Monday Football Thoughts

My favourite football blogger pretty much sums up my frustration and disappointment with this season here

While we certainly weren't the best team in the league, we had clear chances to turn us from being from nearly men to actually winning something. Yet once again Arsenal fans are left watching our rivals gloat over us... (2 man utd fans in my house ensure this...)

So what will the summer bring? Well the rumour mill will begin that Captain Cesc will leave, The founder of Compare the Meerkat will leave us to return to the homeland, and i'm sure some young french "next big thing" will be linked to us

What would I like? I'm switching between if Cesc leaving with do us good or not, deadwoods need to be removed quickly and we need a backbone as a team again. The Verminator's return should help this process but it would seem that major investment is needed.

We lost 2-1 to Aston Villa, a team without it's manager and yet seemed to be much more up for a fight than we were. Let's hope that the team regains it's confidence with a successful summer and some fresh faces who are up for the new season...

Monday Football Thoughts

There's not much to say really... another poor performance now sees us in third and seemingly free falling. I guess you have to look back to the Carling Cup final for the root of this collapse in confidence. From challenging to all four competitions to now settling for third place...

I've said all that can be said really... Really just looking to next season now and hoping that we see a new rigid backbone that we desperately need. I used to one of those Arsenal fans who argued that the team just needed one or two players and that's what would make the difference. Yet after once again witnessing the demise of any real challenge for honours, I'm beginning to wonder if there needs to be real change...

Anyways I'm tired of evaluating this disappointing season so a short blog post this week

Hopefully next week I can say something positive!

Monday Football Thoughts

And so it would seem Arsenal are out of the title race. While numerically it is still possible for them to snatch the title out of Man Utd's grasp, it just seems inconceivable that a team with such a strong winning mentality as Man Utd can simply collapse...

The 1-1 draw against Liverpool was simply 2 points thrown away, as once again the flaws of the gunners were exposed for all to see... Cutting edge? didn't see it, a solid defence? MIA, the ability to grind out a result when it counts? i've forgotten what that looks like when watching Arsenal...

I'm not quite sure how you can have a penalty in the 8th minute score, and still end up with a draw. I read one description of there seeming to be sheer terror in the Arsenal team when Liverpool got the ball before their penalty and that feels like an accurate description, the players seem unable to simply make the tackle and finish the game off. Instead the one man wrecking ball of Eboue allowed Liverpool to get back into the game...

What else is left to say that hasn't already been said? Yes Man Utd have the potential to slip up in their remaining fixtures, but it feels like Arsenal have the greater tendency to self-implode than Arsenal. Yes we're most likely going to come second and perhaps that shows an improvement, though I feel it's perhaps the capitulation of Chelsea and Liverpool that has allowed us to leapfrog from 4th place.


Maybe I'll be surprised and Arsenal somehow pull the cat out of the bag, but I can't say i'm too hopeful...



P.s. well done to Jack Wilshere on winning PFA Young Player of the Year, definitely deserved, not too sure about Bale though...

Monday Football Thoughts

And so it would seem Arsenal becomes the next Premier league team to end up in foreign hands. Stan K looked always likely to be a future owner once he started to become best mates with the Arsenal board...

It's hard to grasp just what it will mean for the club. He's not uber rich so it's unlikely to result it Man City style transfers, nor does it seem like he's going to saddle the club in debts to buy the club... Which leaves potentially Arsenal in the same position as before, which is what Peter Hill-Wood/the rest of the directors wanted. I guess maybe he'll exert some extra pressure on Wenger for results so that it will = profits, but my guess is that Arsenal won't change much because of the change of owners... (though I'm sure i can be proved wrong)... I'm sure the Stan K camp will continue to release "we understand the club", "we too love Wenger" statements which will remain interesting to read for another... well few seconds... anyways we'll wait and see what actually happens as a result of this potential change of ownership

On the actual football side of things, we managed to record and victory against the team with the weakest defence in the entire league... How we weren't up by more than 2 goals i don't know, but yet again the Arsenal defence seemed intent on making things harder for themselves than is necessary. Clichy hesitating on the ball, Koscienly attempting to give away yet another penalty (luckily the ref thwarted Koscienly's best efforts) and for Eboue words "defensive duties" still seem to have no meaning. But a win is a win and hopefully confidence will begin to trickle back into the players... Hopefully the defence will start to be a bit more ruthless with "Mad Jens" screaming at the back again. It's funny how you forget what a difference it makes to have a strong leader within the team again... All credit to him to be able to play in the Premiership at the age of 41... I'm sure he'll give us a few moments over the next few games...

That's all for now, training tomorrow @Bracknell which will be fun... see you next week!

Yesterday/Monday Football Thoughts

And so the title race is no longer in our hands, 2 disappointing draws have meant that we've fallen quite far behind Man Utd and now can only hope that they slip up in the coming matches. The 0-0 draw against Blackburn only showed how far our confidence has fallen and why no one really fancies us to win the title anymore. This wasn't Barca, Man Utd, Milan or some other team of significant calibre, it was Blackburn... AT HOME!... Perhaps one win will give them the vital self belief boost they need for this frantic end of season.

The team seems emotionally/physically drained as well a void of any urgency in their play.  We got the ball, passed around a bit and then proceeded to let the Blackburn team get organised and simply punt away any chance. We had 11 attempts on goal and only 3 on target... that's pretty shocking from a team that prides itself on attacking football... Why did Wenger wait until the very end to bring on Chamakh and Bendtner who seemed like they could actually get on the end of one of the many crosses... I'm still a bit perplexed why we attempt crosses with VP as lone striker... Well done to Nasri for playing with that gigantic bump!

I've moaned about the failing of Arsenal since pretty much I decided to start making monday, a football blog day... so I'll leave it with this, please start shooting, start to have some urgency and please please get a win... (surely we'll beat Blackpool at the weekend)

In other football news, Crewe beat Cheltenham 8-1 (a crazy score no matter what division), Rooney decided to tell a camera what he thought of it, and this little Japanese kid tries his best Messi impression...



i don't know whether it would be more frustrating playing against the kid, or being on his team (I don't remember seeing him make a single pass)...

Until next time...

Monday Football Thoughts

So club football took the back seat this weekend and we were left to marvel at the international football scene... A clearly superior England team defeated a Welsh team that was hoping to ride on the Gareth Bale hype and create an upset. The injury to Wales's star however ensured that the tie was less than enthralling. Instead 2 early goals in many ways killed of the match before it had even really started. The Welsh team is young and I'm sure that one day they may cause other sides more problems, but if Saturday was anything to go by, they are quite a way off being a top international side and Gary Speed has quite a job on his hands.

The apparently new system for England seemed to work well and it was brilliant to see young Jacky Wilshere put in another fantastic performance. With each game he seems to gain confidence and I'm glad he's getting the recognition his performances deserve. Just need to hope that Wenger can talk him out of playing at the U-21s tournament in the summer. I understand that it would be brilliant to win the tournament etc... but from a strong Arsenal point of view, I would much rather he rests, doesn't get injured or burnout and remains the crucial cog in helping us achieve another title challenge next season rather than take the first few months recovering... Alan Hansen seems to agree that perhaps the U-21s tournament has no real benefit for him (here)

It was a quite weekend apart from the international fixtures, England have the Ghana friendly on Weds and then back to club football at the weekend. Hopefully Gyan won't score and make us watch him do "that" celebration once again... then again he's in my fantasy football team so maybe it could give him a confidence boost for the weekend... Oh how fantasy football messes with allegiances!

UPDATE

When I saw this had to add this on...



100 goals as a goalkeeper!... hats off the the fella

Monday Football Thoughts

So the perceived obvious win against West Brom didn't happen thanks to the commitment of Almunia, so instead we have to settle for a 2-2 draw... The sheer comic nature of West Brom's second goal where Almunia for some reason decided to rush out of his goal, push Squillaci out of the way, leaving the West Brom striker an open goal and make it extremely difficult for Arsenal to make a come back...

Luckily Arshavin/Alexandr Orlov and Van P managed to pull us two goals back. It's becoming increasingly frustrating to watch this team play and consistently self-implode. We may have a game in hand and some might argue an easier run in, yet with a defence that is as likely to kick itself in the head rather than kick the ball away, a title challenge feels a bit beyond us at the moment...

The Champions league draw poses a few interesting ties... Spurs vs Real M will give the overly confident Spurs a real test in a way that the steadily ageing Milan team could not... Man Utd vs Chelsea of course will be a cracker, will Torres score? will Terry be once again brought to tears? will Berbatov actually run for the ball? i'm sure whatever the result it will be worth a watch...

There's plenty more football news floating around but I'm sure a more comprehensive blog/website will have covered it better. Instead I'll leave you with the genius that is Mario Balotelli vs Bib (you've probably seen it but it's worth watching again and again...)

Monday Football Thoughts

And so what every Arsenal fan feared would happen, has indeed taken place. In perhaps one of the worst fortnights ever for an Arsenal fan, the Gunners were dumped out of 3 competitions in quick succession. While it can be argued that Barca were by far the better team, Birmingham & Man Utd were clearly not teams of vastly superior class. Questions need to be asked of this team that promised so much but yet once again seem to be falling over before the last hurdle has even been reached!

The FA cup match seemed to show the weakness of this current team. We can play fantastic football, keep possession but lack the killer instinct or the mental strength to actually win a game when we need to... to convert those many chances when it's required. I know we were missing a host of players, and some were clearly not fit, but yet Man Utd were missing plenty of players and yet they still could produce a result when it counted. I was throwing my hands up in frustration as I once again witnessed us make pass after pass, attempt backheels despite being 2 nil down, and instead of trying to counter attack at pace in the dying embers of the game, we walked with the ball hoping that maybe the Man Utd players might let us pass it into the net... I felt sorry for Jack W who seemed to be the only player willing to run at Man Utd and try to take the game by the scruff of the neck. What happened to the counter attacking Arsenal that would put fear into defenders? or the Arsenal that went invincible for a season? why are we suddenly the almost team... the team who can't win when it counts...

I'm not calling for Wenger's head, or suggesting that it's all over. We're still in the race for the title but the tide really has to turn. Some how the players need to remove this self imposed mental block and get back to winning games. While I know it's possible that we can do it, there are serious doubts and I wonder if we're suffered too much this season... please Wenger bring in the experienced heads, the big centre half who oozes confidence, the dominating midfielder who won't simply watch another player waltz into our half, a striker who doesn't get injured by simply the wind blowing on them... a wish-list many Arsenal fans have had for a long time but I think it's more likely that Santa will bring us such gifts then Wenger...

"In Wenger we trust"... but we're holding our heads in our hands wondering when will this trust give us a cup in return... (P.S. get well Djourou, hope the shoulder gets better, we need you back soon!)

My favourite footy video of the week has to be this delightful disallowed goal that couldn't be more in...


wait for the second replay and smile...

Monday Football Thoughts

So another new blog series is "Monday Fooball thoughts" which are on my thoughts from the weekend and of the coming weeks fixtures. Being an Arsenal fan they shall be almost entirely Arsenal focused...

So Arsenal drew 0-0 with Sunderland... It seemed a fairly average game where Arsenal seemed unable to once again turn possession into goals, though the shocking refereeing/linesman decisions at the end clearly cost us 2 points (how did they manage to miss Arshavin being pushed by Bramble!! *sigh*)
The only 2 redeeming factors being that Gyan didn't score (and therefore I didn't have to watch him do "that dance") and Man Utd managed to completely fold against a still pretty average Liverpool side (though King Kenny is definitely doing something right). One game in hand and only a 3 point gap between us and Man U means it would seem that there's all to play for.

Unfortunately after the Cup final , the tame draw this weekend and the Barca game, there's a sinking feeling that perhaps we might be destined for our usual end of season fizzle out and potentially be knocked out of contention for the 3 trophies in quick succession. The first hurdle is the Barca game tomorrow... Now don't get me wrong, I was quietly confident in the first leg against Barca that we could defeat them and I was pleasantly surprised at the result. However having Van Persie and Fabs only just back from injury means they might be off the pace, Nasri not quite the same since his injury, Song and Walcott out etc... means that this won't be the same confident, injury free team of the first leg and that's why I'm worried. Guess us Arsenal fans will just have to hope that we manage to get Barca on the break and finish clinically... you never know Bendtner might actually put his money where his mouth is and become this world class striker he's claiming to be... i'm yet to be convinced though