Your Chance To Vote On The Best Arsenal Players Of The Season

It’s that time of year when everyone reflects on the somewhat tumultuous journey we’ve been on this past season. Today we give you all the opportunity to vote for those players you believe were the most influential in the campaign.

I have added a supplementary poll at the end to stimulate discussion for the day.

In order to avoid any subliminal bias on my part creeping into your choice, I have listed the players in alphabetical order according to their surname.

This last poll is about your choice of what type of player we should buy if we could only bring in one new top quality player in the summer transfer window……..

Just added this last one for a bit of controversy …

Apologies if you think I’ve left any player out, Coquelin is undoubtedly a talent but he hasn’t really played enough to be in consideration.

You can view the on-going results by clicking the box at the bottom of each poll, we shall publish the final results.

I hope you’ve had fun, please carry the debate on your choices through into the day’s comments.

Rasp

Raving at The Craven.

A Spring day in London town, an away trip to that pleasant part of the metropolis, our team on a run of unbeaten games and against decent opposition, should be a good day out.

3 points would make it a great day out.

Fulham’s loss to Chelsea last week shouldn’t mask the quality of their recent play, they were the better team in the first half yet went in for their quartered orange slices two goals down – it was a travesty. I am sure Martin Jol will assure his team that today will be different.

Early in the season we were having a pub discussion about who would be the last man standing in a pub brawl amongst football managers, I am sure you have done the same…… Needless to say our beloved Mr Wenger wouldn’t last long, probably even less time than Fatboy Benitez. The unanimous winner was Martin Jol, a man who has a face like a dog chewing a wasp, but a good manager and a man players are unlikely to argue with!

Want Some?

What I like about Jol is that his team play for each other; Fulham have some fine talent in Berbatov and Ruiz, but essentially their strength comes from unity. How else can you explain Big Phil Senderos getting 20 games this season. I have always like Big Phil and thought he could be a future Arsenal Captain, sadly injury, lack of composure and a slower turning circle than even our BFG, has hindered his career.

Let us be under no illusions, today will be a tough game, Fulham beat Spurs at White Hart Lane  only a couple of weeks ago and in Berbatov have a player who likes to score against The Arsenal, but as always this will be about how we play. The loss of two points to Everton was a result of a lack of quality finishing; we won the game in every department but failed to be clinical.

My Team:

Of course, the above could turn out to be complete tosh, and AW will go with a 3 man midfield of JW, Santi and Mikel, but should he field my team I think we will win the game.

AW has been in the press saying nice things about The Ox – that he is maturing and will have more games next season. Is this a carrot to an unhappy player or will Alex find his place in a team which seems settled with Alex on the bench? The latter hope because he is an essential element in the Triple winning team of 2016.

Today’s English Explorer:  Many of our explorers have been rich men who travelled to find fame, but of course most of England’s great explorers had one thing in mind when they left behind the Cliffs of Dover – Money. Great Britain became Great on the back of trade and opening up of new markets or finding new items for sale was hugely important. Think how the import of silk, sugar, tobacco, teak, cotton etc affected the country we know and love. Charles William Barkley (1759 – 1832) was one of those traders. Going to sea aged 11 working for the East India Company, he was mainly sailing between the Far East and the West Indies. In the 1790′s he went to British Columbia, Canada – there is a sound named after him (the Barkley Sound near Vancouver). The Pacific was his domain and he started trading fur between China and Canada.

There are no images of Barkley but I found this old pic of the Young Raddy

Barkley traded all over the Pacific bringing huge wealth to both The East India Company and his English backers. During this time he opened up unknown areas of the Canadian Pacific coast. He died in Mauritius aged 73.

Can we win today? Well, we have been very good on the road, the team is consistent and the sun is shining. What do you think?

p.s. It isn’t really the Young Raddy – he was better looking.

COYRRG

Big Raddy

A Fair Result or One We Got Away With?

I think the answer to that is a bit of both. Across 90 minutes on the balance of play, possession and opportunities carved out I don’t think that 3-1 over-flattered us. That we were still 1-0 down going into the 84th minute does leave a certain feeling of having got away with this one though. I will, however, look at the positives that we kept fighting and pressing and that this is a very important trait that I see increasingly in this squad, which should hold us in good stead for the future.

Early on we dominated possession and carved out a couple of decent openings. I thought some of our old failings of overplaying it and taking one too many passes rather than taking the shot at the right time was in evidence. The pitch was becoming slick from the rain and seemed to be begging players to hit hard low shots that could spin up off the pitch and cause their keeper problems. When we did shoot it seemed to be 2-3 passes too late and the shot became predictable.

Giroud headed onto the bar from a Sagna cross early on but our best chance of the first half was when Gervinho was put through one on one with their keeper courtesy of a slide rule pass from Santi. As their keeper came out Gervinho, rightly in my opinion, opted to go round the keeper but took far too heavy a touch which took him too wide and narrowed the angle. He still came close to finding the net but the ball went just wide of the far post. It would have been a tap in for any player following up and I thought Giroud was slightly guilty of ball watching. If you look at it again he jogs along watching Gervinho and suddenly realises too late he ought to be sprinting into the box. I think he could have got there had he instinctively set off at full pace the moment Gervinho was put through.

The second half seemed to continue where the first left off and we weren’t capitalising on our dominance in possession and territory and you just had a feeling what was coming next. Norwich had hardly troubled our goal but once again the old set piece goal against the run of play undid us on the 56th minute. I was seated behind the goal and remember looking at Turner and thinking I hope one of our bigger lads gets tight to him because he is a big chap and has a history of scoring from set pieces. The fact that arguably their most dangerous player at set pieces ended up getting a free unchallenged header reopens the debate about the merits of zonal marking.

I had to watch MOTD to get an extra feel for the game as it is easy to miss a lot when you sit directly behind the goal. I wanted to have a look at the lead up to the free kick and on initial evidence it looked like their player tripped over his own feet so I waited for the replay and the better camera angle to get a better idea but do you think MOTD were interested in looking at a potential injustice against Arsenal that resulted in a goal?

Gervinho and Jack hadn’t really been at the races in this game and Arsene waited another 4 minutes before subbing them for Walcott and Podolski. I felt it gave us a boost with Walcott causing immediate problems down the right and arguably our most natural finisher sniffing around their box. It didn’t take too long before a decent passing move saw Podolski clear and he smashed his shot against the bar. The equalising goal was still eluding us however and Arsene replaced Sagna with the Ox on the 80th minute for an all out assault on their goal. His introduction in addition to the other 2 subs did the trick and we all of a sudden looked far more direct and penetrative.

The equaliser came from a slightly controversial penalty decision. This time MOTD decided to make a real song and dance about it and funnily enough the pro Spurs Lineker, the just behind us in the league and soon to be playing us Everton manager, and the perennially Arsenal disliking Hanson all shouted injustice against Norwich. Keown showed in a close up that although they both grappled a bit the defender did indeed initiate the grabbing of Girouds shirt and clearly pulled him down. The ref should have seen it but didn’t and the linesman correctly spotted it from a greater distance. Well done to him I said as David Moyes, possibly with some ulterior psychological motive, intimated we had been thrown an incorrect decision. Anyway Arteta coolly slotted home and it was 1-1.

What came next was one of those ends that just makes you smile and, if anything, leave the game even happier than if you had the game sewn up on the hour mark. The players obviously realised the importance of the 3 points and kept pressing and cue 2 excellent goals in the last 2 minutes. Podolski’s goal for me illustrated why we should play him more often as no other Arsenal player has his finishing ability.

A critical 3 points and on to the tougher fixture of Everton on Tuesday. I think we will have to be more clinical in attack and more solid on the set pieces if we want to get the 3 points in that game. Had it been Everton today I am not so sure we would have got away with it. On to the ratings :-

Fabianski 7 No chance for the goal and didn’t have much to do but made a couple of critical stops when needed.

Sagna 6 Considering we had them mostly pinned back he didn’t seem to offer too much to our offence in this game.

Vermaelen 7 Had a solid game. Not too much defending to be done. Their goal seemed to be a tactical fault of the whole team rather than being down to one individual.

Koscielny 7 Ditto for Kos as with TV.

Gibbs 7.5 First game for a bit and looked good both in attack and defence.

Arteta 7.5 Kept us ticking over and put in a good shift. A cool head when needed for the penalty.

Ramsey 8 My MOTM I thought Rambo had a good game today. He seems to have matured recently and today, despite no individual brilliance, I thought he gave an all action display in the Steven Gerrard mode.

Cazorla 7.5 At times drifted out of the game but whenever we are dangerous or create chances he always seems to have some hand in it.

Wilshere 6 Struggled a bit today after his enforced absence. I am not troubled by this. It is nice that others take up the mantle when it is not happening for him and I think a fit Jack will be important to us for these last games.

Giroud 6.5 Scored a goal and as usual worked tirelessly but seemed a little off the pace of the game today.

Gervinho 6 After a couple of good games he was back to one of his more frustrating performances. It remains to be seen if this is just how it is with him or whether he can turn out the good performances more regularly.

SUBS

Walcott 7 Caused immediate problems to them when he came on and all 3 subs seemed to turn the game back in our favour.

Podolski 7 Scored a good one and crashed another on to the bar. You feel we have a greater goal threat when he gets in and around the opposition box.

Oxlaide-Chamberlain 7 Good direct running and made the second goal with a bit of inspiration.

Written by GoonerB

How to get the Best out of Oxlade-Chamberlain?

Mickydidit sparked a conversation about The Ox with this opening ….

““The Ox…..Discuss”
Has he improved?
Best position?In what system?
Out on loan?

Oz Gunner replied thus …..

“Ox is another toughie Micky! Midfield,wing,AM, Henry like striker…I haven’t the slightest of ideas. I see him becoming a Jovetic type player where his best is playing just off the main striker (god we have a few of those don’t we?!)

Loan? Nah, too good for that now. I think the pressure got to him this season (along with a few niggling injuries). He’ll be better for it though, he’s going to be an absolute gem. Those supporters who have slated him and listed him as ‘deadwood’ should be taken out back and disposed off.”

Whilst Gooner in Exile  had this to say

“I’’m with you Oz, a little high on expectation after end of last season and summer trip to Euro’s which meant late back for pre season, plus those injuries you mention. Plus all change at the club which must be difficult for youngsters who aren’t established. Especially when those players signed are going to take your potential starting spot away.

For me he is similar to Rooney with ball at feet and in terms of power. And I’m not sure Ferguson or England have ever used Rooney to his full potential. Back to goal does not suit them, picking the ball up and running at defenders from the middle third I think both canbe devastating, hence why my suggestion about Wilshere’s ideal position also includes him playing alongside Ox and Santi, they could have an awful lot of fun and all possess different attributes that would complement each other.”

Big Raddy believes that the Ox will have to wait at least another season to become a starting player.The only place I can see him is as Santi cover or on the left wing/midfield, which assumes the relegation of both Gervinho and Podolski.

Quite frankly, I cannot see why Mr Wenger spent so much money buying him when we have such a glut of attacking midfield players. Even allowing for the removal from the squad of the “deadwood” there is no place for OC.

The Ox’s best position appears to be the one Hodgson gives him in the England team – behind the main striker and slightly to the left. but as has been said, this is Podolski or Cazorla’s position in the Arsenal set up.

A loan seems unlikely and as such I predict a long period of riding the pine (on the bench) for young OC. He has huge potential and he clearly loves it at Arsenal but his patience will be tested.

Written by Big Raddy

Oxlade-Chamberlain Out On Loan

Let me start by saying that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a very gifted young man who will become a huge player for Arsenal.

And yet… I really think that the best thing for his development would be to be loaned out to another Premiership club for the remainder of this season.

In his 14 starts and eight substitute appearances this season, AOC has had some great moments and showed no shortage of skill and determination.

But he has also, mostly, looked a bit out of his depth.

In his last two outings (as a starter against Brighton on Saturday and a late substitute against West Ham) his displays were characterised by wrong options taken and little in the way of end result.

Against the Hammers, we were already winning 5-1 when he came on, but he twice took ridiculously ambitious shooting chances when a simple pass would have been much more likely to yield a goal.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances (aside from his age and inexperience): he was playing with unfamiliar line-ups and untested partnerships, as with Jenkinson at the weekend.

However, in the moments when he has had the ball he has seldom seemed to do the right thing and was generally not on the same wavelength as his colleagues.

Many young talents have a “second season dip” and AOC is probably just experiencing one of them right now, before he kicks on next season.

But he is not good enough to command a starting place and, therefore, his opportunities in the first team will remain limited to cameos for the rest of the season unless there is a serious injury to more senior players.

With that in mind, I feel he would learn a lot more by going out on loan to a team where he could expect to play most games – rather like the experience Jack Wilshere had during his loan spell at Bolton.

Jack came back a tougher, wiser player and I would expect Alex to do the same.

If he were to spend the next few months at somewhere like Wigan, Norwich, West Brom or Swansea he would get a lot more than just extra playing minutes. He would start to learn about the responsibilities that come with being a team player (responsibilities he has been neglecting recently in the red and white).

A few bollockings from good pros who don’t have anything like Alex’s talents but are prepared to work as hard as they possibly can for their team mates will do him a power of good.

And experiencing a life that won’t be nearly as cosseted as that afforded to the Arsenal players will also be good for reminding him just how fortunate he is.

He would – like Jack – return to Arsenal a more rounded player and man.

A final advantage will be that he will be out of the firing line of the more volatile element among our supporters – fans who don’t seem happy unless they have a hate figure to shout at.

Alex is possibly only a few iffy performances away from starting to attrach the sort of groans and abuse that have dogged Theo Walcott for years.

All this is not meant to sound like an attack on AOC. As I said at the outset, I am really confident he will turn into a huge talent for Arsenal and England.

But if a loan-out was good enough for Wilshere (and Szczesny and others), why not Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

RockyLives

Arsène Wenger – The grooming of England’s future Super Stars.

Much has been written about Arsène Wenger’s penchant for foreign players – French players in particular. Over the years he has been ridiculed for playing teams full of foreigners and for his seeming adversity to English youth. This culminated in a league match against Crystal Palace on 14 February 2005 when Arsenal named a 16-man squad that featured no British players for the first time in the club’s history.

PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor felt that this was the beginning of a worrying time for English football”. In March 2006, Alan Pardew chimed in with – “Arsenal’s Champions League success was not necessarily a triumph for British football” Arsène disagreed and said that he saw the issue of nationality as irrelevant and stated, “When you represent a club, it’s about values and qualities, not about passports”

Other pundits including Trevor Brooking director of football development at The Football Association defended Arsene, he felt that a lack of English players in “one of England’s most successful clubs” was more of a reflection on England’s limited talent pool rather than on Arsene.

Arsène preferred players that were nimble, adept at passing and those that displayed a high level of technical ability. Using his uncanny knowledge of worldwide players he brought in players like Petit, Vieira, Henry, Pires, Van Bronckhorst, Overmars, Toure, Gilberto, Wiltord, Anelka, Ljungberg, Silvinho, Lauren, and Edu, these players formed winning teams the likes of which had not been seen at Highbury since Herbert Chapman’s teams of the 30’s.

His explanation for not buying British players has always been that few “local” players displayed the attributes that he was looking for and those that did were overpriced in comparison to European players. More recently, with the riches of Chelsea and the Manchester teams Arsene was not able to compete on a level playing field for the British players he admired or for the better foreign players so he was forced to turn his attention to youth players, both foreign and British.

Today, in his youth and under 21sides he has a squad of 30 English and 19 foreign players many of whom already have international experience at various levels.

In Theo Walcott, Carl Jenkinson, Alex Oxlaide Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs and Jack Wilshere he has five full England internationals, these players might well form the core of the English team for years to come. With another 25 English youth players in his care who can say just how many more will make the international team?

Who would have thought that Arsène Wenger might be the man to turn around England’s fortune by developing the nucleus of the English team?

He is a multi faceted man that should not be counted out.

GunnerN5

Crisis, what crisis?

As I write this Arsenal are driving back home down the motor way with three very valuable points from a tough encounter with a Wigan team fighting for their lives. These points, as I am sure you know, put us in third place and if we stay there at the end of the season we will get an even bigger trophy than we usually do from finishing forth. Not enough to warrant an open top bus driven through the streets of Islington but perhaps a mini bus decked out in red and white with a few beers in the back. Get it where you can I say, lol.

Yes, only two weeks ago people on this site and many others were calling for Wenger’s head but now we have gone three League games unbeaten the faithful can breathe a little easier. Phew.

Have you noticed Wenger’s cunning plan?

We have all heard the stories about the club offering Walcott 75k per week, just as much as we have heard the stories that he wants 100k per week, what irritates me is that some actually believe that if he were offered the 100 he would gratefully sign to Arsenal for a further five years or some such number. To you I say this; no he won’t. With Ballotelli reportedly earning 190k per week Theo’s agents are going to do their best to try and make sure some of that action comes their client’s way. Only if no other oil rich club is interested in Walcott will his agents suggest re-signing to Arsenal.

So what’s Arsene’s cunning plan. Prior to the Reading game, Walcott playing through the middle had reached almost mythical proportions. Thierry Henry was talked about in the same sentence whenever the subject of Theo at number 9 came up. It is so easy to imagine Theo’s agents talking to other clubs in excited tones about how great Theo would be playing down the middle of their club; all it would take is the same wages as Balotelli and Theo is your boy.

Wenger’s cunning plan was to simply pop the balloon. Theo was pretty good against Reading. He was quite good today but 190k a week good he was not. His close control does not put him into what? Oooh choose anyone of the Barcelona front line including those who regularly make the bench. Bringing Walcott’s real talent as a number 9 into sharp focus maybe Wenger’s best shot at keeping him..

Back to the game

According to Arteta in his post match interview, Arsenal were expecting Wigan to come onto us strong and the expectation was correct as come onto us they did. Arteta also made the point that it was easy to see that with that kind of drive and the occasional rub of the green Wigan are capable of inflicting serious damage. All in all I would say that the first half was honours even with Wigan perhaps shading it.

The second half was different; of course, from the restart Arsenal upped the pace with superb runs from the Ox down the right and the rest of the team moving the ball around with far greater urgency.

It wasn’t long before Wigan had been pinned back and a goal looked on its way. It arrived courtesy of a penalty awarded against Walcott, Theo did well to get this it must be said. Up stepped our penalty king to slot home his third in a row, one nil to the Arsenal rung out. This was the signal to Wigan to double their efforts and they almost came straight back with an equaliser. It became clear we had a nail biting twenty minutes in store. Mertersacker stood strong and Szcesney made important saves but Wigan just kept on coming. Time for Arsene to batten down the hatches and batten them down he did, throwing on every defensive player available with the only exception of Steve Bould but I am sure that thought crossed Wenger’s mind.

The end finally arrived followed immediately by a huge sigh of relief. Three points, third place, now that’s my idea of a good Christmas present.

Written by LB

The Midfield Conundrum.

Sherlock Holmes said that whatever is left once you have removed the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

What has this to do with our midfield? Well,  ….. the impossible is that we will have a fully fit midfield  to choose from, we have physical fragility in spades – Diaby, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ramsey, Frimpong, Coquelin and Arteta have all suffered long term injuries over the past few seasons and there is no reason to think this will change.

And what is improbable? That less than half of them will be fit at any one time. Add in the as yet to be damaged Ox, Arshavin and Cazorla and we have lots of choice, some might say, too much choice. At a time when all three of our Goalkeepers are under the age of 23 and two of them are crocked, it could be said that we lack squad balance – but that is another story and another post.

I would need RA mathematical qualities to work out the possible combinations of our midfield, all I know as there are too many to count on my fingers. Even if we take Cazorla and Arteta as starters  there are 8 possible partners for them. But should they be automatic starters? Is a midfield of Diaby, Wilshere and Coquelin worse? Or  Ramsey, Ox and Rosicky? etc etc etc

Should Oxlade- Chamberlain be considered as a future midfield linch-pin or a prettier Peter Beardsley?

My point is that what is left is the truth and the truth is we have too many midfield players. The skill sets of Ramsey, Rosicky, Coquelin, Wilshere, and Ox are similar – not identical but similar. I would be happy for any of them to start against any opposition, Cazorla is exceptional. We have no player who can replicate the skills of Arteta but should he be injured we will change the balance of the midfield to be either more attacking or more defensive.

What do you think will be our best midfield assuming all are fit? And what do you think it will look like in 2014? My take is:

2012   Diaby    Cazorla     Arteta

2014     O-C   Wilshere  Cazorla   Arteta

Because I believe to maximize the potential in this squad we have to play  4-3-1-2 with Ox being the 1.

The difficulty will be juggling the fantastic talent we will have behind the first eleven. Wages can be a recompense – it works for Nasri, Kolo, Cahill, Malouda, Nani etc but a truly ambitious player will want first team action and many of our squad players are highly talented lads who have yet to fulfill their potential, something I feel sure they will agitate for.

Lost in the Midfield

For the first time  I can recall we have an area of the pitch which is flooded with exceptional talent.  How would you sort it out ? I have no idea but then I am not paid £6m a year.

( pic c/o Didit )

Written very quickly by Big Raddy

A serious win – Arsenal 6 Coventry 1

On Sunday, we faced a side called City that played in sky-blue. And last night, it happened again. Except the City from Coventry is very different to the one from Manchester in one key respect: Sheikh Mansour did not decide to take his country’s cash to the Midlands.

Coventry City were once a proud and persistent member of the top division, ranking only behind Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton for their unbroken run at the top. They managed a couple of sixth place finishes and an FA Cup that every Arsenal fan loved seeing them lift, when they beat Spurs 3-2 in 1987. All of that seems a long time ago now. While the coaching staff includes some familiar faces from Coventry’s happier days, like Richard Shaw and Steve Ogrizovic, Coventry provided pretty weak opposition yesterday.

That being the case, it was a little underwhelming to see our team of youngsters and older guys with something to prove fail to get to grips with Coventry in the first half. Santos aside, no-one played badly, but there was little evidence of dominance against an honest but ordinary lower division opponent, which has a league record of W0, D3, L5 this season and lies joint bottom of League One.

The only moment of satisfaction in the first half was seeing Olivier Giroud break his duck. It was clear from his expression that it was a relief for him too. Once again, he had been given precious little service in terms of viable opportunities to score, before Arshavin and Coquelin combined with first-time passes to send the ball through for Giroud to go one-on-one with the Coventry keeper. Giroud took his chance with a deft chip.

Yennaris (surprisingly playing in central midfield), Oxlade-Chamberlain and Coquelin began to assert themselves before the end of the first half. Arshavin (who was finally being played in his proper position, as a number 10) and Walcott were both pretty low-key in the first half, but stepped things up in the second half. Whereas crosses and through balls were generally over-hit or inaccurate in the first half, the ball was knocked around with more confidence and more effect in the second half, with openings being created against a pedestrian defence.

Giroud was given a chance to get a second, when the referee harshly punished Coventry by awarding us a penalty when Arshavin appeared to have run into a defender more than been bundled over. But before Giroud could take the penalty, there was an amusing interlude, when two streakers got onto the pitch. For one horrendous moment, it seemed the first one was going to go traditional and manage to get all his clothes off, but he had to make do with running around the pitch in boxers and socks. Our stewards tried to look nonchalant about it all, you could almost see them say “Really? You want me to run after him? Bloody hell….” But in the end, the intruders were nabbed and Giroud was allowed to take his penalty. Which he promptly missed.

A second goal came not long after, when Oxlade-Chamberlain cut in from the left, exchanged passes with Arshavin and then sent a powerful shot towards the top right-hand corner and it flew past the keeper’s flailing hand. In truth, the keeper should have saved it, but it was powerfully hit, and the ball’s path may have deviated slightly.

The Chelsea match substitutions were made on the 72nd minute, when Giroud, Coquelin and Oxlade-Chamberlain came off for Gnabry, Chamakh and Frimpong, a folk hero who was welcomed back with gusto.

Arshavin had become increasingly influential through the game, and managed to get his first goal for Arsenal in almost a year to make it 3-0. The little Russian quickly controlled a clever chipped cross from Giroud, who had received the ball from Yennaris, and despatched a little half-volley into the goal. Ten minutes later, after Djourou had failed to convert a good chance from a corner, the very tidy Nico Yennaris played a beautifully weighted ball for Walcott to run onto – it was perfect for Theo; the ball in front of him, the centre-backs behind him. The Wannabe Striker had been gagging for a goal, and had been hogging the ball at times when he should have passed the ball. This time, however, in his optimum position, he sent the ball past the keeper and into the far corner. 4-0.

Then Coventry had their moment. Their captain, Carl Baker, had been the only Sky Blue suggesting he had had something to offer creatively, and on 79th minute he sent across an absolutely beautiful cross from the right-hand side. Carl Jenkinson would have been proud of it. It took out the defenders and gave Damian Martinez no chance, with Callum Ball doing the easy bit by converting to give the Coventry fans something to celebrate. If Giroud had been given more service like that since he joined us, I feel sure he would have more than one goal to his name.

A minute later, Serge Gnabry was played in by Arshavin. The young German went for a shot, which hit a defender and went for a corner. Arshavin and Yennaris exchanged passes form the short corner before Arsahvin sent over a pin-point cross, which the always impressive and smooth Ignassi Miquel headed back inside the near post for his first goal for the club. 5-1.

And the best goal of the night was the last one. Theo picked the ball up around the centre circle with a lovely first touch, went past a defender on the outside (yes, he really did), cut back in and across the defender, and once he reached the penalty box, he sent a curling shot inside the far post for 6-1. In truth, he had more time than he would usually get, with the Coventry defenders visibly tiring, but it was a lovely one-man goal nonetheless.

All in all, it was a fun evening. There were good performances from Yennaris, Coquelin, and Miquel; good first team debuts for Martinez, Angha (a centre-back playing at right-back) and Gnabry; a return from injury for Frimpong; good run-outs for Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arshavin, Djourou and Walcott; a goal for Giroud; and no injuries before the weekend. Chamakh was anonymous for most of his 20 minutes. The only really bad performance was from Santos, who looked way off the pace, and whose use of the ball was distinctly un-Brazilian. But hopefully, he was blowing away some cobwebs, he can play a lot better.

And next up is an away trip to Brian McDermott’s Reading.

More significantly, there is Saturday’s game against the suddenly creative Chelsea. Last night’s game does not tell us much about how well placed we will be for that game, but it can’t hurt to have just won 6-1.

Here are my ratings for the evening’s performances:

Martinez: 7

Angha: 7

Djourou: 7

Miquel: 8

Santos: 4

Yennaris: 8

Coquelin: 7

Walcott: 7

Arshavin: 8 MOTM

Oxlade-Chamberlain: 8

Giroud: 7

Frimpong: 7

Chamakh: 6

Gnabry: 7

Written by 26may1989

And this match report from LB who was also at the game

Goal Fest at the Emirates

Arsenal cruised past Coventry on an entertaining night to secure our place in the forth round of the League Cup. Fifty eight thousand people turned up for this third round tie, incredible when you think of what a drab fixture this looks at first sight. Of that number, forty five thousand were Arsenal supporters; it was great to see so many fathers having a chance to take their young sons or daughters, more and more a rarity nowadays which is obviously a great shame.

When we whoop the opposition so convincingly I feel comfortable speaking well of the opposition fans and it has to be said that Coventry turned up in numbers, eighteen thousand to be exact. No doubt many a father took his son or daughter regaling stories as they made their way down of the day when they beat Arsenal 3-0 on the opening day of the season all that time ago. It was after all their cup final and they played a huge part in making the atmosphere as good as it was.

The team selection made sense; giving the captaincy to Djourou was inspired, I am sure it is not easy keeping someone as talented as he happy playing the role of forth choice CB. Wenger included three players who needed to prove something: Giroud, Arshavin and Thierry Walcott, these three drove the show forward. The Ox has nothing to prove so does not fit into that category; he just played for fun and was a joy to watch.

The back line was as expected apart from the inclusion of Anger who I am afraid was poor. Santos came to life in the second half leaving only Miguel who was my man of the match. I should explain how I make my choice of MOTM, on Sunday for example The BFG was described as “imperious” (Chas) I agree, but I expect that from him, what I didn’t expect was Ramsey to raise his game as much as he did and because of that I would have given the MOTM to him. Against Coventry Arshavin ran the show he shone above all else, but once again I expect that from him, it was only Coventry after all but Miquel played over and above what I expected, scoring a well placed header to boot.

If I had one little complaint I think Wenger was a bit too cautious playing Coquelin and Yannaris, both defensive minded players, in front of the back line. I would have preferred to see Eisfeld who is more attack minded rather than Yannaris who was average on the night, a description far less glowing than the reports he receives when he plays right back.

Arsenal were in charge from the outset, the only surprise was that it took so long to get off the mark, half chances fell here and there until Coquelin stabbed the ball past the Coventry back line for Giroud to run onto with his left foot; the conditions were so perfect that the rarest of rare orchids would have flowered and unsurprisingly Giroud chipped the goal keeper and a huge black monkey leapt off his back as he turned to celebrate his first goal for Arsenal not long before the break.

Wenger was obviously taking this game seriously by his team selection but I am sure he would have liked a cushion as quick as possible so that he could get key players off ready for Saturday. The opportunity to put some distance came when Arshavin was brought down in the box and the referee correctly awarded us a penalty. The Ox ran to pick up the ball and then protectively went to the spot in hope of taking it himself only to be met by Giroud who pulled rank or something like that and insisted on taking it.
Goal number two looked a certainty but the conditions were not right, orchids did not flower and Giroud missed, the monkey that had flown off was only circling and came flying down to resume his place on the Frenchman’s back. Giroud mopped for the rest of the game.

This minor irritation was quickly put behind us as the Ox showed everyone how to do it, launching an exocet of a shot that flew past the Coventry keeper to make it 2-0. Arshavin scored the third with a sublime take and tap in. This opened the flood gates and even Thierry Walcott scored a brace.

This all bodes well for the next round in which we play Reading on the last day of October

Written by LB

Arsenal drink Sangria in the park

Such a perfect day …… well almost! A win by five goals, and we continue the great start to the season, despite having lost two of our most important players in the summer.  The first half was especially impressive, with the cohesive team-play the most significant feature.  Arsenal quite simply dominated Southampton all across the pitch in the first 45 minutes.

The only fly in the ointment came just before the half-time whistle when a rusty Szczesny dropped a high cross, with Daniel Fox capitalising on the error with the first entry in the Arsenal goals against column this season.  But at half-time, the crowd was purring at the level of the first half performance; Southampton might not be the most capable of opposition, especially in the defensive third, but the way in which our team knitted together was very, very impressive.  The second half was decidedly less fluid than the first, with Arsenal defending deeper than they might have liked and possession being given up too easily.  But that said, it was still clear which was the better team.

The defence today was every bit as coordinated as it has been this season, with Mertesacker magnificent in his domination of Rickie Lambert, a player who had bossed the Man United defence a couple of weeks ago.  Vermaelen was the foil to Mertsacker’s intelligent performance.  And on the flanks, Gibbs and Jenkinson were assured, being careful with the ball and careful without it. Gibbs also managed to get two sort-of-assists, having crossed the ball for both the Southampton own goals.

In midfield, what more is there to say about Cazorla and Arteta?  These guys are the business, their ability to organise the side is awesome. Even in the Cesc years, I don’t think it was as good as this, not because Cesc is less talented than our current Spaniards, of course he isn’t, but because this pair work together in such a seamless way.  Today, they were denied the chance to continue working in tandem with our renaissance man, Abou Diaby, and the ambitious Francis Coquelin was given the nod.

The general passing game was excellent, but the thing that stood out for me was the quality of the Arsenal passing in the final third, with Cazorla, Podolski, Gibbs, Chamberlain and Gervinho regularly shredding the Southampton defensive line.

Up front, the team selection was interesting, with Gervinho played through the middle, as he had been in some of the preseason games, and Podolski and Chamberlain on the flanks.  Many have had their doubts about Gervinho, and after a pretty tame first season in red and white, he certainly has something to prove this season.  The goal he scored for the Ivory Coast last week shows that he knows how to score, but the question remained: will he do that for us? Well, he did today, with a pair, and some excellent attacking play that created chance for others.

It was lovely to see Gervinho turn into space on the right and pick up a typically perceptive chipped pass from Arteta, and then attack the box and simply drill the ball past Kelvin Davis at the near post.  And in the second half, he was in the right place to knock in a rebound off the post after substitute Aaron Ramsey had done brilliantly well to hold off a challenge and send the ball across to the far post. Luckily, the Mekon was on hand. One measure of Gervinho’s progress was his clear reluctance to come off when the substitute’s board had his number on it. Does anyone remember Gervinho showing that sort of appetite last season? Long may it last.

Podolski was belligerently energetic, often playing in a very central position, leaving the left-hand flank to Gibbs.  For our first goal, he battled with two Southampton midfielders just outside the centre circle, emerged with the ball at his feet and then slotted it through to Gibbs, whose drilled cross was fumbled by Davis and accidently knocked in by Jos Hooiveld.  Poldi’s goal was a joy to behold: we see fewer free-kick goals than we should, but with Cazorla, Arteta, Vermaelen, Walcott and Poldi, we certainly have options now. And, after Coquelin had been naively clattered just a few yards outside the penalty area, Podolski despatched his free-kick with Germanic efficiency. (Apologies for stereotyping….)

Chamberlain had a good game again today, with a couple of very decent efforts on goal, and he continued to play with a blend of youthful hunger and early maturity. The boy really is special, even in a game where colleagues take the lead.  His fellow ex-Saint, Theo Walcott, got a 15-minute run-out, and notched up a follow-up goal after an at-the-death Vermaelen surge.  For the more sentimental souls, like me, it was nice to see Chamberlain and Walcott make the effort after the final whistle to go and applaud the Southampton fans, whose club of course nurtured them in their earlier years.

There were probably only two negatives from the game today.  The main one was Szczesny.   It wasn’t only his error for the goal conceded, in a game where he wasn’t fiercely tested.  His distribution was as bad as it has ever been, displaying a nervousness that in a stiffer challenge would be a real source of difficulty.  We should cut him some slack, he’s not played much football recently, and his quality remains.  But he can’t afford to become a liability, hopefully his performances will lift soon.

The other negative was a minor one.  Having been dropped to the bench, Olivier Giroud’s chance to notch a goal was limited to his short appearance at the end of the game.  Probably his best chance was messed up by Walcott, who could have slipped an early ball through to Giroud but chose to hold onto the ball too long instead.  Nothing better emerged, and so the wait goes on.  Personally, I’m not worried, Giroud is a quality player, the goals will come.

So, a very satisfying day.  Next up Montpellier and Man City.  Some real tests for us there.

Written by 26may1989

Thanks to chas for providing the following player ratings:

Szczesny – Looked out of sorts and was sloppy for the Saints goal, though he did make a couple of decent saves. His kicking wasn’t up to Don Vito’s standard. Surely practice makes perfect for such elementary things……… 6

Mertesacker – A towering performance full of anticipation and Teutonic class…… 8

Vermaelen – Solid, powerful and a fine example to his teammates. His late surge created Walcott’s goal…… 8

Jenkinson – The Corporal is growing by the game. I can only remember one dodgy crossfield pass. He’s some footballer and is rapidly having his rough edges knocked off…… 8

Gibbs – Excellent from start to finish. The movement of the front three allowed him to join in with the attack on numerous occasions. Sometimes I confuse him with Podolski which shows he’s strengthened from the skinny whippet he was 18 months ago (mind you, it could just be my eyesight)…. 9 (My Man of the Match)

Arteta – The Spanish metronome makes the whole team tick. Majestic yet again…. 9

Oxlade-Chamberlain – The Ox looked a little tired to me but still managed to show real quality and ability on the ball…. 8

Cazorla – Santi has class oozing from every pore of his body. An Arsenal legend in the making. Would be Man of the Match but he’ll have lots of those during the season…. 9

Coquelin – Le Coq was robust, yet skilful. Perhaps the highest compliment to his performance is that Diaby was not missed yesterday.. 8

 

Podolski – Another instant crowd favourite along with Santi. You can see him straining every sinew to help the team. His free-kick was hit with such speed and whip it didn’t need to be right in the corner to beat the keeper. Goodbye Mr Row Z, we don’t need you anymore….. 9

Gervinho – Gerv’s best performance in an Arsenal shirt I can remember. His movement playing centrally, then left, then right had the Saints guessing all afternoon. Perhaps Wenger’s ‘Beat the Bus’ tactic might involve a bit more of the ‘false 9’ tactic…… 9

Subs

Ramsey – 67′ – Rambo helped us keep the ball better when he came on and his skill to create the 5th goal was sublime…. 8

Giroud – 74′ – Everyone willing Olivier to score a goal was great to see. It’ll come. I bet he wished he’d been on from the start yesterday. I wonder how the game would have developed if he had been…. 7

Walcott – 74′ – Theo was bound to make a good impact sub in a game like this. Shame he didn’t get his head up earlier when Giroud was all on his own, but he took his goal very well…. 7