Reading around the blogs and newsfeeds you’d think Arsenal had just been relegated instead of merely going down 2-1 to an inferior side away from home with a return leg left to play. Chaps (& chapette’s where applicable) I know this season’s been a bit up & down, but some realism is needed…the reactions to a draw or a defeat are getting way out of proportion to what they really mean to the season.
People are judging this season based on those preceding it instead of taking it on what it is; the 09/10 season. The only similarities are that the team’s still called Arsenal and Wenger’s still the gaffer, everyone’s a year older and as Song and Diaby have shown, a year is a long time in the life of a young footballer. More then that, look at the landscape of the game – it bears no significant relationship to what was going on in 2004…think about it.
Football is a game of skill, psychology, tactics and a good dollop of plain old fashioned lady luck. Luck’s the factor that makes it so watchable, the fact that humans sometimes make a pigs ear of things makes it exciting. Be it managers picking a bad line up/bad tactics, players having off days or refs missing calls that are bloody obvious to those of us with a rewind button.
Sometimes it’s a combination of these factors, like the Porto game, but like any combative undertaking it can quite often be luck that makes the deciding call. In our case it was the fact that the Ref didn’t give us a deserved penalty and did give Porto a free goal… That’s just how it went; D-Day could have been lost if a storm had have blown up out of nowhere as often happens along the English channel – I could go on with hundreds of other examples.
Now, how about we go about clarifying a few points which may be obvious when written down but which seem easy to overlook when we have to sit through painful games like Wednesday.
- ManUre without Rooney would be in a worse situation then we are, but he’s not (yet) gotten injured, he’s been very lucky: remember the broken metatarsal from the last world cup? They’d be 3rd and would have lost to Milan the other night without him. Who do they have to back up Rooney? Owen? Berba? Are they better then Eduardo or Bendtner?
- Chel$ki without Drogba would be 6-9 points off where they are now, he too has been lucky with injuries: remember the Evan’s kung-fu kick? That could easily have broken a few ribs and seen him out for the rest of the season. Who backs up Drogba? Anelka, yes he’s quality but he’s been shut down far more easily then Drobga. Malouda?
- Liverpool almost had the title last season but have since lost Torres to reoccurring injury and are fighting for their CL survival, they’ve been unlucky – well and a bit stupid in underestimating how valuable Alonso was to the side. Who’s filling Torres’ shoes? Ngog? Babel?
- Arsenal with RVP were ruthless in front of goal in early season, but RVP got crocked while on international duty by a clugger of a challenge. Up until that point RVP was banging in goals from simply ridiculous angles and providing just as many assists. He was on form to possibly be the top scorer this season. Bendtner is our back up, but he was out for a long time too and Eduardo has not been the same as he cannot get a regular start. RVP looked like he’d put his injuries behind him until the Italy friendly…that’s just bad luck.
Luck plays a big part in this game, we’ve been unlucky with injuries this year. Could Wenger have bought a new striker in during Jan? Maybe, but maybe it just wasn’t possible. I’ve never bought a real life player contract but I’m willing to bet that neither have you and so neither of us have never had to deal with the multifarious issues/legalities and bullshit that goes along with them.
So we really have no idea whether AW tried and failed, or just didn’t try. In the real world of transfers I’d guess that 95% of what goes on never sees the light of day – the other 5% is public maneuvering for a better deal. Despite what the papers says there are obvious requirements for a transfer to actually happen; a) player wants to leave current club, b) buying club thinks player will fit in team, c) buying club can afford costs involved, d) selling club are willing to sell player contact letting player go, e) buyer and seller can agree terms, f) buyer and player agent can agree terms, g) buyer and player actually like each other and get along. If ANY of the above boxes do not get checked, then no deal: which is what happens most of the time I’d be willing to bet.
Bottom line is that Papers, pundits, fans; we don’t know shit. The papers would have you believe that it’s as easy as picking up the phone and saying “I want him, here’s a suitcase of cash” but do you really believe that? No one pays all up front nowadays, it’s all about installments, timing and things like goals scored vs. games played etc. However, you rarely get anyone that’s ever been involved in the actual deals speaking up or becoming a pundit/journo which leaves pundits/journo’s to make it up as they go along.
Another thing I keep reading is that the money being asked for tickets is too much for a side that’s not winning. As for the prices… well you all may well have a case but remember, TV is expensive too, kits are expensive, EVERYTHING’S expensive nowadays! That is modern football, it’s no longer the working mans game it once was, it’s an entertainment business now. Have you seen concert ticket prices lately? Bought any Alcohol?
Added to this, AFC have a big loan to pay off. That’s just the way it is. If we were still at Highbury then we’d be worse off financially speaking as the old ground sat 38,000 but the new stadium seats 60,000 – just in simple numbers and not taking into account the increase in box seats and matchday hospitality.
Arsenal are working within their means using a business plan that has no comparison in the EPL. Does anyone believe the instant gratification of spending 30 million quid on someone would solve what is a team problem that only time & training will solve? OK how about Wenger buys a striker; perhaps a Villa, Chamakh or Dzeko. Who’s to say that any of these players could cut it and wouldn’t be an instant disaster like Shevchenko? For every 25 mill Torres there’s a 32 mill Robinho. What would you the same angry fans say then? “Wenger shouldn’t have bought him, it should’ve been XYZ, Wenger’s crazy, the experiment isn’t working etc.” So pretty much what’s being said now eh?
There is no guarantee that spending 15, 20 or even 30 million on a player makes them better then someone costing 5-10. This is something that Wenger knows (Jeffers vs. Henry anyone?) and Vermaelen is exhibit A in this regard. Now you know about Vermaelen’s talents would you swap him for Brede Hangeland and the extra 10 mill that Fulham wanted?
As far as that poor bastard Fabianski goes – he has talent but everyone seems to have forgotten about the fact he can do this:
Keepers mess up, even great keepers like Seaman. I suppose you’ve all forgotten about his disastrous 2002 World Cup?
The bottom line is that the Keeper, more then any other position on the pitch, is all about confidence and Fabianski’s is more then a bit dented. Does this mean I think it’s all well and good with the Keeper situation? No, but I just want to point out the obvious overreaction to two blunders that, yes, cost us the game but do not mean he’s crap. Has David James not made a litany of errors? Fabianski is 25…most keepers only start their prime at 30ish…
All I’m trying to express with all this is for people to THINK before they engage their gobs and/or keyboards. My opinion is no more or less valuable then yours, or anyone’s – and no, of course Wenger is not above criticism (before I get a hundred ‘Wenger-lover’ posts), but if you’re going to criticize then do it intelligently with a rational argument and don’t revert to the same “buy this bloke and all’s solved” line because you know it’s bullshit. It’s time for us all to grow up and realize that football’s no longer just a game, it’s now a high risk business as well, and sporting achievement has to be balanced with business acumen or else we face the consequences. Do you want Arsenal to be called the new Chel$ki or ManUre? Or do you prefer we blaze our own trail?
Winning on the pitch is important but you have to be in the game to win it first. Arsenal are playing in a league that’s been royally screwed up by all the disposable cash injected by billionaire egos and businessmen that place the burden of risk on the clubs they have bought. We cannot play the game with the same rulebook as Chel$ki/Man Citeh/Real Madrid… We have to write a rulebook of our own.
That’s my point: if during this time of madness we spend beyond our means in a vain hope to keep up and we end up over-extending ourselves then we have every chance of ending up like Leeds Utd, who only a decade ago were a top 5 side competing with us for trophies year in and year out, but I guess everyone’s forgotten that sad story already.
Fact: We have a shot at the title. Fact: we’re far from out of the CL… All the anger & pressure will not help those we are relying on to win i.e. the current squad. Like it or not, that’s what we’ve got for the run in…
Arsenal News 24/7
It’s columnist, not columist nor communist
February 19th, 2010 at 11:09 am
@AlexR, lol, I’ll fix it. Funny enough both he and I looked at it and neither caught it.
Thanks!
February 19th, 2010 at 11:13 am
No problem. I got both the first comment and the most useful and intelligent comment of today. TIME FOR A BREW TO CELEBRATE MY ACHIEVEMENT!
Some sanity atlast ………..thank you……reading some of the blogs around the net makes me puke…..remember what is happening with portsmouth,what is mancity able to do with a continental manager with millions at his disposal…..what is real madrid doing after blowing millions that they dont have…..its only time and our luck with injuries has been rotten.lets keep our fingers crossed..this season and the summer will be crucial for AW and his kid’s project…i have a gut feeling there will be a lot of deadwood being jettisoned….till then…
up the gunners……
February 19th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Agree with you mate but dont you feel we are doing the same mistakes again and again? Like getting caught on the break, exposed CBs, losing possession and not able to get the ball back quickly!
thats why most ppl are frustrated, is my guess.
Preach, brother. grown up talk at last.
i agree with you.
Im soo glad to see a blog entry written logically, not just keep moaning and complaining!
i think there’s a big problem inside the gooner camp: some(most)of us are like those english media who love to exaggerate every problem at Arsenal Football Club without thinking enough.
when football changes from a workmen’s game to a real business, fans change too.
we start demanding more and more from the team, paying less and less faith/ support to the club.
i hate to see people saying we should buy who and who, but neglect the fact that arsenal have a serious debt. I hate even more to see people denying arsenal have any chance of winning a trophy this season despite the fact that we are still in 2 competitions.
im like Arshavin — for his liking towards the kop. I wonder why cant gooners give as much support as liverpool fans do. what makes football fans be called “the twelve man” is the fact that they can give extra drive to the players on the pitch. as gooners lose faith too easily, no wonder the team lacks the drive and confidence to go forward on the pitch. it’s sad.
voice of reason finally! 12 games to go!
Champions league wide open… lets just hope our boys keep fit and fight fight on both fronts
impressive vid of fabianski!
keep the faith
I’m all for thinking through things, but is not a comments section such as this for the purpose of the Arsenal supporters to sort of think out loud? In the way you’re saying we’re oversimplifying the problems occurring at the club, I think the author is assuming the majority of people expressing discontent are ready to dump their allegiance to the club or maybe refuse to watch the next match, or the one after that, or all of them after that. That’s not the case, I believe. Those on here expressing frustration will be tuning in tomorrow and yelling and screaming their heads off at the TV wanting Arsenal to get 3 points. And if we don’t, we’ll be doing the same the next match. And the next one. Surely you’re not asking people to remove all passion from their thoughts and analysis of what is going on here, right? Because that’s overasking. Yes, we’ve had bad luck. But guess what? We’ve had bad luck each of the last handful of years. Is it bad luck that Van Persie’s hurt? Is it bad luck Eduardo’s hurt? Is it bad luck that Rosicky’s been hurt half the year? I mean these guys get hurt almost EVERY year. Did we bolster the forward position in light of this and in light of losing our other top striker? No. Our goalies, too, they’ve been having bad luck each year the last few years. Some of us are disappointed that we haven’t seemed to demonstrate an urgency until January 31st, 2010 to find a “luckier” goalkeeper. Without delving into the entire litany of frustrations, I’d just ask why it’s so wrong to come on here and express frustration, in addition to expressions of joy, pleasure and faith. And faith? Faith in what? Faith that we’ll win at some point. Yeah, we have faith in that. Faith that we’ll win the premiership? Well, you’ll just have to forgive people for not having the strongest faith in that right now and for wishing to express why it is their faith is, at the moment, shaken. As always, the correct answer likely lies in the middle between the negative extreme of Armageddon and the other end of the spectrum where St. Arsene the Infallible lords over the unquestioning masses from a pillowy London cloud.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
@ArseChicago, Nah mate, you answered my call in your post. All I was asking for was a balanced viewpoint, which you’ve given. On RVP/Eduardo…yes, it was bad luck when Eduardo had his leg broken, it was also bad luck when RVP got nobbled on a friendly. As for a replacement…well you have to remember that both of those players are still being paid – say 100k a week between them. Add a 3rd striker on at least 50k a week and that’s another 2.6 mill a year in wages… that’s the balance we fans alway seem to ignore – the running costs.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I get there’s more to it than transfer fees, but putting another 3MM a year on in player salaries isn’t too bad considering operating profits are 30MM annually and the interest expense is gradually going down with the debt repayment. Part of the frustration, too, surrounds some of the current salaries. We’re paying Walcott 60K per week, I think. Signing Fabianski and Mannone to long-term deals. Signing some other young folks to long-term deals where we’re just not sure, as fans, that they deserve yet. Anyway, that’s just the stuff to chew on and occasionally revisit during the days in between matches.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
@ArseChicago, I hear ya but ‘profits’ is a very loaded term. Profit does not mean; ‘spending cash’ it just means it’s unallocated. I’m seriously thinking of writing a ‘Football Economics 101′ to break this down – because the 2.6 mill would be for only one player. As for the young guys getting contracts…well if you don’t sign ‘em up now, you get Flamini situations – 3 average seasons and then 1 great one and AW “let him go” – looks like a no-win to me.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Hey, we’ve got Song. We’ve only got one Song. (singing)
We clearly had some offsets though. In addition to the transfer money we got for Adebayor and Toure, we also were freed from their not insignificant weekly paychecks. And in terms of locking in the young players, what leverage does a Mannone or a Fabianski have when we’ve got other young goalies as well? How many goalies do we need anyway? As for the other guys, if Denilson could’ve gotten more years and more money elsewhere, I’m not sure how banged up about it I’d have been. I agree it’s good to lock in the youngsters, but let’s try to pick and choose the right ones instead of just re-signing them all to 5-year deals, particularly when you consider we have about 20 14-19 year olds that are next in line to take their places.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
And when you say unallocated, I’m assuming you mean it just gets thrown onto the growing cash pile which currently sits at 100MM pounds (70% of which, I believe, is unrestricted)? I believe next week or the week after should see Arsenal’s latest semi-annual report so we’ll be able to see what the Highbury debt is down (hopefully) to and what the cash hoard is up to (hopefully). But to your point, we get that when you buy a player, you have to pay them a cost above and beyond the transfer fee. Like I said, if the EBIT was 30MM pounds, adding 2 players at 3MM pounds per year, would bring EBIT down to 24MM pounds. Still, not bad. You can actually get that EBIT to go back up to 30MM pounds when you rid yourself of the salaries of Gilberto, Hleb, Flamini, Henry, Adebayor, Toure, Senderos, Lehmann (am I forgetting more from the last few years??). Certainly the veterans we’ve dumped in the last 4 years were getting more salary than the youngsters we’ve replaced them with, right?
February 19th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
@ArseChicago, almost all the guys on loan; Wilshire, Lansbury, Simpson etc. all have their wages paid by the club that’s borrowing them…and none of them are first team so don’t figure in the squad. I do wonder if in a years time we’ll be eating our words over Denilson in the same manner as Song/Diaby…
February 19th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I hope we’re in the position to eat our words about Denilson. I know I wasn’t seeing what Arsene was apparently seeing in Song last year. I like the kid. I just think Denilson didn’t need to be thrust into the starters’ role last year. Granted Song’s been benefitting from his playing time last year, but I’d have still liked to have them getting worked in behind more veteran players. Anyway, for his lapses this year, Denilson’s been much improved defensively from last year. His passing needs sharpening and I’m hoping the game slows down for him in a sense. I’m more concerned with who’s in net next year and who’s playing upfront next to Van Persie.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
@ArseChicago, Yeh – agreed. I think a keeper is a must, if available. As for up front…I’d have liked Jay Simpson to get a shot while RVP was out…
Yes, this is a balanced and reasoned summary but Wenger has taken risks this season and they may be costly. We started the season knowing that we had no top class keeper, no proper back-up at centre back, a physically limited midfield and two strikers (RVP and Eduardo) who hadn’t played a full season in years. It might be that in 5 years time we’ll be ruling the roost but it isn’t good management to leave so many bases uncovered now.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
@Keith, All managers take risks, that’s why they’re managers. If the bases left uncovered were to be covered then it would cost 10-20 million a year extra in wages and even if we sold the players you’re thinking of, we’d not get market value and so would loose there also. Good management is responding to situations you’re faced with, within the resources at your disposal. In this AW is without peer… I guess it would be interesting to see him bankrupt the club by caving in and buying all this needed cover, but I’m not an advocate of that – I’d rather wait 5 years.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
My in-laws are Portsmouth fans and I wouldn’t want to see them fold because of poor financial management. So I take your point. However, we have 14 players out on loan plus another 8 injured and we still have 20 players to choose from for tomorrow’s game. We have a huge squad but the balance isn’t quite right. Many of the youngsters will never make it at Arsenal. I’m not suggesting blowing £20m on a single player – and we don’t really know how much money Arsene has. Two or three solid professionals with experience at this level could make a lot of difference.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
@Keith, Agreed, but then we get into the argument of ‘who’… whenever I go through a list of available’s two phrases repeatedly appear; overrated and/or overpriced. In an era when Glen Johnson can command 18.5 mill sterling…I’d rather bring someone through from the Academy.
i think guest columnist is arsene wenger . only arsene can say this bullshits . for response you can read legrove or arsenalnewsreview.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
@mohsen, those boys are exactly the knee jerkers this post is against. Pretty sure they’d love a Billionaire owner to come in and do a Chel$ki/Citeh and just buy everyone… sorry mate but if that’s your opinion then you’re better off reading their stuff then mine as I’ll back everything up that I say with cold hard logic and not nonsense derived from reading too many stories in The Sun….
February 19th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
@mohsen, or you could just read toilet paper…
Great post.
I have to say though that here’s another fact: this current squad is not strong enough to win the EPL or the UCL. The only realistic chance of success would require a commitment to fielding strong teams in the League Cup and FA Cup. Oh, and a bit of luck thrown in too.
And I’m the most optimistic guy posting on here.
Oh, I so hope I turn out to be the most wrong poster too.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
@Patrick, with all our players fit – I disagree with your sentiment. As it stands now, you have a point. The problem is no-one can tell at the start of a season what’s going to happen. I hated going out of the FA Cup, but couldn’t justify use of first teamer’s with our league position and injury list…League Cup I enjoy as a youth blooding competition personally…CL, well you never know. We weren’t given a hope in ’06 either – and without Mad Jen’s going mad, we could’ve won it…
February 19th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
No one can tell, eh? I don’t know about that.
Preseason odds:
United – 2/1
Chelsea – 9/4
Arsenal 8/1
Man City 20/1
February 19th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
@Patrick, Notice you’ve left the scousers out… Pre season all the fluff had
Scousers
Villa
Citeh
Spuds
All finishing ahead of us…
February 19th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
To be honest my source didn’t list them and I couldn’t be bothered looking it up.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Found a source of preseason odds:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/5811847/Premier-League-the-pre-season-so-far.html
United – 7/4
Chelsea – 2/1
Liverpool 11-4
Arsenal 8/1
Man City 16/1
Spurs 80/1
Villa 100/1
With the exception of Liverpool, who knew, eh? :p
Don’t know about fluff. Don’t read it.
7amkickoff=crying towel.
7amkickoff=cheaper than an 1 hour on a psychologist couch.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
@ctpa, what’s a crying towel? Is that like operatic soap?
February 19th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
@ctpa, what’s that mean?
February 20th, 2010 at 6:09 am
@Tim, I think what he means is the site is to many of us the only place we can come and state the good, bad, and ugly about the club (backed up with logic) and about our thoughts (backed up with logic) and can almost usually always have someone to banter with constructively, granted the initial criticism is constructive as well. With the persistent obscurity of the game in this country (though it is getting better), most of us can’t strike up a conversation with friends at work or at play and talk about the Arsenal, like you can with football or basketball or whatnot.
I don’t think ctpa’s comment is negative in any way, especially because he comments more than any of us on here. It’s our crying towel, in a good way.
At least that’s what I think he meant lol.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:12 am
@Tim, I can cry about Arsenal into a towel or express my Arsenal disappointments in emotional posts on this blog. I prefer the latter. I try to avoid castigating the manager, the team, the transfer policy with generalized condemnation after every set back because it serves no purpose.
I think that some of the frustration comes from the fact that there have been players who have moved for reasonable fees and would have strengthened our team. Shay Given comes to mind as he cost Man City about 6 million. He is far better than either Almunia or Fabianski, but for some reason we did not try to get him. It is not always about getting the 30 million dollar Buffon, just an experienced upgrade. Overall I think that the team is very close but just a little short.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
@sjclarke, Agreed mate…Given was a…erm…given really. A call was made to believe in Fabianski…and he’s not there yet… Almunia is average, Mannone inexperienced as is Szczesny – but I’m reading great things about Szczesny who’s on loan (and only 19)…
Good points but I feel like I need to give my 2 cents here as well. The first thing I would like to point out is that just because buying a player does not guarantee victory or trophies, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If that was the case, then Arsene would never be in the transfer market would he? Of course there are fans who cry out “Buy *insert preferred player’s name here” but I think the underlying point here is that when there are some serious deficits within the squad, fans expect the board/manager to address that deficit. To take my point further, let’s take our last two buys in the transfer market as an example: Arshavin and Verminator. Does anyone question the impact these two players have had since their arrival? I find it hard to believe that given all our striker issues, our supposedly tremendous scouting network, we couldn’t find a good striker within our means… and by good, I dont mean Drogba or Torres good, just someone who has better finishing then Bendtner/Vela/Eduardo. We can blame our luck if we want but was it really that surprising to see RVP get injured? I would be more surprised if he didnt. As much as I love RVP, how many full seasons have we gotten from him? Do you think next year he will be fit the whole season? I honestly do not think so, and I would be shocked if Arsene thinks that he will be.
Which brings me to the manager. Now I love Arsene. I mean I worship the guy. Well.. almost.. I bow to no man. But what is the point of telling us in November that we are looking to bring in one or two players early when the transfer window opens and then telling us afterwards, when nobody was brought in, that there is enough depth in the squad and new players are not needed. That twice as frustrating for me because that tells me 1) the manager was aware of the need to bring in one or two players, 2) the board didn’t act quickly or aggressively enough to address that deficit and 3)when they realized that nobody was coming in, they tried to sugarcoat it by talking up the squad. I agree that you are right in saying that we dont really know what happened and why didn’t buy anyone so maybe my second point is invalid and baseless… but you must understand why many fans were frustrated and angry in the lack of action taken in the january transfer window.
Last but not least, if Arsene had brought in a player or two to fill in some of the obvious holes in our squad, and we still didn’t win anything, then yeah – he would be vindicated… but at least no would would be angry at him or the board for not doing anything.
I hope what I wrote makes sense and I didn’t sound like a plastic fan who just wants to win a trophy. That is definitely not my intention. However, I do wish the board pay close attention to the pros and cons of buying reinforcements in the transfer market. I may be wrong in my assesment here, but I feel the league being so close this year, the pros in buying someone in the january window was far greater than the cons.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
@nycgunner, Nah – all good stuff mate. Again, if you put thoughts out using your gray matter to do so I’ve got no complaints…it’s the “this is bullshit and was written by Arsene Wenger” (see above) comments that get my wick. The problem with bringing in any player is what they do to the team dynamic… Adeybayor showed us all that just one arsehole can fuck up a team’s collective thinking… so it’s not just a decent player, but one that fits that is necessary.
Now let me clarify a few points for you guest columnist Grimbo.
Firstly the Mancs are a better team with Rooney but Fergie’s track record speaks for himself and he’d find a way to make shit players into world beaters. I respect Fergie in that way because he makes retards like Fletcher and O’ Shea look like they’re quality. He makes anyone who puts on that Man Utd shirt feel they are the best in the world. Everyone I talk to, even Manc fans, admit that this team is not flashy and just average but Fergie’s skill has always been to make people believe. That’s how they win games more often than not – that they deserve to win. Call it cocky arrogance but that’s what makes teams confident. RVP is that way too and look at how important he is to the team. I can’t say Wenger is the great motivator when it’s needed.
Secondly, I wouldn’t discount Ancelotti. When Drogba was on ACN duty, Chelsea were still pounding goals in. Ancelotti knows how to make old people look good – e.g. Milan. So saying they’d be nowhere without Drogba is perhaps a bit of a fallacy. He simply makes them look better but I wouldn’t doubt their ability to perform without him. They may look less flashy but they’ve always been effective.
Liverpool are hit and miss and they’ve somehow found some source of goals, though scarce, without Torres. However it’s conceding that’s been an even bigger problem for them and they’ve seemed to find some way over that for the most part, all be it in an ugly fashion but what do you expect from them. Kuyt, Babel and Ngog seemed to chip in these 1-0 goals but they’re grinding results when they look like shit and that’s all I think you can expect and it’s not really that bad of a thing some days.
It’s Wenger’s job to plan for injuries. He should know by now he hasn’t had a full squad for years and his best striker has never completed a full season at Arsenal. He’s been gambling that somehow history forgot that RVP is fragile – no one else was going to take that bet.
No one can say a David Villa would adapt to the EPL or not. He could very well turn into a 30M crock, or he could turn into the best thing since sliced bread. Wenger is a man of numbers and all top strikers have alot of impressive ones behind them. That’s really all there is to it. It’s just like any hiring process – you check someone’s resume and what they’ve done and that’s all you have to go by to hire them. They could fold on the job or make it better, you never know but if all you do is speculate then there’s no way to know for sure.
You say Fabianski is only 25 and keepers don’t enter their prime until 30s. Is that to imply that we should accommodate his bumbling for 5 more years? There’s keepers as old and younger than Fabianski that are guaranteed starters for their club and country. Why are we stuck, as a top European club, with 3 keepers who can’t even make the bench for their country? That doesn’t somehow bother anyone? Even Diego Lopez who plays for Villareal, who aren’t even in European competition gets a call over Almunia who is in the CL consistently. Doesn’t that say something?
February 19th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@WC, Well put – only addition is that Fabianski IS an international…he’s Poland’s keeper…
February 19th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
@Grimbo, He’s behind Kuszchak, who can’t even start for his club either and Przywoski who plays for Warsaw Liege in a league that nobody cares about. At this rate he’ll probably get knocked down behind Jerzey Dudek and Boruc, both who are washed up I might add. So as you can see he’s not even a guaranteed international, just an occassional one.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
and to add to the Fabianski point, I will also say that if arsene really does value him highly then why only play him once in a blue moon during cup ties when one mistake could pretty much see us out of the competetion? we know this and the keeper knows this, and all that does is just make him more nervous. i will say this – throwing a young keeper into the lion’s den everytime is not a good way of building his confidence. it’s no wonder that he’s making costly errors. i mean look at the handful of times we have seen him – carling cup semi final against spurs, fa cup qf vs. chelsea, fa cup 4th round vs stoke, champions league 2nd round away at porto.. i know he’s supposed to take his chances but when you appear so sporadically, the odds of making a mistake are pretty high. almunia has been sh*t for a while now and still arsene has stuck with him. if fabianski is so talented, why not give him a run out in the league for a few games?
The way I look at it, high profile games which we lost this year are not down to any significant disparity in terms of player talent, but largely the result of our boys getting “out-muscled” & “out-witted”.
So instead of jumping on the “buy ABC, dump XYZ” bandwagon, perhaps we should look internally & maybe reevaluate our coaching & training methods.
Perhaps more emphasis should be placed on strength training. Stronger body strength would help us play our style of football with more confidence. It will also deter other teams from trying rough house tactics on us once they realize that we will not be bullied into submission. It that way our boys may suffer fewer tackle-related injuries (I hope).
Cheers.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
@iluvafc, Amen brother!
Top top post.
I will add another reason not mentioned yet for NOT buying older experienced players – We make HUGE sums of money on the fact that every young hotshot WANTS to come to Arsenal because he thinks he will get a shot at Arsenal.
Consider Ramsey – he had his pick of clubs, any one of which would have matched what we payed. Same with Wolcott. If we had bought experienced players at their position, and that became a trend, we could no longer convince such prospects to choose us over…say, Chelsea.
Think a really good teenager will choose to go to Chelsea? No way – every starter on their team is filled by a player bought already seasoned. Ditto Real. Or AC Milan.
How much is that worth? Even if Wolcott ends up a bust, which I don’t accept – we might still be able to recoup our money on him. How about Fabregas? Could we have convinced him to switch from Barca? How much was it worth to Arsenal that we were able to convince him?
Ditto Vela, and Clichy, and Van Persie, or Ade, or Toure etc etc. All players bought before they were stars on their teams.
Consider that next time you say buy a 29 year old. You may be dooming your efforts to get a 25 million player for a few million quid 3-4 years earlier.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
@Nando, with a 29 year old – you pay top whack and on a 4 year contract it’s a write off as he’ll have next to zero sell on value at the end. Buy a 22 year old, hold on to him for 5-7 years and then sell him for top whack… most of the time it works…
February 19th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
@Grimbo, It works, but mostly for the club, as it is them who are making the money, and us who are forced to go through another process of turning another promising player into a cash-bringing star. The problem is that right now, we have only one player who is able to attract a large cash offer (Jesus), a number of slightly above standard players who have yet to fulfill their long-awaited potential (Diaby, Clichy, Denilson, Nasri, Walcott) and a bunch of promising talents (Ramsey, Vela, Merida, Eastmond etc). So, basically, what I am trying to say that, in my opinion, without the Cesc man, we have the potential of turning into a rather average side, and then, we will not be able to attract the highly promising 8year olds of the world, not have the denaro to pay for the Villas and the Dzekos (not that I think that this is the solution). I am trying not to be too pessimistic or come out as a hater, but I don’t see us rising again reborn with a new leader if we sell Cesc. We’ve pulled it off in the first season without Titi, although not even close to our standards set before that, but I’m afraid that our boys won’t be strong mentally for much longer if we don’t win something soon. Geez, my thought stream is switching lanes faster than Theo Walcott on PCP. Sorry about that.
February 19th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Teampossible, chill bro…it’ll be good. Remember that Liverpool are now 20 years without a top league win…have never won the PL (used to be Div 1). I think you’ll find that Song, Vermaelen, Diaby, RVP, Eboue, Sagna and even Clichy could all draw top $$. What’s missing is something that is learned and not taught… sometimes it takes a while to click, what you need in the mean time is stability which is what we haven’t had…this midfield has been rebuilt twice already…
February 19th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
@Grimbo, Since when are we trying to be a feeder club? Is this what you envision for Arsenal? Buy young, develop them and sell them high without any prospect of winning anything? But hey we make profit.
This is pretty much one of the reasons Thierry left the club. He realized that Wenger had no intention of building a team to win the CL and instead wanted to build a group of youngsters. He had to leave to win the CL as a result of that and how many other players do you think are thinking the same thing?
February 22nd, 2010 at 7:46 am
@WC, Ahem, you’re TH14′s best mate then? He told you in confidence why he left the club. In that case I am in awe of your insider knowledge. Sounds like the sort of statement we hear from the Sun – “Cesc’s mate says he’s off”…
February 19th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
@Nando, Kakuta for Chelsea. Canales for Real Madrid. Pato for Milan.
My problem was not with the transfer window and our lack of movement there. The problem is that we went into the season with 3 obvious weaknesses:
1) No back up for Song, especially since he was ANC bound
2) No back up for RVP, seeing we sold Adebayor
3) Not one worthwhile GK
The premise behind those weaknesses would be that neither Song or RVP would get injured and either Fabianski or Mannone would miraculously come of age.
I could easily name a ton load of players who could have filled the void without spending megabucks. We bought Walcott for 10M 4 years ago with a 2M add on, so it’s not about the money.
I am an arsenal fan and will remain so, but, how can we expect to do the same thing every year for 5 years and expect a different result. The team is somewhat imbalanced with basically 6 small, relatively slow MF’s who all offer varying degrees of the same thing.
It just does not make sense to humble me.
if LUCK plays such an important part in the destination of trophies, how come the same managers and teams always end up with the trophies
I don’t think a balanced sense of view is necessary when supporting the Arsenal. Wenger doesn’t have one when he talks about his boys.
Some sense, nice to read.
Nobody except AW knows what the actual constraints are on transfers, both in and out. Beating your chest because he doesn’t bring in your favourite ProEvo star won’t make it happen, it’ll just make you cross. Support should be just that – yes, you can complain when we don’t turn up and rightly get thumped but it’s not black and white, good and bad, fantastic or disastrous. Some of the (especially blogging) fans are so fickle as to give themselves an aneurysm coping with the pressure.
At the end of this season, we could yet finish 3rd – an improvement – and reach the final of the CL – an improvement – and they would still be calling for his head.
Sometimes I despair.
Fantastic piece of writting…