Injuries Whilst Arsene, Cesc & Eboue Get Feisty

Liege is done, finished and over, Wigan instead looming no less large on the horizon and no less impressive. It would not be Arsenal if there were not the odd injury or ten to be concerned about. Denilson has back-knack which will keep him out for up to three weeks apparently. It is not all bad with Robin van Persie apparently set to return for Saturday’s clash whilst Manuel Almunia is either recovered from a virus or not, depending on which news outlet you believe.

Tomas Rosicky tried to brighten Wenger’s day with his assessment of his own form since returning from injury. Whilst 90 minutes in total is a bit of a short time to judge himself on, Tomas believes that things can only get better:

I am not anywhere near my best, and still have plenty of room to improve. I will get better. It is difficult when you are out for such a long time. But when you play, you just have to forget that. I am just enjoying being back. I am fit and itching to play football again.

Let’s hope that the fit part is right. Arsenal suffer a high number of injuries although I suspect it is probably not any worse that other clubs, we are just more aware of it. This is an area that was discussed in this morning’s Arsecast. As footballers become more athletic, they are susceptible to the same strains that can plague sprinters. The more short bursts of movement, the more pressure put on their muscles. Add into this that Arsenal players are the most consistently active of Premier League sides it is a price that has to be paid.

Rosicky is going to be a key player at the moment in allieviating the pressure on Cesc. Too much reliance is placed on the Spaniard when other key figures are injured and anyone who can take on some of the burden is most welcome. Even so, not too much should be expected of Rosicky in the next few weeks as he regains fitness, dipping in and out of matches before being able to complete a full 90 minutes.

One person definitely out is Andrei Arshavin. Wenger commented yesterday that the Russian had a 10% chance of playing tomorrow. Whilst the manager is notoriously poor with his guesswork about when players will return to action, I would be surprised if he was that inaccurate and Arshavin plays this weekend.

Still perhaps Arsene’s mind is elsewhere, conjuring up ways in which Acme can help him bring about the downfall of Karl-Heinz Rummeneigge in an elaborate manner. Some might argue that would be entirely fitting given Arsenal’s footballing philosophy.

The banning of transfers for Under-18s is another ill-thought out concept by Platini and Blatter. They will not stop the cherry-picking of Europe’s best players by the biggest clubs. If French and Italian teams are right royally fed up with the Big Four getting their talent on the cheap, they ain’t seen nothing yet. All this ban is going to achieve is a dearth of talent in those leagues as the bigger clubs seek out players at a younger age and bring them over before they have chance to sign with a native professional team. This is before the Iberian peninsula clubs utilise the fast-tracking of passport applications that they grant to nationals of former colonies.

Rummeneigge is on ground that is shifting so quickly he might think it quicksand. FC Bayern are obviously not the same FC Bayern that has living quarters for 13 overseas players in their training complex. Nor is it the same FC Bayern who has 4 out of their current 18 youth players born outside of Germany. No, there is another FC Bayern who has been trading on the name illegally and in no way is Herr Rummeneigge talking out of his arschloch. Rummeneigge’s legacy to football will be what exactly? Nauseating as a player, beyond irritating as an administrator is my suspicion.

Not that Arsene is alone is lashing out. Emmanuel Adebayor may have received a three match ban from the FA for his stamp on Robin van Persie but the damage was much deeper than that, with a whole host of jelly and ice cream going to others as his former teammates round on him and withdraw their birthday party invitations. The infamous tag team of Eboue and Fabregas defended the honour of Arsenal, keeping the rancour going. The comments by Eboue are the ones which highlight the disappointment felt within the squad the most acutely but hey, we move on to the weekend and a chance to get back to winning ways domestically.

’til Tomorrow.

Sub-Standard Performance But A Win Is A Win

Champions League Group H
Standard Liege 2 – 3 Arsenal

1 – 0 Mangala (2)
2 – 0 Jovanovic (5 pen)
2 – 1 Bendtner (45)
2 – 2 Vermaelen (78)
2 – 3 Eduardo (81)

Supporting Arsenal is not easy. A crushing victory would not go amiss every now and then, eh chaps? As a statement of intent to challenge for the Champions League, the performance was not pretty. In fact it ranged from pretty abysmal to pretty average to a pretty good result. At the end of the day, there were positives to be had but it is recurring negatives which will be vexing Arsene and just about everyone else.

Fighting back from a two goal deficit is good in anyone’s books. That the opposition was distinctly average raises concerns that the two goals were conceded at all. However, on the back of two defeats, an ugly win is most welcome.

Before the match, it is probable that Wenger and his coaches tried their best to boost Vito Mannone’s confidence. The rest of the squad? Probably too busy picking their entries in the sweepstake to see how many goals could be conceded inside the first ten minutes to take any notice.

Any derogatory word you choose could be applied to the five minutes of madness that followed from the kick-off. Alex Song did not need to intercept Dalmat’s cross after Clichy had been outthought. Song signalled that he did not hear Mannone’s call before he sliced the ball behind the goal. The euphoria of playing must have got to Eduardo for his backheel flew not to a teammate but straight to Mangala. No mistake made as the shot found the bottom corner.

It is impossible for a fan to understand what goes through a player’s mind when they attempt the flashy stuff twenty yards from their own goal. Could Eduardo tell us why he committed such a mistake, one that would have brought howls of derision in an under-8s league, let alone at the pinnacle of club football? I doubt it.

Matters were made worse two minutes later. Eboue dithered on the halfway line and was robbed of possession. Less than thirty seconds elapsed before Gallas clipped Jovanovic on the edge of the area, close to outside but probably inside. He picked himself up, dusted himself down and very calmly buried the penalty. 2 – 0 and the team were probably relieved that young Vito’s surname was not Corleone.

As the half progressed, Arsenal enjoyed the lion’s share of possession. There is an advantage in this as the opposition becomes weary but at the same time, the team needs some directness. Arshavin provides that, as do Walcott and Nasri. The lack of a natural winger is putting pressure on the midfield and the full backs. Eboue and Clichy had to cover a lot of ground to support colleagues further forward. I wonder if this is part of the reason that the latter is struggling for form at the moment.

Having been a fixture in the side for so long, we forget he is still a young man who has not played in this formation before. I do not think there is a problem with his attacking game at the moment, it is his defensive duties which are a cause for concern. It is pure conjecture on my part but he appears to be too eager to get forward or at least in a position to do so, causing his own defensive positioning to be questionable.

In a 4-3-3, full backs have an onerous task, energetic players who cover midfield and attacking widths. Yet they cannot afford to be sloppy positionally and at the moment there is a hint of that in Clichy’s game. Perhaps it is the novelty of the formation that is causing this lack of concentration. Whatever the case, the cobwebs need to be dusted away from his mind and the ‘old’ Clichy rediscovered.

That is not to single him out because frankly they were all pretty much below average in the first half and I wonder if I am being generous in that assessment. The midfield did not threaten particularly; they passed reasonably but surrendered cheaply, perhaps lucky to find that Liege were eager to give the ball back without too much resistance.

The best time to score is apparently just before half-time. Nicklas Bendtner added more strength to that argument. Diaby turned near halfway and burst through two Liege players. He released a perfect pass for the Dane to latch onto, the finish drilled through the legs of Bolat to continue the scoring run that started in the first of the recent internationals. Three in three suggests that Arsene will find it hard to leave him out in the absence of Arshavin.

The second forty-five was a gradual improvement on the first after a while. Mistakes were still made but unpunished as the Belgians continued to retreat into their shells of their own accord and by Arsenal’s superior possession. The half wore on and chances were spurned before the equaliser came.

Vermaelen’s equaliser was hotly disputed by Liege and quite rightly so. Appeals for offside were wide of the mark with a defender being deepest inside the box when Fabregas struck the ball. Even then, Nicaise appeared to get a touch on the ball before it reached Alex Song, his pass back to Vermaelen also rendering the offside rule obsolete.

There is no doubt that Song used his arm to keep the ball in play. Quite how the Assistant who was on that side of the pitch did not see it is beyond me. Equally the referee did not give the decision so frankly who cares? Nobody does when it goes against Arsenal, so I’m not going to worry about it now.

Belgian heads went down and it rapidly became a question of when the winner would arrive. Eduardo brought a fine save from Bolat from eight yards as he continued his search for redemption. Shortly after, a man on the line prevented Vermaelen’s goal tally for the night doubling. Eduardo met a corner with his left knee with nine minutes to go as Standard’s resistance finally crumbled. It does not matter how they enter the net, they all count the same.

The introduction of Ramsey just before the equaliser was a welcome breath of fresh air. He had a decent quarter of an hour and could have scored one whilst overhitting a pass that would have allowed Bendtner to give the scoreline a more emphatic feeling.

Immediately after the match, Bendtner put the opening five minutes down to ‘bad luck‘. It would have been nice if he had just admitted, “We were crap“. Quite where Arsene rectifies this is open to debate. The team is on paper technically one of the best in the world and yet on the pitch, too much is down to confidence. And that is understandable. Two defeats in Manchester in games that should have been won will have affected them. Perhaps that impacted the opening five minutes, especially since the first goal was another stupid, individual mistake that was totally avoidable.

Most commendably, the team fought back when in other years more experience Arsenal sides have capitulated to three or four goal defeats such as those in Donetsk, Kyiv or Munich. Despite not playing well, the team showed determination to keep going, to still strive to retrieve the match and more. Fabregas was out of sorts, passes overhit but kept going and eventually getting his reward with the freekick for the equaliser. Likewise, Diaby could probably consider himself lucky to have been on the pitch at half-time. Yet he popped up with the vital contribution to Bendtner’s goal.

With the midfield, I suspect the question is whether or not Denilson will ever be allowed to be injured again? Since he left the field at Eastlands, we have been defensively lax; that suggests his development in the defensive role in midfield is protecting Clichy very well indeed. The absolute boon in all of this is that Rosicky appears to be recovering. He looked shattered at the time he was substituted but he was once again the attacking verve from midfield.

Despite the underwhelming performance, a win was achieved. Three points in the group – win the next two home games and that is pretty much qualification sewn up. Before the visit of Wigan, a win was vital to stop the poor run in its path. That achieved, another victory this weekend and suddenly the world of Arsenal will seem a brighter place. Possibly.

’til Tomorrow.

Nothing Standard About This Evening – Champions League Preview

So begins another Champions League crusade for Arsenal. For the first time in Europe’s premiere club competition, Belgian opposition is faced. Not that Liege is an unknown city to visit for Arsenal. Arbitrarily invited into the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup for 1963/64, Arsenal met with FC Liege and were duly eliminated in the second round, 2 – 4 on aggregate.

Forty seasons ago, Anderlecht were defeated 4-3 on aggregate to bring home the first European trophy. Having fallen behind 3 – 0 in Brussels, Ray Kennedy’s lifeline was the opening of Arsenal’s four unanswered goals. Beveren Waas were swept aside in 1970-71 but a decade later, KFC Winterslag consigned post-Brady Arsenal to a humiliating defeat, possibly the worst in any cup competition.

Standard were annihilated en route to winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994. The away leg contained a blueprint for the counter-attacking style of today, a sweeping move finished emphatically by Eddie McGoldrick, the most unlikely of scorers and the first player sold by Wenger. Still, if you are going to find the net once for your club, best to make it memorable.

This encounter is the right match for Arsenal, less pressurised on the pitch than domestic football; a chance to get cobwebs shaken from heads and the passing game going once more. We should not assume an easy victory. In the bloated group phase of the Champions League, winning is all, the margin immaterial.

It is a chance to regain some confidence, consign two avoidable defeats to the dustbin ahead of a good run in the Premier League. There has been a breakdown in the application of the flexible 4-3-3 adopted by Wenger. The hard working aspect required of the whole team, not just the midfield, went horribly awry at Eastlands. Perhaps that can be attributed to the international break, the players becoming unfamiliar with the new formation.

Even so, costly individual errors have to be ironed out. The standards expected of the players were not met, neither those imposed upon them by us nor their own. It does not mean that they are not good enough for Arsenal. Indeed, arguably the most established of the squad were culpable on Saturday whilst the much and wrongly maligned Denilson, was substituted and the midfield’s defence fell apart.

Time to move on, put the bad performance behind us. Manchester City was a nadir last season, replicate the unbeaten run now and a pretty storming end to 2009 in all competitions is created. Rotation will be the key to sustaining that, particularly with some inconvenient injuries. Noticeably, Arsene is looking to get Philippe Senderos to some sort of match readiness as cover for central defence. That is no surprise given Alex Song is a mainstay of the midfield, the only truly defensive midfielder at the club.

Denilson has played there previously but it is a waste of his talents. More of an all-rounder, his range of passing and ability to read the game is often overlooked because his manner is understated. Detractors claim he is not good enough for Arsenal. The same was said of Paul Davis, now remembered as one of the best midfielders of his generation. He was one of the most under-rated, punching above his weight quite effectively.

The squad for tonight’s game has been hit harder than expected by injury. Almunia is unwell, Denilson and van Persie have niggles whilst Theo Walcott has not yet recovered. It means the team will I suspect largely pick itself. Maybe that happens with Cesc standing all of the players in a line, telling them, “You, you, you on my team…“.

I would guess that Mannone will be Almunia’s replacement with the back four unchanged from Saturday. Although Gibbs could come in for Clichy, there are times when Wenger’s loyalty to players almost matches Sven’s when he was in charge of England – it was almost impossible to be dropped. Vermaelen will have a big incentive to perform well, in front of his compatriots.

In midfield, I would expect Wenger to play Eboue, Song and Fabregas. They will need to work hard, to concentrate and to make sure that the defence is not left exposed through sloppiness. Ahead of them, van Persie’s injury ought to mean Eduardo through the middle supported by Bendtner on the right.

The left is another matter. I hope Wenger does not risk Tomas Rosicky from the start. Despite an effective goalscoring return to competitive action, it seems to me too soon for a full ninety minute run out especially having been out for so long. I would like to see Wilshere get a chance but I suspect Abou Diaby will be preferred.

Victory is required for a good start. The group is straightforward by the standards of previous years. Qualification for the knockout rounds is expected. Arrogant, yes, but not disrespectful of the opposition; they will be looking at this quartet wondering who will finish second.

The validity of the current format is questionable. Too often there is straightforwardness about the bigger clubs qualifying, a procession to the knockout phase. A seeded knockout cup is equally predictable. There is little to suggest that any of the smaller teams would progress, the home legs for the privileged few won by wide enough margins so as to render the return irrelevant. This is before we consider the financial advantages for smaller clubs now.

The only improvement to the Champions League would be a return to the round-robin of yesteryear. Without seeding, without anyone but champions participating. A meritocratic elite but equally predictable. The same countries would be as likely to provide quarter, semi and the finalists as they are now. In this instance, the disparity of wealth between the rich and the rest is as imbalanced as ever. Having created a monster, UEFA has no idea how to control it.

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

Justice For Eddy As The Authorities Bare Their Gums

Cheerier news for today or at least something other than the events of the weekend. Having been tarred, feathered, hung, drawn and quartered by the media and UEFA, Eduardo has been cleared of spurious charges brought about by the MacMafia’s attempt to deflect attention away from their pride and joy being dumped unceremoniously into the Europa League.

Media coverage of the incident has been bizarre. The rabid over-reaction immediately after the match signalled a watershed. At the time their colleagues went into overdrive, football reporters and columnists were also in Monaco at the behest of Michel Platini who was launching another ‘initiative’ aimed at improving the lot of the smaller clubs, disguised as caring about youth player transfers.

The reaction of those who were not at the game was bemusement when they saw the incident prior to the Premier League fixture at Old Trafford. Sky’s Sunday Supplement that weekend had, amongst others, Patrick Barclay as a guest. As you would expect he was eloquent in analysing the incident and UEFA’s response, firmly blaming those reporters for driving this fiasco. Were that it was so simple.

UEFA must now take a look at the words of Gordon Smith and that of the SFA. Bringing the game into disrepute does not sit solely with the players and coaches. Officials, chairmen, directors are also capable of doing so, frequently achieving such ignominy with impunity. They are the political power in the game and as such, protect their own interests ahead of those of the sport. Money is their motivation and that is easy to see. Smith’s motivation is much harder to deduce.

It is hard to see what he was trying to gain from the accusations made. The result was never going to be overturned nor were UEFA going to order the match to be replayed. Smith might have a genuine desire to see diving eradicated from the game, a noble cause but one that is doomed to fail.

The curio that emerged is that UEFA has only ever invoked this ruling when a Scottish team is involved, one for the national side and then for Celtic. That leads to a suspicion about the SFA motives. Surely they cannot be the only nation involved in such incidents?

A cynical view is that the national association is trying to cover up lower standards on the pitch by claiming opponents are cheating their way to victory, a politically expedient measure to hide their own inactivity in trying to raise standards.

The row is rumbling. Those who proclaimed his guilt are shouting loudest about the appeal being accepted. Rational observation is going to be in short supply. John Terry and Alex Ferguson both outrightly said he dived. Given their impeccable manners, we will no doubt see a full apology from them both, nothing less should be expected from England’s captain and the manager of the Premier League champions.

Bwaaahahahahaha! As if. This is one thing that is a bonus from the outcome, just the thought that those two numpties are hoist by their own words, shown for the lunatics that they are.

Eduardo himself was pretty much phelgmatic about the whole thing, confident of his innocence and now looking forward to taking it out on Standard Liege tomorrow night. The Croat international said:

I’m very pleased that we have finally arrived at the truth. All we needed to do was to prove what happened and we have managed to do that. This decision makes me feel a lot better. I certainly feel relieved now. I have had great support from my family, friends and of course everyone at the Club.

The Premier League has put into place the first stages of Platini and Blatter’s nationalisation of football. Clubs will have to name 25 players for the season of which 8 must be locally trained. Presumably there will be some sort of ‘A’ and ‘B’ list as exists in the Champions League.

There is no harm in this at all and it will not negatively impact upon Arsenal at this moment in time. It does however seem to be at odds with the desire to clamp down on youth players moving across borders at young ages, this sort of ruling would appear to increase that sort of player trading rather than diminish it.

If the governing bodies do get their way, they are merely localising an international problem. Having scoured the globe for the elite talent, clubs will now cherry pick national talent. Circumventing the FA rules about training players goes on all of the time as does outright poaching. Well, at least at Chelsea. There will be a flurry of cases being brought before the FA, UEFA and FIFA as time goes by before they no doubt decide that the rules are more trouble than they are worth, quietly dropping them.

Add into the mix the implementation of the licensing system that has existed for the best part of a decade and it seems that the PL are finally acting. A shame that the stable doors are swinging wildly in the wind with the horse long gone. Empowering the domestic authorities to add the financial element of control over their clubs is no bad thing yet habitually those in power ignore the real problem.

All the PL are looking for is servicing of debt. They are not looking at profitability, tieing wages to revenues for example. Nor are they assessing the overall financial health of the clubs – debts such as those from Abramovich to Chelsea are not treated the same as any due to a bank since the benefactor will normally give them as interest free for a period and with a payment holiday.

Until the authorities address these imbalances, the rules are fairly useless. The more they change things to try to take control, the less impact they can have. Football’s governing bodies have long been toothless; these do nothing to lessen the sound of gums slamming together.

’til Tomorrow.

A Lot Of Hard Work Ahead This Week

Do you ever get a sense of deja vu? No, think back twelve months to the defeat at Craven Cottage – we’ve been here before. The more things change, the more they stay the same. This defeat is no less painful than that abysmal afternoon by the Thames but it is different in many respects, not least the standard of the opposition.

Thus far, Arsenal has travelled to three of the teams expected to fill the five European places (assuming Arsenal get the other one) attained by final league position. Three points is not the return that we would have predicted nor is it the total that should have been gained based on the performances.

Consecutive defeats in Manchester have been self-inflicted. Of the six goals conceded, not one has been through outstanding creative play by the opposition; all have been as a result of defensive errors. Now you could argue that all goals are defensive errors since the back four/five are supposed to keep clean sheets but that obscures the problem.

Some have been individual errors, for example, Diaby at Old Trafford. Others are cumulative, three of City’s four goals certainly fall into this category. Once the initial error was made, others compounded it. Looking for the answers is something that Arsene will have spent most of the weekend doing.

Identifying the problem is perhaps his biggest issue. Was the outcome at Eastlands bad luck, ill-discipline or a one-off aberration on the part of the players. To some extent it was a mix of all three. Bad luck that a player who should have been sent off was still on the pitch to score the decisive goal. Bad luck that Richards header rebounded off the back of Almunia’s head into the net. Ill discipline was apparent throughout. Giving possession away cheaply is a cardinal footballing sin; midfielders not tracking back quickly or effectively exacerbates the situation.

Where Wenger’s problem lies is bringing the collective heads back into order. The international break denied him the opportunity to work on the problems that were apparent at Old Trafford, e.g. killing the game off when in the lead or even level. Individual errors need to be addressed as well.

The midfield has to get back to working their socks off which is the only way that 4-3-3 is effective. The return of Rosicky means that more of a cutting edge might be available and Walcott a more natural winger, is close to starting his season. Defensively, it is more important that they realise showing a player inside without tackling is not going to achieve anything but trouble. Likewise, tracking back to help the defence is also required. No-one is exempt from this.

Perhaps one solution would be to rotate the side for the visit to Liege but even then, choices are limited. Almunia has no viable replacement at the moment with Fabianski being injured. Gibbs could come in for Clichy but the Frenchman has had one bad game. Does that warrant being dropped?

The midfield / attack is stymied by the injuries to Arshavin and Nasri. Diaby is a player whom Wenger rates. He had a good game against Portsmouth, did well against United to the extent that he was in contention for Man of the Match until that header. Against City, he was languid, laid back to the point of being horizontal.

That does not excuse the knee-jerk reaction that the defeat has brought about. Two defeats this season against teams that assumed to be direct rivals for Europe at least, if not the title, is not the end of a season. By the same token, Chelsea’s undefeated start is no less than they would have expected given the fixtures, likewise City might reasonably have expected to be unbeaten, albeit probably a draw at the weekend.

The next two games will see whether this is a temporary blip or a slide. Two games out of six in all competitions does not represent a permanent stretch of form but it could be the start. It could also be the kick in the pants that the team needed to clear their heads. We shall see.

’til Tomorrow.

Arsenal Pay For Lapses – Will The FA Make City Pay?

Manchester City 4 – 2 Arsenal

1 – 0 Almunia (20 og)
1 – 1 van Persie (61)
2 – 1 Bellamy (74)
3 – 1 Adebayor (80)
4 – 1 Wright-Phillips (84)
4 – 2 Rosicky (88)

Football folklore has it that the sign of champions is playing badly and winning. What does playing well and losing tell you? At Old Trafford, bad luck and two moments of madness cost Arsenal points. Yesterday it was defensive naivete. There can be no other way to describe it.

City were exceptional in their finishing. 5 out of their 8 shots on target, four found the net and one the midriff of Almunia. Arsene will find discomfort in Arsenal having 19 shots, only 7 on target. 1 in 9 finding the net is not title-winning form; accuracy has to improve.

There is much work to be done on the training ground. Only the opening goal was not a counter-attack. Richards header was pushed onto the post by Almunia and entered the net via his head. A stronger touch was needed to push the initial effort around the post. There was not much wrong with the Spaniard’s positioning for the initial kick and it was unfortunate that the rebound fell kindly for the hosts.

Even before that Arsenal were in the ascendency, Gallas and Sagna having two notable efforts. Notable because they were high or wide. Or both in Sagna’s case. The goal rattled Arsenal out of the stride that they were hitting. Even so, City were still not causing that much trouble in possession. Vermaelen struck ferociously from distance later in the half, Given scrambling the ball away from the onrushing van Persie.

The interval allowed regrouping and Arsenal took control of the game. Rosicky’s introduction seven minutes later further turned the game. The equaliser came following his slick pass to van Persie. The Dutchman’s swivel and shot a definitive answer to his critics.

Arsene noted afterwards that City negotiated the turning points in the match better than Arsenal. One of them was the way Micah Richards wafted past Alex Song, deputising for the out of position Clichy. Quite simply, Song did not tackle, presumably for fear of giving away a penalty. As culpable was the marking of Bellamy or rather the complete absence of it.

Matters got worse six minutes later. Adebayor, who should not have even been on the pitch following the van Persie incident, rose unmarked to head home. It is hard to believe that neither Assistant or the Referee saw the stamp, the intent to maim van Persie was disgusting. Gallas and Vermaelen allowed themselves to be bisected and there was a fair distance between the two. It should not have happened.

The coffin lid was nailed firmly shut as Wright-Phillips broke free to lift the ball over the onrushing Alumnia with six minutes remaining. Of the three counter-attacking goals, all were preventable. Possession for City’s second and third was surrendered too cheaply. Clichy had little chance of reaching an attacking pass to him which led to the former whilst Fabregas was sold exceptionally short for the latter. Attacking instincts are well and good but this has to be tempered with defensive responsibilities. You simply cannot give the ball away so quickly from clearing it. This merely invites further pressure as Arsenal found to their cost.

Even in defeat there are positives to be taken. Tomas Rosicky’s return is the biggest, he prompted and provided a missing cutting edge in midfield. The sooner he is match fit, the better. With Theo Walcott returning there will be a more naturally attacking balance to the side. Will RvP remain the focal point of the forward trio remains to be seen or will it be Eduardo with the Dutchman moving left side?

The match itself is being overshadowed by the antics of Emmanuel Adebayor. Nothing will happen about the celebration. He was booked and that as far as the football authorities are concerned, is that. And to be honest, it is not important. People are complaining about it but you understand the emotion that caused it. Frankly it does not bother me – with the grief he was given, his reaction was to be expected.

It only surprises me because I did believe him to be that energetic. As Arsene said afterwards, “The celebration was not of the biggest elegance,“. There will be repercussions though with Arsenal likely to be held to blame for the objects, including a photographer’s stool, that rained down on Adebayor.

The stamp on van Persie? That is a different matter. Adebayor should be banned for longer than three games for his deliberate attempt to assault a fellow professional. No amount of apologies cut any ice. Had the roles been reversed, I would have been equally chastising of the Arsenal player. There is no place in football for such actions and if the Football Association fail to act, they will once more have been grossly derelict in their duty towards football.

It depends on the referee’s report. I find it inconceivable that Clattenberg did not see the incident. He was five yards from the ball, clearly watching what happened since the ball had skewed behind van Persie. The FA can only act if the referee does not mention it in his report. This morning’s press suggest he will be asked to review the incident once more, the expectation being that if he had seen it, he would have sent Adebayor off.

van Persie was unrestrained in his criticism of Adebayor:

I am sad and disappointed by my former team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor’s mindless and malicious stamp on me during today’s match…I knew he was aiming for a collision because he changed the angle of his body to allow contact to be made. He moved backwards when his natural momentum would have taken him forward. I find that deeply disrespectful

More importantly, how much of a blow is the defeat? This season has a different feel about it than previously with the champions possibly able to get away with four or possibly five. Whether Arsenal can accommodate that total depends on draws being eradicated, especially at home when the buses are lined up across the penalty area by less adventurous teams.

’til Tomorrow.

Man City Preview: Bendtner Did So Why Shouldn’t We Give Adebayor The Finger?

The resumption of club fixtures this week sees Arsenal return to the city of their only defeat thus far, the other Manchester team hosts this time around. Long regarded as the true Mancunian club, City are hellbent on changing that and becoming global monsters. The fixture has been given extra spice by the immediacy with which Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor face their previous employers.

Defeat this afternoon will leave a slew of reporters tomorrow telling us how right they were in predicting Manchester City’s ascendancy into the top four at Arsenal’s expense. The Arsenal cause was not helped by Andrei Arshavin’s injury, a situation exacerbated by the player’s apparently unrepentant attitude.

That was the only piece of bad news this week. Cesc is apparently not injured, contrary to spurious reports, and will no doubt slot back into the side, alongside Alex Song and Diaby in the centre of the midfield. Having seen his side push Manchester United out of the picture completely for most of their recent encounter, it would be surprising if Wenger did not retain Eboue on the right which means Eduardo, Bendtner or Denilson on the left.

Personally, I would go for Eduardo since it would give Arsenal an extra attacker. Alternatively, Wenger may bring in Bendtner, move Diaby to the left and retain Denilson. This is really his only dilemma with Rosicky probably just about ready for a place on the bench.

City claimed bragging rights last season, facing an Arsenal team in disarray following William Gallas ill-advised comments. This time, the defence is settled and fully functioning, the midfield is vibrant and the forward line has scored, albeit more an international level, Eduardo aside.

I would expect the Arsenal side this afternoon to be:

Almunia; Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy; Song, Fabregas, Diaby; Eboue, van Persie, Eduardo

Toure and Adebayor should be given respect according to Wenger. The former will get it from me for what he achieved at Arsenal. Adebayor? Nothing to show for his time bar one prolific season. Whether that was a flash in the pan or not remains to be seen. He gave an astonishing interview to the Daily Telegraph. In portraying himself as the victim, unfairly treated by Arsenal supporters, Adebayor actually confirms some of the widely held negative views about himself. He sets out his side of the case regarding his dispute with Nicklas Bendtner, in his mind the row was about respect. That motive becomes highly questionable later on.

Essentially the row was about Bendtner disregarding the rules over wearing shoes in the Arsenal dressing room. Adebayor took issue telling the Dane that everyone obeyed the rule so it should equally to him. Which is fair enough and he has a point about respect. However, there must be more to it than Adebayor lets on because he admits that Wenger told him to calm down and apparently did not admonish Bendtner. It is easy to derive the rumours about Adebayor being disruptive in the dressing room from that single incident.

The true motivation for Adebayor’s dislike of Bendtner becomes apparent later in the interview where the Dane is accused of having an easy ride into football, cosseted away from the harsh realities of Adebayor’s own journey to the Premier League. Quite simply, Adebayor is resentful of that and it is not hard to understand why Bendtner’s attitude would have been particularly irksome to him. It is quite simply a clash of personalities and not one where either comes out smelling of roses.

As for leaving Arsenal, well, there is more revisionism by Adebayor. He stayed not for the money but for the love of the club, rejecting Barcelona’s overtures. His departure twelve months on is blamed on Arsenal’s finances, conveniently forgetting that Adebayor has previously stated that he had an agreement with Wenger that he could leave this summer. The player is probably bitter that he has ended up at City and not in Barcelona or Milan.

It is clear nothing is Adebayor’s fault. More to the point, he is scathing about Arsenal supporters, especially those who live abroad since they will have buggered off to the newest thing by the time you have got this far. In fact they will probably be City fans by now so Adebayor will no doubt hate them as well by the end of this article. You see we did not believe him when he said he wanted to stay. He is right; no-one believed him for the reason above.

At the end of the interview, he has put himself on the same pedestal as Ashley Cole; he will be loathed by Arsenal supporters and quite rightly so. A complete contrast is Theo Walcott who is very nice young man. He has a tattoo for each member of his family – mum, dad, sister and brother – although whilst she was touched by the gesture, I suspect Mrs Walcott probably boxed his ears when she saw it.

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