I'm writing this on my phone with my left hand from the A and E in St. Vincent's hospital. An unfortunate accident in work yesterday led to my little finger on my right hand getting crushed. I'm currently waiting to see a plastic surgeon to make sure everything works properly afterwards.
Less of the trivialities of life though and on to the important things like Arsenal. They face a tricky match today against a Swansea team who are in good form at the moment. Swansea are only one point behind Arsenal in the league and any sort of result would be a tremendous boost for them.
Arsenal have struggled to put points on the board recently and have drawn too many games at this stage. They have lost as many games as the league leaders but their six draws have them 12 points behind United who have not drawn at all. They need to start turning those draws into victories if they are going to make any progress up the table.
Looking at each draw individually they could all have been won and possibly a few of them lost too. The teams needs that something extra that turns those draws into wins and it's something it just doesn't have at the moment. I'm not saying Arsenal are a team of petty functionaries but they are missing a special player in my opinion.
They team has always had at least one such player under Arsene Wenger but that's not the case at the moment. Last season we all know who that player was and how his individual moments of brilliance win games where the team was struggling to get a result. In previous players like Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry and Denis Bergkamp found those moments of brilliance too.
If you look at the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid they have players that can win games all on their own but there aren't too many Lionel Messis or Cristiano Ronaldos to be found. Loathe to say it as I am but even Spurs have a player who can win games single handedly at the moment. Without Gareth Bale they would be struggling but he makes the difference against the weaker teams in particular. I would love to see Arsenal spend a big chunk of their transfer kitty on a player who is so good that other teams have to sit up and take notice.
Of course that can't happen until January at least and even then it's unlikely. Between now and them the players at the club have to put the fatigue they have behind them and start winning league games again. I don't want to hear any more negative talk from the boss about his players being tired which just gives opponents the boost they might need before they play Arsenal.
I'd love to see Arsenal go out today and play some thrilling football. A fast passing game with players moving off the ball all over the pitch to really make life difficult for Swansea would be great. I know confidence comes with victories but they need to put in the performances to earn those victories too.
The only doubt from the team that started on Wednesday night is Bacary Sagna with the exception of Laurent Koscielny who is out for a few weeks with a muscle strain. I would imagine there won't be too many changes from that game against Everton but it doesn't really matter what the exact line up is. The bottom line is Arsenal are better than Swansea player for player and they need to show that today.
They need to impose their game on Swansea and play as if their lives depended on it. Swansea will try to play good attractive football and they won't just lump it forward like some teams. Arsenal need to be brave and exploit any weaknesses in their opposition to make sure they take all three points.
A few wins in a row would make the table look an awful lot better and this team are capable of it. I'm predicting a 2-1 win for Arsenal and hoping it's the start of a month to remember. There's nothing better than watching an Arsenal team playing with the style and swagger we all know they are capable of.
That's it for today.
See you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment