Tag Archives: Arsenal

New Kieran Gibbs song

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So out of the flames of the defeat to Chelsea yesterday, I heard a great little song for Kieran Gibbs on the train to the ground. Hopefully it takes off:

Ohhhhh Kieran Gibbs,
His a left back, his fucking fast,
He might be made of glass, but his fucking world class,
And unlike that other cunt, he dont stick phones up his arse

Will it take off? I hope so as its unique and brilliant. I’d imagine the simpletons at the Emirates would find it a bit too hard to get to grips with though, as it has more than 5 different words, and does not contain the word ‘super’ (we really do have wank songs).

Hats off to whoever came up with it.

Keenos

 

DM’s, keepers and Stan’s £3million advice

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The DM conundrum

From early on when Arsene Wenger, arrived at Arsenal until 2008 – when we allowed Lassana Diarra and Gilberto to leave and lost Mathieu Flamini to Milan – we consistently had some of the best defensive midfielders in the game. Admittedly Vieira and Petit weren’t necessarily pure defensive midfielders but when both were used in a 4-4-2, one of them usually held if the other was further up the field and as such fulfilled the role effectively. Gilberto, was a pure defensive midfielder and arguably one of the most underrated of the premier league era.

Since we lost Diarra, Gilberto and Flamini (version 1.0 not version 2.0) it has felt very much as though it’s a role that Wenger doesn’t take as seriously as more attacking ones. Our newfound financial might in the transfer market has translated into the signing of some highly sought after talents but for a holding midfielder we have tried to convert a wide midfielder, Arteta, hoping his high technicality will mean fewer turnovers from our own possession but he has ultimately been exposed physically and for pace.

We have a player in Flamini, who was on trial at the club for weeks before Wenger, was convinced enough to re-sign him and has looked increasingly flaky and unreliable in the last six months culminating with him being muscled off the ball by Christian Eriksen on Saturday. Now, following a summer in which nearly every fan of the club could agree that we desperately needed a DM, Wenger, is talking about converting Abou Diaby who for all his ability is sadly the most injury prone player in the league as a consequence of the horror tackle he suffered at Sunderland back in 2006. Putting aside tactics and squad imbalances for a second, our first XI is as strong as it’s been arguably since 2006.

The obvious exception however is a holding player to provide presence and stem the flow of goals we ship to counter attacks. Like the ones that saw us obliterated away to the other top sides last season and have so far seen us win only two league games this season. The truth is that top sides fancy themselves to score against us if they really need to and this will continue until we have a defensive midfielder who matches the quality of those around him.

Szczesny

Until quite recently I was under the illusion that 99.9% of Arsenal fans were happy with Szczesny. However in the wake of our draw with Manchester City, two members of SWAYR were quite critical of him, one called for him to be dropped and Ospina to be given a chance.

Central to the criticism was that his distribution can be patchy and as a team that’s particularly susceptible to counter attacks this presents a constant threat. I take that on board and agree his distribution still needs work but I think when compared to every keeper we’ve had since Seaman he’s the best.

He doesn’t get rattled the way Lehman did, he’s safer under high balls than Almunia was and his decision making when coming off his line is a lot better than Fabianski’s. I challenged the two individuals in question to name five better keepers in the world, based on the last season or so. I said Neuer, Courtois and Lloris (bias aside for one minute). They offered Cech and Begovic, the latter I don’t think has been as good in the last year as he was two years ago. As for Cech, I haven’t seen anything of him in the last year to suggest he’s any better than Szczesny.

Football hipsters, feel free to point out the glaring omissions we’ve made with obscure names from less watched leagues than “The Greatest League in the World™”.

Stan’s ATM

Last week eyebrows were raised at the news that one of Stan Kroenke’s companies has been paid three million pounds for services rendered to the club. One of the quotes attributed to our majority shareholder – from a 2011 interview – that has been doing the rounds since, relates to his disbelief that Manchester United fans get upset about money being taken out of their club by the Glazer family.

To this end he cited LA Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, as an American example of an owner who takes money out of his club and a big deal isn’t made of it. One of the things that Stan, failed to point out is that unlike the Premier League the NBA and NFL have a much stronger collectivism, protection of their brand and protection of their clubs. We’ve had a prime example recently when the NBA voted to force LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, to sell his club in the wake of a racism scandal.

Can anyone really envisage a situation where the premier league would take such a strong stance? Comparatively football has far looser regulation than American sports, which means that it’s less likely that we’ll ever see situations similar those of Leeds and Portsmouth in any of the major sports in the USA. Hopefully the issue will be addressed properly at the club’s AGM and shareholders won’t just be stonewalled by Silent Stan.

Rory

 

Positives and Negatives to last nights defeat

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So we are out of the League Cup. A great start to the game with a sensational free kick by Alexis Sanchez was followed up by with a penalty to Southampton after a poor challenge by Tomas Rosicky and a stunner by Nathaniel Clyne (who deserves an England call up).

A disappointing result, but there are plenty of positives, as well as some negatives, to take from the night.

Positive – Going out

The League Cup is very much the ugly duckling of the 4 honours we begin the season chasing. It always brings up the conundrum of how we should approach it. Play youngsters to see how they do against top opposition, or play a strong side to try and win it. Both have their merits.

Getting knocked out is by no means a disaster.

For a Champions League side, the beginning of a season is always congested. Play on the weekend, play mid week, see your stars fly to the four corners of the world for internationals. Repeat.

Whilst not all the top players might play in the League Cup, they train as a team so will have to prepare together, even if they are not playing. Last night Ospina, Bellerin, Chambers, Wilshere, Rosicky, Podoslki and Sanchez from the 1st 11 and Chamberlain and Cazorla coming on will be involved in the match day squad against Spurs.

By being knocked out, we have now freed up two mid weeks between now and the end of the year. Two mid week rests might not seem much, but lets put that into context of the first 5five months of the season.

Had we made the quarter final of the League Cup, we would have only had two mid weeks off between now and the FA Cup 3rd round tie in the New Year.Not much time to get a little refresh. By being knocked out so early, we now double that time off. It should leave us that little bit fresher for upcoming games.

We now have the week between Sunderland and Burnely free, and perhaps more importantly, the week between Newcastle and Liverpool. It might not seem like much of a silver lining at the moment, but were we to win all four of those games, you could argue that not playing a League Cup tie between them contributed to the victories.

And these thoughts don’t even take into account the fixture congestion making the semi-final or final creates.

Negative – Going out

I want to win every trophy. Whether it is the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup or League Cup. I want us to win it. We are in football to win things. There is nothing better than a day out at Wembley.

Also, the League Cup has always given us an opportunity to blood younger players against decent sides. You have to wonder when Hayden, Bellerin or Akpom are now going to get a chance again, or will they return to he youths before a January long move to some dump like Carlisle? The League cup is brilliant for their progress, an it’s over before it’s really begun.

Also, the League Cup provides a brilliant opportunity for youngsters to watch the games. For Dad’s to take their son’s. With Premier League and Champions League games becoming more and more expensive. One adult and 2 kids can go to the League Cup for less than £50. The League Cup is a good breeding ground for our future fans. For many kids last night, it would have been their first game.

With Arsenal now out, in the same way you wonder when the kids will get their next chance to play, you also have to wonder when the kids will get their next chance to watch live.

Positive – Arsenal 2nd 11 v Southampton’s 1st 11

Only Alexis Sanchez would be guaranteed a starting place in Arsenal’s strongest 11. Meanwhile, Southampton had arguably their strongest possible 11 out, bar a debutant left back. They are 2nd in the league and last night was their 5th win in a row.

It was certainly not a defeat on the scale of Bradford or MK Dons beating Manchester United. It is no disaster or embarrassment to lose to a very good Premier League outfit.

A lot can be taken from many of the performances, and we should now be confident that many of the players on show last night can be rotated in against mid-table and lower sides and we should still perform. The performance of the youngsters impressed the most (more later).

We played well against a strong Premier League outfit

Negative – The Seniors

Lukasz Podolski and Tomas Rosicky were disastrous.

Firstly, the German. I barely realised he was playing. He showed why we have attempted to offload him the last two summers. He is still only with the clubs due to circumstances conspiring in his favour (injures). He put in the tepid lazy performance that has plagued his Arsenal career. This season will be his last at Arsenal.

Tomas Rosicky has not played much, so maybe I am about to be too harsh, as he probably isn’t match sharp, but he looked old last night.

Slow decision making, 2nd to react to every loose ball, he looked every year of his 33 on this planet and more. A lot might have been down to lack of match sharpeness, but for me, he took the place in the starting 11 that I would have liked to have seen go to someone younger, to see what they can do.

I have long been an advocate of keeping around senior players, but the time has come for him to step aside and give youngsters sub as Oxlade Chamberlain or Gedion Zalelem a chance.

I would not be upset if both players left us next summer. Last night they let their younger team mates down.

Positive – The Youngsters

We played three 19 year olds in defence last night, and none of them looked out of place.

Unfortunately, injuries mean that Bellerin and Hayden won’t get a loan move to another Premier League club. Then again, training against Sanchez, Ozil and Walcott every week, alongside Mertesacker and Kosicelny, might be better for their development anyway.

All 3 did not look fazed at all, and all look to have a bright future at Arsenal, even if it is as a squad player.

Negative – Joel Campbell

A youngster who I feel does not have a bright future at the club is Joel Campbell.

A lot of hype has been around Campbell since he joined us in 2011. He became the forgotten man last summer, only to burst back into our conscious with a wonder goal against Manchester United.

A good World Cup later, and his stock was high. Hindsight shows we should have cashed in at this point.

Yesterday he showed exactly why he is not good enough for Arsenal, and why he has struggled on loan at 3 different clubs in 3 different counties.

Maybe now our fans will stop hyping up players based on YouTube videos and the odd good performance. He is senior to both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Serge Gnabry but junior to them in talent and ability.

Another to be sold next summer, unfortunately at a lower price than we could have got this.

Positive – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Whilst he only played 15 minutes (or so) he looked a class apart in comparison to Joel Campbell. Barely 21, his brief cameo should get him a start against Spurs, seeing Arsene Wenger returning to 4231 with Sanchez Ozil & Chamberlain behind Danny Welbeck.

With Theo Walcott now out until middle of October at the earliest, Oxlade-Chamberlain should be given a run in the team on the right wing. He deserves it.

Negative – Where are the Local Lads?

A longer blog for another day perhaps. The talk throughout the game between myself and others was “What has happened to the local boys?”. We played without a single player from London (let along North London or just Islington) again.

Yes, it is part of the wider picture of problems in English football, but the lack of local boys at Arsenal is worrying. The two players that we often claim as our own – Carl Jenkinson and Jack Wilshere – are from Harlow and Stevenage respectively.

In our first team squad we have six Englishmen (seven if you include Jenkinson), but only one can really be said to be an Arsenal Academy graduate (Jack Wilshere). Just two are from London (Kieran Gibbs from South of the River – Lambeth, & Theo Walcott from Stanmore). I honestly can not remember our last Islington born player.

I know GC has some very strong views on what he believes is a problem in our youth set up, and something that needs to be addressed. Hopefully he will write something fuller on it soon.

Positive – Moving On

Well, me mum always said end every day with a positive, and it is the same with this blog. I don’t want leave it on a sour note.

We lost to a very good Southampton side to a penalty and a screamer. Disappointing but not a disaster.

But what is the biggest positive of the night? Between the match last night and you reading the blog this morning, there is one less sleep till Spurs. Now that is something to be joyful about.

Keenos