Lankan gooner: The Russian master

Lankan gooner: The Russian master: "AA23 remains an individual who divides opinions among both Arsenal fans and pundits but what can never be questioned is his quality. On his ..."

The Russian master

AA23 remains an individual who divides opinions among both Arsenal fans and pundits but what can never be questioned is his quality. On his day he is as good as any in Premier league and is a nightmare for best of defense, as a well drilled defense of Rafa Benitez found out on that night at Anfield.

It is no secret he had a relatively poor start to his season but the first half of Spurs and Villa Park are anything to go by he is rediscovering his form, just when we need the big players to step up and deliver.

His low center of gravity, vision and audacity to do the unthinkable is what we need to push this team towards the title glory during what promises to be one of the tightest if not the tightest ever premier league competition.

His strengths are his weaknesses as well, when not in form his attempted magic balls do not come off, passes go missing and he starts to look like a lazy player oppose to one taking clever positions in the final third of the pitch to keep the opponents backline on toes and pull them apart to create space for Nasri, Chamakh et al. to exploit just as they did at Villa park. Biggest strength of Arshavin is perhaps his ability to make the game look simple, just like all the great players did. You often heard the same about DB and Henry and in recent years about Cesc.

Is Arshavin back to his best yet?? I think not, there is more to come and when he discovers that, I suspect it will be January onwards when we will see his best, we will start to control more games, loose less balls in the final third and his pace, dribbling and ability to take on men will give us the needed edge and different dimension in the attack to push us towards what looks a very winnable title. 

Lankan gooner: They cheat and they have history of doing just tha...

Lankan gooner: They cheat and they have history of doing just tha...: "The weekend gone was a great one for Arsenal with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester city dropping points. We are two points off the..."

They cheat and they have history of doing just that

The weekend gone was a great one for Arsenal with Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester city dropping points. We are two points off the top and I fully expect us to be top of the table by the time Chelsea kick off against Birmingham. For me the game that intrigued me most last weekend was the Manchester United Vs Aston Villa game, which ended in a 2-2 draw. This game was refereed by Mike Dean who also happened to be the referee in our game against New Castle.

Mr. Dean sent off Laurent Koscielny for a professional foul some distance away from the goal and going by the law one can argue that was the right decision. However, when Wes Brown brought down an Aston Villa player inside the pen box he only booked him. Rio Ferdinand was not covering him and at best was level with Brown and the lack of distance to the goal from where the offence took place and the fact Rio had also dived into the tackle meant he would not have been able to cover Brown and Dean should not have hesitated to produce a red to Brown and yet he only gave him a Yellow. The subsequent penalty was taken and scored by A Young and he went to celebrate with the crowed and as by the rule book he was booked for the offence. Within 10 minutes Vidic scored to bring the score level at 2-2 and ran to celebrate with the fans and yet he was not booked. It must be noted that Vidic was already on a yellow and another would have resulted in him being sent off. Not only Villa would have had a chance to win the game but Vidic would have also been suspended for a game. Mike Dean has shown great inconsistency in that game and when you factor in the sending off of Kosielny it is even more baffling to understand the reasoning behind Mr. Dean’s decision making. Often it is claimed the Referees are under pressure from Old Trafford crowed and is given as an excuse for majority of decisions going Manchester United’s way at Old Trafford but this was a game played at Villa Park.

Now lets look at few other games where the referee’s have given unexplainable decision in favor of Manchester United. When they played Stoke at Brittania G. Neville should have got sent off and yet the referee did not deem his studs up challenge was worthy of a Yellow and it must be noted that he was already on a yellow and a early sending off could have left United with a near impossible task. These are two of many incidents which point out that united get big calls going for them not just at home and the referees tend to become very inconsistent when they officiate Manchester United games.

Now let’s go back in History to 1915 the former first division game between mid table Liverpool and relegation threatened Manchester United on the 2^nd of April 1915. Two of the oldest and biggest rivals in modern football locking hones would, almost always, lead to high octane and full blooded games with no quarter given. However, this game was anything but a fully blooded affair and Manchester United ran out 2-0 winners. Later suspicions were raised by the referee of the game and investigations proved that the game was fixed in favor of Manchester United. Players of both team made substantial amount of money through betting on the game and United avoided relegation by a point (win carried two points in those days) and it was Chelsea who got relegated that season.

The match fixing took place last century and the refereeing phenomena is of modern day. There is no way both incidents could be linked directly however when one observes the decisions Manchester United seem to get from the English referees am I wrong to ask if History is repeating it self. With their financial situation it is paramount that Manchester United stay at the top and challenge for honors every season.  Alex Fergeson has proved over the past that he will do anything to win and his own players have testified to this in the past. Players have been asked to dive and cheat and players have been asked to pull out of internationals when they were fully fit, which is the reason why FA brought in a rule saying players must report anyway to be assessed by the national team doctors.

Now who can honestly say that Manchester United do not pay the referees to get the decisions their way. I have no concrete evidence to prove so but the circumstantial evidence leaves me with an overwhelming impressions that there is something going on which is against the rules and values that govern the beautiful game and of course they have history and have the taste of cheating and who is to say they will not try again or are not doing so……..

Lankan gooner: Same old Arsenal….think not

Lankan gooner: Same old Arsenal….think not: "Every time we fail to get three points from a game the first accusation that is thrown at the team is SAME OLD ARSENAL…makes me question wh..."

Same old Arsenal….think not

Every time we fail to get three points from a game the first accusation that is thrown at the team is SAME OLD ARSENAL…makes me question what do they mean by that and if this seasons team is same as last seasons, well most players are but there is a clear difference in attitude, if nothing else…

We have had a decent start to the season and second in the league two points behind leaders, well placed in champions’ league group and with every chance on winning the Carling cup. We have had some very good results against Manchester City, Everton and Blackburn and have had some poor ones, especially at home to WBA and Newcastle. This many point out is how we have started in the past and the theme of us falling apart in the later stages is expected to continue. If one looks at our season so far it paints a picture completely different to the past few seasons.

We have not played well consistently this season, not as well as we can anyway and yet we have got points on the table and within touching distance of the leaders. In the past we make flying starts to season playing on top of our game and tthen tends to fade away. This team will play much better then it has done so far and when we play well not many teams will be able to live with us and expect an even better points’ return in the last half of this season and this is against the trend we have set in the recent seasons.

Our three best players, Cesc, AA23 and RVP have not been anywhere near their best this season and we have noticed players like Nasri and Jack step up and deliver match winning performance and this again was not the case in the past few seasons. Class is permanent and form in temporary and it is a matter of time before Cesc, AA23 find their top form and RVP gets some luck with injury front and when those three are on top or even near their top form every team in Europe will fear us. We must also take into account the rapid development of Theo, Denilson and NB52 we have witnessed this season and are players who look ready to play a part in a title winning side for the first time in their carrier.

We are known to play well and manage to loose games but this season as the past two results prove that this team has learned to win games when not playing anywhere near its best. This is another sign that this is not the same old Arsenal.

Before some one throws in the accusation of same old Arsenal again they must take their time to study this team and compare it to the ones of recent past and if they do that they will realize this team is a complete different animal to what we have seen recently and there will be glory end of this season.

Madness of Anti-Arsenal mob

No matter what Arsene and some players do there is always a few out there, who call themselves Arsenal fans, will look to find faults and criticize the manager and players. One such blog claims that both Sagna and Clichy were poor against West Ham on Saturday.

This is simple madness and lack of football knowledge at its very best, wonder the silly guy who wrote the blog was at Emirates on Saturday. Clichy produced a very special peace of play to make the goal, he wrong footed the West Ham full back and picked out an inch perfect cross into the box with his weaker foot for Song and NB52 to attack. Clichy has not been at his best this season but Sunday was one his best games, full of energy, drive and determination. Hardly gave the ball away, strong on tackles and very good positioning.

Sagna was outstanding both going forward and defending, was involved in some of the best moves in the game. Sagna has been one of our un-sung heroes this seasons, hardly made any errors, determined, focused and been a real battler. To say Sagna was poor is madness.

The blog then goes on to say it was only a clean sheet against the bottom club, ignoring the fact this was a Darby and often in such games form goes out of the window and passion drives players to produce that little extra. West Ham historically has been a tricky tie for us and always been close games. Further clean sheets are as important as goals scored. No team can go on and win every game 4-0 and 5-0 and there are times when a team is not at its best and need to win games 1-0 and that’s just what we did and we will be better for that come the end of season. There are clear indications that the defense is starting to improve and we could have a title winning defense at last.

Madness of Anti-Arsenal Arsenal mob has gone to a new level and it will not be long before they realize what Pierce Morgan has done and that day they will run with their tales stuck between their legs or may be they might look for ways to claim the moral high ground and claim they always knew…

AA23’s form this season????

Andrei Sereyevich Arshavin or AA23 joined the Arsenal during the January transfer window of 2009 or to be exact on the 2^nd of February 2009. He came to Arsenal on the back of a great Euro 2008 and a brilliant UEFA cup run with Zenit Saint Petersburg.

During his time with Zenit (2000-2009) he made 309 appearance in total scoring 72 goals and creating 108. When he joined us we were in a battle for the forth place in the league and he produced some magical performances to make sure we secured that vital forth place with relative ease that season and was an instant hit with Arsenal fans.

However, this season he has come under some criticism by some fans who argue that he is not at his best and that he does not contribute enough to the team. Arsene Wenger categorically dismisses this claim and continues to pick AA23 as a first choice player. So far this season in 12 appearance he has scored 5 goals and created further 5. His goals per game ratio at Zenit was 1 in 4 and this season for us it is just over 1 in 2 and his assists with Zenit was 1 in 3 and this season again it is just over 1 in 2. This stats alone shows that he is having a far more efficient season this season than what he produced in Average before joining us. Stats only paint a part picture and there are other factors that must be taken into consideration before deciding how well AA23 is doing this season.

AA23 developed as a No10 playing behind the main striker in a free role. When one watches him playing for Zenit we can understand that his role was not about tracking back and winning the ball and covering every inch of grass. That was the job of the team, they had to win the ball and give it to Arhavin and his job was to create magic and he rarely disappointed. With Arsenal his role has changed and he is played as a wide forward who is expected to track back and support the full backs. Anyone who has played the game will understand that it is hard to change once games easily and at times this is evident on the pitch. This is the Arshavin we bought and changing his game has been a bit harder for him.

Arshavin is very proud of the fact that he is the Russian national team captain. Since the departure of Guss Hidink the national team has underperformed and as the captain and star player AA23 has come under heavy and unfair criticism by the Russian media and it seems to weigh heavily in his mind and surely his perceived drop in form for club coinciding with the relative decline of Russian international team illustrates this. Can we blame him for taking pride in representing the nation and hurting by its failure or should we back him and help him over come his disappointments.

His first two seasons he played through injuries without complaining or pulling out and played every role asked from him, including striker against Stoke City. If he is a less of a team man his first inclination would have been to pull out and recover from his injuries so he can keep up his high level of performance. Running around the pitch does not make one a team player. Rooney does just that and then goes on national media and humiliates his team…ask your self, who is damaging the team most..AA23 by not tracking back or Rooney by taking apart his own team mates on the national media..

We also remember from the past two seasons that AA23 had the tendency to disappear during games but this season it has not been the case. He has tried to get involved more in the game and influence it greater. The greater the involvement the greater the chance of misplacing a pass or giving away the ball is a simple logic no matter who the player is.

Arshavin is a player who improvises and looks to produce magic and that is the player we bought, not a safe option like Park or Velencia. When one tries to improvise and produce special balls the chances of getting it wrong and giving away the ball are far greater. This is why AA23 gives the ball away more than some other player, not because he is not bothered or not good enough.

Another aspect of his play that has not been mentioned much is the understanding he has developed with Chamakh and Jack and the three have been part of some great moves and those moves at times have broken down not because of AA23. There was a one two with Chamakh at city this weekend, and had Chamakh got his back heel right it would have been one of the finest moves in the game (about 30-35^th min). The fact that he has created the most goal scoring chances in premier league also shows that has those chances been taken by the rest of the team he could have assists in double figures and we would be claiming that he is having a storming season. The chances not being taken can not be blamed on AA23, just his luck.

Having said that I do accept that he is not at his very best and there is much more to come from this magical player. Make no mistake he will re discover his top form again this season. Currently we have Nasri, Jack and MC all on top of their game and may be it might work out that when the form of these three dips a bit it will be AA23 who finds form at the later stages of the season to push us onwards towards glory.

Let me finish by asking you this question,…would you have an out of form Rooney ( 1 goal since March) Torres ( 1 goal this season) or AA23 ( 5 goals this season) in your team. Give him time and back him and he will play a big part come the business end of the season.