Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Arsenal 2020/21 Squad Review – Age profile of Arsenal squad just 24.5 years old

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“We don’t sign superstars, we make them” – Arsene Wenger, 2007.

In recent decades, Arsenal have been at their most successful when creating superstars rather than “going big” in the transfer market.

Under George Graham the team was built on youth team graduates – the likes of Tony Adams, Rocky Rocastle, Michael Thomas, Paul Davis & Paul Merson – alongside journeymen Englishmen bought from the likes of Stoke City, Wimbledon, Watford, Leicester City and Crystal Palace.

And the success of the Wenger era is built on buying the likes of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Freddie Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Kolo Toure, Lauren, Gilberto Silva and more.

This summer, Arsenal have refrained from bringing in well established senior pros and focused more on younger, hungrier talent.

No Willian, David Luiz or Stephan Lichsteiner bought in on the cheap. No big Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Ozil, Nicolas Pepe Thomas Partey, or Alexandre Lacazette.

Takehiro Tomiyasu became the clubs 6th major signing of the summer, joining the club on deadline.

Signed from Bologna and just 22-years-old, he is the exact profile of all the other signings this year – young enough to have potential, old enough to have experience, and making a step-up from lesser club.

Tomiyasu has been joined by Ben White (23), Aaron Ramsdale (23), Martin Odegaard (22), Albert Sambi Lokonga (21) and Nuno Taveras (21).

These were added to an existing young core that includes Kieran Tierney (currently 24), Gabriel (23), Emile Smith Rowe (21), Bukayo Saka (19) and Gabriel Martinelli (21).

Every players signed was aged between 21 & 23. If Gary Neville thinks Arsenal’s transfer strategy is “a little bit all over the place” then it probably explains why he has failed as manager.

As always with Arsenal, there are some fans that have criticised this strategy.

They have complained that Arsenal have not added any senior quality. That we should have been focusing on established players aged between 28-30.

Focusing more on senior players has been our strategy in recent years.

“Short term fixes” is what I call them.

Bringing in senior players on big money to help us in the short term. It has failed, cost us a lot of money and actually made us worse.

The age profile of Arsenal’s first team squad makes interesting reading:

The 27 players in the squad have an average age of 24.5 years old.

We have added the talented younger players to go alongside more experienced players – 11 of the squad are 26 and over.

The likes of Aubameyang, Lacazette, Partey, Pepe, Xhaka and Leno will have a huge role to play showing leadership and experience (a debate for another day).

Mixed in with the 11 aged 26 and over, another 9 are over 21 with the remaining 7 being under 21.

It should be a squad with enough experience and quality to finish top 6 this season. It is also a squad youthful enough that it will grow and improve as we seek a return to the top 4.

Keenos

It’s fine that people hate us. It’s part of our history

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Keenos wrote a piece on here a couple of days ago about how Arsenal supporters were uniting against the media and the way they deliberately portray Arsenal Football Club. I wholeheartedly agree that we should all draw the cannons round and have them facing outwards right now – by the way, that includes those fools from YouTube who claim they’re Arsenal but really aren’t.

The Arsenal have always been at our best when realising that everyone hates us. It’s borne of jealousy passed down through generations, borne of Arsenal becoming the pre-eminent football club of the 1930s. I’ve always loved the idea that people dislike my club because of our class, our heritage and our success. Even when we’re rubbish and no real threat they continue to despise us and go out of their way to have a pop. That’s the power that the name of The Arsenal still carries.

George Graham made that anti-Arsenal feeling, especially in the media, one of the cornerstones of his motivational technique. He was even clever enough to use it on the Christmas VHS in 1990 to whip up the supporters with the staged team-talk at the training ground. George’s message was basically, “We’re The Arsenal. They hate us. Go out and be The Arsenal.” This is exactly what’s needed right now and I hope Mikel Arteta realises it.

I certainly think the match-going supporters will be doing their bit in that regard as the team tries to recover from the disastrous first three league games. Whoever instigated the whole squad standing in front of the away end at Man City perhaps understands the need to be The Arsenal but the whole thing needs bringing back to basics, as I’ll expand on below.

I mentioned Arsenal’s class and tradition a bit earlier and I remember well the day it started to be eroded. Along with quite a few others I was stood outside the players entrance at Derby County in November 1997 and we were all shocked to see Arsenal’s players get off the coach in tracksuits. Gone was the Arsenal blazer and tie. It was a mistake then and it’s still one 24 years later. They used to a play a voiceover from Bob Wilson in the pre-match video at Emirates Stadium saying, “It was just this feeling of turning up with this big gun on your chest…” and you realised how proud it made him and countless others like him. The likes of Brian Talbot, Eddie Kelly and co still turn up at supporters’ events now wearing their Arsenal tie, even their blazer! So why did Arsene Wenger stop it from happening? We’ve seen a decline in standards ever since.

The players today don’t know anything about that. Thomas Vermaelen tried to bring it back by insisting on a club suit when he was made skipper, but it was only used for home league games and “club occasions” such as their charity ball. We’ve had the quite disgraceful sight of Arsenal teams turning up at Wembley finals in tracksuits. What was that about being The Arsenal?

Before this group of players can start putting things right with their play on the pitch they need to be taught The Arsenal Way off the pitch. That means a few basics:

1. Club suits to be worn home and away

2. Club ties to be worn with top buttons fastened – this is The Arsenal

3. No more stupid headphones to be worn when arriving and representing The Arsenal

4. ALL outfield players will wear the same length shirt sleeves and no undershirts beneath short sleeves

5. If there is no need to change kits then Arsenal will ALWAYS wear red shirts with white sleeves and white shorts

6. Arsenal’s goalkeeper will wear green and never the outfield kit of their choice

7. The players will not wear a tracksuit top onto the pitch as though they are in a Wembley final every week – those red shirt with white sleeves show we are The Arsenal

8. The team will run to the centre of the pitch and line up before applauding all four sides of every stadium after entering the pitch

9. The Manager will wear his club suit at, and during, every fixture – no designer Guardiola lookalike rubbish

10. The Arsenal Captaincy will not be treated as unimportant and given to players on seniority on any measure other than being a leader

I know a lot of (mostly younger) people will see all this as superficial nonsense and has no bearing on the team. I got stick online a few years ago about the sleeves issue saying players should wear what makes them feel comfortable. Nonsense. This is The Arsenal. Those are the rules. If you don’t like it you don’t play. If the cannon weighs too heavily on you then find somewhere else.

There is a quote which is these days often incorrectly attributed to David Rocastle. Bertie Mee it was who coined “Remember who you are, what you are, and who you represent” and as a motto it should be right up there with Victoria Concordia Crescit. If you turn up to a game looking like a bunch of scruffy misfits you’ll probably end up playing like it, especially when most of the players aren’t top class in the first place.

Once we’ve sorted out some proper discipline and laid the ground rules of what it means to be The Arsenal, then we can start building this team into something to be proud of again. And hopefully we’ll see the mugs making a quid out of Arsenal’s misfortune get out of our club.

Dover Gooner

Arsenal Fans Unite Against Media

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Arsenal are easy to criticise at the moment.

Pundits know no matter what they say, it is going to get them plenty of attention. They are using Arsenal to further their own careers. But the tide is turning.

In recent days we have seen:

Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph mention that Arsenal were once offered Barcelona starlet Pedri when he was at Las Palmas.

Pedri would have been around 16 or 17 at the time and would have been touted around Europe by his agent. I imagine everyone – from Real Madrid to Manchester United, Chelsea to Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund to Liverpool were offered him.

In the end he joined Barcelona for €5 million.

Why did Matt Law decide to mention Arsenal missing the opportunity to sign Pedri, and not every single other top club other than Barcelona?

It would actually be more concerning if Arsenal did not know about Europe’s best young talents.

Then we have Sky’s Kaveh Solhekol.

What a fool he made out of himself on transfer deadline day, pretending that agents were calling him, text him, trying to get him to help with deals.

On deadline day, Kaveh “received a message” from one of Takehiro Tomiyasu’s “agents” about the new Arsenal player:

He said Tomiyasu “was offered to most clubs in the Premier League. His a good player but the problem his not really a right back nor is he a central defender. I am not sure how he will get on at Arsenal”.

Imagine being a professional journalist and reading out a text from a contact live on Sky. And imagine being an agent working on the deal and sending a journalist a critical text about your client.

Let’s be honest, the message was a figment of Kaveh’s imagination.

You have to wonder how such a nobody with a nothing sports journalism career got such a big role with Sky.

Then we have Gary Neville…

Neville states that he is “not sure what the strategy is. It seems a little all over the place” when discussing Arsenal’s transfer strategy.

You only have to look at the profile of the players we have signed – 21 to 23 years old, young but with experience – to understand our strategy.

A baffling strategy is over at Manchester United who signed talented youngster Jadon Sancho to go alongside Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood – with Edison Cavani as the experienced head to knit them together.

They were crying out for a midfielder to do Paul Pogba and Brune Fernandes’s dirty work, but then on deadline day sign 36-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo to £500k a week. Now that is a transfer strategy that is all over the place; but Neville is oddly silent. Just like his criticism of the Glaziers seems to have gone silent.

What is interesting is any criticism of Neville’s comments was hidden by Sky Sports News Twitter account.

It shows a worrying trend of censorship by Sky Sports

They are happy their presenters criticising and abusing, inviting pundits on with a history of abuse. Employing an ex-player who spat at a fan. But if you criticise their pundits, call them out for being wrong, they will censor you

Finally we have Danny Mills.

Back in July, Mills questioned why Ben White had joined Arsenal.

“I think he’s better than Arsenal right now,” Mills told talkSPORT.

“I just wonder what his ambitions are. I’m surprised bigger and better clubs with more of a chance to win something haven’t come in for him.”

Then on Sky Sports News he states that he is unsure about the signing, that it is underwhelming and White does not improve the Arsenal team.

This is what happens when you do not actually share an opinion. When everything you say is to suit an agenda and you basically make up an opinion for hits, clicks and RTs. You end up eventually contradicting that opinion.

So Mills on one hand says White is too good for Arsenal, and then on the other that he does not improve Arsenal.

Each day a new pundit, presenter, journalist or ex-player criticises Arsenal, more and more fans stand up and call out their bullshit.

Between these pundits and the YouTubers, Arsenal fans are coming together. Becoming more united. The agendas are becoming clear and obvious and more and more are calling them out.

They know their days are numbered.

I look forward to fans sharing their opinions of them with them at Norwich. But then they will claim the victim…

Keenos