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November 29th, 2011
A draw against opposition of Man City’s calibre in the Quarter-Finals of the Carling Cup presented Arsene with something of a selection dilemma. Arsene may have been toying with the idea of including some of the first-team in tonight’s tie. A somewhat lacklustre display against Fulham at the weekend will have banished that thought from his mind. He’ll want to give the regulars a rest, so it’ll be a combination of reserves and youngsters on display tonight.
At his press conference yesterday, Arsene said:
“I believe that some players are on the fringe of being really limited. I will rest some players but I still want to play a team that has a chance to win the game. For example, players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Emmanuel Frimpong will play but I consider them to be first-team players. I have 90% decided. There is still 10% flexibility.”
Those two are likely to be joined by fellow Young Guns Francis Coquelin and Ignasi Miquel. Experience will come from the likes of Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Sebastien Squillaci, and Park Chu-Young.
Yossi Benayoun will also be afforded a rare start, and the manager has moved to praise a player whose opportunities have been limited by competition:
“He has been absolutely fantastic but we have so much choice in midfield and we play with three strikers.
The chances for the midfielders are not so big and that’s why he has not played as much as he deserves.”
Benayoun’s versatility and work ethic make him a really useful option both from the bench and when Arsene sees fit to rotate. His age and pay packet mean he’s unlikely to be offered a permanent deal at the end of this season, but that only makes his professionalism in the mean-time all the more commendable.
Abou Diaby will also play, making his first start of the season. We’ve been here so many times before that it’s difficult to get too excited about his latest comeback. One feels that a good performance would only signal another false dawn before his problematic ankle returns to plague him. I think we just have to accept that his will be a career dogged by injuries, and enjoy the fleeting glimpses we do see of a player who is undeniably talented. If we use him sparingly he could be an excellent option over the winter months, and allow the likes of Arteta and Ramsey a well-deserved rest.
UPDATE: I’m being told Diaby is in fact already injured again. So more his latest setback than latest comeback. Dear dear.
City will rest players too, but their absurdly bloated squad will mean that they’ll have plenty of talent at their disposal. The likes of Kolo Toure, Nigel De Jong, Adam Johnson and Edin Dzeko were all on the bench on Sunday and should start tonight.
In other matters, Matt Law of The Express says Arsenal were scouting Lukas Podolski at the weekend. Podolski’s versatility makes him an intriguing option, and he’d provide more prolific back-up for Robin van Persie than either Chamakh or Park. However, Raphael Hongistein swiftly pointed out that confirmed Arsenal target Marco Reus was also playing in the game, so perhaps he was the main object of our attention.
Finally, thanks to Charlton Athletic (featuring Ian Wright’s son, Bradley) for beating Huddersfield last night and thus ending their unbeaten run at 43 games. Our 49-game streak remains intact, and the Invincibles remain immortal.
Right. Very little would be funnier than seeing our Reserves beat moneybags Man City. So Come On You Gunners.
September 12th, 2009
Man City 4 – 2 Arsenal (Almunia (og) 20, Van Persie 62, Bellamy 74, Adebayor 80, Wright-Phillips 84, Rosicky 88)
Match report here; Goals @ 101greatgoals.com
It doesn’t read prettily, does it?
We knew our start to the season would be difficult, and that we’d need to perform at a level beyond national expectation. For the most part, we’ve done so. And yet here we sit, with six points dropped barely a few weeks into the season.
There is a major difference from last season though. Rather than losing to Fulham and Hull, it’s a vibrant Manchester City and the old foe, United. What is a hangover from last season is a sense that whilst we dominate games for long periods that is often not enough to secure a positive result.
And yet I’m not filled with despair. Looking at United last week and City today, the main thing I extracted from their celebrations was relief: they knew they had got away with it. City fans will doubtless point to their goals for column (and with some justification), though the more honest among their contingent will, perhaps in a quieter moment amidst all the hullabaloo about their imagined “title chances”, admit they got the breaks today.
The ref seemed to call most things in their favour, including failing to give a penalty for a Gareth Barry handball and allowing Micah Richards’ opening goal when he appeared to be offside. And what of the antics of Emmanuel Adebayor? Since leaving Arsenal, Adebayor has morphed from mild irritant to detestable supervillain. It’s like he fell in a big vat of c*ntishness which reacted with his inherent peskiness to create a living nightmare. His partnership with Craig Bellamy is quite the axis of evil.
Adebayor went in over the top on Fabregas, stamped on Robin van Persie’s head (deliberately or otherwise), and celebrated his all too predictable goal by charging the length of the pitch to incite the Arsenal fans with a hugely provocative celebration. Arsene said it lacked “elegance”. That’s putting it lightly.
Of course, there were flaws to our game. Almunia continued his poor start to the season with dodgy footwork on the opening goal, Clichy looked erratic at full-back, and the front three were uninspiring in the absence of Arshavin, Nasri, and Walcott.
By far the most positive thing to come of today was the return of Tomas Rosicky, who bagged a goal and an assist in his half hour on the pitch.
Much needs to be studied in more depth about this game – principally how we managed to concede four goals to a side who didn’t play all that well – and that process will begin in earnest tomorrow. For now though, my message is clear: Don’t Panic.
This nascent season has a long way to run before City come to the Emirates in April. Let’s see where we are then.
March 6th, 2009
Well, as you are all well aware by now, on Wednesday night Manchester City did us a favour by beating Aston Villa 2-0, and extending their winless run to six games. The gap between fourth and fifth place is now down to just three points, whilst Everton’s failure to win made sure we remained four points clear of them in sixth. Suddenly, it all looks fairly promising once more.
I’m sure Villa’s relatively small squad will prove a factor in the run-in, though after crashing out of both the FA Cup and Europe in the space of a week, at least they can concentrate on the league. We’ll have to hope our returning players can help us to compete on the three remaining fronts.
The first back will be Theo Walcott and Eduardo, who are both expected to be in the squad for Sunday’s game at Burnley. Other injury news sees Kolo Toure and William Gallas both likely to be available for Tuesday’s clash in Rome, but Adebayor will remain unfit for that fixture.
The return of Walcott at this stage in the season is particularly welcome. It’s easy to forget the progress he was making at the start of this season off the back of that England hatrick, and his direct running and pace will doubtless prove a useful asset in the closing months of the season.
Arsene Wenger is insistent that neither he nor Cesc Fabregas will be going anywhere – till 2011 at least. When he points out that Cesc could be here until 2019, you start to realise just what a legend he could be at this club:
“I hope his future will last longer than mine because I think he can still be here in 10 years. He should be one of the bases of this club. I think the Club should be built around personalities like Cesc and that’s why I hope he will still be here. He was born in 1987 and he is 22 years old in 2009 and at 32 he will still play.”
It’s quite possible that Cesc could stay here that long – at 32, he’d still have plenty of takers back in his native Spain, where he one day desires to play. But if we want to have any chance of keeping him for that long, we need to remain competetive at the top level domestically and in Europe.
Congratulations to the Under-18s, who defeated Spurs 3-1 in the FA Youth Cup quarter-final, held at White Hart Lane. I didn’t see it myself, but will try and find the goals for your perusal/enjoyment.
Finally, a moment of karmic wonderment so beautiful it defies description. Till tomorrow.
February 3rd, 2008
Just a quite write-up to give you some fresh Guns, point you towards a match report, and tell you that the goals are visible on the excellent 101greatgoals.com.
I had predicted that it was unlikely that all of the top three would take three points yesterday. Indeed, both Chelsea and United drew, making our victory at Eastlands all the more valuable.
We were a class above Man City, who until yesterday were undefeated at home. However, we gave them a thorough beating, and if we had been more focused in the latter part of the first half, the margin of victory could’ve been greater.
Emmanuel Adebayor was the undoubted star of yesterday’s show, scoring twice and providing an assist for Eduardo on the other.
Tomorrow will see a more thorough write-up and a comparison between Adebayor and the previous incumbent of our goalscoring throne: Thierry Henry.
February 2nd, 2008
With Gilberto and Manuel Almunia added to our expanding injury list, we now have only fourteen outfield players available for the trip to Man City. I suppose they are:
Abou Diaby
Bacary Sagna
Cesc Fabregas
Philippe Senderos
Eduardo
William Gallas
Aleksandr Hleb
Mathieu Flamini
Gael Clichy
Emmanuel Adebayor
Nicklas Bendtner
Armand Traore
Justin Hoyte
Theo Walcott
That means that all of those players, plus goalkeeping pair Lukasz Fabianski and Jens Lehmann (who will start), will be involved today. Indeed, Lehmann will be the only change from the side that defeated Newcastle on Tuesday.
Arsene Wenger has spoken about Golden Boot-chasing Emmanuel Adebayor, and called him the best striker in the Premier League. I think on current form it’s certainly true, but as much as I love Ade, he still has to show he can maintain this form for the whole season and beyond to earn that title. Arsene said:
“He doesn’t get enough credit for his touch. He has good feet, quick feet, and is a complete striker. He can still improve the timing of his runs as he sometimes gets caught offside, and, just with that, he can score 10 more goals each season.
He’s a strong character in the dressing room and a winner. He’s a guy who made mistakes at the start of his career, and has realised here that there’s another life rather than being easy.
He smells that he can win, and is a winner. When he realised that he could live in the big world of top-class football players it changed him, and today he’s a different animal, mainly mentally. He realised he wasted some time and it was time for him to be serious.”
Arsene seems to be genetically engineering his players to enhance their sense of smell to almost abstract levels. Adebayor can smell victory, and he famously claimed that William Gallas can smell goals. What can Arsene smell? Burgeoning young talent on the other side of the world? It’s astonishing stuff.
And, in a story that doesn’t surprise anyone in the know, we nearly bought Ronaldo before United gazumped us a few years back. We’d enjoy his footballing ability, which is undeniable, but I wonder how his personality and glamour-model chasing might’ve fitted in under Arsene. But then, perhaps he would’ve turned out to be an entirely different person. All ifs, buts, and maybes now.
Today is a day on which I consider it quite unlikely for all of the top three to win. So it’s vital we do. Come on Arsenal.
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