Wenger Motivates The Team To Win… He Never Used To…

Arsenal have changed. Before this season, Man Utd scoring in the 82nd minute would have seen them win the match. This season it’s different. This is down to Wenger motivating the team. In the past couple of years when the opposition took the lead, Arsenal would not be able to fight back. The classic example is Barcelona, we had 8 whole minutes to turn the game around but we did not. Todays team and tactics would have scored an equaliser against Barcelona in May 2005. We have changed our tactics thus when teams take the lead like Man Utd done so today, we can attack them through a number of ways.

Wenger is motivating players to perform even when we are losing. We are coming from behind and scoring goals. We still need Adebayor to be more consistent, however it takes time. Arsene has a special bond with the team, he is like a father figure to the players; he picks out the players he wants from an early age and nurtures them. Arsenal used to put their heads down when we went a goal down, fans used to shout ‘NOT AGAIN’ when the opposition scored, but now it’s changed. We can score, we can come back and we can play until the 90th minute knowing we are still in the game. Man Utd have played like this for years under Fergie, of course the perfect example being Fulham away last season when they were shit for 80 minutes, then Ronaldo pops up and wins the game for them. An even better example is 99′ Camp Nou where they won the game against Munich in the last 2 minutes.

Arsenal are only starting to do this. But the positive is that at least we are doing it. We have got two games against two top teams in two weeks. It’s good. It’s very good. Utd were lucky to get 2 goals today, they take 85% of their chances while we take 65% of our chances. It ended up feeling like a victory as we went a goal behind twice. Rooney was quite good, but not good enough. Evra was diabolical and Fergie was worried he was going to get sent off. In fact, if Evra hacked Toure the way he done so (just minutes after he took Hleb out to get his first booking) in the second half he would have got sent off with a second yellow. However, it was early in the game and Howard Webb didn’t take the challenge seriously.

Fergie preferred Giggs to Nani today, this was the correct decision. Giggs against Arsenal always performs well; his pace and experience gives him an upperhand over our team. He has been around for donkeys years and knows the big games inside out. Man Utd were nowhere to be seen in the first half, however once again Almunia was beaten at his near post. This is not a dig at Almunia, I’m a big fan of his. However, in the Champions League final he was beaten twice at his near post, and once again he was today. When the opposition cross the ball/run from the wings, Almunia is always caught flat footed and falls to the floor after the ball is in the net. This is ridiculous. If I was Wenger, I’d take him aside and work on Almunia’s sharpness to respond to bottom corner shots. Almunia has improved since his first year at Arsenal, but there is plenty of room for improving.

Where we good today? Very. This was the first Arsenal-Man Utd clash that made me excited after years, why? Because the passion was lost. When Vieira, Keane, Henry and RVN left, there was nothing there. Now we are back on form it means something to us. I went to The Gunners pub on Blackstock Road, it was excellent. The atmosphere was superb, we were singing songs and telling Ferguson to ‘FECK OFF!’ at every opportunity.

Clichy kept Ronaldo quiet throughout the game, Fabregas was good, Eboue was eccentric and Hleb was skillful. I was listening to FiveLive before the game and the presentor said he was talking to John Barnes last season and asked John who was the best player in the league. John replied with ‘Alexander Hleb’. This was last season. Therefore, this makes him the best player in the league by a mile at the moment as he’s improved immensely. I’m not debating whether John Barnes is correct, but it shows Hleb is attracting worthy praise.

Fact is, Arsenal are 24 games unbeaten in all competitions, beating our previous record. The signs are looking good and it looks like we are back on form. This will be a special team and we all know it.

Tonight, Calzaghe will fight Kessler. I was watching SSN and it all kicked off between Enzo and Kesslers trainer at the weigh in, Calzaghe got up close to Kessler and ran his mouth, Kesslers trainer didn’t like that and got in the way. Enzo was pissed off that Kessler weighed over the limit so let Kesslers trainer know about it. Kessler was twice as ripped as Joe, it was impressive. However, Calzaghe will win tonight. Calzaghe cannot lose. He will never lose. Joe is like a machine, something boxing has never seen before. He throws 1000 punches in a fight, and anyone who throws that amount of punches will win any fight. I predict Calzaghe to win but it will go 12 rounds. Calzaghe is the perfect fighter. However he does not have the final power punch to knock out his opponents (like Jeff Lacy’s right or Foremans right hook). Therefore I lied. Calzaghe is not the perfect fighter, he is the near perfect fighter. We’ll leave it at that.

Ramin