Tottenham preview: the last hurdle

Sorry for the radio silence in midweek. I just couldn’t bring myself to going over our loss in Munich, not the least because I haven’t watched the 2nd half (though I’ll likely rectify it by the time you read my preview).

Despite the heavy loss we can still qualify by beating Dinamo Zagreb at home and then doing the same against Olympiacos away, provided we win by 2 goals. Unfortunately for us, Olympiacos got the maximum number of points against Zagreb (both times courtesy of a late winner), so we now have to hope they won’t get a result in Munich. Such a scenario looks unlikely to me, especially since Bayern smashed the Greeks to pieces in Chersonissos.

However, there’s no denying we made this bed to lie in ourselves. Had we fulfilled the simple task of winning our first two games, we’d be at least on 6 points now and would have the advantage in Greece. It is what it is, though. Now we can only hope Arsenal can get the job done in the remaining two games.

Back to the North London Derby, however. I’ll start with team news.

Team news update

Bellerin still hasn’t recovered, something I don’t like one bit, but from what I’ve seen Debuchy was no worse than other our defenders on Wednesday. Which doesn’t tell us a lot, but still.

I don’t think Debuchy has suddenly become a bad player (Descamps is with me here). He was a regular for France’s NT not long ago, for Christ’s sake. That alone should speak for his quality.

Right now he has two problems: lack of game time and low confidence levels and these are interconnected. Arsene has told us as much:

“Mathieu needed a little competition. Game after game he has basic fitness and now with another game he should be better. “

I’m sure the Frenchman will improve if he’s given a run of games. At the moment it looks like he is in roughly the same position as Campbell: both have a short window of opportunity to impress the manager. I think I won’t make a mistake when I say Bellerin and Oxlade are likely to be reinstated straight away after recovering. Both are due to be given the green light after the break, so Campbell and Debuchy only have until then. If they don’t step up, don’t improve drastically on their current form (less so with Campbell, he at least had one very good game), neither will probably be with us when the transfer window shuts next August. Maybe even in January.

Back to Debuchy (and his problems) and I’d be lying if I said I’m impressed with his attitude. He lost his place to a 20-year-old with only 30 games at the top level and his response was to sulk, consider a move away and drop the level of his performances considerably. That’s a French International, number one right-back until very recently. Hope he realises he is on his last chance and gives Arsene a headache when Bellerin returns.

In other news, we might have Koscielny and Arteta back. Both will have late tests to determine how ready they are. I also heard Ospina could be available once again, though Arsene didn’t mention the Colombian in his presser.

Things are looking up on the injury front (thank God). I mean, we’ll still have a short bench vs Spurs, but a slew of players are due to make their comebacks after the break. Guys like Ospina, Koscielny, Bellerin, Arteta, Ramsey and Oxlade should all be eligible vs West Bromwich Albion and there are whispers Rosicky can make the cut too, thus leaving Welbeck and Wilshere as our only long-term absentees, with Theo on course to be passed fit at the beginning of December. Keeping everything crossed we’ll have them back for the busy festive period.

Squad and approach

The squad basically picks itself. Only question is whether Koscielny passes his late test. If he does, I expect him to be reinstated alongside Mertesacker. I see Wenger making no other changes, unless, of course, he springs a surprise of some kind. Like starting Iwobi on the right.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Campbell - Alexis - Giroud

I was surprised to find out Spurs are actually on a bit of a run. They haven’t lost in 10 Premier League games (that’s right, their only defeat came against United, on the opening day), while being the 2nd in-form team in the last six matches, winning 4 and drawing 2.

As it Spurs we are talking about, you won’t be stunned to know they are still a bit shit. Yes, they had some good results this season, like beating Manchester City (DVDs queuing up) and Crystal Palace (courtesy of a late, late winner), but were mind-boggingly dire every time I’ve watched them (City exempting). Drab draws vs Leicester, Everton and Liverpool, narrow wins over Villa and Sunderland and bottled games against Swansea and Stoke.

Really, they don’t look like anything special. That’s a team which succumbed to a Flamini brace on their own turf, after all. However, I still have my worries, mostly because Pochettino’s men are likely to identify our right wing as a weak spot and try to capitalize on it.

Pochettino’s left-wing duo of choice seem to be Rose and Eriksen as of late. I still remember how Rose skinned Debuchy in the cup, while Eriksen is a very dangerous player on his day (luckily, these days don’t happen very often).

That’s why Wenger has a bit of a problem on his hands. Pochettino knows where our weakness lies, Wenger knows it, the fans know it, even the milkman knows it. How can AW address it?

Bet he wouldn’t even bother if Bellerin was available, but unfortunately, the Spaniard is out. Debuchy looks brittle and in need of protection, so the question is, can Campbell offer some? We have seen he can against Swansea, though we also had Bellerin back then.

I’d honestly consider throwing in Iwobi, maybe on the left with Sanchez on the right. Or we can just reverse Sanchez and Campbell and see how it goes. Either way, I’m not sure the Debuchy-Campbell duo will cope. Hope I’m wrong, simply because it doesn’t look like Wenger will break it up. Maybe he can instruct Cazorla to cover for Campbell, I don’t know.

The verdict

The only worry I have going into the game is our right flank. I can only hope our both likely starters there understand they are on their last chance and will play like they have a point to prove.

But I’m sure we can compensate even for that, in case the need arises. Otherwise, I’m not really fussed. Yes, it’s the derby, anything can happen etc. etc., but our league form and the level of performances look far more encouraging than these of Spurs.

Besides, we are pretty strong at home. There’s been a lot of talk lately about how great Arsenal are in the away games, but not enough credit was given to our home exploits. As it stands, we lost only two home game out of the last 18 (Swansea and West Ham), winning 13 in the process. This season we have a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, scoring 7 and conceding just 3.

So, the stage is set. We know what needs to be done. Now we just have to do it.

Come on you Gunners.

Bayern preview: Bellerin's injury is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here

We face Bayern for the 2nd time in two weeks and I'm really intrigued how this game will play out.

Ideally, we need at least a point from the game. That doesn't mathematically guarantee us safe passage, because there is a chance Olympiacos will get more than three points in the next two games, but let's face it: the likelihood of them clinching even a point at the Allianz Arena is minimal. They were thrashed 3-0 at home and I expect the encounter between them and the Germans to be just as one-sided (if not more) in the return fixture. So us drawing Bayern and then winning the remaining two matches should be enough to go through.

However, I'll be delighted if we win tomorrow, for several reasons. Firstly, it will light a fire of epic proportions under Pep's arse: a win will mean we will leapfrog Bayern and the fate of the first place will remain firmly in our hands. Such an outcome will have the added benefit of Bayern thrashing Olympiacos and Zagreb in the hope we drop points.

Secondly, Bayern players have been getting cocky lately. They were extremely arrogant and patronising before the clash at the Emirates and look how it worked out for them. The Bavarians regained their swagger a bit lately (after thrashing Koln and Wolfsburg) and started to spout crap like:

"We'll show Arsenal the real Bayern on Wednesday. This time we'll use our chances and take the three points." - Vidal

Or Boateng:

"Arsenal pulled everyone back at their place and I guess it'll be pretty much the same again."

And even Neuer chipped in:

"Perhaps they will play even more defensively as in the away game."

That's their hurt pride talking and I, for one, am very glad to know their pride is hurt. They shouldn't have taken as so lightly, they got punished for it and are now angry at themselves.

I'll get to what our players (and the manager) said in the tactics section, because their words are indicative of the approach we are likely to adopt. For now, team news.

Team news update

Hector Bellerin is out through injury. Arsene didn’t specify which, only said it’s nothing major, but the Spaniard is definitely out of the Bayern clash. Sob.

Truth be told, there is only one player in the current starting XI an injury to whom wouldn’t have been the end of the world: Mertesacker. Gabriel would come in and do fine. Everyone else is irreplaceable, especially in the light of our many injuries. An injury to any of Cech, Koscielny (to a lesser extent), Monreal, Coquelin, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Giroud or even Campbell would make us go through the roof.

That’s the problem of having a short bench and that’s why it was so important not to suffer any injuries before the break: we don’t really have players to stand in for the current ones. An injury to a defender is slightly different in that we have (or rather, had) all 8 defenders available, so there is, at least nominally, an alternative.

However, the truth is such we have complete faith only in Gabriel. I also love Chambers, but he’s 4th choice and won’t play before Gabriel anyway. Our fullbacks, on current form, are atrocious. I don’t think Debuchy and Gibbs are atrocious overall, but they are badly out of form right now.

The manager said he has “confidence and trust” in Debuchy and I only hope these are founded on something we don’t know of, otherwise we might as well just jack it in and kiss any hopes of getting any positive result goodbye, because Debuchy will get roasted by Costa.

Squad and approach

“I would sign today to take a point but to sit off Bayern. But with their offensive quality, that would be difficult to maintain for 90 minutes.

We have to relieve the pressure whenever we can and try to score goals. That is the structure of our team, to attack.

If we set out our players only to defend then I don’t think we’ll be so efficient. We have to play every time we can.” - Wenger

“They will be angry. We are the first team that really challenged them and beat them in the end. So they will try to show they are better than us.

“We showed that we can beat them. That’s a good sign but it will be a different game at their place. Both teams have got a good chance to go through to the knockout stages.

“We improved our position in the last game but we need to get something out of this game. That puts pressure on us to perform.” - Mertesacker

“I think at home we were able to impose ourselves a lot more. We attacked a bit more but I think when we play away, we also have to have a slightly different outlook.

That doesn’t mean we’ll spend the whole game defending. We’re a big team, we’re Arsenal and we need to attack because we need the result.

But we need to attack with intelligence and make sure we don’t suffer a defeat and complicate our situation for the rest of our competition.” - Gabriel

All of this looks to me like we'll defend more than attack. Simply put, we'll try to do roughly what we did at home and hope it works again.

I have no problem with that. We rarely adopt a more guarded approach, so there's nothing shameful in admitting the opponent can best you in an open encounter and doing your best to prevent it by not sticking out your neck.

The problem can be the execution. Last time around we had Ramsey and Walcott to help us spring counters, this time we do not. We don't even have Oxlade, whose direct and powerful dribbling could have come in handy. But we do have Giroud, so booting it long towards the Frenchman is on. We'll just need runners in-behind, someone who can benefit from playing off of Giroud.

Our best options would be Alexis and Campbell or Alexis and Ozil. However, I doubt very much Wenger will shift Ozil wide, because that can both disrupt the rhythm of our midfield and create a hole we can't fill. Our only fit midfielder is Flamini and I don't want him anywhere near the starting XI against Bayern.

Another possible scenario is using Gibbs in the more advanced position. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of such a plan. Gibbs just doesn't offer much as a winger. Now that we (sadly) don’t have Bellerin, we can’t even consider using the Spaniard as a winger with either Debuchy or Chambers behind him.

Apart from that I can see Wenger pondering only one further change: Gabriel for Mertesacker. Mertesacker looked a bit off against Swansea, but the only reason I can see him hooked is the exhaustion levels. Should he start, it would be Mert’s third start inside a week. If the consequence of overplaying the German is him being slightly off, then Gabriel should start.

However, I see no other reason to drop him. Firstly, because Mert is the captain and dropping your captain can have a demoralising effect on your team (Terry anyone?) Secondly, because Mertesacker has been ever-present in our backline in all of our big wins this season (something that also hints at his contribution in these games). Finally, he produced a defensive masterclass during our home clash vs Bayern and that's not me saying it. So I fully expect him to start, barring a last-minute hindrance.

Predicted line-up: Cech - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Coquelin - Cazorla - Ozil - Alexis - Campbell - Giroud

The verdict

It will be tough. I think it'll be even tougher than at the Emirates, because Bayern won't underestimate us this time, they'll have Robben back and they'll be determined to prove everyone they are better than us.

But it's not an impossible task to beat them. We've done it before, with an inferior squad compared to the one we currently can field. Under different circumstances, but still. We know what is required.

So come on you Gunners. Wipe these smirks of the Germans’ faces.

Swansea 0-3 Arsenal: resilient Gunners get crucial three points

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I’m generally outraged at Russian commentary and commentators. The commentators generally fall into two categories: just incompetent at providing correct and interesting insight and those who are anti-Arsenal on top. There is actually a third category: neutral commentators who are pretty good at their thing, but I can count those on the fingers of one hand. Kudos to these unsung heroes.

That’s why I relish English commentary when I can get my hands on it. I mean, I can always tune into Arsenal Player, for starters, but watching the game from a Russian channel usually means there is a small lag which ruins the experience. So I have to make do with our commentators, for the most part, or watch the game on mute.

However, yesterday was that rare occasion when the Arsenal game wasn’t broadcasted live. Crystal Palace vs Manchester United was preferred for some reason, so, fuming, I rushed to find a stream. One of the streams available was from the USA channel and I had no hesitation to tune into this particular stream.

I have a soft spot for English commentary for three reasons:

1. I don’t have to endure Owen, Savage and Co at all
2. It presents a nice change from the meaningless babble of our commentators (yes, their English counterparts usually prove to be more competent!)
3. My first experience of English commentary was an overwhelmingly positive one. In case you are interested, I first listened it happened three years ago, when we thrashed Milan 3-0

This time around I was unlucky in the extreme. The commentators weren’t English, they were Americans and both were utterly inept. They mentioned how Monk never ever lost to Arsene Wenger (in his entire three games) at some point midway through the first half and it was the clearest possible indication to me I should turn off the sound. Which greatly contributed to me enjoying the rest of the game.

The first half

It was a nervous affair for the Arsenal fans. The Gunners looked off the pace and it could have cost us on several occasions. Swansea’s best opportunity to score presented itself when Shelvey put Gomis clean through, but Cech’s calmness, Bellerin’s recovery speed and, most importantly, Gomis’ total lack of confidence in front of goal on the back of a goal drought, ensured we kept it at 0-0. The Swans had other chances, Shelvey’s and Gomis’ headers spring to mind, while Montero could have found himself one-on-one, had Gomis (who was offside) not touched the ball.

At that point I was asking whether Bellerin could handle Montero even with all the help from Joel Campbell. The conclusion I came to I didn’t like. I thought our best shot at a clean sheet was removing Mertesacker for Gabriel. The German was caught out twice with a through ball, however my main source of concern regarding BFG was that he couldn’t cover for Bellerin as he simply doesn’t possess the required speed to sweep up and cover Montero.

Can we say Arsene’s decision to stick with the German was justified, seeing as we didn’t conceded in the end? I’d say partly. Mert’s numbers are pretty unimpressive, especially compared to those of Koscielny and Monreal; however, you can’t measure Per’s overall impact on our backline. You can’t measure his ability to organise the defenders or his leadership qualities. We would probably have seen a more accomplished defensive performance from Gabriel, though I’m not sure it would have led to the same outcome.

We had our chances too, it has to be noted. Monreal dragged a shot wide early on, Giroud sent the ball over when hitting the target was easier and Campbell had a couple of pops at goal. Oh, and speaking of Campbell…

Joel Campbell, the enigma

Before the game Joel was an unknown quantity, more or less. The mere fact it was his first start in the Premier League lends credence to this argument.

When the team is playing poorly it’s easy to think those uninvolved can change things around, and vice versa. When the team is on a high, people tend to agree with the manager’s selection, even if it completely deprives some individuals of playing time. Just think back to Podolski. Before his loan spell at Inter, most wanted Arsene to use the German more often. He was seen as a kind of savior, an ace up the sleeve, for an underperforming team (at that point). Only when he scored, like, one goal in 15 appearances for Inter did people realise he is not actually as good as they thought he was.

Joel Campbell is no stranger to both sides of this argument. Just like Podolski last year he was portrayed as a stranded hero (Get out while you can, Joel). Just like Podolski his unimpressive stint elsewhere convinced people he was not the man we need. Besides, our team was (and still is, long may it continue) on a run of form, so the manager’s decision to keep Joel out of the team was justified in the eyes of many. Before the game against Swansea everyone has come to the unanimous agreement it was Joel’s last chance, which was a radical change from last year’s narrative.

And he did take his chance. I was very relieved to see that because Joel really is the only senior winger left standing.

Here’s what Campbell accomplished:

1. 4 shots, all dangerous, 2 on target, one goal
2. 6 ball recoveries
3. ¾ tackles
4. 2 interceptions
5. 2 blocked crosses

He wasn’t involved much in our passing game (completing a mere 13 passes out of 20 attempted), he only attempted (and successfully completed) one dribble and only crossed the ball himself twice, but nonetheless, he managed to make decisive contributions at both ends of the pitch. Joel scored a goal, he was a constant threat and he also helped our Bellerin against Taylor and Montero a great deal. That’s all I can ask of him, really.

The second half

We needed to improve on our first half and we did just that. Arsenal started in the best manner possible: by scoring an early goal. We won a corner, Ozil curled in a cross and Giroud cleverly got rid of Williams and Fernandez to power home a header. It was goal number 2000 under Arsene Wenger, 6th goal for Giroud in the league and 15th headed goal for the Frenchman since he joined three years ago. It was also his 150th appearance for Arsenal. Phew.

Swansea responded in a lively fashion, forcing Cech into a great save from Sigurdsson and looking dangerous from the resulting corner. Again Cech came to the rescue, punching the ball clear from Shelvey’s onrushing bald head. A couple of minutes later Cech was out of the picture after Sigurdsson found Ayew, but, luckily, the linesman blew offside, denying Bellerin a massive off-the-line clearance in doing so.

After that it was basically all us. I won’t even bother listing all our moments, two of which ended in goals for Koscielny (his second in as many games) and Campbell respectively. Swansea’s only real moment of danger happened at 2-0 when Williams saw his effort brilliantly saved by Cech. Our keeper also parried magnificently after Gomis went clean through, though it didn’t count as the linesman raised his flag by then.

The verdict

It was a statement of intent from the Gunners, if ever there was one. With no real attacking options on the bench (congrats to Iwobi, by the way, the lad made his PL debut), we dug in and found the resources to put Swansea to the sword after a difficult first half.

We can say not every one of our players looked overly convincing, but in the end we did enough as a team to win it. Which is the only thing that matters, really.

The win ensured we stay level on points with City, who nicked it against Norwich in the dying minutes, but it allowed Arsenal to put some distance between us and United (who drew vs Palace) and West Ham (who lost to Watford). Amusingly, Leicester are only three points behind after their comeback at the Hawthorns. However, we got the most difficult period out of the way.

Well done to the Arsenal.

Until later

P.S. By the way, it was Cech's 168th clean sheet. He needs just two more to set a new record in the Premier League. He is in with a chance to equal it against Spurs next weekend.

And a word on Ozil. The German capped his sublime performance with two assists and now has 9 in 10 games (he missed the Newcastle game). He now also has 23 league assists since he joined, the highest total in this period among PL players.

Swansea preview: last men standing

There is a saying in Russian which goes like this “Осталось только день простоять и ночь продержаться”. In English it will read roughly “You must hold out for a day and a night only”. I don’t know if there’s an equivalent in English, for two reasons:

1. I was never really good at proverbs and use them with extreme caution
2. It’s not so much a proverb, as a general wisdom, a product of a collective mind

In case you are wondering what the saying means, I’ll explain: it is applicable to a hard, but finite, situation. So when, for example, you return home on Thursday evening, exhausted after a long working week, you know that this time next evening you’ll be a free man. In order to remind you of that, to cheer you up, someone might say this “you must only hold out for another day and a night” (though the order is reversed, in this case). Which basically means “it’s tough going right now, but it won’t be this way forever”.

I think the saying is very much in harmony with the current injury situation at Arsenal. Things look bleak right now, but they should improve considerably after the break. Hence why I brought the whole thing up.

Team news update

What exactly is the situation? The usual trio aside (though even their return is getting closer), we have Ospina, Arteta, Ramsey, Walcott and Oxlade out. Eight seniors in total. Here is the latest on all of them:

“We have two kind of injuries - the injuries who will be coming back after Christmas, which is Rosicky, Wilshere and Welbeck. [Then] we have the short-term injuries. Most of them like Arteta, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain should be back after the international break.”

And on Ox and Theo:

“Both are out for Saturday’s game and until at least after the international break so they are out as well for England. I believe the quickest back will be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott might be a fraction longer.”

I don’t like this “a fraction longer” bit and I keep wondering whether this particular injury was avoidable. It is what it is, however, not much we can do about it.

Right-wing problem

The litany of injuries creates another problem: we don’t have a reliable right-winger at the moment. Ramsey, Ox and Welbeck, followed by Theo and Wilshere were our options and, amazingly, all of them are injured at the same time. Where does it leave us?

According to Wenger, he’ll be mulling over two options: Joel Campbell and Alex Iwobi:

“Campbell and Alex Iwobi (are my options). Santi can play there as well but he has become very important centrally. The problem sometimes is that you can destroy two departments if you move one player out. We control the ball better with Santi in the middle.”

This passage gives us insight not only into manager’s thinking regarding the right wing solutions, but also his approach to the problem as a whole. Before Arsene said it, there were suggestions he could use Gibbs as a left winger and shift Alexis to the right flank, or move Bellerin further up to accommodate Debuchy. Now I think both scenarios are off the cards.

Truth be told, I don’t like either scenario anyway, mostly because Gibbs and Debuchy have been utter crap this season. I don’t know why, I think they are much better players than their recent performances suggest, but I don’t think a crucial away game against Swansea is a good playground for experiments. Gibbs and Debuchy have been skinned by lesser opponents than Ayew and Montero respectively (Monk’s preferred wingers).

I would probably have suggested using Chambers at right-back with Bellerin essentially becoming a winger. This approach will allow us to be defensively secure, while both Bellerin and Chambers have the requisite experience at their respective (potential) roles. However, this plan has two downsides:

1. Unsettling a stable back four
2. Montero

As we remember all too well, Montero gave Chambers a torrid time last November, so I don’t know whether it’s such a good idea to pin them against one another. If Bellerin doesn’t get back in time to help out Chambers, Lord knows what might happen.

Taking all this into account, Campbell is probably our best option. He is a like-for-like, he is surprisingly good at defending and his introduction causes minimal disruption to the established order. The downside? Joel doesn’t look very good at attacking, a requirement pretty essential for an inverted winger.

Problem is, there is no ideal scenario. When your 6 options or so for one position are all out simultaneously, you have to make do with what you have. And hey, what gives that Joel won’t improve alongside the likes of Ozil and Alexis?

I’m pretty sure this is Joel’s last chance with us, however. If Ramsey and Ox return after the break (like they should), Campbell will once again be consigned to the bench. Unless he shows signs of improvement, that is. So he has everything to fight for on Saturday. Here’s hoping he will show some steel vs the Swans.

Lighten up, fellas

Despite the slew of injuries, there is one very obvious and very heartwarming positive: our starting XI essentially remains intact. The same guys who started the majority of games from March onwards are available, with two exceptions: Ramsey and Walcott (the latter played less than Giroud overall, but seems to have won the starting spot lately).

Yes, we don’t know how our XI would have looked with everyone available. Maybe Wilshere would have been a starter, or Welbeck, but the reality is such, that in over 5 months of football our team included neither on a regular basis. So the right wing position is our only real bother going into the game.

One could make a case Walcott started most games this season, but again we are definitely more used, maybe even better suited, to Giroud up top. He has been our main striker for the last three seasons.

And you know what? It’s important. Yes, our bench will consist of several defenders, Matt Macey, Alex Iwobi and a couple of my chums visiting London, but so what? We all know Wenger is at his best at getting results when he has a settled team (Tim Stillman examines this phenomenon in-depth here). He is even reluctant to make substitutions in-game if his initial plan works.

So yes, we are light on numbers overall, we don’t exactly have a right winger everyone likes and our bench may be held with Blu-Tack at the moment, but all of this has little or no impact on the starting XI and, therefore, on our ability to win games. At the end of the day, while squad depth is important and substitutions can have the desired impact, it’s the guys who play from the off that get most of the work done.

The verdict

This is a crucial game. Maybe the most important up to now. Maybe even season-defining.

Why? It will set the tone for the upcoming week. It can also show we can win games despite having multiple injuries. Finally, a win will take us one step closer to getting some of our walking wounded back.

I liked a thought expressed on Twitter the other day: “If Arsenal win the next two games in the Prem before their players recover, they will win the title”.

Now we only have to hold out for day and a night

Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Arsenal: young Gunners get slaughtered

Before I say anything else, an important notice: I haven't watched the game. So everything you are going to read is just my thoughts based on what I heard/read. Don't expect a tactical breakdown from me. But you can bulk up on one right here.

The decision not to watch the game was partly based on medical reasons (I had a kind of allergic reaction and took some pills which have an unfortunate side effect of making you sleepy), but it was also based on a nasty feeling I was not going to see good football from Arsenal. I had a feeling of this kind before the Zagreb game, however that time I decided to nonetheless watch the match, something I thoroughly regretted afterwards. This time around, I was wiser. Thank God I was.

I woke up midnight because of a sinking feeling and instantly knew we lost the game in a horrifying way. I didn't even need to look at the final score (something I naturally did) to know it all went horribly wrong. It's an inexplicable bond: I can say most of the time how Arsenal is performing/performed even when I don't follow the game, live or otherwise.

I opened the app I use to follow games via live text updates. This time around the commentator either didn't find a stream or just couldn't be arsed to give updates other than cards, substitutions and goals. As there wasn't much to read anyway, I scrolled through and something caught my eye: two substitutions from Arsene during the first half. My heart sank: Oxlade and Theo came off in the 5th and 19th minute respectively. There could only be one reason for such quickfire changes: injuries. And so it proved.

Both players sustained muscle injuries, hamstring and calf respectively. The extent of the damage? 2-3 weeks, it seems, which means we’ll be without both for crucial away games vs Bayern and Swansea. Theo and Alex become our 7th and 8th injured players respectively. Injuries aside, though, there are other things I’d like to discuss. Starting with…

Team selection

I do not blame Arsene for picking the players he picked. Some needed games (Debuchy, Campbell etc.), others featured because the regulars needed a rest. What I do blame him for, however, is playing Walcott.

Oxlade needs games to get back into the swing of things, this bit is obvious. But why, having lost him to an injury, Wenger put on Theo? Why risk our back-up striker and our only viable right winger left? I don’t know what was going through the manager’s head when he motioned for Theo to come on.

Our youngsters

None of them seemed to have a good game. Some said Bielik and Iwobi were decent, but that’s about it. Here’s what Arsene said post-game:

“They are not ready to play at this level. None of them are”.

Which is a brutally honest assessment, but also an unexpected one from the boss. I don’t really remember the last time he threw the players under the bus like that. Was at a dig at Jonker? Is that why Brady was called back?

I don’t know and I don’t much care whether we find ourselves amid political games. I do care about our threadbare squad, though. We have 8 seniors out, some of our better prospects are away on loan (though Crowley has been recalled) and a crucial week coming up. Knowing we can hardly rely on any of our younger understudies fills me with dread.

Our seniors

They seriously underperformed. While I don’t get the outpouring of anger aimed at Chambers (the guy is 20, he is a 4th-choice centre-back, let him develop for Christ’s sake), I can relate to criticising Debuchy, Gibbs and Campbell.

Problem is, none of them have been any good this season. Considering Mathieu and Kieran are second-choice in their respective positions, I’m ready to dance naked around the fire and pray to ancient Gods nothing happens to Bellerin and Monreal.

As for Campbell, well, odd thing is, he is likely to have another chance soon, As every single player who could potentially play on the right is out (Ramsey, Oxlade, Walcott, Welbeck, Wilshere, even Rosicky), Arsene has little choice but to play Campbell. In three crucial games. Someone hold me.

Question is, what should we do with these three in the grand scheme of things? I’d suggest shipping them off unless they improve drastically. Get Jenko back and find a decent back-up left-back and a winger. Maybe Gnabry will make the step up, I don’t know. However the standards demonstrated now by our second-string players is simply unacceptable.

The verdict

I don’t care much about crashing out of the cup. We all knew it was a sideshow, a distraction from the main event. No one really cares about the Capital One Cup.

I don’t care much about the performance, which, I suspect, stems from the fact I haven’t watched it. I doubt it will have a psychological effect on the team, simply because very few regulars were involved (Cech, Mert and Giroud being the only ones who played the entire game).

What I do care about, though, is injuries to senior players. At a very important time. One of these injuries was utterly avoidable.

What do we do now? Put together a squad capable of beating Swansea and Spurs and at least drawing Bayern Munich away. This is achievable, since Swansea are in piss poor form right now, Spurs are Spurs and Bayern Munich…

Do you remember the squad which beat them at Allianz Arena in 2013? I’ll remind you in case you don’t: Fabianski - Jenkinson - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Gibbs - Arteta - Ramsey - Cazorla - Rosicky - Walcott - Giroud. We can arguably field a better XI this time around, even if it includes Campbell or Iwobi. Our bench will be held with Blu-Tack, but that’s another story.

Right, that’s it from me for now. Back with a Swansea game preview.

Until then