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Arsenal’s Word of the Day: Pivotal

August 24, 2011 — by Rob Kirby

Arsene-Wenger-water-bottle.jpg
The French professor..introducing new training techniques to bring Arsenal back from the brink?

Some thoughts from Arsenal observer Rob Kirby ahead of their pivotal Champions League playoff match against Udinese later today:

Apparently, the last chance saloon is in Udine, Italy. I always wondered as to the exact location. Despite the fact that it would have scuppered the Man City deal, if Nasri played today it would have made sense both financially and sporting-wise. Arsenal will lose £20 million minimum (some say £25m) in TV revenue if they fail to qualify for the CL. Assuming the Nasri deal is £25m, that justifies hanging onto Nasri to my mind, since we seem to be incapable of finding anyone to replace him, anyway. Any hopes of attracting someone of Eden Hazard’s calibre hinges on playing in the European top flight. But all this assumes Nasri’s heart would be in it, and that is debatable. If we lose, according to CL rules, he wouldn’t be cup-tied, so no harm in having him on the bench. But at this point it’s water under the bridge, or water that passed beneath the bridge weeks ago.

Arsenal are like lepers currently. Prospective targets keep rejecting offers, right and left. That will change if the Udinese match goes North London’s direction, but it still leaves little or no time for squad reinforcements. Fortunately, all the teens did well against Liverpool, despite the loss. Fans seem to have cottoned to Frimpong’s energy instantly, red card notwithstanding. And though the Ramsey-Ignasi own goal combo was regrettably unlucky, I don’t think anyone would have preferred to see Squillaci in the young Spanish defender’s place. They got thrown in the deep end, but stayed afloat. It’s the senior players who dropped the ball. And there never should have been 3 teenage EPL debuts in such an important game, with a fourth coming on as a sub.

I will always be optimistic about Arsenal and Arsene’s abilities, but it’s getting tougher. Arsenal have now racked up 3 suspensions (almost 4, with Wenger awaiting the UEFA verdict) and until yesterday 6 injuries (Wilshere, Koscielny, Gibbs, Djourou, Rosický, Diaby, Traoré). Djourou, Rosický and Traoré have been deemed fit to travel, but they’ve got to be feeling on the iffy side of fitness. At least Gervinho and Song can play this week and have been rested.

But as demoralizing as it is, if Arsenal win, it could change the trajectory of the entire season. Much hangs in the balance tonight. There aren’t enough fingers to cross.


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What To Watch Today: Man Utd-Spurs & Barcelona-Napoli

August 22, 2011 — by Suman

We’ll be back soon with an account of what we watched this past weekend, but first there are two matches later today that are worthy of your attention:

Monday, August 22

Gamper Trophy (friendly), Barcelona-Napoli (2:30pmET, ESPN3.com):

This is an annual pre-season friendly hosted by Barcelona each August, named after Joan (nee Hans) Gamper–a Swiss player and businessman, and founding member of FC Zurich.  He moved to Barcelona in 1898, where he founded, played for, and then served as club president of FC Barcelona (cf. Chapter 4 of Jimmy Burns’ definitive history of the club, Barça: A People’s Passion).

Aurilio De Laurentiis' Napoli goes into the Lion's Den to face Barcelona today

For this trophy, Barcelona invites a club from outside Spain to play at the Camp Nou; the past few years have seen top clubs like AC Milan, Man City, Boca Junions, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, and Juventus travel to Barcelona.  Today it’s another Serie A club, one that has emerged as a challenger to the Milanese hegemony in Italy.

Napoli finished 3rd in Serie last season, behind the two Milan team, so we’ll be seeing them in the Champions League this fall. Their breakout star last year was 24-year-old Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani–he scored a club-record 26 goals in Serie A last season, his first with Napoli after they’d signed him away from Palermo.  Napoli showed they’re serious about challenging in Serie A–and perhaps even in the Champions League–by extending Cavani’s contract until 2016.

Not only that, they added to their squad over the summer by signing Swiss-Turkish midfielder Gökhan Inler away from Udinese (who, by contrast with Napoli, sold off their star players following their strong finish in Serie A last season).

Inler’s unveiling in Naples was quite literally that–or more accurately, an unmasking.  See the photo, or better yet the video: “Presentazione Gokhan Inler con la maschera da leone e la grande risposta di De Laurentiis” (yes, that’s the film producer  Aurelio De Laurentiis, who refounded the club after it had gone into bankruptcy into 2004).

And of course on the other side of the ball it’s only the best club side of our era.  Given that it’s just a friendly, we’ll be watching for some of the second-stringers to get more playing time: new/recent arrivals Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and Ibrahim Affelay, as well as La Masia graduate Thiago Alcântara. Consider that those four (Thiago and Cesc in the midfield, in the spots where Xavi and Iniesta usually run things; Sanchez and Affeley on the wings), plus current starters Messi and Busquets, form a front six (in Barça 4-3-3) for the next decade–Cesc and Affelay are the senior members of that lineup at 24 and 25, respectively.

EPL, Manchester United-Tottenham Hotspur (3pmET, ESPN2/ESPN3.com): A more consequential match than the one above.  It’s Tottenham’s season opener, after their Week One fixture was postponed in the wake of the London riots–and they have the tough draw of going into Old Trafford to face defending title-holders ManU.  Here are Coach Larry’s thoughts on the match:

Considering we know (assume?) that Spurs will make significant changes to their team before the window closes, how they lineup should prove interesting.  United’s squad appears settled, and now they have the youth (back from loan spells) they lacked last term.  ManU should lock down the midfield area to protect their central defense, but Rafael van der Vaart could prove a challenge.  Tottenham’s back line represents their most consistent group and their matchup against United’s attack probably will offset.

Our resident Spurs fan John Lally is optimistic: “I really fancy spurs to put in a performance today.  Ashley Young is their biggest threat but hopefully we start [Croatian] Kranjčar again in the middle. I’ll say 2-2”

Also optimistic is the Guardian’s Barney Ronay, who writes that the Spurs may “wing” their way to victory, thus ending to their long drought at Old Trafford (their last win there was in December 1989!)–that is to say, that the matchups to watch will be on the wings, where Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon will be running at Man U depleted defense.

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What to Watch This Weekend (Aug 20-21)

August 19, 2011 — by Suman

It was shaping up to be a packed weekend, with some interesting EPL matchups and the start of the La Liga season in Spain.  But alas, Spanish football is still in shambles, with the players on strike over unpaid wages.  Hopefully that will be resolved over the coming week so that we’ll see those interesting fixtures next weekend.  In the meantime, let’s take a look at the EPL games that we’ll be watching–along with the FIFA U20 World Cup final:

Saturday, August 20

EPL, Sunderland-Newcastle (7amET, ESPN3.com): An early kickoff for this edition of the Tyne-Wear derby.  Last year this fixture resulted in a Sunderland suffering an embarrassing 5-1 thrashing–though Kevin Nolan scored 3 of those goals, and Andy Carroll was on the pitch for Newcastle as well.

This year Sunderland is probably picked my most to finish above their cross-town rivals.  See Coach Larry’s thoughts on Sunderland following their draw with Liverpool last Saturday.

Arsenal fans would be happy if Arshavin scored even 1/4 as many tomorrow

EPL, Arsenal-Liverpool (7:45amET, ESPN2/ESPN3.com): Another early morning game for those of us in the US–is it worth waking up for? Liverpool supporter & observer Coach Larry weighs in:

I think for the fans of the two teams it is. Both teams are trying to adjust to their new players still, and with the high stakes involved for the two, I’m not sure either will be too adventurous.  They did do this in 2009.

Suarez might just have the full run of the middle of the pitch with Arsenal without Wilshere (injured) or Song (suspended) in the midfield. Stuart Downing and Enrique taking on Sagna should also add some fun. We should get more info on whether Dalglish has in mind rotations/matchups or starters/subs for his eight MFs at least.

RVP will give Carragher and Agger a rough time, and the Gunners should try and attack in spaces behind both left and right back. But the usual question remains, if they do, will they convert the chances into goal attempts. And they also have to solve a left back issue considering Gibbs’ and Djourou’s balky hamstrings.

From the numerous Arsenal-supporting branch of the CultFootball family, Tyler opines that Gunners fans and pundits are overly pessimistic. (Case in point: longtime Arsenal supporter Eddie wrote in: “I have to say, this is the most depressing start of season for Arsenal. I will feel compelled to watch the game, as I would video-clips of a tsunami disaster..”  Last week while watching Newcastle-Arsenal together at the Chip Shop, Eddie mentioned how he started following the Gunners as a young lad in Singapore–actually he converted from supporting Leeds United, back in the days of Don Revie and Brian Clough.  Naturally we immediately commissioned him to write the 2nd installment of our “They Reminsce” series.  Look for that in the coming weeks.)  On the other hand, Kirby joins Tyler in his cautious optimism: “I truly believe that it could be both a good match, and if Arsenal wins, a huge boost for the challenges ahead. A depleted squad goes in, but Robin, Vermaelan, Sagna. Who knows, maybe Arshavin will decide the time is right to be kickass again and bag 4 goals. Looks like Nasri may be playing tomorrow, btw.  That just made the game a bit more star-powered.”

EPL, Chelsea-West Brom (12:30pm, FSC): Our resident Chelsea supporter, who prefers to go by the nom de plume The Cunning Linguist, writes in with these thoughts on the Blues after their lackluster scoreless draw opener against Stoke: “I hope people start giving ManU some stick for spending money. I’m sure no one will forget the 50mm quid on el niño, who looked very sharp and dangerous. Too bad his supply line is crap; Salomon still hasn’t got a kalou and Malouda is, well, he’s French. I prefer Anelka on the right as a wide man and would like to see Benayoun in the mix. Chelsea don’t impress me and doubt they’ll do much this season. May have to start cheering for QPR.”

FIFA U20 World Cup Final, Brazil-Portugal (9pm, ESPN3.com): We have to admit, we haven’t been watching the U20 World Cup.  So we might as well tune in for this all-Lusophone final.  We’ve variously heard over the past week that the best teams in this tournament were ones that didn’t make the final (Spain, according to Jonathan Wilson, and Mexico, according to Tommy, who also had some unflattering comments about Portugal: “they start that flopping crime in Portugal early. I’ve been watching a lot of the U20 Cup, and the final 30 minutes of Wednesday’s Portugal showing vs France was humiliating. Apparently France had several snipers posted in the stadium because the Portu-gals were going down like they were on an adult film set.  Bad news for the US – the Mexican U20s look great. They may have lost to the Brazilians in the semis, but they were the best team I saw. Gddmmit.”)

Sunday, August 21

EPL, Bolton-Man City (11am, FSC): Both teams put in 4 last weekend, albeit against newly promoted sides (QPR and Swansea, respectively), and hence are at the top of the table after one week.  All eyes will be on Kun Agüero’s after his Premier League debut performance–two goals sandwiched around a spectacular assist to David Silva, all after coming as a substitute in the second half.

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Liverpool to meet Arsenal, and the Gooners are…optimistic?

August 19, 2011 — by Tyler — 1

Tears of joy from the masses

It’s easy to predict Liverpool running all over Arsenal, what with all the Reds’ new signings and the Gunners’ injuries, suspensions, and defections. Both teams will be cautious as they try to gel and avoid slipping further behind Manchester Red and Manchester Blue. Liverpool, with a couple injured exceptions, is stocked to the gills with players anxious to impress, while the news and the media—not always one in the same—would have you believe that Arsenal is decimated, dejected, and demoralized.

(How a draw on the road and a win at home in 4 days, in the midst of so much speculation and criticism and supposed turmoil, are the signs of a damn crisis, I’ll never know…)

My guess is that pundits and fans alike are, from a Gunners point of view, much more pessimistic about Saturday’s match than the Arsenal players and coaches are. One doesn’t have to look too far into the past, no further than last season even, to be reminded that Arsenal is not in a new predicament. The Gunners’ present situation isn’t great, but I see it as just a bit worse than the status quo for the last 3-4 years. Can anyone tell me how many times in recent years have their first choice XI been healthy at the same time? Isn’t this team accustomed to Band-aids and patchwork?

The argument against me would be: “That’s exactly the problem. For too many years, Arsenal have had so many injuries, too few signings, and they always come up short.” Point taken, but I’m writing about Saturday, not the entire upcoming season.

Rosicky and Arshavin provide experience, suffocatingly quiet leadership, and a sense of nearly hypnotic, “day at the beach” calm. They list as their hobbies: “dribbling directly into opposing legs”, “appearing exasperated”, and “falling down a lot”. But both are capable of a few strokes of brilliance once or twice a month, and younger players are going to look to them for answers, so I expect them to rise to the occasion.

The Sagna-Walcott-RVP connection can be lethal on ANY given day. Vermaelen is back (and don’t forget, he can score). Aaron Ramsey’s stock is rising almost daily. Perhaps Bendtner will even make an appearance before jumping ship to one of the unnamed teams who don’t seem to exist and who really aren’t that interested! (Better him than “Bambi”, aka Chamakh.)

For now, let’s forget Cesc, Nasri, the other absentees, and the lack of “big name” transfers coming in. Granted, left back and defensive midfield are HUGE concerns for Saturday, as is the frightening lack of depth on the bench. (Sure would be nice to have Eboue back right now.) But come kick-off, viewers might expect to see 9 familiar Arsenal faces, plus one Frimpong and one Jenkinson. That ain’t so bad, is it? Add to that the notion that, save for Bendtner, every Arsenal player at the Emirates this Saturday will be one who actually WANTS to be there, and we might just have ourselves a game!

These guys are good. They’re coming off a win, unlike their opponents this Saturday. It’s the home opener. I’m not worried.

(Gulp…)

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Arsenal Survives Newcastle upon Tyne, But Udinese Comes to Town Today

August 16, 2011 — by Suman

Joey Barton welcomes Gervinho to life in the Premier League with an embrace

Us Arsenal fans have been approaching the beginning of this new campaign with a sense of dread. On the field, the team fell of a cliff last spring–in quick sucession, they handed the Carling Cup to Birmingham in the waning minutes; got eliminated from the Champions League yet again by nemesis Barcelona, and fell from within striking distance of the top of the Premier League to barely hanging on to a Champions League spot. Then came the usual dreaded drama of off-season transfers. The Cesc-back-to-Barcelona negotiations dragged out all summer, until finally being consummated just yesterday. But worse than that (most Gunners fans had already bid adieu to their displaced Catalan captain), rivals Man City poached experience defender Gaël Clichy, and then came the disconcerting news that rising star Samir Nasri wanted out too. As of now, Nasri is still ostensiby on the squad, but he too might follow in the ignominious footsteps of former Gunners Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor, and now Clichy, trading in Arsenal’s bright red for City’s sky blue.

On the other hand, Arsene yet again failed to offer the fans some hope with a big move in the transfer market. The only player that he brought in during this transfer window (so far, at least) is yet another Francophone West African, albeit one with a Brazilian-style single moniker: Gervinho, from Ligue 1’s Lyon. Plus many Gunners followers were disappointed that Wenger failed to sell underachievers like Denilson, Andrei Arshavin, or Nicholas Bendtner.

And so it was with some trepidation that we tuned in to Saturday’s season opener at Newcastle upon Tyne–especially since last year’s fixture at Newcastle was among the lowest of many low points last season. And although the result was a rather lackluster scoreless draw, with more attention drawn to red cards given and not, this Arsenal observer was encouraged by the team’s performance. One got the feeling that the players on the pitch had already put the Fabregas and Nasri nonsense aside, and were focused on getting on with things.

We thought there was some good combination play among the front 5 or 6: captain Robin Van Persie up front; Tomáš Rosický in the center of the midfield, filling (for now) the playmaker role Cesc used to boss; Arshavin on one wing again, but Gervinho getting the start on the other; and behind them stalwart Alex Song and the rising Aaron Ramsey in the holding roles (with Jack Wilshere unfortunately injured for now). Predictably the Gunners all too frequently failed to find the final ball for the finish, but the quick attacks off one & two-touch passing was there, with Gervinho in particular providing some aggression and excitement off the wings. Interestingly, he and Arshaving switched sides multiple times in the first half alone, causing both the viewer and the Newcastle defense some confusion.

The good news for Arsenal fans was no news on defense–it was solid, allowing Newcastle few good chances on goal, and not making any glaring errors. The return, finally, of center back Thomas Vermalaen is great news–he, Koscielny and Johann Djourou give the Gunners some solidity in the center of the defense. On the outside defense, we can count on Bacary Sagna, and youngster Kieran Gibbs had a good game stepping into the starting role vacated by Clichy; both of them got forward on occasion, providing extra width in attack.

But alas, it was a couple fracases involving Joey Barton that grabbed the headlines. First an Alex Song stamp on the ankle in the first half that the ref failed to notice, and then Barton grabbing Gervinho by the scruff of his jersey and hauling him up after he’d perceived that the Ivorian had taken a dive in the box (replays show that Cheikh Tiote may have in fact clipped him). The ref missed that initial Barton no-no (understandably, as he was following the play up the field and had his back turned), but didn’t miss Gervinho giving Barton a little tap on the cheek. The arbiter had no choice but to give Gervinho a red card in his Premier League debut.

If you missed the game, here is BBC’s Match of the Day segment–highlights followed by commentary and analysis by host (and former England captain) Gary Lineker, former Newcastle United captain Alan Shearer and Liverpool and Scotland defender Alan Hansen:

That brings us to today–Arsenal’s 2nd game in a very tricky opening stretch is the first leg of a Champions League playoff tie against Italians Udinese. Udinese were a revelation in Serie A last year, climing to 4th place to claim a Champions League spot for the first time since 2005-06, finishing up traditional powers like Lazio, Roma, and Juventus. Here is what SerieAWeekly.com had to say in a column from last May, titled “Why Udinese Finishing Fourth Is Good for Serie A“, a couple weeks before the close of the season:

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Euro U21 Championships Underway – England v Spain Today!

June 12, 2011 — by Suman

Now here’s some football to watch over the next couple weeks: the UEFA U21 Championships started yesterday in Denmark.  Eight teams are competing: Spain, England, Iceland, Switzerland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Belarus, and the hosts Denmark; and two of the favorites meet in their first group stage match later today: Spain plays England at 2:30pm ET (in the US, you can watch the game on ESPN Deportes or ESPN3.com).

The Spain squad features two players that were reserves on last summer’s World Cup champion senior national team (midfielders Javi Martínez of Athletic Bilbao and Juan Mata of Valencia), as well as three players that saw bits of playing time with Barcelona this past season (Jeffrén, Bojan Krkić, and Thiago Alcântara).

Interestingly all three of those Barça players have roots outside of Spain. Alcântara is tipped by many as the next great Barcelona midfielder; he was actually born in Italy to Brazilian parents, and quite fine footballing parentage at that–his father is Mazinho, who earned 40 caps playing for the Selecao, including in the 1994 World Cup winning squad.  Thiago was born in 1991 while his father was playing club ball in Italy (for Lecce and Fiorentina), and grew up Spain (where his father played for Valencia and Celta Vigo).  See this Sid Lowe column from last November about Thiago.

Similarly, great things were also expected of Bojan (whose Serbian father was also a professional footballer). He became the youngest ever player to play for Barcelona in a La Liga match and a Champions League match, soon after his 17th birthday. But lately he’s suffered from injuries and didn’t feature much in this past campaign, especially after Ibrahim Affelay arrived in January and became the first attacking option off the bench.

Jeffren is another talented attacker who spent most of this season on the bench, although he did write himself into the Barcelona history books by scoring the 5th goal in the November El Clasico. Jeffren was born in Venezuela, but immigrated to Tenerife with his family at a young age. Like Thiago and Bojan, he was signed by Barcelona before the age of 15 and grew up in La Masia.

England, on the other hand, made more news for the players that have been called up for the senior national team and aren’t playing in this tournament (Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere and Liverpool’s Andy Carroll).  From Mr. Zonal Marking Michael Cox’s preview of how England might line up:

Manchester United fans will look forward to seeing their probable future central defensive duo of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones play together at the back – they’re likely to be joined by recent Hamburg signing Michael Mancienne and Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand in a strong-looking back four, with Frank Fielding in goal. Another option is to use Spurs’ Danny Rose in the left-back position he’s occasionally played at club level, although he prefers to play on the left wing.

The midfield will be anchored by Fabrice Muamba, with new Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson and Everton’s Jack Rodwell as part of the midfield three. Rodwell could sit alongside Muamba and allow Henderson to create higher up the pitch, but in the recent 2-0 friendly win over Norway’s U21 side, it was Rodwell who provided the most frequent support to the front two of Welbeck and Daniel Sturridge.

That makes England’s likely starting XI: Fielding, Mancienne, Smalling, Jones, Bertrand, Muamba, Rodwell, Henderson, Rose, Welbeck and Sturridge. Right-back Kyle Walker and midfielders Tom Cleverley and Mark Albrighton are other options.

Sturridge and Welbeck make for a potent strike force.  Muamba is player to watch–not least for US fans since he pairs with CultFootball favorite Stu Holden in Bolton’s midfield.  His story is also a remarkable one–from his birth in Kinshasa in 1988 to playing the Premier League and representing England internationally.

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What to Watch This Weekend

June 3, 2011 — by Suman

We took a few weeks off from our guide to the upcoming weekend’s televised matches.  It’s perhaps an odd time to resurrect it, just after the climax of the European club season–but actually perhaps it’s more necessary now that we’re asking ourselves–what exactly are we supposed to watch, now that they’re done playing in Europe?

Well, for starters, they’re not done playing in Europe–there’s a full slate of Euro 2012 qualifiers this weekend.  Though to be honest none of the matchups qualify as must-see.  We’re more interested in a pair of international friendlies that will end up being a tasty doubleheader on Saturday: Brazil hosting the Netherlands in a rematch of last summer’s shock World Cup quarterfinal upset, and USA hosting the World Cup winners, Spain.

(TV listings below pulled from the Washington Post’s SoccerInsider post of comprehensive TV listings for the weekend.)

Saturday, June 4 (all times ET)

England-Switzerland 11:30 a.m. FSC: We thought we should pick at least one Euro qualifier–and although we did have the intention of listing today’s Germany-Austria and Belgium-Turkey matches (both of which turned out to be interesting), we didn’t get around to writing this up in time.  So we’re left with Saturday’s slim pickings, and so we’ll go with the cliche: England hosting Switerland.  Just check any of the English papers for too much coverage from an Anglocentric perspective.  We don’t know too much about the Swiss squad–the two most recognizable names for us are defender Johann Djourou, who really came into his own with Arsenal this past season; and 26-year old Swiss captain Gökhan Inler, who starred in the midfield for the exciting Udinese squad that finished 4th in Serie A.

Brazil-Netherlands 3 p.m. Univision, ESPN3.com: Luckily our man in Sao Paulo has stepped in to our recent posting void with a nicely detailed preview of the Seleção going into this friendly with the Netherlands.  No doubt the Brazilians will be looking for revenge after they were dumped out of the World Cup by the Dutch last July.  On the other hand, the brilliant Oranje haven’t let up since their run to the final last summer–their currently undefeated in their Euro qualifying group.  It seems like the Dutch will be without a number of their established players–Wesley Sneijder, Mark van Bommel, Rafael van der Vaart, Maarten Stekelenburg are all out of the squad, due to injury or just fatigue after the long club campaign.  But Robin van Persie, Dirk Kuyt, Nigel de Jong, and Arjen Robben are all in the squad, and we’ll also be looking for exciting up and coming Dutchmen like Ibrahim Affelay (Barcelona), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax), Eljero Elia (Hamburg), and Luuk de Jong (Twente).

United States-Spain 4:30 p.m. ESPN, Univision, ESPN3.com:

USA hosts world champions Spain in Foxborough, MA–apparently US Soccer is close to selling out the 68,000-seat Gillette Stadium!. For a full preview, we’ll point you over to the Shin Guardian. As they remind us, the last time these two met, in the 2009 Gold Cup, the US shocked with a 2-0 victory; in fact, they include a link to a column from May 2010 by tactical guru Jonathan Wilson praising Bob Bradley’s tactics against Spain in that match.

We’re wondering who Spain will play?  Xavi, Puyol, Cesc aren’t in the squad, but the rest of the big names are.  Though we can’t imagine Spain will field their top XI, at least not for all that long, or that they’ll be putting forth full effort–especially the Barcelona players that were playing Man U just a week ago in London.

Actually, it will be interesting to see some Spanish players not from Barcelona or Madrid play–we’re pretty sure Joan Capdevila the only such player who featured regularly in the WC last summer. Here is the squad that has travelled to Boston–there is certainly a bit of footballing talent in Spain:

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