The fallout from the Fulham game has not been pretty. Condemnation of the performance and the wafer thin squad has been widespread, and rightly so.
I’ve already said plenty about what we need to do about it so it is somewhat depressing to hear the manager say we’re not close to signing anyone. It could be that the manager is playing his cards close to his chest, it could also be that we’re just not close to signing anyone. A lot has been said about Xabi Alonso and while I would certainly love to have him I was chatting to the Mugsmasher about him last night and he doesn’t think he’s what we need.
Now, let me clarify that. He would most certainly improve our midfield, no question, but if we’re looking for someone to do what Flamini did last season then he’s not the guy. Alonso + one more would be ideal, where that one more is a Flamini style grafter. Who that might be is anybody’s guess but it’s one for the manager to sort out. The transfer window closes in 6 days time, there’s a lot of work to do between now and then if we want to win things this season.
In my opinion he has to look at what’s best for the team, not what’s best for the players, if you get what I mean. Bringing in two new players in midfield would make life tough for Denilson but so what? It would mean Diaby has to stay fit and take his chances when he gets them. Competition is good and healthy, lack of it brings about results and performances like Fulham. But while it might be negative for some it would mean that players like Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilsgere learn their trade from established, experienced players instead of guys who are barely out of kindergarten in footballing terms. You have to find the right balance between youth and experience and the experience side of things is all wrong right now.
Arsene Wenger spoke about the defending which lead to the goal against Fulham and said:
I feel the kind of mistake we made on the corner is not excusable. You can be beaten to the ball in the air by somebody who jumps higher than you, but you cannot concede a goal in the middle of the goal, on the six-yard line. That’s where I feel we were guilty.
He’s right and he needs to look no further than his excuse for a captain to see who’s to blame there. I’ve said all I need to say about Gallas. Rubbish captain and the manager needs to make the change now, if not sooner. Give it to Cesc, let’s realise that Gallas was a badly failed experiment and move on.
Emmanuel Adebayor says Arsenal were given a warning by the Fulham result. He says:
We can’t think we are untouchable. We saw that as soon as we don’t play together, as soon as we don’t put our spirit together, we can lose. If we want to challenge [for the Premier League], we cannot lose again. We have to put more heart in, keep focused and play our football.
I can’t argue with those sentiments at all but it’s amazing that after just two games of the domestic season we’re having to rally the troops and call for more spirit. It’s something that appeared to be lacking against Fulham and to my mind we don’t have the players to address it. Last season we had Flamini constantly talking, encouraging, geeing up his mates, Cesc lead by example, Gallas was trying to prove he had what it takes, Adebayor stood up and scored goals when they were needed.
Now Cesc is injured, Flamini is gone, Gallas has proved more than once he couldn’t lead a team of schoolboys and Adebayor is the guy who spent all summer trying to leave the club, despite what the manager says. It’s little wonder we lack direction and played so spinelessly.
Still, there’s time to put it right. Perhaps the defeat can consolidate the squad, new signings can bolster the midfield and boost confidence, a change of captain might provide more impetus and loyalty from the players who would prefer to play ‘for’ Cesc than Gallas, and a win against Twente would be the first step in the right direction.
I’m trying very hard not to be overly negative about us at the moment but it’s not easy. There are obviously big issues that have to be sorted out. It’s time for Arsene to be ruthless. We’ve seen him do it before but this time he may just have to swallow a little pride to make things right again.
One of the things that got overlooked in the wake of the Fulham game was the tackle by John Pantsil on Emmanuel Eboue. It really was terrible, over the ball and extremely dangerous. I hope the FA take a good look at it and take a good look at the referee who managed to give a free kick against Eboue for a tackle which might have broken his leg. There have been a couple of bad tackles like that already this season (Deco on Diarra in Chelsea’s game against Portsmouth last week) yet on neither occasion has the perpetrator been punished. After what happened to Eduardo perhaps we’re a bit more conscious of it but if someone ends up with a bad injury because refs haven’t clamped down on these kind of challenges then I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
Right, that’s about it. More on the Twente game to come during the week.
