Arsenal Awards - 2012

Football is rarely dealt with in terms of calendar years. Except for the odd momentous milestone, such as Lionel Messi’s breath-taking goal scoring return of 91 goals in 2012 that all but cements his standing as the greatest player of the modern era, if not ever.

For Arsenal it’s been somewhat of a mixed 12 months. It has been a year full of the usual highs and lows we’ve grown to expect as fans of the club, with surprises, agonising departures, bickering, pain and thrills all being experienced a long the way.

Once again, I’m going to call upon the predictive method of summarising such proceedings in an awards themed blog. I know, everyone does it, it’s about as creative as Gervinho on a cold winters night in Yorkshire, but it has to be done. So sit back and please enjoy with me my Arsenal Awards – 2012.

Champagne Moment

Arsenal 5 - T*ttenahm Hostpur 2 - Premier League, 26th February 2012

Let’s start with a positive one, and allow me to give you what I believe to be the Champagne, or Best Moment of 2012 as an Arsenal fan. Beating West Brom 3-2 on the final day of last season to finish 3^rd and automatically qualify for the Champions League was a fantastic finish to a long and tough year. Another immense highlight was the Return of the King, as Thierry Henry came home to score an FA Cup 3rd Round winner against Leeds back in January.

But the real Champagne Moments for me featured our noisy neighbours, and a score line we’ve grown to love in 2012. We beat Sp*rs twice at the Emirates Stadium, both finishing 5-2 and both involved coming back from behind.

A very familiar, and enjoyable, scoreline we experienced twice against Sp*rs in 2012.

I think February’s drubbing was the greater moment. Sp*rs were 10 points (provisionally 13 as they sat 2-0 up) ahead of us in the League, and the pre-match talk was all about how we were no longer a threat to them and how they now had bigger fish to fry. Goals from Sagna, van Persie, Rosicky and a Walcott brace put Sp*rs to the sword that day, and it was the start of a phenomenal run of games that ultimately propelled us above them in the League. Order restored. Oh, and mind the gap.

Game of the Year

Reading 5 - Arsenal 7 - Capital One Cup, 30th October 2012

A few notable nominations for this one too. Both Sp*rs victories could easily feature on this list, then there were also fantastic wins last season at home against Blackburn, Milan and Man Citeh, whereas this season has so far seen a fantastic away win at Liverpool, plus most recently a 7-3 win over Newcastle at home last Saturday, all of which have been thrilling in their own way.

But there was one game that stood out, had everything, and resulted in 12 goals (after extra time) and a 7-5 win against Reading in the Capital One Cup. It was the most epic of cup ties, as we found ourselves 4-0 down after 37 minutes, requiring two goals in stoppage time of the second half to keep ourselves in the competition and take the tie to extra time.

Theo Walcott scoring in one hell of a topsy turvy evening in Reading.

In extra time, we got in front, were pegged back, witnessed Marouane Chamakh scoring, twice, and Theo Walcott wrapped up his hat trick in the dying seconds to finish off the most emotionally draining game I think I’ve seen for years.

A prime example of how football is a game of 90 minutes, as we found ourselves on the right side of a come back that any set of supporters should be proud of. What a game.

Low Point of the Year

Bradford City 1 - Arsenal 1 (Bradford won 3-2 on penalties) - Capital One Cup, 11th December 2012

From a Capital One Cup highlight, to a massive, massive low point as despite that epic comeback at Reading we failed to progress further than the next round after a howling penalty defeat against League Two Bradford City, in the competition quarter finals.

A night to forget, as Arsenal crashed out of a deliciously winnable competition.

It began with that horrible clichéd question; can they hack it on a cold winter’s night in the North of England? And ultimately no we couldn’t, as we failed to even get close to getting out of first gear.

The players were an embarrassment, and we were completely outplayed by a side in the fourth tier of English football who could count themselves unlucky at being pegged into extra time after Thomas Vermaelen cancelled out the home sides opener in the 88^th minute.

At that point it looked like our International players would step up and scrape through, but we limped our way through extra time and you could see what was coming as soon as the 120 minutes were up.

A humiliating defeat on penalties and probably the worst reaction to a defeat I’ve seen since the social media revelation. Rightly so, too.

Most Improved Player of the Year

Carl Jenkinson

A year to remember for Arsenal fan, Carl Jenkinson.

Slightly torn on this one between two young Englishmen, both at very different stages of their careers. On the one hand, I think Theo Walcott has improved exceptionally in the calendar year. He started the year with serious questions over whether he’d be worth a contract extension, after a string of inconsistent performances, but finishes it as our leading scorer in the 2012/13 season with most fans desperate for the club to cough up to his demands that twelve months ago seemed ridiculous.

Elsewhere, 2012 was definitely the year Carl Jenkinson showed that Arsene Wenger was right to bring him in in the summer of 2011. A bit part player in the back end of the 2011/12 season, Carl started the first five matches of this campaign due to an injury to Bacary Sagna, and his performances, notably in the away draw at Man Citeh, were exceptional. It resulted in a deserved England call up and a new long term contract at the club. If he can keep improving in the future as he has done this year, we can expect to see a lot more of the man who would ‘run through a brick wall for Arsenal’. 

Rising Star

Thomas Eisfeld

There have been several emerging youngsters from the youth sides this year who have really caught the eye. Serge Gnabry has rightly attracted plenty of plaudits, and the young winger has featured a few times in the first team with the manager full of praise for the German’s ability.

Eisfeld has been exceptional for the Arsenal Reserves this year.

But the youngster I’ve been most impressed with is another German signed from Dortmund in January, Thomas Eisfeld. OK, he’s only made one first team appearance off the bench in the 7-5 ‘Game of the Year’ against Reading, but even just in that cameo he made a big difference to our midfield, showing the raw potential he has. Often likened to a young Freddie Ljungberg, Eisfeld has bagged eight goals for the Reserves this season, and is surely close to knocking more seriously on the first team door. One to keep your eyes on in the future.

Flop of the Year

Gervinho

It just hasn’t worked this year for Gervinho and he’s a player who often splits the opinion of many an Arsenal fan. After he signed in the summer of 2011 and made a very slow start (sent off on debut), I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and allow him time to settle. This season, I expected him to make more of an impact and to be fair he kind of did scoring three goals in the early part as he was trialled up front by Wenger. But from then on, it has been a miserable campaign for the Ivorian.

My issue with Gervinho is that I just don’t think he’s good enough for the club, and I write that with regret as I always want it to work out for our players. He tries, but often his trying results in getting in the way, being caught out of position, and making decisions that are almost as un-human as the size of his forehead. The icing on the cake was his glaring miss in the ‘Low Point of the Year’ defeat against Bradford, and since then he has simply warmed the bench, coinciding with our best run of form in the League with four wins on the bounce. I’m sorry to say it, but I don’t think that’s a coincidence…

That howling miss against Bradford.

Goal of the Year

Lukas Podolski v Montepellier - Champions League, 21st November 2012

Tough one this, as I have three goals in mind. One sentimental, one meaningful, and one absolute screamer. Naturally I’ve gone for the screamer as the best of the lot, but Thierry Henry’s goal on his return against Leeds again deserves a shout out for the raw emotion and passion of it, and Sagna’s in the first of the 5pur2 fixtures also as it was a header met with such desire that it dragged us back into the game that ultimately kick started our end of season push.

But sometimes you have to scrap meaning and emotion, and just enjoy a goal for what it is. And Lukas Podolski’s belter against Montpellier in the Champions League was just that.

No point explaining it, just enjoy it again below:

Signing of the Year

Santi Cazorla

Cazorla celebrating his first goal for the club, away at Liverpool.

It was another tough summer for Arsenal, as we again lost our star player as Robin van Persie’s true colours emerged and he was swayed by the prospect of doubling his money at one of our biggest rivals, Manchester United. Alex Song also left the building as Barcelona needed new bodies to warm their bench. Three players came in, one from France, one from Germany, and one from Spain.

Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski have both been on the whole very good for the club since joining, but Santi Cazorla has taken the League by storm since his arrival from Malaga. The best creative midfielder we’ve had since Fabregas, and his vision and touch are often reminiscent of the little magician we formally had.

In truth, he has had his quiet moments, but he’s never afraid to get his foot on the ball and try to play the beautiful football we’ve grown to love at Arsenal. He fits right in, and isn’t just a player who turns up, earns millions and does the bare minimum. His love of the game is obvious, and he’s an asset that we’re very lucky to have.

Player of the Year

Mikel Arteta

The main man of 2012.

Mr Consistent. The man with the perfect hair. And our best player of the year for me, is Mikel Arteta.

Our poor form at the end of last season coincided with his absence, which heightened just how important he is for us. But he’s our midfield metronome, the bridge between defence and attack, and not only that but also a real leader.

He has even chipped in with a few cracking goals, including the only goal in our brilliant 1-0 win against Man Citeh last season, as well as a stunning free kick in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa back in March.

As far as “panic buys” go, this guy has got to be one of the best ever made and he's the first name on the sheet every week as far as I'm concerned.

Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild 

Arsenal - With No Winning Mentality There's No Hope

I wrote after Saturday’s 2-0 win against West Brom how that result and performance gave us something to build on, and how it hopefully would set the standard for our remaining football in December when we had a real opportunity to make some progress in the League and Cup.

Yet it was just 48 hours after I clicked publish that we were not just back to the drawing board, we’ve sunk so far beneath it it’s almost invisible to our naked eye. Realistically there were only two competitions we could win this season; both of them domestic cups. Last night that possibility was halved after a penalty shoot out defeat against Bradford City, of League Two, in the Capital One Cup. We’re back in crisis town, and it isn’t pretty.

In fact, the aftermath of this defeat was as ugly as I think I’ve ever seen in the Arsenal world since the social revolution enabled us easy access to each other’s thoughts. That includes Cup Final defeats, player departures, poor AGM displays and comments, and many lacklustre League games against lower table opposition that have ended miserably. Unsurprisingly, last night seemed to top them all. And it’s not hard to see why.

Wenger after the shoot out.

There are many reasons why we Arsenal fans are unhappy right now. Some direct it at our transfer policy, others at wages. There’s Boardroom issues, commercial shortfalls (that have only recently been put right), ticket pricing, strategy, and probably most prominently the actual performance of the team on the pitch that has led us to our worse start to a season in the Arsene Wenger era.

All perfectly reasonable and understandable concerns, most of which I share (although to varying degrees), but that’s not what I’m here to talk about today. My main issue with Arsenal Football Club currently is that the winning mentality, ambition and drive of the club as a whole has pretty much completely evaporated almost into thin air.

It hasn’t always been this way. There was a time in recent history when Wenger was laughed at by reporters for saying he believed his side could go a whole Premier League season unbeaten. The epitome of a winning mentality, and he proved himself right with that comment given the unequalled success of the Invincibles.

But today it’s different. Going a season unbeaten has transformed into ‘finishing fourth is like a trophy’, an often repeated statement that drives Arsenal fans around the bend. I understand it’s importance, but it’s not a trophy. If it was, our recent success would be almost unmatchable, we’d need a stadium expansion to fit a new trophy cabinet, and this whole debacle wouldn’t be occurring. The Wenger of ten years ago would’ve laughed at that sentiment. The Wenger of today is latching on to it at all costs to justify his employment at a club that has gone seven (preparing for eight) years without an actual tangible trophy.

I get that a lot has changed between now and then. I know that two clubs bankrolled by billionaires throwing money at them for fun have overtaken us. Who can offer twice as much as we can on transfer fees and wages, and that loyalty in football is dead so players are more interested in the ‘£’ line of a contract than that of the history and heritage of the club they’re negotiating with. I get that we had a stadium move, from the homely historical Highbury to the gigantic commercial haven of the Emirates, and that with this came financial strain and year after year of careful spending and planning to pay off debts that otherwise could’ve sent us down a route painfully explored by the likes of Leeds United and Portsmouth.

I know that sacrifice had to be made, and I do appreciate what Wenger has done to keep us competitive (to an extent) and in the Champions League, so we have remained a leading global brand of this crazy sport that has resulted in a new bumper commercial deal with Emirates, and money making tours in Asia and other parts of the booming world that in the long term business side of things is nothing but good news.

For a competition we don't give a shit about, it sure has hurt us in recent years...

But all I ask is that we, as fans, get something back in return. Something to cling on to. A bit of hope. A bit of ambition and desire to win any fucking competition. Trophies aren’t guaranteed I know, and supporting any sports club doesn’t come with a seal of definite achievement. We’re a victim of our own success in many ways, but the attitude of today is so far removed from what we saw ten years ago. Back then we were in it to win it. Today we’re all about reaching the bare minimum.

You don’t have a winning mentality if you continue to sell your club captain or your star players. You’re accepting mediocrity if you continue to blame external factors (referees, weather, length of grass, I dunno) for shortcomings in games and competitions, rather than admitting that the players that you pick on the night simply weren’t good enough, and haven’t been for some weeks.

You’re never going to win matches when you persist with a tried and tested formation that simply isn’t working. You won’t even beat a League Two side when you start three attackers all playing out of position, despite having done so before to again, no decent effect. No shot on target for 70 minutes from a full strength Arsenal side playing Bradford Fucking City (who were great I should add, but this isn’t about them). That’s atrocious, and every player bar maybe two were well short of the level we expect at this football club.

Sir Alex Ferguson dragged Rafael off the pitch after 30 minutes against Reading after he had an absolute shocker, which is the sort of tactic that drills it into a player that he hasn’t done well enough and needs to work harder. Rafael then turns up a week later and plays a blinder in a victory at the home of the defending League Champions. Wenger doesn’t do this. He doesn’t react; he waits. He’s too protective and lets players get away with being average, and won’t sub or drop them because we never have a squad good enough to keep said players on their toes and working to always improve and play well enough to get a starting birth. Or those on the bench are far happier getting their substantially undeserved wage that they can’t even be bothered to make any effort on the pitch (or in training, I’d imagine).

It’s not a winning attitude. It’s a “make-do” attitude. And it’s been the same shit for seven years now. When the going gets tough, the tough get going as they say. Ferguson and Man United have winning etched in their bones as a club. Under the slightest bit of pressure, Arsenal crumbles. Last season their squad was almost on par with ours I’d say, yet they finished 19 points up the ladder and were 20 seconds from winning the League. This season they’re already 15 points ahead. It’s frustrating because we have the basis, the infrastructure, the fan base, the quality of players and the history that suggests we have what it takes to be competing at the very top, but every year we’re falling further and further behind.

Tom Fox, Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer, this month said in no uncertain terms, ‘winning isn’t everything’. Whilst again I can understand what he’s getting it in a round about way, his comments are wide of the mark in terms of what fans actually want. And it’s just another example of the point I’m making with this blog.

Football’s a results business at the end of the day. And Arsenal currently doesn’t have the appropriate mentality from top to bottom to achieve results consistently enough to win the trophies that we once competed for.

And until that’s fixed, the pain, suffering, and wait will go on.

Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild

Arsenal 2 WBA 0 - Something To Build On

Well after a fairly miserable few weeks, we have our winning Arsenal back. Saturday’s victory over West Bromwich Albion was our first in the League since we smashed the noisy mob up the road three weeks ago, and was a welcomed relief after what can only be modestly described as a pretty tricky period for all at the club.

After a dismal performance at home against Swansea a week ago plus a lacklustre display in Greece in Europe, the talk ahead of the WBA match was one of a positive response and winning the fans over again, and that’s exactly what happened. In truth, West Brom weren’t at their best but that takes nothing away from what I thought was an excellent and professional display from Arsenal, and the three points were very well deserved.

You beautiful Spaniard, you.

Mikel Arteta scored both of the goals from the penalty spot, and in all honesty we could and probably should have gone to score three or four in a match we dominated from start to finish. Not that I’m complaining though. The performance, result and clean sheet will certainly be a big confidence boost to the players as we approach the busy winter period that contains plenty of winnable fixtures.

There was controversy over the first goal, as Santi Cazorla went down in the area under a challenge from Steven Reid that resulted in a penalty that left Baggies manager Steve Clarke rather unhappy after the game. I haven’t seen it on TV yet, but I’ve seen pictures and read reports that offer differing opinions on the amount of contact (or lack of) that there actually was.

To make one thing perfectly clear, Cazorla isn’t a diver. He doesn’t have that extensive reputation and history of going swimming on the pitch that the likes of Bale, Suarez and Young have, so the idea of dressing him up and burning him at the stake is a little far fetched if you ask me. I don’t condone it though. Not for a second. If it is indeed true that he dived, I’d hope that Arsene Wenger would have a quiet word with him. But it doesn’t require anything more. It’s an issue if he does it week in week out like the aforementioned fuck wits do, but he doesn’t so I think we can get on with our lives without losing any sleep on this one.

There was no such controversy with the second, as the impressive Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (who had his best game of the season I thought) was brought down by Chris Brunt. Arteta again converted with another cool chip down the middle, and a two-goal cushion was enough to see the game out without too many problems.

It was as complete a performance as we’ve seen from Arsenal for some time, and credit must be given to the players and management for turning around our poor form.

Excellent display from Wilshere.

Whilst Arteta will rightly get the plaudits for the goals, it was Jack Wilshere who impressed me most. His driving runs from midfield as well as his improved understanding with Cazorla and Arteta were the heart beat of our game, and West Brom simply didn’t have an answer. Last week there was little ambition or confidence in our ability to move the ball forward, and I think it was Wilshere’s contribution and determination that largely corrected that yesterday. He was also unlucky not to get on the score sheet, as he prodded wide from 6 yards after a Gervinho cut back. It’s simply great to have him back and after Wenger’s comments about how he’s getting “closer to the player we know he is”, it’s scary to think how good a player he will be in the future.

Thomas Vermaelen also had his best game of the season I thought. He looked assured and controlled at the back, stepped out of defence with the ball well and also made several key blocks/interceptions. He’s taken a lot of stick lately with questions over his performances and captaincy, but he was incredibly impressive yesterday and let’s hope for more of the same.

Elsewhere, Olivier Giroud had another good game despite being hounded by Olsson for most of it. With his strength in the air, he offers something no other striker does at the club, and allowed us to be far more direct in our attacking play with countless long balls used to good effect with the wingers and attacking midfielders linking up well with the handsome Frenchman.

Olsson, a bit of a bellend all game, being sized up by Jack.

Defensively there was little to be worried about, and Bacary Sagna and Kieron Gibbs both played well whilst Per Mertesacker was his usual busy and effective self. Wojciech Szczesny was decent in goal, and it was a big positive to get only our third clean sheet in the League since the beginning of September.

After games like this there’s very little point in being picky and fussy, but I’m going to have to be slightly about Gervinho. I’ve defended him vigorously over the past couple of years but I’m finding it harder and harder to do so right now. He’s busy, he runs a lot and he tries. But he just isn’t a good enough footballer for Arsenal. I often saw him out of position defensively yesterday, but it’s his poor decision-making and execution that bugs me the most. He wasn’t terrible yesterday, but he was incredibly frustrating. We’ve seen he can be good and I really hope he recaptures his fine early season form, because right now he’s a headache.

Anyway, that’s only a small negative for me after what was in all other areas a day full of positives. The wrongs of the Swansea game were corrected. The confidence and belief was back in full flow, with the players actually wanting to get on and use the ball rather than the dull passing along the back line we frequently saw last weekend. We hardly gave West Brom a chance, largely due to the return of the intense pressing that has worked so well for us previously yet for some reason is only utilised scarcely as a tactic. More of that please.

And with results going our way, it leaves us just two points behind the trio of teams in fourth place. Not all that bad, is it? It definitely has given us something to build on, and we really should be looking at the upcoming League fixtures this month with four wins out of four very possible. And necessary.

Up next though is a trip up North for the Capital One Cup quarter final against Bradford City. I think we can expect a fair few changes for this one, and without any kind of disrespect to Bradford it’s probably one that we can afford to rest some key players without it harming us too much.

Cup games are tricky yes, and Bradford will be up for this so we need to be prepared and switched on. But it’s a game that I expect us to win without needing to be full strength and with a semi-final spot as the reward I’m sure the players will go out there, give it their all and get the job done.

That’s the performance that we saw at the Emirates yesterday. The idea that these players aren’t good enough is ludicrous, so let’s hope that now they can build on this display and really show everyone what they’re capable of.

Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild