The way I see it – FC Thun v Arsenal

Last updated : 22 November 2005 By Jason Hogan
Back in the early nineties, long before the likes of Liam Gallagher, Sadie Frost and Jude Law were on the scene, I used to be a regular in a pub called the Queens Tavern in Primrose Hill. I watched the Arsenal play there on may an occasion and I remember going there to watch the Arsenal play in the 1993 FA Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday and in those days fuelled by a pint or six of Guinness and the odd whisky chaser, it was safe to say that anytime I was in this fairly quiet and relatively small pub and watching the Arsenal, everyone in the place seem to know about it.

I wasn't the only Arsenal fan in the pub that day by any means but I was the one kicking and heading every ball, screaming imaginary instructions to the Arsenal players and where as the others were fairly reserved when Andy Linighan scored the winning goal for us, I was going absolutely berserk. One of the other regulars even gave me a knowing grin and said to me that watching me get so wrapped up in all that was going on gave them a pretty good idea what it was like to being next to someone who was actually at Wembley watching at the game.

Still as I have said nothing in life stays the same. In those days, the Queens was a straight up conventional little boozer complete with a jukebox, a telly and an assortment of fruit machines. Now, it's one of these new fangled gastropubs, all candles, posh décor, soft lighting and background music. A place of relative refinement you could say.

As a person, I don't think that I have undergone the same kind of dramatic change that my old drinking haunt has but I am slightly more pragmatic and indeed phlegmatic in my approach when watching the Arsenal these days. Saturday was a case in point.

With Saturday's game at the JJB approaching the interval with us 3-1 up my missus came into the living room with a puzzled look on her face. She said, "What's happened to you lately? I remember the days when I needed to glue or nail down all the fixtures and fittings in the house when Arsenal were playing and your boys scored!"

By way of an explanation I told her that I suppose I have got to the stage where I have watched football for so long and seen so many matches, big or small, won and lost in so many different ways that I have learnt slowly but surely to channel my emotions better and not take things for granted in the way that I once did (back in 1993 for example). She simply retorted it's maybe a sign that I'm getting old! - She can be a real charmer when she wants to be, my missus!

If I was to sum up Saturday's game in a sentence then I would say that it was great result gained on the back of a patchy performance. Of course, Henry got all the headlines and of course everyone in the press and the media was going around once again suggesting that we are a one man team (so much for originality, huh?).

Well, without wasting too much energy on this tedious and inaccurate issue, what I will say, by way of an argument is that I honestly believed that we played better when losing at Middlesbrough and certainly at West Brom without Henry than we did at the JJB on Saturday. More than that, for anyone to come out with that old chestnut slightly does a disservice to Henry's team-mates, particularly the ever improving Robin van Persie. How many Premiership players can say that they have scored six goals in their last five games like this boy can? I don't think that you will find too many.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the way things have gone lately. It was never going to be an easy game for us at the JJB and, contrary to some suggestions in the press who tried to claim that referee Graham Poll's decision making on the day contributed as much to Wigan's downfall as any good play from the Arsenal, I think that scoring three goals away from home against a talented side bang in form, a side that also had gone eight and a half hours without conceding, is something not to be scoffed at.

Still, that's the press and the media in this country for you, isn't it? I have talked all season about the need for Arsenal to take things step by step, day by day and game by game. We have put together a little run, we are moving in the right direction in the league and considering the widely held belief that we are in decline, everything still remains possible.

Now let's look at Tuesday night's game against FC Thun in the Champions League.

I saw Arsene being interviewed on Sky on Monday night and he was asked whether he felt Thun were the Champions League's answer to Wigan. He said yes. And I have to say that I agree with him on that.

As everyone has found with the Latics in the Premiership, the one thing people have learned about Thun in the Champions League is that you are in for a game when you play against them. Nobody has got a free ride from them in the tournament so far. Sparta went to Switzerland and came unstuck and although they were beaten 4-2 by Ajax in their own back yard last time out, it was only two injury time goals that won the day for the Dutchmen.

From watching the highlights of those two games, the one other thing that will be guaranteed over in Switzerland is a pretty hot atmosphere. The stadium Thun play their games in only holds about 15,000 at the absolute most but it's a very tight compact stadium and with the incentive of a UEFA Cup place being guaranteed should they win, the home fans are sure to make a racket.

It will be another test of the temperament of our younger players. Mind you, most of them played in front of 47,000 up at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland a few weeks ago so I'm fairly confident that they will handle it. In fact to be honest I'm more worried about the likes of Cygan handling the occasion than any of the kids!

I am a little surprised that Henry has been taken along on the trip. I cannot see the point. The thought of him picking up another injury in what is effectively a dead rubber for Arsenal is not something that I would risk that's for sure.

It will be great just to sit back and enjoy a game in the Champions League knowing that the main objective has already been achieved. Hopefully it will prove to be another success for us on the road – and hopefully we will find out whether Arsene still has the knack for unearthing the kind of gems for next to nothing that a certain "club" would simply throw millions at to get.