Archive for October, 2006
October 25th, 2006
Jeremie Aliadiere will always remember his first Premiership goal. It came at Highbury, the fifth in a thrashing of West Brom. Last night we faced West Brom again, and the game will share a significance for Aliadiere, as the night when his Arsenal career recommenced after almost two years in the shadows.
Last season in particular was disastrous for the Frenchman. Limited opportunities in loan spells at Celtic then West Ham were followed by a more impressive but hardly headlining spell at Wolves under Glenn Hoddle. However, it was whilst in the Black Country that Arsene Wenger decided to hand Aliadiere a new three-year contract: a final chance to prove he could cut it.
Last night, that faith was repayed. A converted penalty he had won with a mazy run preceded a neat finish from a tucked back Theo Walcott free-kick, as a very young Arsenal side marched to a 2-0 victory over in-form West Brom.
At 23, Aliadiere was the eldest outfield player on the field: a remarkable statistic. Of the other Young Guns, Denilson and Theo Walcott impressed, but special praise has been reserved in The Daily Mail for one Alex Song:
“Particularly outstanding was Alexandre Song, the Cameroon midfielder. Song, 19, was an energetic fulcrum between defence and the attack in which Aliadiere was rapier sharp.”
We always knew he’d come good. Sort of. Seeing as I wasn’t at the game, nor was it on TV, you’re probably best to read Arsene’s comments: he tends to know his stuff.
The one down-side from the game was that we lost Emmanuel Adebayor with a thigh strain, that could keep him out for three weeks: an even better night for Aliadiere.
Elsewhere, Kolo Toure has signed a new long-term contract, which is brilliant. He has become one of the top centre-backs in Europe, and is unparralelled in world football in terms of sheer power and athleticism. He can stay as long as he likes.
I’m going away tomorrow until Sunday, so there probably won’t be any news on here. If there is, it’ll be stuff I’ve typed up today, but set to publish at a later date. So, for example, if Arsene Wenger walks out on the club tomorrow, I’ll be posting articles that completely ignore that fact. Good, eh?
October 24th, 2006
With the tie away to West Brom tonight in the Carling Cup, there will be a traditional sprinkling of young stars, and a couple of older players making their long-awaited comebacks. Here’s the one’s to look out for:
Philippe Senderos is set to make his first appearance of this season, in what is also his first appearance in the legendary number 6 shirt. After a shoulder injury ended his World Cup, he’ll be itching to get back into the first team.
As will Gael Clichy. With Ashley Cole now gone, Clichy is the only out-and-out left-back at the club. However, with the arrival of William Gallas and the form of Johan Djourou, both Philippe and Gael will have their work cut out getting back into the side: competition for places is higher than ever.
Alex Song made a brief appearance in the win at Reading, and some have speculated that bringing him on was an unfair taunt at a Reading side who’d given it their best. In seriousness, in spite of looking truly horrendous at times last season, Le Boss must have considerable faith in the youngster to have paid €4m to secure his permanent transfer. His pre-season performances were encouraging, and yesterday his impression of a professional footballer was verging on passable. With Abou Diaby and Julio Baptista still out injured, tonight could be a big night for Rigobert’s nephew.
Last season, Mathieu Flamini was a revelation. Forced into an unfamiliar left-back role, he performed heroically. This season, he and Arsene have agreed he will return to his preferred position of central midfield. However, this comes with it’s own problems: the arrival of Abou Diaby and Julio Baptista in the last six months, coupled with the form of Fabregas and Gilberto, means Flamini’s opportunities are going to become ever more limited. If he wants to be regularly involved in the first team, he must take the few opportunies he does get – like tonight.
The Brazilian Denilson travelled to Moscow last week, but didn’t come on. Tonight he is much more likely to make his Arsenal debut in the number 15 shirt that brought Cesc such success (crikey, that’s a mouthful).
So much has been said about Theo Walcott, but tonight will surely be just his second start for the club. After a couple of nervy substitute appearances, he’d like to improve on his impressive full debut against Watford with another dazzling display.
Finally, the forgotten man: Jeremie Aliadiere. Now 23, the Frenchman knows he is on his last chance at the club. It seems crazy to imagine that Aliadiere is actually older than Emmanuel Adebayor, but that’s the case. Injuries have dogged his career, but a goal tonight would bring him closer to the first-team picture, after an absence of over a year.
West Brom are no pushover, and under new management will be more than up for an upset tonight.
October 23rd, 2006
Me too Cesc, me too. Our performance yesterday was on a par with those of The Invincibles, and brought with it a fantastic result. You could be churlish and say “it was only Reading”, but that fails to take into account the trouble they caused both Chelsea and Man U. Yesterday, however, they were quite simply blown away.
When the Campbell/Cole/Vieira/Pires/Henry-side of a couple of years ago was regularly turning in performances like this, the key was always an early goal. Arsenal would batter teams right from the first whistle, often leading two or three nil within 20 minutes. This of course forces the opposition to come out, leaving space for devastating counter-attacks. Yesterday we got that early goal, Cesc Fabregas tucking the ball back for Henry to pass the ball into the net after just 58 seconds. The writing was on the wall immediately.
The only surprise was that it took until the 39th minute for us to double our lead, the likes of Justin Hoyte and William Gallas missing good opportunities before Aleksandr Hleb played a neat one-two with Slavic compatriot Tomas Rosicky before blasting the ball into the top of the net: a brilliant goal, and one that proves that Hleb can finish we he wants to.
After the restart, however, he was back to his old ways. After a flowing move orchestrated by Fabregas, Hleb combined with Henry to get free in the penalty area just eight yards out. However, the unselfish Belarussian squared for the on-rushing Robin van Persie to tap in an exquisite third.
A fourth was an inevitability. Another inch-perfect pass, this time from Henry, released Cesc, who rounded the goalkeeper before being clipped by Hahnemann’s gloves. A sending off would’ve served no purpose, and Henry’s powered penalty was punishment enough.
The last twenty minutes saw run-outs for Adebayor, Walcott, and Song (yes, we were cruising that much). Plucky Reading managed to force a few chances, but Jens was equal to the task of keeping them out. At the final whistle, the entire ground applauded what really was a showcase of passing and movement. After a dreary North-west derby earlier in the day, Arsenal had once again proven that they are the most attractive side in the league. The words of Reading’s Steve Copple are simultaneously complimentary yet fair:
“They were fabulous. In Henry and Fabregas, they have the top two players, possibly, in European football, playing right at the top of their game. Their football is more fluid, I would say, than Chelsea or Manchester United’s. It’s pleasing on the eye, and they have a sharp point in Henry, and then you wrap their quality around him. It’s inspirational, I must admit. Big, big respect to the way they played against us.”
I touched on Cesc’s comments earlier, but it must be a real joy to play in this side. The key to our recent success has been a remarkable telepathy in midfield. Arsene says:
“Especially there is a good understanding in midfield now. We are very mobile, and very quick. Fabregas is a great player and he will be greater, I believe – Rosicky is getting better in every game, I am very happy with his performances.”
A huge amount of yesterday’s success is down to the system. We call it a 4-5-1, but it’s certainly more of a 4-1-4-1. Gilberto sits and holds, always available for a pass, whilst Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas, and van Persie cause havoc ahead of him. Their constant interchanging of positions and inch-perfect passing means that they are a handful for any defence. Henry’s game has changed significantly too: in this system he is able to drop deeper, and play in one of the four runners from midfield, as shown in the penalty incident yesterday.
4-4-2 has its merits, especially at home. But with performances like yesterday’s and the one at Old Trafford, it’s hard to argue against the system. With Julio Baptista still to make a significant impact, it’s no surprise that Arsene won’t be buying in the January transfer window.
Full Carling Cup Preview here tomorrow…
October 22nd, 2006
READING are our opponents today, and they’re more than up for it. Having pushed Chelsea and Man U to the wire this season, they’ll fancy their chances of an upset today.
RIGHTING the wrongs of Tuesday’s performance is vital, and for me that encorporates ditching the 4-5-1. Not permanently, but certainly for today: Reading aren’t a team to sit back and defend – they’ll definitely play 4-4-2 themselves, and the physical presence of Adebayor would give us a hand against the useful Sonko and Ingimarsson.
and finally,
ROSICKY. Partly Primarily because his name being with “R” and we don’t have a player called “Rithmetic”, but also because I backed he and Hleb to score in a 2-0 win for us. It’s a bold prediction, here’s hoping it comes to fruition…
October 21st, 2006
When labelling this Preview “bumper”, I was aware that I might cause some confusion. My greatest fears were that someone would mistake the sense in which I meant that it was a “bumper” preview. “Bumper”, you see, is a word of many guises. For example:
- a person or thing that bumps
- a metal guard, usually horizontal, for protecting the front or rear of an automobile, truck, etc.
- any protective rim, guard, pad, or disk for absorbing shock and preventing damage from bumping
- as a rubber-tipped doorstop or an old tire on the side of a boat
- a cup or glass filled to the brim, as with
orange juice beer
- a person who molds bricks by hand
- (foundry) a machine for ramming sand into a mold.
- (television slang) a brief announcement about a news story to be covered later in the programming
However, of most concern was my anxiety that some readers might expect this Preview to be presented by a “Bumper“: a carangid fish, Chloroscombrus chrysurus, of southern U.S. and Cuban coastal seas. I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not.
No, I mean bumper in the sense of “extraordinarily abundant”. Unfortunately, you may have already inferred that quantity sometimes comes at the expense of quality. Still, onwards:
Previous Meeting: The last time we played Reading was last season, December 2005, in the Carling Cup. Looking back, it was only 10 months ago, and yet quite a lot has changed. Reading of course are now a Premiership outfit, for one. But within our own squad, it’s interesting how things have moved on. At that stage, Emmanuel Eboué was regarded as promising back-up, although I did ominously predict: “If Lauren is ever injured, he could make a real push for the first team”. Now, with Lauren seemingly out until January, you can all blame me for jinxing him. Perhaps my strongest memory of the game was the superb performance of the young dutch winger, Quincy. However, just a month later, he was sold following the arrival of Theo Walcott. He’s now a regular subtitute for Spartak Moscow, scoring a grand total of one goal to date. Funny how things turn out. Still, we should’ve seen his demise coming.
Team News: I haven’t got this right for a while now. The main reason it’s so tough to second guess Arsene this season is that there is a real squad mentality at Arsenal now. As he himself said yesterday, “This team now is not dependant on one player in any position on the pitch. Everybody has tough competition to stay in the side”. Add to this the flexibility in the system, and it’s a weekly conundrum to work out who’ll be on the pitch come the game. Although Emmanuel Adebayor’s performance against Watford probably warrants a place in the line-up, I think we’ll see the 4-5-1 in this tough away fixture. In that system, the personnel pretty much pick themselves. The only change could be at the back, where I certainly hope that Gael Clichy will come in for Justin Hoyte. God help us if he doesn’t.
Useless Fact: My cousin works on the coaching staff at Reading. And he couldn’t get me tickets for this game. Useless.
Prediction: An away win, although a draw would be no embarrassment considering that United and Chelsea have both had their respective troubles there. However, I strongly fancy Hleb and/or Rosicky to get on the scoresheet in a 2-0 victory.
As a final note, I hope you all enjoyed the Arseblog Arsecast yesterday: if you haven’t heard it yet, give it a listen. Funny stuff. Oh, and if you have a football team in the North or East London area and need an extra man, drop me a line through the contact section. I’m thinking of coming out of my early retirement.
Finally, the fact that this was so blogtastically bumper is basically an excuse for the fact that there probably won’t be an update till Monday. Still, I should be getting the Internet this week, which will make things a lot easier. Have a good weekend.
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