Diving hypocrisy should be used to Arsenal's advantage

By Avenell Dave

"Same old Arsenal - always cheating!"

Since the beginning of time, Arsenal seem to have got a hard time when it comes to media criticism.

There have been times when condemning misbehaviour would be justified, such as when Paddy Vieira spat at Neil Ruddock at Upton Park a few years ago.

I was there and much as 'Razor' deserved some sort of retribution for the abuse he was dishing out - both verbal and physical - that was a step too far.

And yet when Arsene Wenger's team was wowing the world with its football, we always seemed to be condemned for yellow and red cards.

A ruck at Old Trafford ended with us getting docked points for the sort of thing taht would warrant nothing more than a fine these days.

We fielded an international line up without an Englishman and were roundly criticised.

The media loves to bash us.

And so to Santi Cazorla. 

Replays showed that he dived, pure and simple, for the penalty that gave us the lead on Saturday and for that, just as with Manu Eboue in the past, he deserves to be privately chastised by his manager.

We hate it when Luis Suarez does it and we despise it when Gareth Bale does it, but only one of them gets a media kicking. Why?

I can accept that we were lucky on both goals, got the rub of the green and that with our finishing otherwise suspect on the day, we may not have come away with the win our overall performance deserved.

But the headline on the S*n's website used a starred-out expletive in reference to Santi, which is poor journalism at any time.

No West Brom player, coach of even fan was quoted as saying it, so it was simply the S*n's way of judging a player who simulated a foul.

The Sunday Times was little better with a reference to cheats and yet I don't see local players getting anything like the same sort of criticism.

It was the same with Eduardo against Celtic a couple of years ago, if you recall.

Why should Gareth Bale or Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen or even Steven Gerrard for that matter get away with diving just because they're from the UK?

Kanu made a mistake against Sheffield United and we, sportingly, decided to replay the game. But fans up and down the country still accuse us of cheating. It is, frankly, bollocks.

If I was Wenger, I'd take Santi to one side, explain that he shouldn't dive so blatantly - while not telling him to stay on his feet at all costs which he's also done in the past when lesser players would give up after being felled.

And I'd show the headlines to the team and show them that this is what it means to play for The Arsenal.

That at all times, but now as much as ever with the team still struggling for consistency, the predisposition to attack us at all times has to become an incentive to prove to themselves, the fans and the media that this team can be winners, will not succumb to criticism and will carry on regardless.

It's the only way because the alternative to wither away or cower in the face of criticism is just not worth thinking about.

Should Theo play again until contract issue is resolved?

By Avenell Dave

Reports this morning that Arsene Wenger is frustrated with Theo Walcott's contract situation and so are we all.

Theo is an integral part of the team at the moment - the only player who has the pace to frighten defences and our top scorer.

We saw the flip side to his abilities last weekend when he was very poor against Swansea and the contract impass is an unncessary distraction we could all do without.

Should he sign and find that elusive consistency, we would have a core of young English players along with Jack, Kieran, Alex OC and Carl who could be the core of the team for years to come.

Is Theo's refusal to sig due to wanting to play centrally, wanting more cash or has he already decided on moving to another club? We do not know nor may we ever know, but one way or another, this has to be sorted out.

The club have been criticised for not sorting it out earlier but Arsene Wenger has said that the club have been trying to come to a solution for some time and I tend to believe him.

If Wesley Sneijder and Llorente can be excluded because of contract wrangles, it makes you wonder whether we shouldn't take a tougher stance.

That may be cutting off our nose to spite our face given the team's indifferent form but we ned to send out some sort of message that we won't be pushed around.

It's a shame this didn't happen last year. Having missed out on the World Cup in 2012, I suspect Theo would have been far more willing to compromise if the threat of not playing put his Euro2012 position in doubt.

It's good to hea taht the club want to Bacary Sagna to sign a new deal. He is a superb player and we have to stop the merry-go-round that has afflicted us for so many seasons.

Theo won't play against WBA of course which is less than ideal with three points essential after the start we've had to the season.

The Baggies have been superb this season and we have to hope that the rest the players have had, the stinging criticism and a positive home crowd help them on their way.

I'm not to bothered about Lukas Podolski being unavailable either - he has blown very hot and cold and it simply means another opportunity for the Ox, no doubt.

I'd change the formation slightly, with Ox and Jack behind Olivier Giroud. We don't have pace in the side and we can be predictable so anything that messes with Steve Clarke's gameplan is good for me.

Let's hope there's no more booing tomorrow - I do feel too many fans go to matches for a moan rather than to try and enjoy the game and we follow football because we enjoy it, don't we?

Addict XI

Szczesny

Jenkinson Mertesacker Vermaelen Gibbs

Cazorla Coquelin Arteta

Wilshere Oxlade-Chamberlain

Giroud 

Olympiacos defeat may not matter but Fox has got it all wrong

By Avenell Dave

Interesting comments by Tom Fox, commercial director at Arsenal this morning underline some of what is wrong at Arsenal.

Last night's defeat against Olympiacos didn't matter and I don't think there were many fans who really careed whether we won or not.

Of course, finishing top would have been nice and had we done it with a crop of fresh and bright young players, it would have prompted media praise about the new era, Wenger's Winners, if you will.

We saw that a few years ago with a crop of youngsters that didn't go on to impress apart from maybe one or two. Most are playing Championship football now or lower and the false dawn was sad but not entirely unexpected.

The fact is that few players last night would be automatic first choice starters.

Andrey Arshavin looks disinterested and should be on his way and will be Maraoune Chamakh whose passing was as woeful as his contribution.

Only Wojciech Szczesny, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Thomas Vermaelen should be anywhere near the first team.

I've been a staunch defender of Gervinho in the past but even I am coming round to the fact that he is simply not good enough.

The flashes of brilliance are too few and far between and his speed of thought simply not fast enough for the top level of the game.

There were some who were quick to jump on the "we hate Aaron Ramsey" bandwagon last night and I find that very frustrating.

Only two years ago he was a symbol of our ability to have quality players hacked down by knuckledraggers and now he's seen as typifying players who simply cannot make the grade.

I'm not for one minute suggesting every time he plays he is world class, but the criticism he receives is way in excess of that the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have to endure.

Ramsey is a fine player and when his confidence is back, I think he will be superb for us. Even when he plays poorly, he does lots of good work in a game and to always find ways to blame him just smacks of seeking a scapegoat.

The Ox has been poor all season and, while he too needs to adjust to this level (with inexperience and youth over youth and injury being the mitigating circumstances) he gets none of the grief. 

We should defend our players whenever we can rather than seek to find ways to lambast and abuse them.

But while last night's defeat really doesn't matter, because we could face a tricky tie whether we finished first or second, winning is all that being a sports club should be about.

It's easy to forget - and most of the younger Arsenal fans who only remember the Wenger era are proof of this - that Arsenal are not residiually trophy winners.

We have traditionally gone years without winning the title or a cup, just as Liverpool now have gone 21 years and M*nure went 26 years before RedNose won it in the early 90s.

But we have been spoilt and with a new stadium and the culture of world class players in our ranks, we expect to be competitive.

That's why every January and August become months of such despondency as we wait for the signings not only to replace those who leave but to make us stronger and with more strength in depth.

For Tom Fox to say that Arsenal is not all about winning is a major PR error.

Of course, we all understand that the club is focused on building its brand, on attracting new fans and new revenues to help make the team more competitive.

But the fans who pay to support the club or claim allegiance don't want to do it just because we are plucky losers or because we play the best football - which we don't even do anymore.

We want to see the team win or at least compete in finals and at the top of the table, not simply accept a position as a decent also-ran.

We have no divine right to win trophies but we need to compete.

That in turn, brings more fans, higher sponsorship deals (and the incentive add-ons).

America is used to a winning culture where first is the top and second is nowhere.

Tom Fox is doing a superb job working with the board on generating more sponsorship and marketing deals for the club.

But if he thinks second place or anything apart from winning trophies is what drives, the fans, the manager or even any of the players worth their salt, he has got the culture of sport, let alone football, completely wrong.