Two days after the debacle of which was the home game against Newcastle… and a day before the Wolves game… it’s time for reflection.
Was the game on Sunday bad? Yes… very bad… in fact, it was abysmal. It was a very very strong team with a very very strong bench. The fact we thought throwing on RvP for the second half shows what a bad game it was – the fact that the manager knew that if he didn’t try that, the current team on the pitch wouldn’t be able to come through and turn the game around. Losing to West Brom is one thing, and is considered a freak result, but losing to Newcastle was unacceptable, and the way in which we lost has been even worse – without a fight.
Arsene has been vocal about changing the style at home, by being more direct.
“I can’t deny that in the last four home games we have not absolutely made a demonstration of football. We had problems to win the games. We might find a way to play a bit more direct in some situations because everybody drops deep against us and as soon as you make a mistake it becomes even harder. For example on Sunday clearly I think we were serious but we didn’t create enough. We looked at some stage that we could play for a while without scoring a goal and that is of course a worry. It was a [couple of] days after the Champions League game away at Donetsk and it’s always difficult to deal with that.”
As long as being more direct means moving forward with more ambition to shoot rather than sideways with the ambition to pass, which is what it looked like on Sunday – personally, and I’ve said this many many times – we need to play 4-4-2 – and Cesc is not a striker! We need to play with Song & Cesc in the middle and Nasri and Arshavin on either side of them. Stick Van Persie and Walcott up front and you’ve just gone and recreated the dream team (Henry, Begkamp up front, Pires & Ljungberg on the wings and Vieira and Petit in the middle!)…
The Wolves game is on later today and in reality it’s a MUST MUST win game… as Theo Walcott was quick to point out, it’s a game for redemption:
“It [the defeat to Newcastle] is in the past now, we lost but the great thing about football is that there is a game around the corner. We’ve got a game on Wednesday and we can amend the disappointment that we had on Sunday.”
And with the 4-3-3 formation currently deployed, you’d expect him to start on the right of the front three against Wolves – with Samir Nasri out for a while. The appeal for Koscielny was also dismissed and the player will now serve a 2 match ban – against Wolves and then against Everton on the weekend. Personally, I am not sure what was going on at Arsenal HQ with the appeal in the first place, it was never going to be upheld and was always going to end up in a 2 match ban!
The probable line up for Wolves will be:
Fabianski
Sagna – Squillaci – Djourou – Clichy
Wilshere – Song
Walcott – Cesc – Arshavin
Chamakh
I can’t see Bendtner or Van Persie starting as neither are fit yet – and I really wish that Carlos Vela, who is fit would get some game time whilst Bendtner and Van Persie played the reserve games that Vela is currently playing!
The manager says we’ll see a better Cesc tonight:
“He is completely clear [of his injury]. It has taken a lot out of him mentally and I believe that the fact he came through well against Newcastle you will see a different player on Wednesday night.”
And we definitely need him fit and raring to go – we need 6 points out of the next two games and both these fixtures look much harder than the West Brom & Newcastle at home fixtures – we have to remember that nothing in football is certain and a win is only achieved through hard work and dedication to win.
Come on you Gooners, let’s get behind the team today!
