Up For Grabs Now

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 love European nights, don’t you?

I think on reflection no Arsenal fan can be unhappy with getting away with 1-1 last night. In a tense match we were absolutely bossed for the first 45 minutes, particularly after Marcos Senna scored a stonker of a goal that Almunia, injury or no, didn’t really have a chance with. People will say Song should have closed him down but you can’t really legislate for that kind of strike, and on the whole Song had a good game. There’s something of the Gilberto about him, in that he doesn’t appear to do a whole lot but is very often doing something sensible, and appearing at useful moments. He’s also got a nice line in the subtle robust-clatter-from-behind-on-skillful-opposition-midfielder, which we’ve been missing in the middle of the park for some time now. Good to see. Man’s game, and all that. We’re seeing there’s more to Song than just a fragrance-modeller.

Other than that the first half didn’t have much to recommend it from an Arsenal point-of-view. Their lot passed it around neatly, and were getting in behind the defenders quite effectively. I wonder if that’s a tactical thing about European sides that’s not a problem in the domestic league – anyway, we looked quite vulnerable, and Gallas and Toure were doing a bit of their terrifying ‘you get it’ ‘no, you get it’ double act. We were pretty lucky only to be one down – Fabianski when he came on made a great save at his post – was my conclusion from the first half.

We did manage to get the ball in the net, after Cesc took a quick free quick, but he promptly got booked for his trouble, though that was only because Ray Wilkins was refereeing, and as we all know, Ray Wilkins with his Chelsea allegiances was after revenge for Thierry’s successful use of the quick free quick all those years ago.

The second half was much better – we came at them much more convincingly, and then, all of a sudden, we scored. I thought it was very good of ITV, given that I was watching the game in order to see it live, to show, rather than the scoring of the goal, Adebayor wheeling away in celebration. However, the replays confirmed that it was  a cracking finish – a quasi bicycle kick, and the third Cesc-Adebayor combo goal in two matches. Those two must have been having secret practise sessions while they were injured, building up a ‘relationship’.

When I was a boy I tried heavily to emphasise the importance of having a ‘relationship’ with a strike partner. I saw myself playing in the hole, banging balls in from behind so my chum only had to balance himself, pull the trigger and finish the job. As I got older I tried to stop choosing my words so poorly, but it is nice to see the direct stuff working. In fact if anyone was guiltiest of Islington Shuffle last night it was the Spaniards; thankfully they won’t be able to do that sort of thing when they come round our gaff, as they have to score, which means that we’ll have more chances. Yum. 

So in conclusion. Positives: 1-1. Cesc. Song. Ade(bits), Toure/Djourou looking ok. Fabianski. Pires’ reception from the away gooners – I can’t wait for when he appears at the Emirates. Last minute Porto equaliser against United.

Negatives: Ray Wilkins being the referee. Injuries to Almunia and Gallas. Marcos Senna being excellent at football. Villarreal looking pretty competent generally.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Tell your friends.

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.

So it’s Villarreal up next in early April. Crucially the second leg is at the Emirates – that could give us the edge.

Villarreal will be tough opponents, certainly, but if you look across the other teams we could have drawn, you’ve got to be pleased with that one. I always say we play better when given big draws, as our run to the 2006 final bore out, but when it comes down to the draw itself I’m always desperately hoping we avoid the bigger fish.

If we get past Villarreal (and let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, it will be tough) then we will most probably face Manchester United in the semi-final.

There will be those who will have dreaded such a draw. United are extremely strong, with a mighty squad and a whiff of invincibility. Sure, they lost to Liverpool, but will that result really matter in the final Premier League reckoning?

Better, you might think, for Arsenal not to have to play them at all. Better that if they are to win the European Cup back to back, it should be without having conquered Arsenal along the way. Better for us to be able to pretend we would have beaten them, but never got them in the draw.

You won’t be hearing anything like that from UpForGrabsNow.

I am right now drooling uncontrollably at the prospect of United in the semis (distant as I will try and keep it in my mind). Why?

Because it gives us the chance to be the ones to wreck their season, the season which the pundits have already decided is to end with 5 trophies.

Because it gives us the chance to turn this season – their season – into our season, the season we will always remember as the season when we triumphed over (let’s face it) one of the best English club squads ever assembled when no-one thought we could do it.

Because whatever the hype about them, and however good their players actually are, and however formidable a foe Alex Ferguson will be for Arsene, there is always the fact that WE ARE THE ARSENAL.

There is no team in the world who we cannot meet, beat, and outplay, when we play as well as we can.

Finally, because when we were Invincible, the cheat Wayne Rooney and that sad coward of a referee ended our unbeaten run at Old Trafford and did immense damage to our incredibly talented squad. That defeat cannot be properly avenged without beating United when it really matters, when it really hurts.

We can do that now. We have that chance. And nothing would feel better.