2011-12 Season

RVP contract story is something we’ll have to get used to

Posted on September 26, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season | 26 Guns

You might think a 3-0 win and a century of Robin van Persie goals would be enough to earn Arsenal some positive headlines this Monday morning. If you did, you’d be wrong. And very very naive. Arsenal are a side “in crisis”, and so tradition dictates that even a positive result will be spun in the most unfavourable manner possible.

The Sun joins the fun

In this instance, the chosen stick to beat us with is that of Robin van Persie’s contractual situation. As you’ll all know by now, he has less than two years to run on his existing deal, and is hardly in a rush to discuss a new one:

“I still have almost two years left, so for the moment that’s fine. I’m happy with my contract. I can’t look into the future. I can’t see us talking now because we are so busy.”

And who can blame him? This is an Arsenal side beginning yet another period of transition. Van Persie held a meeting with Arsene Wenger this summer in which he asked for reassurances about investment in the squad following the sales of Fabregas and Nasri. That process has begun, and he’ll want to see if and how it continues in January. More importantly, he’ll want to know if he has a chance of playing Champions League football next season.

RVP’s next contract is likely to be the last major deal of his career. With the early part of his development so stunted by injuries, it could cover the period in which stands as the peak of his powers. He’ll want to make sure he gives himself a chance of winning the trophies befitting of his talent before it’s too late – ideally at Arsenal, but potentially elsewhere.

I sympathise with his position. It’s not like Samir Nasri, who left aged 24 and yet to achieve his full potential at Arsenal. Van Persie has given good service, and 100 goals in to the bargain. If he goes, it will be with a heavy heart. It’s up to the club and the manager to give one of the remaining jewels in our crown a reason to stay.

I don’t expect any major negotiations to take place until after Christmas, and there may not be a decision until next summer. There were some stories circulating that City could come in for RVP in January, but those are most likely the work of RVP’s representative Darren Dein, who will be doing his utmost to stir the proverbial pot and make sure wherever RVP signs his new deal, it’s more as much cash as is humanly possible.

There’s plenty of other, less disconcerting stuff to read about Van Persie today. In this piece Arsene compares his positional play to that of Messi, whilst here RVP talks through some of his favourite goals.

Finally, a nod to arseblogger, who turns 40 today. On the day of his birth, back in 1971, Maltese outfit Sliema Wanderers beat Icelandic side IA Akranes by four goals to nil in the UEFA European Cup first round first leg. In every sense, a momentous day for football.

Centurion RVP helps Arsenal vanquish Bolton

Posted on September 25, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, Match Reports, Premier League | 42 Guns

RVP celebrates his 100th Arsenal goal

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

In the circumstances, this was just the result we needed. Three goals, three points, a clean sheet, and a landmark moment for the talismanic Robin van Persie.

At half-time, the result was still very much in the balance. It was 0-0, and Wojciech Szczesny had produced an outstanding early save to keep his sheet clean. Arsenal should have gone ahead when Mikel Arteta played in Gervinho, but the Ivorian’s touch was too heavy and the ball ran through to Jussi Jääskeläinen.

Bolton were marking very tight in midfield and Arteta seemed to be carrying all the creative responsibility. Aaron Ramsey was having little impact, and Walcott and Gervinho struggled for space on the flanks. Despite missing Gary Cahill through illness, Bolton looked secure at the back and a threat on the break.

Occasionally, Arsene Wenger’s critics accuse him of lacking tactical acumen. However, his post-match explanation of his half-time team-talk instantly dispels that myth:

“I felt that in the first half we were a bit impatient sometimes, that we didn’t move the ball quickly enough, that our midfielders came a bit deep because we were man-marked. That exposed us a bit to counter-attacking and we had less support up front. In the second half, maybe because they were fatigued as well, our midfielders played higher up and we became straight away more dangerous.”

Our second half display was also helped by two things that settled our obvious nerves: an early goal, and a sending off for Bolton. First, Van Persie finished superbly from a narrow angle after the referee waived play on when Gervinho was brought down in midfield. Then David Wheater was dismissed for tugging back Theo Walcott after he’d been played in by an improving Ramsey.

It was a game in which we saw the good and the bad of Walcott. He showcased his electrifying pace, racing behind the defence to leave Wheater fatally training, and reaching a Ramsey pass to cross for RVP to nudge home his second goal of the game and 100th for Arsenal. He also showed just why he frustrates, missing a couple of glaring opportunities – one when set clean through by the impressive Alex Song. On balance it was an effective display, and Arsene will hoping that the knee injury which forced him to limp off is not too serious.

It was that second goal, created by Walcott, that killed the game, and made for a fantastic landmark for Van Persie. He joins sixteen other Arsenal centurions in passing the milestone, and his pride in doing so will only be tempered by the thought of how many he might have were it not for a succession of injuries.

Alex Song gabbed a deserved late third, stepping inside his man to curl in to the top corner. The three points mean that a win at White Hart Lane next weekend would take us above them in the league – as if any more incentive for a North London Derby were needed.

I thought there were plenty of positives to take from today’s game, albeit against ten men. Mikel Arteta continues to look every inch the class act we hoped he would be, and Alex Song appears to be stepping up to the midfield mantle with some incisive passing to match his essential physical presence.

At the back we coped well with the supposed threat of Kevin Davies, on as an early sub for the injured N’Gog. Mertesacker and Koscielny were happy to let Davies win the majority of long-balls; they got tight enough to him to prevent him bringing the ball down, and were able to intercept the second ball every time. For all the headers Davies won, barely a single one reached a team-mate.

Our concentration at set-pieces was better too. It was heartening that when defending a corner in stoppage time, at 3-0 up, Wojciech Szczesny was bellowing at his team-mates to concentrate. A clean sheet will do the defence a world of good.

Next up it’s Olympiakos in the Champions League. Another home game, and a chance to maintain that momentum ahead of that crucial derby game a week today.

Bolton Preview: Polar Bears are endangered

Posted on September 24, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, Match Previews, Premier League | 19 Guns

In the build-up to today’s crucial match with Bolton Wanderers, Arsene Wenger has compared himself to ursus maritimus – that cuddly killer, the polar bear.

“Since I arrived in England there have been a lot of things said.

Personally I do not complain. I am supposed to take the bullets and absorb them. Like a bear, a polar bear.

In fairness, they don’t hurt me too much. You worry more about the young player who gets in the team at the moment and gets slaughtered. I remember when I was 19 that was much more difficult for me to take.”

Whilst I understand Arsene’s intention – to depict himself as a shield for his players, taking the weight of criticism upon his experienced shoulders – I would question some aspects of his chosen analogy. I’m not sure where Arsene’s got his info, but I’m not convinced polar bears are “supposed” to take bullets at all. When plucky Tommies went over the top in the Great War, they did not send a squadron of polar bears out first as cannon fodder. Shooting a polar bear is, I’m pretty sure, illegal. They’re endangered, after all.

It’s here that Arsene’s analogy begins to right itself and come bobbing up on the side of truth once more. The threat of global warming has led scientists to suggest polar bears could be eliminated within 100 years. Lose against Bolton today, and Arsene could find himself under an even more immediate threat of extinction.

The team will be very similar to the one that started at Blackburn. Tomas Rosicky has recovered and is back in the squad, but is unlikely to dislodge any of Song, Ramsey and Arteta. The only possible changes are on the flanks – Arsene Wenger will have to choose between Kieran Gibbs and Andre Santos, and is likely to reintroduce Theo Walcott, most likely at the expense of Andrey Arshavin.

Alex Chamberlain is in the squad, and Arsene insists, “ready to play”:

“With the ball, he’s ready. Off the ball he plays now like a young talented boy and he has to take responsibility in the senior team.

That will demand two or three months and after he will be there.”

If we’re in a winning position he might get off the bench today to make his home league debut.

I’m optimistic we’ll begin to turn out form around this afternoon, but the day’s undoubtedly been clouded by some bad news: Jack Wilshere will undergo surgery on his ankle and is likely to be out until Christmas at the earliest. It’s huge blow. With Cesc and Nasri gone, Jack is comfortably our most accomplished and inspirational midfield player. This team ought to be being built around him – instead, he’ll be absent for half the season. The only positive spin I can put on it is that I’d rather have him fit for the second half of the season than the first, when we reach the crunch period and the accumulation of points is all the more vital.

Whether or not we get Champions League football, there are already ominous signs for next summer. The quintet of Andrey Arshavin, Thomas Vermaelen, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Alex Song all have less than two years to run on their existing deals. If new contracts aren’t tied up this season, we could find ourselves over a barrel as we did with Samir Nasri. Arsene doesn’t exactly sound confident of reaching agreements with all players concerned:

“We will try to convince them. Our desire is there to do it and we are ready to sit down with them.

After that we see where we go but the gap on that front has become bigger for us so, today, I cannot say that if we go to the maximum [deal] we are sure to sign a player – even if we do that we are not sure.”

To compound your distress, Arseblog reports that Darren Dein (the machiavellian marketeer behind the exits of Henry, Clichy, Cesc & Nasri) is now representing the interests of both Song and Van Persie.

All that fun can wait for another day. For now, we need to focus on beating Bolton – who we’ve just been drawn against in the League Cup, as fate would have it. Come On You Gunners.

Friday round-up: Injury news, Director of Football & more

Posted on September 23, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season | 41 Guns

It’s another one of those ‘big week for Arsenal’ weeks. For the first time since the defeat to Liverpool, we have two home games in a row, and a chance to generate some crucial momentum before traveling to White Hart Lane for a match that will have a great impact not just upon North London pride, but also on the battle for fourth place.

First up, it’s Bolton. After the trip to Blackburn, it’s another one of our supposed bogey teams. And, just as Blackburn were prior to our visit, they’re a side widely purported to be in a bigger crisis than even ourselves. I’m sure a few pundits will have a good old chuckle about this being a “relegation six-pointer”. The truth is that both teams are in need of the points, but for very different reasons.

Bolton’s ambitions won’t reach higher than mid-table. For Arsenal, beating the Trotters, Olympiakos in midweek, and then Spurs on Sunday would do much to put our disastrously rocky season back on an even keel, and see us push on back towards Champions League qualification.

Early team news is that we’ve lost Yossi Benayoun and Johan Djourou to slight strains picked up in Carling Cup action. Both should be out for around a week. Bacary Sagna has recovered from the knock picked up at Blackburn, whilst Aaron Ramsey has suffered no repercussions from his return and is fit to start. Arsene also expects Thomas Vermaelen and Abou Diaby to be fit for our next game after Spurs – Sunderland, on October 16th. There is no news yet on Jack Wilshere – no assessment can be made until he comes out of the plastic boot in a couple of weeks’ time.

The absence of Benayoun means there’s a chance Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could earn a place on the bench tomorrow. You can read an in-depth Q&A with him on Arsenal.com, in which he talks about his desire to push on and play in the more prestigious competitions:

“If you don’t aspire to achieve these things then you are not going to go anywhere. Whenever I get the call, I will be delighted with it. You have got to push to become part of the squad more regularly and that only comes with hard work and impressing when you get the chance.”

He certainly did that on Tuesday night, and would be well deserving of a place in the matchday squad if Arsene felt there was room. Time will tell. We have a big squad at the moment, so it’s far from guaranteed.

Finally today, Peter Hill-Wood has surprised no-one by insisting that Arsenal will not be bringing in a Director of Football. Given Arsene’s irritated response at his last press conference, we won’t be hiring a new defensive coach either. If we’re to turn it around, it will be with the current set of staff. A set of staff, let’s remember, who’ve brought us fantastic success in the past.

Roll on tomorrow. Another game, another leaf to turn, and another chance to get it right.

Delighted not to have Joey Barton

Posted on September 22, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season | 56 Guns

In an interview with BBC Football, Joey Barton has suggest that only his opening day antics at St. James’ Park scuppered a move to Arsenal. Struggling to form sentences longer than 140 characters, Barton said:

“If I hadn’t played against Arsenal, I may have signed for them.

There were a couple of conversations [with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger] but that’s different to actually signing.

The Gervinho incident happened and there’s nothing I can do about it now. If it happened again, I’d like to think I’d deal with it differently.

Things happen for a reason and there’s a lesson to be learned from it. Right now we sit above Arsenal in the table – hopefully that’s the case in May.”

I have to say, I’m very dubious about his claims. There’s a reason he ended up signing with QPR, and it goes beyond his prohibitive £80,000 p/week wage demands.

Chairman Peter Hill-Wood as good as confirmed my suspicions, saying:

“It’s not something the board heard about and if it was a serious proposition I certainly would have expected us to.”

Whether or not it was ever on the table, it didn’t happen, and that’s undoubtedly a good thing. There is a section of the fanbase who believe that Barton’s competitive spirit would be a healthy addition to the current Arsenal team. I agree that our squad could do with an injection of desire and that intangible ‘will-to-win’. But everything else about Barton – everything – turns my stomach.

He is a disturbed character. He has twice been convicted on charges of violence. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment for common assault and affray, and given a fourth-month suspended sentence for doing this to Ousmane Dabo. He almost blinded a youth team player with a lit cigar – at a Christmas party, of all places.

There is a difference between having the will to win, and being a psychopath. There is a difference between a competitor and a thug. In every instance, Joey Barton is on the wrong side of that divide.

Look at a man like Patrick Vieira. In his prime, Vieira would have destroyed Barton on the football pitch. Nobody was more fiercely competitive than PV4, and he could put his put in when it mattered and where it hurt. And yet, away from the pitch, he was a perfect gentleman. The same can be said for Sol Campbell, Martin Keown and more.

There’s plenty this current Arsenal team needs. Barton is not it, and never will be. In my opinion, he’s overrated both as a man and a footballer. A few trips to an art gallery and copying and pasting quotes from Google does not signify a transformed character. A few decent performances for QPR does not indicate an international quality footballer. And, frankly, however well he plays, his character will always hold him back. A club like Arsenal has no need to gamble on him.

One player it does look like we’ll be signing is Guim Laporta, son of former Barca president Joan. The 14-year old right-back has moved to England with his mother and has begun training in our youth set-up. We should offer his dad a job as a sporting director while we’re at it – though not the most popular man with Arsenal fans, his record at Barca is unquestionable.

More tomorrow.

Shrews tamed by the Ox

Posted on September 21, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, League Cup, Match Reports | 74 Guns

Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

You can hear my thoughts as I left the ground by clicking either of the links below, depending on which one actually works in your browser.

If neither work, try this.

In the end, it was an enjoyable night out – apart from the fact I managed to tumble down about three rows of seating when trying to make a quick escape by hopping over the man in front. If you saw a tall man in a blue hoodie go tumbling with kind of pirouettes and spins more commonly associated with a fouled Cristiano Ronaldo, then I confess that was me.

The spins and flicks from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were far more impressive. After a quiet first 45, he came to life in the second half, thumping home a crucial goal from range as well as terrorising the opposition full-back with some searing sprints to the byline. The difference between Chamberlain and Walcott could not be more clear: the newer addition is much more prepared to drift inside and get involved with build-up play, spraying thirty and forty yard passes effortlessly across the pitch. He’s far less reliant on pace, and possesses far greater technique. Undoubtedly, a huge prospect.

And yet, his Man of the Match award was possibly a little generous: across he ninety minutes, the performance of Francis Coquelin probably warranted recognition. Since arriving in 2008, the holding midfielder has always looked a neat tackler with tidy ball-skills. Yesterday, in a 4-4-2 formation alongside Emmanuel Frimpong, he demonstrated that some time playing at full-back and a spell on loan in Ligue 1 have seen him add power and energy to his game. Yesterday he charged from box-to-box, winning the ball back and using it simply and efficiently. It seems the Old Trafford mauling has not scarred him.

Honourable mentions also go to Kieran Gibbs and Yossi Benayoun, who grabbed their first Arsenal goals, and Ignasi Miquel, who looked far more assured than his experienced defensive partner, Johan Djourou. Lukasz Fabianski, too, won’t have worried compatriot Wojciech Szczesny with an unconvincing display.

Ryo Miyaichi got twenty minutes but didn’t have time to make a notable impression, whilst the game may well once be remembered for the Arsenal debut of the giant Chuks Aneke. Chuks is, in every sense, a huge star at U-18 and now Reserve level, with that exciting combination of technique and tallness that draws inevitable comparisons with Patrick Vieira. He’s more of an attacking player than the Frenchman, and an enormous prospect. He only got a few minutes in stoppage time last night, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we see him again before long.

Right, must dash. Tata for now.

Up for the cup: Chamberlain, Miyaichi & Park

Posted on September 20, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, League Cup, Match Previews | 47 Guns

Given our disastrous league form, some see the advent of a Carling Cup campaign as an ill-timed and unnecessary distraction. To me, it comes as a great relief, and a chance to see some fresh talent at a time when the first-team appears to be stagnating.

Tonight there will be a mix of relatively experienced talent, and new faces. Lukasz Fabianski ought to make his first appearance of the season in goal, with Johan Djourou and Carl Jenkinson making their first starts since the Old Trafford debacle. Alongside Djourou, the ball-playing centre-half Ignasi Miquel will continue his development, whilst Kieran Gibbs could well be recalled after sitting out the game at Ewood Park.

In midfield I expect Coquelin and Frimpong to form a no-nonsense pairing, with the intriguing flair of Ryo Miyaichi, Park Chu-Young and Alex Chamberlain, all making their full debuts, behind target man Marouane Chamakh.

It is the trio of debutants who fire the imagination most. After signing just before deadline day and instantly collecting a flurry of international goals, we’re yet to catch a glimpse of Park. Tonight he’ll most likely play just off Chamakh, and it’s this versatility that Arsene thinks will make him particularly useful as the season progresses:

“Park is good in every area. He is good in the air, good technically, he is mobile and that’s why he is an adaptable striker who can play up front behind the striker.

That’s why we went for him. What I like with him is that he is very mobile and that’s the basis of our game.”

If I’m not mistaken, it’ll be the first time an Asian player takes to the field for Arsenal since the days of Junichi Inamoto. And there’ll be two of them. Left-winger Ryo Miyaichi will finally make his much-anticipated Arsenal debut. Ryo trialled with the club only last season, only to break his leg, delaying any move till January. Unable to get a work permit, he then moved on loan to Feyenoord, where he impressed enormously, before joining up with the first-team squad this summer. He’s made a huge impression in training and Arsene is convinced he will make the breakthrough to the full team before long. In the meantime, the Carling Cup is a perfect opportunity to adapt to the English game:

“We have to give him time and not put too much pressure on him but he is a fantastic player. We want to do things properly with him and not to rush him too much.

He has pace, attitude, efficiency in what he is doing and complete commitment.”

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain already has one appearance under his belt: an ill-fated cameo at Old Trafford. On his first start for the club, he’ll be keen to erase that memory and make a positive impression on the supporters.

It’s easy to forget that Chamberlain was our most expensive buy this summer, with a fee that could rise as high as £15m. He’s clearly incredibly highly-rated, and as a quick wideman bought from Southampton, has drawn comparisons with Theo Walcott – comparisons which Arsene has been quick to dispell.

What’s clear from the little bits of Chamberlain I’ve seen playing for Southampton and for England U-21s is that he’s a far more accomplished technical player than Walcott. I’d liken him more to a Samir Nasri type: a stocky, powerful dribbler who can create and score goals by coming from deep.

I’m excited to see all three talents, and hope they can contribute to creating a positive atmosphere a ground which, with any luck, we can carry in to Saturday’s game with Bolton. If you wish to dwell on the gloom of our affairs in the league, then you can read Arsene Wenger and Ivan Gazidis telling us lots of things we already know.

I won’t profess to know too much about our opponents, Shrewsbury, but they’re in decent form and currently occupy the third automatic promotion spot in League Two. Arsenal.com has a neatly prepared scouting report on them – it seems the main threat will be provided by left-winger Lionel Ainsworth.

I expect this inexperienced Arsenal team to get the win, and hopefully provide some mouthwatering glimpses of potential. Some of you will be cynical about a tomorrow that never comes, but let’s not allow the travails of the first-team to impact upon the promise of these youngsters. They need and deserve out support tonight, and beyond.

Of course Arsene’s Arsenal can finish fourth

Posted on September 19, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season | 159 Guns

Sky Sports’ Sunday Supplement has long been a home for fatuous and frivolous opinions. A carousel cast of journalists arrive to slate the players they’ve hyped the previous month, and call for the sacking or promotion of coaches based on a handful of results. At the centre of this ring sits the trollish Brian Woolnough, with views as stale and poisonous and the aging croissants decorating his set. All that said, it’s often quite good fun.

After listening to the podcast version of this weekend’s show, however, I felt moved to respond. All four hacks at Woolnough’s round table declared, with utmost certainty, that Arsenal had “no chance” of qualifying for the Champions League next season. It was at this same table, last week, that the seemingly sane Martin Samuel heralded Stoke as serious contenders for fourth spot.

This is bad enough, but only to be expected from the sensationalist press. My despair is compounded, however, by the fact that I’m hearing the same views replicated among Arsenal fans. The sense of despondency and talk of crisis is contagious, and threatens to destroy our season before it has truly begun.

And so: I believe Arsenal can finish fourth. In fact, I think they will.

That statement will doubtless cause some to stop reading, deriding me as a deluded optimist. I understand their fears: my gut feeling is no guarantee. I’m a hugely positive person, determined to see the best possible outcome in every situation. My glass is perennially half-full, and continually replenished.

However, I think there is real evidence for my assertion. The team favoured for fourth by most is Liverpool, who beat one of the weakest Arsenal teams in history largely due to an unfortunate own goal. Yesterday they shipped four goals at Spurs. They’ve now lost consecutive league games. Despite about £100m investment, they hardly look world-beaters, and are just three points ahead of an ‘in crisis’ Arsenal.

If not Liverpool, then Spurs, you cry. But Tottenham remain, well, Tottenham. They have not finished above Arsenal in the course of Arsene’s reign, and consistency remains a problem for them. When it comes to the crunch, wobbly nerves or dicky tummies tend to see Arsenal emerge on top.

Oh, and Mr. Samuel, for the record: Stoke were beaten by four yesterday too. At Sunderland. Watch out Barcelona.

It is, in reality, a three-horse race for fourth place. Looking at the squads on paper, there isn’t much to choose between Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool. But the fact that we’ve done it before will surely count in our favour. Every season for the past five years I’ve seen pundits write off our chances of a top four finish, only to be proven wrong. This year, after the difficult start we’ve had, would be sweeter than ever.

I’m not saying I’m happy that fourth spot is the height of our ambitions. Last year we were title challengers, whereas this year I admit we stand no chance of keeping pace with Chelsea, United and City. But we can yet be the best of the rest. For those of you pointing to the league table: do you really believe that Newcastle’s current fourth spot is indicative of their ability? Or that Bolton will be relegated? We may only have four points on the table, but there are still another 99 up for grabs. And with new signings still bedding in, this Arsenal team will surely get better.

The second part of this argument, I suppose, is that they can get better with Arsene at the helm. To be clear: this is not a long-term endorsement. I don’t necessarily believe that he’ll be the man to clear the dust from our trophy cabinet, nor even that he’ll be here beyond May. Nor, however, do I see the logic in changing the manager now.

In a season where the apogee of our aims is Champions League qualification, why ditch the manager who has consistently shown that this, in spite of everything else, is what he can deliver? A change is not always as good as a rest.

There are things that irritate me about Arsene, chiefly his stubbornness and steadfast refusal to put pragmatism before principles. I believe this is in part because he has been mismanaged. A football manager ought not to be an autonomist – everyone should have to answer for their actions. I’m not part of the “bring back David Dein” brigade, but it’s clear the current board have not provided Arsene with as much direction as you would hope for.

At the end of the season, both Arsene and the board will have to have a long hard think about the long-term viability of his reign. Until then, he won’t be going. He won’t resign halfway through a season, and nor do the current board have the strength of will to sack him.

Nor should they, yet. I remain confident that Arsene is perfectly capable of turning around our fortunes, and achieving fourth. No more, but fourth. And right now that is all we need and all I want.

It’s a little optimistic, but it’s based on objective truths. In a league where three teams dominate, everyone else is inevitably left to scrap it out. It’s a scrap that I believe we can win. If are witnessing the final days of Arsene’s reign, and I don’t deny that we might be, then I’m sure both he and the Arsenal fans would love to see him sign off by proving his critics wrong once again.

Come on Arsenal. Go Fourth, and Prosper.

Blackburn 4 – 3 Arsenal: Adjust your sights for this season

Posted on September 17, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, Match Reports, Premier League | 135 Guns

Yakubu wheels away after exploiting more dreaful defending

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

Arsenal’s fresh start is already tinged by the familiar odour of decay. After scraping past Swansea and nicking a point from Dortmund, our shortcomings were once more horribly exposed in a 4-3 defeat to struggling Blackburn.

It was, without doubt, one of the strangest games I’ve seen. But Arsenal conspire to make the strange familiar, and the impossible plausible. Only we could twice blow a lead at Ewood Park, conceding four goals to a side that, until today, had managed just the one. It means that Blackburn, whose manager was the subject of protests calling for his sacking prior to the game, have now moved above us in the league table.

The result is made all the more baffling by our dominant first-half display. Gervinho and Mikel Arteta both netted impressive first goals for the club, sweeping home after moves which both involved incisive passing from Alex Song. Song, Arteta and Ramsey were dominating the game, and ahead of them the movement of the Ivorian winger was causing havoc in the Blackburn back line.

The Arsenal strikes sandwiched Blackburn’s first equaliser, which gave warning of what was to follow. Arsenal, the replays hsowed, had a neat defensive line – unfortunately it was on a diagonal rather than a horizontal, and both Koscielny and debutant Santos were playing Yakubu onside as he raced through to toe-poke brilliantly beyond Szczesny.

That said, we still looked comfortable, and should arguably have gone in at half-time at 3-1 – Gervinho choosing to shoot rather than square to an unmarked RVP after a brilliant burst from an in-form Arshavin. The news boys were slotting seamlessly in to our swashbuckling style, and I expected us to come out after the break in search of the crucial next goal – the one that would define the pattern of the game.

That goal, as now know, went to Blackburn. Andrey Arshavin was harshly penalised for a backtracking slide on the left-flank. When Ruben Rochina clipped the resulting free-kick in to the box, Scott Dann’s flicked header was turned in to his own net by Alex Song. Arsenal’s new zonal marking system, which had looked ropey in the first half, relies on preventing a Blackburn player from reaching the ball. It does not, however, legislate for our own men accidentally putting the ball in the net.

Blackburn couldn’t believe their luck, and began to play like a team believing it might be their day. Within nine minutes, they were ahead. Another set-piece, a corner this time, found N’Zonzi unmarked at the back-post. He fired across goal and Yakubu – offside – tapped in.

There was worse to come. From an Arsenal corner, substitute Martin Olsson broke at breakneck speed, hurdling challenges from Santos and Johan Djourou, who had a nightmare as a replacement for the injured Bacary Sagna, to see his cross turned in to his own net by Koscielny. Our third own goal of the season – more than we have chalked up in the past two years combined.

In a game as surreal as this, and with the way we had played in the first half, rescuing the tie didn’t seem impossible. Theo Walcott and Marouane Chamakh were thrown on, and with five minutes to go the latter provided some hope with a thumping header – his first league goal in almost ten months. We had chances to equalise, too: Mertesacker and Chamakh again spurning presentable opportunities created by crosses from Santos, who unsurprisingly looked better going forward than back.

All that history will record, of course, is the result; the cause of which will surprise no-one: some apocalyptically bad defending. Today we learnt what most of us already knew: that adding new personnel won’t change the fundamental problems of organisation and coaching that dog our defensive displays.

Arsene seems to admit that we were in dire straits at the back:

“It just looked like we had a lack of focus for what we knew they were good at – corners and free-kicks.

You cannot say you are not worried when you see the performance we put in today. It’s just not defensively solid enough.

At the moment we do not have the capability to focus defensively for 90 minutes to win games. It is important you do not give cheap goals away like we did.”

Staggering admissions from the manager, and one only hopes he has some idea of how to combat the malaise. Signing Santos and Mertesacker is all very well – although both struggled today – but the one addition many fans were crying out for was someone on the coaching staff to provide a bit of guidance and discipline. It hasn’t happened, and the likes of Martin Keown will continue to dissect our errors on the sofa of the BBC when they could be doing so on the training ground.

By the end of the weekend we could be eleven points behind the league leaders, after just five games. We’ve now conceded 14 Premier League goals already – in 1998/99 we conceded 17 in 38 games. Last season in took us until mid-November to ship that many.

There’s a lot of rage out there on the internet. Fuming fans are looking for someone to blame, and inevitably their ire is turned on the manager. Myself? I’m more calm. I’ve taken a lot of stick over on Twitter for being “out of touch” and “in denial”, but I think it comes down to having already adjusted my expectations.

From the moment we lost Cesc Fabregas, we ceased to be title contenders. Losing Samir Nasri merely compounded that fact. A clutch of knee-jerk signings on deadline day boosted the squad, but not enough to change our status in an evolving league. City, Chelsea and United have got the top three sewn up. We’re part of the scrabble below, hoping to maintain fourth place and our Champions League status.

That’s as high as my sights ago. We can not and will not win the league, or indeed Champions League. We might have a stab at a domestic cup, but even the hunt for an overdue trophy has to be below fourth spot in our list of priorities. As Arsene suggested on Friday, we are at the start of a new cycle. Whether or not he’ll be here to see the completion and fruition of it, we can’t know. What we do know is that retaining the financial fillip and elite status provided by Champions League football is essential to help this club get back to the top. Without it, we genuinely run the risk of slipping in to a period of obscurity.

If you’re insistent that Arsenal must achieve more this season then I suggest you switch off now, because the next eight months will be rather pointless viewing. The realistic aim, that fourth spot, remains very much on the table. I believe that come the end of the season, we will be in contention. In fact, call me crazy, but I still think we’ll get it.

There were, amidst the chaos, positive signs. In the first half, and right at the end of the second, we played the best football we have mustered this season – possibly since around February last season. Arteta and Gervinho looked fine additions, and I began to see just how Arsene might manage to pull us out of the fire.

There was misfortune, too, in the goals we conceded. Any side that wins a game courtesy of two own-goals will hold their hands up and say they were a tad lucky – and therefore, by default, we were a little unlucky. Yakubu, too, was offside, and Arsenal had a decent shout for a penalty denied in the dying moments. We had 24 attempts to Blackburn’s 10, and 13 corners to their two.

I can’t sit here and tell you that Arsenal defended anything other than dreadfully. Nor can I tell you that we’ll turn this round and become title challengers. What I can tell you is that I saw signs today that we are perfectly capable of finishing fourth in this league. It will take a lot of work, and a few changes, but it can happen. And if you care about the future of this club you had better hope it does.

The manager will not walk away. Nor will he be sacked. Like it or not, he is here for this season. You may believe that this mess is of his creation, and I’d probably agree. However, I still believe he can get us out of it.

Blackburn Preview

Posted on September 17, 2011 by GilbertoSilver Posted in 2011-12 Season, Match Previews, Premier League | 75 Guns

With the tumultuous start to the season we’ve had, it’s easy to forget that there are clubs far worse off than us. Arsenal fans have been so disillusioned that they’ve even forgotten to laugh at Tottenham, who had a nightmarish summer and look all but certain to drop out of the top four. Today’s opponents, Blackburn Rovers, are even worse off than our neighbours. Arsenal’s visit today coincides with a march of protest against manager Steve Kean.

Kean was a marked man from the day of his appointment. Like Roberto Mancini at Man City, he committed the cardinal sin of replacing a manager much-loved by the British media – in this instance Sam Allardyce, rather than Mark Hughes. He’s also a client of unpopular football agent Jerome Anderson, who since brokering the Venky’s takeover seems to have become the wizard behind the curtain at Blackburn. His influence extends so far that Blackburn have now added Jerome’s son Myles to the playing staff.

Kean, it seems, is a sacking waiting to happen. Even the bookies agree. But his players seem to feel differently, as anyone who watched their spirited draw at Craven Cottage last weekend will know. Defeat would reportedly have cost Kean his job, and his team ran through walls to earn a point – almost literally in the case of Junior Hoilett, who was flattened by Mark Schwarzer as he chased on to a loose ball.

Hoilett is part of exciting group of young attacking players, along with Mauro Formic and Ruben Rochina. At the back, they remain sturdy, with the towering Chris Samba now partnered by fellow one-time Arsenal target Scott Dann. Blackburn’s league position is not representative of their squad. And, regardless of how they’re faring, they always seem to raise themselves for a game against Arsenal.

There is positive news on the squad front. Aaron Ramsey training normally on Friday and should be fit to start, whilst Alex Song and Gervinh0 are finally back from the suspensions they carelessly picked up on the opening day. I expect all three to start, with Ramsey for Benayoun the only likely change from the team in Dortmund.

Slowly, our season is beginning to move in a positive direction. It’s essential that momentum isn’t halted today. Come On You Gunners.