By Myles Palmer
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I USUALLY HATE international breaks, but this one has given me a chance to catch up on my reading.
World Soccer has an interview with Arsene, who says, “I’m not a genius.”
Kevin Palmer’s 11th and final question is : So is it realistic to expect success this season with the fourth-best squad in England?
ARSENE says,”There is always a way to be successful, whatever the resources, and that is my challenge now.
“I am not a genius – if I was, we would have won the championship last season.So if people say I need to be a genius to win trophies against sides with much bigger resources, then Arsenal are in big trouble.”
Being a man with a scientific mind, a collector of facts, and a man of perspective, Arsene says,”We will probably play around 60 games this season and 40 will be very good, while 10 will be average and 10 bad.”
He says that the 3-1 win in Rome was a night when everything went right for us, and the 3-0 defeat by Inter was a night when everything went wrong.
He says that if Arsenal get Ashburton Grove they will be a top power at world level.
Inevitably, he is asked about Abramovich and he insists that,”Chelsea are now the main force in English football, the most powerful side in the league.”
He continues,”To achieve things with the resources we have will be very tough.You look at what Chelsea have done this summer and compare i6 to what we have spent- it is impossible to say we are playing by they same rules.That is why I say this is the biggest challenge I have had so far and I can tell you my players are very hungry to make sure we don’t finish second in the Premiership again.”
So there you have it.
Abramovich and Chelski have moved the goalposts.
The fixture list is more intense than ever before and Arsenal are top and Chelsea are second and Man United are third-after 12 games.
IT’S A 3-HORSE MARATHON over 38 games and the margin for error is less than ever before and the 2004 champions might have to collect more points than ever before.
So far, Toure and Lehmann have been magnificent in a phenomenal run by Arsenal, who admit their results have been better than their performances.
A 1-0 win will do at Birmingham on November 22, but a 1-0 win will be difficult to achieve.Brum don’t let in many goals.
Overall, as I say, the goalposts have moved and the competition has intensified.
Arsene used to concentrate on playing well and wins flowed from that.
Now he has to have more focus on grinding out results. What matters isn’t whether Arsenal can play as well as they did in their purple patch last season.
What matters in that they beat Liverpool 2-1 and they beat Chelsea 2-1.
Six years of rivalry with Manchester United has been enjoyable,but deja vu has set in.
Arsenal have been able to play stylish power football for long spells during those six seasons.And they can still play stylish power football now.
But the duopoly is over.
There is a big blue monster in SW7 as well as a big red monster up the M6, so playing exciting football is no longer enough.
Arsenal now have to play winning football in every league game.They have to be able to win by whatever means are available, so they have to run and concentrate for 90 minutes to stay at the top of the table.
As Arsene says,this is his biggest challenge.
LAST NIGHT I was reading The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan, a famous theatre critic who liked flagellation.
The book covers the Seventies and it’s as gossipy and cutting as you would expect from an educated drama queen.
He mentions a football incident which made headlines in 1971.
Bobby Moore had a drink and the newspapers were horrified.
Ken writes this : “Morality and its intrusion into professional life in Britain : when Bobby Moore, the England captain, drinks a beer in a night-club at 1.30 a.m. before a game, he is not just fined(as he might be in American football), he is reviled for immorality.(Partly, of course, because he is not upper class and because his fame makes him ‘an example to youth’)
What has changed in 33 years?
DO YOU FANCY WALES IN RUSSIA? Can they get a draw without Craig Bellamy and Simon Davies?
Can Ryan Giggs reach a tournament and do what George Best never could with Northern Ireland?
Will Rafael van der Vaart and Mark van Bommel take Scotland apart at Hampden? Maybe, maybe not.
I fancy Wales more than I fancy Scotland.
14th November 2003