Losing a grip on reality?

I am normally the first person to lay into a bad tackle or a bit of media bias, the few people who read this blog around the time of the Eduardo injury will appreciate this. What I have to say on the Stoke game and the Shawcross tackle may therefore surprise some of you. It would be easy for me to join the others who are calling for Shawcross' guts on a spike, I don't choose easy options, I will give my honest frank opinion objectively whether it annoys people or not.

Firstly I have a bit more knowledge when it comes to injuries and leg breaking, this is my background and training. The picture above tells a lot of the story, also look at the video carefully before commenting or making up your minds. The photo shows that Aaron's tibia broke as a result of a torsional force, a rotational type of force. With medical insight this awful injury was more down to very bad luck than the recklessness of the tackle, look how Cisse sustained a very similar injury just because of the torsional force without a tackle.

I am no Shawcross fan, he has been guilty of some absolute shockers in recent years, however this was not one of them. The video and photographic evidence all show that he went in late and hard, but he was not off the ground, he was not out of control, he didn't have his studs up, it was a bad tackle no doubt, but you see much worse every week that doesn't break tibias, the point is that you cannot judge a tackle based on its consequences because the consequences are more based on random luck than the recklessness of the tackle. Shawcross' tackle on Adebayor last season was far worse, yet it didn't break any bones, the consequences of tackles correlate poorly with their malignancy.

There has been a lot of hysterical over reaction to this tackle from a lot of Arsenal commentators since last night, there has also been a lot of very well reasoned reaction too. In doing this we will not make ourselves look clever or objective. I can forgive Arsene because he had just lost one his best young players to a horrendous injury, but horrendous injuries frequently occur without horrendous tackles. The media have been appalling in the past in condoning some shocking acts of violence, this time I don't think they have covered things too badly at all. Other than Sky's censorship of events, something I strongly disagree with, the tackle has generally been called what it was, a bad tackle but not a horrendous reckless effort.

Saying that the media have blood on their hands is unfair. In fact some of the criticism I have had on this blog already for daring to claim that Shawcross' tackle was not as bad as some have made out has showed that some Arsenal fans are behaving just like the tabloid press in sensationalising something and then refusing to listen to any reasoned criticism of their opinion. I have no problem with people disagree with me, anyone can come here and argue their point just so long as it is done politely, but please don't come here and subject me to irrational sensationalist drivel. The boy who cried wolf was eventually eaten, if Arsenal fans cry wolf too many times about the media then we will be eaten too.

What should come out of yesterday's game is that the Arsenal players showed a lot of commitment, fight and character to come out of a very tricky game with three points. Overall we made it very hard for Stoke to play, we pressed them high up the pitch and forced them to give the ball back to us very rapidly. Bendtner scored a fantastic header, several players had fine games, although the crucial second goal came thanks to a slightly dubious penalty, overall our performance was outstanding, Stoke were completely outplayed and outfought. I am gutted that Aaron has sustained such a nasty injury, but scapegoating Shawcross will not help Ramsey get back to fitness any quicker, likewise slagging off the media will not win us any fans or praise. Anyone who understands the biomechanics of tibia fractures would realise that this injury was more down to terrible fortune than anything else, let's wish Aaron Ramsey a quick recovery and move quickly on.

Poor Aaron Ramsey

There's a kind of numb feeling to today's win at Stoke after the horrific injury sustained by Aaron Ramsey, it puts the importance of winning and losing in context with life and other things that are far more significant.

Ryan Shawcross should not be hounded, it was a late tackle, however on reviewing things it was no more than that, to me it looked like he simply clattered Ramsey late, I don't think it was that reckless by any means, it was more just very very unlucky. It was nothing like the out of control Taylor lunge that nailed Eduardo's ankle, it was mistimed but no more. Shawcross' apology and tears show that he felt genuine remorse and I feel he deserves no vitriol from Gooners as this was a genuine attempt to play the ball.

It was no straight legged out of control lunge, it was no two footed horror show, it was more bad luck than reckless malice. You see much poorer tackles than this week in week out, it's just terribly unfortunate that he caught Aaron at that particular place and at the particular moment that he did. Sometimes the worst tackles cause no serious injury and sometimes the more innocuous one break legs, this was nearer the latter than the former in my opinion. Bone is strong when force is applied in certain directions, but if you get hit at the wrong angle then it can crack a lot more easily than one might think.

Glenn Whelan comes out of this with a lot of credit, he gestured to the medics straight away and stayed with Aaron until he left the field. A lot of credit must also go to the majority of Stoke City fans who clapped Aaron off, this was impressive in the modern climate. However poor old Aaron Ramsey, it's a nasty break of his tibia and fibula, he'll be out for a good six months minimum. It is highly unlikely be a career ending tackle, if his ankle is uninvolved then he'll have an excellent shot at making a very good recovery and we'll hopefully see him back in an Arsenal shirt before the end of the year. Good luck with the surgery and get well soon, winning and losing isn't important anymore, we're thinking of you Aaron.

To the Chelsea fans who booed Wayne Bridge

Dear Chelsea fans,


I have never been particularly impressed with the behaviour of your club or your supporters. Still one should never write off a group of people based on the actions of a minority or Roman Abrahmovich.


However the way in which Wayne Bridge was treated by Chelsea supporters today was an absolute disgrace, and any Chelsea fan who disagrees with this probably doesn't have enough of a brain to process anything more than beating his wife.

Wayne Bridge has done nothing to deserve the abuse he recieved from your supporters. He never let the club down as a Chelsea player and he has never spoken out of turn having left the club.

If it is an offence in the eyes of Chelsea fans to find out that John Terry has had sex with your ex-partner and mother of your children then I really do despair.

Anyone who abused Wayne Bridge today should be deeply ashamed. I'd imagine these are the very same people that idolise Ashley Cole and John Terry, how very very sad indeed.

The 4-2 victory is a justice of sorts, but this will do little to make Waybe Bridge feel much better about any of this.

Sometimes a handshake should be refused, if the person offering his hand has done nothing to apologise or make up for his mistakes then why should the olive branch be accepted, hollow gestures should not be just blindly accepted.

1979 Gooner

Stoke - a litmus test

There's no doubt getting three points at the Britannia stadium would send out a very loud message to our title rivals, on the flip a dropping of points would add weight to the arguments that our squad is not up to it in terms of depth, experience and defensive power.

A lot has been said in the last few days and some of the over reaction to Ted's very fair post Sunderland comments was a more than a little wide of the mark. Shouting loudly and accusing people of not being 'proper supporters' is not big, clever or indicative of someone who actually cares about the club. Being a proper supporter for me involves trying to be objective, not jumping on bandwagons and enjoying what I can, it's different for everybody of course.

What I find particularly frustrating is the attitude that some supporters have, they seem to think that the club or manager should never be questioned or criticised in any way at all, this is nothing but bizarre. Obviously we should appreciate what we've got, it's always easy to forget what success we've had over recent years, but sensibly pointing out some recent errors can be a very productive thing, you cannot improve if you do not learn from your mistakes, arguably this is where Arsene has gone wrong in recent years, he has live a little in denial and not seen the wood for the trees.

Anyways Stoke will be tired and it's as good as opportunity as any to get a result in their cauldron of hate. It looks like Sol will play with TV at centre back, there must be a good case for Eboue continuing at right back but he may well not. Hopefully Song and Cesc will be joined by Ramsey in the midfield three, while I'd like to see Walcott and Nasri flanking Bendtner. Injuries will keep Arshavin, Gallas and Diaby out of this one. The key will be weathering the early storm and keeping it tight for the first twenty minutes or so, if we can absorb the early bombardment, then you can guarantee that we'll be able to open them up on the break. However if we concede early as we did in the FA Cup then it will be an entirely different game. Come on you Gunners.

Take the Walcott Gamble

At the risk of setting light to my own funeral pyre a few years too early, I will (perhaps stupidly) stick my neck above the parapet again.

As 1979 posted in the week, an Arsenal first XI would be a very different looking beast to the team that played against Porto and Sunderland. However, I am not aware of Arsenal putting out the "first XI" at any stage over recent years. There may have been the odd match, but nothing more than that. But the injury prone nature of our team is another topic of conversation. But what is apparent is that a club who wants to challenge at the very top of the game in recent years needs a big squad, and cannot often make the excuse about injuries. Arsenal's record on injuries is bad, but a lot of our competitors have problems as well. Infact, Sunderland were missing a lot of their first XI as well, and Sunderland are shite anyway. So I am not going to talk about injuries today.

Neither am I going to talk about what being a "real fan" means. The topics of discussion on this blog are not simply blind loyalty to the cause. If you are unable to speak in a normal and civilized way about the state of the Arsenal team, its pros and cons, the players who are doing well and those that are not, then look elsewhere. However, whilst we take a relatively circumspect view on how we are doing at the moment, this blog has no particular causes to campaign for. Asking questions like "Should we accept £30m for Cesc?" or "Is Wenger still the man for the job?" does not pre-suppose an answer. The idea is not that everyone will agree with us. Its not a popularity contest. But we would ask that you try and read what we say before launching into purile "you're not proper fan" tirades. However, if that is what you feel, then so be it. The world is full of morons. So congratulations.

Instead, I am going to speak about what we are doing up front at the moment. Because the goals have dried up for Arsenal in recent games - only 6 goals in our last 7 games, which is very different from the start of the season.

There are a number of factors, it was a tough run of games, and the injury to RVP is a massive factor. Nikki B was also missing for 3 months and used sparingly, and Eduardo seems unable to stay fit. But I said I wasn't going to speak about injuries. And fair enough, becuase there are plenty of other 'forwards' in the squad - Arshavin, Nasri, Vela, Rosicky and Theo.

And a lot of the forward play comes through Cesc, who has chiselled himself out a free role in the heart of midfield. Its a role that I don't think Wenger has bestowed on any other player. In many ways, the entire purpose of this 4-3-3 system seems to be to give Cesc that role.

Now whilst Cesc is having a good season, there is not much happening around him at the moment. Cesc played almost as a centre forward against Sunderland in the second half, and I think its great to see him getting in the box so much. But the rest of the forward line is full of potential, but otherwise its ifs, buts and maybes, with not a great deal of final product at the moment.

However, I think it will come. We did a lot of good stuff down the right against Sunderland. The threat of Theo's pace opens the game up in a way that Nasri, Arshavin, Rosicky etc rarely offer. A couple of games with Theo on the right and Nikki B in the middle will lead to more goals, I am quite sure of if. Give them at least 2 or 3 more games before making any judgments. But one of our problems at the moment is that we almost never put the same XI out twice, let alone for 3 or 4 games. I sincerely hope that Theo now gets a run in the team - lets see. Eboue should also keep his place. The Ivorian Mystery Man was terrific on Saturday.

But it will be difficult for Wenger to resist the temptation to rotate the players again, and you would expect a fit Diaby to play ahead of Ramsey, but will he also want to find a spot for Rosicky? I suspect he will, but like Nasri, Rosicky does not like getting much chalk on his boots and loves to come inside. The temptation might therefore be to go for a front line of Nasri, Bendnter and Rosicky, which could work just fine, but I really think Theo Walcott has the ounce of magic that is worth a gamble.

Theo's instinct is to look at the space beyond the back line, whereas Nasri, Rosicky and Bendtner like the ball to their feet, usually in front of the back-line. Now whilst it would help if Nikki B looked to stay on the shoulder of the centre-backs more often, Theo's movement gives an option that the rest don't really offer.

Ljungberg used to move beautifully along the back line waiting for Bergkamp to slide one through. Theo is not as composed on the ball as Freddie, but if Theo continue to make the runs then Cesc can play the passes. With the added trickery that Eboue throws in, its a thought that would scare the daylights out of most back lines.

Sunderland paper over the cracks

There is a serious danger in viewing yesterday's 2-0 win over Sunderland as evidence that Arsenal are moving in the right direction again after the abysmal defensive performance in Porto on Wednesday night.

The stats for the game make for pleasant reading (and we know how much AW loves his stats) - we had an incredible 68% of the possession and a 52% territorial advantage. We had 16 shots (9 on target) to Sunderland's 6 (3 on target) and we completed 81% of our passes to Sunderland's 62%. So on that basis it would seem we thrashed them good and proper. Which just goes to show that few conclusions based entirely on statistics will be reliable.

Large periods of the game were very nervous for Arsenal, especially at the last 15 mins when our solitary goal did not look enough. Steve Bruce, to his credit, set his team up to counter-attack us, starting with both Jones and Bent up front, with some lively players in midfield such as Richardson and ex-striker Campbell. It was a sensible script for pug-face Bruce to follow, and when the highly-rated Kenwyne Jones was put through by Richardson after about 30 mins, it looked the familiar story. Amazingly, however, Alumunia was out quickly and forced Jones to shoot first time and the ball went wide.

Now that little incident summed Arsenal up, and also provides a reminder that you need some luck. Richardson had knicked the ball from Ramsey, who was caught in a daze. If Alumunia had done worse, or if Jones had done better, then Sunderland would have gone in half-time at 1-1 and would have probably deserved it. If Denilson had done the same as Ramsey, he would have been shredded by a pack of rabid dogs.

Anyway, back to more pleasant thoughts. Almost all of Arsenal's good work came down our right side. Eboue was nominally the right-back and was simply out-standing going forwards, the few defensive duties also shouldered comfortably. But this also allowed Theo Walcott to prosper in the wide right position, because unlike Sagna, Eboue can actually read the game further up the field and play a pass into the right areas for Theo to run onto. And boy is he quick. Just don't ask him to change direction or do anything with it other than run and shoot.

This season's chapter in the Mysteries of Emmanuel Eboue is a interersting one. Sporadically used by AW this year, Eboue has rarely figured in the team whereas he played in virtually every position last year. He still likes a dive, he is still a crazy loon and he is clearly not as defensively minded as Sagna, but the Eboue has put in performances from both right-back and right-wing this year that make it very hard to understand why he has not been used more.

Which brings me neatly onto the focus of my current frustration. The Nick Faldo of football that is Samir Nasri. Never have a seen a player who takes fewer risks with what he is trying to do. I know a lot of people like Nasri, and it is certainly harder to find major howlers in his performances than players like Denilson or Fabianski, but I reckon Samir Nasri is the toast of right backs up and down the country - a charming little fellow who never gives them a hard time.

And for the record, I will highlight the two moments of genuine brilliance from Nasri yesterday. In the first half he took a firm pass from Clichy and under pressure from Hutton (the lanky spud), brilliantly flicked it past him, spun on to his own pass, charged down the line and crossed to the back post. Great stuff. In the second half, he drifted in-field onto the edge of the box, looking for all the world like he was going to pass, but deftly flicked it into the box past the defender, charged through and then crossed it when a shot was probably on.

But that is a low return for our left winger against a player like Hutton, who is dreadful. Theo, on the other hand, was tearing up the right wing, involved in at least half a dozen moves that are worthy of note and if he could produce a better final ball, would have led to an impact on the scoreline. And lets not pretend for a minute that Theo is the finished article at this stage. Indeed, he is miles off it.

But the reason why I liked Theo and Eboue yesterday was that they, on several occassions, took their men on and tried to make something happen, rather than always play the percentage ball. Now normally, the percentage ball is the right option, but go back to the stats at the top of this page - we had 68% of the possession and only had 16 shots in the game. That is actually quite poor.

The other thing that infuriates me about Nasri is that he drifts inside almost constantly, thus forcing someone to play wider outside him. And with Nikki B on the pitch, this invariably means that you end up with Bendtner on the touch line crossing for the midget Nasri to try and head it, far more often than the other way round. I counted two crosses from Nasri yesterday in the whole match. Again, that is a low impact from our left winger.

What is also frustrating is that it is so damn simple for everyone to see that Nasri should stay left, and people will regularly criticise Bendtner for thinking he is Henry and trying to play on the wing, but it really is not Nikki's fault. As a striker, he is trying to create some movement for his midfielders to work off, and with Nasri playing so narrow, the space is where Nasri should be on the wing. I hesitate to guess that AW encourages them to do this.

The other point of note that Cesc gave himself an absolutely free role yesterday, playing as far up the field as he could, with Ramsey and Song behind him. And he did not have a bad game by any stretch of the imagination, but playing so far up the field he has far less chance to influence the game in midfield, to pick the ball up and do something with it where it actually matters.

Because for 85 minutes of the game yesterday, this was pretty, pretty Arsenal football with very little bite. Take Theo and Eboue out the game and we created very little indeed. And be thankful that Kenwyne Jones missed a sitter.

Porto rage wearing off.....slowly

I was just thinking to myself, imagine in an ideal world if we had no injuries then the line up against Porto could be something like this:

Almunia

Sagna Gallas Vermaelen Gibbs

Song Cesc Diaby

Bendtner RVP Arshavin

I couldn't see this side losing to last night's Porto side. Porto were there for the taking in my opinion, they looked vulnerable at the back for most of the game, just being able to throw on an orthodox striker for the last fifteen might have made a difference to the scoreline, but we didn't even have the resources for that on the bench. Ignoring the stupid goals we conceded it was far too easy for Porto to get behind us and threaten the goal, they almost got through to score twice in the first couple of minutes for example. Clichy was again worrying poor, so much joy came for Porto down our left, while Denilson's attempts to defend were poor at best.

Denilson. For me Denilson is at best a passenger, not only does he lack the knack to be in the right place at the right time, but he also cannot defend even when he is correctly positioned, his distribution was also weak last night. Diaby can be forgiven the odd slack pass as he does so much good work defensively and offensively, he can hold men off, he wins tackles with his strength and he can dribble when needs be.

Underperformers. Clichy has not looked solid for a long time now, the big worry for me about his form is that it is nothing to do with pace or fitness, it is his basic decision making and positioning. I just haven't see much improvement from Clichy and Denilson in the last couple of years, how much time should they be given? I would argue that they shouldn't get much more, they are hardly lowly paid kids are they. Fabianski has never convinced me he's got what it takes, I can't see him lasting at Arsenal, one error is bad luck, two can be very bad luck, when it becomes a trend maybe it's a sign that you're just not up to it. Another young Pole seems destined for greater things me thinks.

Squad depth or not. The lack of strength in depth at the back is obvious, we are relying on a 36 year old Sol Campbell at the moment who may I add did pretty well overall, without him we are down to Mikel Silvestre and then kids, this is not the sign of strong squad. Kyle Bartley must have a chance when he returns from his loan spell in Sheffield. The lack of depth in terms of defensive midfielders and strikers is a shambles. Song and Diaby are the only experienced players who can defend, meaning that when they get injured we are shafted and having to draft in the hapless Denilson and the youthful Eastmond, this situation should not have been allowed to develop. The same is true for our striker situation, we have only two strikers and one seems to be perpetually injured, Arsene's decision not to bring in a stop gap in the window must be seen as a blatant error.

Overall given our club's wage bill I think there are far too many mediocre players in our squad who provide very little in terms of useful playing output for not insignificant amounts of money. Injuries aside, there are some glaring weaknesses in our squad that have been obvious for ages yet have never been addressed. Wenger needs to wake up and smell the mustard, time is running out, patience must have its bounds.