If life were a popularity contest, Stewart Robson would have already been eliminated. “Nil points” would not even cover it. A prime proponent of the Spend! Spend! Spend! philosophy that is a by-product of the Premier League’s existence. Not so, according to a brief interview with The Islington Gazette. Indeed, he offers the contrary belief that more discipline not players, is the key requirement to improvement,
It is not about buying new players. Look, it’s always nice to get new faces in – and we have done already with the signing of Lukas Podolski from Cologne – but this is more about working with the players we have got and making some big changes to how we play. If we are to challenge, if we are to improve, then it is all about Arsene Wenger needing to get a clear, coherent, defensive strategy drilled into the squad.
The improvements are necessary, nobody can argue with that. Even if you remove the freak result at Old Trafford, Arsenal still conceded too many goals. If Arsenal failed to keep a clean sheet last season, in the Premier League they conceded an average of two goals a game. If you keep twenty-five clean sheets, that is not so much of an issue; when the total is just thirteen, there is a problem to be addressed.
Steve Bould is being held up as the solution, or a potential one. Too much weight is being placed on his appointment, the fear must be that if the improvement is not forthcoming – and quickly – Bould will end up being made a scapegoat in the same way that Pat Rice was. The ‘new man’ is reportedly forthright in his views but has been appointed assistant manager. To me that indicates that he believes in the path being followed by the manager and whilst that does not preclude questioning methods, results or whatever, it is certainly no guarantee of being the defensive equivalent of Tomas de Torquemada.
Whilst the former defender was as Robson noted, “a great defender“, Rice was no slouch either. It is a popular myth that Rice was little more that Wenger’s coneman, a modern day Stewart Houston. Ultimately it is the manager who decides the tactics and maps out the focus of training; the coaching staff deliver that via the methodology the manager prescribes. It is not quite dictatorial but certainly the manager’s vision is going to be universally supported by the coaches. If it is not, then life will be frustrating for them at work being constrained by beliefs they do not share and denied any leeway to exert their own influence.
Having warmed to his theme, Robson continued,
This team needs to start consistently defending well, getting in the habit of keeping clean sheets. There is no point in full-backs bombing forward if there is no strategy when we lose the ball…The fact remains that even if Arsenal went out right now and bought the four best defenders in the world, if they keep their current style they will not make any real difference.
We need to defend more from the front, we need to be disciplined and to make sure the defence always has cover in front of it. These are the fundamentals that title-winning sides have. You don’t see poor defences win leagues. We have the players to do it.
Many will disagree with that last sentiment and having heard Robson’s commentary observations, they are somewhat surprising. Nevertheless there is a lot of truth in his assessment. Defence is not an area I would expect any new signings this summer, only if you include the goalkeepers. With Almunia and Fabianski both likely to move on, a new signing would probably be needed. Personally I am unconvinced by Mannone whilst Martinez is too raw, too inexperienced. Right back seems well-stocked with Coquelin and Jenkinson able deputies for Sagna whilst on the left Gibbs and Santos are both capable defenders, both continually improving. Centrally, when fit, Arsène is spoiled for choice from his strong trio of contenders whilst in Djourou, Bartley and perhaps Miquel, he has deputies who can solve selection problems.
However, defending as a team needs to be more coherent. Too often – notably as the season drew to its close – Arsenal were undone by sloppy ceding of possession, compounded by the midfield failing to defend their lines leaving the back four exposed. Norwich for example, were able to salvage a point when the midfield dropped too deep, barely ahead of the back four and quarter of a pitch length behind the attack; you cannot be that mis-shapen if you want to challenge for a title.
Perhaps something as basic as the rope system employed by George Graham to gain defensive cohesion is needed, most likely it would be something more sophisticated. The trick for Arsenal will be to balance the need for professionalism in defence without diminishing attacking capabilities. More than anything, practice makes perfect. And practice I am sure they will.
’til Tomorrow.
and the other one wants schwarzer for a year or even two …..
yep hunter is the mad one …..sure….
Hunter.that was what I did .
Not bothered about the other votes
I was going to vote for aclf as best blog but it then directed me to a question asking for best blogger but i couldn’t see hunters name anywhere.
but i couldn’t see hunters name anywhere.
hunter aint commercial buddy…hunter is underground …..
….LOL…..
Hunter I think it is the certainty that you speak with that irks people on here. Personally I agree with a lot of your statements, but people start to get rubbed the wrong way when you bash their opinion and refer to yourself in the 3rd person. I mean, are you GervinhoGervinhoGervinho?
Will – I just jam with them mate. I don’t think I am at the standard to play in a band yet. That said, they are doing a small mini festival type thing in June, and I am going to be playing a few songs with them. Paranoid, For whom the bells toll, and La Grange I think. Shiting myself a bit to be honest.
Currently trying to learn Don’t fear the Reaper; great riff.
If no one else can see the inherent cry-till it hurts humour in this.
I have barely stopped laughing for 5 minutes solid.
Seriously:
YW to Hunter @ 7.47 “This is now your last warning. Think before you post or your time here is coming to an end.”
Response –
Hunter @ 817 “” Right lads listen up, we’ ve been utterly shit the last two years. I have found the solution. There’s this chap that our good friend glenn talked to me about who is in Japan right now but believe you me, this guy is the dogs bollocks ”
” Oh David , quit spoilling us with your ferrero roches, come on then tell us who he is”
” His name is Arsene Wenger”
” Ars. what? come again? ”
” Arsene Wenger”
” Is that a new airline or something?”
” Ts Ts . you lot are really useless arent ya ? He is the ex monaco manager you twats ”
” Monaco, oh yes i remember when i had brigite bardeau by my side in the casino, blowing on me dice , for luck hehe….i didnt know Monaco had a football team , did you ken ?”
” No i have to say im a bit shocked here…i thought they only did grand prix ..not football”
“You two old farts, what would you do without me i wonder ”
” Wed probably be shagging nina in the dressing room together with george and tony, i hear the licquer is great down there, might as well try it sometimes, dont knwo what youre missing and all…”
” Oh right and i suppose youd get paul and roy to bring in the coke too?”
” Who ?”
” Paul. Merson, you know ..our midfielder and Ray ..as in Ray Parlour . he also plays for us”
” Ah everyday we learn something new, life never stops”
“MMMMkay so what say you i go bring this fella from this other island, Japan, we pay him lets say 1,000 pounds per month and we keep him on a results based payment. If he screws up we can always claim we didnt overspend at least, muahaha”
” You now what David im a bit tired with all this arsenal thing, i only got here cause my dad had shares and im rich im fine no hussle, so yeah get on with your thingee there..whats the name again? ”
” Arsene Wenger”
” Arsene What?
” Wenger”
” No i dont want wine nor vinegar”
“W-E- N-G -E -R for fucks sake with a doubleyou, an E an EN then a Gee then E again and then AR… w-e-n-g-e-r”
FAST FORWARD 7 YEARS LATER
” jessus effing christ David ! if i say i love you im a liar. I ADORE YOU David! Where did you get this guy? Wont you look at this shit !!!! 3 epl titles ..hahaha!!! unbeaten season./..millions from champions league..millions from tv..millions from shirt sales..my word we;ve hit the jackpot !! Long live this Fengern fella !!! king , king i say!!! ”
A COUPLE OF BLOCKS AWAY
” niet, drashvida.. kotzem arsenal stropoi Arsene Wenger !!! ..RANIERI ? QUE RANIERI ???? signofska allem TARGETS stropoi Arsene Wenger!
A FEW POSTCODES ABOVE
” grahhhhttttt wve ahr still thce BBescht …ill shoo that frinch coont vengah!!! ..mcmanus !!! youre fooking fired !! ”
” Now now alex. what did the doctors say? ,, take an injection of what we gave the Rock last time and relax.”
” Grahhhh cretins ….im from labour…i av erked me fookin butt to bring this club where it is..now keep paying what i ask for , im the guvnr ! never forget that”
” LOL.. now alex dont make us bring in your little boy here yes mmmmkay?”
” OH YOU COONTS……thats it …fook you and the bbshe …ill do it ma way!”
” Good day my fellow American Brothers, this is Sir Alex Ferguson, you may have heard of me or maybe not its nto important. what is important is that i need your MONEY to win titles, pay up, you wont miss i promise”
” Oh hi there mister alex, so you want us to purchase your club ”
” Yesh”
” Are you nuts mate , lol, we are americans, venture capitalists, we dont have money of our own (sic), we invest and speculate with other peoples money !!! long live the american dream”
” Yeah well cant yout hink of something i mean we are a rich club we have stuff, you wont lose , here take our stadium and training ground if you dont believe me”
” Oh might as well do ..hehe…thansk there old chap..how are the horses doing?”
” Ive hired this new boy to clean them up after the races , his name is mickey…he has a also a stake in one of them but like fook if he s gonna see any of the money from the stud rights HAha! I learned from the irish”.
” muaha indeed, who said you cant teach an old dog new tricks”
” and wait to see me new tricks with the missus”
” Nah grandpa keep that for yourself”
BACK IN NORTH LONDON
” Pete! Ken! wake up …its 15:00 in the afternoon, the girls have all left and we need to clean this mess before Wenger comes in here and starts lecturing us about the nasty habits of the english drinking culture. I love him but god what a geek”
” Arrrghh…whase ..wooom zzz shtop … HUH? turrrrn down the lights ….fook you david..seriously man piss off ..cant you see we are in a critical state right now…that svetlana was real hard work..i think its time to go home and grow tomatoes”
” No nono ..shut up and listen to me ….our enemies are getting prepared …what are we gonna do ?”
” MMM well why dont you talk with the golden goose , he will think of something”
” I have already and he is tripping big time, he is talking about stadiums , training facilities, scouting and a bunch of other stuff ive never heard before the last 30 years im in football, maybe he got too big for his own good”
” Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm stadium i hear ? MMMMMMMMONEY….wow imagine the sponsorship deals..imagine what were gonna milk from the whole thing… construction contracts , fees, commisisons….David now why the hell do we need you when we got ferngern”
” Its Wenger ffs i cant go over the same things again…If we dotn act now and sell the club to a rich billionaire we have no hope”
“Sell the club?! ….Are you mad? .. i aint selling shit …not now…ive waited for a long long time to get some money back out of this arsenal ordeal..i wont let you destroy it for me”
” you know what pete …youre en effing idiot…im off ….im selling to an american..haha 75 million ! take that!
” what did that little shit say ken, am i hearing correctly?
” yes pete he said hes gonna sell to an american”
” not if we sell first muahahahahahahah”
” Oh you old bast-ard thats it ….im leaving and when i come back im gonna bring the roof down …i found another buyer and he lets me play with his willie unlike you two ..his name is ALISHER ”
Arsene wenger to his players
” My children, it is with great humility i bring myself before you. Let me explain to you all how things work around here. You see that old man there ? That is the president of the club and he will never bother you and you will never bother him. OK? ”
” Yes mister”
” Now the second thing i want to teach you is that here at Wenger FC..oh excuse moi ..here at ARSENAL fc we never shoot, we pass the ball to the net. We do things with style here, and that goes for doing things wrong too…always with style, dont forget that”
” Yes mister”
” The third thing id like to talk about today is mental strength. You all have it in abandunce, i can see it in your eyes, i have even hired the master in sports psychology domique fondue to keep an eye on your schizophrenia levels”
” Yes father,..ehmm mister”
” Now be careful out there, the pitch just like the world is a nasty place with many maniacs aiming to hurt you. You need to show commitment, you need to show intelligence, you need to show class and quality, and dont worry if any of them nenaderthals breaks your leg we have the best medical facilities for you with each bed connected to a personal ps3 and a twitter /facebook account so that you can still get on with your lives”
” yuppie!!!!”
JOHN AND RICHARD AT THE STANDS
” wtf !!!! sagna? who the fOOOK is that ? we had LEE DIXON!!!!!!!!”
GA
A ‘slight’ bit?
Haha I love it when people come up with pseudo conversations. Thank you Punter13.
Jonny – Unfortunately not. As I didn’t read the drivel.
Dups – I am a polite kind of guy.
will, i hear you but i think there is a distinction about when i talk footballand when im just having a bit of humour….
to be fair i have never insulted anyone about their opinons unlike what others have said about mine …
i say one thing and one thing only ….. none of us here, in england, europe or even the world can ever have a valid opinion when it comes to what wenger is doing for arsenal.
thats why i trust the man cause it is obvious he is the best at what he does …it aint about blind support, he has confirmed in front of my very eyes that he is the only ADVANTAGE we have against a football landscape of bastards…..and i find it strange , very strange that people with half his knowledge or not even 1/100th of his experience would dare suggest to him how to run his club, what tto tell his players and so on..the man knows fullstop…we are blessed to have him ..without him wed be nothing.
what irks people is that i place wenger in higher importance than the club, that is because he is. i am not talking about the “person” wenger, im talking about the expertise knowledge integrity authority intellect and professionalism he brings to the club…….. if i add the sexy style and the correct forward courageous football he teaches then i am the one who gets irked because frankly speaking i dont remember arsenal having anything like that before his tenor ……..
“Now think carefully before you speak, or the next words might be your last”.
“uh -huh” Absolutely agreeing to the terms. Ready then?
“oh yes”
*carefully attaches his hair aerials to the national grid*
and SWITCH!
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! POW!
Andy – typical fence sitter. Polite! Pah!
I knew I didn’t like you.
Evil, thT’s why I said in another post we do need a veteran GK as back up as the young GK will be inconsistent–good illuminating comparison to Valdez. It is also possible that Barca give up less good chances of those they do give up.
Bill,
!
Jonny, major demerits for reposting Hunter’s theatre of the Arsenal absurd. Book him, YW!
lol johnny i wrote all that before reading yogis comments about telling me to be careful ..
but its ok whats the big deal ..its humour …
i need it after what happened on saturday 
I don’t want him booked – LSG.
I have barely stopped laughing. Think carefully about what you post next –
*okely dokely*
You cannot claim he didn’t think carefully. :0)
I have barely stopped laughing
that was the point of it
I didnt even see that post Jonny. that is quite funny.
Particularly, I found this part hilarious.
Wenger
” Now the second thing i want to teach you is that here at Wenger FC..oh excuse moi ..here at ARSENAL fc we never shoot, we pass the ball to the net. We do things with style here, and that goes for doing things wrong too…always with style, dont forget that”
Jonny – Hmmm. Fuck you.
“At the start of the season we were not good, that is not a big surprise. When the team started to gel, we defended much better. We lost all our of fullbacks and we did not defend as well. Our full backs returned and low and behold, we defend well again.
What this shows me is that we can infact defend well.”
This tells me we can defend well with proper fullbacks. It tells us that we have insufficient cover at FB. Gibbs, Jenkins are ones for the future but if we want to win titles now…see the dilemna Wenger is in? But jenks and Gibbs are good enough for third or fourth place.
FFS!
I have NOT read Hunters response. Not even once.
The humour is in the glorious unabashed scale of the response not the content.
The fact that the content is STILL monolithic jibberish only makes it more beautiful.
*wipes tears*
Andy.
i object the use of the adjective “monolithic” ….the correct term would have been “polycomic”
might be a new word ……let me just get on the phone with lord collins and make it official…..
Philmar, not really, we had all of our fullbacks out at the same time. There is no amount of cover for 4 being out.
Oh crap Jonny, my bad. I see what you are saying. I still found that funny though.
I still found that funny though.
ahhhh hybris ..apologise to johny quickly or else he will black list you ….. ; )
Me neither, Jonny! I’m actually indicting you for reposting it!! Though I can see it was tempting to make the point!
“Mainly down to the type of goals we concede – probably more one on ones than any other side & yes , probably a consequence of that `high line`”
Actually not. this includes long distance punts (why are so many ‘wonder goals’ scored against Arsenal?), free kicks, slow reactions and poor positioning at times i.e. things that other goal keepers have been slaughtered for. But, he’s popular so he gets away with it since it is interspersed with the occasional game saving wonder save. He has the makings of a good goal keeper, but let’s not kid ourselves that his inexperience has not also cost us as well.
I like Szchezny, but he has his fair share of average games . I think he gets leeway simply because with him in goal the chaos in our penalty area which followed Almunia and Fabianski has disappeared. And that is a huge step forward.
For me, you can see he has “it”.
Think carefully about what you post next –
*okely dokely*
Funniest thing in ages
Passenal is right. His goal kicks still need work also, sometimes he puts the team under pressure. He is not there yet, but really believe he will be something very special.
.
This inspiring discussion has convinced me. Time to start a Kingston FC blog, get in on the ground floor. I don’t think there is one yet. But soon we’ll have our own doomers and true believers. What shall I call it?
An Agricultural Right Foot? Alas, that’s where we are atm.
refarding the keeper situation the point is when we had either fabianski or almunia the main topic of conversation frequenting this blog was about goal keeping errors, whether he could have saved it , whether he saw it, the ball was deflected so it was hard for him to see it go under his legs.there were too many players near him pushing him thats why he droped it in the goal…and so on…since sczesney came in the errors have been dramaticaly reduced and thats why people like him.
Szczesny will be better next year.
He is commanding and confident that is all good.
But Passenal is right,If others had made the same errors they would be ripped apart.
But then they did not have the qualities to make us as forgiving.
it’s not coz he is polish thats for sure!!
one of the things ive observed is that of that old back 5, all the CBs have done well for themselves
one has a statue of him out side the stadium and is arguabley the clubs greatest defender ever, one is now an assistant manager to AW and one is the top pundit going..
i know they werent no beckenbaur but fuck me..come on those guys were good..
we made a name for ourselves in england with those guys and if TV was as dominant as it is today i assure you they would have gained global praise for their achievements..
and maybe if we’d have been allowed into europe it would have benefitted as well..
all the other english clubs were dominating europe in the 80s until liverpool fucked it up for everyone..
for the record i love lee dixon to bits as well..but sagna, much like denis and henry( i mentioned them earlier, just wanted to point out) would be in my best 11..
but adams is my CB and hes my captain…
PG @ 1101 YES! That’s why!
Now remember!
What happens to you and ALL of our lives depends on the next words out of your mouth. You stand accused of the most heinous crimes to common sense.
Do you understand??
YES!
Very well then proceed.
Jonny – WTF are you on mate!? Seriously man, did you go and spend all your winnings on Magic Mushrooms or something?
Jonny – If you want funny then read this:
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/899869-arsenal-stars-use-john-terry-as-code-for-ugly-girls-says-wojciech-szczesny
Hunter @ 8:17 lmao take a bow son, no doubt a very manic one but a bow all the same. Yogi you can’t bin this guy I have a soft spot for him lol, his unique combination of delerium and aggression reminds me of when I used to munch on disco biscuits and speed wearing the beautiful 100% polyester 88/89 away top.
Hunter @ 8:17 lmao take a bow son, no doubt a very manic one but a bow all the same. Yogi you can’t bin this guy I have a soft spot for him lol, his unique combination of delerium and aggression reminds me of when I used to munch on disco biscuits and speed wearing the beautiful 100% polyester 88/89 away top..
Between 2005 and 2011, all the top teams were conceding more goals year on year. We concede too many, but the upward trend was the same for all. The top two and Spurs conceded fewer than in 2011 this year, however.
@ pg
Maureen’s Chelsea were defensive yet out scored us.
Not really – only once or twice and not by more than four goals. We sometimes scored more than they did, even though we were lower down the table. They conceded fewer consistently, though.
@ lsg
I haven’t looked at all the years to see whether there are any league winners who didn’t lead or come second in goals scored. But for the last 10 years, it is fairly frequent that the best attack in terms of goals scored has not been the league winner.
I did look at this from 2005/6 season to now and in that time the highest number of goals scored correlates more closely with finishing first than conceding fewest does. Best GD correlates most highly, obviously. However, the GF versus GA debate is a bit of a red herring because what determines league position is number of points gained, which is determined by the outcome of games. If you win all your games, you’re the champion, regardless of whether you win 1-0, 3-1 or 5-4. The importance of not conceding is more about insurance, or keeping a psychological edge.
****
@ Paulie Walnuts | May 22, 2012 at 7:41 pm
A lot of our defending this season was actually very good with set pieces in particular far better than in previous seasons. It looked as if work had been put in there which should be applauded..
In addition, it shouldn’t go without mention that we also have attacking set piece routines.
However, I believe some of our defensive frailties are down to a lack of footballing `nous`.- which doesn`t always mean experience.
Agree with that, and a good distinction to make.
***
Scott Walker beautiful voice.
jonnyneale….I am having a considerable amount of difficulty understanding what it is that you are suggesting in your posts. That is not to say that my posts are anything special. May I ask you if you are sleeping at night? As well, how is your appetite? I suspect that you are quite a talented person but the message is not getting through as clearly as it might. Please don’t take offense to my comments.
I’ve decided to be pleased that chelsea won. If any player, anywhere, deserved on his past overall record to win such a big cup, it is Drogba; for me the most amazing striker in the world post-Henry. And fittingly Drogba, not chelsea, actually won the damn thing. Well done.
Re: the protests when I said I don’t believe the tactics (not players JJ, tactics) of the famed back 4/5 would improve our fortunes now. It’s because football really has marched on, even accounting for changing rules. A strict, disciplined, drilled and effective back 4, that stops mostly everything in its path, and adds little to attacking link up and play, would not result in a more effective Arsenal in 2012. A more or less static back 4 requires a 4-4-2 system (4 midfielders) that against today’s teams limits options. Dalglish’s Liverpool is a good example of how out-dated certain tactics, and players, really are. Lack of dynamic, fast, attacking wide backs with requisite skills would be wooden today. Sagna, Santos, Clichy, Cole, the twins at United, Evra’s excellent attacking link up, Bosingwa, thingy at Barca (RB), let’s just say lots of examples, this is the typical modern wide back profile and as good as ours were, they were nowhere near this technical level. Somehow I can’t see the great Adams and Keown, and they were great in their day, doing what Kos and TV can do in terms of passing and movement. Detest him (I do), but a Puyol is an example of the “modern centre back”, fast, fluid, a key part of a move, positionally flexible, tenacious, comfortable on the ball. Like our Kos, actually.
Fun – “@ pg
Maureen’s Chelsea were defensive yet out scored us.
Not really – only once or twice and not by more than four goals. We sometimes scored more than they did, even though we were lower down the table. They conceded fewer consistently, though.”
You are sort of missing the point. We are an attacking side, yet they were a defensive side and still scored roughly the same amount, but sometimes more goals than us. That alone says we are not quite as potent in attack as we would like to believe, and certainly not at the expence of our defensive duties. i.e we could live with our defensive deficiencies as we were scoring so many.
BRF
Yeah, I can bin, particularly if the xenophobia doesn’t stop.
I don’t really get his obsession with “little Englanders”. It seems wierd.
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http://aculturedleftfoot.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/the-great-arsenal-summer-clearout/
Today’s tossed salad of a post
Yeah it’s one of the mass of contradictions…