Was that Anfield performance Arsenal’s worst of the season?
Of course. They only lost 1-0 at Sheffield United on December 30. It was the game Liverpool’s new owners were flying in to see. And they were to have a meeting with Benitez. So the players and the crowd knew that. And they all put on a show for the new owners. They raised their game and thrashed Arsenal out of sight. They were 3-0 up before Gallas got one back from a corner.
Are Arsenal always dodgy after an international break?
Invariably. But when have they lost 4-1 after an international break?
What is the way forward for Arsene now?
Start teaching defence. Stop pampering your boys. Remind them that a football field is a place of conflict. Incorporate crosses into your practice matches. If you do that they’ll learn how to cross the ball, how to score from crosses, and, crucially, how to defend crosses by being corrrectly positioned to attack the ball and win it before your opponent does.
Would you play Denilson and Fabregas together?
Not unless I had Ray Parlour tucking in from the right and Marc Overmars scoring goals from the left, and Dennis Bergkamp moving smartly into positions from which killer passes can be delivered.
Since West Ham are fighting for their lives, will they be dangerous on Saturday?
Possibly. Carlos Tevez is a chunky, brave, gifted striker who can do all the things we thought Baptista might do. Tevez has invention, tenacity, balance. He is like a Man United player, a guy with lots of flair and very competitive. He fights for every ball. When he loses the ball, he puts himself about to get it back. And I’ve always loved players like that. But the West Ham players are weak characters who would not accept Javier Mascherano. So Pardew was forced to tell him : You’ll get a game when Hayden Mullins isn’t firing.That was ridiculous. Although Mullins, a steady anchorman, was an unsung hero for them last season when they got to the FA Cup Final and lost unluckily to Liverpool. But they were surrounded by sycophants and backslappers and believed their own publicity, which is fatal in this game. After one good season, Reo-Coker thought he deserved to be playing for Arsenal or Man United. For seven months they’ve cheated the fans who pay to watch them. They are tossers and I hope they go down.
Will Arsenal be in the Uefa Cup next season?
Yes, if they can’t score goals or keep clean sheets. They will not beat Chelsea, so they have to win home games against West Ham, Bolton, Man City and Fulham during the month of April – and add 12 points to the 55 they have now. On what I’ve seen recently, and with such feeble strikers, I don’t think Arsenal will win at Newcastle, Spurs or Portsmouth. But we shall have to see – they might improve.
What were the highlights of the season for you?
Beating Manchester United twice. And beating Reading 4-0 in October with two goals by van Persie and two by Henry. Reading are a decent outfit with a good manager. But since van Persie cracked his metatarsal on January 21, it’s been mostly downhill.
When Arsene signs kids, is he selling us the future?
Yes. We’ve seen Theo Walcott score a fabulous goal in the Carling Cup Final, but we don’t know if he’ll make it. And by selling young players, he is selling the future to other managers. With Pennant, it’s started to work for Liverpool. With Bentley, it’s working well for Blackburn. With Sidwell, it’s worked for Reading. With Anthony Stokes at Sunderland, it’s wait and see. Roy Keane has bought the future for £2.2 million. Stokes is 18 and scored 14 goals on loan to Falkirk in the SPL. At Sunderland he has started four games and scored one goal. He will be 19 in July. Stokes might be one of those hot teenage strikers who has a long career in the top flight, or he might not. A young Irish manager has gambled on a young Irish striker. He’s placed a bet and hopes to win.
Will Arsenal continue to be entertaining also-rans?
Depends if he signs experienced players. Why should Toure and Gallas babysit these kids until they reach their prime? By then Toure and Gallas will be past it and they’ll have played together for four or five years without winning anything. Toure’s form since his aberration in Cardiff has been woeful. He is not the same player.He used to be fiercely consistent, dynamic and inspirational, an example to the whole team.
What’s the greatest danger to Arsenal this year?
A decision by the manager to carry on building his team round Thierry Henry. A decision to keep him as captain. If he thinks Henry is a good captain, or if he thinks Henry can’t function under another captain, then he’s living in a parallel universe. He has created a monster which is out of control and that monster will drag Wenger down further than he’s dragged him down this season. What’s most notable, to me, is that this season we have seen Wenger stand up to Henry twice. He’s dropped him twice. He was strong in September when he dropped him after Middlesbrough, and he was strong in December when he dropped him before Spurs, but he was weak in March when he brought him on against PSV, when he had not trained and was nowhere near fit. That decision ended Arsenal’s season, I think. But it’s all hypothetical. We’ll never know what might have happened that night if Henry had not been used as a sub.
Could next season be a photocopy of this season?
Yes, quite easily. If he doesn’t buy experience, next season will be similar to this season, with a few different wrinkles. Arsenal will play too many 1-1 draws, struggle to hold a lead and close out a game, crack again in February -March, and crash out of everything. And there will be thousands of empty seats at the Emirates.
Why didn’t you write something about Arsene’s comment about buying “one or two super, super class players, or nothing.”
Because there are only six super, super class players in world football. He won’t sign Eto’o, he won’t sign Messi, he won’t sign Cristiano or Rooney, and he won’t sign David Villa because he can’t afford him. And he won’t sign Kaka. Those are the super, super class players he must have been talking about. Franck Ribery is an aeroplane and would excite the Upper Tier with his electrifying bursts of pace but Ribery is well short of being a super, super class player.
What about a takeover?
It may be hidden from us. We don’t know what might be happening. But we do know that lawyers and investment bankers often work through the weekend to put deals together. Realistically, it won’t be before May. After the last ball has been kicked at Portsmouth on May 13, something might happen. And if it happens, Arsene Wenger’s new contract will be at the heart of the deal. If the club is sold, he could be one of the main beneficiaries, with an enhanced contract. Although I’m told that he said on Friday that he would NOT be talking to the club in the summer about extending his contract. That is unconfirmed. Is it true? If it is true, what does it mean? Not a lot, since AW is a handshake manager anyway.