The Indomitable Arsenal, why we love them.

A name synonymous with armory, and depicting firepower, that is the Arsenal Football Club. Under Arsene Wenger’s current reign, Arsenal has been playing an attractive brand of football. Possessive, sleek and passing the ball around with ease. Passing the ball so effortlessly, probing patiently for a chance, and scoring bucket of goals. Arsenal has been the benchmark for attacking and exciting football in the Barclays Premier League, despite the lack of silverware in recent years.

Swashbuckling style of play aside, the Arsenal has been consistently producing prodigious talents from its famed youth academy under Arsene Wenger’s management.  Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song are but some of the many who succeeded at making a breakthrough to the Arsenal first-team squad. Even players such as Fabrice Muamba and Steve Sidwell who were previously from the Arsenal youth set-up before moving on to other clubs are garnering praise for their performance, reflecting well on the skills gained by training at the youth academy. It is gratifying to be able to see youngsters integrated in the Arsenal culture from a young age, and go on to achieve relative success due to the training undergone at the Arsenal Academy.

But what matters most is not the style of play, nor the ability to consistently churn out quality football players. Instead, it is the heart and passion of the players on display during matches which strikes spectators the most. Watching the Arsenal team play their hearts out, week in and week out, sticking to their philosophy of beautiful football has been of an upmost scintillating experience. Watching a display of determination, and an unwillingness to give up in face of adversity. These actions inspire fans to replicate the same spirit displayed by the Arsenal. A display of burning desire to do well and not let the fans down, that is the Arsenal, my Arsenal Football Club.

Arsene sings the same tune, “Future’s bright”, what’s new?

Good night to my fellow Gunners, after 3 hectic weeks of transiting to the sunny island Singapore, and settling down work and accommodations after going to be based  here for the next 2 months and a half at least. I realised some of my fellow gunners have been messaging me in Facebook about my disappearance. Thanks for the concern, I am fine! I am abashed to say that I have in fact not log in to my account because I relocated, and FB refuses to let me log in without verifying myself with either my phone secret questions answer. Stupid FB, if I am in a different country how the hell am I suppose to use my original number to verify my log in. Bah.

I have finally found some time to make a proper post about Arsenal, oh boy did I miss writing about the club we all love. So what’s new today? Well, after the exploits in the Carling Cup, Arsene has been talking up our youths, especially with the abundant of talents in midfield.

So, whats my grief with that? Well, we have been hearing about how Arsenal is going to dominate the future with Fabregas, Flamini, Bentley, Adebayor (He came young), Clichy, Reyes, and many more. But the most success we have ever tasted with these youngsters was probably the reserve league title. Arsene cannot simply state over and over again about how the future is bright, not after 6 barren years. The time for youth has passed, the policy nearly paid dividends, but Arsenal always falls short at the last minute.

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing our youth prospect thrive. In fact, I still keep a look out on youth players on loan from time to time, even posting about them. However, it has become somewhat of a broken tune to hear about our future looking good, with no silverware to show for it. What probably tipped the bucket was seeing our jewel in the crown, Fabregas, leaving. I had the greatest hope of seeing the lad lift a trophy up for us, alas to no avail. Instead, he went to Barcelona for a cut-throat price, and we are left to start all over again.

Instead, we are left waiting patiently for Diaby, who got injured yet again, to recuperate and start showing us what he is capable of. Frankly, I adore the lad. Lanky, powerful, skillful. He has the makings of a great box-to-box player, but his endless streams of injury keeps on hampering his development as a player. This after spending a long time waiting for him to show his worth. So, I am wrong for being skeptical?

I would love to be proved wrong obviously, and I can only hope that Arsene Knows.

Onto tomorrow’s match, Arsene has insisted Wigan are not to be taken lightly. At this point, no opponent can be taken lightly. We have a fight on our hands to snatch the 3rd/4th spot from the cunts-wannabes, Spurs. Only by winning can we force them to look above us AGAIN, and envy Arsenal for playing in the CL yet AGAIN. Watch out you spurs.

I would have to see Oxlade featuring tomorrow ahead of Arshavin, but the Boss believes we need to take it slow with the OX.  Unfortunately, if the lad keeps up his display as he does almost every time he plays, I think Arsene’s hand would be forced. Maybe Arsene is afraid of a burnout, and doesn’t want to see the OX injured like Wilshere did.

Arsenal 0-1 Man City | Good display, pity about the loss and Frimster’s shirt.

Work’s been a bitch, hence the lack of posts. But after yesterday’s display, the youngsters really deserve some commendation, so here’s some time out to praise those who deserve some praise.

As the squad walked out of the tunnel, it became obvious that there was a huge difference in strength. It was billionaires toy vs Arsene’s kids.

Kick-off it was, and did we give the billionaires a ride for their money. Oxlade-Chamberlain was impressive, working really hard, and his direct approach was proving effective. The Ox could even have nicked himself a goal if not for brilliant goalkeeping by Costel Pantilimon. In terms of pickability, I would chuck Arshavin aside and tell him to buck up. Not playing enough games is a poor excuse. Ox has been playing mainly reserve games, which occurs as frequently as Arshavin starting a game. If the OX can show some worth despite lacking games, why can’t the older and more experienced player do it too.

Another one who deserve a shout out is Frimpong. He hasn’t been playing much recently either, but on the pitch his energy was abundant. He hassled, and bossed the midfield like a, like a boss! If rumours about him going out in January on loan are true, then I say we can prepare to see the Frimster challenging for a first team spot next season.

I like how the picture above is so misleading that it seems that Frimster is showing Nasri “Bench” . SIT ON THE BENCH AND ROT $AMIR NA$RI.

Anyway, we were performing so well, when we were dealt a sucker punch. Out of nowhere, from attacking a corner, it was cleared, Man Cunteh broke away, Aguero was passed the ball, and made a fine finish. The pace of the ball was too much and Fabianski couldn’t get a hand to it. So there you go, a remainder of no matter how we display, as long as we don’t take our chances, and defend stoutly, we can lose.

So there, 0-1 it was. All in all I am stuck in between feeling relieved and sad. We are starting to find momentum in the league, and fatigue was fairly obvious in last week’s game against Fulham. So maybe an exit would probably be for the best, as the further we go, the more likely Arsene would play our strongest team. Yet, this competition represented our best chance of a trophy, and to see it slip away is somewhat depressing. Hopefully, we shall prevail in other competitions. For now, well done young gunners, and screw you Nasri and Toys.

Norwich 1-2 Arsenal: No Van do without Robin

Hello again, my post has been a long time coming, what with a hectic work schedule, and the dearth of news during the international break. It was a sad moment when I had to forfeit watching a televised game for the first time this season, as I was on the road yesterday. The 7 hours flight was sure bumpy, and the promised live text on board from BBC wasn’t even updating the scores at all. Stupid airplanes.

Anyway, to my delight, when I finally managed to check the score, the Arsenal has prevailed yet again, after recovering from a Mertesacker mistake to coast to a 5th straight victory, and back-to-back victories on the road. As of now, Arsenal is 6th, sharing the same points with Chelsea and Sp*rs, who has 2 games in hand. I am looking forward to Aston Villa dumping some misery on the pretenders from London, oh boy yes I am.

Anyway, I won’t be doing my customary players ratings, because I haven’t watched the match. What we can all say, is the usual BS. Ostensibly, we are still prone to that lapse in concentration while defending, and always concede a poor goal. However, we are yet again rescued by the brilliance of a Van Persie. What yesterday’s game has shown is simple. Our success hinges on the shoulders, or rather his legs, of Van Persie.

I am not dismissing the others players for a lack of effort. Highlights showed that everyone tried and much chances were created. As long as we won the game no one would remember those missed chances. I for one can’t name any easy miss yesterday. Oh wait Gervinho’s dallying……. never mind what I said. To be fair, I watched highlights, it’s totally different from watching a live game.

So it continues, a good win, on the road. The resurgence of Arsenal continues, with a heavily in-form Van Persie leading the way. His 2 goals plunder yesterday takes his tally to 10 goals in his last 5 games, a ratio of 1:2. Highly impressive, and close to overtaking Bergkamp in my heart. ARRRRRRRRRGH, Sorry for I have blasphemer-ed, of course Bergkamp is still the king in my heart.

As it stands, there is no way but up now, because we have Robin, because we Van.

Quarter season review: We are better, but we have not turn the corner yet.

Damn these international breaks, no one really gives a hoot anymore. The only time the Euros or World Cup actually piques my interest is when the actual finals are taking place. The qualifiers far often seems to be a spanking ground for the lesser quality opponents, and is something of a farce. Arsene agrees, and fears that the interest in international fixtures is waning. He is right there, give me back my Arsenal, and leave the weekends be. It is bad enough that we have to suffer 2 months of droughts in the summer because league ends. Furthermore international breaks far more often than not means one of our players get injured for a long period of time.

Since there is no football over the weekend, we have the ample opportunity to scrutinise our season far. A quarter actually is more or less 12 or 13 games, but let’s make do with 11 league games so far. So, here goes.

At the start of the season, we were really in the doldrums. Key players were lost and not adequately replaced in the earlier part of the summer. In Fabregas and Nasri were two of our most creative players. It was not surprising that we were struggling at the start of the season. The draw with Newcastle followed by the loss to Liverpool was to be bested by a spanking by Manchester United. Fans grew frustrated, I cried murder, Arsene signed 5 players.

In came Arteta, Benayoun, Park, Mertesacker and Santos. The match against Swansea saw several of the newcomers featuring, yet they made little impact, as Arsenal still struggled creatively, and defensively were still unstable. The cracks in that Arsenal side were accentuated in the game against Blackburn, where we contrived to leak in 4 goals and lose despite scoring 3 goals.

A win over Bolton next went some way in allaying fears, but we flattered to deceived and failed at our first real hurdle against Spurs. In truth, it was a game we should not have lost, but a certain cunt handball and poor defending costed us. We failed to show our consistency in winning against less mediocre opponent ( STILL MEDIOCRE TEAM).

However, since then, the team seems to have improved, and slowly gelled together to be a formidable opponent.Wins over Sunderland, Stoke followed, and this Arsenal team showed glimpses of its potential to run over opponents with its seamless and flowing passing game. Our next big test against Chelsea was passed, with slightly good grades, having scored 5 goals at Stamford Bridge, and winning.

After the win against Chelsea, the thought struck me whether we have truly turned the corner. We beaten a top 4 competitor, and have won 3 on the trot. Dare I believe it? When we won against Manchester United last season, I was confident that the lads would do well in the run in to the end and achieve 3rd or 2nd. Alas, we managed an astounding 4th spot. So you can imagine that my faith was slightly shaken, and I still have my doubts whether Arsenal have truly return from the dead and are soaring.

This doubts were slightly put to bed with the routine win against West Brom last week. It was as though we were treated to a show of the Arsenal of old. Dominating possession, passing the ball around with ease, scoring and winning.

Yet, you can’t help but still feel that Arsenal have not truly made a comeback yet. First off, most of our wins have been achieved at the Emirates. Apart from the win at the Bridge, the other victories were all at home games. Understand I am looking strictly at the league form, and not adding in the games in the CL and CC into my analysis. If we are to truly say that Arsenal is on the rise again, then we need to show that Arsenal is capable of winning, both at home and away. There was a season when we were unbeaten at home for the longest time ever, but all we won was, well nothing.

Next, the defense still needs to be sorted out. The defending at set pieces are atrocious to say the least, and should be stamped out if Arsenal wishes to continue its climb up the table. The weakness at defending set pieces is costly, and many teams have been looking to exploit at our inability to head the ball away from goal. Just look at the game against Chelsea, the first goal came from a corner. If we could defend set pieces most composedly, we wouldn’t find ourselves pegged on the back foot most of the time.

There is also the lack of cover for RVP, at the moment. We are still reliant on our skipper for goals. The forwards like Walcott and Gervinho have to share the responsibility, and relieve RVP of  the burden of having to score bucket loads of the goal. However, that said, it is still early days, and the last few games have shown that the aforementioned players are capable of scoring a goal now and then.

So, Arsenal are on a run, and a winning streak at that. However, until we have won more games, both away and at home, and improve our defense further, there is a real danger of Arsenal dropping into the abyss. Again.