Victoria Concordia Crescit!

So days on and the hurt and fall out from recent humiliation still hasn't gone away. Our last realistic opportunity to win a trophy and get this ridiculous monkey off our backs has been spurned once again in the most frustrating of circumstances. More worryingly the infighting between supporters has reached a point where the atmosphere and vibes around the club are almost exclusively negative.

 

Negativity hurting the club

This negativity and frustration was palpable on Saturday and the team roundly booed at full time. This was to be expected, I guess, and people were within their rights to boo what was an arrogant, lazy and, at times, half-hearted performance. However, what was disappointing was that the negativity around the ground was evident long before the full-time whistle. At times, it felt like their were certain sections of the crowd that were hoping players like Gervinho would fail so they could continue their ranting about the decline of the club.

Gervinho has hardly set the world alight at the club and he put in another disappointing display on Saturday but I can't see how jumping on his back every time he makes a mistake can possibly encourage him to play better. We don't do it with Giroud, in fact we do the opposite, despite the fact that he has also put in some pretty lethargic performances this season (Saturday included). Unsurprisingly, he has improved as a result, so why can't we do the same for Gervinho?

After all, we are supposed to be supporters, not critics, and should be supporting our team whilst they're on the pitch not chastising them.

Banish the boos

People will argue that they are within their right to boo, as they did with Eboue, I can't deny that that is their right, but I don't see how it benefits the team in any way. The team is under enough pressure as it is from the media who seem to relish regularly ridiculing Wenger and lambasting the team at every possible opportunity. Us as fans adding to this by slagging off Wenger and jumping on the players every time they make mistake will only add to that pressure.

Again, people will argue that the players and manager are big enough and paid handsomely enough not to let that pressure get to them but clearly the evidence of recent seasons suggests to the contrary. You only need to look at yesterday's press conference, where a usually cool Wenger lost it with some very disrespectful hacks, to see that the opposite is true.

In short, the side needs all the support we can give them between now and the end of the season. We were embarrassing against Blackburn, doing little (North Bank aside) to try and lift the team. We need to put the infighting and anger about the way the club is being run aside until the end of the season and get behind the boys.

I have no doubt that will be the case but it needs to be like that every week just as we expect the team to be up for it every time they take to the field.

Beating Bayern

The concern for me, though, is that even with a great performance - and it will have to be to beat this Bayern side - we will fall short over the two legs as we did against Barcelona a couple of seasons ago.

However, the next leg is two weeks away and what's important now is that we all unite as a club and show what Arsenal FC is really about not only now but for the rest of the season. After all, our motto is Victoria Concordia Crescit!

PTBAG

Nero Fiddled Whilst Rome Burned!

In 40 years of following the Arsenal, I have never known the fans to be so divided. I intend to examine and discuss this divide with you, but I’m going to save that for another time. I don’t want to do it in the emotional aftermath of losing at home in the Cup to a Championship side! Instead, I am going to talk about something that should concern every single Arsenal fan regardless of which side of the fence they reside in the “Has Arsene Lost It” debate…the role of the current Board and the club’s direction!

 

Arsene’s extremely angry reaction to the stories that he is to be offered a new contract, to me suggests a real nerve has been hit and could in fact mean there is an underlying truth to a theory I have had for a while. It is my belief that Arsene intends to walk away from the club when his contract runs out in 2014. We know he will always honour a contract and we know the board won’t sack him, so for a while now we’ve been drifting on an undefined course!

For all his faults (and AKBs there ARE many), Wenger has been steering a ship for several seasons where the paymasters are refusing to advise him of the destination port and have hidden is compass! Wenger’s somewhat extreme reaction to the suggestion that he is about to be offered a contract could be explained in that it is not good for the team or the club as a whole for his intentions to be made public (even if the Board are aware of them) this far ahead! Being forced to answer questions on his contract intentions may just let the cat escape out of the bag!

Being the kind of man he is, will he spend the alleged £70m war chest in the summer if he is likely to not be there a year later? I think not, so I guess my theory will be proven or disproven this summer one way or the other! If of course he does intend to stay and he doesn’t spend big, he is cutting his own throat anyway! You see where I’m coming from?

So to the real point of my concern. There are two main reasons why Arsene Wenger would never be sacked. 1) He is financially astute i.e. he keeps the club extremely profitable to the delight of the non-football fan who has the majority shareholding and the Board of Directors who merely act in Kroenke’s interests (see below for justification of this sweeping statement)! 2) The current Board are effectively steered by Mr Gazidis who is probably still unaware that there are two clubs in Vienna, let alone who their managers might be! In other words the Board would have absolutely no clue as to who to appoint (unless Arsene tells them)!

You think I’m being harsh on this board? OK here are a few facts:

• All the current Board Members sold their shares to the same individual, yet kept their PAID places on the Board. So clearly no deal made there! (a Sandy Shaw song springs to mind….”Like a puppet on a string…”)!
• Representation on the Board is continually refused to the second largest shareholder [whether we like Usmanov or not] which most odd! Why? Because we wouldn’t want any difficult questions being asked at a Board meeting now would we?
• The Chairman of the Board said at the last shareholders AGM “Thank you for taking an interest in OUR affairs” when in fact every shareholder in the room had more “interest” (in share terms) then him! This suggests an ‘out of touch’ Chairman to me!

• Each of the Board Members (Gazidis aside) is at least 742 years old (OK this is patently untrue but the use of sarcasm to illustrate the point saves me Googling the age of each individual Board member – but you got the point right?)!
• The perennially absent Kroenke aside, Piers Morgan owns more share than the Arsenal Board of Directors!
• Mr Kroenke’s “sports franchises” all have one thing in common…they are all very profitably run and they all never win anything!

So, although Wenger walking next year is only a theory at this point, should a pro-active Board with a clear direction not already be making plans to line up Arsene’s successor? Formulating his achievement targets and providing the resources to achieve them? Rome is burning and the Board I fear are Nero! “Crisis? What crisis? Look at our financial results!”.

The Arsenal ship is drifting albeit slowly towards the rocks. We need to plot a new course and quickly. Arsene is the Captain and does share some of the blame…but far from all of it! We need direction and Arsene badly needs his right hand man back to lead a new, younger and more dynamic board. He needs, we need, the return of David Dein! Now if Mr Kroenke was to make that bold move, he would regain the faith of the faithful, give Arsene his mojo back and defeat his rival from Uzbekistan for the foreseeable future in one fell swoop! Arsenal would have direction and Wenger would have the little push he needs to rediscover his magic (I’m sure of it)!

But what do I know…I’ve invested my entire life in this club as have 2 generations of my family before me (and one after). By comparison, Mr Kroenke has invested his U.S. dollars, so clearly he understands the passion of the supporters and the game as a whole and he really knows what club stands for and has stood for (since Mr Chapman redefined us) more than me right? I want to see the Arsenal play and win in Rome and not burn like it, whilst those with the power to steer us to safety are fiddling and stare blankly at the computer screen trying to work out how they open that email that has just arrived in from a ranch in Colorado!

@lonewolf153

Behind Enemy Lines

Whilst I was still at school, a change within my father’s job meant we were uprooted from London (where I’d lived all my life) and relocated permanently to the south coast! I was upset at losing my friends but absolutely devastated to be taken so far away from Highbury and my beloved Arsenal! Furthermore, his new role meant he would work most Saturdays and therefore even my weekly pilgrimage to Highbury was to be curtailed!

I soon made new friends and duly convinced them that they were Arsenal supporters! After all, the alternatives didn’t bear thinking about! My parents however, flatly refused us permission to hop on a train and go to Highbury, using the feeble excuse that at thirteen we were too young, despite the fact that I had the ability to get there with my eyes closed! After an inordinate amount of whinging (I know, who’d have thought a teenage boy could do that?), they offered a compromise that we could go and watch the local side Brighton & Hove Albion as they were newly promoted to the old 1^st Division (yes, I know I’m very old…don’t rub it in)! Anyway, it would just have to do until my dad could get a Saturday off and drive me to Highbury!

After a season and a half of watching the Albion, it suddenly dawned on me that my parents would have no idea whether I went across to Brighton or in fact up to London! All I needed was the extra revenue (which was provided by not eating at lunchtime and saving my school dinner money) and a little courage from my friends to break the rules! The rest was history and by the time I was given permission by my parents to travel up to Highbury (having shown I could be responsible), I’d already been doing so for a year and a half! I have been a regular at Highbury and the Emirates (and numerous away grounds) every season since!

Anyway, what’s the point of this trip down memory lane you ask? Well, it is merely that going to the Goldstone for that season and a half as an impetuous teen and with Brighton being the local team to where I now lived, meant that since they disappeared from the top flight in 1983, I have been desperate to see them draw the Arsenal in a cup competition! And 30 years on…it finally happened!

Ironically, nowadays I live much closer to London again (but still in Sussex…just), though I still work in Brighton with one or two vociferous Brighton fans! Our office also has a number of shared Brighton & Hove Albion memberships! I do not go to enough Arsenal away games these days to have acquired a ticket through the club, so to get a ticket for the fixture that I had waited so long for, I was going to have to utilise one of those Brighton memberships and sit with the home fans!

And this is where the story truly begins. I was on a hiding to nothing. Travelling to the game and sitting with my Brighton supporting mates amongst the home fans, I knew an Arsenal win was more imperative for me than even Arsene Wenger himself, simply to avoid the ridicule that would have come my way if the result went in the home side’s favour! There had been threats of a blue and white decorated desk and (heaven forbid) pictures of Craig Mackail-Smith on my monitor!

Once inside the ground, I was amazed that unlike at the Emirates, I didn’t have to queue for my “£7 pie and pint” (but equally amazed that I had to wait for it to be cooked [the pie not the pint] – were they not expecting a demand for this type of fare on a match day?)! We took our seats early and I took in the AmEx. Nice ground, funny sloped roofs at each end as one main stand is taller that the other (odd architectural choice)!

And then 15 minutes before kick-off, came the moment I had dreaded! The teams were announced…No Sagna, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Wilshere, Carzorla or Walcott! I was furious because I knew Brighton were half decent (did you learn nothing at Bradford Arsene?). Furthermore, I knew that should Brighton cause an upset of any type, I was not going to hear the end of it at work for years…and years...and years! In your infinite wisdom Arsene, you expose a lot of your humble subjects to potential ridicule that you remain totally and blissfully unaware of! My Brighton supporting mates’ faces lit up! They could prepare to watch me squirm. A shock was on!

 

 

And for 90 minutes squirm I did! I won’t give you a blow by blow account of the game because you will already be well aware of what happened. I was relieved when Giroud’s classy effort put us ahead but not surprised that it took Brighton just a matter of minutes to realise that George Weah’s cousin was on loan from Southampton, but these days calling himself Andre Santos (if you are young, Google “Ali Dai” or “George Weah’s cousin” and you’ll understand)! Now it’s not Andre’s fault that he is crap…it’s Arsene’s fault for buying and selecting him, but the fact remains he was a liability every time Brighton had the ball (and sometimes when we had it too)!

1-1 became 2-1 and then again within minutes 2-2 due to Santos wandering off to do some shopping in Hove rather than where he should have been, defending at left back in Falmer! Meanwhile, I confidently predicted to my peers that Arsene would bring on the big guns after 72 minutes (his substitutions are nothing if not predictable). Well, Arsene must have either been worried too or his watch was fast because he did it after 68 minutes! From that point we actually looked in control. My mates got to see the imperious Wilshere for a full 22 minutes as well as the classy Gibbs before Theo provided the winner by way of a fortuitous deflection.

Theo’s winner engendered such relief that I leapt to my feet only to suddenly realise I was in the middle of the home supporters, wherein I turned to my scowling compatriots and merely said “Bugger!” and tried desperately to suppress a broad grin!

In essence, I understand why Arsene rests individuals but please one or two, not five or six. We simply are not good enough throughout the entire squad to take gambles on this scale. On this occasion Arsene you got away with it and in terms of the levels of grief from my friends…so did I!

 

LoneWolf153

Consistency and other matters!

After Liverpool's latest capitulation at the hands of West Brom brought an end to another weekend of Premiership action, attention has rightly turned towards the return of the Champions League.
Now, I'm no fan of the new staggered match day format. It's a money making exercise for UEFA and inexplicably means there will be a three week gap between the two legs which is far too long. However, in light of our current injury situation it has definitely worked in our favour as we've now got an extra week to get the squad fit for the Bayern game.
Of course, there's the small matter of Blackburn in the FA Cup to negotiate before that, and you cannot take anyone for granted as the Bradford game illustrated, but you'd like to think that we'll be able to rest the likes of Wilshere, Cazorla and Koscielny and still get through.

Time for consistency

Arguably, Blackburn is the bigger game as the FA Cup is a competition we are far more likely to win than the Champions League and winning is vital to keep momentum going as we enter the business end of the season.
Both Wenger and Arteta have alluded to this in the last couple of days and I really hope that the squad take heed of their words and push on as fourth, third and even second are all still possible.
We showed signs of a greater determination and concentration in our performance against a typically combative Sunderland. What pleased me the most was our refusal to be bullied out of our passing game despite Sunderland's repeated attempts to kick us off the park.
Sagna produced his best performance of the season and Szczesny was absolutely outstanding. The players rolled up their sleeves and showed the kind of character that has too often been missing this season. Arteta played a pivotal role in this and I do think he would have made a big difference against City, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Defenders on the mend

With Santos now out on loan (arguably the smartest move Wenger has made this season), Vermaelen is in line to play at left-back against Bayern and the boss must be confident that all our defenders will be fit in time for Tuesday. That is fantastic news and Gooners everywhere will be blowing a collective sigh of relief as the prospect of the likes of Santos, Jenkinson and Squillachi lining up against Ribery, Robben and co would be enough to give anyone a heart attack!
Longer term, it also suggests that Gibbs is progressing well. This is great news as he has come on leaps and bounds this season and been one of our most consistent performers. Nacho has settled well, too, though, and it will be very interesting to see who gets the nod when Gibbs is back to full fitness.

FA need to get a grip of football thuggery

As a neutral (of sorts), I'm looking forward to the United game in Madrid tomorrow. Personally, I think United will get taught a bit of a lesson by Madrid. They haven't been tested this year in the league and the twelve point advantage they've got is more a reflection of how bad the rest of the league have been rather than how good they've been.
Sky and the pundits, of course, would argue to the contrary but excitement is not the same as quality. Technically, the league as a whole is miles behind and whilst we continue to condone (and on occasion laud) the likes of Stoke City and Sunderland for their physical approach to the game we'll never be on a par.

It results in players spending less time on technique during training and sees some players get kicked off the park.
The FA need to clamp down on dangerous tackles by players like Whelan (who again has avoided sanction for a potential leg breaker on Saturday) and Shawcross at Stoke or Cattermole at Sunderland and managers and pundits alike need to take a leaf out of our book and look to play more football. Otherwise, the result against Brazil was fantastic but if we want that to be the norm rather than the exception.

By @mrhappyontherun check me out on Twitter

The world wakes up to Wilshere’s talent

After watching the England game last night it was great to see Jack Wilshere transfer some of that terrific club form he’s been showing for Arsenal onto the international scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The morning news reports are filled with nothing but praise for the 21 year old. Am I surprised he was the best player on the park? Certainly not. He’s been doing it all season for the Gunners, it’s about time the world realises just “how good” this kid really is. He’s really flourished in the more advanced midfield role he’s been playing this season which I think is his best position. He has the drive and determination of Gerrard while still possessing the creative ability of Cesc.

Being 4th in the Premier League for average dribbles per game this season and 2nd centre mid (only behind to Gerrard) in key passes per game this season you can just see the impact he has going forward.

In the midst of how good Jack was last night let’s not forget to mention Theo Walcott. He put in a solid performance and probably could have bagged a goal or two if it weren’t for the inform Júlio César. Theo completely skinned Adriano 3 times in the space of 10 minutes and made him look like he was about as quick as Jamie Carragher. Just a shame England didn’t have that poacher such as Jermaine Defoe to gamble at the near post to tap in those driven crosses.

It seems to be formality now that international breaks come with injuries for Arsenal and this one is no different. Ramsey and Koscienly both picking up calf injuries and both now a doubt for the Sunderland game. To make things worse, Santi and Nacho both having to fly back from Qatar (don’t get me started) and Jack, Per and Sagna playing 90 minutes yesterday we could struggle for fitness at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

By Matthew Stratford