Up For Grabs Now

A team it’s difficult to feel much animosity for. Bonkers Thierry-cheering fans (apart from that bell-ringing waistcoat bloke), a charming shed which they insist is actually a stand, and – crucially – usually good for 6 points every year.

Today should be no different if we can maintain our encouraging early levels of swashbuckle and sex-appeal. I expect to see the strikers chipping in today, though if that happens you just know the press will start wondering where Arsenal’s midfield goals are going to come from.

The move to 4-3-3 looks to have reinvented one man in particular: Nicklas Bendtner.

Of course it’s very early on, but from what we’ve seen Arsene is going to keep him on the right of the front three. And rightly so.

There’s clearly a reason why it’s Arsh-RvP-NB52 rather than Arsh-NB52-RvP, which is how pretty much any fan would arrange them.

So far Bendtner has actually performed the role of spearhead – winning high balls and knocking them down for van Persie and others – but (rather revolutionary this) he has done so from the right, as part of his role as a wing-forward. I think this could prove very effective, in part because it’s such an unusual approach, and in part because with Arsene you know the team is never going to play in a way which needs a conventional (ie central) spearhead, through whom play is channelled (aerially) for much of the game – Davies, Drogba, Shearer.

Where was the spearhead in the TH14/DB10 combo? It was ludicrously effective despite the fact that Dennis was always dropping off deep and Thierry drifted wide to get the ball at his feet.

We use the high ball approach only occasionally, and it can be really effective as a change of tack.

Ade used to try and play from a wide position, but was absolutely dreadful at this and always ended up running up a blind alley, or crossing limply to nobody. We’ll miss him in some ways, I’m not denying, but if Bendtner can turn himself into a threat as unconventional as that he offered at Goodison, then we’ll have a real weapon on our hands.

Back to bread and butter issues: Gabon, the team that could prove vital to Arsenal’s season.

The thinnest part of our squad is clearly defensive midfield. Denilson and Song have grown impressively into first-picks, but behind them it all gets a bit ropey. Diaby and Ramsey could probably deputise for Denilson, but there isn’t anyone who could really cover for Song. And everyone knows he’ll be at the African Cup of Nations in January.

Song: Indomitable

And here’s the thing. He might not. Song’s Cameroon team (bullishly nicknamed The Indomitable Lions), sit bottom of their tough-looking qualifying group, which includes Andepaymore’s Togo, Chamakh’s Morocco and, er, Daniel Cousin’s Gabon. Third-place or better qualifies you for the CAN.

Lion: Midfielder

 

 Cameroon have a double-header with Gabon up next, who have taken maximum points from their 2 games. If Cameroon lose those two, they’ll be big favourites to finish last, and miss out on African Nations Cup qualifications.

Of course, they could still qualify. Let’s just hope they don’t. And let’s also hope Arsene signs a burly defensive midfielder all the same.

COME ON YOU REDS TODAY

With all the doom-mongering and transfer-related whingeing that’s been going on, only the very perceptive will have emerged from this summer having retained the memory of Arsenal actually owning any players whatsoever. And some good ones, too.

Grabber has done a fine job of swarthily surveying our array of attacking players like the seasoned trooper that he is. Now it’s my turn, with the case for the defence.

Manuel Almunia: combines a career as a top-flight goalkeeper with a part-time role as a German-baiting waiter. Also combines being Spanish with being English, and not getting picked for Spain with not getting picked for England. An Arsene favourite. For years completely unfancied by all, sundry, and everyone else as a bench-warming, cross-flapping enigma, you’ve got to admire the pluck of the man Mad Jens once complained had “only started playing football aged 30″.  Hope he stays fit.

Lukasz Fabianski: A blonde girl in a pub once told me that Fabianski is the best looking Arsenal player since Flamini. Be that as it may, his carefully slicked down fringe didn’t do much to quieten the howls of agony when he inexplicably charged past the onrushing Drogba at Wembley in the spring. Still, we all make mistakes, and he’s made some decent saves. Only 24, and improving. But hope Manuel stays fit.

Gael Clichy: A big season for Gael as he tries to dislodge Evra from the France team. Evra looks permanently furious and fights with passing groundsman at the drop of a rake. Clichy is extraordinarily fast, but developed a nasty tendency to fall over at crucial periods, such as in injury time against the hated foe. Hopefully this will be stamped out and he will finally learn to shoot. A top player who should be looking to last the season this year.

Bacary Sagna: Arguably the best player in the world. Sure, you’d have to argue that one pretty well, but if we had eleven Bacary Sagnas… well, I’d stick four in defence and the rest would have to compete with the others for places. One could probably play in midfield somewhere. And we might get away with playing a couple in the Ladies team. A magnificent defender, a soldier, and a gentleman.

Thomas Vermaelen: If you can’t sign Nemanja Vidic, why not sign someone who looks a bit like him? Steely of eye, iron of jaw and proud of forehead, Vermaelen has all the physical attributes to prove the doubters wrong about Wenger’s ability to buy defenders. Plus, he’s captained Ajax already and at 24 should have valuable experience and some great years ahead of him. I think he will prove to be a very shrewd buy.

William Gallas: Still here. After all the huffing and sulking, Wenger did the unthinkable and got rid of plucky Kolo instead, which leaves a lot of responsibility with Gallas. Unfairly maligned for his generally solid performances in my opinion, Gallas’ experience will be hugely important. He should realise that it’s his last season at the top, nail his colours to the mast and play a blinder. Could still be a world-beating stopper for us if his head is right and he can gel with Vermaelen.

Johan Djourou: Cited by Wenger as one of the many (three) tall players in our squad, this could be a breakthrough year for the young swiss, who has clearly muscled himself well ahead of Senderos in the picking order. Must steer clear of injury, but a first team spot is certainly not beyond him this season.

Emmanuel Eboue: So good, we profiled him twice. Arguably the best player in the world. Mad, bad, and often dangerous to pass to. Let’s hope that when he does get on he plays in defence, that he continues to cut inside so thrillingly (and entirely unpredictably) and that he wins a penalty at Old Trafford with a dive so egregious that it shocks the world. Reportedly wanted by Barcelona as a replacement for the tediously magnificent Dani Alves, and who can blame them?

Back 4 Extras: Arsene Knows. More than anything he seems to know how to find lithe quicksilver young left full-backs. Kieran Gibbs will have to fight it out with Armand Traore to be Clichy’s back up this year, though both players could surely also be useful on the wing if pressed into action. Mikael Silvestre continues to cement his place as a firm fans favourite, which is why we all hope he’s used sparingly.

Alex Song: Turned himself into a bit of a lynch-pin by the end of last season, though that was partly because we didn’t have any other players left. A good start could see him kick on to become a major force, though you still wonder if Wenger doesn’t see him as a defender. The face of Arsenal’s cosmetics range, there is still time to make yourself smell like Song. Prone to dozing off against correctly-termed lesser teams, our soft underbelly is likely to completely collapse without him, unless we get another defensive midfielder soonish.

Denilson: Famously “not as good as Kaka”, as the woman behind me repeatedly insists on pointing out, Denilson is a very promising talent, who must be looking to really impose himself on the team this year. Blessedly injury-averse, the ever-present young square-pass merchant isn’t going to convince everyone, but he’s convinced Mr Wenger, who will want him, like Song, to add a bit of grit and consistency to his game. Also like Song, likely to be the scapegoat for any poor results.

Aaron Ramsey: Tidy, skilful and a future mainstay. Looked overawed at points last year, but should know his way around by now. Not one to hang about and clearly convinced of his ability (just in a Welsh, rather than Danish way, if you get me) Aaron is likely to see a lot of gametime, especially if no other central midfielders arrive. Did I mention that some Arsenal fans want to see a defensive midfielder brought in?

Prognosis: The patient is a bit off-colour for this time of year, and looks thin around the middle. Would benefit from a muscular injection in defensive midfield and centre-half. What an original conclusion.

Thank God the season’s here. There’s been far too much Arsene-bashing from the press and some fans, and futile, circular, transfer-related harping. A win on Saturday would be the best way to forget all about it.

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 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.

Having endured the inevitable United comeback yesterday, there are now 6 points between us and a mentally lacerated Villa with 7 games remaining. We can now justifiably turn our full attention to the Champions’ League – and with some hope I think.

Villarreal away tomorrow night, sans Jens, but with the promise of the chance to burst United’s bloated bubble big-style in the semi-finals. There can be no failure now.

These are not opponents to be underestimated, though, and they will take a bit of beating. In the group stage they held United to 0-0 draws home and away, and they came through their second round by getting the win they needed away at Panathanaikos, no easy place to go.

The superlative Tim Vickery has an excellent profile of their manager and a few of their top players. Definitely worth a read.

They are a club, like Arsenal, which does things a bit differently. One of these things seems to be their commitment to fluid, attacking football, which I hope will mean that we spend the tie launching blistering counter-attacks, rather than simply scrapping in the odd goal from a corner after 180 solid minutes of Islington Shuffling, as is too often the case.

Always more exciting when they attack too, eh? We also seem to defend considerably better against teams who attack, so hopefully Villarreal’s style will bring the best out of our boys and we’ll see a bit of Wengerball.

Speaking of our boys, there’ll be no RvP, no Diaby, no Eduardo and, astonishingly, no Rosicky.

If Arsene was thinking of doing anything other than a 4-5-1, that list could have done some of his decision making for him. He can play Bendtner up top with Ade, or else he can play 4-5-1, (with Bendtner on the wing if he really must).

Having seen Cesc chillin out max on Saturday, basking on the Denilson-Song midfield platform, I’d like to see a similar line-up, with Nasri in for Arshavin if he’s fit. I would expect Theo to start wide right, but wouldn’t be too surprised to see Eboue come in.

Our change in fortunes has seen a remarkable cooling of the raging tide of hatred and vitriol which used to be habitually spewed at Messrs Eboue and Song by certain squawling siblings amongst the internet fraternity. In the bleakest days of this season, I defended our squad and Wenger’s management at a time when the media was telling us that all was lost, and was attacked for being completely uncritical of Wenger. The acid test for my stupidity? “Won’t you criticise Wenger for anything? Do you think Alex Song is a good player?”

Now no-one’s saying that he’s Vieira, or that he’s some sort of club legend, but there seems to be a growing realisation that when he’s on form, he can do a job for us. How times change. Eboue, too, has turned opinion round spectacularly in recent weeks with some strong attacking performances, a few goals and a general avoidance of self-imposed mishap. Perhaps this is because he isn’t getting a starting place very often any more. When it gets to 60 minutes and people start wondering who’s on the bench, some have even been suggesting that (whisper this) perhaps it might be an idea to bring on Eboue.

Amid all the talk of facing up to Bobby Pires, a word, if you will for the forgotten man of Arsenal’s Invincibles, Pascal Cygan, a willing servant of the club during his short spell at Highbury who is still remembered for a number of breathtaking examples of elite-level defending. In fairness, on his day he wasn’t actually that bad and by all accounts he has enjoyed something of a transformation since joining Villarreal. But if it’s not his day tomorrow then we could be in for some fun.

A delayed response to the stonking victory over Burnley on Sunday. Of course you’d be quite right if you said that we are a football club of sufficient stature that we oughtn’t be cheering victories over Burnley that emphatically, but the quality of our performance and our otherwise rather rickety season merits us in this instance. It also keeps us alive in the FA Cup, a competition we’ve got a good chance of winning this season, just as long as we can overcome Manchester United, Chelsea, and, er, Hull in the following rounds.

3-0, it was, and it could have been quite a few more had young Theo and Robin shot slightly different. The players involved in the goals were also wonderful statement from Arsene; all new, returning or maligned. The first was an Andrey and Carl incision of a quality that promises wonderful things for the future. A silky pass, a great first touch and then a chipped finish over the keeper. These two haven’t been around long enough to learn the Islington Shuffle, and I’ve rarely been gladder. The second has had a lot of coverage as a thing of pure beauty, and who am I to disagree. After a tentative bit of IS, Alex Song floated in a miraculously surprising ball to Eduardo who smacked it with his heel into the top corner, the sort of finish which were you in the playground you would have to spend a long time justifying as being deliberate. Eduardo isn’t in the playground, and so doesn’t have to justify his sheer technical brilliance.

The third was, as well as being slick and clinical, a goal which made you want to go and check which way round the loo was flushing. LeGal passed the ball forwards to Alex Song whose deft backheel put it in the path of the onrushing Eboue, whose finish was uncharacteristically, wonderfully clinical. Gallas-Song-Eboue-goal; what odds would you have got on that combination before the match, I wonder? Alex Song’s two assists reflected a great performance, and one which left me wondering whether it might not be Denilson who’s most nervous for his place when Cesc gets back. Song is much happier sitting back than the Brazilian, who like most of our midfielders ideally would like to be the Cesc figure. What a difference a good match can make.

So from the despair and despondency of the last few weeks we find ourselves in a position where, with a good performance against Roma tomorrow night, we can find ourselves in strong contention for two trophies and right back in the hunt for fourth place against a collapsing Villa. Great News.

In other Great News, our February Philosophy Football competition has finished- congratulations to our winners Peter Hoodless, Clementina Kyremateng, Clair Lewis Peter McNulty and Cara Taylor, who are now all the proud owners of the Arsenal t-shirts. We are also proud to announce the March competition. Same deal, only this time you can win a stonker of a Herbert Chapman t-shirt from our pals down at PF.

As before, we’ve got 5 to give away, to enter you’ve simply got to answer the following question: what formation did Herbert Chapman pioneer when he was at Arsenal? Full details are here.

Don’t forget to sign into the mailing list below. Until tomorrow, grabbers, where we’ll talk about Roma and all that jazz. Been a good few days for us gooners, hasn’t it?

By gum, it hasn’t been so long since our last game has it? And here we are again, all hopes and fears as Tony Adam’s Pompey roll into the Emirates.

Having only a day in between matches could work in our favour. After results as frustrating as Friday’s, players and managers always want to have another chance to get it right as quickly as possible. You could argue the same about Pompey, I suppose, but after being obliterated 4-1 at home by struggling West Ham you’d rather think they’d need time to pick themselves up and regain belief. Instead of which they’ve had a day off and must now play Arsenal. 

Tony Adams (TA6) will rightly receive an enormous ovation, as such a pillar of the club deserves. Likewise Campbell, Ralph and Kanu, Invincibles all, should be made to feel right at home. Realistically, not Diarra.

That said, I don’t think Adams will be long for the Pompey job. Once an unproven young manager strings a run of poor results together (albeit his squad is crumbling around him), recent history shows that they always get the boot in favour of someone older and wiser (or sometimes just newer, as in Sbragia’s case), not because they aren’t necessarily good managers, but because most clubs’ budgets cannot countenance the blow of relegation and so extreme short-termism is the only option.

If he does lose his job, I’d love to see Arsene bring him in as a defensive coach. I’ve long thought that Arsene might benefit from basically not bothering to coach defending himself (in the same way that there are specialised goalkeeping coaches), and instead allow a specialist defensive coach to decide defensive strategy, especially things like defending set-pieces.

I know we defend as a team, blah, blah, blah. The thing is that there’s something painfully uncomfortable about our current back four which suggests they really don’t know quite what they’re meant to be doing. People bark on about new signings, but a new signing in the same defensive system can’t change all that much in my opinion unless they’re a massive ego in their own right who will insist on doing things their way, which sounds good in theory but a bit like Gallas in practice.

Arsene could still insist on having his full-backs galloping forward and maintain a certain style of distribution to the midfield. What I think someone like Adams could improve is the muddy bread-and-butter business of defending, which has always seemed to rather bore Arsene.

Back to today’s match. Adebayor returns after his ridiculous suspension. Djourou and Clichy may also come back, though I wouldn’t put the family cat on it, while Song misses out, apparently still injured – so I hope all those who suggested he got hooked by Wenger at Villa because he was playing terribly feel terribly guilty this morning.

Song’s loss is a bit of a puzzler for Wenger midfieldwise. I reckon he’ll put Nasri on the left, Eboue on the right, Denilson with Diaby in the middle. Diaby’s preference for aimless ambling in ineffectual areas of the midfield over things like pressing and tackling would put a lot of pressure on Denilson if this is the midfield today. An alternative would be to drop Eboue (Hooray!), put Diaby on a wing and Ramsey in the middle. The lad looked raw against Villa but it’s always tough to come into a game at the stage he did – the intensity’s high and nobody’s tired enough yet to give you any fitness advantage. Played from the start he might be able to get his teeth into the game a bit more.

Always interested to know your thoughts on today’s game and who you’d pick, so stick them underneath as always.

TRANSFER RUMOURS: No less a bastion of journalistic probity than the News of the World newspaper has today unleashed a three-headed Arsenal transfer-rumour monster which is clearly completely baseless and apparently intended only to worry frantic Geordies. They claim we’ll sign Shay Given, Steven Taylor and Charles N’Zogbia as part of Wenger’s big change of mind (which is itself a lie).

We’ve always been linked with N’Zogbia though I’ve never really understood why. He’s out of contract at the end of the season so it wouldn’t surprise me to see him signed in a sort of vague, Bischoffian manner. Taylor could be good I suppose, if given the right defensive coaching (see nods and nudges above), while Given would be a curious signing seeing as Arsene quite clearly rates Almunia highly. As do I for that matter. He’s another that seems to suffer simply because he wasn’t signed expensively as an established talent.

Allez les rouges!

What with the last 19 hours of frantic face stuffing with chocolate coins, chocolate oranges, ham, turkey, bacon, eggs, sausages, parsnips and, well, stuffing, you’d be forgiven for feeling far too fat to make the effort to even turn on the telly for today’s top-5 tussle  at Villa Park. Never mind actually managing to open your eyes for long enough to take in any of the action. Let alone travelling all the way to bloody Birmingham to witness our Cesc-shorn midfield in action.

Word up to the travelling Gooners today – you should be proud of yourselves. Let’s hope it’s well worth the trip.

A word of warning: a source close to Alex Song (he didn’t stay very close for very long) reports that Alex Song ate between 12 and 17 brussel sprouts all by himself at the London Colney Christmas Dinner, which means he’s likely to spend at least the first half attempting to conceal the inevitable blasts of nauseating flatulence from his team-mates (apparently Denilson HATES other people’s farts) and Sky’s microphones.

Let’s hope he can lay some potent, lingering efforts in the space in behind Sagna and Clichy. Lord knows if we play our defensive line as far up the park as we did against Liverpool, we’ll need something to keep Young and Agbonlahor away from the channels. Alex, you’re our man! Get busy.

The best news this week was that Villa’s defensive cornerstone Martin Laursen is likely to miss today’s game through injury. He’s a crucial player for Villa – an excellent defender in his own right who expertly marshals the rest of his back-line, and a real threat at set-pieces too, which we really seem to enjoy conceding goals from.

His obvious replacement, the excellent Carlos Cuellar, is also struggling, so they may be forced to start with the promising but erratic Curtis Davies and the unpromising and erratic Zat Knight. Both are very tall, but neither are especially adept on the ground, so it’s a combination which would have Van Persie (no Ade today remember) licking his slick-shaven chops.

I suspect O’Neill will realise this and risk one of his main men at the back, preferably Cuellar.

Our team: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Djourou, Galoises, Denilson, Diaby, Nasri, Song, Van Persie, Bendtner

No guarantees from this end, however, that we won’t see a 4-5-1 against such a strong Villa midfield. The problem with that is you’d either have to play Van Persie in a withdrawn role (which would mean there would be little defensive point in having the extra man in midfield as he’d be Rob and would also mean relying on Bendtner having a blinder) or else play him up top by himself (which he’s normally pretty bad at) or else drop him (which would be madness).

Very interested to hear your thoughts on who should start today. It’s a big game – who would you pick?

Whoever’s wearing the golden cannon on their shirt today is going to have to play out of their skin. A few of them have to start playing like Top 4 players, and today would be a great day to start.

Lose, and Villa will have 6 points on us. Not insurmountable by any means (and stand fast against the Sky-eyed gloom-mongers who would doubtless prey on any such result) but certainly it would be another big blow in a week of big blows for our season. Win and we’d sneak ahead of them on goal difference. So we’ll probably draw instead.

Come on you Reds!

As the reaction to our draw with Liverpool became more and more confused – “Liverpool grab brilliant draw against 10-man Arsenal” (eh? how does that work exactly?) – Arsene was asked in his post-match about the prospect of Carlos Vela being loaned out, his interest in Andrei Arshavin and the possibility of a move for Carlos Tevez.

“No, no, and no“.

This is terrible news for the idle rumour-mongers across the web and in the offices of the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, who last week ran screaming headlines about Arshavin and Tevez and followed them up with learned opinions about Arsene’s imminent change of heart. They talked with grave certainty about the enormous sums piled high at the Emirates just waiting to be splashed on a range of long-haired strikers. But they still couldn’t be arsed to fabricate a single quote from within the club or “sources close to Arsene”. What evidence for Arsene’s great epiphany? None, nada, diddly squat.

So it’s bad news for them. They’ll have to find new big names and big new numbers to fill their headlines. Heaven forbid they should actually do some journalistic research. But is it really bad news for Arsenal? Is it bad news for Arsenal’s fans? I’m not so sure.

It seems to me that this season more than any other has seen Gooners aligning themselves with tabloid transfer hysteria. We’re not having a good season, what do we need to do? We need to spend, and spend big. That’s the consensus.

It’s total bollocks. I don’t give a monkey’s how much we spend, I just want good players. We currently require the acquisition of good players on the wing, in defensive midfield and in central defence. Everybody agrees on that. As far as I’m concerned these players can cost 20 million or 20 quid and I wouldn’t care less as long as they’re good enough. Nor do I care if I’ve heard about them, or if I’ve seen them in major tournaments, or if “Sport.com” says they’re really really good. When Eduardo and Sagna signed nobody had the first scoobie who they were and neither of them were very expensive, yet they are both absolutely class players.

But that’s not the attitude most Gooners have right now. Many have bought into the tabloid myth that spending money brings success by itself. In fact it doesn’t bring concrete success to anyone other than the media, who have an easy story which will sell them lots of papers. It’s as if Tottenham’s high-spending and laughably disastrous last 20 years never happened, or we Gooners just weren’t paying attention. 

Where there used to be a certain pride in Arsene’s ability to underspend his rivals and still compete, there’s now a rather ugly antagonism towards him, an insistence that he spend very big on a really big name right now, as if any future success would then be down to every pea-brained nutter who’s been screaming hysterically for a headline signing for the past 9 years, and nothing to do with Arsene.

And this antagonism has spread to infect many fans’ attitudes to certain players, chiefly Denilson and Alex Song, forever the scapegoats this season for any of the team’s shortcomings. Now both of them have put in some pretty dreadful performances, but both of them have also had games when they have been – as yesterday – little short of magnificent. Yesterday was the second time that Song has effectively neutralised the threat of Gerrard. And their performances are recognised by the rest of the squad – yesterday Van Persie singled out both players for praise – so it isn’t just Arsene who rates them. Van Persie is a top class Dutch international who has played with great players at club and international level. He might be worth listening to on this one.

But instead of getting the credit they deserve as young players performing superbly in big games, they get slated yet again. In my opinion this is because these two have come to represent Arsene’s policy of buying very young players very cheaply, then blooding them very early. It’s a very risky strategy, and a strategy which has major flaws as well as major benefits.

I reckon if Song had been signed for £9 million from Lyon in the summer and Denilson had come in last January from Valencia in a nice exciting £12 million deal, you wouldn’t be hearing anything like the dog’s abuse these two get week by week. Nothing like it. People would have way more patience with them and they’d want to see them doing well. You get the sense that some Gooners approach the game wanting Arsenal to win, no doubt, but also wanting to have a right old go at Alex Song. It’s totally perverse.

I’m not saying that either of these players should be first team regulars or that we shouldn’t bring in better players in their positions, I just don’t think they’re getting a fair hearing from Arsenal fans right now.

That’s my opinion. You probably disagree. Let me know, and don’t spare the expletives.

Well, that was angry, breathless, and, purely as a football game, a bit bollocks wasn’t it?

You all saw the key incidents, I’m sure.

An explosive goal of rare grace and ingenuity from Van Persie. The sort of goal only he can score. The kind of footballing brilliance where you pretty much punch the ceiling as the net bulges, your mouth hangs open and your guts jump for joy, but part of you can’t help thinking “why can’t he do that all the time?” Probably because it’s really really hard to do – even for him.

Liverpool hit back with their first decent attack of the game - a high-bouncing hoof caught out Djourou as Keane snuck in front of him and finished magnificently. The guy’s a pillock, but what a well taken goal. I won’t blame Djourou or Almunia. Keane hit it so early that there was little they could do from their starting positions, where normally a touch or an extra bounce would have allowed them to recover.

Cesc hobbled off and will be a major concern. The TV cameras showed him holding his shirt to his face and the great man looked very frustrated. Let’s hope it was just a heavy knock and he hasn’t sustained a profound injury. His frustration could simply have been because he knew he wouldn’t be able to play the second half, not necessarily anything longer. Fingers crossed. We need him.

In the first half Arsenal had a surprising amount of joy playing high, direct balls for Adebayor whose knock-downs into the midfield gave us several decent attacking platforms in an advanced area of the pitch. This seemed to dry up in the second half as the reshaped midfield struggled a bit without their injured General.

Adebayor had been looking pretty pissed off all game and put in a really stupid challenge considering he was on a yellow. Of course the Liverpool prat made a meal out of it so big you could have added a few sprouts and called it a Christmas Dinner, and our fans were rightly outraged (as was Arsene). Still, a silly thing for Adebayor to do when he’s on a yellow card. Very silly in such a big game which looked there for the taking with 11 men. The boy needs a rocket up him if you ask me, and fast.

From then on the game got even scrappier, the moronic Howard Webb booking our players at every possible opportunity and Liverpool showing the kind of lack of ambition which could well deny them the title. Pretty much 35 minutes against 10 men missing their captain and heartbeat. A chance, you’d think, to kill off a rival’s fading title hopes and compound their Christmas lead. No attacking substitutions until Babel on 70 minutes and still no real thrust to their attack. !Rafa, no me jodas! Donde esta los cojones?

Finally, a word on the performances of Song and Denilson, two players much maligned who will doubtless have to face all kinds of misguided criticism after this result. Rarely has there been such a gap between Arsene’s belief in a player and the fans’ suspicion of them as there currently is with these two.

Well, I’ve got news for their haters. I’m not saying that they have both been consistently outstanding this season or anything like that, nor am I saying I’d want them in a first-choice midfield every week. But today they played superbly against a vastly more experienced Liverpool midfield and both of them out of their natural position. Where was Stevie G? Song had him. 

For once, let’s just stand up and give them a bit of credit, shall we. Two battling performances (not perfect, by any means) but certainly well worthy of the shirt in my opinion.

What did you think of the match then? Post your views underneath and we’ll have a right old chinwag.