Tag Archives: She Wore

Time to back The Arsenal

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The last time Arsenal made the FA Youth Cup Final was 2009. A team containing Jack Wilshere.

The quarter final was up there with one of the greatest games I’ve been too. A match away to Spurs. They didn’t know what hit them. Neither did the OB.

I digress from memories.

As Arsenal fans we do not have much to cheers about at the moment.

A League Cup final against Manchester City ended up in embarrassment. We are 6th not e league 2 points ahead of Burnley. We have a Europa League semi-final to look forward too. More glasses are half empty than half full.

But there is something we can actually enjoy at Arsenal. The development of some English lads.

In recent games, both Calum Chambers and Rob Holding have continued their turbulent Arsenal careers. Alex Iwobi, who joined the club at 9, has also continued his development. Ainsley Miatland-Niles has had a break through season.

Then we have Chris Joe Wilock and Reiss Nelson. Both have recently made their first Premier League starts. Both have looked good in the cups. And there is plenty to be excited about in our youth teams.

Under Liam Brady, Arsenal nearly lost their Academy Status. It was underperforming. It got relegated to the second tier of your football. But look at the side now.

Last night the U18s beat Blackpool 5-0 to make the FA Youth Cup final for the first time in 9 years. They won 7-2 on aggregate and will face Chelsea in the final. A Chelsea team that has made 8 of the last 9 finals (yet still not developed a youth team player good enough to play week in week out for them).

The Chelsea side has an incredible amount invested in it. It is a side built on spending a lot of money poaching the best young talents off London clubs. Arsenal will go in as under dogs, but can be proud to have made the final.

Arsenal are also second in the U18 Premier League South. 15 points behind Chelsea (with two games in hand). Chelsea are the force at that age group, but Arsenal, with the FA youth Cup still to play, are clearly the best of the rest.

As you move up the age groups to the U23s, Arsenal are also dominating.

They face Porto in the 2017–18 Premier League International Cup Final and also top the Premier League 2 – the revamped reserve league.

If until the end of the season you are struggling to get behind the first team – and I know many of you are – embrace the youth teams. Go to the Youth Cup Final, the International Cup Final. Enjoy watching young local boys play.

Up the Arsenal.

Keenos

Mustafi the Monstrosity

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Arsenal signed Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia in 2016. The talk of the first few months of his Arsenal career was that he had solved Arsenal’s long term defensive problems.

In December of the same year, whilst everyone was saying how great he was – at that point he had yet to be in a losing side in an Arsenal shirt – I wrote a blog highlighting that Mustafi had not really solved Arsenal’s defensive crisis.

Pretty much 18 months on from that article, the evidence is conclusive. Mustafi has not solved Arsenal’s issues in defence.

Against Newcastle yesterday, fault for both goals can be laid squarely at the German’s feet.

For the first, he was static, letting Ayoze Perez run across the front of him in the 6-yard box. He made a near identical mistake for Shane Long’s goal for Southampton last week.

And for the second he was caught ball watching once more.

It was a poor header by Nacho Monreal, but Mustafi failed to follow Islam Slimani. This led the Algerian to have a free header and set the ball rolling for Newcastle’s winner.

A lot of people complain that Arsene Wenger does not improve defenders. Whilst this argument does have some weight, the problem with Mustafi is something that can not be coached.

He continually loses his man, continually lets his opponent run off the front, side and back of him. He is certainly not a Martin Keown when it comes to man marking.

His mistakes are due to one thing. His lack of concentration. This leads him to be continually out of position. Always on the back foot. And many a goal conceded. Concentration is not something that can be coached into a player.

So Mustafi needs to go. Or at least be relegated to a squad player. And this is where Arsenal’s defensive crisis deepens.

Laurent Koscielny can not be relied upon to play 38 league games. He will be 33 in September and has the Achilles of a 90 year old. He has struggled to play twice a week this season and needs replacing.

So Arsenal have one centre back who is not good enough to be first choice, and another who is not fit enough to be first choice.

It leaves Arsenal in a situation where we now need to sign two first choice centre backs in the summer.

But is trying to buy two top class centre backs in the summer unrealistic?

Arsenal are once again prisoners of being poor in the transfer market.

Last summer it was clear that either Gabriel or Mustafi could leave the club. Gabriel went back to Spain, and Mustafi nearly went to Inter Milan.

But what did not happen was Arsenal signing a new centre back.

We knew last summer that Mustafi was not good enough. We also knew Koscielny had his injury issues. And we knew Per Mertesacker had very little left in the tank. So why did we not sign a new centre back last summer – regardless of Mustafi going to Inter Milan or not?

With a bit of forward planning, we should have signed a centre back in 2017 who could then play alongside either Koscielny or Mustafi. And then in 2018 buy another centre back to partner that man.

Instead we signed no one. And that leaves us in a position where we now need to sign (and imbed) two new centre backs into the first team.

It is a situation that we should not be in. And a situation that will probably only see us sign one centre back. And it is also a situation of our own making.

A situation that highlights just how poor we have been in the transfer market over the last 10 years. No planning. No thinking. Just winging it.

Hopefully with the two new men coming in (Sven Mislintat & Raul Sanllehi) will take the power and thinking on transfers away from dithering Wenger.

What is for certain, Mustafi has not solved our defensive crisis.

Keenos

We’re not on our way to Newcastle

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Newcastle away.

Maybe I am getting old. Maybe I am just fed up of another Sunday game, but rather than being on a train to Newcastle right now, I am at home, wondering whether to spend my morning cleaning or gardening.

Trips to Newcastle and Sunderland used to be some the most anticipated of the season. A load of us heading up to the North-East on an often delayed 3 hour train.

The incredible amount of alcohol consumed on these trips often led them to having the most memorable moments. But today, none of my lot are going.

A 1:30pm on a Sunday afternoon game away to Newcastle would not normally be an issue. We would get a train about 8:30am, getting us into the Toon at about midday. Few beers in the former O’Neills across the road for the station, before the uphill walk to the ground.

We would be back down at sea level at around quarter to 4, so probably get a 4:30pm train back to London. Enough time for a quick pint and to get some cans for the way home. We would be back into Kings Cross about 8pm. Couple of pints in the O’Neills opposite St Pancras, before heading home for some sleep. Then up at 5:30am Monday morning for work.

Maybe it is old age. I am now 33. That the trip did not interest me. I did not fancy an early start on a Sunday (I would have to be up at 7am to catch the train to Kings Cross). I did not fancy the late night Sunday finish. And I did not fancy the hangover on the commute to work on Monday morning.

Back in my 20’s, I would think nothing of getting to Euston for a 6:30am train for Wigan away – beers flowing even at that time of the morning. Or getting back home at 11pm on a Sunday after a 4pm game in the North East. I would suck it up, and deal with the consequences the next day.

Maybe it is age and responsibility. But it is also apathy.

Not apathy towards Arsenal (or not completely).

This season has been tough for away fans. I have probably done the least amount of total games (home and away) for some years. I have left numerous times at half-time to head back to the pub (even when winning). I have stayed in the concourse for entire halves. And sometimes, I just have not bothered going in at all.

Not just the results, but the atmosphere. The knobheads that sit around us. Both home and away. Football has changed massively in just the last 5 years that I have been an away scheme member. Even more since I got my season ticket a decade ago. And it is now a completely different game to when I went to my first game in October 1995 as an 11 year old.

The fact that I am not going is not just because of The Arsenal, however. There are about 10 of us who travel regularly away together. Whether it be Stoke City or Cologne. None of us are going. And a big reason is due to it being yet another Sunday game.

When we qualified for the Europa League, we knew we would see an increase of Sunday games. But the additional scheduling of Sky Sports and BT Sports have made matters worse. We have actually maxed out on the amount of times Sky Sports can show us.

Instead of Sky Sports being smart and thinking “Arsenal have to play on Sunday due to the “Europa League, lets show them” many of our post-Europa League games have not been on TV. They picked other games for TV. This results in even more games played on a Sunday, and even less games played at 3pm on a Saturday.

Now that we have beaten CSKA Moscow, the fixture against Burnley will now be moved to Sunday. as it can not be on Sky, it will probably be on at lunchtime.

This means we have had just three 3pm kick offs this season, and 18 games on a Sunday.

 

Sunday games mean longer train journeys, less trains, and that Monday morning hangover. That is where my apathy sits.

I dream of a return to Saturday games. A return to drinking all day, then battling the hangover on Sunday, with a roast thrown in. This season, I have spent the Saturday fiddling with myself. Not sure what to do. Keeping myself occupied. It has not been fun.

The Europa League has been brilliant. Cologne was brilliant. One of the greatest trips of all time. But with Sky moving so many other games to a Sunday – which did not require moving – I am fed up.

Today, I will watch on TV. Next week I will be at the West Ham game. On a Sunday. Again.

It is all a little bit rubbish.

Keenos