Arsenal team”, the same people also called for Wenger’s head and called for a new manager at Arsenal, it’s worth pointing out that even before our recent form, we had a run from Oct 21 till the end of December where we only lost 1 game in the league and that was a narrow loss to Man city away. It bothers me that paid journalists failed to spot the correlation between our injuries and our form that was so glaringly obvious for all to see, yet still, most journalists and pundits alike don’t point this out and still call this Arsenal side  “The worst ever” While reading the match reports this morning, little

In what was a perfect weekend from the perspective of a Gooner, I’m still buzzing with such an emphatic victory; however, beneath the taste of sheer delight was a sour undercurrent which I only tasted this morning while carrying out my routine of reading post match reports, reading what journalists have to say on twitter and watching the highlights again.

For a while now I’ve failed to believe Wenger when he mentioned of us being targeted by the media, but this season has proved to be a shining example of what Arsene was talking about. A while back this Arsenal team were dubbed “The worst Arsenal team”, the same people also called for Wenger’s head and called for a new manager at Arsenal, it’s worth pointing out that even before our recent form, we had a run from Oct 21 till the end of December where we only lost 1 game in the league and that was a narrow loss to Man city away. It bothers me that paid journalists failed to spot the correlation between our injuries and our form that was so glaringly obvious for all to see, yet still, most journalists and pundits alike don’t point this out and still call this Arsenal side  “The worst ever” While reading the match reports this morning, little praise was given to our performance which saw us strangulate what is “The best Manchester City side in years”, and instead, all focus and attention centres round the clown Mario Ballotelli, Mancini and even Man utd. As if that wasn’t enough, there has been speculation regarding Per Mertasacker, who in my opinion has had a solid first season bearing in mind it’s his first in English football, saying that he’d be offloaded in the summer to vacate  for Jan Vertongen, it honestly seems like they’ve ran out of things to talk about! On a defensive note, why do our back four never get the praise they deserve? Koscielny and Vermalen were typically solid, while our full-backs in Sagna and Gibbs carried out their defensive and offensive duties brilliantly (particularly Sagna), but even still, who gets the praise? Kompany and Joe Hart. I suppose the reason we won the game has nothing to do with our defence being solid then.

Media aside, another talking point has been Aaron Ramsey. Let’s be fair, he isn’t having the best of seasons, I watch him every game hoping/praying he’d replicate his performance vs Chelsea, but since then he’s been far off his best and in most cases has been poor. He has frustrated many an Arsenal fan (including myself) with the way he slows the tempo, misplaces passes, and misses chances which seem easier to score, and it has made me think. Fielding Ramsey in our starting 11 is good for no one, not for us, and not for himself (with the barrage of criticism he receives after every game) he isn’t ready for our first team YET, and perhaps loaning him could be a decent option.  I say this for two main reasons, the first being time. Unfortunately, as a club, time isn’t on our side, we need to win a trophy and forgive me for saying this but with decent summer recruitments we can really challenge for the title next year so we can’t afford the risk and start him. The second reason is the players we have returning from injury, with our current trio in midfield of Song,Arteta and Rosicky, I’m left perplexed as to what Wenger has in his mind for next season with Diaby and Wilshere returning next season hopefully, in our list of CM’s (Arteta, Coquelin, Diaby, Frimpong, Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere) it is debatable, but in my view Ramsey comes just before Coquelin and Frimpong, so game time may limited. It should be pointed out, he Ramsey tries his hardest,  he gives 100% and its clear for everyone to see,  the way he goes into tackles with full commitment (considering what happened to last year against Stoke) and the way he tracks back tirelessly, in my eyes somewhat who gives that much doesn’t deserve the criticism he gets. I really hope he improves, he has immense potential, and if you can’t see that then well…

Anyhow, next game is against Wolves on Wednesday night, will be a tough game but i’m feeling rather confident, hoping for some more long rangers from Arteta and hopefully RVP will finally bag a goal, but more important than that lets hope we get the 3 points and widen that gap and solidify 3^rd place, and who knows if we win all our remaining games 2^nd place isn’t impossible.

COYG!!!!

Twitter: @Rubicon_Ali

Mean Lean’s Response

I am also buzzing right now, the team were fantastic all over the pitch on Sunday afternoon and I am really feeling excited about this current Arsenal squad. The best thing to do about the media and journalists views on our club is simply to ignore it. I have wound myself up on too many occasions in the past but there is just no point.

We are dealing with people who like society, have only a short term span of thinking and not only that but they do not have anyone questioning their views publicly. They can say whatever the want and not have to think about it ever again.

After we lost away to Swansea, so much was written about how Arsenal could not defend and how brittle we were without any consideration to a huge percentage of our defenders being out through injury and the players we did have on the pitch needing to play out of position.

Journalists will not write about that because it doesn’t sell newspapers or advertising clicks.

Arsene Wenger was asked if he was concerned about his team getting relegated back in August, a large portion of that squad spent most of last season in the top three until our end of season melt down dropping us down to fourth.

The way that the media and journalists avoid stuffing their faces with humble pie is to talk about how bad the opposition were instead of admitting how well Arsenal dominated a team that were lauded as the best team since the invincibles by guess who? The media.

White flags will not be waved, feet will not be dragged on the floor so it is best to take it all with a pinch of crunchy sea salt.

At the end of the day, Arsenal fans in general know a hell of a lot more about Arsenal FC than a huge majority of people who are paid to write sensationalist nonsense.

I have spoken about Aaron Ramsey a lot in recent weeks, his bandwagon is absolutely full of dirty foot prints. For me, Aaron Ramsey is currently going through the Arsenal in August situation. He is being judged and written off for the here and now with zero consideration about his circumstances. This is life, we all have our opinons and we have to deal with conflicting opinons. Such is life.

I have watched enough football in my life time to know that a player of that age, having come off the back of such an injury cannot be screwed up and slung into the rubbish bin due to a dip of form.

Clearly the likes of Rosicky and Benayoun have pushed him out of the starting line up, rightly so judging by their performances of late but I would be very surprised if Aaron Ramsey does not become a better player than Tomas Rosicky in time and given the fact that I am and have always been a huge fan of Tomas, I do not take that lightly.

If snap decisions were made based on current form then Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Alex Song and a whole host of players would have been out of the door before they could have said Arry has a twitch.

As for the Mertesacker rumour, I have absolutely no idea what that is about. It was floating around a German press as well. It makes no sense to me. I cannot imagine that either the player or manager would be unhappy with Per’s contributions to date both on and off the pitch.

It sounds to me a bit like the ‘Wenger wanted to offload Diaby’ rumours that were going around last summer which is complete and utter rubbish. It sounds like it is written based on perception rather than actual fact. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that Arsene Wenger thinks very highly of those two players and it doesn’t matter what a loud minority think.

I could be wrong, something else might be happening behind the scenes that we do not know about but as it is, I think I will add it to the made up story down the pub from a hack wanting a new story.

Big game tomorrow. Play it again Arsenal.