Tag Archives: Mikel Arteta

No sleep for me as Per plays Gandalf

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This may end up a short one today, it may also end up more rambly and nonsensical than usual, because I’ve had about four hours sleep and been awake since 4am this morning. Morning birds, dustbin men, colds; you’ve all made my ‘list’.

Today we’ll get an indication from Le Boss on who will be fit to face the toughest of domestic challenges this season and I think I speak for everyone in Goonerdom when I say:

Please let Sagna be fit.

Jenkinson has done a fine job filling in for the last three games, but this is the next level, to which we need our best back four. We’ll be up against the most free-scoringest of attack lines and I want to see us show the world how far we’ve come defensively which, unfortunately for Carl, means that I’m praying that the hair-braided one is back in contention.

It’s the best defence against the best attack this weekend and big Per knows what confidence a stellar showing can do for the team. He’s urged that the team stay united, together and show that they are ‘strong enough’, which we can all wholeheartedly endorse. He’ll be integral to that and we’ll probably need him to continue his impression of Gandalf the Grey by telling Aguero et al that they shall not pass. His positioning and those long, leggy blocks of his are becoming somewhat of a trademark, so hopefully he can strengthen his reputation against a team that will test us on more than one occasion. As far as I’m concerned, forget Suarez and Sturridge, Moneychester City’s front line at home has been the most potent weapon, but we have the blunt instruments to take the sting out of their sails. I couldn’t really decide which metaphor to go for then, so I though I’d just mesh a load together, in case you think I’m going do-lally. Which I probably am to be fair. Sleep depravation does that to a Suburbanite don’t you know.

Big Per has also been speaking about how a tough European draw can be a good thing for the team. He thinks that it’s better to have an opponent you can really concentrate on. That sounds a little churlish personally, but I can see what he’s trying to say, i.e. Focused minds means they will go into each game knowing that there is no room for slip ups. I would have preferred to save our focused games for the latter stages, but hey, we did it the hard way when we got to the final (Madrid, Juventus, Villareal), so perhaps that is just how we have to do it. Let’s also not forget that we have a big squad that I believe is capable of big things.

Anyway, Per’s partner Lolo has also had his two penneth worth and spoken of the need to keep the lead we have in the title and be ready to fight at all games. All fairly obvious stuff, but it’s interesting that the official site and some of the papers today are picking up on stories from the defenders, because it’s clearly felt that we’re going to be under the kosh for long periods of the game tomorrow. That may be true, but to dismiss our attacking and creative players would be foolish in my opinion, and when you look at how City’s side have hardly been a bastion of defensive fortitude this season, I think we’ll get chances. More of a preview tomorrow.

Finally for today, Tricky Micky has been talking up our chances against any team in Europe and, the. Napoli defeat aside, you can see where he’s coming from. It was a disappointing red card for him which means he’ll miss the first leg of the next round, but with the need to get goals going into a tricky away game (whoever it is) for the second leg, it may prove to be a blessing in disguise. It will force Arsene into playing a more creative midfielder and that can only be a good thing when you’re at home. I suspect he might have a big role to play tomorrow along with the Flamster, although I’ll save any of my team line ups for tomorrow.

As for now, I’m off to consume a sugar free energy drink that has red animals on the front of the can, that shall remain nameless until the day that they send me lifetime supplies to consume at will.

Napoli: handbraketacular

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Well just try and pick the bones out of that one, eh? I mean, I don’t really know what to make of last nights game, so trying to evaluate the performance today becomes a tricky one. We lost 2-0, but looked in control of the match for the most part, yet still had 10 seconds at the end when it was a bit nervy, had a man sent off in Arteta, then we found out we’d finished second in the group due to a late Dortmund winner. Hopefully they’ve used up all of their good luck on that game in the South of France.

When the starting line up was announced an hour or so before kick off, I have to admit that I was a little surprised. Aside from Ramsey dropping to the bench it looked like pretty much the strongest Arsenal team Le Boss could put out. I thought he’d dabble in a bit of rotation and maybe have someone to leave up top with pace when we’re under the kosh, but Arsene opted for consistency and ‘getting the job done’ above the Championship/Football Manager tactics that I would have employed. Hey, I guess that’s why he’s paid the big bucks, right?

Although there was that one moment, when the ball broke to Giroud who was in on goal if he had that half of yard of extra pace in the first half, so perhaps a Walcott on the pitch could have made a difference there. But C’est la Vie and all that – we still progressed.

And that’s what has to be the overall plus point from these group stages. We’ve come into the hardest Champions League group and qualified with 12 points. We can all curse our luck when we get Bayern, Madrid or Barcelona in the next round, but if somebody told you that we’d qualify from our group at the end of the draw in September, we’d have taken it with bells on.

I found the game itself very strange to watch. At one stage in the second half the stats on attempts on goal came up and it was 12-3 in Napoli’s favour. But personally I felt that it belied the truth of the game; we were in control for 72 minutes and even The Management said ‘they look like a different team to last season. They are all so confident’. It was a display that was Arsenal performing within themselves, that’s what I thought, as we ensured that we snuffed out any danger of a hammering by being defensively resolute and restricting the Italians to pot shots. Think back to the first half: do you remember Szczesny having to make any world class saves? I certainly don’t. It was as if our defence and, probably the whole team actually, we’re able to hold Napoli at arms length for the vast majority of the match. So whilst it’s disappointing to lose, there are certainly positives to take away.

I also thought that by playing within ourselves, perhaps we were conserving our energy for Saturday lunchtime against Moneychester City. Watching the first half I noted how confident we were, but also how the team didn’t seem to look leggy at all, perhaps an instruction from Arsene for ‘a little bit handbrake today’ had fed through?

It’s hard to say that Arteta’s sending off for a second bookable offence (justified I thought – you can’t make challenges like he did whilst already on a yellow – certainly not in Europe) had a massive impact on the result, because it didn’t feel like it to me, but it must have done. We conceded on 72 and 92 minutes and the sending off have the crowd a lift as well as an extra man advantage to Napoli. But it felt like we were still in control, even at one down, so I wasn’t really nervous at all until the last few seconds after the second goal. Thankfully the referee was one of those types that just don’t really care for injury time, so having blown up four seconds after the 45th minute in the first half, he peeped his whistle almost dead on 93 minutes. Perhaps he wanted to get home quicker, but I don’t see why, because the stadium was only half full. I don’t know whether that’s because Napoli are in trouble with the footballing authorities, but with few people in the lower tier, it made for eery viewing at times.

I don’t think there’s too much to take from the game really. 2-0 suggests that we took a bit of a beating, but it never felt like that from behind this Gooners eyes, only that we felt we didn’t need exert ourselves. I hope that’s the case because what we can’t afford this Saturday is for there to be some tired legs out there. City were able to rotate on Tuesday and their home form is such that they don’t need any more advantages than they already have. More on that tomorrow no doubt, but for today we must just be happy that we’re in to the pot for the next round, ready for a tough draw whilst Chelski get the easiest buy possible after winning their ‘Group of Ease’. We do it the hard way. That’s how we like it.

Maybe.

Praising more ‘Arsenalisation’ and talking intelligent defence

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So, ITV finally got their grubby mits on the FA Cup tie between us and them and low and behold, it’s a 5.15pm Saturday kick off for us in January. Crazy when you think that there will be 9,000 of them making their way to the right side of North London and a whole afternoon of boozing to be had in the process.

But as far as ITV are concerned it’s a small price to pay for ratings. Nothing more we can do but accept and move on I guess.

So let’s move on to the clubs unofficial announcement that had us all in a flutter last night when Ivan admitted the Dennis Bergkamp statue is done and dusted and the club are just waiting for the appropriate moment to unveil. Superb stuff and I’m sure you’ll all join me in saying ‘about time’! But it’s good work by the club and I have to praise those involved in the decision making when it comes to the ‘Arsenalisation’ project that has happened over the last couple of years. I don’t know about you, but it finally feels like the stadium has some personality with it, which started with ditching the horrible coloured ‘quadrants’, then included the erecting of the clock in the ground, but has continued with the murals, famous quotes and statues peppering the inner and outer walls as well as the pavement outside. It’s an example of a club that is slick with its PR, of that there is no doubt, but it also shows that they listen to fans. You only have to look at the Hicks/Gilette era at Liverpool, or the Glazer’s current tenure at United, to see how some fans are pretty much ignored. I have been critical of the clubs PR machine and spin at times, so when they do things right, it’s only fair that they get a good dosage of positive goodwill thrown their way. Good ol’ Arsenal! I’m proud to say that name…

On field news has been plentiful since the draw on Sunday and we’ve had Tricky Mickey praising his former club, Flamini talking about the five point cushion but stressing concentration and focus, then yesterday we got a little bit of Jenko telling us how hard the back five have worked together defensively and how together and close they are as a unit. It is all pretty positive stuff coming out from the camp, which you’d expect when your five points clear, but what has been self-evident this season is how the team doesn’t seem to have let themselves crumble under adversity. Villa at home, Dortmund at home and United away; each time we’ve lost we’ve dusted ourselves off and looked to ‘go again’ in the next game. This is something new for Arsene’s team but perhaps says more about the individuals than the manager. A year ago we were all questioning whether or not this side were actually any good – quality wise – and many like myself lamented the possible decline in quality of players as we became less competitive challenging for the league. Not so any more as those naysayers (I hold my hands up too on this) are now happy to admit our concerns were nought but a slight breeze and what now feels like a calm ocean cruise. It’s delightful to be on deck I have to say. Those players have forged a strong bond as a collective and through a unified sense of having their backs against the wall, they have risen to the challenges laid before them with great aplomb.

Sometimes you get a machine with all the best parts and it doesn’t quite work. Then sometimes you get a machine that hasn’t got the best parts individually, but when joined with a host of other parts it just clicks. Maybe that’s what has happened at Arsenal.

As for our defence, well, they probably deserve more credit than any other part of the team. This time last year we were haemorrhaging goals left, right and centre and the only thing that saved us was our attackers by banging in more than (some) of our opponents. When you look at the change in our play now you see that a title tilt is built on defensive stability, which is just what we’ve got. There’s also something that I heard from Ben when we were in the pub before the Everton game that kind of made sense. He said that for about a year now the club has placed more emphasis on looking at the opponents strengths and weaknesses rather than the old-skool Arsene tactic of believing that as long as he has eleven better players on the pitch he doesn’t need to focus too much on tactics. It’s refreshing to hear the club have adopted this approach – although that lovely stubborn old manager of ours would probably never admit it – and it shows a maturity and focus on taking each opponent on their merits and looking at says to unpick their style in order to secure three points.

I think we probably saw an example of this focus on the opposition at the weekend. Yes, it didn’t quite come off and yes we weren’t at our best, but it’s very unusual for Arsenal to sit off as much as they did with Everton in the middle of the park, so I wonder if the team knew that they could sit off and neutralise Everton when they have the ball in defence or the middle of the park. I’ve seen articles about how Everton had more passing and possession, but when I think back to the chances they created during their ‘dominant’ first half, I can’t think of many saves Szczesny had to make. Was this because we had a game plan, but just failed to execute at the sharp pointy edge of our formation? Or is this just a coincidence? I’m not so sure.

I think we’re seeing an intelligent Arsenal. An Arsenal that knows what is needed on a game-by-game basis and is fulfilling the criteria it sets out and has done so successfully to date. There’s a long way to go, a lot more hurdles to overcome, but the signs are positive.

Catch you tomorrow.

Cardiff: success the sum of many parts

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Well that couldn’t have gone any more to plan yesterday, could it? I mean, if you’re going to head away from home to a team that’s already picked up a few ‘big club’ scalps already, you’re looking first and foremost to ensure that you quieted the home fans early, then make sure that you pick up the points by knocking in a goal or two later on.

As every week goes by, we’re finding out more and more about this team and how they’re up for the fight, with yesterday being another example. A tricky away fixture against a Cardiff team that have proven themselves to be good at home was ticked off the fixture list with a 3-0 in that, whilst not as convincing as the score-line suggests, was still three points that I think we deserved.

What I love about this team is that everyone seems to be in form. We’re not a team with one superstar that drags us through games, we’re a collective of players that all play their part, each one contributing in his own way to getting results.

Take Szczesny for example. He made a superb save from a Frazier Campbell header when we were still at 1-0 that would have swung the pendulum of momentum in Cardiff’s direction and who knows what would have happened if the Welsh side would have pegged us back. He’s showing his maturity and form in every game, but the best thing about his form is that for the vast majority of the match he’s watching, which means he’s only called into action a couple of times in 90 minutes and so his concentration levels have to be at their pinnacle. And the reason he’s only being called in for questioning? A defensive meaner than my year nine geography teacher. And he was Welsh and from Cardiff. The back four we have is settled, composed and strong as a unit, with yesterday showing exactly what each of them are good for. Mertesacker is making a fabulous habit of just stepping in and breaking down attacks with his long legs, whilst Koscienly sweeps up any balls that get beyond him, which means that we’re building a foundation at the back which is causing issue for attacks across the land. The two full backs GIbbs and Sagna got forward as often as possible and for the most part were acting as wingers. That afforded our creative midfielders of Wilshere, Ozil and Ramsey licence to roam across the pitch and rotate in different positions.

So let’s talk about that midfield, shall we? The rotation and movement of the three above opened up space all over the park and the first goal was a classic example of the space that our midfielders get as a result. Mesut picked the ball up on the left hand side just outside the penalty box, then floated in a sumptuous ball almost on the penalty spot, where Rambo was unmarked and able to loop over Marshall. There wasn’t really anything that the ‘keeper could have done but it was a fabulously worked goal at a time where we were in the ascendency. Jack was playing well too. He was drifting past players like he did on Tuesday night and he was showing that his form appears to be coming back after a stuttering first ten games of the season. He probably should have scored too early on, smashing a ball unluckily against the corner section of the bar and post. And Mesut, good old Mesut, the man who has supposedly failed to impress if you read the media hyperbole, had a fantastic game and looked to all the world worthy of his lofty price tag. He roamed from left to right, found his man with consummate ease on two of the three goals and it was as if he’d heard some of the media berating he’s been getting and responded in the best way possible. No Bendtner, not by getting yourself in the back pages for doing something stupid, but by getting on the pitch and having a blinder.

I thought tricky Micky Arteta also had a good game in front of the back four and looked strong in the tackle, composed on the ball and hovered in front of the back four giving them an outlet for distributing the ball throughout the game.

There was even time for a Theo cameo and an assist to his name with the third goal and second for Ramsey.

The only two players who didn’t have it all their own way were Santi and Giroud. Santi was a bit quiet again, but he still got involved in the play and played a solid 7/10 in my book. But perhaps it’s indicative of the way we’re playing that a 7/10 is viewed as a ‘quiet’ game. He’s still to find his top form and the form of last season, but he’d too good not to get there, so I’m not too worried at this stage. AS for Olivier, well, it just wasn’t his day in front of goal. He still held the ball up well, led the line and was strong as always, but he just couldn’t bag a goal. Although the bizarre situation in the first half where he was through on goal with just the ‘keeper to beat yet thinking he was offside stopped, despite the lino not raising his flag, probably summed up his day: good run into the box but just lacked that killer touch in front of goal. Never mind; he was the hero last week, but with this team we have enough collective responsibility that it was somebody else’s turn to be the hero.

So we sit this morning seven points clear at the top of the league and although it will not be the same by the end of the evening tonight, it is still lovely to watch Match of The Day knowing that we’re building a bit of wiggle room with our lead that will afford us the ability for a blip or two. Now it’s on to Hull on Wednesday night and, if we can pick up another three points there followed by three against Everton next Sunday, I’ve no doubt we’ll have pulled away from our rivals a little bit more than even today.

Enjoy the Sunday folks.

United preview: footballing karma and leaping from the Trojan Horse

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As an Arsenal fan, I learnt  long ago that chirping about opposition teams in a derogatory manner before a game is one of the worst things you could do. I’ve also learnt that making assumptions of a demise of a team like Manchester United would only come back to bite my, and us as a group of fans, on the backside. We’re not like Chelski or United fans; footballing karma seems to enjoy popping along into our lives and smearing our faces with humble pie if we get a little too excited. Conversely, United/Chelski fans can dance a merry jig around the footballing Gods laughing and mocking away and they seem to be immune from having any of that humble pie come back to haunt them. Just take yesterday’s game at Stamford Bridge – I’m sure there were plenty of Chelski fans that nonchalantly mocked, derided and laughed off West Brom, yet the footballing Gods still saw fit to grant them the most ridiculous of ‘get out of jail free cards’. Perhaps Roman Abramovich purchased the ability to be immune to footballing Karma as well when he took over the reigns at the West London club.

But we’re not here to talk about anything else other than the Manchester United vs Arsenal game today so I’ll begin with some initial thoughts. I’m nervous. I’m usually nervous before big games, but the fact that the whole world seems to be thinking that we’ll win this game is making me more nervous. It’s probably because of that footballing karma thing I mentioned above. Whenever we’ve been to United in the past in a good run of form, we’ve more often than not ended up coming back with a bloodied nose because of a dodgy penalty, or a scabby goal or a bit of misfortune that has befallen us. That’s why I am nervous. I don’t fear that this United team will tear us a new one with their technically and physically more superior players, I fear a scabby penalty, corner or deflected free kick/own goal. Because that’s what normally happens when we go up there, play well and lose. Which would then cue the really irritating Patrice Evra interview where he states that Arsenal don’t have the mental strength to compete for a league, etc, etc, blah-blah-blah.

Of course, if we do lose today, the media pitchforks will be out in force. The ‘broken cannon’ mantra will come to the fore and we’ll have to deal with two weeks of differing fans mocking our ‘collapse’ in November already. Of course one defeat won’t necessarily result in a ‘negative spiral, but with an international break approaching next week, it means a long time that we’ll have to stew on a missed opportunity should we lose.

Look at me, I’m sounding all downbeat and negative before a ball is even kicked, so perhaps I should step back into reality and look at the way we are playing right now. We’ve picked up wins against Dortmund, Napoli, Spuds and Liverpool and have played some scintillating football in the process. All whilst being hit with so many injuries that not only do we top the Premier League table, we’ve also been in amongst the top spots in the injury league table too for the majority of the season. It gives an indication on the strength in-depth of this team and is cause for us to be very optimistic about thee season ahead.

None of that matters today though. It’s a one-off game away from home against the current Premier League Champions. No matter what you think about Moyes and his ability to motivate this team, or the relative mediocrity of the midfield, they will be massively up for this game. Everyone has written them off, their backs are against the wall and they will come out fighting. The bookies still make United favourites for the game, which should give us an indication of just how much of an uphill task this should be. Which Fergie gone, Arsene has had a dabble at some mind games with asking Michael Oliver to make the right decisions, not pander to the crowd and even citing the Debatable Decisions tables as an example of where United have got the rub of the green at home in seasons past. It’s a good effort from Le Boss, but I just can’t help coming back to that football karma thing, in which I now think that because of his comments United are MORE likely to get dodgy decisions. We’re simply not allowed to play those mind games and win – that is reserved only for United and Chelski.

As for their team, I expect they will line up with a back four that will include Ferdinand, vidic, Evra and possibly Smalling, although I don’t know if Raphael is fit or not. Their midfield will more than likely consist of Fellaini, Carrick, Valencia and probably Januzaj, who has been their most creative midfield outlet this season. With Fellaini and Carrick in the team Moyes will probably look to contain our midfield and attempt to close down space in between our midfield and creative attacking players, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see that area just in front of the United back four to be very congested when we’re attacking today. We will need to be absolutely as crisp as can be with our passing and if we have an off day, I’d expect the ball to break down quick a lot in that final third of the pitch.

Up top we’ll get the usual Rooney and That Dutch Bloke, which is where they carry the most threat. They have been banging in goals for fun between them and both Rooney and TDB will be very happy to drop into deeper positions to receive the ball. What that means is that the return of Flamini (assuming he is 100% fit as Wenger says) will be an absolute God-send, because he will marshal that area in front of the back four and break up the play with tackles and general snarliness. I also wonder if Arsene will also consider playing Arteta as well, given the relative threat of those two United players up top. With the ‘double pivote’ in front of the back four, it will (hopefully) not allow those United players to dictate the attacking play as much as they have done for the last few years, so hopefully we can keep them quiet like we have done with Suarez and Sturridge.

Given my thoughts for the ‘double pivote’, I’ve sort of already laid down a blueprint for how the team will line up, so no prizes for guessing the midfield. I suspect that the back four will remain the same, as well as Giroud up top, so that only leaves the two wide positions either side of Ozil to fill. As well as Rosicky is playing, I can’t see him ahead of either Cazorla or Rambo, so I think we’ll see places on the bench for both the Czech and Wilshire. It does make for a strong bench and we’ll see Jenks, Monreal, Vermaelen, Wilshire, Rosicky, Gnabry and Bendtner all available, although one will probably not make the trip and I think I’m right in saying that Jack is in the squad after tweeting a message suggesting it last night.

Today is a big day for us. It’s not the end of the world should we lose – we’ll still be top come the international window – but it will send a message to the masses that Arsenal are serious title contenders. Yesterday I said that I liked us being underdogs, but perhaps now is the time to leap from our Trojan horse and show our arms, besiege the Premier League and kick on towards a trophy in May.

Come on you Gunners!

Liverpool: I have the positive ‘feeling’

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I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited about today. I have no idea why, but I have this weird feeling that we’re going to win 2-1. If you read my blog regularly you’ll know that I rarely predict the outcome of football matches. I see it as a bit of a redundant exercise that, if you’re way off, adds nothing to any kind of conversation either pre mor post game. However, when I do stick my neck on the block and predict a scoreline, it’s usually because I have a ‘feeling’. It’s a bit strange to explain, and I’m certainly no Mystic Meg (having got a few predictions wrong), but today’s game feels like the last time I had this ‘feeling’. It was a few years ago when we went to Dortmund and back in the pre-game blog I predicted that we’d draw 1-1 with That Dutch Bloke netting the first goal. I should have put some money on that ‘feeling’ then, because a tenner would have seen me net over a hundred quid that day. I also never buy scratchcards, but about six months ago I was standing at the cigarette counter in Sainsbury’s buying a drink and I just stared at this random scratchcard for a minute in the queue. I knew I had to buy it so did and won a tenner. I had a ‘feeling’ on that one too.

So, I hope my ‘feeling’ brings victory today. Like I say though, it’s not full proof, so don’t chastise me if it doesn’t happen. I just think it might though…

Anyway, let’s actually talk about something vaguely related to the game, should we? How about the Arsenal line-up first? It’s a fairly quick and easy one to get through, because Gnabry is still out along with Flamini (good news being he might be back for Dortmund) other long-term absentees Walcott, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain and some dude called Di-ar-bee, but I’m not sure about the spelling on the last fella as I have a short-term memory and I don’t think he’s played for us since Tony Adams was captain. I also forgot about poor old Sanogo, but I have a niggly feeling that he’s been purchased to replace Di-ar-bee in the treatment room to keep the medical staff busy, because I think that fella’s contract runs out at the end of the season. Anyway, the ‘right touch’ news is that Arteta makes his way back into the squad which, if I’m completely honest, is probably where some of my confidence in predicting the result has come from, because after the Palace game I thought Mikel would be suspended for three games and we’d have to go into three crucial matches without any recognised defensive-minded player.

Arteta will provide us with more cover in the heart of our defence and will provide an outlet for the back four to distribute the ball out from the back. His composure will be vital today and filling that void just in front of the back four will be essential, because it”s where Sturridge and Suarez like to operate. They are two tricky forwards that are in a rich vein of form and their desire to pick the ball up and run at our defence will be something that someone like Arteta will be very important. For recent case study examples, see the first penalty we conceded against Villa. Agbonlahor picked the ball up on the left and drove through our midfield like a hot knife through butter to win the penalty. That day we had Wilshire, Rosicky and Rambo in the midfield and it was notable that the defensive cover we needed wasn’t there. Arteta is not as effective as Flamini, but he is certainly a defensively minded upgrade on any of those three players. So I certainly welcome his inclusion today.

The rest of the team should revert to type and be similar to the side that faced Palace. An inform Szczesny, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Koscienly and Sagna will come in, with a midfield of Arteta, Ramsey and Ozil, then a front three of Wilshire, Giroud and Cazorla is what I expect us to adopt. Wilshire will drop back at times and probably be replaced in the more advanced positions by the guile of Ozil and the ability to hold up play and bring others in around him of Giroud will be essential this evening.

As for the scousers, they’ve had a week off since their 4-1 demolition of West Brom and will certainly rock up to Le Emirates with all the belief that they can get the victory. I suspect we’ll see their three at the back formation with wing backs, which means Kolo, Skyrtel and Sahko will start with Johnson and Cissoko giving them the width. They will attempt to flood the midfield with Lucas in the deep-lying position and Gerrard and Henderson providing creative guile for Suarez and Sturridge up top. It’s a strong team – their strongest in fact – but the fact that I think we can win this with a host of players injured shows the belief I have that we can better Liverpool at the end of the season.

This will be a real challenge tonight, I certainly know that, you certainly know that, but so do Liverpool. We’re top of the league in form and many people have said that it’s because our run has been easy, but we’ve played all the same sort of teams that Liverpool have played, so we need to bear that in mind too. I think we can get some joy through their defence, but we need to be pressing from the front from the kick off. If we can force the Liverpool defence to make errors and hustle them quickly, then it will suffocate the service to Suarez and Sturridge and leave them frustrated, possibly coming even deeper to collect the ball and mean that we increase our chances of stopping them from being a threat to us.

It’s time to set down a marker, to show the league that we mean business. I’m sick of non-Arsenal people saying that we can’t handle the big games, so I want a win and a good one today. I want it to be a comfortable 2-1 where we’re 2-0 up early but then concede a last season goal that is little more than a consolation. I doubt I’ll get that – this is The Arsenal, after all folks – but we’ll see.

Come on You Reds.

Palace: Tougher challenge than expected, but at a cost

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I’m not really one for “I told you so” moments (or at least i try not to be) – it makes you come across as smug and self appreciating a little too much – but when the whistle blew yesterday at around 2.40pm to secure another three points for The Arsenal, I certainly didn’t feel like I’d watched a game against a team with no confidence, bereft of ideas and free-falling their way back into the Championship. That is what all of the pundits had been suggesting all week and whilst nobody gave Palace a hope in hell of getting anything against us on a blustery Saturday lunchtime, the truth of the matter is that we were a few smart Szczesny saves away from having our noses bloodied by The Eagles.

You and I knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as the performance that Crystal Palace put on against Fulham, right? We knew that in football you will nearly always see a reaction from a team after a performance like the one they put in against the Cottagers that ultimately saw Ian Holloway fall on his sword. And so it came to pass that an afternoon of goals and dominance didn’t transpire. But that is not the most important element in football, victory is, and we got that yesterday so should all be pleased.

Le Boss decided once again that there was no place in the starting line up for Jack Wilshire, as well as Rosicky, who both ceded possession of a starting jersey to Arteta and Flamini as Arsene opted for the same personnel that turned over Napoli so easily. It was an interesting choice I must say, because two ‘holding’ midfielders in a game against one of the worst teams in the league (as defined by their league position) might have raised a few eyebrows. Ironically, in an effort to build confidence through a solid display, Palace actually matched our formation by playing two holding midfielders in Dikgacoi and Jedinak in front of their much maligned defence. With a caretaker manager in place that simply wanted the team to give a good account of themselves and not be embarrassed on their own soil, looking at the way the two teams were set up, you knew it might end up being ‘one of those days’. For the first 15 – 20 minutes it certainly felt like it. Palace put all men behind the ball, squeezed the space between defence and midfield in a compact area just outside their own penalty box and were content to let Arsenal probe with 90% possession at the start. Watching from the in-laws house, I wondered whether we were in for a long game after we hadn’t scored in that first 20, which then became 30, then 45.

To make matters worse, not only were we finding it difficult to break down a stubborn opponent, but we also lost one of our players of the season so far, as Flamini limped off with what looked like a groin problem after six minutes. That was the worst possible sight you could see actually. We’ve got so many good players that can slot into the creative midfield positions should there be injury, but that holding midfield role isn’t one where we’ve got a plethora of options to call upon. At the time, thankfully we had Arteta on, which meant Gnabry had the opportunity to shine once again quite early in the game. He was certainly a bright spark in the first half and his direct running and desire to always show for the ball was good to see in a half where we looked a little leggy. Indeed, it was he who could have got a penalty in that first half after a wild swing by Delaney just centimetres outside the penalty box. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the defender was probably the right thing to do though.

If that incident was touch and go in a pretty drab first half, referee Chris Foy certainly had no doubts with our penalty appeal early in the second. Once again, Gnabry was involved driving into the box and cutting back well, but his movement was impeded by a reckless Guediora challenge that caught the young German. A point to the spot and a neat Arteta penalty tucked away had us in front and looking to extend our lead. We then took control of the game and slowly but surely began to assert our dominance. It was all looking pretty comfortable for about 20 minutes, but then came yet more controversy and more strong decision-making from Foy. His red card to Arteta was harsh in my opinion. As Arsenal fans we are more knowledgeable than anyone on what Marouene Chamakh’s strengths are as a forward. Outpacing defenders is not one of them. As Palace broke from an Arsenal corner, his touch to the right of the pitch in front of him wasn’t really setting him through on goal I don’t think, and Ramsey has more pace about him and was getting back to cover so personally I don’t think it was a goal-scoring opportunity that we would have witnessed. There was too much grass in front of the Moroccan. But perhaps Mr Foy felt like the game needed some evening out, so he showed our Spaniard the straight red.

The rest of the game was a 180′ turn in terms of possession and chances. Palace had the bit between their teeth and they smelt a comeback. Two brilliant saves from our Polish stopper kept us in front and allowed us to keep that all important three points, with a late Giroud header from a counter attack meaning we had a few minutes at the end of knowing the points were secure. It was a hard-fought victory but an all important one that see’s us still clear at the top of the league. Next up is the small matter of two games against Chelski and Liverpool in Capital One Cup and Premier League respectively. We all breathed a sigh of relief that the team came out of the game yesterday with three points, but it wasn’t without cost and if I’m completely honest, I’m now a little nervous about the next few games. If Flamini has indeed got himself a groin strain, I’ll be surprised if we see him before Southampton at home in mid-November. Arteta will certainly be out of the important games until that match up, having picked himself up a three match ban that I could never in a million years see overturned by the referee or any panel. Playing against three of the best teams in the league without any of our two recognised holding midfielders is going to be a real challenge. The last time we had that challenge we went down to Aston Villa at home and it was that lack of a holding midfielder that allowed Agbonlahor to saunter through our midfield like a hot knife through butter. And the teams we have facing us for the next three games have vastly superior players to that Aston Villa game. Still, after a victory and another three points registered, we shouldn’t be too despondent. We will have to find a way to get around this and with Cazorla and Ozil starting to play together more, Podolski back in training and running and hopefully a return for Theo soon, we are getting stronger with every passing day.

Catch you tomorrow Gooners.

Napoli: similar teams, similar form, one Arsenal, so only one result?

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Morning you glorious Gooners, how goes it in your world? Feeling good? Me, I’m feeling pretty fine and dandy, thank he very much. Had a little bit of teething problems on my phone yesterday, which prevented me from blogging and was a slight irritation but hey-ho, rough with the smooth and all that.

As a slight aside, I wanted to give a quick shout out of thanks to the team over at Goonersphere who were kind enough to invite me on to their podcast on Sunday evening, which I think can be downloaded through iTunes or through their site direct. It was great to be part of the discussions and interesting to hear some of the debates, not least about marmalade vs orange jam. Nope, me either!

Anyway, we find ourselves with yet more football in the shape of the Champions League group stages against a high flying Napoli team that appear to be spurned on by a newly acquired Gonzalo Higuain. It’s Interesting actually, because if you look at what was expected of Napoli at the start of the season, plus the start they’ve had, and the fact they’ve picked up a very good Real Madrid player, I can see a lot of similarities between them and The Arsenal at the moment. The only thing they don’t have is an injury crisis. Spurned on by Rafa Benitez, Napoli will be a force to be reckoned with tonight I think. I suspect we’ll get a proper footballing test on our home turf and it will be interesting to see how we react to their style of play. I can’t profess to be any expert on Italian football, but I suspect that they will be a classic Italian team content to soak up pressure and get a scabby goal only to sit on the edge of their own box, creating an impenetrable wall of gesturing and beardiness. There – I told you I know nothing about Italian football.

I do know about The Arsenal though, and on home turf, we’ll be more than a match for any team. I think we’ll be in for a different game than Saturday, with probably more possession but more likelihood of our opponents cutting through us than Swansea did at the Liberty. That means we’ll need our back give to be at their best and I suspect Arsene will be reticent to shuffle his deck much from Saturday. Szczesny will assume the position in between the sticks, Sagna and Gibbs will adopt the wide position, whilst Big Per and Kos will sit in the heart of the defence. Flamini’s tough tackling and experience of the Italian league will prove invaluable, so there must surely be no way he won’t sit in front of the back four, but then squad selection starts to get tricky. I mean, obviously he’s going to pick Mr-goal-machine-who-should-probably-also-be-nicknamed-MOTM-every-week, with Özil sitting behind Giroud, but who else plays either side of the big Frenchman? Does Jack get a rest? If so, surely Arteta coming in would be the next logical decision, but he wouldn’t play left wing, would he? If he slots Arteta back into midfield, does that mean shifting Ramsey out wide? His form is such that it really shouldn’t be contemplated moving him anywhere at all, but the paucity of options in the attacking trio really leaves little option if Mikel starts. It’s a case of who is the most rounded of the square pegs unfortunately.

One would assume that fresh from his excellent performance and goal on Saturday, Gnabry will get a crack at Champions League football, but he’s had a lot of games under his belt in a week, so is he ready for another? Again, with the recent injury to Walcott it would suggest that the reality is that there isn’t any other options available. I hope he does start. His adrenaline will be coursing through his veins at the moment and Napoli, whilst aware of him, will be less aware of what he can do. It could give him an ‘X factor’ (a phrase painfully ruined by Simon Cowell I might add), much like the role Oxlade-Chamberlain had when we almost fought back from the death against Milan two seasons ago, so let’s hope that if he plays he has a similar performance.

I do see Serge as a similar type of player. Similar build, similar attributes, willing to run direct at defenders and also not afraid to take a shot. With The Ox being out until December, it’s nice to know we have ‘Ox mk II’ who could provide us with another option.

It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s a challenge I think we can overcome. If we do navigate Napoli tonight and pick up three points, it leaves us in a very healthy position, in prep for a double header against Dortmund in October/November. Winning your home games is all important in the Champions League, so a win tonight and against the Yellow men will have us on the brink of qualification. I know I may seem to be jumping the gun a bit, but such is the belief in the Arsenal team at the moment, that it seems a very real possibility.

Keep those fingers crossed for a performance of worthy from the Arsenal tonight people!

Do Arsenal even have a formation any more?

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GO BACK TO THE SHADOWS MANFEVER!

Victory was inevitable, but it’s still nice to know my white blood cells are winning the battle against any foreign contaminants that penetrated my defences and were attacking me from the inside this week, especially just as we approach the weekend. I’m still operating at about 75%, but I’ll take that for now, I tell thee.

It’s fun being a Gooner right now, isn’t it? Winning is fun. And winning with swagger is fun squared. Winning tomorrow by a nice big goal margin would be fun to the power of ten I think. But we’re going to have to do it the hard way. What with all the injuries we have right now, I’m intrigued to her what Le Boss says today just about who the first eleven could be. Our sharp pointy end to the team has taken so many hits to personnel, that Arsene could probably just roll out the list of attacking and creative players that won’t make the trip to deepest darkest Wales, letting the assembled hacks work out who will play from the available squad list we have. Podolski, Giroud, Sanogo, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Rosicky won’t be there, but now we have the added potential of Gnabry not recovering in time for the game. Apparently he was dead on his feet on Wednesday night – not surprising given he’d played on Sunday and then played 120 minutes – so I think asking a player to start his third game within a week, when he’s not played at this level before, is a tough ask. He may be fit, but is he fatigued? Arsene loves his ‘red zone’ stats – I bet Gnabry is infra.

Or we have the worry that, devoid of options, Arsene steps into a DeLorean and comes back shortly after he left with a Nik Bendtner ready to play out of position on the left or right of the front three. It didn’t work back then and I hope Arsene isn’t thinking it is going to work now. Bendtner’s position at the club is clear: reserve number 9 and be done with it. Tis’ far better to place a midfield square peg in n attacking round hold, than to place a Jesus looking peg into one of those positions. They are more adaptable and, well, better players than the ‘Great’ Dane.

We’ll certainly get a better indication of what his thoughts are today at his presser, but as is custom now, Arsene got his usual pre-presser comments out last night, speaking about who is fit to play. The news is that Arteta is definitely back, which is great and I wonder if Arsene will look to switch it up a bit and play both Arteta and the Flamster, with Rambo, Jack and Mesut sitting behind Olivier up top. It would certainly be an interesting formation. Some would call it 4-5-1 but I’m getting to the stage where I think it’s difficult to even put a number on our formation. The players rotate so much that we have played anything up to four different formations in one game from what I’ve seen. As Martin Jol pointed out when we played Fulham, that makes it very difficult to isolate key players and do more of a ‘man mark’ job, which can only be to our benefit. You can still get your players to try to ‘man mark’ an Özil or a Ramsey, for instance, but it probably means that you’re just losing a man and making the game 10 v 10, because their movement will mean the marker effectively just focuses on that for the game, so when you have the ball that player will be out of position to be effective. You’re spending too much time worrying about the opposition and not enough time about what you’re going to do when you have the ball.

I’ve seen it happen before actually, although that was in a five-a-side team I played for. My brother was on my team and he was our creative spark. Our opponents knew this and so they assigned one guy to just stand on my brother the whole time and make sure he never got the ball. It was effective. However, my brother realised what was happening and realised that if he stood in a corner and folded his arms – literally on the corner of the pitch – it would be 4 v 4 and we could create more space through the rest of our team. We won by about six goals I think.

Multiple that logic by the mobile players we have and you start to see why we seem to be getting so much space with our midfield able to dominate. It’s lovely to watch.

Of course, it doesn’t always go entirely to plan and sometimes players don’t play as well, or the opposition play out of their skin. It happens. But when you have a quality team and quality players, more often than not they perform (because the best players in the league are also the most consistent). So I think that’s why we’re seeing our purple patch at the moment. But I also agree with what Arsene said to the official site yesterday – it’s also about winning differently. Last weekend we won through set-piece delivery. Against Marseille away we won whilst not being at our best, but being solid defensively. And against Sunderland we won after destroying the opposition in the first half and the latter stages of the second (although we can’t overlook the scary period after halftime). We’ve been lambasted in the press because of our inability to ‘win ugly’, a trait the media has reserved exclusively for Chelski, City and United since we last won the league (and these teams have also kept that ‘accolade’ in seasons when they haven’t won the league), but the longer our form holds up, the more the media will pay attention. Nobody wants to win ugly; we’d all prefer a season of 6-0s, but if a few dirty 1-0s come along like the end of last season, then we’ll take them. Because as much as playing swashbuckling football is fun, winning games is more fun. And winning titles is even more fun than that.

See y’all tomorrow.

West Brom: a win leading to exactly the fixture we want

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Morning people, hope you’re well? Unfortunately I’m at DEFCON 4 on my manfever, which means I’ve had to put on my 2.5 tog socks and an extra jumper on my journey into work today, and I’m sweating like a rotund waiter who’s just been asked to carry ten pounds of shrimp to a table. I’m mopping my brow and hoping I can just get through to the weekend. What it does mean is that this blog may be shorter than usual. Apologies for that.

I’m kinda thinking the jumper wasn’t such a good idea now. Anyway, on to more pressing matters, most importantly that The Arsenal navigated the choppy waters of West Bromwich to set up a tie with Chelski at home in the next round. I tell you one thing, if we win this competition, we’ll have done it the hard way and will deservedly be happy enough to celebrate it. West Brom away and Chelski at home, followed by the inevitability that we’d meet the Spuds and United, will show that this competition is no longer to be sniffed at.

Unfortunately, what with my being on deaths door last night, I didn’t manage to watch the game through any of the live streams available. I’ve also got a rubbish laptop that crashes so it was never really an option. But from what I heard of the game it wasn’t the most exciting, but did have some decent chances for both sides. Le Boss did exactly as expected and named a side with a mixture of youth and experience, giving starts to Hayden, Eisfeld, Miyachi and Gnabry, whilst also giving Bendtner, Arteta and Vermaelen their first proper run out this season. Arteta came off with cramp but as I was watching Sky Sports I heard Alan McNally say it looked serious. Thankfully Arsene confirmed its not serious in his post match presser.

It was interesting to see the players that were chosen to take the penalties. Akpom, Gnabry, Monreal, Bendtner and Olsson stepped up and I was surprised that so many young players wanted to shoulder the burden of responsibility, but at the same time, it’s pleasing to see that some of these players aren’t phased by that type of pressure. It bodes well for their futures as footballers in the top flight.

So we’re into the hat for the next round and we’re up against Chelski in what will be the toughest period of the season for us. Wedged in between that game are games against Man United, Dortmund and Liverpool. But that is exactly what we want, isn’t it? To see the big games? It’s why we want to be in the Champions League, Capital One Cup and challenging for the title. So you won’t hear me complaining. Just hoping that November doesn’t screw us over as it has done over the last few years.

Right, that’s it from me I’m afraid – I need to mop me brow again.

Catch y’all tomorrow