April 13th
Didn’t get to see the game last night so can’t really comment other than to say it was definitely two points dropped. With reports saying Emmanuel Adebayor missed two sitters and an equaliser conceded from a set piece conceded by Campbell I’d imagine it wasn’t a happy bus back to London last night. The Guardian describes Adebayor’s touch in front of goal as ‘laughably poor’. I haven’t seen any highlights but from what I’ve read we should have won the game and better finishing would have done that. As, I think it was my chum at Gunnerblog, suggested on the forums to miss one sitter can happen to anyone, to miss two and you have to question the quality of the player. Adebayor has looked decent so far but I would prefer to see van Persie play more as he is much more clinical in front of goal.
Yesterday afternoon there were rumours that Alex Song and Abou Diaby would be starting in midfield which worried me. Diaby is a talented player but very raw still while Song remains so far out of his depth at this level it beggars belief that he would be handed a start in a game we really had to win. I know we have to rotate and I know Cesc was out injured but Gilberto should have played, or even Seb Larsson. Alex Song is not good enough to play for Arsenal at this level and it makes me wonder why we can’t give any playing time Theo Walcott when we can start Song. The excuse that the games are too important just doesn’t wash when you pick a team with Rigobert Jr in it.
The manager refused to blame the dropped points on squad rotation though, saying “If you look at our programme you can’t play the same 11 every game. We play every three days and you have to make changes and we did not drop points because of that. There were a lot of positives from the match, but the negative is that we should have won the game by five, and in the end we finish 1-1.”
Story of our season, really, and it makes swings the balance in favour of Sp*rs for the fourth place as it’s no longer in our hands. We need to win every game and for them to slip up along the way. Sol Campbell was in the wars and picked up a cut head and a broken nose which may put him out for a while. Again, we have to pick ourselves up after a disappointing result and get ourselves back on track. I’m not sure about all this rotation either, at this stage of the season we should be picking our best XI each game and worrying about tiredness afterwards. With West Brom also fighting for their lives this Saturday it’s going to be another testing game and injuries aside we need our best players out there – although quite what our best 11 is and what formation they play in is up for debate. More to come about that tomorrow.
In other news we’re being linked again with Atletico Madrid star Fernando Torres which apparently has the Sp*rs manager, John Goodman, absolutely steaming as they thought they’d reached an agreement with the player’s representatives. According to JAR “He is very important to Atletico and for Spain and would have no problems adapting to England. I would be delighted if he joins Arsenal.”
Jens Lehmann reckons him being chosen as Germany’s number 1 will be good for Arsenal. And don’t forget your chance to win Football Manager for PSP or xBox 360. Just answer the following question:
If in 2006 PV = Patrick Vieira who is the PV that in 1980 connected Arsenal and Juventus?
Answers to [email protected] (don’t forget to specify which platform you want the game on) – the Random Number Generator will do its thing and I’ll announce the winners tomorrow morning. Ok, a busy day of talking about last night ahead. Till tomorrow.
