Gunners fail to grasp festive customs

IT appears the Gunners foreign contingent have yet to get to grips with our festive customs.

Evidently they’ve failed to understand that tradition has the turkey getting stuffed, not them! We were fortunate to come away from our trip to Vicarage Road with all three points and there’s no denying that compared to his brilliant displays earlier in the season, the likes of Fabregas were beginning to look a little jaded.

There would’ve been some consolation to blowing the points at Bramall Lane, if we’d returned for the Charlton fixture somewhat refreshed. Instead of which, we’ve ended up losing ground on the likes of Bolton and Liverpool and having been forced to send Cesc on as a sub, to chase the game — Fab’s ended up no less knackered than if he’d played the entire 90.

Perhaps most worrying of all, it was Cesc’s desperate desire to rescue a result that was responsible for the senseless tackle, for which he deservedly had his name taken, but which could end up costing us our FA Cup aspirations, with our best player subsequently suspended for our third round trip to Anfield.

It’s all too easy to be wise after the event. Yet following on from our disastrous result at Craven Cottage, surely Arsène must be aware of the cause and effect psychological consequences of selecting a weakened side. You can be darn sure that Warnock will have made the most of this apparent show of disrespect, as a motivational tool to fire up his troops.

It was ironic to hear that Anthony Stokes had scored yet another hat-trick earlier in the afternoon. Personally I’ve not seen enough of the young Dubliner to pass judgement, as he’s never played in his preferred striking role in the few reserve team outings I’ve witnessed. According to rumour, Wenger will be cashing in on his prolific spell at Falkirk, by flogging him in the transfer window.

However considering Stokes currently sits atop the SPL scoring charts, I’m fairly certain he’d have proved far more suited to the unforgiving conditions and the physical nature of the battle at Bramall Lane, than an almost anonymous Aliadière.

Also you’d imagine Baptista would’ve been the ideal choice up front in such a muscular contest, since “the Beast” is built like the proverbial brick out-house. Yet no matter how much time he’s given, I am not convinced Julio’s ever going to adapt to the Premiership and I’m not certain he wants to.

One difference between playing in the Premiership and La Liga is whereas in Spain Baptista would often have time to control the ball and look up to consider his options, there’s no such luxury in this sort of breakneck encounter.

If I was left with one enduring image from our defeat at Bramall Lane, it was the sight of Baptista sitting on his backside in the mud, looking more like a dispossessed baba than a Beast, wondering what on earth he was doing there.

I can’t remember the last time Kolo Touré had such a stinker, nor can I ever recall the brawny Ivorian being outmuscled by an opposition striker. Sadly, such rare mistakes from our most reliable centre-back were all the more likely to prove costly with Justin Hoyte at right-back.

I’ve been prepared to cut Hoyte plenty of slack because I’m so desperate to see at least one homegrown youngster in this Arsenal side. But there comes a point where even I have to admit that, defensively, Hoyte just can’t cut the mustard.

Mercifully the long-awaited return of Lauren should restore some much needed stability to the right side of our defence and when you add the experience of Gallas to this mix, hopefully we’ll once again have the sort of solid backline, which would’ve at least got away with a clean sheet and a point from Saturday’s lacklustre display.

If I’ve one realistic wish for the New Year, it is for the return of a reinvigorated Thierry Henry, whose potency at the other end of the pitch would ensure that any defensive inadequacies pale into insignificance.

I was hoping we might be in for a game of “three and in” when Jagielka put on the keeper’s jersey and I’m not surprised Lehmann eventually went up for the last corner as, like me, he must have been baying for us to at least test the stand-in keeper, with a shot on target. One newspaper it was described as “a brilliant, pulsating night”, but personally I prefer my football to be foie gras rather than Sheffield’s high-spirited but ultimately stodgy porridge.

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