I love statistics!

If you want to gorge yourself on stats there’s some pretty awesome stuff over at Sky Sports. For example, Clichy is the EPL’s 2nd leading passer and led the league in intercepted passes. Flamini was third in the EPL in passing and had an astounding completion rate of 87%. Or how about the fact that Kevin Davies (of Bolton) is the worst fouler in the league?  I could keep going but I’ll spare you.

I will mention that The Guardian must have purchased the Opta sports pack because they provide additional analysis by league, by team, by individual, and by “odds and ends.” Pretty cool stuff, saunter on over there and point out something I didn’t see, I’d love to hear it.

One thing that that I did see is that Howard Webb hates Arsenal and the statistics prove it.

No?

Well, he was the ref in the game at Old Trafford this season. You remember, the one who gave Man U both of their goals through eagle-eyed reffing on one end of the pitch but for some reason turning a blind eye to all the Anderson/Scholes fouling at the other end of the pitch. In that match, the cleanest team in the premier league (with only 407 fouls conceded all season) somehow merited 6 yellow cards on 7 fouls with one penalty kick and another free kick right outside the box. Man U, on the other hand, fouled Arsenal 12 times and received 2 yellow cards. Coincidence?

He’s also the guy who “refereed” the debacle in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea in 2007. You remember… the one where Obi Wan Mikel and Lampard’s continuous fouling led to a Mikel foul on Toure which saw those two square off and then Lampard attacked Toure and when the Arsenal players intervened they were shown red cards. Yeah, that Howard Webb.

But this season, he seems to be going over the top with the Arsenal hate because this term he was the referee in charge for 3/5 of Arsenal’s domestic losses.

I don’t know whether the team plays different when Webb is on the pitch or if his refereeing style encourages a different type of play, or whether it’s just dumb luck. But for some uncanny reason, Howard Webb reffed 3/5 of Arsenal’s losses; in two of which he gave a penalty to the opponents. He also has a penchant for handing out yellow cards in general (more than any other ref) and especially to Arsenal (more than any other ref). Just look at any of the Arsenal matches he reffed this season.

Very strange.

Transfer News (the poop scoop)

I love yesterday’s story about Hleb wanting to be a gentleman and transfer out of Arsenal the proper way. Good for Arsene: the threat of punishment has secured Hleb’s proper valuation. A funny aside to the whole Hleb transfer story is that he has admitted that he doesn’t like London. He says it’s too busy, too noisy, too dirty which is all fine, and fair enough. So, of course it makes sense that he’s trying to get a transfer to Milan; that bucolic little mountain town in Italy.

Patrick Vieira is ramping up his retirement plans by coming out as yet another Arsenal pundit. Dude, if you want to complain about Arsenal’s wage structure and transfer policies, why don’t you do it like everyone else? Get a blog.

In the NOT NEWS section:Adebayor is NOT leaving for Barcelona or joining Hleb at Milan… that’s a relief.

Yaya Toure wants to play for Arsenal. There has NOT been any contact with Yaya or Barca, but it seems like he’s one of the 220 people who keep calling Wenger to see if there’s a roster spot available. I wonder who the other 219 are?

Kroenke himself is buying Hatem Ben Arfa. That’s player number 219, but only if Wenger promises him first team football. Totally, here, you can have, uhhh, erm, uhh Adebayor’s place, NOT.

Gervinho, Kompany, and Makoun are NOT numbers 218, 217, and 216 respectively. Of all those players, Kompany is the kind of player Arsenal need most: especially since Robin van Persie needs some Kompany in the infirmary.  Thank you, I’ll be here all week, try the veal, tip the waitress…

Anyway, that’s your NOT NEWS section for today!

Wait… I checked the news feed after I wrote this and I had 49 news items, let’s see if any are transfer rumors. YEP! Obafemi Martins! Arsenal have definitely NOT approached Newcastle for him. Which doesn’t make any sense since I thought Wenger was collecting strikers, oh well, guess NOT. In other NOT news, Arsenal are NOT linked to Gareth Barry, just as they are NOT linked to signing anyone… really.

Spend it like Beckham

Goodness. The rumor mill is in full effect this morning. Arsenal are slated to sign so many players I can’t even keep track of them all. The one that I found most comical though is Mario Gomez. Yes, Arsenal are going to sign another forward, because as we all know, Arsene collects strikers. I could be wrong. Maybe Wenger will go back on his promise not to collect strikers. Maybe Wenger will see that Adebayor scored 30 goals on an extremely efficient 130 shots and say “not good enough.” Maybe Wenger will see van Persie’s chronic injury record and say “not good enough.” Maybe Wenger will fret over Eduardo’s ability to overcome the mental block that is sure to happen because Martin Taylor broke Eduardo’s leg with a professional foul. Maybe Wenger will see the influx of Randall, Vela, and Theo, and say “not mature enough.” And maybe the boss will get sick of the quiescent Nicholas Bendtner.

Maybe.

But somehow I think not. In those 4 strikers (Ade, RvP, Dudu, and Sleepy) Wenger has the perfect set of strikers for Arsenal. RvP is exactly the kind of sparkle player that Arsenal need and the boss is hopeful that his 16 month run of injuries was just bad luck. Ade terrifies defenses with his huge frame, strength, aerial ability, speed, and nose for goal. Dudu is exactly the kind of goal poacher that Arsenal needed last year and the boss thinks he’s mentally cut from the right kind of cloth to bounce back and take on the Taylor’s of the Premier League again next year. And Sleepy… Well, Sleepy… Ok, he could sell Bendtner and buy a fourth striker.

But that’s the only way Arsenal are buying a striker: these are tight times budget wise, folks. I know that I’ve been beating that drum and you’re probably tired of hearing it, but that there is the facts. Arsenal have somewhere in the realm of £20m pounds to spend thus summer. There will be more cash on hand when Arsenal sell Hleb (which is inevitable in my opinion) but that cash will have to be used to buy a replacement. In fact, the only position that will be strengthened is in defense. Any other purchases will be to fill vacancies.

I don’t expect Arsenal to “spend like the big four” this summer. In fact, I don’t even know what “spend like the big four” means. Does it mean to pile on more debt until you reach £1bn? Does it mean recklessly overpaying for players as some kind of Live Action Fantasy Football team for some dumb rich guy who will then pretend to “clear the books” but in actuality has leveraged debt obligations on the backs of the fans? How about an ownership group that has huge public blowouts, debts that can’t be restructured, a free spending manager, and a rabid fanbase that’s willing to sell the future for a shot at a trophy now?

Or maybe they mean a team that plays the world’s most beautiful football, develops young talent, and actually made a profit off player sales this year?

Nah. The press are only interested in top four clubs like Tottenham; who spend through the nose for untalented hacks. After all, it’s a better story when that team falls flat, isn’t it?

Who will Wenger buy, how much will he spend, will it be a striker, a defender, an old player, a young player, a winger, a tisket, or a tasket? I don’t know, but the boss promises to let us all in on it very soon.

The course is set, the wind is good, unfurl the jib!

I have decided what course the blog will take this summer.  The blog will be the same truculent take on the press, other blogs, pundits, and fans.  I will also “report” on transfer news but only whenever verifiable information can be obtained.  I will continue providing analysis of the “big stuff” like the 39th game proposal, the FA’s conduct program, and the effect of big money in the EPL.  And this year, I will try (TRY is the operative word) to watch some Colorado Rapids games and report on the team a little bit.

Why?

Well, the Rapids are the MLS “sister” team to Arsenal and I often criticize the MLS so I kinda figured I ought to at least watch some of what I criticize.  Besides if it’s football and I watch it, you hear about it — as you no doubt know by now.  The Rapids are currently top of their division and it looks like I might be able to watch my first Rapids game on Thursday at 6:30pm local time. I’m sooo excited…

There will also be a major change of the web site this summer so look for that.

So, sit back and relax — the summer course is set.

Cheers