Dial Square Blog

An error in Henry's logic?

2007-06-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

So the fall out from the Henry transfer saga continues and the man himself has spoken. In this interview for Arsenal.com Thierry once again states that it was the uncertainty about Wenger staying at the club beyond next year that made him want to head for Catalonia.

Surely, however, this is an error in logic. . . Wenger may stay at Arsenal and yes, it's true he could also conceivably leave at the end of next season BUT in terms of probability, staying at Arsenal would have given Henry the greatest chance of playing under Wenger. After all, leaving Arsenal ensures Thierry that he will definitely NOT have 'le prof' as his manager. Henry's decision to leave for fear that he may end up not playing for Wenger, is therefore quite illogical as his actions have precipitated the very fate he feared.

Unless of course. . . Titi suspects that AW has a good chance of following him belatedly to the Camp Nou as the successor to Rikjard. Now that eventuality would be a frightening thought. Like all other gooners, I genuinely dread the day when Wenger severs his ties with the glorious gunners.

In the interview Henry also hints at his sadness at leaving Highbury and the idea that this variable was significant in his decision to fly the nest is explored in this by Brian Glanville of The Times

An interesting article in the Observer contemplates the idea that Fabregas might assume the captaincy but I think this is unlikely as Gilberto seems the most obvious choice.

Meanwhile, other sectors of the media continue to try to elevate my blood pressure with their doom and gloom predictions for the future of our club and fans from our rivals sharpen their knives but to paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated!

Adieu Thierry

2007-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

So this blog has had a slightly faltering start; a couple of posts then I got buried with work and had to leave it to lie fallow. At long last, however, I am back and what a topic to return with; the loss of 'Titi' our talismanic goal machine.

The 'redtops', as expected are sensationally predicting that the club will implode following the departure of both Dein and now Henry. Despite this predictable 'vulture-like' behaviour from the tabloids, the broadsheets do at least offer a little consolation with articles such as this one by former gunner Alan Smith in the Telegraph. Now I have often found Smith to be infuriatingly disloyal in some of his articles and stints in TV punditry but I must say he makes some good points and expresses what I too have been feeling - that in recent times Henry has gotten a 'little too big for his boots'.

Since the departure of David Dein (the dad of Henry's close friend and 'best man' at his wedding) Thierry has been rather outspoken. As that wise sage 'arseblogger' has stated on countless occasions; Henry has no business in commenting on the goings on that occur at board level. He is just a player not the chairman. Thierry received adulation from us gooners for his unique talent and it would seem on occasion that it all went to his head, warping his perspectives and resulting in a pouting narcissus.

He has been a truly magnificent player and we have been truly privileged to have had this outstanding athlete playing in the red and white of Arsenal BUT he is now 30 we have had the benefit of the best years of his career. If this news story was breaking in say 2001 at the height of his pomp, it would have been a disaster for the club and for us fans but considering both his age, recent temperamental/inconsistent performances and the fact that he now seems to be rather injury prone, his departure it isn't quite as cataclysmic as the media would have you think.

I can remember pulling into a petrol station in the summer of 2000 and seeing the headlines in the newspapers that we had just sold Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit (also to Barcelona ironically enough). I was both shocked and depressed. The summer prior to that we had sold Anelka and it seemed that Wenger was intent on dismantling our double winning side of '98. Overmars providing so many goals from the wing and Petit part of the famous Vieira-Petit axis in the midfield I felt sure that this was the end of our glory days and yet even better times were ahead. Once again, as then, I am sure that Wenger has made a calculated and well-reasoned decision.

No one is bigger than the club and many of us wondered how we would ever survive the departures of Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton, Ian Wright, Tony Adams (or any of the other famous back four for that matter) etc but we did and world continued to spin on its axis. The only player who, in my opinion, was truly irreplaceable is the unique genius that was Dennis Bergkamp.

So what will this change in personnel mean for the club? Well, we will now be looking to even more great things from the magnificent Van Persie in fact, a few more like this wouldn't go amiss. The 'Great Dane' that is Niklas Bendtner will hopefully relish the opportunity Henry's exit represents and seize it with both hands. I have high hopes for him as he is more like the traditional 'no.9' centre forward that we have often missed.

Wenger has more or less invented the concept of a wing-forward (Henry/Reyes/Overmars/Pires/Van Persie etc) and it has been an effective offensive notion but I'm sure we all agree that after 20 or so exquisite passes we are crying out for some big striker to just hammer it home - maybe that's what Bendtner can provide for us.

Henry's departure is big news but of far more significance will be whether we can hold on to our professorial manager. Gunnerblog quotes Henry from this article in 'L'equipe' as saying that he left because Wenger's future at the club is uncertain. I think that this is scaremongering and am optimistic that Wenger will stay at the club.

As I typed this entry on my laptop I was also watching Holland destroy Serbia in the final of the U21 euro championships. Babel scored the second and made the third, now wouldn't it cheer us up if he was brought in as a replacement? In any case. . . 'Arsene knows'

Let's give Jose the Blues

2007-05-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

So today's the big game; our chance to destroy Chelsea's title hopes and depose them as champions whilst also 'welcoming' our favourite old boy back to his alma mater. . .
It does seem to have been a season of frustration and misery for us gooners but perhaps today a victory will sweeten the bitterness with a little joy.
Naturally, I'd rather we were in the position in which we were playing in title-decisive matches at this stage of the season with ourselves as possible champions elect but today there is no time to dwell on that.
We have played well against Chelsea this season. We went to the bridge with a depleted squad and showed great spirit and if it wasn't for Essien's fluke we would have won it courtesy of Monsieur Flamini's strike. Next we played them in that game at Cardiff and for large portions of the game (especially the first half) we gave the russian millionaires a real footballing lesson. On that day, Drogba was the difference, we squandered umpteen dozen chances whilst he took his when they arrived. We will need to get tight on him today (I assume Wenger won't give us a heartattack by playing Senderos against him).
As for dear old Ashley . . . well we had inflatable mobiles phones and banknotes earlier in the season and there are mutterings that today fruit and veg may be on the menu BUT, I think the best thing we could do is completely ignore him. I am sure that our indifference to his existence would probably hurt him more than anything else.
The online gooner has suggested that chelsea are greeted by a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' just to rub salt in the wounds.
I hope Diaby plays in the middle to give us some much needed muscle against Essien and that Kolo and Gallas will do a job on Drogba. I also very much hope Rosicky is fit enough to play as I feel he really does give us that little extra something.
Anyway, here we go. . . COME ON YOU GUNNERS!!

Diaby; finally something to smile about!

2007-04-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so we've all heard of the comparisons with Vieira but I do think I really am beginning to get excited about this fella. Whilst the 'New Vieira' tag has become a little cliched and tiresome, it has to be admitted that he does give us just what have lacked since the sale (and prior decline) of PV4.

I thought he might prove an interesting purchase when he arrived, but then came that sickening tackle in the Sunderland game, and we had to place all our judgements on hold.

In recent games though, he really has given us a taste of his potential; breaking up attacks and surging forward to join our strikers. This was most apparent yesterday in the derby against the lesser team on north London; he really did provide a bit of muscle in the centre of the park - something that we have been sorely missing this season. I love Gilberto, but he is closer to the end than he he is to the beginning of his career and we do need someone to play that 'enforcer' role next to either Cesc or Denilson.

Of course, like the rest of our midfield, he needs to work on his finishing ( he did miss some real sitters against Bolton) but I'm sure that will develop. Incidently, wasn't it interesting to see the ease at which he muscled Baptistsa off the ball for one of those chances?

This week there has been a lot of turmoil for us gooners with Dein's departure and the press doing their best to agitate us with the notion that Wenger will follow but at least in Diaby's performance against the spuds we do have something to smile about!

'As if there weren't enough Arsenal blogs. . . .'

2007-04-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know there is already a huge number of gooner related blogs floating around in the cyber-ether BUT what the hell, here is another.

This is all a big experiment I guess, I'm not sure if anyone will ever read it but in any case, it will serve it's purpose in allowing me to try blogging for the first time.

About me . . .

Well I have been a rabidly obsessive gooner since I was a young lad. The first game I saw at Highbury was in 1983 and we got beaten 1-0 by Coventry City but by that stage I was already smitten with the Gunners; a love affair that probably really began with the '5 minute final' of 1979 (that Alan Sunderland goal still gives me goosebumps even if he was sporting a Scouser style perm and 'tash a la Harry Enfield). Ever since those 'Terry Neil' days of my childhood, my brother and I grew up as Junior Gunners loving the Arsenal.

I used to live in North London, just off the Seven Sisters Road and used to manage to see a lot of home games.

Eventually however, I ended up moving to Canada in 2005 (its a long story but involves a beautiful woman) and have been a 'gooner in exile' ever since.

Despite it being a bit of a crap season, I thought it was about time for me to start an Arsenal blog.

I don't know if it will be anywhere near as good as the excellent 'Arseblog', 'East Lower', 'Goodplaya' (or indeed any of the other fine blogs I have as links) but I hope at least to have a link to at least one interesting item on the web per day.
So here goes. . .