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The positive of a poor start

Reflections from the weekend

7 November, 2011 9:00 22 comments
The positive of a poor start

Jenkinson: Good performance

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Over the past few seasons a complacency has set in at Arsenal, thinking ourselves better than we actually were. Great one day (Barcelona at home) and s**t the next (Carling Cup Final). If the appalling start to this season did anything positive, it completely stripped away that complacency with one humbling blow after another. You don't think you're better than you are once you've conceded eight goals and are the only side that Blackburn can beat.

This is slowly starting to work in our favour, and Saturday’s win against West Brom adds another to a consistent run. Arsenal were confident from the start. Passing was precise and control of the game was ours. West Brom never threatened a defence marshalled by Vermaelen and a two-goal lead at half time taken from the limited chances we had created was as welcome as it was comfortable.

Football at the E******s this season has been hard work at times. Too often an obligatory sufferance rather than something to look forward to. That's starting to change. Slowly, a swagger is forming as the players get to know each other. A team is slowly emerging just as the people who go to the lengths of paying for an 'Arsène out' banner begin to disappear from view.

Of course it helps that West Brom were woeful, but at the moment the glass is just over half full, and I'm not going to complain about beating a poor team three-nil at home while the start of the season remains in mind. West Brom were s**t, but so were we, not so long ago. You wouldn't know that as we swept forward for the third, final and best goal of the trio, as Van Persie teed up Arteta for his first goal at the E******s.

A final word for my man of the match, Carl Jenkinson. Few players have been asked to make the step up that he has, and without time to bed in. As Arsenal were poor, he seemed way out of his depth, but as the team grows in confidence so too does the life-long Gooner. He always looks like a kid who's lost his bike, but Carl Jenkinson is starting to spend his lottery win of an Arsenal career very well indeed.

In a world where even the average Premier League footballer might as well come from Mars, such is the disconnect, you look at Jenkinson and see yourself somehow playing for the Arsenal. He's living our dream with nothing but the best of wishes from the fans he left in the stands to take to the pitch.

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22
comments

  1. Crofty

    Nov 09, 2011, 11:19 #14897

    Agree, and despite not signing the world class players we were hoping for. what a differance after new players have time to bed in at a new club, if only they had arrived at the beginning of the transfer window!!

  2. TheWineMouse

    Nov 09, 2011, 3:49 #14895

    Jenkinson was thrown in the deep end and has won me over with each game hes played.Great crosses as well.Good player!

  3. johnnyh

    Nov 08, 2011, 23:54 #14893

    spot on about carl jenkinson. the kid has been thrown in at the deep end and after unsurprisingly struggling at first is now starting to show real promise.

  4. The Happenning

    Nov 08, 2011, 19:23 #14890

    The stand out point in your article Joe is the young Jenkinson, a very admirable young footballer! As for the rest of our squad, they're just finally pulling up their sleeves and doing some work!

  5. Ernie

    Nov 08, 2011, 10:01 #14883

    It begs the question what if Wenger admitted Cesc and Nasri were never going to stay and gone out and bought in July and not on deadline day where would we be now.But Wenger is a stubborn old fool.He kept feeding us bull about Cesc and Nasri staying.He will make the same mistake again in january when he will say the squad doesnt need strengthening.Chamakh and Park as back up to RVP and we dont need strengthing!!!! Flappy as back up keeper!!!!

  6. Radfordkennedy

    Nov 08, 2011, 9:51 #14882

    Could't agree more with regards to jenkinson,we all know as i suspect he does that he doesn't possess god given talent,but he makes up for it in the amount of effort and hard work he puts in.Every now and then a player comes along who fans refer to as an 'Arsenal'man and i think young Carl is certainly in that category. I felt he was badly let down by players like djourou,and was left chasing shadows at OT and trying to cover for other more senior players who were woefully out of position,but to his credit he kept his nerve and just kept working at it,which a great many of us have admired. He does remind me somewhat of Pat Rice in his playing days always willing to run and put a shift in for the team,and assuming that in 2-3 years time when he starts to really shine and we don't sell him to Citeh or Barca for £25m,it would't suprise me if he goes on to be a future captain for us.

  7. will

    Nov 08, 2011, 8:25 #14881

    Good post but we need to keep in mind that the squad is paper thin quality wise. Too many of the quality players are seriously injured and the back ups are not good enough. Its the quality of the bench that makes the difference after Christmas. Wenger rarely buys in the January window so unless September really was a wake up call I suspect we will hear the same old stuff about "happy with the quality in the squad" and limp through Feb, Mar, April wondering what might have been if only he'd bought a couple of players.

  8. Dan h

    Nov 07, 2011, 19:30 #14878

    @chrisy boy i posted in the summer during the debacle of the Cesc & Nasri sales RVP had been to see AW & asked would we be making quality signings nothing was confirmed.This meeting has since become common knowledge.If ambition is shown the club will keep it's top players RVP included they have the resouces to pay big contracts don't anyone be fooled they can't.They obviously can't match City & Chelsea but the wage bill has been wasted on overpaid squad players some we have now thankfully shifted.There is a surplus from the summer transfer dealings this needs to be used in january regardless of injuries. We now need to add quality the lessons from august need to be learned the last six weeks have shown how much better a settled squad performs.AW has talked about the team not becoming complacent lets hope that message also starts reaching the board because if it does we can really start moving forward.

  9. Robert

    Nov 07, 2011, 18:23 #14877

    Fans love a trier ie Parlour.Thats why Eboue Denilson Diaby and Bendtner were never loved.They picked up their £50k a week with no thought of putting the effort in.Jenks has taken over from Comedy Eboue as Sagna's deputy but i have yet to see him dive and cheat

  10. chrisy boy

    Nov 07, 2011, 17:57 #14876

    looking at our fixtures between now and the end of the year its only the citeh game that we could come away from without any points, if that is the case RVP and THOMAS V as captain and vice captain should go to wenger and the board and demand quality signings in january and at the same time the board should offer RVP £100.000 a week and a 3 year deal and maybe this season may turn out to be better than we all feard. Agree about jenkinson this lad can go all the way

  11. maguiresbridge gooner

    Nov 07, 2011, 16:46 #14875

    good read joe we are definitely on a roll but not out of the woods yet pity international break had to come now.

  12. Oxy-Moron

    Nov 07, 2011, 16:24 #14874

    Spot on about Jenkinson, MOTM by a country mile. The worry was that the OT debacle would ruin him before he had even begun his Arsenal career, but fortunately it doesn't appear be so.

  13. Dan h

    Nov 07, 2011, 16:08 #14873

    Jenkinson you can see how much he really wants to be playing for us & making the most of his chance.He also puts over a mean cross & you can't fault his workrate compare that to our previous back up Eboue totally different levels of desire & commitment.People like myself have been critical of the club's management the summer was a joke which definatly was the reason for the start we endured.The signs are more positive lots of hard work ahead.

  14. scorp

    Nov 07, 2011, 14:12 #14871

    hey thats nice of you to offer such kind words to jenkinson.. fair play mate..

  15. Elvis

    Nov 07, 2011, 14:12 #14870

    Give me one Jenkinson for a hundred Eboues and Diaby any day.How much has Diaby been paid this season?

  16. Jimmy

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:51 #14869

    Good piece Joe and spot on about Jenkinson. It's great to have players like him, Jack and Ramsey at the club who I feel a real affinity towards. That's an undervalued ingredient in my opinion and one which has been missing for too long. As fans, all we can ask of players that they give their all and there's no question that Carl was doing that on Saturday at both ends of the pitch. Sure, he's a bit rough around the edges, but so were Dixon and Winterburn before Georgie got his hands on them.

  17. Gee

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:30 #14868

    Good stuff as usual Joe. Agree fully re Jenkinson. In my opinion he was stitched up at OT when we concede 8 and he was sent off. Djourou and co that day did not deserve to wear the shirt. Absolute disgrace. However Jenkinson has always continued to keep his head down and work his socks off. I said last year that I'd rather see 11 lads putting in 100% with less talent than a bunch of talented imbeciles who offer very little in work rate. Jenkinson has opitimised this. He has a great engine, reads the game well and has a nice first touch and superb crossing abilities. But his attitude and willingness to work is absolutely top class. He's 19 and never played at the top level. His performances v Udinese were excellent and he imptoves every game.

  18. Rocky RIP

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:24 #14867

    I agree with this article. We used to see our team show complacency, possibly not taking the opposition seriously enough, and get punished for coasting. They'd then say they'd learned the lessons, but clearly hadn't. What happened at the start of this season hopefully gave the whole club a massive wake up call. Fans included. We can't simply turn up expecting a comfortable home win. Which is why when we got one on Saturday it was hugely welcome. We also know even a 4-0 lead isn't a comfortable one (!)Too many fans used to think 'job done' and head for the exits. 4-2 up heading towards 90 minutes against ***** the other year, there was too much complacency from the fans and players alike. One transmits to the other. The players see empty seats and maybe start to switch off as a feeling of 'game over' creeps in. Unforgivable. Hopefully, our fans have learned a few lessons about complacency too. It's a collective effort to see our team over the line in EVERY game. Especially that lot.

  19. GoonerRon

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:17 #14866

    A fair assessment, Joe, I too think the glass is over half full at the moment. Wenger has taken some flak for saying 4th is the extent of our ambition but I think that is right as based on our current position we have to keep the momentum going from game to game. By Christmas things will have settled down a bit - Newcastle play Man U, Citeh and Chelsea, Chelsea play Liverpool and Citeh and Liverpool also play Citeh, all of which leads up to our game against Citeh before Christmas. Therefore all teams above us will be dropping points during which time I hope we can continue to make steady progress in winnable fixtures (did they exist in August?) against teams we should look to beat. At that point, perhaps we can re-callibrate our expectations.

  20. Ron

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:02 #14865

    Great point about Jenkinson and 'lottery win' career. We ve not had many Charlie George's since the 70s whos rise to fame came much like youg Jenkinson's might pan out. Similar feelings about him though as you say. Not near so outrageous as Charlie of course (who ever was) but theres a real honesty about Jenkinson.

  21. WHL87

    Nov 07, 2011, 13:02 #14864

    I was as critical of our start as the next man - and most importantly the procrastination in the transfer window that led to it but this team is starting to come together. He may not have the quality of tool in his box that he's used to working with but the team are playing to a pattern again and, for that, Arsene deserves credit. For all the talent that left in the summer, it really does make a difference when the players with us now actually want to be here. Wenger used to wind me up no end banging on about our mythical team spirit. You know what, when you've genuinely got team spirit, you don't have to bang on about it. Long may it last.

  22. itchyballs

    Nov 07, 2011, 12:11 #14861

    spot on-great article-might i also give a special mention for the much maligned in certain quarters...."kozzer"!never put a foot wrong.we may just have a gem on our hands here...