In some corners, this was meant to be the partnership in the Arsenal defensive midfield. Our ‘German of Africa’, Song would thrive with the Albania midfield dictator and conquer the world. Well, that was the talk anyway.
In fact at some point last season there were even calls for Arsene to sell Song, Denilson and Diaby because none of them were worthy of Cana’s shirt. Lorik Cana, the ultimate hardman. So hard he would literally dig up the ground with his bare hands and bury the opposition weaklings there.
Frightened by this prospect obviously, now that he plays for the mighty Sunderland, the biggest club in the north-east by default, I decided to do a little research from the Premiership games so far. You can choose whatever statistics you want but I chose 3.
Passes, Tackles and Interceptions. Let us see who out of Song and Cana comes out top in these areas.
1. Passing
In this passes comparison, you can see that Song has attempted significantly more passes and completes them more accurately than Cana. A good defensive midfielder from what I believe is one that dictates the tempo and accurate passes, preferably short ones, help to achieve this aim. So clearly here, Song is the winner.
2. Tackles
As far as tackling goes, Cana averages more tackles per game so far in the Premiership than Song. It shows his competitive nature and yet, he still comes up short in the accuracy stakes. Song’s worst game in terms of tackling was against Blackburn where all the challenges he lost were the aerial battles. Even against Wigan where he attempted an incredible 21 tackles, the 5 that he lost were in the air. However, Cana isn’t the strongest in the air as proven in the game against Hull where 6 of the 7 tackles he lost were all aerial battles.
3. Interceptions
When it comes to the interceptions part of the DM role, Song wins this hands down. For a man whose worst game was in the 6-2 win vs Blackburn, it speaks volumes of his commitment to plug the gaps that appear in our defense. If Song played in a catenaccio system, I dare not think how good he would be.
To be fair on Cana, it is his first season in the Premiership and he can only get better. The numbers however appear rather minimalistic and perhaps that is why Arsene didn’t sign him. Imagine Cana in an Arsenal team where he was the only midfielder assigned to defensive duties. I can’t see him emerging with much credit.
Something else I found incredible about Cana was that in the two home games against Liverpool and Chelsea he managed a total of 14 passes. Now isn’t that staggering? And this is the Sunderland team that under Bruce plays a high tempo game. I think we can call him Mr Reluctant when it comes to passing at least. To put it in perspective Song’s quietest game was at Fulham and he still attempted 38 passes.
Even though Song lost on the number of tackles made per match, the Cameroonian’s understanding of the game gets better and that is reflected in interceptions and ability to keep our beautiful game flowing.
Everybody is talking about it, so I thought I’d join in. It has been dubbed the Hand of god II. As if the plot of this sequel is similar to the first one.
Before we can go into further debate, I’m not denying that it wasn’t a handball. It will be very difficult to suggest otherwise. The actual handball happened in two parts, the first seemed accidental but the second most definitely wasn’t.
The problem however is the manner in which people have disregarded other equally, if not more significant events, that happened either side of that incident.
From memory I can think of Duff’s one on one that the keeper Lloris saved, Keane rounding off the keeper before his ball control let him down and then Keane’s shot after he profited from a blind French pass. All these events happened before France’s goal and had either of those opportunities been converted, France would and should have been out of the World Cup.
Immediately after Henry’s handball, for a split second, the Irish players in synchronisation put their hands up in protest. They neglected the fact that Gallas had perfectly placed himself for a cross that he should never have come to him in the first place. Usually the goalscorer makes the headline doesn’t he? Poor Gallas does everything right and ultimately his efforts will be forgotten.
I disagree with people who have dubbed this the Hand of God II. Unlike Maradona, Henry didn’t have the last touch. He also admitted that it was a mistake which is more than Maradona ever did. The guilt on Henry’s face after the match was there to be seen.
Fifa have the opportunity to replay this game based on Henry’s admission but they are tied on the so called ‘laws. Well my friend, laws are there to be broken. Why not replay this game in a neutral venue? Winner takes all ?
Cheating, handball-cheating at that has happened many a time since the infamous Maradona incident. I can give you two incidents where the world saw it happening but forgot about swiftly. Co-incidentally both men got sent off but that is neither here or there. The focus is on the coverage given
1. James McFadden (Scotland vs Norway, 9th October 2004)
McFadden handled the ball when he was defending a corner from Norway. As he walked off after picking the red card, he was actually applauded. Why?
2. Paul Scholes (Man Utd vs Zenit St Petersburg, 30th August 2009)
United were trailing to Zenit and Scholes, rather more emphatically than Henry, scored a ‘handball’ goal. His hands were so high up yet it Ferguson ridiculously claimed that it was ‘instinctive’. And you can see this video on other football sites where it is seen as a bit of a joke.
Perhaps Henry’s biggest mistake was first to be French, then to be part of a “French-ish” Arsenal team and then to play against Ireland. It is a shame as I badly wanted Ireland to qualify as I think they are the best “team” in Britain and Ireland and also just so that they could embarrass England at the World Cup who incidentally have the largest contigents of cheats but rarely get the mention.
But people have some perspective, handball/cheating has happened before and you can bet your life it will happen again. Technology and more referees will not eradicate it completely.
Left back troubles ease? + New contract for Eduardo & Sunderland’s inferiority complex
I was just about to compare our current left back conundrum to the one of the 2005 -2006 season. You know the season where like 9 different players played in that position. And just as I was about to research the names the news came up about Gibbs. Incidentally if you are feeling a little curious, feel free to post the names below of those elite band of players.
It turns out Gibbs didn’t fracture any bone in his foot but rather merely “sustained severe bruising to the bones and soft tissue of his right foot”. The author of this post, yours truly is no medical expert but reckons that Kieran probably won’t make the the trip up to Sunderland. He’ll be back for the game against Chelsea if not the midweek Champions League game.
This leads to question the credibility of the media. First we had the Sun and the Daily Mail’s knee jerk reporting that Van Persie would not play again this season. The Guardian then joined the party by claiming that Gibbs was “suspected…(to) have broken a metatarsal.”
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, the term we were looking for is “telling porkies”.
Not that I’m advising the Guardian or any other media platform on how they should do their job but maybe a quote from a certain someone qualified on the story would help? That is how it is meant to be right? Co-incidentally (before I heard about this story), I took out a book from my city library today called ‘Ethics and Journalism’ by Karen Sanders.
One of the quotes I’ve come across so far,
Journalism matters..(It) contributes to the business of telling us who we are, interpreting the world for us, making it intelligible.
On the evidence presented above that quote, that isn’t in a good way is it?
Eduardo Da “Hitman” Silva signs a new “long-term” contract
Good news, as it means Eduardo will feel more secure about his future, thus instilling a new wave of confidence. It also squashes that ridiculous Liverpool rumour in the News of the World. You can read more about Eduardo’s contract on the official website.
Couple of unrelated observations on that photograph. Where exactly is Gazidis’ hand? Also, did Eduardo take fashion tips from that Gok Wan dude, with that purple? collar?
Silvestre and Sunderland
Coming back to the Gibbs news, I believe Silvestre could feature against Sunderland. Many people, including me, would rather see Traore but it is an away game and right now we need experience. That is what Silvestre has in abundance and no player is downright awful if he gives a team like Utd 9 years of service. And he is a left back.
Finally proof that Sunderland is a small club. This was a story running on their website. Shall we guess the thought process in this story? “OMG, Another Arsenal injury, let us post it up because our fans don’t care about our own injuries anyway.” Me thinks another one to feature on Gibbs’ CV as Sunderland see him as big enough a player to write about on their own website.
With RVP unavailable for a while, predictably, the consensus is that Eduardo will take the baton from the Dutchman. However, the way the media has chosen to focus on Eduardo is almost as if the guy has next to zero credibility compared to Robin.
Admittedly, the Croatian hasn’t been at his best (considering he is 26, I suppose we should wait another year at least for that).
Still, 2 goals and 3 assists in 12 appearances (7 of those as a substitute) isn’t the worst return for a man who was given a rather peripheral role. I also believe his deflected shot vs Wolves could have been awarded to him, although the striker in me would always say that.
The non-Arsenal world knows what Eduardo is capable of and within a few games, he’ll show just how small Van Persie’s boots really are.
Nasri won’t have the Song role in January
The reason being that he offers much more offensively. Putting him in Alex’s DM role means, according to Wenger, we lose out on that. Wenger also added Nasri is attracted forward and has a little handicap in the air compared to other players.
Interesting.
We could say the same about Diaby couldn’t we? “Attracted like a magnet to the opposition goal?” said Wenger after that AZ win. And some still think that Diaby can’t head the ball or at least in the right direction. I’m just saying. Don’t shoot the messenger as I’ve been quite supportive of Diaby since Denilson got injured.
Incidentally Denilson is due to a return soon isn’t he? Yeah, don’t forget this is the guy who was statistically the best (or 2nd best?) defensive midfielder last year. Sorry to dampen the anticipation of us signing that hard man in January. I can’t see it happening.
Back to the attracted-to-the-opposition-goal-like-a-magnet. I’ve just realized we could say that about every player on the pitch. Even the goalkeeper? Why not? You’ve seen Fabianski charge forward in his sweeping role haven’t you? There.
Eboue’s after football plans revealed!
Ah that would be his desire to be like Eddie Murphy. In his interview on the club website, Eboue says that he would “love to be an actor in Hollywood” as he always (tries) to make people happy.” Yes Eboue you make me happy but the sky is a thunderous grey when one you lose possession like a million times and two when you keep diving. You know, Hollywood wouldn’t be too impressed with his antics sometimes or would they? Maybe a role in pantomime beckons for Eboue after football?
I’ll leave with a joke from Eddie Murphy’s RAW that is applicable in Eboue’s case. Please note that they aren’t my views and where possible I’ve tried to hide the offensive sounding words. So no accusations of me being racist here now alright.
Eddie Murphy on race and dancers,
White people can’t dance. I’m not being racist; it’s true. Just like when white people say black people have big lips, it’s not racist; it’s true. Black people have big lips, white people can’t dance. Some brothers will be in the club and white people are like, “What are those n****** doing in here?” They watchin’ y’all dance. And they’re like, “Look at these crazy mutha******.” Y’all be stepping on people’s feet and hitting one another.
PS: There are good white dancers around. As a matter of fact I even taught one the basics of Salsa. Amongst famous people you have Mr Timberlake and that guy from X Factor, Olly. Feel free to leave your suggestions on the best dancer, regardless of skin colour.
On the surface Van Persie’s latest setback is a major blow to our team. Dare I say it, it could prove to be even more significant than Cesc’s injury last year which ruled him out for 4 months.
We’ve played without either Arshavin or Cesc in games this season. Yet it is only the Carling Cup where Van Persie hasn’t featured. When he was substituted against Alkmaar in Holland, the cutting edge of our attack disappeared with him. And I don’t need to reiterate what Van Persie did for us last year.
Van Persie was just starting to look really good in the central forward role. He struggled to find the net earlier in the season but was still an integral part of our creativity. As much as I’m disappointed about his absence for the sake of the team, I’m more disappointed for Van Persie. He simply doesn’t deserve this and hopefully he recovers as soon as possible, physically and mentally.
His injury was sustained inside 15 minutes in a friendly match. Either side of Italy where Holland played, a few Frenchmen and a Russian played in more competitive matches in Ireland and Russia respectively. They came out unscathed and fingers and toes crossed that stays the same after Wednesday. Also, if you can, avoid drinking Dr Pepper.
Just the luck of the draw really. If it happened in a more competitive match we wouldn’t have been as vociferous on the matter. It is just something we have to accept.
Few years back Pires picked up a ligament injury and missed the rest of the season including the World Cup. So let us not be angry with Holland, Blatter etc etc. Arsenal could have stopped him and Van Persie could easily made himself unavailable.
We do support Arsenal, the club where such politics which can corrupt a player’s decision to represent his country or not simply do not exist. At least Van Persie’s injury happened on the pitch which is miles better than it happening say on the plane because the seats weren’t comfortable enough. If I was a Chelsea fan I’d be embarrassed to hear an injury of that sort.
And because we are the Arsenal, we have to keep our chins up. Now is the time where we as fans have to rally around Van Persie. The players have to rally around him too. No point in either the fans or the players feeling overly apologetic about this. Big squads don’t exist merely to keep up appearances. Everyone has to raise their game that bit more.
Under the status quo, this presents Eduardo with the ideal opportunity to be the focal point in our attack. It isn’t a like for like replacement but then again nor was Van Persie for Adebayor and look how well that turned out for us. My only concern is whether Eduardo can handle the vigour of playing game after game. With Vela just recovering and Bendtner, Walcott still not fit he will have to manage.
Could we seek replacements from other clubs? Certainly. I’d rather not though. Why not give the odd opportunity to the likes of Jay Simpson (currently on loan), Watt and even Sunu? We’ve seen Arshavin play up front in the friendlies so maybe either of those 3 could be used as support strikers.
What I’m trying to say is this, keep the faith, we shall overcome this latest obstacle.
Hello all. For a friday post, usually, there’d be a match preview of some sort. There are some good international matches over the next few days.
The Irish take on the French in what I see as even a contest as it is in Rugby. Then there are the equally intriguing Bosnia vs Portugal, Algeria vs Egypt, New Zealand vs Bahrain etc etc.
These catch the eye for different reasons. I wish I could talk about them more. Maybe I will but not today, not just yet. Below are a few quotes, Arsenal related, some a little more dated but much can be read between the lines.
I’ll start with a not so recent quote shall I? This came a day after we beat Spurs in the north london derby.
On the perils of signing players, big name ones (metaphorically or literally), Wenger said this,
In ideal conditions no boss would make a mistake. It was always a race against time with opponents who may also want to sign the player. Sometimes you have to go blind and play poker.
I can see it clearly now. Flashback to Summer 2007 I believe.
Interviewer: Arsene, will Babel make the move from Ajax to Arsenal?
Arsene: Weeell, I believe he is a good player. He has great physical and mental strengths. He has a good technique and he would be a good addition to the Premier League.
A few days later, Rafa is doing his press conference shortly after Babel signed for Liverpool.
Interviewer: So Rafa, what will Babel bring to Liverpool?
Rafa: Babel is a kwality player. He is strong, he has technique and he will be a good addition to Liverpool Football Club.
Two years later and Wenger is still laughing. Poker face? Indeed. All conjecture of course but reality is stranger than fiction.
Van Persie has been talking about how he isn’t really a striker like Torres, Drogba are. That’s funny as some people still believe that Henry is a left winger while Ronaldo isn’t really a striker either.
He did say this though in what you can call his mini season review,
In the league I have now contributed seven assists and I am just as proud of these as the seven goals I have scored.
which can be translated as,
I’m only just warming up baby, the best is yet to come.
Premiership be afraid. If Wenger can make a striker of Henry who never believed in scoring tap ins, what will he make of RVP who is scoring less spectacular goals, but more ordinary goals?
Someone who didn’t feature much in the limelight until recently is Keiran Gibbs. I had reservations about his defensive abilities but he is young and he will learn. After all, Roberto Carlos is still learning how to defend.
Gibbs also believes he will get better with development on and off the pitch, both for which he is eternally grateful.
Hale End is where the English talent develops at Arsenal….It is a good place for the young English players to learn their trade.
Hear that Platini? That is the voice of a content Englishman. You were saying about foreigners? Again, rest of the Premiership, take note.
As most Arsenal games end with the opposition scoring once, how about an Arsenal related quote but from someone un-Arsenal. Darren Fletcher sounds as un-Arsenal as you can get?
Following United’s defeat to Chelsea, a disappointed Fletcher didn’t let emotion get the better out of him,
I think we are starting to see Mr Wenger’s comments starting to influence referees, which is a shame, really.
Yeah, very shameful. But enough about our gaffer Fletch, what about your gaffer? Calling a referee unfit when he ran more than half your team that night? No, not shameful at all.
On that note, I hope you enjoy the international week especially the Argentina v Spain friendly.
I’ll clarify one thing. Missing the cut and thrust of league football is a big negative but the good thing about International week is that it provides for ample reflection. Maybe too much of it sometimes. Perhaps that comes with age.
Watching the La Liga review I learnt a bit more about age. Two Arsenal legends, Pires and Henry both made the headlines in Spain this week. Both scored, but the manner in which their success was framed was contrasting. Pires has now scored 5 goals in 4 games to spark a mini Villarreal revival. Conversely, Henry’s goal was his first in a very long time. Even that (if you believe the speculation) has not drastically improved his relationship with his Guardiola.
Whilst Henry has enjoyed more success on paper, Pires appears happier and enjoying his football. More of the current Arsenal squad look up to Henry (Rosicky even went on to say how he joined Arsenal because of Henry) than Pires but I fear a possible return to Arsenal could be more detrimental. Everyone saw Thierry’s frustrations out on the field when things didn’t go right. Contrast that with Pires who just got on with the job and for a man who was deemed to be retiring next year, he is definitely giving out the good vibrations.
The focus on age doesn’t stop there either. There was Kun Aguero, the Argentinian version of Romario who lately, hasn’t featured much for Atletico Madrid and the reason? He is 20 years old but has the body of a 35 year old. I know the feeling. Although I haven’t been through 5 years of professional football so the reason for my older body definitely differs.
David Ginola appeared on Goals on Sunday and for me spoke very eloquently about how foreign players need to understand the subtle identities and traditions of clubs. This an extract from his time on the show,
My main concern was to see the involvement of the players in the club. When you wear that zebra shirt, it’s a whole tradition behind you.
Even if you’re French and you’ve just arrived, you need to know what’s going on. The Geordies are not the same as the Brummies, or the Cockneys, it’s a proper mentality and you need to know what goes on in the city before you wear that shirt – you have a lot of responsibility.
What is the tradition of our club? It is an open question so I’d love to hear your perspective on this. For me, it is possible to divide the Arsenal tradition into two. One is the current tradition that goes back to the day when Wenger became our manager.
Put simply it is to play without any restriction, a brand of entertaining, imaginative football. Winning isn’t everything like Wenger has said. The focus is always on developing talented individuals before seamlessly integrating them to a total football philosophy.
On some days this isn’t possible because of a number of factors. In the last season or more, our players seemed lost. This year that doesn’t seem to be the case. The difference between winning 4-1 at Wolves and losing 2-1 at Stoke last year so far, apart from luck, is that we actually want to eke out a result.
Throughout the next two months there will be games that will be tight and the team would do well to understand the club motto, ‘Victory through Harmony’. It won’t be pretty but the players have to make it a point to be determined to shine in the end.
This is the philosophy embraced in the past, not just the immediate past. Currently our players are still in awe of players from the most recent generations. At some point they have to realise before Henry, there was a Ted Drake. Tony Adams grew up arguably watching Frank McLintock. And before Vieira there was Peter Storrey.
They wouldn’t have seen these guys in action but they can read about them. Perhaps then they will know what it means to play for Arsenal. In other words, Arsenalisation doesn’t just apply to the fans, but it also applies to the players. Maybe then they will be the legends of tomorrow and get featured in that illustrious band of brothers picture on our stadium.
Shortly after Wolves scored their consolation goal, their fans chanted rather ironically “4 nil and you cocked it all up”. Or something along those lines. It is good to know they have a sense of humour. Not that the supporters needed to illustrate that for me again.
When Doritos sponsored Wolves (the last time they were in the Premiership back in 2003) my History teacher at the time, a die hard Wolves fan, suggested an acronym for the tortilla chips brand. It stood for Division One Rubbish In Tatty Orange Shirts.
The pre-match talk from Molineux by their dictator Mick McCarthy was all about how they would attack and attack. Problem with his team was that although they endeavoured to cause us trouble in our defence, they crumbled when we barely got our passing game going.
I’ll admit there was a nervousness within me when I saw us start a little slower compared to Wednesday. However eight of those who started against AZ did the same here so it is unreasonable to expect game after game of high intensity right from the first second. The heart rate increased dramatically when I saw Diaby and not Song in tandem with Ramsey in the line up but it returned to normal as soon as I realised it was Wolverhampton that we were playing. These are the games where you have to change personnel just a little. It didn’t matter as Diaby was replaced by Alex and he and Aaron sang off the same hymn sheet keeping things ticking over in possession. (Yeah I know that middle bit of that was awful, I apologize).
Even the most perfect of sides have imperfections. Our vulnerability in defence, in the air/on set-pieces is well documented. How refreshing to see that our first goal came from a set-piece mistake. Fabregas’ corner had the right amount of curve for it to be re-directed by Zubar’s thigh. Having taken a few corners in my life, I can certainly testify to that.
Not good football? Well, not the worst from us either. They say attack is the best form of defense. They might do well to add, if you know HOW and WHEN to do it. After all, our second goal came on the counter after the break down of a Wolves attack.
It was Song who seized on a loose ball and couple of passes later it fell to Ramsey. In a few years time the Welshman will have enough confidence to carry on that blazing run and score himself. I’ve seen enough in cameo appearances to know he has the pace, the skill and finishing attributes to achieve that. In this game, just his second Premiership start, he took the not so senseless option by passing it to Eduardo. His chip hit Craddock and went in. What did the message on Eduardo’s shirt say? Please do tell me because I couldn’t figure it out.
2-0 and we hardly broke sweat. I was feeling a little underwhelmed. Where was the breathtaking goal for me to drool over? I only had to wait 10 minutes for the answer to that question. Fabregas started and ended this move. He distributed the ball to Sagna who went on a Eboue-esque run (without the breakdown in possession). The Frenchman then crossed it to Van Persie whose telepathic touch found Fabregas and our skipper duly slotted it in. Something else to admire about that goal besides Cesc’ run, RVP’s touch and the eventual finish was that Sagna’s crossing has continued to improve.
The fourth goal came 25 minutes from the end. A corner from Fabregas was punched rather incompetently by the Wolves goalie and Arshavin instinctively managed to fire that ball to the bottom left corner. That goal was identical to the ones you concede when you play somebody who is awesome at Pro Evo or the Fifa games.
Wolves did score late enough, good header from Craddock. But that didn’t really make much difference in this game. In the end they made more mistakes than us and the sign of a top team is one that punishes those errors.
Remember, Remember, blah blah November.
Apart from Bonfire Night and Thanksgiving (for you Americans only) what else makes November stand out? You see, it turns out that Arsene Wenger doesn’t like November. Are we going to jump on this revelation and facebook ’like it’ ?
The reasons for Wenger’s dislike of this month are down to “the volume of games” which make it difficult to maintain the fitness levels. More injuries = more fringe players come in leading to team instability. When this happens you get freaky results and the momentum created from previous months can be derailed.
The more vulnerable always seem to come unstuck this month. Last year Walcott dislocated his shoulder against Stoke on the 1st of November. Things are not so different this time around as we go into the match against Wolves with Clichy and Bendtner injured. Are Wenger’s comments on November there to instill a sense of caution within those who are fit to play?
I’ve included two tables to consider how statistically true the ‘November effect’ is. One looks at 5 years worth of November results before and including the Invincibles era (Pre). The other looks at the results after the invincibles era (Post). These focus on Premiership games only. We won’t talk about Carling Cup or European games, especially this one in Moscow where we lost 4-1 playing in a -10C temperature. Sorry but it reminds most of Arsenal in November.
PRE INVINCIBLES TABLE
POST INVINCIBLE TABLE
The Post’s defence has let in more goals than the Pre’s.
30 Goals leaked in 20 games is unacceptable for a team with title aspirations. Our defensive operations haven’t been the most solid this season so we will learn a lot more by the 31st of this month.
It is worth noting that 8 of the goals conceded by the Posts were in the 5-4 and 3-2 wins at White Hart Lane and Wigan respectively. Not to forget that last minute 2-2 draw against United. Hardly the results to indulge in negativity.
You could argue the November of 2008 was THE worst in 10 years.
We lost 3 games, joint top with the 2005 season. And the defeats were in considerably heavier margins leaving us with a goal difference of -4.
We did however conquer both United at home and Chelsea at the Bridge and this bodes well for our home game against Chelsea later this month.
Not the month to play promoted sides, especially away.
Crystal Palace got a draw in 04 whilst West Ham and Stoke defeated us in their first year back as a top flight side. Even the promoted Baggies got their only away Premiership point at Arsenal in this month.
One promoted team that we conquer was Sunderland in 2005. They were managed by Mick McCarthy who is the current Wolves manager, our first league opponents for this month.
The Post’s have lost more games.
35% of the games played in this month have ended in defeat, roughly 1 in every 3 games. Compare that to the Pre’s it is 1 in every 5 games.
Losing two more and winning two less directly brings the points difference to minus 6 points. On average in last 5 years, the difference between first and second place in the league is 6.4 points.
Like Wenger has hinted at, should we get the results right in November it puts us in a much better position for the next two months. The Premiership is notorious for its glut of matches especially in the festive period in December, a time where it is difficult to expect result after result. The African Nations Cup in January means we have to do without Eboue and more importantly Song. More about the Cameroon International on another day. As optimistic as I’d like to be, you can’t expect us to stay unbeaten in those two months.
Past record illustrates that the Posts fare best in November when we play just three league games. Guess what guys, we only play away at Wolves, Sunderland and later host Chelsea this month.
Even with a rather cautious forecast, we’ll end up with at least 5 points from these 3 games. It isn’t the best return but not the worst either. Crucially it ensures we stay unbeaten until December.
I understand that FIFA have other priorities, you know, the small matter of the World Cup in June next year. Surely though, they have a dedicated team that watch as many as matches of clubs from around the globe. Looking at the current list of nominees however, leads me to question whether FIFA has actually watched domestic football since 2006.
These are the players who have been nominated.
If you had a pen and was asked to tick next to every name deserving to be nominated, most of them would probably received a tick even in the year 2006. Only Messi, Fabiano, Diego and perhaps Ribery would have had a question mark next to their name.
19 of the 23 named above are also nominated for the Ballon D’or. What is wrong with that you might ask? That conveys consistency in the selection process. Consistency or laziness?
Had Fifa been watching football since last year, they would have noticed these issues or reasons for which I believe their player choices are flawed.
- Essien picked up a ligament injury in September last year and wasn’t back until late February or March. How can a player missing 5 months of football be featured in this list?
- I thought Fabregas’ absence from December to April was the reason for his non selection. That argument gets squashed emphatically when the Ghanian midfielder gets selected. Even the most die hard Chelsea fan would put Cesc ahead of Essien. You just have to ask the question, who had the bigger impact for their clubs?
- Drogba and Ballack may have had outstanding games but their actions in the CL semi-final match vs Barcelona for me means they shouldn’t have been considered. I don’t know how many people watched that match but it was disgraceful.
- Similarly, no-one doubts Ronaldo’s impact. Unfortunately we saw it firsthand a couple of times in the season. The world also watched his petulance when he was substituted in a match they were winning.
- By selecting them here, FIFA are almost demonstrating that they are happy to turn a blind eye to these misdemeanours. Little do they realize such acts undermine the team on and off the field.
- I made the arguments for Fabregas and Arshavin to win the Ballon D’or and those same reasons apply here. In addition to the points made there about Arshavin, the Russian joined us at a time when expectations were high. Not only did he win the Arsenal world with his performances but he also won the football world with his sportsmanship at Portsmouth.
- Five Barcelona players (not counting Ibrahimovic) are nominated. Why stop there? Why not name the remaining members of the first XI as well?
And what about Van Persie?
The media coverage on the Dutch striker inflated several times over after his two goals against Spurs. Why has it taken so long to recognise his performances? If they and Fifa had been watching since last year they would have recalled the following…..
- Van Persie got both goals at Stamford Bridge last season in a game where we never really excelled but triumphed because of the Dutchman’s skill and persistence.
- Robin also scored an excellent goal against Liverpool just before the Christmas period.
- Who was the guy that scored the only goal in the two legs against Manchester United? You guessed it, Van Persie.
3 examples where the Dutch forward stepped up in big games. Should that not convince them, he also single handedly dragged us out of our slump before we had the luxury of Arshavin and Cesc. A world class player not only raises his game by taking it to another level but he also inspires his team to come out of a testing spell. He did this as interim captain, not an easy responsibility.
Apart from doing things right on the pitch and that includes being more disciplined, Van Persie has also shed the negative reputation that was a part of his DNA when he first joined us.
Proof of his maturity was the calmness he showed when was horrifically stamped upon by Adebayor at Eastlands this season. I wonder if the Togo forward’s desire to be on every media platform possible for right or wrong reasons when he was at Arsenal (and now), is possibly the reason Van Persie has gone so relatively unnoticed in the media until recently.
And I’ll leave you with the the fact that Adebayor was nominated in 2008. Perhaps this award should be renamed as ‘Players who the media love to write about’ award rather than what it is called at the moment.
