Yesterday we lost 3-0 to Manchester City and the game summed up a season of disbelief for many fans and a very disappointing start to this campaign. The problems we have at the moment are massive. The Gallas incident has been a time-bomb waiting to explode. It has and now we have to get rid and start a fresh. The problem is that this has happened in mid November, so we've got 6 weeks before we can enter the transfer market and 6 weeks to have Gallas on the sidelines.
Manchester City 3 – 0 Arsenal
Ireland 45, Robinho 56, Sturridge 90 pen.
The game itself was a weird game of “we can beat you” versus “you can beat us” and although we played well in patches, you felt we were mentally beaten before we got there. It was a very reserve back line and actually, the whole team line up looked thin. The line up was:
Almunia
Hoyte – Djourou - Silvestre – Clichy
Nasri – Denilson – Song – Diaby
Bendtner – Van Persie
Taking away the fact we’re going through a little wobble at the moment, with 7 first teamers out, any of the top teams would have done well to come out of city with a point.
Stephen Ireland clipped in City’s first goal after Clichy sliced a clearance horribly into his path, and it was soon two when Robinho chipped Manuel Almunia. The once Arsenal target Robinho had a shot cleared off the line before young striker, Daniel Sturridge scored a penalty.
It’s hard to write this with any note of positiveness… so let’s take a listen to good old Arsene Wenger:
“We had a good focus and I believe it is a flattering victory for Manchester City today. We conceded in stoppage time [at the end of the first-half] and before that they had not created much. We were quite in control but after the goal the game turned and they played on the counter-attack. We played into their hands. We lacked the maturity to deal with being in a dominant situation and not getting caught; it was a free-kick to us, then a goal for them. After that the third goal was a soft penalty.”
And on moving forward from here, he said:
“I think we had enough focus and gave everything. It is not always negative and we have to take the positives and keep the belief. In a big club you have to go through these periods, and how we deal with it will shape our future.”
I really don’t know how he’s going to deal with it because it does seem a mess. Before the game, no one was really sure what the extent of the William Gallas affair was but today we heard that Peter Hill Wood would back Arsene over any decision he makes in regard to Gallas. He said:
“This issue has shown that Arsene can be ruthless. He has to be otherwise people can run all over you. As for whether Gallas has a future at the club, that will be up to Arsene. But I think Gallas has got a problem. Arsene will advise the board over that and we will support him no matter what. We will all be at The Emirates on Tuesday [for the Champions League fixture with Dynamo Kiev] and I am sure the matter will be discussed with Arsene. And 100 per cent we will endorse what he decides about Gallas.”
But in surprise news today, new reports are now suggesting that Gallas will be back for the game against Dynamo Kiev. I’m not sure how you can have a player back in the squad after the recent outburst, let’s see what happens next.
Apologies for the “flat” article today. I’m a little deflated after this weekend, as I’m sure you all are.
Man City:Hart, Zabaleta, Richards, Dunne, Garrido, Wright-Phillips, Ireland, Kompany, Vassell (Elano 73), Robinho (Hamann 82), Mwaruwari (Sturridge 88).
Subs Not Used: Schmeichel, Onuoha, Evans, Ben-Haim.
Goals:Ireland 45, Robinho 56, Sturridge 90 pen.
Arsenal:Almunia, Hoyte (Ramsey 60), Djourou, Silvestre, Clichy, Nasri, Denilson, Song Billong, Diaby (Vela 69), Van Persie, Bendtner.
Subs Not Used: Fabianski, Wilshere, Gibbs, Lansbury, Simpson]]>
