ARSENE WENGER’S priorities are (1) winning his game in hand (2) beating Villareal and (3) beating Spurs at Highbury.
My son Michael shouted upstairs, “Henry’s not playing, Gilberto is captain.” As soon as I heard that I put a bet on Man United to win. I had thought they would win anyway, and I’d already had a bet on Saha to score in the game, after losing a bet on Less Than 2.5 Goals in the Chelsea-West Ham game.
Manchester United duly beat Arsenal 2-0 to make it nine Premiership wins in a row.
A good football match played in a good spirit and the best team won. They are a better side than Arsenal, that’s why they are 23 points higher in the league.That’s why Arsenal have not beaten them in the league since 2002.
If Arsene Wenger thought he could win this game, he would have played Henry. But, being a physiological manager, and knowing that the Manchester United players had not got to bed at 3 am on Thursday after flying back from Turin, he knew that United would be fitter and stronger in the last half an hour.
He accepted defeat as inevitable. He said to himself: Let’s lose at Old Trafford without losing the season. If I play Thierry and go for it, and we get thrashed, and we are bruised and battered, I’ve blown the season.
He thought : When Rooney whacked that 25-yarder past Seaman, we lost the next three. When Rooney dived, the Invincibles collapsed. Twice we were far too fragile. One bad game killed us. So let’s not do that, let’s not go there, let’s be pragmatic, take a small defeat, win our game in hand, beat Spurs at Highbury and finish fourth.
He thought : If we make this a big game, we make losing it a big defeat, and a big defeat would destroy morale. This way we can say : we lost the game, but we didn’t lose the season, and we are in the Champions League semi, not you.
He thought : I can’t afford to lose Thierry for the season, so I won’t play him. I’m not a 35-year old manager, so I’m not tempted to flush an eight-week miracle down the toilet in 90 minutes. This is just another day at the office, and if we get lucky and get a 1-1 draw, great.
FOR SIR ALEX, it was a big three points because Chelsea beat West Ham 4-1 with ten men. The Hammers capitulated in a most pathetic manner.Five days in Dubai was a mistake, as Alan Pardew has now admitted.
After the game Fergie said, “Wayne Rooney at times was absolutely sensational.”
Five shots, four on target, three saved by Lehmann, one saved by Toure, with both hands ! Great goalkeeping, Kolo !
Five shots, four on target, one goal, one assist.Rooney’s body strength is amazing, so he can ride heavy tackles, keep his balance, and still have the ball under control.
He was so authoritative, so commanding, especially in the way he killed Silvestre’s cross and buried his shot for the first goal in 54 minutes. His assist came after a burst down the right when Senderos fouled Rooney in the box and bounced off him and Rooney crossed low to give Park a tap-in for 2-0.
THIS WAS the Rooney of Portugal 2004, playing with fire, pace, venom, deadly skill, enjoying his power and virtuousity, but concentrating 100% on the job of beating Arsenal.
Clearly, the England team should be built round Rooney, not round Owen, who is not fast any more.
It should have a five-man defence, and the attack should feed Rooney, feed Rooney, feed Rooney. In this mood, he can take any team apart, if he has the right service. He can terrorise Nesta, Lucio, any defender.
But Rooney must not waste his energy chasing balls in his own half and shooting from 27 yards. He should be terrifying opponents in the box. And he should have five players playing for him, playing him into the box.
Sven always drones on about winning the World Cup. He should not take five strikers or four strikers to Germany. He should take one.
IF BIG PHIL SCOLARI was managing England now, he would play to our strengths.
He would have nine players feeding Rooney.If Big Phil had a striker whose movement was phenomenal, whose speed was phenomal, whose strength was phenomenal, and whose competitive insinct was phenomenal, he would use Rooney’s talents to the maximum in order to win games and grab the World Cup.He would have Ledley King doing what Gilberto did in 2002.
A bold coach could sort out the England team, on that basis, in five days. But Sven, like most England managers, will fudge it and give us respectable failure.
IT’S PORTSMOUTH v Arsenal on Wednesday. If Arsene drops Senderos to play Sol Campbell, I won’t watch it, so don’t expect me to write anything if that happens.
Some papers say Arsenal will listen to offers for Sol in the summer. That makes sense. Arsenal do not need him any more.
Maybe Arsene could swap Sol for West Ham’s Anton Ferdinand or Reo-Coker plus cash.