Tag Archives: England

The Revitalisation of Bacary Sagna

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During the middle of last season, as Arsenal’s form took a huge dip, a lot of criticism was thrown Bacary Sagna’s way. His first drop of form in an Arsenal shirt coincided with the rise of a ‘local lad’ in Carl Jenkinson and there was plenty of chatter that we should be looking to dump the French International.

Sagna has been not only one of Arsenal’s most consistent performers but also one of the Premier League’s most consistent players during his time in England. Always a solid 7 or 8 out of 10.

Always keeping flashy wingers in check, he reminded the world that a full back’s job was defend as well as attack. Whilst he was never a Dani Alves of Emmanuel Eboue going forward, he was, in my opinion, the best full back in the world when it came to defending. Strong, quick, great in the air and a brilliant reader of the game. But last season, he dropped off massively.

A lot pointed to the fact that many of his ‘friends’ had left the club. That he was unhappy. That he was not giving 100%. That having seen Cesc, Song, RVP and more leave in a short amount of time, he had become disillusioned with life at the club. No friends and no future at Arsenal.

People were saying if an offer came in over the summer for him, we should take it. That in Carl Jenkinson and Hector Bellerin we had replacements. And there was good value for that argument. He looked out of form and out of shape.

However, what people seemed to forget is that it was his first dip in form. The saying form is temporary class is permanent. And that Bacary Sagna was only 30.

This was not a 35 year old full back we were talking about, this was a top, top International. What I found interesting at the time is many of the same people who bemoaned the club for letting go of experience too early were so quick to jump on the ‘Sagna Out’ bandwagon. This a 30 year old regular International who had played 350 games, of which 250 of which were for Arsenal.

What people also seemed to forget was that during the 2011/12 season Bacary Sagna broke his leg. Not once but twice. He only returned in October 2012, and did not play a full 90 minutes until November.

He got a lot of criticism for ‘not having heart’ and ‘being unfit for the shirt’ but in reality, maybe he was a tad mentally scared by 2 leg breaks in 1 season, and was struggling for fitness having returned to the squad just in time for the hectic winter period. In hindsight, maybe we as fans got on his back without fully understanding the situation.

Despite the furore around his future, at not point did Bacary Sagna shouls any desire to leave. And the 2013/14 season has definitely seen one of revitalisation. A full pre-season under his belt. No International tournaments. And his double leg break being out of sight out of mind 2 years ago, he is now back to his consistent best.

And where he has perhaps been most important is at centre back. Whilst many screamed that we should spend millions on an Ashley Williams or Mamadou Sakho, Sagna has shown he is more than capable to be 4th choice centre back. None of those mentioned would have joined Arsenal to be 4th choice, and none were good enough for our 1st 11. It is hard to name a centre back in world football who would have come to Arsenal to be 4th choice centre back, and not been a Squillaci or Silvestre. Sagna has done a job.

At right back he is also getting back to his best. Realising he does not need to bomb forward all the time, he is returning to be a top defensive player. Yes, Carl Jenkinson might be better at crossing and driving forward, but a defenders job is to defend, and Bacary Sagna is far superior.

The worry is Sagna’s contract runs out at the end of the season. His experience and ability is something that the club can not lose. Jenkinson is still raw. He can learn from Sagna. And the healthy competition between the 2 should see both continually strive to be better. Add in his importance at centre back, I would be more than happy for Arsene Wenger to break his ‘1 year for a 30 year old’ rule and offer the Frenchman a 3 year deal.

Bacary Sagna is invaluable to us.

Oh yeah, his bird is also well fit.Keenos

The Arsenal and Me – Wayne’s Story

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The date was Saturday 15th February 1992 and me and my younger brother John had asked our mum for some money to go watch Arsenal play Sheffield Wednesday, but to our disappointment our mum was short of money that day and instead she gave us 50p each to go buy some sweets, we were on the way to our local shops on Woodberry Down estate to spend our 50p pocket money, I was 12 years old and John was 10 years old.

As we crossed the road John found £35 just laying there near a car wheel some poor person had lost their money so we done the right thing and rounded up a few of our mates and paid for them to get in to watch The Arsenal!

As you will know in them days it only cost us £4 (child tickets) to get into Highbury so with £35 in our pockets £24 for 6 of us to get in and enough for a burger and programme.

We watched Arsenal thrash Sheffield Wednesday 7-1 with goals from Campbell(2) Limpar(2) Smith Merson & Wright as a 12 year old watching the team I love, standing in the north bank singing dancing it was a atmosphere which football is missing now and as an Arsenal fan all we have these days are memories!

Well that’s my best Arsenal memory I hope you enjoy.

Wayne

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

Are attitudes changing towards foreigners in the English Game?

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Over the year’s, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger have been criticised for a whole range of reason’s. Whether it was the disciplinary record of his early time in charge, the lack of trophies in his later time, or the foreign legion he bought in during his mid-time in charge. He has been derided throughout his time in English football. At times, I have felt it was borderline xenophobia, as he got criticised whilst other managers did not.

One of the most frustrating criticism’s was the lack of Englishmen in the squad.

On February 14th 2005, Arsenal became the 1st team to field a 16-man squad (as it was back then) of foreign players. Wenger was criticised by all and sundry for not carrying for the English game, being a disgrace, and showing a lack of respect for the country which employed him. Arsene Wenger’s response was simple:

“I don’t look at the passport of people, I look at their quality and their attitude.”

At the time, I vehemently defending the manager, as any fan of the club should do when taking unfair criticism from the likes of TalkSport, The Sun & Spurs fans. My point at the time was the reasoning behind the criticism. That Arsene Wenger was not helping the English game. At the time I looked around other teams throughout the Premier League and who they had developed for the England National Team.

My research highlighted that, in 2005, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea & Spurs had all failed to develop an England REGULAR in the new millennium. Yet it was only Arsenal (and occasionally Chelsea) who were getting the criticism. At this point, out of England’s regular starting XI, the man from these 5 clubs who had made his club debut most recent was Ashley Cole. So much for England’s failure being Arsenal’s fault!

This criticism of Arsenal came to a head a year later when Arsenal knocked out Real Madrid of the Champions League, and Alan Pardew commented:

“I saw a headline saying Arsenal are flying the flag for Britain. I kind of wondered where that British involvement actually was when I looked at their team. It’s important that top clubs don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the English Premier League and English players should be involved.”

Last night, Newcastle lost 3-1 to Everton, Newcastle – Managed by Alan Pardew – lined up as follows:

Krul
Debuchy Coloccini Yanga-M’Biwa Santon
Sissoko Tiote Anita
Ben Arfa Remy Gouffran

Not a single Englishman amongst them. And also, not a single criticism of this ‘foreign legion’ by the English press. Meanwhile, in Arsenal’s strongest 11, we have 3 Englishmen and a Welshman. Where is the praise? Why is the press not going OTT about us being the saviour of the English Football Team?

My only thought is that attitudes to foreigners in our game have changed. Why else would Pardew change his philosophy so quickly? And it is not just Newcastle. Let’s look at Stoke City.

When they played Arsenal last weekend, they had 1 Englishman on the field. And I would happily question if Ryan Shawcross was born in England, or found in a sewer in some god forsaken corner of the earth. Infact, they had 10 different nationalities on the pitch. It would be 11 if Marc Wilson did not decide to turn his back on Northern Ireland and play for Republic of Ireland.

But where once again, where was the criticism? The column inches? The hours of radio coverage? Have attitudes really changed, or does the media just not care when it does not involve Arsenal?

Another example of this is choice of managers. The top sides (Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool & Chelsea) were often heavily criticised for not giving a British manager a chance, with Ferguson (up to a couple of years ago) being the only British manager managing one of England’s top 6 sides. The criticism was heavy. But again, have opinions changed?

The 3 favourites for the Sunderland are currently Gianfranco Zola, Robert Di Matteo & Gustavo Poyet, with Rene Meulensteen also in the frame. Now I might be being thick (and some would so yes due to the state of my spelling and grammar), none of these are English (or British). Where is the criticism of Sunderland? And Everton replaced David Moyes with a Spaniard in Roberto Martinez. Where is their criticism.

I can only come up with 2 possible outcomes:

1) The attitudes of foreigners in the English game has changed or;
2) The press only care about the amount of foreigners in the English game when it sells papers

All I know is I agree with what Arsene Wenger said at the beginning. The passport does not matter. I care about Arsenal, and want the best to play for Arsenal. If that best are not born in The Wittingham Hospital, then so be it. But let’s have some fair criticism shared around yeh?

Keenos