In Defense Of A Swiss

There seemed to be a lot of calls for Philippe Senderos’ head in the aftermath of the Champions League exit. Most are saying that it is Wenger’s persistence with the towering Swiss for Arsenal’s failure this season. Whereas the grumblings mostly lies with that Senderos is not Arsenal quality. Those that bemoan that Senderos should be let go should read this article first.

Please remember that Senderos was part of the central defensive pairing that broke the Champions League record of clean sheet. That is inclusive of matches against Real Madrid (Ronaldo & Zidane) and Juventus (Trezeguet & Nedved). That itself is some kind of a record. Who’s to doubt to when you have shut out the most prolific of strikers in the current era and 3 previous winners of the European’s Best Player.

He was there when Switzerland against all odds manage to secure a creditable 0-0 draw against France in the opening match of FIFA World Cup’06. If my memory serves me right, the Swiss did not concede any goal during their group games. Now that’s an achievement, even more so when you consider that his partners in defense are not Toure or Gallas or Clichy or Sagna or Campbell.

He was even there to stop Kaka and co from scoring in both legs of another Champions League encounter. Not even the Ferdinands or the Vidics have managed to do that, home or away. Credit is given where credit does. Of course, he’s bound go through a bad patch. Everyone remembers how clumsy and error-prone, Ferdinand was when he first joined Man Utd.

Senderos is confidence type of player. He needs his run of games to really show what he is capable of. He is also very easily ruffled when he makes mistakes. Take Drogba for example. The Charity Shield loss cause more harm to the Swiss international than to Arsenal as a club. Harassed by Drogba throughout the match culminating in the Ivorian scoring the winner, Senderos never really recover from that slump till the Champions League run.

Yes, from time to time, he still makes the odd mistakes here or there. But on the overall, potential wise, he can be a much better defender than current incumbent of Toure and Gallas. Let’s not make judgement over a couple of games. If he shall ever be given a chance with 20-30 games a season, then we can judge.

Till that happens, Senderos will always be made the fall guy for Arsenal’s failure.