A Valuable Point Gained

STOKE CITY 1 – ARSENAL 1

I’m always very apprehensive ahead of our annual league game at the Britannia Stadium. There are teams I despise more than Stoke City, but all with genuine reason, be it because they are local rivals, or old title chasing rivals etc.

With Stoke, it’s different. My hate for them is purely a result of their own cuntishness. A horrible word that I don’t use lightly, but in this circumstance it’s perfectly applicable.

No other side have as genuine tactics of negative football and injuring opposition players, nor do they have a baseball cap wearing bellend of a manager either. Then there’s the fans, who openly wish leg breaks on opposition players, cheer every goal kick or throw in they win, and even celebrate offside decisions like they’ve scored themselves. A hopelessly miserable set of supporters, and a shocker of a club, where we have often struggled in years gone by. They again booed Aaron Ramsey today, which showed once and for all what a classless set of scumbags they truly are.

Excuse me for that, just needed to get it off my chest…

But today we come away from that caveman infested shithole of a town with what should be acknowledged as a valuable point, that further improves our chances of finishing 3^rd due to other results going our way too.

Especially after we were behind inside 10 minutes, with the human lamp post that is Peter Crouch getting on the end of Matthew Etherington cross, that in all honesty we should have done better at handling. Bacary Sagna allowed Etherington too much time and space on the left, and Crouch got the end of the cross way too easily. I know he’s 8ft tall and all, but it was all too simple for that long stick insect, and we were 1-0 down.

Slightly against the run of play, because we started brightly which included a Yossi Benayoun attempt that he perhaps should have done better with. But despite going a goal down we responded emphatically and were level five minutes later. Tomas Rosicky swayed down the left hand side and delivered a perfect cross for Robin van Persie to tap home at the far post.

RVP and Yossi celebrate the Arsenal equaliser.

‘He scores when he wants’ echoed around the Britannia, and it almost seemed inevitable that RVP would end his ‘mini-drought’ to cap off the week in which he was named PFA and Football Writer’s Player Of The Year. Richly deserved, and great to see him back on the score sheet.

From there we had plenty more chances in which to score a second, but failed to make any of them count. Gervinho couldn't get on the end of an inviting Sagna cross from the right, and Ramsey dragged a shot wide in the only other genuine chances in the first half. In the second, both RVP and Thomas Vermaelen had free kicks from good positions blocked, Gervinho blazed over the bar, and RVP again had a chance from the back post with a header which was saved comfortably by Asmir Begovic.

There was controversy around the 75^th minute, when Benayoun was bundled over in the penalty area, but referee Chris Foy (not Hoy) deemed it legal and with the gift of television replays it would be hard to argue against that verdict.

The game played out with subs thrown on, including a surprise appearance for Marouane Chamakh, who acted as a decent hold up player but failed to add any real venom to our attacking play. Andre Santos and Abou Diaby also came on late, but the game played out without any more real chances for Arsenal to win it. And we had to endure a nervy few moments at the end as we survived a Rory Delap special in stoppage time that was just about dealt with by Wojciech Szczesny.

Alex Song tracks the human lamp post.

All in all, a decent point seeing as we’ve often come up stuck against Stoke in recent visits, and they have a good record against the big clubs at home. However you’d be forgiven for feeling slightly disappointed as we definitely had chances to win it. But, Newcastle’s battering at Wigan means we extend the gap we have over them, yet we allow both Chelsea and Sp*rs the chance to close the gap on us when they play their games tomorrow.

It’s still in our hands, and victory against both Norwich and West Brom in our final two games will ensure we finish 3^rd, no question.

People will again point out that it’s another game we’ve failed to win due to the absence of Mikel Arteta, but I don’t think we totally missed him in the first half. Rosicky was excellent as ever, Alex Song was more reliable than he has been of late, and Ramsey coped admirably for a bloke who’s come under serious pressure from some areas of the home support in recent weeks, and was getting ridiculously booed by those 6-fingered home fans at every opportunity. He got stuck in, and as always he never hid from anything.

Tomas Rosicky was again on form.

Arteta’s absence was more noticeable in the second half, when legs began to get tired and no one totally grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck. We fell a bit flat towards the end of the game, as chances were few and far between with our best opportunities coming from set pieces. Diaby hobbled off at full time (unsurprisingly), and despite his obvious raw talent (that has led to comparisons to Vieira), I can’t help but wonder if he’s just worth leaving out for the rest of the season, and ensure he’s 100% ready for the next campaign.

Attacking wise Benayoun was again a shining example playing with heart and desire. I’m really starting to think he’ll be worth signing (if we can) on a yearlong contract. He wants to play regularly, and I have no doubt he would get plenty of game time if he gave us another year, and his work rate and ethics are valuable for both match days and also on the training ground as well.

Gervinho had a mixed game today. He made some brilliant runs, both on and off the ball, but was again let down by his poor finishing and composure.  That’s a confidence thing, and he’s clearly still struggling as he has been since the African Nations Cup. He’s worthy of patience, as the talent is there, and don’t forget he’s not the first to come to Arsenal and struggle in year one. If we stick with him, I’m sure he’ll become good.

Defensively, despite the early goal, we were for the most part comfortable with what Stoke had to throw (or rugby pass) at us. In the second half Vermaelen seemed to spend most his time in the opposition half, which kind of sets the scene for how dominant we were. It’s great to see our strongest possible back four getting this much game time, and if we can keep them fit and together then it’ll only be a good thing in the longer run.

It would be very easy to say that today was two points lost, but as a positive Gooner I’m going instead with a pretty good point gained. Stoke were never going to make it easy for us, yet we escape unhurt and unbeaten. Their tactics were obvious from the start. The narrowed pitch disrupted our ability to exploit the flanks, and the thug like strategy they always use was applied as early as the second minute, where Ramsey took an elbow to the throat, and Song was hacked down by someone who can only be described as an escaped convict. From there, we battled and probably outplayed Stoke. A point might not sound like a great reward, but it could certainly be viewed as a valuable one come the end of the season.


Let’s hope for a slip up from the other two teams chasing us tomorrow, and then divert our attention to our final home game against Norwich next weekend.

We’re on the final straight. Let’s see it across the line.

The Game No-one Wanted To Win & The Not So Robin Reliant

ARSENAL 0 – CHELSEA 0

All the talk in the build up to our final London derby of the season revolved around how neither side could really afford not to win. Which is why it’s such a great surprise to me that I’ve had to go with the title of this blog that I have, because neither side truly looked like they did want to win it.

I don’t want to talk about that from Chelsea’s point of view. I utterly despise them, and they aren’t worth the space on my blog site. But they came here with the sole objective of parking the bus, obviously a tactic they are looking to perfect before they head off to the Nou Camp next week (where I hope they get slaughtered). That tactic set the standard of what was to be a very dull match, in which the spoils were ultimately shared.

I was so disappointed with Arsenal’s performance. Aside from the final five minutes of the first half, and the last 10 minutes of the second, we were totally flat, lack lustre, slow moving, slow passing, no pressing and really didn’t show any signs of the fight and desire we’ve seen over the past couple of months.

We hit the woodwork twice through Laurent Koscielny and Robin van Persie, and the Dutchman himself had several more opportunities that perhaps he would have taken had he been in the form he showed earlier in the season. But it was a boring game, with little to really report on summary wise. Yet a point still ensures the race for third is definitely not over, although the result means it’s still in our hands.

Robin van Persie hits the post from close range.

There was such little fluency in our midfield, and it almost looked like the trio of Alex Song, Aaron Ramsey, and Tomas Rosicky didn’t know how to play with each other. Rosicky was again our most creative player going forward, but weirdly it was only after he went off that some structure seemed to emerge once Abou Diaby replaced him.

Despite a poor first half, I thought Ramsey looked assured in his passing and moving, and grew into the game as it went on, although he's still well short of the standard we know he can perform at. Song was a disappointment, and misplaced way too many paces. Diaby competed nobly, considering the lack of match practise he’s had, and I hope he can be more involved in the run in. But what we lacked in the middle was someone who really took a hold of the match, and got us moving quickly. Rosicky has usually been that man, but seemed to struggle after his midweek illness. And the lack of Mikel Arteta’s leadership and experience was always going to be notable.

Defensively, there were holes that Chelsea tried to exploit, but we managed to hold them out largely due to the exceptional performance of Laurent Koscielny, who bailed us out on more than one occasion. He’s definitely been a key player for us, and how we missed him on Monday night against Wigan.

I also thought Kieran Gibbs had an excellent game, and although it was a surprise to see Andre Santos come on in a midfield/winger type role (still not totally sure what position he was playing), he seemed to add a bit of zip going forward which could be handy in our run in.

But the concern for me right now is the front three. Theo Walcott never got in the game (largely due to the surprisingly decent Ryan Bertrand), and eventually hobbled off with a hamstring injury that appears to have ended his season as well. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved why Arsene Wenger has been using him so infrequently; he’s not ready yet, despite what an alarmingly large portion of Arsenal supporters think. It’s unfair that so many place such high expectations on him already. He’ll get a lot better, but we’ve got to have patience with him and not expect so much so soon. Gervinho was neat when he came on, but failed to have a big enough impact to change to game. We also missed Yossi Benayoun, especially the work rate and desire he's shown as of late.

The Ox didn't quite have the desired affect today.

However the main worry for me right now is the form of captain Robin van Persie. Aside from Koscielny hitting the bar, all our best chances fell to the Dutch international, yet he didn’t take any of them like the man who is the leading goal scorer in the Division should.

Now make no mistake, I’m not suggesting for a second that he’s crap or useless. All that this below-par run of form is showing is that he’s human. RVP’s had such an unbelievable season to date, going this long without a goal in regular play is a surprise. And that’s a credit to his fine ability, not an insult to his current form.

I believe there will probably be two schools of thought on RVP right now. One, the controversial newspaper reporter looking for copy sales, or the anti-Arsenal supporter, who would maybe suggest that his mind is elsewhere, much like Cesc’s was this time last season, because of his desire or (depending on who you listen to) decision he’s made to leave Arsenal at the end of the season.

The more reasonable and non-twat like suggestion would be that he’s a player who’s feeling the affects given this is the longest he’s played into a season. And he’s played his heart out so far. Yet due to his history of injuries, he’s never truly played this much before and is therefore starting to struggle because of it. He’s 28-years-old, so not a young bloke anymore.

But today he was again off colour, I thought. He had chances, yet almost seemed unconfident in his ability at times, as he snatched at a couple of them, and lost his balance all too easily as well.

RVP was again off form today.

And where are our goals going to come from if not from RVP? Who knows. Marouane Chamakh again remained on the bench, and our substitute left back was thrown on in the 70^th minute for an attacking midfielder, which says everything you need to know about how the Moroccan features in Wenger’s plans.

The desperate need for goals from other areas of the pitch is abundant. We need a Robert Pires type player. A Freddie Ljungberg. Someone to score 15-20 goals a season from somewhere other than centre forward. Lukas Podolski could be a solution, but how I’d love to have a goal scoring midfielder in the mould of one of those two Invincibles, to take the pressure off RVP, and keep the goals ticking over when he’s not firing. Because he is only human, and we are far too reliant on him right now so it’s costing us.

But the great thing about football is that as long as the season is still going, there’s always another game in which to put the wrongs right. And there's no doubt that RVP, and others, will have chances to score and win us matches in our final three games.

It seems we have an easier run in than our rivals for third spot, however it’s form and momentum that will be the ultimate deciding factor. Next weekend we travel to the Britannia Stadium, where hopefully they'll both be recaptured. We haven't got any more slips up available to us if we're to make it 15 years in a row of elite European football.

Outfoxed by the The Latics & more unfair Ramsey abuse

ARSENAL 1 - WIGAN ATHLETIC 2

A dejected Robin van Persie last night.

We just never seem able to do things the easy way.

Victory last night would have sent us eight points clear of Sp*rs and Newcastle, and ten ahead of Chelsea (although they all have a game in hand). But as it now stands, we remain just five and seven points clear of them respectively, and our fixture against Chelsea this Saturday now has a whole lot more riding on it than it would have done had we beaten Wigan Athletic last night at the Emirates Stadium.

But what’s done is done, and there’s no point cursing over what could have been. And to be fair to Wigan, they completely deserved everything they got last night; three points.

In truth we didn’t start badly. It took a while for me to adjust to the fact we were playing from the opposite end we’re use to in the first half, and I’ve often wondered how much being switched around before kick off and taking the players out of that comfort zone of what they’re use to really affects them. Probably not very much. But it’s the first time for a long while it’s happened, and you know, we lost, so percentages add up and all.

After an early thumping drive from Thomas Vermaelen, and a very well saved header from Yossi Benayoun, it appeared we were in the mood for a rout, so it was a complete shock to the system at just how easily Wigan broke away from our shockingly poor corner to take the lead.

Franco di Santo puts Wigan 1-0 up.

One of my pet hates on the football field (from the playing point of view, as there are a lot of pet hates to do with the officiating of our game) is when professional footballers, paid tens of thousands a week, are unable to beat the first man from a corner. It’s possibly the simplest thing achievable. And it’s amazing how many set pieces are wasted because of it at every level.

Robin van Persie’s corner did just that, then a mixture of Bacary Sagna giving the ball away, Mikel Arteta getting injured, and Benayoun signalling that injury to the bench all resulted in the easiest possible break away for Wigan, which Franco di Santo ultimately finished despite Wojciech Szczesny’s best efforts.

Within a blink of the eye, it was 2-0. Sagna was this time at fault for getting beaten far too easily by the impressive Victor Moses, who’s ball across fell to Jordi Gomez, who required two attempts to bundle the ball across the line. Szczesny probably should have done better after the first shot, but it wasn’t very good defending from Arsenal full stop. Not for the first time this season either.

Jordi Gomez celebrates Wigan's second.

So 2-0 down within ten minutes, and most of those in attendance (including the Wigan fans themselves) as well as those watching on TV, were scratching their heads wondering what had just happened.

Arsenal responded though with a ‘Sagna v Sp*rs like “fuck this”’ from Vermaelen, who found some space in the box to head home a well delivered cross from the ever impressive Tomas Rosicky.

It wasn’t the first time we’d needed to recover from 2-0 down at home this season, and with the best part of 70 minutes remaining after we pulled one back the mood inside the Emirates was still positive enough to believe we could go on and win it.

Chances fell to Benayoun again, before van Persie, Rosicky, Andre Santos, and even Johan Djourou all had goal scoring opportunities that on any other day could and maybe should have gone in.

Wigan continued to pose a threat going forward though as the game went on, and probably should have re-established their two goal lead after Moses went through one-on-one with Szczesny, but he took his chance too early and it was a comfortable enough save for our Polish ‘keeper.

The game played out without us really having any further serious chances, disappointingly, and the second half was rather flat. Wigan wasted time at every available opportunity, but you can’t really blame them given what they’re fighting for at the bottom of the League. It’s frustrating to see it happen, but it’s up to the referee to ensure the game is actually being played, and given that Andre Marriner barely showed any interest in the speed of the game until stoppage time, you can hardly fault Wigan for exploiting it.

Thomas Vermaelen and RVP, after pulling a goal back.

It finished 2-1 to the away side, with the vast majority of the stadium already empty before there was the opportunity to clap the teams off, aside from the 200 strong Wigan supporters who were understandably having the time of their lives.

There are various theories going around for what went wrong last night. The three c’s of complacency, concentration, and consistency are all fairly valid arguments, although I think it’s the latter two that have more merit in this instance. And even though the players looked sharp enough out of the blocks, I think there were some reoccurring issues with our tactical preparation before the match.

Wigan had a system that we didn’t quite do our homework on, and it was also an obvious case of that good old Wenger mentality that we play our game as usual, and the result will take care of itself. As of late this has often been the case, but Wigan were set up to exploit our formation by defending tight and attacking us wide where there was often space due to our forward running full backs. You’ve got to credit them for that. We couldn't break them down, and we had no 'Plan B' aside from substitutes that largely had little effect. 

It was an all round poor performance by us (other than Rosicky, who I thought was excellent), so I don’t want to pinpoint individuals in this piece. I do however want to mention Aaron Ramsey, as once again he was on the receiving end of hefty and completely unjustified abuse post match.

Mikel Arteta went off with what appears to be a season ending injury, which occurred in the build up to Wigan’s first goal. Arteta has been just about our most consistent player in the past couple of months, so of course his loss was likely to create some imbalance, yet Ramsey went on with a point to prove, but visibly low on confidence.

Aaron Ramsey in action last night.

Now he didn’t have a great game, make no mistake. But he ended the game as our leading passer, and he didn’t shy away from getting on the ball and trying to make things happen. Just this time, nothing did happen for him. And he wasn’t alone.

To blame him for the defeat, and to abuse him to the extent that I saw in some tweets last night, is simply indefensible, morally wrong, and goes completely against the ethos that we have at Arsenal Football Club. Need I not remind people that with Ramsey on the pitch, we actually won the game 1-0.

This is a 21-year-old man, who is already the captain of his National side, despite the fact he missed the best part of a year after breaking his leg. Give him a fucking break. And also, he was one of the only positives we had during our early/mid season fuck ups. He never went missing in any game, led the midfield, and made some cracking assists. He’s got a way to go yes, but his potential is so abundantly obvious that we shouldn’t write him off after just a few off performances.

It seems a lot of Arsenal fans need a permanent scapegoat, and unfortunately Aaron is taking on that mantle now that Andrei Arshavin has gone, and Theo Walcott is back in form. It’s wrong, and if you’re abusing him you should take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror.

Moving on though, and next we host Chelsea, where no doubt Aaron will be heavily involved. A positive we can take into this game is that after an equally shocking performance against QPR two weeks back, we responded in style to beat Man City. So let’s hope the same mentality is used this week in training, and we prepare well and turn up on Saturday to beat Chelsea, because after last night they are right back in the hunt for 3^rd place. And we can’t afford two home slip-ups in a row, especially with a trip to Stoke City RUFC coming up too.

Still, nine wins out of 11 is pretty damn decent form. Form of which any of us would have taken after the horrific January we had. 3^rd place is still in our hands, yet there’s a lot of work to be done before we can be celebrating it yet.

Justice Is A Dish Best Served Spanish

ARSENAL 1 - MANCHESTER CITY 0

Watching Arsenal should come with some kind of health warning. Seriously.

But on this fine Easter Sunday evening we have plenty to cheer about, after we saw through a well-deserved 1-0 victory over Manchester City. In truth, we made much harder work out of it than we should have. The game should have been wrapped up long before Mikel Arteta’s 87^th minute strike, but in the end that was all it took to take home the points, and see us return to 3^rd place in the Premier League.

It was a game we dominated from pretty much start to finish.

Bags of early possession didn’t really come to much, before Robin van Persie was denied off a corner by both Thomas Vermaelen and then the cross bar. The Belgian would have been commended for an expert defensive clearance had it happened in our own box. Sadly it wasn’t, and RVP’s header was definitely goal bound until TV5 unfortunately got in the way.

But whilst the tempo and possession stayed well and truly in our favour, City were difficult enough to break down and the first half played out without any more genuine chances.

There was plenty of controversy, however. Mainly surrounding the world-renowned clown that is Mario Balotelli. On around the 20^th minute, the lunatic striker flew in towards Alex Song and his studs found our man’s shins. He wasn’t even near the ball, and it didn’t look like an attempted tackle. It was horrific, and the referee didn’t even blow his whistle for a foul.

I have no idea how none of the officials, including the linesman and 4^th official, neither of whom were too far away, managed to see the tackle, and advise the predictably poor Martin Atkinson that it should have been a red card, let alone a damn free kick. But as nothing was given, you’d hope the FA would be able to review it post match. And ban the dirty bastard.

There was another equally poor tackle from the Italian before half time on Bacary Sagna, which brought out Balotelli’s first of two very well deserved yellow cards. But at half time, the main talking point was how he shouldn’t have been on the pitch regardless. It was one of those feelings where there was a fear that it would come back to haunt us, and he’d probably score the winner or something.

Luckily not.

The second half plodded along, with City coming out the blocks slightly faster. Andre Santos came on for Kieran Gibbs, who appeared to pick up a knock. And van Persie again hit the post after another delightful over the top through ball from Song.

City slowly began to drop off the pace, and were clearly suffering by the insufferable laziness of Balotelli, as we were enjoying our best football down the right hand side. Sagna and Theo Walcott were combining excellently, with bags of space to exploit, and Gael Clichy seemed unable to cope on his own due to the lack of support he was receiving from the bloke apparently playing in front of him.

On our way to victory, we even allowed a calamity moment you’d normally expect David James to somehow be involved in. Walcott hit the post from inside the area, it fell to Vermaelen who fluffed what was the easiest of side foots into an empty net, and Yossi Benayoun capped off the comedy show by trickling it past the far post.

Van Persie also had a goal disallowed correctly for offside, and we appeared to be having another one of those days. Plenty of chances with not much luck in the final third. We’ve seen all too many of them, and given how tight the battle for 3^rd place currently is, it would have been incredibly poor luck if we didn’t come away from today with all the points.

Aaron Ramsey came on for the hard working Benayoun, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was thrown on late for the also impressive Walcott. I was surprised Rambo was the first tactical choice to bring on, as it reverted us back to the formation which just about got us by against Everton, and failed against QPR. The Ox would surely have been the better choice, as he would have really given the City back four a greater test in the closing minutes. But Rambo it was, and the Welshman filled in as he has generally as of late. Completing his passes, but not really making anything happen.

That’s not a criticism, and I certainly don’t condone the abuse he gets. His 94^th minute howler was amusing, seeing as we were 1-0 up, but if the score line was still 0-0 at that time I think it would have been impossible to defend. But maybe the fact we were leading played a part in his decision making process anyway. The game was done, and he didn’t have to score. At 0-0, with the League’s top goal scorer at your mercy with an easy central ball, I’m sure he’d have made the right decision. He’s a smart kid, has had a long year, and was at his best when we were at our worst earlier this season. Let’s not forget all of this.

But the man of the moment today was Mikel Arteta. He’s scored some belters since his move from Everton last summer, and this one was by far the most important of the lot.

Everything about the goal screamed of quality. Stole the ball in midfield, drove forward, backed his ability and smashed it from 25 yards to easily beat Joe Hart.

It was categorically deserved, and even the most biased twat of a Man City fan (there’s a few) surely couldn’t argue that we didn’t deserve it.

The celebrations basked in a shower of ‘fuck you’ towards Man City. The Poznan from the fans. The tweets of ‘Feeder Club 1 Man City 0’, and they were aided shortly afterwards by the richly deserved sending off of Balotelli.

About an hour late, but he got what he deserved. If Roberto Mancini had any class, he’d have subbed him off at half time. He didn’t, and the red card was always going to come.

A quick word about City following on from the previous. Balotelli truly let them down today. He had no desire to get back and defend, and his reckless challenges were an insult to his teammates and manager. The downfall of City this year has been the overinflated egos of Balotelli, and Carlos Tevez. Until they realise this and sell them both, they won’t win a thing.

Their tactics surprised me too. For a side that as they admitted themselves were out of the title race if they didn’t win, they seemed more than happy to sit back and soak up our attacks. I was a little worried about them on the break, but in truth they didn’t have any real quality in midfield to link it all together. Largely because David Silva has gone AWOL, and Samir Nasri is shit. Oh well.

But it was all about Arsenal today. The work ethic, commitment and desire was ever present in all areas of the field, and in my opinion led by the excellent Benayoun, who played his heart out today. Almost every time he plays, we say how he deserves more game time than what he gets. I think he’s worth another year personally (if we can snap him up). He might not light up every game, but he works harder than anyone and those playing around him mirror this.

We were largely untroubled at the back, but defensively we were solid enough to cope with what City threw at us. Unfortunately Laurent Koscielny picked up his tenth booking of the season so will miss the games against Wolves and Wigan. A huge blow as he’s been our best defender this year, but we should cope given the opposition.

The midfield trio were again excellent. Tomas Rosicky drove us forward as he always does. Arteta kept the tempo flowing, and dictated the direction of our play. And Song held fort, protected the defence and drove forward himself at every opportunity. Again there were a few over ambitious through balls, which is slowly creeping more and more into his game, but at large he was excellent and is one of the first names of the team sheet right now.

All in all, a very professional and patient performance from Arsenal. And most importantly, a win. Given how poor and lucky City were, it would have been heart breaking to not have got all three points. Maybe in previous years we probably wouldn’t. But that key phrase we all love to hate, ‘mental strength’ was again prominent, and the win was nothing more than what we deserved.

Next we travel to Wolves. It’s important we don’t underestimate them, as we did with QPR, or the hard work that went towards todays win will all be eradicated.

There’s a long way yet to go this season, and nothing is set in stone. Newcastle and Chelsea are winning matches, and Sp*rs have easier fixtures coming up. With games like Stoke City RUFC away and then Chelsea at home coming up for us, we can’t afford to slip up against the lower placed clubs.

Wolves might be poor, but they’ll give everything against us on Wednesday. In the reverse fixture earlier this season, we were held and very frustrated by them. We can’t let that happen again.

We’re heading in the right direction though, in contrast to where we were this time last year. Many thanks to our new special little Spaniard for keeping us on track today.

Not bad for a panic buy, eh?