ARSENALISM©

Process, what process? Arteta's mantra is "trust the process" and part of that process has been a meritocracy approach to team selection and a commitment to letting youth have it's day. But it seems that these pillars of the process are jettisoned on a whim of tactical fiddling about. Any philosophy that stands scrutiny has to have consistency and a belief in principals and the current Arsenal manager is too easily swayed from the path. A risk averse approach is something of a default under Arteta and this comes into play when there is a degree of pressure. Last night's game at Goodison Park was on the back of an avoidable defeat at Old Trafford where the selection of Elneny was misjudged and on that basis the team selection had a safety first feel about it. Everton are and have been very poor this season and this game may have been an opportunity to bounce back with a positive performance, but no. The return of Xhaka, a half fit Tierney and the selection of an un...

As someone with no vested interest in this season’s Champions League there was a fixture that caught my eye; Manchester City v PSG. So I thought I’d find out a bit more about them.  MANCHESTER CITY:majority owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group whose investment, according to Human Rights Watch,is intended to launder the image of the repressive authoritarian regime in Abu Dhabi and construct a public relations image of a progressive, dynamic Gulf state, which deflects attention from what is really going on in the country. V PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN : Owned by Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, through state-run shareholding organization Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Significant human rights issues in Qatar include restrictions on free expression, including criminalization of libel; restrictions on peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including prohibitions on political parties and labor unions; restrictions on migrant workers’ freedom of movement; limits on the ability...

  And lo, there was a weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in North London as the stark reality of how far the Arsenal have fallen from the once giddy heights, finally registered with the optimists and pessimists alike. I say 'giddy heights', what I mean is the year in year out European qualification, the FA Cup Wins, The European Finals and Semi Finals, the victories over Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd and Chelsea, yes the overachievement of recent years. That's right, over achievement. I'm not talking about the title challenges, Championships and imperious unbeaten season because that's all pre-Emirates. The point at which we find ourselves is directly related to our abandoning of one of the great football stadiums in world football for purely fiscal reasons, or should I say greed? We were told that the intention was to make the Arsenal more competitive by increasing revenue and thus being able to recruit effectively giving us the personnel with which to compet...

  Dare I be positive? Yes I dare! The Arsenal are actively reducing the age profile of the squad. Tavares 21,  Lokonga 21, White 23 and the imminent Ramsdale 23 and Ødegaard 22 are all purchases that have a sell-on factor and regardless of the relative merits, seem to be planned, prudent and sensible acquisitions. Add to these players Saka 19, ESR 21, Tierney 24, Gabriel 23, Martinelli 20 and Balogun 20 and we are looking at an understandable and forward thinking plan. The caveat is that with a young set of players you need to play in a way that allows them to express themselves, you also need those senior pros at the club to set the standard, lead the way and give them a platform from which to develop. In my view Arteta is not the man to whom these raw gems should be entrusted as his approach is stifling. Nor do I feel the majority of senior pros at the club are the required role models. Because we have lumbered ourselves with a group of underachievers and those loitering in ...

  The opening weekend of the Premier League Season has bought Arsenal's place in the scheme of things into sharp focus. The teams that finished above and around us last term, by and large, have had a great start; scoring goals and being generally expansive. The fun we were going to make out of, Harry Kane-less Spurs has been well and truly kiboshed by there overturning of the champions. The Arsenal have come out of this weekend as the fall guys. The announcement of the extension of Granit Xhaka's contract and pay rise has arrived after a weekend of fan reflection and is hardly the sort of thing that will elevate spirits. A risk averse performance against the Premier League new boys was as predictable as it was expected. Put simply, our bloated squad full of players we can't off load due to ridiculous contracts is such that there is a reliance on youth and if you rely on youth you need to give them the platform in which to express themselves. They do not get that with the wa...

  Prone as I am to positivity when it comes to The Arsenal, let me tell you where I’m at; reality is going to hit hard. This club lost its grip on what the club means when it believed in Wenger’s economics. The move to the Emirates and the introduction of Gazidis was completely money motivated, but not money to put into the club but to be taken out. We then lay in bed with agents making stupid deals with stupid contracts that only benefit their clients and line pockets of those individuals at Arsenal only interested in what they can get from the club.  We got in Emery and then Arteta because they were cheap. Everything about the Kroenkes, Venkatesham and Edu seems to be about getting their piece of the pie It’s actually quite scandalous that we moved away from Highbury to earn more so that we could be competitive when in actual fact we earn more to line the pockets of the parasites draining the club dry We have become less competitive year on year as we continue making bad, ag...

Well that was interesting wasn't it? 8th place finish, more points than last season, no European football next season, no trophy and little to write home about. I think it's fair to say that Arteta's Arsenal underwhelmed. Highlights were few and far between; beating Sp*rs, beating ManUtd and beating Chelsea home and away were bright spots as were the emergence of Saka, ESR and Tierney as pivotal players. The low point of the season has to be the disastrous Europa League Semi final against old boy Emery's team. A tie that was mismanaged, fumbled and basically cocked up! The FA cup tie against Southampton was a game of stupid decision making and while we are on the subject of stupid decision making, the Willian deal has to rank alongside the Amaury Bischoff fiasco (only much more costly) in terms of nonsensical thinking. Oh, and we also had the European Super League debacle which shone a light on the total lack of disregard our owner has for football culture. The season e...

Quite a lot has been going on in the football world this week. So heres your roving reporter (me) with a brief summary. VAR: I strongly believe that it’s main function is to create breaks in play for advertising so as to mirror American Sport. That can be it’s only function AFC: We had become a club, in the second half of Wenger’s reign that accepted underachievement and for the sake of misguided principles and a risk averse Board and Ownership were always a couple of players away from being contenders Arteta: Our squad building has been bad for some time. Our squad is bang average and when you have a bang average squad those players that you come to rely on are a mixed bag. Unpredictable players like Luiz & Xhaka become key players. Because of lack of depth Tierney gets over played. Young players like Saka & ESR are over relied upon. You see a player like Ødegaard  and realise the sort of quality you need but you also have Ceballos who is inconsistent. Lacazette & Auba...

Thursday's fixture is by far the most important game in our season. Win it and we are one step nearer to a possible Europa League final and the chance to get back in the big time of the Champion's League. Lose, and its going to be a long few months. The Arsenal cannot afford to fall further behind the elite and therefore any chance we have to get back in the ECL needs to be firmly grasped. The economics of modern football, particularly in a post Covid world, absolutely require ECL football for revenue and the ability to attract players. It's not about being in a position to win it, as the Arsenal are light years behind the likes of PSG and Bayern Munich, but its an earner that's vital for any chance of our survival as an elite club. Its looking unlikely that a Europa League place is achievable via the league and aside from it being a rather irritating tournament, it would be important financially to be in Europe's second tear competition if ECL qualification doesn...

  Ennui-Sickert If you have non aspirational ownership, a risk averse board who specialise in flawed strategising, an inexperienced manager and an imbalanced squad then you have the perfect storm that gives you a mid table team. A part of all those elements has to change in order to change the trajectory of Arsenal Football Club. This is a daunting, some would say, unrealistic task. That’s my concern for the future of our club. We have been on this journey for a number of years, our destination was mid table mediocrity and this season we have arrived. The way that we do things as a club is littered with unclear thinking and decision making that does not stand up to scrutiny. Take the case of Martinez and Leno; Martinez had been at the club for a decade and when a chance presented itself he stepped up into the number one position and had a superb run in to the season that helped Arsenal win an FA Cup. The decision was made, once Leno was fit, to say to Martinez "so, Emilia...

Tomorrow The Arsenal (9th) face Liverpool (7th) in a fixture that has been rather meaningful over the years; particularly for the Gunners. FA Cup Finals, League Cup encounters, title deciders and top of the table tussles have good memories for both sets of fans. Saturday's encounter sees both managers in curious positions. Arsenal have a (still) new manager and are struggling to find a route back to the big time but have a European Quarter Final to look forward to as a silver lining for a disappointing season . Have an experienced and very successful manager and are struggling to get back to the dizzy heights of the last couple of seasons and have a European Quarter Final to look forward to as a silver lining for a disappointing season. Something I think we can expect from the game is goals as both teams are capable of tremendous highs going forward and lack of focus at the back.What the result will end up meaning in the context of the season is hard to gauge but both clubs fa...

Götterdämmerung Awaits  The beautiful game has bought us many mercurial players, many heroes and many all time greats. A lot depends on when you did your football watching, who you support and external matters more to do with the character of the players taken to heart. With Pele, Maradona, Cruyff and the like, they were generally without true competition for the title. Great players abounded around them, lets be clear about that, but the sort of player that stands at the summit finds himself in rarified atmosphere. That changed in our recent football watching lives as there have been two kings at the summit Messi and Ronaldo. Their achievements, statistics and moments of sheer magic are really quite remarkable. One is a one club man who has set new standards in ability, consistency and WTF moments, the other has proved himself in England, Spain and now Italy and has been machine like in his efficiency. put them together and you probably have a Frankenstein's Monster of the perfect...

  Burnley 1- 1 Arsenal, that's it, game over. Yes the pitch was a throwback to FA Cup pitches of the seventies. Yes we were denied a stone cold penalty and yes we threw away more points in this most irritating of Premier League campaigns; two this time. But, we were the architects of our own downfall. We shot ourselves in the foot, punched ourselves in the face and trod barefoot in our own urine. The Arsenal have dropped a massive 43 points in our 27 games so far and remain firmly anchored in the no man's land of 10th place. Unable to extricate ourselves  we are in the quagmire of mid table mediocrity. Drawing with Burnley is where we are as a club. Where we are placed in the table is an accurate reflection of Arsenal 2021. To all intents and purposes our league season is now condemned to a limping stumble towards the last game of the season; 11 games with little real chance of gaining the required points to finish in a position that gives meaningful European football. The lot...

In the 1975 Norman Jewison film Rollerball sports teams were run by companies. In the case of Houston, the featured team of the story, they were run by The Energy Company. A conglomerate that make decisions about the team based on expedience and the benefits of corporate-run society while expounding the importance of respecting executive decisions. This was a view of a 2018 sporting world and highlighted the role that sport would play in corporate perceptions and influence. Jewison predicted corporate influence but may have missed a trick in not foreseeing the role of nation states. Which brings us to Manchester City.  A club that currently sits on top of the domestic league with an impressive recent run of form that shows little sign of abating. This is a club with a squad of players that has been accumulated at great cost from the bottomless coffers of  the 78% majority ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and the 12% ownership of the American firm Silver Lake and...

  It's all go in mid table! Big week this. First we take on a  team that many so called experts are billing as a cross between The Harlem Globetrotters and Brazil '71. Now don't get me wrong, Manchester City are currently an excellent team on a roll, but if the 20/21 season has taught us anything, it's that nothing is a certainty. A positive result would do wonders as would a positive performance. I strongly believe that the days of the Wenger away humiliations is well and truly over so let's see what happens in todays 4:30 Kick Off. Then we have Benfica in our home fixture that takes place away. A positive outcome and we are in the last 16 where, frankly, lord knows what awaits. Benfica are one of world footballs recognised names but they are pretty much a 'not what they once were' team, however they still pose a threat with the away goals rule. I feel that should we get past them we stand as good a chance as any of doing well in the Europa League. After th...

The Europa League is a big trophy. There Iv'e said it. Not every club can win the Champions League, but being in it means a massive amount for a club, both in terms of perception and in financial terms. Being in the Champions League should also act as a hanging carrot come transfer window time.  For two decades Arsenal Football Club took qualification to Europe's  top table for granted, often at the expense of other ambition. There is an argument for saying that for a number of years, in that two decade stretch, we had no chance of winning it, but, you have to be in it to win it. The reality is that trophies are few and far between and there are a finite number of opportunities to win one. Last season the Arsenal were one of only 3 English clubs to win anything and that should not be overlooked. This season our one chance of adding to the trophy cabinet is in the Europa League and the double incentive is the bonus of qualification to theChampions League (something we are unlik...

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...

Let's face it, losing 2-1 away with 9 men to a world class finish is no disgrace, but that does not tell the full story of last night's game against Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was a game that Arsenal had under control during the first 45 minutes with a Pepe goal to take into the half time break. But there were an additional 4 minutes on which the game swung. Games can change on small moments and when Jose tripped over his own feet as he ran towards the approaching Bernd Leno, that small moment changed the course of events at Moliynuex. Referee Pawson incredibly decided to award a penalty and send off David Luiz who had, with the most glancing of touches, clipped the Wolves striker unintentionally. The subsequent penalty was converted and we went into the break with the momentum well and truly swung towards the team in gold. The second half was punctuated by two things. A wonder strike by Moutinho that no one could be prepared for, and Arsenal's second red card, rightly g...

  As Bob Dylan so eloquently put it “The times they are a-changing” and at Arsenal Football Club they are a-changing for what seems the a-better. This change is exemplified with the succession of departures from the bloated squad of Özil, Mustaphi, Kolasinac and Sokratis. These four players say a lot about how we arrived, as a club, into the minor leagues from the majors. The arrival of an elite player in Özil, in our case, was all about telling the world that we were still big boys in the playground. The salary handed out initially was commensurate with the profile of the player but what was irksome was the fact that he, seemingly, could pick and choose which games he deigned to play in. The latitude that he was given is reminiscent of that given to Derek Rodman by the Chicago Bulls, but guess what? Rodman delivered.  Özil was perhaps at his best when playing with Alexis Sanchez (for my money the last real elite player to play for us) and when Sanchez angled for a get out the...

A fair bit of what youngsters call "Banter" flying around about the merits of that club on the Seven Sisters Road. Earlier in the season when they were going to win the league, the perception was that they need not concern themselves with the trials and tribulations of Arsenal Football Club, but now that they have slowly slid down the league table they have lazily gone to their default happy place of making comparisons. As we all know, they are perennial victims of premature elation, and when that bubble inevitably bursts they revert to type. With that in mind I thought rather than getting into pointless debate I would just present some facts: Since winning the league Spurs 60 years (2) Arsenal 17 years (13) Since winning the FA Cup Spurs 23 years (8) Arsenal 6 months (14) Since winning a European Trophy Spurs 37 years (3) Arsenal 27 years (2) Since winning a trophy of any kind Spurs 13 years (League Cup) Arsenal 6 months (FA Cup) Head to head Spurs won 60 Arsenal won 77 Comb...

The FA Cup; that's gone. the Care Less Cup; kaput. The Premier League title; nope. So that leaves the Europa League. not only is it the sole chance for silverware but it's a ticket into the promised land (where we resided for two decades). If we fail to successfully negotiate the Benfica tie we will be left with just thirteen League games, a potential 39 points, to climb the table and gain European qualification, and who knows where we will be come 27th February. However, if we defeat Benfica we move forward to a mixed bag of remaining teams. Some good, some ok and some completely unknown quantities. What's clear is that is won't be a stroll it will be a long brisk walk. Olympiacos PSV Young Boys Krasnodar Dinamo Zagreb Braga Roma Slavia Prague Crvena zvezda Milan Real Sociedad Dynamo Kyiv Club Brugge Wolfsberg Tottenham LOSC Ajax M. Tel-Aviv Shakhtar Donetsk Granada Napoli Molde Hoffenheim Salzburg Villarreal Antwerp Rangers My concern is that two English clubs are pot...

As a long-suffering Arsenal supporter I’ve seen players that have been characterised as having a cult following. These are players that are heavy on personality and vary from the mercurial to the eccentric. The sort of players that are, a bit of us, on the pitch. Then there's Mesut Özil. I cannot recall an Arsenal player who has been deified by his followers to the same extent as he has. An idealised, heroic and worshipful image has been created by his followers; and by the term 'his followers' they are exactly that. He is perhaps the epitome of the modern phenomenon where global reach has resulted in fandom for individual players, with the club they play for being a secondary consideration.  Using the techniques of social media to create an idealised  persona he and his advisors have cultivated a cult based on social engineering. With this sort of cult of personality you end up with acolytes who base their worship on abstract ideas of their object of worship as a cross bet...

"In our stadium, against the enemy, we could not lose"-Bacary Sagna 26/2/12 A fair bit on social media about Thierry Henry's goal against Leeds at The Emirate in his comeback game when he returned on loan in 2012, and as someone who was there on the night it's a goal well worth remembering. The talk also turned to great goals scored at the Emirates; Arsenal's uplifting Arshavin goal v Barcelona, The exemplary team goal v Norwich and the roof raising Thierry Henry late winner v Manchester United, but my personal favourite is Bacary Sagna's goal v Tottenham Hotspur in the 5-2 victory of 2012. After two early goals from the visitors, including a penalty from pantomime villain Adebayor, a flat atmosphere pervaded the Emirates but the cut and thrust from the team in red raised expectation. We won a corner and Michael Arteta swung in a corner at the Clock end. As the ball sailed into the crowded penalty area Sagna took it upon himself to drive into the box. It was a...