Archive for August, 2010
August 18th, 2010
It’s a difficult time for football fans. We see our clubs become the playthings of emotionally detached businessmen from all corners of the globe, claiming to be backed by billions which may or may not exist. A new initiative by Arsenaal, called Arsenal Fanshare, hopes to buck that trend, and give supporters a chance to have a stake and say in the running of their club.
The scheme works by allowing fans to purchase an affordable Arsenal Fanshare. A Fanshare is equal to one hundredth of one share in Arsenal Holdings PLC and with current shares in Arsenal Holdings at £9,500 one Fanshare therefore costs about £95. With that you get voting rights, the ability to attend AGMs, and a bunch of other benefits. It’s a smart, progressive idea, and I might just be investing £100 or so myself. For more information, click here.
Back on the pitch, there’s the positive and surprising news that Johan Djourou isn’t injured. Yes, you read that right. With Koscielny suspended for the visit of Blackpool, he ought to come straight in to the side for his first start in some 15 months.
Unless something happens very quickly with either Mark Schwarzer of Shay Given – and David Seaman isn’t alone in hoping that it does – Manuel Almunia will start against Blackpool, with Lukasz Fabianski on the bench. The latter has been talking about his desire to win over the Arsenal fans, saying:
“I can understand every single shout against me and it can only motivate me to play better and work harder.
But of course I am going to do everything in my power to show that I deserve to be respected. Then maybe they [the Arsenal fans] will start singing my name – that would be wonderful.”
You can’t fault his attitude. Shame about everything else.
It’s back to the future this weekend as the new Clock End makes its first official appearance at the new stadium. Fans are asked to get to their seats a little early for the unveiling.
Right. Back to watching Sky Sports’ Transfer Clockwatch and praying we’ll sign a goalie. Tata for now.
August 17th, 2010
Manuel Almunia is a man of a somewhat nervous disposition. Whilst he remains the most able goalkeeper on our books, his confidence is clearly a delicate, fragile thing. Which is why Arsenal’s apparent chase for Mark Schwarzer has left him feeling a little uneasy:
“To be honest, it is so difficult [to concentrate]. Arsenal is a big club and speculation is always in the news and everywhere. The only thing I can do is keep working because I have a contract here and I have to do what the manager wants from me. I have not spoken to him. If somebody comes in, I will have to talk about my future at Arsenal. That is it.
I don’t see anything else outside Arsenal. It will be very, very difficult to play for another team in England if it wasn’t Arsenal. Spain, also, would be difficult. But I am 33 years old and only have a few more years left in football. I would like to enjoy them. I am a keeper who enjoys playing – just playing. I have to work and if one day I am not good enough for Arsenal, I will talk. That is no problem.”
This is exactly why it’s essential that Arsene bites the £3m bullet and brings Schwarzer in. The speculation about a new signing, as well as Arsene’s clear indecision about who out of his current crop should be number one, has simply served to undermine what little self-belief Almunia and Fabianski had at the back end of last season.
It is comparable to the goalkeeping situation with England squad at the World Cup. In the absence of a clear number one, there emerged a confidence vacuum, in to which whatever ability Rob Green ever had was spectacularly sucked.
Almunia knows he is living on borrowed time. Fabianski knows he has proven himself to be not yet ready – he may never be. Arsene has to take the plunge and bring in someone who the side can have confidence in. Schwarzer may not be that much better than Almunia, but at this stage someone with a fresh, unblemished record would represent an improvement.
Arsene: we’re eagerly awaiting further developments.
August 16th, 2010
Liverpool 1 – 1 Arsenal (Ngog 46, Reina 90 og)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
As football fans, we savour the great moments. It’s rare you remember a full ninety minutes. You’d never recall a game and say, with a glint in the eye, “Ah, we kept possession marvelously that day”. You remember flashes of decisive action. Usually goals. Take our FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United in 2005. For 120 minutes, we were dire, but I don’t recall any of it. The only image that has burned itself indelibly in to my retina is that of Patrick Vieira firing home the winning penalty.
Hopefully, over time, we will be able to forget the dross we served up yesterday, and just remember the glorious hilarity of Pepe Reina’s stoppage time own goal. The man who orchestrated the bundling of Cesc Fabregas in to a Barcelona shirt got his karmic comeuppance. Distracted by the sun and an onrushing Marouane Chamakh, he could only fumble the ball in to his own net when it cannoned back off the post towards him.
Going in to the game, I’d have taken a draw. That changed shortly before half-time, when a flat half characterised by our keep-ball ended with Joe Cole being sent off for a lunge at Laurent Koscielny. Whilst Koscielny escaped injury and Cole’s intentions appeared benign, the tackle was irresponsible and reckless, and a red card was the correct punishment. To paraphrase commentator Martin Tyler, the referee’s responsibility is to judge the offence, not the damage caused or the character of the perpetrator.
So as the second half kicked off it was ten vs eleven. I feared a stoical Liverpool side would become even more cautious and difficult to break down, so the one thing we didn’t need to do was give them something to cling on to. Arsenal being Arsenal, that is precisely what we did. Jack Wilshere miscontrolled Andrey Arshavin’s pass on the edge of his own area, and David Ngog pounced to hammer a shot in to Manuel Almunia’s near post. I’ve seen plenty of pundits saying he should have saved it, but there was a lot of power behind the strike. Credit to Ngog.
After that we threw on a flurry of attackers to try and claw our way back in to the game – at one stage we had Chamakh, Van Persie, Arshavin, Walcott, Rosicky and Nasri on the field. Despite the wealth of talent at our disposal, we didn’t carve out a clear opportunity until the 85th minute, when Tomas Rosicky slalomed through the defence only to be denied by the fingertips of Pepe Reina. There were a couple of fruitless goalmouth scrambles, but it looked for all the world as if we’d slump to defeat in our opening game. And then, Reina.
A better performance would surely have seen us take all three points, but I’ll take our lucky escape and be grateful for it. Arsene’s demeanour in the post-match press conference had the upbeat feel of a man who knew we’d got away with it. I felt we were very poor on the day, particularly in the final third: we barely created a clear goalscoring opportunity all game.
Manuel Almunia started in goal and whilst I think that was the right call his performance won’t have filled fans with confidence. He flailed hopelessly at a couple of crosses, whilst sticking up for him over Ngog’s goal would be easier if he wasn’t beaten so regularly at his near post. Asked about the possibility of signing a goalkeeper after the game, Arsene said:
“At the moment it is better for me not to talk about that because it doesn’t help the keepers who play for us, so it is better that we focus on the goalkeepers we have. I believe Almunia had a good game today.”
Hardly the most ringing endorsement of his current crop of keepers. I’m hoping we’ll see some movement on the Mark Schwarzer front this week.
At the back we weren’t hugely stretched, but I thought Laurent Koscielny had an impressive Premier League debut, winning a couple of duels with substitute Fernando Torres before receiving a second yellow card for what was wrongly deemed a deliberate handball. Perhaps Martin Atkinson was simply looking to level the numbers up. His suspension means we face Blackpool next week with only one recognised centre-half.
In midfield we struggled. Abou Diaby looked, unsurprisingly, like a player who hadn’t kicked a ball in pre-season, and showed off his tendency to hold on to the ball for too long on several infuriating occasions. Jack Wilshere, meanwhile, seemed a little overawed. I do feel that he’s far more suited to the creative role occupied by the impressive Samir Nasri than the deep position he’s currently occupying – though injuries to Song and Denilson mean we have little choice about that at the moment.
Emmanuel Eboue made little impact, whilst Andrey Arshavin wasn’t kidding when he said he was out of form. I don’t think he was as lazy as some suggest – I’ve certainly seem him run less – but absolutely nothing he tried came off, and only his Anfield hoodoo prevented him from being hauled off.
Marouane Chamakh had a difficult debut, losing the majority of his aerial challenges with Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel, who looks increasingly like the serial killer in ‘Red Dragon’. That said, we was in there when it counted to help claim the equaliser, clattering Reina with what may or may not have been an illegal challenge.
All in all, a decent result from a poor performance. Apparently that’s the mark of a good team. We’ve now got a week in which to regroup and get the ship in order before the visit of an exuberant Blackpool side. Arsene also has some time in which to address the major gaps in the squad – though don’t be surprised if that drags right on until the very end of the window.
Football is back. How did we manage without it?
August 15th, 2010
On Friday afternoon Arsene Wenger hinted we’d get news on his future soon. He wasn’t bluffing. Just twelve hours later, the official site announced that he’d signed a contract extension keeping him at the club until 2014.
I’m a little surprised by the length of the deal. I had wondered if, as Arsene’s retirement approached, he might opt to go for shorter, rolling contracts. I’m glad he hasn’t. A four-year deal provides stability and certainty. It’s hard to convince a player to sign if he isn’t sure who’ll be his manager in a year or twos time.
There will be dissenters, but I think most fans will be glad to see Arsene decide to stay. One the eve of a crucial season, it’s a statement of faith in his squad. Arsene insists:
“My heart belongs to Arsenal and my desire is to see this team win silverware.
My commitment and drive are as strong and fresh as ever. Signing a new deal means that I can see this talented group of players reach their potential. Trust me, they are ready to deliver.”
We all hope you’re right, Arsene. The hunt for trophies starts today, with a mouth-watering game at Anfield. I could spend some time talking about the need to sign new players, but I suggest we’d be better off focusing on those who are available today. A good start to the season will alleviate some of those concerns about the squad.
All the talk is about who will start in goal. Rather obviously, Arsene has suggested that whoever plays today will be his number one. Well, yes: it’d be odd to pick your number two. One hopes, however, that this does not rule out an arrival – it looks as if both Mark Schwarzer and Shay Given could be available at the right price. My gut instinct is that Lukasz Fabianski will get the nod today, but perhaps I’m simply preparing myself for the worst. I really hope it’s Manuel Almunia between the sticks.
The back four picks itself: Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Clichy. It’ll be a test for the new boy, especially if Fernando Torres gets any game-time. Hopefully he takes to the Premier League like a particularly adept duck to water.
Midfield is where we may struggle. The whispers on the internet grapevine are that Cesc Fabregas hasn’t travelled, whilst Alex Song and Denilson have both been described as “short”. Abou Diaby is available, and I suspect we may see him start alongside Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere.
Upfront, Robin van Persie will probably begin on the bench, meaning a debut for Marouane Chamakh – supported by Andrey Arshavin, who does enjoy Anfield, and one of Walcott or Eboue. For defensive stability, I might go with the Ivorian – plus, we know how handy Theo can be from the bench.
It’s a huge match. Liverpool and their new manager will be desperate to get the new era underway with a win. We need to make a statement of intent and reassure fans we will be in contention this year.
Ready or not, the season is here. The butterflies have begun. Come On You Reds.
August 14th, 2010
As we enter the new season, there are a lot of question marks over this Arsenal squad. One of those questions appears to have been answered, with the news that Arsene Wenger is close to agreeing a new contract. His exact words were:
“I have to show how much I believe in this team by showing my commitment. My situation will be sorted out very soon.
I believe my commitment to the club has nothing do with the speculation of how the season would go, because that would be unfair.
If I do not do well, and one day the club is not happy with me I can completely understand that I do not stay here any more. But I believe we will do well.”
It’s an interesting one. Whilst I love Arsene and think the stability a new contract brings is a good thing, there will undoubtedly be fans who would rather the board waited to see how the team performs this season before signing off on his new deal.
In fact, let’s have a look what you reckon:
The press conference yesterday brought some team news: Abou Diaby is “fully available” to play, whilst a decision is yet to be made on our pair of World Cup finalists, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas. As for the keepers – Arsene says he’s yet to make a decision on who will start, and was not exactly forthcoming about the possibility of a new signing in that position, despite the news that Mark Schwarzer has handed Fulham a neatly wrapped transfer request:
“What is important at the moment is for us to focus on players who are in the squad and not give too much room to any speculation. I believe that we have goalkeepers who have quality and class and they have a good opportunity to show that on Sunday.”
I was going to write a big long season previewy thing. But then arseblog published his and I felt I agreed with it almost entirely. There’s no point me going through the squad pointing out the deficiencies we’ve talked about all summer. Although if, in a moment of masochism, you wish to read more of my thoughts on the laughable goalkeeping situation then you can do so here.
As for how we’ll do this season? I find it hard to call, as it’s so dependent on our transfer activity between now and September 1st. Reinforce the defensive part of the team, and we could challenge for the title. As ever, we’re just a couple of signings away from being a genuine force. If those players fail to arrive, we could come under threat from Manchester City, Spurs, Everton, and maybe even a resurgent Liverpool.
Perhaps you’ll get a season preview after the closure of the window. Until then (or until tomorrow, rather), adieu.
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