A Change Needs to Come

After watching Arsenal lose 8-2 to Manchester United I am positively distraught. Listen to this Sam Cooke Gem while/before you read this blog and try to get on my level.



If I learned anything from "The Social Network," it's that you shouldn't blog when you are angry, but I don't foresee myself getting un-angry anytime soon. I also know that referring to a professional sports team that you don't play for as "we/us" is lame; but I am lame so deal with it.

I am 100% sold on Szczesny in goal. If Fabianski can't handle a few FA cup games and the odd premier league match here and there we can worry about signing an older keeper with no desire of becoming the starter next summer.

Then there are the obvious problems with our lack of depth, in defense in particular. That can only be addressed by spending some effing money. Cahill, Albiol, Samba - Anyone. We could also use a quality left back because Gibbs seems to be made of glass. I know every Arsenal fan's wish is to sign Leighton Baines and watch him displace Ashley Cole in the England squad.

Then of course it would be nice to sign a creative midfielder like Hazard and an experienced hard man in the defensive midfield spot so we don't have to watch Song try not to go nuts every week, and it would give Frimpong some time to grow into the spot like Jack Wilshere grew into his.

Besides going out and buying players we have one clear issue that can be solved in training this week - we don't have the players for the system we play. Plain and simple. The 4-3-3 is a system that requires 3 players to do the work of 4; so at least one of the midfielders need to provide as much affort/range/creativity as 2 players. In a league as fast paced and rough-and-tumble as the premier league the 4-3-3 has only ever worked properly with Michael "The Ox" Essien being the Incredible Midfield Hulk, or Cesc Fabregas cutting defenses open with his exquisite passing range and undeniable creativity. Without a very special player like Essien or Fabrgegas then it is a massive ask of any midfielder to cover the amount of ground necessary to play in a 4-3-3, and create as many chances as two wide players would.

The solution here is to get Wilshere healthy, let Song play with him in the middle of midfield until he gets a yellow card, and then replace him with Frimpong. Then every 4th game start Ramsey over Wilshere to keep him fresh and give Ramsey the last 20 minutes of every game we are up by two goals in at 70 minutes. Then use the array of wide players who are currently used outside of Van Persie as wide midfielders. This will give them more of a chance to be successful because they will have to cover 2/3 of the distance/space they are asked to cover in a 4-3-3 and they will be able to run at outside backs rather than be marked out of the game by them. And yes, I am talking about Theo Walcott in particular.

Until Walcott develops some dexterity/moves he needs to be played into space not to his feet. Walcott simply doesn't have the moves of an Henry, Messi, Silva, Nasri type and that's OK because he brings something different to the table - blistering pace. In order to nullify the threat of Walcott out wide in a 4-4-2, opposing wide midfielders would either have to sit back with him all the time and never get into the attack against us, or Walcott would torment them like Aaron Lennon 2.0. Then we can blood some new players out wide on the other side. Gervinho, AOX, Ryo, etc, etc.

This leaves Van Persie to hang out up top with someone who takes the pressure off of him and gives him some time and space to be the genius that he is rather than exposing him for the brittle artist that he is. It is painful to watch him get mauled by centerbacks and never get any decent service. Maybe the new Korean guy could work up there with him. Maybe Gervinho could help him out by playing like Odemwingie does for West Brom. Maybe Chamakh or Bendtner could prove that they aren't worthless. Maybe...

Lastly, there are a few things I would like us to try in attack. I would like to see us shooting from 25 yards every now and again to create some variation in the attack. I would like to see us score on a few headers, which also means our crossing needs to improve. I would also like to see us tackle assertively rather than aggressively and after the fact. We need to expect the game to be rough and go into it playing hard rather then react to the pace of the game by getting needless red cards.

All in all, I think 8-2 was a fair result today. Man United were simply better than us. They are doing everything better than us besides balancing their books and I personally could not care less about our balanced books this afternoon. I care about how hard it is to explain to friends and family why the team that I spend so much energy supporting (reading about, thinking about, talking about, etc) lost by a baseball score to the team that I am always hating on.

I hope Arsene Wenger recognizes that he needs to change the system, because I cant think of anyone I would like to see replace him. I could deal with Martin O'neil but I could never see a bunch of people saying "In Martin we Trust"...

There is obviously more to say, but that's all for now. I am off to get out of this dreary San Francisco weather because it only serves to depress me more on a day like this. Waterworld, here I come!!!

I Bet You Can't Guess Which Video is a Joke...

Marshall Knows How I Feel

Vidivodo.com : how i met your mother - marshall job interview  Etiket:

Pep Guardiola Needs A Bigger Shirt

Caption Contest anyone?

I own a salmon ("pink" to the non-metro-sexual) colored polo shirt too, but at least mine fits properly.

Is Barcelona so poor that Pep Guardiola had to borrow a child's size shirt?

What size is that shirt anyways, extra-medium?

A 40 year old man in a pink midriff is not a good look.

#rappernames

Just because it is trending on twitter right now.

Life Imitating Art

German hearts broken by a last minute bicycle kick yet again...

I'm so Artsy

 

Are you questioning Ferris Bueller???

I went to see Bad Teacher yesterday and afterwards I got into a debate about the ways a movie can make you root for the protagonist, who for all intents and purposes is a terrible person - yet loathe the antagonist, who for all intents and purposes is a pretty good person.

Then we watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off and it was the first time my girlfriend had ever paid attention to it. I, like every other red blooded American, had seen it before and love Ferris so I was excited to mindlessly enjoy his absurd exploits. How could you not think Ferris is awesome? But my girlfriend just kept asking about the logistics of how he was getting away with everything.

Gf: "Umm, how does he have time to go to a fancy lunch, and a baseball game, and a museum? Where is he getting money for all this stuff?"

Me: "Uggghh. I dont know. Maybe he had lunch from 10:30-11:15, caught the 5th-9th innings of the game, maybe they were only at the museum by 1:30...?"