Arsenal need a season in the Spanish League

Arsenal need a season in the Spanish League

By Myles Palmer

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THIS is a time of torment for Arsene.

He is bottom of the Champions League without a win and top of the English League, unbeaten.

The Telegraph compares his refusal to accept the inevitable with Comical Ali, the Iraqi Minister of Information who amused the world by insisting there were no U.S.tanks in Baghdad, even as tanks appeared over his shoulder.

He has just lost Vieira for 2 more weeks, has suspensions coming up, and he has pundits like me telling him that Wiltord is not good enough to play for Arsenal, never has been, never will be.

So it's an agonising time for him.

ARSENE is a guy with a lot of emotional stamina, a tough character who can absorb a lot of heavy punches, and he is an indefatigable optimist.

One of the lines I regret leaving out of The Professor was, "I'm always angry when we lose. You feel responsible."

I remember being there when he said that, but I could not pin it to a match.

And in the rush to meet my deadline, and to cut 100,000 words out of the overlong manuscript, I forgot to include that line in my conclusion.

ARSENAL'S PERFORMANCE in Kiev was better than the result.

Over the last six years in the Champions League, this was their best performance in a defeat.

But a slip by Edu and a double blunder by Lehmann cost them two goals and three points.

I believed that Arsenal would win by one goal. But they lost by one goal.

But Kiev are a fine team and they might be one of the ambush teams of the CL, along with Stuttgart.

Last season's Premiership was made interesting by the ambush teams- Everton,Southampton- who were able to beat the big boys and keep a run going.

This season, Kiev and Stuttgart might do the same and give Juventus, Real Madrid and Man United something to think about.

UNFORTUNATELY, THE PREMIERSHIP Is a league full of poor teams who don't play imaginative football.

Playing against crap teams every week doesnt help you.

THE PREMIERSHIP is far less interesting to watch than the Spanish League because the level of craftsmanship is inferior, and the level of coaching is far lower.

The mid-table managers all play with belt and braces football, never having a go at the big boys,accepting their status.

STRACHAN wanted to avoid humiliation in the FA Cup Final, Curbs is happy at Charlton because there is no pressure, McClaren is a dull man who has produced a dull team, Robson has too many cowboys who horrify Shearer, O'Leary and Doug Ellis deserve each other, and Houllier looks like a manager Michael Owen does not believe in.

If Owen had faith, he would sign a new contract. But he won't.

So the league that Arsenal play in does them no favours.

It makes their stars think that they can beat anybody.

But then they go up into a higher level of competition and find that their narrow,pace-based style is too predictable and can be nullified by canny tacticians like Cuper, Koeman and Capello.

It's a shame that Arsenal can't have a season in the Primera Liga, playing against teams that play varied football, using far more gears and far more angles.

They would learn a lot and be better equipped for the Champions League than they are now.

THe CHAMPIONS LEAGUE is an exciting competition - and I look forward to the day when Arsenal can really be part of it.

Milan and Lazio took a lot out of each other last Sunday and that's why they lost to Bruges and Chelsea respectively.

Chelsea have tough games now.Lazio and Besiktas away, Sparta Prague at home.

As you'll recall, Arsenal got a 1-1 draw away to Lazio, the night Pires scored his first goal for the club. And what a superb goal it was !

LYON AND BAYERN was a terrific game between the French champions and the Germans champions and the first goal in that 1-1 draw was scored by Roy Makaay, a player I hoped Arsene would sign when Tenerife were relegated.

Ballack's pass to Makaay was the most sublime assist of the CL so far.

But the Pires pass to Henry for the goal wasn't bad either.

Some people might have thought that was a shot.

But with Pires you know that he saw Henry and whipped the ball to him as fast as he could, knowing that Thierry was expecting the ball and could kill it and bury it, which he did very sweetly.

24th October 2003

P.S. Late on Tuesday night I had a phone call to say that Arsenal have signed two players.

They've been to Highbury, seen Colney, and signed. But nobody knows who they are.

If one of them is Samuel Eto'o,perfect.

Eto'o is Ian Wright without the attitude, without the aggro, without the star trip.

Eto'o would fit into Arsene's style - fast as an arrow, brave as a lion, a bionic warrior who has the aggression to complement the French finesse.

Henry would not outsprint Eto'o and isolate himself.

And Eto'o is a star in the Spanish League. So he knows the game.