Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Complacency against low ranked opposition, defensive mistakes, brave fight back, Van Persie goals, flashes of talent and a broken leg. Did it lack anything else typical of Arsenal.

Yossi Benayoun got a great goal in the second minute and I think the team thought they were home and hosed. But Norwich didn’t come to give up after two minutes and they quickly scored -twice. What were we thinking. We were all over the place. The midfield trio couldn’t keep the ball and the defence and keeper collectively forgot their business.

But eventually we fought our way back into it. Some bloke called Van Persie! That’s thirty Premier League goals. Fantastic. Three – Two. The relief! We’ve done it. Just got to see this out. Except that we didn’t set about seeing it out did we? No. You know the rest.

I could re-live more detail for you, but you know it and it’s just too depressing. To add to it all, Sagna got his leg broken again. Some are Twittering away about a deliberate stamp but I’m not so sure about that.

Arsene Wenger summed it up as well as you can, “It is more than frustrating because we were very poor in the first half, not switched on. We gave them a third goal in a situation that was absolutely unbelievable. In the end we got punished for our mistakes.

“We have to wait for the results to see where it leaves us. We knew that if we didn’t win, that would happen, that it’s not in our hands.”

On Bacary Sagna: “It’s the same leg. He was kicked on it, it has not happened alone. When he was kicked, he has broken the leg. The guy closed him down and walked on him. I don’t know if it was deliberate or not.”

All desperately disappointing stuff. We had it in our own hands and we threw it away. Now we are at the mercy of Spurs and Newcastle. Which isn’t a great place to be. By tomorrow night we could be fifth. More likely fourth I think, or maybe just hope. I think that City will beat Newcastle, but then I thought Chelsea were going to beat them as well. Tense day tomorrow.

Arsenal 3:3 Norwich City
Goals: Benayoun, Van Persie, Van Persie
Team: Szczesny, Sagna (Coquelin), Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Ramsey (Oxlade-Chamberlain), Rosicky, Gervinho, Van Persie, Benayoun (Chamakh)

Arsenal 3:3 Norwich
Benayoun, Van Persie, Van Persie

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We play first in the penultimate round of Premier League matches – at home against Norwich tomorrow lunchtime. With one point separating us from Spurs and Newcastle there is no room for error. We need the three points and if we get them it throws the pressure back on to the other two for their games on Sunday.

Spurs go to Villa and you would have to expect them to win. The big one is Newcastle v Man City. I still see City getting this, despite Newcastle’s win at Stamford Bridge. But before all that we have to nail those three points against Norwich.

There’s nothing new on the injury other than the confirmation that Diaby will not be fit enough to make the squad. So I expect that goalkeeper, back four, Song, Rosicky and Van Persie are already written on the team sheet. That leaves three starting places to fill. Last match these went to Ramsey, Benayoun and Gervinho.

All three did OK against Stoke with Ramsey having a much better game and Gervinho showing more life than he has in other games since his trip to the African Cup of Nations. All three were subbed though as we went in search of a winner. Of the three I think the most likely starter is Benayoun. Experience counts at a time like this if the legs are willing.

Gervinho or Oxlade-Chamberlain? Close call, but again I see same starter. When Ramsey was subbed last time, he was replaced by Diaby. Not an option this time of course. The only real alternative would be to bring in Coquelin and allow Song more leeway to get forward.

This is all a long way of saying I expect an unchanged starting line-up of:
_______ Szczesny ______
Sagna _ Kos _ Verm _ Gibbs
________ Song ________
__ Rosicky __ Ramsey ___
Gervinho _ RVP _ Benayoun

But like last time I wouldn’t be surprised to see three subs used in this game too. Legs get heavy late in the season and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santos and Coquelin are all capable of playing in more than one position.

Norwich have lost their last three. We’ve had one defeat and two draws. Norwich cannot be relegated and cannot win any greater reward this season than they have now. We need to win. Come on you Gunners!

OK so I thought Spurs might win, but I thought Newcastle had lost it. But credit to them, they were the best team. Even now though Chelsea are not out of it.

We’re still in the driving seat of course. If we win twice, no-one takes it away from us. If we lose, or even draw against Norwich on Saturday, we invite Spurs and Newcastle to drop us into fifth on Sunday!

The Spurs game is away to Villa and after their performance last night you would have to make them favourites. The Newcastle game is at home to Manchester City. That could be quite a game now that City have a route to the league title. Newcastle’s Papiss Cisse, who cost £10million in January, scored both of their goals to take his tally to thirteen in twelve games. Buy of the season?

Anyway, keep chewing those nails, it’s going to be a horribly close run thing.

Big night tonight as those games in hand get played by the three clubs breathing down our necks. Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea. They’re all still in it, though after faltering at Wigan, Newcastle have feel like they’re clinging on a bit.

Newcastle fans I know are saying things like, “hey it isn’t that long a go we were getting relegated so you can’t wind us up about Champions League football.” True enough, but not what they were saying a few weeks ago. Tonight they go to Chelsea who are one behind with a much better goal difference, so only a win keeps them fifth.

Bolton host Spurs. A win for Spurs will keep them fourth, a point behind us. A loss for any of the three might sap their spirit for the final battles, whatever happens tonight it’s still going to be tight and we may need to win both our remaining games.

Lukas Podolski
Welcome to Lukas Podolski. Especially welcome in what I hope is a statement of intent from Arsenal that this summer is going different to last year. That there might even be a plan. OK, so we were thoroughly screwed over by Barcelona, but the club’s collective management drifted through the summer with no obvious attempt to control events.

Wrapping up the Podolski deal now is hopefully a sign of a more assertive style. Much of course still hinges on coming third, or fourth at a pinch. Third place means that more early transfer business becomes easier and both will be needed to guarantee Robin Van Persie is with us next season. But a good start has been made with a proven international striker to share the load up front.

Man City
There are plenty of permutations to come this season, but City’s win last night is marginally in our favour. It gives them the strongest incentive to take out Newcastle at the weekend. And that comes after Newcastle’s trip to Stamford Bridge. The game itself wasn’t that exciting. Mancini finished it off the way you would expect from a traditional Italian manager defending a one nil advantage, with five defenders and three holding players.

Roy Hodgson
This season Roy Hodgson has taken a group of mid-range players, pulled them together as a team and guided them to a position where they are punching above their weight. He did the same thing at Fulham. Now it seems he has the same task again. So maybe the Club England committee just decided to get real.

Personally I think that he is as good a choice as any who would take it. It all went horribly wrong at Liverpool, but it’s debatable how much that wad down to Roy Hodgson. Look at all his replacement King Kenny has achieved, with the budget for massive spending on Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam and wonder. Raul Meireles, who Hodgson took to Liverpool and King Kenny sold to Chelsea is playing regularly and scoring crucial goals.

Of course being England manager is a thankless task that requires a healthy dose of luck. The media have been laying into the decision, calling it a shock and astonishing. But this is mainly to cover up their embarrassing discovery that it wasn’t their decision to make. They crowned their mate Harry and said he was the only possible choice.

There’s something about Harry
To be fair to Harry, he has handled the announcement of Hodgson’s appointment with a lot of good grace, saying that he is very fortunate in life. And so he is, a very well paid job with some good players, nice house, car etc and a talented dog as well.

I wouldn’t have grumbled of he had got the England job but there is something about him that makes you think twice. Don’t know quite how to define it, but the FA obviously think so too.

The best media excuse is that it came down to some row with Trevor Brooking over West Ham. I doubt it. I think that England have made a pragmatic long-term choice. The long-term bit may be a bit optimistic because I think that the trend to club before country will continue and may even go further to the clubs’ advantage. But good luck to Roy.

Arsenal don’t play tomorrow but it’s a big day with our three rivals all playing their catch-up games. Then it’s just two to go for each. Eyes down for a tight finish.

We battled for a point against Stoke and Newcastle blew it at Wigan.  But Spurs and Chelsea were not so obliging.  Here’s the run-in now.

“Both sides are good at what they do,” said Arsene Wenger, trying to be dignified and diplomatic after getting ridiculous stick from the Stoke fans and having to listen to them booing Aaron Ramsey.

Stoke are good at what they do, but what is the point? I mean really, what is the point? They probably won’t go down playing like that, but they’re not going to win anything either and no-one will hold them up as an example of achievement. They are a haven for tall, competent footballers who can sustain that style for ninety minutes.

In his post-match interviews Tony Pullis said he was proud that they hadn’t been beaten by any of the big teams this year. But what about the football Tony? What does Tony Pullis think of Roberto Martinez and Wigan?

The game itself was pretty dull stuff with the ball spending a lot of time in the air. Ramsey put in a really good seventy minutes. I want to give him the first mention because he got stick from the Stoke fans, which is pathetic, but has also been under attack from some Arsenal fans too, which I think has been unfair. He hasn’t been as good as he can be this season, but most a lot of players go through phases like that. Yesterday he was good.

So was Rosicky. He’s obviously thrown off the illness that sapped his skill and energy last week. He was probably our most effective player again and topped our Stoke match poll by some margin.

Gervinho was lively and showed some good moves until it came to shooting, so no big change there sadly. The two goals cam from rare lapses from both defences which were pretty tight throughout. Santos was brought on late in game, but to replace Benayoun rather than Gibbs. Arsene Wenger seems to like him as an impact sub who will take the game to the opponents when we are struggling to get through and I think he is right. Plus it has the advantage of keeping Santos involved when Gibbs is getting the starts.

Marouane Chamakh also made a rare appearance, but didn’t really get enough service to show whether we’ve been missing anything or not. Most Arsenal fans assumed that he and Diaby were brought on to add some extra height against the vertically challenging Stoke.

You can picture the scene in Pullis’ office can’t you? Scouts and agents describe a player’s qualities at length, show video clips. “His name is Messi boss and it turns out his long lost granny lives just down the road in Hanley. She’s getting on and he really wants to spend some time with her.” Pullis looks up from under his cap, “how tall is he?”

A single point against Stoke is not as good as we wanted, but it’s better than most of our trips there and with Wigan trouncing Newcastle it hasn’t done us much damage. Last season we lost 3:1. Newcastle are in a tight spot now with games against Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton to come.

Today Spurs play Blackburn and Chelsea play QPR. Both are at home and both should win. But the way this season is going who knows. This weekend could have a bit more to give yet.

Yesterday must have been ‘bring your child to work’ day at the BBC, as Match of the Day was rounded off by a ten-year-old doing an impression of Gary Lineker doing an impression of Arsene Wenger. Either that or Gary Lineker was just being a pathetic prat.

Stoke 1:1 Arsenal
Crouch, Van Persie
Szczesny
Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs
Song, Rosicky, Ramsey (Diaby)
Gervinho (Chamakh), Van Persie, Benayoun (Santos)

Stoke 0:0 Arsenal
Van Persie

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Stoke 0:0 Arsenal
Van Persie

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