A measly four goals and we conceded one against that shower of second raters.

Well that’s what you might think reading twitter, blogs and listening to Sky pundits. But lets not forget than United struggled to a rather fortunate one nil win at the Old Toilet recently.

Now I am not going to say we beat a good team. Because they were rubbish. But the reason they were rubbish is quite simple . We made it so.

Right from the off they were totally outclassed. Not for one minute did we allow them to get a little fingerhold, let alone a foothold .

We did everything well. Chances were made, but due to mainly last ditch defending we only scored one goal before half time. Although how we did not get a penalty when our ex-goal stopper most blatantly brought Giroud down, is something known only to the cyclist in black.

The game was never allowed to be a contest to speak of, but it was definitely over within five minutes of the restart, when Gervinho cut the ball back to Santi for the second.

I can’t think of anyone who did not play well. But Gervinho and Santi were nothing short of magnificent.

Some armchair experts on twitter were still asking after the game: “why is Gervinho starting ahead of AOC and Podolski”?

Really????

Really?  Did they watch the game?

People judging him on preconceived ideas and past lapses is sickening. The club has a big investment in him and his fragile temperament. I don’t know about the rest of you, but he excites me when on the ball.  People talk about players giving us something different, well he sure as hell fits that particular bill.  Man of the match for me.  He scored the opening goal and assisted the next two. Well done son.

Another player recently labeled not good enough by the ignorant malcontents is Aaron Ramsey. Well here is the thing.  He is more than just good enough. He is becoming majestic. He was majestic in fact.

Some of the play in second half was breathtaking. Triangles became quadrangles became pentagons then hexagons. The movement and quick passing was something to behold. I have not seen another team in the Premiership come close to it. Despite what the pundits try to tell us. Not even close

Game two of our ten cup finals won in style.

I hesitate to say this but I don’t see how anyone can expect to walk straight back into the team, not Jack, not Theo.  I dare say they will, but it will be harsh on the lads who have to make way.

And a special mention to Rosicky, who once again showed he is the best piece of deadwood currently playing anywhere.

Saturday at 4.45 pm was a good time to be a Positive.

The first  post (by @apra_gooner) coming through our new alliance with the facebook group commonly known as OTBAG 

The Gunners host The Royals in a crucial game on the and we’re expecting no less than 3 points from the game against a side that’s languishing in the bottom and at the brink of relegation after five loses in a row. Reading are 8 points away from safety and with Nigel Adkins taking in charge this week; here’s to hoping that he can re-create the ‘magic’ from his early Premier League days at Southampton when they faced us!

In the reverse fixture in December Santi Cazorla scored a brilliant hat trick as we romped home 5-2. The highlight of that game was our blitzkrieg attack, especially from the left where Podolski and Gibbs were brilliant. Poldi in particular looked very menacing, cutting into the Reading defense like a surgeon. The experienced German has started to form a budding bromance with Giroud, which is reminiscent of Bobby and Henry. The two have already combined for many a promising offensive play this season. Podolski might get a start today with Cazorla moving to the No.10 and Oxlade Chamberlain looks to occupy the right flank replacing Theo Walcott who is nursing his groin strain that he picked during the practice for the England’s world cup qualifier.

Moving on to the centre of the park, yesterday we received disheartening news that Abou Diaby had picked up an injury in training and was likely to be out for the rest of the year. Injuries have been especially unkind to this extremely talented player and we wish him a speedy recovery and pray that he comes back fit and raring to go. The injury doesn’t leave the Boss in a state of polylemma as he has enough potent options to choose from with Ramsey and Coquelin who can play in Diaby’s role. Aaron Ramsey is likely to start along with Mr. Sexy Hair and we’ve already seen this combination being much disciplined and deal with the opposition attack with prudence.

One sweet headache for Arsene is getting the experienced. Sagna back to full fitness but with Jenkinson doing really good during the Frenchman’s absence; he might get the nod ahead of Sagna after two consecutive clean sheets.

ARSENAL TEAM NEWS:
OUT: Gibbs(Illness), Jack Wilshere(Ankle), Walcott(Groin strain), Diaby(Cruciate ligament)
Team: Fabianski, Szczesny, Jenkinson, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Giroud, Rosicky, Gervinho, Coquelin, Podolski, Cazorla, Chamberlain,

READING TEAM NEWS:
OUT: Federici(Ankle), Kebe(Groin), Guthrie(Knee), Jason Roberts(Hip)
Team: Federici, Kelly, Shorey, Mariappa, Morrison; Karacan, Leigertwood, McAnuff, McCleary; Hunt, Le Fondre, Andersen, Gunter, Pearce, Carrico, Guthrie, Robson-Kanu, Pogrebnyak

PLAYERS TO WATCH
ARSENAL: Santi Cazorla.
Cazorla has been in brilliant form and having dominated the reverse fixture already, he is our man to watch.

READING: Adam Le Fondre.
Having notched up ten goals in the season already, Le Fondre is the man to watch for Reading.

Guest post by Jeff (@jeff_ozule)

Wenger was once advised to go and watch an impressive young Right back who had played  a handful of games for Charlton. He was said to have pace and the heart of a warrior,a tall lad who never stops trying.

Best of all, he was a life time Gooner. Not just any gooner. Take a look at his room. He was Arsenal through and through.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that player scouted then was our very own Corporal Jenkinson.

Born in 1992, Jenkinson has earned a meteoric rise to prominence in just 2 years. Of course Arsene was immediately impressed in this young half finished English lad. For a fee of just £1m, Wenger ,with his eye for a bargain, must have rubbed his hands together, delighted in knowing he has just found another gem, one who in the long run would prove him right in thinking so as he grew to be the Sagna successor that he was envisioned to be.

Immediately thrown into the deep for his league debut against Liverpool at Anfield in Sagna’s absence, that was followed with a key performance against Udinese where you saw glimpses of what he could be capable of. This was followed by that infamous game against Man Utd in our 3rd league game of the season with only one point from the previous 2 games. Its safe to say Jenkinson had a torrid time when starting off his Arsenal career. Despite providing an assist for Van Persie, he didn’t finish the match at Old Trafford as he was later sent off. One of the lasting images for many from that game was one of him arguing with Walcott and I think that moment and the performance in that game did establish an initial mental block in many fans that was held against any evidence of his ability. Let’s not forget though that the whole team played badly as we lost that day (I could go on and defend why we lost by so much or even lost at all but I probably shouldn’t dig up too many memories of that day)

However, there was something I noticed about Jenkinson that day: he always tried. He never gave up, always tried and tried even if it came to an unsuccessful end. This is the stand out ability of many that Jenkinson possesses, you are always sure he will try and never give up,  When a player works so hard for the team, even when mistakes are made, such a player is always appreciated (however not always in the case of Ramsey, I have no idea why fans don’t appreciate him). If only this  attitude was always shown by more players , we could have had a different animal of a team.

I have always maintained that player by player our team is almost as good as city or Chelsea and better that Manchester United,bar their striking department. We need more players to play with the determination and heart that young Jenkinson displays, with the same attitude of never giving up, never stopping to try and never shying away from a difficult moment and grabbing it by the scruff of the neck.

Since that day however, Jenkinson,with Arsene’s guidance, has traveled from conference footballer to capped England international in just 2 years. He’s gotten to the point where many legitimately consider it an even fight between him and Sagna for playing as starting right back for us. His tireless, lung busting performances have left many positive lasting memories this season, whether it is chasing down Agbonlahor, tackling the ball and running back just as fast on offense or it is speeding in from nowhere trying to block an effort against Bayern Munich or that look on his face as he scored the equalizer in the last minute of stoppage time to force extra time in that crazy 7-5 against Reading.

And he isn’t done yet. As part of the club’s English core, he has pledged his future to us and is improving at a rate that will soon put him among the best at his role for many years to come.

All hail Corporal Jenkinson, I have no doubt that he is going to be an Arsenal Legend one day.

We bet he really is

In memory of Richard Briers, who I’m sure we all recall for his startling portrayal of Malvolio in the Renaissance Theatre Company production of Twelfth Night, I thought I’d watch a couple of old episodes of The Good Life. OK OK so it maybe it wasn’t Malvolio. I’ll admit it, the first thing we all thought of when we heard Briers had finally succumbed to fags and shuffled off this mortal coil was his King Lear at Stratford. Wasn’t it? No?

Roobarb then.

I mention this world renowned thespian who’s career spanned several decades of radio, stage and screen roles and all you lot can think of is a cartoon dog. That’s like remembering Pat Rice for his glasses. For shame. So anyway, I’m watching the Good Life and I’ve made it through to episode two of the first series and I’m struck pretty forcibly by how much time has elapsed since Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry first burst into our living rooms with their cutting edge comedy. I can’t help but realise just how much the world had altered without me noticing. I had thought when I downloaded the torrent that it would be a timeless treat like Hancock, Fawlty Towers or Blackadder. Humour doesn’t change, I reasoned, even if the sets and the lighting have improved since the mid seventies.

But when they tried introducing the cockerel to the chickens and it refused to leave it’s crate, Tom turned to Barbara and asked “Do think he’s queer?” and she didn’t bat an eyelid. Sweet, cherubic little Felicity Kendall just let the casual homophobia slip passed her without losing her impish grin and it dawned on me not just how much things had changed without me noticing, but how I had missed  the precise moment when the wheels of life had turned and taken us down a more enlightened road.

I’ve been pondering on how and why a similar evolution has overtaken so many of us where international football is concerned. As recently as 2002 I was following the story of David Beckham’s metatarsal through the sports pages of the Guardian as if it was the most natural thing in the world about which to give a fig. His free kick against Greece was to me as important a goal as I’d seen that season, and the listless capitulation to Brazil in the quarter final left me with an empty despair I couldn’t put into words. Whereas, in stark contrast, this week, while I am of course aware that there have been international matches played, I have no idea who England were pitted against nor what the score might have been. I honestly could not care any less if I tried.

I always used to feel slightly embarrassed festooning my bar with union jack bunting and felt the need to apologise to the non football and non nationalistic customers during any major tournament, so buying into the whole flag waving jingoistic bollocks that went with it never sat that easily with me. But I did wear the replica shirt and while you would still get a punch in the mouth for racism in my pub any amount of chest beating, flag waving, patriotic nonsense was (until the quarter finals) acceptable. Nowadays I regard the internationals as an opportunity to watch as our players, carefully nurtured by the greatest coach any of them will ever know, lovingly taught the beautiful game in the best possible surroundings and among the finest squad ever assembled, are suddenly plunged into teams alongside Wayne Rooney, Lord Bale Of Nazareth the Patron Saint of Stupid Journalists, and (God spare me) James fucking Milner. And I just cannot stomach it. Just the thought of watching Theo as he is hugged by Ashley Cole and Stevie G is enough to drive me back to drink. So how did this change come about?

I know I’m not alone in having undergone this transmutation. I also know that many of you never gave a damn about the British national teams in the first place and given that you live on entirely different continents, I can’t say I blame you. Some people have suggested that the presence of more Arsenal players in the England line up might help but I’m not so sure that putting Humpty together again is ever going to be that simple. As long as they schedule these stupid games right in the middle of our season I can’t ever imagine being anything other than hostile. What did Arsene say about cars? Actually I think he may have been quoting Gérard Houllier, either way it went something like “what the national coaches are doing is like taking the car from my garage without even asking permission. They will then use the car for ten days and abandon it in a field without any petrol left in the tank. We then have to recover it, but it is broken down. Then a month later they will come to take your car again, and for good measure you’re expected to be nice about it.” and really that is the size of it. When you consider the financial restrictions that we have had to struggle to overcome in recent years and then factor in the unimaginable and totally unprecedented levels of injuries with which our necessarily slender squad has been faced, then any first choice player going off and getting hospitalised playing for some team other than the Arsenal is unacceptable. Unforgivable in fact. And be honest we’ve certainly had more than our fair share of Fifa casualties.

So maybe that’s it, perhaps I’ve learned to associate the internationals with an interruption to the main event and a chance for someone to break my team. But I also wonder if the advent of the internet and Sly Sports money hasn’t played it’s part. Back when there was less football on TV the internationals were, like the cup final, a big deal. A chance to actually see foreign players you otherwise only read about with their nasty diving, cheating, skilful ways. There was also a sense that it’s what we as football fans did. We came together when the English champions played in Europe and we came together behind the English national team when they played Johnny foreigner. But just as my views outside of football developed and became less those of my father’s generation and closer to something a reasonable human being could be comfortable with, so my attitude to international football changed. Of course the increasingly cosmopolitan make up of Arsenal’s playing staff assisted in this process and being able to watch these exotic players week in week out on my laptop was the final nail in the coffin for the old ways.

I can no more laugh at Tom and Barbara and their queer cock jokes than I can wrap myself in a St George’s flag and cheer for Scott Parker.  It isn’t 1977 any more and even if I can still enjoy the Sex Pistols and even if the English national team still play to the same tactical methods that were already out of date back then, there are some things I suppose we just grow out of. Why would I need to watch England, Holland or Germany once in a blue moon when I can watch Arsenal, Ajax and Dortmund any time I want just by typing them into a search engine?

Do I miss it? Like I miss wobbly sets, bad stereotypes and 3:4 aspect ratios.

This week I shall attempt to stretch news until it is unrecognisable. It will be thinner, it will be weaker and, most of all, it will be brief.

First up is a brand new feature called ‘Embarrassing Dads’. Wojciech Szczesny’s father spoke to a member of the press to complain about the treatment of his son at Arsenal. He implied that Szczesny junior’s poor run of form was down to the manager and that he had played through injuries to help the club. Wojciech was quick to distance himself from the comments and is believed to be refusing to come out of his room. There is now a stand-off in the Szczesny household with threats of pocket money being withheld. This one has the potential to run and run.

In the absence of any first team action, many eyes were fixed on the U-21s and their tie against Manchester United. Conor Henderson was on set-piece detail and cracked the bar with a free kick from distance. (I may use that exact term later in the post.) Arsenal were a goal down but very briefly as the Irish midfielder drew level with a thumped penalty after Hector Bellerin was brought down in the box. Bellerin continued in this attacking vein and went on to pinch the winner in the 90^th minute. A cross from Henderson was knocked to the edge of the box and the right-back smashed it home. 1-0 and you F*%&ed it up!

Next came Carl Jenkinson’s interview. The young full-back stated that he will fight to earn himself more caps, having been left out of England’s squad this time around. Jenks turned his back on his mother’s native land of Finland to play for England. Mrs Jenkinson is said to be unimpressed by this and has begun talks with Maciej Szczesny about how best to deal with the situation.

Abou Diaby spoke to Arsenal player about his newfound relative fitness and the measures he’s taking to ensure it lasts. He attributes his new staying power to dietary changes. It will take a lot of discipline and mental strength for Abou to continue the new eating plan to prevent another flair up of his chronic rickets.

Theo Walcott was forced out of the England squad with a “minor groin/hip injury”. Whether this hampers the rest of Theo’s season remains to be seen. Tests have been carried out and one concerned physio called it “a very wide injury indeed”.

And finally, the NextGen series continued last night as Terry Burton’s U-19s took on The CSKAs of Moscow. The game was held at The Grove and there were several thousand in attendance. There was no score at the break but Arsenal were looking the most likely. Several players shone on the night with Yennaris, Gnabry and Akpom being particularly influential throughout. Another strong performance came from Thomas Eisfeld. The young German was on set-piece detail and cracked the bar with a free-kick from distance. (I told you.) The only goal came from an excellent run by Serge Gnabry who played a one-two with Bellerin and passed the ball coolly by the keeper and into the net. Arsenal will now play the semi-final against other Russian team in the competition, the highly rated Chelski of St. Petersburg.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.

Up the Arsenal!

This is a continuation of my series about Arsene and dispelling some of the myths ingrained in arguments that people constantly make against him to highlight some imaginary incompetence that only exists in their thought processes. People make a really big deal about “square pegs in round holes” in terms of players being played out of position and even use it as another reason to claim Arsene isn’t a great manager. What people seem unwilling to accept is that players can thrive in positions other than what they’re advertised or well known as playing in. Look at the likes of Gilberto Silva and Emmanuel Petit, both have played as CBs for their national teams and were converted into outstanding defensive minded midfielders here (and as rumours have it, this was our intention when pursuing Vertonghen as well).

Here are 4 examples from the greatest team English football has ever seen. Seems square pegs do fit rather well into round holes when they mould themselves to that role and arguably end up as better players than they ever could have been in their originally intended role.

Growing up, wanted to be a striker and played the role at the youth levels, but at the age of 20 became the starting left back for us and one of the best we’ve had in our history despite the acrimonious departure and soured relations with the fans since that time — Ashley Cole

Signed as a player who could provide cover in defensive midfield and was transformed into Lee Dixon’s successor at right back — Lauren

Left winger while developing at the youth level, flopped at the same role in Italy and then moved to Arsenal where he was converted into a striker, arguably the greatest of the Premier League era — Henry

A promising young player who had grown up playing attacking midfield and striker he was first signed to be a versatile utility player, filling in at defensive midfielder and then right back before converting into his final role as an Invincibles center back – Kolo Toure

3 out of 4 of our Invincibles back line were not defenders to start with

What this indicates to me, and should to most, is that players with a certain skillset CAN be moulded into a completely different kind of role that benefits the team. One non-Arsenal example for this is Carles Puyol who started his career as goalkeeper, switched to defensive midfield due to injury and then ended up as a right back and finally his position that we all know him famously for, center back. This is similar to the path followed by Lauren and the move to center back from the right is one that could be envisioned for someone like Sagna in the current team too.

I think what people don’t realize is that players adapt and learn constantly, especially when younger. They also need to realize that players are bought based on their potential ability to fit into the system and formation that we play here and not necessarily what they play elsewhere. What matters is the adaptation and the willingness of the player to learn and do what the team requires him to do. One example that came up during a recent twitter discussion was Carlos Vela, whom we tried to mould into a left sided wide forward. There are many arguments that were made during his time here regarding the chances he got here as a striker and what his best position was. However, if anyone has followed his performances in Spain before and after his time at Arsenal, you would notice that he has thrived on the left and not through the middle as many (allegedly including the player himself) have insisted. What was seemingly missing during his time here was the very willingness that he somehow shows in Spain. A similar argument could also be made about Bendtner who was played out wide to help develop him further but it was something that the player himself was unwilling to learn from.

In terms of the current team, there are people who insist that the following players being allegedly out of position and hence not doing their jobs as they should.

a. Arteta is not a defensive midfielder – This makes several assumptions, one is that we need a pure DM (I blame Makelele for leaving a lasting image in people’s heads that all DMs need to be like him) and another that Arteta doesn’t do the job that a DM is supposed to do. I find this extremely odd considering he played this position growing up and his style, based on keeping it simple and distributing the ball when maintaining possession and intelligent positioning when defending, is very similar to what Gilberto did for our Invincibles team. Our system with a 3 man midfield alternates between 2 in front of the back line when defending and just one when going forward and Arteta does this very well. He has been exposed at times this season due to the lack of an ideal partner to help him out in the absence of Diaby (the bridge man as is highlighted in this excellent piece). To highlight just what Arteta has done well, he’s proven to be one of the top 5 midfielders in the league in terms of tackles and interceptions per game and is the best distributor of the ball in the league, the two things that you most expect from his role in our system.

b. Podolski is not a left winger – again I feel it is necessary to mention that we don’t have pure wingers in our system and haven’t had one since Overmars as we play wide attacking midfielders (like Pires or Nasri or Arshavin have done) or wide forwards (like Podolski and Theo in the current system or Reyes in the past). The other thing that people seem to forget is that Podolski has over 100 caps for Germany playing in the very role he plays for us and almost all of his excellent production of goals and assists in his first season has come from starts on the left. This isn’t even a case of Arsene moulding a player into a different role to what he’s used to but rather Arsene putting him into a position that brings out the best of his abilities in the current system. People even argue that Podolski doesn’t do enough defensively on the left but I say these people haven’t seen him play enough with a left back who works well with him. The two examples I give here are his Euro performance against Netherlands and his game against Liverpool at Anfield. The first game he was subdued offensively but also vital in helping subdue Robben on the right flank while the second, heat maps on Arsenal.com reveal rather startlingly that his average position was deeper on the left than Gibbs, thus putting to rest the myth that he doesn’t belong on the left side.

c. Ramsey isn’t a winger – he isn’t, but neither was Benayoun last season and again I must repeat that we don’t play pure wingers. However the sort of work ethic, possession and desire to help to the fullback that Benayoun provided in the 2^nd half of last season was what was expected of Ramsey when played out wide. There have been games where he has excelled at it, the most significant one being the away draw at City when he was one of our best players. Playing him out wide also served an even more important purpose, improving his decision making and composure on the ball and you could argue that the same sort of development cycle occurred with Diaby when he frequently played out wide when people couldn’t comprehend the thinking behind it. All this improvement is clearly in evidence in these last few games when Ramsey has again been one of our best players in midfield (and even when slotting in as a part time right back) .I can go into details about how playing on the wings helps that, but it is better explained in Auclair’s book on Henry – “Lonely at the Top”.

d. Arshavin should have played through the middle – this one I’ve saved for last as people believe Arshavin would have been better for us playing CAM behind the striker. He is definitely very good in that role however some points do get in the way of saying we misused him. His best and worst seasons for us have both been as a free roaming left sided wide attacking midfielder for us. So I don’t see how playing him there hasn’t got the best out of him – especially considering his first 2.5 seasons contributed 58 goals/assists in 82 appearances, essentially proving that he contributed a goal or an assist at least in every other game. Another key point is, if you ever actively look at Arshavin playing through the middle (or dig up old Zenit games) you’ll find that he thrives on a free roaming role and the majority of his best moves happen when he drifts out to the left (the position we played him in). The best example is from last year’s Euro game against the Czech Republic where he was quite an influential player, his heat map from that conclusively proves that even if starting through the middle, his main areas of contribution are in the very areas that we played him in (and gave him a free role for)

These are again but a few examples of players who have been played out of position for their own benefit or for the benefit of the team and there are several others who do come to mind as doing excellent jobs in their “out of position” roles such as Flamini playing LB for most of our tremendous Champions’ League run without conceding. The point is that, this is yet another accusation against Arsene that is well off the mark and even if the benefits of the move aren’t visible instantly or even comprehensible at first glance to some, Arsene knows what he’s doing by putting a player in a specific role whether it is to develop their skills or benefit the team tactically or both.

So Arsene Wenger, is he clueless to play certain players out of position as he is often accused? Or is he a visionary to develop certain skills or to mould a player into something special in a position you wouldn’t have expected?

A weekend with no football doesn’t have to be the vacuum we all dread. Look on it as an opportunity to spend precious time with your loved ones. To catch up on a few jobs around the house or maybe see if an elderly neighbour would like a hand getting the garden sorted out.  There are plenty of ways to fill the time you would normally spend obsessing about Arsenal. One thing you shouldn’t do under any circumstances is waste a second trawling through the internet reading Arsenal blogs. There is no match therefore there is no Arsenal ergo there is nothing for bloggers to blog about. Go on, get out, ride your bike, walk the dogs teach the Myna bird to whistle Ave Maria but for goodness sake don’t sit in brooding and trying to find out interesting Arsenal related facts which quite simply don’t exist.
Ah yes you might say but what if our players got hurt or played well or played badly in the internationals? Doesn’t that matter? They are Arsenal players after all, even if they are wasting their talents in pointless fifa-fixtures. Well you see that’s all well and good but if they did get stretchered off they’ll either play for us in the next game or they won’t and we’ll find out then. It’s pretty futile to spend the intervening days speculating, it won’t change the outcome. Instead of getting yourself in a funk over that which you cannot change, here’s an idea; get out and try to reconnect with football. Real football. Go to the park and watch a bunch of lads or lasses as they scurry about in the mud. Get a ball and go to the local five a side court and have a kick about with your mates. We all spend and waste so much time on the internet I think it’ll do us good to use the international break as an opportunity rather than a curse.
George reminded me yesterday that we are in danger of becoming too po faced and serious about football. Tactics and transfers and boardroom shenanigans – it can drag you down and squeeze the life out what is supposed to be a diverting pastime and not an all consuming obsession. We were chatting about football for pleasure rather than as a nail biting, arse clamping sweat drenched weapon of self flagellation which it all too often is for fans trapped in the information age.
Years back, before the knees popped and the back cracked I actually got a team going . Leaning on the bar one night and talking football related shite, myself and a few drinking buddies realised we all loved playing the game but were to a man so utterly crap that we’d never got to play for the school team. I made the rugby team but that was because no one else wanted to play. We only had fourteen players in a game that demanded fifteen in each side. But as for my true love, football, well let’s face it, the school’s first and second elevens were dominated by the chisel chinned good looking blokes who beat up people  for their lunch money, were shaving at the age of 13 and got to snog all the really fit girls. So we decided then and there to form a side made up of all those blokes who just loved to play but could never get into a proper team.

We got the forms from the local FA, attended the AGM and organised sponsorship to pay for the kit, argued over what colour shirts we should wear, found a home ground and lo it came to pass that Reg’s Bar First and Only Eleven was formed. We were shit. Unbelievably, catastrophically poor. Some of us were keen, some were vaguely fit or had been once upon a time. But mostly we were dire. Our keeper was about five feet two on tip toes and took so much acid at weekends that he often could be seen saving shots that hadn’t happened yet, our centre forward’s warm up routine consisted of jogging from the changing room to the touchline and throwing up last night’s cider. Myself and the other central midfielder were in those days partial to a bit of waccy baccy and often shared a half time reefer in his car which was anything but performance enhancing. I remember once trying to kick the ball hard enough to actually reach the goal from the penalty spot while we were warming up before a Sunday morning match. The ball trickled agonisingly forward then held up in a nasty divot three feet from the goal. Our keeper dived high and to his right. That was the closest I ever came to scoring.

 
But you see none of it mattered because we had such a great time. After a couple of seasons rooted to the bottom of the lowest division the thing got spoiled by proper footballers joining in and the advent of training sessions and tactics but until then it was just the best team I could imagine being part of. It must have been during the era when Eric Cantona played for Leeds and they had that Ooh Ah Cantona chant because we stole and adapted it for our side. In the clubhouse afterwards you could barely hear the guy calling the numbers for the meat raffle over our lustful chorus of Ooh Ah Reg’s Bar, I said ooh Ah Reg’s Bar. There was a famous game which we lost 11 – 1 and our goal scorer was carried from the pitch by the rest of us shoulder high like Bobby Moore in ’66. The opposition, big brutal print factory workers unaware of what Robert Maxwell was up to with their pensions, just stared at us in utter bewilderment. You could see them thinking ‘Didn’t we just muller that shower of shit?’ But they weren’t to know it was our first ever goal, we’d never drawn so much as a save from an opposition keeper before. Similarly when we first managed to lose by less than double figures and the singing went on throughout the afternoon, the team that had crushed us by nine clear goals left the club house shaking their heads bemused and unable to fathom the wild abandon of our celebrations.
It’s too easy to get obsessed with the big prize, the must win, the nit picking, combing through of the minutiae of every performance. Too dangerous and too slippery a slope. Try not to forget why we ever started watching in the first place. We actually enjoy the game for it’s own sake, don’t we? So go on, push your cap to a jaunty angle, thrust your hands in your pocket and whistle a merry tune as you walk down the street this week, and if you see a vaguely spherical stone why not try to dribble it round the lamppost and see if you can’t score through the next open gateway. It’s supposed to be fun after all.

This season so far hasn’t been the greatest for many Arsenal fans according to the standards they’ve become accustomed to set by Arsene Wenger himself. To quote him, “”If you eat caviar every day it’s difficult to return to sausages.” However, if you look at the narrative doing the rounds lately, it is almost like people believe the caviar was just an accident from someone who isn’t even capable of providing sausages. Arsene is currently accused repeatedly of a lot of things ranging from the absurd “he doesn’t know tactics” to the confusing “he doesn’t coach his players” to the hilarious “he doesn’t know how to identify talent”.

Normally, these arguments would be made by those who are either unaware or just blinded by temporary frustration and an inexplicable dislike (to put it lightly) of the club’s greatest ever manager and it is probably easier to ignore them rather than explain things to those who would never listen. Unfortunately, these arguments are now being made by people who should know better especially when they claim to know all about Arsene Wenger and are self-professed experts on tactics and coaching and I feel there is a need for a reminder of why the accusations thrown at Arsene are well off the mark. I will attempt to explain this by breaking it down into a series of posts that deal with specific broad accusations that are thrown his way and attempting to prove why these are unwarranted.

Tactical Rigidity, Lacks Adaptability

This is an interesting accusation, especially when you consider how the team has evolved over the years. From playing a pure 4-4-2 (or 4-4-1-1) from the time of his arrival, to evolving that into more of a 4-1-3-1-1 during the Invincibles era to the modern day 4-3-3 that incorporates aspects of the 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 in it, Arsene has undoubtedly seen it fit to adapt the formation to suit the modern era while balancing it with his own ideals of playing pure attacking football that has become synonymous with Arsenal over the years. I find it rather odd that people who have observed this tactical and formation change over the years find it so easy to accuse him of lacking adaptability or even more hilariously, of being stuck in the past. One could even argue that the oft declared demand for a 4-4-2 is more likely one coming from fond memories of the past rather than one adapted to the needs of the modern game.

Further evidence of his adaptability is how well he has also repeatedly adapted his system to compensate for the loss of a player (or multiple players). He did it in 2005 to compensate for losing Vieira, 2007 to compensate for the loss of Henry, then in 2011 for Cesc. To a lesser extent, its happened now as well to compensate for the loss of RVP as our offense has distributed the goalscoring rather effectively and will only improve as the chemistry improves (consider that our front 6 never played together before this season). For those who doubt that, we have been inconsistent this season yes, but we have still scored 55 in 29 games, just 3 less than we had at the same point last year.

I’m sure some will readily counter that “we’re not talking about long term changes, but on a game to game basis” – so here’s an example from a recent game. It might not have worked to a fruitful result (as everyone knows) but before the home game vs Bayern, there were many who were rather happy with this “tactical” approach, where Theo was put in the middle to use his pace and movement to maybe run in behind the slower CB pairing of Van Buyten and Dante. Ramsey and Cazorla were meant to rotate and help Sagna out with Ribery and Alaba (both of whom were nullified)on the right while on the left, Podolski was supposed to help part time LB Vermaelen. Tactics are all well and good for as long as the players execute them and unfortunately for us, as well as we worked defensively on the right, we worked as poorly on the left with Podolski and Vermaelen both having poor games. They had zero understanding and didn’t work together well as a consequence.

The point of discussing this, despite the game being a result we’d all like to forget, is that, a game/opposition specific tactical plan was there against Bayern, just like there is always one against other teams and the tactical includes players being given the freedom to express themselves creatively. However, the execution by some players on the pitch wasn’t there and that let us down. A switch in personnel and a couple of weeks later, we proceeded to convincingly beat Bayern, one of the favourites in the Champions’ League this season, at their home ground, without conceding and limiting them to mostly shots from outside the box. The tactics were roughly the same, however the difference this time was that the personnel executed the tactics exactly as instructed, especially the back line which was far better co-ordinated and effective in choosing when to step up and when to drop deep.

This could have been passed off as a fluke by many of those skeptics but last weekend at Swansea proved that it was no fluke with a similarly effective defensive performance highlighted against Swansea, one of the toughest away visits in the league. I could cite several more examples where tactical changes for a specific game have reaped huge rewards, whether it is playing Benayoun out wide against Spurs last year or Walcott through the middle against Reading, but I could be here all day doing that.

The point I’m trying to make is that the accusations that he doesn’t do tactics and doesn’t keep his opponents in mind is well off the mark. I am not suggesting that the analysis of opponents is at a Mourinho-esque dossier level but it doesn’t have to be at that level either especially when there is a strong footballing philosophy at heart. What I am suggesting is that with Arsene, a tactical change could often be quite subtle rather than something obvious like changing from a passing game to hoof ball and also, making a tactical change need not be at the cost of changing footballing philosophy. The players can be drilled constantly to ensure they play just Wengerball at its final level but tactical variations are still possible even with a slight variation in team selection.

I guess the thinking behind these accusations is that maybe they expect tactical variation to be obvious and drastic to count as one, and if that is the case, then it is more likely  that mindset is in need of change rather than Arsene needing to do more tactically. I would also like to point out that there is a lot of merit in the ideology that sticking to your gameplan and football philosophy is a key foundation of the tactics you seek to incorporate (something that Laudrup also does and is hailed as innovative rather than tactically inept for some reason). Players executing what they’re asked to do, as evidenced by the Bayern and Swansea wins, can be just as effective as more reactive changes that seek to nullify the opposition threat more than sticking to our own principles. I will conclude this post by saying that I personally believe that the execution of the tactics by the players on the pitch matters more than the tactics itself and in a team that is relatively new (most of whom have come together in the last 18-24 months), you will see the execution improve (and happen more consistently) with chemistry, cohesion and teamwork and we’ve all seen what the team is capable of when executing the tactical plan.

I can imagine several counter points arising in people’s heads ranging from “this doesn’t explain poor defending” to “he puts players out of position” to “he doesn’t actively coach his players and tell them what to do”. The counter arguments to questions like this and more will follow in more posts in this series.

This time last week I was writing about the Arsenal first team playing yet again in the knock-out stage of the Uefa Champion’s league, then at the weekend I looked at our vital premiership away game with the league cup winners of Swansea. Exciting, nail biting encounters with much at stake, the very stuff we all signed up for and the kind of matches that define our season. And then like a child who walks through the bright lights and loud pulsing rhythms of a funfair only to find himself suddenly outside the line of marquees and beyond the rides and candy floss stalls in a cold darkness surrounded by whisps of mist and chilled by a wintry wind, we find ourselves plunged into the miserable wastelands of the International Break.

Could it have come at a worse time? We certainly had a good shape and were winning in some style before it landed like a plague carrying dirty bomb in the midst of the footballing schedule.  Funnily enough we always seem to feel the IB comes at the worst possible moment. I think it’s probably because it means we have to go without our football fix, let’s face it there isn’t a good time to have no Arsenal to watch. To then be presented with the possibility of our players coming back injured after performing for teams who we don’t support and who don’t pay their wages makes the whole thing as easy to digest as a dry shredded wheat in a sandstorm.

I don’t know about you but I can’t discuss football at work. My colleagues are at the mental age of an eight year old in the early nineteen seventies when it comes to the beautiful game. They believe everything they hear on the radio or read in the back pages. Their ideas and opinions are anything but their own and anything but informed. We will only end up coming to blows if we try to talk sport.  International breaks are the absolute worst though. Suddenly we are all supposed to give a hoot about England, talk about the manager and players he picks as if we care. Honestly,  tripping merrily through the mine field of sport related chit chat has been an exercise in obfuscation and temper control all week.

And so you can only imagine my relief at discovering the cameras were at Underhill last night. It was the second part of our Arsenal midweek methadone treatment. We couldn’t watch the ladies take a first leg lead in their Champions League match but we could and I certainly did watch the reserves (or whatever the Sam Hill they’re called these days) take on Man United’s youngsters. Many of the boys pulling on the red and white are familiar names having featured in first team matches on several occasions. But it only took three minutes for the less well known Hector Bellerin to announce himself with probing fast attacking forays down the right hand side. All too often mass defence prevented any clear opening and in the end too many short passes in and around the box ended in lost possession.

Coqelin and Eisfeld’s presence in the middle of the park provided a really classy fulcrum but it was Henderson who had the first decent shot from a free kick sending a skidding effort in to test the young United keeper after eight minutes. This was one way traffic. We were passing crisply and accurately at speed, and United were reduced to long punts up-field and scraps of possession. Martinez didn’t touch the ball until the eleventh minute and yet somehow the next thing he had to do was pick it out of the net half an hour later. It was a long shot by someone or other out of nothing and after we had dominated most of the half. Bellerin especially had caught the eye with quick feet, and direct running. United’s celebrations were mercifully short lived however, as Henderson equalised from the spot after that man Bellerin had bewitched the United defence once again, and they resorted to the Man United tactics we know and love by scything him down. Don’t worry boys, if Old Red Nose ever picks you for the first team you will never be penalised for kicking a skilful Arsenal player whether in or outside the box.

I’ve mentioned before that for a time in my adolescence I used to go to watch Bristol Rovers. I was taken to Eastville as a young lad by a neighbour and his dad but went more regularly when they played at Twerton Park. The Azteca Twerton was then and almost certainly still is now, famous for it’s sloping profile and watching the teams scaling the slope at Underhill last night certainly brought back memories. I could never decide whether it was better to unleash Rovers on the down hill run in the first half in the hope that they might build a lead before the opposition had gravity on their side, or save the advantage for the second half when the visitors would be tired. In truth it mattered little, as the ball spent most of it’s time flying back and forth through the air in those days the wind had a bigger influence on the match than the angle of the grass. Last night however, the ‘home’ side were determined to keep the ball on a bumpy wet surface and they certainly seemed less dominant in the second half whilst scaling the face of the pitch. Either that or Man U came out with a bit more fight. They certainly came out pretty aggressively , Francis Coquelin was hacked down on the hour by some bloke I’ve never heard of in a horrible foul. Unlike his counterparts in the Premiership the referee had no qualms in actually punishing United players and another one went into his book. Three minutes later and Hayden was chopped down and Arsenal made their first change, like for like Eastmond for Yennaris. Slowly but surely we began to tighten the screw creating more and more chances. Eisfeld, Ansah (substitute for Watt) and the busy Hayden all went close but were stopped by last ditch tackles or wasteful finishing.

It was a familiar tale for Arsenal fans. A lot of the ball, a gradual increase in pressure but a scoreline that didn’t reflect our dominance. Having said that there were some beautiful moves, excellent passing and some players who were quite simply head and shoulders above every one else on the pitch. I’ve mentioned Bellerin, and I know our own Arsenal Andrew really rates the lad having seen him in the flesh but for me Miquel looked a class apart last night; dominant, skilful, strong and decisive. Ansah looked very good when he came on and drew yet another clumsy foul from some United player or other as we entered the final ten minutes. From the free kick Henderson should have doubled his tally and put us in the lead but contrived somehow to bend the crossbar with whoever plays in goal for United well beaten. But then, just as a draw appeared inevitable, Señor Bellarin showed impeccable calm and control to bring the ball down in the United area and lash it home.

I enjoyed seeing the youngsters who were obviously thoroughly schooled in the Wenger Way and it isn’t hard to imagine many of them stepping up if called to plug a gap in the first team. Corporal Jenks could certainly have a very useful understudy in a couple of years time and Miquel is already really close to joining the elite.

Now pass me the syringe and the rope, this international break is about to begin in earnest and the methadone can only take you so far.

Part 3 of a guest post series by Red Henry. Feel free to take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 as well. 

Where do the outrageous demands arsenal fans have, come from?

What is it in the Wenger set up that makes them remember the past with such fondness?

I hear many say that Arsenal was a big club before Wenger’s appointment. I do not wish to argue that since my idea of stature is perhaps different to that of these fans.

Let us take a peek at the true reflection of a club’s status around the world, which is none other than the official UEFA ranking system. Whether we like it or not, European competitions and achievements in Europe is what separates the really big clubs from the occasional domestic dominance one club might experience in its domestic league. Looking at Arsenal’s past there is no other era where the club was dominant in its domestic league other than the 30’s. It is important to remember that this was 80 years ago. From there on till the late 80’s the club’s success was like that of a nomad. Some here, some there, totally inconsistent.

Between the 1953 League title, until the 1989 epic at Anfield ,the club really had only one serious feature to boast about, the 71 double. You could say that between ’53 and ’89, which is 36 years, the club won the title only once. Now that is quite a big gap for a club who’s fans want to boast about “greatness”.

Until Wenger arrived, Arsenal possessed 10 champion titles scattered across (1996-1886) 110 years. If we take it as an average it brings a title every 11 years, or one per decade to keep it simple. That is not the record of a big club. To give you an idea, Madrid has 32 champion titles, Barcelona 21, Bayern Munich 22, AC Milan 18, Juventus 28, Ajax 31, Liverpool 18, Manchester United 19. Yet here we are with our ten titles thinking we are comparable to these clubs, and as fans demand to be their equal.

The fact that Wenger added 3 in the space of 7 years and could have more should give an indication to our fans that it is only through Wenger that Arsenal was going to be able to catch those teams at some point.

But how do you do that when your venue is an old 38k seat stadium and your most famous ever world class player in the modern era was Brady?

This myth about Arsenal being a big club before Wenger might apply in the narrow-minded perception of the average English football fan, but trust me the Europeans didn’t really shake in their boots at the prospect of facing Arsenal.

That United has passed Arsenal in the title count shouldn’t be used as a stick to beat Wenger with,since United has also beaten Liverpool’s record and are a club who like it or not are very very serious with their marketing. Some even accuse them for milking their historical tragedy to attract worldwide sympathy. In the world of marketing and business everything is allowed apparently. Plus United started doing what we are doing now, a decade ( and more) sooner than Arsenal did and in an era where Blackburn could win the title with the likes of Sutton. A totally different situation to today’s environment where Arsenal had to face the influx of foreign owners pumping money of dubious origin into the system.

I studied the UEFA ranking systems to give me an idea of what stature Arsenal held in the eyes of the world and to my amazement i saw this “big club” occupying positions between 79 and 36 between late 70’s and late 90’s. I have allowed for the period where clubs weren’t allowed to participate in Europe (where English clubs were at position 209 and lower) and haven’t counted them. When Arsenal was winning the 71 double ..Ajax vs Panathinaikos were playing at the Wembley final for the European cup. Have you ever heard a lot talked about of Panthinaikos? Me neither…. yet until arsenal reached the final in 2006 clubs like them were higher in the UEFA ranking system than our “big club”. I found teams like As Roma, Eindhoven, Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid amongst others who were much much higher on the list than Arsenal.

Do you know what position Arsenal occupies today and for the last decade or so?

A fluctuation between pos 4 and 6. Considering Arsenal has never won it, I’d say their co-efficient is top top class.

Who has contributed the most for that?

George Graham and his back four?

Dein?

Is it not the consistency that Wenger has brought to this club at the highest level that has placed arsenal in the elite?

16 years of continuous top four finishes domestically and 12-13 years always in Europe’s last 16. That’s what counts. A consistency that cannot be denied. A consistency that allows Arsenal to look at the big boys eye to eye, even without ever winning the top European prize, yet.

It is utterly stupid of Arsenal fans to ignore these realities and live in the “bubble” of domestic achievements, which again are scattered across a century of mediocrity with the exception of an era in the 30’s.

People don’t remember Madrid because of their Copa Del Reys nor do people remember Liverpool for their FA cups. They remember them because of the 9 and 5 respectively and the memories they have given to football fans at a global level.

It is also utterly stupid to attack the club and the manager on the basis of 6 or 7 or 8 trophyless years as the club has clearly prioritized healthy accounts and repaying their stadium rather than going for any titles.

It is a period where the fans are completely WRONG to moan about the trophy statistic.

So why do they moan?

Could it be that the media are pulling the legs of weak-minded arsenal fans who don’t know their club’s history or what status it enjoyed in pre-Wenger times?

Could it be that the rivals taunting have managed to mess with the arsenal fan’s mind and make him consider that the trophies are more important than the stability and health of the football club?

Arsenal football club chose to expand and use Wenger’s early success to launch the club to a new era. It was always on the cards that the immediate period after the move the club would focus on financial matters rather than offering Kodak moments to glory seekers. Perhaps that’s too hard a concept for the not so clever fans to come to terms with, but not for those who know what we used to be and the places we have been with Wenger at the helm.

This era of continued competence and consistent placement at the top echelons of Europe is actually unfamiliar territory for Arsenal football club. We are practically virgins. Of course this does not diminish our past domestic achievements. But it does perhaps put them into perspective.