Random Rant

Been listening to Talksport for a couple of hours now, meant to catch the 7am UK time talk, but I missed it by 1 hour. I listened on, and the focus was on the tackle at the Stoke – Fulham game last night. I didn’t know anything about it nor did I see any news reports online, so I was surprised they are talking a lot about it. Went to check out the video, even though it wasn’t replayed in slo-mo, the follow-through in real-time is really rash.

If anybody had watched the Arsenal – Tottenham Carling Cup match last night, Wilshere was fouled 3 times in a row by different Spurs players. Clearly, they had to stop him to disrupt Arsenal’s play but putting in fouls and tackles to floor Wilshere shows that they can do nothing about him except to foul him. The more possession Arsenal had, the more frustrated Tottenham, or any other opponents will be. The frustration grew and therefore more fouls. I have no qualms with opponents putting in tackles to win the ball, but as the time ticks down, they feel the urgency to get the ball back. With that urgency in mind, rash tackles come in.

The people on Talksport debated about teaching tackles to the players. One said that tackles cannot be taught to players as it’s a matter of whether you know it or don’t. The other argued that the art of tackling can be taught, especially when players are still young. I’m sure it’s not easy to teach a player how to tackle, because you can only teach them how to tackle, not when to tackle. Situations change every time, so if a player wants to put in a tackle, he has to make decisions when to go in with the tackle. Coaches can talk however much they want about when to tackle, but ultimately the decision is made by the players. With the game going so fast, decisions are forced to be made faster too. You don’t have time to think about tackling or not. You could argue that if a player is taught the right way of tackling, but it’s the decision-making that makes it a good or bad tackle. It’s a very fine line.

On other point, Kieran Gibbs! Please, let him not be seriously injured. Arsenal fans are really impressed with him since last year, and after he broke his metatarsal he missed out a lot of games he could have started in. Hopefully this is just a small injury, and that he can come back fit soon. His importance has grown a lot recently, mainly to rotate between him and Clichy now that Traore is out on loan. He has shown he is capable to play in big games too, which will help Wenger as he rotates the 2 probably more evenly this season to ease their game play. IF *touch wood* Gibbs does have a serious injury and will be out for months, I’m wondering if Arsene Wenger will bring in Tom Cruise to deputize, or bring 1 of the centre-half to play left back for odd games. I’ve seen Eboue and Sagna play left-back in games but they were asked to play there due to injuries during the games. As short-term it’s possible to play someone out of their position at left-back, but long-term rotation wise properly not? To be honest, I won’t be surprised to see Cruise come in IF Gibbs is out for months. Left backs to Arsenal is like an endless pit to a pot of gold.

The current talking story is about the Brentford win over Everton, which is quite fitting considering 1 of the host is an Everton fan, the other is a Brentford fan. The only thing I know about Brentford is that Szczesny was on loan over there for a few months. One of the talking point is on the Brentford goalkeeper, and I can’t help to think that if Szczesny had stayed on loan there, he would have been the talking point now. It’s been noted that Szczesny has been unhappy about not playing any games, especially in the Carling Cup which apparently he had discussed with Wenger before the season started. Wenger made him stay instead of go out on loan, hoping to get a few games for Szczesny this season. I don’t see how he’s going to get any games considering Vito Mannone is probably slightly ahead of him in terms of age and experience. He understands that being at his age it’s hard to be first choice at a big club like Arsenal, but he’s not happy with the non-progress of his playing career. Personally, if he doesn’t get any games at Arsenal, he might as well go out on loan. Mannone is sitting quietly for his chance, but if he doesn’t get games, he might as well go out on loan too. Not going to comment about Fabianski. Almunia has been good so far, solid and more confident. The shout he made at Blackburn to come and get the ball from a corner still rang in my ear. Good progress there, a lot more commanding.

I’ve mentioned this before on Twitter, that the media are known to blow up stories in order to get readers. Sometimes they blow a story so out of proportion that the more people talk about it, the more worse it gets. I don’t need to list any examples, but I think a lot of people understand. As football fans, we often cry out to media or complain about stuff they write that aren’t true. Just like pundits too. They can be pro or anti to a certain team, and talk cock about the good and bad stuff when they sometimes don’t know what else to talk about. Naturally of they are talking bad about your team, you get pissed. I often forget about those reports and focus on those good ones.

Kind of interested to watch some of the League games tomorrow morning, that is if I can wake up. Just interested in the lineup the top teams are going to put out. It’s always fascinating and spells a lot about how much the club wants to win the Cup. After that will be the draw on Saturday. I wonder who Arsenal will get, whoever they are, hope we get them at home.

Flying Gunners

Weee~~~~ I think every Arsenal fan is on cloud 9 at the moment. Hard to disagree with that 6-0 thumping of Braga. I woke up at 3am in the morning for a good game, and I wasn’t disappointed. In fact, after the first 10 minutes, I find myself drooling over the quality play by Arsenal, especially Captain Cesc Fabregas.

He was AWESOME. I know every newspaper articles have covered his magnificent display last night, but you can’t emphasize enough just how good he was. Before this game, some Arsenal ‘fans’ were questioning his state of mind. That display last night should silence those doubters. I had no doubt that Cesc would give a 100% for Arsenal. He’s been playing since 16, and his professionalism is proven over the years. Ultimately, wherever he is, HE LOVES PLAYING FOOTBALL. You put him on for 90mins, he will give you 110%.

Got to give praise to his team mates too. They played well as a team, defended as a team. Almunia had not much to do, but when called in for duty, he duly catched or punched the ball away. He didn’t put a foot wrong all night. Would help build his confidence too. The back 4 in front of him were somewhat undisturbed, but whatever little threat they managed to nullify them. Clean sheets are as important to them as goals are to strikers. The midfield trio of Song, Wilshere and needless to say Fabregas were commanding, passing the ball with ease and confidence. Song helped to parade the space in front of the back 4, putting in tackles to help stop their attacks. Wilshere also did well to link up with Fabregas and the front 3, even assisting Chamakh on his goal. He helped to get the ball from the defence and spraying it to team mates in front of him. His inclusion into the starting XI did surprise me at first, but Arsene Wenger was right to play him. He does need to play to improve and prove his worth.

The front trio of Chamakh, Arshavin and Nasri were interchanging their positions all the time. Sometimes Almunia’s kick would find Chamakh on the right, and he would hold up the ball until there is support. He is definitely a player, always love how he’s able to hold the ball for a period of time to wait for support. Being a striker you want to score goals. He scored 1, and was a fantastic goal as he linked up with Wilshere on the edge of the penalty box. Scoring his other goals with headers, this strike with his right foot would be relief to fans. He can head goals as well as strike them. Arshavin was a little sloppy in his passes at times, but there’s no doubting his quality. There’s a reason why Arsene always stuck to Arshavin when he could have brought on other players due to his current form. He had looked tired and lacklustre at times, but he always come up with goals and assists. These are what you call great players, the ability to not play well himself, but still able to pick out goal scoring opportunities and score goals himself. It’s a real dilemma when he looses possession of the ball easily, but still able to score the odd goals. He really is a funny character. On the other side of the field we had Nasri. Occasionally you find him drifting into the midfield area, even collecting the ball from the back 4 sometimes. He linked up well with the other players, and even though he didn’t get any goals or assists, he kept the ball well and made runs to deter the opponents.

The 3 subs that came on were Vela, Denilson, and Eboue, on for Chamakh, Song and Arshavin respectively. Vela was the outstanding one, though I didn’t see much of Denilson and Eboue to talk about them. Vela’s 2 goals firmly put him in a position whereby he can be counted on when Arsenal need goals from the bench. To be honest, if everyone was fit, I don’t see him in the starting berth. He is a quality player, and would do him no harm with cameo appearances like he did last night. People remember goals better and to score 2 last night, he has a strong case for a starting position. The 2 goals he scored were when he made runs through the center, the position where Chamakh plays in. Fans see him more often on the left or right side of the 3-prong attack for the last couple of years, but Wenger probably sees him play best up top. He brings a different kind of game as compared to Chamakh. Wenger has so many options up front now than ever. Even with 3 strikers out, we still have Chamakh, Arshavin, the odd Nasri or Rosicky, and now Vela. He has proven he can score goals, and Wenger would be tempted to start Vela in more games too.

The next game is away to Sunderland, one where most Arsenal fans would fear. However, if Arsenal produce the same quality of game as they did last night, I have no doubt they will get the 3 points up there. Keep flying~~~

Interlull

Finally understand what Interlull meant. Cool word for describing the Internationals I think. I’m not the only one desperately trying to find stuff to do on weekends. Football is like my weekends. No football means no proper weekends. Sound serious, but I sometimes feel lost whether any sort of football game on TV. Am so glad Internationals are starting again tonight.

US Open kept me busy for a while, but most games are through my sleep time. I’d have to have enough motivation to wake up and watch. I certainly get a lot more motivation from watching football.

What every football club fans will want to know is if their players came back injury-free. Especially at Arsenal, it’s really that crucial we don’t get anymore serious injuries. Bolton at the Emirates is the next game, pretty straight-forward I guess, but you can never take anything for granted in the Premier League.

Even this post is feeling a little dull. Right, let the Internationals end quickly and we’ll be back for the weekend for quality football!

International = Multi-tasking

The title seems about right. Whenever International games come, club fans would follow their club players through the various matches that mostly play at the same time. Unless you support your own country national team, then there’s no need to follow-up on the rest of the world.

But if you’re like me, with no own country to support, ( I dare say I don’t even show concern to my country’s national team) then you would find a national team to support. My preference varies from game to game. I tend to support teams that have more players I’m familiar with. So naturally, I follow the England team a lot. But as an Arsenal fan, you can’t help but to know as well how the other Arsenal players representing their country are doing. I watch all the England games, then at the same time check out live scores of other matches. If any of the Arsenal players score, I’ll equally be happy.

Unfortunately, international breaks for me means waking up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the matches. Sometimes I overslept, sometimes I just can’t get any sleep at all. The odd hours make it difficult for me not to sleep before the match, or I’ll just doze off in the middle of the match. Worse if the match gets dull and boring.

I’ve seen quite a number of Arsenal blogs, with fans blogging about games or anything Arsenal. Sometimes it’s fun to read their insights and say to myself, “Hey! I totally agree too!” You know there will always be people out there who agree with your thoughts, and also people who you don’t agree with. Sometimes you understand the situation as a fan, but different fans take things completely differently. Even if Arsenal wins a match by 6-0 or 7-0, there’ll always be fans that pick on tiny stuff to talk negatively about. I guess that’s what make the sport so enjoyable and ‘talkable’. There are an abundance of pundits and so-called ‘football experts’ to talk about matches. If there weren’t any limit to broadcast time and radio talk time, they could talk on and on forever.

Everybody is entitled to their opinions, some more scrutinised than others. Opinions from one person can spark off to become a trail of opinions from thousand others. I guess as a football pundit or analyst that’s what you want, right? Have people listen to your thoughts and voice their opinion as well. If you come up with something negative, people will argue even more. Media is such an effective, yet dangerous tool. Drop a bomb and you pretty much get slaughtered like crazy throughout the media world.

Oh boy, from international matches to media. There’s just so much you can talk about football. You could argue a lot of people will be without jobs had football never existed. Scary stuff when you think how football have changed the world.

Transfers and more Rumors

So, now that Man City have finally acquired James Milner, their spending spree has gone up to 130 million pounds. Now the manager have decided to stop shopping. 130 million pounds. Imagine how many cars I can buy! Anyway, the Villa fans will probably take this better than the Barry incident.

so Ireland goes the other way and will be a Villa player now. Well at least he will get to play more frequently. Milner will have to really fight for a spot in the starting XI. We will know in the coming months how both of them are getting along in their new clubs, in terms of games played.

Don’t fans just hate having to read all those transfer rumors, but never getting any confirmed until the very end? It’s like placing wrapped presents under the christmas tree weeks before Christmas, then having to wait for the 25th to open them. You roughly know what’s inside, but you really can’t confirm until you open the present. All you can do in the mean time is keep guessing. Trying to sieve out the probables and the impossibles.

 Arsenal is in a little dire crisis now. Koscielny gets wrongly yellow carded for his 2nd, and misses the next game. Nasri has just gone under the knife and will miss the next month. The injury news don’t seem to ease at all. We have casualties after almost every game. It is kind of weird. But that’s not the biggest problem. People see the goalkeeping situation more dire, but I personally see the center-back position more critical. We’ve only got 1.5 proper defenders for the Blackpool game! The .5 comes from Djourou, being not exactly Premier League fit. He also just came back from a slight knock, and being out for the whole season last year, he’s not going to be fit for his first EPL game since ever. There is Song, but I still prefer him to stay in that Defensive Midfield role, being nobody else does that job better than him.

A number of the fringe players like Frimpong and Nordtveit have been chosen to represent Arsenal Reserves to play in Dublin, so they won’t be available for the Blackpool game. Hopefully Cesc will be back in the starting line-up this saturday, so does RVP. And so I presume, as everybody else would, Vermaelen will start alongside Djourou. It’s a good thing we are facing Blackpool at the Emirates, though they did thump 4 past Wigan last weekend.

Lots of talk about Mark Schwarzer (with almost every media confirming he’s likely to be at Arsenal soon) but nothing has been confirmed at the Arsenal website yet. As much as many who have predicted his arrival, I for one am not convinced. Especially as to how Arsene Wenger answered to questions about Schwarzer. He seems pretty pleased with his 4 goalkeepers, albeit everyone else screaming for replacements. Arsene Wenger does keep his transfers very secret until the last second, but this time I don’t think it’s happening. Prove me wrong though.

Shay Given has also been in the media after being left on the bench for Man City’s opener. I’m sure plenty of clubs will want to have him, but Man City probably won’t let him go in case something happens to Joe Hart. In any case, Given will probably rot on the bench waiting to pounce when Hart gets butter fingers. The opening EPL week has been headlined for goalkeeping butter fingers all over the place, where Joe Hart has been hailed and praised. Really not a good start for all goalkeepers. There are under even more scrutiny now than ever.

The transfer window closes at the end of the month, I sincerely hope Arsene brings in more CBs and a probable GK. Other than that, here’s to more action and drama on the 2nd week of BPL! There is no reason not to tune in and enjoy 10 great games of football. BPL rules!!