I bet the figures are clearly in favour of Mr Alexandre Song Who would have thought that after the Euro 2008? I think resting Arshavin could be a positive, using the industrious work of both Tomas Rosicky and Samir Nasri from wide
Being 6 points behind the leaders with 12 games to go is bad enough, hoping that Arsenal win all of their games whilst the other two drop points is very difficult but I had forgotten about one of the factors that has already proved to be the most destructive of our season so far.
Injuries.
We have had almost a full squad to choose from for the first time in a very long time. Ok, we have been missing some of our strike force. Van Persie and Eduardo are a big part of our squad but away from that position our numbers have picked up.
We have been hit with a double whammy injury special. Alex Song and Andrey Arshavin are both looking likely to miss the Champions League game against Porto next Wednesday.
Who do you think we will miss the most? I bet the figures are clearly in favour of Mr Alexandre Song Who would have thought that after the Euro 2008? I think resting Arshavin could be a positive, using the industrious work of both Tomas Rosicky and Samir Nasri from wide, that could be very useful in Porto and Premier League games away from home. At home he has that little extra that can win games. perhaps Nasri and Rosicky do not have that compared to Arshavin, but they are probably more likely to have more of an input into the game.
I call Alex Song the visible wall because he cannot be missed but you still cannot do anything about it when he wants the ball from you.
Denilson is a player that I like, when he is on his game then he is a very effective and valuable team member but in this form he has a very difficult task in getting into the starting eleven, as Diaby, Song and Cesc have a lovely balance about them. Denilson is likely to get his chance in Portugal in the first leg of our Champions League tie. It does give me a slight concern that he is out of sorts and will be coming back into it without playing the last two Arsenal games.
So what of our midfield trio? They are just fantastic and I wouldn’t swap a central midfield in the Premier League for the ones we have. The three of them combined roughly cost the club £6 million. All three of them have been found at a young age and moulded to the Arsenal way.
Is there another manager in world football who could select a better midfield for that cost? If so, please show me.
Moving away from the Wenger love-in for a moment and going back to the game on Wednesday. I must say I had almost forgotten that good feeling after our last two weeks. The game last night may have not been the most aesthetically pleasing in terms of free flowing football but I enjoyed it very very much for another reason.
After watching our defending recently, it was nice to see the team go back to basics again. There was clearly a conscious effort being made by the whole team to defend and work as a unit. To communicate together and keep tight at the back. Liverpool set out their stall from the very beginning and were fairly negative in their approach but when they did go forward we matched them pretty well.
Barca denying that any deal was done with Cesc freaked me about a bit though I must say. After all the rubbish about DNA and wanting to bring him back time and time again, I got used to that crap but actually denying doing a deal with him made me think the opposite for a second or two. We know that he will go home one day, it may be in the summer it may be in ten years, who knows? I just don’t want to have to think about it every few days when the Spanish media attempt to think of a new angle about the same boring and tedious story.
Gillies Sunu is set to head on loan to Derby County so it will be good for him to get some first team experience under his belt. He hasn’t been close enough to the first team at Arsenal as yet so hopefully he can take some strides forward playing in the Championship.
Back again tomorrow.
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