Arsenal is back in the news with a bang. Beating Coventry 6-1 is just the latest in a string of results that has Arsenal riding high in the media and among the fan base.
Santos banned from driving for 12 months? Meh, he can hire a driver. Alex Song finally admitting that he forced Arsene to sell him to Farcelona? Who cares about Song, we’ve got Jack playing in a reserves match on Monday. Theo Walcott’s playing football manager with his own career? Yeah well, if Theo loves Arsenal as much as he claims, he should just sign the contract. Arsenal’s year end reports show that the club have millions of pounds in the bank? Who cares? We bought Giroud, Podolski, and Cazorla!
In case you hadn’t noticed, the football results are all that matters. Winning cures all ills.
I suppose that there are people out there with dark circles under their eyes losing sleep over transfers that they think should have happened, contracts that they wished people had signed, years of football that they want back, and moaning that “yeah well, Coventry are at the bottom of League One, Southampton are the Coventry of the Premier League, and Montpellier are the Coventry of Ligue Un. Liverpool are the Coventry of the top four. And so for all intents and purposes, Arsenal have basically only played Coventry.” But for the moment, those people are sitting on a park bench covered in bin bags and any time anyone comes near them they start waving their black scarf around and yelling “THE END IS NIGH”.
For now, I’m happy with the results. Pleased as could be, in fact. Even news that John Terry only got a four match ban for calling Ferdinand a “black (spru)nt”, of which his ban is suspended pending his appeal hasn’t put a dent in my day. As the sun will rise tomorrow so too John Terry will play against Arsenal on Saturday. And you know what? I welcome him. Please, Mr. Terry, play Arsenal on Saturday. Bring your extra-long studs, you racist.
No, the bin baggers are quietly biding their time and saving up facts: three clean sheets followed by four consecutive dirty sheets, Arsenal finances show profit, bid on Eden Hazard but deal fell through, Wrighty saying that Theo should be a center forward, on and on. No matter how high a team is riding, the negative reports will continue, they just get ignored by the masses when we see a game like yesterday.
If I have a love-hate realtionship with the League Cup, last night’s game was almost all love. I don’t want to recap all the goals or give a match report and instead just highlight two things.
Giroud got himself and Arsenal off to a stellar start when Arshavin played a hospital ball into an area near Francis Coquelin. The French midfielder slide tackled the ball and poked it through for Giroud. The big forward took a lovely touch, composed himself, flicked his hips to get the keeper to ground, and cool as a Vela chipped the ball into the net. Such was his elation at getting his first Arsenal goal that you could almost see the tears welling up in his baby blues. He had a chance to double his Arsenal goals haul from the penalty spot later but the Coventry keeper denied him at full stretch. It was a powerful strike and a great save from the keeper.
It may have been a simple goal and only come against Coventry but lets not forget it took Thierry Henry two more games and a team like Southampton (the Coventry of their day) before he broke his duck. I’m not suggesting that Giroud is the next Thierry Henry, he’s not, but rather that Giroud now has the gorilla off his back and he can now just play to his best ability. He’s got amazing touch for a big man, he wins a lot of aerials, he holds the ball well, and has potential to be a great center forward, more like Kanu was to Henry and not Henry himself.
The other player I want to single out is Nico Yennaris. Yennaris had such an amazing game and it’s a shame that more people haven’t given him credit. It was his steal in midfield from which he pushed forward and played in Giroud which created Arshavin’s goal. Later he would again get a steal in midfield, press forward, and this time he played in Theo Walcott for the Englishman’s first goal. And Yennaris was the guy who played the one-two with Arshavin from which the Russian crossed and Miquel scored. He did all that and defended and passed and… and… and.. Two critical steals and an assist: what more does the young man have to do to get recognition?
Unfortunatley for Yennaris the Arsenal midfield is insanely crowded at the moment. He’s not starting over Arteta and he is behind Coquelin and Frimpong as backup to the Spaniard. The good news is that he’s only 19 and has about two more years to make the cut. Maybe a loan deal will happen, I’d love to see what he can do once he gets regular playing time.
I know I said two, but I could mention one last thing. I saw Theo’s two goals but from what Arsene has said, they don’t change anything: if he refuses to sign the contract in front of him he will not be Arsenal’s starting center forward. It doesn’t matter if he claims he wants to be an Arsenal legend. It doesn’t matter if he claims it’s not about money. And I don’t think it matters if he scores two good goals against Coventry in the League Cup. Wenger seems adamant that he’s not going to be held hostage by a player over guarantees in his contract* or any other reason at this point.
That said, seeing Theo score, twice, did give me pause. I will never forget his first goal for Arsenal: League Cup final against Chelsea. And here he is on the brink of an Arsenal exit and he reminds us all why he shouldn’t be sold.
Damnit… there I am standing on the park bench with the bin-baggers and black scarfers waxing nostalgiacly about Theo Walcott’s contract situation, something I literally have zero control over. No, I won’t. I will join the rest of you and stand in the sunshine of a 6-1 win.
*This is somewhat true, the sticking point is various guarantees Walcott wants.
WOW!
LUKAS! Did you see zat?
could i just say i finally found a post as good as the arseblog.
When are you going to tell us what Theo really wants Arsenal to guarantee?
You have to feel for Coquelin and Frimpong. I am sure they thought Song’s departure meant more game time for both of them. Hopefully they’ll continue to be patient. Last year we found out that we can even run out of midfielders.
The match was not televised in my neck of the woods, but for anyone interested, there are extended highlights here:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtwdhc_arsenal-6-coventry-1-extended-highlights_sport
Props indeed to Yennaris – this kid completely bossed the midfield and ran the show – amazing.
I had mentioned on earlier post how Jenkinson was a superfan living the dream of playing for his club but Yennaris’s story is also inspiring as he he is a former Arsenal mascot.
Take note, Theo: this is how you starting earning that legendary status you crave. Just sign the damn contract and if you do your part, Wenger will do his as he always has.
Thanks for the link.
Cheers, Barry.
Check out the incredibly cheesy and hyperbolic you tube video (link in my post below) to complete your Arsenal day.
Great link mate.
Much thanks.
No argument about Yennaris, and apparently the Coc was nice as well. But it was Gnabry who did the one-two-ing with Arshavin before Miquel bonced it in.
Giroud’s movement and pass for Arshavin’s goal were sublime. He has a real knack for getting the opposing center-backs to spread apart, and with players like Ox, Cazorla, Jack, and Ramsey, who can both make the trailing run and hit shots from distance, that will produce goals for us.
Watch it again (the bite-size on the dot com is free to the world) — it was #64 — Yenarris.
He has a real knack for getting the opposing center-backs to spread apart
===
Heehee!
Yennaris was he invisible man last night because he did his job so well. I also saw one miss pass from him. I hear you …he is only 19 and we have high hopes for him. Lets see how he does do in the FA and CC Cups run.
Good Blog.
Can I reiterate that John Terry looks like a serial rapist/murderer/psycho when he is photographed? I wonder if he wore shin guards to the FA hearing…
P.S. Great blog today. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ivanovic told Terry to dive in front of the FA hearing. They took no notice when he did but Tony Pulis is asking for extra matches to be tacked on to the sentence.
http://www.footytube.com/video/arsenal-fc-we-rise-130401?ref=tchan_ov_vidgrid
Anyone seen this?
gave me the gooosies!
Hey Tim,
This is a direct call out / request to you: looking forward to your take and analysis on the financial report.
If I’m reading this right:
Salary/cost of players seems to be inordinately high against pretty anemic revenue growth. If that’s the case, it doesn’t seem to bode well for us.
Of course this will all change in 2014. There is proof that our appeal extends to beyond “mere” trophies (tongue firmly in cheek). Our tradition ofdoing things the right way and playing the best, most watchable football in England are what defines us. We need to take that qualitative advantage along with actually winning something once in a while to truly secure our financial future.
As I said. I am looking forward to your considered and erudite opinion (no pressure!)
First off, I will write about this some time.
Second, there are people who benefit when Arsenal fans freak out about stuff like this who are already shaking the tree to get people riled up. And the reality is that yes, salary is growing BUT Arsenal are as far from insolvency as humanly possible. Salary grew but money went into the bank. There were no losses reported. Could the situation be better? Sure, gild the lilly if you must.
And finally, remember the financial reports are actually from last year. Let’s see what’s happened this year
commercial revenue growth of 6 million in a year in which we faced Barcelona in the quarter finals of the Champions League, got to a cup final, and began the goalscoring marathon that RvP continued for us the whole proceeding season, as he now does for the other team. Bring on 2014, yay…
I’m glad you mentioned Yennaris. He was MOTM for me yesterday. Arshavin got the plaudits but he tried a lot of flicks and other fancy passes, about half of which were successful. I counted only one error in the first half from Yennaris and he was solid the rest of the game. I think he had a hand in goals # 1,3,4 & 5, if I’m remembering correctly.
Santos looked the most lack-of-sharpness to me yesterday. He had quite a few giveaways and some missed tackles as well. He clearly needs more game time.
Others who I thought was outstanding yesterday: Coq & Miquel. Ox was also good though aside from his goal he didn’t get as involved as he would have liked to and Gnabry looked fantastic when we he came on as well. He is so smooth on the ball and he was gliding by defenders like they weren’t there. Very impressive for someone so young.
Some people are saying that on the basis of yesterday’s performance, Theo deserves a chance in the middle which I find ludicrous given he scored both goals running in from wide positions and he came into the game once we had a comfortable lead and there was more space for him to run into. I’m not taking anything away from the goals, but we have seen these flashes of brilliance from him before when he is afforded space to run into.
Still glowing cus I was there . Agree with you about Yennaris, Miguel was impressive too especially in the first half . Arshavin was like a new signing. I usually wish him away to the gulags , he looked the player we hoped he would be. I felt Theo’s desire last night and really hope he stays . The Coventry fans were numerous and loud and I don’t think anyone begrudged them thee goal
Everyone,
STOP what you’re doing RIGHT NOW and WATCH THIS:
http://www.footytube.com/video/arsenal-fc-we-rise-130401?ref=tchan_ov_vidgrid
If this doesn’t give you goosebumps you will never ever be a true Gooner.
I thought Mike Dean did a good job in our last game. It is always good to point out when officials get it right even if it does not benefit Arsenal because at the end of the day, fairness matters most.
So the next time we ‘moan’ about the latest debacle from a Webb, Dowd or Jones, just imagine how bad it would really be if we had the equivalent of officials who couldn’t make it in the Lingerie Bowl.