Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Dimitri Payet and Arsenal

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With Dimitri Payet on his way out of West Ham, a lot of Arsenal fans have been discussing throughout social media whether the club should target him. A lot are saying he is a no brainer, whilst many think we should stay well clear. Here are some thoughts…

A Short Term Option?

Dimitri Payet is 30 in March. Signing him would be a short term option. A lot of people will point to the fact that Santi Cazorla and Ian Wright came to Arsenal late, but Cazorla joined Arsenal just shy of his 28th birthday, he was more than 2 years younger than Payet.

Likewise Ian Wright – often held up as the proof that players can succeed having made a big move late in their career – was also just 27 when he joined Arsenal.

Getting in a 29 (nearly 30) year old Dimitri Payet would mean Arsenal writing off his transfer fee (as we would unlikely make anything selling him on) and also potentially tying up a lot of wages (4 years at £120,000 is £25,000,000) In a player who in 18 months time might not be the quality player he is now.

Would it be worthwhile tying up that money on a short term option?

Why Would Arsenal Sign Payet?

Payet is a brilliant (but inconsistent) player. There are a good few reasons why it would be worthwhile Arsenal signing him, even if it is just to have him at a high level of performances for the next 18 months:

  • Champions League – He is not Champions League tied. Probably the best player in world football that has not played Champions League football this season. Hence why he has been linked with the likes of Real Madrid and PSG
  • Premier League – Back in 2004, Arsenal signed Jose Antonio Reyes. He performed well for the club for 18 months before going a bit loopy. But in those 18 months, and especially in the first 6 of those, his freshness and ability pushed Arsenal to another level that saw the side go unbeaten. Payet in January could push Arsenal to the Premier League title (or Champions League!)
  • Alexis Sanchez & Mesut Ozil – As it stands, both are in contract dispute. By getting Payet it, Arsenal would then have already signed a short term replacement for one of them were either to leave. Signing Payet now would take the pressure off the summer transfer window. And if both sign? Payet simply makes us stronger
  • Solving the wide issues – With Sanchez playing up top and Walcott injured, Arsenal lack wingers. Hence Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain & Ramsey playing wide in recent weeks. Payet is better than all 3 and even when Walcott returns, Payet would still start

Fitness & Attitude

The two biggest reasons not to sign Dimitri Payet are his fitness and his attitude.

If we are talking about Payet as a short term option, we would expect him to perform for the club immediately. But he looks a little over weight. A lot off the pace. It might take him a few months to get git. At which point 2016/17 is over.

Secondly his attitude with West Ham has been shocking. And this is not a new thing. One of the key reasons he has never made it at a big club previously was due to a poor attitude. It took his exceptional 2015/16 form for Didier Deschamps to over look the poor attitude and give him a regular chance for France.

Arsene Wenger has previously shown an intolerance to players with a poor attitude, Samir Nasri springs to mind. Is the divisions Payet could cause within the squad worth his talent?

Santi Cazorla Comparison

A lot have grouped Payet and Cazorla together. Mainly because they are both diminutive 2 footed playmakers who saw their best performances materialise at a later age. But it is wrong to compare them.

Cazorla saw his performances peak when he played deeper. When you play deeper, you need some sort of defensive awareness, and the willingness to put a foot in occasionally. Cazorla adapted his game and started to do some defensive work. The same can not be expected of Payet.

Payet is more similar to Ozil than Cazorla. Talented playmaker but lazy defensively. Any West Ham fan will tell you that for all his excellence going forward last season, he would not track his full back. Putting him deeper in the middle of the park would leave us exposed as he simple would not provide us with any sort of defensive cover.

Payet is not the same player as Santi Cazorla.

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The New Andrei Arshavin?

If Payet is not a Cazorla clone, what player does he remind me of? The closest I can think of is Andrei Arshavin. In fact, there games are near identical.

At their peak, both are diminutive tricky players who can beat a man for fun, but are not blessed with heaps of pace. They can stick one in the top corner from anywhere on the pitch, but also have a tendency to go missing.

Before we signed Arshavin, I had followed him a bit in Russia. He performed once every 5 games. So it was not a surprise when he came to Arsenal and put in similar inconsistent performances. Arshavin’s career before, during and after Arsenal was inconsistent.

Payet is similar, and it is why, at 29, he has never played for a major club and, prior to joining West Ham, barely had any France caps. He is inconsistent.

For Marseille, he would be phenomenal one week, then go missing the next. West Ham was similar. Even in games, he would do nothing during a game, then curl in a free kick. He was brilliant last season for the Hammers, but he was also very poor in games.

At West Ham you can afford that sort of inconsistency. As a fan of a smaller club you can ignore the games he disappears for. Arsenal can not afford it.

Arshavin was a good signing for Arsenal at the time, he almost single handly got us into the Champions League in his 1st 5 months at the club. Payet could do similar.

 

When it comes to Dimitri Payet, I am firmly on the fence. I think his talent does justify his short term-ness, and Arsenal no longer need to think about sell on fees, but were we not to sign him, I would not exactly be upset as we are not desperately in need for him, and there are plenty of reasons to not recruit him.

Arsenal: Embarrassing Banners

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In the latest episode of Arsenal fans Embarrass Themselves we have Embarrassing Banners.

Over the years, I have been a supporter of RedAction. They have worked, at times tirelessly, to try to improve the atmosphere and ‘match day experience’ at Arsenal. Volunteering their time, they have done a lot of good work alongside the club.

Often hamstrung by the actual fans, many of whom are more than happy to sit on their hands watching the game in silence, RedAction were behind the Block 6 singing (and standing) section when we moved to the new ground, and have been key in organising and implementing fan displays for some of our big Champions League nights – which often end up as the most atmospheric.

But they do not always get it right.

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Their Love Arsenal. Hate Usmanov banner, reportedly paid for by certain board members, is something that I am sure they now regret, and clearly try to forget. A bit of currying favour in the hope they would get closer to the board, get some better quality biscuits. They ended up being used by the board, becoming their mouthpiece for the day.

The Alexis Sanchez banners are cringeworthy. I see many fans praising the banners. Saying they are banter. Well they are not. Firstly you are a bit of a knob if you are a middle aged man using terms such as banter. Secondly they just continue the recent trend of Arsenal fans embarrassing themselves and each other everywhere they go.

We all know about Arsenal Fan TV. A brilliant concept now ruined by “One or 2 absolute balloons who give them a bad name” (Adrian Durham – 2016).

The problem is that these fans do not just give themselves and Arsenal Fan TV a bad name, they embarrass every single Arsenal fan out their.

Every time a video of theirs go’s viral, an old man arguing and swearing at a midget dressed in head to toe in merchandise and drinking from a drinks bottle, a bloke dressed as the purple teletubbie pretending he is Jamaican, or whatever the latest character is that wants attention, it leads to abuse.

I have lost count the amount of times I have sat in work listening to fans of Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea, etc watching the videos, mocking Arsenal, mocking me. I continually have to defend myself and the club against these embarrassing clowns.

We then have call in shows on the Radio. Every week an Arsenal fan seems to embarrass themselves on TalkSport. From crying live on air, to calling Arsene Wenger “the worst Arsenal manager ever” to being laughed off air by Adrian Durham whilst claiming “don’t you know who I am”.

We then have the likes of Piers Morgan, every day he does something to embarrass the club. He really should stick to cricket and licking out Kevin Piertesen.

Finally we have protests. Whilst some of these do have a bit of merit, they often end up poorly attended, and make us look like a bunch of spoilt prawn sandwich eating prats. The reality is, this is probably true for a lot of our fan base.

And now we have these banners.

In the past I have been able to fend off the embarrassment, pointing out it is individual fans who crave attention. That are loners, living in bed sits, or their mums basement, and have realised that online they can get the attention and feeling that they are important that they do not get in real life. Having loads of followers, hundreds of people RTing every Tweet, or 1,000,000 views on YouTube kind of makes up for being a bit of a loser in real life for these people.

But RedAction are not an individual fan with an individual view. They are an Arsenal supporters group. They are supposed to speak on behalf of the majority of fans. And here they are, producing (and seeking funding for) an embarrassing banner about Alexis Sanchez and his dogs to go up permanently in the stadium.

Any banner about Sanchez at this time is a joke. He is currently in contract dispute with Arsenal, with 18 months left and potentially looking for a way out.

The Arsenal are bigger than Alexis Sanchez. If he wants to go, tell him to pack his bags and F Off. We have lost better players. We have lost bigger players. We should not be begging him to stay. It is embarrassing.

Then we have the actual banner itself. I do not know where to start with it. Shocking. Just simply shocking.

RedAction usually pride themselves with going out to the fanbase to get the wider fans views on matters. They have done this with proposals such as a drum at the ground, they were widely told no, we do not want some idiot banging a drum for 90 minutes. That is a Spurs thing.

I wonder who they asked about this banner? Maybe it was a bunch of teenagers? Or Carl Jenkinson and the Banter Brigade? Or maybe they just decided to do it themselves, off their own back.

It is embarrassing to every single Arsenal fan. I am already predicting the torrents of abuse I will get once the media picks up on the story. Someone like Adrian Durham is going to have a field day.

I am sorry RedAction, you have got this one wrong.

Why do Arsenal fans keep embarrassing eachother?

Keenos

Mesut Ozil’s future NOT linked to Arsene Wenger

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As you have already probably read / heard, the breaking Arsenal story of the last 24 hours or so is the news that Mesut Ozil’s future is interlinked with Arsene Wenger’s. That the German superstar will only remain at Arsenal, signing a new contract, if Arsene Wenger does the same.

Like with everything Wenger related – and the majority of things Ozil result – the full out on social media has been polar opposites.

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On one hand you have those that have used the news to show that Mesut Ozil, who in their eyes is better than Zidane, is only at Arsenal due to Arsene, and that him only wanting to stay if Wenger stays is the only justification required when it comes to Wenger’s new 2 year contract that is on the table.

On the other side of the fence are those that blame Wenger for everything and see Ozil as his immortalisation on the pitch. Everything that is wrong with Arsenal is Arsene, and everything that Wenger portrays off the pitch is portrayed by Ozil on the pitch. Ozil is Wenger’s muse. The only reason Ozil want’s to stay at Arsenal under Wenger is because life is easy under Wenger. Wenger does not push him, and he gets away with whatever he wants. Big money for any east life.

Unfortunately for both parties, all this furore has highlighted how much a newspaper will take quotes and twist it to a headline, ignoring what was actually said. How little people read the quotes. And how much press BS people will believe if it suits their agenda. Whether that be Wenger-In or Wenger-Out.

Let’s look at them quotes from German football magazine Kicker in full;

“I want to be clear on what Wenger is doing,”

“I feel very, very happy at Arsenal and have shown the club that I am prepared to extend my contract,”

“The fans want me to stay. Now it’s just down to the club.”

“The club knows that I am, above all, here because of Arsene Wenger – who signed me and whose trust I have,”

“The club also knows that I just want to be clear on what the manager will do.”

At no point has Ozil said that he will only remain at Arsenal if Arsene Wenger stays. Or will leave if Arsene Wenger go’s. There has been a lot of reading between the lines.

Yes, Ozil admits that Wenger was a big reason for coming to Arsenal – and that should be remembered when it comes to replacing Wenger; Manchester United struggled to attract players under David Moyes – but that does not mean he is saying he will only stay at Arsenal if Arsene Wenger stays.

Of course, he wants clarification on what the managerial situation is going to be next season. Arsene Wenger’s contract comes to an end. Any player who is currently in contract negotiations with the club will be concerned as to what will happen next season.

Will Wenger still be at the club? If not who will be? Is it someone they know? Someone they have worked with? Someone they can work with?

Often in real life, when a popular long term manager leaves a company, those who served underneath question their future. The replacement manager could lead to the staff staying, but could also lead to a mass raft of resignations if they get the replacement wrong.

The way I see things, Ozil just wants to know what is going on before committing his future to the club. Does it mean he will only stay under Wenger? No. Does it mean he will leave if Wenger leaves? No. Does it mean he wants to see what the situation is going to be next season before making up his own mind? Yes.

Like Alexis Sanchez, Ozil has said that it is “down to the club”. They know what they want for him to stay. And the ball is in their hands. I imagine for Sanchez, like Ozil, the future depends on not just what Wenger does in terms of staying or going, but what the club does in terms of potentially replacing him.

Playing under Steve Bould or Eddie Howe is very different to playing under Diego Simeone or Massimiliano Allegri.

Of course, some will say that it should be The Arsenal, and not the manager, that is key to their decision. These people live in the past where people used to sign contracts without even reading them.

Footballers now only care about money, and that they will get on with the manager who will potentially drive them to success. More success means more money.

So let’s put them agendas away. I will leave the final summary to blogger You Are My Arsenal.

Keenos