Well we’ll start this morning with team news ahead of tonight’s game.
There’s good news in that Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner are both included in the squad but as expected Kolo Toure joins Sagna and Gallas on the defensive sidelines. The boss has said that the defence that finished the game against Everton will start tonight so that means Eboue, Song, Sylvester and Clichy across the back.
It does seem like a bit of a makeshift defence but our Champions League run to final came about with a defence nobody would have picked at the start of that particular season. Still, there’ll be plenty of work for them to do and with Song a more natural centre-half than right back and Eboue a better right back than anything else he’s tried then hopefully it won’t be too bad. There’s a lot of onus on Sylvester as the most experienced defender to show he’s got a bit about him. He’s been there and done that with United in the Champions League, of course, so it’ll be interesting to see how he plays.
There’s no word yet of Samir Nasri but Arsene has been lauding him, saying he didn’t expect so much from him so soon. He says:
I didn’t count Nasri in here for the first six months of the season, like I do for everybody we buy at such a young age. When you look at the impact he had already here you can say he’s ahead of what I planned for him. He’s doing extremely well and he is already becoming an important player for us and that is why you do not want him to get injured.
You also don’t want him to get injured because the next best player we have for that position, Rosicky, is banjaxed. Hopefully Samir will be fit for tonight though as he does make a real difference to the way we play. With him on the left and Walcott dangerous from the right it gives us the kind of attacking balance we had with Pires and Ljungberg. A genuine threat from both flanks will keep teams on their toes and while it’s early days and I’m not trying to compare them too much with their illustrious predecessors the signs are promising.
Turkish teams are always dangerous and renowned for the intense atmosphere they create at their grounds. The boss says we won’t be intimidated by that but describes it as ‘very tough’. We last played Fenerbache en route to the 1980 European Cup Winners Cup final and we won 2-0 over two legs. Am I right in thinking the last time we played any Turkish opposition was in the UEFA Cup final against Galatasaray?
We currently lie top of our Champions League group and a win tonight would leave us with 7 points and still two home games left to play. That said a point wouldn’t be the end of the world but we spoke about momentum and confidence and going out there and winning the game would be a big boost to the squad, especially when we have so many missing through injury.
Fenerbache are coached by Luis Aragones, infamous for his comments to Jose Antonio Reyes about Thierry Henry some years back. Despite not having the best of starts to his career in Turkey he is fresh off the back of winning Euro2008 with Spain and we know he’s a wily old fox. Whether or not he has the players to make it truly difficult for us remains to be seen but he’ll know exactly what Cesc is capable of and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him tightly marked throughout the game. What we do know is that Fenerbache, in front of their home fans, are going to give it 100% right from the start and we have to be ready for that.
We’ve been a bit of a one half team this season. Sometimes a no half team. We need a good, consistent 90 minute performance tonight. If we can do that then I think we’ll win the game.
Captain for tonight will be Manuel Almunia. A number of people emailed after the Everton game wondering who had been given the armband when Kolo went off and it was Almunia then too. Obviously the boss has gone for age here. I thought this might have been a decent opportunity for Cesc to lead the team but the manager must have his own reasons. Perhaps he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on him (not that I think Cesc would be in any way fazed by it), perhaps he’s determined not to bow to pressure from fans or pundits who think Cesc should be captain anyway.
I’ve got no real problem with Almunia having it though, despite the fact I don’t think the keeper is ideal as a captain in any team. He’s having a decent season and if this gives him more confidence, something he appears to thrive on, then fine.
Right, that’s about that. Looking forward to this one tonight now. Fingers crossed for a good game and a good result. Till tomorrow.
