Arsène Wenger is invoking the spirit of ’98 to get Arsenal back on track
before a north London derby he describes as “a must win” for both teams. He
has no more willing apostle than Gael Clichy, who admits he is still upset
by his part in the result that seems to have cursed their season.
Nobody has played more Premier League matches for Arsenal than Clichy these
past 18 months and none of the fans who made him their player of the season
last May will have been more disappointed with their recent results. Thus
the young Frenchman fastens on to Wenger’s reminder of the club’s
achievement 11 years ago when, 13 points adrift of Manchester United in
January, they went on to do the Double.
The man the PFA honoured as the best left-back in the country last season is
still “upset” by his careless loss of possession that enabled Tottenham, two
goals down after 89 minutes, to clamber out of the grave and draw at the
Emirates in October. He will not want for motivation at White Hart Lane this
afternoon, having played a key part in two of the most important results to
have spiked the Gunners in recent times.
A year ago, they were top of the table, having led the league nearly all
season, when they went to Birmingham and dropped two priceless points in an
X-certificate match from which they never recovered. Eduardo suffered an
horrific compound fracture and has yet to return, Clichy conceded a
last-minute penalty for a good tackle and the Arsenal captain, William
Gallas, staged a sit-down protest that was counter-productive to morale. The
mental scars were as bad as those on poor Eduardo’s leg and a demor-alised
team failed to win any of their next four league games, eventually finishing
third.
This season, Arsenal had just recorded convincing, consecutive victories over
Everton, Fen-erbahce and West Ham when they faced Tottenham, outplaying them
to lead 4-2 heading into stoppage time. The points were there for the taking
when Clichy slipped and gave the ball away on the halfway line. Spurs broke
away for Jermaine Jenas to make it 4-3, setting the stage for Aaron Lennon’s
dramatic, last-gasp equaliser. Utterly deflated, Wenger’s young guns were
beaten by Stoke three days later.
They have been stuttering ever since, their inconsistency underlined in
November when they beat Manchester United, lost to Aston Villa and
Manchester City, then won at Chelsea. It comes as something of a surprise to
be reminded that they are unbeaten in the league since November 22. Five of
the 10 games in that run have been drawn, however, and they are not only 10
points behind United but making hard work of catching Villa for fourth
place. Clichy accepts it would be “catastrophic” not to do so. “It would be
such a big blow. This club has been in the Champions League for the past 10
years and we can’t afford not to get in. We still have time. It is starting
to run out but even today the boss has been telling us we can win the title,
that we have to keep believing. In my case, he didn’t have to remind me what
happened before [in 1998]. Any player who plays for Arsenal should know
because it was an amazing achievement. The fact that it has been done once
gives you encouragement.We have to go for it.”
To the argument that this time there were no Adams and Keown to stabilise the
defence, no Vieira and Petit to bestride the midfield and no Overmars and
Bergkamp to unhinge the opposition for Wright and Anelka to rattle in the
goals, Clichy replied: “Big names, all of them, and special players in a
special team. But I believe we’re here because we’re special players as
well, with the quality to do it, so let’s try, starting against Tottenham.”
Losing their way last season [they were top in early March] had been hard to
take. “For seven months we had been playing amazing football and people were
saying we were the best team in England, maybe in Europe, then we lost
something from our game and we couldn’t work out why. We kept trying, harder
and harder, but we were falling behind. Our shots were hitting the post or
the goalkeeper made fine saves, it was finishing 0-0 and we’d dropped two
points again. At the end, we won nothing.”
Bad luck or poor form? “It was a bit of everything. We lost people like
Eduardo, [Tomas] Rosicky and [Robin] Van Persie. You cannot hide behind
excuses like that but the injuries did reduce our strength at a time when we
were starting to feel the pressure.
“Personally, it was my best season yet,” he said, but admitted he was now
making more mistakes. “I cannot hide from that, I’ve made a lot this time. When you lose confidence, that happens, and it has cost us points. All I can
say is I am committed to the club, that I give 100% every day in training
and in games. I will continue to give everything.”
Of the 4-4 with Spurs, he said: “I gave them their third goal at a time when
we were playing fantastically well. If we’d won 4-2, as we should have done,
everybody would have said we were good enough to win the title.
Unfortunately, because of my mistake we dropped two points and the next day
people started to talk about Arsenal not being strong enough to do it. We
were too young, didn’t have the experience and so on.
“Football is funny like that, one day you are the king, next day a nobody. I
was really upset after that game – not so much for myself, because I know my
own worth, more for the other players and the fans.”
Why were Arsenal less competitive this season than they were last? “There are
a few reasons,” Clichy said. “The first is that the Premier League is
getting stronger, the small teams are improving and it’s not only us
dropping points against them. In the big games, you can see that everyone is
up for it and the desire is there. Against the smaller teams, those levels
drop a little bit. That’s the big mistake.
“Another reason we’re struggling a bit is that, again, we have so many players
injured. I don’t like that excuse, but it is difficult to cope. I’m sure if
you took Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand and Carrick out of the Man United team
for three or four months, their results would suffer, too. Look at Liverpool
- without Torres they didn’t score so many goals and dropped points.”
He was certain Arsenal would fare better once Fabregas, Rosicky, Eduardo and
Theo Walcott were fit and available again and Andrey Arshavin was ready for
his debut.
To the supporters’ dismay, Matthieu Flamini, Gilberto Silva and Aleksandr Hleb
left last summer and were not replaced with proven performers.
Clichy said: “Of course everyone was surprised that the boss didn’t buy cover
like that in the summer but, even if we are a bit young, we have the quality
to get there in the end. Now we have brought in Arshavin, a great player
that any team in the world would love to have. That has given us all a big
lift. He trained with us for the first time last Tuesday and I was really
surprised – he is really small. But he is also really quick, and you could
see the quality he has. He’s not match fit yet but I’m sure he’s going to be
a great signing.”
From top side to fifth best in five seasons
Gael Clichy must have thought the game was so easy when he arrived at Highbury
as an 18-year-old from Cannes in 2003. In his first season he was part of
the Arsenal side who went through the Premier League campaign unbeaten.
Although understudy to Ashley Cole, inset with Clichy in that title-winning
year, he made enough appearances to qualify for a winner’s medal. Since then
he has won only an FA Cup winner’s medal. Last season Clichy was Arsenal’s
one ever-present player in the league and was acknowledged by his fellow
professionals when they named him left-back in their Premier League team of
the season. Unfortunately, Clichy has been part of a defensive unit that has
struggled since that memorable 2003-04 campaign. That season Arsenal
conceded only 0.68 goals per game. This season, with Clichy again ever
present, they have let in 1.04 goals per game. Arsenal have kept just eight
clean sheets, the fifth best in the Premier League. Manchester United have
kept 17
