Well, plenty to talk about this morning ahead of the North London derby.
Leaving aside the manager’s Friday press conference for the moment the Mirror is reporting that Thierry Henry stormed out of the training ground yesterday after a ‘bust-up’ with Arsene Wenger. He’s been a doubt all week with the back/neck problem but they say he declared himself fit. Arsene Wenger thought otherwise and left him out of the squad entirely and the captain left in a hurry and very unhappy.
It’s hard to know what to make of it, to be honest. The only thing I’d say is that if there was any chance of Henry being fit for today’s game then he would be playing. Arsene has played a 50% Henry in games before and there’s no reason to think he’d not do it now. Especially when the team badly needs a win, he won’t be playing in Porto in midweek giving him time to recover for Chelsea and he’s obviously our best striker and miles ahead of Adebayor who is likely to replace him. Over at ANR Myles suggests that Henry was dropped earlier in the season but Myles needs to find himself some decent hosting because his site is up and down like a jack in the box at the moment.
So until we get more information this is all speculation and I won’t comment any further except to reiterate that if Henry was fit he would be playing today.
In The Sun today Thierry says he’ll never give up on the title but says we need a ‘double miracle’ which means us going on a great run and both United and Chelsea dropping enough points to get us back in it. He also mentions January and the transfer window, saying:
But you can rest assured Arsene Wenger will try and — once again — land a few bargains in January. Even using the loan system, there are top-class players who would jump at the chance of first-team football.
He mentions Shaun Wright-Phillips at Chelsea and while he was a good player for Man City there’s probably a good reason why he has yet to complete a full 90 minutes for a top of the table team since he joined nearly 18 months ago now. As well as that the last thing this team needs is another five foot nothing guy. We need monsters!
He also spoke about his own form, saying:
There has also been criticism of my performances and I accept that. I’ve scored seven goals, which is not too bad but I know I can play better. At the moment, I’m not helping my team as much as I want and that’s when I become frustrated.
I don’t think there’s anyone who would argue with that. Thierry’s form has not been great but at the same time I think there’s a tendency to lay the blame for the team’s problems at his feet. Let’s remember that for much of the season he’s been playing in a formation he obviously doesn’t like and compared to seasons gone by the service he’s been receiving is much declined. Considering what he’s done for us so consistently season after season it’s a bit sad to hear some of the stick he’s been getting. We’d all like to see him play better but he’s not a robot either.
So to the manager and his thoughts before today’s game. He confirmed the absence of Henry and Flamini and didn’t give too much away about the team. There’s some suggestion Freddie will start and Julio Baptista is back in contention but apart from that it’s hard to say who he’ll pick and in what formation.
Once again he stated his belief in his players and the way he is trying to build this team. He disagreed with George Graham’s asssessment of the players we have and clarified his thoughts on the way the midweek fixtures were arranged. He also felt that the criticism of Alex Song was too harsh and said that he’s a talented player in training.
That’s all well and good. Lots of people have said he does good things for the reserves too but there’s a big difference between someone who can do good things in training and then on the pitch when the pressure is on. If the entire press corps (who despite what we might think actually know a thing or two about football!) and 99% of Arsenal fans I’ve spoken to believe Song to be way below the level you’d expect an Arsenal player to be at then you have to take that on board. And really the criticism wasn’t so much of Alex Song, who drew sympathy from most quarters, but of the decision to pick him in the first place.
So to the match today. No predictions from me but being the optimistic sort of person I am I believe we can win it. Of course I’d believe we could win against a team of Harlem Globetrotter style space football experts from another galaxy who breathed fire on our players whenever we had the ball.
It’s been a bad week for Arsenal but November is over now and we can put that shitty month behind us by beating the old enemy at the new stadium today. All I’m hoping for is that we perform well, don’t let them score first (especially from a corner) and that we score about 5 more goals than them. That’s not too much, is it?
Right, I’m off to make breakfast. Come on the Arsenal!
