Fighting against the odds, the Arsenal way. « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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By Walter Broeckx
Lucky the Arsenal – Udinese game was shown live on our sports channel. Because otherwise I would have thought that we would have been out of it already.
Of course it would have been better if we would have won with a comfortable 5-0 or so. Yeah that would have been great. But in case someone might have missed it we played a team from Italy. Now I don’t know when the last time was you checked but as far as I know most teams in Italy are pretty decent sides. So when the draw was made for this qualifying round we knew we were in for the toughest tasks of them all. And so was Udinese.
During the game our match commentator said at one stage : “How unfortunate that one of these teams will not be able to play in the CL as they both belong their for their great football.” Oh and our match commentator was certainly not an Arsenal supporter. Au contraire. He told lots of nonsense like about the Barton – Gervinho incident in which he only told the “official” version and not the one that you and I could see with our own eyes.
Our best outfield players from last year were for me in alphabetical order : Cesc, Nasri, Van Persie and Wilshere. They carried the team sometimes on their own last season. None of them was even near to the playing field. Now I do like numbers a bit as you know by now but for me this is close to well almost 50% of the outfield players. I know it is 40% but I think it is clear to see that the better players carry a bigger weight in the team than others. The only regular midfielder from last year left was Song our defensive midfielder.
So as replacements we had Ramsey. So Ramsey wasn’t as good as “Cesc, Vieira, …..” is the mantra around. So what? Ramsey is 20 years old, he just had his first real pre-season after his terrible leg break and is just starting to get back in any rhythm at all. And yet people want him to outperform players like the afore mentioned? For goodness sake give the boy a break. Not a leg break I mean of course.
Here we have a 20 year old boy at the START of his career and people compare him with those top players. But where those top players as good when they were 20? Keep in mind that both Cesc and Vieira did not have their leg broken when 19 and make such a horrible and long recovery which cost a lot of a player.
So give this boy the chance to become the player he can and will become under Wenger. But don’t expect him to be the next Cesc or Vieira. Let him be the first Ramsey. Let him be a player with his own qualities. With qualities that are a mix of Cesc and Vieira I think. He is not as dominant physically as Vieira but I think he has a better engine than Cesc had at his age. But what I have seen is a player that is learning a lot and for me he is already getting better than he was just before he had his leg broken. And I also have seen a player that is willing to work hard also if things don’t go well in a game. Still has a lot to learn but in fact this is great news as I think that Wenger is the best one around to learn him what to do.
Another replacement was Rosicky. Another player that has been hampered with serious injuries in his career at Arsenal. And remember he had a late fitness test to see if he could actually play. He could but didn’t last the full 90 minutes and had to stop visibly in pain.
For a while people have been saying that Arsenal can’t defend. And that our players don’t fight hard enough and are not willing to track back. Maybe sometimes this was true on occasions. I’m sure we could and should have defended better as a team. So last night I was very pleased with a scene in the game in the first half.
Some 24 minutes played and we had a corner. The ball came to Song who lost the ball a few meters outside the Udinese penalty area. Vermaelen and Koscielny both upfield in the penalty area still.
Udinese played the ball forward and Song was some 15 meters behind the ball and the Udinese striker who ran past Sagna and Gibbs alone on his way to Szczesny. Meanwhile Rosicky saw the danger and came rushing back from somewhere halfway the Udinese half.
Song starting some 15 meters behind ran almost the whole length of the pitch and when the Udinese striker took his shot (which was stopped by Szczesny) Song was just 1 or 2 meters behind. And the old man Rosicky was at the same level and trying to protect the goal line.
And when the ball broke loose and the rebound shot was fired it was Song who smothered the ball with this body and Szczesny could pick up the ball.
Both of these players running almost the whole length of the pitch trying to stop a great counter attack and together with Szczesny preventing what looked a certain goal was for me the moment of the game. This was maybe the spirit we have been lacking at times in the past?
This team lost its captain a few days ago. But the first signs are that the remaining sailors on the ship are not allowing the pirates to take the ship just like that. Something that in the past happened at times a bit too easy. Maybe the sailors waited for the captain to take things in hand. But I saw 11 Gunners wanting to fight for the cause and give it all.
And yes this was not the pretty football we are used to in the last years and this against a strong Italian team. But for the moment and with the players absent this is what we can put on the field. And I know that it will not be easy to get over the Cesc loss but as long as the Gunners on the field battle like they did yesterday I will support them.
And for gods sake we should praise them for their spirit and don’t forget this is a knock out round and Udinese scoring would have been a very bad thing. So keeping a clean sheet was maybe as vital as getting the second goal. Better a 1-0 win than a 2-1 or a 3-2 win.
The times of Arsenal beating other teams with 4 or 5-0 is over for the moment. But when all players will be back in the team and with the new ones still to come I think we could be back there soon. But if we can learn that with fighting like we did yesterday we can achieve things and get results then we will have learned a great lesson.
MEDIA: Know Thine Enemy – from a long weekend in the Untold Media Trenches
REALITY: The harsh truths about Arsenal’s decline
HISTORY: How did we used to get the half time scores?
NONSENSE: Arsenal v Udinese: the Catering Report