Eduardo – “it’s like 2007/08”…..

Morning all.

There’s a brilliant article in The Athletic today which is written by Jordan Campbell. At least I think it’s brilliant. The piece is based on an interview with Eduardo, the striker robbed of a great Arsenal career because of a reckless challenge made by then Birmingham player, Martin Taylor. The year was 2008, the month February when Arsenal were top of the League and looking favourites to lift the Premier League trophy.

Arsene Wenger had Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott, Eduardo, Nicklas Bendtner and midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky as his attacking unit and the goals were being shared around. A bit like today’s team really which is the point Eduardo makes in the interview.

There have been some superstars who have signed, but I don’t think this is a club built for superstars. The last one was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but that didn’t work out. They don’t rely on one or two players. Everyone can be a game-winner, even if that is the defenders scoring. Mikel Arteta has got them working as a team and not as individuals. It is about hard work and the dressing room being together.

It’s quite interesting I think because once Arsene Wenger started signing so called superstars, Arsenal weren’t as good. Arsene made struggling players better, younger players very good. Of course many of them would in all likelihood succeeded wherever they went but, For Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, they were great. Superstars can be self-centred, arrogant and play for their own gain rather than that of the team. We all know Arsene inherited a great back five, a few work horses as well as Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright but I’ll be honest, I’d not heard of most of the players he signed during his first few years at the club.

Fast forward to now, superstars don’t seem to be on the club’s agenda. The press might try and convince us that they are but so far, it’s not happened. In fact it’s been the opposite really as the big names, the so called superstars, have gone. It’s almost like Mikel Arteta wants to work with players who are more like himself, not the greatest player there’s ever been, but a dependable one who won’t shirk responsibility.

Eduardo goes on to say:

Watching Arsenal play reminds me of my team under Wenger. They are on the same road as we were in 2007-08. Then, the whole world used to say that, apart from Barcelona, Arsenal played the most beautiful football — and they are doing that again now.

Arsenal we’re playing really well until that brutal challenge on Eduardo but the next few matches didn’t go so well as Arsenal lost to both Chelsea and Man Utd and dropped two points in the fixtures against Liverpool, Wigan, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. We ended up in 3rd place, four points behind Utd and two points behind Chelsea.

I don’t think we’ll end up 3rd this season, although it’s not mathematically out of the equation but I just can’t see this Arsenal team surrendering a 19 point lead which is what we currently have over Newcastle Utd. I’d probably feel more confident of hanging on to our 8 point lead over Man City if William Saliba was fit and City weren’t in the kind of form they’re in right now. Our fixtures are the tough too, tougher than City’s although they have a lot more games to play. Liverpool, City and Newcastle Utd away? I don’t think they get tougher than that.

But, at the beginning of the season, I feared Arsenal going to Brentford, Crystal Palace and Brighton because of what happened last season. Yes, Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko had joined the club but would they really have ‘that big’ an impact? As for Fabio Vieira and Marquinhos, I’d never seen either of them play before. Jesus and Zinchenko did have an instant impact on the team, beyond anything I could imagine really. Then, when Leandro Trossard and Jorginho arrived in January, if there was any tears cried shed over not signing Mudryk or Caicedo, I’m pretty sure they were soon dried because both have been very good, Trossard, exceptional I think.

But what’s been pretty special I think is how we as a club have coped when injuries have hit which Eduardo also touches on in his interview. When the going has got tough, Arsenal have on more occasions than not, got going. But that’s because of the type of players the club has brought in. For the next few matches it’s Rob Holding’s turn to show he can stand up to a Liverpool attack. Probably a West Ham and Southampton attack too unless Saliba is suddenly declared fit.

At least we know he’ll try….