With the media attention diverted by the cartoon caricature that Richard Scudamore is rapidly becoming, Arsene has been praising David Bentley ahead of tomorrow’s match

I let him go at a moment where I could have said ‘no, you stay here’ – but I was also conscious there were big players in front of him and he was not experienced enough. You have to consider is it fair to them not to let them go, even if it hurts you later

It is a small lesson in PR for Bentley who is not backwards in coming forwards when he adds his voice to the criticism of Arsene for not having enough Englishmen in his team, telling how he was not given a fair chance at the club. The small matter of Dennis Bergkamp ahead of him in the team apparently not being a persuasive argument in his eyes. This is one of the aspects of Bentley that separates him from others, an open confidence in his own abilities.

Such self-belief can be construed as arrogance but all top players have that strength of character. Some of the flak he has received has been of his own making, such as his ill-timed withdrawal from the England U-21 squad prior to a tournament. No-one should question the decision but to leave the squad in the lurch was a lesson he learned the hard way because it undoubtedly hurt his international career in the short term.

Arsene went on,

He would play here now, whether he would be a regular or not, I don’t know, but he has the quality

Therein is the question. Would he start regularly? Probably he would have given the injuries suffered this season to the midfield. I doubt it would be in the centre, most likely on the flanks rotating with Rosicky and Hleb as required. Would he have been able to displace Fabregas? Highly unlikely. Bentley is though having a good time of it at Ewood Park and may yet make the ranks of a member of the ‘Big Four’ clubs. He might well, as Arsene says, be the one that got away but in every manager’s career such players exist; Wenger has fewer than most, possibly only Diarra might fall into that category alongside Bentley from recent seasons.

William Gallas meanwhile believes he knows what has turned the team from a top four side to pushing for the title. The News Of The World quotes him as saying,

Last season we had obvious qualities but our play was less disciplined. We defenders realised straight away. As soon as opposition midfielders found themselves up against us, we were placed in immediate danger. That is never the case this year. We form a real unit that is difficult to unsettle. We are very solid, we attack and defend together. That is what makes out strength. We rely now more on team-work rather than the talent of several individuals

There are several factors that Gallas does not mention by name. The first of which is the full back areas. On both the right and left flanks, the team looks stronger. Clichy improves as he gets more experience but also by his willingness to support the attack, putting opponents on the back foot, turning their attention toward defence rather than attack. Equally, on the right Sagna does likewise but he is more solid at the back than his predecessors. It is to his credit that he settled so quickly.

In the centre, the team has been undoubtedly helped by the partnership of Gallas and Toure, their absences have been less frequent it seems this time around, an understanding is being built by the central pairing which was forming last season and now is reaching fruition.

However, the Frenchman stopped short of saying the real difference. That is having the Captain there to organise; last season, there was definitely a case of ‘too many cooks’ with no one person deemed to be the leader. It helps that Gallas has the respect of his colleagues on the pitch and that the players are prepared to listen to each other.

The feeling this season I have is that the forwards and midfielders are also making more of a barrier to opponents than they did last season. Gilberto was in good form last term, adept at reading the game but Flamini is more in the face of opponents, not letting them settle on the ball which they could perhaps in previous times. Adebayor and Eduardo are not averse to tracking back either. It is an altogether different sort of defence this season.

Finally, the blog has been nominated at the 2007 Soccerlens Awards and you can vote for it here or in any other category that you do desire in the ‘Other’ selection. Voting is open now and closes on February 17th. 

‘til Tomorrow.