Arshavin speaks his mind

Will Andrei Arshavin be the next Arsenal player to leave the club?

He's a brilliant player, one of only two genuinely world-class players at the Arsenal, but he's also under-paid and running out of time. He can earn much, much more in La Liga, and he knows it. He can win many, many more trophies with Barcelona or Real Madrid, and he knows it. He's 28 years old. He's a late bloomer with maybe 4 years left at the top, and I wonder if he wants to spend his peak years gambling on the success of Wenger's youth-squad project.

At the moment, Arshavin's certainly sounding like a man about to jump:

"I am still on the opinion that to win trophies Arsenal needs more players. There is the simple fact that last summer we sold two players and bought only one. So there is an obvious deficit of at least one. Then we lost Van Persie, Gibbs and Ramsey for a long time. So for me it is natural we need new players. Without the variety of players we have less diversity in attack. That allows our opponents to read our combinations more easily. Finally, it results in less ball possession for us and our defence comes under more pressure.

"The Premier League is very interesting, at least as long as we continue fighting to win it. But without new experienced players, real stars, it will be difficult to achieve success. Ideally we need three or four such experienced players and then among our youths there should be guys who are not only good at playing football but have real character."

He's said it a number of times this season, but to say it again at such a crucial time in the league race is an open challenge to Wenger. If we win the league this year (still a possibility) we're all happy chappies again, but if we lose it, we're going to have to bring in new players or Arshavin will walk.

That said, I don't think anything he's said is controversial. We've at the beginning of the end of a youth project. Some youth players have become first-teamers (Song, Clichy, Cesc, Bendy). Others are still developing (Diaby, Denilson). And the new breed are rapidly maturing and will start pushing for places in a couple of seasons time. The multi-million pound question is whether these players, collectively, are good enough to win things for the Arsenal.

Arshavin's taken the pragmatic side in saying no. What's the use of an attractive youth side if they're always going to be too callow to win the big games? Why not stock up with senior players right now, have a real tilt at the title, and let the youngsters compete for playing time? Arshavin's the only player who's taken this side and spoken out, and I really appreciate his honesty. Instead of focussing on our boys becoming men, or sexy football, or our balance sheet, Arshavin's pointing at the trophy cabinet and saying that that's the most important thing.

If Arsenal have the financial means, I think it's their moral duty to mount a legitimate challenge for the league. Arsenal exists to serve its fans, and its fans want success. All fans want success, but not all clubs can provide it. Arsenal are one of four English clubs which can provide success, and onus is upon them to try to achieve. If that means buying Lloris and killing Almunia, so be it. If that means buying Dzeko and killing Bendy, so be it.

But I digress. What I wanted to write about was Arshavin's comment. Funnily enough, he's talking about a deficit in attack. Ask any gooner, and they'd say that our most glaring deficiency is in goalkeeping, followed by lack of depth at centre-back and defensive midfield. In attack, we're missing a power-forward a la Adebayor, but we've managed well enough all season.

But Arshavin thinks that our most pressing need is variety in attack. According to him, we've got too many dinky creative midfielders and not enough fast, tricky wingers or physical centre-forwards. He's talking about building an Arsenal which is so potent in attack that defensive pressure will be eased. I think he wants Arsenal to be like Barcelona with their constant pressing and their terrifyingly fluid forward structure. Barca have a fairly mediocre defence, but they get away with it because of their attack.

It's a dazzling vision, and I think it's very close to Wenger's dream. Barcelona built their dream from the ground up, with Xavi, Iniesta and Messi all being Barca players since very young. It's what Wenger's trying to do with Wilshere, Cesc, Ramsey, Bendy and Walcott. Will it work without an injection of experienced players? Would Messi and Iniesta have gotten where they were without Ronaldinho? How about Xavi without Deco?

I have to say that I agree with Arshavin. Wenger's got a perfect vision of his squad in his mind, but it's hard to see how it'll be built without the scaffolding of a squad of experienced, proven players. Three or four players would do nicely, please, or Arshavin's going to walk.

What's the deal with iTunes' Genius Mix?

We beat West Ham over the weekend, Chelsea dropped points against Blackburn, Man Utd beat Liverpool and we're now 2 points closer to winning the title. Vermaelen got sent off by a crappy refereeing error, and we're scratching our heads whether to play Song in defence against Birmingham in order to save Campbell for the quarter-final tie against Barcelona.

Almunia saved our bacon against West Ham. Eboue's in fine form. Denilson did well and scored a goal. Arshavin was wistless and disinterested, but apparently it was because he was sick and couldn't run far. Diaby, Cesc and Denilson had better step up against Birmingham because we really need three points from a tough away game without Vermaelen. And Messi's just scored his second La Liga hattrick in a row and I'm torn between crapping myself with worry that he'll do that against us, or crapping my joy that I get to see such a fine player play.

However, I've been distracted lately. I've spent the last couple of days converting my CD collection to iTunes. I became interested in the Genius and Genius Mix functions in iTunes, and endeavoured to figure out how it works. Turns out you need a really large, varied music library to get appropriate mixes.

118 CDs later, I'm still not sure how Genius works. iTunes has divided my collection into sections with names like "Electro-Pop Mix", "Adult Alternative Rock Mix", "Adult Alternative Mix", "Alternative Pop/Rock Mix", "Brit-Pop and Rock Mix", "Grunge Mix" "Neo-Soul Mix" and the strangely named "Surf/Garage Revival Mix". Now, you could probably capture 80% of my CDs under "Alternative Mix", but what's with all these different categories? What's the difference between "Adult Alternative" (which for some reason includes Dido), and "Adult Alternative Rock" (which somehow includes gospel music from the Blind Boys of Alabama)?

I'm more puzzled with Genius than I was when I first stumbled upon it. What's the deal with Genius? Does anyone outside of Apple know how it works, who decides which songs go under which categories? And does anyone know why every other song I'm playing seems to be Coldplay? I mean, I like them, but I don't like them that much.

I'm thinking that if I get more albums, maybe some soul, or jazz, definitely more hip-hop and dance, then I can straighten Genius out, and get categories that aren't just different shades of the same colour. I've got one that's called "Neo-Soul" - I want more categories than sound as cool as that.

Apple is insidious. iTunes is manipulative. Genius is a marketing ploy that'll soon suck all the money from my bank account. But it'll all so shiny and seductive and I can't resist. I'm deep in tech-lust, and even my love for Arsenal won't drag me away from the lure of the perfect music collection.

Arsenal vs Birmingham? I'm more concerned about how Dido gets into my Indie Rock Mix.

Thoughts about Chamakh's mullet

I just finished watching Bordeaux vs Olympiakos. Rumour has it that Marouane Chamakh is coming to Arsenal next season, and after this morning's performance, I wouldn't be displeased if it happened. There's a lot to like about Chamkah's game. He's fast, strong, got a good leap, and would fit in well at the top of our 4-3-3.

Of course, Chamakh isn't the finished article. He doesn't score a lot of goals (but then which Arsenal striker does?). He doesn't have a good first touch (then again, neither does Bendtner). There's still the nagging suspicion that we're targeting him because he's cheaper than say, Karim Benzema. But still, I'd be happy to see him in a red shirt with white sleeves next season.

The other thing I like about Chamakh is that he's got an amazing mullet. In a world of short-back-and-sides, Chamakh stand out like a denim-clad bogan at a society ball. I like it because it's a classic mullet - very short at the top and the sides, and a long tail at the back. A lot of Latin players have long hair that's held back with an alice band, but it's not the same as a genuine mullet.

The mullet had its hey-day in the 70s and 80s, when just about every major sportsman sported a mullet and a 'mo. Since then, its popularity has declined. There are still a few mullets floating around in sport, but it's increasingly rare in the English-speaking world. A good omen is that those few footballers who DO sport mullets seem to be quite good players.

Eduardo da Silva had one when he first signed with us, but has since succumbed to peer pressure and gone for a short-back-and-sides. Is it any wonder that his drop in form coincided with his change in haircut (as well as the horrific, near injury-ending tackle)? Grow the mullet, Eduardo, and the goals will flow like your lanky neck hair!

Sergio Aguero is famous for being Maradona's successor and Maradona's son-in-law, but he should probably also be known as heir to Maradona's mullet. I think he's gone for the long hair with Alice-band combo now, but this picture of him with the Argentina side shows how much post-Maradona Argentina has missed a fast impish player with a bogan haircut.

And then, of course, there's the best player in the world. Lionel Messi has been in a mullet for as long as I can remember, and I dare say it's helped him in his development. Maybe it helps his balance. Maybe because his neck is obscured, the opposition can't tell which way he's going to turn. Who knows, but there's got to be a reason he's kept it all these years.

Now, I'm not saying Chamakh's going to be as good as Aguero or Messi (or as good as Eduardo was before he changed his hairstyle), but you can't deny the pattern. A striker with a mullet is a good prospect. I know it. You know it. And most importantly, Arsene Wenger knows it.

Arsene Knows.

Thoughts on Arsenal vs Porto

This is the first game I've seen in a while, and it's been pretty good. Maybe it's because I haven't watched the Arsenal on TV for a few months, but I'm impressed by how well we're passing. It's one of those things you take for granted, but we are very pleasing on the eye.

I'm impressed by Arshavin. Flick-ons, through-balls, headers - the little guy's been doing it all. I'm surprised by how many headers he's won so far - two. The first was a goal attempt at the far post, and the second a head-on from a upfield hoof. It doesn't sound like much, but remember he's only 5 foot tall.

2-0 to the Arsenal now, but I get the feeling that we're one Almunia moment away from being level. We need a third goal.

I think Bendy's doing quite well. You don't get a brace by playing poorly, but I'm impressed by his centre-fowarding as a whole. He's offering himself as an aerial threat, he's holding up balls, he's scoring goals.... he's the kind of traditional centre-forward we've been lacking the whole season.

I think I've figured out why Arshavin looks so much like an owl. It's because he has no neck and wears a white turtle-neck under his shirt. Necklessness is probably a genetic quirk of the Russians (better for heat-retention), but why does he choose to accentuate his owlishness by wearing a turtle-neck? He looks like a screech owl hunching his shoulders on a cold day. Well, he'd know better than me; I'm not a fashion design major.

Half-time, and I'm wondering if it's ironic for Cristano Ronaldo to appear in a Castrol Oil commercial. Then again, I suppose if you're going to wreck an expensive sports car on a Manchester highway, you'd want to make sure the engine's well lubricated.

Porto's playing better after the break. Falcao shot, Almunia spilled, and then scrambled for the ball. Scary stuff. I'm wondering if it's possible for Arsenal to sustain the form of the 1st half for a whole game. We've certainly gone down a couple of gears. I'm also wondering if Wenger's ultimate goal is to get Arsenal playing that kind of football for 90 minutes. Maybe the reason we're getting all those injuries is because Wenger's winding our players so tightly that they start falling apart?

I'm thinking we need a third goal. Nasri just cleared the ball off the line with his thigh. We can't keep relying on Nasri's dodgy thigh (or Almunia's dodgy hands for that matter) to keep a clean sheet. 3-0 and we're flying. 2-0 and we're one goal away from being on level terms.

Nasri. 3-0. Very nice. Okay, that's it. I'm going to have to go to work now.

Arsenal don't like the hard stuff

Plucky Burnley aren't going to be intimidated by our broken legs, injured players and whinging manager. They're going to go out and play their natural game, and to hell with the consequences. As Burnley defender Leon Cort said:

"We are going to go there and still throw tackles in because it is a physical game and we are fighting for our lives. I don't believe anyone goes there to kick them. People know that when they play against Arsenal they have to get in their faces and stop them from playing.

"Maybe Arsene's done it for a psychological advantage. Quite a lot of his players are small and move the ball a lot quicker so there are going to be a lot of mis-timed tackles. A lot of teams try to get tight to them and put them under pressure when they get the ball as if they don't they will punish you."

Attaboy, Leon. It takes courage to stick the boot in. It takes a real man to come in late on a challenge to let those fancy-dan foreigners know what English football's really about, innit? Got to show them that they're in a real game, and you're not just going to roll over and lose. And if another one of those Arsenal players gets his leg snapped like a twig, it was just an accident, wasn't it? And you can't blame a guy for committing an accident.

My favourite line from the above is that "maybe Arsenal have done it for a psychological advantage". Yes Leon, Arsenal have done it for a psychological benefit. We purposely got Smith to break Diaby's ankle, Taylor to break Eduardo's foot, and Shawcross to break Ramsey's leg, in order to take the violent, reckless tackling out of English football. It's part of a huge conspiracy, fronted by Blatter and Platini, to neuter the English game and take English players away from the English League, in order to cripple England's chances of winning the World Cup.

The line I'm most worried about is that Leon Cort believes that they are "fighting for their lives". Judging from his statement to the Sun, he wasn't the brightest kid in the classroom. I'm worried that he might take it literally, think he really is fighting for his life. A man does desperate things in desperate situations. I'm afraid that if someone doesn't take him aside and gently explain how a metaphor works, Cort will take to the field with a shank glued to the underside of his boots, in order to show the Arsenal that it's a physical game, innit?

Of course, a player like Cort takes his cue from his manager. Which brings us to Burnley manager Brian Laws, who seems to have taken the wrong lessons from the Ramsey injury:

"I think everyone seems to be focusing on the Ramsey scenario and no-one wishes an injury like that on anyone. Arsene Wenger has mentioned the fact and so it gets scrutinised even more. But we can't worry about that as long as we go in there and challenge fairly and be strong. People talk about 'getting in their faces' and if that is what it takes then that is what we will have to do."

Next season, I strongly advocate we dress our boys up in full suits of armour. It's the only way we're going to keep their bones inside their skin. And if we give them maces, our boys could create a few "accidents" of our own.

I really, really hope we stuff them.

Ramsey's broken leg

"This is the third player - Eduardo, Diaby and now Ramsey - we've lost to tackles that are unacceptable, and spare me the articles tomorrow about how nice Shawcross is because we had all that with Eduardo."

- Arsene Wenger

This one's not about the game, nor Shawcross' tackle, nor our chance in winning the league. Truth is, I didn't watch the match. I slept in, and woke up at 7 o'clock to find the result. And now, fourteen hours later, I'm still in a state of shock. It's difficult to think that Ramsey's out for the season. It doesn't seem real.

At times like this, you've got to wonder how Ramsey's feeling.

The choices for him at the moment are probably limited to morphine or more morphine. His mind must be a mess at the moment, but the only thing he's got to do now is wait for that leg to mend. For a young man who's life has been defined by action, that's likely difficult to do. To wait while the season rushes to its conclusion, to watch the league title challenge from the stands, it must be difficult to bear. The team will want to do everything in its power to win it for Ramsey, but it must be scant consolation when the game's there to be won, and you're powerless to affect the outcome.

But once his leg's mended, and he's training again, it becomes interesting. How long does it take to recover from a broken leg? It's an absolute tragedy for this to happen when he's 19. The years between 18-22 are crucial to a footballer's ability to achieve his potential, and it's so cruel to see those developmental years taken away from him. The world's at his feet, and then… you know.

The scary thing is that he might never achieve his potential. Do people truly recover from broken legs? Eduardo, two years' out, is rusty and a shadow of the player he promised to be. Diaby's still plagued by niggling injuries. And, these were players who had their injuries at a later stage of their development. Will Ramsey come back and develop into that feisty, creative midfield foil for Cesc? I hope so, but you never know.

I guess it depends on how he approaches his rehabilitation. Dale Begg-Smith, the Australian moguls skier, came back from a serious injury to win a silver medal at the Olympics. At his interview, he said that he never gave himself the luxury of self-doubt during his lay-off. Once he was injured, he figured out what he had to do to get back to his peak. And then he did it. It's a remarkable attitude. He didn't doubt that he couldn't do it, because he knew that once he acknowledged those fears, he was gone.

I imagine Ramsey's in much the same frame of mind. He's not my favourite Arsenal youngster - Theo's a much nicer boy - but from everything I've read about him, he's a determined guy. You'd have to be tough in order to force yourself into a Cardiff side at 17. You'd have to be driven to choose Arsenal over Man Utd, and skip the opportunity to train with Ryan Giggs. And you'd have to be a tough little fucker to have a nickname like "Rambo".

I think that that force of will is what separates the high achievers from the plebs. They have the ability to focus solely on what truly matters, and let everything else slide away. And at the moment, what really matters is getting that leg mended, working his way back to fitness, breaking back into the Arsenal first team, and then hunting down Ryan Shawcross to see how he likes an "honest" 50/50 tackle to the shin.

Maybe we can use our surplus to buy some new players?

Turns out the financial wizards at Arsenal FC have cut our debts by over £100m and made a pre-tax, half-yearly profit of £35.2m. Sales of the Highbury Square apartments is going ahead, and our property business has recorded a pre-tax profit of £9.3m. Sales of our African players to Man City has netted £29m.

Arsenal are tickled pink with the results. As Peter Hill-Wood, the non-executive chairman (and how can a chairman be "non-executive"?) had this to say:

"I am pleased to report that the Group has delivered another profitable set of results for the first six months of the financial year.

"There has been remarkable progress at Highbury Square over the last 12 months and it is clear that the next couple of years will see our property activities delivering surplus cash. This is very good news, although I would not want to speculate on the exact quantum or timing of this.

"How we will use this surplus remains undecided but, in addition to investing in the team, I think we will examine investment in club projects and infrastructure, both in and around Emirates Stadium, which will provide a long-lasting benefit to the club and our tremendous, loyal supporters.

"Looking ahead, our strong financial base allows us time to take a measured and diligent approach to determining the club's direction beyond our move to the Emirates Stadium and into the next phase of growth."

It's just a thought, but how about we use that splendid profit to buy some players and win the Premier League? I realise there's a lot of infrastructure projects that, if implemented, could provide a long-lasting benefit for the club, but I think most fans would agree that strengthening the squad would be more important.

If it's a choice between installing arm-rests on the padded seats of the stadium, or buying a goalkeeper, I'd opt for buying goalkeeper. If it's a choice between installing heaters on the roof so fans don't get cold in winter (like the ones in the Bernebeu) and buying a quality striker, I'd go for buying a striker. If it's a choice between installing a twenty-foot golden statue of Arsene Wenger in front of the Armoury and employing a host of scantily-clad women to throw rose petals around the statue in wanton glee, and buying a good defensive midfielder, I'd go for... okay I'd probably go for the statue and the women, but I'd think hard about the abilities of Denilson, Ramsey and Eastmond first.

I know a lot of fans take comfort in our sound financial position. It's especially comforting now that Portsmouth's in administration, Man Utd and Liverpool are past their eyeballs in debt, and Chelsea and Man City have to figure out how to turn their sugar daddies' money into legitimate, money-laundred fresh "income". But our financial reports have shown that we're not on the knife edge of financial ruin. We're actually quite well off. We can afford to buy a quality goalkeeper, or a striker who doesn't break down every year, or a defensive midfielder who's so intimidating that he scares himself sometimes. And I think we should do it. What's the point of a football club if not to win trophies?

I love the way Arsene Wenger has set out the football club, I really do. I moan like shit because I see us so close to the finished article, but unable to take the final step because of Wenger's stubborn refusal to address our short-comings. We have great talent coming through the ranks, but who do we have as role-models? We have a breath-taking side going forward, but where's the defensive awareness for when the opposition counter-attack? Where's the 'keeper that bails us out of tight games? It's frustrating to see us so close and so far away from being complete.

So I hope when our non-executive chairman sits down with the board (does non-executive mean he doesn't have a seat, or that he's bound and gagged at meeting so he doesn't say anything stupid?) he'll come to his senses, and get Wenger to buy some fucking players. And re-appoint Keown as a defensive coach. And next season, have a genuine crack at the title, instead of playing a thin, injury-prone squad with a crap 'keeper and then pleading youth and injuries as excuses.

It's the only thing the fans really want. That, and an Arsenal super-store in Melbourne. Seriously, we have three superstores in the world, and two of them are at Emirates Stadium and the other one's in London. There's no other Arsenal representation in the rest of the world. For a club with global pretensions, that's lame.