No *boilk* to this morning’s blog, just a hearty lie-in.
Plenty going on as you might expect but nothing more in terms of team news ahead of today’s game against Wigan. I suppose the only doubt that remains is over Gilberto and whether or not the boss considers him too fatigued to play after his jaunt to Brazil. Philippe Senderos, back in the squad after injury, has warned against complacency. I think more than any other season I can think of we’ve coped very well with the difficulties of international breaks so hopefully we can keep that up today. Wigan are still managerless with Steve Bruce not due to take over until Monday so perhaps that’s something we can exploit too.
The boss has been talking about Eduardo who did the business in mid-week for Croatia but still hasn’t quite clicked for us this season. That’s not to say he’s been a disaster or anything like it though. He’s got 4 goals so far and hasn’t, as I mentioned yesterday, really had a run of games up front where he’s obviously most comfortable. It seems the main issue is getting used to how physical the Premier League is, with the boss saying:
We have to be patient but it will come for Eduardo. He has to adapt physically and he is a quieter person, so perhaps it takes him longer. “He has to adapt to the pace of the game and the intensity of the impact in the challenge. But I am keeping my confidence [in him] for the second part of the season. He can be our secret weapon.
Secret weapons are cool. He should probably get a chance up top today but with Theo Walcott in good form for the U21s and Nicklas Bendtner on target for Denmark in midweek there are options for the boss.
In a quick round-up of the other stories Emmanuel Adebayor misses Robin van Persie. There’s still no fixed date for his return but he’s going to miss the trip to Sevilla so hopefully he’ll be back next weekend for the trip to Villa.
We’ve been trialling a young African striker called Tresor Mputu and he’s been impressive, according to Arsene Wenger. The lad is from the Congo and I’m told he’s partial to the odd carton of Um Bongo.
The boss is also impressed with Mathieu Flamini (new deal please) and the character and mental strength he’s shown this season. Talk about taking your chances when they come along. His first cap for France was well deserved. Shame it ended up him being injured but then I think Domenech deliberately injures Arsenal players just for a laugh. ‘Come here Mathieu while I hit you on the knee with this iron bar. That’ll teach that bastard Wenger.’
Meanwhile AW has offered his expertise to the FA as they search for a replacement for Steve McClaren. So Gilles Grimandi for England it is.
Nicolas Anelka says he should probably never have left Arsenal for Real Madrid all those years ago. A perfect example of a player badly advised who thought he was better than he was. There’s no doubt in my mind if Anelka had stayed at Arsenal he could have become a really great player but his trials and tribulations around the mid-table sides of Europe are really all that he deserved given the way he and his brothers behaved. He does seem to have grown up a bit now and while he says he’d love to play for this current Arsenal side he’s now humble enough to suggest he might not even get in the team. Could he still do a job for Arsenal? I think he probably could.
And in case you missed yesterday’s Arseblog exclusive – Arsene Wenger is an asteroid.
Right, that’s it. Breakfast, then other stuff, then hopefully the Wigan game will be on the radio later on. Here’s to three points and come on you reeeeeeeds.
