Back to Blog 4 – Arsenal – Why Arsene Wenger is the perfect candidate for IMF Head

Simply four words:Massive Fallen but Optimistic

Still, in Arsena i trust. He is an arrogant bit, but i’m sure he suffered more than us (fans), look at his facial expression when the last few loses. The purple patches really put strain on him, his wrinkle getting more apparent. Some said he is getting old, but then, in my opinion, the older he is, the wiser he get. Look at Sir Alex, old and wise, i’m sure Arsene Wenger is way better than Sir Alex.

With the resignation of the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, following allegations of rape. This open up room for Arsene Wenger to run for the job. Being compatriot to French Foreign Minister Christine Lagarde, Wenger’s saving credential really makes him a clear candidates for IMF head.

Wenger will fly out to Asia with its team for pre season match, and taking chance to lobby / meet with relevant parties for votes. To support Wenger’s IMF campaign, i will attend their Exhibition game in Malaysia, vs our national team. Hopefully by then, there will be some good signing and some disposal of fringe player. BUY GERVINHO AND HAZARD.

SELL BERTNER, DENILSON, SQUALACHI, or whatever their spelling.

The upcoming season schedule also saw Wenger’s team facing Newcastle, then Liverpool and Man Utd in their 1st three EPL games, while 2 legs of Champions League games sandwiched in between Liverpool and Man UTD.

What a crucial 5 games we get there.

Buy and sell before its too late.

Coffeenottea Operational – I’m back and gonna start with a BANG!

It’s been little more than half a year since i last blogged a post. Time really does flies. I’m started to revamp the blog a little bit this time round, giving it more content, more attention, and more updates.

As always, the blog will continue to blog about World of Warcraft, however, instead of blogging about the US server, which pretty much where i used to play. Now u probably see me quoting “used to play”. Ya i’m now playing WOW Taiwan instead. Switched to WOW Taiwan before the Cataclysm, alot of stuff and progression going on, which i’m happy to share with any reader who stumble upon this blog. Edit: yes, i covered about the switch to WOW Taiwan before i stop blogging like half a year ago. No harm mentioning again tho.

Now, beside World of Warcraft, i probably gonna start covering another up and coming exciting games by EA – Bioware, an intellectual property that we all familiar with – Drum roll…. Star Wars – The Old Republic. Now, The game is still in its early / closed beta. There is no firm release date yet. But day by day, it’s getting closer and closer to the D-day of potentially a game release that may change / revolutionize the whole MMORPG industry.

Also, as always, i will cover two of my favorite / support football team – Arsenal FC and Leeds United FC. An pretty eventful campaign for year 2010-2011, both ironically started well, but failed to impress and sustain, and the rest is disappointed.

Last but not least, i managed to zoom into 2 new hobbies, one being photography and the second being Figures collection. Well, both of this hobbies cost me fortune and i am in a difficult position to juggle priority between the two.

I’m gonna stop here for now, and i’m gonna write on each of the topics above soon. Welcome back, yup, its for me. Welcome back indeed.

My Indepth Opinion on the Current Arsenal team 01-10-2010

Ok, I just revamped the blog layout yesterday, it is kind of darkish now, pretty dull, I know, but I like it a lot. I knew it consist of wall of text at the main page; I’ll try to fit in some picture to make it less boring. The reason which why I haven’t done so, is because, I can’t seems to find the way to showcase that I embedded with my post. Until I manage to do that, I’ll cool with it for now.

To start off the post, I’m gonna talk about Arsenal Football Club today, one of the two club I support, where the other one will be the now Championship’s Leeds United.

I’m not gonna touch on my thoughts on the current Leeds United’s battle for promotion, but instead, I’m gonna focus on Arsenal’s 2010 trophy hunting attempt.

Arsenal FC, once hailed as the invincible, Arsenal’s “Untouchables” go undefeated for the entire season to win the Premier League in 2004. Fast forward 6 years later to this very moment, will we Arsenal fans, get to see the light once again?

Let’s do a point to point analysis, the untouchables build on the basis of a steady and strong back four, fortify by a steady goal keeper. The attacking flair is almost there, the French pair of Henry and Pires terrorized the defenders, while Cecs Fabregas working its magic with a very very young age. Well, I’m not any kind of expert in football, but here are my opinions:

Goal Keeper.

Our keeper is not as steady as 6 years back, Almunia, doesn’t really convince me enough, way too many mistakes. He never really looks comfortable stepping up for Lehmman (I may have the spelling wrong somewhere), he lacked the confident of David Seaman, as well as the arrogant of Mr. Lehmman, he don’t have a strong character, or at least, he don’t project a trustworthy impression, and I doubt his defender trust him much, enough said.

Fabianski, shown some promise through out his career, he is young, still early in his goal keeper career. He makes some major major high profile mistakes, (such as the one in the Champions League game with Porto), still, he may deserve more chance to prove himself. Why, u may ask. Well, he is young, he will learn through mistakes, people compare and claim Almunia and Fabianski rubbish, but they forget that Almunia is indeed way older than Fabianski, Almunia, spend much of his younger career, in the Arsenal reserve understudying, Lehmann, while Fabianski, do not have that kind of privilege, people looking for redemption after a disappointment (Almunia) in the form of Fabianski, he face huge expectation for him to step up from Almunia demise, he failed somehow horribly last year. After the recent CL Partizan game, he shown promise for saving the penalty, (although I do not think that save is imminent, it technically end the game, but it is not game changing, Arsene Wenger and the media might just exaggerate to sing the praise). Just give the lad another chance.

ok, Lets talk about the Arsenal, remaining goal keeper, Vito Man-one (I knew wrong spelling) seems to be a very good shot stopper, (from the few games he started) although again, with the pressure at hand, he made some mistakes, but hardly career threatening, he deserve more chance. And the Polish’ Wojciech Szczesny, ya he can rant all he want, but he is behind the pecking order right now, never seen him play, he might too deserve his chance.

I say, give Vito Man-one and Wojciech Szczesny a start, give them a chance to prove themselves, if they shine, then good news for us, we get our self some steady sold goalkeeper, even if they fail, they will know that they are not good enough and will stop ranting about first team opportunities. As for Almunia, I sincerely believe it is time for him to go, its pretty good joke for even people to suggest that Almunia should be England solution to the Goal keeper problem, as for Fabianski, let him fight the spot with Vito and Wojciech Szczesny, the winner gets all, the loser stay put. We knew Almunia quality, and it’s a long shot into the moon to now give a chance to the other three GK. Alternatively, buy a new GK and pray for the best.

Defender

Let’s start at the heart of the defense, Vermalen seems to be pretty solid, hardly make any mistakes, he is not the tallest center backs you see, but his leap is good and he timed his jump perfectly. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game against Chealsea, Vermalen vs. Drogba, hopefully no more Sanderos’ish memories. Partnering Vermalen at the heart of defense is the options of injury prone – Djourou, newly signed, Laurent Konchieny, and Squillaci. So far, LK seems solid, very good in tackle, hardly gets a foot wrong, winning almost all the header against Roman Palychenko (yaya spelling) in the Carling Club, Totemham game. Squillaci is good in the air, pretty experience, but not the fastest CB around, which shown with good evidence in the recent few games. No comment about Djourou, hardly see him play. One thing to note, is that, it is a completely new lineup in the heart of defense, Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell all gone, so it definitely need a lot of time to for AW to find out his best center partnership, my bet will be on Vermalen + Squillaci, nonetheless, it shows a lot of promising.

At the side, Glitchy is never Ashley Cole, he is fast, but we hardly see him booming forward the Ashley Cole style, his cross is not particularly good, but he is good, one of the best, in my opinion. Glitchy not at his best last season, injuries as well as defensive frailty means he can’t play his own game going forward as much as he like. Also, with the likes of Arshavin roaming the left side of the midfield, Glitchy need to cover the defensive holes left by our Russian Maestro. Unless, there’s some sort of formation of game style change, else, Glitchy will always be Glitchy, but I do see plenty of light, with the upcoming (cross finger) solid center defensive partnership, I would like to see Glitchy going forward a little bit more and let Arshavin or whoever play at the left, to drift into the middle.

Sagna is posses, good stamina, good work rate, covering spaces, good fullback, but just like Glitchy, he is suffer with additional defensive pressure due to the weak link at the back (CB & GK) last year. This year, I hope Walcott share what Beckham teach him about crossing with Sagna, and same with Glitchy, with a solid center two + goalkeeper, Sagna can get forward more.

Now, here’s the trump card, Eboue, his forward run is a joy to behold, he dribbles like Messi, once a while, he makes us fans, excited, he can play full back, as well as midfield, I see him more effective as an impact sub with his speed, energy and enthusiastic.

Kieran Gibbs and Traore, serve as the backup for Glitchy, so far, Gibbs is ahead and I am seeing Traore leaving Arsenal pretty soon. With the continuous speculation of Glitchy leaving Arsenal, with numerous parties interested (Juventus, Real Madrid), Kieran Gibbs will have no problem filling in the void.

Midfield

This is the bane of Arsenal, Cecs Fabregas, enough said, he is one of the best in the world, his vision and passing showcase what we call, an art. If he is able to temporarily forget about Barcelona, stay injuries free, ignore the media, and focus on the game then, we are a step more closer to the trophy. Alex Song, just like his Africa counterpart, he cover spaces, he enforce the midfield, he protect his defender, he can only get better with more games under his belt. Just finger cross that he stay injuries free.

We get Walcott on the right, and Arshavin on the left, both posses pace, and acceleration, Arshavin is a very gifted technical player, he twist, turn, and can strike with both his foot, from distance, with power plus accuracy. He looks lazy; hardly defend, but that just make him even more deadly, more like a silent killer, I would say, little contribution but bag, he score. Walcott, is probably the fastest sprinter (50M) in the Arsenal team, his acceleration and pace is top notch, but I doubt his brain able to access all the information on the field with equivalent speed to make a viable decision. He always seems to have problem fitting in a good cross, paper said he learned from Beckham recently, and I hope the best. He did score several goals this season, he looks sharp after the World Cup snub, I said, if he cant cross well, just make a decent shot and we pray for: 1) a goal, 2) a deflection that lead to a goal, 3) a deflection that lead to a tap in, 4) a shot that also act as a cross / pass, 5) and many many more. Walcott should be greedier and have his eye on the goal.

Then we gonna focus on our other prodigy, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, both of them shown great talent. Ramsey suffered from a career threatening injury, and in the middle of rehab. I am sure with his determination, as well as the support from the Arsenal fans and club, he will nurse back to full match fitness pretty soon. He is certainly one for the future. In the contrast of luck, Jack Wilshere is a lucky dude, now in line to join the squad for the upcoming England call up versus Serbia. He play with determination, not the tallest or strongest midfield, he is pretty small by his size compare with his counterpart, but just look at Messi, Rooney, they shows that size really doesn’t matter, another excellent example was maradona, the player, not the manager. The back heel assist for Arshavin to score the first goal versus Partizan in CL, a game ago, suggest that, he may be more suitable in playing a more advancing role just behind the striker. Certainly he won’t be able to play as DM to enforce the midfield with his size.

What about Denilson & Diaby? Denilson and Diaby both are pretty injury prone. Diaby injured at the moment, he resembles the old Patrick Viera, with Zidane style of flair, but he is way too inconsistent, giving the ball away too often, always dribble his way into danger, and put his team under stress. He need to improve and become more mature in his game play. He do have the talent, his dribble is a joy to watch, but I am also suffering heart attack everytime I see him hold the ball for way too long. Denilson, with his Brazillian root, do not seems to offer much attacking flair to the team, nor he is replaying Gilberto Silva, he is like a squad player to me, pretty average, but still, if there’s a manager in the world who can unearth diamond among rocks, then the manager name Arsena Wenger, we’ll see how good Denilson can be, he can, because he is Brazillian.

Now, How about Nasri & Rosicky? Nasri, can be a world beater if he stay fit and find his momentum, we can all see what he can do with the opponent, he single handily create and score the 2 goals against West Brom last week, although he fail to get a third, which resulted in the first lose for Arsenal this season, he is definitely in form at the moment, much like Walcott, Nasri should be more greedy and have his eye on the goal. Rosicky is also enjoying a good run in the first team, sometime playing as starter, sometime starting from bench, he still posses those attacking instinct, even after his horror injury, and I pray for him to stay match fit and he can really be the engine / diamond, impact sub or whatever u want to call him. He haven’t really play as the same player from his day playing in the Bundesliga, now, after the rehab, he deserve the chance to allow him to claw back to fitness to prove what he can do.

Strikers

Bendtner the big dane, tall and strong, good in the air. We all recalled how he scored those vital goals for us, but he just done not enough to prove that he is those top striker with 20 goals per season, he is way too unproductive, he missed to many chances, he always shot wide, but when he do get it right, he score big. Ya, just like some of his vital goals came in the time the club need it, he score big with the Baroness, this kid got “talent”. I still recalled his interview that he forsee himself surpassing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to become the best Scandinavia player at all time, well, we will wait and see.

Carlos Vila, shown talent, he score some beatiful placing shots this season, coming on as subsitute, he is quick but still, I can’t see how this kid being effective in the Arsenal attacking formation, unless he is going to stick to the side to play as a wing. As a striker, he is not scoring enough, I hope he will get more play time this season, so he can really prove himself. I really hope to see him emerge as our own Michael Owen.

Ok, here comes our Dennis_Bergkamp, RVP, not Van damme, its Van Persie, he play with flair, he hold the line for us up front when Adebayor jump ship to Man City, he strike with his terrific left foot, and he injured way too often. Again, he is not nurturing his injuries. And I can’t wait to see him back and partner Chamakh.

M. Chamakh, typical center forward in my opinion, he scored a few goals already, mostly from headers, he lead the line perfectly, and he adapt well into the Arsenal team. As mentioned earlier, I can’t wait to see him, partnering RVP upfront, this will allow RVP to dictate the play together with Fabregas while Chamakh can be our focal point much like how Adebayor done it for us. This is definitely the bargain of the season, coming in free transfer from the Bordeaux, Moroccan international built a reputation as a strong-running, intelligent centre forward. His contribution helped them to the French title and the latter stages of the Champions League.

Manager

Last but not least, I gonna talk about the manager, Arsene Wenger, I trust his judgment tremendously, I feel pretty good with the way how the club progressing, both financially and on the pitch. Although the club suffers from trophy drought for almost 6 years, but I do admit, reaching the semi final of the champion’s league on numerous occasions is no small feat. In Arsene we trust, it’s more like a belief, I would rather believe in something I support rather than opposing it.

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If Arsenal play like the Germans

Image via Wikipedia

Ok. i have been slacking in writing my thoughts about the World Cup, yesterday spend the night watching Germany laughing at the Argentinians, oh hell, four nil the score, i’m no Argentina fans, but i do admit, its pretty fun to watch the amusement of others. What? Messi? They are just playing with no objective, they wanted to play their usual attacking game, but hey when its gone tough, u need to change and response. The German obviously sticking to their fast counter attacking game plan there, and they have done one hell of a job. Well done, Tiger tank.

So What do we learn from the World Cup so far? One, the England based players looks tired after a long and difficult season, look at all the performer of the World cup so far, Ozil, Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Klose from German, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijner, and Robinho, they all playing their trade outside of England. Look at the England team, they looked jaded, and ultimately broke under pressure. The only exception i can think of is Dirk kuyt that play his trade at Liverpool, i always admirer his tireless run, a cheaper version of Carlos tevez but without the egolistic.

So who caught my eyes? hmm Vittek somehow score some important goals and help to advance his team the second round. Honda of Japan, gives me goosebump when he socre one of the best freekick of the tournament, definitely a star in making. Too bad, my team Arsenal didn’t make a move on him, although tracking him for quite awhile before his move to Holland.

ok. lets talk abit about Cecs Fabregas and its Spain bench warmer. The little Spaniard wizzard recently stated that he is not leaving Arsenal after all, he “claim” he never mentioned that he will leave Arsenal at all. Ya right, flirting with Barcelona and silently watching the event from S. Africa. Oh, i know why he now want to stay at Arsenal tho, because he ain’t gonna get a starting place in Barcelona team, with Xavi and Iniesta, holding firm to their spot, there is no guarantee that he will able to play. Come mon, Cecs, make up your mind. It’s either u declare your loyalty to the team, or be gone with it. Arsene Wenger should sell him and use the transfer money to rebuild the team, BUY: Ozil, Muller and Honda…. ok i know its gonna cost alot of money, but so do Cecs, we aint gonna sell him cheap… Be realistic Barcelona, Yaya Toure cost 28 million, and Cecs is at least twice his caliber, so 50 million is way more reasonable.

What do Ozil, Muller and Honda, have in common, one, they are young, with just barely legal-20 yrs old, two, all three of them, prove themself in the World stage, they mesmerized the audience, they bring spark to the game. They are skillful and seems to play a fast and short passing game. So is Arsene Wenger philosophy?  Young – checked, Skill – checked, Fast – checked, short passing game – checked, proven in their trade – checked. By bringing in either one of them, it will makes the fans (me being one of them) a very happy man. Dull need change, and arsenal need spark. Ya i knew Wenger rule with another philosophy, he won’t fork big money for small player, he never bought any big player, he buy small player at cheap price and make them big. Ozil, Muller and Honda ain’t gonna be cheap after their superb run of form in the World Cup.

So, Arsenal still short of two defensive signing, Lorient central defender Laurent Koscielny seems to be on his way to Arsenal, i admit i know nothing about him, he seems to be a fine chap from what i read, so who will possible be the second defensive signing, Rangers defender Madjid Bougherra seems to be one hell of an option,

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has had a bid knocked back by Everton for Phil Jagielka and they have also looked abroad. But Arsenal were scared off Dynamo Kiev’s Pape Diakhate because of price while another on the radar is Benfica’s Algerian defender Rafik Halliche. Wenger, working for French TV station TF1, saw Halliche play for Algeria against England in the World Cup and is now monitoring developments on the 23-year-old. Arsenal are also considering a move for £10 million-rated German World Cup star Per Mertesacker, reports the Daily Mail. Gunners boss Arsene WengerWilliam Gallas and Mikael Silvestre departing. And if Sol Campbell joins Celtic it will leave Arsenal with just two senior central defenders, Thomas Vermaelen and Johan Djourou. (Sources from here and here, too lazy to write myself). needs to make at least two big-money signings, with both

ok, Gallas, silvestre, and Sanderos gone – good, get Halliche, he is cheap, and he seems to be eager enough to prove himself, Mertesacker probably gonna cost money (im not sure, havent go and check on his contract), Diakhate hate arsenal and cost alot of money, so get Halliche with Koscielny. Also, please give Johan Djourou another chance.

Goalkeeper need a revamp imo, reports suggest that:

Arsenal have offered Mark Schwarzer a coaching role as he prepares to complete a £4 million move to Emirates Stadium, The Australia goalkeeper, 37, is set to be the new No.1 at the London club but there have also been discussions about him joining the Arsenal backroom staff to work with the club’s other goalkeepers. Goal.com UK understands that the future of long-time goalkeeping coach Gerry Peyton is in doubt following a series of high profile blunders by first choice Manuel Almunia and his deputy Lukasz Fabianski in the closing months of last season.

Arsenal will listen to offers for Almunia but want to keep Fabianski, 25, and the club have high hopes for young keepers Vito Mannone, 22, and Wojciech Szczesny, 20. (Sources from here)

Ok. here’s my thought, Peyton need to go, he must take responsibilities for the errors Arsenal goalkeeper making. Why all the Arsenal goalkeeper suffer from calamity? Surely the GK coach done something wrong. schwarzer is good, he play with safe hand, good shot stopper, low profile, and old, therefore, giving chance to Mannone and Szczesny. As for Almunia, he must go, same with Fabianski, Both of them never look confident, look at all the great keeper in the game, they give confident and assurance to their defensive partners, arsenal defender never look comfortable to trust Almunia and Fabianski for crosses and high balls, when there’s no trust, there’s no fun.

Attacking front, with the conclusion of Marouane Chamakh, really hope to see Walcott to have an injury free season, hopefully the wise word from beckham (if there’s any) will make him a better crosser. I’m fine with the Walcott’s one trick wonder, this fella can fly if he able to realize his winning formula, same with Bechkam with his croses and Giggs with his dribbling. Do something Walcott, before you are getting OLD.

Wenger pls buy new player, im eagerly anticipating change in the current Arsenal squad.

As for the World cup, the game is on, German is probably the favorite now after thrashing the Argentinian, and i’m not any tactician, who knows, with the correct player, if Arsenal can play like the Germans, we will be trashing Chelsea and Man Utd like how German trash England and Argentina.

Lets pray.

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Arsenal 2 – 2 Barcelona – Lucky Arsenal again… Good fighting spirit…

Image via Wikipedia

Well, i cant possibly not writing any thing about the game of the year  between Arsenal and Barcelona…

The game

I cried watching the game, but for two different reasons.

First half: I cried in the first half due to how poor we played… defensive holes everywhere, player running here and there, no coordination, again we are lucky to be leveled in half time… Almunia…. he single-handed save arsenal from going behind.

2nd Half: I cried watching our offside trap falter… keeper mistake (the first goal in particular, and second since it goes in to the keeper’s near post) Then, i cried watching the team fight back, watching Fabregas limping and play on… Walcott plays magnificently.. although the penalty looks ambiguous, again its lucky….

The player

GK: Keeper not playing particularly well, some good save here and there, but he seems to make mistake a habit nowadays…

Defender: Glichy played well shadowing Messi…Messi who? No where to be seen… Sagna, solid game,Vermalen simply signing of the season, Gallas, mistake to be even on the field, Song…. my favorite…

Midfield: Nasri, he is fast and skillful, comfortable on the ball… Arshavin, injured and too little showing before being subsitute…. fabregas, nuff say, he is instrumental in Arsenal midfield… Diaby, some shaky play but overall his present give arsenal height together with Big Dane.

Striker: Big Dane…. Good game overall, just wish that he can control the ball better…. but having Puyol at your neck will not be easy…

Shame that Puyol get send off…

Still LUCKY ARSENAL… MAY THE LUCK GO ON>…

Arsenal 2 – 0 West ham – LUCKY!

Lucky Arsenal, Lucky Sol Campbell, Lucky Big Dane!