The Positives

Now the season's over, I'm going to look at both the highs and lows of the year, starting with the positives. Obviously, if asked an Arsenal supporter to sum up the 2010/11 campaign in one word, it's unlikely to be 'good.' However there are still many things we can look back on and be proud to brag about.

I start with Jack Wilshere. What a name he has become. Some fans may have thought that putting him in the side against Liverpool on the opening day of the season could have been risky due to his age but they couldn't have been more wrong. Wilshere appeared in all but three Premier League games and even won man of the match against Barcelona at the Emirates. He is probably one of the first names on the team sheet now and shows that die hard English spirit that this team currently lacks. In the Carling Cup final, without Fabregas, he seemed to be the motivator in midfield and because of this, I would bet on him being a future Arsenal captain. Jack is skillful, a great passer and overall one of the biggest up-and-coming talents of the world. I think this is a good reason to congratulate the youth coaches at Arsenal and also Arsene Wenger who has put a lot of faith in our number 19. You'd have to think that had Wilshere played for Chelsea or Man City very few would know him but for once Wenger has shown that potential can turn into success.

The Carling Cup run is next which can be seen as a success in one way. Not the final itself, but getting there was an achievement. Tottenham in the third round looked a tricky tie yet the manager fielded a somewhat stronger side than usual (in this cup) and it finished 4-1. Roll on round four, another thrashing. This time it was Newcastle who got beat 4-0. After beating Wigan and then Ipswich in the semi final, Arsenal were drawn against Birmingham in the final. This game will be talked about in the negatives post but to reach a final was a step forward. It was our first final appearance since 2007 in the same competition and if you don't get to the final you can't win the cup so at least the players were given the opportunity to win something. Despite this, our record in the competition isn't the best and so we weren't victorious.

16th February 2011 will be remembered well by supporters of the club as the day we beat Barcelona! Never before had we achieved this, failing most recently in the Champions League the season before and in Paris. This would turn out to be the only defeat that Barcelona suffered in the competition and this result has shown that the Gunners can beat the best. This game also saw the Arsenal goal of the season (arsenal.com) when Van Persie shot from an almost impossible angle to beat Valdes at his near post. I think that had Walcott not been injured for the second leg and Van Persie not been stupidly sent off then Arsenal would have given Barcelona a run for their money. Walcott is very influential to playing the Spanish champions as they try to win the ball back in the oppositions half asap. With Theo, you can chip it over the defence and let run at goal, either scoring or just allowing the defence to push up. If we'd beaten Barcelona 

then we would have definitely beaten Shakhtar in the next round. This would've put us in the semi-final which is a great success for any team. Not only did we beat Barcelona for the first time but we also came victorious against Man United and Chelsea after a poor run of games against both teams showing that we no longer fear the bigger teams.

Another good point about the season is that we had the best away record in the league scoring the most goals (39). This includes 3 against Man City and Tottenham. We also got 4 goals at Villa Park and St James Park. Our biggest results were 6-0 against Blackpool, 5-0 vs Leyton Orient as well as 11 past Shakhtar and Braga at the Emirates. A huge thank you has to go to Van Persie for this because despite an injury he still bagged 18 league goals. Nasri chipped in with 10 and Walcott also added 9 goals for himself. These players need to remain at the Emirates next year, and with a better defensive record, the red side of north London could be celebrating.

Finally I will mention players such as Szczesny, Miquel and Henderson who made their debuts this year so hopefully can only get better. 

I will end with some statistics. I hope you enjoyed reading this, stay posted for (unfortunately) the negatives of the year.

• Johan Djourou had the second best pass accuracy with 90.1%, just 0.1% behind Scholes
• Denilson made the most touches in a single Premier League game - 142 away to Wigan
• Arsenal hit the woodwork the most times with 22
• Jens Lehmann made his 200th appearance for Arsenal becoming the oldest player to feature for the Gunners
• Cesc Fabregas made it to 300 games against Blackpool
• Robin Van Persie scored his first career hattrick against Wigan in January 

 Pictures courtesy of arsenal.com

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

4 trophies? More like 4th place.

Thomas Vermaelen finally recovered from an injury to make his first start since September. Unfortunately this is about as good as the news gets for the Arsenal faithful. A host of injuries saw Squillaci in the starting eleven, on the bench were youngsters Miquel and Henderson.

The Gunners were slow to start and after 11 minutes they were punished. Arsenal were pushing up after a corner but Darren Bent, who was on the shoulder of Squillaci, controlled brilliantly then put Villa 1-0 up.

4 minutes later, the same player doubled the away sides lead in similar fashion. It was Sagna this time trying to play offside but Bent was there again to slot it underneath Szczesny. This was Aston Villas second shot, both resulting in goals.

On the half-hour mark, Arsenal had a definite penalty turned down. Wilshere with a superb ball to Ramsey who went to pull the trigger, only for Dunne to stop him making contact with the ball. The defender didn't make any contact with the ball yet Michael Oliver gave a goal kick. Had it been given Dunne would have seen red and you'd count on Van Persie to score for 12 yards out. This sparked a come back for Arsenal who were having all the attempts. The post kept it 2-0, Van Persie denied what would've been a fantastic goal.

Referee howler number two came on the stroke of half-time. Van Persie turned Dunne who had tried to get to the ball before him. The Dutchman then passed to Ramsey who was halted by the whistle as Oliver felt Van Persie had fouled Dunne. Shock for everyone with this decision as the Villa centre half ran into Van Persie.

Haft-time and the boos began from frustrated fans. Arsene Wenger's side should have had at least a goal but their poor start and terrible refereeing meant they went into the break trailing by 2 goals to nil.

Arsene's answer to this was Chamakh on for Squillaci. 4-4-2 was adopted and Song dropped into defence.

The second half was all the Gunners however they failed to really test Friedel so on came Bendtner for the once again disappointing Arshavin.

Arsenal continued to dominate the possession but made little with it.  A rare attack from Villa needed two saves from Szczesny and two minutes later, the ball was in the net. Chamakh had scored his first goal since March only for mistake number three by the official who claimed the Moroccan pushed the defender to reach the ball.

Shot after shot after shot, none managed to cross the line until the 89th minute when Van Persie scored his 21st goal of a season limited by injury. What a player he is but his goal was a mere consolation as it finished 2-1 to Aston Villa. Arsenal's third defeat in four games.

Part of the blame has to be on Wenger who has stuck to 4-5-1/4-3-3 all season, only to change to a more attacking formation later on in games. Even when we tried to get a goal back, he brought Bendtner on as a left winger. I'm sure, like me the majority of fans are frustrated with Bendtner but wrongly so. His goal record is impressive considering his abuse and if he was deployed as a target man, he'd definitely score more goals this term. Secondly, he tried to play offside to a team with Darren Bent in it. By the way can I add, I'd love to see the English striker at Arsenal. Anyway Bent is one who plays on the shoulder so fail to catch him offside leaves him one on one with the keeper which ultimatley happened twice in the game and we lost because of it.

The final home game of the campaign is usually a day of celebration. Not this year. All players did a lap of the pitch for those supporters that remained after the game. All fans know that should Man City win on Tuesday, they will go above us with one game left. 4th obviously isn't a disaster, it just means two extra games in August to qualify for the Champions League. Yes, it would be an inconvenience to qualify for the Champions League but you'd expect them to win without too much trouble against a Benfica side or Rubin Kazan which could await us. Still, we can always hope that Man City lose 1 of their final games so we go straight into the group stage. Yet I cannot see this. 

We can finish this season with a maximum of 70 points which will be our lowest total in since 2007. We are currently 10 behind Man United and went out of the Champions League in the first knock-out round. I think this maybe enough evidence to suggest the team needs improving and by improving I mean players of the same quality as Nasri and Vermaelen not Denilson and Squillaci. Having said that it i'd be slightly surprised if Wenger went for £20 million signings. Still we hope which seems to be the only word Arsenal fans can use when descibing our beloved team.

Pictures courtesy of skysports.com

Euro U21's - 40 man squad

Stuart Pearce named the 40 man provisional squad to travel to Denmark in the summer. The list is set to be reduced to 23 by June 1st but the list does surprise somewhat.

Has 'Psycho' made  the right choice?

Despite their managers opposing the decision, Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll are the two biggest names on the list. If the 2010 World Cup wasn't enough evidence to suggest that players find it hard to compete at the top level without a summer break then I don't know what is. At Arsenal alone, you only have to look at Bendtner or Fabregas to see that the tournament has caused a decrease in form and an absent due to fitness. The biggest risk to these players are a burn-out which Wenger has said will see Jack Wilshere to miss the start of next season. Also there's injuries. One word to back this up is 'Vermaelen'. He went on international duty in September and has only just returned. How would Dalglish or Wenger feel if their player was ruled out for eight months? Not very happy to say the least. 

Four other players on the list to also have been capped by the senior side are Welbeck, Micah Richards, Gibbs and Jordan Henderson. Personally I think that all international players should choose between the seniors and U21's. I know that these players want to play for their country but in 10 years time, nobody is going to think "ah yes Jack Wilshere, England captain with 87 caps...oh and he played 13 times for the U21's." That just isn't going to happen. Wilshere is already a big name in football and so the chance should go to someone else who could see the tournament as the start of his career.

I know Pearce wants the best for the future of England but the only effect the championship will have on first team players like Wilshere is a negative one. Surely playing someone like McEachran could see his beginning of his professional career.

Other players on the list include: Phil Jones, Mancienne, Smalling, Albrighton, Cleverly, Lansbury, Muamba, Rodwell, Sturridge, Wickham. Most of them players, like all the others not mentions, will not be missed by their respective clubs. For example at Man United, there's Ferdinand and and Vidic ahead of Smalling and I'm sure Chelsea won't miss Sturridge. That list will, however also annoy some other clubs that may disagree with the list. Ipswich will begin their season in early August so if England reach the final on June 25th, Wickham would need 4-6 weeks rest, then additional time to get match fitness back up so he could end up missing 4-5 games. This is the case for some of the championship clubs who could be without key men for the first few fixtures of the new campaign.

Should Wilshere go?

I suggest that, after requesting Stuart Pearce to rethink his player selection, managers who are affected like Wenger have a long talk with their future talents. Jack Wilshere regards Wenger as one of the most influential people in his life as a footballer so if Arsene approached him then he would definitely listen. Because he is only 19, he is also eligible to play in the U21 World Cup in 2013. Add onto that the Euro 2012 tournament and 2014 World Cup in Brazil you could be looking at 4 consecutive summers without rest for the Arsenal midfielder. That, for a footballer is unbearable. He may be young but he has struggled recently through tiredness so to add 6 competitive games to what has already been an energy sapping year for him is ludicrous.

These players need to think about the close future before thinking about getting on that plane to Denmark. For some, it will be the month of their lives but for others who are already in Fabio Capello's plans for the future, it is just a massive risk. The U21 Euros are the Carling Cup of international football and who remembers the winners of Carling Cups from a few years ago? Not many I expect. Yet if I asked who won the 1998 World Cup, many of you are already thinking France. My advice then is think hard, there's the Euros next year; save yourself for then. Extra advice for Carroll and Wilshere are that Liverpool will be wanting top 4 next year, Arsenal a trophy. Could they do that without them players?

All that aside I hope England do well in the tournament and their success is transferred into the senior side.

Pictures courtesy of wikipedia.org

Welcome back, Norwich City

Norwich City knew that if they won their last two games they would gain automatic promotion into the premier league. Once Cardiff lost 3-0 to Middlesbrough, all that was needed was a win against 16th place Portsmouth. As the final whistle blew, the whole of Norfolk was celebrating as their side was returning to the top flight of English football since 2005. 

As loyal Norwich fans filled the away section of Fratton Park, they would have been very happy hearing the news that Cardiff suffered a terrible blow to their chances of finishing 2nd and so three points would see them going up. The players would have also heard this news as just a few minutes in a free kick which found Whitbred at the back post see his header just wide. Another good chance came from another set piece. This time it was Elliot Ward trying to direct the ball into the top corner, only to see it go the wrong side of the post. The Canaries were playing with the determination to win and after a half time the deadlock was broken. Just a couple of minutes after Jackson failed to score when 1 on 1, a brilliant cross from Fox saw the Canadian to nod home what was to be the winner. Portsmouth then came back into the game but they failed to test Ruddy in the Norwich goal. Then, after a nail biting 4 minutes of added time, the celebrations began. Norwich are back in the Premier League!

A few fans rushed onto the pitch to party with the players. Delia was over the moon and so was Paul Lambert who somewhat surprised after a second straight promotion. Police did their best to avoid a pitch invasion but it wasn't enough. Large numbers of fans surrounded the team as they danced into the dressing room.  The Canaries manager described this memorable night as miracle. He told sky sports that 

     "I never thought this was going to happen. To come from League One and to do it back-to-back,     

      honestly it's a miracle that it's happened. They've given everything that is possibly in their body and 

      they've been an absolute credit to the football club."

Norwich City deserve this and to have a manager like Paul Lambert is great for the club. He sets a winning mentality into the players minds, making them think they can beat anyone. Next season's Premier League will be interesting with the yellows included.

With promotion comes the money and so with Lambert having £30million of that to spend, can they stay up?

There's no doubt that they will believe they can stay up however summer signings may be key in their survival.

This is their current starting 11.

Ruddy, Martin, Ward, Whitbred, Tierney, Fox, Crofts, Surman, Hoolahan, Holt, Jackson.

Now is that strong enough? Well lets see who the club have been linked with and would they help?

Paul Konchesky-the Liverpool left back is unlikely to be in Dalglish's plans so a move away from Anfield is likely. Whether he wants to go to Norwich is the main question although his experience would be of aid for the club.

Ian Evatt-The Blackpool defender's contract has only 1 year remaining and if the tangerines get relegated he could want a move.

Ashley Williams-The 26 year old Swansea defender has been linked with the club already and having played 24 times for Wales, this would be a good signing which may become easier is Swansea fail to win the play-offs

Henri Lansbury-Currently at the club on loan, Wenger may feel a loan move to a premier league club will help the midfielder gain crucial experience.

Dani Pacheco-Another loanee who may see his stay at the club. He's only played 5 times for Norwich but like Lansbury, Dalglish will feel there's a better chance of playing under Lambert.

West Ham Players-With relegation looming for the hammers, their biggest names are likely to remain in the Premier League with other clubs.The most likely player to move up north is Rob Green, a former canary. He could be purchased by Lambert to try and lower the amount of goals they could concede. Benni McCarthy is another player who is a free agent after being released by the club. At 33, the striker has great experience with can be very useful when fighting at the bottom of the league.

I also expect the Canaries to look at other loan signings as there are many young stars who are unable to get game time at their current clubs but if you like highly unlikely rumours then how about Michael Owen. The former Real Madrid striker is rumoured with a move to Norwich but I think there's more chance of Messi signing. Although a problem will arise for Norwich City when they try to sign players. This problem is that not many people have heard of Norwich, all a player will know is that they just got promoted to the Premier League. Therefore if the club face competition from other top flight teams, they are likely to lose out. This means if they want players with years of experience in the league they will have to be the sole bidder. If not it may have to be top Championship players for Lambert and the Canaries.

Norwich will give the Premier League a real go and with Paul Lambert as their manager I can see them avoiding a drop back into the Championship. 

Pictures courtesy of skysports.com

Wenger's Transfer Policy

With the end of the season just weeks away, now is the time when managers begin to look at new signings. With another unsuccessful year at Arsenal most fans are urging Wenger to buy a couple of big names to hopefully make that difference between coming close and actually winning something. Lee Dixon, like other football pundits have said Arsenal are just two or three players away from being the team to beat. The big question is 'Will Wenger buy world class players in the summer?'

The Gunners have now spent 5 years at the Emirates with the construction costs dramatically decreased. This, therefore is not an excuse to avoid adding to the squad as the club only has to find £20 million a year to keep on top of payments. For one of the World's richest clubs that amount of money isn't hard to find. Stan Kroenke, the new owner has wealth of over $2billion so 0.02billion is not going to affect the bank balance that much. If however the funding has to come from elsewhere then there's the stadium revenue itself. Here are some facts about revenue gained from the home of Arsenal. To even get the privelege to be able to buy tickets you need a membership card which is £27 a year. Once you have that you can go to matches. An adult ticket for a game at the Emirates costs between £34 and £96 or how about a season ticket; ranging from £925-£1825. That's not all club level tickets are £2500-£4750, boxes start at £65,000 and then finally the diamond club (by invitation only) will set you back £50,000. The 150 boxes alone account for over £10million every year and with no turnstile staff, the Emirates makes a huge amount every time it is used. That is only ticket sales for Arsenal games. There are additional events like Brazil matches and the naming rights for the stadium and shirt sponsor is worth £100million.

With debt not being an issue then, why doesn't Wenger use cheque book? A large part of it comes down to his philosophy in bringing youngsters through the academy to play the Arsenal way instead of teaching an older player how to play his way. And his methods work. You only have to look at Wilshere as a prime example of the youth system in place. Jack joined Arsenal in 2001 and after 10 years of training has a brilliant technical ability and is the young player of the year. A famous quote from Wenger is "We do not buy superstars, we make them." Had he not said that there would be no Jack Wilshere, there would be no Szczesny and there would be no Theo Walcott. So his policy does have some benefits. But regardless of that world class players are also needed.

How much do Arsenal miss a Vieira like player?

The squad is in desperate need of a commanding centre back along with Vermaelen, a Vieira like player in midfield and a decent striker to partner Van Persie. These three positions could cost £40 million depending on who it is, which is available as Kroenke has already said this so we are back at the main question. For arguments sake lets say Cahill, Adebayor and Essien were bought in the summer. With those additions almost all fans would expect a trophy next season and preferably not the Carling Cup. This then puts pressure on the new signings and Wenger as he doesn't want to disappoint. If they don't settle in quickly then people would start questioning him. This is why Wenger was quoted saying he would accept 2nd for the next 20 years. If signings were made from overseas clubs then they would have to get used to the pace of the league first then learn how to play the Arsenal way which isn't something learnt overnight. That's why Wenger is conservative over new signings as they need to have the technical ability to play the way we do and that is the problem.

This young squad has achieved many good things. Carling Cup final appearances in 2007 and 2011, regular top 4 finishes, and good runs in the Champions League and FA cup. Wenger knows with just a bit more they can win something and he feels this something will come from the current players, not new signings.  Hopefully though Arsene may change but it's unlikely. If he does look for youth, there's Ramsey who played fantastically against United, Frimpong who is a great work horse, Bartley who has impressed while at Rangers and maybe even Chamakh could be given another chance. 

Thanks for reading...All comments are appreciated.

Pictures courtesy of wikipedia.org

Arsenal 1-0 United review and more

What a performance by Arsenal today. That was a much needed win which might I add, keeps our slim title hopes alive. All players worked fantastically and to win 1-0 against United without Fabregas after a terrible run of games is amazing. The only disappointment is that we weren't closer to Man United so we could really challenge for 1st place. 

Was Fabregas missed?

Is Ramsey the new Fabregas?

With our number 4 having to miss this game through a thigh injury, it was up to Ramsey to step in. To begin with, the decision to leave out Fabregas is strange. This was a massive game and so why not take a risk. Even if Cesc had got injured in the game he would've only missed three other games before the season ends. The only answer to why the captain was absent is because, and i know some fans will hate me for this but, the reason may have been to see how well we play without him. Everyone knows he wants to go to Barca and so if Wenger has given up on the Spanish midfielder, he needs to know whether to buy a replacement or play someone else in that position. That 'someone else' could well be Ramsey who got the only goal of the game. He and Wilshere seemed to have a great relationship on the pitch and with him being British, it adds that determination to win more than what Fabregas offers. Not only that but his passing was very accurate and the way he plays allows Wilshere to go forward more. So Cesc wasn't missed today and if he was sold it would give us £30million plus to spend and allow Rambo to step into the first team.

The penalty shouts

On 32 minutes, Walcott burst down the wing and played a great ball in. It was going straight to Van Persie only for Vidic to touch it away. A corner was given but Van Persie was furious and after a replay so was I. Some how the linesman failed to spot a deliberate hand ball by the United defender. Because a corner was given, the linesman knows Vidic has touched it, but to think it was with his head is stupid. Vidic's hand is at least a foot away from his head. Now had the linesman seen this a penalty would've been awarded and the Serbian would be walking down the tunnel. Just another example of why football needs video technology. It took sky sports less than 30 seconds to see the hand ball in a replay and so why can't this information be given to the referee? 

The other penalty claim was towards the end of the match. Michael Owen tried to turn into the box but at the same time Clichy had a foot on his back leg. Chris Foy immediately waved it away, possibly under the influence that he'd already given one wrong decision. 

Both incidents were penalties, the only difference being one would have seen red. It doesn't matter in the end though and Fergie would be stupid to complain as his side should've played 60 minutes with 10 men. 

Amazing Andrey

When Nasri went off injured at half time and Arshavin came on, I became a bit more nervous. The Russian winger isn't known to track back and with Fabio at right back, Clichy could've been in trouble. Instead, Arshavin had one of his best 45 minutes in a long time. In that period he won 3/3 tackles, made 2 interceptions and 2 clearances. That's very impressive for someone who just two weeks ago got a huge cheer for tracking back against Liverpool. Some supporters have questioned Arshavin this season but if you look at his goal and assist tally this season, it's one of the best in the league. Hopefully by August, we will see the Arshavin that played so well at the Euro 2008 tournament and scored 4 in one game vs Liverpool.

What remains for the rest of the season

With all the pressure off we could see a good end to the season with just Stoke, Villa and Fulham remaining. 3rd is likely to be our position at the end of the campaign but could it be better, or worse than that. We are 6 behind United, 3 short of Chelsea and 5 ahead of City who have a game in hand. Next weekend Chelsea go to Old Trafford in what is a title decider. If Chelsea win they go level on points with United (73 points) and if the Gunners beat a Stoke side with their mind on the FA Cup final then we will be 3 points behind both. I know it would be a big ask for Wenger's side but should this scenario happen then 1st is still a possibility as Chelsea play Newcastle (H) then Everton (A). United face Blackburn (A) then Blackpool (H). All four of those games will be tough. Chelsea drew 1-1 in the reverse fixture of their games so could drop points. As for United, both clubs are fighting for survival. I know it would be highly unlikely but while the chance remains so does the hope, especially when there's no pressure on the squad.

Alternatively we could find ourselves battling for 4th. This is equally unlikely despite City having a game in hand. They go to Goodison Park next weekend then play Spurs midweek. Mancini could accept a point against Tottenham as a trip to Wembley follows. I'm sure if you asked him today would you take 4th place and a FA Cup, he would bite your hand off.

Another way to finish the year is a 2nd place. If Chelsea lose (preferably by 2 or 3 goals) and Arsenal win at the Britannia then we would only be 3rd on GD (or even 2nd providing Arsenal score a few). Even if it meant the title went to Manchester, it would be our best league finish since the move to the Emirates.

Thanks for reading...hopefully I will post something on Arsene Wenger's transfer policy.

Pictures courtesy of arsenal.com