Wild Rover

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Arsenal

Pederson 17

I remember the first time I went to Ewood Park. Diabolical journey to the ground, Shearer scored the winner with less than 10 minutes to go. I always disliked the guy after that. He became even more nauseating with the "I creosoted my fence" remark after they won the League, no matter how tongue in cheek he may have thought he was being. I still dislike the bloke, even though he now plays for Newcastle, but maybe that is because he seems to be a nigglier version of himself. Perhaps its age.

Anyhoo, todays match pitted the conquerors of the Santiago Bernabeu against the thugs of Blackburn. Ain't it amazing how reputations stick. One or two sendings off and suddenly the team is made in the mould of their manager. Maybe that's harsh on Mark Hughes, always had time for him as a player - an honest man, taking and giving in equal measure but uncomplaining. If ever there was a case of the bully's in the playground taking on the new boys, this was it. Ewood Park is one of those grounds at which we have a very mixed record, with draws, wins and defeats being suffered in equal measure. The team news ahead of the game was disappointing in that Ashley Cole is still not match fit whilst Freddie Ljungberg has picked up a calf strain and missed the match, having played his best match of the season and looking like the player we know he is.

How Real Madrid must have wished that this version of the Arsenal team had played on Tuesday! It was the usual frailties in defence, the sort of performance that is making Henry think twice or even one hundred times about signing a new contract. It was not until Pires was introduced at half time that the team looked like they meant business with Senderos and Fabregas wasting good opportunities with poor efforts. The worst culprit was Adebayour who squandered a good chance with only Friedel to beat.

Should Bolton and Tottenham win tomorrow, fourth place in the Premiership is going to require a Herculean effort to achieve. Looking at the fixtures ahead, Arsenal play Fulham at Craven Cottage next weekend, followed by Liverpool and Charlton at Highbury, Portsmouth at Fratton Park and entertain Aston Villa on April 1st. In seasons past I would have confidently stated that the team would grab15 points from these games, 13 at worst. This season though, in excess of 10 points out of that run will be considered a good return but I would expect at least 12 as a minimum. In the same period, Tottenham entertain Blackburn and West Brom, whilst visiting Chelsea, Birmingham and Newcastle which ought to yield them 10 points. Bolton have a slightly trickier spell of games. As well as an FA Cup replay at Upton Park, they entertain Fulham, West Ham, Sunderland and Manchester United but visit Newcastle and Middlesbrough. Of these, I believe they will return with a total of only 8 points, defeats being suffered at the hands of Manchester United and Newcastle. Blackburn, West Ham and Wigan all have reasonably tough games ahead, particularly The Hammers who are still in the FA Cup; Blackburn should win 8 points from their run, West Ham and Wigan should get 10 and 7 points from their run of games. Assuming Arsenal do get 12 points, that still leaves us in fifth place, three points behind Tottenham with their last ever visit to Highbury assuming greater importance. Now is the time for the team to stop underestimating their predicament and stop underperforming in the League.

Todays Tunes are from Cabaret Voltaire, a staple of the Peel show. These are taken from the album, Groovy Laidback and Nasty, which is perhaps their most commercial album and is, to the best of my knowledge, no longer available.

Searchin'

Minute By Minute

If The Cap Fits

Once again, politicians loom large on the football horizon. The Independent Football Review, launched on Wednesday in London is the brainchild of Richard Caborn. The Minister for Sport in the UK, who has shielded himself behind the now expired UK Presidency of the EU, wants the ills that he perceives as besetting the game to be touched by the far reaching tentacles of the politicos.

The fundamental problem with the whole review is that it is not Independent as UEFA is funding the entire process. In reality it is going to prove to be little more than a sop to the bureaucrats of Brussels. The Nice Declaration notes that “Even though not having any direct powers in this area, the Community must, in its action under the various Treaty provisions, take account of the social, educational and cultural functions inherent in sport and making it special, in order that the code of ethics and the solidarity essential to the preservation of its social role may be respected and nurtured". Which basically means that the EU has to make sure that sport must be freely available to all and whiter than white, although quite why the EU believes they are the correct body to review this is perplexing, given that they singularly fail to tackle their own internal corruption and that of farmers receiving subsidies through the Common Agricultural Policy.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) define the project but in my opinion earmark as a waste of £500k on UEFA’s part, clearly this is (1) a sop to the EU and (2) a politician picking an easy (populist) target to try to improve his threadbare CV. Firstly, the seven points can be categorised quickly as (1) those that are already regulated, (2) those that are unworkable and (3) social policy gone mad.

Regulation of Agents is an easy target for a politician and whilst I point no fingers at any individuals involved in this review, the smell of hypocrisy does not leave the room when a politician or Brussels bureaucrat decides that they want to investigate a matter. Additional rules are not going to improve the behaviour of rogue Agents. There are regulations covering their behaviour already – the step that is missing is the effective policing and enforcement of the rules and a willingness to stamp out bungs. Richard Caborn is no doubt aware of the FA Inquiry into Agents but presumably is choosing to ignore the lack of tangible evidence of wrongdoing. Until the impetus is handed to the Governing Bodies, this situation is not going to change. Appended to this paragraph in the ToR is a review of contract registrations and the contracts of minors. Surely these are governed already by FIFA / UEFA and the EU. Indeed it is the EU that has pushed football into one of the purest employment markets with a workforce that is highly mobile and able to work in all member countries, courtesy of the Bosman Ruling. The terminology of the section leaves a lot to be desired. “Trafficking of Young Players”? Surely the clubs have Scouts and can afford decent air transportation? This term brings forth images of lots of children queuing to climb into the backs of lorries to be smuggled across borders to play for a pittance. Perhaps the EU might be better advised to stop the Sex Trade and Illegal Immigration rackets before accusing football clubs of being involved in Gangland Crimes.

The sixth clause refers to funding at grassroots level of the game. In England, the FA does a pretty good job of providing funding to ensure that the game continues to thrive. There are also other grants available to the game through, for example, Sport England. Do we need rules forcing funding upon them? Where is it going to come from – for certain, the Treasury won’t give any tax breaks on the profits of the FA so perhaps Mr Caborn’s department could pass on some of their budget for this process.

The seventh and final clause refers to the safety and security in football stadia. UEFA, FIFA, the FA and the law of the land already cover this in copious detail. If the EU think that they can improve this, then so be it but this then brings into question all of the work carried out so far by the Football Licencing Authority and Local Council Safety inspectors.

Having started with the areas that are already governed, the Review then starts to dip its’ toes into Dreamy River in Fantasy Land. This is a direct quote from the Independent Football Review ToR, “The level of expenditure in respect of players, considering the financial (in)stability and concentration of wealth amongst clubs at both an international and national level, and to recommend changes where appropriate.” Gosh that’s all right then. God Bless ‘Em, the EU are going to set a maximum transfer fee level and save all those poor little football clubs who are held to ransom every time they want to sign a player. What happened to Supply and Demand? And they are going to review the “feasibility of Salary Caps”. These work in Leagues 1 and 2, proving that they are manageable and forcing clubs to review their squads. But these are not the problems. The largest hurdle faced by the Football League is the understandable reticence of clubs in The Championship to agree to a cap. They want to get out the division and stay in The Premiership, not yo-yo between divisions. Well, all apart from Sunderland that is. Salary Caps are completely workable and I suspect that the G14 clubs would welcome them to varying degrees. However, this will require FIFA to compensate clubs when players are on International Duty in order to alleviate some of the wage bill. No doubt the clubs will complain about any restrictions but all that will happen is that Corporate Sponsorship deals will be struck to cover the balance of individual players wages, as Arsenal had lined up when they tried to sign Johann Cruyff in the 1970’s.

Section Five states that one of the areas is “to encourage central marketing (collective selling/mutualisation)” and yet they question whether or not the Premierships Broadcasting deal is suitable or anti-competitive. You can hear the bottoms shifting on their seats now. This is also unworkable but throws into immediate question the broadcasting deals negotiated individually by Italian and Spanish clubs – will Juve have to support Siena by handing over part of their money? Will they do it? No, I doubt it. The altruistic side of their nature only generally extends to the odd surprise defeat not any monetary gain.

There are two remaining areas in this document. The first is already partially dealt with by existing rules, the fit and proper persons regulations for directorship of football club. There is still work to be done with one or two undesirables seeming to appear, particularly on the South Coast. And yet the Review then shoots itself in the foot (if it has any left). Part of this section encompasses the ownership or influence over more than one club. If the respective Governing bodies regulations do not cover this already then what the hell have they been doing in recent times? Surely, there is legislation covered by The Companies Act and Money Laundering Acts which are both UK internal and Europe wide?

The final is reproduced in its entirety below:

The “European sports model”: The central role of the football authorities independently to govern the sport while respecting the European and national legal frameworks and in harmony with the EU institutions and member states

Aim:

• To make recommendations for how the EU institutions, member states and football authorities can improve and support the central role of the football authorities independently to govern all aspects of the sport, whilst taking into account the views of the different stakeholders and working with the EU institutions and the member states in respect of the underlying legal framework. Whilst the autonomy of football and its responsibility for self-regulation are recognised, it is also true that national Governments and the EU adopts legislation which can affect football. There is a need for coordination, dialogue and transparency.

• Within such recommendations it should in particular be described (i) which rules or measures do clearly constitute “sports rules”, i.e. rules which are for the competent football authority – enjoying a reasonable amount of discretion - to decide and (ii) for which other rules or measures the specificity of sport should be increasingly considered in the interpretation/application of the relevant legislation. For this purpose it will be of interest to provide an inventory of the existing interpretations by the ECJ and by the Commission on the “specificity of sport” (with concrete examples, particularly in the areas of free movement and competition policy) and consequently to provide a definition.

• To define the various stakeholders within the “European sports model”, as this applies to football, and to clarify their role and how they relate to one another. In particular, to demonstrate the natural and necessary role of the football authorities to care for the health and development of the sport as a whole from the grassroots to the professional elite.

• To demonstrate that the central role of football authorities, provided that they govern democratically and transparently, can be consistent with economic and/or legal concepts of a dominant position.

• To identify and analyse relevant examples from other sports that demonstrate the risks of undermining or dismantling the central role of a governing body, e.g. basketball, boxing.

Eh? I think I am misreading this. Paragraph one seems to be asking whether the EU can help? Yes – stay the hell out of football. The second is so ludicrous it beggars belief – is football a sport? Paragraphs 3 through 5 are brilliant – asking whether the Governing Bodies are competent and fit to run football. Of course they aren’t – they are bureaucrats. Incompetence is a technical requirement on their part. But the really scary thing is that Politicians are involved. And they are the true incompetents in life.

Todays Tunes are tracks from the early part of Paul Wellers solo career.

Pity Poor Alfie (Hamburg 1990)

My Ever Changing Moods (Kawasaki 1991)

Sitting Here In Limbo (Paris 1992)

Ohio (Tipitina's, New Orleans 1992)

Man In The Corner Shop (Philidelphia 1992)

Pitch Battles

Football is a unique industry. Now that like a number of statements contained within this blog, is neither original nor shocking. There are numerous reasons why it is unique but the one that amazes me is the complete absence of Research and Development spend that it incurs. But Big Fella, I hear you cry, look at the good work the academies do bringing youth players through into the professional game. Sadly dear reader this is not the R&D that I talk of. Criminally overlooked, shamefully neglected - it is the pitch to which I refer.

Look at the pictures from Munich on Tuesday. A brand new stadium, a brand new pitch. That was an absolute slagheap. In England this has a been a regular problem. In recent years, the problems have been well documented at Old Trafford that seem gradually to be going away but Stamford Bridge is just appalling. Mourinho may claim that it produces no advantage as they train on an excellent surface at the new Training Complex but that is to be disingenuous as Chelsea's players get to use the pitch at least once every 14 games. To add insult to injury, Barcelona arrived at Stamford Bridge to find the pitch being heavily watered despite typically wet February weather over the last few days. Indeed in the last decade, the only pitch that has been consistently suitable week in, week out, for top flight football has been Highbury.

The fundamental problem appears to be stadium design, with the height of new stands being the key. As the clamour for more seats get greater, so the structures move upwards to increase the capacity or filling in the corners where the stands height is optimised already. This then prevents as much sunlight getting to the grass or the wind circulating properly over the pitch. Which is where the absence of R&D spend is unfathomable. Manchester United has rebuilt Old Trafford to such an extent that the capacity will shortly reach 76,000. This has not been donated by a philanthropic local business, it has been built using sizeable sums of money. Why have they not invested in Research to ensure that the playing surface is immaculate.

Stamford Bridge has also been improved in the last decade, even before Roman Abramovich invested his cash into the club. And yet their pitch would shame a Council Park used on in a Sunday League. Chelsea claim that Scott Parker's injury last season was caused by the new pitch being laid yet if they had researched properly during the project planning stage this would not have happened.

In coming years, Ashburton Grove and Wembley will open their doors with Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton all planning for major redevelopment or new Stadiums. Whether this will include substantial investment in the pitch is open to debate; yes, they will lay new turf but will they take steps to ensure that new technologies are taken advantage of to enable the best turf to be consistently available to their most costly assets, the players? I somehow doubt that as much will be done as could be / should be. Have we now reached the point where FIFA / UEFA need to take steps to insist on a minimum standard of pitch being required. It is something that needs a big stick to be wielded and not left to the individual clubs or Governing Bodies to manage. Should the minimum standard not be met, then the punishment should be removal from the relevant competition, i.e. kicked out of the Champions League, suspended from domestic competition? Fines are immaterial nowadays to most of the top clubs so they need to be incentivised in other ways. As it stands currently, there is no reason for a club to invest in the pitch. After all, if the Premiership Champions don't care, why should anyone else?

Todays tunes continue with The Jam extravaganza, being various demos and unreleased versions of album tracks.

Pretty Green

It's Too Bad

In The City

Skirt (Absolute Beginners)

Los Reyes Del Estadio Santiago Bernabeu (updated)

Real Madrid 0 - 1 Arsenal

0 - 1 Henry (47)

Quite simply, this was the best performance of the season. Full stop. End of discussion. Having been exhorted by everyone to produce the goods in a big match, Thierry Henry duly did so. Without doubt, he produced a captains performance. Most notably, he could be seen from the TV pictures exhorting his colleagues to greater efforts. Remarkably, he did not complain when passes went astray or their runs / passes were not quite good enough. Tonight he showed that he can captain a team.

I am the first to admit that I am amazed by the performance and the result. Lets' not hide the fact. Arsenal deserved to win. In truth, the margin of victory should have been greater - am I being picky? 4 - 2 to Arsenal a fair result?- with Reyes forcing a good save from Casillas in the opening minutes, Henry going close with a header and Ljungberg being denied by one of the tackles of the season by Roberto Carlos - a second slower and it would have been a penalty. It took Madrid 25 minutes to even have an attempt of any meaning that was vaguely on target. If Arsenal had gone in 2 goals to the good at the half time interval, it would not have been an injustive. For once, Arsenal did to another team what opponents have been doing to us in the Premiership all season; Madrid were forced to pass across the pitch by a solid defensive wall, starting with Henry and Reyes chasing and harrassing defenders, Ljungberg, Fabregas and Hleb forcing Beckham et al to pass and pass sideways whilst the defence made tackles as if their lives depended on it, Robinho forced onto the periphery of the match.

The second half was more of the same although Madrid had several good chances to equalise as you would expect a home side to do at this stage of the competition. But with barely two minutes gone, Henry produced the goods. As Hedley Lamarr so aptly put it in Blazing Saddles, "Go Do That Voodoo - That You Do - So Well". Sprinting past four players, forced slightly towards the angle of the penalty area, Henry guided the ball past Casillas. No doubt the onlooking Florentino Perez will be adding the Frenchman to his shopping list in the summer with that finish.

The performance was not just about Henry though. Reyes chased and harried, passed and broke well, took his punishment without too many theatrics - certainly less than in a normal Premiership afternoon - and probably did enough to remind the Spanish Press and National Coach that he is worth perservering with at international level. Ljungberg finally found form, making runs forward as if it were two seasons ago. Hleb finally showed why Wenger signed him in the summer, adding a defensive stability to the midfield, shielding the full backs well. Gilberto gave a masterclass in positional play for a defensive midfielder. Unlike Gravesen who huffed and puffed everywhere to no avail or end result, the Brazilian popped up to cut out a pass, seemingly from nowhere. As for Fabregas, proof positive that he is the future of the centre of midfield for Arsenal. On tonights display, he must surely be going to Germany in the summer. Little surprise that Barcelona were furious when he jumped ship to Arsenal.

And what of the defence? Lehmann continued his fine form, imposing himself on the whole of penalty area. Flamini was solid and overall performed well considering he was out of position, Eboue just looked completed unfazed by anything that came his way. Toure led the back four solidly who with Senderos marked Ronaldo, Raul, Robinho so assuredly, denying them many clear chances on goal. Sure there were moments of panic but no more than Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United have against quality opposition. Definitely none that compare with the naivety shown in recent weeks.

And what of the Madrilenos? Their pride will be hurt by that performance. Defensively naive is a polite description. Positioning by the central defenders, Ramos and the wee lad whose name escapes me, Meliha(?), showed them for what they are - promising youngsters although in Ramos' case, a very expensive promising youngster. Woodgate seemed assured for the 10 minutes that he was on the pitch and it is hard to see (a) how he will be fit enough for England in the World Cup and (b) whether he would have made any difference to the result. As I noted yesterday, Ronaldo's performance showed why he gets gip from the fans in the stadium. He was woeful and not helped by poor passing and performances by his colleagues.

So everyone should enjoy this evenings result. There is still more work to be done at Highbury in the second leg but more of the same and we can dream that Arsenal will be in the hat for the Quarter Finals.

A wee piece of the reportage from Spain to see how they are reporting it:

• Marca - "Henry deja al Madrid contra los cuerdas" (Henry leaves Madrid on the ropes)

• Marca - "JUSTO TRIUNFO DEL ARSENAL EN EL BERNABÉU" (Deserved Victory for the Arsenal in the Bernabeu)

• Sport - "Henry silencia al Bernabeu con golazo a lo Ronaldinho" (Henry silences the Bernabeu with a goal of Ronaldinho)

• AS- "WENGER Y HENRY DESPIERTAN VIEJOS FANTASMAS" (Wenger and Henry wake up old Ghosts) - the first paragraph goes on to eulogise about Wenger offering a master tacticians lesson to the Bernabeu, using Henry's speed and the great Cesc)
  

• La Razon - "Henry desquició al Madrid; Zidane, desaparecido" - Henry disturbs Madrid; Zidane, disappears

• Emilio Butragueno, now a Madrid director, praised Wenger's tactics which according to him showed that Arsenal had studied their opponents well.

• David Beckham believed that Arsenal were superior and that the only positive was that he was not booked so is free to play in the return leg.

• Marca shows a picture of Casillas saving from Ljungberg and notes that "it could have been more".

• ABC - "Lo Pez Caron" - The Fish Caro

• La Vanguardia - "El Madrid, al borde de la nada. El Arsenal mas joven de los ultimos anos gana con gran comodidad en el Bernabeu" - Madrid, on the brink of nothing. The Youngest Arsenal team in recent years win with great ease in the Bernabeu.

• El Mundo Deportivo - "Henry saca en el Bernabeu todo su repertorio. El crack frances asombro en Madrid con su futbol poderoso y elegante, culminado con un gol antologico - Henry takes the Bernabeu with all of his repetoire. The ace Frenchman astonishes Madrid with powerful and elegant football, finishing with a goal of all time.Todays media game is spot the newspapers based in Barcelona...

But quote of the day belongs to Samuel Eto'o: "Mourinho is a s**t". Top man, please make him welcome when he comes to Highbury or Ashburton Grove in the future.

PS Did I mention that Arsenal are the first English team to win in the Santiago Bernabeu? Not a draw, Tiny Tots. A win. Cue singing, "1 - 0 to the Arsenal..."

Todays Tunes? A bonanza of The Jam.

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight (Finsbury Park, 1979)

Going Underground (Chicago, 1980)

Set The House Ablaze (Dortmund, 1980)

Precious (Golders Green, 1981)

Town Called Malice (Golders Green, 1981)

Beat Surrender (The Tube, 1982)

War (The Tube, 1982)

Infamy! Infamy! They've All Got It In For Me!

I've been waiting ages for an appropriate time to use the most oft quoted line from a Carry On film and on the eve of the biggest match of Arsenals' season so far, Ronaldo provides the perfect moment. Far from preparing by praising his team and their performances in recent months, he complains that he feels unloved by the crowd - something to do with (a) you played for Barcelona and (b) over the past two seasons, your performances have not been up to scratch. Every team has a player whose very name brings a groan - over the years at Highbury, Graham Rix, David Hillier and current favourite, Pascal Cygan have all been subject to this "constructive criticism".

Not having read the papers today, I would imagine that "a number of Premiership clubs will have been alerted" to his situation and no doubt Chelsea and Arsenal - straight swap for Henry? - are linked with him. If he were to go to Stamford Bridge, it would be something like an East End crooks reunion on the teamsheet, John "Mad Dog" Terry in defence, "Fat" Frank in midfield and "Big" Ron up front.

Nil Desperandum is how I believe the Latin scholars would sum up size of the task facing Arsenal tonight. And so do the bookies, apparently. Thierry Henry to score the first goal and Arsenal to win 2 - 1 is a rather meagre 50 / 1...

Wemberlee! Wemberlee! We're the famous [insert team name here] and we're going to Wemb, er, Cardiff. Perhaps the worst kept secret in football, after Martin O'Neill's succession to Sven's throne, is out and official. Wembley won't be ready. So what's the big problem? The contract will be filled with penalty clauses so financially, the FA won't suffer. The FA Cup Final at Wembley lost it's lustre when they knocked the old stadium down and hitched a ride down the M4 into the Principality. Complaints are outweighed by compliments about the Millenium Stadium with players and supporters apparently enjoying the day, unless they've lost of course. The only teams that complain, with some justification, are the semi-finalists who cannot get out of Cardiff on a train after the match. The logic of sending say two north western based teams to Wales is lost on me so I hope the FA will bear this in mind when the final four are drawn, assuming that of course, the 4 London based teams are knocked out. What do you mean there are only three left in the competition? Chelsea, check; Charlton, check; West Ham, check; Manchester United...

The finalists are likely to include a London team if the history of the FA Cup is to be obeyed, with Arsenal winning three times, losing once and Millwall not even bothering to turn up for their appearance a couple of seasons ago.

Today's tunes continue the tribute to Paul Weller, this time from The Style Council - era. A vastly underrated band musically, they suffered from the fact that Weller disappeared up his own a***hole for long periods of time whilst they were in business. I mean, sure the continental cafe look was stylish but The Cappucino Kid? Sorry Guys, pretentious twaddle and completely unfunny into the bargain.

Two live tracks from a 1985 gig at Wembley, My Ever Changing Moods and Shout To The Top.

Jamon, Jamon

So the squad for tomorrow's match at El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu is announced:

Lehmann, Flamini, Senderos, Djourou, Toure, Eboue, Fabregas, Gilberto, Diaby, Hleb, Henry, Almunia, Ljungberg, Pires, Lupoli, Larsson, Walcott, Reyes, Song.

The players highlighted are the starting XI I expect Wenger to pick. Of the remaining eight, I suspect the unlucky man may well be Lupoli - if it's going badly, I think I'd be more inclined to see the pace of Walcott harrassing Helguera and Salgado as they are strictly one - paced, whilst Cicinho, if he plays, will leave gaps to be exploited. Ashley Cole is considered unfit and somewhat understandably Wenger will not risk the remainder of the season on one night of potential glory or not as the case may be. The 4th spot is not beyond Arsenal due to Tottenham's reluctance to take advantage of our slips although I believe the greatest threat at the moment comes from Bolton. A long run in both the FA and UEFA cups on their part could work in our favour with a backlog of fixtures becoming inevitable.

Reyes in particular will be looking forward to this match, having a history of putting in good performances against Madrid including his last one in a Sevilla shirt which prompted Zidane to comment that Reyes was on an invisible motorbike, he was buzzing around them all night. Sevilla won 4 -1 that night with Reyes scoring and creating 2 others. Fabregas is from Barelona so will need no motivation to produce his best form whilst Pires is of Spanish extraction on, I believe, his fathers side as is Senderos. For Reyes and Fabregas there is the added incentive of playing themselves into the Spanish World Cup squad in front of their "home" crowd.

Should Arsenal come away with a win, it will rank amongst their best results ever in this tournament, sitting comfortably alongside the 3 - 1 win in Rome and the 5 - 1 demolition of Internazionale. Even a draw for this team will be good, the imperative must be to score an away goal.

"Get out your mat and pray to the west, I'll get out mine and pray for myself..." springs immediately to mind on this one. So in the time honoured and corny fashion of this blog, Eton Rifles is one of the todays tunes:

The Jam - The Eton Rifles (Something Else 15.09.1979)

The Jam - Strange Town (Newcastle 28.10.1980)

Ole! Ole! Ole!

Today marks the start of the build up to Real Madrid, two matches that decide whether Arsenal's season sinks or swims. It is also a polarisation of nationalities in my household, with La Senora being Spanish and happy to support anything Spanish, even tiddlywinks. She did try to extend this to Spanish speaking countries but having been told to "F*** off out of my sight" when she half jokingly cheered the Argentinean team onto the pitch during the England match at France 1998, she has now limited this to Spain. Fortunately, her family hail from Barcelona so have no interest in Real Madrid other than wanting them to fail abysmally.

Ordinarily this would be a chance to gloat over victories past or cower behind glorious failures but I can't even do that with the two teams never having met in a competitive match. In the Champions League and its predecessor, Real have a mixed record against English sides. The mix is heavily in their favour; of the seven previous ties they have a record of 5 aggregate wins to 2 defeats, one of which was to Alan Kennedy’s goal in the 1981 Final in Paris. Since then they have met Manchester United twice in the Quarter Finals and Leeds in the Group Stages, winning all three aggregate scores. The omens are not good on this front as Arsenal’s record against Spanish teams is appalling. Only Celta Vigo have been knocked out of this competition by The Gunners, with Real Mallorca the only other team beaten on “aggregate” in the Group Stages. Barcelona, Deportivo and Valencia (twice) have had the better of Arsenal over the two matches in Group and Knock Out phases.

Current form is no better for Wenger’s men. Real have not been beaten in 11 Primera Division matches (10 wins and 1 draw – including 6 wins on the bounce) and whilst the opposition has not been the strongest in the world, the Madrilenos can only beat the opponents put in front of them. The one fly, extra large size, in this ointment was an astounding 1 – 6 reverse in Zaragoza a couple of weeks ago. They almost rectified this is the second leg, leading 3 – 0 with less than 15 minutes gone. And therein is Madrid’s Achilles heel. The passion and verve with which they played that 15-minute spell was probably their best all season, perhaps even for 18 months. And then they started to think about their game that resulted in one more goal in the remaining 75 minutes of the match and an exit on aggregate. The resultant media attention accused their caretaker coach, Lopez Caro, of thinking too much about the rest of the match and over coaching the players from the touchline. If Arsenal can make them think about what they have to do by keeping the game tight then there is a strong chance of getting a good result. But keeping it tight is something that Arsenal has not been particularly good at in recent times.

The last 11 league games have proven that this season, Arsenal are consistently inconsistent. 4 defeats, 3 draws and 4 victories will only tell the Madrid scouts that we have not been the same side as in previous seasons. Indeed, it says it all when your best win of 7 – 0 is followed by a 0 - 1 defeat at a team who were not completely out of the relegation dogfight at the time of the match. Where the warning bells must be ringing is the inability to keep a clean sheet. During this run, the defence has shut out the opposition 6 times. More pertinently, only one of these has come in the last 4 games. At the same time however, the forward line has been misfiring. In this run of matches, they have failed to score in 5 of them. Indeed, if you take the 7 scored against Middlesbrough out of the equation, the 4 of the remaining games have only yielded 6 goals. The other match was at home the 4 – 0 drubbing of Portsmouth.

For some reason though the European campaign has been considerably better than previous years. Whilst the opposition in the Group Stages was arguably the weakest that we have ever faced, our league form at that time was less than sparkling. Prior to the Thun match at Highbury, defeats had already been registered against Chelsea (twice) and Middlesbrough. The trip to Prague was preceded by defeat at West Bromwich whilst the visit of Ajax to Highbury was in a run of three consecutive defeats to Chelsea (again), Newcastle and Bolton. The relevance of this is that nothing should be read into our recent league form. The major worry is that the team Wenger fields is facing it’s toughest test – surely even the players believe going to the Bernabeu is more intimidating than Anfield – and contains a high number of youngsters. The key player may yet turn out not to be Henry but Lehmann. If he can maintain the level of performance he produced against Liverpool then there is hope of returning to Highbury with a result that can be worked with. And what of the man himself? Henry owes the club and its supporters a big performance. Too often this season he has been missing in action. Tomorrow is the perfect time to produce his match of the season so far and if he feels so inclined, add another couple of million to his market value.

The team news emanating from the respective countries media is contradictory. The Spanish press are reporting that Reyes has recovered and will play in the match whilst the UK press report he is unlikely to feature at all. At this point, you would expect to be able to refer to the clubs website to find out the truth but unfortunately, Wenger’s reign has signalled an economy with the facts about fitness and in the past many players have returned sooner than expected from injury. Interestingly, www.physioroom.com is reporting that Cole and Clichy are both pencilled in as returning on Saturday that indicates that at least one of them could start in the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Given that Beckham is the driving force for the Madrid attacks on the right hand side, pace is not going to be an issue unless Cicinho plays instead of Salgado. The Brazilian has a lot of attacking ability but leaves gaps when careering forward to the extent that Beckham has to occupy the fullback berth in these times. Given Henry’s predilection to drift out to the Left side of attack, this would leave Arsenal plenty to exploit given a chance to do so.

As for the result, I struggle to find many straws to grasp at. The only thing that keeps me going is my unfailing optimism that Arsenal will win every game they play – no wonder defeat hurts. If the team puts in a performance as they did against Bayern at the same stage of the competition last season, the tie could well be over before half time on Tuesday. The brutal reality is that the team will have to put in the best performance of the season so far to even come away with a decent result.

Todays tunes are an acoustic set from a couple of weeks ago, broadcast on the Mark Lamarr show on Radio 2:

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