Aguero for Arsenal? Make it happen…

Aguero for Arsenal? Make it happen…

Why does this feel like international week? Mail us at theeditor@football365.com

Come on Arsenal…pay the money
Surely, if he’s available, you’re Arsenal, and Man City will sell to you…you buy Aguero at almost any price.

The ultimate poacher, inside the box finisher going to the ultimate walk it into the goal team…it’s a match made in heaven – it might also stop Sanchez and Ozil leaving as well.

Oh, as a side benefit, Arsenal might then have a chance of winning the league.
Matthew (ITFC)

I’ll take Wenger’s Arsenal over Conte’s Chelsea or…
I try and stay out of Arsenal debates these days, because the repetitive PRO and CON discussions on Wenger bore me.

However an unexpected combination of three people jolted me to life yesterday and urged me to write a late night mail to defend Wenger.

– Jamie Carragher raging at Arsenal for keeping Wenger like Liverpool haven’t finished 8th twice, 6th and 7th in four of their last five seasons. I’ll take Wenger’s continuity thanks, and I’m pretty sure United would’ve liked it post Ferguson too.

– Troy Deeney (?!) telling the world that Ramsey ‘bottled it’ in turning away for his free kick, thus perpetuating this idea that Arsenal aren’t proper ‘up for it ard lads’. We finished second last year mate and I reckon we will again this year. If we’re the bottlers you make us out to be, what the hell does that make the rest of the league?

– Charlie Adam (??!!!!) calling our players ‘soft’ and Wenger’s tactics ‘madness’. Charlie f***ing Adam passing comment on Wenger’s tactics. Christ. I’d give Wenger a six year deal right now based on my gut feeling that whatever Charlie Adam thinks is exactly the opposite of what I want to think.

There you have it. I didn’t think I could participate in any more Arsenal debates, but this holy trinity of bellends aligned to kick one of the greatest managers the PL has ever seen while he’s down. They left me no choice but to respond.

And while I’m here, I’d take the batsh*t mad wonderful infuriatingly flawed beautiful experiment that is Wengerball over any other football I see in the league. I’d take another three year deal with Wenger over Sanchez and Ozil too. Those who define success as narrowly as first place are limited in their thinking. They’d probably enjoy going for a pint with serial winners Adrian Durham and Charlie Adam.

I’ll take my fourth place trophies, Jack Wilshere team goals, 8-2 drummings, Olivier Giroud scorpion kicks, league finishes above Spurs, back to back FA Cup winning and nine year trophy droughts enduring Arsenal fandom over Klopp, Pep, Mourinho, Conte and the whole god damn lot of them any day. And any Arsenal fans who disagrees with me can shove it.

Chelsea had this league wrapped up since January, on some subconscious level that must bore them a little. I’m convinced that no set of fans – barring Leicester City – have experienced as complete a spectrum of human emotions as Wenger has made us feel in the last 20 years (anyone who doubts this should visit the Arsenal Fan TV YouTube channel or Piers Morgan’s Twitter feed on match day). The tragedy is that most of them won’t realise it until it’s gone.
Harry, AFC, Brussels (The grass is always greener…)

Wenger goes or I go…
I will start by saying I have supported Arsenal for 25 years and have been a season ticket holder for the past three years. While I can’t attend every game I try my best to get there but as I am currently living in Birmingham after moving here from down south for work eight years ago I have found myself really enjoying the West Brom games I’ve been to. My company has season tickets and I often find myself really excited at the prospect of seeing some real passion from the players, fans and manager in a game where anything can happen as apposed to watching the same old Arsenal do their thing. There really is nothing more deflating than the train journey home on a late cold night after watching Arsenal crumble. To rub salt into the wounds I even had to laugh as I was getting trolled on my train home when it stopped at Watford Junction, I had to smile but honestly I felt like crying.

It really is getting me down and I sometimes ponder whether to even bother traveling down or if I should just go to the Baggies game. The general attitude of the Arsenal fans is disgusting and the place is really toxic ATM and to be frank I would rather take my dog for a run along the river than watch the club I used to love so much fail to make the top four. One has to wonder, if I feel like this then it must be the same for Alexis and Ozil, why on earth would they want to be around this club in the current state?

I have always been Wenger in, I’ve had bad feelings towards Wenger in the past but when he won us the FA Cup all was forgiven and there was a real buzz around the place. All the fans were exhilarated and everyone thought we were going to kick on and win the league or at the very least put up a real title challenge. Nothing of the sort happened and all tho our net spend has gone through the roof the performances have been terrible. When you look how bad all the top teams were last year that just makes me even madder. We had the perfect chance to get that league title we have all been told was coming back but we fluffed it all up again and let Leicester finish above us.

Most of my friends and colleges have been laughing at the way we have scraped through nearly every game this season and while I hate to admit it we are very lucky to be in the position we are. It really has been terrible and i have to say if Wenger is still there next season I am not going to renew.

My message to the board is It’s Wenger or me. I know I am not alone (all you have to do is watch the boys on AFTV) and we all know this isn’t going to improve. He has no tactics and is so far behind the other managers we really need to act and take our club back. It is not Arsene FC, we must stand together and get this man out of our club before it’s too late.
Pete the meat (Birmingham)

Steady is bang on about Liverpool
Bang on the money. Exactly my thoughts on the mighty Reds under Klopp.

The only reason expectations are so high is because Klopp has created new hope and raised the bar.

Amusingly Liverpool fans have both long and short memories. We remember our long gone history vividly like a genius sevante but forget our recent history like it was a booze addled night in the Albert.

The reality is that other than one Suarez-led charge to second place we have been pretty average over the last decade.

Klopp got us to two finals in his first year and has overseen a huge change in personnel and style of play while keeping us within touching distance of Champs League.

I think he has been excellent so far even with the ropey start to 2017 and he should be allowed to get on with his job.

Next year was always the year I would judge Klopp. He has had time to settle, adjust the playing style, get to know the players at his disposal and lock those he wants to stay on long-term contracts.

Club is now financially secure (fans seems to forget we nearly went bust) and Klopp has decent funds to spend in the summer. Should we get Champs League next year he will (hopefully) be able to bring in his first choice transfers.

2017 has been a bit of a downer after a great 2016 but Klopp will get us going again. I have no doubt.

A week of rest and Coutinho, Bobby, Mane and Lalalalalalana will be ready to charge again.

Charge my boys CHARGE!!
H, (Kane/Alli vs our defence?! 😨)

…Bravo to Matt Stead this morning for his article on Liverpool. Every word of it is spot on and cuts through the thundering shite currently spouted by a lot of our own fans. I recommend it as a form of therapy for any LFC fans feeling in despair. I wrote a while back asking for fans to rewrite the narrative. You can just take Matt’s one for now for there is no more measured or insightful comment out there.
Paul, LFC, Mönchengladbach

No Toby, you’re wrong…
Toby mate, sorry to say this but, you’ve utterly shit the bed with your latest article.

Raheem Sterling is still easily the most talented attacking wide player England have. Probably up there with Alli for most talented player full stop.

You want to make a point about young players taking the leap too early? Pick on someone like Rodwell, Nick Powell, Jonjo Shelvey etc.

Want to write about being an expensive boondoggle/burden? Write about Torres, Denilson, Veron etc.

Don’t write about a winger with 15 goals and 11 assists in his last season and a half. Aged 22.

Especially not on a site which regularly has his back, seemingly alone in a tide of thinly veiled racist bollocks from the red tops.

Know your audience!
Tom, West Hampstead

Why, Mr Parker…
Haven’t written to the mailbox for a while now and happy to enjoy the knee jerk reactions of most writers however sometimes I read something and feel compelled to comment, whether it is published or not.

The interview with Paul Parker I found to be one of the most insightful and agreeable pieces I’ve read in years. I found myself nodding my head at almost every paragraph.

As sad as it is, his comments about Finlay Burns are probably spot on.

I don’t have anything to add, anything to be controversial about, just wanted to express my agreement with Paul’s seemingly views on the modern game.
Tony (Gooner)

Is it really ‘three’ at the back?
I wrote a rather ranty email on the topic last year that wasn’t published and I inwardly vowed to let it go and never hurt my fingers typing a similar email again. However lo and behold, due to Chelsea having such success with the formation, the topic just won’t die! So, in the spirit of continuing the trend of talking tactics I hereby break my vow of silence.

The gist of my rant was to question whether playing three CBs can really be called three at the back when in fact Moses and Alonso (as wingbacks) are also defenders. Should it not rather be called ‘five at the back’? Hear me out…The mere fact that the wingbacks push upfield when in possession does not make them midfielders. They are wingbacks, not wide midfielders.

In a classic 4-4-2 the full backs push up when in possession as the CBs spread out to create passing angles. Surely this doesn’t mean that they can be said to be playing ‘two at the back’ not! The wording of this ‘three at the back’ term seems to be based on the team’s formation when in possession (attacking) whereas the 4-4-2, or even the modern 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1, are termed in relation to the starting positions of the players. I don’t see the rationale behind the difference of interpretation.

The benefit of playing three central defenders spread out in front of the keeper is that the attacking players play with freedom knowing that there are at least five players behind them for protection. I believe Christian Eriksen mentioned this not too long ago when Spurs started getting some success with playing three central defenders. How can playing three at the back be more defensively solid than playing the traditional four at the back? I believe this is because instead of committing four defenders to defend no matter what, you have now committed five. So unless I’m wrong, at Chelsea it’s more a 5-2-3 and, in the case of Tottenham, a 5-3-2 than anything else.

Now that Chelsea and Spurs’ formations are widely considered as defensively solid formations, is it not time to accept that it’s simply because the formation deploys five defenders instead of the three that the term would have us believe?
Buchule Fulanisi, East London, RSA (fully expecting to be proven wrong)

Are players massaging their statistics?
Having seen how the more “cultured” sides lovingly stroke the ball around the back four, I found myself wondering if players make a conscious effort to massage their statistics?

Three yard passes are quickly bounced back to the original passer for no apparent reason. Tidy little triangles are drawn with no opposition player near. My own side, Spurs, are one of the worst culprits for needless short passes. Even the great brains of F365 often refer back to our great pass completion stats when analysing a game. Can you not see it is a sham? The players must be laughing themselves silly when they read OPTA on a Monday.
Cynical Nick in Madrid (96% completion, 72% possession, FYI)

Come on, let’s talk proper tactics
I’m a massive fan of the 365 mailbox but think there’s something missing – which has kind of been hinted at in Wednesday’s edition with mails around analysis being done on a game without watching the goals.

I may be wrong but often when mails are sent in pointing out the floors of a team the suggestions around how to fix them are so high level they may as well not exist.

For example – ‘Liverpool need a ‘plan B” without explaining what that actual plan B should be other than ‘get a player that offers something different’. Or ‘Leicester miss Kante’ without going beyond ‘find another Kante-type player’ in the search for a solution. Or ‘Mahrez is not interested, Vardy is one dimensional and teams are sitting back on Leicester’ without offering how Ranieri should adjust his tactics and personnel to respond.

What I’m getting at is there must be a MASSIVE reservoir of tactical knowledge in the mailboxers heads that could solve the answers to the questions above and more. So come on, lets have some specific tactical moves and (realistic) transfers and other steps you’d take to, I don’t know:

1. Build a plan B for Liverpool when they come up against a team that sits back behind the ball and wants to hit them on the counter. You can sign two (realistic) players. Who would you sign and how would Liverpool have to play to break through?

2. You’re Ranieri…who would you drop, bring in and what formation would you use in six-pointers against a hungry aggressive relegation rival?

3. You’re manager of Everton and you’re playing Chelsea at home…how would you set up. What weaknesses do Chelsea have and how would you exploit that?

I have my own views but I want to put these questions out there first to illicit responses from the quality thinkers I know read the mailbox twice a day every day!
Duck

Why not let Blackpool burn?
Yesterday’s Mediawatch link to Blackpool’s fan protests made me wonder, why do the fans not start their own, new football club? If the Oystons are dead set on running the existing one into the ground to prove a point why not let them? They are exploiting the fans’ loyalty and counting on them giving in. They seem to think they can wait it out and everyone will come crawling back because there is a Blackpool FC shaped hole in their lives that cannot be filled any other way.

The energy spent boycotting the team could then be used constructively, though to fully commit the fans would probably have to give up hope that the Oystons would ever voluntarily resign from, or could be made to leave their posts. But unless the Oystons have done something illegal, why would the FA intervene? And what have they ever said or done to make fans think they’d be the bigger men and admit, implicitly or explicitly their ownership is harming the profitability and success of the team? I think by now they have proven there is no pettiness they will not indulge to make it clear they are in charge. So then the only way to show them they can’t win is to not play their game.

Looking at examples of fans doing the same, I don’t think AFC Wimbledon have done badly for themselves. There probably isn’t an emotion that can compare to the one their fans felt the first time the new Wimbledon beat the team they were told was a better bet for success and financial stability than they’d ever be. FC United, while not looking like they’ll make the same assault on the league right now, at least have a core set of values their fans can point to and take pride in – which is more than they could believe while supporting the city’s other team(s).

So what is holding the supporters back? Tradition – that this is not the way things are done? Fear of further dividing the fanbase? Are there other lower league clubs in the area whose survival would be undermined by the creation of a new one? An inherent loyalty to the presently living version of Blackpool FC, stumbling around as if a parasite was controlling its motor functions? It’s an extreme solution, I know, but if not now, then when?
Phil

About that rescinded red card…
On the nose, DS United. In a qualifier for France 1998, the USA were hosting Costa Rica, when Brad Friedel was initially red-carded for deliberately handling the ball outside the area. If my memory serves me, captain John Harkes (great servant for DC United and the Yanks, and of course goal of the season winner for Sheffield Wednesday) protested to the assistant referee, and after consultation, the red was reduced to a yellow for unintentional handling.

I checked the details on that game, and the first goal in a USA 2-1 victory was scored by the young Brian McBride, famous on your shores as well as ours. Probably my all-time favorite USA player, who scored my all-time favorite USA goal, the third against Portugal in the 2002 World Cup. Just watch that near-post fake, then slipping behind the defender for the far-post header. Sublime.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (I never drink…wine, Chris ITFC)

Dream partnerships that never were
Challenging anyone to beat this one after seeing Nugent coming on. Big Sam and David Nugent – both 100% for England.
Paul