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Arsenal Rot Starts At Top
Popular opinion on Arsenal seems to yoyo between 'Arsene knows' and angry fans chasing him out of the training complex with pitchforks and flaming torches (maybe), but it isn't just Arsene's fault, the rot starts at the top. Some problems are Wenger's fault, the tactical naivety - Arsenal set up in the same manner regardless of opposition or occasion. The same goes for the change in style from fast, penetrative football to tippy tappy passes in front of defences, with no cutting edge, or even a shot at the end of most moves. Wenger can and should be held accountable for these problems, but unfortunately tactics are not the only thing plaguing Arsenal.
For me the rot starts from high on in the boardroom, Gazidis' statements about a big transfer kitty sit at odds with our actual dealings and the board have been inflexible to Wenger's wish that more be made available for wages. Wenger's recent interviews give a sense that all is not right behind the scenes, couple this with Gazidis' assurances that his job is safe and it gives the impression that Arsene is taking one for the company. If so, he can hardly be blamed for standing by subpar players as if he's stuck with them then there is little to gain from lowering their (already frail) confidence.
Some fans point to 2014 and the renewal of poor sponsorship deals as a chance to pump money into the team, but unless were in the Champions League sponsors won't want to invest (see Adidas and Liverpool.) Nor will fans keep forking out the highest prices in the country to see athletic feats such as Walcott's metronomic consistency (as cross after cross crashes against the opposing fullbacks shins), or the superhuman endurance of Colin Lewin (in his repeated sprints from the bench to shepherd another perma-crock into the all-consuming void that is the Arsenal treatment room).
Silent Stan and his beancounter-in-chief Gazidis, don't strike me as being concerned about our form over a few games, any more than they are over our gradual slide into mediocrity, provided the profits are healthy. It's just a shame that by the time the on pitch decline does reach the balance sheet, the clubs reputation, squad and financial prospects will have withered to a point where there is no longer a quick or easy solution to getting back on track.
Matt (how did I miss Tevez, Barton and Bendtner from my Bellends XI?), Northern Gooner
Highbury FC
Mark Johnson's letter finishes with a threat to leave and start Highbury FC.
Maybe this is a team the Arsenal fans deserve. When the chips are down you get behind your team, you don't talk about starting another.
Marcus Spenstein
Narf Landan
If we forfeit this Sunday, do we just get a 3-0 defeat?
Worth looking into Arsene......
Tony, fed up Gooner, Essex
Wenger For England
Seeing as how he's probably blown it at Arsenal, why not give Wenger a shot at the England job?
Let's not forget the fantastic job he's done in raising standards generally in English football since he arrived from Japan. He speaks English. By most counts, he's lived here long enough to be 'naturalised'. And he's acclimatised to our poisonous press.
Interested to see how Spurs fans would feel about that - at least they'd get to keep 'Arry....
Duckman
Liverpool Conclusions
The only conclusion you need to know from the Liverpool v Brighton match is that...
DOWNING GOT AN ASSIST.
Don't rub your eyes. It really did happen. Here's hoping it's the start of many!
Nizam Dorasat, London (I know it was only Brighton but how good was it to see all three of Gerrard, Carroll and Suarez finally start a match together)
...We are a club on the verge, of becoming yet again, envied throughout Britain and admired in the world. We are playing in one cup final next Sunday and have very genuine chances of winning the FA Cup after an absurdly long time.
Winning a cup double in a year in which we had so many sorrows and frustrations would be a dream. But most importantly, it shows how King Kenny has never lost his winning touch and how he can absolutely assemble powerful squads, combative outfits, who - lacking in talent - make up for it with an extraordinary display of grit and intensity. (How much you'd like that eh Arsenal?)
Hell, I think even Steven Gerrard is surprised at kicking both Manchester clubs out in two competitions and being on the verge of that so very familiar feeling of lifting silverware. How on earth does a squad featuring world class flops like Carroll, Henderson and Downing have any chances of winning anything? And with its best player suspended for over two months?
KK's belief in his team despite some disastrous outings is exactly why he is a god-like figure for Liverpool fans.
Raúl H. García (This season will probably be worthy of a DVD come May, LOL) Liverpool Football Club 1892-YNWA
Own Goal
Good to see that Own Goal has really started to push on since joining us from the Mancs at the beginning of the season.
Alex, LFC
Torres Needs To Sort Himself Out
Re: Blue Lenny, Fernando Torres is paid something above 150,000 a year, it's his own duty to figure out what's going on. Rafa didn't know what to do with him in the last few months. I recall him being rather bemused at Torres' decision to get surgery to ensure he was available for the World Cup, and that to me was the beginning of the end. His place in the Spain team has not been guaranteed in all that time either. The moment he pulled up in the World Cup final I thought he was done. He looks scared to really sprint at full pelt for fear of knackering his hamstring again.
The solution, cut their losses, pack him off to Atletico where he may get a hero's return.
I do want to know, why on earth Lukaku is not getting a look in? That is the strangest thing of all to me. He will probably have regressed after going from playing first team football for the past two seasons, scoring a fair amount of goals in the process, to occasionally sitting on the bench. Now I'm not suggesting he should be starting every week, but surely he should be given more chances.
Pete F, Dublin, Man Utd
...Just a thought but Torres will soon have had as many managers in his 13 months at Chelsea as he has goals
Carl (Insert your own joke here) Oldfield, MUFC, Southport
Chelsea Should Stick With AVB
Each manager since Mourinho has had the difficult task of blending his original team with a combination of one-or-two personal signings and whichever expensive "marquee" player the owner has seen fit to purchase. As time has passed this task has become increasingly difficult: the older players have lost much of their pace and effectiveness, poor signings that should have been moved on have lingered and stifled the progress of the team, and the big-name strikers signed by Abramovich have been a combination of unnecessary and hugely disappointing.
No single manager since Mourinho has had an adequate amount of time to oversee a transition or thorough evolution of the style of play. To sack another manager - this time a young one with fresh ideas and at the beginning of his career - will only perpetuate the cycle that has repeated itself a number of times since Mourinho's departure. It will damage the evolution of Chelsea Football Club, seriously hinder Andre Villas-Boas's future career, and send a message out to any potential managers that if the old-guard don't like your methods then you may as well not bother.
Villas-Boas is young and inexperienced. He will, from time to time, make mistakes, and mistakes are something you learn from. It was always highly unlikely that this season Chelsea would win either of the leagues most precious to us all: what was always more likely was a top four finish and possibly domestic cup silverware. So, please, give the guy a rest. He's trying manage the decline of one team and the creation of another, and with Abramovich's itchy trigger finger the last thing the guy needs is the fans getting on his back. Seriously: getting the manager sacked will achieve nothing - it will only push Chelsea's future further and further away. You need to accept that there will be an extended period in which this team will be inconsistent, and come to terms with it: it is entirely necessary.
Stop hounding the manager, and stop it now. Because those who continue to will get an intelligent and most likely very talented young manager sacked because of narrow-mindedness, impatience and a completely unrealistic expectation of how this team can perform in its current state of flux. You will also be responsible for deserved taunts and jibes from the media, other managers and fans of other teams who will rightfully be calling the whole thing a shambles, a laughing stock and pointing out how the Chelsea manager's position is a laughably impossible job.
Stu, Chiswick
Ghosts Of Chelsea's Past
As much as the 'new' rumours surrounding AVB's sacking annoy me, I cannot say that they are unfounded. After all, Roman has already sacked SIX managers in the last 8 years in his quest of champions league glory. However, I cannot help but think that as long as world class managers keep getting the sack, Chelsea will keep drifting away from any hope of a successful European campaign.
Chelsea should stick with AVB, as sacking him would further disrupt the club while the young Portuguese manager would have no problem finding employment elsewhere.
After Chelsea:
- Claudio Ranieri went on an Italian frenzy of managing every top team in Serie A with spells at Roma, Juventus and now at Inter.
- Mourinho conquered Italy and Europe with Inter and is now on the verge of doing the same with Real Madrid.
- Scolari and Hiddink were offered and took ridiculous amounts of money to manage clubs and national teams all over the world.
- And finally Ancelotti was entrusted with a long-term project managing the world's richest club in Paris.
Most of these sackings will come back to haunt us just like when Chelsea faced Inter in the CL last time around. Mourinho knew Chelsea inside out and it surely helped him with his tactics as the Italian giants brushed us aside. Who is to say that Chelsea won't face Mourinho's Real Madrid or Ranieri's Inter this year? Or Ancelotti's PSG or Hiddink's Anzhi next year?
My point is Roman is offering managers an internship at his firm exposing them to inside information and team secrets before they go on to sign a permanent contract at a rival firm. Giving world class managers a short term stint at the club and then sending them on their way is just counter-productive. Especially a club whose core players have been around for almost a decade!
Jad "Cup half full" Hawwa
Favourite Positions
In answer to Neil (Downing does not count and is a 'disgrace' to the art) Dadals question, yes. I bloody love the big target man number 9 striker.
My love for this position comes from a variety of reasons. Mainly, it's the position where I've spent the majority of my life playing (Sunday league through to university) and at 6'5, I certainly qualify as a bigman. It gives me hope that when I see Liverpool spunk £35m on Andy Carroll and think "I have better hair then him, surely someone wants me for £35.5m?".
It has also given us Alan Shearer, record goalscorer in the PL and for Newcastle. Say what you want about him as a pundit, but you can't knock him as your 'stereotypical Number 9'.
With other smaller, pacier strikes like Suarez and Aguero, you don't get the battles against the defenders. I love watching players like Drogba have proper physical matches against CBs. Drogba vs Vidic is great entertainment for everyone.
We've recently seen Holt do the same for Norwich (should definitely have a call up for at least for a friendly on current form) and also Connor Wickham who I hope turns into a great player.
Ethan, Portsmouth
