#atafc

It’s the game that has been driving the millennial generation crazy over the last few weeks. We’ve all been talking about it. We’ve been driven to shouting at our phones for it. We’ve even seen people fall over in disbelief over what they’ve managed to catch through the waves of our constant digital connection. No it’s not Pokemon. It’s Le Boss’ summer long version of Casino Royale. We all lay waiting to see whether Wenger is going to go all in or fold.

The summer has been so flip flop in terms of links and stories. It’s been littered with purposeful leaks and falsely laid information. It’s even been through the Groundhog Day phase that we all get to, normally at the end of the window, but we’re still here. It’s a strange one. Still plenty of time to get business done. However the panic has fully set in on social media. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it all but I have a funny feeling that something big is going on behind the scenes because the information coming in looks to be so incoherent. When Tony Cascarino is the ‘source’ for a transfer you really have to question EVERYTHING. I’m fully in the camp that believes false links are being spread from within the club to mask the real activity. The below belt bids for Lacazette followed by the adamant “he is not for sale” statements seemed legitimate until literally a day after the aforementioned statement we hear this message from Lyon: “there are some offers you can’t refuse”. Considering a deal is not yet done it’s a strange thing to say about one of your players. Now I can only assume that he may have been saying that because he has assurances from Wenger that we will not plump for Lacazette. Conspiracy theory at full tilt I know but I just can’t understand why a message from a club would change so dramatically within 24 hours and this after a deal has in no way been agreed no less. We’ve seen players and their agents use our club for better contracts so why couldn’t a manager play the same game? This time with a promise to a club to leave their player alone as something else was being worked on? That we only needed a little helping hand in the media in return. Lyon and Lacazette would be the used parties but it’s happened so many times to us as well as many other clubs that it’s just the way business is done in this day and age. Not something I’m a fan off but what can you do? I just wonder if Wenger has an ace up his sleeve. Who knows who it might be, let’s hope it’s one of the people he had a lengthy conversation with after the Euro 2016 final.

In other transfer related rumour the Mahrez links have intensified since Wenger went to go and watch Leicester get demolished by PSG. Added to this Mahrez was pictured alongside some of the Arsenal contingent in LA, however coincidental that may be. I just wonder whether even just a friendly like the one against PSG could bring Mahrez to the realisation that last season really was a one off and that if he is to continue to win things a move to The Arsenal might just be the way to do so.

We’re in LA, Leicester are in LA, why not make it happen there? The opportunity could well present itself and not only that but it could have multiple benefits. The figure mooted for him is around the £40m mark, however if we brought him in someone like Walcott would have to be sold. He would bring in at least £20m in this crazy time and in doing so would half the cost of Mahrez. There’s definitely something rumbling on this front with Le Boss getting his famous 'smile’ out post the Leicester v PSG game when quizzed on Mahrez. In fairness he’s had this before when Draxler and Benzema were mentioned but you have to remember that we’ve been close on those two, which means that there’s at least something happening on Mahrez. I really hope we can convince him to come, because at 25 we can expect his best years to be given to our cause.

Defensively we will also need to find some cover now that we know Per Mertesacker will be out for at least half the season. It’s a place where if we had brought a signing in, it would have been nice, but what would have been nice has now become a necessity. It looks as though Wenger has all but confirmed that we have someone coming in on the defensive front before a ball is kicked in our season, however the one hope I hold is that it doesn’t hamper our spend on a striker. The worst case maths in my head runs like this:

Mahrez- £40m Defender (Mustafi?) -£30m Walcott +£20m

This leaves us with around £50m for that elusive front man. If we get our way with the transfers we may even get a centre back for £25m and sell Theo for £25m leaving us with £60m to spend on a forward. The budget is certainly there to go big but it’s whom we go big on that’s the mystery. I for one like the mystery. It’s keeping me from checking social media too often anyway. My transfer sanity is just about with me, still.

In terms of football we’ve had a couple of friendlies in the US. A 2-1 win vs the MLS Allstars, in which of course Drogba scored against us followed by a 3-1 win vs Chivas. Minutes under the belt and no injuries in the main but also some sparkling performances from The Ox, Chuba Akpom & our new man Rob Holding. Internal solutions I hear you cry in angst! Promising for sure but I hope to God that they don’t quite convince Wenger not to buy a central defender, a wide man and a striker, all areas in which we need to invest if we are to win trophies this coming season.

In other news I can happily announce that I will now be a regular columnist on @afcstuff's new website, which is launching soon. You’ll soon be able to not only find my weekly blog posts there but also a fair few match reports alongside them. I’m really looking forward to writing for them and hopefully generating some healthy conversation and debate for the great club that we all love; The Arsenal.

Have a great week folks.

We’re fast approaching the new league season and it’s normally a really exciting time. A time where our new blood will vengefully right the wrongs of the previous season or propel us onto further success. The truth is it hasn’t been an exciting time, REALLY, for quite a few years now, the reason being that we haven’t addressed parts of our squad that needed investment. So for us it’s, in the recent past at least, been a case of “We’ll be ok right?”, “that fella we’ve brought in is the one”, “Theo & Ox will be massive for us this season!” or statements there or there abouts. There still remains some time in the window for us to make the difference for sure, but I’m going to take a look into what we do have as well as where the gaps remain for us. I don’t like ending on a negative so I’ll start with the gloomy stuff so I can at least sign off with us all feeling like this season will be our year.

What we need…

Last season we suffered from an identity crisis of sorts in that from December 2015 onwards we didn’t really look anything like an Arsenal side that we’ve been used to seeing over the tenure of Arsene Wenger. No matter whether we’ve had the likes of Oleg Luzhny, Denilson, Almunia & Eboue amongst our ranks, we’ve always managed to play a beautiful brand of football. It’s a real mystery as to why with arguably considerably better personnel, that Wenger hasn’t been able to produce anything similar. There are a multitude of factors involved with as to why this hasn’t been the case, however there is one main reason and that reason is Oliver Giroud. It’s not his fault by any means, however he is our main man and that is the reason we have had to adapt our style of football. Previous to Giroud we had Van Persie, Adebayor and to a lesser extent Eduardo. Before them was Henry. So we’ve always had mobile, run making forwards that have dictated the way that we’ve played our football. Since the arrival of Olivier Giroud we’ve had to adapt as he isn’t the pacey, fleet of foot man that we’re used to. So even though surrounding him we have an easily better force than we did when Van Persie and Adebayor were around they don’t have the same channels to work with. Swap the RVP of 4 years ago with the Giroud of now and it’s a title winning squad. So it’s pretty clear that, while we have a very good forward in Giroud, we still need a world class front man in order to make the step forward. There have been an obscene amount of games that we have been up by a goal only to squander chances to double our advantage and allow the opposition back into the game. There is an argument that we could defend leads better but I’ll come onto that later.

After the search for that elusive striker has been concluded there is another area of the pitch that has been a weakness for us over the past couple of seasons, but became wholly apparent in 2015/16. The wide right hand side. We’ve tried a number of combinations there raging from Walcott, Campbell, The Ox & Ramsey to name but a few. The best of which has, ironically, been Aaron Ramsey. Though it’s a position that he’s come out to say is not his best and also that he doesn’t quite fancy it there. It’s something that only works if we have the right midfield to compensate for it and requires Cazorla & Coquelin to play together at the base. Not ideal as if and when one of them is not present in the team the house of cards, as it were, falls down. The problem that exists on this side is twofold, it’s either a lack of talent or it’s a lack of application and sometimes a combination of both. Joel Campbell and Aaraon Ramsey were my favourites there, with Campbell being the more versatile. However is someone like Campbell good enough to break down the best defences? I’m not sure. A great plan B, much the same as Olivier Giroud I would say. Can’t fault the player but we can fault the lack of options. Theo Walcott did well here for a period, but it was good enough when challenging for a top 4 position rather than a title tilt. He lacks the fight to do well out wide and requires far too much ‘arm around the shoulder-ing’ when playing up top. The turning point in his career was vs Sp*rs a couple of seasons ago. The game was poised at 1-1 with around 4 minutes of normal time remaining. Walcott had only been on the pitch for 8 minutes when Bentaleb picked up the ball on their left hand side. At this point all Walcott had to do was to close down the space. He walked towards Bentaleb. WALKED! This gave him all the time in the world to pick out a cross for Kane to head in the winner. From that point forward Wenger didn’t trust him in the wide areas and the bench is where he found himself for a lot of last season. The occasional exemplary front man performance aside it looks like he will need replacing this summer if we are truly to be competitive. With regards to The Ox, he’s still young and has been unlucky with injuries. He is also useful in a number of positions and could well be our box-to-box CM for years to come. The conclusion here is that we need a more natural wide man that can play there regardless of the personnel alongside him.

Lastly if we are being a little greedy we could well need a centre back. Mertesacker and Koscielny are my preferred choice, however I think that we can find a better partner for Koscielny (as much as I love the BFG!). I would love us to bring in a commanding presence back there that could almost help up Koscielny’s game a little. There are situations that he finds himself in through a little unconscious complacency I feel and a better more ‘at it’ centre half could be the jolt Koscielny needs to be the best version of himself. However this is a position in which I feel we could still well win trophies without addressing and I’ll tell you why when talking about our strengths. What we have…

One thing that we need to remember is that from the start of the season through to December last season, we were playing some really good football and were top of the league. Giroud was scoring, Walcott was performing admirably in the lone striker role with Alexis and Ozil quite simply on fire. Ozil especially. Now these are the two players who gained so much credit for us as they were the difference makers in the big games, but as we all know it was Santi Cazorla that was the trigger to our downfall. Not because he’s terrible, because he was a lynchpin in out blueprint for success. His partnership with Coquelin was outstanding and the bedrock on which we created goals from. Coquelin was the ball winner and Cazorla was the transition man. Opposition defences squirmed when he had the ball simply because he could not only deliver a pass into a dangers area for Messrs Alexis & Ozil to latch on to, but he could also beat a man and expose them even further by going direct to Giroud or Ramsey being our modern version of Freddie Ljungberg. The jigsaw was precise but it worked and worked well.

The real plus for this season is that the problem of personnel could well be eradicated. We should no longer have to solely rely upon Cazorla and Coquelin to be playing to function as a team. The arrivals of Elnenny and Xhaka have seen to this. Elneny’s tireless running coupled with the monster pressing and distribution of Xhaka makes for a hugely dynamic range of options for Arsene. No longer will we only have to play one way, we will be able to truly adapt to our opposition by playing a more defensive minded Xhaka, Coquelin & Elneny as a 3 if we are taking on the likes of Barcelona or Bayern in the Champions League or even away from home against a big gun in the Premier League. Options is what we’ve lacked as well as depth in quality, which now seems to have been addressed in the middle of the park. In addition to this we have one of the best goal keepers in the league with Cech having won the golden glove in his first season with us. Granted he made some errors (as did most keepers) but he won us crucial points and that’s something that we will continue to benefit from as his sole focus will be with Arsenal Football Club having announced his international retirement. Added to this we also have the Wilshere conundrum to solve, and believe me it’s a good problem to have. He’s one of the most gifted midfielders we have and given the right role he could prove the game changer we need. He can inject pace into what may transpire to be a tepid performance. He was never played in the correct position or alongside the right personnel when at the Euros, so we didn’t really get a chance to see this. The mass media all jumped on the ‘Wilshere was a mistake’ bandwagon but what they’ve all missed is that he was always out of position and playing in a midfield that contained Wayne Rooney, which doesn’t help anyone.

Finally we really do have two of the most gifted forward players in the league with us in Alexis Snachez and Mesut Ozil. Alexis had to be rushed back last season and our front men stopped taking on Ozil’s chances at the back end of last season so as a squad we didn’t have the both of them firing together often enough last season. If managed well and the right additions made, we could be in for a truly explosive season of Premier League football from The Arsenal.

As I mentioned earlier, with regards to not needing a centre back and still competing, we could take a look at our pressing game. This can be addressed with signing up top rather than at the back. If we pressed as a team (and I say press not foul – again this explanation is coming) with more intensity we could leave a lot less work for our back 5 to contend with. Sp*rs were lauded last season for their defence not having to make many tackles and keeping their shorts clean etc because of great organisation. In fact this was a high press that the manager had clearly instructed the front men to commit fouls high up the pitch in order to deal with teams’ counter attacks. In the top 10 players with the most fouls there were 2 Sp*rs players. Dele Alli (8th) and Eric Lamela (3rd), which corroborates the above. Commit fouls high and ease pressure. Now I’m not suggesting for us to do this as a team or even individuals, I just think that a high press situation works even in a cleaner parallel to that of Sp*rs. We used to do it before Giroud and it has stopped because pressing is not in his game. If we go on and replace the wide man on the right side and bring in the high press centre forward we’ve all been craving we will have the perfect balance in the squad to negate our defensive deficiencies and more importantly go on to win some trophies this season.

What’s clear is that the next ¾ weeks will be crucial in shaping our season and with the right additions I’m really optimistic that not only can we triumph domestically but also finally crack Europe. We’re looking healthy overall but need that injection of adrenalin to propel us onto greatness.

Have a great week folks.

A summer that had been mooted for complete planning to address our weaknesses has descended into panic. The outcry hasn’t begun just yet but it’s well and truly bubbling under the surface. The good will of Xhaka has well and truly worn off and we are now in a state where a couple of mooted transfer opportunities have also fallen by the wayside. While I maintain that Vardy would have only come into Arsene’s thinking in the last 2 months of the season it’s staggering to see such slow movement on an alternative target, even if Vardy was our plan A (I really think he wasn’t). I know I’m feeling a little ‘panic stations’ however it looked as though we wanted to get Xhaka, Vardy and Mkhitaryan over the line before the Euros, before the reality of club competition coming in and nullifying the Vardy and Mkhitaryan deals. Let’s look at what could be plan B’s in our situation. Striker wise there have been links with Higuain, Lukaku, Lacazette, Morata & Aubameyang. For wide forwards we have been linked to Draxler and Mahrez. For centre backs we’ve been linked withMustafi, Koulibaly & Subotic. Finally for left backs we’ve been linked with Rodriguez. Now who in the world knows which of these links are carrying any real credence but what’s clear is that there is an opportunity to sign each and every one of the aforementioned players. What comes into question is the game that we are playing. I get that we are looking to extract the best value, we would be mad to not want that, as well as the fact we may have to negotiate the sale of a few players. There is a tricky balancing act that needs to be managed. However one thing seems to be prevalently clear. We have around £100m in the bank to spend still waiting. I hazard a guess as to the fact that we can still manage the wages of all who currently sit at the club alongside any incoming players but if we can offload a Walcott for £25m plus his £120k (or so!) weekly wage it would help our negotiating stance a little more. But as we know nothing is a definite in this world. What would be our ideal situation now? I would say that if we can bring in Higuain & Mahrez, that would be sodding brilliant. I’m less excited about Higuainthan I perhaps should be, as I feel like we should be plumping out for a CF that will be with us for 4/5 of his best years at least, where the reality withHiguain is that we will have 2 great years from him at best and potentially a 3rd if we’re lucky. The plus side to it all is that even though he turned down an £800,000 a week contract from China (WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE!!??) he could well be sought after as a ‘name’ even when he’s 31/32 so we could well get some resell value on him. Mahrez on the other hand would be perfect, and whilst I admit that Mkhitaryan was in my eyes first choice and an excellent signing,Mahrez would be the perfect plan B. PL experience for 2 years, talent, work rate…check, check and check. IF they were to happen (LOL @ my optimism) then we would only be one signing away from a truly complete squad. Although saying that, if the balance is right of the first XI then a CB signing may be futile. I’ll tell you why… A blueprint to why Sp*rs’ defenders were much lauded last season because they kept a lot of clean sheets and were the best defence the league had ever seen etc etc etc YAWN. The main reason behind this was not due to their defensive excellence or nous, it was due to their high press combined with mass fouling much further up the pitch and far enough away from their defence to keep them from having to make tackles, interceptions & last ditch tackles. So if we go out and buy the right personnel, pressing wise, they will be able to keep the ball further away from our defence and keep their shorts as clean as possible. It’s a hope that we can all harbor because the right balance of side means that we may not quite need to address this summer. It’s not a complete solution and one where internal solutions may yet have to be found and let’s be honest Wenger does love an internal solution.

UPDATE!

It seems we have signed Rob Holding from Bolton. Who knows what the plans are for him but he’s a centre back by trade I believe. Wenger may yet have plans to convert him to another position however as he’s known to see things others don’t (Henry, Lauren, Petit, Toure, Ljungberg, RVP etc). This means that there’s less emphasis on signing any further options at the back and the majority of the remaining kitty can be spent on our forward facing Guns. This is a good thing. I repeat a good thing!

Although we are now at a stage where panic can be seen in the not to distant, distance there is still room for hope. What the club needs to do is to go and get the signings we need in the door and bedded into the team Ready for game 1 not game 4/5 after the window slams shut. We need the bodies now and they in turn need to learn our way of they are to be effective from the get go. A lot to do but we’ve had more than enough time to get things moving and over the line now so here’s to hoping the behind the scenes action is at an advanced stage.

Mahrez & a striker please Arsene!!!

Have a great week folks.

It’s been a strange old week. The Euros have come to an end. The transfer madness can begin (or continue should I say…). But it all feels a little subdued for me. It might be a little to do with where I am. I’m in Charles De Gaulle airport as I write this piece and that’s why I feel a little deflated. Let me further explain.

Aside from the obvious that being in Paris and wanting the city to be bouncing on the back of a home win I’m saddened that anti-football has won yet again. Being at The Stade De France for what ultimately proved to be an anti-climax due to the result, showed me a glimpse of what football could well become over the next 5 years at least and it wasn’t a pretty sight. I’ve seen well known publications that I love reading, making claims that there is “no right way” to win and that winning is winning. It’s all very Vin Diesel. Leicester City have provided a blueprint for ALL teams to follow (not that they were the first by any means) to success. One thing I can understand is Leicester City playing this way, but a team such as Portugal who have an array of talent including Ronaldo, Nani, Sanches, Quaresma, Jao Mario & Moutinho producing an atrocious brand of football is worrying and I’ll tell you why a littler later on. In terms of the night itself I really feel like I’ve adopted the French nationality. I was in the France end and surrounded by the most wonderful fans. So much passion. So much excitement. The guy next to me explained every french song to me and got me involved with it all. It was brilliant. Spectacular. I’ve always had a soft spot for France because of Wenger and the French contingent at Arsenal but I now well and truly feel like backing them with full force going forward (I mean for when England get knocked out onwards, but that basically means at all tournaments). Qui ne saute pas n'est pas francais - eh! Translates basically to “anyone who doesn’t jump isn’t French!”. I sang (not well). I jumped.

Back to why I think this lauding of anti-football could make the next 5 years of football horrible…

Cristano Ronaldo is professed to be one of the best, if not the best player in the world. Now those who claim this (fans, coaches and surrounding people/players) are defending Portugals playing style to the hilt. Ronaldo’s injury was said to have put a spanner in the works for Portugal’s game plan but it didn’t skip a beat. Ronaldo was missing but someone else came in and their style of play continued as it had started. Happy to sit back and counter. Simple. Boring. Leicester. The greatest players in the world have teams built around them to compliment their talents, this is always the case and was the case this tournament. Does this mean to say that “the best player in the world” is only useful in counter attack teams/situations? Is he only capable of being great in a back foot surrounding? Messi hasn’t had the best week and Barcelona’s support of his tax evasion makes everyone want to vomit but historically Portugal have been about the beautiful game. Argentina have been about shithousing. Why then have Argentina built their team around Messi’s strengths and created a brutally attack minded side? Because they have adopted their best players strengths and mounded a team to achieve the best out of him. Portugal have done the same. And while I undoubtedly think Ronaldo is a great great player, I’ll never think he’s the best or the best ever purely because he doesn’t live and die by purist football. He doesn’t demand excellence. He wants to win at any cost. A completely valid motivation, so don’t get me wrong there, but is it one that we would like to associate with wanting to be great? Football first I say. Love the game not the goal. Love the moments not the back page stories. Most importantly, let the fans love the game. Let them see it in its purest form. Let them gasp, despair, exclaim & fantasise of what could one day be.

I would love Arsenal to win trophies every year I really would but I’d rather take a trophy every few years so long as we stayed true to the new identity we have created of the beautiful game in England. I’ve watched a fair few football matches live in my time and there’s no team that’s got me off my seat with their football than The Arsenal (with the exception of Barcelona) and I love that fact. I love that I know I’ll see us try to do things the right way. I appreciate sides that don’t have the financial clout and the talent required to play front-foot football but the teams that have the means really ought to lead by example.

The bigger issue here is that pure talent in the youth development phase is becoming less of a pre-requisite. Fitness, work rate, desire and PASHUN are all traits that are put alongside pure talent. The emphasis on this side of the game is stifling the truly gifted players and it’s the reason we see less and less English players that have any actual technical ability. Across the majority of Europe, in the biggest leagues at least, players are free to develop their technical skills first. The fitness kicks off slow and builds with time. It can’t work the other way. You can’t learn to be skilful once you’ve already harnessed your other attributes. You have to start all over again, which is why first touches of any foreign players always appear to be far more consistent and spectacular in comparison to our English youth. I just want to see every player try to be the best they can be and see the best football being played. We are paying to be entertained after all. I think that it does also come down to the type of football player you are and the players you look up to as to the style of football you might well like. I’ve definitely been spoilt whilst growing up watching the great Dennis Bergkamp and many others may not have had such a talented idol. But we’re now in an age where we could be close to accepting that fitness/work rate is on par with ability. They are both massively important but ability needs to come first. It just needs to!

There’s not much happening Arsenal wise and we’re getting to edgy territory whereby convincing ourselves of signings gets is through the day rather than refreshing Twitter every 5 minutes but we’re not far off. Especially with the Euros now over.

That’s where I want to leave it to be honest. Paris is somber. I’m echoing that mood. As I board my flight the loss for France still lingers. Victory through harmony will have to wait for another day. It could have been spectacular but one day it will be. In any case…I was there.

Have a wonderful week folks.

…And we did. In more ways than one. After infamously exiting the EU, England duly obliged with their own version of leaving Europe with another abject showing against Iceland. Now this is far from a political forum, however I can only echo that the scruples by which the leave voters made their decision has left us all feeling rather dejected. I don’t for one second believe that 52% of the UK is racist, but 52% of people have now given the racists amongst them a platform to speak and be heard. Not to mention that the racists among them now also feel that over half of the UK are on their side. So many people speak of the economic benefits, and there are many of them that I can identify with to a degree but on a moral basis we have now been sent onto a dark path. There are so many people that I know who are personally affected by the situation. So many people that we’ve heard have been subjected to racially infused abuse. So many people I know that have seen this atrocious behaviour first hand. It’s not right and as much as the leave voters will want to stand by their vote by self-justification and ‘reasoning’, they’re trying to convince themselves as well as others, that they’ve made the right decision. This is pretty clear from some of the moronic “I voted leave, but didn’t think it would happen and am now worried” clowns that have made this sort of statement public on the news. Just think, this is only the people who have felt the need to voice their mistakes. Not all people are quite as honest. In addition, the referendum was actioned by David Cameron, who used it as s short term tactic to remain in office. He’s now gone as he wants nothing to do with the consequences of that choice. Furthermore Boris Johnson, someone who was a part of the Leave campaign in a big way, has also put himself out of the running for PM. Even the tossers that came up with the lies on policy (SEE THE BIG RED BUS) are fleeing as they have no faith in their own words. A debacle. A farce. Not only this, but one we can’t go back on unfortunately. Social media and short termism fame and fortune has led to an environment where racism and bigotry has a place. It has been created by so called ‘democracy’ through lies and deceit. A worrying time to be a minority in. Anyway, enough venting on politics…there’s enough football to also be pissed off about.

England managed to balls up a game vs Iceland. A game that we should most definitely have won. A game that we would have won if Roy Hodgson had actually picked a TEAM as opposed to accommodating the incorrect players in the incorrect positions throughout the tournament. Wayne Rooney in my eyes is the single biggest reason that we didn’t function as a team. People (Man Utd fans) suggest that he had a great game vs Russia. He was good in this game, but this was against one of the worst teams at the tournament and in conjunction with this it was a game we drew 1-1! I mean when you’re lauding a player off the back of a performance and result like that you know we’ve sunk lower than low. He was, through no fault of his own, placed in a position where he hadn’t played for England throughout the qualifying campaign. In a position where for Man Utd, once again, he didn’t perform better than in an average capacity. I totally understand that we were missing certain players that enabled the system to work so well in qualifying, but is that reason enough to completely drop the whole system!? Now the reason that he’s been afforded the media bias and a fairly wide acceptance of his role in this position has been because he’s performed there in a “not terrible” capacity. He’s in the “he’s got good feet for a big man” bracket. But really we all know that he is not the best player suited for that position. Now we all know that Jack Wilshere didn’t have the best of it at the Euros (Shearer couldn’t get enough of trying to lay the boot in here, he wasn’t the only one you t*!t!), but he was never played in the right position or with the complimentary personnel around him. To get the best out of your players, and this goes for all players, you need to compliment them with the correct personnel. Dele Alli for example had an atrocious Euro campaign (which no one has mentioned mind) but this was due to him not being surrounded by the right players in the right position. Far from me to feel sorry for him because I think he’s rather annoying, but he gave away the ball a staggering 84 times when he played. More than any other player at the Euros in the same number of games. That’s what happens when you lack a box to box midfielder working in the transition role. He had Moussa Dembele at Sp*rs and didn’t have Wilshere or Barkley for England and therein lays the difference. The one game in which Rooney was left out, Roy went with Wilshere AND Henderson. Similar in their positions, nowhere near similar in quality but they kept getting in each other’s way. Neither of them is a number 10 so it meant that our midfield three were far too close to each other to function efficiently. Terrible management throughout the tournament cost us an opportunity. Even as Hodgson substituted Rooney with 4 minutes to play, his handshake with him looked apologetic frankly. Player power has never been as prominent. More stones would have led to a last 16 game on the right side of the draw. More stones would have led to a quarter final berth vs the host nation France. More stones would have left Wayne Rooney on the bench…The one thing we didn’t ‘Leave’ over the course of the last week.

The lack of balance in the team meant the front line lacked service and in turn some of the front line were out of position as well to a degree. Sturridge was wide right and Vardy wide left with Rooney as the box to box man. No link play and service was the result. The only thing that I can absolve the manager of in the debacle that was our showing at these championships is Kane’s set piece fiasco. Apparently he’s the best in the squad with set pieces. Do me a favour. Wayne Rooney was in the team, for the wrong reasons, but in the team nonetheless and has the capability and history of scoring from and delivering great set pieces so don’t tell me Kane was the ‘best’. Awful, awful, awful allowance of such mediocrity. England aside the tournament has started hotting up. The best of which has seen a fascinating Italy v Germany game followed by one of the best penalty shoot outs I’ve ever seen. Intense. Humour. Drama. Pain. Ecstasy. It had it all. We then had a quite brilliant France v Iceland game with Lloris finally being on the right end of a 5-2 (saw this on Twitter and had to recycle it!).

Onto The Arsenal. It’s been fairly quiet for all things Arsenal this past week or so. Nothing much happening other than the odd rumour here and there for Lukaku, Draxler and Lacazette. Nothing too exciting happening. Once signing for the future made in the form of Takuma Asano. It seems off the back of it that we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. He’s an unheard of like Kante & Mahrez were when bought, which Wenger was lambasted for missing out on. But he also isn’t the shiny, expensive front man we all crave. There is still more to come I’m sure, so don’t panic just yet. Other than that we are all just waiting for the next name to come in. As the Euros draw to a close the dominos should begin to fall. In the mean time we have 3 teams with Arsenal players left in the competition so there could well be a very happy Gunner coming back to pre-season training this term. I would love France to do it, purely because of the atrocities Paris has faced and in addition a home nation winning is always a happy sight. So long as Wales beat Portugal a Gooner will be winning, which makes me happy.

That’s all for this week folks. Have a great week.

I had the pleasure of celebrating my first ever Father’s day as a Dad this week. A hugely special occasion for me and one that I’ll never forget. It’s a tremendous feeling and one I just felt the need to share for a few sentences. My Dad and I have always been Gooners but funnily enough it was myself that had got him into The Arsenal rather than the other way around. My uncle was and always has been a huge Arsenal fan and was a season ticket holder for a number of years. He convinced me that I should be a Gooner in early 1994. We weren’t world beaters at that juncture by any stretch but I still remember that brilliant night in Copenhagen where we came back with a 1-0 win and a trophy. It felt good. No it felt spectacular and that’s where my obsession began. The years that followed were barren until 1998 and we all know what happened there. That’s the point at which my Dad first became a Gooner. He was in the know of everything happening with The Arsenal because I was the one delivering the info, the joy, the angst. We went to a couple of games that season and thankfully brought home the Double. Since then he’s become more on the pessimistic side of the fan base. The Devil’s Advocate to my unwavering optimism, but that’s something that he’s always been like throughout my upbringing. Keeping me grounded. Keeping me honest. And for that I’m grateful. My little one will not have to wait until she’s 8 to be a Gooner as she’ll already be well indoctrinated by then! She does like the TV when it’s on but becomes particularly transfixed when it’s the footie. She has her Arsenal baby grow and all ready to don the full kit we have ready for her. Anyways, onto the football… Being away at Center Parcs last week I was able to watch a fair few games with plenty of my wife’s family (there were 20 of us!). We obviously planned the activities around the England Wales game in the main but largely saw some fairly decent football over the week. The fun part of the tournament is now well and truly over though as there won’t be any more ‘3 games a day’ days. This is when it all becomes a bit serious and whilst still enjoyable, the number of football matches significantly decreases, which is a sad thing. One of the best games I’ve seen thus far is the Belgium v Italy game, where it was pretty much end to end only for Italy to take advantage and grab a 2-0 win against a much fancied Belgium side. This is an Italy who have been labeled as one of the weakest Italian squads in decades. It was also really good to see England win a game. A last gasp Sturridge goal was needed to beat a pretty poor Wales side. Following on from that you would have expected us to go on and beat Slovakia to top the group and be on the more forgiving side of the draw. Inept finishing and once again an unbalanced midfield selection proved to be the undoing of England. We have Sp*rs fans harping on about how Sturridge and Vardy were no improvement on Kane and Liverpool fans saying that Henderson was class etc etc. It’s becoming so hard for fans to be objective when following the National side now that everything becomes a competition between clubs again. It’s tiring and boring. More importantly it’s all wide off the mark of accuracy. The biggest problem England has had has not been at the back or up top. It’s been with finding the midfield balance. Hodgson has been afraid to drop Rooney in the first 2 games, and when the opportunity arose to ‘rest’ him he picked a ‘safe’ midfield with Dier, Wilshere & Henderson all playing. Far too defensive and cautious in my book and no link between the front men. Wilshere and Henderson kept getting in each other’s way, Wilshere was poor and Henderson was vanilla. He should have tried Dier with Alli as the No.10 and then a box to box midfielder in between them. Of that variety we have Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley available. Wilshere being the more intelligent footballer would make sense as the choice. Granted he was poor but a lot of the reason why is due to the lack of lateral movement in front of him. Excuses, excuses I know but he’s one of the most talented and technically gifted footballers we have and yet we aren’t utilizing his skills. It’s the same with Vardy, we’ve not seen the best of him as he’s out of position and it’s all been to accommodate ‘names’ rather than play a TEAM that will win games. Anyway, enough moaning about England. Onto The Arsenal… We finally had some clarity on the Jamie Vardy rumour/offer/saga. I can be happy now that we have said #NoToRacism, although it appears that racism actually said no to us and Wenger’s hunt for a politically incorrect striker continues, as the quite brilliant Arseblog put it. I’ve always been of the opinion that while he would improve our strike force he has been openly racist in the past in the casino incident we all know about and it’s for that reason that I wouldn’t want the likes of him at our great club. We live in an age where fan groups defend such atrocities and always find a way to justify it simply because a player dons ‘their’ shirt. I reacted the same way when the Suarez bid was taking place. ATAFC wasn’t around back then but I still stood by the principles of not wanting anyone racist to be rewarded and adored. Footballers have a duty to behave in an appropriate way due to their status, their position within society and because of how much money they get paid for it. All they have to do is kick a ball around and keep fit, not being racist whilst doing those two things shouldn’t be too difficult. So today I’m a happy man because we won’t be defending a racist because he’s scored a goal or two. This moves us to plan B. Now I think our plan B was probably plan A around January time as there is no way in January that Wenger would have though Jamie Vardy would be at the top of his shopping list. We will have had a target in mind and will go back to focus on that in my opinion, because the Vardy deal was an opportunist one that if it worked, would have been a steal for the caliber of player. Opportunity missed (GET IN!!!). But let’s hope that the initial plan A is still possible as there is still plenty of time left to make a deal happen. It seems that we are looking for pace with a front man coming in and there are a limited number of players available that fit the bill. Morata and Aubameyang are the ones that come to mind but who knows what will happen. I really, really, really hope that Wenger feels indulgent and just goes for it with a front man. The other situation that is in the background and that needs addressing is that of a wide forward. Theo Walcott remains in the void. It feels like he’s unsure, the clubs unsure and any potential buyers are unsure so it is something that really needs resolving, because Lord knows that we won’t buy anyone leaving us in a financially difficult position with Walcott. A lot to happen… A special note to the Republic of Ireland for overcoming Italy in a brilliant ending to the group stages. Who knew that 24 teams would work? We all thought that it would be boring and that dull games would ensue, well I did anyway. But the 24 team format has worked a treat. The uncertainty of who plays whom has been brilliant. Keeping a track has been confusing but that’s what I’ve liked. Brilliant thus far. Have a great week folks.

ATAFC is now 2 years old, which is crazy to me. The 2 seasons have just flown by and the blog is still going, which brings me joy. To coincide with this Happy Birthday I had the pleasure of experiencing my first spout of online abuse this week. 2 years in and a man hiding behind an egg avatar on Twitter felt the need to direct racism my way. I was minding my own, tweeting about England v Russia about the big decision that Roy Hodgson had to make on whether to bring off Kane and Sterling or not, which led to the quite insightful reply of “I didn’t know India were playing mate”. If that wasn’t enough the mans behind the egg didn’t even believe he was being in any way racist. I’ve mentioned it many times before and I’ll say it again, social media has truly given a platform for morons to exercise their obviously uneducated guff. But abuse is a part and parcel of what it is to have a presence online and any opinion will be scrutinised and lambasted with or without cause so I take it as a compliment more than anything. Anyways onto the football…

We’re here. ‘Silly season’ has arrived. Click bait is rife in today’s online world of transfer info and the 'itks’ are out in full force. Guillem Balague is out there knowing every move that will happen this summer and is so close to tweeting his “I told you so” message. John Cross, the 'insider’ at Arsenal knows that we won’t do anymore business, but when we do, the Mirror will be the 'exclusives’ on the story. All that and more will fill our summers…oh and the football of course. Something about some Euro competition I believe.

In terms of actual transfers for ourselves, we’ve brought in Granit Xhaka who looks a decent player with Arsenal like attributes in terms of distribution and old Arsenal like attributes in terms of fight and desire. Something we’ve been crying out for since a the days of Vieria & Gilberto. We’ve also gone in for Jamie bloody Vardy. I have no doubts that as a footballer he will do well for us if he arrives but on a personality level I simply don’t want him anywhere near our football club. Any player can commit a misdemeanour that can, in the main, be forgiven, however racism is not something that anyone can partake in accidentally. Vardy’s racist comments within a casino towards a Japanese gentleman were quite disgraceful and he was reprimanded for doing so. Some portions of the media refer to it as meme-worthy as simply a 'normal’ misdemeanour, which is also a disgrace. The British media will do and say whatever it takes for excusing one of 'their own’ be it someone of their country or someone that they simply love. Prime examples are Mourinho, someone they just love and are infatuated with as well as any Leicester player simply due to what they have achieved this season gone by. The love-in is strong and because of it things like racism are glossed over. I really don’t want Vardy at our great club because of this. He, and any others who fall into this category, such as John Terry and Luis Suarez should be nowhere near a football pitch. They are role models and give the youth of today the lesson that racism is only worth a 3, 6 or 9 game ban. It puts a 'price’ on it and gives people the subtle impression that it’s ok so long as you do the time for it. No. Absolutely not. Racists and bigots should be banned for life from the football pitch and should not be allowed to compete. If this tosser joins us and scores plenty left of goals and last minute winners vs Sp*rs & Chelsea etc I’ll be cheering yes, but not for the man, for The Arsenal. I’ll absolutely never sing his name or excuse his behaviour as many fans do and have done of the aforementioned players above. The only positive to take from all of this is that we seem to be acting early in the market, which is great to see…

In other areas it looks as though the hunt for a wide forward is on (bye Theo…) with interest in Mahrez and Mkhitaryan apparent. Bringing in a striker, a wide forward and a centre back of established quality alongside the midfield monster we’ve just bought and it will have been a really successful window. I would love to see a first XI reading: Cech, Bellerin, New CB, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Cazorla, Ozil, Mahrez, Alexis & Aubameyang (let me dream will you!). We’ve got a lot of work left to do to achieve that sort of line up but it feels like we’ve made the steps forward to at least try and get there. Trying is something we’ve done in the last few windows but this time it has to become a reality else there will be mutiny. Tim Stillman wrote a great piece on how the manager has been trying to rectify the Thierry Henry shaped hole in our strike force season after season without success. Think of the strikers we’ve had leading the line; Adebayor, Van Perise, Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela, Chamakh, Park Chu Young, Podolski, Giroud, Sanogo & Welbeck. These are the what we would could out and out strikers that we’ve used as the focal point of our attack and it’s indicative of Wenger having tried. There were also the Higuain, Suarez and Benzema sagas that almost took place so the 'want’ for a new man up top is there. This summer is the time to make it happen.

In terms of the Euros thus far, it’s been a really enjoyable competition to watch. The England result aside, the performance was at least something to take positives from. There are some big decisions coming up for Hodgson as in the lead up to the competition all the talk was of whether Rooney would work in midfield. It has done. He looked good (all be it against a dour Russian side) but the main conundrum now is whether to play Kane & Sterling with the likes of Sturridge, Vardy and Rashford waiting in the wings to take their place. I think that Sterling is likely to retain his purely because none of the alternatives are natural wide men but Kane’s place is more under threat simply due the natural alternatives.

The best game I’ve seen up until now has been the Belgium v Italy game. Some brilliant end to end football and Italy winning it against the odds was great to watch. I just love how emotion every single player is within that squad. It’s always been the case and again it showed with their celebrations for the 2nd goal. Even Buffon was getting involved! Great tv. Belgium have a great collection of individuals but they just don’t look like a 'team’. I’m not sure the manager is the right man for the job there, but in international management you just never know who or what will work. It’s never quite as clean cut as transferring a trophy winning manager from club football to the international stage (see Phil Scolari…).

England play Wales this week and that will be the talk of the town. Wilshere (if he plays!) v Ramsey, Bale v I don’t know, Rooney I guess although the gulf in class is apparent!

Have a great week folks. Oh and it's Liverpool at Home for the first game of the season. Nice and spicy.

Apologies for the lack of my weekly musings last week. Bank holiday shenanigans coupled with a serious bout of man flu have hampered my ability to do anything productive that week, followed by seeing a loved one leave this world. It’s had me thinking about the present moment a lot and how we can almost feel so encapsulated within it, that we forget it can be over in an instant. She was 68 years young and it was far too early for her to leave us all and the pang of it is felt more so by the nearest and dearest to her simply because she was the most happy and pure soul I ever had the experience of meeting. The joy on her face as well as the laughter around her that followed will be a memory that I’ll never forget. This same feeling can be brought down to even the simple things in life, like the feeling of winning THAT trophy, signing THAT player, just about catching THAT train, waking up to THAT beautiful sunshine. They are all magnificent feelings in their own way but as I mentioned above, they can disappear in an instant. They are so temporary that we should enjoy these moments fully in the now and not dwell so much on what could have been. In turn we should I guess prepare ourselves for events turning not so in our favour and try to come to terms with a bit of perspective from time to time. Anyway, that’s the deep and meaningful part of this post..back to the football.

This week it’s all about reflection and looking into what could have been as well as what has actually transpired. When looking back at this season, the brilliant events of the final weekend do mask what happened all of the weeks leading up to it. We managed to balls up a season that opened itself up in a way that we couldn’t have truly imagined, yet we, along with the majority of the other big boys, were not able to take advantage. How in hell did Leicester win this league? We are living in world where a team who sit back and defend well and hit on the counter. Now that’s not to say that I begrudge their style in any way, as with the resources they have versus the rest of the league why would they play any other way? But how did so many of us play such abject football for so long and not break down that Leicester side? Granted we did our job against them by taking 6 points off them, but we then succumbed to losing and drawing games to teams who played a similar way. Our style lacked any identity this season, which was a big reason as to why we were only able to finish 2nd (LOL 2nd!) but it’s still unbelievable that it happened this way.

Let’s forget the others and focus on ourselves. It all began with that fateful performance against West Ham. While we lacked identity and sharpness for game one, we let ourselves beat us rather than the Hammers. They did well to set up and come for a draw, which is wat they would have got if it weren’t for mistakes from Cech and Oxlade Chamberlain. But this game followed a similar pattern to the many that followed in similar vein.

What worked

It was clear from day one that we needed a midfield base of Coquelin and Cazorla, flanked by Ramsey and Sanchez and Ozil in the number 10 position as our midfield. Any other combination at the base of our midfield and we were lucky when we won and picked apart way too easily when we didn’t. The gaps in our midfield were far too easy to find and our lack of purchasing the right outfield player was indicative of this. Giroud at the spearhead of this attack worked quite well, but it needed Ramsey’s unpredictable runs from the right hand side to allow Alexis the space and guile to operate in his most effective manner. From the December win vs Man City we really didn’t play very well and rode our luck massively in any wins that we had and it looked as though Wenger stumbled upon a winning formula, largely down to the combination of Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny integrating into the side. Even with Elneny, Wenger seemed reluctant to use him within the team, however finished with a combination of Elneny and Ramsey at the base of our midfield. Either way we ended the campaign with the final 10 games going unbeaten, some good performance and some frantic ones, however we did end fairly strongly in comparison to our fairly erratic season.

What didn’t work

So much could be said of this category. We didn’t  quite have a midfield base that we could properly rely on. Wenger seemed to  try and go with Ramsey and Flamini A LOT at the base, which in some games  worked ok for us but in others any semblance of a decent midfield tore  through it. Neither of the two were ball players and we didn’t have anyone  else within the squad who could fill the ball playing Santi Cazorla. Because  of that our build up play was fraught and frenetic, leading to some really disoriented  build up play. By the time that we got the ball up to anywhere near the final  third any calmness and it lead to some quite rushed finishing. The harmony was missing from our football for so long  this season and even when Elneny was introduced, while the play did improve  because of his tireless running, it still lacked a little composure. This was  a major concern for almost half the season, which is why it’s the area of the  pitch that has been addressed first and foremost this summer with the signing  of Granit Xhaka – The ball playing tough man that could finally be our answer  to the departure of Patrick Vieria. No pressure.

Favourite Moment

The best  moment of this season in person for me had to be Theo Walcott’s goal vs Man  City at the Emirates this season. In a game where we were severely under  pressure we scored a quite beautiful goal against the run of play to turn the  game and create a quite incredible atmosphere. The best moment overall though  would have to be the final day of the season as the Sp*rs score was coming in  while we just about pushed forward to get a second goal. A quite hilarious  end to a disappointing season. It didn’t mask our pitfalls but it did create  a nice feeling going into the summer. A few special mentions need to go out  to the home win vs Man Utd, the home win vs Bayern and the last minute  Welbeck winner vs Leicester. All great moments.

Low Point

The worst  part of this season for me had to be the two games vs Man Utd away followed  by Swansea at home. Those two games spelt the end of our title challenge (realistically  anyway) and really highlighted that we didn’t quite have the balls to go  ahead and win this league. And we really should have won this league. Those  two games were our seasons in a microcosm. Promise. Hope. Possibility.  Followed by a speed bump, leading to a car crash. The smallest of adversities  that we faced sent us spiraling out of control and is the biggest reason as  to why we didn’t go on to win it.

Goal of the season

My  favourite goal this season had to be the Danny Welbeck one.  Purely for the timing, celebration, the opposition and the player who did it.  After being out for so long to come on and get the winner in the 92nd minute is what dreams are made of.

Player of the season

MESUT OZIL.  Created the most chances in the history of the Premier League and quite frankly  could have doubled Henry’s assist record if we had a more clinical centre  forward. This video  might just give you an inkling into that. It’s 21 minutes long but if you  have the time, take a look. Some seriously great football in it.

Wenger Rating

6/10 this  season. For two reasons; firstly for not investing into the positions needed  last summer, be it in or out of his hands the buck stops with a man who  couldn’t bring in a player needed with funds available (as well as plenty of  players available). Secondly for not being able to find a solution that  worked in terms of a plan B. The base of that midfield was left far too open  for too long and, while we didn’t have the personnel to plug the gap we might  have been able to see a better tactical solution put in place to nullify other  teams if we couldn’t play to our strengths (which we couldn’t for large  portions of the season).

The Future

Granit  Xhaka in. Mkhitaryan/Mahrez mooted. Vardy negotiations ongoing (I really hope  we find an alternative to this racist man, I cannot stand him and don’t want  such a ‘role model’ to be at our great club). It looks like a busy summer  ahead and one where we are making strides already. A wide forward and centre  forward are essential as is a centre back in my opinion. If we can address  these 3 remaining areas we will be in the mix next season.

I’ll leave  it there for now and properly discuss transfers next week as well as some  Euros chat.

Have a  great week folks, seize the day and live in the moment.