Arsenal:The New Improved Arsenal

The New Improved Arsenal

Three important incidents in the game against Blackburn Rovers revealed the small characteristics of Arsenal today that are contributing to what might be a positive season.

Thomas Vermaelen was fouled, fell to the floor and got up again without moaning at the referee. He didn't get up and cover his defensive position given that he was by now almost in the opposition third. He got up and stormed forward to add a 5th offensive player and then made it one-nil. Not long after, Francesc Fabregas was fouled in almost the same spot and before the referee had time to point a free kick, Cesc was up and played a quick free-kick and the second goal came in.

These are the type of fouls that not only used to deflate the team but would get them moaning and playing straight into the hands of the opponents. Arsène Wenger would be complaining to the fourth official. This time before Wenger could make it to the fourth official, he was forced to cut his journey short and start celebrating.

Third important event was Vermaelen's all important first goal. Arsenal are so dependent on their first goal. When it comes with plenty of game left to play, they nearly always win. Right now, Vermaelen is proving a very important first goal getter. It settles the team down. Since Vieira, Arsenal has not had a mean player. Flamini was nearly there but now we have Vermaelen and he makes a huge difference.

Learning is very difficult when you don't get reward for the things you are required to learn to fix. Arsenal getting up from challenges and getting on with it is being rewarded with goals. That's a very powerful positive feedback and that should ensure that the team keeps it up.

To be honest, Blackburn barely had a team but these games are potential banana skins because such teams usually defend better in numbers and can nick goals – they managed two at the emirates. In addition, you need these games for bonding – to execute more easily the things that you do in training on match days that confirm to the players that it is possible on the pitch. Winning is good for winning the next game.

Last season, Arsenal had a dream fixture list for the first 10 games but they lost the championship in those games. Without being able to excel in those "easy" games, the team carried low self-esteem into games with more difficult teams and were easily beaten out of the race. I'd rather we drew against Manchester United and beat Fulham and Aston Villa than the other way round.

source arsenal mania

Team of the week

Hurray and welcome to this week it will be a wonderful week discussing Arsenal F.C. which won the club of the week nomination.

Arsenal F.C

Introduction:

Arsenal Full name is Arsenal Football Club.

Arsenal Nickname is The Gunners.

Arsenal F.C. Was Founded in 1886 as Dial Square.

Arsenal F.C. Home Ground is Emirates Stadium with Capacity: 60,355.

Arsenal F.C. Owner is Arsenal Holdings plc

Arsenal F.C. Chairman is Peter Hill-Wood

Arsenal F.C. current Manager is Arsène Wenger

Arsenal F.C. currently plays the Premier League

Arsenal F.C. league position for the 2008–09 Premier League, is 4th

Brief history of Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club (pronounced ɑrsənl) (often simply known as Arsenal or The Arsenal, or by Arsenal nickname The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal play in the Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football, having won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles and ten FA Cups. Arsenal hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the English top flight and are the only Premier League side to have completed a season unbeaten.
Arsenal were founded in 1886 and were the first Southern club to join the Football League, in 1893. Arsenal won Arsenal’s first major trophies in the 1930s, with five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. After a very long period during the post-war years Arsenal became the second club of the 20th century to win the League and FA Cup Double in 1970–71, and during the past twenty years have recorded a series of successes – in this time Arsenal have won a Cup Double, two further League and FA Cup Doubles, and became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League Final which Arsenal did in 2006 against Barcelona.
Arsenal F.C. traditional color has been red and white, which have evolved through history. Similarly, Arsenal F.C. have changed location over time; the team were initially founded in Woolwich, south-east London, and in 1913 Arsenal moved north across the city to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury. In 2006 Arsenal made a less drastic move to Arsenal current home, the Emirates Stadium in nearby Holloway.
Arsenal has a large fan base, who hold a string of long-standing rivalries with several other clubs; the most notable of these is with neighbors Tottenham Hotspur, with whom Arsenal regularly contest the North London derby. Arsenal are one of the richest clubs in English football (valued at over £600m as of 2008), and thanks to Arsenal stature, have regularly featured in portrayals of football in British culture. Arsenal Ladies are the most successful English club in women's football and are also affiliated with the club.

History of Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal were founded as Dial Square in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, and were renamed Royal Arsenal shortly afterwards. Arsenal renamed themselves again to Woolwich Arsenal after turning professional in 1891. Arsenal joined the Football League in 1893, starting out in the Second Division, and won promotion to the First Division in 1904. Arsenal F.C. relative geographic isolation resulted in lower attendances than those of other clubs, which led to Arsenal becoming mired in financial problems and effectively bankrupt by 1910, when Arsenal was taken over by Henry Norris. Norris sought to move Arsenal elsewhere, and in 1913, soon after relegation back to the Second Division, Arsenal moved to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, North London; Arsenal dropped "Woolwich" from their name the following year. Arsenal only finished in fifth place in 1919, but nevertheless Arsenal were elected to rejoin the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, by reportedly dubious means.

In 1925, Arsenal appointed Herbert Chapman as Arsenal manager. Chapman had already won the league twice with Huddersfield Town in 1923–24 and 1924–25, and he brought Arsenal their first period of major success. His revolutionary tactics and training, along with the signings of star players such as Alex James and Cliff Bastin, laid the foundations of Arsenal domination of English football in the 1930s. Under his guidance, Arsenal won their first major trophies – an FA Cup in 1929–30 and two League Championships, in 1930–31 and 1932–33. In addition, Chapman was behind the 1932 renaming of the local London Underground station from "Gillespie Road" to "Arsenal", making it the only Tube station to be named specifically after a football club.

Chapman died suddenly of pneumonia in early 1934, leaving Joe Shaw and George Allison to carry on his successful work. Under their guidance, Arsenal won three more titles (1933–34, 1934–35 and 1937–38) and an FA Cup (1935–36). As Arsenal key players retired, by the decade's end, Arsenal had started to fade, and then the intervention of World War II meant competitive professional football in England was suspended.

After the war, under Allison's successor Tom Whittaker, Arsenal enjoyed a second period of success, winning the league in 1947–48 and 1952–53, and the FA Cup in 1949–50. After that though, Arsenal fortunes waned; Arsenal was unable to attract players of the same calibre as they had in the 1930s, Arsenal spent most of the 1950s and 1960s in trophyless mediocrity. Even former England captain Billy Wright could not bring Arsenal any success as manager, in a stint between 1962 and 1966.

Arsenal began winning silverware again with the surprise appointment of club physiotherapist Bertie Mee as manager in 1966. After losing two League Cup finals, they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Arsenal first European trophy, in 1969–70. This was followed by an even greater triumph: Arsenal first League and FA Cup double in 1970–71. This marked a premature high point of the decade; the Double-winning side was soon broken up and the following decade was characterized by a series of near misses. Arsenal finished as First Division runners-up in 1972–73, lost three FA Cup finals (1971–72, 1977–78 and 1979–80) and lost the 1979–80 Cup Winners' Cup final on penalties. Arsenal F.C. only success during this time was an FA Cup win in 1978–79, with a last-minute 3–2 victory over Manchester United that is widely regarded as a classic.

The return of former player George Graham as manager in 1986 brought a third period of glory. Arsenal won the League Cup in 1986–87, Graham's first season in charge. This was followed by a League title win in 1988–89, won with a last-minute goal in the final game of the season against fellow title challengers Liverpool. Graham's Arsenal won another title in 1990–91, losing only one match, the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1992–93 and a second European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1993–94. Graham's reputation was tarnished when it was revealed that he had taken kickbacks from agent Rune Hauge for signing certain players, and he was sacked in 1995. His replacement, Bruce Rioch, lasted for only one season, leaving Arsenal F.C. after a dispute with the board of directors.

Arsenal F.C. success in the late 1990s and 2000s owes a great deal to the appointment of manager Arsène Wenger in 1996. Wenger brought new tactics, a new training regime and several foreign players who complemented the existing English talent. Arsenal won a second league and cup double in 1997–98 and a third in 2001–02. In addition, Arsenal F.C. reached the final of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup (losing on penalties to Galatasaray), were victorious in the 2002–03 and 2004–05 FA Cups, and won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match, which earned the side the nickname "The Invincibles"; in all, Arsenal F.C. went 49 league matches unbeaten, a national record.

Arsenal has finished in either first or second place in the league in eight of Wenger's eleven seasons at the club. They are one of only four teams (along with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea) to have won the Premier League since its formation in 1992, although they have failed to retain the title each time they have been champions. Arsenal had never progressed beyond the Champions League quarter-finals until 2005–06; in that competition they reached the final, the first club from London to do so in the competition's fifty-year history, where they were beaten 2–1 by FC Barcelona. In July 2006, Arsenal moved into their current stadium, the Emirates Stadium, after 93 years at Highbury.

Arsenal supporters

Arsenal F.C. Supporters

Arsenal fans often refer to themselves as "Gooners", the name being derived from Arsenal 's nickname, "The Gunners". Arsenal have a large and generally loyal fanbase, with virtually all home matches selling out; in 2007–08 Arsenal had the second-highest average League attendance for an English club (60,070, which was 99.5% of available capacity), and as of 2006, Arsenal was the fourth-highest all-time average attendance. Arsenal ’s location, adjoining both wealthy areas such as Canonbury and Barnsbury, mixed areas such as Islington, Holloway and Highbury, and the adjacent London Borough of Camden, and largely working class areas such as Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington has meant that Arsenal 's supporters have come from across the usual class divides. In addition, Arsenal have the highest proportion (7.7%) of non-white attending supporters of any club in English football, according to a 2002 report.

Like all major English football clubs, Arsenal have a number of domestic supporters' clubs, including the Arsenal Football Supporters Club, which works closely with Arsenal , and the Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association, which maintains a more independent line. There is also the Arsenal Supporters' Trust, which promotes greater participation in ownership of the club by fans. Arsenal ’s supporters also publish fanzines such as The Gooner, Highbury High, Gunflash and the less cerebral Up The Arse!. In addition to the usual English football chants, Arsenal 's supporters sing "One-Nil to the Arsenal " (to the tune of "Go West") and "Boring, Boring Arsenal ", which used to be a common taunt from opposition fans but is now sung ironically by Arsenal supporters when Arsenal is playing well.

There have always been Arsenal supporters outside of London, and in recent times with the advent of satellite television, a supporter's attachment to a football club has become less dependent on geography. Consequently, Arsenal now have a significant number of fans from beyond London and all over the world; there are 24 UK, 37 Irish and 49 overseas supporters clubs affiliated with Arsenal , as of 2007. A 2005 report by Granada Ventures, which at the time owned a 9.9% stake in the club, estimated Arsenal 's global fanbase at 27 million, the third largest in the world.

longest-running and deepest rivalry is with nearest major neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur, with matches between the two being referred to as North London derbies. Other Arsenal rivalries within London include those with Chelsea, Fulham and West Ham United. In addition, Arsenal and Manchester United have had a strong on-pitch rivalry since the late 1980s, which has intensified in recent years when Arsenal and Manchester united have been competing for the Premier League title – so much so that in a 2003 online poll by the Football Fans Census listed Manchester United as Arsenal 's biggest rivals, followed by Tottenham and Chelsea. A 2008 poll lists the Tottenham rivalry as more important to Arsenal .