Great news came out of the club yesterday that Jack Wilshere signed a new ‘long term’ contract. Yes, we all knew he probably would but it’s good when its official, all we need now is for Szczesny to follow in his footsteps.
Last week, K-TR7 highlighted an excellent article about the psychology within football and especially at Arsenal. The man with that task is Jacques Crevoisier – he is the brains behind Arsene Wenger’s youth revolution.
Crevoisier and Wenger have known each other for over 40 years and the latter trusts Crevoisier to ‘delve into the minds’ of our up and coming players to see if they have what it takes to make in the big league of football. It will cause little surprise to find out that Jack Wilshere comes out well in the tests he asked to undergo, as did Henry, Anelka, Trezeguet in their younger days and latterly, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey.
Arsene Wenger always tells me that you have to be clever to play for Arsenal and that is where he starts, without that, you cannot fit into his system. At Arsenal I’ve done tests for all the young players. They were all outstanding psychologically. I think Wilshere’s showed him to be a bit more confident than Walcott but they all had some of the best profiles you will see.
The test that these players take involves answering 117 questions and from their answers Crevoisier is able to deduce their strengths and weaknesses something which helps Arsene Wenger judge his players.
The test measures their psychological endurance, competitiveness, emotional control, stress resistance and aggression among other things.
The player has to answer questions like:-
‘Even in training, I want to show I am better than the others’ and ‘I am ready to hurt my adversary in order to win’.
There is no yes or no answer, it’s a case of how strong the player agrees or disagrees with the statement when applying it to themself.
Crevoisier has worked across Europe, especially in France and when he compares the French players with the English, he says that the results are ‘alarming’
Young English players come across as more committed and aggressive in the test but their self-confidence and concentration is not as good, the lack of self-confidence is understandable because it is so difficult to get a chance to break through.
If you are at an average-sized club in France you will get the opportunity to play. At the same size club in England, you have, say, a 28-year-old international with lots of caps in front of you and the chance is not there. Young players in France feel they have a better chance of getting a professional contract.
However, that cannot be said about things at Arsenal – Wengers youth policy pays to that and that policy is partly thanks to Crevoisier and his philosophy
Crevoisier began his psychometric testing when working with French Olympic hopefuls before Gerard Houllier recruited him to work with the French FA.
I was a player-coach at 25 when I started studying for a PhD in psychology. I developed the test and used it on everyone from the Under 15s to the Under 21s. Coaches were happy with the football side and tactics, they understood the physical and fitness side of the game but they weren’t sure about psychology and motivation.
English players come across as more committed and aggressive in the test but their self-confidence and concentration is not as good’ There were good players who weren’t performing properly and nobody could work out why. We wanted to assess their personalities, see the weaknesses and correct what we could. So I came in with this test and we ended up changing 50 per cent of the Under 18 team.
The test is like taking a picture but if I take a picture of you in the summer and then one in the winter, you will have a different face. I discuss the results with the coach to make sure it is a true reflection of what they see daily. ‘If we find the same problems, we can try to fix them. For example, if a player has a concentration problem, is no good just saying ‘Concentrate’. So you give them an exercise to hit sharp passes along the ground, no mistakes allowed, and they have to concentrate.
With 14-year-olds you ask them to do it for a minute, 18-year-olds maybe two. If you do that three times a week, you will notice the difference. I remember Steven Gerrard doing that exercise and I have never seen anyone do it as well in my life. In the early 1990s he was testing what was to become France’s golden generation. ‘Thierry Henry and Mikael Silvestre are probably the two best profiles I have ever seen and their tests were brilliant at 16.
I have tests for Henry, Silvestre, Nicolas Anelka, David Trezeguet and Willy Sagnol at 16, 18 and 20 and they were all excellent. When Anelka was 15, he was a little bit of a difficult personality but he had incredible self-confidence for someone of his age.
Not all of the clubs he has worked for though have been without frustration as Crevoisier explains:-
I worked for Tottenham’s academy for two years when Damien Comolli was there, I have a 10-minute rule, which means players practise a weakness at the end of training for 10 minutes. The results are brilliant.
I remember giving the young players at Tottenham their tasks and they would do them at the end of training. The problem was that the players were not given a chance in the first team – they still aren’t. What is the point of having an academy if you don’t use those players?
Crevoisier wants to work with more clubs in England but he finds it difficult to convince managers to believe in his work. I’m not surprised, most of them are old dinosaurs and as the saying goes ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’
Just imagine Fat Sam introducing this at Blackburn, or Tony Pulis at Stoke, nah, the only question they need to answer is do their players strongly agree or disagree with ‘ I WILL get the player if I can’t get the ball’!!
Of course, we all know the answer to that don’t we?
Morning all, bit late but you know what they say 😉
So in other words, all four won’t be going…..
Wenger also has to decide about the inclusion of Alex Song (calf), Andrey Arshavin and Denilson (groin), all three face tests before the team fly out on Monday afternoon.
“Cesc Fabregas will not travel,” said Wenger. “It is a mixture of caution and his hamstring. We cannot take the gamble.
“He has a good chance to play on Sunday but tomorrow would be a risk.
“He has no real strain but he has a little pain. He has had injuries before on his hamstring and he is a little bit reluctant to push 100 per cent.
“Alex Song has a problem with his calf. We’ll assess that today. He has a chance not to travel. Andrey has a little problem and we may leave him at home. Denilson has a groin problem.
“Those four players are the concern. The only player out is Cesc Fabregas. The other three will be assessed later.”
morning rico…
morning oliver, can’t believe i thought it was tuesday yesterday, its today the spuddies get mashed 😉
good that cesc is being rested, i hope AA gets a rest too….
Hi all.
yep. i would like to win outright tomorrow and put cl ko round qualification to bed, but i don’t think taking cesc is worth the risk. arshavin can clearly use the rest and it is probably better to not risk song and denilson. i assume diaby is fit, so we will probably see him return to the side.
Hi K-TR7,
i’m with you on that oliver, i guess we won’t know the squad until tomorrow, unless they travel today?
the website still has diaby as injured…
hmmm…we may be a bit short in central midfield then. jack will return…will arsene consider starting eastmond?
jack the lad is back!!!!!!!!
i hope he doesn’t risk song if he’s not 100%…. eastmond won’t fill us with confidence though, bit lightweight…
he is KT, with no denilson or song, could be a tough one…
I’m sure AW is playing mind games rico. song and denilson will be there…
arsene has a difficult choice, this can really become a problem if a few of these injuries lead to a prolonged absence. the first thing is not to risk anyone unnecessarily: cesc is already confirmed as staying behind. unless arsene is completely sure any of the other three are ok, i would also leave them behind and not risk it. long flight, cold temps (lower 40’s and cloudy projected for tomorrow evening in donetsk), probably a hard pitch. of these four, only denilson is not a starter, but it is imperative that he stays fit and available, as he is our first reserve in center midfield.
so i think eastmond will get the nod – not sure who else arsene will put in center midfield. that will be a little lightweight, but the alternative seems to be to play someone who may not be completely fit.
the squad flies out to the ukraine today, correct? if so, we’ll get a good idea who will start from who boards the plane…
we certainly need them KT, like oliver says, get this game won, secure top spot with it and then we can play a mixed bunch for the last couple of games, including giving chesney a taste of CL footie…
cesc should have come off at half-time against west ham, why do we take these risks??
rico, remember that arsene kept cesc in because it was 0-0 at the time. i think – don’t know for certain, mind you – that arsene would have subbed him if we scored earlier than two minutes from time. i think this is one of those situations where arsene thought we had to take three points from the match, and would keep going with cesc as long as we were still level…
my concern about this is the possibility that arsene is being a bit disingenuous and under-emphasizing the extent of pain cesc felt in hammy on saturday. if that it actually the case, then there is a reasonable chance that cesc may miss more than just tomorrow – and then we will have to consider whether playing cesc for the entire match saturday was worth the three points. as long as the hammy does not keep him sidelined for an extended period, it was…if the reverse turns out to be the case, however…
all that says to me though oliver is that wenger relies far too much on cesc and that we don’t have a match changing substitute on the bench.. to be fair, wenger was far too defensive on saturday and had theo started we may very well have had the game wrapped up by half time…
we have won games without cesc this season and no player should be risked regardless of the score imho, i also think wenger is being a little economic with the truth with his injury and it could very well bite us hard on the bum….
on top of that though, cesc was totally off his game, he wouldn’t have been a ‘massive’ loss….
that is certainly my concern – that cesc’s hammy is worse that he says it is.
whatever arsene says, we’ll know soon enough – if cesc should not make the squad for the newcastle match – and arsene, by stating cesc “has a good chance to play on sunday” is also leaving the door open cesc’s omission – then we can logically deduce the hammy is more serious than arsene is currently indicating.
at the moment, theo is about as close to a match-changing sub that we have. i actually thought he should have started (for denilson) on saturday. i imagine that arsene was thinking that “if we don’t have the lead, i cannot bring my best player off unless circumstances absolutely dictate it”. for those last four words, one can reasonably argue that cesc feeling his hamstring “absolutely dictated” his substitution at/around halftime. but arsene is the person that had to make the in-match decision. cesc completed the match and we got three points – we just have to hope these points did not come at too high of a cost…
Samir Nasri has pipped the likes of Rafael Van der Vaart and Carlos Tevez to the coveted ESPN PFA Fans’ Player of the Month award in the Premier League.
The Arsenal midfielder has been in sparkling form this season, and has added consistency – as well as goals – to the craft Arsene Wenger spotted from an early age.
The Gunners’ boss hails Nasri as a ‘dream player’, and the reward for his superb form will be a new contract at the Emirates.
Nasri has scored seven times this season, including the opening goal in the 3-0 win over Manchester City at Eastlands last Sunday.
“When you analyse Samir Nasri he has all the qualities and he now adds efficiency to his game and that makes him a great player,” said manager Arsene Wenger.
cesc himself suggested his performance – at least during the first half – was abject. to be fair to him, i thought he improved as the match went on.
if we jack available for that match, arsene may have had the flexibility to bring cesc off. song and denilson were there in midfield with him, indicating a lack of creativity. arsene may have been able to sub cesc for theo and move nasri into cesc’s slot, but i am not sure that would have worked that well.
The agent of Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure admits Arsenal wanted to sign the Ivorian in the summer.
Toure has caused great controversy over leaving City’s defeat against Arsenal early last week.
But Dmitri Seluk explained to the Daily Mail: “Yaya got angry last week. He gets angry if he thinks people around him don’t feel the same about winning.
“Arsene Wenger likes Yaya very much and wanted Yaya to sign in the summer so the game against Arsenal was a very emotional day.
“He has such a winning mentality that he will fight with anyone, player, fan or staff who does not share this.”
Benik Afobe has agreed to join League One side Huddersfield Town on loan until January, Young Guns has learnt.
The 17-year-old, who scored 11 goals in 13 appearances last season as the Under 18′s retained the Premier Academy League, will link up with Huddersfield later this week. Arsène Wenger and Pat Rice have both held discussions with Afobe and decided he was ready for league football.
The powerful front-man is currently enjoying his first season as a regular in the Reserve team, where he has been operating in an unfamiliar right wing role. However, its a position he’s had success in, playing their for England Under 17′s as they won the European Championships last summer.
Afobe, who has two years left to run on his current contract, could feature in Town’s weekend clash against Sheffield Wednesday.
coveted? anything voted for by fans is usually a popularity contest.
i think nasri is fully deserving of the bcpl player of the month gong, but i’ll bet it goes to hernandez or someone else. a bit like the world series mvp last night – renteria may have gotten the award, but i will laugh in the face of anyone who suggests he was more important to the series than tim lincecum. nobody was more important that lincecum.
spot on re jack, still, at least he’s back now….
newcastle are going to be a handful, especially with ameobi and carroll playing… they made sunderland look like a sunday league side….. and sunderland aren’t that bad….
KT, i’m glad Citeh got Yaya and not us, the overweight lump of lard 🙂
One man who probably relishes Champions League nights more than most is striker Marouane Chamakh as the free transfer summer signing from Bordeaux admits the pace of the Premier League has been a culture shock.
“I almost had a seizure when I first played for Arsenal,” the 26-year-old declared. “I told myself that I would never be able to stand up to playing an entire match.
“At Arsenal we go on the attack all the time, and I was completely unaware when I first joined them. At times I wanted our keeper to slow down play a little by keeping hold of the ball. But no, he’d launch it up field straight away.”
RIco Yaya’s arse is a no-no…
as is his wage packet…
Sky Sports analyst Chris Kamara has selected Nani’s controversial goal for Manchester United against Tottenham Hotspur as his goal of the week. Accepting that the strike lacked the aesthetic beauty of his usual nominations, the eccentric commentator stressed that it’s individuality made it a stand out candidate.
The Portuguese star handled the ball after falling in the penalty box, but despite the offence took advantage of a misunderstanding between Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes and referee Mark Clattenburg to slot the ball in the net while the Brazilian readied what he believed to be a free-kick.
Speaking about the goal on his weekly Sky Sports blog, Kamara noted:
“It was far from being the best goal of the weekend but it was what everyone was talking about.
“Whatever the rights or wrongs of it where, we have never seen anything like it in the Premiership.
“Every year the game throws up something different and this year it looks to be that goal from Nani.”
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp meanwhile has threatened a media blackout in the aftermath of the goal should he be charged for his post-match comments about the controversy.
off topic but…
In what will be perceived as a shock snubbing of Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has singled out Mesut Oezil as the best player in world football.
“In my view, Oezil is the best footballer in the world,” the businessman told Welt am Sonntag.
Oezil is not the only German to receive plaudits from the higher ups at Real Madrid. After this weekend’s match against Hercules, Sami Khedira drew special praise from coach Jose Mourinho.
“He was outstanding everywhere; in midfield, in central defence after Pepe’s replacement, he was top,” Mourinho said. The Portuguese hailed Khedira as the “best player” of the encounter.
In compliment to Khedira, Perez added that the 23-year-old will “one day be among the very best footballers”.
After starring for Germany at the 2010 World Cup, Khedira and Oezil joined Real Madrid for a combined sum on the order of just €30 million. After initial reports revealed that the pair were struggling to acclimate to life in Spain, they have rapidly become integral parts of the side that now tops the Spanish Primera table.
Barca are avoiding mourinho’s war of words…
Barcelona midfielder Xavi believes that team-mate Lionel Messi is already superior to legendary Argentine Diego Maradona, and that players of his ability only emerge every 50 years.
Speaking in an interview with FIFA.com, the Spanish World Cup winner lavished praise on his club colleague, remarking: “A player like him only comes around once every 50 years. The only reason the rest of us have any chance of winning this year is because the World Cup didn’t turn out too well for Argentina, because if it had, then it [the FIFA Ballon d’Or] would be no contest.
“In my view, Leo is now even better than [Diego] Maradona was. He’s going to be at the very top for many years to come, there’s nobody like him.”
The Ballon d’Or candidate however refused to be drawn into a discussion on the current form of Real Madrid, and indeed the conduct of coach Jose Mourinho, concluding: “Let me be clear. We will not go into a war of words. We raise our battles within the football pitch.
“There are two Mourinhos, the man and the coach. We have to take the positive side of this and use him to motivate us. We want to win by playing good football and he just wants to win any which way.
“Sometimes we Barcelona players need extra motivational factors to really perform, and Mourinho gives us one. The fact that they [Real Madrid] went looking for him, that they paid a release clause, that he used to work for Barcelona and knows us all and wants to get one over us. In that sense, Mourinho’s presence works in our favour.”
welcome to the big boys tiny totts…
Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta has hinted that the Catalan club are interested in Tottenham’s Gareth Bale.
But Zubizarreta insists that the interest has not gone any further, claiming that no enquiries have been made.
The Welshman has been lethal on the left flank for Spurs this season, and even scored a hat-trick in last month’s Champions League game against Inter at the San Siro.
“He is an interesting footballer with a different style which could be positive for La Liga,” Zubizarreta said on COM Radio.
“But I need to make it clear I have not spoken to anyone.”
i love that from chamakh KT 🙂
just imagine if we had got ozil, we could rest cesc then 😉
barca won’t be able to afford Bale KT just like they can’t afford cesc, how many more players are they going to talk about, it was modric a few days ago i think….
but like you say, welcome to our world tiny totts….
again off topic, if i were wenger i would seriously keep an eye on what is going on a citeh, slowly but surely manchini is ruining adam johnson….. soon he will want out and we should be ready….
mancini won’t be around city long enough to kill adam johnson – or anyone else…
he won’t make it to christmas the way things are going. cowardly tactics, square pegs in round holes, may have lost the dressing room. i thought he was a bad hire at the time – the job is too big for him.
but i can’t see the next manager doing anything different really oliver, however no doubt he would sell some, buy some more big names and go down the same route…
who would want to manage them?? who is actually available thats any good?
its great 😆
that will be city’s challenge – to get someone in that is credible, has won, and can get the best out of players and manage a dressing room like that. the only person i can think of that has that portfolio and may be available is guus hiddink – but i do not think he would take the job. ottmar hitzfeld also fits the profile, but after his he second spell at bayern, i think he said he was all but done with club football.
so city will probably do what they would consider the next best thing – high profile, someone that has won a significant trophy. frank rijkaard (who i do not think is a great manager), perhaps. or fabio capello. whomever they will bring in will probably be better than mancini – but may not have all the aspects necessary to succeed in the job.
i laugh and sometimes sneer at gary cook and sheikh mansour’s stooges, along with everyone else. i would, however, suggest that they do know what they have with adam johnson, and the chances of us – or anyone else, for that matter – prising him from city are nil, at best.
oliver, every player is available for the right price, he’s not a city boy at heart and has no loyalty to them… old red nose or ancelotti will soon go sniffing around, you wait and see….
anyway, thats their problem 🙂
Thank you KT, all arrived safe and sound….
rico have you received my CL post?
KT, behind you…… 🙂
but what is the right price? i think city know they have a gem and they are the last team that needs the money. if mancini is misusing him and he is unhappy – and we don’t even know that – you fix the problem by sacking mancini.
don’t forget he was in the boro reserves before he city snapped him up – he is at a big club and is a very important player for them. the problem – if one actually exists – would seem to be with mancini’s man-management skills and player utilization.
i see nothing to believe that johnson will suddenly grow restless and start casting eyes at other clubs. city is his first big club – we don’t know that he does not have any loyalty to them. he is playing prem and european football, is on good wages, is an england international – is his lot really that bad?
nor do i see anything to indicate that any other club is inclined to make a bid.
i THINK city made a big cuck up by sacking Sparky- the players respected him and was genuinely scared of the way he looks.
He would have settled the team by now and picked his best eleven.
He wouldn’t have wasted money on Baletti, Yaya or Viera (Sorry)then Barry would have concentrated on his game and Adam Johnson would have benefited greatly on the rotation with Shawn right Philips.
Machini will survive Christmas but will be sacked 3days before the window opens.
Man City will be a mess this season and sacking Sparky just shows you they are clueless.
The new owners should have changed the board room staff .
Well maybe we might get Adam Johnson but they will never sell to us.Then again we dont need him, we have Walcott, Eboue,Nasri and even RVP that can play that position.
When Wenger is not interested in someone every wise coach should be weary (Yaya Toure)
oliver… we’ll have to wait and see on that one 😉
Afternoon SD, i’d take johnson over Eboue 😉
That’s the problem SD, big name players want a big name manager and hughes wasn’t that, however, i do agree he may very well have whipped them into shape by now…
mancini has done what rafa often did, thats waste money on ‘big named’ very average players… and to think they have Craig Bellamy out on loan at Cardiff… wth is that all about….
Shawcross is the future of England football according to pundits.he had 6/90 successfull passes against everton:thats 10% completion or 1 pass every 15 minutes…
He needs to stop the bad tackles though KT….
Ashley Young
Luke Young
Richards(Man City)
Cahill(Bolton)
Lescott
Bendtley(feature Beckham – remember ?)
Just to mention a few.
Got to pop out guys and gals, back a bit later….
SORRY PREVIOUSLY INCOMPLETE
a good game is not enough but series of consistent games with good performance.
Then it depends on who the pundits are, they usually get it wrong.
Ashley Young
Luke Young
Richards(Man City)
Cahill(Bolton)
Lescott
Bendtley(feature Beckham – remember ?)
Just to mention a few.
Hi SD…
hi KT
wakey wakey !!
United play BURSASPOR = ROB A SPURS…coincidence or conspiracy?…
K-TR7….thats spooky!! 🙂
I think Inter Will Defend like mad.
Hi tbuzz.looking forward to spuds vs Cl champions…it should be fun!arry has said he’ll attack inter…Benitez may have flaws but is almost perfect in Europe.spurs should attack inter at their own peril.
well it is boring today.
Am out of here.
Yeah K-TR7, hope the Spurdz get mashed up like Mashed Potato!
8)
Just breezing through, been a busy day.
Anyone see Ian Holloway’s post-match interview? He cracks me up and I like his honesty.
Anyway, have a great evening y’all!!
slow day, indeed. i will be heading out to the polling station in a few hours to vote. we have congressional mid-term elections today, with u.s. senate and house seats up for grabs, plus several state governorships.
hi all, anyone around??
hi rico, i am still here. will head out in the next hour to vote…
hi oliver…
see the reserves lost to villa today, not so good…
that was their first loss, wasn’t it?
i’m not sure oliver, unlike them to lose at home though…. maybe the loans have made a difference and JET and Lansbury will probably travel to ukraine…
oliver, i’m going to sign off for today… go safe on your travels to vote and catch you tomorrow sometime…
was hoping to find out the travelling squad but no news yet…
Stay safe all, nighty night….
thanks rico, and same. i have to get going in a few minutes. i will be very happy when midnight strikes – some of the negative campaign advertising has been downright repulsive. we’ll see what the results bring.
i hope whoever you vote for wins 😆
Take care oliver….
Morning all, anyone around…
new post up