Olympiacos. Whenever I come across that, am reminded of Gilberto Silva’s move to the Greek champions. The Brazilians’ sale has to be the least trumpeted departure of The Departures of recent past. Just a few murmurs at Arsenal’s neck of the hood in blogosphere; on how Wenger should have let the World Cup winner with Brazil hang about the dressing room and pass on words of defensive wisdom to the likes of Song and Flamini or maybe even just help mould the young minds, Fabregas et. al, on how to better The Invincibles.
Welcoming Olympiacos tomorrow to the Emirates, thought is centered on the best thing since sliced bread Gilberto: Arteta. Afflicted by an ankle injury probably picked up at training, the Spaniard awaits to be cleared by pregame tests. This probably means he didn’t train that much with the rest of the team but being not only so pivotal, but so a seasoned hand in his trade a Diaby kind of gamble may just be at hand.
Not so good news this is especially with the task of shackling off the aftermath of the last game out at home, compounded by the need to keep intact Emirates’ virginity as matters go Champions league football. The gamble I would prefer Arsene opt for is to have Coquelin step into the shoes he’s expected to fill somewhere along the way as the season trots along.
A home game it is and Olympiacos are decent opponents. Just the kind of mix needed to sharpen a young lad like Couqelin. You just need to look at Jenkinson and Gibbs and fathom the possibilities, considering that the young Frenchman is a couple of steps in his development. No brainer, Cazorla is in. Between The Ox and Ramsey, who’s out?
Podolski-Giroud-Gervinho is how I thought we should turn out upfront against Chelsea. It turned out Ramsey who started out on the left of attack had to drift to the center of the pack to replace the injured Diaby. At the center, an okay performance from the Welsh captain, the missing bit that would have seen a five star rather than a three star performance from the 21yr old was his lack of box-box action.
Later on Oxlade Chamberlain took over and with exactly that, gave the assist to another almost Giroud that would have seen Arsenal rescue a point right at the dead. Save for that miss that tempted to reopen the scars-of what that until then fast fading memories of RVP- his presence upfront shackling the space between Obi Mikel and the two Chelsea center halfs was more helpful towards the Gunner’s cause than Walcott’s anonymous cameo on the right.
Is it a question of more starts, or a continuum of the status quo with substitute appearances as the key to unlocking the French international’s goal floodgates? Granted, whatever the case, as a starter or a sub, Giroud has always had that chance to score. Problem is, he’s yet to make that impact on the game count.
At the moment, it seems imposturous not to have Gervinho at the tip of the attack, for all the jokes on his shooting accuracy, he’s got the numbers but that said, the Ivorian’s sea of clever movement might just see to it that he’s given the chance to do his thing from either flank while Giroud is asked to do more of that false 9 stuff .
It wouldn’t hurt to rest Cazorla and have Arshavin run the show late on especially if the lead is healthy enough; Chamberlain, Walcott , Ramsey and Santos make up a quality bench. On the Kos- Mertesacker , I’d prefer for the German to sit out, preserve energy for possible battle with Andy Carrol at West Ham come Saturday.
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