Down On His Luck, Brow-beaten But Arsène Is Not Broken. Jack Is…

When you are down on your luck, the footballing gods waste no time in putting their size 11s in as Arsène found this week. Jack Wilshere had adopted a talismanic status, the saviour of the season; it seems unlikely that he will be that. That the manager offered nothing more has been taken as a signal that the setback reported yesterday means his comeback will be in March/April/May/Euro2012/2012-13/Never (delete as appropriate depending on the reading of your own gloom-o-meter). Nobody knows, publicly at least, what the real scenario is or even dares to posit any theory which holds credibility; we have to wait and see.

It has intensified the despondency that hangs in the air following the recent run of defeats. By every measure, this has been the worst January during Arsène’s reign; never before has one of his Arsenal sides lost more games than it has won in this month or failed to take even a solitary league point. Quite simply it has been abysmal and as such, intensified the desire for new faces. Criticism now is now founded on an imponderable; Arsène’s failure to buy someone for £10m has cost the club £30m in Champions League money since that new face would have prevented the defeats at Fulham and Swansea whilst single-handedly beating Manchester United. No-one can prove it but like a great many criticisms of this season and those before, this has become an accepted fact without any substance behind it.

We simply will never know if a new signing would have made the difference in any or all of those three matches. As the window has passed without activity, deflated resignation is evident over the lack of business in the transfer market. Arsène observed yesterday that, at a push, he will have four left backs so does not need to sign one. The shifting sands upon which that theory is built are all too apparent. Santos is not fit and won’t be for another month or two, Gibbs returns to training on Monday but his injury record is such that for the moment at least, no-one can rely on him being available for more than a month whilst Bacary Sagna will soon be the only fit right back, Arsène’s relief barely disguised with that announcement. Which leaves Vermaelen.

Whilst I would agree that there is probably enough scope for the club to do without a left back now, it largely depends on Gibbs fitness. Miquel has promise but more centrally than as a full back. I understand the manager’s bluff; he is defending his squad, promoting the view that it is big enough and more to the point, good enough. The latter, through a succession of injuries and lack of confidence, is debatable. The players do not suddenly become bad overnight no matter what sage may opine that they do but personally, I have advocated two signings this winter; a left back and a good central option as back-up for Robin van Persie. I have already conceded the first but Marouane Chamakh is out of form, which is a fact. Why is almost irrelevant, simply that something needs to be done to cover the final months of the season.

The cost is already being felt. Not through goals but a lack of options on the bench. I am not going to revisit last Sunday’s reaction specifically but there is a definite sense that the trust in the manager’s judgement is waning. Yet it is still only a very vocal minority who want him replaced. Largely, it seems that a change of ideas is desired. A change of attitude. Less stubborness. A change of some sort. A change.

I contend that this is not going to happen. Arsène’s strength as a manager is also his weakness; stubborness and an unyielding public belief in his players. The latter is part of the PR game and that nuance is often overlooked by the stated desire for change. Quite simply, what is said on the training pitch and in the dressing room, stays there and does not find its way in any detail to the back pages. In that, you can see a relatively united squad. Malcontents are often the source of such leaks and there rarely is anything of the sort from the Arsenal dressing room. It does not mean that they are too nice, simply that they believe in, and respect, each other. A good sign surely.

And that is one that can be built on. The overwhelming negativity of that substitution has been taken as the general feeling within the stadium. That, we know, is not true. Largely The Emirates is supportive of the manager; dissension to one decision does not break the foundations. Arsène observed,

I always believe the fans’ reaction depends on us. It is the team that has to get the fans behind them, and the fans have to be proud of the team. The vibes have to come from us. Part of our job is to live with those emotional reactions. It is maybe becoming a bit more common in the modern world and you cannot ignore it, but you should not give it too much importance.

I will live forever for the values I think are right in football. One or two lost games or one or two bad reactions will not change that.

Football is a game of emotions which leads to an irrational logic taking hold at times, not just when things are bad either. Fragility of confidence on the pitch is reflected by those off it strikes me that is no different to how it was at Highbury. Collective groans there could be more damaging such was the proximity to the pitch. The manager sought to deflect away from the unsaid part of the bargain. The crowd lifting the players, something which must happen.

It is said that the players ought not to need lifting, they are playing for Arsenal. That confers the support we have for the club onto them. For the most part, they are not supporters. They play for the club, for each other, for professional and personal pride; to win. They will, when their time is up, for the most part want the club to do well, wanting the best. But right now, as much as we require a lift in our spirits from them, they need to know that the crowd is with them. A nice thought for tomorrow when we are at the ground.

My cup weekend starts today at The King Power Stadium. If you are not going anywhere, pop over to Arsenal On This Day for cup memories of a time when a Town had yet to become a City.

’til Tomorrow.

 

 

Who would want to be an Arsenal fan right now?

I hate saying it, but you should hear them in the confessional. You would never imagine. Did you know that they…I’ll let Big Al explain this one.

I must say I’m warming to the idea. The last month hasn’t been great. Post-May the future might be a bit murky. But the now, and the coming months don’t look too bad to me. Truth is they’re quite exciting.

And just what have we got look to forward to, besides the presaged pain, humiliation and eventual grave?

Well, the trifling matter of the Champions League second round. Surely we’re not so decadent that we can’t get excited about the world’s biggest club competition. They say it’s going to be our last chance to dine at Europe’s top table for a while, so let’s go mental. Let’s gorge, belch and fart like it really is the last time, and take doggy bags as well.

But spare a thought for our compatriots who didn’t get this far. They’re outside, forlorn, looking in with their faces pressed against the window. It would be cold not to give them a wave.

We’re still in the FA Cup too. It might not have the prestige of old, but it’s a competition that conjures all kinds of powerful memories and still has the power to transport us. If we can avoid replays, a decent run could galvanise our slowly swelling ranks.

And though the league is suddenly looking tough, fourth spot is most definitely within reach. With a bit of luck we’ll have the personnel and form to handle the schedule, and make sure we put on a decent spread for any guests to the grove between now and May. We’ll also have a bulging hamper to pack for away days:

Francis Coquelin should return this week. In the next ten days or so, Arteta, Gibbs and Sagna will be getting there. And in around a fortnight we’ll see Wilshere and Jenkinson in full training. I understand that not all those names inspire euphoria among Arsenal fans, but at least four are important to our first team, and the others are the back up we haven’t had since November.

I should have been conditioned against feeling upbeat about injuries long ago, but something struck me this month – I’ve been getting quite bored. That’s to say, where’s the bloody football gone? Fixture-wise, it’s the quietest January for a good few years, and the quietest month of the season so far. At a measly one match a week our players have had plenty of time to recuperate between games – to the point where I’d guess they’re in better shape now than a month ago.

The scarcity of Arsenal action isn’t ideal for shivery addicts like you and me, but it’s good news for our assault on the home straight. In recent years we’ve looked capable battling through January, started to flag by March and collapsed face down on the tarmac like the teenagers in the Long Walk come April. Call me a dreamer, but I’d like to think that we’ve got that collapsing malarkey out of our system this season.

It’s hard to gauge the atmosphere at the club, but in a week of reports of internal recrimination at the training ground I’m picking up bristling, angry vibes rather than defeatism. Anger’s something we can use. One famous Gooner called anger “an energy”.

And there’s more good news. I think we can say that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has what it takes. Obviously, he does tend to burn quite fitfully, and he could probably make life easier for his full-back, but he has the time and personality to work on what doesn’t yet come naturally. After wondering how he might cope with real Premier League action, Arsène must be thrilled by that performance.

I’m convinced he would not have been able to put in that kind of show against a side like ManU until now. Like most of you I’ve been watching him every chance I’ve had, partly because there was so little footage of his season in League One, and also because a couple of Charlton fans I know had really put him down when we got him.

What I saw in his u21 games was a player with a compulsion to take players on. He was devastating once he had a feel for his opponents, but also, I figured, lacking nuance and variety. He was terrifying against Israel and Iceland. Belgium were ready for him though, and pinned him to the touchline. He had a wretched evening. His teammates didn’t offer much support, and couldn’t get into the game, but I’m quite glad they didn’t. I think he needed matches in which his opponent was smart and prepared.

It leads on back to my Charlton supporting friends. They’d formed their opinion of AOC when Southampton visited the Valley in March 2011. All eyes were on this lauded 17-year-old, but he laboured for an hour with no joy before getting subbed off. So here’s the important part – in one of those England Twitter chats a whole half-year later, he named Charlton’s full-back in that match, Fede Bessone, as his toughest opponent to date.

There was something faintly thrilling about it. Obviously it means he remembered, and if he remembered then he was honest with himself and learned something from it.

What we know now is that he’s a first team contender. I’m sure it opens up all kinds of permutations and tactical possibilities, and gives opponents something different to plan for. But it’s also worth bearing in mind that his performance last weekend was fuelled in part by adrenaline. He was also a surprise – there’s no way Slur Alex would have been prepared for him,

So it wouldn’t be fair to expect to see that kind of level every week. Some manager down the line will come up with a plan to stop him, and he’s going to lose form at some point. But for AOC’s part, the signs are that he’s prepared to learn from the hiccups and keep improving.

Just a reminder to get your daily dose of Arsenal On This Day which tomorrow (27th January) ventures back to 1894. Yes, 1894 BC. That’s 1894 Before Consolsbob. ’til Tomorrow.

Cheap Chatter To Forge A Siege Mentality?

A favourite tactic of George Graham’s was to build a siege mentality when he believed that his players had been slighted by the press; it happened quite frequently and invariably forged as much of a team mentality as the infamous lunchtime drinking sessions.

Fast forward two decades and the intrusions of the media are more frequent, immediate and from a wider variety of sources. The pundit culture has left more top players sitting on the sofa offering their views on what is wrong. Even the President of Rwanda knows where the blame lies and being a politician, it isn’t with him. Often their observations are no more insightful than those of the ordinary fan – sometimes less so – but sometimes it seems more hyper-critical; sales and hits are king.

There is nothing wrong with airing their views but too often because they have been heroes too much importance is attached to them. Let us be honest, are any of them genuine Arsenal fans? I would perhaps place more emphasis in that respect on the words of Charlie George, for example. However, their views are no less valid, just no more perceptive than you or I.

For Wenger, these interventions are tiresome. Privately, if he reads it all, he must wonder how these people are not top managers given that they know so much. Goodness knows what he thinks of Arsenal supporters; I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess after Sunday.

But it plays into his hands. This is an easy win in terms of galvanising the squad. A team meeting followed by training ground interventions by the manager; surely this will awaken the giant from its slumber. Mikel Arteta should be more positive than most, the new boy untainted by the cynicism of the Arsenal support. His words this morning surely reflect those of the whole squad,

All the players are supportive of Wenger — there are no divisions. When we’ve had bad results the fans get upset with the manager but that’s normal in football. Wenger has done so much for the club that he deserves the confidence of the fans.

Arteta is probably not aware of the scars which last season’s collapse; not fully at least. You wonder if those are resurfacing in some who were here last year or is that counter-acted by the return to training of Gibbs and Sagna or the knowledge that Jack Wilshere is not far behind.

Too many presume that the current run will continue to the season’s end. Surely that is too much presumption. What is undeniable is the wobble that took place following defeat at Eastlands. The victories over Aston Villa and QPR were unconvincing which with hindsight was a warning of the lethargy that manifested at Craven Cottage.

Defeat at Swansea was fallout from that; the win over Leeds with less than half the normal starting line-up in place may have helped individually but collectively, there was still uncertainty which showed in the defensive errors. What do the players do about this run? At this moment in time, a series of scrappy wins would do more good than a resounding thumping of Aston Villa in isolation.

With fourth place the target, back to winning ways immediately is required. Bolton and Blackburn have something to fight for and cannot be construed as easy matches; Sunderland too are on a comparative high following Martin O’Neill’s appointment, beating Manchester City whilst arguably unlucky to lose at Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane. That’s before the North London Derby. How the world would look different were that to arrive on the back of five consecutive victories.

Football is a fluid environment, luck changing from one week to the next. Gary Player observed that the harder he worked, the luckier he became. If Arsenal’s players are working hard on the training pitch and in the ninety minutes, matters will change. As soon as possible though, Footballing Gods.

Still, if you think the current situation is bad, it could be worse as Arsenal On This Day reminds you.

’til Tomorrow.

Sanity Or Lunacy. Arsenal Are On The Cusp Of Both

Just when you thought that the lunatics had escaped from the asylum and camped en masse at The Emirates, up pop Manchester City to remind us that perhaps the madness at Arsenal is indeed sanity. OK, perhaps not but the dispute with Carlos Tevez is utterly bewildering.

His absence from the first team has apparently cost him £9.3m in lost wages, bonuses and fines. What are they paying him to induce this, enough money that he can afford to lose such staggering sums. Crucially, their posturing is likely to lead to the first team case of ‘sporting reasons’ for breach of contract. Telling him that he will rot in the reserves unless a deal suits the club is no bad thing until a lawyer gets involved.

One thing that this underlines is the gap between Arsenal and Manchester City financially. Not that this will be Arsène’s problem, he is receiving covetous glances from the Spanish capital. Jose Mourinho’s tenure at Real is seemingly in its death throes and the Arsenal manager is the one that Florentino Perez wants to replace him. Or Señor A.N. Other.

Perez has long had a soft spot for Wenger, approaching him when times are not at their best. He has history in this and has long made clear his admiration for the Frenchman. As with his last offer to Arsène, the clouds are gathering, planting seeds in the manager’s mind as he faces abuse. The last time a Madrid offer emerged came immediately after an AGM a few years back, when the jibe about Silvestre being a ‘granddad’ ruffled feathers.

Whether there is any truth in this, no-one knows. The timing is purely coincidental, I’m sure, it could not possibly be as a result of Sunday? Some have offered the view that the departure of the Frenchman would be no bad thing. Arsenal would, so the logic goes, be free of the financial chains he places on them. Except the chains would still remain. A new manager might well spend the residue of the TPA at the bank but what then?

There seems to be a misguided theory that more money will be injected into the club by KSE. That seems at odds with their other strategies in the sporting empire and counterintuitive; Arsenal’s selling point was always self-sufficiency. Usmanov is no different, attracted to Arsenal by the great profit potential in the share values and dividends. Self-sufficiency comes at a price.

This is before you address the issue of whether or where the squad strengthening should take place.

One who is determined to contribute to rendering the strengthening part irrelevant is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. You suspect it will be a while before the club allow him to talk to the mainstream media with the fallout from that substitution fresh in everyone’s minds. Alarm bells might also be ringing over the endorsement of sorts from Fabio Capello,

I have been impressed with him. He is a good player, who has a lot of quality and is playing at a really high level.

He will be a really interesting player for the next friendly games before the Euros.

It sounds worringly as if the paucity of English talent may manifest itself in the form of a place at the doomed Euro2012 campaign. A strong sense of deja vu with Theo Walcott’s ill-fated trip to Germany six years ago. The weight of expectation at Arsenal on Oxlade-Chamberlain’s shoulders is growing in direct proportion with desperation for change.

The youngster has definite promise and cannot be faulted for his application. The output though is inconsistent, the test is not how well he performed against United but how well he plays in coming matches. My concern with, for want of a better word, the hype is that once performance levels drop he will be subjected to the same derision heaped upon Theo Walcott.

Fundamentally, a swathe of the support is not going to give him time. Only their heroes get that, the rest suffer the slings and arrows of disrespect depending upon which way the wind is blowing. That is just wrong.

By all means be critical of a performance after the match but abusing players or managers? I do not understand it, particularly during a match when surely the word support is an absolute must. The world has changed if that is not the case and not necessarily for the better.

’til Tomorrow

Meltdown & Scapegoats Ahoy On Rough Arsenal Seas

About the only thing which has not appeared in this morning’s papers is the broken cannon motif, so beloved of sub-editors when Arsenal are perceived to be in crisis. Perhaps it would be more apt if they inserted the skull and crossbones onto the club crest to signal the mutiny – even though the historical assumption that the Jolly Roger is purely a piratical ensign is utterly incorrect. At any moment I am expecting Arsène to call to Robin van Persie, “This is mutiny Mr van Persie, mutiny“. To hear him mimic Charles Lawton might well be worth the entrance fee alone.

Reading the back pages, you sense that some are revelling in the mayhem whilst others think that we are all idiots. The latter is possibly a hangover from being the chairman’s pet paper, David Woods in this morning’s Daily Star observes,

Centre-half Thomas Vermaelen is believed to have been angry to learn late on, with no briefing from Wenger, he was having to play left-back, after three weeks out with a calf strain.

Seriously, that is a direct lift from their website. I mean did Woods not realise that Vermaelen had played a dozen or so games in the position before being out. Does he really believe that it was a shock.  The village idiot is now employed gainfully.

As you know, I’ve been trawling through newspaper archives and my own scrapbooks for Arsenal On This Day but rarely have I come across such shoddy journalism.

It beggars belief but by the same token pretty much sets the tone for the morning. Robin van Persie’s declaration of loyalty and frustration is delivered in staccato form by The Sun, as if  Hill-Wood and Gazidis have donned hoods and are threatening to kill him unless he delivers a message of support for the manager.

The same thread carries across the media from tabloid to broadsheet, each emphasising the same thing; Arsène has the support of the squad, van Persie is loyal and it’s all the fault of Andrey Arshavin.

Reportedly – and given the veracity of some of the column inches this morning, a healthy dose of cynicism should be applied – the players held a clear-the-air team meeting in the aftermath of the defeat on Sunday. Many of these have been held down the years during Wenger’s reign, the players seeking to put right the wrongs on the pitch. At this, reportedly, Arshavin has been held to blame.

It strikes me as too convenient. Gary Neville accused the Russian of being disinterested, that comment interwoven with the displeasure displayed on Sunday appears to be the foundation of this all. Too many in society though seek out a cheap scapegoat, convenient because it allows a polarisation of dissent onto one subject but more often than not a deflection of individual failings onto another.

Let us not beat about the bush. If there was no injury then the manager got Oxlade-Chamberlain’s substitution wrong on Sunday. He admitted as much in the post-match press conference and we go from there. It is not a signal that he is losing the plot, God Knows there is enough evidence to suggest he has not.

That – and pinpointing Arshavin as the sole cause of the winning goal – is to ignore a simple fact: football is a collective game. One minute can lose a match with a goal. Ninety minutes in which you score less than your opponents tends to be more damaging in that respect.

Arsenal had their opportunities and failed to score. Robin van Persie arguably missed an easier chance than the one he did convert. And what of the defenders culpabilities in the first goal? Song had a distinctly average game and was as much to blame as Arshavin in the winner. Collective responsibility.

Much finger pointing is happening, as much a legacy of the season as one match.  It has been a poor campaign, the summer was not handled well and lessons must be learned from that with a recurrence this year entirely possible. The manager did not replace the players who departed quickly enough, arguably before Cesc left a replacement should have been signed or at the very least announced within a week of departure. That is an ideal world; we do not live in one and no-one on any internet board or forum knows exactly what went on, why the carnage was allowed to occur in the manner that it did.

One thing is for certain. There is no confidence in anything Arsenal any more. The reaction displayed firmly underlines that there is no sense of “We’re all in this together“. Which is hardly surprising when you view the state of world at the moment and the impact of wretched political and economic decisions on society.

The word support does not mean blind adulation; healthy and constructive criticism is actually a good thing, contrary to the opinion of some. At this moment, there is nothing healthy or constructive about much of the criticism being shown. Bowels are turning to water and a feeling of doom is being spread.

And the arguments go round and round. It’s a vicious circle, the only solution for which is apparently to spend. And sell, of course. In fact have the sort of firesale and panic buy for which derision was heaped in the summer.

’til Tomorrow.

Champions League Ambitions Are Quelled By United Win

Arsenal 1 – 2 Manchester United

0 – 1 Valencia (45)
1 – 1 van Persie (70)
1 – 2 Welbeck (81)

It is a sign of the times at Arsenal; a chorus of boos in the stadium over substitutions mirroring the contempt online. A small but vocal minority. The criticism over the withdrawal of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was vindicated to some extent – it is indefensible to boo a player before they have come on – with Arsène admitting in his post-match press conference that he got this one wrong. That he got the withdrawal of Johan Djourou correct thirty minutes earlier is overlooked.

In the end, the defeat was down to more than one substitution. As per usual, Arsenal spurned chances and were emminently culpable in both goals. Ferguson reacted to the defensive wanderings of Rafael during van Persie’s equaliser and Arshavin’s introduction, to load the right side of the United attack with attacking midfielders, exploiting the defensive weaknesses already exposed. Valencia would do so once more, his foraging run down the right produced a pass to Welbeck to slot home, nine minutes from the end.

The match had started slugglishly, neither side sparked into life immediately from kick-off. The much begged start for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain arrived and the youngster did not disappoint. Like the second half substitute Yennaris, his performance hinted at a readiness for first team football. Oxlade-Chamberlain is further down the preparatory road than his defensive counterpart and his route to the starting line-up less congested.

The parrys and thrusts of the opening exchanges brought no clear chances until Giggs drew a sharp save from Szczesny. When Jones was removed from the action with a knee injury, you sensed that the battle might swing in Arsenal’s favour; surely with three first choice centre backs missing from their opponents, the hosts could impose themselves on the game?

Such dominance never arrived, at least not in the first half. Oxlade-Chamberlain’s raids on the right gave Evra pause for thought, two former Southampton players combining when Walcott fired high and wide of the goal. When it seemed Arsenal would take control United pounced on the counter-attack, only to be denied by excellent covering work by Koscielny. The Frenchman might have been favourite to make way for Mertesacker when he signed but surely the question is now who partners him in the centre?

Nani tested Szczesny as the half drew to a close, the interval bringing to an end the wretched torment inflicted on Djourou by the Portuguese winger. It was a match where the central defender was shown how difficult full backs sometimes find their ninety minutes.

It is not entirely the Swiss internationals fault. Arsenal’s forwards are notoriously poor at tracking back on the left, the right hand side yesterday was little better. Oxlade-Chamberlain might have curbed Evra’s attacking instincts but he was noticeably absent on a few occasions when his defensive backing might have been productive.

The opening goal came as the referee pursed his lips to blow for the interval. Vermaelen’s clearance fell to Giggs whose cross was unerringly accurate for Valencia as he drifted in unmarked. His header guided away from Szczesny’s reach and into the net. It was a goal of collective culpability from Arsenal’s point of view; Vermaelen might have done better with clearance initially whilst someone might have been advised to mark Valencia.

After the changes at the interval, Arsenal came out sparkier than the trudge to the tunnel fifteen minutes previously. Immediately the opportunity for an equaliser arrived. Rosicky led a counter-attack which ended with van Persie firing wide the type of chance so normally converted with aplomb. Ramsey shot high, Evra appeared to use a hand to stop Rosicky. The chances for Arsenal were coming more rapidly as this half progressed.

Koscielny burst forward and with composure played Oxlade-Chamberlain into space, the youngsters effort skewed wide of the post.

And when Arsenal were complacent, United almost punished them; Mertesacker recovering in time to clear off the line after Welbeck had sprinted clear of him to beat Szczesny to the ball.

Once more Arsenal regrouped and forged into attack, this time with venom. Oxlade-Chamberlain rampaged on the right and found van Persie, whose snap effort was early enough to evade the dive of Lindegaard in the United goal. A deserved equaliser, setting the scene for a late win as in 2007.

Indeed that happened but this time the roles reversed with Welbeck’s late goal. Evans cleared off the line as the final whistle beckoned but the wind had been taken from Arsenal sails by Welbeck.

Post-match, Wenger took responsibility for the defeat and exonerated his captain for his apparent dissent over the substitution. The crowd are entitled to their view and Wenger did not seek to hide from that. Opinions are accepted as being part of football, publicly at least. I do not understand heckling Arshavin; he has not been in good form previously but there were signs that he might be coming back to such. Encouragement would be the way to produce this; support not derision. No-one will convince me that the reaction to him yesterday was anything but counter-productive.

Defeat means more hard work lies ahead. We keep telling ourselves that Tottenham and Chelsea have difficult matches ahead, that they will drop points. The problem is that Arsenal need to pick them up and take advantage, something that has failed to happen thus far. Consecutive defeats in the last three games are unsettling, of that there is no argument. Each further defeat is detrimental to Champions League qualification.

Yet the season is not over, there are returning players to come back, players who can make a difference. Would the signing of new players prior to yesterday have affected the outcome? You simply cannot prove the answer either way, attempting to do so merely delusions of an unknown truth.

The danger is that the defeats collectively are damaging to long term confidence. Tin helmets may be required for those who have not lost hope for the barrage of last week is set to crescendo this.

On a more pleasant note, don’t forget to check this morning’s Arsenal On This Day. It’s a winner…’til Tomorrow.

Manchester United Preview: Injured Pride And Injured Players

A weekend where, so far, results have gone Arsenal’s way. It is a vaguely familiar feeling when we say, “Win and the gap closes“. One which lesser opposition – no disrespect entirely, Blackburn excluded – have successfully screwed up previously this season. This time, with the Premier League’s second placed team visiting, the fidgeting when that thought fleetingly crosses minds is intensified when that is considered. How can Arsenal win today when previous chances have been spurned?

The contrary nature of football, of human beings, offers the solutions. Even with a team that was hopelessly out of form, Arsenal beat the soon-to-be-crowned Champions in the corresponding fixture last season. It was a stronger line-up, granted, but then so was the one fielded by United that day, compared with the expected starting XI today. Motivation is no problem, even before you take into account the feelings of revenge, stung personal and professional pride from earlier this season. As much as they might seek to play down such emotions, it is unnatural for them not to surface.

At his press conference, Arsène considered not playing Champions League football to be a “disaster” from a personal and professional point of view. I can understand his view that the opposition in other competitions is not of such high a standard and it is not. You expect every avenue to be explored in pursuit of that goal and to be honest, those who believe he is not doing so are fools. He might not be pursuing a course of action that coincides with your viewpoint but to claim he is doing nothing opens yourself to ridicule. Whether it is right or not, history will be the judge.

So to this afternoon. United are once more challenging for the title despite, once more, having a team that we are told is sub-standard, not a patch on previous ones forged by Sir Alex Ferguson during his reign. If this side is not up to par, it says much for the current state of football that despite all of the billions invested in playing squads, they are are still the second best in the country.

It serves to emphasize the gap between the two clubs and managers. Both have their strengths and weakness, have made undeniable and significant changes to the English game during the Premier League era. Yet only one of them has been able to forge consistent title-winning teams. Arsène has been bridesmaid more often than the centre of attention. It is hard, maybe impossible, to quantify why there is this difference in the silverware. Talent-wise, Arsenal have more often than had the better squad yet United have nabbed the trophies. Ferguson has been able to more readily identify and gel a winning mentality into his charges. How and why is unproven, subjected to conjecture but it leaves a sense that Wenger’s reign is how Revie must have felt when it came to his Leeds days. Except without the darker elements that pervaded those squads.

The ability to dominate teams at home has underpinned their success. Barring none, the home record in the Premier League is impressive. Claims of refereeing bias often overlook the reason for it; sustained attacking on the opposition area creates pressure on the referee who, in situations where a decision is required, will more often than not believe that the defender has erred due to mental and physical duress. Equally at the other end, borderline decisions are likely to be seen as an act of desperation to gain. It is not a conspiracy of United supporting officials, one where the Mancunian clubs have exploited human weakness.

Injury news for today is better for Arsenal. Thomas Vermaelen and Thierry Henry passed fitness tests yesterday which barring adverse reactions this morning, mean they will take their respective places in the squad. Even if there is a reaction, last weekend’s defeat at Swansea means that copious quantities of painkillers are likely to be injected into the Belgian in the hope of giving some stability to the defence. Wojciech Szczesny has been exceptional in his progress this season but culpability in goals conceded at Craven Cottage and Liberty Stadium identify him as not quite the finished product. Having a stronger defence helps that along the way.

Swansea identified a more natural replacement for Arteta and it is not Yossi Benayoun. The Israeli has always seemed to me to be more of a replacement for Arshavin or Walcott, in the wider midfield role. Tomas Rosicky has more technique in that passing role. Possession, Arsène is being surrendered as the team moves more directly in style which is at odds with the received wisdom that Arsenal are not a team transiting from one formula to another. Whether Rosicky can entirely compensate for the Spaniard is debatable, Arteta brings a steadiness to the central area of the pitch.

Otherwise, the team picks itself such are the paucity of options due to injuries and internationals:

Szczesny; Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen (Miquel); Song, Ramsey, Rosicky; Walcott, van Persie, Arshavin

A win is essential. For too long we have been talking of taking advantage when Spurs slip up. They did last weekend, so did we. The gap widened as a result. Chelsea dropped points but have increased the gap between themselves and Arsenal. If that continues to happen, forget fourth. That as much as playing Manchester United ought to motivate the players. And motivated Arsenal players are capable of winning this fixture.

Enjoy the match wherever you are watching it. ’til Tomorrow.