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PokerMan

It’s the game that has been driving the millennial generation crazy over the last few weeks. We’ve all been talking about it. We’ve been driven to shouting at our phones for it. We’ve even seen people fall over in disbelief over what they’ve managed to catch through the waves of our constant digital connection. No it’s not Pokemon. It’s Le Boss’ summer long version of Casino Royale. We all lay waiting to see whether Wenger is going to go all in or fold.

The summer has been so flip flop in terms of links and stories. It’s been littered with purposeful leaks and falsely laid information. It’s even been through the Groundhog Day phase that we all get to, normally at the end of the window, but we’re still here. It’s a strange one. Still plenty of time to get business done. However the panic has fully set in on social media. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it all but I have a funny feeling that something big is going on behind the scenes because the information coming in looks to be so incoherent. When Tony Cascarino is the ‘source’ for a transfer you really have to question EVERYTHING. I’m fully in the camp that believes false links are being spread from within the club to mask the real activity. The below belt bids for Lacazette followed by the adamant “he is not for sale” statements seemed legitimate until literally a day after the aforementioned statement we hear this message from Lyon: “there are some offers you can’t refuse”. Considering a deal is not yet done it’s a strange thing to say about one of your players. Now I can only assume that he may have been saying that because he has assurances from Wenger that we will not plump for Lacazette. Conspiracy theory at full tilt I know but I just can’t understand why a message from a club would change so dramatically within 24 hours and this after a deal has in no way been agreed no less. We’ve seen players and their agents use our club for better contracts so why couldn’t a manager play the same game? This time with a promise to a club to leave their player alone as something else was being worked on? That we only needed a little helping hand in the media in return. Lyon and Lacazette would be the used parties but it’s happened so many times to us as well as many other clubs that it’s just the way business is done in this day and age. Not something I’m a fan off but what can you do? I just wonder if Wenger has an ace up his sleeve. Who knows who it might be, let’s hope it’s one of the people he had a lengthy conversation with after the Euro 2016 final.

In other transfer related rumour the Mahrez links have intensified since Wenger went to go and watch Leicester get demolished by PSG. Added to this Mahrez was pictured alongside some of the Arsenal contingent in LA, however coincidental that may be. I just wonder whether even just a friendly like the one against PSG could bring Mahrez to the realisation that last season really was a one off and that if he is to continue to win things a move to The Arsenal might just be the way to do so.

We’re in LA, Leicester are in LA, why not make it happen there? The opportunity could well present itself and not only that but it could have multiple benefits. The figure mooted for him is around the £40m mark, however if we brought him in someone like Walcott would have to be sold. He would bring in at least £20m in this crazy time and in doing so would half the cost of Mahrez. There’s definitely something rumbling on this front with Le Boss getting his famous 'smile’ out post the Leicester v PSG game when quizzed on Mahrez. In fairness he’s had this before when Draxler and Benzema were mentioned but you have to remember that we’ve been close on those two, which means that there’s at least something happening on Mahrez. I really hope we can convince him to come, because at 25 we can expect his best years to be given to our cause.

Defensively we will also need to find some cover now that we know Per Mertesacker will be out for at least half the season. It’s a place where if we had brought a signing in, it would have been nice, but what would have been nice has now become a necessity. It looks as though Wenger has all but confirmed that we have someone coming in on the defensive front before a ball is kicked in our season, however the one hope I hold is that it doesn’t hamper our spend on a striker. The worst case maths in my head runs like this:

Mahrez- £40m Defender (Mustafi?) -£30m Walcott +£20m

This leaves us with around £50m for that elusive front man. If we get our way with the transfers we may even get a centre back for £25m and sell Theo for £25m leaving us with £60m to spend on a forward. The budget is certainly there to go big but it’s whom we go big on that’s the mystery. I for one like the mystery. It’s keeping me from checking social media too often anyway. My transfer sanity is just about with me, still.

In terms of football we’ve had a couple of friendlies in the US. A 2-1 win vs the MLS Allstars, in which of course Drogba scored against us followed by a 3-1 win vs Chivas. Minutes under the belt and no injuries in the main but also some sparkling performances from The Ox, Chuba Akpom & our new man Rob Holding. Internal solutions I hear you cry in angst! Promising for sure but I hope to God that they don’t quite convince Wenger not to buy a central defender, a wide man and a striker, all areas in which we need to invest if we are to win trophies this coming season.

In other news I can happily announce that I will now be a regular columnist on @afcstuff's new website, which is launching soon. You’ll soon be able to not only find my weekly blog posts there but also a fair few match reports alongside them. I’m really looking forward to writing for them and hopefully generating some healthy conversation and debate for the great club that we all love; The Arsenal.

Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Transfers #Mahrez #afcstuff #Poker

Health Check 2016

We’re fast approaching the new league season and it’s normally a really exciting time. A time where our new blood will vengefully right the wrongs of the previous season or propel us onto further success. The truth is it hasn’t been an exciting time, REALLY, for quite a few years now, the reason being that we haven’t addressed parts of our squad that needed investment. So for us it’s, in the recent past at least, been a case of “We’ll be ok right?”, “that fella we’ve brought in is the one”, “Theo & Ox will be massive for us this season!” or statements there or there abouts. There still remains some time in the window for us to make the difference for sure, but I’m going to take a look into what we do have as well as where the gaps remain for us. I don’t like ending on a negative so I’ll start with the gloomy stuff so I can at least sign off with us all feeling like this season will be our year.

What we need…

Last season we suffered from an identity crisis of sorts in that from December 2015 onwards we didn’t really look anything like an Arsenal side that we’ve been used to seeing over the tenure of Arsene Wenger. No matter whether we’ve had the likes of Oleg Luzhny, Denilson, Almunia & Eboue amongst our ranks, we’ve always managed to play a beautiful brand of football. It’s a real mystery as to why with arguably considerably better personnel, that Wenger hasn’t been able to produce anything similar. There are a multitude of factors involved with as to why this hasn’t been the case, however there is one main reason and that reason is Oliver Giroud. It’s not his fault by any means, however he is our main man and that is the reason we have had to adapt our style of football. Previous to Giroud we had Van Persie, Adebayor and to a lesser extent Eduardo. Before them was Henry. So we’ve always had mobile, run making forwards that have dictated the way that we’ve played our football. Since the arrival of Olivier Giroud we’ve had to adapt as he isn’t the pacey, fleet of foot man that we’re used to. So even though surrounding him we have an easily better force than we did when Van Persie and Adebayor were around they don’t have the same channels to work with. Swap the RVP of 4 years ago with the Giroud of now and it’s a title winning squad. So it’s pretty clear that, while we have a very good forward in Giroud, we still need a world class front man in order to make the step forward. There have been an obscene amount of games that we have been up by a goal only to squander chances to double our advantage and allow the opposition back into the game. There is an argument that we could defend leads better but I’ll come onto that later.

After the search for that elusive striker has been concluded there is another area of the pitch that has been a weakness for us over the past couple of seasons, but became wholly apparent in 2015/16. The wide right hand side. We’ve tried a number of combinations there raging from Walcott, Campbell, The Ox & Ramsey to name but a few. The best of which has, ironically, been Aaron Ramsey. Though it’s a position that he’s come out to say is not his best and also that he doesn’t quite fancy it there. It’s something that only works if we have the right midfield to compensate for it and requires Cazorla & Coquelin to play together at the base. Not ideal as if and when one of them is not present in the team the house of cards, as it were, falls down. The problem that exists on this side is twofold, it’s either a lack of talent or it’s a lack of application and sometimes a combination of both. Joel Campbell and Aaraon Ramsey were my favourites there, with Campbell being the more versatile. However is someone like Campbell good enough to break down the best defences? I’m not sure. A great plan B, much the same as Olivier Giroud I would say. Can’t fault the player but we can fault the lack of options. Theo Walcott did well here for a period, but it was good enough when challenging for a top 4 position rather than a title tilt. He lacks the fight to do well out wide and requires far too much ‘arm around the shoulder-ing’ when playing up top. The turning point in his career was vs Sp*rs a couple of seasons ago. The game was poised at 1-1 with around 4 minutes of normal time remaining. Walcott had only been on the pitch for 8 minutes when Bentaleb picked up the ball on their left hand side. At this point all Walcott had to do was to close down the space. He walked towards Bentaleb. WALKED! This gave him all the time in the world to pick out a cross for Kane to head in the winner. From that point forward Wenger didn’t trust him in the wide areas and the bench is where he found himself for a lot of last season. The occasional exemplary front man performance aside it looks like he will need replacing this summer if we are truly to be competitive. With regards to The Ox, he’s still young and has been unlucky with injuries. He is also useful in a number of positions and could well be our box-to-box CM for years to come. The conclusion here is that we need a more natural wide man that can play there regardless of the personnel alongside him.

Lastly if we are being a little greedy we could well need a centre back. Mertesacker and Koscielny are my preferred choice, however I think that we can find a better partner for Koscielny (as much as I love the BFG!). I would love us to bring in a commanding presence back there that could almost help up Koscielny’s game a little. There are situations that he finds himself in through a little unconscious complacency I feel and a better more ‘at it’ centre half could be the jolt Koscielny needs to be the best version of himself. However this is a position in which I feel we could still well win trophies without addressing and I’ll tell you why when talking about our strengths. What we have…

One thing that we need to remember is that from the start of the season through to December last season, we were playing some really good football and were top of the league. Giroud was scoring, Walcott was performing admirably in the lone striker role with Alexis and Ozil quite simply on fire. Ozil especially. Now these are the two players who gained so much credit for us as they were the difference makers in the big games, but as we all know it was Santi Cazorla that was the trigger to our downfall. Not because he’s terrible, because he was a lynchpin in out blueprint for success. His partnership with Coquelin was outstanding and the bedrock on which we created goals from. Coquelin was the ball winner and Cazorla was the transition man. Opposition defences squirmed when he had the ball simply because he could not only deliver a pass into a dangers area for Messrs Alexis & Ozil to latch on to, but he could also beat a man and expose them even further by going direct to Giroud or Ramsey being our modern version of Freddie Ljungberg. The jigsaw was precise but it worked and worked well.

The real plus for this season is that the problem of personnel could well be eradicated. We should no longer have to solely rely upon Cazorla and Coquelin to be playing to function as a team. The arrivals of Elnenny and Xhaka have seen to this. Elneny’s tireless running coupled with the monster pressing and distribution of Xhaka makes for a hugely dynamic range of options for Arsene. No longer will we only have to play one way, we will be able to truly adapt to our opposition by playing a more defensive minded Xhaka, Coquelin & Elneny as a 3 if we are taking on the likes of Barcelona or Bayern in the Champions League or even away from home against a big gun in the Premier League. Options is what we’ve lacked as well as depth in quality, which now seems to have been addressed in the middle of the park. In addition to this we have one of the best goal keepers in the league with Cech having won the golden glove in his first season with us. Granted he made some errors (as did most keepers) but he won us crucial points and that’s something that we will continue to benefit from as his sole focus will be with Arsenal Football Club having announced his international retirement. Added to this we also have the Wilshere conundrum to solve, and believe me it’s a good problem to have. He’s one of the most gifted midfielders we have and given the right role he could prove the game changer we need. He can inject pace into what may transpire to be a tepid performance. He was never played in the correct position or alongside the right personnel when at the Euros, so we didn’t really get a chance to see this. The mass media all jumped on the ‘Wilshere was a mistake’ bandwagon but what they’ve all missed is that he was always out of position and playing in a midfield that contained Wayne Rooney, which doesn’t help anyone.

Finally we really do have two of the most gifted forward players in the league with us in Alexis Snachez and Mesut Ozil. Alexis had to be rushed back last season and our front men stopped taking on Ozil’s chances at the back end of last season so as a squad we didn’t have the both of them firing together often enough last season. If managed well and the right additions made, we could be in for a truly explosive season of Premier League football from The Arsenal.

As I mentioned earlier, with regards to not needing a centre back and still competing, we could take a look at our pressing game. This can be addressed with signing up top rather than at the back. If we pressed as a team (and I say press not foul – again this explanation is coming) with more intensity we could leave a lot less work for our back 5 to contend with. Sp*rs were lauded last season for their defence not having to make many tackles and keeping their shorts clean etc because of great organisation. In fact this was a high press that the manager had clearly instructed the front men to commit fouls high up the pitch in order to deal with teams’ counter attacks. In the top 10 players with the most fouls there were 2 Sp*rs players. Dele Alli (8th) and Eric Lamela (3rd), which corroborates the above. Commit fouls high and ease pressure. Now I’m not suggesting for us to do this as a team or even individuals, I just think that a high press situation works even in a cleaner parallel to that of Sp*rs. We used to do it before Giroud and it has stopped because pressing is not in his game. If we go on and replace the wide man on the right side and bring in the high press centre forward we’ve all been craving we will have the perfect balance in the squad to negate our defensive deficiencies and more importantly go on to win some trophies this season.

What’s clear is that the next ¾ weeks will be crucial in shaping our season and with the right additions I’m really optimistic that not only can we triumph domestically but also finally crack Europe. We’re looking healthy overall but need that injection of adrenalin to propel us onto greatness.

Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Squad #Transfers

Planic

A summer that had been mooted for complete planning to address our weaknesses has descended into panic. The outcry hasn’t begun just yet but it’s well and truly bubbling under the surface. The good will of Xhaka has well and truly worn off and we are now in a state where a couple of mooted transfer opportunities have also fallen by the wayside. While I maintain that Vardy would have only come into Arsene’s thinking in the last 2 months of the season it’s staggering to see such slow movement on an alternative target, even if Vardy was our plan A (I really think he wasn’t). I know I’m feeling a little ‘panic stations’ however it looked as though we wanted to get Xhaka, Vardy and Mkhitaryan over the line before the Euros, before the reality of club competition coming in and nullifying the Vardy and Mkhitaryan deals. Let’s look at what could be plan B’s in our situation. Striker wise there have been links with Higuain, Lukaku, Lacazette, Morata & Aubameyang. For wide forwards we have been linked to Draxler and Mahrez. For centre backs we’ve been linked withMustafi, Koulibaly & Subotic. Finally for left backs we’ve been linked with Rodriguez. Now who in the world knows which of these links are carrying any real credence but what’s clear is that there is an opportunity to sign each and every one of the aforementioned players. What comes into question is the game that we are playing. I get that we are looking to extract the best value, we would be mad to not want that, as well as the fact we may have to negotiate the sale of a few players. There is a tricky balancing act that needs to be managed. However one thing seems to be prevalently clear. We have around £100m in the bank to spend still waiting. I hazard a guess as to the fact that we can still manage the wages of all who currently sit at the club alongside any incoming players but if we can offload a Walcott for £25m plus his £120k (or so!) weekly wage it would help our negotiating stance a little more. But as we know nothing is a definite in this world. What would be our ideal situation now? I would say that if we can bring in Higuain & Mahrez, that would be sodding brilliant. I’m less excited about Higuainthan I perhaps should be, as I feel like we should be plumping out for a CF that will be with us for 4/5 of his best years at least, where the reality withHiguain is that we will have 2 great years from him at best and potentially a 3rd if we’re lucky. The plus side to it all is that even though he turned down an £800,000 a week contract from China (WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!!??) he could well be sought after as a ‘name’ even when he’s 31/32 so we could well get some resell value on him. Mahrez on the other hand would be perfect, and whilst I admit that Mkhitaryan was in my eyes first choice and an excellent signing,Mahrez would be the perfect plan B. PL experience for 2 years, talent, work rate…check, check and check. IF they were to happen (LOL @ my optimism) then we would only be one signing away from a truly complete squad. Although saying that, if the balance is right of the first XI then a CB signing may be futile. I’ll tell you why… A blueprint to why Sp*rs’ defenders were much lauded last season because they kept a lot of clean sheets and were the best defence the league had ever seen etc etc etc YAWN. The main reason behind this was not due to their defensive excellence or nous, it was due to their high press combined with mass fouling much further up the pitch and far enough away from their defence to keep them from having to make tackles, interceptions & last ditch tackles. So if we go out and buy the right personnel, pressing wise, they will be able to keep the ball further away from our defence and keep their shorts as clean as possible. It’s a hope that we can all harbor because the right balance of side means that we may not quite need to address this summer. It’s not a complete solution and one where internal solutions may yet have to be found and let’s be honest Wenger does love an internal solution.

UPDATE!

It seems we have signed Rob Holding from Bolton. Who knows what the plans are for him but he’s a centre back by trade I believe. Wenger may yet have plans to convert him to another position however as he’s known to see things others don’t (Henry, Lauren, Petit, Toure, Ljungberg, RVP etc). This means that there’s less emphasis on signing any further options at the back and the majority of the remaining kitty can be spent on our forward facing Guns. This is a good thing. I repeat a good thing!

Although we are now at a stage where panic can be seen in the not to distant, distance there is still room for hope. What the club needs to do is to go and get the signings we need in the door and bedded into the team Ready for game 1 not game 4/5 after the window slams shut. We need the bodies now and they in turn need to learn our way of they are to be effective from the get go. A lot to do but we’ve had more than enough time to get things moving and over the line now so here’s to hoping the behind the scenes action is at an advanced stage.

Mahrez & a striker please Arsene!!!

Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Plans #Panic #Transfers #Mahrez

I was there...

It’s been a strange old week. The Euros have come to an end. The transfer madness can begin (or continue should I say…). But it all feels a little subdued for me. It might be a little to do with where I am. I’m in Charles De Gaulle airport as I write this piece and that’s why I feel a little deflated. Let me further explain.

Aside from the obvious that being in Paris and wanting the city to be bouncing on the back of a home win I’m saddened that anti-football has won yet again. Being at The Stade De France for what ultimately proved to be an anti-climax due to the result, showed me a glimpse of what football could well become over the next 5 years at least and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I’ve seen well known publications that I love reading, making claims that there is “no right way” to win and that winning is winning. It’s all very Vin Diesel. Leicester City have provided a blueprint for ALL teams to follow (not that they were the first by any means) to success. One thing I can understand is Leicester City playing this way, but a team such as Portugal who have an array of talent including Ronaldo, Nani, Sanches, Quaresma, Jao Mario & Moutinho producing an atrocious brand of football is worrying and I’ll tell you why a littler later on. In terms of the night itself I really feel like I’ve adopted the French nationality. I was in the France end and surrounded by the most wonderful fans. So much passion. So much excitement. The guy next to me explained every french song to me and got me involved with it all. It was brilliant. Spectacular. I’ve always had a soft spot for France because of Wenger and the French contingent at Arsenal but I now well and truly feel like backing them with full force going forward (I mean for when England get knocked out onwards, but that basically means at all tournaments). Qui ne saute pas n'est pas francais - eh! Translates basically to “anyone who doesn’t jump isn’t French!”. I sang (not well). I jumped.

Back to why I think this lauding of anti-football could make the next 5 years of football horrible…

Cristano Ronaldo is professed to be one of the best, if not the best player in the world. Now those who claim this (fans, coaches and surrounding people/players) are defending Portugals playing style to the hilt. Ronaldo’s injury was said to have put a spanner in the works for Portugal’s game plan but it didn’t skip a beat. Ronaldo was missing but someone else came in and their style of play continued as it had started. Happy to sit back and counter. Simple. Boring. Leicester. The greatest players in the world have teams built around them to compliment their talents, this is always the case and was the case this tournament. Does this mean to say that “the best player in the world” is only useful in counter attack teams/situations? Is he only capable of being great in a back foot surrounding? Messi hasn’t had the best week and Barcelona’s support of his tax evasion makes everyone want to vomit but historically Portugal have been about the beautiful game. Argentina have been about shithousing. Why then have Argentina built their team around Messi’s strengths and created a brutally attack minded side? Because they have adopted their best players strengths and mounded a team to achieve the best out of him. Portugal have done the same. And while I undoubtedly think Ronaldo is a great great player, I’ll never think he’s the best or the best ever purely because he doesn’t live and die by purist football. He doesn’t demand excellence. He wants to win at any cost. A completely valid motivation, so don’t get me wrong there, but is it one that we would like to associate with wanting to be great? Football first I say. Love the game not the goal. Love the moments not the back page stories. Most importantly, let the fans love the game. Let them see it in its purest form. Let them gasp, despair, exclaim & fantasise of what could one day be.

I would love Arsenal to win trophies every year I really would but I’d rather take a trophy every few years so long as we stayed true to the new identity we have created of the beautiful game in England. I’ve watched a fair few football matches live in my time and there’s no team that’s got me off my seat with their football than The Arsenal (with the exception of Barcelona) and I love that fact. I love that I know I’ll see us try to do things the right way. I appreciate sides that don’t have the financial clout and the talent required to play front-foot football but the teams that have the means really ought to lead by example.

The bigger issue here is that pure talent in the youth development phase is becoming less of a pre-requisite. Fitness, work rate, desire and PASHUN are all traits that are put alongside pure talent. The emphasis on this side of the game is stifling the truly gifted players and it’s the reason we see less and less English players that have any actual technical ability. Across the majority of Europe, in the biggest leagues at least, players are free to develop their technical skills first. The fitness kicks off slow and builds with time. It can’t work the other way. You can’t learn to be skilful once you’ve already harnessed your other attributes. You have to start all over again, which is why first touches of any foreign players always appear to be far more consistent and spectacular in comparison to our English youth. I just want to see every player try to be the best they can be and see the best football being played. We are paying to be entertained after all. I think that it does also come down to the type of football player you are and the players you look up to as to the style of football you might well like. I’ve definitely been spoilt whilst growing up watching the great Dennis Bergkamp and many others may not have had such a talented idol. But we’re now in an age where we could be close to accepting that fitness/work rate is on par with ability. They are both massively important but ability needs to come first. It just needs to!

There’s not much happening Arsenal wise and we’re getting to edgy territory whereby convincing ourselves of signings gets is through the day rather than refreshing Twitter every 5 minutes but we’re not far off. Especially with the Euros now over.

That’s where I want to leave it to be honest. Paris is somber. I’m echoing that mood. As I board my flight the loss for France still lingers. Victory through harmony will have to wait for another day. It could have been spectacular but one day it will be. In any case…I was there.

Have a wonderful week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #France #Paris #Euro2016 #StadeDeFrance #Euro2016Final #Final #AllezLesBleus

Leave it out...

…And we did. In more ways than one. After infamously exiting the EU, England duly obliged with their own version of leaving Europe with another abject showing against Iceland. Now this is far from a political forum, however I can only echo that the scruples by which the leave voters made their decision has left us all feeling rather dejected. I don’t for one second believe that 52% of the UK is racist, but 52% of people have now given the racists amongst them a platform to speak and be heard. Not to mention that the racists among them now also feel that over half of the UK are on their side. So many people speak of the economic benefits, and there are many of them that I can identify with to a degree but on a moral basis we have now been sent onto a dark path. There are so many people that I know who are personally affected by the situation. So many people that we’ve heard have been subjected to racially infused abuse. So many people I know that have seen this atrocious behaviour first hand. It’s not right and as much as the leave voters will want to stand by their vote by self-justification and ‘reasoning’, they’re trying to convince themselves as well as others, that they’ve made the right decision. This is pretty clear from some of the moronic “I voted leave, but didn’t think it would happen and am now worried” clowns that have made this sort of statement public on the news. Just think, this is only the people who have felt the need to voice their mistakes. Not all people are quite as honest. In addition, the referendum was actioned by David Cameron, who used it as s short term tactic to remain in office. He’s now gone as he wants nothing to do with the consequences of that choice. Furthermore Boris Johnson, someone who was a part of the Leave campaign in a big way, has also put himself out of the running for PM. Even the tossers that came up with the lies on policy (SEE THE BIG RED BUS) are fleeing as they have no faith in their own words. A debacle. A farce. Not only this, but one we can’t go back on unfortunately. Social media and short termism fame and fortune has led to an environment where racism and bigotry has a place. It has been created by so called ‘democracy’ through lies and deceit. A worrying time to be a minority in. Anyway, enough venting on politics…there’s enough football to also be pissed off about.

England managed to balls up a game vs Iceland. A game that we should most definitely have won. A game that we would have won if Roy Hodgson had actually picked a TEAM as opposed to accommodating the incorrect players in the incorrect positions throughout the tournament. Wayne Rooney in my eyes is the single biggest reason that we didn’t function as a team. People (Man Utd fans) suggest that he had a great game vs Russia. He was good in this game, but this was against one of the worst teams at the tournament and in conjunction with this it was a game we drew 1-1! I mean when you’re lauding a player off the back of a performance and result like that you know we’ve sunk lower than low. He was, through no fault of his own, placed in a position where he hadn’t played for England throughout the qualifying campaign. In a position where for Man Utd, once again, he didn’t perform better than in an average capacity. I totally understand that we were missing certain players that enabled the system to work so well in qualifying, but is that reason enough to completely drop the whole system!? Now the reason that he’s been afforded the media bias and a fairly wide acceptance of his role in this position has been because he’s performed there in a “not terrible” capacity. He’s in the “he’s got good feet for a big man” bracket. But really we all know that he is not the best player suited for that position. Now we all know that Jack Wilshere didn’t have the best of it at the Euros (Shearer couldn’t get enough of trying to lay the boot in here, he wasn’t the only one you t*!t!), but he was never played in the right position or with the complimentary personnel around him. To get the best out of your players, and this goes for all players, you need to compliment them with the correct personnel. Dele Alli for example had an atrocious Euro campaign (which no one has mentioned mind) but this was due to him not being surrounded by the right players in the right position. Far from me to feel sorry for him because I think he’s rather annoying, but he gave away the ball a staggering 84 times when he played. More than any other player at the Euros in the same number of games. That’s what happens when you lack a box to box midfielder working in the transition role. He had Moussa Dembele at Sp*rs and didn’t have Wilshere or Barkley for England and therein lays the difference. The one game in which Rooney was left out, Roy went with Wilshere AND Henderson. Similar in their positions, nowhere near similar in quality but they kept getting in each other’s way. Neither of them is a number 10 so it meant that our midfield three were far too close to each other to function efficiently. Terrible management throughout the tournament cost us an opportunity. Even as Hodgson substituted Rooney with 4 minutes to play, his handshake with him looked apologetic frankly. Player power has never been as prominent. More stones would have led to a last 16 game on the right side of the draw. More stones would have led to a quarter final berth vs the host nation France. More stones would have left Wayne Rooney on the bench…The one thing we didn’t ‘Leave’ over the course of the last week.

The lack of balance in the team meant the front line lacked service and in turn some of the front line were out of position as well to a degree. Sturridge was wide right and Vardy wide left with Rooney as the box to box man. No link play and service was the result. The only thing that I can absolve the manager of in the debacle that was our showing at these championships is Kane’s set piece fiasco. Apparently he’s the best in the squad with set pieces. Do me a favour. Wayne Rooney was in the team, for the wrong reasons, but in the team nonetheless and has the capability and history of scoring from and delivering great set pieces so don’t tell me Kane was the ‘best’. Awful, awful, awful allowance of such mediocrity. England aside the tournament has started hotting up. The best of which has seen a fascinating Italy v Germany game followed by one of the best penalty shoot outs I’ve ever seen. Intense. Humour. Drama. Pain. Ecstasy. It had it all. We then had a quite brilliant France v Iceland game with Lloris finally being on the right end of a 5-2 (saw this on Twitter and had to recycle it!).

Onto The Arsenal. It’s been fairly quiet for all things Arsenal this past week or so. Nothing much happening other than the odd rumour here and there for Lukaku, Draxler and Lacazette. Nothing too exciting happening. Once signing for the future made in the form of Takuma Asano. It seems off the back of it that we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. He’s an unheard of like Kante & Mahrez were when bought, which Wenger was lambasted for missing out on. But he also isn’t the shiny, expensive front man we all crave. There is still more to come I’m sure, so don’t panic just yet. Other than that we are all just waiting for the next name to come in. As the Euros draw to a close the dominos should begin to fall. In the mean time we have 3 teams with Arsenal players left in the competition so there could well be a very happy Gunner coming back to pre-season training this term. I would love France to do it, purely because of the atrocities Paris has faced and in addition a home nation winning is always a happy sight. So long as Wales beat Portugal a Gooner will be winning, which makes me happy.

That’s all for this week folks. Have a great week.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #EURO2016 #Brexit #England #Exit #Rooney

#SayNoToRacism

I had the pleasure of celebrating my first ever Father’s day as a Dad this week. A hugely special occasion for me and one that I’ll never forget. It’s a tremendous feeling and one I just felt the need to share for a few sentences. My Dad and I have always been Gooners but funnily enough it was myself that had got him into The Arsenal rather than the other way around. My uncle was and always has been a huge Arsenal fan and was a season ticket holder for a number of years. He convinced me that I should be a Gooner in early 1994. We weren’t world beaters at that juncture by any stretch but I still remember that brilliant night in Copenhagen where we came back with a 1-0 win and a trophy. It felt good. No it felt spectacular and that’s where my obsession began. The years that followed were barren until 1998 and we all know what happened there. That’s the point at which my Dad first became a Gooner. He was in the know of everything happening with The Arsenal because I was the one delivering the info, the joy, the angst. We went to a couple of games that season and thankfully brought home the Double. Since then he’s become more on the pessimistic side of the fan base. The Devil’s Advocate to my unwavering optimism, but that’s something that he’s always been like throughout my upbringing. Keeping me grounded. Keeping me honest. And for that I’m grateful. My little one will not have to wait until she’s 8 to be a Gooner as she’ll already be well indoctrinated by then! She does like the TV when it’s on but becomes particularly transfixed when it’s the footie. She has her Arsenal baby grow and all ready to don the full kit we have ready for her. Anyways, onto the football… Being away at Center Parcs last week I was able to watch a fair few games with plenty of my wife’s family (there were 20 of us!). We obviously planned the activities around the England Wales game in the main but largely saw some fairly decent football over the week. The fun part of the tournament is now well and truly over though as there won’t be any more ‘3 games a day’ days. This is when it all becomes a bit serious and whilst still enjoyable, the number of football matches significantly decreases, which is a sad thing. One of the best games I’ve seen thus far is the Belgium v Italy game, where it was pretty much end to end only for Italy to take advantage and grab a 2-0 win against a much fancied Belgium side. This is an Italy who have been labeled as one of the weakest Italian squads in decades. It was also really good to see England win a game. A last gasp Sturridge goal was needed to beat a pretty poor Wales side. Following on from that you would have expected us to go on and beat Slovakia to top the group and be on the more forgiving side of the draw. Inept finishing and once again an unbalanced midfield selection proved to be the undoing of England. We have Sp*rs fans harping on about how Sturridge and Vardy were no improvement on Kane and Liverpool fans saying that Henderson was class etc etc. It’s becoming so hard for fans to be objective when following the National side now that everything becomes a competition between clubs again. It’s tiring and boring. More importantly it’s all wide off the mark of accuracy. The biggest problem England has had has not been at the back or up top. It’s been with finding the midfield balance. Hodgson has been afraid to drop Rooney in the first 2 games, and when the opportunity arose to ‘rest’ him he picked a ‘safe’ midfield with Dier, Wilshere & Henderson all playing. Far too defensive and cautious in my book and no link between the front men. Wilshere and Henderson kept getting in each other’s way, Wilshere was poor and Henderson was vanilla. He should have tried Dier with Alli as the No.10 and then a box to box midfielder in between them. Of that variety we have Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley available. Wilshere being the more intelligent footballer would make sense as the choice. Granted he was poor but a lot of the reason why is due to the lack of lateral movement in front of him. Excuses, excuses I know but he’s one of the most talented and technically gifted footballers we have and yet we aren’t utilizing his skills. It’s the same with Vardy, we’ve not seen the best of him as he’s out of position and it’s all been to accommodate ‘names’ rather than play a TEAM that will win games. Anyway, enough moaning about England. Onto The Arsenal… We finally had some clarity on the Jamie Vardy rumour/offer/saga. I can be happy now that we have said #NoToRacism, although it appears that racism actually said no to us and Wenger’s hunt for a politically incorrect striker continues, as the quite brilliant Arseblog put it. I’ve always been of the opinion that while he would improve our strike force he has been openly racist in the past in the casino incident we all know about and it’s for that reason that I wouldn’t want the likes of him at our great club. We live in an age where fan groups defend such atrocities and always find a way to justify it simply because a player dons ‘their’ shirt. I reacted the same way when the Suarez bid was taking place. ATAFC wasn’t around back then but I still stood by the principles of not wanting anyone racist to be rewarded and adored. Footballers have a duty to behave in an appropriate way due to their status, their position within society and because of how much money they get paid for it. All they have to do is kick a ball around and keep fit, not being racist whilst doing those two things shouldn’t be too difficult. So today I’m a happy man because we won’t be defending a racist because he’s scored a goal or two. This moves us to plan B. Now I think our plan B was probably plan A around January time as there is no way in January that Wenger would have though Jamie Vardy would be at the top of his shopping list. We will have had a target in mind and will go back to focus on that in my opinion, because the Vardy deal was an opportunist one that if it worked, would have been a steal for the caliber of player. Opportunity missed (GET IN!!!). But let’s hope that the initial plan A is still possible as there is still plenty of time left to make a deal happen. It seems that we are looking for pace with a front man coming in and there are a limited number of players available that fit the bill. Morata and Aubameyang are the ones that come to mind but who knows what will happen. I really, really, really hope that Wenger feels indulgent and just goes for it with a front man. The other situation that is in the background and that needs addressing is that of a wide forward. Theo Walcott remains in the void. It feels like he’s unsure, the clubs unsure and any potential buyers are unsure so it is something that really needs resolving, because Lord knows that we won’t buy anyone leaving us in a financially difficult position with Walcott. A lot to happen… A special note to the Republic of Ireland for overcoming Italy in a brilliant ending to the group stages. Who knew that 24 teams would work? We all thought that it would be boring and that dull games would ensue, well I did anyway. But the 24 team format has worked a treat. The uncertainty of who plays whom has been brilliant. Keeping a track has been confusing but that’s what I’ve liked. Brilliant thus far. Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Euro2016 #England #SayNoToRacism #Vardy

TRANSFERS !!!!!!!!! LOOK, TRANSFERS!!!!

ATAFC is now 2 years old, which is crazy to me. The 2 seasons have just flown by and the blog is still going, which brings me joy. To coincide with this Happy Birthday I had the pleasure of experiencing my first spout of online abuse this week. 2 years in and a man hiding behind an egg avatar on Twitter felt the need to direct racism my way. I was minding my own, tweeting about England v Russia about the big decision that Roy Hodgson had to make on whether to bring off Kane and Sterling or not, which led to the quite insightful reply of “I didn’t know India were playing mate”. If that wasn’t enough the mans behind the egg didn’t even believe he was being in any way racist. I’ve mentioned it many times before and I’ll say it again, social media has truly given a platform for morons to exercise their obviously uneducated guff. But abuse is a part and parcel of what it is to have a presence online and any opinion will be scrutinised and lambasted with or without cause so I take it as a compliment more than anything. Anyways onto the football…

We’re here. ‘Silly season’ has arrived. Click bait is rife in today’s online world of transfer info and the 'itks’ are out in full force. Guillem Balague is out there knowing every move that will happen this summer and is so close to tweeting his “I told you so” message. John Cross, the 'insider’ at Arsenal knows that we won’t do anymore business, but when we do, the Mirror will be the 'exclusives’ on the story. All that and more will fill our summers…oh and the football of course. Something about some Euro competition I believe.

In terms of actual transfers for ourselves, we’ve brought in Granit Xhaka who looks a decent player with Arsenal like attributes in terms of distribution and old Arsenal like attributes in terms of fight and desire. Something we’ve been crying out for since a the days of Vieria & Gilberto. We’ve also gone in for Jamie bloody Vardy. I have no doubts that as a footballer he will do well for us if he arrives but on a personality level I simply don’t want him anywhere near our football club. Any player can commit a misdemeanour that can, in the main, be forgiven, however racism is not something that anyone can partake in accidentally. Vardy’s racist comments within a casino towards a Japanese gentleman were quite disgraceful and he was reprimanded for doing so. Some portions of the media refer to it as meme-worthy as simply a 'normal’ misdemeanour, which is also a disgrace. The British media will do and say whatever it takes for excusing one of 'their own’ be it someone of their country or someone that they simply love. Prime examples are Mourinho, someone they just love and are infatuated with as well as any Leicester player simply due to what they have achieved this season gone by. The love-in is strong and because of it things like racism are glossed over. I really don’t want Vardy at our great club because of this. He, and any others who fall into this category, such as John Terry and Luis Suarez should be nowhere near a football pitch. They are role models and give the youth of today the lesson that racism is only worth a 3, 6 or 9 game ban. It puts a 'price’ on it and gives people the subtle impression that it’s ok so long as you do the time for it. No. Absolutely not. Racists and bigots should be banned for life from the football pitch and should not be allowed to compete. If this tosser joins us and scores plenty left of goals and last minute winners vs Sp*rs & Chelsea etc I’ll be cheering yes, but not for the man, for The Arsenal. I’ll absolutely never sing his name or excuse his behaviour as many fans do and have done of the aforementioned players above. The only positive to take from all of this is that we seem to be acting early in the market, which is great to see…

In other areas it looks as though the hunt for a wide forward is on (bye Theo…) with interest in Mahrez and Mkhitaryan apparent. Bringing in a striker, a wide forward and a centre back of established quality alongside the midfield monster we’ve just bought and it will have been a really successful window. I would love to see a first XI reading: Cech, Bellerin, New CB, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Cazorla, Ozil, Mahrez, Alexis & Aubameyang (let me dream will you!). We’ve got a lot of work left to do to achieve that sort of line up but it feels like we’ve made the steps forward to at least try and get there. Trying is something we’ve done in the last few windows but this time it has to become a reality else there will be mutiny. Tim Stillman wrote a great piece on how the manager has been trying to rectify the Thierry Henry shaped hole in our strike force season after season without success. Think of the strikers we’ve had leading the line; Adebayor, Van Perise, Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela, Chamakh, Park Chu Young, Podolski, Giroud, Sanogo & Welbeck. These are the what we would could out and out strikers that we’ve used as the focal point of our attack and it’s indicative of Wenger having tried. There were also the Higuain, Suarez and Benzema sagas that almost took place so the 'want’ for a new man up top is there. This summer is the time to make it happen.

In terms of the Euros thus far, it’s been a really enjoyable competition to watch. The England result aside, the performance was at least something to take positives from. There are some big decisions coming up for Hodgson as in the lead up to the competition all the talk was of whether Rooney would work in midfield. It has done. He looked good (all be it against a dour Russian side) but the main conundrum now is whether to play Kane & Sterling with the likes of Sturridge, Vardy and Rashford waiting in the wings to take their place. I think that Sterling is likely to retain his purely because none of the alternatives are natural wide men but Kane’s place is more under threat simply due the natural alternatives.

The best game I’ve seen up until now has been the Belgium v Italy game. Some brilliant end to end football and Italy winning it against the odds was great to watch. I just love how emotion every single player is within that squad. It’s always been the case and again it showed with their celebrations for the 2nd goal. Even Buffon was getting involved! Great tv. Belgium have a great collection of individuals but they just don’t look like a 'team’. I’m not sure the manager is the right man for the job there, but in international management you just never know who or what will work. It’s never quite as clean cut as transferring a trophy winning manager from club football to the international stage (see Phil Scolari…).

England play Wales this week and that will be the talk of the town. Wilshere (if he plays!) v Ramsey, Bale v I don’t know, Rooney I guess although the gulf in class is apparent!

Have a great week folks. Oh and it's Liverpool at Home for the first game of the season. Nice and spicy.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #Birthday #AFC #Arsenal #Vardy #Transfers #Euro2016

Season Review 2015/16

Apologies for the lack of my weekly musings last week. Bank holiday shenanigans coupled with a serious bout of man flu have hampered my ability to do anything productive that week, followed by seeing a loved one leave this world. It’s had me thinking about the present moment a lot and how we can almost feel so encapsulated within it, that we forget it can be over in an instant. She was 68 years young and it was far too early for her to leave us all and the pang of it is felt more so by the nearest and dearest to her simply because she was the most happy and pure soul I ever had the experience of meeting. The joy on her face as well as the laughter around her that followed will be a memory that I’ll never forget. This same feeling can be brought down to even the simple things in life, like the feeling of winning THAT trophy, signing THAT player, just about catching THAT train, waking up to THAT beautiful sunshine. They are all magnificent feelings in their own way but as I mentioned above, they can disappear in an instant. They are so temporary that we should enjoy these moments fully in the now and not dwell so much on what could have been. In turn we should I guess prepare ourselves for events turning not so in our favour and try to come to terms with a bit of perspective from time to time. Anyway, that’s the deep and meaningful part of this post..back to the football.

This week it’s all about reflection and looking into what could have been as well as what has actually transpired. When looking back at this season, the brilliant events of the final weekend do mask what happened all of the weeks leading up to it. We managed to balls up a season that opened itself up in a way that we couldn’t have truly imagined, yet we, along with the majority of the other big boys, were not able to take advantage. How in hell did Leicester win this league? We are living in world where a team who sit back and defend well and hit on the counter. Now that’s not to say that I begrudge their style in any way, as with the resources they have versus the rest of the league why would they play any other way? But how did so many of us play such abject football for so long and not break down that Leicester side? Granted we did our job against them by taking 6 points off them, but we then succumbed to losing and drawing games to teams who played a similar way. Our style lacked any identity this season, which was a big reason as to why we were only able to finish 2nd (LOL 2nd!) but it’s still unbelievable that it happened this way.

Let’s forget the others and focus on ourselves. It all began with that fateful performance against West Ham. While we lacked identity and sharpness for game one, we let ourselves beat us rather than the Hammers. They did well to set up and come for a draw, which is wat they would have got if it weren’t for mistakes from Cech and Oxlade Chamberlain. But this game followed a similar pattern to the many that followed in similar vein.

What worked

It was clear from day one that we needed a midfield base of Coquelin and Cazorla, flanked by Ramsey and Sanchez and Ozil in the number 10 position as our midfield. Any other combination at the base of our midfield and we were lucky when we won and picked apart way too easily when we didn’t. The gaps in our midfield were far too easy to find and our lack of purchasing the right outfield player was indicative of this. Giroud at the spearhead of this attack worked quite well, but it needed Ramsey’s unpredictable runs from the right hand side to allow Alexis the space and guile to operate in his most effective manner. From the December win vs Man City we really didn’t play very well and rode our luck massively in any wins that we had and it looked as though Wenger stumbled upon a winning formula, largely down to the combination of Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny integrating into the side. Even with Elneny, Wenger seemed reluctant to use him within the team, however finished with a combination of Elneny and Ramsey at the base of our midfield. Either way we ended the campaign with the final 10 games going unbeaten, some good performance and some frantic ones, however we did end fairly strongly in comparison to our fairly erratic season.

What didn’t work

So much could be said of this category. We didn’t quite have a midfield base that we could properly rely on. Wenger seemed to try and go with Ramsey and Flamini A LOT at the base, which in some games worked ok for us but in others any semblance of a decent midfield tore through it. Neither of the two were ball players and we didn’t have anyone else within the squad who could fill the ball playing Santi Cazorla. Because of that our build up play was fraught and frenetic, leading to some really disoriented build up play. By the time that we got the ball up to anywhere near the final third any calmness and it lead to some quite rushed finishing. The harmony was missing from our football for so long this season and even when Elneny was introduced, while the play did improve because of his tireless running, it still lacked a little composure. This was a major concern for almost half the season, which is why it’s the area of the pitch that has been addressed first and foremost this summer with the signing of Granit Xhaka – The ball playing tough man that could finally be our answer to the departure of Patrick Vieria. No pressure.

Favourite Moment

The best moment of this season in person for me had to be Theo Walcott’s goal vs Man City at the Emirates this season. In a game where we were severely under pressure we scored a quite beautiful goal against the run of play to turn the game and create a quite incredible atmosphere. The best moment overall though would have to be the final day of the season as the Sp*rs score was coming in while we just about pushed forward to get a second goal. A quite hilarious end to a disappointing season. It didn’t mask our pitfalls but it did create a nice feeling going into the summer. A few special mentions need to go out to the home win vs Man Utd, the home win vs Bayern and the last minute Welbeck winner vs Leicester. All great moments.

Low Point

The worst part of this season for me had to be the two games vs Man Utd away followed by Swansea at home. Those two games spelt the end of our title challenge (realistically anyway) and really highlighted that we didn’t quite have the balls to go ahead and win this league. And we really should have won this league. Those two games were our seasons in a microcosm. Promise. Hope. Possibility. Followed by a speed bump, leading to a car crash. The smallest of adversities that we faced sent us spiraling out of control and is the biggest reason as to why we didn’t go on to win it.

Goal of the season

My favourite goal this season had to be the Danny Welbeck one. Purely for the timing, celebration, the opposition and the player who did it. After being out for so long to come on and get the winner in the 92nd minute is what dreams are made of.

Player of the season

MESUT OZIL. Created the most chances in the history of the Premier League and quite frankly could have doubled Henry’s assist record if we had a more clinical centre forward. This video might just give you an inkling into that. It’s 21 minutes long but if you have the time, take a look. Some seriously great football in it.

Wenger Rating

6/10 this season. For two reasons; firstly for not investing into the positions needed last summer, be it in or out of his hands the buck stops with a man who couldn’t bring in a player needed with funds available (as well as plenty of players available). Secondly for not being able to find a solution that worked in terms of a plan B. The base of that midfield was left far too open for too long and, while we didn’t have the personnel to plug the gap we might have been able to see a better tactical solution put in place to nullify other teams if we couldn’t play to our strengths (which we couldn’t for large portions of the season).

The Future

Granit Xhaka in. Mkhitaryan/Mahrez mooted. Vardy negotiations ongoing (I really hope we find an alternative to this racist man, I cannot stand him and don’t want such a ‘role model’ to be at our great club). It looks like a busy summer ahead and one where we are making strides already. A wide forward and centre forward are essential as is a centre back in my opinion. If we can address these 3 remaining areas we will be in the mix next season.

I’ll leave it there for now and properly discuss transfers next week as well as some Euros chat.

Have a great week folks, seize the day and live in the moment.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #SeasonReview #Transfers #Arsenal

An Ode

Considering that we have had a week of Premier League free football it has felt like a very busy one. We had the post Premier League happiness of St. Totteringham’s day to contend with and it’s been cup final week on the domestic as well as European cup competition. Transfer speculation is also high on everyone’s agenda. It’s been an intriguing week to say the least.

Firstly and fore mostly I’d like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to a couple of departing heroes for Arsenal Football Club. Mikel Arteta after 5 years of service and Tomas Rosicky after a decade. They have both been brilliant for Arsenal football club in different ways, and rather than to look at what they could have been for the club and dwell on “what if?” I’m going to look at what they did do for us during their time at The Arsenal.

Tomas Rosicky was brought in to replace Robert Pires and his wonderful creativity from the left hand side, however Rosicky was at the time seen as an upgrade as he had a bit more energy than our imperious Frenchman, as well as a change of pace that it’s fair to say Pires didn’t quite have anymore. He came in off the back of a collection of glittering world cup performances and was an exciting prospect for us. He gave our midfield that surge when we needed to pick up the tempo and also possessed this knack of bursts of pace that the opposition never really anticipated. He was a part of the new age, that kept us competitive in the post Thierry Henry era. Granted he was there for Henry’s last season with us but it was his part in the midfield four alongside Fabregas, Hleb and Flamini that was of an almost perfect balance. I say almost as the trophies that we would have liked didn’t quite arrive at this juncture, but that’s more to do with other areas of the pitch in my book. No need to discuss past ills here! On of my favourite things about Rosicky was that he really seemed to understand what it was to be an Arsenal player. He was a fan favourite and he loved a goal against Sp*rs, which is always something that is going to endear you to the Arsenal faithful. The goal I’ll always remember him for is the one at home v Sp*rs to put us 3-2 up from being 2-0 down. A whole weight lifted for the fans and it really was one of the key moments that lead us to Champions League football at the end of the 2011/12 season. Not only was it a great goal but you could see how much it meant to him and that’s why we all loved him. Granted he isn’t considered to be a legend at the club even though he’s been here for more years than Thierry Henry was with us. As I mentioned earlier he is a player that we will all feel a bit “What if?” with regards to his injuries, but as a man and a player he is someone who will be missed by us. Good luck to him at the Euros.

Now for Mikel Arteta. He was a player that I felt, among many others, that we really should have brought to the club a couple of years earlier than he arrived. But he was still a vital signing for us. He was bought in our post Man Utd mauling in what is widely termed as a supermarket sweep like buying spree. He was someone who came in that steadied the ship and really helped us in the post Fabregas era. He was asked to play in a completely different role to where he played with Everton. He was a mix between a wide man and a number 10 for them, yet he came in and played maybe a handful of games in the number 10 role before being placed at the base of our midfield simply due to the fact that there was no one else capable enough to play in that role. He performed affably and we only won one game without him in the team in the 2011/12 season. It was the final game away to West Brom, which is what got us 4th place that year, but it’s a testament to how important he was, because when he didn’t play we didn’t tend to win. He was such a stereotypically Arsenal type player it seemed baffling that we didn’t bring him in a couple of years earlier. My favourite Arteta moment was in that 2011/12 season when he smashed in the winner vs Man City at home from long range. He won us the game and seemingly lost Man City the title (not, Lol!) but he won the ball back in midfield and drove on a few yards before unleashing a wonderful strike into the bottom corner. A beauty. He was truly a classy player and a classy man, and it was fitting that he signed off his time with us with a quote that just works…”This club is class”. Good luck to his future in coaching, as I really do see him as someone who might just have the intelligence to manage The Arsenal one day.

The rest of the week saw Seville beat Liverpool with a wonderful second half performance from them as well as some quite hilarious punditry from Michael Owen. What a tool. This man genuinely gets paid for this insight. Plonker. As are most pundits on BT Sport. We also saw an FA Cup final where LVG seemingly went out on a high. It was a pretty boring affair, however in his big moment at winning the cup, both United as a club and Mourinho’s entourage couldn’t help but to undermine him by announcing that he would be their new manager minutes after the final. Absolutely horrendous from all concerned. Not only that but in his post match press conference a member of the press contrived to mockingly laugh in LVG’s direction for his rightly spirited demeanour having obviously heard the news. It’s at the end of the clip as he walks out but this isn’t anything new. The press in this country become more and more ‘above’ everyone else within the game as time goes on. There are very few journalists out there now who write and/or handle themselves with integrity. It’s good, however, that social media exists to amplify these faux pas’. If it weren’t for social media we probably wouldn’t even know it happened, as it is on my Twitter timeline the last 24 hours has been filled with very guilty sounding journalists defending whoever it was because they themselves know it was wrong. Deflecting to the fact that he’s underperformed as a manager. He’s just won a bloody trophy and this is how the press and his club behave. Absolutely no class whatsoever. Far be it from me being a fan of LVG, he’s been a disaster and frankly looks to be missing a few screws but that doesn’t give anyone the right to belittle a cup win as well as the man himself. Why not let him have his moment? That’s something that Utd fans will have to get used to as the siege mentality of ‘Us against Them’ that Mourinho imbibes has already begun. They’ll win things no doubt, however the manner in which they do so will not be liked by many. In the same way that it has now become commonplace at Chelsea, unless Conte can change it that is.

On top of all of this we’ve also bought a player it seems! No official confirmation as yet, however leaked pictures from his photo shoot showing not only the player Xhaka, but also the new kit. The club now frantically doing all they can to launch things officially. He’ll be a great signing by the sounds of it, and if you want to do some further reading on how good he might be for us, here’s a great piece.

Largely it’s been a rather good week. Enjoy the upcoming Transfer mayhem and have a good one folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Rosicky #Arteta #Cups #LVG #Mourinho #Xhaka

In the b̶a̶g̶ bin!

There are plenty of weeks ahead for season reviews, player appreciation for Super Tom and Mikel Arteta as well as Matthieu Flamini (although the stories on him finishing up with us haven’t quite been vocalised as yet, which does worry me), but that’s not for today. Today is the smallest form of joy that we can take from what has been a truly crazy and horrific season as far as we’re concerned. That small form is St.Totteringhams day. Whatever you say about our season, our squad, the manager, the board, the apparently divisive atmosphere at the stadium, the clowns on AFTV or even Piers bloody Morgan, the final day of results were particularly fun! We were typically nervy as the game wore on after an initially good start. Nervous against the worst club in the league. That’s been the way of our football. The atmosphere was heavily dictated by goings on at St.James’ Park. Sp*rs were 2-0 down and we were 1-0 up. The fans knew. The players in turn, knew. The atmosphere for a little subdued when it went to 2-1 up north and especially so when Mitrovic got himself sent off. It somehow then went to 3-1 for Newcastle and we managed to score to make it 2-0. The fans started the “it’s happened again…” song, but I did think it was still early. Playing vs 10 men with 10 minutes to play, I still thought there might be a sting in the tail. Or not, as it turned out. It went to 4-1. Then 5. I really couldn’t quite believe it. We were winning 4-0 and they were losing 5-1. A happy happy St.Totteringhams day to one and all! Whatever any other fan Sp*rs or otherwise says to us for celebrating 2nd place are only deflecting from their own terrible seasons thus far. Let’s face it not many of us are going to know too many Leicester fans right? Not until next season anyway. Many a Sp*rs fan will tell you it doesn’t matter and that CL football is more important. While they may well want to echo the thoughts of their manager, they do care, as do we. It’s a nice way to go into the summer for they players. You can bet it’s these little things that psychologically affect players both at the club and players wanting to join. It’s doesn’t changer too much as we’ve been above them for 20 seasons on the spin but it’s more the fact that if they had finished above us external players may have sat up and too more notice. Us finishing above them is a historical normality and won’t have changed opinions of external players, however them finishing above us would have been more headline worthy news. It would have been noticed a little more. Thankfully it’s not happened and we have a slightly more upbeat jaunt into work this week. This season however can well and truly get in the bin. As nice as it was to pip Sp*rs to 2nd and with CL football in the bag, it’s a season that reeks of missed opportunities. It’s most definitely a season where an opportunity or in fact multiple opportunities have been spurned. No matter how this last day has gone we have fallen 10 points short of Leicester. I can think of at least 15 points that we’ve well and truly chucked away when better in game management would have seen us walk this league. Swansea at home, Liverpool away, Palace at home, Sp*rs away, Norwich away, West Ham away and Southampton at home. They are all games that we should have won. No question. But bad decisions from players and the manager in game cost us the points. That’s 15 points that would have seen us coast the league. You might even argue that there are 4/5 points that could be arguable. That would at least put us level with Leicester and with rivals that were closer to them they may well have succumbed to pressure in games that they had coped in with ease. It’s now all about how we act in the summer after seeing the likes of Rosicky, Arteta and Flamini move on. It also seems like Walcott may well be on his way so we will likely be seeing at least 3 coming in according to the boss and potentially a 4th, however that may well be a January signing as we know what Wenger is like. But then again who knows, the last year of his reign may well be a ruthless one. I hope so - but any spending he does will need to keep in mind how his successor will treat those players and whether they match the incoming managers style. Back to the day itself and it was really nice to see Mikel Arteta get a goal to bow out in style but also a shame to not get to see Rosicky don the Red and White one more time. They have both been brilliant players for us in different ways. If not for injuries Rosicky could truly have been a legend, as it is he will retain a cult hero status with his knack of scoring v Sp*rs. Arteta provided us with much needed stability at a time where our best players were leaving and genuinely helped to keep us afloat in the 2011/12 season. He was in tears at the end of the game and that I think looks to be the end of his association with Arsenal football club. He’s obviously emotional about playing his last game as a player but also he looked like a man saying goodbye. I really hope he is given a role at the club as he seems like a really nice guy and someone who has had a great footballing education. More on those two in the coming weeks… Lots to chew over with a big summer coming up. I’ll look over the season, Rosicky, Arteta, Flamini & transfers over the next few weeks. This week however is too good a week to start second guessing the manager and eulogising outgoing players. Let this be a week of celebration.

Have a great one folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #AFCvAVFC #Arsenal #Arteta #Rosicky #StTotteringhamsDay

Poetic Justice

Writing this weeks blog feels tiring, as we limp towards the finish line for our season. Being 3 points clear of City with Villa at home to play you would *think* that we will have an automatic Champions League place sorted. A loss for Sp*rs and a win for us would even get us into 2nd. 2nd place! After playing as poorly as we have for the best part of 4 months would be some feat but would once again highlight that, while the league that we are in is by far and away the most entertaining objectively speaking, this league lacks real quality. But as I’ve been saying for a few weeks now, this season is almost over and can well and truly get in the bin. The only thing that we can take away from it, if anything at all, is a Community Shield win. But that was so long ago it almost feels like last season.

The performance v City themselves was abject at best. We showed flashes of quality, which were the moments that led to our goals but we never really looked like we had a grip of the game. They were far better than us and if we’re being honest, they probably deserved to win the game. It’s a decent point for us and means a draw against Villa next week keeps us 3rd. A win coupled with a Sp*rs loss takes us 2nd, which would be a nice bonus but we have much bigger problems to address this summer than having to worry about finishing above or below Sp*rs. The positives of the performance were Jack Wilshere and Oliver Giroud. They both played well and looked sharp again so they are great takeaways from the game. The not so positive was Danny Welbeck. I really hope that his knee injury isn’t too serious, he’s been through so many injury problems it would be gutting for him to miss the Euros.

This season has really been an anomaly in that every single so called “big club” has massively under performed. Now it’s not only that, as the teams that are traditionally below the usual top 6 have become markedly better but that’s been coupled with a stagnation at the top. It’s for this reason that Leicester City are Champions (I still can’t quite believe this). They are the only side to have shown some mettle and have almost said to the rest of the league “if you want to play like that every week, we’ll have you”. They haven’t been remotely spectacular. They haven’t been exciting. They’ve been a sit back and counter team, and while there is an element of beauty in their counter attacking goals, it’s just small flashes. But no one can begrudge them of this. Their squad was assembled for around £55m (6 times less than Chelsea’s title winning squad last season) and they know that player for player ability wise that they simply don’t have the best squad. It’s a team greater than the sum of its parts and that is down to a very humble and down to earth manager who has realised that work rate alone is good enough to win this league.

It’s quite fitting that Claudio Ranieri will get to walk out at Stamford Bridge with a guard of honour as a Premier League champion, where Roman Abramovich said that he would never be able to win the league title. It’s some excellent poetic justice, and it’s poetic justice that gives me, an Arsenal fan, some hope. Hope that for all the abuse we as a club have heard, that Wenger as a boss has received and for all the heartache that we’ve witnessed. So near, yet so far has been the way in recent times but poetic justice is what gives me hope. I think we all realise that some change is needed in either the board, management or both, but what’s clear is that Wenger will be here next season. I for one he is able to retire in the same way as Sir Alex. With a title. Be it the Premier League or the Champions League it would really be a good way for him to go out. Alas it doesn’t quite work as ‘nicely’ as that - just ask Steven Gerrard. He lost his last game 6-1 and didn’t win a league title with Liverpool, which some would say he deserved to win. I for one am in that book, he’s a player who gave everything to his club and didn’t quite get his just rewards trophy wise. And that is a danger for Arsene Wenger. I really do feel that if we go next season without winning a trophy his time at Arsenal will always be remembered with a tinge of resentment by a lot of the fan base. What would be nice is a big trophy win to see him off but the only way that will really happen is by taking some transfer window risks. There will be plenty of time to discuss this in the summer so I’ll leave the in-out-in-out-shake-it-all-about discussion to then. Until then 3rd place, it seems, is where our season will drift into the distance.

With regards to Leicester, there was no better way for them to celebrate really. They had Andrea Bocelli belt out Nessun Dorma in the centre circle and it was a spine tinglingly good performance. My favourite part was when Ranieri was trying to silence the fans singing his name like a dad trying to silence his children so that he could listen to his music. It was quite brilliant. What was also brilliant was their performance on the day. Missing a key man you thought that Everton may have had a chance to get at them. No chance. I know they themselves are in somewhat of a crisis but Leicester cast them aside in a very un-Leicester way. They dominated from beginning to end. A good way to begin the celebrations.

Don’t worry folks - the season and the nightmares of it are nearly over. One more win and we can focus on the Euros and hope for some poetic justice next season.

Have a great week.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #MCFCvAFC #Arsenal #Welbeck #Giroud #dillydingdillydong

Keyboard Warriors, Contracts & Conspiracy

There’s only one place to start really, Leicester City. What an incredible achievement and what a lovely way for it to happen. Two teams that aren’t our favourites let’s be honest, went toe to toe, drew the game and fouled the shit out of each other. There were handbags, fisty cuffs and Sp*rs visibly losing the plot. No better way really as far as we’re concerned. A Chelsea winner would have topped it and given us a sniff at 2nd, which I think might be beyond our reach now. I’m not sure how Sp*rs will react in their next home game, beating us to 2nd will be a motivator but dejection and a flatter atmosphere are likely, so there’s no telling which way it could go. A lot to play for still but it’s just unbelievable to say this; Leicester are Champions of England. Well done to them, in a moment where a lot of teams will be feeling that this ‘should be us’ we have to face the scant fact that, it’s not. It’s them. It’s their moment and good luck to them in the Champions League next year. What a fantastic achievement.

As far as Arsenal are concerned it’s not quite as exciting as a title challenge, but more of a damp squib in the ‘protests’ that took place on Saturday. Watching on Sky Sports I was curious to see how the media would build up to it and it seemed to be quite hilarious. There weren’t sure what the 12th minute was and considered both the 12th and 13th minute to be the 12th minute. The fans protesting did the same thing. Some had no idea and spanning around the ground there was a distinct age of protestor. Not to say they were all young hoodlums by any stretch but I didn’t see too many, let’s call them adults, with the banners. That was the first thing I noticed. The second thing, which has been evident for a long time now, is that no matter what your stance is on wanting ‘change’ there were only a handful of people that took part in the banner raising. The Twittersphere is in no way representative of the entire fan base and thank the sweet Lord for that as there are some monumental dick heads that exist behind a keyboard alone. The interesting thing on this front was how certain media 'moguls’ made it out. Stan Collymore professed to say that “lots of Arsenal fans protest against Wenger” followed by a tweet saying “One Arsene Wenger now pipes up from a section”. Now is be remiss to simply refute that because I don’t agree with what I could see but rather than just doing that I’ll give you another example. Miguel Delaney, a journalist who has openly said that it is time for Wenger to go, was also at the game and said the protests fell flat on their face. “Less than 10% holding he banners” and “protest mostly booed” along with “most of the crowd singing Arsene we love you”. Two quite different opinions and on slightly more objective than the other. Unbelievably Wenger is right about the media having an agenda. Collymore clearly needs to fuel the call ins - absolutely no dignity in his messaging at all. Piers Morgan-esque. Even he chimed in with a picture looking to overtly display the need for change when really it was around 20 fans in a rather large section of thousands holding up the banners. What’s clear is that there is a large portion of the Twittesphere that exists only online and behind a keyboard that would hold up a crappy little bit of A4. The ones at the ground that might want change still had too much respect for the manager to hold up any banner and that’s the measure of our club. It’s always been about doing things the right way and the best form of protest was the fact that fans didn’t want to pay £50-60 to go and watch us play Norwich. Astronomical prices for the same year in year out is what has grated the fans and is why there have been so many empty seats over the last few weeks.

Plenty of opposition fans have jumped on this by saying we never fill our ground anyway and that they turn up every week regardless. That’s what Social Media has now created. A forum to easily castigate a team with little basis. Stamford Bridge was a fairly empty ground before the days of Roman, as was (and regularly still is!) the Etihad. There should be a signpost for fans like this really, BM (before money) and AM (after money). What I mean to say is that a lot of the opposition fans that lambast this, are in fact the keyboard warriors ad infinitum. They don’t quite know what it was like 10/15 years ago and it’s because of this that the Twittersphere has become a slanted view of reality. It’s in no way representative of the whole fan base and nor does it really matter in the grand scheme of things. The main thing to take from it all was that as frustrated as we all are not everyone on Twitter goes to games. The main thing this weekend was, for once, all of the results went our way. 3 points for us with Utd drawing, City losing and Sp*rs being held we actually took advantage by winning. Albeit only just. Our performance doesn't need much analysis. We played ok and could have scored more. Equally we could have seen them nick a point or three if it weren't for Petr Cech. Three points was the pre requisite and three points was achieved. Job done.

Next I want to talk about contracts. Now I don’t know what Joel Campbell has done to Arsene Wenger, but he must have pissed him off in some way. What does he have to do to get some game time? He’s not even getting in squads that have come in over the last few weeks and you have to think why? It’s got me wondering whether there are certain players *cough Walcott cough* who have it in their contracts that when fit they have to be in the squad and certain players who have no such conditions. The only reason I mention this is the way that Theo has negotiated his contracts the last couple of times has been completely about himself as a player rather than viewing his career path. It was only about him as a player rather than Arsenal as a team, now that is the way the majority of players think however their motives usually go hand in hand with the team. And this should have been something that was realised, however his development has been so stagnant that it hasn’t gone hand in hand. Joel Campbell has now become the fall guy for this (if true of course…I’m just trying to piece our very messy jigsaw of a season together).

This brings me to my next and final point, now this is full on conspiracy talk that I feel less confident on since hearing Danny Welbeck’s interview post Norwich. I thought or had a musing if you will, about whether the only reason that Giroud was playing ahead of a fully fit Welbeck was because he’s the most likely man to lead the line for France. Will the continued playing of him play him into some for for the Euros? Now I thought this as Welbeck had been fully fit in my head for a few weeks, however it was pretty much quashed when Welbeck said that he “was blowing after only playing 30 minutes” and that “he’s glad to be building up his fitness again”. That put paid to my ludicrous conspiracy theory of Wenger thinking “Vive Le France!” and that’s a really important point here. No matter what we think we know, we actually know nothing and can easily concoct the most absurd scenarios in our minds to justify the behaviour of the manager. People might say why doesn’t Wenger just say he’s not 100%? But then why would you give your opposition that information? Why would you give them ammunition to suggest that one big tackle might throw him off his game? All that has happened is that the player has been protected and protected well by the manager, and for that we can’t be angry. In hindsight of course. At the time it’s purely frustration but that’s because a lack of trust of the manager has grown. He’s got one season left and I hope he can get that trust back by brining home some silverware next season.

I know our season isn’t quite completely over yet but this really has been the weirdest season in my experience as a fan. Reminiscent of Blackburn Rovers to a degree but without all the investment. All I can muster is a massive congratulations to Leicester City. The only downside is the notion of having to see Gary Lineker in his underpants on MOTD next season.

3 points behind with 2 to play. Come on you Gunners!

Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #AFCvNCFC #Arsenal #Leicester #Miracles

#DillyDingDillyDong

We are so bloody boring and predictable to watch. We look so unsure of a style of play and shorn of any confidence. We’ve become this way because the manager is as such.

Consider where we are with the team, and it’s obvious, but the starting XI vs Sunderland consisted of a Ramsey/Elnenny double pivot, both of whom were not around to play in those positions at the start of the season. The CoqZorla combination was first choice and now Coquelin, who the manager deemed essential to the reason we didn’t buy anyone in that position over the summer. He then bought in Elneny in January and professed not to play him even in Coquelin’s absence followed by now where Coquelin is not first choice. Adaptable you might say but it goes on. There is no way that there was a plan to have Iwobi playing an essential role over the likes of Walcott and Campbell at this crunch time of the season. Then when it comes to making the decisions on substations, they happen at the 70 minute mark like clockwork no matter the circumstances. It shows a willingness not to change, a stubbornness, a groundhog-dayishness. And when it comes to those times the trust is given to a player like Walcott over Campbell who has performed above and beyond the likes of Walcott every single time he’s played. It shows a lack of power over the dressing room. I know managing a squad must be a like spinning plates but when you have games to win, the whole squad and the best parts of it need to be utilised. He’s afraid to do that and someone who is afraid to do what’s right will soon lose trust of the one group that has always had faith in him, the players. There’s been a clip floating around where we can hear an audibly exasperated Mesut Ozil saying “For F*#% sake” at yet another failed Bellerin cross. It’s slowly beginning to filter down to the players but there’s still time to correct it simply because we know there won’t be any managerial change until the season after next. Here’s how…

There are players that will leave and players that should be moved on: Flamini, Arteta, Rosicky, Ospina & Walcott. The other fringe members need to be kept on I think as there is scope for improvement and potential to be realised with the likes of The Ox & Ramsey. Now in addition to what we already have with the above that will be moved on, we needed a top CB, CM and CF. So what needs to happen is massive. We need to not only go out and buy the likes of, for example, Hummels, Xhaka & Aubemeyang in addition to replacing the squad players that will leave. Can anyone really see Arsene Wenger going out and getting 6/7/8 players in? I don’t think so at all as much as I hate to say it. I honestly feel that it will come down to one or two signings with one of them being marquee and quite a lot of ‘internal solution finding’. Don’t be surprised to see a 'chance’ for Sanogo, Gnabry, The Jeff alongside Iwobi as the players to replace the likes of Rosicky, Arteta etc. I would love to see him go out, buy a pool of world class talent and work with that. Go out with a bang so to speak and leave a genuinely talented squad behind, not one that is rotting and fast running out of ideas. We’ve been using plasters to patch us up for too long, when it’s clear that we need surgery. Part of me thinks would it be any different with a new manager and the same vanilla filled board room? I think it might actually be possible. Look at the way Klopp has galvanised a very split Liverpool fan base. Once he puts his own stamp on the squad, they’ll be a force no doubt. A lot to think about especially in the last 3 games as 3rd place is an absolute must. We needed to be 4 points ahead of City before playing them and now we could find ourselves only 2 points or even level with them. I’m pretty certain an away trip to Southampton between Champions League semi finals is a stretch too far but who knows this season? I’m pretty much done contemplating and stipulating stuff. It’s far too depressing.

But one thing that has now become a stark reality is that we will finish behind Sp*rs. A fair few of their fans have said they’re not quite sure what to make of this season and a fair few who believe, title or not, that this team is on the brink of greatness. Now I can fully appreciate both arguments here, but will the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd & Liverpool all be as bad as they were next season? I doubt it. And when you look at the points taken by Sp*rs vs the above (13) you can see it might not be as plain sailing as it’s been this season. Granted they have been good this season, however I just can’t see all the others being as bad next season meaning there may be a bit more of a shake up in the standings. Having said all that it looks as though St. Totteringhams day won’t be celebrated this year but frankly speaking we have bigger problems than that. Leicester look like they’ve gone and almost done it.

Onto happier things then. Leicester City won. Again. Convincingly. Without Vardy. The hopes and dreams of Sp*rs fans the world over were dashed with Ashley Williams playing as if he had flip flops on. I have to say I was also a little worried about their fixture vs Swansea, but I then remembered I used their game vs us as the barometer for that feeling. Not a good thing to do as we all know how our season has gone. Thankfully they stepped up and beat Swansea resoundingly. It means that technically they need 5 points from 3 games but I think they need one more win. Sp*rs will thrash West Brom but I’m not sure they’ll get more than a draw vs Chelsea meaning they can get a maximum of 10 points from their remaining games. That leaves Leicester needing one more win. I think they’ll get a point vs Utd as Sp*rs get a point vs Chelsea and then go on to beat Everton to win the title at the King Power. But then again I predicted us to win the league so what do I know!? I just want them to win it and can’t begrudge them simply because of Ranieri. He’s so damn likeable. Even in his interview a day before the game he’s just so refreshingly nice to listen to. So affable. So honest. And in no way trying to play mind games. Compare that to any other manager that’s been in his situation or chasing his team and there is a palpable tension or angst in managers’ voices. Pochettino looked tense and worried in his interview, and you can understand why, but Ranieri just looked so relaxed and friendly. I guess it’s a little easier when the expectation is small but still. Good on him and good on Leicester. Almost there…

On the PFA Player & Young Player of the year the winners were Riyad Mahrez and Deli Alli. They cost £400,000 & £5m respectively. The bargains are out there if we look hard enough, but the risks are the ire of a fan base hating on any 'potential’ anymore. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Anywho…both awards well deserved in my book, both players have been outstanding this season.

Oh and on this season, as far as I’m concerned, it can get in the bin.

Have a great week.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #DillyDingDillyDong #SFCvAFC #Wenger #Leicester #Arsenal

May the 4th be with you

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how and why Leicester are top of the league and seemingly running away with it. I’ve seen articles written about the renaissance of brutish and traditional centre backs becoming the norm once again. Are Robert Huth and Wes Morgan the requisite for any title building team for the near future? Is this the way we must all play to achieve greatness? My unequivocal answer on this is NO. There are a few reasons for this as well. The main one however is the lack of game changing players existing at the bigger clubs.

Each big side has their ‘Maverick’ that they look to in times when unlocking a stubborn and resolute side. However this season there has been a distinct lack of them around, which has made the likes of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth look like world beaters. Let’s run through the so called 'Mavericks’ within each big side:

Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez Chelsea: Eden Hazard Sp*rs: Erik Lamela? Not sure they really have one. Liverpool: Philippe Coutinho Man City: Yaya Toure (last season, KDB this) Man United: Wayne Rooney? Again not sure they really have one.

Leicester: Riyad Mahrez

Now if you consider the names above, not one of them has properly fired this season. Not really. Alexis Sanchez has shown glimpses and one of those glimpses was his quite brilliant hat-trick vs Leicester to which Huth and Morgan had no answer. The problem has been that Chelsea have missed their main man this season as have Sp*rs, Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd. This has been reflected in their performances vs Leicester. The only wins against them from the above sides have been from ourselves twice and Liverpool with a cagey 1-0 win at Anfield. The other results have all been in Leicester’s favour largely due to the fact that there wasn’t anyone willing to 'risk’ unlocking their defence. Think about last season, where Hazard was firing, Utd had Di Maria, Alexis Sanchez was unplayable, Yaya Toure had a great season, Kevin De Bruyne has missed a couple of months this season and Coutinho was at his best. These types of players playing well influences the way in which smaller teams defend. When they aren’t playing well the brutes have it easy as there is no amount of unpredictability to deal with. A little luck and no risk takers allow for such defenders to make hay. This will not last for another season long and Leicester will for sure discover this in both the Premier League and Champions League next season. That being said, everyone and their respective clubs have been magnanimous in their reaction to this type of defending. Too weak, too cautious, too predictable.

This weekends results are something that leave me looking into the distance and all I can see is, the abyss. We’re really not a good football team this season. So many of our squad have been found out. One trick ponies that just don’t offer anything against any team that has watched just the one tape of them. The people in question here are Gabriel, Coquelin, Walcott & Giroud. Granted Giroud had no real service in the last 15 (we had 1 shot after Palace scored, just 1!) but it’s been far too long where we have been carrying some members and happy to ride to the mediocrity of a 4th place battle. Gabriel has the opportunity to put Adebayor into the stands and yet he ushers him 50 yards and then allows him to play a pass inside. All the attributes of a training cone. Coquelin professes, then, to show a right footed player inside, onto his shooting foot only for Cech to get beaten a la Zarate, at his near post. Horrific all round. We still had around 10-12 minutes to find a goal. Not only did we panic, we should have really lost the game with Zaha & Adebayor vs Gabriel in a 2v1 situation towards the end. Thankfully Zaha is Zaha and we got lucky.

I’m sick to death of the performances that come in. I mean knowing that Leicester have just dropped points you would think that the performance would have max intensity from the players. Instead we got a vet 'calm’ start, which is only something that can be inspired or created by the manager. He has the ability to influence the first 20 minutes of a game after which the players settle into the rhythm and carry it on. Time and time again we have a leisured start to the game, which shows the players lack the belief that there is anything left to play for. Where does this come from? Yes the players are responsible but the manager is the one who is why we play a certain way. Why we start in a certain manner. Why then have we been shite to watch for almost 4 months? That’s what will hurt Wenger the most. We’ve become boring to watch. Sp*rs are playing better football with lesser quality players. Why? The manager has been able to get more than the sum of its parts from that team. Wenger clearly hasn’t. You’ve seen all the combined XIs etc etc and on current form you’d have a fair few of theirs in the combined team. Player for player however we have a better set, no question. The problem has become the manager. But we’re stuck. No one is available that’s better. Wenger seems to have reached his limit at Arsenal. There isn’t anything left for him but the lack of forward planning from the board has left us as we are. People talk of Simeone - why would he come this way? Money is the reason but with a board that doesn’t care enough to invest into the club why would they change the cash cow? I can’t believe I’m saying this but missing out on the Champions League may be what enforces some sort of change. We’re at a huge cross roads as a club and I have no idea what’s going to happen. Everyone else seems to have a plan, a strategy, ours is geared around making as much money as possible and isn’t really for the fans in any way. What do we do from here when it now looks like even Sp*rs will finish above us. The battle for 4th has commenced. Euuuugghhhhh. We’re in line for a depressing week - simply because I now know that Stoke will go ahead and beat Sp*rs to further compound our incompetence.

Have a week people. Have a week. Can work be better than football? That’s where we are folks, that’s where we are.

Until next week.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #AFCvCPFC #4th #Fourth #Mavericks

#TeamLeicester

It’s time. It’s over. It’s done. We blew it. Hats well and truly off to Leicester for being where they are but every other team in the league need a slap for allowing it to be the case. Rather them than Sp*rs so I’m firmly #TeamLeicester now. We would need them to lose 3 and draw 1 or lose 2 and draw 2 of their next 5 for us to win it, based on the fact that we win all our remaining games. Not going to happen I’m afraid. I’m ever the optimist but just can’t see it. I just can’t believe that it’s come to this. Maybe it will mean that we see Wenger change his ways and invest? Who knows. All I know is that a season that promised so much looks to be ending with very little but a rather sour taste. I think that more and more fans are moving over to the Arsene out brigade and I can’t really blame them. I don’t quite see who the hell we could replace him with which is why I still remain dubious of any change there but what I absolutely want to see change is the amount of control he has. We are desperate for a David Dein but I’ve discussed this and read it repeatedly infinitum. It’s boring and unchangeable, which is the bigger concern. The game itself this weekend as many have written, was a microcosm of our season; Started well, threw it away, Came back into it but just not quite enough. For all our brilliance in creating 2 goals we gave away far too much space to allow the crosses to come in from wide areas. Andy Carroll will beat most people in the air so it’s the supply you have to stop. I’m not going to go into the analysis of the game as we all bloody well know what happened.

Results aside one of my deepest frustrations this season has been an increased stubbornness as well as arrogance and a quite frankly patronising demeanour on view from Wenger. I love the man. I firmly feel that there isn’t anyone better out there who’s available at the moment so there’s nothing we can do on this front. But he knows that fact and I feel that it’s because of this that we hear the same stuff week in week out, whether it’s pre game, post game or any sort of Sky Sports/BT Sport puff piece. This week it was “We looked at Payet, but we didn’t get him”. I mean what in the hell does that achieve? Who gains anything from hearing that? Does his press manager or PR man not hear this and think “Shut up you t*#t”? Considering that we are a club who over the last 7/8 years have been crying out for appropriate investment to continually state that you made a decision not to buy a world class player is hideous lack of tact. Football 365 contrived to write a whole article on the players we ‘could’ have signed. These people are the most objective football analysts out there and they are laughing at us, the rest of the league does the same two gold because of these types of interviews. The players listed on the F365 article were: Cech (earlier than now), Pique, Kompany, Varane, Yaya Toure, Pogba, Makelele, Ronaldo, Messi, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic. Not to mention other times where he’s mentioned Drogba, a player who’s traumatised us! What fans want to hear these mistakes? Yes there are a couple on the list which would have meant not signing other greats that we have but to continue to speak in this way breeds contempt in an already swaying fan base. It’s patronising. We don’t want to hear it. I understand that there are elements that you have to respond to as a manager but there isn’t anyone writing an article of the nearly signed men for Sam Alardyce or Claudio Ranieri or even Louis Van Gaal. No, it’s Arsene that they’ve written about and the reason is plain arrogance. He still seems to think that we live in a world without mobile phones and the Internet and that everything he says is gospel. The interviews are growing more and more tiresome with each week. The second thing about him that has irked me this season, and it’s not something that is just this season, is his continued mantra of 'mental strength’. Every week whether we win, lose or draw that sodding phrase gets chucked into an interview. If we had any semblance of it this season we would be top of the league and wouldn’t feel sorry for ourselves for 2/3 games before we rectified error strewn performances. It’s a trait that we seem to distinctly lack, which is why the continued drum beating of it winds me and many others up. He needs to go on a PR course or something to better manage his media time and to come across less like a target for the football world.

A sobering fact to end this quite depressing post is that even if we had won every single game since Welbeck’s winner v Leicester we would be 3 points behind them with a game in hand. So at best we would be second at this moment. Now this is not to say that our wins may have put pressure on them and they could have dropped points etc etc but they simply haven’t and for that, they have to be applauded. Where we lost the title was from the Boxing Day debacle onwards (13 points from 30) leading up to the Leicester game. Poor decision making from the manager regarding team selection and mistrust in the very players he bought in (Elneny & Campbell who have performed excellently when called upon). This season is no doubt an opportunity missed and Lord knows the usual suspects will strengthen appropriately for next season, apart from us of course. We will no doubt buy 1, potentially 2 players and let ¾ go to continue the mismanagement off the squad and the season we’ve just seen will occur all over again. It sounds depressing to hear and deeply so, however unless we change our policy at the top, and by change I mean actually giving a fishes tit, we won’t progress. This involves more than buying. It means making ruthless decisions about letting players go, about picking the best team available and not clinging to superstition, it means better in game management projected to the players, better in game management from the leader on the pitch. A lot needs to happen and it feels like too much needs to change when you write it all down like that but we can all see and feel that there’s not too dramatic an amount of change required. Little decisions we’ve made or could have made this season were the difference. It’s that they’ve repeated themselves over and over, which is the issue. Who knows what will happen but for this season at least, it looks to be well and truly over barring a monumental miracle. That’s why I’m firmly #TeamLeicester from here on in. I think 2 more wins will do it as I don’t think Sp*rs will win all their remaining games. Frustrating but ultimately you have to feel happy for Ranieri.

That’s all for this post. Have a great week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #WHUFCvAFC #Wenger #TeamLeicester #Change

George Graham’s Leicester

We did our bit. Goal difference was dented. Confidence lifted and 3 points in the bag. Sp*rs conceived to drop 2 points. It was shaping up nicely. Then along came this pesky little ‘flee bite that won’t go away’ team Leicester City. They just keep churning out these ironically George Graham like 1-0 wins. Yes they’ve had their fare share of luck in these games and vs Southampton was one of those days but they deserved it on the balance of play. They just had more spark in the final third than Southampton. It’s one of those performances that when you’re at the top you get the run of the green and they had that when Mane ran through on goal. What should have been 1-0, turned into him rounding the keeper and having his shot blocked by Simpson’s arm, quite deliberately. When you’re at the bottom and scrapping that’s a penalty and a red card. When you’re at the top it’s the galvanising formula required to get over the line. Frustrating but we’re fast running out of time to claw this back. I still think there’s a sniff but it’s come to the point where a win vs Sunderland for them next week and it’s in the bag for them. That’s what our players will feel anyway - there’s no denying it. Man City did it trailing by 8 points and with 6 games to go and to be in that position we will have to go and beat the high flying West Ham next week. Anything but a win and our chances are gone I’d say but a win there and Leicester having to play before Sp*rs might just be the balance of pressure required for them to drop points. Surely their luck will run out soon. Right? Right? Please say I’m right!!!

Our performance on the weekend was a good one as I suggested earlier and the default reaction from the media half wits is to say “too little too late Arsenal” & “always the same when the pressure is off”. Well you know what, how about you actually think about it and do your job as a sports journalist is what I’d love to shake them and say. The reason isn’t due to the pressure being off. The pressure is well and truly on whilst we have a sniff but it’s due to having found a midfield balance at long last as to why we are playing well as of late. Coq-Neny and Iwobi fit our style much better than having the likes of Ramsey or Flamini at the base, which hasn’t really worked for us. Now we have a better balance and the creativity can come from places other than the feet of Mesut Ozil has freed us from our shackles. It is giving other’s a chance to shine. The fact we scored 4 and Ozil didn’t have an assist further reinforces that belief.

All being said it’s a weekend that started with so much promise and ended in stark disappointment. We can only keep going and hope. I just have a feeling that it may yet get to a point where we need a favour from Chelsea on the last day of the season, which is a sickening thought but one we may have to pray for nonetheless. The big story of the weekend has been the Times’ story on performance enhancing drugs on professional footballers. The clubs mentioned by the 'doctor’ in question were Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester. However the statement by him is made with a view to convince the undercover reporter that 'everyone does it, even the biggest of teams’. No evidence to support or corroborate his comments and I believe all three clubs have made statements to refute such claims. The whole thing is a little blown out of proportion but there is a quick fire way to resolve it. I don’t normally agree with a lot of what Stan Collymore has to say as it’s hardly ever said from the head and with fact at the basis. It’s purely his opinion but this time around I think he might be onto something. He tweeted that the best way around this situation is for every club to give a voluntary drug test on all players to ratify that we have a clean sport. Whilst this would succumb to an evidence free statement, it would highlight to the world that the sport it clean and also that if you’re not clean you will get caught because of the rigorous tests that go on through the year. Plenty of journalists put on their Guillem Balague masks off the back of the article to say “obviously there’s doping in football and all elite level sport” and “I knew already lolz”. It really would put paid to these comments and highlight the good from the bad journalists as well as the ones who have the most credibility and dignity. A big moment in football but one that has also given the sport an opportunity in that we could on the most transparent level ever possible see whether doping has had an impact on the sport.

The following fixture for us is our next point of focus. West Ham away. 3 points or bust, as it has been for a while now but hopefully they have an eye on their cup semi final a few days later and are off the boil a little. We’ll need some luck as they are a damn good side and we’ll somehow need to keep Payet quiet. No silly free kicks please lads.

A win for us and a favour from Jermain Defoe would make for a lovely weekend. Have a good week folks.

Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #AFCvWFC #Doping #Leicester

Longing

We Arsenal fans love to think about what might be. What will be. That change we (as individuals) want. The summer. Transfers. The manager. Points calculations. Season projections. All of this unnecessary, yet quite necessary stress that we all go through as football fans. I've seen some quite well written stuff this week on the boss as well as Aaron Ramsey, as to what might be best for the club going forward. All of these pieces are great and could well be what we need to do however my only real question is that; is this truly the right time to think about these things? Are we missing IT? By IT, I mean the game currently as it is? Each weekend we think of what might be or what could have been instead of enjoying/stressing/living in the moment. The Internet has given ground for fathomless debate to continue regardless of where we are. There are people out there willing failure only to see something they want to happen, happen. It's nonsensical. What do we get up for at the weekends? To see our team win. What do we want our club to achieve at the beginning of the season? The quadruple. We want to crown the end of the season with silverware. We want a shiny trophy to symbolise our success and for any fan to not want that success for change are missing the point. Joy. Happiness. Winning. That's what it's about and unless it's completely gone from our sights, why not hope? What is football without hope? Nothing. It's boring. The longing for change, for pastures new, for that greener grass is always tinged with regret. Never once has there been a change that has brought equal success. Even Guardiola is struggling to emulate the treble winning Jupp Heynckes at Bayern, not that they were pining for change but even the 'best coach in world football' hasn't been able to crack the Champions League with that unbelievable squad & money at his disposal, YET I hasten to add. We all want what we feel is better for our clubs and while that's a good sentiment and one that seems the 'right attitude' we're missing out on celebrating the highs. The good times don't come around very often for any football club and we've been lucky enough to see us win a fair few trophies over the last 20 years, so the longing for change doesn't quite compute. Now that's not to say I don't think that our manager and team have their short comings, because they do in a big way, however I feel like there is a time and place for that. Right now when we still have a glimmer of hope isn't that time. We all know Wenger will see out his contract and that he will leave when his successor measures up to the clubs' values but that's not now. So what's the point on the noise? The Kroenke chants were the first time we've seen such unrest at the club and that's ultimately where the blame for anything lies. We're hamstrung by an unwilling owner who views the club as a business and that's been the boards biggest mistake. They bought into his 'vision', which has now become clear: "make as much shitting money as possible and pretend to give a monkeys". But even though the vision is clear there is very little anyone can do about it. He will only sell up when the money stops and that will only happen if we lack consistent 'success' in the way of top 4 finishes. It's a chicken and egg situation. One where as a fan you want to see success, but for that we need a little change and for change we need a little failure. How do you cope? Some have gone the route of wanting failure, which on reading the above would seem understandable but that would mean that the Kroenke's of the world win. They sell up and move on. We are left with the mess to deal with and wait in trepidation to see how it's solved. That's why I try not to think too much about dealing with 'failure' and longing for change. Wanting trophies and success is what fans should be about and that's not something I'm about to change. Hope and faith is what the game is about, not money. The simple solution here is go to the games but don't invest in the merchandise. Don't buy that programme, don't buy the shirt, don't buy into the paraphernalia - that would make the real difference. But then how do we bring about this beautiful game to our younger generations in a consumerist world? It's a tough situation and one to which there is no right or wrong answer. The only thing I can think of is get behind the lads and support the team as we all want the same thing. Success. Trophies. Winning. On the footballing front we had our fair share of players representing internationally and they look to have come through unscathed (praying, hoping, fingers crossed etc etc). Watching England the other day vs Germany was a refreshing change. We remain awful at the back, no matter how much Glen Hoddle deems it suitable to get frantically moist over Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. They are both distinctly average, as is the rest of our defensive outlook. I really think that Bertrand is our best option there, but he's not really been given a go so it looks like it might well be the average-ness we saw in the previous two games. Clyne will make up the remainder of the average ensemble. In terms of a performance going forward however, we really have a nice headache. Kane and Sturridge are our two main frontmen but we have the likes of Vardy and will obviously take captain Shrek so there are a varying degrees of options available. There's also Danny Welbeck, more of a wide forward for England, and then you have the likes of Walcott, The Ox and Sterling who are also options out wide. It's exciting, especially with Alli and Barkley as options to play in behind. If Super Jack can find some fitness as well he'll be a shoe in. By far and away the best back to front transition player England possess. People compare him to the likes of Alli and their gulf in scoring goals etc but these clowns miss the point. Jack Wilshere is a different type of player. He's a box to box transition specialist. The link before the assist. The key pass man. Stats don't quite cover these types of players in full glory but it's quite poignant that he is talked about year round having not kicked a ball in anger. He's the benchmark as @AFCAMDEN quite aptly tweeted. The Netherlands game was a little sobering but highlighted that we're effective when close to full strength with a system that works, but when the personnel changes the system no longer works. All very Arsenal if you ask me. Anywhoo - it looks to be an exciting squad and having an outside chance for the Euros is better than the usual "we're going to win it!" mantra that flows through the press. France seem to be the team to watch at the moment. So many gifted players and so much to choose from for Deschamps. I'd love to see the likes of Payet and Coman given playing time as they look hungry and fearless when they play. A truly exciting squad they have. Moving on - No more interlulls until next season now. Phew. In terms of the Arsenal footballing perspective, here is where it could get interesting. We must do our jobs and wait for the others to fail at theirs but do our jobs and I'm convinced it might all start to unravel for the others in a big way. Do our job!!! Have a wonderful week people. Follow me on Twitter @MiteshLakhani1.

#ATAFC #AFC #Arsenal #Change #Wenger #Ramsey #England

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