Written by Mean Lean on Monday, 20 December 2010 18:00

It's been a little while hasn't it? Or so it seems.

It has only been a couple of days since I put up a void match preview on Saturday morning. What exactly am I supposed to do with that? Cut and paste when the game is rescheduled, well I suppose I will be adding that we are in top form and cruising top of the league. Well that is what I would like to be saying when the game is replayed, in that case, they can stick the game at the end of the season, so it will mean nothing. Getting carried away with myself again aren't I?

It looks like many of the managers have been granted a little winter break from mother nature and that will please many, although I always feel a little nervy when our players haven't played together for a little while as we have often taken a while to warm up and get some sort of rhythm together.

What this will do though is rest some achy bones and hopefully get some injured players up to speed. Yes, Abou I am looking at you. Someone like Diaby would be perfect for our next game against Chelsea on the 27th of this month.

Diaby has often been a big game player for us, and has often put in a performance when we really need it, his strength is also a bonus and it took an 'accidental' Essien assault at the Bridge to knock him out of his stride that afternoon.

I have a bit of a funny feeling with Arsenal at the moment. We have yet to hit our stride so far and it is after the Christmas period that we will need to start getting our game together. We have been doing just enough to win our games and playing well in patches until we do not give enough and lose.

We haven't put a 90 minutes together of real quality since the beginning of the season and I put that down to the continued rotation of the players. We need to get a settled side together and play them into form. It has been difficult for Wenger this year because A) he has a big squad so many players have needed games and B) we have had injuries to key players.

It is quite crazy that we have yet to really see Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas has played at his best for about 10% of his games so far and that is because of the start stop hamstring problems that he has had to endure. Thomas Vermaelen has hardly featured this season and that feels strange as he was the player that we had more often than anyone else last season.

In second place in the league without those key players yet to get out of walking pace let alone hitting their stride is pretty decent so far BUT we cannot continue at the current level if we are to take that big next very important step in our challenge for trophies.

We have to raise our game and get everyone fit, well at least Wenger's core squad members for a run of 10-15 games. I feel that once the team can find the needed momentum and hit their stride then we will start to believe that we are the best but at the moment the players seem unsure of themselves.

Cesc hit the nail on the head when he said that the players fear defeat, that was pretty bloody evident when Gareth Bale knocked the ball wide of Fabianski a few minutes into the second half. This squad need to develop that mental quality that Wenger's previous team had, they knew they could score at any moment and would never give that up, this side are younger, less experienced and have not had a history of doing what is needed at high pressure times, in high pressure situations.

I watched Barcelona once again tear through the opposition on Saturday night when they brushed aside a hard working Espanyol and once again I found myself hating, yet admiring their quality.

Espanyol played quite a high line against Barcelona and tried to take the game to them, and they were sliced apart by the quality passing of Messi and Xavi.

I think it is amazing that Messi can play as a striker and creative midfielder with equal measure. How many players have that ability?

It is a game that I am very much looking forward to and I have to say I am now pleased about the draw. Even though we had a tough time of it last season, it was still very entertaining over two legs and it will be interesting to see how far we have come and which players will be available to play.

We will certainly need to be sharper than we are at present, there is no doubt about that. The Arsenal of the last few weeks would lose to this Barcelona. But an Arsenal with Cesc, Nasri, Van Persie, Rosicky, Arshavin and the defence all having games together, playing with confidence is certainly possible. Difficult but possible.

If we can play through their ridiculous pressing then we can hurt them at the other end but it is a case of getting to their goal than actually breaching their defence, which is actually quite slow.

I have dreams of Koscielny stepping in and nicking the ball off the feet of Messi, playing it to Cesc who makes a triangle with Rosicky and Nasri. Pedro, Villa and Messi are racing after the ball but the crisp Arsenal passing is making them chase shadows. Arshavin slips it to Cesc and Theo sets off on his bike running from the right in between Abidal and Cesc slides a through pass into Walcott who rounds the diving Valdes and tucks it into an empty net Barcelona 2 Arsenal 3 in the Camp Nou in injury time after playing out a 3-3 draw from the first leg.

Well one can dream, right?

I did write a few things on the Barca game after the draw was made if you wish to read it.

It is a little annoying really because it has dominated my thoughts since the 'random generated draw' took place. There is far too much football before that to be thinking that far ahead but unfortunately I cannot hide my excitement.

So what do you make of Ryo Miyaichi? His arrival is like a new signing. Of course he is a new signing but an old new signing as we already had him on trial earlier in the year.

He looks like a very talented individual indeed. I am a sucker for a dribbler, which actually sounds disgusting but you catch my drift.

He is only 18 and there is plenty of development and growing to do before we can think about him as a first team possibility. Talent is not enough to make it, if that was the case then Quincy Owusu-Abeyie would be our current number 10.

And with that, I bid you goodbye.

Back Tomorrow.

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Comments (14)

• 20-Dec-2010 18:26 | | Anonymous
  

  

• 20-Dec-2010 19:07 | | Iron Man
  

  Nice piece. Interested to know your thoughts on the Cesc quotes about being 'scared' of losing against Man Utd and essentially going into these big games with fear.

• 20-Dec-2010 19:53 | | Jack the Red
  

  As an Arsenal supporter of over 30 years I find your article tedious beyond belief. What Wenger needs to do is get rid of Clichy, Denilson, Diaby, Arshavin, Rosicky, and Van Persie. They are just not good enough havent got the balls amongst them to win us the league. He needs to buy a new Romford Pele ie Scott Parker, someone who is going to bust himself to win. He also needs to buy a forward who wants to score rather than keep the 96 pass move going with a backheel or flick.

• 20-Dec-2010 20:05 | | MeanLean
  

  Each to their own Jack, I happen to find supporters who moan continuously about the club pretty damn tedious myself. Different opinions I guess.

• 20-Dec-2010 20:35 | | MeanLean
  

  It's no wonder that the players are frightened, we haven't beaten those other two for so long now. It will change come the 27th

• 20-Dec-2010 20:52 | | sam
  

  exciting isn't it? wenger has been buying players who might never play for arsenal. lucky salamanca!
  he already failed to win work permit for the brazilian now this japanase ronaldo, what a joke?

• 20-Dec-2010 21:00 | | Truthserum
  

  Sucker for a dribbler you say? Although I feel shooters would benefit our team more atm. I'd be a lot happier if our lads( or so they claimed) would grow some balls, plug the gapping hole at the rear, & score once in a while.

• 20-Dec-2010 22:47 | | double dapper  - why do so meny gooners hate this team?
  

  Jack - I agree with you that we do need to shoot more when in front of goal, but personally i dont think that is rvp's fault but more the way we play for each other, which sometimes help us to rips teams apart and yes at other times fail to kill teams off. The players who normally ignore this style of play and can be greedy (arsh and st nic) get slagged off by our 'support'. I also think ramsey is a similar player to parker but with better technique so i dont see the need to sign him after an arse licking on motd.
  
  To all the 'Gooners' who are not happy with the way we play or the current performance of half of our squad - At present we are 2nd in the league, still in all the cups and have played what could be regarded as the top 8 teams (bar us and spurs) all away from home already. Please think back to the days of GG and ask yourself....are things now really so bad? Come on you gunners.

• 21-Dec-2010 10:45 | | Anonymous
  

  WE WILL KNOCK BARCA OUT.AM CONFIDENT

• 21-Dec-2010 10:47 | | JOSE GAUCHO
  

  NO SYLVESTRE,CESC,NASRI,ARSHAVIN,VAN ,THEO N CHAMACK PLUS A FIT VERMALEEN BUT WI9LL HAV A ROUGH DAY

• 21-Dec-2010 12:27 | | Tom
  

  I'm looking forward to the Barca game. It's a great opportunity to see one of the greatest club sides of all time strut their stuff.
  
  I expect us to perform well and if we beat them, we will be expected to win the competition. It sounds harsh but its time that this group of players was held accountable. We can't hide behind the 'they're inexperienced' or 'our injuries are awful' arguments anymore. Its time for this team to produce. Simple as that.
  
  I think the time has come for Walcott to be played through the middle. His pace and directness could add another dimension to our attacking play which will trouble Barca far more than either Van Persie or Chamakh.

• 21-Dec-2010 12:37 | | MeanLean
  

  Tom,
  
  I do not understand why having your most important players excluded from a big game as an excuse or something to hide behind.
  
  Do you really think that pundits, Arsenal fans, Barca fans etc would not mention it if Barca lost to us without Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Alves and Villa. If there squad players lost to us 3-0 at the Emirates do you think that would be brushed under the carpet?
  
  Of course not. Not a chance in the world. It would be 'Arsenal were lucky or it would have been another story if Barca had their best players etc'
  
  Facts and facts, teams cannot produce their best without their best players.
  
  I am not saying we will win with everyone fit, it is not as simple as that but to have your best chance you need your best players.
  
  The second leg at the Camp Nou last season was not a fair reflection of our team.

• 21-Dec-2010 13:23 | | Tom
  

  Mean,
  
  You're right of course, but I don't think the day will ever come when we will field a full strength side for more than a few games. The nature and ferocity of the Premier League coupled with the number of games and lack of a mid season break, mean that injuries, large, quality squads and rotation are inevitable/necessary evils.
  
  In addition, I believe that in the past many of our injury problems have been self inflicted and caused by overusing our most important players to cover for a lack of depth.
  
  Last season Arshavin played for a couple of months with a foot injury, Gallas (who has a history of muscle problems) played 90 minutes of every match bar the Carling Cup before breaking down in February, Van Persie is an injury prone player who cannot be relied upon and Fabregas played the first leg with a heavily bandaged leg and was effectively immobile as a result.
  
  Maybe this season will be different. We seem to have learnt the lesson from Eduardo's comeback with regards to Ramsay, while Vermalen and Diaby have been nursed back carefully as well but when I see a clearly unfit Fabregas thrown on at Old Trafford my heart sinks a little.
  
  I actually believe that we can beat Barca. Their away form in Europe isn't that great and no side is unbeatable.
  
  Anyway, what do you think about playing Walcott through the middle? He's still raw, but he offers us different qualities that no-one else in our squad possesses. Wenger has wrapped him in cotton wool recently and used him very sparingly. Do you reckon he's resting him for the Christmas/New Year period?

• 21-Dec-2010 18:08 | | nicoman
  

  if anyone saw everton play last night let that be a lesson to you in what we are missing. They came out in -6 temp in short sleeves no snoods and hardly a pair of gloves between them and fought for every ball as if their lives depended upon it. No friendly hand shakes or banter in the tunnel pure single minded concentration. If we could have t hat attitude a decent holding midfilder to protect our central defenders and two full backs who could defend, throw in a striker who likes to shoot and score and then we would be champions.Until then deluded gooners who get excited about your diabys denilsons songs and the rest of the rubbish dont get excited cos it aint gonna happen !

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