OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS?

I get uncomfortable when the Arsenal receive praise of any kind. I don’t like our club being the centre of attention, I cringe when pundits extol our virtues, I groan when there is a consensus that we are going to do this or that. I like it low profile. Fortunately there has been more focus on DiCanio, Moyes, Mourinho and a host of others to occupy the media spotlight.

We are just quietly getting on with the business of winning games: pretty much adopting that cliché “one game at a time”. That approach suits this group of players. They seem a modest bunch who have grown into a resilient unit. That resilience was sadly lacking in previous seasons and now we see a galvanised team who at times capture the spirit of the Arsenal Way.

We have seen what a touch of real quality brings in Ozil’s contribution, his control and passing are a cut above and one can’t help but wonder what might have been had we added just one player of his quality each season. Having an injury ravaged squad seems to have bought the best out of those players who now have to be relied upon and we have seen Ramsey flourish, Flamini show real grit, Giroud gain confidence and Sagna recapture the form of the reliable player we have seen over the years. The rest seem to be digging deep at this early stage and it will be interesting to see how things develop as more squad members return from the treatment room. Some might say we are simply taking advantage of the instabilities elsewhere in the league but if so, what of it? that's like criticising a boxer for taking advantage of an opponents weaknesses.

Today we have the dreaded 5:30 kick off in a foreign field against a team who play the game the right way and have proved to be tricky customers in the past and I for one embrace it. We have to have the mentality that says ‘bring it on’ for every fixture and against every opponent: that’s the arsenal way.

Of course there is a long journey ahead of us in this season of optimism and adversity so nobody need get carried away but one couldn’t ask for much more with the start to the season we have had. Seeking perfection would be churlish so let’s just sit back in quiet satisfaction and see what “one game at a time brings” maybe opportunity has finally come knocking.

Comments

Reasons to be cheerful?

So November arrives with cold weather and grey skies. Arsenal sit in 2 nd place with a great chance to make progress in the Carling Cup with a home draw against wigan Athletic. Poised to win our Champions league group and with six months of the season left have 3 of our five tougher away fixtures out of the way, having taken a respectable 4 from 9. I say respectable as, the Man City away trip aside the draw at Anfield on the occasion of Hodgson’s first game was a good result and the Chelsea game I don’t think anyone can really speak of any injustice. That leaves away games at Old Trafford and Sp*rs (who as we know raise their game for this fixture). With injured players gradually returning and the Polish goalkeepers showing signs of optimism, we’re in relatively good shape. Or so you’d think. Yesterday at the Emirates West Ham were put to the sword late on after some stout defending, a good performance from Robert Green and a couple of missed opportunities. The level of indign...

There's something rotten in the state of Denmark

A number of blogs are pointing out what was evident to me yesterday; as a season ticket holder and Silver member i like thousands of others made plans to purchase an additional ticket for the Barcelona game using the frustrating and irritating online service, but guess what? no joy, just lots of waiting finger tapping and watching the dreaded 'loading' bar (to make matters worse I had asked my missus to do this as I was doing training). But no one got these additional tickets, that is no supporters judging by the general feedback! It seems to me that the additional seats will have probably gone to customers of a corporate nature. Ultimately for such a marquee (to use an American commercialism term) game I suspect that the club where never going to sell to supporters of the club, there is clearly a undercurrent at the Emirates that the club wants to have the stadium full of customers ie; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ognvWIwjKTQ The Emirates of the future? It will be interesti...

PERSONALITY TEST

Played 23, 10 defeats, 4 draws and 9 victories; that's the factual bit out of the way. What does that tell us? I guess it is a set of statistics that reasonably reflect a mid table team. How we got here is something that countless column inches and hours of debate have gone into. How we move forward is the bigger question. Naturally, learning from past mistakes is a key element to moving forward but have Arsenal Football Club done that? Have Arsenal Football Club realised that a clear vision and plan is needed? When you look at the current squad its relatively easy to see where the strenghts are, and the weaknesses. The manager too, has strengths and weaknesses but one thing that is intangible is the personality of the club. Not so much "where are we" as "what are we?" To know what the club is is to know what the upper echelons think, what their plan and philosophy is and how the manager processes that information. We can assume that the club decision makers wa...

ARSENALISM©

Search This Blog