They’ve got a lot of bite and confidence these days.
Arsene’s teams have always had artistry and pace but at times they’ve been fragile. When Rooney scored for Everton they lost four games.
But not now. Suddenly, Arsenal have a lot more bottle. It’s still a French dressing room but its a young French dressing room and a Spanish general is in charge and his regiment looks ready to conquer continents. They have that unbeatable cameraderie, the esprit de corps which is all-important
We saw their bite when Fabregas crunched Sparta Prague centreback Tomas Repka, and we saw it again when Sagna whacked Tom Huddlestone at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
These lads are not scared of anybody, and they don’t think they will be outplayed by anybody, and the league table tells them they are the best – and players believe results. They might not believe anything else but they believe results.
Sagna was Arsenal’s outstanding player in the 3-0 win over Sevilla last night. Fabregas, Toure and Hleb were excellent too.
Football is a game of sequences and after beating Spurs 3-1 and Sevilla 3-0, Arsenal have already beaten Derby. That game has been played in the minds of the Derby team and they’ve lost it. If Arsenal play badly on Saturday they’ll still win 1-0 and then its Newcastle in the Carling Cup and West Ham at Upton Park on Saturday September 29.
So there you have it : A young juggernaut is rolling, a band of brothers is battling, playing for each other, running for each other, competing to win and win and win.
Some players will get carried away at times, as Robin van Persie was when he said, “We are playing football from a different world at the moment.”
Arsene thinks the team can improve a lot and he’s 100% right about that. He also said, “Maybe we were a bit lucky on the first goal but overall I felt that we controlled the game in the second half and we looked more mature tactically, for 90 minutes, than one year ago. Fabregas couldn’t score last year and suddenly he doesn’t stop scoring. It shows how much confidence plays. I knew it was in him. I said to him that the best way to get rid of a problem is not to make a problem out of it.”
The players can improve. To see Toure and Senderos both miskick in the box 15 seconds apart was disconcerting but, in this match, it didn’t matter. Some of Adebayor’s shots were comically inept.
In truth, Adebayor and van Persie were a little bit better as a pair last night. But only a little bit. They didn’t find each other in the last third, and the goals again came from midfield, the first from a deflected shot by Fabregas after the shaky teenager Fazio gave him the ball, the second from a Fabregas free-kick that Sagna headed on for the Dutchman to stab in from three yards, the third at the death when the fatigued Fazio gave the ball away and Arsenal switched the ball around swiftly to give sub Eduardo an easy goal.
It was Sagna’s Champions League debut and if the new right back carries on playing like this he can play for Arsenal and France for the next decade. Like Clichy, he’s lightning over the first ten yards. Flamini was everywhere and went down the left flank and past Dani Alves to win the free-kick from which Arsenal made it 2-0
Seville’s style mirrored Arsenal’s somewhat, so when the game started it was Arsenal and then it was Seville and then Arsenal and then the first goal came. But the match was dull for periods as Arsenal were unable to play through Seville as easily as they do against Premiership teams.
Still, things are going very well for Arsenal right now and their next CL game is Steua Bucharest in Romania on Tuesday October 2. Steua are already under pressure after losing 2-1 to Slavia Prague last night. Coach Gheorghe Hagi resigned after that defeat, citing unbearable pressure.
With a bit more of the luck they enjoyed last night, Wenger’s wonders could go to Anfield unbeaten at the end of next month. And when Arsenal do lose a game, they won’t lose the next three because they’re still whinging, still feeling sorry for themselves about the first defeat.
In Lisbon, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal against his old club Sporting with a diving header, but didn’t celebrate.
Tall, brave, fast, tricky and good-looking, Cristiano will soon be the biggest star in world football. It’s a Latin thing, football, but not many Latin wingers are six foot two.
Barcelona played some sweet football to beat Lyon 3-0 with Henry scoring the third
Fenerbahce look like the new Barcelona after signing the bionic Roberto Carlos.
Their football provided some moments of high style as they beat an understrength Inter Milan by 1-0. The Turks have loads of players I don’t know well, so I can’t wait to see more of them. Their highlights were fabulous last night. If Robin van Persie wants to see football from another planet, he should check out Fenerbahce.