Intervju: @arseblog

Vi fortsätter med intervjuerna. Denna gång växlar vi språk och flyger över till de brittiska öarna för att snacka lite med @arseblog.

Vi är tacksamma över att människan bakom Arseblog tagit sig tid till att svara på våra mail. Arseblog finns i olika sociala medier och har tex 482 000 följare på Facebook och 277 000 följare på Twitter. Han driver även en hemsida. Länkarna till sidorna finner ni längst ned, efter intervjun. Intervjun sker på engelska och kommer inte översättas för att minska eventuella missförstånd i översättningen. God läsning!

Hi! First of all, thank you for letting us take part of your thoughts. Tell us, who is @arseblog and how did you end up supporting Arsenal?

My name is Andrew Mangan, and I grew up in the 1970s as an Irish kid in England. At that time Arsenal had lots of Irish players - Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton, David O’Leary and John Devine, as well as Pat Rice, Pat Jennings and Sammy Nelson from Northern Ireland – I think that’s what connected me to the club. Now, I’m a man who lives in Dublin and writes about the club we all support every day.

Tell us a bit about your match day routines.

I don’t really have any to be honest. Most of the time a match means work. We do a lot of stuff on the site for each game. There’s pre-match team news, a live blog, match report, player ratings and everything else that goes on, so that tends to be my match day routine. If I’m over for a game it’s very different though. Some drinks with friends in The Tollington before the game, some drinks and food after, and possibly a late Ryanair flight back home.

How would you summarize this season and how you would you say that the most of the Arsenal fans (you have been talking to) feel about this past season?

I can’t speak for most fans, only myself, although it’s been fairly apparent there has been a lot of frustration. Now that it’s over it’s easier to look back at it a bit more objectively. Obviously finishing outside the top four for the first time in 20 years is a disappointment, but we did get 75 points – the highest ever to not qualify for the Champions League.
Of course the season ended on a high with that great FA Cup win which I’m sure everyone enjoyed, and any season when you win a trophy has to be considered successful.
However, the inability to maintain and sustain a real title challenge was really frustrating, especially as we spent a lot of money last summer and the squad looked really good. I do think the beginning and the end of the season were much more representative of our quality, but that period between the end of January and the end of April absolutely fucked us.

Arsené Wenger have agreed a two-year extension on his contract. A huge scale of the Arsenal fans has been really rough to him this season, for various reasons. It seems that the Arsenal fans is more divided then ever. What's your say on this whole situation?

On one hand I wanted to see a new manager, it just feels like there’s only so much of the same season people can take. On the other, I can understand why the club made the decision to renew his contract. Our structures need a lot of work, from boardroom to scouting to coaching, the lot – and without Wenger, who remains the man with most of the football knowledge at the club, I think we’d really struggle at the moment. I would have had little faith in this board finding the right man at such short notice.
Hopefully over the period of this new deal, we can modernise and future proof the club so that when the transition is made from Arsene Wenger to a new manager, we do it in the right way. Because whatever people think about him, he has a huge influence over football matters at Arsenal, and that’s not easy to replace in just one man. We might need to appoint a team of people to take over (e.g manager + director of football + football executives etc).

Personally I feel like Arsenal is standing still while the other teams around are developing their game. What do you say Arsenal is missing compared to the other teams that ended up in front of us this season?

I think the move to a back three is promising. It shows some tactical flexibility, and it has helped the midfield function – something that has been an issue for quite some time, especially without Santi Cazorla. I think the one component we’re really missing is that famous ‘world class striker’, so hopefully the club can find that man this summer.

The fifth spot means that Europa League is waiting for Arsenal. How would you like to see the team approach this competition next season?

It’s a chance to win a trophy, and Arsenal have only won two European trophies in our history. Our terrible record in the Champions League means we can’t be snobby about the Europa League. Take it seriously, try and win it.

Summer means a new transfer season with a lot of speculations as always. Özil and our player of the season Alexis has one year left on their contracts for example. What would you say is Arsenal key transfer targets/goals this season?

Keeping Alexis and Ozil is hugely important and doing so would help us attract other top players. At the same time, bringing in a really top player or two might help convince Sanchez and Ozil that Arsenal mean business and can win the Premier League next season. Arsene Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and the rest have a very big, multi-faceted job on their hands this summer, so let’s hope they can get it right.