All out there
Written by Paul Williams on Saturday, April 3, 2010
Three days after the event, I'm sure the subject of the Barcelona game has been covered extensively here, (my own 1300 words on it mysteriously disappearing in an afternoon of technological drama on Thursday) so I'm not going to dwell on it too much this morning, as our focus shifts back to the game against Wolves and the title race that we are still (just) in. That being said, however, I think it would be remiss of me not to mention a few things that came to mind whilst watching Barcelona's 45-minute masterclass on Wednesday.
If you dish it out, sometimes you have to take it. On Wednesday afternoon, I mentioned Arsenal's habitual European fast start at home. Barcelona never allowed us to get out of neutral and had it not been for a heroic Manuel Almunia, the tie would have been beyond us after 10 minutes. Their football was a... I was going to say "joy", but I don't think that's the right word for an Arsenal fan, I don't want to be too Corinthian about it, let's just say that they played us at our game, but they showed us the true level we must aspire to.
I mentioned the heroic Manuel Almunia, my judgement that he is not a good enough goalkeeper for us stands. For all the saves he made in the first half, there was his fatal error in judgement- and not for the first time- in coming to collect a long ball that was never his to claim, allowing Ibrahimovic to produce that wonderful lob into the corner of the goal.
Alex Song, culpable perhaps in not tracking the runs of Ibrahimovic for both goals, has a long way to go before he could be called a quality centre back. Which isn't to say he's not a uality player, because he is. But, fairly obviously, doing a job there requires different qualities and different thought processes to his job as our midfield screen. If Arsène is even tempted to play him at centre back in the Nou Camp on Tuesday night, then he must also play him at centre back this afternoon. And, given Denilson's performance on Wednesday, perhaps he can do that without worrying too much.
What is with Andrei Arshavin at the moment? Maybe he's out for the season now as a result of a calf injury and I wonder if he was carrying that onto the pitch on Wednesday. I think we would have all expected the mercurial Russian to be up for this one; instead he looked well out of sorts way before the nasty, reckless tackle that he got booked for, adding injury to insult. On the subject of calf injuries, I said I wouldn't criticise Arsène for his decision to deploy Gallas if he chose to do so. He did and the rest is history. Raymond Domenech has, with amazing cheek to my mind, criticised Arsène Wenger's decision to play Gallas as the decision looks certain to have ended his season. Sorry Raymond, weren't you the one that ran Thierry Henry into the ground during the 2006 World Cup?
And on the subject of season ending injuries, what to say about Cesc? Clearly subdued by his injury at Birmingham, it's fair to say that he did not have the greatest of games on Wednesday. But his spirit and resolved typified that of his team, who could so easily have collapsed on Wednesday. When he won that penalty, there was never any doubt who was going to take it, or what the result would be. His season is over now, but what a way to go out. It must have seemed grimly ironic to Thierry Henry, present on Arsenal's home pitch for the first time since he also limped away from a Champions League tie, in slightly less felicitous circumstances, that Fabregas was able to affect the night's result as he did, before limping off the pitch having left it all out there.
Just on Thierry, I loved him, we all loved him and he loved us. The feeling, it appears, is still mutual, shown in spades by the rapturous reception he received when coming on as a late substitute and also as he applauded all four sides of the ground at the end of the game. In between, he had of course been booed as soon as he touched the ball. But I doun't think he'll have minded that. He wasn't able to affect the result and thank God for that, but the boy we signed to replace him... well, has he just had the latest in a long line of coming of age experiences?
As Theo prepared to come on, with Thierry warming up further up the touchline, it came to me that Arsenal were Diet Barcelona and that Theo was Diet Thierry. Barcelona, clearly, had the real thing warming up on the bench. But perhaps the real thing has gone a little flat, even so I wonder if Theo was inspired by the presence of his hero. It looked that way in a twenty-minute cameo that completely changed the course of the game- we wait to see if it affects the tie, from a position of how many were we going to concede, we go to Camp Nou level. Have we learnt from last season's capitulationat home to Manchester United? I hope so. I also hope Theo realises that if he can have such an impact against Barcelona, scoring our first goal and creating the situation that gave us a penalty, there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn't flourish in the Premier League, starting with teams like Wolves today.
Hmmm, I have dwelt on this Barca game rather, haven't I? Sorry about that, but writer's perogative and all that.. With season ending injuries to the likes of Gallas, Cesc and, possibly, Arshavin we go to Barcelona next week with nobody giving us a chance and certainly it would be a surprise if we came away from there with the win we, realistically need, but hasn't this been the way throughout our history, particularly in Europe? I'm not saying that we will go there and win, I'm not that stupid, but if we could stand up and take the best that Barca had to throw at us on Wenesday and come out of that unbowed than why shouldn't we go there expecting to produce an upset?
More immediately, the removal of three key players open doors in the squad to those who might previously have found no way in; I've already talked about how, if Song is to start with Vermaelen on Wednesday night, he should play centre back today. This, of course leaves Denilson with the "screen" role, if he is fit enough to start. The loss of Cesc should see Samir Nasri redeployed to that central role he appeared to find so liberating a month ago, which- along with the injury to Andrei- opens up flank roles for Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue or even Eduardo. I'd like Eduardo to get a start up top today though, obviously I prefer Bendtner there, but he's had a lot of football since returning from injury, with barely any respite, I think he could do with a breather. Also, Eduardo, whatever else is he is as a footballer, is a centre forward. He may not be someone you can fly the ball up to and expect it to stick, but he lives in the box. Against the likes of Wolves, though they may be better away from home than at home, it seems an ideal chance to get going once more.
And, after the pain of Birmingham last week, that is what today's home game represents for the team today. Chelsea and Manchester United kick-off in little under an hour and a half and they do with us all praying for the draw that would bring us right back onto their coat tails. Let's hope that, should that draw take place, we have capitalised on it to the full come 5pm this evening.
Right, I've got a bath to have, then a train, a couple of tubes, the Twelve Pins and then whatever block it is we're sitting in today beckons. Enjoy the game, wherever you are.
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