As expected Arsene had lots to say yesterday and it was an interesting press conference. Let’s get the team news for tonight out of the way and we should have Senderos, Diaby and Walcott back in the squad with the manager listing only Lehmann, Gallas and Eboue as the injured players. How we line up remains to be seen but with the manager saying nobody is going out we could see Justin Hoyte at right back. After that it’s midfielders all the way and who he picks as the strikers will be interesting. I have a feeling he might rest van Persie and play Adebayor and Eduardo but we shall see.
As well as nobody going out the manager said that there’s nobody coming in at this moment in time either, playing down links to Chelsea’s Lasanna Diarra. Apparently we were offered Adriano on loan for a year but Inter Milan wanted an unnamed Arsenal player in return (thought to be Rosicky) and the boss was unwilling to part with him. As well as the four main strikers (Ade, RVP, Eduardo and Bendtner) the boss claimed that he could play Walcott and Diaby there if need be so he didn’t need another striker. There is the feeling that Walcott might be better there but Diaby? Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
As for Adriano I’m not that bothered. The last time we took a chunky Brazilian on loan it was hardly a roaring success, was it? What was interesting was Wenger saying that he has got money to spend if he needs it but he’s just choosing not to. Now, I know he’s got a lot of belief in his squad, and I think that’s great, but couldn’t he have made his squad better by making a signing or two? He talked about the Djourou loan and while he does make sense in talking about the young man getting playing time what he said next geniunely frightened me.
I knew when Djourou left that Alex Song can play in there and Gilberto has played in there already.
Honestly, the very fact that Arsene would consider Alex Song as an option for centre-half is scary. I know the lad has his small fan club but I genuinely don’t think he’s good enough and I know lots of fans think that way too. I’m not trying to slag him off but the thought of him at the centre of our defence is just ludicrous, especially when, you know, we could have just kept Djourou. There’s a long hard season ahead and he played 30 games last time around. With injuries and suspensions there’s every chance he could do the same this season. In fact, he’d have played on Saturday against Man City if he’d been around. That the other justification for it is that our best defensive midfielder has played there doesn’t make a great deal of sense either but given our plethora of midfielders I can understand Wenger thinking of Gilberto as cover. But Song? Mad. On the other hand he must truly have assembled, in his own mind at least, the most versatile group of footballers ever.
He spoke about Jens and said that his position as the number one keeper would go ‘from game to game’. This could work two ways. One is that it keeps Jens on his toes or two it heaps more pressure on him and forces more errors. While competition for places is good you do need players to have some sense of stability or it becomes counter-productive. Some reports suggested there was a bust-up between the player and the boss but we it’s all speculation really. One thing I do know is that Jens hadn’t gone back to Germany as was suggested as late as yesterday morning. So we’ll just have to make up our own minds – I can’ t see the manager allowing him to leave at this moment anyway.
It will be the idea that the squad is now complete until January, at least, that will have most people talking this morning. The other day I said I wasn’t going to get too stressed and if the manager decides this is his hand and he’s going to stick, then so be it. His faith and belief in his squad must enormous and let’s not forget that he spoke a few weeks ago about how the aim this season was to win the title. He has set out these expectations so he must think this group of players can do it. Or at least have a good go at it.
For me there’s no question in my mind that the squad can be improved. I’ll sound like a broken record if I mention the wide areas again but I think most fans think the same way. This is not a question of being critical or unsupportive, it’s simply a widely held belief amongst the vast majority of the Arsenal fanbase that a new signing or two would improve us.
All summer we’ve heard from various board members that there is money for Arsene to spend. At yesterday’s press conference Arsene said:
At the moment the financial situation of the club has improved a lot. I’m not short of money if I need to buy someone.
So we can safely assume that there’s money there. The gamble that Arsene is taking here is a big one, in my opinion. If things go wrong again this season, if the guys playing on the wings fail to deliver again, if too much is expected of Bendtner and Walcott, if Adebayor goes to Africa and van Persie gets injured again and Eduardo finds the Premiership tough going, if we continue to play pretty but ineffective football in too many games, then fans will ask why the money wasn’t spent. And rightly so.
Now, I know there are a lot of ifs in there but after the injuries and problems we’ve had over the last couple of seasons nothing should be a surprise and perhaps we should be better prepared for those kinds of eventualities. I think the squad is too small (in numbers) and lacks proven quality in wide areas and up front. There are certainly players out there who Arsene could buy who would make things better. Don’t ask me to name names, ask Arsene. He’s the one with the encyclopaedic knowledge of footballers!
I don’t want this to sound like it’s a moan. I’ve said all along that if the manager is happy with his squad then there’s nothing we can do but get behind the lads that are there and give them our 100% support. That doesn’t mean we can’t ask questions such as ‘Why not use some of the money to make a good squad even better?!’. Anyway, as it stands things are going well at the moment and I hope they continue that way. I hope the young players shine, I hope Adebayor improves and eduardo finds the back of net with even half the frequency he did in Croatia. The season has started positively and at this moment nobody can have any complaints. I’m just afraid that if things don’t happen this season the backlash will be pretty severe.
Back to tonight’s game and the boss is convinced there’ll be no fallout from the first leg and Repka’s promises to crush Arsenal players like puny ants, or something. Basically we just need to concentrate, make sure we don’t concede and if possible score as quickly into the game as we can. It might kill it as spectacle but frankly I could do without the nervousness of them getting a goal with plenty of the game remaining. Perhaps, backed by the boss, it’s time for Tomas Rosicky to take centre stage.
Robin van Persie says the time he spent out injured is acting a motivation for him, having been injured when he reckons he was playing the best football of his life.
Finally today I want to take a moment to talk about how sad I felt about the death of Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta. I, like many of you, was watching the game on Saturday night when he collapsed so we’ve been with him ever since. Seeing him wheeled out of the ground and rushed away in an ambulance was sickening, especially when you could tell by the paramedics that it was serious. There was hope as many times in cases like this an athlete simply drops and that’s the end. We saw it some years ago when Marc Vivien Foe died during the Confederations Cup.
But as the days passed the doctors grew more pessimistic and yesterday afternoon Antonio Puerta passed away. For someone like me who plays park football and enjoys a pint and the odd smoke and doesn’t always stick to a healthy diet it’s quite sobering. A young man, less than 6 weeks away from being a father for the first time, is dead.
I’ve been reading the coverage in the Spanish papers and it’s heartbreaking stuff. Julio Baptista spoke of the enormous jolt of pain he felt when he heard. Messages of support and sympathy have flooded in from every Spanish club. Ex-teammate Antoñito declared himself ‘broken’ at the news. I listened to the President of Betis, Manuel Ruiz de Lopera, who has had the worst relationship with Sevilla FC and their President Jose Maria del Nido that you can possibly imagine, speak on the radio about Puerta’s death and the genuine emotion and solidarity for Sevilla, their fans and the family of Antonio Puerta was very moving.
Antonio Puerta will be buried today at 2pm Spanish time. A promising career and a young life cut short well before time. Perhaps, as we bitch and moan about not signing a fat Brazilian or any kind of winger, we might think about this and put it all in perspective.
I have never tried to speak on behalf of any other Arsenal fans, but I think I can do so today when I say to the family and friends of Antonio Puerta, everyone at Sevilla FC and all their fans, that we send our most sincere condolences and sympathy. May he rest in peace.
