Le Boss... Le Joke

Le Boss

Le Joke

Nowadays, all you hear from Arsenal is "bouncing back". Why we always have to bounce back I never fully understand. In fact I don't understand why we bounce away in the first place. No wait, I think I do know why.

Every time we go through a bad result (which is nearly every week of late), we hear the same sound bites. It used to be Djourou mostly, then everybody else would chime in but with the same results following. Now they have resorted to putting the "new" man Wilshere out there to do the sound bites... shame on them all.

There was a time when Arsene Wenger was Sir Alex Ferguson's only rival in the Premier League. The Frenchman had a swagger about him. He was cocky, he had a perma-smirk on his face, making him look like he always had a trick up his sleeve. And he did.

Year after year, Arsene would tap into the French Market and sign up or produce gem after gem in players. Arsenal's scouting network was touted as the best, possibly in the whole of Europe. We had all the wiz kids on our radar and we would snap them up and turn them into world class players in no time. Those were the glory days of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger's reign at Arsenal.

Sir Alex Ferguson, gum-chewing , irritating Manc that he is has managed to produce winning team after winning team, regardless of the obvious drop in technical ability of his players. I mean, take a look at the current Manchester United midfield... does any name really stand out as being technically gifted? I don't think so. Now compare to Arsenal's Cazorla, Arteta, Wilshere, Diaby and Rosicky. Clearly Arsenal have the more technically gifted players in this department.

Yet we see season after seson the manager tell us how this team is good enough to win the league, even the Champions league. We are mesmerised by a few decent results and we begin to believe and hope. But just when we really think we are on to something, reality kicks in. First our perma-crocked players get crocked, despite being told that this season they will last the distance. Then we start to lose games and produce abject performances for which there is no proper explanation. We are told the players are "jaded", yet they play the same amount of games as their rivals.

The cycle goes on and on and we eventually get back to the usual sound bites about bouncing back, standing up to be counted, being serious, lacking a little bit the sharpness... But the truth is that we are lacking a lot the   quality, application and brains.

It is not fair to blame the manager when an International striker misses an empty goal from 3 yards out. Nor is it fair to blame the manager when 11 Internationals fail to beat a fourth division team in 120 minutes of football, worse still, when the same internationals miss penalties; I mean not hitting the target at all. It's not the manager's fault.

However, it's the manager's fault when he puts out 11 internationals who are not consistent, who can be technically brilliant but also poor when they so-choose. It is the manager's fault when the tactics he employs do not get the best out of the players he has. It is the manager's fault when the players he buys turn out to be a waste of money and time for the club. It is the manager's fault when he simply can't acknowledge that the squad he has is not good enough to compete for the league title. It is the manager's fault when he continues not to strengthen his squad because he thinks he has enough players, who are permanently crocked at that.

It is the manager's fault when he sells his best players but doesn't replace them in the transfer market. It is the manager's fault when he doesn't SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY! despite being told there is money to spend.

Sometimes I wonder, does Arsene Wenger know where to spend some fucking money in order to improve his squad? I honestly fear that he doesn't. He pride and stubbornness make  blind to the obvious deficiencies in his squad. Does the coaching set up at Arsenal allow those under the boss to air any different opinion on how to change things? I don't think so. Much as I like us promoting from within, I also realise that this is the safest way for the manager to ensure that he get's (for lack of a more respectable term) "yes men" to work under him. This is what autocratic leaders do.

I do not think that any of our coaching staff can talk sense into the boss' head to change the way he does things. I also fear that the boss himself has had his eyes peering down his nose too long that he has failed to adapt to the times. Other teams have studied our methods and caught up, some are improving on them. As Arsenal, we are too proud to realise that perhaps the captain of our ship has lost the way and perhaps we need a new captain to turn change the course of the ship.

Arsene Wenger was the right man for Arsenal in the past 2 decades. He was the right man, just as the great Herbert Chapman was in his time, to transform Arsenal from an over-achieving medium club and put it on par with the biggest clubs in Europe. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Arsene Wenger has managed to achieve this.

But can you, dear reader, honestly see Arsene Wenger successfully managing Barcelona? Real Madrid? Manchester United? PSG? Borussia Dortmund? Bayern Munich? Inter Milan? AC  Milan? Juventus? Manchester City? I wish I could honestly answer yes to at least one of those teams, but in my heart of hearts, I believe that Arsene Wenger is over the hill as an elite Manger.

I do not see Arsene Wenger leading Arsenal back to glory, nor leading any other top European team to glory. Where once there was a swagger and an air of knowledge to the man, there is now a weakness, a desperation, a hopelessness, a lack of ideas on how to move forward. Where once there was fresh thinking and cunning, there is now staleness and idiocy.

Whenever Arsene Wenger speaks after a defeat, I do no feel sorry for the players, but I feel sorry for him. He is a man hitting his head against a brick wall time and time again yet hoping for a different outcome. There is a word for that type of behaviour... but I just cant remember it...

The club has got new sponsorship money coming in from the Emirates deal; the transfer window is fast approaching. What Arsene Wenger does will prove once and for all if he still has it in him to battle at the very top.

COYG!

Bring Back Our Arsenal, Please.

Now, I know writing a blog after a disappointing result is not always the best nor most objective thing to do, but hey, I'm an Arsenal fan and not a reporter. I am not bound by any professional ethics and the like. I say it  like it is.

Last night I forfeited my beauty sleep to watch what should have been a difficult but winnable match end up in penalties. From the moment Cazorla missed the first penalty, I just knew we were out of the cup.

Now, I could go on to say a lot of stuff that I think is wrong with Arsenal and what needs to change. I wont bother, I will be regurgitating what I and several other people have been saying about what is wrong with and at Arsenal.

I invite you to read my previous posts on this blog.

COYG!!

Groove Missing From The Grove

It is very rare that Arsenal teams, at least in recent years are found wanting in their attacking play. It is also equally worrying that Arsenal seem to have lost their ability to dominate ball possession like they used to. Yes we still tend to average 54-55 percent possession, but I want the days when we had 60- 70 percent ball possession at the end of 90 monutes of football.

I suspect that the two things (reduction in ball possession and striking potency) are linked. It follows that the more of the ball you have, the more questions you can ask of the opposition. Equally, the less questions you allow them to ask you....

The recent loss to Swansea was a case in point. I noticed how for significant periods, Swansea out-passed us on our home turf. We could not (and generally we do not these days) get the ball quickly by pushing up as a team and putting pressure on the man with the ball. When we do have the ball, we don't seem to know how to wreck havoc, or as some would say, we lack ideas in attack.

Tomas Rosicky, one of many players whom I love seems to be the solution to our current woes. He is a brilliant mover of the ball and seems to speed things up in the side. I was glad when he scored the in the Champions League match against Olympiacos in midweek. It was really a meaningless game to me, win or lose, but it will do him the world of good... until he has another injury....

Why do I think it was meaningless? Finishing top in your group does not guarantee you an easy fixture in the next round of the Champions League. If you are in this competition and still hoping for the so-called easy draws, then you probably don't deserve to be in this class of clubs. And besides, Arsenal are no push-overs themselves. Other teams will want to avoid Arsenal too. It's all about psychology really. I don't fear anybody. No. Not even Barcelona. Why? Well, because I know we'll get knocked out anyway so why fear what you know?

But Rosicky cannot be the only solution to our current woes. I always maintain that we have as good a squad as Manchester City in this league, in as far as player for player ability is concerned. I mean, take a look at this: Szecsny, Sagna, Koscielny, Metersacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Santos, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Diaby, Ramsey, Walcott, Gervinho, Podolski, Giroud, Djourou, Oxlade-Chamberlain... This is not a squad to laugh about.

Where we differ with Manchester City and others is in application and organisation. Currently our form has been so poor that we are afraid to even do the basics- which is to keep the ball. Worse still, our lack of tactical organisations means that teams know how we are going to line up and how we are going to play.

Our build up from the back is so poor because teams put two strikers up against our central defenders, forcing errors and hurried clearances up field. Equally, our attack is suffering because, apart from Theo, we lack genuine pace and directness in our attack. Think back to the days of Pires, Henry and Lyungberg and compare Podolski, Giroud and Theo/Chamberlain.

Be that as it may, I still believe we have enough talent in this squad to turn our fortunes around. But most importantly, the boss needs to buy some attacking players in January. Until then, he must use what he has to fix this situation.

Let us see what happens in the coming weeks.

COYG!!