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Grim Tuesday – More player power and the odd clicky moment…

This is going to be a short one today as I was out late last night getting lost on a hike from Mt Tamalpais to Stinson beach that was complicated on the return trip but something called sunset and the subsequent lack of daylight that it causes. Not a problem usually as there are this things called streetlamps, but when you’re on the backside of a mountain, in mountain-lion territory and you’re the only one that had the forethought to bring head-torches (flashlights), two between four people, then forward progress is slow and returns home are late and jittery affairs. Still, made it out alive but just later then I’d hoped and I need to hit the sack for work in the am (I write on Monday night – Tues am in blighty).

So  what needs to be said about Saturday eh? 3 goals, 3 points and a little respite of the relentless Gunn(ers)fight at the AW Corral. The RVP goals were awesome as they always are, as was Song’s, it has to be said, was TH14 good. He’s getting into a nice habit of contributing some rather tasty goals – lets hope that continues. However this has been soured somewhat by RVP’s rather badly timed ‘I can’t see into the future’ type comment that has every tabloid rubbing their grubby mitts in glee waiting to try and drive the wedge in between him and us the fans. Personally speaking I was disappointed by this: “It’s not only about me, it’s about the team. We are not talking now because we are so busy — we have games every three or four days. I don’t think it’s clever to do that during the season.” While on the surface it’s a logical statement to make, what hacks me off is it stinks of the same bile that Na$ri was saying around six months later into the same situation and look what happened there. The contract was on the table and it was never signed, the rest is Hishitory.

Now you can say what you like about RVP’s contract situation, we should have re-signed him in the summer, why are we leaving it late again etc. etc. but personally speaking, after all the loyalty the clubs given him in the fact that he’s YET to complete a full season for us because of usually getting phucked up playing for Holland means he needs to shut up and sign. It’s not hard, it’s a signature – your sharks (ahem – agents) will do the details. How I read the situation is a veiled threat: “Let’s see how the club’s doing in April” because if we’re not fighting for a trophy of some kind – then RVP will do a Nasri and we’ll have to flog him in the summer. I get riled up over this sort of stuff because it’s just disrespectful and no one says what they mean anymore because every tosser in the universe has their own PR people. How the hell can you build a team if every bloody year someone starts to rile up the squad with shit like this? Cesc was whining about the same sort of thing – I expect MORE from RVP. I’m pretty sure just 12 months ago he was waxing lyrical about how players need to stay and fight… put up or shut up.

‘Such are the consequences of not winning’ will be the cries of those that want change at the club, and while that has some truth to it, as usual; it’s not that simple. My feelings are that the real issue here, the one that no one’s talking about enough, is player power. Cesc had donkey’s years left on his contract but still forced Arsenal to sell him on the cheap to Farca which the classless cnuts are now rubbing in our faces. Contracts are not worth shit, the only people they satisfy are players because we’ve paid RVP week in week out regardless of if he’s been able to play, as we did Cesc during his crocked times, but they have the club over the barrel because they can simply decide not to play for us as Cesc did in the summer in the knowledge that if he got injured playing a friendly interest from Farca would evaporate. So they get mysterious ‘injuries’ that see them playing inside ten minutes at their new club or simply play like shit until they get the move a-la Na$ri.

So as we come to face Olympiacos at home on Weds, the fear mongering has already begun, as have the long term injuries… so sad to see Jack pull a Tommy V. of last year… gives credence to Arseblogs theory that we all push these young players too hard in my opinion… still, others are coming through and that’s how the game is nowadays lets see the other youths see if they can step up. I’m looking forward to Weds and to see how the team plays… I have this feeling that soon the little plays that have clicked on and off will turn into something special in a game, but I’m so tired of defending this rag-tag fleet of players that I’m just going to let it play out this time and see what happens.

Cheerio.

Man at the match, Chary: Robin’s twin strikes send Bolton to the bottom

An unusually mild late September afternoon saw Arsenal’s third home game of the season take place in what the media would like to say was an air of apprehension amongst the support.

First off – that tabloid generated assertion was way off the mark as the feeling in the bars and streets around the N5 area of London was certainly not apprehension. The mood was that of expectancy and quiet confidence that the real Arsenal would show up today.

Your humble scribe found himself in the Upper tier of the Clock End where conventional wisdom would assert there would be a soporific feeling generated amongst the support, only slightly less lack lustre than Club level.

Second off – not true either; the support was surprisingly vocal and while my less than complimentary remarks about Cyril Davies (when he replaced the anonymous Ngog) were still met by inquiring looks from pre-pubescent Gooners, irregardless (c. Tim) from where I sat Block 124 backed the team as well as the rest of the home support did.

From this view point the Red action section of the North bank could be seen passing around the giant club flag.

Red Action flag
Red Action flag

Once all the crowd had arrived it seemed the stadium was around 90% full with Bolton’s support taking up around 80% of their allocation

Prior to kick off we saw a rather cheesy “huddle” from the Bolton players – that’s so 1990’s; who does on pitch team huddles anymore?

Cheesy Bolton huddle
Cheesy Bolton huddle

After a slightly nervy start, where Chesney pulled off a great one handed save from an early Bolton attack Arsenal settled into their passing game gradually although nowadays it is more customary to highlight our defence. Chesney is without a doubt the leader of the defence – for such a young man he commands his back four like a seasoned pro, not someone who was keeping goal for Brentford the season before last.

Apart from the early shot on our goal Bolton offered very little going forward in the first half and in that respect the defence seemed to settle. There was the odd hic cup, where a hoofed Jaaskelainen goal kick would bounce a few too many times before our centre backs cleared their lines however no groans were to be heard.

What we still heard were the odd groan when our forward would not shoot early enough, although that was harsh on us as the Bolton 4-5-1 line up was basically two banks of 4 close together with little room for manoeuvre, hence the probing for an opening prior to shooting.

Early impressions on the new players were that Arteta looks very much like a player used to the hurly burly of a rumbustious quality of a premier league midfield and at home there. There were a number of efficient forward passes he made that although not Hollywood, eye catching long range passes, kept our attacks ticking over nicely.

Mertesacker looked a gentle giant rather than an orc-like animal of a defender in his style of play, but I saw a clever cut back to nutmeg the Bolton left winger and keep the ball in play and pass forward as well as several passes in the opposition area which progressed attacks nicely. This suggested some finesse and skill – I wager he’ll fit in nicely. I suspect as his game time grows he will become that big lump in the centre of our defence that we have needed ever since “Big Tone” (TA06) retired.

It soon became apparent after the substitution of Ngog that K Cyril Davies is indeed an odious individual – he took less than two minutes to commit a foul after coming on and his whole repertoire of football skills consist of backing into the defender and falling over to win free kicks.

As half time approached I realised that I didn’t feel nervous after a goalless first 45 minutes; partly because although we were feeling our way back in our attacking play Bolton offered very little goal threat and their “strategy/tactics” consisted of nullifying our attack by making sure Robinson hacked Theo at every opportunity and Wheater grappled with Robin, the way in which Vidic is allowed to WWF-style-lee, whenever we had a free kick in the Bolton half.

Half time was spent by of me kicking myself for not getting any pictures of “The Carlsberg girls” who were around the stadium concourse posing for pictures with supporters before kick off; as a middle aged chap I naturally felt uncomfortable asking for a picture with the trios of twenty somethings, however there’s always next time to rectify this omission.

At the restart the stadium big screen showed a close up of Arteta and Gervinho on the centre spot pointing and discussing how to get the second half underway – whatever they said, they could quote Hannibal Jones in saying “I love it when a plan comes together” as Ramsey fed Robin onto his hammer left foot seconds later who then buried the shot bottom right past Jaaskelainen who had, typically, been repelling Arsenal’s attacks almost single handedly.

A minor miracle was Clattenburg playing the advantage when another Bolton ankle crusher took out Gervinho in the build-up to the goal – and another miracle, after the goal was scored he booked the offending Bolton player (Steinsson)

The Bolton fans who had, up till then, contented them themselves with chanting “Champions League you’re having a laugh” fell silent so we returned the favour by shouting back “Premier League, you’re having a laugh!”

Arsenal gained confidence and the attacks became more fluid and Theo more influential, with another one of his central runs leading to Wheater, taking time off practising his half-Nelson on Robin, deciding – by way to hack him down.

DOGSO – red card and flash forward to Coyle bemoaning how even the game had been up till then (excuse me, you were one nil down and camped in your own half) in the post-match press conference and how the red card was the turning point.

Despite being hacked relentlessly Theo kept ploughing forward and another run from centre to right set up Robin for his 100th goal for Arsenal with a deft flick from the Dutchman who now has 26 goals in 31 games for 2011. His thanks to Theo visible even from my distant viewpoint.

The blow Gervinho took earlier probably accounted for his replacement by Arshavin ten or so minutes from time and Robin was taken off close to the end so he could get applause for his brace and 100 goal achievement. There was still time for Theo to set up our Russian enigma with a shot he rifled against the side netting, Andrey’s guile and craft will be needed on Wednesday night as we look to gain points in the Champions League.

Sadly Theo, after having missed an easy opportunity when put through by Ramsey, then pulled up with hamstring trouble as a Bolton corner led to a through ball to him that should have made him one on one with the Bolton keeper. A sting in the tail of this match that we could do without and we await medical bulletins on the extent of the injury.

As the full time whistle approached the early departees were punished by a late Song strike, a rising drive into the top of the net as Arsenal attackers pulled apart the tiring Bolton defence.

All in all a satisfactory win and, at the very least, a platform to build on.

A satisfying final scoreboard
A satisfying final scoreboard

Is this result the start of a change in our wretched form to date – who knows? Gooners world wide will be hoping it is.

Grim Tuesday: Behold the beginning…

Grimbo: I penned something this am if you don’t feel like writing today. Up and ready – may need a quick proof.

Tim: Now that I have two writers I need to coordinate posts a bit better. How do you feel about posting on a set day?

Grimbo: I can try… my problem is the work schedule, if one of my contacts suddenly demands my presence then I have to down tools and whore myself out to them… What day were you thinking of?

Tim: Well, Jeff is doing Friday.* Tuesday?

A weekend passes…

Grimbo: OK… having given it some thought I’m going to have a crack at the Tues column. It’ll have to start next week…It won’t really be news based as Tuesday is the armpit of the week, but will be my usual rambling malaise of nonsense. I’m suggesting either “It’s a Grim Tuesday” or just “Grim Tuesday”…is that cool?

Tim: Great idea. I love either title.

BTW: you don’t have to be topical. There’s a ton of stuff in football to rant about. Shit, we could write every day for 10 years about technology in football. Like how they claim that every level is the same but then sell a $200 ball to the pros who wear $300 sneakers and have chefs and personal trainers and fucking GPS track their every movement. You know, stuff like that.

Grimbo: Jesus Tim – am I ever topical? My ‘style’ is generally to open my brain and let my mind vomit nonsense onto the keyboard via my digits. I will look for inspiration from our firstmatchoftheseason©.

It’s funny how some things start eh? I’ve mentioned it once or twice (or three or four million times) that writing regularly is tough, and that’s why I’m always in awe of the every-day blogger… that’s what journo’s do and get paid for! These guys do it day in, day out for the love of it, certifiably Jens if you ask me.

Anyway, as I’ve been penning utter tosh here on and off for a a while I think I owe it to Tim to try and do something regularly as he has, to date, let me be a part of the sheer awesomeness that is 7amkickoff for ages without asking for any proper commitment from me, not even first refusal on signing me or anything. Now that Tim’s numbery-stuff is on Arseblog and Jeff’s the new statistical wizard, I must do what I do best – chat utter bollocks backed up with my own slightly removed perspective of being an ex-Londoner living stateside. A quick word on the Tim/Jeff phenomena though, it never ceases to amaze me the patience they both have with numbers – I’ve hated numbers ever since I was a lad because I was always waiting for the Number 53, Number 12, Number 36b or the good old 171 (just aged myself there) – London Transport’s always been shite.

Mertetabeyoun and the start of something new…but something old.

Anyway, onto the point of this Grim Tuesday. I return to my original thoughts from Saturday. As just about anyone sane has mentioned already and at length the Swansea game had a very pre-season feel to it and so it should because this was in essence a new side… after the Nasrigas episode was over and the deadline day bonanza left us all stunned, we were really looking at the most radical changes in the side since the departure of PV4 (sob, wail – still hurts to say his name after Nasri’s confession) and the consequent disbanding of the invincibles – there’s a certain sick irony knowing now that PV4 was let go because Fabregas was the ‘future’. Personally although I still do point a big fat digit at Fabregas for the problems of the summer, my personal feelings on the sixyearswithoutatrophy situation is that we’ve been suckered by numerous players using Arsenal’s status as a big but efficient club, as a stepping stone to a big and stupid club. The list just in recent times is long and weary; Flamini, Adebayor, Fabregas, Nasri, Toure, Hleb, Clichy – yes there are exceptions there, but barring one let me just say this once – they all left for money. Although it’s never that simple to detect the truth of what’s happened and there were always mitigating circumstances like that whining byatch Gallas whom I suspect played a massive part in causing Toure to leave, oh and the constant tapping up of other clubs of course… regardless, despite these issues the final nail in the coffin rightly or wrongly was a big fat payday in all but the Cesc scenario’s where everyone but Barca got screwed, including Cesc himself.

Although the Toure and Clichy’s exits were far more dignified then all the others they represent to no small degree the spine of the ‘07/’08 side that came so close to stomping all over the Premier League. The side that made Milan look average and played some of the best pure football I’d ever seen up until that day at Birmingham, where that cnut (notthatkindofplayer) Martin Taylor ruined the career of one of the best finishers in the modern game – I truly think Eduardo was destined to be that good. Cesc’s departure is causing a rethink; an entirely new way of playing will come to the fore, because he was the fulcrum for much of what Arsenal had been known for in the last 6 years – the fluid beautiful football and the “don’t like it up ‘em” statements that came out of knuckle-dragging idiots that think just because you don’t need to foul every ten minutes you’re babies (oh yeh Evra, well babies keep beating ManUre in the champs league). All was a result of the technician game that the Fabregas based Arsenal played. It was very effective and really was very like Barca’s current style (minus the harrying), but unlike Barca who enjoy a lot of referee protection don’t forget, Arsenal, without being afforded the same protection from Premiership refs was often kicked to death – show me another team in the modern game that suffered three broken legs in five years (I can hear Tim & Jeff scrabbling around looking for that stat now) . As a result it will now remain unknown if it could succeed because Cesc’s in Spain getting all the ref love that Barca always receives.

Just to underline that point about English refs, consider the protection that Spain didn’t get in the world cup final; remember Van Brommel inside 5 mins or Nigel De Yong’s kung fu kick? BOTH red cards in this author’s opinion, both still on the pitch come the end of regular time: Yep it was Howard Webb reffing the match. Holy shit; RVP can get sent off for not hearing a god-damned whistle in a stadium with 100K fans whistling by some Swiss cnut, but an English ref needs to see bone coming out of a sock or Rooney diving before he’ll pull out a card… someone remembered to tell Holland (probably RVP) but forgot to tell Spain (Cesc was on the bench). Like it or not, the English FA allows refs the freedom to condone violent tackling – and no, I don’t mean I’d like a ban on the ‘physical game’ I mean I’d like teams like Stoke disciplined for not going out to play football and instead going out to injure players, because they do – it’s a tactic. I mean, who in their right mind is going to leave a foot in against Shawcross after seeing what happened to Ramsey? That last millimetre of stretch can decide a game sometimes and when you’re up against a cnut like that, you’d be an idiot to not have it cross your mind. That’s WHY they do it, and WHY the blame is with the refs and the FA for condoning it.

Finally it’s WHY I think Wenger bought who he bought. Look at Mertesacker, not a typical ’05 to ’10 Arsenal vintage player eh? Arteta too, he’s like a mix between Fabregas and Viera, he has some of the Spanish flare, but with a hint of phuck you. I don’t like dirty play as much as the next man, but a wry smile crossed my lips when he got that yellow… sneaky phucker. No, these purchases were far more ’98 to ’04 in flavour. These leads me to the conclusion that Wenger’s “failed experiment”, which I personally see more as several near misses, was not about ‘yooof’ at all as so many AMAJ’s (Arseholes Masquerading as Journalists) have declared, but an experiment of a technician based game similar to that Farca employs… the problem was not the style, but the English system because honestly – do you think Farca would last the distance in the Premier league? 38 Games with four or five teams that are just out to nullify Messi? If they think Madrid kick the stink out of them, they wouldn’t know which way to look when they met Stoke, Wolves or Blackburn because they’d all be on the surgeons table.

I think Wenger’s ‘experiment’ was to try and drag the British game into the 21st century, but he has realised that although he has certainly revolutionised the English game to date, it’s evolved as far as it can for now and so he’s reverting to type and mixing style, speed and a certain nastiness back into Arsenal DNA. Will it work, who knows… that depends on so many factors, but before any judgements can be made, we’ll have to let them gel first. Saturday was not easy on the old Grimbo Clenchometer (my own personal measurement of Arsenal discomfort), but we didn’t fall down as we have done so many times in the past, we stood firm right up to the final whistle… and that my fellow Gooners, is a phucking good start. Today sees a different kind of test, one that will be far more telling… let’s see if this older Wenger style can do the business, because that’s what I think we’ve got.

*Uhh, yeah, that was the plan. – Tim