Big Match Build Up

Saturday arrives and as a treat, it's a 3pm kick off. Indeed, as it's Champions League week the majority of games are 3pm kick off's this weekend with only two games tomorrow. It really is make or break month for Arsenal. Lose today and within 24 hours the fourth place spot could be 7 points away and at this stage of the season, whilst it is not an impossible gap it leaves the club reliant on a loss of form in their immediate competitors. In a certain context there is a symmetry building in the shape of Dennis Bergkamp. His first season ended with a goal in the last game of the season that ensured the last UEFA Cup place was secured in a 2 - 1 win. What odds at Ladbrokes for Bergkamp to score in the last game at Highbury against Wigan to secure a Champions League spot in his last season with club, on the playing front at least?

Even more important is the last chance of silverware in the shape of the Champions League. Based on the last two seasons with unfancied but half decent teams winning the trophy, I am somewhat surprised that we're not clear favourites to win in Paris in May. Given the events of the last 7 days, perhaps it's no surprise at all that we're almost rank outsiders to pull off this feat. With the attacking force that is the Real Madrid midfield and forward line, trepidation is perhaps the feeling that all Arsenal fans ought to be feeling ahead of the game in the Bernabeu later this month. That said, their defensive frailties and indifferent home form are the straws to grasp at. Best case, an away win, worst case a one goal defeat (with an away goal being scored) and I would believe we will progress. Another performance akin to that in Munich last season (with an stronger team) and the last season at Highbury will quickly turn into one that we will not want to remember with any fondness.

Todays tune is my favourite Eddie Floyd tune, a superb driving beat augmented with blasting horns and sublime Hammond accompaniament. Quite simply a song you must have your collection.

Eddie Floyd - Big Bird

A Complete Lack Of Discipline

The headline says it all - "Ferguson Fights FA Charge". Sorry Guys but that's exactly what he did in the first place and why he's up before the beak. Also Ronaldo is banned for one game and fined less than a days wages, £4,ooo, after being booed by Benfica fans in the Champions League in December. It is an issue that affects all footballers, how to handle abuse from opposing supporters. The majority of supporters during the course of their "football career" will have dished out some form of abuse, from a good natured boo to full on abuse, and the players are expected to take it and get on with it. When they react to it, the relevant football authorities dish out their fines and / or suspension with a formal statement issued by the player regretting their actions. But why regret it? The media (and some supporters) expect their heroes to be superhuman and not react to abuse. Never mind the x thousand at the game, if someone came into your workplace and booed, jeered or abused you, then most people would batter ten bells of shit out of their abuser. Well, I don't know about you but I would. And if you wouldn't, then in the words of Jimmy Pursey, "Mister, You're A Better Man Than I".

The point is, why should footballers be banned from reacting to the abuse they receive. Lets face it, to say that they deserve it or should rise above it simply because they earn megabucks is a non starter. Maybe because it is there and part of the culture of the game, then there is an argument to say that maybe they should not follow the professional path if they can't hack it but we've all been to games where it would have been livened up if the Left Winger had twatted someone in the section of fans abusing him. Let us all petition the FA and FIFA to allow at least one footballer in a match to be able to lamp a supporter who is giving them abuse. The victim should be chosen on the grounds of least funny / original or most boring and banal abuse handed out. The way it would work is that the players could spend part of the Half Time break swapping notes about the abuse, and then nominate one player to deal with the offender. The Referee is then informed, and the abuser told. Shortly before the hour mark a klaxon sounds and five minutes of abuse and respostes ensues. The nearest 100 supporters then give each contestant marks out of 10 for originality and comedy value. Should the supporter win, they get to lead the abuse for the remainder of the game, the player if they win gets to launch a drop kick a la Cantona at the loser.

Sol Campbell's personal problems explain his apparent loss of form and fitness, something that affects a large portion of the working population during their careers. It is a situation that only he can resolve but opinionated rubbish like that spouted by Hansen will not assist in the matter. What has surprised me is that the Red Tops have behaved with a rarely seen degree of decency over the matter and not treated him in the same manner that Frank Bruno was, i.e. "He's Mental". Whether this lasts remains to be seen. We wish Sol all the best and hope he resolves his problems successfully.

Todays Tune: an unsponsored tie-in to the Johnny Cash biopic hitting the screens is, from The American Sessions produced by Rick Ruben, a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song that works incredibly well.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Managerial Merry Go Round

The least surprising news of the week is Graeme Souness departure from Newcastle today. Given the amount of money invested (and seemingly for excessive valuations), Souness can hardly complain as their league form since he took charge has been slightly less than impressive. Some of the signings on paper seem to be good and he has been unfortunate with injuries to those players. For example, the losses of Owen and Luque would have had a detrimental effect on all bar Chelsea. That said, the prices he had paid to secure Owen and Boumsong were incredible given their transfer values the previous year, £8m and zero respectively. Although they were impacted by contract status at their previous clubs, even in a bullish transfer market it is astounding that he spent £25m on these two players. Until of course, you look at the clubs involved. No doubt some will wonder whether or not Real Madrid were looking to recoup some of the fee they paid for the injury-prone Woodgate and Rangers could not have possibly been looking to get one over on a former employee. No, thought not.

From the beginning, he was in a position where he could not win. Replacing Sir Robby Bobson was never going to be easy but even the announcement of Souness as manager brought forth a stream of dissension from the supporters and very little cheer. His track record prior to joining Newcastle was not one that would have inspired confidence in their supporters. A limited success at Anfield ended after a PR disaster. His subsequent roles at Benfica and Southampton were insipid, with the Portuguese being particularly unhappy at his British imports. Perhaps the Newcastle Board were blinded by his success in the early days at Rangers where he was able to spend a small fortune in an uncompetitive League and produce a team of Champions.

One of the curious aspects is the timing of his dismissal. The FA having met today will no doubt be producing their shortlist and no doubt be interviewing Curbishley and Allardyce for the soon to be vacant England role. Unless they are ruled out of contention for the England job pretty quickly, it is hard to see why they would be interested in Newcastle - unless of course, they have a get out clause in their contracts - and that being the case, why Newcastle would even consider signing a Manager who could leave within 3 months. Even by Freddie Shephards cack-handed PR style, that would be a disaster. Unless of course they have already agreed terms with Eriksson to co-manage and groom Shearer to take over when he eventually retires. This is plausible in that the Swede has made it clear he would like to stay in England and Shearer would need to be seen to have gained some experience before the Newcastle public fully accepted him as manager in his own right.

In which case, should the FA appoint their manager perhaps he ought to take charge before the World Cup and lead England to glory. Or a glorious failure. That would require a manager who is currently unemployed to take charge. Step forward Graeme Souness - all the right credentials, i.e. European experience, managed a big club - which would provide a nice snug result for all parties. So remember where you read it first - SOUNESS FOR ENGLAND...

The Brucey Bonus Tune for today is from the Bootleg album: Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg, Combat Rock Outtakes, Vol. 3

The Clash - The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too

Another Day Another Dollar

The morning after the night before and it is still difficult to comprehend that we've lost at home to the 'Appy 'Ammers. But I can still live with the defeat in a manner that was unthinkable some 20 years ago when I first began visiting Highbury under my own speed having completed my education and entered the evil world of corporate greed.

Some emnities in football seem to just dissapate over time - perhaps this is due to the last few years of elevated success which until last season were unmatched in the capital. This may be heresy to some but to my mind even Tottenham cannot be considered a true rival other than through geography which as I don't live locally means I do not readily identify with this. For a number of years, they have not been an opponent whose fixtures I have eagerly sought out when the list is published in the summer - the ones I look for are Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, the ones on the weekends before and after the birthdays of my wife and sons which require some negotiation to get the time off. And then it's a case of filtering through the rest.

Is part of the reason also a detachment from the club that seems to be prevalent in most of the professional clubs, and certainly applies to all of the Premiership. The nature of football clubs is completely different in the 21st century, mainly due to the increased Revenue Streams available to them. Do they care about my opinions any more (did they ever?), does my money mean less to them now. It seems those years ago that the money was more important to them. Whilst Arsenal never missed my £4 when I stood on The North Bank, relatively speaking in this day and age they miss my £100 for myself and the boys to attend & spend in the shop even less as there are considerably more people waiting to take my place than there were at my beginnings.

In some ways, I am envious of the feeling of community that my Dad has with his Swindon allegiance. He feels more part of the club, a sense that he counts in their eyes (with their predicament off the pitch, his continued support is more valued).

Todays Tune:

The Go Team! - The Power Is On (Live at KRCW)

Arsenal 2 - 3 West Ham United

0 - 1 Reo - Coker (25)
0 - 2 Zamora (32)
1 - 2 Henry (45)
1 - 3 Etherington (80)
2 - 3 Pires (89)

Henry sets new record for being highest scorer in League matches (151)

OK basically there are only two things in life that can't be swopped for something else - my kids and more importantly, Arsenal FC. Now I'm not sure that my wife will be too happy about being lumped into the "things that aren't permanent" category but that's life.

Which makes the current state of Arsenal Football Club all the more vexing. Commercially the club seems to be on a sure footing, provided of course the business plan doesn't rely on Ashburton Grove being sold out every week. Hopefully the Powers That Be were able to afford the new ground on an average of 45,000 each home game - the current gloom about performances on the pitch may reduce the initial optimism from 60,000 quickly.

Quite why Arsenal are turning in such shabby performances on a collective and individual basis is not easy to fathom. OK so there are injuries - Cole & Clichy is a big problem with only Lauren looking even vaguely comfortable at left back. But the whole point of the squad system is that cover is available when injuries or loss of form arises.

The senior players have to take responsibility for a lot of the current malaise. Ljungberg is now a shadow of his former self. If he was working next to you in the office, you'd swear he was applying for other jobs with his body language and apparent distaste for the fight. Sol Campbell, who reportedly left Highbury tonight having been substituted at half time for a exceptionally poor performance, has not recovered from his injuries, at least mentally. To be honest it was so awful, next week's Fantasy Points ought to be including 2 assists for Campbell. Pires is similar to Ljungberg but at least he's openly admitted that his Mr 15% has spoken with other sides - Valencia are reportedly favourites if he doesn't sign a new deal. And until such times as a new deal is signed the constant speculation must be detrimentally affecting the club as regards Henry's future, although it is difficult to criticise his goal return so far this season.

Ultimately though it is Wenger who is responsible for the current situation. The departure of Vieira is commonly held up as the major reason for the loss of form this season. Personally I do not believe Vieira the midfield player is as much of a loss based on his performances last season. One game he would be the dominant player on which his reputation is rightly based but too often he would be another journeyman in the centre of the park. What is undisputeably missed is the Leadership - the ability to grab a player by the scruff of the neck and shake the complacency out of them. And this is the area that Wenger needs to address most seriously. For all of his fine footballing qualities, Henry does not appear to possess this quality and throughout the clubs history, a strong leader is the core to success - McLintock, Adams and Vieira all fulfilled this criteria. Looking at the successful teams of the moment, they all have strong leaders - Terry at Chelsea, Puyol at Barca, Ballack at Bayern. How Wenger fills this gap is unclear for there is not a similar type of player at the club at present and how Henry would react to be stripped or asked to relinquish the captaincy is by no means certain.

I believe this to be the first real crisis of Wenger's tenure at the club. The recent signings of Adebayour, Diaby and Walcott are unlikely to resolve the problems immediately, the hope being that 4th place in the League is not too far out of sight by the time form is rediscovered. His policy of signing younger players is admirable in that it gives a team a chance to grow together but this is detrimental in respect of the absence of wise heads to guide the younger players through the learning curve. Last weeks announcement of Martin Keown coaching at the club seemed to be a step in the right direction until you learn that he's been there since October so no immediate improvement is expected to result from this area. Not that this is Keown's fault - would that he were five years younger holding the centre of the defence together in Toure's absence. Which begs the question as to whether or not Wenger is the man to resolve the problem. He certainly is the right man to nuture the younger players. He certainly is the right man to guide the team to play in an attacking style that no-one had seen before or will in the foreseeable future. But is he the man to lead them over the top in a battle. The answer will be known in the next few weeks.

Todays Tune:

Below is a Paul Weller song that goes down well at home - well, me and the boys like it. I say they like it, I take it as a positive that they don't tell me to turn it off when I stick it on the noise machine. A live track from Los Angeles in 2005:

Paul Weller - Come On, Let's Go