3 Points In The League
3 points are three points. Against Sunderland, we made it much harder than it should have been, but in the end, the moment of magic from Robin Van Persie won us the game. I’ve been overly critical of Robin’s ability at free kicks, but when you see him do that, it’s clear he has the quality and considering Arteta, Walcott and Santos had taken the worst three free kicks of the weekend before RvP stepped up, it’s surprising that the captain wasn’t at the helm for all of the previous ones. I’m sure he’ll be back to first choice free kick taker now. But at least there are options, even though not great ones…
Talking about Theo, I was again confused by his display on the weekend. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do a lot of the time. When he gets the ball, it’s… “er… run? cross… er? what do I do?…”, and considering the time he has been with us, you have to wonder why he is still so inconsistent. Stats will tell us that he has scored and assisted a few, but in games like the one against Sunderland, surely his possession play – i.e. giving the ball away a lot – is a problem.
With Arshavin starting to resemble some sort of form now, should he be rewarded with Theo’s place now? Gervinho, The Arsh & Van Persie?
Van Persie has been in super great form and there is a genuine worry about where we would be if he got injured. Arsene praised him highly after his performance against Sunderland:
“Well, he scored two goals. I think you have to analyse the game a little bit to see how important he is. The first goal was a good display of the team and the second chance he made the difference just because of his skill, which was exceptional.”
Perhaps we are over-reacting – Van Persie plays now as he is the best striker, but if injured, the likes of Gervinho, Park & Chamakh will obviously have to play in that role. Because we haven’t seen a lot of them, it’s obviously harder for us to understand the depth we have. But with the number of games we have in the next two weeks, I’m sure we’ll see more of all of them…
Champions League Preview
Many people say the Champions League should only be for Champions – but surely then it would have only five decent teams in it, right? The Champions of England, Spain, Italy, France & Germany… But tomorrow, we take on Marseille, away, and they have become a serious contender in European football. They current top the group on six points, having beaten both Dortmund and Olympiakos. We really have to play to the best our our ability to beat them and to be totally honest, our away form has been very worrying this season. It’s strange how football works – last year, our away form was incredible as a season, but this season, it’s been the opposite. Udinese aside, we’ve failed to win any away games this season and lost the last three on the bounce…
Marseille will be a tricky place, but the returning and impressive Rosicky was keen to stress that we are going for the jugular.
“It must be our aim to win the group, especially after what happened to us last year when we were not top of the group. In the last three games we messed up. Marseille are a direct contender for us who would like to qualify from the group as well. It’s a big game and we want to be successful there. It looks like it will be between us, Dortmund and Marseille so it will be a vital game for us.”
Whereas Arsene highlighted their impressive Champions League start at the expense of their league form… ahem…
“Marseille is a good team but they are under pressure a little bit like we are in the league because they didn’t start as strong as they would have expected. That puts more pressure on you. They have done well in the Champions League, certainly, because it is a competition where there is a bit less expectation and they are less under pressure. They are a quality team.”
No doubt, they are a quality team… and it’s another big away test for us. If we can produce a good performance, it may have a positive affect on the rest of our season.
After his mid-season break, our beloved Tottz is back tomorrow for his latest digest… til then…
