Tag Archives: arsene wenger

Arsenal claim 4th place ‘trophy’

So that’s it, fourth place secured with a win at Newcastle. No playoff though I doubt Arsenal fans were too bothered about that, Spurs won but that effort was in vain as Arsenal took hold of their own destiny and achieved the win required.

Any Arsenal fan that tells you they were not nervous before or during the match are cold faced liars, the tension was unbearable at times and the final whistle could not come quick enough towards the end.

AFC FINAL WHISTLE

Laurent Koscielny provided the deciding goal to maintain champion’s league football for the Gunners and was a rock at the back to boot. Man of the match in my eyes and it is hoped his form from the second half of the season is here to stay permanently.

The whole team deserves praise for holding their nerve to carve out the result when the pressure was surely on, Tottenham had the far easier game to play and it was important that Arsenal scored the first goal to alleviate any extra nerves which could disrupt their performance.

The importance of securing fourth place cannot be stressed hard enough, competing in the champions league is the difference between attracting players of the calibre of Jovetic or settling for players of lesser ability. European football is a bargaining chip in negotiations and will ensure top players will consider signing up at the Emirates, it also ensures the current squad won’t get itchy feet for football elsewhere.

giroud celebrates v newc

Many have commented on Arsenal’s celebrations at the final whistle, saying that they celebrated as if they had won a trophy; I can assure you if fortunes were reversed and Tottenham achieved the fourth place they would have celebrated the same way if not harder. Fourth place was at stake but also was the chance to better your bitter rivals, nothing can be sweeter than achieving at the expense of your rivals. A trophy was not won but the tears of the spurs players at the final whistle is worthy of celebrating 20 times over.

worth it

worth it

Arsenal can now build on this, it will take shrewd business from Arsene Wenger to improve the team and create a squad capable of challenging for honours in an Alex Ferguson-less Premier league. The core of the team is there, there shouldn’t be a Robin Van Persie-esque departure from the squad this summer. The additions from last summer should improve on their solid debut seasons and a clear out of the less involved players should come to fruition.

Andre Arshavin took to twitter to bid farewell to Arsenal, he thanked the fans, his colleagues and all the staff at the club as well as wishing the club well in next year’s champion’s league. It’s a nice touch from the diminutive Russian who never said a bad word about the club during his exiled period this season. He left the club with many quality memories most notably the 4 goals at Anfield and that winner against Barcelona. He will be fondly remembered by Arsenal fans and I for one wish him well in the next chapter of his career.

arshavin tweets

Guys, please take advantage of the bragging rights to all the Tottenham fans you know. Do not feel sorry for them because they would not hold back if roles were reversed. Make them feel like rubbish today and for the rest of the week if you can.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy…

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One player in, loads out at Arsenal. Gambeanosnitch.com is a year old.

It’s the day before the final round of games for the season, I’m sure there are many nervous Gooners counting down until kick off against Newcastle. Everything hinges on this one final game in which one part of North London will be distraught while the other will be ecstatic.

It was nice of Arsenal to provide the fans with some news on other topics to take their minds temporarily off of D-day. One of the first pieces of news to filter out was the confirmation from Arsene Wenger that the club are in advanced talks with the representatives of Auxerre striker Yaya Sonogo to sign him.

sanogo

Yaya Sonogo certainly fits the bill of an Arsene type purchase, he’s young, he’s French, he will come cheap due to expiring contract and he has a history in his young years of injuries. He certainly has a lot of potential, he has been quite prolific in Ligue 2 for Auxerre this season and is a France u-21 international. But for injuries I am sure he would certainly be on the radar of more football fans and clubs looking to purchase him.

Right now it looks like Arsene has purchased a player that would make a welcome addition to the squad for next season. He is young and so any introduction to the first team will be slow and steady but it has been quite clear this season that the abundance of options on the attacking front have been severely lacking. Players have slotted into the central striking role when Olivier Giroud has been unavailable but specialist centre forwards have been short in numbers.

Talking of young potential coming into the club, yesterday was a day that revealed a number of players from the youth set up that will be leaving the club. Although not officially announced by the club yet a number of players have revealed they are moving on to pastures new via various social media platforms. Players of note that came as a slight surprise to be leaving are Reice Charles-Cook and Jernade Meade. Charles-Cook seemed to be receiving good reviews for his performances for the u-18’s and seemed to be one that would be around for a while however he revealed on Twitter he will be moving on. Jernade Meade was another player who came as a surprise especially since he made his debut for the first team this season and impressed in those appearances. Clearly he had a massive stumbling block to the left back spot at Arsenal with two established internationals ahead of him. The left back spot at Arsenal seems a sound position for years to come and Meade cannot be blamed for believing his best chances of carving out a good career may remain elsewhere.

gun__1311172447_charles_cook

There have been announcements from players over the past few months that they are leaving so it was a case of them playing out their contracts before moving on. Players such as Martin Angha and Kyle already have moves arranged with other clubs whilst Conor Henderson confirmed his departure a while back.

There are a few players that seem to have been on borrowed time and come as no shock they are being released, players like Sanchez Watt, Craig Eastmond and Daniel Boateng who have all tasted first team football at Arsenal but just never managed to kick onto the next level and build on their Arsenal careers.

Despite the players moving on I wish them all the best in their careers, they have received a good education at the club and there are plenty examples of players that have left Arsenal and carved out decent top flight careers. It’s up to them now to fight and try to prove Arsene may have made a mistake, good luck to all, the fans always keep former young Gunners close to the heart (Unless your name is David Bentley).

The 3rd place play off has evolved from a pipe dream to a more realistic outcome with the announcement from the F.A of a proposed date and venue in the event the league table results in a tie for 3rd place between Arsenal and Chelsea. Villa Park has been selected as the venue on the 26th May. To be honest a play-off would not bother me as it would mean that Arsenal won their game against Newcastle, which is the dilemma I would rather be debating than anything involving the club across North London. The season would be done, the chance for one more fix of football is alright by me, bring it on!

One small matter to mention is Gambeanosnitch.com turned 1-year-old this week. It’s certainly been a fun journey over the past 12 months and I certainly appreciate all that have visited the site, shared their views and have generally made my efforts seem worthwhile. The posts may be a little less frequent from when I started out but we can’t all be as awesome as sites like Arseblog, Goonerholic and others. Prime example is attending the Wigan game on Tuesday night, braving the pouring rain in the front row, staying for the lap of appreciation, the long drive home via a pit stop at Dixy Kentucky Fried KFC, arriving home and crashing out knackered before having to be up for work at 6 the next morning. I have the match report and my thoughts and reflections in my head waiting to come out but sometimes just don’t have the time to get it written up. Some writers to join the blog would be the best solution, feel free to contact me via twitter, Facebook or email if you are interested in joining and contributing to the site.

To commemorate the one year milestone of the site feel free to take advantage of the current offer from our partners at Zinio.com who are currently offering 40% off subscriptions to all their soccer related online magazines. Click on the image below to be taken to the site. Remember the offer is for the soccer magazines only so deselect that subscription to Fisherman weekly.

zinio offer

Enjoy your day people

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Gunners back to winning ways despite flaws

Three points on the board and an advancement on the premier league table to keep us within touching distance of our London rivals. It wasn’t pretty, far from an enjoyable experience but in the grand scheme of things the win was recorded. It’s all the team can do right now, the past seven days have been a complete disaster for the club and so it was a bit of a relief to see us remember how to win at home. Confidence amongst the team is shot right now and it will take a while for the team to find a swagger in their play again. All be it that same swagger is what has infected the players with complacency in the games where they are expected to win. Maybe the realisation has sunk in now and the players now recognize what is required when you pull on the red and white of Arsenal.

The team have talked a good game this season, the players have come out (via the platform of Arsenal.com) with the calls to arms speeches for the big games, they highlighted the dangerss of taking teams for granted and they roundly spoke out in defence of the manager. The problem is all the talk seemed to count for nothing when they didn’t back up their words when on the pitch.

We have lost almost all our big games this season, we have fallen foul to inferior teams in the cup competitions and the players have let the manager down when he has staked his reputation on backing the players and their potential to achieve greatness.

jack v villa

Right now everyone in the club is hurting and despite scraping the win yesterday; you could sense a slight indication of unity between the players. They can certainly sense the negativity emitting from every direction and they are channelling it into their play to turn it around.There was definitely more effort put in from the players.

Understandably the past week contributed to the nerves in the teams play yesterday and the turnaround to regain confidence will take some time. There are some major flaws with the team but we missed the opportunity with the recent transfer window to address them so now we have to soldier on, accept what we have and keep the faith.

In terms of the game yesterday a couple things I noticed:

Santi Cazorla sure knows how to hit em.

Of all our players in the squad the one player I feel has that knack to blast a ball in from range is our Santi. His goals yesterday may not have been blockbusters or contenders for goal of the month but his range of shooting is vital to our recovery. Some days they skew off his boots at a 90 degree angle away from the goal but when he gets it right there are not many keepers that can stop ‘em. That threat around the box keeps defenders on their toes and can often create space for others. He took his goals yesterday very well and I for one am grateful for his persistence.

santi celebrates teamates

Monreal has a great delivery.

It has been clear in the games that Nacho Monreal has played this season that he has the best delivery of all our fullbacks at the club. One of the frustrations of the past is when our full backs work themselves into good positions then deliver a poor ball or start turning back inside and losing the momentum. With our lack of options up front it is important that we play to the strengths of what we do have. For what Giroud lacks in pace he makes up for in aerial threat so quality delivery is vital. Monreal had already walked away from the game with an assist for the winner but additionally he put in some terrific crosses during the game; the kind of deliveries that has people raving about Leighton Baines (calm down). Let’s hope he can continue that for rest of the season.

The team lacks ruthlessness.

Yes, we are coming off the back off our worst spell of the season and the team is working its way back to confidence however there were a high number of chances created to win the game comfortably. The profligacy at times had the fans pulling their hair out; at one goal up there was plenty chances to put the game to bed. Instead the team was punished for their lack of efficiency and ended up conceding a soft goal started from our own corner. All season we have lacked the ruthless edge to kill off games and nearly paid for it yesterday. Too many times the wrong decision was made up front and at other times we were just unlucky. We have paid for this many times this season and it is certainly something we need to fix if we are to charge into the top 4. I know players don’t miss on purpose and sometimes reacting on instinct can draw out fantastic goals but the glamorous efforts should be reserved for when we are 2-3 goals up.

Arsene really needs to stop using that ‘handbrake’ term

I know we understand what he’s trying to say when he says it but with every time he uses the phrase it comes across as some sort of parody. It’s like when you have a contestant evicted on big brother and they watch back their best bits at the end and discover that one phrase they use all the time; if Arsene was in the big brother house he would probably use it to describe a million situations much like the Smurfs use the word Smurf. He probably doesn’t realise how much he uses it and would blame it on TV editing.

Yesterday he used it in his press conference to say:

“It was interesting as well to see that we were focused, united, a bit nervous and you could see we played a little bit with the handbrake in some situations because the second goal didn’t come.”

I get ya Arsene

Anyway, let’s hope the recovery continues in our next game, away to Spurs. We can only take things a game at a time. Things won’t be fixed overnight so I think it’s important not to criticize yesterdays performance too much, just appreciate we achieved  a win and get behind the boys for the North London Derby.

I’m sure there’s nothing better to motivate the Arsenal players to raise their game than facing Spurs. The handbrake will be well and truly underused next Sunday.

Enjoy your day people.

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Is it time to accept no players will join this January?

There is no better master at pulling the wool over your eyes in a press conference than our very own Arsene Wenger. As we move ever so closely to the closure of the January Transfer Window the signing of players at the club is a big fat zero and it’s now hard to envisage that changing.

wenger press conf

As Arsenal fans we have to trust in the manager’s thinking and believe he has explored every option and has made the best choices to benefit the club. I still believe this season will be make or break for the manager and he will live or die based on the decisions he makes or fails to make during this window if at least 4th place isn’t achieved this season. The board won’t necessary sack him, he has their trust as he has taken position in the front line and used his earned respect from Arsenal fans to deflect all the negativity.

That respect has been chipped away over the years as the patience has run thin with many fans, this season especially has seen many question whether he is the man to turn our fortunes back around without the willingness to spend the money that is regularly touted as available to spend on players.

The problem for Arsene this season is this has been one of the most inconsistent campaigns competed by the Arsenal in recent years. There has been no sustained run of form to calm the disbelievers. Like a pot threatening to bubble over there has been no one to turn down the fire, the pot keeps on bubbling and refusing to go away, one way or the other it’s going to get messy.

For every one or two games we come away with a good result there follows an awful game that reinforces that the squad is maybe not good enough to compete for the title (or even 4th place). The further we fall behind in the title race the more the fans call for changes, the fact our best player last season is now sitting pretty at the top of the table for Manchester United stings the tails of all the passionate Gooners out there.

It seems with every defeat Wenger has talked to the media and claimed he is looking for the right players to improve the squad but with every victory he then champions the players we already have and pleads the case for not adding players.

He is content with the squad stating that he has able cover for every position and so the squad is satisfactory for him but one glance at the premier league table shows us more than 20 points behind the leaders. I refuse to condemn the manager but it doesn’t stop me from assessing where we are at right now and applying some logic to the situation.

M'vila: Potential move tarnished by his antics

M’vila: Potential move tarnished by his antics

If we accept that Arsene will only sign exceptional players that become available during the window we must also recognize exceptional players do not become available unless they have done something fundamentally wrong to force them into the situation. Once a player falls under that bracket then they rule themselves out of an Arsenal move because Wenger would not sign a disruptive or dirty player. The only way to sign an exceptional player is to actively seek out the talent, negotiate and make them and their club an offer they can’t refuse. That’s the only way it works, if we can’t guarantee titles we don’t have the bargaining chips to ensure an exceptional player would want to join us. So apart from players with release clauses in their contracts I don’t hold too much optimism to seeing a marquee signing to boost our season.

Emmanuel Frimpong yesterday sealed a loan move to Fulham for the rest of the season, could that signal the one in one out policy Arsene talked about? Who knows, in the grand scheme of things it’s a good move for Frimpong; another chance to prove himself in the premiership and overcome the injury sustained last year.

Beyond the talk of the transfer window we have a game coming up today against Brighton in the one competition we have a realistic chance of picking up silverware, the FA Cup. Maybe in the past this may have been looked upon as a fixture that shouldn’t pose too many problems, a draw as a worst case scenario. However the result against Bradford has put everything into perspective and Brighton cannot be taken for granted. Wenger’s pre-match talk has already been done for him; he only needs to hold up a newspaper clipping from that game to the players; they don’t need reminding of what complacency can give you.

Lets hope the boys approach the game focused and grind out a win with a good performance.

Enjoy your day people.

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Theo Walcott creates a shift in Arsenal history

The moment Theo Walcott put pen to paper on his new contract yesterday it marked a moment in Arsenal history that could be looked back on as a turning point in Arsenal fortunes. The signing is much deeper than securing the services of a promising young player with so many years ahead of him to make history for the club.

Although the signing of Walcott in addition to the five youngsters who penned new deals earlier this season has gone a long way to stabilising the team and securing a British spine of the team for the future it is still the one secured for Walcott that is the most important/significant.

theo applaud

The reason why I am saying this is for the club to retain the services of Theo Walcott taking into account the stage he was at with his contract it showed to the fans that the club was able to secure the services of a star asset who had held all the cards in terms of their career choice.

When the last transfer window shut at the end of August with Theo not signing a contract in many fans eyes, myself included it seems the days of Walcott as an Arsenal player were over. We had been there before in recent times with former captain Robin Van Persie; once he reached the stage where he could talk to other clubs his departure was inevitable.

Much like Samir Nasri before him the players were the ones that had the power over the club in negotiations and dictated proceedings. Arsenal is too big a club to be the ones taking the runner up spot in any standoff with their players. The years haven’t been too kind to the club in the past 8 years meaning negotiation powers have weakened, the lack of silverware has certainly dented the clubs standing amongst other big clubs. Where in the past players would want to play for a club based on their admiration for their style of play and history this has been overtaken by the desire for quick silverware and/or extortionate wages.

All those years back Matthieu Flamini started the trend when he upped sticks and headed for AC Milan on a free; the club has since struggled at times in negotiations to persuade players that Arsenal were going places as their contracts moved rapidly towards the final year.

flamini gooner

This is why when Theo Walcott signed the contract when he was in a position to start negotiations with any club of his and his agent’s choice it could signal a buck in the trend. It sent out a message to all that Arsenal does have the power to hold onto its star players even at its most vulnerable in negotiation proceedings.

Many will mention that the reported wages of £100k are a bit over the top for Theo, maybe they are but sometimes you have to pay that little extra to show your ambition. If Theo was to decide to move on he would have commanded that £100k wage elsewhere with plenty suitors out there so to convince him to stay was a big moment for the club.

To discuss his transition to striker or his recent surge in set piece duties is for another time, right now we need to acknowledge and salute Theo Walcott for surprising a lot of us in committing himself to the club and now focus on moving on as part of a core of players that will take Arsenal forward (hopefully introducing some silverware to the barren trophy cupboard in the process).

Young Theodore James Walcott you may have dragged your heels over the past 6 months but you made the right decision in the end, you will not regret your choice.

Enjoy your day people.

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