Not a great sign, is it?

Our season kicks off in a few hours and we are already suffering from our first injury crisis. Put in mind our already thin roster, and this should come as a major cause for concern. Wenger did say last week that he only dip into the transfer market if we have another midfield injury …. and right on cue, Fabregas is out for the rest of the month!

So far we have Fabregas, Rosicky, Eduardo, Diaby, Toure, Senderos, and Nasri out. If fit, that would probably all our first team midfielders, and 1 of our strikers. Can it get any worse? Actually yes, With ManU almost signing Berbatov … Chelsea going for Robinho after getting Deco ….. Liverpool adding Keane …. our transfers so far have been 17 year old Ramsey and 21 year old Nasri. (spurs didn’t do too bad in their signings either)

Anyway back to the game at hand. FC Twente came in a very respectable 4th place last season in the Eredivisie, which meant they qualified for the Champions League playoff, where they breezed past 3rd place NAC Bredain with an 8-1 aggregate score, and then surprised many in defeating the heavy favourites Ajax, winning 2-1.

Those games were played at the end of last season, and since then there have been a few changes, most notably is Engelaar’s (the really tall player who dominated in the Dutch euro 08 team) move to Schalke. Their other playmaker, Karim El Ahmadi, went to Feyenoord.

This year in preparation, they played 9 friendly games, won 8 of them, and drew 1. The level of their competition in those friendlies isn’t really worrying for us. Actually the only decent competition they had was against Olympiacos (2-0), Ankaraspor (2-0), and Armenia Bielefeld (0-0), the rest was all lower division teams.

They recently hired ex-England manager McClaren as their new man, and it is yet to be seen if he will bring them any success this season. His record against Wenger isn’t the best, and what stands out are the 4-0, 4-0, 5-3, and 7-0 wins!

Their main threat will probably be their striker Kufo, who has a really great scoring record for them having scored 85 in 155 games, which is a very respectable 55% scoring rate! He was also the second top scorer in the Eridivisie last year with 22 goals, and was the scorer of both goals against Ajax in the 2-1 playoff win.

For Arsenal, most of the work will have to be done by our strikers in my opinion. With our second string midfield playing, our guys up front will have to try and make the most of the chances they get. I still don’t think it will be a tough game, and considering McClaren is in charge and his woeful history.

My predicted team selection -

Almunia

Sagna      Djourou      Gallas     Clichy

Eboue     Denilson     Ramsey     Walcott

VanPersie     Adebayor

I also think Vela and Bendtner will have a chance to show their stuff later during the game. I predict a 3-0 win.

Last night, we just didn’t do enough. A 0-0 draw is not the worst result in the world but it is the lost opportunities that frustrated more than anything. We almost totally dominated Milan, and we had the perfect opportunity to finish them off at home before a really tough game at the San Siro … and we failed.

The game was decent, and our midfield was superb, while our defending was even better. The finishing was off for the night, and I don’t just mean Adebayor. Eduardo, Fabregas, Eboue, Walcott all had very decent chances that were wasted, or fluffed to be more accurate. If I remember correctly, every single shot we had was at the same exact spot, almost straight at the keeper. That was very frustrating!

Our last chance of the game pretty much sums up our night. In the 93rd minute, Adebayor ’s header from less than 5 yards away hit the crossbar.

Contrary to what I said in the preview of the game, Milan’s defence proved to be the strongest part of the team yesterday. Nesta and Maldini were brilliant in annoying Adebayor and not giving him enough space. Thats not to say we didn’t create openings, because we did … quite a few. Any other day and we would have scored at least 2, but that wasn’t the case last night.

Pato was ineffective alone against Gallas and Senderos, who came in for the injured Toure. In the second half, Pato gave up on breaking the back two and started drifting right and left and was again faced with Clichy and Sagna who did well defensively and offensively. In midfield Hleb did a brilliant job in containing Pirlo, who’s only contribution as far as I can remember is two wasted long distance free kicks. Flamini and Fabregas handled Kaka perfectly, although Fabregas had a poor game yet again going forward. On the other hand, Eboue had an excellent game going forward, created a few chances with decent crosses and maneuvering his way into the area more than once.

It was a joy watching the Gattuso Flamini contest. Both of them were like machines, moving around everywhere, and surprisingly Gattuso had most passes in Milan and not so surprisingly covered more ground than anyone.

There are two positives we should take from the game -

1. The main positive about the game is that our boys can feel confident in their abilities ahead of the away leg in two weeks time. They know that they totally outplayed a full Milan side and that can only add on their confidence and desire.
2. Milan didn’t score, which is always good as a home team. The away goals could prove decisive in Milan.

We need to forget the game and focus on the upcoming game against Birmingham on Saturday. It is more important than the Milan game and is 1 of the remaining 12 games for the title race.

I will go ahead and say it first, I think Milan will qualify. I think this was the worst team we could meet.

We have a wonderful team and we should be proud of what they have done this year so far. I’ve said it before, our team is the team of the future. As long as we keep the core of the team (Fabregas, Hleb, Flamini, Adebayor, Van Persie, Sagna, Clichy, Senderos, Toure) for the next 2 or 3 years, we should be unstoppable! The average age for the 9 I mentioned is 24.1 years, so in 3 years, they will have enough maturity, experience, and time to gel and will be at their peak of 27 years. We should easily compete for the Champions League as well as every domestic competition with no problems! Until then, this is a ride that we should try to enjoy to the maximum. Any major trophy before then is a bonus.

Milan, on the other hand, have the perfect mix of experience and youth. I know they have had a mixed season at best in the Serie A, but people seem to miss a few facts.

1. Since November, they have lost only 1 game in 18 in the league and Champions League.
2. They have been in 3 of the last 5 Champions League finals and won 2. 03, 05, 07.
3. When they reached the final in 03, they finished 3rd in the league, in 05 they ended 2nd, and last year they were 4th. Liverpool won the Champions League when they were 5th in the league.
4. They added Pato in the January transfer window. The 19 year old scored 4 goals in 6 games since he first joined. He is fit for the game.

The point of the above is that many people seem to write them off for having a bad season domestically and because they are too old. Both things are not true. Domestic form is not related in any way to the Champions League form. In fact, I don’t remember teams winning both the CL and the league except for Porto, which isn’t a magnificent feat considering their league. As for age, they are experienced, not old.

In terms of injuries, Milan have Kaka back, Pato back, Seedorf might play, and Gattuso is back. Their only worry is their keeper, which I’m sure they can live with, and Ronaldo, who could have a career ending injury.

I am not too worried about their defence. Nesta, Maldini, Cafu, Oddo, Kaladze, and Favalli have an average of 34 years old. They are mostly great names, but they are beatable at this stage of their career.

Their midfield is the main killer. If they field Gattuso, Pirlo, Kaka, and Seedorf, then we are playing against the best and most balanced midfield line in the world if you ask me. Kaka is deservedly world player of the year, and he can kill any team with his counter attacks and long distance shooting, he is also the team’s top scorer. Pirlo makes free kicks seem as easy as penalties. He has a magic touch with his passing too. Gattuso is the type of player all defensive midfielders want to emulate, he is the the Italian older Flamini. Seedorf is very much underestimated, his movement off the ball and his short neat passes go unnoticed. They also have Emerson and Gourcuff, who has been linked to us recently.

Up front, Pato, Inzaghi, and Gilardino are always a threat. Inzaghi is the most annoying player in the world for defenders. He is not too quick, not too skilfull, not too pretty to watch, but is ALWAYS at the right place at the right time. He is the all time top scorer in UEFA’s history with 63 goals. Pato is one of the world’s most gifted youngsters, and Milan’s saviour according to most. The start of his career is showing that at 19, he is not intimidated at all and is showing glimpses of greatness already with 4 goals in 6. Gilardino is not bad, he scored 7 so far in the league, but I never saw him as an exceptional striker.

All in all, I think it will be a great game tactically, and Wenger needs to play his cards perfectly to beat out their experienced team. I’m not saying it can’t happen, I just don’t think it is as easy as many people seem to think!