Right then, football later and there’s nothing like a good win for a bit of redemption. Despite the fact we all claim to see the bigger picture and think long-term and such, the only thing that really matters today is the 90 minutes later on. After that we can get back to ‘normal’.
Team news is that we’re going to be without Adebayor, Gallas, Walcott and Eboue for the visit of Fenerbache. The manager was hugely critical of Stoke saying that our players were ‘deliberately injured’. I think that’s really far too strong. You might say they were deliberately fouled but trying to say the Stoke players went out to deliberately injure our players is too much and is, frankly, unbecoming of Arsene Wenger. Normally I can see a logic to what he says but not this time.
Goonerholic believes it’s a Wenger tactic to take the focus off the team and put it squarely on himself. That may be true to an extent but I also think Arsene believes what he’s saying. Goodplaya describes it as ‘clumsy’ and points out that Stoke were not really that dirty, and I’d have to agree with that. I thought the tackle on Adebayor was a poor one but, amazingly Arsene, we have players who make poor tackles from time to time too. It does not mean we go out to deliberately injure opponents.
We’ve met more physical teams in our time and come through games unscathed so this is all a bit undignified to me. We got beaten by a team that was more committed and unless you can compete with that then you’re going to lose. And it’s not like this is something new. Arsenal players have been kicked and fouled for a long as I can remember, it’s just we used to have players who could give a bit back. As it is we just seem to have the most brittle collection of footballers I’ve ever witnessed.
Maybe he is trying to foster an us against them/the world attitude but that’s just as easily done in private as via the press and it’s difficult to defend these comments in any way. Still, he’s quite bullish about things on a football level as well. Responding to criticism of the team he says:
Let’s re-establish what we have not done well recently, defend together as a team and continue to play in a positive way. The same people who say we are not good, let them say it in three weeks when we are the best.
Three weeks, eh? He’s certainly challenging his players but also, perhaps, making a rod for his own back there. If in three weeks we’ve got good results under our belts against United, Villa, Man City, Wigan in the Carling Cup and tonight’s game against Fenerbache then he can feel satisfied that his team has responded and proven to the critics they’re not as bad as they say they are. However, should things go fair to middling – or worse – then this is the kind of quote they’re going to rehash and beat him about his metaphoric head with.
It goes without saying how important the game tonight is. Whatever little bit of confidence we have needs rebuilding and winning games is the best way to do that. A win would also guarantee our qualification to the next stage of the competition and if we can do that while Liverpool and Chelsea still have work to do might provide a bit of a boost to the team.
With the absence of Adebayor and Walcott we’re likely to see Bendtner and van Persie up front tonight. The former is likely to have more chances as the latter’s domestic suspension kicks in at the weekend. I like Bendtner but I do think he needs to work a bit harder. He gives the impression of strolling through games at times but in an around the box he’s a good finisher. A little more application would go a long way, I think.
Tonight’s midfield should be interesting. Nasri is sure to play on the left but with Eboue and Walcott out it leaves a question mark on the right hand side. Maybe we’ll see Nasri switched right with Diaby left and one of Denilson or Song in the middle with Cesc. Whatever midfield he picks has got to play a lot better than the one against Stoke.
I think it’s a game we can win. I wouldn’t be surprised if we won it quite comfortably either. On our day we can turn it on and I think the players will be looking to make up for what happened at Stoke. It helps that Fenerbache are worse at defending than we are so an entertaining 6-3 win should give value for money.
The recovery has to start somewhere, no reason why it can’t be tonight. More tomorrow.
