Archive for April, 2009
April 15th, 2009
My God. I was feeling alright about tonight’s game, until I watched last night’s Chelsea-Liverpool goalfest. I don’t think my nerves have ever been so frayed by a game in which I was essentially a neutral. Although that match was unique for many reasons, it did provide a suitable demonstration of the way in which the away goals rule can make the pendulum of victory sway about more than a drunk on stilts in the wind.
First legs are alright – I can handle those. As Liverpool almost demonstrated last night, the damage done in a first leg can oft be overturned in the following ninety minutes. In the second leg, however, just one goal can prove a knockout blow. I almost daren’t mention it, but surely no-one will ever forget *whispers* Wayne Bridge…
The lesson to be learned from Chelsea’s near capitulation is the danger of sitting back on a lead. A 0-0 will take us through tonight, but playing for one will prove disastrous – especially with a backline that includes Lukasz Fabianski, Kieran Gibbs, and Mikael Silvestre.
To protect that defence, I expect Arsene to pick both Alex Song and Denilson. However, with Van Persie and Adebayor rested and ready to go, 4-4-2 seems the obvious choice of formation. Therefore I think we might see Denilson on the right, with Song partnering Cesc, and Samir Nasri coming in on the left.
I could be wrong, and we might see Theo Walcott or Emmanuel Eboue in the side, but my suspicion is that however much Arsene talks up the necessity of attacking, there will be an element of caution in his selection.
Abou Diaby is fit again and will probably be on the bench. He, Song, Van Persie and Nasri are all one booking away from a suspension.
Adebayor, who will surely lead the line regardless of which system we play, spoke in the pre-match press conference about the summer, claiming he never said he wanted to leave the club. I’m not sure that’s entirely true, and had a fee been agreed with either Milan or Barca then I don’t think he’d still be at the club. For much of this season he has looked a man distracted, but since returning from injury he seems fresh and motivated. A focused Adebayor is undoubtedly an asset, and he definitely has a huge role to play between now and the end of the season. If El Dandy-bayor can muster anything as spectacular as that moment at the Madrigal tonight, we should be fine.
It’s very, very exciting. I’m very, very excited. I will try to muster the odd miniblog on twitter during the game, but the nerves may get to me. It’s hard to type on an iPhone with quivering fingers.
If you’re there tonight, be sure to give a big welcome home to a certain Bobby Pires. Then follow Arsene’s call to arms and get behind the team as they decimate Bobert’s side and finally sink that pesky submarine.
—
Arsenal’s FA Cup Semi-Final against Chelsea on Saturday will be screen exclusively live on Setanta Sports.
If you can’t get to Wembley, that’s the place to watch it.
April 14th, 2009
Before the weekend, Arsene Wenger implied that Kieran Gibbs’ appearance against Wigan would be a trial of sorts. Without wanting to be too hard on a teenager who only really started playing in defence last season, I’m not sure he passed it with flying colours.
Even the most biased of Arsenal fans would surely concede Gibbs ought to have been dismissed after losing possession and then hauling down Antonio Valencia, and although he recovered to improve in the second half, the Ecuadorian winger troubled him throughout the game.
That could be a foreshadowing of what is to come tomorrow night – Valencia himself is a former Villarreal player. He couldn’t make it at the Spanish club, which is an indicator of the calibre of player Gibbs will be up against.
Arseblogger talks of the possibility of bringing Emmanuel Eboue in and switching Bacary Sagna to left-back, and I have to say I’d be inclined to make that switch. Eboue, for all his flaws, played in that position when we reached the Champions League final in 2006. Sagna, meanwhile, filled in at left-back on a few occasions for Auxerre, and his sheer athleticism and defensive instincts mean he would really be capable of playing anywhere across the backline.
In other news, Robin van Persie still expects to sign a new deal in the Summer. I have to be honest, whilst I respect the boss’s decision to postpone contract talks until the end of the season, it concerns me enormously that we have allowed both Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott to get within twelve months of the expiration of their current deals – and that’s without even mentioning the defensive pairing of Toure and Gallas, who are in identical contractual situations.
Finally, the PFA Player of the Year nominations were announced today. Quite how Cristiano Ronaldo was nominated ahead of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, or indeed our own Robin van Persie is beyond me. There’s not an Arsenal nomination in sight, which I think is in large part due to the injuries the likes of Walcott and Fabregas have suffered.
Still, the real prizes are the ones that are decided on the pitch. This week is absolutely huge. I can barely contain my excitement.
April 13th, 2009
The trip to Villarreal started in somewhat surreal circumstances, and so it continued. Boarding a train to the airport, three elderly Irish people were discussing the overground train with a degree of wonderment:
“Doesn’t pull off as quickly as the tube, does it?â€
“No… you need to watch your guard with those doors though.â€
“Oh aye. Deadly.â€
I’m not sure of exactly how many elderly Irish people have been slain by the sliding doors of the First Capital Connect carriages, so I won’t quibble with the “deadly†remark. Nonetheless, the degree of awe with which the mundane details of public transport were discussed seems a fitting encapsulation of the disparity between expectation and reality that my trip brought to light: I travelled hoping to slay a European giant and returned in disbelief at just how a club as tiny as Villarreal has achieved such a degree of success.
Having landed in Barcelona, after spending two hours having my legs crushed in what Easyjet term a “seatâ€, getting to Villarreal itself was the next challenge. And quite a challenge it proved. My brother had booked and paid for a hire-car, but we had both rather foolishly left our credit cards at home, meaning we were unable to sign a contract to guarantee the car. This left us flailing around for two hours, making several calls to England, trying to get a friend or family member to travel to a London branch of the car rental service and guarantee the vehicle on our behalf. Eventually we were bailed out. Not only did we now have the car, but if we crashed it we wouldn’t be the ones charged – Result!
There followed a three-hour drive to Villarreal, in which I think we were charged more in toll fees than the price of the rental car itself. The main part of the journey was spent searching through radio stations in the vain hope that we might come across a recognisable track. This led to one particularly embarrassing moment when my brother celebrated the commencement of “If I Was A Boy†by Beyconce Knowles with a clenched fist and shouts of “Yes!â€. (In his defence, there had been a lot of Hispanic warbling and tingle-tanging guitars in the preceding half-hour.)
Upon reaching Villarreal, it was all too easy. We parked just a couple of hundred yards from the ground, and strolled into a friendly bar by the somewhat absurd name of “Bar of the Witch’s Submarineâ€. Its exterior walls were decorated with a picture of a witch. Riding a submarine. Those crazy Spanish, eh.
I should point out that our parking feat is not as great as it sounds: everywhere in Villarreal is within a couple of hundred yards of the ground. It is absolutely tiny. I mentioned the club being smaller than I expected, and that is no reflection on the team – the town itself is just incredibly small. Comparing it to my own local area, it’s a bit like Borehamwood FC being a Champions League outfit. The ground itself is also small by top-flight standards, with a capacity of just over 20,000.
One stand, however, is preposterously high, and as the pictures make clear, it’s here that the Arsenal fans were penned in. Those near the front had a glass wall to see through rather than the gauzey fencing that filtered my view, but I have to say I soon forgot it was even there.
Villarreal were excellent in the first half, and Marcos Senna was bossing it. It’s a big bonus for us that he’ll miss the second leg, especially seeing as it removes the risk of him cracking in another goal from distance as he did out in Spain. The announcer left us in no doubt as to who had scored, yelling:
“MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS – MARCOS –
SENNA – SENNA – SENNA – SENNA – SENNA!!!â€
But in spite of the injury problems we suffered, we fought back into it, and Adebayor’s goal was just magical. It was a fitting strike for a Champions League Quarter-Final, and another indicator that his form is returning at the crucial end of the season. Indeed, the goal saw him dubbed “El Dandy†(see right) by the following morning’s edition of AS.
The atmosphere was great, and as far as I’m aware the Arsenal fans were impeccably behaved, as you’d expect. What’s more, Villarreal and Arsenal fans mingled with no sense of animosity at all. Granted, they didn’t have much choice but to cross paths in a town as small as this, but it went entirely without a hitch.
The journey back involved more toll fees, more Beyonce, and the disappearance of a pack of twelve rather delicious magdalenas.
I believe it was a good result, but the tie is still very much in the balance. Whilst Adebayor’s precious away goal means a 0-0 would take us through, playing for such a result is almost inviting disaster – especially with our weakened backline. I think we’ll start with Adebayor, Van Persie, Nasri and Walcott, and hope to blow Villarreal away early on. It is a huge, huge week we have ahead of us. Yesterday brought more good news in the league as Everton and Aston Villa cancelled each other out in a thrilling match, but attention now turns to the two cup competitions which still offer us a chance of silverware this season. It’s going to be some ride. Brace yourselves.
April 12th, 2009
Wigan 1 – 4 Arsenal (Mido 17, Walcott 60, Silvestre 71, Arshavin 90, Song 90+2)
Highlights here; Arsene’s reaction here
Every year Arsenal fans wait for the moment when they can celebrate St. Totteringham’s Day. No-one knows when it will fall, but there is a neat irony about the fact that this year it has arrived at Easter weekend. For what St. Totteringham’s Day means, as I’m sure you all know, is that there will there will be no footballing resurrection for Sp*rs, as it is now mathematically impossible for them to finish above us this season.
For much of the game it seemed that St. Totteringham’s Day would have to be postponed. I was quite vociferous in my defence of our first half performance at Villarreal, but I am about to be equally forceful in my condemnation of our showing in the first forty-five at the JJB: we were dreadful – defensively sloppy, and lacking in imagination going forward. We had started with Walcott, Fabregas, and Arshavin playing behind Bendtner, which ought to have been good enough to trouble Wigan. However, our failure to create any chances of note meant fans were glancing hopefully towards a star-studded bench from about twenty minutes in to the game.
The goal we conceded was typical of the sloppiness we were showing – Ben Watson’s corner was nodded down by Paul Scharner, and the unchallenged Mido knocked an acrobatic but fairly gentle volley past a flapping Fabianski. Things got worse when Johan Djourou was stretched off with what looked like a serious knee injury. Arsene has said it’ll be “weeks not days”, and the signs (Djourou going to ground uncontested, being stretchered off, and covering his face to hide his pain) certainly aren’t good. That leaves us with Kolo Toure and the man who came on to replace him, Mikael Silvestre, as our only fit central defenders. From the way things looked yesterday, I’d be pleasantly surprised to see Djourou before the end of the season.
Kieran Gibbs also had some trouble on his first Premier League start, and was reportedly lucky not to be dismissed for a professional foul on Antonio Valencia. I haven’t actually seen it myself yet, but he seemed to recover from the incident to put in an improved performance in the second half.
At half-time I was amazed that Arsene decided not to make any changes. And yet, despite looking entirely unlikely, with half an hour to play an equaliser arrived. A long clearance from the goalkeeper was nodded down by Bendtner, and a somewhat protracted one-two ended with Andrey Arshavin poking a through-ball as he fell to the ground, which Theo Walcott latched on to before lashing in his first goal of 2009.
Over the next ten minutes, Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor were introduced to join Bendtner, Arshavin, and Fabregas in an incredibly attacking line-up. It promised goals, and it delivered – though the most vital strike came from an unlikely source. Arshavin nutmegged his man, and Cesc squared the ball for the onrushing Mikael Silvestre to score on his first appearance for three months. Many have waited eagerly to see how Arshavin and Fabregas might combine, and this was a great example of two footballing artists unlocking a defence – Silvestre may have been the beneficiary, but the skipper ran straight to the little Russian to celebrate the goal.
Arshavin was on top of his game, and fired against the post from distance before adding the third late on. It was a counter-attack from one end to the other in what can’t have been more than ten seconds – reminiscent of times past. Adebayor did the bulk of the work, charging the length of the pitch before attempting to play in Cesc, who was in support. His pass, however, came up short, and Jason Koumas intercepted. Koumas then looked to give the ball to his defensive partner, but Arshavin had pre-empted the pass and thumped home a goal without taking a touch.
Wigan’s defence had completely crumbled by this point, and in stoppage time Alex Song underlined that fact by waltzing through the defence to fire home one of the goals that means we have now scored more away from home than any other team in the league. It’s eighteen games unbeaten too, and momentum has carried forth into next week’s crucial cup ties. The defence looked shaky but hopefully they will take confidence from this victory. Going forward, Arshavin was outstanding. The stage is all set for him to, as Arsene Wenger joked, show Guus Hiddink he deserves his place in the Russian national team in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final.
Happy St. Totteringham’s Day, one and all. And Happy Easter too, I suppose.
April 11th, 2009
I’ve just seen this. Arsene’s most frank interview in a long time. Not sure of the original source. Possibly a French publication.
I’m just going to post the following quotes without comment. Arsenal fans have waited a long time to hear Arsene admit how bad things were in the first half of the season, and it’s taken an eighteen-game unbeaten run in the league for him to feel he can reveal the truth. Read on, fellow Gooners:
“I did make a mistake in perhaps underestimating the harmful effects of last season, especially the loss of the title. I asked myself a lot of questions during the close season about the influence losing the title in the last two months might cause.
And we lost Hleb, Flamini and Rosicky. There was a midfield for me to rebuild. Should I have anticipated Flamini’s departure? I couldn’t because I really didn’t think he was going to leave.
The Adebayor business: ‘I’m going, I’m staying, I’m going, I’m staying’ was also an important factor. One thing followed another. Earlier this season, our game wasn’t there. Even the people who love Arsenal were saying: ‘This is a disaster.’
You wonder why, with the same players, our game could crumble so much. The staff and I wondered whether we had made mistakes, if the training was being done badly.
The most worrying match was our 3-0 defeat at Manchester City in November. That was one loss too many. We hit the bottom.But, just after that, we won 2-1 at Chelsea and I thought my team were not ready to totally go under.
The barometer is confidence and when that seizes up . . . now we are unbeaten for 18 Premier League matches and that leaves with me with a lot of regrets.
I think I have been tough because I have continued to believe in this team when nobody else did. And I remained faithful to my policy when everyone told me I was heading straight for a brick wall. People reproach me for not having bought Gareth Barry or Xavi Alonso. But I am a prisoner of my own policy. Buying Barry or Alonso is killing Alexandre Song, Abou Diaby and Denilson.
I don’t mind criticism. Win or lose, I try to look in the mirror and think I do the job as well as I can. What you cannot fault is my commitment. When the results are not at the right level, people have the right to criticise. I know what I do and why I do it.
I stood back from the criticism. I am not running after personal glory. Everything I do is for the club, the players and the supporters.
You can’t do a public job in a big club – not win matches and say they are all imbeciles.“
He knew how bad things were. He just couldn’t and wouldn’t say.
Wigan write-up tomorrow.
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