Dives and Lenient Refereeing: Just What Arsenal Need To Win

You Know You Faked It Santi!

A dive for the first goal and a foul, that was not given, before the penalty.
So now we need such decisions from the referee to win games?
Not being too critical here, and I know these kinds of decisions sometimes go for you and sometimes go against you. But it never pleases me when any team wins with goals literally "awarded" to them. Yes, Arsenal were in deep crisis. We desperately needed the 3 points. But not like the way we did.

We could have done little regarding the decisions  though. The right to make the final decision rests on the referee. It is the referee who decides what is a foul and what is not. He saw it his way and made his decision, right or wrong. The apology from Wenger regarding the dive from Santi was a real welcome. It seems his "I didn't see it" line is going out of fashion!

We created numerous opportunities in the game but it never looked like we would score with the players on the pitch. Arsenal need to be concerned. They won't get things their way in every game, will they?

COULD MISSING OUT ON TOP 4 BE A BOON FOR ARSENAL?

THINK ABOUT IT MR.WENGER - NO TOP 4 THIS SEASON

Arsenal have finished in the top 4 in every season that has been managed by Arsene Wenger, i.e. the past 16 consecutive seasons.During this period, we have come very close to finishing outside the top 4. The closest that we came was in the 2005/2006 season when we secured 4th position only in the final day of the league. Though we did not play well in the last few seasons, the top 4 position was secured quite easily in the end (to the surprise of many ofcourse!).

There is no doubt about the degree of importance of finishing in the top 4. Wenger himself has claimed many times that even winning trophies is secondary to finishing in the top 4. However, Paul Merson, a former gunner himself , told sky news that finishing outside the top 4 would be actually more beneficial to Arsenal because it would wake up everyone at the club.

It is actually something that had come across my mind a few years back. Arsenal are in slumber at the moment and they need to be woken up; simple. For that to happen, maybe we must finish outside the top 4. Maybe that will push the board and the manger to invest in the team rather than just making money for themselves. What do you think?

WINTERBURN:ARSENE STILL THE MAN FOR ARSENAL

IS WENGER STILL GOOD ENOUGH FOR ARSENAL?

Arsenal FC legend Nigel Winterburn has come out in defense of Arsene Wenger. He said:

  "I think Arsene Wenger is the right man for the football club and I'm sure he can get Arsenal Football Club back to where they were several seasons ago if he was allowed to bring in some real top-quality players."


He further said:

"I love the style of football that Arsenal have played over the years under him"

Do you agree with Nigel? Should Arsene be given a chance based solely on his past credentials? If so, for how long?

In other news, Arsene has named a second-string squad for the trip to Olympiacos with  some completely new faces in Akpom,Ansah and Monterio in the first team squad(click to view complete squad list). It is quite clear that Arsene is happy with 2nd place in the group. I don't blame him for that. We can keep our regular players fresh for the weekend.

CAVANI,VILLA,LLORENTE OR GOTZE? EVEN MESSI WON'T DO

FRUSTRATION APLENTY AT ARSENAL

Where should I start?
Well this had been coming. We had doubts before this game even kicked off. We were expecting a comeback from Arsenal but deep inside, we knew (atleast I did) this could prove a banana skin(once again!). The most ardent of Arsenal fans had feared for the worse. So, it was not, in many ways, a complete surprise was it?

CAN WE STILL EXPECT FROM WENGER?

Arsenal keep getting poorer and poorer! Just when we thought it could get much worse, our team consistently proves us wrong.The press, the media and the fans had been pointing fingers at the club for 5-6 seasons that "Arsenal are going in the wrong direction","They cannot expect to win like this", "They will not and cannot challenge for trophies....". Our board and Le Boss completely ignored what others said. Yes, they have the right to take things their way but complete,absolute ignorance......It has only meant they have bigger pockets that keeps getting bigger every year and the scary thing is that they are satisfied with that!

Arsenal have the worst start to the premier league since 1994/95. FYI we finished 12th that year!
We as fans feel so helpless at the moment. We have never been heard for all these years and I doubt any changes(which we need desperately) will be made very soon. We can just hope that the worst part of this "storm" is over and will give way to clearer skies ahead.

 

WILL IT BE MIDWEEK MISERY OR JOY FOR ARSENAL?

WILL OUR DEFENSE BE AS HAPPY AT THE END OF THE MATCH TONIGHT?

 Arsenal travel to the Mersyside to face Everton in their mid-week EPL fixture tonight. The match carries much importance to both the teams as teams look to battle for the top four this season along with Spurs and this seasons' surprise package in the form of West Brom.

This encounter has always served up some classics,especially in recent years. Everton have always given made it tough for Arsenal and are expected to do so again. They have always been a well balanced team under Moyes. This year however, they seem to be even more potent, thanks mainly to their impressive attack. Jelavic,Mirallas,Fellaini and ofcourse, Leighton Baines,who has created more scoring opportunities than any other player in the league this season, have been the key figures in propelling Everton to  new heights this season. Everton can hurt teams, no doubt. Just ask Manchester United. Defensively too, they have been very solid.

A few years back, many would have gone for Arsenal to nick it in the end. Infact, when the "Invincibles" were around,very few would have expected Everton to get a result. How times have changed. Pundits and the media put Everton as firm favorites for the match tonight. Sczesny pointed out indirectly,how things were stacked against us by claiming that this is a "six pointer".

Arsenal have been far from convincing this season and tonight's match could be a turning point for the club and the manager who is under pressure to perform. Win and Arsene will be hailed as the savior again. Loose and fans will be braying for his head. We don't want a draw do we?

WHERE IS ARSENAL'S "BEAUTIFUL" FOOTBALL?

WILL THE NEXT GENERATION DELIVER BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL OR TROPHIES?

One of my friends told me a few years back : "Arsenal will play some pretty football but they won't win anything." It was the 2006/07 season. I don't think I need to say more about that season! Now when I think over what he said, sure he was right when he claimed it. But I wonder. Do we still play "pretty" football?

First of all, what is "pretty" football? Does it mean playing quick,short-passing game; or quick one-touch passing game; or passing your way to the goal; or passing and scoring lots of goals? Most would claim that short,quick passing game is what Arsenal like to play. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. But a key component that made our game "pretty" was one-touch play. The Invincibles were masters in the art and mesmerized the world with such plays. The next generation at Arsenal that came close to emulating the same style were the players from 2006/07 season with Fabregas,Hleb and Flamini at the heart of everything. I dare say such football is a thing of the past if one looks at the type of football that we play at the moment. Infact, Manchester United and even the so-called "smaller" teams like Swansea and Southampton arguably have better chance of winning the title of "pretty" football!

The irony is that we did not win anything when we played "pretty" football and it does not look like we will win anything when we don't play "pretty" football : ( .

WHAT WE WILL ACTUALLY GET IN THE JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW

WILL THEY DON THE ARSENAL COLOURS NEXT SEASON?

        








As the January transfer window approaches, the talk of the town is- who will get in and who will get out of their club. If you are a Man City fan at the top of the league or QPR fan at the bottom, every fan likes to see quality players(players in their FIFA dream team :-)) to come into their clubs and the player(s) they loath most in the club to leave the club. The transfer window is always an exciting period for all fans alike.

Arsenal have been linked with a gazillion players before this window(hardly a new thing). Interestingly, although Arsenal have almost always signed youngsters and unproven players, we have been linked mostly with some of the best in the business than with rising prodigies this time around. Not that we were not linked to bring in big name players in the seasons gone by;somehow, it is different this time. Most of the rumors are ofcourse  pure works of fiction. But are they all fictitious?

Fact or fiction, what is undeniable is that Arsenal fans have their hopes raised sky high. The mere thought of players like Huntelaar, Llorente, Cavani, David Villa,etc coming to Arsenal gives us goosebumps. What fuels the excitement even more is the fact that Arsenal have recently given preference to signing proven players like Arteta, Mertesacker, Podolski and Cazorla. Also, Arsene is coming under more and more pressure form the fans as well as the media to buy proven talents. The signing of a new and, as claimed by Ivan Gazidis, a "huge" deal with Emirates is another reason for the fans to get excited about.

It won't be an understatement to say that Arsenal fans expect something big in the window; no doubt about that. There are enough reasons to believe that we could get the names(at least one if not some) that we are linked with in the January transfer window. However, I don't need to remind everyone about how many times we have been let down on this front in the past. So, lets keep our feet on the ground yet be optimistic, cautiously.

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.

CALM BEFORE THE STORM?

THE MUCH AWAITED NORTH LONDON DERBY

The international matches came and went like a flash. A single set of matches placed between hectic league football matches only serves the purpose of inflicting fatigue or injuries to players in the view of most fans and experts alike. I personally do not like such matches as Arsenal usually produce miserable outings after such breaks. However there have been no injuries and our regulars did not get 90 minutes for their countries and added to that,the world was treated with one of the greatest goals ever thanks to Zlatan Ibrohimovic.Not a bad break was it?

Lets get to the point now. The north-London derby day is upon us.Arsenal had a decent start to the season but then their form took a nosedive.Tottenham had been playing decently until they suffered two successive defeats in their last two matches. Both teams are desperate for all three points to stay in contention(at least for the top 4). However, more than points,as is always the case with derbies, honor of both the clubs are at stake.Coupled with the mid-week international break, I have a feeling that both teams will be cautious in their approach and play to "not lose". For some reason,I feel that the build up to the game has not been as good as could have been,maybe because of the international break.The build up has been a very subdued one from recent derbies. We have been served with some crackers in the previous seasons and hopefully it will bill up to the expectations once again.Arsenal used the very game last season to give a lift to their season last season and hopefully it will be the same this year. We certainly hope that it is a calm before the storm; a storm that will  blow away our hated neighbors!

GIVE ME A BREAK

So it is here again!It is that time when we go into a break in club football to be "Entertained" with some international football matches.The good thing for football lovers like me, is that we get to watch some good football.The hunger for watching football is constantly replenished for us,either through club football or through international football matches.But, you do have to take a moment and wonder how the players would cope with such continuous football week in week out.

From an Arsenal perspective, we have seldom done well in a match immediately following an international break(as if Arsenal fans needed to be reminded of that!). Either we have lost some important players to injuries or our players would not recover fully for the following match.And this "curse" seems to be upon  us again as new has surfaced regarding an injury to Koscielny.(God,no more injuries please...fingers crossed!)

Looking at the bigger picture, England national team seems to be suffering the most with so many football matches for club and country. Talks of a winter break like in other European countries has picked up fuel quite a lot recently. If you look at the performances of the English national team, they have been average,let alone being genuine contenders for any title.There is no proof that a winter break will help any team to perform well but other leagues who go into breaks seem to do better internationally (Germany,Spain,Italy,Netherlands,France).So, perhaps the call for a break is not a bad idea after all. (Although that would deprive us of some football matches!).

For the time being though, let us support all the teams that have players from Arsenal FC(which most of us will do) and enjoy some International action.