Tag Archives: Arsenal

Could Julian Draxler be the man to finally replace Henry at Arsenal?

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Thierry Henry left Arsenal in 2007. Ever since that day, Arsenal have attempted, and failed, to replace what the legend bought the time. Pace, power, height, assists and goals. Whether it be by lack of ability, lack of desire, lack of physical attributes or lack of heart, Arsenal have not, in 6 years, got close to replacing the Frenchman.

First to attempt to replace him was Emmanuel Adebayor. He seemed to have it all. The pace, the power, and the technique. unfortunately, he is footballs answer to Audley Harrison. All the technique and physical ability to be one of the best, but none of the heart or desire.

Robin Van Persie was next up to attempt to replace the great man. He came closer to anyone else, with 59 goals in 2 seasons. However, leaving for Manchester United meant he became nothing in the eyes of Arsenal fans. And at the age of 29 when leaving, and with a history of injuries, it is unlikely he would ever become a true replacement for Henry. More like a short term option. He also did not have the dynamism of Henry.

Next up was Theo Walcott. He took Henry’s number 14 shirt. With pace to burn and a fantastic eye for goal. He could have had it all. Except the stature. 5 inches shorter than Henry, he does not have the ability to play up top on his own.

Finally, Olivier Giroud. The polar opposite to Theo Walcott. All the physical attributes, but none of the pace. Whilst he is important in the way we line up, there is a worry that he does not have the natural gifts to be a game winner. What he does is work well for the team, but when push comes to shove, he does not strike fear into a defenders heart the way Henry did. He is also not an individual game winner.

For 6 seasons, Arsenal have struggled with their forward line, with none of the attempted replacements being ideal, however, Arsene Wenger might be about to sign the man who could well replace him on a long term basis. Julian Draxler is top of his shopping list for summer 2014.

Julian Draxler is a 20 year old German player currently plying his trade for Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga. A midfielder by trade, he is comfortable playing anywhere behind the striker. Left wing, right wing or central. He is a talent. Arguably the most talented under 21 year old in Europe at the moment.

Looking at the German, he seems to have the ideal attributes for Arsene Wenger to turn him into a top young midfielder into one of the world deadliest strikers.

It is well known that Arsene Wenger likes having his strikers ‘learn’ how to play out wide. His theory is that wingers having less space and less time on the ball, whilst also receiving more of the ball then a striker. He is of the belief that playing on the wing when younger is a good learning curve to become a striker in the future. At 20, Draxler will be a year younger than when Henry signed from Juventus.

Looking at the two players, it is clear that Draxler ticks so many of the boxes which Henry also ticked (or tuck?).

At 6 foot 2, he is the same height as Henry, meaning that he has the frame to bulk up and bully defenders. In a world where 1 up top is the favoured formation, the main man has to have the physical capabilities to occupy 2 defenders. Draxler might be 10kg lighter than Henry, but at the age of 20, he has the time to bulk up – he is not a wirey frame – and be fully physically prepared to be the main man up top.

Draxler, like Henry, also has pace to burn. Whilst he might not have the raw pace of Thierry Henry, he is very similar to Gareth Bale, in that he has the ability to run away from players over the longer distances.

One of the most important factors in Henry’s game was his assists. It is something that no other striker has got near to matching. Being able to provide to others as many as you score. He originally broke through for Schalke back in 2011 where, at the age of 17, he became the 4th youngest Bundesliga player, and a week later, the second youngest to start a Bundesliga game, behind Nuri Sahin. Draxler originally started playing in behind the striker, but was often pushed wide left to accommodate other players.

This positioning has meant he has the eye for a pass. Whilst his vision is not Bergkamp or Ozil level, it is certainly better than any other striker in the Premier League at the moment. He has played much of his career on the left wing, similar of Henry at Monaco and Juventus.

On top of his vision, he is also technically brilliant. Whilst Henry had to work on his technique, Draxler is more naturally gifted. He also has fantastic dribbling skills, making him the double threat that only Ronaldo, Bale and Henry have had in recent games. Being able to run with the ball whilst maintaining a high pace.

The main question over Draxler is his finishing. Unlike Henry, he has not spent his entire childhood as a striker. Henry’s trademark finishing was learnt with hours of practise playing up top for CO Les Ulis, US Palaiseau, ES Viry-Chatillon and Monaco, as well as refined at the Clairefontaine academy. Henry was always destined to be a striker.

Draxler does not have the same history. Always a midfielder, he does not have the background of playing upfront. So whether he has the coolness that is ingrained with hours of training at a young age, the instinctiveness that playing upfront from the age of 7, that Henry has is questionable. With just 25 career goals it will be a question mark over his head.

However, comparing both of their early careers, Draxler has shown an equal ability to finding the back of the net:

When Henry was 20, he had played 122 games for Monaco, scoring 27 goals. Draxler, currently 20, has played 122 games for Schalke 04, and scored 25 goals.

Draxler ticks so many boxes that Henry also ticked. And at 20, he also has the time on his hands to become a legend at Arsenal, not become just another player.

Having failed to qualify for the Champions League last season, Schalke 04 are currently sitting 5th, 8 points behind joint leaders Borussia Dortmund & Bayern Munich, with Bayer Leverkusen sitting in 3rd, also on 22 points. Just last year, they had debts over £248m. Add in a rumoured €45 million release clause, Draxler is very gettable.

Yesterday he indicated that he turned down a Premier League move in the summer. Arsenal were the club rumoured to be looking at him, with an offer of £26m plus Lukas Podolski being on the table before he picked up his injury. What is for certain it is highly likely he will join a Premier League side next year after stating:

“I have my favourite team, but I am at Schalke and I don’t want to talk about other clubs.”

Mesut Ozil took Arsenal to another level. Julian Draxler would take us a step further, and would finally be the man who replaces Thierry Henry.

Keenos

The Arsenal and Me – Herbert’s Story

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When She Wore gave me the task of writing why I love The Arsenal, I had a long search through the memory banks. It’s a question the majority of fans ask each other. Why that particular team? Many cite family loyalties, ‘I come from an Arsenal family’ or ‘I did it to spite my dad/brother, etc’. Others are down to geographic location, ’it’s my hometown club’. For me, I blame Panini.

I’m a provincial. A child of the countryside. An idyllic upbringing among the orchards of Kent. When I was a kid ‘out in the boonies’, the nearest town was 5 miles away and trips to a sports shop were infrequent and replica kits were virtually non-existent. I had an interest in football but only from what I had read in my Grandfather’s newspaper or saw on World of Sport. I had no allegiance to any one team. Panini solved my problem. I was given this album and about 10 packs of stickers just before the 1977-78 season, and being a bit of a pedantic child, I sorted them out in numeric order without looking at the pictures on the front. Oddly I remember working backwards – no I don’t know why either –and dutifully stuck them in, a touch lopsided.

The final sticker I had was right at the front of the book. It was what kids now call, a shiny. A club crest. Red and white with a big gun on it and the word ARSENAL in that font we all know and love. Below the crest read the words:

VICTORIA CONCORDIA CRESCIT

I didn’t know what it meant but it must mean something to someone.
So who were this Arsenal? The double page was covered with empty boxes but with names underneath. Pat Jennings, Pat Rice, David O’Leary, Liam Brady, Malcolm McDonald to name a few. Who were they all? I looked at the honours board noting that this club and I had something in common. They’d won the Division One championship and FA Cup the year I was born a few years before. Fate surely? In that moment, my footballing destiny had been sown and I devoured every scrap of news to do with the team that I could find.

Luckily for me, the team reached the FA Cup final three years in a row, Roger Osborne upsetting me in ’78, Alan Sunderland sending me delirious in ’79 and Trevor Brooking making me cry in ’80. I’ve told Trevor that since in the car park at The Boleyn. A lovely man. Hand on my shoulder, he apologised for making me cry all those years ago but not for the goal. Then again, I didn’t expect him to.

My debut at Highbury, or any Arsenal game for that matter, was in 1991. The 4-0 win over Palace. I stood on The North Bank. I went with some older work colleagues. Pre-match build up started in The Gunners pub on Elwood Street. A couple of ‘sherberts’, then the walk. At the end of the road there was the end of the East Stand and the North Bank turnstiles, what seemed to be thousands of people milling around, the whisperings of the ticket touts, the programme seller on the corner, the diversity of people in the street, young and old, black and white. Heart thudding in my chest, sweaty palms and a dry mouth. I’d only ever seen it on the television. I remember it as if it were yesterday.
£4.00 – those were the days! – at the turnstile and up the concrete steps. At the top, I stopped. Laid out before me was my field of dreams. The hallowed turf I’d been waiting over a decade to see. An overwhelming moment. That shiny sticker that had captivated me all those years ago had brought me to this. I’d waited all my life for this moment and I fell even more truly, madly and deeply in love with what I considered to be my club. I couldn’t get enough and went home and away for the next four years.

I haven’t been to a competitive league game since 1996 but I’ve lucky to witness the FA Cup finals, good and bad, but like a lot of supporters, it’s down to the cost. What does upset me is that I cannot afford to take my two daughters to experience a game at The Arsenal. My parents weren’t interested in sport at all so I missed out on the matchday experience that I read and hear so much about, and because of the way football is these days, my kids are missing out too. Our love affair with The Arsenal is now sadly from afar.

Throughout the years I’ve been supporting The Arsenal, it’s become to mean more than just the team on the pitch. Of course I’m immensely happy with the success that we’ve enjoyed, the players we’ve had the pleasure to see or read about but one of the key things for me is that we, as a club, have been known for our class and style. We are world-renowned for it. We do things the ‘right way’. We are a club that other clubs aspire to be. Not just now in the present climate with FFP. We’ve always been the benchmark and that’s something to be rightly proud of.

Highbury, the marble halls, Art Deco, the Bank of England club, Herbert Chapman. This may all be history, but it’s ours. Yours and mine. The DNA, where we’ve come from, it’s made our club what it is today. The Arsenal have been innovators, pioneers of what we’ve come to take for granted in this modern football world. As a supporter, I’m incredibly proud that we have a rich tapestry of history, not just from on the field successes and world class players. Not many clubs can boast about the achievements that we can. The first live radio broadcast of a league match, first live television broadcast of a match, first team featured on MOTD, under-soil heating, floodlights, our own Underground station. Our current manager has been rightly lauded as being the catalyst for change in English football. We’ve featured heavily in popular culture whether that be in film, comedy, literature and the theatre. It’s these little things that I love about my club.

The Arsenal plays an important part in my life. It dictates my moods, it elates and deflates me but no matter what it does, I love it. Painfully so at times, to the detriment of everything else.

Every time I pull on a shirt, I feel pride. The shirt and the name on it is my identity.
I’ll end on a quote from our former goalkeeper, the Double-winning legend, Bob Wilson:
‘It was this feeling you were wearing this big gun on your chest and everywhere you went, my word, you felt proud to be wearing it’
No matter what has happened in the last few years and what may happen in the future, that sums it all up. Thanks Panini.

Herbert

If you would like to tell your Arsenal story, click here

Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, The Defence, Wojciech Szczesny and More…

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Mesut Ozil

Sign Mesut Ozil for £42.5million, Arsenal score the goal of the season with beautiful one touch play, Ozil no where to be seen, but then scores a header. Have we signed a freakier Peter Crouch? Of course, I jest. I wonder if Arsene Wenger tells the rest of his side to just feed the monkey? He has shown what spending big on a world class player does to the side, the fans, and more. You have to feel that he gives the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey confidence by being there. After all, if he has joined Arsenal to play with them, how good must they be? Hopefully we will now see one big money world class player signing a summer and build on Ozil.

Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey

After a rough start to the season for Wilshere, he seems to be getting back to full fitness and is looking stronger and quicker for it. A top draw goal, he is silencing his critics who seem to forget he is just 21 and has just spent the best part of 2 seasons injured. As for Aaron Ramsey, he is a reminder to Jack what hard work gets you. Another great goal by The General. The argument about him being the best central midfielder in league is over. He is. The debate now is where does he rank in world football?

The Defence

Whilst Arsenal are getting plaudits from around the world for the scintillating attacking play against Norwich, we once again failed to keep a clean sheet. Arsenal have kept 1 clean sheet in the league this season. It is a worry that we are conceding a goal a game.

Wojciech Szczesny

The Big Pole has grown this season. The way he comes out for corners, dominating the box, is majestic to watch. At 6ft 5in, a huge reach and a brilliant leap, he comfortable gets over 10ft in the air at corners. He not only gets the ball, he catch’s it rather than punches it. He seems to of regained his concentration, probably helped by the signing of Viviano to keep him on his toes. At just 23, he will continue to improve. A new goalkeeper in January will not be on anyone’s list.

Top of the League

2 points clear after 8 games, it feels good chanting “We are top the league”. We might not yet of played anyone of note, and the comparisons to ‘the same games last year’ will continue, but the fact is, we are top. In the calendar year of 2013, we have got more points than any other side. A home match against Liverpool, then an away trip to Manchester United, with 2 games against Borussia Dortmund, a League Cup tie against Chelsea and a tricky trip to Crystal Palace will show us just how good our side is. Come out of the run still top of the league, having qualified for the next round of the Champions League, and in the fifth round of the League Cup would be the dream result. Keep up the positive energy!

Emirates Atmosphere

Success and atmosphere go hand in hand. It is easier to cheer and sing when your team are winning. And it is no surprise that we now have the best atmosphere at home since moving to the new ground in the best start to a season at our new ground. The ground is establishing it’s identity. With The East Stand and North Bank taking ownership of the old “We are the North Bank Highbury” song. where as before, it was fragmented with people singing about where they sat at the Home of Football, they are now signing about where they sit in the new stadium. With 60,000 people, we can be the 12th man. Sing up for The Arsenal.

Keenos