Hello again. I don’t know about you, but after a weekend of watching ITV commentators screaming that the FA Cup is still as good as it ever was, like a petshop owner desperately trying to shift a distinctly dead parrot, I’m pretty excited about the return of proper competition in the form of the Champions League.
A trip to Porto isn’t the most glamorous tie of the round, but should we come through unscathed it leaves us just six games from lifting European football’s biggest prize.
Traditionally, I don’t much enjoy watching first legs. They can be turgid affairs, with both sides eager not to concede an advantage to the opposition. Even Arsene, the man who famously goes in to every big game looking to win, won’t demand more than “a good result which keeps us in the tie”.
Perhaps the reason for his caution is connected to our injury situation. The past week or so has been costly, with Manuel Almunia, William Gallas, Alex Song, Andrey Arshavin and Eduardo all now unavailable.
One could argue that being without Almunia and Eduardo is no great handicap – the former has reportedly been suffering with twisted fingers, though it’s not principally his shot-stopping that has been at fault. A hand injury oughtn’t affect decision-making. Eduardo, meanwhile, looks like a man bereft of both fitness and confidence. His position in the pecking order is likely to come under serious threat if/when Marouane Chamakh arrives in the summer.
The absence of the other three players, however, will be keenly felt. Song and Arshavin will be replaced by the out-of-sorts Denilson and Walcott. At the back, Gallas’ injury seems likely to present another first-team opportunity to Sol Campbell. It is remarkable to think that having walked out on League Two Notts County a matter of months ago, he could well be about to take to the field at the Dragão in the latter stages of the Champions League.
All I’ll say is: hats off to his agent, or whoever is behind the scheme. Every time Porto face an English side, Hulk’s name and face is all over the press as the tabloids lose themselves in a superhero-based headline-writing frenzy. Eventually, some idiotic club – a City, say – will buy him. Because they think he has powers, acquired during the experimental detonation of a gamma bomb. He doesn’t – and two goals in twelve Portuguese league games is the proof.
Still, Arsene has been coerced into expressing some admiration. He will, of course, score now. I’m prepared to take the blame. After all, if he’s reading, I may have made him angry.
It’s not quite over. Yet. If it weren’t for the idiocy of Nani and the marital problems of John Terry, we could well be out of it. It it weren’t for a pinpoint cross from Tomas Rosicky and a crashing header from Abou Diaby, we certainly would be.
As it is, we’re five points behind United, and just six behind leaders Chelsea. A glance at the remaining fixtures show that our trickiest games are trips to Stoke, Spurs and Birmingham, as well as a home tie with Man City. Chelsea, meanwhile, still have to travel to Old Trafford, Anfield and White Hart Lane, as well as hosting City themselves. United have to face Liverpool and Chelsea, but both games are at home. Their toughest trips are to Everton and City, but I have to say that at the moment I reckon the Mancs have the edge. Our fixture list is easier, but we still have a fair chunk of ground to make up.
If we were just chasing one team it would feel infinitely more achievable, but the fact is we need two juggernauts to veer violently off course for us to nip in and pinch the prize. I’m grateful that we’re still in the race, but realistic about our chances. Of the nightmare run of fixtures we faced we lost the two most crucial to our title aspirations. It is a long way back from here.
Still, it’s not over. There were signs against Liverpool that this is a team ready to fight: William Gallas’ last-ditch tackle, the gamesmanship of skipper Fabregas, the fist-pumping celebration of Abou Diaby. The team know they’ve been granted a second (perhaps even third?) chance – one that it’s easy to argue they don’t deserve.
Arsenal fans have the weekend off as there’s now game – and after the events of the past few weeks I think we thoroughly deserve it. Have a good one all of you, and let’s come back reinvigorated for the return of that little European thing. You know, the Champions League.
Arsenal have already beaten Liverpool in one contest this week: it seems that Arsene’s hunt for a striker will end with Bordeaux target-man Marouane Chamakh snubbing Anfield in favour of London, and putting pen to a paper on a five-year deal. Although the player himself is reluctant to confirm any agreement, the amount of smoke points to a substantial element of fire, and I expect Chamakh to join us in time for next season.
Frankly, that is a little too late for my liking. With Arsene Wenger confirming in a very terse press conference yesterday that Nicklas Bendtner is only fit enough for the bench and Eduardo won’t even make that, we’re still very light upfront. We’ve now scored only twice in our last four games, but there isn’t an obvious candidate to come in and mix it up.
I’d consider starting Emmanuel Eboue on the right-flank. His twenty minute cameo at full-back on Sunday showed more attacking promise than the hour Theo Walcott had offered. Whilst he is erratic and, at times, infuriating, he at least has a direct running-style that can provide pace and penetration.
Other than that there will be few changes. Arsene was insistent yesterday that Manuel Almunia was not at fault on Sunday, and whilst that may be true of his individual performance it doesn’t mean that his nerves aren’t unsettling the back four in front of him. Gael Clichy, meanwhile, is all over the place – and his natural replacement Armand Traore didn’t look much better in Clichy’s absence.
Arseblogger suggested moving Vermaelen or Gallas to left-back and bringing in Campbell – it’s a smart suggestion, especially considering both players have extensive experience in the role, but Gallas has not played at full-back for us since his first few games at the club. It can’t be coincidence: being played out of position for Chelsea was one of the main reasons he decided to leave. Whether or not Arsene promised him the same wouldn’t happen at Arsenal we’ll never know, but it seems likely: he’s not once been asked to fill in there, despite a spate of injuries in that position.
Gallas’ unwillingness to sacrifice himself for the team puts the amount of times Andrey Arshavin has been asked to play as a centre-forward in to even sharper relief. He’s had a fair amount of criticism for his performances in the role, but I find it hard to knock a player who is prepared to abandon much of his natural game to try and help fill a massive gap in the side. I’d like him to get another goal against Liverpool as a reward.
Lose tonight and the title is not only out of our reach – it’s disappeared over the horizon, laughing at us. Win, with Chelsea and United both facing tricky away fixtures, and you just never know.
Email Arsene.Wenger@arsenal.com. Infiltrate and accost the manager at the London Colney training ground. Dial every possible combination of phone numbers until you are answered by a Frenchman who only seems to want to talk about “sharpness” and “enormous personality”: the emergency transfer window is open. And boy is this an emergency.
Quite whether the FA will agree or not is another matter. They ought to, mind: if you have no goalkeepers you’re allowed to break the boundaries of the transfer window to make a signing – why oughtn’t it be the same if you have no strikers?
“We tried to sign players, but it didn’t work and we have to accept that.”
I suppose if we make a real effort and people turn us down there’s not much we can do. Take the case of David Villa at Valencia, for example: we offered them £2m + Season 7 of 24 on DVD + Mikael Silvestre in exchange, but it turns out that a) they’re West Wing fans, and b) they’ve seen Silvestre play.
It has become accepted wisdom that we made a deadline day bid for Thomas Sorenson, but although he was once a target during his Sunderland days he is not one of the names I heard last Monday. I was told of late loan bids for two strikers – both, unsurprisingly, Frenchmen.
Perhaps the reason we didn’t move for a striker is the possible arrival in the summer of Marouane Chamakh for a fee of zero pounds. Whilst that would doubtless be a bargain, it does leave us extremely light in the short-term – especially with the news this morning that we won’t catch sight of Eduardo until the Porto game.
Sorenson might be someone who, like Chamakh, we come back to in the Summer. In the meantime, it is very frustrating that the club’s best goalkeeper probably plays for Brentford. Check out our future number one:
As I finish writing this up, I’m watching Arsene in his pre-Liverpool press conference. He is absolutely fuming – perhaps because he knows Michael Ballack is right – but more on that tomorrow.
I couldn’t back Chelsea to win. I didn’t bet against my own team. That would open me up to all sorts of accusations: a possible lack of faith – even a conflict of interests.
I did, however, place what looked like a very sensible bet. What looked like a bet in which I couldn’t lose:
I backed a team that took to the field without a recognised striker to fail to score.
Had we managed to find the net, I would’ve considered the loss money well spent. As we all now know, I won.
Something about Arsene’s strategy doesn’t add up. If you pick a style of play that is designed almost entirely to score goals, a vital component is that of a ‘goalscorer’. If you accept that by freeing up the creative talents of Fabregas, Diaby, Nasri, Arshavin & Co that you will leave yourself likely to concede at least a goal, you must have a player on the pitch who is capable of cancelling that out that at the other end. If your principle hope of victory is dependent on out-shooting your opponent, then you need a great marksman as your spearhead.
Robin van Persie’s injury did not need to be the death knell for our title hopes, but Arsene’s refusal to replace him has made it a fatal blow. Poor defending is a huge part of the problem, but let’s not forget that this is not a side set up to a defend.
It’s a side that is ostensibly set up to score goals. Yet, paradoxically, one that contains no strikers.
It’s foolish. The “nil” next to Arsenal on yesterday’s scoreboard was entirely predictable.
