Back From The Wilderness

I guess apologies are in order for being MIA for such a long time. Sorry for not posting even an update but I was on a vacation over the last week and ended up without an internet connection for large periods. Things got further complicated as I forgot my phone charger and it left me completely out of touch with the world. Of course, I could have found options if I really wanted to, but this experience of just being close to nature, with people who really matter in my life near me, and without caring about too many events around the world, was actually quite a pleasant one.

Consequently, I missed the game against Blackburn and other Premiership fixtures, the Cricket World Cup final, the mid-week Champions League ties, and a lot more. But to be honest, now that I’ve missed these games, it feels good.

There was just too much noise. Every single event was being twisted into title talk. Over simplification and trivialization of issues was compounding the frustration of certain performances. This break helped me in getting my head clear of all the negativity. For a while it was affecting my mind but now I have rediscovered the, dare I say, mental strength to see through it and ignore the noises, however loud and repetitive they might be. I wholeheartedly recommend a complete break from events, at least football-wise, to all who are tired of the internet pollution.

The usual pre-game thoughts will return tomorrow with the focus on Blackpool. I expect that to be one of the most entertaining games of the season and hopefully most fans will be able to enjoy a football match for what it is, a football match, instead of losing the joy by looking at it as a piece of the mind-boggling silverware jigsaw.

I will also try to cover some of the events of the past week after I catch up with the news. There seems to be a lot going on. Fergie is showing real class with his comments about the Police Superintendent.

There is a wee guy, sitting down there in the Midlands, probably never been recognised in his life, managed to elevate himself to whatever it is in the police force.

Even though I don’t know the whole story, it’s difficult to see any sense behind those words. If the Superintendent is a ‘wee guy’ what do you guess Ferguson thinks of the rest of the police force? The United manager might have a point but I’d expect more composed communication from someone of his stature. Perhaps such an attitude comes from years of having things going your way. After all, if your players can get away with kung-fu kicks on opponents and don’t even get cautioned for running at and shoving a ref, you’d feel a sense of entitlement.

Before ending, I do want to take a moment to send my commiserations to all the Tiny Totts, especially the ones who visit this site regularly. I missed their heroics at the Bernabeu but hopefully we will get a DVD of that soon. Such games put the criticism Arsenal received after the Barcelona tie into stark perspective. For that, heartfelt thanks go to ‘Arry and his boys. I can never understand how Spuds receive so many plaudits while Arsenal get attacked left, right, and centre. But that does help me in ignoring, even laugh at, the analysis and opinions rife with double standards, jealousy, and bigotry.

More in the coming days…

Arsene Needs To Bring In A Consultant

The Cesc story won’t go away and it’s a pain just looking for any news because every other headline and article is about some or the other unsubstantiated rumour. One way or the other I hope it gets settled soon and we don’t sell ourselves short, if we are forced into selling. Beyond that I will not comment on this madness anymore.

In this piece I’m going to focus on a thought that’s been in my mind for a while now. As regular readers will have seen in the series of season review articles there are quite a few issues with our team. While I do talk a lot about problems, the effort is always to be pragmatic and positive because I’m convinced Arsene is the best man for the job at Arsenal and a change at the top will only take us backwards and downwards.

In some ways you might see this as a contradiction. Here I am standing with a long list of problems and still talking about the boss as the best man for the job. Trust me, it’s not a contradiction but a realistic state where the truth is always in a grey area, not as black as the problems make it look and not as white as saying Arsene is perfect.

I used to work as a management consultant and it’s taught me a lot. I’ve seen companies struggle even though the man at the top was brilliant, bad luck drag organizations towards bankruptcy, and incompetent managers blowing away huge marketing budgets without improving the sales. But above all else, I’ve seen the value and benefits of good advice given to the right man in charge.

A consultant’s job is to take a holistic view of the organization from outside the system. Sometimes people who have been working in a system tend to get blinkered or blinded to some aspects of their work. On other occasions they just don’t understand the broader picture. So when someone looks at the system from the outside it makes it much easier to spot the bottlenecks or the areas of improvement. In some ways I feel Arsenal FC needs a consultant right now.

I don’t value the simplistic solutions that are available for free on the internet. You can rarely get great advice for free. If the people with simplistic solutions actually worked as business consultants they would recommend that the management fire the whole sales team and recruit a new one simply because the sales haven’t been going up as expected and the company is not number 1. Obviously missing out on the importance of developing the staff, retaining the staff and generating value from the investment by improving other areas like processes, technology, etc.  In other words, the consultant has to be knowledgeable and wise!

What Arsene needs is a long chat with someone like a Roy Hodgson or some other friend on the circuit. Le Boss needs to ask for the opponents’ point of view on our football.

Fulham have troubled us in the last couple of years including this year even when we had Cesc and RvP fit. So it’s doesn’t take genius to realize that Hodgson knows a weakness or two in our set up. If Arsene were to ask him for his point of view it might lead him to an insight that he’s missed. It could be the positioning, decision making or tackling of our defenders, the pressing of our midfielders, or something totally different. I’m not qualified to even guess because if it were that simple Arsene and the staff would have picked it up.

I’m sure our staff and Arsene watch the games often and analyse them in detail. The point is that they might be stuck in some rut because the same people have been doing it for years. When you get a different and fresh perspective it could highlight an issue that you had missed. In any case there isn’t much to lose.

Of course, I’m assuming that Arsene hasn’t talked to his friends in the business and it could be a flawed assumption. Anyone who has been at the top for so long has to have the skill of knowing when to ask for help. But we haven’t heard of too many football managers talking about such discussions and it always makes me wonder if the top ones do it or is their pride too big.

Come on Arsene, call up the manager of the year and I mean the real one, not the author of How to Bankrupt a Club in Ten Easy Signings!

Contest: Results + Extension

First of all, let me thank everyone for the terrific response.

Unfortunately, this contest did not have a winner. It is a surprise that amongst all the mails I received, nobody expected Denilson to be the first scorer. Many people got the score right but I feel it’s unfair to give out the prize based on a half correct answer. As a result, I have decided to extend this contest to the Aston Villa game.

Here’s another chance to win Arsenal merchandise of your choice. The rules will remain the same and will apply to the home game against Villa on 27^th December. You have to predict the first goal scorer and the exact score of this game for a chance to win your favorite Arsenal merchandise.

• The contest is open to everyone. Feel free to share the details.
• Send your emails to desigunnercontestATgmailDOTcom – obviously replacing the AT with @ and DOT with.
• You can pick the product of your choice from SoccerPro’s selection of Arsenal products. You can choose from the home, away and third jerseys, training tops, shorts, or  supporter t-shirts.
• Include the following in your email – Name of the first goal scorer, the final score, the product of your choice with size, your Name and complete shipping address. Only the winning person’s information will be shared with the sponsor to enable shipping. The rest will be in my mailbox and will be deleted after the contest is over. So it should be quite safe.
• I have deleted all the previous emails, so please do not ask me to look for the details in your previous mail.
• The subject line of the email should be SoccerPro Contest
• Please be clear with the score prediction. 2-1 will not be the same as 1-2. It’s best if you use this format Arsenal 5 – 0 Villa.
• Only one entry per person please.
• The email must be in my inbox one hour before the scheduled start of play. I don’t want you to know the starting eleven’s before making the predictions
• In case, due to a surge in holiday sales, the product of your choice is not in stock you will be asked to pick a different one. I will deal with this once we have a winner as this applies to only one person.
• There will be only one winner and if more than one person gets this right, I will pick one randomly.
• This is a fun contest being run in good faith. I will not entertain any disputes.
• Leave a comment if you want any clarifications. I won’t be able to reply to emails.

This contest is sponsored by SoccerPro, a retail as well as online soccer shop. They sell a wide range of products including soccer shirts and the Arsenal jersey.

Let’s hope we have a winner this time. Wish you all the best.

Predict & Win Contest: Win An Arsenal Replica Jersey…

… Or another product of your choice from a range of Arsenal merchandise from the contest sponsor, SoccerPro.

I guess the best way to take our mind away from the frustration is to indulge in a fun contest. This one is sponsored by SoccerPro, a retail as well as online soccer shop. They sell a wide range of products including soccer shirts and the Arsenal jersey.

This contest is quite simple. You have to predict the first goal scorer and the exact score for our game against Hull this Saturday. I feel this requires a good balance of skill and luck and the answer cannot be found via google! Here are the basics/rules,

• The contest is open to everyone. Feel free to share the details.
• Send your emails to desigunnercontestATgmailDOTcom – obviously replacing the AT with @ and DOT with .
• You can pick the product of your choice from SoccerPro’s selection of Arsenal products. You can choose from the home, away and third jerseys, training tops, shorts or supporter t-shirts.
• Include the following in your email – Name of the first goal scorer, the final score, the product of your choice with size, your Name and complete shipping address. Only the winning person’s information will be shared with the sponsor to enable shipping. The rest will be in my mailbox and will be deleted after the contest is over. So it should be quite safe.
• The subject line of the email should be SoccerPro Contest
• Please be clear with the score prediction. 2-1 will not be the same as 1-2. It’s best if you use this format Arsenal 5 – 0 Hull. (I wish!)
• Only one entry per person please.
• The email must be in my inbox one hour before the scheduled start of play. I don’t want you to know the starting eleven’s before making the predictions 😛
• In case, due to a surge in holiday sales, the product of your choice is not in stock you will be asked to pick a different one. I will deal with this once we have a winner as this applies to only one person.
• There will be only one winner and if more than one person gets this right, I will pick one randomly.
• This is a fun contest being run in good faith. I will not entertain any disputes.
• The results will be published on the following Monday i.e 21^st
• Leave a comment if you want any clarifications. I won’t be able to reply to emails.

I will share my predictions in the preview, or maybe I won’t 😀 Get your thinking hat on and have fun.