Morning all, hope we find you well and rested this Monday morning. I think it’s going to be a busy week ahead. The dust has yet to settle after Saturday’s defeat to Stoke and in footballing terms we have lots of little issues to sort out.
Firstly the injuries to Theo and Adebayor. Hopefully we’ll get some more news on those today but from the looks of things we may have to count them out for a little while. Confirmation of Robin van Persie’s ban should come through as well. If he was sent off for violent conduct, which I think he was, then he’s gone for three games, meaning he misses Man United on Saturday, the Wigan game (which he probably wouldn’t have played in anyway) and the Villa game at home.
Those three absences leave us somewhat short up top with Bendtner and Vela the only real options. I’m sure it’s too soon for Eduardo. It’s real backs to the wall stuff and let’s not forget we’ve got a Champions League game against Fenerbache in midweek too.
Of the Man United game Arsene says:
There is no better game to come back from a defeat from a confidence point of view and to show we have quality.
To be honest, I think there are a few other teams I’d rather play than United this Saturday. Someone easy, perhaps a newly promoted team like Stoke or Hull or … erm … bollocks. I suppose that when your struggles have come against the so-called lesser teams then maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world to play a team where you know you’re going to have to really raise game for. But confidence within the squad must be at rock-bottom right now.
Whatever about the dust not settling for us after Stoke then the same must be true of the players since last Wednesday’s game. Reports of the post-match dressing room shouting match were, I’m told, accurate but, as I said at the time, that’s entirely normal and I’d be more worried if that didn’t happen. Still, things like that do put a strain on relationships and take time to get over. It’s clear that the final four minutes against Sp*rs and the recriminations since have taken their toll and played their part in the Stoke game.
The manager has got a big job on his hands now. The team is heading into a very difficult month of fixtures and he’s got to pick them up. It’s obvious that despite all the talk of unity and spirit that some of the players lack belief in themselves and their colleagues. The manager has spoken of them being tired and jaded and to me this is entirely a consequence of the results. These are young lads who are fit and conditioned to the Nth degree. If they were winning then there’d be no tiredness, they would be chomping at the bit ahead of the next game. The effects of losing so often breed this ‘tiredness’ and this is something the manager has to find a solution to.
We all remember the first Wenger double season when, after a series of poor results, a team meeting was called. It galvanised the squad and brought about a change in attitude and performance. But back then you had experienced professionals like Adams, Bould, Keown, Dixon, Winterburn, Seaman, Wright, Bergkamp etc. Who is there to lead these young players? Who can honestly stand-up and bring about that kind of change and inspire his teammates? William Gallas? I don’t think there’s the respect in the squad for him. Robin van Persie? What example has he shown apart from sheer petulance in the Stoke game? Cesc, perhaps, but for me his struggles on-field are a direct consequence of the manager’s inability to spend in the summer. That’s another argument though.
Anyway, even if there was someone to do it who’s to say these players would listen. In an excellent piece by Gunnerblog comes an illustration of the kind of arrogance we saw in the Sp*rs game and the distinct lack of leadership/authority in the squad. He says:
At the Britannia Stadium, I witnessed an incident that sums up the lack of respect for authority among the current crop of players. We had won a corner, and Kolo wished to go up to challenge for it. However, in order to do so, Toure needed the advancing Alex Song to stay back on the halfway line. Several times Kolo barked the order at Song. The midfielder turned around, heard the man wearing the armband, shook his head, and ignored his request.
Imagine Alex Song thinks it’s ok to ignore his captain. Can you imagine if he’d tried something like that with Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira or even Thierry Henry? He’d have had his arse kicked back in the dressing room and rightly so. And who is Alex Song to ignore the instructions of his captain? A kid who has made a couple of dozen appearances for us and he thinks he can behave like that. This is after his entrance as a sub in the Sp*rs game where he ambled on having a good laugh thinking it would be easy-peasy to see out the game. It’s shocking and it’s little wonder problems exist when that kind of behaviour has been fostered.
Gunnerblog talks about missing Gilberto and to an extent I think that’s true. Despite the fact his star was fading as a player let’s remember Gilberto spent a long time at the club. He often spoke about the great traditions of the club and he had players like Vieira, Keown, Henry, Pires, Ljungberg, Bergkamp etc who could instill in him the traditions of the club. Who have we got now? What does William Gallas know about the way Arsenal players should behave?
This is not a criticism of Gallas, it’s not his fault he doesn’t know, but there was always something about our spirit and the way we behaved that was ‘Arsenal’. It could be passed down from Adams to Vieira and to Henry and Gilberto would have been the natural continuation of that. Instead Arsene ignored that, treated Gilberto very poorly (remember he found out he’d been passed over for the captaincy on the internet), and here we are today.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it but I think it’s an issue. I’m not suggesting that our other captains were flawless and this is not a criticism of Gallas despite my belief that he is not the right man for the job. Again the buck stops with the manager here.
So as much as we need a change in playing personnel there’s no chance of that happening before January. We have the squad we have so the only changes we can make are those of attitude and performance (although a defensive coach might help). Maybe some kind of team meeting is what’s needed. Some home truths spoken. Some feelings hurt. But if some hurt feelings bring about a change in the way this team plays football then that’s fine.
As fans I suppose we can play our part as well. As much as we have our grievances with the players and the performances of late there’s little to be gained from vocalising those at the games. With confidence so low they need our help. We all know there are problems and bitching about them on the internet is wonderfully cathartic/rampantly tedious/utterly pointless/great fun – delete where appropriate. However, you support the Arsenal in good times and bad. For some younger fans this may be as bad as they’ve ever seen it but it’s been much worse than this. Much worse.
If we can do our bit to help get them back on track then that’s what we should do. It’s not easy but they do say in times of crisis you see what people are really made of. Let’s show those who call us spineless and taunt us about getting our players sent off that we do have a spine. It might be somewhat brittle and in need of rebuilding but we’re not dead and buried just yet.
Remember, we’re Arsenal fans. And simply by our very nature we’re better than fans of every other club. They, as you all know, are complete and utter cunts and hate our team. Therefore we should hate them back and the best way to hate them is to get behind our lads and make wanker signs when we score goals against their team.
I know it’s mad but Sp*rs win over Liverpool means the gap at the top is still just 6 points. If we get a result against United on Saturday, unlikely as it might seem, we’d find ourselves two points ahead of them. Football is a funny game. It might not be as funny as I want it to be but fuck it, if you can’t hope and have a little bit of optimism then what’s the point?!
Right, this has gone on too long, is probably a stream of consciousness load of old bollocks for a Monday morning but there you go. I find myself so disillusioned with the team then I feel disappointed with myself, almost, for feeling that way. I can’t really explain it. Maybe it’s like having a drug addict brother who keeps doing bad things and you can’t accept the bad things he does but at the end of the day he’s your brother and you love him. See, told you this was a load of old bollocks.
I should also make it quite clear that I do not have a drug addict brother and no Mugsmashers were harmed in the making of this blog.
More tomorrow.
