pat rice Archives - Arsenation

UPDATE: Silva, Walcott, Lansbury, Bartley

Guest Columns, Latest News, Main Blog 3 Responses »

Jul 162012

Wellington Silva to be loaned again, Walcott to hold vital talks and Kyle Bartley and Henri Lansbury’s return from loan.

Wellington Silva

“Wellington (full name Wellington Alves Da Silva) will again spend this season on loan at Levante – in the Spanish top flight – with the club confident it is the best approach for developing Wellington’s future with Arsenal.“ – Arsenal.com

Last season, Wellington, the promising Striker from Brazil was loaned out to Levante. Ever since Wellington Silva joined the Gunners, I’ve been watching him closely, hoping that he will make a break for the first team. He is a young, fast and very talented player. He plays with flair and pace and can pull defences apart.

Brazilian wizkid Wellington Silva

On January 20, 2012, Wellington Silva Joined Segunda División side Alcoyano on loan until the end of the season. Not only did he score in 3 of 16 appearances, he also netted on his debut. At the age of just 19, he has a bright future at Arsenal.

When questioned about his future at Arsenal last season, he responded:

“I am working hard to prove that I am able to play for Arsenal´s first team. That is my goal.”

Wellington returned back to training with the rest of the squad

The only problem with Wellington Silva is we have to wait for him to get a work permit. Just like with Joel Campbell. Hopefully we can see him ripping apart the Tottenham defense in a few seasons time! In addition to this point, it was rumored last season, that Wellington fell out with managers for bad attitude problems and an unhealthy diet.

Theo Walcott

Now to talk about Theo Walcott. It seems that Walcott, who is already on £70,000 a week, would like a better contract, earning around £100,000 a week instead. In my opinion, I feel that the club should offer him the new contract, with at least a 4 year deal.

Arsene can easily raise the money to pay Theo’s wages, as he plans to offload both Vela and Squillaci, with Squillaci reportedly earning around £60,000-a-week sitting on the Arsenal bench.

Walcott scores a screamer Vs Sweeden

Although many slate Theo, labelling him as just a “Sprinter”, I feel he is a brilliant addition to the Arsenal side. Although it would not be terrible to lose him for the rumored £15 million to Liverpool, I feel an extra £30,000 a week, is worth it.

Last season, the 23 year old contributed to just under 20 goals for Arsenal, with both 8 goals and assists in the Premier League. I don’t want to go on about statistics too much, because they aren’t everything. Walcott can also be a frustrating player yes, unlike Chamberlain he does not possess amazing skill to beat players. But he is quick and also wants to play upfront this season.

Overall I feel that Theo deserves a long contract extension, people forget that he is just 23, to let him go now would be a big mistake, look at Van Persie, he has just had the best season of his career at 29. Give him a chance, remember what he produced against Sweden for England in the Euros? 1 goal and 1 assist after coming on as a substitute. Not bad!

Walcott tears up Sweden after coming on as a sub (video)

I think Wenger should give Walcott a new contract and the chance to play upfront, especially during pre-season. It would be good to see what he’s capable of, in the position he aspires to play.

Kyle Bartley

Just a quick update on the not so new players to make the first team this year. Bartley, the English CB, standing tall at 6ft 3in, made 18 appearances to his loaned team Rangers, where he impressed the coaches.

Although, I can never get over the fact Bartley scored an own goal in the Emirates cup last season (84th min) after coming on for Koscielny, knocking us out of our own cup! The 21 year old is also one for jumping into tackles, which we saw a lot last season at Rangers, receiving 5 yellow cards in his 18 appearances.

6ft 3in Kyle Bartley

“He is fast becoming a regular fixture in the Rangers starting eleven and adds reliability and steel to the full-back slot.” – Rangers.co.uk (Last season)

Therefore I’m looking forward to Bartley as an extra addition to the squad, he adds security to the back four, but can also play a defensive midfield role too.

Henri Lansbury

Last season, Lansbury took a season long loan to newly relegated Championship side West Ham. On his debut against Portsmouth, Henri scored and received the man of the match award. He also showed throughout his loan spell his passion to play for the team and contributed to them being promoted back into the Premier League.

Lansbury, the solid midfielder

In more recent news, Lansbury tapped in a goal against Belgium league winners, Anderlecht, to help Arsenal secure a 1:0 victory and to win the Markus Liebherr Memorial Cup.

Lansbury told ArsenalPlayer after the match “”It’s always nice to play for the club you have been with for so long, and hopefully I can put on the shirt many more times,”

In my opinion I feel he will be able to replace the loss of Yossi Bennayoun and also Rosicky, who only has a couple of years let on his contract. At just 21, Lansbury is also an exciting England prospect, playing central Midfield and captaining the U16 England side when he was younger, he also has a bright future ahead.

Although, I don’t feel he will have a massive part to play within this season, he may have to step up to the role of Centre Midfield if some injuries occur. But, I do feel he will have a big part to play in Arsenal’s future.

Contracts

Talking of contract talks, Van Persie is also set to have more contract talks this week, after it has been rumored that Arsenal rejected Juventus to speak to Van Persie about a possible move to the Italian side.

In addition to this point Walcott will also have vital talks with Arsene about an increased wage, which I mentioned earlier. Another contract that I feel needs sorting is Alex Song who only has 2 more seasons left on his contract. I feel he has had a massive impact on the success of the team and at just 24, he deserves a better contract with the amount of potential he has.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the post and any feedback would be brilliant, also follow me on twitter for more up to date information and articles: @CallumAFC14

A tribute to Pat Rice – A Legendary Gooner, through and through

Guest Columns, Latest News, Main Blog No Responses »

Jun 102012

Article from 24/4/2012 – Morning all, today I have a fantastic blogger to introduce, his name is Andy Wood but most of you may know him as @yorkshiregunner. In this piece he celebrates the career of a man that has given so much for the club, and will sadly be departing us at the seasons end. It is of course, the one and only Pat Rice. Enjoy! – Arsenation,

I have read lots of blogs/tweets about whom we should get in if at the end of the season Pat Rice does stand down this summer. I don’t want to retread other more intelligent bloggers than myself about whom we should get in to replace him but I`d like to look back on Arsenal`s Number 2 and give an opinion into what a genuine club legend has done for our great Club.

I`d like to thank Pat Rice (who seems to be a bit of a joke figure amongst some Arsenal Fans, unfairly in my view) for nigh on 44 Years of great service.

Pat Rice was Arsenals Right-Back for virtually the entire decade that was the 70s,please think about that for a second, that alone is an amazing achievement in itself. Add to that the fact he was part of the legendary 71 double winning side and sprinkle on top the fact Rice was Captain of the Club which reached 4 major finals in 4 years, its a hell of a career.

Pat Rice should be revered just for his playing career alone at our club but when you consider he has been involved in coaching at one level or another since 1984 and what the club has achieved since then, he has made a huge impact in the honours we have won in this time. Rice first took over the Youth Team in 1984 and went on to win 2 FA Youth Cups during his time in the role. When you delve deeper into those FA Youth Victories a lot of credit must go down to Rice`s tactical acumen as only really Kevin Campbell was the stand-out talent of either Cup Winning Sides…( Hillier, Morrow & Stephen Hughes the other notables ). Whilst in his role as Youth team Manager Rice was involved at Anfield on the Famous Title Winning Night in 89. Perhaps George Graham felt Rice could add some title winning nous to the Dressing Room on that occasion or did he feel the need to take Rice to arrange the flower tributes the Arsenal Players ran onto the field with that evening? Whilst Graham was in charge Rice stayed in charge of the Youths as Graham had firstly Theo Foley then Stuart Houston as his good cops to his Col Gaddaffi image. When GG left under the dark cloud of his own making Bruce Rioch kept faith in Houston as his number 2. However when Arsenal`s Board ( or rather David Dein) decided to jettison Rioch after just one season Houston left to take up the Managers Job at QPR ( Rioch went as HIS number 2 ! ) the board turned to Rice to steady the ship until the mysterious Arsene Wenger ( who? ) could take over.

Rice took charge of Arsenal for 3 PL games and enjoys a 100% win rate. He however couldn’t manage to get over the Borussia Mönchengladbach hurdle in the Uefa Cup before Wenger arrived and took the club onwards to Utopia.

Pat Rice has been involved in all three of Arsenals Doubles as either a player (71) or as a coach (98,2002) only Bob Wilson can also claim the same. It also shouldn`t be overlooked that Rice also Coached the Invincibles during the memorable 49 match unbeaten run or he was within 13 mins of winning a Champions League Final. In fact during most fans lives as Arsenal Fans Pat Rice has been involved in all things great at Arsenal, not bad for a bloke that “just puts the cones out and hands the players their bibs”—one of my mates said that about Mr Rice.

Wenger for all his faults knew Pat Rice was highly valued by the club and players when he first arrived and kept him on as his number 2. He has also if rumours are to be believed talked Pat into prolonging his Arsenal Career rather than taking up retirement on a couple of occasions. Twitter is alive with rumours about who should take over when Rice does leave. A Patrick Vieira may well have more status abroad but compare the two, Rice has given almost all his working life to Arsenal Football Club and didn`t take a Sheiks cash or made up title and start to entice Arsenal Players away from us, yet who amongst us feels Vieira is a bigger club legend? Yes, Paddy was a great player for us but deep down is he really a fully fledged Real Arsenal Man? Read his Twitter Bio… we are a footnote in his career. Whereas Rice lives and breathes Arsenal Football Club.

Many names will and have been mentioned about who will take over from Rice, I doubt many of them feel for us like Pat Rice does and has done for nearly half a century. I agree that Football evolves and part of Fergusons success at Utd has been in part to freshening up his coaching staff but we should never lose sight of the fact that ex players who have a genuine love for the club are worth more than some flash in the pan fashionable name of the month.

Whoever does take up the number 2 position has my sincerest best wishes; he has some legendary boots to fill when the time comes.

Agree or disagree say hello on twitter @yorkshiregunner

[NEW POLL] Bould vs Banfield

A Tribute to a true Arsenal Legend – Patrick James “Pat” Rice

Guest Columns 3 Responses »

Apr 242012

Morning all, today I have a fantastic blogger to introduce, his name is Andy Wood but most of you may know him as @yorkshiregunner. In this piece he celebrates the career of a man that has given so much for the club, and will sadly be departing us at the seasons end. It is of course, the one and only Pat Rice. Enjoy! – Arsenation,

I`d like to thank Pat Rice (who seems to be a bit of a joke figure amongst some Arsenal Fans, unfairly in my view) for nigh on 44 Years of great service.

Whoever does take up the number 2 position has my sincerest best wishes; he has some legendary boots to fill when the time comes.

Agree or disagree say hello on twitter @yorkshiregunner

Koscielny: Red would have been better – Dempsey links – Transformed Arsenal

Main Blog 2 Responses »

Apr 112012

To this day I still cannot understand the intelligence behind the Accumulated Yellow card rule.

If you are unfamiliar, let me explain. If an player is booked ten times from the opening day of the season – to the second Sunday in April, he must serve a ban of two Premier League matches. This in all well and good, but when you are in the position of Laurent Koscielny last Sunday, it seems ludicrous that his suspension would have been reduced, had he been shown a red card for a more serious incident. Arsene Wenger spoke about the illogicality of the decision in a press conference before the Wolves match,

“As we understand the situation, with a red card he would have been less suspended than one yellow.”

“It is not completely logical but we have to take it on board and he will be suspended for the next two games.”

Arsene is completely right, this is a ridiculous rule that needs to be reviewed. The fact that a player can avoid a larger ban by committing a more serious offence is completely against the morals of our beautiful game. The FA live in a wonderful world where anything they say goes, they make more controversial comments that Kenny Dalglish on a bad day. This horseplay is degrading the reputation of our nations sport and the FA must amend these poor decision before it gets out of hand.

In other news this morning, Clint Dempsey is being heavily linked with an Arsenal switch this summer. The on form American is currently plying his trade elsewhere in London, playing under Martin Jol at Fullham. At the ripe age of 29 some may question the £10 million price tag he is carrying but if I remember rightly; we paid a similar amount for Arteta, who is getting on a bit too.

There is no doubt he would fit in perfectly with our system, and that he has the talent and flare to be successful playing with some of the worlds finest. He has an impressive scoring record of 22 goals in all competitions this term, including a priceless equaliser against Chelsea in midweek, reducing their chances of Champions League qualification next year. In my opinion, we need a dynamic attacking midfielder to support RVP and provide goals, Dempsey playing behind him, and Podolski to his left next season, would be a force to be reckoned with, and hopefully provide enough firepower to push for the title.

Speaking of trophies, Mikel Arteta has warned the Manchester clubs that Arsenal will come back stronger than ever next season, in their attempt to reclaim the Premier League title for the first time in 8 years. Speaking to sports mail he said,

“We’ve missed big players this season, Abou Diaby, Jack Wilshere. They haven’t played at all and are massive players.

“We know we have really good players and maybe, just maybe, we can do even better than what we have done this year.”

After only earning 4 points from a possible 15 at the start of the season, we spent a while in 17th position. Arteta reminds the fans how hard the team have had to work to get to their current position,

“We’ve put in a big effort, we are in a strong position now and we don’t want to waste it.”

This season signifies a remarkable turnaround in our overall team confidence. Maybe it’s the instalments of experienced players? Or maybe the team have learnt from the past, but in a period of the season where we usually experience a dip in form, we have returned to our strongest. Arsene Wenger deserves a lot of credit, but I do think Pat Rice doesn’t receive the plaudits he deserves. Sadly he will be leaving the club this summer but I think we all appreciate his contribution over the years. Anyway, thats that, look forward to the match this evening and let’s hope for another win.

Till then,

Enjoy this? Follow me on twitter @arsenation or Facebook