Jun04

Why spiky Vardy makes sense

by WiganGooner on June 4, 2016 at 3:41 pm
Posted In: Arsenal

When I read that Arsenal were intending on triggering Vardy’s release clause I was initially struck with a feeling of disbelief. Jamie Vardy, aged 28, currently plying his trade for Leicester City is now a target for Arsenal.

 

It didn’t make sense, it didn’t fit the mould, until that is, I thought more about what made Vardy tick last season. I saw a fair bit of him last season because his story intrigued me, Vardy the rapscallion who couldn’t make it at his first attempt dropped down out of the football league and fought his way back up. It is almost a fairytale, worthy of a straight to DVD budget film.

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May18

Golden Gloves and Big money

by WiganGooner on May 18, 2016 at 11:52 am
Posted In: Arsenal

Well – despite all negative comments I celebrated St Totteringham’s Day and I defy any Arsenal Fan that says I shouldn’t.

Football is all about rivalries, if we cannot celebrate getting one over our local rivals for the 21st year running, then what is the point of it all?  “Stop being joyless human beings” to all those who seek to twist the celebrations into anything more or less than that.

 

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The media is rife now with talk of negotiations with Borussia Monchengladbach for Xhaka and Real Madrid for Morata (their buy-back clause activates on the 1st July).
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May03

Thank Dennis for that.

by WiganGooner on May 3, 2016 at 12:07 pm
Posted In: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger

I mean really, could you just imagine if them idiots from down the road won the league? Well done to Leicester City. A fairytale it isn’t but it makes great copy and they deserved to win it, even though they didn’t do it in a way that necessarily makes me think of them as a great side. They’ve mastered the dark arts though and that in itself deserves some credit. They have taken the game and wrung the life out of it and smashed this league. They won’t do it next season, but for now, enjoy it.

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It’s back on now, we’re within three points of the Spuds and plenty of opportunity to get them…. well….two opportunities, but got to be optimistic.  It would upset me if they finished above us albeit I can hardly excuse the fact that we have let it happen. Arsenal are always the architects of their own downfall and we can point to numerous occasions this season where we have thrown away points.

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Apr22

Not now Zlatan – Not now

by WiganGooner on April 22, 2016 at 8:02 am
Posted In: Arsenal

He’s been everyone’s fantasy signing for years. Consistent, exciting, creative, goal-scoring – few would have turned their nose up at his signing should we have been able to snaffle him up at some point during his glittering career.

Now however, is not that time. He’s not the Ibrahimovic we dreamt of signing. He is very much in the twilight of his career. I am excited and saddened at the thought that we will see him in the Premier League next season, excited because I’ve wanted to see him test himself against the best the Premier League has to offer, but saddened because it will be little more than one last adventure for him and I’m certain he isn’t on our radar.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic was famously courted by Arsene years ago, but refused an invite to come over for a trial, suggesting that he didn’t need a trial to be good enough for us. You can’t argue that he was correct, but I cannot imagine what it would be like trying to integrate that personality and that ego into a dressing room already filled with Denis Bergkamp, Patrick Viera, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry.

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Apr21

There’s life in the old boy yet.

by WiganGooner on April 21, 2016 at 9:57 pm
Posted In: Arsenal

After the West Ham result I wanted him back. For all the criticism that the BFG collects, I don’t think he gets enough credit when he does well. The BFG is just that – he is a big, lumbering centre-back, but that isn’t all he is and to judge him as such and to just label him as such without appreciating his overall game is foolish and lacks honesty.

Per has made a career in football by being one-paced, but his reading of the game is excellent. He has beaten many strikers not with pace, but with positioning and anticipation. How many times have we seen him stick out a leg and stop a striker – to the dismay of many a commentator who lazily suggest its luck, or by his very nature having long legs which save his embarrassment.

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Tonight we have seen the BFG at his best and with him, a more confident, assured Koscielny. Gabriel might be the future, but he is no direct replacement for the BFG.

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