The team may be a gaggle of lithe young whipper-snappers but Arsenal’s fans are fast turning into Dad’s Army. Every weekend there’s a small explosion of some kind (even if that explosion is “only” beating Wigan 1-0). You then have your Corporal Joneses who look a bit jittery and shout “Don’t panic! Don’t panic!” to anyone who’ll listen. They’re reacting to the Private Frazers who shake their wizened heads at the first hint of frailty in the team and rasp in strangely Scottish accents “We’re doomed! We’re all doomed!”
I’ll try and sum up the arguments being made and made again as best I can:
Private Frazer: Wenger’s stubborn adherence to this inexpensive youth malarkey has led us into trophyless oblivion. These kids will never be good enough. He must buy lots and lots of expensive players as soon as he can (preferably in central defence and defensive midfield) but he won’t because he’s so stubborn. If he doesn’t we’re going to have a terrible season and he should go in May.
Corporal Jones: Please don’t worry about a thing, cos every little thing is gonna be alright. We’re fifth after a pretty smelly start to the season but we’re still only 8 points off the top (5 if we can beat Liverpool on Sunday) and our record against the big teams shows that we’ve got quality, if not consistency. We’re still in the Champions’ League and Eduardo’s back soon. And stop being so silly about Arsene, would you?
So are you a Jones or a Frazer? I’m a Jones, though quite an anxious one.
I think it’s worth noting that Corporal Jones was also responsible for another phrase often applied to Arsenal: “They don’t like it up ‘em!” Often used in the past to explain the apparently inexplicable defeat of truly great Arsenal sides playing some of the most lavish football ever seen to teams like Bolton, Corporal Jones was originally referring to “the fuzzy-wuzzies” with whom he fought in Sudan. In a confusing twist to my Dad’s Army division of Gooners, I suspect that a fair few Frazers out there secretly (or not so secretly) wish that this team had a few less “fuzzy-wuzzies” and a few more English redcoats in the mould of Parlour or Keown.
Enough of that. If anyone thinks of any further analogies between us Gooners and Dad’s Army do let me know.
It’s going to be a long wait for the Liverpool match on Sunday so expect to see the Frazer-Jones debate going round and round again and again until then. Yawn. It’s a match which I already feel way more confident about than I did for the Boro game on Saturday, simply because I think all the players will be working their balls off for the cause.
Since one of Private Frazer’s favourite things is relentless rumour-mongering and since that’s what always gets online Gooners licking their chops, here are a few doing the rounds at the moment:
Brazilian wunderkind Alexandre Pato has apparently caught the eye of Arsene Wenger who could make a move in January. This is pretty left field firstly as the boy’s a striker which is probably our strongest area right now and secondly because he’s clearly the dog’s danglies and Milan have been bragging about him ever since he arrived so selling him would be very strange indeed. The shred of hope here is that they’re meant to be signing Thiago Silva and so will need to offload one of their non-EU players if they want Thiago to play.
Even then, I reckon there’ll be other, richer, brasher teams who would want him more than we do. The only reason I can see for Arsene really wanting him is so that he can unleash a tongue-twisting extravaganza by signing Alex Pato, then signing Alex from Chelsea and finally entrenching Alex Song’s spot in central midfield. We will then have the world’s first Alex-Axis. Or, if you prefer, our grinding wheels of dominance will turn upon our well-oiled Alex-Axle. This is obviously tempting to a man like Arsene.
But how, you cry, will newly crowned X-Factor Champion Alexandra Burke fit into all this? I’m not sure yet, but she could surely provide useful cover at right-back. Signing her might also cement our place in next season’s Champions’ League, as UEFA president Michel Pratini is keen to give the competition back its edge and is reportedly considering inviting Champions from other walks of life to compete in 2009/10.
More likely would be Juve’s 24-year-old centre back Giorgio Chiellini,who could be involved in swapsies with our scowling number 10, William Gallas. The downside being that by all accounts we’d have to give them about £10million of our lunch money on top of sulky Billy and the upside being that we’d have a big, strong, good centre back in return for an actually not very big and constantly frowning jessie.
Have a Goonerific Monday.
Tags: Alex Song, Alexandra Burke, Alexandre Pato, Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Giorgio Chiellini, Liverpool
December 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Hi,
I strongly doubt the capabilities of our two midfilders. Alex Song is by no means an Arsenal breed and Denielson is not strong enough to hold the defensive fort as did Flamini for us. Might be Arsene needs to sell Alex right now and hold Danielson for a season more to see how he grows. Right now I really feel sad for Lassana Diarra who could have been a true replacement for Flamini.
In the attaking half we should get rid of Bentner as he seems to make tall clamis but never stands up to it. He might find himself comfortable elsewhere.
But as we are nearing the mid of the EPL, we have a chance to rectify in the nearing transfer window. May be we can offload Bentdner for cash, swap cash+Song with Veloso or Alonso, buy a strong and big centre back.
In the front we have strong force in Ade, Robin, returning Edu and Vela. Midfield which was once Arsenal’s strength and pride is now looking rusty and out of sorts. Alex Song is an Achillies heel. Better
find one replacement for him.
Even I am afraid that Arsene may think of off loading Rosiky, which I fell would be a blunder. Rosiky, Ade,Cesc can combine well for Arsenal. I hope Rosisky regains his fitness and I expect him to shine for Arsenal next season. probably he is the most talented player in Arsenal squad now.
—–waiting for ur views
thanks…………………………
December 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Great article. Good blogging!
Arup Mondal has made some good suggestions but I’m not sure I agree fully with your disapproval of Song. I think he passes well but still needs to find his positioning to better his defensive game (kinda inportant for someone who protects the back 4, I know).
I have a mate who has an arsenal link through someone who used to work at the club (in PR all be it but still) and he claims Wenger sees Song as an unbelievable centre back. I kinda think if this was the case we would be actually seeing him play there though! But who knows, maybe Arsene is trying to get the lad better at his passing game first. Maybe he’s waiting for Gallas to leave.
I would rather more of us were Jones’ than Frazers’. I still think an air of positivity from the fans at home games is crucial. I think we can make a difference. I’m a Jones anyway. I like to think just 1 experienced player with an excellent Flam-style work rate could make everything click into gear.
I think the most valid argument going round at the minute is the one where we have a confidence problem. The difference in our quality once we score a goal is unreal, but I think we are so fragile psychologically right now that all it takes is 5 mins of pressure from the opposition and we drop our heads again. Either that or we concede a goal against the run of play like against ‘boro.
C’mon gooners…chins up!
December 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Arup, thanks for your points.
I think a lot of fans would sympathise with your view. I would just say that although a young player like Song or Bendtner might not be performing brilliantly right now, it would seem a bit hasty to sell them just like that – why not (as you suggest with Denilson) keep them but as squad players not starters?
Something else I’ve written about before is how easy it is to make one or two players take all of the blame for the team’s underperformance – normally it’s Song, Eboue or Bendtner who fans like to scapegoat like this. While these players can be very frustrating I think it’s wrong to put all the blame on them.
Veloso? I’ve watched him a few times and he looks a good player, though I haven’t seen nearly enough of him to feel comfortable demanding that we sign him right away as the solution to all our problems. Like you I’ve never understood the Diarra thing and why he wasn’t simply loaned out for 6 months if he really needed short-term first team football.
soulrebel – glad you enjoyed today’s instalment. Spread the word!
December 15th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hi Guys,
I agree with the aspect of squad player status for Song and Denilson but there is something about Bendtner that tells me he is not cutting it. I think his attitude leaves a lot to be desired and if it doesnt change then whatever hope there is for him is rapidly draining.
I see more potential in Song than Denilson based on more athleticism and strength and I can see him improving when he has the ball which is important. He was excellent in the African Nations Cup but has been somewhat inconsistent this season. Time will tell if he makes a defensive central midfilder or central defender and worthy of a starting place.
Denilson is caught in the conundrum of being neither a fantastic ball winner, fantastic midfield dominator or scorer of fair share of goals to make a major impact. You need all three as a central midfielder to be absolute world class I guess but maybe only 2 if you have the right partner beside you. At times, he has looked the part but not often enough and he does not help the balance of Cesc play when they are both in the side together in my opinion. He is not a bad player by any stretch but I just dont think there is enough about him to compliment playing in the same 11 as Cesc and he is not in the same league as Cesc for influencing a game.
Signings wise, it will be hard to get them in January. I hope we do get one or two fresh faces for the lift it will give us. If there was an opportunity to sign a reasonably experienced midfielder and/or centre back of renowned quality that would be great. A midfielder would enable Cesc to concentrate on what he is best at i.e. operating in the opposition half mainly and increase the potential number of chances to play in our centre forwards or indeed wide players to get crosses. A new centre back would add some stability and consistency which neither Gallas, Toure, Djourou, or Song have been able to instill all season.
It will be good to get some players back from injury such as Eduardo and Rosicky, one hopes that they can return to the peak of their performance as we have not seen the best of either of them in Arsenal colours yet. Hopefully Theo will make good progress and in the shorter term Nasri needs to get himself fit for a long run as well as it has been a bit stop-start for him but the promise is there big time in my opinion.
The great thing is that there is always another game around the corner and we can build our hopes and dreams on that. We have Liverpool on Sunday and a win would be fantastic. I hope AW realizes some changes are required though regardless and that he implements them if not in January because of player availability then surely in the Summer.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:26 am
I think that Denilson looks out of sorts because he’s not suited to a 4-4-2 formation. In a 4 man midfield, you need an anchor, playmaker, and two wide men (traditionally speaking) and Denilson doesn’t fall into any of those because he seems to be a deep-lying playmaker, which would work better in a 4-3-3, alongside Fabregas and an anchor. That being said, teams have been able to win silverware without the use of anchors, most notably Man Utd when they had a midfield pairing of Carrick and Scholes (I think), neither of whom are out and out anchors.
December 16th, 2008 at 6:21 am
Sometimes its good to be honest,this is the worst performance from Arsenal since i can remember and maybe Wenger needs to go.Arsenal have lost that interesting game play that was good to watch and are loosing points that they shouldn’t loose.One may ask for what,so that we can breed a team of young players who will win the title in future which isn’t certain yet the best young players that we breed keep on leaving season after season because of the greed and impatience of winning a title while they are still young.Common,we have the cash and God knows we’ve stayed for long without a title.Infact soon no player will want to come to Arsenal because we are loosing that reputation that we had-imagine Boro and Villa dissing us even thinking that they can beat us.This is the time to buy and if Wenger is still ignorant,maybe he needs to go.We are loosing fans and good players whom i honestly dont blame because when you are still young,all that matters is winning titles and building a career as an mvp player like the legends e.g Henry,Berks,Lumberg e.t.c.If Arsenal cant win titles because some players arent committed,why not leave to greener pastures.Its just like any other job.Think about it.If you really love Arsenal like i do,What would be the best way forward and if Cesc,Nasri or R.V.Persie decided to leave,would you blame them.Just think about it
December 16th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Vieira on Denilson replacing Flamini:
Vieira was asked whether he felt the departed players had been adequately replaced. “When you look at the talent of Flamini and the talent of the new Brazilian guy [in midfield], Denilson, it’s not the difference,” he said. “He is really talented but maybe he needs more time to express himself. He needs to learn more because the more you play, the better you will be. I don’t think Arsenal lost on the true talent but, by losing these five players, they lost a lot of experience.”