Jekill and Hyde Arsenal, Lacazette Agenda, Wenger Out Protest and Other Stuff

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Jekill and Hyde Arsenal

Great win, great performance. How frustrating.

Arsenal’s last 4 results in the league are LWLW. Both losses came away, both wins came at home.

Bournemouth (A) 1-2
Crystal Palace (H) 4-1
Swansea City (A) 1-3
Everton (H) 5-1

32 out of a possible 39 points at home, 13 out of a possible 39 points away. As an Away Scheme member, it is frustrating.

But rather than spend a Sunday focusing on what we have not achieved, lets enjoy yesterday.

5-1
Hat trick for Aaron Ramsey
Goal on debut for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
3 assists for Henrik Mkhitaryan

On Mkhytaryan, if a player left Arsenal and hit 3 assists and a 10/10 performance on his debut, we would be saying that’s what happens when a player plays under a decent coach. Well Mkhitaryan left Manchester United for Arsenal and has put in his best performance in England. What should we say now?

A delightful victory to take us into Spurs.

Lacazette Agenda

I really hate Arsenal fans sometimes.

Spend years moaning about lack of options, a weak bench, a poor squad, then we have two £50m strikers competing for one space and the narrative changes.

Now it is how can we fit both in?; how can we keep both happy? Lacazette is the fall guy.

Other sides throughout England, and Europe, have multiple quality players for every position. They do not have their own fans asking these questions.

Manchester City have 3 £40m+ centre backs in their squad (and Vincent Kompany). They have Raheem sterling, David Silva, Bernad Silva, Raheem Sterling & Leroy Sane competing for 3 spots – and still tried to buy Alexis Sanchez and Riyad Mahrez.

Why are we complaining?

And then the lies come in. That Lacazette has fallen out with Arsene Wenger. That he has questioned him.

The truth is Lacazette has scored 1 goal in 12 games so was rotated to the bench. nothing more than that.

Wenger Out Protest

It was disappointing to see so few turn up for the organised Wenger Out protest.

Looking at pictures, it seems their was more journalists than fans there. This has the potential to kill any pressure that fans can put on the club as the Arsenal board will see it as 25 turned up to a protest out of 60,000. And they have a point.

Some will point to the rain – but then thousands are marching for the NHS today (although those marching today are probably using the rain for their monthly wash). Others will say it is apathy. That fans now know longer care about, they do not think they can actually do anything.

These fans are wrong. The recent changes in the club – the employment of the likes of Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat – came due to Ivan Gazidis bowing to fan pressure and reducing the influence of Arsene Wenger.

I feel this protest was always doomed to fail, and it has nothing to do with Wenger or apathy, and everything to do with organisation.

In the past, the likes of GC from this site, the Blackscarf Movement, and influential large Twitter accounts have been involved in protests. It takes a lot of work. It is not as easy as “put a message on Twitter and hope people turn up”.

It takes mobilisation of people to get them out. Canvasing the pubs. A call to arms in WhatsApp groups. Actual organisation. The BSM had around 5,000 turn up a few years back.

This was done done by merely putting messages on Twitter. It was done through actual hard work.

I was in The George from about 2pm yesterday. No one was even asking if people were going to the protest. No one seemed to even know about it.

Having faceless 16 year olds running Twitter accounts promoting and attempting to organise protests is always going to fail. Having 100s of RTs about the protests from fans who do not even go is pointless.

Hopefully this failed protest is a lesson to some of those involved, and those Facebook pages and Twitter accounts who promote the protests.

These protests take make organisation than sitting behind a keyboard. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if many of those organising or aggressively advertising it did not even turn up themselves. They probably do not even go to game themselves.

A lesson to be learnt.

Other

Alexis Sanchez scored and was Manchester United’s best player at the weekend. He also gave the ball away 32 times – the most by a Manchester United player in a single game this season.

Two MOTM games, Sanchez is putting in the same performances for United as he did for Arsenal.

He gives the ball away then more than any other player, gets involved when he shouldn’t be, has one of the worst pass completing percentages on the pitch, but will always be one of the best players on the pitch, one of the biggest threats.

Liverpool v Spurs – The “Won two League Cups between them in a decade but everyone thinks they have been really successful recently” Derby. Are there two sides that have won so little in recent years, yet seem to be praised so much by the media? They are the darlings of the British press.

Pep Guardiola – Interesting to see the difference in opinion on poor tackles. When Wenger complained about poor challenges and players needed protecting (3 double leg breaks), the media labelled Arsenal Soft Southern Softies. Guardiola makes similar comments, and that same media publishes a two page spread highlighting the “9 bad challenges on Man City player this season”.

As for him saying he does not have enough players, I always find it interesting the Jose Mourinho is labelled a “cheque book manager” whilst Guardiola is a great coach – he has spent nearly £500m in 18 months at Manchester City.

 

Have a good weekend all!

Keenos

How will the new look Arsenal line-up?

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You have to love Arsenal fans, they spend years moaning abut lack of squad depth, lack of competition, then as soon as we have more than one decent player for a position, they complain that we can’t fit them both in.

Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. 4 into 3 do not go. But rather than make it a problem, and start questioning how to keep them all happy, lets celebrate that finally we have some quality options, a bit of depth.

Manchester City fans do not sit trying to work out how to fit Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus into the same team. Or wonder Pep Guardiola will keep Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva all happy.

Arsenal play over 50 games a season. To potentially have Lacazette and Aubameyang fighting over one spot, or even Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, is a good thing.

If a player does not want to fight for their spot, they are free to leave. You want hungry players in the squad. Players who strive to improve, to give 100% in training, to ensure they get in the team and stay in the team.

A player who knocks on Arsene Wenger’s door and says “I am not happy I am not in the first team,  I want to leave” can pack up their locker and go. They are clearly not good enough to start, nor has the motivation or desire to push for a first team place.

Healthy, fair competition will only improve players. Someone like Hector Bellerin has gone backwards this season due to a lack of competition.

On a side note on Hector Bellerin, I notice people getting on his back, saying we should sell him.

Bellerin has been let down by the tactics and formation we are playing. He never has cover infront of him in defence – so is often left 2 on 1. And going forward he does not have a winger alongside him so is often left isolated.

Let’s get off his back. Remember he is still just 22. He is the only Arsenal player to have played every Premier League minute this season. For a team that has had so many injury problems in the past, we are digging out a player whose fitness is reliable.

Were we to “make Hector Bellerin available for transfer”, the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid would vie for his transfer. That sums up the quality that he is, that the best clubs in the world would go for him.

So rather than criticise Bellerin, lets understand the real problem. Tactics that leave him exposed, and no competition for his place to push him further.

Anyway, I have digressed.

The reality is, when you have quality players, it enables you to play whoever is fit, whoever is in form.

So how would I now expect Arsenal to line-up?

Keenos

Where do Arsenal need to strengthen for 2018/19?

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The majority of people who read my blogs are glass half empty types. Always wanting more. To be better, never settling.

Upon the window slamming shut, rather than be happy about the signing of Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang and Henrik Mkhitaryan, minds immediately went to other positions where we failed to strengthen.

So looking forward to the summer, bar changing the manager (big rumours floating around about Joachim Lowe at the minute), what do Arsenal need to do?

Squad Goals

It must always be remembered that in the Premier League, you have to name a 25 man squad, of which just 17 can be non home grown. For the 2018/19 players born on or after 1 January 1997 do also not required to be registered.

So when building the squad, it must be remembered that the likes of Danny Welbeck is home grown – probably why we kept him over Olivier Giroud. Ainsley Maitland-Niles need not be registered due to his age, and Alex Iwobi will now take up a squad place – he was classed as an under 21 player for the current season.

Players Out

Over the last two windows, Arsenal have done a good job letting go players who were never really top, top draw. The likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott, Francis Coquelin, Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy, Gabriel and Kieran Gibbs have been moved on.

I fully expect the cull to continue.

Per Mertesacker is retiring, and Santi Cazorla will surely not get a new contract – and if he does, he will probably not be included in the Premier League squad due to his long term injury.

The likes of Lucas Perez, Carl Jenkinson, Emiliano Martinez, Joel Campbell, Takuma Asano and Chuba Akpom will also leave the club one way or another. Ideally a transfer, but potentially loan deals once more.

This summer will surely be the transfer window the David Ospina leaves the club – especially as a new first choice goal keeper is a must (more on this later).

2018/19 Provisional Squad

If all those mentioned leave, Arsenal have just 19 senior players, topped up with youngsters who do not require to be registered:

Players In

So Arsenal’s squad will be massively under resourced, 6 players short of the maximum 25 man squad. This will give the club plenty of wiggle room to sign new players.

It will also contain just 11 non-homegrown players, meaning that we could, for all intents and purposes, sign 6 foreign players without breaking Premier League squad rules.

So what do Arsenal actually need?

First on the list is a new first choice goal keeper. Petr Cech is going down hill fast and needs to be replaced.

He will be 36 come the new season, and whilst he will still be a useful number 2, with his experience and influence a benefit on the training pitch, we need to go out and sign the next man who will be in goal for the next 10 years.

We also need a centre back.

Laurent Koscielny, like Petr Cech, has his best days behind him. I am still confident that Shkdoran Mustafi is a decent centre back. He is still just 25. What he needs is a steady partner and Arsenal to play a steady system. Continuity is the key.

Like a centre back has been on the top of every Arsenal fans wish list for about a decade, a defensive midfielder is also key. We can spend £1b on a new centre back, but if they do not get protection from the midfield, it is pointless.

Granit Xhaka has not solved the problem. A new defensive midfielder is a must.

Finally, Arsenal need a winger.

With Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gone, Arsenal do not have a natural wideman. Even if we play with Mkhitaryan and Ozil as narrow number 10s, we still need to invest in a winger to allow us to mix it up if needed.

He will not be first choice, as it is unlikely we will play the system for him to play week in week out, but a new winger needs to be on the shopping list.

Is that it?

Just 4 signings. A GK, CB, DM and winger. It might not seem like much, but if we get the quality in, and alongside the two superstar signings in January, it would give us a squad of depth and quality enabling us to compete once more.

It will give us 23 senior players, still two players short of the maximum 25, but then you always want to be a player short then have one two many – enabling a January reinforcement.

It also does not take into account that the likes of Maitland-Niles and Mavroponas will be key squad players next year, even if they do not need to be registered.

So how do I hope the squad will look going into the new season?

Keenos