Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does » Welcome to plan C; thank you Mr Cappuccino; hello Henry/Pirès II

By Tony Attwood, Block 99

You remember that old thing: Arsenal are useless because they have no plan B.  Well you can forget all that – because we now have not only a plan B but also a Plan C.   Given the way our Lord Wenger is working we probably have a Plan D E F G H and I as well.

The old Plan A was easy to get: 4-4-2.  Everyone played it.  They even named a magazine after it.  Flexible, definitive, how could we ever have thought of doing anything else.

Then along came Plan B: 4-3-3.   Until we were cut to death with injuries and had no centre forwards left in the club it worked a treat and a half.  We launched it on an unsuspecting EPL and went and beat Everton 6-1 away in the first match.

Now here is plan C: 4-2-4.

Almunia 

Sagna  Song Vermaelen Clichy 

Wilshere Diaby (Fábregas)

Rosicky Walcott (Vela ) Chamakh Arshavin (Van Persie )

What a line up, and what wonderful use it made of Wilshere. I thought he would still be getting the odd game until the injuries really set in, but no, he’s there and he looks like he is set to stay.

Of course I am not saying we are going to play 4-2-4 against the KGB in Fulham but as a waiting of taking on lower clubs who have the openness, and willingness to leave the team coach in the car park, it is a great way to play.

So we won by 24 shots to 3, and around 12 of our 24 were on target.  Everyone is raving about young Theo – and that’s right, they should, but we should also say thank you to Mr Cappuccino for deliberately ignoring our kiddie over the summer, (Walter was so keen on this point being made he texted me from Belgium at half time to make sure I remembered).   Just a word Mr Walcott – the old monster known as the FA will come stalking you over and over again.   Always take a witch doctor with you when you play for them.  You can’t be too careful.

And Tomas Rosicky, oh I hope he’s happy.  After that dreadful year plus of injury, and the slowness of getting back to form, the guy is now at last, the Little Mozart we were promised.   God knows where Nasri fits into this when he is back, but Tomas, have fun my old mate.  Just do it like that, and we’ll be with you forever.

If you weren’t there, and have just seen it on TV, you may not have got the notion that I had (it always looks different in the ground) but pause for a moment and think of Henry and Pires when they were just working out how to play the game together.   Now for Henry think Theo, and for Pires think Rosicky.

Is that too much of a comparison after one game?  Yes of course, but football is about imagination as well as fact, and here in middle England it is a bright sunny day for once, and we had a lovely day out yesterday, so why not?

Of course one game doesn’t an epoch make but still, you never know.

We also had the renaming of the ground sections, and there is a lot of the new naming inside the stadium too (all the stairs down my end carry the slogan, “The North Bank Arsenal”).   Unfortunately for the club and the sponsors the singing is “We’re the North Bank Highbury”, but there was hardly a peep out of the Clock End.  Don’t know what they were doing.  Mucking about probably.

So there we are: the Creature from the Black Lagoon (take a look at the new Humour Index that has just started if you missed Billy’s piece) was slain, we all had a very jolly time, and we did it all for most or all of the game without

• Cesc
• Van Persie
• Nasri
• Eboue
• Koscielny
• Ramsey
• Djourou
• Bendtner
• Denilson

which is not a bad selection for when the going gets a trifle tougher and more injuries come along.

Oh yes, and Torquay United are top of League Two.  Which may seem irrelevant to you, but means a lot to me.

Untold is an index upon life. It is all there.  You just have to poke your nose in a bit.

And when you have you should read the book. It is rather fun.

Tottenham are brilliant at stealing our history and re-writing it.  We’re taking it back.