Injury Gremlins/’Appy ‘Ammers/Ticket Exchange

Another smashing result on Wednesday night on Tyneside, if a little flattering. Our first goal came courtesy of the “when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout” school of defending from Toon that we have seen too often in recent seasons from Arsenal. A bit of a comical own goal off the goalie’s head. Not so comical if you’re a magpie mind. 

For our second goal, there’s a rational argument to say both that Theo Walcott was offside and that Nicklas Bendtner cleaned out the Newcastle defender. Still, the record books say it was a goal now. If I were a Toon fan I’d be honked off with the officials however. 

The rest was plain sailing. An excellent finish from Nicklas Bendtner and an even better one from Theo Walcott rounded out the scoring and emptied the home areas of St James’ Park, which had only been two-thirds full to begin with. Toon did cut their prices from the normal larcenous levels charged by all Premier League clubs these days, but not by enough. The north-east has really been kicked in the teeth by the recession, not that London hasn’t as well. 

As an aside Manchester United only managed to draw 46,083 for their home Carling Cup tie with Wolves, more than thirty thousand under capacity. You don’t have to look far for the reason with ticket prices unreduced from their normal stratospheric levels. The Glazer family showing their class once again. They and their kind really are a pox on the game. 

Back to Arsenal, and it wouldn’t be us if we hadn’t picked up yet another injury. Kieran Gibbs, who has had the luck of all too many of our players with injury picked up a knock on his knee. Assuming the scans come back clear he should only be out for a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed. It’s a real pity that such a promising player has suffered his full measure of the Arsenal injury curse. 

In goal Wojciech Szczęsny had one youthful rush of blood to the head in the first half, the consequences from which he save saved by the increasingly impressive Laurent Koscielny. The big Frenchman is looking like another excellent addition early doors in his Arsenal career. Otherwise the young Pole in goal (he’s a poet and he doesn’t know it) had an accomplished evening, making some excellent saves to help us keep a second consecutive clean sheet. Now there’s a habit we need to get into a bit lively. 

One of the things that impresses me about Szczęsny is the way he exudes confidence and commands his area. I only hope we can re-sign him soon. He’s free to listen to other offers come the New Year with his contract expiring next summer. I think it’s worth investing considerable money in keeping him at the club. Like all things there must be a limit to what we can sensibly offer by way of salary and signing bonus but we need to hang on to all our young talent. The lad is still a “maybe” but I think he has the potential to be world class. 

I’ve also been very impressed by the way Theo Walcott has returned after injury, apparently leaving off where injury so rudely interrupted. There’s nothing not to like about Walcott as a man. He’s well-balanced, affable and intelligent. He also has sprinter’s pace. There have been times though since he joined us with such fanfare from Southampton when I admit I’ve started to lose the faith. He has already given us some moments that will live in the memories of all Gooners, that fabulous night in the San Siro against Milan, away in the Champions League at Anfield. Too often though he’s seemed to lack clarity of thought and incision, especially out on the wing. 

If he can continue the real progress he’s made this season and maintains the ruthless finisher’s streak he’s discovered in front of goal he could end up being a real Arsenal legend. Admission to the Arsenal pantheon awaits you young man. Seize the day. Make idiots of all the doubters like me who wavered. 

Let’s hope for a home tie in the quarter-finals when the draw is made by the Football League tomorrow. Aside from anything else Carling Cup nights at the Grove are loads of fun. The competition may be fourth on our list of priorities for silverware but that’s an improvement on where it was. Until this season daylight was fourth. Cesc Fàbregas being introduced in the second half from the substitutes’ bench on Wednesday night against Toon tells you all you need to know about Arsčne’s attitude to this competition this season. I’ve supported the manager’s decision to give yoof a chance in the Carling Cup. I still think that’s right but putting a few more first team players in the mix is a good compromise I think. 

All that needs to be put to one side now however. We need to focus on the visit of East End neighbours West Ham United tomorrow lunchtime. For reasons I shan’t detain you with I shall be somewhere over the Irish Sea as we kick off at the Grove on my way to Croke Park in Dublin for the second international rules football test between Ireland and Australia tomorrow night. If you’re wondering what the bloody hell “international rules football” is, it’s a set of compromise rules used to facilitate international matches between Gaelic football and Australian Rules Football. The trip was arranged before the fixtures for this season were published. My heart sank when the fixtures came out in the summer.

Likewise my heart sank even further when I realised I would miss the Spurs home League game. I shall in in Canada on business when we play Forces of Darkness from the Lane.  At least I shall get to see that game on television, albeit it will require me to get up in the middle of the night to watch it. Kick-off will be 7.45am in Toronto, which counts as the middle of the night for me on a Saturday.  At least I shall be in Ontario and not British Columbia, where the kick-off will be 4.45am. “Welcome to our world” I’m sure all North American Gooners are saying as they read this! 

I’ve let my seat for both games go on the Arsenal Ticket Exchange, which at least means a silver or red member who otherwise wouldn’t have a ticket for both games gets to go. These two games are the second and third times I’ve let my seat go this way. The first was against Wigan Athletic a couple of seasons ago. 

In each case my seat has been sold within twenty minutes of being put up for sale. The system appears to work. It still needs developing and tweaking to improve take-up. One way would be offering the chance of match-ticket holders who can no longer attend to sell their tickets for sold out games on the Ticket Exchange. There are far too many empty seats at our home games. That’s not good for supporters or the club. We need to work on this. 

Meanwhile, here’s to three points tomorrow. The Baggies showed us that we need to take every opponent seriously. 

Keep the faith! 

vic@arsenalinsider.com

{jcomments on}

Vic Crescit

More Posts