Saturday, April 24, 2010

streamofconsciousnesspost

Theo Walcott is irredeemably shite any team that features him may as well be playing with ten men but then again perhaps it's harsh to be singling him out today of all days as frankly he was surrounded by mediocrity in red and indeed blue I think it's time to throw my hat reluctantly into the Spurs ring as regards 4th place because Christ Manchester City are dull they must be the dullest team of dullards to ever threaten the top four well since Houllier's Liverpool at least by god it's only taken Mancini a matter of months to turn them into an Italian team but without all the exaggerated hand gestures which would at least provide a modicum of entertainment but let's be honest here Arsenal are not as entertaining as everybody makes out so fucking predictable especially when playing at that patented funereal tempo I thought that shit left with Gilberto Silva but no his spirit lives on with two dilly dallying clowns taking his place and don't talk to me about the crossing ability of those two full backs of ours it feels like we haven't scored from a cross since that perma smiling cunt Adebayor left and by the way what the hell does he find so funny all the time what a mongolloid he is it's funny I remarked to my brother during the game that I'd never seen a handicapped black person and then one came onto the pitch gimping around in a Man City jersey. Seriously though why am I dwelling on this awful game I should be getting that thesis finished and figuring out what to do with my life but I just can't stop resenting another 90 minutes wasted I've had more intriguing visits to the dentist you know when there's a good wildlife show on the TV in the waiting room this blog is threatening to become little more than an extended rant against Arsene's Arsenal and that is a pity maybe it is because of my love of GoodFellas but I much prefer the piano exit part of Eric Clapton's Layla to the widdly guitar stuff and now I am feeling quite hungry so I think I might

Tippy Tappy 0-0 Catenaccio

The worst game of football I've ever had to sit through.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Inter 3-1 Barca... That's How Bad Arsenal Are...

May is approaching, and you know what that means- it's time to ignore Arsenal and focus on the teams still chasing silverware :).

Only I could not stop thinking about Arsenal during tonight's game, thinking about how we have made Barcelona an overrated team because of our ineptitude over two legs in the last round.

Against Inter, we saw that the Spanish and European champions are human after all. People have raved, and rightly so, about the effectiveness of their pressing game, but they themselves don't like being hassled any more than the next team. Inter did what Arsenal failed to, denying Barca space and time, and were the better side throughout until ceding ground late on.

It would be valid, to a point, to say that Arsenal don't have the personnel to do what Inter did. But then again, no footballer is precluded by his natural abilities from being able to work hard off the ball. And you could also question the wisdom of sticking only to a passing philosophy when some of your players- I'm thinking of Diaby and Denilson, for instance- don't pass that well. But that's an argument for another day. Arsenal's naivety against Barca was staggering.

Mourinho, for all his faults, never fails to produce a plan. There were those who maintained his plan would consist only of containment; instead, his side created the better chances all game, and were durable enough to withstand the substantial blow of an early goal conceded.

Motta and Cambiasso ensured that the space in front of Inter's defence was never left undermanned; Messi's threat was almost completely negated; and Lucio and Samuel dealt well with Zlatan while the big man was on the pitch.

Inter- Barca was intriguing because the best clashes in sport usually comprise conflicting styles. Like Ed Norton pummelling Jared Leto in Fight Club, Mourinho enjoys destroying something beautiful. Every Roger Federer needs a Rafa Nadal; last season Chelsea almost proved the immovable object, this time around, Inter may prove too strong for the Spanish artists to push aside.

Xavi and Messi are great, no doubt, but Inter reminded everybody that you don't just have to stand back admiring greatness, inviting your own destruction. That is what Arsenal did in the Quarter Finals, seemingly lacking the humility to devise a gameplan with superior opposition in mind.

Wenger would have you believe that "super Barca" were the only team that could have taken us apart.

Inter would have battered us.
United would have battered us. Again.
Chelsea would have battered us. Yet again.

I hope Arsene Knows this.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Wigan 3-2 Arsenal: what a way to crown another season of mediocrity

Your project has failed, Mr. Wenger.

It was essentially a meaningless game, but surely this is the lowest point of the Wenger reign?

An ABSOLUTELY RUBBISH Wigan side come back with three goals in ten minutes to win?
After Arsenal lead 2-0?

That, my friends, is a disgrace.

I don't care about the players who were missing. A great club is supposed to function as a whole. It is not supposed to crumble in the absence of five good players.

Where is the attitude? The professionalism?

More to the point, where should it come from?
If this team STILL lacks maturity, where does the blame lie?

I hope to God that the recent talk from Wenger that suggests a change in transfer policy is not yet more empty rhetoric.

I said a few weeks ago that however this ended, it was going to look noble and heroic. Well, you can scratch that. What a disgrace this team's attitude is.

What the Fuck gives them the right to be so lazy and arrogant?
They've achieved the sum total of nothing.
Time for a change.

Friday, April 16, 2010

A Sobering Thought

It was assumed by many on his arrival that Sol Campbell would be a laughing stock and out of his depth. Instead, he's put a lot of our other players to shame.

The old desire is clearly still there. His clear organisational skills make you wonder why Wenger does not sign more experienced players (and I mean good ones, Silvestre doesn't count).

A lot of people probably thought that Campbell would end up costing Arsenal the title. What he has actually done is provide an echo of what now sadly seems a bygone era. Diaby, Denilson, Eboue, Walcott, Bendtner, Almunia... whatever about their questionable abilities, think of their attitudes, and ask would any of these guys be allowed line up beside Campbell et al in 03/04?

Why are Arsenal players not held to that standard anymore?

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal & Season Review Part 1.

So that's it. Finally, the desperate hypotheticals can stop. Arsenal are out of it.

So, with the season effectively over, we can start to reflect. Mostly, agonisingly, it's a case of "what might have been". Everybody would have been left with that feeling anyway, having stayed in the race for so long, but Van Persie's comeback lastnight really brought it into focus.

He only played about twenty minutes, but after all those months out, there was no sign of rust. He was superb. Bendtner has now scored nine goals in his last eleven games, and has generally proven himself a decent deputy. But the gulf in class between he and the man he was tasked with replacing is undeniably huge.

So perhaps, having decried hypothetical questions in my opening paragraph, I have to start by posing one. What would have happened if Van Persie stayed fit? Well, it's hard not to surmise that Arsenal would at least be still in the running at this stage, if not top of the pile. RVP was absent for both of the Chelsea games (as was Bendtner) which left us playing a 4-3-3 without any kind of effective spearhead. Likewise at home to Man United. Now, we were brushed aside in all of those games, but they could have taken a completely different course if Robin Van Persie was fit and available.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda! Fuck that. The facts are these. RVP was injured ahead of the January transfer window. Arsene, probably in the knowledge that he was likely to bag Chamakh for free this summer, decided to shamble on with two (relative to RVP) inferior, and almost equally injury-prone strikers, in Eduardo and Bendtner. He churlihly listed Walcott and Vela as options in this area, when he never intended to use them as such. Arsenal ended up going into a run of games with only the diminutive Arshavin doing a very poor (but understandably so, perhaps?) imitation of leading the line.

This is a problem that was hardly the result of bad luck. Van Persie has never had an injury-free season. Adebayor left last summer- how we all crowed at the exorbitant fee City paid. What a cruel irony then that the lack of a replacement is one of the factors that costs us the title.

Just one, though. For the next parts of my season review, I'll focus on the ludicrous goalkeeping situation, and Arsenal's travails in the big games.

I just want to end on this note: bearing in mind Wenger's refusal to sign a striker in January, does the man now prioritise profits over success? Even with his admirable obsession with balancing the books, could he not have signed a player on loan? It would hold back the progress of other players, you say? That's a non-runner for me. We ended up playing without a striker in a lot of games, so a striker was blatantly necessary, from every viewpoint. And not just in hindsight, because people were saying it all along.

AS REGARDS THE GAME LASTNIGHT, TOTTENHAM HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE LAST CENTURY FOR A LEAGUE WIN AGAINST ARSENAL, WHO HAVE CLEARLY RAN OUT OF STEAM. ARSENAL STARTED THE GAME WITHOUT FIVE FIRST-CHOICE PLAYERS, AND LOST A SIXTH EARLY IN THE GAME TO INJURY. BEFORE VERMAELEN BROKE DOWN, ONE ALREADY HAD THE FEELING IT WAS SPURS' NIGHT. DEBUTANT DANNY ROSE SMASHED IN AN ASTOUNDING VOLLEY, AND BARELY TOUCHED THE BALL AGAIN IN HIS FORTY-FIVE MINUTES ON THE PITCH. AGAIN, ARSENAL LOOKED CLUELESS WHEN FACED WITH TWO NARROW BANKS OF FOUR, UNTIL VAN PERSIE CAME ON AND TURNED THE GAME LATE IN THE DAY. BUT BY THAT POINT, IT WAS TOO LATE, ARSENAL HAVING CONCEDED YET ANOTHER COMICALLY SOFT GOAL AFTER THE RESTART. THE DEFENCE WAS SO STATIC, EVEN THE VISIONLESS JERMAINE DEFOE WAS ABLE TO SPOT GARETH BALE, IN ACRES OF ONSIDE SPACE IN THE BOX. THE FINISH WAS SIMPLE. WHO TO BLAME- SAGNA FOR NOT STEPPING UP? SILVESTRE FOR NOT TRACKING THE RUN? THE CONCLUSION AGAIN CAN ONLY BE THAT THIS ARSENAL TEAM IS QUITE SIMPLY UNABLE TO DEFEND, FROM FRONT TO BACK, AS A UNIT. THIS DESPERATELY NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED.

DESPITE THE RVP-INSPIRED LATE FLURRY AND BENDTNER'S POACHED GOAL, SPURS WERE WORTH THE THREE POINTS. THEY'VE WAITED SINCE 99 FOR A LEAGUE WIN IN A NORTH LONDON DERBY, AND IN ALL THAT TIME THERE HAS RARELY BEEN AN EASY WIN FOR ARSENAL- A LOT OF DRAWS AT WHITE HART LANE ESPECIALLY, WITH THE PATTERN CONSISTING OF SPURS TAKING A LEAD AND NOT HAVING THE NOUS TO HOLD ON. IN THIS GAME, THEY DID NOT TRY TO OUTPLAY ARSENAL, BUT CERTAINLY OUTSMARTED AND OUTFOUGHT THEM, UNTIL THEY TIRED LATE ON. AT THAT POINT, A WORLD-CLASS KEEPER KEPT THEM IN FRONT. ANOTHER SOUR POINT FOR ARSENAL, WHAT WITH THE CLOWNS WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH BETWEEN THE STICKS.

Monday, April 12, 2010

United Held- Chelsea Hot Favourites Now

United are suffering the poorest sequence I can remember them having in quite a while.

After the first leg defeat to Bayern came the summit meeting with Chelsea, where they were largely outplayed and beaten 2-1. Then despite a riproaring opening half hour in the second leg against those 'typical Germans', United faded, the naive Rafael GOT HIMSELF sent off, and Arjen Robben's wondergoal squeezed Bayern through. And now, without Rooney, United's deficiencies were exposed again in a scoreless draw at Blackburn.

This leaves Chelsea potentially four points ahead, should they beat Bolton midweek, with just four games left through which to seal it. The momentum is theirs now, and they also have an FA Cup final to look forward to after beating Villa 3-0- Martin O'Neill's one-dimensional, tired-looking side have run out of steam just as they did last season. Chelsea's opponents will be Portsmouth. Heartwarming to see them beat their old manager, Harry Redknapp, and Spurs, in an extra-time thriller.

And if Arsenal rouse themselves to beat Spurs away on Wednesday, we can leapfrog United and apply some pressure to the leaders, although because of our inferior goal difference, Chelsea will have to drop points twice to let us in- and that's assuming we win every remaining game. Realistically, it's not going to happen... But realistically, we didn't have a chance after the consecutive defeats to United and Chelsea in February... You never know.

One has to admit, although I'm no fan of them, Chelsea have done well to ignore the absence of Michael Essien, probably their most influential player. There is now an irony to Alex Ferguson's earlier assertions that Chelsea are too old, as it is United who look over-reliant now on their experienced players. United gathered momentum in the time that the Champions League was in hibernation, but Giggs and Scholes cannot play twice a week, and United's younger players aren't up to the task yet either. Most of their defeats in the league have come after European games.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

My Delayed Thoughts on Messi 4-1 Arsenal

We all knew it could get messi.

He is the Best Player in The WorldTM and ours was a weakened defence, "protected" by a depleted midfield. The outcome did not surprise me.

The range of Messi's four goals was impressive- a one-two with Silvestre followed by a top-corner thunderbolt; a right-footed lift over Almunia from close range; an even better dink with the left; and a drilled finish on the rebound after a jinking run.

I now feel old enough to say something like, he may the best player I've seen... Or certainly the best of his type, as dribbling seems to have died out a bit. But let's leave all that aside for the moment and talk about Arsenal.

Not many were expectant, with our four best players out, plus the unpredictable Arshavin. It was, paradoxically enough, a better performance than the one that ended in parity in the first leg. But a better performance was never likely to be enough. A team cannot learn to defend in a week. While Messi was undeniably superb, all of the goals looked soft in some way. The way Arsenal were caught out high up the pitch for the third sums this team up. They just cannot "hang in" in a game. At 1-2, there was still hope, but they could not even temporarily shore things up. Barca press in a systemic, collective manner, Arsenal do it haphazardly, and thus is the most dangerous player released on goal by a simple header around the halfway line, nowhere near even offside. Dreadful stuff. Still, this has been happening against every good team we've played, so it was no surprise.

I thought Barca looked a little sloppy in the second half, but Arsenal were too disheartened and jaded to respond to it, and the game faded until Messi added his late fourth. All of the post-match hyperbole has surely ensured that he will have a stinker against Inter. It certainly won't be as easy for him, and I do fancy Mourinho's team to go on and win the tournament.

For Arsenal and Arsene, it's time for humility. Things are wrong at the club, and a slight change of approach is needed. It might only be a tweak. I know we've only been spanked by The Best Team in The World, but don't forget the games against United and Chelsea. A worrying pattern continues.

Pulis Cements Status as World's Most Colossal Cunt

Last week Wolves skipper Karl Henry was sent off after Arsenal players surrounded the referee following a challenge on Tomas Rosicky.

But Pulis says it’s Wenger’s team that the FA should be reading the riot act to.

He said: “For me, it was nothing short of disgraceful what the FA did to Wolves. Then the reaction of the Arsenal players was poor last week.

“It is something that is coming into the game and needs to be addressed. If the FA want to do something positive, it’s stopping people from surrounding referees.”

Not, say, introducing measures to more effectively protect players from career-threatening injuries? No, that wouldn't fit your agenda, would it? You odious prick.

The "Another Trophyless Season" Playlist

A collection of miserable but brilliant songs to ease your transition into Summer wallowing. :)

1. R.E.M.- Country Feedback (it's crazy what we could've had)

2. The Smiths- I Know It's Over

3. The Beatles- While My Guitar Gently Weeps

4. Creedence Clearwater Revival- (Wish I Could) Hideaway

5. Smashing Pumpkins- Soma

6. The Smiths- Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

7. Tom Waits- Dirt in the Ground

8. Radiohead- Let Down

9. Manic Street Preachers- Die in the Summertime

10. R.E.M.- Let Me In

11. Eels- Dead of Winter

12. Modest Mouse- The World at Large

13. Bruce Springsteen- Something in the Night

14. R.E.M.- E-Bow The Letter

15. Tindersticks- Tiny Tears

16. Jimmy Cliff- Many Rivers to Cross

17. Bruce Springsteen- State Trooper

18. Thin Lizzy- Parisienne Walkways

19. Radiohead- Fake Plastic Trees,

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

How and Why Arsenal Will Get Battered.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/apr/06/question-pressing-crucial-modern-game

Some more pointless shite talk


Just how little did Wenger rate Big Philly Senderos?

It just hit me there now: I totally forgot about his existence when writing that last post. Started the season at Arsenal as back-up, only played in the carling cup, and was ALLOWED LEAVE (on loan?) in January, so that Campbell and Silvestre comprised our centre-back reserves.

Anyway, things could really get ugly tomorrow night. I think I'll take a perverse enjoyment out of it.

If Arsenal even keep it close, it will all look hugely noble.

But maybe Campbell, despite everyone including Wenger's worries about his lack of pace, will help with his organisational abilities. We've let in less soft goals with him in the team.

If you've forgotten why it's a good thing Philly is gone, just look at the picture above.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Arselona part II: 90 Minutes Behind The Couch

The news today ahead of tomorrow's decisive game is that Song is OUT. This leaves the entire spine of the Arsenal team decimated. Well, we do still have Almunia in goals (ironic cheer) but Vermaelen is robbed of his regular partner. Our key destructive and creative midfielders are both absent. And Robin Van Persie's season effectively ended months ago.

As well as all that, there's no Arshavin. And then some useful back-up players, like Gibbs, Djourou, and of course Ramsey are unavailable. I definitely do not remember any team going into such a huge game with such apparently rotten luck.

Some of this was almost inevitable. Gallas was clearly rushed back for the first leg before he was anywhere near ready. I have to say, I don't think signing a man who cannot even play twice a week constitutes adequate cover at centre-back; this is nothing against Campbell, who has been generally very good. But we all know Gallas is injury prone so as much as it is bad luck to lose him, it is lack of foresight to not have better cover. Perhaps Song would have been playing centre back again but frankly that weakens the midfield more than it strengthens the defence.

When you think about it, Man Utd have Vidic, Ferdinand, Brown, O'Shea, Evans, Gary Neville: the crisis they went through at the back was genuine bad luck. We knew from very early on that Djourou was out for the season, so we started with Silvestre and, theoretically I suppose, Song as back-up options. Wenger signed experience in the shape of Campbell, and to be fair we have patently benefited from his presence, but at the same time the manager says he struggles to play two games in a week, and it also seems he isn't trusted against the best teams. Basically, it takes ONE injury to throw our defensive plans into disarray. When you compare it to what United have at their disposal, it really is a near-miracle that we are challenging to this point. And that is the binary I've been trying to get at with Wenger- it seems he prefers to work the miracles and fall gloriously short rather than go all out to win by giving his team the best possible chance. Is he really working under such constraints that we can now only afford free transfers? He did not bother trying for a blatantly-needed striker, seemingly in the knowledge that Chamakh is likely to come in for free this summer. Does he trade a shot at short-term glory for long-terms stability?

I would not mind if he was a younger man, but he seems unsure over whether to stay on beyond next season. It seems he is acting so that there will be money to spend and a strong foundation to work from for whoever replaces him. We have no way of knowing where the club will go from there. I just hope Wenger has another shot at things, giving himself the best possible opportunity by using the resources at his disposal, resources he has built for the club. It's all very well people saying, look at Man City, look at Spurs, spending guarantees nothing. But to me, NOT spending on this team guarantees ultimate failure. And we should not have to look at the shortcomings of other clubs to validate Arsenal. We should be looking up, not down. Lstly, wouldn't you be confident that Arsene Wenger would spend money well?

Anyway, back to tomorrow. While the centre back situation is something we've asked for, in a way, to lose Song as well as Fabregas just seems cruel. That said, Denilson garnered a bit of praise for the first time in quite a while after coming on in the first leg. In fact, it was noticeable that Barca stopped cutting through Arsenal at will when the Brazilian came on. It might have been a coincidence, tomorrow will tell us more. Diaby will be tasked with holding the fort alongside. They are not two men you would usually want shielding your defence against a team like Barca. Both have casual styles that seem ill-suited to the task. Diaby had an absolute nightmare last week.

Nasri will likely play in the Fabregas role, something I'll be pleased to see again, although he may not get many opportunities to dictate things. Ahead of him, there will be some decisions to be made. It looks like two from Rosicky, Eboue and Walcott to flank Bendtner. The temptation would be to stick Walcott on the right after he turned the first game. I'm not sure that is the right way to go, for a few reasons. Firstly, forgive me, but I don't rate him as a footballer. He does not track back effectively. Also, Barca seemed to have the measure of him by the end of his fleeting cameo. But all these reservations are superseded, in all probability, by the fact of his pace, and how it might, theoretically, stop Barca from pushing up as high as they did and pressuring Arsenal into errors all over the pitch. He's no footballer, but as a device he can be effective. Most of his best moments have come off the bench, and I'd like to think we could use him that way again if things were kept relatively tight into the second half, but then if Wenger leaves him in reserve and we're 4-0 down at half-time, he'll look pretty silly.

Having said all that, I'm not sure any of it matters. I think we will suffer a proper tonking tomorrow night, and might even place a bet to that effect. But the games you lose all hope in are often the most enjoyable...

Karl Henry: Talentless, Brainless, Wanker

"I'm bitterly disappointed with it, it wasn't a red card," said the midfielder. "Maybe a yellow card, but I think I would still have been screaming at the referee, so to get a red card for that is an absolute disgrace. Denilson has dropped Rosicky short, I've gone in to win it and I've nicked the ball. Their player has come in, [Thomas] Vermaelen and whoever else, trying to get me sent off. Two minutes later, Rosicky's up running around and absolutely fine. That's what they do here. I don't think it's pretty, it's not good. Their players moan when they get tackled, when they get hit hard, and so does Arsène Wenger.

"I certainly wouldn't be running over trying to get a player sent off. We know that's the game we are in – I think here in particular. Arsenal moan a lot, their players go down like a sack of spuds. They get hit hard like any other clubs do and we are hearing about it for weeks and weeks. To get sent off is a disgrace. They are a great side and we love Arsenal's great football, but when they are rolling around getting people sent off, it makes you not want to see them do so well."

An absolute crock of shit, and indicative again of the archaic attitude to tackling that plagues the English game. The tackle from behind was outlawed about twenty years ago, and we still get cloggers like Henry moaning on a practically weekly basis when they suffer censure for it.

Maybe a straight red was a bit harsh. And maybe Rosicky did a bit of rolling about, but a whole load of players do that, and if it wasn't an Arsenal player, the stereotypes wouldn't be thrown about so readily. Mick Mac wouldn't have his players talk so disrespectfully of Manchester United, for instance. But Arsenal are seen as a "foreign" club and so fall victim to foreign stereotypes. Here's another stereotype for you, Karl: the average English footballer- talentless, cave-dwelling, illiterate push-and-rush merchant. You seem to conform to that.

Pundits often bemoan the changed rules on tackling, saying that the game is in danger of becoming a non-contact sport and that the art of tackling is being disregarded. There is a certain validity to that viewpoint, but also a flipside to the coin. Tackling is indeed an art, when done well; kicking people is not an art, at least not in footBALL. Some people do not seem to know the difference.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Wenger's Dilemma

Arsene Wenger always professes his belief in the team. He believes that his project can come to fruition with these players.

Despite having just produced their best run of results this season, Arsenal started the game against Barcelona looking like they lacked belief. This most likely derives from the fact that they have not performed well against, or beaten, a very good team in quite a while.

Without the big results, where will the belief come from?
Without the belief, where will the big results come from?
Without the big results, where will the trophies come from?

It's all very well saying that one big performance will transform this team from a good one into a great one, into one with genuine character, but the character has to come first, doesn't it?

You cannot assume that a result will come along to transform the team's attitude- the attitude has to change first, that's when the results will come.

If this set of players is to become great, they have a whole lot of bad experience piling up, that has to be dispelled in the next season or two. And what happens if Fabregas leaves them? If WENGER leaves them?

The positive position that is adopted on Arsenal always refers to some golden future, but as they say, nothing is set in stone. Arsene Wenger is getting older, and Fabregas's feet might well be itchy...