Entries Tagged 'General' ↓

Hleb was our playmaker. Hleb was our attacking midfielder. Hleb was our striker. Then he was hacked by Carew and had to be replaced. This was the turning point of the game.  Hleb’s pass completion was 98%, that is simply outstanding. When he went off our attacks fell apart, we resorted to long balls and losing possession. Hleb was instrumental to us last night at Villa Park and Villa new this, MON would have said to his team at half time, ‘Listen guys, Alexander has ran rings around us and every time they attack it’s through him. Whenever he attacks stay close to him’. The Villa players took this as ‘play rough on him’ and Carew hacked him down. But it didn’t matter because we still won.

Had we lost or even drew because of that challenge then Wenger would have let the press know about it. But I hold nothing against Villa, they are turning into a good solid team; they have skillful players on the wings, good players in the middle and a good target man i.e. the makings of a good team. So we faced problems last night, major ones. We had a team that like to cross, use pacey wingers and a target man in the middle, all 3 of which are attributes that Arsenal don’t like. We coped well but only just got 3 points, this is what champions are made of. On a number of occasions Young outmaneouvred Sagna and Bacari had to foul him, luckily we didn’t have Senderos on the pitch because Senderos+set pieces= disaster.

So another game passes and another unbeaten game in the league, it’s starting to look good, isn’t it? December makes or breaks seasons and this year it’s no different. Adebayor scored and his confidence seems to have found itself in good stead ahead of a tough Newcastle trip in midweek. Newcastle are poor but Sam will turn them into a good side, I’m certain of it. They need patience and commitment from players. St James’ Park will be bustling with 50,000 lunatics eager to see their team start winning, so the game will be tough. Fabregas is 50% to play, Hleb is 50% to play and Newcastle will be 100% ready to play us and save their season.

If Fabregas doesn’t play it should not matter much, why? Because Flamini done Fabregas’ job well last night. Wenger put out Flamini and Diarra in the middle but knew two defensive midfielders together would not complement each other well so said to Flamini, ‘Matt, Cesc is injured so you’re job is to be our main passer in midfield. I rely on you to link up attack to defense and support our striker like Fabregas does’. Flamini then looked at Arsene and said ‘Monsieur Wenger, your wish is my command’. Flamini done well last night. He assisted our attack and left Diarra to do the main defensive work. It worked well but would have worked better with Gilberto. Diarra was sloppy and casual in the second half, we pride ourselves on fast, quick touching football but Diarra was still in Chelsea mindset and controlled the ball for too long. Gilberto would have been slicker and quicker on the ball but in the end it didn’t matter.

We face Burnley in the F.A cup, it’s a good run out for our kids. They are a good team who should have been promoted years ago but let their chance slip and now find it hard to get to the play off finals. So will our fate be solved in December? Will a good December give the title to us? Yes. I think so. I’ve said from the start of the season we will win it this year, and every week proves me right.

Ramin

The Sun hate us and today they wrote that ‘Wenger was to blame for Arsenal’s poor display after being cocky enough to field a changed 11 from their convincing win against Wigan on Saturday. They only have themselves to blame for not sailing through their group in 1st place’. Then he went on to write about how Ronaldo was a ‘blistering player with the ability to be the best in the world in 2 years time’. The moral of the story is The Sun write a lot of bullshit.

Wenger was not arrogant and cocky, fact is, Wenger trusts his players because he is a manager that has faith in his team. If Wenger didn’t have faith in his team he wouldn’t have played our youngsters in the Carling Cup final last season, he wouldn’t have played our youngsters this season and he would have bought experience in the summer. He didn’t and the wanker who writes for The Sun is obviously jealous of our great run this season, therefore decided to take it out on Wenger. After all, Fergie spent £17m on Hargreaves who let’s face it has been shite for United so far.

Let’s move on; Arsenal were outclassed last night. Arsenal went to Sevilla and played for a draw because we were happy to get a point and coast through the group in top place. Arsenal could have won, but we needed our best team out. We may be able to win the league with youngsters but we cannot win the European Cup with youngsters because experience counts in Europe. Last night proved it. Last night we would have beaten any premier league team because our youngsters have had premier league experience, however we still need to mature in Europe. At least Wenger realised this now rather than later on in the stages where it would have turned out more fatal.

We needed Gallas last night. We needed our commander, our spine, our leader on the pitch. We needed Gallas to be there to help guide our delicate youngsters in the south of Spain. But he was not there and we paid for it. However it doesn’t matter, why? Because Arsenal will finish 2nd and probably face an elite club, but we play best when underdogs. When Arsenal are favourites, we buckle under pressure. When we reached the final against Barca we were underdogs in every match. Juventus were supposed to beat us 3-0, Madrid were supposed to ‘teach us a lesson’ (famously said by Ally McCoist on ITV1 before our match) but they didn’t and everyone was left gobsmacked. That was the year everyone started looking at Wenger as a special manager, something different to any other.

We need to get a big team in the champions league because Arsene is a great motivator. He will tell the players we can win the match and the players will respond to Monsieur Wenger because Wenger is the best coach in the world. Who will we get? I don’t know. Who would I like us to get? Milan. They are an ageing team, they are a team that have been poor this season because their main striker left 2 seasons ago for Chelsea, and ever since, they have lacked power up front. Kaka is class, but one player does not make a team. Flamini can outwit Kaka and deep down Flamini knows it, Flamini wants Kaka because he knows Kaka will be in his pocket when they meet.

Eboue was poor last night but Bendtner was immense. Bendtner can hold the ball up because his physical strength overrides his skill, he is a strong lad. Bendtner is a special player and Wenger knows this, hence why Arsene wants to keep hold of him even though we have 4 other strikers ready to play up front. Will Bendtner take Addy’s place this season? No. Arsene likes Addy but also likes Bendtner. So he faces a dilemma, just like he faced a dilemma when he sold Paddy in 2005 and had to decide whether to buy a replacement or not. In that case he didn’t and we paid the price for 2 years. However, if we bought a replacement we probably wouldn’t have seen a future legend blossom, better known as Fabregas.

To finish this, I came across pictures of our unbeaten record (28 Unbeaten) taken from Arsenal.com. I enjoyed looking at Adebayor celebrating the best goal he’s ever scored and probably will ever score against Spurs at the Lane when we taught them a lesson on how to play football.

Ramin

It was a good win. But Reading were poor. They were ultra defensive and wanted to score from set pieces, after all, last season they attacked us and lost 4-1. This time round Coppell wanted to defend for a draw or a lucky win. Last season they would have got away with it, but not this season. Why? Because this season Arsenal can beat teams who put a bus in front of their goal, we have learned how to vary our tactics depending on the oppositions tactics. Reading were always going to lose last night from the first minute.

Adebayor had chances, and he hit the post after 3 minutes. Adebayor needs confidence; he needs RVP back. I said this in an earlier article, and I will say it again; Adebayor and RVP are like shampoo and conditioner, one without the other is not as effective.

RVP and Addy have built up an immense understanding together, they know when to move for each other and where to lay the ball off for each other. Now RVP is injured, Adebayor is under pressure and has to work harder as he is the only striker in a 4-5-1. Adebayor is better in a 4-4-2 with Van Persie alongside him attacking. When Robin comes back from injury, Adebayor will score a brace in Robins first game back.

On another note, I got a phone call this morning at 10.30am while I was on the 297 bus heading to Broadway:

Mike: ‘You’ll never guess what’
Me: ‘Suprise me…’
Mike: ‘That stupid idea they called myfootballclub, well they’ve just taken over a conference team’
Me: ‘You being serious?’
Mike: ‘Yeah. Some team called Ebbsfleet apparently, what’s your view on it?’
Me: ‘Read my article I will write on my site in an hour or so, I need read up about it, I’ll catch you later’

This is a ridiculous idea. Let’s not kid ourselves, the only reason a conference team has let a website take over them is because conference teams are financially depressed more than ever at the moment. They need marketing attraction and if that means selling to a website and their names splashed all over the headlines because of it, then be it. 

When they ‘vote’ to buy a player then surely the whole world will know which player they are going to buy as all they have to do is check the website and see who’s winning the votes. Thus the team they are buying the player off can just bump the price up. This is one flaw out of hundreds of other flaws in this comical idea.

“Members will have a vote on transfers as well as player selection and all major decisions”

So you appoint a manager but then tell him who he can and can’t have in his team? Now where have I heard of that before? Yes Martin Jol and Mourinho springs to mind.

Back to reality, Wenger has come out and said he ‘might’ buy a player in January. So it didn’t suprise me to see the idiots writing in the papers or even on forums debate on who the player is. Wenger’s words were:

“I don’t think I will get anybody in but if I get one opportunity in one area then I will not neglect it.”

Wenger will not buy anyone, he said it himself. All he said was that if a world class player came at a cheap price, he will take a look. Which is stating the obvious. Wenger will sell in January, he will sell Jens. He will not buy. I can put my house on it. Why disrupt the team by bringing in further competition? Midfield is packed. When Robin comes back our attacking options will be packed. We have Djourou out on loan who has been performing excellently at Birmingham so our defense is not an issue. That leaves the keeper. But Wenger likes Almunia and already has the next Cech, Fabianski, ready to take over from Almunia.

Thus, January will come and go without many major changes. Jens will be sold, but as I said, this is not a major change. Why? Because Almunia is keeping him out of the first team at the moment therefore Jens’ status at Arsenal is irrelevant. It’s harsh I know, but the truth hurts.

Ramin

Nadal beat Gasquet after going a set down. Haye overpowers Mormeck which only begs Warren to set up a fight with Maccarinelli. Man Utd win 2-0 against Blackburn who have turned into the new Bolton; organised and tough to beat. Cotto beats Sugar Shane Mosley. It’s been a good sporting weekend. But it has been marred by the death of an Italian fan who was wrongly shot by the Italian police before a Seria A match. 

Italian football is a shambles. Teams are corrupt, fans are out of control and police have no authority at football matches. The problems in Italian football have been covered up by Italy winning the world cup and Milan winning the champions league. If Italy didn’t win the World Cup in 2006 and Milan didn’t win the champions league against Liverpool, Italian football would have been fucked. Fucked to the point where it should have been banned for months after the corruption between the Seria A teams a couple of years ago. But we’ll see what action is taken over the innocent shooting earlier today.

Moving on, Arsenal are playing tomorrow night. I predicted a tought game for us, but I’m sure we can win. We need some class, we need some strength and we need Adebayor to start scoring again. He was immense at the start of the season but his confidence has decreased over the past month or so. But Wenger will change things at Reading. He will bring back Rosicky and Toure, while Senderos is not fit enough to return even though he is not injured anymore. Expect a strong team with Theo coming off the bench.

So is there much else to talk about? No. But I will talk. I will talk as if my heart is attached to a life support machine and everytime I stop typing the machine slows down. So let’s talk. What about? I want to talk about Blackburn. Blackburn under Hughes have turned into a hard working, powerful and effective team. Hughes bought Samba for under £500,000, he turned Pederson into what he is now and he bought McCarthy for £2.5m. McCarthy is exceptional; every summer he literally begged the English teams to buy him from Porto but teams did not. Man City spent £7.5m on Samaras when they could have attracted McCarthy.

I like Hughes, he is a winner and he is tactically good. He has an eye for talent like Wenger, and talk is rife that he will take over a big team after Blackburn, aka Man Utd. I can see this happening, and if he takes over Arsenal when Wenger leaves, I will be happy. I will be happy because he will not spend ridiculous amounts on players, he will not ruin the tradition Wenger has built at Arsenal. He will be cautious and I like cautious people. I went into Ladbrokes on Friday and was standing next to an Iranian man who put £400 into the roulette machine, he put the money on numbers, all apart from 23. Guess what number came up. Yes, it was 23. £400 down the drain. He muttered, ‘Fecking machine, I’ve lost 400 on this one and 500 on the other one in the space of 2 hours’. He was not cautious, he did not show careful forethought.

Wenger is cautious. Hughes is cautious. Will Hughes take over from Wenger? Maybe. Maybe not. I have a soft spot for Scolari because he’s been successful for pretty much every team he’s managed. But it’s too early to talk about life after Wenger.

Tomorrow, we shall see whether Arsenal can overtake United and take top spot off them once again. Going into December - where we have 7 games altogether in a space of 4 weeks - top spot is the best position to be in. If we can come out of December still top, our chances of winning the league will increase to 80%; at the moment it is 60%. Christmas is when the average and the good are distinguished.

Ramin

Sunday is not a game of two giants; it’s a game of two titans. But the tale of the two titans were hugely in contrast at the beginning of the season; Liverpool were regarded to win the title, and Arsenal were regarded to finish 5th. But at the moment the reverse is happening. If Arsenal lose, momentum is lost and it could change our season. If Liverpool lose, Rafa will be a step closer to losing his job, although he is very far from doing so at the moment.

Torres is back. Those 3 words are what the Arsenal back line should have feared, but are not fearing. Why? Because the Arsenal back line have come off a clean sheet. Arsenal would have taken 4-0 rather than 7-1 against Slavia… why? Because of the clean sheet. A clean sheet brings confidence to the back line and helps gel the defence more efficiently. A clean sheet going into Liverpool on Sunday brings calmness to the defence and Almunia. It reassures us, that even if we play badly, we have the personnel to keep a good clean sheet. This is a great asset to have.

In one of my previous articles, I said Gallas is Thierry’s twin, but is more realistic than Henry. I was right. Gallas has openly spoken of Wengers youth policy:

Arsène Wenger was right. After the departure of Titi, he has trusted the group, the young players. What has changed this year is drive, collective desire, and fighting spirit.

Thierry wanted success instantly, Gallas understands this might not happen but is making the most of our exceptional run of form. Arsenal had enough of being written off. Arsenal had enough of being classed as poor, and when Henry left they wanted to prove a point. The point has been partially proven, but we need to capitalise on this great run of form to prove a point to the tossers who write in the newspapers.

On another note, Jens said Wenger is humiliating him. However, Jens is humuliating himself. He needs to shut up and work hard. Wenger likes players who don’t complain, the track record proves it; Aliadiere didn’t complain thus Wenger kept him for 8 years even though a normal player would have been sold after 4. Almunia didn’t complain and has now been given his chance. Parlour never complained about being bit-part in the team and he turned into an unsung legend.

Jens will be going soon. But one person that has already gone is Martin Jol. Jol left last night before the game with Getafe kicked off. He waited to choose to tell the players after the match, which is fair; if he was sacked before the match Spurs would have lost 4-0. But in the end only ended up losing 2-1. When will Spurs understand that they cannot become successful until they back a manager and keep him at Spurs for 5+ years? When a manager is given backing, no matter how bad the run of form is, it can only get better. When a manager has the board breathing down his kneck, it’s only a matter of time before he gets sacked. Why? Because pressure in football is a colossal force that only results in the downfall of a club.

Jol would have turned it around. He was the manager to take it to the next level. He just needed time. He was given money, but needed time. He also needed the team for himself, not Comolli butting his nose in on who to buy and who to sell. Jol wanted to keep Carrick, but Comolli called Levy and said, ‘I have a player better than Carrick for half Carricks price. Sell Michael, it will not affect us’. The board sold Carrick and bought in Zokora, who was nowhere near the standard of Carrick. They needed Muntari, Appiah, Yaya, someone with great passing ability and great physical presence, not the King of laziness a.k.a Zokora.

To conclude, I came across this picture of Paul Robinson which had me in stitches for around 10 straight minutes, hope you enjoy it:

Ramin