The Kids are Alright

Other than the usual rumours and speculation it’s been a pretty slow few days news-wise with the exception of Arsene Wenger supposedly cleaning house in the offseason when several players are possibly going to be sent packing. These include the likes of Manuel Almunia, Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Andrei Arshavin, Sebastien Squillaci, Carlos Vela, Denilson, and perhaps Park Ju-Young. It’s estimated that with these players off the books the Gunners will save several million pounds a year.

However, some of that money’s going to have to go back in the team as Wenger needs to re-sign Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott, and is reportedly trying to get Alex Song to sign a new deal with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also in line for a pay raise. Also, Wenger hopes to sign a couple of big-name players in the next transfer window.

One of the more interesting articles floating around today, by Dan Coombs, listed a few of the young Gunners that could make a difference in the first team in the next few years. I’m sure Arsenal supporter Roger Daltrey wasn’t singing about them in Pete Townshend’s Who Classic ‘The Kids are Alright,’ but the title’s appropriate for this quartet of players.

Joel Campbell:This 19-year-old Costa Rican striker could very well be the best of the bunch at the moment. He’s currently on loan with Lorient of France’s Ligue 1. Campbell stood out last year while playing for Costa Rica’s Under-20 side and had quite a few teams interested in him. Arsenal managed to get him to sign on the dotted line though last summer. Campbell showed just how good he is when called up for his nation’s senior team and scored against Spain in a 2-2 draw towards the end of last year.

He then played in the testimonial match for former Wales’ manager Gary Speed earlier this year and managed to net the winning goal against Wales. The reason Campbell was loaned to Lorient in France was because he had some problems with his work permit in the UK. Getting that mess sorted out should be one of the Gunners’ priorities in the offseason as this kid should be located in England as soon as possible.

He’s still got quite a bit to learn, but has the potential to be a football star no matter who he’s playing for. He’s only scored twice in his first 18 matches with Lorient, most of them as a substitute, and if he can add a few more his confidence will build. It’s likely that he’ll be loaned out again next year to develop some more unless he has an exceptional training camp prior to next season.

Serge Gnabry:
This 16-year-old midfielder was born in Stuttgart, Germany and was signed by Arsenal prior to the current season after Manchester City also showed interest in him. He’s strong and fast and knows where the opponent’s net is. He’s comfortable playing behind a striker as well as on either wing and has played for Germany’s Under-16 and Under-17 national squads.

Gnabry’s father is from the Ivory Coast and his mother’s German. He grew up as a Barcelona supporter and played with local teams until his father finally let him join Stuttgart’s Under-13 setup, after hesitating at first as he didn’t want him to play with a pro academy. The youngster’s also an accomplished sprinter and competed at numerous track and field meets in his homeland. He claimed he never lost a race, but had to make up his mind if he wanted to play football or keep on running.

Gnabry was named the best player of the tournament in 2010’s Nike Cup. His Stuttgart team won the event and Arsenal offered him a week’s trial with their Under-16 side squad. He was so impressive the Gunners signed him and he moved to England last July when he turned 16 years old. He then went on to play for the Gunners’ Under-18 team and played in the reserves against Chelsea this March. He also lined up against West Brom for the reserves along with Johan Djourou, Marouane Chamakh, and Andre Santos and managed to score.

Chuks Aneke:
Aneke is an 18-year-old English midfielder who’s currently out on loan at Preston North End. He’s been with the Gunners youth system ever since he was seven years old. He’s starting to get noticed now as he matures as a player. He also spent some time earlier this season with Stevenage of the First Division. Aneke managed to thrill Preston supporters by scoring against Bury in his debut with the club, which was his first goal as a pro.

Arsene Wenger has likened him to Yaya Toure and at 6-foot-3 he may one day fill those boots. Aneke debuted for Arsenal’s first team earlier this season when he suited up for a Carling Cup match against Shrewsbury. He’s now learning his trade with Preston and could be loaned out again next season or stick around London and play a few more Carling Cup contests. His confidence should be sky high at the moment with one goal in one game with Preston and he’s now got the opportunity to show what he’s made of until the end of the season.

Benik Afobe:
The 19-year-old Afobe is an English striker and currently out on loan with Reading of the Championship League after spending last year with Huddersfield and scoring eight goals for them. He’s been impressing scouts since he was 16 and was named to England’s Under-21 team last August to replace Danny Welbeck. However, he’s missed most of this season due to a serious groin injury. Afobe possesses strength and speed and Arsenal will be keeping their eye on him as he attempts to get Reading back into the Premier League.

     

Wear Arsenal shirt is one of the best ways to speak out your mind and to convey your message to others that you loveArsenal team. welcome to go and see www.soccer-facebook.com for buyArsenal shirt

Benfica v Chelsea: Frank Lampard is right. We miss the old Chelsea

Well, can they? The odds now are that Chelsea will progress to a Champions League semi-final against Milan or Barcelona. Not bad for a side outside the qualifying places at home and stuck in familiar flux. All at Stamford Bridge await Roman Abramovich’s next big whim. In the meantime, they are keeping busy in a competition they have come to understand intimately through many continental adventures. Success in the return leg would bring a sixth semi-final appearance in nine attempts.

This 1-0 win over one of the most evocative names in Europe was an organisational victory over a mediocre side who borrowed their shooting boots from Mr Magoo. No grand extrapolations can be made, except that Chelsea still possess the necessary resilience to pull off results like this. On his old turf, David Luiz was Chelsea’s outstanding player. He may not relish the uglier aspects of Premier League defending but on nights like this his elegance prevails.

The beauty of sport is that it offers rolling shots at redemption.

But that possibility was closed to Lampard when Roberto Di Matteo started with him on the bench, along with Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, fellow warhorses from Chelsea’s brightest era.

Lampard gave his diagnosis at the weekend on Chelsea TV. The most influential midfielder in Chelsea’s Premier League history was simply setting out the facts – yet the words must have arrived with a clunk for Abramovich, whose message to the elite coaches of Europe is: “Could anyone I’ve not yet hired and fired please take one step forward.” The omission of Lampard, Essien and Drogba probably owed more to fatigue and the need for speed against Benfica than oligarchichal revenge. Yet again, though, we were reminded that no Chelsea team-sheet can drop without accompanying intrigue. Selection is often more interesting than their play. Which is part of the problem.

Lampard’s observation was not about politics but quality. With Salomon Kalou’s 75th-minute counter-strike they maintained their reputation for defiance on Europe’s grandest stage. Nobody disputes, though, that Chelsea have regressed. They are way off the peaks of the Jose Mourinho years and the 2008 Champions League final appearance in Moscow. Streisand, again: “Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line?”

The best XI of the Abramovich years would contain several from last night’s squad: Lampard, John Terry, Petr Cech, Drogba and arguably Paulo Ferreira at right-back, for his sterling work in Mourinho’s title-winning sides. But Ferreira, who is way past his prime, is still out there: the go-to right-sided defender for a huge match in which the consistently mediocre John Obi Mikel, and Raul Meireles were the two central midfielders.

It is in this vital area that Chelsea’s generally realistic fans would have most to grumble about. With Kalou pulling the play left, and Ramires hugging the right, a central pairing of Mikel and Meireles bears no comparison to the great Chelsea engine rooms of Lampard, Essien (in his pomp) and Claude Makelele.

A pre-match game of pick the best Abramovich-era XI brought votes for Ricardo Carvalho, William Gallas, Arjen Robben, Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Eidur Gudjohnsen: all no longer present. In other words – it generated nostalgia for better players than Chelsea now possess.

This was Lampard’s point. And the proof is in the Premier League table. The one signing Chelsea could parade before their major rivals as a top acquisition is Juan Mata, who runs the subtlety department all alone and worked in vast tracts of space here behind Fernando Torres.

Still, a virtue of extreme wealth is that it allows the richest owners to rip it up and start again. Less well-endowed teams are lumbered with their errors, as Liverpool are finding.

Waiting down Europe’s track, probably, are Milan or Lionel Messi’s Barcelona, who would not need the hallucinogenic refereeing of Tom Henning Ovrebo to beat this Chelsea side. The sense is of a club waiting for the next big thing to happen and trying to look busy while Abramovich decides what it should be.

In the imposing Stadium of Light, with its resident eagles and half-time ritual of paper-aeroplane launching, Torres was sharp and eager without locating the target and Ramires was consistently effective. At the back, Luiz excelled in the ground where his suave defending persuaded Chelsea to pay £23 million for him, and Terry, who is ignoring his injuries, slugged it out with the combative Oscar Cardozo.

This game looked every inch a sideshow to the main Champions League action. It remains hard to believe that the eventual winner was on show in this eagle’s lair. On 67 minutes, after Jardel had drawn a fine save from Cech, Lampard finally joined the drama, replacing Meireles, who is miscast in defensive-midfield positions.

Lampard’s presence reassured the wedge of Chelsea supporters whose hopes had seldom risen above a respectable scoreline here and a repeat of the Napoli heroics at Stamford Bridge.

With all this uncertainty, and silence from above, the world’s best club competition still offers a shot at salvation for the least impressive Chelsea side of the Abramovich era. The impetus will evidently have to come from Terry, Lampard, Drogba, Ashley Cole, Luiz, Essien and Ramires, who remain the club’s biggest assets, along with Mata, who could do with a few kindred spirits around him.

Torres can still join this core. It remains impossible to give up on him. His breakaway on the right and cross to Kalou broke the deadlock and punished Benfica for their inaccuracies. If anyone knows the words to The Way We Were, it must be Torres.

    

WearChelsea shirt is one of the best ways to speak out your mind and to convey your message to others that you love Chelsea team. welcome to go and see www.soccer-facebook.com for buy Chelsea shirt

Why can’t Van Persie simply say “I’m staying” ?

Arsenal fans should be confident their captain will stay, but should they still be worried about his lack of public commitment?

All season for Arsenal and their fans, the threat of star player Robin van Persie leaving at the end of the season has been hanging over them.

At times it has seemed like Arsenal were very much the outsiders for a Champions League place, but right now they look to be a shoe-in.

To many, whether Robin van Persie would stay or not, would depend on three things.

Firstly, the club showing good form, and generally having the feelgood factor that was sapped away at the end of last season and last season.

Secondly, Champions League qualification, which as we have mentioned, looks to be so far assured.

Thirdly, signs of the club’s ambition in the transfer market. Arsene Wenger and the board are looking to act quickly on this, with striker Lukas Podolski’s signing almost a done deal. This signifies to Van Persie that he will not be expected to do it all on his own, and that the club are keen to move forward and win trophies.

The Dutchman also looks to be enjoying sharing Arsenal’s leadership with rejuvenated centre-back Thomas Vermaelen, who has helped inspire Arsenal to crucial wins over Everton and Newcastle.

Surely with the atmosphere better than ever in the Emirates, why would Van Persie choose to leave now?

Of course, the bubble at Arsenal could pop as quickly as it formed, and if Tottenham do overhaul them and turn around the three point gap, it will put a dampener on everybody’s summer.

But most confusing of all is Van Persie’s comments last week. He turned around and said: “‘If you look at the last couple of weeks, we showed we have a lot of character in our side, and we can be proud of that. Now we need to show that over a period of a whole year. We need to have a run like that for months and even win the ugly games.”

So if Van Persie is talking about Arsenal’s progress over the next year, surely he intends to stay and be a part of it, right?

Well that is what his comments lead us to believe. But in that case, just come out and say “I’m staying”, and be done with the whole transfer speculation circus.

If he does not want to stay, why lead supporters to think he would.

Otherwise with stories like The Mail’s weekend report that Real Madrid are ready to launch a £25 million bid for his services already coming out, it is going to be a very unsettling summer for Arsenal and their supporters.

        

WearArsenal shirt is one of the best ways to speak out your mind and to convey your message to others that you loveArsenal team. welcome to go and see www.soccer-facebook.com for buyArsenal shirt

Chelsea keen on moving FA Cup semi-final date

Chelsea are considering lobbying the Football Association to bring their FA Cup semi-final forward by 48 hours should they reach the Champions League semi-finals.

The Blues want more time to prepare for what could be the first leg of a tie against Barcelona or AC Milan if they beat Benfica in the last eight.

Chelsea’s FA Cup semi-final will take place on Sunday, April 15, just three days before a potential Champions League clash.

Liverpool will feature in the other last-four FA Cup match on April 14 because they are allowed not to play on the anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Chelsea, who face Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final this evening, feel the FA should also be prepared to make a special case for them to play on the Friday night to help them in their quest for European glory.

Caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo said: “I feel we should get more help from the FA over fixtures.

“Absolutely we need it because it doesn’t help English teams in the Champions League.

“Benfica played Friday night before our game, so did Napoli before both matches in the last round.

“Their leagues try to give them a lot of help and the best possible advantage.

“We are engaged on this matter, but ultimately someone has to make the decision.”

         

WearChelsea shirt is one of the best ways to speak out your mind and to convey your message to others that you love Chelsea team. welcome to go and see www.soccer-facebook.com for buy Chelsea shirt

Aston Villa | News | Image Galleries | Gallery

Aston Villa | News | Image Galleries | Gallery

Terry tells Chelsea to stand up against Stoke

PHOTO:John Terry Chelsea shirt,club jersey,football jersey,football shirt,home shirt,away shirt;

Chelsea captain John Terry has criticised the players at Stamford Bridge for their part in Andre Villas-Boas losing his job as manager last weekend.

Terry has made a quick recovery from knee surgery and should be available for the Premier League clash at home to Stoke on Saturday having been sidelined for the last seven matches of Villas-Boas’s tenure.

The ex-Chelsea manager was accused of failing to win the respect of the dressing room, with England defender Terry admitting players let down the Portuguese coach.

“It’s sad for Andre because unfortunately it falls on his head, when I think the players will hold their hands up and say clearly we’ve not been good enough and we have all made mistakes together,” Terry said.

Chelsea, now under caretaker boss and former player Roberto di Matteo, won their first match since Villas-Boas’s exit by beating Birmingham in the FA Cup in midweek and are currently three points adrift of a Champions League place.

“We came to Birmingham and dug deep for him (Villas-Boas), and for Robbie (di Matteo) taking charge and for Eddie (Newton) coming in as well,” Terry said.

“It’s nice to have familiar faces around who know the club.

Chelsea captain John Terry has returned a month early from knee surgery after initially being ruled out for six weeks
Glyn Kirk, AFP/Getty Images

“We have done enough talking amongst ourselves for the last three or four months, and Robbie came in and said those exact same things as well, we have to show commitment for the shirt.

“He has played here, the same as Eddie, and we have to fight for the shirt and that has been the message to the lads for this game.”

Terry returned a month early from knee surgery after initially being ruled out for six weeks and was on the bench at Birmingham.

“I’m delighted because initially they were saying four to six weeks but naturally they’re a little bit cautious,” Terry said.

“After the operation I was jogging two days later, but it’s down to getting over it mentally as well, the fact you’ve had an operation. Once you’re clear of that then you’re able to push on.

“The way it’s been here, I just wanted to push myself and try to get back involved. I’ve been working hard in the gym doing triple sessions and going back to Cobham (Chelsea’s training ground) in the evenings on my own which has been tough,” he added

“But the target was always to be back for the Stoke game so this is a massive boost for me that I can get some more days of training under my belt.

“There is no pain at all and he (the surgeon) said for how long I’ve been playing, my knee looks in great condition which is an added bonus.”

Stoke manager Tony Pulis has lost the last four games at Chelsea but Potters defender Robert Huth, who spent four years with the Blues, claims they can kill the ‘curse’ on Saturday.

“It’s going to be tough but with the result last weekend, sometimes the fans at Stamford Bridge in recent times don’t get behind the team as much so hopefully that can work in our favour,” Huth explained.

“We’ve not got a brilliant record there. We lost 7-0 there a couple of seasons ago and anything after that will be an improvement.

“I’m still a Chelsea supporter and I’m sure they will turn it around. They’ve got 11 games to go so hopefully they can get a run together and get into the Champions League.”

Robin Van Persie: Give Arsenal FC’s RVP Player of the Season Now

PHOTO:Arsenal shirt,club jersey,football jersey,football shirt,home shirt,away shirt

Arsenal’s gallant yet regrettable European exit to AC Milan all but confirmed the club’s seventh consecutive year without a trophy—but that shouldn’t mean their entire squad ends up empty-handed.

For it is surely a formality that the name Robin van Persie will be inscribed upon multiple “player of the year” trophies, not just for his club, but the Premier League too. Let’s save everybody’s time, eschew the tedious award ceremonies and just hand over the accolades now.

It’s become a customary lament that the PFA Player of the Year—voted for by all the players in the league at the start of March—is arranged too early and before the most important part of the season. (Has anyone informed the PFA about the instantaneous capabilities of email?) The rather perfunctory choice of Gareth Bale just last year was met with more than a murmur of skepticism.

For once, though, this argument is rendered utterly redundant. Robin van Persie has already earned the right to be named the season’s best.

You can talk up and garland the Dutch marksman with as much complimentary reverence as you please, but his vital statistics are impressive enough.

Bear in mind that Liverpool have scored 30 league goals collectively this season, and then consider that Van Persie has 25 on his own in 27 appearances (32 in 34 starts, plus three games as a sub, in all club competitions), from a total of 120 attempted shots.

In statspeak, with a goal every 4.8 shots, he’s just shy of one per game. And if his eight assists are anything to go by, he has played a major role in at least 33 of Arsenal’s 55 league goals. Former teammate Emmanuel Adebayor is closest to that combination with 22 (11 of each) for Spurs.

Who are the other contenders? Pundits had been falling over themselves to name David Silva (five goals, 12 assists) player of the season before anyone had even had the chance to moan about Christmas-time fixture congestion.Manchester City‘s expensively-assembled stars had been revolving around the imperious Spaniard as they logged up a catalogue of thrashings, but Silva’s been relatively quiet since New Year.

And, while it might be easy in everyday life to look better by standing next to an ugly person, it’s more straightforward in football to shine in a lineup that hogs all the talent. Not only is Silva surrounded by a supporting cast good enough to make City likely title winners, he also has the luxury of taking a little rest every now and then while one of umpteen bench warmers gets a turn to play instead.

Only Newcastle’s Demba Ba (16 goals, one assist) can rival Van Persie for the impact a player has had for a more modestly-built team this season. It’s easy to overstate clichés about single-handedly carrying a team, but these lethal strikers have contributed their fair share of points towards their respective clubs’ league tallies.

Others deserve consideration: Tottenham’s Scott Parker, Fulham’s Clint Dempsey,Sunderland’s Stephane Sessegnon and Swansea’s Joe Allen spring to mind. Wayne Rooney’s contribution for Manchester United, meanwhile, is possibly underestimated due to his own high standards, but his form has still been sketchy.

Opinions will always vary, but Van Persie surely clinches it. Arsenal are no one-man team but, with few options up front, they’ve certainly been reliant on the Dutchman for firepower. He’s consistently delivered the goods—scoring the goal of the season so far with a sensational volley against Everton, a brilliant hat trick at Stamford Bridge, and a winning brace at Anfield.

Spearheading the Arsenal attack, Van Persie has adapted his game from a deeper-lying role to become a complete striker. He’s even turned out to be a conscientious and respected captain during a testing period at Arsenal, preserving a zen-like focus amid gratuitous speculation regarding his future.

Not bad for a player whose reputation used to veer between impetuous hothead and injury prone liability.