Ariel Klein : Navin in Malaysia
Hi Myles,
Navin’s love of Arsenal brought a lump to my throat.
We need more like him at the Emirates! If he’s ever in London for a home game he can take my ticket.
After the abomination of Feb to May last season we’ve all become disillusioned; or as you might argue, let go of our rose-tinted delusions. Things Arsenal have felt ridiculously flat this summer and the Nasri and Fabregas sagas compound that flatness day after day.
I loved watching Nasri last season, though he never hit the heights again after a fairly minor injury kept him out for a few weeks (was that when his agent ‘got’ to him?). But we’ve got to sell him asap.
As fans we hate the lack of loyalty and hypocritical reciprocity shown by the Adebayors of this world, and it is a shame Nasri could soon be held in the same lack of esteem as that numpty. I know Vieira kept pushing for a move to Real Madrid (or worse Man U), but he was (i) worth every penny of every pay rise he got; and (ii) hated the way we sold the Overmars and Petit’s of this world and undermined our progress each summer.
Like Fabregas he was a rare warrior who deserved to be surrounded by the very best and to win the biggest trophies year after year. Fortunately for him, we peaked with him at the heart of the Invincibles.
After last season, however, none of us carry any hope that we could offer the same success to Fabregas.
In an ideal world, we would cash in on Nasri, replace him with an Eden Hazard, and keep Cesc for just one more year.
In previous summers we might have held some hope, but after Le trop grand collapse of last year, we need to let him return to Barcelona with the dignity and loyalty he deserves from us.
Vieira, Fabregas, hopefully Jack Wilshire, these rarest of bravehearts deserve everything we can offer. Some of the next best, the RVPs and Sagnas, for example, are worthy of our love and support.
Most of the rest, however, owe the Navin’s of this world big time. Whatever has become of the privilege it was to watch The Arsenal…
From Jeff Morrison : Navin
Thanks to Navin for that missive from Malaysia. Comfort food? Maybe. But timely and much needed.
Thanks Navin, from Johan ten Houten
Congratulations to Navin for a rare optimistic email, and congratulations to you for not being pessimistic.
From Duck : Malaysia vs Arsenal
Let me add this to the Training game I watched from the Stadium on Tuesday.
The team still passes the ball too much in front of the goal, even when there’s an opportunity to score. That’s exactly what they do in training and translated to Arsenal’s game of over-passing. Yesterday’s game against Malaysia was more like a training game. Arsenal didn’t even have to move into second gear.
I think Jenkinson and Ryo Miyachi isn’t quite ready.
Jenkinson loses concentration, we keep seeing our Malaysian winger, Gunalan run into spaces behind him on through balls. That’s Gunalan (btw, i thought he was the best Malaysian player yesterday), it would have been a different story if it was Nani?
Ryo is technically good and very hardworking. But his decision making isn’t mature enough like an 18 year old Cesc though. He holds on to the ball far too long at times. I’m sure he’ll get better at it by working with the Arsenal team instead of going back to Feyenoord for next season. Again, its just a training match.
I’m sure players will get sharper over the pre-season. Chamakh wasn’t impressive though. I think RVP did more things than him in his 15 mins compared to Chamakh’s 45 mins.
Jack Wilshere and Ramsey is a good combination in midfield.
Both very hardworking players and tenacious. I thought they both played their heart out, even if it was a training match – that includes Walcott too. Very good attitude and should be made the core of this Arsenal team. Jack’s comments were spot on about Loyalty.
From Asian Gunner : More of a practice game
Myles, just a short feedback after the game here in Malaysia. 4-0 to Arsenal! Easily there were at least 75,000 fans, majority clad in Arsenal colours. The Arsenal fans were really REALLY excited to see their team Arsenal here, with a big contingent coming from Indonesia as well.
Too bad, it was played on a weekday (Wed), a work day! Had it been played on a weekend, you can bet your money on the hordes of fans from down south Singapore will be there as well.
In the stadium, could see that the hot weather bothered the players. I consider it as a good “warm up” match. The Malaysian team has some neat play and pattern, sometimes quick short passing, at other times long balls to their flankers. Hah!, Jenkinson, obviously did lots of running, but however he quite easily coped with their winger. I felt the opposing team was unable to sustain any pressure on the Arsenal defense, and besides their smaller stature didn’t help either when it comes to high balls.
Players like Walcott, Wilshere, Arshavin, and especially van Persie and Nasri were crowd favourites, with Miyachi really interesting – hardworking player, doing his stuff along the flanks to excite the fans. Must say that he’s a better dribbler than Walcott.
Frimpong did enough to impress, so did Ramsey, Jenkinson too.
Denilson was poor, surprised he’s still in the team. WHY so? …. his mistakes exposed the defense. Was substituted after 20 mins! Could see that Nasri was the key figure in midfield when he came on, pulling the strings..the way, Cesc was doing.
Towards the end of the game, the home team sat back mostly and tried counter-attacks. 4 goals, that’s a good warm up, and the fans loved it.
One concern, I believe the team needs some tall players, and the defense needs to beef up. We know what it was like last season.
On the publicity/marketing side, I think Arsenal will need to take steps to make inroads to capture a bigger following in this region…there is a HUGE market here.
Man Utd, Liverpool and then Chelsea all have huge following here.
BUT for Arsenal, all efforts won’t be good enough if the club don’t start winning trophies and titles.
Have a good day!
From Alex Koh : As usual….. the same Arsenal
I was at the game against Malaysia XI.
Well, the crowd was around 50,000-60,000 if I am not mistaken. OK, we had a great night with 4 typical Arsenal goals.
At times, Malaysia XI defended well and the usual Arsenal just could not find the way to get through (as usual, no Plan B).
As usual, Denilson did nothing to impressed me and he looks certain to be on his way out of Arsenal after storming down the tunnel following his substitution. I can understand why Wenger changed him though.
Then, we have the usual Chamakh…. a player who was initially sharp suddenly lost everything overnight and…. tonight,as usual, made no differences. Arshavin? Similar with Chamakh case…. but simply….. YAWN !!!!
Since there are Liverpool and Chelsea next, I am eager to see their attendance. Liverpool should have no issue. Chelsea wise…. let’s see. Have a nice day.
From Levi Asher : Arsenal brings damp Emirates atmosphere to Malaysia
I was at the Arsenal match tonight at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. Frankly it’s the first time I’ve ever watched an Arsenal game live other than on the screen in front of me, and I was stoked.
Full of anticipation, braving the traffic to arrive at the stadium just in time.
Started out well with new players introduced in the first half, and senior world-class players introduced in the second.
However, what could be the downside would be the atmosphere, it can possible be due to the lack of knowledge among Arsenal fans in Malaysia of age-old Arsenal tunes, but perhaps it could be the Arsenal way now, lack of spirit among fans compared to other big clubs. For a stadium filled to 65,000 fans, it surely didn’t feel like it.
At times eerily quiet, is this how it is at Emirates at times? Curious to know.
With the Liverpool and Chelsea games coming up, it’ll be interesting to compare between the clubs.
From Naz : Boo
This is our club.
We have every right to boo useless players, maybe this will help to move them on quicker. We are the most patient and understanding fans, 7 years. I want to boo.
From Daniel : Navin’s delusional
I’m a Malaysian who has supported Arsenal since 1990 and I didn’t bother buying ticket for this match.
I was there in 1998 when they came down, got autographs of Marc Overmars, Patrick Vieira and watched them play.
This time, with this team, more than half do not deserve to wear the Arsenal jersey. It pisses me off every time I watch an Arsenal match, a player cocks up, and no one shouts at him for his mistake – ANNOYS ME!.
So, they may be 30,000 fans and probably a higher number tonight, that’s because they were giving the tickets away for free.
And even at that, I am NOT interested. I’d rather stay at home or head to the gym.