It doesn’t take long does it, just because Milan got one over us in midweek, Ibrahimovic has taken it upon himself to offer our captain some career advice, he thinks it’s time for him to leave us! We had all this from Barca players about Cesc, now it seems we are in for a few more comments about our captain.

Perhaps Milan hope to sign him and Ibrahimovic is the first of a few comments from their players, others to follow?

That’s enough on Milan, that result  has to be gone and forgotten for today, we have another battle on our hands and you can bet your bottom dollar that the test today will be equally as tough.

The opposition may not have players like Ibrahimovic, Pato, Prince etc etc but what they will have is guts, passion and determination to get through into the next round of this competition!

They will also be desperate for revenge after last weekend’s loss to us, so it’s going to be a rough ride in Sunderland later…

Forget about Sunderland as a team right now, nothing we say or do will change how O’Neil lines up his merry men, nor will it change his tactics – but I bet he’s been out on the turf at The Stadium of Light with a fork himself overnight, just to make sure we can’t play ‘our way’! 😉

So be it!!

Wenger knows the pitch will be bumpy, he knows it will be heavy and stodgy – so deal with it and change our tactics to overcome that..

Let’s try something new, hoof the ball up front and bypass the crap pitch, maybe a bobble will see a pass turn into a goal. 😉

Reality is, today we shouldn’t be trying to play fancy football, just play a game that will out fox the opposition and get a win. It doesn’t always have to be pretty, sometimes winning ugly is the only way…

As Henry say’s about his days with us:

It was not always nice and pretty, you have to remember that we had some times where we just wanted to go home at the end of the game. The difference is how this team can react and I think this team can do that.

He also said ….

If you can win at Sunderland, you don’t know how the draw is going to be. You might play at home next, then the semi-finals are around the corner. You never know if Jack is going to come back and Abou Diaby is not far from coming back. You don’t know what could happen. If you are still in the competition then those players coming back will only help you find top form.

Let’s not look so far, let’s just think about today and beat the side we face and go from there.

Henry mentions the return of Jack and Diaby.

Jack is nowhere near a return and Diaby’s return seems to be put back a few days after his return is announced but if the latter could actually stay fit and play well, you just never know..

One who is back today though is Gervinho but as so often, we gain one and lose another and it’s Kos, he’s out for today but he should be back for next weekends little fixture.

If Wenger’s new found tough attitude towards the players has had any kind of effect, we could see a good performance tonight from the team, a team that, if reports are to be believed, is full of players playing for their Arsenal future. This is the kind of game that will prove whether they care about Arsenal or just their salary.

For the sake of all of us and our season, I hope they all show some balls and play with pride and honour for the shirt they are so privileged to be wearing!

Can we win today? Of course we can…

Will we win?

Have a good day all…..