Critics of Arsene Wenger often accuse him of having a utopian view of football which can never realistically be put into action. They point to events like our defeat to Chelsea and argue that this is evidence, that playing beautiful passing football does not work as it is 'powder-puff' and the bigger teams can simply bully Arsenal.
But after Sunday, perhaps they will suggest that in reality he actually has a utilitarian view of football. After all, pre-match it made no sense that Cesc was on the bench. If he was fit, he should start; if he was injured, there was no point in him being on the bench. Whilst undoubtedly it was his sprint to get there for the second goal that made him feel his hamstring, presumably Cesc didn't start as he wasn't 100% fit. So this means Wenger threw him on, presuming that any recurrence of the hamstring strain was worth us winning the match.
In other words, it was done for the 'greater good'. A clearly utilitarian footballing philosophy. But as an ethical system, utilitarianism is interested in effects: so to tell whether Cesc's injury was worth it, it is necessary to look at both the short and the long-term.
This alludes to a very important point: it is hugely disingenuous to argue that without Cesc we would not have won the game. Sure, we weren't brilliant but we weren't awful a la first-half against Liverpool. Diaby was playing really well and we didn't look like conceding a goal. I grant you, it didn't look like we would win 3-0; but I would have fancied us to grab a goal and defend well. Winning so comprehensively against a big side may have given us extra momentum, but who knows - its possible we could have won 3-0 without Cesc. Regular readers will know of my infatuation with Denilson, but injury aside, if he had stayed on he had scored an equally good free-kick the previous week.
There is absolutely no argument that Cesc's cameo was a brilliant performance that changed the game, galvanized our team, and guaranteed us three points. But, particularly now we will be missing Song and Denilson, having Cesc fit is of extra importance. And the bottom line is that he is missing. The case in point, is that its all very well we beat Villa, but our team was playing solidly and may have gone on to win. On the other hand, who is to say that we won't be dreadful tonight and need some inspiration from our captain. Next up, we have Portsmouth, Bolton (twice), and Everton. These are all teams fighting relegation, even if Everton are better than that. So ten points is a minimum requirement and we'd hope to take twelve.
Of course, this is all conjecture. There's every possibility that we'll cope fine without Cesc and that would be just ideal. But in the cold light of the day, when the euphoria from a brilliant victory a few days ago has evaporated, it is difficult not to question the manager's decision. Undoubtedly it created a great football match and a brilliant victory; but as the title to this post says, it came at a certain cost.
Was it for the greater good? Well, it certainly has galvanised the fans - having beaten a good team handsomely, there is hope that we really could go on and win the League. We are also most certainly the form team and have momentum carrying us forward: this post is not downbeat, I accept we are in excellent position at the moment, it is just that it could changed. There is also no guarantee that any poor results we pick up over the next few weeks would have been changed by Cesc.
But what we do know, is that second-half the stadium was rocking and everyone was delighted. When the fans are happy, it is more conducive to them singing loudly and spurring on the team. Ultimately, Wenger was vindicated by Cesc's performance. But that was merely on the day.
At Fratton Park, we have a very mediocre record with several draws down the years. To make the victory against Villa mean something, we have to win tonight. That, is the bottom line. Here's hoping.
Keep the faith,
Adam
PS: No praise for Theo but if he managed to play a good ball like that again tonight I may be eating humble pie. I'm not worried yet...
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Audioblog: Arsenal in the calendar year 2009
Make I take this opportunity to wish all readers a Happy Christmas!
Keep the faith,
Adam
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
In praise of the Arsenal defence
Too often, there is a tendency to criticise when things go badly but not praise when they go well.
As a schoolboy, I can pay homage to this: if i get an 'A' on an essay, it is merely regarded as de rigueur and no praise is forthcoming. On the other hand, a 'C' is greeted with abuse from my teachers and interrogations about why I don't care about my work.
This isn't absolutely true with football. When an attacker hits good form - like RVP earlier this year - people are happy to credit them and give them praise. So to, when Cesc is at his purring best, the plaudits just come flooding in.
But when the defence performs well, there is too often a tendency to overlook it and treat it as something which is to be expected. This is unfair. Particularly, considering the way other teams praise their defence: the situation at Man United is exactly the opposite of that at Arsenal - when Vidic and Ferdinand were excellent at the back and their back four was watertight, we never heard the end of it. Partly, that was because of the media's infatuation with Manchester United: reportedly Fergie sequesters 20% of the salary of every football journalist in the country (excluding Amy Lawrence) and this is only returned providing they give positive coverage of United. But more, it is because United fans (there's a lot of them in London...) like to talk about how good their defence is. Or at least they used to.
Now, this blog does not suggest we should all become United fans. Not for one moment. But perhaps we should make like Angelina Jolie and adopt this particular character trait. For in Gallas and Vermaelen, we have the best centre-back partnership in the League this season. Both players deserve enormous credit for this. Since being stripped of the captaincy, Gallas had become a true team player and note how he was the only player out of 22 on the pitch who didn't join in, in Saturday's 'brawl'. Vermaelen has once again proved that the problem with Arsene Wenger is not the quality he buys - every player he has bought in the last three or four years has been a success - but the quantity: no-one doubts the quality of our first-team. It is the Armand Traore's and Theo Walcott's of this world who cause sleepless nights.
Gallas and Vermaelen complement each other brilliantly though: Gallas is very mobile and has great positioning; Vermaelen is a fantastic header of the ball and is good at organising us for set pieces. Watching them against Hull - during a lull in the second half I decided the focus on them - the close relationship between the two is clear. At risk of once again sounding like a United fan, it is imperative that Arsene 'signs Gallas up' to a new contract - his importance was underlined in last year's Champions League semi-final.
But at risk of contradicting what I've already written, it is probably our full-back play which has been more impressive. This is because the praise which should be accorded to the defence, is to the defence as a unit. And while the achievement of Gallas and Vermaelen should not be denigrated, they have been a constant throughout the whole year and have got used to playing next to each other. In contrast, the full-backs have inter-changed either through injury or team selection. It is a great strength when we can inter-change Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Eboué, depending on whether we want a little greater attacking strength, and not be punished for it at the back. The same is true at left-back: Clichy seemed to be recovering some good form before he got injured; Gibbs was excellent for a few weeks before his untimely injury; finally, to appreciate how the opinion of Silvestre has changed one needs to go back to May: then, he was described as 'geriatric' and was essentially branded useless. Now, comments about him have changed from auto-criticism to grudging praise. Against Hull, he was fantastic.
Meanwhile, this defence is having to play with a keeper behind it who is decidedly dodgy. Viewed in this light, their achievement is all the more impressive: to have the confidence to defend sensibly when your keeper is conceding almost everything fired at him is outstanding.
Indeed, two great truths stem from the statistic about us conceding roughly 50% of the shots on target on our goal this season: firstly, that we're not letting many shots on our goal as we haven't conceded that many this season. But this point alludes to a much greater point: our defence has been outstanding to deny our opponents many opportunities.
With RVP out, our attack appears decidedly weakened. If we can put a commanding 'keeper between the sticks - be it Almunia with renewed confidence, Fabianski, or someone new - we can make our old weakness a strength. And then, this could be a pretty special season.
Keep the faith,
Adam
As a schoolboy, I can pay homage to this: if i get an 'A' on an essay, it is merely regarded as de rigueur and no praise is forthcoming. On the other hand, a 'C' is greeted with abuse from my teachers and interrogations about why I don't care about my work.
This isn't absolutely true with football. When an attacker hits good form - like RVP earlier this year - people are happy to credit them and give them praise. So to, when Cesc is at his purring best, the plaudits just come flooding in.
But when the defence performs well, there is too often a tendency to overlook it and treat it as something which is to be expected. This is unfair. Particularly, considering the way other teams praise their defence: the situation at Man United is exactly the opposite of that at Arsenal - when Vidic and Ferdinand were excellent at the back and their back four was watertight, we never heard the end of it. Partly, that was because of the media's infatuation with Manchester United: reportedly Fergie sequesters 20% of the salary of every football journalist in the country (excluding Amy Lawrence) and this is only returned providing they give positive coverage of United. But more, it is because United fans (there's a lot of them in London...) like to talk about how good their defence is. Or at least they used to.
Now, this blog does not suggest we should all become United fans. Not for one moment. But perhaps we should make like Angelina Jolie and adopt this particular character trait. For in Gallas and Vermaelen, we have the best centre-back partnership in the League this season. Both players deserve enormous credit for this. Since being stripped of the captaincy, Gallas had become a true team player and note how he was the only player out of 22 on the pitch who didn't join in, in Saturday's 'brawl'. Vermaelen has once again proved that the problem with Arsene Wenger is not the quality he buys - every player he has bought in the last three or four years has been a success - but the quantity: no-one doubts the quality of our first-team. It is the Armand Traore's and Theo Walcott's of this world who cause sleepless nights.
Gallas and Vermaelen complement each other brilliantly though: Gallas is very mobile and has great positioning; Vermaelen is a fantastic header of the ball and is good at organising us for set pieces. Watching them against Hull - during a lull in the second half I decided the focus on them - the close relationship between the two is clear. At risk of once again sounding like a United fan, it is imperative that Arsene 'signs Gallas up' to a new contract - his importance was underlined in last year's Champions League semi-final.
But at risk of contradicting what I've already written, it is probably our full-back play which has been more impressive. This is because the praise which should be accorded to the defence, is to the defence as a unit. And while the achievement of Gallas and Vermaelen should not be denigrated, they have been a constant throughout the whole year and have got used to playing next to each other. In contrast, the full-backs have inter-changed either through injury or team selection. It is a great strength when we can inter-change Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Eboué, depending on whether we want a little greater attacking strength, and not be punished for it at the back. The same is true at left-back: Clichy seemed to be recovering some good form before he got injured; Gibbs was excellent for a few weeks before his untimely injury; finally, to appreciate how the opinion of Silvestre has changed one needs to go back to May: then, he was described as 'geriatric' and was essentially branded useless. Now, comments about him have changed from auto-criticism to grudging praise. Against Hull, he was fantastic.
Meanwhile, this defence is having to play with a keeper behind it who is decidedly dodgy. Viewed in this light, their achievement is all the more impressive: to have the confidence to defend sensibly when your keeper is conceding almost everything fired at him is outstanding.
Indeed, two great truths stem from the statistic about us conceding roughly 50% of the shots on target on our goal this season: firstly, that we're not letting many shots on our goal as we haven't conceded that many this season. But this point alludes to a much greater point: our defence has been outstanding to deny our opponents many opportunities.
With RVP out, our attack appears decidedly weakened. If we can put a commanding 'keeper between the sticks - be it Almunia with renewed confidence, Fabianski, or someone new - we can make our old weakness a strength. And then, this could be a pretty special season.
Keep the faith,
Adam
Sunday, 20 December 2009
This time last Sunday, 7 points from 9 would have been a good return.
While I haven't blogged, we've beaten Liverpool 2-1, drawn 1-1 with Burnley and then beat Hull 3-0 yesterday afternoon.
Lets be honest: Liverpool away is always a difficult game. Pre-match, the papers were full of how Liverpool had only lost 1 out of 37 home games in the League; post-match, having beaten them, the media were full of how Liverpool were on a downward slope.
And while it fulfilled the stereo-type of the media being biased against Arsenal, there probably was some truth in it.
After all, it says a lot about Liverpool that, in our matches against both United and City, despite out-playing the opposition for vast swathes of the match and being by far the better team, we still conspired to lose twice in Manchester. Contrastingly, while we beat Liverpool on Sunday, we were abysmal in the first half and not that great in the second.
But that was what made victory all the sweeter. How many times have we watched Arsenal play well and not get a result?
In essence, that's why we can't complain about this week. Against Burnley we scored a well-worked goal - but they would have been disappointed to concede it - then conspired to play well for fifteen minutes with Shava hitting a post. But once Burnley equalised through a very fair penalty, they were the better side.
A friend of mine couldn't watch the match and asked me to keep him updated. With fifteen minutes to go, I said Burnley were more likely to go on and win the game. Sure, we had a chance a couple of minutes from the end, but Eduardo is hopelessly out of nick.
The theory that his career as a top-level footballer ended in February 2008 is absolute codswallop: he was very good towards the end of last season, his goal against Burnley in the cup a particular highlight. But since he was pilloried by the English media for the incident against Celtic, he hasn't seemed the same player. Frankly, it says a lot about the state of the media that Eduardo took all that flak and Rooney and Gerrard got off scot-free last week.
So, to yesterday's match against Hull.
Problematically, because we seem to be unable to win three games in a row at the moment, we seem to be facing a lot of must-win games: lets be honest, seven points from nine is a good return from two tough away games and a relatively easy home game. But five points from nine would have been a massive let-down.
Luckily, a lot of results seem to be going our way this month and considering where we were after Chelsea beat us, we are lucky to be right in the title race.
Nevertheless, having seen United lose at Fulham (Vito Mannone's goalkeeping heroics there look even better now) it was up to us to close the gap to the top two.
Hull are a very mediocre side who were set up yesterday to play very defensively. As such, the first 43 minutes were very dull although I don't think the cold weather helped to lighten the mood.
But maybe they gave Arsenal some backbone. Too often, we have heard the criticism that 'Johnny Foreigner don't like it up 'em'; yesterday, we showed that we will give as good as we get.
The point is, that Nasri probably shouldn't have stamped on Garcia's foot but it's a moot point: it was an outrage how Garcia over-reacted, but the fracas which ensued showed that we're not that soft a touch.
I've always liked Nasri. For one, he looks like me. More pertinently, he's a great player - he was our only inspiration for the first forty minutes - and if it takes a little bit of violence to fire up Arsenal then so be it.
The stats said it all: Bookings - Hull 5 Arsenal 1. No, stamping on an opponent's foot is not exactly praise-worthy; but Arsenal were not the more violent team out there yesterday.
Regardless, the incident seemed to fire us up. Diaby won a free-kick on the edge of the box a couple of minutes later and Denilson - someone who I never tire of praising - justified htat praise with a sumptuous free-kick.
This made the second half a very different game. Suddenly, Hull couldn't stick eleven players in their own half and the game opened up a bit.
For ten minutes, we looked far the more likely to get the second goal until Bennett gave an even more ridiculous penalty decision than Eduardo's at the same end of the ground earlier this season. Almunia - another player who has come in for a lot of stick - made a good save and hilariously, Stephen Hunt missed the re-bound from two yards.
On a day for the unsung players (Eduardo's name is perhaps over-sung but lets gloss over that) Eduardo and Diaby added goals two and three.
Lets be honest: this was not a brilliant performance; in fact, it was rather mediocre. But a 3-0 win when you're not playing well is not to be sniffed at. The same goes for seven points from nine.
2009 has been a very disappointing calendar year: if we can win our last two games of the year, we have a chance to make 2010 momentous.
Keep the faith,
Adam
Lets be honest: Liverpool away is always a difficult game. Pre-match, the papers were full of how Liverpool had only lost 1 out of 37 home games in the League; post-match, having beaten them, the media were full of how Liverpool were on a downward slope.
And while it fulfilled the stereo-type of the media being biased against Arsenal, there probably was some truth in it.
After all, it says a lot about Liverpool that, in our matches against both United and City, despite out-playing the opposition for vast swathes of the match and being by far the better team, we still conspired to lose twice in Manchester. Contrastingly, while we beat Liverpool on Sunday, we were abysmal in the first half and not that great in the second.
But that was what made victory all the sweeter. How many times have we watched Arsenal play well and not get a result?
In essence, that's why we can't complain about this week. Against Burnley we scored a well-worked goal - but they would have been disappointed to concede it - then conspired to play well for fifteen minutes with Shava hitting a post. But once Burnley equalised through a very fair penalty, they were the better side.
A friend of mine couldn't watch the match and asked me to keep him updated. With fifteen minutes to go, I said Burnley were more likely to go on and win the game. Sure, we had a chance a couple of minutes from the end, but Eduardo is hopelessly out of nick.
The theory that his career as a top-level footballer ended in February 2008 is absolute codswallop: he was very good towards the end of last season, his goal against Burnley in the cup a particular highlight. But since he was pilloried by the English media for the incident against Celtic, he hasn't seemed the same player. Frankly, it says a lot about the state of the media that Eduardo took all that flak and Rooney and Gerrard got off scot-free last week.
So, to yesterday's match against Hull.
Problematically, because we seem to be unable to win three games in a row at the moment, we seem to be facing a lot of must-win games: lets be honest, seven points from nine is a good return from two tough away games and a relatively easy home game. But five points from nine would have been a massive let-down.
Luckily, a lot of results seem to be going our way this month and considering where we were after Chelsea beat us, we are lucky to be right in the title race.
Nevertheless, having seen United lose at Fulham (Vito Mannone's goalkeeping heroics there look even better now) it was up to us to close the gap to the top two.
Hull are a very mediocre side who were set up yesterday to play very defensively. As such, the first 43 minutes were very dull although I don't think the cold weather helped to lighten the mood.
But maybe they gave Arsenal some backbone. Too often, we have heard the criticism that 'Johnny Foreigner don't like it up 'em'; yesterday, we showed that we will give as good as we get.
The point is, that Nasri probably shouldn't have stamped on Garcia's foot but it's a moot point: it was an outrage how Garcia over-reacted, but the fracas which ensued showed that we're not that soft a touch.
I've always liked Nasri. For one, he looks like me. More pertinently, he's a great player - he was our only inspiration for the first forty minutes - and if it takes a little bit of violence to fire up Arsenal then so be it.
The stats said it all: Bookings - Hull 5 Arsenal 1. No, stamping on an opponent's foot is not exactly praise-worthy; but Arsenal were not the more violent team out there yesterday.
Regardless, the incident seemed to fire us up. Diaby won a free-kick on the edge of the box a couple of minutes later and Denilson - someone who I never tire of praising - justified htat praise with a sumptuous free-kick.
This made the second half a very different game. Suddenly, Hull couldn't stick eleven players in their own half and the game opened up a bit.
For ten minutes, we looked far the more likely to get the second goal until Bennett gave an even more ridiculous penalty decision than Eduardo's at the same end of the ground earlier this season. Almunia - another player who has come in for a lot of stick - made a good save and hilariously, Stephen Hunt missed the re-bound from two yards.
On a day for the unsung players (Eduardo's name is perhaps over-sung but lets gloss over that) Eduardo and Diaby added goals two and three.
Lets be honest: this was not a brilliant performance; in fact, it was rather mediocre. But a 3-0 win when you're not playing well is not to be sniffed at. The same goes for seven points from nine.
2009 has been a very disappointing calendar year: if we can win our last two games of the year, we have a chance to make 2010 momentous.
Keep the faith,
Adam
Thursday, 10 December 2009
An extremely creditable performance considering it was a dead rubber. Match report.
Take out Silvestre (who by the way was rather good) and the average age of the Arsenal team last night was 20.
Then take into account that this was the biggest game of Olympiacos' season and that they were roared on by fanatical home support who were desperate for their team to get through to the knockout stages.
In doing this, it is impossible not to be impressed by Arsenal's performance last night. It would be easy to call this a Carling Cup team but it actually had even less experience than we usually field in that competition.
And yet the players were not overawed. They passed it around well and while it was a relatively open game, it's fair to say we dominated. We created some great chances and were unlucky not to equalise at the end but ultimately, this match was not about the score.
It was about blooding some players for the future. Some of them - like Kerrea Gilbert - probably won't make it at Arsenal but if a few do, it will have been a very worthwhile exercise. In fielding the team we played last night, Arsene Wenger fielded the youngest side in the history of the Champions League.
Often, it's easy to criticise Arsenal for their reliance on youth. But, the team which played last night will embody part of Arsene Wenger's legacy at Arsenal: a plethora of young players which can help us for generations to come.
Once again, we've qualified from our group as group winners so there is nothing to complain about. While we may lack the consistency to win the League - who's looking forward to Burnley away on a cold Wednesday in December next week? - the Champions League is a knockout competition. Let's see where the draw takes us next week and be hopeful.
Keep the faith,
Adam
(No Tom Cruise jokes. No Tom Cruise puns. Does this blog lack star quality?)
Then take into account that this was the biggest game of Olympiacos' season and that they were roared on by fanatical home support who were desperate for their team to get through to the knockout stages.
In doing this, it is impossible not to be impressed by Arsenal's performance last night. It would be easy to call this a Carling Cup team but it actually had even less experience than we usually field in that competition.
And yet the players were not overawed. They passed it around well and while it was a relatively open game, it's fair to say we dominated. We created some great chances and were unlucky not to equalise at the end but ultimately, this match was not about the score.
It was about blooding some players for the future. Some of them - like Kerrea Gilbert - probably won't make it at Arsenal but if a few do, it will have been a very worthwhile exercise. In fielding the team we played last night, Arsene Wenger fielded the youngest side in the history of the Champions League.
Often, it's easy to criticise Arsenal for their reliance on youth. But, the team which played last night will embody part of Arsene Wenger's legacy at Arsenal: a plethora of young players which can help us for generations to come.
Once again, we've qualified from our group as group winners so there is nothing to complain about. While we may lack the consistency to win the League - who's looking forward to Burnley away on a cold Wednesday in December next week? - the Champions League is a knockout competition. Let's see where the draw takes us next week and be hopeful.
Keep the faith,
Adam
(No Tom Cruise jokes. No Tom Cruise puns. Does this blog lack star quality?)
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Strikerless Arsenal get back to winning ways. Match report
Criticise Arsene Wenger and see what you get? Tactical innovation.
Arsene Wenger has managed this club since 1996. And in his 500th match he finally sent a team out without a single striker. The formation was 4-6-0. Yet it worked. In a rare bit of half-decent MOTD analysis, they pointed out how Arshavin had not tried to take on the two big Stoke centre-halves but instead played on the half-turn - rather than trying to hold the ball up, he played deeper and then drove forward.
The result: an oustanding display from the diminutive Russian. Just a couple of minutes in, it was only a poor first touch which precluded him from opening the scoring. In a terrific individual performance, he continued in the same vein - he won a penalty (our first since Eduardo-gate) - and after Cesc had cocked that up, he scored himself from open play. A truly excellent 45 minutes.
At half-time, as Kevin Whitcher points out, Arsene did something even more out of the ordinary: he made a substitution. The 45 minute experiment of playing without strikers was over. Off went Tomas Rosicky, on came Carlos Vela.
As it happens, the BBC is now carrying a story about a Rosicky injury, but at the time, it looked like Wenger had taken Rosicky off to give the team some more attacking impetus. This can only be a good thing. Taken in isolation, it means little. But combined with him doing the same thing against Chelsea last week, the evidence is more compelling. If Arsene Wenger can be more pro-active with his substitutions, I have no doubt that this will aid the current Arsenal team.
The second-half became a little nervy - Eboué went off injured - although that's not why it became nervy. Tuncay had one decent chance and at 1-0 there was always the feeling that the opposition could come back into it. This was compounded by the lack of goals the team had scored in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Aaron Ramsay scored in the 80th minute and that was that.
Beating Stoke at home, should be - and indeed was - a formality. There will doubtless be bigger fish to fry but it was important to get the win nonetheless.
Looking at our results so far this season, it is easy to characterise us as flat-track bullies. But that was what Man United did last season - it is no bad thing.
The reality is, that our victory yesterday combined with Chelsea's defeat puts us in the same position we were in last Sunday morning: it also goes to show how hyperbolic the media reaction to just one game was.
Losing to Man City was unimportant - a Carling Cup semi-final would have been a further drain on our resources; if we lose in mid-week to Olympiacos it will not matter as it is a dead game; but next Sunday's game against Liverpool has a lot riding on it.
We are yet to beat a fellow Big Four side in the League this calendar year. Even if it's already December, next Sunday would not be a bad time to start.
Keep the faith,
Adam
Arsene Wenger has managed this club since 1996. And in his 500th match he finally sent a team out without a single striker. The formation was 4-6-0. Yet it worked. In a rare bit of half-decent MOTD analysis, they pointed out how Arshavin had not tried to take on the two big Stoke centre-halves but instead played on the half-turn - rather than trying to hold the ball up, he played deeper and then drove forward.
The result: an oustanding display from the diminutive Russian. Just a couple of minutes in, it was only a poor first touch which precluded him from opening the scoring. In a terrific individual performance, he continued in the same vein - he won a penalty (our first since Eduardo-gate) - and after Cesc had cocked that up, he scored himself from open play. A truly excellent 45 minutes.
At half-time, as Kevin Whitcher points out, Arsene did something even more out of the ordinary: he made a substitution. The 45 minute experiment of playing without strikers was over. Off went Tomas Rosicky, on came Carlos Vela.
As it happens, the BBC is now carrying a story about a Rosicky injury, but at the time, it looked like Wenger had taken Rosicky off to give the team some more attacking impetus. This can only be a good thing. Taken in isolation, it means little. But combined with him doing the same thing against Chelsea last week, the evidence is more compelling. If Arsene Wenger can be more pro-active with his substitutions, I have no doubt that this will aid the current Arsenal team.
The second-half became a little nervy - Eboué went off injured - although that's not why it became nervy. Tuncay had one decent chance and at 1-0 there was always the feeling that the opposition could come back into it. This was compounded by the lack of goals the team had scored in recent weeks. Nevertheless, Aaron Ramsay scored in the 80th minute and that was that.
Beating Stoke at home, should be - and indeed was - a formality. There will doubtless be bigger fish to fry but it was important to get the win nonetheless.
Looking at our results so far this season, it is easy to characterise us as flat-track bullies. But that was what Man United did last season - it is no bad thing.
The reality is, that our victory yesterday combined with Chelsea's defeat puts us in the same position we were in last Sunday morning: it also goes to show how hyperbolic the media reaction to just one game was.
Losing to Man City was unimportant - a Carling Cup semi-final would have been a further drain on our resources; if we lose in mid-week to Olympiacos it will not matter as it is a dead game; but next Sunday's game against Liverpool has a lot riding on it.
We are yet to beat a fellow Big Four side in the League this calendar year. Even if it's already December, next Sunday would not be a bad time to start.
Keep the faith,
Adam
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