The Real Reason Cesc, Hleb, and VP Were Benched

Confidence. Yup, just flat-out confidence. But it wasn’t an action that was meant to put confidence in the players that were started… It was a ploy to boost Hleb, Van Persie, and Cesc’s mental state more than anything else.

Imagine being one of these young players and finding out you are benched. The immediate reaction would of course be “How could he!?”, but it wouldn’t last long. It’s easy to look at Arsenal’s line-up against Wigan and see that Arsene was so confident in his younger side that his best youngster’s could be rested. This should make Hleb, Cesc, and Van Persie, and everyone else, realize how vital they are to the squad.

Then in the 75th minute Arsene finally makes the move. Not wanting to waste all three subs at once, Cesc and Van Persie came on to save the day. And save the day they did.

Cesc took control of the midfield with his usual gusto. Van Persie began meddling with the Wigan back line and thus required more coverage. Adebayor was a bit freed up, and it was only a matter of time until one of them broke through.

Now these guys, these kids really, know that Arsene is banking on them. Before this, they were part of the team and they were expected to perform. Now, they are part of the team and expected to perform above the rest. This is really the official beginning of the new dynasty. The squad is now deep enough to afford this display of reliability and confidence.

I still feel that these subs were entirely too late though. If given more of the second half, I think that we would have been much more dominant. Arsene typically subs at the 60th or the 75th, but I wish he would break that rule. Sometimes subbing at the 55th would do just as well. We barely won that match (in the 87th), and if we hadn’t, everyone would have been screaming about the subs coming on too late. Thus, it’s important that Arsene not forget how he felt in the 86th.

There isn’t much team news ahead of Portsmouth on Saturday. We’ve got the same injuries lined up so there shouldn’t be too drastic a change to the squad. I just hope Wenger doesn’t risk too much again… with Liverpool on Wednesday I am sure he is likely to rest some players again, but it can’t be at the cost of a loss.