So Arsenal, new season - same situation, selling our 2 most influential players. But wait, 1 second…mertesacker, santos, Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla? ALL 25+ as well as being full internationals; something has clearly gotten into the Arsenal board. They’ve got so thirsty for success that they’ve ignored THR Brita purifier and drank the hard “investment” water straight. Yay to chloride! I could sit here discussing football economy using many more metaphors, but I lack a passion for economics which then leads onto not pursuing extra curricular information. In that same breath I won’t delve into the RvP & Song sagas. Both were outstanding for us last season but e move on & focus on those that have stayed and be, rightfully, excited by those that have joined in the last year & over the summer. Now to the example at hand, Sunderland. An EXTREMELY frustrating yet inspiring performance. Considering the match, a win was nothing more than a morale booster. 

Putting matters into context, we had a Mertesacker - 30*something pace on FIFA, highline?! LOL I don’t think so! (In 3 little women voice) - the couple of times we were countered in the first half, it was clear that was a tactical myth. 

NOW, when a defence is deep, by default the whole team drops and usually relies on a target man; PODOLSKI? (again LOL). We’re Arsenal & in the same way RvP became a “target attacking slingshot” for ou widemen - Wenger (and Steve Bould ) knows. It took 30+ mins for the team to truly get it, but get it they did. 

The central midfield area post-song, especially Diaby & Arteta took on a more defensive responsibility. Don’t forget, although he was not a signed for his defensive capabilities, Santi can play there. 

So yer tactics, playing deep etc… USUALLY invites pressure - Sunderland declined; so we he had HUGE gaps between the lines. However, due to our dynamic, ball-playing tekked out midfield, it’s no longer the job clencher for our CF to drop & collect. The adaptable, more dynamic, responsible and ball retaining midfield now collect, distribute & cover in both attacking & defensive capacities. Santi & Podolski’s development in understanding this during the game, complimented this. Often in each others way due to a clash of Podolski dropping deep & Santi being well…Cazorla. Towards the end of the half and before he was taken off, Podolski was available but not necessarily deep, hence his chances. Diaby demonstrated with his first half effort, to both the win-win situation of a free-dynamic midfield, combined with a forwards only having to be concerned with making runs to support or penetrate = opportunities. Opportunities that were missed, but swings & roundabouts is the term I believe sums up my attitude towards not finishing. Just know that Giroud’s movement to make the space and chance from Santi’s pass, created a blend of J.J. Abrams Cloverfield trailer & the second coming. Pure unadulterated optimistic anticipation. (That movement was not seen since the henry came back and left - even arshavin got involved)

So life after RvP & Song = a more tactically respsonsible midfield with an adaptable and penetrative front line. A front line that will now be more responsible for getting themselves goals. I’d rather 4-6 players, especially from CM  getting 10-20 goals, than 1 on 30+ while the rest are -10. More threats, more decisive and more direct, it might take a couple of matches to get back into the swing of things, but I don’t mind waiting 2/3 games to get the Tarzan swag back into our game. 

The depth in our squad, due to most of our youth players getting match time due to injuries or just fiath, now means we have quality.  To finish 3/4 in the past 2 seasons will have been both educational & inspiring, considering we had beaten ALL the domestic champions by the time we were knocked out by AC Milan in the the champions league within the year - no slouches. 

We have youth, quality, experience and depth. Invincibles? Well we’re yet to lose a game 0L 0W 1D/38 :D We have every right to be confident in our ambitions. The questions begging for another ST & DEF Mid player are for another time, but considering the current squad and our trophy cabinet in the past 7 years, be happy with the way things are looking. 

Now, onto Stoke…

So it’s approx 3pm on Sunday 3rd of June & it has just been announced that Cahill will miss the EURO’s through an injury he picked up against Belgium. So with Jagielka already brought in for Barry, Martin Kelly is brought in as a replacement. 

Now, Hodgson’s reasoning for Rio’s omission from the contention was based on FOOTBALLING reasons. Added to the fact that Glen Johnson was an injury doubt already heading into the game yesterday, the questions surrounding micah richards exclusion especially continues to be asked. No justification as of yet has been given as to why Kelly was picked, hell he was even on the Standby list.

Raising questions yet again on the politics within the F.A, the state that English football is in, and just what exactly is England’s philosophy on football. 

I haven’t got a problem with Kelly being selected, it’s just that whoever is pulling the strings CLEARLY has a shit spin doctor because, while the evidence supporting Hodgson’s reasoning for not picking Rio is being countered every time there’s a sniff of media around. Richard’s was based more on footballing reasons, more specifically his defensive discipline which HAS seen him replaced by Zabaleta at times for Man City. 

However, the footballing questions I have are, when teams like Spain, Germany, Italy & France (if you look at their players history) are all going with Squads that have played together and WON things at club level. The fact that liverpool who yes, may have won a the league cup but still had a disappointing season finishing 8th behind Newcastle, and rivals Everton. There may not be as much an domestic dominance in the top teams as there is other top teams/leagues across europe, but that’s down to the transfer and academy system in England, which is also broken. 

Back to the point of domestic success equaling international success, let’s take the  top four of this season. City, United, Arsenal & Spurs. We’ll also take into account Chelsea due to their European success. Now by no means think that these players are the ONLY 1’s who should be in the squad, but they SHOULD make the core. 

*consideration

GK: Hart *Amos

DF: Richards, Ferdiand, Jones, Smalling, Terry, Cahill, Cole, Dawson *Gibbs *Walker

MF: Wilshere, Parker, Lampard, Barry, Milner, Walcott, Young, Ox-Chamberlain, Lennon, Johnson  *Scholes *Huddlestone

FW: Defoe, Rooney, Welbeck

Now tbh, a squad of these players alone is pretty impressive. Yes injuries have have meant that allowances have had to be made, especially in center midfield where only Parker is left, but not selecting, Rio/Micah/Johnson while Kelly/Henderson/& the ever so great downing get shouts, proves that the English football from the ground up is broken. 

For too long, the issue of celebrity over merit has been prevalent in our international team. The fact that Peter Crouch, who is quite possibly one of England’s most recent clinical strikers, is disregarded for a player who had 2 Good (not great) games at the end of the season and employed to do pretty much the same job, because he cant do much else proves that footballing reasons under it’s current F.A definition is a bunch bollocks. They either like you or don’t and prefer heritage over merit. 

If it was for footballing reasons, Holt would’ve been given a shout, downing would have made way for johnson and Rio/Micah would have gone before Jones, letalone Kelly & Jagielka. Scholes would’ve been given the Kingdom and Queen of Sheba just to even consider turning out in an England shirt. A risk would’ve been taking an unknown, 22 year old Jordy Rhodes who scored 38 goals this season, not Andy Carroll…

So there you have it, English football is plagued by it’s lack of change and blind faith in it’s heritage, undermined by it’s lack of respect for a the assumed naivety of fans on the issue of racism & is only now starting to realize the issue that their current academy system will take another 5-10 years to create a philosophy of football that will see a domestic dominance among England’s top teams once again.