Little to say

I would apologize for the lack of regular updating since this blog was born but can you blame me? There’s not an awful lot to report bar several rumors that I doubt will happen. There was a rumor doing the rounds the other day that Manchester United were planning a ten million swoop for Thierry Henry. I laughed out loud at that one. It’s not just that Thierry, a Gooner who’s not stopped talking about us since he left, would not want to join one of our fiercest rivals. It’s that Manchester United wouldn’t want him either. He still has something to offer, sure but he is but a shadow of his former self.

The Nasri affair is the most solid one as Le Boss has actually spoken about it but there’s nothing more to say on that quite yet. He has yet to sign, at least officially. Expect to hear something in the next seven days however as Wenger wants this done and dusted before Euro 2008 has the chance to come along and inflate Nasri’s transfer fee.

Not wanting to go over each transfer rumor in detail, here they are – Aaron Ramsey, Sotiris Ninis, Wayne Hannessy, Dani Guiza and Yaya Toure. Least likely to happen are Hannessy and Guiza. Hannessy because I believe we will hang onto Manual Almunia, a keeper who I rate fairly highly despite a common belief that he is not good enough for us and I also believe we will not replace him with a young unpremiership tested £8M valued talent. Getting a new keeper’s not a priority at the moment. Guiza because we have enough strikers, though his scoring record in the La Liga is impressive, more so when you take into account that his team finished seventh and he is not their spot kick taker. The others I am not sure about though Yaya Toure looks a good bet. The question is do Barca want to sell and if so will they let him go for a reasonable figure?

Kudos to Emmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas for this and this. Less kudos to Alex Hleb for his comments about us not winning anything. I know we haven’t in a while but this season we came the closest we have come in a long time. We are on the brink of greatness. Now would be the wrong time to jump ship. If Hleb left and it looks likely I would be seriously pissed off because we have been very patient with him. He had two seasons of inconsistent performances and while this season he has not remedied his lack of an eye for goal, he has gotten a lot better and I was very pleased with him. Wenger had faith in him when I was calling for his head at the end of last season. If he wants to leave that would really annoy me, much more than Flamini’s departure or Diarra’s.

Robin Van Persie has the right attitude as well. He doesn’t want to leave England ‘for a less physical league like Spain’ and believes that ‘collectively we can become something very special,’ which we can. He claims he is discussing a new contract. Now of course his career has been blighted by injury in recent seasons but he remains one of our best players. Owed to the injury troubles I doubt that he will net himself a high hike in wages just yet but I will be pleased to tie him down to a longer contract. I only hope he will find himself injured less in future and we can dismiss the past few seasons as a dose of serious bad luck.

I’m sure by now you have heard of Sepp Blatter’s ’six plus five’ proposal. I disagree with it for numerous reasons and not just because I’m an Arsenal fan, with many believing we would be worst hit by this. People ignore the fact that we actually have a very good youth system that has churned out many players of a Premiership standard, more of which we would retain in the future should this rule come into force. Fortunately European Law should stop this from ever becoming more than a proposal. It will not help England or other nations for that matter. In the case of England I think we just have to admit we are shit and not ignore the root of the problem, which is the way in which we develop our youngsters.

In more good news Eduardo reckons he will be back in training come late July or early August. Even if that is the case, while good news, the recovery process will not stop there. He will need to regain match fitness in reserve outings and be slowly introduced back into the game. He will not be rushed, I expect. He’s got the whole psychological aspect to overcome as well. I would be surprised if we saw him introduced into the first team again this year but signs are that an earlier comeback than expected could well be the case.

Nasri on his way?

I am very confident that Samir Nasri will sign for Arsenal. Wenger himself has spoken about the transfer, something he rarely does. He has said that if it happens it will happen before Euro 2008 kicks off. To many Arsene commenting on a potential signing is viewed as strange. There are thoughts that he has done so so as to demonstrate the ambition of Arsenal to his players. That may be. I would argue that this is one of those rare occasions a Wenger signing has been discovered before it is official. Usually, his signings come out of the blue and unexpected so the media wouldn’t ask about the players Wenger was actually intending to sign.

It looks done and dusted because I wouldn’t expect Wenger to say anything at all unless that was the case. He would not risk having other clubs hijack the deal. I imagine it will all be made official very soon. I could be wrong but I strongly reckon I am not.

Nasri is a player with bags of talent who will excite the fans. We seldom sign big names. Nasri may be young but he is a big name. I agree with Wenger that signing a big player is more important than signing a big name but I have to admit I am quite excited to be on the brink of signing such a well known talent.

Does this pave the way for Hleb’s departure? I believe that irrespective of Nasri’s impending arrival, we needed to strengthen the flanks (that I imagine is where Nasri will be deployed) so not neccessarily. It does look increasingly likely however that Hleb will leave. Given the injury troubles of Tomas Rosicky I was of the hope that we would sign someone of adequate ability who could cover on the wings anyway.

In other news it’s goodbye to Avram Grant, who enjoyed a near successful stint at Stamford Bridge. To come so close on three counts and not get past the finishing post once is nothing to write home about. Therefore I fully understand why Grant was given the boot. However he has done a very reasonable job in his time at the club, steadying the ship and all. Fair play to him as he has surprised the critics but I do not think it unfair that he has been shown the door. You have to be ruthless at the top level and Grant was not good enough.

Season Review 2007/08

Do you remember what was said at the beginning of the season? I do. There was talk that Tottenham would take our place in the top four. There was talk, mostly inspired by the departure of Thierry Henry, that we would suffer a miserable season. Certain doomsters would have you believe that Arsenal were in a crisis. Now anyone with any sense could see that that was a ridiculous misconception to make. I was confident that Henry’s leaving would not have too big an impact on the club, we had as good as done without him last season, a period in which we appeared to cope well enough and when he did play you could tell he wasn’t the same Henry of years gone by. Only sixteen million people cried while I thought it to be a good bit of business considering his age and the season he had just endured.

Saying that, our performance this season and remarkable improvement has far exceeded my expectations. I might not have shared the view that we would fail dramatically but at the same time I did not see us closing the gap that Manchester United and Chelsea had over ourselves and Liverpool.

To kick off on the right foot was what was necessary, get off to a strong start and then just keep the momentum going. We did just that, although a Jens error saw Fulham come close to spoiling such hopes in the opening fixture of the season. Our early season form was scintillating, the improvement remarkable and the introduction of Sagna and an unexpected first team place for Mathieu Flamini made for some excellent additions to our starting eleven. Then there was the evident progress of players such as Hleb and Gallas to take into consideration. Hleb found more consistency and Gallas proved his worth after a disappointing debut season. Fabregas and Adebayor were another two. In Cesc’s case, even at his young age you don’t expect him to get much better but he showed that there was more to come from him, adding a goal scoring touch to his Arsenal and improving the defensive side of his game. Adebayor, a good player who also had trouble finding the net recovered dramatically on that front and shouldered the goal scoring duties spectacularly while Robin Van Persie found himself, yet again, in the physio room.

We clocked up 83 points, four behind champions Man Utd and two behind Chelsea. I would say the gap between us that existed last season has been closed and that’s good enough for me. I went into this season with no expectation that we would win the title, my greatest hope was that we would close the gap and we did just that. So it annoys me when people go on about our lack of silverware in recent seasons as if we have just had a really bad season. I mean, I could understand it if we had endured a similar campaign to that of last season but we made much improvement. No one expected us to challenge for the Premier League and what else is there? The Champion’s League we were ousted from only following a couple of very controversial decisions and there is always that element of luck in knock out competitions anyway. The FA Cup was clearly not a priority and the Carling Cup is something for the likes of Tottenham to get excited about. That we haven’t won anything should not be enough to disguise the fact that we have had a very impressive season. We are back to title challenging form, that is what is important.

Of course, considering just how close we came, the disappointment is still there. We started great and few had us down as maintaining our form over the course of the season but we did, we did a very good job of it in fact, until the final stage that is. For numerous reasons and they are many, we suffered our worst vein of form in a crucial period that saw us fall in the title race late on. If there is a positive to take from that then it is that it is an experience our players should learn from.

It all bodes very well for next season, in my opinion. Providing we strengthen in the transfer window, the players continue to improve, we learn from our mistakes and certain players manage to stay for the most part injury free, we have a very realistic chance to win the Premier League next season and maybe even the Champion’s League too while we’re at it. A treble would of course be nice so that whenever a United fan gloats about 1999, I can say we did that too, but maybe now I’m getting a little greedy.

Player wise, I have highlighted my favorite performers in another post but I may well look to do a review of the entire playing staff who have contributed this season tomorrow.

Player of the season and all that jazz

With the season over I thought I might take the time to celebrate the best of the best for Arsenal this season in a virtual ceremony that I will hope to repeat on an annual basis.

Player of the season

It’s tough to choose and that the same could not have been said were I writing about events of last season is a good thing, surely, demonstrating the sort of strides forward our players have taken.

1) Sagna – What an incredible season it has been for another of Arsene Wenger’s French import success stories. It is well recognized that foreign footballers need a reasonably lengthy spell of playing time in order to adapt to the demands of the Premier League. Sagna on the other hand made impact with immediate effect, fitting like a hand in a glove and proving several times better a right back than his predecessor, Eboue. Not only is he defensively sound, Sagna also provides a threat overlapping on the wing and bombing down that right hand side and can provide an end product to his runs. Widely recognized as the best right back in the Premier League and surely a serious contender for best right back in the world. Sagna was a signing few thought we needed but as it turns out he has had a crucial part to play in our title challenge this season.

2) Adebayor – It took me a while to become convinced, I’ll admit. I recall being less than impressed with Adebayor at the beginning of last season and failed to see why Wenger had gone for a player who was so shit at finding the net. He really was, wasn’t he. His composure in one on one situations was terrible and yet despite that he won me over. I saw that his work rate and physical presence gave us something extra and because of that he was a useful third option, behind Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie. Well in Thierry’s absence this season he has found that goalscoring touch that he was so lacking. Few, including I, would have predicted Ade to nab a figure anywhere close to thirty.

Strangely enough he still has his critics, those that complain of an erratic first touch, which is a fair enough complaint but more baffling is that there remains constant slating of his finishing. He is no fox in the box but thirty goals in a season proves something, does it not? His goals were crucial to our campaign.

3) Fabregas – Started the season in electrifying form. Fabregas had previously found goals hard to come by and had an annoying habit of shooting straight at the opposition’s goalkeeper. He found goal scoring confidence though, adding a crucial element to his game that had been missing. He really was excellent in those first few months but then he got injured. Coming back he wasn’t the same Fabregas, not for a long while, before again finding form against Milan in the Champion’s League. That he failed to maintain his form over the season is the reason he misses out on being any higher. He is though a brilliant little player, quite amazing for his age and has showed signs that there is more improvement to come. His vision and passing has been extraordinary at times and the defensive side of his game has improved dramatically.

Honorable mentions – There is no shortage of candidates for Arsenal’s player of the season. Gael Clichy is one, though his form tailed off a bit toward the end of the season. Then you have Mathieu Flamini and Hleb. Flamini, though gone, deserves recognition for a marvelous season in which he appeared to give 100% in every game, with energy fueled performances that saw him much to the surprise of us all take Gilberto’s place in the team. Hleb might well be next to follow Flamini out of the door but I would hope not, given that he has finally come good. After two seasons of promising performances marred by his lack of consistency Hleb looked to have finally found his feet (though not his scoring ones.) He was one of those key to our terrific opening run of form and struck up a fantastic partnership with Cesc. For what he lacked in shooting ability he made up for creatively.

Signing of the season

1.) Sagna

2.) Eduardo – The Brazilian born Croatian international took a while to find his feet, as is the case for many foreign imports. He later however went on to prove that he had a deadly finishing ability, chipping in with his share of goals before injury ruled him out for the remainder of the season, an injury that he will keep him out for much of the year in fact.

3.) Fabianski – Has shown a lot of goalkeeping potential. Good enough I reckon to keep Manuel Almunia on his toes next season in the absence of Jens Lehmann.

Most improved

1.) Flamini

2.) Hleb

3.) Adebayor

Best Defender – Sagna

Best Midfielder – Fabregas

Best Forward – Adebayor

Young Player of the Season

1.) Fabregas

2.) Clichy

3.) Walcott – Showed much signs of progress in the latter half of the campaign, the highlight of which was his run at Liverpool, culminating in a goal for Adebayor in the Champion’s League.

Final Day!

We kick off this blog with a look back at yesterday, the final day of the Premier League campaign of the 2007/08 season.

Manchester United of course were crowned champions. While I would much rather it had been us, a congratulations is in order to our Manchester based rivals, who I have come to despise less in recent years and who have enjoyed a very good season though I cannot fail to mention they were gifted some serious help by way of Steve Bennett. If I was a Chelsea fan I would be fuming right about now but they have round two to take some silverware of their own in the shape of the Champion’s League trophy. Difficult to say who I would rather come away victorious in that particular bout. On one hand Man Utd win the double (and the double you want to win – not one of the domestic variety) and on the other Chelsea will beat us to the post as the first London club to win the Champion’s League.

I didn’t watch the entirety of the Arsenal game. I just wanted to see Theo Walcott’s goal and it was a very fine and composed finish. The kid’s going to be lethal up front in later years, mark my words. Randall later had a disputable goal disallowed having come off the bench to make his debut Premier League appearance. Time will tell which of our reserve players will be able to make the grade at the highest level but we seem to have some decent talent coming up and Randall is a part of that bracket of talent.

Roy Hodgson and Jimmy Bullard have miraculously managed to ensure Fulham’s Premier League status. Four of Fulham’s eight wins of the season have come in their last five fixtures. Well played for a late charge to safety. Truth be told, I didn’t think either Fulham or Bolton would escape but I have been proved wrong. I’m dissapointed Reading couldn’t fight the drop, suffering from an obvious case of ’second season syndrome’ but I was in two minds as I like Fulham and Hodgson as well. Seeing how they shape up next season will make for interesting viewing but I believe the combined caliber of Hodgson and Bullard will keep them up again though considering the quality of the Premier League nowadays they will have some task on their hands to have done better come this time next year.

Other highlights included Manchester City being mauled 8-1 by Middlesbrough, a shocking result in that if anyone was going to score eight goals I would have not betted on it being ‘Boro and if anyone was going to concede eight goals I would not have betted on it being City. Manchester United/Arsenal V Derby maybe but not Middlesbrough V City. The red card didn’t help and neither did the rumors over Sven’s future, more crucially. Good luck getting someone better in Shinawatra because City aren’t going to be able to attract many, if any better managers than Sven, a very good manager unfairly criticized for doing a good job with the national team.

Roll on next season I say!