Fever Flamini

Happy birthday to Nick Hornby who must be Arsenal’s most famous fan. I mean, other than the Queen, her majesty, god save her, and all that. Most of my American readers will know Nick by his movies and books like “High Fidelity” and so on, but not many Americans know that he also wrote a book called Fever Pitch. This book was so good it got made into two different movies. One about Nick’s own life as an Arsenal fan (which is what the books is about) and one about a Red Socks fanatic that starred Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore and sucked huge donkey balls. You would do well to not confuse the two films, unfortunately they are both called “Fever Pitch.”

The 1997 version of Fever Pitch is available via Netflix if you have that service and I highly recommend seeing the movie. For one, you will get a chance to experience what it was like climbing the steps of Highbury, cresting the top and having the old pitch fill your eyes. And for another, you’ll get to sort of see what it was like to be an Arsenal supporter in 1989, when Arsenal won the league, at Anfield, for the first time in 18 years. Us “recent” converts could use a dose of humility in seeing the sheer ecstasy that overcomes the fans when you have to wait 18 years before the team wins something major.

Nick also has a blog in which he occasionally still writes about Arsenal. In fact, the latest entry is a timely little musing on the mentality of some fans, you should check it out.

Anyway, happy birthday old man.

And now on to installment #2 (poop) of the top five Arsenal players of the season: Matthieu Flamini.

it\'s a bird, it\'s a plane!

I kinda went down a rabbit hole this morning looking for some stats that would back me up on this claim of Flamini being one of Arsenal’s top five. When I emerged, I still didn’t have anything and so, I’m going to “make shit up.”

“Flattuso” that’s reportedly his nickname and if you watch him for a match, I mean pay attention to what he’s doing on the pitch to the exclusion of everyone else you can see why they call him that. The man is a menace — he’s just everywhere. Wherever the ball is I expect Flamini to either already be there or to pop up at any second. Whenever Arsenal need their opponent’s best player covered, Flamini’s on the job. Steven Gerrard, Kaka, Ronaldo, all have suffered under his ubiquitousness. He’s like a pit bull, once he gets his teeth into you he doesn’t let go.

Many of us saw this in him several years ago when he came on the pitch as a substitute left back — you remember, when Ashley Cole was supposedly injured but was instead meeting Chelsea’s people in hotel rooms? Flamini made me forget all about Cole that year and when Arsenal traded Cole for Gallas I said, “we don’t need him, we’ve got Flamini!”

But then his career took a poor turn. See, he didn’t want to play left back. He fancied himself a holding midfielder and the Rock of Gilberto was in that spot already — how do you unseat the captain of a team, a World Cup winner, and all around one of the most beloved members of the team?

Hard work.

He didn’t go to the press and complain like Lassana Diarra did. He didn’t create unrest in the locker room like Jens Lehmann does. He put his head down and gutted it out. Putting in some impressive performances for the second team in the Carling Cup and generally doing anything the boss asked him to do. Hell, I imagine if Wenger asked, Flamini would carry the team’s water.

And this year, that hard work has paid off. I don’t have any sparkling quantitative data (he only has 3 goals and 3 assists) to show you except one thing: 74 fouls committed. In his case, that’s not a bad number! That’s his job: foul people when needed.

Like here, when Nani did the seal dribble:

That’s a good tackle.

I don’t have the average number of km he runs in a game or the work rate he puts in or whatever you want. But I do have comments from his teammates and I think those will have to do.

Wenger:

Mathieu is mentally strong and is a winner. Players who never give up mentally always improve. He’s responsible for the tempo in our game.

Cesc has a lot to say about his midfield partner:

He was amazing, not just tonight but he has been amazing all season. I’m a big fan of his. He’s hyperactive, on and off the pitch. I don’t know how he does it but he has so much power. With his encouragement we play better. He has so much passion for the game. He enjoys it and he hates losing

And yes, even the press says nice things about him, like when he ran circles around Milan at the San Siro:

In Mathieu Flamini, the Arsenal manager has found a midfielder who is willing to share the workload.

They smothered Milan, snuffed out that genius Kaka, and then pulled off one of the most jaw-dropping results in the history of the European Cup. Milan’s supporters even clapped them off the pitch.

Yes, they were that impressive.

Flamini has proven to be the perfect foil for Fabregas this season; protecting the defense, allowing Cesc to attack, and covering for him when he makes mistakes. Yes, he has been impressive. So much so that the rumors are flying that he will make a move to Juve or somewhere. But only at Arsenal does he have the chance to really build a long term partnership with a player who could be one of the best ever. So, please sign the deal Matthieu, obviously Arsenal need you.

Until tomorrow.

snews roundup; spotlight Adebayor

Adebayor scores against Charlton

Ade steals the ball from Hreidarsson

I’ll admit it. I’m biased toward the big fella. See, I was there, at Highbury when Ade scored his first home goal. Here was this big guy, lanky, kinda frustrating, but a nose for the goal and the ability to add something new to Arsenal’s, erm, Arsenal. Ironically, he had had several gilt edged chances to score up until that point but his first goal had to wait until a Hreidarsson gaffe gifted him the opportunity and he took it with aplomb. Funny… he’s the same player now as he was then, except now he’s scoring bags of goals.

Ade came to Arsenal in January 2006 (our last year at Highbury) and even though I mentioned that it took him 3 months to get his first home goal, he had gotten a goal in his very first appearance (away to Birmingham).

In a sense, Arsenal were forced to throw Ade on in that first season due to injuries to Robin van Persie and Reyes. And though he finished that first season with only 4 goals and 4 assists he greatly impressed everyone with his work rate, attitude and added dimension that he lent to the team.  Henry noticed he might be special right away:

Manu is the type of striker who is really nice to play with because he shows the ball well and he does the bad [hard] work… He gives us a plus because usually we have players like Dennis [Bergkamp] and Robin van Persie who try to get the ball behind, not really trying to shield the ball and wait for the team to come. Manu has that, so finally we have the striker who we have been looking for that when you kick the ball forwards, he will be there to shield it.

So too did Le Boss:

Adebayor is a bit more in-the-air player. He works hard and overall he gives a little bit more freedom to Thierry.

By the end of the 2006/2007 season, Ade hadn’t quite lived up to expectations: he only scored 12 goals in 35 starts and added only 4 assists. It’s not like he didn’t have his chances, playing alongside Thierry Henry for most of the season, he got 81 shots and only converted 12.

The one hugely positive outcome of that season was the Adebayor/Henry dance.

(There’s some neat assists and goals in there too)

Still, he worked hard, maintained a positive attitude, and played his ass off.

Then Henry left. Then van Persie was injured again. Then his other strike partner had his leg broken by Taylor. And Adebayor was left all alone up front and no one thought he could do it. Here was this big fella who did so well to hold the ball up for his strike partner to get a hold of left without a strike partner. A 23 year old, still a kid, being asked to fill the shoes of one of the greatest Arsenal players of all time with little or no help.

In that context, 26 goals and 4 assists on 118 shots in 37 games (SO FAR!) is a hell of a return. During the period when Arsenal were flying high we all have to admit, it was Adebayor who was leading the team. From December 29th, where he came on as a sub against Everton, to the Feb.11th game at home against Blackburn (that I attended) Ade scored 12 goals — an amazing run.

Since then, I think the toll of playing up front by himself, losing his only other strike partner (Dudu), and just the amazing amount of work he puts in had left him looking a bit jaded. Before the boss rested him, he simply looked unable to overpower defenders as he had done earlier in the season. He also looked tired on his runs and tired legs often lead to blown goals. So, as good as he was during the first month and a half of this year, he was equally and oppositely frustrating for this last month and a half.

I get it when Arsenal fans are frustrated by Ade’s touch. I get it when you get frustrated by his seeming lack of ability to put the ball away. I get it when you are frustrated by his constant offsides. The man is not perfect and the last month has really shown that to be the case.

But the month before showed us a glimmer of what I think we should expect from a fully fit strike duo that features Adebayor; he could be our Drogba — minus the divey, fakey, cuntery. But more than any striker before him, he needs a strong partner to play off of, a goal scoring threat who will take some of the defensive pressure away from him. Because as lone striker, defenses have been able to single him out, harass him, frustrate him, and make him work harder than he should have to to get the goals.

I may be biased because I was there when he got his first home goal but I think even an unbiased person would have to admit that his return in front of goal this season has improved massively. Not only that, but he gives Arsenal an aerial threat that they lacked the last two seasons and a big, strong striker who terrorizes and frustrates the best defenders in the Premiership. You can’t tell me that John Terry and Rio Ferdinand look forward to playing against Adebayor. Those three things alone would be enough to warrant a place in my 5 player spotlight but Ade has another quality that few people talk about: leadership.

I am not the only one who has improved. So have Cesc [Fabregas] and [Mathieu] Flamini, Kolo [Toure] and [Emmanuel] Eboue. Without them, I’m nothing. ‘They have made me the player I am today, the way I played at the San Siro. Every single day in training, they’re telling me what I should be doing. Am I becoming a world-class player? I don’t know. That’s for others to judge. I am just doing what Arsenal ask me to do and enjoying myself on the pitch. I don’t care about achieving individual things. The most important thing is to achieve things with the team, to win the Premier League and the Champions League.

That was his quote right after the 2-0 win at the San Siro. That is a man who’s humble, who knows his place on the team and who knows his place in Arsenal history. That is a man who, despite his prominent role as a striker, chooses to defer to others on the team and highlight their hard work. That is a man who rightly knows that all his hard work would be for naught if the team hadn’t made him what he is this season.
That’s a leader right there folks. A leader who puts the devastation of last month in perspective and who encourages his teammates to take the last 4 games seriously:

You have to show whether you are a man or not. In the difficult moments, that is when you have to come out and show character, personality and play your football. It is difficult, but I know my mum will be somewhere watching the TV, so I have to play for her, all my family and all the people who love Arsenal. We have to win all those games now, to play for our honor and for our fans. The fans have been great to me this season, always singing my name and taking me into their hearts.

Emmanuel Adebayor — one of my top 5 players of the 2007/2008 season.

Not much going on in the news, you probably already heard that Arsenal are 100% certain of signing David Villa from Valencia, or that maybe he’ll go to Liverpool, but Chelsea is right out.

I hate these kinds of stories because they are frustrating to the Arsenal supporters. Every year Arsenal are linked to someone (Babel, Torres, Wright-Phillips, Essien, etc. etc.) and every year that person signs for some other team.

All the Arsenal bloggers and readers ought to boycott those stories. They don’t do a single positive thing for the team, for the fans, or for the club. “Hleb is leaving,” “Villa is coming in,” “Arsenal to sign Ronaldinho!” Nothing more than amateur speculation and rumor.

That settles it. If you want rumor news, go somewhere else. I’m not printing it here any more except as a joke or out of irony. Frankly, I don’t know what I’ll print this summer… I guess I’ll have to be creative!

So that leaves us with two “real” news stories today: Lehmann doesn’t hate anyone, and Mourinho is polishing his Charity Shield in hopes of proving that he’s a better manager than Wenger and Fergie.

Those two stories are good for a laugh, huh?

Until tomorrow.

it's well and truly started

I thought yesterday was going to be the worst of it but today has proven to be far worse than I have ever seen. Maybe it’s because this is the first year I have had to pay attention. Previous seasons when Arsenal were dumped out of competition I could hole up, make a few comments to friends, and spring would wash over me as I set sights on a sunny summer of transfer speculation.

This year is vastly different. First I have a blog, which I update every day. This means I can’t hole up like I did last year, rather I must read the news articles, must stay attuned to what the fans are saying, must be here in the moment. Second, football has taken off here in The States. Whereas two years ago I had almost no one to commiserate with over the loss in the Champions League, now I know hundreds of local Arsenal supporters. Third, since I’m a regional manager of Arsenal America I have been more plugged in to that scene as well. Because of my involvement in that scene and with the local football venues I can say with great conviction that more Americans are watching football than ever before and as we all know, Americans love to have an opinion about stuff! Hell, here I am publicly baring my opinions! If I go into Doyle’s I will no doubt get 4 people asking me very detailed questions about Arsenal, their players, the season, comparisons, and of course a few people who want to twist the knife.

So, I am inundated with Arsenal comments and it’s been a bit hard to take. I thought it was going to die down after Sunday. But rather today seems to be the high water mark. The press have gone insane: comparing Wenger to Basil Fawlty and “condemning” him with the title of idealist. They also offer helpful articles which rip Gallas for imagined statements that he made (even if these have been proved false) and are piling on the pressure for fans with speculation that Flamini and Hleb are out the door.

It doesn’t surprise me that in this atmosphere the fans have started to react just as negatively. The problem is that some of you all are going way overboard. Senderos is reported to have cried after the match against Liverpool for fuck’s sake!

And I’ll admit it, I do/did it too.

I tried, so valiantly, to “leave Eboue alone” but I just couldn’t resist; like when you’re lonely and your crazy ex-wife calls you up. I didn’t blame Senderos explicitly, but I am guilty of putting him and the whole defense under the guillotine. I wondered publicly whether Gallas should be fired after getting duped by the Daily Mail and their lies about Gallas saying he has “no friends at Arsenal.” The point is, I’m guilty.

Guilty of what? I think Cesc let it out of the bag a bit last week when he said of playing at Anfield

The good thing about playing away is that we don’t have the pressure from our own fans

It’s true. Standing in the bar, sitting at Emirates, we’ve all done it. That groan when one of Arsenal’s passes don’t connect. I started noticing that I was doing it some time in January. This team makes, literally, hundreds of passes a game and generally has a passing percentage in the 80% range (I can’t find a good statistics page, if you know of one please let me know.) Against United, Hleb made 86% of his 51 passes, Cesc made 80% of his 51 passes, Adebayor? 80% of 37 passes. Eboue and Toure were the weak links with under 70% and under 80% respectively. Ronaldo, Rooney, and Park COMBINED for 84 passes with an average completion percentage of 74%. With Ronaldo being the biggest pass waster of all.

I say all this to show you how spoiled we all have become and how our own petulant behavior is effecting the lads on the pitch. Arsenal cannot make EVERY pass, they cannot score EVERY chance, and they cannot keep 38 clean sheets, so you all need to let that shit go. Because if Cesc is publicly saying that the fans are creating a stifling atmosphere with their unrealistic expectations, then you know it’s something the whole team are aware of and something that weighs heavily on them come match day.

We need our fans to be supporters. Unlike in America, Arsenal aren’t going to leave Seattle for Oklahoma City to get a better stadium deal. Unlike in America, the club is a club — it’s here for us and we need to be there for it in return instead of playing like we are managers. So, we can’t just be “fans” as we are here in America. The club demands more. The club demands supporters.

Like these people who stayed for 20 minutes after in Manchester to cheer on the club and the team.

Let’s get THAT kind of support at Emirates and strike fear into the hearts of opponents. Let’s get that kind of support on the road and let’s get that kind of support for the club and the players on the blogs and forums and in our pubs.

Because we are the Arsenal, fuck all the rest.

With that in mind, I’m starting a five part column tomorrow called “Top five Arsenal players of the season.” Each day of the next five will feature a season recap for one of the five players I think was most instrumental to the team. I want to be clear that this is not a competition. The team could not have done well with ANY of these players missing so no one player is “better” than another. Further, they are presented at my whim and the day that they are presented is in no way a reflection on ranking or status within the group. And finally, I want to state at the outset that because I am highlighting these five is not a slight on any of the other players on the squad. I think all the players have performed admirably this season and I could say something positive about every player at the club (yes even Eboue, who I said something positive about on Saturday). They are just 5 players who’s performances I’d like to highlight in order to give you all something positive to go forward with as we head into the off season.

And so, see you all tomorrow where I will be highlighting…