Is it right to write off Arsenal so early?

Whilst the transfer of RVP away from the Emirates would not render Arsene Wenger’s position immediately untenable, fans and commentators would yet again make claims that Arsenal are a selling club and thus, will not challenge for the title this season.

Unfortunately for Wenger, Arsenal have previous; the inability to persuade Cesc Fabregas that they could compete for trophies and the sale of Samir Nasri to rivals Manchester City do nothing to help dispel the rumours that RVP is also set to move on.

For all the criticism of Wenger and Arsenals’ transfer policy, the Gunners secured a 3^rd position finish last season, finishing above rivals Tottenham and guaranteeing Champions League football this season. Unfortunately this has failed to appease the fans that have cited the imminent sale of RVP as yet another moment in Arsenals’ recent history where they have failed to compete, or give themselves the chance to compete, with the best the Premier and Champions League have to offer.

Reasons to be cheerful?

Not a day has gone by this summer without an RVP rumour. This has allowed Arsenals incoming transfers to almost slip under the radar. The signings of Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla are not to be scoffed at.

Giroud comes to Arsenal on the back of a goal return of 39 in 86 for Montpellier over the last two seasons. With 93 goals in 216 career appearances, one would have expected Giroud to have made more international appearances than the 9 (scoring one goal) obtained already (perhaps suffering from the lone forward system used by France, fronted by Karim Benzema).

The indifference shown by some Arsenal fans to the signing of Lukas Podolski is somewhat surprising. Still only 27, Podolski has scored 44 goals in 101 appearances for Germany, amassing 112 in 291 career appearances. The left sided Polish born forward has a left foot that would rival that of a certain Dutch forward well known to Arsenal fans…

Santi Cazorla provides Wenger with a further wide threat; Cazorla has plied his trade from wing positions, making 323 career appearances scoring 52 goals whilst also making 41 international appearances for Spain. Although a fringe player for Spain (not at all a criticism) Cazorla was the second top scorer in a Malaga team that last year secured Champions League football.

Write Arsenal off at your peril

It must be made clear that at the time of writing, RVP is STILL an Arsenal player. Although it would be folly to suggest he will remain as such, it is worth pointing out that Carlos Tevez was “never going to play for Manchester City again”.

With Juventus and Manchester United knocking on the transfer door, some fans have accepted RVP leaving is inevitable and are looking to see how the Arsenal squad will develop in his absence. Arsenal have amassed a squad with depth; Diaby, Walcott, Arteta, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Ramsey, Cazorla, Song, Frimpong are all vying for starts in the Arsenal midfield for example.

It will be interesting to see how Wengers’ new look side lines up on Day 1 at home to Sunderland…

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Pre-season: Saints v Ajax reaction

 

 The Saints resumed pre season this afternoon going down 1 - 0 to Ajax in what was a competitive friendly encounter.

Fresh from a 4 - 0 mauling of Celtic, Ajax were always going to be daunting opposition, proving this in the opening 20 minutes with neat passing and interplay keeping the Saints firmly behind in the possession count. But as the game progressed, the Saints found their feet and began to put together decent moves but failed to find an end product.

The Saints had several scoring opportunities, with Rodriguez, Sharp and Lambert all guilty of squandering chances. The Saints looked threatening from the wings, demonstrating neat passes and overlaps on the 18 yard box, spoilt only by straying offside on occasions.

However, in the 65th minute the impressive Aras Obiliz collected a pass from a neat one-two on the edge of the 18 yard box, after a mistake from Fonte, to nip past the Saints defence and fire left footed across goal into the side netting to beat Kelvin Davis.

The period following the goal saw a flurry of activity on the Saints bench with Adkins keen to rotate his squad and protect the likes of Lambert and Rodriguez, affording run outs to the like of Chambers and Shaw. As expected this disrupted the closing moments of what was one of the more competitive friendlies Saints have played in.

Picking out the positives

• Nathaniel Clyne

Clyne made a very promising debut playing the first half at right back. He announced himself to fans with a crunching tackle in the opening minute to prevent a cross. The new signing made several incisive runs up the wing, providing Guly with overlap options and even cutting infield at times. It seems Saints have made a very astute signing.

• Ward-Prowse

Today's perfomance belied the youngsters age; at only 17 Ward Prowse was terrier like in midfield. On several occasions he found himself in good attacking positions and made a number of cutting passes through the midfield.

Clues from Nigel

• Formation

Adkins appeared to opt for a 4 3 3 formation with Lambert flanked by Guly and Rodriguez. Lallana appeared to play in a free role with Ward Prowse and Schneiderlin charged with defensive midefield duties. Both fullbacks looked to get forward.

Whether this was a trial run or the potential starting formation for the opening game of the season is difficult to determine. In terms of effectiveness, Rodriguez seemed ineffective when playing out on the left and appeared to leave Lambert isolated in the centre.

• Personnel 

Although still early in pre-season it seems Clyne will be Adkins first choice at right back, with Fox at left back. Ward Prowse was impressive but one would assume that Davis would fulfill the central midfield role when he recovers from his hernia operation.

Joey finds his Nietzsche on the World Wide Web

A Review of joeybarton.com: Joey’s response to trolling

Monday 23^rd July 2012 will be remembered for a variety of reasons. The orange blob in the sky decided to show its face to throw the UK summer into full swing at long last. The nation basked in the glory of Bradley Wiggins super human Tour De France triumph. The crescendo of Olympic hype reached almost unbearable levels with a specially aired live episode of Eastenders in which the perennial underdog Billy (us Brits love em) finally got his day in the sun (both literally and figuratively).

Big, big moments in the day’s news. 

But all pale in significance to the announcement that Twitter aficionado Joseph Anthony Barton made a new home for himself (and his ego feeding ramblings) at joeybarton.com.

“Depending who you listen to… I’m a footballer, ex con, ranting anti-celebrity, “footballs philosopher King”, Loving Dad and violent thug all rolled into one”

Our dear friend Joseph states how he wishes to air his views on things that matter most to him and gives us the opportunity to respond. TROLLERS BEWARE. Joseph has expressly requested that the “4 letter expletive” crew remain on Twitter. 

 The flow of egotistical narcissism adorns each page. Click on the ‘About’ section and one is confronted with the statement,

 “My reputation will precede me until the day I die. And for some that can’t come soon enough”

 Glance at the ‘In the media’ section and you are confronted with Joeys’ tongue in cheek witticism, 

 “Whatever I do I seem to make the headlines, don’t I?”

 But one inescapable fact exists that may disappoint. Joey Barton has a brain and he likes to tell us about how he puts it to good use. To the irritation of some and to the glee of others, Barton’s philosophical twitter splurges are, whilst incessant, genuine and brutally honest. The creation of a website, including  ‘Have your say’ and ‘Blog’ sections, is one way in which Barton has attempted to harness his undeniable ‘celebrity’ to accomplish some good, 

 “Here’s a library of topics that matter to me. I want to create healthy debate, hear your ideas and see what everyone's feeling. You never know, together we might just make something happen”

 His debut offerings include “The Rise and Rise of the Monosyllabic Celebrity…” found in his culture section and he also comments on the merits of a Royal Family in his politics section.

Whether the website is a PR stunt to increase his profile or is in fact a product of a genuine ambition to facilitate open debate is open to interpretation; careful perusing of the sites offerings will help answer this over the coming football season.

Barton is probably hoping that Nietzsche foresaw his rollercoaster football career when he stated, 

 “Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t” 

 An idiot on the field. A resounding yes. A bad apple. Yes. But will his new website offerings change our opinion of him? One can hope. Although...

 “Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man”

-Nietzche

No changes on the Barton front then.

Barton In the News (again)

Self aware, self important and self promoting, it seems the wheels are refusing to fall off the Barton-bus. Hot on the heels of his website announcement came reaction to the news that Barton plans to train with Fleetwood Town FC. Whilst only there to regain his fitness whilst serving a 12 match ban resulting from the end of season debacle, Barton has fallen out of favour at QPR. Stripped of the captaincy, fined and banned from their pre season tour, it seems that Barton’s time at QPR may be close to an end, with rumours circulating of interest from Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday.

 But one must question the logic of a football manager who would take a punt on Barton given his almost comical track record. Much has been made of his criminal past and violent tendencies. Assaults on team mates and members of the public have become a regular occurrence. On field spats with opposition and officials have often lead to games descending into farce, the most recent case study being the conclusion to the Premier League season where Joey demonstrated to the world he is genuinely a despicable footballer. 

One must also question the motives of Micky Mellon, Fleetwood Town’s manager, in permitting the Barton circus to train with his players, regardless of the press attention it brought to the League 2 club.