Good afternoon readers,
It's a lovely day outside which might brighten my mood slightly this morning before I go off ranting. Yes it is a difficult time for us at the moment as we struggle to come to terms with why our team is performing so poorly as of late. We have all had our suggestions but only the players themselves know whats wrong and it's about time they address it once and for all and make a pledge to give everything they've got to bring home some silverware. They have all been optimistic in interviews and so on but have failed to back up their talk with action. We were all expecting a big reaction from the players after the Spurs defeat and we ended up watching a side that look mentally drained. On the positive side (if there is one) is that Arsene made seven changes to the side that lost at the weekend so hopefully those seven are pumped and ready to respond against Villa this weekend. We can only hope so. Failure to get anything in the midlands and the critisism from the media aswell as our own fans will continue. It's time to give them something else to rant about.
Our task hasen't been made any easier with the injuries sustained by Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Eboue. The Ivorian we can manage without as Sagna starts ahead of him anyway but the loss of our captain is a huge blow. He pulled up with his hamstring Tuesday night and faces a minimum of two weeks on the sidelines according to Arsene. Now before fans go off ranting and raving in two weeks time claiming the boss is a liar for telling us Cesc would be back in two weeks and he's not remember he said "minimum" and also he is just passing on information given to him by the medical team. Of course we're all worried he could miss the big game at Old Trafford but if he does then so be it. We went up there without him last season and deserved all three points but came away with nothing somehow. The main thing is that we don't rush him back and make sure we sort this problem out once and for all. I know he hasn't been on the best of form but how can he exactly? The man has been playing with the fear that one of his hamstrings could pull up at anytime. This has been going on for some time now and as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, perhaps it would be a better option to give him a few weeks off to rest rather than bringing him back early and making him play with the risk that he could get injured again. This would benefit both parties to be honest. We'd get a fully fit player raring to go and he would be much happier with the reassurance his body is able to cope. Some fans pointed fingers at Arsene because he took the risk and played him in the first place. Hilariously, these are the same fans that critisised the boss for resting him against Shakhtar Donetsk. Sort it out people please.
I haven't forgotten about Eboue. Arsene says he will be out for a minimum of four weeks. At the time I actually thought it was just Eboue doing one of his dramatic reactions but turns out the man was actually hurt, a knee ligament strain, ouch. Of course this means that if Sagna were to pick up an injury over the next month it would leave us looking rather bare in the right-back position. I'm sure if it came to that Djourou could fill in, can't see the boss recalling Gavin Hoyte from his loan spell, Nordtveit is also an option.
Now I was reading a few columns from John Cross of the mirror and one point stood out to me in particular, do players really care? It's been a question that many Arsenal fans have been asking of their team recently. Cross gives a few decent examples. He recalls how Spurs left-back Assou-Ekotto said football is just a job to him. As much as fans hate to hear things like this, it is true. They are professional footballers and are doing this for a living. Of course the massive rise in wages over the years has taken some passion out of the game. A player might get a bollocking from the manager after a poor performance but some don't give a shit, they see it as another game and will look forward to their pay cheque at the end of the week, that dosen't change. Now I'm not saying all players are like this. Cross shows a picture on his website of the Spurs players emotions after Kaboul's goal on Saturday. As much as it hurts our ears, it is true. They really wanted it and their hard work and determination payed off in the end. Players like Gerrard, Carragher, Terry and so on don't play for the money. They love their clubs, thats why they've spent their entire careers at those clubs. They play for the supporters, to bring trophies home and to create history for the team they are so passionate about. As much as we might dislike them, we have to show respect for what they are doing. Our players need to take a leaf out of their book if they want to achieve things with this club. We as fans deserve it. The majority of us have kept the faith for five years, it is about time we were rewarded don't you think?
Now onto the other column by Cross. The heading is "Arsenal would be romping the league if only Wenger had landed his first choice centre-backs and keeper." He talks about hoe we went for Reina and Schwarzer before settling for what we've got and that we were in for Jagielka, Mertesacker and Cahill but had to settle for Squillaci. This is what I don't like about journalists, they assume that stories are true too often. How does he know we made bids or enquiries for all those players? He dosen't. We nor any of those player's clubs relaesed statements confirming there had been contact so he shouldn't make stories out of this. Anyway, he goes on to say we would currently be sitting at the top of the table and well ahead had we signed one of those keepers and any of those defenders. Again, how the hell does he know this? It's not that easy I'm afraid John. I hate to break it to you but Fabianski has been on better form than Reina and Schwarzer this season. Both have made a string of poor errors so neither are as unbeatable as he makes them out to be. Also, I'm more than satisfied with our defensive recruitments. When Wenger spent £8m on Koscielny, he said he would need time to adapt to English football so I thought we might see a dodgy boy during his first few weeks but I was wrong. He began straight away with a solid performance against Liverpool despite being sent off and followed it up with another solid display against a very physical Blackburn side. Not the worst of starts you might say? He has of course but in many more good shifts and had the odd off game as would be expected in his first season. Remember Namanja Vidic's first season in English football? He was all over the place and look a waste of money but people with good knowledge of the game including Ferguson gave him time and acknowledged it takes time to adapt to England. Now look at him, considered one of the best in his position and has won several individual awards for his performances. It says a lot so I think Koscielny deserves more than a couple of months to prove himself.
Cross also claims Squillaci is not up to the demands of the Premier League, saying he is no more than a good squad player. Again, what is this based on? A couple of months? Give the man a break. He has been one of our most consistant performers this season and I haven't praised him enough. This season, for the first time in a long time, we kept three clean sheets in a row. Squillaci along with Fabianski played just as a big a part in that as the others. With him in the team we are much more organised at the back. Of course there are still areas we can improve on but remember we are yet to see the Frenchman partner Vermaelen. I am honestly relishing watching them playing together. Now I'm not trying to overly critisise Cross but like too many Arsenal fans, he is jumping to conclusions too early on.
There's not much else going on this Thursday afternoon so I'll leave it there. I should be back tomorrow evening with a preview of the Villa game. Till then, all the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment