Hello there,
I seemed to have Vermaelened my Achilles playing football last night. It’s seriously sore and stiff this morning. Getting upstairs whilst also holding a cup of coffee was quite the feat, let me tell you. Not to worry though, I should be back in action in 10 days or so, that’s the going rate for a minor Achilles problem, right?
As expected, it’s deathly quiet with only Johan Djourou having anything to say this week. And I suspect it’s an interview that was done some time ago. There doesn’t appear to be any reference to the end of our title challenge, merely an expression of his own personal happiness at being able to play more this season than last. It’s kind of feel good, family movie stuff and while he’s been one of our better players this season – Sunday apart, unfortunately – it’s not the kind of stuff that’s going to get a lot of people talking.
Despite times being quiet column inches need to be filled and we’ve got our first ‘Cesc to Barcelona’ story of the season in The Sun. £35m and we’re ‘reluctant’ sellers, apparently. Meh. Here’s a revolutionary idea, why don’t we keep our best players and add some better players to the squad? I know, it’s crazy, but it just might work. Every player has fallen under scrutiny in the last few weeks but anyone who thinks we’d be taking any other than a step backwards – regardless of who the replacement might be – by selling Cesc is bonkers, in my opinion.
I know there’s a suggestion that by selling the fringe players, the ones who haven’t played much at all, that you don’t really address the problems. If they haven’t played then perhaps they’re not the real issue. Which is a valid point. However, my thinking on this is that if the squad is stronger, and there’s more competition for places, then it will improve us. I’m not advocating a situation where we have ‘two world class players for each position’, that doesn’t work either. It leads to disgruntlement and an unhappy squad, but it’s a matter of balance.
For example – where exactly is the player who will keep Gael Clichy on his toes? Yes, there are high hopes for Kieran Gibbs but he’s been unconvincing when he’s had chances this season and his fitness remains an issue. Alex Song has no competition whatsoever for his place. I know he’s one of two deep-lying midfielders in our current formation but he’s the only defensive minded midfielder with physical presence in the squad. I hear people think ‘Frimpong’ but for me that’s not the answer. Not yet anyway.
The reliance on youth is something we’ve addressed plenty of times before and the enormous expectations placed on some of these young players don’t do them any favours whatsoever. I believe experience is the piece missing from our tippy-tappy jigsaw and the right kind of experience shouldn’t be too hard to find. Yesterday we talked about players who are in a comfort zone, who don’t seem to realise just how good things are.
Perhaps what we need are a few players who realise just how lucky they are to be at a club like Arsenal. Let me point to United and players like Park and Valencia, who are decent players but not what anyone would call superstars. They know that to be at a club like United they’ve got to work harder than the likes of Rooney or Nani, those with more natural talent, that their sheer graft can make up for any perceived lack of ability. I know that work ethic runs throughout their squad – someone like Darren Fletcher is their equivalent of Ray Parlour – but when new signings are made he’s brought in players who know exactly what is expected of them.
So calls for a couple of ‘world class’ players miss the point, I feel. Yes, we need to strengthen, and I definitely think we need more quality in certain areas, but adding the right kind of player is far more important than their standing in the game or their rating on FIFA (Squillaci has 85!) We need Sagnas. Guys who give you 100% in every single game on a consistent basis. It’s consistency of performance that separates a good player from a very good player and that’s what we need to look at this summer.
Anyway, we’ll have plenty of time to go over all this in those long summer months. I suspect we’re going to need a lot of mojitos. Hey, no harm trying to find a silver lining, eh?
I’ve avoided talk of ‘the protest’ over the last few days, mostly because I think it’s somewhat churlish to think about such things while we’re still trying to finish as high as we can in the league with the possibility of finishing second. I understand frustration at yet another trophyless season (it’s 6 years since we won anything, in case you didn’t know. I know I didn’t. If only someone on the TV would mention that every time they talk about us), but I think what’s planned is far too broad in spectrum to be really credible.
The good points, which for me are about the ticketing, are watered-down by ones which are really not relevant at all (as View from N5 points out – “Since when have people protested at a football club because they don’t believe commercial deals are making enough money for a club?”)
For more reading on this check out Goonerholic and the View from N5 who cover the points well. All this seems to be achieving at the moment is further polarisation of the fan base which really is the last thing need.
Right, let’s hope there’s a bit more going on tomorrow and we can begin to look forward to the United game on Sunday. Till then.
