Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Steve Bould
Not official yet but apparently Steve Bould is the man who will take Pat Rice’s place beside Arsene Wenger next season. It’s hard to know how appointments like this will turn out. As fans we know less about the impact different coaching staff make. But Steve Bould is Arsenal through and through and was a class act as a player.

If he can add some discipline and awareness to our defence he will have a big impact. Instinctively this feels like a good decision. Some hoped for Tony Adams but I suspect that might not have been a happy working relationship. Until he makes it or decides not to make it as a manager I think that he could make a brooding number two.

So good luck to Steve and also Neil Banfield who steps up from Reserve Manager to join Boro Primovic as a first team coach. More preparations made early for next season. Encouraging stuff, but so much still hangs on the last game.

The New Kit
Another preparation for next year has also been announced. The new kit. Don’t like it. I mean it’s not terrible is it, just completely uninspired.

“Err, what shall we do this time. Dunno, could just stick some hoops on the sleeves and socks I suppose……three hours later…….yeah, that’ll do, some hoops. What’s a popular colour other than red or white?”

Do we have to have a new kit if that’s the best we can do?

Bye bye Blackburn.
Their chances were already slim and they needed a win. But Wigan wanted a win too and they got it. They’re safe now and Blackburn are down. Wigan and Martinez deserve it for the type of football they play in the Premier League on the budget they have.

Steve Keen has done his dignified best but Blackburn have neither survived or endeared. There are plenty of rumours about how little Blackburn’s owners really understood about the realities of the Premier League. No doubt they get it now.

So now it’s down to QPR and Bolton. Owen Coyle’s team need to win and hope that QPR fail to get a point. Given that QPR have to play Title-hunting Man City, whilst Bolton play Stoke, I’d say that Bolton have a decent chance. But still only a slim one. Hope they pull it off.

Well that was hard work but so satisfying at the finish.  Newcastle came with a good plan and nearly pulled it off. Tiote and Cabaye worked hard to close down midfield space.  Ba and Ben Arfa surged into the box when they could.  But mostly they couldn’t because Arsenal put in one of their best team performances of the season.

Plenty has been written about Robin Van Persie, and we can’t deny how crucial he is, but last night was about Arsenal the team.  They all worked and worked. Arteta, Song and Rosicky worked so hard to overcome the stifling midfield.  They were patient too, going back to Vermaelen and Koscielny when they had to in order to keep possession.  And did they keep possession!  For a lot of the game Arsenal had the ball 70% of the time, Tim Krul for 20% of the time and Newcastle’s outfield players for the rest.

Sagna and Walcott had the beating of starting leftback Santon all the first half.  At the break Newcastle swapped him for Perch who did better but still couldn’t keep Walcott out.  It was definitely one of Walcott’s best performances. I know he sees himself as a striker, but last night he was a great winger.  He combined perfectly with Sagna and really delivered final passes that made a difference.  He had a role in both goals and set up plenty more chances as well.  He won our man of the match poll.

Rosicky had another great game (and was second choice for man of the match), though perhaps looked a little less energetic than recently.  Perhaps that was just because the Newcastle midfield kept pressing.

Until recently, the sight of Arsenal conceding the first goal would fill you with dread.  But now it means a quick glance at the clock to see how much time they’ve got left to work with.  Because this Arsenal team now seems to want a win no matter what.  We set a strange record last night.  First Premier League team to win four consecutive games despite going behind in each.

Obviously it would be better not to concede so many opening goals, but it says a massive amount about the ‘never say die’ attitude the team has developed.  The sort of attitude that had Thomas Vermaelen sprint the length of the pitch to put the last minute winner in from three yards out.  Arsenal so badly wanted that winner, right in the dying seconds, that despite two forwards leaping and missing the cross we had another two free players in the box to take it on.  Brilliant determination.  It’s the sort of commitment that we’ve grudgingly admired in the likes of Manchester United and I love it as much as the silky smooth stuff.  Earlier this season, some fans moaned that we lacked the pride and grit of Adams, Keown, Parlour etc. and they had a point.  Not last night.

So, what was that about minding the gap?  Twelve points did you say?  I don’t quite remember.  The gap now is behind Arsenal and Chelsea, back to Liverpool and Newcastle.  Things could still change, but it’s shaping up for a three-way fight for third and fourth.  Arsenal just need to prepare for every game like it’s the final decider of the season and we’ll see which of the three teams cracks.  On the evidence of last night it won’t be Arsenal.

Not an easy game this, with one or two players in slightly stuttering form.  It was a strange contrast to the obvious party atmosphere around the ground before kick-off.

What did work well for the most part was the re-organized back four.  Having four central defenders didn’t prove a problem against Everton.  Apart from Djourou losing track of things a bit towards the end, they were pretty faultless.  Obviously they are going to have to work a lot harder next Sunday against Manchester City.

The goal, when it came, was a peach. Such technique from two players.  First, an inch perfect pass from Song.  Second, well what you say?  That’s got to such a hard thing to do.  Control the pace and direction of a volley on a ball coming from behind you and across your body.  Most players wouldn’t even have attempted it. If Van Persie had instead taken a touch just to receive and control it we’d have been impressed, but he whacked it into the far corner of the goal. Perfection.

Alex Song won our man of the match poll.  It was interesting, in the few hours straight after the game, Van Persie was clearly ahead, but by this morning Song was the winner.  I guess the voting immediately after the game is dominated by those who have seen the scored and scorer.  Then later when people have seen the game on TV or on-line you get a more considered opinion.

All-in-all, a good day’s work against a well organized backdrop of nostalgia.

I’m still in two minds about the statues. Herbert Chapman?  Obviously.  Adams and Henry, well why not, but what about Brady, George and Bergkamp?  Maybe it’s just an age thing.   But life-size lumps of bronze are a long-term thing anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m pondering rather than whinging!  It was all a great celebration of by far the greatest club the world has ever seen.

So today we are fourth.  We could still be fourth by the end of tomorrow of course if Manchester City beat Chelsea. Is that what we want?

When I joked about this to a Chelsea fan at work his reply was: “so Arsenal gave given up on winning the title then?”.  I guess the honest answer, after the fiasco of the Fabregas/Nasri business and the ensuing disastrous start to the season, is that I probably have and that I will be well satisfied with a top-four finish.

I do think that we could still do better than fourth.  Chelsea may have got some confidence and organisation back but there are some serious holes in their squad.  Manchester United have some gaps too.  There’s still plenty to play for.  But is the top spot still on offer?  Could Man City choke?

We’ll have to see, and Arsenal fans have seen such a thing happen to league leaders!  Today though, fourth looks pretty good and I’m content to aim for one place gain at a time.

It was such a wonderfully bonkers game of football. Hard to believe. In the first half neither side defended well. In the second half, Arsenal tightened things up but Chelsea, if anything, got worse.

That’s not to say it was a game without skill. It was a game full of brilliant moments, but it had a kind of recklessness that left you breathlessly wondering what on earth the outcome would be. It wasn’t until Robin Van Persie got number five that I really let myself believe we’d done it.

Of the three goals we conceded, two were a familiar failing, an attacking player given too much opportunity to attack a cross. A setback for Mertesacker after games where he has looked more and more solid. The third was a shot from Mata with the power and direction to beat Szczesny. Lukaku blocked Santos from intervening, Song arrived fractionally too late and Szczesny was six inches short of a save.

Szczesny though had some luck to stay on the pitch. If he had got a red card for a charging tackle that sent Cole flying it would have been hard to argue with. But it was yellow only. ‘Well it was only Ashley Cole’, says my wife in a tone that questioned whether referee Marriner should even have stopped play. This has, I suspect, more to do with the way Cole treated Cheryl than his Cashley Cole departure from Arsenal but never mind.

Anyway, enough negatives because we won. And we did it with fizzing style and passion across the team.

Song and Koscielny were fantastic. They put in a huge game to keep Chelsea from playing through the middle. Koscielny is smashing through the assumption that he will give way to the recovering Vermaelen. It’s great because we need all three. At our defensive best we could choose two from Adams, Keown and Bould – and be confident of any pairing.

But this wasn’t a game about great defenders. It was a game about fluid attacking and this time we were on the right end of it.

Goal one had two great elements. Aaron Ramsey threaded a great Cesc-like pass into the box for Gervinho. Inch perfect with the right weight and timing to keep him and Van Persie onside. Then, rather than claiming the chance of a goal himself, Gervinho made scoring a certainty by squaring the ball to Van Persie. The first of two Arsenal equalizers.

Straight after half-time came another equalizer. This one had a magic moment two with Song receiving the ball and turning away from the marking Chelsea player in a single fluid movement that opened up space. Santos, who had laboured through the first-half, was charging down the left, Bosingwa was way out of position and the Brazilian finished past the flailing Cech. Two-all.

Next up with a special display was Theo Walcott. He had a great game altogether, but this bit was terrific. After a foul by Ashley Cole on the touchline, Arsenal took a quick freekick that sent Walcott on a weaving run through a bunch of five defenders. He was brought down and the Chelsea players paused to glance at the referee. Walcott didn’t pause at all. He was back on his feet, switching the ball right foot, left foot, right foot and through on goal. Cech beaten at the near post again. Three – two.

Could we hold on to this? No. Mata gets his equalizer. Whatever next in this bonkers game? John Terry blundering! Malouda gave him a back pass he could have done without. It was too heavy and the opposite side to the way he was moving. As he turned to chase it he lost his balance and went down. Van Persie charged past to go one on one with Cech. No contest. Four-three!

Surely we can hold on now I thought. Arsene Wenger had brought on Rosicky and Vermaelen to grab hold tight to three points. But Chelsea hadn’t given up and attacked too.

The decider came after Rosicky showed the spirit that typified Arsenal’s game. Risking a boot in the face, he dipped his head to take the ball away from an attacking player on the edge of the box. Then he surged forward and passed, to set up a three against two at the other end. Goal number five. Van Persie’s hat-trick. Our first away win of the season – at Stamford Bridge. Arsene Wenger’s 500th Arsenal victory. Sweet.

Robin Van Persie was run-away man of the match of course!

We’ve still got a lot to do this season, but we’re back in this thing now.

C’mon you Gunners!

PS. Does anyone remember what Torres cost? It’s slipped my mind somehow;-).

OK, I know I’m slow on this one and you’ve probably already seen it, but it’s a great video so I’m not going to miss out. All the big highs and some of the lows of being an Arsenal fan right back to my earliest memories.

Cesc, Nasri, Sol, Viera, Edu, Michael Thomas, Tony Adams, Highbury, Charlie George, Frank McLintock, Bob Wilson…. fantastic!

C’mon Arsenal!

If you’re interested in where the sound track comes from it’s Al Pacino in ‘Any Given Saturday and you can see the original here.

Koscielny will apparently be an Arsenal player by the end of the week.  I think that this is good news, though he’s not a player that most English fans no much about.

But he is a central defender and he isn’t a teenager so I think he fits the bill for the more pragmatic transfer window policy I think Arsenal need this summer.   If we sort out the defence and goalkeeping situation with quality players then I for one wouldn’t complain if we didn’t buy another midfielder or forward.

But Koscielny isn’t enough on his own.  We are losing three central defenders.  We need to get two in. When Arsenal had it’s most solid defence of recent years the manager could reliably choose any two from Adams, Bould and Keown. Or even play all three at once to win two nil at Anfield and clinch the title! And we had Andy Linighan as well.  This isn’t a plea to return to the Arsenal of Don Howe but we won’t win a title conceding the number of goals that we do.

So we need another central defender. Subotic would be good and Vertonghen also sounds promising.  I’m not so sure about Mertesacker.  I’ve only seen him on the telly during the World and European Cups and I don’t think he’s been that convincing.  He looks indecisive and not a particularly great tackler.  I still think that some team is going to take Germany’s central defenders apart in South Africa.

Goalkeeping gossip all seems to be about Schwarzer.  I think he is better than what we have, but I hope for someone even better.  Chamakh came on a free, so would the rumoured Joe Cole.  Koscielny is rumoured to be coming for between eight and ten million.  Surely we can afford more than four million for a keeper?

There is gossip now that more surplus Man City players are linked with Arsenal.  The Emirates seems to be Rumour Central this summer!

Not sure how much worth commenting on the Wright-Phillips and de Jong stories are but hey, it’s summer England are out of the World Cup and this is a blog right?  A player like de Jong would be a sensible buy.  Arsenal need more depth and Eastmond isn’t ready yet.  Denilson and Diaby are only good enough as defensive midfielders against weak opposition, they are better going forwards (where we are over-run with players, but that’s a different issue).  Song will play in the African Nations Cup every two years and needs some cover/competition.  And sometimes Arsenal could do with two holding players to see out wins against the best opposition.

Not sure what the point of Wright-Phillips would be. At the moment he seems to be defined as ‘speedy right-winger who doesn’t get enough crosses in’.  Think we’ve got that role covered as deep as we need at the moment.