Monday 12 November 2012

Thoughts on the Weekend


Top of the morning to yall

Another frustrating weekend saw us drop a further 2 points in a game that saw the best and worst of the Arsenal side. The best showing the talents we have upfront and how lethal they can be on their good day and worst which has been our Achilles heel in recent seasons, a poor defensive unit. It baffles me that we concede like we do sometimes because we have a very good individual players in all four defensive positions but very poor as a unit.

At the start of the season, we all hailed the impact of Steve Bould on the defence after going the first 3 games without conceding and since then we have had just one clean sheet against QPR. I find it hard to see that impact these days. If we are not conceding 4 goals against a team that's yet to win a league game, we are giving up two goal leads twice in one week. It’s difficult to think that nothing is wrong or maybe it’s the last interlull that has given them a bad mojo and we need another one to clear it. So please bring back the interlull.

In the post-match press conference, Arsene said
 We have shown before we can fight and again today that we can fight.  
Maybe fighting doesn't have to be when you come from behind to level a game or win, why can’t fighting be about holding onto a lead. Why does fighting always have to be when we are boxed into a corner and then we play our ‘get out of jail card’

Right at the Emirates, I don’t see a reason why the team couldn’t hold on to a 2 goal lead against Fulham. It seems like we are slowly morphing from a top four to a mid-table team where we would have to struggle every season with the likes of Everton and Spurs for a champions league ticket. After just 11 games into the season, we are 11 points adrift of the top and 4 points off 4th spot, our worst start in 30years. This happened last season and we had a certain RvP to bail us out over and over again but except we would like to continue to deceive ourselves in the name of staying positive, we have no such characters in the team at the moment.

Talks have been circulating over the weekend about possible January additions to the squad and one name that's paramount on that list is Crystal Palace’s Wilfred Zaha, and others like Edinson Cavani and Adrian Lopez have also been mentioned. While I am not a fan of speculation from various news sources on the internet, it will be fool hardy to turn a blind eye to every one of such news. In my last post, I mentioned a lack of natural leaders and game winners in the squad and in my opinion, a player from the championship doesn't seem like the tonic we need to boost our season.

Theo Walcott’s contract is another issue that's causing unrest amongst fans. Over the past week, he has shown he can be an invaluable member of the Arsenal squad scoring goals and also making 2 assists over the weekend. If we have a squad policy where players are paid according to their contributions to the team, then Theo Walcott should rank amongst the highest earners. If we have a squad where Andrey Arshavin earns close to 90k per week and has only started Capital One Cup games and Djourou and Chamakh earn 60k and 50k respectively, then I think Theo Walcott deserves more than 75k.

Talk of wanting to play in a more central position are all farce in my opinion and if Walcott is offered a contract that matched his contributions to the team, am sure he would definitely put pen to paper. As things stand, we are walking on the well-trodden sale of best player every season path and as he would turn 24 in March, we would not be entitled to any form of compensation if he leaves.

For all of the weeks, months and years of grooming him, losing him on a free at a stage where he is maturing in his game, would be a devastating blow to Arsenal FC. But that won’t be a new scenario to us would it?
Hoping the international games this week clears the bad vibes within the team and hope they return better and in one piece for the North London Derby next weekend. More on that as the week progress

God bless the Arsenal. I ree o. 

No comments:

Post a Comment