Saturday, April 17, 2010

More than a Miracle

- Let's just get the miracle scenario out there. We need Manchester United to either draw against both City and Tottenham or lose to just one of them. We need Chelsea to drop points against Tottenham and Liverpool. We need to beat Wigan tomorrow and hope that Wigan subsequently lose to both Hull and West Ham, so they'll be fighting for their lives against Chelsea in the last fixture of the season. After that, we need Wigan to perform heroically and earn a draw or victory that keeps them in the Premier League. Oh, and we need to win our other three Premier League matches, one against City (who are on form and scoring goals for fun right now, which is an ominous sign when we have to field Silvestre), one against Blackburn at Ewood Park (you know how much Big Sam hates Wenger), and a relatively easy fixture against Fulham at home (they could be focused more on the Europa League). Got all of that?

- What is the percentage chance I give of this scenario unfolding? About 1%. But I had to throw it out there, just so you all know what to root for. And yes, that involves rooting for the Scum.

- We'll know if there's any chance in hell if it can happen before we play Wigan on Sunday, with the Manchester derby and Chelsea playing Tottenham today.

- The defeat on Wednesday was pretty disheartening. I don't consider the season to be a failure; we have improved. However, some of the players delivered lackluster performances. If the match had been ten minutes longer, we would have won. But with Tottenham parking the bus (in an efficient way), there wasn't enough thrust or desire from our side. Rosicky looks like a squad player now. Denilson was practically absent in an offensive sense. Diaby is a flat track bully. Our keeper is a joke.

- I think Wenger will field different sets of players in order to get a better opinion of them, players like Eastmond, Fran Merida, and possibly Fabianski. Obviously, we'll try to win every match, but this sort of thing tends to happen when we're out of the title race.

- Give credit to Heurelho Gomes. Many people laughed at his numerous blunders during his first year, but now he's established himself as one of the better keepers in the Premier League. He singlehandedly prevented van Persie from providing a Kanu moment of his own. I wish our current keeper would revive himself in this way. Actually, I don't. I'd rather Fabianski do that. I'd like to never see our current keeper in an Arsenal kit ever again. A well struck volley, yes, but why does he never catch the ball? And finally, it seems as though Wenger is coming around saying today that he never said our current keeper was a "long term number one." Damning words coming from Wenger. Lloris may not be for sale, but Frey might be a good keeper for a few years before hopefully Szczesny becomes the great keeper everybody thinks he'll be.

- Additionally, Wenger said we need to add more to our defense. Praise God, although it was blatantly obvious. I wouldn't mind Sol returning as a fifth choice defender. Silvestre should depart. I hope Gallas stays. There's rumors that we're after Jerome Boateng, but it appears City may snatch him. Regardless, we need to strengthen our side. I also wouldn't mind going after Gregory van der Wiel.

- Interestingly enough, I heard a rumor this week that we've signed Hugo Rodallega and Charles N'Zogbia for 22 million pounds and that they've already had medicals. Twelve hours after I heard this rumor, the story broke in the British media. Today, Roberto Martinez didn't exactly deny that rumor today. Take it with a grain of salt, but there may be something to the rumor. I don't particularly rate Rodallega, but N'Zogbia is a dangerous player. I think the fee is too high also. Regardless, N'Zogbia is a player we need to look out for on Sunday.

- Wigan will try to play football. Their pitch is no longer a disaster, but that probably works against them. They are close to relegation though, so they will fight hard for the result. Mario Melchiot is an ex-Chelsea player, so he'll want to help out his friends. They've also had results against Chelsea and Liverpool at home. So, this isn't the cakewalk people may be predicting.

- I believe Wenger has some more fight left in him. He'll be back next year. Arsene is hungrier than some of our players.

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