Category Archives: Arsenal

Reiss Nelson: “I want to be an Arsenal legend”

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This morning there is a terrific interview on the BBC with England youngsters Jadon Sancho and Reiss Nelson. The duo are currently ripping up the Bundesliga.

The pair – who have been friends since before they were teens – moved to Germany in the search for first team football. Sancho joined; Nelson joining Hoffenheim on loan from Arsenal.

Between them they have scored 11 goals and made 8 assists in all competitions, form that has led to Sancho to be called up to the England national team.

Despite both being 18; the interview showed that they both have sensible heads on their young shoulders.

There is not a hint of arrogance in either. Neither comes across as a party boy. Both talk about their families. Both talk about how they know they have talent, and know they have to work hard to be the best.

Over the years we have seen plenty of young talented footballers. Most have the wrong attitude. They get the money early, a contract which will make them £5million over 5 years, and they fade away. They get that first contract on their potential rather than their performances, they take the foot off the pedal, become more interested in cars, girls and social media, and eventually fade away.

By moving to Germany both Sancho and Nelson have already shown they have a different mind set. They did not want to be the big man amongst their mates. Paying for the all vodkas in Tiger Tiger VIP whilst surrounded by girls looking to bag (or bang) a footballer. They took themselves out of their comfort zone, to Germany, to improve.

Nelson is living in Heidelberg with his family. A university town with just 160,000 residents – it is the equivalent of living in Oxford or Cambridge. That is half the people that grew up in the Borough of Southwark – where Nelson grew up. To go from a 10,000,000 city to a 160,000 town would have required huge adjustments. He has adjusted well.

The Arsenal youngster was rumoured to be on his way out of the club a year ago. Instead he signed a new long term deal and moved his life to Germany for a year. He was named Bundesliga Rookie of the Month for October.

A few fans are calling him to make a return in January. This would not be beneficial to either him or Arsenal.

Despite his good form for Hoffenheim, he has only started 4 games. To expect him to go from impact sub in Germany to starter at Arsenal is another huge jump.

He would be much better staying in Germany. Over the year forcing his way in to the first team, to become a first team regular. Once he is playing regularly for the Hoffenheim first team, we will know that he is nearly ready for the Arsenal first team.

By the end of the season, Arsenal will be getting a teenage right winger who has had a full season in one of Europe’s top leagues, and who has excelled in that league. What would his value be? £30m? £40m?

The term “like a new signing” is one that is detested by many Arsenal fans, as it was usually used to justify no signing as we had a player coming back from injury.

In Nelson, he would be like a new signing.

He went away to Germany as a boy struggling to make an impact – just 146 Premier League minutes to his name last season. He is set to come back as a man. A first team player who Gareth Southgate will no longer be able to continue to ignore.

Arsenal need two wingers next season. A right winger and a left winger. Nelson could be that right winger.

With his good attitude, his natural ability and his years experience in Germany, Arsenal would be promoting one of Europe’s best young players into their first team. He would be like a new signing.

Maybe in the summer Arsenal should make the double swoop and bring Sancho back to England. See what Dortmund want. And then have the two most exciting talents in English football either side of Mesut Ozil.

If it all go’s right for Nelson, there is no reason he can not become the Arsenal legend he dreams of.

Keenos

As Arsenal are changing, some fans also need to change

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A great man once said “do you like Arsenal? Or just Arsenal with trophies”.

I was reminded by what Dennis Bergkamp said as I scrolled through social media on Monday following Sunday’s disappointing draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It was like suddenly we were transported back 12 months ago, with the fan complaining, moaning and criticism that defined the end of the end of the Arsene Wenger era.

One comment I saw that really resonated with was that this Arsenal was the Arsenal they fell in love with. That their Arsenal “were a winning Arsenal not just making up the numbers”. This was amongst many tweets that I read they made me realise that some of our fans will never be happy unless we are winning trophies.

But it is not just trophies that they want. It is these trophies. The Premier League, the Champions League.

These same people complained that winning the FA Cup was not good enough. So it is not that they only love Arsenal with trophies; they love Arsenal with league titles.

We all spent 6 months or more (I saw one idiot saying he has been Wenger Out since 2001!). That change has come.

Arsene Wenger. GONE. Ivan Gazidis GONE. Majority of the coaching staff. GONE. And in his come Unai Emery, with his own staff, alongside Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat. Change has happened, and Arsenal have moved forward.

But some of these fans have seemingly not moved forward. They demanded “Time to Change” but they have not changed themselves.

They are on to the next one. Criticising the players, already on the managers back. Moaning that the club did not spend enough money, and demanding Stan Kroenke to put in his billions or leave.

And it is billions that Kroenke would have to put in.

We have all read the stories about Manchester City and the £2.7bn investment that Sheikh Mansoor has put into the club. It is with that huge investment that has enabled Manchester City to have one of the strongest 25 man squads seen in the game.

Yesterday Arsenal looked short on the bench. On game changers. Manchester City’s starting XI was without Kevin de Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus & Ilkay Gundogan. These 5 players would start for every Premier League side. And City brushed aside Manchester United 3-1 without them starting.

These fans who are moaning will not be happy until we win the title. City is what we need to match, need to beat, to win the title. I think anyone who would expect an owner to put in £2.7bn, to write it off, are completely unreasonable. There are two sides in world football doing this at the moment. City and PSG.

The fact that fans also think Kroenke has the spending power to compete shows how naive they are when it comes to business, and net worth.

Forbes estimate Kroenke to be worth $8.5bn (£6.5m). But this is net worth, this is not how much spare cash he has under his sofa.

This worth is tied up in hundreds of investments. From personal homes and ranches, to various sports clubs around the world. The recent buy out of Arsenal shares valued the club at £1.8bn. That is 27% of Kroenke’s net worth.

For Kroenke to be able to put up the kind of money Manchester City have spent, he would have to take huge loans against his businesses. Against Arsenal.

Would you be happy Kroenke mortgaging Arsenal further to the hilt to win a league title? I certainly wouldn’t.

Imagine the outcry if it was announced Kroenke was taking a £1bn loan out against Arsenal to spend on transfers, salaries and more. It is that kind of action that could make Arsenal the next Leeds or Portsmouth. Where you are in debt up to your eyeballs.

Matching Manchester City’s spending power is just not realistic.

“but Liverpool are challenging”.

You are right, Liverpool are unbeaten and just 2 points behind Manchester City after 12 games. But last season they finished 25 points behind them in 4th place.

They were also in 4th place the year before, 17 points behind champions Chelsea (and just 1 point ahead of Arsenal). So how about we judge if Liverpool have put up a title challenge once we are in the business end of the season.

Also, by putting Liverpool as the example of a side competing makes it even more silly that fans are already getting on the back of Emery.

Jurgen Klopp is in his 4th season at Liverpool. He has had 6 transfer windows. Spent over £380m. It we are going to compare Emery to Klopp, should we not give the Spaniard the same time the German has had before becoming critical?

In his 3 completed seasons at Liverpool, Klopp has led them to 8th, 4th & 4th with no trophies won. It is odd that the fans who are moaning that we currently sit 5th. That Arsenal without trophies is not the Arsenal they love; yet they praise a Liverpool side that has not won anything in a decade.

Most sensible fans would have known that it would take Emery more than 6 months and one transfer window to fix Arsenal.

We are still a left back, a centre back and 2 wingers short of being a side that would compete for second (and another £2.5bn off a team that could be champions).

Klopp has had the time to build Liverpool in his vision. He has spent big on the likes of Allison, Virgil van Dijk & Mo Salah. Arsenal will make these signings as time goes on. But we can not expect us to go out and spend £250m in one transfer window to immediately close the gap.

A final thought is right now fans will say but what about Leicester.

It is about time the fans realised that Leicester was a one off. And one of the main reasons they won the league was because of Manchester City’s failure.

Leicester won the league with 81 points. City got just 66 points that season.

To put that into perspective, Arsenal got just 3 points less (63) last season than City did in Leicester’s title winning season.

I am of the feeling that for teams to finish above City, you firstly need them to have a poor season. You could have a brilliant season, get 85+ points, and City will be near or above the 90 point mark.

Emery needs time. The new Arsenal regime need time.

If you are not willing to give the new management team time; or demand that we replicate Manchester City style spending, then you clearly do not love Arsenal. You only love Arsenal with trophies.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 1 – 1 Wolves

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Arsenal (0) 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (1) 1
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Sunday, 11th November 2018. Kick-off time: 4.30pm
(4-2-3-1) Leno: Bellerín, Mustafi, Holding, Kolašinac; Torreira, Xhaka; Aubameyang, Özil, Iwobi; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Cech, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Nketiah, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan.
Scorers:Mkhitaryan
Yellow Cards: Bellerín, Özil
Referee: Stuart Atwell
Attendance:circa 60,000
It seems somehow hard to believe that the last occasion that we hosted a match against today’s visitors was on 27th December 2011, when Gervinho scored for us in a forgettable one-all draw. Can it really be seven years since we last heard that distinctive Black Country patois on our terraces, with their unique humour and song? More to the point, a club as big as Wolverhampton Wanderers should never have gone away in the first place. Anyway, it just so happens that the Molineux men and us share a unique piece of football history; in another time and place, eighty years ago last summer, Arsenal signed 25-year-old Bryn Jones from Wolves for the princely sum of £14,000, which was the second highest transfer fee in the world at the time, and a price tag that is now worth £915,000 today. And for a top international footballer as well! Ponder on that information and do feel free to research the subsequent fate of Brynmor Jones at your leisure if you will.
Those of us of a certain age would surely remember an old Rolling Stones record called Off The Hook; well that sentiment would surely apply to Arsenal today. Not good in defence, inept in midfield, blunt in attack. Wolves, however, started the match fresh, and keen to impress the Emirates crowd, which they did almost from the start.
They exposed Arsenal’s weaknesses and their pace and close passing led to confusion in the Gunners’ defence. After just fifteen minutes, fired up by their loud and unrelenting supporters, Ivan Cavaleiro scored from close range at the end of a fast movement that Arsenal should really have neutralised back in midfield. Arsenal were just coasting for the rest of the first half, and although they had one or two chances to score, they went into the half-time break not only one down, but spritually tired as well.
Arsenal normally get into gear in the second half, but not today. They looked lacklustre, bereft of any pattern and their sloppiness in midfield became evident for everyone to see. As usual, late in the game, Mr. Emery made vital substitutions, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey for Mesut Özil along with Hector Bellerin, but even with inspired legs, Arsenal still did not look like scoring, although to be fair, they did come close on several occasions. The final breakthrough came on 86 minutes when a cross from Henrikh Mkhitaryan beat the Wolves goalkeeper to level the score. In the final minutes, Wolves became the more likely side to score with Diogo Jota’s shot blocked by Bernd Leno, and literally at the death, 18-year-old Morgan Gibbs-White’s shot hit the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down and out and back into play. The final whistle went minutes later and both sides went away from this match with a point each.
Although Arsenal have extended their unbeaten run to 16 matches, today’s game was a close call. For the most part they looked sluggish, and unable to break down the Wolves defence, and in doing so embarked on   a period of horizontal passing which thoroughly bored the crowd, particularly in the first half. The players looked lost and confused and in need of some inspiration, which never came. The worrying part however, is that not only did anyone in Arsenal refuse to take responsibility and show leadership skills, they looked lost and uninspired for most of the game. Somehow they managed to drag a draw out of this match, but it is worrying to think that another club with a bit more quickness of thought could punish us badly. The next two Premiership matches are against our old rivals Tottenham Hotspur on 2nd December and Manchester United just three days later; although we are a team in transition, we desperately need to get points from these games if we are serious contenders for a top four position come next May. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.

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