Tag Archives: Andrei Arshavin is mentioned in this blog

HLEB

Song, Arshavin, and Moyes: irony dies

Good morning. I made it on to the Talking Heads feature on the dot com this morning with a very brief preview of the Fulham match. I beg of you, please take a look.

After that, come back and read a very well thought out tactical preview of the match by our very own Arsenal Letters. AL really fills in all the cracks, talking about the importance of keeping the Fulham fullbacks contained among other insights into the match.

Match time tomorrow is 7am (local time) and the game is live on ESPN2 here in the States. I’ll do a numerical preview tonight and post it in the morning so that we can have a comment thread. Tomorrow, I will be doing a post-match piece for the same Talking Heads feature on Arsenal.com and my customary post-match By the Numbers piece for Arseblog News. Also, my tweets will be featured on Arsenal.com tomorrow. Not sure where yet, but somewhere!

On to the Arsenal News, let’s see,,,

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before: Arsenal turn a relative unknown into a world class player, sell them on to Barcelona, they don’t make the grade, end up riding the pine for much of their first season, and then complain in the press about how much they miss Arsenal. No, not Cesc, or Hleb, or Henry, I’m talking about Alex Song! The latest in a line of players who were sold to Barcelona and have regrets about leaving Arsenal.

I know that some of you will get all huffy about me including Henry and Cesc in there — it’s a joke. It’s not true that Henry and Cesc “rode the pine” at Barcelona; Cesc had 38 starts in his first season at Barca and Henry 36. Not exactly the same as Alex Song’s 19 starts and Hleb’s 17.

But joking aside, I do wonder if Barcelona scout players like Hleb and Song before they buy them. I think they do. I think they know exactly what they are getting and that is a decent squad player. The disconnect isn’t on the Barcelona side, it’s on the player side. The Hlebs and Songs of the world get big at Arsenal and think that they are better than they actually are. That’s right at the moment that Arsene has enough of their antics and sells them. Then they go from a place where people are pumping their self-esteem 24/7 to a place where they are just another squad player and I guess that would hurt. A lot.

HLEB

Oh well, shouldn’t have been such a prat. Really. Should have been more professional while at Arsenal or not weaseled your way out the front door. And that’s really the end of that story. Arsenal don’t have a buy-back clause in Song’s contract because we don’t want him back just like we didn’t want Hleb back. They burned that bridge.

In other “news” stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Arsenal player gets drunk and acts like a fool in public! No I don’t mean Bendtner or Wilshere I mean Andrei Arshavin! The pint-sized Russian apparently tried to get into a nightclub while highly intoxicated and failed. I don’t know. This seems like the perfect end to his Arsenal career: wasted and asking a bouncer “don’t you know who I am?”

I was only joking about Wilshere, but like Bendtner getting drunk and trying to get free pizza, there is something here in this video that may point to a larger problem with the player. A lot of people want to blame Arsene for Andrei’s downfall but I was never convinced that it was “being played out of position” that caused Arshavin to stop being good. I think there was something else, lack of application, professional jealousy, drink, culture clash, something.  A real shame too.

And finally, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, Northern manager moans like a drain about how his players are kicked all over the pitch and demands that the refs “protect” his players and then comes to London and plays like Stoke only to say after “that’s how we play up North.” No, I’m not talking about Pulis, Ferguson, or Allardyce, I’m talking about David Moyes!

Just a few weeks ago Moyes complained about Norwich’s Bradley Johnson kicking Marouane Fellaini only to come to Arsenal and have Darron Gibson do his best Bradley Johnson impression on Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott. But what’s worse is the gloating after about getting a 0-0 draw and bragging that that’s just how they play up North. Amazing. He really has a firm grasp on irony.

Anyway, that’s your lot for now. More to come tomorrow. See you then,

Qq

There's only one Aaron Ramsey

Jack, Aaron, team balance, new keepers, and Arshavin

There is way too much news this morning to get into, so we might as well get stuck in.

First, the response from the readers to yesterday’s blog about who should start in the Arsenal midfield once Wilshere is back was fantastic and I have to admit that there were several opinions in the comments that I hadn’t thought about.

The one that struck a chord was the idea of the defensive balance between Arteta and Ramsey versus Arteta and Wilshere. It’s a bit early to tell (and way too little data to predict) but I have to agree with the gut feeling that Ramsey just provides the team with a true double pivot. Wilshere is more inclined to get forward and Ramsey, despite his 8 months of playing in the “Cesc role”, seems more tactically disciplined.

As one reader pointed out, this is borne out by the numbers somewhat with Ramsey claiming an amazing 94% tackle rate (according to Squawka.com) with 45/48 tackles. Meanwhile Wilshere is a mere 24/28 tackles. I say “mere” and I mean it, Wilshere is tackling at a decent rate (86%) but Wilshere has played more minutes than Aaron (1503 v. 1478) and when you look at the minutes per tackle, Jack is averaging a tackle every 63 minutes whereas Aaron is one every 32 minutes. Similarly going forward, Ramsey is only 27/57 dribbles whereas Wilshere is 52/91. Obviously, that’s not the be-all-end-all of the comparison but it indicates a difference in balance between the two.

And really that’s what a lot of people have been saying for a few months now. It’s not a knock (necessarily) on either player. It’s just what’s happening with those two at the moment: Jack is playing more forward and Aaron is playing deeper.

So, which of those two you pick is really up to how you see the team playing on any given day and… whether you think Rosicky needs a rest. That’s where I see Jack getting his chances the rest of this season. Rosicky and Jack have a very similar attitude: when they receive the ball, they both turn at the defense and attack. And handing the central role to either of them doesn’t seem to be hurting the play of Cazorla. Santi wasn’t the best against West Brom but when he started on the left against Reading he scored and assisted. In fact, Santi has started on the left 7 times this season (in League and CL play) and has 4 goals and 3 assists; compared to 29 times in the middle with 8 goals and 5 assists. So, on average, it’s not that bad for him to start on the left.

Obviously, Arsenal aren’t playing against “Average” for the rest of the season so it’ll have to be a game by game call as to who plays where and when. That’s why Arsene Wenger gets the big bucks.

In other news the Daily Mail is stating that Arsenal have tabled a bid for Stoke keeper Asmir Begovich. Now, I’m not sure how much I believe anything the Daily Mail publishes. Oh wait, that’s a lie, I am sure: it’s “not much”. But there have been signs that Wenger is unhappy with the keeper situation at Arsenal for a few years now and there have been signs that I have been unhappy with the keeper situation for a few years as well.

Arsene tried to buy Schwarzer and Reina, that is fact. You may think each was just a rumor but they were actual targets and Arsenal pursued both heavily. What stopped the deals were various and sundry details which we are not actually aware of (Mark Hughes played a major part in stopping the Schwarzer deal) but the fact remains that Wenger has, within his means, attempted to buy an experienced keeper in each of the last few years. So it wouldn’t be a total surprise if Arsene was asking early about a keeper like Begovich.

I’ve already received numerous requests for comments about whether I rate Begovich over Szczesny and I will only say this: I see them as equals and that’s not a bad thing. Begovich has an astounding high claim rate of 100%, but Szczesny is no slouch with 97%. Begovich, however, is forced into high claims a lot more than Szcz and despite the huge numbers of high claims, punches in only about 13% of his games compared to Szczesny who punches in 42% of his games. In that sense, Bego is much more reliable.

Szczesny is a better distributor, but then that would probably change once Begovich is no longer being asked to lump it out to Peter Crouch. They both have similar numbers of errors that lead to shots… I could go on and on but just know that for me the two compare very similarly except on the issue of high claims.

Where there is no comparison is Begovich to Fabianski. Fabianski claims a horrible 56% and punches 33%. Even Mannone had a better high claims rate than Fabianski, with just the two mental errors being among the main reasons why he didn’t take over when Wenger benched Szczesny.

So, in that case, buying a player like Begovich is actually a very sound idea. He will certainly challenge Szczesny for the starting spot and there is nothing wrong with that. Begovich is also very clearly better than any of the current backup solutions at Arsenal and again, there is nothing wrong with that. If Szczesny loses his starting spot to Begovich, then maybe he wasn’t good enough to be Arsenal’s long term keeper anyway?

Arshavin prepares for the North London derby

And speaking of “not good enough” there are a spate of news report this morning that Arshavin is considering retirement (or not) at the end of this season. Funny, I thought he retired two years ago after his goal against Barcelona made him one of the greatest players on Earth!

Arseblog said almost everything I have to say about Arshavin: clearly a talented player but just as clearly a player who lacked that something, that extra application which divides the greats from the Arshavins. This is the point where some of you will have a go at the manager but I can say that every time I saw Arshavin try a little flick-on-back-heel-passallasso in Arsenal’s midfield I saw a player who was being lazy, relying on his talent alone and not both talent and hard work. I know that those passes are exciting in FIFA 13 and on YouTube but in a real football match they have no place. And that’s why Arshavin had no place.

I will try to do a By the Numbers post on Arshavin over at Arseblog News sometime in the next few days, there were certainly some strange numbers in his career at Arsenal. And perhaps Les can do a Rogues Gallery post on Arshavin? We’ll see!

Until then.

Qq

PS: Gods damn it! I forgot to welcome our newest contributor, Cliffy. he is going to be adding a weekly cartoon, like the one below, which will be included in a post and on the sidebar of the main page. Please welcome him!

Arsenal's Mozart

transfer-bingo

Arsene Wenger’s transfer snipe hunt

I believe that the buys should be over once the championship is started. Somewhere when you are manager, you have to make decisions and decide whether you will be successful with a squad or not.

Once the championship has started, for me, it is ‘OK, the race has started, now you cannot change any more’. And no window in January either. Because it’s too easy to rectify any mistakes that you have made, especially for clubs who have big money. It gives better chances to the smaller clubs.

Arsene Wenger, August 21st 2009.

Every square in my Arsene Wenger Transfer Window Press Conference BINGO card has been sourced directly from quotes by the manager himself. And the upper left square, the one which says “I wish there was no January window” is one of my two favorites (I’ll let you guess the other) because it speaks volumes about the man.

As if his paucity of purchases in January (the only big name player I’ve seen him buy in January was Arshavin) weren’t telling enough, Wenger has been clear about the January transfer window, he doesn’t like it. He feels it gives the haves an unfair advantage over the have-nots and if he had his way, there would either be no January window or transfers would be open all year.

Wenger’s argument is purely economics. A January window gives a disincentive to unhappy players to get on with their contracted jobs since they can earn a move by being disgruntled (c.f. Yanga-Mbiwa). Having just a month to buy players also causes inflation in the market as we have seen with Gary Cahill’s price. Teams know that if you are coming to them in January, with the League half-decided, they have you over the barrel to some extent.

There are other distortions as well, caused by having teams being able to buy their way out of relegation or into a top four spot. For example, today Wenger called it unfair that a team who played Newcastle before January faced one side and that the team who faces them after gets a wholly different side.

You’ll get no argument from me on that point. Wenger is 100% correct that if a team, say Arsenal, were to buy a superstar player, say Radamel Falcao, it would radically change the balance of Arsenal’s team sheet before and after January. Teams facing Arsenal after that purchase would have it harder. But, surely, that’s the point? To make a team that’s harder to beat? That’s why you ever purchase players, doesn’t matter if it’s January or August.

What really perplexes me is that I’m not sure which teams he’s sticking up for here. Arsenal are one of the teams that should be benefiting from this rule. We should be exploiting the January window to add players who will change the fortunes of this club, not moaning about other teams doing it. You don’t intentionally hamper the ability of your team to compete by not taking advantage of a rule that exists because of some philosophical disagreement with the rule. Arsenal are one of the richest teams in the world. Arsenal have a massive cash stockpile, that dry powder everyone at the club brags about.

But I’m also not so sure Arsene isn’t just philosophizing or as you English like to say “taking the piss”. He has, out of necessity rather that in a fit of pique, purchased players in January in order to make his team more competitive. Arshavin, again, is the prime example of this. So, he was, in all likelihood, just talking. Giving the press what they love, juicy quotes to make into headline news.

But despite all that I’m also not convinced Wenger is looking for someone, because all along he has dropped hints about what types of players Arsenal are looking for and they pretty much rule out everyone. Think of it as a scavenger hunt or maybe even a snipe hunt.

  • The player in question must make an impact: he variously describes this as “top top quality” and “someone special”, forwards tend to make the most impact.
  • The player in question must either be disgruntled or play for a team in financial distress: you already know this, it’s nigh impossible to get a player who is happy from a rich team. Kun Aguero? Fuggetaboutit. Isco? Maybe. Cavani? Tough. Falcao? Really tough. Stefanos Athanasiadis? Sure, but see rule 1.
  • The player can’t be cup tied: not so sure why this is so critical to Wenger, Arshavin was cup tied when we bought him, could be a smoke screen.
  • Not from France: Wenger was unequivocal about this today “you can cut all the French players out [of your list]. Rules out Capoue and specifically Belhanda.
  • Not David Villa: “we are not on the case”.
  • Not Mats Hummels: “I can’t imagine Dortmund selling their defenders in the middle of the season”.
  • Not Diame: “we have not approached West Ham”.
  • “First want to get everyone healthy at the club”: this refers to Tomas Rosicky who it was confirmed is available for selection finally.
  • “Then want to get everyone playing to their potential”: this refers to a plethora of players, Diaby is the most oft cited here.
  • “We have two players in every position”: arguably incorrect, Szczesny-Mannone, Mertesacker-Vermaelen-Koscielny-Squillaci, Sagna-Jenkinson, Gibbs-Santos, Cazorla-Rosicky, Arteta-Coquelin-Diaby-Ramsey-Wilshere, Podolski-Gervinho-Arshavin, Walcott-Ox, Giroud… Podolski, Walcott, Gervinho?
  • Will buy a player if a top quality player comes up: highly unlikely.

I know that there are some twitterati who claim to be in the know about a £30m bid from Arsenal to some team in order to land someone named “Mario”.  I also know that everyone assumes that’s Mario Götze. Sure, why not. I like to dream. But given Wenger’s words, I’m highly doubtful.

Oh, and if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that Wenger gave everyone a BINGO from the “I wish” square to the “not looking at anyone” today. Congratulations, you just won a can of squelch.

Qq