Love me some DVR.
I get it now. I finally understand the value of DVR. Truth is, before a little one, I could watch what I wanted when it was actually on. That’s right. I would sit through a commercial or catch Sons of Anarchy when it was actually aired (same goes for The League). But something happened once Jackson was born; I lost “my” time and time became very, very precious. Which meant that “my” time is early morning or late at night; which works well for catching EPL games when they air live.
We have a unique problem as ‘Merican supports of English clubs. Our ability to catch games is limited by: 1. Whether the single network here in the States will cover the match. 2. The actual time of the game (those early, early games are rough without DVR) 3. Sportscenter (now that the EPL is covered the scrolling scores can pretty much kill the anticipated outcome of a replay; which, mind you, is a lot of the excitement in soccer as we anticipate the buildup or extreme emotional explosion of a goal).
And so, as a newer parent, I am joyous over my little DVR machine and its wonderful ability to capture Arsenal (a big thanks has to go to NBC for also picking Arsenal games early on). It is a wonderful feeling know that if you chose to play with the little one while he is happy and awake (which is all the time in our case-fatherhood can be its own blog) that the game is there waiting for me. This weekend I get a double whammy of a game to boot (wait… triple instead?): Arsenal game. Ozil debut. Texas A&M vs. Alabama. Oh goodness this is a great time of year for watching sports.
As a completely unrelated note, I am a die hard Aggie as well (literally born there) so this was going to be a big weekend. It is of grand proportions now that we come back from the Interlull with a side sitting in 4th and a tremendous new addition to watch. It doesn’t get much better than this people. The signing of Ozil for us supporters is big. Not just in terms of $ but message, emotion, future, etc. The list goes on and on at this point. This is my first real big signing to experience with Arsenal too. I “joined” the club during a dry time. What I know is the drought. What is familiar to me is penny pinching, cost saving, butt puckering financial moves with nothing more than a nice shinny new stadium and uniform changes. My love of club is rooted in hope (which is probably why this trophy drought is easier for me to experience because it is all I know of Arsenal).
And so that is why I am so ever excited for the arrival of Ozil. I know the message that it sends. I know the glorious history others experienced and what I get to be is excited. We got quality. We spent some real money. Now, let’s experience it.
Without further rumbling, let’s get on with the pre-match thoughts:
1. Ozil should start. He is hungry. He is fit. Wenger knows his footballing abilities and has followed him long enough to know that his game fits seamlessly within ours. Not only that, Wenger has the added pressure of putting his $47 million man on the pitch and in this case I don’t think that “super sub” is what he is thinking (unless he is hungry… and near a subway or jimmy johns). To me, Ozil is the German Cazorla. His presence is going to be felt throughout the game and it is needed from the get go. Plus, I don’t think the conversation Wenger had with him included “easing” him into the English came; not exactly the “confidence” that Ozil probably anticipates from Wenger.
2. We are still thin up front and Ozil in the staring lineup means Wenger can push Cazorla up top (like he did almost all last fucking season-still not a fan of it now). While I don’t think Cazorla fits up there, I think there is more reason for it now. First off (my defense), Cazorla was our ignition on the pitch, which to me means that he is not our winger but our facilitator-so put him in the middle. NOW, we have two guys that can fill that role: Cazorla AND Ozil. Plus, Ozil’s vision for the game is impecable. I don’t need to get into the stats. The guy plays ridiculous team football (basically Wenger’s wet dream). Thus, I get it given our thinness in the striking game up top. I don’t excuse it (we need another striker up top, yadda yadda yadda) but I think given our squad it makes sense… for now.
3. Let’s have some fun. The team is excited. We should play off that excitement. Which means Ozil should start and goodness gracious can you imagine if the lad scores a goal or puts one through to Giroud/Walcott/et al?
Right… lineups:
The Shez
Sagna Kols BFG Gibbs
Ramsey Ozil Rosicky
Walcott Giroud Cazorla
There is an argument to be made that Gibbs could be swapped for Monreal if we need someone more defensively inclined but man I just love Gibbs’ workhorse attitude and the way he can get forward so I think I stick with him in this one. The Shez (seriously not sure how I want to refer to him but I am tired of looking up the spelling of his last name and no, I’m not going to memorize it) probably should start here until Viviano actually settles in and starts to challenge for staring time. I give Ramsey and Rosicky the nod over everyone else for two reasons: endless effort and rewarding that effort (also they have been playing well as of late). The two of them seem to have stepped up (especially Ramsey early on this year) and in the wake of losing Arteta and Jack’s recent nagging issues I think the starts are well deserved. I also appreciate the cover that they can both offer (let’s be honest, who the F else are we going to start given our depth?!).
Here is where I think things can be a bit crazy when it comes to formation though. I don’t see a natural 4-4-2 playing out. Something more along the line may be a 4-1-3-2 maybe? All I know is that from a practical sense Cazorla drifts back, Giroud sits in the middle and Ozil can act as the fulcrum for all the ticky tacky business that hopefully ends in actual shots on goal (ie. goals).
The Flame, Jack, Sanogo, Jenks, Monreal, Viviano etc. all make up part of the bench and hopefully by the time any of them hits the pitch we are up 3 nil.
Odds are, everything I just said is bollocks. Ozil sits. Jack starts (re-injures self). Diaby makes the bench (only to re-injure himself getting caught up in his training suit). And we somehow win on a BFG header in stoppage time… Well, as long as we get the 3 points.
Whammy!!!
RM 2 – 0 MILAN (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Oh it’s a good day to be a Gooner. Things started well over the weekend with our one-nil victory over our high spending rivals and concluded with Wenger pulling a fast one on us all with a big, fat signing of some German dude that apparently knows how to play soccer. So big and fat, mind you, that Wenger broke our previous transfer record and put this one up there with the second highest signing in BPL history. To say I am excited about Ozil’s arrival is a bit of an understatement. This is big. BUT, before we get to the divine addition, we have to bathe in the glory that is a victory against our hated rivals.
Things started well enough for our boys and the link up play early on was looking good; we even responded fairly well on the counter. You can’t argue with the lineup that we put out there as a few mix-up changes with Jenks replacing a sick Sagna and Kols sliding back into his spot alongside the BFG. Other than that, this was our healthy regular lineup and so not much else surprising the lineup card.
Things progressed nicely throughout and you could tell we were the more cohesive team; though we gave up a bit more possession than I would have liked. Let’s not kid ourselves here, this is a very good Sp*rs lineup and one has to think that they will be playing a much different game come our second match. They have depth, quality strikers, and a decent keeper to boot. But alas, they lost. We won. All is right with the world.
As to the game, we witnessed a beautiful Santi set piece strike only to be saved by Lloris’ outstretched arms. Theo terrorized on the wing and Santi danced to perfection. In the end, Giroud netted yet another goal and his scoring rate seems to have improved already in this campaign. His run toward goal, anticipating the low cross, and the re-direct was very well played. He is certainly earning his keep here and I am very happy to see him scoring early in games and in the season. Fact remains, he is our (only) striker and we need him to keep playing well. The arrival of Ozil should work in his favor as Giroud stays firmly planted in the starting striker spot (with the likelihood of even more setup service).
The one sure-fire in-game arrival was yet another possible injury to Wilshere (just stop all contact with Diaby!). Flamini came in as replacement after Jack was seen wincing in pain, calling for a sub. Flamini is the type of conservative player Wenger loves so I was glad we were already up; I don’t seem him pressing our team toward goals. All things aside, we did what we needed to grab a much needed win at a fairly important time. We should have played this one to a 2-nil or 3-nil win (Ramsey’s crazy shot over goal or, much more closely, Nacho’s Gervinho impression) but a W is a W is a W.
Now, on to this addition of Ozil. We signed a player, in his prime, from one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the world. Pulling Ozil from Real Madrid is crazy-awesome. He is quality that can play for ANY team (save for Real?). No, from Real’s point of view I believe this was a business move. They wanted Bale, needed to offset the huge cost, and had serious issues with excessive lineup depth that would result in players not being happy about their playing time. Oh, the “whoa is me” problems that Carlos has to face these days…
I don’t really care how it all came together business-wise. We needed a statement signing and I think this type of signing puts other players on notice that Arsenal are in it for much more than a bargain. Granted, we did not add what we needed but the talk of shock coming from Real players over the loss of Ozil is something to behold; they miss him and are surprised that he left. This is great news for Arsenal (and no I don’t believe that bit about Man U not wanting him-sheesh).
No matter how you slice it, this is a big win that should set up well with adding players come the January transfer window (yes, I am that crazy for already thinking that far ahead BUT WE ARE SHORT PLAYERS!!!). Oh, and funny how Arsenal makes a late bid for Ba. WTF ARSENE!?!? Where was that a year ago you duffer!?!?
Our other signing, Viviano, is perfect (IMHO). He adds the competition the Shez needs but doesn’t kill his confidence with a swift kick to the bench. It’s a perfect situation: we get a solid, experienced keeper for the year with an option to buy. If we need to keep him, boom we purchase. If we don’t, thanks for the depth and we wish you well. Truth is, I hope he does well here and he stays so that we have someone ready for the loss of Fabianski (who will have to leave soon I imagine). Kudos for the cheap pickup. Too bad it also didn’t come with another CB, DMF and Striker…
On a separate note, and quite sad, we have lost Podolski for three (3), count them THREE, months. This is a big blow to our lineup as he could really link up well with Ozil given their national team experiences. I am hoping that Poldi’s time on the table is spent encouraging and plugging Ozil with all that is great about The Arsenal experience. And no, Podolski coming back in three months is not like a January signing Wenger so don’t even start with that bullshit. Calling it here first.
We have a little bit of a spell now with the first international break hitting us. Hard to argue with 2 wins from our first 3 games but the fact remains we should be sitting here with three (3) solid victories. Here is hoping all our boys come back healthy and ready to pull down some more points!
The Derby
Derby weekend. Excited? Yes. Prepared? Probably. DirecTV going in Saturday so I can record Sunday? Yep. Worried a bit about tater totts? Hmm… not sure how to answer that one. They are certainly much more healthy, a little bit more deep. Quality though? Well… shite, not sure how to answer that one either. I have a hard time acknowledging that they sit ahead of us in the table but it certainly is early in the season. And we certainly haven’t made things easy on ourselves by going out with a thin lineup and injured starters. We should be able to string together a quality squad for Sunday BUT we are one more injury away on our backline to find ourselves in quite the predicament. The loss of Lukas is huge in my book. He had a great pre-season, was fully fit and adds that certain power shot we miss at times on the pitch. I really hope this doesn’t stifle his momentum and, truthfully, I hope that Wenger doesn’t decide he no longer has a place in this team going forward after Lukas gets healthy.
Mr. Tony Adams recently quipped that what we need is that stopper. We don’t need goals, we don’t need attacking options. We have those, we need guys to put a big ass brick right in the middle of the counterattack. I agree with our retired leader on this one. But it’s also pointing out the obvious and maybe he could spend some of that energy going out there and offering to help land this player. Maybe? Possibly? His efforts certainly couldn’t F things up any more than they already are (which I hate ending a sentence with)…
Fact remains, we are thin, yet again but hopefully nursing back to full health. Our recent qualification for Champions League Group stages is great, but boy did we get a whopper of a group there. And so, we have to have depth and quality to make runs in either league. I think it sad that our two additions have now come on the wake of free transfers. We are not that club. We shouldn’t be that club. If this is the vision for the future then we are in seriously more trouble than previously thought. All things aside, let’s check out how the lineup will shake down:
The Shez in keeper
Jenks-Sagna-BFG-Gibbs along the back.
Ramsey (if healthy)-Wilshere (if healthy)-Rosicky
Theo-Giroud-Santi
Right. Mark this date. I put Santi up top. Not because I wanted to but we don’t have many options at this point. We are seriously thin. I am afraid that with such a short off-season for some of our players that come December they will be exhausted and run down… let’s up that is not the case. As for the starters, Sanogo isn’t the type of winger I see starting at this point. He will be great (if healthy) to add starting depth to Giroud’s spot when we play those 2-3 games in a week. We just “signed” (ha!) Flamini so he will certainly be on the bench. I would be curious to see Monreal take Jenks spot and have both Gibbs and the Spaniard on the pitch at the same time given that they offer different styles of play. I tend to get worried that with Jenks and Gibbs both going forward too much we really get killed on the counter. Make no mistake, Sp*rs have the quality to expose that weakness right now too. Goodness I hate admitting that. Oi we could really use a man sized defensive mid-fielder at this point… Please buy some muscle Wenger. PLEASE!!!
Bacary has been fantastic covering the middle and I really appreciate how well he and the BFG have come to such a good understanding of each other. Has to be a bit confusing going from RB to CB and then back to RB for CL games (funny that Kols is now like a super sub for our CL games).
Anywhos, we have a doubly tough road ahead of us this Sunday that was not made easier by our current management. Sad that we tout money and power and then pull up with this crap. Really quite sad, frustrating and yet here we stand waiting. Mom always said actions speak louder than words. Too bad she’s right. Reward the faith Wenger.
The Day After
That sneaky feeling that you know you missed something, or were going to miss it, but felt a bit powerless to do anything about it? Yeah, I caught the game (thank goodness for DVR’ing a 4am telecast) but failed to give my weekly preview. On a personal note I was traveling back and forth moving stuff from one city to another. As a devoted supporter; no excuse.
This last week saw us take a more positive turn BUT doesn’t take away from what we actually need (signings and depth; should be an actually supporter’s song by now). We went out and nabbed a wonderful 3 goal away win mid week in our CL qualifying. Then we turned it around in the BPL and pulled 3 from Fulham (who have given us trouble in recent matches). Now, don’t get me wrong here, I am excited that we have all but put ourselves into the group stages of Champions League. I am also happy we took 3 points at Craven Cottage (such a wonderful looking place to play). BUT, this is what Arsenal should be doing against mid level clubs.
It is good to see that Giroud has tallied 3 in 3. It was also nice to see a lineup that included Poldi, Giroud, Walcott up top and Santi “happy feet” Cazorla slotting into the midfield. As far as a starting squad is concerned, I really liked this lineup and was happy to see Poldi’s brace rewarding Wenger for the start (after all, you did buy him to score goals so the least you can do is play him in a position to do so).
Aside from whether Jack started or not this lineup card really wrote itself for the Fulham game as we are so thin across the board. Carl slotted in at RB with Bacary stepping up in the center. There were a number of plays were you felt like Fulham were going to break through at our center but Bacary stepped up and played it out. You really have to credit the guy with understanding not just his role but the BFG’s style of play as Bacary played his Kols impression perfectly. Jenks did an admirable job as well and, if I recall, I think even I advocated a time or two for him to replace a struggling Bacary last season.
Andrew, of Arseblog, has it right when he states that these wins only heighten the fact that we have to have more signings. This is something we all know. This is not a new song. And so here we are approaching the deadline and we still have yet to pull down any added depth or fresh stars for our lineup. Rumors abound with players supposedly coming in from all over but until we see something posted on the official website it’s all just a bunch of bollocks. Here is hoping Wenger pulls his head out of his arse and does something magical. Until then…
Contemporary rendering of a poster from the United Kingdom reading “Keep Calm and Carry On”, created during World War II. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You get what you pay for.
Oh, this is not the wake up call we want… but we may very well need this for the long term good of the club. Am I happy? Absolutely not. We got what we had coming to us. Everyone could see that we were one injury, one major loss away from making this season VERY hard on ourselves. Well, we may not have one, not two, but three issues to contend with going forward and the first weekend of action isn’t even over. Couple that problem with a big blow in the loss column after we took control early on in the match (and had the lead)… well Arseholes, things may get worse before they get better.
The card count today was ridiculous. The game seemed unnecessarily out of hand as the Ref essentially handed out 10 yellows (the red came on a second yellow to Kols). Arsenal controlled the first part of this game nicely but you have to wonder why we started without Santi to begin with (granted, his presence didn’t help too much in the end once we went down). For our opening goal AOC took the ball and pushed ahead well; it was a nice squeeze into a perfectly placed Giroud foot. Great start. Exactly what we needed to start the season off right this year. And then, like my golf game after the turn, it began to crumble…
Our starting backline is exactly what I (everyone) expected: Sagna, Kols, BFG, and Gibbs. Solid, experience, and so long as no one goes down we should be fine… whoops. Bacary pulls up a bit lame (wonder how that impacted his defense as the game went on) and Gibbs goes out in the 29th. Good thing we have Mon– what’s that? Oh, no. Jenks goes in and he is generally solid but this is no way to start the game. And then there is the bit with AOC coming off for Santi (who should have been starting anyways but maybe not in place of a forward but another MF?)… Man, this just wasn’t going to go our way today. Benteke gets the gift of a blocked PK right back into his head and then the goal… and then Kos gets nailed for the first weak yellow and the second bad call (which may be defensible given the Ref’s position BUT the linesman could clearly see it was a perfectly timed tackle). No, this was not meant to be our day.
It’s hard to explain the feeling toward the team, or management, right now. I don’t want the players to suffer. I don’t want their confidence shaken. Hell, I want to see Wenger rise to the top and take Sir what’s his names place. BUT, We haven’t picked up any depth where we need it and we now have potential knocks on the places where we are incredibly thin (Monreal-out, Sagna-lame, Gibbs-out, Kos-suspended, and TV5 injured). So even if we go out and spend a bunch of money we now need to add 2 players immediately to our backline in addition to adding a DMF (desperately) and possibly another striker. We are going to wear thin fast and everyone could (did) see this coming. Again I ask, what exactly are we try to prove this offseason?
In the words of The West Wing President Bartlet, what’s next? It’s obvious our problems partially stem from an inability to sign players. No, not the ref. Not tactical decisions (at this point we are so thin who the hell else do we start?!). If we continue along this path it wont matter that we haven’t any silverware, we may not have a starting eleven!
I do not hide the fact that I am an ardent Wenger supporter. I think his style of football is beautiful and the players he does bring in mold well to his play. But we need someone to start adding quality players to this roster and Wenger seems incapable of doing so at this point. One only has to look at our hated rivals to see that signing quality players is not impossible and they aren’t even a team that has played Champion’s League football the last 16 years running!!!
No, this is not the position we need to be in for Wednesday or the next few weeks. But, like many other things in life, you get what you pay for. Right now? That would be a big fat nothing…
The Preview…
Well lads, it’s that time of year. Here at AmericanArse we like to put out a preview to the match prior to each league game and discuss the finer points of lineups, etc. Then, we roll with some post game action after the whistle and hopefully another mid-week trounce before we get back to the weekly preview.
It all starts… now.
This weekend sees us playing hosts to Aston Villa before a quick turnaround and facing off with Fenerbahce (AWAY) four days later. Not going to lie, this is exactly the scenario that I was hoping we would avoid this season. Instead, we get to start off with a thin lineup and quick turnaround matches to boot. No bueno.
Abou, not sure I’ll play in a Nike Arsenal kit again, Diaby is out. TV5 is a no go still with his back injury. Nacho Nacho Man is still on the table as well. Even our sure-haired Mikel Arteta is in doubt for the match… Oh, and word on the street is Bacary has a leg knock too. (What? Pay for Williams? naw… no thanks. We don’t have the money.)
SO, what does that leave us with? Well, here is my starting lineup…
Szczesny (yes, it really is spelled that way)
Jenks-Mert-Kols-Gibbs (please no one go down)
Ramsey-Cazorla-Rosicky (yep, I’m starting that conversation again this year)
Walcott-Giroud-Poldi
Good lord, when I write that out I realize just how thin we truly are… Our backline needs HELP asap BUT Jenkinson knows how to put up clean sheets (remember, 2 to start last season) and the BFG/Kols combo will be fine. Not to mention that Gibbs really is the future going forward (no pun intended), Nacho just provides great competition and cover.
Now, the midfield has me more worried. With Arteta a possible out we lose his DMF presence. I think Ramsey can track back and I love his tireless efforts; he’s also shown some good pre-season form. Rosicky just knows what to do in these situations and I start him over Jack only because I want a full season from Jack healthy; not a rush back and re-injure situation… again… Cazorla, IMHO, should be slotted in the MF with us actually having a healthy and strong line up top. In many ways, one could argue that the game will shape into a 4-2-1-2-1 type formation (is that even possible???) with Ramsey/Rosicky needing to provide cover while Cazorla does his thing and Theo/Poldi slashing in from the sides while OG acts like a G out in front of goal.
Our attack could actually be pretty solid this year (yes, even without the signings). Sonago looks legit so long as, you know, he is A-Go. Poldi looked healthy and fit (finally?). AOC doesn’t have the weight he once did on his shoulders and Theo looks primed for a big breakout. So long as Hey Hey Giroud continues his good link up play and shores up his scoring percentages we fans may be in for a bit of a pleasant surprise from our attackers.
Truth is, we are thin BUT we have a solid core combined with stability in our manager AND familiarity across our lines. If anything, that should buy us an extra win or two. However, we have to come out of the gate fast if we want to challenge for the title and hope that we stay healthy enough to nab silverware. We need to score early, hold firm, and move on to the next match without injury (every team’s goal, right?).
As for our opponents, they are a tough match to start with. Benteke is a beast to cover and obviously knows how to put the ball in the back of the net. Hopefully he starts his sophomore slump with a big fat loss and zero goals. Arsenal’s game is fairly simple, but beautiful when it works: press and control while providing quick cover on counters.
We need to send a message and make it loud and clear that signings or no signings this is a team looking to improve on last season’s excellent finish.
Get ready Gooners, the season is about to begin…
As an aside, you all should sign up for the Arsenal Digital Membership (full post-game replays!)…
The Optimist.
When all else fails, hold on to hope. I must be withdrawing from a lack of movies because lately every time I go to write here all I think of are movie analogies. Maybe it is because I am looking for entertainment. Maybe I am looking to escape. Maybe I am waiting for Arsenal to follow through on the damn plot this offseason and sign someone…
Today’s movie? The Shawshank Redemption. The scene? Where Tim Robbins talks to Morgan Freeman after doing time in the “hole” for locking the door to the guard office and playing music over the loud speakers to the general population. Morgan and Timmy have a conversation about hope and how Tim holds on to it but Morgan believes that is dangerous, etc. etc. And you know what, hope is dangerous. It is a weapon to wield when all is lost and right now I am wielding it. We have less than 7 days until our season debut against Aston Villa on August 17… let’s talk hope arseholes.
1. We have an experienced squad that knows how to play together: Last season saw us make an incredible run that crescendoed with us taking our rightful place in Champions League while seeing tater totts to their rightful spot below us. Ramsey got valuable time playing, Theo produced, Santi dazzled, and many a men notched goals when we needed them most (looking at you Rosicky and Kols). We finally get to bring EVERYONE back and that has to count for something (so long as they ALL stay healthy… looking at EVERYONE at this point!).
2. Stability: In Arsene We Trust. The French-Man is still kicking around and is now the longest tenured manager in the BPL. His system is the same, antics the same, players the same. We didn’t have the shakeup, the pressure, or the hype that other clubs have and that has to count for something… right? (Remember, this is about hope and not whether we should have the shakeup, pressure and hype of others… there is certainly an argument to be made for each of those but this ain’t the place! At least, not now…)
3. Youth: Thank the Lord almighty we aren’t an aging squad. Other than Mikel and the ever adapting Rosicky we are fairly youthful and full of piss and vinegar. Outside of that, a lot of our “studs” are young and getting loads of experience (hopefully not a euphemism for run down)… Youth and experience should see us ratcheting up our energy throughout the season as guys look to capitalize on the easy playtime time that rotation SHOULD bring to the squad (and goodness gracious some trophies, eh?!). There shouldn’t be complaints of playing time given he “thinness” of our squad and this season really could be seeing that whole developing youth to starters thing played out.
4. Run of form: We should be able to capitalize on our run into the end last season and the familiarity of the squad. We should be able to take that late season run of form, while others collapsed (looking at you tater), and translate that into a strong start out of the gate. There are a lot of “shoulds” in this paragraph so bear with me because…
5. WE’RE ARSENAL! ARSENAL FC! WE’RE BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!!!
’nuff said.
Who doesn’t want a pair of kicks like these!!!
Custom Arsenal F.C. Nike Dunk (Photo credit: dishwab)
This is my nightmare!!!
My wife and I don’t play sports together. Just not something we have any desire to do and my wife is ultra competitive and it is just best not to compete with one another. Not that we couldn’t have a fun time or that one of us wouldn’t end up mad but she wasn’t much of a sports girl earlier in life and so she isn’t much of one now (she has since enjoyed running). Why do I bring this up? Well, as I have been perusing the blogs, sports chatter, tabloids, and recent signings of decent players to lesser clubs I was immediately drawn to remembering a particular scene in a fantastic movie…
The movie? I love you, Man. The scene? Well, hopefully you know exactly which one… For those of you who haven’t seen it, there is a particular scene involving golf, the two lead characters (men), and two women… playing golf… the women not having much experience… at playing golf… At one point, Jason Segel (one of the lads), yells “THIS IS MY NIGHTMARE!!!!”
The gloriousness of that scene cannot be overstated. All men have experienced that feeling at one point or another. We can relate.
Right now, I am Jason Segel in that scene and this is my nightmare. Arsenal have yet to spend a single dollar. It is August. The season is only a couple weeks away and we have one addition to our ranks whilst sending many packing (granted, no problem with the lads we let go). This is my nightmare.
I am sick of hearing the rumors. Sicker still of the thought that we would blow $50+ mil on a guy like Suarez. He is not Arsenal material in my opinion. Can he play? Yes. Can he score? Yes. Could he make our team better? Probably. But will it come at a cost? Yep. Big one for me. While he may be “chomping” on the bit like a draft horse ready to ride he is not my idea of an Arsenal player. Too much drama, too many games to miss at the start the season, too many questions of mental instability. What the F are we thinking going after this guy? And why the hell has tater totts completed so many decent signings, spending $ that we should spend, compared to our zero?!?! (Sonago doesn’t count friends)
What team are we? Who have we become? What exactly is Wenger doing with this time these days?!?! I don’t want to sign for signing’s sake BUT this is getting ridiculous. Chelsea, Man City, totts… all figured out how to add to their team. What are we doing? Why do I keep having to type questions here instead of talking about our “singings” over the summer?
Fact is, I was truly looking forward to talking about additions and how they will slot in and dream up scenarios of where they would play… but this summer has been a big bust in the addition department. Granted, we need to cut some bait BUT we needed to add decent depth and a marquee signing or two in order to put everyone on notice that we are coming for the title (no, not the 4th place title).
But alas, no money spent. No real additions. No starters to add. Competition to enjoy. No shit to write about…
Just google “this is my nightmare!” and watch the clip… and think of better times when we bought players and won shinny things…
![Cover of "I Love You, Man [Blu-ray]"](https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fVV2Loh5L._SL300_.jpg "Cover of \"I Love You, Man [Blu-ray]\"")
Cover of I Love You, Man [Blu-ray]
Not what you want to hear.
The truth hurts. I know it is cliché but like most clichés it is most often true. I don’t like to admit that I often make absolute statements. Doesn’t really hurt too much admitting that, but when caught doing it in real life I realize that I am a product of my mother, who is Queen of the Absolute statements, and well, it doesn’t feel good.
And then there is Wenger. Oh what to do. He has now come out and admitted the following: “At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.”
Oh that stings.
Then: “Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them.”
Hmm… ok, right…
And finally: “We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season.”
Uh oh. Wait. Is that some positioning? Is the writing on the wall already? I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit…
Wenger also admits that they are trying but it’s not just them and it’s hard to get in touch with people right now and we want quality and not just names and yadda yadda yadda. Sorry friend, that dog just don’t hunt and we are not that stupid (well… we are loyal supporters though).
First, no one else seems to have this “problem” of getting in touch with clubs to buy players. Matter of fact, Napoli just did the unthinkable if that is true by signing Higuain. Chelsea seems to not have this problem. Barca seems to not have this problem. Norwich (?!) seems to not have this problem (they landed Hooper ya’ll). And (WTF!!!) Sp*rs seem to not have this problem. Which leads me to my second issue…
WTF is really going on. We have $. A big, new, beautiful stadium. Quality players returning. Great training facilities. Loyal fans. Global fan base. London. Champions League. Stable and likable coaching… this list could go on and on. I am flabbergasted at this point. I really think it is truly a failure to communicate or know how to work the transfer market. Maybe the politics involved with purchasing players has become so complicated, so political that we don’t know how work it anymore. Which leads me to my third thought…
We need someone to handle the transfer market. Wenger can put in his request and then our dealmaker can swing in and present him with viable options and costs. With football continuing to grown and leagues getting better and better (and wanting to keep their talent), I wonder if leading with “English football is premier” is the best approach. La Liga is proving to be more than the two giants. The Bundesliga is becoming a serious force. As much as one can hate on Serie A it still has the dough to pull in quality players (not to mention incredible food and I hear the women there are… well… I’m married now but I ain’t blind friends).
I just can’t figure out what is going on and slogging dollars to our league competition is probably not the most cost-effective approach to improving our team while trying to get ahead of our competition. And I’m sorry, while I think our team can challenge for some silverware this year we do not have the depth to challenge across all fronts. We are an injury or two away from being in serious trouble (meaning scrapping our way to a trophy-less season and a hopeful 4th place finish… again).
No Mr. Wenger, you can sign players. You can add quality and names. You can spend money. And you must to do more than claim our rightful 4th place trophy… again.
Are things getting worse?
You have to enjoy when the tabloids, better known as the English papers, are constantly talking about your team and potential signings/connections with big time players. But when things start to go silent and then your only link is the potential overpaying for a “biter” you have to start to get worried a bit, right?
And then the unthinkable happens (not really, just par for the course) and Wenger himself laments, “… [W]e are not close to signing anybody”. W. T. F.
I think we have truly lost our touch in the market. How is it seemingly possible that with a 100mil plus budget we are not even CLOSE to signing anybody? I wish I had an answer here. Plenty of other teams seem capable of signing players. Plenty of other teams seem capable of spending money. Are we trying to buy players with funny money? Did we decide to invest in bitcoin and try to use that? How is it remotely possible that we are this far off?!
Ok, I am going to go down a dark road here but I am starting to wonder a bit if this could be true. Is Wenger a bit of a snooty French market player? Does he treat other clubs with stereotypical “I’m better than you” attitude? I can’t figure out what is going on. Rumors now have us only linked with Suarez (please tell me this head-case can’t be our only play) and losing out on just about everyone we thought we could snag (Fellaini, Higuain, Ceasar, Jovetic, Rooney, etc.).
Don’t get me wrong, I like our current squad. I like hanging 7 goals on southeast Asia players. I think Poldi and Giroud will provide better return this year and our team will produce better results with the chemistry they built last year. But we have to have more depth if we are going to compete in more than one cup next year. If we truly have aspirations of finishing higher than 4th (do we? scary thought), we have to have top quality players AND depth. We all know this. Management knows this. Players know this. What happens when the team gets excited about all these potential signings and then August rolls around with a big fat ZERO in that department? No bueno amigos.
At this point, as a fan, I don’t want to get shoved into that corner where I just want ANY signing. It is a more than a bit frustrating to have us finally go into a summer with no big losses, plenty of money to spend and yet we have nothing to show for it. Arsenal fans deserve more. Arsenal players deserve more.
AmericanArse 