Monday, 18 January 2010
Briefest of posts
So the dust settles on our 2-0 win and we'll have to get up to do it all over again. The bad news is that Fran Merida sprained an ankle and is out, the good news is that Walcott and Denilson return. This will probably mean that Walcott will start on the right of the front three and Denilson will come in for the impressive Eastmond. Gael Clichy will probably start at left back after his long absence as a result of his recurrent back injury. The only other bit of bad news I've spotted amidst the tons of transfer manure is that Cameroon recovered to beat Zambia 3-2, damn, Alex Song may not be coming home early after all.
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Robustly done at the Reebok
It's never pretty away to Bolton, it's inevitable that those Reebok luvvies will do everything in their power to put us off our rhythm, often that includes a lot of below the belt tactics, so it's always a tough test and a win there is always a hard earned three points. The surprise before the game was Nasri's absence with a hamstring injury, further limiting our midfield options. Despite some rather ludicrous banter in certain quarters of Nasri and Cesc being the holding player, Arsene opted to give Craig Eastmond a chance to impress on the big stage, something that had been hinted at here.
The first half saw us place some nice stuff and generally look the better side. Eastmond, who quiet effectiveness reminds me of Gilberto's style of play, was efficient in front the back four, he won a fair few headers, used the ball sensible and did what had been asked of him. Diaby played with discipline and was deep to support Eastmond, this then allowed Cesc the freedom he needed to open up Bolton time and time again. Other than a goal correctly ruled out for offside and a good Almunia save after Klasnic had bustled his way past Gallas, Bolton were generally restricted to half chances from outside the box.
We had two clear penalties denied, one before and one after the opening Fabregas goal, both for fouls on the aforementioned when the defenders got nothing on the football at all. The first goal came when Diaby scrapped for possession on the edge of the box, it broke to Cesc, a neat one two with Eduardo then led to Cesc side footing the ball home very calmly into the bottom corner, lovely stuff. Eastmond went close with a good side footed effort from a corner kick, while Cesc should have scored a second just before the break when he miss hit with the goal at his mercy from only a few yards out.
The usual filth came from Bolton's thugs. Taylor got Cesc's head in a bizarre leg lock in the box, rather than letting Cesc get up after he had been chopped down. Another incident saw a Bolton player, possibly Taylor again, clearly leave their studs in on Diaby as they tried to hurdle him on the half way line. Robinson was very lucky not to receive a second yellow for going through the back of Cesc for the second time with his studs showing. There was also more of his niggling violence in the second half, again there was another cleverly subtle stamp in the box, while Knight's aggressive approach to Carlos Vela showed just how unpleasant this bunch of tattooed neanderthals are.
It was pretty nervy for a good period of the second half. Bolton put some pressure on us and we held firm, with a little bit of help from the linesman and that little bit of luck that you always need. The dangerous Klasnic was incorrectly rules offside when in a very dangerous position through on goal, Taylor also missed a couple of decent chances which was particularly satisfying to watch. Generally though we kept it reasonably tight, Traore was caught out of position all afternoon, but part of this was the fact that he got virtually no support from the midfield in front of him, showing why it's very hard to get away with the 4-3-3 system unless you have superhuman fullbacks. As the half wore on we looked the more likely. Merida added drive from central midfield when he came on for the solid Eastmond, making some excellent jinking runs and forcing Bolton onto the back foot. The second goal appropriately went to Fran Merida, an excellent Eduardo chip cross was flicked on by Zat Knight, Merida brilliantly anticipated this, controlled it with his magic wands and slotted it home into the far corner, game over.
Overall Arsene got things right today and this resulted in a very nice away cleen sheet with three points attached. Bolton always raise their game for our visit and I think we did pretty well defensively in this context, Klasnic is a rather handy player too. People will always see what they want to see in players and if Manuel Almunia was called by another name then I am sure most people would be saying that he had a very decent game today. Traore was a bit suspect positionally and Clichy's return is a very welcome boost. It was excellent to see a young lad, Craig Eastmond, come in and do such a good job, I really hope he gets a few more starts in Song's absence. Cesc was awesome, at the hub of all our best moves, but it was thanks to Diaby and Eastmond's discipline that we could play him in a way that suited his game. Strangely we won 2-0 without any of the front three being fantastic, Eduardo linked up play well but didn't look as threatening as he can do, Rosicky worked very hard for the team, and Arshavin did disappoint me a little, slighty loose with his passing and often a bit peripheral. Still we're right up there and that's what counts.
The first half saw us place some nice stuff and generally look the better side. Eastmond, who quiet effectiveness reminds me of Gilberto's style of play, was efficient in front the back four, he won a fair few headers, used the ball sensible and did what had been asked of him. Diaby played with discipline and was deep to support Eastmond, this then allowed Cesc the freedom he needed to open up Bolton time and time again. Other than a goal correctly ruled out for offside and a good Almunia save after Klasnic had bustled his way past Gallas, Bolton were generally restricted to half chances from outside the box.
We had two clear penalties denied, one before and one after the opening Fabregas goal, both for fouls on the aforementioned when the defenders got nothing on the football at all. The first goal came when Diaby scrapped for possession on the edge of the box, it broke to Cesc, a neat one two with Eduardo then led to Cesc side footing the ball home very calmly into the bottom corner, lovely stuff. Eastmond went close with a good side footed effort from a corner kick, while Cesc should have scored a second just before the break when he miss hit with the goal at his mercy from only a few yards out.
The usual filth came from Bolton's thugs. Taylor got Cesc's head in a bizarre leg lock in the box, rather than letting Cesc get up after he had been chopped down. Another incident saw a Bolton player, possibly Taylor again, clearly leave their studs in on Diaby as they tried to hurdle him on the half way line. Robinson was very lucky not to receive a second yellow for going through the back of Cesc for the second time with his studs showing. There was also more of his niggling violence in the second half, again there was another cleverly subtle stamp in the box, while Knight's aggressive approach to Carlos Vela showed just how unpleasant this bunch of tattooed neanderthals are.
It was pretty nervy for a good period of the second half. Bolton put some pressure on us and we held firm, with a little bit of help from the linesman and that little bit of luck that you always need. The dangerous Klasnic was incorrectly rules offside when in a very dangerous position through on goal, Taylor also missed a couple of decent chances which was particularly satisfying to watch. Generally though we kept it reasonably tight, Traore was caught out of position all afternoon, but part of this was the fact that he got virtually no support from the midfield in front of him, showing why it's very hard to get away with the 4-3-3 system unless you have superhuman fullbacks. As the half wore on we looked the more likely. Merida added drive from central midfield when he came on for the solid Eastmond, making some excellent jinking runs and forcing Bolton onto the back foot. The second goal appropriately went to Fran Merida, an excellent Eduardo chip cross was flicked on by Zat Knight, Merida brilliantly anticipated this, controlled it with his magic wands and slotted it home into the far corner, game over.
Overall Arsene got things right today and this resulted in a very nice away cleen sheet with three points attached. Bolton always raise their game for our visit and I think we did pretty well defensively in this context, Klasnic is a rather handy player too. People will always see what they want to see in players and if Manuel Almunia was called by another name then I am sure most people would be saying that he had a very decent game today. Traore was a bit suspect positionally and Clichy's return is a very welcome boost. It was excellent to see a young lad, Craig Eastmond, come in and do such a good job, I really hope he gets a few more starts in Song's absence. Cesc was awesome, at the hub of all our best moves, but it was thanks to Diaby and Eastmond's discipline that we could play him in a way that suited his game. Strangely we won 2-0 without any of the front three being fantastic, Eduardo linked up play well but didn't look as threatening as he can do, Rosicky worked very hard for the team, and Arshavin did disappoint me a little, slighty loose with his passing and often a bit peripheral. Still we're right up there and that's what counts.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Midfield crisis and Song hopes
Firstly to the good news, Cameroon have lost their first match at the ACN to the mighty Gabon, meaning that if Cameroon lose to Zambia in their second game and Tunisia draw with Gabon, then Alex Song will be coming home early, that's what I'm hoping anyway.
Song is so important to us, not only because the lad has been playing so well, but also because we have so little defensive cover in the centre of our midfield. This has been emphasised yet again going into the Bolton away game with both Denilson and Ramsey out, leaving us very short of options in the centre of the park. I can't get very excited over signing another teenager, very few of these guys will ever make it through to our first team as regulars, it's more a business of making money from developing them and selling them on at a later date.
We have plenty of attacking options in this area, even with these injuries, the likes of Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin, Vela, Rosicky and Merida can all do a job in a more attacking midfield role. The problem is that other than Diaby, we have no one who can defend, no one with some physical presence, no one with aerial power. We have some talented kids, but they don't appear quite yet ready for big Premiership games like this, the likes of Eastmond, JET, Coquelin, Frimpong et al need more time.
Bolton have the worst defensive record at home in the league, we have the best away scoring record, if only life were that simple. With a new manager at the helm and the fact that we haven't kept an away clean sheet in 10 Premiership games, it is easy to see why this game is far from a guaranteed three points. Bolton will try to press us and give us no time on the ball in the midfield, Muamba and Taylor will be important men for them.
The way to win games like this is to soak up the opposition's pressure and kill them on the counter with pace. The problem is that we are not great at soaking up pressure without conceding, we tend to sit high up the pitch with a lot of possession and then get hit on the break ourselves. I'd play Eduardo up front in the middle as he's our only recognised striker, I'd play Vela on the left of the front three as he can gives us some pace and width, I'd stick Arshavin on the right but he can float to a degree, then I'd have a midfield three of Nasri, Cesc and Diaby holding. Come on you Gunners, it is this kind of game that will test whether we can really challenge this year.
Song is so important to us, not only because the lad has been playing so well, but also because we have so little defensive cover in the centre of our midfield. This has been emphasised yet again going into the Bolton away game with both Denilson and Ramsey out, leaving us very short of options in the centre of the park. I can't get very excited over signing another teenager, very few of these guys will ever make it through to our first team as regulars, it's more a business of making money from developing them and selling them on at a later date.
We have plenty of attacking options in this area, even with these injuries, the likes of Cesc, Nasri, Arshavin, Vela, Rosicky and Merida can all do a job in a more attacking midfield role. The problem is that other than Diaby, we have no one who can defend, no one with some physical presence, no one with aerial power. We have some talented kids, but they don't appear quite yet ready for big Premiership games like this, the likes of Eastmond, JET, Coquelin, Frimpong et al need more time.
Bolton have the worst defensive record at home in the league, we have the best away scoring record, if only life were that simple. With a new manager at the helm and the fact that we haven't kept an away clean sheet in 10 Premiership games, it is easy to see why this game is far from a guaranteed three points. Bolton will try to press us and give us no time on the ball in the midfield, Muamba and Taylor will be important men for them.
The way to win games like this is to soak up the opposition's pressure and kill them on the counter with pace. The problem is that we are not great at soaking up pressure without conceding, we tend to sit high up the pitch with a lot of possession and then get hit on the break ourselves. I'd play Eduardo up front in the middle as he's our only recognised striker, I'd play Vela on the left of the front three as he can gives us some pace and width, I'd stick Arshavin on the right but he can float to a degree, then I'd have a midfield three of Nasri, Cesc and Diaby holding. Come on you Gunners, it is this kind of game that will test whether we can really challenge this year.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Redknapp charged, Sol's knowledge and other tit bits
It's been a day or two of amusement with an injury hit Liverpool being knocked out of the Cup by Reading and now 'Arry Redknapp being charged with tax evasion. Obviously 'Arry has been fitted up for this little bit of action by the nasty police, even so I can't help but hope he can be officially called a crook after the matter is heard by the courts, maybe his guilty twitching will give the game away, who knows. Liverpool are in big trouble, a torn meniscus for Torres will keep him out for over a month, Gerrard and Bennayoun are also out with more minor complaints. It's amazing how things can turn around, it was just last season that Liverpool pushed Manu hard for the title.
Sol Campbell has been speaking of the role his experience can play in the coming months. There's no doubt that it's useful to have people who have seen and done it all in the dressing room as the pressure mounts towards the season's climax. Sol had a decent 45 minutes against West Ham's reserves the other night. It was 4-2 in the end but both West Ham's goals were from dodgy penalties, the first a soft one for a tackle by Gilbert that took more ball than man and the second a shocking decision when Bartley took the ball very cleanly indeed. JET scored with a neat header, a deflected effort and a crisp ripper into the bottom corner when played through on goal. There is a lot of ability in the midfield area of our reserves, Merida is always inventive and lively, Coquelin is a classy yet solid player who gets the job done, Eastmond plays deep and mops up the danger, while Frimpong is a real box to box player, robust in the tackle but also very dangerous near the opponent's penalty box.
Like many other Arsenal TV subscribers I had hoped to watch this game in full and was more than a smidgen pissed off to find out that the club is not to screen these reserve games live, as had been previously promised. YoungGuns are on the case with this, and I have to agree that as one of the biggest clubs in world football our lack of a TV channel is a bit of a shambles. Obviously there are some things that Arsenal TV has done well, in fact watching live reserve and youth games has been one of their best bits of work. A lot of people would pay good money to watch an Arsenal channel on TV, it is just plain bad business that nothing has happened since Setanta wound up last year. Sort it out please Arsenal, there just isn't enough football on TV these days.
Sol Campbell has been speaking of the role his experience can play in the coming months. There's no doubt that it's useful to have people who have seen and done it all in the dressing room as the pressure mounts towards the season's climax. Sol had a decent 45 minutes against West Ham's reserves the other night. It was 4-2 in the end but both West Ham's goals were from dodgy penalties, the first a soft one for a tackle by Gilbert that took more ball than man and the second a shocking decision when Bartley took the ball very cleanly indeed. JET scored with a neat header, a deflected effort and a crisp ripper into the bottom corner when played through on goal. There is a lot of ability in the midfield area of our reserves, Merida is always inventive and lively, Coquelin is a classy yet solid player who gets the job done, Eastmond plays deep and mops up the danger, while Frimpong is a real box to box player, robust in the tackle but also very dangerous near the opponent's penalty box.
Like many other Arsenal TV subscribers I had hoped to watch this game in full and was more than a smidgen pissed off to find out that the club is not to screen these reserve games live, as had been previously promised. YoungGuns are on the case with this, and I have to agree that as one of the biggest clubs in world football our lack of a TV channel is a bit of a shambles. Obviously there are some things that Arsenal TV has done well, in fact watching live reserve and youth games has been one of their best bits of work. A lot of people would pay good money to watch an Arsenal channel on TV, it is just plain bad business that nothing has happened since Setanta wound up last year. Sort it out please Arsenal, there just isn't enough football on TV these days.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Exclusive: Eastmond signs on and Cesc back for Bolton
Before you read any further there is a deliberate irony in the use of the word exclusive in the title of this thread. 'Exclusive', when referring to a news story, generally means that this story has only been released to one news source. Obviously the story that Craig Eastmond has signed a new long term deal at the club is about as exclusive to anotherarsenalblog as the news that the UK are at war in Afghanistan or that Kevin Davies' elbows are lethal weapons.
Blogging has changed the way the media works, it is a completely unregulated form of information, even less regulated than the wildly inaccurate Wikipedia. This means that anything one reads should be taken with a pinch of salt. It also means that those who write should respect the etiquette of the web, and part of that for me is that anything that is written about is sourced.
For example the completely second hand Craig Eastmond story is from Arsenal.com, as is the story about Cesc coming back from the Bolton game is also from the club's site. I know this is a particularly anal point but stories shouldn't just be pinched, then passed off as one's own, and these days the Internet makes it pretty obvious when one tries to do that. Sorry for boring you with my anally retentive ranting, that is something that is rather exclusive to anotherarsenalblog.
Blogging has changed the way the media works, it is a completely unregulated form of information, even less regulated than the wildly inaccurate Wikipedia. This means that anything one reads should be taken with a pinch of salt. It also means that those who write should respect the etiquette of the web, and part of that for me is that anything that is written about is sourced.
For example the completely second hand Craig Eastmond story is from Arsenal.com, as is the story about Cesc coming back from the Bolton game is also from the club's site. I know this is a particularly anal point but stories shouldn't just be pinched, then passed off as one's own, and these days the Internet makes it pretty obvious when one tries to do that. Sorry for boring you with my anally retentive ranting, that is something that is rather exclusive to anotherarsenalblog.
Big Sol and the media hype based on foundations of slurry
Starting with some actual news and not something just made up by various Fleet street hacks, the reserves featuring a rejuvenated Sol Campbell for 45 minutes brushed aside West Ham reserves 4-2 last night. A hat trick for JET showed that this young man is knocking hard on the first team's door, he's also been in a few first team squads recently. All the talk has been about Sol Campbell though, some of it has been rather negative, not that I'm surprised, there will always be a subsection of our fan base who are inclined to criticise unless we sign up numerous players for 40 million pounds a piece.
Arsene knows Sol better than we do, the fact that some of our own fans who have not seen him play for months seem to think that they know him better than Arsene emphasises their own stupidity rather than anything more profound. It leaves the way clear for big Phil to leave for pastures new. I can't help but feel a bit sad for the way in which big Phil has been treated, he's a top lad who always gave his all and a very decent centre back, I think he was unfairly scapegoated at times as well. I'm not sure how much big Phil has left on his current contract but I wish him all the best with his future career, there will always be a slightly nagging feeling that he could have been a true Arsenal legend if he had just had a bit of luck.
Now to the woeful stories that pass as journalism these days. Firstly the Mirror's 'exclusive' on Marouane Chamakh. The Mirror claims that Chamakh has agreed a deal with Liverpool, but then it is clearly stated that Liverpool only 'believe they have a deal ' and that they are 'waiting for his signature on a pre-contract deal'. Therefore there is nothing at all to this story, the player has signed nothing, it is based on rumour and speculation, this is not news. What a tremendous amount of hype for a player who has a spectacularly average goalscoring record of a goal every four games and who is not going to improve much being in his late twenties already.
The rumour regarding Mathieu Flamini and the spuds is also based upon nothing but rumour. 'Reports in Italy' suggesting Tottenham have made contact are the basis for this rather weak story, strange that there is nothing on the Gazzatta dello Sport website on these 'rumours'. Flamini is certainly a frustrated man in Milan and has been making rather a lot of substitute appearances, Gattuso and Ambrosini are the first choice defensive midfielders in Milan. It must be remember that Flamini is on 5.6 million Euros as year there and that Tottenham's highest earners are on around 4 million Euros a year, so any deal would either require a massive pay cut for Flamini or a massive pay hike for a lot of Tottenham's bigger players.
Flamini just won't go to the spuds for a lot of reasons, one of the being this financial problem. It's no surprise that the media churn out this rumour and peddle it as news, I am just disappointed and surprised that more of us don't learn to realise that there is very little concrete behind a lot of this rubbish. Flamini would be a great signing for Arsenal on purely footballing grounds, it's just a shame that the man is an arrogant fool who should never have left us in the first place; the only reason he left was because his poor ego was a little bruised from playing at full back for a year, no club needs this kind of character around, players should have more respect for their club and manager than that.
ps It appears that one rumour with some truth to it is about the Bolivian youngster Samuel Galindo signings up, he looks to be a very rangy central midfielder of good technique, another one for the future. It is strange how some Arsenal sites have claimed this story as their 'exclusive' when it had been kicking around for some time elsewhere.
Arsene knows Sol better than we do, the fact that some of our own fans who have not seen him play for months seem to think that they know him better than Arsene emphasises their own stupidity rather than anything more profound. It leaves the way clear for big Phil to leave for pastures new. I can't help but feel a bit sad for the way in which big Phil has been treated, he's a top lad who always gave his all and a very decent centre back, I think he was unfairly scapegoated at times as well. I'm not sure how much big Phil has left on his current contract but I wish him all the best with his future career, there will always be a slightly nagging feeling that he could have been a true Arsenal legend if he had just had a bit of luck.
Now to the woeful stories that pass as journalism these days. Firstly the Mirror's 'exclusive' on Marouane Chamakh. The Mirror claims that Chamakh has agreed a deal with Liverpool, but then it is clearly stated that Liverpool only 'believe they have a deal ' and that they are 'waiting for his signature on a pre-contract deal'. Therefore there is nothing at all to this story, the player has signed nothing, it is based on rumour and speculation, this is not news. What a tremendous amount of hype for a player who has a spectacularly average goalscoring record of a goal every four games and who is not going to improve much being in his late twenties already.
The rumour regarding Mathieu Flamini and the spuds is also based upon nothing but rumour. 'Reports in Italy' suggesting Tottenham have made contact are the basis for this rather weak story, strange that there is nothing on the Gazzatta dello Sport website on these 'rumours'. Flamini is certainly a frustrated man in Milan and has been making rather a lot of substitute appearances, Gattuso and Ambrosini are the first choice defensive midfielders in Milan. It must be remember that Flamini is on 5.6 million Euros as year there and that Tottenham's highest earners are on around 4 million Euros a year, so any deal would either require a massive pay cut for Flamini or a massive pay hike for a lot of Tottenham's bigger players.
Flamini just won't go to the spuds for a lot of reasons, one of the being this financial problem. It's no surprise that the media churn out this rumour and peddle it as news, I am just disappointed and surprised that more of us don't learn to realise that there is very little concrete behind a lot of this rubbish. Flamini would be a great signing for Arsenal on purely footballing grounds, it's just a shame that the man is an arrogant fool who should never have left us in the first place; the only reason he left was because his poor ego was a little bruised from playing at full back for a year, no club needs this kind of character around, players should have more respect for their club and manager than that.
ps It appears that one rumour with some truth to it is about the Bolivian youngster Samuel Galindo signings up, he looks to be a very rangy central midfielder of good technique, another one for the future. It is strange how some Arsenal sites have claimed this story as their 'exclusive' when it had been kicking around for some time elsewhere.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Campbell a 'triallist' and other shorts
It's pretty amazing these days how news can spread like wild fire, even the hint of something can mushroom out of control within minutes as a result of the network of electronic connections we know as the Internet. It is also very hard to cover up one's mistakes, they are often impossible to erase and can be left as evidence for a very long time.
Sol Campbell has been training with the club for the past few weeks, it was rumoured that he was to re-sign with us on a short term deal. In fact the club today released a statement on the club website stating that he had re-signed, this was rather hastily withdrawn. The club have know changed their tune and have revealed that he is to play for the reserves tonight, with a view to re-signing on a longer term basis. It would be unusual for Arsenal to rekindle an old flame as it were, but if Campbell is looking sharp then he would be a useful squad player for the rest of the season and anything that keeps Mikel Silvestre away from games can't be a bad thing. Kyle Bartley's development will certainly benefit from Campbell's presence at the club.
Cesc is back for the weekend's trip to the delightful citadel of Bolton, Denilson is also expected to be back in contention after his mysterious injury at the weekend. The home game against Bolton has been rearranged for next week on Wednesday the 20th of Jan, a tasty back to back challenge for Owen Coyle in his first two games as Bolton manager, not really good timing for us given how players often awaken when stirred by a new manager to impress. Elsewhere Gavin Hoyte has extended his loan period at Brighton and Rhys Murphy has penned a new long term deal. There's a lot of other transfer rumours, but frankly I can't be arsed, I've had my day or two's excitement at the start of the window and that's now completely worn off.
Sol Campbell has been training with the club for the past few weeks, it was rumoured that he was to re-sign with us on a short term deal. In fact the club today released a statement on the club website stating that he had re-signed, this was rather hastily withdrawn. The club have know changed their tune and have revealed that he is to play for the reserves tonight, with a view to re-signing on a longer term basis. It would be unusual for Arsenal to rekindle an old flame as it were, but if Campbell is looking sharp then he would be a useful squad player for the rest of the season and anything that keeps Mikel Silvestre away from games can't be a bad thing. Kyle Bartley's development will certainly benefit from Campbell's presence at the club.
Cesc is back for the weekend's trip to the delightful citadel of Bolton, Denilson is also expected to be back in contention after his mysterious injury at the weekend. The home game against Bolton has been rearranged for next week on Wednesday the 20th of Jan, a tasty back to back challenge for Owen Coyle in his first two games as Bolton manager, not really good timing for us given how players often awaken when stirred by a new manager to impress. Elsewhere Gavin Hoyte has extended his loan period at Brighton and Rhys Murphy has penned a new long term deal. There's a lot of other transfer rumours, but frankly I can't be arsed, I've had my day or two's excitement at the start of the window and that's now completely worn off.
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