Written by Mean Lean on Friday, 07 October 2011 00:32

Morning all,

Sounds weird saying that but I am looking to make a slight adjustment to the timing of the blog. Over the last few years the blog has gone up in the afternoon but pushing out articles during that time may be a problem nowadays due to one of life's changes, so the plan is to get them out in the morning just in time to put you off your cornflakes.

Our start to the season has left us dangling around areas of the league table that has left Gooners up and down the country more than a little uneasy. If our post Carling cup inconsistency continues way into the season then the risk of losing a Champions League place is very real.

Personally I think we will find our rhythm and get out of most of our funk, plus I don't think that highly of either Liverpool or Tottenham. Especically over the course of a whole season.

Even if the worst comes to the worst and we finish outside of the Champions League places we will not suffer financially according to Ivan Gazidis.

His comments are all over the press today but this isn't anything new. It has been mentioned on many occasions as the stadium was in the process of being built that the club would not rely on Champions League football to survive, that would not be clever as you can never assume that finishing in the top four is a guarantee, especially as so many clubs are throwing money around in order to reach the holy grail. While I am sure the club will be able to make ends meet if we finished outside the top four, there is no doubt that CL football being absent from next season's fixture list would be a huge problem to the short term.

We have some very important players coming towards the end of their contracts and trying to convince them to sign new contracts without the prospect of playing at the highest level might be asking for a little too much. It would also potentially affect our transfer budget. Without the CL income, I expect their to be plenty of powder being kept dry so while it is a possibility in October, there is a hell of a long way to go until we are close to knowing where we will finish this season.

Our early season inconsistency is largely down to the amount of changes made to the team, yet many people wanted even more changes to the squad.

It brought me back to a quote from Arsene Wenger back in 2009 about changing too much of the squad can be a technical risk.

"You change three players and bring in three or four new faces who do not know your playing philosophy and it can hit your team like the flu.

"Sometimes when the players are extremely intelligent they adapt very quickly and it can also click very quickly. But it's rare"

Wenger said this 2-3 years ago and I assume that it is all very relevant today. We have changed at least one player in each area of the pitch (apart from keeper) and it is going to take plenty of time for the whole squad to adjust. It would have been nice for all these players to have practiced the whole settling in period thing whilst on tour in Asia but I am very bored of talking and listening about that but it is still very hard to talk about players not settling in without boring the person next to you with the same summer complaints.

Per Mertesacker has spoken to the German media about still needing to adapt to the English game. He is yet to find a permanent home and is still adjusting to the language. Not only this but he has already had to play with various different partners in his short time in a new league.

This is why I have hope that we will turn around our fortunes. I have watched too many Arsenal greats struggle with the start of their Arsenal careers. Wonderful players like Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and plenty more looked anything like the players that reached their peak at our great club.

Mertesacker, Arteta, Gervinho, Santos, Park, Chamberlain and Benayoun have a little while yet before they can walk around the Emirates with their eyes closed and know where they are going.

The youngest of them all continues to make a mockery of a crisis of confidence at the club. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continues to impress as he scored a hat-trick for the England under 21s against Iceland u21s. He has already scored in his first Carling cup start and then in his first Champions League start.

When a player is making that type of impact then it is hard to ignore him. Jack Wilshere, Nicklas Anelka and Cesc Fabregas have all starred for Arsenal at 17-18 and I imagine that it is only a matter of time before the Ox will be scribbled on that list.

His third goal was a little bit of a fluke as he tried to cross the ball in but his skill to beat three men before that was just what doctor fortune ordered. I think he needs to be on the bench every week, at least until some stronger players are available.

I should add the 'we ought to be careful and patient' line but I won't because there is no need. If you've watched him play then you know where this kid is going. We are not looking at another Jermaine Pennant that is for sure. As long as he has brains then he should be fine.

In other news Mikel Arteta has spoken about how he does not want to be compared to Cesc and also that he didn't undergo a medical before joining Arsenal.

Before I disappear for another day, I just wanted to inform you of a rather interesting piece coming up by Squid Boy where he provides some great in depth data about the top teams who have lost leads over the last few years. You may well be quite surprised. Keep your eyes pealed.

If you are not into pealing your eyes then just subscribe to the Arsenal Vision RSS feed. Why not I say.

Back tomorrow.

• Add New
• RSS

Comments (27)

• 07-Oct-2011 09:08 | | arsenal4ever
  

  you know Wenger also said you cant convince people to be ambitous if selling CF and SN? Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke has to go.

• 07-Oct-2011 09:14 | | pika
  

  well arsenal4ever that should tell you that the board simply overrid wenger.....
  
  you think wenger is some idiot to issue this warning in public and then agree to sell them ?
  
  obviously theboard said @ well arsene why dont we do this instead....

• 07-Oct-2011 09:16 | | pika
  

  if theres on mistake wenger has made is to not turn and say :
  
  "i am arsene wenger and i refuse to be disgraced becuase of your wrong moves therefore i resign and good luck with paying your fkn stadium"
  
  but you se the man is dedicated to arsenal. yet you all slag him as if you personally have ever doen anything for this club to the level he has.
  
  another mistake he did was spoilling you all in his early tenor.

• 07-Oct-2011 09:20 | | pika
  

  i believe we can go a whole season undefeated
  
  hahahahahahahhahahahaahahah hahahahahahhahahahah responded the dumb public
  
  one year later 26-12-00
  
  just for that alone noone in this country should ever ever think or cross through his mind that he can doubt or question this manager- full stop

• 07-Oct-2011 11:39 | | chris  - Look at the table
  

  Pika, I admire your loyalty...
  
  But all the same, things change.
  
  Chelsea came and once they'd spent enough money to get a title winning side Arsenal have never finshed above them.
  Man City are looking likely to do the same.
  
  The space for other teams is being squeezed horribly (do you remember Everton, the team that used to challenge for 4th some years? Do you remember Liverpool, the team that always used to get into the Champions League?). Spurs are finally seeeing the rewards of spending consistently for a long time and you can understand why their fans are cheerful but they may not get top4.....
  
  Arsenal are playing poorly, they don't look as if they have the capability to quickly get much better. They haven't won away in the Prem (anywhere?)for almost a year. After Newcastle, Stoke, Blackburn, Birmingham (a team who was unltimately relegated) Spurs, Wigan, Sunderland and probably loads of others I have forgotten, there is no team in the Prem that feels beaten when they're a goal behind against us.
  More than that, as I said the other day, the games we have won have been against poor teams and we've been hanging on and even when we dominate possession, we're still likely to concede at any time
  It's going to be a tough, tough year and being "the mighty Arsenal" and having the great Arsene Wenger as the manager is not going to get us points on their own.
  I am not a doomer in any way but these are just pretty much indisputable facts.
  If you put a gun to my head and said do you think relegation or Top 4 is more likely I'd spend a long time before replying. If you said third from top or third from bottom, I wouldn't have thought there's much debate.

• 07-Oct-2011 12:26 | | colesy  - the league table doesn't lie
  

  to Pika and all the AKB's out there. Wenger is being controlled by the Board - so they are to blame (not Wenger). If that we the case, would he seriously stick around and work under those conditions? For someone who went out his way a couple of seasons back with his comments about making too many changes and integrating new players etc and how disruptive etc that would be- to then do precisely that (and so late in the transfer window to make the integration process that much more difficult), who's fault is that?
  
  Oh, I know. Fabregas & Nasri of course. These two trouble makers are to blame not Wenger.
  
  Rubbish of course as everyone knew that Fab was kept for one more season in the hope we'd win something. Both players were 'odds on' to leave this summer and they should have been shipped out at the start of the window, new players brought in and given the tour and Emirates Cup to integrate (buy houses & become settled, learn the lingo etc). But no, everyone else to blame as usual!

• 07-Oct-2011 13:50 | | pika
  

  it is not about loyalty, it is about respect and trust.
  
  there is nothing in this managers previous work/stature/reputation that would lead me into believeing that i shouldnt trust him. the man knows - full stop. the people who attack him and critisise him dont know their @rse from their elbow. therefore purely out of respect they shouldnt even dare think they can critisise him.
  
  people here castigate him as if he stole their food or burned their houses. the man is in charge of a football team and this football team is the team of a club that has gone through the toughest imaginable transition in a period of uncertainty and in a period which coinsided with the arrival of new players in the league who are uncontrolled.
  
  your comment on chelsea tells me that you take chelsea;s current status as something which will be eternal. that is wrong..what chelsea has done can not be sustained. how much longer ? 2 years ? 3 years ? 5 years? after that either they change their ways or get sold for a pound again. this is where club strategy comes into place. what do you do? do you go head to head with this guy when you know that he can beat you right now? no of course not. you wait for him to do his thing, you stay close , and when he abandons the scene , you take advantage. people here suggest wenger and arsenal change their policy and strategy according to what the new flavour of the month is. if today to be succesful you need sheikh then arsenal shoudl get their own sheikh too.. if chelsea and manure pay players 200k per week then arsenal must do the same... thats the mentality i see going round. very few take pride on the principles and policy the club together with wenger want to teach and perpetuate for arsenal.
  
  arsenal are playing poorly because of psychology not beacuse they are bad players neither because the manager is a bad one. its a mental block. and if you have read todays post about the leads you would have noted that this loss of confidence is like an electrical current going between players and fans. when the fans are sitting there expecting the goal to be conceeded that is transmitted to the fans as well...and what do you know...they concede. this is what i mean by fans being followers and not supporters and that their following is conditional on results and trophies. it is vary rare these days to listen to any arsenal fan saying.." im proud im happy and i dont give a sh*t what manure or city do to win titles...if we win i want us to win our way cuase thats the way that represents me and is aggreable to my values on the game" ...no you all want wenger and arsenal to copy city chelsea and manchester under the wrong assumption that the status they enjoy now is a status they will enjoy forever. or worse ..that in order to be succesful you either do it the city and chelsea way or else you will never be succesful.
  
  the table doesnt lie? lol .....thast pretty balck and white ...the tabel didnt lie last year either or in 07 but we all know what it took manure to win them ....dubious ref decissions. and in any case what the table shows now is a situation which can change. after all 3 of the 7 first fixtures were aginst top rivals which could go either way.
  
  i dont understand how you can make predictions on the base of 7 games, especailly when you know that we sacrifised the early games of epl to focus on champions league jackpot. especially when you see the injuries weve had to cope with and the arrival of new players. these things have already happened ..going back and trying to look who to blame is not the way forward..thats what housewives do and gossip nannies.
  
  either you accept the situation and fight for it ..or you cry like a mug , transmit your negativity to the players , it all goes to sh*t and then you all swear at wenger, the board, barcelona, bentner whoever else ..when in all honesty many of the problesm as regards to psychology stem from the erratic nature and knee jerk reactions of frustrated gloryseekers.

• 07-Oct-2011 13:54 | | pika
  

  what does this annoying AKB acronym stand for ..i see it thrown around a lot ..what does it mean ? people use it as if they want to belittle you? so what does it stand for then ?

• 07-Oct-2011 13:59 | | pika
  

  i would also like to add with regards to the silly @the table doesnt lie@ comment ..that at this time last year chelsea was going for a back to back title like an unstoppable train .....and we all saw what happened...by march they were in danger of losing their champions league spot ..i rest my case.
  
  these cliches @the table dont lie@, @the manager has to take blame@ together with others..are 100% english cliches created by little engladers journalists who make their living belittling others
  
  i do not arrive to conclusions about my arsenal from the filth some hack writes in a nationalist paper. i know that this person has other interests in his agenda. i know that this person is paid to follow a certain guideline

• 07-Oct-2011 14:11 | | pika
  

  Oh, I know. Fabregas & Nasri of course. These two trouble makers are to blame not Wenger.
  
  
  well to a certain extent you could say that they were ungreatful, both of them. but i cant say much wrong about cesc no matter how much i want to because iw ould disrecpeting the FACT that they boy gave everything he could for us. nasri on the other had half a good season and opted for the money and reassurances that arsenal will bring him benzema ronaldo and chielini or whatever he may have had in mind.
  
  the biggest issue is not the youngsters who failed to reward their manager with his faith to them. the biggest issue is why the vieiars henrys gilbertos etc refused to take one year contracts on less money to stay and guide and the rest. they all wanted out once it was known that the club will enter "stingy policy" ...they acted as cold professionals, whereas giggs scholes etc had no fkn problem teaking less money and signign wahtever was on offer to stay and guide the rest. and since they wanted out wenger had to move quickly and ensure that he atleast gets good value out of their transfers.
  
  for that you can not balme arsene wenger. because people also go round telling "oh why did he dismantle the invincibles so quickly?" ...how the f*ck can theirry henry , after missing those 3 sitters in paris 06 turn around and say .."right om off to barcelona" ... but i guess these are the realities of professional football.
  
  there are so many things to take into account and factor in. for instance the clubs finance has been dependant all these years on the complex development of real estate with highbury.

• 07-Oct-2011 14:25 | | Spectrum
  

  pika - I'm surprised you don't know, as you're the living embodiment of it. A.K.B. = Arsene Knows Best. I believe it was coined by the realists at Le Grove.
  So now you know what it stands for, you can wear the title like a badge of honour. Just don't ask what realists are - you're not ready to make a quantum leap like that yet.
  Now you may resume your rabid defence of your Great Leader......
  " ******************"

• 07-Oct-2011 14:42 | | Spectrum
  

  pika - Silly question, I know, but in your mind, is there anything we actually CAN blame Wenger for ?
  " ******************"

• 07-Oct-2011 16:44 | | chris  - pika... pika.... chillllll!!!!!!!!!
  

  (that's my pokemon joke, by the way)
  
  I only refer to Chelsea, Man City and Man U as being clearly better than us for 3-5 years, give or take.
  
  Whilst i have some sympathy for the view that what can you do we'll always be outbid because they've got more money than us (and whilst I woudl be very nervous if i was a Liverpool fan seeing the amounts being spent on mainly unproven talents in a Gareme Souness-like fgaashion that does not guarantee success but does guarantee financial indigestion at best), i personally think we seem to have gone too far in the other direction (albeit that i do accept we can't really tell what's going on).
  
  What people don't really factor in is that the team had the best striker in the world (Thierry Henry) for a long time - and having the best striker in the world gives you lots of easy wins. Having world class guys like Viera and Bergkamp and near world class guys like Cole and Pires and maybe Campbell means you are going to be a strong team.
  
  The current team sold its only world class player this summer and one of its maybes. Now its got the close to world class RvP (in the penultimate year of his contract) and an injured Wilshere, who is also close. The rest are not and few of them are close. Don't kid yourself that they are good players with a confidence problem - why have they got a confidence problem? Why is it so many of them? Isn't managing pressure a part of being a good player?
  
  I don't think I'm overly negative - I still think the team has a chance against anybody and it annoys me when people talk as if we are going to lose any particular game in advance.
  
  BUT.........
  
  I do not believe this team has the consistency to get close to 4th
  I do not believe there is any team in the Prem who is afraid of AFC coming to their ground and not many who fear coming to the Emirates.
  
  I never said the table doesn't lie - Obviously it does, especially at this stage of the season (Bolton have played loads of hard games and we've played quite a few). But goal difference is normally a good indicator of which teams are in the wrong position and that's not good for us either.
  
  It's going to be a tough, tough year in which every game is going to be tough.

• 08-Oct-2011 05:28 | | Spectrum
  

  Here's an interesting radio interview with Alex Finn, who has spent time with, and written a book about, Wenger's reign at Arsenal. His book is bang up to date, and he talks about many subjects of relevance - e.g. Dein's influence, the board, wages, transfers and more. Even some insights into him we hadn't heard about before. ( and it's not all "negative" either, A.K.B.'s )
  ( copy and paste the address below )
  
  http://playbackmedia.co.uk/footballistically-arsenal/
  
  " ******************"

• 08-Oct-2011 06:47 | | Spectrum
  

  “Our fans have the right to be excited, to look forward to the season with anticipation, and to expect to see top-class players and exciting things happening on the pitch. It’s our goal and target to deliver all of that.” - Ivan Gazidis, July 19, 2011.
  " ******************"

• 08-Oct-2011 09:28 | | pika
  

  hey chris.... they will do it , just not as immediately as you all wanted. even though they came very close twice in the space of the last 6 - 7 years
  
  even if the wilshere geneartion sets its dominnance when wilshers is 27-28 it will still have been worth it.
  
  the project might even reach its peak when wenger is long gone .again it will have been worth it.
  
  this is the way to run football clubs. the wenger /arsenal way..success will come when it all clicks....so obviously when youve built a stadium and wait for youngtsetrs to mature and play for you this click will take a bit of time.
  
  if you want to slag your team and players and manager till then by all means do so, and we will slag the silly gloryseekers
  
  
  and chris ok maybe ytu dont believe theyre gonna make it ..so what do u suggest happens? sack the manager? change the board? move back to highbury ? lol ....so why cant we face the situation as it is and work ourselves up the table? why does everyone have to attack belittle moan and complain ?

• 08-Oct-2011 14:50 | | indian gooner forever...  - oh the sp*rs fans are here again!!!
  

  mate your acronym should be HKB.........harry knows best........got it.

• 08-Oct-2011 15:39 | | colesy  - the table doesn't lie
  

  Pika,
  
  Not only do you not know of the AKB abbreviation but you also clearly don't appreciate irony. I don't blame neither Fab or Nasri. I won't be blaming RVP when he goes too.

• 09-Oct-2011 03:32 | | Man United Killer
  

  Forget Gazidis..he is a liar and a crook....

• 09-Oct-2011 11:26 | | pika
  

  yes we can. we can blame him for aggreeing to work in england where its packed of little engladers , racists and xenophobic idiots who have a chip in their shoulder and think they can critisise the work of professionals like wenger.
  
  we can also blame him for bringign football civilisation to arsenal and consequently the rest of this "commercial" league of kick and rush and neanderthals bashing eachothers.
  
  and i also blame him for not telling a big eff off to media and fans for the treatment he receives.

• 09-Oct-2011 11:27 | | pika
  

  no i dont know the akaba abbreviation. is it something all rivals use to describe the ones who support their team ?

• 09-Oct-2011 11:27 | | pika
  

  lol and you are honest and decent ?
  
  pmsl ...

• 09-Oct-2011 21:53 | | pizzy_05  - AAAs
  

  I believe the acronym AAAs was coined by Mean Lean a while ago to identify the doom mongers(Anti Arsenal Arsenal fans). Speccie, take a bow at your own name... I still say, if you're are sure that we'll rust under Arsene and you know better than others that the board will not oust him, why are you still here? Do you get kicks for slagging all things Arsenal? And where did you go when we were winning? Pls citeh needs your services, they'll even pay in petrodollars...

• 10-Oct-2011 00:43 | | Anonymous  - Pika they takes there choices
  

  Cesc's is a different case study, only a fool Xenaphobe who hasn't ever lived abroad would/could fail to understand the gravitational pull from your home country. Leaving aside that your home town team plays some of the best club football the world has ever seen and you'll quickly be part of that. There's the attraction of your own culture language, and food. Your with you family and friends. Cesc leaving us to go home is understandable on every level. Plus while he was with us he was a great survent to the club.
  
  Don't even bother to go there with Nasri! He's a mercenary! He left the club he supported all his life to come to us and just like the other Marseillese Flamini he put himself in the shop window for money. He didn't care where he went as long as they paid him big bucks, and who can blaime him? He value's his worth in his pay packet. Thats the opposite of Cesc who would've taken a cut in salary to go home.

• 10-Oct-2011 02:45 | | Anonymous
  

  indian gooner forever - Grow up !
  " ******************"

• 10-Oct-2011 02:47 | | Spectrum
  

  pika - See ? I said it was a silly question.
  " ******************"

• 10-Oct-2011 23:30 | | Anonymous
  

  Ask a dumb question of any real Arsenal supporter and you'll get what you deserve

Write comment

Your Details:

Name:

Comment:

Title:

Message:

Powered by Compojoom comment 4.1.7 stable