Arsène held his usual pre-game press conference today ahead of our Champions League tie against Standard Liege on Tuesday night. The initial news from the press conference was on the player availability, it will be the same group of players who faced Sunderland with the addition of Kieran Gibbs who has surprised Arsène with the speed of his return. I think it is also good that Gallas did not pick up an injury despite limping for some of the game on Saturday. Arsène also talked about some longer term injuries; Bendtner and van Persie are both “some time away”, Gael Clichy is 2-3 weeks, he then said “have I forgotten somebody” only to be reminded of Abou Diaby who has 3 weeks out due to another calf injury.
I would expect some rotation to take place, Gibbs is likely to get the nod ahead of Traore and perhaps Senderos will join Vermaelen and Eboue in a back four. I suspect Theo might get the nod to start, perhaps through the middle. Attacking wise though it is very hard to predict who might start given the wealth of options in the team.
The mood in the squad is one of disappointment following the defeat at Sunderland, however a win would not only turn this round but also help us finish top of the group. Which should be what the players are focussed on at this juncture, Sunday can be thought about from Wednesday. We need to be focussed against Liege, they scored 2 quick goals in the away tie and a repeat of which is something which I don’t want to even comprehend.
Arsène said a top of the group finish would feel like a job well done, and despite only needing a point from the next two games to qualify there is no temptation to be defensive. I suspect this might be linked to the fact the team don’t understand such a concept, as enjoying as flowing attacking football is to watch it does not help calm this supporter’s nerves in tight games (or even those when we are a few goals up).
A win tomorrow would be a nice response from the players, not only to their disappointment but that of the fans as well. Defeats hurt, we as fans want to be back to winning ways and hopefully that will resume tomorrow night and carry on into the weekend.
Late news tomorrow either here or on twitter if any arrives.
i think this the ideal game to play the fringers (Senderos, Vela etc) and those short on match practice (Theo, Nasri etc). The core of Cesc, Arshavin, Gallas and perhaps even Vermaelen should be rested. We need a win or a draw (two possibilities) and I’d like to think a much weakened XI can achieve either outcome tomorrow. It is a nice game to play them as it isn’t a dead rubber game, which is what the last game against Olympiackos would be if we get at least a draw tomorrow night.
Also, something about Wenger being downbeat in the conference, any truth in that?
Wenger looked fine in the press conference. He did dwell on the disappointment in the squad, mentioned the deficiencies we had and said we didn’t produce in the final third. He was more pissed off with the press asking inane questions about the WC, and he bit then and said that the players should concentrate on who pays their wages first. But it has been taken out of context with the quotes on the news sites, it’s the first time I have had ArsenalTV Online and what actually is said and how it is said is different from how the press portray it, something I will blog about in the next week or so.