No, it’s not for a rerun of the dreadful Blackburn game, but instead a chance to see the likes of Fran Merida, Henri Lansbury, Nacer Barazite, and Carl Parisio line up for our U-18s as they take on Cardiff in the FA Youth Cup. If you’ve been priced out of the Emirates up until now, take this as your opportunity to get down there.
Strangely, there isn’t any team news for tomorrow’s game in Eindhoven floating around. Hopefully Alex Hleb will be fit to take his place in the side, which will be an amalgamation of the two teams we put out last week.
As Cesc walked off the pitch at the end of a drab 0-0 draw, the following conversation broke out between he and Mark Hughes:
Cesc: Did you use to play for Barcelona? Hughes: Yes Cesc: That was not Barcelona football from you today.
Genius from the little man. Hughes’ apparent retort was that he doesn’t have the players to play “Barcelona football”. This seems fair enough. His squad was without the attacking flair of Pedersen and McCarthy, and he knew that their best chance of progressing was to try and take us back to Ewood Park. But if Mark Hughes is lying awake tonight thinking of the line he should’ve thrown back at Fabregas, I’m sure the words reverberating around his mind are something along the lines of, “Well it wasn’t from you either”.
For although Blackburn did defend well, with behemoth Christopher Samba particularly impressive, we never really tested them. Kolo Toure was the only outfield player who began the tie at Bolton to start, and Wednesday night’s fluency was missing from a poor performance. The difference in our two sides was best summed up by the wide players: the invention and drive of Hleb and Rosicky was replaced by the erraticism of Ljungberg and Walcott.
It would be wrong to pick out individuals though. This was just a terrible game, full of sub-standard performances. Fingers will be pointed, but I don’t think you can make nine changes and expect fluency. Wenger likes to mix it up, but he would never normally play a midfield that didn’t feature either of Hleb or Rosicky.
There were three noteworthy events in the game: the return of William Gallas, who started at left-back; a decent lob from Matt Derbyshire that Manuel Almunia turned over the bar; and a Brad Friedel double-save to deny Henry and Hoyte. Everything else is probably best forgotten.
The problem is that it creates yet more fixture congestion. One has to wonder what sort of side we’ll be forced to field in the replay.
Here’s some stuff Arsene said. And here’s something more interesting than the game itself was:
With Julio Baptista rested and Emmanuel Adebayor having played 120 minutes midweek, Jeremie Aliadiere seems set to start alongside Thierry Henry against Blackburn today.
His contribution against Bolton was impressive, although he was coming into a game against tiring legs and minds. However, he has performed extremely well in the Carling Cup, and if he can do well alongside Henry then it will be a big boost to his chances of making it here.
We will miss Adebayor, especially his new-found goalscoring habit. James Lawton has taken a break from spouting rubbish to point out just what it is that the Togolese forward brings:
“He is not as quick or as powerful, not yet anyway, as Chelsea’s Didier Drogba but he has a quality that has never been demonstrated by Henry, even at his most sublime and fecund. Instinctively, he knows how to lead the line. He gives Arsenal an attacking shape up front they have lacked for several years and, with the progress of Cesc Fabregas and Denilson promising so much in the creative department, he looks the best bet for regular exploitation of a stream of chances.”
The best news about tomorrow is that William Gallas is back on the squad. He’ll probably only be on the bench, but after three months out of the side it’s great to hear. Injuries have interrupted his time at Arsenal and he doesn’t quite feel like our player yet. Hopefully another run in the side will prove his blood runs red (and white).
Arsene has confirmed that he has turned down France in the past. And not even the Queen will coax him into International management, unless stupid rules like this one come in.
I really like the FA Cup. I really dislike Blackburn. We need to win today.
Other business:
I don’t know if any of you caught the arsecast, but there was a great interview with Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood, after which blogger pointed out I hadn’t made any effort to become Arsenal chairman. Well, check out the end of this entry for some contrary evidence. I expect to be Chairman next week (Mr. Chairman to you, Paddy), and back on the arsecast in no time.
Secondly, I’ve been in France for the past few days, so haven’t been able to police the comments. They’ve got themselves into a right mess. Zero tolerance from now on. You have been warned.
As soon as I saw Arsene’s team selection for last night, I was confident. He had twigged it: against Bolton, you have to fight for the right to play. A back four that included Djourou, Gilberto, and Toure, along with the stature of Diaby, Baptista, and Adebayor further forward, ensured that we were able to win the physical battle against nasty old Bolton. And once we did, they didn’t stand a chance.
The fact that it even went to extra-time was quite remarkable. Adebayor’s deflected finish after great skill from Hleb and Denilson had given us a 13th minute lead, before Julio Baptista began a nightmarish night by missing several simple chances, before managing to win us a second half penalty. “Right”, I thought, “game in the bag”, but Gilberto blasted the ball a foot over the bar.
As if that wasn’t enough; a late break took Adebayor through and he calmly rounded the goalie, before side-footing the ball… onto the inside of the post. Some of us are still trying to work out how that one failed to go in.
When you miss chances like we did last night, an equaliser becomes an inevitability. And when it did arrive, it was in the cruellest of circumstances – a 92nd minute header from Abdoulaye Meite taking the tie to extra-time.
The last half-hour was fairly crazy, but Arsenal’s superior fitness levels showed as we were able to dominate. Substitutes Aliadiere and Ljungberg combined for Freddie to score a sweet second, Ben Haim was sent off for dragging down Baptista, before Anelka fouled Adebayor to give us another penalty. This time Julio Baptista stepped up, and having seen his mate Gilberto miss for the second time this season, he was determined not to be left out, smashing over the crossbar.
Fortunately, Adebayor put the seal on the victory by tapping home his 10th of the season after a late breakaway left he and Baptista two-on-Jussi.
It was a great victory and an impressive performance. Manuel Almunia again showed his potential with a string of excellent pieces of play. Gilberto filled in at centre-back fantastically well – it’s the position he began his career in, and it’s not impossible that he might end it there. In midfield, the youthful Denilson and Diaby were never overawed, whilst Tomas Rosicky and the welcome return of Alex Hleb gave us a genuine threat on the flanks.
Emmanuel Adebayor had another great game (glaring miss aside), but you have to feel for Julio Baptista. He obviously possesses quality, but nothing went right for him on the night. Had he been finished like he was at Anfield he could’ve had another four, but once he missed his first chance his confidence was shot. He kept working at it though, and deserves more opportunities.
From the bench, Jeremie Aliadiere was again impressive as the game opened up, and probably deserves to be picked ahead of Theo Walcott at the moment. Freddie Ljungberg, meanwhile, gave us a glimpse of his former excellence. The question remains whether or not he can do it over a sustained period.
Now we need to find some players to face Blackburn on Saturday…
It’s no surprise to see Jens left out, and many also expected the same for Henry. Arseblogger seems to think Cesc will join them in watching the game from the comfort of the sofa. Personally, I just hope we don’t end up watching it from behind said sofa: Bolton have given us nightmares enough times in the past.
The good news is that Alex and Freddie, whose bastardised first-names make them sound a whole lot more English than they are, are back.
I’d love to write more but I’m working from a foreign keyboard. It’s an absolute nightmare. I’ll just throw a fewdesperatelinks in, then go.
As Cesc walked off the pitch at the end of a drab 0-0 draw, the following conversation broke out between he and Mark Hughes:
With Julio Baptista rested and Emmanuel Adebayor having played 120 minutes midweek, Jeremie Aliadiere seems set to start alongside Thierry Henry against Blackburn today.
As soon as I saw Arsene’s team selection for last night, I was confident. He had twigged it: against Bolton, you have to fight for the right to play. A back four that included Djourou, Gilberto, and Toure, along with the stature of Diaby, Baptista, and Adebayor further forward, ensured that we were able to win the physical battle against nasty old Bolton. And once we did, they didn’t stand a chance.
