Morning all, a fair bit to get through this morning. As usual Arsene had his press conference yesterday and the manager was in good form. More on that anon but we’ll start with team news ahead of tomorrow. There are no miraculous returns from injury, only Jack Wilshere is back but it looks as if the youngster may well start the game.
There’s talk an almost Carling Cup-esque squad tomorrow with Wilshere, Coquelin (who may start at right back), Kyle Bartley (who could play at centre-half if Sol Campbell isn’t fit), Jay Emmanuel Thomas and Gilles Sunu all being called up. Of course there’ll be a splatter of experience in there. Sylvester will play, Denilson too, I’d imagine, with Vela and Walcott given the chance up front, but it does look as if the established players, what’s left of them anyway, won’t be risked.
I do feel for the manager here, I have to say. He’s on a hiding to nothing no matter what he does. Play kids and lose and he’s going to be condemned by those who say he should have played his strongest side and really gone for the FA Cup (and this will be repeated until the end of the season and beyond if we come up short in the Premier League and Champions League). He could play the more experienced players and win but if we struggle against Villa or United then he’ll be accused of being stupid for not resting the players for the FA Cup when the Premier League was more important.
I think if we’d had fewer players out injured he’d have played a stronger side. It sounds obvious, I know, but we’re in a position now where we’re heading into four league games which will go a long way to decide the outcome of the title, in my opinion. We can’t afford any more injuries and while it’s certainly possible that we’ll pick up knocks in those games he has to be mindful of our brittleness in terms of the team he plays tomorrow. Of course we could just win and there’s no issue at all.
Stoke, I’m sure, will be licking their hare-lips when they see an Arsenal team without its most dangerous players, but we have to hope the lads who are sent out view this as a good chance to show that they’re Arsenal players and ready for the step-up. I love the FA Cup and I certainly view it as a good chance of a trophy for us this season but I can understand Arsene’s reasoning if he decides to rest players tomorrow. I’d imagine some of them will be on the bench, unless we’re going to call up some of the Under 9s, so if things are going pear shaped then he’ll have a chance to turn things around. Let’s see what happens.
Stoke aside there was much talk about the William Gallas tackle which has dominated headlines despite being pretty much a nothing incident. The Bolton player has a bit of a bruise and players get bruises in football games all the time. At the moment my left knee is black and blue but you don’t see the cunt who kicked me on Tuesday night all over Sky Sports News, do you? No, sir. Arsene said he didn’t think the Gallas tackle was malicious, something Owen Coyle has also admitted now, but when asked if he thought some of the Bolton tackling was malicious he said “Of course”, as if it was the most stupid question since “Is Phil Collins a cunt?”. I laughed.
He went on to criticise certain sections of the media, saying:
Today, we are all brainwashed by one or two main medias who decide what we have to talk about and we talk about that. I raise big question marks over the competence and the objectivity of the guys who make these kind of decisions.
Fabregas had two clear penalties at Bolton and one or two here. At Bolton there was what happened after [the penalty claim] when they pulled his hair and stood on his neck. Why is no-one sensitive to that? Does that not make a story? You wonder why.
And he’s absolutely right to bring that up. And it’s not just Arsenal that suffer from this, even though we’re more sensitive to it. It appears to be at the whim of whoever’s director on Sky Sports News that day. One incident is shown over and over and over again, others are completely ignored so the public are bombarded and all of a sudden something becomes fact. It warps people’s perception of things, so Eduardo is labelled a rotten diver and Arsenal don’t get penalties any more. Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young have both been involved in diving incidents and while they were certainly highlighted by some outlets there wasn’t the blanket coverage, the involvement of UEFA, bans handed out, appealed and rescinded and the man’s reputation stained beyond belief.
And that furore was all because of who Arsenal were playing that night and because Sky Sports News played it constantly. Yet diving happens in every game, so why not play those incidents repeatedly? I’m not going down the Paranoia Highway here, and Arsene was very quick to point out the same yesterday, but it’s a legitimate question for which there really is no answer other than they can do what they want and abuse their ‘power’ in doing so.
Asked about being physical the manager pointed to the fact we’re top of the Fair Play table and then addressed a point that has long been a bug-bear of mine. Yesterday I linked to an article in which Stoke’s Ricardo Fuller said they’d go at Arsenal because, paraphrasing here, ‘they don’t like it up them’. Arsene said:
What is more funny is when we get kicked. Some people say before the games, ’we know how to play Arsenal. we have to kick them’. Nobody in the whole country is absolutely upset by that. I am always absolutely amazed that people get away with that. When we get kicked and lose the game, the question I get from the Press is ’oh, you did not fancy that.’
Nobody is upset or shocked by it. They find when we are kicked, it is absolutely all right.
And once again he’s spot on. How many times have we heard it? From players, managers and even pundits who say ‘If you kick Arsenal they don’t like it’. Well, here’s a fucking eye-opener for you chaps, NOBODY likes being kicked. Arsenal, United, Liverpool, Chelsea, my Astro League team. Nobody likes it but when people say it about Arsenal it’s almost like a badge of honour for the other team to wear: WE KICKED ARSENAL AND THEY DIDN’T LIKE IT.
Bravo. Yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard one person say ‘Well, that’s not right, is it? Football is not about kicking the opposition and injuring the other players’. On the Arsecast this week I spoke about Bolton and our previous with them and I go back to a game in the 2002-3 season when we went to the Reebok. I am quite positive that day Sam Allardyce sent his players out with express instructions not just to kick Arsenal but to injure our players. If I recall correctly we lost three players that day through injury after Bolton tackles. Even the normally mild-mannered Jay-Jay Okacha absolutely did Freddie Ljungberg with an over the ball challenge.
The perception that we were a soft touch grew and all of a sudden it became perfectly acceptable to stop Arsenal, not by just being physical, but by being dirty. Even United, who despite the rivalry you always had to have a modicum of respect for because they were a real footballing side, resorted to it and when United do it it’s ok for everyone else. Now, let me make a clear distinction here between physical and dirty. I have got no problem whatsoever with a team that is physical. It’s part of the game and a great part of the game too. It’s a sport for men and there should be physical contact, there should be battles of strength and tackling well and competing is something we all love to see. It’s when that crosses the line into cynical and deliberate fouling that it goes too far.
It really was rich of the Bolton players to complain about one tackle when we should have had at least three penalties over the course of the two games – and their tackling and fouling was designed to stop us getting into any kind of rhythm. It was tactical, part of their game plan. Compete, by all means, be physical, we, like any other team, have to stand up and deal with that, but don’t bleat like babies when you get a bit back. That’s why I loved it when Rosicky booted their lad up in the air in the first game. Diaby had been fouled about 4 times as he tried to hold on to the ball, they got it, Diaby was kicked off the ball and Rosicky said ‘Well fuck you’ and gave some back. The Rosicky challenge was mentioned in the papers the next day, there wasn’t a thing said about the previous on Diaby. I was delighted to see Rosicky do that because we’ve needed it. A young team needs experienced players, not just for what they bring to the way we play, but to show them that sometimes you need to stand up for yourselves because the referee isn’t there to protect you.
So if the press, the players and managers and pundits are all too keen to stick the boot into Arsenal, in their respective ways, then they shouldn’t squawk and screech when Arsenal refuse to be bullied. If you’re going to dish it out, don’t complain when you get some back. Nothing more to it than that. I’m really glad Arsene brought this up because it’s about time it was said. I know it’s something we’ve addressed on this blog and I’ve seen other Arsenal websites talk about it, but when Arsene has a go at his press conference it makes headlines for everyone to see and that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
In other news the impending return of Nicklas Bendtner makes the signing of a striker ‘unlikely’ according to Arsene Wenger but he says ‘You never know’. I think we know. Let’s face it, scoring goals hasn’t been much of a problem and you do get the sense that if we defended better our chances of winning things would increase.
And speaking of defenders Arsene has denied that Fulham’s Chris Smalling is on his way … at the moment. However, maybe something will happen. AW has admitted he’s a player of interest and I’m told that Man United are also sniffing around and may even have had a bid accepted for the player. Perhaps we’ve got another Ramsey situation on our hands here and even though he might not want to do the business at this stage, if he really wants the player he may have to act now to stop him ending up at Old Twatford.
Apparently contract talks with William Gallas are ‘going well’. He can leave on a Bosman in the summer if he fancies it so even with a two year deal it might be tough to hang onto him, which Arsene clearly wants to.
Young keeper Wojciech Szczesny will continue his loan spell with Brentford. He’s doing very well there by all accounts and it’ll be good experience for him. Interestingly Arsene was positively glowing about Lukasz Fabianski yesterday suggesting the Pole will be ‘an outstanding goalkeeper … one of the best’. A good performance tomorrow might put some more pressure on Manuel Almunia, which can only be a good thing for us.
Reports this morning that Philippe Senderos is off to Everton. I have the strangest feeling of deja vu! Apparently it’s a loan deal till the end of the season which probably suits him down to the gound, best of luck to him there.
And that’s really about that. I’m off to wander into town, randomly kicking, tripping, pinching, fouling and raking my shoes down the back of peoples achilles as I go, then when someone kicks me back I’m going to have them arrested for being nasty brutes who were just picking on me for no reason.
Have a good one, folks.
