“The ball is round.  The game lasts 90 minutes.  Everything else is theory.”

When Big Sam took over at Bolton, he censored a few words from Sepp Herberger’s quote. The Bolton players were only allowed to learn this:
“The game lasts 90 minutes. Everything else is theory.”

Doing anything possible to last out the 90 minutes became Bolton’s motto. The fact that the ball was present on the pitch was just a technicality. If needed, the Bolton players could prefer to use the ball, but it was not necessary that their legs always had to kick a ball. As a result, Arsenal had to endure a 5 season winless streak away to Bolton in the league from the 2002/03 season until 2006/07, with two draws (2-2, 1-1) and 3 losses (1-0, 2-0 and 3-1).

So last season when Big Sam was gone, it was understandable that Arsenal managed a win away to Bolton. But Arsenal’s 3-2 win last season was anything but easy. Trailing 2-0 and reduced to 10 men at half-time, Arsenal scored 3 goals in the last 30 minutes to mark an amazing come-back. If ever a goal is meant to mimic its dreary environment, then Cesc’s 90th minute winner was the perfect goal to be scored away to Bolton — his shot took a few deflections and went into the back of the net, exactly the kind of goal that one needs to score to get a win at Bolton. Although it can’t be forgotten how Arsenal went down to 10 men that day. Given that Arsenal’s season was tarnished by that awful tackle on Eduardo, it wasn’t the best move on Diaby’s part to imitate that nasty incident. And his tackle looked worse considering that he suffered a long term injury himself due to an ugly incident himself.

Still, in the end, the joy and relief at the final whistle was quite an amazing moment. Not only did the 3-2 win halt a run of 5 winless games in the league, a spell that cost Arsenal their title, but the picture of celebrations at the final whistle on 29th March was the last time Arsenal had any real joy in their 2007/08 season. After that Bolton win, things got darker.

Dreaming of an almost perfect round

This saturday’s Bolton game marks the end of Arsenal’s 3 game road trip but more importantly, it gives a chance for Arsenal to improve on their 3rd spot in the table. Last weekend was quite a good weekend from an Arsenal perspective — they beat Blackburn 4-0 away while Spurs, Bolton and Man Utd all lost. Interestingly, this weekend there is a slight possibility of even a better set of results. If Arsenal and Chelsea both win their games coupled with a few other teams (namely Wigan, West Brom, Newcastle, Sunderland and Stoke) who are currently on 4 points earning a point or more, then maybe, just maybe, the bottom four in the league could be Bolton, Man Utd, Blackburn and Spurs. Sniff. Sniff. Even if Stoke get a draw away to Liverpool, a Chelsea win (as painful as that sounds) would mean that Arsenal can’t claim top spot this weekend but the possibility of seeing a few Arsenal rivals in the bottom, all huddled up together, is surely worth a few extra minutes of joy.

Ofcourse, it is a funny old game and anything can happen. But here’s to hoping that the ball bounces the right way for Arsenal this weekend, both in their game and even in a few others.

Arsenal’s Champs League quest starts today in Kiev. The good thing is that the Sept fixture date ensures that atleast the ground won’t be covered in snow and no orange ball would have to be deployed. As per the weather forecast, the temperature should be around 9 deg C near kick-off with chance of rain.

Some history
It has been almost 5 years since Arsenal’s last visit to Kiev. That fixture on Oct 21, 2003 ended in a 2-1 defeat and left Arsenal rooted to the bottom of their group with just 1 point (via a 0-0 tie with Lokomotiv Moscow) from their opening three games. However, Arsenal performed an amazing escape act with three successive wins, including a 1-0 victory over Kiev at Highbury, followed by that magical 5-1 result in the San Siro against Inter before easing things off with a 2-0 home win over Lokomotiv. In the end, Arsenal topped the group with 10 points.

The Arsenal team that day in Kiev was Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Toure, Cole, Parlour, Edu, Gilberto, Pires, Wiltord & Henry. Clichy was on the bench. Kolo is the only remaining starting player from that 2003 team. However, the Kiev team has also changed as well, with 5 players who started the game that night present in the current squad. From the 11 members (Olexander Shovkovsky, Serhiy Fyodorov, Yury Dmitrulin, Andriy Nesmachny, Goran Gavrancic, Jerko Leko, Valentin Belkevich, Georgi Peev, Tiberiu Ghioane, Oleg Husev, Maxim Shatskikh) that played that night, the five players currently in the kiev squad are goal-keeper Shovkovsky, defender Andriy Nesmachny, midfielders Tiberiu Ghioane & Oleh Gusev and forward Maksim Shatskikh. Also, two players who were on the sub bench that night, Badr El Kaddouri & Artem Milevskiy, are also in the current squad.

Prior to 2003, Arsenal’s previous trip to Kiev also ended in a defeat (3-1 reverse on Nov 4 1998). In fact, if one includes Arsenal’s away fixtures to Moscow as well, Wenger has never tasted victory in an away Russian or Ukrainian fixture. The full record, as per Arsenal.com’s preview, is: Dynamo Kyiv 1-3 (1998), Donetsk 0-3 (2000), Spartak Moscow 1-4 (2001), Lokomotiv Moscow 0-0 (2003), Dynamo Kyiv 1-2 (2003), CSKA Moscow 0-1 (2006).

Adventures and stories

Hopefully, uncle Kolo gathered up the young Arsenal kids in the flight yesterday and told them of the adventures that await them in Kiev tonight. Maybe Kolo also warned them of the dangers of a slow start and how any mistake might be punished. He might even have got the spirits of the team up with tales of Arsenal’s fight back in the last 10 minutes, including a last minute effort from Toure that hit the woodwork.

Lineups, discussions, analysis: over to you guys.

One thing for certain about Arsenal America is that there is no shortage of opinions. Whether these are presented with carefully calculated supporting data, pedagogic belligerence, vociferous aggressiveness, whimsical fancy or the “I know it all” syndrome, they are presented in abundance.

That’s the beauty of the Internet with anonymous writers couched behind their “anonymous” IP addresses and booze in hand.

Recently, the big debate has centered on the DM position.

Some say we don’t have a true DM and need one in order to win trophies.

Others say we don’t need one in order to win.

Still yet, others contend we have one in Song and Denilson does not fit the Bill.

Some contend Denilson is fantastic and will do just fine.

To put some of this into perspective let’s take a look on our squad formation under Arsene pre MK III. In effect our winning seasons have been highlighted by terrific DM’s in Vieira, Petit and a younger Gilberto. They might all have been different in style and technique but they all contributed that extra layer of defense between midfield and the back four and played a major part in the defensive rotation which allowed our wing backs to romp forward and put pressure on the opposing defense, and allowed us to play a very high line without unnecessary risk.

In fact, forget how our formations started out, but in actuality the majority of times we played a 3-5-1-1 with the DM being used in an inverted V, two attacking AM’s bursting through the middle with the WB’s and Wingers alternating along the sidelines to provide width. This was our proven guide to success under Wenger.

Looking on all of the great teams of today and yesteryear, like Brazil, Holland, Germany, Spain, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manu (FORGIVE ME IF I HAVE MISSED ANYONE) they all had that one common ingredient, an excellent DM who had a specific role in defensive rotation. Some were more attacking than others, but they still played that key link between defense and attack and provided a central backbone.

Names in no special order like, Vieira, Petit, Beckenbauer, Senna, Essien, Dos Santos, Gerson, Didi , Scholes, Roy Keane, Mahamamadou Diarra, Barry Hulshoff, quickly spring to mind. At this point I am asking all English xenophobes to forgive me for omitting Gerrard and Lampard but I have never been quite certain as to what categories they fall within.

Last season, Flamini initially played the traditional DM role which freed Fab to go forward and coincidentally or not this was Fab’s most prolific time in terms of goals and assists. Noticeably, Arsenal moved away from that structure after the first half of last season and employed Fabregas and Flamini in the center of midfield and allowed both to seemingly attack at random. Whether this was Arsene’s plan or just the nature of the beast with Flamini playing for an AC Milan contract, we will never know.

If we look on the statistics, Fab’s goals, in particular, and assists tapered off and Flamini’s offensive output never compensated. With RVP out, Adebayor was our savior until Rosicky and Eduardo went down and with it our stumbles began and our season petered out to one of mediocrity with no trophies to show for all of the dazzling performances which entertained millions of fans worldwide.

Very noticeably last season, was our inability to finish off games but more importantly to defend leads and instinctively, me included, all cried for the heads of our CB’s. “Toure and Gallas is crap” was resounding and echoed throughout the Arsenal land. “Let’s get a tall, nasty CB who can handle the high ball” was the unmitigated cry.

All of a sudden the faithful Toure, one of the last remaining bastions of “the invincibles” who time and time again had come to our rescue was shite. All of a sudden our passionate French captain, Gallas who is recognized as one of the best CB’s on the planet, was a cry baby and worse than shite. The pair of CB’s who performed so well for us in the first half of the season were now pariah’s to the cause.When we gave up soft goals to Chelsea, Liverpool and Manu we once again raised the cry to battle and called for their heads.

In the last few games of our derailed season Gilberto was brought back once again into the fray and our defense looked more composed and solid, and although too late we went out on a winning note leaving us to rue the cost of two tied games in the EPL or the loss to Chelsea in the CL when we should have tied.

Without trying to play the “Genius” here or saying I know more about football than Arsene there is one truth that stands out in my mind. Ever since we moved away from the “invisible shield” our defense has looked porous, we have given up soft goals and our defensive spine has been seriously compromised.

Although my Alzheimic brains cells were constantly being titillated, what really set my light bulb off was the game against Blackburn last Saturday. Although going into the second half with a 2-0 lead the score could easily have been 2-3 to Blackburn and although playing brilliant offense our defense looked severely porous and we certainly would have been punished by the likes of Liverpool, Manu, Chelsea and maybe even Spurs, City and Aston Villa. On any other given day we could have gone into the second stanza down a goal or two.

Our defensive lapses continued until Song entered the game at DM and incredibly, our defense instantly looked solid and our Cb’s were no longer being compromised. At the same time, this did not detract from our attacking machinations and we were still in full flow and an awe to watch.

My point here is not to praise Song, It could have been Inler, Diarra, Barry, Alonzo, Senna, Veloso, Kompany or some unknown 15 year old from Timbuktu, but the point is, when we play a formation utilizing the DM as an integral part of the defensive formation we are much more secure and it does not detract from our offense.

It also allows Fab to get forward more and be more instrumental in the attack which is how he is deployed when playing for Spain. This allows Fab to impose his creativity and control on the midfield and in so doing creates Arsenal’s key ingredient, possession.

Obviously, our other generals must play their parts in order for the team to perform on all cylinders but there are questions scurrying about in my fevered mind.

Is Arsene trying to create a whole new formation of play never seen before in the annals of professional football by excluding a true DM and playing “Total Football”, the likes of which even the “Orange” have never done?

Is Arsene trying to create a team where all players outside of the GK are interchangeable and is he doing it by cultivating a group of youngsters under his sole tutelage?

Coincidentally or maybe not coincidentally, Klinsman is employing a similar style at Bayern Munchen this season although it varies in that he is using 3 tall but skillful Cb’s from a rotation of Lucio, Van Buyten, Oddo, Ottl and Sagnol in a 3-5-1-1 but has a roving MF employed in the defensive rotation.

Only time will tell whether Arsene is pursuing this course or not, but my instincts, which of course could be totally wrong, says he is. If he is, is it fair for Arsenal fans to be forced in experiencing this experiment which could as easily lead to glorious victory or abysmal failure although we are footing the bills on a daily basis?

Fair or not, we have no choice but to go along for the exhilarating journey, good or bad.