So we lost 2-0 away to Valencia in our final pre season game, the result matters little, and there were some definite positives as well as negatives to take from the game. Our first half side looked solid enough, while the second half eleven did not look as handy, the most interesting thing we've seen in the pre season has been Arsene's deployment of the 4-3-3 formation.
I am in two minds over this formation. It is a good thing in the way in which it allows us to be a bit more solid in central midfield by playing Song and Diaby for example, as well as Cesc. Certain players are also well suited to the wide roles in the front three, Arshavin and Walcott being two very effective inside forwards.
One problem I see with it is that we have three excellent strikers in RVP, Bendtner and Eduardo and they all perform much better centrally, so with a 4-3-3 there is not much room to get the best out of two of them in a game. There is also the other problem with the 4-3-3 formation, this being that it can become a bit negative if you get pushed onto the back foot and then resemble a 4-5-1 formation.
I don't think we are very good at sitting back and defending, we need to stay on the front foot and attack is the best form of defence for us. Arsene needs to be very careful that we don't become too negative as we did against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi, we cannot win games playing on the back foot like that, we are not equipped for that kind of football. We cannot play with passengers like Adebayor, we need all of our ten outfield players to be pressing high up the pitch a la Barca, sitting back and trying to defend deep is just not something we can be good at with our current personnel.
Thomas Vermaelen is apparently very close to full fitness and may well play against Everton this weekend, a tricky debut no doubt. Again I feel a bit sorry for Johan Djourou if he doesn't start against Everton, he's got all the attributes to be a top centre back and he is still very young, he now just needs to get more games under his belt. I would be very pleased if Johan can step up this season, he has the potential to be a very commanding centre back for us for many years if he can work on his positional play while becoming a bit more aggressive.
You may have noticed the recent Poll on our blog, and it seems that a majority of people think that big Phil has been harshly treated by the boss in the last couple of years. The fact that the boss has brought in Mikel Silvestre in the same season that he left big Phil go on loan to Milan makes his treatment look ridiculously harsh.
Maybe big Phil would not be happy as a fourth choice player in the pecking order and that's why he left, the problem for me is that Arsene should have realised that Gallas and Toure could not play together, their styles are not complimentary, he needed to play big Phil or Djourou with one of these two. Silvestre adds nothing, he is slow, not commanding at all, and overall just not very good. I just cannot understand what's been going on with out centre backs over the last few years, and for me it's one of the big reasons for our lack of success.
I know I'm tedious but it's blood obvious why we have not done it in the last few years. We have been to weak physically in defense and midfield. All the great title winning sides have needed a few big beasts in there, we had Vieira/Petit/Campbell/Gilberto et al, Manu have had Keane/Vidic/Ferdinand/Carrick et al, Chelsea have had Terry/Carvalho/Makelele et al.
Maybe Arsene became too obsessed with the beauty of the game, but now he seems to have seen the error of his ways, playing Song and Diaby in a 4-3-3 gives us more strength in the middle, while the addition of Vermaelen may bring a bit more solidity to us at the back. Arsene remains quiet when asked about signings, I just hope he can add one or two more players to our squad that will give us a bit more strength in this department. It is strange but the unsung grinders can often be critical in winning the titles, the likes of Fletcher, Mikel, Parlour, Mascherano and their ilk may not win all the plaudits but they are often the most important cogs in the machine.
Monday, 10 August 2009
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Celtic await and last minute action?
So it's Celtic, it could have been better and it could have been worse. Under Mowbray you can guarantee that Celtic will play football the right way and that will be to our liking. Undoubtedly the away game on the 18th of August will be the tougher of the two fixtures, especially given as it comes just three days after our away game at Goodison Park. On the rare occassions that I have watched Celtic McGeady always strikes me as a bit of a threat with his jinking trickery. On an unrelated issue I thought this little piece on our slight lack of recent commercial success relative to other big clubs is well worth reading, hopefully Ivan Gazidis can address some of these issues.
The sounds emerging from the Emirates seem to hint that Arsene may leave things late before making any definitive moves in the transfer market. He is looking to bring in one or two more players, while if big Phil leaves for Everton that he will look to replace him on top of that. Rumours around Hangeland are gathering pace, it seems to me that if we move for him then he will come. I am not convinced he offers us anything more than big Phil is capable of, but I shall have an open mind if things happen.
Bordeaux are clearly a bunch of greedy pro-manu tossers, old Laurent Blanc must still be bitter at being skinned so frequently by Arsenal players when he came over to England for the final installments of his pension. They are trying to squeeze as much money out of us for Chamakh as they can get, however they would do well to realise that we will not be bullied, the player has one year left on his current deal and he has also made repeated sounds that he wants out. Damien Comolli has spoken, so once again no one has listened to this insignificant and rather annoying little man.
Harvard Nordtveit has joined the Bundesliga side FC Nurnberg for a year, this will be a great opportunity for the young lad to show if he has what it takes by proving himself in a very decent division. Meanwhile I am slightly surprised that Fran Merida appears to be joining Spanish second division side Levante on loan, he showed some great promise in recent friendlies and I thought he may have been better off staying here and fighting for a game, either that or maybe going on loan somewhere in England to adjust to the more physical football on offer here. Maybe I'm wrong but to me it does appear that Arsene has his favourites and that some guys never seem to get a chance no matter how well they do when given a chance to shine.
The sounds emerging from the Emirates seem to hint that Arsene may leave things late before making any definitive moves in the transfer market. He is looking to bring in one or two more players, while if big Phil leaves for Everton that he will look to replace him on top of that. Rumours around Hangeland are gathering pace, it seems to me that if we move for him then he will come. I am not convinced he offers us anything more than big Phil is capable of, but I shall have an open mind if things happen.
Bordeaux are clearly a bunch of greedy pro-manu tossers, old Laurent Blanc must still be bitter at being skinned so frequently by Arsenal players when he came over to England for the final installments of his pension. They are trying to squeeze as much money out of us for Chamakh as they can get, however they would do well to realise that we will not be bullied, the player has one year left on his current deal and he has also made repeated sounds that he wants out. Damien Comolli has spoken, so once again no one has listened to this insignificant and rather annoying little man.
Harvard Nordtveit has joined the Bundesliga side FC Nurnberg for a year, this will be a great opportunity for the young lad to show if he has what it takes by proving himself in a very decent division. Meanwhile I am slightly surprised that Fran Merida appears to be joining Spanish second division side Levante on loan, he showed some great promise in recent friendlies and I thought he may have been better off staying here and fighting for a game, either that or maybe going on loan somewhere in England to adjust to the more physical football on offer here. Maybe I'm wrong but to me it does appear that Arsene has his favourites and that some guys never seem to get a chance no matter how well they do when given a chance to shine.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Big Friday
So it's almost underway, and an early pivotal moment tomorrow is the Champions League draw. We are in the 'non champions' path and will play one of five unseeded sides, as we are seeded. The teams we may face include:
There's not much doubt that the top two of these five would be the toughest, Celtic would be in the middle and the bottom two sides are the easier ties. Mind you, none of the games are easy, but on our day we really should win against any of those five sides given our record in Europe. However it is rather annoying to see the lack of quality in the 'champions path', there really are some very average sides there. UEFA should make up their mind as to what they want, do they want a true 'champions' league, in which case go back to the old format of just champions. Or do they want a competition with the best sides, in which case they should not bias things in favour of the weaker countries as they have blatantly done this year.
Elsewhere news is slow, it is all quiet on the transfer front, the stories involving Big Phil, PV4 and Chamakh have tailed off somewhat. Rather amusingly the same old lame chorus can be heard emerging from the ever faeculent shite hart lane, apparently the lanky one thinks Tottenham have as good a chance as anyone of breaking the top four this season. Crouch demonstrates what it takes to sign for Tottenham, you must be dumb enough to believe what the dodgy twitcher 'Arry tells you.
Given that the spuds were battling relegation last season, I fail to see what they have done to transform themselves into a side that is capable of breaking the top four. They have managed to get a few more centre backs injured and exchanged one average striker for another, hardly the stuff of dramatic improvements I feel. What a bunch of numpties the spuds are, I'm sure their moronic and arrogant fans will still be convinced that this is 'their year', well maybe it is, as long as 'their year' means another year of watching average football played by average players and getting terribly disappointed that the end product and results are unsurprisingly rather average, yet again.
Fiorentina
Atletico Madrid
Celtic
Anderlecht
FC Timisoara
There's not much doubt that the top two of these five would be the toughest, Celtic would be in the middle and the bottom two sides are the easier ties. Mind you, none of the games are easy, but on our day we really should win against any of those five sides given our record in Europe. However it is rather annoying to see the lack of quality in the 'champions path', there really are some very average sides there. UEFA should make up their mind as to what they want, do they want a true 'champions' league, in which case go back to the old format of just champions. Or do they want a competition with the best sides, in which case they should not bias things in favour of the weaker countries as they have blatantly done this year.
Elsewhere news is slow, it is all quiet on the transfer front, the stories involving Big Phil, PV4 and Chamakh have tailed off somewhat. Rather amusingly the same old lame chorus can be heard emerging from the ever faeculent shite hart lane, apparently the lanky one thinks Tottenham have as good a chance as anyone of breaking the top four this season. Crouch demonstrates what it takes to sign for Tottenham, you must be dumb enough to believe what the dodgy twitcher 'Arry tells you.
Given that the spuds were battling relegation last season, I fail to see what they have done to transform themselves into a side that is capable of breaking the top four. They have managed to get a few more centre backs injured and exchanged one average striker for another, hardly the stuff of dramatic improvements I feel. What a bunch of numpties the spuds are, I'm sure their moronic and arrogant fans will still be convinced that this is 'their year', well maybe it is, as long as 'their year' means another year of watching average football played by average players and getting terribly disappointed that the end product and results are unsurprisingly rather average, yet again.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Regrets and offensive gluttony?
I have always like big Phil Senderos. It therefore saddens me to hear that he is on the verge of joining Everton. Everton have today confirmed that the two clubs are locked in negotiations. Obviously big Phil has only a year left on his contract and is not a first choice player, so the money makes definite business sense. Football is not just a business, it is more than that to us the fans, I am a little sad to see big Phil go.
Big Phil wore his heart on his sleeve. He was one of a rare breed. I remember one particular moment the season before last when he had been harshly sent off when virtually no contact had been made with the diving opposition striker, he took the poor refereeing decision on the chin like a true sportsman, he left the field with his head bowed, almost in tears at the fact that he had let the team down, mopping his brow with his shirt in a way that was designed to hide the immense upset that he felt.
Whatever his critics may say, big Phil was one damn good defender, of course he wasn't perfect but he did have some excellent runs in the side, the best of these being the Champions League run in 2005-6. Big Phil and Kolo formed the centre back pairing that kept a record ten clean sheets, unfortunately big Phil missed the final against Barca due to injury. Ironically he became a scapegoat for our defensive frailty when we lost the second leg of the Champions League semi final to Liverpool at Anfield in 2008. Phil was turned rather easily by Fernando Torres for one of the Liverpool goals, however how many of the best have been mocked by Torres in recent months?
Big Phil is a strong honest defender but is not the quickest on the turn, I still think that with just a little bit more luck he could have become a true Arsenal legend, sometimes an injury here and a bit of luck there can be the difference between making it and becoming a bit part player. That's life I suppose. I'm personally still a big Phil fan and wish him all the best wherever he ends up. It is strange that we are letting such a dominant player go when the thing our current side lacks is the power and the strength to defend aerial balls.
Our current squad does not lack attacking flair, we have several excellent strikers (RVP, Bendtner, Eduardo, Vela) and several very adaptable attacking players (Arshavin, Walcott, Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby, Wilshere, Merida). It appears the Chamakh will not be coming as Bordeaux are being too greedy and holding out for a large fee when the player only has a year left on his contract.
The thing we lack is obvious when you compare our current crop to our recent title winning sides. How many players in the current squad are strong in the air defensively? I would argue that only out field players with this strength are Song and Djourou, Vermaelen possibly but I have not seen enough of him to comment. In days of old we had the likes of Adams, Keown, Bould, Campbell, Vieira, Petit, Edu, Gilberto who gave us that power to repel the aerial threat from corners, set pieces and hopeful long balls. If Arsene buys anyone before the season starts then I hope they can add to our ability to defend the aerial ball.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Monday Bumblings
In many ways 1979's short summary of the Emirates Cup is all that need to be said about the pre-season friendly tournament, in which we used 21 players I think. Its a nice little run-out for the players and the fact that 110,000 tickets were sold over the two days is a nice little earner for the clubs involved.
But its bad measure to try and guage how the squad is looking. The biggest surprise, for me, was the inclusion of Eboue in the squad on both days, as his transfer to Fiorentina looked a done deal last week. Clearly not. Similarly, the absence of Senderos looks telling and the ink will soon be dry on his move to Everton.
And that does put a slight change of perspective on things. Last week's squad looked relatively strong, but on the assumption that Eboue was off, we look a bit light of cover at right back. In contrast, we have an abundance of lefties at the club now. That said, Gibbs did not play at all over the weekend, whereas Traore played in both games and did quite well. Now, if we were going to let Traore go out on loan again this season, why not give Gibbs some more match practice and let Traore sit on the bench? So maybe Traore isn't going anywhere...
The absence of Big Phil also means we will shift from having 4 decent (Gallas, Vermaelen, Djourou + Big Phil) centre backs (plus Sylvestre), to 3 plus Sylvestre. And thats a much more flimsy prospect. Its not that if Gallas and Vermaelen were both injured we would be saying, "well thank the lord, cos Big Phil will now be able to play and he's amazing". Its just that Big Phil has a bit of experience and so long as he was not facing Drogba often did ok. That said, its more than understandable from his perspective to want first team football and I will him all the best at Everton.
The idea of replacing Big Phil with another centre back is also unlikely, in my book. The job description at the Footballers JobCentre would read: "Wanted - 4th choice centre back to play occassionnally for top 4 Premier league club. Must be quite ugly and slow. Ideal applicant will understand that the manager will prefer to play an uglier, older frenchman who looks like a fish. Salary outrageous given that you will play 15 matches a year".
It has been suggested that signing someone like David Wheater might make sense, and he certainly fits the bill of being a Big Phil clone, which rather begs the question of whether David Wheater is a better Big Phil than Big Phil? If not, then why get someone who is worse at being Big Phil than Big Phil? I would prefer to simply stick with the Big Phil we have. He seemed pretty good at being Big Phil. I also think David Wheater is shite.
But, the inevitable conclusion of all this drivel is probably that Alex Song will continue to be used as a makeshift centre back if needed. There is a well trodden path here and Wenger often played Gilberto at centre back in European games, where the aerial threat is far less deployed, as is the neanderthal midfieder like Sean Davies, Joey Barton or Kevin Nolan.
If we are in the situation where Gallas and Vermaelen are both injured for a considerable period of time, then we are in a world of problems anyway. I see no absolute reason why Djourou and Syvestre could not play if needed on the rare occassion, and if absolutely required, then Song can obviously play there too.
So I don't think that the departure of Big Phil means we are now short at centre back. Or not short enough to go and waste some money on a new 4th choice.
But having reflected on it over the weekend, I have decided to through my hat in the ring and join the chorus of approval for the idea of re-signing Patrick Vieira.
To my mind, it makes virtually no sense for us from a footballing perspective. He is 33 years old, almost permanently injured and his best years are way behind him. But if we can pick him up on a free transfer, then the £6m quid or so a year he would demand in wages would seem chump change when you consider the possibility of Patrick Vieira walking in an Arsenal shirt out to face ManUre at Old Trafford on 29 August.
Paddy would obviously refuse to wear any of the current away strips, which are all truly awful, so we would have to wear the gold shirts of circa 2002 to mark the occassion.
The fans would love it, the press would love it, I expect even most of the players would love it. So go on Arsene. Just do it.
But its bad measure to try and guage how the squad is looking. The biggest surprise, for me, was the inclusion of Eboue in the squad on both days, as his transfer to Fiorentina looked a done deal last week. Clearly not. Similarly, the absence of Senderos looks telling and the ink will soon be dry on his move to Everton.
And that does put a slight change of perspective on things. Last week's squad looked relatively strong, but on the assumption that Eboue was off, we look a bit light of cover at right back. In contrast, we have an abundance of lefties at the club now. That said, Gibbs did not play at all over the weekend, whereas Traore played in both games and did quite well. Now, if we were going to let Traore go out on loan again this season, why not give Gibbs some more match practice and let Traore sit on the bench? So maybe Traore isn't going anywhere...
The absence of Big Phil also means we will shift from having 4 decent (Gallas, Vermaelen, Djourou + Big Phil) centre backs (plus Sylvestre), to 3 plus Sylvestre. And thats a much more flimsy prospect. Its not that if Gallas and Vermaelen were both injured we would be saying, "well thank the lord, cos Big Phil will now be able to play and he's amazing". Its just that Big Phil has a bit of experience and so long as he was not facing Drogba often did ok. That said, its more than understandable from his perspective to want first team football and I will him all the best at Everton.
The idea of replacing Big Phil with another centre back is also unlikely, in my book. The job description at the Footballers JobCentre would read: "Wanted - 4th choice centre back to play occassionnally for top 4 Premier league club. Must be quite ugly and slow. Ideal applicant will understand that the manager will prefer to play an uglier, older frenchman who looks like a fish. Salary outrageous given that you will play 15 matches a year".
It has been suggested that signing someone like David Wheater might make sense, and he certainly fits the bill of being a Big Phil clone, which rather begs the question of whether David Wheater is a better Big Phil than Big Phil? If not, then why get someone who is worse at being Big Phil than Big Phil? I would prefer to simply stick with the Big Phil we have. He seemed pretty good at being Big Phil. I also think David Wheater is shite.
But, the inevitable conclusion of all this drivel is probably that Alex Song will continue to be used as a makeshift centre back if needed. There is a well trodden path here and Wenger often played Gilberto at centre back in European games, where the aerial threat is far less deployed, as is the neanderthal midfieder like Sean Davies, Joey Barton or Kevin Nolan.
If we are in the situation where Gallas and Vermaelen are both injured for a considerable period of time, then we are in a world of problems anyway. I see no absolute reason why Djourou and Syvestre could not play if needed on the rare occassion, and if absolutely required, then Song can obviously play there too.
So I don't think that the departure of Big Phil means we are now short at centre back. Or not short enough to go and waste some money on a new 4th choice.
But having reflected on it over the weekend, I have decided to through my hat in the ring and join the chorus of approval for the idea of re-signing Patrick Vieira.
To my mind, it makes virtually no sense for us from a footballing perspective. He is 33 years old, almost permanently injured and his best years are way behind him. But if we can pick him up on a free transfer, then the £6m quid or so a year he would demand in wages would seem chump change when you consider the possibility of Patrick Vieira walking in an Arsenal shirt out to face ManUre at Old Trafford on 29 August.
Paddy would obviously refuse to wear any of the current away strips, which are all truly awful, so we would have to wear the gold shirts of circa 2002 to mark the occassion.
The fans would love it, the press would love it, I expect even most of the players would love it. So go on Arsene. Just do it.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Jack in the box? Bullet points
Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the whole of the Rangers game yesterday, some of us only managed bits of the game and were interrupted by pesky work related problems, damn it. I happened to stumble upon Goodplaya's review of the Emirates Cup and agreed with most of what he said. As I'm exhausted having worked all weekend I'm going to sum up my thoughts in lazy bullet points, please feel free to add your own in the comments section, humour is not tolerated by the way:
- Andrei Arshavin is awesome
- Mikel Silvestre is not
- Jack Wilshere has immense potential
- Cesc plays much better in his normal deeper midfield role
- Eduardo is the best finisher in the land
- Our only physical presence was in the form of Song and Djourou, this is not enough for cold rainy away days up north when being assaulted by uneducated primitive northerners
- Ramsey, Merida (especially so) and Watt all showed some brightness
- Denilson is decent but is he anything more than that?
- Mannone looks dodgy and has no natural presence
- Rangers are even worse than Tottenham
- Would it be worth trying to repackage Mikel Silvestre as a striker and selling him to Harry 'the twitch' Redknapp?
- The poll has concluded that Ashley Cole is a c*nt, so who am I to argue with this
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Emirates Cup et al
Two fine Andrei Arshavin goals capped an exciting afternoon's activity at the Emirates, we also got a few hints as to how the boss is seeing things for the season ahead. Wilshere was the stand out player for me, jinking past defenders with ease and showing a maturity beyond his years. Djourou got the nod at centre back, as Thomas Vermaelen was nursing something minor, and looked solid enough. Ramsey and Merida also showed their promise, while it was good to see Gael Clichy fit once again.
The transfer rumours continue. The Vieira story rolls on, I'm sure we'll hear something definitive on this soonish, while stories of big Phil departing for Goodison are emerging with greater frequency. The Eboue story appears not to have reached a conclusion as yet, Arsene wouldn't comment if an offer had been recieved from Fiorentina, so who knows if this story has any more to run.
This little piece in the Guardian happened to catch my interest and I think a lot of it rings true. I am not close enough to any insider information but it is undeniable that there have been big big issues with our squad morale in the last couple of years, Gallas-Toure and Adebayor-Bendtner to name just two clashes of personality/opinion/fists. I hope Arsene has looked to nail these problems with these sales and it looks like our balance will have been done no harm in the process.
You simply need your players to get on with each other to win things, even if you have the best players, if they are at war with each other then you will struggle to bring home the silver. Arsene's post match press conference was interesting.
Arshavin is a star in the making, Wilshere is now ready to make an impact, Rosicky is fit (touch wood), offensively we are looking in excellent shape. Arsene acknowledged that it will be tough to find the balance with the number of attacking players we have, I agree with him here, this will be a big challenge and I think any late moves in the transfer market will look to address this imbalance. As Arsene closes 'if we can add one or two more players then we will do it', so I will be surprised if nothing happens in the next few days.
The transfer rumours continue. The Vieira story rolls on, I'm sure we'll hear something definitive on this soonish, while stories of big Phil departing for Goodison are emerging with greater frequency. The Eboue story appears not to have reached a conclusion as yet, Arsene wouldn't comment if an offer had been recieved from Fiorentina, so who knows if this story has any more to run.
This little piece in the Guardian happened to catch my interest and I think a lot of it rings true. I am not close enough to any insider information but it is undeniable that there have been big big issues with our squad morale in the last couple of years, Gallas-Toure and Adebayor-Bendtner to name just two clashes of personality/opinion/fists. I hope Arsene has looked to nail these problems with these sales and it looks like our balance will have been done no harm in the process.
You simply need your players to get on with each other to win things, even if you have the best players, if they are at war with each other then you will struggle to bring home the silver. Arsene's post match press conference was interesting.
Arshavin is a star in the making, Wilshere is now ready to make an impact, Rosicky is fit (touch wood), offensively we are looking in excellent shape. Arsene acknowledged that it will be tough to find the balance with the number of attacking players we have, I agree with him here, this will be a big challenge and I think any late moves in the transfer market will look to address this imbalance. As Arsene closes 'if we can add one or two more players then we will do it', so I will be surprised if nothing happens in the next few days.
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