Partizan Preview: Time for Gibbs to step up 28 September, 2010

After the disappointment of Saturday, tonight is a chance to repair the damage with a good win in the Champions League. Losing to West Brom at home is even shitter when you think about it so a good show tonight can help us forget about it a little bit more. It’s good having a match so soon after a bad result because it’s a chance to get back on track and hopefully go into the Chelsea match with a bit of confidence. The players will be really up for tonight’s game as they are just as upset with the weekend’s performance as we are, they’ll want to prove to us that they can do much better than that and bounce back.

However some players might not even get the chance to redeem themselves tonight. As we know Manuel Almunia is injured but also Abou Diaby hasn’t even made the travelling squad with no news of an injury from Wenger’s mouth. Whether he’s been dropped for his poor showing or he has picked up a knock I don’t know, all I do know is that I won’t exactly be missing him. Kieran Gibbs has made the squad though after his bruised foot picked up against Spurs and if fully recovered I want him to start.

I have always had a soft spot for Clichy, even when Ashley Cole was at the club and in fine form. I don’t know why exactly but he caught my eye from a young age so I was never bothered about the whole saga with Cole going to Chelsea because I knew we had someone potentially better in reserve. In fact he did turn out to be a whole lot better than Cole, Ashley took a few years to settle in the other side of London whereas Clichy was relishing the first team opportunity. He made the PFA team of the year in 2008 alongside Sagna and there was no doubting we had the best wing backs in the league. However since then I’m sad to admit he’s been on a gradual decline. Last season was a bad one by his standards, he made too many mistakes, was beaten too easily, looks scared in the amount of times he backs off players and is not as dangerous going forward as he was. I was hoping he would recapture some of his form this season but it hasn’t happened.

Other the other hand Kieran Gibbs has gone from strength to strength and in my opinion has just overtaken Gael in the pecking order. His attacking game is improving but he already looks the more solid defender than Clichy. He’s less accident-prone and is making himself more difficult to beat than his French colleague. He turned 21 on Sunday and I think he might get a belated present by finding himself the first choice left back at Arsenal.

In an ideal world I’d like to see Gibbs come in, continue his development as a player but at the same time see Clichy up his game and fight for his place back. Competition is a great thing and I’m sure Wenger would love the headache of two top left back to choose from each game. Anyway, if Gibbs is fit we should play him tonight in this team:

Fabianski
Sagna – Squillaci – Koscielny – Gibbs
Song – Wilshere
Nasri
Rosicky (c) – Chamakh – Arshavin

Szczesny is in the squad along with Fabianski but I don’t think Wojciech will start, It’s good to see him involved but Wenger said it will be Fabianski in nets and once again he’s given him his backing. Well he’s not exactly going to slate him going into a game he’s about to start but time and time again we’ve seen Wenger say he believes in him and wants to give him the opportunity to show how good he is before making a calamitous mistake costing us points. I’m praying that tonight it is not the case again.
Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny and Song will have to up their game considerably from the weekend. We were poor defensively and that cost us big time, we cannot afford to do that tonight. Sagna was not good out on the right, he needs to be much more solid and I believe he can, he didn’t look himself on Saturday so I’m hoping it was just an off day. Song was awful protecting the defence and as our only defensive midfielder that’s not a good thing. I hoped he’s watched back his performance this weekend because he was all over the shop; he needs to stop aimlessly wondering forward and do his job protecting the back so other players have the license to attack.

We could see the return of Wilshere tonight who was rested on Saturday. If he continues his fine form of Cesc-lookey-likey then that’ll be a massive boost. We’ve also got Cesc-lookey-likey no.2 in Samir Nasri who has been our player of the season so far. I’m hoping he has another good game tonight and turns his magic on.

I’m excited, nervous, confident, anxious and worried about tonight’s game all that the same time if that’s possible. I’m interested to see how we respond as a team to the weekend’s disappointment and if we can get a good result in tricky Serbia.

Enjoy the game tonight, COME ON YOU GUNNERS.