The way we started ,I sat back relaxing thinking this is marvelous.Wengerball at its best.
We were passing the ball so quickly that no Fulham player could get close enough to make a fair tackle.
Then Sidwell lunged at Mikel and was dismissed .And rightly so.He is always at it.Nothing more than a thug.
Sadly though,that marked the end of our scintillating play.For the rest of the half we were patient and half decent,but the spark had gone.The Urgency lost.
Did the players think “all we have to do is wear them down and the goals will come”?
Perhaps they did think that.But they didn’t come.
When one did come it was down to Fulham deciding not to contest a dead ball swung into the Area.
Still .Who cares .Not a bad half .One up and them down to ten.Time to improve our goal difference.
Yeah right !
What went wrong in the second half is beyond me and Arsene too,as he expressed in his post match interview.
Where we tired after chasing Norwich for almost 90 minutes and from playing flat out against Everton on Tuesday?
We may have been .Everton losing to Sunderland would perhaps suggest its at least a consideration.But weighed against that is the fact that Fulham played 24 hours latter than us against Chelsea.And they only had ten men for 80+ minutes.
Our passing was slow and we created next to nothing .Caught in possession and balls just given away.All a little bit disappointing I must say
If anything Fulham were the better team in the second half.
The substitutes failed to make an impression and we looked like the team that was a man down towards the end .
Giroud gave the Referee an opportunity to even the numbers on 89 minutes and he took it.Personally I think he slipped,rather than having any malicious intentions.
Anyway ,Laurent and Per were fantastic all day and we hung on.
All I have said can be discussed and argued about,but what cant be argued with is that we now sit third and if today’s results go our way we will be in a very strong position
Oh yes ,we won.We won 3 points and its a great result .
At this stage it was a fantastic result.
We didn’t play well and we won.Is that not what they say good teams do?
Well that is what we did.Lets just enjoy the result
I am happy as a Bull meeting a herd of Cows for the first time.
What good will it do pointing the finger at individual players for a collective poor performance ?
Bring on United and we can put our footballing world to rights.
Fulham. West London, down at the end of the Kings Road and near the river. There you go, ‘O’ level geography put to excellent use at long long last. I’ve never been inside Craven Cottage but I did walk past it once when lost and looking for the five million (one million if you believed the police) others who had invaded the capital for a CND march. Must’ve been 1983 and thank goodness I went as without my encouragement and support for unilateralism I doubt Gorbachev would have had the courage to eventually dismantle the Soviet Union.
I have heard it’s a nice ground, in fact a friend of mine prefers it to all others and he’s visited many of the professional stadia in this country so perhaps he’s on to something. As far as I’m concerned Fulham brings back memories of an unlikely cup run in the mid seventies. I was a teenager in that benighted decade and the FA Cup final was a firm fixture on everybody’s calendar. You watched it on the BBC, you flicked over to see if it looked any different on ‘the other side’, and you ran out onto the street at half time, case ball under your arm, to re enact the first half and again after the final whistle to relive the match with your mates. Ah the innocence of lost youth.
The seventies were an extraordinarily good time for me FA cup wise. The drill was to support Arsenal. Well of course. However in the unlikely event that they had failed to make the grade you had to select one of the two competing teams and get behind them as if your very life depended upon it. This made the final matter that little bit more. In adult life people use online bookies for a similar purpose. In any event we enjoyed the final regardless of who was in it, usually supporting the underdogs but always backing not Leeds and not Man Utd. Why was it such a purple patch for me? Well, despite having to fill in with proxy support for the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland and Southampton I still got to witness Arsenal play in no less than five finals between 1971 and 1980.
The only game I couldn’t really get excited about in all that time was Fulham versus West Ham in ’75. The West London side should have ticked boxes. Playing in the second division conferred unquestioned underdog status, and they had the fading legend that was Bobby Moore playing for them, which was precisely the sort of stuff I needed to have them as my team for the day. For whatever reason that year it dawned upon me at around 9.30am, and about half way through Cup Final It’s A Knockout, that I actually didn’t give a stuff for either side. I cannot explain why, but if the word ‘meh’ had existed then it would have neatly summed up my feelings on the ’75 final.
Modern day Fulham is a rags to riches story beginning in March 1996 when they languished in 91st place in the football league hierarchy. They recovered from the edge of the abyss and then were moderately financially doped by the owner of Harrods and rocketed up through the divisions to the Premier league. They really are the antithesis of Arsenal in many ways, not least the endless manager go round with a succession of coaches as far apart in football philosophy as Keegan, Hughes and Hodgson. They’ve given us a few decent games in recent years and I don’t doubt that they’ll be stung by their most recent embarrassing scoreline and won’t relish another humiliation. So thanks for that Chelsea you bastards. They have a few players who know their way around a football pitch and a goalie who often seems to save his best for when they play us. However well or badly they perform today I just hope and pray that they don’t attempt to emulate Moyes shameful tactics on Tuesday night, which were quite simply unforgivable. And be honest who wants to see a pleasant young man like Phillipe Senderos sent out to try to injure a fellow pro? It’s a hideous thought.
Closer to home now, and we had news yesterday of a Positively Arsenal triumph. Our very own Mel O’Reilly has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get the club to act more radically on it’s pricing structure and so the news of ‘Mel’s Scheme’ as the club will doubtless be calling it which broke across all major news outlets was music to our ears. In years to come the futuristic equivalent of bloggers will talk of how they first watched Arsenal because of the tenner teen ticket introduced under ‘Mel’s Scheme’ which made watching the world’s premier super club affordable to the meanest of incomes. Doubtless the statue will follow and the O’Reilly Stand should be a formality. Congratulations, and I hope this doesn’t mean you are now too good to comment on our humble blog.
On a personal note, I have to take my Mum out today, so if you see me I’ll have my phone off and fingers in my ears hoping like hell to avoid the result. The plan is to watch Arsenal Player on Sunday morning which in the past has turned into a real trial. When I first subscribed the good folk at dot com used to think it was a wizard wheeze to display the score prominently on the front page of the web site. In order to bypass this skulduggery I saved a short cut to the Player itself on my desktop. Then they decided to put the score below the video of the match itself. Genius. I mean that doesn’t destroy the pleasure of watching at all does it? I assume I wasn’t the only one to moan about this as they have subsequently taken remedial action and the score no longer appears on the day immediately following the match . However they are nothing if not cunning at the Arsenal. The people who run the site are as devious and mischievous as Tomáš Rosický turning pirouettes in amongst the opposition midfield for laughs (like he does). When you open the relevant page they have a still from the match in the window where the video plays. The last time I sat down, congratulating myself on managing to avoid any mention of the match all day Saturday and Sunday morning, I opened the page to see this still image, a freeze frame from the match and guess what? It was from the 82nd minute, at which point the game stood at 2 – 1 to the Arsenal. How did I know? Well in the top left hand corner of the image there was the time and the score. Absolutely fucking unbelievable. In the game in question we had been trailing by a single goal until very near the end and so all the tension and surprise , the anguish and relief were neatly, surgically removed for me. See, who says we are afraid to criticise the club on PA?
In any event, I’m not very good with that kind of thing so if you happen upon me treating my dear old Ma to a cream tea in Burnham On Sea this afternoon, best not mention anything about the match. I may be a pacifist who saved the world from nuclear annihilation, but things might still get a little messy.
I can’t speak for you but I’m still reeling from the wham bam of this whole three cup finals in a week mularky. In contrast, our near neighbours (both geographical and in terms of league position) seem to have forgotten all about footy, and are instead on a protracted leave of absence. As they organise tiddly wink contests and ping pong leagues down at the Lane our bruised and battered boys have been facing some not so pretty and perhaps surprisingly brutal treatment at the hands, elbows and studs of Everton. All this a mere three days after facing the less violent but but no less resilient public service vehicle parking practise from the Mustard Men of Norfolk. And before you can say pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, tired limbs and bruised knees will be having the old embrocation applied by beefy men in roll-neck sweaters as the troops muster again for a short jaunt to Craven Cottage.
For all his faults Martin Jol isn’t known for sending his guys out to kick, block, body check and trip the opposition so hopefully it’ll be safe for us to unwrap Tomáš Rosický tomorrow and let Jack take a rest on his road to recovery. Dropping two points at home is of course no disaster but it does make this ten cup final analogy I’m so fond of somewhat confusing. You just can’t have a drawn cup final. Shouldn’t there be a replay? Penalties? As far as I can see the two we didn’t get on Tuesday makes the three more important tomorrow and that is all it means. On occasion the truth is better in it’s simple unvarnished form. Seven from nine will just have to do and it would leave us gazing down imperiously upon the Tiny Totts as is our wont and, lets not be coy here, our right.
The dynamic has shifted this week whatever the outcome down at Stevenage Road tomorrow. We have been coming up on the stand side for the last few furlongs and all of a sudden, as the jockeys in front of us decide to pull up and let their nags take a munch on the graminoids we have thundered past with nostrils flaring and foam flecking our flanks. OK, look I appreciate the horse racing analogy is entirely inappropriate because the Spuds have games in hand on us, so our thoroughbred will be forced to stop and watch as they dig in their spurs and try to get their poor old bow backed mule back on track, but that’s my point. The dynamic has indeed shifted, they face a different kind of pressure and it’ll be interesting to see just how they cope with it. They certainly didn’t manage to cope with the pressure of staying ahead of us so let’s see how they manage playing catch up.
This stage of the season appears to be a time for predictions. I noticed with mild amusement (it takes a lot to make me actually laugh so unless you are PG Wodehouse, Mel O’Reilly or Bill Hicks, don’t bother) that twitter has been full of comments of the ‘We want City to win because then they’ll have a chance to catch Man U and will try harder to beat Spurs” variety. The ‘They will be in danger of relegation if they don’t at least draw and so will be a tougher match than you think’ species of suggestion grips people as the end draws nigh, and why? Well it’s just human nature. The closer the finish the greater impact the tiniest fraction of advantage appears to bestow upon the fortunate. And so, simple souls that we are, we seek desperately for meaning in the chaotic jostling for position, but really what matters is the same as that which has always mattered. Doing well in our games and hoping our nearest rivals fare poorly in theirs. The things that count are fitness and form of key players at the arse end of the season, also coolness, experience and intelligence of the manager and coaching staff, the run of form our opponents are in when we happen to play them. This last point often seems critical to deciding where teams end up.
Everyone has good and bad runs of form in a season. If you are unlucky enough to meet a lot of teams in their purple patch and if coincidentally other top sides meet the same teams on their down-slide it makes life tougher for you. It is of course only at or near the season’s end that these things come under the microscope and so take on a crazily exaggerated significance. Let’s face it you can beat a side who are in the middle of their best form for decades and drop points to a pile of shite who don’t deserve to be on the same pitch. Football at any level is a sport and the chaos and unpredictability is what adds the chilli powder to the finger shoved up the horses backside at the start of the race.
Before I sign off, and I have to keep a little bit back for tomorrow you know, I think it’s about time we expressed a mea maxima culpa moment here on Positively Arsenal. In any venture such as ours, worthy, noble, pure and with the greatest imaginable intentions to be scrupulous in our support, unimpeachable in our editorial content and consistent in our argument it is vital that we accept responsibility when we err. Many of us lambasted the doomsayers among the online Arsenal support when they said that we shouldn’t bitch about lousy one eyed refereeing displays. Also they said if teams set out to bully our players and (within the strict rules of the game) illegally attack and assault them with impunity then it was simply up to our players to take it and not to use it as an excuse. We derided these arguments for the hollow empty bells that we clearly saw them to be. As the great man himself has repeated ad nauseam, we do not call for any special protection we simply ask that the rules be applied. That officials officiate and that when a semi evolved throwback, perhaps sporting a red and white stripy tunic, hoofs one of our delicate and beautifully formed performers into the sky, it is surely incumbent upon those entrusted with the laws of the game to admonish, punish and if necessary lead the thuggish miscreant to a cage and feed him daily with some suitable fruit.
However I think that we all have come to accept that referees will never ever offer us the same protection afforded to the the red Mancs, the establishment will not show the worst fouls committed against us on their televised highlights nor discuss them on their radio call ins. Calls in. Whatever. The party line in the media will stay the same and be regurgitated by weak Arsenal fans and all other fans alike. Teams will send their players out to kick us. It’s a fact; it will happen, and Moyes has simply underlined that. What the team did on Tuesday has for me proven that sadly the Private Fraziers among our support were actually correct. It’s going to happen so we have to take it. We have to win despite the intimidation and weak or corrupt officiating. And by golly they showed they could take it. More than once I assumed players were out for the count never to rise again and each time they came back faster, stronger and more skilled than their violent, brutish opponents and whilst we didn’t win we certainly proved we cannot be intimidated out of the game.
I shall be intrigued to see if the Red Nosed one employs his old tactics against us or actually tries to play. If the former it will be a clear indication that he knows we are back, once again a force with which to be reckoned. Not, you understand, that I give a hoot for his opinion.
First up in a busy week is the news that Andrei Arshavin is likely to be in his final season at Arsenal. With so few games left to play, it is likely that we’ve seen our little Russian dynamo in an Arsenal shirt for the last time. Arshavin accomplished some great things at the club such as the 4 goals in Anfield and the Barca winner and will leave a lasting impression on many fans. Anyone in the comments making a joke about him leaving a lasting impression on his sofa will be banned for life.
In the same interview, Arsene Wenger mentioned Vermaelen’s remarkable response to being, in the kindest possible terms, ‘rotated’. In a rather unsubtle pick-me-up from the boss before rejoining the team, Vermaelen’s attitude received great praise. He is understood to now be ‘facing the right direction’.
It’s fairly uncommon for football players to say just the right thing but it happened this week. I tried to think of comparisons to make it sound better: ‘It’s like your wife endeavouring to emulate your favourite chef’, or, ‘It’s like your girlfriend taking the time to master the techniques of a famous porn-star’. However, nothing sounds better than when the Ox expressed his desire to learn from Tomas Rosicky. A short, montage-heavy, training video will go into production once terms are agreed with Tomas for the Miyagi role.
Arsene said the C word! Ahead of the Norwich game, Arsene Wenger said that it was important to continue to start games in a confident way. He spoke of how early leads force teams out of their defencive huddle and force them to leave some room for Wengerball…
83 Minutes in and we’re a goal down to a poor, albeit industrious, Norwich side. Unable to resist Olivier Giroud’s sheer sexual presence, Kei Kamara had to have him and he didn’t care where it happened. Luckily for us, the linesman had similar designs on the Frenchman and was incessant when he saw Kamara wrestle the object of everyone’s affections to the ground. Arteta scored the penalty and the whole of the Arsenal community exhaled in unison. Some great play from Alex Oxlade Chambicky set up Giroud to get in front of the former spud, Bassong, to tap home and take the lead. Fabianski then made a good save with his legs to deny Delia’s dipshits an undeserved point. The mayhem continued when Podolski dragged the ball out from under his feet and launched it into the bottom corner from just outside the area. 3-1 to the Arsenal and we’re in third place.
In the aftermath of the win, Arsene Wenger spoke about Lukas Podolski and his new training regime. Podolski has primarily been working on his centre-forward play, which is bound to increase the sulking German’s value when he is sold in the summer. Recent pictures show just how happy he must be to be leaving and the manager is giving him special tuition, which brings about one obvious explanation. Kroenke is obviously selling him like he did with Na$ri.
Then came the game against a robust Everton side who have a sneaky eye on our Champions’ League spot. In a battle where successful consecutive passes were at a premium, there were only a few chances for The Gunners to clinch victory. The best of which fell to Olivier Giroud from an excellent Aaron Ramsey cross. Giroud was first to get there but only in time to stretch out a leg and get any kind of attempt away. It went wide. Mikel Arteta made an excellent run to break the Everton defence and Cazorla duly found him, but good defending from Distin, combined with a slight sense of panic in the unknown, prevented the skipper from getting a shot or pass away. The Arsenal performance was spirited and tough and those are not traits many people would associate with Wenger’s men. They would, however, say those things about Stoke so maybe that’s not all bad.
If anyone deserved to win the game, it was Arsenal.
The Referee increased Everton’s chances markedly in the first ten minutes.
Fellaini should have had two yellows in that time.By not giving the cards when they were deserved he gave Everton license to make the game physical and disjointed.That was exactly what they did.
Fellaini was strong ,uncompromising and generally cuntish all night.He also dived to win free kicks at every opportunity.I don’t know about you but I call that cheating.
Now how Gibson escaped a second yellow is beyond me and any right thinking person.It was a total bottle job from the man in black.Gibson seemed to understand he had been lucky and never made another tackle all night.
Now we must give credit to our lads for matching them physically and not either losing their heads or wilting under the injustice and pressure.
For me there was little between the two teams in the first half.
The second half was all us.
I don’t intend to tell you all how things panned out ,you likely saw it yourselves.
Again the substitutes seemed to add momentum ,but sadly we could not make it pay.
Some of our player were immense.
Aaron was MOTM for me.
Laurent,Gibbs and Per,also had stand out games.Santi also in the second half.
Some were their usual high standard.Like Mikel and Bac.
Sadly.some were off colour.Theo,Giroud and Jack all failed to impress.Without any of them being particularly bad.Although Jack tried his hardest to get into the bad category.The only good think he did all night was get into a scuffle going down the tunnel at half time.
On twitter Giroud was being thrashed to within on inch of his on-line life.Personally I did not see anything to get that upset about.Yes .he perhaps should had scored from Ramsey’s wonderful cross,but it was anything other than a sitter.
I can only think that Arsene did not want to risk Tomas ,because he is miles ahead of Jack.The team needed exactly what he brings to the table.Better though not to lose him for the rest of the season.However in his absence the Wengerball has gone.For now at least.
All in all it was a game that we matched them ,then pressured them .They were hanging on for dear life in the second half .
It is also a game that we could have ,and in the past may well have ,lost.
This team is on the up.No question.
The fixtures are still in our favour,
Five more Cup finals to go.
Lets just get behind the club and support them to the end .That should not even be optional
A step back from the battle in the PL today, we can get return to the trenches tomorrow.
Today however wander with me in the warm sun, along the sunny beaches, blue sky and verdant greenery of Brazil.
I confess I am old enough to have watched the 70 World Cup. I saw the finest football team ever and I realised they were not English. I have in my life bought but one replica football shirt ever – yes – the 70 shirt worn by Pele, Tostao, Rivelino and Jairzinho. The shirt has conferred no more magic skill on me than it ever has on a Norwich player.
Until Arsene arrived at our club the proposition of a Brazilian footballer playing for AFC club would, in my opinion, have been absurd. We did not do what Brazilians do, we were strong, organised. Our strikers were disciplined and effective. Flicks and tricks ? Bending a ball ! Pah – nonsense. When an Arsenal player kicked the ball it stayed kicked. We would not have known what to do with Zico or Socrates despite their talent. Like Mirandinha on the Tyne in the late 80s the poor soul would have shrivelled and died (although that unfortunate chap had the services of Gazza as an interpreter to contend with too).
Enter our French conductor however and the best qualities of movement and skill were demanded of every one of our players. He brought in Frenchmen, we had a Dutchman who was in that class already, another followed. They came from Africa. Inevitably when we required the best they also came from Rio, Sao Paulo and even one from Lagao da Prata (where?).
And over the years Gilberto, Edu, Sylvinho, Denilson, Baptista, Andre Santos (and don’t forget the Brazillo-Croat Eduardo) have added to the quality of our football. Now don’t misunderstand me. I do not claim any of our recruits from Rio were on par with the gods of Brazilian football from times past. Thus far, and I will come to that presently, we have not had a Pele, a Ronaldhino or a Ronaldo. Each player who has signed however has added a dimension to Arsenal and, in some instances, provided some of the best moments of the season.
Who can doubt the relentless efficiency of Gilberto across the centre of the park, tracking, tackling, moving the ball with a short pass to the position of maximum advantage. Fit, alert, season after season – oh Arsene say you did not flog him for just a £million ! Nooooooo
Edu – he took time to settle, and had a bit of a talent for the spectacular own goal, indeed he allegedly took time to find a passport. But when he came good he was very, very good. My favourite game of the modern era was the squeezing of Chelsea at the Bridge in the February of 2004. 0-1 after a Gudjonsson goal in the first minute. We ran out winners 2-1 with Paddy, Gilberto and Edu grinding Chelsea to dust in midfield. With the trip to the Bridge done the unbeaten season was downhill thereafter. Another one who left too early and at the same time as Paddy.
Baptista – the Beast – pursued but slipped away to Madrid then landed on loan. Well his close control at times was most unBrazlian I admit, more a blind man in diving boots. The Carling Cup night at Anfield in January 07 though, the first Arsenal player to net fourgoals at the old stadium, in a 6-3 win was a night long remembered by me. I thought you might enjoy this clip of the Beast on the rampage including the two he scored at the neighbours.
Brazilian bulldozer indeed !
Eduardo, Sylvinho, Santos and Denilson, – I could give then all a paragraph, all good players who scored good goals and added to the club. Chelsea know well the threat of a full back at the Bridge. The latter two endured abuse that it disappointed me to hear.
What now though ? Santos and Denny on loan with clubs in their home country, both doing well and barring civil war in South America likely to stay there. Are we Brazil free and likely to stay that way ?
Well in February 2013 Arsene brought over a young midfielder from the Rio club Vasco da Gama by the name of Matheus da Cunha Gomes, or as he is known on a football pitch ‘Indio’ – He was sixteen years old, has a formidable reputation in youth football in Brazil already and was spending a few days with us, as he said, “It will be a good experience. I want to learn.” His visit paseed me by tbh. Here is a clip of Indio playing for the national u15s last year.
As the Brazilian commentator says “Goooooaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll’ The option to sign him comes when he turns 18 in early 2014.
Today’s guest post by Varun (@WengerArmy) gives us a possible view of the thoughts in Arsene’s head in a pre-match presser ahead of Everton.
A lightning rod of pain shot through his head. It was as though he had been speared by…well, a spear. Only, this one was invisible- like ‘Arry’s Cloak.
Press conferences, even on the best of days, were about as enjoyable as watching Tony Pulis picking his nose on the touchline. Today however, it’d be like watching Tony Pulis pretending to be a manager.
As he prepared to face the horde of ‘media personalities’- cause they sure weren’t journalists- a suitable opening remark struggled to find him. The bloody flashes from the cameras didn’t help either. In the end, he decided to go with something simple. “I have a selection headache.” Nobody got the pun, though. It was partly true. Although Theo and Jack were back and had performed to a varying level of competence in the last game, Rosicky was suffering with his hamstring. Even before Norwich, he would’ve preferred to have continued with the same lineup that had been so good over the last 4-5 games, but you can’t help it if a player is injured or suspended. It’s all about the balance and understanding among the team. How else did people think the Invincibles were made?
They would have all sorts of questions about Wilshere, he was sure. Jack this, and Jack that. Of course he was a brilliant player- heck, there was a reason he was touted as England’s best prospect- but he wasn’t perfect. He often left his defensive partner without cover when he went forward with his driving runs- The covering that was essential, and something that Diaby was very good at. He also lacked a little bit when it came to his final ball and his decision making in that situation-Both of which were essential as a #10, and something Rosicky was very good at. And yet, Jack was everyone’s favourite.
In the former’s case, he supposed it was to do with their style of play. Jack wore his heart on his sleeve and played that way on the field. Diaby appeared to be calmer, almost as if he were a stream carrying the ball. That was what they saw, and that was what they wrote about. Jack had the ‘spirit and desire’ and Diaby was ‘careless’.
What did they know? They hadn’t seen Abou in tears, profusely apologizing for letting him down. The constant battles with injuries, just so he could play. He overcame all that mental and physical trauma to come back, time and again. The guy just wanted to play football. If these ‘journos’ had had even a fourth of those injuries, they would have been gibbering wrecks by now.
Not one of these media people appreciated football anymore. To them, it was all about the shiny silver trinkets called trophies. Football was such a dynamic game, filled with possibilities. Each step a player took ruled out and created options. It really wasn’t about the goal that was just scored, but how that goal came about- how your players functioned as a unit, each playing his own part in that creation. Everyone misses out on those nuances and notices only the obvious parts.
Giroud labeled a ‘flop’ because he doesn’t score in 8 games. Is a striker good only if he scores goals? No one mentioned his flicks, layoffs and general hold up play which brings others into the game. And he was still in his first season. Like magic, the criticism disappeared when he scored and won a penalty. To them, this was actual football.
A good defender is one who is tall, black, has a face like a mashed potato and makes goal-line clearances. A midfielder is great if he plays incisive passes game after game. He smirked. They were guilty of the very offence they often accused the Arsenal defence of committing- ballwatching. Very few look at the field in totality.
“Now that Theo’s back, what happens to Gervinho?” says a pustule from the Daily Mail. “He’s not very good, is he?”
There they go again. Gervinho, or The Forehead as some people call him. A waste of space, they say. And why? Just because he had missed a few chances and fluffed a few crosses. Wenger sighed. Why didn’t they focus on Torres? Torres missed sitters- there was a phase when he was absolute bollocks. Yet, no one says anything since that Russian forked out 50 million for the transfer. Which must mean Torres could do no wrong.
Hadn’t Hazard himself said that Gervinho was the best player he’d played with? He himself had admitted that Gervinho rushed things somewhat, and that would improve as he calmed down- he was one of those players that flourished in a positive environment. The home fans hadn’t exactly provided that.
Just yesterday, he had chanced upon a blog by that PIMP guy. It was brilliant, he thought. He smiled inwardly at the Eurofighter comparison. Gervinho only appeared erratic-like the Eurofighter that was aerodynamically unstable, hard to control and yet it was this unpredictability that allowed it to maneouver quickly in a dogfight. The very people who had mocked him have suddenly begun to praise him. Again, it is perception- he’s assisted 3 and scored 2 in 3 weeks, so he is suddenly a good player. And when the same player does the same things without scoring or assisting, he becomes ‘average’. Add ONE mistake to that and he becomes a scapegoat.
“Gervinho is a great player and he has confidence. Theo will have to fight to get his place back”
As he waited for the next question, Arsene ruminated on the other players that had been mocked by the ‘faithful’. Ramsey for ‘dwelling on the ball’ too much last season. People conveniently forget that it was his first full season after that ‘footballer’ Shawcross had almost ended his career. Also, he was overplayed and had to cope with the tragic suicide of his mentor. For all that, Aaron had never hidden. He came back stronger, and was now enjoying football, particularly as the deep lying midfielder. He’d performed solidly when asked to play in the defence too. Part of this was down to his being played on the wings- a position which had helped Aaron improve his composure and decision making significantly, Arsene thought. Yet he was still criticized for playing him ‘out of position’ by people who simply didn’t realize that they were witnessing the outcome of that exercise with Aaron’s arguably Man of the Match performance against Norwich.
Denilson- once such a bright prospect and now on the edge of leaving, all due to constant heckling by the fans.
Walcott- Once thought of as a waste. Till this season, when he burst into goal scoring form. He then became ‘indispensable’, signed a new contract and hasn’t shone since. And so many others for whom he took the blame- Fabregas, Nasri, van Persie, Hleb etc. when in reality they had betrayed his faith in them.
It was then that realization hit him. Almost all the people who ‘wanted their Arsenal back’ had no idea what they were talking about. They were like sheep, being egged and pushed on by the media who in turn were encouraged to pursue negative angles due to this culture of ‘instant gratification’ that had pervaded society through the Internet.
These days, a Twitter handle knew more than the Club Staff. Why, the person was qualified to become the Manager! On what justification? 8 trophyless years. He wasn’t about to waste his time defending himself because none would appreciate the difficulties the Club and he had faced together. Other clubs would have crumbled. Other managers would have gotten another job. Hadn’t Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern etc wanted him? Not Arsenal, and not him. He was an honourable man and he loved this Club. They would all see the plan unfold in the years to come.
For now, though, he just wanted a break. For now, he wanted to tell them all- the crowd of journalists and the so called ‘supporters’, nay, SING at them “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
Putting these thoughts aside, Arsene Wenger sat up straighter in his chair. Smiling, he pointed to the next reporter in line.
Today a new ‘guest’ writer from Twitter, a certain @arseblagger gives us his take on yesterday’s game and then we’ll hear from @Blackburngeorge.
First up our new twitter friend @Arseblagger.
A gift of a penalty, an own goal and an offside goal gave us three points that we never looked like getting.
From the moment I saw the team that Wenger had picked I knew we were in trouble.
I called it. I simply knew we should have started Podolski and Theo rather than the hapless and out of their respective depths, Gervinho and Cazorla.
The game proved I was right and Wenger has lost the plot. If they had started we would have scored three goals in the first 10 minutes rather than the last.
We started slowly and quickly ran out of the steam we had never had. We never looked like scoring, and defended like a pub team. Norwich out-played us. Those reliable BBC statisticians told us that they had 51% possession. Imagine that. We are a disgrace of a team.
We should be beating teams like that by five clear goals at home.
It makes me sick to see us in such a poor position with this bunch of second-class players. If we manage to fluke a Champions League spot we will be humiliated again next year.
This lot are so bad they have dragged Jack down to their level. Now he is useless, as well.
ArseBlagger
***
Okaaay, thanks for that Blagger. I’m sure I speak for precisely none of us here in looking forward to your next article.
Now here is how George judged the same game …
Alan Hansen, on Match of the Day (MOTD) last week said that Arsenal’s problem was that we could not play poorly and win. Well I am glad he pointed that out because Arsene seems to have addressed that particular problem this week, and put it right.
I find myself hard pushed to think of many moments of Wengerball.
I was disappointed in our first half performance. I think we were slow and lacking more than a little spark. Personally I think that missing spark was one Tomas Rosicky. His replacement – Jack – was definitely out of sorts. And Arsene removed him just about as soon as he could without denting the lad’s confidence.
Jack has been 6 weeks out and it really showed. I hope Rosicky is fit for the visit of Everton on Tuesday. For me he is currently miles ahead of the youngster.
Another youngster that was definitely not out-of-form is Aaron Ramsey. I thought he was our stand-out player – and by quite a margin. He worked tirelessly and looks brimfull of confidence and class.
It just shows what can be achieved with a little perseverance by the manager and a good attitude by the player. He has gone from deadwood to dead-cert.
I understand I have not mentioned their goal and how it came about, because I assume you have all seen it and I don’t want to think about it.
Anyway, Arsene hooked Jack and Gervinho, and Theo and Podolski entered the fray.
It seemed to inject a bit of pace and urgency to the team and the visitors were pinned even farther back.
The pressure mounted and on my dodgy internet stream Tony Gale urged Norwich on and lambasted our teams efforts and players.
Then Giroud was hauled down in the box and the assistant referee flagged it up. There has been moaning and carping about that ever since, but I don’t understand why anyone can complain about the correct decision being made.
Up stepped our cool cat Captain and it was 1-1.
Three minutes later we took the lead through a Giroud/own goal (I couldn’t care less which). By this time Arsene had brought Alex Oxlade Chamberlain on for Sagna (a bold move for a man who supposedly never makes good tactical changes or bold substitutions) and the kid burst into the box, made the byline and with the outside of his right foot cut it across the face of goal. Yippee.
Now I am cursing the fact that due to their persistent time-wasting they have six minutes of additional time to rescue an undeserved point.
Then Safehanski make a wonderful save with his legs. Safehansnlegski, it would seem.
However, when Theo was played in behind (quite a bit behind actually, but let’s not go there, either) Podolski showed us just why he has 100+ German caps to his name. It was a brilliant bit of finishing from him. He could have had a hat trick if not for two previous thundering efforts being miraculously tipped over the bar.
All the things Arsene has claimed this team have, grit – Finsbury will like that- mental strength and a never-say-die spirit were displayed in the closing stages.
It was, in the end a great three points and one step closer to our remaining target for the season.
It turns out we actually had 68% possession by the way (and no thanks to the BBC).
I suspect we will have to do better against Everton, and I am convinced we will.
Oh, and we are third in the table, don’t you know?
After the entertainment of the Tiny Totts featuring Adebayor’s Scooby-Doo impression, and following on from the Meerkat’s tears over Arshavin and his imminent departure, we have a football match to contemplate. Norwich City will be making the journey through the desolate flat Anglian wastelands, down the M11 and into the big smoke. I have mixed memories of Norwich, both the city and the football club. A friend of mine went to university there , fell in love, married and never came home. My wife and I went to visit him and his spouse but they made us play Trivial Pursuit so we never went back. To be fair, it is a five hour drive as well, so I think I can be forgiven. A happier memory was my visit to the Coleman’s Mustard museum which really was surprisingly interesting. I strongly suspect a love of mustard is a prerequisite to finding anything at all to fascinate the casual visitor to Norwich’s premier tourist attraction but it is surely better to be famous for a fiery yellow condiment that Sale Of The Century.
More recently I have had occasion to visit Carrow Road, home of this afternoon’s match day visitors. It is a splendid little stadium, really quite chic and situated within sight of the Cathedral rather than in some hideous shopping complex next to a phalanx of roundabouts and bypasses. Yes Reading we’re all looking at you. Unusually I hadn’t made the long and incredible tedious drive from Somerset to the home of Norwich to watch them play. I’d have been bloody disappointed if I had as they were actually away from home that day beating Swansea in what was by all accounts a thrilling seven goal stonker in which Norwich were 0 – 3 up at half time and ended up 3 – 4 winners. This game was the tenth in a very useful unbeaten run and I’m sure none of you will need reminding that in their previous fixture Swansea had beaten us two nil so for the Canaries to go and turn over an in form team in their own back yard was no mean feat.
Included in that run Norwich had racked up victories against us, Man U, The Tiny Totts (league cup), and an away draw at Goodison so I think it’s fair to suggest that they were in a fine run of form. Things never really got that good again for them and, neatly underlining how important consistency is to any side, they come to the Emirates today after a mish mash of some truly horrible defeats mixed in with some low scoring draws. They are a team that you simply cannot predict.
For me Norwich isn’t just synonymous with Mustard, Nicholas Parsons,Delia and Stephen Fry. It holds, footballistically, some great memories. Does anyone recall their improbable march into Europe in the early days of the Premier League? I’m not saying it was my Kennedy Assassination moment or anything but the unlikely match up of Norwich City and Bayern Munich is one of those non Arsenal football events that has always stayed with me.Of course those were more innocent days. We used to support any British team taking on continental opposition and the more David and Goliath like the encounter the better. Norwich of course didn’t have a hope in hell. Unlike when we went on our own jaunt to Germany recently when I was telling anyone who would listen that we would win, it was just a matter of by how many, I honestly didn’t give the plucky young pretenders from the far East a cats chance. Well they went on to surprise me and just about everyone else except their manager Mike Walker. Matt (or Luke – I forget which) Goss scored a hell of a goal, Bryan Gunn performed heroics in the Norwich goal and they took a 2 – 1 lead back to blighty for the home leg which they drew and thus booted out one of the favourites to win the competition. Sadly for our visitors that was as good as it got Internatzionale beat them in the next round and went on to win the cup and Norwich were relegated from the Prem the following season.
The other football memory I have of Norwich was a rare televised live match on a beautiful bank holiday weekend which I watched in a caravan on the cliffs above Durdle Door in Dorset. It was that season. Hillsborough was still a raw and shocking news story only two weeks old, and we were three points clear of Liverpool who had a game in hand. Norwich were third and as such this was a vital must win game. That we won with aplomb by five clear goals wasn’t quite as important to me as it ought to have been. The fact was that I was blissfully in love with a young and staggeringly beautiful woman who not only bore more than a passing resemblance to Debby Harry but had agreed to come with me to the Dorset Coast for a weekend of wild romance and caravan based abandon. I don’t think she’d bargained for Arsenal versus Norwich but whenever we play them I am always reminded of lust and love among the surf and pebbles and the tune of Sunday Girl.
Anyway before I’m crippled by nostalgia, I ought maybe to explain just why I was at Carrow Road last December. My band had been hired to play at a surprise 40th birthday party for a Norwich season ticket holder and we were set up in one of their swanky and frankly over priced bars. It wasn’t Delia’s restaurant but for a boy brought up on the piss soaked terraces of Eastville it was still an eye opener. I suppose I’d spontaneously combust on entering the Emirates, how you lucky people who go there regularly cope with it I’ll never know. The mistake the very nice people at Carrow Road made was giving us a directors box to use as a changing room. You just don’t let musicians anywhere other than on the stage, and certainly not in any area out of your eyesight. We of course made full use of the facilities and had a good wander around the stadium, easily accessed from our lofty vantage point.
That’s me at the back buggering the sax player. Well it turned out to be our last ever gig together for reasons into which I shall not go, but suffice it to say having a Spud as lead singer didn’t help. Arsenal beat West Brom 2 – 0 on that December day and went on to win their following three league matches adding 13 to their ‘goals for’ column in the process. A repeat over the next three matches would be very welcome.
Anyhow, as we look forward to Cup Final Number Four, I’m going to go and stick on a Blondie album and remember past glories. I might even think about football.
Blogs are about opinions. Or so I am told. Well I am about to open myself to ridicule and abuse by giving my opinion on Andrey Arshavin.
Before I get stuck into my gushing love fest, let me say that much of what I will say is based on memories rather than research and facts backed up by figures. And I apologise in advance for factual errors.
Now I am not for one moment trying to compare Andrey to Dennis. That would be more than a step too far, but the little chap has given me more joy than any player since The Ice Man hung up his unfillable (is that even a word?)boots.
Just the sight of that impish little fellow brought a smile to my face.
He has in the last two years been MIA. It has been a fall from grace that beggars belief.
With his talent he should have been an all-time Arsenal legend. Well he isn’t, and he wont be. But why not?
I watched him in Euro 2008 and he was quite simply unplayable. When he stood outside the Emirates and declared “I am a Gooner now” we had a genuine world class talent on our hands.
Guus Hiddink said “Arsenal don’t realise what a great player they have gotten”. On the evidence of his first 6 months at the club, few could have disagreed.
I honestly believe he was the most talented player at the club. And that is quite something when you think that both Fabregas and Rosicky were also on the books.
He was a huge factor in us turning the season around and securing our customary Champions League berth. Something that had looked very problematical prior to his arrival. And, as I recall, scoring four goals away at Anfield in the process
The following year if not first name on the team sheet, he was likely second. He scored and assisted at a tremendous rate, and for months played as a lone striker. Something I am sure he didn’t want to, yet never once did we hear a murmur of dissent.
So what the hell happened? What went so badly wrong? It’s depressing me just thinking about it!
There are a few theories.
One of which is that he just got fat and lazy. To this I simply say: “Oh please,do me a favour”
So to the important stuff. This is what I think, if you were wondering!
First off I believe that his spell leading the line did him and his confidence no good at all. He was, for the good of the team, doing a job totally unsuited to his style of play and his mind set. So instead of feeling like a vital contributor to the team, he felt like a passenger. Something that he likely never felt before.
The next big blow to him was Russia – for whom he was the Captain and star – failed to qualify for the world cup. He admitted at the time this hit him hard. Just how hard I don’t think we ever appreciated. I suspect he saw it as his big tournament. What should have been the pinnacle of his career. Perhaps he never really recovered, who knows?
The fact remains that he was never the same player. He flickered, but never really shone again.
There is no getting away from it – you need more than just ability to be a truly great player. You need fight and determination. Perhaps something a bit thin on the ground for Andrey.
There are some who say Arsene ruined him by never giving him a run in his best position. I don’t hold with that. He played wide left, in a somewhat free role, for club and country.
I think that there was a fundamental difference in the way Andrey thought he should play, and wanted to play the game, and the way Arsene required him to play.
He is a high risk, high dividends player. He said in an interview I read that he believes if you want to win, you have to take chances and risks. When you accuse him of losing the ball you also have to balance this against the number of chances he creates. In Euro 2012 he created more chances for Russia in his three games for them than the rest of the Arsenal players did between them. That included such players as RVP, Rosicky and The Ox.
However Arsenal play a possession game. I remember him coming on as a substitute for us when we were trying to hold on to a one goal lead. That night he had 100% pass completion. He could do it. I just don’t think he wanted to.
He is often accused of not tracking back and being lazy. Well let me explain that because you don’t do the former, it does not follow that you are the latter.
I once had an argument with a belligerent chap on twitter about him being lazy in a particular game. When I pointed out that despite him leaving the field around the 80 minute mark, only Mikel Arteta had run further. I was met with a flurry of insults. But the facts were there in black and white .
When he lost the ball he did not immediately run after it and try to reclaim it. Sometimes he put his hands on his hips while he looked to see what space to move into for when one of his team mates got the ball back for him. That’s why he was often so well placed to turn defence into attack. I think he saw it as the job of the midfield to cover the full back ,rather than his. Clearly a lot of our fans – and likely the manager – disagreed with him. Perhaps even I do, too.
If you want someone to scurry around chasing the ball, buy Scott Parker, not Andrey Arshavin. But popular opinion of the supposedly ‘knowledgeable’ (that’s sarcasm, by the way) masses, condemned him as being lazy.
He even got blamed for us conceding the decider against United last year, despite it more being the fault of Vermaelen and Song.
I recall that was the very game that his introduction as substitute had been greeted with a chorus of Boos. Apologists for this scurrilous behavior claim it was not him being booed, rather the substitution. Well I saw his little face when he heard them, and it looked to me that he was surprised and upset. Also I have never had an explanation from these apologists as to why, when his name was read out as a substitute at the next home game, that too was booed.
I have to say that had I been standing next to one of these people who think part of the ticket price is to buy the right to act like a complete bastard, I would have expected a trip to either the Magistrates Court or Casualty, or perhaps both. That incident proved to me that although we have some of the best fans in the country, we also have some of the worst low-life scum imaginable.
That was also the game that despite him tracking Valencia all the way into the box . Always a step behind and unable to make a clean tackle (which it being United, anything else would have resulted in a sure penalty and red card), he did prevent him shooting, but could not stop him laying the ball off to an unmarked team mate. Perhaps he should also have been marking them, whilst dashing to the goal line to make a clearance?
I remember my good friend Stew Black saying at the time
“How can people criticise our plucky little Russian for doing nothing more than trying his best for the team?”
Well they did.
Daniel Cowan, who runs a much respected blog (North London Is Red ) and a person who knows a thing or two about the game, once summed it up in a tweet to me when he said “people don’t understand his game. It’s not about 100% effort 100% of the time”. I agree, he simply is not built physically for that. He is about bursts of extreme effort.
But don’t tell me he is lazy. And don’t just take it from me.
Francis Coquelin, when asked which Arsenal player is the best trainer replied “Andrey Arshavin works really hard”
Also Arsene himself recently said that he cannot accept the criticism of him being lazy and not caring.He in fact said “I am not having that said about him.its not true”
When we played Reading in the Micky Mouse Cup, in the 120th minute he picked the ball up on the halfway line and burst into the box, skipping past umpteen players on the way, he smashed the ball at the goal. By fluke it hit a players heel on the line and landed at Theo’s feet. Goal. Let me repeat – that was the 120 minute mark.
Anyway, I am sure that no one who thinks he is lazy, now thinks any different. But I don’t care. Because I think they are idiots.
His last telling contribution was when he came on as a substitute for a whole two minutes, on a ploughed field, cunningly disguised as the Stadium of Light, and threaded a ball through the eye of a needle for the Old King Henry to poke in the winner. An extra two points and a win that had we not won them might well have seen us condemned to Europa Thursdays. A moment of magic, if ever there was one.
Finally, a bit of pure unsubstantiated speculation on my part.
Some have suggested that RVP had it in for some players. Those players who did not bow to his will and fan is enormous ego. Ramsey and Andrey, apparently, were two of them. If that is the case I understand . Why should Arshavin bow down to any player? And if he did not like Judas, then that’s a good thing as it turns out . He was right not to like the prick. It could though explain his rapid exclusion from the team when Judas was king.
I love Arshavin and I will miss him more than anyone.
Positively Arsenal 