February 21st
Ok, it’s a quick one this morning before I head for the airport. Hopefully Tom will be here with tomorrow´s update as I don’t get back till late afternoon.
We got the squad news yesterday, as expected, and despite an erroneous exclusive about Ashley Cole the only player we welcome back is José Antonio Reyes who will have ‘muchas ganas’ (as they say here) to play in this one. There’s also a place on the bench for Theo Walcott. You can find the full squad list here.
Arsene Wenger has called for a big performance from Thierry Henry tonight, saying “You need a big Thierry Henry tomorrow night. If you look at the record of the Champions League goalscorers, Thierry is in the top three of all time. The problem is that the expectation level on Thierry Henry is so high that if he does not make the difference, of course people quickly come to the conclusion that he did not make the difference.”
That does make sense but it’s not just Thierry that we need a stand-out performance from. If we do go with the 5 man midfield then we need them to perform. We need performances of the season from Ljungberg, Pires and Gilberto and we need the relatively makeshift back 4 to stand firm against a Real side capable of plenty of goals. Flamini needs to make sure Beckham gets no time on the ball to whip in those crosses. Eboue needs to be limpit like whenever Robinho gets the ball. We need Kolo’s energy and Senderos to play like he played against Bayern at home last season. Gilberto needs to tackle. Pires and Ljungberg need to move and not always play square balls. Most of all we need the manager to have the balls to change things if it’s not going well. If Gilberto fannys around get Diaby on. If Ljungberg can’t do anything let’s throw Walcott on to run at thunder-thighs Carlos, he won’t be afraid.
If we perform we can get something from this game. We’ve more or less been written off beforehand. I can’t remember the last time we were so much the underdogs. There was a time when the Arsenal used to thrive on that. Maybe we can see that again.
To those of you going I hope to see you there for a beer before and plenty after as we celebrate the 6-1 win. We’re as good as Zaragoza, surely? I’m wearing a home shirt with Reyes 9 on the back. I’ll be the devestatingly handsome one.
Somos el Arsenal. ¡Vámanos cañoneros!
