Dour

By Boris Mellor
November 14 2008

Just a reminder to Arsenal fans and the team, we owe Villa big time. The fans should show up for this, Walcott said the fans were brilliant against United, the best he has ever heard. No booing players you don't like, no mumbling and groaning get stuck in. So let's not just sit back and relax, urge the team on as you did against Man Utd - it worked did it not?   So why do we owe Villa? Well apart from fact I do not like O'Neil sticking his nose into Wenger's business over Stoke, there is the issue of the fans. Last season they came to Arsenal and mocked Eduardo's injury, they are a disgrace.  Add to that some of their in your face football last season, including Carew's foul on Hleb, then we owe them a footballing lesson.

I just hope the team does not throw away all the good work it did against Man Utd, and realises the key to the victory was hard work. There is talk of fitness tests on a few players, including Adebayor, but why change a winning team? The team that beat United deserves to be picked again, even Nick should get another go. Those that missed out should have to fight for their place.

Which reminds me what an idiot RvP is, he missed out on the greatest match of the season, but what worries me more is that without him the midfield was so much better. If Wenger sticks to 4-5-1 then Diaby is far more effective than RvP. For the first time in a while, the formation provided a dynamic engine room, but in a way that was an accident.

 For if Ade or RvP had been available maybe Wenger would have used a different formation, certainly the personnel would have been different. So if we assume he had still changed to 4-5-1, but with RvP or Ade included would the team have been as effective? We will never know, but anyhow why change a winning team.

I can only see one valid reason for changing a player, and that is Nick, not because of his form, but because he is carrying an injury. However swapping a possibly unfit Ade, for an unfit Bendtner is a zero sum game. Either way it will not affect the formation.

As I said in last week's report one reason that 4-5-1 worked was that Utd are an attacking team. Villa are at present in the midst of a bad spell, having lost two in a row, the sort of thing that would be considered a crisis if it was Arsenal. If O'Neil wants to get back on track, he may feel that an attacking option would be foolhardy, and he has plenty of experience of providing dour 10 men behind the ball teams.

If Villa come for a draw then 4-5-1 may need to change, but carried out in the right way it can provide plenty of back up in attack, as Nasri proved against United. Keep that up and no one will be missing the Belarus Orbital.

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