Archive for March, 2009
March 25th, 2009
The FA have granted Hull more time to compile their dossier on ‘spitting-gate’. God only knows why they need more time. If I was at school say, and went to the teacher accusing a bigger boy of spitting at me, and Sir then said “Ok son, well what happened?”, I’m not sure how he’d take to me turning around and saying “Well, I’m going to need twelve days to tell you”. Perhaps that is just how long it takes the cretinous Phil Brown to put together a paragraph on the issue.
Nevertheless, Peter Hill-Wood says he “wasn’t impressed” with the pictures that appeared of the incident. I can only assume he means he thinks Cesc should’ve nutted Horton.
I’m sorry, I’m just a little wound up by this. The world and his wife can see that Phil Brown is man under a huge amount of stress, and beginning to crack up at the edges. And yet his claims are not only being given the time of day by the FA, but the time of twelve days. Absurd.
Sixteen Arsenal players have headed off on senior International duty, and when they get back they’ll be greeted by the still somewhat unfamiliar face of Mikael Silvestre, who after picking up a “three week” injury, has followed the time-honoured Arsenal tradition of being out for two months. It’s good to see him trying to fit in.
Amazing to think that at one stage this season Silvestre was our first-choice centre-back, based purely on the fact that he was the only one of our defenders not making a horrendous mistake in every game. Now he returns to the squad behind Toure, Gallas and Djourou in the pecking order, which is hopefully indicative of the turn-around we’ve made in recent weeks.
Silvestre was in the line-up in our worst performance of the season – the 3-0 defeat at the City of Manchester stadium. Silvestre’s return coincides with the reverse of that fixture, and hopefully we’ll be able to use it to demonstrate our improvement and keep up our momentum.
Should find out today if I’ve got tickets for the away leg at Villareal. Crossing all digits.
March 24th, 2009
Good morning, folks. Today is Tuesday. And you know what that means:
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Absolutely nothing at all.
Bit of a rush this morning, as has been the case all too often of late. I apologise for that – in a week or so I will have the opportunity to dedicate the time to the blog you all deserve. For now, let’s rattle through what news there is and then I’ll be on my way:
Robin Van Persie has declared that he won’t walk out on his current contract. Right. Nothing about whether he’ll stay beyond it though. One can’t help but worry that Mathieu Flamini’s actions at the end of last year might’ve given his mates a few ideas…
One man who seems intent on stick around for a while is Andrey Arshavin. It’s nice to hear, even this early on. Let’s just hope Ivan Gazidis has buried Dennis Lachter somewhere beneath the new Highbury Square development.
Abou Diaby, supposed towering tough-tackling midfielder, reveals his idol to be dwarfish number 10, Gianfranco Zola. Frankly, that explains a lot.
The Togolese Football Federation have called up Emmanuel Adebayor, despite the striker being injured. Perhaps he’s going to cut up the half-time oranges. I have no idea.
I’ll leave you with this charming piece about Robert Pires. What a reception he’ll get back at the Emirates. Top man, top player. Till tomorrow.
March 23rd, 2009
After Aston Villa’s crushing 5-0 defeat at Anfield, the gap between them and Arsenal is bigger than three points – an attituditional gulf has opened up between the two teams. Arsene is talking (albeit whilst acknowledging the irrational nature of his ambition) about chasing the top three, whilst Martin O’Neill seems ready to take a ‘Europa League’ place and run:
“You would have to say now there won’t be much of a threat from us to Arsenal’s position. It’s no fluke that the top four are where they are and we are in a dip right now. We are not as strong as those four clubs. I have said it many times before and I will say it again – we still have a lot of catching up to do. It is still reachable as Arsenal have many tough games to come, but they are getting some of their injured players back and it’s going to be very, very tough.”
To be fair to O’Neill, he is probably just trying to take the pressure of his players in an attempt to get them to turn their dreadful form around. He wants his squad to come back from the International break with a clear mind, and just take each game as it somes. In that respect, the ‘Interlull’ couldn’t have come at a better time for Villa.
For us, the break is an inconvenience. A glance at the current form table shows just how great the disparity between the recent performances of us and Villa is, and I’m sure that with more league fixtures in the coming days there would be opportunities to widen that gap.
Saturday evening was a good example of our improving form, with two players who’ve come in for plenty of criticism this season at the forefront of our display. Nicklas Bendtner powerfully headed in his twelfth goal of the season, meaning he now has an identical total to our supposed first-choice forward, Emmanuel Adebayor. Adebayor’s hamstring injury occurred six full weeks ago now – it’s clear there’s been no rush to bring him back. With Bendtner’s all-round play improving and a goal tally that isn’t to be sniffed at, I think the Togolese striker will have to put in some of the hard work that was the hallmark of his early days at Arsenal if he wants to regain his place in the side.
Abou Diaby also scored another terrific goal, and Arsene Wenger has commented once again on the comparisons between the 22-year old and Patrick Vieira:
“There are similarities. They are the same stature and the same size and have the similar style. Also Patrick is from Senegal and Abou is from Ivory Coast. But there is a lot of room for him to get where Patrick was. He is only 22 years-old and Patrick is a good role model for him.
In the first half I was not always happy with his performance. There was not a lot wrong but our positioning in the middle was not right some of the time. We were on the back foot and did not protect our defence.
But in the second half he did well. Abou has power coming through the middle of the park and he showed that on the goal. That is interesting for me. I feel there are similarities with Vieira and I feel he is growing at the moment.”
Saturday’s performance was a microcosmic encapsulation of Diaby’s capacity to both frustrate and thrill. In the first half he was sloppy, and occasionally lazy in tracking back. In the second, he appeared to have the ball on a string, languidly bringing it past players as if they weren’t there, and thumping one effort into the top of the net and another against the post. If only he could be a) consistently fit and b) consistently good, what a player he’d be.
Andrey Arshavin deserves credit again. Not so much for any moments of genius in the final third, but because Saturday was the first time it looked as if he’d been targetted by the opposition, and it didn’t phase him one bit. He was kicked all over the park, but got up, and got on with it. He almost managed the perfect retaliation, crashing one effort from thirty yards off the top of the bar with almost as much force as Steven Taylor used to thrust his forearm into the Russian’s face.
The next two weeks is a bit of a waiting game for Arsene and us fans. In order to keep our momentum going, it’s fairly essential that all our key players return fit. Start praying… NOW.
March 22nd, 2009
Newcastle 1 – 3 Arsenal (Bendtner 57, Martins 58, Diaby 63, Nasri 66)
Highlights here; Arsene’s reaction here
Match report here.
Again, due to the my absurdly busy weekend, there’s no time for much ruminating on yesterday’s events, but I will be able to do that tomorrow. Needless to say, this is a good win. Over on my twitter-based coverage of the game, I tipped Bendtner to score, and the Dane obliged with a thumping header from Arshavin’s free-kick. We then allowed Martins to grab an immediate equaliser, before Vieira and Pires-esque strikes from Diaby and Nasri put the game beyond doubt. Had our finishing been better, we could’ve scored more.
The pressure is now on Aston Villa, who face a highly-motivated Liverpool today.
Proper blog tomorrow.
March 20th, 2009
Saturday morning update: no time for a proper blog today, but the good news is that we’ve only got Villareal in the draw. The bad news is that Theo Walcott will be out for up to five weeks. Possibly more later. Follow the game with me on twitter.
Tomorrow morning, around 11am UK-time, a route to the Champions League Final will unfold. It may be arduous and ultimately prove insurmountable, but at least we’ll know the direction it’d take us. All roads lead back to Rome, but it’s safe to say we won’t be travelling as the crow flies.
For personal reasons, I’m fairly keen on a tie against Barcelona somewhere along the line – my brother is living out there at the moment and I’d be killing two birds with one stone by visiting him and catching the game. (The problem with the “two birds/one stone” analogy is that it implies a practical measure taken to complete two chores. In this case, a more fitting turn of phrase would be something like “eating two delicious chocolate cakes with one golden spoon”. Or something.)
Of the other foreign sides available to draw, Villareal and Porto are undoubtedly the softest. I wasn’t impressed with Porto in the group stage (despite them qualifying ahead of us), and I don’t think Villareal are a better side than Roma. There is, however, a little allure about The Yellow Submarines, as it would mean a long-awaited Emirates debut for a certain Robert Pires. Oh, and it’s also close enough to swing by Barcelona on the way.
Of course, we’re no longer protected from the possibility of drawing another English side. If we had to draw one, and I’d really rather not – not only because I’m less confident of beating them, but also because a European night never feels quite the same against Premier League opposition – I think I’d choose Liverpool. Let Man U and Chelsea somehow conspire to knock each other out – we owe those Scousers big time for last year.
There is, of course, one side I haven’t mentioned: Bayern Munich. Funny feeling about that one. Of course, “funny feelings” have a less than 100% track-record, but if it turns out this particular peculiar premonission is not misplaced, I will be claiming possession of some sort of magic power.
In other news, Theo Walcott has been named in the England U-21 squad. Fair enough, I suppose – he’s barely back from a long-term injury. But I do worry it might be a move to reintegrate Walcott into the U-21s ahead of including him in their Summer tournament, at a time when a rest would certainly be more beneficial to us, his club.
Finally, early team news for Newcastle suggests that Manuel Almunia will be fit.
What with the draw, and the fallout from the Hull game, Arsene’s press conference today could be very interesting…
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