Video proof that Steve Bould played with AOC's dad

I was browsing on itvPlayer earlier this evening and found this little gem: The Big Match Revisited Stoke City v West Ham from March 1983.

Why is this match so intersting to Arsenal fans, you ask? Well, the match was remarkable because it featured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's dad, Mark Chamberlain, and an inexperienced 19 year-old right back by the name of Stephen Bould. With hair!

I love watching these old matches. Not just because I enjoy watching football but also from a sort of social commentary perspective. I like to see the way that fashions and attitudes have changed in football and the world in general. From the dodgy moustaches and hairdos of the players to the products advertised around the grounds (but not on the players shirts) to the attitudes of the players and commentators (for instance, there was no rolling around and feigning injuries and the players didn't kick the ball out of play when someone was injured).

One thing which hasn't changed in the intervening years though is Stoke City's style of play. Even back then they relied on long balls and long throw-ins. Indeed, it was Ox's dad Mark Chamberlain who was Stoke's long throw expert in those days. And a pretty good one at that judging by the long throw ball he hurled into the box in the second half, which almost went directly into the net.

Watching this video, I could see where Oxlade-Chamberlain gets his skills. It was quite uncanny watching Chamberlain senior dribbling around and passing with an with assurance belying his young age. It was just like watching AOC.

Unfortunately, the match did not go entirely well for Bouldy. Gooners of many years may remember another former Stoke player who signed for Arsenal, Lee Dixon (who sadly did not play in this match), chipping his own goalkeeper David Seaman from about 35 yards out, leaving his keeper stranded as the ball flew into the back of his own net. Well, young Stephen Bould produced a similar effort in this match. Not quite as good as Dicko's, but one to be proud of nonetheless.

This weekend in March 1983 was also remarkable for a couple of other reasons. Firstly, it saw Tony Woodcock score his first hat-trick for the Gunners and it was also the first time that Tottenham captain Steve Perryman was sent off.

Sadly, of course, we don't get to see either of those two things because this was in the days when the ITV cameras only went to three matches out of the whole four divisions per weekend and you just had to hope that the Arsenal were playing in one of those matches so that you could witness your heroes in action on the little silver screen.

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Video proof that Steve Bould played with AOC's dad

Arsenal v West Ham - it's all about the formation and the fight

Picture courtesy Arsenal Arsenal

Alex Song came up with the goods on Saturday with a late goal to seal a hard-fought 1-0 win. This is something that we didn't see happening last season and is, I believe, the result of a slight tactical change that Arsene Wenger has made this season.

Last season (especially at the start) we played mostly 4-1-2-3 with Alex Song acting as an anchorman behind two more attacking central midfielders. This season it has been 4-2-3-1, with two defensive midfielders who are given a little bit more freedom to go forward behind a single attacking central midfielders in the form of Fabregas. The new tactics are not too dissimilar to the 4-4-2 formation that Arsene Wenger has employed in the past (think Petit, Vieira and Bergkamp instead of Wilshere, Song and Fabregas).

One of the consequences of this is that Alex Song more often finds himself in attacking positions and this is something that he has had trouble adapting to, putting in several below-par performances so far this season as he has had trouble knowing what positions to take up and difficulty getting back into defensive positions in time when we lose the ball.

To some extent, I think this is still true in that Song has not yet reached the level of performances for us this season that he did last. However, he is a very intelligent player and I can see signs that he is starting to get to grips with his new role a little better. And what better evidence of this than his goal against West Ham, which was in fact the third consecutive match in which he has scored.

Many Arsenal fans have criticised Saturday's performance against West Ham saying that we underestimate the so called smaller teams and looked under-par; others meanwhile, say that it was just the kind of good, solid, gritty performance, against a team that came to park the bus, of which champions are made.

I'm more of a glass-half-full type, so I tend to lean more towards the latter. We can't expect all of the players to perform at the top of their game all the time, and by the law of averages there are going to be some matches when several players don't perform at their best for whatever reason. What is important is that we still win these matches, which in this case we did.

On Saturday, Fabregas, Chamakh Arshavin and Denilson were all a bit off the pace but the team fought hard to make sure we got the result.

We all know how key Fabregas is to the team's style of play. Unfortunately, picked up a knock quite early on and wasn't playing as freely as he normally does. In any case, he has only just come back from an injury and isn't properly back into the swing of things yet. I very much hope (to say the least) that Fabregas isn't going to be another van Persie who is injured more than he plays. Arsene Wenger will probably rest him for the Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.

Chamakh looked a bit tired to me. He has started all but one league match and all but two matches in all competitions so far and came on as sub in the two matches he didn't start. In addition, matches against teams who park the bus are always going to be more suitable for scoring goals and creating chances from midfield or the back four because the striker doesn't have much space. The striker's main role in matches such as this is to tie up the several players who are marking him to create space for others, which he did well.

Arshavin has admitted that he is off-form and so we need say no more. Some people have argued that Tomas Rosicky should come in to replace him. Arsene Wenger has quite rightly pointed out that although Arshavin isn't playing well, he is still producing the goods in terms of goals an assists. Rosicky, for me, is a little bit the opposite at the moment - he is playing some pretty football, but there is no end result in terms of goals or assists. I know it has been a long while since he was injured but I think he still needs more playing time to get back to his best. We have only seen a few flashes of the old Tomas though already this season, but I believe there is more to come. I think anyway that Arshavin needs to play his way back to form and whilst the team is still winning we can afford to let him do that to some extent.

Denilson, though he has improved this season, is still for me a young player who is inconsistent and is prone to the odd poor performance. But will he now get enough chances to improve with Song, Diaby, Ramsey and Wilshere for competition?

Player ratings v West Ham

Fabianski (7) - Another solid performance.
Sagna (7) - His usual solid but unspectacular self.
Squillaci (7) - Starting to look like an Arsenal player.
Koscielny (8) - Justified his inclusion ahead of Djourou.
Clichy (7) - Occasionally out of position but did superbly set up the crucial winning goal.
Song (8) - Starting to settle in his new role and scored the winner.
Denilson (6) - Had one of his occasional off days.
Nasri (8) - Looked our most potent attacking threat for much of the match. Unlucky with a great freekick from about 80 yards that hit the bar.
Fabregas (7) - Playing with an injury and couldn't be at his best but got better as the match went on.
Arshavin (6) - Started brightly but soon faded. Will get back to form soon.
Chamakh (5) - Was always surrounded by three or four West Ham players and couldn't really get into the game

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Arsenal v West Ham - it's all about the formation and the fight