They say when you fall off a horse the best thing to do is to get straight back up on the horse again. Tell that to Christopher Reeve.
Still, Arsenal have a chance to get back on the footballing horse tonight after a display on Saturday that was complete pony. The manager will have had a good nag at his players and the mane thing is that we get ourselves back on track and … oh, fuck that. I don’t have the energy for horse jokes. Not even if you fed me a load of shergar lumps.
The manager has been talking a lot and it’s hard to get my head around everything he says. From saying he doesn’t quite know what to do about the fact our defence is a bit small (play taller players and don’t let tall players leave on loan) to suggesting the current crop are potentially invincible (rather stretching credibility after the Hull game) he’s had lots to say.
I know Wenger is never critical of his players in public. If one of them was to kick the referee up the hole to crown a performance so abject that it made Tom Huddlestone look like Pele he’d still keep his counsel in public. So him talking them up is par for the course. I’ve got no real problem with it because that’s what he always does. He has admitted though that we have a problem. Not physically, not in terms of talent, but in terms of attitude and approach, saying:
At the moment, I’m not sure we can focus all the time in every single game, especially when we think the game will be easy. When you are young, you think things are going to be easy. When you have a bang on the head like this, you have to understand the need to be consistent. It was a big bang and shows we’re not completely there on the mental side.
In the past, we have been beaten physically, we have been intimidated. We know we can deal with that now, but we’re sometimes a bit too confident in the home games when we need to put some effort in.
It really is a quite extraordinary revelation, although there’s worse to come. The general feeling around the ground on Saturday was that the team thought they just had to turn up and go through the motions to win the game. Some might say that’s down to inexperience but that’s why we have an experienced and professional staff. Had none of them watched Hull this season? Did they look like a Derby to them? Even at the most basic level of football you’re warned that if you go into a match with that attitude then you run the risk of being turned over and so it was. For players at this level to be that arrogant, and that’s the only word I can use, is amazing.
Why can’t we focus all the time in every single game? It’s not like anyone’s asking them to play well every game. Nobody’s asking them to score six goals in every game, but it strikes me that expecting players to focus for 90 minutes each week is the very least we should expect from well paid professional footballers.
What’s even more incredible is Kolo Toure’s admission that he was ‘scared’ about playing Hull. He said:
Against Man United everybody thinks it’s going to be a tight game but when you play against Hull it’s harder because you are expected to win and score in the first minute. But it doesn’t happen like that. I was scared against Hull because there are no easy games.
What? Scared? By all means treat Hull with respect because they deserved it with the way they’ve started the season. But being scared of them? Be scared of dragons, or terrorists, or cancer or giant spiders singing the entire works of Phil Collins, but don’t be scared of Hull or any team. We were top of the league, playing at home and you’re scared? We are the Arsenal. We don’t get scared of anyone. It’s mad.
The manager has said that he will rotate tonight. He says it’s not punishment, merely a way of keeping the team fresh and it’s normal throughout the season. It should be punishment. It should be more than just bringing in fresh legs. It should be a message to some of the players who thought Hull would be easy.
‘Think it’s easy, do you? Here’s a few weeks on the bench. How easy is that? Now, if you want to get back in the team you’ve got to work hard. Oh, harder than that. Hah, much harder than that’.
So tonight is a chance to hammer that point home both from the manager’s point of view and from the players who might come in. We’ve got Nasri back, which is good. He adds a bit of guile and creativity to our midfield. I think we’ll see one of the strikers dropped and Bendtner come in, it would surprise me to see both of them miss out but Bendtner and Vela have done well together so maybe. One of Kolo or Gallas will make way for Djourou, I’m sure. Again it’s hard to see the manager drop both his first choice defenders but if he does Silvestre may start.
Maybe we might see Ramsey in midfield. Denilson has done well but Ramsey must be chomping at the bit to get a start. It would be quite radical for Wenger to make that many changes but if the Hull game almost made him sick maybe he’s in the mood for something a bit different. If he talks about how we don’t have reserves, only good players, then it’s time for him to let those good players have a go.
We responded well to the defeat against Fulham, it’s time to show we’ve got the ability to do it again. We know we have the talent in the team to win games but will the great big chunk of Tiger flavoured humble pie sort some of these players out? We’ll see later on tonight.
I think we can win but if we approach this game with anything less than 100% commitment and focus then we’ll find ourselves on the wrong end of the result. Porto are a decent side, technically good and big on gamesmanship. Tonight’s referee is the guy who sent off Vieira and Lauren against PSV a few seasons back. The same guy who allowed van Bommell to kick and maim any Arsenal player he wanted without so much as a card, so we have to be aware of that too.
I hope this is a night when Cesc clicks back into gear again, if he does (and I think the return of Nasri will provide us with the kind of movement and energy in midfield that Cesc enjoys) then our chances are more than good. Of course it’s not all down to him, there are 10 others that need to play well too.
I’m waffling now and I’m a bit nervous about tonight. Fingers crossed for a much better performance and, of course, a better result.
Update: Meant to put this in today’s post but forget. The OleOle graphics team have been working on some groovy new Arsenal wallpapers for your desktop. We’ll be adding to these but for the moment you can find the first three here, featuring Jack Wilshere, Carlos Vela and Theo Walcott.
Enjoy.
