A Tale of Two Seasons

Leave a reply

Arsenal are a club in crisis. A club in a downward spiral. The future is bleak. There is a civil war. There is fighting on the terraces. Animosity towards the manager. Anger towards the board. Disdain towards the majority share holder.

Less than 4 miles up the road, the story is different.

Spurs have had their greatest season of recent times. They are on the up. The manager is a genius. A supportive board. A new stadium on the way. Young English talent coming through. The future is bright.

You could not get two contrasting atmospheres. On the face of it, A Tale of Two Seasons.MI0003581164

Yet the reality is, with 1 game to go in the season, just two points separate the two sides from North London.

Both sides have actually had very similar seasons.

Both flirted with a title challenge. Arsenal for the first half of the season. Spurs for the last quarter as they came up the rails with others going backwards.

Arsenal led for 6 weeks. Spurs led for 13 minutes.

Both went out of Europe at the last 16 stage to the first decent team they player. Arsenal in the Champions League/. Spurs in the lesser Europa League.

Spurs were knocked out of the 3rd round of the League Cup, to Arsenal. Arsenal lost in the next round against Sheffield Wednesday.

The FA Cup showed a similar story. Spurs made the 5th round, losing at home to Crystal Palace. Arsenal one step further, the quarter final’s losing at home to Watford.

On the balance, you could say that Arsenal have had the better season.

They played in the Premier European competition, and were in both cups for longer. In the 3 games the two met, Spurs failed to beat Arsenal, with Arsenal winning once.

Yet it is Arsenal who have had an annus horribilis whilst Spurs are riding the crest of a wave.

It perhaps shows the difference in expectations of the clubs that Arsenal would see finishing 2nd as a failure this year, whilst Spurs would be very happy finishing 3rd.

Tomorrow we go into the last day of the season. Two points between the two sides.

Arsenal finish 2nd, it will be 20 years in a row. An era of dominance never seen before, and that will probably never be seen again. yet the fans will not celebrate much. In the pubs after the talk will be of disappointment. Of what might have been.

Spurs finish 2nd, they will be celebrating up and down Tottenham High Road. There will be DVD’s. There will be open top bus rides. The locals will get the bunting out.

And that probably sums it up. Finishing above your rivals once in 20 years is the equivalent of the fat ginger kid getting laid for the first time in 20 years. Most people would not really care, but they will never stop speaking about.

Tomorrow back the team, be loud. Let’s do our job, and hopefully Newcastle do theirs. And then its happened again…

Keenos

1232

 

Did amazing Leicester foil Arsenal?

Leave a reply

132This has been a crazy season for the premier league. Who could ever have predicted Leicester would be champions? Certainly not the bookmakers, who offered odds of 5000/1 at the start of the season. Equally, who could have foreseen Chelsea’s fall from grace. Twelve defeats and thirteen draws, and still one game to go, would have been another high price at your local betting establishment.

So, onto Arsenal.

This season promised to be the one. After back to back FA Cup wins and a smattering of world class players, this was our time. We were going to push on and mount a real title challenge. After 11 games the end of October saw us only second on goal difference and by the turn of the year we were top of the pile. Our regular rivals of United. Chelsea and Liverpool were a mile behind and us fans were rightfully expecting great things.

But, as is far too often the case, we dropped away and never managed to end another month on top. Yes, we had some injuries, but that’s nothing new. I am not surprised that we haven’t won the league, more who we have surrendered to. It is far too simplistic to say Leicester, the famous English underdog that we all love, produced an outstanding season and with a combination of skill, determination and a dose of good fortune managed to beat all comers. Because, when you actually analyse the season the stats tell a different story.

With a final match against relegated Villa, we should finish the season on 71 points. We could finish second and many fans are clinging to this as a mark of progress and success. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, you will see that you have to go back to 20010/11 to see an Arsenal side finish on less points and even the 68 points that year could be matched if we fail to beat Aston Villa. Infact the last time we amassed less points than we have now was, 67 in 2005/6.Leicester-City-champions

Then you need to look at Leicester’s points. They can finish on 83 points and as creditable as that is, only once in the previous ten seasons would that have given them a sniff of the title. They have won the title with time to spare and even though it was our best chance for years we didn’t look anywhere near challenging.

Quite simply our biggest problem has been scoring goals. We have scored ten less goals than last season. The last time we scored fewer goals was 1998/99. Incidentally, we finished second that season but actually conceded very few goals. We may have scored a couple less but conceded only half of what we have this term. I’ve seen lots of criticism of Mertesacker and some saying that Gabriel isn’t good enough but only Leicester and Spurs conceded less than us and only marginally in Leicester’s case.

We entered this season without buying a single outfield player last summer. Experience should have told us that we needed to generate more goals and the obvious starting point was a top striker. Of all the mistakes that Wenger has made, and I think there are a quite a few, not buying us a front man was the worst.

We know that we could do with another decent centre back, we know that Walcott isn’t going to be a consistent striker. It’s clear that you can’t win the premier league by trying to pass the ball into the back of the net at every opportunity. But, you can’t win matches unless you outscore the opposition. It’s a fundamental aspect of the game that Wenger seems to have neglected.

Daran

1232

Who’s Arsenal career is Granit Xhaka about to end?

7 Replies

132News on the Arsenal grapevine is that a deal for Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka is only a few days from being completed.

Now before we all get too excited, it is season ticket renewal time soon. We expect the renewal Emails to be sent out over the next couple of days.

Usually, and rightly so, such a heavy link a few days before renewal day can be put down as a bit of hyperboil. A leak by the club to make fans think this year could be different. It usually isn’t.

Counteracting that, the Bundesliga has a habit of doing business early. Bayern Munich have already spent big on two players.

In the last 10 years, Arsenal have made 3 big signings from Germany. Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker & Tomas Rosicky.

Mertesacker was signed on the last day of the transfer window on that day of madness in 2012. Podolski & Rosicky were deals completed in April and May respectively. Deals done early. I think the Xhaka rumour has legs.

So if Xhaka is coming in, where does it leave Arsenal’s other central midfielders?arsenal21jan16-636666

From what I have read of the Swiss midfielder. He is a bit of an all rounder. Defensive but can pass and get forward. I see him being the sides primary defensive midfielder if he signs, replacing Francis Coquelin. He is a good place to start.

Francis Coquelin

He has been a revelation since he broke through at the back end of 2014. Full of energy, works hard for the team, gets around the pitch, a crunching tackle, enthusiasm, heart (and to the most part) discipline.

His main weakness however is his distribution. He is not the best passer. And with him at the back, it has restricted Arsenal’s ability to launch attacks from deep. Our defensive midfielder see’s more of the ball than any other player. We need someone who can pass. Xhaka can. Coquelin can not.

Coquelin flourished when playing next to Santi Cazorla. As he could win the ball, play a short pass to Cazorla, who would launch the attack.

Xhaka will not mean the end of Coquelin. But Coquelin will find himself as a bench player.

Recently he has been demoted as Wenger has gone with the Elneny/Ramsey axis. This will continue into next season with Xhaka playing ahead of him.

Where Coquelin will excel is in the bigger games when we need extra defensive protection from the midfield. Coquelin will come in alongside Xhaka providing a solid defensive duo.

My bet for next season? Ozil for Coquelin will be the most common substation made.

Mohamed Elneny

Over the last few games, Elneny has replaced Coquelin as Wenger realised that we were struggling to transition the ball from defence into midfielder. His partnership with Aaron Ramsey seems to work a lot better than Coquelin / Ramsey.

With Xhaka coming in, the future of Elneny has to be bought into question. Does he have a future?

Xhaka will replace him in the starting 11. And with Coquelin a better option on the bench for a defensive substitution, I can see Elneny being a peripheral squad player.

Such a cheap signing, it could be that he was always a short term option.

Of course, I do not want to write him off, and he could continue his progress, but I see him as no more than a back up player. Being back up for Xhaka if he is out, or a replacement for Aaron Ramsey and/or Jack Wilshere when they get their usually injury.

He will stay another year, but will not get much game time if everyone is fit.

Jack Wilshere

This time last year, Wenger drew his line in the sand. Jack Wilshere would be our new defensive midfielder. We would not be buying anyone else. And we didn’t. It did not work out well.

https://twitter.com/gunnerblog/status/730356682321235968

Xhaka will not be ending Wilshere’s Arsenal career. Merely changing it.

Wilshere has shown he is incapable of staying fit. When he is fit, he is a class player. But the same could be said of Diaby.

His future at Arsenal is surely now as a squad player. Someone who can not be relied upon to be a consistent starter, but can be used as a back up player for any of the 3 central midfield positions, and a good opinion off the bench.

A brilliant player, but there is no point being brilliant if you are always in the medical room.

Aaron Ramsey

A consistent starter this season, despite being in poor form, the signing of Xhaka will add competition to his place in midfield.

Whilst Xhaka will not directly be in competition with Ramsey, an extra quality player in midfield will add pressure to Ramsey.

It would mean that the manager would have the option to play Coquelin alongside in the back games. And then add Wilshere and Elneny into the mix, any loss of form for Ramsey would result in him surely losing his place in the side?

Santi Cazorla

The Coquelin / Cazorla axis worked so well during the early part of the season. But the signing of Xhaka will put an end to that.

Most likely, Arsenal will start the majority of games with Xhaka and Ramsey. Ozil ahead of them. Xhaka’s natural replacements are Coquelin & Elneny, Ramsey’s will be Wilshere. So where does that leave Santi Cazorla?

The only place I can see him fitting in is Ozil’s understudy.

Like Ramsey, this would then see Ozil get a kick up the arse. Having someone quality to back him up and put pressure on him.

If everyone is fit, it could also see Ozil play wide right, drifting inside.

 

Taking into account the injuries in the middle of the park we get year after year, Xhaka will be a quality signing. A leader. A general. It is certainly one to be excited about.

The domino effect however may see Mohamed Elneny’s Arsenal career being over before it has really begun.

I guess to be a success you must be ruthless.

Keenos

1232