It’s been a while since I wrote about football for pleasure. As a teenager, through university and then into the early years of working life, I was regularly writing and podcasting either for my own site or on ESPN FC. But getting older, other life stuff became more important. Plus Arsenal’s transition into the post-Arsene … More Inspired by Arteta’s Arsenal with quality and vibes
Hopefully, the 2-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion can be written off as one of those days where everything that could go wrong, seemingly does. At face value, losing a game in which you missed a penalty, scored an own goal, initially took the lead before going behind and had two holding midfielders go off … More Injuries mount as Arsenal slip up
In the penultimate post reviewing the 2014-2015 season, I’m going to assess the performance of Arsenal’s midfielders. As with the previous ones, there’ll be a short review of each player’s season and a one-word summary. 7. Tomas Rosicky It was a frustrating season for Tomas Rosicky as he didn’t get as much game time as … More SMR end-of-season review 2014-2015: The Midfielders
After the pretty unjust smash and grab job done by Arsenal to somehow escape Brussels with a 2-1 win, it’s arguably poetic justice that Anderlecht came back so spectacularly to draw 3-3 at the Emirates on Tuesday night. But poetic justice should mean f*** all in football. If you’re 3-0 up at home, you should … More Arteta goes off, takes whole midfield with him
With the season over and a trophy in the cabinet, I’m going to assess the season for each member of the Arsenal squad and rate them. I’m sure there’ll be some disagreements about some of my ratings, so feel free to comment at the bottom with your thoughts. Moving up the pitch, it’s the midfielders. … More The SMR Arsenal Squad Review – Midfielders
It’s easy to blame injuries for Arsenal’s demise in the title race this season, and even easier to just blame the absence of one player for the major stumbles the Gunners have taken in the second half of the campaign. I don’t want to be so simplistic about what’s happened to Arsenal’s season, but on … More Returning Ramsey calms Arsenal worries
During the build-up up to Monday night’s game at the Emirates between Arsenal and Chelsea, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the game get postponed. The pitch was fine, but the horrendous weather meant travelling to and from the game presented difficulties for fans. The vast majority did make it to the ground, however … More Arsenal huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow Chelsea away
When the draw was made for the group stage of the Champions League, most Arsenal fans would have gladly taken 12 points from the six matches if offered them before a ball was kicked. In most other seasons, that would have comfortably been enough to see Arsenal into the knock-out stages with a game to … More Group of death doesn’t quite kill Arsenal
Aaron Ramsey is 22, but he may never have a period of form for the rest of his career. However the fact he’s 22 means that he could also get better and better. Considering how young he was when he arrived at Arsenal, it feels like Ramsey has been around for a long time, … More Ramsey leads Arsenal to the win in Wales
The way things have gone for Arsenal in recent years, it’s understandable that some fans don’t want to get ahead of themselves in this season’s title race. The history of the collapses, mediocre performances and fights for fourth mean that title talk is still difficult to believe for some people. For doubters before this weekend, … More Are we serious yet?
The Big Diag 