Ever since the England team decided that they didn’t really fancy spending next summer at the European Championships, all sorts of theories about why they failed so miserably have been doing the rounds. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the blame landed at our manager’s door. Declarations like, “Wenger’s ruining English football”, were followed by, “He hates English players”. That last one is particularly stupid. I hate most English players and I’m English. Overpaid, overhyped, sex-hungry egotistical idio… Anyway, Arsene gets the stick for signing foreign players and the footballing world is a happier place, now that they have a scapegoat to point the finger at every time Owen Hargreaves spoons a cross into row Z.
Well, at the risk of sounding biased, what a load of old crap. Sure, Wenger likes to shop around Europe and unearth some bargains. Who doesn’t? I don’t remember Rafa Benitez getting it in the neck when he hoovered up virtually a new first team from all over the world last summer. Is Rafa ruining English football? Apparently not.
The real reason for me sitting here tapping away at the keys again is because another transfer window has just closed, not that Benjani was aware of that, mind you. Shock of all shocks, 100% of our signings were English! Granted we only made one signing but that was Luke Freeman from Gillingham. Obviously, Arsene felt he had enough to be getting on with; after all, a team that sits at the top of the league at the end of January can’t be doing that much wrong. So what of the other ‘whiter than white’, untouchable, ‘wouldn’t dream of harming the English game even if it means giving Scott Parker a starting place every week’ clubs? Were they all clamouring for the latest batch of young English talent from the lower leagues and academies? Of course they weren’t, because those players that are considered to be any good are touted at ridiculous prices, even at their young ages. I have to admit, I was surprised we paid around the £200k mark for the 15 year-old Freeman, even considering the money we forked out for Theo (bless his little cotton ‘my legs are moving too fast for me to actually pass’ socks).
So while we’ve been relatively quiet over the past couple of windows, I’d like to focus on another manager who preferred the world market to the English one. Not Rafa, but the man who REALLY ruined English football, the man who literally held the smoking gun and paved the way for Steve McClown to take the hot seat – Sven Goran Eriksson. Finding himself manager of a another Premiership club to benefit from a fresh injection of cash from a dodgy source, Sven must have been rubbing his hands and smiling that ‘Secretary Smooching’ smile to himself, in anticipation of a shopping spree, the likes of which the world hadn’t seen since Donald Trump gave his daughter his credit card and said, ‘Go out and get yourself something nice – Tahiti, perhaps.’
Surely, armed with more cash that you could shake a Swedish weather girl at, Sven would have been the prime candidate for snapping up some overpriced home grown ‘talent’. “£50m for that 20-year-old that’s demanding first team football, a Page 3 model girlfriend and a sponsorship deal with Nike? Only 3 Carling Cup run outs for Burnley, you say? Deal!” But oh no, Sven by-passed all that - perhaps he’d seen enough of ‘the English type’ to last him a lifetime. So off he went around the world, snapping up ‘bargains’ for his new shadily-owned club. And what bargains - in came the likes of Bianchi (£8.8m), Petrov (£4.7), Elano (8m), Garrido (£1.5m), Caicedo (£5.2m). Add to that the ones who’s fees were ‘undisclosed’ – Corluka, Fernandes, Geovanni, Bojinov, Filippo Mancini (on loan from Inter) and of course Benjani (reports have his fee ranging from £3.5m to £6.5m or more). There you have a group of players, a whole starting eleven if you like, with about as much Englishness to them as William Wallace.
So where were the cries of, “Sven’s ruining English football!” and “He hates English players!” Admittedly, people probably got tired of shouting those while he was England coach, but where was the public outcry? Where was the lamenting for the imminent death of the English game and calls for ‘quotas’? I sure as hell don’t remember hearing any. Do other fans chant, ‘Engerland, Engerland, Engerland’ when they play City? (Although hearing the Derby County fans sing it at the Grove did raise a smile – just how many England internationals turn out for Derby, by the way?) Anyway, the double standards brigade was out in force again. City fans were hailing him as some sort of saviour and the press were picking City as the team that could now break into the top four.
I made this argument to a friend of mine the other day and he pointed out that City’s first team did in fact have Englishmen in it – Micah Richards, Michael Johnson, Joe Hart etc. OK, granted, there are some Englishmen in there. But they were already there when Sven arrived. When Sven got to choose who he brought in, did he go English? Did he hell. A few injuries came along and the English players got drafted in to fill the gaps. Sure, they’re talented (I’m especially impressed with Hart) but let’s be realistic; they’re at City. How many of the English players at City would get into our team, or United’s or Chelsea’s for that matter? There’s your answer. So they’re English - good for them. If they prove to be any good, watch United and Chelsea start to happy-slap each other for the pleasure of parting with £20m-plus for the player’s barely legible signature.
It may sound a little ironic to hear an Arsenal fan banging on about another team being flooded with foreign players, but my argument isn’t with the actions of City’s manager. He can go out and buy whoever he likes for all I care. It’s the reaction – or rather the lack of one – that has got to me. If people are seriously worried about the state of the national game, then they really should cast their accusing gazes a little further afield than north London. Call me paranoid, but blaming Arsenal for the national side’s pathetic capitulation really seems to be the easy, even lazy, thing to do. A little considered research can prove to be an enlightening thing. If the national team is suffering, critics should take a look at the bigger Premiership picture. I think they’ll find there are plenty of culprits to pick on other than Arsene Wenger.
Friday, 8 February 2008
Monday, 31 December 2007
Manuel Almunia - Give The Man His Due
I’ve just got home from seeing us beat the Spuds for something like the 234th time and it just never gets boring. OK, so they might not be the footballing threat to us that they used to be but the geographical rivalry continues. These derbies are as much about fans’ bragging rights as they are about the actual football these days. I know when Robbie Keane stepped up to take that penalty this afternoon the thought of having to put up with my Spuds mates goading me with comments like “We ended your home unbeaten run” made me sick to my stomach (it had nothing to do with the skin-full I’d had the night before, honest). So when Manuel Almunia heroically got his right arm down to the moaning Irishman’s poor attempt at a penalty, the relief manifested itself in a group hug with the eight people closest to me at the time.
And that penalty is what has got me sitting at my laptop again. OK, so ‘keepers have a 50/50 chance of guessing right and giving themselves a chance of making a save in those situations. But this season, our very own Spanish waiter has been pulling off some fine performances and on a pretty consistent basis. There have been plenty of people declaring that we need a ‘world class ‘keeper’ since the apparent psychological demise of Mental Jens. Well, I think those who make such declarations are doing Senõr Almunia a disservice.
On the clean sheet ratio, I imagine that Almunia’s record is comparable with that of his German teammate’s. He certainly seems far more assured than Lehmann, more focused, more agile and, let’s be honest here, far more level-headed. If he’s surrounded by opposition players at a corner, he just shrugs them off and gets on with it. Put Jens in that situation and the result could be anything from a yellow card to multiple hospitalisations. When Lehmann loses it, he really loses it. To say he goes AWOL is like saying that Rik Waller likes his cake. Almunia on the other hand seems the very personification of coolness. You never see him losing his rag, pushing and shoving another player or engaging in the kind of embarrassing panto-like scenes we saw between Lehmann and Drogba. He’s just a good ‘keeper.
Even off the pitch he’s admirable. Along with the likes of Walcott and Gilberto, his attitude is so good. He patiently waited in the wings for his chance, training, keeping fit and basically going about his job as the professional he’s paid to be. There was no moaning about the lack of first team chances or him being better than his teammate (Jens’s public attack on Almunia when he was dropped was shockingly unprofessional). He kept his head down and when the chance to fill in for Jens after two howlers at the beginning of the season came along, he grabbed it with both hands. The back four, whether they’d admit it publicly or not, must feel a lot more assured knowing that it’s Almunia and not Jens ‘What Mood Is He Going Turn Up In Today’ Lehmann backing them up. In an interview with Tony Adams when he was part of the famous back five of the late 90’s, the big man said that the defenders’ jobs were made so much easier because they knew they had David Seaman behind them. They could just concentrate on their duties, safe in the knowledge that anything that got past them would be gathered up by the pony-tailed one. Can you imagine what’s going through Kolo and Willy’s heads when they’re under pressure from an opposition striker and one of their options is a pass back to Lehmann? Indecision is not what you want in a central defender but it seems that that’s what Jens instills in his teammates.
When I talk to fellow Gooners about the ‘keeper situation, the general consensus seems to be ‘he’ll do for now’. Well, for a guy who is apparently just filling in until the next guy comes along, he’s doing a damn good job. What more do you want from a ‘keeper? He’s not letting in silly goals, he’s not gifting opposition strikers the ball and he seems to have control over his emotions.
Then there’s Fabianski. Getting his chances in the Carling Cup, the Polish third choice ‘keeper seems to have potential but is nowhere near ready for a run out in the Premier League and barring Jens and Manuel both being injured at the same time, that’s the way it’s going to stay. Just watching him against Blackburn, I could understand why people say that ‘keepers take longer to mature as players than their outfield counterparts. They see less of the ball and so when it comes to their moment, they’re prone to mistakes; the kind of mistakes that can only be ironed out through experience. At Ewood Park, Fabianski was like a kid that had had too much sugar and was running about trying to burn it all off, as if he was trying to prove himself. This resulted in some bizarre decision making including coming for a ball that was virtually on Senderos’s head and putting it behind for a corner. Sure, there’s talent there, but in very rough form.
Some say that we need a ‘keeper with international experience. Well there are plenty of international ‘keepers that I’d hate to have instead of Almunia. Craig Gordon at Sunderland’s got international experience and he’s doing a bang up job for the Black Cats, isn’t he? Mark Schwarzer at Middlesbrough’s played for the Aussies but you don’t see people clammering for his signature do you? Then of course there’s Paul Robinson. Come on, really? Just because you’ve had a run out for your country doesn’t automatically make you better than someone who hasn’t. And then you think about who’s ahead of Almunia in the Spanish squad; Casillas and Reina are their top two keepers. There’s an argument there for Manuel to be considered ahead of Reina but Casillas has owned that position since about 1987 or at least that’s how it seems. Then of course there’s the issue of Almunia declaring his interest in the England ‘keeper’s shirt when he qualifies for it next year. Whether or not you agree with it in principle, just how funny would it be to see Fat Robbo deposed by his opposite number at Arsenal?
Some have offered the opinion that he’s too ‘lightweight’. I have no idea what that means and when I asked the person who wrote it (on the BBC 606 message board) they just replied, and I quote, ‘He’s not a ‘name’’. The conversation ended there, as I couldn’t think of a response to such an inane argument. Man Utd signed Barthez when he was a ‘name’ and look where that got them. Come to think of it, on the non-goalkeeping side of things, they also signed Veron when he was a ‘name’ and I think he’s about to sign for Dallas Goat Herders or someone equally inconsequential. Leave the ‘names’ for the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea and we can carry on relying on Arsene’s talent for developing our youngsters. It doesn’t seem to be doing us any harm.
All joking aside, I think Manuel Almunia should be given the credit that he’s undoubtedly due. In a time when loyalty seems to be a dirty word in the sport, he’s not once been linked with another club while warming the bench for us. The majority of the other Premier League clubs would welcome him with open arms and rightly so. But the fact is he’s ours and he genuinely loves playing for us. Jens can moan, issue ‘come and get me’s to German clubs and throw all his toys out of the pram if he wants. Hell, he can set fire to the pram for all I care. He’s being kept out of the side by a better man and as long as Almunia keeps up this kind of form, we’ll be a better team for it.
This article will be published in The Gooner fanzine in late January 2008.
And that penalty is what has got me sitting at my laptop again. OK, so ‘keepers have a 50/50 chance of guessing right and giving themselves a chance of making a save in those situations. But this season, our very own Spanish waiter has been pulling off some fine performances and on a pretty consistent basis. There have been plenty of people declaring that we need a ‘world class ‘keeper’ since the apparent psychological demise of Mental Jens. Well, I think those who make such declarations are doing Senõr Almunia a disservice.
On the clean sheet ratio, I imagine that Almunia’s record is comparable with that of his German teammate’s. He certainly seems far more assured than Lehmann, more focused, more agile and, let’s be honest here, far more level-headed. If he’s surrounded by opposition players at a corner, he just shrugs them off and gets on with it. Put Jens in that situation and the result could be anything from a yellow card to multiple hospitalisations. When Lehmann loses it, he really loses it. To say he goes AWOL is like saying that Rik Waller likes his cake. Almunia on the other hand seems the very personification of coolness. You never see him losing his rag, pushing and shoving another player or engaging in the kind of embarrassing panto-like scenes we saw between Lehmann and Drogba. He’s just a good ‘keeper.
Even off the pitch he’s admirable. Along with the likes of Walcott and Gilberto, his attitude is so good. He patiently waited in the wings for his chance, training, keeping fit and basically going about his job as the professional he’s paid to be. There was no moaning about the lack of first team chances or him being better than his teammate (Jens’s public attack on Almunia when he was dropped was shockingly unprofessional). He kept his head down and when the chance to fill in for Jens after two howlers at the beginning of the season came along, he grabbed it with both hands. The back four, whether they’d admit it publicly or not, must feel a lot more assured knowing that it’s Almunia and not Jens ‘What Mood Is He Going Turn Up In Today’ Lehmann backing them up. In an interview with Tony Adams when he was part of the famous back five of the late 90’s, the big man said that the defenders’ jobs were made so much easier because they knew they had David Seaman behind them. They could just concentrate on their duties, safe in the knowledge that anything that got past them would be gathered up by the pony-tailed one. Can you imagine what’s going through Kolo and Willy’s heads when they’re under pressure from an opposition striker and one of their options is a pass back to Lehmann? Indecision is not what you want in a central defender but it seems that that’s what Jens instills in his teammates.
When I talk to fellow Gooners about the ‘keeper situation, the general consensus seems to be ‘he’ll do for now’. Well, for a guy who is apparently just filling in until the next guy comes along, he’s doing a damn good job. What more do you want from a ‘keeper? He’s not letting in silly goals, he’s not gifting opposition strikers the ball and he seems to have control over his emotions.
Then there’s Fabianski. Getting his chances in the Carling Cup, the Polish third choice ‘keeper seems to have potential but is nowhere near ready for a run out in the Premier League and barring Jens and Manuel both being injured at the same time, that’s the way it’s going to stay. Just watching him against Blackburn, I could understand why people say that ‘keepers take longer to mature as players than their outfield counterparts. They see less of the ball and so when it comes to their moment, they’re prone to mistakes; the kind of mistakes that can only be ironed out through experience. At Ewood Park, Fabianski was like a kid that had had too much sugar and was running about trying to burn it all off, as if he was trying to prove himself. This resulted in some bizarre decision making including coming for a ball that was virtually on Senderos’s head and putting it behind for a corner. Sure, there’s talent there, but in very rough form.
Some say that we need a ‘keeper with international experience. Well there are plenty of international ‘keepers that I’d hate to have instead of Almunia. Craig Gordon at Sunderland’s got international experience and he’s doing a bang up job for the Black Cats, isn’t he? Mark Schwarzer at Middlesbrough’s played for the Aussies but you don’t see people clammering for his signature do you? Then of course there’s Paul Robinson. Come on, really? Just because you’ve had a run out for your country doesn’t automatically make you better than someone who hasn’t. And then you think about who’s ahead of Almunia in the Spanish squad; Casillas and Reina are their top two keepers. There’s an argument there for Manuel to be considered ahead of Reina but Casillas has owned that position since about 1987 or at least that’s how it seems. Then of course there’s the issue of Almunia declaring his interest in the England ‘keeper’s shirt when he qualifies for it next year. Whether or not you agree with it in principle, just how funny would it be to see Fat Robbo deposed by his opposite number at Arsenal?
Some have offered the opinion that he’s too ‘lightweight’. I have no idea what that means and when I asked the person who wrote it (on the BBC 606 message board) they just replied, and I quote, ‘He’s not a ‘name’’. The conversation ended there, as I couldn’t think of a response to such an inane argument. Man Utd signed Barthez when he was a ‘name’ and look where that got them. Come to think of it, on the non-goalkeeping side of things, they also signed Veron when he was a ‘name’ and I think he’s about to sign for Dallas Goat Herders or someone equally inconsequential. Leave the ‘names’ for the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea and we can carry on relying on Arsene’s talent for developing our youngsters. It doesn’t seem to be doing us any harm.
All joking aside, I think Manuel Almunia should be given the credit that he’s undoubtedly due. In a time when loyalty seems to be a dirty word in the sport, he’s not once been linked with another club while warming the bench for us. The majority of the other Premier League clubs would welcome him with open arms and rightly so. But the fact is he’s ours and he genuinely loves playing for us. Jens can moan, issue ‘come and get me’s to German clubs and throw all his toys out of the pram if he wants. Hell, he can set fire to the pram for all I care. He’s being kept out of the side by a better man and as long as Almunia keeps up this kind of form, we’ll be a better team for it.
This article will be published in The Gooner fanzine in late January 2008.
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
The 'Absence of Thierry Henry' Factor
At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, I’m going to start this with a mention of Thierry Henry’s transfer to Barcelona. Why? Well, that was the catalyst to Arsenal’s blistering start to the new season and arguably the main reason why, at least at the time of writing, we are top of the Premier League and playing the kind of football that has you thinking back to 2003/2004.
Recent comments from Henry himself and Cesc Fabregas have confirmed, at least to me, what I hoped would be the case and what has become clear over the first couple of months of the season. Arsenal without Henry, are far from the also-rans the football world was writing them off as over the summer. Indeed, they are in reality looking like serious pace-setters.
There have been plenty of opinions bandied about, concerning the wisdom of the sale of our former captain. Personally, and I’ll be brief, he had seen better days than those he went through during his last year or so with us. Having said that, a poor year for Henry still counts as a bloody good one for most other players. But, all things considered, the standard of his performances had started to fall and the time was right for him to seek a new challenge. As for all the, ‘was he really so great’ debates going on, I won’t dignify them with a long list of reasons why he was ‘so great’. Just look at his stats and watch some of his performances and the answer stares you in the face.
Anyway, back to present day and the latest round of comments. Fabregas, who himself seems to be the main beneficiary of Henry’s departure, has said that the team play with more freedom now that Henry’s not there to ‘intimidate’ them. I couldn’t agree more. In his last couple of seasons, Henry’s dagger-eyes would be aimed at any team-mate who misplaced a pass or just didn’t do what Henry wanted or expected him to do. We had built a team around Henry, based it on what he could do and where he would be on the pitch. As a result, anyone straying out of position or not fulfilling his duties in accordance with what Henry was doing, was given ‘the eyes’. This inevitably led to the players being held back to a degree. Fabregas’s lack of goals last term, given his exceptional start to this season and his recent comments, may even be attributed to this effect.
From my seat at the north end of the stadium, I can see the effect of Henry’s absence pretty clearly. Last season, in what turned out to be Henry’s last appearance for the club against PSV, the forward line was so blunt you couldn’t have cut crepe paper with it. When Henry was brought on, he chased a couple of wayward passes but it was obvious that he was growing tired of what was going on around him. The midfield players were reluctant to shoot, reluctant to venture into the box and take a chance, seemingly for fear of upsetting their captain. They advanced and slipped into the familiar routine of passing the ball around the edge of the area until the move broke down. Then it was back to the middle third to start another move. Henry stretched for one pass too many and tore all sorts of muscles in the process. He hung his head in despair and looked like a man who had reached the end of his tether. If I remember rightly, I wasn’t the only one to notice his body language that night, either.
This season, the transformation in the team’s attitude is becoming more and more obvious. At the time of writing this, Fabregas doesn’t seem to be able to stop scoring and Adebayor is scoring freely (including two against the Spuds and a hat trick against an admittedly clueless Derby team). The biggest indicator is the goals coming from midfield. Along with Fabregas, the likes of Hleb (the ultimate Marmite player – you either love him or hate him and personally, I love him), Rosicky and Diaby have all registered with goals already this season. I know there’s some kind of bet going on between Fab, Hleb and Rosicky for the most goals scored this season, but that aside, the goals and attacking nature of those and other midfielders is clear for all to see. We’re not playing around one player to the degree we were when Henry was on the pitch. There’s a togetherness and cohesion to this team that has been aided by taking out the one player that, and this hurts to say, just didn’t fit in anymore.
This isn’t an anti-Henry piece, even though it sounds like I’m blaming last season’s shortcomings on him. We all know there were plenty of other problems in the mix that Henry had nothing to do with. I’m one of Henry’s biggest fans and was genuinely gutted when I heard the news on that Friday night in June. It’s a mark of the man, when Henry himself recently said that Arsenal were better off without him. Some called him arrogant, some called him a genius but if he can come out with something like that, then I tip my hat to him…and I rarely wear hats.
*This article appeared in the Gooner fanzine, issue 179.
Recent comments from Henry himself and Cesc Fabregas have confirmed, at least to me, what I hoped would be the case and what has become clear over the first couple of months of the season. Arsenal without Henry, are far from the also-rans the football world was writing them off as over the summer. Indeed, they are in reality looking like serious pace-setters.
There have been plenty of opinions bandied about, concerning the wisdom of the sale of our former captain. Personally, and I’ll be brief, he had seen better days than those he went through during his last year or so with us. Having said that, a poor year for Henry still counts as a bloody good one for most other players. But, all things considered, the standard of his performances had started to fall and the time was right for him to seek a new challenge. As for all the, ‘was he really so great’ debates going on, I won’t dignify them with a long list of reasons why he was ‘so great’. Just look at his stats and watch some of his performances and the answer stares you in the face.
Anyway, back to present day and the latest round of comments. Fabregas, who himself seems to be the main beneficiary of Henry’s departure, has said that the team play with more freedom now that Henry’s not there to ‘intimidate’ them. I couldn’t agree more. In his last couple of seasons, Henry’s dagger-eyes would be aimed at any team-mate who misplaced a pass or just didn’t do what Henry wanted or expected him to do. We had built a team around Henry, based it on what he could do and where he would be on the pitch. As a result, anyone straying out of position or not fulfilling his duties in accordance with what Henry was doing, was given ‘the eyes’. This inevitably led to the players being held back to a degree. Fabregas’s lack of goals last term, given his exceptional start to this season and his recent comments, may even be attributed to this effect.
From my seat at the north end of the stadium, I can see the effect of Henry’s absence pretty clearly. Last season, in what turned out to be Henry’s last appearance for the club against PSV, the forward line was so blunt you couldn’t have cut crepe paper with it. When Henry was brought on, he chased a couple of wayward passes but it was obvious that he was growing tired of what was going on around him. The midfield players were reluctant to shoot, reluctant to venture into the box and take a chance, seemingly for fear of upsetting their captain. They advanced and slipped into the familiar routine of passing the ball around the edge of the area until the move broke down. Then it was back to the middle third to start another move. Henry stretched for one pass too many and tore all sorts of muscles in the process. He hung his head in despair and looked like a man who had reached the end of his tether. If I remember rightly, I wasn’t the only one to notice his body language that night, either.
This season, the transformation in the team’s attitude is becoming more and more obvious. At the time of writing this, Fabregas doesn’t seem to be able to stop scoring and Adebayor is scoring freely (including two against the Spuds and a hat trick against an admittedly clueless Derby team). The biggest indicator is the goals coming from midfield. Along with Fabregas, the likes of Hleb (the ultimate Marmite player – you either love him or hate him and personally, I love him), Rosicky and Diaby have all registered with goals already this season. I know there’s some kind of bet going on between Fab, Hleb and Rosicky for the most goals scored this season, but that aside, the goals and attacking nature of those and other midfielders is clear for all to see. We’re not playing around one player to the degree we were when Henry was on the pitch. There’s a togetherness and cohesion to this team that has been aided by taking out the one player that, and this hurts to say, just didn’t fit in anymore.
This isn’t an anti-Henry piece, even though it sounds like I’m blaming last season’s shortcomings on him. We all know there were plenty of other problems in the mix that Henry had nothing to do with. I’m one of Henry’s biggest fans and was genuinely gutted when I heard the news on that Friday night in June. It’s a mark of the man, when Henry himself recently said that Arsenal were better off without him. Some called him arrogant, some called him a genius but if he can come out with something like that, then I tip my hat to him…and I rarely wear hats.
*This article appeared in the Gooner fanzine, issue 179.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
