The Highbury Ramble

2 blatant penalty claims denied, 1 lucky deflection and an unfortunate own goal

2012-02-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

That is all.

The 'Diarra-Flamini' Effect

2012-02-16T15:02:00.000-08:00

Last night, without a doubt was a night to 4get. Arsenal went to Milan 4-nothing, literally. So, as I always do after watching an Arsenal game, I went online to read what the fans were saying. I'm not a religious man, but I thank whatever higher being there may be, if there is one, that football fans are not managers. The knee-jerk reactions are ridiculous. A lot of people immediately jump to the conclusion that Arsenal is done for; others call for Wenger's head; others say spend, spend, spend; some say sell, sell, sell.
Let's take a look at the first one: The Arsenal is done for conclusion. A game does not decide a season, unless it's a final, or an FA Cup tie, or the 2nd leg of a Champions League KO round. Yes, the odds are against Arsenal to turn this around, but we definitely have the quality to do it.
It has nothing to do with tactics, so fans need to stop calling for Wenger's head every time we lose a game due to "poor tactics." Wenger is not a tactician, he has never been, and never will be. There were no tactics when Arsenal went unbeaten. Arsenal simply had the quality, mentality and the strength to go unbeaten. They just played their football. It's the same thing that Barcelona does today. They have no tactics; they're just a team that has taken some years to build, and the players have enough chemistry amongst each other and they do their own pass-pass-pass thing. When their tiki-taka doesn't work, there are 2 "tactics" they resort to: 1 is to give the ball to Messi and hope he pulls something out of his ass, and if that doesn't work, the 2nd "tactic" is to start hugging the pitch. But enough about them. My point is that Wenger is not a tactician and he wants to win games by playing good football, rather than man-marking or whatever other tactics there are. Keep in mind, he is French, he is not gonna change his mind just because you may right and he may wrong. By the way, he's not wrong.
But I digress, so on to the 'Diarra-Flamini' effect. I'm sure all fans who have been following Arsenal for at least as long as they've been at the Emirates, will remember Flamini, but I won't be surprised if they don't remember Diarra. So, here's a bit of a refresher: Flamini was our starting DM, and he had rightfully earned that spot due mostly to his 110% effort every game. Wenger, thinking about the future as he always does, bought Diarra as back-up. Diarra was decent, but only as a back-up. Diarra was a given a few chances, and while he did perform well, it was obvious that Flamini would still be first choice. Diarra became frustrated due to lack of games (he actually claimed that he got more play-time with France than Arsenal), and so he left after 3 months or so. No worries, seeing as we still had Flamini who wasn't injury prone (rare for an Arsenal player). But, at the end of that season, Flamini put in a transfer request, and thus Arsenal were left without a DM. Long story short, Flamini leaves, Song era begins, but that's a story for another day.
So, the "buy,buy, buy" method will not solve Arsenal's "problem", because the likes of Hazard or Podolski or any player of RvP's class are not going to want to sit on the bench and wait for an opportunity when RvP gets tired or injured. If players like Diarra and Bendtner can complain about not being in the starting 11, I can assure you that proven players will also do the same. It's the same thing with selling players. Sure, Djourou isn't the best CB in the world, but I don't expect Vertonghen to come to Arsenal and sit on the bench waiting for Kos or TV, or Per to get injured. Djourou knows he doesn't have the same quality as our starting CBs, so he sits on his ass and waits for his chance. Same for Chamakh/Park vs RvP, or Ramsey vs Jack (if Jack wasn't injured), Jenkinson (we should have never sold Eboue) vs Sagna.
There is one player that, even I (who almost never criticize our players, I actually think that Bendtner and Denilson are quality players but have the wrong mentality) have started criticizing and thought that we should sell, and that is Theo Walcott. He just seems to show no improvement at all. When Song first started getting games, he was average, but after a season he became a crucial player for us. Walcott has been starting for over 3 seasons now, and if anything he has gotten worse; he used to at least be fast, but now he seems to have lost that as well. However, there is obviously something that Wenger sees in Walcott. If you think back to when Henry first signed with Arsenal, he was only 22, and he did struggle during his first few games, and he had a poor run at Juventus. It wasn't until his mid 20s when Henry really made a name for himself. He had his moments here and there like Walcott does now, but that was it for Henry until 23-24 which is when he really hit form. I think the same will happen with Theo, or at least I hope.
So, to sum things up, World Class players will not want to sit on the bench and wait for our starting 11 to get injured. Some may argue, they will if we pay them, but I would not want Arsenal to be that club, and I don't like seeing talent being wasted on the bench (Chel$sea/$hity/Real(fake)). Good examples are Robben, Sneijder and VDV who barely got any play time at Madrid, and now they're crucial players in their new clubs. I would rather see the likes of Gotze and Hazard starting regularly at their clubs than rot on our bench. The bench is for potential talent, such as Ox, Ryo, Jenkinson, Gibbs, Coquelin, Frimpong, Lansbury, Yennaris, Ozyakup, and for players like Rosicky, Benayoun and Arshavin who aren't good enough to start, but decent back-ups. Spending is not the answer, unless we can buy luck, luck to avoid injuries.

PS: We need a new captain, we need a leader. I love RvP, but we need someone like Vieira or Adams(ideal choice), someone who is loud on and off the pitch, someone who will yell at our players during performances like yesterday, but motivate them. We do have that player, and his name is Jack Wilshere.

Kokanut out.

I should really be sleeping...

2012-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

...since there are less than 6 hours left for when I have to wake up, but before I hit the hay, I thought I would vent a bit about our latest loss.

I actually have nothing to vent about our loss against Fulham. Craven Cottage is not an easy place to go to and come out with 3 points, which most of us expected to happen, and judging by the first half, that is exactly what should have happened. However, while watching this game, I couldn't help but think back to our games against Blackburn away, Fulham at home, and Wolves at home. Those were 3 games which we should have won convincingly, yet we lost to Blackburn due to to own goals and an offside goal, and drew to Fulham and Wolves at home. 7 points lost. Had we won those games, this Fulham loss would not seem like such a big deal, especially considering the congested fixtures. Games like Newcastle away 4-4 and Spurs away 3-3 last season are games which cost us the League. However, we never seem to learn from our mistakes of not putting games to bed against mediocre teams. The knee jerk reaction to losses such as the one against Fulham is to buy, buy, buy, but I completely disagree. We need not buy anyone. We have a big enough squad and we do have depth. We simply have been quite unlucky with injuries. Not too long ago, fans were saying that we need a new striker because RvP was too injury prone and unreliable; some even suggested selling him. Now, it's the complete opposite; fans are saying that we need to buy a striker of RvP's quality if we want to keep him. That is exactly why we (the fans) are not managers, because we tend to think short term. Arsenal stuck with RvP through his worst times and did not dump him off to a Europa League club when he was injured, so now it's time for RvP to repay the debt. The rumors about RvP leaving are really pissing me off, because it seems that anytime that one of our players starts to shine, there are rumors that he will be leaving. I can see how people might think that we are a one-man team, because RvP is scoring most of our goals, but there are also many factors to us performing so well, such as some of Szczesny's saves which have gotten us some crucial 3 points in several games, and Song's tackles, and TV's and Kos's clearances. Despite all this, our last 2 games, have been games which our squad had a chance of showing that not all our goals come from RvP, however, we failed to do that. We should have been up by 3 against Fulham by half-time, but we couldn't finish. Gervinho had so many chances, but for some reason he refuses to take a chance and shoot, and when he does have a chance, he takes too long. Simply put, he needs to be a bit more selfish. Sure, he wasn't given a blatant penalty, but I have given up on referees ever since our draw at Birmingham 4 years ago when Taylor broke Eduardo's ankle.
Moving on, Theodore James Walcott will probably never make it as a top footballer, and I really hope I am wrong about this. I am one of the few people who won't judge a footballer from a single game. I remember 2-3 seasons ago when Song first started playing for Arsenal, he was average, and a lot of fans were criticizing him, but now he is a crucial part of Arsenal. I wish I could same the same about Walcott, but he never seems to improve. I think the most we'll get from him, will be a terrific run and assists once in 20 games. Other than that, he will just score a few goals, and make a few assists (single digits for both.) The problem with Walcott is that anytime he has more than one option, he hesitates and gives the ball away, but when he only has one option, he executes it to perfection, like his goal against Chelsea. On the other hand, he had a great chance to score against QPR, one-on-one with plenty of time to score; he could have put his foot through it and hoped for the best, he could have composed himself and chipped the keeper, or he could have gone around the keeper and walked the ball in the net. Instead, he took a shot which was at least 2-3 yards of target. He had a very similar chance against Udinese earlier this season, but this time, the defender was closing down on him, and so Theo was forced to make a decision quickly, which he did, and he beat the gk at the near post. He also had a similar chance in CL last year, which he finished, and also one against Villareal 4 years ago which he calmly chipped the keeper. So, Theo definitely has it in him, but he needs to be more composed and less hesitant when he has several options. Another chance just came to mind, which was against Fenerbaqe in CL, where Theo went round the keeper and scored. We need to bring Vela back to teach Theo how to be calm in front of goal.

Well, that's all I have in me right now. I will try and post again before we play Leeds, unless Carl beats me to it.

A look back to 2011

2012-01-02T00:07:00.000-08:00

Literally speaking that is.

First up, all of Robin's goals in 2011, who btw, set a new club record for amount of goals scored in a calendar year.

And last, but not least, the highs and lows of AFC in 2011. This video is basically "Robin & the rest"

Apologies.

2011-12-07T18:47:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the hiatus in our blogging, I've had more work then you care to know. At the end of this week there should be bi-daily blog posts at least for a good long while so look forward to it!

RvP has scored more goals than the whole Wigan team...

2011-12-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

...for this season so far anyway, and it might stay that way if the Dutchman keeps banging them in the way he is. However, this match wasn't about RvP; instead, we finally saw Arsenal as a whole; 4 goals scored, and they all came from different positions, midfielder, defender, winger, and forward; if only Sczcesny had scored too.
Okay, scratch that "we finally saw Arsenal as a whole" bullcrap. I think the media's view of Arsenal as a one-man(RvP) team is getting to me. What I'm trying to say is that we're seeing other players score goals too. I for one was really happy to see Gervinho score; he has missed a lot of chances lately, and the more you miss the more it gets to you, but hopefully that should give him some more confidence next time he has a one-on-one opportunity.

On to Vermaelen. 3 goals in 2 games; unfortunately one of those goals was an own goal which arguably cost us 2 points last week, but it's good to have him back (yes, I know he's been back for a bit now, but it's good to have the Vermaelen we originally signed back, the one who can defend and score.) Arsène Wenger on Vermaelen: "I still don't know if Vermaelen came to replace Touré or Adebayor"

Maybe I should write about the match now. It was as most of us predicted, or as anyone with a common sense would have predicted. On paper we were meant to win this match by a huge margin, and we did. Wigan had a few decent attempts here and there, but after the quick first 2 goals, it was all Arsenal for the most part. RvP's goal reminded me of my old PES days when I would try and score with a certain player just to make him a top goalscorer.
I apologize for my back and forth writing, but I'm working on it.

Same old Arsenal

2011-11-27T14:30:00.001-08:00

This Saturday was our chance to close the gap on ManU, but we failed to do so as we have done so many times in the past. I can't count the amount of time when the other top 4 teams failed to win, and Arsenal who played afterwards, failed to close the gap while playing mediocre teams. When the match starter, we knew that ManU had lost 2 points, so this was our chance to close the gap, but what did we do? We drew. Now, there's even more regret since City and Liverpool lost points also, because had we won, we'd be ahead of Liverpool, on level points with Chelsea, and closer to ManU and City.
We started the game well, as we so often do, created a few chances, but failed to convert. Overall, there was no sense of urgency, not that we needed to rush things, but after we conceded, we were attacking a lot more. I wish we would've played like that from the start, score 2 goals, and then take it easy by keeping possession. I have lost count, but that must be like the 10th own goal we've conceded this season. TV should've been clearing that with his right, but nonetheless, we should've been up by at least 2 or 3 goals by the time we conceded. It seems right now that RvP is our only attacking player who can score. Gervinho still hasn't gotten a hang of the 1-on-1 situation; Ramsey missed a sitter; Walcott needs to shoot some more, although, his crosses and final passes lately have been great; Chamakh is only good for tap ins.
We are not a one-man team, but we can't keep losing points on games like these, because at the end of the season, we'll be looking back at these sorts of games and realize how many easy points we lost, which cost us the league, or a top 4 spot.
On to City now, for the Carling Cup.

Arsenal win v Dortmund to top Champions League group F

2011-11-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Arsenal won 2-1 tonight against Borrusia Dortmund to secure top place in Champions League group F. Robin Van Persie (who else) was the man with the goals tonight for Arsenal, both coming in the 2nd half. Dortmund's goal scorer was Shinji Kagawa in stoppage time to pull a goal back that meant little. The game started off with Dortmund pushing Arsenal back and back, having possesion and looking dangerous. It seemed as if Arsenal hadn't really come out to play and Dortmund looked like they wanted it much much more. That being said, the game evened up significantly as the half went on, primarily down to the skill and graft of Aaron Ramsey who on a whole was my Man of the Match. The First half's best chances also fell to Arsenal the best of them being Theo Walcott's brillaint early cross punched out of the way of RVP by Weidenfeller. Apart from that chance though, it was a very tight and uninspiring Champions League affair. Arsenal were also given a good boost to their chances when Dortmund's wonder-kids Mario Gotze (a major transfer target for Arsenal) and Sven Bender were taken off before halftime. Sven Bender had the unfortunate displeasure of being Verminated by Mr. Vermaelen (he broke his jaw in two places.) The second half started very brightly for Arsenal, and Arsenal unlike Dortmund were rewarded for their bright start as they scored 5 minutes after the half. Alex Song, picking the ball up in the middle drove down the line and somehow, amazingly, beat 4 Dortmund players flicking the bal between them, showing off some amazing feet before crossing to RVP who picked the bottom corner out. Truly, it was one of the best Arsenal assist's I've seen, rivaling Walcott's v Liverpool a few years ago. The goal put Arsenal in the drivng seat and Dortmund seemed very shaken by the goal, creating very little. Arsenal's domination was helped significantly once more by Aaron Ramsey as well as Song who broke everything BVB created. Arsenal again created an amazing chance for Gervinho who being 1 v 1 with Weidenfeller, took it around the keeper but had the ball cleared off his foot before he could slot it home. It was a golden chance for Gervinho who has seemed to have problems finishing of late, hopefully its just a blip. Arsenal did score though off a corner kick in the 86 minute to secure to place in the group. A corner taken by Arteta was flicked on at the near post by Vermaelen who found RVP at the back-post, unmarked. Dortmund scored late on in the last second of extra time to give them a bit of a better scoreline but mattered not as the whistle blew immediate y after them scoring. All in all, a fantastic Champions League performance for Arsenal and also some bright news in the injury department as Abou Diaby made his season debut after a long time out. Arsenal return to action this Saturday to face Fulham at home in what should be a good chance for Arsenal to keep this winning form going. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Arsenal v Dortmund highlights:

Red & White vs Black-Yellows

2011-11-23T02:24:00.000-08:00

The match is now less than 12 hours away, and I have yet to get any sleep. So, before I go, I figured I should post something, since I haven't really been much active.
If we go by what we saw in the first leg, this should be an open match, and both teams would be expected to score. I can't speak for BvB, but I'm sure that we'll see a completely different Arsenal than we did on the away leg. Some could argue that BvB deserved to win the first leg, because they dominated the game and created more chances, which is true, but I also remember Arsenal missing the best chance of the game to go 2-0 up, so technically, the game could've gone either way. Also, Arsenal played that match with the handbrake on; they didn't seem to want to go forward as Arsenal usually does. You have to keep in mind that at the time, considering Arsenal's form, we were expected to lose in Germany.
As for today's match, this Arsenal will come out in full force, and forget the handbrake, if anything we'll be attacking too much, although when it comes to Arsenal, there's no such thing as too much offense. Offense is what we do. I wish we would do half as much defense as we do offense, then maybe I wouldn't be worried about having a heart attack every time I see the opposition go forward.
I can't stay much longer, so I'll just give my prediction before I go.
Arsenal 3, BvB 1 (RvP, Ramsey, and TV for Arsenal; Gotze for BvB)
I will post a post-match review 1-2 hours after the game, for which I will also have a video to go with.

Meanwhile, if my writing bores you, my video certainly won't.

Arsenal win again in tough Norwich fixture

2011-11-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

Crisis? what Crisis? Arsenal have won once again- our 5th straight win in the League. This match was never going to a walk over and it wasn't, the scoreline shows that. However the scoreline could have certainly been given more gloss in Arsenal's favor had chances been taken early in the first half. One man who was clinical as ever however takes no introduction. Robin van Persie how now scored 31 goals in 29 games, an utterly phenomenal goalscoring record. The first 15 minutes of the match was 100% Arsenal. Arsenal's front three of Gervinho, Walcott, and Van Persie- particularity the first 2, terrorized the Canaries back line, there pace and ability in one v one situations was evident. The clearest chance fell to Walcott, who did well inside the box and fired it into the back post past Ruddy, but an absolutely amazing goaline clearance saved and goal, and instead gave Arsenal a corner. A few other big chances fell to Van Persie and Walcott once more. However, Norwich City would score a goal out of the blue, all down to Per Mertesacker's hesitancy. A meaningless longball over the top found its way to the edge of the box with Mertesacker trying to shepherded it back to Szczesny, who was not coming for it. Instead of hacking the ball away, Mertesacker took his time and was barged off the ball (a foul in my opinion) by Morison who slotted it past the outstretched Szczesny. I'll never know if Szczesny never gave Mertesacker a shout to clear, but there is absolutely no excuse for Mertesacker to not clear immedialty- a lucky break for Norwich. Arsenal responded the absolute perfect way, creating more and more goal socring chances (all cleared or blocked off the line) FInally, on 27 minutes RVP tapped in a wonderful driven ball by Theo Walcott, who had skipped past his man on the wing. The First half continued with Arsenal dominance but less cutting edge, 1-1 at Halftime. The Second half continued with extreme Arsenal dominance, again Arsenal missing big chances, the biggest being Gervinho's header off a Vermaelen cross and then Gervinho missing a one v one with Ruddy who saved well. However Arsenal struck on 60 minutes. Song won the ball wonderfully in the middle of the park, drove at the Norwich defense and found the brilliant van Persie who calmly chipped over Ruddy. Both of RVP's goal came with his so called "chocolate leg" After that goal, Norwich never troubled except for a decent chance on a low cross as well as the fucking twat Holt's play acting throughout the entire time he was on the park. This win hopefully can shut up all the people who have doubted Arsenal all season, and hopefully people realize as well just how truly amazing RVP is, he is simply put the best striker in the world. Arsenal move on to 6th in the table ahead of "title challengers" Liverpool, and play Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League Wednesday. COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!

Rosicky's defensive display helps Czech Republic protect their lead, and snatch a late win against Montenegro.

2011-11-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

Montenegro 0 vs 1 Czech Rep.

Rosicky's performance:

I was again very impressed with how well the Czechs defended in this game, specially in the first half. Montenegro barely had a sniff of Cech's goal. They made sure not to concede an early goal, and protected their 2 goal advantage brilliantly. Montenegro had to create chances at one point or another. When they did get past the Czech'd defense, Cech was in their way.

The Czechs approached the game cautiously, they did however attack with numbers when they felt they could score. Jiracek was my man of the match, but you could vote for more than half the team to be man of the match, they defended that well. reminded me of how they defended against Spain in their away game, they stole a lead early own only to lose the game in the final 15 minutes.

Rosicky had his share of tackles, interceptions and clearances during the game. I was impressed by the way he kept putting pressure on their defense which broke down Montenegro's attacks before they reach the final third. He showed that he could play in the center of midfield. His last run without injuries also improved his stamina. he was still chasing down players in the last few seconds of the game.

I can't wait for the Euros now. Just hope he keeps his current fantastic form :)

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain tekkers!

2011-11-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

Great video made by the England National team's official YouTube video, showing The Ox on fire during finishing training ahead of the U21s game against Belgium that occurred on Monday (England unfortunately lost 2-1.) The video pretty much sums up all that I could say with words thankfully, being another wonderful reminder of the sheer talent that Alex Chamberlein possesses. Hard to believe there were so many Arsenal fans skeptical at the price paid for such a big prospect but im sure after recent displays (bar the Bolton game) hes making those who doubted him sit up and take notice. In case you haven't seen him in the Carling Cup below is a video made by the excellent "Batticomps4" featuring all of his touches v Shrewsbury back in September. Enjoy!

A Man of the Match performance by Tomas Rosicky against Montenegro

2011-11-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

Another Brilliant Performance by Tomas Rosicky with the national team, he looks so confortable in the advanced midfield role. The MOTM was between him, Pilar and Jiracek. But with 2 assists and being in the center of almost every Czech attack, I don't think anyone would argue otherwise. He even defended well when needed although he was playing as an attacking midfielder who has the freedom of staying in the midfield to start a counter attack. Jiracek was great again, but gave away a bit too many fouls, kept the ball a bit too long at times and missed golden chances. Pilar looks like a brilliant player for the future of the Czech national team, very mature performance by him on the left. The Only criticism to Rosicky's performance was a mistake he made by giving the ball away in his own half. Other than that, his performance was Fantastic. A true Captain's performance :)

Welcome!

2011-11-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the newest blog on the Arsenal/ football blog cycle, The Highbury Ramble! This blog is a place for me, the creator (aka Carl, aka Flash, aka Le God) and my two main contributors to post thoughts on Arsenal, football and anything else we fancy. My two contributors are, Mr. Rosicky Carpenter (as he likes to be know) who will keep us up to date with who else but Tomas Rosicky. He is a very accomplished compilation maker who will be posting his works up on the blog for your enjoyment. next is Armir (aka Bang Bang Bangladesh.) who himself is an amazing compilation maker who directs his videos towards an Arsenal focus. And lastly is my good friend William, who will be blessing us with his Arsenal wisdom as well. And for my contributions, I shall do Arsenal match reports, injury news, transfer news, etc. Basically anything you can relate to Arsenal FC or the football world in general, I'm your man. We hope to add many more contributors to our blog here, and eventually we will get a url to give us a bit of credibility. We hope you enjoy what you read/watch and if you like what you see don't hesitate to share it with your friends. I Will also be making a twitter page for the site so you can get the site news/ stories on the go. Thanks!