Massive Fixtures Ahead : Arsenal Title Credentials On The Line

They said "Arsenal will be tested by Swansea"; Arsenal won the match. They said "It will be Napoli who will really test Arsenal"; Arsenal won the match- comfortably I should add. We lost against Dortmund but they were champions league finalists last season and Arsenal did not make it a walk in the park for them did they?

Arsenal Flying High But Tougher Tests Lie Ahead

Arsenal are 2 points clear at the top of the EPL and there still remains doubts, in the minds of the so-called football pundits at least, whether Arsenal are genuine contenders to the title. Who cares what they think, Arsenal are top of the league and Arsenal fans are loving the view from the top :). My honest opinion is that it is too early to predict who will win but we will get a better idea at the end of December.

Moving on from foretelling the title winner, Arsenal are heading into the start of a very difficult period in the season with some tricky ties coming up. Staring with the home match against Chelsea tonight in the Capital One Cup, Arsenal host Liverpool followed by a visit to Dortmund in the Champions League and then to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the League and they face an equally daunting task against a flying Southampton side at home in the league.As if that was not enough, Arsenal will arguably have an even tougher December to follow with games against Everton(H), Machester City(A), Napoli(A) and Chelsea(H). It is incredible how these big fixtures have all been put together. No wonder people are reserving their thoughts on Arsenal's credibility, because if Arsenal get past this storm of massive fixtures unscathed, or at least not battered, the title would be Arsenal's to lose.

A short note on tonight's match. Arsene knows that a critical phase is approaching in the season and I think he will be forced to prioritize here. He would want his best players to be fit for all these fixtures ahead and I think he will take a big gamble if decides to start with any of his regulars in tonight's match. Whether he will take that risk remains to be seen.

The Fall From Grace - Part II

A Ray Of Hope

So, where do Arsenal go from here?


In my opinion, the way forward for Arsenal is to look back.

The Arsenal team with which Arsene initially  had so much success was handed down from George Graham. This team had the meanest defense on the land.So much so that"1-0 to Arsenal" was the cliche at that time. What Wenger did to this team, after he came in, was that he bought some players with attacking flair to give our club some "Style". However, and most importantly, the back four remained unchanged. What I am trying to say is that we have to have a strong defense if we are to succeed. The team must be built from the back. If Wenger looks back in time, he will realize it. Obviously,he has not done so yet. He has even claimed many times that he will be happy as long as his team scores more than the opponent! That will just not work.Definitely not if the club sells its best attacking players each year!

We all know how the teams that have the best defenses or defend the best get to win trophies(Chelsea anyone?). Our defense is among the worst in the league. You might argue that we have conceded the third lowest number of goals in the league. But, at least in the league,the defense with the most clean sheets win. Just look at Manchester City last year or the Manchester United team this year and the previous years and Chelsea. It would be very bold to predict that Arsenal will keep a clean sheet, even if it is against a "lesser" side. Just look our recent matches. Bradford, we conceded 2, scored 2. Blackburn, conceded once and lost.Bayern,we conceded 3, scored 1. If we had managed to keep a clean sheet in all these matches, we would have still been these competitions. The thing with keeping clean sheets is that we give ourselves every chance of winning.

The worst part of all this is that, we can just sit there and point to our team's nooks. We know that our protests will fall in deaf ears and we can do absolutely nothing about it. Its painful and difficult. To look at a club's rise to the top and fall so dramatically. Well, we were with the club when Arsenal were at the top, lets get behind the club when we are on the way down. "Through Thick and Through Thin" as they say.

The win yesterday was a pleasant welcome. But again, we made it difficult for ourselves and until the final whistle blew, we never knew what could have happened, against one of the league's minnows this season, Aston Villa.

Ba's Gone As The Eve of The Transfer Window Is Upon Us

Demba Ba is In Talks With Chelsea

So, we are finally there. The eve of the New Year 2013(HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!) and most exciting of transfer windows approaches. Not that transfer windows were not exciting before. But the Manager himself has come out and claimed that this transfer window will be busy for Arsenal, which is not something you heard from him recently.Who goes in, who goes out, to Arsenal, from Arsenal, to the Premier League, from the Premier League....fans love the transfer window(if your club does not lose its best players!).
Arsenal have been linked with quite a few names this time around, like always. But as Arsene himself claimed, Arsenal would only be looking at "exceptional talent". Llorente,Holtby,David Villa, Demba Ba among others would perfectly fit the tag of "exceptional talent" and are apparently available for transfers if rumors are to be believed. Demba Ba is however holding talks for a move to Chelsea. He would have been a good addition to our squad given his proven abilities in the EPL and his price tag (7.5mil Pounds). But, it seems he is destined for a move to Chelsea, although you never know unless he actually completes the move.
Arsene, after the game against Newcastle claimed that Arsenal are not "short" in forward area. So, it could be an indication that he would go for a mid-fielder and/or someone to play in the back four, especially the left back position where we are desperately short on numbers and quality.
We can speculate all we want, but the transfer window always throws up quite a few surprises. Brace yourself, because there will be more than a few this time around. 

Llorente Confirms And Another Defeat

Llorente Is Hot Property In Europe

So, Llorente has finally confirmed that he will be leaving Athletic Bilbao. However, Arsenal fans will be slightly disappointed as he only plans to leave at the end of the season. Asked at a press conference if he will be leaving, he said:

"Yes, I'm leaving on June 30. I want to try other things."

Guess what.
Arsenal slumped to another defeat.
A 2-1 defeat at the hands of Olympiakos last night means that Arsenal finish second in their group behind Shalke. It was hardly a shock really.  A second-string side playing in one of the most difficult places in Europe did not make it any easy; although it would not be wrong to claim that even the first team would have struggled with the kind of football that they are playing, or not playing lately.
I had mentioned in my previous post that Arsene is looking to concentrate on the EPL by sacrificing  the top spot in the group, which is justified in my view given our poor league position at the moment. We cannot expect Arsenal to do a "Chelsea" and win the Champions League. We have to be realistic.

Ox Took to Twitter To Express His Frustration

 I do not want to get into details of yesterday's match but, the better team won. The positive from the match was that J.Meade's performance at left back was really impressive. Ramsey et al failed once more. Alex "The Ox" Chamberlain vented his frustration at the defeat through twitter: "Its times like this a club needs to stick together to pull through. Trust me this hurts us just as much as it does the fans #AFC". Are these signs of dissatisfaction spreading across the Arsenal dressing room? Only time will tell.
Looking forward to the weekend's match against West Brom followed by the mid-week Capital One Cup tie against Bradford City.

ITS 13 IN A ROW FOR ARSENAL

CONSECUTIVE KNOCKOUT TOURNAMENT NO. 13

So, Arsenal have qualified for the knockout phase of the premier European club competition, the Champions League for the 13th season in a row. It is some achievement. Even the so called “great” teams like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus have not managed the same feat. It is a commendable achievement no doubt.

As much as the achievement is commendable, it also remains a fact that all of these teams (barring Juventus) have won the Champions League in the same period at least once but Arsenal’s best performance has been finishing as runners up, once. Herein lies the irony. Is competing bigger than winning? Is consistently reaching the knock-out phase bigger than winning the tournament itself? Arsenal fans need no reminding of such questions because they have been asking the same questions for the last 7 seasons as Arsenal have failed to win any trophy yet have qualified for the group stages of the Champions League consistently. There is no specific answer to this question. However, yesterdays match in my view, gave away some of answers to our questions.

Yes,we won the match 2-0 but still we never played like we would win against any team. In fact, in the first half, we were lucky to be 0-0 thanks to some poor finishing from our opponents. Even in the second half there were quite a lot of nervy moments for Arsenal. We will not be as lucky in all the matches that we play. The need for a leader in midfield and defense was so evident in last night's match. You could see that our players were nervy. They were perhaps a bit awed by the occasion because they knew how important the match was. As I have mentioned so many times in my previous posts, we must be defensively solid. The only time we were solid in Europe was when we reached the Finals in 2006 when we did not concede for almost 900 minutes till the final where we were dealt a cruel defeat. Every other season we have conceded more than we scored before heading to the exit.It is a fact. And based on this fact it is quite clear that unless we get a defensive solidity in our team , we will might not fill our trophy cabinet.

CONCEDED

Yesterday's defeat against Norwich condemned Arsenal to their second defeat of the season.Yet, Arsenal are already 10 points behind the league leaders Chelsea.It is very early to state that Chelsea will win the league.However,it is almost certain that Arsenal will need a miracle to overtake Chelsea at the top.I don't think Arsenal were really one of the title contenders.Most experts expected the same specially after RVP left.But a few fans and experts did have some raised hopes after Arsenal had an encouraging start to the season.Not even the most optimistic of fans would expect Arsenal to challenge for the Premier League now.
It is now a race to finish in the top 4 for Arsenal from now on in my opinion.Maybe they can take a dig at other competitions(judging by yesterday's performance, a big maybe).

Some might think it is too early for making any predictions as such but Arsenal fans have just got to look at Arsenal's last 8 seasons.For me the main problem was conceding goals.Again and again we concede goals.A top team must be able to keep clean sheets.We had 3....then had nothing.That is just not acceptable.I have mentioned many times previously that if a team does not concede, it has every chance of winning a game;unless of course if you are Real Madrid or Barcelona who can outscore their opponents (yesterdays 5-4 win for Barcelona against Deportivo,what a game!).Manchester City too,managed to outscore West Brom and so did Manchester United who did it against Stoke.But the key difference here is that Arsenal do not have world class players aplenty in their squad like all the teams I just mentioned(you can't deny that,can you?).We do not have a player who can almost single-handedly propel their team to a win.(Messi scored thrice, Dzeko twice,Rooney twice;an they have done it consistently).Giroud or Gervinho or Wallcot are not at the same level, atleast not yet.It is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth.We must keep it tight at the back and then hope(yes...hope) we can score.

Our next game is against Shalke and I think it will be another banana skin after I saw Shalke beat Dortmund emphatically yesterday(I can just hope it is a clean sheet!).

BACK TO "ARSENAL" WAYS

I have never liked Arsenal conceding a goal.In fact,I would take a 0-0 draw any day for a 2-1 win!(well maybe not all the time!).I have always believed that for a team to win trophies, it must show solidity from the back(unless you are Barcelona or Real Madrid ofcourse).

For their first 3 games of the season, Arsenal managed to keep as many clean sheets.They were being praised from all corners regarding their new found defensive solidity.Some even tipped them to challenge for the title after watching just 3 games!(which was ofcourse an overreaction).How things have changed.They started their old habit of conceding goals again after the 3 matches.So much so that they have not kept a clean sheet in any tournament after the first 3 matches!And the repercussions of conceding goals are clearly to be seen in the matches.The only match in which we looked comfortable conceding a goal was the one against Southampton.We had some luck in winning the other matches where we conceded while our luck ditched us against the matches against Manchester City(where we could and should have won easily) and against Chelsea(which ofcourse we lost).

When we were not conceding,you could see that all our players oozed confidence and they believed we could win.That is true for any team.As I have mentioned in my earlier post,any team that does not concede has every chance to win.But,if you analyze the matches in which we conceded, our players seemed more nervous and as a result, we gave chances to the opposition.

Personally,whenever Arsenal concede,I get nervous myself!I just can't take a goal!I start to get thoughts like "Ok. We might throw away this game here" "Here we go again!".These thoughts are mainly due to that dreaded night at the Emirates against Newcastle 2 seasons ago when we went from 4-0 up to drawing 4-4 and 8-2 defeat last season.Win or lose,I have always watched Arsenal matches till the final whistle.However, this season,I expect so much from Arsenal's defense that when we conceded a goal, I stopped watching the match altogether.I can't hold my nerves after we concede! It is in a way, too painful too watch.Please, Arsenal, do not concede....so that I can watch the full match.

CHIT-CHAT

Today is a very important day for Arsenal FC. An important player of our squad,Jack Wilshere is playing tonight for the Arsenal reserves after a 14 month injury layoff that saw him miss the entire season last year.

It will be some time before he makes the first team.But non the less, it is an important step towards making it to the first squad.His return is good news for Arsenal who could benefit from the return of the outstanding player.His return is now more important as Diaby is out injured and we need that "assured" type of player in our midfield like Wilshere who can dictate the pace of the came while also creating countless scoring opportunities.

Midfield however is not at the top list of my concerns because it is a position where we have surplus replacements, also rightly claimed by Le Boss.My main concern is the striker's position. I do not(sadly) see any player in that position at Arsenal who is capable of scoring 20+ goals this season.Even more worrying is the fact that there are 20+ goal scoring talents at clubs that have traditionally been labelled as clubs below Arsenal. Everton have Anichebe and Jelavich (maybe Fellaini too),Sunderland(Fletcher),Aston Villa(Darren Bent),Tottenham(Jermain Defoe,Adebayor and maybe GarethBale), Southampton(RickieLambert), Reading (Shane Long).A club like Arsenal must have a world class striker,I don't see one at the moment. Gervinho could surprise me and score 20+ but he seems to be scared too many times to score especially when it matters(misses against Man City and Chelsea this season).Giroud too seems totally lost at Arsenal.He is already a flop to me.He missed  two chances that could have given us 4 points.Although, I will add that this is his first season and he will take time to settle.Maybe next season he will do better.But I would suggest Arsenal fans not to expect many goals from him this season. Podolski is a great finisher no doubt, but the manager is playing him at the left where he will not get many opportunities to score.And who is our other option?Chamakh? I think the manager knows how "good" Chamakh is.So he would prefer to use a false striker maybe like Barcelona and more recently by Spain.This could be a good option but what we must realize is that WE ARE NO BARCELONA or SPAIN.Our other option,Wallcott is pacey but too "lean" to be a striker in the Premier League.

The way I see it, I think Arsene should mix the "false striker" and the traditional number 9 kind of play with Gervinho upfront and maybe Giroud once in a while.It will be more likely for us to get goals then....ofcourse, from one of our midfielder! 

THE AFTERMATH

I still feel drowsy from watching the late night match between Barcelona and Seville last night.What a match it was!Barcelona came back fro 2-1 down to defeat Seville 3-2 in the dying moments of the match.How I wished Arsenal could achieve the same feat earlier in the evening.But bygones are bygones.It is a new day and we have to move on.No use in complaining about "what could have been" or "what should have been."

So what position are we after yesterday's defeat?We are at 7th with 9 points.Chelsea are of course 1st with 16 points.Already, the gap is of 7 points!Second placed Everton(surprise!) are at 13 points. No need for us to panic just yet.Chelsea will eventually drop points.The table is not as much a concern to me as the Arsenal squad is at the moment.We lost "glass-ankled" Diaby yesterday.A pity really, he could have given so much to  our team.But it is evident that he is too injury-prone to be playing or for that matter staying at Arsenal in my opinion.Van Persie too was injury prone,he played at least 15-20 games per season.

Another concern for me is that the players looked so down at the final whistle yesterday.The media and the fans alike, before the match predicted the first loss of the season for Chelsea, which might have raised expectations in our players that they could(or maybe would) win the match.But, they were to be disappointed at the end of the day.This might also have had a negative effect on some of our players who seemed so confident before the match.I wonder if this will have longer impacts on our play?I hope it does not and hope the players will pick themselves up after the defeat.

After the match, Arsene said about the missed chance by Giroud at the death, "He should have scored." Well Giroud has been a total flop for me so far.I don't think the manager thinks he is a hit too.He did not start the last too match,did he?And not counting the minor chances,he missed two very important chances, one against Stoke to win the match and the one against Chelsea yesterday that would have given us a point.
Arsene does not and has not criticized his players in the past.But in case of Giroud, it seems even Le Boss is finding it hard to keep quite!Yet,I hope Giroud does well although I am not sure this season will be a season to remember for him in all honesty.

KNEE JERK REACTION

It is quite evident from past seasons that the winning teams are the ones that are more defensively solid. If a team prevents opponent from scoring, they have every chance of winning the match even if the opponent is outplaying them in every way possible.The Chelsea team last year in the Champions League are a perfect example(although they had incredible luck in their favor!).Spain conceded the least number of goals on their way to lifting the Euro 2008(1),FIFA World Cup 2010(2) and Euro 2012(1).There are other numerous examples(just google for all the stats).The result that you get is "the winning team is the one that concedes the least".

Arsenal started the 2011-2012 season very well,at least from a defensive point of view whichever way you look at it.Especially when you consider how many they let in last year,they conceded the least goals for the first 3 games in the league this season.The praises were coming every corner.Most fans and experts alike, credited the good work to the newly promoted Steve Bould to Arsene's first team coaching staffs as the assistant coach.Many even went on to say that now Arsenal could win this season with the new found defensive solidity.How all of that was thrown out of the window in today's defeat to the league leaders Chelsea!

Arsene had given indications of more "attacking" style he wanted the Arsenal team to show after he was asked of the defensive assurance Arsenal were showing in the first few matches.According to him,the style of Arsenal is such that we will concede goals but we will score more than the opponents.He has mentioned time and again during his tenure at Arsenal that he does not mind conceding goals as long as we outscore the opponent.But what he must realize, and I dare say he does realize it; the fact that all out attacks without any consideration to the defense has given him 7 blanks in 7 years!

The fans and experts alike are not helping here with their comments.They are presuming Arsenal to win trophies so early in the season.It is a knee jerk reaction to the win or the defensive display shown by Arsenal in the few games that they played.However, they must realize that a trophy is won if such displays are shown consistently over the whole season.If today's match is an indicator of things to come,the consistency is absent in Arsenal.

The moment the match started, it almost felt like last season revisited....at least to me.I never felt,during the entire match that we will not let in goals!I think most fans and experts expected Arsenal to win or at least get a point against Chelsea.But in the end ...we lost(how many times have we heard that before?).
The defensive aspect was thrown out of the window today.A really poor display from Arsenal.My appeal to everyone is that let us not "presume" anything.We know how we performed last year(or the years before that) so let us be practical and realists.If Arsenal win one game they do not win a trophy!If we "presume" they will win a trophy after watching 1-2 games, we will have expectations from the team which will ultimately lead to disappointment at the end of the season(the story has been similar for the last 7 seasons).
Let us just get behind our team(win or lose) and hope and pray that at least they give it their best(to me if they don't concede, that is as good as a win really).