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Two strikers return home , but don t hold your breath

	Posted by arseblog on 18 Jun 2012 / 57 arses

	Morning all, and welcome to a brand new week. It s all over for Holland and Robin van Persie as they were beaten by Portugal 2-1 last night.

	I have to admit I was looking forward to an exciting, attacking game of football. With the Dutch needing to win by two clear goals – while hoping for a Germany victory over Denmark – I thought they d really go for it. And in fairness to van Marwijk he did pick his most attacking line-up, dropping van Bommel and bringing van der Vaart into the midfield.

	However, it left them unbalanced and with a defence about as effective as an ashtray on a motorbike they always looked vulnerable. They went ahead through van der Vaart, but it was quite obvious, almost from the kick off, that they looked like a team of attacking players all of whom expected somebody else to do the hard work for them. Quite why Robin van Persie, the most effective penalty box striker in Europe this season, was played out wide and so deep is anybody s guess, especially when the main striker was Huntelaar.

	Two goals from Ronaldo sealed the deal for the Portuguese after Holland went chasing the game with a bizarre 3-1-6 formation. The lack of a left back (even if the one they had was pretty poor) meant they were exposed down that side and Nani should have scored before Ronaldo got the winner. The lack of cohesion and organisation was, frankly, pathetic from a team tipped by many to win the competition and you have to think it s curtains for van Marwijk now.

	From an Arsenal point of view it means Robin van Persie s tournament is over and speculation regarding his future will ramp up, I m sure. However, I d urge some patience. Any expectation that an announcement will be made should be tempered with the realisation that he s likely to go take a holiday – and a very well deserved holiday – so I d be very surprised if we heard anything at all in the immediate future.

	Trying to work out what this tournament means for his Arsenal future seems a bit of pointless task too. He doesn t need to go and spend weeks with a group of individuals to know that for all our flaws we re a team much more suited to getting the best out of his talents. Regardless of money on offer I think we all know that Robin s decision will (probably) be made for footballing reasons, so I guess we have to wait and see. Either way, there s little we (as fans) can do other than wait, so driving yourself mad expecting news straight away will only bother your blood pressure.

	Another man on the way home, and thus free to sort out his future, is Nicklas Bendtner. He s had a good tournament, assisting Denmark s goal against Germany last night as well as being denied a pretty obvious penalty, and when added to the two goals he scored against Portugal you have to say he s put himself in the shop window pretty well. Again, I d expect this to run on a bit but he said very clearly he d wait until after the Euros to find his new club and here we are.

	It s funny though – if you looked at these games in perfect isolation, you might say to yourself that Bendtner looks like the kind of of physical, plan B forward we could certainly use while Robin van Persie s tournament would hardly bring him to many people s attention, that one great goal aside. Context is king, I guess.

	Meanwhile, new boy Lukas Podolski was on target for Germany against Denmark, scoring the opening goal of the game on his 100th appearance for his country. That gives him a total of 44 goals for Germany, a really impressive scoring record, and hopefully he can now step it up a bit at club level too, which would obviously be very nice for us.

	Tonight s games see Spain play Croatia and a 2-2 draw would see both teams through regardless of what happens between Italy and Ireland in the other match. I think most of us have a fair idea of what s going to happen in the latter game, especially as Trapper Tony has reacted to the hammering by Spain by picking pretty much all the same players again. He says he can t, in the interests of fairness, start selecting his B players, but surely the Spanish performance illustrates that some of his A players aren t as A as he thinks? Leaving personal feelings aside for a moment, there still isn t a person in the world who can convince me that Robbie Keane shouldn t be wrapped in a carpet then rolled of a very high cliff. On fire. With a hundredweight of fire ants inserted into his anal passage.

	Tonight s result is irrelevant to Ireland and that s what he should focus on, not whether or not anyone else thinks it s fair that he might select some squad players. It s a chance to give some younger players invaluable experience of a major tournament, instead we ll get to see Keane pointing and shouting as his career dwindles to a sluggish close, and Aidan McGeady doing step-overs before he crosses it to nobody and then makes a face like it s someone else s fault.

	Of course there is some special motivation for the manager and Marco Tardelli (his assistant) but you just can t help thinking the same players who struggled against Spain, thus thoroughly disheartened, could do with an injection of youth/enthusiasm, while some of the squad players who have been out training/working probably deserve a chance. Anyway, we ll see what happens – and you know, as poor as Ireland have been I wouldn t put it past us to get a result tonight.

	The Premier League fixtures are announced this morning. Word on the street is we start at home to Sunderland but all will be revealed at 9am. We ll have full coverage over on Arseblog News.

	And finally, although there s no transfer news today, you can keep up to date with the Transfer window app made by @milkbarstudios who make the Arseblog iPhone/iPad app. It s just 69p, so fill yer boots here.

	Right then, that s yer lot. Till tomorrow.	Arseblog, the arsenal blog

Thoughts on Szczesny as Poland and Russia go out

	Posted by arseblog on 17 Jun 2012 / 460 arses

	Ahh, there s nothing more soothing than being woken by the yip-yapping of a puppy pre-7am on a Sunday morning.

	To be fair, due the fact said puppy has necessitated early rising all week long, I was in bed and fast asleep before it got dark (slight, but very slight, exaggeration), but this dog is full of beans this morning. He s currently attempting to sneak into the house with a gigantic bone we got from the butchers yesterday. It s about the size of his head and he s just dug it up having buried it for fear those terrible cats might steal it from him. Suffice to say the cats couldn t give less of a shit.

	Right, football stuff and I have to admit I didn t see any of Euro 2012 last night. The absence of Rosicky and Szczesny from the Poland v Czech Republic game meant I really wasn t that interested in what went on there, and Arshavin wasn t enough of a pull for me to care about the second game. As it played out, a Szczesny-less Poland were beaten 1-0 by the Czechs, and their tournament is over.

	I guess this will give Wojciech some time for reflection and that may not be a bad thing at all. Being sent off and subsequently losing his place will hurt, no doubt about it. And while his self-confidence is fantastic and his goalkeeping character reflects that, perhaps it s no harm for him to sit down with his father (with whom he assesses every performance) and take a look at how things have played out for him.

	What we have to remember is that he is still very young, especially in goalkeeping terms, and his rise has been pretty meteoric. From talking about leaving us to being number 1 for club and country within 18 months, that s quite a jump, and all the while he s learning on the job. What I like though is that nobody should confuse his self-confidence with lack of awareness. He s an intelligent guy and he ll know that he s made a bit of a balls of a big tournament in his home country when he could have seen his stock rise even higher.

	I won t say it s back to the drawing board but football can sometimes remind you that one day you re the hottest property around, the next you re nothing but a common David Bentley. I think Szczesny has the potential to be a really top-rate goalkeeper and I love his attitude and that cocky side of him, but it has to be balanced with top class performances. I m sure this tournament will do nothing else but refocus him and increase his desire to become a great keeper. It s not exactly a wake-up call but while the hurt of Euro 2012 will stay with him, I don t think it ll do him any harm at all. Quite the opposite in fact.

	Also on the way home is Andrei Arshavin after Greece stunned Russia with a 1-0 win, meaning they go through the knock-out stages. Of course the issue with Arshavin is where exactly home is. I genuinely can t see any future for him at Arsenal. He had a wonderful chance to be an important player for us and such is his character he might have been a real hero, but the other side of him, the indolent, sluggish, portly one, was what came to the fore and for all concerned I think it s best we move him on.

	I don t think there ll be any real problem doing that. I m sure there d be other Premier League clubs who would take a punt on him and he s spoken of his desire to remain in London, and such is reputation that there d be no shortage of clubs on the continent who d have him. It s up to Ivan and Dick Law and Order to make it happen and we have to move on.

	In tonight s games it all looks very tasty indeed. Denmark take on Germany while Holland play Portugal. Such is the way the competition is set up that the Dutch could qualify despite losing their opening two games. They need Germany to win while beating Portugal by two goals. If nothing else it means...