Theo Walcott, England saviour – AFC

Ladies and gentlemen he’s back on the national radar. The critics were left to eat their words last night as Theo Walcott’s introduction midway through the 2^nd half changed the game in England’s favour. England were in dire need of inspiration from somewhere; they did well to fashion a one nil lead in the first half only to self implode with two poor goals conceded. One being an own goal from Glen Johnson and the second a free header for Olof Mellberg; England really went to sleep for ten minutes in the second half.

England were in desperate need of a change to stem the flow as Sweden were growing more and more in confidence. I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I felt Roy would use Walcott’s pace in the second half to stretch the Sweden defence and keep them on their toes. What I didn’t expect was for Sweden to be leading at that time however what an impact that was made by Theo Walcott.

Theo was brought on as an immediate reaction to the 2^nd goal scored by Mellberg. The change was needed, something was needed to bring the game back in favour of England. Theo didn’t take long to make his mark, within 5 minutes of coming on he pounced on a loose ball cleared to the edge of the Swedish box from an Ashley Young corner, he cushioned the ball and pinged it through a crowded box. Luckily the keeper was unsighted and saw the ball too late to react, the ball flew into the back of the net and England was level.

Walcott is not known for is long-range shots so this was a welcome surprise for all. England fans, especially gooners were jumping up and down and cheering the goal that given England a second chance to get a result. Arsenal fans have had to put up with the constant barracking of Walcott as people questioned his right to be in the England squad. Mark Lawrenson tended to put the knife in when Walcott came on the pitch when he suggested that Theo has apparently been living off of his hat trick performance against the Croatians 4/5 years ago. Pretty harsh but Mark Lawrenson doesn’t do positivity, I’m sure he must have Stewart Robson as a facebook friend.

That goal was the perfect response to any critics and a reminder to Roy Hodsgon of exactly what he can bring to the England team. Theo wasn’t finished there though,England were level but the boost from the goal meant that their heads were up as they had a new impetus. And so then came the winner courtesy of some excellent work from Theo. From an England break Theo received the ball just outside the area from Glen Johnson; he turned at the defence and drove forward, he used his pace to get past two defenders to reach the by-line, he cut the ball back to Danny Wellbeck who with a brilliant piece of adjustment sneaked the ball into the goal with a back flick. Although it needed a good finish the pace of Theo unsettled the Swedish defence enough to create the chance, what an impact.

The turnaround was complete,England had the lead and all they needed to do was hold on for the last ten minutes or so. With a few minutes left Roy Hodgson made a change and brought Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on. A bit late for the youngster to make much of an impact but he did mange to get in the right position for a late chance. Theo was the creator again as he put on the after burners to chase a ball played out in a counter attack, the Swedes were stretched at this point and as Theo worked his way into the box he saw Oxlade-Chamberlain at the far post. The ball was played over and heading to the boot of young Alex only for an over enthusiastic Steven Gerrard to charge into the box and steal the ball before it could reach the Arsenal man. The connection from Gerrard sent the ball flying into row Z and the chance was gone. England still managed to hold on to record the 3-2 win and move a step closer to qualifying from their group. Roy Hodgson’s tactics were working in the first half, they got thrown upside down with the sloppy Sweden goals early in the second half however he had a plan B in the two Arsenal players on the bench and thankfully he saw that early enough to introduce Theo who made the all important difference.

Enjoy your day people

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Oxlade-Chamberlain doesn’t start, Bendtner is pants – AFC

So as England get ready for their second match day of the group against Sweden news filtered through that Roy Hodgson has decided to go with two strikers up top at the expense of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Many gooners may be upset with this news but I don’t see it as a major issue. As we saw in the first game against France the England unit went into the match with a game plan to nullify France’s attack and nick something on the break. Many saw this as negative tactics but at the end of the day the draw achieved was a great result against one of the stronger teams in the tournament.

Now Roy Hodgson has come in for a lot of stick for his squad selections and obvious excitement killing approach. I myself have not been overly optimistic of England’s chances going into the Euros however after examining the France match and hearing the plans for today’s match with Sweden I realise Hodgson’s tactical nous for these types of games.

Many people lamented the appointment of Hodgson over Harry Redknapp. The nation seemed to have their heart set on the now ousted spurs manager. Though when you think about it given England’s loss of many important players England really need to get their tactics spot on to advance in this competition.Roy Hodgson can draw on his experiences of managing around the world to instil into the England team some tactical savvy.

Big European tournaments like this need tactics to be spot on and I’m sorry but Harry Redknapp who has proved over the last season he lacks heavily in that department. If he was the England manager he would have just picked his fastest players and told them to play like how they do for their club team. That would have been a suicide mission against the French. The gaps that Hodgson ensured were filled by the likes of Milner, Gerrard, Parker and Oxlade-Chamberlain would have been exploited and would have left to an open game in which we may have scored a few but also would have conceded and probably lost. We may have experienced an amazing game but that is irrelevant if we lose the game. There’s no point gaining plaudits for entertaining attacking football spectacles if we are on the first plane home.

Much like how Tottenham played the season with their swashbuckling style which worked at the early part of the season, once the season moved to the business end and required a change and more clever approach to games; Harry just kept on trying to play the same style with the same players and ended up burning out his important players. That is probably what opened the FA’s eyes as to what the Tottenham man was lacking and did not want an embarrassment on their hands at Euro 2012.

Anyway I feel Oxlade-Chamberlain not starting today is not based on him not performing against France or Roy Hodgson not believing in the player. I believe the England manager has adjusted his tactics to ensure his game plan for today’s game is spot on. It was a nice surprise when Alex started against France there cannot be a bigger compliment that the manager believes in you if he starts you as an 18 yr old against a big team like the French. Today’s game Hodgson recognizes the need for a second striker against Sweden; he will utilize Ashley young’s experience on the left after assessing the Swedes weaknesses in the game against Ukraine. Oxlade will gain a lot from the experiences for England and developing the non attacking side of his game, this is equally as important as beating 3 men on the wing. Arsene Wenger did a similar thing when bringing Jack Wilshere into the team; he played Jack in a more withdrawn defensive role in the Arsenal midfield and allowed him to develop that side of his game. Jack developed into an a more all round midfielder because of this and his contribution was invaluable to the Arsenal team. Defensive awareness and contribution may be unglamorous especially when you can see what a player can do offensively but it is an important attribute needed in today’s game. It’s when a player learns when to utilize both skills sets that he becomes a valuable cog in the team.

Expect England to be more offensive against the Swedes though still cautious of what is at stake. I actually feel Walcott will more likely be used in this game than Oxlade-Chamberlain as his pace can stretch the Swedish defence if the Swedes are still chasing a result in the second half. Young Theo is almost becoming the forgotten man after all the headlines focused on Alex making his first start against France. However I feel Theo still has a part to play in this competition we will see him involved more in the next two games.

Niklas Bendtner has drawn attention to himself for all the wrong reasons after his two goal performance against Portugal. After heading in the second goal against the Portuguese he shamelessly decided to lift his shirt; revealing his underwear which was conveniently positioned higher than his shorts. The shorts had Paddy Power emblazoned across the fabric and now UEFA and the Danish F.A are pulling him up for plugging the Irish betting company with his stunt.

Bendtner denies the claim and states it wasn’t pre-planned, he also states they are lucky pants which he wore in the previous game (hope he washed them). Very silly move from the Dane and I hope any impending fine is covered by the fee Paddy Power probably paid him to reveal himself in such a way. Many other players probably have planned the same thing. I’m sure Cristiano Ronaldo has a massive Giorgio Armani logo on his man knickers ready to expose to the world, problem is he has been pants and can’t score to save his life at this tournament so far.

Enjoy your day people

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Djourou breaks silence to dismiss transfer rumours – AFC

So Johan Djourou has no intention of leaving the Arsenal. The Swiss stopper has taken the opportunity to make a statement to dispel any rumours of unrest by reaching out to fans and public alike through his Twitter account.

The press has been rife with rumours of a potential move to Italy with Napoli being mentioned as a likely destination. Fees have even been reported with a price range of £8-10 million being mentioned.

All be it most of the quotes for this story have been allegedly made by Johan’s agent. Djourou’s twitter account has given us the opportunity to hear the news from the man himself as he tweeted:

“I just want to deny all what have been said in the press about my transfer. It isn’t true at all.

I have been at Arsenal since 10 years now and I’m always committed to the club”

The statement seems pretty clear on Johan’s intention to stay at the club. He clearly seems proud of his long-term affiliation with the club and has stated so. This is the type of statement Arsenal fans have been waiting to hear from skipper Robin Van Persie yet we still wait.

Many questioned the authenticity of the Djourou twitter account as it contradicted all the news in the press about unrest and Johan wanting to play first team football to enhance his international career. I can confirm that account has been active for a very long time as Johan conducts many a competition on twitter and via his fan page on facebook. The account @JohanDjourou is listed on the Arsenal.com website as one of the official twitter accounts for the Arsenal players. To have a fake account fed through the Arsenal website would be very poor and embarrassing to all concerned with the website. Check for yourself: http://www.arsenal.com/news/player-tweets

The comments from Djourou have clearly split the opinion of Arsenal fans. On one camp Djourou is not rated good enough for the Arsenal team and we should sell and take as much as we can get for the player. In the other camp Arsenal fans see the worth of Djourou as a squad player for Arsenal; one of the best 4^th choice defenders around who would be hard to replace.

I would fall into the latter camp, I see Johan’s worth to the team. He has been part of the set up for a very long time and clearly loves representing the club. He still has some parts of his game he needs to work on but is able cover to the defence.

I do not think he currently is good enough to dislodge the first choice pairing of Koscielny and Vermaelen but that is just currently. He showed a couple of seasons ago the fight and determination that Arsenal fans demand and was probably our best defender that season. After taking a backward step last season Johan needs to knuckle down, work hard and get back to the level of a couple of seasons ago. It’s unfortunate he has to prove himself all over again to win back the faith in many Arsenal fans but it’s not an impossible task.

He is a great 4^th choice back up but there’s nothing to say he can’t improve further, especially with Steve Bould now involved with the first team. That is an ideal situation as Bould was a master of the centre back craft, his advice and guidance should be a boost to all the defenders at the club.

Now that Johan has stated his intend to stay at the club Arsenal fans really need to get behind him and support him. There’s no point abusing him on twitter telling him how rubbish you think he is, we need to recognize the respect he has shown. As I mentioned earlier he has at least used his social networking platform to put the fans straight on his career.

Our captain has done no such thing, understandably Robin has been invaluable to the Arsenal team and without him our season would have been in massive limbo. Yet the longer the silence continues the more likely it seems he may move on. One feels if he was really staying a tweet about his love for the club would dispel all the gossip mongers and leave him to have a distraction free Euro 2012. There’s no point hearing from his dad, his wife, his cousin or his cleaner, we need to hear from the man himself.

Johan may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think Robin should take a leaf out his book and be honest to the fans that clearly love him. Like a jilted girlfriend we need to be able to get over it and move on, don’t string us along. The Radiohead album is in the CD player, do we need to press play?

Enjoy your day people.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain,Walcott England needs you,Giroud linked again – AFC

The day is finally here for England to show what they can do in Euro 2012. We have now reached the final day of the first set of group games. England will take on France while Sweden will take on the Ukraine.

I’m a little excited now at the prospect of Oxlade-Chamberlain showing what he can do on the big stage, previous I admitted I was worried about the great expectation that would be thrown upon him after the loss of vital senior players from the squad. However that expectation was quashed slightly after the game against Belgium. I believe the press and fans realised he isn’t going to rule the international stage overnight. However he has every chance to make an imprint in these championships if used right by Roy Hodgson.

The football so far at Euro 2012 has been very enjoyable, some tense affairs but also some great open games and goals too. England really have nothing to lose facing the French, they are not expected to get a win against France. Their preparation has been hindered by injuries to key members, uncertainty over who the manager will be and then the squad selection by the new manager. England fans are maybe less optimistic but maybe that can work in their favour. If England can get a result from the France game and progress from the group they have every chance. Similar to the Tennis when Andy Murray (or previously Tim Henman) makes it to the quarter finals of a grand slam the fans then start to believe it could happen, the player starts to believe he can do it and that belief can carry you on. Ok, it hasn’t quite worked out for those tennis players but my point is the psychological boost you can get from knowing the fans are behind you and believe in you really can help.

Theo Walcott will be hoping to make an impact in the championships; this in effect will be his first real tournament to make his mark. He was too young for the World cup in 2006 and then wasn’t selected for the World cup in 2010. He has a point to prove and I hope he makes it. In a squad shorn of true star quality this could be the time for Theo to show he can make a difference and have the fans believing in him again like after his hat-trick against the Croats a few years ago.

He is more likely to get on the field before Oxlade-Chamberlain and he needs to ensure he is first choice for the right flank. We have seen last season he can provide goals for team mates. I know Andy Carroll and Danny Wellbeck are not of the calibre of Robin van persie but if Theo keeps plugging away the chances will eventually go in. On top of that Theo should utilize his pace to get in the goal scoring positions too. On his day he is a cool finisher the only problem is his shots can be hot and cold, for every neat finish there’s a pea-roller from 30 yards a baby could stop with little effort. Hopefully he will have worked on that in training.

I’m still very excited for our Arsenal boys that they can do something positive at the Euros and that starts from the first game.

There was some news that broke last night that Arsenal have agreed a fee with Montpellier for the signing of Olivier Giroud . Sources came from Al Jazeera tv that the deal has been struck. An exciting bit of news if true but I would like some more concrete sources before I can get happy. If true then yes it is merely a price has been agreed but not anything agreed with the player as yet. With France preparing to face England I’m pretty sure nothing is likely to be agreed for now with Giroud, a good game against England and several more teams could also join the race to sign the player. I suggest us gooners need to wait this one out.

Enjoy your day people, enjoy the game!!

Euro 2012 round up 2 days in – AFC

The Euros really are making up for the loss of football in the close season. We are two game days into the tournament and have now witnessed four very enjoyable games. There has been Arsenal interest in all the games so far and plenty of talking points have been raised from their involvement.

The opening showpiece of the Tournament involved hosts Poland and our keeper Szczesny had a game to forget. A very entertaining game all the same and after impressing and taking a one nil lead through a Lewandowski goal, Poland had the added bonus of Greece being down to 10 men after 2 dubious yellow cards for Papastathopoulos.

Poland and our keeper decided they wanted to make the game difficult for themselves and proceeded to let the Greeks back into the game with a goal that was easily preventable. Szczesny probably shouldn’t have come out for the cross which led to the goal, the resulting melee led to an easy shot for Salpindingis to score the equalizer.

If Szczesny thought it couldn’t get worse it did. The polish defence was caught flat-footed as a ball over the top left Salpindingis one on one with the keeper. Szczesny anticipated a first time shot and flew out with a trademark star jump to block but the player decided to take the ball around the keeper, Szczesny’s momentum carried him too far and he proceeded to upend the player. This resulted in a penalty and a straight red for the pole. The keeper didn’t question the decision and walked straight off. Luckily for Poland the substitute keeper who came on saved the resulting penalty. Amusingly Szczesny was pictured celebrating the save in the tunnel watching on a TV screen. The game ended at 1-1 but was thoroughly entertaining.

The next game in the evening involved the Czech Republic and Russia. Both countries captained by Arsenal players Rosicky and Arshavin. This went on to be another entertaining game which ended up 4-1 to Russia. Andrei Arshavin had a fantastic game. Starting on the left of a front three our no.23 tended to play a freer role compared to what he normally does for the Arsenal. He really dictated all of the attacking play and although he wasn’t on the score sheet he definitely left an imprint on the game. Many gooners must have been wondering why he doesn’t produce that type of performance for the gunners though to be fair a lot more defensive responsibility is required in the Arsenal team. Some players really turn it on when playing with their countrymen as opposed to their club team; Arshavin seems to be one of those players. Though he has had his fair share of criticism when he has played for Russia it just shows he is human and doesn’t produce man of the match performances in every game for his country, but when he is good he is good. Poor Tomas Rosicky tried to rally his Czech Republic team but they were swept away by the more clinical (once Kerzhakov was withdrawn) Russians.

The group of death matches played yesterday were really highly anticipated matches. It was clearly deemed Denmark would make up the numbers in the group as Holland,Portugal and Germany would fight it out for the top two slots.

The Danes first test was against many neutral fans 2^nd team Holland. A country with near flawless qualification achieved for the Euros and boasting our very own skipper Robin Van Persie in their line up. The game started off at a slow tentative pace but as the game wore on was slowly dominated by Holland. They bided their time and played some good intricate football, carving away at the Danes. What wasn’t part of the plan was the Danes going on to score the first goal.

I suppose in a similar way to how Arsenal plays their football; they are most vulnerable at the back when they are on top. Robin wasn’t having the best of games and the TV cameras weren’t shy in zooming onto the face of Jan Huntelaar every time something didn’t come off for our skipper. It has become an unwelcome distraction in the Dutch camp over who should be starting up front for Holland in the championships between RVP and Huntelaar. It clearly wasn’t going for Robin yesterday and interestingly Clarence Seedorf pointed out that maybe Robin was trying too hard to impress on the big stage which actually proceeded in affecting his performance. He missed a couple of chances that we have seen him gobble up for Arsenal last season and he also had one embarrassing moment of an air shot when unchallenged. The game actually finished 1-0 though Holland despite a flat performance really should at least have equalised; another culprit from the game was Arjen Robben who seems to have carried over his poor luck and decision-making from the champions league final. Arsenal target Ibrahim Affelay started the game well but faded later on, his start surprised a few due to his low number of games played last season due to injury woes at Barcelona.

Nicklas Bendtner led the line for the Danes and did his part holding the ball up at times and linking play but never looked a goal threat throughout the game. I guess he did what was asked of him by the management but to a neutral his game was easily forgettable and typical. Bad day at the office for the Dutch, wonderful smash and grab for the Danes and yet another fantastic game at the Euros.

Going into the evening game yesterday Portugal and Germany would have been well aware of the result between the Danes and the Dutch. I suppose it was a chance for either country to take advantage of the slip up by Holland. It was a game for many gunners to have a look at Podolski close up. Per Mertesacker wasn’t included in the starting line up probably as a result of all the time he has spent on the sidelines leading up to the competition and the emergence of Matt Hummels.

This game was a rather tense affair as two countries with aspirations of having a good tournament realised what was at stake and did not want to open up too much. Although Portugal was never deemed as strong as Germany they still posed a threat through Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani. Our new Gunner Podolski had an ok game; he fits in well with the German system and showed a very good hard work ethic tracking back helping out his team. That will be a trait that will go down well with Arsenal fans when compared with Bendtner per say as fans like to see effort on the pitch. Podolski was neat and tidy and efficient and though he didn’t score he looks like he will have a goal or two in him as the competition moves forward.

The game itself did fall into a lull as no goals were scored first half and midway into the second half dare I say it the game was getting less and less interesting. Just when fans were calling for Mario Gomez to be removed he popped up with a goal. I believe Miroslav Klose was ready to come on for Gomez the next time the ball went out, luckily for him an opportunity arose from a cross and he managed to extend his neck muscles enough to connect with a cross from Sami Khedira. Game over, well not really as towards the final stages of the game Portugal took the game to Germany as nerves kicked in and should really have equalised when Varela had the ball break free to him only for Neuer to pull off a desperate save.

All in all the least entertaining game of the four but still a decent game that came alive after the goal was scored.

Today it’s the turn of Republic of Ireland,Croatia,Spain and Italy. No current gunners on show but there is an interest for former gunners Eduardo and Fabregas.

Here’s to some more good games in an already satisfying Euro 2012.

Enjoy your day people.