Premier League, International Friendlies, Giggs

As you can imagine, this very Monday morning feels very good for an Arsenal fan following our 2-1 at Anfield last night. Liverpool came out of the blocks very well and took a deserved 1-0 lead in at half time, but as Wenger commented after the game, it could have been worse. There were a few half chances but the first real opening came after some good interplay between Torres and Gerrard, and the ball being squared to 'El Nino' for a one on one with Almunia, but his tame finish ended up proving costly. The Scousers also deserved a penalty, a poor tackle from Gallas on Gerrard was inexplicably waved away by Howard Webb, most the experts guessing the referee thought that because it looked like Gerrard had lost control of the ball, he didn't have to give it. As always with these situations, reverse it and imagine if it was your team in that situation, well I would have spent this opening paragraph writing about how Arsenal had been robbed. Stone waller. A lot is this morning being made of what happened at half time in the Arsenal dressing room. Cesc said something like 'I've never seen him (Wenger) like that,' and another quote coming out that Wenger said 'you're not fit to wear the shirt.' Clearly when things are going wrong, Wenger will get stuck into his players like any other manager, I've read a few biographies with players happy to testify to that - and they needed it, Arsenal were very poor first half. But for me it was the dramatic drop in Liverpool that allowed us to get back in the game and ultimately win it. They had been very good first half but then all of a sudden, started letting us play the ball about a bit more (we deserve some credit for this of course) and before you know it, Glen Johnson is getting himself caught in a horrible position and pokes the ball into his own net. The second goal was a mark of real quality and class, a dinked ball in from Cesc eventually fell to Arshavin, who's first touch got him the yard he needed in front of Johnson, and then unleashed a Soviet missile of a strike into the top corner off the post. These are the moments of elation that every football fan lives for. The rest of the game went a bit scrappy, I expected a bit of a Liverpool onslaught which they would probably score from but it never came. 2-1 and back in the title race.

As we showed when playing Fulham earlier this season, we do have the capability to win a game ugly, we just need to do it a bit more often. The Arsenal are traditionally very strong at home and even a so-so performance like last week against Stoke, will normally be enough to get the three points. But we have to be better than that on the road, stronger, more resilient, not chuck leads away, and sometimes tell the centre backs, 'hey boys, great job so far, how about just defending for the rest of the game?'. Not our 'style' I know, but that style clearly hasn't worked bringing us trophies in the last 4 years. We have a little run of games now with no huge matches to worry about, Burnley (away, we got beat there in the cup last year and they have been solid at home so far), Hull (put those demons from last year to bed), Villa (the toughest game but we're at home), Pompey, Bolton, Everton, Bolton again, Villa again. The way the league is going it would be a miracle to pick up maximum points there but if we could remain unbeaten with a couple of draws, it'll all be to play for in the title race. Arshavin has done very well up front (2 in 2 games) but I'll be glad when Bendtner and Eduardo are back fit, despite his goals we miss the little man's creativity in the build up. As for Liverpool, they've got a real fight on their hands now to get that 4th spot in the league, another defeat yesterday means that they're doing as well as Birmingham and are 5 points away from 4th place - with 3 very good sides in between. Arsenal were in a similar position last year and clawed things back, but the fact that there are 3 other teams in that fight, not just 1, means that Liverpool are going to have to dig very deep to do it.

Arsene Wenger is looking for a revamp of international football from FIFA, in particular friendlies during the season and the issue of player compensation. This all comes in the wake of RvP injury for Holland in a meaningless friendly which has put him out for most of the season. It's true that at the moment things are slightly imbalanced between club and country, the country seem able to call a player up even if they are injured and the clubs get no say in things. Compensation isn't an unreasonable request, if Van Persie is injured on Dutch duty, they should be liable to pay at least a portion of his wages to compensate Arsenal. However, I don't think a ban on all international friendlies is fair on the national teams. There have been suggestions that a meet up training camp is a better way to go, but as we can all see with the Dean Ashton case, injuries can happen in training aswell. On top of that nothing beats a match style build up and preparation, and although a lot of the club managers don't like it, international football is just part of the game.

Finally, I suppose congratulations are in order for Ryan Giggs this morning after he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. How many Utd fans must have voted?! Giggs was probably bottom of my 10 to be honest. What he's done in the game can't be argued with, he's the most decorated Premier League player of all time, broken countless records for this and that, and is above all a model professional for any aspiring sports person. Here come the but, BUT, how can he win Sports Personality of the Year? Given that Utd (and Giggs if you look at the stats) had a better year last season, and he wasn't even in the shortlist, how does he deserve this award? He played 28 times for Utd last season, scoring 4 goals, the previous year 31 and 4, then 30 and 6, then 32 and 8 etc etc. Last night wasn't an award for a career retrospective, it is about what that individual achieved in the last 12 months. Button is the best driver in the world, Haye one of the best heavyweight boxers, Ennis the best all round female athlete, Cavendish the best sprint cyclist, Daley the best diver (at 15), Tweddle the best floor gymnast etc etc. How can a bloke playing left wing, half of Utd's games that season, be the best Britain has to offer? In reality, I just can't let THAT goal go, the one at Villa Park in the FA Cup Semis. Take her easy.