How Arsene Wenger remains ahead of the curve

If you have been reading my articles regularly, you know I’m a pro-Wenger guy. There were periods when I doubted his skill, but these came before I was able to look at a wider picture, i.e. learnt to appreciate his planning abilities. Up to a certain point I was caught up in the now, unable to see the effects of Arsene’s long-term thinking. That being said, I have always respected the man as a person. I only doubted his managerial nous. I shouldn’t have.

This has only become clear to me recently, after the season ended. There are two reasons behind my enlightenment:

1. We ended the season on a high. As such there’s no moaning about how we should replace Wenger. A positive environment enables you to look at things differently. You are not caught in the miserable now, hence you are not thinking about it constantly
2. In summer, the quality of articles both increases and decreases. Decreases because lots are revolving around transfer rumours. Increases because the paucity of material at hand enables you to think big and look at things from different angles. Such articles give you food for thought

Some recent pieces of this ilk combined with my observations made me see the light: Arsene Wenger is the best thing to have happened to Arsenal FC. We are where we are now because of him. His devotion to Arsenal. Him working under constant pressure on things we didn’t even understand (and I don’t claim we do so even now). Arsene has patiently persevered in three directions and this summer it hit me with sudden clarity that the Frenchman is almost there. We almost reached the Promised Land, only fine-tuning is needed to get back to our best, the rest is behind us. So how come Arsene did all this? What are these directions I’m talking about? In short, what makes him a bloody genius?

Long-term planning

We all know about the financial restraints we were put under as a result of building a new, modern stadium. I don’t need to dwell on that.

However, a recent article from Chris opened my eyes to many more things. Arsene not only built a new stadium in an era where EVERY top club needs one (yes, Chelsea, City and even Liverpool and Tottenham are playing at old stadiums which will need replacing soon. In fact, both clubs from London are already searching for temporary homes while the renovation/building works will be in progress). While Chelsea, City and United owners have bottomless wallets, Liverpool and Tottenham don’t and will struggle as a result. Even the big guys will face problems cause:

• building/renovating a stadium isn’t cheap. Their Sugar Daddies may limit the spending power during that period
• no one said Sugar Daddies won’t refuse to invest in a new stadium/leave the said clubs

We are past that stage now. However, Arsene has also made other long-term investments: in scouting system (buying StatsDNA and recruiting new scouts like Brian McDermott), in youth set-up (e.g. Jonker for Brady), in improving training facilities. The list is endless. Check out Chris’s article above, it will tell you the story a lot better than I will.

Mid-term planning

Two things stand out here. First is Financial Fair Play.

While the mechanism is not in full swing yet and rich clubs will try to find a way around, we don’t have to worry about our own situation in the slightest. We only spend what we earn and with the financial chains no longer holding us it’ll stay that way. We don’t live off Kroenke. Both Chelsea and Cityl have that problem, a day may come when they’ll pay for it. I’m pretty sure even now they can’t buy whoever they please without selling someone first. Just look at how Chelsea had to sell Luiz to fund Costa's and Cesc's moves. How they sold Shurrle and De Breyne to buy Quadrado.

But it’s not the only thing that will keep their respective managers awake at night: which brings me to the second point - homegrown quota.

I’ll remind you the rule (being myself only recently explained it in detail). From next season on, every PL club can register NO MORE than 17 foreign players for the season. Maximum number of players they can register for a season is 25. That means you can have no homegrown registered at all, but your squad will only have 17 players. Not good for rotation.

Who can be considered homegrown? “A Home Grown Player means a player who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)”

Notice a small but important detail: a player doesn’t have to be English to be considered homegrown. We have at least two players who aren’t English but are considered homegrown: Szczesny and Martinez.

Moreover, those who haven’t turned 21 can also be registered with the squad. You can register any number of those, in fact. They don’t take a spot from someone in that 25-man squad. Beautiful if you have talented youngsters who can already help out (we have at least Bellerin and Chambers ready for first team football). Completely useless if you don’t have such youngsters, which likely stems from the fact you either don’t develop the youth system at the Club or don’t allow talented youngsters a chance.

Where all of this leads us? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, problems for clubs which don’t have 8+ homegrown. Which clubs will be hit harder than others? Chelsea and City.

You see, Chelsea has three homegrown: Cesc, Terry and Cahill. These are senior members, over 21. And City? Also three homegrown: Wright (didn't even know he was there), Clichy (hilarious) and Hart. Boyata, Milner, Lampard and Sinclair have all left.

Now these clubs are begging for homegrown players. City offered 40 million for Sterling. Chelsea tried to get their hands on Oxlade-Chamberlain. There are rumours City want Wilshere. In other words, both clubs are royally fucked up. They face a very daunting prospect of either overpaying for English players or having short squads for the PL.

And what about Arsenal? Well, Arsene Wenger is three steps ahead of the pack. I think when he first caught whiff of homegrown quota, he started building an English core. And it’s not made of mediocre players like Lambert and Jones. We currently have 10 homegrown + Chambers and Bellerin ready to join the fray from 2016-2017 season. These homegrown are: Szczesny, Martinez, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Walcott + Jenko (he’s likely to go on loan again). Of course, we don’t know for sure whether Walcott and Szczesny will be with us next season (though all the signs are pointing to the fact they will), while Martinez can also go on loan, but the important thing here is that we have GOOD homegrown players, all ready for regular first-team action. Not a bunch of bang average 30 year olds who are just “squad players”.

Short-term planning

Having sorted out long- and mid-term, Arsene turned his attention to the here and now. He brought in world class players (Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez) to complement the British core. He tweaked the formation to 4-1-4-1 after realising a simple 4-2-3-1 leaves us overly reliant on certain individuals. He adjusted his in-game management (something many fans thought Arsene’s incapable of doing). He managed to beat some big teams this and ground out results when needed be.

Finally, he’s improving the personnel. The aforementioned Jonker for Brady. Shad Forsythe to improve (maybe even solve) the situation with injuries. And Arsene is becoming ruthless. He dropped Szczesny after his blunders. He didn’t reinstate Walcott. He keeps Wilshere on the bench and Ramsey on the right to accommodate Cazorla. Debuchy and Arteta can’t have a look in because Bellerin and Coquelin have been outstanding. Rumour has it, Arsene is willing to sell Ospina to make room for Cech. Our goalkeeping coach has already left, something that strongly hints at Cech’s incoming, simply because Petr wants to bring in his own coach, Lollichon.

Arsene refuses to sell his players for huge money because they are HIS players. The Frenchman looks like he got City’s and Chelsea’s numbers, he knows where their weaknesses lie and he seems ready to ruthlessly expose these weaknesses and make Arsenal bigger and better by capitalizing on the mistakes of their rivals. Arsene’s getting ready for war next season and believe me, he is hell-bent on winning it.

The verdict

Perhaps this article could have been written in less glowing terms, as the situation probably doesn’t call for these. I hope, however, that you will forgive my zealousness: this piece was mostly written on the spur (erm) of a moment. It’s more emotional than anything else.

Nonetheless, I hope it made for an entertaining read. Let me know in the comment section below.

Until later. In the meantime, enjoy this tribute to the great man from @The_Arsenal

The fortunes and misfortunes of Szczesny, Ospina and Martinez

The goalkeeper debate among Arsenal fans has shown its head on January 1st. On that infamous New Year’s day Arsenal’s squad, ridden with injuries, on the back of a busy Boxing period, succumbed to Southampton at St. Mary’s.

It’s not the disappointing manner of the defeat or a knackered Alexis Sanchez that we’ll remember that game for, rather it’ll be the performance both on and off the pitch of our then №1 goalkeeper: Wojciech Szczesny. After putting in an incredibly weak performance and capping it off with two obvious blunders both of which ended up in our net, Woj went and had a smoke in the showers.

Szczesny was dropped immediately. He would only play 5 games out of the remaining 25, all of them in the FA Cup. None of them (bar the final game) overly convincing. Wojciech finished the season as a №2, behind the unspectacular, but solid David Ospina.

With transfer window due to open in 2 weeks, the whole situation begs the question: what will happen next? Who will be our goalkeeper of choice next season? Rumours are flying around we are in for Petr Cech and, while I hate getting caught up in the transfer mill, the comments from Cech’s coach at Chelsea hint Petr wants to join Arsenal.

So I’m going to look at our goalkeeper merry-go-round by making a brave assumption that Cech WILL join us.  What will happen to our other goalkeepers?

If Cech really does come to Arsenal, it won’t be to sit on the bench. Cech is 33, not 20 or even 25 to wait for his chance. He’s a proven Premier League goalkeeper, one who has been ever-present at Chelsea for 11 years.

Moreover, I’m sure Arsene understands all this. He knows Cech will only agree to join if we offer him something he lacked at Chelsea this season: regular football. Not much sense in swapping the Blues’ bench for ours. So that’s what I think will be in store  for our current goalies.

Wojciech Szczesny

He’ll be sold. For me it’s as simple as that. It looks like Wenger’s patience ran out after that defeat to Southampton.

Let’s be honest, why should we keep Szczesny if Cech joins? Because he is a fan of the Club? Okay, but what else does he bring to the table? The mere fact we are having a debate about whether he should or shouldn’t be our №1 five years after he joined tells you all you need to know.

Szczesny had a brilliant last season, he did. And he undoubtedly possesses the ability to be great. Problem is, it looks like Chezza is stagnating. Moreover, it looks like he’s gone backwards this year. Can he get his head straight? If the answer is “yes”, then he should stay. However, from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like he can. I won’t pretend I know what the manager thinks, but for me Szczesny should be the prime candidate to leave if we bring in Cech.

David Ospina

He’ll probably assume the role of solid back-up, the one he was initially brought in for:

“When I signed, he (Arsene) was very clear on that with me. But in my mind I was coming to Arsenal and I wanted to show what I could do.”

Will the Colombian feel hard done by if he begins the season on the bench? Especially after winning the battle for the №1 shirt the previous season? He undoubtedly will. However, while I was a huge fan of Ospina at the outset, I changed my stance somewhat recently. I’ll explain why.

Ospina didn’t have any particularly memorable games upon seizing his opportunity. He had a brilliant game against Spurs, one which we lost, but that was it. I wasn’t overly worried by the fact the Colombian wasn’t making Hollywood saves every week: my argument was he didn’t cost us points. He may have not won any, however he surely wasn’t making childish mistakes leading to goals. He was calm, solid and confident without being self-confident. It presented a nice change from Szczesny’s behavior.

In May, however, Ospina did the exact thing I feared: he cost us points. Just once: against Swansea. I defended him like mad that night: he was not the main culprit after all and even if he was, it was the first time in 5 months.

Then Ospina had a nightmare of a performance against West Brom. Luckily, by the time he decided to make a couple of blunders we already were 4-0 up. However, it was not until very recently that I truly started to feel uneasy about the prospect of seeing David start the season as №1. The trigger was Colombia vs Venezuela game during Copa America. To be more exact, it was the manner in which Ospina conceded: a soft header. Rings any bells?

So now the Colombian has at least 4 games which can give you food for thought, the 4th being against Monaco. I won’t blame him for the deflection, or Berbatov’s one-on-one, but I think a better keeper would have kept out Carrasco’s shot.

Yes, the Colombian will have every right to feel hard done by to start next season as second choice, however if he does, you could argue it won’t be completely off the mark. But I don’t see Arsene selling him after just one season.

Damian Emiliano Martinez

Now here’s an interesting case. Someone on Twitter suggested that in case Cech comes in, Ospina can be relegated to 3rd choice and Martinez promoted to the bench. Crazy as it seemed to me at first (make a newly-bought international back-up to someone who hasn’t even got 10 Club appearances?), it started to make more sense as time passed.

Thing is, Martinez looks a talented prospect. While he certainly is less experienced than Ospina, he hasn’t reached his peak ability-wise. Ospina looks like he had. Moreover, while Martinez had an absolute disaster of a performance against Stoke, he showed flashes of promise before that, keeping three consecutive clean sheets against Borussia, West Brom and Southampton.

I also liked his manner: calm and assured. A younger and taller version of Ospina, one with less experience though. My fellow writer Dave Seager remains unconvinced by Martinez’s time with Sheffield; as for me, I think we can have a surprise on our hands. Maybe that’s the optimist in me talking, however having seen Coquelin rise from the Charlton ashes, I  think Martinez would be less of a surprise in terms of making a breakthrough. Maybe he can be given a chance in the cups?

Is there a risk of him leaving should Cech come in? I somehow don’t think so. Sure, probably another loan is more likely than a fight with Ospina for a place on the bench, but a loan should not be viewed as an end to your aspirations. While if he stays, Emi can gain valuable experience by learning from Cech. Definitely better than learning from Szczesny.

The verdict

I haven’t touched on another possibility, one which is not completely out of the question: we won’t bring in Cech or anyone else in the goalkeeping department. In this case, I suspect things will stay as they are now: Ospina will start most games, Szczesny will play in the cups, Martinez will likely  go on loan. It’s pretty straightforward, really.

Can we bring someone else in? Of course we can, but it’s pure speculation at this point. Moreover, I haven’t really seen us linked to anyone (Cech excluding) recently. And I only brought up the whole thing with Cech because there’s just too much smoke.

Right, that’s your lot.

Voice your opinion in the comment section below.

Cheers

What involves buying a player and why Arsenal fans both should and shouldn't get excited

I do not remember the last time I had a week so busy. However, this was also coupled with the fact next to nothing Arsenal-related was happening. The big news is probably Diaby leaving the Club after almost ten years. The Frenchman was recently listed as a free agent come July 1st. As @Arseblog rightly pointed out it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll go, it just means he’s out of contract, he can still be offered a new one, but nonetheless I think he will be released. Which is very sad. Diaby is a brilliant footballer, he just couldn’t catch a break with injures ever since that horrible Dan Smith tackle left Abou’s ankle in tatters.

However, I’m not here to talk about Abou Diaby. Maybe I could have, but I feel I’m not the right man. I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of @7amkickoff instead. I’ll also list two of my favourite pics with Diaby below. As someone rightly noted, after this Abou is only a Katie Hopkins headbutt away from becoming a national hero.

Today, in the wake of all the transfer speculation, I wanted to concentrate on something else, namely: what factors are involved in purchasing a player. Of course it’s my own opinion, I do not possess the knowledge to exhaustively describe the whole process. I also won’t talk about things like “sorting out agent fees” because, frankly, it’s of little interest to both me and you, my dear readers.

Finally, I think we should all be looking forward to our summer acquisitions. I’m sure Arsene will make additions, even if those won’t be the ones we want/expect him to. I’ll elaborate on that last point a bit later. So here goes my vision.

Availability

Should be an obvious factor, but one which is nonetheless overlooked by many Arsenal fans. It’s understandable: we all want the best for our Club and as such are looking at the best players, who are, most of the time, either not up for grabs or out of our financial reach.

Yes, we are the mighty Arsenal, however we aren’t able to compete for players like Bale and Pogba. Not because these guys will necessarily be averse to the idea of joining us, rather because their sellers will likely have their heads turned by the likes of Real and City.

We do not have the financial muscle to compete with these giants. Simple as that. We might scream all we want how the players’ price tag rarely reflects the true value of the player, but it’s the harsh reality of today’s transfer market.

This makes me appreciate Arsene Wenger even more. For years (for almost two decades, actually) he has been able to find brilliant players for low to reasonable fees. He has shown he can splash the cash on players he really likes and badly wants to have on his team, but his general philosophy remains the same: buy and develop or buy a ready-made product for reasonable money:

“Santi has been voted man of the match (FA Cup Final). I think he has not cost £150m. Coquelin was one of the best on the pitch. You have to always look at the real quality of  people. I am not against  spending money. I have shown that recently. But I want a good rapport between price and quality.”

The domino effect

I haven’t tracked this pattern for longer than two years, however it can most definitely be said Ozil and Sanchez were acquired due to Arsene’s ability to see two steps ahead and bide his time. Oh, and count Welbeck in. He may not be as flashy or lucrative, but the principle is the same with him.

Ozil was bought after Bale’s addition made the German surplus to requirements at the Galacticos (Mesut Ozil. Surplus to requirements. How funny it sounds). Suarez to Barcelona made Sanchez to Arsenal possible. Falcao to United gave us the opportunity to snatch up Welbeck on deadline day.

In other words, sometimes being reactive pays off more than being proactive. If you are just keep your eyes open to what’s happening in the transfer market, you can reap the benefits

The Arsene Wenger effect

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it also pays off having a brilliant manager. Players not only want to play for certain clubs or for paychecks, they also want to be under the tutelage of certain managers. Arsene Wenger is one of these managers.

The phrase almost every our new player drops, the one about how happy he is to have the opportunity to work with Arsene Wenger, has become a punchline. Players are people, not robots (surprise, surprise!) and they too want to hear how needed they are, what plans Arsene has in store for them. All it sometimes takes is a conversation in German or the promise to play you in your preferred position:

"I thought: 'What he is telling me is what I have missed at Real: transparency, trust, respect. He told me exactly how he sees me [as a player], how he wants to use me, what he expects from me and what he hopes I will contribute."

Few managers can say they possess the charisma to attract players single-handedly. Arsene can. Appreciate it.

We may not expect it, but it surely will be good

Carl Jenkinson, Gervinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Joel Campbell, Park Chu-Young, Andre Santos, Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Eisfeld, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud, Santi Cazorla, Nacho Monreal, Yaya Sanogo, Mathieu Flamini, Mesut Ozil, Mathieu Debuchy, Alexis Sanchez, David Ospina, Calum Chambers, Danny Welbeck, Gabriel Armando de Abreu, Krystian Bielik.

These are the players we’ve bought in the last four years. I didn’t go back further, as we were heavily pressed on the financial front and, barring occasional good players (like Koscielny, Vermaelen, Sagna, Arshavin and Ramsey) bought absolute poverty.

However, let’s return to the list at hand. I noticed two (really simple) patterns:

1. Few of these players truly flopped
2. Few of us expected Arsene to sign these exact players

But, I hear you say, are you calling Gervinho, Santos, Park Chu-Young and Yaya Sanogo successful transfers? What are you smoking?

Chill, I’m not saying these guys were great. However, there are two further things you have to keep in mind:

1. All these unsuccessful transfers (bar Sanogo) happened four years ago, in one window
2. None of them cost us much

Gervinho is our most expensive failure. He cost 10 million. Santos is 2nd, cost 6 million. And even their uselessness is debatable. Both had good spells at the Club, they just didn’t adapt in the end. In an era where clubs are willing to spend 50 million on Kane or Sterling, where Balotelli and Falcao (flops if there ever were any) cost 16 and 20 mil respectively, I think you can forgive Arsene a couple of not wholly successful players for such meagre sums.

Sanogo and Flamini cost us nothing. Campbell (and the jury is still out on him) cost us 1 million.

The point I’m trying to get across? Arsene makes bloody good acquisitions. Especially when he has the money. Look at our last three years. Bar Sanogo and Flamini and maybe Podolski, ALL of the players Arsene bought are invaluable. They are all successful. All have a future at the club, whether short-term (due to age, like Cazorla) or long-term.

Finally, expect the unexpected. I do not remember the last time Arsene bought a player which was hyped up by the fans and media alike, but, as I’ve demonstrated above, Arsene has a penchant for making bloody good transfers. If Arsene buys someone, he’ll be a success.

Closing comments

You may shed a tear or two upon reading this article. If my logic is anything to go by (and I think it is), we won’t buy Martinez. Or Benzema. We may not even buy Schneiderlin or Cech.

But we will buy players. And these players will be good players. So take a seat and grab the popcorn. The show is about to begin.

Until later

Olivier Giroud or the art of perception

One of the interesting traits of human nature is that we tend to look for confirmation of our views. We also seem to be pretty consistent in our views: that means we don’t change and adapt them each time we find out something new, something that disproves our theory.

It is normal: Thomas Bayes, an English statistician of the 18th century, described each person as an ideal observer, a definition which is now named after him - ideal Bayesian observer. If we put those who never change their opinion on one end of the spectrum and those who do so constantly on the other - ideal Bayesian observer will rest in the middle.

Why am I writing all this? To talk about a player who greatly divides opinion among the Arsenal faithful. He sometimes even swings the pendulum of his die-hard fans and his most pronounced haters the other way. Ever since I registered on Twitter (and it has been the case long before I did) he has been the cause of online fights aplenty. He even outdid Ozil. His name is Olivier Giroud.

But the Frenchman really shouldn’t be the cause of such controversy. While with Ozil it just took time to understand his subtle brilliance (might that be because Ozil is doing much of his work in grey zones?), Giroud’s contribution is there for everyone to see. Let’s start at the beginning.

We signed Olivier Giroud from Montpellier in the summer of 2012 for a meagre sum of 12 million. Let that sink in. Olivier Giroud cost us 12 million. It’s a good sum for a defender, we’d have high expectations for a defender with such a price tag, but it’s small change for a striker. For a good striker. In today’s world, a world inflated by the likes of City, Madrid and Barcelona, it’s hard to get good value for your money.

Make no mistake: Olivier Giroud is a very good striker. In fact, he’s much better than given credit for. In his three seasons, the Frenchman has scored more goals than Robin van Persie, than includes the adaptation season. Do you remember how much United paid for the Dutch Skunk? 25 million.

Right now Olivier Giroud is among the best forwards in the BPL. He is behind Aguero (who is simply world class) and Costa (cost twice as much), but everyone else? Kane probably had a better season overall, though it has to be noted Kane didn’t suffer a 3-month-long injury, thus he played considerably more. Anyway, Kane still has to prove he’s not a one-season wonder. Giroud already did that. He played three full seasons, steadily improving over their course.

This year his improvement has been phenomenal. Goals against big teams? Check. Goals from outside the box? Check. Better technique on the ball? Check.

Yet people scream "replacement". Even Thierry Henry jumped on the bandwagon and went on record saying we won't win the League with Giroud. Instead of asking himself why Arsenal didn't challenge this season, he just repeated what everyone else was saying. Cause if Henry had asked that question, he'd have seen we lost the league in the period from September to November. Incidentally, Giroud was out at the time.

Moreover, I don’t like to deal with abstract situations. You want a replacement? Fine, name one. But remember it should be:

1. A considerable upgrade
2. Available on the market

Let’s forget for a minute there are some players we simply cannot compete for even if they are available. Like Bale, for example. I don’t for a second concede we’ll be able to realistically fight for his signature even if he suddenly becomes available. Firstly because Gareth is likely to want a hefty salary and we all know Wenger won’t break his salary structure (he’s right not to); secondly because Bale cost Real 100 million. While he certainly will go for less, should the Galacticos decide to sell him, it won’t be MUCH less. It won’t be 40 million or so. Spending more at a time when other areas of our team need strengthening is, quite frankly, stupid.

Back to wanting an upgrade, however: do you see such players? Edinson Cavani, maybe? Scored 15 goals from open play in 35 games. Giroud has 14 in 27. Moreover, I didn’t like one bit what I saw from Cavani during the World Cup last year. I realise an international tournament isn’t the best way to measure someone’s true ability, however Cavani doesn’t look an upgrade to me, let alone a major one.

Or Gonzalo Higuain? Big game bottler, 15 goals from open play in 37 games? Does he look better than Giroud? Let’s ignore the fact he plays in Italy, which can lead to him becoming even less productive in England.

How about Karim Benzema, the fans’ favourite? How about the fact he’s scored only one more goal from open play, having played two more games than Giroud? Admittedly, he’s more adept at creating chances for teammates (has 10 assists to Giroud’s 3), but he a) plays in a less competitive environment b) has Cristiano Ronaldo c) disappears in big games. Yes, he still looks an upgrade, just not the one worth spending 40 million on.

I personally wanted to suggest two players: Alvaro Morata, who impressed me over the course of the semi-finals and Alexandre Lacazette. When I saw Morata’s stats I just ran away - his counterpart, Tevez, looks a much better alternative in comparison. In fact, his numbers are so good I’d seriously consider forking out some cash for Carlos and bringing him back to the BPL, if he was younger. At 31, Tevez is not the long-term solution we need.

That leaves us with Lacazette. Here we have a completely different set of skills to our own Frenchman and much better key stats, like goals, assists and chances created. Lacazette is just another type of forward: he plays facing the goal, he’s a dribbler and so on and so forth. You can read more about him (and his potential suitability) here. There’s only thing that threw me off balance: out of his 27 goals (in 33 games), Lacazette scored 8 from penalties. That leaves 19 from open play, which is more or less on par with Giroud in terms of games-per-goal. Nonetheless, I still think bringing in Lacazette would make us a better team: unlike the alternatives I’ve touched on above, Alexandre’s style of play is markedly different to Giroud’s AND he’s still young. He also won’t cost us 40 million, at least I don’t think he will.

Conclusions

On our hands we have one of the best, if not the best, back-to-the-goal striker in the whole of Europe. Even a much-lauded Benzema wouldn’t present a major upgrade, not to me at least.

Does that mean Giroud is ideal and we should just sit back and relax? No. Firstly, because Giroud is a bit one-dimensional: that means he’s almost as bad facing the goal as he’s good with his back to it. He certainly improved this season: two goals (against Liverpool and United, respectively) from outside the box and a 20% conversion rate hint he’s decent when facing the goal. I feel we can get even more from him should we put more crosses in.

However, we need an alternative to Giroud. We need someone who can play facing the goal and be successful at it. Right now all it takes is isolating Giroud and marking him tightly to render him ineffective. We’ve seen glimpses at how unstoppable we can be with a plan B: when Walcott led the line. Maybe Theo himself can become our plan B, maybe Sanchez can. If, for some reason or another, they won’t, then I’d certainly consider bringing in Lacazette.

But that doesn’t mean Giroud shouldn’t receive our backing. As I hope I have demonstrated, he’s one of the best at what he does. He deserves credit, a lot more than the Frenchman is currently getting.

Until later

P.S. I think Arsene can also jump-start Jovetic’s career. I used to like the forward a lot before he joined City - I’m sure I’m not alone here. With the right guidance, he can deliver on his early promise. He also shouldn’t cost us much

Extreme isolation?

It’s fair to say I was isolated from Arsenal’s fanbase until very recently. I started supporting the Gunners back in 2005, with a habit of regularly watching their games not kicking in at least till 2008. That gave me food for thought, though my blogging days were still far away. Instead, my family became the long-suffering victims of my unrelenting talk about Arsenal. They took it on the chin and even managed to demonstrate a kind of vague interest.

I’m grateful for it, I could even say I’m indebted to my family for demonstrating this interest: had they opted not to, I may well have abandoned watching football altogether. After a while it simply becomes unbearable stewing on your own thoughts with no outlet. Though I have to add I knew I was not alone: around 2008 I picked up the habit of reading Andrew Mangan’s daily blog. Thus I knew there was at least one person who shared my passion for Arsenal, who suffered as much as I did. Simply put, who cared. Who still does.

Why the isolation, I hear you ask? Why didn’t I do something to break the circle? Go to pubs, find an Arsenal community in Moscow, create an account on Twitter at the very least? That’s the part where I think I have to put my isolation into some context.

First of all, I was 14 in 2008. A teenager. I was still a pupil, going to pubs was out of question, because I was a) not independent enough to wander around a city as big as Moscow on my own b) not of age. Pubs go hand-in-hand with beer and all kinds of stuff like smoking and swearing. Stuff which seems pretty normal to me now, but it surely didn’t when I was 14.

The same goes for communities. What’s the main target of such a community? Gather together and go watch a game. Where do they do it? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, in pubs.

Furthermore, I have to say that I was unaware of all those things back when I was 14. The thought of meeting, and going out with, a group of completely unknown to me individuals simply haven’t crossed my mind. Even if it had, I’m sure I would have opted against it. That would have been more of an unconscious decision back then, now I am better equipped to explain it.

You see, I’m an introvert. I need to spend some time alone to recharge my batteries. Social occasions sap my energy substantially. That doesn’t prevent me from enjoying certain types of collective activities, but I neither can, nor I’m willing to, frequently go out. When I was 14, school and all the entailing homework drained me. The mere thought of going out after all that would have been terrifying. Not only that: I would have been useless at such occasions. I would have showed up drained already, with no emotions left to enjoy a game of football. I suspect it was also the reason why I didn’t watch football matches at home. Though it might have been the case of games not being aired on TV (we have our own league, why should anyone broadcast the BPL?) and me not being advanced enough to watch games online.

As for the social networks, well… Our VK wasn’t (and still isn’t) a great place for interacting with fans such as myself, Facebook is no such place either (after all, VK’s concept is almost entirely ripped off from Facebook) and the only other (decent) alternative was Twitter. Which was in its inception back in 2008 and which I, until quite recently, abhorred, considering it a mess of mentions and hashtags. Twitter was also never popular in Russia, though it beats me why.

A lot of things changed when I finally went to university. I finally found the time and the energy to do something else, than just study, despite my first year being pretty strained. After my summer exam session I started writing posts to while away the time. Luckily, I didn’t track the views stats, or I would have given up pretty soon!

As it is, I continued writing throughout my second year. I finally found an outlet for my thoughts and kept writing more for myself, than for anyone else. I didn’t even share my posts on social networks, mostly because I was a) unaware of such a concept b) considered Facebook a mess (still do) and didn’t pay much attention to Twitter for the reasons I listed above. Google+ is a pretty poor platform for your posts and VK was out of the equation as my posts were in English. You will be hard-pressed to find a lot of Russians interested in hearing the thoughts of a fellow Russian in English!

As you can see, not a lot has changed when I took up blogging in terms of interaction. I was still pretty isolated. I only knew what I thought and the opinions of several Arsenal fans I found at uni. Then I discovered Twitter. Less than a year ago.

What prompted that discovery was my rather selfish (though, I think you’ll agree with me, understandable) desire to expand my platform and promote my blog. In June last year I suddenly realised that my blog, while nice, wasn’t going anywhere. The simple desire to do it for myself was left behind. I felt an urge, an urge pretty normal for any blogger I suspect, to be heard. To attract people. To have readers that would comment on your thoughts and give theirs.

I approached the matter thoroughly. I found a rather recent book written by Michael Hayatt (can recommend it to anyone who is thinking of creating and promoting his or her platform) on how to build your platform. It’s not very long and most of it I either already knew or felt was the right thing to do anyway. I didn’t need guidance most of the time.

But he did say at least one very important thing: Twitter. That it’s a much more helpful tool than Facebook, for instance. He also encouraged anyone to not give up on Twitter if at first you don’t like it. Persevere. Find people. Interact.

By following his advice I discovered much more than I initially hoped for: a sudden realisation that I’m far, far from being alone hit me. Finally getting heard became a nice bonus, not a sole target. I would have stayed anyway, because I felt a part of something more, part of a family.

I know I’m getting sentimental here, but that’s how it is. Picking up my phone and scrolling through my timeline at half-time makes me understand there are tens of thousands of people who feel the same way as I do. Or they feel different. They echo your thoughts, or they express their own. Opinions vary greatly and every (reasonable) fan has his or her own rationale. However, there’s one thing that unites us all: we all follow the Arsenal. Knowing and, indeed, having proof before your eyes, that you are a part of something more, is great.

Cheers