Should I stay or should I go now? Falling in and out of love with Arsenal FC

This I one of the BEST story I have ever read. It's just amazing!
 
Fantastic story so far. Maybe you could add some colours into it. Makes the reading easier instead of one chunk of black words :D
 
Again, thanks for all the praise, really appreciate it and makes the long posts worth it! :D

GabeGenesis said:
Fantastic story so far. Maybe you could add some colours into it. Makes the reading easier instead of one chunk of black words :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! will try and keep this in mind. I'm hoping to cut down on the length and word density anyway, as they are quite a task, especially when combined with my uni work :p. I think I just needed to get all of that out to catch you all up, but from now on I will try and make them shorter/more frequent and easier to read :)
 
October

Last post, I said there was nothing much to report on. And today, I still think there is nothing much to report on, and it is now the 4th of November – about a third-way into the season. A third of the season, and nothing to talk about?

And then I realised why this was. Throughout last year, my posts overflowed with the frustration and disappointment of my team performing at a much lower level than I knew what they were capable of. I was venting.

But there really is no reason for that so far this year. Yes, there have been some shaky performances again against lower opposition. But I could chalk that up to one off bouts of complacency or off-days in a long season. It wasn’t the same as last year when they would be consistently inconsistent, showing a complete lack of heart or desire.

We have conceded goals but that is more to do with our attacking philosophy (which I have toned down recently) and lack of a true world class defensive player than lapses in concentration last year. And when we do concede, we make up for it on the other end.

As I write this, we occupy first place in the Premier League, 5 points ahead of Man City. We have a +19 goal difference through 11 games (10 better than the next best team), and scored 32 goals (12 more than the next best).
We’re sitting first place in our Champions League group, undefeated with 12 scored and 1 conceded through 4 games.
Overall, we’re on a 5 game winning streak and have not lost a single game so far this season.

And to top it off, the sublime Mario Ballotelli has been absolutely awesome this season, with 11 goals 4 assists and 6 MoM with an 8.3 average rating over 11 appearances, playing over half of his games out of his natural position of striker, on the left wing instead.

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Things are looking good :) (knock on wood)

Looking ahead, we have games against Man City, Liverpool and Aston Villa twice (who have always given me problems) this coming month which should perhaps give us a sterner test of where we’re at this year


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BREAKING NEWS

Still on the lookout for a potential opening in a top Ligue 1 side, I saw that the Paris St Germain manager's job status was insecure. Naturally, I declared interest in the job, hoping I would be considered if they fire him.

Little did I know, a few days later the manager is sacked and I am offered a job there immediately.

Although I would have loved to go, I could not in good conscience leave my squad in the middle of a title chase.

Here's hoping they install an interim guy and there's an opening after the season ends?

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UPDATE: nope, they signed Luis Fernandes to manage the team, with a contract running for another 2 years until 2018
 
nice story man im lovin it so far and lmao at getting that guy fired i loved that bit.
 
Did I speak too soon and jinx us? Of course I did

The first game after my last post was a routine 2-0 win over Wigan.
The next game….

Hull was the team that probably dealt us the final crippling blow to our title chances last season as they held us to a draw. But this year was different remember?

Pfffft. 5 minutes into the game, the Hull goalkeeper launches a goal kick deep into our territory, headed on out of bounds by Havard Nordtveit. At this point, conceding a corner isn’t too bad right? But nope, Goalkeeper Areola leaves the box and chases the ball which was heading out of bounds a good five yards away from the box. Stupid, stupid play. But then he could’ve just booted it out and we get back going right? Wrong again. Instead of controlling the ball and clearing it, he hacks at it weakly while still moving, which lead to an easy interception by their striker Ghilas who calmly rolled it into a vacant goal. 1-0.

Then at 26 minutes, Ghilas scored again. This time, off a beautiful Hull move to set him up perfectly. Not a mistake, just good play by Hull. But now we are down 2-0 in less than half an hour of play and things are looking bleak. Our defence was looking veeeeery shaky as Nordtveit got absolutely skinned on the second goal, and had difficulty getting the ball back.

Our attack however, was much much worse. Leading the way was captain Cesc Fabregas as he launched 7 shots at goal, only 1 of which was on target. After the second Hull goal, we regrouped a bit and controlled possession the rest of the way. However, due to such wasteful finishing, all our possession was for nothing. We had 61% possession and 28 shots on goal, but just 8 on goal. 14 were off target and 6 were saved by their keeper.

That just isn’t going to cut it against a team that may be a bottom dweller in the premier league, but on the flipside, THEY ARE STILL IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE. At this level, once you get in positions to score, you are expected to finish clinically as your skill (not to mention salary) would suggest. There were some misses that were absolutely embarrassing – on one attempt Jozy was one on one with the goalie, about 6 yards away from goal. This is a play he finishes every time any other day, but today he rolls it wide, out of bounds, though he wasn’t under any pressure when shooting.

And with the type of firepower that this Arsenal team has, you are not expected to launch 15 shots from long range while you have the attackers to get into the box and create point blank chances. When you take a long range shot, you’re making it easier for Hull and bailing them out as they don’t have to defend against a constant wave of pressure.

Luckily, we still had enough quality to get a point out of it as Jozy scored at 36 minutes and Hull had a defender sent off 2 minutes later. We then equalised at 64 minutes (took long enough), playing very aggressively and with 3 strikers (Theo and Mario up front but wide, Jozy at centre forward). However, with just under half an hour left in the game, we couldn’t find the winner and came away with just the one point.

While it was a bad result however, I don’t think this was the same as last year. They scored one goal off a freak play, and their second goal came because they played great attacking football, not because we took them easy. And then afterwards, we didn’t get discouraged and fought back against a brave Hull side to at least salvage a draw.

Hopefully, this wasn’t a sign of more to come….


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Also, to add insult to injury, I expressed interest in the AS Monaco job, only to be laughed off.... :'(


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November

What an eventful month! I think my squad really showed me something this month.

First game after my last post was against Man City at home. City were second place and just 3 points behind me – a win would level us.

In what was an incredible tight and hard fought match throughout, a Lukaku header in the 52nd minute was enough for them to come away with the 3 points, as our squad struggled to put together anything offensively all day. Fabregas, Ramsey and Altidore all had miserable games. They routinely lost the ball and struggled to string together any kind of threatening attacking sequences.

And so despite strong performances by Theo (we’ll get to him later), Song and Dean Owen, Lukaku’s goal and an insaaane performance by City keeper Joe Hart (9.2 match rating) levelled the standings and put the pressure on us to hold serve over a tricky stretch of games.

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The very next game was a Champions League group match against Israeli side Maccabi Haifa. I was interested to see how the squad would come out to this game. Would they use the disappointing loss vs. City as fuel to bounce back and get back on track, or would the malaise set in again and would complacency take hold?

I didn’t have to wait long to find out as Theo scored 20 seconds into the game, off the opening kickoff. The rout was on, as Theo would complete a hat trick and Mario (penalty) and Messi would also add goals for a 5-0 win which at times felt like a training session, such was the ease of our domination.

Haifa as a team had an average rating of 5.5 for the game while Arsenal put up a 7.99 and created 8 clear cut chances. Haifa centreback had a 3.8 rating for the day, which may be the lowest rating I’ve ever seen in this game so far.

I know, I know. It’s just M. Haifa – not the impressive right? Well I was impressed with the approach that my squad had going into the game mentally. Instead of assuming “Ah rats about the City game, but at least we’ve got an easy 3 points today” they came out and TOOK the three points themselves. They WANTED this game. This pleased me greatly.

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But on the other hand, yeah. It WAS just Haifa. Coming up next was a premier league game against Liverpool, at Anfield. While they were struggling in the Premier League so far this season, they are still a squad stocked with talented players, led by France captain Yoann Gourcuff.

Liverpool came out right away on the attack and hit an unprepared Arsenal defence on the counter for a goal by Brazilian striker Keirrison in the 8th minute. All too familiar with that deflating feeling when a highly anticipated match goes awry early in the game, I just sighed in resignation and wondered how it would play out.


Luckily, a penalty in the 44th minute was coolly

slotted in by Mario Ballotelli and we averted any further disaster for the rest of the half, so we escaped into the locker room with a 1-1 tie.

Coming out of halftime, this time WE were the ones coming out with more urgency, hitting an unprepared Liverpool side on the counter, as Theo showed his trademark blinding pace down the wing and drilled a perfect cross into the box where Jozy Altidore’s perfectly timed run had set him up in excellent position to whack it home. 2-1.

Just 4 minutes later however, Akinfeev was caught out of position as French winger Henri Saivet unleashed a screamer from just outside the box to equalise.

For the next 20 minutes or so, nothing much happened and the game looked destined for a draw, and I fumed at the thought of Man City overtaking us for first.

However, there goes that man again as Theo burst into the box again showing amazing quickness, met by an absolutely perfect ball by Ballotelli, and Theo slots home the eventual winner in the 74th minute.

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Theo’s late game heroics would repeat themselves in the next game too, in a League Cup clash against Aston Villa – a squad who has historically given me a lot of trouble.

We were stunned in the 20th minute when Villa’s Ashley Young unleashed a free kick from about 25 yards which curved wickedly around the wall and then back around towards goal. This ball literally curved from 3 o’clock to 6 o’clock – there is absolutely no way that a ball should move like that. I couldn’t be too upset about conceding that, as that was just an absolute freak goal.

We went into halftime down 1-0, and the lads did indeed seem a little stunned at the goal and the deficit. In the locker room, I told the guys I wanted to see more from them, and boy did they show me. They came out attacking and aggressive, swinging the ball crisply all around the park. However, that crucial equalising goal eluded us until the waning moments when Theo beat a defender off the dribble and left a gorgeous ball for Samir Nasri to smack in from point blank range for the equaliser. Extra time!

2 minutes into the extra period, it was Mr. Clutch once again, as Samir and Theo switched roles this time and Nasri played a wonderful pass to Theo who calmly slotted in the winner!

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A rematch with Villa beckoned, this time in the Premier League, and this time our boys controlled the game throughout, showing toughness and grit playing through pouring rain for a convincing 2-0 win.

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While blowouts and convincing shows of class are always necessary in any championship season, these types of games that the boys played this month is just as crucial, if not more so. They showed the type of championship-grit and resilience that they will need to call upon when adversity beckons, be it a March game vs. Stoke where they find themselves down 2-0, or the away leg of a Champions League quarter final where they face an aggregate deficit and have to overcome not just a several goal deficit but a raucous Bayern crowd smelling blood.

Hopefully we will see a little more of this grittiness and not make me look like a fool, as in the coming month we have just one home game, which of course, is against the hated spuds of Tottenham. Wolves, Bolton and Sunderland are the away games, along with an away game to Greece in the Champions League against the Olympiakos, where we can hopefully rest a few guys as we have already clinched first place in the group quite comfortably.

In happy news, Mario Ballotelli’s scintillating form this year has been getting recognition, as he is considered a favourite for European Footballer of the year, and shortlisted for World Footballer of the Year along with teamate Jozy Altidore. As the manager of France, I was lucky enough to have a vote for World Footballer of the Year, and the only restrictions they had were for voting for my French players. Which meant I was free to vote for my two club guys first and second! (6):p


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There was no letting up for this Arsenal team – despite playing mostly backups we thrashed Olympiakos 6-1 in the final Champions League group match behind a hat trick by substitute Samir Nasri, who entered the game at 60 minutes. A goal every 10 minutes – not bad!

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We finished the group 6-0 and 23 goals scored to just 2 conceded.

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Then followed two fairly routine 3-1 wins in the Premier League over Wolves and Bolton, before a showdown with the hated Spuds at home.

Tottenham got off to a terrific start, scoring on the third minute to put me on the back foot to start the game. Messi then equalised at the 12th minute, and Jozy scored just after halftime to put us in front. Tottenham scored again to equalise in the 67th minute before a goal by super sub and future prospect Ourdy Mwanga 13 minutes after he was inserted put us ahead again, before Mario put the game away with a goal in injury time. Again Arsenal showed their comeback spirit (not to mention offensive fire power) with a back and forth affair that ended 4-2.

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The next hated rival to visit Emirates were Manchester United. This time WE were the ones getting off the quick start, putting United on the backfoot with a Theo Walcott goal in the second minute. However, Rooney showed his class with two goals in the space of 3 minutes in the 24th and 27th minute, taking advantage of a shambles at the back to sneak in two scores. With Arsenal now pressing for the equaliser, United sat back defending before adding a third and clinching goal when Giuseppi Rossi intercepted a bad throw in by Cesar Azpilicueta and took it all the way on the counter to score.

El Capitan Cesc Fabregas gave us a glimmer of hope with a goal in the 79th minute, but despite our best efforts United remained resolute and came away with a deserved win.

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Up to this point I had a bit of a goal keeping dilemma – the young rising star Areola, who occasionally has absolutely inspired games, and has proven to be the big game performer? Or the steady veteran Igor Akinfeev? After this disastrous game where Akinfeev was routinely out of position as Rooney slammed home in his goals, I decided to make the permanent switch as Areola in the first team and Akinfeev as the backup, rather than the “going with the hot hand” system that I had been going with.

I think the move has worked out quite nicely, as we have only conceded 2 goals in the following 9 games.

Aside from that, it has been a rather uneventful last few weeks: Arsenal have booked another League Cup finals berth with a 3-1 aggregate win over Blackburn, and with a 1-0 win over Tottenham in the FA cup and a 0-0 draw with Man City, we face a replay at Manchester City in the 5th round of the FA cup.

In the Premier League we notched wins over Crystal Palace, Birmingham, Everton, Blackburn and Chelsea, but suffered a loss at West Ham 1-0. However, due to Man City’s poor form, we find ourselves 5 points ahead of them in the League for first, with a game in hand.



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Our Arsenal players were recognised for their tremendous form this month, as the 3 Premier League Player of the Month nominees were Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri, with Cesc Fabregas winning the honour.


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Significant fixtures coming up in the next few weeks include a Champions League first knockout round away leg vs. AC Milan, the aforementioned FA cup replay at Man City and the league cup final vs. Birmingham.

AC Milan looked like a relative cakewalk until they bought rising star of the 2010 World Cup, Chile’s Alexis Sanchez literally weeks before our fixture was finalised.

In other news, Mario Balotelli finished as runner up to Christiano Ronaldo for World Footballer of the Year and runner up to Olympic Marseille's Younes Belhanda for World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year.


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Meanwhile, Jozy Altidore won European Striker of the year, and Fabregas, Walcott and Altidore were named in the World Team of the Year First XI (Mario was named as a reserve).


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BTW What do you guys think of the new font? Bigger letters = win or fail?
 
When 90 minutes isn’t enough

Where we last left off, we were looking at an away leg against AC Milan in the first knockout round of the Champions League. While they indeed had rising star Alexis Sanchez, I was hoping to squeak out a win, force a draw coming back home or at the VERY LEAST keep it close and bag a few away goals.

None were to come to fruition as Sanchez scored himself a brace and stunned our team 2-0. We barely if ever had the ball, instead being subjected to wave after wave of unrelenting pressure from Milan. They managed to fire off 23 shots on goal, and if it wasn’t for a brave performance by Areola to save 9 of them, we would’ve been heading home with a monumental mountain to climb.

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The next two important games were wins as we scored a 2-1 win over Man City in the FA cup thanks to a brace from Jozy Altidore, and a 2-0 win over Birmingham in the League Cup Final thanks to goals from Jozy and Messi. In both games, Jozy Altidore snagged Man of the Match honours, but Areola was the unsung hero with ratings of 8+ in the two games

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After this followed a 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland at Sunderland before a tough stretch of games. First was an FA cup game against relegation bound Blackburn who played me tough to a 0-0 draw. Then came the home leg of the AC Milan matchup.

We knew we had to win by 2 goals or more, and if we conceded, we would need to win by 3 or more because of the away goals rule. They worried me however as we came out a little slow. We played some fine defence but we just couldn’t break through for the goals that we needed. With the clock ticking down on the first half, I was getting a little anxious and desperate, before a corner kick by Cesc Fabregas at 45+3 minutes found a wide open Adil Rami, who scorched home an excellent strike to put us ahead 1-0 going into halftime. The first 30 minutes of the second half was similarly tight, but at 75 minutes the ever present Theo Walcott had yet another clutch moment as he lashed home a shot into the top left corner of the net on a superb individual effort, tying the score 2-2 on aggregate. As neither of us had scored an away goal, we went into extra time needing a goal to advance and go for our 3rd Champions League title in 4 years. However, with players on both sides absolutely dead tired, nothing much happened in extra time and we headed to the dreaded penalty shootout.

The order for me went Messi, Mario, Cesc, Nash and Nasri. While the order for Milan went Michael Mirabelli (regen), Mamadou Sakho, Aleksandar Kolarov and Alexis Sanchez.
After Messi coolly slotted home the first penalty of the shootout, Mirabelli answered with one of his own. Then stepped up Mario Ballotelli, one of our best and most consistent performers this season. However, showing just how luck based a penalty shootout is, Mario would be the first to miss, thanks to a fantastic save by their keeper Stanton Hlongwane (19 year old regen from South Africa). Things looked bleak before Mr. Clutch Alphonse Areola stepped up between the sticks to face France captain Mamadou Sakho, and answered with a terrific save of his own to keep hope alive.

Our captain Cesc Fabregas then smashed one home to make it 2-1, before Polarov would also miss! This time he hit it off the post, and Areola snagged the ricochet before it could go anywhere. Up 2-1 now we just needed to hit our remaining two shots and we were through. Paul Nash stepped up and delivered a clinical finish, answered by Milan’s Alexis Sanchez, desperately trying to keep his chances alive. But Arsenal fan favourite Samir Nasri – the selfless veteran who accepted a backup role to make way for the myriad stars that eventually made their way onto the team and still produced excellent performances off the bench – stepped up with the opportunity to send us to the next round with a single made shot 12 yards away from the keeper.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!

Despite being played to an absolute draw by an arguably inferior team playing to the absolute peak of their abilities, we found the reserve of willpower, desire and grit to come away with a victory.

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After a gruelling 120 minutes of football, we really didn’t have much left in the tank for our next game against Hull who played us to a 0-0 draw. After that, we were in for yet another slugfest as we faced Blackburn in a replay of the FA cup game.

Things got off to a horrible start when we conceded a penalty after just 5 minutes of play. Coolly converted by striker Michael Potts, and Steven N’Zonzi added another to leave us down 2-0 after just 34 minutes of play! After a stirring team talk in the locker room at half time though, the guys came out inspired and sparked an incredible comeback behind Jozy Altidore who scored in the 73rd and 78th minute to send us to extra time (again).

In the first minute of extra time, Theo resumed his clutch heroics yet AGAIN with a goal. He’s been showing all year the ability to step it up and score points when the pressure is on and the team needs him most. However, Dominic Adiyiah of Ghana quickly answered with one of his own just 2 minutes later – an apt time to break out of a 300+ minute goal drought. Were we headed to penalties again? It certainly looked like it until the sneakily clutch Lionel Messi burst into the box to run onto a perfectly placed throughball from 3rd choice right back Tim Reich and finish with clinical precision to put us ahead for good with a minute left to go. Final score 4-3 Arsenal and we were through to the FA Cup semifinal matchup against Newcastle.

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Surely, that’s enough drama for a month right? Coming up was the first leg of the Champions Leg Quarterfinal, at Vicente Calderon to face Atletico Madrid. This team featured former Gunner Carlos Vela (now a world-class player), Sergio Aguero, Edin Hazard and Chinedu Obasi. We got off to a quick start however and looked excellent from the get-go. However, the football Gods would not allow us a routine win. After going up 1-0 on a score by Adil Rami, keeper Alphonse Areola was sent off for a tactical foul in the 23rd minute – a sign of bad things to come (this after Cesc Fabregas had to be subbed off with injury after 5 minutes, leaving us with just 1 sub left for the whole game). With just ten men however, we still scored a second goal to put us up 2-0 after a 35th minute strike from Jozy Altidore.

Sergio Aguero gave his team a momentum boost and something to look forward to however with a goal deep into injury time in the first half. Motivated by their manager’s words at halftime, Madrid came out firing in the second half and our 10 man squad just could not hold them at bay. Defenders Rene Murlo and Juan Forlin scored in the 56th and the 89th minute to clinch a dramatic come from behind win.

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Coming back home however, this time the team came out firing and took care of business – blowing Madrid off the field 3-1 for 5-4 aggregate win.

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All of this leads up to the most dramatic matchup yet – a rematch of last year’s EPIC 5-4 champions league final loss to Roma in the semi finals.
 
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