Morning all, hope this finds you as well as can be expected for a Monday morning. If I were the ruler of all the universe Monday mornings would be put back until Monday afternoon sometime, allowing people to ease into the week with much greater comfort. Sadly nobody voted for me so you’re stuck with what you’ve got.
We remain top of the league after yesterday’s games, which is a bit cool. We’re a point ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool and seven ahead of United who do have a game in hand though. Chelsea and United drew 1-1 yesterday with a late equaliser saving Chelsea’s home record. Apparently United face an FA investigation after having seven players booked and their bus got attacked on the way out.
It’s good to get the points on the board but let’s not get too carried away just yet. We haven’t exactly had the most difficult of fixtures. I know going ‘oop norf’ is always tricky but Blackburn were shite and Bolton, despite being a pack of shitkicking foulmonkeys, aren’t much better. If you want to win the league you’ve got to get points against those teams and a true measure of where we’re at will come when we play against the likes of Liverpool, United and Chelsea (and even Villa who are having a good start to the season).
Continuing the theme from yesterday Kolo Toure has been critical of Bolton’s physical approach and of Kevin Davies, saying:
The tackle was a disgrace — very bad. There is no place for that in football. I have nothing against Kevin Davies, he seems a good guy. But he uses his elbows far too much.
He hints at a change in attitude when going to places like Bolton too, saying:
In the past we have allowed ourselves to be intimidated but this time we knew that it would be tough at Bolton and we were ready for that. In previous years we have been too easy to beat away but we have shown this week that we are able to win these games.
Interesting that the more experienced team was the one more easily intimidated. All the same I don’t want to make too much of Bolton’s physical approach. I don’t mind a team thats committed in the tackle, that competes and works hard. That’s the way every team should be really. It’s only when that line is crossed, like with the Davies challenge, that we have any right to complain. Let’s not forget that the Arsenal of a few years ago was a very physical and competitive team. Vieira, Bergkamp, Campbell, Keown, Lauren, all players who liked to put themselves about and who drew plaudits from us for doing so.
In fact, some might say we’ve missed a bit of that in recent seasons ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with being physical in a game of football once you don’t cross the line into dirty.
Arsene Wenger spelled out the aims for the season, saying:
This team has learned and improved from last year. We want to fight at the top. We want to win the championship and the Champions League. We have quality and we are hungry and we have a good spirit.
I think it’s too early to say we’ve improved from last year. Until last March we were really excellent, playing top football, winning games and winning them in style. And, as I said earlier, we haven’t really been tested yet. I still have worries about the centre of our defence and until we sort that out then we’re always going to be a bit suspect. We won’t always score more than the opposition, but perhaps that’s just nitpicking at the moment. We should enjoy being top for the rest of the week at least.
Tomorrow night sees the Carling Cup against Sheffield United and the squad should announced at some stage today. I’m trying to figure out exactly who will be involved. Fabianski, Ramsey, Djourou, Wilshere, Vela, Bendtner, Gibbs, Song perhaps. It’ll be a good chance to see some of the youngsters though and Sheffield United will, I suppose, be after a measure of revenge after we spanked them at their place in this competition last season. It should be an interesting game.
Right, other than that not much to tell you. Ease yourself into the day, more coffee needed, I’m sure. Talk to you tomorrow.
