Reign To End

Tags

Euro 2012, European Championship, Fernando Llorente, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, Vicente del Bosque

Who’s next?

European Championship (EC). Some would consider this a better competition than the World Cup but it’s hard to compare something which is continental to competition that is world wide. For me, the World Cup still edges it. Since Spain won the last EC in 2008, they went on a 4 year reign that included adding the Jules Rimet trophy in 2010 to their trophy cabinet. If Spain were to retain the cup, they will be the first country to ever win the EC, World Cup and a consecutive EC.

The last tournament was held in Austria-Switzerland and it will be another joint hosting for this year’s edition, with Ukraine and Poland playing host to 14 other teams. Since the top leagues in the world are concentrated exclusively in Europe, the hopes to see quality matches are fair expectations. Euro’96 was the first of this tournament which I followed closely. It produced a lot of great memories and several great players emerged in that tournament. I can remember seeing a short-haired Pavel Nedved putting himself about in that tournament.

Including this upcoming one, it would have been the 5^th EC that I’ve seen. Nothing beats the excitement of Euro’2000 in Belgium-Holland. The team that France had that year was nothing short of amazing. The most boring one without question will have to be Euro’04 in Portugal. Greece deserved respect for winning it. I don’t prefer that defensive way that they went about to lifting the trophy but one can only do their best with the players they have.

This year’s edition, all the top European countries have made it to the finals. You can put a case out for Belgium, Norway and Switzerland who are all missing. More so Belgium because they currently have what is their golden generation. That aside, the usual giants of the game will be competing for the trophy. Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland and England will all be there and that makes for a very interesting tournament to look forward to. I will not claim this to be an in-depth preview. It just based on my personal take on the teams.

Now, let’s look at the favourite.

Spain

Reigning champions and holders of the World Cup, you really can’t look past them. Half of the team is supplied by just two clubs. However, they are often considered the two best clubs in the world right now, Barcelona and Real Madrid. While Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be able to play for them, Spain’s squad is hardly second rate. Their midfielders are household names that roll off the tongue. Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, Silva and Fabregas just to name a few.

They will be without the services of Carles Puyol and David Villa. The former offers them courageous defending and a direct route option while the latter’s efficiency in front of goal has already been felt at club level. Having just played almost an entire season at centre back, Vicente del Bosque has a replacement ready made in Sergio Ramos. Just like Puyol, Ramos is the one who will throw himself into every challenge and be the bully while allowing Gerard Pique to mop up.

As for the striking role, it looks increasingly likely that Fernando Llorente will be the one leading the line in the absence of Villa. This, I think will turn out to be a successful swap. Before this season, I was skeptical whether Llorente could fit into the style that Spain plays. The tiki-taka type of football that is generally employed by teams in La Liga and especially Barcelona. However, since Marcelo Bielsa has taken over Athletic Bilbao, he has used pretty much the same tactic and it has worked with Llorente as the forefront of the attack.

There would be no surprise as to the style that del Bosque will use. Xavi and Iniesta will be the fulcrum of their midfield with either Fabregas or Silva supplementing the playmaking further forward. Passing will be the key and opposing teams will spend more time chasing after the ball planning their attack (almost feel like I’m talking about Barcelona, minus the group pressing). However, as we’ve seen over the course of this season especially, that style can be negated. Good defensive shape and not rashly jumping into tackles could see Spain having most of the possession but create very little. Switzerland did it to good effect in the first match of South Africa 2010.

If there’s a weakness in this side, it’s their defence. Pique and Ramos should form a formidable partnership at the heart of the defence. Even if opposition find their way past these two, there’s still the tough task of beating Iker Casillas in goal. The Real Madrid custodian has been a mainstay in the Spanish national side for years now, and remains a tough keeper to beat. The weakness is arguably on the left and right of the centre back partnership.

Arbeloa may play for Madrid but he’s hardly a world class player in that position. Neither is Jordi Alba on the left hand side. As someone who only established himself as a first choice starter for Valencia in the 2010/11 season, he goes into this tournament very much the rookie in the side. If opposition wingers / wide players could get at them and concentrate their attack there, they might be able to find a way through for a chance to have a go at Casillas. This is where the role of Sergio Busquest becomes crucial as he’s expected to cover for the full backs whenever they are overly exposed.

Spain rightly go into this as favourites but it is a great ask to for them to win their 3^rd consecutive major tournament. There’s the tiredness factor involved as they had not had much rest since 2008 and the intense tussle between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the title this season. The likes of Xavi, Javi Martinez, Llorente, Ramos, Busquests, Casillas and Silva (49) have all played 50 plus matches already, in the season that just past.

Spain will be there in the knockout rounds and perhaps the final but I just don’t see them winning it.

Prediction : Semifinalist/finalist

Hope We Haven’t Forgotten Theo

Tags

Arsenal, Neil Banfield, Robin Van Pesie, Theo Walcott

You’re not going to catch me near your club John

So that’s the end of the saga then. The story of the Belgian in France which had everyone captivated. The enduring story of his struggle in Lille and his journey to be free. Many postulated that he could end up in Manchester but that was not the case. We followed the story by the hour as he provided us updates on his choices including what he had for breakfast. Then the news broke, a Russian oil magnate had to part with a miniscule figure of his fortune to free the Belgian. The world rejoice.

In case you don’t realise what that was all about, it is not the storyline of Thomas Vermaelen’s first feature film. It was about Eden Hazard, the boy who thought whored himself to the entire footballing world. Chelsea was his chosen destination. At a salary of close to 200k (reportedly), he’s going to be one of the top earners in the world of football. How he fits into the Chelsea side is another matter entirely. Intriguing for whoever the manager is to fit him, Mata and Marin in the same side without leaving gaps in midfield.

While that is settled, the case is not quite the finished article in the Arsenal camp of things. Deservedly, all the attention has been on Robin Van Persie and how he decided he has time to go fishing amidst the preparation for the upcoming European Championship but doesn’t have the time to put pen to paper to continue his career at Arsenal. I kid of course. The man has done a full season proper. Something which he hasn’t done in ages and should rightly be given some time off to recuperate. We all know that he wants to see further investment being done to the playing side at Arsenal before extending his own contract. Whether that includes Theo Walcott being given an extension of his own remains to be seen but Aaron Ramsey, Bacary Sagna and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have all put their cases for the captain to sign-on. Even that man has said the same.

Just like RvP, Walcott does not want the distraction of a contract talk in the run-up to a major tournament. In comparison with his captain, it’s all much more serene and quiet concerning his own contract extension. Which is strange because I’d expect Arsene Wenger to be a big fan of his. Some seemed to think that Walcott only brings pace to the side but that alone does changes things on the pitch. Opposing sides tend to sit back deeper and we are allowed much more space in the middle. Without him, sides tend to be tighter and narrow that gap between defence and midfield, thus stifling any fluency that we might have in midfield.

I believe that Walcott had a very decent season in 2011/12. He contributed goals and assists aplenty. Not only that, we got to see some form of variation from him with regards to his general play. It’s not only focussed on looking to run behind the last line of defence or just looking to run to the byline for a cross into the box. He cuts inside far more often and looks to run across the last line of defence now. Not contend with that, Walcott can sometimes be seen switching flanks with Gervinho and appearing on the left. While noticeably he’s less effective on the left than he is on the right, it’s a good learning process for him.

Would I like to keep at the club? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. Admittedly there are times last season when he was frustrating but Walcott has shown enough and recovered enough times to show that there’s a player waiting to be consistent there. Does he offer value if we decide to cash in on him? Definitely. There will be plenty of clubs in Europe who would want to have him in their side. I only hope that he stays with us longer and finds that consistency while with us.

By now, I’m sure we all are aware of Steve Bould and Neil Banfield’s promotion to assistant manager and first team coach respectively. Banfield goes on to say how pressing the opposition was a key ingredient in the reserves late surge of form last season. Like everyone else, I’m perplexed as to why we don’t do it more often. We’ve seen the impact of such tactics, the home wins over Chelsea and Manchester City in the last 2 seasons being prime example of it’s success.

We can’t say that the players are not accustomed to that tactics because we’ve seen them execute it well in the past. Our players are fitter than most in the Premier League as can be seen by our more energetic game towards the last quarter of any match when compared to the opposition. There’s a sense of complacency within the players that gives an indication that such tactics are not required against lower/smaller sides. Such notion should forever be banished from the minds of players. All we asked for is that they have the same mentality going into a game against City/Tottenham/United when lining up against the likes of Blackburn/WBA/Fulham.

I think enough has been said of the season just past and no point further adding to that. If and when the signing(s) are confirmed, we will talk about it. As for now, I’m switching the attention over to Euro 2012. Tomorrow’s post will focus on the first batch of contenders for the trophy.

Have a nice evening.

Don’t Know About Crazy But Fanatic Sure Is Close

Tags

Carlsberg, Churp Churp, Euro 2012, Nuffnang

Today’s post is not the usual blog but is the entry for “Are You One of Crazies” competition organised by Carlsberg, Nuffnang and Churp Churp. Here goes.

Starstrucked

I would readily admit that I’m one who’s crazy about football, if not the craziest. I guess there’s no better place to start than how it began. It begs the question, of all sports, why football? I got hooked when I was still just barely 10 years old. It was an English FA Cup semi final match in 1991 which enthralled a bright eyed boy in Malaysia. One of the teams that played in that fateful match became the love of my life.

While I didn’t exactly went into it full force, my passion was nevertheless fired up. I began scouring the local newspapers for that little bit of news regarding football and especially the team they call The Arsenal. Back then, I knew there was no internet and everything depended on the news editors choice. Even the chance to watch live football on television was scarce with terrestrial station only showing it on occasions before the advent of satellite television.

I can still remember the cigarette sponsored advertisements and “Road To Wembley” theme song as I sneaked out from my bedroom to the living room in very quiet fashion to watch those games. Why? Different time zone meant that matches would be very late or very early in the morning and being a school-goer, my parents were very strict on sleeping time.

From young, football plays a very big part in my life. Not only for teams playing few thousand kilometres away from me but also my local team. Born and raised in Perak, I was always going to be a Seladang fan. Going to the Perak Stadium on match days was tiring. Mostly because of the cheering (and the expletives whenever the referee gets a decision we think is wrong) but also because my dad would drop and pick me up a distance away from the stadium to avoid the traffic jam.

The most memorable moment when it comes to Perak was the Malaysia Cup final in 1998. Thankfully the match was right after my SPM finals paper and I was allowed by my parents to join a group of friends down to the capital, Kuala Lumpur, for the final. The 20 of us were part of a 100,000 crowd witnessing the first ever cup final to be played at the then newly opened Bukit Jalil National Stadium. That is ended with Perak lifting their first Malaysia Cup in 28 years only made it all worth while.

As I grew older and the internet became faster and faster, football engulfed my life more and more. However, the attention tipped the scale more towards the foreign side of the game than the local one. Not having to rely on the monthlyMatch magazines from the U.K., the world wide web allowed me to access information quicker and easier. It grew my affection towards Arsenal but it also opened a whole new level of world football to me.

This was about the time, satellite television became more and more common and with it, more and more football were shown, especially the Premier League. It wasn’t just about the availability of games to watch but also the availability of club jerseys to be procured. I started my collection in 1998, forking out RM140 that I’ve saved a whole year for what turned out to be the kit worn during Arsene Wenger’s first league title with Arsenal. Over the years, I’ve amassed quite a number of jerseys. Add in those magazines, books, dvds and other merchandises; it was not a small sum of money spent.

Plenty to choose from

Not a sight for sore eyes

I think my life would turn out very differently if not for Astro. They have brought football to us for a price. A sum that I will always pay. Without them, I would never be able to satisfy my thirst for football. Weekends nights are spent with friends between August to May. Every 2 years, even the months of June and July are spent with friends instead of family. It is because during those times, football is on. I don’t hide my passion for football and made it known to my family who are kind enough to accept that part of me. Every event is catered so that I don’t miss any Arsenal matches. One can only be grateful of such arrangements.

I don’t miss matches and especially not when it comes to Arsenal. Just this month, I can remember going to a friend’s wedding dinner. Someone quite close from my university days. Yet, it clashes with an Arsenal match against Norwich. I went early to the dinner and sneaked out right before kick-off. By the time the match ended and I returned to the dinner, most guests were already leaving the party. Sometimes people should know better than to arrange any events on the same night as Arsenal. I’ve not missed an Arsenal game that’s available on television for over 5 years now.

Earlier this year, I did my personal pilgrimage to the home of football, the Emirates Stadium. Going alone, halfway across the world can be daunting but it was an experience I would swap for no other. It has always been my dream to watch an Arsenal game in the home stadium and now I’ve done it. If life ended then, I would be satisfied. What it even sweeter was the acquaintance I met there.

Hearing the Champions League tune in person is something else

Twitter is where I hang out socially on the internet and there I talk football as well. Ok, fine. Maybe not 100% of my tweets are about football but I can guarantee it won’t be any less than 90%. With followers from all over the world, it was inevitable that there were a lot of them in London as well. Meeting up with these friends (people I’ve chatted with but never met in person before) and the warmth they showed to a stranger/foreigner really kept me warm despite the cold and windy conditions.

Away from home but not a stranger

However, while others here usually goes to sleep after the end of the Premier League matches, the night continues on for me. Weekends usually mean sleeping at 7 in the morning the next day. This is because, as long as there’s a live match on, I would invariably find myself watching it. La Liga, Ligue 1, Bundesliga or Serie A, I just love to watch and learn. A lot of people complain about how slow some leagues are, especially about the Italian but it’s something I enjoy as well. There’s a lot of tactical knowledge and understanding of the game which can be picked up watching those games.

When I add that to the months — years I’ve spent on playing the Championship Manager and then the Football Manager, I’ve built up quite a database of knowledge when it comes to football. I know players in far off leagues and what their history is like. None of my friends would ever want to take me on when a difference of opinion is raised on a subject that is football (though sometimes, I was bluffing my way through). However, having interacted with people all over the world, I’m humbled by some whom I have great respect and massively better knowledge than me.

For the last 3 years, I’ve kept a football blog going. Mainly, it is about Arsenal. However, when the right topic comes and when the season touches breaks, I do contemplate to write about non-Arsenal matters of football. To do it every single day is not easy. It takes dedication, perseverance and diligence to do it. It’s easy when there’s a lot of stories on the internet which one could use as the points of discussion. The harder part is finding that something different to write about when there’s nothing to report. For me, it started out as an avenue for me to put out my thoughts, rants and ideas about Arsenal. For me to maintain it this long without long breaks is a massive achievement.

Eat, sleep and always thinking about football

Football crazy? To lose sleep, time with friends and time with families just for the sake of football is not something many can do. In most people’s definition, I am definitely one who is crazy about football.

Young And Raring To Go

Tags

Arsenal, Jack Wilshere, Joel Campbell, Ryo Miyaichi

First bow

Hello to all and welcome. Not a great day so far? Well, let’s try to cheer you up shall we. Jack Wilshere has completed his minor procedure surgery in Sweden and will now return to Arsenal to continue his rehabilitation. It’s good that he has completed that and even tweeted a picture about it. Seems there’s no complication else we might have heard rumours about it. Or Arsenal have told the staffs at the hospital that any leak of story will result in us sending Manuel Almunia to work there.

That’s about the most positive outcome of the whole Wilshere going to surgery. Then there’s that strange comment used by Arsenal. “This procedure is not expected to significantly affect Jack’s return date in the summer.” Our definition of summer includes the pre season and some parts of the start of the 2012/13 season. That statement is as vague as they come. No specific dates given and something which the club can’t be blamed to be misleading if he stays out beyond that period.

I’m still holding out for everything to be as per said. That this is the final step in his recovery and we won’t see a recurrence or any new setback. Although it would be a miracle to expect him to come back immediately after being out for so long and not to pick up a minor muscle injury here or there. We have to be patience with him and Wilshere himself must be too. He’s young and passionate about the game, it is the job of the club to reign that in for just a little bit more. We’ve missed his drive, doggedness and industry but it’s going to be 10 – 15 minutes here and there before a full game.

Wilshere is young and talented but he’s not the only one we have at Arsenal. The other significant one is Ryo Miyaichi. He got his first taste of the full team international football yesterday when he got on in Japan’s 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in the Kirin Invitational Cup. I think he got around 20 – 30 minutes game time and was played left of a front 3. If you want a highlight reel of it, feel free to look through my twitter timeline.

Miyaichi didn’t score nor assist but he was a constant threat down that side. Utilising his pace to good use, he was able to get pass his marker easily. The final ball is just lacking but it was more than a decent international debut for him. There was also a Grand Slam (tennis) style interview immediately after the game while on the pitch that got the home crowd chanting his name. Their excitement of the youngster visibly evident as the commentators also raised their tone each time Miyaichi was on the ball.

Bolton’s Owen Coyle has already spoken of his desire to take Miyaichi back to Reebok for a season in the Championship. Unfortunately, I see no positives in that. Granted not all teams in the Premier League itself that likes to play football on the ground all the time, it is also hard to deny the more direct route employed by most teams in that division. Whether Coyle retains his philosophy one division lower remains to be seen. Yet we cannot discount that many teams will be attempting to kick lumps off a skilful player who wants to run rings around them.

Also I would prefer him to stay with us because of the option Miyaichi provides. When Theo Walcott was out injured, we lacked a little (read as a lot) pace going forward. Neither Yossi Benayoun nor Gervinho could provide that burst of speed that keeps the opposition defenders playing deep. That allowed them to squeeze the play on us and we were left with little room in midfield to play our type of passing. Yes, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has the pace too but he seems to prefer coming deep to collect than play on the periphery of the opposition’s defending line.

Since we’re talking about young players, I don’t think we can escape without talking about Joel Campbell. The Costa Rican has had an above average first season in Europe with Lorient. He played in a good number of games and earned valuable experience. When speaking about strikers at Arsenal, it is a bit refreshing to speaking of one who is confident of himself. No, I don’t mean Nicklas Bendtner. I’m only comparing Campbell to Park Ju-Young and Marouane Chamakh. Asked what he will bring to the side, the young striker promptly responded “goals and assists”.

While we like to see him play for us next season, the decision is really down to the Home Office in UK. Campbell needs a work permit after being denied one last season. Miyaichi got his without having played an international game, so it’s not hard to envisage Campbell finally getting one after adding a season in Lorient to his sizeable number of international caps. Finally a young striker to get excited over. Sorry Benik but you’re right, you too.

With so many talented youngsters to come back/through, the future’s bright right? Right? What do you mean we need experience more…………

Very Little Space Left

Tags

Arsenal, new signing, Transfer

Wanted asset?

We all knew what’s required of this break between seasons. For us fans to take a break and recharge our batteries in the same way as the players/coaches. Perhaps not from a physically tiring state like the players but definitely from the mentally sapping campaign that we just went through. For some though, the work doesn’t stop.

Chief among those will be Arsene Wenger and whoever’s helping him with the transfer dealings, contract negotiations, player scouting and so on. It’s not just about making new signings and looking to improve the squad. The rules these days dictates that a team can only register a 25 man squad.

The rules in the Premier League are as follows;

• Must have at least 8 home-grown (HG) players (regardless of age or nationality). Those are affiliated to a club in England or Wales for 3 years (or cumulative total of 36 months) before they reach the age of 21.
• Player under the age of 21 can be named as one of the HG player.
• Clubs can use unlimited number of under-21 players in addition to their 25-man squad.

This is what Arsenal submitted on February 1st 2012;

1. Andre Santos
2. Andrey Arshavin
3. Mikel Arteta
4. Yossi Benayoun
5. Marouane Chamakh
6. Abou Diaby
7. Johan Djourou (HG)
8. Lukasz Fabianski
9. Gervinho
10. Kieran Gibbs (HG)
11. Laurent Koscielny
12. Vito Mannone
13. Per Mertesacker
14. Park Chu-Young
15. Tomas Rosicky
16. Bacary Sagna
17. Thierry Henry
18. Alex Song (HG)
19. Sebastien Squillaci
20. Robin Van Persie
21. Thomas Vermaelen
22. Theo Walcott (HG)

With Wojciech Szczesny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Francis Coquelin, Conor Henderson, Ignasi Miquel and Oguzhan Ozyakup as the under-21 players. Any 4 from these could be added to supplement the squad to meet the 8 HG players quota. For next season, those who have reached their 21st birthday by 1st January 2012 will no longer be eligible to be classified under this criteria. Of which Szczesny, Ramsey and Wilshere will fall outside that classification.

The purpose of computing all this? To see what’s left for next season because we still need to meet the minimum quorum of HG players required for the season. Which in turn means that we are not limited to procure players who have to be affiliated previously with a club in England or Wales for a specific number months. Which means Wenger and his men can go out and search for the best talent available to ensure that we challenge next season.

However, none of that can be done without removing some of the players from that registered list. Adding those 3 players maturing beyond the under-21 age group, the list would be 25. Unless we intend to get under-21 players, then the list is a big concern. We know that Henry was only only loan, so that’s one spot freed up. Then there’s the other loan stint of Benayoun which has ended, so that’s another spot freed up (purely looking from this context and not whether we sign him for good, yet). We take into account the signing of Lukas Podolski and we’re back to only one available spot.

From that list, a lot of people (including me) can make good cases for Chamakh, Park, Mannone, Arshavin and Squillaci to be sold. Today’s news sees Manuel Almunia being in the group of 7 released by Arsenal. We’ve said plenty of the Spaniard in recent seasons, so there’s nothing new to add there. We’ve anticipated this and all I can say is, best of luck in your future Manuel. Even if the earlier mentioned 5 is sold or loan out, we still have Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, Denilson and Kyle Bartley coming back to the club. Unless these 4 are also being transferred out, we practically only have one more space in the team to fit another new player apart from Podolski. This is the main reason why Arsenal have not secured/announced their second new signing. (I don’t include Emmanuel Frimpong, Kyle Bartley, Benik Afobe, Ryo Miyaichi or Joel Campbell because both are still able to meet the under-21 rule).

The focus has to be those who are not involve in the European Championship or those who have immediate interest. I don’t think the club is able to haggle to much or hold out for a fee that the club think is fair valuation of the player. While I don’t like to see us underselling our players, there is no room to play when it comes to the squad rule. Seeing that most of these players are in very good wages, it would seemed hard for other clubs to take them on. However, what they are unwilling to shelve out in terms of wages could be compensated by a lower transfer fee.

If all else fails, then in order for us to buy players, some if not all of them have to be loaned out. To do that, we must also ensure that the club that they go to, takes up most of the wages. We’re do not have the wealth of Manchester City and could ill-afford to take up the full wage of a player we’re not using. Which is also why we can’t have any Winston Borgarde wannabe at the club.

More than most, I think Wenger needs to play a crucial role in this (as he always does). He must convinced these players to leave and that they have no future at Arsenal, unless he intends on using them. I would hate to see Wenger compromising and allowing the players to stay just because they do not want to leave for a lower wage. I would hate for Wenger to put his transfer plan aside because these players thinks that money trumps playing time.

Tick tock……tick tock.