A tough weekend in ACLF Towers. The joy of the shooting down The Walrus was tempered by the harsh realities of Sunday League football for Number Two son, his side lost a top of the table tussle by the odd goal in three with the decisive moment coming with seconds to go. It was just like watching 2011-12 pre-Christmas Arsenal, possession dominated with no real cutting edge. Having clawed themselves back into the match with a late equaliser, they thought their job was done in salvaging a point. The callowness of youth, eh?
And this morning’s back pages might bring some joy to the manager. Normally the belief goes that players who depart the club have peaked in their careers but that cannot be said of van Persie or Cole. Behaviourally, they are scraping the barrel and somewhere in the recesses of his id, Wenger has allowed himself a small, “Hah!” with a clenched fist.
Arsène has been talking the team up – he always does – but this time the squad showed character with back-to-back wins in key games following a defeat. A week in football is a damn sight quicker than a week in politics which is a bit of a mixed blessing since the news will be focussing on the loathsome duo whilst they chat up the twinset and pearls brigade. The international break by comparison will feel like a lifetime. It’s a horrible time of the season, interruptions constant for the first three months, momentum which has built up is lost temporarily.
Back to the manager. Wenger worked with Glenn Hoddle at Monaco and was genuinely appreciative of the player. Back in 1983 Arsenal were interested in buying the Tottenham midfielder but like so many stories since, this one came to nought. I think Terry Neill was closer to buying Johan Neeskens than the club ever got to signing the Queen of Golders Green. There is no doubt that Hoddle was the most gifted player of his generation but with that came the almost obligatory inconsistency and he was certainly easier to keep quiet in a match than Santi Cazorla, the player who drew comparisons from Wenger following his Man of the Match display at Upton Park,
He is right-footed but, when you watch him play, you don’t know that. We had Glenn Hoddle and he was like that – left, right, you could not say which was strongest and Cazorla, on that front, is similar. I don’t remember anyone else I have worked with who was as much as that two-footed. Cazorla makes everybody [he plays with] a better player.
Along with Mikel Arteta, the midfield has certainly two of the most intelligent players we have had at the club in some time. No disrespect to those who have gone before but the Spanish duo are more technically capable and can see the opportunities before others. Players such as Hleb were equally clever with the ball but sometimes lacked the timing, holding onto possession too long or passing too soon for a run that never happened. Perhaps the pair are lifting others to another level of ability, certainly youngsters can only improve through training with individuals of this calibre every day. To think that the sports desks and sofas derided Cazorla’s signing. No doubt they will be the same ones who vote for him in the FWA awards next spring.
Theo Walcott’s representatives will apparently meet with the club and since this is not a first date, a rolled up copy of The Times and a red rose in the lapel buttonhole, will not be necessary. Well, it might be since they’ve probably forgotten what Dick Law looks like, along with everyone else. Is he the Arsenal bogeyman? The tale that Arsène tells the squad for their bedtime stories on Champions League awaydays? I did put a quote in here originally but once you change the name of the bogeyman to Dick Law, it just sounds wrong on about every conceivable level.
It would be good for the squad if Walcott did re-sign, despite the words of his critics, Walcott is a good player who has momentarily lost his way, his focus. But if he is not going to put pen to a new Arsenal contract, then his occupation of purgatory is surely going to continue. Arsène has made the public aware of his high opinion of the player,
Theo’s game is based on movement off the ball, timing and finishing. He can play wide, he can play central. Some say he does not have the build to play up front on his own but you could say that of Messi. It depends on who plays around you and on your individual qualities.
Let’s be honest, that is about the only thing you can compare Messi and Walcott on; they don’t play in the same position, they have entirely different footballing attributes and one looks like a Formula One racing driver whilst the other, well, who knows. Still, as tenuous links go, that’s about the long and short of it. Unless of course, Wenger was bigging him up for a winter transfer to the Barcelona bench, treading the path to Catalan obscurity like so many others before him.
’til Tomorrow.
cricket isn’t for the faint hearted…no wait thats cricket is for the faint hearted!!
Bill – I agree that it was the worst collapse in the postseason but worst overall was Phillies ’64. Hell they even had their t-shirts printed and the city had planned their winning celebration but it all came to nothing as they totally collapsed in their last 12 games.
Irish.
Good one. To me personally, that one is not as epic as the Brooklyn Dodgers blowing a 13 game lead in August and losing the pennant on Bobby Thompson’s ” shot heard round the world” in 1951. Even though it was years before I was born my dad was a huge Dodger fan when I was growing up so I heard about that one a lot.
I love baseball and could talk about it all day but we would bore everyone else to death. Good luck to your yanks in the game tonight.
Bill – I have to admit last year hurt too. Last game of the season and Yankees are up 7-0, a sure thing for the wildcard I thought. At the same time Red Sox were up 3-2 with 2 outs in the 9th. Dreams of vengeance against the Red Sox and the very collapse you mention were flying around the bar, when all of a sudden we were faced with bases loaded, no outs in the 8th inning. In typical fashion, we walked in the first, the second we hit with a pitch and the third was a sac fly before Longoria smacked a 3 run homer. All of a sudden it was 7-6 and we had no Mariano Rivera to save the day. They tied the game in the 8th inning and won it in the 12th with a walkoff home run by Longoria again.
At the same time the Red Sox had also managed to lose 4-3 in their game to a walkoff homer in the ninth. If that was not crazy enough, at the same time Atlanta braves threw away their lead in the 13th inning, losing 4-3 on the night and ending their own chances of a wildcard place. Pretty amazing finish to the season to be honest.
Bill – It sure beats talking about cricket. My Grandfather was a massive cricket fan and tried his best to get me interested but I just could not do it. I mean, they would start playing on a Monday and by Wednesday they were still going at it!! Although I have always said they do have the best commentators. Very funny at times, much more so than any football equivalent.
Irish.
That’s why I love the sport. Before 2010 the rangers were the least successful baseball club in history and had never won a post season series in their entire 56 years of existence. Had they been a football club they would have been relegated down to league 3 or 4. I loved to go to the ball park all those years even when the away fans from Yankees or red sox actually out numbered the ranger fans when they played here. Even without a World Series title the last couple of years has been amazing fun. Hopefully after a year or 2 of rebuilding we can get back on top.
Bill – I certainly hope so
In as much as it sucked losing to the Red Sox, at least as a fan of the game I can appreci……ahh who am I kidding!! That just sucked ass!! Screw the Red Sux and let’s hope this time next year my Yankees will be playing your Rangers. Who by the way, seemed to have our number for the last few years. Not sure of the eventual overall win/loss stats between our 2 teams but it would not surprise me to find out your team has the edge.
Irish
Enjoy talking baseball, not as many people love the sport as when I was a kid. American football rules the sporting world now days, especially here in Texas. I can’t watch the game tonight, Its date night for my wife and I and I will have other things on my mind. Hope you get to watch. Good luck..
well done chaps…you have cleared the place out….seems the baseball convo is even more popular then the cricket debates.
Arsenal U21 leading Reading 2-0 with about 10 min to go.
Goals from Gnabry & Akpom
Now that’s a lot more interesting than American rounders
what is the england managers fascination with Liverpool?? how can he base his squad upon players from a club in the relegation zone?? thats just crazy….
lol if Van Persie still played for us he would deffo have paied for that elbow, though now he is a united player and has carte blanche for more ruthless behaviour. Infact all united playes have that. charte blance for filming, for stamping for elbowing.
And make no mistake, RvP is a very sly and cunning player, hes got tons of xperience and is on a mission to win stuff. he can and will use every trick available. And who can blame him?? if the ref says go for it, why should you not? you would be stupid not to. After all its all about the trophies…
This is not only RvP though, but most players. just in United it seems easier to bend the rules than in other clubs….
Poodle – I am guessing it is because he used to manage Liverpool and knows the players and their potential. Mmmmm….wait a minute, wasn’t he fired from managing ‘Pool because they were shit? I mean under Woy, ‘Pool were 3rd from bottom after 7 games. As compared to now when they are 3 points better off. Yes, definitely an improvement. It makes perfect sense now to pick Liverpool players.
Good game for the under 21s reading the match report sounds like it was a right old tussle. There is a genuine belief with this current crop that 2 or 3 players will make the step to be the real deal. Gnabry certainly seems destained for the top and Akpom well every time I have seen play I have to pinch myself thinking he is still a schoolboy! I also think Eisfield will make the grade, he just has a bit of everything. A great old round midfield player, technically astute and has a great sense of anticipation in and around the box. I have to say though I do worry about Aneke, a great talent but just doesn’t seem to be making any headway for the last year and a half! Hope he doesn’t go down the JET route! Ditto Afobe, but in his case Bolton surprisingly are playing pretty shitty football.
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Too bad he stopped doing that for us
Bill – I am late but Irish had it right; “world series” always has me giggling. No I wasn’t dumping on your Rangers.
PS: What is FOAD? My kids are not around to fill me in.
All you guys who think cricket boring, simply don’t understand the game.
Imagine 4 whole days watching Geoff Boycott blocking everything at the wicket and carrying his bat for about 17 runs. Magic! The only thing better would be Geoff doing the same thing for 5 days in a Test match.
I remember in my youth I would dump any girlfriend after one week, if by then they couldn’t understand the LBW rule.
(Come to think of it now, most of them dumped me before I could dump them.
Never could understand that).
Do you remember Boycs getting dropped by England after scoring a double century – for scoring too slowly!?
It’s going to be a long, Boycott-like interlull. At least we had the under-21s last night to enjoy. Didn’t manage to get down to Barnet as intended. Great to hear that jack got 70 odd minutes, Bac back. Frimpong the whole 90. Eisfeld and Gnabry. I really wanted to see the latter two in particular “live”. Apparently there was a big crowd there. 2-0 against Reading U-21s. Gnabry impressing and scoring one.
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/?p=9658
Today’s post
I have said before, and I am still saying it; Walcott can not play upfront as a lone striker and the game at Uptown Park justifies that; he operated from the wing and it was viable.
And now I think the message is becoming more clearer that the position (playing as a central striker) is no longer his priority in order to sign a new contract, but MONEY. But I hope he make up his mind soon and sign.
@consolsbob,
Well remembered as the greatest miscarriage of justice
since my last girlfriend dumped me for being more interested in the LBW rule than her.