Arsenal

17th August 2015: Wenger hails fluency and fight plus crucial Cazorla

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome to a brand new week on TremendArse. There is plenty of post-match reaction to look at following our win at Crystal Palace yesterday, so I’ll get stuck straight in like Alexis Sanchez returning from his summer break.

And first up, it’s the boss Arsene Wenger, who expressed his pleasure at seeing his side display a number of different qualities in beating Palace to claim our first three points of the season. Speaking at his post match press conference, he said:

We have shown our strong response and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League. We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond. We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well. I’m pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.

‘Fight’ aside, the most pleasing thing about yesterday’s performance for me, was the rediscovery of our fluid, attacking football which was so glaringly absent against West Ham. Against the Hammers, we lacked accuracy in our passing and shape in our formation, with our forward six often taking up similar positions, too often abandoning their designated roles in the team and failing to find any collective rhythm whatsoever.

Yet against Alan Pardew’s men a week later, all those problems appeared hugely improved and I think there is one obvious contributory factor for that  – Santi Cazorla’s return to central midfield. And Arsene hinted after the game that he’s over his nonsensical, temporary tinkering and the Spaniard is back in the middle to stay:

Cazorla is important for the start of the game when the ball comes from our defenders, because he can pass from deep midfield to high midfield better than everybody and get out of pressure. That’s why I positioned him more central. He is not any more a player on the flanks who can overlap and cross the ball.

I actually remember Arsene being asked whether Cazorla was now a permanent pick in the centre after a game last season and his response was to utter the most emphatic ‘certainly, yes’, I’ve ever heard him say. So to see Cazorla moved to the left flank on the opening day confused me like hearing Jose Mourinho plead poverty. I mean, how? And why?

Giroud and Cazorla

Anyway, as long as our double, Double-winning, unbeaten season overseeing, six-times FA Cup lifting, stadium-building, world class player developing manager has learnt his lesson, I think I’ll let this one slide. Any more Cazorla kerfuffle though, and I’ll be forced to demand he’s replaced by Owen Coyle.

Next in line for praise from the boss was the majestic Mesut Ozil, who provided the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener at Selhurst Park and generally played very well, passing with typical poise and precision and also displaying quite a turn of pace out wide on a number of occasions:

He had a very good performance. He was important getting out from the back, getting out of tight areas. It is a pleasure to watch the quality of his passing and the intelligence of his passing. What I told you is what I want from him more is a few more goals this season. For the rest of the build-up in the game he was magnificent. He works harder than people thinks he does. He is not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job, he wants to help the team. What I liked in his game today was he made many runs without the ball behind the defenders, which is a bit new as he likes to come with the ball. Today he mixed up his game better.

Mesut mixes it up then. Now we just need for Giroud to start producing finishes like yesterday every week and we can save the money for his replacement and instead spend it on a competitor for Francis Coquelin or research into cloning Cazorlas. But speaking of Giroud, Arsene said he felt the striker ‘needed’ a goal and described his current striking options as ‘strong’, saying:

He needed that [goal]. We have good strikers. Walcott was not used today and he’s an exceptional striker, Welbeck is coming back, we have Alexis. We have a strong striking force. What is important is that we show the team performance we have shown [against Palace].

Indeed. Team play is key to success and key to team play, is a central Cazorla. Now we have that established, we should go on to win every remaining game he plays this season. The Septuple is in sight.

Back on Tuesday.

16th August 2015: Acrobatic Giroud and forceful Sanchez secure win over Palace

Posted on by TremendArse

That was certainly much more like it from Arsenal. A 2-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park this afternoon, secured thanks to a stunning strike by Olivier Giroud and an own-goal forced by Alexis Sanchez, sees us shoot up this embryonic Premier League table to 11th.

Arsene Wenger thankfully opted to correct last week’s bizarre decision to move Santi Cazorla from central midfield to the left flank, and the Spaniard returned to partner Francis Coquelin in front of the defence today.

Alexis Sanchez came into the starting 11 at the expense of a benched Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, to play from his usual left-sided role, with Aaron Ramsey moving to the right. At the back, Hector Bellerin replaced Mathieu Debuchy at right fullback.

On what was a newly-laid Selhurst Park pitch, and by the look of it, a widened one too, we immediately appeared a far more composed, cohesive, and hence creative, attacking unit than against West Ham on the opening day. It’s hard to pick out an individual for praise in that opening spell because they were all outstanding and the hosts were left chasing shadows for the most part.

But at the heart of it all was Cazorla, who regulated our passing from deep and proved no less a defensive asset, taking up great positions on several occasions through sheer intelligence and game-reading, to halt Palace attacks.

For me, and I said this after our pre-season win over Everton last month, Cazorla is critical for our functioning as a side and must be played where he was today. If that means the likes of Ramsey and Jack Wilshere have to play in roles they wouldn’t consider their first choice then tough luck I’m afraid, because they simply cannot replicate what Cazorla produces in that position.

And with all the talk of a new striker need amongst fans and pundits alike, Giroud showed he has plenty to offer at the tip of the attack by acrobatically volleying home Mesut Ozil’s considered left wing cross to put us one nil up after 16 minutes.

It was undoubtedly a world class finish by a player who may not be in the very top bracket of strikers, and even today showed signs of frustrating more refined team-mates (especially Ozil) with his, shall we say, less than nimble footwork, but who can be a potent poacher against a lot of defences in this league. It really was some effort to kickstart our goals scored column for the new campaign.

Inevitably though, we didn’t maintain our hypnotising opening spell of football for the whole of the first half, and Palace punished some rare bad defending by Laurent Koscielny to restore parity through Joel Ward’s skidding long-range strike after 28 minutes.

In truth, it was a criminal lack of closing down by our otherwise impeccable number six and all the more baffling as it smacked a little of complacency – something the manager said was partly to blame for our defeat seven days ago. It was almost as if the Frenchman did’t think that player would trouble Petr Cech from that range. Unfortunately for us, Ward produced a great strike and Cech could do nothing to stop it arrowing into the bottom corner to his right.

Cue a social media maelstrom of ‘Mesut’s sh*t’, ‘we’re all f*cked’ and ‘Wenger’s a wally’ until that is, we regained the lead courtesy of a Bellerin cross to the back post, which was met by the whirlwind that is Sanchez, whose header may well have been en route to the inside of the far post, but was instead diverted into his own net by Damien Delaney ten minutes into the second half.

The impressive Coquelin, who was cautioned in the first half and clearly targeted by the home support and players as a man they could help to get sent off, was removed from the action and replaced by the Ox just after the hour mark, with Ramsey moving into the centre alongside Cazorla.

It was a timely intervention by Arsene as Coquelin had been warned one more foul would result in his dismissal. We then made further changes to shore up our defence as Palace chased an equaliser, bringing on Mikel Arteta and Kieran Gibbs for Sanchez and Ozil to help close out the game as we did against Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley a fortnight ago.

Overall, we produced the necessary result against an improved Palace outfit who will no doubt make life difficult for all the top teams when they visit south London this season. Our first three points of the season safely on the board and a return to a more fluent formation before we entertain Liverpool a week tomorrow – the best possible response to last week’s defeat.

Meanwhile up in Manchester, Jose Mourinho hooked his captain after 45 minutes and saw his reigning champions get handed a lesson in expansive, expensively-assembled attacking play, as Chelsea hilariously lost 3-0 to ensure zero wins from their opening two games for the first time since the 1998-99 season.

So almost the perfect Sunday, and I say almost, because although it’s always a pleasure to see Mourinho and Chelsea get beat, the best result from an Arsenal title challenge perspective, would surely have been a draw between last year’s top two – especially considering the commanding manner in which City have started their season.

Back tomorrow with post-match reaction etc.

Until then.

15th August 2015: Who will play against Palace?

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. As is the norm after a defeat like last Sunday’s against West Ham, it’s been a looooong week. We’ve had six days of introspection and castigation but at Selhurst Park tomorrow afternoon, we have an opportunity to put our false start behind us and secure our first Premier League points of the new season.

Of course, it won’t be easy. This is a stronger Palace than the one we did the league double over last year and we’re coming off the back of a wretched display. In terms of team selection, I’m tempted to suggest we should be unchanged personnel-wise, and look perhaps at finessing our formation by playing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from the left, Aaron Ramsey on the right and shifting Santi Cazorla back in alongside Francis Coquelin.

I think Palace’s pace down their right flank would be too much for Santi if for instance Wilfried Zaha or Yannick Bolasie are played and more importantly, we miss his passing in the middle when he’s deployed wide.

Speaking of flanks, although Alexis Sanchez has been declared fit and available by Arsene Wenger, judging by how off the pace our Chilean magician looked against the Hammers, I’d be surprised if he was in peak condition just seven days on. Barring that cameo, he’s had no match practice since his summer break after all.

Here’s what Arsene’s had to say yesterday on Sanchez’ fitness and what he expects from the former Barcelona man this season:

He came back reasonably fit. He practised for two weeks before he came back. He did not start from zero. In training now, he looks alright. I knew before the start that, once he was here, he would be difficult to stop. So I gave him a long enough break. He had four weeks off, which is quite reasonable. He finished on July 3 and he came back on August 3. He works extremely hard in every single training session to show that he is ready. I think what he does is, for me, normal. It is what everybody should do. You wonder if he has created a beach at home, and runs along the living room! He is a hyperactive guy. He needs that to be happy. He played 52 or 53 games last season, plus the Copa America. That means somewhere he has an instinct that shows how far he can go. It is difficult. In March, April, May, you could see he was a bit jaded. But he is still a guy who can make a decision in a game. And once he is out there he gives 100 per cent. This season, he knows what is expected from him, and he will do better than last year.

Alexis will no doubt be chomping a the bit to be involved from the start because that’s just the irrepressible nature of the man, but If there’s any doubt he’s not completely ready, I’d give him another place on the bench and expect not to have to introduce him out of desperation like last week.

Up front, with goals on consecutive visits to Palace and the physical nature of the hosts’ game, I can’t imagine Olivier Giroud won’t start. On a similar note, on our last visit, Calum Chambers was picked ahead of Hector Bellerin, presumablly for his added height more than anything else, so it will be interesting to see if Arsene adjusts his defensive lineup at all.

I mean, we have more than one position now where the first-choice is far from certain so we could, contrary to most of the above, actually see a number of changes. One or more of Gabriel, Bellerin, Mikel Arteta, and Theo Walcott could all conceivably start the match.

But whichever 11 are picked, they’ll need to be far more measured with their passing on what is a new, hopefully slick, pitch and far better organised all over the field than we were against West Ham.

Lets see.

COYG

14th August 2015: Happy thoughts

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Friday folks. Let’s hope this weekend ends rather more positively from an Arsenal perspective than the last, because frankly, the negativity after a defeat leaves me feeling more nauseous than the result itself.

Why? Simply because too many fans and pundits are far too reactionary and it’s draining. The default remedy for many, involves buying someone, anyone, as if the transfer market offers some kind of guarantee for points and wins.

And love him or hate him, the manager Arsene Wenger, not for the first time, made this very point when he was inevitably asked about potential new additions to his squad at his pre-match press conference today. He said:

We are as open (to buying) after that bad result (West Ham) as we were before. We were working very hard and we are focused to do what can strengthen our squad. The availability is not big. If we find somebody anywhere who strengthens our squad then we will do it. It is not easy, it is not supermarket stuff where you go in and say, ‘I would like this, please can you give it to me.’ The availability is not easy. When you lose a game you always get that kind of demand, we have to be honest enough and ask, ‘Could we have won the game without any addition?’ and I would say yes. Always the solution comes from outside, lets look inside at ourselves and produce the performance that is expected of us. I think that would be much more intelligent than always expecting a miracle from outside.

Which is spot on. My criticism of last week would involve asking why the players seemed so rushed in their passing? Perhaps even why Santi Cazorla had been moved from his central midfield berth of the second half of last season? And also why a clearly unfit Alexis Sanchez was on the bench, and then quite astonishingly, thrust into action?

But too much of the post-match talk entailed lampooning players like Olivier Giroud for supposedly being the cause of the team’s malfunction. If anything, the one position you would say we needed an improvement based on the opening 90 minutes of our new Premier League campaign would have been goalkeeper!

The reality of course, is that we had a bad opening day at the office but still have almost the entire season to make amends. In fact, we’ll have more of those days like last Sunday, as every other team will, the crucial task is for us to limit them as best we can through preparation, hard work and executing our style to the best of our collective capabilities.

All that said, football is an emotional pass-time for millions of fans and disappointment is obviously understandable, something the manager was quick to appreciate today:

[Our fans have] passion, love and that’s why it hurts [to lose]. We have a big following and disappointed people are emotional and that is understandable. It hurts us to disappoint people who have a high level of expectation. On our side we have to put things in perspective, we come out from a very strong run and we have 37 games to go. It’s how we respond [that matters]. Our job is to deal with this kind of reaction and just to keep your mind on your job, that means play football well and enjoy it. I believe we have a great group, we have a fantastic mentality and we have a united group of players. We were disappointed with the result [against West Ham] and with our performance. We have analysed what happened to us but we don’t have to go overboard with what happened. It is a defeat and it hurts but that shouldn’t take our belief in our potential away.We have the history behind us in the second half of the campaign last year that we have the quality to respond always and to be consistent. Defeat is part of the season and of course that was not planned but we know it is how we respond to these kind of things that will make our season.

It’s worth considering that last point again I think – we’ll lose again this season in all probability and although we can take great pride in being able to boast an unbeaten league campaign in our history, the lower-ranked teams in the division are perhaps improving at a greater rate than the top sides, making a repeat of 2004 all the more fanciful. This of course is due to significantly increased revenue across the board, combined with a lack of available, genuinely world class talent for the top four to significantly improve their squads. Again, Arsene made the point:

It will certainly be a tighter and tougher league because the quality of teams in the lower half of the table has improved. I believe in every game… what gives you a good indication is if you look at the bench of the team you play against, and when you look at the teams in the second part of the table and you look at their benches, it indicates that you will have tough games. I never had many easy matches in my life but it is always getting more difficult, that’s true.

Which brings us almost full circle to the training field. If everyone can buy, the difference will be made in the management and preparation of players, which should in turn lead to an improvement in the quality and consistency of the football they produce.

See you on Saturday.

13th August 2015: Phone calls and alarm bells

Posted on by TremendArse

In a couple of hours time, it will be 19 years to the day since Arsenal signed arguably the greatest all-round midfielder these shores have ever seen – the one-man midfield that was Patrick Vieira.

The Frenchman’s reported desire to leave the club on a couple of occasions at the start of the new millennium obviously plays a role in this, but I think on the whole, Paddy’s influence on our success in his time with the club perhaps isn’t quite afforded the acclaim it deserves. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s the impression I often get and certainly in comparison to the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp.

Anyway, as we approach the anniversary of his arrival, Arsene Wenger has been speaking about the vital role he played in Vieira’s capture, despite not being manager of the club at the time. Speaking to Arsenal Player, he said:

I knew him very well because he played his first game with Cannes against Monaco in a post-season friendly. He played against one of my players who was quite tough and he dominated him physically. He was 17 years old at the time and I said after the game that this player would make a big career. I wasn’t wrong there. I had a big hand in [signing him], yes. I did it from Nagoya. I think he trusted me because when I called him on the phone, he was in Amsterdam to sign for Ajax. He was in Holland, he was there to sign but I knew his agents. I spoke to Patrick and said, ‘Please, stop. Come to Arsenal.’ They were waiting at a hotel to go to the headquarters of the club to sign and I could just stop it. The next morning, he flew from Amsterdam to London. My whole history could have changed [without convincing him to join Arsenal]. That’s the coincidence and the luck in life. I just had the right luck to intervene at the right moment.

Of all the successful signings Arsene’s made in his tenure at the club, Vieira for me, remains the pick. Not only was he a complete midfielder of the highest calibre, he was a leader’s leader whose qualities we haven’t come close to adequately replacing since his departure.

But one man who is certainly making a good fist of replicating Vieira’s authority in the middle of the park at the moment is his compatriot Francis Coquelin. Of course Coquelin doesn’t have the height or rangy ball carrying capabilities of Paddy in his prime, yet he does share a certain tenacity and ball-winning prowess.

Unfortunately last Sunday, Coquelin, like may of his colleagues in fairness, seemed to forget their lines and contrived to let West Ham win at Emirates Stadium with relative ease. But the midfielder says the squad have heard the alarm bells loud and clear and are determined to use the loss as a spring board for future success, starting at Selhurst Park on Sunday:

It’s been a wake-up call for everyone. Considering the recent results we had before that, going really well in pre-season, it’s disappointing and it was not an Arsenal performance. However, in bad things, good things can come out too. It’s good that it happened in the first game so that now we can pull ourselves together with 37 games left. We’ve got time to put things right and that needs to start on Sunday. Everybody realises that we need to put more in. When you look at different teams I think a lot of them are ready. You look at Manchester City when they played against West Brom, I think they played really good football. We need to pull ourselves together and it’s going to be a real test on Sunday because Crystal Palace have a really good squad. We know the quality we have and we need to respond straight away. We’ve been working really hard in training and we need to put all of the training effort into the game.

And speaking of our next game, the manager has revealed the latest team news, which sees Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin declared fit and ready to play, with Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Danny Welbeck all still on the treatment table.

Back Friday.

12th August 2015: Ozil adapts + deep-fried shake

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome all. The briefest of posts today, mainly because there is nothing to talk about and I’m feeling about as creative as James Milner.

In fact, I’ll start with a few bits of actual, real, hot off the press, ‘news’ to kick things off:

  • A month’s worth of rain is to fall on the UK over the next two days, according to reports

From a life perspective, that’s pretty sh*t. But on the bright side, those clubs and managers who purposely instruct groundsmen not to water their pitches when Arsenal are in town will be gutted and slick passing shall prevail. Unlucky Alan.

  • A chip shop in Lancashire has started serving a deep-fried battered milkshake

I don’t even know what that means. But Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw will be drooling and delighted in equal measure.

  • The launch of London’s night tube service will be delayed, it has been announced

Not really an inconvenience for me I must say, given how infrequently I use the network but I’m sure the news will come as a huge disappointment for millions. Get a car or go to sleep would be my advice.

  • A man trying to impress women on a nightclub dance floor in Cardiff poos himself

That’s rather unfortunate and also pretty gross. It does however provide a lot of reputable outlets with a truly newsworthy story to share with the masses. And no, I didn’t link to it, your eyes will thank me.

Moving swiftly on and Mesut Ozil says Germany are a shining example to wider society of how people from different cultures can integrate and co-exist in a positive manner. Speaking to Arsenal Player, he said:

Integration is a difficult topic. The best example is the German national team because lots of people from other cultures come together and play with respect. That’s how it should be in general life. You should be open with one another, you should treat each other with respect. If that happened, things would look different, also in general.

And the 26 year old master passer also discussed his own ability to easily adapt to new countries and cultures, saying:

I’m the sort of person who can integrate quickly. I’m a normal person and people who know me know that I’m quite quiet and just like doing my thing. That was the case here, with the German national team and in my youth. For example, when I experienced things changing, like if I changed class at school, it wasn’t the case that I would worry about how I would cope not knowing anyone, it was the opposite. I was and still am very open when I meet people. It was like that at Arsenal too. When I joined the club, I knew some players from playing alongside them in the national team or at Werder Bremen. But in general, I enjoy being able to meet new people and experience new cultures. I lived in Spain and got to know the wonderful culture and people there. Now I’m in England, where I’m learning the language and the culture. I love what I do and I’m thankful that football helps me develop myself by learning new languages and different cultures. I’m proud of that.

Mesut’s words again bring to my mind at least, the issue of our domestically born players and, in 99.99 percent of cases, their unwillingness to experience foreign leagues and foreign living.

It’s a real shame because one solution to the supposed problem of a lack of opportunity for young British players because of the influx of overseas players to the Premier League, is staring them in the face, if only the’d be brave enough to get on a flight, perhaps forego some money in the short-term and enhance their game through international experience.

Til Thursday.

11th August 2015: Arsenal undefeated for over 20 years

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening people. Hopefully everyone’s starting to get over Sunday’s defeat because given our pre-season form leading up to the game, it was undoubtedly a seismic shock to the system. A bolt from the claret and blue. As shocking as Jose Mourinho’s treatment of his medical staff.

But with the club in no mood to talk, our fanbase evidently distraught and transfer news starting and ending with the Twitter-powered Karim Benzema saga, I thought I’d take this opportunity to look back on the club’s history against our next opponents.

Forget 49 games, Arsenal are undefeated in over 20 years to Crystal Palace in all competitions, having won the last five, all in the Premier League. Since their promotion back to the top flight for the 2013-2014 campaign, we’ve scored two goals in all four fixtures, winning the first 2-0 at Selhurst Park in October 2013 with goals from Mikel Arteta (pen) and Olivier Giroud.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain then settled the return fixture by grabbing both goals from a central midfield assignment in another 2-0 win in February 2014.

Last season, we opened our Premier League campaign by hosting the Eagles of course, and responded to Brede Hangeland’s opener for the visitors by scoring through Laurent Koscielny, before Aaron Ramsey grabbed a last-minute winner.

And our last trip to Selhurst Park in February earlier this year was settled by goals from Santi Cazorla (pen) and Giroud, with Glenn Murray tapping in a late consolation for the hosts, to induce heart palpitations in us all for a couple of minutes.

But before this recent quartet of clashes, we have to go all the way back to Valentine’s Day 2005 for the last meeting between the two sides, when a brace from Thierry Henry (one from a well-worked corner routine if memory serves) and a goal apiece from Dennis Bergkamp, Jose Antonio Reyes and Patrick Vieira secured us a handsome 5-1 win at Highbury. Andy Johnson got their solitary strike.

The first fixture that season was the last time Palace managed to stop us winning, with the Finn, Aki Riihilahti, quickly cancelling out Henry’s opener in the second half of the game at Selhurst Park in November 2004.

Arsene Wenger has faced the south London club on a further four occasions as Arsenal manager. His first two games both ended in 0-0 draws; a league game at Selhurst Park in October 1997, before an FA Cup clash in February 1998 at Highbury.

In fact, we played the Eagles three times in just ten days that month, with a 1-0 league win, secured courtesy of Gilles Grimandi’s solitary strike at Highbury, being sandwiched by our FA Cup replay, won thanks to an early goal by Nicolas Anelka and another later that half from Bergkamp, before Bruce Dyer pulled one back for the hosts.

Our overall record against Palace, stretching back to the first meeting in January 1934 – a 7-0 Arsenal win, including a brace by Cliff Bastin, third on our list of all-time top-scorers with 178 – reads played 37, won 24, drawn 10 and lost 3 in all comps.

What does all of the above indicate in terms of our next meeting? If you’re a sucker for sequences, I guess it depends on how far back you go. But I wouldn’t look further than 2013 because before that, the squads of both sides contained completely different personnel.

In which case we should score twice and win, Giroud will net the second and a Spaniard will score our first from the spot with Palace maybe getting on the score-sheet themselves. But I prefer to adhere to the mantra an old boss at work offered me in reference to the technical analysis of financial markets: ‘what the f*ck has the past got to do with the future?’.

Still, taking a little trip down memory lane provided me at least, with a welcome distraction from our humbling by the Hammers.

Actual news-wise, our third-choice goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has joined Wolves on a season’s loan. Hopefully there’s a recall option in the event of an injury/suspension to Petr Cech or David Ospina because otherwise, we’re looking at one of the academy keepers to step up. Anyway, best of luck to the big Argentine and he joins former Arsenal youth and goal-scoring machine Benik Afobe at the Midlands club.

Back tomorrow.

10th August 2015: Wenger on West Ham + Benzema latest

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening. So the dust has settled on the defeat to West Ham and to be honest, having watched all our pre-season games leading up to yesterday’s game, I still can’t quite believe what happened.

Now there are plenty who will say that they’ve seen this before and it’s ‘same old Arsenal’ under ‘same old Arsene Wenger’, soft underbelly, flattering to deceive, promising marmalade mañana etc etc but I genuinely agree with the manager’s description of our loss yesterday as an ‘accident’:

We will respond to that accident. The players were maybe too nervous and put too much pressure on themselves. Today we have been hurt mentally and it is a good opportunity to respond. We were not convincing offensively or defensively. I knew it could be a tricky game. If you can’t win the game, make sure you don’t lose it.

Whether that accident was caused by driver error, faulty car components or a combination of both is, I think, not worth analysing in too much detail at this stage of the season. If we look at this loss in the context of our competitive results so far this calendar year, then we can certainly regard it as anomalous. And I’d far rather an opening day league defeat than for such a sequential outlier to have occurred one competitive game earlier, in the FA Cup Final for instance.

Of course such a forgiving mood won’t last if the doomsayers are vindicated and we continue to drop points over the next few weeks. At that point, I’d be as irate and disappointed as so many seem to be right now. Until then though, why not see how things go for a while? We have a new, albeit apparently jittery, world class ‘keeper and with one big omission in Jack Wilshere, a settled squad which should be at peak fitness very soon.

Anyway, here are some choice snippets of Arsene’s take on the game:

  • I think our performance was not convincing, on the two aspects of our game, going forward and defending.
  • I feel we gave two very cheap goals away.
  • Our passing was too slow and in the end we were punished.
  • West Ham looked a bit sharper than us, more advanced in preparation than us – they’ve played many competitive games in the Europa League. I knew before game it would be tricky game on that front.
  • I felt we were a bit nervous and we rushed our game a bit.
  • The concentration and the organisation was not perfect.

The point that sticks out for me is the last one because any team with ambitions of winning the league should have concentration and organisation as a given. Still, I’m choosing to consign the whole sorry affair to history and instead look forward to the next task at hand which is at Crystal Palace on Sunday. And Arsene unsurprisingly, was quick to point out an immediate response from his side was imperative:

A successful season is how you respond to disappointments and it’s never a clear motorway. We have to respond quickly. We have a tricky start. Crystal Palace are a very good team, Liverpool are a very good team, and you could see again today that we are not completely there physically.

___________

Right, that’s a line drawn under that from my perspective.

And moving straight onto the the saga of the summer from an Arsenal point of view, and the first thing to say is I’m glad the starring role isn’t being played by one of our own being linked away from the club. Instead it’s Real Madrid’s number nine, Karim Benzema.

The general consensus all summer has been that if there are any big-money incomings at the club they would arrive closer to the end of the transfer window than the start and with the deadline three weeks today, we’re likely to see the market as a whole start to come to life.

Despite Arsenal’s chances of signing Benzema being categorically dismissed by a number of reputable sources earlier this summer, others are calling this transfer very much on, with some going so far as to say over the weekend that the deal was agreed and Madrid had secured Marco Reus to replace the Frenchman at the Bernabeu.

Benzema’s agent was also reportedly at Emirates Stadium on Sunday and the negotiator between the two sides has today been named as Gustavo Mascardi. However, Manchester City have entered the race and have also been joined by Bayern Munich according to some, although one source is still adamant Arsenal have the transfer tied up despite any late interest from elsewhere. All rather conflicted to say the least, and also possibly completely fabricated by Twitter. We’ll see.

Til Tuesday.

9th August 2015: Cech aura Petrs out in loss to West Ham

Posted on by TremendArse

So after all the pre-match talk highlighting the importance of a strong start to the season for our title dreams, we’ve managed to lose our opening game of the Premier League campaign two nil at home to West Ham, with Petr Cech at fault for at least one of the goals.

Arsene Wenger made two changes to the team that started last Sunday’s Community Shield win, with ‘a slight muscular injury’ ruling out Hector Bellerin, who was replaced at right-back by Mathieu Debuchy, and Olivier Giroud coming in up front at the expense of a benched Theo Walcott.

And right from the off I thought we looked slow in our thinking, rushed in our passing and over-elaborate in a lot of our play, even by our standards. Too many players were ignoring the simple pass in favour of trying to steal the show.

I hate to single out individuals but Aaron Ramsey seemed to me, to be occupying too many of the spaces and too much of the possession Mesut Ozil should have had. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was probably the pick of our performers in the first half with some typically buccaneering bursts but as a team, very little came off for us going forward.

West Ham by contrast, clearly had a contain and counter game-plan instilled in them by new manager Slaven Bilic and were executing it pretty well in the first half. New-boy Dimitri Payet in particular, looked lively and threatening on the break for the Hammers and Cheikhou Kouyaté was full of running.

Even the fact they were fielding a 16 year old, albeit the tallest 16 year old anyone’s ever seen, in midfield, didn’t diminish their display as I was certain it would when the teams were announced. I mean, when was the last time a team played against us with a toddler in their engine room, let alone go on to win comfortably?

But then just before the interval, they won a freekick, it was drifted in, Petr Cech came out to punch it away very unconvincingly, Kouyaté beat him to the ball and glanced home to put them one up. Undoubtedly bad ‘keeping from the Czech but I’m putting it down to first-game jitters and a lack of understanding with the new defence he finds himself behind.

However I’d love to know if there was a shout from either Cech or our defenders as the ball was floated in. Because if the ‘keeper did yell something like “mine!” or “keeper’s!”, then it was an even worse piece of play by the former Chelsea man as it means he misjudged the situation horribly. If not, then communication is something that needs working on back there urgently.

At half-time, I still expected Arsenal to come back out and do the necessary to turn the game around quite easily if I’m honest. I wasn’t being complacent or arrogant in my thinking, I just felt we would improve our game and the goals would arrive. I wasn’t particularly concerned by West Ham’s attacking capabilities despite their goal.

Yet we found ourselves two down on 57 minutes, when about half our team converged on a loose ball in our area before Oxlade-Chamberlain eventually took charge of the situation momentarily, before gifting the ball straight to Mauro Zarate, who fired home at the near post with Cech this time wrong-footed. Perhaps Zarate gave him the eyes because otherwise it was poor ‘keeping again.

After that, we chased the game, Arsene threw on Walcott and a clearly unfit Alexis Sanchez for Coquelin and Debuchy which meant Cazorla ended the game as our deepest central midfielder and our best attacker on the day – the Ox – as auxiliary right-back. I don’t think we came close to scoring if I’m honest and if anything West Ham probably came closer to a third near the end when Mark Noble crossed from the right.

Overall a shocking result to start the new league season and although the players must take a lot of the blame for their performances, I think Arsene will know he got a few things wrong today too.

For instance, the Cazorla-Coquelin combo was crucial to our success in the second half of last season as it enabled efficient ball circulation from the centre, as well as providing a defensive shield, yet was abandoned today. That said, we played with the same set-up as today against Chelsea last weekend and won, which may have swayed the manager.

One way of reverting to it with the same personnel would be Ramsey swapping roles with the Spaniard, or playing from the right, with the Ox switching to the left, even if the Welshman’s made it clear he prefers the central role. If not, then Ramsey needs to improve both his play and his understanding with Coquelin next to him based on today.

It is of course silly to draw any definitive conclusions from the game but even at this very early stage of the season, today’s result feels like a massive opportunity spurned to both make a statement and after yesterday’s results, gain some points on the current champions.

Back tomorrow with post-match reaction. Til then.

7th August 2015: Fighting talk from Wenger on Premier League eve

Posted on by TremendArse

Here we are then. On the starting grid again and the lights are amber. Engines are revving, clutches are biting and one racer, our racer, says he’s ready for the battles that beckon on what will inevitably be a treacherous track to the Premier League title.

The season begins in earnest tomorrow and although we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see Arsenal in action when we entertain West Ham United, we did get some words from a bullish Arsene Wenger to help keep us occupied following his pre match press conference today:

I’m ready for a fight and of course motivated to start well. One of our targets is to start strong. We had a good preparation and that should give us the needed confidence. The Premier League is a fight in every single game so we have to prepare ourselves mentally for that and come out of the blocks straight away against West Ham.

From an Arsenal perspective, it’s the season of great expectations. The squad appears, on paper at least, our best equipped to become domestic champions in a number of years, and also talented and deep enough to provide a realistic challenge to the continent’s best, for what would be the club’s first-ever Champions League crown.

But rather than being intimidated by such a a huge wave of optimistic anticipation, Arsene says he much prefers the current challenge of being declared genuine contenders, to being dismissed as potential champions before a ball has even been kicked, as his side so often were in pre-seasons past:

Yes of course [there is expectation], but we enjoy that. Before we suffered sometimes from the fact that at the start of the season, nobody considered us at all because we lost our best players. That period is over now so we are happy to be under this kind of pressure.

Having ended last season in third place in the table and as FA Cup winners, to many, progress and success would no doubt be winning one of the big two trophies. Yet we won’t be the only club with those lofty ambitions and the reality is a maximum of two teams can win them. So what does the manager think would constitute a ‘successful’ campaign in his opinion?

For me, success is to get the maximum out of the potential of the team. That is the real success. We also want to do better than last season because we always want to move forward. That means that the target is quite high. We won the FA Cup last year and we finished third in the Premier League so our target is very high. Our ambition is to win the Premier League but we have to sustain that by performance and fighting spirit in every single game.

Besides getting his players to perform at the peak of their powers, we’ll also require a little more luck on the injury front and avoid the kind of long-term absences we suffered to the likes of Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud in the first half of last season.

Which is a point the manager made himself today, highlighting the fact that we were actually the league’s best performing side, points-wise, over the last 26 league fixtures of the previous campaign.

The boss then reiterated the need for a flying start and expressed his belief that his current set of players are good enough to win the league without further signings, saying:

Let’s start strong this season… I believe we have the needed ingredients. But we have a tricky start as well because we have two derbies and Liverpool in the first three games, so we have a difficult schedule from the start. We need to maintain our game. hat’s important as well – that we develop what we do well and do not stand still. That means we develop our cohesion, our passing game. If we are capable to keep the cohesion and the solidarity we have at the moment through the 38 games, we have a good chance.

Yet in typical Arsene fashion, he didn’t rule out new arrivals if the right opportunities arise:

But we do not rule it out if something exceptional comes up to do it. I’m very happy with the squad I have but we always look to strengthen and if that turns up, we will still strengthen.

He also kind of dismissed the Karim Benzema stories by labeling them ‘just media talk’, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from the boss really. All that tells us is no deal has been reached but doesn’t rule out the possibility of negotiations behind the scenes. That’s what I’m clinging to anyway.

There was also more from the boss on various other, stuff from rule changes to Alexis Sanchez and team news too but I’ll look at some of that tomorrow and also pick what I think will be our starting eleven on Sunday.

But finally for today, the club have confirmed Serge Gnabry has signed a season-long loan deal at West Brom, so best of luck to the young German at The Hawthorns. Hopefully he can earn a regular starting spot and help the Baggies take points from all our title rivals this term.

And by my estimation, with several loan deals now tied up for an array of our young stars, only Joel Campbell and Wellington Silva remain as peripheral players in the first-team squad.

Whilst the former has been strongly linked with Palermo in recent days and is still on extended holidays after playing for Costa Rica over the summer, the Brazilian is reportedly on a specially designed fitness regime at London Colney and I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him stay with the club having spent the last 14 seasons on loan in Spain securing a passport. Another loan would just be cruel Arsene…

Til Saturday.