Arshavin Brings Greeks To Heel

UEFA Champions League Matchday 2, Group H
Arsenal 2 – 0 Olympiacos

1 – 0 Van Persie (78)
2 – 0 Arshavin (86)

It had the makings of ‘one of those nights‘; total domination, stubborn resistance, chances aplenty and no goals. Two late goals meant that the possession, passing and creative flair earned its due reward.

The lateness of the goals is being used as a stick with which to beat the team, suggestions being made that it shows a lack of killer instinct. Such mental processes are complete crap. Obdurate defending is never broken early – it would not be stubborn otherwise. The frustration of the Arsenal attack by Nikopolidis bore a more than passing resemblance to the display of Vito Mannone at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

Eboue and Rosicky were drafted in, the former putting on a splendid display of the right back’s craft, attacking with verve and defending resolutely. It was a throwback to the 2006 style. Is it enough to displace Sagna on a regular basis? That is extremely doubtful given the Frenchman’s consistency but nonetheless, a solid reminder that there is more than adequate cover defensively on the right.

The chances littered the North London night like papers wafting down the tube line. The Greek defence was bisected time and again as Arshavin, van Persie, Rosicky and a whole cast of characters were denied by an outstanding goalkeeping display. Fabregas did beat Nikopolidis only for the woodwork to deny the breaking of the deadlock.

The new formation employed this season encourages attacking football, the passing between the Arsenal players was, for the most part, exemplary, an aspect that will have pleased the manager. Equally so, he will have been more than happy with the quiet professionalism of those players who were not taxed in their positions. Matches such as this require concentration throughout. Mannone had two saves to make all match and he did so. The confidence brought on through clean sheets is infectious to a goalkeeper.

When the breakthrough came, it was fitting that it should be as a result of outstanding passing and movement rather than a scrappy affair. van Persie fed Fabregas who found Eduardo. The Croat supplied the required cross for the Dutchman to bury from close range; so much for van Persie lacking a predatory instinct.

Within ten minutes, the lead was doubled. Fabregas found an equally excellent cross from the right, Arshavin backheeling the ball through Nikopolidis into the net. Claims for offside were fully justified against the Russian but you play to the whistle and if it doesn’t come, defenders should not stop marking. They did and were suitably punished.

As much as the performances of the attackers are being praised, others should not be ignored. Alex Song snaffled the ball well in midfield and distributed wisely. He was ably supported by Diaby who had he scored with his opportunity, would have received recognition for a solid midfield performance.

Behind them, the pairing of Vermaelen and Gallas goes from strength to strength. Much has been made in the past of Vidic and Ferdinand at Manchester United in previous seasons; the Arsenal duo are building something equally solid and no less impressive. The Belgian continues to be a breath of fresh air, organising the defensive line to an extent that belies his ‘junior’ status in the defence.

Rosicky continued his recovery. Even at less than fully fit, his brightness of thought is apparent and gradually his pace is returning to match levels. This, with Vela coming back last night, Walcott and Nasri when they return, leaves an exceptional array of attacking talents that Wenger is going to be scratching his head about accommodating.

Which leaves the troubled trio of Clichy, Fabregas and van Persie. All have been criticised this season, sometimes fairly but for the most part unjustly. Last night all of them answered their critics to varying degrees. Clichy quelled the Greek attacks with positional play for the most part. Interceptions have always been an important part of his game and last night was no exception.

For Fabregas, it was a performance that was calm and composed, prompting his colleagues and working hard to provide cover for the defence as well. van Persie though is settling nicely into the central striker role. Last night gave an indication of how outstanding he will be there; the Greek defence struggled to control his movement and interchanging with others.

Job done and a nice way for Arsene to begin the celebrations of his elevation to the status of Arsenal’s longest serving manager. A repeat performance on Sunday would just about top that off nicely.

’til Tomorrow.

Beware Of Greeks Bearing Gifts & Money

It seems somewhat appropriate that the club announced its financial results in the run-up to the second match in this season’s Champions League. For all of the mithering that comes out of UEFA about the debt levels in English football, they actually have handed to them on a plate, the template for a financially sound club. Platini and his mob will not use it though, for to do so will put them in a spin since they firmly believe that all clubs should be debt-free.

More on that later though. The matter of the visit of Olympiacos takes precedence over this. Injury news once more to the forefront of the team selection. Nicklas Bendtner met with Q and believed that his Aston Martin had been fitted out with the latest Bond Gadgetry, an elaborate wind-up courtesy of Emmanuel Adebayor who realised that he had not continued his feud on the pitch a couple of weeks ago.

The momentum picked up in the games since the return from the last international break is slowly building. A win tonight and that continues in much the same way that the twenty-one game unbeaten run sparked into life earlier this year. The difference is that this time wins are replacing draws.

As it is a home game, an attacking line-up could be the order of the day with Eduardo, Arshavin and van Persie the forward trio. An alternative would be the introduction of Tomas Rosicky instead of Arshavin. It seems unlikely that Wenger would go into such a match without at least two strikers.

For the rest of the team, there should not be too much tinkering. Perhaps Diaby will make way for Ramsey but with four days to recover before the Blackburn fixture, there seems little reason to make that many changes to the line-up. I would expect Wenger to go with:

Mannone; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Diaby, Song, Fabregas; Eduardo, van Persie, Arshavin

A win this evening is emminently achievable and would set the double-headers with AZ67 nicely. Two more wins in those clashes would see qualification surely achieved and let the team have ambitions to win every game. That is, however, to get ahead of myself – three points tonight is all that counts.

So to the finances. The property development is dominating thoughts and does not necessarily provide the solace that some have sought. The report mentions that profits from the redevelopment may be transferred into the football club but there is no guarantee that it will do so. Too much is read into this statement. It is covering themselves, reassuring the lenders that they have no intention of using the cash from the property side until the debt is cleared.

Crucially, the loans on this project are a relatively minimal level One of the biggest criticisms is that this development has prevented Wenger from spending. What is apparent that having replaced the buyer of the biggest tranche of flats, the club can move the prices to market levels and return a profit, albeit smaller than the original forecasts.

Frequently, the board has spoken of the need to retain the services of the existing squad. Taking into consideration the increase in the valuations of the players registrations on the balance sheet, the extent of this policy can be realised. Removing the purchases of Vermaelen, Arshavin and the minor deals last summer, it is not unreasonable to estimate that of the £41.3m increase, £10m of that is due to contract renegotiations. That is a sizeable commitment on the part of the board, equally so of Wenger’s faith in those players.

The subject of wages continues to perplex some, failing to grasp that the figures relate to every employee. Trying to guess what portion relates to the squad is futile. We simply do not know and every attempt at calculating it will be based on false assumptions and therefore produce falsehoods as answers. Is there an argument for knowing what the club spends on it’s playing staff’s salaries? To a degree yet the commercial sensitivities of that information far outweigh any righteous indignation felt by supporters that the information is not in the public domain.

And still the media proclaims that there is a huge transfer pot awaiting the opening of the cheque book. Surprisingly, the highest valuation I have seen this morning is from a journalist who is normally sane regarding football finances. In this morning’s Guardian, David Conn added the profit of £23m on player trading to the £42m received (not the profit) for the sales of Adebayor and Toure. Apparently, this total of £65m is ‘nearly £80m‘. So not only is the £80m wrong, the £65m is calculated by adding apples to pears, the outcome being bananas.

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.

Hill-Wood Puts The World To Rights

In the build-up to Saturday’s match at Fulham, Peter Hill-Wood gave an interview with ESPN explaining the club’s view on a wide range of subjects. An interesting insight that raised as many questions as it did answers.

Speaking about the much reported issue of quotas, PHW observed:

Arsenal voted for it, but we are against it…We voted in favour of the quotas because it appeared that is what the majority of the clubs wanted and we went along with it. We feel that we should support the majority, rather than rebel against them. To be perfectly truthful, I don’t anticipate that the quota system will be particularly harmful to any of the clubs.

It is a curious stance to take, supporting the majority rather than registering an objection by voting against it. There is no hint of rebellion in doing so but tacit approval is never going to achieve anything. The board may feel that registering disapproval a similar outcome prevails. Perhaps they were concerned about negative press; they are on the receiving end of that anyway, making the scenario hard to see where the benefit is?

Intriguingly, PHW did not believe the plan to be worthwhile:

I don’t actually think it is achieving a great deal.

You wonder if Arsenal’s was the casting vote? In an industry notorious for vested self-interest, why would Arsenal simply go along with something? The suspicion is that this is a back-door way of controlling the excessive spending of clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and City, forcing them into investment in young players and the revitalising the failing Academy system.

The quota system is likely to be another nail in the coffin of the bigger clubs loaning their youngsters out. Wenger indicated that he is reluctant to let any of his charges go to the Championship following Mannone’s disasterous spell at Barnsley:

I think [Mannone,] was too young and that’s why I am a bit more cautious now with giving our foreign players out on loan when they are very young, because in England, in the Championship, you are under big pressure.

Talking about finances, Hill-Wood raised the usual criticism of poorly run clubs. Spending more than you generate is a simple objective and revenues are equally simple to manipulate. All that has to happen is that the owners overpay for tickets for example, and the rule becomes meaningless. That also allows clubs to rebalance their wages / revenue ratio, long held as a measure of financial prudence.

It is an issue Hill-Wood is aware of, suggesting that he believes clubs are already looking for routes to bend any new regulations:

in the final analysis, it is about the Premier League putting into place controls that are absolutely right, otherwise they would lead to all sorts of problems. Laws can have unintentional consequences. It might sound like a good idea to have financial controls, but they must be very carefully thought out to make them work. They could end up doing more harm than good if people are only interested in getting round them. That is why I advocate self discipline.

It is as he said, a forlorn hope for that to happen. Football is about winning and clubs have a long history of using fair means or foul to achieve those ends. The issue that the governing bodies should be more concerned about is what happens when investors tire of their new toys and leave clubs teetering on the verge of oblivion.

Hill-Wood adopted his best Scott Walker pose and observed that there were No Regrets about selling any player. A signal of the confidence in the manager is given:

He doesn’t always tell you, i.e. the press, or even me exactly why he is selling them, he might not always give me the reason, but we always back his judgement.

That is a curious statement in some respects. It begs the question as to what PHW is actually asking the manager. Surely as a directors, they would ask for some sort of explanation as to why a player is being sold or if a replacement is required? Whilst the confidence that they have in the manager is exemplary, the board should be questioning decisions for no other reason that to be sure Wenger is certain in his own mind.

The confidence they have is highlighted by the fact that he wants Wenger to stay beyond 2011. I wonder if any complacency on the board’s part was shaken this summer? There is no doubt that the recognition of the rewards of employing Wenger are appreciated but the stick with which it is being used to beat the club at the moment are not lost either:

The trouble is that you can be a victim of your own success. We have set the bar so high, and expectations have risen even higher. But we have now set the bar high in terms of our performances. Other people out there want to play the way Arsenal do. Not easy, not always possible.

The solace found in Arsenal not being unique – Liverpool were held up as an example – is not going to wash with those impatient for success. The only cure for their ills is silverware, patience a virtue sadly lacking.

’til Tomorrow.

Vito’s The Mann – One Nil To The Arsenal Is Enough

Fulham 0 – 1 Arsenal

0 – 1 van Persie (51)

The mark of a title winning team is to play poorly and win. Of course, the judgement of whether a team has played badly is entirely relative, dependent upon the standards that they have set themselves. Yesterday was a halway house, neither outstanding or poor. It was enough. It was a fixture that has tasted defeat in two of the previous three visits. That it did not is in no small amount to Vito Mannone.

Notionally the third choice ‘keeper at the club, Mannone suffered at the hands of his critics believing him to be another Almunia. If the Spaniard plays that well for the rest of the season, Arsenal will walk the league, FA Cup, Champions League and Carling Cup, even if he does not play in some of those tournaments. Mannone in the meantime has questioned the judgement of those who were criticising him.

The match itself was a thoroughly enjoyable affair, not least because the hosts were prepared to try and play football, to attack and to stretch the game in a manner that put many teams above them to shame. The folly in their approach was shown in the result and the fact that Bobby Zamora would have struggled to find the cow, let alone hit its arse with a banjo. Yet hopefully others will take hope from the number of chances Fulham created. Would that every team approached the game with similar intent because quite simply, Arsenal’s ability to win these sorts of games increases.

It was an important win. The surprise defeat of Chelsea created a tightness in the table, marked with the game in hand that Arsenal possess. A win and three points is the gap to the leaders, an inconsequential amount at this stage of the season, especially with two of the teams above us already visited.

Mannone is garnering the praise, quite rightly so. Dempsey, Gera, Zamora, Johnson and everyone else will be wondering how they failed to beat the youngster. He had a helping of luck along the way but as Gary Player observed, “The harder I practice, the luckier I get“. Mannone must have been at London Colney twelve hours a day last week on that basis. He even found time to give William Gallas a wake-up call with his left knee.

Fulham were quicker out of the blocks with Johnson and Dempsey getting an early indication of the form Mannone was in, a double save that he knew little about for the second part. Fabregas had the first Arsenal chance minutes later, scooping his shot over the bar. Arshavin was closer in distance from the goal when he rasped a shot high. It was a signal for Arsenal’s dominance at that point, a precursor to a goal for the visitors, or so it seemed. van Persie blazed a free kick so high that the local aircraft were given a danger warning.

Before the interval, Mannone had one more intervention to make, saving from Gera’s accurate effort. Six minutes into the second half, the deadlock was broken, Fabregas finding van Persie whose first touch controlled the ball, his second sent it into the back of the net. Bendter could have doubled the advantage, drawing a good save from Schwarzer. Fulham recovered and Mannone once more denied Johnson, Zamora and at the end, Zamora once more, stopping a header from almost point blank range.

After the match, Arsene said:

Vito is young with talent and he showed that talent today. You have to give him 10 out of 10 because he did absolutely everything right and that’s all you can ask of a goalkeeper.

The rest of the team were unexceptional in their performance. They were not bad, just did not get going. Criticism of them is missing the point to some extent though. How many times in the past few seasons has a performance such as this resulted in a defeat? The media likes to portray Champions or challengers as those who sweep all away before them yet frequently, the opposite is true. There are probably 5 or 6 wins in every seasons where the performance does not merit that result.

As Wenger observed:

There is an attitude, a spirit and a quality in the side that makes me very positive about this season

I believe it is called resilience. Clichy hinted at that earlier in the week when he observed that the players were more unified, Gallas happier in his relationship with Vermaelen than Toure and Adebayor gone, the disdain of Robin van Persie apparent in his reference to his former team-mate as “Mr Adebayor“. A squad that is willing to fight for each other is one that can challenge for silverware. Whilst yesterday is no guarantee of that, it is a positive indication.

’til Tomorrow.

Cesc on Trains, RvP, Fulham On An Action Packed Saturday

Fulham this afternoon in the late kick-off. Gee, thanks Disney. The visit to Craven Cottage follows last season’s debacle and is in a sense, a litmus test for progress this season. All of the players have acknowledged that the title is to be won in games such as these with the mini-league between the top four clubs of lesser significance. That may be so but points earned against close rivals count when closing or extending gaps.

Robin van Persie re-iterated that when he observed the impact in previous seasons:

If you look last year, the way Manchester United became champions was against the smaller teams. They won against all the teams from 19 to 10. That is why they became champions. So it is very important to win these games.

At which point van Persie picked himself up off the floor have slightly exaggerated his final sentence. Hopefully neither that injury or his real one will preclude a full and goalscoring involvement at Craven Cottage.

The forward line was the subject of some observations yesterday, the follow-on from the Triad’s outburst. Arsene, it seems, is not willing to waste a cent on Marouane Chamakh. You wonder if Chamakh is going the same way of those such as Cana before him. Cana is constantly linked with the club but that has never been seriously followed up since he was turned away by UK Immigration at 16 en route to a two-week trial at Arsenal, his background from a war torn nation counting against him at the time.

He is content with van Persie, Eduardo and Bendtner leading the line. A serious injury might change that opinion. Wenger‘s rationale for not spending his money was re-emphasised – he believes he has enough quality in the squad already. With only one long-term injury to deal with, he is content that Nasri, Walcott and Fabianski will give the depth he needs over the coming months. Or in Wenger’s own words, “We have an unbelievable squad“. Time will tell on that one.

As Cesc observed in an interview with Don Balon, the only time a season can be assessed is when the last ball has been kicked. The tone of the interview is set in the opening paragraph which indicates that the coming summer will be the one when he leaves London. In the opinion of the magazine, the Spanish equivalent of FourFourTwo. Cesc talks about his own future, of course:

For now I see it, I have a contract and contracts are to try to meet them. The truth is that right now I do not think beyond what may be this year.

He was not going to be let off that quickly or easily. Questioned about whether he had missed the ‘train’ – joining Barca or Madrid in this instance – the captain displayed a media-savvy instinct:

No, I have missed trains and have always taken those that I thought were better for me

The issue of media speculation is given short shrift:

I attempt to isolate myself from this speculation, surround myself with my family, my friends and my girlfriend, and the end of the day try to keep a low profile. Suffice to say I’m the boss and the only one who really knows what is happening.

Just to be clear on that issue, he is (a) focussed on the current season, (b) hoping to be playing the Bernabeu next May in the Champions League final and (c) on the subject of returning to Spain, “We’ll see what happens in the future, which right now is to win something with Arsenal“. So expect a slew of how Cesc has refused to commit himself stories appearing over coming weeks.

Today’s fixture sees the return of Andrei Arshavin following his injury at Old Trafford, exacerbated on international duty. It strengthens the attacking prowess in what you would expect to be a pretty much unchanged team from the encounter with Wigan last Saturday.

Despite the clean sheet in midweek, it would be a tough decision on Mannone to be replaced in goal by Szczeny. At the moment, it is a matter of Arsene’s personal judgement on the two but to make that change would fly in the face of his previous policy of having his first team goalkeeper entirely separate from the custodian in both domestic cups. Roy Hodgson was effusive in his praise for Arsene, a manner of delivery missing in the media:

Arsene’s career has been second to none. It has been quite incredible the job he has done at Arsenal, at Monaco and at Nagoya Grampus Eight. He’s a first-class manager and coach and all the praise that has been showered his way is praise that, for me, has been fully deserved.

Whilst Hodgson has not achieved as many honours in the English game, it is interesting to see the change in the media’s perception. Unsuccessful in his spell at Blackburn, he is rightly praised for moving Fulham up the table last season and into Europe. Given the work he has carried out abroad, it is surprising that Hodgson does not get more recognition for this. However, Fulham appear to be suffering a little through European exertions and Arsenal must be ready to take advantage of this.

The team I would expect Arsene to put out today is:

Mannone; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Song, Fabregas, Diaby; Arshavin, van Persie, Eboue

That assumes everyone is fit. If Arshavin or van Persie is not quite ready, Eduardo will probably be the one to slot in with Bendtner remaining on the bench. Arsene will look for a solid start to the game perhaps before unleashing Rosicky on the tiring hosts. Which means the Czech will probably start in place of Diaby!

Three points is the required result, not least because it is hard to see any of the teams above us dropping any points this afternoon. Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.

Fulham, Fitness and The Lost Art Of Defending

Whilst Ivan took care of the property viewings, Arsene had a few choice words to say about things. Ahead of the Fulham clash at tea-time on Saturday, the walking wounded diminished in number although a couple are subject to fitness tests or not quite ready for the match. Andrei Arshavin is to return whilst RvP is expected to be fit, a decision expected today. Manuel Almunia is going to be missing once more but interestingly, Wenger did not say who would replace him. Logically, you would have expected Mannone but the clean sheet in midweek appears to have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Theo Walcott is short of match fitness but may feature from the substitute’s bench. Were that to happen, you would expect him to start against Olympiacos in midweek. Whatever the case, it will be good to see put his international knack behind him and begin his season, hopefully fired up and with a point to prove.

With that out of the way, the Bordeaux chairman Jean-Louis Triaud got both barrels with Wenger very politely but very firmly telling everyone that Triaud was talking out of his arsenal when whinging earlier in the week. Moments like this, with the unedifying comments from across the Channel, make you appreciative of the silence maintained by Arsenal during transfer negotiations. With Chamakh, Wenger unusually spoke out following Bordeaux and the player deciding to go public over the whole affair. The French club has been bitten by its greed, unlikely to receive more than 1/10th of their asking price and 1/6th of Arsenal’s reported offer if they sell in January. If the player is still at the club next summer, then they get nothing. Not surprising that there is rancour of the part Triaud as he realises the importance of the money that has slipped from his grubby fingers.

Wenger subsequently moved onto the subject of how good Arsenal is, in the Premier League at least. There is no doubt he enjoys other teams attacking displays simply because it gives Arsenal more room to play. We enjoy goals, except when it’s the Arsenal getting backache from picking the ball out of the net. Actually, you don’t see that too much since custodians these days are too busy berating all and sundry, ensuring everyone knows that the goal was not their fault.

I digress. A glut of goals is symptomatic of the lost art of defending as much as the attacking prowess of forwards. The days of a defender being purely a defender have passed, for the moment at least. Full backs are expected to be as proficient going forward to supplement attacks as they are defensively. Indeed, a fair number are rather more able going forward than they are at tackling. Arsenal is little different. Sagna bucks the trend somewhat, being solid defensively but Clichy is a lively attacking full back. Defensively he is good but not as solid as his partner. That is an observation and an honest assessment of Clichy is that he is still in the top three left backs in the country at the moment.

However, to win the title requires balance, something missing from Arsenal for a couple of seasons. The introduction of Vermaelen has rectified that, positively influencing Gallas. The Belgian’s contribution is recognised but his solidity in the tackle is being matched by Gallas rediscovering his form. No doubt part of that was his personal dispute with Toure and other issues that have dogged him over the past few seasons. Criticism of the Frenchman has certainly diminished this season which is no bad thing.

Let’s hope it continues at Craven Cottage. ’til Tomorrow.

REVIEW: Forward, Arsenal! by Bernard Joy

Forward, Arsenal! by Bernard Joy
Published by GCR Books

Originally published in 1952 and long out of publication, this essential book on the history of Arsenal has been reprinted by GCR Books. As a former player Bernard Joy had a level of access that gives this history a uniqueness that is unlikely to be matched again.

Joy began his career at amateur side Casuals in 1931, winning the Amateur Cup and captaining the Great Britain team at the Berlin Olympics of 1936. He was registered with Southend United and Fulham in the early 1930s but in 1935, he joined Arsenal.

It is utterly inconceivable that an amateur player would ever follow this career path in the modern era, let alone represent the full England international side. Yet this is how Joy’s career unfolded, playing his one full international in a 2-3 defeat to Belgium. He was the last amateur to achieve this status, a record that will surely never be broken.

In 1937-38, the regular Arsenal centre half, Herbie Roberts suffered a broken leg and Bernard Joy replaced him, winning a League Champions medal that season. As a result of his injury, Roberts retired and Joy remained first choice in his position through to the outbreak of the Second World War, picking up a Charity Shield winners medal in 1938.

Joy’s war was spent as an RAF Intelligence Officer which enabled him to continue playing football. He was to make more than 200 appearances for Arsenal during this time, continuing his career once war was over. However, like many, he lost those years from his career and at 35, he retired in December 1946 although he was to continue playing for Casuals until 1948. It is incredible to think that such a pivotal player for those seasons was an amateur. On retiring, Joy entered journalism as Evening Standard and later Sunday Express football correspondent.

Forward, Arsenal! is a superb history of the club. Contributions were directly received from a veritable Who’s Who of players and managers including Tom Whitaker, George Allison, Alex James and Charles Buchan, rather than relying upon the press of that time for the information. The detailed analysis puts modern histories to shame.

This book has long been sought after on eBay in its original form. GCR Books has made a fine reprint, one that every Arsenal fan should own. Having started with The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, Greg is planning an outstanding library of reprinted books about Arsenal, which can be viewed on their website en route to buying Forward, Arsenal!