Archive for May, 2010
Is There Something Wrong With the EPL?
Love ya - but it's time to go.
Gunners faithful are still dealing with what looks like the eventual departure of our Captain Cesc Fabregas. The last two weeks have seen rumour, inneundo, and fact run rampant discussing the catalan native’s desire to go play for his boyhood club rather than the one that has nurtured him the last 7 years.
Now many will argue that it has everything to do with our inability to win anything and the current golden era of football over at Camp Nou. But I wonder if that is really only part of it and if there isn’t a broader reason why Cesc and numerous world class stars are suddenly shunning the “Best league” in the world.
In the last few years we have heard og mega transfers into the EPL of some of the best players in the world. Ribery, Silva, Villa, etc. They’ve all been said to be coming here. Even some who are not world class but are well known and well respected have been linked here. But have you noticed something – they really haven’t come here. As a matter of fact they aren’t even staying here.
Not that last year is the likely starting point for this but it is as good place to start as any. And we start with arguably the best player in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo heading off from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Soon to be followed by Xabi Alonso from Liverpool. In both cases the teams they played for suffered. One worse than others. And yes Ronaldo had achieved all he could achieve at United but if the EPL is the best league inthe world with the best talent – wouldn’t you want to play there?
Xabi Alonso was on a team that could’ve been a contender (cue Marlon Brando). Liverpool were on the cusp of greatness last season only to have him depart play in Madrid and watch liverpool go down in flames.
You’d think that if the EPL were all that it touted itself to be than players would be lining up to play here in droves. No, the best players would be lining up in droves. But they aren’t Cesc Fabregas wants to leave. Franck Ribery has turned down big money offers from Chelsea and Man City, as have David Villa and others.
Why?
I think there are a variety of reasons from the financial to the physical. And they are all why noone wants to play here. Would you want to play or work in a country that requires you pay 50% tax on your wages? Wouldn’t you want to play in Spain where you as a player get part of the TV revenue if you play in the big clubs. Wouldn’t want to play where the likelihood of you suffering a career ending injury is lessened because the game is more about pass and shoot than pass and club the opponent to death.
When the likes of Blackburn, Stoke, Hull and others are allowed to run with reckless abandon and nearly destroy the careers of players noone is going to want to be a part of that if they don’t have to. If you are a world class player, a natural scorer or a gifted defender with legs, do you want to risk that? Probably not. Now look the EPL purists are going to argue that this what makes the game great in England. And to some extent they are right but wouldn’t you rather see the best ply their trade rather then the mediocre trudge about trying to take out the legs of the best because they can’t keep up.
I really think that in addition to the Arsenal implosion seeing two of teammates suffer like he has, Fabregas, is of the mind “I could be next and then miss my chance at Barcelona glory.” He’s young and the way he plays – he is a Ryan Shawcross tackle away from being a young player who may not play again in his current form if it were to happen.
Additionally, the financial calls are too great outside the EPL as well. In the EPL they are paid monthly, do not share in the league revenue and the other side incentives are not as sweet as elsewhere. In Spain for instance, the players get paid at the beginning of every campaign, they get signing bonuses, the tax structure is more favorable and they share in the revenue. It is an absolute sweetheart deal.
Finally, if you are a star you want to win. In every league outside of the EPL there are only about two -three teams that stand a chance of winning and let’s face it – if you are on one of those teams the likelihood of winning something is a lot easier than in a league where the lesser teams can actually get in your way of winning. The other leagues are much more favorable now to the top teams winning than say in the EPL. The EPL has become more balanced. Which is a good thing unless you want the ease of winning – like Scotland, Germany, or Spain.
All of these reasons and likely more that I haven’t mentioned are reasons why it seems that the big talent no longer wants to come here. The EPL is being shunned from within and without. It has to seriously consider this as the years go on. Soon some of its bigger stars – like Gerrard, Lampard and Shrek could leave. Only then will the EPL likely take notice until then its a case of another foreigner who didn’t want to play here.
While I think the primary reason for Cesc’s desire to leave is based on his will to play with the lads he trained with as a kid as they enjoy their success. I do think some of the other reasons are also playing in his mind. As the days go on I am more resigned to his leaving and while I will be sad – I will wish him well and wonder who we will get to fill those shoes.
Popularity: 18% [?]
Let’s talk about Cesc
Let's talk about Cesc baby!
I’ve gone back and forth on writing someting related to the firestorm that is circling around our Captain Cesc Fabregas. And frankly, I am probably saying some of what many of saying but hell what kind of Arsenal blog would this be if I didn’t address it right?
The entire internet universe is abuzz with rumours and inneuendo about whether or not Cesc will depart Arsenal for the silver pastures of Barcelona. At this point right now it is very hard to decipher fact from fiction. There are likley some very truthful articles out there and some rather decietful articles only intended to grow readership. But as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Let’s go back a week ago with Cesc Fabregas in his native Spain and asked whether he would ever leave Arsenal his response was:
“If I leave Arsenal it will be to play at Barcelona, I do not know when it will happen, I am very happy at Arsenal and I am in no hurry to leave.”
To me that’s a pretty harmless statement. But when added to the follow-up statement:
“Before the World Cup I want to know my future, because playing at a World Cup and having something on your mind does not help anyone.”
You can see where confusion might reign and start to make people wonder. Now my original read on the follow-up statement was this – Cesc is no dummy and knows that the Barca Presidential elections are coming and that he is likely to become a pawn in their proceedings as each candidate will make promises on players they want to bring in. Cesc is a huge local favorite and the Barca President who brings him in will be a hero. My thought was that Cesc was merely saying I don’t want to be a pawn in this. He is almost saying, if you are serious about making an offer to Arsenal do it – I don’t need my name in the press for the entire summer, especially when I am trying to win the World Cup with Spain.
The problem is all Cesc did at the age of 23 mind you, is fan the flames further. Joan Deporta, outgoing Barca President was told this and then went on record to say if the player said that we have to get him here. Then came Tuesday’s shit storm. As the sun rose in the states the internet was on fire with a blog that stated Cesc had had a one on one meeting with Arsene Wenger where he said he wanted to leave Arsenal this summer for Barcelona.
Guillem Balague’s blog that started as a rumor on his own site turned into a full fledged article on Spanish site AS.com (article is here - make sure you have Google translator or can read spanish). It was then picked up by the English press and run with.
Now let me say that I do not believe the English press picked this up without investigation. However, I am still a little leary of the article. First it only implies what Cesc says and carries no statement from those close to him or the player himself. So the question has to be asked how does Guillem Balague know what happened in a private conversation between the two. Secondly, supposedly Arsene is on holiday. Now I am sure he can easily fly back for the crunch talks but I am just saying as quickly as this storm erupted.
Finally on Wednesday there seemed to be a variety of articles out there that gave the press some outs – you saw statements from Barca saying that if Arsenal did not want to sell then they would have to respect that. Also stories came out that Arsenal have not received any offers for the player. To me this was all to mitigate any damage should the story they hyped the previous day prove to be nothing.
Now let’s get to brass tacks. I think the conversation did happen. I think the manner in which Arsenal ended the season may have added to the frustration Cesc was going through based on his injury. Had he not been injured the likelihood of losing as many as we did at the end is diminished. Chances are with Cesc AND Van Persie on the pitch things may have ended differently and we wouldn’t have gone out with a whimper. Clearly its evident that this can lead all players to get frustrated.
Secondly, it is hard not to admire the era that is currently underway ast Barcelona and Cesc would be crazy not want to jump in now when he is going to be entering his prime. If he were to wait a few years that golden era may not still be there. Things change. Just ask Arsenal.
But when it comes down to it, Arsenal hold the cards. They have Cesc under contract for 4 years (I’ve also heard 5). They are paying him a good wage £80-110K per week. And they gave him his shot. Cesc is who he is today because of Arsenal not Barcelona. The kid at academy had he stayed at Barca may not have even gotten a chance to play regular first team ball. At 16 years old he got his chance with the Arsenal squad. He is who he is because of Arsenal.
Arsenal do not need to sell. This is not a case like Viera or Henry where they were on the down side of their career. This is a young player who is on the way up. Like Anelka was. Arsenal dug their heels in on him and finally sold him to Real Madrid at a significant profit. The significant profit doesn’t come into play for Cesc because more than Anelka the team is being built around Cesc. Anelka wasn’t integral to Arsenal at the time. There were plenty of players of signifigance on the team at the team Anelka was sold.
My fear as has been discussed by others is that this is going to get acrimonious. I think Arsenal are going to stand firm. How the Catalan handles this will determine how it all plays out. As much as I dislike Cristiano Ronaldo the year before his transfer when speculation was rife – when Man United said no – he shut up and played his heart out for the team and then got his transfer. I would hope that this is the case for Cesc that he handles this with the dignity he has handled the inneuendo before.
Finally, Arsenal must hold firm on two fronts. First, they must hold their line with regard to the player. They have a signed contract and have made him a star. They gave him his shot and they need to say – we will sell you when we want to – not when you want to. Additionally, Arsenal must know Barca’s financial situation. The hold significant debt on the team right now. (I believe in excess of £500 million) The funds to secure Fabregas are limited. Barca do not have the financial resources of Madrid, Chelsea or City. They can only pay so much. (about £40 million). Supposedly Arsenal are telling them its £50 million just to start discussions. If that’s so, good for them. Arsenal need to set the tone and not move from their stance. For Barca to think that since he was in their youth system they will get some sort of discount is ridiculous. Cesc is who he is because of Arsenal not Barcelona.
Fabregas will leave Arsenal. When? Who knows. Arsenal fans will have to come to grips with that at some point.
Popularity: 27% [?]
The Best and Worst of 20009/2010
It’s over. Mercifully it’s over. A season of back and forthy. Up and down and as many other cliche sayings as you can muster has been put to bed. With the shambolic 4-0 beatdown on Fulham’s reserves, another silverwareless season in Arsenal history was brought to a close.
Thankfully.
No more debating whether we are in the race or not. No more wondering whether Denilson is going to start a match. No more aching and moaning about having the two worst goal keepers in the league. We can rest and turn our minds to other diversions. Like, who will we sign, what will we sign – hell WILL WE SIGN SOMEONE. We also can turn our mind to other happenings like that gathering in South Africa – the World Cup – or something like that.
Rather than sit here and disect the season (I’ll leave that to my faithful readers) I thought I would touch on some highs and lows of this season in the form of a best and worst list. This is my own opinion and I am half part kool-aid drinker and half part angered fan – which means I argue with myself alot. So take it all in stride.
BEST MATCH OF THE SEASON:
I would like to say it was the 3-0 thumping of Villa with the 25 minute Cesc Fabregas cameo. But no. It was the 3-0 drilling of our cross town rivals Spurs. I have made no secret of my disgust of all things that have to do with Harry Redknapp. More so now that he manages that lot from Tottenham. We clearly were class that day and played probably our best match of the season. From start to finish we were in control of the match. We were defensively sound and our attack was crisp. We were always a threat.
WORST MATCH OF THE SEASON:
Take your pick. There are just too many bad performances and each one them led to a loss. Though losing to any team managed by Sam Allardyce is really disconcerting. So my pick is the 2-1 loss to Blackburn in the next to last week of the season.
BEST GOAL OF THE SEASON:
Let us again turn our attention to the first game against Spurs. Can anyone sing – “your own personal Jesus” because that is what Cesc Fabregas is. Our own personal Jesus. Up 1-0 on an Robin Van Persie goal. Arsenal win the ball of the ensuing kickoff. Fabregas gets the ball and the Spurs defense opens up like the red sea and lets the spanish wizard wander in untouched for a beautiful scorcher of a goal. If I was a Spurs (thankfully I am not) I would have been embarrassed. It was sublime and a delightful to watch him with the ball move through the defense skillfully and just bury the ball.
WORST GOAL OF THE SEASON:
Tie – Diaby’s OG header to give Man U the win at Old Trafford and the Porto free kick goal that Fabiankski just didn’t want to pay attention to. In the OT match against United, Arsenal outplayed the title holders for most of the match. And even after the equalizer a draw at OT wouldn’t have been bad. But Abou Diaby forgetting which way the ball was supposed to go headed it in to give United the winner. The next one, well, we all saw it. We didn’t know what we had just seen (or at least had it register) but in the end Fabianski showed why he should be playing for Notts County when he showed a lack of focus and understanding of the situation when Porto were awarded a FK for the back pass. Flapianski didn’t delay as is often the case with GKs no he gave the ball back and meandered back to his goal as Porto quickly assembled and knocked the ball past him – laughing all the way to the win.
BEST PLAY OF THE SEASON:
Filling in in the central role for the injured Captain, Samir Nasri, displayed a skillful display as he scored a wonder goal against Porto in the home leg of the Champion’s League. With the ball on the outside of the box, Nasri took on three defenders spinning and juking his way into the box and from a difficult angle slotted home his legendary goal.
WORST PLAY OF THE SEASON:
Looks like every other year Arsenal are destined to have a player go off with a severe, possible career ending injury. This was that year. Going in for a 50/50 against Stoke’s Ryan “he’s not that kind of player” Shawcross, Aaron Ramsey suffered a horrific double fracture of the fibula and tibia. Luckily the break was high and those tend to heal better than the ones lower on the leg. The end result is losing a talented young player, who was finding his place rather quickly on the first team. Gooners all over hope that his recovery doesn’t wind up resulting in a loss of form like Eduardo seems to have coming back from his injury.
BEST IMPROVED PLAYER:
Alexander Song without a doubt has stepped up way beyond where I think anyone thought he would. Going into the season noone would be saying “if we don’t have Song in the lineup we’re screwed” Well come the second leg of the Champion’s League tie with Barca that was exactly what we were saying and it was true. Song for 90% of his games controlled the midfield and played very well against some of the best players in the game. He is strong on the ball and is excellent at providing defensive cover. He still makes some errant passes and every now and then gives the ball up but for the most part he is a vast improvement over last year.
WORST IMPROVED PLAYER:
Denilson’s foot and ankle were worth something – once in blue moon. But the kid just was giving the ball away too many times. He was indecisive at times and was hardly a suitable player for the MOST IMPROVED PLAYER ON THE TEAM.
BIGGEST TEAM CULT FIGURE:
Like this ihard. AHHHHHHHBOOOOOOOOEHHHHHHHH. Emmanuel Eboue has gone from goat to lovable figure in the span of one year. He is a prime example of taking the criticism that is thrown at you and improving your work rate to get “reacquainted” with the fans. He isn’t the best player and isn’t the best improved but he goes out works hard, has good speed and good defencive ability and is an outstanding player off the bench when you need a dynamic change on the pitch. Now if we could do something about his diving. But that is part of his charm.
BEST SIGNING OF THE SEASON:
Tie – Vermaelen and Campbell. When Thomas Vermaelen was signed for £10 million at the start of last summer’s transfer window a lot of us were like “WHO?” well a year on noone is asking who is Thomas Vermalen. He is a hard man to play against, learns from his mistakes and isn’t afriad to mix it up. I am convinced he is a closet striker as he has uncanny knaock for a CB of finding the back of the net. Sol Campbell has had a whirl wind of a year. Starting in League 2 Notts County and then spending 3 months just practicing. He was a low risk signing for Arsenal. Most likely signed to offer limited cover and provide an older leader on the squad, Sol came to play a substantial role in the final weeks of the season. He scored a marvelous header for the away goal against Porto. He was constantly solid and never looked out of place in the EPL. The simple fact that he ran down Gareth Bale shows he still has pace. What the man doesn’t have in speed he makes up for in situational awareness. Frankly, I am surprised that he didn’t make the England WC squad. I thought down the stretch he was one of the best CB’s in the league.
WORST SIGNING OF THE SEASON:
Does Mikel Silvestre still count?
And for the final awards:
WORST PLAYER OF THE SEASON:
Tie – our goal keeping tandem of Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Flapianski – cause more heart ache and pain than any Didier Drogba goal ever could. Simply put – they are the worst tandem in the league. The let more balls go in because of poor decision making or poor positional awareness then I can remember seeing any ‘keepers. The Wigan and Blackburn match were hopefully the nails in the coffin for Flapianski and Almunia has his second stint on the bench with a “mysterious” injury. They both are awful I can’t say it any other way and they cost us games that had they been even fair goal keepers we may have won. They both need to go and go now.
BEST PLAYER OF THE SEASON:
Cesc Fabregas. He is who he is. The heart and soul of this current Arsenal squad. If he were to leave now, I am not sure how the squad would cope. There isn’t anyone on the squad who is close to what he means. Even with the return of Robin Van Persie the squad lacked its artistic flair without Cesc. We will see him go someday, probably when Arsene leaves Arsenal. For right now he is the reason why Arsenal are so good (when they are so good).
HONORABLE MENTION AWARD:
The Garden Gnome. My personal choice to replace either Denilson or any one of Goal Tending idiots – the Garden Gnome is a legend and even when he is standing still makes better decisions than Denilson, Almunia or Flapianski.
Popularity: 28% [?]
The Match Noone Cares About. Arsenal v Fulham; Match Preview
A Reserve Battle?
What happened if they had a match and noone came? Worse yet, what would happen if they held a match and noone cared? Well folks that is pretty much how this dandy is shaping up. On one hand you have Arsenal – they don’t care because, well, they don’t – they stopped caring after their loss to Barcelona. Fulham don’t care because they have bigger fish to fry in the midweek and will field a weakened team today. Spurs the beneficiary of a potential Arsenal loss hve already come out and said they would not protest if Fulham do field a weakened side. They’re too busy making commemorative DVDs.
Sure, if Arsenal were to lose Spurs would move beyond the qualifier stage of the Champion’s League and Arsenal would be forced to play into the tournament again.But honestly, from all accounts Spurs are too hungover to care about that. They are too busy praising fat ‘Arry (did I ever mention I hate him). They could care less that they will likely get bounced by another European side.
As for Arsenal, they need a win just to show us they can win again. Since getting dumped out of the Champion’s League by Barcelona they’ve not mustered much of a challenge to anything. They had a 2 point lead against Wigan only to lose the match in the final 3 minutes. They had a point lead against Blackburn and lost. The only match they even looked good in was the Man City match. But again the 0-0 draw was indicative of their problems this season.
We will have plenty of time to disect this season after this week. But topline I think the injuries finally caught up with the team and while Arsene thought he had talented backups he really didn’t. Eduardo, Vela, Walcott, Denilson, Fabianksi and others have been a huge disapointment. They’ve all been a model of inconsistency, showing flashes of why they were signed and then not delivering on a game to game basis. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if 2 of that lot are gone. But again, I would be surprised if none of them are gone.
Arsenal need a win today simply put. It’s at home. They’ve not been terribly good and frankly their is a lot of doubt about the movement of the club. A season that even with all the injuries and losses to Chelsea and United held so much promise now looks like any old season. Had Arsenal finished out the season strongly and still finished third, there would be grumbling but not at the level there is now. A strong finish to this injury laden season and people would’ve bought the we are improving story. Now it looks like we’re just where we are and have been for the past 5 seasons.
I don’t know what to make of this season. Nor of this match. It holds very little interest for me. I am more interested in what happens after the lights go down on the season. I believe a lot of movement will happen pre-world cup and then some just afterwards. Besides Chamakh I believe there will be additional signings announced and some goings. But you know what I will get into that afte rhey close the curtain on this season.
How the Match Will Play Out:
Do we really care? Arsenal will have limited first teamers on the field and Fulham will fied a largely reserve squad ahead of their Europa Cup Final in the mid week. All in all, Arsenal’s reserves should be better than Fulham’s and they should close the season on a a winning note.
Players to Watch:
Arsenal: Any Goal Keeper not named Almunia or Fabianski. Do I really need to go into it?
Fulham: Roy Hodgson. Only because he got totoally screwed out of being named manager of the year. He got more out of his squad with less money than Fat ‘Arry got out of his Spurs squad.
Projected Starting XI:
Arsenal: Mannone, Sagna, Campbell, Silvestre, Clichy, Eboue, Diaby, Nasri, Arshavin, Van Persie, Walcott
Fulham: Schwarzer, Koncesky, Hughes, Smalling, Pantsil, Davies, Baird, Dikgacoi, Risse, Okaka, Nevland
Injuries:
Arsenal: Almunia (wrist), Clichy (ankle), Gibbs (ankle), Bendtner (groin), Denilson (groin), Djourou (knee), Song (knee), Fabregas (leg), Ramsey (leg), Gallas (calf), Vermaelen (calf), Rosicky (ankle)
Fulham: Duff (leg), A Johnson (knee), Zamora (achilles)
Recent Match Form:
Arsenal: LDLLW
Fulham: LWLDD
Last Meeting: (EPL)
Arsenal: 1
Fulham: 0
Match Officials:
Referee: Mike Jones
Assistant referees: Andy Newbold & Phil Sharp
Fourth official: Mick Russell
TV Scheduling:
US: None (will be shown live on Foxsoccer.tv)
UK: None
Online Feeds
www.atdhe.net
GAMDAY CHAT: Will be open.
YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 2
Fulham: 0
Popularity: 22% [?]
My Apologies
Greetings from San Diego. I want to apologize for any inconvienence the site being down may have caused.
Nothing like being on a business trip and not able to handle this problem more directly.
The fact that the site was down did not allow me to write. Review for today’s match. Please use the space below for the game discussion.
There will be an article post match and one for next weeks season ender.
Again my profound apologies for this.
Popularity: 26% [?]
