http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2009/09/29/1531274/tim-collings-arsenal-analysis-fabregas-on-fire-but-gunners-still-

this article left me shaking my head.

his 2 main points are:
1) fabregas should play deeper
2) fabregas is on form

well the second point is quite unclear. as in, you get that from the title, but in the article itself, it is not really dealt with.

anyway, in case people share his opinion, that fabregas is on form, i beg to differ. fabregas isn't firing on all cylinders. in fact, he isn't playing particularly well. lots of stray passes uncharacteristic of him. the fact that he still notches up assists is simply down to the fact that he is a class player. class players can be off for 89 minutes and produce a moment of magic that decides the game. fabregas is a player who can still come up with assists or goals even when he is not playing well.

so on to the main point of contention, that fabregas should play deeper.

i said in 2006 or 2007 that fabregas should play in an advanced position, because that is the position that best utilises his abilities.

tim collings argue that fabregas should play deeper because
1) he is a good tackler
2) he is not a goal-scorer in the mould of lampard or gerrard
3) playing deeper means he can dictate the game better

if you are a good tackler, does that mean you should play as a defender?
i think arsene wenger would want his team to press as high up as possible. in modern football, everyone has to defend. the ball has to be won as early and as far from your goal as possible. if i have an attacker who can tackle, i should be very happy and leave him to play forward. it is a bonus.

on the second reason, everyone has to score. and playing in an advanced position doesn't mean you alone are responsible for scoring goals.

the third reason is just a narrow way of looking at things.

actually, the 2nd and third reasons just show that the writer doesn't really understand how arsenal plays.

so i will tell you how arsenal plays.

most teams set out to defend against arsenal. this plus the fact that arsenal can keep the ball very well, means arsenal will almost always have the lion's share of possession.

when you are playing against 11 men behind the ball, if the opportunity arises, you have to get forward. that is why arsenal is perhaps the only team where even the centre-backs look to get forward as much as possible. fabregas is not the only player responsible for getting into the box.

it is just that the midfielders are in the best position to do so. and they should get into the box. they should make the late runs into the box, because this creates flux. flux, as i said in 2006 or 2007 is very important in creating goals, because flux changes the temporary situation, resulting in the opposition having to react accordingly. if they can't, well, they are in trouble.

that is why movement off the ball is one of the most important aspects of attacking.

it is all about flux. van persie, eduardo, arshavin moving outwards to create space for the midfielders, including fabregas to move in. goal-scoring is the responsibility of everyone. goals ahve to come from every source.

the idea of fabregas playing deeper is probably inspired by pirlo at ac milan. it is not necessary for fabregas to play deep, because teams will concede space and possession to keep their shape behind. so in the middle of the pitch, what arsenal needs to do is to keep the ball moving. simple passes.

what about long penetrative balls from deep, you ask.
the opportunity of playing early, quick penetrating long through balls is limited because of the defensive nature of teams playing against arsenal.

and clichy and vermaelen have proven that they are capable of playing such balls.

in any case, a very big flaw in the writer's argument is that he equates playing in an advanced position as playing in an advanced position literally. i think arsene wenger's idea is that fabregas basically has a free role. he will move to where he is needed. so he would still be there to play those early balls.

which is precisely why i think fabregas should play in an "advanced" position, so that he has freedom to play. you need a basic defensive shape comprising of the 4 defenders and the defensive midfielder(alex song). if fabregas were to play deep, then you are forcing him into this defensive shape. as i say, he may be a good tackler(i am not entirely convinced), but his real business is attacking. so let him do what he does best.

because teams will sit back, the real attack happens just outside the penalty area. that is where the attack is being dictated. so that is where you put fabregas- in that advanced position. any deeper is not where the playmaking takes place, but just simple passing, keeping the ball moving. which the defence and alex song can do. if denilson is there, all the more the better. that is his specialty. so why restrict fabregas?

in any case, we tried playing fabregas in a deep position, partnering either song or denilson. it wasn't effective, because fabregas was being stifled. as part of a midfield trio, he is really being unleashed. though the downside would be that if all our attackers are fit, many have to sit on the bench, because there are only 3 places. unless rosicky and nasri can slot into that midfield trio.

so i hope you will see my point that that guy who wrote this article didn't really know what he was talking about.

goodbye

do you realise that songs with "goodbye" in their titles are usually great songs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE8r58dmmUE

if someone can't be helped, then they don't want help.

i am amused that people are still running stories on arsenal's inability to challenge for the title.

hey, i thought it has already been concluded by people 423423423423 years ago that arsenal would finish outside the top 4? so what's new? why keep repeating the same thing? it has become boring you know?

the man city game. you know it wasn't a 4-2. the chances we had in the last 5 minutes could have seen us win 5-4. there are a lot of what-ifs. what if adebayor had been rightly sent off, etc etc.

but there is no point.

harry redknapp adding his two cents' worth to the adebayor scandal. well well, did i really believe that he would shut up? of course not! he is spurs.

someone gotta defend adebayor right? he is leading the way. shame on all the others! keeping quiet when they realise that this time round, they can't say "serve van persie right!" without being ridiculed by the rest of the sane world, though i bet you millions that they wanted so much to say: serve all the arsenal players right!

when all they did, was to create the 234254325034593 chances for adebayor to score 30 goals in one season.

this is the screwed up world of football for you. english football.

people who gloat about arsenal's misfortunes don't understand something.

they don't understand that it is not a clash of style. because man city have no style, but that is besides the point.

it is a clash for the soul of football.

if you care about football, if you care about the non-football world, if you understand things, you will know that this is not about who finishing first or last. this is about what we want football to be.

that is why i can tell you we must win.

so eduardo's ban has been overturned.

adebayor is being charged for violent conduct and improper conduct.

you start to think maybe there is some hope in this world after all.

in case you think people who leave arsenal can make it, think again:

ashley cole never really hit the heights of his arsenal career, and it is because england doesnt have any left-backs that he is first choice there.

pires is past his prime, but always still a class act.

henry struggled in his first season with barcelona, and although he won everything last season, you know he wasn't the same player anymore. still a great player, but not the same player as he was at arsenal.

these are the three who still managed to enjoy success, although you would agree that they had peaked at arsenal. all others have slipped into oblivion.

the only players who have left arsenal and really established themselves further are the ladies.

even if the gods have abandoned us, we will not lose.

style is a philosophy, a mentality, an attitude.

team of the tournament

gk: hjelmseth (nor)
dl: thunebro(swe)
dc: ronning(nor)
dc: rohlin(swe)
dr: scott(eng)
mc: bresonik(ger)
mc: abily(fra)
mc: seger (swe)
fl: smith(eng)
fc: grings(ger)
fr: carney(eng)

bench: panico(ita), williams (eng), stensland(nor), svensson(swe), mjelde (nor)
i chose the players who made a difference to their teams, who brought something extra. i don't have any german defenders, because i feel that no one stood out, not even annike krahn, who looked erratic at times.

and with this, as i promised, i bring a close to this chapter. it has been a great tournament. too bad louisa necib and her france couldn't see off holland.

business as usual from now on.

final

so i was proven wrong. germany won 6-2.

would you believe me if i tell you despite the score, england more than matched germany for 60 minutes?

tactically, they started as i had recommended. jill scott in midfield in place of a winger. tactically, they got it right. but you can't stop a 30metre shot. you can't prevent the individual errors.

it is a bitter defeat for england. they took the game to germany. i even dare say until the first 2 german goals, they were better than germany. and they did superbly to pull one back. game on.

den 1-3. 2-3. still fighting back. 2-4 on 62nd minute. 2-5 on 73rd minute. tts when it was really over. and england lost all shape.

england lost because the defence made so many individual errors. and germany are just so, so clinical. as they have been against norway and france.

i feel sorry for kelly smith. a great goal, a great assist. normally, that would have been enough.

final preview

let me make this clear:

i am behind england, not because i ahve anything in common with the english fans. at least those supporting the men's team. i think the supporters of the women's team are probably different. and i stick to my opinion of the english media and pundits.

i am behind england because of faye white, anita asante, alex scott, katie chapman, kaz carney and kelly smith. arsenal/ex-arsenal players.

i am behind england because i want to be proven right. that germany has weaknesses waiting to be exploited. that the gap between nations has decreased such that a german victory is no longer a given.

england are not my favourite team in the tournament. i don't think i have one. though at the start of the tournament, i was sort of behind germany. which comes to the next point

why i am not behind germany. i saw how other teams play. france caught the attention. sweden as well. even norway with their battling displays. i just don't agree with everyone else that this is germany's tournament. it is like not giving credit to the other teams. and i like to be proven right.

in any case, i also disagree with germany's team selection.

so if i were hope powell, i would play jill scott and drop sue smith. jill scott is tall and can head the crosses carney will be sending in. and she is an all-action midfielder. the game has to be won in midfield.

bresonik has been ruled fit. i see her maybe slotting at right-back, allowing laudehr to start in centre mid.

one possible scenario is that birgit prinz will finally get everything right and lead germany to victory.

what i am hoping to see is kelly smith making this her final, her tournament.

but may the best team win.

semi finals roundup

england 1-1 holland (2-1 aet)
kelly smith finally showed her class, though england needed extra time to see off a very stubborn holland. amazingly, carney didnt start. i could only think of 2 reasons: injury or tactical. perhaps hope powell was thinking to bring her on only when the dutch are tired, and secretly hoping she wouldnt need to because maybe they would have wrapped up the game without her. but she was needed, and made the impact when she came on, giving directed impetus to the team. i admire the fitness of the dutch. 2 consecutive games that have gone to extra time. it was only after jill scott's goal 4minutes from the end of the second extra time period that you notice a drop in their level. maybe because even they know that it is beyond them now.

norway 1-3 germany
norway got a goal after 10 minutes from a corner, their variation with 5 players crowding the keeper. germany was never in the game in the first half. norway moved the ball well, amazingly, and got close a few times. but a different germany showed up in the second half, started creating chances. a 2 min lapse saw norway go 2-1 down. same old story as in the opening game. but it wasn't over. norway actually still threatened and it took the last kick of the game to bury them, with bajramaj tucking in the ball, after hjelmseth made a point-blank double save against grings and prinz.

team of the semi-final
gk:hjelmseth (nor)
dl: huse (nor)
dc: mjelde (nor)
dr: scott (eng)
mc: laudehr (ger)
mc: stensland (nor)
mc: chapman (eng)
aml: bajramaj (ger)
amc: smith (eng)
amr: carney (eng)
fc: herlovsen (nor)

you would have thought norway won instead of germany, judging from my selection. but norway really grew as a team. they were actually very close to pulling it off, despite the scoreline, despite the fact that they were chasing the game for the last half an hour.

prinz-grings partnership
declared by the commentator as the best in europe. well i don't really think it is working, because both are too similar. i will take grings but not prinz. prinz looked like prinz in the second half, but this has been a disappointing tournament for her. if you don't consider the second half, i would even go as far to suggest that she was a liability. it is not because she isn't good, but because she is struggling in terms of fitness. it has been an injury-hampered season. what i feel is that silvia neid didnt dare to drop her, and is hoping that her class would see her through. but that is assuming germany are heads and shoulders above everyone else in terms of quality. despite winning all 5 games so far, i can assure you that this isn't the case. look at how italy and norway pushed them. france as well, despite the 5-1 scoreline. the gap between nations has decreased.

of course with the german machine still rolling on, though not all too convincingly, my words have less weight. i was hoping for sweden to prove me right. but things took an unexpected twist. for a while, norway looked as if they could pull it off, but they didn't.

so i am hoping england will prove me right. they better, because you will never catch me supporting england in men's football. but i like this team. or at least i like the arsenal and ex-arsenal players. and i feel that they are the team that has grown the most. everything that could go wrong went wrong. red cards, injuries, falling 2-0 behind after just 20 minutes. but they have recovered.

personally, i am rooting for kelly smith to make it her final.

Autumn

First day of Autumn today, they remind us on the news. What does the end of summer mean to you? The end of pretty girls in dresses, shorts and tank tops?

But it still feels like summer, doesn't it? That lady there in the black dress. Summer making her last stand. But the temperature will drop, the boots and jackets will come out, and we know Autumn's here. This is life. A cycle.

But you know, much as we love Summer, Autumn is really our season. Autumn defines us. We are a city of romantics. Melancholic, grandiose, we are like that.

See those steps? Where the students, the office workers, young mothers with prams are? Well, we jokingly call it 'The Italian Steps', after the Spanish Steps in Rome. I think it is very picture-perfect. Imagine, a pretty lady in work attire, sitting on the steps, shades pulled up to her hair, a cigarette in hand, nonchalance.

That girl across the street listening to her mp3? Well, we are certainly in a league of our own, no? Traffic lights have almost a mythical place here. Next to cafes, trams, launderettes, supermarkets and bookstores.

Bookstores? You look at me in disbelief. Everyone here has his or her own bookstore. Just around the corner, up the slope is mine. Giovanni's.

Ah, the smell of old books! Open one, and what swirl before you are not just the words the writer has painstakingly chosen, but also the memories, the thoughts of the people who have held this book before you. That, is the charm of books. Didn't Coehlo say that books are meant to undertake their own journeys?

Ever removed a book from a shelf to see a face in the space left behind?

It is a small shop, as you can see. Giovanni lives on the second floor. He has a balcony and we can go up.

I can see Giovanni here, looking down at the street, at the people hurrying by, looking across at the rest of the city. The cacophony of tiled roofs, chimneys, the TV antenna, windows and balconies. There is beauty in chaos.

Giovanni's lover used to say, according to him. She was a book lover, so after she died, he opened this bookstore, selling books she loved.

Sunset, balcony, wine. If you ever date a local girl, remember these three words. But it is time to go.

The evening has just come to life.

Up for some tapas? A Spanish Kiss. Possibly the best Spanish place in town. No, the owner isn't Spanish, he's a local, though the chefs and waitresses are all Spanish. This place is a second home to most of the Spaniards here.

Well, I know the question on your mind. When he was still a student, he was out drinking with his friends. They got so drunk that he didn't know how he got separated from his friends. Next thing he knew, he was on the tram floor, in the arms of a girl. A very pretty girl, he said. She was asking him in English if he was all right. 'Are you ok? Are you ok?' He nodded, and she asked him where did he live. He told her, and she told him he must change trams. All this while, her friends were talking to her, and they seemed to be arguing. Finally they all got out and she walked off. A guy told him he had to change here and they had to get on their way. He replied that he was all right and could manage on his own. So as they were leaving, he asked the guy: 'What's her name? Where is she from?'

'Her name is Aida. From Spain.'

He spent the rest of the summer searching for her, because he was sure she was an exchange student. Summer passed. 10 years have passed. He never found her. About 5 years ago, he decided to open this place. Maybe because he never gave up.

Hope is the absence of reason, huh.

The air's noticeably chillier, no? We always say, people meet in summer to snuggle together in winter. Autumn is when the relationship deepens, the romance and all.

Sluts and Bitches. How did they come up with this name, I won't know. But it certainly catches the attention, no? Don't worry, the people who come here are nice. It is really a misnomer. And this place is where the best of the best gather. It is actually the perfect place to start. Good food, good ambience, pretty waitresses and hunky bartenders. Something for everybody. A winning combination.

Midnight, a new day has begun. A toast to me. New start. I am getting divorced. Went home one day and found my husband cheating on me. That's why I am back in this city. My city. Why did I leave in the first place? Home is where the heart is. A toast to my city.

Trudging revelers on their way home. Whether you drank out of joy, or to drown your sorrows, you have to go home at the end of it. You have to go, because life goes on.

That guy on the steps in front of that townhouse. He looks a wreck, doesn't he? Now you think we are a city of broken hearts. But hey, you know, we are a city of romantics. We believe that somewhere out there, the person for us is trying to get here as fast as he or she can. Hope for the hopeless.

The sun is coming out, the autumn air is crisp and fresh. The smell of freshly-baked bread from the bakery, the newspaper boy making his delivery, the girl in tracksuit on her morning run.

Like a dream, wasn't it?

Reach home safely and take care.

 

quarter-finals roundup

england 3-2 finland
england spent the last 10 minutes defending as the home crowd cheered finland on. and i was wondering how did it come to that. 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2. england made it hard for themselves by conceding those 2 goals from corners.

france 0-0 holland (holland 5-4 on penalties)
god doesn't give you a third chance. france took the penalties first. 4-4. den french miss, dutch miss, french miss, dutch miss, french miss.
and i knew it was over.
a reversal of fortune instead. usually, it is the dutchmen who play the football and go out on penalties.

germany 2-1 italy
the expected goal rush didn't happen, even after grings scored after just 4 minutes. as it was panico pulled one back with a classy finish. that goal saw 18 points for my fantasy team become 6. and in the very last minute of injury time, only a superb save from angerer was to stop panico's diving header from forcing extra time.

sweden 1-3 norway
the gods abandoned sweden. i think even norway didn't know how they got into the second half with a 2-0 lead, after a crazy last 6minutes of the first half. sweden hit the woodwork 3 times. and norway did it again. sweden just can't get past norway. and as with all derbies, the form book is thrown out of the window.

my fantasy team
is a total disaster. how carney and kelly smith weren't involved in the 3 england goals, i really have no answer. and when louisa necib was withdrawn after 55minutes, i knew it was not going to be my day. too early, don't you think, bruno bini? and well, i should have trusted panico's class. and what happened between sweden and norway also left me speechless. victoria svensson did give me some consolation with her goal, but like her goal, it was too little too late.

birgit prinz
birgit prinz has had a really poor tournament so far. it is not about her not scoring. people are quick to say she is playing for the team, she is playing deeper, etc etc. but i feel that she is really struggling, and maybe it is time for change.

france's defeat
france's defeat hurts alot. because i like their football. i like their passing game. but more significantly, it means no more louisa necib.

sweden
what can i say. this was the only game in which rohlin and segerstrom made mistakes, and they paid dearly.

victoria svensson
as the final whistle blew, i seriously thought about what was going through her mind. disappointment, sadness, and the realisation that this was the end, of the tournament as well as her international career.

the playmaker
in any team that wants to play possession football, there has to be someone who can dictate the tempo of the game. sweden didn't have one. they didn't make use of the ball well against norway. france has 2- abily and necib. but against holland, i think abily pushed too far forward and necib couldn't get into the game. abily should have played from the back because holland didn't have a midfield.

team of teh quarterfinals
gk: hjelmseth(nor)
dl: thunebro(swe)
dc: ronning(nor)
dc: georges (fra)
dr: bresonik(ger)
mc: hoogendijk(hol)
mc: williams (eng)
mc: giske(nor)
fc: grings(ger)
fc: aluko (eng)
fc: melis (hol)

thunebro is there because the balls she whipped in were dangerous and she didn't really have a bad game, norway did a perfect hit-and-run.

bresonik moved to right back at half-time. i like her playing right-back because then you have someone who can play from the back. but unfortunately, i feel she is still the best centre mid for germany. play laudehr on the flank.

hoogendijk is there, because she did a great job, well the whole dutch team did, in hassling the french. and she was the one who scored that winning penalty. well, after watching 5 pple miss before you, you need to be really calm to put it away.

holland-england
holland's fast and direct attack against england's slow defence. england, interestingly, since casey stoney got sent off after just 30 minutes in the first game, have not played with their first choice defence, which other than alex scott, is not fast anyway.

norway-germany
norway lost 4-0 the first time round. to be honest, i really don't know if norway can repeat their feat. germany are not invincible, despite everyone saying otherwise. i feel that sweden and england would be able to exploit their weaknesses, but norway, i am really not sure.

i see an england-germany final.

the whacky world of football

recently, platini announced that uefa would look into club finances, and apparently, there may be a change in ruling in that clubs are only allowed to spend within their means, or something along that line.

Platini said, “They do not want to pay out any more…. Roman Abramovich is a football person and passionate about the game. He loves football. He has come to me and said that we must do something about this.”

so fifa decided to step in, and banned chelsea from the transfer market for 2 years.

how helpful.

i am really just laughing my head off.

a crime constitutes both action and intent.

can you prove intent simply because the defendant didn't tell the referee it wasn't a penalty?

i can tell you that the only player i have ever seen in 10 years of watching football, who told the referee it wasn't a penalty by raising a finger and shaking it, is andriy arshavin, playing for arsenal in one of the last games of last season.

so everyone else had intent.

but if you ask me, we should appeal, even if it won't succeed. the outcome has already been cast in stone. we certainly could do with some squad rotation, and the 2-match suspension is actually welcome in that sense.

unless the internationals end with us having only 11 fit players or less.

the problem with men's football is that it has lost touch with reality.

platini is at last looking at the finances of the clubs.

whether he understands anything...

anyway, don't count on him doing anything.

to the men's world for a bit:

the eduardo affair has become a ridiculous circus, with everyone desperate to add his opinion to it. honestly, we brought it upon ourselves, because the media were running out of things to write, because everything they wanted to write is irrelevant because we did not lose 1-6, 1-4 and are still in europe.

it is a witch-hunt.

what happened at old trafford is also a farce. that arsene wenger would be getting an apology for it says it all.

the english fa is a big joke. so is uefa.

it certainly feels as if everyone is against arsenal. i even get this feeling that everyone is suddenly for some reason that i don't know, is scared of arsenal. so everyone is trying to stop arsenal with whatever means they could think of.

you know, as with all things in life, there is only a certain limit to what you can achieve when your mentality is tuned to destroying, to hindering.

so my friends, i say, let them do what they want, just keep creating, because creating is the real business.