International matches

Gooners

Would you believe it, the powers that be that patriotically condemn Arsenal for not having English players suddenly see fit to export their English Premier League matches to non-English shores. Truly laughable and smack of sheer hypocrites.

When it comes to money, all things English are out of the window.

But can we, the supporters, make a difference? I doubt it. We may hate it now, but when the matches roll into various cities, supporters will attend en masse. But let us not be fooled. Supporters will turn out in droves to matches involving Arsenal, manure, Liver-who and Chelski, and maybe Everton and Aston Villa. But, if the draw turns out to be Derby v Bolton, would it demand the same sort of attention?

This would only work for selective few. What happens if no one bids for matches between lower clubs?

At the end of the day, it is about money. The FA said cities would be able to bid for matches. You can bet major cities like Tokyo, Dubai, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro and New York would always get the cream of the crop, leaving the rest to lesser cities. Would this work in the long run? It would become a two tier bidding process where the rich starts first and the smaller cities scrap for the rest. It will come a time when the smaller cities realise matches involving none of the top 5 to 6 sides would not garner the same sort of attention from locals.

I won’t even start about having to play some teams 3 times and how it can bias some teams.

I hope managers like Wenger speaks out against this and Arsenal opts out, shaking the whole house of cards foundation and may even cause it to come crashing down.

Gunner6

Technique and English players

Gooners

It was interesting what Baldini said about the English players’ after the match against Swiss.

"We are trying to play more with the ball ……. To play in this way, we need more technical skill."

Sums it up really why Wenger is selective with English players. You pay hugely inflated amounts of money for an English player that may not have the technical ability required to play the Arsenal way compared to the less expensive more technically gifted foreigners.

If Blatter thinks having a set amount of locals/home grown players would help national teams, he is sadly and misguidedly mistaken. If anything that is going to make Wenger walk from football, it would be this sort of bureaucracy with men in suits dictating how clubs should be run.

That Barwick seems to think clubs have a moral obligation to provide players for the national sides. Well, let’s us take Aston Villa as an example as they provided about 5 players. If Martin O’Neill got the sack for Villa’s poor performance in the League, would Barwick come in and rescue him by saying he was only trying to help England? No, he wouldn’t. Therefore, so why should the manager of a club should reciprocate?

Besides, the FA ditched a school for football because of Wembley. They seem to forget you need calibre players to grace the field. Building a nice stadium doesn’t guarantee success. Having decent players do. The FA got their priorities wrong. And they are looking for a scapegoat.

On Bentley, some may even stick two fingers up at Wenger for letting him go after his performance against Swiss. Then again, the latter’s previous interviews seem to suggest he didn’t have the stomach to fight for a place. And are we any worse off? No, in fact, Arsenal have grown and improved. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over what might have been.

Gunner6

Walcott

Gooners

It is fair to say I not the only Gooner disappointed with TW’s performances this season. Having recovered from a shoulder injury, you would think he would grab every game that comes his way by the scruff of the neck. But he hasn’t. Fair to say also that he is only 18 and we are expecting a lot from him. In truth, I am not expecting the world from him, but a more matured performance in terms of decision making. Only in flashes has he looked the part of an Arsenal player. Generally, he seems to run with his head down and when the time comes, more often than not fails to decisively to either cross or shoot and ended doing a cross shot which benefits only the opposition. Sometimes, I wish he would just take the simple pass and gain his confidence and take the next step.

I think he is a clinical finisher and the timing of his runs through the middle reminds me of Freddie Ljungberg. No I am not being ridiculous. With the exception of Eduardo, the rest of the first team does do not exhibit this knack. That is why I think TW could be an important player for Arsenal. We need players running between defenders. We have plenty of passers and players like Eduardo and TW can benefit greatly from this.

A lot of people have taken Wenger’s comments re TW’s slow development as a sign of displeasure. I think he was just answering a question and nothing more. We will never know what Wenger would have said to TW re the latter’s development. But I do realise that if Wenger is not happy with someone, we usually never see them in an Arsenal shirt again. But Wenger has kept playing TW in various League and Cup matches as well as starting him from the off. This looks more like a development program for me.

English critics have slagged off Wenger for thw weight of expectations put on TW’s young shoulders ie, going to the WC and buying him so young from Southampton. Thing is, this weight of expectations are generated by the English media desperate for an English player to succeed at Arsenal so that they can shoved it up Wenger’s ass by saying English players can and do succeed at Arsenal. When this fails, they throw back all their failed expectations at Wenger under the guise of false prophets brought about by Wenger. This is typical English media not taking responsibility for what they themselves hyped up.

I am behind Wenger on this and will continue to support TW. I won’t compare him to Rooney or Cesc but want to remind those who think TW should be playing for another club gaining first team experience to look at Upson, Pennant and Bentley and think whether it has actually benefited them ie, England material? Or look at Norman Whiteside how his career ended prematurely after exploding into the scene at such a young age.

Gunner6