Monthly Archives: February 2012

Arseblog, the arsenal blog
February 29, 2012 posted by arseblog

Trasnferzzzzzzzz + van Persie stuff

Trasnferzzzzzzzz + van Persie stuff

Welcome to the extra day, folks. It’s all leap yeary and stuff. This is the third 29th of February of Arseblog’s existence.

On Feb 29th 2008 I had a hangover. Which is something of a surprise, as was the suggestion that Martin Taylor, fresh from breaking Eduardo’s leg, did Tom Cruise impressions in a Satanic band called Beelzebubble.

While on Feb 29th 2004, a very young Gael Clichy said, “It’s a great pleasure playing for a team like this. Even before I actually joined Arsenal, I was a fan of the club. Now I am one of the players, but still a supporter.”

Awww, but then why would you join a club and stop being a supporter. At least straight away. It’d take years and years before you decided the bench elsewhere was good enough. Maybe that means Nasri is much more concentrated by Clichy having done that in a much shorter period of time, but then enough about that chinless gimp for now.

The main thing that has people talking this morning is a big rumour about Lukasz Podolski. Depending on what you read he’s joined us, he will join us, a fee has been agreed, personal terms have been agreed, he’s open to joining us, he wouldn’t mind joining us, it’s a done deal, it’s not quite a done deal, it’s not even done at all and ZZZzzzzzzzz.

Here’s the thing, for me at least. There is nothing Podolski, or anyone else, can do to help us this season. If there was I’d be much more interested in him. But there isn’t, so I’m not. And transfer news is tedious enough at the best of times – those times being when the actual transfer window is open and you can, you know, transfer the player – but a good month after the January window has closed and months before the summer one opens again? … do me a favour.

It does go some way to back up my theory a lot of people are more interested in transfers than actual football. We have 12 games to go, each them a ‘cup final’ (yeah, I know) and already people are worrying about how and when we’re going to spend our money in the summer. If Podolski happens then, let’s discuss it. As for now he’s a bloke playing for another team in another league who can have no impact whatsoever on what we need to do between now and May. As such, I’m about as interested in him as I am in urethra piercing.

What’s of more import this morning is that 13 Arsenal first team players will be in action for their countries tonight. Already there’s some worry over Robin van Persie who has picked up some kind of knock but Bert van Marwijk remains optimistic that he’ll play tonight against England. To be fair, van Marwijk has been decent in the past, not overplaying Robin, so we’ll just have to hope that they’re on the level when they say they’ll take no risks with him.

Our fear of van Persie being nobbled while away with his country has always been present but this time it’s not just fear. It’s sheer terror due to the lack of back-up we’ve got for him. Both Chamakh and Park are away with their countries this week too. No doubt Park will score a few playing against Kuwait (just me or do they play a lot of games in that region?) while Morocco play Burkina Faso.

Regardless of what they do on international duty, however, all eyes will be on Wembley where England play Holland. The idea of going to Anfield without van Persie is nightmarish so we just have to keep everything crossed that he comes through without incident. And if he doesn’t I suggest we blame Stuart Pearce. And Sven. And Kevin Keegan. And Oliver Cromwell.

Anyway, let’s stay in the realms of positivity and the skipper, despite saying he’ll wait until summer to discuss his new contract, has hinted his ideal scenario is to sign a new one with us. Speaking to the Dutch press, he said:

I have been there for eight years and I’m proud. At the end of the season I will it down with the trainer and the president. Then we make a cup of coffee all together.

I am a true Gunner. I love this club and that’s no secret. We will soon talk about many things. I do quite often with the trainer anyway. Only later on is the president there.

Do you think they have a Nespresso machine or would Arsene use his traditional French press? I can’t see Robin being a percolator man but given his artistic background it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was an espresso wizard, with his trusty stove top pot. Anyway, the issue is not so much the coffee but the discussion itself, and while nobody can be blind to the fact our final league position this season will have a bearing on the decision he makes, I don’t think his departure is anywhere near as cut and dry as it’s made out to be by sections of the press.

I’m pretty much of the opinion that whatever he wants we should give him. More money, fast cars, an island, his own crew of helper monkeys, whatever, but more importantly than all of that a team which can win things. I genuinely think that’s what he wants above all of those other things (apart from maybe the crew of helper monkeys because a person would have to be DEAD inside not to want that), and while you can’t really build a team based on what one player wants, we’ve seen others leave, ambitions unfulfilled, for similar reasons.

They will have their end of season chat, I’m sure, their coffees augmented by a packet of Garibaldis or Custard Cremes, and hopefully they’ll come to an arrangement which is good for all concerned.

Right, that’s that. Here’s to an injury free Interlull, more tomorrow.

Arseblog, the arsenal blog
February 28, 2012 posted by arseblog

The Enemy

So, into decade two we go, still basking in the warm glow of Sunday’s victory.

It is all silver lining and little or no cloud, but frustratingly the cumulonimbus of a round of midweek internationals approaches. It’s not quite an Interlull because we play again on Saturday but maybe, after a win like we’ve just had, it’d be better to have the lads buzzing on the training ground all week instead of buggering off thither and yon to play games for their countries.

Wenger is already doubting T(h)omas, according to the boss both Vermaelen and Rosicky picked up knocks as they thrashed Sp*rs to within an inch of their lilywhite, 1961, Chas ‘n’ Dave lives. Vermaelen’s ankle problem is a consequence of Scott Parker’s late challenge while Rosicky has a back strain. Fingers crossed they’ll be ok for the trip to Anfield on Saturday, that those who play tomorrow night come through unscathed and we can pick up where we left off.

Wojciech Szczesny says:

The last two games at home we have scored 12 goals. It just shows you what we can do when we are on the front foot and we can really go for it. Hopefully we can learn from that and repeat it all over again.

Unquestionably, it does show what can do, and not only that, how we can do it. The good result is not unfamiliar, it’s making sure that we follow that up with other good results, adding some consistency to our game that is the key. And no doubt by now you’ll have seen Bacary Sagna’s quote about winning on Sunday. Speaking after the game, he said:

We could not let it go like this, this is one of the most important games of the season. In our stadium, against the enemy, we could not lose.

And who could not be heartened by him referring to them as ‘the enemy’. There might well have been some scores to settle after some disappointing North London derby results in recent times. Away this season, being pegged back there last season, their comeback at our place last season, all added to the historical mix which tells you that they indeed are history’s greatest monsters.

But I have a theory about this. For me, history’s greatest monsters are the team you play next. From time to time people accuse me of being too partisan, too Arsenal focused, which is fine. I happily admit it. I am. This is Arseblog, after all. A blog about Arsenal written by an Arsenal fan. I am certainly capable of moments of magnanimity and reason but, frankly, I don’t like it that much because it generally means we’ve done something that’s difficult to defend.

Those rare instances aside however, I’m pretty much an equal opportunities hater. In that I hate whoever we’re playing, I hate their players, I hate their manager, their entire technical team (down as far as youth team kit man), their chairman, their fans, their fans families, their acquaintances, people they work with, those people’s cousins, their pets and even the couple they met on holiday in Magaluf with whom they still exchange Christmas cards. Then, once that game is over, they become more or less irrelevant until the next time we play them and the focus goes on whoever comes next.

This is why it drives me mad when I see our players hugging and high-fiving the opposition in the tunnel before the game. I know it’s different for the players, I get that. They might be old teammates, international colleagues or whatever, but there is a time and a place for backslapping and cuddling, and that’s after the final whistle when we’ve won the game. And even then we get it wrong sometimes.

Look at Alex Song at Newcastle. He stamped on Joey Barton because Joey Barton is an irritating, annoying, wind-up merchant. Barton then got Gervinho sent off, Song got banned for three games because obviously TV cameras picked up what he did, but at the final whistle he was hugging Joey Barton? Unless you have smeared yourself in runny cat shit, what are you thinking? If you’re gonna stamp on a guy, fine, I get why you would do that but I don’t get how the final whistle is then a signal for some light canoodling.

Anyway, the point I’m making, in a very roundabout fashion, is that we have to go to look at every team we play between now and the end of the season as ‘the enemy’. Every team wants to beat us, every team wants to take points off us, to damage our chances of finishing in the top four, and while there might be a bit more historical baggage to some of the rivalries, it shouldn’t make us more up for one game than any other.

Me? I can find a reason to dislike any team, any time, any place, but sometimes you get the sense that the players aren’t as wrapped up in irrational hatred. Maybe its their professionalism and stuff but maybe it’s because they genuinely don’t feel the same way. It’s their job, and so on, but sometimes professional pride doesn’t quite inspire as much as wanting to get one over on some smug fuckers.

The players have spoken about how the win on Sunday was for the fans, which is great, and I know where they’re coming from. Yes, beating Sp*rs is special but it becomes less valuable if you don’t beat Wigan and Stoke too, for example. They need to embrace the dark side, give in to anger and fear [insert sinister breathing sounds here], and look at every opponent as if they were T*ttenham. Then, when games are won, we can be as nice as we like, because they’re no longer important, it’s the next bunch of cunts we have to worry about.

Maybe it’s all a bit simplistic, maybe it’s just the way I think as a fan, but there can be no doubt we have, in the past, approached certain games with less enthusiasm and vigour than we might. With just 12 games left go this season though, there’s not much room for that kind of nonsense. Saturday should provide plenty of motivation, an early season defeat at home to the Mugsmashers needs to be made up for, and if we can’t fire ourselves up for that considering their personnel, then we should give up and play Yahtzee instead.

In other news, our financial results were released yesterday, we’ve got some money, we’re going to spend it, but not all of it because most of it comes from selling players at our weekend Farmer’s Market stall, and you know the drill. Ivan said some stuff, which is probably the same as the stuff from the last time, but at this moment I’m too focused on what’s going on on the pitch to worry too much. I’ll take my lemmingesque lead from Swiss Ramble, I’m not panicking till he does.

Update: And what timing! Here is the man himself with an updated look at Arsenal’s finances.

Right, that’s yer lot for today, till tomorrow.

Site news
February 27, 2012 posted by arseblog

Arseblog is 10 today

Arseblog is 10 today

This very day, ten years ago, I sat upstairs in my house in Barcelona. The house with the terraces and the sunshine and the cheap beer and the sunshine and the sunshine and the warmth and the sunshine … sorry, getting a bit wistful here … and I wrote the very first ever post on Arseblog.

Feb 27th 2002 – The A R S E B L O G is born amidst a fanfare of pure silence and a rippling of no applause. Not sure what way this thing is going to go, it has no plan, no direction, no aim, no purpose – simply a tool for me to ramble on about all things Arsenal and maybe some other stuff instead. Anyway, I shall crack on.

Not exactly auspicious, you have to say, but little did I realise that ten years later I’d still be doing this, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The blog was born during a period of unprecedented success, the 2002 double, FA Cup 2003, Invincibles 2004, FA Cup 2005, Champions League final 2006 (I know we lost but we got there) – but now we’re in a slumpy slump when it comes to silverware, at least.

What’s interesting, however, is the passion for the club continues to grow online, and off. The site now gets somewhere in the region of 100,000 visits every day serving well over a quarter of a million pages, thousands of comments left on the blog, the news site, by the close to 20,000 people who follow via Facebook, by the 73,000 or so who follow Arseblog on Twitter, the Arsecast is listened to by over 10,000 people every week, and it, in general, continues to grow.

From what was a very simple HTML page back in the day, made fancier by Tom as he converted to PHP so we could incorporate the new arses, there’s now a site driven by WordPress, optimised for mobile devices, with apps for iPhone/iPad and Android, contributors, columnists, and much more.

I have to thank some people for helping me get this far. Tom who has been a friend, first and foremost, but a technical wizard behind the scenes. I can make things look relatively pretty, but making them work is the trick and from the Arses to server moves to the live blog tool and much more, Tom has done it all. Without him this would be a much, much less efficient place. Give him some props on the Twitterbox.

To those who contribute to the site in other ways, cheers to you – Andrew Allen, Sian, Tim from 7amkickoff, Tim Stillman, Jeorge Bird, Sul, and to Tony for all his help offline when there are boxes to lug and flights to catch. Charlie and Chris, we’ll always have The Philharmonic. Thank you also all the fellow bloggers, and journalists, who give their time so generously for the Arsecast each week. To Martin and Louise at The Tollington, not just for having a great pub but for being so brilliant to the site, and the Arseblog regulars, for years now.

A big mention too for Tagadab who host the site, who battled manfully to keep it up (the site, I mean), on transfer deadline day in August, and who have been absolutely essential since we moved there. If you need web hosting of any kind, they’re the people to call.

And that’s without even mentioning you, the regular readers, listeners, commentators, dissenters, who come every day and have helped this site grow into what it is today. I do my utmost to answer every email (sometimes late, I admit but there is a lot of it), because this is a website built on communication. From me to you, you to me, and you lot to each other via the arses and so on.

It’s a community online that has brought people together offline too, where friendships have been forged, drinks taken, more drinks taken, food eaten, some more drinks taken, songs sung, triumphs enjoyed, miseries shared, football played, and all done because we all love the same thing … Arsenal Football Club.

And if it all sounds a bit wanky and Oscar speechy, well, tough. If I’ve forgotten anyone – and I’m pretty sure I have – I am sorry. It’s not deliberate, I have a head like a sieve at the best of times, so please forgive me. I love you. Probably.

Ten years is a real milestone, a lot has happened between then and now, and I’m sure there’s plenty more to come.

I also like the fact that we spanked Sp*rs 5-2 yesterday and 5 x 2 = 10. Karmariffic. Or something.

Shameless plug time

Now, if you want to find out a bit more about how the site came into being, you can read about it in So Paddy Got Up. My piece explains the genesis (no need to worry, not the Phil Collins kind!) of Arseblog, and also features 25 other great pieces of writing about The Arsenal. It’s only available online from the Arseblog Store or behind the bar in The Tollington, and it does help support the site.

Plus it’s just a really good book about Arsenal, even if I do say so myself. Thankfully, lots of other people say it too so it’s not just me.

Anyway, raise a glass. I’d like to thank you all again most sincerely, and here’s the next 10 years.

May the *boilk* be with you.

Arseblog, the arsenal blog
February 27, 2012 posted by arseblog

Arsenal 5-2 Sp*rs: Demolition derby

Arsenal 5-2 Sp*rs: Demolition derby

Match report – By the numbers – Video

So, after the couple of weeks we’ve had we find ourselves 2-0 down at home. To them. Not a good place to be at any time, least of all following our cup exits and so on.

The Saha goal was a bit worrying, so much space for him to run into, but the finish was pure luck. Deflected off the bottom of Vermaelen’s boot and doing that terrible slow motion loop over the keeper which you know, despite it’s slowness, is still going to go in. Then a penalty after Gareth Bale, darling of the media, took a dive in the box.

Bale has been booked twice this season for ‘simulation’, which is the official way of saying ‘diving’ or ‘cheating’. People rarely mention the fact he’s an inveterate cheat because they’re too busy typing with one hand, Kleenex in the other, but he is, you know. He cheated yesterday, Mike Dean rarely needs an excuse to give someone else a penalty, and Emmanuel Adebayor resisted the Szczesny Screams and stuck it away to make it 2-0 to them.

We might have crumbled, instead we responded in epic fashion. I thought we’d played pretty well between their two goals, we were positive, energetic and should have been level through a van Persie shot which he volleyed wide. But then came a moment which I think defined the rest of the game for us. Walcott flicked a ball to van Persie, his shot hit the post, and when the ball came back out to Arteta he floated a left footed cross in.

Normally this kind of thing is bread and butter to a defence, but Bacary Sagna was having none of it. He attacked that ball, he really, really wanted it, beating Bale (who cheats a lot) to the cross and thumping home a header to put us back in the game. There was a quick, understated clenched fist in celebration as he grabbed the ball and went straight back to the centre circle with it. To me, that goal and that celebration set the tone for the rest of the game. It said ‘Right, I’ve had enough of these insufferable cunts, let’s get on with it, and let’s do them.’

A few moments later we were level. I’m hardly the biggest fan of Gary Neville in the world but he was positively creaming himself over the finish, describing van Persie’s left foot as ‘a wand’. He’s not wrong, the turn and finish from the edge of the box as good as anything we’ve seen from a man who has scored 50 goals for Arsenal in little over 12 months, ranging from the ordinary to out of this world.

It might have been one of those games where half-time came too soon, that our momentum was lost, but that wasn’t the case. We smelled blood and went for it, picking up right where we left off. Just 5 minutes into the second half we were ahead. Tomas Rosicky’s beautiful finish at the near post was his first league goal in over two years and what a time to get it. The move leading up to it was fantastic and Rosicky’s desire to keep going, and his effervescent performance overall, merited the goal.

Then Theo. I am not going to venture into negative territory this morning, we’ve had far too much of it in recent weeks, but it would be fair to say his first half was a bit ploppy. I wouldn’t have been that surprised if he’d been replaced at half-time but the manager says he kept him on for the runs he was making and, well, that was a decision and a half.

In the 65th minute he arrived like a DeLorean heading for 1955, van Persie, who had held up the ball brilliantly, picked him out, Theo’s touches took him away from goal slightly but his clipped finish over Freidel was first class. A few minutes later Alex Song ignored Bacary Sagna, who screaming for the ball on the right hand side, found Walcott through the middle with a wonderful pass, and this time he fizzed a low shot across the keeper into the bottom corner. Arsenal had scored 5 goals in 28 minutes and Sp*rs were broken.

Broken, battered, bewildered, befuddled and, most importantly of all, beaten. Harry sat on the bench with his gimpy sidekicks unable to do a thing about it. I suspect Clive Allen resorted to self-harm. Such was the dominance and superiority even a breakout of Oléing didn’t cause me the terror it normally does, but then normally we haven’t just stuck five (5!) past our neighbours without so much as a reply. We looted them. Demolished them. Set them on fire then put it on our Facebook wall.

All they had left was frustrated hacking. Sandra, the gumshield wearing flower seller, was booked and then Parker sent off. And while people might talk about his sportsmanship in making sure Vermaelen was alright after the crude and unnecessary foul which brought about his second yellow, you might argue that a real sportsman doesn’t commit two nasty fouls which end up with his studs on an opponent’s ankle. Still, I’m sure the media will pick up on that in the interests of balance and fairness.

So, full time, 5-2. Arsenal reminding people that beneath it all there’s a real team in there, there is talent and potential and ability and what better game to remind people of it? Afterwards, Arsene said:

Arsenal are alive more than anybody thought before the game. Today we gave a performance that on the spirit side, the technical side, the drive of the whole team, on the style of the game we want to play everything was perfect despite a very bad start.

We had a good balance between offence and defence, between creativity and going into the space behind the defenders and good maturity. We had a great spirit.

No arguments from me. The response at 2-0 down was just what we needed. The result, the performance, the confidence you can draw from a game like this, all exactly what the doctor ordered. Yes, it is one result, nobody is saying that all our ills are cured by it, but this morning is not the time to worry, it’s the time to enjoy and take the positives from what was a fantastic day.

And for me the biggest positive of all is that we have seen a team that worked hard all over the pitch, that played with real desire and togetherness, and got their just rewards. Can it please, please, please be a lesson that we learn and take forward into the rest of our games? There’s more to football than that, of course, but it should be the platform on which our game is built between now and the end of the season. Playing at pace, making runs, taking some risks in the right areas, and everybody doing their jobs defensively and offensively, and you see what happens.

Before the game all the talk was how this was Sp*rs best team in 50 years and this was our worst under Arsene Wenger. Even if that is the case, it shows you that it will take more than one half-decent season for ‘balance of power’ to shift. Must we remind people that Sp*rs have won nothing? They might qualify for the Champions League but then we’ve done that every year under Arsene Wenger. Harry’s a genius for getting them to 3rd (maybe there’s a nicer trophy for that than the one for 4th).

But the season is not over, there’s a long way to go, for them and for us. We’ve got to approach the Liverpool game the same way as we did yesterdays. And then the game after that, and the game after that. This cannot be a one-off because of the opposition and circumstances. We ignored the blueprint after that Chelsea game (3-1) at home, let’s not do it this time because it’s obvious that if the team plays the way they did yesterday then they’ll have far more good results than bad ones.

Anyway, that’s trying to leech all the positives out of it in one morning. Bottom line is we bashed five goals past them, and the lift it’s given everything is incredible. The team needed it, the fans needed it, the manager needed it, Pat Rice’s shorts needed it, and the club as a whole needed it. That was an example of spirit, character and, dare I say it, mental strength.

It will provide us with as much to talk about this week as any other result we’ve had this season and I was so heartened to see as many positive comments on the match report as there are negative ones after a bad result. We can analyse the crap out of it as the week goes on but for now we have to sit back and bask in the warm glow of the kind of day that doesn’t come along that often, the kind of day when you have to forget everything else and just enjoy.

I love The Arsenal.

Finally for today – I just want to let you know there’ll be another Arseblog post a bit later on today. I’ll say no more about it for now but keep your eyes peeled.

Until then.

Banner pic by @Tottz82