Archive for April 2012

Welcome to Arsenal Lukas #PodGOALski

April 30, 2012 Arsenal No comments

A few months ago I coined the hashtag #PodGOALski – I’m sure many will try to claim credit for it when it becomes common use as he bangs in the goals for Arsenal but trust me it started here!

Here is a great youtube video to celebrate our new signing.

Pep Rice – Arsenal’s new no.2

April 30, 2012 Arsenal No comments

Pep Guardiola has announced his decision to leave Barcelona at the end of the season, a decision he says had been made in his mind as early as September. Pep is someone that has been linked with Arsenal as Wenger’s long term successor and certainly someone that the majority of Arsenal fans would love to have at the club.

I personally have said it would a fantastic dream to have Pep join Arsenal next season as Wenger’s number two with the idea that after a few seasons Wenger would move upstairs and Pep would be the new number one. But that is all it is, a dream. Pep wants a break from the pressures of management and whilst I think he would have a less stressful life as Arsene’s number two I’m not sure that he would be interested. Not because it would be a step back for him, Pep has already said that he wants to take a step back in football which can be read anyway you like really. Guardiola has long been an admirer of Wenger’s and I don’t think he would see it as a step back to learn under the guidance of Wenger. Anyone who suggests Pep with his 13 trophies in 4 years has nothing to learn from Wenger understands seriously little about football.

Guardiola is a fantastic manager but he was very fortunate to inherit a team full of some of the best players in the world in their positions as well as the best player in the world, one of the best youth academies in the world and a board structure that allows him to spend big on players. Barca were in the ascendency, he was a man in the right place at the right time. Read more

Life after Arsenal

April 30, 2012 Arsenal No comments

I watched Barca beat Rayo last night and I wondered why Cesc only made the bench, when Barca had no Xavi and Iniesta was on the bench. The two people that Cesc is supposed to be the long-term successor to aren’t playing and still he doesn’t start in his natural position. Alcantara started yet Cesc didn’t. Are Barca regretting their purchase? Unlikely. Are they unsure of his qualities. Probably. Do they think he isn’t the long term successor to Xavi they thought he would be? Plausible.

Cesc really pushed for his move to Barca last summer, a lot more publicly than many Gooners recognise. His lack of a public statement about moving or staying said more than he probably believed it would and eventually he got his wish.

I wonder now if he believes he made a mistake. Sure he joined the so called best team in the world but they were on the decline when he joined and he isn’t really being given much opportunity to shine in his best position. Sure he has been in good form and has scored plenty of goals but the change in formation at Barca to accommodate Cesc could be pointed to as one of the reasons for Barca’s “decline” this year. I’m not suggesting that Barca are finished or going the same way as Chelsea or AC Milan of a few years ago but I don’t see them being as dominant as they were in the previous three years and they are much easier to beat. Read more

All Time Premier League XI – How many Gunners make the cut?

April 26, 2012 Premier League 2 comments

My post today is a little bit off from my usual style and usual topics but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

20 years of the premier league has almost passed and every man, dog and website with the remotest interest in football will be arguing their all time premier league XI.

Paul Ince & Mark Lawrenson have chosen theirs on the BBC Focus Forum. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17823283

They included 4 Arsenal players and I am certain there will be Gooners up in arms all over the world screaming that we should have had more. Their screams will probably be drowned out by millions of fans of other clubs who also believe that their ex-players (or current players) deserved a place too.

I can’t choose an all time premier league XI objectively but am going to list 3 players for each position that I think deserve to be considered above all others. To make things a little easier I am only going to choose players that have spent at least 5 years in the premier league.

Please comment on this article with your choice (in a 4-4-2 formation).

Goalkeepers:

The first two names are the easiest to say but probably one of the most contentious football issues ever. Who was better Schmeichel or Seaman?

The third was tough because it was really hard for me to leave out Jens Lehmann, partially because he is an absolute legend, partially because I am a Gooner but mostly because how can you leave out a keeper who went a whole season unbeaten and kept 10 clean sheets in the champions league in a row?

Sadly for me Jens just misses out to Shay Given. I think Shay deserves his place because he has been a consistently good goalkeeper in the premier league for over 15 years.

Goalkeepers that deserve a mention are Flowers, Friedel, James, Keller, Reina, Cech, Cudicini, Schwarzer and of course Van Der Sar.

Right back:

This is easy. Gary Neville, never has a defender been so universally hated by all opposition fans and that speaks volumes for his ability. Not many full backs could deal with players like Henry, Pires, Overmars, Robben, Kewell, Ginola etc but he did more often than not. I’ve softened to Gary Neville since he became a pundit and I think he is a really good pundit and miles away from even being a hint of how United biased I thought he would be. Lee Dixon, 10 years in the premier league as the best right back or at least in the top 2 makes him a total shoe-in. Read more

Ramsey Must Not Go

April 17, 2012 Arsenal No comments

I don’t think Ramsey should go at all and I think any Arsenal fan that calls him shit or says he should never play for the club again are morons. The ones that were sending him death threats should throw themselves under a bus.

I’m not here to make excuses per sé for Ramsey’s poor form and he has been poor but he is not a shit player and he is part of the future of the Arsenal midfield. This is a young man who broke his leg playing for Arsenal, at a time when he was hitting form and becoming really influential.

Ramsey is a fantastic little player with a great future ahead of him but he is a victim of circumstance. It just so happens that one of the brightest young talents in British football is playing for a club where at 21 he is being considered and treated by the fans as a senior player.  Every mistake he makes is being scrutinised and damned.

If a player plays badly then he can be rightly criticised but what some Arsenal “fans” are doing to players like Theo and Ramsey goes beyond that. They are still young players and have had their development stunted by the pressure they’ve had to deal with from a young age. When Cesc broke into the first team he was, and I quote Wenger, just one young player (in a team of invincibles). Aaron, and Jack, and Alex are all young players in a team of other young players.

Our first team is very young which makes our reserve team very young and our youth team are but foetuses. I personally believe that our willingness to play so many young players in the reserves and first team at such young ages is counter-productive but that is for another day.

Back to Aaron. Rambo is a young player who had a career threatening injury whilst he was still developing now that isn’t an excuse for his poor form but it is a contributing factor. The age at which he sustained this injury stunted his development. Not his technical development but his physical development. At a time when he is supposed to be building strength and adapting his body to the rigours of professional football and increasing his game stamina and season stamina he was at home with his leg in plaster. Read more

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