Yes, you lot. Sepp Blatter hates you.

One day you’ll say we don’t want a national team, then okay you’ll follow Arsene Wenger

Oh bugger. Me as well. Arsenal it is then. Blatter’s problem is not necessarily with Arsene’s footballing philosophy, more that his success is deemed to be detrimental to the English National team as there are no players in his side in the starting XI for the country.

Yet that does a disservice to Wenger. The England team will benefit in the long term simply because he is raising the standards required at club level. Young English players know that if he signs them or brings them through the ranks then they have the technical ability to play at any level, in any team, anywhere in the world. It is the failing of the FA and the coaching set-up that there are probably only five of Steve McClaren’s squad who are good enough technically to play for Arsenal. Those players? Richards, Rooney, Ferdinand, Gerrard and possibly Joe Cole. That this is the sum total of the ‘best’ that England can offer is a damning indictment of the state of English football not of Arsene Wenger’s methodologies.

Taking the line-up on Sunday, at either full or younger levels, I can think of only one who does not make his national squad on a regular basis: Almunia. The rest are always away on international duty when qualifying matches and tournaments, or when the seemingly endless round of turgid friendlies takes place. Wenger owes nothing to the England team. His duty is to Arsenal Football Club. Given that is the case, Blatter’s comments are, as per usual, ill-conceived and even by his standards, well wide of the mark, reminiscent of a John Jensen shot. And I have not even started on about the incompetence that is the only common theme about FIFA under Blatter….

Following on from Sunday’s performance, friend and foe have been praising Arsenal. Jamie Carragher lifted his head long enough from the patch of four-leaf clovers and horseshoes that he currently inhabits to say,

Are Arsenal as good as people say they are? You’d better believe it, I thought they had 12 men out there

whilst his boss believes that Arsene has forged ‘one of the best teams in England and Europe’.

William Gallas is being widely misquoted this morning, the headlines scream ‘Title rivals are scared of us’ when in fact he said,

Maybe Liverpool were a little bit afraid of us, and a lot of teams will be afraid again

The inference in the headline is a tad different to the substance. He commented,

We’re playing very well, can score goals at any time, yet can also play a physical game as well

Isolating United and Chelsea as the ‘true’ rivals that the club have for the title race, he observed,

Three or four teams can win, but they will be the most difficult two teams to beat. We will not change our style and play football all the way. It’s really important for us to play good football and give something to the supporters. We have good players who are young and like to play football. Sometimes they play too well, but I’m very pleased to be in this team.

If they can win things playing this sort of football, I doubt that there will be many complaints from us either other than the habitual knocking of individuals who could score a hat-trick in every game and still be dismissed as worse than useless.

According to The Daily Mirror, Gilberto has been complaining about everything under the sun. Here is the best quote that they have,

            

Aah. There were none. So it’s all about ragtag and bobtail ‘journalism’ disguised as supposition and rumour. Apparently, Arsene has delivered an ‘amazing Carling Cup snub’ to Gilberto after he ‘refused’ to play centre half and is ‘no longer willing’ to do so in the future.

Back to the proper stuff. Bob Wilson has been praising Fabregas to the hilt in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, describing the mercurial midfielder as having

Dennis’s [Bergkamp] brain, the combativeness and touch of Patrick Vieira, the marauding spirit of Rocastle and Thomas, and the magic wand of Liam Brady’s left foot, only in his right boot. I can’t praise him enough; he’s up there with the best of them.

Wilson continued

It reminded me of what Arsene Wenger said three years ago when I was just finishing my time as goalkeeping coach with Arsenal. He told me: “I have seen the best 17-year-old player I’ve ever seen.” Well, it was an extraordinary statement for Arsene to make. I remember saying: “But wasn’t Pele the best 17-year-old?” “I am telling you about a player who plays in a different role to Pele; Pele was a striker, not a creator.”

High praise indeed and deserved of his performances since coming into the first team, standards rising each season. 

The Telegraph is having a tad of a love-in with the Spaniard with Don Howe praising him to the hilt, comparing Fabregas favourably with Paul Scholes, something that both the player and his manager have done in the past. Howe’s praise though is not limited to the Spaniard, Flamini and Hleb are recognised as being core elements of the teams success this season,

Of the Frenchman he writes,

He has been playing so well in the midfield anchorman role in front of the back four that he has even managed to dislodge Gilberto Silva from Arsenal’s 1st XI, for the time being anyway. His presence gives Fabregas the freedom to drive forward.

There is little doubt that Flamini is head and shoulders above everyone else in the ‘Most Improved Player’ stakes this season at the club in that the consistency of his performances is unexpected. Previously, he has played well for a couple of games and then been a fish out of water, no doubt hindered mentally by knowing he would make way for Gilberto when the Brazilian returned or through being played out of position; he is not a natural wide midfielder through either lack of guile or a lack of confidence in his own ability.

I am not sure who gets the higher praise when Howe says of Hleb that ‘he reminds me of the mercurial Barcelona and Argentina player Lionel Messi‘. Howe likes the way that the Belorussian ‘because of the sublime way he runs with the ball and his desire to take defenders on‘. It is becoming apparent that Fabregas and Hleb are the fulcrum upon which the side is built but for the latter, it is almost a triumph of good over evil, converting unbelievers to his cause.

Perhaps people will bear this in mind in the current bout of criticism coming Adebayor’s way. I read in the comments yesterday that he is apparently not good enough because he has only scored in three of seven games. My question to that is how many forwards score have a better ratio of games in which they have scored to those played this season? Ian Wright raised the bar in the scoring stakes and Henry took it higher yet Adebayor is neither. He is not the thirty goals a season man that some crave nor is the team geared to that. Having had two seasons of relying on one player to score, Arsene had to break that mentality and the benefit is being seen through a number of players scoring rather than goals being the sole preserve of one player.

’til Tomorrow.