So tonight’s the night. The final ever European game at Highbury and Arsenal’s first ever Champions League/European Cup semi-final. A fitting game for the grand old stadium to bow out of Europe. The good news is that Cesc is fit and will start tonight’s game. His sore foot has recovered sufficiently for him to take his place in what is likely to be a five man midfield.
Arsene Wenger has spoken about it being the final European game at Highbury. He said “I feel part of my soul is in the stadium because many of the biggest moments of my sports career have been there. It will something special because his stadium has a special soul and to lose it one day will be sad. But I think it will help tomorrow because it is a special occasion for us and we want to be proud of that.”
The captain as well had words for the ground he has scored so many goals on and one tonight would bring up his 50 in Europe. He said “I’ve got so many memories, it’s difficult not to talk about it. You see my record, my goalscoring record, I scored a lot of goals at Highbury and there is something special about it. I have scored some great goals there, some great memories and it’s just something special when you play there.”
The main talking point of the press conference though was when Henry was asked if he felt he owed the Arsenal fans a decision about his future. This did not go down well and prompted a frustrated response from the captain. He said “Who do I owe, and for what? Don’t you see my commitment on the pitch? I think you can see it. I’m a human being like you are and need time to take my decision, that’s all. I don’t think about the word owe. I owe something to my Dad, yes, who put me on this planet. We are here talking about the semi-final and we are here to talk about a great opportunity for the club. I think sometimes it’s a bit of a shame that people single me out and try to speak about other stuff.”
And I have to say I agree with him. As much as we might not like it he has said consistently that he will make his decision when he’s ready and in recent weeks has confirmed he will do so before the World Cup starts so we have a definite timeline on it. The journalist yesterday was mischief making. It’s the eve of our very first Champions League semi-final and the focus should be on the team not on the captain about whose situation we know enough already and no amount of prompting from some witless hack is going to change that. I understand his frustration and he later released a further statement to ensure his words weren’t misinterpreted.
He wanted to talk about the team and about the game tomorrow. The journalist wanted to cause some shit and fair play to him, he provoked a response which is exactly what he was looking for. It’s all just bollocks but I don’t think it will do anything other than ensure that Henry is 100% up for tonight’s game. Anyway, what we should be talking about is the game and that’s what we’ll do. I’m sure you’re all clever enough to see the journalist’s question and Henry’s reponse in the right context.
So what do we need to do tonight? As the boss has said there are no plans to man-mark Riquelme but I would imagine that Gilberto won’t be too far away from him all night, denying him the space he needs to make the passes that have been so dangerous. On the right hand side Eboue and Hleb will have their hands full with Sorin who never stops running and although they’ve nullified Robinho, Zidane and Nedved this is going to be a big test. On the right we need discipline from Robert Pires if he plays as Reyes has provided good cover for Flamini and up front we have Henry being fed by Cesc and probably Hleb. If we make chances tonight we need to take them.
Of course we need to be defensively strong as well and the manager has been full of praise for the back four saying they can become as good as the legendary back four we had for so long. He singled out Kolo Toure for his contribution and for stepping up and becoming the leader in absence of anyone more senior. He is a massive presence in the squad, greatly respected by all his team-mates and alongside Senderos has been the rock on which our defence has been built. He has looked tired in recent games but he has such drive and passion I don’t think we’ll see any of that tonight. Hopefully the 4 of them, plus Jens, can remain as tight as a camel’s arse in a sandstorm.
Overall we just need to play our football, forget that this time we might be considered the favourites and go at it with all the concentration and commitment that we did in previous rounds. If we do that then we’ve got a great chance. As I said yesterday don’t read too much into the players that they’re missing, they still have enough quality to hurt us if we give them the chance.
Ok, fingers crossed the last ever European night at Highbury is one to remember. I’m off to get the beers in. In fact I might have one for breakfast. Come on you reds!
