Known Knowns
Kickoff: 7am local time, 3pm GMT
US Television: Fox Soccer Channel
Breakfast: beans, chicken sausages, possibly toast if I feel well enough to make bread tonight
Referee: Mark Crapenburg
The teams: Bolton have lost 9 of their last 10 League games since beating Arsenal 2-1 at the Reebok last year. Worse, since they were trounced 5-0 by Stoke in the FA Cup semi-final they have won just 4 and lost 10. No draws. Arsenal’s run of form since the Carling Cup final has been poor but Bolton’s run of form since the FA Cup semi-final is pants-shittingly poor.
This isn’t to say that Arsenal should be looking for an easy win. There will be no easy wins with Bolton. They are an unabashed long-ball team that somehow got labeled as playing pretty football. Perhaps they got that label because Jack Wilshere played with them for a while, but those days are long gone and now they are up with the Stokes and Wolves in total long-balls per game.
Whatever subjective view you have of Kevin Davies, objectively he’s a dirty player. He’s already received two yellow cards this season and that’s enough to put him just one yellow away from tying with Lee Bowyer with 101 career yellows at the top of the all time yellow card list.
Subjectively, I think a lot of yellow cards he gets should be red cards. His “tackle” on Tom Cleverly was a brutal mauling of a talented young player. He followed that up with another ridiculous tackle on Patrice Evra a few minutes later to pick up his 100th booking. That game showed the world what I’ve been saying for a long time: he’s not clumsy and he’s not “mistiming” these tackles, it’s intentional. The Cleverly tackle happened in the 8th minute and just like Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo he meant it to send an early message to the opposition.
What should be a known unknown is a known known with Kevin Cyrill Davies: watch your ankles boys, he’s gunning for them.
Unfortunately, the referee is Mark Clattenburg. The Mark Clattenburg who missed Adebayor’s stamp on van Persie’s face, despite being mere feet away and looking directly at the incident.
Then there’s the Nani goal against Tottenham… I mean, you could fill the Dead Sea with pages from the catalog of Clattenburg’s bad calls.
I fully expect more of the same tomorrow.
As for personnel, Rosicky, Sagna and Ramsey are fit and the only “surprise” injury news is that Djourou has a hamstring pull and Benayoun has a muscle problem. Both are out until at least Tottenham.
In long-term injury news, Arsenal are missing Diaby (I wouldn’t say we’re missing him, Bob) until after the internationals and the same for Vermaelen. Jack Wilshere is still in the boot.
Known Unknowns
Wenger’s experiments with the 4-4-2 in the Carling Cup made for fascinating reading mostly because it confirmed something that I’ve been saying for a while: Arsenal don’t play a 4-4-2 because they don’t have the players who can defend the wings. Arshavin is not a midfield player. Theo Walcott, gods bless him, tries but he’s also not a midfielder. In fact, he is so hungry to get a chance as a striker that he’s gone to the boss and asked for a shot up front.
Still, Arsene has some tricks left up his sleeves and we might even see a 4-4-2 tomorrow. What if the lineup was:
Szczesny
Sagna Perm Koz Gibbs
Gervinho Song Arteta Santos
Walcott van Persie
I know it seems a bit odd, but I bet we see some variation of Gibbs/Santos on the left before the season is out. It just makes sense. If you need the whole team to be more defensive (which Wenger says he does) then putting a defender who has attacking instincts in midfield could help with that. Don’t forget that Arteta played in the wings of Everton’s 4-4-2 as well and could be pushed there if you want to bring in another, burlier, midfielder like Frimpong.
The 4-3-3 presents some problems at the moment because for once there’s a glut of healthy midfielders. Song, Frimpong, and Coquelin can all play the anchor and we could see just one of them play or even see a double-pivot. Rosicky, Arteta, and Ramsey are all healthy and vying for the Cesc spot. Walcott, Gervinho, the Ox, and Arshavin are fighting it out for the two “wing” spots. And up front, Robin van Persie is healthy, Park is a good looking number 9, and let’s not forget that Chamakh scored a brave headed goal off a wonderful cross from van Persie.
Still, we’ll probably see the old 4-3-3 with our beloved little Russian on the left, but it’s nice to know that for the first time in a while, Wenger’s having to juggle players and create a system that will maximize their effectiveness.
And finally, a word about the poor run of form. I believe that Arsene wants to turn this around. He wants to make this a better team. He wants to win tomorrow’s game. And he will do whatever it takes to do that. I said earlier in the off season when many people wanted a defensive coach to come in that it’s an insult to the man who put together the defense that gave us the Invincibles to even bring it up, much less be serious about suggesting that Arsene Wenger doesn’t know anything about defense. He was a defender, Pat Rice was a defender, Boro Primorac was a defender, Neil Banfield… look down the list of coaching staff. They are all former defenders.
I’m not denying that there is a defensive problem at Arsenal but it’s not because the managers lack the understanding of how to put a defense together. This is a man who plucked Kolo Toure from obscurity and transformed him into a world class center back. Don’t tell me he doesn’t understand defending. He understands defending better than you or I ever will.
I don’t know for a fact but I suspect the reason the defense has been so poor lately is because the players are not stepping up. Which, if that’s the case, is down to not respecting Arsenal, Arsene, and the fans who show up to these games and pay good money to see them play. I’m glad to see that Robin van Persie is publicly saying things to that effect. The team needs the captain now, more than ever, to kick them up the backside. To make them fight for every point. But more than just the captain, everyone needs to show that they are proud to wear the red and white. They need to talk to each other, get angry with each other, and pull each other over the line.
While I don’t know what the outcome will be tomorrow I have no doubt about the quality of these Arsenal players and their ability to win the game. It’s cliche, but win, lose, or draw, I don’t care as long as I see every player give everything for 90 minutes. Fuck, I’ll sing their names if they do and we all know how I feel about singing the names of players who haven’t won shit.
It’s time for every player who steps foot on the pitch wearing the red and white to stop talking about how proud they are to play for Arsenal and show it. It’s going to be a hard fought game, a terrible slog with Kevin Davies kicking everyone and everything and Mark Crapenburg swallowing his whistle and giving Bolton the advantage. But that’s the kind of game which makes you as a man. Hopefully, Arsenal have a few freshly minted men come 5pm tomorrow.
Unknown Unknowns
Our society is sick enough with people who talk about things they don’t know about so, when I don’t know (I say) I don’t know.
Arsene Wenger, genius.
“‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
– Abraham Lincoln
like our Stanley?
@NakedGoon, Very much so.
Looks like Silent Stan and Wenger are well-suited.
Someone should write a book called “Arsenal and the 21st Century Culture of Silence.”
I like silence. I do. But I also agree with some Gooners who suggest Arsenal have PR problems.
@Bunburyist, I think there might be signs of change there. Such as the counter post to the media reports of a half empty stadium.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/club-pays-tribute-to-loyal-supporters
@Shard, I’ve noticed a marked change in everyone at the club in terms of communicating. PHW is talking, Gazidis is talking, Kroenke is going to say “boo” soon.
I also like that Wenger canceled the meeting with the fans. That might seem counter-intuitive but he really needs to focus on his job of turning this team around and not worry about some people telling him who he should have bought this Summer or suggesting he should hire another defensive coach.
@Tim, I agree. On all counts. And it’s about time the club undertook some visible steps to present their position better. A few days ago, Arseblog also claimed that the access that journalists enjoyed is being scaled back.
John Cross should never be allowed anywhere near the club ever again.
@Tim, Perhaps he wasn’t? Because the article post Shrewsbury was ridiculous even by his standards. Fans chanting Wenger’s name “may turn to despair when they see their manager in almost complete denial” , and what to make of the Wenger being angry AT GAZIDIS bit?
If I ever see John Cross on Fans Forum ever again, I’ll tear my hair out.
Oh but of course he was at the press conference post-match. At least he wrote an article on it.
@Shard, True. And I liked PHW’s response to Barton’s claims.
So yes, encouraging signs, and totally agree that Wenger need not, and in most cases should not, indulge the witless accusations, doom-mongering, and speculation by people who seem to think they know more than a manager of his pedigree.
Interesting line-up there. I’d like to see it, to be honest, just to see how it does. I don’t think Wenger will surprise us, my guess is:
Chez
Sagna Mert Kos Santos
Song Arteta Ramsey
Walcott RVP Gervais
But your line-up looks like it could be fun. Although, Santos and Gervais couldn’t swap wings, so that would limit us in terms of something we usually do. Gervais and Walcott could interchange though, certainly.
I’m looking forward to a fun game where we score 3 and give up 2, but ultimately win!
Tim – I completely agree with you on Kevin Davies. He is one of them cocksuckers who deliberately kicks players. I didn’t see his tackle on Tom Cleverly but I’ve seen other tackles to be convinced that he does it deliberately.
I like your idea of playing Santos on the wings. Not only will he give us width (I like the idea of having a left footed player on the left wing, if Reyes and Overmars are anything to go by) but like you said he can bring in that defensive acumen, which is missing with Arshavin, but Arshavin in the hole instead of Walcott would be tempting. If Walcott is played as a striker, I feel Van Persie should play behind him in that false 9 role.
One more thing I’ve noticed with Arsenal is the lack of willingness from the midfield players/wingers to run towards the goal post to meet crosses. How often have we seen Arsenal FB’s and wingers sending some good crosses in (aerial/on the ground) and quite often nobody is around to knock it in. Gone are the days when players like Pires, Ljungberg and Vieira, would rush for the ball, anticipate those crosses to delectable perfection and knock goals in for fun !!!!!
@Metalhead, Stuart Robson said that the reason Arsenal don’t do well from the wings is the 4-3-3 and the lack of a second striker in the box on crosses.
I tend to agree with him on that.
I also agree with you that van Persie should be playing the Bergkamp role with a striker in front of him. His cross for Chamakh was sublime.
@Tim, I’ve never quite understood that. I mean, Van Persie has a highly respectable goal ratio in his current position, but his creativity and guile would be much better suited to playing just behind a striker. Besides, I’ve always thought that a player as injury prone as Van Persie should never be utilized as a lone front man often playing with his back to goal. Getting kicked from behind is just part of that job, even more so in England. I’d love to see Chamakh get a decent run of games as striker with Van Persie behind him.
@Bunburyist, I think it’s a lack of true wingers that limits Arsenal playing the system needed to do that.
That said, I think he’s trying to address that. Gervinho is a natural winger.
@Bunburyist, So is that a 4-4-1-1, or a 4-3-3?
@Shard, Often teams that ostensibly use a 4-4-2 deploy one of the two strikers just behind the other, but sure, we can call it a 4-4-1-1. It could also work as a 4-3-3, and I can remember a few comments when Cesc was sold suggesting Van Persie should take over that role. But as Tim says, we now have a lot of midfielders…
@Bunburyist,
I would love to see this kind of experimentation: Chamakh up front with RVP in a sort of 4-4-1-1, or Arshavin playing in the center. But with Wenger under such pressure, can he risk experimentation right now? The time for that was preseason (and I guess to a degree in the cups).
@Zeddington, So true.
@ Bunburyist
I agree with you 100%. I suggested a lineup of chamakh and RVP a while back and i still think that’s our best lineup. RVP could have a free role and we all know he’s pretty good at coming to get the ball from midfield and moving it forward. With both chamakh and RVP, we’ll still have our tippy tappy football as well as have a capable header of the ball in chamakh to meet crosses from the wing. I agree with tim’s suggested lineup but with Chamakh in there for theo.
@torontogooner, after watching today’s game, RVP is playing deep, partially, from mid and brings the ball out, false 9 as some suggested. Haven’t got a chance to see Park in action , hope he’s better than Chamakh. If that’s the case, it’ll be a added bonus because I do think Chamakh is limited in his ability and hold back Arsenal’s chances in front of the goal. Don’t forget Arsene said Park can play in any position in front. So the offensive setup would be, Gervnho(left), Park or Walcott in centre, RVP on right , when RVP move to the centre behind the Park/Walcott, one of Arteta or Ramsey fill in the position at the right flank. Santos takes up position at mid left. Of course, that’s my theory.
The only thing I remember from Davies: Came on as a sub in his last cap for England (was it the loss against France at Wembley) and all he did was to pick up a yellow in like 5 mins of play because of sharp elbows
@Metalhead, http://fullhighlights.blogspot.com/2011/09/video-kevin-davies-tackle-on-cleverley.html
“Kevin Davies is the ultimate professional. He made a tackle, the ref gave a foul and that is what it is. You don’t want anyone injured – and good luck to the lad [Cleverley]. But you won’t get anybody more honest than Kevin. I can understand it’s Manchester United and there is a furore. But he phoned the lad straight away, that is how conscientious he is. There was no intent to hurt anybody on his part.”
-Coyle
Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Bolton-boss-Owen-Coyle-defends-Kevin-Davies-over-Manchester-United-Tom-Cleverley-tackle-article799828.html#ixzz1Yo1SjeCM
Sign up for MirrorFootball’s Morning Spy newsletter Register here
@deej.ika, PS, notice the commentators defending “hard working” “tracking back” Davies.
Disgrace.
@deej.ika, the first tackle was a fault ,maybe a yellow ,his second one was a red no doubt but hey he is english so he is a nice boy and the other player were unlucky to be in his way of his leg and foot
@deej.ika,
Arsenal suffer worse than that every game. Kevin Davies gives worse than that most games. That one wouldn’t even make his 5 minute “worst of the worst” highlight real. Yeah, it was from behind and his knee took out the kid’s ankle. He’s a dirty b!tch. That’s what he does. How is this one in particular causing so much controversy?
(Obviously, we all know the answer).
@craig, first, all the controversy because its a manure player…as we all know they are more sacred than all.
other than that, its just the latest example of “non-intentional” “committed” “british steel” player…protected and defended for malice on teh field. when i saw that tackle live i cringed …only to hear the commentators bow to the greatness of davies “tracking back.”
@deej.ika, same tackle… on Song:
http://www.7amkickoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Daviess.gif
@Tim,
horrible!
im sure he didnt mean that one either. he was just tracking back…
KD…ur SHIT & u know YOU ARE!
@deej.ika Thanks for sharing the video. The scary part is how the British players get defended by their Managers and the Media alike. People like Arsene Wenger are scared to raise this subject anymore because of the kind of furor and frenzy the British Media throw up. The first thing they end up saying is “He’s nice guy/profession and he didn’t mean to do that”. Its their default template.
However, when Flamini put in that tackle on Corluka;my word, Arry scary said he must go to jail for that and British media said “Hell yeah”. The bias just sickens me!!!
@Metalhead, AMEN!
From what I’ve seen of Lille, they play(ed) a 4-3-3, and so does Ivory Coast. So, while I am a proponent of the 4-4-2, I don’t know if Gervinho is a fit a right midfield.
Arteta used to play out there for Everton, but became more effective when he got moved to the middle. I think his engine is on the wane, he may not be able to motor up and down the flanks any more.
Anyway, myself, I like the 4-4-2 with a box midfield, like Brazil traditionally uses, and then you can play two holding or defensive midfielders, and two attacking midfielders. It allows for good pressuring and closing down space up the middle, granted it leaves the flanks a little more open. And then if we need width in attack it comes in the form of fullbacks pressing up, which we have two guys at left back at least who have that mentality in Gibbs and Santos.
When everyone is healthy my idea is;
Sagna/Mertesacker/Vermaelen/Gibbs
Song/Frimpong
Wilshere/Arteta
Walcott/RvP
with the back-up line up looking like
Jenkinson/Djourou/Koscielny/Santos
Coquelin/?Diaby?
Ramsey/Benayoun
Chamahk/Gervinho
No idea where Park fits into all this.
Haha – or Arshavin for that matter. How did I miss that?
I have seen a ridiculous post on the “reputed” Arsenal blog Le Groan and see him differentiating between ahem… the “true”fans and the “plastic” fans . The “true” fans see the glaringly obvious that AW cannot while the plastic fans will still support Arsene Wenger and fail to acknowledge that AW needs someone to stand upto him to tell him that he is going wrong. What a load of bull crap.
@Shrek, Le Grove have 2 contributors mainly: Pedro, who is often very negative but at least is coherent; and Geoff, who is some rambly idiot who doesn’t understand punctuation or how to string together an intelligent thought.
@Zeddington, lol that is true , I often find their solution for getting Arsenal to the top quite funny. Most of the time it involves Arsenal signing some British “grit” . I think more recently after the BB loss , there was some utter tripe saying that power corrupts and saying it has corrupted AW.
@Zeddington, Ok, I admit it. I’ve never read “Le Grove”, I don’t think I ever will, and yes, that is entirely down to the bad press it’s received on this site (Sometimes, you really don’t need to see for yourself…).
But fair is fair, and you have to admit that the Idea of a guy calling for “British Grit” being named Pedro is just damn funny.
@JV Mauer, On a blog called “le” Grove to boot.
@Shrek, That site gives me the heebies. It’s the lowest common denominator among all die hard fans from all teams. It’s foul.
Is it just a coincidence or have we really not won anything since we switched from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3? As far as I remember, the winning squad of Arsenal always had two defensive midfielders, the last ones being Vieira and Gilberto.
Then Cesc replaced Vieira and thus the entire idea of the team changed. Soon afterwards, Flamini replaced Gilberto and the formation became this 4-3-3 we have today.
I guess Wenger took the risk of basing everything, including the change of formation, because he saw what a talent Cesc is, but in my mind, a 4-3-3 will never work in England.
Maybe he is trying to do something about this as well, and I sincerely hope that is the case. You couldn’t imagine how safer I felt when I saw both Song and Frimpong lining up next to each other. The problem now is just that we have too many creative midfielders, and most of them will not be worth losing. Then again, Ox looks like a solid winger, Gervihno as well, Karate Kid is fast as lightning, so who knows?
I know I would gladly welcome this change.
@Teampossible, As far as I recall Flamini never played in a 4-3-3 for us. In fact I’m sure that the 2007-08 team played a 4-4-2. I’d suggest it was after we lost Flamini, Hleb and Rosicky (to injury) that the change of formation was made. Maybe to aid a developing Alex Song as much as to unlock Cesc’s potential.
@Shard, Maybe you are right, he was a little deeper, but still him running around in front of the defense gave Cesc the freedom to move up forward and join Rosicky, along with the attacking of Adebayor and Eduardo, and the attempts of Hleb to pass the ball to Almunia when he was alone in front of goal.
However, even this emphasizes what I’m trying to say. That season we were extremely strong, we played a 4-4-2, we also had Cesc, and then we changed into this 4-3-3 formation which in my opinion is one of the main reasons why we are conceding at such a strong rate.
Although I could be wrong.
@Teampossible, It’s a tough one. On the one hand, it is essential in the modern game to boss midfield. And the 3 in there helps you do that. But I guess the problem comes in regards to what to do with that possession. And I have, like you I imagine, felt frustrated not seeing anyone else in the box when a cross comes in. As it has been suggested elsewhere, perhaps it was the lack of wingers which prevented us playing a 4-4-2 in recent seasons. I think it might be worth a shot definitely. It should get us more goals. I don’t know what it’ll mean in terms of possession and defensively though.
@Shard, Well, if the rumors of us signing Hazard in January are to be believed, than I guess we will probably find out very soon. Hazard and Karate Kid on the left, Gervihno and Oxihno on the right, Chamakh, Van Perkamp and Thierry Walcotti in the middle.
@Teampossible, I think with the 4-4-2 we had a terrific striker like TH14 to still do amazing things to beat tight defences or for DB10 to work our brilliant passes for forward runs by Pires/Ljungberg/TH14/Cole. We had the passing ability with Cesc but we didn’t have the TH14-esque striker with us . I guess thats what prevented AW from sticking with the 4-4-2. I think he may have thought English football might change from its neanderthal style to accomadate formations like 4-3-3, alas!!! The press still appreciates them over us .
We did indeed play a 4-4-2. However, we can’t be deceived – Vieira was more than a DM. He scored, he was in the opposing box a lot.
And then yes, the current mythology was that we sent Vieira on his way to be replaced by Cesc. At first it could be said there was some minor truth to that – Cesc sat deeper in the early years and played a more Xavi type role of playmaking link between back four and more advanced players. But he always had a bulldog with him that gave him some liberty to move up… at first it was Gilberto then Flamini, then Song.
But yes, the last time we were really really in the hunt for the title we had across the midfield Rosicky/Cesc/Flamini/Hleb with Adebayor and RvP up top (although RvP was hurt most of that year if memory serves, and Eduardo filled in very very admirably).
@Teampossible, Wasn’t Jose Mourinho also playing his Chelsea team in a 4-3-3 when he was managing Chelsea in the beginning? He had the likes of Robben and Duff flanking drogba, when he first won the league in 2005. Isn’t it?
That line of Gerv Song Arteta Santos looks interesting to me. I may watch.
DARK SECRET REVEALED:
Tim follows Kevin Davies on Tweeter.
Fact.
@T-Town, That’s a statistical error.
@T-Town,
http://twitter.com/7amkickoff/following
Tim, just to point out I hope you realise we are still on BST in the UK, and kick off will be one hour ear;lier than GMt – e.g. I write this comment and it is 8.40pm.
Hate for you to miss the first hour of the game !
I don’t suppose anyone on here is going ? I’ll be at the Tavern an hour before kick off.
@Charybdis1966, We don’t change clocks yet.
@Tim, Ok – I’ll make a point of booing Cyril Davies as I suspect he’ll be up to his usual tricks.
Why Cannot 4-3-3 succeed? If you play like Barca, you can beat any team with 4-3-3. Didn’t Barca overwhelm Manu in the CL final?
It is not a matter of playing 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. Literally no team in Europe plays 4-4-2 anymore. England always fails because of 4-4-2.
The point is, Wenger wants Arsenal to play like Barca, dominating possession, pushing players up for a high line; but he does not have the players to play like that. Even Barca falls flat on counter attack; how can the Arsenal not beaten by fast counter attacking opposition?
The only difference is, the opponents dont have to be good against Arsenal; we have OWN GOAL to nail our coffin.
Wenger’s ambition to emulate Barca is bound to fail.
Our offence and midfielders are too ‘lazy’ or unsophisticated to press tightly in front.
We don’t have a Messi to dribble past several defenders or pull them apart.
Now we don’t have a Cesc to put in killer passes.
We are now in the process of change of tactics. Going back to an arcane 4-4-2 is pointless. Perhaps we should try
4-2-3-1…
RvP cannot play in the hole, because he either releases his passes too quickly or too slowly. He cannot dribble like Bergkemp outside the penalty box when defenders are not afraid to foul him. Also, without someone like TH14 to hold the ball up in front, what good is RvP in the hole?
If we put Walcott in front as striker, we must play deeper to allow him space to run into. It succeeds when we are playing Barca, Udinese, or Dortmund. Walcott is useless when we are faced with a packed defence. He is not even a Michael Owen.
This is the MOST WORRYING ARTICLE I have ever read about Arsenal
Anyone that can defend this or wenger is a fucking clown!
Over half a fucking season – Not a blip!!!!!
19 Game Analysis…
I thought you may be interested in a little analysis I have looked at concerning Arsenal’s current position. It makes pretty grim reading, and in my opinion shows that we are not experiencing a ‘blip’ as a lot of fans have convinced themselves, but that we have a real long-term problem.
As you know I am not a Wenger fan, but this isn’t intended to be a slight on him, however I think the facts point out that right now we are being very, very badly run.
I have analysed our half season form, which is pretty significant. In any statistical analysis a sample size of 50% is certainly enough to give genuine insight into a long-term trend. I have looked at the performance of all 17 teams in the PL that have played both this and last season, to make it fair. So this is the last 19 games for all teams:
League Table (Games & Points)
1- Man Utd – 41
2- Man City – 39
3- Chelsea – 37
4- Everton – 34
5- Liverpool – 33
6- Spurs – 30
7- Aston Villa – 27
8- Wolves – 26
9- Fulham – 26
10- Newcastle – 25
11- Wigan – 25
12- Stoke – 24
13- West Brom – 24
14- Arsenal – 23
15- Bolton – 19
16- Blackburn – 16
17- Sunderland – 15
Goal Difference
1- Man Utd (+26)
2- Man City (+23)
3- Liverpool (+14)
4- Chelsea (+13)
5- Everton (+11)
6- Aston Villa (+4)
7- Wolves (+4)
8- Fulham (+4)
9- Spurs (+2)
10- Newcastle (-1)
11- Stoke (-2)
12- Wigan (-5)
13- West Brom (-6)
14- Arsenal (-6)
15- Bolton (-
16- Blackburn (-10)
17- Sunderland (-13)
Interestingly these tables are fairly correlated, suggesting we havent just been getting unlucky, we aren’t scoring enough goals in comparison to what we score, and vice versa….and many of these games were in our ‘easy run in’.
We have all known our defence is weak for a long time, but how weak has it been over half a season? This is worrying.
Goals conceded:
1- Chelsea (1
2- Man City (1
3- Man Utd (19)
4- Everton (20)
5- Liverpool (20)
6- Aston Villa (23)
7- Stoke (23)
8- Fulham (24)
9- Newcastle (25)
10- Spurs (2
11- Wigan (29)
12- Wolves (30)
13- Blackburn (32)
14- Bolton (34)
15- West Brom (34)
16- Arsenal (34)
17- Sunderland (36)
This shows us that we aren’t just struggling, we are literally one of the worst teams in the league defensively.
Finally I have looked at league position in comparison to wage spend. So many fans talk about how Arsene works wonders financially and bemoan the unfair financial doping that goes on, well let’s see if that’s true. I have ranked every team in terms of the differential when you compare their annual wage bill with their league position, to show who is under achieving and who is over achieving financially. For example if a club was 3rd in wage bill spend and 7th in the PL their score would be -4, if the wage bill was 12th and they were 3rd they would be +9.
Wage Spend vs Position:
1- Wolves (+
2- Everton (+5)
3- West Brom (+4)
4- Wigan (+4)
5- Stoke (+2)
6- Man Utd (+2)
7- Newcastle (+1)
8- Fulham (+1)
9- Spurs (+1)
10- Man City (0)
11- Aston Villa (-1)
12- Liverpool (-1)
13- Bolton (-2)
14- Chelsea (-2)
15- Blackburn (-4)
16- Sunderland (-9)
17- Arsenal (-9)
This highlights 2 things. Firstly, that we as a club, and Wenger, are certainly not performing well financially. Secondly, that we aren’t even close….we are miles off of everyone bar Sunderland over a 7 month period.
I think it’s massively significant that we are right at the bottom of every table of the last 19 games. And to those who say it is inaccurate, well the rest of the league looks fairly in line with what you would expect (It has to be said Moyes continues to be proved a very good manager).
I have noticed a lot of fans saying “we are now competing with Liverpool & Spurs” etc. Well on the basis of 19 PL games, 7 months, half a season, we are not even close to competing with them. We are competing with West Brom, Bolton, Wigan at the foot of the table. We shouldn’t go down, as the promoted clubs, and clubs like Sunderland & Blackburn will take the bottom spots, but make no mistake, over a fairly large sample size we are in the 11-16 bracket as nothing more than an average club, the only difference being we have a £120m wage bill, and the best paid manager in the PL on £7m pa.
I hope this opens some fans eyes up to the fact that we may not be able to afford to wait til January/May to evaluate where we are as a club. If we can underperform so enormously for our last 19 games, there’s absolutely no reason we cant do it for the next 19 games, especially when our poor form has seemingly accelerated in the latter half of these games (our last 9 games have been much worse than our first 9/10 in this run).
As an aside, i would comfortably predict no-one in power at the club (IG or SK) actually know these stats or understands the significance of them), if they did I don’t think there would even be a decision to make.
Heres to the forlorn hope that we will see some change and kick on this weekend with a much needed victory.
_________________
WENGER FUCK OFF YOU c*
Jesus High Fructose Cornsyrup Christ….
@baz, You wrote:
“As you know I am not a Wenger fan, but this isn’t intended to be a slight on him…”
and…
“WENGER FUCK OFF YOU c*”
Hilarious.
I mean, I assume you’re aware you threw away any shred of credibility on this site long ago, which makes the deliberate perpetuation of such drivel not so much laughable as worrisome.
@Shrek, On paper, Van Persie should be able to make those creative moves and passes Bergkamp was making, but he is being played at the position reserved for big Moroccan players good for heading the ball and holding up play. Such a pity we don’t have one of those.
But what bugs me is that Wenger always had more than one defensive midfielders at his disposal. Even in the time of Vieira’s departure, we had Gilberto, Flamini and Diarra. We all know how and why they left, but why he chose to replace ALL of them with Song will always buffle me.
Or maybe he just saw the potential in the 11year old Frimpong and decided to wait for him.
@Teampossible, Diarra was a moaner , Flamini wasn’t satisfied with the money on board , letting go of Gilberto was a mistake as he played well at SA WC 2010 .
The stats posted by Baz @1:37 confirm what’s been going on for the last two seasons. That combined with Tim’s post regarding the lack of intensity point to a simple truth.
There is a sense of complacency that became obvious with the satisfied talk of top 4 finishes.
For real success, I’ve always felt organizations and players must hate to lose, and that they must hate to lose much more than they love to win.
The back four of the 1-nil-to-the-Arsenal era killed off games so stubbornly and so well in part because of that hatred. Remember Michael Douglas in the 1st “Wall Street”? Poor guy has stage 4 throat cancer. There is no stage 5 this side of a coffin. His life long smoking habit probably didn’t help, but he’s beaten the odds so far and is still very much around.
The man hates to lose. Somebody needs to give our boys a “hate is good” speech.
@1NilToTheArsenal, The numbers are hilarious, i’m a numbers guy and I wouldn’t publish that drivel. Yes, Arsenal have had a poor run, i’ve pointed that out for some time now. The weirdest one is the supposed wage bill to league position over the last 19 games. That’s such a bullshit comparison, only to prove that Wenger is not performing well financially.
Le Grove is a joke.
@Tim, You’re not kidding. Hilarious is just the word for it. I wouldn’t have bothered reading through that, but the mention of stats made me want to. I’m kind of glad I did
“Lies, lies and damned statistics”. Benjamin Disreali
JUST TWEETED by @YoungGunsBlog:
Arsenal now saying Jack Wilshere needs surgery on his ankle. Faces ‘months out’.
——–
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
@deej.ika, I’m thinking of the potential here for a country song…
Broke my ankle, the bone flared up. And I’m out for the next 3 months. But to every sad story there’s a silver lining, cuz now I’m back… (BOOM) like a new signing!
@Tim,
LOL
ill book carrie…you get the lyrics down.
we will make MEEEEEEELIONS!
@deej.ika, Next season?
Wilshere: another “Gone until November” player.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/defoe-revival-thanks-to-gunners-says-redknapp-2359932.html
I feeling very nauseous.
@ctpa, I suppose I was fortunate… I spent the Wrighty years in a part of America where watching any games, let alone Arsenal games, was a near impossibility. Since I missed all the Wrighty hype, it doesn’t bother me as much when he helps out the Spuds players or tells his own son not to play for the Arsenal.
btw, Tim, where did you find that amazing picture of Clattenburg?
@Bunburyist, Failblog?
@Bunburyist, Google Image Search
@Tim, Really? Tell me more about this so-called “Google” you speak of.
I just found an oldish interview with Arsenal’s chief of the medical team. I think it’s well worth watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TusJ8HSLaUs
3 Arsenal players standing around ‘sightseeing’ while Prately almost scores on a header.
Ramsey intent on driving forward. Poor touch Gervinho.
Kevin Davies to come on, he doesn’t get concussions, he gives them.
A lot of possession but our most incisive moves are breaking down, what else is new?
Szczesny MOTM 1st half.
I think Chamakh will be brought in around minute 65, which will hopefully allow for some avenues to open up in the box. His heading threat will force Bolton to keep an extra defender cheating towards him, hopefully giving our other guys room in the box. We’ll see.
Second half, expect more lobbing into Davies. Let’s hope we don’t have any typical Arsenal miscues at the back 4 when defending it.
RVP!
Now need 2.
Another poor touch Gervinho.
Beautiful through ball Ramsey, cuts out Wheater who takes a straight red for a tug on Walcott who could have been free in on goal.
Still need 2.
We need to be ‘Man U’ ruthless.
We need to finish 10 man Bolton off: RVP!!
100 goals, RVP.
@ctpa, sorry. That was meant to be +1. Still not used to this “smart” phone thing.
We need 3 to improve our goal differential.
Why, why, why are you looking back, never look back Walcott.
Looks like a full house at the Emirates.
Song! 3-0, top right corner curler.
Corner Bolton, clean sheet please.
Hamstring Walcott. Shit.
Finally a convincing win but at the usual injury cost.
See you in November, Theo.
Do you think it’s time for the OX?
@Bunburyist, Another “Gone until November” (Wyclef Jean) player.
Good win for the gunners. Apart from the one header by Bolton early on they hardly threatened. Just like the last home game against Bolton one of the bolton defenders got sent off, Song scored a goal and we picked up an injury (Didnt Diaby pick up his injury against Bolton ala the Robinson tackle..).
Apart from the scoreline which is a huge positive, I thought our offense is trying to be more and more direct and less ponderous. Ofcourse we needed 26 shots on goal for our 3 but you could see there was a lot less of pass the ball off like a hot potato (unlike last season). Ramsey is getting more and more confident on the ball and in offense. Arteta is finally settling in. Gervinho is as direct as can be (this is only his third game in the EPL..). Theo was very sprightly and effective. I think Theo (he should really be playing as a CF) thrives on the right only against defenders who arent the fastest, just an observation. Also as a CF he may not have to run as much, not be tackled as much and it might actually help him injury wise. And oh btw, another Theo to RvP assist. Who was that analyst who was saying that they cant play together.
RANT: Song was his usual effective self. Remember this was the guy most Arsenal fans wanted to be replaced by Melo or Cana. His worst games (I’ve seen) were against Fulham (where he played RB) and against Cardiff (first leg FA Cup away). Most fans complained he couldn’t pass forward (almost rugby like). Question to those fans: Do you think Djourou has had anywhere as bad a game as Song had? And you still think Djourou cant regain his confidence and spot in the team?
The defense looked a lot better today. Especially the LB and RB. Per and Kos I think still need a couple of week to understand each others game and positioning. Right now it seems every and any through ball played even by the crappiest of midfielders can result in a goal scoring opportunity.
Lastly, what the heck is it with our injury record. Every time the boss comes out and says most of our players are going to back from injury in a weeks time, the healthy ones start to drop like flies. Playing a full strength team is like a once in a season occurrence.
@Akash, Who was that analyst who was saying that they cant play together.
Myles Palmer, the old beatnik, the pretender who claims he knows football; but nevertheless wrote a book on Wenger.
@Akash, Playing with a full strength squad as rare as hen’s teeth.
@ctpa,Seriously if this was Animal Planet, David Attenborough would be doing a show on us.
Would be nice to see either Park or Ox against Olympiacos.
Van Persie’s 100th was a beaut.
A beach goal, as Wenger might say.
Van Persie is the man!
Ramsey played better today , good sign. Hope he can keep it up and go forward.
@ vancouvergooner
I was at work so i didn’t see the game nor the highlights but from all the reports i’ve heard, It seems like ramsey had a really excellent game. I hope he can keep it up too because frankly we’re gonna need him to take a step up in his development. Who would you say was MOTM?
@torontogooner, Arteta and Ramsey were hard working but not eye catching, Kos was doing everything right apart from the first couple of minutes. He even took the ball all the way to the final third and fired off a shot (if I remember correctly.) It’s an even effort from everyone in the team ( great to see that at last), MOTM I’d say between RVP and Song. How about both ?
Chary will be doing a man at the match report for us today. I’ll be posting over at Arseblog News in a bit.
Great game today everyone!
I would say just a great second half. We almost lost a goal in the 2nd minute, if not for Szc. 5 defenders in a line ball watching with only 2 Bolton strikers. One wins a header, the other a shot at goal while Gibbs (28) dares not attack the second ball –for fear of injury? –luckily that is almost the only attack Bolton has in the first half. They also had a counter attack half chance. However, I did not like what I saw, and I could not praise the defence indeed. We would be punished if we allowed teams to have chances like that….
The second half, when Bolton tired and after the RvP 99th goal we were back to the old post invincible Arsenal again. Yet Theo still managed not to score in a 1-1 and hurt himself. What silliness!
WE are still too reliant on RvP. Gervinho still lacked tactical awareness.
Only when Ramsay stepped up did we show some
creativity in midfield. We cannot rely on him that much, afterall, he is still a kid.
Wenger is saving Arshavin and Santos for the OLy game midweek!
Early indication is that Walcott has a knee injury but this is yet to be confirmed by an MRI. Since this is Arsenal, fear the worse and pray for the best case scenario. Could be “Gone to NEXT November”.
Wilshere surgery on Monday and he’s looking at a December return, MAYBE.
One of the things I’m thankful for is that we are talking about a solid win and a clean sheet that we deserved. We will not be talking about officiating because Clattenberg was actually decent today. The other thing to be thankful for is we didn’t pick up a red card.
yes Clatenberg was even decent today. Time to change the tide for Arsenal ?