How to make a Tiny Tott happy

47 Replies to “How to make a Tiny Tott happy”

1. Once again a great article. I support Wenger in most of his endeavors, but his decisions sometimes baffle me. Diaby for me is one major liability, he just cannot play football. Ramsey on for 10 mins in the united game, looked way better than all the time Diaby was on the field. Diaby’s decision making skills worry me and he just cannot hold the ball. Facts such as these must be accepted by Wenger and he should be stern and implement the necessary changes. In united game , though we dominated possession, a inspired VDS and counter tactics cost us the game. Without Cesc and Wilshere playing deep we have no creativity in the midfield. If Wenger acknowledges these small shortcomings and makes the right choices, our club is looking forward to very very bright future.

2. Will the real Thiery Henry stand up?!

   This is the best time for the leaders to take a stand.

3. Great article Ian.
   We have to do it with the manager we have (and will be here for many years I hope) but most of all with the players he have.
   And as many of our important players are injured we must support the ones that are playing right now.
   It doesn’t matter if you like a player or not. If he is on the field we must force them to give it all.

   And FFS we went to the best team in the world and only lost our qualification after the ref came doing his thing. And then we went directly to OT who have won everything at home apart from one game. Two defeats that can happen to any team. In fact that happen to most of the teams.

   Not nice but not the end of the world.

4. This team now have a week off, and few mid week games in the run in.
   They can regroup, we will get key players back. The defence and GK will be key.
   This title CAN be won, Utd look poor on their travels

5. All I will say is this.

   Fabregas said that ‘Chamakh kept us in it before Christmas with his goals’.

   Some others now need to step up to the plate the next three games to keep us in it until the Liverpool home game.

   Because hopefully by then, we’ll have some players back.

   It’s a team game, a squad game football.

   But a winner against WBA, Blackburn or Blackpool now counts more than Arshavin’s winner against Barca.

   A Russian General once said at the start of the War on the Eastern Front: ‘We need heroes…..’. He was responding to a question of ‘How do we motivate these young men to fight?’

   Well, Arsenal need some now and its time for some folks at London Colney to say to themselves ‘that’ll be me then.’

   The fans don’t need to know who it is, they want to SEE, next weekend, who it is.

   Move beyond pretty triangles and sideways passes. Focus on clean sheets and sticking the onion in the onion bag. Yes, the triangles are part of it, but they’re not all of it. The be all and end all of it is scoring more than the other lot.

   Because if you do that, you’ll win football matches.

6. Actually, the most important game now is the West Brom game. Win that, and, don’t be deceived, the pressure will be on United, because they are supposed to be the coolest in the home run, who know how to win when the going gets tough! So, whatever support you can give, please be there for our boys. What difference will it make if you slug off the team and manager at this stage in the season?
   And besides, be mindful of the fact that should we win the EPL this season, then it will be one of the most successful seasons for Arsenal. Why? Because, no one ever gave us a chance to be number two at this stage when the season was beginning. The media bushes us because Wenger is on the verge of making them look stupid again, so don’t fall for their tactics againg.

7. great article. finally something positive being written and said…i’m tired of all the doomers saying we won’t win anything. The league can still be one and as Sammy the Snake says now is the time for leaders to step up. keep the faith!

8. If we get through the West Brom game then we should start to get some players back from injury for the next game against Blackburn and with more recovery time between games we should see less injuries from now on.
   People seem to forget that Man U aren’t unstoppable. The most consecutive wins they have managed this year is 4. So if they carry on this trend they’re going to drop a minimum of 4 points before the end of the season.

9. First they slagged off Alex Song, they said he was useless, and then they realized he was the business.

   Then they said Djourou was awful, until it slowly dawned that he was amongst the very best defenders.

   Then they said Koz was an inept joke form the French lower leagues..

   until they realized he was manning the barricades against Barcelona…

   and on, and on, and on, and on, and on…

   I am still at a loss as to why people criticize Arsene and Arsenal

10. Well said, you really cheered me up. Maybe a boycott of TalkSport wouldn’t be a bad thing?

11. Arseblog has a similar theme this morning with a video of Bonnie Tyler at the end signing “I need a hero” I kid you NOT.

    Someone to step up and score those goals on the run in like Freddie lungberg did once upon a time.

    There is 3 games comming up that are relatively easy in the sense that if they put in the effort and team work they should win. That gives 35 days for the rest to return from injury to make one last push for the title.

    10 Games to go Utd and Spurs will be tired from mid week exertions when we play them and I think we can beat liverpool at home who still dont have the confidence back really despite some decent results.

    One game at a time we can still win this league St tots day is just around the corner and life is still good.

12. Shard,Gooner80 and Walter

    Sorry boyz for my illogical internet ranting over the weekend, looking back @ our manager does make me proud.

13. @jayj

    Welcome aboard 🙂 Next stop. The league title.

14. Who’s that with Tony?? Hello Walter. So you aren’t just a pink pentagon 🙂

15. And then to realize that is actually my best side, Shard…. 😉 Lucky I wasn’t taken from the other side or you would be running away screaming…. 🙂

16. Well.. If the players on your field can take it, then so can I 🙂

17. The million dollar question is – have we learned anythin from the last 3-4 yrs?? I guess the answer is No.

    We still are hit by injuries, we still lack the mental strength (though Wenger says we have it), we still rely on one or two players for the whole season (fabregas and van persie), without fabregas we are still very painfully slow and predictable for oppositions, we still cave in every time during the feb/march period, we still dont change our tactics and stick to the same methods even if we know that its not going to work, we still have players who underperform for the whole season and still are given chances for the important matches, we still haven’t been able to keep injury levels to a minimum, we still expect our rivals to make mistakes so as we can go on top. That for me is unacceptable.

18. Ian, you are so right. For weeks I have been commenting elsewhere that now is not the time to rant and rave about possible shortcomings in our Club. We cannot buy or sell until the Summer and therefore the squad and Arsene are entitled to 100% support from all who call themselves Arsenal fans. Nothing less will do.
    Otherwise there will be disheartenment in the squad and comfort and joy in our rivals.

19. @Dark Prince

    We haven’t learned COMPLETELY. But for the most part we have. I don’t see how injuries can be blamed on anyone. It may be a result of some factor in our control but none of us know what, and even if that’s true.

    Mental strength. What is it? It’s something intangible. I think we have mental strength in spades. Perhaps a lack of a killer instinct I can agree with. But again, that isn’t something that can be learned as such. It either develops at some point, or it doesn’t. For many players now perhaps it’s fair to say that it hasn’t developed and that they should go. But, they STILL can prove that contention false. Since we can’t very well just ship them out now, then we should give them our backing and encouragement.

    The Barcelona match showed that we are capable of adapting to a different situation.

    How many chances have ManU let slip this season? They lost just after the Newcastle debacle. they lost after we drew with Sunderland. they let slip a 2 goal lead in stoppage time. Yest, we’re the ones supposed to lack mental strength and being reliant on rivals to drop points? And none of that even includes how much easier the referees make it on ManU and how much tougher on us..

    Once again. there are problems that must be sorted. Not all the problems you state are actually there. Much of it is opinion or conjecture. In any case. The title is still there for the taking. We have so many problems anyway. The least we can do is try and help them along.

20. Thanks everyone for the positive answers. It’s good to know that others think the same way. The trouble with the internet is that peope come in and rant and it feels everyone is negative, when it isn’t necessarily the case.

    Nice post Jayj. Its good to see someone be brave enough to apologise for a previous post. After the game the frustration can just spill out. It happens to us all – including Arsene Wenger!

21. @shard- i disagree with you on certain points.

    Firstly, the problems listed above are not jus opinions passed out by media to have a go at us, it contains truth. Leadership is not an ability which is just in born, it can be created as well, leadership comes with experience as well. But its upto to the players themselves to step up and take command rather than expecting Wenger to do it. Its sad to see that the nearest thing to leadership we have is 19 yr old Wilshere.

    Secondly, regarding injuries, its not bad luck that we’re facing it in such vast amounts, its something to do with the player’s training regime. This is happenin for quite a few years now and its sad that even after being one of the best clubs in the world, we still dont know exactly what the problem is.

    Thirdly, i know referees will favour teams with more english international players, but i dont see how the referees are responsible for the lack of creativity we have. The Carling Cup final and Fa cup quarters were not lost bcoz of referees.

    Lastly i agree with you, we have the league to win. And to be honest, its in our hands bcoz if we win all our games, then we’re champions. Its that simple. Do we have the potential to do it? Bloody yes!! But are we gonna do it?? Unfortunately No…

22. Is Lehman coming back???

    not a bad thing.

23. Dark Prince

    Firstly, the problems listed above are not jus opinions passed out by media to have a go at us, it contains truth. Leadership is not an ability which is just in born, it can be created as well, leadership comes with experience as well.

    I do not deny that they contain truth. Any wild theory can be based on a modicum of truth. I’m not just discounting the problems but I think they are overstated in importance sometimes. As far as leadership is concerned I have never believed it’s just an in born characteristic.. It is something that develops, as you say with experience and with a willingness to step up. But, it cannot be taught.

    Your point about the injuries may well be true. All I said was we do not know if that’s the case. I’m sure everyone is working overtime to find out what the cause is. Perhaps it’s just the Emirates pitch? But until it becomes possible to identify what the reason is (again, IF there is any) then I do not see how we can be blamed for not learning. Unless you say that we haven’t even tried to. (which I think is not your contention)

    I never said the referees are to be blamed for all our failures. We should have done a lot better in the Carling final for example, and I was very disappointed in the team. Not necessarily in the loss itself, but the way we played throughout. (against Barcelona away, I was proud of the performance though)

    Anyway. I wasn’t really disagreeing with you regarding the problems we have. I just think that you’re wrong when you conclude that we haven’t learned anything from the past 3-4 years. there still is some scope for improvement. Perhaps even a lot of scope. But I think we have learned a lot.

24. @jayj

    I’m not sure it’ll be him, but something to think about.. We have a new signing on the way most likely.. Any ideas on who it’ll be people? Something to distract us from the gloom.. though I’m sure it’ll be pointedly said that any available keeper would be crap..Oh well.. No escape then.

25. The million dollar question is – have we learned anythin from the last 3-4 yrs?? I guess the answer is No.

    We still are hit by injuries, we still lack the mental strength (though Wenger says we have it), we still rely on one or two players for the whole season (fabregas and van persie), without fabregas we are still very painfully slow and predictable for oppositions, we still cave in every time during the feb/march period, we still dont change our tactics and stick to the same methods even if we know that its not going to work, we still have players who underperform for the whole season and still are given chances for the important matches, we still haven’t been able to keep injury levels to a minimum, we still expect our rivals to make mistakes so as we can go on top. That for me is unacceptable.– DARK PRINCE

    I just find these sorts of rants bizarre and wholly unacceptable.

    1) You rant about injuries and training regimes……most of our injuries are caused by bad challenges that can be cited – FACT not conjecture

    2) Mental strength – presumably you are expecting Arsenal to win every game and the quadruple, before you can tick that box.
    Arsenal are doing very well this season. Chelsea looked set to run away with the league, but we hung in there. We are now in with a good chance to win it. We play and win in spite of the system.
    Of the last 3 games, (MAn U, Barca, Bham) there is only one we should realistically have expected to win. Bham.
    WE underperformed slightly, but they performed very very well. We play in a league where Wolves, (bottom), were the first club to beat Man U, (top). The expectation of beating Bham was a light expectation…they had everything to play for, their GK kept them in the game, and they got a good break at the end.
    Re Barca – we were winning 3-2 until the referee intervened to help Barca out. Conclusively intervened I should say, since he had been intervening all night with soft fouls and cards against us all night…etc etc

    3) ‘We still rely on 1 or 2 players’. that is what good players are for – to be relied on.

    4) “without fabregas we are still very painfully slow and predictable for oppositions” Factually incorrect. we performed very well without Fabregas last season.

    We are a better team with Fabregas. Barca are a better team with Messi. Bur we are alot more than 1 player.

    Djourou
    Koz
    Diaby
    Ramsey
    Wilshire
    Song
    Nasri
    Arshavin
    Walcott

    Ramsey and Wilshire, combined age under 40, can be a brilliant midfield combination.

    5) we still dont change our tactics and stick to the same methods even if we know that its not going to work,

    nonsense. Wenger played a complete inversion of style against Barca.

    6) “we still have players who underperform for the whole season ”

    2nd in Prem, FA Cup 1/4, Euro last 16, Lc – final

    Sorry, that is not an underperforming side.

    People squeal about Arshavin, but his goals and assists stats are pretty good.They whine about Diaby, but once he gets going he looks pretty good to me… who are these underperformers?

    I am sick and tired of the Dark Princes of this world. The name says it all. Go and support the Red Devils where you belong.

26. DP, I would add Song to that list of players we depend on. With a combination made up primarily of Song, Cesc, Jack, Sami, Theo, Arshavin and RVP , we can beat anyone. But I think Song is really key to our creative and attacking players performing, almost as if they do not trust his replacements – who so far have not answered questions asked of them
    But alas, that lot are rarely all available. Brings me to injuries. As you point out our injury record is horrific as I am sure the injury index on this site will show at the end of the season. Some of these injuries are freak – like our keepers and JD. Some seem to be reocurring – Cesc, Theo, Diaby. Then there is the medical phenomea that is RVP. Arshavin often seems to be carrying something minor. There was Bendtners car crash cited by some as the source of injury problems. But I think there may well be some milage in your theory about the AG playing surface, the identical training surface – part grass, part artificial. Maybe we play injury prone players, maybe they need to do more work with weights – maybe weare just incredibly unlucky.
    On the subject of leaders, Cesc is no Vieira but can certainly drive the team forward. Jack seems to have leadership qualities. Then there is Vermaelen – how we have missed him at times

27. @shard- The only difference i’ve seen in the last 3-4 yrs is that the players have become better. But they have improved only on physical and technical terms. But they still haven’t improved on the psychological front. You can see the doubt in their eyes whenever they fail. They still haven’t learned how to cope up with failure. Just think, when they believed that they can beat Chelsea, they beat them. And since then we’re on a superb run, which was bcoz of that belief which was poured out from that Chelsea game. At that stage the players didn’t have to prove anyone that they lack mental strength, they just knew that they had it. But when we lost that Carling Cup final, that belief was lost. Since then, the players are scared of losing and hence aren’t playing well. Its completly psychological which hasn’t changed for many years now. We could have won the title in 07-08, but one psychological blow was enough. Last year we had the easiest run in but still Ramsey’s psychological blow was again enough. This season, its again in our hands, but i think the psychological blow of this past 2weeks will spread in their minds. They need to man up themselves, they need to beliver again that they are the true champions.

    And my only msg to our players can be (and shard, u’ll understand this) – KHUDI KO KAR BULAND ITNA KE HAR TAKDEER SE PEHLE, KHUDA BANDE SE PUCHE – TERI RAZA KYA HAI??

28. Dark Prince

    Everyone has doubts. As you yourself say, we are capable of putting together a good run too. But, I think you discount the psychological factor that refereeing decisions play. How much easier is it to have belief when you know the referees will help you leave alone not screw you over more often than not. Conversely, how much harder when you face say an Everton followed by a Newcastle. And lesser examples of that every week. The fact that we are so close despite all that and all the advantage that the Mancs have gotten suggests to me that we really do have loads of mental strength.

    And I disagree. try and have a look back at all the matches of 2008. It wasn’t just the psychological blow of losing Eduardo or even drawing that game. It hurt us a lot, but it was the refereeing decisions, and the psychological blows that they itself would have dealt, that lost us the league. I’m sorry. 2008, we were cheated out of it.

    Plus, It has to be pointed out. It is not JUST the injury causing the psychological blow when it’s a result of the assault. It’s the reaction of the media to it as well..

    And even more so. It is not JUST a psychological blow. The impact Eduardo and Ramsey would have had on the field on the season and the following season was a massive loss. And a team that respects its budgets cannot go out and get a replacement as well because you are still paying the wages.

    I think.. considering all the challenges we have faced, we have exhibited a lot of mental strength.

29. And yes.. Dark Prince.. I know those words. But unfortunately inspirational words, and even inspired performances aren’t enough more often than not..

    As an aside, do you know who wrote that poem?

30. @Marcus-
    1) fabregas, Szczesny, Fabianski, Djourou, Van Persie, Song were not injured bcoz of bad tackles. Pls check b4 u start ranting. Even Walcot’s injury was due to a tackle, the tackle was not a bad one.

    2) Mental Strength – “Manu, Barca, Birmingham…there is only one we should realistically have won-birmingham” that says a lot about your belief in the team. I expect Arsenal to win against anyone of the above. Simply bcoz i know our players are better. I have the belief. Do you hav?? By your comments, i dont think so. And this doubt is what the players have now.

    3) you mean to say that we have only one or two good players? Again shows ur belief (or should i say the lack of) in our team.

    4) fact- without fabregas our win % this season is below 40%. With him its above 70%. Again pls check your facts b4 ranting like an AAA.

    5) wenger didn’t opt to play a different style for barca game, it is that barca forced us into changing our tactic. And when the opponent doesn’t force you to do it, we play our usual game and get sucked into oppositions tactics (ManU game for fa cup)

    6) Almost all Gooners know who underperform in our squad. Maybe you just need to see properly.

31. Here’s an amazing article. Well thought and superbly written :
    http://www.arsenalreport.com/2011/03/the-mighty-transition-why-arsenal-havent-won-anything-in-6-years/comment-page-2/#comment-273

32. @shard- i know the influence of referees but i wont say it can stop any team from winning if they are that good. The newcastle game, though ref had a big say in it, we still had a bad defensive performance. We crumbled under pressure which we’re now infamous for and that too was bcoz of lack of leadership. And lets be honest, there have been instances where refs didn’t favour ManU as well. Their last 2 games showed that. And if the refs are so influential on the results, especially Arsenal results bcoz of some bias, then we wouldn’t have been in the title race. Its eventually down to ourselves to perform on the day. I know we have enough talent to beat any team simply bcoz i know Wenger can outplay any other manager. But eventually its the players who have to perform on the pitch. And they should bring that belief from within. They should play like champions and believe they are the best if they want to win the league.

33. @shard- No, i dont kno who the writer is of those lines, but i hope our players feel the same like we do when we read those lines. As Fabregas said after our victory against Chelsea – “Belief is the key”

34. @critic

    Good article. thank you for the link. Might I suggest another.

    http://www.7amkickoff.com/2011/the-sonic-boom-a-parable/

    I think both articles taken together are a good indication of how our future can be shaped. The one critic shared shows our past, and tells us what the plan is for the future. The above link draws a parallel from the NBA to see what might happen if we do decide to abandon our plan midway.

35. @Dark Prince

    While I differ from your view on refereeing quite a bit, I’ll leave that for now. I just can’t wait for the next match to come.

    And never mind about the poet. I just find his life story a little ironic, and can’t help but smile when his poems come up.

36. You are a heap of contradictions DP.

    In a nutshell, it seems you think we have loads of superb players who underperform and are too injury prone?

    Statistically we are not significantly more injury prone than any other team. That was shown last year, and even this year it is Man U who are the walking crocks.

    Several key injuries have been due to bad challenges. Wenger stated that last year.

    I think it is hard to say a team which is a close 2nd in premiership, last 16 Champions league, League cup final , FA Cup quarters , is underperforming….

    that is a bit of a stretch…

    So, all ranting aside, I think you are just pouring negativity out.

    There was a time when winning the double was considered a very exclusive achievement, and winning the Champions league is the preserve of the elite.

    Therefore I would humbly submit that should we defy the establishment, and win the league, we will have had an outstanding season.

37. i know some of you hate when some of us slag off our players but some of them deserve all the heat they get…how many more chances do bendtner,diaby and denilson need to prove themselves? they have showed us (in diaby and bendtner`s case)that they can be brilliant at times but they are so inconsistent that they piss off alot of people myself included…denilson is a lost cause and should go…we need to get a real cover for song.. just look at the games which he hasnt played..we get dominated in the mid and as a result we either draw or lose..i think we are really missing him atm… we need to get rid of a lot of deadwood we have right now…some of these players dont look like they even care..just compare the way jack a 19yrs old boy play to the way rosucky does..jack is about one of the few players who seem to give a damn about the shirt..rvp being the other and maybe vermy..no matter how good our defence has been in his absence we have missed him greatly

38. @mahdain

    “i know some of you hate when some of us slag off our players but some of them deserve all the heat they get…how many more chances do bendtner,diaby and denilson need to prove themselves?”

    No less than 10 more games. Give them that much with unqualified support.

39. @shard ill give them the definite of the doubt for these last games..if they still cant do it maybe its time they go? maybe give diaby more time but one person that should definitely go is denilson…and rosucky for that matter..

40. Dark Prince and Marcus, keep on. I think both of you are telling the truth. The questions is, who is more truthful in his worlds?

41. @mahdain

    I won’t dispute that. Especially about Denilson

42. I agree with this article; I remember Henry turning around a 1-2 deficit to make a 4-2 victory. And, personally, I think those newspaper pundits are way off of the mark. Our confidence might be a wee bit dented but no way are we in a ‘vortex of despair’. Our season isn’t over and as was mentioned, if ManU win our fixture against them is in the middle of a rather packed week for them!! Wouldn’t they just sh*t if we were to win the league?

43. Yo Arsenal fans. We should be closing ranks at this crucial stage. Any anger, disappointment etc should be dealt with after the season.

    For the players, every game is important and I expect clubs to fight every inch of that. Remember a number of them are not relegation-immune. I expect them to be fighting for survival.

44. @Marcus- Now i think you got my point. We got the best squad you can imagine but still some players dont fulfill their potential. The reasons can be varying from age to injuries to just plain lack of winning mentality.

    Regarding Injuries, if you feel ManU have the same problems of injuries then tell me how many of their goalkeepers are out injured? (we have 3 gk injured), how many of their defenders are out injured for the whole season? (we have 2 def out for whole season) how many of their midfielders are as injury prone as Fabregas or Diaby or Walcott or Nasri? How many of their main Strikers have missed more matches than they have played in since joining the club like Van Persie??

    Its damn obvious that our injury list is a league of its own. Sometimes we can make a whole 11 man team out of our injury list. Its that bad sometimes. And we’re nearly there now.

    You talk about the levels of competitions we have reached. Just look at ManU, They are now in 3 competitions with a squad which is half as good as ours. What can be the reason for that?? Its the winning mentality that they have which pushes them through. We lack it, whenever we struggle, you can see the heads coming down. Now that my friend is not the attitude of Champions.

    I agree with you on one thing. Winning the Epl is the best prize. Its more important for Arsenal than fa cup or carling cup or uefa. But the results in the other competitions in the last 2 weeks is goin to ruin our chances for epl. And if you look closely, we have only one competition to put our efforts into. But still the doubt from the previous losses will linger in the minds of the players.

45. The only problem arsenal fans have with arsene wenger is that he doesnt acknowledges any short comings of the squad. His blind loyalty and faith in players who arent good enough is what p*sses the fans off. Chamakh is the 3rd choice now behind bendtner yet he is better than bendtner. Diaby and denilson are awful (and im being nice here cause its really early) yet lansbury is sent on loan and ramsey is warming the bench. In 2008 arsene bought silvestre while Lyon sold squillaci to sevilla. I dont believe that squillaci just came on AW radar last year yet he could have spent a little bit more to get a younger player but AW choose the 3 year older who was awful during his time at arsenal (and im being nice here again cause its really early). Its not just one game where diaby or denilson did what they do best (and thats not to play football) but AW doesnt sees that. When will he realize that diaby and denilson arent good enough players for arsenal and after selling them bring someone from within the ranks?
    And how long are players like rosicky and RVP gonna spend time in the treatment room but the contracts are renewed and they get a hefty pay rise? Whats the basis of that? Performance? Matches played? Rosicky is past it and RVP moans about not winning but spends more time not playing.
    And at this stage of the season we are not winning without cesc who was either injured who was either injured or god knows what was wrong with him.

46. Wengers reign is turning into a fucking farce. And I think it’s fucking hilarious.
    Looking forward to the men in white coats coming and taking him away at the end of the season. The mad bastard

47. Terry- Thats the same way we feel about Ferguson!!