Super Premier League

This was a very weird and strange summer, very different since the last 9 years. The premier league, my favorite sports league involving my favorite sports team Arsenal, snuck up on me! Usually I am doing everything short of sitting around with a calendar and marking days off to welcome in a brand new season. I scour remote sources on the internet for Arsenal related articles, I refresh the Arsenal website (which BTW is my homepage) hoping for some breaking news, I sit watching Arsenal related videos on YouTube all in anticipation of the upcoming season. This season however, things were different. I read maybe a handful of Arsenal related articles a day and never sat around watching any videos. I guess you can blame those brilliant Olympics for briefly brushing Arsenal under the carpet!

But of course that was only temporary. The premier league is BACK!! Football is BACK!!

Shockingly, and hilariously, it seems like Man City are short a couple of players! Five goals conceded in three games against a newly promoted team, QPR, and a Liverpool team that has all of ZERO natural goal scorers is pretty poor. But the oil in the Middle East is not drying up any time soon and they will probably splurge more money. Man United will be fine like they always annoyingly are. (As an Arsenal fan that sentence was painfully hard to write). Personally, I think Rooney’s injury is a blessing in disguise. Overall I think he is a better player than Van Persie, but if it’s a straight choice between the two of them right now, Van Persie is slightly the better player, and has been for the last year. Much like the “noisy neighbors” however, their defense looks shaky. Ferdinand is very injury prone, Vidic is just returning from a season long injury and Evra is washed up. But somehow, they will be fine and end up having a good season.

On a side note, as an Arsenal fan it is absolutely gut wrenchingly hurtful to watch Van (Purse)y in the red of United, and do so well. It is obvious watching Arsenal that Podolski was bought with the intention of playing alongside RVP, and Giroud as a replacement for RVP. Watching Giroud struggle so mightily in the last 3 games and RVP thrive really makes my blood boil! Imagine Cazorla, Arteta, Patrick Yaya Diaby (Don’t laugh! He really was that good vs Liverpool!), Podolski, Walcott and RVP all playing together! (Looooong sigh…)

It’s still fun to laugh at Liverpool. As I write this, they are even talking about bringing Michael Owen back! I will confess though, I love watching Suarez play. He is an annoying prick who is always agitating and looking agitated, but he is full of deception (I am not talking about his diving!), trickery and has brilliant feet. Watching him play you always get the feeling he is trying his hardest, unlike say a Mr. Andrey Arshavin.

                                                  You really want him back?

Keeping my Arsenal bias aside and looking at it purely as a football fan, it is brilliant to see Everton doing well. There’s something charming about a small club showing immense loyalty, financial prudence and principals doing well. They are a collection of unglamorous players who every week bust their gut and just play football. No drama and no frills. If they can keep a hold of their players, who knows where they can finish?

Chelsea are the most intriguing to me. Prior to the season starting, I thought finishing fourth will be an achievement for them. But hell they have started the season on fire! They usually do, so I probably shouldn’t get carried away, but watching their games, they look like a group of players with great chemistry who like playing with each other and know their roles to perfection. Most importantly they seem to know how to win! And Torres looks good, which means he will probably get injured in the next month!

All in all, the premier league in the 3 weeks so far has churned out its usual dose of talent, flair, fast pace action, relentless passion, contrasting styles, heartbreak (Southampton against both Manchester clubs) and exhilarating excitement. 

Here’s to 8 more months of this brilliance!

Why Arsenal's Late Season Resurgence Should Not Paper Over The Cracks

Sports fans are emotional, recklessly irrational and notoriously fickle. One day, on the back of three losses on the trot, it is "Arsene Wenger out." A few wins on the trot and suddenly Arsenal are favorites to win the premier league next season. So after our best run of form to end this season, let us settle down and look at the big picture. 

While I may come across as pessimistic and a bit of a downer in this article, I fear that the good end of season form is glossing over the lingering problems the team faced earlier in the season. It is no coincidence that our best patch of the season has come with a fully fit back four. Personally, I love the combination of Laurent Koscielny and Thomas Vermaelen. They seem to have great chemistry together and most of all, they are strong, physical, have great positional sense and carry a certain swagger about them. I don't know about you, but I like my center back's to be tough, physical and have a no nonsense attitude. Having said that, how many of you can honestly say that when a high ball is played into the Arsenal box, you feel completely confident that the defense will clear it out with authority? I know I do not. Every time a high ball is played into the box, it is bingo time for the opposing center forwards. Also, considering Vermaelen's recent injury history, does anybody feel confident in Johan Djourou, Per Mertesacker or Sebastien Squillaci (By the way, where the hell has he been all season. Does he still play for Arsenal?) to fill in for him. That thought has me shaking in fear already. 

One take away from the run of form is how crucial our full backs, Kieran Gibbs and Bacary Sagna are. When the two were out through injury, as well as back up left back Andre Santos, Koscielny or Alex Song were forced to play out of position at the right back, and usually Vermaelen filled in at left back. And just as you would expect, when you put players in positions they are not accustomed to playing in, bad things happen. Our defense predictably leaked goals.

Surprisingly, the offense was hurt too. Ever since Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg left, wing play has not been one of Arsenal's strength's. Whatever productivity they got from the wings was a bonus. With Vermaelen and Koscielny playing as full backs, they were never involved on offense, making overlapping runs, or putting in crosses. As a result, opposing teams packed the middle of the field, therefore stopping Arsenal's biggest strength, the creativity in midfield. So that begs the question, what happens when Gibbs or Sagna goes down? Pray to the gods I guess. Gibbs especially has been injury prone, playing only 22 games this season, when the starting position was all his after Gael Clichy left. Also, is it just me, or does Andre Santos look fat and out of shape? It might be my overly critical eyes, so I will withhold judgment until next season. Same with Carl Jenkinson, who my only impression of this season, was the embarrassing 8-2 defeat at Manchester United. 

Scoring goals has never been a problem for Arsenal. It was nice to see in the last few games players like Theo Walcott, Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky, and even Thomas Vermaelen step up and score. If you are relying on one player to score a goal or more every game for you to even have a chance, then you are probably in trouble, even if that player is Robin Van Persie. It is clear we need reinforcements in the striking department. Ju-Young Park, Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho seem incapable of finding an ocean, let alone the back of the net. Their inability is the reason alone Arsene Wenger brought Thierry Henry back. Other strikers such as Carlos Vela, Nicklas Bendtner and Andrey Arshavin are out on loan and unlikely to return. Good thing too, because they were extremely poor. Lukas Podolski is a step in the right direction, but not nearly enough. One more established, experienced center forward would give us a great boost.

Our midfield looks good. Tomas Rosicky's revival has been pleasantly shocking to say the least. His revival seems symbolic of Arsenal's revival. His partnership with Van Persie, Arteta, Song, and Walcott looks promising. But hang on, theme alert here! Can we rely on Rosicky to give us a full season? Going by his past history, counting on Rosicky to give you a full season is like expecting Mitt Romney to find an issue that he does not flip flop about. It is just not going to happen. My humble diagnosis: another creative midfielder would do us a world of good. Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby would be like new signings for us, but I would not count on them being available for an entire season, especially Diaby. 

So there you have it. My two cents. In light of this run, I hope my fellow gooners do not unnecessarily inflate expectations and place added pressure on the team by saying things like "The premier league next season is ours to lose." No it will be Manchester City’s to lose, because only one of them will be defending champions. It is pretty clear too that Arsenal is still a mentally weak and fragile team. A mentally strong team would not lose to Wigan and QPR on the back of strong results. They build on results.

Having said all this, I still expect Arsenal to win the league next season! But for now, let us hope Arsene Wenger recognizes the cracks and fills them. I hope Arsene knows.