From Jaffna Boy
Hello Myles,
I have been reading your blogs probably since you started, cannot remember when you started blogging as it feels like you have been going for ages!
I kind of agree with you, I cannot see Arsenal winning the league under Wenger with the crop of players he has now.
Yes, there is experience, players like Cech, Ozil, Alexis, Per and to a certain extent Santi with Spain.
However, I don’t feel that there are leaders in the team or even a leader.
Flamini’s rash challenge after he had been booked against NFC was a prime example. Flamini should know better. Again against NFC, did anyone speak to Aaron about not passing the ball for a simple tap in rather than going for glory?
One other thing I noticed and I have been keeping an eye on, my seat is on the upper tier North Bank, is the Arsenal bench. The body language of Steve B and AW. Against MFC, Steve B got up to shout out instructions several times, mostly when we were defending corners or set pieces. I do not recall Steve B doing that (as often) in any of the previous games or the games following it. I feel tactically the manager is clue less but as AW said I am not a football manager!
It looks like AW has a plan for maybe the top 3 or 4 teams and no plan for outside of the top 3 or 4. There are a number of games I can list to back this up but I am sure you will agree!
Happy and a blessed 2016 to the Palmer family. Keep the good work going,
BTW – We will get 1 point from the away games against LFC and Stoke, I hope I am wrong.
If we get 6 we WILL win the title!!
Myles says:
It feels like a long time ago, JB, since I took up blogging.
I did that because I saw the way journalism was going and wanted to get out. When I saw the way staff journalists were being treated, I knew freelances had no chance.
I had loved the good times, the open times, the fun times, going to all those thrilling gigs, previews, launches, with free albums and tickets to everything, having a laugh backstage with the stars, in the studio, going to every big game at Wembley from 1998 to 2002, meeting all the best managers in Europe, the interview moments where somebody occasionally said something that shocked me and I was sitting there thinking: I can’t believe he’s just said that!
It was 30 years of fun from 1970 to 2000. The people I knew then were mostly wonderful.
But times have changed, life became more materialistic in the consumer democracy we have now. Brands and corporations have obscene power and London’s a grimmer place now, full of vicious gatekeepers and rich kid bastards.
Mostly, I feel lucky & blessed after all those privileges and hilarious life-moments.
I didn’t wanna spoil the golden memories of working with great people by then working with arseholes.
That’s why I got out when I did.
If I’m not enjoying something, I’m gone, I’m out of there.
In the last four years I’ve started doing other things, really challenging new stuff. It’s knackering and frustrating but it’s exciting when our plans start to come alive and work.
And the best part of blogging on ANR has been that I’ve got to know a lot of Arsenal supporters and discovered something I had not realised when I was a journalist: that Arsenal supporters are some of the nicest, best educated and most decent people anywhere.
Just lovely people.
The old school Gooners are better than the club. Far better. That’s something I know for sure. I’m 100% clear on that.
From Andy Hill : Be good
Dear Myles
I hope you are well and have enjoyed a happy and peaceful Christmas and festive period.
It’s been some time since I last submitted a contribution. On a number of occasions I have begun to write something, but more often or not, before I could hit send, you, or one of your contributors, had already said what I what I was thinking, and invariably far more articulately.
However, I remain a regular and keen reader of your blogs and what is by far the best (and multi-dimensional) Arsenal website.
The last time I started to write to you was after reading your post lauding Daniel Taylor’s new book, ‘I Believe In Miracles’.
Ironically, I read that post while on a rare trip to Nottingham.
Once a year, I take my two boys (now 12 and 10) on a pilgrimage to watch Forest.
It is always the same itinerary, starting with a quick walk through the town to have photos taken with statues of the two great Nottingham legends: Robin Hood and Brian Clough. Then across the Trent to City Ground. Sunday is ice skating at the National Ice Centre, followed by lunch at Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, England’s oldest inn.
Despite being avid Gooners, the boys seem to enjoy their annual trip to Nottingham as much as their Dad. This time, the fourth year we have done it, Forest even threw in a memorable win, coming back from behind to beat Reading 3-1.
As you may know from some of my previous posts, I grew up supporting Forest. Although even more than the club, I was mostly a Cloughie fan. I did get to meet him on one occasion, at a signing for his autobiography in Victoria. As I walked away after taking the signed book and shaking his hand, he called me back and said, in the way only he could, “Be good, young man”. Not the worst advice I’ve ever got.
But they were different times when Clough and Peter Taylor were at their peak. It’s hard to imagine in today’s era of Sky money and petro-dollar billionaire club owners that a small Midland’s club could challenge the dominant teams to win the title. Oh, wait a minute. You have to love what Leicester have brought to the Premiership this season. I wish them well for the rest of their title challenge.
But the big question is : Can Arsenal win it this year? I think they can.
This is perhaps the strongest squad since the Invincibles (although not on par), and Arsenal look to be in the best position to take the title since they blew it in the 2007-08 season. That was more down to a lack of mental strength than anything else, and is likely to be key this season, as well as keeping a few vital players in form and injury free.
But I think it’s fair to say that Cech, Koscielny, Cazorla, Ozil, and Sanchez all belong in a title winning side.
And beyond them, there is no shortage of talent in the squad, even with an unusually high number of players out crook. There have also been some marked improvements. A couple of seasons ago I would have recommended paying somebody to take Monreal off Arsenal’s hands. In current form, he’s probably one of the best left-backs in the Premiership.
As for Ozil, I agree with one of your recent contributors that he is not only one of the best players in the Premiership right now, but there has not been much of a time since he joined when he hasn’t been this good.
For Ozil’s creativity to be realized requires talented, intelligent players running off him.
Accordingly, he can’t have a good game by himself. I also don’t think that his game is made for television, and he looks far more the stand-out player in the stadium.
While a number of commentators have talked about all Arsenal needing is another world class centre-half, holding midfielder, and striker, I think that is a luxury that every Premiership team would wish for; now and anytime.
Realistically, if we could strengthen one position, I think it should be up front. As you recently alluded to, that is Arsenal’s weak spot, and where many other teams have and edge. If Arsenal do not quite make it over the finishing line, it won’t be because of a flaky defence – not this season. Rather it will be due to a lack of goals, particularly in tight games against better defences.
But, it is an exciting, entertaining, unpredictable season, and a league where anyone seems capable of beating everyone on their day. Let’s hope it continues in a similar vein through May.
In the meantime, it leaves me to wish you and your readers all the very best for 2016, full of happiness, good health, and success.
And if nothing else, be good.