Archive for August, 2008
August 18th, 2008
Sometimes I worry that Wenger applies to the above principle to the likes of Emmanuel Eboue. IT DOESN’T MAKE YOU BRAVE ARSENE. IT MAKES YOU INSANE.
…anyway. After his impressive debut, all the talk this weekend has been about Nasri. In his post-match press conference, Arsene told the story of how he came to sign the midfielder:
“He had a bad season last year because he had meningitis. He was in hospital for two weeks.
He didn’t recover properly for three months and then they rushed him back to play. Of course he was not at the expected level. But the year before everybody wanted him. Sometimes you have to be brave enough when everybody says he is not good.
It is like Overmars. Samir did not have the best of seasons last year. But I saw him start his first game and he gave me an impression that you keep with you. When you see things, you have to go with your beliefs.â€
An act of faith, then. But that faith has already begun to be repaid, and have led Le Boss to compare Nasri to a former Marseille and Arsenal great:
“Samir looks intelligent and capable of having good acceleration. He sees a good vision of the game and that left flank suits him quite well. Maybe there is a bit of Robert Pires in him because he looks to be able to change direction very easily and a little bit the same style of run. He is a bit smaller, but there’s a bit of Pires in there.”
Nasri himself enjoyed his debut, and didn’t get the footballing culture shock he was perhaps expecting:
“I could not dream of a better start, to score in my first game after four minutes. Now I will have to continue week in and week out, and hopefully I can keep playing like that, it will be brilliant. There were not that many problems for me to adapt to playing in England. When I first met the boss, he said that maybe I would need a bit of time, maybe up to six months – but actually I felt really good straight away.”
It’s good that he’s feeling positive, but the cautious part of me suggests we wait and see how he fares on a rainy night in Bolton…
In non-Nasri news, well-connected journo Steve Stammers told ArsenalTV’s fans forum that any deal to sign Gokhan Inler is off. Which leaves… no-one. Hurrah!
August 17th, 2008
Arsenal 1 – 0 West Bromich Albion (Nasri 4)
The margin of victory could have been greater, but much like in last season’s tricky opener against Fulham, the important thing is that we won. It is results than generate momentum, and with two victories under our belt already this season, we have little to complain about.
Our goal came inside the first five minutes of our Premier League campaign. It seems our pre-season preparations paid off – compare this goal with this goal, the first from the friendly with Ajax, the second from yesterday’s game.
Almost identical, right down to the Denilson assist. The principal difference being that this time it was Samir Nasri sticking the ball in the net for a debut goal. Nasri was my man of the match yesterday, showing not only a fantastic touch and consistent inventiveness, but also working hard for the full ninety minutes. A very good start.
At that stage it looked like we could go on to score more, but it never really materialised. In the second half, frustration boiled over as Emmanuel Adebayor, who had missed a good chance just previously, was booed after failing to play in Nasri for a possible second. Now, granted the boos were more to do with Adebayor’s summer conduct than anything else, but I still found them utterly distasteful. If he’s here for the season now (which he is), he has to be given our support. Booing him is not going to help anybody. Fortunately, some pockets of fans agreed, and Adebayor’s song made a short-lived return.
At the back, Johan Djourou had to make one excellent goal-line clearance, but only in the last ten minutes did the result look anything less than certain.
Arsene is unconcerned about our less-than-prolific start to the league campaign:
“I’m not really worried about the lack of goals because I don’t feel we were sharp enough to finish off what we created. I believe when everyone is fit we can create clear cut chances. At times today the final ball was not good enough, too heavy, not timed well enough, and I feel we will improve a lot on that.”
Emmanuel Eboue started the game in central midfield, and I have to say I thought he did rather well. Until we sign a more experienced player, I’d rather see Eboue start than young Aaron Ramsey.  The Welshman could well go on to be a top player, but regular Premier League and European football at 17 seems a very big ask.
One former promising youngster who left the club yesterday is Justin Hoyte. Hoyte was a massive Arsenal fan and always gave his best, but sadly his best was never going to be good enough for him to become a regular in the side – not with Bacary Sagna around anyway. He’s right to go to Boro in search of first-team football, whilst we get another £3m to put into our ‘central midfielder’ pot.
The players go away on International duty now, which should give Arsene some time in which to tie up a signing or two. Get on with it, boss…
August 16th, 2008
Amidst all the panic over our ever-so-thin squad, it’s easy to forget that with just one addition, we could have a starting XI strong enough to challenge any side in the division.
In goal, Manuel Almunia proved last season that he is a consistent and reliable performer. An excellent shot-stopper, and increasingly commanding of his area, Almunia fills me with nothing but confidence.
On paper, our francophonic back four should be excellent. Each individual is a magnificent player in their right: Sagna, Toure, Gallas, and Clichy are some of the best in their positions not just in the country, but in the world. Whilst the centre-back partnership have never quite achieved the defensive stablility one would hope for (what with them being defenders and all), if they can overcome those problems then there’s no doubt they are fine individual defenders. Arsene must’ve have seen something to make him renege on his desire to sign a centre-back – let’s hope we see it soon enough too.
The midfield is an area of significant concern, but it’s easy to forget that if we can sign a suitable replacement for Flamini and keep Cesc fit (forever), we could well be fine. Who knows, the player we sign might even be an improvement on Flamini.
On the wings, two from Rosicky, Nasri and Walcott are potentially an improvement on the unproductive Eboue and Hleb, whilst if Van Persie can stay fit, his partnership with Adebayor ought to be as good as anything out there.
If that midfielder arrives, and the rest of the players stay fit, there are few limits on what we can achieve this season. But today, we’ll have to do without Cesc and his potential partner, with Aaron Ramsey possibly being forced into an earlier Premier League debut than anyone anticipated. At least Kolo Toure and Samir Nasri could be available – Nasri’s debut could see Emmanuel Eboue move inside to play alongside Denilson as he did in Amsterdam.
West Brom will be up for it on their first day back in the Premier League, but even our injury-stricken squad should be more than capable of picking up three points, and being briefly top of the table.
I’m going to end with a quote from our beloved manager, Arsene Wenger, about the need to win trophies this season:
“The job of the media is to imagine the worst and the job of the manager is to imagine the best. If I go into a season and say, ‘For fuck’s sake, if we don’t win anything, they will all leave,’ we are already beaten.”
Excellent stuff. That said, if we don’t win anything, they will all leave. So let’s win something.
August 15th, 2008
Twente 0 – 2 Arsenal (Gallas 63, Adebayor 83)
Our first game of the season was a routine victory over Steve McClaren’s Twente. Two away goals and a clean sheet almost guarantee our place in the group stage of the Champions League.
Considering the side we were forced to field, it was an excellent result. Injuries to Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos forced Johan Djourou into action at centre-half, whilst the situation in midfield was nothing short of dire, with seventeen-year old Aaron Ramsey forced to make his debut in European competition far earlier than Arsene would ever have anticipated – at least he can say his decision to join Arsenal for first-team opportunities is already being vindicated.
Ramsey and Denilson played relatively well, but their inexperience was evident as they were overrun by Twente’s five-man midfield. At the back, we were shaky, and twice relied on Manuel Almunia to mop up when Twente appeared to be in on goal.
Our passing game was not coming together, and that’s perhaps not surprising when you consider that our midfield was so shorn of senior players that Emmanuel Eboue spent large portions of the game on the left-wing.
Aside from a long range effort from Gael Clichy in the first half, I’m not sure we created a single chance other than the goals we scored. And even when they came, they were scrappy. An inswinging Van Persie free-kick was bundled in by William Gallas after one of his trademark back-post runs, before Theo Walcott got in behind and squared for Adebayor to sidefoot home.
Both goals demonstrated significant factors in our side for the forthcoming season – Gallas’ goal was all about his experience and knowhow. As by far our most experienced outfield player, he must step up to the plate and lead the side as the armband demands.
Walcott assisting Adebayor, meanwhile, is a combination that has already been somewhat productive. With Walcott expected to play on the right wing this season, he’ll have the chance to provide the ammunition for Adebayor to attempt to replicate his goalscoring heroics of last season.
So, the result we required, if not the performance we wanted. But as Adebayor points out, sometimes it’s important to win ugly – in fact, it’s something we’ve been accused of being incapable of in the past.
That said, it was painfully obvious a new midfielder is required. Whilst it’s extremely unlikely they’ll be in place before tomorrow’s game with West Brom, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure could return (the latter’s availability would free up Djourou to play in midfield).
Finally, we have accepted a bid from Middlesbrough for Justin Hoyte. Now, Hoyte may not neccessarily decide to leave, but now he knows Arsene is prepared to let him go I suspect he’ll move for regular first-team football.
I’m not sure I ever thought I’d say this about Justin Hoyte, but I’m slightly loathe to lose him. Our squad is so tiny, and losing a player who can play anywhere across the back-line (albeit not massively well) is never a good thing. It would also mean an injury to Gael Clichy would force us to play the erratic Armand Traore with at left-back for a prolonged spell – a thought which terrifies me.
God, it’s good to be back. Back blogging, back in the football season, and back in London. The Gunnerblog End of Season Awards 2008 are finally up, and The Guns are working – don’t believe the display that says “0 guns”. Click that to access the comments. That little bug, as well as the couple of others on the site, is in the process of being fixellated.
Premier League tomorrow. I can’t wait.
August 14th, 2008
Football moves so so fast. And such have been the personal and professional demands placed on me this Summer, I’ve barely been able to keep up. As if you needed further proof of the sport’s terrifying velocity, the previous two winners of the Player of the Season award (Thierry Henry and Gilberto) have both since left the club.
It’s a bit of a disaster that this season has officially started and yet last season’s awards have not been dished out. However, I can assure you that these decisions were made far closer to May than we currently are.
Before we move on to the awards, a brief bit of site news. As has been absolutely clear this Summer, I haven’t had as much time for the blog as I would like. However, I hope that will change from this point on. It’s odd because the Summer is usually the busiest time for a football blog – those transfer rumours really pull in the hits – but I’ve quite enjoyed having a bit of a break from all that lie-mongering. I’d rather people were here reading about the matches themselves than a rumour we all know is too good to be true. The content should be returning to something like its usual standards, and The Guns are undergoing repair as we speak. Here’s to the start of the season, and on to the awards:
Player of the Season
My choice for Player of the Season will undoubtedly be considered controversial. Had I made it public a couple of weeks ago, it would have been even more hotly disputed. Despite the fact he’s spent most of the Summer trying to crowbar his way out of the club with exorbitant wage demands, I can’t look beyond the thirty-goal contribution of Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
Not that there weren’t other contenders. Despite his transformation into a goalscoring powerhouse, Adebayor was not our most improved player last season – that accolade belongs to Mathieu Flamini, who has since moved to AC Milan. Alongside Flamini, Cesc Fabregas was at times sublime, whilst Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy both offered defensive consistency and attacking threat.
But for me, Adebayor outstripped them all. Granted, he’s not perfect. Granted, he missed chances one would expect a Champions League calibre player to score. But he also scored thirty goals, some of them absolutely outstanding. In recent history, only Ian Wright and Thierry Henry have achieved that kind of figure in our colours. In a season in which Eduardo and Van Persie only featured intermittedly, Adebayor provided our attacking threat across the entire campaign.
His pace and power have enabled us to overcome the loss of Henry, not only by replacing Henry’s threat in behind the backline, but by giving us an additional threat from crosses and set-pieces.
Adebayor’s actions this Summer have alienated some of his most loyal fans, but his performances in pre-season suggest that (whatever his motivation) his focus is once more on scoring goals and winning football matches. It’s time to forget, if not forgive. If last season is anything to go by, we need him.
Young Player of the Season
In 2007, the Carling Cup Final team spawned several nominees for this award. However, last year the likes of Abou Diaby, Denilson, and Armand Traore did not push on as we might have hoped.
However, Arsenal wouldn’t be Arsenal without a few starlets shining. Theo Walcott is one obvious example – in the second half of the season he was in blistering form, culminating in ‘that run’ at Anfield. Alex Song, meanwhile, transformed from lamental midfielder to promising centre-half (yet in spite of Song’s impressive performances, I’m still amazed that Arsene did not move to sign a defender this Summer).
And yet there can be no surprise that Cesc Fabregas has retained this award. Arsenal.com’s Player of the Year, a nominee for PFA Player of the Year, and the PFA Young Player of the Year. Yet I’m sure he’ll store those awards in a kitchen cupboard to make room on his mantlepiece for the Gunnerblog Young Player of the Season trophy. A future Arsenal captain and footballing great, and the current heartbeat of this Arsenal side. After winning Euro 2008 with Spain, it’s time he tasted some domestic success with his beloved Gunners. There’s no time like the present.
Worst Player of the Season
Is it harsh? To pick someone out?
Do I care?
Not really.
I thought about giving this to Jens Lehmann, who entered the season as Number 1, but found himself on the bench and out of favour after just two calamitous games.
However, Lehmann was beaten by a better worse man. Ladies and gentlemen, Arsenal’s worst player of the 2007-08 season was: Emmanuel Eboue.
At the start of the season I was enthused about Eboue’s potential transformation into a winger. However, on reflection, this was more relief at the fact he wouldn’t be in defence than excitement at his attacking potential.
It’s not just that he’s not often very good at football. It’s also that he’s not often very good at not falling over, or not crying hysterically after every tackle. It’s horrible having a player of whom you are embarrassed. So Eboue, buck up your ideas, or prepare to lose your first-team place to one Theo Walcott.
Game of the Season
My my, there were a few. The game I enjoyed attending most was probably at White Hart Lane for our comprehensive 3-1 victory, including Adebayor’s Goal of the Season strike.
Yet the most dramatic,and therefore the winner in this category, was certainly the 3-2 win at Bolton, where we came from 2-0 down at half-time to snatch a victory that dragged us (briefly) back into the title race. It was a remarkable example of the mental strength our young side began to show last season, typified by gritty performances and late goals. We’ll need plenty of that this season if we’re not going to end up trophyless again.
Worst game of the Season
Last season we suffered two maulings at the hands of our major rivals, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. Had these not occurred in domestic cup competitions, they would undoubtedly reign supreme in this category. However, Arsene’s ambivalence towards the cups seems to be contageous, and therefore (in my eyes at least) these defeats pale in comparison to one particular Premier League encounter.
The game at Birmingham was a gut-wrenching encounter. First, Eduardo suffered his horrendous injury. The players were in shock, and it was no surprise that we fell behind before half-time.
In the second half, the players came out and fought for their stricken Croatian team-mate, with Theo Walcott scoring his first two league goals in a stirring comeback.
And then that penalty. And Gallas’ tantrum. And the equaliser. And the final whistle. It felt like we’d lost the league in the space of a minute, and in many ways perhaps we had. Even thinking about it now is making me feel sick. On to happier times…
Highlight of the Season
It has to be knocking out AC Milan. After failing to score in the first leg, many pundits said we would come a-cropper in the San Siro against Milan’s veterans. Instead, as so often with these Arsenal boys, we showed no fear and ran out 2-0 winners at the San Siro. It was not just the scoreline, but the manner in which victory was achieved. Flamini, Fabregas, and Hleb were in hypnotic form, with Cesc netting the opener before another Walcott cameo put the second on a plate for Adebayor. That pair also combined at Anfield, but sadly that goal was not to prove as vital.
Disappointment of the Season
Sorry Robin: it’s you. My expectations of Van Persie last season were astronomical. His pre-season goal against Inter Milan reminded me of how special he could be, and with Henry’s departure, I expected RVP to be the man to take on not just the goalscoring mantle, but the idolisation that goes with it. However, as is so often the case with the Dutchman, injuries clouded his extraordinary talent. Another season means another chance for Van Persie to show his worth. Technically, he is easily as gifted as Cristiano Ronaldo. Does he have the physical capacity to make a similar impact? I’m beginning to doubt it. Prove me wrong, Robin.
—————————————–
Last season represented real progress for the team. After two seasons daudling along in fourth place, we transformed into genuine title contenders and ended just four points from the title. It’s remarkable to think that twelve months ago, most pundits predicted we would drop out of the top four to be replaced by Spurs. This season, similar predictions are coming out of Fleet Street, and one can see why. We’ve lost experienced squad members, and will be relying on teenagers like never before.
In spite of the changes in personnel, it’s vital we keep our forward momentum going. If Arsene signs the right central midfielder, and we can keep our front two fit, we can challenge again. If we want to keep the likes of Adebayor and Fabregas, we have to win something soon. Like I said earlier: there’s no time like the present.
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