By Myles Palmer
Aston Villa have a few useful players that Gooners know little about.
Swedish centreback Olof Mellberg is tough stopper who looks well above average.
But I’m not yet sure how good Mellberg is. This will be my chance to find out.
Jlloyd Samuel is a promising young left back.
The rejuvenated Gareth Barry has been playing left midfield in front of the kid.
Thomas Hitzlsperger is a German Under-21 midfielder who will partner George Boateng, the under-rated Dutchman.
Boateng is workmanlike, but a good tackler and a fair
technician. He could do a job for a better team than Villa.
Darius Vassell is a chunky, explosive striker who is 21 but looks 31, a glum-looking Brummie. Until he smiles.
Vassell became a household name by scoring on his England
debut against Holland last month.
I rate Vassell and believe he will be in Sven’s 23 for the World Cup.
Paul Merson, now 33, often does quite well against Arsenal.
New manager Graham Taylor has always believed that most
goals come from mistakes, not great moves, so if Arsenal create some classy moves they might disprove his obsolete theory.
Taylor must be the most long-winded manager in the history of English football. It was hell when he managed England.He spent endless hours telling me things I already knew.
One day, years ago, in the Spurs press lounge, a few hacks were talking about the loquacity of Graham Taylor and David Barnes said, “He needs subbing.”
A perfect comment. And a succinct one.That was one quote that did NOT need subbing.
It’s been fun lately to see how well Bergkamp and Pires can combine.
I’ve always said that if you have a good footballer the best thing you can do for him is to give him another good footballer to play with.
Time, maybe, for Bergkamp to pay Schmeichel back for saving that season-turning penalty in 1999.
Big save, that was. It set United up for the treble and got Fergie his knighthood.
However, Man United’s 5-3 win at West Ham has put Arsenal under pressure in this game.
And Anelka looked very energetic in Liverpool’s 2-1 win at Middlesbrough.
So it will be interesting to see if Arsenal’s confidence and rhythm have been dented by losing 2-0 to Deportivo.
Patrick Vieira will be in the spotlight again.
He has had a mixed week.
He made some good passes against Deportivo.
But he let Valeron run past him to score the first goal. On the second goal, he lost the ball in Depor’s half and jogged back so slowly that he was overtaken by the ref.
Then he was cleared of misconduct over a non-incident with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, which should never have been brought before the FA.
Patrick has, we read, opened negotiations to stay at Arsenal. Or,rather, to extend his contract by one year till 2005 in return for having his wages doubled.
Patrick’s only human, like the rest of us, but many fans expect him to be superhuman in every game. He can’t be. Nobody can.
How good will Patrick be at Villa? Better than he was against Depor, we hope.
I’ve been asked by ANR reader Shudhan Koli to stop predicting Arsenal victories.
He says that whenever I do that they never win. So I’m gonna make one man happy today by not making a prediction about the result.
Instead, I’m gonna be a manager for a day and pick the team I would play at Villa Park today.
This is also the team that, all other things being equal,I would use in the Newcastle replay next Saturday.
This, let me stress, is NOT the eleven I think Arsene will select.
It’s just a bit of fun by an armchair tactician who fancies playing a Swede against a Swede :
Seaman; Dixon, Stepanovs, Campbell, Luzhny; Lauren,
Grimandi, Vieira, Pires ; Bergkamp, Ljungberg.
If Arsenal are not winning after an hour, I’d bring on
Wiltord for Grimandi, move Pires inside and put Freddie on the left.
16th March 2002