Archive for September, 2006
September 26th, 2006
Tonight’s game against Porto has the potential to be an attacking display of flair, skill, and creativity. However, Cesc is probably closer to the mark when he suggests that Porto might look to “close up their defence and look fo counter-attacks”. Though Jose Mourinho is long gone, his tactical influence remains.
Hopefully we can show the patience and persistence that saw us win just reward against Sheffield United. 6 points from our first 2 games would be invaluable, and put us in an immensely strong qualifying position.
Ahead of the game, Arsene has been speaking about Brazilian midfielder-cum-striker, Julio Baptista, who is making plenty of headlines in spite of a minimal impact so far. Asked if the powerhouse was overweight, he replied:
“He is massive and he looks like a boxer. When you see his body, he does not have fat at all. He is muscular and is in the gym every day. He looks after himself and takes care of his body. It is more adaptation to the pace of the game and the movement here – intelligence wise he has no problem, quality wise he is a big player, Once he is running with the ball, you just feel this guy cannot be stopped: he is a killer once he is in front of goal.”
Strong praise indeed, so it is no surprise that the manager sees his long-term future with Arsenal:
“In my opinion, it (a permanent transfer) will be done. We have a delay before we have to make that decision. It is not only us, it is him as well. Whether he wants to stay in London or not.”
If he does stay, he’ll face yet more competition from young Dane Niklas Bendtner, whose been earning yet more praise from Steve Bruce. In my opinion, the ideal situation for Arsenal is that Birmingham are promoted and Bendtner remains on for one more season to get regular Premiership football before making the step up to Arsenal’s first-team. However, this is of course dependent on Birmingham being promoted, so it’s arguably not the most secure of plans.
Finally, The Times report that £3.5m-worth of Arsenal shares have been bought up by a mystery consortium. Earlier today, Arseblogger revealed that he is the faceless bidder. Well, I can only add to the revelation with the fact that he has a secret backer: me. I’ve bought him the shares: Happy Birthday blogger, and Vive la Revolución!
September 25th, 2006
Ambitious words from Arsene. But he’s right: if we want to be taken seriously amongst Europe’s elite, we need the trophies to match. We have the players, the stadium – now we need the gold:
“We had to gain respect and we are looked upon as a big scalp. The next step is to win not once but two or three times to go into the history of European football. I want to win the Champions League but it’s step by step.”
A good first step towards success would be victory against Porto tomorrow night. Arsene says:
“I am convinced that if we beat Porto we are close to qualifying. But when you look at the Portuguese teams they do not lose easily in England. It’s a big, big task. I hope we are able to keep the ball and adapt to their pace and take advantage of any situation created.”
We have no discernible new injury problems, which means Julio Baptista is likely to remain on the bench. It’s a good job he doesn’t mind too much:
“I don’t know that much about Reyes’ complaints that he was not in the team. But the only solution is to work hard and win over the coach. Nothing in my contract says I have to be in the team. When I am on the bench I’m ready and prepared to give everything on the pitch as soon as I get the order.”
Again, it’s the briefest of updates, but hopefully I’ll be able to get back to normal service once I get the internet installed at my flat sometime next week.
Tomorrow, I’m taking my girlfriend to the game. Always a risk. Here’s hoping it’s a good evening all round.
September 24th, 2006
This table from the Barclays Premiership website invites fans to “Choose your club”. I doubt anyone out there is too eager to select “Tottenham”. Arsenal’s start to the season has been far from exemplary, but Tottenham’s has been nothing short of disastrous. Their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool yesterday means that they’ve got a mere four points, half of our own total, and scored just two goals (both against Sheffield United), compared to our superior six. No wonder many Tottenham fans are starting to doubt Martin Jol’s managerial credentials. I can’t claim to have had the idea for the visual to the right myself, but Tottenham would indeed be well advised to “Mind The Gap”.
On the other side of North London, things are looking up for Arsenal. Two consecutive wins mean that we’re suddenly back in the title race, with our odds shortening all the time. It’s remarkable how a combination of the win against Man Utd, followed by the significant first home victory, has completely transformed the mood around the club. The whole place is suddenly full of hope and expectation about the coming season. The new signings, Gallas and Rosicky in particular, are settling well and we suddenly appear to be a side capable of challenging for trophies again.
About time too, Arsene would argue. One trophy we always have a chance in is the League Cup, with our foreign legion of youngsters always keen to impress on their rare first-team outings. Yesterday’s draw saw us pitted against West Brom – a tricky test for our second string, but one which we could certainly hope to come through.
The important thing now, as I stressed yesterday, is to keep this run of results going – and that includes beating Porto on Tuesday. Arsene said of the Portugese side:
“I feel we have a big challenge, if you look at the English teams who have beaten Porto or Benfica you do not find many. So we have a big challenge, and do what nobody has done recently in England, is to beat them first. What I expect from Porto is very good technical level in the middle of the park, they keep the ball well, and from the rest… I don’t know what to expect because they play with two strikers, with three, with one… I don’t know too much, but I know we want to win this game, because if we win this game after [the win at] Hamburg, we are in a very, very strong position to qualify.”
Perhaps it’s just me, but Arsene sounds like he’s either slightly tipsy, or isn’t really sure what the interviewer has asked him. For a more succint summary of opinions, read The Independent’s Steve Tongue with Freddie Ljungberg.
Today’s the first Sunday morning we’ve been able to bask in after winning on the Saturday. Enjoy it.
Ps. The News of the World claims to be revealing Russel Brand’s celebrity secrets this morning. Expect it to be news of his shocking affair with Eric Abidal.Â
September 23rd, 2006
With just 25 minutes of our game against Sheffield United left, I began to think about how I could put a positive spin on the match should it remain 0-0. “Unbeaten at Home” was one potential headline, with “Two consecutive clean sheets” another. Then William Gallas burst into the penalty area, fired the ball into the top corner, and 60,000 people were allowed to breathe a harmonious sigh of relief.
It wasn’t the first time Gallas had found himself inside the opposition box, after missing a clear opportunity earlier in the game and showing plenty of willingness to get into goalscoring positions. This time he made absolutely no mistake, and any forward would have been proud of the ensuing finish.
Then, it was as if the weather broke, and suddenly Arsenal found both their confidence and their goalscoring touch. An Henry cross was diverted into his own net by Phil Jagielka four minutes later, and Henry himself nodded in a third with just ten minutes still to play.
It wasn’t as good a performance as against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa, but you can’t complain when you consider the respective results. I said before the game that we had the potential to score a few today: one gets the feeling that had we grabbed a first-half goal the score could have been four or five. As it was, we didn’t, and this was partly due to a “laissez-faire” display from skipper Thierry Henry.
I am not one of these people who says that Henry is characteristically lazy, indeed I am one of his strongest supporters: he is, in my opinion, the world’s best striker. But today, for whatever reason, he wasn’t at the races. Perhaps he was carrying an injury, I don’t know. The records will show that he scored and had a hand in both goals, and I appreciate that. But his movement was poor, his touch sloppy, and he seemed more likely to bawl at Emmanuel Adebayor than encourage and cajole his impressive and hard-working strike-partner.
However, after our first goal his game seemed to lift. Perhaps it is not unthinkable to suggest that the great man himself was suffering from the same crisis of confidence that has affected so many of his team-mates?
In defence, Johan Djourou was outstanding, whilst Gallas’ goal capped another impressive display. It is easy to understand why Chelsea found it such a temptation to play him at full-back.
Freddie Ljungberg showed plenty of endeavor with little end-product, whilst Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky continued to build on their clever interplay.
Ultimately, all that matters is that we have our first league win at the new stadium. With Charlton, Watford, and Reading our next opponents we have a real chance to build on our good form with some tangible results. Average performances with 3-0 scorelines will do just fine.
September 22nd, 2006
The returning Thierry Henry is in no doubt about what Arsenal require against Sheffield United tomorrow: an early goal. Henry, who has beek speaking about Arsene Wenger’s decade at Arsenal, said:
“We just have to score early then finally we can use the width of the pitch and try to play the game that we can.”
He’s right. Both Aston Villa and Middlesbrough got the first goal in our previous two games at home, and were subsequently able to sit back and defend. If we were to take the lead, they would be forced to come out and attack, leaving us with the room to counter-attack we so desperately need.
There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re the stronger side, and should things go to plan could run out winners by a significant scoreline. With Adebayor’s confidence on a high, and the return of Thierry Henry and Robin van Persie, our goalscoring potential in enormous. Anyone whose watched Arsenal this season has said that one unfortunate opponent is due a thrashing: tomorrow could be Sheffield United’s unlucky day.
Kolo Toure has been speaking about Johan Djourou, who is set to keep his place at centre-back. Julio Baptista, whom Real Madrid have confirmed may well remain at Arsenal beyond this season, is likely to begin on the bench.
Sorry for the brevity of the last couple of updates – moving house is proving a real distraction. Come back tomorrow evening for a full write-up of the game: I really do think we have the potential to blow them away, though any sort of win would be fantastic.
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