No retreat, no surrender

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
29 Apr	7:45 PM	CL	Manchester United (A)	0	1	Lost

Bet you all thought I'd jumped under a train, didn't you? Gremlins. Again.

I'm not going to go on about it, because nearly 48 hours later, I think it's all been said elsewhere, but I want to begin here by picking up a couple of themes from Wednesday's blog.

The first point is that Wednesday's display, where - as Manuel Almunia (one of the few to emerge with any credit) says - the boys looked "lost", was most definitely not one of the reasons we love football. I've been joking with friends and colleagues that Manchester United were lucky on Wednesday night... lucky that only 4 of our players bothered to show up.

Next, I'd like to talk about Emmanuel Adebayor. He played as if it was him who had been quarantined. I can accept an argument that he was isolated against the best two centre backs in the country. But that doesn't excuse his continued lethargy.

On the back of one Thierry Henry season, he got Thierry Henry wages and we get another Thierry Henry season. Only The Thierry Henry of 2007, not the Henry that worked his bollocks off to earn those wages. I'd wondered to Gabs on Sunday whether he was saving himself for Wednesday. I can only wonder now if he was saving himself for Portsmouth. One thing I am not wondering about is that he will surely be deemed surplus to requirements in the summer, however I do wonder who will buy him and how much they'll be willing to spend.

Abou Diaby was another one who might as well have stayed in the dressing room. How he avoided being "hooked" will surely remain between him and the manager because his display was pitiful. Looking at it in a more positive light, I guess the poverty of his display can only have accentuated the fact that another Wenger gem is rolling off the Shenley production line. The man Diaby was supposed to have been supporting, Keiran Gibbs, was perhaps our best player on the night and after the season Gaël Clichy has had, his first real dip across his six years here, the frenchman should be in no doubt that if his standards were to slip further, he can be replaced.

Kolo Touré and Alex Song were Keiran's only real rivals for player of the night, from our point of view anyway. But it is only down to the heroics of Manuel Almunia - and what a difference a year makes - that this tie is still alive. We can only hope that, as with the second round match, we are as good at home as we were poor away.

Cesc Fabregas hasn't given up. Though, as club captain he's hardly likely to come out and say "Well, that's it then lads, we're fucked" or words to that effect. He does make a good point, I do think it will be completely different at the Grove and I like to think that he did a "McLintock" on the players after the game. But it's difficult to see how United will not score, which of course would leave us needing three. Our chances of getting those three goals surely diminished by the likelihood that both Eduardo and Robin van Persie will not be fit to begin the match, if not play any part in it at all.

I think, we'd be best served by thinking a little differently here. The first objective here, nearly 20 years after Anfield '89, is not to concede a goal. Conceding a goal would not be a catastrophe, it'd merely be a disaster. We have ninety minutes to score a goal and so we don't need to go out all guns blazing for the first twenty minutes. Let's summon up that Anfield 89 spirit, keep it tight at the back and concentrate on winning the game in the second half. At least, that's how I'd approach it.

Of course, we have a game before that, at Portsmouth tomorrow. Conventional wisdom suggests that Arshavin will play and a team of some description will be cobbled together around him. I'd like to see us play some part of the game without him. Not because he isn't great. Clearly, he is, but he has become so influential that we look half a team without him (aka the Dennis Bergkamp european effect). We don't have him on Tuesday night, so let's figure out how we can play our best without him. For me, that means Cesc back to central midfield. If anyone should play in the hole, it should be Nasri, Walcott wide left and maybe, just this once, I would advocate Eboue in on the right in front of Sagna. Or do I like Bendtner up top (we beat them in November with him there, remember?) with shAbby, Eboue right, Nasri left and Theo to come on and wreak havoc in the last half an hour? Decisions, decisions. Luckily they're not mine to get right.

My bank holiday begins at the Brixton Academy to see the majestic Doves tonight, what are you up to?

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea