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Hail Denilson…Samba, er, star

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Just when I was ready to write off Denilson as possibly the worst player we have at the club, he goes and scores a wonder goal. His belter against West Ham on Saturday followed a superb strike that led to Nik Bendtner’s goal at Hull last week and I am beginning to, once again, eat my words on the Brazilian.

It just goes to prove that we should never underestimate AW and his belief in players. He is virtually always right (eat your heart out Franny Jeffers). And the great man (AW not Jeffers) holds court this morning in the papers and for starters tells the Mirror that we will be worthy champions if we win the title even though we have been second-best to our biggest rivals Chelsea and Manchester United.

AW said: “Ideally, you would want to win all 38 games and then everyone would say ‘they deserve it.’ But you never have the perfect run-in. We are in a position where we can show to people that we have improved. We’ve improved our consistency. I don’t know where we will finish but let’s go for it.”

The Telegraph says that AW senses that a fourth league title would be his should we win our remaining seven matches and, with the momentum mounting, he feels that his players are being helped by the simplicity of the challenge.  “What is good is that we cannot even calculate,” said AW . “We absolutely have to win all of our games. If it’s 0-0 with 10 minutes to go, we have to throw all the strikers on and keep pushing for the win. I believe we can go and win the next games; we have that kind of attitude.”

In the Daily Mail, AW says it is a blow losing TV5 for the Birmingham game next week after he was sent off against the Hammers. ‘I hope missing Vermaelen at Birmingham won’t be a problem – but we cannot continue to lose centre-backs, that is for sure,’ he said. ‘You also cannot have six centre-backs at a football club because that doesn’t make sense.

‘Sol Campbell was outstanding, but to repeat the games could become a problem for him so I think I have to give him a big holiday next week to recover. He is very important to us and I think it was a very good signing. Everybody said I didn’t sign anybody and now you can see that I signed somebody.

‘His experience is vital in the dressing room, and you need it especially when we get to the period we are in.It is important you have players like Silvestre, Sol Campbell and Almunia, who are very influential. They have done it before so players listen to them. Song was absolutely outstanding. It looked so easy for him to play in this position,’ added AW. ‘I know he can play there, but he was outstanding in midfield earlier in the game. I have no fear to continue with him at centre-back if needed.’

Super Cesc has his say in the Sun. He said: “People who say we are a different team without me are completely wrong. I have missed five Premier League games and except Everton, where we drew, we have won all the games. It is a strong squad and anyone can play at any moment.

“Right now, we have won nothing. In the league there are seven games and in the Champions League we have two games coming up. We are not thinking about being champions. We are only thinking about Birmingham. There is a lot of time to think about Barcelona. Our first priority is Birmingham and that is the sign of champions, taking things game-by-game.

“In the league, you can bounce back. In the Champions League, if you play bad, it can cost you. In the Champions League, we play against the best team in Europe, probably in the world. We are really looking forward to it. It is another opportunity to play against a great team in a great stadium. It will be very exciting.
“If you want to win this competition, you have to beat everyone. If we’d been drawn against Bordeaux or Lyon we would have taken it the same way. Barcelona are a great team but we always go with the same mentality – and that is to win. But first we have some important league matches.”

Writing in the Bugle, Henry Norris writes: “Arsenal fans would have been, for once and once only, been praising Fat Sam after Blackburn held the King’s Road Kremlinites to a draw yesterday.” Spot on, Henry.
 

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Eldo71

Arsenal fan for 40 years. Schoolboys, North Bank, Clock End then East Upper. Then Emirates. AFC dream team: Wilson, Dixon, Sansom, Adams, Pates, Brady, Williams, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Wright. Subs: Seaman, Eldridge, Wilshere, RVP, Ball. Manager: Arsene Chapman.

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  • Hamy

    Great article…if only Liverpool also did us a favor…anyhow…up next is Birmingham and then the BIG BIG game against Barcelona….Messi is a major threat and everytime he will touch that ball i will be seriously nervous….lets not cheer like we did against West Ham…lets cheer our Arsenal loud every minute of the game!…..

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  • Z3RB1AN

    Messi is out of this world right now. Not only does the ball stick to his feet like glue but he can also hold up a challenge and is a strong player considering his small size.

    Iniesta is also another player who plays on a different planet; his pinpoint passes and vision are unbelievable. There is so much depth in that squad. I know Ibra has his critics but his technique and goalscoring abilities should not be pushed aside.

    I have a feeling history will repeat. We have proved critics wrong with wins in Madrid and Milan over the years. I would love Barcelona to add to our list.

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  • db10

    Barca have proved against chelski and man u that if the opposition only tries to stop them playing then they will still win. For this reason we have to play our own game and try to impose ourselves on them. They won’t be used to it and won’t be expecting it.

    We must try to exploit their weak defence and in this game attack is definately the best form of defence for us. We must press as high up the pitch as possible to stop the ball getting to Messi, Ineiesta and co in areas high up the pitch.

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  • TJ14

    I think we need to take Saturday’s game as an example. We went down to 10 men and at the start of the second half, West Ham had more of the ball and were coming at us on a regular basis.

    AW then bought on Diaby and took off Bendtner. Alot of fans were moaning about it, but it was a perfect tactical sub. Even though we had 10 men, what could West Ham do if we had the ball? Not alot. Therefore, by bringing on Diaby and leaving Arshavin up front, we were able to play lots of passes and keep posession, denying West Ham.

    We need to do the same with Barca. if we have the ball, they can’t do much to hurt us. When they have it, we need to press them and be in their faces.

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  • harper

    “if we have the ball, they can’t do much to hurt us”

    Not sure about this. Barca are relentless and brilliant at getting the ball off opponents – we have to be really disciplined in keeping possession.

    “When they have it, we need to press them and be in their faces.” — exactly, we have to match their relentless, disciplined pressing for the ball.

    I actually think we have a strong chance v. Barca, like with Milan in 08. Yesterday they conceded 2 goals at Zaragoza. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if we eliminated them. It’s the teams after Barca that concern me more.

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  • TJ14

    Well we both have Spanish Keepers who can’t get near the national side.

    I think the midfield match up will be fascinating, as will the full backs.

    If you look player for player, there isn’t a great difference in my opinion:

    Almunia/Valdes
    Eboue/Alves
    Clichy/Maxwell
    Vermaelen/Pique
    Campbell/Puyol
    Song/Toure
    Fabregas/Xavi
    Diaby/Iniesta
    Arshavin/Messi
    Nasri/Pedro
    Bendtner/Ibrahimovic

    Where would you say that Barca have a clear edge??

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  • Joeyboy

    Im quietly optimistic about Barcelona and after seeing the match up that TJ has put up it encourages me even more. Would say that Verms is more like Puyol and Campbell like Pique but other than that spot on. Just hope we can get Arsharvin involved as he is a match winner. We do have to be careful of Alves pushing on though as then Clichy has to worry about him and Messi, as if Messi wasnt enough!

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  • db10

    i see your point but surely its who will be lining up against who that is more important. so we have messi/clichy arshavin/alves etc.

    And when you look at it that way both front lines look far better than the other teams defence.

    Do you really think that pedro will play ahead of thierry?

    And seeing as its not going to be a physical battle would this be the perfect chance to play the midfield we all want to see of song cesc and nasri with arsh bendtner and theo/rosicky up front??
    lets go all out attacking technique..

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  • TJ14

    Joeyboy, was matching up Campbell and Puyol, purely because of their age really.

    I would play Nasri on the left and Arshavin on the right. Maxwell is less likely to get forward so Arshavin can keep him occupied.

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  • GoonerMatt

    Eldo! I guess you said the same things about Gilberto! enuff said :)

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  • harper

    Well TJ, I do think they have an edge with the best player in the world right now.

    I also think in terms of experience you can’t compare Ibra with Big Nik, but at the moment Ibra’s not in great form and Nik is in good form, so…

    Puyol is less nervy than Sol – and much as I love Diaby, sorry in no way shape or form can I put him in the same category as Iniesta. Maybe some day but not now.

    Arshavin v. Messi? C’mon TJ. Arshavin’s fantastic but please.

    More importantly, it’s not the individual players — the big difference between us and Barca is their off the ball movement and discipline (consistently and collectively), which we do not yet have. We’ve shown it sometimes, individually, but we’re just not as consistent (or as collective) at it. Their forwards consistently commit more fouls than their back line.

    When we get that part of our game sorted, we’ll not only be equal to Barca, we’ll be their superior.

    But as I said, we have the knack of raising our game hugely against big teams, exploiting their mistakes and weaknesses, which of course Barca do have.

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  • harper

    db, yes, Pedro sometimes plays ahead of Henry — Pedro’s a fantastic player, sharper than Henry. Henry’s been on the bench recently, but Guardiola’s brought him back as a starter because of Ibra’s problems.

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  • harper

    oh and Eboue/Alves? Well, they’re equal in terms of athleticism (Eboue may be better) but Alves scores more goals and is an excellent crosser of the ball. Eboue’s good at it but not like Alves.

    On the other hand, they’re both great divers. :D

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  • britz

    good good feeling about this …

    before lehmann got sentb off in the final we absolutely bossed the game, we will do the same again I truly believe.

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