In the final season at Highbury Arsenal’s league form was patchy. We scraped into the top four on the last day of the season but reached the Champions League final.
This year our league form is similar and we’re looking at cup competitions, the CL and FA Cup, as a way of bringing silverware to the club. It’s not that poor league form and cup success go hand in hand, we’ve managed to do both successfully as two doubles under Arsene illustrate, this is just me clutching at straws.
Tonight we play Roma who started the season in appalling fashion, losing 9 games in all competitions up until the 1st of November. Since then they’ve turned things around and won 16 out of their last 21. I know we’re on an unbeaten run of our own, it’s been 18 games since we lost but 8 of those have been draws.
So it’s going to be a tough game tonight. We know the quality that Roma possess, and they have former Arsenal man Julio Baptista who is bound to be a completely different player from the one who stumbled and lumbered around for us. We laughed when he said he didn’t get enough chances to do overhead kicks when in London, he’s stuck a couple of those away for Roma this season and looks more like the player we all admired when he was at Sevilla.
Nevertheless, we’re unbeaten in 18, defensively we are very solid at the moment, our problem is scoring goals which is unusual for a Wenger team. Of course there’s no Arshavin tonight, he’s cup-tied and no amount of questioning the logic of that makes the slightest bit of difference.
With Diaby back in the squad we might see us play a more European formation with five in midfield, one of them roaming behind the striker, but in terms of options we’re light enough as it is. Bendtner and van Persie are the only real options we have to play up front and the worry is that we don’t have anyone on the bench who can come on and change things should we need it. Eduardo, Adebayor and Walcott are all out through injury.
The manager spoke yesterday about how we might get a more open game against Roma than against the likes of Sunderland. That may not be just to do with Roma’s footballing philosophy, they might feel that they have the kind of quality than can expose us in a way that Sunderland can’t. And that’s not to say Sunderland didn’t cause us problems on Saturday.
I’m really not sure what to say pre-game anymore. The usual stuff about how a good performance and result might boost us, give us confidence to kick on, get us back on track etc seems appropriate but then how many times can you say it?
Obviously I want us to win and progress in the competition but at the same time I’m more concerned with our league campaign. I’m don’t think this team is good enough to win the CL this season but a good run could be fantastic for confidence and boosting and getting on track blah blah. Yet there’s the danger, to me at least, that a good run in Europe becomes our focus and we lose track of what we need to do in the Premier League.
Anyway, let’s see what happens. It’s a big night tonight, a big test for this team, hopefully they can respond to the disappointment of dropping more league points at the weekend. I’ve got no prediction for this one but 15/2 on a 0-0 draw seems like a decent place to put a couple of quid.
Arsene has been talking about the importance of silverware and the frustration of not winning it, but has again been talking up the quality of his team. No doubt it’s the kind of public backing he hopes will boost their confidence but it’s understandable than fans might be a little frustrated when they hear him say:
I believe that no matter what happens it is important to keep this team together. This team is as good as anything in England. If you can beat Man Utd at 20 and 21 why can’t you beat them at 23 or 24?
Which is fine but it begs another question. If you can beat Man United at 20 and 21 why can’t you beat Fulham or Stoke or Hull or Sunderland etc etc.
Of course he’s right that the longer the team stays together the better it’s going to be. Players get better with experience and as they becomes more physical etc. The worry is that certain players aren’t just 20 or 21 and won’t stay around to let those of that age grow up. Robin van Persie is 25, is he going to stick around to wait for Denilson’s 24th birthday party?
Cesc is younger, of course, but just as experienced, and this is where the danger of Arsene’s stubbornness comes in. Should Arsenal finish outside the top 4 this season it opens the door for players to leave. Would Cesc leave if we didn’t have CL football? Perhaps not. He’s captain and I’m sure he’d give it a season to try and get us back in. If it’s good enough for the multiple CL winning players at AC Milan then it’s good enough for him.
What about van Persie? He could stay as well. But he’d do so knowing that his contract would expire the following summer, allowing him the luxury of signing a new one with us should we succeed, or leaving on a lucrative Bosman if we don’t. Wenger has challenged them to realise their ambitions with us, saying:
What we achieve in the rest of the season and trophies we win is important in keeping players like Cesc and Van Persie, but they have to decide whether they really want to show how good they can be together. That is in their hands as well.
Again, it makes sense on one level, but it’s a dangerous game. They might think it’s all well and good being asked to stay and repay the faith shown in them by the manager but the manager has to demonstrate that he’s really serious about winning trophies. And that means bringing in the players who can help us do that. If his focus is 100% on winning things then those players will arrive in the summer – but if he wants to combine winning things with developing young players who may or may not be good enough then I wouldn’t blame Cesc or van Persie if they decided their trophy winning ambitions might best be served elsewhere.
Anyway, while it’s a big worry it’s not the kind of worry we can spend too much time on at the moment. There’s too much football to play, too many games to win, and it’s something that we’ll revisit in the coming months and over the course of the summer. Perhaps what’s most frustrating is that you look at the squad and think with the injured players back there isn’t a huge amount of work needed to make it really competitive, but then that’s for another day too.
So, let’s hope that one of these games really does provide the confidence boosting victory that drags this team out of the semi-rut it’s in. A win that will spark performances and goal scoring and everything else that will do us good between now and May.
Let’s hope it’s tonight.
ps – shameless plug for blogmate type thing – read Scaryduck on his local team.
