Take the conductor out of the orchestra and they start playing jazz. In the absence of Cesc Fabregas, many expected Arsenal to struggle for fluency. Instead, they were liberated, with Samir Nasri chief among the unexpected soloists.
Nasri’s goal was one of improvisational brilliance, straddling the dichotomy of timing and spontaneity. It arrived at a crucial moment. The game was poised at 2-0, the tie at 3-2, and Porto’s influence was increasing. And yet it was a goal born out of pure impulse. Arsene Wenger spends hours on the training ground forcing his players to play small-sided games in increasingly tight spaces, infusing them with the ability to do just what Nasri did: feint one way, jink the other, and emerge the other side of three perplexed defenders to bury the ball beyond a wide-eyed Helton.
The look etched across across the defenders’ faces encompassed both amazement and heartache: Arsenal’s third goal would win the game as well as the plaudits.
We had started at some pace, with Andrey Arshavin at his impish best. You know the diminutive Russian is on form when he starts attempting headers - his first produced a reflex save from Helton; his second our opening goal. Retreating from an offside position, he nodded the ball back to Nasri before chasing the Frenchman’s slide-rule pass. A lungeing Fucile diverted the ball away from Arshavin but in to the path of Nicklas Bendtner. The Dane buried the chance with a confidence ill-suited to a man who missed a hatful of misses at the weekend. Some accuse him of arrogance, but that same self-assuredness is what allowed him to return form so spectacularly last night.
Arshavin created our second, too. Receiving the ball outside the area, he buzzed past three defenders before firing a ball across goal that Bendtner couldn’t help but turn in to an empty net. I’m not sure I’ve seen a player so adept at beating a man as Arshavin. It’s a combination of factors: pace, technique, a willingness to embrace physical contact and that ever-so-low centre of gravity. There was the odd bum note (a skied chance to add a third springs to mind), but when Arshavin is enjoying himself he is enthralling.
Half-time interrupted our flow, and Porto took advantage, with Falcao offering a considerable threat against the all-action Vermaelen and a creaking but still talismanic Sol Campbell. And then Nasri produced ‘That goal’.
If Nasri’s strike was the one that killed the contest, there was still time for a couple of jubilant encores. First Arshavin broke from a corner, carrying the ball deep in to opposition territory before playing in substitute Emmanuel Eboue, who rounded Helton to tap home with his left-foot. Then, in stoppage time, Eboue was brought down to earn a penalty which Bendtner stroked home for his hatrick. A far cry from the weekend indeed.
I’m not sure how good Porto ever really were - we gifted them a victory in the first leg, and they were utterly outclassed this time round - but a 5-0 victory at any stage of the Champions League is a significant statement. We move on to the next round with confidence and conviction. Let’s see what the draw brings us.
Nursing his tweaky hamstring, Cesc Fabregas’ delight will have been tarred with a pang of jealousy. No-one would have enjoyed that victory more than him, and who knows what further havoc he might have wreaked on Porto’s defence. He’ll be itching to get back in time for Saturday to face his old foe Phil Brown - his chances are currently rated at “50%”, which coincidentally is the same % similarity between Phil Brown’s DNA and that of a tangerine.
For now, let’s applaud another outstanding result and a truly magnificent performance. Vermaelen, Song and Diaby provided a brassy robustness, Arshavin and Nasri wove melodic patterns, and Bendtner thumped home a percussive hatrick to silence his doubters. Play on, Arsenal.
It won’t surprise many of you to know that Arsene Wenger has deemed fielding Cesc Fabregas against Porto too great a risk. The logic is simple: if Fabregas does any further damage to his hamstring tonight, it could rule him out of our Premier League run-in - and what a run-in that looks to be. As the end of the season creeps closer, our title chances seem to improve. With fourteen league goals and fifteen assists to his name, it’s clear the skipper is vital to maintaining our domestic hopes.
Not that he wouldn’t have been useful tonight. In his absence Samir Nasri will continue in the central role in which he excelled against Burnley, with Abou Diaby and Alex Song book-ending him like a pair of totemic body-guards. They’ll need to be at their most vigilant tonight - conceding would leave us needing to go through without the trauma of a penalty shoot-out.
Nasri was outstanding at the weekend, showing close control and awareness reminiscent of his Catalan team-mate. With his hefty price-tag and significant reputation, it’s easy to forget that he is only 22, and several years from his peak.
Hoping to keep Porto at bay will be Sol Campbell, fit again and likely to step in for Mikael Silvestre. The back four looks more balanced with Campbell in it, partially because he’s right-footed, but largely because he’s not Mikael Silvestre. Manuel Almunia will be wearing the armband tonight, but in Cesc’s absence it is Campbell who the side will look to for leadership and, crucially, a calming influence.
There is no need to panic tonight. A 1-0 win will see us through. Go 1-0 down, and we suddenly need three goals. So we can afford to keep it fairly tight. With mercurial talents like Arshavin and Walcott to call upon we will always offer an attacking threat. We can’t afford to be gung-ho and get caught by the pace of Varela and Hulk.
Have patience. Porto will attempt to frustrate us, but I am convinced that the goal(s) will come. And after his travails at the weekend, what price a Nicklas Bendtner winner?
As Nicklas Bendtner left the pitch, he afforded himself a wry smile. It had not been his day. Fortunately, by the time the full-time whistle went, his grin was matched by those of his team-mates. It could have been very different.
Arsene was questioned about Bendtner’s bemusing reaction to his own performance after the game. The striker had missed a succession of simple chances before being withdrawn for Eduardo da Silva - thankfully to applause, rather than the jeering that occasionally accompanied Bendtner last season. The manager’s response was emphatic:
“I believe at the surface he looks like ‘okay, I missed the chances’, but underneath he is really disappointed. Everybody has a different way to show his emotions, and he hides well, but he cares.”
Bendtner is right to care. The time between now and the end of the season is a huge opportunity for him. He needs to show the form that saw him score that outstanding header at Stoke rather than the careless finishing which allowed Burnley to creep back in to a game that should have been beyond them. However cool his exterior, no-one will have been more relieved at the moment when Theo Walcott swerved in-field to bend home the crucial winner.
Walcott, who has come in for criticism from Arsenal fans and mindless pundits alike, was outstanding. Arsene had reassured the press in midweek that the winger would have a point to make, and so it proved. Burnley left-back Danny Fox was out-thought, out-manoeuvred, and most of the time, out of breath.
It was a more consistent source of inspiration who gave us the lead, however. Cesc Fabregas knocked the ball to Samir Nasri, before darting in to the penalty area. Nasri then flicked an impudent pass over the opposition backline which Fabregas met with a precise half-volley between Brian Jensen’s legs. An outstanding goal, and the captain’s 17th of the season.
Unfortunately, it was to be his last significant contribution to the game. A hamstring tweak saw him replaced by Abou Diaby, and we subsequently lost our way. It was around this time that Bendtner embarked on his own private Miss of the Season competition. Most of the set-ups were provided by Walcott, with Bendtner applying the rib-tickling punch-lines. It’s funny in the light of victory, but had a defender made a similar succession of mistakes, they’d be castigated. We had better hope, as seems likely, that this was simply a dreadful day at the office.
It’s perhaps fitting that Bendtner was involved in Burnley’s equaliser, failing to win a header against Leon Cort that bounced distressingly in to our penalty area. With Vermaelen and Silvestre too far apart and Manuel Almunia a few yards of his line, David Nugent was left free to lob the ball in to the back of the net. Arsenal should have been four or five goals to the good, and were suddenly pegged back to one all.
And then Walcott. He had threatened all game, and finally delivered, slaloming inside his marker and opening his body to bend a ball round the wider-than-most Jensen with his weaker left-foot. His celebration saw him indicating to his wrist - campaigning for a later bed-time? More likely, asking his critics to let his season start before writing him off.
Substitute Andrey Arshavin set the seal on the victory in stoppage time, interrupting a keep-ball session to burst inside and arrow a left-footed shot in to the near post. He celebrated like a man who’s pleased to be back.
Another game, another victory. The countdown to the coronation of the Premier League champions continues. We might have to win every game to end up at the top of the pile, but a glance at the fixture lists suggests we’re the most likely of the three title challengers to do so. A lot will be dependent on the severity of Cesc’s injury and the potential distraction of the Champions League - though if the former is grave, the latter might well disappear.
Arsene Wenger is a fantastic man, and a fantastic manager. There are few personalities in the league whose press conferences are worthwhile events in themselves. Yesterday, it was clear to all and sundry that he would be pressed on the Aaron Ramsey issue, and under the strongest scrutiny an emotional Arsene delivered some stirring responses.
He stands by his comments at Stoke, 100%. And so he should. He never got personal in his criticism of Shawcross, only in his criticism of the tackle. Some accuse Arsene of having a messianic psychological complex - instead what he is is a man who is entirely true to his principles. He is a man who believes firmly in trying to win through excellence above all else. He doesn’t understand why he sees Arsenal criticised in the press for “trying to play football” - is that not, after all, what all teams should be striving to do?
He is not, as some claim, against the physical elements of the game. Earlier in the week I compared dispossession with dragbacks, and Arsene is much of the same mind:
“I admire a great technical tackle as much as a creative pass. A tackle is an art in itself - that means you always have your eye on the ball, never with a high foot, in your tackle you can already make a pass. Tackling is an art you do not want to get out of the game.”
“It is not Arsenal against the rest of the world. What I say here is valid for the Arsenal players as well. I want the Arsenal players to go into the tackles like everybody else. To go into the tackles and be committed. What I say is not just for Stoke or Arsenal players, it is for everybody. I defend football. It is not that we are apart from anybody else. We are the same. I am continuing to defend the values that I believe are important for our club and football. That doesn’t mean we are angels and everyone else is the devil. It is for everybody.”
A mischievous journalist mentioned William Gallas’ untidy challenge on Mark Davies of Bolton, stating that it had kept the midfielder out of action for four or five weeks. Arsene corrected him: Davies was playing again within nine days. What’s more, Arsene came out at the time and apologised for Gallas’ tackle.
There are clear media agendas and they are, sadly, dictated by people who oughn’t have the right to call themselves ‘journalists’. I heartily recommend listening to yesterday’s arsecast to hear the thoughts of Philippe Auclair on the matter - or if you’re in a hurry, read Sport.co.uk’s transcript here. An excellent analysis of just how the media so often end up clutching not just the wrong end of the stick, but another, altogether less coherent stick entirely.
Aaron Ramsey has released an official statement, full of praise for the support he received from Stoke’s Glenn Whelan -a gentleman whose attempts to comfort Ramsey will not be swiftly forgotten by Arsenal fans.
The injury to Ramsey and the fallout from it provides massive incentive for Arsenal today. Furthermore, a particularly handsome win could see us topping the table come 5pm. Sol Campbell misses out with a groin problem, but Abou Diaby is back to replace the suspended Alex Song. Silvestre will come in to the defence, with a midfield trio of Denilson, Diaby and Fabregas ahead. Upfront, Andrey Arshavin is available once more, and Arsene may hand a start to Theo Walcott, who will be keen to hit back at those (myself included) who criticised his performance for England in midweek.
If you’re at the Emirates today, you might spot this banner, designed by Tres Rapide - the man/myth who did all the visual work for Gunnerblog:
The message is simple: Do it for Aaron.
Do it for him, certainly. But also do it for every manager who thinks that kicking Arsenal will bring about their demise. Do it for every Collymore, Parker and Macari. Let them see how we respond and force them to confront their cowardice, hypocrisy, and stupidity.
One couldn’t help but feel that last night had the potential to be a turning point in Theo Walcott’s season: an international friendly on home turf, wearing his treasured number seven shirt. He may not be first-choice at Arsenal but in the absence of Aaron Lennon, Fabio Capello’s loyalty is unwavering. The autumn of 2008 saw Walcott net the hatrick which cemented the Italian’s reputation, and Don Fabio doesn’t forget such favours in a hurry.
Walcott is one of few England squad members spared the ire of the press and the fans. The closest he comes to off-field shenanigans is staying up past his bed-time for a dust-up on Tekken. As a consequence, the feeling among 80,000 fans at Wembley was unusually generous. There were ironic cheers when John Terry misplaced his first pass of the night, but each time Walcott received the ball the crowd rose in hope and expectation that the young tyro might once again demonstrate his potential on the international stage.
Sadly, it was not to be. Walcott’s career thus far has had elements of fairy-tale, but an immediate and accomplished return to the International fold after six months of niggling injuries and spurned chances was a narrative leap too far. With 57 minutes gone he was replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips, who not long ago seemed to have been cast to the International scrap-heap by Capello. Wright-Phillips offered penetration where Walcott had offered pace alone. The Man City winger is a flawed player, but his spatial awareness and focus on providing a cross put Walcott’s contribution in unflattering relief.
No-one will have been more disappointed than Arsene Wenger, watching at home. Whilst Walcott’s England form is of little concern to him, a good showing might have proved the catalyst for a decent run of club form. As it is, Walcott is probably behind Arshavin, Nasri, Rosicky and maybe even Eboue in the queue for a first-team place.
That said, I’ve no time for Chris Waddle, who has accused Theo of having “no football brain” on the most spurious of evidence:
“I keep thinking, ‘Fabregas has learnt and he’s young, Rooney has learnt… they all read the game so well’. I just don’t think he’s got a football brain and he’s going to have problems.”
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Walcott is in the same bracket as Fabregas or Rooney. He’s not. He’s not Messi or Ronaldo either. He is, it seems, just a gifted twenty-year old who may or may not turn in to a top-class footballer. There are worse things to be.
A glance at the other internationals sees Carlos Vela and Nicklas Bendtner on the scoresheet. Whilst Vela is behind even Theo in the pecking order, Bendtner looks to be hitting form at just the right time. If he can put together some semblance of a goalscoring run, he could become incredibly important between now and the end of the season.
Ramseygate rumbles on. Tomorrow it’ll have fresh life injected in to it by Arsene’s press conference. My hope is that the conversation becomes less about Ryan Shawcross and Aaron Ramsey, but more about the institutional problem of dangerous tackling.
Yesterday’s date was the 1st of march. Sadly, it was neither the first nor the last march of football’s imbecilic pundits brigade. You’d think the injury to Aaron Ramsey would be the sort of incident to unite football fans: a young player with a burgeoning career all-too-literally cut down by over-zealous tackling. However, there are a fleet of individuals determined to stand out from the crowd.
Take Stan Collymore, the lady-hitting dogger and tip-top football pundit. He’s always stood apart from the crowd, largely by the crowd’s choice. In the aftermath of Saturday’s game, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was understandably upset by Ryan Shawcross’s tackle. Understandable to most, but not to Collymore, a man who is pathologically contrary. He began:
“Wenger was completely out of order with his post-match comments about Shawcross. Despite the belief that Wenger is the professor, he has a real bitter and nasty streak.”
I like Collymore’s assertion that being a professor and having a nasty streak are somehow mutually exclusive. Perhaps he had a really bad experience at university.
…Oh.
Stan The Man (Who Has Sex In A Van) wasn’t finished. Where others saw a deeply upset but articulate man voicing his concern over the treatment Ramsey had received, Collymore saw a French conspiracy:
“It is blatantly obvious the Frenchman wants to buck the trend and traditions of English football. If Wenger wants to make football almost a non-contact that is up to him but it won’t happen in England.”
Collymore is right. That pesky Wenger is always trying to buck the trend and traditions of English football. Like in the mid-90s, when he almost single-handedly transformed our game from one consumed by drinking culture and ugly football in to the world’s leading league.
It’s odd that Collymore is so bitter. It’s almost as if he was one of those players whose lifestyle was so incompatible with the demands of top-level sport that Wenger’s revolution caused him to be left on the scrap-heap, shouting-down punters on talk radio in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.
When I was a young lad, I collected the sticker album to my right. Every time I popped in to the newsagent I’d pick up a packet of stickers, and tear them open, excitedly hoping I might catch sight of the Ian Wright shiny that I so craved.
It was never to be. I spent countless pennies chasing that simplest of dreams, and was disappointed. And at every turn, every time I opened one of the small packets, whose face was staring back at me, a malicious grin strapped across his inanimate face? Paul Parker.
I had more Paul Parkers than the rest of my stickers put together. I couldn’t shift them. I actually wrote to Merlin to ask if there was some sort of Paul Parker-laundering scheme going on. Imagine my horror, then, when I saw Parker’s aged but still recognisable features in the byline of an article on eurosport.yahoo.com.
If that shock alone was bad enough, the opening sentence floored me:
“Arsene Wenger was wrong to criticise Ryan Shawcross for the challenge which broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg and should apologise to him.”
Apologise for what? For criticizing what was an irresponsible and dangerous challenge? Nowhere has Arsene made any kind of remark on Shawcross’s character, other than to say that it’s no defence. Being a nice bloke doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.
Parker rambled on:
“When something like this happens, [Wenger] should count to 2,025 before he opens his mouth.”
At first glance, 2,025 seems like an arbitrary choice. Perhaps Parker can’t conceive of a higher number? In fact, no: it is the exact number of Paul Parker stickers that I had spare. The plot thickens.
In the end, I destroyed my countless Paul Parker swaps in a ritualistic ceremony involving some Fairy Liquid and a bucket. Sadly, the real Paul Parker would never fit in a bucket.
Finally, bringing up the rear, Lou Macari. The following really needs no introduction:
“What got my goat about events at Stoke on Saturday was not the tackle, but Arsene Wenger’s ridiculous reaction to it.”
Not the hideous challenge. Not the bone-crunching effect on young Aaron Ramsey. Not the fact that one of Britain’s brightest young talents has endured an injury he may never recover from. No, Macari’s not bothered about those. But Wenger’s reaction? Disgraceful. Wenger’s reaction has got Lou Macari’s goat and is holding it at gunpoint - and furthermore, he’s demanding the soul of English football as ransom.
He continues:
“I’ve got to say I felt sorry for Shawcross.”
“…as well as Ramsey”? Go on Lou, at least show a bit of balance. No? Ok, then, carry on.
“Not just because of all the hoo-ha over the challenge, but the fact it overshadowed one of the greatest moments in his life after being called up by England for the first time.
I suppose the furore over the Ramsey injury is a bit of a spanner in the works, but the call-up is still a feather in his cap and he should go there and enjoy the experience as much as possible.”
It is a bit of a spanner in the works, isn’t it, that Welsh fella’s leg falling off. Bit of a bummer for poor Ryan. Sort of remiss of Ramsey to let his leg break on Shawcross’s big day. Selfish, even.
Macari crosses the boundary from stupidity in to just plain scary. He doesn’t even show empathy for the player who has been hurt.
The problem with Idiots is that to compensate for the lack of weight behind their opinion, they often talk very loudly. Collymore & Co have struck up their marching band, and are on parade. Johnny Foreigner comes over to this country, takes our contracts, then complains when his leg comes off.
Fortunately, there are a few sensible folk out there who are making constructive and intelligent contributions to the “furore” that Macari deplores. Martin Samuel and Patrick Barclay, among others. Hopefully their voices will be distinguished above the rabble that so often dictate football conversation.
It’s easy to see how it happens. You step on to the field, brimming with adrenaline, with the last words of your managers team talk still ringing in your ears.
“Alright lads, listen close. When you go in, go in hard. This foreign lot, they don’t like it up ‘em.”
It’s the 65th minute and the game is tightly poised at 1-1. The ball breaks in midfield, and you stride on to it - a rare opportunity to relieve increasing pressure on your goal. A poor touch carries the ball away, and you’re faced with a choice: admit you’ve conceded possession, or make a lunge for it. You plump for the latter. After all, “they don’t like it up ‘em”.
Your manager is right. They don’t like it ‘up em. Nor raking the back of ‘em, nor stamping down on top of ‘em, nor, as yesterday, swinging recklessly through a planted limb. They don’t like it when their legs are snapped and left in a twisted, mangled mess.
Call him soft, but when this happens, Aaron Ramsey doesn’t like it:
Eduardo didn’t much care for it either, nor Abou Diaby before him. Rough ‘em up a bit, leave that foot in a second longer, apply an ounce more force in your tackle. Those Arsenal boys, they won’t like it. If something should go wrong - well, it’s hardly the aggressor’s fault, is it? The media will round to remind the Arsenal manager that, “it’s a contact sport after all, Arsene. He’s just a good old-fashioned, big-hearted, tough-tackling sort of lad”.
“He’s not that sort of player,” they’ll say. “He lives with his mum and does charity work. He’s never even been sent off. There was no malice in the tackle.”
Perhaps not. But none of that, not one part of it, makes Ryan Shawcross innocent.
Arseblogger struck upon a superb analogy yesterday when he pointed out that whist the law distinguishes between a pre-meditated hit-and-run and reckless driving, both remain crimes. The law distinguishes between manslaughter and murder. Shawcross might not have intended to break Ramsey’s leg, but irresponsible and negligent conduct means he did.
A tackle can be a beautiful thing. There is as much technique in dispossession as a drag-back. I would never want to see a game bereft of that art, but what Shawcross did was different. He threw himself in to a situation where his chances of winning the ball were negligible, and his chances of taking out Ramsey significant. Whatever his pleas about respecting his “fellow professionals”, he didn’t consider the odds enough to show concern for Ramsey’s well-being. For him, there were no consequences.
The sad thing is how true that is - relatively, there are no consequences. Another area where Common Law has the edge over Football Law is the idea of proportionate punishment. Ramsey will probably miss a year due to his injuries - Shawcross will miss three games. I’m sure his remorseful tears will have dried up by then. Ramsey will have to live with his physical and emotional scars for a good while longer.
It’s tempting to ask the press to stop perpetuating the idea that the way to beat Arsenal is with unbridled brutality. Unfortunately, the media are merely a reflection of our culture: one fascinated by the triumph of underdogs. If Stoke’s cloggers are to overcome Arsenal’s artisans, uninhibited physical force is bound to be their principal weapon - and the people of England will then come together to celebrate it. And we wonder why we don’t produce enough technical footballers.
Attitudes won’t change. There are too many people in the game who regard our players with something approaching xenophobia; too many idiots like Stan Collymore dictating the media agenda; too many managers pulling the same old dirty tricks. Instead, the only way to stop this from happening is to show that it doesn’t work.
Two years ago, when Martin Taylor’s stamp crumpled Eduardo’s left leg like an expendable plastic cup, our title chances collapsed in a similarly horrific manner. After rallying to lead 2-1, a mistake by Gael Clichy saw us concede a stoppage time penalty that pegged us back to a costly draw. After the game, a tearful William Gallas launched a Taylor-esque attack on the advertising hoardings. He and the fans knew that the title would escape us. Our belief, among other things, had been crushed.
Yesterday could not have felt more different. When Ramsey reached out his arm to call for the physio, his team-mates responded just as they did two years ago. For some of them, the experience was new - Thomas Vermaelen’s reaction was one of a player who’d not yet witnessed such a horrifying injury. For others, it was painfully familiar - Clichy himself seemed distraught, whilst on the sidelines Eduardo’s expressionless face masked what must have been traumatic memories. For ten minutes, there was barely a tackle in the game, as both sides came to terms with what they’d witnessed.
But then, something happened that Pulis, the press, and others hadn’t reckoned on: we fought back. Not with high tackles or raised elbows, but with a ruthless efficiency befitting of this talented squad. Stoke were down to ten men, and we exploited it. No tantrums from our captain, but an ice-cool penalty and two assists for the superb Cesc Fabregas. An injured Gallas was notable by his absence - in his place, Sol Campbell, a titan of a man, bellowing instructions and pumping his fists as the winning goals went in.
At the end, Cesc called the players in to a huddle - a sign of indomitable spirit not seen since The Invincibles. Ours is the title challenge that won’t die, and with ten games to go, the message now is simple: do it for Ramsey.
I deliberately waited until after Chelsea’s game against Man City before writing any sort of match preview. Our game at Stoke was a big game before City’s 4-2 victory - it’s even bigger now.
We’re not in the best of form, having lost three of our last five games. Stoke’s a ground where we struggle, with defeats on our last two visits. On each of those games we’ve fallen victims not just to Rory Delap’s long throw, but the entirety of Stoke’s direct and hard-working approach. Today every single player in an Arsenal shirt will have to show the fight to match their flair; the graft to match their class.
It’s been a slow few days. Unusually we haven’t had a midweek game, with the reconfiguring of the Champions League meaning that the knockout rounds are spun out over a month rather than the usual fortnight. Instead, Arsenal fans have sat back and watched a veritable circus of footballing nonsense.
Monday
Monday saw a few sites competing for the cherished ‘most absurd headline of the week’ award. I think Sport.co.uk claimed the crown in the end by stating in a matter-of-fact way that we had beaten Barcelona to a signing. The signing they referred to of course, was not that of a global superstar a la Ribery, but teenage striker Benik Afobe - who, I ought to point out, has joined Arsenal from… Arsenal. I hope Sport are proud of the integrity of their journalism there.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger left reporters astounded at his phenomenal internal calendar, stating:
“The World Cup is not today. It is in June.”
The man is omniscient.
Tuesday
On Tuesday Manchester United beat West Ham 3-0 at Old Trafford. In doing so, they moved five points clear of us, though we have a game in hand - United will not play in the Premier League this weekend as thy face Aston Villa in the the Carling Cup. As an aside, it strikes me that many of the players we field in that competition are probably not legally entitled to drink Carling.
Wayne Rooney is scoring a lot of goals for United, with two more against the Hammers taking him to 27 for the season. When he moved there in August 2004, it was a relatively unchallenged deal. Newcastle made a bid which forced United in to action, and that was that. Just a month before he moved, Arsene said:
“I dream at night of bringing him to Arsenal, but that’s all it is, a fantasy. We cannot compete with the money he would cost so I just have to accept he is out of our reach.
I think Rooney will be a United player next season. They know they have to act because Chelsea will do something big and they cannot afford to be left behind. I cannot remember seeing anything like it before. I knew he was very good but I didn’t think it was possible someone so young could dominate so much. You have to say he is amazing.”
Six years on, you have to say that from United’s perspective it’s £25.6m very well spent. With Bergkamp’s career on the wane, the possibility of a Rooney/Henry partnership was tantalising, but as Arsene said, never realistic.
Wednesday
Wednesday was all about The Special One: Emmanuel Eboue. The Ivorian went to visit Hargrave Park Primary School in Archway. On his return to the training ground, Arsene was said to be delighted with the dramatic improvement in Eboue’s colouring in.
“He was out for a long time and like every player at the start he was not completely back 100 per cent but I felt in the last two games he was very convincing.”
Friday
Today is the day Portsmouth became the first Premier League side to enter administration. Seizing on the opportunity to make themselves look brilliant by comparison, Arsenal immediately released their half-year financial results. I’m not even sure a club is obliged to make those results public - it seems odd, like celebrating a “six month anniversary” with your girlfriend. There’s a video interview with Ivan Gazidis, which I haven’t watched yet, but I presume consists largely of him going:
“haha Peter Storrie + Pompey lookz like u iz well fucked but we got dolla hahah jokzlol”
whilst Peter Hill-Wood and Ken Friar do a triumphant version of the Soulja Boy dance in the background.
I do feel deeply for Portsmouth fans. Arsenal supporters complain frequently about the lack of silverware, but seeing a club disappear down the financial drain puts a lot of things in perspective. We are continuing to compete at the highest level of club football - the Champions League - without endangering an institution we all love deeply. At this precarious time for the world’s economy, it is undoubtedly the most sensible policy.
Three points was crucial after United slipped up.
Yesterday was one of the days in which United probably had to drop points if we’re to have any chance of overtaking them. Realistically speaking, Chelsea were always likely to win at Molineux, but yesterday’s round of Premier League fixtures keeps us within six points of the leaders, and within just two of United. The suggestion that we’re by any means “out of it” looks unduly pessimistic.
That said, it ought to have been easier.
We had 17 attempts at goal, 10 of which were on target. Better finishing would have seen us three or four goals to the good by half-time, but without the class of Arshavin and Rosicky we lacked a cutting edge. At the back, the partnership of Vermaelen and Silvestre was split too easily, and Manuel Almunia twice made important saves from one-on-ones to help maintain the one goal lead we held for a full hour.
Emmanuel Eboue is definitively a right-back.
It’s oughtn’t be surprising, therefore, that when played as a right-back he is more impressive. His real ability is attacking the opposing full-back from deep, and getting to the byline with his balance and quick feet. In games such as yesterday, when there is less onus on the full-backs to defend, selecting him over Bacary Sagna can give us another dimension going forward.
Theo Walcott has started out on the long road back to form.
He wasn’t half as good as this Times article suggests, but the young winger is certainly going in the right direction. On a couple of occasions his pace embarrassed George McCartney, and whilst the final product was lacking, that could come with composure and confidence. He’s still miles away from the form he was showing in 2008, but there were signs of the that spark slowly returning.
Samir Nasri looked a £13m player.
Sharp turns, pace, skillful dribbling and incisive passing: this was the Samir Nasri who impressed us so much when he first arrived from Marseille. His withdrawal for Tomas Rosicky was met with bemusement; it can only have been due to exhaustion. This was Nasri’s best performance in months - possibly of the season.
The formation has changed… again.
Since the defeat to United, we’ve been watching a new iteration of 4-3-3. At the start of the season, Song played in the holding role, with Fabregas and one other (most often Diaby) ahead. After we were so cruelly exposed by United’s counter-attacks, Arsene has changed it. Now, two players sit deeper. On Wednesday it was Denilson and Diaby; yesterday it was Song and Ramsey, with Cesc alone given license to roam ahead. It’s still a 4-3-3, but the pedantic among you might call it a 4-2-3-1. In a period where points are all that matters, it could prove to be more efficient.
Stoke next week is a huge game now.
It’s a weekend on which United don’t play at all, and Chelsea face a test in the form of Roberto Mancini’s Man City. We’ve been defeated on both recent trips to the Britannia - it’s a ground on which all sorts of clichés about this teams frailties have been held up to be true. Overcome that, and people will start to take our challenge seriously again.
And another thing…
As some of you might know, The Observer relaunches this weekend, and as part of that I’m helping them out with a project called The Observer Conversation - each week we’ll speak to different people with an opinion on whatever that week’s topic happens to be, and make a film about it. Unsurprisingly, the opinionated internet dictators more commonly known as ‘bloggers’ will feature heavily.
The first one was all about the health of English football. I am the invisible man asking the questions in the following film:
I think we ought to be proud that almost all the contributors to the above film singled Arsenal out as a viable and successful alternative model. When you look at the mess at the likes of Portsmouth, Liverpool - even United - then it puts the club’s achievements into rather flattering perspective.
Check out the paper today for more - including a soundbite from an Arsenal representative: the venerable arseblogger.
Not that he wouldn’t have been useful tonight. In his absence 
When I was a young lad, I collected the sticker album to my right. Every time I popped in to the newsagent I’d pick up a packet of stickers, and tear them open, excitedly hoping I might catch sight of the Ian Wright shiny that I so craved.
