Round-up from a club brimming with confidence
Add comment October 1st, 2007
When you look at the league table, it’s not hard to understand just why everyone associated with the club is on a big high at the moment. After the 1-0 win over West Ham, Alan Curbishley has been quick to praise our combination of spirit and skill, graft and craft, and another pair of rhyming adjectives that my brain is too tired to come up with right now:
“One of their characteristics is they put their foot in so it’s very competitive out there. They’ve got that pace on the break and they exploit the situation if you have to push on to them. We may have tested them a bit more but [Kolo] Toure and [Philippe] Senderos are strong and attacked Dean Ashton very well.
[Mathieu] Flamini and [Cesc] Fabregas are very strong in the middle of the park and I think, until he got injured, Hleb was fantastic and probably epitomises Arsenal: quick feet, quick brain, quick movement, simple things like throw-ins and quick free kicks. That enabled them to get the ball down, get it to feet and shift it somewhere else and there’s always a danger.”
It’s interesting to see Flamini’s role highlighted there, and after the game Arsene also praised his midfield t terrier:
“He is growing – he has a little bossy attitude in midfield you know and he is an organiser, a fighter and a winner. He has improved in football terms; his vision is better, his presence is better and overall at the moment he is doing very well.”
Flamini has fought for his place and now Gilberto must do the same. It was interesting to see the Brazilian exchange a few words with Freddie Ljungberg after the West Ham match. There was a lot of shrugging and head-shaking going on. I imagine Freddie was asking why Gilberto now finds himself out of the side, and the man who captained Brazil to the Copa America just a few weeks ago couldn’t find an answer.
Gael Clichy hits the proverbial nail clean on the head when discussing the weekend’s result:
“This is definitely the type of result we didn’t get last season. Last season we lost only once at home, but were let down by our away form. This time we are showing everyone Arsenal are up for it.
He’s exactly right. Winning breeds confidence, and confidence brings victories. We’re on a roll, and it’s important we keep it going.
However, over-confidence can be dangerous, and I wonder if that’s what is exhibited in the following two cases. Take first Theo Walcott, who has set himself a target of ten goals for this season. Now I’m no expert on Theo’s psychological make-up, but I can’t imagine he’s the kind of player who thrives under the pressure of set targets. Just concentrate on your overall performances, Theo: the goals will come.
Finally, following the audio link from this BBC article will enable you to hear an interview with a bullish Keith Edelman, in which he talks about the meeting between himself, Peter Hill-Wood, and Farhad Moshiri. He seems fairly certain of the board’s resolve, but let’s hope he leaves no stone un-turned in making sure Alisher Usmanov is not allowed to seize control of Arsenal.
Tomorrow, we face Steaua Bucharest. Full preview at dawn.
