The Simple Things
Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have never been short of ability on the football pitch. There have been a few who have failed to deliver when it came to the crunch but in the main they have all been and all still are, very skilful individuals. They have, however, struggled to compete at the very top level and have not won a trophy for 4 years which is a long time for a club like Arsenal.
I have often spoken on this website about the things which I think we have been lacking this last few years – generally they are what you might call the simpler aspects of the game. Working hard for each other, passing and moving, shooting when you get a chance etc. In these areas we have really under-performed recently and, particularly against the more physical sides at home, it has often cost us.
It is still very early in the season – we have only played 4 competitive matches – but so far the side have managed to improve their ability to perform the more basic elements of the game of football and its really reaping rewards, particularly up front. We have scored 15 goals in those 4 games and only conceded twice and, in my opinion, its down to a few straight forward changes.
The biggest difference I’ve seen so far this season (particularly at home on Saturday and tonight) has been the passing and moving. I have spent 3 years at the new stadium watching us struggle to find the key to unlock opposition defences sitting deep and getting stuck in, with virtually no movement to speak of as we pass the ball left and right along a line around 10 yards outside the penalty area. Watching the side this evening was a joy at times, just to see players playing a pass and then immediately sprinting forward to take the return ball. It is contributing to the opposition finding it difficult to track our forwards and midfielders as we come forward and goals is the inevitable result.
With the visible improvement of Song and Denilson in terms of strength and their ability to read the game as well as the addition of the so-far brilliant Vermaelen we are also finding the ball being quickly won back in midfield and at the back which helps with morale and our attacking options.
I realise that we have not really been tested yet and Saturday will be a big indicator as to how far we’ve come but at least until now, things are much improved throughout the side. Long may it continue!
2008/2009 Season Reviews – The Realist Part 3
In the final part of The Realist’s epic review of last season, the great man talks about the manager and how he sees the future of the club, both in the coming season and beyond…
Let me begin by saying that I trust Arséne Wenger far more than I do his detractors. Whilst I respect the right of others to hold their views, I have sat through a lot of negativity since we last won a trophy. I think that gives me the right to express one or two views of my own. This is not intended as a personal comment on anyone, as those who hold a different view from mine pay good money to watch what I watch, and I am sure we all want the same thing. This is just my perspective on a relatively silver free period of our history.
The trouble with football management is its seeming simplicity. If a football supporter loses a relative on an operating table, he does not take the scalpel out of the surgeon’s hand and tell him he will do the next operation. If the building he is standing in collapses he does not take the pencil away from the architect and tell the poor professional that he has had his chance. For some reason, supporters seem to think they can do a better job than the greatest manager Arsenal have ever had. The comparatively small number of people who are able to manage a football team at the level we have been privileged to attain tends to render this point specious. For Mr Wenger to listen to this nonsense is for him to allow himself to be condescended to by his inferiors.
I thought Mr Wenger showed great dignity when face by those morons who turned up at the shareholders’ meeting to tell him his players were rubbish. I myself gave up many years ago defending Arsenal Football Club against it’s so called supporters. You cannot take away anybody’s right to be as negative and depressing as they want to be. There is an old expression that says when you point a finger at somebody, three of your fingers are pointing back at you (I have just taken my hands off the keyboard to see what my three fingers are saying about me). What these alleged supporters say when they trash the club says as much about them as it does about Arsenal. This spiteful immature fury at not getting what you want would be scarcely tolerable in a five year old.
If one looks at the literal meaning of the word support, there are an increasing number of people who attend matches at the Emirates Stadium who just don’t come within the scope of the definition any more, if they ever did.
One of the recurring themes throughout this season’s whinge fest has been the amount of money the players get paid. I have often felt that the resentment these attendees feel, when coupled with the amount of money they have to pay to get in is a bit of a red herring. They would of course get the same money if they could get 60,000 people to sit in the freezing cold to watch them work, or get a broadcaster to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to film their contribution to the economy. They implicitly know that they won’t, and sitting in the stands slagging off players and the manager becomes a subconscious revenge against those who have better working conditions than they do.
I think I do a reasonably good job of disguising the irritation I feel for these people, but I do have one hope for them. When we do win another trophy, I trust they will have the decency not to celebrate it, as it is not really their victory. In terms of the faith needed to support the team, they have not planted a single seed but they always seem to be around at harvest time.
It seems that Mr Wenger will stick to his guns when it comes to developing talent from within. The signing of Arshavin would suggest that he is also willing to invest in proven talent should the opportunity arise. With Real Madrid spending £130M in a week I am not sure what crumbs of talent will fall from the billionaire’s table. There is certainly a need to strengthen areas of the team, and it would be good to see another couple of twenty somethings bringing experience to the side.
We have signed Vermaelen from Ajax which is good news, but I think we may need one more central defender. Gallas is getting old and Toure is getting out of contract. It is slightly unusual to find that two central defenders are reaching the end of their spell at the club at the same time. But we have shown ourselves to be slightly accident prone in this area, and a changing of the guard might be just the thing.
I think Diaby, Denilson and Song have improved this season, and I would love to see them move up the pecking order in the upcoming term. Diaby’s goals against Fenerbahce, Aston Villa and Newcastle were fantastic, and I hope he is encouraged to make more runs into the box next season. The other two have shown signs of improvement in filling the Flamini role, and it would be great to see them become the finished article at this club. There remains the Lucanesque mystery of Rosicky, who may never be seen again. He has not played a game since January 2008. It is remarkable that Eduardo could have his leg snapped in two and come back faster than Rosicky could with some strange strain that has eluded the best of medical experts.
Up front I expect another good season from Van Persie. Bendtner is showing signs of improvement and has to a certain extent lived down that awful League Cup game he played against Burnley. It would also be good to see Walcott playing a more striking role. By this I mean playing more as a striker, not that I want him to be impressive, although this would also be welcome. He certainly wants to, and has publicly expressed a desire to play there with Bendtner. If Wiltshire can break into the team this season, and if Rosicky can make a comeback, this will free up Walcott and Arshavin to play more centrally with Nasri as a further alternative.
What happens behind the scenes might well be as important as anything done at the training ground. Two very tough and determined men are within touching distance of the magical 30% of the club’s shares needed to launch a formal takeover bid. With Lady Nina Bracewell Smith no longer tied to the lock down agreement, that particular family may decide the financial fate of the club.
But I am a football fan and not a finance expert. I will support the eleven men wearing the cannon no matter who they are or where they finish. I think we will win more games than we will lose, and it is likely that we will finish in the top four again. The challenge of Manchester City will be the most interesting, with Aston Villa and Everton in there as well. We also have the usual eight weeks of grief to endure before Tottenham once more realise that the glory years are not quite back at the Lane just yet.
In conclusion, there is room for optimism in the season to come. We may well be a bit short in terms of challenging for the number one spot, but all good things to those who wait. I hope the supporters will be more understanding that success at Arsenal will be far more a process than a transaction. I don’t like going into work on a Monday to have to listen to United or Chelsea fans any more than the next man, but things will not happen any faster in our current circumstances.
Winners focus on what they can do to improve a situation. Losers concentrate on who they can blame for what has gone wrong. There is nothing wrong with supporting a team that doesn’t win trophies, but to walk through the turnstile with the mind of a loser is most shameful and vile. And a bit of a waste of money.
Keep the faith etc. etc.
So there we have it – 3 fans, 3 different opinions. I suppose the fact these 3 Arsenal supportes happen to sit almost next to each other for every single home game and have done for many years pretty much sums up why so many people enjoy being a football supporter. Everyone has their own opinion, no-one is right, no-one is wrong and there’s nothing any of them can do about what happens on the pitch. Actually, now I’ve said it like that, it sounds like being football fan is a terrible thing.
Roll on next season!
2008/2009 Season Reviews – The Realist Part 2
Time for part 2 of The Realist’s review of the season and this time he tackles the last 2/3 of the season along with some of his own made-up awards…
Losing Fabregas in December seemed like a nail in the coffin of an indifferent season. However, the players that have caused such discontent among the natives proceeded to take the team on a long unbeaten run that saw us past Villa at the finishing line for the Champions League place. A lot of this wasn’t pretty, and the team was booed off the pitch for a number of goalless draws. I even missed one of these due to travel problems, provoking phone calls from the ground at both half time and at the final whistle. Talk about a creature of habit. I look on this time as the period of consolidation which probably put the team back on track for the push that saved the season.
The really good games of this period were the wins against Manchester United, Chelsea, Hull City and Cardiff. We had the frustrating series of draws against West Ham, Sunderland, Liverpool Fulham and Everton. Not many at the Emirates seemed to take comfort from the fact that we weren’t losing games. This was due in the main to the fact that we were trailing Aston Villa in the league. I had faith that we could overhaul them, but Jon did confide to me his fear that the Roma game could be the last Champions League encounter at the Emirates for a decade.
It was during this period that one of the most shameful episodes of the season occurred. Emmanuel Eboue came on against Wigan as a substitute in left midfield and had what I think is fair to say was ten minutes from hell. He was roundly booed for tackling Toure and then losing the ball and setting up Wigan for a possible equaliser. When he was in turn substituted the change was met with a cheer from the supporters. I don’t think I have ever heard such vitriol aimed at a player wearing the cannon. Doubtless those who oppose me on this issue will say that I don’t understand the passion. I certainly don’t understand this kind of behaviour, and I don’t particularly want to. They say that every man destroys the thing that he loves. The fanatics who claim that this kind of support for a football team is any more valid than mine would probably also argue that it is better to be a wife beater than a loving husband.
Let it be added that Eboue was outstanding in the following game away to Porto, although we lost 2-0. He scored twice in the home win against Blackburn, including taking a penalty ahead of Arshavin. He will never be in anyone’s list of the top 50 players to play for Arsenal (including mine), but to come back like this showed tremendous character.
Looking back on it, fourth place and two semi finals was more or less what I would have asked for at the beginning of the season. But this implies that you are going to lose the semis, and this is always disappointing whether you forecasted it or not.
Chelsea at Wembley. I arrived at this game in a bad mood. The Barnetts and I shared a train carriage with some 1970s throwbacks who had a pretty vile line in singing. I then had my water bottle taken off me at the gate and the contents poured into a pint glass. I had to be careful not to kick this over, which was rather distracting. The game rather passed me by and hopefully dispelled any ideas Van Persie had that he is a midfielder. I thought the stadium was drab and in the middle of nowhere. The one good thing about losing was that I didn’t have to go back there. How did this hovel acquire such legendary status?
The semi against United was harder to take. The atmosphere for the second leg was the best I have known at the Emirates. This bubble was burst in the early stages when one of the great finds of the season slipped over at an awful moment. I am sure Gibbs will be a big part of the club’s future, and this mistake will make him a stronger character when he comes back. I shudder when I think of the songs he will have to endure when we next visit Old Trafford.
The best games of this period were the wins against Roma, Blackburn, Newcastle and Villarreal. The draw against Liverpool was the most exciting game of this period, although we were murdered at the start of the second half and the defending for six of the eight goals resembled a chimp’s tea party.
In contrast to the season before, I thought we got the season the right way round. It was galling last year to start brilliantly and have things fall apart after the Birmingham game. This time we got all the nonsense out of our system by November and finished strongly. I don’t think we are too many new players away from a realistic challenge.
Player of the Season
This is a tough one, and I think it almost defeats the purpose of giving this to anyone by process of elimination. In years gone by it was easy to give this award to the player who had scored the most goals (Henry, Adebayor, Wright etc.) or a central defender or midfield enforcer (Adams or Vieira) or someone who has had a season that has placed them head and shoulders above the rest (Pires, Bergkamp Fabregas). This season no one has scored that many goals, the one star in the team was out for four months and I can’t say that anyone has stood out. I don’t say this totally by way of criticism. There is something to be said for not having a team built around an unusually gifted individual. The problem with players like Wright and Henry was that if you stopped them you stopped Arsenal.
The players who in my view have done best this season are the likes of Denilson, Walcott, Sagna and Van Persie. In coming up with an argument against these individuals it is that none of them have made a difference over and above the contribution you would expect from any team player.
I did toy with the idea of giving player of the year to Rosicky. Anyone who can get a year’s pay for what he has (or rather hasn’t) done has certainly achieved something remarkable.
It doesn’t feel entirely right, but I am going to go for Arshavin. He hasn’t really been here long enough, but in the games he has played he has the air of somebody who is a match winner. He is not only technically competent, but he is exciting in a way that Pires and Ljungburg were in their pomp.
Young Player of the Season
Kieran Gibbs. Not just because he is a friend of my nephew, but because I think he will be a very big star in the years to come. He is slightly better going forward than at defending. This is no small matter for a left back, but nothing that could not have been said about Sylvinho, Cole and Clichy at comparable stages of their career. His season was blighted by one awful moment, but it is not possible to earn your living as a defender without this happening every now and again. He looks strong enough to put it behind him, and I wish him luck when Clichy regains his fitness.
I hope to be spoilt for choice in this category next season. I will have great difficulty choosing between Gibbs, Wilshire, Ramsey and (if he comes back) Traore. One of the side effects of Mr Wenger’s policy is that there will always be keen competition for best young player. With our victory in the FA Youth Cup this trend shows no sign of letting up.
Best Five Games
Arsenal 6 Sheffield United 0
23 September 2008
One of those shape of things to come games. Fantastic hat trick by Vela. Only mar on the game was David telling me ruefully that the next game against Hull City will probably not be so easy. Burn the witch.Arsenal 4 Tottenham Hotspur 4
29 October 2008
I put this one down because it was a brilliant game. The end was unspeakable, and I have never been so numb walking out of a ground in my life. This shouldn’t obscure the fact that for most of this game we played out of our skins, even by our standards. If I had been a neutral I could have really enjoyed this game. Tottenham rode their luck, but we performed a similar act of theft at Anfield later in the season.Arsenal 2 Manchester United 1
8 November 2008
Ferguson called this fantasy football. We got one lucky deflection and one goal as a result of about twenty five passes and a wonderful finish by Nasri. We spent six minutes of added time defending a one goal lead with five men in front of the ball. It wouldn’t do to play like this every week, but the only two teams in the Premier League who could put on such a display rose to the occasion. Fantastic.Chelsea 1 Arsenal 2
30 November 2008
All right, we got them at the right time. They were in the process of finding out that their manager was not the full shilling. We did get lucky with a goal that was perhaps other than strictly onside. But a win at Stamford Bridge is a win at Stamford Bridge. It wasn’t total football, but it was one of those ugly wins of which we are not supposed to be capable.Liverpool 4 Arsenal 4
21 April 2009
Another one that would have been easier to watch as a neutral. We scored four goals with our only four chances. A most efficient strike rate. For fifteen minutes after half time we were hit by an East wind such as would have withered any team, and I was happy to have only conceded two in that time. A Tottenham friend of mine told me in semi friendly tones that we had certainly got the right Russian. I told him this game was nothing different to what Tottenham had done to us at the Emirates. Liverpool were better than us, and certainly deserved their last minute equaliser. If we have to play these cliff hangers, why can’t we be the ones to score the last goal?Worst Game
Arsenal 1 Manchester United 3
5 May 2009
I have never seen an atmosphere like it, not since the Champions League game against Real Madrid. That night we shouted an sang from beginning to end in a game that was not even punctuated by a goal. Not this time. The flags were dropped beneath the seats after seven minutes. We froze and were unhinged by an efficient United performance. I do regret that United didn’t play against us the way they did against Barcelona in the final. Darren Fletcher for European Footballer of the Year?Best Goal For
Andre Arshavin’s fourth against Liverpool, 21 April 2009. He had already scored a hat trick by this time. He could have been forgiven for thinking his night’s work was done. To keep up with Walcott’s run in the last minutes after having been on from the start was no mean feat. To score with his weaker foot (if he has a weaker foot) was breathtaking. His goal from the bye line in the home game against Blackburn was also up there in the top drawer. My favourite team goal was either Nasri’s second against United or Van Persie’s second against Newcastle, courtesy of a back heel by Eboue.
Apologies to Adebayor for his overhead kick against Villarreal. Good finish, but in thinking about this question I have a preference against stunt goals.
Best Goal Against
Ronaldo’s second in the Champions League game. With due respect to David Bentley and Geovanni, Goal of the Month far too often just means Long Shot of the Month. The breakaway goal that really killed us in the European semi (actually we were already dead by that time) was just brilliant. I remember the days when we used to be defending a corner and ten seconds later were bearing down on the opposition goal. The speed of the break and the precision of the passes was unstoppable if rather distressing.
That’s all for now – next time, The Realise will ponder on our manager and what the future holds.
2008/2009 Season Reviews – The Realist
We’ve read the positive views of The Optimist and we’ve pored over the depressing thoughts of the Pessimist – but what was 2008/2009 like from the point of view of someone who sees things in a very balanced way? Someone who prefers to sit on the fence in every argument and can see both sides of every debate. The last in our series of season reviews comes from Mr. Mark Finnigan. He is a Wordsmith, a memory man and an Are You Being Served addict – but for the purposes of our season reviews, he is ‘The Realist’.
His season review is long – very long. He is a man of many words and has much to say. So I will divide his musings into several posts, starting today with his thoughts leading up to last season and the first part of the campaign:-
The squad showed a net loss over the summer. I have never agreed with those who gave Hleb a hard time during his three years at the club. I thought he had fantastic technique on the ball, and probably needed the players we have lost over the last five years around him to really show his best work. Flamini was a great loss, and a number of our problems this season have stemmed from finding someone to do the ball winning in central midfield. The lack of pressure on opponents in the middle third of the pitch was keenly felt throughout the early part of the season, no more so than in added time against Tottenham. Gilberto gave us six good seasons but was rather eclipsed by Flamini in his final year. He was a good servant to the club and I wish him the best.
This year’s intake consisted of Nasri, Arshavin and Silvestre. Nasri is an attacking midfielder in the Pires mould, and is showing signs of becoming a first rater. Arshavin wowed everyone in Euro 2008, and has already proved himself in the Premier League. His fitness level is not quite up to standard yet, but with the Russian season and the Euro tournament he has not had a break in nearly a year and a half. With a proper pre season I think he will be a very big part of the team this year. Silvestre was a bit of a stop gap for the personnel problems we have had in central defence this season. He has not done noticeably worse than Gallas or Toure, but all the same it was a strange signing and not exactly the ideal replacement for the yawning gap left by the departure of Senderos (just kidding, Senderos didn’t necessarily have to go to Milan in order to leave a yawning gap in our defence).
As far as covering for Flamini is concerned, Denilson and Song have got stronger in the shielding role. It will be interesting to see if this is an area that gets strengthened in the close season.
The summer seemed to be dominated by the usual rumours about Fabregas and this time a big money move for Adebayor. It is not good for morale to have every single player who plays well becoming the subject of transfer speculation. I have made it a point to ignore the gossip this summer. I feel sorry for all those journalists having to spend twelve weeks writing absolute twaddle.
Pre season went quite well, with Walcott and Wiltshire looking particularly good. We lost in the Emirates Cup to Juventus which allowed Martin Jol and Hamburg to pick up a trophy on our home ground. Whoops.
In the first game against West Brom, the North Bank gave Adebayor dog’s abuse for overrunning a ball when clean through. It is obvious that he will have to win the supporters back after his flirtation with Milan during the summer.
We lost our first away game against Fulham. It is curious, but we have not won our first away game since 04/05. We then proceeded to lose 5 of our first 14 games. This included home defeats against Aston Villa and Hull City. The Villa game was a fair cop, but their two goals were rather suspect. Jon labelled the Hull game the worst defeat under Wenger. I thought Hull played brilliantly and worked the ball out of defence rather than resorting to the boot like so many promoted teams. It turned out that this was the form that kept them up, and I hope for six easy points before they return to their natural habitat next May.
Aside from Fulham, we also lost away to Stoke City and Manchester City. The Stoke game was like those Bolton games we used to lose to Allardyce. We were roughed up and beaten by tactics that are ugly but possibly justified in the name of Premier League survival – long throws and nasty fouls. I didn’t even bother to download the Manchester City game, and I have never seen the goals. From the radio commentary it sounded like an abject performance. This low point marks the end of the beginning. We didn’t lose another game in the league until the run in.
We had some good wins in this period. Our best performances were against Blackburn, Fenerbahce and Everton. It was the losses and the dropped points against Sunderland that kept us off the pace.
My high point of the first third of the season was a visit to the training ground at London Colney. Dennis Bergkamp was in the process of doing his coaching badges, and I had my photograph taken with him. Mr. Wenger came over to have his photo taken with all of us. I had about four hundred questions I wanted to ask him, but none of them seemed to be appropriate. So I had my picture taken with him and we parted without saying a word. The following Wednesday we drew 4-4 with Tottenham. I can’t help feeling we would have won the game if I had given him some pearl of tactical wisdom.
Look out for the next instalment very soon…
2008/2009 Season Reviews – The Pessimist
OK, so its been a long time coming but at long last, The Pessimist (ie. me!) has got round to writing his review of last season.
Unfortunately, despite being an eternal pessimist, I think that last season was actually a reasonable season for Arsenal, despite what some fans may think. Before the start of the season I thought that we’d do well to remain in the top four and that a decent cup run would be a nice-to-have. At that time, the threat from Tottenham seemed large enough to at least worry about and Villa and Everton were making steady progress. As it was, we finished 4th without too much trouble and got to both the FA Cup and the European Cup semi-finals. Not bad overall and I’m happy with that, if I’m honest.
“So where’s all the pessimism then, Barnett?”, I hear you ask!
OK, if you insist…
Last season was a carbon copy of the season before, with our awful period coming at the start of last season but at the end of the previous one. Defeats against Hull, Fulham, Manchester City and Stoke along with the crushing capitulation at home to Tottenham made for a very depressing first half of the season. The addition of the superb Arshavin, at long last, in January turned things around for us but it was too late for a challenge and the season rather petered out in the end.
The performances in the two cup semi-finals were toothless and depressing – Chelsea took us apart without us providing any threat whatsoever at Wembley, as did United in the first leg at Old Trafford. We were lucky to still be in the tie at all by the time the 2nd leg kicked off but even that good fortune ran out after only 8 minutes when Gibbs slipped over and let Park in to score.
In many ways, it doesn’t feel like we’ve progressed much as a side. Clichy, Fabregas, Walcott and Adebayor all had poor seasons by their own standards, the defence is still extremely creaky, Rosicky is nowhere to be seen and we still have Diaby and Eboue on the pay roll. On the plus side (sorry, pessimism fans!), Arshavin looks class, Eduardo is back to face Martin Taylor for another day and Almunia was superb all season.
The worry has to be the chasing pack – Villa improved immensely last year and only ran out of steam in the final few games, Tottenham had a truly awful start to the season but came back quite strong in the end and may consider themselves a proper threat this season if they can avoid the threat of relegation this time round and Everton would also have to be considered as would City now that they have infinite money to play with.
As for next season, we need to improve, particularly at the back and Arsene shows little or no sign of wishing to shore things up in that department. In this modern era of silly money for even the most mediocre of players, it seems that Arsenal are going to struggle without some multi-billion pound investor to call on which is a sad situation in my opinion. It used to be said that you couldn’t buy success but that’s clearly not true any more.
Lets just hope that our best players can find their form again and that we can mount a title challenge for a change this year.
2008/2009 Season Reviews – The Optimist
Over the next week or two, I will be publishing three different points of view regarding Arsenal’s performance over the 2008/2009 season.
For this purpose, I have enlisted the help of my two good friends, Elric Heslop (”The Optimist”) and Mark Finnigan (”The Realist”). I, of course, am “The Pessimist”. I am lucky that I sit near two people at Arsenal who can offset my natural cynicism and put across their points of view which often, if not always, differ from mine. There’s nothing like a healthy debate.
My miserable viewpoint will be published on here soon, followed by the neutral’s favourite – Mister Finnigan – but for now, here is The Optimist’s view on our season:-
There’s been much talk of the Arsenal’s failure to yet again secure any silverware this season and at times there seems to be a dark cloud looming over the Emirates. All things considered, I for one think we had a fantastic season.
There were talks during the pre-season build-up that the Arsenal will fail to finish in the top four and that in fact Spurs will take our fourth spot. Despite a mid-season blip in form, we surpassed all expectations and our young side put together an impressive 20 game+ unbeaten run, finishing fourth in the league and reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup & Champions League.
That in itself is fairly impressive, however when you consider the run of injuries incurred throughout the season, it makes it all the more impressive. With Flamini and Hleb gone, and with Rosicky injured for the entire season, it left Wenger with several gaps to fill in midfield. He bought in Nasri and opted to give Denilson & Song a chance. Unfortunately Theo, Fabregas, Diaby and Walcott all got injured. The difference really came with the acquisition of Arshavin who really looks a fantastic player. Providing we can avoid injuries next year, an attacking midfield force consisting of Arshavin, Fabregas, Rosicky or Walcott (even Wilshere?) makes for a mouth-watering prospect. The return of Eduardo and Rosicky will be like gaining two new World Class signings. All we’ll need is to sign a powerful defensive midfielder and perhaps a centre half to improve our defensive ability.
By all accounts, Liverpool have had a fantastic season, they finished second in the Premier League. We finished fourth and reached two semi-finals – arguably we in fact had the better season. Besides, Spurs, the team to dislodge us out of the top four were very lucky to avoid relegation. The sun is about to shine on our football club again as I am convinced that next season will see us end our silverware drought.
Elric Heslop – “The Optimist”
Another set of totally random fixtures – honest
So the fixtures for next season have been announced.
As the BBC reports, the process of compiling the fixtures each year is very complicated and ultimately, their order is generated randomly once the constraints (like us and Tottenham not playing at home on the same day) have been input. But are they really random?
Every single season since I can remember (since the introduction of the Premiership, and Sky) the teams that are likely to be involved in the race for the title have been “randomly” selected to play each other around the end of March or April. During the years that us and United battled it out, it was us two and the last few years it has been United and Chelsea.
This year, Sky aren’t sure who to plump for it seems, so they’ve gone for United, Liverpool AND Chelsea. The random fixture computer has brought us:-
Man Utd v Liverpool 20th March
Man Utd v Chelsea 3rd April
Liverpool v Chelsea 1st May
So the entire league season appears to have been distilled down to a 6 week period.
I would prepared to accept that this could be a coincidence if it didn’t happen EVERY SINGLE SEASON!
Super Smashing Title Race Decider Crunch Sunday anyone?
20 years ago…
A man who writes a blog about Arsenal cannot fail to write a post on this day – the 20th anniversary of the closest finish to any Football League season in history. Every Arsenal fan has his or her own story of that night in late May so here’s mine.
I was a month away from my 15th birthday and living in Camberley, Surrey. Possibly the biggest regret of my life so far is that I was just a fraction too young to have been able to make the trip up to Anfield to see the game so I watched at home with my brother, who was 12 at the time and my Dad who, after having supported Arsenal since 1953, hadn’t seen them win the league for 18 years.
We watched the game in my bedroom – I can even remember precisely where the TV was – such is the way in which night’s like that can remain etched in a football fans memory forever without any effort whatsoever. My mum, who despises football, was downstairs watching Doctor Zhivago on another channel whilst her husband and 2 sons settled down to watch what would turn out to be one of the most amazing finishes to a season there will ever be.
As for the actual match, bizarrely I don’t recall an awful lot of actually watching it – I’m sure a psychologist can tell me why my memory can recall where objects were, what film my mum was watching and other irrelevant pieces of information but cannot really conjure up any images of the match but no-one who supports Arsenal can or would ever want to forget what happened in the 92nd minute that night.
What happened was, Michael Thomas stormed through the middle (thanks Brian Moore) and scored to send my brother, my dad and me into some of the most emotional and, lets face it, crazy celebrations that any of the 3 of us have experienced in all our lives. I particularly remember the sheer ecstacy of my Dad who must have felt it so much more after the previous 18 years of virtually no success for his club. I also remember my mum coming up the stairs shouting for us to be quiet as, in her opinion “you could hear us half way down the street”.
Still to this day, I cannot watch that goal without getting goose pimples and feeling a little bit emotional. How pathetic.
Such happy memories – thanks George, and thanks Mickey.
What's wrong with Arsenal (repeat)
There is nothing new to say about today’s performance that hasn’t already been said in a hundred posts on this and almost every Arsenal website over the past 2 or 3 years.
Usual stuff – Diaby and Adebayor aren’t good enough, the defence needs strengthening, we need a holding midfielder, some experience all over the pitch, more commitment, a proper leader and some more clinical finishing up front.
Same old, same old. Dull, dull, dull.
Still waiting for a big night at the new stadium
Tonight should have been the first proper big game since we moved to the new stadium in 2006. We were totally outclassed at Old Trafford last week but somehow came away with only a 1 goal deficit so there was a chance. I think, in truth, that’s all any Arsenal really wanted – a chance to beat United and get to the final.
For 8 minutes, we looked pretty good – the right attitude, the right formation, some nice passing – then Gibbs slipped and let Park in and Ronaldo beat Almunia with a free kick and it was all over. So much for the big game we all wanted and needed. Season over and almost nothing to shout about at home again – despite getting to 2 cup semi-finals and comfortably finishing 4th.
I don’t think many Arsenal fans thought we could win this one so I’m sure that most of us aren’t feeling too down about going out – its the manner of the defeat that is disappointing – outclassed and outfought virtually from the start, we barely created a chance in the 90 minutes. That’s the 3rd cup semi final game this season in which we have shown very little going forward. United were lucky with the Gibbs slip and our confidence drained away after the 2nd went in but we never really looked good enough and the big players like Cesc and Theo never turned up. Adebayor was, as ever, useless and Van Persie hardly got a look in, despite dropping very deep to collect the ball at times.
There are many aspects of the current side which need attention – a stronger, meaner defence is top of the list and more clinical strikers are also required, along with a defensive midfielder and some cover in every area of the pitch. Some experience is clearly also required, as these youngsters’ confidence, once dented, never recovers. But in reality, I think we have achieved more this season than I thought we would at the start and I don’t think anyone can be too unhappy with what we’ve seen overall.
The trouble is, almost everyone who claims to support Arsenal will be downhearted and the media will be full of the usual questions about Arsene Wenger’s ability to bring trophies to the club and the suggestions that big players like Fabregas will want to leave due to the lack of success. In my opinion, with the resources that we have available at the moment, and with the modern game the way it is, we’ve got no chance of winning anything so the quicker most fans adjust their expectations and start enjoying what we do achieve, the better.
Fans’ expectations of what their clubs can achieve and the timescales in which they can achieve them is what is killing the modern game. We’ve not got a League winning team, nor a European Cup winning team. We don’t have a God-given right to win a trophy every so often so if we don’t win one for a while, so what?
It will only make it more enjoyable when we eventually do win something. Let’s start looking forward to a couple of decent signings in the summer and an improvement next season, shall we?