Our Season So Far - Right Side Defense

Bacary Sagna              

Here, we have a conundrum. We have a world class right back, who was somewhat written off by sections of the fans, myself included, in a year where he managed to break the same leg twice. 

What a fantastic character he has proven to be, coming back from such injuries towards the latter stages of his career to fully impose himself in a team challenging for the title. Bacary Sagna has shown his true importance to the team this season, regularly getting up and down that right touchline, supporting the attack without leaving his defensive colleagues too exposed. 

Perhaps the biggest improvement to his game has been a significant increase in the quality of his crossing, and he has popped up at times to add to our goal tally. Everyone is currently holding their breath as we wait to find out what will happen in this contract saga. 

Despite our high opinion for the man, I do not believe he should be paid £100K a week, as some reports have suggested he is requesting. While being a vital cog in our team, I do not believe he deserves such a pay rise. This being said, the allure of moving back to his home country to play for cash rich clubs such as PSG or Monaco, who will pay him that salary and more make it a very difficult situation for AFC. 

If we do not pay him that money there will be no shortage of suitors who will. Shall we break our wage structure to accommodate a player whose many years of experience make him a valuable asset, or shall we look to replace him now and build for the future? I would suggest building for the future, as £100k is simply too much in my eyes. 

Ideally, we would tie him down to a 3 year contract, hoping he plays 1 more season as our first choice right back, and then perhaps move him into a CB role as cover for our first choice while he passes on his wisdom to the man that takes his place.

Rating 8/10

                     

                                                                                                                                                       
Per Mertesacker           

The BFG. There was a time when the hefty German's mobility was a real cause for concern. There have been moments in matches, when Wenger decides to play a high line (think against Spurs last season and against Liverpool a few weeks ago), where Per has been exposed. 

Overall there is no denying his importance to the Arsenal team this season. He has been a stalwart at the back with his partner Koscielny. A partnership where when both had completed 90 minutes had not been beaten until last month. This partnership has been lauded as the best in the league by highly esteemed pundits. He has brought leadership and physicality to the pitch in an area lacking such attributes since the days of The Invincibles. 

His reach and timing of tackles are two of his best attributes, and it would be fair to say he is one of the best in the league at being in the right place at the right time. In his early days his pace or lack thereof proved to be a major stumbling block, however, with time and a speedy French guy next to him, he has managed to change his game such that his lack of pace does not affect his game. As a childhood Arsenal supporter, every time he plays you can see he puts everything into the game. 

His true character came out against Man City, where at the end of the match Ozil declined to acknowledge the support of the fans. Ozil was given a dressing down by Mertesacker he is unlikely to forget in this lifetime.

Rating 8/10

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Our Season So Far - The Goalkeepers

Wojciech Szczesny      

In season’s past our goalkeeper’s have cost us points in the league. In the days when Manuel Almunia and a young Fabianski were mainstays, errors that usually lead to goals were common and costly to our title hopes. 

How refreshing it is therefore to finally have a keeper who is reliable and a cohesive part of a solid defensive unit. I think it is fair to say Wojciech has had his best season thus far in an Arsenal shirt. 

He is a player that clearly loves the club, an all-round Gooner to add to Wilshere, Ramsey and the like. He has been a mainstay in our side in the league, missing no games, while making a number of incredible saves. As many will remember from our last cup final, against Birmingham in 2011, he was prone to mistakes and with the exception of his almost costly error against Spurs we can’t remember the Pole doing anything untoward. 

His concentration levels are always exceptional, as evidenced by his ability to go long periods of the game without being called upon, only to make a world-class save when the need arises, think Manchester United at the Emirates. His ability to keep focussed in all games this season has been exemplary. 

There is clearly still room for improvement, as his distribution is not the best, but I think he has shown this season why Wenger has refused to sign any big name keepers in recent years. At 23 years old, if he continues on this season’s trajectory, he will be our number 1 for many, many years to come.

Rating 9/10

Lukasz Fabianski

Many are saying Fabianki’s performances this season have been down to his desire to sign a lucrative contract at a good club this summer. At the moment his forms suggest he will do just that. 

This season Fabianski has shaken off the nicknames that haunted him in seasons past. Known for so long as ‘Flappyhandski’, due to his unimposing presence in the box when defending set pieces, this season he has come into his own whenever called upon.

At the beginning of the season the idea of getting him off our books this summer made most Arsenal fans happy, “Another deadwood player off our wage bill to be replaced by a promising keeper” was commonly heard in conversations between the Arsenal faithful. This season he has shown us exactly why Wenger wants to keep him at the club. Whenever called upon he has done a fantastic job, pushing Szczesny all the way for his No. 1 spot. 

 His penalty save against Bayern Munich, leaving us with a very respectable 1-1, perfectly sums up what he’s done this season. Against Liverpool in the FA Cup he was one of our stand-out players, part of a backs-to-the-wall defensive display after we took the lead. Unfortunately for the same reasons we now want him to stay, it looks very likely he will leave this summer.  We at The Lovely Reds wish him good luck for many years to come.

Rating 7/10

Three Ways to Win

We still havn't quite come down after the highs of yesterday's result.

Let it sink it...Arsenal have completed the treble over Spurs, victory in the league at the Emirates and WHL and a resounding victory to knock them out of the FA Cup en route to our first visit to Wembley since 2010.

This is all the more impressive considering the huge windfall Spurs recieved after Gareth Bale departed for Real Madrid to the tune of 85 million Euros.

Several of those new signings featured in yesterday's North London derby. Eriksen,Bentaleb and Chadli started, whilst Paulinho and Soldado come of the bench.Between them they had little sway over the match, aside from Chadli's dynamic running into the Arsenal penalty area.

Before kick-off The Lovely Reds was a little cautious citing our ridiculous injury list as cause for concern read here. The exclusion of Ozil, Wilshere, Walcott and Ramsey due to injury seriously weakens our side as all four of those players would have featured to some extent had they been fit.

With that in mind how much more impressive is our victory over our neighbours (we won't use the term rivals as clearly a treble in victories signals that a gap has opened - be sure to mind that won't you!)

For all the post match criticism Arsenal may have received from Spurs fans and pundits alike, that we 'parked the bus' or that we were 'dominated' in terms of possession there are a few things that need to be considered.

First and foremost this is an Arsenal side plagued by injury. Along with the players mentioned above we were unable to field Abou Diaby and Kim Kallstrom meaning that our bench was by no means strong enough to rotate. So you can forgive the players being happy to sit back and soak up whatever limp effort Spurs threw their way.

Secondly, Arsenal have shown that they can beat Spurs in a number of different ways this season. Our first encounter was a game of two halves, Arsenal claiming the first, whilst Spurs the second. The FA Cup tie was comprehensively won by Arsenal who displayed attacking verve and innovation, whilst Spurs went down without much of a fight.

Thirdly, the contradictory nature of televised sports punditry is almost laughable, in fact it's so funny that it's gone full circle and is now just f*ing annoying. As our maulling at Eastlands showed, when we underestimate our opponent's attacking capabilities we leave ourselves vulnerable. Similarly at the Emirates against Bayern our naivety was exposed when chasing the equaliser, only to concede a second. With the best defense in the league it makes absolute tactical sense to invite pressure having struck early and play on the counter attack against a side who play a high defensive line.

When The Oil Money did it against us, without even having scored it's declared pragmatic and tactically astute. When we go to WHL, score early and fend off wave after wave of attack, only conceding two good goalscoring opportunities its labelled a 'poor performance'.

We are well aware this is not a trully great Arsenal side, so to go to WHL and play a game of tit-for-tat with an injury ravaged team would have been foolish and detrimental to our title hopes. If Spurs want a more open contest let's see how well they fare once Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott and the rest are ready to add insult to injury.

Who cares if Spurs had more possession, we know all too well that possession doesn't count if you don't do anything with it. And if Spurs fans and pundits want to bring up stats how about the one where Arsenal had 3 shots on target to Tottenham's 2?

It wasn't pretty and it certainly wasn't vintage Arsenal, anything near to the type of performance we're capable of but that makes it all the more impressive that we have beaten Spurs 3 times this season without conceding a. single. goal not one. That reeks of poor form, in fact at what point does a run of losses constitute a 'downward spiral of results' eh?

Mertesacker and Koscielny were imperious, absolutely outstanding, winning headers and marshalling Adebayor into submission. When the ungrateful striker wasn't dropping deep to get a rare touch of the ball he was making runs so far offside Arsenal fans worldwide gave a knowing chuckle for memories of the ex-Arsenal player's propensity for sheer stupidity.

Our defense needed to be on point today, not so much for fear of Tottenham's attacking potency but more because Szczesny decided to have one of those days we thought he'd grown out of. Jumping high to collect a seemingly harmless cross, Szczesny dropped the catch onto the toe of Tottenham's Chadli whose effort was blocked by a wall of limbs made by our centrebacks.

The Ox had a good performance in central midfield and made several more of what are fast becoming his signature forrays into the opposition's penalty area. He linked well with Rosicky for Arsenal's goal, yet another classic to add to Thomas' fast growing collection (player of the month anyone?) and his second against Spurs this year.

The rest of our squad was solid and did the jobs they were tasked with, Podolski helped protect Gibbs who had just returned from injury, whilst Santi was constantly nipping at the heels of Chadli and Bentaleb.

Our only cause for concern was Giroud's rather lackluster performance. The Frenchman was off-the-pace for most of the game, perking up a bit when he was asked to hold the ball up in order to run out the clock. Aside from a brief display of close control and physical prowess he was anonymous, losing the vast majority of hie aerial duels with Kaboul and failing to act as the human ping pong table we've come to know and love.

Small grievances aside this was a good, solid performance characterised by a moment of brilliance (although let's not forget we could've been 2-0 up in 15 minutes had the Ox remembered what composure looks like).

On to the next ones now, where 3 points against Chelsea is a must.

Look forward to some pre-match build up The Lovely Reds' style everyday this week.

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The Land Before Time

Here at The Lovely Reds we could hardly sleep.

Today has been marked down in the calendar since the fixture list was released way back in August of last year.

The North London derby is upon us and for those who don't know what this means, it means 3 points for Arsenal and a safari trip to gaze in disbelief at a land long forgotten by mankind.

Queue Jurassic Park theme tune.

*Film Trailer Voice* 'This Spring go where no man has been before, travel to a land long forgotten by time, the time when dinosaurs walked the earth'

Sandro, Bentaleb and Dawson stomp past the camera rearing their disfigured heads with all the grace and manoeuvrability of a Smeg fridge.

Squawking and yelping they fight over the decaying carcass of a smaller dinosaur, before proceeding to head butt each other and despondently slink away into the undergrowth.

'Tottenham Hotspur, The Land Before Time' coming soon to a cinema near you.

This has not been a happy time for our neighbours, they were roundly humiliated by Chelsea at Stamford bridge, handing victory to the league leaders through a series of calamitous back passes and poor decision making. Then at WHL they were undone by a classy Benfica side who simply outplayed them from front to back.

This, of course, presents us with some opportunity but as the old adage goes 'a wounded animal is the most dangerous'.

Tottenham and renowned Gooner Tim Sherwood are backed into a corner and have plenty to prove to their critics after a disastrous week. This might give them that extra yard when it counts today.

Similarly we are without  some of a our best players in Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere and Walcott who would all have started if they were fit. Not to say our midfield is weak however all those players featured prominently in our 1-0 victory at the start of the season and Ozil and Wilshere were present in our FA Cup demolition of Spurs.

Where we have beaten Spurs so far this season and where we have to be equally as dominant is in the midfield. High pressing and slick in possession we have to limit the supply to Tottenham's dangerman Adebayor. If we can do that then Tottenham have shown so far this season they don't have too many players capable of scoring from midfield (or from anywhere for that matter).

Between the Ox (what an individual performance against Bayern!) Rosicky, Santi and Flamteta we have skill, pace and finishing. It must be said though that Jack's initiative and willingness to drive forward will be missed as will the counterattacking pace of Walcott.

Tottenham haven't exactly spent their Bale windfall wisely, investing in rather limited monsters who roam the midfield,  a throwback to the early noughties when the Essien role was at the forefront of football's cutting edge. Times have moved on, unfortunately Spurs didn't get the memo. Players like Bentaleb, Dembele and Sandro aren't without their merits but they are simply too cumbersome to cope if we can keep the ball down and utilise our one-touch triangle passing to its best.

Either way it was very kind and sporting of Wenger to offer our friends a chance at least as we strongly believe that two full strength sides, injury-free and toe-to-toe would be a resounding victory for the boys in red.

As it so happens we are the most injury ravaged side in the league with an entire starting 11 on the sidelines. This has prompted Wenger and the Arsenal board to launch an enquiry into our training methods, something we believe is long, long overdue considering our team resembles a scene out of a WWI documentary.

A message to Giroud: Be strong monsieur Giroud, for in your path stands Michael Dawson, defender of sorts, entertainer of many. Be strong and your chance will come. Let's hope you can take it with the same conviction as your goal at the Emirates.

This is a must win, as it keeps us connected to the front runners who are starting to break away (FA Cup involvement is partly responsible). A loss and we start having to look over our shoulders at the freak who's lumbering after us groaning inaudibly like a scene from The Walking Dead.

We can't wait for this afternoon, let's hope the boys are as pumped as we are. We have to take the fight to Spurs on their home turf, play our game and give the fans some more great memories of a thoroughly engaging season. Right now we'd take the FA Cup trophy, a double over Spurs and a good fight in pursuit of the league, woudn't you?

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Don't forget to wipe your shoes on the way out

For some reason when thinking about our North London neighbours the old Cillit Bang adverts come to mind. Bang! And the dirt is gone.

I remember the last comprehensive victory against Spurs in the FA Cup. Adebayor fell over as he attempted to strike the ball from 18 yards and we sang "Adebayor, what's the score?"
 
Fan favourite and hotly tipped future star Serge Gnabry set up Santi for the first goal and had an all-round great game. We may have to rely on him now that Ozil's out, and I cannot wait to have him thrown back in the mix. (The Lovely Reds - The Gnabry Song is coming soon)

But a little more is riding on this fixture. Only six points separate us in the league and no-one likes scum trying to bite at your heels. Let's go to the lane and thoroughly wipe our feet on the way out. 9 points clear and nice clean shoes.

Walcott up-front, Ozil allowed to float, Wilshere through the middle, Ramsey on the right? Yeah, all injured. So Santi on the left, Rosicky in the middle in front of Flamteta and Ox on the right?

Spurs are playing off the back of two humiliating fixtures, a 4-0 spanking at Stamford Bridge and a 3-1 loss at home to Benfica, a true reflection of their ability to compete against some of Europe's top sides.

More to come tomorrow on team news and how the two sides look to line up. For now all we have to focus on is showing our worth against a side who lack real quality but will be up for a fight to prove themselves after two poor performances.

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Premierpowerleague (PPL)

It's sunny and the mind often wanders when the weather is this damn good.

Going from a conversation we've often had amongst ourselves let's imagine that the premier league was in fact the world's most luxurious 5-a-side tournament.

The small pitches of the 5-a-side world demand excellent close control, speed of thought and deadly finishing (as the goals are considerably smaller).

With those criteria in mind we got to thinking who would feature in an Arsenal 5-a-side team. One team for our current crop and one mouth-watering, wildly gesticulating, ring home cos you just gotta tell yo mama about this shit crazy team of Arsenal greats.

Here's how they stack up:

Arsenal 2014

GK: Szczesny - He's our goalie so that was easy.

CB: Sagna - Strong, fast, with a touch of skill he'll make sure shots at goal are kept to a minimum and he's used to running backwards towards his own goal thanks to the defensive cover he usualy recieves from midfield

MD: Ox - We've seen too many videos of this guy breaking hearts with his silky skills to leave him out.

MD: Ozil - Grew up playing in the German youth system which regularly featured 5 and 7-a-side tournaments. Knows the game, got das skill. To see our German magician in action on the smaller pitches click here

ST: Ramsey - C'mon its Rambo plus we don't exactly have an abundace of strikers to choose from. Ramsey has proved with his incredible goal tally in the first half of the season that he knows how to put the ball in the back of the net as well as anyone.

Arsenal Legends

GK: Lehman - although Seaman is widely regarded as our greatest keeper you need to be a bit mental to withstand the intense pressure of the 5-a-side arena, trust us we've been to powerleague

CB: Campbell - You are just not getting round this guy on a small pitch. end. of. story (picked over Adams because this is about skill and close control aswell)

MD: RVP - ok he's a snake and a massive twat but we want to win the coveted premierpowerleague trophy or any trophy for that matter *sob* can we please just win the f'ing FA Cup this year

MD: Bergkamp - To complete the Total Football in the middle, he is the master of the first touch, the perfect athlete for the 5-a-side pantheon

ST: Henry - deadly finisher, used to keeping his shots low and powerful and finding the corner of the net from any angle. Plus he has the acceleration to find a pocket of space in a very tight pitch.

To read what Arsene Wenger has to say about how best to improve your own 5-a-side team  read this article by FourFourTwo

Comment below with your dream Arsenal 5-a-side team!

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Badge of Honour IV

Welcome back to our mini series looking at the history of the Arsenal crest.

The club's decision to design a new crest in 2002 was two-fold. Firstly, as the Victoria Concordia Crescit read more crest incorporated many separate elements introduced over a number of years, there was uncertainty surrounding its exact origin. As a result the Club was unable to copyright the crest. Secondly, it had always been one of the Club’s primary objectives to embrace the future and move forward. With the Emirates Stadium on the horizon and the Gunners going from strength to strength, the Club believed it was the right time to change the crest.

Our current crest is a stripped back design incorporating the single, thin cannon that was developed from our original three cannon motif. The word 'Arsenal' lost its Gothic typeface and now features in bold along the top of the crest.

The badge is a global symbol of the club and as such has been kept to a miminal, featuring the key symbology of the club and, of course, our red and white colour scheme.

The shirt for the 2011/12 season featured a special 125th anniversary crest design combining the graphic of the first Club crest with the current version.

The celebratory design features 15 laurel leaves to the left side of the Club's crest to reflect the detail on the reverse of the six pence pieces paid by 15 men to establish the Club - the laurel leaves also represent strength.

The 15 oak leaves to the right of the crest acknowledge the founders who would meet in the local Royal Oak pub. Underneath the crest is one of the first recorded mottos related to the armament and battle 'Forward'  with the anniversary dates of 1886 and 2011 either side of the heart of the shirt.

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