Anonymous asked: Did you see Jensen score?
If only, if only! I remember it happening, but I wasn’t there, unfortunately.
Back story: John Jensen was a Danish midfielder that Arsenal signed in the early 1990s. At his old club, and for the national team, he was known as a goal-scorer from the middle of midfield, but he didn’t live up to that reputation whilst at Arsenal.
He used to shoot really often, but it would never go in. It became a joke, eventually, and I think it was something like 130 games into his Arsenal career before he finally scored. Away at QPR, if memory serves.
This moment entered into Arsenal folklore, and immediately there were t-shirts made up with the slogan “I was there when Jensen scored”. I think I’m right in saying that they sold many, many more t-shirts than the actual number of fans on the night…
afootballreport asked ‘Who has been Arsenal’s Player of the Year so far? For me, it would have definitely been RvP, but now I’m not sure.’
OK, this was originally asked on my other blog, but here seems a better place to answer.
For me, it’s got to be Alex Song. He’s been absolutely fantastic in the defensive midfield role, and has really grown into it this year. You can see just how much he dominates that part of the pitch, breaking up attacks and intercepting passes. His positional sense is just tremendous.
He’s also very good with the ball at his feet, unlike other players who do the Makelele role, including Makelele himself. Song is a lot more confident taking the ball on and going past players, surging into the box ahead of the other midfielders.
But he’s equally aware of times when one of the centre-backs goes past him, just dropping into the middle of defence when Gallas or Vermaelen heads upfield momentarily. Gilberto used to do the same thing, effortlessly, and it’s a sign of footballing intelligence to recognise the need to cover gaps when they arise.
He’s also a very physical player, which is something we sorely lack in midfield. He adds a bit of grunt and an ability to compete against teams which come to kick us off the park.
I should also add that Gallas has been immaculate this season. His partnership with Vermaelen seems to be one that just works.
First things first: I’m an Arsenal fan, and have been for nearly 20 years. I have a season ticket, and go to pretty much every home game. I also watch most away games on TV or on the web. I read a couple of Arsenal blogs, and Arsenal-related news is what I look for in newspapers first.
I’ve no bones about letting this influence my writing here, but this isn’t an Arsenal blog. Go read Arseblog or the like if you want that.
I intend to write about anything that comes to mind football-wise, be it thoughts on the last Arsenal game, transfer rumours, laughing at other teams’ misfortunes (I’m looking at you, red half of Merseyside) and just about everything connected with the beautiful game.
I’m not one of those people that harks back to the “good ole days” of players earning a pittance and every game kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday. I love the amount of coverage that football gets nowadays, on TV and in other media. I think it’s added something to football as a whole, even if the tabloid lies when it comes to transfer rumours leave a little something to be desired…
If you like it, let me know on Twitter or leave a comment (when I get that up and running).
