Orange snow clouds rolled in, unburdened themselves of their heavy load, and a hush fell over the busy streets of London. People who would otherwise occupy their minds with the grind of life stopped for a moment, put on a pair of their warmest shoes, and went outside.

They formed snowballs first, to throw at [...]]]>

Orange snow clouds rolled in, unburdened themselves of their heavy load, and a hush fell over the busy streets of London. People who would otherwise occupy their minds with the grind of life stopped for a moment, put on a pair of their warmest shoes, and went outside.

They formed snowballs first, to throw at their friends not in anger but in relief. They looked up at the sky and marveled at the way the night light of the city reflected off the thick clouds. Reflexively, they stuck out their tongues to catch a flake. They slipped and fell and got wet in places which would normally ruin their day but would now be ample excuse for a warm cup of cocoa.

Everything around them is covered in a layer of perfectly constructed frosting which hides every imperfection. Cracks are covered, the city slows down and gets quiet, and the grime that you see every day is whitewashed.

For those of us who get a snowstorm just once a year, which lasts for just a few days before melting away down the drain, it’s a moment to stop, breathe, and just enjoy life. And so it was auspicious that such a storm would arrive in London on the very day that Arsenal put seven goals past Blackburn. Seven goals that overturned Arsenal’s 8-2 defeat to Man U. Seven goals that kicked off the career of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and caused the manager to compare him to the very best players. And seven goals which featured Thierry Henry scoring the last goal of the day, in the final minute, of what should be his last game in front of the Arsenal home crowd.

This season for Arsenal fans has been difficult, to say the least. The 8-2 loss to United was a breaking point for some and the “Arsene Out” brigade gained many new devotees both inside and outside the club that day. I’ll never forget the announcer on the television that day saying “this is Arsenal they are doing this to” his voice filled with a mixture of horror and exasperation.

For the first time I can remember, season ticket holders are now selling their seats for less than face value. I’ve even seen Arsenal booed by her own fans before but never the way that the manager was booed when he subbed Arshavin for the precocious Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. And the press seem to be fighting over who can publish the more outrageous claims of Arsenal’s demise.

Yet the faithful remain ever vigilant, ready to take up arms when needed to defend the club from constant attacks. This is a club in transition at a very turbulent time in the history of the game, they rightly point out.  This is a time and a League in which a very small talent pool is made even smaller by clubs like Manchester City who keep the world’s talent locked up in their harem. And this is a manager who has and always will have a long-term outlook for the team.

But some of us fans want it all. We want the manager to leave Oxlade-Chamberlain on the pitch when he’s having a good game and yet we also want to blame the manager for overplaying him and the inevitable injury that causes. We want the club to buy three world class players for every position and we also don’t want ticket prices to go up. We want the manager to buy but when he does buy and gets it wrong we want him to cut loss and sell, compounding the cost. We want exciting young players but we don’t want them to be paid the salaries that get them to sign for us in the first place in case those young players turn out to be duds. We complain about squad depth and yet you see Blackburn eviscerated whilst missing just two key players and Arsenal keeping Chelsea within reach whilst missing arguably six key players.  On and on, we spin endlessly looking for reasons and solutions to the problem. A problem that we can’t even define very well much less solve.

In those moments it’s good to have a snowstorm.

Qq

Bookmark It

We need a new striker!

We need a new defender!

We need a new midfielder!

We need a new, erm, keeper!

Just, for the love of the gods buy SOMEONE… ANYONE, except [...]]]> As Arsenal attempt to limbo under the closing the transfer window without buying or selling anyone, her supporters are busy sharpening pitchforks and tarring torches for the post-transfer-window inquest.

We need a new striker!

We need a new defender!

We need a new midfielder!

We need a new, erm, keeper!

Just, for the love of the gods buy SOMEONE… ANYONE, except that kid you bought from Borussia. What was up with that?

BURN HIM!

I suspect that very little will be done today because Arsenal didn’t seem to be too interested in doing anything apart from signing Thierry Henry. As much as I make light of transfer rumors, there’s a kernel of truth to some of them and you can almost always tell when the rumor is starting to take shape and become reality.

In this transfer window we saw that process with Henry: first there were suggestions, then rumors, then a strong link, details about what was holding things up were leaked, and finally both parties started confirming things. So far, the only thing I’ve heard anything about is Arsenal wanting to loan Ryo Miyaichi out to another English team. He’ll probably go to Bolton, where they play such amazing and beautiful football.

There is some weird stuff brewing on Twitter that has Arsenal defenestrating  Andrei Arshavin to AZ uhhh… AZ… Alkmaar, AKA the Cheese Farmers. Supposedly, sending Arshavin out would make it possible to bring someone else in. Who that someone would be is a complete mystery.

I’m having a hard time believing that Arsene would weaken the attack (no matter what you think of Arshavin, he does bring offense to the game occasionally) without bringing in a replacement so make of that what you will. Maybe we can get Julio Baptista back? He was a Beast. Remember when he scored four against LIVERPOOL?

Right, since there is no actual news going on this morning and we are simply waiting for the transfer window to snap shut I did a little “original research” which I’d like to share.

I. Googled. the. Arsenal. squad.

That’s right, folks. Building off yesterday’s wildly successful vanPersie/rape research I took the player’s names from the Arsenal official first team player’s list, copied and pasted them into Google with the smart search function turned on, took a screen-grab, and hilarity ensued.

Here they all are in order:

SURPRISE! Everyone wants to get rid of Almunia.

Szczesny and Twitter have been a bit of a big topic lately.

I was surprised that “Flappyhandski” didn’t turn up as one of the top search results. Gooners you’ve let me down.

Here’s something you might not know, Bacary Sagna has a wife.

Ok, what’s the deal with this Tumblr? Oh it’s a place for people to steal content and then complain when people re-post that stolen content because they didn’t give credit to the original thief? I guess there is truly no honor among thieves.

If you haven’t noticed a theme yet let me make it very clear: injuries, twitter, wikipedia, and tumblr. Hurt players, brief remarks, nerds, and stolen content. That about sums up the internet.

Also girlfriends, people seem to be interested in whether these players have  girlfriends.

Nothing to see here, though [player]+Arsenal+Injury seems like a popular search.

How much did Arsenal pay for Squillaci? Let me answer that: too much.

People also seem to be interested in Djourou’s salary.

Ok, we are in the doldrums now.

Kieran Gibbs could change his name to “Kieran Gibbs injury”.

Depressed yet?

Doesn’t anyone know that Rosicky plays guitar? Can’t you at least search for that?

FINALLY! Something new that people are interested in, Arteta’s wife and his hair.

I’m curious about this “girlfriend” search: are people really interested in seeing whether Aaron Ramsey has a girlfriend? Why?

Here’s something new, there’s a kid from Canada named Alex Song who is a math wiz. True story.

Jack had a baby.

Arshavin is famous for his quotes.

No, Benayoun isn’t a racist. The Malaysia FA apologized to him and Chelsea when he was racially abused by some fans in a friendly.

Hang in there, we have added a new wrinkle: FIFA12. Specifically, people like to upload and watch videos on YouTube of other people playing certain characters on FIFA 12. How meta is that? Mega-meta.

Park scored a goal.

Robin’s Google results are really the strangest of the bunch. Rape and Muslim, very odd.

Henry is exactly what I would expect.

Another outlier is Theo, everyone wants to know how fast he is. The answer is: very. What no one seems to ask is how good he is?

Young players + FIFA12 = Theme. Maybe when he gets older and Stuart Pierce has used him up people will be curious how fast he is in the quarter mile?

Has anyone ever noticed that Gervinho’s hair is just a coverup for his enormous balding melon?

People really want to know if Marouane Chamakh has a girlfriend or is this just code for something else?

And finally… Ryo Miyaichi Ryo Miyaichi.

Right, that’s it for today. I hope you learned something. I know I did. Gervinho’s hair is weird.

Big preview of Bolton tomorrow plus a 10,000 word piece on all of Arsenal’s transfer dealings.

Qq

Bookmark It

Man U first half v. Arsenal

Arsenal’s second half v. Man U

Man U second half v. Arsenal

I don’t want to be too simplistic but looking at the FourFourTwo Stats Zone Powered By Opta* application on my [...]]]> Arsenal’s First Half v. Man U

Man U first half v. Arsenal

Arsenal’s second half v. Man U

Man U second half v. Arsenal

I don’t want to be too simplistic but looking at the FourFourTwo Stats Zone Powered By Opta* application on my iPad I noticed a few things.

First, simply put, Arsenal’s first half was very poor in terms of passes in the final third against Man U but was, when compared to Man U’s second half, pretty much a wash. Except! They scored a goal in their period of profligacy and Arsenal didn’t.

Second, Arsenal’s second half was superior to their first half but the amount of rebound fell well short of the effort Man U put into their first half. Arsenal attempted just 68 passes in the Man U final third compared to Man U’s 100 passes in Arsenal’s final third in the first half. Still! Both teams scored just one goal in both of those halves.

Third, you can see how Man U targeted the right back in both halves but how Yennaris was better equipped to deal with the threat in the second than Djourou was in the first.

And finally, the debate will continue to rage over Wenger’s substitution of Arshavin for Ox but don’t see a huge drop in passes in the final third after the Ox’s sub. Arsenal still completed 25/31 in those final 15 minutes which is nearly half the attacking passes in the second half in just the last 15 minutes. But! Defensively, is where Arsenal failed there. United completed just 11/20 passes in the Arsenal final third in the last 15 minutes of the game but crucially, they completed 7/7 passes in Arsenal’s final third from the moment that the Ox was subbed to the moment that Welbeck scored — including the three in the build-up to the goal.

One sub, seven minutes, seven passes, one goal.

Is that the lack of concentration that we keep hearing about? Is this just down to Arshavin? What else do you see?

Qq

*I’m being silly in mentioning the entire name. I was NOT paid to put this here. In fact, I paid for the damn app myself. Grrrr…**
**I also was not paid by Apple to mention the iPad. GRRRRRR…

Bookmark It

Thierry Henry is not walking through that door, folks. Patrick Vieira is not walking through that door, Robert Pires is not walking through that door, and if you expect them to walk through that door, they will be old and grey. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and going to improve.

– Tim from 7amkickoff paraphrasing [...]]]>

Thierry Henry is not walking through that door, folks. Patrick Vieira is not walking through that door, Robert Pires is not walking through that door, and if you expect them to walk through that door, they will be old and grey. What we are is young, exciting, hard-working, and going to improve.

– Tim from 7amkickoff paraphrasing Rick Pitino’s famous “not walking through that door” speech.

Yesterday, in the 78th minute against Leeds United, Thierry Henry took one touch from Alex Song’s perfect pass to beat his defender, composed himself, and in the second that it took to make up his mind 60,000 Arsenal supporters in the stadium drew breath as Henry, in his trademark way, opened his body and simply curled the ball past the keeper. As the net waved, the crowd erupted: a celebration borne of six years frustration. As Leeds put hands on head in tired frustration, Henry danced on the sideline, slapping the badge and egging the crowd on: a celebration borne of six years of fandom.

Thierry Henry didn’t bother walking through the door, he kicked the door in flanked with heralds announcing the King of Highbury and Duke of the Greater Ashburton Grove Area had returned and was hungry for more.

Perhaps I’m edging toward the fantastical in my description of the moment but the greatest moments in sports always dance on the line between reality and fantasy. If there even is such a line.

For the vast majority of the world, reality sucks. We need a way to escape our soul crushing job and sports offers us that outlet. In fact, fantasy is what makes sports great. For 90 minutes fans watch a game hoping to catch that one moment that they can talk about for years to come. That moment that lets them tune out the problems of the outside world and marvel as Alex Song plays in a ball that could split an atom with its precision. That moment where you are transported from your living room into Henry’s size 12 Nikes and you feel the heat of his passion as he thumps his chest and the cool moisture of the grass beneath his feet as he dances on the sidelines.

Fantasy is so powerful in sports that there are people who spend the majority of their sporting experience mired in fantasy: fantasy football, the live-action role playing of a Sunday pickup match, over 40 five-a-side league games, stats, arguing over possible transfers, etc. What are these if not the abstraction of the fantasy, a means of living the fantasy full time?

No one hopes to sit through a dour 0-0 draw but reality sometimes demands such as tax for the fantasy. Thus it was that last night Andrei Arshavin drove at the defense but when the time came he wasted chances. One shot from Arshavin was so poor (a volley off a pass from 30 yards that went harmlessly into the dirt) that I decided we need a new statistical category to accompany shots and shots on goal: shots on crack. Reality also demanded that Chamakh work hard but fail to look forward enough or even seem to have the desire to get forward enough. Meanwhile the Ox showed us why he’s one for the future and not for the now by missing chance time and again. Still, “he’s young!” The fantasists will argue, let’s give him time. Yes, time. Time is a reality, our fantasy selves demanded a hat-trick from the youngster.

Also firmly in the boring old reality column, Szczesny made an important save late in the game as Leeds threatened to undo the fantasy. And that last part is the point: the fantastic and the real coexist simultaneously in every match. They are not diametrically opposed, competing realities, they need each other to exist.

Arsenal’s reality, every team’s reality, is that fantastic players like Thierry Henry come along very rarely in our lifetime. You saw that yesterday. As his teammates wasted chance after chance, Henry took one good chance and converted it. There, the reality of Arshavin’s poor touch and even poorer decision making* collided with the fantasy of Henry’s pure goal scoring ability. There the reality of The Ox’s youth collided with the fantasy of the experienced player who knows how to beat a man with good positioning and a single touch rather than a complex mazy dribble. And there the reality of Chamakh as what is essentially a target man collided with the fantasy of Thierry Henry dribbling into the corner to kill the game off.

But Henry is the best player in the history of the club and there can only be one best player in the history of the club at any one time. Arsenal are blessed at the moment to have Henry back and his magic last night shows us what a player of his caliber can do. Just as his magic moment reminded us that players like Arshavin, Ox, and Chamakh don’t quite stand up to Henry’s fantastic ability it should also remind us that we have a player of his caliber in Robin van Persie who will probably start the next game for Arsenal.

I, for one, will be watching that game in anticipation of what magic he can do to try and top last night’s moment. Those are the moments we watch the game for.

Qq

*I would give up blogging if Arshavin would stop with those outrageous flicks and tricks he tries — especially in the middle of the park.

Bookmark It

Arsenal fans in festive mood prior to kickoff.

Tarrabt gets the game started

I’ve seen a lot of Arsenal matches, Wenger always looks apprehensive. It doesn’t matter if the score is 6-0 to the Arsenal. Always the same look.

Robin gets a shot off with the outside of his boot. Still not sure if it was a shot or [...]]]>

Arsenal fans in festive mood prior to kickoff.

Tarrabt gets the game started

I’ve seen a lot of Arsenal matches, Wenger always looks apprehensive. It doesn’t matter if the score is 6-0 to the Arsenal. Always the same look.

Robin gets a shot off with the outside of his boot. Still not sure if it was a shot or a pass to the far post where Walcott should have been.

Taarabt with the intentional elbow to the face of Arshavin. This was a straight red card for me. No call, not even a foul from Atkinson.

Atkinson was looking right at this and saw nothing wrong.

Robin showing early signs of frustration as another Arsenal chance goes begging.

It was almost as if as soon as one shot missed Arsenal would queue up for another only to have it go wide, get blocked, or be saved. QPR reeling from Arsenal pressure now. Still, Robin can’t get this one in.

Thierry Henry feels your pain.

Wait, Joey Barton with an intentional foul on an Arsenal player’s ankle? SHOCKING.

You knew it was going to be a bad day at the office for Theo Walcott when he found himself in front of goal, only needing to direct the ball toward goal, and his cross-cum-shot went wide of everything.

Robin struggled in front of goal too. This right footer, on the volley, sailed over the bar.

After several successive corners the ball finally find its way to Koz whose shot is blocked thanks to a little hand of Connolly.

OK, to be fair, he was trying to get out of the way. But, at the same time, QPR do gain an advantage from the arm here. “I’ve seen this penalty given.”

“I didn’t see it.”

“I did see Thomas Vermaelen tackle SWP. Or wait, was it the left back or the right back? Meh, who cares, accuracy isn’t important in refereeing.”

Ok… so here we have the sideline official staring straight at the infraction. Which clearly shows that Koscielny not only wins the ball but does so in a very safe manner. Thus, this shouldn’t even have been a foul, much less a yellow card. And yet Atkinson gives a yellow card… to Thomas Vermaelen. Then at half-time they refuse to change the card. Meaning that Thomas Vermaelen could have been sent off for two yellows for a yellow card foul that never happened. Atkinson: worst referee in the Premier League or worst referee of all time?

Now, with the first handball I can sort of see some logic to not calling the penalty because the defender is so close and trying to put in a block. But here you see Joey Iscariot Barton clearly playing the ball with his hand to prevent the cross. Terrible officiating again.

Man of the match 0-45 minutes: Martin Atkinson.

Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 QPR.

No reason for posting this, I just like this picture of Vermaelen. He looks like a killer.

Second half underway and immediately, Luke Young tries to injure Theo Walcott off the pitch. I hear a lot about “high tackling” at what point is it “high tackling” and at what point is it “low decapitating?”

On the ensuing play, Theo is played through one-v-one with the keeper and his shot is… well.. it’s pathetic. Let’s hope he hasn’t caught the poor form virus from Chamakh.

Theo knows that he not only screwed this chance up but he confirmed Arsene Wenger’s assertion that he’s not ready to play center forward. In the end, it was a wide open break away chance and the fact that he didn’t even get a shot on target was a huge let down. Earlier this week, Theo said that he was Arsenal’s number 14 and that Henry wouldn’t get that number back. Perhaps after this glaring miss he might want to reconsider. He’s no #14.

In the end it worked out because a terrible mistake by the error prone QPR midfield coughed the ball up to Andrei Arshavin who played a perfect ball in to Robin van Persie. One touch, folks, no fucking around the with ball. No looking behind you when on a breakaway, just slotted into the corner.

Different angle showing how close the QPR defenders were to getting in a block.

Robin celebrates with the supporters and you can tell from the way he celebrates the goal that this is pure joy from the Arsenal captain. I really feel like it would take an insulting offer from Arsenal for him not to re-sign with us.

Luke Young gets a great block on Arshavin, this time with his feet.

Szczesny didn’t have much to do but he did make two outstanding saves. One in the first half (not pictured, sorry) and this one in the second half. Szczesny effectively stopped the QPR momentum on both occasions. Great goal keeping and a well deserved clean sheet for the Pole in goal.

Right away Arsenal are back in the QPR half and Ramsey’s shot goes just wide!

Theo off, Gervinho on. The Arsenal supporters were very gracious to Theo who had such a terrible day. Oddly, they wouldn’t be so forgiving of his replacement.

With what was basically his first touch, Gervinho nutmegs Barton. I wonder what Aristotle would say about nutmeg?

In a flux of haemorrhoids, wear off the pain, and let her drink hot wine with a toasted nutmeg.

Too true Ari. Too true…

Gervinho has the ball set on a plate by Robin but screws a 3 foot shot wide of the post. After this you can hear the Arsenal supporters get on his back every time he does something wrong. I even heard one supporter (through the TV) yell “fucking useless.” The problem is that Gervinho isn’t useless. His movement gets him into the position to even have that shot but it’s a difficult shot and he doesn’t seem like a natural finisher.

We have to accept this about Gervinho because what he adds to the team in terms of trickery, pace, directness, and desire is invaluable. He will miss a lot more shots, folks, but we have to accept him for what he adds to the team not for what he doesn’t add.

Rosicky comes on and does his part defensively with this brave header to keep the clean sheet.

Arteta is similar to Gervinho in some ways. He’s a great player in terms of what he gives in the middle of the pitch but he is atrocious from set plays. I can’t tell you how many times his free kicks have simply blasted straight into the wall. This one was no different. Right at the wall. I don’t understand why Arsenal let him take free kicks, he can’t lift the ball over the wall, don’t they know this?

Arsenal do a great job seeing the match out and the game ends 1-0 to the Arsenal. Here’s Arsene Wenger shaking Neil Warnock’s hand, just in case anyone tries to claim it never happened.

(Ahem, Phil Brown)

Good result. A bit frustrating at times but a 1-0 win on a day when Man U lost 3-2 at Old Trafford to Blackburn, Chelsea lost 3-1 at home to Villa and Tottenham drew 1-1 with Swansea means that Arsenal finally get into the top four.

What a way to end a year that has been by all accounts very strange.

Bookmark It

Players line up

On a deceptively cold December afternoon all eyes were on The Arsenal to take advantage of the Siberian oligarch’s team’s concession of two [...]]]> A ricocheted deflection off the Wolves player who typified their approach, Hunt, at Ashburton Grove today gave Wolves a scarcely deserved point and denied Arsenal the chance to rise to fourth.

Players line up

On a deceptively cold December afternoon all eyes were on The Arsenal to take advantage of the Siberian oligarch’s team’s concession of two points to the Michael Jackson Velodrome all-stars team on Monday.

Kick off huddle

Few teams have arrived at London N5 and offered so little going forward and also played such a defensive formation, generally resembling a 6-2-2.

The only Wolves player interested in attacking was Jarvis, of the flat footed, wobbly running style. Surprises in the Arsenal line up were the replacement of Ramsey with Benayoun and the absence of Walcott from the squad.

There seemed to plenty of opportunity to go through the middle of the Wolves back line and there were early chances created by the Israeli, Benayoun who was given a debut start in the Premier League, with the first of his many probing runs being curtailed by being barged off the ball by a lumpen Wolves defender – the tactic for the day was for all headers to be contested with a leading elbow as Robin and Mertesacker can attest to, with Zubar and Johnson showing a penchant for the sharpened elbows raised tactic. Being in the North Bank today meant I heard a rendition of Per’s song for the first time:

“We’ve got a big fu***ng German,
We’ve got a big fu***ng German
“We’ve got a biiiig fu***ng Geeeer-man!”

An inspired through ball from Benayoun was trapped by Gervinho who swiveled and shot after rounding Hennessey, who was to star for good and bad reasons later.

After the goal the script was for another goal to come floating Robin’s way to continue his steady march to Alan Shearer’s calendar year goal record – wrong.

A rare sortie up field by the Wolves pair of non-defenders led to a deflection off Hunt after a cross in from what looked to me an offside position. Being located by the corner flag where the North bank meets the West Stand the Wolves player who put the cross in appeared to me to be a good yard or two closer to Chesney’s goal than our back four.

Half of block four, North Bank lower tier, rose to shout offside well before the deflection. The replay of the “goal” was not shown from the view of a line across that I had, however to the naked eye and in real time it appeared off side.

The black and gold dummies that populated the south eastern corner of the stadium suddenly woke up and began celebrating their scrappy, messy, undeserved equaliser.

After this it was entirely predictable that McCarthy’s men would resort to time wasting and shows of dissent to the referee; Hunt expending most of his energy on jibber jabbering away in the referee’s ear at every Arsenal free kick to distract him from encroachment by Wolves players.

Every tackle from an Arsenal player was the cue for face clutching or floor rolling, akin to those spats seen by children having tantrums at being refused their way in supermarket aisles the world over.

The second half saw a continuation of the ill-tempered, “gamesmanship” tactics of standing on the ball at free kicks to slow Arsenal’s attacking momentum and haranguing the officials at every opportunity, not just the players but McCarthy and his assistant routinely arguing with the linos for every call that didn’t go their way.

The first action of the second half saw Zubar slide in with a cynical, late challenge on Gervinho in front of me but some justice was done as he injured himself and had to go off later – but not after holding up play with a few more bouts of rolling around on the grass to curtail Arsenal attacks with the aid of referee Atwell, who repeatedly fell for this “rope a dope” trick, hook line and sinker. You know the referee is on a wind up when he holds up play for treatment to an opposition player when the player is not even on the pitch.

Not wanting to be outdone by Zubar in this form of cheating Hunt also fell, in the style of a downed cowboy from a Sam Peckinpah movie, in the Wolves penalty area during a spell of pressure when there was corner after corner for Arsenal.

Arteta floats in another corner

Hennessey kicked the ball out of play when Hunt was felled by the invisible sniper in the Upper Tier and the looks of indignation when Arsenal, rightly, didn’t return the ball to Wolves were a picture of hypocrisy and self-righteous outrage.

It’s clear Wolves were not demonstrating the Corinthian spirit of sport in any way today and none of their team enhanced their sporting reputations although we did witness yet another visiting goalie have the game of his life as per-freaking usual; however he was rightly booked for timewasting so in that respect he kept in with the team ethic of the day.

Referee Atwell didn’t help himself by allowing numerous displays of dissent from the Wolves and, as we can guess, when a ref lets the opposition bully him around the first sign of dissent from an Arsenal player and a yellow is flashed; Vermaelen for the standard “first offence Arsenal yellow” we have come to know so well.

Similarly when Atwell lost control of the game, Wolves changed their mind about who was to be substituted and Hunt hadn’t even gotten off the pitch and his replacement was on and the throw in ordered to be taken, Wenger’s waved his arms in frustration so Atwell made a big show of going over to him to tell him off. Pity he didn’t do that when McCarthy and his assistant were routinely abusing the lino for giving throw ins to Arsenal even from balls bouncing straight off Wolves defenders and out of play.

Wenger threw on more attackers, Arshavin and Chamakh after he replaced the tiring Israeli skipper with Ramsey with Arshavin looking skill full and tracking back to snuff out any rare counter attack from McCarthy’s rag tag mob – he still has the ability to worry any defence and with an upturn in form/effort he can be a vital squad member.

Chamakh’s only contribution seemed to be banging heads with Robin and causing a sharp intake of breath all around the stadium at the sight of Robin prone on the floor; it’s hard to know how to solve a problem like Chamakh.

As we approach the half way stage of the season Arsenal will need maximum effort and luck with injuries from hereon in.

Keep the faith everyone.

Charybdis1966

Bookmark It

When writing about football, or any sport really, we tend to make definitive statements. Things like “Man City’s defense controlled the game” dominate the written reports but the reality of a game is hardly ever that simple.

Take yesterday’s match between Manchester City and Arsenal. I broke down the numbers over at Arseblog News and on the [...]]]>

When writing about football, or any sport really, we tend to make definitive statements. Things like “Man City’s defense controlled the game” dominate the written reports but the reality of a game is hardly ever that simple.

Take yesterday’s match between Manchester City and Arsenal. I broke down the numbers over at Arseblog News and on the surface you might be tempted to agree with pundits who give plaudits to City’s defense. City had 14 more tackles and 9 more interceptions than their season average against Arsenal with Zabaleta and Gareth Barry the real stars in both of those categories.

Yet, Phil Dowd had both teams angry with him throughout the game because he let numerous challenges slide or decided to call advantage — despite the clear lack of advantage. Yaya Toure in particular has become slap-happy over the last two games and at one point elbowed Robin van Persie in the face for which the Arsenal captain received no call. Robin was so angry with Phil Dowd over this incident that he refused Dowd’s offer of a hand up while angrily remonstrating the  official over his apparent lack of protection.

Same with the clearance numbers. Arsenal apparently put City under a tremendous amount of pressure after the money men grabbed a lucky goal in the 53rd minute, forcing City into 19 of their 26 defensive clearances in those final frantic 36 minutes. But at least one of those “clearances” came courtesy of a Micah Richards handball in the penalty box which Phil Dowd saw straight on and decided not to give.

Not to say that every decision went against Arsenal. Already on a yellow card, Song committed a very similar foul to the one he had been booked for in the first 10 minutes, yet Phil Dowd played advantage, had a glance back and saw that it was Song, and chose not to call the foul much less book the Arsenal man.

What you hope is that things “even out” though what we know is that with Dowd over the last two years that has not been the case.

Still, it comes across as sour grapes and to some extent it is. But we don’t need those sour grapes because Arsenal played very well despite being hobbled by injuries and lack of form from our bench players.

Djourou came off in the first few minutes of the second half and it has since been revealed that he has a groin injury and will now be out for “three weeks”. After he came off, Wenger put Koscielny at right back but it was just a moment of confusion when a long ball to Balotelli saw Koz drifting into his familiar spot in the middle and Song needing to cover the right back spot. As you already know, Balotelli created a few inches of space, got his shot off, and in the ensuing confusion Silva slotted across the line.

Then for the next 36 minutes Arsenal really put pressure on the opposition but City closed up shop. Wenger tried to bring on Arshavin and Chamakh to change the game but, and here’s where the numbers don’t lie, between the two of them they managed to do very little.

These two players have now gone from minor annoyance to full blown problem. Arshavin was always the kind of player who would drift in and out of games but lately he looks like he’s drifted all the way out to sea. Almost as soon as he came on he had a perfect opportunity to slot in a pass for the tying goal but the final ball was simply poor.

And Chamakh, I don’t know what has happened to him. He was never the most deft of players, I once joked that he should have heads installed on his feet so he could finally score with something below his neck, but yesterday was just shocking. He played 8 minutes (12 really) but only attempted two passes, completing neither and did almost nothing else apart from winning one free kick and one header. If it wasn’t for Nicklas Bendtner being out of control in his personal life (drunken wilding, really?) I would call for him to return but as it stands Arsenal really need to find a goalscoring threat off the bench.

I say that knowing full well that Arsenal have no healthy fullbacks at the moment and with Djourou now out for another three weeks are shorn of yet another defender. Still, Wenger only buys for the long term and so people suggesting he won’t buy a defender and will look for a forward are probably right. After all, none of the fullbacks have warranted dropping while Chamakh certainly has.

None of this should be a revelation. Arsenal don’t have the bench depth that teams like Chelsea and Man City do but we knew that going into the game. Lacking the ability to bring on £60m worth of talent like City, what we needed was heart and perseverance and I think we saw plenty of that — despite carrying three passengers at the end of the game.

Some of the more experienced players on this team gave everything to the cause and rather than slaughtering the guys who struggled (you already know who I mean) I’d like to end by highlighting the three players who stepped up their game.

Gervinho is still struggling to find his feet against the pace and power of Premier League opposition but yesterday he stepped his game up a notch. Early in the first half he beat his man to the end line and dragged the ball back to the spot where Robin was waiting only to have his shot saved. The more his teammates play with him the better those chances will get. I would be surprised if he ends the season with less than 10 assists.

Vermaelen may like to get forward too much for some tastes but his forays into the City half caused mayhem and but for a great save by Hart and a shot that just went wide it would have paid dividends. I think this is an outcome of Arsenal’s new found team spirit: TV5 is going to try and win games, single-handedly if he needs to!

And Arteta… I underestimated Arteta before he came to Arsenal. Playing at Everton he always looked like a fair midfielder when I had chances to see him but now that I can see his play week in and week out I’m duly impressed. Simply put, among all the players who are earning £200k a week and cost billions of Pounds to assemble, Mikel Arteta was the best midfielder on the pitch yesterday. He’s not flashy and he probably wont get more than 5 goals and 5 assists but he will do all the shit work that players like Nasri (and Ramsey) don’t want to do: he tackles, defends, can hold the ball, dribbles out of trouble, is calm, confident, and has an eye for the forward pass as well. I hate to say it, but he’s the Gilberto Arsenal have been missing since Gilberto was cut loose.

Ugh, this is long and rambling today but the point is simple: Arsenal have a lot to be proud of. They gave absolutely everything in that game and matched City pound for Pound. That the final score ended in favor of the opposition was just a matter of inches. Inches that Arsenal can make up over the next few months.

Qq

Bookmark It

With the choice of Arsenal legends for the three commemorative statues around Ashburton Grove now already known (Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry) [...]]]> The pre match 125 year centenary celebrations were among the usual talking points before a game that saw the Arsenal in line for a top four spot for the first time this season.

With the choice of Arsenal legends for the three commemorative statues around Ashburton Grove now already known (Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry) I made my way to my seat on a crisp but clear December afternoon after having looked at two of the three legends preserved in iron.

Having been a product of Essex in the early seventies also I have a particularly empathy with TA06 and coincidentally we were also born in the same year. A lot of us can also relate to the personal demons he battled during his time with us. He stood arms outstretched in the “Would you believe it” moment after he scored the fourth goal to seal the League title in our second double winning season in May 1998.

Would you believe it !

My seat being at the western corner flag at the Clock End(with the away fans at the opposite corner) of record goal scorers statue was at the opposite end of the stadium to Tony Adams, who was fittingly stationed outside the North Bank. It was clear that the majority of the fans around the TA06 statue were old school Arsenal while those around Thierry Henry were more international fans.

I love scoring against Tottenham

This being because the appeal of Arsenal as an international known team was cemented with the likes of talents such as Thierry, Dennis, Bobby and others. As we now all know Arsenal picked another iconic moment to immortalise with Thierry’s statue, namely the memorable goal against the Spuds with the equally memorable celebration.

I defy anyone to look at that statue and not have a lump in their throat while they remember the emotions of that match – I’m not surprised Thierry was moved the way he was on Friday at the unveiling.

Sadly I couldn’t locate Herbert Chapman’s statue in time as the pre match build up was in full swing, but I’ll aim to seek it out next time, Chapman being the manager who paved the way with the first of our 13 League titles.

A long list of Arsenal greats were being led out as I took my seat, the whole event being compered by celebrity, but certainly die hard, gooner Tom Watt.

Legends Guard of honour

It was gratifying to see that George Graham’s presence in the legends line up signified the Arsenal hierarchy had forgiven the circumstances of his departure similarly David O’Leary who, in his Leeds managerial days, would regularly lambast Arsenal; O’Leary’s greying sideburns visible even from my seat.

Others I heard being announced were Parlour, Pires (extra cheer), Morrow and another hero of the nineties Ian Wright, Wright Wright who is still loved by the supporters.

Unsurprisingly the biggest cheer was for Thierry when he was introduced.

Thierry on the big screen

And even more unsurprisingly the chants of “Sign him up, sign him, sign him up” were there to remind us of our anxiety at the prospect of Robin being unavailable for any period of time.

A nod towards our clubs heritage were the cannons pitch side, a reminder of lucky we are to have them as a symbol, rather than, say, a stringy chicken sitting on a netball.

Royal Artillery Canon

With the festivities almost over the team were led on, with Red Action and North Bank sections being supplied with red and white cards to spell out “125”.

Red Action 125

As the teams were being read out I noticed how our number 8 got a respectful cheer from the Everton fans, no rancour at his departure detected there and later on in the game when Arteta went over to take in front of the away fans he applauded them back.

The match started with Arsenal as usual attacking the Clock End and Everton, as befits a team schooled by Moyes, compact and solid with minimal forward intent with the only forward player who caught my eye being Coleman. Seamus Coleman did seem to have some attacking ability and the Evertonians are right to rate him so highly, however Phil Neville continued to prove why we hate him with his constant niggling of our midfielders, Ramsey in particular, and his constant niggling in the ear of the other villain of the peace, the referee Howard Webb.

Ramsey had another “almost there” type of performance in midfield, with one swivel-turn-chip in the Everton penalty area being all most Bergkamp-esque.

An innocuous nudge by Arteta on the quarter hour mark – which was on an Everton player just outside his own penalty area- earned him a yellow for his first challenge and just to prove Fergie’s rent boy (as the Clock end shouted at Webb) has no concept of consistency then failed to give a yellow for a trip on Theo by Baines as he was about to run through on goal.

Shades of Lee Mason in the same fixture last season sprang to mind in terms of anti-Arsenal incompetent or biased refereeing.

The linesman were also very quick to cooperate with the Everton offside trap as Theo and Gervinho were repeatedly called off side, however the officials were consistent in calling them either way.

Having been shown the yellow Arteta seemed to be a little subdued thereafter and he had a quieter than normal game – no matter, I think he is a vital player for us and one we were fortunate to acquire.

Arsenals superiority began to show with a succession of corners, some taken by Robin and others by Arteta.

Robin taking a corner

The New Jersey born Howard had to be on top form for the various corners that rained in on him and as the half drew to a close one sensed the Everton goal had a charmed life as the Arsenals approach play was decent although Theo and Gervinho’s finishing wayward. Robin had few chances and he seemed to be predominantly carving out opportunities for others.

Waiting for Arsenal corner

Half time approached and there was only a minor murmuring of concern amongst the by now frozen gooners –chances were being opened and the goal seemed inevitable.

During the interval a final historic presentation was made on the pitch of Nottingham Forest FC, the team that donated the Arsenal (then known as Dial Square FC) their first red and white kit.

Notts Forest half time presentation

The second half saw Everton begin to slow the play as for them a nil nil draw was a sizeable achievement against the arsenal, the Garden State native being the most guilty of time wasting, taking an eternity to take goal kicks.
Moyes stood on the edge – or slightly outside – the technical area pretty much the whole match, even having to step back to allow the lino to get past so often was he guilty of encroaching.

The Moe Szyslak look alike provided much of the touch line entertainment, for example when Cahill’s boot came off when a free kick was awarded to Arsenal(I think for off side) Cahill’s hissy fit involved him hurling the boot that had come off in Moyes direction; much hilarity ensued.

My suggestion of “Stamp on his foot!” while Cahill’s left boot was off and he continued playing was not taken up by the Arsenal defenders, can’t imagine why.

As the crowd were bracing themselves for a sustained spell of pressure at the Everton goal at the North bank end out of nowhere I saw Song loft a forward pass over Robin’s right shoulder – like the rest of the stadium Tim Howard assumed Robin would take a touch, then shoot.

The volley and net ripple that followed in an instant (with an almost audible gasp) took us all by surprise – a reminder of another two feet in the air volley by Robin, the one against Charlton Athletic from a cross by Eboue.

After that the Everton team seemed to have been given electric shock therapy as the transformation in the speed of goal kicks/throw ins/free kicks being taken was astonishing, again I can’t imagine why.

After the goal Vermaelen was taken off after an earlier collision to be replaced by Miquel who was, understandably, nowhere near as solid as the Belgian had been. I watched him for a five minute spell and I counted five interventions by him, two were solid clearances, one was a good through ball, one miskick into touch and one pass intercepted by an Everton forward.

Before Vermaelen’s injury Arshavin was being readied to come on, presumably to replace Robin, however Gervinho (who had a fairly good game) was replaced by Rosicky as Thomas came off instead.

Two late Everton subs included a Valbuena sized dwarf who was marked by Mertesacker – the worry there being that he would run through the big Germans legs.

There were two late alarms and two shots fizzed towards me behind the Arsenal goal and the crowd whistled for the full time whistle to be blown by Webb, who to be fair had temporarily forgotten his Arsenal hating-ManUre loving tendencies and had a marginally better second half.

At full time Mertesacker made a point of clapping the Clock End, he – like Arteta – seem to be loving the fact they are playing for a big club with a noble tradition. We’ll need him when we come up against the troglodytes of Stoke, Bolton and the like.

Final Whistle

What seemed like me to be a scuffle between Chesney and Robin as the players went off was actually Chesney’s bowing down to Robin’s left foot – the producer of that moment of magic that gave us the three points to put us into fourth.

Bookmark It

As the match drew to a close I recalled the target of four points from the two games against the French champions set by Wenger and was able to assess [...]]]> A vaguely disappointing nil nil failed to quell the feel good factor derived from the Arsenal’s heroic high octane defeat of the Siberian oligarchs team last Saturday.

As the match drew to a close I recalled the target of four points from the two games against the French champions set by Wenger and was able to assess the performance and result in that context. Arriving at Arsenal tube station I was, as usual, “treated” to some singing from the Bouches-du-Rhône region, initially unintelligible but as the away supporters followed me up to the ticket barriers I could eventually pick up:

Mar-seille allez, Mar-seille allez, allez, allez, chante!

To the tune of “Oh my darling clementine” as sung by Huckleberry Hound a lot clearer than last night’s version.

The atmosphere for a mid-week evening kick off at Ashburton Grove is altered by that claustrophobic feel that the darkness that descends in London in November gives to the journey to your turnstile from the stadium environs.
The team line ups as announced before kick-off revealed our Captain was being benched to give the Park a start and that there was a welcome return to the starting line-up for the Verminator.

My seat was behind the Clock End goal, lower tier, so I had the away support a few blocks to my right. Inside the stadium they were fairly vocal as most away crowds tended to be on European nights — louder than Porto’s, quieter than Dinamo Zagreb’s, from memory. To their credit the complete 4 block allocation was full and animated.

Kick off

The early exchanges showed that Marseilles had pace all over the pitch if not skill, with the full backs making light work of Gervinho and Theo’s attempts to pull apart their back line.

Chesney showed himself to be a goalie of supreme confidence when he took on a Marseilles forward; even from the other end of the pitch I could see him dummying and dribbling around him and while there was much mirth in the crowd in reaction to his skill and confidence I would have preferred him not to be put (or put himself) in those situations and that he just takes the safety first option – a hefty hoof up field for example.

Defence wise the Verminator slotted straight back into the team as if he’d never been away and Mertesacker showed the calm authority we’ve come to expect but without the missed headers that he needs to eliminate from the game.

“Jenks” has quickly become a fans favourite with his work rate and never ending drive to push on whether defending or getting forward, conversely Santos was seen differently, a capable and experienced defender who is probably not 100% match fit.

Marseilles pushed forward for the first half hour and for an away side that was quite brave however their finishing was as bad as ours turned out to be.

There were few alarms and no one especially felt we would concede at any moment – a feeling we definitely had in matches during the closing stages of last season. Encouraged by their support striking up the Huckleberry Hound song, Marseilles continued to press and a few shots on Chesney’s goal resulted which were on target, and many more off target.

As time went on however the Arsenal then gained more possession which resulted in whistling from the away support.

It’s clearly a continental thing to whistle when the opposition has the ball, in the UK it tends to be done to register displeasure at a bad refereeing decision or the opposition not kicking the ball out if one of your players is injured. If that happens in a continental game what would they do then as an alternative to whistling? If they just whistle more, how could you tell what the crowd was irate about if it’s just more of the same?

Anyway gripe/observation over.

Despite the extra possession Arsenal had as the first half drew to a close it seemed that Park was lacking that “something” as things just failed to happen for him; maybe he needed a bit of confidence that would result from a few more of his one twos working or having some decent shots on goal?

We clearly need a stand in for Robin but at the moment Park is not the answer, I sincerely hope he will be part of the answer at least and the sooner the better.
Gervinho seemed to be having one of those days also where things didn’t quite come off and when they did the resulting shot was wide or well saved with Aaron seeming a touch jaded also.

The extra possession Arsenal gained as the game went on was as a result of the Song-Arteta axis establishing a metronomic understanding in the centre of the midfield.

One gets the sense that Mikel is loving being on the European Cup stage, a chance a player of his quality and experience should really have had earlier in his career. One of our more palpable chances was an Arteta free kick, which on another day would have drifted in rather than swerved away from the top left corner of the goal.

Arteta free kick

Half time came and with it the news that the Russian’s from the bus stop in Fulham were one nil up against the mighty Genk.

No substitutions from either side at half time but as time went on and the Marseilles defence held firm it seemed it was only a matter of time before changes would have to be made.

Robin and Arshavin had been warming up as soon as the second half had kicked off, Robin being the benefactor of a standing ovation from the Clock end.

Robin Arshavin subs

The pattern of the second half followed the latter half of the first in that Arsenal pressure was repelled or the final ball was poor or the finishing was not quite there.

The referee had a fairly good game and wasn’t buying the feigning injury Marseilles started to indulge in, with Mathieu Valbuena seeming like a refugee from a dwarf throwing/diving competition; the sort I imagine being held in deepest Tennessee by some good old boys. Perhaps the midget Mathieu was giving the crowd a preview of his bid to be part of the French 2012 Olympic diving squad? However the referee did seem a bit too keen to book that well known midfield destroyer Rosicky for his first challenge, having come on as the second sub with Robin on shortly before.

Then an exchange of dwarfs – Valbuena off, Arshavin on to try and provide a creative spark and feed Robin for the goal that would seal a Round of 16 qualifying victory.

The game seemed to peter out with a few more attacks by Arsenal at the North bank end and try as Arshavin did to make something happen by the last third of the game Marseilles had decided to settle for the draw and their initial attacking intent evaporated.

Final Whistle 0-0

Overall, not a disastrous result, just as long as a victory against West Brom on Saturday can be won before another wretched interlull/nationalism break before hostilities resume a fortnight later.

Just to cheer up the Gooners emptying Ashburton Grove news filtered through that the European footballing powerhouse of Genk finished their game level with Chelsea to extend the team “led” by John Terry’s winless run to 3 games.

Nice.

Cha(ry)azza

Bookmark It