Fourth is as good as a trophy!

Another season and yet no trophies! This brings the total count to 8 years and trophy cabinet is still empty. The team celebrated finishing fourth in a way that made me wonder whether Arsenal had won the English Premier league.

Arsenal player’s celebrating

The start and the end of the season (2012-2013) have been dramatically opposite to each other. Arsenal struggled and were knocked out of contention-ship of all the championship by the middle of the season and towards the end, while fighting for the UEFA Champions League place (Top 4) they played like a champion side!. Arsenal didn’t lose any of their last 11 matches going on to defeat Bayern Munich a feat which even Barcelona couldn’t achieve this year!

Fortunately this season, finishing fourth is a commendable achievement for arsenal. This team was one of the least talented team Arsène Wenger has fielded in a long time. With the lone world-class player Robin Van Persie leaving for Manchester United. Arsène Wenger signed Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla. Signing of Santi Cazorla was a game changer without which top four finish would have been a mirage.

If a team is formed out of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs players only Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Laurent Koscielny would be the automatic choices from Arsenal in that team. This speaks volumes about the quality of the Arsenal side.

The greatest positive from this season is that Arsenal is no longer a one man team, Robin Van Persie’s transfer to Manchester United changed the one man team into an actual team. Although the team is still reliant on Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere but there are quite a few scoring options available now. If everyone else fails, defenders are around to score the winners!

Arsenal still needs to sign 3-4 players: a defender, a mid fielder, a center forwards and a goalkeeper. Olivier Giroud and Gervinho are very inconsistent. Theo Walcott is more of a wide player than a center forward. Arsenal could do with somebody of David Villa‘s caliber.

Next season could be little easier compared to this season. Since there will be managerial changes at Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and Everton. I know Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea before and David Moyes has been running his own version of Arsenal themed-budget team in Everton. It would still take some time for these guys to settle down in their roles as manager of Chelsea and Manchester United. On top of that Chelsea team has changed a lot since Jose Mourinho’s days. He needs to re-establish rapport with the players again. David Moyes will be running a successful team after a long time. It all needs little getting used to.

For last two seasons Arsenal have sold their captains: Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. Next season (2013-2014) this pattern may continue as Thomas Vermaelen might be on his way out! Hopefully he can be convinced to stay for a year and fight for his place.

This might provide Arsenal with an opportunity to start well. But I still believe the best chance for Arsenal to win trophies will be Capital One Cup and FA Cup (Emirates cup doesn’t count). Since Arsene Wenger and Stanley Kroenke have agreed to sign more player and concentrate on winning trophies gooners can finally look forward to next season with some realistic hope!

Positives from 2012-2013 season
1. Aaron Ramsey:
He is finally playing at the level he used to play before injury. His confidence is back. It would be fun to see him play next season.

2. Jack is Back:
Jack Wilshere’s recovery from injury was very important and the impact he has had on the team in unquestionable. The fact that an injured Jack Wilshere made it to the bench for the final game of the season is testimonial to his importance to the team.

3. Defensive setup:
Koscielny and Mertesacker have performed so well that Thomas Vermaelen has failed to get a look in. Monreal and Kieran Gibbs have also done well. Finally there is some hope for the much criticized defence.

4. Arsene Wenger has had a change of heart:
Finally Wenger has agreed to spend money on signing new player without selling anybody! Wenger in the past would say that he would sign a player if good players are available (read available for cheap). Thankfully that attitude seems to be changing.

Nadal in WTA rankings list!

This one took me by surprise. MSN home page shows “WTA Rankings: Nadal Fourth“. Rafael Nadal happens to be one of my favourite Tennis player and I am very happy that he is back!

Nadal made it to WTA’s rankings list

For the uninitialized, WTA stands for Women’s Tennis Association and they don’t publish rankings for Men. Men’s ranking is published by (ATP = Association of Tennis Professionals.

Some feats achieved by Nadal when he won BNP Paribas Open on 18th March 2013.
1. Nadal won his 22nd Masters titles, one more than the great Roger Federer.
2. Victory on Sunday was his 600th at ATP level.
3. Nadal has moved to the top of the tree in terms of winning percentage. His 600 wins make up 83% of his 723 matches, putting him a ahead of Bjorn Borg on 82.7.

I don’t know whether he will win another Grand Slam Title but it feels good to have him back.

Funny Images of Per Mertesacker

The recent deadline day signing of players has raised the morale of Gooners. Of all the players inducted into the team Mr. Per Mertesacker has been drawing a lot of interest. This interest in him is because of his height. I have assembled here some of the more funnier images from the web.

Biker

Titanic

The Pacifier

King Kong

Traitors

Entire list is available here

Fake Height Difference

Real Height Difference

Jerseys

Another disappointing week for the Arsenal fans. It looks like the wheels are coming off Arsenal’s wagon again. I just hope they hold on to win some trophy this year. Since we are talking about soccer I happen to come across this link, it had a list of worst Jerseys. I have picked up few from there. Please refer to the previous link for all the jerseys. Two of these are not Soccer Jerseys. I haven’t changed the captions either.

What Athletico Bilbao were thinking with this spilt tomato ketchup design is anyone's guess

Mexico goalkeeper Jorge Campos designed his own kits

Hull City FC are known as The Tigers - that's no excuse

This offering comes from Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse

The grey Manchester United away shirt from 1995. The players complained that they were unable to see each other

This is genuinely a football shirt - used some time ago by Colorado Caribous in the US

Dundee United

Manchester United's away kit from 1992

This jersey is of a Rugby team.

The Stade Français 'third' shirt from a couple of seasons ago was the subject of much ridicule

In the boxing ring Naseem Hamed sported Tarzan style shorts

Finally Andre Agassi, looking at this I feel people are not justified in criticizing my bad dressing sense!

Believe it or not US tennis player Andre Agassi was considered something of a style icon - this picture was taken in 1990

Stay tuned for more.

Conversation between Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola

I know some of my friends are going to blast me for posting this. I just felt that we can all do with some laugh :).

This is supposed to be a conversation between Josep Guardiola and Arsène Wenger discussing Cesc Fàbregas’s future. Not sure it ever happen.

Guardiola: Hello?

Wenger: Yes. This is Arsene Wenger.

Guardiola: Oh, hello, Arsene. How are-

Wenger: Do not speak while I am speaking!

Guardiola: …I’m sorry.

Wenger: Yes. Now. Did you receive our letter?

Guardiola: Uh, you mean the one that said “Cesc is ours” in what I’m hoping is ketchup and then had what looked like a drawing of me getting impaled by all six of Barcelona’s trophies?

Wenger: Yes, that would be the one.

Guardiola: Yeah, I got that.

Wenger: So will you stop your pursuit of my captain?

Guardiola: We’re not pursuing him. If he wants to play for us, we’d love to have him. But that’s where it ends.

Wenger: Cesc is ours! Stop being so perfect with your Don Johnson beard and non-puffy coats!

Guardiola: Excuse me?

Wenger: No! No excuse you! You have enough great players — I have Cesc, Arshavin, and then 20 children who are so young they don’t even remember the movie Kindergarten Cop! How can they not know Kindergarten Cop?!

Guardiola: Uh, I don’t know, Arsene.

Wenger: You have no idea how bad it is. You win trophies like…I don’t know — you just win a lot of trophies! The last time I won a trophy it was from The Children’s Foundation because I have so many kids they thought I was running a freaking daycare center. And I’m not running a daycare center! Theo Walcott can cut his own food!

Guardiola: Well, I’m sorry, Arsene. But it’s really up to Cesc. If he wants to leave, he wants to leave.

Wenger: I know, but I have a plan for that.

Guardiola: What plan?

Wenger: Finger paintings. The rest of the lads are making him so many finger paintings that he couldn’t possibly leave them. Have you ever been presented with a finger painting by a child? It melts your heart like a monkey brain on a radiator.

Guardiola: That was a weird analogy, but OK. Anyway, I should be going. Thanks for the call, Arsene.

Wenger: Goodbye, Peppy. And remember — you plus Cesc equals a one way ticket to Ouchtown. And I’m the captain of the Ear Punch Express. OK?

[Guardiola hung up 10 minutes ago]

It is not an original post, I picked it up from this yahoo page.