By Myles Palmer
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TODAY, four predictions.
Arsenal will win the Premiership.
Arsenal will get their bank loans in January.
The Inter game will go ahead on a heavy pitch.
And whoever scores first tonight will win.
WE ALL KNOW what we think of this Arsenal team and what we think they can’t do.
Most of us know that the club has paid a very high price for Bergkamp’s refusal to fly.
And some of us hate the idea of moving Toure to right back.And we also have no faith in Kanu.
So I don’t really need to talk about Arsenal this morning.
TONIGHT IS ALL ABOUT INTER.
How good are they?
Can Inter be beaten in a game they need to win?
It’s a bad club with a new manager. Its a bad club because Moratti sacks the manager far too often.
So Inter Milan punch below their weight. They don’t win big trophies.
But they have six great players.
TOLDO may be No 2 to Buffon, but Buffon let in three goals at Highbury when Freddie took Juventus apart in that exciting 3-1 game.
Toldo has played against Arsenal three times, twice for Fiorentina, and only let in one goal.
A true giant, a phenomenal keeper. He does make boobs, but very, very rarely.
CANNAVARO is a super-sharp defender who jumps high for his size.
One of the best centrebacks in the world, has been since he partnered Thuram at Parma. But not as good as he was.
CORDOBA is a small hard man who was born to defend.
Tremendously tenacious.
JAVIER ZANETTI is the strongest and most two-footed and most durable and most reliable right-sided midfielder I’ve seen in the last 10 years.
If I was picking eleven men to play for my life the first 4 names on the sheet would be Zanetti, Puyol, Thuram and Shevchenko.
VIERI is an awesome left-footed gladiator who can score good goals with his right foot and head balls into the top corner from 15 yards with two defenders on his back.
OBAFEMI MARTINS is an explosive African super-athlete, like Toure.
Martins is like a welterweight Samuel Eto’o.
Very fast, very positive, very direct, very skilful, very determined.
The scariest new talent I’ve seen in this calendar year.
Martins terrorised Arsenal at Highbury and he terrorised Reggina in the 6-0 win on Sunday.
New coach Zaccheroni used a 3-4-3 system at Udinese and at AC Milan, where Bierhoff was not as good as Vieri.
Now Zac has inherited a squad whuch includes Vieri and Martins and Andy van der Meyde.
To my mind, those three are a perfect trio of strikers for this system because Martins is so energetic and VDM is like a chunky centre forward on the wing.
In Dutch football, and especially at Ajax, the wingers are mostly providers.
Van der Meyde hasn’t made it in Serie A yet. He has only been there 5 minutes.
He is not a great winger like Overmars.But he could be a better than Zenden, who is just a power player.
So its not that VDM is a great dribbler or a great crosser or a great tactical provider or that he is superfast.
It’s just that I think his smart mobility complements the strength of Vieiri and the fiery energy of Martins.
If their blend is as effective as I suspect, Zac will not start Julio Cruz tonight.
ARSENE has been telling his boys for six years that they are not far away from winning the European Cup.
Recently, he has been telling them that the 3-0 defeat was a close game.
Sol’s father was seriously ill.He died that night after the game.
The manager said it was up to Sol whether he played or not.
I would have said, “You are in no state to play. You should be with your Dad tonight. There will be hundreds more football matches.”
Sol played when he should not have played. Arsenal lost 3-0 at home and have been playing catch-up ever since.
OK, they might have lost 3-0 if Keown had played.
I saw a headline yesterday where Arsene apparently said, “If you beat Inter, you can win the European Cup.”
Of course, anything can happen in a football match.
Arsenal might win. But they will have to score first.
Probable teams :
INTER (3-4-3): Toldo; Cordoba, Materazzi, Cannavaro; J Zanetti, C Zanetti, Lamouchi, Pasquale; Van der Meyde, Martins, Vieri.
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Lehmann; Touré, Cygan, Campbell, Cole; Ljungberg, Edu, Parlour, Pires; Kanu, Henry.
25th November 2003.