BLUE WATCH: We have to show SK Brann respect

Feb 21 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

ARSENE WENGER has produced some great football teams in his time at Arsenal, playing football of a sort that surpasses anything anyone else in this country is capable of.

Manchester United have more ruthlessness about them and possibly more exciting individuals, but the fluidity of the way Wenger’s sides operate as a whole, to create what the Dutch famously referred to as ‘total football’, can look like it comes from a different planet.

However, while the temptation is to heap praise on the Gunners for their slick movement and telepathic passing, there’s something about them that prevents most football fans from admiring them totally. For a start, while Wenger is clearly an intelligent man and one of the best coaches in Europe, his reaction to adversity, and that of his team, leaves an awful lot to be desired.

Take their response to United’s Nani and his showboating at Old Trafford on Sunday, for instance.

The Arsenal players’ fouls and their manager’s words after the match made it clear that they saw the Portuguese winger’s tricks, once the game was all but over, as somehow disrespectful.

Now, no one will deny that it always looks petty and spiteful when the crowd applauds every pass with an ‘Ole’ when two sides are hopelessly mismatched, perhaps in a cup tie or when a relegation-threatened team are being hammered.

However, Nani was putting the icing on the cake against a team currently leading the Premier League.

Wenger should have directed his ire at towards his own players and demanded to know how they could have allowed the Jheri-curled forward to find the time and space to taunt them and their travelling fans in such a way.

But the truth is, Nani had the freedom to juggle the ball the way he did because, once again, neither Wenger nor his players had taken the tie completely seriously.

They’ve shown at the Emirates, time and again, that they really don’t put much store in the domestic cup competitions – you only have to look at the team they sent to White Hart Lane, of all places, to get battered in the Carling Cup semi-final – so if anyone should be accused of a lack of respect, it is Arsenal themselves.

Hopefully Everton will show SK Brann the proper amount of respect tonight, with David Moyes already stating that he plans to play what he thinks is more or less his strongest line-up. It’s great to see him talking about picking from a virtually full squad too.

Everton have done superbly well to remain in the top four without the players who have been over to the African Nations Cup, and it would be good to see even Steven Pienaar get some time on the pitch tonight.

Barring some sort of utter madness then it’s difficult to see them having any problems against the Norwegians, who looked very pedestrian in the home leg.

They caused a few problems, thanks their physical approach and a dreadful pitch, but on the whole they looked no better than an enthusiastic Championship side.

If Everton do progress, as they should, then it seems likely that they will face Fiorentina in the next round. At one time the prospect of playing a side from the top regions of Serie A would have been a daunting one, but the Italian league clearly isn’t as strong as it used to be. And really the Toffees should fear no one in this competition. The likes of Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich are big names but they have hardly set the competition on fire.

If anyone, Tottenham look the team to avoid, and we already know that we are a match for them.