Right then, a fair bit of stuff to cover this morning.
Arsene Wenger says the club wants to qualify for the Champions League for football reasons not financial ones and that the club can adapt if we don’t make it this season. He talks a good talk but make no mistake, failure to achieve a top 4 finish this season would have pretty dire consequences for Arsenal. Not only would it make some of the current squad consider their futures at the club it would seriously affect the quality of player we could bring in this summer. However, the following quote from Arsene at yesterday’s press conference is worrying. When asked if he foresaw himself being busy in the transfer market this summer, he said:
“Not especially. If we can bring in one or two then we might do that but the focus is on getting the injured players back and maturing our young players.”
Yikes. I can only hope that he’s bluffing and trying to get the best out of the players he has at the moment but if he seriously thinks we can go into next season without addressing some of the very obvious problems we have then it’s a worry. Obviously if, as suggested in yesterday’s Arsecast with Amy Lawrence, that the club has no money to spend on transfers then that’s one thing but why not simply say that? The way he talks about transfers is very frustrating for fans. One minutes he’s talking about bringing in ‘super, super quality’ players, the next he’s saying he’s not really going to bring in anyone at all. I’ll save my thoughts on who should come and go in the summer at the end of the season but it’s plain that some of the players he has placed a lot of faith in have not repaid him in terms of their performances on the pitch.
Today’s game is absolutely massive. We simply cannot afford to lose this. If we finish outside the top 4 it will be devastating for the club. Lack of Champions League revenue and lack of prestige would have a serious impact. It’s just unthinkable.
Thierry Henry is worried but says at least this season our destiny is in our own hands, which is a good point. Last time we were relying on Sp*rs to slip up.
Arsene says the Stan Kroenke situation does not affect the way the club is being run. That’s true, for the moment, and even if the American did increase his stake in the club then you’d have to think he’d have the sense to ensure the footballing side of things was left alone as much as possible – with the exception of handing the manager some money with which to make some decent transfers.
The boss also says he expects Jens Lehmann to stay but no decision has been made. As well as that he says he’ll make a decision about Baptista at the end of April. I’m not sure why he needs any more time but suspect he’s trying, in vain, to provoke a half-decent performance from one of the biggest carthorses ever to play for the club.
Roy Keane wants to sign Jeremie Aliadiere. I thought he’d have more sense than that, to be honest.
Dinamo Minsk want FIFA to dock Arsenal points because of money they say they’re owed from the transfer of Alexander Hleb. Can’t we just give them Hleb back?
And that’s about that for the round-up. Looking at the game today I don’t really know what to say. I hope that the players understand how the fans feel at the moment. I hope they realise that they have to give 100% today. All of them. Because that’s the only way we’re going to win. We’ve seen lesser Arsenal teams get good results before through hard work, commitment and energy. This team has plenty of skill but a horrible tendency to let their heads go down when things don’t go well.
As I said yesterday I’d ensure the back four was augmented with some Swiss height and physical presence. In midfield it’d be a 5 with Freddie right, Rosicky left, Gilberto holding with Cesc and Diaby ahead of him with Adebayor up front.
And then I’d sit there with my fingers crossed going “please please please please please please please please please please please please” for the 90 minutes. Which is pretty much what I’ll be doing when watching it later.
Come on Arsenal.
