The First Özil

'Tis the season and all so settle in for some Christmas inspired ridiculousness. First up is our man Mesut. His arrival signaled a sea change in our transfer policy and confirmed that dry powder does indeed explode spectacularly. 

The first Özil

That the Arsenal did see

Was the perfect control of a ball down the wing

From the wing he played, with just the right weight

A pass to Giroud served up on a plate

 Özil Özil Özil Özil

Born is the king of Ashburton Grove

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What A Footballer

Many weren't overly familiar with the true quality of Arsenal's diminutive star signing in the 2012 summer transfer window. Cheekily, even the manager claimed he wasn't. But shortly after Santi Cazorla arrived in North London his class was immediately apparent. It took no time whatsoever for the little Spaniard to click with Arsene Wenger's footballing philosophy, while it took supporters quite a bit longer to figure out just which was his favored foot. 

Cazorla's capture represented a kind of return to the Arsenal manager's early transfer style, that of finding technically gifted players who, for one reason or another, were misfits at their clubs. In this case he swooped when Malaga were in desperate need of cash. The move was also consistent with the recent shift to bring in players entering their peaks, with the experience and maturity the side lacked for several years.

The Boy Bastin

Being way before my [and frankly many current Gooners’] time, Cliff Bastin is a player I know only through biographies and written accounts. Admittedly I washed up on the shores of the island Arsenal a bit later than many do in life, but I did so just at the moment when Ian Wright was in the closing stages of his relentless pursuit of Bastin’s 58 year old record as Arsenal’s all-time top goal scorer. Televised coverage was spare at best in the States those days, but I vividly recall Red Geezer’s account of Wrighty’s mastery of that record.

As you do, or at least as obsessive collector personalities such as myself do, I wanted to become familiar with the player Ian Wright had just surpassed. The key points are relatively well known, even if they suggest some interesting parallels with the contemporary version of Arsenal. Herbert Chapman took a chance in 1929 on a 17 year old Exeter boy who showed promise and technique, spending a fair amount to do so. Two thousand pounds was a big sum to spend on someone in that era, particularly an unproven teenager with only a handful of first team appearances.

Chapman played Bastin out wide as a winger, with the directive to cut inside from the touchline on the diagonal to receive passes from the central part of the pitch. As now, this was counterintuitive to the typical use of the wing-play in English football; nonetheless Bastin profited handsomely. In a short space of time he became the target man for Arsenal attacks and would remain the focal point until Ted Drake’s arrival in 1934.

The Boy Bastin was renowned for his deadly finishing and because of Chapman’s tactical innovation was unusually prolific for a winger in that era.   In total he collected 5 league titles and 2 FA Cups over an nine year span, only twice ending a season without a trophy in that period. While the first Arsenal FA Cup was won  while he was just bedding in during his first season, the second came towards the end of his prolific years and he was instrumental in its capture. Bastin scored 6 goals in the run to the 1936 FA Cup final, including the solitary goal* in the 1-0 semi-final defeat of Grimsby town.

A leg injury stalled his career after Arsenal’s fifth league title-winning season in 1938, and it was further cut short by the advent of World War II.  His increasing deafness prevented his participation in the war, and with the suspension of league play the war prevented his career from going much further. Bastin’s best football all came before age 27, scoring an astonishing 178 goals in 395 games.  To put that into context, Ian Wright was 27 when he arrived at the club.

In the process of working this drawing I kept going back to the details that I enjoyed drawing the most: meaty forearms that suggest a less pampered lifestyle than today’s megastars. A severely parted hairstyle, paired with a goofy grin that belies the swagger of his popped collar and his head cocked to the side. He looks to have been a real character, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Cliff Bastin Remembers to find out still more about this Arsenal legend.

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*I imagine it’s down to the language of the era, but I found the commentator’s account of this goal rather charming, “[Bastin] caught the Grimsby defender out for once and tapped it home.”  Sounds like a simple poacher’s goal but in reality he runs onto a pass at the top of the area and slots it past the rushing keeper with every bit of coolness we have seen so many times from Thierry Henry. 

Yellow

Even though, as @LittleDutchVA recently pointed out, yellow kits aren't the traditional away strip many believe them to be, there is just something about that color combination that gets us all excited. Worth a ridiculous chant no? 

Look at the stars

Look how they shine for you

They're Arsenal through and through

And they were all yelloooowww

Arteta's hair

Poldolski, Jack, Giroud

Cazorla plays it through

Finished off by Theoooooo

We came along

We wrote a song for you

know what goes good with blue?

Well it was all yelloooowww

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The Corporal Will Tear You Apart

It is a well-known fact that Carl Jenkinson comes from a family of Gooners and as such he has perhaps taken on a bit of a cult status with the Arsenal support. Alan Davies just might have a hand in that by dubbing him The Corporal. Earlier this season the Arseblogger unknowingly set up a hilarious scenario for the pre-Olymiakos press conference with this tweet. I remembered how last season we endured that spell without a first choice full-back on either flank, and of course that inspired a ridiculous chant. I hasn't caught on yet for some stupid reason.

[Total Eclipse of the Heart/Bonnie Tyler]

Once upon a time we didn't have a right back

Now we don't know which one to start

If Sagna isn't fit

The Corporal will tear you apart

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