Author: TremendArse

12th September 2015: Walcott and Giroud secure win over Stoke

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. And what a pleasant one it is too, after Arsenal secured a 2-0 win over Stoke at Emirates stadium this afternoon and Chelsea got exactly what they deserved at Goodison Park in the early kick-off – a Steven Naismith-inspired spanking.

It’s just a shame City grabbed a late winner at Palace and United beat Liverpool, but I suppose, I shouldn’t complain. We’re third now, five points off top spot and our stuttering start to the season is rapidly morphing into a very solid one indeed.

Arsene Wenger made just one change to his starting line-up from the win at Newcastle as Mesut Ozil replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Aaron Ramsey resuming his role on the right hand side. Gabriel retained his place ahead of Per Mertesacker in defence and Theo Walcott was again first-pick to lead the attack.

We started very brightly and Walcott wasted two early chances; skewing one effort well wide before placing a close-range header over the bar when he should really have scored both. But overall as a team, we looked far more fluent than in our previous two home games this season, with Alexis Sanchez in particular, looking back to his razor-sharp best.

So I was confident a goal would eventually arrive from somewhere and that it came from Walcott was the perfect way for us to break our goal-scoring duck at home this season. The move began with Francis Coquelin winning possession with a typically snarling, sliding tackle in our half before finding Ozil.

The German looked up from half-way, spotted Theo’s clever dash in behind the Stoke back four and placed the ball perfectly into the forward’s stride with a lofted through-ball. Theo’s touch as the ball dropped over his shoulder was sublime and he showed great strength and composure to hold off his marker and slide the ball past Jack Butland for one nil after 31 minutes.

It was more of of the same for the rest of the half and the majority of the second as we continued to pass and probe without finding a second goal to kill the contest. Arsene replaced Walcott with Giroud and after missing a glorious opportunity following a mix-up at the back by Stoke, the Frenchman nodded home his second goal of the season from Santi Cazorla’s free-kick five minutes before the end.

So both Plan A and Plan B, in term’s of our current striker options, were utilized today and both, eventually, worked out but the spurned chances by both players today will, in honesty, have done little to convince their doubters. Afterwards, Arsene praised the performance from his team, before explaining why he chose Walcott ahead of Giroud and saying the former has it in him to be a prolific goal-getter for the Gunners:

I believe we put in a very strong performance. Technically we had our moments in the first half and we played the football we wanted to play and created several chances. Maybe if I wanted to be critical I could say that that there is too big a difference between the number of chances we created and the number of goals we scored but that will come quickly once you win your games at home. I know Stoke are a compact, organised team in their own half and Theo could find little pockets to get in their and maybe that you get two or three chances to counter attack at home so maybe you can use that. He scored a great goal because you needed technical quality to score and timing in the finish. It is good Giroud came on scored as well. He has chances. He can be a prolific goalscorer. When you come out of the game and look at the amount of chances he scored. The bigger the belief he has to score the more he will score. But he gets in good situations.

Of course confidence in crucial for any player but maybe more so for a striker who’s primary job is to put the ball in the back of the net. I’ve said in the past that Walcott has had very few games as a lone striker in his time at the club and whilst his weaknesses can sometimes seem all too apparent in that position, in terms of goals per start, his record for us is fantastic.

The main constraint as far as I’m concerned preventing Walcott truly blossoming into a top striker is his mentality, as Arsene alludes to above, not his ability. I actually think he has more than enough to his game to make a success of the striker’s role in our system but is woefully short of confidence and experience. Hopefully today’s goal goes some way to improving his mindset and we see him on the score-sheet again next Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

Til tomorrow.

11th September 2015: Premier League Preview – Time to Stoke our goal-scoring fire

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Cloid’s history and the real stuff returns. We’ll be hoping to make it third time lucky, in terms of scoring a goal and winning a game at Emirates Stadium this season, when we host a Stoke City side missing key players tomorrow afternoon.

Mark Hughes’ men, thankfully now trying to emulate the Gunners by playing good football as opposed to bad rugby, will have to make do without long-term injury absentee and club captain Ryan ‘not a malicious bone in his body’ Shawcross, as well as the suspended Ibrahim ‘one-time Arsenal target’ Afellay and Charlie ‘decent left peg but what a prolifically-stampy, choke-holding c*nt’ Adam.

In addition, they have doubts over the involvement of Glen Johnson, Mame Diouf and Marko Arnautovic. Which is all excellent to hear, given the fact Stoke have been somewhat of a pain in the arse for us since they were promoted to the Premier League at the start of the 2008-09 campaign.

Since then, we’ve played them 14 times in the league; winning eight, drawing two and losing four. We also faced them once in the FA Cup in that period, losing 3-1 (although in fairness, our starting 11 that day was very inexperienced, as we fielded the likes of Armand Traore, Craig Eastmond and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas). But all our defeats have been at the Britannia Stadium and so i’m fully expecting us to make it eight wins out of eight on home turf, when we play them tomorrow.

Arsene Wenger chose his words very carefully when asked what he thought of Stoke at his press conference yesterday and I think the boss deserves a lot of credit for not acting on what must have been an over-whelming urge to call them the ghastly, leg-breaking Wimbledon-wannabees they were for so long under former boss Tony Pulis:

They are a team with a good culture of the Premier League, they know how to behave and they have experience. They have been here a long time in the Premier League and they have improved their technical quality. They have Afellay, Bojan, Shaqiri, Diouf up front and Charlie Adam in midfield. They have a lot of technical players that can give you problems. What we want is to focus on our own performance as we want to take off at home now. We had two good away games with positive results in difficult places and we know at home we can be efficient against anybody.

The Potters’ transformation from their Pulis days is pretty remarkable to be fair, and was facilitated by the ability to attract a swathe of quality players like Bojan Krkić and Xherdan Shaqiri – names you would never have thought remotely likely to sign for them a few years ago. But as we all know, money talks and they’ve certainly had some great conversations in the transfer market under Hughes.

Speaking of which, although suffering a bad slump in his development since his breakthrough at Barcelona, would you take Bojan as a central striker for us right now? Something to ponder if Giroud and Walcott keep missing from three yards, as if they’re allergic to the sound of the ball hitting the back of the net.

But despite their new-found fondness of passing a football along the ground, there have been 18 yellow cards issued in the last five meetings between the two teams and Arsene says that’s down to a ‘special motivation’ on their part and he prefers to focus on his own side’s performance:

They have always had good teams and overall when we go to Stoke they are always specially motivated against us. There is a little bit of history because of what happened and overall it was always very difficult for us. For me there was never bad blood, it was just a game that was always very difficult for us to play. But I always focus on playing football and trying to get my team to play as well as we can.

In terms of our selection for tomorrow, you’d imagine Mesut Ozil will come straight back into the side after missing the win at Newcastle with a slight knee injury. I’m guessing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be the man to make way, as Aaron Ramsey starts from the right and Ozil resumes the role of number 10. At the back, Per Mertesacker should return to partner Laurent Koscielny at the expense of Gabriel and the only other change to our line-up would perhaps see Olivier Giroud afforded a start instead of Theo Walcott up top.

That said, Theo bagged a brace for England during Cloid, whereas Giroud got booed off the pitch by his own fans so that might play a part in the manager’s thinking. I mean, does he allow Theo to capitalize on any boost in confidence he got from his San Marino-slaying, or let Giroud regain some belief by giving him the nod? Who knows?

Personally, I still think a midfield of Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin in the middle, with Sanchez, Ozil and Ramsey lining up left to right in front of them is our best bet. Maybe at times the Ox or Theo would come in for Ramsey but I’d keep the Coquelin-Cazorla combo in the middle for sure. In terms of whether I’d pick Giroud or Walcott to lead the line, that would be based on the specific opponents in question and I haven’t watched any Stoke games so far this season so can’t decide. Let’s see what Arsene goes with.

Back post-match tomorrow.

COYG!

10th September 2015: Wenger reveals Wilshere setback, denies lying over Welbeck injury

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Arsene Wenger spoke to the press ahead of Saturday’s game against Stoke this morning and to the surprise of absolutely nobody, the questions posed were as predictable as his answers.

After providing an injury update, in which he revealed Jack Wilshere has had a minor setback and is definitely out of contention for this weekend, the boss was asked about the lack of new arrivals before the transfer window shut last week. Here’s what he had to say:

I have made more than 300 transfers and every time it’s a decision to make. Do you buy the player because he strengthens his squad or not? The solutions we had were not convincing at all. In the end you do not buy to give one hope, you want to buy because the players who come in can help your squad to be stronger. Buying and selling is one way to strengthen your team but that’s not the only way.

I’m pretty sure most Arsenal fans who follow Arsene’s press conferences on a regular basis will have guessed his response before it had left his mouth. That’s not a criticism of the boss, more one of the journos who take it turns to ask the same vague questions and don’t, for instance, ask the boss what he thinks of Luiz Adriano as a finisher when he says the market was bare.

But speaking of strikers, and considering the ones we have are either injured or horribly out of form, Arsene discussed his options up front and gave a vote of confidence to under-fire Olivier Giroud:

Of course, I am confident I have enough cover and enough quality. The only good news after the transfer window is that finally we can talk a bit about football. That is what we love and we want to focus now on [how to improve], which is the quality of the work that we do and the quality of our spirit and the quality of our competitiveness which is needed in every single game. He (Giroud) has my full support and I believe that is part of being a striker. There is no striker in the world who has not been questioned. When he missed a chance and is booed, that can happen.

Arsene also responded to claims in certain quarters that he’d purposely misled fans over Danny Welbeck’s knee injury and said that the forward’s fitness was not a consideration when he scoured the market for a player who could improve the squad:

It doesn’t change anything. You either find someone who strengthens your squad or not. Whether we have players injured or no doesn’t change the problem, that’s what I don’t understand from the media. First of all I am surprised that people accused me of lying when I was in the press conference on Friday morning, [at that point] I did not know Welbeck had a bad setback. I did not lie to you, I gave you the information I had.

Glad that’s sorted. The paranoia was becoming a little boring. And so what if he’s compounded a lie with a denial – if I was looking for a new striker and wanted to negotiate the best price possible, I’m hardly going to make it public that one of my current collection is out of action for the foreseeable. At times I think fans need to stop flattering themselves by thinking what Arsene says is always aimed at them.

Anyway, the boss also pointed out that Arsenal have created more chances than any other team in the Premier League this season and said he is confident we will soon relocate our shooting boots:

We have created the chances and that’s what we want to continue to do. I believe that the finishing is a bit cyclical, up and down, and we are the team who has created the most chances since the start of the season, so let’s just continue to focus on the quality of our game. It is about the efficiency and the quality of our game, we can score goals and I am not worried about that. We have Alexis, we have Giroud and we have Walcott. It is a massive opportunity for them of course.

The hope of course, is that they can make the most of that opportunity and if they could start in our next game that would be very welcome indeed. I think both Walcott and Giroud really need to prove themselves as capable of being our long-term, first-choice striker in theses next few months with Welbeck out and the market closed, because if they can’t do it now, the likelihood is they never will.

And as far as Alexis as a striker goes, I don’t see it myself. It didn’t work on the few occasions we tried it last season but more importantly, I think Sanchez is far more Eden Hazard than he is Sergio Aguero, if you know what I mean.

Back tomorrow.

9th September 2015: Mikel’s getting his mojo back

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome to Wednesday on TremendArse. The internationals are all done and dusted and with with a bit of luck, we’ll hear from Arsene Wenger tomorrow as he usually provides the official site with the latest injury news on a Thursday.

Having had a quick look around, I can’t see any obvious injury concerns being reported for those who’ve been away with their countries. And of course, Jack Wilshere is due back any time now, so we’ll have one more option available for us to freshen up a side which has been struggling to spark in to life so far this season.

Whether Jack’s ready for this weekend is doubtful but with Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky our only other long-term absentees, we can at least be thankful of a squad in pretty good health overall.

One man who hasn’t been away and is just glad to be fully fit after an injury-plagued campaign last time around is club captain Mikel Arteta. The Spaniard has been speaking to Arsenal Player and expressing his joy at being back among his colleagues, saying:

I really missed it [when I was out]. I had a really tough period last year after my last game in November and I went through some really difficult moments with my surgery. For me it is the frustration [that is the hardest thing] because there is always pain and you are trying to get back everyday and you spend a lot of time doing rehabilitation. When the players go outside for a training session, you feel wasted. They come back, they travel, they have different times to you and you don’t spend much time with them. Personally I don’t feel productive. I’m here because I want to play games, make this team more successful and be a part of it. When I’m not able to do that I still have to contribute, be positive, be good around the other players, give advice and try to help my team-mates. But it is not the same. But I worked really hard and tried to stay positive, do my best and here I am again now, earning my place in the squad and ready to help the team.

And the former Everton man also explained how he’s used his time on the sidelines to analyse games in greater depth, and said his focus now is on being in the best possible shape to aid the team’s cause when called upon:

I just watch the game and things come to my head naturally – things that I believe we can do better or things we are having trouble with, weaknesses of the other team or if we are having a few problems. You are excited but nervous as you don’t know when you are going to get thrown in. When you get thrown in you want to be ready for it with a good warm-up and ready to make an impact to help the team achieve the win.

Although no longer first-choice when everyone is fit, Arteta is clearly a great influence around the squad. He speaks well, by all accounts in a model professional and as he’s shown in cameos this season, can add another layer of protection for the defence when we need to close games out.

What I would point out, is that we also have Mathieu Flamini for that role and I don’t think we need both in all honesty. Arteta is clearly the more cultured in possession of the two but I really think at least one of them should have made way for a younger, better model this summer.

That’s not to say both can’t do a job because I think they can. But sentimentality can be costly and if I’m being blunt, shouldn’t be influential in top level sport decision-making. It’s sport after all, and regardless of how much you’ve done for a club or how long you’ve been there, if there’s somebody out there better and available, I’m afraid that’s tough luck.

Luckily for the likes of Arteta and Flamini, they have a boss who isn’t as ruthless and cold as many others but then perhaps that is one of Arsene’s great weaknesses. It can be a fine line between belief in your players, and blindness to their limitations.

It goes without saying that I hope they both prove me wrong over the course of this campaign, and we don’t rue the refusal, or failure, to bring in another defensively-minded central midfielder before the deadline passed last week.

Til Thursday.

8th September 2015: Our original Gallic super-striker says Giroud’s ‘not so bad’

Posted on by TremendArse

Like him or loathe him, in his relatively short spell at the club, Nicolas Anelka was a great player for Arsenal. After arriving from PSG in February 1997, the then 17 year old went on to score 28 goals from 90 appearances, including our second in the 1998 FA Cup Final.

He undeniably played a huge role in our Double success in his first full season, and finished the 98-99 campaign as our leading scorer with 17 Premier League goals, being named young PFA Young Player of the Year in recognition of his efforts.

Of course, his tender years, a dodgy attitude and reportedly bad advice from his brothers put paid to any chance of a longer career in north London, and in August 1999, Anelka was sold to Real Madrid for a record fee which famously paid for both our new training ground at London Colney, as well as a certain Mr Thierry Henry. To say Anelka worked out well for us, despite rancour over his forced departure, would be a tad of an understatement.

Anyway, Anelka has hinted in the past that he regrets leaving Arsenal, expressed his admiration for Arsene Wenger and generally sounded very complimentary about the Gunners. Now player-manager of Indian Super League side Mumbai City, the nomadic Frenchman has been speaking about compatriot Olivier Giroud and drawing a comparison with his own time with the Gunners. He said:

Arsene did the same with me – when Ian Wright was there, he didn’t buy anyone and I had to do the job up front. He believed in me and in the end I played regularly and played well. He made the same choice with Giroud. Arsene believes in his team, that’s why he hasn’t spent money. He believes in Giroud because he thinks he will score a lot of goals, which he already has done. When you look at the statistics he’s not so bad. Arsenal won something last season, won something the season before, so why not again? But people have to wait and see and then speak at the end of the season. If they don’t win anything, then you can say something. However, people have to trust Arsene. He knows what he is doing.

Anelka also aired his belief that Arsene is largely responsible for making Arsenal a bigger club than when he took over, highlighted the increased competition to win the title compared to when he donned the red and white, and praised the strength of our current squad, suggesting it is far more talented than people often give it credit for:

Before Arsene, Arsenal were good but they became a bigger club with Arsene Wenger. The way they play football is amazing. In the end, we have to trust him. Of course, you can always say when you don’t win that it wasn’t good enough because the fans want to take the title. But it has become much harder now because you have Man City with big money, Chelsea with big money, Man United, Liverpool. When I was there it was maybe only United who were very strong. Now you have five teams who can fight for the title. You can always say they need to buy someone up front, but previously they have bought Mesut Ozil, who’s a good player, Alexis Sanchez is a good player. They can score goals and give good assists. People just want big names in attack, but Giroud is good enough to score goals. And behind him there are big players who can supply him so he can score a lot of goals. Arsenal have a strong squad – people don’t see it, but they do.

Much as I agree with a lot of what Anelka says here, I think most people do accept that this is a very good Arsenal squad right now, but are frustrated at what was a very quiet transfer window compared to other clubs, and perhaps take issue with the club’s line that there were no available players, anywhere in the world, who could have improved our squad.

As far as strikers go, although better finishers than Giroud changed clubs this summer, it’s likely Arsene didn’t feel they were enough of an upgrade on his current lot to be worth pursuing. The counter argument of course, is that even if you only find incremental improvement in the market, you should do it, particularly when you reportedly have the disposable income to take a punt or two.

But there’s not much we can do about it now and as we approach a return to club football, It’s time for Giroud to put his nightmarish international break behind him, show Arsene was right to go with what he has and repay the trust put in him to lead the line this season.

See you Weds.

7th September 2015: Who could best play ‘false forward’ for Arsenal?

Posted on by TremendArse

Good evening. There’s an Indian summer on the way to Britain apparently, which means it will feel nice and warm outside while most of us are cooped up in an air-conditioned office all day, before rapidly cooling to about minus 8 by the time we clock off and head home. Brilliant.

And I’ll tell you what else was brilliant – Germany’s intricate, pass and move football tonight. Efficiently Spain-esque. With Borussia Dortmund’s Ilkay Gundogan in the hole behind former club-mate Mario Gotze, our own Mesut Ozil to the left and Thomas Muller on the right, as Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos added balletic ballast to the middle of the park behind them, the World Cup winners were a joy to watch.

Admittedly, two uncharacteristically bad pieces of ‘keeping by Manuel Neuer allowed hosts Scotland to twice wipe out a goal by Muller, but Germany’s class told in the end as Gundogan coolly guided home a first-time effort off an upright to secure a 3-2 win.

It did make me wonder about the need to always play a target man up front. Germany had Gotze acting as a false forward today and although a big, slick pitch helped Germany to find space, it highlighted for me, the fact that if you have intelligent footballers in every position tuned into the same wavelength and all thinking two, three steps ahead, having a big lump in the middle, or even blistering pace out wide, becomes less important.

Because you domintae the ball, rest in possession, which in turn allows you to hunt in packs at high energy and win the ball back very quickly and efficiently, which means it’s usually a matter of time before your next goal-scoring opportunity arrives. Spain set the standard, Germany have almost matched it I’d say, and if one or two other countries can come close to putting together a similar-minded selection of players by next summer, the Euros would be all the more exciting and open as a contest.

And perhaps if Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott continue to struggle up front in Danny Welbeck’s absence, it might be worth us trying a striker-less system at some point. Obviously with so much riding on each game in the league and in Europe, trialing new formations is very risky, but if we find ourselves with a meaningless game at the end of the Champions League group stages for instance, trying Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey or maybe even Santi Cazorla as our most advanced attacker would be an interesting exercise. We could marvel at mendacious Jack, sophistical Santi or ersatz Aaron. Then ask the boss what the f*ck he was thinking if it doesn’t work. Win win.

Provided that is, whoever was chosen, kept some discipline, occupied the space around the opposition defence and didn’t get sucked into the build-up play too often. I thought Gotze did that brilliantly tonight, displaying velvety close-control, great movement and providing a constant goal threat despite not boasting size, strength or pace, among his best attributes as a player.

Andrei Arshavin was once deployed at the tip of our attack of course, but it only works if the player moves and as we all remember, our former little Russian was a little on the lazy side. And by lazy I mean he was scandalously inactive – on a good day.

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the fact I’m doing my best to Pep up this blog with groundbreaking tactical thoughts, there’s very little to talk about Arsenal-wise today. Thankfully, we’re not too far from emerging from Cloid. Before we do though, England host Switzerland at Wembley tomorrow evening and with a chance of being on show is Basel’s teenage striker Breel Embolo.

The 18 year old is very highly rated by many observers, including German football writer Rafael Honigstein who’s tipped the player to become a ‘superstar’. Unsurprisingly, several big clubs around Europe, allegedly including us, are already eyeing up bids for the player and Wolfsburg reportedly had an offer rejected on deadline day last week.

There’s nothing like a new starlet worth scouting to get me up for watching what would otherwise be merely another mundane international friendly. I just hope Embolo gets some minutes to show what he’s got.

Til Tuesday.

6th September 2015: Coquelin and Cech on Euro hopes

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening. Thanks for dropping by. A post as short as an amnesic goldfish’s memory for you today, because A. I can’t really be arsed, and B. there is so little going on Arsenal-wise, that Newsnow may as well suspend it’s dedicated category. Thanks a lot Cloid.

Aaron Ramsey was in action for Wales earlier this afternoon and they could have secured qualification for next summer’s Euros with a win over Israel, but failed to find the net and had to settle for a goalless draw. Hal Robson-Kanu, who led the Welsh attack, was released by Arsenal as a kid apparently. I didn’t know that until today, so thanks Twitter. And if you didn’t before reading this entry – you’re welcome.

But speaking of the Euros, they take place in France, who will be hosting their first tournament since they won the World Cup on home soil in 1998, and Francis Coquelin has been telling the official site how he would love to force his way into Didier Deschamp’s squad for the tournament. He said:

Every player wants to represent their country and the Euros in France is something massive for any French player to be a part of. To be part of the squad would be amazing but there are loads of things to do first and the most important thing is Arsenal. If I play well here maybe I will get a chance for France, but the most important thing is Arsenal. As any French player would, though, you want to play for France and hopefully it can happen one day. It would be unbelievable. I won the Under-19 Euros and it was something unbelievable as well. To win the Euros with the French national team would be even more crazy. If I perform well here, maybe I will get the chance to play for France but I think the most important thing is to stay focused on Arsenal and then things will come along.

Aside from the fact Francis is proving himself to be a very, very good footballer, his mentality should be highly merited too. Not only are his words above a great reflection of a man who’s grounded and focused, but his on-pitch demeanour since he established himself in this Arsenal team epitomises the kind of traits that detractors of Arsene Wenger’s side so often highlight as supposedly lacking. He’s vocal, an organiser, and showcases genuine leadership qualities. And the 24 year old, despite at the time being about seven by my maths, fondly remembers watching Thierry Henry and co lift the World Cup:

Of course I remember it. All my family were watching the games so I remember it well. It was such a great feeling. To play in front of a home crowd in France would be unbelievable with the support of all the French people. We have to wait and see, and work hard, that’s the most important thing.

Elsewhere, Petr Cech has also been discussing the upcoming international tournament, telling the Arsenal Magazine he hopes the Czech Republic can still secure qualification after dropping points in both of their last two fixtures. He said:

Since I joined the national team, I’ve never missed a European Championship. I’ve always qualified. Ever since I was 16 I’ve played in every single European Championship at every level so I hope that run will continue. I used to play in France and it would be special for me to play the Euros there. We had an absolutely brilliant start to the campaign. We won our first four games, including matches against Holland and in Turkey. Unfortunately we’ve dropped points in the last two games – we drew at home against Latvia, which was a blow because we had a lot of chances. In our last game we played Iceland away and although we went 1-0 up, we lost the match. I think this is the game we look back at and can have regrets because if we had got a point or three, it would have put ourselves much closer to our target. We complicated our situation a little bit but we are still second and have four games to play. I believe that we have the team to qualify and hopefully we will prove it.

I bet Cech wishes his country could call on our effervescent number seven Tomas Rosicky right now, but hopefully they can secure a place in the finals and Rosicky can have something to look forward to after another prolonged period on the sidelines.

See you next week.

5th September 2015: Theo bags brace as Cloid continues

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. I was going to watch England’s game in San Marino today, but then I remembered I’d rather go to a back-street dentist for some molar extractions, before settling down to watch the Chelsea season-review DVD dressed in a Spurs kit, so I gave it a miss and vacuumed my car instead.

England’s consistent selection of James Milner in midfield and a Wayne Rooney who’s about as mobile as a mountain as a lone front man irks me enough, but to then see them send balls straight out for a throw with their ‘first touch’, whilst playing amateurish opposition on a Sunday league-level pitch is just too much for the footballing purist in me to put up with I’m afraid.

One day, I hope there will be an England manager who picks a side based on which players are compatible with others to create a coherent ‘team’, rather than select ‘names’ because of their profile, but until then, actual tournament football remains the only time I’m inclined to give the Three Lions a watch.

Anyway, a quick check online tells me Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain started on the right of the England attack and Theo Walcott bagged a brace as a second-half substitute. The goals will obviously be a boost for Theo’s confidence, even if they did come against the traditional whipping boys of the European game, and hopefully he can add to his England tally against Switzerland next week before returning to Arsenal reinvigorated in front of goal and primed to put four past Jack Butland when we host Stoke.

And speaking of Premier League football, Nacho Monreal, who overcame a slightly indifferent start to his career in north London after moving from Malaga to establish himself as first pick at left-back ahead of Kieran Gibbs, has been speaking to the official site about the English top-flight differing from La Liga and also how he’s changed as a player as a result. He said:

I’ve always said that it’s a different type of football here. In Spain there is more of a focus on tactics, technique and positioning, whereas in England it is more physical. The fans like seeing box-to-box play and lots of direct runs, so I think on a physical level I’ve improved because you have to get used to English football. I’ve certainly got better in that regard. The Premier League is one of the most popular leagues in the world and in Spain virtually everyone follows the Premier League as it’s very entertaining for the viewer. There are lots of staff working for the Spanish national team who watch lots of English matches and come here to watch us, so I don’t think it has much of an effect on my chances of being selected.

Nothing to argue with from Monreal there because everything he says is true; the Spanish game is more cultured and calculated whereas the Premier League is your go-to division for break-neck speed football, well, most of the time anyway.

And he’s certainly improved his physicality in the challenge. Initially, he seemed a bit stand-offish when it came to attacking the ball but ever since he was forced into a stint at centre half last season, I think the Spaniard has improved his overall defensive game immeasurably, whilst maintaining his naturally composed distribution at both ends of the pitch.

I suppose my only gripes with his game would be his crossing could be more consistent and he could get on the scoresheet a little more often, as he showed he’s quite capable of doing at Old Trafford in the Cup last season, but other than that, he’s probably the best left back we’ve had since a certain turncoat nearly crashed his car and defected to the dark side.

And I have to say, I like the fact both our current first-choice fullbacks are so comfortable in possession because I think it has a massive effect on our overall ball-dominating desires. I mean, for all of Bacary Sagna’s defensive solidity at right back and Gibbs’ lung-bursting efforts on the opposite side for instance, neither of them are in the same class with the ball at their feet.

Of course Sagna’s departed the club but I think the same deficiencies hamper Carl Jenkinson and Calum Chambers if i’m honest, and given the amount of possession our fullbacks often enjoy because of the way we build from the back, having two players like Monreal and Bellerin (or Debuchy) aids our particular style of play TremendArsely.

Til tomorrow.

4th September 2015: Cumbersome ‘Cloids’ and rating Renaissance Coquelin

Posted on by TremendArse

A warm welcome back. I’m glad it’s Friday but sort of wish it was next Friday in a way. Not wanting to wish my life away or anything you understand, but I wouldn’t mind being able to ⇒⇒ fast forward past this annoying void of club football; the likes of which shall now be known as Cloid ©®™, as in, ‘another f*cking Cloid’s coming up next week dammit, just as Joel had nabbed his 8th goal in three games and was hitting some form as well…’.

And there are plenty of Arsenal players in action over the course of this current Cloid, but to be honest, I haven’t really been keeping up with who’s playing where and all that stuff, so if you’re someone who prides yourself on knowing exactly how many minutes Hector Bellerin was or wasn’t afforded on his first call-up for Spain, then there’s always International Watch on the official site for a comprehensive round-up of Arsenal involvement.

My engagement with Cloid over the next week or so will be restricted to random moments when I’m switching channels and stumble across a game in which players who interest me are playing at half pace, trying to avoid injury and get this this sh*t over with as quickly and carefully as possible. Like earlier this evening in fact, as I discovered Mesut Ozil was in action for Germany as they hosted Poland.

From the little I saw, Ozil was his usual silky self, roaming around playing little passes that seem far from flamboyant, but are devastatingly effective in helping his team control possession and create goal-scoring chances. He was sorely missed at Newcastle despite us managing to win the game I thought, so I’m glad he’s back fit and look forward to seeing him return to our line-up when we face Stoke at Emirates Stadium a week tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Arsene Wenger has been speaking about one of his favourite subjects – mental strength. The boss was obviously responding to pretty scathing criticism of his squad’s supposed psychological shortfalls by Gary Neville on Sky a couple of weeks ago, and suggested not only do pundits need other pundits to provide punditry of their punditry, but that back-to-back FA Cups are proof that there is no inherent mental weakness in the Arsenal dressing room. Speaking to beIN Sports (and transcribed by Arseblog News), he said:

Opinions for me have to be documented. We won the cup last year. You don’t win the (FA) cup unless you are mentally strong, believe me. That’s why I don’t agree with that. You have to respect everybody’s opinion. Pundits are just people who are filmed by a camera and give their opinion and you have to accept that but if a pundit gives an opinion and is not right in six months, nobody will come back and say: ‘well, why did you say that six months ago? You were completely wrong.’ It’s just an assessment and an opinion you have to respect. The modern world, people are informed. People are informed and have opinions but at the end of the day someone had to make decisions. People who make decisions have to be responsible and stand up for their decisions and that’s not exactly the same for the opinion. That’s part of our job, to be confronted with different opinions and to accept that sometimes people are wrong and sometimes people are right. That’s part of it. I disagree of course.

Which is fair enough, particularly when you consider a large portion of what was said by Neville revolved around his belief that Arsenal could not win a title with Francis Coquelin as the defensive midfielder, which ignores the fact that the renaissance of Francis as an Arsenal player was arguably the single most important factor in our superb second half of last season.

Plus the fact that the Frenchman is statistically one of – if not the – best defensive midfielders in Europe this calendar year. The guy’s played out of his skin and barely put a foot wrong. Ironically, Neville made his comments on the night of our game against Liverpool, in which Coquelin’s crucial first-half ball recoveries epitomised what he brings to our team; superb reading of opposition through balls and attacks, pace in chasing back, tackling and tenacity. What he admittedly lacked in that particular game was poise and precision in his passing, but then that could have been said for our entire team that night.

Generally, his passing, both long and short, is brilliant. It was his pin-point, cross-field pass which led to our opening goal in May’s FA Cup Final for instance. And for someone who’s not blessed with gigantic height, his ‘heart’ and ‘desire’ (two qualities presumably adored by England’s assistant manager Neville) more than make up for that. Plus he’s actually very good in the air regardless.

I think when insisting you need two, ten-foot tall, imposing, no-nonsense animals in the middle of the park to win the Premier League, Neville’s forgetting his beloved Man Utd enjoyed the vast majority of their success with Paul Scholes and Roy Keane as a midfield duo – neither of whom were built like Nemanja Matic or Morgan Schneiderlin height-wise.

For me, Coquelin’s fast developing into our own version of Claude Makelele (only with more pace), because the thing that set Makelele apart, was his reading of, and efficient reaction to, danger. Coquelin has shown similar signs of game intelligence and if he can keep it up over the course of a season and beyond, ‘the Makelele role’ may well have to make way for ‘the Coquelin character’, in footballing parlance.

See you on Saturday.

3rd September 2015: With Welbeck out, can Campbell be this season’s Coquelin?

Posted on by TremendArse

The rapid returns from injury of Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere now obviously take on added importance  – hopefully both aren’t far from full fitness.

This time yesterday, I, like all Arsenal fans, was blissfully unaware that Danny Welbeck had already undergone surgery on the knee injury he suffered in April and would be unavailable for ‘a period of months’.

The last update on his fitness had suggested the former Man Utd striker would return to the first-team fold shortly after the current international break, so today’s news combined with our failure to recruit a new striker before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, now leaves us worryingly short of central striking options.

After Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, if you discount Alexis Sanchez – who in his few cameos in the position last term was far from convincing – we’re now left with Joel Campbell as the most natural option at the tip of the attack. I’m almost speechless at how quickly the air of pre-season optimism engulfing the club has been blown away and replaced by clouds of impending doom.

I can understand it of course. A lot of Arsenal supporters when we unveiled Petr Cech at the end of June, were assessing a squad that had finished the previous campaign third in the league and having secured a second successive FA Cup with a convincing win at Wembley and expecting us to mount a serious challenge for the title. Perhaps even manage a sustained run in Europe.

There was also the added anticipation of further ‘Gunner Galactico’ signings to follow in the footsteps of Cech, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil to Emirates stadium. After all, the new TV deals had armed the league with obscene money to strengthen squads and players all around Europe were expected to be easy prey. We were looking like a million bucks with the promise of a further lorryload of dough. Then came a perfect pre-saseon, including Arsene Wenger’s first-ever win over Chelsea to secure the Community Shield and hope had turned into expectation. Requests into demands.

Yet after two wins, a draw and a defeat from our opening four league games, in which we looked a shadow of the team who sailed merrily through pre-season, and the lack off any additions at all before the transfer window closed on Tuesday, familiar grievances about the manager’s work and the squad’s quality have come hurtling back like Francis Coquelin closing down an opposition attack.

It goes without saying that collectively we must improve to keep pace with a far stronger Man City squad to last year’s, but has any other team suggested as title-winners improved? It’s too early to know definitively of course but given the start of the league season, and looking at their transfer business with the window now closed, I’s say no.

In a very particular order; Tottenham have no chance, Liverpool have lost their influential – if past it – captain, as well as their brightest star in Raheem Sterling, Man United have certainly added a number of players but discarded at least just as many, with those arriving far from certain to be of a higher calibre, whilst Chelsea have lost Didier Drogba and Cech from their dressing room, and only really added the, admittedly undoubted, quality of Pedro to their first-choice selection. Plus the Blues have a manager who’s as likely to cause mayhem at a club, as he is to win a trophy. So comparatively speaking, when you consider all that, we’re not badly positioned at all from my perspective.

But to go back to the beginning of this this post, whilst cover for Coquelin was my personal, primary reinforcement priority, our striking situation with Welbeck out for ‘months’ means another player will now have an opportunity he’d otherwise not have been afforded to provide the ‘internal solution’ Arsene often trumpets.

I have to admit too, that as a fan, I get as much joy from seeing an academy player, or a young unestablished hopeful, go on to make a lasting impact on our first-team, as I do from seeing a world class new signing sprinkle our play with stardust. More so maybe. But I appreciate that’s just me and if you were to ask me my preference exactly as we’re struggling to score a consolation against Dinamo Zagreb, who lead five nil at Emirates stadium in added time, I’d almost certainly have a different opinion.

But until then, I’m genuinely excited at the possibility of Campbell rediscovering his Man Utd-slaying form, his World Cup scoring skills, and proving himslef a left-footed, Samuel Eto’o-style striking sensation for us. This year’s Coquelin-esque, late-comer to the fans’ conscience as a first-team starter, who’ll save us millions in the next summer market and negate the need to sign Robert Lewandowski. 

Seriously though, I still haven’t seen nearly enough of our Costa Rican to form an opinion on him either way, but it’s having the chance to do so that I’m relishing, when the real stuff returns after this international break.

Finally, good luck to Welbeck on what will hopefully be the speediest recovery from such an injury anyone’s ever seen. Just make sure you’re back in time for the Champions League semis Welbz!

Back on Friday.