Author Archives: Michael Roberts

Adebayor / Time To Get Excited / Ibrahimovic

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I’ve always said that looking forward to the new season only started once Adebayor left Arsenal, and last night it was finally confirmed.

Thank God for that.

Looking back the whole Adebayor situation was a strange one.

When he arrived in January 2006 we didn’t really expect much of him. Thierry was the main man, we had Reyes would could play up top and Robin Van Persie was starting to break into the first team. Plus the 2005/2006 season will largely be remembered by Arsenal fans for the Champions League run to the final which he wasn’t apart of anyway, since he was cup tied with Monaco.

The next season was up and down, the highlight of which was grabbing the winner at Old Trafford against Manchester United. It wasn’t really a settled season with Adebayor, Baptista and Robin Van Persie all fighting to play alongside Thierry Henry.

But the 2007/2008 season was the one where the Togan would come into his own. With Baptista and Henry going to Spain, Adebayor was now first choice and didn’t he relish it? He racked up 30 goals in 48 games and scored some wonder goals to boot – and his cracker against Spurs was voted the Goal of the Season. He brought us to the brink of the Premier League title and we all thought he was one for the future.

But unfortunately after just one good season the guy thought he was as good as Thierry Henry.

He was offering himself to clubs like AC Milan and Barcelona and seemed disappointed when he didn’t engineer a move away from The Emirates. I suppose seeing players like Hleb and Flamini leave for those teams and realising no-one actually wanted him got the better of Adebayor.

And to last season.

He still scored 16 goals but the effort, desire and work-rate which made him so popular wasn’t there anymore. He made excuses and started spouting a lot of crap to the press and media. The fans aren’t stupid and he got really defensive in that infamous BBC interview with Garth Crooks.

I don’t think as Arsenal fans we’ve been so fed up and sick of a single player before.

So for that Emmanuel Adebayor, well done.

It would be silly to think he’ll be a flop at Manchester City. They have a huge array of attacking talent now and teams should be worried about what they can produce next season. The biggest job Mark Hughes will have is keeping all of those forwards happy. They now have Adebayor, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Robinho, Elano, Bellamy, Benjani, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Bojinov all fighting for places in attack.

You can say what you like about mercenaries only interested in money but these guys are still professional athletes. Manchester City will be a force in the league next season, especially with no Champions League football to distract them from the Premier League.

But I’m also very excited about Arsenal in this coming campaign.

Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo should be back and when those two players are fully fit and on form they are top class players. I am especially excited to see what Eduardo can do as Arsenal’s first choice striker and hopefully get a full season under his belt. We’ve all seen glimpses of magic he is capable of and he could be the key next season. Remember, he only needs one chance to score, not five or six.

I truly believe in most areas of the pitch we are very strong. Attacking-wise we are right up there (injuries and fitness permitting) and in defence we seem to be well covered (although I’d like to know what the situation with Senderos actually is?). The only position I think we struggle is providing a partner for Cesc in central midfield. For me, the current situation isn’t good enough and our defence is exposed far too much. Denilson and Song, although they have improved, are not the answer. Diaby is frustrating too. And God forbid Cesc Fabregas were to get injured – then we’d really struggle.

Ibrahimovic & Eto’o

I know it has nothing to do with Arsenal but I just have to bring this up.

Even with obscene sums of money being thrown around for players such as Ronaldo and Kaka surely this deal is the most ridiculous?

Barcelona are offering Samuel Eto’o, £35 million and Hleb on loan in exchange for possibly the world’s most overrated player. And I’m not exaggerating. In Europe he’s done nothing. He might do well in Serie A but let’s be honest, that league is probably on the same level as the Dutch league.

At Juventus, he played against Arsenal twice in the Champions League. Toure and Senderos not only kept two clean sheets but had relatively easy games. That’s right, Phillippe Senderos! He has also drawn blanks against Liverpool four times and Manchester United twice in recent seasons. I would take Eto’o over Ibrahimovic every single day of the week. At least he’s won the Spanish League and Champions League several times.

I heard recently that he is the highest paid footballer in the world along with Kaka, and if that’s true then the mind boggles. This joker is no where near the same level as Kaka or Ronaldo.

I’m Back / Adebayor / The Future

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Some of you may have noticed I haven’t posted on here as regularly as I usually do, or maybe not.

Partly it’s because I was devastated with how the season turned out. As fans we live on hope and that gradually died as the season went on, and despite the ‘scathing’ posts I might have posted over the last season you’ll see that most of my posts over the last few years have been particularly positive. As ever, before the new season starts I have fresh hope and optimism for the season to come.

Another reason is while this particular blog and domain has been going running since February 2006 (initially started in early 2005), back then there were a handful of Arsenal blogs online. Now though it is a Arsenal blogosphere, and there are literally hundreds of Arsenal fans airing their views online. While this is great, there is now an over saturation of Arsenal information, unfortunately most of it completely b*llocks. Newsnow is awash with so much transfer crap it’s unreal. But obviously these cheap hits are used to increase traffic to advert filled web pages called ‘Arsenal blogs’. This site costs me money but I do it for the love of Arsenal I’m glad I don’t fill the site with needless adverts.

Anyway, we know Wenger’s transfer policy, and that will be 2 or 3 players over this summer if we’re lucky. And then there’s the annual ‘Cesc to Barcelona’ stories, and now it seems Arshavin has been dragged into it with quotes from last year before he joined us.

The fact is over the only way to not go crazy is to ignore the rumours and speculation over the summer. It gets tiring season after season and unless someone signs or leaves then it’s not news.

Adebayor

But it does look like Adebayor is leaving us.

I’ve held back from commenting on this as I didn’t want to jinx the move. When I first heard the news I was ecstatic, and on reflection how sad is that? I am happy for a player to leave Arsenal. But Arsenal is a club built on respect and the fans aren’t stupid, they know when a player is taking the p*ss.

Despite pretty much hating Adebayor over the last season (like most of you no doubt) the season before he was epic. For me in the 2007/2008 season he was phenomenal. Don’t let his idiocy over the last 12 months fool you, this guy was potentially on the way to becoming one of the feared strikers in Europe.

Playing alone upfront is a very difficult skill and he had it. You need incredible power, strength and desire to pull off that position but he did it. He would single-handedly rip defences apart for fun. He was close to becoming a Didier Drogba (not the diving play-acting one). He brought us to the brink of our first Premier League title in 4 years.

It’s funny how quickly things can change.

Desire was a massive part of Adebayor’s form and ability but this season he lost it. Without his personal motivation he’s not even half the player he can be. So while we’ve done well getting somewhere in the region of £25 million for him don’t think Manchester City have just bought a dud. It wouldn’t surprise me if he found his spark again and scored 25 goals for Citeh next season. He has a new challenge to look forward to and will be playing alongside some top class players.

The Future

No doubt we’ll be linked to various strikers to replace Ade once he officially leaves, but I don’t think we need a new striker.

We have RVP who seems to have found his form, although that is largely dependant on whether he can stay clear of injuries. We’ve got Theo who might be asked to step up this season and then of course we have Eduardo, who is sensational and deserves a whole season to show what he is capable of. Bendtner will also be used a lot more this coming campaign with the departure of the Togan.

And we also have a lot of other options on top of that.

If Nasri and Rosicky can keep fit and give Arsene options out wide then that leaves Arshavin to fill in behind the first striker, and that is something I would love to see. This boy can score anywhere on the pitch and the team should be based around his world-class talents. If Wenger uses him right, he could has as much impact as Ronaldo did for Manchester United. He is that good.

I would be happy with one more signing, and if it was a physical central midfielder.

Arsenal will always make chances to score goals, it’s in our blood. But unfortunately, defending as a unit isn’t. We don’t have big players like Vieira, Petit and Gilberto anymore who know how to fight and win the ball back. On paper, our back five isn’t bad – our major weakness is that our defence is exposed far too often.

We need to learn how to defend as a team.

A defensive midfielder with a bit of experience would set us up nicely for the season ahead.

Arsenal Season Review 2008/2009

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Well what an interesting season.

It’s hard to evaluate this campaign, mainly because it’s difficult not to judge it against seasons gone by.

This campaign is the 4th in Arsene Wenger’s youth experiment and once again it has provided entertaining football but not the results. We reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and FA Cup, and finished 4th in the league.

And the question isn’t whether this year was a success or failure but whether Arsenal fans are growing tired of being sold the future. We are promised that these kids will come good.

But the problem is that I, like other Arsenal fans just don’t believe it.

I’ve watched and supported Arsenal for almost 20 years and I haven’t seen this level of poor performance before. I’m not talking about talent, but basic desire and fight. I’ve brought this point up several times during this season and to me anyway, it seems like we’ve reached a point where most of our players think they have made it.

And it was this lack of heart that meant we were out of the title race by November.

We lost against Fulham, Stoke, Manchester City and Aston Villa, and then we had the farce against Spurs at home when Arsenal we leading 4-2 with only 2 minutes remaining. We managed to collapse and concede 2 late goals and only draw that game. That was truly unforgivable, but showed the fans this team wouldn’t get anywhere this season and that was later proved to be correct. Could you see any of our successful sides under Wenger capitulate a lead like that? Exactly.

A gripe I’ve had this season was the desire of the players and back in December I wrote:

One thing I would like to know is does Arsene Wenger have any idea how disillusioned Arsenal fans have become over this current and frankly average team?

Does he know there is a high level of negativity amongst the Arsenal supporters?

You will get those people who will spout the obvious “you’re not a proper Arsenal fan” just because I’ve made criticisms but where do you draw the line? No football team has a divine right to be in the Top Four or in the Champions League every season and while it might be an extreme example look what happened to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United. Those sides were at the top of their game and look where they are now.

I’m not asking for much.

I would just like to see a football team that is willing to compete. Over the last 10 years I haven’t seen a team lacking in fight, spirit and desire as much as this current crop of players.

I don’t want £40 million signings like Kaka or Messi. Just players who have pride in wearing an Arsenal shirt. Players who realise that it’s a privilege to play for Arsenal Football Club. We’ve had players in the past like Ray Parlour and Mathieu Flamini who weren’t the most gifted footballers but they always gave 110% every time they crossed that white line.

They knew what it meant to play for Arsenal.

It actually hurts me when I see players like Eboue, Song and Diaby just stroll through games. Where’s the heart?

Arsene has had the unadulterated faith of the Arsenal fans over the last few years because each season has seen a gradual improvement on the last. But after leading most of the 2007/2008 season and then losing key players such as Flamini, Hleb, Gilberto, Lehmann and Senderos in the following summer (and Diarra in the January transfer window) then it was clear that this season wasn’t going to be an improvement on the one before.

Some of you will question the quality of some of those players but the fact is some of them have gone on to sign for some of Europe’s biggest teams; Real Madrid, AC Milan and Barcelona (with mixed success I’ll admit).

Our response was to bring in Silvestre, Bischoff, Ramsey and Nasri.

And added to our plight, our over-pampered kids (who constantly hear from the manager that they have incredible ‘mental strength’ every week) decided not to perform this season. We already knew the desire of players like Eboue, Diaby and Song but this season players like Adebayor who were excellent and determined last season weren’t even bothered anymore.

What chance did we stand in the Premier League?

So in the end we were essentially in a battle for 4th spot with Aston Villa, and in all honesty we were aided by an Aston Villa collapse.

Yes, we went 21 Premier League games unbeaten but how many were draws? If a high percentage of those were victories then surely a 21 game run would have put us right back in the title race. But we finished a massive 18 points behind eventual Champions Manchester United. Particularly disappointing when you consider the season before we finished 3rd and only 4 points off top spot in the league.

But Arsene single-handedly saved Arsenal’s season with one signing. And that was Andrei Arshavin.

Since he arrived in January we saw a different Arsenal. Not title challenging but far better than the side which played in the first half of the season. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he carried the side on many occasions and that wasn’t more evident than in the 4-4 draw at Anfield. Basically, if it wasn’t for him we probably would have lost 4-0 and we wouldn’t have ended Liverpool’s title challenge.

Because of the decent run since January many people forget how abject we were from August to December. Some of the performances (such as against Boro) were truly terrible. We drew that game with a shocking lack of heart and effort and what can you put that down to? The worst thing was that only a week before Hull’s Marlon King ripped that same Boro defence to shreds. Marlon King did more damage than we did which is criminal.
By December, we had conceded the same amount of goals at Spurs, who at the time were in deep relegation trouble. The sad fact was that from the best defence in the country (in the invincibles season) we had one of the worst. Now you can point the finger at individual mistakes and injuries but ultimately Wenger is the man who overlooked the defence.

We lack that resilience that we had last season. If we play well then we’ve got a chance, but if we don’t we’ll lose. We can’t grind out results anymore and that is a problem. We are a confidence side and we don’t know which team will turn up on the day. In the Champions League, we were comprehensively beaten by Manchester United over two games, and Chelsea gave us a footballing lesson in the league. Once things go wrong we give up.

You will turn and say our players are young and need experience but Arsene’s ethos is ‘if you’re good enough you’re old enough’ and that is reflected in our annual wage bill. We pay roughly the same amount on wages as Manchester United. It’s an uncomfortable feeling to know that Eboue, Diaby and Denilson are on comparable wages to Hargreaves, Fletcher and Anderson – proven winners. No wonder you see several of our young players stroll around the pitch. You will find it hard to argue that half of our squad apply themselves as much as Ray Parlour or Mathieu Flamini did. Yes, they are different players but the fans aren’t stupid and they know when people aren’t applying themselves on the pitch. Look at Adebayor this season for example.

One of the major things I will remember from this season is Arshavin being missing from the starting line-up against Chelsea in the FA Cup. As things turned out a victory would have seen us in the final against Everton, and no disrespect to them but we would have been favourites to lift the cup. And if we did manage to win it then I would have considered this season to be a success – it would have been the first trophy this young side had won and could have been the catalyst for further honours in the future.

But for one reason or another Arsene decided not to play his strongest side, and even Nasri was on the bench.

Some people believe that Wenger wanted to save Arshavin for the Premier League game against Liverpool because 3rd place was more important to him. Other theories are that Arsene was wary of Chelsea’s aerial threat and decided that Diaby would provide better cover from set-pieces, although when have we ever seen Wenger concentrate on his oppositions tactics? Then rumblings from the infamous Q&A session with Wenger suggested that he wanted his young side to prove that they could win the big games, and he admitted it didn’t work.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and maybe Arshavin wouldn’t have made a difference. But it’s hard to ignore his influence after he smashed in 4 goals at Anfield only days later.

When you look at the Arsene Wenger Q&A transcript it makes hard reading.

It’s obvious some Arsenal fans aren’t happy with what they see on the pitch, and it’s disheartening to see a great man like Arsene Wenger having to defend himself against all these types of questions. There’s no doubt he is the most important man in Arsenal’s entire history and he has transformed a mid-table side into one of the biggest clubs in the world. The fact is Arsene is a victim of his own success.

The pressure has never been as intense, and Wenger is right when he points out that Liverpool, a massive club themselves, haven’t won the title in 19 years. He is also right to defend his players, because there’s nothing else he can do but. As fans we take defeat and poor performances to heart and rightly so, but Arsene will be feeling the pain a million times more.
Arsene has made some mistakes this season, but a lot of the players have let him down as well. He puts faith in these players and rewards them with increased wages and they don’t pay him back. And front of that particular queue is Adebayor

So the strange feeling I have after this season is one of disappointment, anger and pity for the manager.

Disappointment and anger because some of the performances this year have been quite disgraceful. It’s not the defeats so much as the lack of application from the players. All you can ask as a fan is the team to give 110% once they cross that white line and have pride in wearing the shirt of Arsenal. The first half of the season was poor and then when it mattered (the Champions League and FA Cup semi-finals) we didn’t turn up.

Then the manager.

What is it down to? Is it because he is stubborn and fixed on his unique vision, or is it because he has no money to spend? Does he lack a number two who questions his decisions? Sometimes when you have so much power at a club like Arsene has then you have a distorted view on things.

Wenger has stated that if Arsenal don’t win a trophy in the next 2 years then his experiment would have failed. I’m glad to see the back of this season and am already looking forward to next with my usual hope and faith for a brighter season. After all, that is what Arsene is selling to us, so come August we will have to hope that the squad is strengthened in key areas and we have a team that can compete and do us proud.

Will United Regret Not Finishing Us Off?

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Manchester United (1) – (0) Arsenal
Old Trafford, Manchester

Overall a disappointing performance but in the end a 1-0 defeat isn’t catastrophic, considering what could have been.

For the first half an hour United were all over us and we had to rely on Almunia to make some really fantastic saves; from Tevez and Ronaldo in particular.

The fact was United were much better. We lacked any urgency which was surprising considering this is the Champions League Semi Final. Once again Adebayor was infuriating as he lacked any energy or desire, and added to his poor touch it’s clear the form of last season has completely disappeared. For a 5 man midfield to work the striker needs to hold the ball up well and while Adebayor did this fantastically last year, this season he has been a shadow of his former self.

Diaby and Walcott were on the whole ineffective, and as an attacking force we didn’t click at all. Lots of pretty passing triangles but no real penetration or goal threat. Fabregas was lost and you couldn’t help thinking he would be far more dangerous playing deeper where he can control the game, and play those brilliant through balls.

Nasri was okay, but along with Fabregas struggled to make any real impact because of the lack of intelligent running from Diaby, Walcott and Adebayor.

It was hugely disappointing considering Porto and even Spurs scored twice at Old Trafford recently and Liverpool managed four. But we didn’t have the man who bailed us out at Anfield – Andrey Arshavin.

We can afford to play badly if you have a genius like that in the side but not with jokers like Adebayor.

But despite the poor attacking display, there were some positives.

As I’ve already mentioned we only lost 1-0, which is quite frankly a miracle considering the chances and possession United had. Almunia was excellent and Ronaldo hit the bar in the second half – trust me we were lucky to only concede the one goal.

And despite the terrible defending for the corner from which United scored, overall our defence was good.

Kieran Gibbs was sensational, and along with Toure and Almunia was possibly our best player. Even Ronaldo was reluctant to take him on and tended to drift inside instead. His composure and overall performance was excellent and he was one of the few positives tonight.

Toure was another player who had a great game, and I lost the amount of times he cleared up at the back. He made some brilliant tackles and put in a fantastic shift tonight. Even Silvestre (who setup the United goal) did well at times, as did Sagna on the right.

So despite a poor performance tonight, we have a second chance at the Emirates in 6 days time, and we have to step it up at home and I have no doubt we will. We have to make sure that we make United regret not finishing us off at Old Trafford, because trust me they could (and probably should) have.

It will be a completely different game at The Emirates, but the danger is if United nick one then we need three. But we got past Roma (just) with a 1-1 aggregate score in the 1st round knock-out stage so anything is possible.

Bring on the second leg.

Andrey Arshavin: A Masterclass Analysis

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Last night Andrey Arshavin showed us all a master class. Since yesterdays performance (where he literally carried the team) I can’t stop watching the goals because they were truly phenomenal.

If the finishing wasn’t impressive enough, the sheer desire in this guy is top class. Only a handful of players were actually bothered and make no mistake the Russian got us out of jail.

Don’t forget, we were playing a side who are fighting to win the league. And although there were a lot of negatives (including the poor defending and the lack of desire) the fact is we were leading the match 3 times with a patched up back five. With Gallas or Djourou alongside Kolo at the back I seriously doubt we would have conceded some of those sloppy goals.

But obviously the main positive was that man Andrey Arshavin.

Every goal had something special:

Goal 1

A nice ball wide from Song to Nasri plays the ball into the corner which Liverpool get back for Mascherano to lose to a Fabregas challenge. Nasri picks up the loose ball and plays a beautiful reverse pass into Cesc who looks up and picks out Arshavin to smash the ball into the net off the bar.

Arshavin Analysis

Despite having 7 Liverpool players in the box when Fabregas plays it square Arshavin cleverly waltzes in between central defenders Daniel Agger and Jamie Carragher and has the quality to shoot first time and pick his spot in a crowded penalty area.

Goal 2

Fabianski’s goal kick is headed on by Arshavin which is headed towards Arbeloa by Jamie Carragher. Arshavin nips in front of Arbeloa, runs towards goal and fires the ball into the side netting.

Arshavin Analysis

When Carragher heads the ball forwards Arshavin is a good 7 yards behind Arbeloa and still manages to get the ball. The desire and ability to dispossess the defender is impressive enough but the finish was world class. He had 3 defenders charging him down but he still had the quality to rip the ball past Reina from the edge of the box.

Goal 3

Nasri has a little run in the middle and passes to Arshavin out on the left. He plays it back to Nasri who crosses first time and Aurellio ‘clears’ the ball which goes straight to the Russian who controls the ball with his first touch and scores with his second.

Arshavin Analysis

How many Arsenal players would have just slashed at the ball and missed? The only other player in the squad who would have the ability to control the ball in the crowded area and pick his spot would be Eduardo, which highlights how well the goal was taken. After playing in Nasri out wide he has the awareness to take up a position on the middle and the composure for the goal is breathtaking. Watch it again, he makes it look so easy it’s unreal.

Goal 4

Arsenal defend a corner from which Theo Walcott runs about 50 yards and plays in Arshavin who smashes the ball past Reina for his fourth.

Arshavin Analysis

It’s the last minute and yet Arshavin runs 80 yards to support Walcott on the break. To take the goal so well after busting a gut is sensational and he’s made all 4 goals look so easy. Fantastic desire, fantastic goal and fantastic energy so late in the game.

And if you didn’t love Arshavin already then here’s an interview on the Arsenal.com website. He plays down his contribution in the first half and talks about how he needs more time to settle in at Arsenal!