Sat 13th March 2010 17:30, KC Stadium
Archive for Profiles
Anatomy Of An Arsenal Doom And Gloom Merchant
Posted by: | CommentsIn recent times, you wouldn’t be mistaken if you thought you’d heard echoes of the chant ”Bring me the head of Arsene Wenger” bellowing in the alleys and corners around Holloway Road.
It’s the sort of chant derived from a lynch mob mentality of red-eyed, blood thirsty doom and gloom merchants who have perfected the art form of spitting fire and brimstone. They seek to rationalize their actions by suggesting that their collective negativity is indeed the true way to voice their passion and support for the club, and they dare anyone who would challenge their loyalty to the Arsenal.
I’m always reminded of the old adage that you should never under-estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers. Dooming and glooming in recent times has given credence to this very notion.
A natural response would be to take the view that the actions of this ’Armageddon’ brigade amounts to nothing but a hill of beans. Doing nothing though and failing to provide a voice of reason gives a modicum of credence to the doom Sayers.
Here’s a Stone Cold breakdown of the anatomy of the modern day Arsenal doom and gloom merchant:
Is It 3rd Time Lucky for Arsenal’s ‘Wookash’ Fabianski?
Posted by: | CommentsApril 18th 2009 and January 24th 2010 are two days ‘Wookash’ Fabianski dreads to recall, even though the former date is the Pole’s birthday.
It has something to do with the fact that on those two days, Arsenal were shown the exit sign and asked to unceremoniously leave the FA Cup. They were days that the young goal keeper had ’howlers’ that any professional sportsman would want to forget very quickly.
A mad rush of blood to the head from Wookash gifted an empty net to Drogba last April, and at the Britannia a few weeks ago – he wisened up to the folly of waiting for a Rory Delap throw to come to him.
Let’s face it – keeping goal is a thankless job. More often than not, the keeper spends long periods doing nothing constructive and requires constant discipline and focus to keep up with the game around them.
The problem for goalies is that mistakes they make or momentary lapses of judgement almost certainly end up with them picking the ball from the back of the net. Also, in this media savvy age where cameras cover every nook and cranny on the pitch, the actions or inactions of the goal keeper are easily amplified.
If Bob Wilson was keeping goal for Arsenal today and he had the howler that led to the goal at his near post in the 1971 cup final, Wilson would have had to go into exile, for the Sky cameras would have made is life a misery.
Goal keeping seems to be a subject that divides many observers when it comes to the Arsenal. I don’t recall it being that much of an issue in the past times of Lehmann, Seaman (who was the goalie that I most identified with), Jennings or Wilson.
There’s a cliché often used to say that a good goal keeper can save you at least 12 points a season, and Almunia doesn’t seem to jump out of the page for some when it comes to Arsenal goal keepers. Off the top of my head, I can think of 3 points saving interventions that Almunia made in 2010 – when Denilson collapsed and Everton had a one on one with him; saving Agbonlahor’s shot across goal at the match against Villa on 27th of Jan; and his fingertip save of Ryan Babel’s shot last week against Liverpool.
All of those saves prevented Arsenal from losing or drawing a match and gained us points in that respect. Even so, it’s more than likely that Almunia’s transgressions will be the more amplified for it’s those mistakes that end up with us conceding goals.
Fabianski has had his high profile moments to impress and he has shown signs of a great goal keeper, and signs of poor judgement on occasion. This is not uncommon for a 24 year old goal keeper, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that some things will only come with experience. Good judgement is one of those aspects that will only develop with time and mileage on the pitch.
For the record, I think Fabianski is a very good keeper and will become one of the best keepers in the world. You can see this when he has a good game – the way he commands the box and the way he marauds around like he owns that piece of real estate within the box; the way he comes for crosses and the way he sweeps behind his defensive high line; and his general presence in the box.
What has eluded him so far is the consistency in good decision making. His individual skill and agility is not in question. The only way we’re going to find out if Wookash is really the answer to Arsenal’s goal keeping dilemma is to let him get on with it.
Some may argue that he’s not yet there and needs some more experience, but short of farming him out on loan at the risk of not having a 2nd choice keeper – Wenger seems to be convinced that the Pole is a good enough understudy to Almunia.
The manager has certainly gone out of his way to pump up Wookash by waxing lyrical about his ability to hold the fort. Definitely good people management and confidence building skills on the part of the manager.
My sense is that if the team defends properly as a unit and each person takes their responsibility seriously, it will make the life of a goal keeper a hell of a lot easier. There will be times during the game that the keeper is called upon to do something extra-ordinary and it’s on those occasions that Wookash can stand up to be counted.
Maybe tonight is a chance to prove that it’s 3rd time lucky for him and he can help propel Arsenal to a good position before the return leg against Porto in 3 weeks time.
ACN Watch: Emmanuel Eboue and Cote d’Ivoire
Posted by: | CommentsIt seems just like yesterday when festivities in Ghana culminated in a final that pitted Cameroon, 4 time winners of the Africa Cup of Nations crown, against Egypt, the most successful African nation in the tournament. Egypt went on to win their 6th title since the inception of the biennial competition in 1957.
We’re at it again, this time in Angola. Arsenal has only 2 players representing their respective countries this time round, and whilst they’ll be thoroughly missed in the cold throws of the English Premier League – it’s always positive for our players to have good games in continental tournaments. The confidence and experience that they pick up in such tournaments bodes well for Arsenal and makes them better players all round.
In 2 instalments, I’ll briefly examine the prospects that Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon have during this world cup year. Both of these countries have qualified for the World cup finals in South Africa, and the Arsenal stars – Emmanuel Eboue for Cote d’Ivoire and Alex Song for Cameroon – are pivotal players for their country.
Cote d’Ivoire
Ivory Coast are considered by many bookmakers as outright favourites to win the Africa cup of nations. The most logical reason given for this is their star studded squad of elite players and their free flowing football. I don’t think that it’ll be that straight forward for them and it’s somewhat simplistic to look at the team sheet and say that the Ivory Coast ’Elephants’ are strong on paper. Football is played on grass, and I believe the Cameroonian’s, Egyptians and the ’Black Stars’ of Ghana will have something to say about the final destination of the ACN title.
Emmanuel Eboue
Nevertheless, with Didier Drogba, Salamon Kalou, Kolo Toure, Emanuel Eboue, Yaya Toure, Didier Zokora and many other stars seen week in week out in European club football – the ’Elephants’ will pull in the crowds. From the point of view of a spectacle, Vahid Halilhodzic’s team does carry the sign ’Come see Hollywood here’ if you will.
Ivory Coast had a pretty straight forward 2nd round qualification root to the tournament collecting 12 points as group leaders in an undefeated campaign against Mozambique, Botswana and Madagascar. In the 3rd round qualification, which also saw them qualify for the World cup finals, they coasted past Guinea, Malawi and Burkina Faso.
In Angola, the ’Elephants’ face Togo in the opening game of the tournament. They will also face Burkina Faso and The ’Black Stars’ of Ghana.
Expectations are high, especially with the combination of the Yugoslav coach Halilhodzic, and a group of players perceived to be the most talented in Africa. Halilhodzic is renowned for running a tight ship and employing no nonsense boot camp tactics in training. With this being his first major tournament as manager of the ’Elephants’, much is expected from both team and manager. Although this is Ivory Coast’s 18th appearance in this tournament, they’ve only won the competition once in 1992. However, the expectation, especially after their humiliating exit last time round at the hands of Egypt is quite high – no pressure there for Emmanuel Eboue and his team-mates then.
Eboue will join former Arsenal star Kolo Toure in defence and the tournament is undoubtedly a stage for Eboue to express himself. Last season, no one would have blamed the young man if he wanted to throw in the towel and move away from Arsenal, especially after a nightmare of a game against Wigan Athletic, when Wenger substituted him for well, his own safety. He had a howler of a match and was booed off the pitch by the Emirates faithful.
Eboue though, has knuckled down and proven to himself, his team mates and Arsenal fans that he indeed has value to add to our Arsenal team. Not only is he very effective in covering for Bacary Sagna, his penetrative runs and power in midfield have proved a valuable tool for Arsenal’s style of play. Wenger once said that Eboue is in the squad because he adds balance. And without a doubt, it’s now clear to see what Wenger meant. Eboue is our most versatile utility player who can do a very competent job in at least 4 positions, and is the sort of player every top team needs in their squad.
It’ll be interesting to see how he influences play for Cote dIvoire as they try and fulfil the huge promise and expectation on their shoulders.
Also, if you don’t already know, I right a weekly column about Arsenal on A Cultured Left Foot. Make sure you check out my piece today outlining 8 reasons why Arsenal can win the title this season.
Change Of Guard In Arsenal’s Midfield
Posted by: | CommentsAt the beginning of the season, the biggest noise that could be heard in and around Holloway Road was the audible exasperation of the doom and gloom brigade. Arsene Wenger yet again, failed to sign the much touted world class defensive midfielder that Arsenal needed. What was it with this tight fisted egomaniac and his ’youth project’, they asked on radio, on the blogosphere and to anyone who would listen.
I honestly doubt that the issue was that Wenger didn’t know that defensive midfield was a key part of his team’s stability. Far from that, he totally believed that the defensive midfield position was perhaps the most important anchor to the 4-3-3 formation that he was going to employ this season. The only difference is that he already knew that he had that ’world class’ defensive midfielder on his payroll under the name of a one Alexandre Dimitri Song Bilong.
At the beginning of the season, if Wenger even tried to make a case for Song, he would have been probably lynched by the doomer nation who were convinced that Song was not and was never going to be the answer. 6 months later, the same doomers are on Wenger’s back to demand that a relief midfielder is in place just to cover, and absolutely not replace the young Cameroonian. It’s funny that the young man who wasn’t supposedly ‘good enough’ or ‘world class’ enough for the Arsenal has been Arsenal’s most consistent player so far this season turning out imperious performances in the heart of the Arsenal midfield. The way that Song has run the midfield like a military general has arguably made him the best defensive midfielder in the league so far this season. There’s clearly a reason why Wenger is the manager and we’re not.
The only problem you’d have with Alex Song is that he chose to display his top form yet in the season that he has to jet off to Angola for the Africa Cup of Nations. I’m sure there were many gooners who’d have loved him to lose his passport or who would have loved Cameroon to be kicked out of the tournament early and for Song to be shipped back to us immediately. But I’m one of those who believe that it will be to Arsenal’s benefit if Cameroon go all the way and challenge for the ACN title.
My rationale for this is that a motivated Alex Song who has lifted the ACN trophy will do a much better job for Arsenal in the business end of the season as opposed to an Alex Song disappointed by being kicked out of the initial stages of the tournament. Meanwhile, there is the small matter of what to do in the Arsenal midfield during the absence of our Field Marshall, General Alexandre Song.
Step forward Neves Denilson Pereira. Possibly the most underrated midfielder in the EPL, and unfairly so. To think that at his age, he’s already clocked over 150 appearances, Denilson is by no means a lesser alternative. He’s one of those players who is only appreciated when he’s not in the team. He is a stealth operative who is a master at reading the game and so far removed from the stereotypical caricature of the defensive midfielder that the establishment demands. I’m talking about the leg breaking, shin crunching, rib cracking beast of a human being who is built like a brick shithouse and has a Chuck Norris type of super hero destroyer mentality who really can’t play football but has that trademark grafting ability that will break anything that moves towards our defence. No no no! Denilson is certainly not one of them.
He’s the kind who prefers to read the game more intelligently and use his interception skills to start attacks from defence. Of course he’ll tackle, but why do it when you can intercept too. Last season, Denilson was the player in the EPL who touched the ball the most and had the best interception and midfield pass rates. This year, he’s added a haul of 3 sumptuous goals to his account with Arsenal. And with Diaby and Cesc/Ramsey alongside in the middle of the park, there will indeed be a seamless change of guard in the Arsenal midfield while General Song is out representing his country.
Profile: Arsenal’s Unsung Song
Posted by: | CommentsIn my first of the player profile series, the spotlight falls on one of Arsenal’s unsung heroes – our young defensive midfielder.
Alex Song - Arsenal's defensive midfield lynchpin
Born:
Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong (Alex Song)
9 September 1987
Douala, Cameroon
It’s no exaggeration to state that Alex Song has had a baptism of fire through his induction to the Arsenal first team. Even to this date, he still has many doubters, most of whom unfairly formed a lasting judgement on him based on his initial indifferent performances at the beginning of his Arsenal career.
Plucked from the obscurity of the French 2nd division by Wenger’s scouting system, Song underwent his trial at Arsenal during the pre-season training of 2005-2006. His potential had already been noticed by big clubs like Lyon, Inter Milan and Manchester United – but it was Wenger who took the plunge by inviting Song to stay for the season on loan from his club SC Bastia. He only made 5 appearances for Arsenal while on loan but this convinced Wenger to part with a £1 million transfer fee to sign him permanently.
I suppose I took particular interest in Alex Song because he was the nephew of Rigobert Song, whose career I had followed from his stints at Liverpool and with the Cameroonian national team.
Like most youngsters developing in the game, Song had a patchy and indifferent start to his Arsenal career, but we are now seeing the fruits of Wenger’s confidence and faith in the young man. It would have been understandable if the manager had lost faith in him and not persisted, but Wenger at the best of times likes doing things the hard way.
The lowest point of Song’s stint with Arsenal so far was his performance for Arsenal against Fulham a couple of seasons ago. It was one of them performances that any player would wish for the ground to open up and swallow them – if only to avoid the wrath of the seething fans who were very vocal about his poor performance that day. Many voices were adamant that Alex Song was not fit enough to wear the red and white of the Arsenal.
Wenger sought to manage the situation by shipping Song off to Charlton where he played 12 solid games for them before they were relegated. The loan spell however, seemed to work in lifting up the young man’s confidence.
Despite these initial indifferent performances, there was something very noticeable about Song’s talent and potential, and it was only a matter of time before they were unleashed. He was certainly with the best manager in the world capable of cajoling and encouraging that skill and talent out of any young player.
There was one particular match for me, when Song was filling in at centre back, that convinced me that Wenger was on to a winner with his decision to persist with this young man. The particular match escapes me, but I remember it being a very high pressure situation that the best defenders in the world would opt for safety first and agriculturally dispatch the ball into row Z of the stands. Song however, decided to dribble the ball out of our box. My first reaction was to jump at the TV while screaming “Jesus Christ!!! What do you think you’re doing?”.
But after calming down and reflecting on what just happened without a loss of pace and passing precision, I concluded that Song was either absolutely brilliant, or absolutely stupid and got away with murder. There was however something very unnerving about his calmness and composure as he dribbled out of the box, and even so, I confess that it was a neat piece of skill (if you take the argument that it was born out of brilliance and not stupidity).
Two other similar memories linger – firstly in a recent game when he was facing our own goal just outside our 18 yard box with opposition players breathing down his neck to close him down. He calmly executed an ecstatic 360 degree turn with the ball stuck to his feet leaving at least 2 opponents pissing in the wind before completing a simple pass to a team-mate to launch another Arsenal attack.
The other joyful moment was during the game with Standard Liege last week on match day 5 of the CL. Song skilfully rolled away on the ground from an impending tackle with the ball firmly stuck between his feet, and confidently recovered to pass the ball on to another Arsenal player to launch an attack. Saying that it was a high pressure situation is an understatement, but it was sweet to watch.
His game isn’t just about those exquisite moments. There is no doubt that over the last two seasons, he is probably the most improved player at Arsenal. It wasn’t so long ago – in fact just a few months ago – when many voices in and out of Arsenal openly expressed the fact that they thought Song was not good enough and Wenger needed to buy a world class defensive midfielder.
I’m one of those people who think the ’world class’ label is bandied around too much and at the best of times, the so called world class players leave a lot to be desired. What does world class mean anyway? The concept is as nebulous as the suggestion that ’normal’ is a recognizable state of affairs. At the moment, the same folks who called for Song to be benched because he wasn’t good enough – are debating what solutions Wenger will employ to cover for Alex Song when he is on duty for Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations in January and early February.
If ever there was a compliment to the young man – then the recognition (explicit or not) of his status as the invaluable lynchpin of Arsenal’s defence in midfield – then it’s the fact that there is a clamour to figure out who will understudy him during his absence and not who will replace him.
His massive improvement and performance this season is no surprise to anyone who has observed him through last season. He clocked a respectable amount of games giving him more confidence to express himself, particularly during Arsenal’s 21 game unbeaten run in the second half of last season.
It isn’t just his improved footballing intelligence, or his improved defensive nous and presence just in front of our back 4. Song’s overall game is much better and more well rounded if you will. His tackling and interception rates have significantly improved – and he is not averse to taking one for the team and getting a yellow card for his troubles – for the art of spoiling is indeed a dark art of the defensive midfielder. Song’s tactical fouling has got better though (he gets less yellow cards for stopping play) as he has shown that he can intelligently slow the game down to break opposition counter attacks.
So far, Song has played 98 games for Arsenal with his improvement complimented by his career 3 goals and 6 assists, with his best individual goal coming in the 4-1 mauling of Wigan Athletic last season when he waltz through the Latecs midfield and defence before unleashing a screamer that buried the ball in the back of the net.
There’s no question that he has room for improvement – quality players always seek to improve – and he has already shown significant improvement in the last year alone to set aside any doubts about his intentions to make his mark on this Arsenal team. However, his improvement will only be cemented by additional game time which he his accumulating, and this will undoubtedly have a positive impact on his confidence.
What is interesting for me is that Alex Song doesn’t get the recognition due to him for his contribution to Arsenal’s shape and solidity. Every so often, lazy journalism and punditry prefers the easier route of equating class and stature with a price tag that bears little if any resemblance to a player’s true worth. Until Song either wins a title with Arsenal or Cameroon, he is likely to be seen as ’just another Arsene Wenger project’. Yet this far this season, Song has already shown that he is right up there mixing it with the best defensive midfield usual suspects.
Consider this, at 22 years old, Song is matching the defensive midfield darlings of the media. Javier Mascherano, Michael Essien and Yaya Toure who are all in their mid 20s are often touted as the SI unit of the world class defensive midfielder. Yet, it’s possible to argue that this season, Song has matched and in most cases surpassed this SI unit of measurement. His overall game and contribution to the team has been much better than the 3 protagonists I’m comparing him to – whether it’s pass completion, interceptions and tackles, contribution to attacking play – or even comparisons of the number of mistakes he has made leading to goals against us.
I’ll even be bold enough to suggest that when Song is at the age where Essien, Mascherano and Yaya Toure are now, he is going to be a much better player than any of them are – if only for the simple reason that at 22, he’s a much better player than any of the 3 were at 22.
And despite the learning that Song still needs to do, and his continuing experience as the lynchpin of Arsenal and Cameroon’s defence in midfield – I would suggest that in a year or two, Alexandre Song Billong will become one of the world’s best defensive midfielders.
Desperately Seeking ‘Silent Stan’
Posted by: | CommentsEven though I often complain about some of the uses of our controversial ‘licence fee’ to the BBC, I took a more open minded approach about the fishing expedition that BBC radio 5 were carrying out in Denver. Maybe I’m just used to anti-Arsenal journalism at every available opportunity, and I hoped that whatever Brian Alexander fished out of Denver would highlight some new info about the ever elusive Stan Kroenke.
Based on the promotional headlines, an assumption I made is that after spending all that money sending a crew to Colorado, the least they’ll achieve is manage a cup of tea and a sound bite with Stan the man. But I should have known better I guess, and I only had myself to blame for expecting too much.
You can listen again to the In search of ‘Silent Stan’ documentary by Brian Alexander. It’s a 30 minute piece with some preamble and network news up front and the piece starts about 4 minutes in.
I didn’t learn anything new except for the fact that Stan can’t see the Emirates stadium from his high flying penthouse at the Pepsi Centre in Denver where the Nuggets and Avalanche play – but I guess that’s neither here nor there. I suppose it was useful information to those who had no clue about KSE and their collection of sports franchises. Speculation of course has hit fever pitch in the UK about an imminent takeover of the club by the American billionaire – but let’s face it, none of us have a clue what the dude wants to do and it’ll stay like that.
Kroenke didn’t walk into the world of billionaires barefoot from the central reservation, this is a dude who is used to playing his cards quite close to his chest, some would hazard a guess that he prefers to play them from inside his chest. Trying to figure him out at this stage is an exercise in futility.
What caught my attention though was Brian Alexander’s masked attempt to look for a negative aspect on Kroenke to report on, or more interestingly, start a rumour or seedy story on. There were times he came with an edge in trying to seek out that negativity, but it was clear that those he interviewed had mortgages to pay and kids to feed and they were unlikely to commit professional suicide by unleashing any dark side of Kroenke that is perceived to exist. Nice guys don’t usually make good copy.
Credit to Stan for side stepping this expedition as I suspect anything he says will be chopped up left right and centre and interpreted by any hack or pundit to suit what they want. It doesn’t even matter that Kroenke has an obligation to conduct himself with integrity at a delicate time where a takeover could be an option though not necessarily one he would take.
You can just imagine the question from the journalist: “Mr. Kroenke, can you confirm or deny here and now whether you will take over Arsenal? The Arsenal fans deserve to know what is happening to their club?”
Somehow I don’t think Kroenke is a mug to answer such a question and the endless speculation about his intentions will do just fine. The media would have a better bet going down to Thames House and making a freedom of information request from MI5 to release ’Silent Stan’s’ File from the archives in the basement if they want to find anything seedy to use as fodder for a story to unsettle the Arsenal.
