Simon Barnett | November 30th 2011 |
Attitudes to the League Cup have changed.
Gone are the days of widespread complaints about Wenger devaluing the competition – it is now used by many clubs as a showcase for their second string, both youngsters and oldsters alike.
Us Arsenal fans have become used to watching some unknown names mix it with the known ones in these midweek adventures and I think it’s rejuvenated a competition which was seen as a dead duck a few years ago. But has Arsene got it right?
On the one hand, this is where Messrs Fabregas, Vela, Merida and Wilshere first got their chance. Seeing some of these players score superb goals, albeit often against lower league opposition has been a joy these last few years, even if not all of them have gone on to greater things in an Arsenal shirt. We’ve reached at least the quarter finals every year for what seems like a very long time indeed and nearly won it on two occasions.
The key, some would say, is the blend.
Those of you that possess a copy of the most excellent tome, Football Lexicon: A Dictionary of Usage in Football Journalism and Commentary will be aware of the following definition
Blend: Usually of youth and experience
and it is this formula that we have seen employed for most League Cup games over the last few years.
Despite the visit of Manchester City’s obscene billionaires, Arsene still saw fit to play a mainly young side last night and it nearly – nearly – worked. An excellent performance by all but a select few ended in defeat though as City won 1-0. In the end, we were undone by an end-to-end break from an Arsenal corner which wouldn’t have looked out of place on the Invincibles DVD from 2004 were it not for the fact that the team that were streaming towards the goal in great numbers were wearing blue, not red.
For the record, the likes of Frimpong, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Miquel and Coquelin were all superb last night. Whisper it quietly, but even Squillaci had a good game. Considering the quality of the players they were up against, they all performed exceptionally well, keeping the likes of Nasri, Aguero, and Johnson quiet whilst giving de Jong, Toure and Zabaleta a lot to keep them busy. But for a brilliant save from City’s reserve keeper, Oxlade-Chamberlain would have scored a thunderbolt from 30 yards and Park was unlucky to see an awkward effort from an angle clawed away.
So youth (and Squillaci) showed their mettle and did their job. Well done youth (and Squillaci).
But what about the experience aspect of the Axis Of Arsene? Surely they’re the ones to bring an element of stability and craft to proceedings, taking a bunch of raw talent and helping to mould it into a winning team? Not this time, sorry.
Our experience consisted of the likes of Chamakh, Arshavin and Benayoun – players who believe themselves to have the quality necessary to play for the first team. However, not one of them seems to be of the opinion that gaining this reward will require some level of commitment, effort or even ability.
I’ll start with Arshavin as he only came on as a substitute near the end. What is it with him? He is fairly universally liked and clearly has the talent to do well at the top level. But for 90% of the games he plays in, he looks like someone that’s never seen a football, let alone tried to kick one. If I had a tenth of a penny for every time Arshavin has tried to beat a player by dribbling directly into him from close range, I would have to take a pay cut to join Manchester City. The man is a footballing idiot. His crass stupidity was summed up last night by a corner he took in the dying seconds. Fabianski was given the all clear to go up for the corner and the penalty area was packed and ready. Andre failed to beat the first man. A professional footballer that cost £15 million to buy and untold amounts of money on a weekly basis cannot kick a stationary football from the corner quadrant into the penalty area. I could do that. Probably.
Why we bothered to get Yossi Benayoun on loan from Chelsea is totally beyond me – the man does nothing. Experience isn’t enough on it’s own – you have to be able to pass the ball to your team mates and Yossi really struggles with this aspect of the game. Combine this with a physical presence comparable to a wet paper bag and you have a player being paid a lot of money to play in place of a younger, hungrier, better one.
Which brings me to Marouane Chamakh. Where do you start with this guy? When he joined Arsenal at the start of last season, he was on fire. 10 goals in his first 17 starts was more than acceptable and his future at the club looked bright. In the 12 months since then, he has played 1487 minutes (around 16.5 games) and scored twice. One in an away defeat to Blackburn earlier this season and one at home to Leyton Orient in an FA Cup replay which we won 5-0. Let me just make that clear – 12 months, 17 games, 2 goals. He clearly doesn’t want to play for Arsenal any more so please let’s let him go. If he can’t be bothered, then nor can I. There are plenty of other players that would kill to be in his shoes and to be given the opportunities he’s been given so please, Marouane, either make some effort or stay at home.
It’s all well and good to try and mix a few youngsters with a few older heads but surely the older heads have to be able to contribute something on the pitch in terms of actual football? Some of the above clowns would struggle to get into a pub team, the way they played last night. We clearly have an abundance of talent at the club waiting for their chance – as it was pointed out to me last night, Nicklas Bendtner would have given us a lot more than Chamakh will ever do. The ones that do get an opportunity give it their all and sometimes succeed. We’re never going to succeed if we continue to flog the likes of Arshavin, Benayoun and Chamakh.
Simon Barnett | October 24th 2011 |
It is customary, in this bizarre day and age, to base your opinion of any football team on the last 7 or 8 games (or less, in some cases) that they have played. And it’s not just the fans.
Feel free to listen to the “expert” opinions that are poured forth on the BBC’s Monday Night Club on Radio 5 or Match Of The Day – you will hear people who are paid extraordinary amounts of money saying things like “<Team That’s Top Of The League> are playing very well at the moment” and “<Team That’s Near The Bottom> are struggling”. It’s not rocket science.
As a result, these sages of our time have seen fit to place our beloved Arsenal firmly in the category of The Doomed on the basis of our dreadful start to the season.
Despite this we are very slowly but very surely coming back to life, dragged up from the depths of despair by some dogged performances and a certain Mister VP.
A few wins on the spin, split by a poor defeat down the road has seen us move to a loftier position in the table and this, along with other results going our way, means that we are now closer to 2nd top than 2nd bottom. Joy. Rapture. Everything’s alright again. Isn’t it? Well that rather depends.
Those whose opinions are shaped by the ex-players who rely on our income tax for their salary will inevitably come to that conclusion. As I stressed before, the formula is simple. Read the last few results. Easy. We’re brilliant. It is, of course, more complicated than that.
The last two home games – against Sunderland and Stoke City – have shown me enough to assure me that I have absolutely no idea whether we’re any good or not. Yes, we won them both but we could well have lost them both, given a little more bad luck and a little less Dutch and Polish magic and what would Steve Claridge be saying then eh?
It’s such a fine line and we have been treading it for the whole of the season up until now. A goal scored causes a surge of confidence that is a joy to watch – until a silly mistake causes a goal conceded and it all falls apart. Who knows where we will end up by the end? No-one knows and that – right there – is why this season is putting the “go on” back into being a gooner (sorry).
These last few games (bar Sp*rs) have shown us some things that we never knew and now, for your entertainment and information (and because Alan Hansen can’t be bothered to tell you) I will pass my own judgement on them.
Let’s begin right at the very back – the area that contains possibly the most surprising element of all is that of the goalkeeper. This time last year, if someone had told me that the only part of the team that would be settled and make Arsenal fans constantly happy in twelve months time would the man between the sticks, I’d have told them that they were talking about another Arsenal. From the farce of Almunia to the farce of Fabianski via the, errr, farce of bringing back Jens Lehmann we have found stability between the sticks. Where we would be now without Szczesny is not worth thinking about. The man was in the right place at the right time and has already proved his value to the team. Sorted.
The defence that stands in front of him is, for me, as terrifying as a bag of Revels. As someone with an allergy to nuts but who loves Maltesers and Minstrels (bear with me), the humble Revel has the potential to delight and destroy in equal measure. When delving through the Revel bag of the Arsenal team, for every sure-footed, dependable stopper there is a wobbly, nervous idiot waiting to let the ball bounce on the edge of the box and create chances for the opposition, whether they like it or not. This season, Arsenal have taken this theory to new heights with, at times, these two diametrically opposite character traits being displayed by the same player – sometimes even in the same game.
Johann Djourou, Andre Santos and Carl Jenkinson have all done sterling jobs and been found wanting this season and we’re only nine games in! It’s therefore hard to be so sure of their ability as to proclaim them wonderkids or wastes of space. Who knows? Of the three, I think Santos has the best chance as he looks strong and determined – characteristics which have been lacking in recent times.
In my humble opinion, Per Mertesacker looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I was glad when we bought him as I thought he was exactly what we needed. Maybe I should watch more German football because I was clearly wrong. He is as slow as anyone I have seen in an Arsenal shirt and his decision making and ball control skills fall squarely into the sparsely occupied category of Cygan-esque. He may be one of those players who’s struggling to get up to the speed of the English game but he’d better start revving up soon or he is going to get left behind. Vermaelen clearly fits into the dependable mould and is almost fit again and Koscielny has been outstanding for a while now.
Midfield is where the doom and gloom merchants may get their way. Arteta is no replacement for Fabregas, Song is a rich blend of brilliant and awful and Walcott and Arshavin are as anonymous as it’s possible to be when standing on a large patch of grass in front of 60,000 people. However, as with the rest of the team, there are positives. Ramsey looks assured and is growing in confidence and old man Rosicky has been busy and enjoyable to watch this season. At last. But the main reason for optimism here is Gervinho. Yesterday’s Man Of The Match is everything Theo is not at the moment – dynamic, pacey, direct and confident – he is a joy to watch and is yet another superb Wenger purchase.
We all know how good RVP is and there’s no need to jump on the BBC band wagon and gush over him any more. The real problem we’re going to have is keeping him fit and holding the predatory owners of the richer clubs at bay when the time comes. To this end, we need someone else to step in and challenge Robin’s place at the head of the team. Chamakh was given that chance yesterday and he blew it. For some reason, despite not having a run in the team for ages, he seemed unwilling (or unable) to play for his place in the 65 minutes he was given and his withdrawal only served to give credence to the media’s opinion that we are a one man team. Buck up or ship out, Marouane. There are plenty of players at the club who would dearly love to be given an opportunity such as you received yesterday. If you can’t be bothered to take it, leave it for the younger ones to have a go.
Then there is the fact that we still have Wilshere and Sagna on the physio’s table, waiting to come back. Two players who would get into almost any Premier League side.
It’s all very confusing.
So now it’s up to you. Are we great, good, mediocre or terrible? As you can see from the above, I have absolutely no clue what to think. But it’s going to be quite amusing finding out.
Simon Barnett | September 22nd 2011 |
Just 46,000.
That’s all.
On Tuesday night, Arsenal Football Club only managed to entice a mere 46,000 people into their stadium to watch their reserve team play against a team from 3 divisions below them. Despite lowering their prices, it seems football’s appeal is dying and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. You can’t force people to like football.
Or can you?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that, given such a tiny crowd, those that were there must have been the real hard core fans, unable to let their team play without their vocal and passionate support. Not so.
I absolutely love the Carling Cup – since Arsene Wenger began playing the youngsters a few years ago, there has been a spring in the step of the team on these nights and some scintillating performances have resulted. I’d much rather watch the Carling Cup than the early rounds of the Champions League. But from my point of view, most people who go to these games have hardly ever been to a football match before and, it seems to me, aren’t really that interested in it anyway.
There is nothing wrong with trying to attract new fans but if people don’t like football then why do they pay money to go and watch it? The last 10 years has seen all sorts of odd behaviour creep into the way that fans watch football matches and I can’t help but think it is ruining the game that I love.
BOO
Let’s start with booing. I don’t mind admitting that I have booed people before. I hate Spurs, I hate most players that have ever played for them and there are a few others (referees mainly) who have caused me to voice my displeasure in this way in the past. But what is the justification for the fact that, when the Shrewsbury team came out of their dressing room and walked down to our end for the second half on Tuesday, a large proportion of the Arsenal fans in our corner booed them? We have only played them three times in history – beating them in an FA Cup replay in 1968 and again in 1991 -so there’s no past to get angry about. They’d nearly outplayed us in the first half but that’s hardly a reason to be so negative. It’s simply the case that the new breed of football fan – the type that’s only interested in the game because the telly told them to be – labours under the misconception that everyone hates any team that isn’t their own.
WHO?
Why would anyone go to football without knowing who the players are? Astonishing though it may be, there are “Arsenal fans” that are more than willing to pay to go and see Arsenal play without having the faintest clue who plays for them. Now whilst I realise that the team we put out on Tuesday are not exactly household names, the presence of a few youngsters in the Carling Cup is not exactly a new concept at Highbury. In this day and age, obtaining information about players, however young, who play for Arsenal is not very difficult. Five minutes of anyone’s time could have prevented the chorus of “I’ve never heard of him” that I heard when Chuks Aneke came on as a substitute. This surprise and confusion also occurs at Premier League games when fans shout “Who?” when the opposition make a change – not directed at a world class superstar as a joke but as a genuine request for further information on the identity of the new player.
SMILE
Now, photographs (he asked him knowingly). I can understand that a lot of people don’t get to go to many matches at a stadium like ours. I’m lucky. So when you do go, it’s understandable that you might want to take some photos. On Tuesday night, the man sitting next to me asked me to snap him DURING THE MATCH! He’d sat there for the whole of the half time break without saying a word and then felt the uncontrollable urge to have his photo taken 5 minutes into the second half. Inevitably, my heart wasn’t really in the task and I evidently performed badly as he asked me to take several more before I was allowed to continue watching the game that I’d paid to see. This sort of thing seems to happen quite regularly but I think the crowning moment came back at Highbury when I turned around to the people sat behind me whilst celebrating a goal to find that they were taking photographs of me jumping around.
OFF
Finally, as if to sum up this bizarre concept of paying to go to something you aren’t really that interested in, we come to the most staggering of all – voluntarily missing the football. On Tuesday, I witnessed 3 people arrive with 7 minutes left to play in the first half – not necessarily that bad given the state of public transport in this country I suppose – we’ve all done it. But if anyone knows the father and son sat in front of me that left the match with 21 minutes left to play, please ask them why they bothered to go in the first place as I’m genuinely interested.
If anyone thinks that a crowd of 46,000 people for a Carling Cup match against a League Two side is some sort of portent of doom for our club, fear not. It seems there are quite a lot of people who can be “convinced” to do something they don’t really want to do and pay money for the privilege.
Simon Barnett | July 4th 2011 |
Being a football fan is really difficult.
Those that follow the most successful teams are rarely satisfied as their team must win every game and every trophy in order for them to achieve satisfaction. Then again, the fans that cheer on the others just want their team to be as successful as those above. No-one is happy.
This seems to be especially true of Arsenal supporters at the moment and I for one am struggling to understand why.
I haven’t written anything on this site for a while though, so let me begin by trying to sum up last season. In a word, I think I’d plump for “anticlimax”. I’m sure there are many who would have me hung, drawn and quartered for the failure to use a more emotive word such as “DISASTER” or “CATASTROPHE” (the capital letters being a key aspect of the delivery of the sentiment) but I’m afraid that “anticlimax” (lower case) is the furthest I’m going to go.
Humans have infeasibly short memory spans. The fact that regular polls of the “Best Song Ever Made” type always include a few of the current top 10 seems to back this up and the way people seem to feel about their football club seems to be almost entirely down to whatever has happened most recently. In order to study this further, we shall have a look at two examples from last season – Liverpool and Arsenal.
Liverpool’s season began in the most embarrassing fashion possible. For months, they were in genuine, serious danger of being relegated. Losses to Blackpool and Wolves (amongst many others) in the League and a home defeat to Northampton caused fury amongst the Liverpool fans and cost Roy Hodgson his job. By the time the season had ended however, the fans were wearing smiles as wide as the River Mersey and talking excitedly of the next season under the guiding hand of King Kenny.
Arsenal managed to put themselves in contention for all four trophies at one stage but an end-of-season collapse left them with nothing. The complete opposite to Liverpool’s season. Not quite.
Liverpool’s supporters have probably enjoyed their summer, basking in the glory of finishing 6th against all the odds and looking forward to their Messiah’s first full season at the helm. Arsenal’s have been left with the sour taste of another trophyless season, some awful defeats away to Bolton and Stoke and an embarrassment at home to Villa. Add to that the imminent departure of our best player and it feels like the world is about to end.
And yet overall, our season was much more successful than theirs. We didn’t lose to anyone from a lower division. We didn’t lose to Wolves or Blackpool. We reached the quarter-final of one domestic cup and the final of the other. We only lost to the Best Team In The World by a single goal over two legs and defeated them at home. We finished 4th and qualified for the Champions League.
You might argue that every team has different expectations but I would suggest that this time last year, the fans of both of these clubs would have had similar hopes. The only difference is that they enjoyed the end of their season whereas we only enjoyed the beginning and the middle.
Since then, the prevailing feeling of us Arsenal fans seems to be restricted to one unified view. We must buy as many players as we can get our hands on, they must all be at or near the peak of their careers and they must be paid whatever it takes to make them play for us. Then, and only then, will we achieve our aims. Not only that, but if we do manage to do that then we will definitely win every single football match we play and the world shall feel our fiery wrath. Or something like that.
Of course, the trouble with these sentiments is that not only is it totally impractical and insane but every single other team in the known universe feels exactly the same way! Even the fans of Manchester United are probably worrying about why they’ve spent so much on Ashley Young when Barcelona (the only team that were better than them in Europe last season) have Messi and Iniesta. As I said, no-one is happy.
Apart from me. Well, OK, I wouldn’t say I’m happy about losing the Carling Cup final in such embarrassing fashion. I’m certainly not over the moon about throwing away any chance of winning the league despite beating both Chelsea and United. And I’m not whooping for joy at the thought of Nasri and Fabregas leaving the club. But it’s July. There are still 6 weeks to go before the season starts and even then, every team in the league will have 0 points with 38 games to play. By that time, some teams will have spent more money than we’ll all see in our lifetimes on players who turn out to be useless and some will have done some shrewd deals. By that time, we might have done either.
We’re all in the same boat and, whilst we probably won’t win the league you never know. Fabregas leaving (assuming it happens) will be a blow because he’s such a great player but does anyone remember someone called Henry who used to play for us? A lot of people made a lot of fuss about the decision to let him go but you know what, we survived and for my money, were a better team the year after he left than we were during his final season at the club. Life moves on, we always knew Cesc was going to leave so let’s just see what happens.
It is hardly likely that the club are going to let it all go to rot and not at least try and replace him as well as strengthening the squad. So what is the problem with us fans waiting to see what happens, enjoying the (rather sporadic) sunshine and all trying to calm the hell down? It’s not long before we all have to start fretting every week about our football team for a whole 9 months so let’s just relax and enjoy life while we still can.
Simon Barnett | April 6th 2011 |
He may be my father but that doesn’t mean I have to agree with all of his views on our beloved football club.
After Saturday’s disappointing performance at home to Blackburn, the old man has clearly had enough of our most successful manager ever.
Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 and by 2005 the club had won 3 championships including becoming the only team this century to remain unbeaten during a complete season in the top flight, 4 FA Cups and 2 league and cup doubles. However as we all know the club have not won anything since 2005 and having spent a terribly depressing evening watching Arsenal labour to yet another 0-0 draw I felt the need to evaluate the Wenger era and try to ascertain why it has taken such a turn for the worse.
When Wenger arrived he inherited the best defensive unit Arsenal have ever had and behind them one of the finest goalkeepers in the club’s history not to mention the services of Dennis Bergkamp. He was astute enough to use the defence as the basic foundation of his first team and brought in Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars. He then produced a team playing a style of football that had not been seen in the English league in my experience which goes back to the 1950′s. As the defensive unit gradually grew older he recruited the likes of Sol Campbell and brought Ashley Cole through and although Lehman was a little eccentric at times he was nevertheless an experienced international keeper. Added to this were the likes of Ljungberg, Pires and the incomparable Henry but perhaps his most important signing was that of Gilberto Silva who was the archetypal midfield holding player and protector of the defence.
For some reason, after 2005, Wenger decided that he wanted to build a team made up of youngsters and bargain buys which would be coached to play “the Arsenal way”. I realise that the move to the Emirates was a factor here when it came to transfer fees and wages but the accounts each year suggest that a reasonable transfer kitty was available if necessary.
Since 2006 we all know we have needed a top class keeper, at least one top class central defender, a proper midfield holding player, a natural winger and a natural striker and most importantly one or two players who are capable of inspiring the team on the pitch with their leadership qualities. Again Wenger has not addressed any of these issues, preferring to make do and mend with players, several of whom are not up to top class Premiership football. This may be due to his obstinacy and ego and a desire to prove he can build a team without star players who will play the “beautiful game” in his image.
I also think it is necessary to look at the undoubted fact that ever since Wenger decided that the best way forward was to employ a 4-5-1 system both at home and away it has made it a lot easier for teams to plan their strategy against us, especially at the Emirates. If things are not going well at home there is never any attempt made to alter the system to present a different problem for our opponents and in fact substitutions rarely make a difference as it remains just different players within the same system.
Bearing in mind that we have always qualified for the Champions League during this trophyless period and that, on occasions, the football we have played has been a joy to watch, I did not wish to even consider that Wenger’s position was under threat. However over the last 2 seasons I have become more and more frustrated with his refusal to comprehend what is happening in front of his eyes but merely to look at the league table in a self satisfied way. Quite clearly the only reason we are 2nd in the table at present is the failure of some of the teams below us to be consistent rather than the quality of our play and next season we will struggle to finish in the top 6 let alone the top 4 unless Wenger has a complete change of heart as far as his policies are concerned.
I believe that Almunia, Fabianski, Eboue, Squillaci, Diaby, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner and Chamakh should be allowed to leave in the summer. Obviously this will not happen but it does show how many players we have who are not really up to the standard required for top Premier League football.
My conclusion is that as nothing has really changed during the last 5 years it is time for Wenger to have a close look at himself and if he is not prepared to change then perhaps he should leave the club and someone should be appointed to bring fresh ideas into the club both in coaching and tactical terms.
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