The way I see it – Newcastle United v Arsenal

Last updated : 29 December 2004 By Jason Hogan

Though it doesn't always necessarily make up for the naff presents I have bought her down the years, it's still a gesture that guarantees brownie points every time.

This year, having tucked away my annual set of brownie points and, with my hangover slowly subsiding in its intensity, the missus later left me alone in the front room to focus in on the game. The only problem was that the start of our game against Fulham clashed with one of my other passions which is National Hunt racing and as a result I found myself switching intermittently between the game which was being broadcast the digital radio on my telly and the racing from Kempton on Channel 4.

At half time, with the boys leading one-nil, I got a text from Gazza who was at the game and on the evidence what he said in the text I got the impression he wasn't totally amused with the fare that was on offer. At that point I afforded myself a wry grin because Gazza's view contrasted quite a bit with the ones being aired on the radio, surprisingly enough!

In contrast to Gazza, I was more than happy with the way things were going at half time though I guess it could be argued that there isn't any substitute for being there and actually seeing what is going on for yourself.

Of course, I was far happier late on in the game after Robert Pires had finally struck the fatal blow as far as Fulham were concerned. When I heard the roar of the Highbury crowd I let out a spontaneous roar of my own, almost echoing the relief that was no doubt sweeping around Highbury at the same time.

My missus interrupted her little girly pampering session to run in and shout, "Don't tell me, Arsenal have got a second goal". Don't you just love how perceptive women can be? Maybe she said it in order to gain plaintive reassurance that her Boxing Day night was going to be rant free but I was too relieved to care unduly.

So, it was a case of a job done for the lads once again though I did have to giggle when I heard Chris Coleman's post match claim that his team had given us a scare. Come to think of it, so did Gazza when I told him about it after he had phoned me later in the evening.

And whilst I was at it, I also reminded Gazza of what I had said in the build up to Boxing Day's game which was that points are more important than performances right now. I would have loved us to do a real number on Fulham if only to put Coleman's nose seriously out of joint but whilst we are in the mode of building our confidence up, the manner in which we gained victory over Fulham suited me just fine.

I must say that we took our goals well when they came along and we Gooners should all take pride in the fact that Pires, for all his inconsistencies this season, currently stands second only to Monsieur Va Va Voom in the League goals scoring charts. Not bad, not bad at all, even if I say so myself.

And what of Monsieur Henry, huh? Well, what can I say? He has now equalled Ian Wright's club record for Premiership goals and, by the time this season is over, he could possibly overtake Wrighty's overall goal scoring record.

There are an awful lot of things that I would love to see happen at Arsenal this season but nothing would fill me with more pride than to see this boy rewrite history and replace Wrighty at the top of our all time scoring charts this season.

Wrighty's place in Arsenal's folklore can never be underestimated or devalued, least of all by me. I loved the guy but, I honestly cannot ever remember Wrighty's qualities either as a player or as a goal scorer being questioned with the same sense of impunity as Henry.

When Wenger (long after Wrighty had departed) decided to buy Henry and convert him from a winger to a main striker, it signalled the emergence of a man that has taken that art of forward play to a level that NO other forward in the game, virtually anywhere in the world, can match. Yet, in spite of the contribution Henry has gone on to make to Arsenal's cause week in and week out, game in and game out, there still are, to this very day, idiots outside of Highbury who feel compelled to openly criticise Henry.

Notice the key words here though, people. I said "idiots outside of Highury". Needless to say, I know the criticism of Henry is total bollocks, so should any genuine Arsenal fan and I shouldn't have to tell any of you why.

The day will come one day when this boy will not be around and strutting his stuff for Arsenal anymore and my advice, particularly to any sceptical Gooners out there, is that you better enjoy him while you can. You never know what you've got until its gone and, to personally echo Andy Gray's famous words on Henry, "I know I haven't seen nothing quite like him". Believe me, those are words we, as Gooners, would all do well to remember.

Having comfortably avoided defeat for the 30th. successive time in a London derby we now head to the furthest outpost there is from London in the Premiership – St James's Park, Newcastle.

Life has never dull up on Tyneside particularly as far as football goes and it's safe to say that the situation up there right now seems as volatile as ever.

Graeme Souness is a chap that has got himself into his fair share of scrapes both as a player and as a manager and, as far I can remember, he has never asked for anything, by way of sympathy, from anyone along the way. But, I have to say that I do feel some sympathy for him at this current time.

I do genuinely believe that when Souness defected from Blackburn to Newcastle back in September, he truly made the move with his eyes open. I also believe that he was genuinely aware of the scepticism that manifested itself amongst a large majority the Toon Army from the moment he arrived. However, through no particular fault of his own, I think that he may have underestimated both the levels of expectation and frustration that exists in the North East.

Unbeaten in his first seven games in charge, Souness was able to settle himself in to his new job but the honeymoon period (if you could call it that) didn't last too much longer than that and for the best part of six weeks, the seeds of unrest have taken root once again.

The seeds were sown a few weeks back when the Magpies lost, somewhat unjustly, three home games on the spin - and then they went to Stamford Bridge to play the Phoney Russian Franchise.

Now, I watched that game myself and, from what I could see, the Magpies were the better side for an hour. But, as soon as their opponents made some tactical personnel changes, they completely fell apart.

After the game at the Bridge, Souness rightly lamented the standard of his team's defending. Even as a neutral watching the game, I cringed over how they conceded their first two goals that day but, in all truth, Newcastle, in the end, displayed the kind of defensive deficiencies that have dogged them as a club even in the salad days of the mid to late nineties.

And when the Toon went to Ewood Park the other day those defensive frailties reared their ugly head yet again and, even though they were playing away, the travelling Newcastle support apparently let both the players and Souness (who was of course back on his old stamping ground) know exactly what they thought of being pegged back twice by a lowly Blackburn.

Now, I know what it's like as an Arsenal fan to want success so bad that I can almost taste it even though we haven't done too badly in recent times, so I won't even begin to try and understand how the average Newcastle fan feels.

But having listened to phone-ins over the last few weeks and the sentiments of many a member of the Toon Army I really do feel the need (albeit from the outside looking in) to ask one or two questions.

When Souness arrived, did he have the opportunity to ship people in and ship people out? No. Was it his fault that Jonathan Woodgate was sold and that he now has to rely on the likes of Titus Bramble as a centre half? No. And, was it his fault that he inherited such a talented yet unreliable bunch of players like Robert, Bowyer, Kluivert and Dyer? I don't think so.

I think, with the obvious exception of Kluivert, that it's fair to say that at some stage or another within the last 18 months or so, all of these players have come in for some stick on a regular basis from the Toon Army.

In all probability, I'm just scratching away at the surface and maybe I don't know the half of what is going on up there. Shearer's enforced absence hasn't helped but what I do now for certain is that the Geordies will suddenly think that anything is possible again if they get a result against us.

A trip to St James's Park certainly doesn't come with a free lunch any more than a trip to Old Trafford and Anfield does - and we all know what happened when the Gunners turned up at those venues this season.

Herein lies the key to Wednesday's game for Arsenal. This is not just about us pitting our wits against a decent side or keeping our rehabilitation going. No, this is also about our self esteem and regaining the belief that we can go up north to a major venue and still get the kind of result we are looking for.

We have the chance to really make people sit up and take a little bit of notice of us again. We failed to lay down markers at either Old Trafford or Anfield. This could be a case of third time lucky. It's now up to the lads, of course, as to whether they are prepared to take it.