London Calling

 

Another international break. Third of the season. And I begrudge each and every single one of them. The way I look at it I’m paying out money for something I get no benefit from. I mean wherever our players are in the world my financial investment in supporting Arsenal is paying (a miniscule part of) their wages. I mean it wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep coming back knackered (Clichy this time)!

I can’t support England either; certainly not in the way I support Arsenal. There’s just not the feeling there – probably because I find it difficult to cheer for players I spend the rest of the year hating. In fact, although I’d want England to win in any other sport in football tournaments I always support Spain. Now having not only a Spanish mother but also a Spanish name means that it’s generally accepted by my friends and not seen as too quirky. Mind you it didn’t stop me (and my Spanish shirt) getting drenched in beer by just about everyone in my local when Spain got cheated by the dodgy lino against England in Euro 96 (the fact it was a bikers pub and was packed meant I was quite relieved it was only beer!). The daft thing is that despite loudly supporting Spain for 120 minutes when it came to penalties (ie Spain v our own Spunky) somewhere inside I really wanted him to do well!

Ok, so you’ve guessed there’s not going to be some deep analysis of the internationals. Sorry, I’m sure I could blather on about them but I just don’t care enough to bother. The plus side is that I’m going to talk about Arsenal (ie something I have got a clue about).

Firstly I want to talk about some players that are on the periphery and from up here the nearest periphery is Sunderland and Justin Hoyte. This guy seems to have been on the edge for ages and I think Wenger hit it on the head recently when he mentioned confidence in relation to Hoyte. Ever since he started playing through the ranks for Arsenal (at centre half alongside the sadly injured Ryan Garry) he’s looked pure class but there was always something missing. A regular place at Sunderland has done him the world of good, and whilst the club are struggling badly Justin looks right at home in the Premiership, despite playing at left back rather than his more natural right back (he actually played left back pre-season as well). In fact most every Sunderland fan I’ve spoken to has said he’s been magnificent and looks more like a veteran than a youngster. Mick McCarthy has already said it’s a shame that he won’t be able to buy him next summer and Wenger’s talking about him being the next England right back. I’ve always liked the guy and would love to have him genuinely competing for the right back slot next term.

Two kids still playing in our reserves are getting a lot of coverage due to the number of goals they’re scoring and they’re Lupoli and Bendtner. I’ve barely seen Bendtner so I’ll leave him but Arturo Lupoli has everything to succeed. For a start of he’s that rarest of breeds – an instinctive goal scorer with excellent finishing. In that respect it wouldn’t be unfair to compare him with a young Robbie Fowler (I’d have loved to have seen him playing for Arsenal when he was in full flow) but as well as that total awareness inside the box the thing that makes him extra special is that he has that awareness of where everyone is when he’s outside the box as well. This should be a big year in his development, because good performances in the League Cup will lead to more chances on the first team bench. There’s also a good chance he could get some good pitch time in the Champions League with our last two matches being of little importance. Believe me this is the kind of natural goal scorer who could be worth his weight in gold a few times over.

The third guy I want to talk about is Eboue. He arrived, appeared in the first team, and then seemed to disappear. Well Wenger always said he was one for the future and the future could be with us. I’ve absolutely no idea what is his best position will turn out to be but (for the moment at least) he’s a wonderfully versatile player to have on the bench and provide energy in the area of the pitch where it’s most needed. With his nationality and where we got him from it’s easy to draw comparisons with Kolo Toure but there’s more than that. He has the same, I don’t know how best to describe it, spirit? When Kolo first started making appearances off the bench there was an overriding enthusiasm about him. I used to say when he cane on it was almost like they’d thrown a shirt at someone walking down Avenell Road who’s been thrown a shirt and told ‘Go on son, have a go. Eboue has that same enthusiasm.

Away from players the managers have been in the news rather a lot. Basically, Arsene has done a job on Mourinho and left him flapping away! Arsene’s different to other managers in that he doesn’t court favouritism with certain quarters of the press by giving little ‘off the record’ bonuses to those that toe the line, nor does he do ‘exclusives’. Having said that he’s a press mans dream in that at his press conferences he answers every question asked of him fully. If he’s asked a direct question about the chavs he’ll answer it. Now Mourinho’s no fool – I’m sure he knew he’d blown it when he started the ‘sick voyeur’ rant in response to a miss-quote of a Wenger answer. Arsene knew he had him and whilst he probably knows as well as I do that any libel action would be foolish he had the moral high ground to batter Mourinho. Also, I don’t think it was that clever of Mourinho to accuse Wenger of having two much interest in the chavs when they’ve got a 120-page dossier of Wenger quotes! KGB anyone? Afterwards Mourinho said he’d apologise if Wenger did and Arsene quite rightly mused out loud as to what he was supposed to apologise for!

I said a couple of weeks ago that maybe there were some chinks appearing in the chavs armour. Mourinho could laugh off defeat in the League Cup (with quips about not really losing because it was penalties) but defeat in Europe, and more especially at Old Trafford, will test his methods to the limit. Whilst a team is winning the confidence the run gives them adds 20% to their performances. Just feeling invincible does it. Our 49’ers suffered badly at the end of their run (as a similar line up had after cracking a 30-game run a couple of years earlier). But it’s not just an Arsenal problem; look around. Even the great AC Milan team that went on that run in the 90’s lost 3-4 on the bounce after the run ended. Add to that you’ve got 20-odd players at the bridge who have been more or less thrown together, but all need playing time to ensure their world cup places (I notice Crespo was fit again for Argentina). It just can’t foster a real team spirit – certainly not in the face of adversity. And the thing is that if (and when) it goes wrong there it’ll go wrong more spectacularly than any football club in history. It’ll be especially interesting to see what effect the international break has.

Back to the start, and Clichy’s injury. Firstly, it’s another broken bone in the foot for a guy wearing blades. In LC#10 I talked about all the players getting similar injuries and the fact that some clubs had banned blades. I’ve since been told that another problem is that the boots are so damn thin and soft on top as well. This is great for controlling the ball (‘feeling’ it) but gives very little support to the foot as it twists and turns, and as importantly there’s virtually no cushioning at all when you come into contact with anything. It may all be a coincidence, but it’s one hell of a big one in my opinion.

The other problem, obviously, is who should fill in. I’ve heard various options such as Lauren/Toure as full backs with Senderos/Sol in the middle. Being left footed Cygan’s name comes up, and although no one seems to know if he’s got a left foot (myself included I’m afraid) Eboue’s name has been put forward. Even the fact that in his younger days Sol filled in at left back for some little team in N17 has been mentioned. Personally I’d consider leaving the rest of the defence as it is and putting Flamini in at left back. There is the draw back that it would somewhat curtail our attacking ability down the left although that could add some stability to that side of the defence.

So, it’s off to Wigan Saturday. When the fixture list came out it was one of the games that I looked for because it was going to be a one season only chance to go to the ground (be fair – everyone else thought that as well) but they’ve been amazing, especially when you consider they got no points from their first two matches! Strange, thinking of Wigan away as a tough game, but football is all about going on runs and they’re on an amazing one at the moment. Let’s hope we can burst their bubble.

Lastly, Patrick Vieira. He’s got a book coming out (in which he slaughters horseface) that has created some column inches in the papers over here after being serialised in the News of the World. There’s a good little interview on Sky that sums it up rather well http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-viera_141105_1330,00.html

Come On You Red(currant)s!