Untold Arsenal: the stories no one else runs » 2008 » May » 07

07/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

You might remember last summer.  Everyone from the guys who write football blogs in their garden sheds to the journalists with the national daily papers said the same thing: in 2007/8 Arsenal will sink without trace.

In fact,  to be precise the prediction was that Arsenal will drift down to mid-table and Tottenham will end up 4th.

You would have thought that with Arsenal having narrowed the gap between themselves and the top to something between four and seven  points (depending on the outcomes on the final day) such commentators might pause for a moment or two.

After all those people were made  to look like total nutters last year.

But no, they are off again, saying that the rigid pay structure, the desire to score to perfect goal, the lack of flexibility in dealing with players, and all that usual stuff, will again mean Arsenal will fail.

So here’s why they are wrong.

Arsenal played much of the first part of this season with a team that was in total about 14 years younger than Man U’s, and about 19 years younger than Chelsea’s.   Then a number of their main players were injured, and Arsenal brought in even younger players, which made the team on occasion little beyond a bunch of teenagers.   Game after game was played with five or six of the first team obvious starters missing.

Van Persie, the Eduardo went missing up front.   Rosicky and Hleb both were out for spells, Sagna has been injured, we lost three players to Africa – right through to the final – and so the list goes on.

Now people can  argue that other clubs had injuries too – of course they did – but what was unique was that we had such a young team, and the few older more experienced players were the ones who dropped out for Africa and through injury.   If you team was young at the start, by January it was another 14 years younger!!!

It is unlikely that we will have such a terrible run  of injuries to senior players again – but if we do, those coming up behind will be one year older, and a hell of a lot more experienced, because of the duty they have had this year.

In addition we will have at least two major new players, plus a whole string of players coming through.  The series we are running on this web site of Arsenal’s new players shows this is the most exciting it has ever been.  So far we’ve touched on a  player who has been playing for Mexico and in the top league in Spain, a player who was player of the year in League One, and a player who is already getting space on the first team bench.   Maybe not obvious first team choices, but players who will come into the league cup team while others press forward.

And the series on next year’s stars has only just started!

So my point is that a strong squad will get stronger – and that’s why Arsenal will be at the very top next season.   Meanwhile, Man U are in dire financial trouble, Chelsea’s squad is old and needs refurbishing, and Liverpool are so removed from reality that they consider a year in which they do worse than the previous season in league and cup as “progress”.

If you still don’t believe, then consider Sagna and Flamini one year ago and ask

a) did you know who Sagna was, and how good he was.  Remember he was the player of the year in his position this year.

b) what did you think of Flamini one year ago, when he was thinking of leaving.

c) Now spot the next Sagna (who could be playing anywhere at the moment) and the next Flamini (who is in the squad but not doing much).

Then finally remember – we had four players in the Team of the Year – and none of them was Flamini – nor even Hleb.

07/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Arsène Wenger made it perfectly clear at the shareholders meeting that he is not going to let Helb leave.

Inter Milan have acted just like Chelsea, in tapping up Alex Hleb, and the papers have finally got around to understanding that there is the Webster Clause which allows players to buy out their agreement after 3 years.   (The clause was highlighted here last year when Fabregas started to negotiate a new contract).

Arsenal will deal with Inter as they dealt with Chelsea, and expose all their wrong-doings.  But more than that – Wenger has made it clear that the club is aware of the implications of the Webster clause.  On the web site he has said,  “What people say about the buy-out clause, it is not as simple as it looks.  It is much more difficult and the clubs are reluctant to do that.   “We want to keep Hleb, we want him to be part of our team next year. It is as simple as that. We have lost one player [Mathieu Flamini], we do not want to lose more.”

The point about the Webster clause is that all clubs know that it can work two ways.  If you start buying players through this, then your own players will start making use of it themselves – and clubs certainly don’t want that.

As a piece of legislation it is totally biased towards the players – the contract gives the player the right to receive his salary for the length of the contract, even if he loses all form or is injured.   But the player can terminate the deal after 3 years and go elsewhere.

The only power the clubs have to stop this is to agree between themselves that they will not use this approach – so even if players and agents tout themselves around clubs, if the clubs won’t play no deal can be done.

Wenger is suggesting that this is what is happening, and it seems most likely, given that there are hardly any Webster deals around.   It is quite like Bosman – the moment that rule came in, every out of contract player was up and off – because there was nothing to clubs could do.

So as M. Wenger says, “Helb is staying”.

07/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Jay Simpson is English, he’s a striker, he plays for Arsenal, and has been named PFA Player of the Year for League One.  He spent the season at Milwall.

His most recent goals came in the friendly with Dorchester this week where he scored three: a lob, a bender and a race onto a long ball.  In his last league game for Milwall he hit an amazing strike against Carlisle.

And all that before we take into account that he can also play on the wing, and twice won the monthly PFA awards this season.

If you want more… although he is only 19 he made history last season as the first player to score a hat-trick at Emirates Stadium in a Youth Cup tie against Cardiff City.

And more… Simpson made his Under-18s debut for Arsenal aged 13 and in 2007-8 he was also a regular for Arsenal Reserves.

07/05/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Carlos Vela – Arsenal’s first Mexican player – is a striker, born in 1989 and signed on Jan 1 2007.   He then went on loan first with Salamanca and then in Spain’s first division with Osasuna.   By completing his time in Spain, Vela has been able to apply for citizenship, and thus have an EU passport.  This makes him eligible to play anywhere within the Union – and hence at Arsenal.

In 2005 Vela was top scorer with five in the FIFA U-17 World Championships: which gave Mexico its first ever international prize.  He also represented Mexico at the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

According to that astonishingly reliable source the Daily Mirror (you have to say that with irony otherwise it doesn’t make sense) M. Wenger said, “I like his intelligence and his pace. He scores goals but he can also create them. He’s a special talent and I believe 100 per cent that he will make it at the highest level.”

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