A Master Stroke?

When it was announced that Man Utd had signed Henrik Larsson, there were plenty of comments on how it was a very strange decision. A player coming to the end of a great career coming to play at the highest level of English football. However after his first game back in which he scored Alex Ferguson was hailed as a genius pulling off a master stroke.

Today comes the news that Larsson will leave at the end of the loan period rather than extending it as Man Utd wanted him to. It seems however the press were a little too eager to merit Ferguson with genius.

I'll lay my cards on the table, while his record at Celtic was brilliant I always seriosuly doubted Larssons abillity at the top level, a very good player no doubt but Celtic and Scottish football fans always claimed he was by far the best striker in the world. How then do the figures stack up?

Larrson scored an impressive 242 goals in 300 games in Celtic colours, a lot by any standards, in fact it works out at 1.2 games per goal. His career total come in at 297 from 496 games, again impressive at 1.67 games per goal. But hold on for a second, remove those goals he scored for Celtic and we see a very different pattern, 55 goals in 196 at a ratio of 3.5 games per goal. At International level he has 35 from 92 games at 2.6 games per goal and his record at United is even worse, just 2 goals in 8 games*.

I never doubted that Larsson was a good player but simply that Scottish football is a lower level of standard that anybody half decent should be knocking in the goals. Take for example the Arsenal reserve player Anthony Stokes, he scored 16 goals in 18 games, that was in a short period but the fact remains the Scottish league really isn't all that good.

So the question on my mind is how does Larsson stack up to Henry the flat track bully who can't cut it on the international stage?

Henry has played exactly the same number of games at international level as Larsson, 92, but he has scored 5 more goals. As a total Henry has 255 goals from 501 games, less than Larsson but when compared without goals scored for Celtic Henry's average of is far better. Finally this season, one which Henry has had much criticism for he has scored 12 in 25 games, a much better return than Larssons 1 in 4.

Was it really such a master stroke?

* I must say he looked good against us at the Emirates without actually scoring, but why is he at United if he isn't scoring goals?

Big Week Number 4

It seems that Arsenal's season has been defined by "Big Weeks", period where important games are grouped together in lumps.

The first was back in December, Spurs at home, an away tie at Porto in the Champions league which we needed a result to get out of the group stages and then possibly the most difficult game of the season away to Chelsea in the league. At that stage of the season we were still unbeaten at home and we hadn't set the world alight, there were still questions involving Spurs given there good season the year before and it looked a potentially difficult game. The general feeling was that three draws from these three games would be acceptable but we got off to a great start beating Spurs 3-0. The Porto game was odd and at the end of the day results elsewhere meant it didn't matter what happened in that game. We also got a draw at Chelsea which again was a good result, we rode our luck towards the end but there is no shame in drawing away at a team with a home record such as Chelsea's.

The second big week was in January, 2 cup games away to Liverpool. At the time Liverpool had a brilliant home record and while there was confidence we could get a result it seemed we would be up against it. But once again that slight fear we could be out of both competitions in one week was misplaced and we won both games comfortably. Liverpool were in the FA cup game and towards the end they put us under a lot of pressure but the danger when playing Arsenal is if you attack too much and leave space at the back they will punish you. The Carling Cup game was a little odd, one of those games where everything we shoot at goes in. Those cup games were sandwhiched between a good win against Charlton and a 10 man win up at Blackburn, so a great week for Arsenal.

The third big week (and a bit) came at the end of January when we played Man Utd, Spurs twice and Bolton in the FA Cup. The Man Utd game was fantastic, especially given Chelsea had been beaten by Liverpool the day before and it was a chance for them to go 9 points clear, the two Carling Cup games were also great, a game of two halves in the first game when Spurs were all over us in the first half, but we came back brilliantly. The second game was also good as played some great football and in the end the result was comfortable. The Bolton game was the one low light in that period but the net result was that we didn't lose and in the replay we did well.

So we now come to the fourth big week, we have already had the first game of a three game sequence, Blackburn at home in the FA Cup. I won't comment on that other than to say we are still in the competition, it certainly wasn't the best game I have ever seen but you have to expect that we will have the odd flat game from time to time.

Next up is PSV away in the Champions League, it looked a good draw for us when it happened but as the game draws near the more difficult it looks. I think Arsenal should be too strong over the two legs but we need to do well away from home.

The end of the week sees Arsenal in the Carling Cup final, it will be a difficult game but I certainly think Arsenal are capable of winning the game. Chelsea have had a difficult time with injuries this season and despite some decent results score lines recently I still think there are questions to be asked of them. It depends of course who plays on both sides but the only problem for Arsenal is that Chelsea will most likely play a full first team squad.

The Bloke in Seat 73, Row 9

It seems as if when designing the Emirates the Arsenal board though of everything. New bigger seats, super fast beer delivery, a fantastic view from eveyr seat and our own personal commentator.

What do you mean you didn't get your own personal commentator? While he might not be official every section of the stadium has one, yeah that's right he's that bloke who feels compeled to talk for the whole game. However I have a complaint, it seems that these talk all match types are the most negative and often unknowledgeable fans in the stadium. My own personal one sits (rather conviniently or not) just behind me in Row 9 seat 73.

It's a common trait of the unoffical commentator that they are able to contradict themselves in a single breath, a great pass leaves the foot to become sloppy half a breath later as does,'what's he shooting from there for' becomes 'what a brilliant goal, he's always had a good shot on him'.

On the positive side we tend to score when they go to the toilet, as we did agasint wigan as mouth and trousers informed us all he was off for a slash and wouldn't return, you could hear the collective sigh as far away as row 12. But of course he was back no doubt with damp trousers as I'm sure he must have been half way through when the goal went in.

Still it seems the Arsenal board have come up trumps again, Arsene must have informed the squad that we need to be losing till as late as possible, then once the unoffical commentators have left the stadium we bang in two late goals sans commentory. It seems the only thing left to do is install a steward in the loo on the look out for chaps commentating on the piss he's taking just to delay that winning goal a few more minutes.

The late, late Arsenal Show

And so it happens again, Arsenal conceed first, the opposition get 10 men behind the ball and Arsenal wake up.

However recently we have added 2 new ingredients to the show, time wasting fron the opposition and 2 goals from the Arsenal. I could be wrong but the old formula while it was frustrating to watch was played in a decent spirit, but recently Man Utd, Bolton and now Wigan didn't seem content with a solid defensive display they wanted to deny Arsenal the chance to get back into the game.

I'm a believer in Karma, not in the spiritual sense but simply that the more bad things that are done in the world them more likely it is we will all suffer as a result. The Man Utd game had a huge dose of Karma, the time wasted by Van Desar allowing Arsenal the time to score the winning goal, and again today it seemed to give the Arsenal players a sense of injustice which made it all the sweeter when we got the second.

To be honest Wigans goal was stunning, and apart from a Hesky shot of the upright was the only real chance they had. One thing I noticed was that when Hesky shot past lehman he turned his body away from goal ready to celebrate, had he continued his run forward he would have got to the ball before Lehman as it came straight back it to his original path.

The ref was frankly a joke, watching it live there seemed to me loads of serious penalty appeals waved away (at both ends to be fair) and we had a couple of shocking off side decisions given against us. A just knew Jens was going to be booked for his time wasting antics after the second goal but I think many would agree it was worth it.

I think it's time they introduced a goal kick rule that it should be taken on the side it went out or on a side of the keepers choosing, in other words if the first is taken on the left it's always on the left.

It will never happen but it would also be great if we could introduce points for more positive play, not sure how it would work, but something like a bonus point for 2 goals away from home (if not each game one for every three games played in that fashion). It's too radical for the likes of FIFA or UEFA but you only have to look at the later stages of the last world cup to see we need something to improve the attacking nature of football.

Still unbeaten at home, came back again and we are now closing the gap on Liverpool.

It's official

Well Spurs emphatically answered Martin Jol's question, they are Average. Last week Martin said...

"They all want to play here in occasions like this. Are you potential winners or are you average? That is what we have to find out."

Last night we found out exactly were Spurs stand on that point. As usual I won't bother giving yet another match report but needless to say from an Arsenal perspective it was a great result. Tottenham once again proved that 10-15 minutes of good football out of 90 is never enough against the better teams and to be honest I don't think we even saw that much from them last night. It should really have been finished off in normal time but all the Tottenham goal did was give us some more time to show the gap in class. It was in many respects rather embarrassing to see a side who claim to be a big club lack any sort of ambition in extra time as they were pegged back and passed off the park.

In some respects we were lucky that yet another Spurs player fell ill at the first sign of actually doing something but even so I don't think many of the Tottenham players offered much going forward.

We should also take a few moments to glance around us, having got a small gap on the chasing pack recently it's good to see they haven't taken the chance to close it. Bolton could only manage a draw with Charlton in the same was Portsmouth could only manage a draw with Boro.

Spurs - The final judgment (part 2)

Well it seems at the half way stage that Spurs are living up to their self proclaimed average tag. Good teams don't go 2-0 up looking dangerous and then end the game 2-2, good teams scored first and win the game.

To go through Spurs need to win the game, draw 3-3 or draw 2-2 and win on penalties. No team has scored more than 2 at the Emirates against Arsenal and of the two that did one went on to lose 6-2. Personally I think it will be decided in the 90 minutes one way or the other. Spurs are capable of winning but their record against us this season is one of conceeding goals and not winning and teams that come to attack Arsenal tend to fail.

The lose of Baptista to injury is a blow but there is no cause for serious concern as there are plenty of players capable of scoring for Arsenal. Gilberto is back and we have 4 stikers still available with 21 goals between them this season.

Spurs - The final judgment

So tonight is the Carling Cup Semi final first leg. There is double incentive to win the two games firstly and most obviously the prize is a place in a cup final but second which is even better is that Spurs can be offically crowned an "Average" team.

Martin Jol has been saying in the press that this is the chance to find out if the team are winners or just average (his words). Therefore anything less than progress to the final for Spurs must be average and therefore that will become thier new offical title, Tottenham "Average" Hotspur.

Looking at the league table and Spurs currently sit 9th with 4 teams close enough that given one or two results could over take spurs in a couple of weeks, I'd say that's already proof of an average team but we can put the matter to bed.

The Arsenal squad looks similar to the game against Liverpool and I think there is plenty of quality in there to get the right result. An early goal from us would set the tone and we could open up Spurs on the counter attack. With Van Persie out for a number of weeks it's a second chance for Baptista and Aliadiere to push their case for a premier league start. What we need to do is score, a draw of any sort would be good but even a high scoring loss would do us well for the second game, 3-2 something like that.

United beaten again...

Three fantastic facts to emerge from yesterdays game.

1. We came back from a goal down again
2. We beat Man Utd again (getting a double over them for the first time in a long time)
3. We are still unbeaten at the Emirates

Before the game I had convinced myself that while you never want to lose it would at least mean Man Utd would go 9 points clear of Chelsea. Not I want you to understand that I particuarly want Man Utd to win the league but I desperately don't want Chelsea to. However after 2-3 minutes of the match any notion that I wanted to do anybody any favours went right out the window, this was Arsenals biggest test at the Emirates and the second to last team, Spurs being the last, that I would want to lose our unbeaten record to.

It wasn't the greatest game ever played and while in the first half it looked like things could become heated it was played out in decent enough fashion. For all the hype Man Utd were good but not great, and for me they didn't create what you would call any real chances other than the goal and I think we contained both Rooney and Ronaldo well.

What they did do was waste time at every opportunity, it was clear there were going to be a fair few minutes added on as Man Utd seemed to lack any ambition going forward after their goal and wasted time at every opportunity. At the time I did think that all that would achieve would be to give Arsenal some extra time to chase for a goal and that's exactly what happened. While Van Persies introduction didn't turn the game he came up with the all important goal that at the time looked like it was going to maintain our unbeaten run. But it was better than that, in added time Henry headed the winner to turn the Emirates into a mad house.

As I mentioned in a previous post I was disappointed in the media's build up to the game, it seems while they are getting the odd mention Arsenal are not getting the credit for the great run the are currently on. Almost all the pundits asked before the game said Man Utd would win, which is fine, but there was never any mention of the danger Arsenal clearly pose. One particular instance was when asked about Arsenals chances both for the game and the rest of the season all Jamie Redknapp could mention was an away lose to Sheffield Utd, no mention of a 10 man win away 2 weeks later, no mention of 15 goals in the previous 4 matches and no mention of 2 wins away at Anfield, a ground Liverpool are, rightly, seen as almost unbeatable at.

Regardless of the result we won't win the title this year but we will be a lot closer than last year and I don't think 2nd is out of the question. If nothing else Spurs seem to have reverted to type and are sliding down the table, they have Man Utd, Sheffield Utd away and Bolton in their next three games and they are close to dropping into the bottom half of the table. At least St. Totteringham's Day should come a little earlier than last year.

Lauren Gone

So Lauren has finally gone having not played a full game of football for over a year. Portsmouth is as good a club as any to go to I suppose but I always feel a little uneasy about players going to other Premiership clubs.

The general feeling among the blogs is that this is a bad move from Arsene. Personally I don't think it is especially as he hasn't played for over a year and there were a number of times during that period where there was serious talk of retirement. While I think loyalty is important we should also realise that it shouldn't get in the way of a decent decision.

A lot of people have commented that we should have kept various players for another year, the obvious one being Vieira. I have mentioned before that I think the real issue last year was losing both Vieira and Edu last year rather than just Vieira but what we need to ask is would we have won the Premiership last year had Vieira stayed? I very much doubt we would have but one thing that would have happened is the development of players like Faberagas and to some extend the improvement of Gilberto would have been delayed by another year, while this year hasn't been vintage stuff it's certainly an improvement on the start we had last term. One thing that Wenger and Ferguson have done is move their teams on, if you look at Chelsea this year it seems teams are starting to work them out and the squad isn't progressing.

People also comment on the young age of the Arsenal squad and often point to our failures as a sign of a lack of experience. Experience can only be gained by playing and keeping players for an extra year would only hinder that development.