Tag Archives: Laurent Koscielny

The Arsenal and Me – A Canadian’s Story

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As a Canadian born outside of Toronto, there is only one team you grow up supporting. The Toronto Maple Leafs. For those of you without knowledge of the National Hockey League (NHL), it is a pro ice hockey team. The team dates back to 1917, not quite the history that comes with football clubs over the pond, but for what is quite a young nation, Maple Leaf hockey is a long and proud tradition.

Just like in all sport, your families past generation’s pass down support, and this was the case with me. My entire family supports the Leafs, and everyone (mostly) in the community and surrounding communities, shares that passion. So one could imagine, it was hard as a kid brought up in the 90s to really be exposed to anything other than hockey, that is just what you did. You are born, you play hockey as a kid, and you support The Leafs. It’s Clockwork.

I always enjoyed playing football as a kid, I didn’t have the passion for the game that I do now, as I was still in the traditional Canadian, hockey mold, but it was definitely festering. I never really played the game competitively, something now that I am older I regret, I played for my elementary school teams, but never for a league team. I was always playing ball hockey as a kid, it was and still is one of my favourite sports, and so I never had the time to play football.

My whole life was hockey; I would play in the summers and winters, and watch my beloved Maple Leafs on TV. My first real exposure to football was the 98 World Cup, I was only 7 years old, and the brilliance of Zizou in the final was what really gravitated me to the sport, though I never thought it would evolve into the passion I have now. I can still see me and my brother on my basement couch, huddled around the TV, me cheering on Zizou and Les Blues and he the mighty Ronaldo and his Samba Masters. Though, back then I was only watching International competition, I was never exposed to the club side, and at that point still was yet to have an affiliation with a club. The Euro was next, the 200 final is still a game I can relive to this day, my French team, still driven by the great Zizou was up against the Italians. For some strange reason my brother was a big supporter of Toldo, and thus was rooting against me. I will never forget Wiltord scoring the equalizer in the depths of injury time, and Trezeguet scoring the winner in Golden Goal.

One of my favourite moments as a football supporter that.

Lets skip the 02 World Cup shall we… dark times.

I don’t quite remember when, but sometime between the 02 and 06 World Cup, my brother introduced me to club football. I must also give some credit to my step-grandparents, who hail from the mighty Bury and are avid Manchester City supporters (can only imagine what it was like to be my Grandad, when Aguero scored that goal vs QPR… madness. Wish I could have been there to see his reaction, but I will get to the reason why I couldn’t) and they, along with my brother were really the ones who showed me the ropes.

Now for a dark period in my life, I use to be a Manchester United fan.

I know, I know, how sickening right? But to be fair, I never really watched any games. I can’t even remember watching one if I’m honest… but apart fromZidane, my favourite player back then was Van Nistelrooy. My mom is Dutch and so I try to pay attention to how Netherlands get on, and Van Nistelrooy was amazing. This just got worse didn’t it? A Van Nistelrooy loving United Fan? Just thinking apart that short time makes me sick. I truly am embarrassed.

Lets forget that now shall we? Okay, good.

As I have mentioned, my brother was a massive influence on my football path as a youngster, and as I got a bit older we truly shared a great bond over football, one that I cherish to this day. The only problem is that he is a die-hard Liverpool fan. As the Premier league became more accessible on Canadian television, I would watch more and more games and truly became engrossed in the sport.

Than one day it happened.

During the 07/08 season, I was watching Liverpool Champions League highlights (Yes, they did play in the CL at one point) and I came across Arsenal. Here was this team, made up of all these great players, ones that I recognized from my admiration with the French National Team. How had I missed this lot? So I went and analyzed the roster of this Arsenal team, and compared them to the United team. Wow.

I hated every United player, and loved many Arsenal players.

Henry was one of my favourite players; little did I know I wouldn’t get to watch him play for the Arsenal.

My passion was really born late in the 07/08 season.

Around the time of the Arsenal v Liverpool CL QF, I have truly developed a love for the team. It was to be an exciting tie, one that me and me brother were really looking forward too. I had followed Liverpools trek the previous year, their thrilling run to the final vs Milan, and I had high hopes our boys could pull it off.

Ryan Babel’ed.

After that I was hooked, the 08/09 season was the first time I started a season and I haven’t missed a game since. We signed Ramsey that season, I loved the way he played football at the time, I still have nightmares about what happened at Stoke, I don’t look at tackled the same. I am guilty in saying that my support waivered on him after, as it did with most of us, but I am so very happy to see him succeeding now. He is a true Arsenal man, combines the mental strength that Arsene loves to preach, with that brilliant technique. Fantastic. (take that Sir Alex!)

It truly is a family affair now, the BPL is a fixture on Canadian television and my favourite time of the week is waking up bright and early on Saturday morning (7:45 for early kickoff) and cheering on the boys. Like I mentioned before, my brother is die-hard Liverpool fan, and he has managed to convert my step-mom from a City supporter to a very passionate Liverpool fan. My grandparents are City fans, as is my Uncle, then there is my dad… United. Oh how I am enjoying the Moyes Era. It is an interesting atmosphere on Match Day when you are surrounded by so many different supporters, I think it’s almost a luxury of being a foreign fan. Our support isn’t segregated by geography; relationships formed by football can bring people together and rivalries breed competition, both are qualities I love. While we may fight and argue over our teams, it is the love of the game that really drives us forward and it’s something I wish native fans could experience. Though I do understand the passion that comes with being a generational fan, as I have experienced that with my love for hockey.


I take you back to the final day of the 2012 season, I am in my basement watching tensely as we are under the kosh against West Brom, playing poorly and at 2-2, needing the win to secure 4th spot over the enemy. Dad and step mom are upstairs watching on as United are winning and City are down to QPR. During HT, my stepmom was thinking of going to my grandparents house, but didn’t want to be there if City were going to lose the title, it looked a good decision at that time.

Up Step Laurent Koscielny. YES! Thank you Martin Fulop! As this is happening I am running upstairs to catch glimpses of the United game and the tension between my parents, my dad at one point slides on his knees in celebration.

Up Step Aguero. My Word. My dad goes from elation, to desolation, in the blink of an eye, it was glorious. Here I am celebrating like mad for Arsenal clinching 4th (Oh when the Spurs, oh when the Spurs, oh When the Spurs blow a 10 point lead, I want to be In that number! Oh When the Spurs Blow A 10 Point Lead!) and my dad going mental.

Brilliant.

My Family at Xmas a couple years ago 

I struggle to summarize my love for The Arsenal, the bond is that strong.

It really goes beyond description, which is a lot to say coming from a 22 year old Canadian who grew up in a hockey family and in a city with the greatest and most famous hockey team of all-time. Everything about the Arsenal I admire, from Arsene, to the respect, the class in which the club operates, I can go on and on, but you all know the qualities of which I speak. Of course then there is the football. It really it different class at times, Arshavins goal vs Barcelona is the greatest moment in my life, that play was brilliant, Jack with the nice touch to Cesc who played the long ball out to Nasri and the rest is history. Just a shame what happened with Robin in the return leg, we were playing quite resolute till that point. That football is returning now, Ozil/Ramsey/Cazorla/Giroud are really playing their butts off and just playing teams off the pitch, harnessing their inner Cesc/Nasri/Song/Robin and at times, their Bergkamp/Pires/Viera/Henry.

I won’t even try to put into words my feeling when Henry scored vs Leeds.

Sure we have hit hurdles here and there recently… Cesc, Robin, Birmingham, Barcelona, Eduardo, United in the CL Semi, Bradford. But every club has their ups and downs, and us as supporters, just have to back the boys that much more when they are down so we can truly appreciate the good times.

Some say that foreign fans aren’t “True Fans”, and sure, I might not be able to stand aloft on the North Bank and sing my players on in person, I might not have had the most traditional of football upbringings, but I assure you this…

Arsenal Till I Die, I’m Arsenal Till I die, I know I am, I’m sure I am, I’m Arsenal Till I Die.

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

Arsenal: 10 Games In, 5 Points Clear

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So we are 10 games in and top, clear by 5 points, who would have thought that!

I wanted to do a write up after the 10th game as I have continually said judge us after 10 games. Well those 10 games are now done but can you judge us on those games? Can you honestly say we can mount a challenge for the league title after being top and 5 points clear after 10 games? I’m not asking you to say we will win it, but can you predict us having at least a challenge this season?

Well lets look at who we have played, as the first thing people say in response to us tablewinning the championship is look at who they have played. We have played and beaten Spurs and Liverpool at home who so far, have probably been our toughest opponents. We beat Sunderland, Fulham and Swansea and Palace all away from home and got a good draw up at West Brom. Our other games were Stoke and Norwich at home which we won and the infamous Villa game.

All in all we havent had that much of a tough start but how often do people say that to win the league you need to be beating the so called smaller teams, and that is what we have done so far.

In terms of tests we are in for a big one in the next 2 months, we have United this Sunday and will also play Chelsea and Man City along with Champions League games whilst also contending with the busy Xmas period.

I say we have put ourselves in with a great chance of being up at the top come Xmas even though the teams we have played and beaten might not convince the pundits that we can win this. Being at the top, leading the way brings confidence and a good momentum to continue playing and scoring like we are. The next 2 months will tell us a lot more about our team and squad, I know a lot of our own fans still need to be convinced and I hope we are still there or thereabouts come January 1st.

In terms of whats different around the club and around the players its hard to put your finger on the dramatic improvement we have seen. We had a good finish to last season, particularly after the game in Munich. We seemed to kick on from that and that’s where our improvement started I think. We have players who are playing much better than they were before, Ramsey, Szczesny, Giroud, Gibbs, we have made 2 important signings in Flamini and Ozil and put all that together with the fact that we didn’t lose anybody in the summer and you can start to see why we are now playing better. Our defence is settled, Gibbs and Sagna in particular are impressing me, Per and Koscielny are becoming a great partnership in the middle of the defence and Szczesny seems to have kicked on a gear. Giroud has his first year under his belt and is leading the line well. The team is confident, you get that feeling that they think they can do something with this group of players and with the style of football they are playing.

The losses against Chelsea in the COC and against Dortmund in the Champions League we disappointing. I felt we matched Chelsea and the game was even until they scored the second goal. A bad mistake by Jenkinson let them get in front and we were fighting from then on. We had good players on the pitch and were pushing forward trying to get a goal back, Chelsea are a team that can hit you on the break which is what they did. I think the Dortmund game was similar, after going a goal down we got back on level terms and had chances to go in front. We were pushing forward and left ourselves open, they broke well and punished us. Both of those games were not to far out of our reach so when pundits say about those 2 games being out first true tests and we failed both of them, I don’t agree with that view. The results could have easily been very different, hopefully we will learn from these games and not make the same mistakes again through the season.

Sunday is massive for us, for the first time in ages we are going to Old Trafford with the possibility of being able to upset them and get something from the game. I don’t think a draw is the worst result in the world, just cannot lose.

When it comes to the games against the big teams, the top 4 or 5, we need to be winning our games at home and not losing away. It starts Sunday.

I’ll be there and cannot wait for it!

Up The Arsenal!

Matt

Thomas Vermaelen is NOT looking to leave Arsenal in January

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This morning we all awoke to stories about how our captain, Thomas Vermaelen, is looking at leaving Arsenal. About how he is unhappy at the club and is fearful for his World Cup spot. Some of the headlines in this mornings paper’s include:

“Thomas Vermaelen may consider move to boost Belgium World Cup hopes”
“Thomas Vermaelen hints he will consider Arsenal future”
“Arsenal club captain Thomas Vermaelen says he may leave the club”
“Unhappy Thomas Vermaelen may quit Arsenal”
“Thomas Vermaelen could QUIT Arsenal”
“Thomas Vermaelen hints at Arsenal exit”
“Thomas Vermaelen: I’ll quit Arsenal if I don’t win first team spot back”

When ever a story such as this comes out, I tend to ignore the headlines, as they are attention grabbers and often not even associated with the actual story. I have read an article which is of complete different tone to the headline itself. I also rarely take note of the story itself, and concentrate on what the player actually said.

Often in journalism, a journalist will get some quotes, and then twist it into the story they want to print. The story that will sell more papers or get more hints for their website. They can twist quotes to an extreme, where it ends up that the story barely resembles the quotes, or context of the quotes.

So what did Thomas Vermaelen actually say?

“I’ll have to think about that when it’s necessary. January is still a few months ahead. Of course, never playing will not be the ideal situation for me to go to the World Cup, that’s for sure,” Vermaelen told the Daily Mail.

“People ask me if I panic because I’m not playing a lot but I’m not. I have spoken to the manager but it will remain private between us. Things can happen in a split second and change my situation. That can happen tomorrow or next weekend.

“In that case, we will speak differently in January. I have to be ready for that”

Now these quotes can be taken in many different ways. I can see how many papers have gone with the “Vermaelen looks to leave Arsenal” route as that sells more papers. But the true facts of the matter are Vermaelen has merely said he needs 1st team football. That his is not panicking. That he has spoken to the manager and that anything could happen.

Now a few thoughts on this

1) I am please that Vermaelen want’s 1st team football and is unhappy he is not getting it. I want my players to be ambitious, not be happy picking up a pay cheque and sitting on the bench. It makes them better players as a result. If he were happy being 3rd choice, he would not be a player I would want in the side.

2) He confirms he has spoken to Arsene Wenger over the matter, and that what was discussed will remain private. This is not a ‘secret meeting’ like some are reporting, but a usual meeting between a player not playing and his manager. Discussions such as these should be kept private. Why should the press or public know what happened in the meeting?

3) Vermaelen will get his chance. As he says: “Things can happen in a split second and change my situation”. With Laurent Koscielny pulling out of the recent French International’s with an injury, it would not be a surprise to see Vermaelen line up alongside Mertesacker in the centre of defence this weekend. And if he plays well, Koscielny might find himself on the bench when he returns.

4) It is good that we finally have these type of problems. For too long, we have had a bare 11 of class players with not much underneath. We have been criticised heavily by the press for not having depth. And now we have it, they seem to be intent on stirring things up. Guess they do whatever sell hey? Anyway, it is up to Arsene Wenger to rotate his squad and keep everyone happy. I am sure he has the man management ability to do it.

Going through all the news reports this morning, only one source tells the true story, with itv.com going with:

“No panic from Thomas Vermaelen over lack of playing time.”

Whilst he might not be entirely happy with his current situation at Arsenal, he is clearly happy at Arsenal, and his extended spell as 3rd choice centre back should have driven him to train harder, stronger and longer. This will make him a better player. And at the end of the day, if he has not done this, and when he gets the chance he does not take it, there is no problem with him leaving.

His World Cup place is not at threat. Vincent Kompany is a guaranteed starter. Then Belgium play with either Vertonghen on Vermaelen playing centre back with the other at full back. There will be no issues.

Remember, whenever reading a story in the British Press. Ignore the headlines. Ignore the story. Read the quotes.

Keenos