Season Review: Part I

This marks the beginning of the review of a pretty disappointing season for Arsenal. From challenging on four fronts to fourth spot in your domestic league, it has been a lackluster end to a very bright start. Mind you we had played extremely well for the until that Cup Final defeat. The highs of the season have always been followed by lower lows.

The first part of the review will concentrate on the journey of our goalkeepers. From Almunia to Fabianski to Szczesny to Lehmann, our keepers have had a tough ride.

Hero:

Wojciech Szczesny

When a player who is 4th choice at the start of the season finds himself being 1st choice at Arsenal despite being only 21, you know he’s done something extraordinary. No one expected him to play for Arsenal at least this season. But now that he’s done it, the demand for a top-quality goalkeeper seems to have vanished. The fact is, we’ve got one now.

Villian:

Arsene Wenger

I know he’s not a keeper. But the way he treated Almunia is far worse than his display against West Brom. Almunia never had the quality to succeed at Arsenal but despite that, Wenger continued with him in goal. Last summer, he tried to sign Schwarzer which was quite a public affair. But it failed and it was Almunia who was supposed to be our 1st choice for the whole season. And if it was not for Szczesny to put some outstanding displays, we might have been in a much worse situation. Sorry Arsene,you got that completely wrong.

Highlights:

Szczesny’s performance against Barcelona at the Emirates.

Awesome. That’s what I felt for Szczesny. Remember he was playing for the first-time in Europe. Against Barcelona. Against the likes of Villa, Messi and Iniesta. I’m damn sure without him(i.e. with Almunia), we’d have lost the match.

Lowlights:

Almunia’s performances home and away against West Brom. He cost us 5 points in those 2 matches alone.

The one at home looked to have ended Almunia’s career at Arsenal. But so is Arsenal’s luck that our top 3 keepers got injured and we were back to square-one with Almunia having to play against West Brom again. He had a brilliant game against Barca just a week ago, but that didn’t stop him from coming off his line and intentionally making himself look like a real joker.

Most Memorable moment:

Szczesny cutting through Gareth Bale’s legs to clear the ball. Not one Arsenal fan can forget that. The derby at White Hart Lane. The Pole just scissored Bale’s legs and even winked after that. Maybe that’s why we all love him so much.

Wish For Next Season:

Szczesny to be in goal with Fabianski as backup.

Both Szczesny and Fabianski have shown they’ve got the mettle to play at the highest level. There’s no doubt who should be first choice among these two but not giving Fabianski even a place on the bench would be somewhat unacceptable.

That’s all about our keepers. Next up is the defence.

That’s my verdict on our keepers. What’s yours?

A Final Finally Worthy of One

I had seen a World Cup Final, a Euro Final and  Champions League Finals till yesterday. And to put it lightly, they never have lived up to the hype. Not even close. There’s always media attention, long build-ups and buzz about such games, but the game itself has not been of top quality. It all changed yesterday. It was a demonstration of pure football from one team. Barcelona. They made Manchester United look ordinary(which they in fact are!) and showed again why they’re the best.

Just to make things clear, I’m not a fan of FC Barcelona when it comes to their administration. Nor do I like their players crying every time someone puts a foot in. But to say I don’t love their football would be nothing less than a big fat lie. They’re super awesome at least in that department. Their little triangles and passing in close areas is a surreal joy to watch.  But so is Arsenal’s(Ok at least sometimes!)

Coming back to the Final, the only thing that was disappointing was Manchester United. Sure I don’t like them but I did expect them to give Barca a real tough game. Their all-so-famous resilience was no match to Messi’s quick turns, Iniesta’s little dribbles or Xavi’s supreme passing. And I still don’t expect the media to criticize them. But obviously you can criticize an Arsenal team doing extremely well to hold the same Barca team at the Nou Camp. I admit it wasn’t beautiful, but for once the whole of our team was so well organised and would’ve completed the job if it was not for that red card. It was only after that that we lost faith and left huge gaps to allow Barca to pass us to death.

Again coming back to the match, United created 2 chances(as memory says so) and couldn’t get a sniff at Valdes’ goal once Barca found their rhythm. But the level of passing and its pace was what amazed me. I mean it was not the first time they’d done so, but on Saturday night they did it like footballing-machines.

I know all Arsenal fans know that on our day we are capable of matching them. But that’s where our problem lies. They do it week in week out. But we only seem to be up for it on very few occasions(the Barca game being one of them). I can only hope that we achieve that kind of consistency next year but those fans setting Man United as a benchmark for us should seriously reconsider their thought. In my opinion, they were never good enough and they won the title because no other team seemed to want it. They somewhat did.

Barcelona have reached such heights only because they’ve always had faith in their philosophy and their fans were also patient during the time when Xavi and co were completing their football education. I’d like Arsenal fans to do the same. Keep faith in the team. Don’t ask for wholesome changes because first, even if you do want them, Wenger wouldn’t allow so and second, will a trophy won by buying players like everyone does feel like the one won by our youthful team with our very own way. No matter how bad this season has ended, the positives cannot be forgotten. Ending the big-game hoodoo, having the best away record, the emergence of Wilshere and Szczesny, the progress of Koscielny, Nasri and Walcott and van Persie finally putting an end to his injury woes. There’s only a single way to real success. That is to be patient and trust Arsene Wenger.

I’m not saying additions are not necessary this summer. But the quality of this team shouldn’t be underestimated at least by its own fans. I hope that next year will be ours and I don’t want our fans to feel guilty at that time.  I believe in the team(there are always some exceptions though!) and our manager and will do so no matter what happens.

This is because I love you Arsenal FC. I really do.

A Tribute to Robin van Persie

“You would have talked about him along with the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney, of that I am sure. Of course he is in that company.” These are the exact words of Arsene Wenger at the same time of last year. Not sure many fans would have believed him then. The fact is, van Persie had not proved himself. There are numerous football players who, despite being extremely talented , fail to deliver on the big stage. For Robin, this had been due to his injuries.

He swept everything aside in 2011 and emerged as the brightest player in the league. Within a little more than half a season, he’s scored 18 goals in the league. That’s just 3 goals from the top. Apart from that, he’s created various others. I’m sure other strikers top of the goal-scoring list wouldn’t have done that.

Bent has scored 17 goals this season. And the media is after him.”He’s well worth the 25 million” claimed a Villa fan. Mind you if that’s true, van Persie must be valued at 50 millions. Oh! That’s what Torres is worth. Then 60 millions. That’s what van Persie’s evaluation should be. It’s somewhat useless to put a price on him as he’s an Arsenal man throughout and one player whom I can’t see leaving us is him.

Another thing to look at is that when he’s fit, there’s nobody at Arsenal who could even think of replacing him(remember we only got Bendtner and Chamakh other than him!). No competition for him.Despite that, he gives his 100% every time he smells that green, lusty pitch of the Emirates.

Thumbs Up To You Robin!

And he does all this playing alone upfront. I’m sure every fan would at least once have thought,”What if he was fit for the whole year.Would it have been different?” He’d have won the Player of the Year award, of course. On a more personal note, I have never seen van Persie have a bad game for Arsenal. He’s had for Holland. But not us. When he’s fit, he’s gunning.

He’s also a leader. He does get annoyed easily sometimes, but seeing that very few Arsenal players do have it in them to fight for their cause, it’s fine by me. He encourages his troops and is quite vocal. He’s also a father-like figure in the dressing room and one of the elder members of the squad who’s actually won something.
Van Persie’s contribution to Arsenal is invaluable and in terms of quality, he’s at par with Cesc Fabregas. But he’s got an Arsenal heart(and presumably Arsenal DNA!). He’s only 27 which means that he’s still got a lot of years(good ones) ahead of him. If there’s any player that I’m looking forward to seeing next year, it has to be him.

I might even go on to say that IF van Persie leaves Arsenal, I might(just might!) even stop supporting Arsenal.I know the club is bigger than any of its players, but such is his commitment that I’m willing to bet on that. But to be honest, that’s almost next to impossible.

LOVE YOU ROBIN VAN PERSIE

Why Samba is NOT the Answer to our Defensive frailties

He’s big.He’s tall. And he’s strong. That’s Christopher Samba for you. He’s a natural-born leader on the pitch and rarely has a bad day. He plays at the heart of Blackburn’s defence. He’s their talismanic captain and even scores quite a lot of goals for them through set-pieces. And still he’s not the player Arsene should go for this summer. Here’s why.

Arsenal play an attacking game which is based on closing the gap on opposition by playing a high-line. Our defenders push forward to narrow the field for their opponents and force them to give the ball away. The offside-trap is what it is called. And that’s what Samba will falter at. He’s slow and not too good on the ball. And that’ll make him vulnerable on counter-attacks(which in turn is exactly what others do against Arsenal). He’ll get caught up and our defence will not look better with him.

Sure he’ll be great on set-pieces and physical presence at the back and even up front. But he’ll struggle in open play. I’m no expert but this is exactly what I believe will happen if he plays at Arsenal.

Samba, Even if We Don't sign You, At Least Don't Scare Us

Another thing is that he plays for Blackburn. With all due respect to them, they play a defensive game and defend deep in their own half(remember the game at Emirates). Completely different to Arsenal’s play. So one thing will have to happen if he joins. Either we change our style or Samba adapts to ours. And we all know Arsenal will not change their style. So it is up to him to adapt to the new environment.

No doubt he’s used to the rugby-ness of the Premier League and knows it better than most. But all his career he’s played for a team that emphasizes on defence rather than attack. It’ll all of a sudden change at Arsenal.

So a better alternative will be a defender who plays for a more attacking team. Vertonghen of Ajax. Subotic of Dormund. Cahill of Bolton. Agreed that Bolton are similar to Blackburn but they’ve improved this year and have entertained more than most of the others. Cahill’s a ball-playing defender and would compliment Arsenal’s style. Vertonghen on the other hand provides us with quality-cover. He can play at CB,LB and DM making him a versatile player with whom we’ll be able to rotate our defenders more.

Now that the transfer window nears it open, football fans should once again gear up for all the non-sense that’ll circulate around the web. Like the Alvarez deal that proved to be nothing more than a rumor. But Arsenal fans should sincerely hope that one of Vertonghen, Subotic or Cahill(not Samba) do arrive at Arsenal. Who do you think should Wenger sign.Post your valuable votes and comments below.

Reasons To Be Cheerful

The season ended on a catastrophic note for the Arsenal fans. From quadruple to a double. From a double to the league title and from that to not even a guaranteed place in Champions League next season. But at least it’s over. Never witnessed such an awful run from an Arsenal side. Sure they did stumble sometimes but not like this. And this time, it’s all got to do with the players. They weren’t simply good enough when the going got tough.

We are not new to the not-so-new Wenger comments about how the pitch was bad and how the referee just lost them the game before it even started. Some times he was right, sometimes he was not. But now even he doesn’t make such comments. That shows how poor we’ve been.

I’m a big Wenger fan and have always kept faith in his policies. And now that he’s seen the faults in this team, he’s ready for the ‘most active’ summer of his Arsenal reign. This season has been a big roller-coaster ride. Promising so much but ending with nothing. But the positives can’t be forgotten. Jack’s rise, Ramsey’s return, Wojciech’s solidity and van Persie’s injury-free period for once. The team has shown more promise than ever, but also failed big time to live up to it more than ever.

Sunday has seen the departure of a will-be-never-remembered season as far as Arsenal fans are concerned. The opposite is true for Blackpool fans. Sure they were relegated but the year has to be a major highlight in their history. Arsenal were losing at the moment when Blackpool took the lead at Old Trafford, and my face instantly had a big smile. It was really disheartening to see them go down after giving us so much. But Yessss, Birmingham also went down and there was another glow(a bigger one) to see that.

Yeah Boy! Sorry to See You Go

Brum’s relegations is so very welcome as in the previous seasons, they’ve been the one to put a stop to our hopes of ending our trophy drought.

The fact that a very poor season has ended is a good enough reason to look forward to the next season optimistically.

Now it’s a 2-month time before the season again kicks-off. Really sad. My weekends will be so much boring now.

I used to return from my classes on Saturdays and Sundays and sat back and enjoyed the ever-interesting Premier League matches. Now that it’s over, don’t know what I’ll do to entertain myself on weekend nights(the average kick-off time here is 8-9 PM).

Here’s hoping that the promise is fulfilled next season from my beloved Arsenal!!! See you soon!

Also, I’d like some suggestions from you readers as to what I should write during this break. Please avoid suggesting transfer articles.

*This article has won an Arsenal Season Review 2010-11 DVD courtesy of Justarsenal.com*