Arsenal's Case for Silverware

Arsenal, somehow, managed a 0-4 destruction of Newcastle United in the Carling Cup last night despite looking somewhat disjointed and unconvincing for the most part. Having said that, Newcastle never looked overly threatening throughout the match and whenever they did have a decent chance Szczesny performed brilliantly.

A lot has been made of Arsene Wenger taking the competition more seriously in terms of the strength of squad he fields now that Arsenal seem to be desperate for silverware. However, the team who lined up to face Newcastle last night is not much different from the side who were beat at Eastlands in the quarter final of last year's cup. There were four of the same starters last night as there was last season, arguably, if Wilshere and Ramsey were available that would make six. Gibbs was injured for last season's game, as was Djourou and Nasri started last season's clash against Liverpool so given the circumstances, I don't think the team is all massively different.

The most notable priority shift in Arsene's mentality is not so much the starting line up but, the bench; there is now first teamers such as Fabregas, Arshavin and Sagna occupying bench for the competition.

With Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City out of the competition there is a real chance that Arsenal could give it a good go this season and I think Wenger is very keen to take advantage of the situation.

The only question is, how much would change if Arsenal won the League Cup? It has been well documented that Wenger has previously used the League Cup to give the youngsters some much needed experience however now it seems that he cannot afford to do that to the same extent.

Would Arsenal really be able to silence their critics through one League Cup victory? I suspect not, but what it would bring to the club is a winning mentality, something that captain Cesc Fabregas said his team lacked recently.

Very, very few of these Arsenal players know what it feels like to win anything (and, I'm not counting the Emirates Cup!). This group of youngsters has not achieved anything together resulting in a lack of confidence when it comes to getting over the final hurdle. I suspect that should they lift one trophy, even if it is the Carling Cup that they may go on to win several, not necessarily in the same season but soon afterwards. 

Theo Walcott, who scored two goals last night, believes this too, saying: "Our fans have been desperate for us to win a trophy and the players have as well.  Hopefully we can win the Carling Cup and it will be one of many."

Real Problem Solved

A few weeks ago I analysed the possible reasons for Real Madrid's goal drought despite fielding Ronaldo, Di Maria, Higuain and Mesut Ozil. Which sounds bizarre now for a team that have scored 18 in their past four games, one of which was against AC Milan.

You might remember I suggested that Real's problem was Ronaldo. You know, Ronaldo, Cristiano, who only went and scored four in their previous outing against Racing Santander.

Well, I stand by my statement. I said that Ronaldo was shooting on sight, blasting balls everywhere and anywhere instead of attempting to play passes, and it was true. Ronaldo is now shooting less and scoring more. When Real were 6-0 up on Saturday night, they only had seven shots on target.

None of Ronaldo's goals were fired in from the edge of the box, in fact, two came about after superb runs from his team-mates, Higuain and Ozil respectively, which Ronaldo's pace saw him fly past defenders to perfectly steer the ball into the net from the pass across the box. The third was a slight scramble for the ball after a pass from Higuain intended for Di Maria which Ronaldo snaffled up and hit past two defenders and a goalkeeper and the fourth was a penalty.

Mourinho has finally got his forward players in sync. Any of them can play slightly more on the wing and they all seem happy and confident in switching positions as the mood takes them. However, most importantly, they are gelling with Mesut Ozil who has had a fantastic start to the season at the Bernabeu and I will be surprised if Kaka starts a high profile game again so long as the German stays fit.

A Mourinho team playing dazzling football... Anyone else already excited for El Clasico next month? Me too. But the first big test for Los Blancos, a local derby against Athleti in a couple of weeks.

Click here to watch Ronaldo's haul.

Bendtner's Back

Nicklas Bendtner was on target for Arsenal last weekend, scoring his first of the season, and aiming to back up his recent boasts of supreme fitness. Some reckon he's a bit of an arrogant so and so but this blogger thinks he might just be the real deal.

Arsene Wenger admitted that Bendtner's groin had been troubling him for some time and that we had not yet seen Nick at “full fitness”. Despite his somewhat constant injury setbacks and the fact that he has never been first choice striker (apart from the end of last season due to several injuries within the squad), Bendtner netted his 50^th Premier League goal against City after coming on as a sub at the Emirates.

Since his niggling injury, through which he played at the World Cup for Denmark when he probably shouldn't have, Bendtner has watched Marouane Chamakh relish in the role of Arsenal centre-forward in his three month spell on the sidelines.

Chamakh's adaptation to the Arsenal team and the Premier League has been seamless and he is looking like a fantastic all-round option for the Gunners. He adds the height that Van Persie does not and the speedy link-up play which Bendtner can, at times, lack.

Bendtner, however, has time on his side and still has a lot to learn. His feud with Adebayor was well documented and even boiled over onto the pitch at White Hart Lane during that infamous Carling Cup game.

Learning from Chamakh, rather than pitching himself against him, will do the young striker a lot of good. He has a similar physique but does not always use it to his full advantage, the Morrocan on the other hand holds the ball up well and usually turns the defender only for them to foul him.

Bendtner has been watching Chamakh and has commended him on his smart positional play, "As well as scoring goals he works hard when he doesn't have the ball which I like."

Positional play is something Bendtner is praise for by his manager. He is an intelligent player and he knows that he does not possess the gift of pace, as Walcott and Rosicky do, instead he has to make up for that by getting himself in good positions.

"I like Marouane. As a team-mate he's been really great. I hadn't trained with him until very recently but he seems like a good guy, a good football player and - on what I've seen so far I think he has done really well", Bendtner added.

It seems as if he has welcomed the competition that Chamakh brings and realises that no matter how good he believes himself to be that there is always room for improvement. The Dane also stated that he could play in any of the front 3 positions and would be happy to be deployed however Wenger sees fit.

Nicklas looks set to start the Carling Cup fixture against Newcastle at St. James' Park in his preferred central position and will be hoping to show Arsene Wenger and the Arsenal fans what they've been missing.

Decisions, Decisions?

 Manchester United found themselves throwing away another two goal lead in the Premier League against West Bromwich Albion, making this the second two goal cushion they have relinquished this season. Before Everton’s late scramble against the Red Devils, United had no given away a two-goal lead for just under ten years when they let a 3-1 lead against Charlton slip and the match ended 3-3.

However, the flailing results are made to look like the least of United’s worries today as I open the paper to find countless stories focusing on the future of their talisman, Wayne Rooney. Whilst it’s true that Wayne’s form has dipped somewhat, everyone was waiting for him to get out of his slump and become the striker we all know he is again. Instead of becoming unstuck Rooney has now reached the worst form of his career.

Not only is Rooney failing to deliver on the pitch, the player is now making the mistake of being too outspoken in his press-conferences and contradicting his manager. Sir Alex Ferguson’s strained relationships with previous star-players such as David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy has been well documented and it has been said that Fergie’s relationship with Rooney has been “broken beyond repair”.

Rooney had been left out of the squad, according to his manager on account of an ankle injury. However, the player told a different story: “No, I've had no ankle problem all season,” said Rooney when asked about his problems on the fitness front. There is no doubt Sir Alex will feel that Wayne has embarrassed him to the media and suspicions are arising that the manager has had a problem with the player since the allegations with his private life were revealed.

Fergie has been known to judge players on their private life and more importantly, how that affects their football famously once stating: "He was never a problem until he got married," about David Beckham. He clearly feels that Rooney’s off-field predicaments have compromised his concentration and performance on the pitch.

“To suggest Wayne Rooney will be sold in January is nonsense,” said a United spokesman, having contacted Gill over the issue of Rooney’s future. But the reality is that Rooney is on the verge of leaving United, as the latest of their iconic players to fall foul of Fergie and his notoriously combustible temper.

Whilst this all may be a ploy from the player to ensure a bigger wage packet, he might also be realising that Manchester United are not in the greatest position at the moment; with regards to both finance and football. The Glazers are sucking the club dry it seems, and despite turning over a £100m profit last season they still operated with a loss of £83m at the end of the tax year; United are losing £40m a year in interest payments on the Glazers debt alone.

If Rooney were to actually seek pastures new it would be a massive blow for United in terms of continuity. Rooney is set to become the face of Manchester United Football Club. When the old guards of Giggs and Scholes eventually retire United need a leader, they need someone who embodies the club and holds their spirit and identity and this writer thinks that Fergie had Rooney fitted nicely set up to slot into that position.

Vocal interest from Real Madrid has sparked rumours further with Florentino Pérez apparently becoming “obsessed” with signing the Englishman. Ferguson is said to be interested in French forward Karim Benzema who is currently failing to make the cut in the Spanish capital. Jose Mourinho has also welcomed the arrival of Rooney, stating that if Rooney were to come the only problem is who to get rid of, potentially setting up a nice little exchange deal with United.

Despite Wayne having said before that he has no desire to play abroad, a change of scenery might be exactly what he and his family need after all the revelations about his private life. However, those who work closely with Wayne and know him well do not seem to think that he would be suited to living abroad. And let’s be honest, when Federico Macheda came out in the press and said, in a manner of speaking, that Rooney is a “chav”, he was not wrong.

Do we really think Wayne Rooney could cope in a foreign land, learn the language and hold Spanish press conferences? His wife might enjoy the idea of Spain but personally, I think Rooney needs to try and repair his relationship with his club and his manager before he makes any rash decisions. It only takes a quick glimpse at the likes of Ajren Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s time at Real to see that they are a very fickle club and players come and go out of fashion there quite abruptly.

Whatever is happening at Manchester United is demonstrating cause for concern, is Fergie cracking up? Only two newspapers have been allowed into his most recent press conferences and he has been avoiding the media at every opportunity. There is also the worry in his mind that Manchester City are willing to pay whatever it takes to land Rooney’s signature, even up to £300,000 a week, some reports say. Ferguson may be left with two choices – sell Rooney to City for big money or let him away on a free to Real Madrid when his contract runs out. I would not like to be in the press room that day.

Barcelona 2-1 Valencia - And Some Thoughts On Xavi

 Xavi Hernandez shone in Barcelona’s 2-1 victory over Valencia at the weekend but news of his ongoing injury has dampened the victory for the Catalan club, and for football lovers everywhere.

Barça played 4-3-3 as usual but the line-up was populated differently; Messi was in the middle of the front three with David Villa on the left and Iniesta on the right with a midfield of Busquets, Keita and Xavi. Valencia played more of a 4-5-1 with Soldado up front who was never stranded due to the hard work of Fernandes and Pablo H in support.

The midfield heavy nature of Valencia’s game was effective in the first half, they stopped Barcelona playing the football they love and with Iniesta playing higher up the pitch that usual it was more difficult for Guardiola make changes in the midfield to combat their style.

Barcelona have been playing with 3 at the back now and then with Sergio Busquets slotting in between Pique and Puyol however, he was reluctant to drop so deep in this game and that cost Barcelona their first goal. Caught out too high up the pitch, Busquets was taken out of the game with one pass, as were the rest of Barcelona’s back line. A superb run by Mathieu to the goal line followed by a cut back to Pabo H resulted in Valencia taking the lead in Barcelona.

There were no explicit changes made at half time before Barça’s equaliser but, as always, the three up front were making a habit of switching positions in an attempt to confuse the Valencia back line. Messi was unlucky not to score on a couple of occasions and I think it’s safe to say that he’s not quite back to his best just yet, only because his best is absolutely sublime.

But, who is back to their best and possible better than ever in this current Barça side is Xavi. The equaliser came from not only a great run through the middle by Iniesta but a delightful one-two with Xavi in which the number 6 just dinked the ball past Navarro and Costa for Iniesta to his a lovely finish past Cesar.

The winner from the Catalan club couldn’t have been more emphatic. El capitan, Carles Puyol headed a cross into the net like a bullet. His considerable neck bulging with thick coarse veins as he, once again, led his club to victory.

Vincente and David Albelda were brought on for Banaga and Mathieu in an attempt to turn things around for Valencia but their once inspirational captain had very little to offer a Valencia side on the back foot. Albelda is said to be reluctant to re-hash his captaincy role and things are obviously not as stable as they would like at the club. Nevertheless, they currently sit 4^th place in La Liga, joint on points with Villareal and Barcelona. Not a bad return on losing your two best players (Villa and Silva) in summer.

On a sour note Xavi was substituted 13 minutes from time after a recurrence of an achilles injury. There are talks that the midfielder may have to now undergo a Ledley King-style playing schedule since his injury may niggle him for some time. Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola commented: “My feeling is that he won't be able to play week in, week out, but we will see how he is and how the problem evolves over time.”

This is disappointing news for Barcelona because at the moment they are able to play Iniesta upfront allowing Messi to play in the middle and then Villa on the left. If Iniesta has to drop back to play in the midfield due to Xavi’s absence then it means either Pedro or Bojan will have to start on the flanks; probably the left, pushing Villa into the middle with Messi on the right. Otherwise Barcelona will lose their crucial creativity in the midfield.

With all due respect to Keita and Busquets they can certainly do a job but would I like to rely on them for the season? Not really. As for Mascherano, well, he’s a tackler not a passer. My only worry is that Bojan and Pedro, while they are superb young players, I’m not sure Guardiola can rely on them to perform to the highest level every single week.

Despite what the Daily Mail think, Xavi is the perfect player; he can push forward when needed but he usually has the mindfulness to take a step back and prop up the attack from deep usually confusing defences and forcing them to play deeper themselves or risk being outdone by Messi or Villa’s pace.