The Case For The Defence Rests
Mar 23rd, 2008 by 'holic
I have said to myself on more than one occasion lately that I should wait until the following day to report on matches. There is no question a more objective piece would be the result. Then I tell myself that this is a blog, and sometimes I forget that. Blogs are written by people who have a passion for their subject matter, and there is the biggest advantage as well as the danger of blogs.
Passion is not, on a day like today, throwing the toys out of the pram and being hyper-critical of people who have given their all to give us a season that has exceeded most expectations. Knee-jerk reactions are more a sign of weakness than passion.
I chuckle at those who are laying into Arsene Wenger, who picked the only side he could and had the cojones to play van Persie out wide and bring Hleb inside. Personally I would have introduced Bendtner after the first Chelsea goal given the title situation, but I have not won three titles and four FA Cups, nor have I taken an injury-ravaged team to a Champions League Final, so what do I know?
I sigh at those who are ripping into Manuel Almunia. Yes, he will probably confess himself that he could have fared a little better with the winner. By my reckoning that is two goals he should have prevented this season. It is now March, and he has been immense. Perspective please people.
For all that though I do cringe at the way a game we had in the bag for seventy-three minutes was surrendered. There is no question where the weakness was. If one of our young Swiss central defenders had been playing today we would have had a chorus of “he can’t handle Drogba” in every forum. I’m looking for the same things to be said of Gallas and Toure. A chorus there is not!
Well I’ll say it. If Senderos had been playing the first goal, offside or not, would not have happened. Yes. of course it was offside, but we played on and neither appealed nor dealt with a simple high ball. That is the sort of thing that happens when things just aren’t going your way.
But rather than pick on the negatives of our defence I would rather congratulate Bacary Sagna, who has suffered greatly on a personal level in recent weeks. For a while it looked as though his first goal for Arsenal could prove decisive. What a great buy he was.
A word too about Mark Clattenburg. Not by any stretch of the imagination is he my favourite referee, but despite the poor support he got from his assistants today I thought he produced an excellent performance. I’m the first to be critical of the officials, but fair play to him. Given the level of incompetence on display at Old Trafford I thought he was worth a positive mention.
Those bemoaning the loss of the title, well, you are probably factually correct. There is a real difference in being six points behind the leaders in third place and not second. We are relying on two teams to drop points, not one. We are in need of seven wins out of seven, including Manchester United away, and that still may not be enough.
There is however a Champions League campaign to complete, and a team to be supported. Arsene Wenger refused to call it a priority, or surrender the title. The next game is the priority, and that is the approach we have to take.
This team has take us too far, given us so much, so now it is payback time. There will be plenty of time for arguing any problems in the summer. For now let’s get behind the side each game at a time and see where we end up. Moscow in May would be fantastic, and anything else would be a real bonus.
Hotlinking – A Word
As of today I have activated hotlinking protection on this site. If that gives anybody a problem then please drop me a line, gooner@(remove this)goonerholic.com and I will look into it. It shouldn’t affect your ability to view articles and images, but if it does please let me know. Thanks.
5 Responses to “The Case For The Defence Rests”
It looks as if Arsene has learnt his lesson about calling for life bans, although in this case I personally thought it might be justified.
What are your thoughts on the Diaby tackle. Very nasty, potentially career ending, do you think he should ever play for Arsenal again?
Do you think Diaby should be banned for life?
Boys, read my Bolton match report for my view, then realise the Bolton lad carried on playing. Where do you think Eduardo was today, you fucking mongs?
Indeed the Bolton lad did carry on playing, which has more to do with luck than the quality of the tackle. In terms of intent and recklessness that was right up there with (or even beyond) Taylor’s challenge on Eduardo; mercifully the outcome was different. Wenger does himself no credit nor Arsenal any favours by defending it.