Gooner Talk

It’s late, I’m hungry and the thought of waking up early tomorrow morning (more like later today) for school, along with all the mandatory responsibilities that goes with it, just won’t go away. And it’s not an appealing thought, by the way. It’s like a little scratch on the roof of your mouth that definitely would heal if you could just resist the temptation of exploring it with your tongue; it’s just there, mocking you, and its’ only purpose is to annoy you. These habits of mine (never sleeping when I should and drinking coffee when I shouldn’t – perhaps they’re somehow related?) will drive me crazy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s the only time of the day where I can isolate myself from the outside world and escape to my desolate hideout and place of meditation – my room – and get my thinking done. And I like thinking. I tend to think alot about Arsenal, as well as football in general, and sooner rather than later I usually convert my train of thoughts into articles for this very site, so hopefully you like my thinking as much as I do. It’d be more convenient for everyone that way.

Tonight my topic of careful consideration has been moving on and leaving your once haunting ghosts behind you; dispelling old myths that were once thoroughly attached to the club in question, like an umbilical cord to a newborn, through sheer will and actual accomplishment. We’ve seen it happen right before our eyes these last weeks. We witnessed it when Liverpool finally beat Manchester United for the first time since the invention of the wheel. But they’re not the only ones that have sampled the sweet ambrosia of progression and development during the recent weeks. Arsenal have successfully put the myth of being easily intimidated by the northern, more physical sides to bed. Hopefully once and for all, but, considering the current media treatment of Arsenal, I doubt it. But there’s more to it than that. There is another generally accepted “truth” about Arsenal that have been – still only hopefully though – successfully disposed of. We have travelled up north with remarkable regularity with our young, fragile and frail squad and we’ve beaten the ghosts of our past – and doing it in style, despite missing a handful of chances every game – while, at the same time, carrying the weight of our ridiculously long injury list, meaning that our squad isn’t lacking in depth. At least not to the extent that it has been depicted by the, so called, football experts.

Imagine Manchester United, or any other team with a manager that instantly will be declared a genius for not failing after spending big money, having the same impressive goal difference we currently have after the very same fixtures with their equivalents of Rosicky, Nasri, Diaby and Eduardo on the treatment table. No Ronaldo, no Nani, no Carrick and no Tevez. I for one can see the headlines in front of me as soon as I close my eyes and merely think about it: “Admirable team spirit and collective performances will win United the title for a third consecutive year. And boy their manager is mighty smart.” They’d be getting the headlines we’re currently not getting. Now, I know that I exaggerated a bit, I do know that only 5 games have been played so far (and only 4 for United) – but hopefully you get my point.

It hit me like an atomic bomb, and I do mean that in the most positive way imaginable, whatever that might be, when Wenger, on his post-Bolton press conference, reminded the world that “we still have alot of quality at home”, despite playing football that commentators and neutral onlookers described as “awe-inspiring” throughout the remainder of the day – with half our first team squad. The lesser (at least in terms of quality) part of our squad, too. The same chunk of players had even endured an extremely busy playing schedule the recent weeks, involving several difficult physical challenges on the road as well as international duty.

Who would’ve expected someone like Eboue to, in the void of Rosicky, step up in the way that he has done? He’s been one of our most consistent performers this season, and that’s not even debatable. When I look at the lineup and see his name on the right wing I can actually visualize him running past defenders – with the ball, I might add – and doing something useful with it. I might even go a little bit crazy and assume that he will score. No, wait, just kidding. That’d be blasphemy. But Denilson is coming of age and is already putting in PFA Young Player Of The Year-Performances whenever he pleases, Walcott is turning into what we all thought, or at least hoped, that he could be and Almunia has definitely impressed me so far. The squad doesn’t look that bad after all, does it? Arsenal seem to be breaking their old bad habits without breaking a sweat – perhaps I should too. Good night.

One has to wonder what goes on at shooting practice behind the sacred doors at London Colney.  Despite racking up a more than healthy number of goals in the club’s last handful of games, I have become more and more frustrated at the amount of simple chances that appear to evade the team all too easily.  Rather than winning 4-0, we could be winning 8-0 without breaking a sweat, and the psychological messages that those types of results send out are priceless.

Looking at the stats from each of Arsenal’s Premier League games will paint a picture of team who, I feel, are under-achieving in the shooting department.

Starting off with the first match against West Brom.  Sitting in the stands at the Emirates I could not contain my nervousness as Arsenal had failed to capitalise on any of their chances, bar the one in the 4th minute, and had therefore left the door ajar for West Brom to snatch a point.  During the match Arsenal had 18 shots on goal and could only manage to convert one.  At the start of the season a team is always going to be slighting lacking in terms of sharpness, but guilt-edged chances that were handed to Adebayor and Bendtner on that day did not go unnoticed.

Next up, the dark day at Craven Cottage.  Arsenal’s final shot tally came in at twelve in comparison to Fulham’s six.  If there was further evidence as to why Arsenal lost three points that day, look no further than the lack of edge possessed by the Gunners front-men.  Van Persie missed a simple opportunity, Adebayor hit the post when he should have headed home, it’s these moments that can shift the momentum of games, and it was clearly the case against Fulham.

Back to the Emirates and a polished performance dismissed a solid Newcastle side by 3 goals to nil.  A fantastic result, but fans were left to question, why wasn’t it more?  Over the 90 minutes Arsenal had 19 shots on goal with a majority of them (12) on target.  Step up, Emmanuel Adebayor, as once again you must receive your award for best chance missed for yet another match.  Gallas skied a tap in as well, but forgiveness for him is easier to find as he didn’t score 24 goals last season like a certain Togolese striker I’ve heard of.

Ewood Park, and yet another classy demolition of a well-organised and consistent team in Blackburn.  Adebayor atoned himself for his howlers in earlier Premier League games with a hat-trick, however, this time it was the passing decisions that cost us cheap and easy goals that were there for the taking.  Walcott, Adebayor and Eboue stormed away on the break from a corner, all Walcott had to do was pull it back to Eboue and it was a tap in.  Alas, Eboue was denied a rare Premier League goal by Walcott’s high and wide shot.  Another tap-in went begging a matter of minutes later, as Van Persie opted for beating Robinson at his near-post rather than cutting it back for the unmarked Adebayor on the edge of the six-yard box.  This apparent selfishness was even cottoned onto by Wenger, who stated “I am after my players to make the right decision and many times you see when a player shoots, someone could be in a better position. So I want my team to be capable of making the right decision without being greedy.?  Maybe it was a lapse in concentration that saw Kolo Toure choose to take the more appealing option of trying to karate kick the ball into the net, forgoing the easier and more efficient methods with included heading or the conventional kick.  Either way Toure somehow turned a glorious chance into yet another miss.  At the end of the day Arsenal had had 15 shots on goal.

This theory is also applicable to the team’s European outing on Thursday and yesterday’s victory at Bolton.  Both matches should have been over at half-time with Adebayor seemingly incapable of finding the net in both and the post becoming Bolton’s second best player on the pitch (Jasseklainan being the best).  Nails were bitten until the 87th minute when a slick Denilson goal injected a much needed dose of relief straight into Arsenal fans’ bloodstream.

But am I just being brutally harsh and unforgiving?  Should I just shut-up and settle for 4-0s and 3-0s like a Man United fan would?  The simple answer is no.  While I am more than pleased with the recent results that have provided more than enough eye candy in the form of goals, I want more.  Football is not just a physical sport, many of football’s greatest battles are fought in the mind, and mentally, Arsenal need to toughen up.  The way in which Arsenal can mentally rattle their fellow Big Four members may sound far too obvious but it is simple: take more of their chances.

It doesn’t sound like anything new, in fact even when I read it back it looks a little stupid, but it will make much more sense in due course.  If Arsenal could take just two more of there abundant chances their scores would read around 5-0 or 6-0 nearly every week.  Psychologically these two extra goals are massive, when the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United look across to Arsenal’s results they will see a monumental amount of goals the team is capable of scoring, and regularly too.  In turn, this will put far more pressure of the rest of the Big Four to score as much as Arsenal and win as easily.

But isn’t that the case now?  Partially.  The rest of the Big Four will no doubt recognise the threat posed by Arsenal this season, but they, like all of us, will also see the skip-load of chances that have passed the team by.  If these teams can construct a sturdy defensive performance, that they are all capable of doing, they could feel confident that Arsenal will not take any of their chances, the numbers of which will be reduced due to the rest of the Big Four’s defensive quality.  However, If Arsenal are more clinical with their finishing and score the majority of their opportunities, then the rest of the Big Four will be quaking in their boots, as they would know that any chance given to Arsenal is one that they would take.

It may sound both callous and greedy to ask for more goals from the Gunners considering that they have scored 11 in their last 3 Premier League games.  But as pundits and mangers alike repeatedly state, to win the Premier League you need that little bit extra.  Looking back to last season, if Arsenal had been more opportunistic at Old Trafford then the trophy may have been at the Emirates, and the same applies for the painful amount of games that the team drew.  When it comes to games that decide the winners and the runners-up Arsenal may be left to rue taking none of their usually guilt-edged chances.  Arsenal may be top of the table now (maybe not even that depending on when you are reading this) but in order to stay there, clear-cut chances like ones the team has missed in every Premier League game this season,  need to be taken with aplomb.

Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy has NOT broken his leg during this evening’s Premier League win over Bolton Wanderers after the official website confirmed that the Frenchman only suffered “shin bruising”.

The 22-year-old had be taken to hospital following a challenge from Trotters striker Kevin Davies, who was booked for the tackle, and Cesc Fabregas claimed after the full time whistle that his side had come in for unwarranted special attention.

“We know every time we come here it’s going to be a tough game, very physical, they only look for corners, free kicks and throw-ins,” Fabregas told Setanta Sports.

“The tackle on Gael Clichy, I remember last year Abou Diaby was sent off for even less than that.

“But we know we are Arsenal. When we come to the North we know something like that is going to happen, and we have to cope with that.”

Gael was able to join up the rest of the Arsenal squad for the coach journey back to London Colney and will be avaliable for next Saturday’s game at home to Hull City.

Arsenal took on a tough Bolton side at the Reebok this afternoon looking to extend their points in the Premier League table.

Arsene Wenger left Robin van Persie and England ace Theo Walcott on the bench for the trip to the Reebok Stadium.

Nicklas Bendtner was handed a start to partner Emmanuel Adebayor up front and Emmanuel Eboue was restored to the line-up as Wenger made two changes to the side that drew with Dynamo Kiev.

Bolton Starting XI:

Jaaskelainen
Steinsson – Shittu – A O’Brien – Samuel
J O’Brien – Smolarek – Muamba – Nolan – Gardner
Davies

Arsenal Starting XI:

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Song – Denilson
Adebayor – Bendtner

Read the rest of this entry »

Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue have been handed starts by Arsene Wenger as the Gunners’ take on Bolton later this evening.

Dutch forward Robin van Persie has been dropped to the bench, while Theo Walcott is also replaced despite putting in a energetic performance against Dynamo Kiev during midweek.

Other than those changes, the team is exactly the same that drew with Kiev on Wednesday.

Confirmed Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Song – Denilson
Adebayor – Bendtner

Stay tuned to Gooner Talk for all the post-match news, views and of course match report.

Moving away from tomorrows League game against Bolton. Here’s a couple of pics which should get some fans laughing – take a look at this.

From Redstate:

Manchester United is arguably the largest sports team in the world and its team shirt is recognized just about everywhere. Emblazoned on the front is the logo of the team’s sponsor: AIG. Yep, that AIG.

Since AIG is now 80 percent owned by the Federal Reserve Board, I think it’s time to update the Man. U. shirt, and offer the following before and after images.