Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

The Arsenal and Me – Fingers’ Story

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Now being a young lad from the leafy suburbs of the East End of the district line I grew up surrounded by all things West Ham in the late 70’s. However, my uncle born and breed Islington man had the foresight of introducing me to a club called The Arsenal. He told me about the history, the badge, showed me old and current programmes talked about the 71 double year (the year before I was born) and by the age of six I was hooked listing to the radio for scores on a Saturday and waiting for the final scores, and of course pestering my uncle to take me to a game who used to reply “when your old man says you can come I will take you”

May 1978 Arsenal played Ipswich in an FA Cup final (again asked about going cried when I was not allowed). However, I was allowed to decorate the front window in Arsenal Yellow and Blue rosette and pictures of Brady etc. Day of the game, I woke up early put my Arsenal scarf on and took every minute of the build up on TV. in those days the FAC final was a massive event and one of the only live sporting events you could see on TV. Well at 5pm I was devastated and knew when I went to school on Monday I would have all the Alf Garnets giving it to me. However, my love for The Arsenal was not dampened.

1979 we got to the final again same routine same answers but what made it worse was my dad went with my uncle, in later life I would discover my oldman was a Manc !!!!! This time we won I was dancing around the front room singing songs and felt 10 feet tall on Monday at school.

1980 we got to the final again but was playing a division 2 team called West Ham!!!! For what seemed ages every lunch time I was sent to the Headmaster for fighting. You guessed it, I was sticking up for my team, my obsession, my Arsenal. I knew I would not be allowed to go as got told at the semi final stage but when I asked my mum if I could do the front window in yellow and blue like the last two years seeing their faces was a picture, in the end it was half as the other half had to be claret and blue or my brothers.

My dad tells me know that every night our house was budded (for the younger generation this is where you pick a rose bud throw it at a window and run). Well we lost, more fights at school and Wednesday we lost in another cup final, my world was falling apart.

In 1982 after years of nagging and, aged 10, I was taken to my first Arsenal game at Highbury. The opposition that day was West Ham United. Now for a first game it was so exciting I remember approaching the ground seeing the large crowds, the smell of burgers stools selling Arsenal scarves, etc, being told to stay close to my uncle and then going to our seats in the East upper, seeing the pitch, the crowds the noise. I think Fever Pitch really did capture that moment very well, oh and then an orange smoke bomb with all hell breaking lose in the North Bank with people being carried out or arrested for about 20 mins. I was hooked, I asked my uncle was it like this every week.

I then went on the odd occasion but by the time I was 13 I was travelling into Highbury for every home game using all my paper round money to get there and in (I earned £7 a week) and I still had change when I came home, I was hooked and just coming into a George Graham years. My favourite years of following Arsenal so many firsts for me, seeing us win a trophy Littlewoods cup 1987, first league title 1989 (I was lucky enough to be at Anfield), first FAC Sheffield Wednesday, first time in Europe Standard Leige away (now that’s a story in itself) the list goes on.

I have seen us lose cup finals in this country and foreign lands, win doubles and as an Arsenal fan have probably seen there greatest moments in their history live and all because my uncle has the foresight to teach me that once The Arsenal is in you it will never be the same.

I don’t go as much now (I still do the Euro away’s, with my son) as the club I fell in love with and spent tens of thousands following has changed. I no longer feel part of it, although I still meet my mates that I have made through Arsenal and that bond will never die. Its true The Arsenal will never truly leave me, it’s on my skin, its in my heart, and has shaped so much of my life. So I end this piece with these words “thank you uncle Tom for showing me The Arsenal roll out that red carpet.”

Fingers

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The overrating of young players by press and fans alike

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At the weekend, 18 year old Belgium winger scored a brace Manchester United. What has followed is the usual hyperbole in the press when a young kid has a good performance.

He is labelled the next superstar. The future of Manchester United. A bright young light. Whilst he is no doubtingly talented, there is a tendency when a youngster has a good performance for him to then be vastly operated.

We have seen it with our own Serge Gnabry over the last couple of weeks. Some average performances alongside some decent performances capped off with a goal against Swansea have led to a lot of Arsenal fans to talk about him having a bright future. Luckily the press do not yet seem to of caught on yet, but within our own ranks, there has been some who have got a little bit over excited.

And it is not a recent phenomenon. Look at Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He has never really put in the consistent performances to justify his hype, yet some still rate him higher than Theo Walcott, even though Theo has put in a lot of top performances.

Jack Wilshere has also suffered from it. Labelled the future of England, many put him down as one of the first names on the England team sheet. Yet at 21, due to injuries, he sits on just 10 caps. He made his 1st team competitive debut at 16 years and 256 days, but has not yet fulfilled the promise he showed as a teenager.

Gedion Zelalem is also entering this bracket. Already rated highly. Plenty of excitement about him. Yet he has not yet made his debut for the club. 16 year old Swedish striker Jamal Raage is another one being tipped for a bright future, despite only having scored a couple of goals for the under 18s. People are saying he will play for the under 21’s this year and be in the League Cup squad next year. A lot of hype about a kid who no one has really seen.

And it is not just Arsenal who tend to over hype their youngster. Look at Manchester United and the excitement over Adnan Januzaj. Reports are there is currently an International war breaking out between England and Belgium over who he will play for. This a kid who has played just 3 times for Manchester United.

He is not even Manchester United’s youngest ever goal scorer. That accolade falls to Federico Macheda who scored against Aston Villa in 2008-09. The back end of that season, he had played 4 league games, scoring twice, and big things were expected of him the next year.

Five years later, Federico Macheda is still a Manchester United player, but is now on loan at Doncaster Rovers, via VfB Stuttgart, Queens Park Rangers & Sampdoria. And example if needed over the hyperbole of teenage players based on 1 or 2 performances.

I could name many more who fall under this category. Jack Rodwell was supposed to be the future of England’s midfield. James Vaughan is the Premier League’s youngest ever goal scorer. Joe Cole has had a good career, but nothing compared to the hype he had as a youngster. The list of highly rated youngsters who never quite fulfilled their potential go’s on.

So the moral of the story is, before you get too excited over a Gnabry, Zelalem, or Januzaj, there have been better youngsters who have come through who have failed to make the grade.

Do not put players on a pedestal of greatness until they have earned it.

Keenos

Arsenal missing Theo Walcott

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Over the years, Theo Walcott has been much derided by Arsenal fans, England fans and the media. Brilliant one game, anonymous the next. Despite last season being our top scorer with 21 goals, and also adding 14 assists, many still question his place in the side.

It is often said you only realise what a player contributes to the team in general when he does not play. A lot of people underrated Gilberto Silva massively during his early years at the club. It was only during a 7 month lay off with a broken back during the 2004-05 season that many realised how important the invisible wall was to the teams make up.

We saw in the 1-1 draw against WBA how much we missed Theo Walcott. Back in the middle of September, I posted about how Arsenal were playing like a Brazilian side with their new 4231 formation, and how this formation was heavily reliant on having a player with pace on one side. We saw against WBA how when you take this pace away, the side becomes too narrow and does not break the line of the defenders enough.

The WBA game was probably our worst attacking performance of the season. With Wilshere and Ramsey out wide, but both drifting in, we often ended up with all 5 midfielder’s in the middle of the park. No width and more importantly, no pace.

A few instances spring to mind where we desperately missed Walcott. The first was a break away from a corner. Normally whoever brings the ball out looks first for Walcott. With his electric pace, he is key to our counter attacking. Unfortunately, without Walcott, we had no other pace options. Mesut Ozil had the ball and he had a choice between Giroud or Ramsey going forward. He played a good ball to Ramsey, but he had to check in side and by the time he did this, the WBA players were back in droves and the chance was gone. Had Walcott been on the pitch, I am sure we would have seen him rampage down the right before playing the ball into Giroud or Ramsey for a tap in.

The second scenario happened a few times. Often Theo Walcott is a cross field out ball. When play is tight down one win, he is usually in acres of space on the other, allowing us to switch the play and exploit this pace. Unfortunately, without Walcott there, that space went unexploited. Jenkinson tried to push into it, but did not get far enough forward. This meant that play often became to congested and then break down on the other side of the pitch.

Theo Walcott also creates space for others. He often gets ‘chalk on his boots’ which widens the pitch, and his dangerous play usually results in teams having to use their full back, and either a centre back or winger, to close him down. This then gives more space to either his full back, or the midfielder’s. Too often, we were easily closed down against West Brom, as they pushed us into a congested middle, we were unable to create space for ourselves. Had Theo Walcott been playing, this would not of happened.

Yes, Lukas Podolski or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could have also made a difference. Their pace on the wings would have supplied a similar threat to that of Walcott, however Walcott has shown himself in the Premier League to be the better performer of the 3 and we missed him.

With the International break now upon us, we have 2 weeks for Walcott to get fit. I am sure he will play in our next game, and we will be back to our swashbucking best.

The fact we managed to get a point out of a tough game with the amount of injuries we currently have (Sagna, Diaby, Walcott, Chamberlain, Podolski, Cazorla, Sanogo) is testament to both our squad depth and current mental strength. As players start to return, we should begin to see just how good this Arsenal side are, and if we are truly title contenders.

Keenos