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Arsenal’s Spine of Leaders

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A follow up on yesterdays blog about The Curse of The Arsenal Captain.

For the first time in a very long time, it feels we have a team of leaders. A team of captains. A team that can be relied upon to rise to the occasion.

Since the invincibles were demolished, we have always struggled from a leadership point of view. A team too young, a team too inexperienced, a ship without a captain. And we have suffered from it.

I am sure in 2007/08, we would have won the league had the leadership of the team been better. We were top of the league and flying when Eduardo had his leg broken against Birmingham. Our captain, William Gallas, sat on the floor and sulked. Arsenal won 1 of their next 7 games and finished 3rd.

In 2013/14, we were once again top in February. We had led since the 2nd game of the season. And we fell apart. Finished 4th in a one horse race for the title. A run of 2 wins in 9 games. Once again a lack of leadership on the field. A season saved by an FA Cup win. It should have been a league and cup double.

But looking at the time now, it looks different, it feels different. Arsenal have a spine of leaders.

Petr Cechuntitled

The goal keeper position at Arsenal had been a problemsince before Jens Lehmann left. Whilst Petr Cech has had a couple of off games, what is undeniable is the leadership and experience he has bought to the squad. Cech has played nearly 700 domestic games and capped for his country 124 times. Now retired, there was talk of him being next Arsenal captain in the summer. He captained the side against Liverpool, but ultimately the armband went full time to Per Mertesacker. He is a man who has won everything domestically and on a European stage.

Laurent Koscielny

For so long, Laurent Koscielny looked lost without a leader next to him. He would drift positionally and basically struggled. But something seems to happened over this summer. At the Euro’s for France he was the senior partner in all the centre back partnerships. He was the leader of the defence. On his return to Arsenal, due to Mertesacker’s injury, he found himself as the senior centre back, and how he has grown. At 31, he has now been at Arsenal for 6 seasons. A regular for club and country. It has got to the point where the timid Koscielny should now really be Arsenal captain.

Shkodran Mustafi

Whilst Shkodran Mustafi has not been around the club that long, his leadership was recently praised by Alan Smith; “Those at Arsenal confirm that he is no shrinking violet when it comes to speaking up in the dressing room. A new arrival, maybe, but the 24-year-old is not afraid to say his piece”. You see it on the pitch as well. The way he dealt with Diego Costa in the early exchanges against Chelsea set the tone for the rest of the side. Mustafi is a World Cup winner.

Granit Xhaka

Granit Xhaka: a born leader who will finally bring some grit to Arsenal. That is how The Guardian described Granit Xhaka upon his unveiling. Since then, Arsene Wenger has also commented on his leadership qualities. Last season he was made Borussia Mönchengladbach captain. As he grew as leader and talisman, the team grew around him. He is barely 24, but has already been capped 48 times by Switzerland. A future Arsenal captain? Many on this list could be.

Aaron Ramsey

It is over 3 years since I spoke about Aaron Ramsey being next Arsenal captain. Much has changed since then, and he has perhaps fallen down the pecking order a bit. But this is a man who was made the youngest ever Wales captain at the age of 20 years 90 days. He was the key man in Wales’ recent Euro’s run. He has already been at Arsenal 9 years and is 26 in December. He is one of the senior pros at the club. Someone others will look up to.

Mesut Ozil

Whilst Mesut Ozil has never really been a captain, his leadership comes across in his performances. A truly World Class talent, others look to him to perform. When he plays well, the team plays well. Everything go’s through him. German player of the year for 4 of the last 5 seasons , this is a man who is the best German player, in the best German team for 25 years.

Alexis Sanchez

When you see the man at the top of the pitch putting in a shift, closing players down, chasing every ball, it changes the mentality of the rest of the side. They all start doing it. For Chile, Sanchez is a God. He is the main man. And he revels in it. Leading the line, he is their superstar. Their game winner. Whilst Claudio Bravo might be captain, Alexis Sanchez is the leader. When he performs, Chile perform. What he brings to Arsenal is the cherry on the cake. The man at the top of the field, over the hill first, leading his troops. 100 caps for his country, he could become a legend for his club.

I will let Arsenal legend Alan Smith’s comments summarise the article;

“Of course, that is how it should be. Strong voices and views go hand in hand with successful teams. Yet Arsenal have not always been blessed with such forthright sorts, whether by coincidence or through a deliberate policy from Arsene Wenger.

“They say that has changed now, that some players speak up with a little more force.”

Keenos

Note: If your comment is “Cazorla over Ramsey” please understand that is not what we are discussing in this blog. Well done to you for fixating on one single point rather than celebrating finally having a squad of leaders.

How do you solve a problem like Petr?

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UntitledWhen Petr Cech joined Arsenal in the summer, it was declared by many he could be the man to launch a title challenge.

A world class performer, an experienced winner, a leader.

The first of what was hoped to be 3 or 4 signings in key positions that had been missing for so long. There was excitement abound.

Role on a little over 10 months, and the fairytale seems to be unravelling.

Arsenal failed to sign any other players, failed in the title bid, and now Pter Cech seems to be failing in goal.

At the time of signing Cech, Chelsea captain John Terry was quoted as saying he was worth 12 – 15 points this season.

He had a shaky start to his Arsenal career. In his first game he conceded from a free kick floated into the box that he got no where near. And for the second he was wrong footed, allowing a tame effort to roll into the back of the net.

But he redeemed himself as Arsenal launched a title challenge towards the end of the year. So much so that people started to talk about him being Arsenal captain for the next season.

At the back of 2015, Arsenal were in the title race, and Cech was looking like a solid foundation that the team was built on.

5 months later and the story is different.

It all seemed to go wrong in the home defeat against Swansea City. Cech, already playing with a slight groin strain, started to go forward for a corner, but pulled up short. Out for 4 weeks was the prognosis.

In came David Ospina, who kept 3 clean sheets in 7 games. Cech was fit for the West Ham game, but Arsene Wenger decided to stick with the Columbian. A gamble which failed to pay off.

Ospina failed to come and gather any of the crosses which lead to Andy Carroll’s goal. It led many to call for an immediate return of Petr Cech. Many questioning why he could be fit for the bench but not fit to start. His height and ability to come for crosses surely would have stopped the ball reaching Carroll?

Petr Cech returned from the Crystal Palace game, and it is at that point things continued to go downhill for the stopper.

He conceded a tame shot for Palace’s equaliser. Done to his right at his near post. A shot from the age of the area. Rolling back to that first game of the season, it was very similar. It was a shot that I would be disappointed to concede in 5 a side on a Thursday night.

3 back to back clean sheets in games where he had nothing to do but scratch his arse and things looked rosy once more. At the point after the Norwich victory, Cech actually led the way for the race for the Golden Gloves, alongside Kasper Kasper Schmeichel and Joe Hart.

And then we have Manchester City.

When Sergio Aguero scored, I felt Cech should have saved it.

When Kevin De Bruyne scored, that was no debate, he should have saved it. Once again, Petr Cech had been beaten from distance down towards his right hand side from a pea roller of a shot. For someone of his ability, it should not happen. Let alone happen the numerous times it has this season.

The statistics make interesting reading:

https://twitter.com/GoonerManN5/status/729561377812168704

It is perhaps that last one that I think is most interesting.

Had it been David Ospina or Wojciech Szczesny who made the errors, the knives would be out for them. As it is Cech, there is merely a few rumblings.

Now I do not want to jump on a bandwagon, or start one, about a player who is a class act. Often here we have been criticised for giving players a bit of a rough time. I always feel it is an honest judgment, and we have praised players when doing well (Aaron Ramsey) and criticised when doing poorly (Jack Wilshere). And over times, opinions change. For a long time we have backed Theo Walcott. Recently that backing has gone.

You do have to wonder what is currently going on with Petr Cech. He is 34 in a month, and whilst this is not old for a goal keeper, he has been a regular since 2000. This is his 16th season as a professional. Add in the head injury he suffered in 2006 (can not believe that was 10 years ago!). His body has taken a lot of wear and tear.

Last season, he played just 16 games for Chelsea as Thibaut Courtois became Chelsea’s number 1. Maybe part of the problem is Cech himself adjusting to playing week in week out again?

And maybe Chelsea noticed something in his statistics which showed that Cech was losing his powers? At the time of Courtois replacing Cech as number 1, many assumed it was because Chelsea did not want to lose a talented young keeper, 10 year’s Cech, who could be number 1 for the next decade. They were equals, but Courtois was the future.

But in hindsight, maybe it was because Cech was the way down.

Every player is tested rigorously. Reactions. Strength. Jumping. Kicking. They would know what Cech’s results are. And what they were previously. Had their been a gradual decline. Reactions slowing. Jumping not as high. Being able to bench not as much. Pace over 10 years reduced. All of these would have indicated to Chelsea he was on the way out. Arsenal would not have had this data.

I am personally of the opinion that Petr Cech is still a class act. Jens Lehmann was an invincible at 34 years old, and played for the club until he was 39. David Seaman won the double with us at 39. Left us at 40. Age ain’t nothing but a number.

What we could perhaps do with doing is getting the team around Cech that he wants.

Christophe Lollichon has been with Petr Cech since his Rennes days. He is still at Chelsea. Recently it has been reported that he and Courtois do not see eye to eye. This summer Arsenal should pounce on the unrest at Chelsea and recruit the man who made Petr Cech a world class player.

At the end of the day, Cech is still one of the leagues top keepers. 15 clean sheets in 33 games in the league this season is not to be sniffed at. He has made errors, but he has also won us games with exceptional saves.

We seem to be in a world where everything has to be perfect. A striker should never miss a one on one. A defender never lose a foot race. A goal keeper never let in a soft goal. Everyone demands perfection. But in football perfection is an unrealistic bar to hold players too.

Players will make mistakes. They will lose form.

Form is temporary. Class is permanent.

Keenos

PS: Shout out to all the moaners who will reply “another player Wenger has ruined”. you really do live bitter lives.

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Should Arsenal fans be envious of rival’s transfer dealings?

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In recent days, Arsenal fans have cast the green eye of jealousy towards their title rivals transfer dealing. Our opponent’s movements in the market have once again raised a lot of questions of the board and the management. Even on this blog, we have questioned as to whether Arsene Wenger’s dithering could cost us a title challenge.

But thinking with a cleat head, should Arsenal fans be worried yet? After all, it is only the 14th July, there are still 26 days until the season opener against West Ham, and the transfer window does not close for another 50 days. Plenty of time to do our business.

What is seemingly putting the pressure on Arsenal is the actions of others around us. It seems every other club in the top 6 have made big movements this summer, meanwhile, we have sat on our thumb.

Is it true, however, that our rivals have done lots of good business this summer, and that Arsenal fan’s have every right to be jealous and criticise the board? Or is it, to put it bluntly, a figment of our imagination?

Starting with League Champions Chelsea, there transfer dealing’s highlight the ‘figment of our imagination’ statement above. So far their dealings include a young Brazilian called Nathan who they have immediately loaned out of a year, Asmir Begovic, who joins for £8m replacing Cech on the bench, and Falcao, a washed up old man who is replacing another washed up old man in Didier Drogba.

So Chelsea are at nett zero in their transfer dealings. Their starting 11 has not improved, and you can easily question whether the 2 new squad players are any better than those replaced. Begovic is certainly not better than Cech, and Drogba scored 13 goals against Falcao’s four in all competitions last season. Add in the experience and loyalty that Cech and Droba bought to the Chelsea squad and they have certainly gone backwards.

It is the dealings of Manchester United over recent days that seems to have got the back up of most Arsenal fans.

The acquisitions of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin signal intent, especially as it is being reported that they beat Arsenal to the latter, highlighting that Manchester United are back.

It is no question that Schneiderlin is a good Premier League player. One we have pursued for the last year, and expected to sign. He would have provided good competition to Francis Coquelin. But at £25m and £120,000 a week, would he have provided enough of an improvement to make him our 3rd highest paid player (and I am sure make the agents of Ramsey, Wilshire, etc knock on the managers door). The stats would seemingly say not.

http://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/579957276989091840

As for Schweinsteiger, he was one of the best midfielders in the world. 3 seasons ago.

Since the 2012/13 season, Schweinsteiger performances have dropped up massively. Arsene Wenger over history has always been reluctant to offer players over 30 long term contracts. The way Schweinsteiger has fallen off a cliff highlights why.

Since leading Bayern Munich to the Champions League in 2013, Schweinsteiger has been hit by injuries. Missing 50 games in 2 seasons due to them. Infact, over the last 4 seasons, he not playuerd 30 league games, and only played over 25 league games once (the Champions League winning year of 2012/13). His powers are clearly on the wain.

With the Premier League being a much more physically demanding league than the German – where often Schweinsteiger and Bayern Munich could cruise through games, it is when, not if, Schweinsteiger’s body breaks down.

Had they signed Schweinsteiger in 2013, it would have been a WOW moment. The 2015 Schweinsteiger is still a big name signing, but like Falcao last season, he is a player who’s best days are behind him.

Manchester United’s other big signing, Memphis Depay, is a bit of an unknown quantity. A young Dutch international, he clearly has talent. Where he is unknown is that scoring 22 goals in 30 games in Holland is very different to playing in the Premier League. Manchester United might have just signed the new Arjen Robben. But they might have also just got the new Afonso Alves. At £24.6m, he is a lot cheaper than a young British player whom we will come on to later but it is still a lot of money.

He could turn in to a world superstar, but the worry for United would be if he is to replace Angel di Maria. They would be losing a world class player for a player with the potential to be world class. Not quite the same.

There last signing, Matteo Darmian, no one can claim to know anything about other than what they read on Wikipedia. He is a good example of the rise of Social Media and the effect it has on peoples though process. Manchester United fans are holding him up as a great signing, solving all their defensive issues last year, despite having never seen him play, and probably never having heard of him up until a week ago.

The source of their information? Someone else on Twitter saying he is a great signing, solving all their defensive issues last year, despite having never seen him play, and probably never having heard of him up until a week ago.

Manchester City have not yet signed a player. To think, we as Arsenal fans are getting frustrated, envious, even saying we have fallen further behind the top 2 from last year, yet the team who finished 2nd have signed no one, and the team who finished above us are at nett zero. What is there to be envious of?

Of course, Manchester City are on the verge of signing Raheem Sterling. Now he is a player who I have wanted throughout the back end of last season when it became clear that he was set to leave. Talented and young, he could have provided the competition for Theo Walcott, and if he develops, he could become one of the best in the world.

But then we have the issue. And it is a big issue. Whilst I would have loved to have seen him in an Arsenal shirt, for £49m and £200,000 a week, it would be a no from me. He is good, but not that good.

When you think Depay joined Manchester United for half the transfer fee, and just £85,000 a week, and Paulo Dybala joined Juventus for £22m and a salary of around £60,000 a week, it highlights just how much Manchester City are paying for Sterling’s passport. Twice the fee, twice the salary, for a player of similar age and similar talent.

Would I want Raheem Sterling at Arsenal? Yes. Would I want us to spend £49m and £200,000 a week on Raheem Sterling? Hell no.

Going through our other ‘rivals’, Spurs have done next to nothing, bar take their spending on centre backs over the last 5 years past that of the GDP of a small country – every year they seem to spend £10m+ on a new centre back, just to end up playing Younes Kaboul. There other two signings are just nothing to shout home about.

Liverpool have been the most active club in this years transfer window. But they are to be compared to your mate who is the most sexually active, but only bangs mingers. There is no point having 20 notches on your bed post if their combined rating is only 20! And that is the best way to describe Liverpool’s transfer window. Six players signed, £38.8m spent, and their side is no better. Losing Gerrard & Sterling, replacing them with Milner and Ings. OK. The signing of Firmino has got some excited, but like Darmian, no one had heard of him a month ago, but now he is a world beater.

When you give Kolo Toure a new contract, you know you are in trouble. The issue with Liverpool is with the new stadium, money is not freely available. Will the Sterling money allow them to make more big signings (Like Lambert & Balotelli) or have the basically already spent the Sterling money before they have received it? Wait and see. But its nothing to worry about.

Here is where I sit. At this point, no other club has really signed someone who has made me stand up and think “WOW, I wish we had have signed him”. Meanwhile, Arsenal have had Petr Cech, who would be an improvement on anything our rivals have.