What did we REALLY learn?

Same old Arsenal? Throwing away a lead. No commitment. Can’t defend. We are doomed! Doomed I tell you.

Okay lets just chillax for a moment and put things in perspective. These were both  pre-season friendlies. There were positives and negatives. It is easy for everyone to focus on the negatives, that is the nature of life. We drew two games we should have one; true. This has happened before on too many occasions; true. The goals we conceded were due to defensive mistakes; again very true (and all too familiar). Does this affect our chances in the league, ABSOLUTELY NOT! That is fact.

It was a friendly with a disjointed defence which was not full strength and does not represent a true reflection of our chances. I agree this is not ideal and Martin Keown summed it up nicely:

“When you make mistakes it creates an uncertainty that you just do not need.”

However let’s look at the positives of which there were many. Gervinho looked very, very promising. He looks like he has slotted in nicely and built up an understanding with Van Persie already. He looks very quick and seems to have a good footballing brain on him. Jenkinson seemed to look comfortable and reliable which is a plus but what was clear was his desire to play for the shirt. Ramsey and Wilshire looked comfortable and I liked the strength and balance of Frimpong. Van Persie’s goalscoring form continues in the ruthless manner he finished last season.

That was the purpose of the tournament. Get some match practice. End of. Looks like the defence is not ready but that is not anything we didn’t know so listen Mr Wenger. I implore you to sign a centre back that has got more brain cells than that of a goldfish because at the moment the combined IQ of Squilaci and Djourou seems to be less than that. So everyone stop your pissing and your moaning and especially your booing at a friendly and like I said just chillax. At least until the end of the transfer window and if no steps have been taken I myself will find someone to P.I.M.P. slap.

Next order of the day is the issue regarding Fabregas and Nasri. No new news as such but I found it interesting to see Nasri was handed the captains arm band when Van Persie went off. He seemed hungry and his body language was not disgruntled by any stretch of the imagination which to me suggests he is not at all bothered by anything going on and may well be happy to sit out this year to get an even fatter pay check come July 2012. This deeply saddens me but it is the management’s decision if they decide not to sell him with only one year left and no apparent desire to extend. With Fabregas looking like he almost certainly will leave (still do not know why as we hold ALL the aces) I sort of understand the need to keep one of them. Logic would suggest that it be the other way round but I fear it will be very difficult keeping Cesc judging by his absence. After not being able to kit up and play in a friendly whilst looking about as happy as a crack head on a come down it is safe to assume that even if he does stay he is not happy about it. I was not amused with his attitude and certainly cannot see how he can remain captain IF he stays.

Transfer news according to the trashloids looks like its usual drivel including the usual. We have a merry go round with Samba going to Everton and us taking Jagielka. Interesting but even the papers weren’t concerned

We can only hope some progress has been made with regards to buying a centre back or else I may corner Mr Wenger and slap myself profusely whilst shouting “buy a centre back” in my most menacing voice. If that doesn’t work then he is braver then many a drunk I have come across. Seriously though it would only be worthwhile getting a defender that would improve the defence. I know everyone wants height but it just seems like the organisation and communication amongst the defence is frankly not up to it. An addition in itself will do nothing to alleviate that. We need to have a look within and look at the coaching staff and methods and SORT IT OUT!

Well that’s all for today! Until tomorrow!

Goonerverse

Same Shit! Different Day!

Morning all and welcome to Goonerverse.

A little bit about myself, not that it is particularly interesting, but I am a lifelong gooner and have had my paltry wages almost entirely consumed by an upper tier season ticket. The price rise was a step too far for me and am no longer in possession of a season ticket but will surely end up going to most games to waste the limited disposable income I have. (Or if I’m lucky I can scav free games when my brother can’t go). I am from the mean streets of Compton or somewhere akin to that in an English sub-urb (just) outside London so please do excuse some of the language used and if ever in need of a translation feel free to get in touch. For instance if I was a part of the transfer talks regarding Cesc you can guarantee they would go something like this:

Goonerverse: Rumour has is yous iz tryna tap up ma man..

Sandro Rossel: Excuze?

Goonerverse: Nah, you’s a pussy boi, truss me you aint jackin nutin bitch.

Sandro Rossel: Pleathh do not hurthh me.

Goonerverse: (Whilst pulling out a gun and holding it sideways) End of meeting bitch and don’t come back till you sort yo shit out foo’ 40 milli or you aint gettin shit.

If only, If only!

An honest introduction, and perhaps more importantly for the purpose of this blog would be to describe myself as one of the most optimistic supporters. I have in the past four seasons lost a £100 bet stating we will win the league. The good news on this front is that the odds will be so long this year that I may recoup most of the £400 lost over the previous seasons. I know what you’re thinking, that is not too bad. However, “check this”: I am so optimistic that even when we lost to Liverpool I placed a £50 bet on us to win the league. I genuinely, truly and with every particle of my being felt like other teams would lose as we were destined to win the league. And with regards to this season I do not think we are as far off as many out there would like to believe. Whether that is because I am a footballing clairvoyant or I am a just little crazy, we shall see.

Well, in this brand new blog I will be detailing the ins and outs in the world that, (this summer anyway,) we all hate; Arsenal. In what has become one of the most depressing summers known in living memory we have been subjected to constant transfer speculation surrounding two of our most influential players. These have been well covered by the media, bloggers, ‘Spanish cunts’ (my name for Barcelona players) and by the usual “my mate Tony, down the Red lion” so I shall not dwell on these issues any further.  At least not today.

Also I will not be talking about any of our wheeling and dealing today for the moment any way.  (Because nobody really has any idea of what is really going on outside a few select people). I will also hold off on the temptation to speculate about which monster centre back we may be trying to acquire no matter how exciting it is. I will even not mention the seemingly realistic target of Mata.

I will however focus fully on football today. Today is the day we commence our first battle for silverware of the season. Today also represents our most realistic chance at any silverware whatsoever. You have no idea how painful it is to say that even if I am joking. Sort of.

We are playing Boca Juniors today and this will be a great test for the team. With the influx of media attention on pre-season friendlies it is easy to forget that they are just that; friendlies. Regardless though, this should give us an indication of where the team are and whether they have fixed the “easy” problem of leaking goals via set pieces. It is interesting to hear the players come out and sound upbeat about their chances this coming season. We’ve had Szczesny declaring that “we will improve from set pieces” in fact his confidence is so high in this regard that we will apparently:

You might see a little change this weekend in our tactics [with set pieces]. We’ve been working on it and I believe it’s working. I believe we’re going to get much better at dealing with set pieces this season. We weren't really stung by the criticism we received last season but it made us more determined to work hard on our weaknesses and I believe we can improve on it.

Reassuring or taking an overly simplistic view on it? We shall see. It is good news that they are recognizing obvious flaws in the game and looking to address them. I just feel it’s a bit of a shame that if this was as easy to fix as has been stated, then this should have been done when it was first glaringly obvious to all a few years ago. I don’t know about anyone else or whether I just naturally have a nervous disposition, but I genuinely get butterflies in my stomach when (from dead ball or otherwise) a ball is floated and the ball is hanging only for us to lose first balls, second balls and the way I feel my balls. Glad this will be sorted anyway.

Similarly in the not too distant past we’ve had Arshavin, Rosicky, Walcott, Ramsey, Vermaelan and even new boy Gervinho come out with confident declarations about the club. Whether this is genuine or a push from within the club to get some much needed positive press is up for debate but I for one am all for it. Whether the assertions are that we have learnt from mistakes or the defence is improving or we will tactically better equipped, all lead to us being able to challenging which can never be a bad thing. This is the type of spirit we cry for; a fighting, confident spirit. Let’s hope this extends itself to the playing field.

Today, one would assume we are fine tuning for the season and we’ll see close to a starting XI with lots of changes over the two days. It will be key to see whether some of the fringe players whose futures are in doubt will play to give a better indication if they will be staying come September.

Anyway until tomorrow! Enjoy the football.

Goonerverse