Up For Grabs Now

The last couple of years haven’t been the easiest as an Arsenal supporter. Don’t get me wrong, of course we have come through much bleaker and more difficult times than the recent period, it’s just that there’s something especially painful about the feeling of coming close time and again, something especially frustrating about glimpsing so much glorious potential only for it to peter out at crucial moments.

Somehow, this season there’s the sense that something has to go for us, and that with a bit of the luck that we’ve seemed to miss for the last few seasons, this team could achieve something incredible.

Arsene couldn’t have summed up the feeling of every Arsenal fan better:

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for… there is something special we all hope will come out at this stage of the competition.

The great thing about being a Gooner, particularly under Wenger, is that you can look forward to every game knowing that if the team plays as well as it can the other team simply won’t stand a chance. Regardless of who they are, how expensive their side is and how many medals they’ve already got in their starting line-up.

But at the highest level, tonight’s level, we still haven’t seen this team keep up that incredible quality of performance for long enough to win through. Liverpool last year. Chelsea  ten days ago. It’s so frustrating because we know that the side is capable of winning. But make no mistake, the reason we can’t sustain that level of play is because it’s bloody difficult to reach in the first place, something some Gooners understand better than others. There’s a sense that though we’ve seen patches of just how devastating our game can be, we still haven’t quite realised what it is capable of doing to the opposition if sustained over 2 legs.

Tonight, of all the big Arsenal nights, is the time when these players need to perform. There are some games you never forget, games that become definitive of players, teams, even clubs. Remember Wiltord in 2002. Remember Giggs in 1999.

Tonight we face a United at the height of their powers. Talk of their recent form can be dismissed - these are big game players who know how to raise it for the big nights and how to perform when it really matters. They are the champions of England, Europe and the World, and tonight Arsenal have the chance not just to burst their bubble of dominance, but also to inflict the sort of defeat that announces the arrival of a major force in European football.

It’s a huge opportunity, one we can’t afford to waste. It’s also the sort of fixture our players should live for. Teams like Real Madrid and AC Milan are constantly turning the heads of our young players, and have been for many years. Well, neither of them are in the semi-finals of the Champions’ League, however much they might think of themselves. Tonight is a chance to show that clubs don’t get bigger than Arsenal FC, and that for footballers with real ambition, Arsenal is the place to be.

Let’s hope our boys make it count.

Arsene Wenger has today sanctioned a deal to bring leggy diva Beyonce Knowles to the Emirates next season. It is believed Wenger moved for Knowles after leggy diva Emmanuel Adebayor revealed to a bewildered English press that it was the lure of Beyonce which had made him seriously consider joining Milan last summer.

Knowles: Finally a long-term successor to Ray Parlour

‘Le Prof’ is known to consult players over signings, however the arrival of Knowles remains something of a surprise since she has no experience of top-flight football and had been enjoying a flourishing solo career. Her record company Columbia Records are said to be phlegmatic about the loss of Knowles, and they have high hopes for her replacement, Phillipe Senderos, who was included in the undisclosed deal at the last minute.

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with Arsenal TVOnline, Senderos thanked Gunners fans for their support throughout his time at the club, but admitted that the chance to become a major recording artist was  too good to turn down.

[That's enough claptrap - Ed]

So a fun weekend, a weekend of Cescy goals, a lead over Villa expanding faster than Simon Cowell’s cup-size, Tottenham once again humiliating themselves in the public eye and United having heinous decision after heinous decision go in their favour. First the penalty, then Giggs. Tragic. It’s enough to make you poke your eyes out with your housekeys then jump out the window.

Hopefully, United will now regard themselves as unbeatable and will be brought crashing down from their hubristic height by the irresistible Islington Shuffle when it smashes into The Theatre of Dreams (no hubris there then, nope, none) in its polite, non-aggressive, why-not-square-it-again way on Wednesday.

Nah, I hope Ronaldo and Rooney both miss penalties and are mercilessly goaded by Eboue and a suddenly vindictive Abou Diaby (in the timeless manner of Keown - God I love Keown), and then Alex Song scores a second-half hatrick to place the tie out of their reach. No club deserves a good kicking like United do now, the nobbers.

Infuriating United Fact: Between 1993 and 2003 United conceded a massive FIVE penalties at Old Trafford in the Premiership. Right. So away penalties are biennial in Manchester, then? A bit like the African Cup of Nations.

The chat is that Nasri might play defensive midfield, freeing up Cesc to wreak all kinds of chaos. I’d be surprised if this happens, firstly because Rob’s injury sort of means Nasri has to play on the left (Diaby, anyone?) and also because I think we’ll start with Song and Denilson in defensive midfield, which would still give Cesc a bit of freedom to roam.

What do you think? Who’d you start with?

Broken Britain: this yobbo has no respect for the law

Amid much division and rancour within the Gooners community (see previous 2 posts), at least we can all be ‘united’ in joy at seeing Man Utd’s much vaunted 5 trophy tilt come to a sticky end.

Very well done, Everton. You’ve done us all a great favour.

The impact of yesterday’s result (and Grabs’ wonderful blog earlier) is if anything a testament to the success of the season so far. After moaning and moaning up until two weeks ago about how crap we are, the capricious half of the Gooners decided that we were now having a brilliant season and destined for piles of silver.

In some ways it’s the first big setback of the whole season. Losing early-season league matches doesn’t carry the same impact, as distressing as it is to lose to Fulham, and neither does going out of the Tottenham Trophy. Against the top three sides in the PL we’ve won two and drawn one. You also never really go out in the league, you only don’t win it.

A 2-1 defeat in the last four of a cup competition to the most expensively assembled, highest-paid team in the history of football is nothing to be ashamed of. I’d remind you that we’re also in the last four of the most prestigious and competitive club competition in the world. And over two legs against United, I’m backing us all the way.

As for those complaining about Arsene’s tactics, stop talking complete bollocks. Our under-strength side frustrated Chelsea for 83 minutes, and then a defensive error let them score. All players make errors. On another day Ivanovic would have bounced it off his arse over Cech’s ninja head condom and into the back of his own net. It just wasn’t our day. We’ve had plenty of our own, and we’ll have plenty more.

Unless you wish Arsene Wenger had never come to Arsenal, support for our club means supporting the vision of the world’s most innovative post-war manager. This vision means nurturing a skillful, quick, youthful side who grow together, rather than breaking the bank chasing instant glory. If you want that go support Chelsea, or Leeds. Arsenal represent everything that football should be about, and I wouldn’t lose that for the world, certainly not one FA Cup semi-final.

Even after yesterday, I’m prouder than ever to support Arsenal. I pity Chelsea fans, and I pity Arsenal fans who think like Chelsea fans.

We Arsenal fans don’t do boring old disappointment any more. No. We prefer utter desolation.

Perspective? Who needs it when the whole of the internet is just waiting for you to crap your anti-Wenger/anti-Fabianski/anti-Denilson/very-suddenly-pro-Song vitriol all over the messageboards?

The message we’re hearing loud and clear from fans like the bloke who demanded a “public apology” from Arsene is that failure in ANY game, regardless of the quality of the opposition or a defensive injury list FIVE names long, is completely unacceptable and must be met with public castigation/sacking/ instant resignation.

So never mind that Chelsea have a full-strength team of world stars, managed by a legendary manager. Never mind that they just beat Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield and then stopped their comeback in its tracks. That’s all irrelevant because we, the fans, have a God-given right to see Arsenal win every single game.

It’s just infantile. Even Piers Morgan, the man who puts the “cunt” into “reactionary”, wasn’t moaning too much this time.

I’m not going to defend Arsene’s team selection. It worked for the first half hour and then it started to struggle. But I’m not going to savage him either. Sure, most of us would have started Arshavin and Song, most of us would have left out Diaby, but it’s facile to put the defeat down to these decisions alone. The defeat felt avoidable because we played poorly in the second half and because elementary errors were made on both the goals.

Well, guess what? That can happen to a football team. Sometimes they just don’t play well. And when you’ve only got one of your first choice back 5, it’s not that surprising when the defence is shaky, is it?

The opinions of many of our fans seem to come out of a memory spanning one week max. We beat Wigan and it’s giddy excitement, Wenger is the greatest manager ever and Denilson’s looking fantastic. We lose to Chelsea and we’ll never win another game with Arsene in charge and we’ve got to sell our entire midfield.

Grow up.

On a lighter note, I would like to make a plea that the FA’s Dubious Goals Panel reassess Arsenal’s goal yesterday. That scallywag Walcott tried to claim it, and was widely credited with the goal, but anyone could see that it was in fact an own-goal from the hapless Ashley Cole. Justice must be served.

Some major surprises on the Arsenal team-sheet:

Gibbs is fit. Arshavin is on the bench. A midfield of Walcott, Cesc, Denilson, Diaby.

Time for Diaby to have a big game, I think. Arsene’s put a lot of faith in him.

COME ON YOU REDS

Far too nervous to type properly, let alone attempt any cheeky gags.

No. Today is not the day for such tomfoolery. It is a day for soldiers, for stiffening the sinews and summoning up the blood. And hopefully ribald celebration come 7pm.

With our defence decimated (count them – no Almunia, no Gallas, no Sagna, no Clichy, no Djourou, possibly no Gibbs) we could very well end up with Alex Song at centre half and Silvestre at left-back. If anyone has any other suggestions, please can you let me (or preferably Arsene, actually) know asap. Word is that Gibbs is looking better than previously thought, though it’s a very big game for such a young fella to be coming into in doubtful shape. He will have to imitate the action of the tiger this afternoon, if he plays.

Song played in central defence at Old Trafford at the end of last season and did pretty well – Wenger always said this would be his long term position (though that has probably changed now). But he’s on form and high in confidence, so it may not be the worst thing, though it would leave our midfield shorn of its enforcer against Lampard, Essien and Ballack. <gulp>

It could be a very telling team selection today from Arsene, I think, especially (and for very different reasons) in the top half of the pitch. My guess is that he’ll sacrifice Nasri for Arshavin and play a kind of 4-4-1-1 as he did the other night, with Van Persie dropping pretty deep.

In their game at Anfield, Guus was intelligent enough to figure out that Liverpool minus Gerrard = Not That Great, and that Gerrard divided by Essien = An Easy Win for Chelsea. I really hope he won’t try and pull similar feats of central midfield algebra on Cesc today, but I rather worry that this is exactly the evil scheme up his sleeve. If Cesc’s playing with Essien on top of him all day, he will need to have an absolute blinder which, being famously good at football, is certainly not beyond him.

Is there an argument for playing the evanescent Eboue ahead of Theo? How much might Eboue’s knowledge of Arsene’s shady activities Last Summer win him favour for today’s team sheet? Interested to know what kind of front 6 you’d pick if you were everyone’s favourite alsatian Alsatian.

Chelsea’s Bruisers are in top cup form, and they showed on Tuesday that they’re not afraid to spoil a good story. Their main threats are: Hiddink (as RvP pointed out, the luckiest man in the world and apparently beloved of referees and linesmen all over the world), Essien, Lampard and Drogba.

The other night, Drogba was about as good as they get. Pretty unplayable. Let’s see some of that from Ade today, please, and none of that from Arsenal reject Didier. Wouldn’t it be great if Song totally outplayed him? That would really give the English press something to be confused about.

COME ON ARSENAL! Let’s give them a good Duffing! (We’ve been doing it since 1947 after all)

A comfortable win, then, and it bodes well for the rest of the season. If you had told me after we lost to Man City that come mid-April we’d be in the semis of the Champions League and the FA Cup, whilst secure in fourth in the Premiership, I’d have chomped your hand off quicker than Frank Lampard at a buffet.

Still, that’s where we find ourselves, after a convincing performance the other night in which it was easy to forget that Villarreal are a famously tricky team to play against. Proving that his statement of pre-match intent was no joke, Wenger started with a bullish 4-4-2, with Alex Song as the only holding midfielder. It’s a sign of how far he’s come that the boss entrusted him with that responsibility in such a crucial match. As it happened, he didn’t let anyone down, and demonstrated more of the niggly, occasional behind-clattery robustness and positional sense that has made him, in the hyperbolic words of my kid brother, ‘Awesome’. Picture that two years ago, when ‘we’ve only got one Song’ was an anthem of high relief, as opposed to the triumphant chorus at the end two nights ago.

Theo started the goals, with a deft chip after an incisive run onto Cesc’s backheel, a goal that was spookily reminiscent of a young Freddie Ljungberg. We then had most of the play in the first half though no more goals, despite Ade crapping a header almost over the line.

At the start of the second half they looked a bit less rubbish, with Fabianski called on to do some clearing and racing out, which to his credit he did effectively each time, and refreshingly devoid of the Lehmann technique of cack-handed charging. He and the jury-rigged defence did well, even though the Spaniards sin Marcos Senna were about as penetrative as George Michael at a Sex in the City singalong.

Finally Ade, taking a break from being permanently offside, latched onto RvP’s stonker of a ball and poked it home. From then on Villarreal wilted visibly, and more goals seemed on the cards. When it came, as it happened, it was from a slightly dubious penalty after Theo went down under what looked like a pretty innocuous challenge. Anyway it wasn’t that relevant, and Robin stepped up to slap it into the top-right hand corner. Game over.

An enjoyable evening all round, not least for Chris Kamara, who exactly predicted the correct score in his column in Nuts magazine, of which I am a devotee.

Also for Super Bob Pires. The comfort of the scoreline gave the crowd some room, and towards the end a long, deafening chorus of ‘Su-per, super Rob’ and ‘You’ll always be a gooner’ went around. It was lovely to see and hear, I hope he was pleased – he certainly deserved it. Though he was visibly off the pace on Wednesday he still dropped the occasional shoulder, and shuffled those feet that never quite seem to touch the ground as little reminders of what once was. It was a fabulous return for a tremendous servant to the club. What a legend. If you’ve forgotten, here are some reminders.

So United in the semi. That’ll be fun, won’t it?

A magnificent performance from the boys, who threatened to run riot in the first half and then strolled through the second. Villarreal were surprisingly poor, and rarely have I seen one player (Marcos Senna) missed so conspicuously – it was like their defence and midfield had completely lost their bearings.

There’s been more than enough yabbering about what happened. I only want to add a word of praise for Alex Song, man of the match for me, who put in a mighty shift at the heart of midfield. Whether he was spoiling, blocking, chasing, clearing, or passing searching balls out wide, everything he did – pretty much – seemed to come off on a night where he came of age as a top flight footballer.

How do you replace The Invisible Wall? Perhaps with a Very Visible Wall.

Minor Gripe: Ade. Now, over the tie he scored twice and of course that’s what you ask for in a striker. From a distance, he did well, making decisive contributions in both matches. But, wouldn’t it be so much nicer if he appeared to give one? If he found himself onside every so often? If he was on his toes ready to pounce for loose balls in the box and if when moves broke down he got back into a dangerous position rather than losing interest and looking mystified? I’m not saying he shouldn’t start, because 4 goals in 3 games is rather a nice ratio, but I just don’t see why this has to be accompanied with such a grudging attitude, as if playing for Arsenal is this horrible thing that he’s being forced to do. Plus, the game would have been over by half time last night if he’d been that interested in it. Interested to get some readerly opinion on him.

Amid the hype (see below) about the United match, no-one should forget that this is only the second time in the Club’s history that we’ve made it to the semi’s of the Big Cup. Greater and far more celebrated Arsenal teams with big names and world-beating reputations have failed to get this far before, so to make it here with what is essentially a youth team is a sensational achievement.

Now it’s time for the kids to do some proper giant-killing.

Ten years ago, in season 1998/99, we should have won the double for the second season in a row. Instead, United won the FA Cup Semi-Final, pipped us in the league thanks to some shameful rolling over from T*ttenham, completed the treble with an incredibly lucky win against Bayern… and we still haven’t heard the end of it.

We now have the chance to knock them out of Europe, deny them the chance of back-to-back Champions’ Leagues and put a massive dent in their league campaign. It doesn’t get any bigger.

We will be playing at home in the second leg, by no means a decisive advantage but one which it’s great to have before a ball’s been kicked. Arsene said the percentages in favour of the home team in the second leg is 55-45 – which isn’t half bad if he’s right (and yes I’ve read Finkelstein on the subject, I just don’t really believe him). In any case, when we’re at home in first legs, things always seem to get very cagey and we end up going away with a very slim lead to defend.

It’s still 2 weeks away, and we’ve a massive match at Wembley in between, but I already feel too nervous to eat. I’m off to put a few quid on a spectacular Eboue winner at the Emirates.

I’ll get Villarreal stuff out of the way first off, to clear some space for a proper rant.

Arsene has lamented the loss of Gael and Djourou, so it looks like Gibbs and Silvestre in defence tomorrow night. He mentioned that Diaby was back, which struck me as something of a non-sequiter in relation to our crisis of defensive absenteeism. Anyway…

His other option would be to start Eboue on the right and switch Sagna to the left. This would give the team-sheet a more experienced feel, but can Eboue remember how to defend (if he ever really got the hang of it in the first place) what with all his exciting attacking fun this season? A toughie.

Marcos Senna’s absence is really big news for us, a player of top-class pedigree who can really dominate big games and (obviously) carries a goal threat too. Much has been made of his apparent dissing of Adebayor. Actually, all the poor bloke seems to have said is that he isn’t as good as Thierry yet and hasn’t done as much in his career, which is a pretty fair shout, I’d say, though if you’re reading Ade, you should take Senna’s comments as a major attack on your manliness and prove him wrong tomorrow night by miraculously scoring 150 overhead-kicks in one game to prove Senna wrong and eclipse Thierry’s scoring record.

Marvellous.

Trembling with excitement about our imminent quarter final clash as I am, I still cannot resist moaning about the sheer idiocy of the shortlist for the PFA Player of the Year award, released today.

For the main award: Giggs, Ronaldo, Vidic, Van der Sar, Ferdinand, Gerrard

For the young ‘uns award: Agbonlahor, Young, Lennon, Ireland, Evans, da Silva

Now, of course, part of the reason for this shameless Man United love-in is that voting took place feckin ages ago, and clearly on the understanding that United were unstoppable. Now it just looks stupid, frankly, rewarding a 1 point gap (with a game in hand) with an astonishing 5:1 ratio in favour of United over Liverpool in terms of players shortlisted. 

If it looks stupid, that’s because it is stupid. I mean, it’s not as though counting the votes takes such a long time that they had to poll in January or whenever in order to get the shortlist together for early April when… oh… the season still isn’t really very over, is it? But at least we know which players were flavour of the month half-way through the season.

And Chelsea, a massive 4 points off the pace? No outstanding players whatsoever then. Giggs,having completed a whopping 7 games all year, is preferred to Lampard.

Unprecedented is the presence of so many defensive players from one team on a shortlist meant to recognise outstanding performance across an entire league. United have both centre halves and their goalkeeper shortlisted, and another centre half and a full-back in contention for the Young Player award. Pretty much everyone except the hapless Neviller and Evra then. This could only be on the basis of having a defensive record which is vastly superior to anyone else, surely?

Not so. United have conceded 21 goals this season, Liverpool also 21, and Chelsea only 20.

Can anyone explain this cock-rot to me? Certainly not “MN” who sent a message to 6-0-6, which the BBC have hilariously pull-quoted in their lead article on the shortlist. His analysis?

“I think Gerrard might win it. It all depends on how the votes are cast”

Pretty much, yeah, seeing as it’s a vote and all.

No place for Kevin Davies, a dreadful man to be sure, but one who has outscored almost all the flashy forwards in the top 4 and got plenty of assists, all while being played in a strange, Kuytish wing position for a pitifully poor football team.

And while you’re busy lavishing your rancid approbation all over anyone who’s been near United’s defence this season, just ignore any of the Fulham defence that have conceded just 28 goals so far, a mere 7 more than United and without anything like United’s kind of firepower, which tends to mean almost all the game is played in the opposition half, anyway.

Doesn’t it make you mad?