The Arsenal Column

Arsenal Analysis and Tactics. All views expressed are those of Pat Rice. (Disclaimer: they are actually not his words).

Posts filed under “Players”

Aaron Ramsey can look back at a solid season

It can be hard to deconstruct the impact that Aaron Ramsey has made this season because it came at a time when Arsenal were at their worst. But when they began to improve, Ramsey was central to it in an unheralded manner. His drive was crucial at an aesthetically bleak period in Arsenal’s season, especially [...]

Continue reading this post

The evolution of Robin van Persie

Not a week goes without a prelude to Robin van Persie but every time, he seems to justify it. This week, he single-handedly – well almost as he required wonderful goalkeeping from Wojciech Szczesny and some woeful finishing from Liverpool – earned Arsenal a 2-1 win at Anfield. And again he scored a technically perfect [...]

Continue reading this post

Theo Walcott deserves more credit for being a key player for Arsenal

Now that Cesc Fábregas is no more, there is a spot vacant for the player who personifies Arsenal the most. Robin van Persie might be it because of the goals he has scored and also being the incumbent of the captain’s armband. But more suited might be Jack Wilshere who, is not only homegrown, but [...]

Continue reading this post

Arsenal’s spirit outweighs the notion of a one-man team

It’s become a footballing cliché to do an Arsenal: to promise so much but to inexplicably throw it away. That might happen again this season but if it does, it’s sure to be a boring thud rather than a Crash, Bang, Wallop! back to the ground. And that’s because of the dealings Arsène Wenger made in the summer. They [...]

Continue reading this post

Aaron Ramsey has been central to Arsenal’s progress

Speaking just after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in October, Aaron Ramsey acknowledged he can – or rather, must – get better. “I have produced some good performances so far and maybe just need to be a bit more consistent throughout games,” he said. This was after a North-London Derby in which he came under [...]

Continue reading this post

Andre Santos adds a different dimension to Arsenal’s attack

When hoping to get a glossary commissioned translating Anglo-French football terms, journalist Philippe Auclair realised just how under-developed England’s vocabulary was when it came to the beautiful game. Writing in the biography Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King, he says; “The French (and indeed, the Spaniards, the Italians and, believe it or not, the Germans) had [...]

Continue reading this post

Older posts from this category→