After yesterday’s 2-2 draw with Sp*rs Arsene Wenger said it felt like a defeat. Just after Jenas scored that late equaliser you could see the frustration at his side as he leapt off the bench and it’s easy to share it. As I’ve pointed out time and again this Arsenal side is capable of conceding at any time which makes watching us with one goal leads very nervous indeed. That said there was a lot to be positive about.
We conceded first, as per usual, when Gael Clichy went ball watching at a corner and allowed Robbie Keane all the space he needed to nod them in front. Just before the corner was taken we had three yellow cards for Lehmann, Diaby and Berbatov as they all got caught up in the German keeper’s antics. I do love Jens but that thing where he pretends somebody has stood on his foot is very tiresome now and while every other keeper in the league suffers the same obstruction at corners he’s the only one who consistently make a meal out of it.
Previously we had a goal disallowed for offside after great work from Freddie and a smart finish from Adebayor and the Togonator should have made it 1-1 just before half-time. Cesc, on for the injured Freddie, played in Eboue who fired a shot which cracked back off the post and fell to Adebayor who skied it over the bar. Those are the sort of chances he should be putting away but to his credit he didn’t let his head go down and he kept plugging away.
In the second half it was pretty much all Arsenal with Abou Diaby excellent all over the pitch. If we can keep this boy fit he looks like he’s going to be a really big player for us. The Sp*rs goal was leading a charmed life with Toure and Adebayor hitting the woodwork with headers but eventually we got the goal we deserved. Cesc whipped in a free kick and Toure ghosted in at the back post to stab it home. Then Adebayor made it 2-1 with a great header into the top corner. His celebration, in which he declared “I love this club”, was a joy. We should have made it 3-1 not long afterwards when more good work from Adebayor set up Craptista with a free header with Robinson nowhere. It was closer to going out for a throw than going into the back of the net and Arsene Wenger’s reaction to his miss was priceless. It was almost as if he expected him to score, or something.
After that there was the usual swing in play to the home side as they pushed on. Quite where the referee got four minutes of injury time I don’t know but after some more madcap keeping from Jens the ball came to Jenas, Cesc and Gilberto were a bit slow to close him down and he fired in a low shot into the bottom corner. Personally I think Lehmann should have done better and to me he looks like a guy who’s playing as if his future doesn’t depend on his performances. He’s increasingly erratic, coming for balls and not getting them, his distrubtion has been poor and overall he’s not playing anywhere near as well as we know he can.
So like the boss said the draw felt worse than it was but we can take many positives from the game. We totally outplayed Sp*rs for most of the game, Diaby was really very good indeed, Eboue had the best game I’ve seen him have in a long, long time and Adebayor showed again how much he likes scoring against Sp*rs. That’s 3 against them this season. Maybe he’s the one to take over from Pires who always loved banging them in against them. We really do have to work on things defensively though and I’d love to see someone like Martin Keown come back to the club to instill a bit more discipline in the defensive side of our game for next season.
With Everton and Bolton both losing we’re pretty much assured of Champions League qualification with a 9 point lead and a superior goal difference. One point from any of the remaining games clinches it. We now have a week off until Fulham next Sunday so there’s plenty of time for the lads to recover and get prepared.
Moving away from the football to matters off pitch and Arsene Wenger has said that he’ll appoint David Dein’s successor at the club. Amy Lawrence has a good piece in today’s Observer about the whole situation with some interesting theories on who he might bring in. He needs somebody to look after the nitty gritty of player contracts, negotiations, transfers (heh) and all the other stuff Dein did. He also, as is being widely reported this morning, said he wouldn’t be opposed to foreign ownership, saying:
I am not against foreign ownership of clubs. How could I be? I am a foreign manager and there are many foreign players at Arsenal and in the Premiership. But it has to be done in the right way.
To me the key line there is that it has to be done in the right way. Does he mean just from a set-up point of view (in terms of the football operation) or does it mean he’d consider somebody going behind the back of the board and encouraging shareholders to sell out to Stan Kroenke the ‘right way’ to go about things? I’m sure Arsene is very conflicted at the moment. He is fully aware of what has happened in the boardroom and he knows exactly why his friend was sacked. No doubt he’s loyal to his friend but he has always taken great pride in the traditions of Arsenal Football Club and the manner in which they have gone about things. The way that Dein has acted is, in my view, not the Arsenal way.
According to the The Times Dein is telling friends he’ll have ‘the last laugh’ and that he’ll be back. If that’s his attitude, if he sees this about gaining revenge for being fired, then you really have to question his position.
Anyway, there’s been enough of this story all week and no doubt we’re going to have another week ahead of us where this will be grabbing all the headlines so let’s leave it there for today. Enjoy your Sunday, more tomorrow.
