Morning, feeling somewhat better this morning (Cheers, Mr Shovell), and obviously there’s plenty going on ahead of today’s game against Sunderland. Perhaps some of the talking points out of the way first before looking at the game.
I’m sure you’ve seen Arsene’s comments about Wednesday’s referee. He said:
I believe he is incompetent or dishonest, so I prefer to believe he is not competent.
He then listed the five technical errors that the referee made but to be perfectly honest with you I could not care less about the referee. We’re already in a situation where refs, both domestically and in Europe, are so opposed to giving Arsenal a penalty that if one of our lads was clean through on goal, hauled down by the last man who then stood over him and pissed on his head before hacking both his legs off with a rusty cutlass they’d still wave play on. I can’t imagine they’ll be in any way inclined to change their stance now.
And the bottom line for me is this – is Fabianski hadn’t picked up that ball then none of it would have happened. I can’t imagine Arsene would be complaining much if we had done what Porto had done and it all smacks of deflection tactics and sour grapes at this stage. The game is over, the decisions are made and lambasting a ref like that is counter productive, in my opinion. And if he’s really concerned about technical mistakes he’d probably be better off looking at his players rather than a referee he’s unlikely to encounter again this season.
Unsurprisingly he has given his backing to Lukasz Fabianski and says he believes in the goalkeepers he has. Which I don’t really have any problem with. There’s nothing he can do to about the situation now and to come out and be critical of them when he’s got to rely on them for the rest of the season wouldn’t do anybody any good. What is clear to me though is that Arsenal’s scouts should be out now identifying the signing that must be made this summer. We need a number 1, a proper number 1, not the motley collection of number 2s we have right now (pun very much intended).
There was a load of other stuff about the CL playoff and the state of things at Portsmouth but I couldn’t give a fish’s tit about either of those things this morning. AW also spoke about Cesc and the pressure he’s under, saying:
He’s under a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibilities, for such a young boy. He is 22, people forget that, and has a huge weight on his shoulders. I personally believe he handles that tremendously well.
The captain took it upon himself to speak to fans over the plane’s intercom on the way back from Porto in midweek. There’s no doubt he’s crucial to this team and he’s had a quiet few games in recent weeks. I’m not even going to go down the Barcelona road, the stories are tiresome and to be honest the idea that Cesc would immediately change his mind about Arsenal because of a European defeat is insulting to anyone with a brain and to Cesc himself. The mindless pundits that go on and on and on about it are fucking witless. I heard Tony Cascarino talking on the radio last night as I was driving to football and he made me want to run people over.
I mean, how seriously are we supposed to take somebody who says ‘Arsenal need a better goalkeeper than Faberaski’? If you don’t have the intelligence to know a player’s name why should we listen to anything else you say? Dick.
Anyway, I’m straying from the point. I’m sure Cesc is under pressure, he’s the focal point of the team, its best player, but you know what? He could use some fucking help. He could do with one or two or three of those around him stepping up and taking some responsibility themselves. £13m Nasri could do more, Denilson could do a lot more, Arshavin has done little, Rosicky tries and was wrongly taken off in midweek, but while it’s great to have a player like Cesc it seems too many of our players expect him to do it on his own. It doesn’t work like that and they need to sort it out.
Ahead of today’s game the manager has got some decisions to make. With Gallas out for a couple of weeks can he expect Sol Campbell to do another 90 minutes? Is he comfortable playing Sylvester if not? If Song is back might he play him at centre-half and draft Ramsey into midfield? Personally I’d be playing the Welshy today. I’d sit Denilson on the bench and ask him to watch the young man’s energy and committment. Will Almunia be fit? I suspect so. Despite his public backing of Fabianski he’s surely got to have some reservations about picking him, not just based on last night but on his performances in general.
Where will the goals come from? Can Bendtner find his shooting boots? Can Walcott find someone’s shooting boots? Will Carlos Vela ever make an impact from the bench? Can they bounce back from midweek defeat or will there be the all too familar European hangover? There are a lot of questions being asked of this Arsenal team today and we have to hope they’re up to the task.
Today is the first of a series of fixtures which are, on paper at least, very winnable. Sunderland, Stoke, Burnley, West Ham, Birmingham, Wolves. A nice run of games which, if we have any real title ambition, we have to win. Today would be a good start to get things going again. Sunderland are in the doldrums right now, they haven’t won a game in the league since they beat us earlier in the season. We have to take advantage of that. We have to show that we’re a team, that we can react when the chips are down, and that we still want to achieve something this season.
I’d take a scabby 1-0 but I would love to see us really stick it to Sunderland today. Not specifically because it’s them but because it’d show that this team is focussed again and because I’d like Match of the Day and the Sunday papers to be something to look forward to rather than something to be avoided like a leper with the plague in a Sp*rs shirt.
COME ON ARSENAL!
