Given Joey Barton was on the pitch, there was always the chance that there’d be some controversy, particularly after he started the collapse last season in helping get Abou Diaby sent off. Somehow, that man annoys Arsenal to the point of petulance, which the modern Arsenal doesn’t usually show.
In 2008, Samir Nasri was new to the Premier League and had a run-in with Barton at the Emirates. It ended with Nasri tripping over the Newcastle man off the ball. Last season, when we were 4-0 up, Barton put in a needlessly strong tackle that brought an overreaction from Diaby that got him sent off. Unfortunately, the same happened on Saturday with Barton provoking reactions from Arsenal players.
In the second half, Alex Song dispossessed Barton near the half way line and appeared to be fouled. With Barton on the floor, Song stamped on him. Being honest, my initial thought on seeing the incident was that I couldn’t blame him. However, it was stupid of Song to lower himself to Barton’s level and risk a sending off in an important game. Whereas Song’s act on the face of it didn’t look to be seriously provoked by Barton, the second key incident involving the Newcastle midfielder was because of his own over-reaction.
On his competitive debut, Gervinho generally looked lively and caused the Newcastle defence a number of problems. As the game neared its conclusion, he went on a good run into the box down the left, cut inside Tiote and went down. His fall did look exaggerated, but he was caught by Tiote and had both feet off the floor when it happened, so the fall was more justified. In other words, it should have been a penalty.
After a spot kick wasn’t awarded by Peter Walton, Joey Barton thought the Ivorian had dived to try and win a penalty. He yanked Gervinho’s shirt to pull him off the floor and started an unsightly scuffle as he very impolitely tried to convey his (wrong) view. Surrounded by three Newcastle players, Gervinho stuck out a hand and slapped Barton around the top of the head. Immediately Barton fell to the floor as if he’d been on the end of a right hook from a heavyweight boxer. Again, my initial reaction was that I couldn’t blame Gervinho for slapping him, and a small part of me wished he’d hit him harder. On reflection, like Alex Song’s stamp, it was a stupid and needless slap that was always going to risk a sending off. It was inexperience from Gervinho and an eye-opener for him about the reality of the Premier League.
I can in no way condone what Gervinho or Song did, and it’s massively frustrating that the Ivorian will miss games against Liverpool and Manchester United this month because of it. Song could also be retrospectively punished and miss important matches. It’s made more frustrating that Barton was looking for a reaction. As with Diaby last season, he knew what he was doing and will view the sending off as a success. Arsenal in recent years have needed to show more fight, but not in the sense Song and Gervinho showed on Saturday. There’s being aggressive, and then there’s being petulant and stupid whilst putting your team at risk. It’s good to see the players not accepting Barton trying to bully them, but the response was wrong as they stooped to Barton’s level. Somehow that aggression needs to be channelled differently and more effectively to help the side.
Having said that, not reacting to Barton is difficult. With the Gervinho incident, he was aggressively questioning the integrity of Gervinho by suggesting he dived, when Gervinho hadn’t done so. It wasn’t like Gervinho was running round screaming at the referee for a penalty, he was just lying on the ground and beginning to get up when Barton set upon him. Plus, if Barton is so anti-diving, why did he throw himself to the floor and claim a punch when Gervinho lightly slapped him. It was disgraceful behaviour that should have seen him sent off as well. I think he’s a nasty piece of work, and if anyone seriously thinks he should join Arsenal, then I’d question how you think in any way he’d improve the morale and the mood in the dressing room. I also don’t think he’s a very good player, so we should stay as far away from him as possible.
Without the Barton incidents, there isn’t too much to talk about from the game. We defended quite well and limited the hosts’ chances well. Hopefully this one good defensive performance won’t make Arsene Wenger think that we don’t need a centre back, because we clearly still do.
Attacking wise, we unfortunately did miss Fabregas. The final pass was missing on a number of occasions, and Fabregas has so often been the provider of that in the past. That might improve when Jack Wilshere returns from injury, but it is a concern that we couldn’t create clear cut chances for Robin van Persie. If the Dutchman doesn’t get the right service, he has a tendency to drop into midfield to get the ball, and then leave us short of players in the middle when the ball gets towards the box. With better service, he’ll stay upfront and therefore we’ll score more with his clinical finishing.
At the time of writing, Samir Nasri is still an Arsenal player. However should he leave along with Cesc Fabregas, then we need to sign an attacking midfield with the ability to provide chances for van Persie to score. Being honest, I don’t know who that could be as that sort of quality player is hard to find, making the loss of Fabregas and the relatively low price even more annoying.
Just to give some context, I’d already drafted this blog post last night, just before news broke that Arsenal had agreed a fee with Barcelona for the sale of Cesc Fabregas. I wasn’t initially going to dwell too much on his departure, however it’s tough to see your captain leave the club, and it’s happened too many times in recent seasons.
Fabregas was a great player for the club, and was always likely to return to Barcelona at some point. It could have happened in previous summers, but even though it was expected this year, it’s still massively disappointing and gut wrenching. I thought I was prepared for it, but now it’s happened, it really hurts to see him go. Even when the likes of Henry and Vieira went, it wasn’t as hard as we knew they’d given a massive amount to the club and that their powers were declining. Unfortunately, Fabregas has gone with his best years still in front of him. At 24, he was only going to improve further, and now that won’t happen at Arsenal. That arguably won’t happen at Barcelona either as he will struggle to get into the midfield three of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.
I don’t want to get too nostalgic about Fabregas as we need to try and forget him and move on, but there are a few memories of him that stick out for me that deserve a mention. The 2004 Community Shield against Manchester United, which Arsenal won 3-1, saw Fabregas, complete with a mullet, dominate the match from midfield at the age of 17 when up against Roy Keane. Later that year, he was apparently the man who threw pizza over Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, instantly making him popular amongst Gooners. He was epic in the Champions League match at Highbury in 2006 against Juventus, went on a fantastic scoring run at the start of 2007/08 and took on the armband in 2008, winning his first match as captain 1-0 against Dynamo Kiev.
In 2009/10, two games stand out. The 3-0 victory over Tottenham at the Emirates saw Fabregas score straight after we’d taken the lead by winning the ball from kick off and running through to finish past Gomes. The reaction of Cesc and the fans to that goal was immense. That season also saw his best cameo in an Arsenal shirt. We were drawing 0-0 with Aston Villa when Cesc came on, returning from injury. He was only on the pitch for less than half an hour, but when he went off with a recurring hamstring injury, we were 2-0 up, after Cesc scored both goals. Finally, from last season, it’s hard to look past the Barcelona match at home. It wasn’t a vintage Cesc performance, but he contributed to the winning goal and looked chuffed to get one over his home town team.
I’m certain all true Arsenal fans will thank Cesc wholeheartedly for some of the great moments he gave us over eight years, and how great it was to see such a fantastic player at the club. We all wish him the best for the future. However, I don’t think I’m alone by not wishing his new club the best. Their pursuit of him has left a nasty taste among Arsenal fans, and should we meet them again soon, it’s a taste that could reappear.
After a fairly uninspiring start at St James’ Park, we now face a crucial Champions League tie. If we are going to sign new players, being in the Champions League could be a deciding factor for those players and the club, with the money that would come in from qualifying.
Udinese travel to the Emirates after finishing fourth in Serie A last season. No Italian team who finishes in the top four can be underestimated; however they have also lost key players this summer. The first leg will be made more difficult with Robin van Persie missing through suspension, meaning there will be a lot of pressure on Marouane Chamakh to somehow return to the form he showed at the start of last season. Jack Wilshere could also be missing through injury, and Nasri is suspended.
A good result on Tuesday will help the team gain confidence ahead of next weekend’s clash with Liverpool, and will allow us to rotate the squad in the second leg ahead of Manchester United at the end of August. With the sale of Fabregas completed, fans need the feel-good factor to return, and Udinese provides a challenge, but the perfect chance to make people proud to wear the red and white again.
Thanks for everything Cesc. Now it’s time to forget our former captain, starting with Udinese on Tuesday.
Source: Sam Limbert, ESPN Soccernet on 16 Aug 11
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