Tag Archives: Arsenal

10 Reasons why we will beat Sunderland + Starting 11

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1) Dennis Bergkamp will be there after unveiling his statue https://shewore.com/2014/02/21/arsenal-legend-set-for-return/

2) Chesney is back after being rested after only 38 mins mid week.

3%) When Koscielny and the BFG have played together we have never lost a game that we have had 11men on the pitch for 90mins when the game has been played south of Watford at 3pm.

4) Ozil, those slagging him off will soon look very silly, this guy is class when played in his correct number 10 type role. This is the ideal game for him to get back on it.

5) Mannone is back in goal for Sunderland, he will either have a blinder or a stinker, lets hope its the latter.

6) Gibbs is out with a buttock injury, so expect Monreal to show us all the art of playing left-back. What a pain in the arse…

7) It’s been refreshing to see someone but the only scoring off the pitch Giroud leading the line for us. Jury is out on Sanogo, some good touches, seems like he has the confidence and he gave the Liverpool defense a bit of a physical problem. But when it comes to shooting he seems to slightly lose his composure.

8) The Arsenal’s home Prem record -Played 13, won 9, drawn 3, lost 1. Sunderland’s away Prem record – Played 12, won 3, drawn 4, lost 5.

9) We have gone 5 home Prem games without conceding and haven’t lost at home since opening day Vs Villa, Sunderland have had 4 clean sheets in the last 6 games and haven’t lost in the last 6 away games.

10) Wenger knows teams at the bottom of the table can be as dangerous as teams at the top, a point for Sunderland would be a good result for them. We need to come out high tempo from the start.

Predicted starting 11 – Chesney, Sagna, BFG, Kos, Monreal, Jack, Flamini, Santi, Ox, Ozil, Giroud.

COME ON THE ARSENAL

Arsenal legend set for return

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Dennis Bergkamp. Mention those two words to any Arsenal fan and their eyes will glaze over as they recall eleven years when one of the world’s greatest ever footballers graced the Highbury turf. For many he was Arsenal’s best ever player.

Before tomorrow’s game against Sunderland he will take his place alongside his peers – Tony Adams, Thierry Henry and Herbert Chapman – when a statue of the great man will be unveiled above The Armoury.Dennis Bergkamp

Along with just about every other Arsenal fan, I was amazed when Bruce Rioch and David Dein pulled off the most amazing transfer in June 1995. A British record transfer fee of £7.5 million was paid to Inter Milan for the Dutch maestro.

After a slow start in which the media, predictably, labelled him a flop he announced his arrival with a stunning goal against Southampton and then never looked back. He finished off his first season scoring with just six minutes remaining of the final game to ensure a victory that put the Gunners back into Europe.

 His annus mirabilis was the 1997-98 season when, despite being injured for the run-in, he played a major part in Arsenal winning the double, finishing the season as the club’s top scorer. On top of this he completed a personal treble winning the FWA Footballer of the Year and PFA Player of the Year awards as well as scooping the Barclays’ Premier League Goal of the Season award for his third goal in the game at Leicester.

Dennis was involved in all of Arsenal’s successes over the next seven seasons, mainly playing a slightly withdrawn forward role which resulted in fewer goals for himself but setting up a huge number for others. His 147 Premier League assists is the fifth overall and the most by any Arsenal player.

Perhaps his finest individual moment was the goal he scored against Newcastle on 2 March 2002. A swift Arsenal attack saw Bergkamp charging towards the Newcastle penalty area. As he saw Robert Pires receive the ball he signalled that he wanted it. Pires slotted the perfect ball through to Bergkamp who, just inside the “D” and with his back to goal, flicked the ball to the right of Nikos Dabizas and ran round the defender’s left to pounce on the ball and coolly slot it home. You can watch it over and over again and never tire of it.

My personal favourite moment was one that didn’t result in a goal. It was a game against Liverpool at Highbury where a swift-counter attack saw Bergkamp advancing down the right. He looked up and saw Thierry Henry charging through the middle with defenders either side of him. Dennis then produced the most exquisite curling pass that passed no more than inch in front of the first defender and perfect for Henry to run onto.

Although used mainly as a substitute in his final season at Highbury, it did not stop him showing his class. None more so than when he came off the bench against West Brom on “Dennis Bergkamp Day” to show the world that he still had it.

After eleven years of sterling service Dennis was awarded a testimonial, a rare feat for an overseas player. The game was played between past and present Arsenal and Ajax teams, and was the first game played at Arsenal’s new stadium.

A short blog like this cannot fully explain Dennis’ contribution to the Arsenal during the golden era of the late 1990s / early 2000s. A statue outside the Emirates is no less than he deserves. Thank you, Dennis.

For those with a penchant for numbers here are Dennis’ Arsenal stats.

Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

Europe

Charity Shield

Apps

Sub

Gls

Apps

Sub

Gls

Apps

Sub

Gls

Apps

Sub

Gls

Apps

Sub

Gls
1995-96

33

11

1

  

–

7

  

5

–

  

–

–

  

–
1996-97

28

 +1

12

2

  

1

2

  

1

1

  

–

–

  

–
1997-98

28

16

7

  

3

4

  

2

1

  

1

–

  

–
1998-99

28

 +1

12

6

  

3

1

  

–

3

  

1

1

  

–
1999-00

23

 +5

6

–

  

–

–

  

–

11

  

4

–

  

–
2000-01

19

 +6

3

4

 +1

1

–

  

–

3

 +2

1

–

  

–
2001-02

22

 +11

9

4

 +2

3

1

  

–

3

 +3

2

–

  

–
2002-03

23

 +6

4

2

 +2

2

–

  

–

6

 +1

1

1

  

–
2003-04

21

 +7

4

3

  

1

–

  

–

4

 +2

–

1

  

–
2004-05

20

 +9

8

4

  

–

–

  

–

4

  

–

1

  

–
2005-06

8

 +16

2

1

  

–

1

  

–

1

 +3

1

1

  

–
Total

253

 +62

87

34

 +5

14

16

  

8

37

 +11

11

5

  

0

Total first-team appearances for Arsenal – 423 (18th overall)
Total first-team goals for Arsenal – 120 (11th overall)

Honours

Premier League winner (3) – 1997-98, 2001-02, 2003-04
FA Cup winner (3) – 2002, 2003, 2005
FA Cup runner-up (1) – 2001
FA Charity Shield winner (3) – 1998-99, 2002-03, 2004-05
FA Charity Shield Runner-up (2) – 2003-04, 2005-06
UEFA Cup runner-up (1) – 1999-2000

FWA Football of the Year – 1997-98
PGA Players’ Player of the Year – 1997-98
Premier League Goal of the Season – 1997-98 (v Leicester), 2001-02 (v Newcastle)

Andy

Andy is editor/contributor/author of The Arsenal History website

Munich defeat, Referees, Mesut Ozil, Silver Lining, Yaya Sanogo, Coefficients

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Munich Defeat

Ok, we lost. 2-0 at home. On the face of it, we should be disappointed. Out of the Champions League 1st knock out stages once again before the second leg has been played. However, where as last year and against AC Milan, we had every right to be annoyed and ashamed, this morning Arsenal fans can hold their heads up high.

Before we went down to 10 men, we showed how good we were, matching Bayern Munich all over the pitch. This Bayern Munich side who are favourites for the Champions League. Who beat Barcelona 7-0 last year. Had Mesut Ozil (more on this later) scored his penalty, had the referee (more on this later) been more consistent, it might have been a different result. Unfortunately, that’s football.

Down to 10 men against a world class side is always going to be an uphill struggle. And we did ourselves proud. You only have to look at ‘distance covered’ by all players to see everyone gave 100%.

Lazy Ozil?

We can hold our head’s up high, and go into our next 3 games confident that we are not just one of the best teams in England, but one of the best in Europe. Hopefully this defeat leads to a similar negative spiral as we had last year (hi AVB!)

Referees

Before I start my rant, Sczcesny was right to be sent off. He bought down his opponent denying him a goal scoring chance. For those saying the rule is wrong, is unfair, if you changed it, you would simply see an increase in keepers run out, charging into the man, knowing that the worst that can happen is giving away a penalty. With the rule as it is, it means that keepers at least have to be controlled and make a valid attempt at getting the ball.

The issue with the referee was inconsistency. Last night (and the Manchester City game) perhaps showed that, despite claims otherwise, European referees are no better than their Premier League counterparts. Why was Boateng not sent for giving away the penalty? He denied a goal scoring opportunity. He then later committed a couple more tackles worthy of a yellow card. Dante seemed untouchable, committing fouls at will, yet no booking. Lets look at some stats:

Arsenal: 8 fouls, 2 yellow cards, 1 red card
Bayern Munich: 16 fouls, 2 yellow cards

To quote Manuel Pellegrini, “The referee decided the game. He was on Barcelona’s Munich’s side from the beginning until the end. He was not impartial”.

Mesut Ozil

Firstly the criticism. What was that penalty about? For the second time this season, he has taken a lazy penalty and missed. It is now the 3rd penalty in a row he has missed. I do not know his overall record, but 3 in a row is enough for me. Surely we take penalties in training? Surely we can see who the best penalty taker is? Surely that person should be on penalties? The only rational thinking is Ozil scores everyone in training, or (and more likely) he has it in his contract that he should be taking penalties. Yes, Arteta & Giroud were not on the pitch, but after yet another miss, it is time for someone else to step up.

On the other side, he has once again got a lot of criticism for his performance, which is once more very unfair. People called him ‘lazy’ yet he covered the 3rd most amount of ground in the side. His season statistics show he has been one of the best midfielder’s in the Premier League this season. In my opinion, he could do with a bit of a rest.

With Sunderland at home this weekend, the time for a rest is now. With Rosicky, Cazorla, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain & Wilshere all fit and raring to go, lets give Ozil a rest. I would line up:

Flamini Wilshere
Ox Cazorla Podolski

With our next game against Stoke 9 days off, it will give Ozil a chance to re-charge his batteries.

Silver Lining

Losing could be good. There could be a silver lining. As I explained yesterday, I would have thrown the Champions League and chucked in the kids from day one. Now we have lost 2-0, we should seriously consider putting out a ‘b’ team in Germany – yes, if you are going, I feel for you, maybe the club should refund all tickets, so you at least get your ticket for free. We have a chance of winning the FA Cup & League. Let’s put our eggs into those baskets and concentrate on those competitions.

Looking at the upcoming fixture’s list, it looks a lot lighter without Champions League football – especially if you ‘remove’ the Munich game from the minds of the 1st team:

Arsenal v Sunderland Sat 22 Feb
Stoke v Arsenal Sat 1 Mar
Arsenal v Everton Sat 8 Mar
Arsenal P-P Swansea
Tottenham v Arsenal Sun 16 Mar
Chelsea v Arsenal Sat 22 Mar
Arsenal v Man City Sat 29 Mar
Everton v Arsenal Sat 5 Apr
Arsenal v West Ham Sat 12 Apr
Hull v Arsenal Sat 19 Apr
Arsenal v Newcastle Sat 26 Apr
Arsenal v West Brom Sat 3 May
Norwich v Arsenal Sun 11 May

Yes, the Spurs, Chelsea, Man City, Everton run of games is difficult, but we can now face them without having the distraction of mid-week football. With the Swansea game required to be re-arranged (plus if we beat Everton, West Ham will be arranged), we will only have 2 mid week games between now and the end of the season. Tiredness should not become an excuse. Losing last night means our focus can fully shift to domestic competitions.

Yaya Sanogo

Another solid performance in the fledging career of Sanogo. Yes, he might not have scored (better players have taken longer to score their first goal), but he once more did not look out of place playing up against International class players. Would I play him against Sunderland? No. If Giroud’s head is back in the game, he should be straight back in. But in Sanogo, we have a talented player who’s style could be a useful change coming off the bench. Next season, if we buy a striker, I will be more than happy with the enw striker as first choice, Giroud as second, and Sanogo as 3rd. And with his natural ability, he would be pushing Giroud hard.

Coefficients

For those worried that yet another 1st knock out round defeat is going to dame our coefficient rankings, do not worry, it will not, we will still be seeded for next year. To be top 8, you need, on average, 100,000 coefficient point’s. You usually accrue around 20,000 if you make the knock out stages.

The current ‘live’ update of points puts Arsenal in 6th place. With Manchester United unlikely to qualify, that puts us in 5th. The winners of the competition usually get 35,000. That means only sides who are within 15,000 points of us can finish above us.Champions League

Only Porto (knocked out), AC Milan (9th in Serie A), Valencia (not in CL) and Atletico Madrid are within 15,000 points. So realistically, only Madrid can beat us, and they need to win the thing to do so – which is unlikely. Yes, our place could be under pressure in the future with the rise of Dortmund, PSG and Manchester City, but they are at least another season from being near us, and with Manchester United likely to drop out, our place in the top 8 will remain secure, as long as we keep making the knock out stages.

Out of the Champions League, but in with a chance of 2 domestic honours. Back the team. Up the Arsenal.

Keenos