ARSENALISM©

EUFA Champions League, Premier League and Carling Cup; this is what it’s like now; game upon game which I think is a very good thing. The reason being that it gives the team the opportunity to gel. It gives the players no time to think about stuff, just play. Recovery can be a long process and let’s face it The Arsenal are in a recovery phase, not just from the Old Trafford debacle but from the demise that has been going on for too long. What concerns me is that there are far too many members of the press and broadcast media that are unable to grasp the concept of     reality and are therefore negatively influencing some of those that turn up at the Emirates on a match day. Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against the German Champions was met with quite a lot of negativity, yet by the end of the week a draw in Europe was the standard for the English clubs. No acknowledgement was forthcoming as even in our current condition the ingrained hatred still prevails. This means that now more tha...

Sheffield steel courtesy of UK media So everyone’s getting on the Anti arsenal bandwagon; our Manager has been on the receiving end of typical tabloid stupidity as they rabbit on and on about the demise of our 125 year old club. I have a number of issues with him but he’s OUR manager. The team are being slated as not good enough; not their fault and they’re OUR team. Don’t get me wrong ’freedom of speech and all that’ but, unlike those paid for an opinion, I invest financially in my club each July and I feel I have the right to voice an opinion. Those ‘outsiders’ who are quick to criticise have admittedly, been given the ammunition by our Manager and Board but, and here’s the thing, it is all done with such glee. The Northern centric media love it. One thing I would say is that the authorities have done little to help with the general bad vibes around our club. Barca’s shameless tapping up and Mancini’s outrageous comments regarding Nasri have gone unchallenged. As a club we have ...

Is it a case of having the players and finding a system, or having a system and finding the players? Possibly when Wenger arrived at Arsenal and evaluated the merits of Seaman, Adams, Dixon , Bould, Keown, Winterburn, Bergkamp and Wright it made perfect sense to employ a 4-4-2. Perhaps he had the young Vieira in mind to be the combative fulcrum of central mid field. Maybe he knew that in Petit he would have the perfect compliment to Patrick. In terms of a straight through the middle striker who would thrive on through balls, he obviously had an eye on Anelka. In a 4-4-2 you couldn’t want more than Marc Overmars, and although Parlour was never great at crossing he had an infatigability that the system needed. The 4-4-2 worked and the first Wenger double was secured. Key to this system was the two man midfield and with Vieira we had Gilberto with Edu as understudy. The benefits of the system reaped reward in silverware. So good where the players that came in that the system was able ...