Winning is a habit, however, occasionally competitions have to be prioritised and anyone slating the team selection for the Olympiacos game needs to understand that.
Football is down to money, and whilst the Champions League may bring in more money than the majority of football clubs could ever dream of having, one away tie with the group already won can afford to be treated as an insignificant game. Whilst it would have been really nice to start developing another unbeaten streak, as long as the defeat does not impact on this weekend’s game against Everton it will soon be forgotten; three points against Everton is not only vital to our top four chances – and consequently another shed-load of Champions League money.
Ignore the crap that is being spouted in the press as usual – when we play well we will be given a little praise, whenever we drop points we are made out to be some hapless team who’s defence belongs on Sunday league pitches – and whilst Squillaci may well belong there – we have three of the best defenders in the country in Vermaelen, Koscielny and Sagna. Don’t believe me? Check out the best sports betting sites for more details.
One lesson that I do not think has been learned is that of Lucasz Fabianski and the state of our reserve goalkeepers. For players such as him and Mannone, regular football is essential, it is no coincidence that his best performances in an Arsenal shirt came when he was getting regular football. His future probably lies away from the Emirates, as does that of Mannone. With Arsenal’s style of football we need seasoned and proven reserve goalkeepers.
As we move onto the game against Everton, a game that is never easy, we are edging closer to one of the most vital points of the season – this unbeaten league run needs to be continued into January as pressure put onto the likes of Sp*rs who are hopefully not well stocked with bog roll if the season comes down to a nail-biter. We have made no end of progress in the past few months and the team is growing with confidence, belief and most importantly quality with every game.
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A few words on the Wigan victory and City defeat. We fought hard and ultimately lost to a goal by a player who cost more than our starting eleven put together – it was a classy finish and a gutting end to what had been a pride filled and passionate performance from a young side. Despite the fact we lost against City, the victory against Wigan proved that we are not a one man team at all.
If we are a one man team, I bet there are plenty more teams out there wanting to be a Robin van Persie based team. He is one of the best in the world, nobody in the Premier League can get near him right now.
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I cannot, like a lot of my fellow gooners, brush the greek tragedy aside as a meaningless result.
Only three starters were young and inexperienced…the rest were our first team bench players, mannone and miquel coming on later.
Its simply not good enough from players like arshavin, chamakh, djourou, squilachi, santos and yes, even verma!
I think what buying the likes of arteta and getting benny in has shown us that we do not need to give decent squad players 60+ thousand a week in wages ! There are good players out there who could do us a job in place of arshavin and chamakh
Now these two seem to be the whipping boys of late, but it is hard if not impossible to not agree with that sentiment! When ever they get the ball you just feel like thats it, attack over… both have been in very poor form for far too long and they both would admit it… yet they do nothing to improve it.
I would get let them go, plus ros, that would sure up maybe close to 20 million (if that rich russian club are willing to pay good money for arshavin) and what are you losing? Bench warmers on huge wages who under perform
Nice blog well done.
Anon: You raise good points about a lot of players having bad games… and I certainly agree that players like Arshavin, Chamakh and Squillaci have no place in this squad. But this result did not matter at all and will not affect our team. Sure Vermaelen and Djourou weren’t great, but I’d much rather they play poor when it doesn’t matter than on Saturday against Everton.
Also Arteta has been superb recently. Whipping boy? Also he gets over 60k a week.
Chamakh needs to get a run of starts with Wilshere playing behind him to be of any use. He’s not good enough to sub for or combine with RvP. He doesn’t have the pace to play in open games and he likes crosses but we don’t cross. He doesn’t really fit. It’s a shame, he seems a decent kid.