Cometh the hour, cometh the Freddie?

Arsenal’s conveyor belt of shit just kept rolling today. Santi “Our Lord and Saviour” Cazorla is out for the season. An achilles injury that (possibly) resulted from his rehab following a knee ligament injury that (possibly) was exacerbated by needing to hobble through the best part of the second half at Carrow Road. Something something something “Peak Arsenal”.

Sinking Gooners’ spirits even lower post-Old Trafford seemed an impossible task, but two and a half days later here we are, gazing up longingly at our lowest ebb. Bring on Swansea.

But I couldn’t take the Santi news entirely negatively. I’ve been looking for straws to clutch for a while – and I’ve found them in our title rivals’ fixture lists (they all have to play United, Chelsea and Southampton, while only Leicester are spared a fixture against Liverpool), and our stereotypical charge from mid-March – and today produced another one. You just need to cast your mind back 14 years, to March 25 2002.

It was then that Robert Pires was ruled out for the rest of the season and beyond with a cruciate ligament injury. It was a season he bestrode Colossus-like up to that point, Arsenal’s most influential player in a team featuring Vieira, Henry, Bergkamp…

… and a little Swedish fella with mental hair. Freddie Ljungberg wrote himself into Arsenal legend that 2001/02 season. The loss of our key player could have put an end to our league and Cup hopes, but instead we powered to the Double thanks, more than anyone, to Ljungberg, who scored in five consecutive games from 1 April (round 32), set up Sylvain Wiltord’s winner at Old Trafford, and capped things off with an FA Cup goal that was almost as pretty as he was (extra marks awarded for making John Terry look crap).

There are definite similarities to the situation we find ourselves in currently. Cazorla’s influence on the team was less obvious than Pires’ back in the day, but it has come to be felt painfully. And while we’ve had to contend with his absence over a longer period in which our momentum and form have ground gradually to a halt, we are still in the hunt in both domestic competitions, with time remaining for someone to drive us to those goals.

Of course there are also differences. Pires was our chief attacking spark in a team blessed with flair and attacking options, Cazorla was the man who made our midfield work, and Jack Wilshere’s absence has robbed us of the only player who you could really say approaches his skillset (and even then without that all-important two-footedness). Arsenal suffered Pires’ injury while in good form (at least domestically), as opposed to today’s malaise, and it’s hard to argue that the inherent steeliness and determination of 2002’s title winners was shown in our latest Mancunian bottle job.

So is it folly to hope for a new Freddie? In so far as it can be anything but idiotic to pin so much of my emotional well-being on a bunch of millionaires kicking a ball, and the hope of one of them emerging messianically to salvage this absolute c**t of a season, I’m not giving up hope just yet.

With the Ox out and Theo Walcott seemingly disinterested, now seems the perfect time to reintroduce Aaron Ramsey to the right wing, where he can have a more positive influence on games. We know he has it in him to go on a Ljungberg-esque scoring run, and his late-arriving style is similar to the Swede’s. And then of course there’s Alexis Sanchez, whose form is undeniably poor but who is the biggest individual match winner in the squad, and Olivier Giroud.

Currently Mesut Ozil is our only key attacking player who can claim to be playing well. It’s a terrible state of affairs, but it’s also a perverse cause for optimism. Whether it’s through tactical changes, or a reinvigorating burst of confidence, the potential for a season-turning, Ljungberg-like intervention very much remains. And Arsenal legend can still very much be written.

Does schadenfreude get any better than this?

I remember from A-level English that the climax of the third act is always the big one. The peak of the narrative arc which the whole play builds towards, and which all that follows springs from in the form of resolution. Whether you view Chelsea’s title defence as a tragedy or comedy – and if you think it’s the former you should probably stop reading – it’s impossible to deny that the third act ended with high drama. The moment the knives came out again for the hero of the Roman empire. Et tu Bruce?

There are plenty of reasons why Mourinho’s monumental fall at Chelsea was such an enthralling story: the unprecedented decline of champions; the slapstick of Nemanja Matic, John Terry and Branislac Ivanovic; the intrigue of player revolts; the instant karma of the Eva Carneiro debacle; the conspiracy theory regarding his pay-off; the benefits it bestowed on Arsenal. But let’s face it, the reason it was so fun is that he’s a cunt, the humiliation was richly deserved, and it was seriously fucking funny.

There’s a thin line between schadenfreude and cruelty, but the response to Mourinho’s fate doesn’t go anywhere near it. This is one case of misery and misfortune that we can all relish with no fear of a sullied conscience. It’s just a shame neither Eugene Tenenbaum nor Bruce Buck got up two minutes before the end of his dismissal meeting, shook his hand, and buggered off like they had somewhere more important to be. Maybe one of them could have just gouged his eye.

So lap up the joy, drink from the virtual supersoaker of his tears, and be thankful that, this time, the bully got his comeuppance. I’m almost glad he conducted his vendetta against Arsene Wenger so spitefully and publicly, such is the deliciousness of the irony now slathered over the notorious “specialist on failure” line.

But I have to ask, doesn’t a part of you wish he was still in the job? Aren’t you left wondering whether it could have got even better?

Previously I had viewed Chelsea’s dismal season almost as a race: could the team’s league position get so bad, and Mourinho’s position get so untenable, quickly enough to force him out before the team and the manager’s actual ability caught up, bringing the inevitable U-turn in form with it?

Now that race is won, the – regret? – I partly feel makes me realise it was more like a night on the roulette table where the ball kept landing on red. The first couple of times it happened, the joy was based squarely on the thrill of the win itself, but as the run continued that rush was deepened not only by the scale of the accumulated winnings, but the ever-more unbelievable confounding of expectation – that this spin, this game, would be the one that would see things return to normal – and the intoxicating speculation on how long it might last.

That run hasn’t yet ended, but Mourinho’s sacking almost feels like I’ve cashed out and left the casino regardless. And while I’m delighted with what I’ve won – what we’ve all won – I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’ve got out too soon. That I’ll never know how many more times the ball could have landed on red.

There’s the suspicion that this sacking – wonderful though it is – could end up being the best thing for his reputation. If Guus Hiddink can’t turn it around, it will be seen as the player’s failure. If Hiddink succeeds, it will be seen as proof that Mourinho just needed more time, and more support.

I expect, by the end of the season, Chelsea will be back on an even keel – though at least damaged by a probable lack of Champions League football – and Mourinho will be back as the darling of the football press. Maybe a few more hilarious, celebratory defeats will have done more lasting damage to both.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Hiddink will instantly turn around Chelsea’s form. How would a loss against Sunderland make me feel? I’d be over the moon, and maybe the jubilation will be just the same. But somehow, without Mourinho’s squirming misery to top it off, I know the schadenfreude wouldn’t be quite as sweet.

Refreshingly competent, depressingly inevitable. So where does that leave us?

Go on Arsene, fuck him up!

With the dust settled, how are you feeling about the game? And our prospects generally this season?

— Arse2Mouse (@arse2mouse) October 5, 2014

Good question. Not sure I can fit the answer into 140 characters…

We didn’t get demolished. In fact we held our own for long periods. But when the final whistle blew, 2-0 was absolutely fair to Chelsea. I hate crediting that shower, but it was a performance that shone a harsh light on quite how far behind the best team in the land we are. We’re lacking tactically and in terms of personnel.

John Terry and Jose Mourinho might be the biggest tossers in the English game, but they were both superb yesterday. Martin Atkinson handed them their piece of good fortune by allowing Gary Cahill to stay on after an unbelievably clear red card – he more than made up for it by the end of the game, though we’ll never know what the effect of Chelsea going down to ten men with the scores level would have been – but after that, Chelsea were resolve personified, with the centre backs setting the example for everyone to follow.

But, again, this was really a victory for Mourinho, who has taken the having of someone’s number to stratospheric heights with this dominance over Wenger. Insert some sort of Yellow Pages joke here. Mourinho isn’t content for his teams to park the bus, he takes his tactics further. When executed correctly, his big-game strategy gives the opposition just enough encouragement to keep doing what they’re doing, despite not inflicting any damage, before putting the knife in. For swathes of the game it felt we were building up a head of steam, pressurising the massed Chelsea defence, but we ended up with no shots on target – the first time since 2003, according to Daniel Storey – undone by two world-class interventions and archetypal Mourninho ruthlesseness.

You can imagine some sort of highly-evolved dung beetle pioneering the trick: rolling up in a ball, exposing just enough unarmoured flesh (do beetles have flesh?) to draw the attention of its attacker, and then… CRACK!… out flies some gigantic, retractable venomous stinging claw thing. Instant paralysis, and the smug fucking beetle can get back to eating shit.

I love that the two managers Wenger has almost come to blows with are Alan Pardew and Mourinho, who are quite clearly the two biggest douchebags managing in the Premier League (Allardyce is number three, but even Arsene knows his limits). It was definitely a highlight to see Wenger lay his hands on the arrogant, disrespectful, dishonest arsehole, but can anyone pretend that the Portuguese isn’t well and truly in the Frenchman’s head? It must grate that he has yet to find a way of beating this noxious, egotistical toad, with his commitment to pragmatism *little bit shudders*.

Wenger obviously set us up to be more solid. Chambers hardly ever ventured beyond the half way line, and our midfield trio were very good, with one painful exception. Hazard deserves credit for his explosive dribble, but neither Jack nor Santi covered themselves in glory by letting him waltz past them. Flamini remains the team’s weakest link, but this was the performance of the season from him, effectively shackling Fabregas all game – not sure how much you can put the Costa goal on him. In games where he can play a highly defensive role, and rely on a bit more lenience from refs due to the stakes, it’s logical that he can have more of an effect.

What we were undone by mostly was temporary doziness and attacking bluntness. So no surprises there.

Exhibit A: Gibbs played a weak free kick that barely made it to Sanchez, Chelsea pressed, won the ball back and quickly moved it to Hazard who exploited our slightly broken formation to blitz past Jack and Santi and draw the foul from Koscielny. He then stepped up and took an exceptional penalty. The fucker.

Exhibit B: A few minutes later, we manage to manouevre Chelsea’s defenders out of position, the ball is played into Wilshere who has a chance to hit it first time from just inside the box with a large chunk of the goal gaping or control the ball and place a shot, instead he takes a leaden first touch and Chelsea snuff out the chance.

It turned out to be our best chance, and as we were forced to push up and commit more players, Chelsea eventually killed us off thanks to a sumptuous ball from Cesc over the top. Fabregas’ game, and season, will inevitably be compared to Ozil, and right now there’s no doubt who the star is. I think the flak Ozil got yesterday was unfair; he was out of position and had enjoyed a brilliant game in the middle against Galatasaray, so there was plenty of logic to keeping him on when the Ox was introduced. I certainly wouldn’t have taken Cazorla off though – he’s our glue. In the end, he couldn’t get into the groove and had a very disappointing game, but he wasn’t alone in that in an attacking sense.

The decision not to sign Cesc looked dreadful this summer and has only got worse since. Not only did it strengthen a team we already had to overhaul if we were to win the title, it was an opportunity to strengthen our team that we voluntarily passed up. This wasn’t richer sides blowing us out of the water for Ronaldo, Essien or Hazard: the player wanted to play for us, and he was cheap. The whole thing about him and Ozil clashing is a total red herring too. Fabregas has excelled in a more withdrawn role this season, and Chelsea hardly looked shaky with him and Matic at the base of midfield (though Matic is, of course, a monster).

But the Catalan was passed up on, and Chelsea have the strongest team in the country by an embarrassing margin. Seven games in and they’re 2/1 on to win the title. The only thing that could seemingly derail them is Diego Costa’s knees, but even then they’ll just revert to bulldozer mode.

So where does that leave us, and what are my hopes and expectations for the rest of the season?

I feel we’ve psychologically had yesterday’s game highlighted, circled and triple underlined in red marker on our figurative calendars (with sad faces and lightning bolts thrown in for good measure). Now that it’s over with, the season begins in earnest. I’m actually glad for the interlull. It gives the players and manager some time to clear their heads and regain focus ahead of a key period in our campaign.

We’ve had easier opening fixtures than a run of games that saw us play City, Spurs and Chelsea but the next four league games are all very winnable, and 12 points from 12 should absolutely be the target (and we really should be doing the double over Anderlecht too). Achieve that, and there are two tricky but potentially confidence-boosting home games against United and Dortmund to contend with.

I feel like those eight games hold the key to our season. We have the quality to win them all, and if we do we can set our sights on second place and a run in the cups that count. If we continue to drop points, and fail to click in attack, a long six months of battling for fourth awaits, and I wouldn’t be confident of success.

I genuinely don’t rate any team other than Chelsea this season, and that sadly includes Arsenal. But if we can play to our potential, with City short on mojo, and Liverpool, United, Spurs and Everton all deeply flawed, our opponents are there for the taking. It’s up to the players, and above all the manager, to make sure we hit the ground running on October 18th.

Thanks for reading my rant. Have some links as a reward:

Post-match reflections, if you can stomach them.

Arseblog, Football365, A Cultured Left Foot

Matt Stanger’s Winners and Losers, also on F365, are stingingly accurate.

The indefensible. Arsenal were always asking for trouble with their lack of defenders.

At least Per didn’t have an arduous summer

“Things even Arsenal fans can agree on:

* Thierry Henry is better than you
* Tottenham: shit. Shit: Tottenham
* The Limpar-era ‘bruised banana’ kit is an icon of late c. 20^th design
* We don’t have enough defenders”

So began a blog post I wrote, rewrote, rewrote, edited, deleted, wrote, rewrote, edited published and eventually deleted last week about what we could expect from our meagre defence – at least in terms of minutes spent on the pitch – this season. In light of Mathieu Debuchy’s long lay off, I wish I’d persevered with it, though we were all too worried about defensive “depth” beforehand for me to claim any prescience.

The idea was to look at our group of seven defenders – I included Bellerin but not Hayden – and see how confident we could be that they would be able to get us through the league campaign. It wasn’t an analysis of their ability, the balance that might be struck between the full backs, the potential mismatch of Mertesacker and Chambers in the middle, Chambers’ best position, signings that got away or potential free agent acquisitions: this was simply a look at the minutes our players had contributed last season and over the years.

It didn’t make great reading. If you assumed every player would match their highest total minutes for a league season, you’d find we should have plenty to match the 13,765 minutes our defenders contributed last season. But if you looked at last season’s numbers, or each player’s averages over their time as first-choice player (Nacho’s Osasuna numbers are considerably higher than they have been at Arsenal), they fell short.

Player	Best	Average	2013/14
Debuchy	3052	2274	2494
Chambers	1641	1641	1641
Mertesacker	3150	2641	3150
Koscielny	3117	2681	2742
Gibbs	2101	1803	2054
Monreal	2758	2284	1180
Total	15819	13323	13261
Arsenal 2014	13765
Required	-2054	442	504

Monreal’s potential to exceed his numbers and Calum Chambers’ ability to play a bigger role than he did in his first season at Southampton were reasons to be hopeful – on a very basic level at least – but it looked pretty inevitable that, without new acquisitions or a very “unArsenal” run of good luck with player fitness, we’d be pitching Bellerin for a fair amount of game time, with it possible Isaac Hayden would be making his Premier League debut, depending on where injuries arose to the centre backs and their back ups.

With Debuchy out for what looks like two or three months – ignoring any history the club has for completely underestimating their prognoses – Chambers’ role as first back-up to Koscsacker, and Koscielny’s dodgy tendons, a significant role for Bellerin now looks an absolute certainty. Indeed, as Chambers tonsils have flared up, the Spaniard is suddenly in line to start at Dortmund tomorrow.

In as far as any injury is lucky, it’s lucky that such a serious blow was dealt to a right back, as it’s the defensive position we have the best depth in. Bellerin might be a total rookie, but he’s highly thought of, with the right back possibly his to lose in the longer term. If this had been Monreal or Koscielny out til maybe Christmas, we’d be much closer to a crisis.

** Update: bloody hell, Nacho’s knacked, we’re one injury away from Isaac Hayden. **

With our 25-man squad only 23 men strong, we have the opportunity to bring in experienced free agents to stave off a potentially season-derailing shortage of defenders, with centre backs a major priority. Failure to do so means we will be reliant as much on luck as the ability of the defenders in the squad if we’re to get to January unscathed. Probably more reliant.

With Mario Yepes no longer available, this is a list of the notable defensive free agents I could find (apologies for innaccuracies):

Carlos Marchena
Joseph Yobo
Abdoulaye Faye
Giourkas Seitaridis
Zat Knight
Sean St Ledger
Adam Drury
Luke Young
Andre Santos

Holy fuck, that list started off badly and quickly got a lot worse. Proof, if you still needed it, that whatever happens between now and New Year, we need to sign at least one defender to fill a depth role as soon as the transfer window opens again.

Here are some links:

Arseblog bemoans lack of defensive planning

Can’t argue with the fella.

From August, Chambers is shaping up to be the new Grimandi

Prescient piece from Dave Seager on the utility Chambers lends to the club. Hopefully Chambers ends up better though. No offence to Che.

Gunnerblog is too harsh on Ozil, but sees encouraging signs in our pressing game

Ozil had a pretty good game, if you ask me, on Saturday. If we play with a bit more pace he’ll shine.

Signs of the new Arsenal, but balancing it with last season’s resolve is key

Arseblog’s tactics column is just brilliant. This is a stupendous read about the new-look, higher energy game we say vs City, and the flaws that need to be ironed out.

More concerns over Arsenal’s squad size, this time physically.

It’s from Angry of Islington, so there’s quite a lot of, well… anger. But it’s a decent point and one that has been made for the best part of a decade.

Short Fuse Dortmund preview

“Have you seen Bellerin’s hair? We need this.” Is the best line written about Arsenal all week.

 

Departuregate: Wenger, Welbeck, Rome and bullshitters

I don’t for one second think Arsene Wenger knows the extent of the nonsense that he and Arsenal Football Club inspire on the internet. I imagine he’s too busy to read blogs or Twitter (though I do believe he has commissioned Positively Arsenal and @BlackburnGeorge as his own Pravda), but he could not have phrased some of his comments at today’s press conference any better if he expressly intended to play up for the mischievous trolls and their audience of preposterous, frenzied howler monkeys.

Meltdown in 3, 2, 1…

“If I had not travelled that day, Welbeck would not be here.”

Run for cover. Shit’s kicking off.

As a quote taken out of context – or, rather, in the context that Wenger’s week-long silence on the transfer was a sign of disaffection over it happening in the first place – it looks pretty bad.

Taken in the context of the actual press conference its meaning looks very different. Here’s a transcript:

Journalist – maybe Andy Burton?: “You received quite a bit of criticism personally for not being in the country on Deadline Day, for being in Rome at a charity game. What do you say to redress the balance and answer that criticism.”

Wenger: “If I had not travelled that day, Welbeck would not be here.”

Maybe Andy Burton: “What do you mean by that?”

AW: “I’ll explain that a bit later. But the coincidence made that because I was on my way… if I had stayed in my home Welbeck would not be here today.”

MAB: “Think you’re going to have to tell us that story.”

AW: “I will tell you that story one day. But that’s the truth.”

MAB: “And the significance of…” (going on to a question about the City game)

AW: “And you know, we are in 2014 and you can always be in touch with everybody today, even when you travel. The advantage of that day is that I had to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and I was available the whole day.”

Ok, now call me crazy here, but it seems like that “Welbeck would not be here” quote was a direct response to Maybe Andy Burton asking how he would counter criticism of his jaunt to Rome. It was a justification of his actions, not a pop at the evil meddlings of his nemesis Ivan “the machinator” Gazidis.

His inference is the Rome trip was significant to the deal because he was available first thing in the morning as it became evident a deal was doable. So rather than bitch about him heading off to the Eternal City to achieve world peace through football, praise the Great Lord Pazuzu and his multitude of neon wizards that he happened to be up early enough to catch on to the chance of the deal.

As the man himself admits, communication is a doddle these days – unless Wenger is on O2 and had been planning on spending the day in Blackheath, I can never get any signal there – so I don’t buy that Rome was a deal-maker. But this whole thing strikes me as Wenger covering his ass, not making an ass of Ivan.

If having a pop was his aim, why then repeatedly state his happiness with the signing and refer to himself as the principle protagonist in Arsenal doing the deal?

“I was not aware at the start… that he could be available. It was quick, because it was on the last day of the transfer window and I had no hesitation to do it”

“At the start the player was only available on loan but when after he became available for buy I agreed.”

“In the end when it was a permanent transfer or loan with an option to buy I was happy to take a permanent transfer.”

If Wenger’s intention was to moan, or make it known that he wasn’t happy, he had plenty of opportunities to do it throughout the press conference. Against the backdrop of quotes like the three above, the “Welbeck would not be here” line just does not fit the negative spin that has been applied to it.

And spin is all this really is, and all the bullshit about Wenger not talking about Welbeck was. Adrian Durham would be proud of the excrement generated by @LeGrove and his imitators. They would see his endorsement as a compliment. They target the logically and rationally enfeebled. The mouth breathers. Ruminants.

LeGrove and others like him are Arsenal fans, yes, but they’re also trolls. (If only you could conjoin those words in such a way that you’d have a catchy terms to disparage them, eh?) Do they actually believe half the stuff they emit into the ether? I doubt it. Those that gulp all the foolishness down probably do. But then they also probably ate a lot of glue in their childhoods.

Robbed of some actual games or Wenger soundbites to latch on to, the… er Arsenrolls, Trolenals, hang on… Arsetrolls!… the Arsetrolls instead turned that lack of Wenger soundbites into the story, for that special section of Arsenal’s online fan community to feast on while the rest of us watched on, more tired than bewildered.

The press conference ended that particular news, sorry, shit cycle. But Wenger’s line gave them enough to start another one. And even as people started pouring scorn on that, more wanton misrepresentation sprang forth.

Interesting that Wenger said he’d have preferred a loan with an option to buy on WELBZ. http://t.co/3W1lPX3RZ6

— Le Grove (@LeGrove) September 11, 2014

I mean, this is opportunistic deceit, as it links to a BBC article that misquotes Wenger, but listen to Wenger and it quickly becomes transparent. It’s not as transparent as making up stuff entirely, merely a selective choice of quotes to suit the obvious, but result-getting, formula of painting everything the manager says and does as shit. Here’s another bit of transcript:

Reporter: “Would you have preferred to take Danny Welbeck on loan?”

AW: “With an option to buy, yes.”

So far, LeGrove’s take looks watertight. But seconds later…

Reporter: “Is that maybe why if you had been here you wouldn’t have sanctioned it?”

AW: “No. In the end when it was a permanent transfer or loan with an option to buy I was happy to take a permanent transfer.”

Later on he says:

“At the start the player was only available on loan but when after he became available for buy I agreed.”

The internet is a media, and just like television, radio and print there will always be people who enjoy peddling bullshit for their own gain. What that gain is, beyond a massive following of arseholes, I’m not quite sure, but I guess there has to be some benefit – monetisation of some sort, massaged ego?

‘Twas ever thus, and forever ‘twill be, and I should just let it slide. But I find it hard. We don’t have to believe in the same thing, but Arsenal feels less and less like something that unifies disparate people and more and more like something that brings smartphone owners into conflict. I know my contempt is part of the problem. But I also know I didn’t start it, and that they’re the ones in the wrong.

But there might be some laughs on the way. The need to bash Wenger has given rise to the #IvanKnows phenomenon. And while the temptation to slate the manager is too high for most to let consistency in the way, we can but hope that, in championing a man that other Arsetrolls cannot abide, the fuckers turn on each other.

Link:

Here’s what Lee Hurley thinks of it all.

Welcome Danny, can you play centre back?

The most important £16m Englishman to join the club this summer.

Yesterday I said I’d have everything crossed that, if Arsenal only signed two players, they would be a holding midfielder and a centre back. And that only Falcao would sway me.

Welcome to Arsenal Danny Welbeck and… oh, that’s it, is it?

A week or so ago, Nick Miller wrote a piece on F365 about why supporting Arsenal must be the most frustrating pursuit in football fandom, and it’s day’s like this that back up his statement. Even a certified Welbeck fan – i.e. me – was left frantically updating Twitter (couldn’t face Sky Sports News) to see whether a player had been brought in to provide strength in the club’s two areas of weakness. Arsene Wenger had stated a desire to bring a defender in should Vermaelen go, so there’s no question he knew we needed extra bodies at the back. But not only did no one arrive, Ignasi Miquel (admittedly not a player we should be relying on anyway) left for Norwich. Three centre backs in and around the first team left this summer, one joined. And he had never really played centre back before.

Rumours were that Arsenal were in for Matija Nastasic, and it wouldn’t surprise me, given the boss’ pathological refusal to learn from past mistakes, if City ‘Demba Baed’ us, leaving us insufficient time to go after another. But there’s no excuse for being in such a position for a third/fourth-choice centre back. A suitable player for the role would surely not have the status/asking price that required Champions League football to be guaranteed before signing them. Why not make a concerted bid for someone like Winston Reid when it was obvious Vermaelen was gone? I scoffed at the notion of Brede Hangeland back in July. Now he’s another that got away. I know the players I’m talking about aren’t world beaters, but we’ve not been crying out for players better than the BFG and Koscielny, just people who can step in if injuries/illness/form requires it. Good job Per hasn’t had a World Cup to get out of his system and Kosc isn’t fighting tendon and (possibly) brain problems isn’t it?

Then there’s the situation in midfield. If the back four hardly covered themselves in glory in our lunchtime tonkings last season, they were not helped by a complete lack of cover from midfield. Any change to that will have to be through tactics, as we’re left with Arteta – great signing, still a valued servant, currently injured, old – and Flamini – a true fan, allergic to rational thought, constantly imminently suspended – in the holding role. Not so long ago, people were debating whether they wanted Carvalho, Schneiderlin or Khedira in that role. Rabiot was an archetypal Wenger signing, we were told. Now we’re left wondering whether a move for Mapou Yanga Mbiwa might have been wise.

A look at the comings and goings make it pretty clear that Arsenal have had a far from perfect window:

IN: Alexis, Welbeck, Campbell, Chambers, Debuchy, Ospina

OUT: Bendtner, Ryo, Park, Vermaelen, Djourou, Miquel, Sagna, Jenkinson, Fabianski

There is one major positive. Up front, we’re a far better team, and the difference will truly tell when Walcott returns to fitness. As I alluded to above, I’m a fan of the Welbeck move. He has pace and strength, an underrated eye for goal, at 23 he has plenty of developing to do, his defensive work is very sound, and he can play in the middle or on the left, which should mesh well with Alexis (and mean Ozil is finally restored to the middle). If Alexis is Wenger’s Plan A for a striker, and I believe he is, we were never going to go out and buy a player to obstruct that. Welbeck has the ability to give Alexis more time, and when he does move inside, he can be a foil on the pitch or an alternative off it. His flexibility also means that he should be able to play with Giroud too, and we saw in the Cup Final that we can be effective with two powerful forwards in a more orthodox 4-4-2.

The second forward that day was poor Yaya, and I think this arrival will be good for him. I haven’t seen anything to suggest Arsenal fans have it in for Sanogo personally (then again, I don’t follow c**ts), but it won’t have taken long for the crowd to get on his back more out of frustration at the manager. That atmosphere has the potential to stunt development and sap all-important confidence. He now has an opportunity to grow as a first-team member, and perhaps get a loan deal, along with Chuba Akpom. Ahead of him, Wenger, fitness permitting, has a forward cohort of Alexis, Giroud, Welbeck, Walcott, Podolski and Campbell to choose from. It’s doesn’t compare to the great early-Wenger days of Henry, Bergkamp, Kanu, Wiltord and Reyes, or to United, Chelsea and City’s strength in depth today, but it’s a big step forward. And in Ozil, Ramsey, the Ox and Cazorla we have fantastic attacking talent in midfield too.

Of course so far we’ve showed little sign of being able to get into our stride in an attacking sense but I don’t doubt that it will come. While it does, we’re in the lap of the gods and Shad Forsythe to ensure our shallow group of defensive players stays fit. And if we’re to make a real success of this season, it’s probably going to owe much to the versatility within the squad. With such a lack of cover in defence, we should expect to see Monreal, Debuchy and Chambers deployed across the back four, and it is likely that Chambers will be the one drafted into midfield in the event that neither Arteta and Flamini are available.

It’s funny that only a month ago, Wenger had this to say about Chambers:

“(A)t the end of the day I was ready to take a gamble because he is a player for the future.”

Either this is an insight into the unplanned nature of Wenger’s transfer approach (Welbeck certainly didn’t seem like it was in the works particularly long), or an indication of just how much the manager has been impressed that, through his versatility and apparent comfort at centre back, a gamble for the future has already become one of the squad’s key players and helped convince the manager to hold off making further additions. As the go-to stand in at right back, centre back and defensive midfield, he stands to carry a heavy burden this season.

And surely it’s a sign of our shortcomings, Wenger’s failings, and our likely inability to compete for league or European honours that he looks nailed on to exceed the 22 appearances he got for Southampton last year. Despite a number of excellent additions this summer, there are still too many holes left unfilled for us to be truly satisfied, especially with the amount of newly generated money we’ve left unspent. We were promised that this summer would be different, and with our early, exciting activity, we even started to believe it but, just like Nick Miller said, when the transfer window closed, we were left on the outside, staring longingly at what might have been.

Links:

Mandatory Arseblog link. Welbeck: Cool. Lack of defenders: potentially disastrous negligence.

Amy Lawrence looks at Arsenal’s Transfer Deadline Day

The Welbeck transfer tells you all you need to know about United and Arsenal’s changing methods.

A eulogy to Welbeck from December last year that, I hope, foreshadows the affection and, I fear, the divided opinion, he’ll engender at Arsenal.

Welbeck caps a big summer of spending. City AM bring talk net spend and Welbeck’s statistics.

Poor Yaya.

A not altogether convincing version of a striker.

What a truly hideous turd of a match that was. If you ask me, Ramsey – beautiful boy – was every bit as disappointing as Yaya Sanogo, but it’s the striker issue that I turn my attention to. It’s only been the main point of discussion for a year or two by now.

As far as auditions go, Yaya’s latest crack at claiming the starting centre forward role in Olivier Giroud’s absence went about as well as this. His runs are good and physically he can cause trouble, but despite that he promises very little threat. Even his assist had a distinctly bungled air to it.

In the papers and on the internet, the big talking point is Arsenal’s need for a striker. Twas ever thus. While I would love to see us bring in an experienced, quality player to lessen the blow of Giroud’s injury, and reduce our reliance on him when he returns, I do believe we have genuine options in the squad that are better than the lanky Frenchman. Alexis Sanchez was not bought to be a winger. And anyway, we seemingly only took a real interest in the obvious addition – Loic Remy – when it was too late (betcha Mourinho signed him as much to fuck with us as to boost Chelsea).

Sanogo’s time may come, but surely it will be better for his development if he is spared the potentially stunting pressure of leading the line for Arsenal Football Club. To me, he sits between Joel Campbell and Chuba Akpom in the depth chart of strikers, and far behind Alexis and Podolski (and Giroud and Walcott when fit). I have to ask why we didn’t see Alexis continue to play in the central position that he excelled in against Besiktas on Wednesday, or Campbell when it was clear the passing through them shtick wasn’t doing the business. Poldi has not been able to establish himself as a starter in Wenger’s system or cause the boss to fit our style to his strengths, and he barely touched the ball when he did eventually come on, but it is a role he has fulfilled with greater effect than poor Yaya. Is Wenger so wedded to his tactics that he opted for Sanogo over Germany’s joint-third-highest international goalscorer? Is it a sign that Lukas (and Joel) could still very well be off tomorrow? I think it’s most likely that Wenger was taking a calculated risk that Leicester would be opponents against whom he could give Sanogo a potentially confidence-boosting run. I can see the logic, but it backfired.

Our current travails up front seem to me to be as much tactical as they are a personnel issue. Playing with a focal point like Giroud works more often than not, but is certainly not without it’s drawbacks or valid criticisms. A squad with the attacking talents of Cazorla, Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Sanchez, Rosicky, Oxlade Chamberlain, Podolski and Campbell (not to mention Walcott), to me, should be far more dynamic, much quicker, than we so often are. This excellent Tim Stillman article suggests Wenger will look to revert to a more Invincibles-esque approach now he has his new “nine-and-a-half” in Alexis, as does Gunnerblog’s latest post. I think they both make a lot of sense, but if Wednesday vs Besiktas was the herald of a new dawn, 75 minutes of Yaya, with Ozil and Alexis marginalised on the flanks, suggested we’re still some way from the sunrise. Though maybe the result at the King Power Stadium (worst. stadium. name. ever.) sped things along.

Looking ahead to the transfer deadline, if you were to tell me that Wenger signed only two players by 11pm, unless Falcao really is a possibility (he isn’t), I’d have everything crossed for a holding midfielder and a centre back. We have genuine shortages of options in those positions, rather than square pegs for the round holes of our current tactics. Up front, I believe we can get more out of the players available, and I believe the return of Walcott – on the massive and probably demented assumption that he will remain fit – can transform our fortunes as much as the arrival of a new player entirely.

But we can’t afford to see too many more performances like we did at Leicester. Chelsea are firing already (though they do have a habit of bursting out of the traps), City, Liverpool and Spurs all look dangerous, and United will surely hit their straps soon. Likewise, Everton will get on track once Tim Howard finds some form. It is an ultra-competitive league, where dropped points against relegated clubs can be very damaging. If it was a last hurrah for Wenger’s almost romantic endeavours to fast-track a patently unready Sanogo, then perhaps we can be glad that it was such a failure. If the player’s inadequacy goes unheeded by the manager, then this might be the most maddening blindspot yet. With the optimism of the summer not yet faded, my money is on the former.

Job done.

Look at Debuchy and tell me he isn’t mad. Bet you can’t do it.

Last night’s game was my favourite kind of match: a good performance, exciting football, mounting tension, the elated release of victory, and rousing support from the fans. The referee and Mathieu Debuchy did their best to inject the maximum amount of drama into the occasion, but had Dembaba got enough on that last-minute header to put Besiktas through, it would have been a ridiculous miscarriage of justice. Arsenal were comfortably the better side, and should have been three or four ahead by the time Debuchy saw red unjustly.

I say unjustly, but my sympathy for the bloke only goes so far. As soon as he needlessly and dangerously earned himself a yellow in the first half, for a mindless foul committed maybe 30 yards from the Besiktas goal, he was on thin ice. At that point he wasn’t to know that he was dealing with an terrible official, but given his position and the import of the game, it was inexcusable. Debuchy has impressed me since his arrival – we haven’t lost a bit of Sagna’s aerial strength and he’s a more potent force on the right wing – but he also scares me witless. Maybe it’s the Mad Max-enthusiast haircut, the tats and the facial expression of an irate man whose favourite passtime is sucking on freshly harvested human adrenaline glands, maybe it’s that he’s just not Bacary, but I fear he has an unreliable streak in him. Last night didn’t allay those fears.

But what the hell do I know?

Debuchy sweeping behind the last defender. He's *so* good at this. http://t.co/qW45xAlteS

— Arsenal Column (@ArsenalColumn) August 28, 2014

 

But the ref really was fucking terrible, though. He swung from blowing his whistle at the slightest infringement, to ignoring the most blatant kicks, shoves and hacks at Alexis. The bookings for Szczesny and Chambers were both a disgrace, and had me moaning about my absolute biggest pet hate in football: the inability to appeal against yellow cards. I hope he got home to find his wife in flagrante with a rusty whisk. I hate him.

Alexis will be the most high-profile plus-point from the game, and why the hell not? He visibly grew in confidence as the game progressed and the pressure mounted. He won’t be able to play the target man like Giroud, but his strength and ability to play out of tight situations was staggering. When he resisted two or three lunges in the right-hand corner, made his way into the box, was dispossessed, immediately tracked the left back to win the ball back again and ultimately won a foul he drew a standing ovation from the North Bank. It was rad. But Nacho Monreal, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere also deserve a tip of the hat. The two Spaniards have caught a bit of flak of late but had big games, with the latter especially coming to the fore when we were down to ten men (his tackling was a marvel). And Jack had the kind of influential game that makes the nay-sayers look as stupid as they really are. Out of Ramsey’s shadow, he had plenty of room to run into in front of the visitors’ defence and looked dangerous all game. Good on ‘im.

So we’re through to the group stages where we will be in the first-seed pot. That’s ridiculous, by the way, but I’ll take it. I will also take a group with Schalke or Basel from Pot 2, an excuse to go to Lisbon from Pot 3, and dear God please not Roma or Monaco from the Pot 4. Sadly, we don’t tend to have much luck so I’m fully expecting it to shake out thusly:

Arsenal
PSG
Galatasaray
Roma

But we can worry about who we play soon enough, in the meantime, the fact we’re here for the 17th time in a row is worthy of an awful lot of smugness. Say what you want about the decline in the second half of Wenger’s reign, but we’ve succeeded where United and Liverpool haven’t and built a huge new stadium while we were at it.

So fuck them; we’re brilliant.

Here are some links for you:

Why supporting Arsenal is the hardest job in football

Nick Miller feels for us, he really does.

Five more players you can be annoyed we didn’t sign come Monday

Whoscored.com on F365 look at some lesser-heralded players that Premier League sides would be wise to snap up. I’d like to go on record by saying Mattia Destro would make my bloody month.

Something to get you giddy about Alexis

It’s safe to say he had a bit of a coming out party in the second half and this, from Arsenal Column back in July, will have you nodding your head and grinning like a complete twat.

Obligatory Arseblog post-match round-up

The big man basically says what I say but better. Much better. If you hadn’t read his before reading mine the joke is well-and-truly on you.

Arsenal play football tonight.

I could write about my nagging concerns over Arsene Wenger’s inability to judge the weaknesses in his squad. I could write about my ideal signings at striker, defensive midfield and centre back. I could write about Shad Forsythe and the continued injury plague. But I’ve got plenty of time for that. And Arsenal are actually playing today.

Football fandom has received the 24-hour news treatment. People need constant updates, to have something to talk about at all times; and that doesn’t suit an emotionally-demanding passtime where things only happen once or twice a week, nine months of the year. I’m not going to tell you that transfer gossip isn’t an exciting thing to indulge in, or tactical analysis isn’t enlightening, or your concerns aren’t valid, but there comes a time when you have to remember what the point of all this is.

Tonight is a bloody big game. Last week’s performance wasn’t great and Besiktas will have been delighted that they’ve kept the tie alive heading into tonight. If they can score early, or keep us from scoring for an hour or so, they’ll know they have a great chance, especially if the crowd starts shitting the bed (luckily us Gooners are rock solid on that front, eh?).

It’s hard to tell how Wenger will line them up tonight. For Alexis to go off at half time last weekend suggests he’s still finding fitness, but I’d hope he plays up top with Ozil behind, the Ox and Cazorla (big assist against the Toffees under his belt) out wide and Jack and Flamini in the middle. It would be just magic if Koscsacker could start at the back, not least because Chambers and Mertesacker (Members?) are about as fast as long-shore drift. And of course Martinez in goal. Poldi, Campbell, Sanogo and Rosicky all have the ability to change things from the bench.

For me, even with the hand-wringing the lack of strikers has provoked, the big issue is the midfield two. I’d prefer Wilshere to have a more sensible, less card-guzzling partner than Flamini, who will bring all the passion required, but possibly only a fraction of the discipline. Jack should treat this as an opportunity to get out from Ramsey’s shadow, but this is a really tough assignment. Besiktas will look to hit us on the break, and we saw against Everton that we’re still far too happy to allow opponents to run directly at our back four.

It’s safe to say I’m nervous about tonight, and not expecting a comfortable evening. But I am expecting a win. As Arseblog says here, if the Ox had his shooting boots on, things might have been very different at Goodison. I only saw highlights of the Everton game (was my birthday, was in the Lake District, was drunkenly watching horses) but it didn’t look as bad as the Twitter had me believe, and I rate the Toffees above the Turks.

Along with Ozil and Alexis, the Ox is the player I’d look to for inspiration. He has so much talent in him, and if he’s on song, he can stamp provide us a different threat on the right hand side: if our nice passing isn’t succeeding in going round ’em, hopefully Alex can go through ’em.

So I’ll meet you back here in a day or two ready to talk about injuries and signings and Arsene Wenger. But until then, let’s cross our fingers for the thing that really matters.

Oh, and here’s a nice You Are My Arsenal preview as a reward for sticking with me this far.

What is this that I’m feeling? Is it… hope?

Nice.

Football is back. Hu-fucking-zah!

Of course this summer it never truly went away, but it’s different when it’s Arsenal, and the first day of the season, when all the roads to success and silverware lay before us, is especially exciting. Even more so after lifting the trophy curse, a huge new signing and a ridiculously good World Cup, won by a squad in which only the big two German clubs were better-represented than Arsenal.

Yes, Poldi played basically no part and the BFG was on the bench by the time the final kicked off, but I wouldn’t underestimate the impact that having actual World Cup winners in the team has had on our sunny disposition this summer. It’s reassurance that we possess players capable of reaching the absolute pinnacle of the sport.

For as long as night follows day, the seasons change and Jose Mourinho abuses his unprecedentedly loud voice in the media to serve his own insulting, egotistical, hypocritical agenda, people will hate on Mesut Ozil, but those people are wrong and, in Neil Ashton’s case, worthy of contempt, derision and a slap. And despite all our signings, it’s still the German who subtly, stylishly, dangerously made the World Champions tick that makes me most excited for the season ahead. After a year of acclimatisation, and with an improved, more confident squad to play around him, he has every opportunity to make the step up and become the best player in the league. Arsene obviously thought so back in Spring (NB – Daily Mail link, beware!), and the chances have only improved with how the player and the club’s summer panned out.

Speaking of the panning out (and making a bit of an assumption that the saying is linked to gold prospectors, so bear with me here, and keep your hair on if it isn’t), there’re very few chunks of gold more prized than Alexis bloody Sanchez, who was capped a sensational year at Barcelona with a sensational cameo in Brazil, for a team that would have made a far better account of themselves in the latter stages than the hosts. Goals, assists, power, pace, Kim-Jong-Un haircut: the kid’s got the lot. And as Arseblog said in his preview of today’s game, at 25 he, like Ozil, looks like he’ll be spending the peak years of his career in London N5. Hubba to the hubba.

Moving onto our other arrivals: Calum Chambers has had a ridiculously promising start to his time at the club – the confidence and poise he has displayed reminds me of the first appearances of Laurent Koscielny, so no pressure there mate; David Ospina impressed for Colombia and will either take the number 1 shirt of lovely Wojciech or push the Pole to fulfill his huge potential; Joel Campbell looked great for Costa Rica, and will add depth, trickery and pace to our cohort of forwards if he stays (I have a hunch he won’t). All those arrivals I’m happy with, but if I’m honest I’m not absolutely sold on Debuchy. I think his crossing will be better than Sagna’s, but I’m concerned that there’s a definite drop in defensive quality between the two Frenchmen. I might be wrong – I hope I’m wrong – and the Statsbomb preview did at least allay my fears about losing Sagna’s aerial prowess, but I doubt we got the best right back on the market.

I’m actually still a little disappointed with Wenger’s transfer activity. I’m not one of these people who think we have to spend all the money to get the players we need, but there are holes that need filling, and we very much have the budget to find quality solutions. We may have spent £30m on Alexis, an eyebrow-raising £11-16m on Chambers, and too much (£12m) on Debuchy, but when you factor in the money we made on Vermaelen, Vela and Cesc this summer, we’ve barely touched the alleged £100m budget. Speaking of Fabregas, I still don’t see how we wouldn’t be a better team with him in our ranks. Watching him claim the player-of-the-year award while playing for that shower of cunts is going to be awful.

I temper that feeling of disappointment four ways: 1) too many new players can upset the squad balance, and as Rambo (beautiful boy) said after the Comminity Shield, there’s a great buzz among the current group; 2) there’s still two weeks to go and Champions League participation is not yet guaranteed, so there’s a reason why we might be waiting, and plenty of time to tie some deals up; 3) Wenger has admitted to being in the market for one or two more players; 4) we’re still being linked with Khedira, Carvalho and Cavani etc, and after years of gleaning transfer goss off fucking Caughtoffside.com, I still find myself getting all giddy when an Arsenal transfer story shows up in an actual newspaper, even the Daily Express.

Oh and, 5) I believe we have a number of players in the squad who will improve this year. Much has been made about Jack Wilshere’s apparent career-saving season, but for me it’s not so much about performance as it is fitness. Keep the boy in or around the team for a whole season and any question marks over his quality will have evaporated. Another kid blighted by injury but with the world at his feet is the Ox, and while competition for places has significantly grown with Alexis and Campbell (for now) in the squad, he really could be this year’s Ramsey. It’s a shame he didn’t have an injury-free off-season but, as with Jack and Walcott, if Shad Forsythe can keep him fit, this season could see him flourish into a terrifying winger. And finally, retaining the English theme, there’s Kieran Gibbs, who has absolutely won the race to be first-choice left back and, again fitness permitting, can go on to challenge for the starting role for England. Not that I’d mind him missing out to Shaw if it meant we had another Nigel Winterburn on our hands.

Three exciting English players, three big question marks over fitness. We all know that injuries have been as big a problem as squad deficiencies down the year at Arsenal, and I doubt the signing of a fitness coach has ever been met with the excitement to match Shad Forsythe’s arrival at the club. In many ways he holds the keys to our success this season as much as any man bar Wenger. If he can keep our players fit, if our strength in certain areas can cover for weaknesses in others, if we can alter our tactics for big away games (please God), and if we can get the luck of the bounce when we need it, I see no reason why we can’t compete across all three major competitions and claim at least another pot come the end of the season.

When I compare how I feel right now to the sense of trepidation I had this time last year, the progress Arsenal has made is clear. This feels like a new era, and a better one.