Not much to report on here Monday morning but I did fancy the results a bit from yesterday. I was really hoping a rejuvenated (?) Sunderland side could hold on to that 1 goal lead against Chelsea but not so much. Sp*rs then saw fit to equalize late against Everton and that result really had a positive effect on the standings as with a game in hand we can actually leap frog Sp*rs into 4th with a win and keep Everton from gaining ground on us.

I am hoping this current run into the finish does not become the new norm for Arsenal. Last season we saw a thrilling finish that had us jump into 3rd far too late in the season via some Herculean efforts by he who shall not be named. This year we are absent a dominant striker and find a much more cohesive team effort leading the charge with a new hero each week. That being said, I look back on our schedule and wonder what could have been had we just eeked out a few more points that were dropped needlessly earlier in the season:

• 8-18-12 (date)- Arsenal (away) 0 – Sunderland (home) 0: Easily should have netted a goal here. Dominated possession, tons of shots on goal. However, Arshavin came on late and actually provided a spark so that speaks to what the hell was going on at the time… (+2 points)
• 8-26-12- Stoke 0 – Arsenal 0: Almost an exact replay of our game with Sunderland. Arsenal the better side, dominated possession, plenty of chances (I recall a serious miss by Gervhino in this one) but no dice. Stoke always a tough play for us but we were at  home and gave this one away… (+2 points)
• 10-20-12- Arsenal 0 – Norwich 1: Yet another frustrating one to watch. Plenty of missed chances (Gervinho whiffing on one) and a reminder of our serious inconsistency to start the season (not entirely unexpected given all the new players) but we should have at least left with a tie here… (+1 point)
• 11-10-12- Fulham 3 – Arsenal 3: Ah yes, the one that really got away. This was an exciting and frustrating match to watch with Arsenal never quite putting Fulham away and with our final chance to take 3 at home coming down to the missed Arteta penalty. We had lost momentum and honestly this was a serious mental loss for us at the time even though we came away with 1 point (at home)… (+2 points)
• 12-1-12- Swansea 2 – Arsenal 0: No. This one pissed me off big time. 2 late goals by Michu and big misses on our end. Ramsey was the bright spark to this game but Arsenal gave up too much at home. A tie was the minimum we needed here and should have earned it… (+1 point)
• 1-30-13 Liverpool 2 – Arsenal 2: This was an incredibly exciting match and I had a lunch bet with a Liverpool friend riding on this one. What started off with me cussing and kicking the cat across the room had me jumping for joy as the tides turned after half. While either team could have won this one, Arsenal at home should have been enough to walk away with the victory… (+2 points)

Well, there ya have it. We could be sitting with a total of +10 on our current points haul and be by and large considered locks for Champions League at this point in the season. Granted, I admit that there are other games we might have dropped or left more points than we received (the 1-1 tie with Southampton on January 1?). Additionally, there are other games that we may have grabbed more points from but these matches stand out to me as the obvious ones where we played well enough to win but walked away with less than deserved.

Oh what could have been…

Thanks to WatchESPN I plan to put the ManU/City game on in the background today at work (some days my job really has some serious perks).

Cheers.

Well, on what appeared to be a beautiful sunny day (with great vocal support by our fans) Arsenal almost did the unthinkable (although more par for the course this year) and dropped points. If not for the constant clearing of legitimate WBA chances by what amounted to a back line of 6 in the end, Arsenal may have walked away with 1 point instead of the 3 they deservedly earned.

Things started well enough with Ramsey providing decent pace and the entire front line doing well to put pressured on West Brom. There were some early frustrating issues, Sagna’s crossing (or lack thereof) for instance, but it was Arsenal’s Ivorian hope that help strike gold (Gervinho could be heard yelling, “damn right it was a beautiful pass!”-we all know that was a shot amigo). It was great to see Rosicky put not one, but two (2!?) in today. The man did his best RVP (he who shall not be named) impression yet.

The build up on both goals was great and Arteta needs to be credited for an almost 60 yard pass onto a rushing Gervinho. I am still not sure though if Gervinho really meant to shoot that first bullet at Rosicky’s head or not; don’t care in the end as I am just happy someone was on the other end of anything Gervinho! The only truly frustrating miscue came by way of the man that up to that point I thought did a great job: Ramsey. The lay off and touch play between Cazorla and Giroud was brilliant in the 43rd minute. We have seen this relationship between them before and I really hope it continues to blossom for year to come. Sadly, Ramsey’s first touch after the duo’s flirting was a bit much and what should have been an easy strike turned to the equivalent of a muffed PAT (otherwise known as a Gervinho impression). That said, I still liked what I saw from Ramsey today and believe the added depth of his play will benefit Arsenal the rest of this year and into the next when we get back to playing for, you know, hardware (what?!).

Now on to my real issue with this game: Per’s awful red card. No, it was well earned. What was awful about it was his tact in that moment. Putting aside the fact that he just got punked (you can see him looking to the sideline in a moment of prayer/desperation that a flag would go up), I am more pissed at the idea of his decision making  after he got outplayed. Please, someone, explain to me his logic in fouling and risking getting a red card when up 2 nil? What harm would have occurred to have just continued to keep pressure on Shane Long when he played the ball, play the odds that he might miss the shot anyways (or have it blocked by Fabianski) and play on without risking being sent off causing your team to play down a man the rest of the match?

Here is the way I see it:

Worse case if you allow Long to continue without the hard challenge: goal scored but you keep 11 men on to finish the game.

Best case: he misses anyways and you dodge a bullet albeit I still write some shitty things about how I can’t believe you start for your National squad and while you are tall your brain has turned to mush from altitude sickness.

Instead, we had the worst of the worst: red card, penalty scored, play down a man for 20+ minutes and just barely (BARELY) scrap out a win. Just bollucks if you ask me. This was a tactical error made worse by bad judgment. Bad form Fräulein. Look, Per has been fairly solid for most of the season even though our backline has gone through some changes and a series of matches with complete boneheaded decisions (still can’t tell if it is the players or the coaches) but I expect more out of a guy as experienced as Per. I am reminded of the scene from the movie A League Of Their Own (just don’t, I know there can be some jokes made about me here) where Tom Hanks’ character is yelling at one of his outfielders for throwing the ball to the wrong base and allowing a run to score needlessly.

The point is not that Per caused the game to be lost but rather that his move caused the dynamics of the game to completely shift and almost cause it to be lost (save for some serious misses by Lukaku, thank goodness that guy didn’t start the match, and the rest of the WBA side). In the end, I am just damn happy we walked away with 3 points and definitely did not have this in mind when I figured it would be a “tough test”.

Now if we can see those above us slip up I will resolve myself to be made even happier.

Are you crying? Are you crying? ARE YOU CRYING? There’s no crying! THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL! (Photo credit: Dave Robinette)

Match day is almost here and I really can’t wait. For us west-coasters, I’ll be setting my alarm to get up and catch the match early Saturday morning. In truth, I am just happy that Fox Soccer is carrying the game.

If you recall, WBA gave us some trouble earlier this year and it was only by way of Arteta converting two penalties that we pulled out the victory. Additionally, there was that bit of a flop by Santi that gave us one of those penalties and it is rather nice to see that he hasn’t done something of the like since then (God knows they will bring it up, replay it, talk about it and endlessly analyze it before the match).

I believe that WBA away is going to be a tough test for us. Though we have been playing well the last few weeks, with a bit of added pressure, we have to win to keep pace and hopefully pass Chelsea or Sp*rs (hopefully both). We seem to like to drop points we shouldn’t this year and that is my concern here. No significant lineup changes are contemplated at this point so we should have roughly the same mix of souls from the Reading match. It will be interesting to see if ol’Arsene sticks with the same lineup or goes with a bit of a change. My hope is that he throws the same bunch out there and gives Santi the power to move as he wishes (please just put him back in the CAM position).

With regard to Gervinho, if confidence is really all he needs then starting another match up top should be enough to quell his little boy issues. If Arsenal struggle early then we get into the whole bit about do we attempt to stick it out for the rest of the game (showing “confidence”) or pull the changes and do whatever is necessary to get the 3 points (yes please). For this Arsehole, I am really hoping Arsene runs the exact same lineup out there and tells Gervinho to keep on truckin’ at the defense. It seems that with the seasonal gelling that has occurred (why the F does this always take them so long?) I think the rest of the team can handle the Ivorian strikers miscues without losing “confidence”.

There was also a bit of concern that Nacho (libre) would be kept out because of his knee knock last week but reports are that he has recovered well enough to play. Personally, I think his ego was hurt more than his knee after that shitty misplay on D. All things aside, I would be happy to see either Nacho (libre) or Gibbs out there.

On a positive note, ESPN has been reporting that Jack and Theo may be fit enough to return for the Norwich match. Honestly, I really don’t want to see these guys rushed back into the bench or lineup for that matter; especially if they are not 100% fit. There is no reason to believe that Arsenal can’t handle WBA and Norwich without them and I would rather have a fully fit, fully rested, fully prepared lineup for the run ins with Everton, Fulham, and Man U. We have to get at least 7 points from those matches to keep the pressure on those above us in the table. My fear is that if we pull a Gervin-NO against WBA that Arsene will be tempted, or the players themselves, to push into the lineup too soon against Norwich and then find themselves not playing the rest of the season. Given that Norwich is at home, I would rather our English stalwarts return for the home match against Everton than Norwich.

That’s all for today. Post match analysis to come Saturday morning.

Arsenal 4 – Reading 1

There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home! Oh… right… Well, that was one game I rather enjoyed this year. Arsenal finally came out and dominated a lower team from beginning to finish (except for that bone headed defensive lapse where Monreal Nacho-ed himself out of position). Really though, a pleasure to see Arsenal play a complete 90 minutes and control the opposing side like a top tier (?) team should.

I’ll be honest here, I was a bit worried before the game started. First, the lineup. I really thought that AOC had “played” his way into the starting lineup. Additionally, I really was a bit annoyed by trying to place (squeeze) Carzola up left. The guy is a straight up CAM. Just leave him there dammit. Glad to see the interchange between him and Rosicky didn’t bugger it all up. Third. Gervinho starting. Shit. It’s ok, maybe someone will be able to be near or far post to put one of his shitty shots through goal. In the end, the lineup worked and we nabbed 3 needed points (could this be the year of the Chelsea collapse? They do have the makings for one-disgruntled manager, slim lead in points, their own version of Gervinho in Torres).

All things aside though, I still can’t stand Gervinho even after his fairly (teeth clenched) solid game. He did quite a good job attacking a much weaker side, put one into the net and provided 2 for others but the guy STILL screwed things up at times and had me wanting to put the five dollar remote through the screen of a thousand dollar TV!

Example 1: great movement in the 21st, solid run up, and then scuff the shit out of the shot. Serious kudos to the Reading defender as he obviously knew how to play his man (sit back. sit back. wait. wait. you know he will do it. and… yep, scuffed shitty shot. I’m a genius).

Example 2: 24th minute, great run up again, solid movement and… wait for it… oh! there is the Gervinho I know! Scuffed shitty shot!

Example 3: 42 minute, front of goal, shot over the top…

Example 4: Shitty wide open header… You get the point here.

Gervinho could have EASILY had a hat trick in this one against seriously inferior opponents (they hung 5 on us earlier this year? sheesh…). And look, I have to be honest here, I can’t stand him. I want him gone. I enjoy his attacking style (sometimes and albeit only against subpar opponents) but he scrubs WAY too many of his shots and in this year alone I still have nightmares of his shitty shots no more than 10 yards out in the middle of the box. Not to mention that he seems to have brain farts right in the middle of his run up at goal (ok. slip past this guy. done. dribble here. beat that guy. OH SHIT! the goal! what do I do! oh! shoot! wait?! what just happened?!) If there was a team calling for his services I would happily oblige and I hope Arsene does so this summer.

On another note, I haven’t touched on the Diaby news because I just can’t bear the thought of what this guy has had to deal with. He really looked sharp at the beginning of the season, got injured again, never really looked the same and now he is out long term again. For the Yanks who don’t know, he is basically the Stuart Holden of Arsenal and I just want the guy healthy for an entire year to see what he can do for the club. Well, much luck to him but I think this may be the end of his Arsenal career because at some point we will just have to move on (and so will he).

Oh, and don’t even get me started about the missed call on Giroud. It was a penalty. Everyone knew it was and if the score were nil-nil at that point I think it would have been called. That said, the ref surely had his head up someone’s arse because even a blind man would have saw that one.

Alright arseholes, until next time. Enjoy the shot of Gervinho hopefully taking the long walk off into the sunset…

Gervinho (Photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald)

USA 0 – MEX 0

Very nice point well earned by a fairly inexperienced US side. USMNT played like a veteran team in an extremely hostile environment. Gonzalez and Besler were great; solid back line in the making there (always been a fan of Gonzalez after seeing him play many games for the Galaxy). Guzan played perfectly for his part. Did the ref miss a couple of calls that could have put the game squarely into Mexico’s hands? Yes. Does that happen in almost every game I watch? Yes. Soccer is as much about luck as it can be about skill. One counter attack gone right can change the entire game. One slipped defender, one call going your way, one mis-placed ball and it can cause the whole game to get out of hand. The USMNT should be congratulated for a performance well done in a place that has proven extremely hostile to every American, fan or player, that has ever stepped into the stadium.

On a related note, a very interested article about why the US/MEX rivalry is the best rivalry in all of international soccer. I tend to agree with this because it has the exact makings of what makes great rivalries elsewhere (think Celtic v. Rangers: history, religion, geography, politics, player choice/pool, etc.). Very few, if any, other international feuds can say they have the same…

Check out the read here:

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/03/26/commentary-why-mexico-usa-best-rivalry-international-soccer

Right. The inter-I can’t believe we had a break this long is almost over. Arsenal v. Reading this Saturday. Muscle up Gooners.

As many of you have already seen, and probably read about on more prominent and full featured blogs, Theo Walcott has been ruled out of the England squad and sent back to the Emirates for further testing/review. It appears that he could only be out 7-10 days and if that turns out to be true then great. I would imagine that given his dip in goal scoring form as of late Arsene may not be too inclined to rush him back into the lineup, especially since AOC can sub in nicely to do his bit in the run your arse off the entire game to scare the defenders.

Truly happy this doesn’t seem like a serious knock to Theo but I imagine that AOC will do more than fill in nicely; I am calling for him to put one in the net at our next match. AOC has been denting the woodwork as of late and he put one through for England against a… well… team called San Marino. Either way, I think he’ll slide into the lineup nicely and should keep Reading on their heels just fine.

This really is crunch time for Arsenal. 11 points separates the boys from 2nd through 6th and we have some VERY winnable games coming our way (Reading, West Brom, Norwich, Everton, Fulham, Man U, QPR, Wigan, Newcastle). There is absolutely no reason for us to not win ALL of those games or (even in the event of a Man U loss) take 24 points of the 27. Not an easy tasks certainly but definitely possible and I certainly like our chances at points ahead of Chelsea (who are still playing games elsewhere, FA/Europa, to hopefully their detriment) and shit Sp*rs.

Right. Not much else on the BPL front at this point. Hoping that we can handle Reading with ease (even if we are without Wilshere/Walcott while they get healthy) and make our run through the BPL to finish this season off proper.

As a side note, Costa Rica has filed their appeal of the whole snowpocalypse game and rightfully so. I would imagine that the US would have done the same thing had they been down a goal at the end of time.

Right. Lots of Interlull action today in the way of WCQ games. The biggest of which for us ‘Mericans is tonights romp with Costa Rica. Most of us will catch the match on ESPN at 7pm PST (I myself will have to probably record it as my Wifey’s mum is in town and we are hitting up happy hour and possibly a movie). Have no fear, I will have post match analysis once I get back from the movies after watching it.

There has been a lot of hub bub made regarding Jurgen’s line up moves, no cohesiveness, dropping Bocanegra, etc. etc. While I agree we can’t, or shouldn’t, F up our WCQ chances I tend to agree that the USMNT needs to take that next step and often that can end up meaning we have to take a step back first. Our national team, and quite frankly our players, need to step it up to the next level in order to compete on the world stage regularly. I realize that tactical prowess from our head coach is a big part of proper preparation and adjusting at half time but at some point the talent just needs to step up and play. Now, perhaps ol’ Jurgs is really casting out a bad lot when throwing players out there with what seems to be no logical reason but I tend to give coaches a long leash when it comes to coaching and installing their system before I just say “one more loss and he should go”.

Another possible issue that no one seems to be talking about is that perhaps we just aren’t that good. I know I know, hard to fathom but do we really think that running out a team that consists of mostly mid level season players is going to compete with the top level players on France, Spain, England and the like? I mean, come on, if Santi Carzola barely gets sniffed for his national side and he is a starter in a top 5 club in the BPL doesn’t that say something about the general quality of the US product at this point? Hell, the MLS is still in its infancy, they are barely rolling out feeder academy’s and still relying on the college system to be their main source of player income. So long as that stays in effect the US just isn’t going to compete on the world level. Sorry.

On a completely unrelated note, there are some games I am very interested in watching today that I believe are on ESPN 2 or 3: England v. San Marino; Spain v. Finland; France v. Georgia (not the state but good lord that would be a fun watch). Crazily enough, Israel tied Portugal (PORTUGAL!) today 3-3 in what had to have been a crazy experience at Tel Aviv. If not for a stoppage time goal by Fabio Coentrao this might have been one of Israel’s biggest wins of all time (Old Testament victories aside).

Ok, well that’s enough here.

Oi vey. Really? It must be interllul when the gods of modern media, better known as the UK tabloids, put forth quotes from a player’s father after being dropped for 2 games from first team action. By now most, if not all, of you have seen the comments made by Maciej Szczesny, father of young and upcoming Wojciech Szcesny, regarding his placement in the club and treatment after injury. Look, Maciej Szczesny was a pretty good footballer in his day (as evidenced by his Wiki page) and thus far his son has done pretty damn good for a 22 year old keeper (anyone want to guess how old Tim Howard is now at what some consider the top of his game?) but this story really shouldn’t have gotten the traction it did and just further evidences the craziness that is football and its media coverage in the UK.

Sometimes I forget how different it is over there and all I have to do is run through the footballing stories listed on The Guardian, Daily Mirror,  The Sun, Daily Star, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, et al. to remember the craziness that is BPL football. I’ll be honest here to, I don’t hate the constant updates, speculation, and story because as a Yank I don’t get to see it daily like the blokes in the UK but I can understand when something is just plain stupid and well… this is just plain stupid. There are countless stories of Wojciech (yeah, I still can’t pronounce it right) confessing his devotion, adoration and love for kingdom and club. And let’s be honest here, I completely understand a parent’s devotion to their son but this rings loud of a Dad who is just pissed about circumstances and out to protect his son; no harm really so long as it doesn’t gain too much traction. That, apparently, has already occurred as Wojciech himself had to come out (not that kind) in the media to again profess his love for all things Arsene.

Truth be told, his Pops isn’t an idiot (let’s hope) and he knew his comments would gain some notoriety/traction. Thus, kiddo would then have to respond and now I just fear that dear ol’ dad has potentially produced the same shit Arsene fears in his young, astute keeper (mental instability). Look, I might be a pessimist in life but I am an optimist in football and Wojciech has countless matches and a bright future ahead of him as long as he stays on track. I for one wouldn’t mind our former #1 keeper telling his retired keeper daddy to smother his mouth the way he used to a ball.

Right. Not much else going on. Rumor mill will be churning for many a day to come with possible transfer names being floated but if we know anything from Arsene, nothing is set in stone until he up an announces shit at the last minute.

Until next time.

Front page of the Daily Mirror after publishing faked photographs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, it has arrived. As I sit here with March Madness (go Zags) on in the background I write to all of you (the few or none you may be) and I wonder what may become of all this. First, a little background. I hated soccer (football, footie, futbol, etc.). HATED it. Didn’t understand it. Didn’t want to. I played baseball. I was ‘merican. Then, after hanging up the glove once I started college (university to you europe types) I had an experience. I don’t remember why or how it all happened but it started with the 2006 World Cup. Something about the games, the emotion, the dedication, the loyalty… it all grabbed me. I didn’t understand what was happening and things like an offside trap, hell offsides in general, were outside my scope of understanding but I liked it. I wanted more. Slowly, after watching the U.S. get eliminated, I watched the other games. Seriously. I was getting up at the crack of darkness on the west coast to watch the remaining games. I remember the brilliance of the way other teams played, how they moved, the art form of how soccer could be played. I was done for. Hooked.  I wanted more. But, so many leagues, it was overwhelming. Where to start? I didn’t. I watched when I could.

That was, until I watched a single movie that for some reason emotionally grabbed me: Green Street Hooligans. Say what you will about movies but this one really fueled my love for the game (drama, emotion, dedication, loyalty). I know, completely corny but there is a saying in the church, whatever brings ’em through the door, and I pretty much busted it open after that. I started following the giants of La Liga, caught a few Fulham games because of their love of Yanks and then it happened. I saw beauty. Finesse. History. A place where dedication and loyalty mean more than the name on the back. I was disheartened with the player moves. The lack of loyalty. That’s it. That is my team. Players seem to move away, but not me. I am going to stay with them. I made the choice. The Arsenal.

My relationship started with choice. I was going to be, and am, a Gooner for life. With the advent of technology, Fox soccer, DVR, and my wife’s patience, I began consuming every game they played that I could watch. I bought gear, for myself and for my little one due in May 2013 (has to match if he is going to watch the games with me). Then I found arseblog.com. Another inlet of all things Arsenal. To quote, “It’s fuckin’ excellent”. I became inspired. I also needed another outlet for my growing love of all things Arsenal. My joy in following and my sorrow in their losses. And so now, here I am and here is my blog. I am going to try to post pre and post game thoughts intermixed with some USMNT if I get around to it. My only hope is that you will enjoy this as much as I enjoy Arsenal.