Saturday, April 19, 2014

Hull City Preview, and I'm Laughing at Mourinho so Hard...

Oh Jose, you kill me!

Ah whew - excuse me the indulgence.  I don't normally like to give any opponent much attention, but when our least favorite referee sticks it to the most ego-centric instigator in the league, I gotta take a moment...or two hundred and enjoy it.  Anyway, onto the matter at hand...
 
 
Tomorrow brings a chance to turn up the heat on Man City and keep ahead of Everton as we travel to KC Stadium in search of three points from Steve Bruce and Hull.  While their strike force of Jelavic and Long are cup-tied when we meet up with them again in the FA Cup Final, they are eligible tomorrow and will be sure to trouble us as will Huddlestone, who will be looking to create plays for them and anyone running down their right flank.  Unfortunately, our main left backs are out injured which means TV5 will again have to deputize in that position.  He had a good game against West Ham at left back though.  Let's hope that run of form continues.
 
Other news is that Mesut Ozil is in contention for the returning to the squad.  He's been in training, posting Instagrams of himself on Twitter, and faces a late fitness test to see if he makes the bench.  I say bench in hopes that Wenger doesn't start him just returning from a long lay off.  I don't have much faith in Wenger's ability to control himself when it comes to not overplaying key players.  He's confessed to overplaying Jack, Ramsey, and now, Giroud:
 
"For a while he played maybe too many games… but he’s a strong guy, he can cope with it. Up front it’s difficult because every challenge he goes into is physical. He’s not a guy who moves away from people to get the ball. He’s a guy who fights with people to get the ball. When he comes out of the game he has 50 fights behind him. That is more demanding than the guy who just runs away."
 
So not only is he admitting to not rotating Giroud properly (insert often trod frustration at lack of transfer business in January), he admits to doing it knowing the physical battles he endures every game.  Every year I think Wenger has the ability to self-reflect on the mistakes he's made.  He talks about them in the press, on the web site, in interviews.  What he seems incapable of doing is remembering the nasty consequences of those past choices, and makes the same ones.  Over.  And over. And over.  I have no idea why the club has spent tons of money on this GPS red zone tracking thingy if our manager ignores the results.  It's almost like he just can't help himself.
 
I helped my brother coach a softball little league time a few years ago.  I know the game.  I played the ir for years, coached many teams.  Being the third base coach means, among other things, I got to decide whether to send a runner home either on a hit, or a ball that got past the catcher.  I remember this one game where we were coming from behind in the last inning, our last at bat.  I was so hungry for the win, that I sent two runners home when really they were not fast enough to make it. We had one out left and we were one run from taking the opposition into extra innings.  I end up with one of the slowest girls on the team on third base.  My head told me "Lisa, do NOT send this girl home on a ball past the catcher, wait for a good hit."  Repeat - we were one run away.  The pitch came in, the catcher missed it, it went behind her and...I. Sent. The. Slow. Girl. Home.  And guess what?  She was out and we lost the game by one run.  I knew the right thing to do.  And I just couldn't help myself.  My brother is going to read this.  And he will know exactly what game I am talking about.  Ugh.
 
Unfortunately, Wenger doesn't manage a mere little league team.  If he can't learn to discipline himself, he needs to give someone the authority to pull the plug on playing exhausted players who are in the fabled Red Zone.  That should be mandated in is contract extension, if he gets one and takes it.
 
Anyway, I think that's all I have for now.  I figure we'll line up similarly as we did to West Ham.  Flamini may replace Arteta and maybe Ox will get a start.  Who knows?  I think we have enough weapons to beat Hull now that our confidence is on the upswing.  So, here's to three points and cheers to Mike Dean (that is sincere, by the way.  No sarcasm anywhere,  Heh.).
 
Have a good one Gooners.
 


Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Oldies But Goodies



Goal Solemnity

Arsenal leapt over Everton to reclaim fourth place on Tuesday with a decisive 3-1 victory over the Hammers.  After a rather slow start that resulted in us falling behind 1-0 in the 40th minute, Lukas Podolski equalized, allowing us to enter halftime 1-1.  The second half saw Giroud get on the scoresheet with a sublime touch and right footed finish and then yet another goal from Poldi sealed the deal for us in the 77th minute.  Some quick thoughts/observations.


I was astounded to learn (via Twitter) that the youngest person on the pitch was Giroud at 27 years old.  Arsene confirmed that it was his oldest team he had ever sent out to play.  The age factor could have played into what seemed to be a sluggish first half performance, or it could have just been down to fatigue from the 120 minutes of play on Sunday.  In the end, I think the experience of the oldies helped keep us calm and in the game.  Bringing on some younger, fresh legs as subs was no bad idea however.  Speaking of...


Having Aaron back is bliss.  After playing a 112 minutes in the FA Cup match on Sunday, no one I'm sure, expected Ramsey to get many minutes two days later.  But around the 50th minute I found my self chanting (in my head because I was at work, mind you) "Release the Rambo!"  One can easily forget a player's contribution to a side when that player has been sidelined for three months.  Aaron's energy, stamina, tackling, and eye for a good pass (watch him head down the cross into Poldi's path for his goal) is not just a breath of fresh air.  It's a gust, a squall, the first gulp of air you take after being underwater for too long...it's quite a strong and lovely feeling.  I guess I'm glad he's back.

Kallstrom will be useful.  He still had some waylaid passes, and one could see him getting fatigued around the 60 minute mark, but he had nice tackles, won some very nice headers in midfield, took two shots on goal, and does not panic on the ball when the defense is closing him down.  There was a nice moment between him and Rambo when he was trying to get the ball out of our half, but didn't just boot it long.  He plays it down the sideline to Aaron, fighting off two defenders while he does it.  He has a nice touch and is strong enough to not get knocked off the ball too easily.  He could definitely be important in these last four games.  Plus, how can you not like a guy who said he had "fun" on his first start for Arsenal?

Conceding the opening goal sapped our confidence.  Making goals boosted it right back up.  We played so much freer after Podolski equalized.  It was like the whole team received a adrenaline booster.  It's a cautionary tale - we are still very vulnerable and our confidence may not regain its prior strength we witnessed earlier in the season.  That's why it's so viatl we score early.  We feed on that energy.

Goal celebration was very muted.  I'm not sure if Podolski and Giroud's usually tame celebrations were due to recent performances, criticisms, or just general unhappiness.  I found Poldi's reactions particularly unnerving.  The first goal there was almost no acknowledgment of the fans, the second he fist pumped to them, but the cheesy, grinning, hopping into the air celebration we have come to expect from him were absent.  Even the outlying players on the pitch had reserved responses.  It was weird.  Either the team is so beat up mentally that they cannot celebrate, or the general unhappiness from the fans has penetrated the mood in the locker room.  I could be making something out of nothing.  Did anyone else notice this?

All in all, a satisfactory win that gave us a +2 in the GD column as well as lifting us up to fourth.  We have a game on Easter Sunday at Hull that hopefully will see the return of Ozil as well as Flamini.  But, more on that in a pre-match write up.  Enjoy being back in fourth, having some goals scored, and this sunny (at least in northern Indiana) day.  Have a good one Gooners.






Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Back On The Horse

Time to Get back On...

The downward spiral of Arsenal's performances have made it difficult to write.  The negatives of the team have been talked about so many times, as have the deficits caused by injuries and, in my opinion, poor managerial decisions.  But now having secured an FA Cup final spot in nail biting  fashion, it's time to get back to writing and back to the Premier League battle for fourth.

Today is West Ham at the Emirates.  Normally, Andy Carroll and company would not worry me too much and could even be seen as predictable.  But the end of this season is anything but normal.  Yes, we have fallen away in the past (though not so nearly catastrophically), and we have had to battle for fourth spot.  But we are sprinting to the finish after playing 120 minutes two days ago, with 11 injuries and one suspension to boot.  Podolski, Ox, Monreal, Koz, and TR7 all face late fitness tests and Flamini is  still paying the price of too many yellow cards.  That leaves us a real conundrum in the midfield.  I suspect Kallstrom will start for us and hope that at least two of the four pass their tests to help round everything out.  Monreal can play at left wing if Santi is needed behind the striker (Ollie or Yaya?), but I really hope Tommy is back in the squad.  His habit of pushing us upfield at opportune times, and his enforced rest, could be vital for us today.  Also, did anybody else notice that Bendy was back in the training pictures?  He has played right wing before.  Wenger could shift to a 4-4-2 like he did against Wigan if he wants a more offensive threat.  Still, that leaves the midfield a bit open, which might go against his overall game plan:


“The best way to [cope with Carroll] is to stop the source because you know once the ball is in the air you have a real problem to win it against him,” said the manager. “It is for us to have the ball first and, when we do not have the ball, to stop the source to him.”

Good in theory, but the personnel need to be available to achieve it.  West Ham will be looking to play wide and cross the ball in.  Our full backs and center backs will have to be on their toe4s and have help covering those gaps that Everton so successfully exploited a couple of weeks ago.  Having Koz in the side would just make me feel more at ease against the likes of Carroll and Nolan, who likes to be on the end of the striker's flick-ons.

Three points is a must here, of course.  Everton play Crystal Palace next.  And while Tony Puk-is has them looking good, Martinez' side will be confident that they too can get the win.  Playing well in front of a home crowd is so important as well.  Hearing on Twitter and Arsecast about fellow Gooners breaking into fights at Wembley is embarrassing, and is a sign of the level of frustration at fan level.  Playing well could help alleviate the emotional frenzy that seem to blind some to levels of appropriate behavior.  We all know it's okay to agree to disagree, right?

That's it for now.  I'll be back with a post-match reaction which hopefully will have us looking forward to our randomly rescheduled game against Hull on Sunday.  Take care you Gooners.