Morning all, and it’s Blackburn later on at Ewood Park. We’ve been through the team stuff already and now it’s down to Arsene to mix and match what he has into a decent shape today. With the dearth of wide options Theo Walcott could get a start but the manager admits to being confused about where to play him, saying:
I am not completely sure what his best position is. At the moment I feel he is a bit more of a wide player, but because he makes good runs he would be good in the centre as well.
Certainly for today’s he’s got to start wide right for me. With Eduardo fit again we now have three strikers to choose from but without Rosicky and Eboue, who really aren’t natural wide midfielders which shows where this team can definitely be improved, Walcott and Hleb have got to be the obvious choices. There’s the suggestion that his shoulder injury is still on preying on his mind a bit and he probably just needs one or two good performances to build up some confidence and start showing what he’s capable of. At times he seems a little hesitant and indecisive when he’s on the ball – if he could become a little more direct then it would improve him a lot, I think. We do have to remember his age too so fingers crossed he can do the business if called upon today.
Arsene has been talking about his new contract and has revealed there will be no get out clauses. That’s really only what you would expect from Arsene who has always been an all or nothing kind of a man. As well as that, how can you ask for 100% from your players if you’re not going to give it yourself. Read more here.
Today’s game is going to be physical and difficult, Blackburn are a tricky side and have added some decent players this summer, particularly Roque Santa Cruz up front who is experienced and knows where the goal is. We’ve got to show the same combative spirit we did against Prague and hopefully playing with two strikers will allow Robin van Persie to get more involved in dangerous areas. I’d also like to see Cesc nutmeg Robbie Savage again. And again. And again. The kick the ball so hard into his groinal area that his balls shoot out of his mouth and land in the technical area causing Mark Hughes to slip when he stands on them, sending him flying into the air and landing on his coccyx which would shatter right beside a TV mic so we could hear the noise and guffaw loudly. That might not happen though.
Kick off is 3pm – for some reason I thought we were playing earlier than that, oh well.
In other news we’re being linked again with Eduardo’s old team mate Luka Modric which would make sense if we didn’t already have Cesc, Rosicky, Denilson and Hleb who are all very similar players. Plus he’s cup tied in Europe until January at least.
Bolton look ready to sell Nicolas Anelka and with them firmly rooted to the bottom of the table (hahahaha) the player himself would have no compunction in leaving. He’s got 2 goals in 3 games so far this season though and would definitely add pace up top. However, you’d have to think that if he really was a genuine target we’d have been in for him already. Manchester United are said to be interested again.
I do have to say the longer we go without opening the cheque book the less likely it looks. There are still just under two weeks to do some business so fingers crossed.
Right, that’s it. Safe trip to all those going northwards this morning and here’s to three points later on.
