When the gaffer baffles

In wake of a rather poor performance against one of the bottom teams, the gaffer again gave a very strange post match interview.

I have no doubt that yesterdays performance was a one off and we will bounce back immediately. But i am a little surprised that Wenger chose to give credit to the opposition instead of criticising his players for what was one of the all time worst efforts. Though we were understrength, i still expected the team to fight a little more but we failed to do that.

It is about time that the gaffer criticizes the team openly instead of painting a rosy picture all the time. I am a great admirer of Wenger and I may be over reacting but i get the impression he thinks that the fans are fools. I am sick and tired of "The team has a great potential". He needs to admit that we are over dependent on our one pass game and fail miserably when the game gets physical. He can defend his young team all he wants but records show that we fail against Bolton etc on a regular basis.

Maybe I am over critical of the team because i was overjoyed last week when we thrashed Blackburn and now i am dishing out criticism but i feel that by calling a spade a spade Wenger would actually be doing himself and his young team a huge favour.

The Captaincy Dilemma

With Henry almost fit, most of the Arsenal faithful are pondering whether he should take back the reins as captain. Gilberto has been a great leader in Henry's absence. He leads from the front and has been scoring for fun since the Spurs game.

Henry, i am sure, will get the arm band as soon as he comes back. Titi for all his brilliance on the field is not a natural leader. He can never be a Vieira. He can be a real inspiration on the field and will take his own time to mature into his new role as a captain. My only problem with him is that there times when he goes AWOL and does not seem to be contributing.

Gilberto is always in the thick of things. He controls the pace of the game and gets involved a lot. He is so important for the team in that he breaks up the play so that the likes of Rosicky and Cesc can link up with the front men. Also, he seems to be a natural leader and does not have any problems slotting into that role whenever Henry has been missing.

If i were the gaffer i would retain Gilberto as captain. But then I would be tempting fate ...

Chelsea, PSV and Pompey

What a game it was against Chelskea. I am sure there have been enough reviews about that game so i will go on to other important matters like the UCL draw.

Porto v Chelsea
Celtic v Milan
PSV Eindhoven v Arsenal
Lille v Manchester United
Roma v Lyon
Barcelona v Liverpool
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich
Internazionale v Valencia

When you consider Liverpool, we definitely have an easier game against PSV but underestimating the Dutch Champions would be suicidal. Double D reiterates that. The gaffer thinks that we have an advantage playing the second game at home. As usual Koeman shoots his mouth off.I hope we thrash PSV home and away.

Alright then, Pompy today for us. Lots of old timers will be in town. I hope that we give Sol, Kanu and Adams a rousing reception. They are all Arsenal legends and any other welcome for them will just not do.

Coming to the team news, we are still without Rosicky and Gallas. Portsmouth are now without any striker. Kanu is half fit so we can expect a lot of defending from them.

There has been a lot of discussion on the formation that we employed at the JJB in mid week. The 4-5-1 against teams like Wigan is being questioned and rightly so i feel. This formation is justified against teams like Chelsea but against weaker teams we just have to be more positive. Arseblogger discusses the same on the arsecast this week. I expect Wenger to take a more offensive route today.

In other news, Bendtner is happy that WEnger is keen to take him back soon. This lad gives us an option i feel. I think that he is still a long way away from regular first team action but i him and Lupoli are a future strike pair for us. We are also looking at some fella from Dortmund to replace Jens who apparently has been offered 2 years at Sevilla.

Henry has won the PFA award for November again. Looks like he will have to make do with such awards especially when he just cane seem to do enough to win the European or World player of the year.