All Change as Arsenal Cash In on Poor Birmingham
1 comment December 6th, 2004
Ah, a lovely weekend off from the smoke of the city â?? green fields, blue skies, and the distinctive aroma of cow shit.
On the back of this weekends heart-warming victory against Birmingham, it has emerged that Arsene called all the players (bar Freddie and Cesc) into his office for a bit of a rollicking.
If this report is true, it shows us that perhaps Arsene has a firmer hand than the press would have us believe.
I also noticed a few things he did differently on Saturday:
- He made a change to our Starting XI by bringing in Manuel Almunia for Jens Lehmann
- He changed our tactics slightly by asking Thierry to play as an out-and-out striker
- He made early substitutions, bringing on Clichy and later Flamini with about half an hour to go
- He was preparing to give Senderos his debut when the full-time whistle went, contradicting criticism that he is cautious about introducing the youngsters
- He wore a tracksuit, not his usual formal get-up
- And lastly, he was much more vocal, getting off the bench several times to encourage and instruct
Basically, it seems as though he wanted to try and change the way things have been going. It’s like he realised we needed a certain freshness.
He also responded to most of the criticisms that have been aimed at him this season.
Anyway, just thought it was interesting.
