SOCCER ANGLES:Having lost Cesc Fabergas and Samir Nasri in the transfer window and with his side still recovering from that 8-2 loss, today's game against Swansea City could well define Arsene Wenger's season
SWANSEA CITY at home in the first game of September – and it’s a big match? Twelve months ago an Arsenal fan would have been close to dumbfounded by the proposition that their game today is some sort of ‘moment’ in the club’s modern history.
But 12 months ago, though there were already doubts about the Arsenal direction under Arsene Wenger, there was still underlying faith. There still is to an extent, but 12 months ago there was still Cesc Fabregas, and Samir Nasri. Twelve months ago Arsenal had not lost their previous Premier League match 8-2 at Manchester United.
After the international hiatus, during which it was easy to forget to remember that 8-2 humiliation, the Premier League returns with a boom this weekend.
There is intrigue today wherever you look. It is the first set of fixtures after the closure of a dramatic transfer window during which more than €465m was spent in the Premier League.
Big-spending Liverpool go to big-spending Stoke City, where there could be debuts for Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios and Cameron Jerome for the home team, and Craig Bellamy could mark his return to Liverpool red. There is also Steven Gerrard – “not far away” – according to Kenny Dalglish.
Even a game like Wolves-Tottenham, which might not have had the neutral salivating when the fixtures were published in June, has a fresh interest due to the late, late arrival of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor at White Hart Lane.
Then there’s Luka Modric. How’s his head?
Spurs go to Molineux bottom of the table after two defeats to the Manchester clubs at the top of it. Should Wolves win, Mick McCarthy’s team will have a quarter of the 40 points that kept them up last season.
Everton v Aston Villa is another with something on it due to the transfer window. Alan Hutton and Jermaine Jenas are at Villa, part of the clear-out at Spurs, while at Goodison Park, an hour before kick-off, there will be a march against “stagnation” organised by the Blue Union supporters group.
Everton fans’ concern was evident well before Mikel Arteta informed David Moyes on the last night of the transfer window that he’d like to leave as Arsenal were on the phone.
It turned out that Arteta’s parting gift was a converted injury-time penalty kick for Everton at Ewood Park a fortnight ago. Even the official Everton website called the 1-0 victory “improbable”.
Arteta, 29, joined Everton from Rangers six and a half years ago. It is equally improbable that he was replacing a player just departed for Real Madrid – Thomas Gravesen. Arteta did more than replace Gravesen, he brought cultured passing and creativity and Everton finished fourth in the Premier League four months after his initial loan signing.
That was soon a €2.3m permanent move; now he has cost Arsenal around €12m to €14m.
Perhaps feeling isolated by that 8-2 result at Old Trafford, Wenger yielded to the calls for him to spend and Arteta joined Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu-Young at Ashburton Grove. Yossi Benayoun is another new face, on loan from Chelsea.
With Gervinho already on the premises, Thomas Vermaelen and Jack Wilshere injured, this could be a radically different looking Arsenal XI that starts against Swansea today. Is it really a line-up that Wenger could have foreseen? Haphazard is not a word we associate with Wenger but sometimes team-building benefits from circumstance. Had Dion Dublin not broken a leg early in his Manchester United career, Alex Ferguson might not have brought in Eric Cantona.
Ferguson wanted David Hirst.
Then Leeds United rang to ask if they could buy Denis Irwin. Ferguson said ‘No’ but enquired about Cantona. Leeds said ‘Yes’. The rest is history.
Who knew the drama and momentum Cantona would bring to United? Who knows what Arteta will bring to Arsenal? What he is sure of, though, is that he is not the new Fabregas or Nasri.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘replacement’,” Arteta has been quick to state. “They were two top players for the club. They did really, really well in the last few years and we’ve now got some new players coming in to try to make the same impact. I am sure we will. We need some time to adapt as well.”
Time to adapt. It is not a phrase you hear often at Arsenal, who have seven games across three competitions in 22 days until the next international break.
But they should at least begin with a tension-easing win against Swansea. That would bring some sense of renewal to take to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The problem for Wenger is if Arsenal don’t win today, if the new faces do need more time to adapt, if that 8-2 defeat has left scars on the squad.
Swansea City at home in early September: it’s a big game for The Arsenal.
BRUCE NEEDS BENDTNER TO SHINE AT THE STADIUM OF LIGHT
ANOTHERof those gone from Arsenal, though for the reason that he is no longer wanted, is Nicklas Bendtner. The 23-year-old Dane has joined Sunderland on loan and how manager Steve Bruce could do with Bendtner being angry about it.
Sunderland have scored once this season and that was on August 13th. At Swansea in their last game, Asamoah Gyan played like his head was elsewhere and Bruce does not seem to think that 18-year-old Connor Wickham is ready despite an £8m initial outlay.
So Bendtner should start against Chelsea today and Bruce will be hopeful that this evening is all about the contrast between Bendtner and Fernando Torres. Bendtner warmed up with two goals for Denmark in midweek and an accomplished all-round performance. Torres was dropped by Spain.
Bruce does not like the pressure he is under on Wearside so early in the season, but Sunderland have won once at home since January. The Stadium of Light needs a hero.
IRISHreporting colleagues are always amused/bemused by the excitable nature of their English colleagues as soon as England have one good result – it'd never happen in Ireland, of course.
After winning in Bulgaria last Friday, one headline the day of England’s next game – on Tuesday against Wales – was “Canny Capello Learning From His Errors”. The next morning in the same paper it was: “Great Escape”. And the next morning? “Capello’s Clearout”.
False hope, reality, pessimism. Sound familiar? England, by the way, beat Wales 1-0. It was a sharp goal, too, from Ashley Young, who’s had some start to the season. That got a bit lost.
