Liverpool thoughts: Some positives on a very negative day.

Morning Gooners,

I've tried to leave this blog as late as possible so that I can attempt to hide my depression. Yesterday was our second league game of the season, however it felt like our title challenge depended on it and we were in mid April. The pressure that seems to be on every game at the moment is not healthy for fans or players and the really sad thing is I don't see it stopping any time soon.

I've sat back now and calmed a little and think I've managed to develop a fairer view of the Liverpool game. Although the result is hugely disappointing, as is any loss, the situation the club finds itself in at the moment is the cause of most fans concern. The uncertainty of our squad has become unbearable. Who will be leaving? Nasri and Bendtner both featured but both look likely to leave the club before September 1st. Who will be coming in? Will anyone be coming in? Thankfully we have only nine days left of the transfer window so for better or worse, we will at least know which players we'll be cheering on for the coming season.

Back to the game. There were negatives, we all know what they are and we all have our own opinions of what has caused them but here's my view on the Liverpool game alone.

Negatives:
* We lost!! (Obvious, but surely the biggest negative of all)
* Frimpong showed the result of inexperience can punish the whole team.
* We have another suspension to deal with.
* Koscielny is out for a week, by the look of him probably more (The guy couldn't even walk on his own)
*Complete lack of midfield creativity
* Arshavin, Walcott & RVP were almost non-existent

This will not be the only game we lose this year. The important thing is how you deal with that loss and that goes for fans as much as it does players. Yes Frimpong was the perfect example of inexperience and rashness  but players must go through these stages to learn  from them and under the guidance of Arsene Wenger, our young players like Frimpong will indeed learn from it and become better players from the experience. Frimpong's suspension leaves us with a massive gap on our team sheet for Sunday's game at Old Trafford but Wenger will deal with that problem next week.

Kos's injury looked very bad. His back began to spasm and the poor guy couldn't even walk unassisted down the tunnel. Wenger has said he expects him to be out "for the next two games" at least which is bad enough but on top of Djourou's hamstring and Squillaci's mystery injury that kept him out of the game we now go into the next week(s) with TV5 and Miquel as our only fit centre backs.

Our lack of creativity through midfield is my personal biggest worry at the moment. The responsibility being thrown upon Ramsey is coming too soon. He is not ready to  be our main midfield man, and the pressure coming with that expectation will do more harm than good in the long run. Wilshere will add quality when he returns and Rosicky can still do a job for the team. The only real resolution to this issue is reinforcement. AOC, Ryo and Frimpong will all be new aspects of our midfield this year but with not one of them 20 years old they cannot be expected to be the regular game changers that we need. The Nasri saga will end very soon one way or the other but if reports coming from France are to be believed then talks with Man City have hit problems and Nasri could yet still be an Arsenal player for the coming season. For what it is worth I thought he was excellent yesterday, his attitude was spot on and his hunger to help the team succeed was there for all to see, a big well done to the fans at Ashburton Grove too, the reception for Nasri was excellent and if he does stay it is good to know he will be supported just like every other Arsenal player.

Our front three's apparent absence from the game will not be the same in every game and had a lot to do with the void we had in midfield so unless it becomes a regular occurrence I will not get worked up about it just yet.

OK, enough negatives, now for some Positives I took from the game:

* Frimpong
* Vermaelen
* The teams defensive work rate
* Improvement on defending set pieces
* With 6 first team players missing, Liverpool still couldn't beat us with 11 men

Frimpong almost had a perfect game. Take away the silly first booking and the challenge that saw the 2nd yellow and Frimpong had a......... DEEEEENCH........ game (I still don't know what it means but I'm assuming it's good). He covered the defence brilliantly and added his own spark going forward and other than Van Persie's effort he came closest to providing an Arsenal goal. Alex Song took 3-4 years to convince us he could do the job but Frimpong has showed his class instantly, he did it in pre season last year but then spent the whole season injured and he has returned with the same quality and looks like an immense talent already.

Vermaelen showed us what we were missing last year. His performance yesterday was excellent, especially when controlling Andy Carroll on set pieces. To use a Wenger-ism, he really will be like having a new player in the squad. I would say that the defensive organisation looks better this year but simply saying it's there this season is enough and shows improvement on last season. Liverpool had an uncountable amount of set pieces during the 90 minutes but I can't think of one that we seemed to struggle with so that has to be seen as a positive thing.

Gibbs, Koscielny, Djourou, Song, Wilshere, Rosicky and Gervinho. 7 players that could be regular starters for us this year were all out of action whether it was because of suspension or injury. Which team can take 7 players out of their line up and still produce top quality football?

The biggest positive is that with all the problems we had today, players missing, transfer sagas, fan's discontent etc, etc we matched Liverpool for as long as we had 11 men on the pitch. Don't get me wrong, we never looked like the strongest team but we matched Liverpool throughout and at the end of the day, if you look at it sensibly, that is a positive thing to take away from the game.

Lets remember guys and girls, this is game 2 not game 32 of the season, there is a long way to go. Arsene knows we have to recruit and I'm sure they are doing what needs to be done behind the scenes to make things happen.  My message to you is simple, in the infamous words of Lance-Corporal Jones, Don't Panic! Wednesday will see us (please for the love of all that is holy) qualify for the Champions League proper which will mean a guaranteed cash influx for players but will also just lift a massive cloud of nerves from our team, then before you know it September 1st will be here and we can just concentrate on cracking on with the season until January when we need to put up with Man City making a £45m bid for Frimpong and Barcelona offering for £4.50 and a Curlywurly for Jack Wilshere.

Keep things positive Gooners, the team need us this year more than ever.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Don't forget, for more ramblings you can follow me on twitter here: @goonerfishblog

Szczesny's defence, Wilshere for England and Cesc to Real?

Hi Ho Gooners,

Can I just start in saying my love (in a purely professional sense of course) for our new number one Wojciech Szczesny is growing daily. His recent defence of Arsene Wenger made me swell with pride and showed just how mature even the youngest of our young squad can be, when questioned about the criticism coming Wenger's way he said:

“It’s ridiculous really, If you ask any of the players they will stand by the manager. He built this team from nothing and I believe he is the best manager in the world.
 

“We are a young team, we still believe we have a lot of years ahead of us and a lot of trophies to win. Let’s be patient and show that we are good enough.

 “We all take individual responsibilities for our mistakes. Everyone has played their part in this season’s disappointment and I think we have to take it as a team. You can’t blame the boss because he stood by the team the whole season and supported us.

Well said Mr Sczcesny!

Other news this week includes Wilshere being called up for the under 21 squad for the summer. Now although I want our star players protected and Jack is definitely a star player and will be for years to come, I actually support him playing in the summer. I remember when David Bently was called up for the U21 squad a few years back while he was playing for Blackburn and he came out and said he didn't want to be in the England squad  because he was tired. My initial response to him was that he could F**k right off, how dare he say no to his country. So many kids, even adults, would sell organs and limbs to have been in his position. What right does he have to say no because he was tired?! If I phoned work and said "sorry, won't be in this week because I'm a bit tired from working the last couple of weeks" they would sack me on the spot for being a knob. Playing for your country is a privilege, not a chore!!

Whenever Wilshere has been asked about it he has remained professional and always said that it's not his choice, it's up to the FA and on twitter proclaimed "I will never say no to my country" All I can say is good on you Jack, good on you. However if the FA are by any chance reading this, please don't pick him, he's a senior international and could really do with the rest!!

I wasn't going to mention this next bit about Cesc Fabregas on this blog but I keep thinking about it and laughing a little then turning really angry and then get really nervous but finish with a feeling of pride inside. There is a piece I read today on the Online Gooner (I'm not going to provide a link because I don't want to give the author any more hits) that claims a £45 million deal has already been agreed for our captain and it will  be announced early June that Cesc will join......................... Real Madrid!! The author claims it will be announced in June because it is after the deadline for season ticket renewals. The author then goes on to claim that we need to buy several world class players to compete and Nasri is useless etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.
I'll concentrate on the main issue that Cesc has already been sold to Real Madrid. Firstly, Jose Mourinho may not even be there next year so I doubt they will be allowing him to spend that amount of money before the season ends and a decision on his future has been made. Secondly, does anyone think we would agree a sale without allowing a bidding war to commence? Thirdly and most importantly, Cesc will only leave our beloved Arsenal for one team and that is the team he has supported since he was a boy, Barca. As I said, I keep thinking of this article and laughing, then get a little angry about the constant rumours and 'inside sources' we'll have to put up with again during the summer, then nervous that another trophy free season may be too much for Fabregas and he may actually complete his move to Barca but then end with a sense of pride in our captain as I remember the way he has dealt with all this nonsense in the past. Cesc loves Arsenal. Cesc loves Wenger. If Cesc leaves it will be to wear the number 4 Barca shirt that was annoyingly reserved for him last year. The author of this article has claimed to have written proof of this transaction (although declines to share it) and claimed he will give up writing on the site if it doesn't happen. I hope he enjoys his newly found spare time.
(I just want to point out that the above is in no way an attack or criticism of Online Gooner, I thoroughly enjoy the site. It's just this particular article that got to me.)

Anyway, the weekend is finally here. It feels a little annoying watching Champions League in midweek knowing we're no longer involved but our long wait of a full week to see the boys in action again is almost at an end as we look forward to a trip to Stoke play the closest thing to a rugby team we can see in the Premier League. Great news in the build up to this game is that Vermaelen is available for selection again after coming through 90 minutes in the reserves against Man Utd. I don't think TV5 will be starting against Stoke but the knowledge that he is ready to go is fantastic and if given a problem free pre-season he can once again claim his reputation of one of the leagues top centre backs.

Well, there ya go, that's my two cents worth. I'll leave you now the rest of your evening,

Till next time,
Goonerfish.

Some good news, some bad news & petty Moyes

Morning Gooners,


I was trying to think of a gentle, polite and respectable intro to today's blog but all I could come up with is this: uh-hum *clears throat* Isn't David Moyes a ridiculously pathetic, whining little girl!!

The Ginger Scot from the blue side of Merseyside has been having a proper cry stating that he over heard Cesc Fabregas asking how much the referee got paid to not see the three yard gap that meant Saha was offside when he put the Toffees 1-0 up in the week. He said:

"Cesc questioned Everton's integrity by suggesting we had possibly given money to the ref,"

Then when Arsene pointed out That Moyes was talking out of his arse, he responded with this:

"Arsene seems to think that I haven't seen or heard it, but you have to decide who you believe - David Moyes or Arsene Wenger - and I'm happy for people to make their own mind up on that."  

Don't worry you lying petty pillock, we have!!

Moving away from my rant, sad news has been received about on Fabianski. The poor guy has been ruled out for the season after having to undergo surgery. I feel so sorry for him, he has taken his chance this year and proved so many fans and pundits wrong and shown his qualities in the Arsenal goal with only one slight error this season ironically against today's opponents when he misjudged a cross a lost out to now Liverpool striker Andy Carroll. I wrote on a blog months ago that I thought he's be our first choice keeper by the end of Christmas and if he had remained fit he would be strongly established as our number one. Get well soon.

Silver lining though for everyone except Fabianski is that Szczesny has come into the side and excelled. He has only conceded a single goal in his last three games and has looked as solid as keeper twice his age. I really hope he takes his chance and help us towards some silverware.

Good news from the Arsenal camp though is that Vermaelen finally looks like he's on his way back to fitness. Arsene Wenger has said he is "making very good progress so he should (be back in) three to four weeks"
It should bring him back in time for the return leg against Barcelona , I doubt he'll play against "Cesc's club" but it's great to know we'll have TV, Kos and Djourou for the final push in the title race.

Anyway, it's time to start looking forward to today's game against Newcastle. We all know what happened last time we met so there's no need to to go over it again but St James will not be an easy place to visit but if we had to pick a time to play them then 6 days after they have lost their best player  followed shortly by their second choice striker getting injured would be a good shout.

I think we'll see Andrei Arshavin get a rare league start today but I think our 'lazy' Russian is starting to find his confidence again and if he gets the nod I really think he can make the difference for us. With Man Utd almost certain to get the three points against Wolves (probably scoring the winner in the 93rd minute) our boys really need to be on their game and ensure the we keep our concentration and pick up the win.

I'm off to find a decent stream and enjoy the game, you can follow me on twitter for random mumblings.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.