The Perfect Pitch

All of this anti-foreigner (and hence, anti-Arsenal) rubbish spewing from the mouths of people like Ferguson, Mourinho and Gerrard is slightly more than a bit annoying. The former two are really in it just as an attempt to rile up Sir Wenger, but Gerrard, who plays for a club full of foreign players, was just talking rubbish (I imagine they must be thrilled that their captain thinks everything that is wrong with England is their fault).

England have a team full of big profile players that few other national teams can match, yet they do not perform as well as say, Greece or Croatia. Is it because the England players do not have the right attitude? Perhaps it’s because McClaren is a shit manager who doesn’t really know what is the best formation and lineup to use? Or maybe it’s because while all other national teams are eager and willing to promote youth players to the senior team, England overly relies on “star” players like Lampard and Gerrard even though everybody knows they don’t work well together? The England U-21 recently got to the semi-finals of the U-21 Euro competition, finally losing on penalties 13-12 to the eventual winners Holland, and they have some good players (or at least players willing to put in a bit of effort, unlike those of the senior team and the one U-21 player that refused to go citing tiredness). Why not give them a try? But no, it’s all those nasty foreigner’s fault, because when the English league had no foreigners, England won everything, right?

The young players, while spirited, might also not be as technically proficient as their European counterparts. In a recent interview with the U-17 boys, when asked “How do England play compared to Arsenal?”, Rhys Murphy answered:

Arsenal have their own style, which we are used to, it’s the way we are taught here and I think it’s different to every other club. In a way that works against us when we join up with England, because we are used to playing the Arsenal way.

But getting away from the “Why is England rubbish” debate, somehow that all of this is Arsenal’s fault is not only wrong, but exactly the opposite of reality. In reality, Arsenal provides the top division and the England national teams with more than its fair share of players. Of course, not all of them are still playing for Arsenal, but they are still playing at the highest level of football and are ready for England if needed. Did you know that for the recent U-17 World Cup, no club provided more players for the England squad than Arsenal? And did you know that the U-21 squad, there are no Chelsea players, only one Manchester United player, and only one Liverpool player who they don’t even want anymore (Scott Carson). There are, however, two current Arsenal players in the squad (although Hoyte might be too old now, so there is only Walcott plus maybe Mark Randall when he steps up to the U-21s after just turning 18).

And it’s not just English players, there are players of all countries who have either gone through the Arsenal youth system (not necessarily academy), or have been part of the first team. Below is a list of some current ex-Arsenal players in the Premiership that have all been part of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in some way (asterisk indicates a graduate from the Arsenal academy system):

Played in Arsenal Youth Teams:
Ashley Cole (England, Chelsea)*
Jermaine Pennant (England, Liverpool)
Steven Sidwell (England, Chelsea)*
Fabrice Muamba (England, Birmingham)*
Sebastian Larsson (Sweden, Birmingham)
James Harper (England, Reading)*
David Bentley (England, Blackburn)*
Anthony Stokes (Ireland, Sunderland)*
Stuart Taylor (England, Aston Villa)*
Matthew Upson (England, West Ham)

Played in Arsenal First Team Only:
Kanu (Nigeria, Portsmouth)
Freddie Ljungberg (Sweden, West Ham)
Sol Campbell (England, Portsmouth)
Lauren (Cameroon, Portsmouth)
Richard Wright (England, West Ham)
Luis Boa Morte (Portugal, West Ham)
Moritz Volz (Germany, Fulham)

And the list above isn’t even a complete one, since there are many more players and many more who are in the Championship or outside of England.

So far so good in all competitions. Still unbeaten (setting a new club record on the way), qualified for the knock-out stage of the Champions League with two games to spare, and top of the league (albeit only on “goals scored”).

If there is a cloud on the horizon for Arsenal (other than a horrible set of December fixtures, 6 away games, 2 more at home and one of them is against Chelski) it’s the selection problem Wenger is having for every game. Not all players are happy at being left on the bench (or not included at all), but why should they be? We certainly don’t want good players that are just happy to sit on the bench and pick up pay cheques (did someone mention Cudicini?).

It’s certainly a nice problem to have compared to our usual “oh dear, all our of 9 left backs are injured” one, and I don’t think the increased competition is that harmful to team spirit, apart the rubbish coming out from Mad Jen’s lips (although to be fair, he was always a bit of a loner even when he was playing). Here are some of the selection problems Wenger faces every match:

Goalkeeper: Mad Jens vs Aluminium vs Wookash
Jens won’t be around come February I think. Almunia, while I think he is a good keeper, is not world class (maybe world class at shot stopping, but his decision making is a bit dodgy at times). Fabianski is an interesting one … he’s at a good age, with a good reputation, and you would think he is being groomed as our long term number 1. But I think Almunia will finish off playing this season (bar any serious injuries or stupidness), with the Wookie taking over next season after gaining good experience in this one. If Lehmann leaves in January, we will probably bring someone experienced in (another Poomster?).

Central Defence:
We don’t have much depths here - just three players for 2 positions. Kolo will be gone in January for the ACN, but Djourou will be back - so that’s 3 players again. Song or Gilberto at CB makes me extremely uncomfortable. So Wenger’s job here is easy - just pick the best 2 out of 3.

Full-backs:
Clichy and Sagna have made their positions their own. Traore and Hoyte will have to wait patiently. Eboue is now playing as a winger, but not a really good one to be honest. Diarra can play at RB, but all the positions he plays seems to be occupied by lots of people - perhaps Diarra for Eboue on the wings?

Central Midfield:
This is where Wenger has his work cut out. Cesc, Flamini, Gilberto, Diaby, Denilson, Diarra, Song … only two of these players can be happy, three at best if we play 4-5-1. Diaby and Denilson may put up with waiting and playing in the cups, but Gilberto and Diarra will want to play every game. Song, well, I think he should find another club that has a place for him instead of being our 7th choice CM and 5th choice CB. Cesc and Flamini seems to working, and one thing you should never do is to break up something that is working. Diarra I would like to see more of, and I think he can control the midfield quite well.

Wingers:
We don’t have any and apprently, we don’t need any either. (alright, that’s not true. We don’t have “true” wingers and Hleb, Rosicky, Eboue and Walcott are doing alright, but a new signing in this position will improve us tremendously)

Forwards:
Adebayor seems to be first choice now. And when Van Persie is fit, he will play. So Eduardo, Bendtner and Walcott will have to wait for their chances and take them. To be fair, they’ve all taken some of the chances given to them and they’ve all done enought warrant a place on the bench at least. Eduardo, I think, can be our secret weapon for the latter part of the season once he acclimatises to the Premiership and starts scoring goals.

A few weeks ago I posted some crap about paintings and such, and I alluded to the fact that Sepp Blatter is a cunt.

The master painter has enemies too, at home and abroad. One of which wants to impose some kind of nationalistic view on how a painting should be composed, to perhaps use colours that best represent the country, rather than the best colours for the painting. Perhaps French paintings should only contain red, white and blue in equal portions, maybe only orange paintings for Dutch masters, and green ones for the Irish. The Mona Lisa shall have red hair, a white complexion while wearing a green dress. Will this advance art as we know it, or will it simply bring down the level so that even average paintings can masquerade as masterpieces.

Blatter is in a long list of people who have something to gain from reducing the quality of club football. Everybody knows International football is played at a much lower level, for many obvious reasons, and is no longer that entertaining. Club football is where it’s at, to use the current vernacular. You can add Michel Platini, friend of Blatter, to the list too. He has had a go at Wenger for buying too many teenagers. The French asshole said:

I do not like the system of Arsène Wenger. In France, Italy and Spain it is easy to buy with money the best players at 14, 15 or 16. I don’t like that. If the best clubs buy the best 15 or 16 players, [then it] is finished for all the clubs in Europe. If my son is playing at Millwall and at 16 Manchester United come in for this player, then when will Millwall have a good team?

So if your son is indeed a talent, he should rot away at Millwall and not enjoy Manchester United’s state of the art training facilities and modern training techniques, not to mention miss out on the experience of playing with seasoned professionals and improving his overall game? It’s true that Millwall might make more money if Platini Jr. is sold on at a later age, but that’s assuming Platini Jr.’s career hasn’t been damaged by not training with a big club earlier. Would Fabregas be where he is if he stayed playing in the Barcelona reserves? Would Messi be the current world’s best player if he had stayed in Argentina?

And why question only Arsène Wenger? Surely, the biggest exploiter of signing even pre-teen players is Barcelona and its academy. They sign kids as young as 10 from all over the world, and these kids basically live with Barcelona. Talent such as Giovani dos Santos, for example, came to Spain from Mexico when he was only 12. In fact, Lionel Messi signed for Barcelona as an 11 year old, because his old club in Argentina could not afford to pay for his medical expenses (he has a growth problem that require hormone therapy). So according to Platini, Messi should have stayed in Argentina to live the life of a little person? Barcelona’s practices are somewhat controversial, but it’s not as if they steal kids from their parents - and those kids that don’t make it are still given a good education, football and non-football too - something that may not have been possible if they had stayed in their home countries.

In the end, it’s about improving football and improving the quality of players. And that’s what clubs like Arsenal can do for youngsters. And inevitably when some of the kids don’t make it, they still have had a great education that they wouldn’t have received at clubs like Millwall (no disrespect to them, of course), and while they are not good enough for Arsenal, they are still good enough for many other clubs, including Millwall. And that’s when Millwall will have a good team, Monsieur Platini, that’s when.