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2 December 2004 9.30GMT. Playa ratings for last night and the Lawtonometer See below for initial OT reaction. Today marks the end of an era. After 14 months of constantly bemoaning the decline of football, Arsenal fans' favourite journalist has published another article bemoaning the decline of football. So why the end of an era? Well for the first time, the end of football is not being blamed on the “notorious”, “shocking”, “appalling”, “dark art”, or “cheating” of Robert Pires during that one despicable day against Portsmouth last September. So why the change in heart you wonder? Why the decision to possibly allow Pires to forget the day he became the only player ever to have dived? Surely not the fact Lawton has found a new foreigner on whose shoulders to blame football’s ills? Perhaps: “Vieira cheating in full view of the nation” (see today’s article), “get his most influential player, Patrick Vieira, to stop cheating.” (Monday) Meanwhile, enjoy the Arseblog Lawton spoof I forgot to link to the other day, and the original one. Oh, and in the meantime find out what Fergie’s really like from a journalist whose living doesn’t depend on access to the great one. You’ll need to log in to the Media Guardian (registration is free) or else I’ve reproduced a copy here. Playa Ratings Alumnia: Crap on their goal, barely put a foot wrong otherwise. Plays and looks like a slightly smaller Jens, but can kick. 6 Hoyte: OK and defended well on occasion, but I’d still like to see him get forward more. That said, I think he’s a player who would look much better surrounded by seasoned pros. 6.5 Clichy: Really, really good as usual. Slipped on their excuse of a pitch for the early goal, but didn’t let it affect him and worked tirelessly defending and attacking all game. 7.5 Senderos: The lumbering giant of Everton had been replaced by a very, very accomplished looking centre half. One dodgy back header that fell short but otherwise cut out everything that was asked of him and looked a real first team option. 8 Djorou: Took eye off ball and then slipped for the goal which wasn’t good. Never quite looked the same player as against Everton, but worked his way back into the game. 6.5 Flamini: Looks like we can breathe a little more easily in the midfield department after watching a very assured display. Would like to see him trialled as a sub for Freddie in games where we’ve got a dodgy one goal lead. 7 Larsson: Some like him but I’m not so sure. What he did was decent enough but I thought he struggled to have an effect on the game. 6.5 Quincy: Maybe it was the pitch, maybe it was United doubling up on him. Either way the hero of the last round never really got into last night’s affair. 6 Pennant: Worked hard, tried to take the initiative and overall did quite well. Still not sure if he’ll quite make it at Highbury though. 7 Lupoli: Is a striker and when strikers get no service they don’t look much kop. 6.5 Van Persie: Battled hard all night and willingly came deep to win possession. But probably came a bit too deep and battled a bit too hard. Yes, he could have been sent off for the incident with Richardson. Reminds me a bit of a young Freddie, not in playing style but in the way that the potential is clearly there but the skills are still very, very raw. 6.5 Subs Smith (for Lupoli) Did OK but still looks wary of going in for challenges and taking men on following his long term injury. Cregg: Alright Karbassiyoon: Alright Meanwhile, my computer's going to hospital for a few days, so updates may be less regular. 1 December 2004 22:35GMT. Defeat with dignity and classic Old Trafford hypocrisy. I’m writing this whilst watching SKY fill time waiting for the Spurs v Liverpool game to finish. It’s bloody painful. United’s goal was a farce from our view – Djorou took his eye off the ball and then slipped on the awful Old Trafford surface, Clichy then slipped too and Alumnia somehow let the ball through his fingers. So we were 1-0 down after 20 seconds. United had started with a far stronger team than ours – nine of their starting eleven all had more Premiership experience than any of our side. So it was always going to be an uphill task. United went on to have the better of the first half – Richardson dragging a shot wide and seeing Alumnia making a good save from his snap drive. All we could manage was Van Persie almost nicking the ball off Tim Howard’s feet and Pennant having a low free kick saved. The game had been amazingly clean for a United v Arsenal affair, with the exception of RVP who truth be told was running around a bit like a headless chicken. Twenty seconds into the second half he lost the ball, and though he successfully tackled back on Richardson, the Dutchman then needlessly performed some bizarre blocking, cum raised elbowing manoeuvre on Richardson. Things then kicked off a bit and Van Persie (rightly) and Richardson (perhaps a little unluckily) got booked. We had the majority of the possession in the second half but failed to create enough chances. Van Persie showed great skill to play Quincy in but he took too long and failed to get his shot in. Late on Van Persie cut inside from a free-kick and fired in a low shot that went a yard or so wide of the post. In the final minute Richardson was then lucky not to be sent-off when he caught one of our players with a very obviously late tackle that would undoubtedly have merited a 2nd yellow card had the ball gone out of play before the final whistle. Alas it didn’t and so SKY were able to happily brush it all the carpet and ignore it. A minute earlier we’d had what I thought was an excellent call for a penalty when Van Persie crossed in a free-kick looking for Hoyte who was marked by Rossi. Both men had a hold of each other’s shirts but it was Rossi who slipped and as he fell he clearly dragged Hoyte to the ground. A clear penalty? No. But a damn sight more a penalty than either of the two we’ve conceded at Old Trafford in the past two seasons. But again easily dismissed on SKY. To be fair, United deserved it. We simply didn’t create enough and the emphasis was on us to come back into the game. But we also limited a much, much stronger side to 1-0 on their own patch. Still I’m happy with how we played and the players equipped themselves well. The boss admitted that Van Persie had got too involved in things and said he had thought about bringing him off. Watch the media completely ignore that. For his part, Ferguson (cheeks looking suspiciously red) called for the F.A. to investigate Van Persie’s elbow (which actually caught Hoyte!) He knows it’s not going to happen because RVP was booked for his role in the incident, meaning the F.A. can’t take further action. Mark my words… he’ll still cite is as evidence of F.A. bias towards Arsenal. There’ll be playa ratings tomorrow (probably), but in the meantime, consider these questions: 1) What, exactly, is the difference between Lauren signalling for his opponent to be booked and Fergie calling for the F.A. to investigate an Arsenal player? Why does one (quite rightly) get slammed by the media whilst the other is indulged by the very same journalists? 2) When will the F.A. do something about ‘that song’ the United fans sing about Wenger? I’m not saying its quite on the level of racist chanting, but its foul, slanderous and continues unchecked every time. There is no reason why the boss should have to put up with it whenever he stands up. 30 November 2004 16.50 GMT. Updated team news + Simek returns suspiciously early. Further to my post below, the boss has announced that Gael Clichy, Ryan Smith and Frankie Simek (returned from loan at QPR) are all in tomorrow night’s squad. Clichy will undoubtedly come in at left back in place of second round hero Karbassiyoon, whilst Smith (who according to the boss is lacking a bit of fitness) will presumably battle it out for a place with Quincy, who lit up the last round. Simek’s return is interesting. He’d only been on loan for a month, he’d gone to a side high up in the Championship and he started all their league games. From the sound of it he’s been very deliberately brought back to Highbury – you’d certainly have thought QPR would have wanted to keep him. After Senderos’ stuttery first half against Everton, it could be that Simek is a little ahead of the Swiss in the race for a first team place. Either way we should get a good opportunity to make a comparison tomorrow as the two look almost certain to line up next to each other. Simek’s only other 1st team game was against Wolves last season, where with the exception of one dodgy tackle, he was excellent. And he doesn’t look clumsy. Which is always nice. Cygan is out with a back strain and likely to miss Birmingham as well, whilst there is no place for Dennis or Edu either. The full squad reads: Manuel Almunia Chris Wright Robin van Persie Mathieu Flamini Philippe Senderos Jermaine Pennant Gael Clichy Justin Hoyte Patrick Cregg Johan Djourou Sebastian Larsson Arturo Lupoli Quincy Frankie Simek Danny Karbassiyoon Ryan Smith See arsenal.com for more details. 30 November 2004 11.05GMT. Early United preview and gems from today's media A slightly longer post today. See below for the United preview, click here for a new James Lawton parody and media bashing and go here for spitting. I’ve decided defeat at Anfield was probably a good thing. Yes it cost us a point, but what’s one more when you’ve already dropped two. And we could have mistakenly thought a point at Anfield was a decent result and a hard earned draw and allowed it to cover up the gaping holes in our performance. Hopefully Mellor (who I forgot to add nearly got sold to Sheffield United a fortnight ago) has given us the kick up the arse we need. I’ve got absolutely bugger all inside knowledge of who Wenger will play tomorrow night, but I reckon we can expect something like this: Alumnia, Hoyte, Senderos, Cygan?, Karbassiyoon, Flamini, Djorou, Quincy and or Smith depending on whether Pennant is fit, Van Persie and Lupoli. If Cygan’s out then expect Djorou to drop back and Larsson to come into midfield and if Clichy is fit expect him to replace Karbassiyoon. The boss said somewhere that a couple of more senior players might be involved but I think he was on about the likes of Cygan and Alumnia rather than any of the 11 who started at Anfield though I guess Dennis could be back in contention. Mediabasing It seems that someone’s been parodying James Lawton again. I came across the following gems in this article: '(Were it not for Diouf) Vieira would surely have been unchallenged as the author of the weekend's most despicable act on a football field… Yes, cheating. Helpfully, Wenger claims to be something of an expert in the matter. However, having pilloried Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy publicly for his alleged crimes in this department, he was discouragingly quiet about the appalling transgression of his captain in Sunday's defeat.' In legendary, time honoured fashion he then compares Vieira’s dive with you know what: 'A dive quite as blatant as the one from which his team-mate Robert Pires notoriously conjured a penalty against Portsmouth. If Wenger wants to do his job… he will say that such behaviour speaks of an inherent rottenness in the culprit's competitive spirit. Is that the kind of example Wenger wants for his small army of superb young players? If it is so, we can only tremble for the future health of English football.' The stuff above is actually, unbelievably, genuine. Unlike Arseblog’s fantastic Lawton piss take of a year ago. Just to set him straight (Lawton that is, not Arseblogger): One man tries to break another’s leg, the other dives. A big difference. And where were the demands after OT for Fergie to come out and condemn Van Nistelrooy? And more to the point, where was James Lawton when Fergie last week claimed his dirty, cheating side had done nothing wrong at Old Trafford? ‘CRISIS AT HIGHBURY’ scream The Sun, in what looks alarmingly like a comical parody of The Sun. Moving onto a ‘serious’ paper, am I the only one a little disturbed to realise the following paragraph in the Times didn’t just require all the skill of reporter Oliver Kay but also the additional excellency of Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent. Read and weep: 'Discipline might not be such an issue tomorrow night, given that Wenger has promised to adhere to his policy of fielding youngsters in the Carling Cup, but there must be fears that the mere sight of Manchester United will bring out the worst in his team. And if that is not worrying enough, there were suggestions yesterday that United will lay on the same post-match buffet — pizza, soup, etc. Either way, there is plenty of food for thought for Wenger.' What a load of absolutely biased bollocks. Spitting And finally: spitting. I seem to be the only one getting a little pissed off by El Hadji-Diouf being accused of being the ‘lowest of the low’ for giving De Zeeuw a mouthful of his finest on Saturday. Don’t get me wrong, spitting is foul, but contrary to what Alan Shearer thinks, it is not actually worse than elbows (ask Gary Mabbutt) or horror tackles (ask that Watson bloke from Sheffield Wednesday). I’ll be honest here and admit my sentiments go back to when Paddy spat at Ruddock, who milked it for all it was worth and ended up getting Paddy a four game ban. Now Diouf’s team mate Gary Speed has chipped in with "To be on the receiving end of that is probably the worst thing that can happen to you.” No, Gary, it clearly isn’t. And on SKY Sports News Diouf was referred to as ‘the disgraced El Hadji Diouf’. So here’s a lesson for anyone trying with an axe to grind but a phobia of being labelled ‘the disgraced’. Don’t, whatever you do, spit in your enemies face. Instead just try to break their leg a la Ruud van I'mahorse and you’ll still be a man. 28 November 2004 21.00GMT. 55 shocking minutes, defeat, Match Report + Playa Ratings Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1 Sometimes shit happens. And we were shit for 55 minutes, deservedly behind and probably lucky not to be two down. We hadn’t had a shot either on or off target. At half time I’d set a target of 52 minutes for a shot on or off target and 56 minutes for a shot on target. The first deadline passed completely unthreatened. Then with 10 seconds to go on the second deadline we put together a sublime passing move that culminated with Paddy clipping the ball past Chris Kirkland. It was certainly one hell of a way to kick start our game. From then on things were relatively even – we were a million times better than we had been without looking like world beaters and created a couple of real goal scoring chances that we couldn’t take. Liverpool were tiring and though Gerrard came close we probably looked the more likely to take the game by the scruff of its neck and get the winner. Then 20 seconds from the end of stoppage time, Kirkland kicked long, Paddy let the ball bounce, Kolo and Sol kind of got in each others way but still managed to head it down and the ball dropped for Neil Mellor. Neil fucking Mellor, never scored a Premiership goal, was absolutely shite at West Ham in Division One and had made even our defence look almost solid. The millisecond he swung his foot at it I shouted “oh shit”, but alas my warning was too late and it flew like a boomerang past Lehman. As I said, sometimes shit happens. We must accept we were absolutely useless for the first 55 minutes. I can’t stress that enough. It was deeply disturbing. Then we got back into things and looked like we were slowly easing back into our old fluency. Then disaster struck. It happens. And whilst we’re on a negative theme, I want to say another thing: There was no need for Lauren to get involved with Kewell today, Jens was wrong to say what he said about the referee in the week and it wasn’t a foul on Campbell in the build up to Liverpool’s winner today. We get fucked over enough by refs and the media, wrongly painting ourselves as the victims in other situations only indulges their hypocrisy. In 2001-2002 we’d been going through a pretty wretched spell when league leaders Man United came to town on 25 November. In two weeks time Chelsea are at Highbury. We need a performance like the one that beat United 3-1. But before then we need to start again against Birmingham next Saturday and ensure qualification against Rosenberg, which I fear could be far more difficult than the media are making out. Coming tomorrow: spitting, elbowing, horror tackles and Alan Shearer. Don’t get me started. Playa Ratings: Lehman: No chance with either goal, he held on well to a Kewell header shortly before half time and did well to beat a fierce Gerrard shot away from goal in the second half. Was also shrewd in deciding when to come from goal and consequently swept up well. 7. Lauren: Got unnecessarily involved in a running feud with the pretty useless Kewell. Needs to stop overreacting. Didn’t get forward enough. 5.5 Cole: In our hopeless first 55 minutes he continued his recent poor form with his touch frequently lacking its normal assuredness. But fought his way back into the game with the rest of the team and finished reasonably strongly. 6.5 Sol: Didn’t do too much wrong and the defence certainly looked more solid than in previous games. But he wasn’t fouled for the winning goal, though it would be harsh to say he should have got more purchase on his header. 6.5 Kolo: Again did reasonably well, made a couple of important interceptions and generally looked happy to have Sol back. 6.5 Pires: Absolute crap for the first 55 minutes, he seemed to give the ball away every time he got it as illustrated perfectly by Liverpool’s opening goal. Then got more into it and had some lovely touches but really we needed a better showing. 6 Freddie: Like the rest of the team was very quiet early on. And like the rest of the team he got back into things and made a couple of good runs down the wing. 6 Vieira: A really mixed performance. As poor as anyone in the awful first half, he played a part in and scored the equaliser – his second goal in three games. He then did more than anyone else to get us back and into the game before being fairly booked. He could then have got another yellow card for a dive – something SKY seemed all too willing to see happen. However in fairness to Paddy, his hand was up apologetically to acknowledge it wasn’t a free kick before he’d even hit the turf. My theory has always been that football should work on the same principle as cricket – you need to appeal for a decision. So you would only get booked for diving if you actually appealed for it and you’d only get a penalty or free kick if you actually felt you’d been fouled. I’m not calling for a cricket style ‘howzat’ and I know the system would have many flaws, but in principle I reckon it’s a winner. And going back to Paddy, he should have got his head behind Kirkland’s last minute kick rather than letting it bounce. 6.5 Cesc: Despite the persistent carping of Andy Gray about his lack of size, I thought Cesc was easily our best player in the first half. He cut out a lot, used the ball well and was at the forefront of our improvement later on in the game. 7 Jose: Was absolutely useless for 55 minutes and then slowly started to find his way into the game before being subbed by RVP after 66 minutes. Maybe Andy Gray was correct in saying Reyes is best suited to the left hand side, but then again I think he’s just not playing well at the moment. 5.5 Henry: Pretty useless for the first 55 minutes, though at least he was full of running. Involved in our equaliser and at the forefront of our subsequent improvement, he could have won the game following a sweeping move involving Pires and then RVP. Not at his best, but a lot better than others would have you believe. 6 Subs: RVP (for Jose 66): Still seems to have jelly like legs and is prone to losing the ball. But also set up Freddie with a delightful turn and pass and put Thierry in for a late chance. Still very raw, and though the potential is clearly there its fair to say he probably wouldn’t be involved with the Chelsea first team at present. But while we’re using him I think a couple of first team starts wouldn’t go amiss. 6 27 November 2004 21.00GMT. Scoring 2 is no longer good enough + Liverpool preview Of the 23 occasions when we scored two or more goals in a game last season, all but one resulted in victory. Spurs away was the only exception. On the other hand, if you were one of the ten sides who kept us down to scoring just the once, you had a 70% chance of taking a point off the unbeatables. This year, things have changed drastically. After just 14 games, the opposition have scored twice or more against us on five separate occasions, two more than last season. The other staggering fact is that Manchester City away is the only game this season in which we’ve won without scoring at least three goals. So last season you had a fairly good chance of claiming a point if you kept us to one but no chance if we got more. Whereas this season the opposition are almost certain to get a point even if we do score last year"s magic 2. It’s a worrying thought. Just look at the league table for evidence – Arsenal games have averaged exactly four goals so far this season. So to win we have to knock up a score of 3-1 or 4-0. Unscientific this analysis may be, but it is also painfully illustrative. Chelsea have already won seven games when they’ve scored two or fewer. Chelsea have won five games 1-0 already this season, in our last 50 VICTORIES we’ve only had four 1-0s. Of course none of this matters when you’re hitting the opposition for four of five, but it’s a major problem when we can’t secure three points when our forwards are *only* hitting one or two goals in a game. So for what its worth, my theory is that the forward line are not doing a hell of a lot wrong. Granted, we’re not firing them in like we were at the start of the season, but a tally of 0-2-1-5-1 during the bad run is hardly criminal. And whilst Jose has struggled, Dennis has been poor and Pires had a couple of off games, I also don’t buy the line that the forward line is in a state of collapse. Thierry Henry, who is supposedly going through a bad patch, has scored 3 times during the five game run and is currently clear at the top of the goalscorers table, ahead of Andy Johnson and our own Bob. Add to that the fact that Freddie has been looking pretty good and I think it a fair shout to say the attack are not the real problem. Liverpool The good news is that for the first time since Rooney, Horseface et al at OT we have a full defence to choose from and more to the point a newly committed Sol Campbell available. Liverpool have appalling injury problems – their strike force will be led by Pongolle and Neil Mellor. So our back four are either going to have a real shocker or else we have the perfect chance to start our defensive season afresh. Which would be nice. Ahead of Campbell and co, the question that seems to be being quite correctly asked is whether Cesc will make way for Flamini in the midfield fight against Gerrard and Alonso, undoubtedly Liverpool’s star pairing. Up front, it looks like Reyes and Van Persie are fit, and the signs look good for Henry. Arsene gave Aliadiere his debut at Anfield last year. Expect either Flamini or Van Persie to take their bow tomorrow. As for who misses out, I’m really not sure. 25 November 2004 15:05GMT. Time for Wenger to bite the bullet with Hoyte, Flamini, Jose and RVP Wenger already has two big decisions to make ahead of Rosenberg in a fortnight’s time. The first is who replaces Lauren and the second who replaces Vieira. Though Hoyte came on last night, the temptation will be to move Kolo out to right back and start Cygan next to Campbell, as was the case on occasion last season. Put simply, we’ve got to avoid this at all costs. Right back is not the most important spot on the pitch, meaning Kolo is definitely best used in the middle. And though Hoyte may not offer as much going forward as Kolo perhaps does, we shouldn’t really be struggling to break down Rosenberg. The riddle in the midfield will be easily sorted if Edu is fit to return next to Cesc. If not, Wenger will have to choose between giving Flamini his first proper start or else slotting Pires into the middle, as we saw in the closing minutes against West Brom. Again, I would go with the younger player. Flamini has played countless times for Auxerre and also in a UEFA Cup Final – why he hasn’t started a proper game for us yet is a mystery to me. Playing Pires in the middle would leave us with 5 attackers on the pitch and very likely cause a loss in shape we can hardly afford at the moment. So on both counts Wenger needs to be at once bold and yet also sensible. The third more general question is who partners Thierry Henry? Despite Bob and Fred weighing in well with goals and Jose having an excellent start to the season, we are still heavily reliant on our fourteen goal top scorer. The time has come to decide who the strike force are and to give them a serious run. By sticking so doggedly with Bergkamp and refusing to sub him until two minutes from the end of games such as West Brom, it looks like Jose and RVP are being held back. The former seems to have lost the understanding he was beginning to build up with TH at the start of the season, whilst last night’s 62nd minute appearance was as long as Van Persie has been given in over three months as an Arsenal player. I’m not calling for the end of Dennis, because I think he still has something to offer, but it does concern me that in the past 18 months his place in the starting line-up seems to have become more, rather than less, assured. 24 November 2004 22.35 GMT. Still in our hands despite Lauren & Paddy seeing red + playa ratings. PSV 1 Arsenal 1 How, in God’s name, have PSV qualified from the group stages? Pathetic against us at Highbury, outclassed not only by 11 men tonight, but also by 10, they couldn’t even find a winner when we were down to 9. Another draw and again we might have won, but this one was much more satisfying. Ooijer, he of Championship Manager fame, gave PSV an eighth minute lead, and in doing so achieved the genuinely rare feat of outsmarting the Arsenal defence from a corner. This despite the return of Sol next to Kolo. From then on it was all us, with Henry leading the charge and Pires and Reyes generally choosing the wrong ball at the end of it. Henry had the best chance when he robbed Bouma, cut inside and then screwed his shot into the side netting. Then on 30 minutes Kolo surged forward and fed Henry on the right. He cut in, lost his man, slipped it into Fred who touched the ball back and then swept home his 3rd Champions League goal of the season. A magnificent equaliser. Going into the 2nd half we continued to have the best of it and Henry in particular was unlucky after running half the length of the pitch before seeing his low bobbling effort turned away. Two minutes after Van Persie replaced Reyes, we were down to 10 men when Lauren saw red for the first time as an Arsenal player. He had been booked initially for urging the referee to book one of their players. A stupid yellow card it was, but the self righteous, self indulgent condemnation of Martin Tyler and Andy Gray in the commentary box was pathetic. I swear they spent more time condemning his actions than talking about Ruud’s attempt to break Ashley Cole’s leg five weeks ago. Unsporting it may have been on Lauren’s part, but that’s it. His second yellow was for a definite foul on the PSV left touchline. I’ve only seen one replay, but to me it seemed more clumsy and mistimed than malicious. A yellow card quite possibly, but in light of the ref’s leniency towards PSV (more of that later) and the fact it was his first foul, I thought the ref could have shown a little more restraint. Even then we continued to control the game and looked the more likely to win it until Paddy got his marching orders with 12 minutes left. Booked fairly reasonably in the first half, he then saw yellow for another foul down by the touchline. Again it provoked outrage in the hyperactive PSV crowd and again the ref instinctively reached for a second yellow. It seemed harsh, mainly because Paddy had not had a dirty game. The refereeing, and in particular the leniency shown towards Marc Van Bommel was extraordinary. Whilst Paddy found himself treading a tightrope he eventually fell off, Van Bommel was given free licence to kick anything in range. He must have committed about half of PSV’s 18 fouls and yet didn’t get so much as a yellow. In total, the 18 fouls by PSV merited one yellow card, whilst our 12 earned us two reds and a yellow. Nuff said. The good news is that Panathanaikos twice lost a lead in Rosenberg and could only manage a point. It means victory against Rosenberg will send us through, and so too will a draw or a defeat if Panathanaikos fail to win. Player ratings: Lehman: Made a very important save late on and when we looked suspect from corners it wasn’t really his fault. Kicking didn’t give much cause for concern either. 7 Lauren: Played reasonably well, got a silly yellow card and was then booked for another challenge. Yes, the first one was stupid on his part, but I’m not about to indulge in the Lauren bashing that SKY seemed to willing to partake in. 6 Cole: Made a few mistakes you wouldn’t normally expect of him, but also made some fine tackles and got forward very well on occasion to help out. 6.5 Sol: Looked good on his return to the side. We still looked a little suspect at set pieces, but in normal play life felt a lot more normal again. 7 Kolo: Made some good surges forward and generally looked happy to have Sol back. Which shouldn’t really come as much of a shock. 7 Paddy: Not for the first time recently was responsible for the goal and again didn’t find his best form. But continued to work hard and was unfortunate to be sent-off by a homer ref. 6.5 Cesc: Started slowly and lost the ball a couple of times. Then got into the game a lot more and gave a responsible and mature performance when we were down to 10 and then 9 men. 7 Fred: Brilliant lay off for Henry’s goal and worked hard throughout the night without getting too much joy. 7 Pires: Quiet. Too many of his balls went array and for once his decision making was poor. Withdrawn to make way for Hoyte following Lauren’s red card. 6 Reyes: As expected he partnered Henry up front but could never make much of an impact on the game. Is struggling a bit at the moment, but you sense he’ll be back. Replaced by Van Persie on 62. 6 Henry: Full of running, he scored a great goal at a really important time and might have made two more for himself but was let down by firstly his finishing and then a bobbly pitch. Bizarrely taking stick from some people at the moment, but I’m at a loss to understand why. 7.5 Subs: Van Persie: Had one great chance but fired well over when almost through on goal. Otherwise didn’t offer too much, but was no worse than Reyes. Subbed himself by Flamini after being hurt in a challenge. 6 Hoyte: Came on at a time when we needed to steady ourselves and did well. Could well find himself with a starting role against Rosenberg in the final game. 7 Flamini: Gave the ball away stupidly a couple of times when we were down to nine men, but also made some timely interceptions and had a hard task covering centre and right midfield. 6.5 PS: SKY are now looking over the match. They thought they were both red cards. I still think Lauren's second was just clumsy more than anything, though I can understand why the red card was given, even if it was out of context with the way the referee was taking charge of the rest of the game. 23 November 2004 01.30 GMT. How we can qualify and how we can stuff it up. Get your head round our Champions League qualification permutations, check out the new goodplayas on the site and visit the full list of all the goodplayas. If we win, we’re through. We’d only be level with PSV and possibly just a point ahead of Panathanaikos, but by virtue of our 2-2 draw in Greece (as opposed to 1-1 at Highbury,) the Greeks would have to win in their final game to finish ahead of us. If they did, we’d finish at least level with PSV and would have easily the better record after beating them twice. If we lose, then things don’t look good. PSV would be certain of going through and would quite possibly field a weakened team in their final group game against Panathanaikos. In the event that we lose and Pana win tomorrow night, we’d have to win at home to Rosenberg and hope that Pana manage only a draw in their final game (which would put us through on goal difference.) If we lose and they draw tomorrow night then Pana would have to achieve a better outcome against PSV in their final game than we would against Rosenberg. A win, draw or loss for both would send us through. Rosenberg can only come into the equation if they win their game against Panathanaikos tomorrow night and then beat us in our final game. Assuming we’d lost on Wednesday, they would finish ahead of us and would go through if Pana failed to win against PSV on the final match day. Pana could also go through if we drew and they won. If we draw and Pana win, we’d either have to win or achieve a draw and hope Panathanaikos lose. If we draw and Pana draw, Pana would have to win their final group game and hope we don’t. If we draw and Pana lose then Rosenberg would once again enter the fray. Victory at Highbury would leave them ahead of us in the final group standings, and reliant on Panathanaikos not winning in Holland. For our part, a draw would do. So, victory tomorrow puts us definitely through. If we lose, we clearly want Rosenberg to do well tomorrow night, because a Pana victory would leave qualification out of our hands. If we draw, the best result in the other game is again a Rosenberg victory. It would leave us needing only a draw to qualify. 20 November 2004 19.15GMT. 1-1. Cygan scaring the others + playa ratings. Pascal Cygan is no Baresi, but he’s not an awful player either. But at the moment his presence is having a devastating effect on our play. The rest of the team doesn’t trust neither him nor Jens Lehman and the effect is reverberating through our side. Yet again we conceded a late goal and dropped more points at home. Jonathan Greening did very well to bring down a high ball on the right wing. Bob and Cole could have done more to press him, but when the cross came in the ball somehow ran all the way through to substitute Robert Earnshaw who finished low. Our first half performance was poor, though in truth we did have a few chances and for all their possession the Baggies had just one real opportunity – a cross from the left that two men in the middle missed. We came out looking much better after the break, realising the wings were for using rather than avoiding. Henry and Bob got into the game a lot more and within ten minutes Bob had given us a not completely undeserved lead. Jens cleared a through ball and within seconds the ball had fallen for Pires who found himself running at the West Brom defence, with few options ahead of him. Wisely, he went for a curling shot, which was hit well enough but should have been food and drink for Russell Hoult. But somehow the ball slipped between his fingers and in. A lucky goal, but seconds earlier, Bob had been denied what looked like a certain opener when Ash had blocked his goal bound effort after good work by Henry. For the next 25 minutes it was all us. Our play was by no means perfect, but Dennis, Henry and particularly Cygan all had chances. We also realised that when hurried, West Brom look little more than a first division outfit. Then out of nothing the goal arrived, a bolt from the blue but from West Brom’s point of view a perfectly timed equaliser. Jose replaced Fabregas, leaving us with 5 forwards on the pitch, which didn’t do much for our shape. With two minutes left Bergkamp finally departed, giving Van Persie no time to impress. It was another bitterly disappointing afternoon, tempered only by Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Bolton in a delayed kick-off. This was not a vintage performance by any means. Our midfield and attack are not firing on all cylinders. But they are at least getting a goal or two. But this doesn’t seem to be enough. Our confidence at the back is shot and we seem vulnerable every time a cross or set piece comes in. Cygan has to be dropped for the sake of the team. And if Senderos is not ready then Hoyte or Djourou should come in. We simply can’t carry on like this. And whilst I’m on the subject, Jens needs to sort out his kicking and Dennis stop talking about a new contract. He’s an unproductive passenger at the moment. Subs: Lehman: The kicking is shocking. Not even Cygan trusts him. And it’s criminal because he’s well capable of kicking a football properly. Had sod all else to do. 5 Lauren: Continued his decent form of late and looked weak at no point. Got forward on occasion and linked up decently with Fred, who perhaps not coincidentally continued his own good form. 7 Cole: In what has been a turbulent week Ash didn’t have the best of games. He got forward well enough and at times to good effect, but his touch was off and too many times he gave the Baggies the chance to break. 6 Kolo: Looked reasonably good, but just aint happy next to Cygan. Must be longing for Sol’s return. 7 Cygan: For a player who sees so much of the ball he’s just too dodgy. Poor in the air, suspect on the ground and gives the rest of the team the shits. I bear no ill will to Pascal because he always gives his all, but he simply isn’t good enough and is too much of a risk to keep in the side. 5.5 Cesc: After 15 odd games playing like a superstar, today he was average. Looked weak on the ball and lost it too often. But also had some good moments and showed great creativity at times with some nice passing. Kept himself in the game. 6 Paddy: As has been the case in recent games, he wasn’t at the swashbuckling best we know he can produce. But as has also been the case in recent games he cut a fair bit out and ensured that even if he’s not technically at his best, he won’t be found wanting for effort. 6.5 Freddie: Flittered in and out of the first half and then came into his own in the second half with some excellent runs and some fairly decent low crosses. Fighting really hard at the moment, and the crowd appreciate it. 7 Pires: Decent in the first half, excellent in the second. He seemed to find time and space in a packed West Brom defence and set us on numerous attacks down their left. Terrible goalkeeping it may have been, but it was also his 8th in the league this season. 7.5 Henry: Decent in the 1st half and saw his low effort go wide and free-kick well saved. Gave West Brom a lot of grief in the 2nd half and then air kicked after dancing through the Baggies defence. Also harried their defenders and won the ball back a lot. Truth be told, he’d probably make a better defender than Cygan. 7 Dennis: Just not happening for him at the moment. Why he stayed on the pitch for 88 minutes is beyond me. Best moment was when he knocked the ball into the net in the 2nd half. The offside flag may have been up, but that was still as good as it got. Should leave off the talk of new contracts for a while. 5 19 November 2004 18.00GMT. Will Wenger revert to the dream team? + Angulo alternative signs Five weeks ago we thrashed Aston Villa 3-1 at Highbury. It was the final game in the run of 49 game run and possibly the best performance. We were sensational. After Lee Hendrie’s opener, Cesc and Paddy bossed the midfield, Reyes and Pires ran like greyhounds down the wings and Henry and Bergkamp danced majestically up front. Gordon Strachan described the first half performance as the best he’d ever seen. Funny how things change so quickly. Paddy and Thierry played 90 minutes for France on Wednesday, Cesc an important half hour for the Spanish kids and Jose double that in the disgrace of Wednesday night. Fred, Bob and Dennis should be fresh. Logic would say Fred should play instead of Bob, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a return to the dream team that destroyed Villa. If not, expect Jose to sit on the bench. The other big question is whether Dennis travels to Eindhoven in next week. Elsewhere Gilberto is out for another six weeks at least (and possibly the season), Edu is still injured and Flamini apparently doubtful, leaving us short in midfield. Manuel Eboue will join in January and apparently he can play in midfield, right back and centre back, which sounds much like a combination of what Angulo would have done (at least the first two) had he signed and what Senderos would be doing (the latter one) were he fit. All of which suggests I should be at the game tomorrow, so a brief report and playa ratings should be up by 6.30 at the latest. 17 November 2004 23.25GMT. Reyes flickers as England achieve complete consistency Spain 1 England 0. Jose started wide left, in a brilliant Spanish midfield consisting of Alonso and Xavi in the middle and Joaquin on the right. Much of their best work went down the right and at times Joaquin gave Ash a serious run around. But Jose did see some of the ball and played Raul in with a brilliant through ball for the debatable first half penalty that was subsequently saved by Paul Robinson. He also got predictably ploughed a couple of times by Gary Neville who doesn’t even seem able to hide his fouls any more. A minute after the second challenge Jose responded with a little trailing kick, but it was a boy’s effort and not nearly hard enough. He was eventually replaced on around the hour. England for their part were abysmal. Yes it was an international friendly, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more consistently awful performance across an entire 90 minutes. There was no good spell, there was no shot on target, there was no star man. Not a single England player was above a 5. Our passing was pathetic and our discipline embarrassing. After a couple of ridiculous challenges we had to go through the humiliation of seeing Rooney, supposedly our star man, subbed four minutes before half time because it didn’t look like he’d be able to last until half time without seeing red. As he left the field he ripped off his black armband, worn in memory of Emlyn Hughes, and slung it to the ground. It was stupidity rather than calculated malice, but Rooney will deservedly get a battering in tomorrow’s press. England had absolutely no hope of an equaliser, eventually threatening to drag Spain down to our level. When we did once get the ball into a crossable position I can honestly say I didn’t want us to score, so undeserved would it have been. Sections of the Spanish fans were for their part appalling, subjecting Sean Wright-Phillips and to a lesser extent Ashley Cole to appalling racist abuse. All in all it was one of the most depressing football matches I’ve ever watched. Credit Spain though for some excellent play and credit also the BBC also for not trying to gloss over the awfulness of it all. 14 November 2004 17.15GMT. Mourinho mouths off, Spurs 4 Arsenal 5 + player ratings. I’m hungover, so what follows is crap. From Jose Mourinho: "In a three-against-three training match, if the score reaches 5-4 I send the players back to the dressing rooms as they are not defending properly. So to get a result like that in a game of 11 against 11 is disgraceful." And from before the game: “I was driving along the Kings Road and one of my assistants told me that on the last day of the season this place will be going crazy with Chelsea fans. I said to him that we can do it one or two weeks before then.” Admittedly, it’s a good attempt at a wind-up, but highly naïve too. Mourinho appears genuinely flabbergasted that a side that have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on the world’s best players should find themselves at the top of the Premiership. I’m not about to say money alone can buy success, but he seems totally oblivious to the benefits afforded to him. Robben looks like a fantastic player, as do Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Tiago, Cech. Drogba and Kezman are yet to prove themselves, but hey, what does £30 million matter? In the past 18 months, the following 10 players have come into our first team squad: Flamini, Cesc, Van Persie, Reyes, Lehman, Toure, Alumnia, Clichy, Senderos and Hoyte. A total of £17 million, rising as high as £25 million in a few years. Take out Jose and the other nine cost £3 million less than Scott Parker. Chelsea have spent just the £222 million. Wayne Bridge (£7m), Glen Johnson (£6m), Damien Duff (£17m), Marco Ambrosio (free) and Geremi (£7m) Joe Cole (£6.6m), Juan Sebastian Veron (£15m), Adrian Mutu (£15.8m), Hernan Crespo (£16.8m), Smertin (£3.5m), Makelele (£16m), Parker (£10m), Cech (£7m), Paulo Ferreira (£13.2m), Kezman (£5m), Drogba (£24m), Tiago (£10m), Carvalho (£19.85m), Robben (£12m). In the spirit of generosity we’ll wipe off Veron, Crespo and Mutu, taking the total down to just £175 million. Of that, over half of it (£92 million) is Mourinho’s. And no doubt when the transfer window opens again in January Chelsea will plug even the slightest hint of weakness with one or more multi million pound recruits. Arsene will probably seek to add to his four centre backs (combined cost £4 million) with a £1 or £2 million signing. Four weeks today Chelsea come to Highbury. Spurs yesterday This from Roy Collins in the Sunday Telegraph: “This was such an extraordinary affair that, for once, the wider ramifications could be safely ignored. This was to be enjoyed as a stand alone piece of entertainment, a one-off, irresistible cocktail of abysmal defending and brilliant goalscoring, an aberration in Premiership terms and which will have absolutely no bearing on Arsenal's ambitions to retain their title or Tottenham's hopes of staying up.” Largely true, but our defending still concerns me. Yesterday we conceded two more from set pieces. As was the case against Southampton. I don’t think that Cygan’s presence helps, but truth be told he’s not the only one defending poorly at the moment. So are we to assume this is the end of the bad run? If not, Chelsea will have a great opportunity to stretch the lead. If it is indeed over then we’ve come through it in decent shape, having come out of visits to probably our two worst away grounds with a win and a loss, which points wise at least is better than two draws. Player ratings: Jens: Completely faultless for their 1st, 2nd and 4th goals. Could he have done better with King’s header? Probably not. The header was unreadable and perfectly placed. Jens was also looking straight into bright sunshine. His save from a Spurs header at 1-0 was excellent and crucially kept us in the game. 7 Lauren: The steadily consistent one is being anything but at the moment. Excellent at Old Trafford and better than most at Palace, he put in a superb long ball for Henry’s goal and took a high pressure penalty brilliantly. Why he was taking it is a very different issue. 7.5 Cole: Got forward well once or twice in both halves. As an individual his defending was ok, but he’s part of a defence conceding too many at the moment. 6.5 Kolo: Seemed to lose his man for the first goal and it wasn’t the only time. 6 Cygan: Not specifically culpable for any of Spurs’ four goals, but his presence still fails to inspire confidence. 6 Paddy: A lot of people, Paddy included, have been critical of his performances of late. I agree he’s made errors (the first goal yesterday) but I think his work rate has been excellent and yesterday he got his reward with our third goal. Spurs’ defending may not have been great, but it was a strong run and perfect finish. And for that I think he deserves applause. 7.5 Cesc: Neat and tidy as ever, the young Spaniard made the fourth goal for Freddy. His tackle to dispossess the Spurs player was clinical and the reverse pass for Freddy unseen by almost everyone else in the ground. 7.5 Freddie: Given man of the match by SKY, Fred’s run for the penalty was reward for perseverance and his finish was classic Freddie. Four league goals and six in total already. 7.5 Jose: Our only vague threat in the first half, he missed a sitter just after half time at 1-1. Worked hard, though Spurs seemed better schooled than most at reading his drag backs. 7 Dennis: From the moment he gave away the ball in the first minute he was pretty useless. Indeed the recovery and subsequent goals didn’t have much to do with him at all. 6 Henry: Very quiet in the first half, his equaliser on the first half was fantastic and reminiscent of Dennis’ classic against Argentina six years ago. A superb picture on the front of the Observer sports section shows him pulling down Lauren’s ball. His right leg is virtually horizontal and the ball looks glued to his foot. It was the perfect time to score and was as much of a striker’s piece of opportunism as you’ll ever likely see from Thierry. Passed on the penalty for some reason, his hard work and tackling back allowed him to eventually put Bobby in for the crucial fifth goal. 11 goals in 13 league games, at this rate Ian Wright’s record of 185 will probably be broken by the end of the season. 7.5 Subs: Pires (for Jose 67): Now has seven league goals this season from something like 6 starts. His efficiency in front of goal really is fantastic. Left Pamarot for dead on the fifth goal with the foot shuffle that left Steven Gerrard floundering in the run-up to Freddy’s brilliant second goal at Anfield two years ago. Kept his cool to finish under Robinson’s body. 7.5 Van Persie (for Dennis 80): Not much of note. 13 November 2004 00:45GMT. Lack of Spurs preview. Spurs second goal against Charlton was fantastic last week. Robbie Keane played the ball into Jermaine Defoe who in one movement spun his marker and powered a brilliant right footed shot past Dean Kiley. Watching it gave me images of Defoe spinning Cygan in just that way tomorrow. So I think we need big games from Paddy and Cesc, who will start because Edu and Gilberto are out injured. Paddy needs to sit in front of Cygan and Toure, so that Defoe and Keane are squeezed in. As was the case before Old Trafford last month, our last two performances at White Hart Lane have been poor. Two years ago a Bobby Pires penalty rescued us a point on the stroke of half time after a catastrophic first half in which Spurs played us off the park. Last year we led 2-0 at the break but were then too casual in the second half and ended up with a point. Arsenal.com have a piece about Matthieu Flamini pushing for a first team place, but I fully expect Cesc to start. I would stick with the side that started at Palace last week and I think Arsene will too. We need to be efficient with our chances, and I don’t think Dennis always is. So I assume Dennis and Van Persie will be on the bench. Our last four games at White Hart Lane have ended with the points shared, as have the six of the last eight. Will tomorrow be any different? I don’t know. For some reason, I’m not feeling up for this derby. 11 November 2004 00:05GMT. Old Trafford in the quarter-final. Carling Cup fifth round: Watford v Portsmouth Tottenham v Liverpool Fulham v Chelsea Manchester Utd v Arsenal We made eleven changes last night, United ten tonight. But their side was far more experienced, Luke Richardson the only unfamiliar name. Robbie Earle is currently on ITV wondering whether the kids will play or if the first teamers will be back. He should know that Fergie and Wenger will play almost exactly the same teams as won this week. It will be a fascinating tie – home advantage and their far greater experience making the United reserve team clear favourites against the Arsenal youth team. But in a way, barring a real hammering we have nothing to lose from the tie. Most of the players involved won’t have been in the classic Arsenal United games of the past. But it will still be Arsenal United and the naivety of the players could make a punch up even more likely than usual. I hope not. 10 November 2004. 00:05GMT Arsenal kids 3 Everton 1 Excluding Edu, the other ten Gooners who started tonight had a total of three Premiership starts between them. Djorou partnered Senderos in defence, with Karbassiyoon in for Larsson at left back and Edu in for Cesc in midfield. Everton appeared to be at completely full strength minus perhaps Nigel Martyn, Duncan Ferguson and Lee Carsley. Yet at 9.35pm the young Gunners were taking their bow in front of the North Bank having despatched the Premiership’s third placed team 3-1. It was a fantastic performance, particularly so because we’d had to come from 1-0 down after a deflected Thomas Gravesen free kick had given Everton an eight minute lead. It was the second time in a week that the Gunners had been thwarted by an unfortunate deflection, though on this occasion Jermaine Pennant might have been better advised not to turn his back on what he thought would be a ferocious effort. As it was it was a low skimmer that zipped off the wet Highbury turf and flew beyond the stranded Alumnia. Everton’s attack of McFadden and Bent with Cahill in support gave us a fair amount of early trouble. In particular, Senderos was struggling on the quick surface and for a while had a bit of a mare. At the other end we were showing some good movement without creating too much. Then Everton replaced the injured Marcus Bent and within minutes Quincy was on for the unlucky Ryan Smith. Smith sat on the touchline looking gutted to have been struck down by injury again. In the quarter of an hour he’d had he had looked very promising and got into the game far more than against Man City. Fortunately, he is only 17 and so despite his injuries he still has plenty of time on his hands. The good news was that Quincy was on fire. Almost immediately he danced through the whole Everton team and was only thwarted by the outstretched arm of Richard Wright. Then minutes later he latched onto Jermaine Pennant’s through ball and cut back inside of two defenders. Again he aimed for Wright’s near post. This time his aim was perfect and Wright could do nothing. Super goal. For the following fifteen minutes we were clearly in the ascendancy – Van Persie seeing one shot saved, on fly wide and another deflected just wide of Richard Wright’s post. We were looking good, but we tired before half time. McFadden (?) forced Alumnia into a fine save after turning Senderos, before Pistone saw his low effort beat the Spaniard, dribble onto the post before rolling across the line. Eventually Hoyte picked up the ball and cleared to safety. Five minutes after the break we had the lead. Quincy again danced through the defence. He elected not to shoot and fed Van Persie instead. He too elected not to shoot and fed Lupoli instead. Lupoli, being an out and out striker, elected to shoot and buried the ball past Richard Wright. Another excellent strike. Everton stepped up the pressure, but we were holding firm. Djorou and Hoyte were excellent, whilst Senderos had a far far better second half than first. The midfield held firm too, even after Edu was replaced by Sebastien Larsson midway through the second half. We continued to look threatening when we broke, with Van Persie having a free kick well saved and a couple of other decent efforts flying in. Then on 85, Flamini did well down the right before feeding Quincy who delighted the North Bank with his usual silky skills. Eventually he picked out Lupoli perfectly with a low cross. The Italian’s finish was flawless – a low left footed effort on the stretch from twelve yards. A fantastic goal and a great way to cap off a superb performance. Highbury was great tonight – a lot of people who can’t normally get to games had tickets, and they, the specially convened North Bank singing section and a fantastic performance on the pitch all made for a great atmosphere. It had the refreshing feel of people’s Sunday at Wimbledon without the cringeworthy Britishness of it all. This was a great, well deserved result against a side lying third in the table who had only previously narrowly lost to Chelsea and to our first team. Player ratings: Alumnia: Faultless for goal and made a great save at 1-1. Also made a couple of late blocks at 3-1. Handling and kicking excellent. 7.5 Karbassiyoon: In the 2nd half in particular the Blues attacking seemed predominately to come down Arsenal’s right, meaning Karbassiyoon was less troubled than Hoyte. Nonetheless his defending was very sound. 7 Senderos: A nightmare in the first half when he couldn’t put a foot right for about 20 minutes and scarily resembled Igor Stepanovs. But learnt the lesson that on a wet night it is often best to simply put your foot behind the ball and go for safety first. Defended much better in the second half. First half: 6 Second half: 7.5 Djorou: Tall and strong, he looked completely untroubled by Everton in the first half. Up the other end in the second half he was put under a lot more pressure but stood firm admirably. Excellent full debut. 8 Hoyte: For a while I was thinking it would be nice if he got forward a bit more but by the end of the game he could look back on a superb defensive display. A hell of a lot of Everton’s second half attacks came down his side in the second half, yet he was unfazed and kept his concentration far better than some of our first choice defenders have recently. 8.5 Edu: Looked like the schoolmaster with his kids. His touch was a little off early on and he gave away the free kick for the goal. But this is excusable – tonight was clearly a way of easing him back after injury. Got into the game more in the second half and with Flamini gave good protection to the defence. Was replaced by Larsson after 67 minutes, leaving us with an even more inexperienced team and the captaincy with Jermaine Pennant. 7 Flamini: Keeps it simple, knows what he can do and doesn’t try anything he can’t do. Also provides good defensive protection and gets forward efficiently like he did for the killer third goal against Villa three weeks ago and like he did for the killer third goal tonight. 7.5 Smith: As I said above he was far more involved in the 15 minutes he had tonight than 2 weeks ago at Man City. Is still very young and shouldn’t be frustrated by his injuries or inability to yet break through. 7 Pennant: Got far more involved in the game than he usually does, cutting in to take control on many occasions. I think it suited him – he sometimes appears a little wasted ploughing a lone furrow on the wing. There were far fewer crosses tonight and a lot more direct running and good through balls. 8 Van Persie: Still a little bit raw, but showed some brilliant touches and came close on a number of occasions. Linked up well with the other forwards and gelled the team well. Came over to the North Bank and threw his shirt into it at the end, which was nice. 7.5 Subs: Quincy (for the injured Smith 15). When I saw him last year, I was convinced he would make a good party trick for some other team, but in no way efficient enough to play for Arsenal. He could still get involved in the game a bit more – you sometimes felt as though the five or six outstanding runs he had in the game were the only time he had touched the ball. And yet in no way did he appear lazy. So, having put him down a little, I’ll now say that his introduction turned the game, that he was absolutely sensational and that he could, just could be an absolutely fantastic player one day. He almost scored one of the great goals within seconds of coming on. And minutes later his finish was clinical for the equaliser. He also set up the other two goals with great runs. Not a lot more you can say. 9 Larsson: (for the recovering Edu 67ish) Came on and like he did at City in the last round, Larsson slotted in perfectly. As I’ve said before, I’m not sure if he has the technical ability to be a first team regular at Highbury, but his attitude and use of his football brain are first class and will give him a very good career at a high level. 7 Patrick Cregg (for Lupoli 90) The only debutant on the night, Cregg’s introduction gave Lupoli his deserved standing ovation. Didn’t really have a touch as far as I remember. 8 November 2004. 21:40GMT. Wenger charged! Fergie told to fuck right off and Everton Arsene Wenger has been charged with improper conduct by the FA for his comments about Van Nistelrooy being a cheat. Much as we’re no doubt meant to condemn his words that bring shame on the once glorious game (thought I’d get that in before James Lawton does tomorrow), I can’t help feeling the same as when I saw the ape mount the horse. Nobody came remotely close to getting hurt and in both cases you’ll only find me egging them on. Equally funny was the fact that the FA looked at Fergie’s ‘World’s worst football challenges ever’ and politely told him to fuck himself, just as they did when confronted by the irrefutable, independent evidence that exposed Cesc Fabregas, or maybe Ashley Cole, or maybe Jens Lehman as being responsible for a dangerous pizza/soup/sandwich/water assisted assault on Fergie in the tunnel/Arsenal’s dressing room/outside the United dressing room. No doubt some dried up old United legend will use his column in the Northern Daily News or to tell us it’s all part of the David Dein conspiracy at the FA. It’ll be tough, but I think we can live with him. Everton The news is that Edu returns tomorrow night, which I could have revealed exclusively to you this morning had I been fucked to post an update. Don’t get me wrong – like most of the press I haven’t got an inside source to speak of. I just figured that with Cesc playing 3 games in a week he would be rested, leaving a great whooping hole next to Flamini. And its just Arsene’s way to conveniently manage to plug these holes with a returning first teamer in need of practice. The other news is that Pennant is recovered from injury, but Clichy isn’t. Wenger has named a 16 man squad, which I predict will break down like this, on the basis that I know Hoyte can play centre back: GK: Alumnia RB: Djorou LB: Larsson CB: Senderos CB: Hoyte LM: Smith RM: Pennant CM: Edu CM: Flamini FW: Lupoli FW: Van Persie Subs: Taylor Quincy Karbassiyoon Cregg Fowler I’ll be at the game tomorrow night and should have a report and player ratings up soon after. 7 November 2004 13.15GMT. Palace 1 Arsenal 1. First things first. I got my dates all messed up in the last blog. We actually play Spurs at noon this Saturday and England then play Spain the following Wednesday with no break for the international. Story of the match: We spent 60 minutes attacking without getting very far at all. Then a good move involving Freddy and Pires (?) ended with the former playing the ball across the box for Henry to score what was one of his scrappiest ever goals. (A screamer by Van Nistelrooy standards). As usual, we then went to sleep, they equalised immediately and then should have had another but for an awful miss. In a more entertaining last 20 minutes there were good chances for both sides, with Van Persie seeing two efforts well saved. There are a few very simple things to say about last night: 1) We are missing Sol Campbell badly. Though it is true we gave away 2 leads in Panathanaikos and lost to United with him in the side, we appear a lot more shaky at the moment. DO NOT take this to mean that Pascal Cygan is shit. I’ll leave that to say to the tabloid journalists without either the ability or space to do anything else other than find a scapegoat. The fact is, Cygan is not great. But with the exception of Lauren, the whole of the defence (including Cole) are looking a little defensively shaky at the moment. This is not to say they are not doing the right things 99% of the time, it is just that they are making occasional slip-ups that are costing us. I also repeat my point that with Sol out of the side, Kolo becomes the senior partner in defence. And great as he is, I’m not convinced he is experienced enough yet to be the senior partner. 2.) We are going through a tough patch. The effort is still there, and Arsene was spot on when he said the players gave 100% last night. The problem is that things are just not running smoothly as they did before. But this happens to every team at some point in a season. We are still digging out hard fought 1-0 leads, but the problem is that with the defence how it is we need two goal cushions really. 3.) Palace were excellent. It was a sell-out under the floodlights, Arsenal had crossed the river for the first time in years and the Eagles were flying high after winning 4 of their previous 5 games. They were tenacious (but fair), they harried, they pushed and they generally made life very difficult. In a way, they were a tad unlucky to go a goal down, because though they had hardly got out of their own half, it was our first real clear cut chance. Perhaps had we been playing better we would have held on to the lead and scraped out the 3 points. But equally had we been playing better we might never have got the lead and had to settle for a frustrating 0-0. So should Arsene have spent more on defenders to provide decent cover for Sol? There has definitely been an attacking emphasis on his recent transfers, but really even then, closer analysis shows he is largely making do with the absolute minimum. Up front, the fact we still have Dennis aged 36 is a delight and a surprise. But as recent games have shown, he can’t play every week. So really signing Jose Reyes was essential (as was ridding ourselves of Kanu and Wiltord’s wage bills). RVP, who cost only about £1.5 million currently fulfils the role of 2nd reserve striker, or first reserve if Jose takes up his second position of being first reserve on the left wing. In central midfield, we have five players for what would normally be four spots, but this is only due to two players (Cesc and Flamini) being brought in for a total of £1 million. So it is not as though the spending has been excessive there either. Compare this to Chelsea, who yesterday blooded five summer signings in their starting line up. They cost a total of £62 million - £15 million more than Arsenal’s entire starting eleven alone. So perhaps when we lament the lack of cover for Sol, we should remember the limitations we play under. Playa ratings later. 5 November 2004 22:30GMT. Failure to win at Selhurst would be a disaster. Or so much of the media would have you believe. Their inability to take even the briefest of glances at history is staggering. Arsenal always stutter towards the end of October and into November. Last year was an exception: we were awesome all the way through. Take a glance through these figures: 2002-2003: Sat Oct 19 A Everton L 1 - 2 Lj Tue Oct 22 H Auxerre L 1 - 2 Ka Sat Oct 26 H Blackburn_Rovers L 1 - 2 Ed Wed Oct 30 A Borussia_Dortmund L 1 - 2 He 2001-2002: Tue Oct 30 A Schalke_04 L 1 - 3 Wi Sun Nov 4 H Charlton_Athletic L 2 - 4 He2 Mon Nov 5 H Manchester_United W 4 - 0 Wi3 Ka (League Cup) Sat Nov 17 A Tottenham_Hotspur D 1 - 1 Pi Wed Nov 21 A Deportivo_La_Coruna L 0 – 2 2000-2001: Tue Nov 7 A Shakhtar_Donetsk L 0 - 3 Sat Nov 11 H Derby_County D 0 - 0 Sat Nov 18 A Everton L 0 - 2 Wed Nov 22 A Spartak_Moscow L 1 - 4 Si Sun Nov 26 A Leeds_United L 0 – 1 1999-2000: Tue Oct 19 H Barcelona L 2 - 4 Be Ov Sat Oct 23 A Chelsea W 3 - 2 Ka3 Wed Oct 27 H Fiorentina L 0 - 1 Sat Oct 30 H Newcastle_United D 0 - 0 Tue Nov 2 A AIK_Solna W 3 - 2 Ov2 Su Sun Nov 7 A Tottenham_Hotspur L 1 - 2 Vi 1998-1999: Wed Nov 4 A Dynamo_Kiev L 1 - 3 Hu Sun Nov 8 H Everton W 1 - 0 An Wed Nov 11 H Chelsea L 0 - 5 Sat Nov 14 H Tottenham_Hotspur D 0 - 0 Sat Nov 21 A Wimbledon L 0 - 1 Wed Nov 25 H Lens L 0 - 1 Sun Nov 29 H Middlesbrough D 1 - 1 An Sat Dec 5 A Derby_County D 0 - 0 Wed Dec 9 A Panathinaikos W 3 - 1 An Bo og Sun Dec 13 A Aston_Villa L 2 - 3 Be2 1997-1998: Sat Oct 18 A Crystal_Palace D 0 - 0 Sun Oct 26 H Aston_Villa D 0 - 0 Sat Nov 1 A Derby_County L 0 - 3 Sun Nov 9 H Manchester_United W 3 - 2 An Vi Pl Tue Nov 18 H Coventry_City (4th rnd) W 1 - 0 Be Sat Nov 22 A Sheffield_Wednesday L 0 - 2 Sun Nov 30 H Liverpool L 0 - 1 Sat Dec 6 A Newcastle_United W 1 - 0 Wr Sat Dec 13 H Blackburn_Rovers L 1 - 3 Ov 1996-1997: Sat Oct 19 H Coventry_City D 0 - 0 Wed Oct 23 A Stoke City (3rd rnd) D 1 - 1 Wr Sat Oct 26 H Leeds_United W 3 - 0 Di Be Wr Sat Nov 2 A Wimbledon D 2 - 2 Wr Me Wed Nov 13 H Stoke City (3rd rnd REPLAY) W 5 - 2 Wr2 Be Pl Me Sat Nov 16 A Manchester_United L 0 - 1 Sun Nov 24 H Tottenham_Hotspur W 3 - 1 Wr Be Ad Wed Nov 27 A Liverpool L 2 - 4 Wr2 Sat Nov 30 A Newcastle_United W 2 - 1 Dx Wr Wed Dec 4 H Southampton W 3 - 1 Me Wr Sh Sat Dec 7 H Derby_County D 2 - 2 Ad Vi Sat Dec 21 A Nottingham_Forest L 1 - 2 Wr Thu Dec 26 A Sheffield_Wednesday D 0 - 0 Sat Dec 28 H Aston_Villa D 2 - 2 Wr Me So the lesson is that we slump every year, but are becoming far better at muddling through it and minimising its detrimental effect. Currently, our slump includes two Champions League draws. According to the back page of Wednesday’s Mirror we face a Champions League exit. Yet victory at PSV (who we beat 1-0 at home this season and 4-0 away two years ago) will send us through with a game to spare and negate the relevance of the draws. We have also dropped five premiership points – a harsh defeat at the home of one of our two closest rivals and two dropped points against Southampton. And we’re still just top. Of course the run could continue at Palace, but to long time Arsenal fans the current slump should be no surprise. Palace away I think much of the criticism of Dennis has been ridiculous this week. When a team isn’t playing well the easiest thing is to pick out the young players as being too young or the old players as being past it. Dennis had an excellent start to the season, but has slumped in recent games – along with Henry, Pires, Freddy, Paddy and even Cole. But still, I would give him a rest at Palace. Will Arsene? I think so. There are two team questions for me. Firstly, with Edu and Gilberto still out, will Cesc or Flamini start next to Paddy? This could be the perfect game to give Flamini his first start, but with no game next weekend, I think Arsene will stick with Cesc and then possibly not play him on Tuesday in the League Cup against Everton if he’s tired. I’m sure Bob will play after his recent rest and I don’t think Jose will start two games running on the bench, again particularly because we have no game next week. The question then is whether Reyes plays up front with Henry, leaving Freddie on the right, or whether Reyes goes left wing, Pires right wing, Van Persie up front and Freddy on the bench. Then again, Bob and Freddy could be in their usual positions with Van Persie up front next to Henry. Who knows. In Tuesday’s programme, Paddy said he loves tough away games such as trips to Selhurst and White Hart Lane. Palace will try to get right up us at Selhurst, of that there is no doubt. The question is whether we let our discipline slip, our heads go down and end up dropping three more points. Or will we battle through, maybe not at our best, and set ourselves on the way to recovery? 4 November 2004 18:25GMT. Three points on Ashburton Grove and four goals for Ruud. Besides staying up until 5 am becoming an expert on the electoral geography and intricacies of Florida and Ohio in a desperate search for a few hundred thousand votes for Kerry, I’ve been thinking about Ashburton Grove a fair bit in the last 24 hours. Firstly, whilst sitting in my very nice gift of a seat in the west upper last night, I realised that our next home game against Rosenberg is at the very most the 10th last Champions League game we will ever play at Highbury. Which in itself is not something I’ll mourn. Despite a few great nights against the likes of Juve, Lazio and err Kiev, the ground has never felt itself on CL nights. Perhaps it’s the fat advertising boards, the 35,000 maximum crowd, the empty front rows or even the lack of beer on sale in the ground. Either way, something has never felt quite right. But more of that on point 3. Ashburton Grove point 2 is that my invitation to become a Club Level season ticket holder arrived from the club today. Normally, I have a fair bit of time for the directors of Arsenal. Maintaining any sense of logic is almost impossible when running a business where thousands of people give far more money than they can often afford to watch 11 men playing sport and being paid in a month what the Prime Minister earns in a year. Generally, the directors normally try and do things with a semblance of decency. What exactly it is escapes me at this point. But this club level seating really gets to me. Essentially, it allows the 6,000 richest Arsenal supporters (after box holders) to buy their way to the top of the season ticket waiting list, something many fans have loyally been a part of for years. For supporters with £12,000 or so knocking around, there’s a discount for stumping up for your ticket for four years at once. Incidentally, all supporters wanting season tickets in the new stadium have to commit and pay 50% of its price over a year in advance of Arsenal moving into Ashburton Grove. So if Arsene falls out with the board next year and leaves with all his Frenchman that is the ticket holders problem. Incidentally, I saw no explanation for what would happen on the oft chance the club failed to qualify for Europe. Granted, these tickets will be sold to people prepared to pay between £83 and £155 a game not just for the big games but for EVERY game. The statistics are incredible, and clearly these tickets will provide some much needed funding and perhaps even help keep the cheaper tickets at least occasionally affordable for people not on astronomical salaries. But this does strike me as a slightly risky way to run a business. Sure, (at least some) people are going to be prepared to pay this kind of money to see the sumptuous football we are currently privy to. But does the club’s financial plan rely on selling these 6,000 seats at those prices for the next 15, 20, 25 years? If so, things look decidedly shaky, because despite the appearance Arsenal’s stability normally gives to the contrary, things can change very quickly in football. Besides those gripes, seeing Arsene Wenger having the sentence “Club Level will enable fans to enjoy every game in the new stadium in unique style” fed into his mouth by some marketing guru also sticks in the throat a little. At least Paddy was given the relatively inoffensive: “The new stadium will be impressive and will definitely be the envy of clubs, not only in England, but across the world”. Finally, Point 3 is the suggestion that the wider open spaces of Ashburton Grove could benefit us in the Champions League, when teams often come to Highbury and defend deep with 10 men behind the ball. It occurred to me whilst watching United beat Sparta last night. Admittedly the Czechs were pretty cavalier, but all Old Trafford CL games always seem to be so much more open than those at Highbury. I just wonder if Ashburton Grove will give us a better ‘European stage’ on which to advance. After his four goal haul, debate is raging about whether Ruud Van Nistelrooy is one of the great Champions League scorers. His record can’t be doubted but last night’s four goal haul was nothing historic. The first was an absolute gift, the second a penalty, the third a foul by Ruud followed by very poor defending and the fourth a tap in from two yards that happened to be offside in any case. 2 November 2004 23:50GMT. 1-1 v Pana and player ratings. From Arsene's column in tonight's matchday programme: "Up front Papadopoulos, who didn't play in the first game, I rate as a good player." Magnificent. We'll obviously get a lot of stick for this performance because after all we have lost 3 consecutive Champions League leads. We didn't play well and the confidence is short, but at the same time I thought Pana were a little fortunate. After going behind to the dodgy early penalty, they didn't really commit forward, meaning Arsenal had little room up front. Yet despite their inadequateness in attack they still missed a penalty and got an equaliser when a long range effort deflected off the unfortunate Cygan. Jose then hit the bar from close range but we couldn't break through. So, yes I'm disapointed, but not as much as other people might be. And no, I don't think it a case of not being able to play in Europe. It is simply a case of finding the right way to go about things. Don't forget, a few years ago we galloped through the group stage as though nothing could stop us. Player ratings: Jens: Could do nothing for the goal, did well to put their guy off for the penalty and had little else to do. 6.5 Lauren: Was solid and made no mistakes defensively. Got into the game more once Pana had equalised. 6.5 Cole: I was at the game, so haven't seen a replay of the penalty. Tried to work with Pires and Henry, but it never really came off. 6.5 Kolo: Is looking shaky at the moment, perhaps because of the presence of Cygan, perhaps because of the absence of Campbell, perhaps just because he's looking shaky. 6.5 Cygan: Very unlucky with the goal and though he had some typically poor moments he also cleaned up quite a lot of stuff quite well. 6.5 Freddy: Was poor initially, but got into the game later on and foraged decently. 6.5 Pires: Tried to get involved, and got better later on, but like Freddy, Bobby was quiet. 6.5 Paddy: Worked very hard and didn't give up despite sometimes being given the run around. Can't be faulted for effort. 7 Cesc: Hardly misplaced a pass and was always on hand to link things together and shift the ball across field. Is really looking excellent, even forgetting the fact he is 17. 8 Dennis: Is not looking good at the moment. His touch is off and things just haven't worked for him over the last few games. 6 Henry: Took the penalty well, did some good stuff but his touch is also a little off at the moment. 6.5 Subs: Jose: (for Dennis) Almost made a brilliant instant impact when he saw his volley from Cole's cross saved by the keeper before he followed up with a shot from a yard out that crashed off the bar. 6.5 Van Persie: (for Freddy) Little time to make an impact. 30 October 2004 17.20 BST. 2-2, but at least United are worse + player ratings. 2-2 at home to Southampton is never good, especially when Chelsea win 4-1 at West Brom and go behind us only on goal difference. But still, I’m happy. And not because United lost 2-0 at Pompey or because Spurs went down at Fulham. The story of the match was thus: in the first half we were ok, had most of the play but didn’t create much until Thierry Henry hit the post with a penalty after a soft, but clear foul on Dennis. Saints had already hit the post from Nielson. We weren’t much better in the second half, but still had the better of it. On 69 Dennis played in Henry who was played on by the Saints left back Danny Higginbotham. Then on 80, Delap headed in a McCann corner and five minutes later he headed in a McCann free kick. Two minutes into injury time, substitute Robin Van Persie scored a brilliant equaliser, showing good trickery before firing in a brilliant left footed effort past Niemi. Surprisingly, Cygan for Campbell was the only change from Old Trafford, so Pires and Cesc were on the bench. Our football was reasonably good, with Jose causing trouble down the left and linking well with Henry and Dennis. Dennis may take some stick for his first touch being off today, but overall his running and movement were actually quite good. The problem was that Paddy was below bar, Freddie did little and Edu was like a ghost, doing very little to justify his inclusion ahead of Cesc. At the back Lauren and Ash were ok, but again Toure did not look ready to take on the mantle of senior defender in Sol’s absence. Cygan was ok. The first key moment after Nielson hit the post was the penalty. Unfortunately, shit happens, and sometimes even the best players hit the post. In any case, Dennis was nowhere near scoring when he got fouled and it would have been a little harsh on the Saints to have conceded here. In the 2nd half Freddie really should have made sure of it when played in following brilliant work down the left from Henry. It was a feeble finish that probably cost us 3 points. I thought that for their goals they played it perfectly and we allowed our concentration to drop just a tiny bit. They were not clangers by any means. The disappointing thing was that since going 1-0 up, players such as Paddy had really knuckled down and defended well. At 1-1, Pires and then Cesc had already replaced the injured Jose and the ineffective Edu. Then Arsene brought on Robin Van Persie for Freddie. It was logical because Fred had been pretty poor, but it made us lose all our shape. RVP went upfront and Dennis went right – I thought we had no chance of scoring. When it came, the goal was absolutely brilliant and took real balls from Van Persie. We were all over the place and the young Dutchman had already miscontrolled seconds earlier when given a hospital ball by Dennis. Again he found himself in possession on the left hand side of the box. Again Southampton had everyone back in the area and we seemingly had about 10 other men getting in the way. He brought the ball down, danced inside a couple of defenders to make space and then fired a brilliant shot across Niemi. The pub went wild, I lost my voice and I suspect Highbury went mad. Amazingly, the ref decided there was still time to play. We won a free kick which Bob knocked in and Van Persie headed into Niemi’s arms. It looked a very presentable chance, but was in fact a difficult header that would have taken some effort to put in. We lose 2 points on Chelsea, but gain back one of the ones stolen by United at Old Trafford last week. Which is nice. Quick player ratings: Jens: Stupidly came for one ball when there was no need but otherwise handled well and could do nothing for the goals. 6.5 Lauren: Steady, didn’t make any mistakes but didn’t do that much going forward either. 6.5 Cole: Defensively sound and got forward well on occasions. Is a real asset in attack. 7 Kolo: Looked unsure without Sol next to him. 6 Cygan: Reasonably sound. 6.5 Paddy: Didn’t have that much influence for much of the game but actually got really stuck in and defended well after we scored our first. 7 Edu: Was mostly neat when on the ball, but too much passes him by and doesn’t seem to make the great passes that we see from Cesc. 6 Freddie: Should have settled the game in the 2nd half with a guilt edged chance and was generally uninvolved. 6 Jose: Great work throughout the first half with really neat touches that provided almost all the thrust we had in attack. Subbed with a feared fractured hand which following an x-ray is apparently not fractured. 7.5 Henry: Not at his best, but the penalty is easily excusable, he took his goal well and did brilliantly to set up Ljungberg to finish it. 7 Dennis: Ran well and got into good positions but his touch was slightly off. 6.5 Subs: Pires (for Ryes): Did ok, but didn’t seem to really change the game. 6.5 Cesc: Looked far better than Edu when he came on and gave us more attacking impetus. 7 Van Persie: Only had 10 minutes and looked like he was on a hiding to nothing. But scored a fantastic equaliser that took real balls. 29 October 2004 18.15BST. Mad lunacy and Southampton Manchester United are to send a dossier to the Football Association containing the alleged details of last Sunday’s tunnel incident and also, apparently, on pitch indiscretions by the Gunners. First things first: if they have proof of Arsenal players being deliberately violent or dirty on Sunday then we should take whatever punishment comes our way. The rest of it is lunacy on stilts. United’s dossier will have as much objectivity about it as a ‘Human Rights in Afghanistan’ report penned by the Taliban. After a week of the finest, most forensic football journalism minds looking for the worst they could possibly find in the tunnel incident the best they have come up with is that a piece of pizza, or maybe soup, but probably just a mundane sandwich or even water was possibly thrown at Alex Ferguson, but more likely was a misdirected shot at Ruud Van Nistelrooy. But thanks should go to Oliver Kay in the Times who is able to tell us officially that Arsenal’s behaviour was “shameful”. Oh yes, it’s official. That United should attempt to cite Arsenal for on field discretions is equally bizarre. This is a club who for the past 3 years has attempted to physically take out any Arsenal player who poses a threat in a particular match. We are also being told that Ruud Van Nistelrooy is not ‘that kind of player’, that he has apologised, been punished and generally behaved in a grown-up way. Only Steve Stammers in the Standard has shown any vague attempt not to fall for this ludicrous statement. The rest of the press have lapped it up, seemingly intent to ignore: -His forearm smash into Lauren two years ago. -His punch to Freddie Ljungberg’s stomach. -His treading on Martin Keown. -His filthy tackles on Lauren and Keown when we won at Old Trafford in the F.A. Cup. Van Nistelrooy is exactly ‘that kind of player’. The scandal is that the Fergie fearing press are too feeble to point it out. Southampton United go to Pompey, Chelsea go to West Brom and we entertain Saints – all at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Sol is out with a calf strain, Cygan his likely replacement. Jens slight strain is not enough to keep him out and Ashley Cole has recovered after last week’s horror tackle. Incidentally, all Arsene said was that he wouldn’t be able to train all week and that he might miss tomorrow’s game. But no doubt it will be seized upon by Oliver Kay and friends in the Times as evidence that the tackle was just a little mistimed…. 27 October 2004 22:45 BST. City 1 Young Playas 2 + Player Ratings. Robin Van Persie’s 78th minute strike and a sweet injury time goal from debutant Daniel Kabassiyoon gave the young Gunners a well deserved victory in a sparsely populated City of Manchester stadium. Robbie Fowler got a consolation in the final minute of injury time, his 200th career goal. But it was a depressing moment – he slipped taking a free kick and it flew past Alumnia. It was a last minute freak in front of an empty stand by a player who was once one of the finest players of his generation. Despite some bright early passing, we had looked far too tentative in the first half with Cesc’s low drive our only effort on target. City, despite fielding a relatively experienced team, were largely abysmal. We found our feet after about 65 minutes, which coincided with Quincy replacing the injured Ryan Smith. The Dutchman was pacey, direct and had a Kanu like idiosyncrasy about him. He quickly got free down the left and cut the ball back for Robin Van Persie who found himself in acres of space. Sadly he snatched at the shot and whipped the ball over the bar. Five minutes later Van Persie’s shot across goal was turned into the path of Arturo Lupoli by the City keeper. It was an easy finish, but the whistle had already (quite rightly) blown for handball against the unfortunate Van Persie. However after 78 minutes the Dutchman was on hand to finish a sweeping move involving Quincy, Cesc, Lupoli and eventually the penetrative Flamini. It was a classic Arsenal goal and a well deserved one. The second was pretty too – Cesc releasing substitute Daniel Kabassiyoon behind Danny Mills of all people. He took a touch and then sent a crashing shot into the far side of the net. A great debut. Player Ratings: Manuel Alumnia: Played and looked like a mini Lehman. Caught well, saved well, distributed moderately and had one shockingly casual attempt to save a cross. 7 Justin Hoyte: Very solid and looks like he can be trusted to do a job at right back in the Premiership. But didn’t get forward anything like as much as he could have, especially with the relatively experienced Flamini and Pennant in front of him. 7 Sebastian Larsson: Played out of position at left back in Gael Clichy’s absence and found himself up against City’s star man in Sean Wright-Phillips. Troubled early, but stuck to his task well and was never too exposed. Will probably not quite make it at Arsenal but his attitude will see him do well elsewhere. 7.5 Pascal Cygan: Cut out a lot and was pretty solid. The occasional shambolic attempt at a jump or positional play, but marshalled his young colleagues well. 7 Phillipe Senderos: Finally made his debut for Arsenal and looked very solid, like an Igor Stepanovs with talent, ability, positional sense etc etc. 7.5 Cesc: Started slowly, as though he was missing his new buddies from the big team. But got into the game much more later and was at the heart of our late goals. 7 Flamini: Very solid and provided real penetration for the first goal. Solid in the tackle, positionally good and with a strong engine. Fits into the Ray Parlour mould well and looks far older than his 20 years. 7.5 Ryan Smith: Makes less use of his right foot than Nigel Winterburn, but that said his left sparkles. Nothing wrong with what he did but was largely peripheral and it was no surprise the game turned when he was replaced by Quincy. 6.5 Jermaine Pennant: Was peripheral initially but took the initiative and came inside to collect the ball and it worked. Did well in the end. 7 Arturo Lupoli: Quiet initially and seemed to get involved in a couple of skirmishes with City players. But came out strong in the 2nd half and played much better. Involved in setting up the first goal and fully involved in our late pressure. Looks and plays like a striker, which is strangely disconcerting when the player is wearing an Arsenal shirt. 7 Robin Van Persie: A little over ambitious early on with shots from the half way line and one too many pull backs. But still led the line well and to be fair most of the tricks came off. Missed a sitter but then finished excellently for his goal and ended the game in good form. 8 Subs: Quincy (for Smith): Just like last season, he’s still powerful, quick and full of running. But the good news is that the end product has increased greatly and truth be told he made the difference in the game and gave Danny Mills a torrid time, which is always nice. 8 Kabassiyoon (for Lupoli): No idea how to spell it, but slotted in neatly on the left hand side, scored a great goal and looked like a mini Gio Van Bronckhurst. All good. 7.5 Johan Djorou: Replaced the injured Pennant in the final minute. 4th round draw: Burnley v Bolton/Tottenham Forest v Fulham Newcastle United v Chelsea Liverpool v Boro Watford v Southampton Manchester United v Crystal Palace Arsenal v Everton Cardiff v Portsmouth 26 October 2004. 23:00 BST. New Goodplaya's. Press refresh at your leisure. 25 October 2004. 23:31 BST. Ruud’s previous should dictate sentence, Rooney dived full-stop, Vieira and the soup or lack of it. I had very diligently created a whole new load of Goodplayas. Now they're broke. After three years of diving, cheating and assaulting his way through games against Arsenal, Ruud Van Nistelrooy has finally been charged with serious foul play by the Football Association. The FA should be shamed by the fact it has taken so long for them to do anything to bring Van Nistelrooy to account for his potentially career ending tackles. His case will be tried on Thursday. Like a burglar who is charged with offences dating back for years when he finally comes to court, Van Nistelrooy should be cited for every time he has tried to deliberately injure an Arsenal player. Just as convicting a burglar of one offence does not allow for sufficient punishment, nor does citing Van Nistelrooy on just this offence. Of course, this won’t happen. But at the very least, Van Nistelrooy’s punishment should correlate to the punishment we received at Old Trafford last season. So whilst Lauren and Keown got 4 and 3 games respectively for pushing, the Dutchman should be punished for deliberately setting out to end a player’s career. Fair punishment? For me, six games for a deliberate tackle that could have shattered Cole’s knee. Rooney – a diver. Full stop. When Robert Pires ran into a Portsmouth defender just over a year ago to win a penalty he was rightly accused of conning the referee. The word diver and cheat was on every commentator’s lips, in every journalist’s piece. When the saintly Matty Holland did it 3 weeks later, it was ignored. Yesterday, Wayne Rooney was not clever. He wasn’t cute. He didn’t see Sol Campbell’s leg and run into it. He didn’t see Sol Campbell’s leg and fall over it. Instead he fell straight into thin air. There was simply no contact. There can be absolutely no doubt: if the player goes down when there is absolutely no contact it is a dive. Rooney didn’t lose his footing: he dived. His reaction as he picked up the ball after Riley pointed to the spot told the whole story. Vieira – refereeing the game. Paddy has taken stick from Fergie and others for constantly confronting the referee. This would be a fair point, were it not for the fact that as usual our players were receiving absolutely no protection at Old Trafford. Van Nistelrooy was trying to break Cole’s leg and the Nevilles and Rooney were well on the way to their successful removal of Jose Reyes from the game. United were doing the same as they do every year, yet Mike Riley was being completely incompetent. Vieira would have been a negligent captain not to point out the physical assault our players were on the end of. End of story. Pea soup, tomato soup, tomato pizza, water bottle? The FA are investigating reports of Fergie being hit with one of the above after the match by an Arsenal player. It made most of the backpages, despite not a single journalist seeing it. Instead it was Manchester United sources who broke the news, presumably the same sources who invented a supposed Lauren – Henry bust-up after our game against them at Highbury last April. These anonymous sources conflict enormously on what the alleged missile was and apparently nobody can tell who did it. Other than that the sources were perfect witnesses. For the record, Arsenal have unofficially rubbished the story. The report comes from Steve Stammers, seeming the only daily newspaper journalist with any real contacts inside Highbury. 24 October 2004 19:30BST. Riley and cheating Rooney combine to end unbeaten run. There were three big decisions at Old Trafford today and all three Mike Riley was wrong, wrong, wrong. In the first half Freddie ran through in classic Freddie style to an Edu through ball. He knocked it past Ferdinand and would have had a clear goal scoring chance had he not been very clearly checked by Rio. Despite SKY’s initial attempts to all but ignore the incident, it was a clear foul and Rio should have gone. But Mike Riley bottled it shamelessly and did nothing. On 73 minutes Wayne Rooney slipped the ball past Sol Campbell and went down under his challenge in the box. This time Riley blew for the foul, a correct decision based on the angle he had of the incident. What he didn’t know is that the Boy Wonder of English football had cynically dived. This wasn’t even a Pires type dive – replays showed there was absolutely no contact between Sol and the boy wonder. Van Nistelrooy slotted home the penalty. Then ten minutes later, as Arsenal sought an equaliser, Ashley Cole brought down Ronaldo down by the dead ball line, just inside the box. This time it was a foul and it should have been a penalty. Again, Riley got it wrong. But it shouldn’t have mattered. United should have played the last hour without Rio, their man of the match and shouldn’t have already had a penalty. Things should have been very different. As for the rest of it, we were again not at our best at Old Trafford. Henry looked like he was suffering from his ankle injury and Dennis was frustratingly anonymous. Freddy did well and on the left Jose (in for Pires) was excellent. Until he was withdrawn after an hour having been kicked to bits by the dirty Neville brothers and co. How surprising. United for their part were pretty shit as normal. Van Nistelrooy did sod all, Rooney, Giggs and Scholes were all useless. Ronaldo was ok, but largely kept in check by Cole and Jose. We had the better chances of the first half – Henry and Dennis both failing to convert. Giggs had one blocked and Ronaldo slipped one wide. We started the second half really well, Lauren in particular was impressive. But we didn’t score, and our level dropped shortly before the penalty was given. This is not to say United had done anything significant, just that we had lost a little concentration. Of course the result was disappointing, but ultimately it was just one game. If at the beginning of the season you’d told me I could choose between winning at United and being 8 points behind them or the current situation, I know exactly which one I’d take. 23 October 2004. 01:00BST. Time for zero tolerance at Old Trafford On Football365, Andy Gray mirrors many a commentator this week when he says Mike Riley must understand the importance of the game and be prepared to let things go this Sunday. Andy Gray, like Alan Hansen is talking absolute rubbish. When they play Arsenal, United are often a dirty, filthy side. They weigh in with tackles just the yellow side of red and attempt to physically break our players. Paul Scholes didn’t get under Jose Reyes’ skin in the semi-final last season. He physically assaulted him. Just like Van Nistelrooy, Neville, Keane and Scholes have in the past. Unfortunately we have a media who are still infatuated by the scuffles of last year and consistently fail to look beyond them. I’m all for letting things go, but tomorrow Mike Riley has to take a zero tolerance policy. The first deliberate foul that comes in from either side must be a straight yellow, with the warning that if the offender puts one more foot wrong, even accidentally, then they’re off. That will send out the message to the rest of the players. You’ve probably heard the team news – the long and short of it is that there isn’t any. At the moment odds are, including Keane and Vieira, everyone will be fit. I never predict Arsenal and I’m not going to now. But I do feel that if both teams come out playing really well, we will come out on top because our best is better than their best. We might not win, but we won’t lose. BUT, I feel United are more likely to come out and play really well, so really we’re back to stage one. What is for sure is that if we play like we have on our last two league visits we will probably lose. Incidentally, my current thinking is that Arsene will leave the sun kids on the bench and plump for Edu and Pires to partner Paddy and Freddy, assuming all are fit. For United it is hard to look beyond Rooney and Van Nistelrooy, a fearsome combination. More later today. 18 October 2004. 22:05. The Times give Arsenal six of the best and two days until Pana and 6 until OT. Every Monday the Times provide player ratings for all of the weekend’s Premiership games. To the extent that subjective football ratings can ever be scientific, these are scientific. Those looking for red top hyperbolic sensationalism are sorely disappointed – each performance is judged on its merits, no distinction made between whether the player in question is Beckham or Bent, Rooney or Rowett. This week, between the eight games at the Reebok, Goodison, St Andrews, the Cottage, the City of Manchester stadium, the Hawthorns, Ewood and the Valley I counted a total of 5 players receiving an 8 out of 10 for their performance. None received a nine or ten, but many were awarded with a 3 or 4. At Highbury an incredible 7 players received 8, one of whom was quite rightly the brilliant Villa reserve keeper Potsma. The other six went to probably one of the finest, most well balanced midfield and attack combination ever to grace any game in this country. That’s right: the gargantuan enforcer, the 17 year old kid with the touch of silk and the nerves of steel, the boy who can score every kind of goal aged 20, the winger with magnets in his feet and a catapult in his boots, the Dutchman with the coldest ice in his bones and purest oil in his veins and the jet powered cheetah who can’t be caught were all simply sensational. Team news for Wednesday and looking to Sunday Paddy is definitely out, Dennis doesn’t travel, Edu should be back and so might Freddie. I hope Arsene and the players are taking one game at a time because I’m certainly not. Panathanaikos matters, there’s no doubt. We need to get a result, preferably a win. But I can’t keep my mind off Sunday. For the first time ever known to man, SKY were tonight guilty of an understatement. Clare Tomlinson said Sunday was the biggest game of the season. It’s bigger than that, it’s enormous. But they are still running 5 minute previews all this week ahead of the match. Tonight it was highlights of our title win there two years ago. I’ll never tire of watching it. Two forces containing outstanding attacking potential. Since Old Trafford last year we’ve added Reyes and Fabregas Soler, the Spanish sun kids. It is admittedly a terrible pun, but it contrasts brilliantly with Rooney and Smith, who along with Saha are United’s two biggest acquisitions of the last year. It’s the Gunners’ two fresh faced sun kids against the toughest of British beef. United are still lethal –choc full of individuals who can turn a game on their own and with the collective ability to beat almost anyone. Make no mistake, if our performance this year is as bad as it has been in the league at OT for the last two years we’ll probably come away with nothing. I only hope Paddy is back. He’s been a giant in this fixture in previous years and his absence would be a significant psychological boost to United. His loss would be a blot on what could be a memorable afternoon. PS: Andy Dunn of the People just basically admitted on SKY Sports that United will go out to kick us. 16 October 2004 18:00BST. Gunners dream team frustrated by breakaway goal and great keeper; win 3-1. At midday Richard rang me to say his brother was going to spend the afternoon attending to his sick wife, and would I like his ticket? So at 3pm I found myself plonked on the cushion of a north upper seat, as opposed to the pub sofa I thought would be my home. If that all sounds very Myles Palmer, I’m sorry. We started with the dream team – usual back five and front two, Paddy, Cesc, Reyes left and Bobby right. On paper, with the exception of Paddy’s shooting, our front six appeared technically perfect, an awesome attacking threat. The question was, would Reyes left and Pires right actually work in practice? Would we miss Freddy’s ferreting and tenacity? Previous evidence was mixed – coming from behind against Boro it had worked a treat, but against PSV we had been stifled. One crucial difference today was that unlike the previous occasions, Cesc was partnered by Paddy. We started brightly, Sol’s very early header thumping against the crossbar of Villa’s outstanding goalkeeping stand-in Stefan Postma. Then suddenly, we were behind. Lauren appeared to be fouled but wasn’t and Carlton Cole brought the ball away. Eventually it found its way to Lee Hendrie, who controlled well, before curling a delightful low left footed effort past Jens from 20 yards. The ball bounced right in front of the German who could do nothing. That said, Ashley Cole could have done more to stop the shot. It was a great finish though, and the chav’s chav wheeled away in shock and awe, performed a bending run and finally ended up at the other end of the pitch in front of the delirious Villa fans. We came back well and appeared largely unconcerned by the deficit. Our football was delightful, and the Dream Team formation was clearly working. Having passed up numerous opportunities to shoot and seen others saved by Postma, we equalised after 19 minutes. Henry set off on a run on the left, appeared to lose his momentum, regained it and ended up being brought down by Delaney as he cut in to the box. From the other end it looked a penalty, and there were few complaints from Villa. But the drama was not over there. In a moment that can only be described as ‘gallic’, Thierry motioned to Bob that he was to take the penalty because apparently our top scorer doesn’t take them when fouled. You can’t really see Shearer saying: “Hear Craig, you have this one”, can you? But I digress. Bob’s penalty was low and perfect into the corner. 1-1. Things contained on a vein of us dominating for not only the rest of the half, but the rest of the match. Our second arrived after two minutes of first half stoppage time. Jose threaded it through for Thierry who knew he had to finish with precision to beat the giant goalkeeper. And that he did, putting it into the side netting. 2-1 Paddy got a kick midway through the second half and had to go off, replaced by Flamini. The more nervous among us were concerned that despite our dominance we hadn’t found a third and now had a very young midfield. We needn’t have worried. Flamini was in fact the spur, linking up well with Dennis I think, before feeding Thierry, who turned and fed the ball across to the onrushing Bob who found himself twelve yards from goal with only one enormous, inspired keeper to beat. The finish was classically Bob, kept low and curling slightly. Delightful and we had the well deserved third goal. From there on the game slowly wound down, Pennant and then Van Persie replacing Jose and then Pires. We finished with those two, Cesc and Flamini in midfield, none of whom played a league minute for us last season. I’ve got to go. But don’t let the inadequacy of my report fool you. We played awesome, awesome football that Villa, a decent side, could do absolutely nothing about. Player ratings later. 16 October 2004 03:00BST. Round up: views on Villa, international week and winter gloom. Football in a minute, but first a rant. I’ve felt rotten the last few days, hence the lack of updates. It’s like last year’s October was this year’s August and now this year’s October is last year’s January. London is miserable at the moment – grey, rain swept, windy and cold. And the clocks haven’t even gone back yet. Before long, probably sometime in November, the weather will have probably hit rock bottom and hopefully things should get better. But it won’t, and we’ll endure another three months of gloom. England in the winter time. Fucking awful. Talking of the clocks going back, there was good news from Parliament this week. Kent MP Nigel Beard is planning to This would be awesome, in my opinion one of the single most productive, moral boosting measures the government could ever take. And the great news is that devolution means Scotland can set their own time zone, making redundant the argument that dark mornings kill Scottish kids. In any case, it has largely been accepted that accidents would in fact be cut were the new measures introduced, even in Scotland. This is chiefly because drivers are less likely to make errors when they are bright and alert in the morning than in the evening when they are often tired after a long day at work. The upshot of all of this is that on the downside, it will not get light in winter until near enough 9 in the morning. So millions of people will leave for school or work in the dark. This isn’t great, but millions of people already leave for work in darkness and in any case, winter mornings are fowl full stop. In the evening, even in December it would not get dark until 5pm, meaning kids would always leave school in the light and usually have time for a little outside sporting activity after school before darkness descends. The effect in summer would be wholly positive – assuming you like daylight, which I do. In the morning, we would stop wasting the largely pointless first hour of daylight we currently enjoy. In mid June this is from about 4.15 am. In the evening we would have an extra hour to revel in the light, whether it be sitting outside a pub, playing football in the park or attending an open air concert. So if you’re at all bored this weekend, write to the government and implore them to give their support to this bill. It could be one of the cheapest and best decisions made in years. And breathe. International week – England were England. Solid against Wales, unable to score more than one in Azerbaijan, who were admittedly not as bad as some of the part timers Sven has made heavy weather of in the past. Three strikers is fine for easy games, but I fear Sven is using it to postpone a decision on what exactly we do about the left hand side. I’d like to see Rooney trialled there. Some might say it would be a waste of his talents, but if he can play in the style of Jose Reyes when he replaces Pires on our left wing, then I don’t think this would be the cast at all. Poland staged a superb comeback against Wales on Wednesday, eventually winning 3-2 in Cardiff. Wales had done very well for an hour and had a deserved, hard won lead. The riposte was three perfect goals, none of which Paul Jones could get anywhere near. England were lucky not to come up against Wednesday’s Poland. Elsewhere, the week was characterised by stupid little spats that keep the press entertained for a few days over the internationals. Aragones’ racism, Jens gloves, Becks’ booking and finally Arsene’s pop at United, which he has of course subsequently denied on the basis he didn’t say anything remotely resembling the translation of the British press. Personally, I don’t believe a single word that foreign players are reported to have said during international weeks. The papers just make lazy, inaccurate translations in their attempt to get find of story. Either that or else the foreign air somehow turns normally placid footballers into arrogant, moody, aggressors who hate everyone. I know which one I believe. The Brian Clough documentary was reasonably good for what it was - an uncontroversial tribute when his death is still very fresh. I suspect we may see some more interesting appraisals over the course of time. Arsene's thoughts about the strain Clough experienced were relevant and revealing, though it would have been nice had the viewer been told about the belated and partially posthumous respect that developed between the two men. Of course we also had to put up with Becks and Sven, who told us how much he was respected in Sweden. The pub near my house has the Brum v United lunchtime kick-off and Chelsea at City at 5, both on Premiership Plus. In between they’ll be showing the Gunners via their dodgy satellite. I fear it means a day in the pub, with time in between the United and Gunners games for a possible haircut. Birmingham v United is one of those games I always assume United will win at the beginning of the season. Expect a gritty, honest, hard working performance from Steve Bruce’s boys. Probably their best of the season. Certainly he couldn’t have asked for more. And they’ll lose. Villa will be tough because O’Leary’s sides always are against Arsenal. And having sat in the Holte End when we beat them 2-0 there in February, there’s a fair chance a great many Villans haven’t got over the perceived injustices of that day. Briefly, Fabregas will play as Gilberto is out until the end of the month (and so out of the United game) and Edu is out due to international tiredness. Make of that what you will. Freddie is also out short term, as are Clichy and Alumnia. Expect either Pennant to come in, or else Pires to go right and Jose left (or even vice versa). I’d plump for the latter option so that one big threat is left on the bench. Le boss says we are taking one game at a time and nobody is thinking about Old Trafford. But it’s pretty hard not to. The game is looming like a grey sky about to crack with thunder. And we still have to go to Greece before then. It will be interesting to see how City play it against Chelsea. I think they must attack, but fear Keegan going defensive for the only time in his life and thus handing Chelsea a one or two goal victory to 0. Again, anything here would be a bonus. Will have player ratings up, but they might well have to wait until Sunday morning due to social commitments. 12 October 2004 22.45GMT. Cesc and Jose at Old Trafford. International fortnight – a series of pathetic soap operas that bore us all for a few days at a time. Last week we had Aragones, now we have the excitement over Beckham's booking. I’m wondering how many Spaniards Wenger will pick in midfield at Old Trafford. I think Arsene’s tempted to go with both Jose and Cesc – but I think he also realises how big a step it is to leave out Pires, Edu and Gilberto. Leaving out a fit Gilberto and Edu at Old Trafford in favour of a 17 year old would send them a massive message – pick either one of them and the other will feel that on this occasion they have been unlucky. But I think Arsene will have seen how much better oiled Arsenal look with Cesc in the side. Arguably only Dennis and Henry have a greater effect in ensuring the side ticks over. And this includes Vieira, who can have bad games where the team can still play well and good games where the team will play badly. On the left the decision is equally big for Arsene. Bobby Pires has been in goal scoring mode this season, which actually tends to mean he is playing less well, as was the case when he scored so many goals on his return from injury in October 2002. Arsene could move Pires wide right and put Reyes left, but though it worked so thrillingly against Middlesbrough it failed at home to PSV. And in any case Freddy has ferreted his way to some crucial goals this season and loves nothing better than facing United. There is still a lot to happen before Old Trafford. We entertain Villa and go to Greece, United visit Birmingham and then Prague. Last season we went to OT shaken by the 3-0 defeat to Inter and played not to concede. It could be the same this season. But equally we could be flying and have aspirations of completing a half century unbeaten in style. If I had to choose I’d say he’ll go with Gilberto and Jose, but I’m unsure for how long. 7 October 2004 22.23 BST. Exclusive: Wenger confirms he will sign until 2008 and AGM report. Exclusive: Arsene Wenger has confirmed he will sign a contract that will keep at the club until 2008. He made the comments talking to supporters after the club’s annual general meeting at Highbury today. His current contract had been due to expire at the end of this season, with the option for another year. That option will now be taken up, along with a further two years. The deal will see him manage the club during our final season at Highbury and our first two at Ashburton Grove. The meeting was an affair dominated by speeches from Peter Hill-Wood, Keith Edelman and Danny Fiszman. Fiszman received a round of applause when he finished his talk on the stadium. In particular he spoke at reasonable length about the new waste recycling centre and the benefits it will apparently afford to Islington. Edelman’s performance was polished – clear, concise and smooth without a hint of corporate smarminess about it. Hill-Wood was immaculate too – he played the bumbling old fool to perfection, confusing the agenda, knocking the microphone and shuffling his papers. But under it all, he appeared largely well informed. In particular his defence of the UAE’s human rights record was memorable. “They’re building a protestant church” he informed the masses. Arsene’s only public contribution was to answer a question on a perceived lack of central defenders. Reinforcements will apparently arrive in the January transfer window. The most interesting stuff to come out of the meeting was about the new stadium. Keith Edelman repeated the assertion that though the board could offer no guarantee, they hoped to keep ticket prices in the new stadium to a similar level as they are at Highbury. Within the next two weeks every club member (and probably those on waiting lists too) will receive a document detailing which of an incredible 14 ticket priority segments they will fall into for getting their seats at the new ground. C+D debenture holders will receive priority, followed presumably by A+B holders, but from then on it sounds like the idea is that people who currently sit in £50 seats will get first shot on £50 seats, that those who currently sit in £40 seats will get first shot at these and so on and so forth. “Each grouping gets respective priority”. However, further details were also revealed about Arsenal’s very own club class – the 6,700 seats that will form the middle tier of the stadium and will be considered premium seats. From the sound of it, they will only be available as season tickets. They will range in price from approximately £2,500 to £4,700 a season – an enormous increase on even the most expensive season ticket at Highbury and a fee of between about £85 and £160 per game. Which all in all is quite incredible. The £4,700 seats are only available on pay up front four year contracts – which would presumably be £18,800 all in one go. The rest of the club seats can be bought on either one or four year contracts – the benefit of the latter being that one gets all four years at the original price. Incidentally, it does not appear that they will be given priority over other season ticket holders for Cup Final tickets. Personally, I’m a great fan of charging exceptional amounts of money for the best seats. Doing so allows others to go to the game for less money. The same is true on the trains – businessmen who turn up at the last minute pay many times more than pensioners who book a specific train long in advance. However, I can’t help feeling the club are being a little less than honest when saying ticket prices will hopefully stay the same. This would suggest that the best seat in the new stadium would cost the same as the best seat in the new stadium. This is clearly not the case – supporters who sit in the centre block of the East Upper will have not pay significantly more money if they want to sit in the best seats at the new stadium. So whilst they may well be offered £50 seats in the new stadium, they will not be the best seats. It is also worth seeing at what price the club sells the rest of the 22,000 extra seats. It could well be that many are tagged onto the £50 rate, meaning that fans currently on the waiting lists may not find themselves able to buy cheaper seats. In fairness however, the board do seem to be making a serious effort to balance the commercial necessities of the new stadium with actually giving supporters a fair deal. Other good news is that according to Edelman, 120 out of the 150 executive boxes have already been sold. He also indicated that contrary to certain press reports, the club had not had difficulty selling the most expensive boxes and that in fact they were the ones snapped up first. The new ground will also have (unspecified) numbers of no smoking areas, though one got the impression that it will be more than just the family enclosure. On field success will equal more Emirates cash – “the odd £200,000” according to Hill-Wood. In response to a question from the floor, it was announced that hoardings at the new stadium would be split 50/50 between the words ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Emirates’. Progress at the new stadium appears to be coming along nicely, though anyone could have told you this from looking at the web cam. The delay in getting rid of the old waste plant positioned on the south side of the site means that the south stand is behind the other three sides in terms of development. However the club appear entirely confident that the stadium will open on time in August 2006. They did mention that there is still one compulsory purchase order to go through the High Court (it will be heard in November), but they are hopeful of success and in any case it will not impact on the rest of the stadium. As for Highbury, the club plan to market the residences themselves, believing that doing so could bring in an extra £30 million. They also suggested to shareholders that they might be interested in acquiring a flat overlooking ‘Highbury Square’ as it will become known. So essentially they hope that fan’s love for Arsenal will persuade them to pay over the odds for the properties. Asked whether he thought that Emirates sponsoring Arsenal and referees was a possible conflict of interest, in a rare moment of suaveness Peter Hill-Wood told the shareholders that yes it was, and he anticipated it working in our favour. Oh how we roared. It looks like Dennis could well get a testimonial at the end of the season – but for tax reasons PHW said the club have to be approached and asked if they would be willing to hold the game. On the financial side, it appeared things were running reasonably smoothly, though commercial sales appeared down a bit, which is concerning. Turnover is up to £156.4 million from £117.8 million, largely due to the various property dealings. Edelman also mentioned that revenue also increased with only three British teams being in the Champions League – which is just one more reason not to support Man United when they play their qualifiers. The wage bill was up £9 million and it seemed we lost something like £6.3 million by getting rid for nothing players we’d initially paid good money for (Kanu and Wiltord I’m guessing). It also seems that we are losing money through the joint venture with Grenada, which basically means Arsenal.com is making a loss. After the meeting I asked Danny Fiszman about the possibility of tiered pricing according to the nature of the opponents. He said it was a possibility. Personally, I hope that as soon as it becomes the case that Arsenal are struggling to sell out games, such a measure will be introduced. I have no problem seeing fans pay £4,700 for a season ticket, but to see empty seats on a cold February evening against West Brom because the club refused to sell any tickets below the prices for Arsenal v Man United would really annoy me. Of course the club is first and foremost a business. But I still believe it to have a responsibility to ensure that as many as possible of the quarter of a million people who never fail to pack the streets of Islington every time we win a trophy are able at least very occasionally to see their heroes in action. Shortly before his death, Brian Clough said that our directors were a rare example of directors doing what they are there to do. He was referring to the decision to appoint Arsene Wenger. But I think this can be extended to encompass the management of the club. The new stadium is rapidly rising, and we can now start talking about milestones. Today Highbury hosted its penultimate Annual General Meeting, in April it will host for the second last time Arsenal v Spurs, a historic fixture that has graced the historic ground for the best part of a century. It is the job of directors to confront challenges, make tough decisions and then implement them. But when so much of football’s management is characterised by ineptitude on such a grand scale (see the FA, Leeds, Newcastle etc) we should be thankful that behind a great manager we have directors who actually do their job. 5 October 2004 11.30 BST. In defence of Emirates. So, the announcement is official – the plot of land formerly known as Ashburton Grove will now be called the Emirates Stadium. That our new ground could be sponsored by the people who currently put their name on Chelsea’s shirts has drawn widespread condemnation from the Gooners in blogland. Frankly I’m at a loss to see what all the fuss is about. Emirates are about to end their relatively short association with the Blues, and in any case, the two are hardly synonymous in the way Candy was to Liverpool or JVC was to Arsenal in the 80s. Before long, the association between Chelsea and Emirates will be all but forgotten, nothing more than a piece of football trivia for the quiz books. The way some of the fans are going on, you’d have thought the deal had been signed simply because the directors thought it would sound cool to have a corporate name on the stadium. Were we supporting Leeds or Newcastle they might have a point. But we’re not, and the only reason we’ve signed the deal is because it pays £100 million over 15 years. This isn’t £100 million that Arsene Wenger will distribute out to the squad in bonuses tomorrow. It’s £100 million that is core to the whole concept of moving into a new stadium. Without it, we’d be crippled by debt and the supposed move onwards and upwards would simply fail to materialise. Stadium naming is by its nature a messy game. Maybe in an ideal world Amnesty International and the RSPCA would sponsor stadiums, but they don’t. Of course, had the Woolwich decided to follow the lead of their Friends Provident in Southampton, we might have ended up with the Woolwich Arsenal stadium. But again, the chances of such a spiritually pleasing name being possible for such a big project was unlikely. So what do we have with Emirates then? One of the world’s best airlines – check out this. Of course we could have got some tacky phone company intent on creaming as much money as it can off its customers without providing an ounce of customer service. Would we have preferred that? Finally, let’s look at the word Emirates – eight letters long and containing just about the softest letters in the whole of the English language. Say it out loud: ‘The Emirates Stadium’. Now try saying ‘The Vodafone Stadium’ or ‘The JVC Stadium’ or ‘The Nike Stadium’. I know which I prefer. So to those of you who carp on about the death of the Arsenal identity, I say Emirates Shmemerites. Get over it. 3 October 2004 18.30. Crazy statistics. Crazy statistics Things won’t continue as they are now, but if they did Arsenal would break all records, finishing Champions with 105 points (dropping just nine), scoring an incredible 124 goals in 38 games. In second place would be Chelsea, with 95 points, five more than Arsenal managed to in our record breaking season last year. Chelsea would have scored 38 goals in their 38 games – equalled only by bottom placed Wolves last season. Every goal would have merited them an incredible 2.5 points. At the back, they would have shattered all records, conceding just five goals over the whole of the season – less than a third of Bruce Grobellar’s Liverpool record. Manchester United would probably scrape fourth with 62 points and just 44 goals. Their points total and goal difference would be exactly the same as Spurs’, the only difference being Spurs would have scored just 24 goals in their 38 games. Spurs would have achieved the second best defensive record ever – conceding just 14 goals. At the Ajax tournament in the summer points were awarded as usual, except teams received one extra for every goal they scored. Arsenal failed to score on both occasions. Were the same rules applied now, they’d have 48 points – 20 ahead of Chelsea and 26 ahead of Man United. Arsenal 4 Charlton 0. Match review and player ratings I got to watch the match again this afternoon, with the exception of three minutes in the second half when the screen went blank. Fortunately we didn’t seem to miss much of what was an absolutely awesome performance. Charlton may have prevented us from creating much in the 1st half, but the important thing was that we looked far more fluent than in recent weeks. We got our goal before half time – Freddie converting after good work by Dennis. Once Thierry scored an awesome second (see below) we were completed dominant. All in all an awesome performance. Will have analysis up tomorrow morning, once I’ve heard some other opinions about the game. Player ratings: Jens: Missed one cross late in the first half but otherwise his handling was immaculate. Had very little to do in the second half. 7 Lauren: Excellent response following the bus fracas in the week. Committed in the tackle, neat in the pass and always coy with his positioning, he provided supported the midfield well and linked up well with Pennant when he replaced Freddy in the 2nd half. 8 Clichy: Still slightly behind Cole, but not far at all. Defensively comfortable and linked up well with Jose going forward. 7.5 Sol: Looks slightly heavier than last season, but not heavy like he was when he first came to the club. Not quite as involved as Kolo, but very comfortable on the ball and even tried the odd run forward in the second half. Admittedly yet to be tested by a great striker, but assuming he loses that little extra weight, I don’t think he’ll get exposed for pace. 7.5 Kolo: Superb game, didn’t just defend well but linked up brilliantly with the rest of the team, in particular Lauren next to him. Every time they were under pressure in the right back spot, the ball was never hoofed. Instead they played the ball out in classically fluent Gunners style. 8 Vieira: I thought he and Cesc would benefit from playing next to each other and I was right. Paddy was everywhere today, tackling back and in particular getting forward. Passed up a couple of opportunities to shoot as he is prone to do and had a close range effort clawed away by Kylie right at the end. Best game since he came back. 8.5 Cesc: Started decently and got better and better as the game went on, spreading the ball better than either Edu or Gilberto tend to. Occasionally wanted a little too long on the ball, but this was typically only when he really had nothing on. Got forward well and nearly poached one at the end. 7.5 Freddie: Four goals now this season and today’s was vital after Charlton had limited our first half opportunities. The finish was opportunistic and instant and typical of the extra energy he brings to the team. Got buffeted by Graham Stuart and was replaced by Pennant on 48 minutes. 7.5 Jose: Got into the game in the first half far more than he has been recently, but still had the tendency of the last few games to lose the ball earlier than his team mates. Set up Thierry for his second goal after a neat series of one twos and finished expertly with a low, first time effort across Kylie for the fourth. Then got played in and pulled the ball brilliantly back onto his right foot, before spooning comically over from just six yards. 7.5 Dennis: Gelled the team together as only he can, instigating so many attacks. Brilliantly play for the first goal. Found himself with the ball and a defender down by the dead ball line, with Kylie in no man’s land. Seemingly waited for an eternity before picking Freddie out perfectly. If memory serves me correctly, he spread the ball for Jose to finish with the fourth. 8 Henry: His first goal was not a great goal. It was a great goal by Henry standards. Which tells you it was really special – one of those moments like Kanu’s at Chelsea’s or Dennis’ at Newcastle where even normal people remember where they were when they saw the goal. (I remember where I was for every goal). The ball had been knocked into him by Jose. Eight yards out, diagonally to goal he was almost being mounted by the defender. Somehow he succeeded in backheeling the ball perfectly through the defender’s legs and across Kylie. The whole pub worshipped his audacity, the stadium were still giving him a standing ovation long after Charlton had kicked off again. Brilliant. For his second he and Jose exchanged passes before eventually the shot came in – probably because the Charlton defender forced it. The ball swerved and flew towards goal. Kylie got a touch but could only send it onto the underside of the bar. Lethal again – seven goals in eight league games. Which is still well under a third of our total. 9.5 Subs: Pennant: Probably never looked so comfortable in an Arsenal shirt, following his substitution for Freddy during the celebrations for Henry’s first after 48 minutes. He seemed to feed off the confidence flowing throughout the team, the weight of his touch looking much better than previously. 7.5 Van Persie: Replaced Henry after about 82 and looked eager and ready to impress. Thought he had scored late on but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside against Dennis. Then Luke Young ridiculously shoved him heavily in the back, perhaps aware of Van Persie’s reputation and looking for a reaction. Fortunately none followed. 7 Flamini: Replaced Cesc after 82. His touch seemed a little off the pace which was understandable enough on what was by then a slippery pitch. Tried hard. 6.5 September 29 23.45 BST. Kanu inspired Gunners return with draw and player ratings. Rosenberg 1 Arsenal 1 Infuriating stuff this. Everything looked plain sailing after Freddie turned in Sol Campbell’s prod from a corner after six minutes. But then we failed to take advantage. A couple of openings were made in the first half – Freddie in particular was put in by Henry but wrongly elected to pass – it was the story of our night. The boss had started with the team we all expected – Pires returned, Reyes kept his place and Edu was in instead of the injured Edu. But surprisingly Pires started up front alongside Henry, with Jose on the left. It now appeared as though all Wenger’s pre match talk about Reyes taking Dennis’ role up front was a smokescreen, nothing more. The gamble never really worked. Pires was ineffective in the first half and though he improved in the second, he still appeared hampered by his injury and unfamiliar with the role he was being asked to play. There has never been any previous evidence of Wenger thinking Pires should play up front, so it seems strange that he should now. Perhaps it was a deliberate tactic for Europe, though I suspect it was more a case of the boss not yet feeling comfortable enough with Jose there, which seems confusing in light of his early season form there, but who knows. Whatever it is, I don’t think Bobby is the answer there and Van Persie still seems a little way from cementing his place – tonight he received 8 minutes as opposed to the 2 on Saturday. The other option would have been Aliadiere were he fit – though again this idea doesn’t quite seem to fit. The more I go on about it, the less I can understand why he played Reyes and Pires where he did tonight. Anyway, the Norwegians enjoyed a good spell after the break and capped it with a well taken goal scored by someone I can’t remember or be bothered to look up after 52 minutes. Kolo was left exposed two on one on the right, and though we did not initially appear in great peril, the ball was cut back to the edge of the area and finished with aplomb. Lauren seemed way out of position for the goal and must really take some of the flack, though it could be argued Paddy and Edu should or could have provided more protection on the edge of the box. Nonetheless, the equaliser was deserved. The Rosenberg ground, who’s sides resembled the East and West stands and who’s ends looked like their miniature equivalents, went mad for a while. Then we sparked into life and created numerous opportunities in their area – but Paddy, Jose, Freddie and I think Henry too, all faffed Kanu like when a shot at goal was all that was called for. It was bitterly frustrating, but on another night things would have fallen our way and we wouldn’t be complaining. Still, there seemed a little something lacking from the performance. We currently seem under the weather – still turning up for work but not on top form, messing up the little things that would normally be regulation. SKY suggested that PSV’s victory over Panathanaikos was reason to look on the bright side, but I’m not so sure. It leaves the Greeks and the Dutch just a point behind us and Rosenberg by no means out of it either. There is real pressure on the Panathanaikos game now. Defeat could well leave us in third place. Hardly the ideal game four days before we visit Old Trafford. Reaction tomorrow. Player ratings: Jens – could do nothing for goal and handling was always sound. 7 Cole – got forward and also made some good tackles but misplaced a couple of passes. 6.5 Lauren – seemed to get into his grab attacker and become distracted mode. Was all at sea for their goal. 6 Kolo – Did reasonably well. Apart from a couple of points in the first half and seven second half minutes we had them largely contained. 7 Sol – Ditto but understandably still looking a little rusty. 6.5 Paddy – Made important interceptions and got forward but failed to take his chance when it came in the second half. Again, still not the imperious Paddy. 6.5 Edu – I don’t know if I’m getting a bit paranoid about this, but I’m still not yet convinced by him this season. Perhaps it’s because I want to see Cesc play, perhaps he really is just off the pace. 6.5 Freddie – A good finish for the goal and good in some good positions but too often the final product was lacking and he slipped or passed sideways when a shot was needed. Will have luckier nights. 7 Jose – Excellent work going forward at times, but at other times he lost the ball a little meekly. I think, like most players, he benefits with Dennis on the pitch. 7 Bobby – Looked unfit initially and appeared to struggle in his new position. Seems illogical to play him as a striker when you have Jose on the wing. 6.5 Henry – some good work but still part of the attack that failed to turn any of their numerous chances into serious shots on target. Still worked hard, like he did on Saturday. 7 Subs: Van Persie (Pires 83ish). A couple of decent touches, a couple of poor touches and a few hospital balls played to him. Given his lack of experience, I’d have put Jose up front and Van Persie on the left for the final minutes. 28 September 08.40BST. Sylvian, Silva, Sol In one of many quiet moments at work yesterday, Sylvian Wiltord crossed my mind. Why hadn’t he said anything about leaving Arsenal I pondered. And sure enough, the great turning circle was thinking the same thing and decided it was time to speak out. In a slightly odd interview, he says: "For four years, it was a little 'Je t'aime moi non plus' (sometimes we loved each other, sometimes not)," And adds: “But there has always been mutual respect. When he signed me he knew I wanted to play as a forward. He teased me with that. He put me in a position I didn't know. I appreciated it, I made efforts. We had results but sometimes we had discussions in his office. We told ourselves home truths, that's all. We left with a good relationship.” Which I think we will all agree, is a relief. Gilberto The Sebastian Svard look alike is out for a month at least, and possibly longer depending on whether his back problem is a reoccurrence of an old injury, or something new. In years gone by this would have been a serious problem (bring on Gilles time). Thankfully nowadays there is a lot more choice on offer in that area of the park, and whilst none of us want to see one of our boys injured, it may give Cesc more of a chance. Which, I think, can only be a good thing. Team News Robert Pires has a small chance of making it, but Dennis Bergkamp unsurprisingly hasn’t embarked on a massive ferry ride to make the game. Henry and Reyes will probably start up front, which is cool, but we do look a little lightweight with only the untried Robin Van Persie in reserve until the equally untried Aliadiere enjoys his annual fortnight of fitness sometime in March. Sol Campbell feels good ahead of the game. Check out Arsenal.com for full team news later. September 27 08.40 BST. Sod all and United plunge. On the Arsenal front, sod all is going on, like some kind of warm-up for the impending smack across the face that is an international football double header, which is apparently only just round the corner. In fact so little is there going on that The Telegraph resort to bringing up the battle of Old Trafford anniversary as the talking point of their obligatory Monday report. As do The Times. And the Inde. The Guardian can be relied upon to go for something different, and talk about our lack of sharpness, something Arsene concurred with. I’ve no doubt the stats will prove him right, but personally I thought we looked a little sharper than against Fulham and Bolton. And that really is about the sum of it, except to report the news that the Old Trafford house of cards appears to be collapsing, with profits down by nearly a third. Shame. September 26. 11.45 BST. Edu, Match reports, other Edu The Brazilian is a target of Fergie, according to The People. Which frankly makes a lot of sense, seeing as his contract is out either in May or as soon as January (due to the cock up in him coming to the club) and he is clearly better than the likes of Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson. Still, I don’t see it happening. He and his wife are settled in London and had their first kid here last year. Both the player and Arsene have made noises about a new contract and I reckon this is one of those that will get sorted out. Even the People don’t appear fully convinced by the story. Match reports A mixed set of reports on yesterday’s game: Paul Wilson in the Observer reckons the unbeaten record may be on its way out. He reckons a better team than City might have punished us. I know what he’s trying to say, but there is a difference between losing a game and merely being pegged back in one. So long as equalisers don’t arrive too late we usually appear capable of going on and getting another goal. Of course he might be right, and we might lose soon, but not I think for the reasons he gives. The Telegraph applaud City for “taking Arsenal to the limit" but say we still deserved it. Our not always lauded defensive strength stood out according to the The Times, who applaud City’s efforts but felt on a day when the forwards were not firing on all cylinders it was quite literally the defender’s who won it for us. Of the four the Inde are most lavish in their praise of the Gunners. Other City became the fourth team off whom we have taken three wins during our unbeaten run. Blackburn, Southampton and Middlesbrough are the others. The run has now amassed 109 points from a possible 141. Chelsea have amassed 17 premiership points from just 7 Premiership goals, which must be some kind of record. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the result. We expect to win away from home almost everywhere now – it shows how far we’ve come. If you look back over the seven games only Everton really played badly against us (United weren’t much kop in the Shield either). Maybe more later. September 25, 17.40 BST. Match report and player ratings. Man City 0 Arsenal 1, Spurs 0 United 1, Boro 0 Chelsea 1 I eventually found a pub showing the Gunners at 3.25, with all the others showing Spurs v United. So I had missed Ashley Cole’s 14th minute winner, a nonchalant flick with his left flick after the set up from Reyes. Again, I don’t think we were at our best. In the 65 minutes I saw we were frequently on the back foot, even if City’s attacks lacked any real venom. When we tried to put a move together too often we lost the ball too quickly. Sol returned in defence and it helped a fair bit – we looked far more organised, even if the big man himself was understandably rusty at times. Toure and Lehman benefited from his presence too. The other appearance information of note was a 2 minute debut for Robin Van Persie, something I sniffed yesterday. Player ratings (from 25 mins onwards): Lehman. Composed and assured, the big man was put under massive pressure by City at dead balls, but didn’t flinch once. Even held on when hit by a buccaneering challenge by his opposite number David James during stoppage time. 8.5 Lauren. Mr average was Mr average, simple as that. Defended reasonably well whilst never providing any great impetus in the final third. 6.5 Cole. The goal sounded tasty, and Ash was excellent all day long, tackling well and getting forward as we know he loves to. Unlucky with a second half effort that hit James’ near post. 8.5 Toure. Solid and composed, was given a tough afternoon by the eager Anelka, but never balked. Seemed happy to see Sol back beside him. 7.5 Sol. Impressive on his return to the side, many vital interceptions. Looked a little rusty occasionally. 7.5 Edu. Still struggling in my opinion. Did some good defensive work, but the passing and retention of the ball that was so fluid last season has yet to return. 6.5 Vieira. Good defensively and provided some assistance for Henry in the final third. Still looking a little rusty though and struggling to shake off opponents like the Paddy of old. But getting better. 7 Reyes. May have set up the goal but did very little else. Was replaced by Clichy after just 64 minutes, which tells its own story. 6 Ljungberg. His usual energetic performance, scurried about and got into some good positions. Nearly scored when Henry’s cross was parried by James but saw his effort blocked by Sun Ji Hai. Had a couple of classic Freddie miscontrols – including one total air kick. But generally good. 7.5 Dennis. Tracked back well but otherwise struggled to impose himself on the attacking third. Still, did manage to last 89 minutes. 7. Henry. Worked very very hard and caused City no end of problems when he got the ball. Looked particularly determined to go the direct route today. Was only let down by the ineffectiveness of Dennis and Jose. Very industrious. 8 Subs: Clichy. (Reyes 64) Did reasonably well, getting forward when needed and covering back too. A wise replacement. 7 Cesc (Freddie 89). Won one free kick and was otherwise solid. 6.5 Van Persie (Dennis 89). Looked lively. Lost the ball a couple of times. 6.5. September 25, 12.23 BST. Team news, the game, David Lacey, SWP, Barry Davies Team News Not much to add since yesterday, though Arseblog reckons Pires could be out for two weeks and speculates that Freddy could go left and Pennant right. I doubt it. The game Keegan has come out saying how we’re the best side in the world – which is crap but kind of endearing when it comes from Keggy. In a way, if we had to lose one game, I could accept it today. I’ve nothing much against City, their fans or Keegan. I don’t even hate Anelka – just pity the career advice he took. Boro Chelsea at 12.45 should be very, very interesting and would be a big, big win for Mourinho. I think a United win at Spurs more likely, just because its about time the Spurs bubble burst. David Lacey Legendary Guardian writer David Lacey writes an interesting piece about the similarities between Fulham and Arsenal’s respective disciplinary problems. I like Lacey – he’s always been a rare voice of sanity, unlike his opposite number at the Inde, but this time I think he’s missed a couple of points. Firstly, Fulham were involved in a 20 man brawl with Everton a little over a year ago, so previous they most certainly do have. Secondly, Arsene was correct about our behaviour being exaggerated. We had Lawton et al for a week, where as the Fulham scenes (arguably more serious) have not only gained less press coverage (fair enough – smaller clubs involved) but also far less vitriolic press coverage. This is where the difference lies. Sean Wright-Phillips See the Telegraph for a lengthy interview by Alan Smith with SWP. It’s all good, but there’s nothing ground breaking in there either. The same is true for Henry Winter’s weekend preview in the same paper. Barry Davies Today’s game will be Barry Davies final football commentary for the BBC. I’m not going to get all sentimental about it like the Telegraph, because frankly I’d happily serve the nation if paid to commentate on football until I’m 65. And I think Football365 have a fair, if often made, point about his irritating school masterly tendencies. And I think Davies sounds stupid when lamenting commentators show towards England, before promptly recalling his own “Oh no" when Southgate missed against Germany in 96. But on one thing he’s dead right – silence is golden. For me, far too many of today’s commentators fill air time with prewritten, fancy turns of phrase that do nothing to enlighten the viewer as to what is going on. A certain Champions League commentator is particularly bad. Anyway, Davies also picked out John Murray from 5Live as the only one he liked from the new breed. I think he’s right about Murray – he’s excellent, very descriptive with a wonderful voice as well. But I think there are others too – Steve Wilson is excellent at building the excitement on TV, even though he started his career on radio. September 24, 15.15 BST. Wright-Phillips, Man City Wenger says he likes Sean Wright-Phillips and one day he might be interested in signing him. Which is all well and very good, because he is a very good player. Is making these kind of comments akin to tapping a player up? I don’t know, but if I were a City fan I’d be less than happy. Sol’s return should be a real boost. Not in any complicated way that needs lots of explanation, just that he is one of the best central defenders out there and clearly better than Cygan. Also, brilliant as Kolo is, I’m not convinced he is yet ready to be the senior partner in central defence. In midfield, the Daily Mail reckon Gilberto and Bobby Pires are both out. You’d expect Jose Reyes to fill in on the left – it was likely Dennis would return up front in any case so in a way Pires’ foot injury alleviates a little selection dilemma. The other option is to play Van Persie, but I don’t see it happening. That said, he could get on the bench. I’m not too worried about Gilberto’s absence. For me his performances have been mixed this season – in the first four games there is no doubt Cesc looked the superior central midfielder. Speaking of the Spaniard, either he or Edu will likely replace Gilberto. Strangely for him, Edu was pretty useless when we were chasing victory at 2-2 last week – he seemed to shoot wildly from range and commit silly fouls in their area. Still, expect him to come in alongside Paddy, though personally I’d like to see Cesc and Paddy as I think they could really complement each other. Having Cesc in there gives us that little extra creativity – something we could have done with against Bolton I feel. |
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