From Chris Akanbi : Body language and team spirit
Although I am not as downbeat as many by the current Arsenal side (although I get as frustrated as anyone by the repeated failings when there is any real pressure on the team), there is one thing which constantly irritates.
The complete lack of any team spirit within the camp.
When we score only a couple of bench players politely clap, others remaining completely impassive. Compare this with Barcelona when the whole bench is up and applauding.
The goalscorer is often left to celebrate alone, with only a slight chance that the player nearest to him might pat him on the head with an emotionless expression. Where’s the friendship? The happiness in others (and the team’s) success.
What particularly stuck in my head was a comment by a former Arsenal great who had been in the current arsenal dressing room a couple of times who said the team don’t really talk to each other. And you see it when they get off the team coach (all with headphones on) and when doing a pre-match walk-about. No sign of any unity.
I think it’s been like this for some time. Can’t remember too many players who appear to be close: Petit & Vieira; Henry, Bergkamp & Pires; Fabregas, Hleb & Flamini; Nasri and Fabregas now maybe. But so few. Sagna seems to hate Walcott and vice versa for example. No one seems to like Arshavin or the goalkeepers.
I don’t blame this for our failings, but I’d like to see some harmony.
From Neil Smith : Mental strength
Dear Myles,
We keep hearing Wenger banging on about mental strength.
I am an avid reader of your site, and unlike some who frequent yours and other blogs, respect your right to express whatever opinion you want to (whether I agree or not). It is called free speech for a reason, right!?
I suppose my point is that the very top keepers are top keepers because they can have nothing to do for 89 minutes and then when they are called into question in the last minute, they deliver.
I remember Seaman’s save against Sheffield Utd, that showed this exact characteristic. I do not believe it is a coincidence that Almunia’s best games are those where he is very busy all game (Barca, Man Utd champs league games). It is the same with Ben Foster at Watford, as opposed to the Utd version. It is what makes Buffon, Casillas, Reina and Cech the best at what they do. It may also explain why Wenger sees something different in training to what 60,000 and the millions around the world see every week on match day.
Keep up the good work!
Myles replies : We all remember that Dave save, clawing it off the line in miraculous fashion. What a dramatic moment !
From John Leake : Diaby-Wilshere
Diaby’s next appearance and performance for Arsenal will tell us everything we need to know about him.
If he doesn’t play out of his skin, he’s a hack. If losing your spot to a pint-sized 18-year-old, no matter how precocious, doesn’t light a fire in someone, then nothing ever will. Then again, maybe it will tell us that Wenger coddles the players (which we already know), and makes them all think they’re world-beaters (which they seem to think already), and it will alienate the real talents like Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere, and Arshavin further to see Diaby rewarded for ineptitude.
Sigh…
From Mike Geraghty : A quick note
Dear Myles,
Just a quick note to say thanks for your continued efforts. I am not catching as many of the matches this term, largely to a waning interest caused by the well documented yet unaddressed issues in the summer, so your blog is very welcome and well received.
To my mind one of the interesting developments so far this season is the regression of Alex Song.
He is a player whose improvement impressed me greatly over the last two seasons. Only now he is more resembling a player of the Flamini, Adebayour, Diaby, Clichy and now Sagna mould of Arsenal players who seem to think they have made it and don’t need to work so hard anymore. Players with that attitude go backwards and ultimately go nowhere in their careers because they don’t have the necessary winning mentality. I.e. these guys will accept defeat and it will not torture them, and in turn will not demand 100% professionalism and commitment from their colleagues, who also accept defeat as if it doesn’t matter.
It seems to me that too many of our players don’t have this quality and we need it badly.
I think it was Alan Hansen who made the point a few weeks ago that because Arsenal have won nothing for so long that none of the squad have that winning mentality and that it is a very difficult one to cultivate. And in turn, our main competitors Chelsea and United, possess it in abundance, so our task becomes even more difficult in competing against them.
This now makes sense to me, because being an optimist by nature this is the conclusion I would like to come to. The only other available one is that these guys are just losers. So being optimistic and hopeful of turning a conner, it seems to me that the very best thing we can do is everything we can to win the league cup. Now, if I had your audience to air this view I’m sure that I would be on the receiving end of profuse ridicule that such a competition could be of critical importance.
Yet if these guys are ever going to get the confidence and bloody minded winning attitude that we need to win the league then we have to start somewhere.
This is the easiest route, especially with this years early casualties, notably Chelsea, who Arsenal couldn’t beat in a big game if their lives depended on it.
Is it fathomable that even this lowly league cup could help our cause, or am I just being naive? I’m not blind to the Keeper and centre back issue either, in case that is your intitial reponse. I also think that if we had this ingredient then our back four and keeper inefficiencies would be less easily exposed. Wenger is right in that our failure to defend front the front has been our downfall more than individual mistakes (and I am not excusing those for even a second, just to reiterate)
I’d appreciate your thoughts.
From Jack Strandy : Song thinks he’s better than he is
Song has focused since 2007 to learn where he should be on the pitch. At Charlton he made great strides but his tackling was always nearly a yellow. Wenger said in 2007 that Song had strength already in his body but he couldn’t use it without getting into trouble.
In 2008 he learned which side of the player he should be on to avoid yellow cards. He learned how to play safe short passes.
In 2009 he put all of these things together and looked a very stable player for the first time.
At the beginning of this season, he said he wanted to score more and do more for the team. In the absence of Fabregas, he is trying more and more to get forward and contribute to the game.
He doesn’t think he is better than he is – he has never been that kind of player. He is just trying to learn and do more. What you are seeing is a player who is trying to learn new things and is making mistakes. Let him learn. He just turned 23 years old.
Four years ago during the Germany World Cup, you rightly pointed out that Stephen Appiah was much better than Essien, after watching Ghana. At that time, Essien was a year older than Song is now. The following year, Essien transformed into a really class player. In my view, Alex Song looks good to become as good, but he needs to be allowed to develop his game without too much criticism when his attempts fail once or twice on the pitch.
Myles replies : Mike and Jack don’t agree and that’s fine, it’s football fans.
One thing is obvious to me, very clear : the Arsenal players don’t demand enough from each other.
You notice it more when Fabregas isn’t there, when Vermaelen isn’t there. There’s no connect. There’s no connect with the fans. But, having said that, many fans are a different type of punter now, people who think football started in 1992. A large minority are disillusioned. But Arsenal crowds are still huge and the team is still third.
Jack, you’re a wise, patient gentleman with an excellent memory.
From Vjay
Really impressed with Wilshere. Thought he would play 10-15 games this season, but surely now Fab-Song-Wilshere should be the first choice midfield.
Am lucky to be able to watch Dortmund-Sevilla Europa game at Signal Iduna Park tomorrow. Sevilla have a new coach Manzano after sacking Alvarez. Only 38 Sevilla fans are travelling to Dortmund. I wonder if this is normal?
Myles replies : Travelling to away games seems to be a very British thing, although common in smaller numbers abroad. Don’t know why it should be so. A variety of social & economic & geographical factors, I suppose. I remember Borussia Dortmund fans from Euro 96. Sixteen stone guys with green SAMMER shirts and big beer bellies, just on the right of the press box, going wild when Oliver Bierhoff scored that golden goal in the final.
From Louise : Set Piece
Wasn’t it a pleasant surprise to see a well-taken corner – Nasri into Squillaci for the 3rd goal. Why, even when we had David Beckham training at Colney a year or two ago, are we so poor at sending in a decent ball?
Myles replies : They don’t practice that enough. It’s not spontaneous enough for a choreographer who loves the aesthetics of his very athletic football team. Enjoy Nasri while he can still kick a good dead ball. This is the biggest season of Nasri’s career. He has to deliver regularly. Will Arsenal score from another well-taken corner in the remaining three months of 2010? Don’t hold your breath.
From Mike : Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back
Saturday was it for me. I will never watch another game with both Eboue and Diaby in the side.
Vela is a waste of space. JET and Lansbury must look at Vela and Eboue and wonder : am I that bad that I can’t get a game ahead of these two? The fullbacks are shot. Every team attacks them now and gets the better of them.
Winterburn and Dixon must be shocked that their club defends the flanks like that. I now refuse to read Wenger’s comments as they confirm that he is playing us for fools.
You can stop writing about Arsenal now. Just repost your old articles from the last five years. I’m sure one will apply every week.
From Roy Newson : Today’s farce
Just back from a week In Sardinia, enjoying Cagliari. Missed Bolton and Braga games.
Therefore keen to see a good performance against WBrom, especially as Chelski had lost at lunchtime.
I couldn’t believe how bad we were today.
Why was Jack Wilshere on the bench? Why was Diaby on the pitch? The defence all over the place but not in the right place. Once the Baggies came out of their shell and started to play they looked quite sprightly, doing the things we normally do but which we couldn’t today. We had a narrow escape with the penalty, it should have woken us up. Did it? No, we went 3-0 down, at home !
Their first Premier Away win in 18 games. Squillaci & Koscielny plus Eboue ‘out of sorts’ flatters their contributions. Only Nasri (again) looked good plus Chamakh, who I am warming to. Before the game I eventually found the plaque my daughters bought for me and I sent them and my wife a mobile photo. Today’s game certainly wasn’t one to celebrate that occasion.
Well at least Wenger was honest on BBC to admit how badly we played and not make excuses. Pretty poor all round.
From Sunny : West Brom was pathetic, embarrassing and weak
Hello Myles,
I love the site, don’t ever stop writing – its the first thing I read when i get up, and the last thing, before going to sleep, and its the thing I read, when I’m bored at work!
Arsenal’s performance today was pathetic, embarrasing and weak.
The 4 injured players watching from the stands today (Vermaelan, Walcott, Gibbs and Fabregas) must seriously be questioning their future.
I do not blame Fabregas for wanting to get out. And I applaud the way that he has been professional about the whole situation.
As long as Wenger keeps massaging the egos of the sh*t at the club ( Diaby, Song, Clichy, Almunia, Sagna, Vela) we will NEVER win anything meaningful. But knowing Wenger he will probably win the Carling cup this year, and keep everyone happy. But the bottom line is we are all kidding ourselves.
If Wenger really wants to keep these under-acheiving fools at this club, he at least needs to buy a leader, who will give them a kick up the ass, shout at them, push them, clout them round the head. I’m sorry to say, even Arshavin, as much as you love the guy, has fallen into the same lazy attitude that most of the team have.
I feel for players like Nasri, Wilshere, who at least tried to push for the result today. even Rosicky showed a bit of drive when he came on. Diaby/Song/Eboue were just happy to wander around .
You cannot turn up and just have a divine right to win games – and I think these players just think they can. It’s no good waiting to go 2-0 down before putting pressure on.
All due respect, Arsenal is a football club that should not be losing to West Brom. But the sad fact is, they dominated and totally deserved their victory. None of them were up for it, until conceding 3goals.
Wenger needs to bite the bullet as well. The second goal today was pivotal. Going into the last 20mins with the score at 1-0, we still could have won. He needs to buy a keeper (anyone is better then that Spanish clown) Almunia/Fabianski are 2of the worst keepers…sell them! Buy Shay Given/Schwarzer. Either would have come to Arsenal.
He needs to look at this full backs. Sagna has gone backwards from his first season. Our full backs get pulled out of position so easily, it’s actually quite amateurish. Play Gibbs – he is keen and he is a winner, reminds me of Clichy when he first started. Mentally, I think Clichy is gone.
Buy a PROPER defensive midfielder (Song is NOT a defensive midfielder. He is a lazy midfielder who goes on walkabout, when you most need him to be in position). Mikel hardly crosses the half way line – sometime you just need a body in the position. The amount of times where there is no-one in front of our back 4 is countless.
In terms of attacking & midfield, we are fine…Nasri, Walcott, Arshavin (when he is on-form) RvP, Chamakh, Wilshere, Fabregas (if he stays), Ramsey. I know Arsene probably thinks it “anti-football” but we need to keep clean sheets before we can even think about winning the trophies that matter – Premier League & Champions League. Every time a cross goes into our box, I’m thinking “goal”.