What is going on at Arsenal?

Good afternoon to you all from a very wet and cold Cork.
Well Saturday afternoon, what can I say that hasn't already. Going back to my previous blog about slow starts and no will to really get down and complete the job. We really needed to win this game, once again Chelsea and City have dropped points and we failed to take advantage. Straight from the off we were slow, second to everything and had one clear chance that fell to a centre half. Chamberlain had his worse game in an Arsenal shirt, Poldolski had a terrible game, Carzola couldn't find any space and we generally had a bad performance all over the pitch. Arsenal's match of the match for me was Mertsacker he once again showed that he has quality and had a very solid game. I'd like to touch on the save Szczesney pulled off which could have meant we lost the game. So I feel he deserves a bit of credit for that.
After the game my thoughts were that it's the right system but the wrong players. We had no pace in the side on Saturday and found ourselves passing the ball side ways and not going forward. The missing link in that system is Theo Walcott. For me he must start in the middle and play as our striker against Everton and for the rest of the season if we are going to worry any teams from here on in. Giroud is a great player with a great strikers head on him but has he got the pace to penetrate defenses? No I don't think so.

Now the substitution... A very strange one at that and it was right up there with when he took of the Ox against Manchester Utd. We needed the win and Wenger takes off a center forward to be replaced by a central defensive midfielder. That alone says to me that Wenger has no confidence on our ability to achieve the draw, and also run out of ideas on how to score and take all three points. I watched the press conference after the game and Arsene looked like a man under immense pressure and dodged a lot of questions.  When asked about the chants of "You don't know what your doing" he gave a firm reply of " I've been a manager for 30 years, do I need to prove that I know what I'm doing?" To be fair to Arsene it was a good answer, but on the other hand I think the chant had a degree of truth to it. He really looks like he's running out of ideas and I'm worried that he is having trouble motivating the teams. I've heard reports that he locked the players away and gave them a dressing down in language that I cant repeat.
David Seaman has been quoted in saying that its not Arsene that is the problem, but our financial strictness that is running at the club. You have to agree with him as if you drew up a side with the players in it that we have let go in the last 5 years we would have without a doubt in my mind a team that would be right up there every season. We cant look back on the past and look only to the future. But it is clear for all to see there something not quite right at our club at the moment and I'm starting to wonder is it Le Boss?

Until the next time sing for the Arsenal

Follow me on Twitter @ScottyBoyGooner

Blog Virginity Lost... #Liberation

First Time Blogger...

So, I've been thinking about writing a blog for sometime and today the opportunity presented itself - on Twitter, a platform I've only been using for just under a month anyway! 

Anyway, this is more of an introductory post and hopefully during the season you'll get to read a bit more about my views on the club I love and other football related stuff. 

Short Bio

I'm a current season ticket holder in the lower tier, and have been following Arsenal for as long as I remember due to my old man being Arsenal mad! Went to my first game in 1989 as a 4 year old, sat on his shoulders in the days when terracing was still normal...not that I remember it! In the last few years I've been going to away games too - you'll normally find me standing like the rest of the away support, singing my heart out. 

Some of my favourite players probably include those that you all love and adore, all the big guns such as Bergkamp, Henry, Pires and Adams. But there are others that are not as oft-mentioned - Limpar, Rocastle, Seaman and Parlour. Some of my most memorable games attended include the 4-0 victory over Liverpool in April 1992 (Limpar from the half-way line), 1993 FA Cup Final replay v Sheffield Wednesday, the last game of the unbeaten season v Leicester, the final salute game at Highbury v Wigan, countless North London derbies and the recent 7-5 win at Reading!

Thoughts on the season so far

Its been a bit of an up and down season so far - solid start, albeit with a lack of goals - note that everyone credited this to Steve Bould's presence in the dressing room but as the season has begun to progress, he gets mentioned fleetingly. We've got ourselves in the goals in the last few weeks, with Giroud and Podolski looking good but still look shaky at the back at times - evidenced by our nerves when that chimp Bale scored for the scum. I think Gibbs will return against Villa to give us our natural balance back...he and Poldi seemed to have been developing a good partnership prior to his injury. 

December will be a key month I feel. If we are realistically going to finish any higher than 4th (interpret that any way you wish!), we really need to get maximum points when you look at our league fixtures. These are all games we should be getting 3 points from if we are looking to challenge in the long term. 

The renewed sponsorship deal

Clearly in light of Scumchester Utd's sponsorship deal with Chevrolet, our commercial sponsorship needed to be addressed - to an extent, I would think it has been with this new deal. It will really need to be re-evaluated in a couple years time when other clubs re-negotiate their deals but the sounds coming out of the club are positive (I know we've heard those before though) so lets see if this additional revenue really does get spent at the end of season. I don't know enough about it other than what has come out of the club, so I can't really try to give you a more considered view - watch this space, perhaps in one of the next few posts I will.

Goodbye...for now...

Anyhow, I hope you all thought that was an interesting read - open to any thoughts/views either through this page or on Twitter (@MishDattani). In the meantime, I'm off to Villa Park for what I hope will be 3 points - come on you Gunners!

Villa away and other stuff...

Good morning to all you from a cold and overcast Cork.. Today we play Villa away... Villa are not in the best of shape at the moment. Surrendering a two goal lead against Utd and getting thrashed away at City last week. To be honest I expect us to win up there today. We should be full of confidence and morale should be high after the mid-week Champions League advancement.

I've had a read through the news this morning and see that Huntelaar is stalling over his contract in Germany.   So could this mean the 29 year old Dutch striker is on way to Emirates Stadium? He has had plenty of chance to join Arsenal before (So its been said) but never oped to join us. I think the reason for this could have been Van Persie. I think Huntelaar would have known that he was the man of the moment and knew he wouldn't get a game. But now things have changed, but my main concern about this is Giroud. For me he has been one of our most consistent players. His movement is a joy to watch, I feel once he has settled in fully he will go on to score a lot of goals. So signing Huntelaar, would it be good? Would he be on the bench? If so is he going to want to be on the bench? A player of his standard is going to be wanting to play week in week out and the same can said for Giroud.

I know we have to bolster the squad if we want any chance of fighting for cups and titles, but the only way the current player linked with us is going to fit in is if Arsene changes the tactics and his formation and to be honest I cant see him doing that. It also leaves another problem, Theo Walcott. If Huntelaar is signed and becomes an Arsenal player, surely this leaves the door open for Theo to leave. There would be a very small chance that he would get played in the central role he craves to play in, leaving only one option available and that is leave the club. So I'd be interested to here your views on this. Don't we need players in other positions first? In my opinion we need a proper central defensive midfielder. Arteta is great don't get me wrong but I feel sometimes he can leave us very open at the back, causing extra pressure for our back line.

I said I wanted to speak about the new deal signed with Emirates but judging by twitter and all the retweets I probably wouldn't be able to tell you anything you don't know already.

Enjoy the game and I'll be sharing my views on it tomorrow or Monday. Have to go to work to pay the bills!
Sing for the Arsenal!

Scotty
Follow me on Twitter @ScottyBoyGooner

My Views.. Some Agree Some Dont..

Hi all I hope the eve of the next Match Day finds you all well. Now after beating Spurs last weekend going into the game against Montpellier I was really excited as I thought that we would have gone into the game all guns blazing. Now yes I understand that we won the game and was pleased with the overall performance. But why is it taking us so long to get going in some of the fixtures this season. The QPR performance was far from great and the Schalke  game at the Emirates was so bad which in turn saw us lose our proud record of not losing a game there in the Champions League. Following that a 3-3 draw with Fulham really knocked the stuffing out of us the supporters and it really must have knocked the morale of the players. The North London Derby was the best chance to really show us that they were still up for it and had the desire to do well and really show us fans that.

I have to be fair to Spurs and say that before Adepaymore got send off they really had us rattled. But we went on to really put them to sword, and of course we all said it in our minds one way or another. But getting back to the slow starts, I would love to be in the dressing room when Wenger is doing his team talks. It seems to me he does them the wrong way wrong. Take the Reading game for example, 4-0 down after 37 mins. Come out and score 4 goals and go on to win the game. What I'm trying to say here is he saying to the players to go out first half and try to contain teams until half time? Then really go for it when we are losing? I'd love to see us start coming out the blocks again fast! With the pace and passing ability we have we should be destroying teams in midfield. With the Ox and Podolski to Cazorla and Arteta, There would be plenty of managers in the league that would pay a lot of money or cut there own arms off to have that line up. Yet we are so slow to get going all the time?

For me, Theo Walcott has to start playing as our striker. For people that disagree think back to the finish against West Ham which was world class. View from the back of the goal to see just how little space he had to get that ball in. With him in a central role and Ox and Podolski on the wings, we are going to stretch a lot of teams, the pace there is frightening.

So that's my first attempt at expressing my views via the Internet to the Gooners in the world. Hopefully as time goes by I will become better at it and you will be able to relate to my blogs a bit more.
In my next one i will be taking about the Villa game, Oliver Giroud, and the deal struck with the Emirates.

Until then Sing for The Arsenal
Scotty

Follow me on Twitter @ScottyBoyGooner
twitter.com/ScottyBoyGooner