Tag Archives: Arsène Wenger

10 Reasons why we will beat Swansea + Starting XI

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1.. Sagna, he finally got a rest mid-week and he deserved it as he’s been quietly but professionally been getting on with his job this season no matter where he’s been asked to play.

2.. Mertesacker, proving that if you don’t move fast you can play all day and all night. The fella is turning into a robot, always reliable, always in the right place and not scared to give it a hoof when needed.

3.. Ramsey, another week another set of booing opposition fans to shut up. I will never understand why the Stoke fans boo Ramsey, idiots but it’s only normal for Swansea fans to boo an ex-Cardiff player. He did pick up a knock but looks likely it wont stop him playing and hopefully keeping up his amazing scoring record this season.

4.. Jack Wilshere, firstly congratulations on the birth of his daughter this week. Not having the best of times right now on the pitch, Wenger is asking him to cover the left side of the pitch and that’s not normal for him. Neither is having Ozil taking up positions he likes to get into. He is a clever lad, he will work it out but may take time and of course he needs to add goals to his games.

5.. Swansea are having an average start to the season, they have already lost to that lot from Middlesex and Man Utd. Their best prem result so far is a draw at Liverpool. Scoring only 7 and letting in 7, 6 of which were at home.

6.. Ozil, everyone must be impressed with his start. It’s never easy when a player hasn’t had a pre-season and hardly any training with a new team but I guess when you are world class you should be able to play with anyone. 3 assists against Stoke made a great home debut and I fully expect him to have a field day today playing against a Swansea team who like to play the game the right way.

7.. Gnarby, I felt so sorry for him when he missed his penalty against West Brom. Out of our emerging youth players he is the one whose likely to play a good few games right now due to our horrific injury problems in the attacking wide positions. He is an exciting prospect and it’s now up to him to show some old fashioned balls and take his chance and stake his claim before players come back from injury (obv this will not include Diaby).

8.. La La La Lalallaaa…Giroud, 4 goals in 5 prem games this season and again someone who earned a rest mid-week. Right now we would be doomed without him and he must be the 1st player subbed once we are in a match winning position.

9.. 11 straight away wins now and I don’t care what anyone says when you play a cup game and you win, you have won. It doesn’t matter if it was in 90mins, extra time or on pens, you have won. So let’s put an end to that bloody nonsense.

10.. It’s been 17 years since Mr Wenger walked into our club and history will record him as a man of two half’s. The first being the most amazing free flowing football with fresh ideas which not only changed how The Arsenal is run but also world football and he will go down as one of the greatest managers ever. The second half hasn’t been so good, people have caught up, taken over and he failed to progress. He now has the record for the longest trophy free run of any manager of The Arsenal.

Likely Starting XI – Chesney, Sagna, Per, Kos, Gibbs, Ramsey, Jack, Flamini, Ozil, Gnarby, Giroud

The League Cup – A Review of the Youngsters

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As always, the League Cup has allowed Arsenal fan’s and Arsene Wenger to see how the next crop of players do against a Premier League side.

Carl Jenkinson

Despite his experience, he is still just 21. A solid performance by him showing once more he is more than ready to play in the Premier League. Then again, we knew that already. Futures Bright

Isaac Hayden

He looked like an 18 year old centre back playing in central midfield. Which is exactly what he was. Despite him starting his youth career in the middle of the park, he has more recently been playing in the heart of the defence. He looked off the pace and was lucky to not be sent off after numerous yellow card worthy challenges in the 1st half. Expect him to be in the side in next years 3rd round, but playing at centre back. Jury Out

Thomas Eisfield

A make or break year for the German. Has looked good in the youth team and reserves, but he turns 21 in January so is very much a ‘senior’ youth player. Despite his goal, he was very quiet and failed this test. Would not be surprised if this is his last year at the club. Futures Elsewhere

Ryo Miyaichi

Ran down a lot of blind alley’s. Crossing was poor. He certainly did not light the game up. An injury last year hampered his progress, but he does not look Arsenal class. Bit like Eisfield, this was his big chance. He did not take it. Futures Elsewhere

Serge Gnarby

Similar display to Ryo Miyaichi, but a bit more impressive. Looked to take his man on at every time, but as with the 1st half against Stoke, always seems to look inside. Played in well by Jenksinon in the 1st half. He is someone to be excited about, having just turned 18. Good performance and will surely build on it as he plays more. Could do with a loan out to a Premier League side to get regular play. Futures Bright

Chuba Akpom

Stuck out on the right. Would of preferred to see him of come on for Bendtner in the middle. He would have scored that chance when clean through in the 1st half of Extra Time. Failed to do much on the right wing. Was not a good performance, but he can not be blamed for that. Would of liked to of seen him down the middle. Jury Out

Kristoffer Olsson

Replaced Hayden, but was equally as quiet as Eisfield. This was perhaps a year too early for the young Swede who has just turned 18. Expect him to be in the 1st XI in this competition next year, where we will really see if he is good enough to step up. Jury Out

Hector Bellerin

Showed his versatility by coming on for Arteta in the middle of the park. Whilst his future lies on the right, he showed the technique and ability on the ball that all graduates of Barcelona’s La Masia have. A few wild shots towards the end showed confidence, if not brain. I look forward to watching his development. Futures Bright

The next generation of Arsenal stars do not look good enough (excluding Gedion Zelalem). The 20 year old’s (Eisfield, Miyachi) did not look good enough. This game has come a year too early for those who are 2 years younger (Olsson, Bellerin, Gnarby), but even still, there are now 18. What is for sure is there is not a Cesc, Wilshere or Oxlade-Chamberlain amongst them. I wonder if there is even a Denilson, Aliadiere, Bendtner or Vela, or even a Quincy Owusu-Abeyie or Lupoli.

Ps: Hats off to the 3 18 year old’s Gnabry, Olsson & Akpom for stepping up and taking penalties under the pressure.

Keenos

Mathieu Flamini – The Man Who Would Be King

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Towards the end of the Stoke City game, as interest in the match waned as we sat comfortably 3-1 up, the conversation amongst the fans around me turned to the return of Mathieu Flamini. That he was potentially the signing of the season.

Anyone who follows me on twitter would have seen me tweet after the game:

‘Mathieu Flamini – Had we spent £20million on him, we would be talking about how we’d solved our midfield problem.’

Whilst Aaron Ramsey has got the plaudits for his goals, and Mesut Ozil the hype for his price tag, it is Mathieu Flamini who has quietly been starring for us in the middle of the park. Adding the steel that we have missed, doing the dirty work and getting up other players noses. The joke going round Twitter is that it has taken us 4 years to replace Mathieu Flamini. And we have done that by buying Mathieu Flamini.

Whilst Spurs went and signed Etienne Capoue and Paulinho for £9.5million and £17million respectively, we got in Flamini, for a free transfer. Having already played for us, it was written off as a nothing transfer. But his performances this season have been as good, if not better, then the two Tottenham players. It just highlights, it is not about spending big money, it is about signing the right players.

His performances have been exceptional since he joined. The bite in the tackle. Not giving his opponents a minutes rest. Driving himself and the team forward. He has also become a leader in the middle of the park.

From the moment he stepped off the bench against Spurs, coming onto the pitch and barking orders, the mentality of the side seemed to shift. No longer would every player not give 100%. Despite only having been with the club for a few days, he was the leader on the pitch. To highlight this further, two examples against Stoke.

The first is rumours that, having got fed up with Jack Wilshire continually being kicked to pieces, he turned round to Stoke Marc Wilson and threatened to blind him if he fouled the young Englishman again. This type of aggression and sticking up for your team mate has not been seen since the days of Patrick Vieira.

Secondly, in the 2nd half when Serge Gnarby had been left in a heap, the referee played on as we had the ball. Once play had broken down, Flamini was straight in the ref’s ear, reminding him of the foul and demanding a booking for the offender. The ref promptly dished out the punishment. At this point, I turned round to those around me and said ‘that reminds me of Steven Gerrard.’ He has returned to Arsenal as a leader.

And that makes me wonder, had he not left Arsenal, would he now be the King of the Emirates?

He left us after in 2008 after 4 seasons and 153 games. He was an integral part of the side. The following season, Cesc Fabregas was named Arsenal captain. Had Flamini of stayed, I am sure it would have been him, and not Robin Van Persie, who would have become vice captain. After all, at that point he would have racked up nearly 200 games.

When Cesc left us in 2011, it would have only been natural that Mathieu Flamini would step up and become Arsenal captain. 27 years old, been at the club for 7 years, over 300 games played, a central midfielder. He would be the perfect choice.

He would then be sitting here now, in 2013, not as a free transfer, but as a man who is beginning his third season as team captain, beginning his tenth season at the club, with over 400 appearances. He would be captain fantastic. He would be King.

He himself must be wondering why he left us. With being captain, he would be on vastly superior wage’s then he is on now. When re-signing for us in the summer, he agreed £50,000 a week. My bet is had he not left, he would be on twice that. By leaving, he has lost his chance to increase his earning potential, as well as being club captain and a potential legend. I wonder if he regrets it?

On the other side of the coin, he has returned to Arsenal as a better player. Whilst this has to do with him being 4 years older, 122 games for AC Milan has improved him. And look at the central midfielder’s alongside him whilst in Milan:

Andrea Pirlo
Gennaro Gattuso
Clarence Seedorf
Massimo Ambrosini
Mark van Bommel
Riccardo Montolivo

These are amongst some of the best midfielder’s of their generation. OVer 4,000 career games between them, 429 international caps. You could argue that playing with these, AC Milan became a finishing school for Mathieu Flamini, and, with out his move to AC Milan, he would not be the same player he is today. His move highlights how much a player can improve when he is playing, training, every day with better players – it is something Arsenal should learn from, stop selling senior pro’s, let them teach the younger ones.

The signing of Mathieu Flamini is as much inspirational as it was accidental. Arsene Wenger himself has admitted that when he started training with us, there were no plans to sign him. However it is clear that his mind soon changed as our lack of interest in central midfielder’s over the summer showed that in Wenger’s mind, he was thinking ‘is there someone out there better than Flamini.’

He may well of lost his chance to become Arsenal captain, or an Arsenal legend, but if he continue’s in his current manner, he could become an Arsenal great.

Mathieu Flamini – The Man Who Would Be King

Keenos