Are you up for the cup? It’s FA Cup 4th round action today as we face Southampton at St Mary’s.
With a Premier League game with Watford on Tuesday, there’s no question that today’s team selection will be influenced by that, and while I would be a bit surprised if Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil weren’t in the squad, I don’t think there’s any way they’re going to start today.
It’s not a case of not taking the cup seriously, but prioritising and keeping those men fresh for the Watford game. As well as that, when you have a big, deep squad like we do, it’s competitions like the FA Cup that allow you to give them the playing time they need, and it’s not as if we’re going to stick out a bunch of kids.
Arsene Wenger says that Danny Welbeck is line to start:
He has a chance to start or to come on, yes. He looks sharp, he’s worked very hard. Maybe it will be an opportunity for him. In training he still lacks a fraction of zip when he start, but overall he looks quite fit. What is the most important is that he doesn’t look scared.
That’s the biggest hurdle when you come back.
The question is, if he starts does he play wide or take the place of Olivier Giroud, for example? If he does get the nod, we could see something like: Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Gabriel, Gibbs, Coquelin, Ramsey, Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas, Welbeck.
It’s certainly up front where we’ve got most depth, with Theo Walcott back in the squad, Giroud available, and if he decides to take them, Ozil and Sanchez from the bench. We don’t have much else in midfield other than Coquelin and Ramsey, so it’s hard to see beyond that, and while part of me thinks that Rob Holding could get a start, playing a team like Southampton means having that bit of experience at centre-half might be good against the sneaky ways of Shane Long.
Of course our record away from home against Southampton is pretty bad in recent years. The last time we won there was thanks to a Robert Pires goal in 2003! Now, that does include a seven year spell when we didn’t play them at all, but even so in the last few seasons it has not been a particularly happy hunting ground for us.
I suppose one of the key factors today could be their midweek exploits. Will they be buoyed or exhausted by a gruelling game at Anfield that they only won late on? Claude Puel may make changes, which might keep them fresher but perhaps make them weaker, but either way it’s a little hoodoo we have to throw off. Records like this might be intimidating on paper, but they’re there to be broken on the pitch, so let’s hope that’s what we do at 5.30 this evening.
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Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger’s personal hearing with The FA took place yesterday and the result of that was a four game touchline ban and a fine of £25,000. It was pretty much what I had predicted, and the club won’t be appealing.
The fact that it’s a touchline ban means he can watch the games from the stand, communicate with the bench throughout, and as far as I’m aware he can have contact with the team during half-time. So while it’s not ideal, it’s certainly a lot less difficult than a stadium ban which is something some people were talking about this week.
Quite why that is the case, I don’t know. I think it’s that sections of the press saw this as an opportunity to spark something huge from an incident that really wasn’t as shocking as they’d have you believe. All these poor journalists climbing on their soapboxes – after they’d recovered from their fainting couches because of the trauma of it all – suggesting 10 game bans, making him referee Sunday league games and all the rest, really need to cop on.
Of course referees have to be protected, and when one of the highest profile managers crosses a line that shouldn’t be crossed, he’s going to get punished. Yet the precedent had been set back in 2012 when Alan Pardew’s push on a linesman got him a two game ban. What is the difference between this – in full view of the stadium by the way and not halfway down the tunnel that the fourth official had no need to be in – and what Wenger did?
As far as I can see it’s the pearl-clutching and ‘Won’t somebody think of the children’ from sections of the press that made the Arsenal manager’s incident higher profile and with more back page coverage. You don’t have to look too far this morning to see headlines and stories about how he’s gotten away with it or been let off, which – even in this topsy-turvy world we live in – is beyond-the-pale stupid.
On the basis of the Pardew incident, four games might seem harsh, but in the circumstances is probably about right. I don’t think there can be any real complaints, however, there’s no question it brings into focus the FA’s disciplinary system once more.
A leg-breaking tackle or violent conduct only gets a player three games; you can racially abuse an opponent, as John Terry did, and get the same ban as Arsene Wenger. Anyone in their right mind can see which of those thing is more serious, reprehensible and damaging to the game, and yet in terms of their punishment they’re given some kind of equivalence. If you get four games for a slight push on a fourth official away from the spectators, you should get 25 for calling someone a ‘f*cking black c*nt’.
I’ve said it time and time again down the years on this blog, the entire system needs a radical overhaul but not one of the so-called think pieces spewed out this week as they came up with new and inventive ways to punish the Arsenal manager even gave that the slightest consideration.
Why bother thinking of something that could really help football when you can dream up ideas like making a 67 year old man referee on Hackney Marshes on a Sunday. Maybe some of these hacks could manage 10 games at the top level with the ever-decreasing standard of officiating and see how they get on.
Anyway, it’s done, it is what is, and Wenger will not be on the bench today, or for the Premier League games against Watford, Chelsea and Hull. Hopefully, it might spark something in the players too, there’s nothing like some perceived injustice to create extra solidarity. Show them this, perhaps?
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Right, that’s that for this morning. We’ll be back later on with a live blog for the game, and all the post-match stuff on Arseblog News. You know the drill.
Until then, have a crack at this week’s Arsecast in which I’m joined by Ken Early for a great chat about the Premier League, commercialisation in football, the title race, Arsenal’s season and lots more. Tell your friends.
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Catch you later on for the game.
