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.

There are myriad annual sporting events: Wimbledon, The Six Nations, The British Open Championships and of course the Barclays Premier League. Internally, The Premier League has it’s own idiosyncratic, yearly occurrences and every Arsenal fan’s personal favourite is the Gunners 4th place prediction.

I am yet to read an article in any newspaper or non-opinionated website that realistically uses last season’s facts upon which to base their oh-so-well-argued predictions. The bulk of football pundits forecast a two-horse race for this season, which I can forgive them for. However the colossal dissatisfaction for Gooners occurs when Liverpool are prophesied to appear one place above Arsenal by the Oracles of the sport. The surprising aspect of this season’s predictions is that the pundits’ bubble of pseudo-infallibility was so violently burst by Arsenal last season. Why the press are yet to acknowledge Wenger and co.’s loud warning shot from last season is anybody’s guess. But I have set out to question the status quo that has developed within the inner-circles of sports journalism.

“Exodus” has to be the most used word of Arsenal’s pre-season. Some hyperbole was to be expected after the transfers of Flamini and Hleb were tediously drawn out, but the using the term “Exodus” to describe what happened at the Emirates is bordering on blasphemy. Flamini leaving is a loss, there is no use in arguing otherwise and a new defensive midfielder needs to be signed post-haste (Gokhan who?). Hleb however is not a large blow, he was – dare I say it – overrated. In 109 appearances for Arsenal, Hleb scored 11 goals and provided 9 assists, no wonder Wenger was “comfortable” with his departure. There has also been a direct replacement in the form of the Marseille man, Samir Nasri. Nasri is an archetypal Wenger signing. At Marseille the 21 year-old played on 102 occasions in which he hit the back of the net 13 times and assisted his teammates 17 times. You do the math(s).

A player often referenced to in Arsenal’s 4th place predictions is Gilberto Silva. No Arsenal fan can ever forget Gilberto and the way in which he played for Arsenal with true pride. He was an integral part of The Invincibles and a true gentleman of the sport, but, as callous as it sounds, he had peaked. Flamini was clearly superior and the Brazilian’s overall form had dropped slightly which is all its takes for Wenger to deny you that first team spot. The press has overstated the significance of his move to Panathinaikos, he was not a viable long-term solution to the defensive-midfield dilemma and a quick glance at the name of his new club is testament to Wenger’s decision to let him go.

All too often it is forgotten that 4 of Arsenal’s starting 11 were also in the PFA Team of the Year and I hasten to add that all 4 of those players (Sagna, Clichy, Fabregas and Adebayor) are still with us.

Jose Mourinho and the rest of the UK’s press would have you believe that Liverpool are better than Arsenal and will therefore come 3rd this season at the expense of Arsenal. Never has such a claim been so unfounded. In the past 5 Premier League seasons Arsenal have come 4th twice, in 05/06 Arsenal’s form in the league was way below-par and some dodgy food spared us the embarrassment of 5th place. In the 06/07 season Arsenal were 4th on goal difference, effectively joint 3rd. Thus there is no real justification for Liverpool being put up on the 3rd place pedestal. The most recent evidence suggests that Liverpool were fighting more with Everton for 4th place rather than with Arsenal for 3rd until the Toffees went slightly off the boil. Liverpool are an overrated team far too reliant on both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrad who ride their luck like it was their own personal pony (see Standard Liege ball crossing the line) These optimistic predictions merely get their fans’ hopes up, until the league titles escapes them by Christmas, again.

The hugely hyped up strike force of Robbie “Rip-Off” Keane and Fernando Torres failed to score against the Belgian champions, now lets see them have a pop at scoring away at Aston Villa. You’d expect that journalists would be the people realistic/cynical enough to see that Liverpool are still lacking in major positions. Not only are they in an obscene amount of debt (that would have increased by £18m had Barry arrived at the club), but also Rafa Benitez is a strong favourite for winning this decade’s “Worst Manager on the Transfer Market” award.

The wall of hype around Liverpool is completely unprecedented and hopefully will soon come crashing down. Last year the write-off actually helped as Arsenal had next-to-no pressure on them, fans have even grown accustomed to the annual write-off, so maybe the factual imbalance by the predictors works in the club’s favour. As Wenger acknowledges, “The speculation is always against us. It was against us last season and it will be against us again this year.” Hey, maybe the Annual Arsenal Write-Off has become a great English tradition, and we all know how sensitive we can be when it comes to tradition.

In other non-rant related news, Arsenal secured a vital 2-0 win over Steve McClaren’s new outfit, FC Twente, with a performance uglier than Quasimodo first thing Monday morning. With a frustrating number of players injured for the game, the first hour of the match featured too many heart-in-mouth moments for most Gooners’ liking. There was a distinct feeling that a solitary goal would kill off Twente’s spirited challenge and Gallas’ scrappy goal was enough before the Walcott-to-Adebayor-to-goal process that we all know and love, killed the game off.

Despite being a win of monumental importance (in terms of finance and footballing status) the match showed that Arsenal can (and hopefully will) grind out the required results. McClaren felt hard done by and looked disenchanted in his post-match interview. It’s that feeling I want the managers of teams we play to have more often, instead of praising his side for salvaging a point from the game. The team needs to come out on top after being second best in matches and seize victory from the brink of defeat (or draw). Not only does it bank 3 priceless points but it sends out a strong psychological message: “You may play better than us, but we will still find a way to beat you.” That’s the mentality that Arsenal need and that Manchester United already have, and something that they use much to their advantage (see Man U 2-1 Arsenal, 13/04/08). Wenger has honed in on this mental issue and hopefully, like we saw against Twente, Arsenal will be able to churn out more wins through sheer hard graft.

The season has just started, which means that I, no matter how sad it may seem, suddenly have a purpose in life again. The grass of The Emirates has just been mowed with extreme, almost perverse, precision – God, it looked perfect for yesterday’s encounter with newly promoted WBA, Tottenham’s ambitions, however ridiculous they may be, have been utterly smashed into pieces 90 minutes into the new campaign away to some mid-table team (for the 3rd consecutive season, by the way) and the media are expecting Liverpool to overhaul us. They expect them to overhaul us like we never really will challenge for the title, or any other honours for that matter – as if we all have our eyes set on 3rd place and nothing else, because that would be above our reach. What a load of crap. Pardon my French.

It isn’t something that Arsenal fans are dreaming, it’s actually true; the media really hates us. The headlines all over the web today, apart from the ones coming from Gunnerblogs, are “Nasri saves Gunners”. Nasri’s strike was a superb goal with a great, Arsenal-like build up – a goal that even The Soviet Union (the hockey machine) would’ve been proud of – not a lucky goal in the 89th minute following a corner or a desperate cross into the box. But still it is presented that way.

Liverpool, on the other hand, was indeed saved by Torres’ 83rd minute goal. How Torres, who scored just as many goals as Adebayor last season, is constantly considered the better striker of the two is beyond me. You might say his finishing is better considering how many chances Adebayor squandered last season, but the statistics add up to virtually no evidence at all. Adebayor has a better work ethic, he’s stronger and is by far more involved during the games than Torres but there is not much for Adebayor to do – he will always be doomed when it comes to compairing him to the star players of other teams. Mostly because he plays for Arsenal. Now, I’m not saying Torres isn’t good or that he doesn’t deserve the praise, however, I think it (the praise) should be divided more fairly. It seems that the media instantly thinks that you’re a better player if your arrival to the club set the club back 5 years financially. Or if you’re English. But seriously, a 30 goal/season striker for like 4£? How is that not one of the best signings in footballing history?

Poorly distributed praise aside, there is something we as Arsenal fans should thank the press for, and that is their poor knowledge of the sport, inevitably resulting in us being written off – simply because our signings aren’t household names in England. Samir Nasri, for example, is a superstar in his home country, widely considered to be one of the brightest prospects ever to pull on a pair of football shoes. Still I see him being severely doubted. I read in a newspaper (a Swedish one, but I doubt the English are much different) the other day that he wouldn’t succeed in the Premier League – at least not at first – because he was untested, too young and didn’t cost enough money. Okay, they didn’t say that last thing but I know that’s exactly what they were thinking. That really gets me angry, angry and curious. How can you be paid to write about football and not know more of the game and its players? I will spare you a long rant about how great Samir Nasri is, how incredibly great he will become and how he is a better play than Hleb already, but the game yesterday against WBA spoke for itself. And that was only his debut.

And why is that positive? Why is it to our advantage to be written off beforehand? Well, for me personally it’s fantastic simply because I don’t want people to like my club. I don’t want the glory supporters on our side. I’m the same when it comes to music – the less successful a band is the better, they are my own. But I also sincerely believe that Arsenal FC will benefit from being written off in the same way we did last season; the team will become tighter as a group and the feeling that it’s us against the world will enhance. Which is a good thing.

When the signing that is sure to come finally arrives we will be set to take the premiership to where it belongs; The Emirates Stadium. I really can’t wait for the day (should be any day now..) that the new Wenger-signing, along with everything that the prefix “Wenger-” means, is presented on the official site, because you just know it will be another star of the future – even if the one he brings in is someone with “experience”. That is another area that seems to be a blindspot for the majority of the football journalists; Wenger and his little miracles. The public constantly seems to overlook what a quality squad we actually have and instead focus on teams like Liverpool and Tottenham and their signings and then expect them to finish above us. But how can anyone expect Liverpool and Tottenham to overhaul us when they sign the players that they do? Is it because they are very expensive, which, to the untrained eye (the media), is a strong signal of ambition and footballing knowledge – if they splash out so much on a player it has to be a well scouted buy, right? Well, yesterday we saw a very mediocre Tottenham lose, and rightly so, to Middlesborough and we saw a lucky Liverpool survive a 0-0 draw away to Standard Liege. Although Standard has got huge amount of potential in players like Steven Defour and Axel Witsel, but still.

No, we will not be overhauled this season. In fact,  I think we’ll win the title this year. I’ve premeditated and reviewed our fellow contenders, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to do it. I believe that our squad has improved in every area except for central midfield, but the final signing Wenger promised us will take care of that. I have no doubt that it will turn out to be a terrific player, and if someone doesn’t show up Wenger is convinced that an existing player within the squad will follow in Flamini’s footsteps, literally in his footsteps all over the Emirates aswell as in terms of development.

Seeing as we only just missed out on the title last season – mostly due to bad calls from referees and unlucky injuries on key players, by the way – we are bound to win it this time. Especially as Chelsea is 1 year older with yet another manager. To them aging is not a positive thing. United is yet to strenghten their squad and Ronaldo, who definitely won’t score 31 Premier League-goals this season, is ruled out for the beginning of the season. Liverpool signed mediocre full backs, a black Peter Crouch from France (you think Wenger would’ve signed him if he were any good) and Robbie Keane for money that wouldn’t even fit in Fort Knox. What did we sign? Oh, right, just 2 of the most promising players around, and Wenger isn’t finished yet. Nasri, Rosicky (when he’s fit, of course) and Fabregas will probably be the best thing we’ve ever seen when it comes to attacking. Alot of flair, creativity and, above all, end product. If we get to keep this squad together, like the aim was for this season, I suspect we might just be looking at another golden-49-games-unbeaten-generation.

All this media speculation might unsettle a Gooner or two, but when you really think about it, what are we so worried about? It’s just the Same Old Story, but this time it’s got a better ending. I suspect we will all be very happy people come May.