CanadaGooner
In any other case one would agree that it is far too early to begin to draw inferences. Unfortunately, in Arsenal’s case, it isn’t. What our first game of the season tells us is that we still have the same bunch of toothless players who can only do well under minimal pressure; put them under any tiny bit of pressure, and they will consistently let you down. There’s no point blaming the goalkeeper (but I’m sure Chesney and Ospina would be unable to hold back a chuckle or two at home after that game – and who can blame them?).
I heard the phrase: “Cech can be my Van der Sar” and immediately, you cringe! There are a good few problems with that statement:
(1) Sorry Arsene, you are not Fergie!
(2) Van der Sar left Fulham, where he had won absolutely nothing, to ‘dreamland’ (Man Utd) where they had been winning everything anyway, and he helped them to win a bit more. Cech on the other hand, has left Chelsea, where he has won everything (including the Champions League) and where he has become surplus to requirements, to join a team that went 8 seasons with nothing and only won 2 FA cups in almost 10 years. That, my friends, is the key difference. Van der Sar got the chance of a lifetime, Cech has nothing to prove and is unlikely to be a success at Arsenal, because he won’t see us as a step up, as Van der Sar saw Man Utd.
All that aside, I read a very interesting article last week, which related to Roy Keane accusing Arsenal players of spending too much time taking selfies, and Oxlade-Chamberlain responding to him by telling him times have changed and if Keane had an iPhone in his footballing prime, he would have been taking selfies too. Again, a few problems with that line Mr.Ox:
(1) I very much doubt Keane would have been taking selfies even if iPhones were around in his days; as he just wants to win trophies
(2) Yes, Ox, times have changed. We are now in an era where a striker doesn’t have to score any goals but will receive a report card stating how many passes he completed and how many kilometres he covered during the match; and most interestingly, what his speed of running is (both from a standing position and from a moving position: his acceleration was x km/hr etc.). The sport has been buried under statistics because a bunch of media-graduates and glossy-haired pundits like Jamie Redknapp are lining their pockets at SKY, churning out all that crap! Gone are the days when a striker is brought in to score goals and if he isn’t scoring goals he knows he has some work to do. Today, it’s all gone so silly, to the point where some half-baked sprinter (looking for publicity) even challenges Theo Walcott and Hector Bellerin to a race (love or hate Wenger; thank goodness he forbade such silliness; or we would have had good old Wally and Ballerina heading off to SKY SPORTS to race against this fellow and make more money, while their day job further becomes a sideshow)
(3) The first 20 minutes of the game and indeed, the final 30 mins, tells it all: we should concentrate on the FA Cup again this season, as it is probably our only realistic chance of winning any trophy
After nearly 10 years of every pundit in the land, CORRECTLY predicting that Arsenal will not win the league, this summer brought a glimmer of hope, with at least half the pundits claiming that because Chelsea and Man City have not spent so much more than other clubs this summer, Arsenal may finally turn-up this season as contenders. Well, at least we know we do not have ‘Invincibles’ playing for us this season as we have already thrown the easiest of starts away; thanks to a typically toothless and tactless display.
Wenger has never been able to motivate his players or change a game, when it needs tactical changes. His first years of victories coincided with a bunch of players who didn’t require motivating and were trophy-hungry. If they had a manager who could motivate, those teams would have added the Champions League and countless other trophies to their haul, and they would have dominated the Premiership for years! That said, how many managers could have fit that bill? (only two: Fergie and Mourinho; and if one is being really critical, it is actually only Fergie. Mourinho is an idiot who the British press have seen as their cash-cow (he will always be a puppet; will always deliver them some drama to print; and in his stupidity, thinks he is the darling of the press and British public – what an idiot!).
Apparently, it is only a matter of time before Arsenal to win the Premier League again (according to Mourinho), because of the law of averages: perhaps I need to introduce him to Liverpool? Spurs? And countless other teams? (after all, only five teams have so far won the Premiership since it started in 1992); so, even the dumbest maths student would know that such laws of averages do not apply. But the press lapped it right up and made silly stories out of it, when it would have been so easy to point out to him how stupid his comments are. Alas! We live in a new world (according to the Ox), where it’s all about generating material for the press (be it selfies or dumb comments). And who am I to complain? (although I am not getting paid for this article, there must be a reason I’m spending my spare time typing it up? We’re all part of the ‘new world’ of self-publication and speeches and stats? --- perhaps the press are not to blame for everything?)
In closing, this result tells us a few things:
(1) It is highly unlikely we will win the league; even with 37 games left to go!
(2) Wenger is still the same old Wenger: good manager, poor motivator and very poor tactician.
(3) If one day we coincidentally find another group of players who just want to win and want to win trophies (not accumulate statistics), we will be back winning; and it won’t be thanks to Wenger, it will just be good fortune
Enjoy the season Gooners! Hopefully a third consecutive FA Cup for us!
