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1 comment January 22nd, 2008

ps. Like this.

Carling Cup Preview: Strong Squad for Spurs Showdown

Add comment January 22nd, 2008

Here is the sixteen man squad to face Spurs at White Hart Lane:

2 Abou DIABY
3 Bacary SAGNA
4 Cesc FABREGAS
9 EDUARDO
10 William GALLAS
13 Alexander HLEB
15 DENILSON
16 Mathieu FLAMINI
19 GILBERTO
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
25 Emmanuel ADEBAYOR
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
30 Armand TRAORE
31 Justin HOYTE
32 Theo WALCOTT
40 Vito MANNONE (GK)

It’s an unusually strong set of players, with Arsene including almost all available first-team members, with the exception of Manuel Almunia, Gael Clichy and Tomas Rosicky. It’s a decision that has been in part enforced by injuries and the African Cup of Nations, but is also a clear statement of intent on Arsene’s part.

I’d expect that the team that starts the match will still be relatively inexperienced.  Fabianski will play in goal, and I’d imagine Justin Hoyte will partner William Gallas at centre-back.  The full-backs are both likely to be French – Sagna and Traore.  In midfield, Gilberto and Denilson will be flanked by Abou Diaby and one other – Aleksandr Hleb currently seems the most likely candidate.  Theo Walcott should get a rare chance upfront alongside Danish giant Nicklas Bendtner.

Our unbeaten run against Spurs is at stake, as well as (let’s not forget) a place in a Wembley final.  I fancied Spurs to win it until I saw the strength of our squad, and I think that if the youngsters can stay in touch, the likes of Adebayor and Fabregas could make a huge difference in the latter stages of the game.

One thing is certain: we can’t play much worse than we did in the first leg, and I’m not sure they can play any better.  It’s game on, and we’ve got every chance.  Come on Arsenal.

Adebayor’s strange childhood; My weird dream

2 comments January 21st, 2008

Good Morning.

Let’s start with the bizarre yet undeniably entertaining image of Emmanuel Adebayor jumping up to head a football suspended from his mum’s Togolese ceiling.  The headed goals at Fulham, Spurs, and Villa in particular are testament to Ade’s increasing aerial prowess.

Arsene has compared Rosicky and Hleb to Ljungberg and Pires.  A year ago that would’ve been blasphemous, but now the wide pair are finally starting to fulfill that potential.  If they could score 15-20 goals between them every year, it’d be a massive bonus.  They’re already into double figures as a pair, so that target should be achievable.

The manager has also suggested he may be tempted to throw a couple of senior pros in with the kids for tomorrow’s Carling Cup game with Spurs.  I think Bacary Sagna and William Gallas are those most likely to be drafted in, whilst I’d also expect Eduardo to play despite playing a full ninety minutes on Saturday.

Last night I dreamt I had lunch with Arsene.  It was all very casual, very relaxed.  It made me think about the weird relationship we as Arsenal fans have with him.  Despite having never met him, I feel I know him well enough that in my dream, we conversed across that meal like two old friends.

When he goes, it’ll be a very sad day.

Fulham 0 – 3 Arsenal: Defenders Marking Adebayor Should Bring Stilts

Add comment January 20th, 2008

After the draw against Birmingham, we responded in style yesterday with one of our most commanding performances of the season.

If you listened to me on Friday’s Arsecast, you would’ve heard me talk about the possibility of taking advantage of Fulham’s height deficit.  So it proved, with the 6’3″ Emmanuel Adebayor nodding two excellent headers to take his tally to fifteen league goals this season.

It’s a significant landmark, and further proof that the Togolese striker’s broad shoulders can handle the burden of goalscoring responsibility.

The first came from a Gael Clichy cross (with Arsene noting in this piece that the left-back’s previously wayward crossing is improving), and the second from an excellent ball from Aleksandr Hleb, who made a very impressive return to form.

Perhaps the upturn in Adebayor’s goalscoring form is to do with his improved positional play.  Arsene says:

“He loves to play. Sometimes he loves to play so much that he is not where he needs to be on the crosses. He likes to touch the ball and that drags him out from where he can be lethal. Today his focussed more to be central. That is where he is more dangerous. He has an unbelievable jump and his timing on crosses was right today. He hangs in the air and today he proved you don’t have to head it very hard to score.”

The second half was a fairly relaxed outing for Arsenal.  In fact, we were so in control that Arsene didn’t feel the need to make any substitutions – perhaps suggesting that none of those who played yesterday will face Spurs on Tuesday.  We did grab a late third – Eduardo fired a cross into the box, and the arriving Tomas Rosicky slid in an excellent seventh goal of the season.

Granted, Fulham were pretty dire defensively, but this was the kind of convincing victory we really needed.  The youngsters will go to Spurs on Tuesday and give it their best, before a mouth-watering FA Cup tie with Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle.

It could be a very interesting week.

Will Theo Walcott make it at Arsenal?

Add comment January 19th, 2008

Morning all.  Today is a Saturday, which is infinitely superior to a Friday.  Let us make merry, at least until Sunday, when tomorrow will be Monday, and darkness will loom once more on our calendar’s horizon.

Let’s start by congratulating Emmanuel Adebayor on winning the BBC African Player of the Year Award.  I’m not sure what it does for the BBC’s coverage of the forthcoming African Nations Cup, seeing as the player their viewers have just voted the best on the continent will not be taking part in the tournament, but Adebayor deserves his prize.  Whilst the likes of Eto’o and Drogba are superior players, they’ve had poor years.  Adebayor, meanwhile, has emerged as our most reliable striker.  With Robin van Persie seeming to get more injured by the day, we ought to be delighted Manu’s not out in Ghana.

Arsene has spoken about Lassana Diarra’s impatience, and I am glad he’s spoken fairly honestly about a situation that must have really frustrated him.  You can only say that if Arsene really felt Diarra was worth keeping, he would have done so.

It doesn’t look like any replacement will be arriving in January though, with Arsene ruling out a move for a couple of Russians:

“Somebody called me last night about Dimitriev and I like Arshavin but no.”

Who called?  What did they want to know?  I guess we’ll never know.  Le Boss did, however, mention that Luke Freeman should arrive from Gillingham soon.

If he were to sign on Sunday, it’d make a fascinating parallel with Theo Walcott, as the 20th will mark two years since the day Theo joined Arsenal.

To be honest, we probably all expected more of Walcott.  That’s in large part the fault of people like me, who built the expectations up incredibly high.  But looking back at that blog entry from two years ago, Arsene insisted Walcott would contest for a first-team place “within weeks”, when in fact he didn’t appear in the side for eight months.

That’s a measure of the way in which Walcott’s progress has been significantly slower than expected, and the most recent quotes from Arsene sound a bit like a man protesting rather more than he ought to be.

Walcott is not in the squad for today’s game with Fulham, but will get a chance to prove his manager’s faith well-placed in the week against Spurs.

Three points today is a must.  Come on Arsenal.