Good morning. Football is back tomorrow as we face Liverpool hoping to pick up exactly where we left ahead before the Interlull. Six wins on the trot built some rather fine momentum so fingers crossed we can maintain that tomorrow.
The manager’s press conference took place yesterday and in terms of team news there’s a doubt over Danny Welbeck after the knee problem he picked up during the Interlull, while Arsene Wenger isn’t yet sure if any of the quartet that played in midweek at the training ground – Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Mathieu Debuchy and Abou Diaby – will be used.
He sounds tempted though, saying:
They are back available in training, a bit short still of top competitive level certainly but that’s normal. They’ve been out for a long time but I was quite surprised by how fit they looked and the quality of their performance – it was good.
The difficulty, of course, is integrating them back into the squad in the right way. Between the four of them, the total amount of days missed through injury since they last appeared for the first team is 534! I think there’s a need to ease them in slowly, but I’m sure that’s going to happen over the coming weeks. And the manager is glad to have those options available to him again:
You want everybody available and back in the final months to compete at the top level. The consistency will play a big part in the success of the team and having everybody available can help.
On Diaby, he seemed to suggest that he’d be offered a new contract if he could prove his fitness over a good period of time. Asked if any decision had been made yet, he said:
By me, yes. I had a chat with him and told him how I can envisage the future. He has to make a decision. Of course he understands completely that he has to perform and to show that he can be present on a consistent way.
The question is, what can he show between now and the end of May that would merit a new deal that isn’t based around a pay as your play structure (and the reality is those kind of contracts are few and far between)? I don’t think it’s any surprise that Arsene Wenger wants him to stay, but as I said in the blog the other day, it’s practically impossible to make any kind of case for him to be offered a new contract. Anyway, we’ll see what happens. We do have more important things to worry about at the moment.
And speaking of worry, the manager has admitted he’s a little concerned that a poor midweek showing for England might affect Theo Walcott’s confidence, but backs him for the old classic mental strength:
He is not fragile mentally, he is strong mentally. But he is disappointed because when you come back you always think you are ready. He needs patience. He is at the moment not in his best mood. He is not a fragile type.
The ‘you think you are ready’ thing is interesting to me. When he did come back initially he looked off colour for the first couple of games but then scored 3 in 4 which made you think he’d found some form. However, the more I look at it the more I think his removal from the team since has simply been because Wenger wasn’t happy with his overall contribution. Even for a player who lives on the fringes of games before popping up to provide a threat, he was ridiculously uninvolved at times.
I think being left on the bench was a) a normal reaction to those kind of performances but b) a way of getting him fired up and motivated for when his next chance arrives. I can’t really see him starting tomorrow, but I stand by my prediction from the other day that he’s going to play a significant part between now and the end of May. And, at that point, we can worry about the future.
Finally for today, as TV companies dick fans around once more with late changes to kick off times and dates – including two Arsenal games moved to Monday nights – there’s a joint protest between Arsenal and Liverpool fan groups before tomorrow’s game. It’s ostensibly about ticket prices, and that’s perfectly understandable, but maybe the lack of notice given to fans by broadcasters might become part of this overall discussion too.
While there’s no doubt the price of tickets is a serious issue for the game, it’s not just the price of tickets that affects fans. For away games there’s transport, sometimes accommodation, and for home matches we have to accept there is now a worldwide audience, and I don’t just mean television. People come from all the UK ,and all over the world to watch Arsenal and other Premier League clubs, and I’ve heard countless stories this season of people whose trips were ruined late on, or made significantly more expensive, because TV moved the game so close to kick off.
Anyway, the Gooner has details about tomorrow.
Right then, time for this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined first by Amy Lawrence to discuss whether or not there’s anything fans can do about TV companies moving games at short notice, Arsenal finding some form after the Interlull and the battle for the top four. Then the Mugsmasher pops in for the traditional chat ahead of tomorrow’s game, and we get his thoughts on the whole Raheem Sterling thing, as well as all the usual waffle.
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So, there you go. News throughout the day over on Arseblog News, more from me tomorrow. Have a good one.
