Arsenal’s Mental Bubble Is Shrinking

By JAMES CURTIS Sam Allardyce is used to bursting bubbles. Usually it’s the pugnacious toad king’s Wrigley’s Extra chewing gum. At the weekend he thought he could blow out Arsenal in the same slimy demeanour and leave them a gooey mess. It wasn’t to be the case, as Arsenal scraped Blackburn from the bottom of their shoes and left Ewood Park with all three points. The Gunners, it appeared, had found some resolve. 

Savouring a few last cans with a Gooner friend at the bottom of the garden in the early hours of Sunday morning, we freely spoke about the psychological problems with Arsenal. Like those record breaking bubbles Allardyce blows, slumped in his chair on match days, the same sticky problem, we agreed, belonged to Arsenal. The more and more people talk about their mental frailties, the bigger the bubble gets. It has been growing for the past five season, and even talking about it now helps this mental giant get rounder, fatter and shinier. 

Taking on the role of a piece of gum last night, television became flavourless after about three mintues of numb viewing, until that is, I found the women’s rugby World Cup semi-final on Sky Sports. England beat Australia in a fiery encounter that I had never seen before in women’s sport. Until they put in the kind of hostile dedication the Williams’ sisters have, and hit the gym like a Russian shot-put, the benign dogma attached to women’s sport will remain dull to the virile male sitting in front of his set dumb-struck by what doesn’t appear to be competition in any way. 

For a brief moment last night that changed, when bald headed women ploughed into the ribs of other women and fought with their last drop of sweat to prevent an egg-shaped ball from crossing a line. In one moment an England player punched an Aussie to the floor in self-defence. It really was eyebrow-raising. I began to think how much British sport has come on in the last few years: men and women’s cricket, athletics, Formula One, tennis, but not it would seem the national sport, men’s football. This short seminar on women’s rugby, to which I really hadn’t given any thought before, would have been an excellent example for the lightweights of Fabio Capello’s World Cup losers.  

The Arsenal team sent out at Ewood Park and the group of women rugby players last night had both performed with denial. Both were under pressure but came away victorious, holding their opponents at the all important scoring lines. Cesc Fabregas knew that it would be a day of defending to the last when he cleared one header off the post. Allardyce said Blackburn deserved something from the game. Rovers’ back four had started off all at sea, although to be fair found some organisation in the second half. 

In terms of good football though, Allardyce was misguided by the pressure of sending long balls into Arsenal’s penalty area whenever the home team were granted a soft free-kick in their own half. A chance for these guys could be created by one hoofed kick from Paul Robinson from midway in his end, then swarming as many men as possible around the edge of Arsenal’s penalty area to feast on loose balls. The brainwashed of Blackburn get excited into thinking this is good football. Their supportive cheers whenever a throw-in gets won gives the impression that good football is being played. Really all they pay for is the idiots guide to football. And Alan Hansen says Theo Walcott doesn’t have a football brain. 

The mental bubble shrunk a little bit then on Saturday. New signing Marouane Chamakh looked a useful addition to combating the Allardyce’s browbeater tactics. His subtle grappling and tight marking is the sort needed on away days in the north west. Sebastien Squillaci hasn’t played yet, but I get the impression he is the kind of guy who would throw his baby in the way of a Chris Samba header in order to protect a lead. I imagine he likes going to ground in the tackle and seems to bring all the hallmarks of an Arsene Wenger 1998 style signing: sometimes messy but very effective. 

Some Arsenal fans lost their tolerance of Wenger this week when he failed to bring in a new goalkeeper. I’m disappointed too although slowly I’m beginning to find confidence in the shape of the new team. Another step was taken to permanently removing ourselves from the docs couch by bursting Allardyce’s own bubble at the weekend. Had we actually gone as far as to curing others ourselves when Blackburn’s only goal came from a slick move resonant of the Arsenal type? It’s possible. Now, no more talk of you know what. 

THE ARSENAL

{jcomments on}

JimC

More Posts