Saint Invincibles Day

All Arsenal fans / Gooners have come to love the annual rite of spring known as St. Totteringham's Day, that moving holiday when it is mathematically impossible for Sp*rs to finish above the Gunners in the Premiership.  Although Sp*rs scratch and claw, change managers and spend millions, it has been celebrated in each of the last 18 seasons.  In fairness, it has come late in the past couple of years (May) but has been known to happen as early as the second week of March.

Enough picking on the Totts, I prose another holiday, this one in the early part of the season.  It will commemorate the Invincibles of 2003-04, the only team of the modern era to go through an entire EPL season undefeated:  P38  W26  D12  L0

Saint Invincibles Day will be when the last undefeated team in the EPL suffers its first loss.  As of today, only Everton have yet to lose.

This year, Saint Invincibles Day will probably fall on Oct 5th when the Toffee's will likely succumb to Citeh. Gooners around the world will sing and rejoice and regale the young 'uns with tales of the 2003-04 INVINCIBLES... (Although should Everton win, we will also sing and rejoice).

The Invincibles: Brave Jens of the Rhine, Sir Robert of Pires, the bold knave Freddie, the majestic knight Dennis, his Lordship Thierry, gallant PV4, Cole (the Traitor), Reyes the Kicked, Sol the Saved & Unrepentant, The Brazilians Gilberto & Edu, etc.  All banded together under the watchful gaze of Good King Wenger to go unbeaten over nine months of battle!

St. Invincibles Day cometh soon!

Huzzah!



A week is a long time in politics, football, etc.

Tiny Little Baby Cannons Practicing a 4-4-10 Formation

Wenger gets a reprieve of sorts after two decent performances on the road.  Fenerbache showed little resistance on Wednesday night and were dispatched 3-0 (Gibbs, Ramsey, Giroud).  Only downside: Koscielny was maimed and came off early after a Turkish boot to the head. This morning, in the early game, Arsenal prevailed 3-1 over Fulham (Giroud, Podolski 2) with Aaron Ramsey turning in another very steady performance in central midfield.  He has a great engine and runs tirelessly to help the cause.  He might not be as steady as Arteta but Aaron is proving to be a very valuable member of the team. 

Giroud continues with his goal-per-game form, somewhat fortunate with Arsenal's first but showing a deft touch when setting up Podolski for his second.  As for Lukas, he is an interesting cat.  He is either very good (today) or anonymous.  In typical Wenger fashion, Podolski is not playing in his best position - center forward - but then what to do with Giroud?  There is rumours that Podolski will go back to Germany - which would be ludicrous given how thin the sqaud is.  Which segues to...

SPEND THE MONEY!

At this stage it is almost irrelevant who comes in.  On the bench today:  Zelalem, Gnarby, Sanogo, Frimpong...  Exactly! Bunch of no name kids.  This is ridiculous.  Only Frimpong has a handful of senior games under his belt - or socks - since footballers do not really wear belts, or suspenders...

Thank goodness Sagna was not allowed to leave - he looked very solid alongside the BFG today and both fullbacks (Gibbs and Jenks) played well.

SPEND THE MONEY!

Bring in some size for goodness sake.  The other night there was a moment where Walcott, Wilshere and Cazorla were side by side (by side).  I wasn't sure if was watching a football game or if Snow White was going to make a cameo with four other pint-sized players.  It is hard enough to win with kids, damn near impossible with midgets.

SPEND THE MONEY!

Tuesdays game at home vs. Fenerbache should be a formality; however, we are always one crazy own goal, generous penalty, ridiculous red card, freak injury away from calamity (wait, wasn't that the Aston Villa game last week?).  The real test comes next Sunday, at home to the tiny Totts.  But by then Bale will be gone and we will have signed Benzema, Di Maria, Williams, Cabaye, another goalie, Flamini, Ray Parlour, Messi, Maradona and Pele... or more likey some four foot nothing 16 year Peruvian from the French League 4 - and he will not have a passport.

Arsene's Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

Busted Cannon

A new football season started today at The Emirates in North London and already the natives are beyond restless. I would say they are justifiably baying for blood.  A 3-1 home loss to Aston Villa was unacceptable and this is up there with the debacle at Old Trafford in 2011.

First to the game.  The Gunners started brightly and took the lead in the 6th minute through Giroud after some quick ball movement up the left side of the  field.  Things quickly deteriorated.  Gibbs - with blood streaming down his face - went off injured, meaning Sagna was shifted to left back. On came Jenks and the jury is still out on his abilities.  A dreadful mistake in midfield (not sure who - but it was not Arteta) allowed Gabby Agbonlahor gallop through the middle and Chesney was left to haul him down for a penno.  Note the ref played advantage but when Villa missed the chance, he blew for the foul...  Chesney was lucky only to see yellow...  And there our luck ended.

Chseney saved the penalty but Benteke scored on the rebound.  Then the Ox who was lively, went off injured at half time.   Cazorla came on but was not his usual self.  Walcott was piss-poor.  The Wilshere-Ramsey partnership did not click.  Neither provide adequate protection for the back four. 

The ref then gave an incredibly soft penalty - Koscielny got the ball first - and Benteke scored for his second.  More misery when Kos was later sent off for what seemed to be some acting by a Villa player.  With ten men we pushed forward for an equalizer but only succeeded in giving up a third goal in the 85th minute.  The scariest moment was yet to come - the sight of Sagna being flipped when trying to win a header and coming crashing down to the grass literally landing on his head.  How his neck was not broken, I do not know.

The Ensuing Debacle
Injuries left and right, suspensions (surely Kos's red card will be appealed?) and an already fragile and thin squad is looking very weak indeed.  The cupboards are bare:  the reserves have been annihilated in their pre-season games, there is nothing at the youth level.  Worse still, Wenger sent our only viable defensive midfielder and centerback out on loan (Coquelin and Miquel).  Unbelievable.  What goes through his head these days defies logic.

Wenger and Gazidis between them have conspired to totally bollix up the first team.  All summer they have dithered and dilly-dallied and done SFA to improve the team.  A blind man could see where the gaps are.  No depth, weaknesses at key positions and no strategy (other than moan) to fix the issues.   The ownership does not seem to care.  The fans need to revolt by not going to the games until the product and the field improves.

And it could get worse: Fenerbache could very easily dump this lot out of the Champions League.

I have been a fan for too long to think this a new low.  Some of the teams fielded in the early 1980's were dire (remember the John Hawley and Ray Hankin experiment?).  But to see how far we have fallen since the Invincibles of 2003-04 is tough to swallow.

Gazidis needs to stop palavering about how much money the club has.  Go quietly about your business - all that matters are results on the field.  It is a joke to see how little Fab and RvP were sold for and the money that is being mentioned for Bale and Suarez.   Very poor business acumen.

Everyone is accountable: the ownership, the manager, the coaches, the players, the scouts, the youth system.  The fans are being short-changed, big-time.  A sad day and one that has been all too common in the past several years.  This club needs a serious overhaul and a new regime. I hope it does not get worse but I would not be surprised if it did.

The once proud cannon is in serious disrepair.

Same old Arsenal?

Arsenal sent their U19 squad to participate in the 32nd Dallas Cup held each April in Frisco, TX. The tournament featured dozens of teams from all over the globe, age groups from U13 to U19. We saw the Gunners win 5-1 over a Dallas team on Sunday. They won their group with 6-0 and 3-1 wins over teams from Panama and Bolivia. This set up a Friday semi final against Eintract Frankfurt, to which I dragged the family.

There were lots of Arsenal fans present, evidenced by the famed red and white shirts. A "Come on Arsenal" chant broke out at one stage - otherwise the crowd was quiet. The U19 team is coached by Steve Bould, a warrior at center-back in his day. Unfortunately, Arsenal's two leading scorers Luke Freeman and Josh Rees were injured and did not play. It also seemed like a fourth game in six days was taking it's toll. The Germans were better, stronger, faster and cantered to a 2-0 win - it would have bee a lot more except for the heroics of Arsenal goalie Damian Martinez. For the Gunners, Roarie Deacon and George Breslin-Hall also impressed.

What worried me was that the U19's are clearly coached to play the same as the senior squad. So lots of crisp passing from the halfway line until the opponents penalty box and then nothing. Frankfurt defended against this with two banks of four and both their goals were on quick breaks. Sound familiar?

In the second semi, Tigres from Mexico destroyed a Dallas team 5-0. The final on Easter Sunday was cut short by some of crazy spring weather and was stopped after 65 mins due to the lightning. Both teams were declared co-champions.

Dr. Pepper Park in Frisco is a really nice modern stadium. The entire complex has about 15 fields and the facilities seem top class. One day we will try and figure out Major League Soccer and take in an FC Dallas game.

Steve Bould - Fashionista

The Downward Spiral - Five Weeks of Arsenal Misery

It is one of the rites of Spring. Arsenal competing on all fronts, threatening a clean sweep, only to nosedive and have Captain Wenger announce over the intercom "maybe next year".

This current crop of players is not good enough and lack the nous to win. Only Van Persie and Fabregas are world class and they are usually at about 70% due to injury. The rest will give you one good game out of four. The defensive unit are unreliable and prone to making outrageous gaffe's. In midfield, Diaby, Denilson and Rosicky are not starting XI material. And up front, Chamakh and Bendtner cannot be trusted to score on a regular basis... and that is what it boils down to with this squad - they are simply unreliable.

The frustrations of this season started later than usual and have been compressed into a five week period from early Feb until yesterday but show no sign of abating. What was once a far fetched Quadruple, is now a Single... and even that is a long shot.

Feb 5: Arsenal took a 4-0 half time lead at Newcastle (Premier League) and through a combination of injury (Djourou) and a red card to Diaby for reacting to Joey Barton and awful officiating, the Arse held on for a 4-4 draw but could have lost. It was an epic collapse and portent of things to come.

Feb 12: The team actually played well at home against Wolves and with almost everyone bar Vermaelen off the treatment table, played a solid game to beat Barca 2-1 at home (the game I went to, Feb 16). Then the injury crisis started in the home win over Stoke on Feb 23. Fabregas and Walcott went down.

The Carling Cup Final was Feb 27 and Arsenal were heavy favorites to beat Birmingham. Instead Arsenal played in a stupor and were lucky to lose only 2-1. Birmingham had a clear penalty denied in the first minute and Szczesny could have been sent off. Keystone Kops defending gifted Brum an 87th minute winner. And for the icing, Van Persie and Song got injured.

Mar 5: Back in the Premier League, Arshavin decided to show up against Sunderland but was denied both a penalty when pushed over by Bramble and later a goal when incorrectly ruled offside.

In the Champions Leage retun leg at the Nou Camp on March 8th, Van Persie and Fabregas returned from injury but clearly they were far from their best. Again, a poor referee did not help the cause when he gave Van Persie a red card for kicking the ball after the whistle had gone for offside. Arsenal failed to get a single shot on target and could have lost by more than 3-1, although near the end Mr. Confident Bendtner had a chance to score the goal that would sent Arsenal through on away goals - but he mis-controlled the ball. Of course there were more injuries. Szczesny, who was begining to look like a true heir to Lehmann or Seaman, dislocated a finger on an innocuous shot and is done for the season.

Somewhere in this time frame, we drew with Leyton Orient 1-1 in The FA Cup and won the replay 5-0 with a Bendtner hat trick. This result put us through to face Man Utd at Old Trafford in the Quarter Finals.

March 12: I knew when both Diaby and Denilson were in the starting XI, we would lose. Arshavin seemed not be bothered and RvP was isolated. Man U played only two recognized attacking players (Rooney and "Little Pea") and still outscored us 2-0. Mind you Edwin Van Der Saar made some great saves and Vidic was immense. And of course we had another bad injury. This time it was Djourou. He has had a good season coming off what seems like years of injuries and is now out for the rest of the campaign with a dislocated shoulder after a collision with one of his team mates. Keystone Kops. The only bright spot - the return of Aaron Ramsey after a broken leg.

So there it is. The worst five weeks imaginable for Arsenal and it shows no end. The injuries are unreal. Some of the officiating has been awful. But the bottom line is that some of the players are simply not good enough. Others lack belief and commitment to each other. Some serious rebuilding needs to be done. There are not enough seasoned pro's in the team. Wilshere and Walcott are still prospects. The back four of Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci and Clichy will be severely tested in the coming weeks and I for one, do not have faith in them.

At the end of the day it is just a game and in the grand scheme matters little. Football is unimportant compared to the loss of life and destruction in northern Japan...

The Table Does Not Lie

Arsenal 2 - 1 Fulham. Two great finishes by Sammy Nelson, I mean Samir Nasri, wrapped around another display of horrorshow defending. Nasri was reminiscent of George Best, toying with defenders. If the Arse are to win the Premiership, they will need Vermaelen back; they will need Djourou to play like he did against Fulham and maybe Santa will bring Gary Cahill in January? And Clichy needs to eliminate the mistakes and Song needs to provide more cover... The title will be a tall order.

Does it get any better?

Thurs - J.E.T.S beat the Bengals 26-10. Next Monday night vs. the hated Patriots promises to be a classic. And the Texas A&M fightin' Aggies beat the Tea-sips!!!

Fri - St. John's Red Storm Men win over Drake and the Ladies beat Nicholls State.

Sat - Arsenal win 4-2 at Aston Villa. The Arse went top of the Prem for about two hours before Dimitar Berbatov beat Blackburn 7-1.

Sat - The Southlake Carroll Dragons high school football team defeated the Abilene Eagles 38-24 at Cowboy Stadium. Video to follow! Dragons are now in the District Final vs. Denton after winning three playoff games.

Sun - Early morning, St. John's Red Storm win the Great Alaskan Shootout by beating Arizona State 67-58. SJU may not set the NCAA's on fire this year but apparently Coach Lavin's recruiting class for 2011 is up there with the best of them. And the NY Knicks won this afternoon... Does it all get any better? "Overnight, under the covers, schmoozing s.p.o.r.t.s..." (courtesy of Steve Somers, WFAN).