Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

What with the takeover and the tragic loss of Danny Fiszman, last weekend’s game seems a while ago now.  But it mattered a lot because we finally found our way to three points again.  Would’ve mattered a whole lot more if we’d done that the week before of course, but there we are.

This week we need to do it again against Liverpool who go about their business rather better than Blackpool.  They’re not at full strength: Gerrard, Agger and Johnson will all be missing, but with Carroll, Suarez and the industrious Dirk Kuyt they are definitely dangerous.

The injury news for Arsenal is quite good. Szczesny and Djourou may return and Song is definitely back.  Almunia’s knee or whatever still keeps him out so if Szczesny doesn’t make it then mad Uncle Jens will play again.

If it Lehman then I hope that Szczesny keeps his eyes and ears fixed on him to pick up how he takes charge.  Anyone in the wrong place, anyone who fails to pick up a runner, Jens makes sure they know about it.  But he also hands out praise as well.

Hopefully Djourou will make it, because asking Squillaci whether he wants to take Carroll or Suarez doesn’t sound like a question with a correct answer.  If it ends up having to be asked then it will have to be Carroll because Koscielny will need to take on the movement of Suarez.

The ninety minute threat of Dirk Kuyt, generally on the right, means that Clichy is going to need consistent help.  Which isn’t what you generally expect from Arshavin.  So, Nasri on the left?  Or even Gibbs, or is that too negative?

With Nasri, Arshavin, Walcott and Van Persie all available we’re probably not going to see Bendtner or Chamakh start.

There has been talk that both might leave the club this summer.  This is a tricky issue for Arsenal.  Playing the formation we do now, only one out and out striker will start.  But given the vulnerability of Van Persie to injury we need a good striker ready to step in.

Perhaps it has to be an older player like Berbatov at Man Utd?  Someone who isn’t worried that their future is being jeopardised by lack of time on the pitch.

Anyway, back to the Liverpool game.  Late fitness tests allowing I expect to see:

________ Szczesny ________
Eboue Djourou Koscielny Clichy
_______Song _ Wilshere ___
_________ Fabregas ______
Walcott _ Van Persie _ Nasri

What do you think?

This was not a fluent performance but we desperately needed a win and the the team hung in there and won it.  With a bit of good fortune along the way.

Blackpool came out with confidence and determination.  You can imagine Ian Holloway had told them to try and break Arsenal’s fragile morale with an early goal.  It didn’t get that bad but for ages it seemed like we wouldn’t ever get out of our own half.

Clichy wasn’t having his best of games, and we all know that Eboue gets out of position, so Blackpool were getting in behind us a lot.  In the last couple of games Arshavin has shown that he can track back and defend but he was back to his usual self yesterday and giving Clichy no support at all.

No-one would have been surprised if Blackpool’s onslaught had got them a goal. But Arsenal hung on and gradually got some control over the game.

Jens Lehman’s two reserve performances hadn’t inspired confidence but he was pretty solid and it was good to see an Arsenal keeper taking charge of the defense.  Right from the start he was demanding more.  He had a couple of nervous moments but pulled off a couple of crucial saves too.

When Arsenal made the breakthrough it was with two good goals.  The first showed the good side of Diaby.  He started the move in our half and when Van Persie put the ball in the six-yard box it was Diaby who had made the run to be on the end of the pass for a tap-in.  Not enough Arsenal players make lung-bursting runs into to box and if Diaby played like that on a regular basis he would start on a regular basis.

Later though he showed his daft side too, getting a completely pointless yellow for kicking the ball away.  Referee Lee Mason was shaking his head in disbelief as he put the card back in his pocket and he wasn’t the only one.  In some ways Diaby typifies the frustrating nature of the current squad. You can see what he has that could make him a great asset, but not consistently enough and some really dumb stuff too.

Another player showing flashes of his good side yesterday was Eboue.  He took the second goal really well with a one-two with Wilshere and then a powerful shot with his weaker foot.

Just before the break, Blackpool nearly got back in it as Arsenal got mixed up on the box.  Fortunately Lehman’s trailing leg and a covering move from Fabregas got the ball away – a few inches from disaster.

But two-nil up at half-time wasn’t enough.  Blackpool came out with the same belief they’d had at the start and this time their pressure got them a goal.  It could have come via a Lehman foul, a red card and a penalty, but referee Mason played advantage and Blackpool scored.  And we were saved finding out who Arsenal’s sixth choice goal keeper is!

Good job too, as later Clichy dawdled on the ball and was dispossessed just outside the box.  Lehman was up to the challenge and made a crucial save.  An outfield player deputising in goal wouldn’t have stood a chance and he kept out goal advantage.

Blackpool had another good shout for a penalty.  Koscielny brought one their players down in the box and we were lucky to escape a spot kick.  I don’t know whether Mason missed it, or decided that the ball had already gone, but it was a foul in the box and we had a lucky escape.

Sometimes this season it’s been hard to understand the logic of Wenger’s substitutions, but he was spot on yesterday when he brought on Walcott for Arshavin.  Quite apart from the fact that Arshavin was anonymous all the time he was on the pitch, there was an opportunity that Walcott was just the player to exploit.

Blackpool are playing for their Premiership survival so they has to keep attacking, leaving plenty of space to run into.  Walcott kept doing just that and after Eboue and Fabregas combined to set him free down the right, Theo ran the ball down the wing and fed it right into Van Persie’s path.  Goal number three and, finally, game over.

Fabregas and Van Persie deserve more of a mention.  They both played well.  The only worry is that they created a lot of chances thy weren’t converted.  We have tougher teams left to play than Blackpool and we need a higher rate of return on our chances.

Buy for all the caginess, it was a win and we really needed it.  It will boost confidence in the team which is vital for the bigger games ahead.

Fabregas and leads our Man of the Match poll from Lehaman.  You can add your vote here.

The Wilshere red card tackle which, take note, nobody at Arsenal has sought to defend, has had the likes of McLeish sounding off in the Sunday papers.  Why oh why oh why does everyone rate Wenger ahead of us they want to know.

McLeish complains that people haven’t forgotten the Taylor tackle on Eduardo.  Pullis points out that foreigner Wenger hasn’t won anything in a while.  Why oh why doesn’t anyone recognize our talent in the same way they want to know.

Well here are two lessons why.  One is about being remembered for the right things, but the first is about being remembered at all.  Both are about class.

So, Wenger hasn’t won anything in years.  That’s true Tony, and Arsenal fans are a little anxious, but he has won stuff and you haven’t.  He has led a team to the closing stages of the Champions League just about every year, including a final.  He was spotted in relative obscurity and plucked out to manage the Arsenal.  You were spotted and plucked out to manage Stoke City.  What’s more, he’s competed with the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, Barcelona and now Man City with a fraction of their spending.

That’s why people rate him Alex.  That’s why people will still be talking about him, and let’s face it the Taylor tackle, long after they’ve stopped talking about Alex McLeish!

The second lesson is about wanting to be remembered for the right things. Tony Pullis and Alex McLeish do have tough jobs to do.  Yes, absolutely true.  But so do Ian Holloway at Blackpool and Roberto Di Matteo at West Brom.  All four of them have to keep their ‘unfashionable’ clubs in the top flight on small budgets.

But there’s a big difference in the approach that the two pairs of managers take.  Holloway and Di Matteo send out teams to play football.  They try and close the skill gap through athleticism, concentration and good tactics.  It’s football and it’s admirable.

Now it’s early in the season, and Holloway and Di Matteo may yet succumb to the pressures of survival, but it is clear from the way they have started the season how they want to play the game, how they want to be remembered. Plus they make sure that they are not remembered for whining interviews!

Now Tony and Alex may argue that they’ve never had the breaks in their careers, so maybe we can be sympathetic on lesson one, but they have no excuses on lesson two.   The managers of West Brom and Blackpool are in the same boat as Tony and Alex.  The difference is, they’ve got class.