Author Archives: Michael Roberts

Arsene’s Captains Conundrum?

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Something from the West Ham game troubled me. It wasn’t the tired display or Arsene kicking off at Alan Pardew – or even the late goal by Marlon Scarewood. It was the fact I knew Arsenal were going to lose before the game even kicked off.

Hence the lack of a preview for the game at Upton Park – I can hardly preach and say we’re going to lose!

Myles Palmer has touched on it and the problem Arsenal have is that Thierry Henry is Arsenal captain. I asked the question back in February and I still think Titi as captain is a big mistake.

Even Wrighty made the point on MOTD2 last night – Henry was joking around with Reo-Coker in the tunnel instead of being focused and ready for a fight. He wasn’t in the mood and when that happens Arsenal struggle.

Fighters make the best captains and that’s why Chelski have John Terry, Liverpool have Steven Gerrard, United used to have Roy Keane (and now Gary Neville) and why Tony Adams and Paddy were successful at Arsenal.

But with Henry as captain are we capable of winning anything?

Is it a co-incidence that we had our worst Premiership season in the Wenger era with Henry leading the team?

We struggled last season and the same seems to be happening again.

Thierry Henry is the anti-captain. Captain’s are supposed to rally the team to victory, encourage their players and give every game 110% even when they’re not playing well.

But Henry is the nice guy of football.

Nice guys can’t be captain no matter how gifted they are. Look at Ronaldinho for Barcelona for example.

Arsene went mental yesterday not because of the late goal or Alan Pardew celebrating – Wenger has experienced worse goals against Arsenal like in the Champions League Final or the FA Cup Semi-Final replay against United.

It must have been something Pardew said, but Arsenal fans know it had more to do with Arsene’s frustration at his own team and the way they were playing.

Only the following things can happen.

The first is that Henry will stay as captain for the rest of his career. Arsene can’t strip Henry of the captaincy because that will be admitting he made a mistake, and could be more damaging to the team in terms of moral. Henry losing the captaincy would be in the headlines for weeks!

The only way that Arsenal will get a new captain is if Henry leaves.

The Best Performance By Arsenal This Season?

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The Curse Of The Emirates Strikes Again…

The same old story with Arsenal – or was it?

We’ve been accused of over-playing and looking for the perfect goal in the past but this wasn’t the case tonight – the fact was we had numerous clear-cut chances but failed to take any of them.

Some of the football was phenomenal – Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas, Van Persie and Henry were linking up just like against Reading a couple of weeks back. But the only difference was the goals just couldn’t come.

It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say Arsenal could (and maybe should) have been 5-0 up at half-time!

I think the final statistics were 24 chances in 90 minutes, with only 4/5 actually on target. The CSKA keeper didn’t really have to make a save for the entire game, with the exception of Gilberto’s header with about 15 minutes remaining.

We know Arsenal make loads of chances – but we also know that Arsenal sometimes can’t turn the possession and play into goals.

But I’d rather watch 90 minutes of free-flowing, attacking and exciting football without a goal than a boring 1-0 win. Some 0-0 results are the risk you take with our style of football if things just don’t work out for us – but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Onwards to West Ham on Sunday…

Weekend Preview: Everton Toughest So Far?

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Everyone is expecting Arsenal to easily beat Everton but I have a feeling that it’s going to be the toughest test for the Gunners so far.

We have 17 points from 8 games while Everton have 16 from 9 – and we’ve both scored 15 goals this season.

Considering we’ve been in free-scoring form and Everton are usually defensive the fact they already have 15 goals this season is impressive – especially when only Manchester United have scored more in the league so far.

Andy Johnson has been huge for Everton and fits in perfectly to their 4-5-1 formation with his pace, scoring ability and handy knack of winning a penalty!

And with Arsenal looking slightly frail from set-pieces at times this term Tim Cahill could cause all kinds of problems.

But of course, Arsenal were stunning against Reading with our own 4-5-1 (but more like a 4-1-4-1 I suppose) with Hleb, Rosicky, Fabregas and Van Persie linking well with Henry. I hope Arsene doesn’t change too much and plays the same attacking 5 against Everton.

Teams always play deep at the Emirates and Everton will be no different, looking for the quick break lead by Andy Johnson. Don’t be surprised if he wins a penalty!

Both teams will go into the game full of confidence which will make for an excellent game with probably a few goals.

Prediction?

3-1 to the Arsenal!

Wenger’s Delight: Happy Birthday Boss…

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Fantastic Four…

I’ve had a day to get over yesterdays game and I still think the performance was absolutely stunning – some of the play was the best I have seen from this Arsenal team this season.

And the additions of William Gallas and Thomas Rosicky this campaign should not be underrated.

Arsenal went with the 4-5-1 formation which played more like a 4-1-4-1 system with Gilberto happy to sit in front of the defence while Van Persie, Rosicky, Fabregas and Hleb all made forward runs to support Thierry Henry.

Reading had no chance!

The brilliant movement of all the attacking midfielders caused all kinds of problems and with only 58 seconds on the clock a fantastic run and pass from Fabregas setup Henry with his 168th Premiership goal in an Arsenal shirt.

And from then on Arsenal proceeded to give a footballing masterclass.

Chelsea and Manchester United had stuggled at the Madejski Stadium in the previous weeks but Arsenal were the ones who displayed the performance of a team who want to be serious title-challengers this season – and why not?

Arsenal got their second goal just before the break, when Hleb and Rosicky combined well on the edge of the box for Hleb to smash the ball into the roof of the net!

And the most amazing thing was Hleb had a shot! Yes, it’s the only option he had left in that position but it was a shot nevertheless…

The Gunners could have been even further ahead if it wasn’t for wastefulness in front of goal from Van Persie but his goal would come.

And after the break Arsenal were still in devestating form as Hleb played a one-two with Henry to set up Van Persie with the third.

Henry stroked in a penalty on 70 minutes to make the final score 4-0, and after that Arsenal took their foot off the gas and saw the rest of the game out.

So a convincing win and a very happy birthday to the man that made it all possible…

People will give Fabregas all the plaudits and rightly so, but I have to say that the attacking 5 – Fabregas, Henry, Hleb, Rosicky and Van Persie combined so well it was frightening. The movement, understanding and combination play was simply outstanding – does anyone else on the planet play better football than we do when we’re on song?

Arsenal Robbed But Probably Deserved To Be?

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A Tough Night In Moscow…

A more than difficult night in Moscow for Arsenal tonight.

Before the game Arsene Wenger said it would be a hard match with the travelling, jeg-lag and the conditions over in Russia and the pitch proved to be hard for Arsenal to play their slick, quick passing game.

And CSKA Moscow packed the midfield and played deep which didn’t give Arsenal any space in behind and in the first 60 minutes Arsenal were pedestrian at best.

The only (allowed) goal of the game came on 25 minutes when the poor Djourou hauled down Dadu on the edge of the area. CSKA’s Brazilian Carvalho stepped up and smashed the freekick past the wall and straight into the Arsenal goal.

Arsenal had patches of nice passing but didn’t have any sort of threat in front of goal.

The best opening for Arsenal came just before half-time, when Robin Van Persie was released on the right hand side but failed to pick out Kolo Toure or Thierry Henry in the middle and ran straight into the CSKA keeper. Kolo was furious and so were all the Arsenal fans watching!

Cesc and the rest of the midfield finally found their feet with about 25 minutes remaining and Arsenal began to make a few half chances.

The introduction of Gael Clichy gave Arsenal extra impetus and Arsenal’s late pressure seemed to have paid off when Henry coolly controlled a long freekick and slotted into the far corner.

But amazingly the Spanish referee ruled to goal out and gave Henry a yellow card for handball!

Maybe he’s a Barcelona fan but after numerous TV replays it wasn’t clear that the hand was used at all. If anything it just looked like Titi cushioned the ball with his midriff.