Category Archives: Arsecast

Arsecast
January 18, 2013 posted by arseblog

Where do stories come from? + Arsecast 263

Where do stories come from? + Arsecast 263

Morning all, it’s a pretty miserable one here in Dublin.

Bits and pieces going on as we prepare for a big, big game on Sunday against Chelsea. Arsene’s press conference took place yesterday and it was interesting, really interesting, to see how stories are created. You might wake up and see us linked with Napoli striker Edinson Cavani but how that’s come about is quite fascinating.

A chap on Twitter who gives information in good faith (and I want to make it perfectly clear this is not to disparage him in any way), mentioned that Arsenal had made a big bid for somebody. He mentioned no name. Some way or another the name of Cavani became attached as the grapevine went mental, and all of a sudden it was the story of the day when Arsene met the press. He was asked if this was a player he ‘might’ be interested in. His reply:

“I like him as a player. He would cost a lot of money, that’s for sure. Nobody would deny that!”

You can see a clip of it here. But saying you like a player is a lot different from saying you’re going to buy him, or even try to do so. I’m sure Arsene Wenger likes him, why wouldn’t he? He’s a brilliant striker, Arsenal could do with one of those. But then I’m sure Arsene Wenger likes Falcao. And Lionel Messi. And Cristiano Ronaldo. And so on.

Being asked a direct question about a player and answering it in fairly non-committal, but polite, way is now enough to spark headlines about how we’re ‘interested’ and ‘ready to swoop’. The reality is quite different, as Wenger points out:

Napoli are playing for the title and the Champions League in Italy. What is Napoli’s interest in selling Cavani? None, unless you say, ‘OK, we will pay twice the price of what the player is worth’.

Are Arsenal a club that pay twice what any player is worth? A player that has recently signed a new contract and who has a buy-out clause of £50m+? Experience tell us this is not the case. As much as I’d like to see it, and it’s something I discuss on today’s Arsecast with Tim from Arse2Mouse, I simply cannot see Arsenal being willing, much less able, to buy Cavani.

The interesting thing though is that new media is driving ‘old’. The question about how there are rumours he’s ready to spend big has come directly from the information posted on Twitter. The name of Cavani has come as consequence of that too. There’s no journalist working an angle, finding a source or using any information they’ve dug up themselves, it’s all from Twitter. And if you think it doesn’t happen, remember this?

At a press conference days afterwards, a journalist asked Carl Jenkinson straight out if it was true that his dad had been a professional singer – see here for the question and Jenkinson’s reaction.

So if it happens for obvious nonsense, you can be sure it’s happening for stuff that will really sell some papers/garner some clicks. Quite what it all means, I don’t know. It’s always been incumbent on us to separate the wheat from the chaff, and even if we desperately want to believe some of the chaff is wheat, we kinda know better. But the lines are being blurred now and it’s very interesting to see.

Sadly, I don’t think we’re likely to see much happening in January, although obviously I’d like to see some arrivals. Arsene giveth in one breath:

We can spend money if it is for a player we think gives us a plus. If we find something, we will do it.

And he taketh away with another:

On top of that, all the players who can strengthen us are cup-tied in the Champions League.

Which is, frankly, a nonsensical thing to say. Arsene says himself the priority now is to finish in the top four. That should be motivation behind any transfer business. It’s very much a case of Que sera, sera in Europe. If we go further, great, but we also need to be in Europe next season and that’s why frustration levels rise at our inaction thus far in the window. Buy players who can help us finish in the top four, don’t worry about them playing in the Champions League this season, make sure they’re part of a team that’s playing in it next.

But hey, this feels like old ground/familiar territory, possibly because we’re going around in circles. All I know is that if we sign somebody it’s likely to be closer to the end of the window than today, and that’s merely based on what Arsene said at his press conference. Even then that’s a bit of straw clutching (and the straw turns out to be chaff most of the time). I’m now officially giving up trying to make any sense of anything anyone says and does in relation to transfers, transfer business, transfer rumours, transfer gossip, Manhattan Transfer, and everything else transfer related.

Which brings me nicely to this week’s Arsecast in which transfers are discussed (hah) along with Jack Wilshere, the Man City game and lots more. Joining me to discuss it all is Tim from Arse2Mouse (background snoring provided by his dog).

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 24mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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Fill yer boots, news throughout the day on Arseblog News, more here tomorrow. Until then.

Arsecast
January 4, 2013 posted by arseblog

Why having to read between Arsene’s lines is increasingly frustrating + Arsecast 261

Why having to read between Arsene’s lines is increasingly frustrating + Arsecast 261

Morning all, welcome to Friday.

So, Arsene has been talking about transfers. And as time goes by, listening to Arsene talk about transfers is steadily becoming one of the most infuriating things about life as an Arsenal fan. One day we’re going to be active, the next we’ll wait and see. One day we’re looking everywhere, the next it all depends on a bloke signing a new deal – the same bloke who has steadfastly refused to sign the new deal on offer for 18 months now.

Jan 1st: I will be active [in the January window] yes. We are looking everywhere. We are open-minded. We want to strengthen the squad everywhere.

Jan 3rd: First of all, what I have said is that we have to make sure the players who are here stay here. After that we look outside, so let’s try and finalise the deal with Theo Walcott and after if we need something else we will look outside.

Er, first of all he said that he’d be active, and busy, looking to strengthen all areas of the squad. Then he says it all depends on what Theo Walcott does. How does that impact our need for something in midfield, for example? And what will Theo Walcott signing, or not signing, do to our defence if Djourou and Squillaci leave? And of course there’s the whole thing about ‘Oh, you should never pay attention to what Arsene says about transfers’, something I’ve often thought myself, but why shouldn’t we?

Nobody’s asking him to name names, to spill out his plans, to play out these deals in public, but if he says one day he’s going to be busy – something which most folk are more than agreeable with – and then pretty much reverses his position a couple of days later, why shouldn’t people become perplexed and frustrated. Which one does he actually mean? Does he actually mean any of it? It’s difficult to understand, more than anything else, and while I fully accept he often says one thing and does another, more often he says something we don’t particularly want to hear then does that.

Then he got to talking about players and the expectation of fans about new arrivals:

It’s very difficult because the level of expectation is very high. People want to see Lionel Messi. They don’t want to see a promising guy.

First of all the name gives hope. When a guy has no name people are already sceptical. So it’s much more difficult for us.

Personally speaking, I couldn’t give a fish’s tit if the player we sign is a big name or not, once he’s a good player. I’d never really heard of Bacary Sagna when we brought him in, I very much like Bacary Sagna. Same with Eduardo. But I’d heard of Francis Jeffers and Richard Wright, I’d heard of Arshavin, heard of Chamakh, Sylvester, Squillaci and plenty of others.

The transfer market is complicated, no question. It’s not like buying a car where you pretty much get what you pay for. The more you spend, the better your ride. It’s not the case with footballers. It’s not an exact science. Ask Liverpool fans who had heard the names of Downing (£20m), Carroll (£35m), Henderson (£20m) and so on. They also knew the name of Luis Suarez (£23m), so sometimes you get value for your money, others you don’t. But for me, unless you’re shopping at the very, very top of the market, and even then it’s a risk, there’s no guarantee that name and/or reputation will get you what you pay for.

I just want Arsenal to sign good players. I don’t really care how much they cost, where they come from, who they’ve played for, whether they’re an international, or if I’ve heard of them or not. Once they improve the squad and the team then I’m fine with that. It’s why when Arsene says he’s only looking for top quality players, or ones better than what we have, it’s like nails on a blackboard. You can’t have your squad littered with guys like Squillaci (never plays), Arshavin (wasted his career), Chamakh (hapless), Park (hopeless), Gervinho (whoever scouted him should be fired) and even Diaby (fine player but like a car whose back left wheel falls off every 50 miles) and then say you can’t find anyone to improve it.

But if you can’t find anyone perhaps that’s down to your scouts, maybe that’s somewhere we need to look because we’re struggling to find the bargains and the hidden gems we did before. Arsene touches on that by admitting the competitive edge he had in France is now gone, not just because other clubs have the knowledge, but because the quality of player has shifted from there to other countries, like Spain and Germany. And I get that, but, if you look at the players other clubs have brought from France – I’m thinking Newcastle in particular – compared to some we’ve brought in recently and it shows that there’s still quality there if you know where to look. Which suggests we’re looking in the wrong places.

I don’t hear any Arsenal fan looking for a Messi, and I know the manager might have been using an extreme example which isn’t a bad one really. Look at the recent signings who have been a relative success. Arteta, Podolski, Mertesacker, Cazorla, Giroud – all well known, all experienced, all above 24/25, ready to slot in and play straight away. Would you prefer a signing like that as opposed to a punt on an unknown 21 year old? Probably. If we’d paid £2m for Michu in the summer people would certainly have asked questions about the player and the ‘level of ambition’, but it comes back to the point I made earlier: will that player produce on a consistent basis and make the team and squad better. If he does, nobody cares how much he costs or what wages he’s on.

Every club has wastage, every club has players who don’t play as much as they should for one reason or another, and maybe it’s just the fact I’m so focused on us, but only Arsenal seems to be stuck with players they no longer want but simply cannot get rid of. Denilson, Bendtner, Squillaci, Park, Chamakh, Djourou, Arshavin, Fabianski. And whatever you think about those players, if by magic we got rid of them all tomorrow, our squad would be so weak in terms of numbers and options it’d be genuinely scary.

So this is why people get fed up with the flip-flopping, the changing of position. ‘Arsene’s poker face’ drives people gaga. I’d just like to see some better players come in and the ones who haven’t performed and don’t merit a place in this squad go somewhere else. If he signs all those players for £3.50 from the Loch Ness goddam Monster I genuinely don’t care once they do what they’re supposed to do. Play well for Arsenal, give 100% in every game, and not become so corpulent and comfortable that not playing football isn’t really a problem. But maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, time for this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined by Philippe Auclair to discuss recent form, transfer window, the team’s contradictory displays and more.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 30mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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Right then, news throughout the day on Arseblog News, more here tomorrow. Until then.

Arsecast
December 21, 2012 posted by arseblog

Walcott to get what he deserves + Arsecast 260

Walcott to get what he deserves + Arsecast 260

Morning all,

it’s a busy day so I’ve got to fly through the news this morning. The pre-Wigan press conference took place yesterday and with regards team news there’s little to report. No fresh injuries, nobody back, so it will be the same squad that made the shorter trip to Reading.

The only real decision the boss has to make is whether or not to deploy Theo Walcott as the main striker again. Olivier Giroud is a more natural fit for the position and is likely to be fitter having carried a back knack into Monday night’s game, but it seemed to work quite well with Walcott up front and there’s no arguing with the result. As I’ve said plenty of times I think he’s better on the right, it suits his strengths, but when Arsene plays Gervinho up front – and with some relative success early in the season it has to be said – it’s hard to know what he might do.

MERTESTRIKER!

Speaking of Theo, the boss addressed his contract issue the day after five young British players had signed on for the long-term and said, quite pointedly, that he was happy to pay Theo ‘what he deserves’. He also put it up to the England man to repay some of the faith the club have shown in him since he arrived from Southampton.

I am happy to pay Theo the money he deserves. You feel as well, I bought Theo at 17 years of age and spent a lot of money for him, gave him big support as well. I believe he’s happy here, he’s always looked to me like he’s an Arsenal man.

If you put them in at 17 or 18, you have to stand up for them. You know you risk losing games while they are learning their job. Once you have produced them, you want to say, ‘OK, let’s stay together and win together.’ “Somewhere along the line they need to give back to the club what the club has given to them.

And look, that all sounds reasonable when you look at it from a human level. Arsenal paid a lot of money for a very raw 16 year old and here we are, 7 years later, and he’s still a player whose performance swing wildly from one extreme to another. He’s definitely showing signs of maturity as a player, but he’s still capable of providing the opposition with a throw in or a goal kick with his first touch.

Like other players before him, Arsenal have stuck with him through injury problems, they’ve given him chances to play that he might not have got at other big clubs because of his inconsistency, and now when he’s growing up and showing some signs of progress and development we find ourselves at this contract impasse. And let’s be brutally honest about this, Theo’s image and manner (which are a credit to him, really) have shielded him from criticism at times.

The young, fresh faced, marketable Englishness of him – especially when the local contingent wasn’t anywhere near as strong as it is now – has protected him. There’s little point going into specifics but there have been performances and runs of form that would have seen other players on the end of far more stinging chants than ‘Theee-ooo, Theee-ooo’. And maybe that’s the way it should be, it’s not to suggest that the others have deserved the ire and opprobrium, but it’s a fact nonetheless.

So bearing all that in mind, you’d like to think that Theo would show some loyalty, some appreciation for all that. Yet we live in a world where a basic wage of £75,000 is not considered enough. A basic wage, plus incremental rises each season, plus bonuses for goals and wins and Champions League qualification, plus image rights, plus sponsorships and endorsements and so on. That’s not enough. That’s not sufficient to stay at a club that has done nothing whatsoever except make you a better player, an established international and one of the most recongnisable faces in the game.

And hey, I don’t really blame Theo. It’s the culture of the game more than anything. It’s the people around you, the Mr Ten-Percent who tells you you’re the best thing since sliced bread, that you’re under-appreciated, that they’re taking the piss with their offer, that lesser players are on bigger money elsewhere, that if you run down your deal you can move on a Bosman wherever you like, that a bigger wage and a signing on fee awaits, that the grass, that grass over there, is so much greener. Look at its lustre!

Footballers are footballers, they have little do with contract talks and negotiations. It’s risible to hear them speak about how they’re too busy with three games a week and all that. All they have to do is put their paw-print on the thing and let the club and the agent do the rest. I’ve said it before, and I’ll stand by it, I think Walcott’s agents, more than the player himself, are the issue here. From what I’ve heard they’ve been a nightmare to deal with. Maybe the club could have done more, but as recent signings have shown when there’s a will on both sides it takes no time to come to an agreement.

I’m sure Arsenal do want Theo Walcott to stay but they don’t want to make him their highest paid player. I can understand that. Why would any club pay a wildly inconsistent player more than anyone else? He’s having a good season, and that’s what should drive contract talks, but you have to look at the overall picture and development of the player. I think he’s been badly advised from a footballing point of view. I don’t see him going somewhere else to play centre-forward, that whole smokescreen has been laughable. It’s all about his people getting as much money as possible and as Wenger said:

When a guy gets to 30, you can understand it is his last contract and if he feels he wants a change, I can understand that. This is a more sensitive age.

He’s nearly 24, that’s all. He could sign a new deal with Arsenal and still have that massive, bumper pay day in 4 years time. Until then he’d have to content himself with a mere £75,000 a week plus rises and bonuses and endorsements and book deals. And yes, worse players are being paid more elsewhere, but that doesn’t justify being paid more at Arsenal and isn’t the right reason for a leaving a club which suits you and will continue to do so.

Anyway, que sera, sera and all that. I think it’ll need Walcott to take his head out of his arse a little bit and realise that he’s got it good here, even if he can’t quite see that and his agents won’t allow him to. I wouldn’t hold my breath though.

Right then, onto this week’s Arsecast and due to the vagaries of Christmas and all that it could well be the last one of 2012. Joining me to discuss Reading, Walcott, Champions League and more is the man from East Lower.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 30mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

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Finally for today, well done to Daniel Harris for winning the Skreamer boots competition. We’ll be in touch to get details and the boots out to you.

Right, news throughout the day on Arseblog News, back here tomorrow for a Wigan preview, live blog and more.

Arsecast
December 14, 2012 posted by arseblog

New deals for Jack and others; Usmanov and Henry; Arsecast 259

New deals for Jack and others; Usmanov and Henry; Arsecast 259

Morning to you, welcome to Friday and although there’s still all kinds of misery stalking the corridors, we can start with some good news.

Jack Wilshere is close to agreeing a new deal with the club, which should make everyone happy. So too is Aaron Ramsey, which will bother some, but I can see why it’s happening. Those two are not the only ones in discussions with the club. Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are in talks to tie their futures down for seasons to come, while Carl Jenkinson’s new deal still hasn’t been announced but has been done and dusted for some time.

It’s clear the club are trying to ensure that the core of young, British players at the club stay together, and hopefully grow together, and Wilshere’s deal in particular will reflect his talent, potential and that he’s seen as a key component of the team for the years ahead. It also shows that when there’s a will on both sides to get deals done they can be done with the minimum of fuss. It might be a little bit before the announcements are made, but it’s good to know that behind the scenes we’re avoiding situations like the one we’ve found ourselves in with players like Na$ti, the Dutch Skunk and Theo Walcott.

I understand some people having reservations about Ramsey, for example, but the manager must see potential for him to improve and become the player they thought he would be when he signed from Cardiff. And look, even if he doesn’t fulfill that potential, it means that should we decide to sell then we’re in a much stronger position than we would have been and there’s no chance of him winding down and leaving on a Bosman. It’s an unfortunate fact of football these days that clubs have to think so far ahead but it’s a reality.

A player with two years left on his deal starts to find he holds more and more of the cards, so clubs have to tie these players down to longer deals even when it might be more reasonable to wait. Such is life and it’s not something that affects Arsenal uniquely. It’s funny to note that one of the players we’ve been linked heavily with for a January move, Klass Jan Huntelaar, will soon be in the final 6 months of his Schalke deal. It’s probably part of what makes him attractive to us, but also an indication that other clubs have live with players who want to wind down and move on.

Anyway, I think it’s decent news in general and we could certainly use some of that this week. Meanwhile, Alisher Usmanov and Thierry Henry have been hanging out, and the club’s second largest shareholder says:

There are a few players with whom I am in contact. My favourite is probably Thierry Henry. Thierry should be involved at the club but not as a player. He has another role to play, a more important role.

Take the example of Patrick Vieira at Manchester City. He is also a symbol of Arsenal but he is helping another club. We have to avoid that with Thierry.

The presence of a champion can radically change the soul of a team. That’s what Thierry showed last year.

Ok, so first things first. I’m not sure that Thierry radically changed the soul of the team last season. We had that wonderful moment when he scored against Leeds and there was the late winner at Sunderland, but beyond that his impact on the team itself was negligible (bar the almost weekly stories from one player or another about how having him in the dressing room was brilliant and stuff).

And Patrick Vieira was a great Arsenal player, but also a great player for Juventus and for Inter and would have been a great player for Real Madrid if he’d been allowed his way each summer. It’s just populist guff from Usmanov, which is exactly what you’d expect. It’s almost impossible to say the wrong thing from the sidelines when you’re not held accountable for anything.

And let me make it clear: my dislike of Usmanov is not because I’m a fan of Stan. Frankly, both of them are about as appealing to me as pig-shit pie topped with pus gravy and a side of crunchy tramp’s feet scabs, but Henry being wined and dined by the Uzbek as he’s on the verge of another January comeback makes me feel rather uneasy.

It’s just all a bit grotty and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to wonder if Henry’s interest in returning is purely for footballing reasons or if this all part of something bigger. The conflation of footballers and club politics is never a good thing in my opinion and that’s exactly what we have here. One of the papers this morning said that was the first tacit acceptance of Usmanov by a senior figure at the club. Amazing. Thierry Henry is a legend as an ex-player but that’s what he is, an ex-player who now plays for New York Red Bulls. He’s not a senior figure at the club.

Yet Henry’s best mate and agent is Darren Dein, agent to [insert name of player who has recently left here: _________ ], son of David, who brought Kroenke to the club and then when that didn’t work out sold his £75m worth of shares to Red & White / Usmanov and here we are. The club is going through a difficult period, for many reasons which we’ve gone into time and again, and if anyone thinks the timing of this story is coincidental then they need to take their head out of the sand.

Whatever your thoughts about the current owner, or Usmanov, I have to say the whole situation is horrible and unseemly, and that Arsenal Football Club is the thing in the middle as two billionaires play a game of silent, corpulent tug-of-war makes me sick. And if someone like Thierry Henry is loitering, ready to jump in and tug for one side or the other then I really fear for the future.

—

Right, onto this week’s Arsecast and given the nature of Tuesday night’s defeat, on top of everything else, I thought it’d be good to have a round-table discussion about as much of it as possible. Joining me to go over Bradford, Arsene Wenger, January and beyond are Goonerholic, Gunnerblog and Arse2Mouse. It’s quite lengthy so make a cuppa. And grab a biscuit. There are, unfortunately, a few issues with the sound in places but obviously that’s all the fault of Arsene Wenger too.

Also, it’s the final 24 hours for you to get the 10% discount from my good friends at Savile Rogue. If you’re doing some Christmas shopping (and remember: they’ve got scarves, slipper socks, hip-flasks, gloves, prints and more), use the code ARSEBLOG12 at check-out to get 10% off any order. The discount stops on Dec 15th though, so get busy.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes). To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here 30mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Right, that’s that. It’s a miserable morning in Dublin but there’s a Direwolf that needs to go out. News from Arsene’s press conference over on Arseblog News, back here tomorrow (at some point, it might be late, you have been warned).