Wenger's Mission Statement
Tuesday, 23 September 08, 12:14 PM
"It was just a memo."
- Tom Cruise, to the fish, in Jerry Maguire
I'm sure everyone's read the leaked memo Wenger sent to all the players before the Bolton game. If not, it's here from the Guardian. It's a fascinating insight into the inner workings of a professional football side. Evidently, Wenger's much taken with motivational quotes and quasi New-Age movement known as team-ism.
I've always felt that the great Wenger teams have always displayed exceptional togetherness. The early 00s team was notable in that the players had been together for three years before they emerged from their chrysalis, blinking from the splendour of their beautiful game. Vieira rejected a move to Real Madrid because he didn't want to break up the family.
It takes time to build a great side. The early 00s side had that time. Coincidentally, the current side has had three years as well. If we're working on the same time frame, we should be buying trophy polish pretty soon. We were very close last year, and if we'd kept the team together, we would be one of the favourites for the title this year.
But we're not.
The crucial difference is that this side keeps changing. And it makes me wonder how much togetherness is in this current side. Hleb and Flamini both broke up the "family" without much remorse. Adebayor wanted to go the same way. And even Cesc had his flirtations in the past. When we enter a transfer season now, I'm expecting at least one of our established players agitating for a move.Is there a difference in the culture of the two sides? Is the lack of success and the exceptionally thin squad eating at the minds of our players? Or is it that Arsenal's inherent frugality is out-dated in this era of the morally dubious sugar-daddy? Do our players value money and instant success over working for something greater than themselves (i.e the team)?
I don't know. And what really troubles me is the idea that some of our players would just roll their eyes at the memo, screw it up and toss it in the bin. Wenger talks a good game, but how much does teamwork count when Chelsea and the Manchesters are hoovering up all the players in the world? And paying them a lot more than Arsenal can afford?
Maybe Bob Sugar was right - it's not "show friends", it's "show business".
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In Cashley's Defense
Monday, 22 September 08, 09:45 AM
The road to Chelsea is paved with good intentions
- St Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), with prescience so accurate it's scary.
I'm in York at the moment. Saw the Minister and walked around the old city. It's quite pretty if you like all that Ye Olde England stuff. Like Bath, only medieval-like. I don't know. Too tired to care, really. Spent the night in Manchester listening to the dude below me snore his tonsils down his throat.
Had a really nice afternoon in Manchester, though. Bright, sunny day lazing around Piccadilly Garden. Had a pint while watching the Chelsea vs Man Utd match. Laughed my head off at the reaction of the Man Utd supporters when Chelsea equalised. Well, laughed silently in my head, anyway - I'm not that brave. Bought a MacBook. Ate an orange.
Guess I've got low standards when it comes Sunday afternoons.
There's not much going on with the Arsenal. Bendtner's impressed. Eboue's showing us that Wenger really does Know. Song's cut his dreadlocks. Peter Hill-Wood escaped his minders and came out with another nonsensical comment.
So I thought I'd say something about Cashley Cole. While in London, I read his book. And surprisingly, there was a perverse kind of logic to his actions. No one step was monstrous - it's only when you string it all together that you realise how reprehensible the whole affair was.
To recount:
1. Cashley was in a position to command $80,000 a week in wages.
2. Cashley decided to ask for $60,000 a week, against the advice of his manager, his captain and probably most of the Arsenal first team. His reason was, ironically, that he wasn't "greedy" and that $60,000 was more than enough to play for the Arsenal.
3. David Dein verbally agreed to $60,000 a week.
4. The board decided to counter with a $55,000 a week "final offer".
5. Things got out of control.
There's a fair degree of farce to the whole situation. Ashley wanted to stay, and thought he was doing the honourable thing by asking for a lower amount. The board thought he was stupid and demanded an even smaller amount. Ashley didn't realise that "final offer" was just a negotiating tactic, and so he jumped over the fence to see what Chelsea were offering.
The stupidity of that whole series of events was evident when Ashley Cole was given a one year extension at $74,000 a week. Why didn't the board have this largess one year before?
The pragmatists amongst you would say that everything turned out well. Clichy's as good (or better than) Cole. We got Gallas in return and crippled Chelsea. And Cole's been exposed as a vain, shallow, stupid, greedy, arrogant man who gave up the chance of being a club idol for a few measly pounds.
But the romantics amongst you (and you've got to be romantic to support Arsene Wenger) will regret that it ever came to this. Ashley Cole never intended things to pan out like this. He's still a gooner, you know, and he probably still watches the matches on TV. He could've been a living legend for us, you know. He would've been captain. He would've won trophies and led this current side to greater glory than Arsenal have ever known.
But as St Bernie once said, the road to Chelsea is paved with good intentions.
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3-1 to the Arsenal
Sunday, 21 September 08, 05:08 AM
We are Fabregas
And we are fabulous
- the Arsenal away stand in the stairwell after the game.
Spent last night in Bolton. Didn't mean to; I wanted to get a bed in Manchester and commute to the game, but there's some Labour Party Convention in the city. Apparently the Prime Minister here's getting caned for banks going bankrupt, the credit crunch and all the other things that have kept me entertained in hostel lobbies this past month.
I watched the Arsenal for (probably) the last time. Reebok Stadium is a very pretty ground, which is in complete juxtaposition to the fare on the pitch. It's got this white lattice framework that holds up four, vast arched stands. Very nice, much prettier than the corporate Emirates, I'm afraid to say.
We played okay, I thought. You have to do alright, to win 3-1. Eboue had a really good game on the left wing. He made quite a few damaging runs in the first half, and was very effective when cutting in and driving down them middle. But we started with a midfield of Eboue, Song, Fabregas and Densilon, which was a but muddled. With Eboue's propensity to cut in from the left, and Denilson's inability to go around his marker, it made for a very narrow formation.
And it showed.
We didn't really get into the match until after they scored (off a corner, of course). And we didn't really click as a team until Theo Walcott was brought in in the second half. Straight away, he gave us a boost in speed, width and directness. His run down the middle set up the third goal. It's amazing how his stature has grown over the past month. He's not the finish article yet, but he's very, very important to this Arsenal side.
Yorkshire and Northumbria next. Got to see about a bus or a train or something.
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Like Lipstick on a Pig
Thursday, 18 September 08, 11:34 AM
"We expressed ourselves well tonight. We created a lot of good chances and I think we are going to improve on today. It's not the worst result but it could have been better for us."
- Alex Ferguson, putting a nice layer of lipstick on his overgrown sow
Wednesday night I spent walking through Edinburgh, desperately looking for a bar that screened the Arsenal vs Dynamo Kyiv match. No such luck. There are plenty of bars showing Champions League matches, but they all showed Man Utd vs Villareal. Turns out that Edinburgh is a hotbed of Man Utd fans.
Go figure. I thought Edinburglers had taste.
So I hunkered down at Walkabout and watched 70 minutes of the most enlightening football I've ever seen. Man Utd without Ronaldo are toothless. It was amazing to see Villareal hold a team with players like Rooney, Anderson, Nani and Tevez. There was plently of determination, work-ethic, pressing... but no invention and no creativity. Man Utd without Ronaldo are ordinary. Which explains why Ferguson was so desperate to keep Ronaldo, I suppose.
Moreoever, is it coincidence that the only two games we haven't won this season (Fulham and Dynamo Kyiv) were the ONLY two games I haven't seen? Of three games I've personally graced, we've won by an aggregate scoreline of 11-0. Someone please, please let Danny Fizsman know about my amazing abilities.
Wenger's furious about the penalty, of course, and about Kyiv hacking down Walcott at every opportunity. What does he expect? Gallas and his opponent both went down like they were pigs in an ice-rink, and Walcott got trampled like a grasshopper between a pig and his slop-bucket. These things happen in football, and a draw against Kyiv is a decent result. We haven't won in the Soviet in ten attempts.
Bolton next, on the Saturday. We love you Arsenal, we do.
- Alex Ferguson, putting a nice layer of lipstick on his overgrown sow
Wednesday night I spent walking through Edinburgh, desperately looking for a bar that screened the Arsenal vs Dynamo Kyiv match. No such luck. There are plenty of bars showing Champions League matches, but they all showed Man Utd vs Villareal. Turns out that Edinburgh is a hotbed of Man Utd fans.
Go figure. I thought Edinburglers had taste.
So I hunkered down at Walkabout and watched 70 minutes of the most enlightening football I've ever seen. Man Utd without Ronaldo are toothless. It was amazing to see Villareal hold a team with players like Rooney, Anderson, Nani and Tevez. There was plently of determination, work-ethic, pressing... but no invention and no creativity. Man Utd without Ronaldo are ordinary. Which explains why Ferguson was so desperate to keep Ronaldo, I suppose.
Moreoever, is it coincidence that the only two games we haven't won this season (Fulham and Dynamo Kyiv) were the ONLY two games I haven't seen? Of three games I've personally graced, we've won by an aggregate scoreline of 11-0. Someone please, please let Danny Fizsman know about my amazing abilities.
Wenger's furious about the penalty, of course, and about Kyiv hacking down Walcott at every opportunity. What does he expect? Gallas and his opponent both went down like they were pigs in an ice-rink, and Walcott got trampled like a grasshopper between a pig and his slop-bucket. These things happen in football, and a draw against Kyiv is a decent result. We haven't won in the Soviet in ten attempts.
Bolton next, on the Saturday. We love you Arsenal, we do.
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Raining on a Monday
Tuesday, 16 September 08, 10:25 AM
Arsenal, it's Arsenal we sing
For it's by far the greatest team
The world has ever seen.
- an Arsenal ditty, maybe one I'll hear this Saturday
There's a story about a dog, by the name of Bobby, who guarded his master's grave for 14 years. Never left his side. Died by his side. Cute story. He's buried at Greyfriars church, and it's the most visited grave in Edinburgh. Little kids gather sticks from the cemetery gardens and lay them by the tombstone. Gardeners have to disperse the growing mound of sticks every month or so, or otherwise it'll bury the tombstone. There's even a little statue of the dog (a Scottish terrier - what else?) in front of a pub by the church.
Shows what a little bit of dedication can do for you.
It's such a pretty little city, Edinburgh. It even looks good in the rain.
I've been glancing through the transfer rumours at newsnow, and it's kind of sad. There's probably only 2 or 3 players left who have the experience and the stature to be a sub at Arsenal, and who can be signed outside the transfer window. And so, they're posting increasingly tenuous links to players who I've never heard of. At this rate, by the end of the week Emmanuel Petit will be rumoured to come out of retirement to join us. Which wouldn't be too bad, I suppose - at least he's experienced enough and tough enough to boss the midfield.
If I can rig it, I may be able to duck down to Bolton for the away game on Saturday, before swinging back to Manchester. It's difficult to get a room in Bolton. No one really wants to stay there, for some odd reason. These Arsenal games are getting pretty addictive - it's so nice to watch the team live.
Oh we love you Arsenal, we do.
For it's by far the greatest team
The world has ever seen.
- an Arsenal ditty, maybe one I'll hear this Saturday
There's a story about a dog, by the name of Bobby, who guarded his master's grave for 14 years. Never left his side. Died by his side. Cute story. He's buried at Greyfriars church, and it's the most visited grave in Edinburgh. Little kids gather sticks from the cemetery gardens and lay them by the tombstone. Gardeners have to disperse the growing mound of sticks every month or so, or otherwise it'll bury the tombstone. There's even a little statue of the dog (a Scottish terrier - what else?) in front of a pub by the church.
Shows what a little bit of dedication can do for you.
It's such a pretty little city, Edinburgh. It even looks good in the rain.
I've been glancing through the transfer rumours at newsnow, and it's kind of sad. There's probably only 2 or 3 players left who have the experience and the stature to be a sub at Arsenal, and who can be signed outside the transfer window. And so, they're posting increasingly tenuous links to players who I've never heard of. At this rate, by the end of the week Emmanuel Petit will be rumoured to come out of retirement to join us. Which wouldn't be too bad, I suppose - at least he's experienced enough and tough enough to boss the midfield.
If I can rig it, I may be able to duck down to Bolton for the away game on Saturday, before swinging back to Manchester. It's difficult to get a room in Bolton. No one really wants to stay there, for some odd reason. These Arsenal games are getting pretty addictive - it's so nice to watch the team live.
Oh we love you Arsenal, we do.
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On Raining on a Monday