The Arsenal Week in Review – 7.10.2011

It was supposed to week of movement. A week where we announced a new signing and possibly some departures but in typical Arsenal fashion, neither of these happened. As we mentioned in our profile of Gervinho, the deal could not be announced because of paperwork snafu in France. And while signs are pointing that some deadwood is on its way out – the players are still here. The only real movement was that the whole of the club – save for a few individuals – left for the club’s first Far East tour.

Arsenal are set to play matches in Kuala Lumpar against the Malaysia XI this coming Wednesday and then against Chinese team Hangzhou Greentown next Saturday. The far east tour represents the first time in Wenger’s history he has taken the club out of the comforts of the Austrian countryside. They will however make a stop in Bavaria by playing FC Cologne on 23 July.

A lot of fans were looking at the squad to determine what is ging on in terms of transfers and frankly we’re not any more clear than we were before they left. The team heading on tour are:

Wojcoech Szczesny
Vito Manone
Sebastien Squillaci
Johann Djourou
Kieran Gibbs
Carl Jenkinson
Laurent Koscielny
Andrei Arshavin
Marouane Chamakh
Ryo Miyachi
Armond Traore
Thomas Vermaelen
Bacary Sagna
Theo Walcott
Alex Song
Tomas Rosicky
Jack Wilshere
Denilson
Aaron Ramsey
Emmanuel Frimpong
Samir Nasri
Carlos Vela
Robin Van Persie

Not travelling with the squad are Fabregas, Eboue, and Diaby because of injuries. Also not travelling are Almunia and Bendtner. No reason was given as to why they were not amongst the travelling part but is specualted that there are deals for them to move that are near completion. Almunia has been drawing interest from his native Spain and Bendtner has suitors from Germany and Spain.

Obviously I was a bit surprised to see Denilson included in the squad. Not so much because I expect him to be here when the season opens but because I suspected that based on what he said in May he would no longer be allowed to even appear inthe Red and White.  It’s one thing  to ask for a move its another thing to openly criticize the team (whether right or wrong) openly in public while still a member of the team.

But let not your heart be troubled all signs are that the club are still looking to find a suitor for the Brazillian with the sweet ankle. The problem obviously is his wages. Arsenal’s wage structure is such that even low performing players are wages close to top performers. Someone like Fabregas can make £110,000 a week and someone like Denilson or Diaby make about £60,000.  It’s a wage strucutre based to foster on a collective approach. Meant to make the team harmony important and create less of a hierachial structure. It is the team ethic over the individual. (special thanks to Tim Payton of the AST for jelping me understand this.)

But it also  makes a player like Denilson; who might actually help someone somewhere, unattractive because he carries a larger weekly salary than another club might be willing to pay for an underperfoming player. Still, it seems that for a player who wants out and team that has agreed to let him go – it is only a matter of time (and possibly eating some contract). For you that doubt that Wenger agrees with letting him go, here it is right from Denilson’s 2 June interview in Brazil (rough translation via Google Translator):

“I’ve  had two talks with Wenger. I said I was not feeling well at Arsenal, and it was time to maybe leave for other countries and have a different routine and life.  He agreed and said it would be good for me.  But the reason I am leaving is not because I’m not playing and not because they have not won a title. My desire to leave is because I, Denilson, I was not feeling well there. I believe  another country, learning  a language will be good for me”.

So really at this point it is just a matter of finding the right team and whether or not Arsenal are willing to offset any wages or anything like that. The worst case scenario of course is that  Denilson stays. But, if he stays I could see one of two scenarios; first, like City last year with a lot players on the team they didn’t want, they shipped them off into season long loans, or second, he simply is a seldomly used reserve player. I believe his time is done. All indications are that Wenger believes so too – except for that whole travelling to the Far East thing, of course.

 Of pundits and players

The last few weeks have been bruital for Arsenal fans as we have seen our team battered from every side. Pretty much every paper, sports site and even some Arsenal blogs carried stories about our impending destruction.  That the players wanting to leave were a sure sign that Arsenal was doing its best version of Rome on fire act. Let’s skip for a moment that only one player has left – and he was one player we weren’t too keen on keeping.  The rumours around the others so far have been unsubstantiateed and in some cases even outright refuted by the club. Still, a cyclone of inneuendo and rumour kept hitting the club.

It got even worse this week as two of Arsenal’s own former stars, Paul Merson and Ian Wright seemingly turned on Wenger.

Merson in the Daily Star first:

“I could see them falling so far behind their rivals it could take them years to recover. I dread to think how bad it could get.

“I remember playing at Highbury before Graham when there was only 18,000 in the ground. That could happen again.”

Merson feels that by selling both Nasri and Fabregas it would herald in a new era of dark times at the club as they would be mirred in mediocrity and mid-table madness. While, selling both Nasri and Fabregas would signal a bad omen I don’t belive it is going to usher in some sort apocolyptic era. That is a rather slippery slope that Merson presents here in his tome. For those that don’t know what a slippeyr slope is –

A slippery slope argument states that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant effect, much like an object given a small push over the edge of a slope sliding all the way to the bottom.The strength of such an argument depends on  whether or not one can demonstrate a process which leads to the significant effect. The fallacious sense of “slippery slope” is often used synonymously with continuum fallacy, in that it ignores the possibility of middle ground and assumes a discrete transition from category A to category B. Modern usage avoids the fallacy by acknowledging the possibility of this middle ground.

With our debate class over, Merson has nothing to back up the claim that were Arsenal to sell those two players they wouldn’t sign suitable replacements. While Arsenal’s lustre is gone these past six seasons, there are still players who recognize the club, it’s history and what playing under Wenger means. Sure, the winning would add more drawing power. But let’s be real for a moment, this club has never gone after the Kaka’s, Ronaldo’s, or  Schneider’s of the world. Besides Bergkamp, please tell me which player was a ready made world class player when they arrived at Arsenal under Wenger? None. For the most part it is their time under Wenger that made them world class. Something Samir Nasri should remember. Back to the point, there is nothing to say that Arsenal won’t sign players of their liking that can help keep the team keep motoring along and progressing.

Than there is Ian Wright who believes that Arsenal are now becoming Manchester City’s feeder club:

Since when did Arsenal become Manchester City’s feeder club? And with Cesc  Fabregas looking a goner to Barcelona too, it’s very, very sad to see. How  on  earth will Arsene Wenger attract any top players to Arsenal?

It’s come to something when a player like Clichy feels Arsenal is not good  enough for him anymore. He can see that Man City is going to be challenging  for top trophies next season.

Wrighty misses some points in these statements. He leaves out that the players that have gone off to Manceshter City haven’t fared well. We discussed this before – Adebayor, is still looking for a home and was left off of City’s travelling party to the US. Kolo Toure is spending his time  trying to figure out why he simply didn’t try Weight Watchers over a banned substance. And let’s be real, Clichy wasn’t exactly someone we were going to prioritize to keep. He simply makes too many errors. So if giving these kind of players to City implies we are their feeder club. I say we throw in more of our flops.

There are other former Arsenal players who do a fair job of being balanced when discussing their former club. Not only do they see the issues but they also point out the positives in the club. Before you criticise me, I am not calling for anyone to praise the club all the time but, what I am arguing is that Wrighty and Merson know that the current environment around the club is hot. What better way to be read than to be purely negative and play to the fans. Similar to what Usmanov did around the AST meeting with Gazidis. There are some fair criticisms and concerns in the Merson and Wright articles however, failing to discuss all aspects of the and simply hang on the negative to me reeks of playing to the crowd so that people read your stuff and buy your paper.  Objectivity in reporting goes a long way.

The Airline Derby

The biggest story this week in the football world – besides my being named coach of my son’s U8 side, was that Manchester City had secured a sponsorship deal of approximately £400 million from Etihad for both it’s shirts and stadium naming rights. This deal is the largest of any deal in sports history. It dwarfs the deals for Citi Field (home of the NY Mets) and the naming rights for the Madison Square Garden (actually its still old – just renovated).

It’s not exactly an Arsenal story except that the supporters trust has come out to say they are going to implore Arsenal to push UEFA to investigate the claim and deliver an expedited ruling. Tim Payton of the Arsenal Supporter’s Trust was quoted in today’s Guardian:

“The deal at Manchester City stretches credulity to the limit. The numbers just don’t stack up.”

To be sure Arsenal won’t be the only club looking into this. Bayern Munich chief Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who is also the chairman of the European Club
Association, was quoted in the Telegraph:

“Perhaps they know a trick which I don’t that will allow them to take part in the Champions’ League.”

City contend that the deal represents fair value for their club ignoring the fact that the Mets and Madison Square Garden are more globally known and accepted brands who got far less for their deals. Additionally, Etihad is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and run by the half-brother of City owner Shiekh Mansour.

City were set to announce double losses over last year’s figures. This deal will help them negate that. What they have done is found the loophole in FFP and drove a  bus through it. With monitoring of UEFA”s FFP only a month in, it will be interesting to see if UEFA have the balls to actually stand up to City and enforce their own rules.

Just two quick funny points here – from hence forth any match between Arsenal and City will  be known as the Airline Derby. And this, as a marketer I also wonder if people really think about branding when they name their stadiums. In Philadelphia the hockey rink now known as Wells Fargo center used to be called the First Union Center. As a professional marketer I shook my head as the anagram FUC. Surely they knew? Well surely City has to know that Etihad roughly translated in Arabic means unity or United! Surely the blue side of Manchester does not want to play in United Stadium?

The wrap up: 

The Daily Mail would like us all to believe that we have entered in to the Suart Downing race. They claim that Arsenal see Downing as replacement for Samir Nasri. I don’t know why I am even reporting this? Maybe because I laugh at the Mail all the time. I really think they write stuff in hopes that one day one of their articles will actually come true.  Earlier in the week, they reported their Nasri to City story was verfied by a report in Sky Italia that said City and Arsenal had agreed to a £23 million fee. Forget for a moment that if we got £23 million for Nasri, I’d walk him to Manchester and promptly sign Mata. Had this been true, would Wenger really have taken Nasri on the tour?

For sure Nasri is on that tour away from agents, away from friends and is left alone with Wenger and what is said are some very strong persuasion skills.  Anyway, I’ll continue to read the Mail and rags like Sport.es because frankly I need the humour in my sporting life.

Okay folks that it for this week’s edition. Until Wednesday when we will try and bring you some coverage of the match in KL.

Until then – Stay Goonerish!!!

[donate]