Arsenal in crisis! …. what crisis?

I am really getting fed up with all the dross coming out of the ‘red tops’. Yesterday, they reported that we are doomed for another season as RVP and Fabregas wouldn’t be fit enough to play in our opening game at Liverpool.  They are certain our spending is finished for another summer and our hopes for next season are all but over. They highlight the fact that Bendtner will also miss the opening games, (which we all knew several weeks ago) and Denilson and Diaby are also a doubt.

Some Arsenal sites panic at all this make-believe stuff. The internet has been littered with headline posts calculated to provoke reaction. Our ‘fantasy predicament’ pales into insignificance compared to the mess Liverpool are in, with an injured Torres, and Carragher, Kuyt and Gerrard burnt out after the World Cup. The new manager, Roy Hodgson has an enormous task ahead in trying to produce a side that meets the expectation of the Liverpool fans.

What Wenger actually said was that he would address the situation on the 5^th August. He didn’t say that RVP or Fabregas wouldn’t play. Denilson and Diaby  both have slight groin strains but would most probably be available although Bendtner aggravated his groin problem and was always going to miss the start of the season. Luckily we have Chamakh now who it is likely will compete with Bendtner for a starting place in the side any way.

Year after year the media ‘will us to fail’ and try every conceivable method to brainwash a gullible audience, some of whom fall for it every time.

Wenger isn’t stupid, I’m sure he wants to buy where we need cover.  He knew months ago that Gallas, Silvestre, Senderos and Campbell were out of contract and would probably leave, and at the same time he would have assessed our present cover. The pre-season games in Austria will have given him a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in the squad .

Look how little activity there is from the top clubs so far this summer. There is a worldwide recession. Most PL clubs are in so much debt that,the penny has finally dropped. The days of buying players at over inflated prices must stop (unless you’re man city) but also, the availability of top players is limited.

Have you seen many who played in the world cup change clubs? City will continue to splash the cash, but making wholesale changes doesn’t always equate to a winning formula .

I feel very confident that we have a good balance now in the squad and will still buy at the least another centre back.

Have faith my friends.

Written by kelsey

Its not over, its just begun ……..

As the World Cup draws to a close I find myself thinking how much of a disappointment its been as a competition. It reaches its climax this weekend, with only one certainty, that there will be a new name on the trophy.

Holland v Spain means that Arsenal fans can take their pick whom to support with one of our players in either squad.  RvP is certain to start – barring an injury -  but Cesc has not started a game so far, although he has contributed briefly  as a substitute a couple of times.  That system has got Spain to the final so I doubt it will change.

But what a strange World Cup it has been, performed in stadium’s sounding as though they were full of swarming bees as the vuvuzelas droned continuously to what the commentators disingenuously called the beat of Africa.  I have heard nothing like it in several visits to that beautiful continent and I fear, had I been there this time, I would have lost patience and done something naughty.

The big stars didn’t turn up, Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo where were they, were they playing? Had they played too much? Was there too much pressure? Were they bored? Something tells me there will be the mother and father of enquiries as to why and what went wrong, immediately the final whistle blows.

No doubt it will include the need for more help for officials, overwhelmed by a game now so fast as to be beyond the power of any referee or assistant to keep up, as emphasised by the England goal that wasn’t. Big changes in that department will certainly happen, whether it is Mr Blatter’s extra guys behind the goal or technology or a mixture of both we will have to wait to see

Goalkeepers: have you ever seen so many goalkeeping errors in a single tournament? Was it the thin air of altitude or the ball maybe? I suspect just rank bad goalkeeping is nearer the mark. Whatever the reason, which keeper would you advise Arsene if asked, to sell the crown jewels to buy? Did any really impress?

The Arsenal players have not covered themselves with glory either and with the exception of the two named above have all seen their sides fail to impress and are off for early holidays. Lets hope we see some benefit from that.

In the case of the French the failure was spectacular, another suitable case for Mr Blatter, and his French friend, Michel Plattini to launch an enquiry into. Bit near home for Michel that one and the repercussions should be fascinating.  I wonder if that had been England what they would have done.

For me the dark side of the whole affair has been the despicable ‘Barça sideshow’ choreographed to unsettle Cesc. My biggest disappointment is the way so many Arsenal fans have bought into it. Given Barça’s proud record in recent years with Arsenal players, I would have thought we would just have called a  ‘plague on all their houses’ and got on with our lives instead of fuelling the fires of discontent and doing the Spaniards work for them.

The most recent comments from Cesc and Xavi in relation to the World Cup and returning home to their respective teams suggest that ‘the battle for Cesc’ is over for this summer at least.

So, on Sunday I will watch the game knowing no matter who wins it’s Barnet at the end of the week, Arsène will be back to add a couple more signings and then the real stuff is soon under way.

Its going to be a Gooner year.

I can’t wait.

Written by dandan

Keeping the Pride if Cesc stays

Good for Mexico, France need a miracle now to get out of their group so says their hapless manager Raymond Domenech. He looked almost as stupid standing on the touch-line at a loss for how to improve his team as  Shteve McClaren did under his umbrella.

Make no mistake, the French side is still packed with world class players, but with divisions in their camp that stopped them playing for the shirt and having cheated to get to the World Cup finals its probably right that their journey ends quickly.  What I find worrying is the manner of their departure. Footballers should play for the shirt, club or country, whatever is going on behind the scenes between other players or their feelings about the manager and his decisions.

The management of the French Football team has to take reponsibility for leaving Domenech in the position knowing that he’s failing to get the team to play for him, but equally, the players have to look at themselves for failing to put in the effort. If this can happen at International level, it can happen at club level too.

I’ve moaned about Arsenal players not doing their job properly, not working hard enough, not earning their money on the pitch. I’ve always felt that the relationship that exists between Arsène Wenger and the Arsenal players is very special. They want to play for him, they want to do well for him – the fact that he’s the manager of Arsenal comes second. The young men that he recruits into our team will have a love of Arsenal because of him too – because of the way our football has developed under his management. I feel, when the time comes,  we will need one of his disciples to carry the torch into the future, but thats in the future.

The feeling that there may be disharmony in our camp if Cesc stays is a real one. Certain sections of supporters and the media will be waiting to pounce on anything that looks like Cesc or any of the other players aren’t pulling their weight. Arsène Wenger is going to need all his beloved psychology to maintain a stable club and team. I would be disgusted to think that our players were not pulling on the red and white and playing with pride.

Les Bleus should be ashamed of themselves this morning.

Wouldn’t you prefer to watch the Arsenal?

Written by dandan

Having watched just about all the world cup so far, I find myself reduced almost to a state of depression at the dreadful garbage being consistently served up in the name of football, although to be fair last tuesday’s North Korea V Brazil was an improvement. That game aside, match after match have been timid affairs devoid of any risk taking. Unless, as in the case of poor Rob Green a mistake gets made.

Where is the skill, the excitement, and the ambition even to make a telling pass? All the things we were led to expect from supposedly the cream of world football are missing.  Unfortunately dross is dross no matter what banner it is played under.

It then occurred to me that there are clubs in our own premier league who serve up fare like that every week. Long balls, constantly soaring over the heads of an almost redundant midfield, aimed for the big guys in the penalty area in the hope that a knockdown will fall kindly and be bundled into the net. On the rare occasion an attacker does get a ball to feet he immediately goes to ground feigning a foul, seeking a free kick in the hope that their match winner the dead ball specialist can carve something out of nothing.

At the other end busses are parked across the goal as Chelsea’s special one famously put it. Negativity rules it seems, we shall not lose, winning is all.

Well not from where I am it isn’t, football is supposed to be an entertainment, the fare we are being served from South Africa is most definitely not that and deserves the continual giant raspberry being blown by the never-ending cacophony of the vuvuzelas.

Why do I feel like this? Because I have been spoilt in the past decade watching the wonderful Wengerball. Real entertainment this, risks included. Breathtaking movement, sublime goals, annoying mistakes and skilful individuals, whose artistry leaves the watcher mesmerised and amazed at the sheer magnificent’s of this the truly beautiful game. So stark a contrast is this, to that we have watched over the past week as to be almost unrecognisable as the same game.

Our detractors tell me we have won nothing for five years.

Really? I believe we have won over thousands of new fans around the world who would much rather watch us than this daily dose of a non-event that is the world cup. Call me what you will, stick to your negative safety-first style if you must, be bored witless in the cause of not losing.

But we are the Arsenal and win or lose. I cannot wait for the new season and some real entertainment at the home of football.

Dennis Bergkamp – “would you fly if you could walk on water?”

Morning all. Yesterday, irishgunner wrote this fantastic post about Dennis Bergkamp which unfortunately NewsNow didn’t pick up until early evening. As many of our regular readers might have missed it, we have decided to keep it up for a while longer and so have published it this morning under a different title. Apologies to those of you who are experiencing deja-vu, it’s that good, reading it twice won’t be a hardship.

Watching the World Cup always brings out the romantic in me. By that I mean it makes me think of the greats that I as a young one wasn’t around (and thus lucky enough) to see play. Those type of players who I feel are better than any that play nowadays.

A lot here could name them better than me, but I’ll throw out a few: Pele, Alfredo di Stefano, Zico, Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Liam Brady, Johnny Giles, Ferenc Puskas, Gianni Rivera, George Best and Teofilo Cubillas among others.

In my head, they are perhaps twice as good as they were on the field. I feel like I have missed out on something and the grainy footage that plays on my DVD player doesn’t do them justice. Last night after Germany demolished a static Australia, I sat down and instead of pining to “have seen Brady play at Highbury just once” I actually thought how lucky I was to have seen some of the players I have seen over the years.

I was born in 1986, got caught up in the football fever that swept Ireland during Italia 90 before becoming a Gooner in 1994. During that time I’ve seen some wonderful players: Maradona still had a bit left in his legs during the early 90s. There was that wonderful AC Milan team of Rossi, Baresi, Maldini, Rijkaard and Weah and the insane skills of Zidane, Raul, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) in their prime.

At Arsenal we had some of our own players who were above others on the field. One stands head and shoulders above the rest – the Iceman, DB10!

Dennis Bergkamp’s arrival in London in 1995 saw the beginning of a new dawn at Arsenal as the club began to look to Europe for more talent. Some say that it was Wenger who gave the go-ahead for Bergkamp’s signature, others claim it was David Dein but lets give the credit to Bruce Rioch. He was manager, he was there when Bergkamp first held aloft the wonderful red and white.

The Dutchman came to us under a cloud. At the time he was the second most expensive signing in the world after Inter Milan paid Ajax £12million for his services in 1993. He flattered to deceive in Italy and just two years on arrived in North London for £7.5million. During the very early days, many claimed that Arsenal had wasted what was then a decent sum of money – now it is seen as one of the biggest bargains in football history.

It took Bergkamp seven games to score his first goal for the Gunners (against Southampton) and during this time he went through a tough transitional period, but then he got going, oh how he got going! He got going so much after that there was literally no stopping him.

In 423 games he scored 120 goals and I have enough confidence to say that NOT ONE of them were run of the mill tap-ins. Bergkamp didn’t do run of the mill, he did majestic, he did magical, he did genius. I have studied English Literature in college, read the greats like Byron, Keats, Shakespeare and Joyce, yet I still struggle to find a superlative to do justice to the Iceman. It seems utterly useless to even try now, so I’ll go through some of the goals he scored and you can try and put an adjective on them in your own head.

1. September 1997. His hat-trick against Leicester is voted as the first, second and third best goal of the month on Match of the Day.

2. 1998 World Cup. Long ball by Frank de Boer, Bergkamp controls it with one touch – dismissing the Argentine defender Ayala in the process – then smashes home.

3. March 2002. With his back to goal Bergkamp receives the ball from Pires, he sends the ball one way before he twists the other, rounds the dumbfounded Nikos Dabizas of Newcastle and slots the ball past Shay Given.

I remember watching the Newcastle game live on television. When Bergkamp did what he did my jaw dropped and hit off the ground – I only managed to get it back up last week. Yes, it was THAT good!

But just talking about Bergkamp’s goals is like just talking about Michael Jackson’s dancing. They are merely the icing on the proverbial cake. Michael Jackson was much more than an extremely talented dancer – he was a songwriter, a singer, an entertainer. Likewise Bergkamp was more than a goalscorer – he was the songwriter, singer and entertainer in our pack. Some of the passes he tried to play were ridiculous – to even think of attempting these passes was madness but it was crazy that he could actually carry them off. He created goals and found space for teammates like it was going out of fashion.

And for 11 years, ELEVEN YEARS it was Arsenal fans and Arsenal FC who benefited from his genius. It was US who got to watch him week in and week out while everyone else just wished they would have taken a punt on the man who nobody in Italy wanted. Nobody else got him after us either – we had all Bergkamp’s wonder to ourselves. So never, ever forget just how lucky we were to see that.

Dream of Puskas, Pele and Maradona, wonder now at Messi, Kaka and Torres but remember that once upon a time everyone else was doing the wishing. Dennis Bergkamp is the most technically gifted player to ever ply his trade in English football and he did so at the home of football. Some say his career was marred by the fact he wouldn’t fly and thus missed out on some vital European games. Well let me end this by asking you a simple question: would you fly if you could walk on water?

Gooners of 1995-2006, Never Forget How Lucky We Were!

Watching the World Cup always brings out the romantic in me. By that I mean it makes me think of the greats that I as a young one wasn’t around (and thus lucky enough) to see play. Those type of players who I feel are better than any that play nowadays.

A lot here could name them better than me, but I’ll throw out a few: Pele, Alfredo di Stefano, Zico, Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Liam Brady, Johnny Giles, Ferenc Puskas, Gianni Rivera, George Best and Teofilo Cubillas among others.

In my head, they are perhaps twice as good as they were on the field. I feel like I have missed out on something and the grainy footage that plays on my DVD player doesn’t do them justice. Last night after Germany demolished a static Australia, I sat down and instead of pining to “have seen Brady play at Highbury just once” I actually thought how lucky I was to have seen some of the players I have seen over the years.

I was born in 1986, got caught up in the football fever that swept Ireland during Italia 90 before becoming a Gooner in 1994. During that time I’ve seen some wonderful players: Maradona still had a bit left in his legs during the early 90s. There was that wonderful AC Milan team of Rossi, Baresi, Maldini, Rijkaard and Weah and the insane skills of Zidane, Raul, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) in their prime.

At Arsenal we had some of our own players who were above others on the field. One stands head and shoulders above the rest – the Iceman, DB10!

Dennis Bergkamp’s arrival in London in 1995 saw the beginning of a new dawn at Arsenal as the club began to look to Europe for more talent. Some say that it was Wenger who gave the go-ahead for Bergkamp’s signature, others claim it was David Dein but lets give the credit to Bruce Rioch. He was manager, he was there when Bergkamp first held aloft the wonderful red and white.

The Dutchman came to us under a cloud. At the time he was the second most expensive signing in the world after Inter Milan paid Ajax £12million for his services in 1993. He flattered to deceive in Italy and just two years on arrived in North London for £7.5million. During the very early days, many claimed that Arsenal had wasted what was then a decent sum of money – now it is seen as one of the biggest bargains in football history.

It took Bergkamp seven games to score his first goal for the Gunners (against Southampton) and during this time he went through a tough transitional period, but then he got going, oh how he got going! He got going so much after that there was literally no stopping him.

In 423 games he scored 120 goals and I have enough confidence to say that NOT ONE of them were run of the mill tap-ins. Bergkamp didn’t do run of the mill, he did majestic, he did magical, he did genius. I have studied English Literature in college, read the greats like Byron, Keats, Shakespeare and Joyce, yet I still struggle to find a superlative to do justice to the Iceman. It seems utterly useless to even try now, so I’ll go through some of the goals he scored and you can try and put an adjective on them in your own head.

1. September 1997. His hat-trick against Leicester is voted as the first, second and third best goal of the month on Match of the Day.

2. 1998 World Cup. Long ball by Frank de Boer, Bergkamp controls it with one touch – dismissing the Argentine defender Ayala in the process – then smashes home.

3. March 2002. With his back to goal Bergkamp receives the ball from Pires, he sends the ball one way before he twists the other, rounds the dumbfounded Nikos Dabizas of Newcastle and slots the ball past Shay Given.

I remember watching the Newcastle game live on television. When Bergkamp did what he did my jaw dropped and hit off the ground – I only managed to get it back up last week. Yes, it was THAT good!

But just talking about Bergkamp’s goals is like just talking about Michael Jackson’s dancing. They are merely the icing on the proverbial cake. Michael Jackson was much more than an extremely talented dancer – he was a songwriter, a singer, an entertainer. Likewise Bergkamp was more than a goalscorer – he was the songwriter, singer and entertainer in our pack. Some of the passes he tried to play were ridiculous – to even think of attempting these passes was madness but it was crazy that he could actually carry them off. He created goals and found space for teammates like it was going out of fashion.

And for 11 years, ELEVEN YEARS it was Arsenal fans and Arsenal FC who benefited from his genius. It was US who got to watch him week in and week out while everyone else just wished they would have taken a punt on the man who nobody in Italy wanted. Nobody else got him after us either – we had all Bergkamp’s wonder to ourselves. So never, ever forget just how lucky we were to see that.

Dream of Puskas, Pele and Maradona, wonder now at Messi, Kaka and Torres but remember that once upon a time everyone else was doing the wishing. Dennis Bergkamp is the most technically gifted player to ever ply his trade in English football and he did so at the home of football. Some say his career was marred by the fact he wouldn’t fly and thus missed out on some vital European games. Well let me end this by asking you a simple question: would you fly if you could walk on water?

Should Theo Be On The Plane to South Africa?

I’ve been a bit out if the loop this week what with Chav Flower Show to visit but found myself  listening to the Talksport pre World Cup party yesterday evening on the radio. There was lots of talk about whether Rooney is really fit and who should be his partner, why Cashly is the only real left-back now that Bridge won’t be in the dressing-room with Terry and of course who should be first choice to play on the right Lennon or Walcott.

Now don’t get me wrong, I really want Theo to be a huge success – a huge success for Arsenal that is. Will it be good for Arsenal if he has a good World Cup? Will it be good for Theo if he has a bad World Cup? If we could welcome back a pumped-up Theo brimming with confidence to kick on and fulfill his potential that would be fantastic but a crushed Theo, shorn of his self-belief will be useless.

Theo is unproven in my opinion. He has pace, he has the looks, he wears the Arsenal shirt with pride but what has he actually achieved. It was pointed out during the radio show that Capello loves Theo – loves the fact that Theo scored a hat-trick for England and this fact alone puts him in front of Lennon.  This can’t be a good enough reason to give him a starting berth when his form for Arsenal has been almost non-existent. Obviously his injuries haven’t helped him to play  with any consistency but the way the commentators were on his back from the start of the game against Mexico the other night left me thinking that it can’t be a good idea to send a player to the World Cup hoping he’s going to find some form. I fear for him as the expectations are so high.

The accusations are always the same – fantastic pace but no end product. As gooners we have actually seen Theo whip a cross in -  sadly often to no-one in the box – but he can do that. We’ve watched him race down a defender to a ball or track back to defend deftly. We know that he can do these things. We’ve seen him unleash a precise shot that sweetly hits the back of the net and watched as he’s come off the bench to terrify tired legs with 20 minutes to go. He could be Arsenal and England’s not so secret weapon – the secret would be whether his performance would be a success or a failure on that particular day. Which Theo would turn up?

In addition, if its to be a successful day for him, will the other mid-fielders in the England set-up see the signs as only too often they forget to include Theo in the game. He needs them to know he’ll deliver, I hope he’s shining at the England training camp, I hope it won’t be a wasted journey for him as it was in 2006.

If Theo is on the plane I wish him all the luck in the world but if he’s not I don’t think it’ll be a disaster for him or for Arsenal  although its always nice to have one of our own in the England team.

Theo Bashing Starts Today …….. Integrity Costs Nothing

Shortly after the game last night the knives were already out for Theo but if Lampard had converted the chance created  by him in the opening five minutes it could have been an entirely different story.

We’ve seen how Theo is a confidence player and as he started the game intelligently the goal could have changed how he performed the rest of the half.  He faded badly but in his defence he wasn’t included in the game as both Brown and Lampard seemed to forget he was there.  England started to tick when Crouch’s first goal went and sadly Theo had already left the field.

It would seem that Capello likes Theo and is prepared to give him chances in the same way as Wenger does.  For Theo to be included in the World Cup squad he needs now to produce some form for us and I’m sure that he’ll get that chance.

In his pre-match interview, Fabio Capello blamed the off-field problems of some of his England stars on the vast wealth they have accumilated as young men. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would realise that paying  a starting wage of £1k a week at 17 rising to anything from £20k to £160k is going to lead to a lack of judgement and a culture of irresponsibility.

The current  scandal involving  Wayne Bridge and John Terry has undermined the England team spirit. Previous embarrassments caused by Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney and the antics of Ashley Cole have revealed these young men to be selfish and self-indulgent. They think they are untouchable and beyond reproach.

Fabio Capello has urged them to concentrate on their football. To consider whether it’s football or scandal that they want to be remembered for. He wants them to recreate a collective spirit and  to focus on the performance of the team and the style in which they play and not on what happens off the pitch.

I hope the current crop of young lions,  including our Theo Walcott (who reportedly earns £60k per week) are  learning  how to behave. But I have to ask the question – where are the advisors? Capello is clearly unimpressed with how these pampered millionaires handle themselves and cites the same problems in all countries where  football is big business. He has asked the players to be careful in their private lives and to remember they are role models for children and for all fans.

At Arsenal, we have a wage ceiling, but our young players also earn obscene amounts of money.  Luckily we don’t have scandalous behaviour apart from the occassional misdemeanor with cars. Is this due to the guidance of  a team behind the scenes or are our players just more sensible? I would like to think that Arsène Wenger makes sure that his charges get the right advice but maybe hes just lucky.

The agents are only after their own slice of the pie but are they not morally obliged to help manage the wealth that these players with a  8-10 year career are likely to accumulate?

Back to the World Cup, I love the way our country goes nuts when England are in an International competition and if Theo finds his way onto the plane to South Africa and into the squad I’ll be very happy for him. He showed last night that he still knows how to be creative, I feel the criticisms of him are unfair – he hasn’t started a game for England for 8 months and he’s only been fit to start for Arsenal a handful of times. There’s still time time for him to fly the flag for Arsenal – Come on Theo prove them all wrong.