What a poor poor game. Our second string played like they were playing for nothing – which in fact, we were – and Everton were even more terrible. I was left at times just pleading for Everton to do something, anything, to wake the Arse players from their slumber. What we were left with was a extremely pedestrian 1-0 victory, courtesy of a nice little header from Bendtner. I do like his jumps. Like that thumper against Spurs. We could’ve done with more such pedestrian 1-0 victories, against Ass Brum, Boro, Villa, Wigan, etc etc etc. As it stands, our last 1-0 victory was against…guess…guess…guess…Chelski in December. Man, after that game, I thought we were in great Championship shape.
Despite Bendtner having a good game, I am still not terribly convinced that he’s at his most effective between Ade and our midfield. Perhaps if we had Flamini and Cesc on the pitch, he’d have had more freedom, but on Sunday, he looked kinda stilted/constrained. As it was, Ade was totally left out of the game, unaided by Denilson and Gilberto. Ah, on these two, I think it’s safe to say that Denilson ain’t Cesc (yet) and Gilberto ain’t Flamini (anymore). The camera panned onto our players sitting out the game, and from left to right, we had Hleb, Cesc, Flamini and Rosicky. Funny, I thought…aren’t those our main dudes? Who’s on the pitch man? Oh right, forgot. That twit who grows twittier and more irritating by the day…Eboue. He’s got real problems, and Le Boss has to look at it quite carefully in the off season.
Other positive notes though. Song looked really comfortable all day long. That was probably because Everton were total crap without Arteta and Cahill, but with a few good games up his sleeves, it should be good for his confidence. He’s surprised me these few games. Gallas had a good game too, though again, I’d put this down to a crap Everton effort as well. Clichy was ultra reliable as always. Theo was good in spurts, though he looks out of position on the left. He should be up front, or even in Eboue’s place on the right.
Let’s hope next Sunday will offer a little bit more entertainment. It was a pity for the fans that the last game of the season at the Emirates was a dud. The players should at least lift themselves for the traveling fans at the Stadium of Light.
On to more important, longer-term issues. The more I think of it, the more I see the off season as the definitive determinant of what next season will bring. These are revolutionary times. Let’s see who’s likely on the out list (not even including Hleb): Gilberto, Lehmann, Senderos, Flamini. The last of our Invincibles are Toure and Clichy (who I must add was like a baby in 2003-4). A Senderos departure will be a bit sad, no doubt. It’d be key who comes in. There’s talk of Kranjcar, that Aussie Milligan, and now this chappie Makoun. We really need to solidify that spine, and once we do, I am in no doubt we’ll go into next season in really good shape. We’ve already got good foundations – having only lost three times this season -- and we can really build on that.
My last ever words on the Flamini affair: What has made it more painful than it should have been was the protracted nature of it. That was not on by a long shot. So, as Ann Robinson would say: “You did let us down, good bye.” Let’s remember, this ain’t the end of the world, for sure. Flamini hadn’t really won anything with us in his short stay. He came in the summer of 2004, and didn’t even feature in our FA Cup winning team in 2005. So I’d say his value has only skyrocketed through the run to the Champions League final in 2006, and this season. (Otherwise, Arsene would have renegotiated something else earlier on. Haha!) And by no means has he "stunned" Arsenal with his leaving. Sheesh.
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