April 6th, 2010
Arsenal 1 – 0 Wolves (Bendtner, 90+4)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Bendtner’s header kept our challenge alive
Chelsea’s win at Old Trafford means we cannot afford to drop a single point between now and the end of the season if we’re to have any chance of claiming the title. They’re clear favourites now, but still face tricky journeys to Spurs and Liverpool.
We got away with one of our weakest line-ups of the season
Had Bendtner failed to score would Arsene have been criticised for leaving the Dane, Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri on the bench?
Eduardo and Vela are in serious danger of being shipped out this summer
There is reason for patience with both: Eduardo is recovering from a terrible injury, whilst Vela is at the start of what could yet be an illustrious career. However, with Marouane Chamakh likely to arrive in July, both seem in danger of slipping yet further down the pecking order. On Saturday, neither looked like making any impression in their time on the field – Eduardo in particular looks a shadow of the predator we once knew, whilst Vela has suffered the indignity of being left out of tonight’s thread-bare squad for the Nou Camp.
Sol Campbell has been a remarkably astute signing
A couple of times in this game he held off Kevin Doyle for pace, who is no slouch. But what he offers is far more than canny playing ability – he is a leader and a winner. He galvanises and organises those around him better than any player we’ve had since Patrick Vieira left. If he is called upon tonight he may struggle, but he certainly won’t let anyone down.
There is a strong determination in this side
that will be needed at the Nou Camp tonight. It’s what has brought us so many late goals, and it comes from two very distinct places: there is one set of players who have never won anything, and are determined to make their first imprint on history. But crucially we now have a few – the likes of Campbell, Silvestre, and Rosicky – who suspect this may be their last chance. They will give everything they can between now and the season’s end.
The loss of Song is a huge one
He was arguably our best outfield player in the first leg, and kept Lionel Messi relatively quiet in that torturous first-half. Denilson has big shoes to fill, and will need to be ably supported by Abou Diaby, who simply has to perform better than he did last week.
Starting Walcott would put us on the front foot
The principal difference between us and Barcelona is not, contrary to popular opinion, how well they keep the ball, but how hard they work to win it back. They press very high up the pitch, with two or three players closing down the opposition in their own half. They force errors, win the ball, and exploit the created space. Arsenal must do that tonight, which means the front three of Bendtner, Rosicky and one of Eboue or Walcott working extremely hard. I think starting Theo would give us an attacking impetus that might spare us from coming under too much pressure ourselves. If Abidal plays centre-back with Maxwell at left-back, he’ll be able to exploit the Brazilian.
It’s a cup-tie
Barca are massive favourites but funny things can happen in a one-off game. If we can stay with Barca until the last twenty minutes or so, anything can happen. I don’t know about you, but I’ve already got butterflies.
Let’s do it for Cesc. Come On You Reds.
April 3rd, 2010
GS, 2nd April, Rome
Arsenal 2 – 2 Barcelona
Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
This was a most extraordinary game of football. Extraordinary for the brilliance of Barcelona’s first half performance, which should have seen them four or five goals to the good. Extraordinary too for the heroics of Manuel Almunia, who kept Arsenal in a game they had seemingly been played out of. And extraordinary for a comeback, inspired by an ailing yet determined captain, that seemed less likely than a mauling.
If Wednesday night’s fixture against his boyhood team marked the apogee of Cesc Fabregas’ season, at least he’ll be able to say he went out on a high. A first-half yellow card meant he knew he wouldn’t be able to play at the Nou Camp on Tuesday. A second-half injury to his fibula means he won’t play again this season.
And yet his performance was characteristic of a team who more than once this season have shown the stomach to fight back when despair has beckoned. At 2-0 down to the world’s best keep-ball side – arguably simply the world’s best side – it would have been easy to roll over. Just as it would have been easy to give up when nine or eleven points behind the league leaders, or when Aaron Ramsey’s leg was snapped so cruelly at Stoke. Just as Sol Campbell must have trudged off the pitch in his solitary game for Notts County and wondered whether or not it was worth continuing with this football business. He fought back. Arsenal fought back. And last night, with the pain of missing the Nou Camp swiftly followed by the pain of a fractured leg, Fabregas fought back.
It shouldn’t have been possible. Football connoisseurs expected an exhibition at the Emirates, but they couldn’t have predicted it would be quite so one-sided. Barcelona were stunningly good, and a dazed Arsenal barely got in to their stride. The dizzying tic-tac of Catalan passes had Arsenal heads spinning, and only profligacy on the part of Barca and some outstanding reaction saves from Manuel Almunia prevented the tie from being out of reach.
Arsenal weren’t helped by injuries to two key players – Arshavin and the returning Gallas both picked up calf problems that should keep them out for a few weeks each. They were replaced by Eboue and Denilson, as Arsene sought to overload the side with workmen to combat the artistry we were facing.
Incredibly, we scraped through to half-time at 0-0, and you just hoped that a rallying team-talk from Arsene might turn the tide. Sadly, it was not to be: within a minute of the re-start a simple clipped ball through saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic through on goal and Almunia stranded way off his line. The Swede’s finish was befitting of his price-tag.
The same was true of his second – a thumping cannonball of a shot in to the top corner after he had crept in behind Thomas Vermaelen. Arsene was furious with the Belgian, berating him for stepping up and leaving Ibrahimovic unattended. The nature of his criticism was unusually vociferous and personal – here was a man watching his team be dismantled.
“Goodnight Arsenalâ€, proclaimed the commentator. And so it should have been. But at that moment Arsene introduced Theo Walcott, who, in front of the watching Fabio Capello, was clearly determined to stay up beyond his commentator-allocated bedtime.
He immediately targeted Maxwell – possibly Barca’s weak link – and worried him with his pace and direct running. Indeed, it was Walcott who made the tie a contest again, latching on to an inch-perfect pass from Bendtner and side-footing powerfully through the parry of Victor Valdes.
Suddenly, Arsenal believed. Barca were not invincible. What’s more, for the first time in the game, we were able to put together some sustained periods of possession. With ten minutes to play, a cross in to the box was nodded down by Bendtner in to the path of Fabregas. Cesc’s legs were entangled with those of the opposition skipper – accidental no doubt, but once the whistle had blown the result was inevitable: penalty and a red card for Carlos Puyol, who will join Gerard Pique as suspended on the sidelines for the second leg.
Cesc stepped up to take a penalty which he knew would be his final contribution to the tie – if not the season. Placing all the stength he had remaining behind his injured right leg, he hammered his shot in to the net. What it lacked in precision it more than made up for in power. Arsenal were level, and pride was intact.
It means we go to Cataluna knowing that a win in that game will see us through to the semi-finals. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible. Crucially, we have hope, which even the most stringent optimists must have felt was disappearing with an hour of the first-leg gone.
But at what price? Arsenal have lost Fabregas for the remainder of the season – a gigantic blow to both domestic and European hopes. Arshavin and Gallas too will miss several weeks – key losses at both ends of the pitch. To triumph on either front now would be a remarkable achievement. Wednesday’s clash was exhausting, mentally and physically, and Chelsea and United will now be glancing less nervously over their shoulder. The pounding of Arsenal hooves is growing quieter.
Yet they’d be foolish to write us off. Reinforcements are arriving in the form of Robin van Persie, and Arsenal’s remaining domestic games are still winnable – Cesc or no Cesc. As for the game at the Nou Camp, it’s a one-off cup tie. If an underdog can triumph on any stage, it is there.
On Wednesday night, Cesc martyred his season to let hope live. It would be damned ungrateful of us to do anything other than seize it. Come On You Gunners.
