments and I realized that I couldn’t.
I’m aware that he is a young man, 2 years younger than me, and that he’s possibly lived a life growing up where his national identity was never in question and his views on “Englishness” was always pre-defined by his surroundings. Questioning the intellect of most footballers will usually not get you very far in accomplishing anything, but I truly believe he has brought up an interesting subject to discuss and to elaborate on.  In the first quote, Jack directly attributes that that his version of being English is universal and cannot be changed.  His version of national identity appears static and archaic to me.
“If you live in England for five years it doesn’t make you English” – and I suppose you’d have to ask, why not?  Who sets these time constrictions on what it would take for someone to have an accurate grasp of English identity and culture? The government certainly does based on both research and economical aspects.  When Jack is saying this, he’s not thinking about all the players who became citizens elsewhere and played for their new adopted country, whether they loved that country, or were grasping that culture and identity is completely subjective and personal to them, it is not something we can decide for others.

Luis Figo, once dismissed Deco for being part of the Portuguese team prior to the Euro 2004 (where they were both hosts and finalists and Deco played a vital role), Figo said:

“I don’t think people would be happy in Spain if I had become a Spanish national and played for the Spanish side,” said the Real Madrid midfielder. “It’s something that distorts team spirit and I don’t agree with it. If you’re born Chinese, well, you have to play for China.” 

“It looks like you’re trying to take advantage of something. That’s my opinion and I’m not going to change it because he is in the team.”

Figo there has already decided that Deco was using Portugal, taking advantage of a situation, when in fact it was Portugal who were taking advantage of his new citizenship too.
Deco responded by saying:

“I don’t regret choosing to play for Portugal, I was born in Brazil and it would be a lie to say that I’m Portuguese now and not Brazilian. But I love Portugal and I love playing for the national team.”

See Deco’s experience is also subjective, he recognizes his Brazilian identity to be higher than his  Portuguese, but it is not difficult to imagine it the other way around.  We live in a very multicultural society in an ever-growing multicultural world, we recognize many different tribal and nationalistic ideas and associate them and stereotype them with what we/our governments and media see fit.  The debate was high and live last night, many were suggesting that age mattered, that there was a certain point where players stop adapting to culture or want to belong to another culture, that it is just purely convenient for them to swap nationalities so that they gain caps.
Marcos Senna became a citizen of Spain at the age of 29 and won the European Championship with Spain in 2008.  Many would argue that he did so to his advantage, but did not Spain get the advantage too?  Was it not convenient for Spain to have a citizen of its country play for them and win them the trophy?  So many questions; you all know where I am going with this. Plenty of players in the Spain squad feel more Catalan than Spanish, yet they play for Spain, they love Spain, they play for Spain because they know collectively they will win trophies (some play for Catalonia too).
Owen Hargreaves is another good example, born in Canada, raised in North America, moved to Bayern Munich at 16, lived there until he was 26 before moving to Manchester.  He amassed 42 caps for England until the injuries got the better of him, he probably felt more German than English at times? Or more Canadian than German? Or more English than Indian?  I don’t know, it gets all confusing, but are we in the game to guess what players feel and how they think before asking them how they truly feel?

I feel like that is one of the biggest flaws in this debate, we assume what players want and ultimately believe they want to “take advantage”, expecting them not to be as “English” as the “Englishman” (vague term, so vague).
Colin Kazim-Richards born in London, raised in England, plays for Turkey, his mother is a Cypriot Turk and his father is Antiguan, does it get confusing yet?

“It’s difficult because half my family is Muslim, and the other half is Christian. I’ve always felt Turkish, though. My nene [grandmother], she can’t speak English. Half of my family, their first language is Turkish, and so I went to Turkish school before I played football, although I can’t remember any of it now”

Owen Hargreaves may have grown up feeling German but playing for England, Colin Kazim Richards may have felt Turkish in that interview, but felt very English had he been a better player?  Who knows?  I just find it hard to see how footballers and fans have the audacity to tell players and people how to feel and what to be about their national identity? It is you, yourself that gets to choose what you want to be, not them, not an oppressor or a simpleton.
“But you have to have English roots.”
Say that to all the Jamaicans that came to the U.K. in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and became part of the English national team in the 70’s, how they themselves must see the irony in the apparent need for roots. The need for those former Jamaican men that became naturalized British citizens to play was huge.  Besides, the whole concept of English roots is absurd.  If you need to look into that, there are thousands of pages about DNA and how none of us are a 100% anything, (except me; I’m a 100% pure blooded twat.
Each government that is part of the EU/EEA has substantially given each person a chance to discover another country and become a resident of it, perhaps even share the national identity of it.  I am a person who has taken those chances (through war and opportunity), a person who feels no particular tie to one specific country/administrative state/stateless state, but half a dozen, Iraq, Kurdistan, Norway, England, Wales, Hong Kong.

I am a piece of all of them, but I am also none of them.
I’ve seen many people over the age of 30 adapt to a new culture and totally capture it, a friend of mine never felt American and moved to Japan, he speaks the language, lives the culture, is part of the Japanese identity, especially to himself (as he might be an outcast to others).  Who am I to tell him that he’ll never be Japanese to me? Isn’t that an oppressive archaic view of nationality and personal identity, that someone’s personal state of national identity is directly related to my own lack of perspective?
Who is Jack Wilshere or any of you to say Januzaj won’t fall in love with British culture/values/identity and become more than a naturalized citizen?
Who is to say he won’t feel English or British in 6 years? People change, people adopt values that adhere to their reason sometimes, it is not always back to tradition and thinking that it always is perhaps why we are having this debate right now (or I’m having it by myself).
What is a nationality, but a giant tribal government construct on what you are or who you should be?

You know, I grew up with a Geordie, a Brummie, a Mancunian, a Scouser and a Cornish man and none of them could ever tell me what it meant to be English other than to point to regurgitated stereotypes  that some of them were not even fond of.  To each of them, it was different, they had different views on many different things, and the thing that made them English to me was probably the language and the location.

To measure someone’s Englishness is an exercise in taking a stereotype from a world full of propaganda, stereotypes and agenda’s and turning it against those who do not practice it.  You could effectively have English ancestors, be born in England, raised in England but not feel English.  People are very complex and to simplify them is a disservice to both their thoughts and abilities to change and grow and become more than a piece of propaganda or national pride (tribal/government construct).
If you look at all countries as if they were all going through a constant transitional cultural change, I believe your view on nationality would change, but most only see it in the moment.
Have a lovely day.

Should you wish to take The Beck to task or agree with him,he can be found on twitter @The_Beck_