After the Magnificent Seven against Slavia Prague, it is Arsenal’s mental fortitude rather than their eye for goals that will be tested in the Premier League.

A visit to Liverpool on Sunday is followed by a home game against champions Manchester United on November 3 and if Arsenal take four or more points, talk of a 14th league title will be hard to avoid in north London.

Twelve wins on the trot is never to be sniffed at and Arsene Wenger’s skilful young side have played through, round and over opponents at exceptional pace this season to score 39 goals in all competitions and concede just six.

But they have yet to meet one of English soccer’s traditional powers and Liverpool, pragmatic rather than pretty, will show whether the new Arsenal have the stuff of which champions are made.

If you had earned a pound for every time Arsene Wenger had talked about Arsenal’s mental strength over the past 2-3 years, you might be able to afford one of the flash new flats at the Emirates Stadium.

For much of that period the Frenchman seemed to be talking more in hope than expectation. This season, the obvious pleasure the team gets from gutting the opposition has been matched by their self-belief and physical toughness.

No one picks on midfield fulcrum Cesc Fabregas any more and, just like the Liverpool side in the 1980s and Manchester United in the 1990s, the Gunners have developed the knack of winning games with late goals.

Fulham (2-1 after being 1-0 down until the 83rd minute),  Manchester City (1-0 with a goal in the 80th), Tottenham 3-1 (goals in the 81st and 90th minutes), Newcastle 2-0 (goals in the 83rd and 89th minutes) and Sunderland 3-2 (a winner in the 81st minute) were all victories that show Arsenal are developing the killer instinct.

The desire to score the perfect goal, personified by Thierry Henry before his close season departure, is still evident but might have been satisfied in the second half against Prague.

“We will not always have five or six chances in the big games for one goal. In the big games you need ‘one chance, one goal’ or ‘two chances, one goal’,” Wenger said this week.

Liverpool will do extremely well to limit this Arsenal side to just two chances.

PHOTO: Cesc Fabregas celebrates after scoring against Slavia Prague during Arsenal’s Champions League Group H match at the Emirates Stadium, October 23, 2007. REUTERS/Toby Melville

My colleague Martyn Herman wrote this morning: “If Martin Jol, who was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, is guilty of anything it is raising expectations of a club mired in mediocrity for years.”

Is he right?

Jol stepped up, firstly as caretaker manager, after a brief spell of 13 games of defensive football headed by Frenchman Jacques Santini in November 2004 and guided Spurs to a respectable ninth at the end of the season.

The likeable Dutchman then bolstered his reputation with two consecutive fifth place finishes, narrowly missing out on the golden ticket of Champions League football in 2005.

Just seven points from 10 games this season equates to the club’s worst ever start to a Premier League season but with rumours of Jol’s departure circulating midway through last night’s 2-1 UEFA Cup defeat to Getafe the fans rose to voice their appreciation of their soon-to-be-axed manager. Should he have been given more time?

The British press have been quick to point the finger of blame. Matt Lawton and Neil Ashton write in the Daily Mail: “A breakdown in his relationship with Daniel Levy and the chairman’s colleagues on the board has led to his departure. It began when, against Jol’s wishes, Levy brought in Damien Comolli as the club’s director of football.”

Meanwhile, Jim Duggan at Top Spurs is critical of the manner of Jol’s departure, saying:

‘Spurs were a laughing stock once again through incompetent leadership - a leak to a newspaper before the game, widespread uncertainty during a game played in a sometimes surreal atmosphere and then the usual “unofficial” sources briefing the press.’

So who is to blame? And what next for Spurs? Ramos and Klinsmann are already being talked about but our current Reuters Poll suggests a certain former Chelsea manager is required.

Do you agree?

For 86 minutes it looked like history would repeat itself when Red Star Belgrade clashed with Bayern Munich in their UEFA Cup Group F match on Thursday.

Red Star were leading 2-1 in front of their passionate 45,000 home crowd, who were as jubilant as in 1991 when the Serbian side beat their Bavarian rivals 4-3 on aggregate in the European Cup semi-finals with a last minute own-goal.

I was in the northern section of the stadium that day in 1991 along with the Red Star faithful and watched them invade the pitch after the final whistle and tear down the goalposts in wild celebrations that lasted until the early hours.

Red Star went on to win Europe’s premier club competition with a penalty shootout victory over Olympique Marseille.

There were never going to be any such antics even if Red Star had beaten Bayern again but a cruel twist of fortune left the home fans mourning what my colleagues in the press box instantly qualified as payback.

Bayern drew level in the closing stages and then scored a freak winner in the last minute of injury time, leaving the 1,000 or supporters who made the trip from Munich to do all the singing and dancing this time (you can read a full report in English on the Bayern website).

Having praised his youthful team for a valiant effort, Red Star manager Milorad Kosanovic had no complaints about the wheel of fortune turning the other way.

“You have to earn your luck and while we must have deserved it 1991, I hope this is the last time we have to repay the most famous win in the club’s history,” he said. “It’s a pity because I know our fantastic fans would have staged an almighty party if we had won.”

Instead, broken hearts rather than chilly weather made the densely populated residential area surrounding the stadium eerily empty as sobbing Red Star fans made their way home.

PHOTO: Red Star Belgrade’s Ognjen Koroman celebrates scoring a goal against Bayern Munich during their UEFA Cup Group F soccer match in Belgrade October 25, 2007. REUTERS/Ivan Milutinovic

When Robinho got on to the team bus ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Olympiakos he was upbraided by the gaggle of fans waiting outside the team hotel, as they spat lurid asides, jeers and the odd insult in his direction.

The treatment followed reports that he had returned late from international duty and missed Real’s first league defeat of the season after hosting what local media described as a “wild all-night party” (I’ll spare you the details) following Brazil’s 5-0 win over Ecuador.

There were more than a few raised eyebrows, then, when he was included in the starting line-up against the Greeks, but by the end of the game the whistles and boos had been transformed into applause and cheers.

With his very first touch, Robinho set up Raul’s second minute opener and with Real trailing 2-1 he headed in at the far post to equalise. He then engineered an almost comical penalty that had the Bernabeu eating out of his hand. Darting down to the byeline on the left side of the area, he reeled off half a dozen dazzling stopovers in front of a bemused Olympiakos defender who took the bait, stuck his foot out and caught the Brazilian’s shin.

Van Nistelrooy missed the spot kick, but Robinho spared the Dutchman’s blushes when he scored with a fine curler seven minutes from time. He even had time to set up Real’s fourth for substitute Javier Balboa.

Behind me in the press box at the Bernabeu sit two characters who remind me of Statler and Waldorf, those two grumpy old men who heckle the rest of the cast from their balcony seats in the Muppet theatre.

I’ve never seen them bring a laptop, write anything down in a notepad, attend a news conference or do anything that vaguely resembles the work of a football journalist. Instead they munch their way through a pack of “pipas” (sunflower seeds), shower me with the shells and constantly bemoan the decline of Real Madrid. Last night, though, they left their seats chuckling at Robinho’s bare-faced cheek, his dazzling skills and an entertaining victory.

Simon Baskett, Madrid

PHOTO: Robinho celebrates after scoring his second goal against Olympiakos during Real’s Champions League Group C match at the Bernabeu, October 24, 2007. REUTERS/Victor Fraile

There’s an awful lot of rubbish served up in the name of good football and a lot of hype is shovelled out by self-interested media types desperate to promote “the product”.

One TV anchor man was so desperate to sell the sport he regularly described tedious goalless draws televised live on his show as “fabulous”, ”amazing”, “what a great advert for the game,” when everyone watching knew they were absolute dross.

In total contrast anyone watching Arsenal’s 7-0 demolition of Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Tuesday knew they were watching something so special they will speak about it for years to come.

It was one of those performances that can define a season, define a team or even define an era in a club’s history, although the way Arsenal are playing right now, it might not be the last time they demolish their opponents in such awesome fashion.

Sports journalists, if they are lucky enough to stick around for long enough, periodically get lucky and see these defining moments unfold before their very eyes.

I can reel off a few personal favourites.

Greatest game: the 1982 World Cup semi-final between West Germany and France which the Germans won on penalties after Harald Schumacher sent Patrick Battiston off to hospital with an elbow in the face.

Greatest goal? A toss-up between Ricky Villa’s slalom through the Manchester City defence for Spurs to win the 1981 FA Cup final replay OR Zinedine Zidane’s thunderous volley which gave Real Madrid their ninth European Cup final success in Glasgow in 2002.

Greatest devastating seven minutes of attacking football which produced three goals to renew your faith in the beautiful game? Arsenal on Tuesday night at the Emirates Stadium.

My pick of the three was the one Aleksandr Hleb scored after the most amazing pass from Cesc Fabregas. Or perhaps it was Fabregas’s which rounded off a sweeping Arsenal move from one end of the field to the other, or perhaps it was Theo Walcott’s with the outside of his right foot. I’m not sure yet, each one was as good, if not better than the other.

Don’t worry if you missed them. They will be shown repeatedly on TV for a while yet.

Arsenal were simply awesome on Tuesday. Their passing was spot on, their teamwork almost telepathic. Ahead 3-0 by the interval they could have rested on their laurels, but that is not coach Arsene Wenger’s way. He told them to score more if they could — and they did.

In essence, there was very little to fault in their display. But as I left the press box I overheard one fan say to his mate: “Shame about that Rosicky shot that hit the bar. He should have scored that.”

Some people are just never satisfied. Arsenal had just scored seven goals to equal their own European winning margin, and equal the all-time record established in the Champions League when Juventus beat Olympiakos Pireaus in 2003.

Perfection is rarely achieved in football, but Arsenal came as close to anything I have seen for a long while on Tuesday.

Mike Collett, Reuters Soccer Correspondent, London

PHOTO: Arsenal’s Theo Walcott celebrates after scoring against Slavia Prague during their Champions League Group H soccer match at Emirates Stadium in London, October 23, 2007. REUTERS/Toby Melville

When I met Patrick Vieira for an interview a couple of months ago I was confronted by a gangly example of an elite sportsman without an ounce of fat.
 
He had a slight hamstring strain which had kept him out of Inter Milan’s early league games but he told me he was desperate to be fit for France’s Euro 2008 qualifiers against Italy and Scotland.
 
The midfielder played both games but aggravated his hamstring, as well as Inter boss Roberto Mancini, who accused him of carelessness.
 
Vieira had only just returned to fitness when he suffered a calf strain and left the field after just 17 minutes of Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League win at CSKA Moscow.

I have hacked around on parks pitches in Milan and England twice a week for years and yet I have never had a hamstring or calf strain and only ever miss matches because of hangovers.

Are professional players too fit? Are their muscles so finely tuned that they can strain too easily? They need to be fast, of course, but if all the coaches agreed to train their players 10 percent less maybe there would be fewer injuries. Just a thought…

Mark Meadows, Reuters Milan sports correspondent, who once played for Internazionale Peckham

PHOTO: Vieira speaks to a group of football fans during a training session in Milan May 2, 2007. REUTERS/Daniele La Monaca

England fans should fear not: when Israel play Russia in their Euro 2008 qualifier they will be under no pressure whatsoever — and that is when they are at their fluent best.

Fans and some hacks in England have tried to suggest that because of the Jewish connection with Roman Abramovich, who himself has close ties with the team from his native Russia, Israel will lie down and play dead when they visit Tel Aviv on November 17, thereby sealing England’s fate.

They must be joking. If there is one title to which Israel often claim it is that they are the world champions in international friendlies.

There is no happier place in world football than the National Stadium in Tel Aviv after Israel have just heard the final whistle of an international friendly. Almost invariably, they will have either beaten their opponents or gained a high-scoring draw.

Israeli pundits and fans know all this and they long for the day when the team can perform in competitive matches consistently in the way they do in friendlies and fixtures which for them are meaningless, but that is a dream still to be realised.

England fans still hoping for a miracle in the land which is supposed to have invented them should cast their minds back to October 13, 1993 when a team of “nobodies” together with Ronnie Rosenthal and the young Eyal Berkovic stunned the entire soccer world as they beat France 3-2 at the Parc des Princes. It was a result which subsequently cost the French their place in 1994 World Cup finals.

Whatever England fans may think of Steve McClaren after the loss to Russia in Moscow, he was right about one thing: no team that comes to Tel Aviv has an easy time against Israel.

The ageing National Stadium is not as intimidating as many others and the lush playing surface is as flat as a billiard table. You’d think it would be a good place for away teams but the reality is that Israel rarely come off second best in front of their adoring and demanding fans.

Israel coach Dror Kashtan, a disciplinarian not known to willingly make compromises, has said he will pick the best squad he can to face Russia. After all, even if qualification is no longer possible, Israel still have their pride at stake and the players will not want to let down a packed stadium of 44,000 spectators.

Ori Lewis, Jerusalem

PHOTO: Israel’s Yossi Benayoun (R) and Dedi Ben Dayan attend a training session at Maksimir stadium in Zagreb October 12, 2007. REUTERS/Nikola Solic

Having enjoyed contrasting fortunes over the past five years, the English and Irish national teams now find themselves in a similar, unsatisfying position. Not so much a crossroads, more of a dead end.

England’s loss of control of their own destiny has been well documented. Likewise Ireland’s Euro 2008 struggles have been hard to avoid such is the ignominy that accompanies a 6-2 aggregate qualifying loss to Cyprus and the earliest pre-tournament elimination in two decades.

If you’re to believe the knee jerk press coverage, blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the two Steves, McClaren and Staunton. The Irish press tore into the beleaguered Drogheda man and the English red tops treated his carrot topped counterpart with similar severity.

Both Martyn Herman on this blog and Ollie Irish at Who Ate All the Pies have stressed that the players should share the blame. But what about those sitting in the fancy seats behind the dug outs at the new Wembley and in the premium level at Croke Park?

Ultimately it’s the F.A. and F.A.I. who are responsible for hiring the coaches they hired. A revered player, Staunton’s only coaching experience was as assistant at lowly Walsall. McClaren’s only previous managerial post brought mixed success to Middlesbrough.

The English manager has received a vote of confidence. Ireland’s self styled ‘gaffer’ has not. Yet those who made the initial appointments are answerable to no one. Shouldn’t those seeking explanations be asking questions of Brian Barwick in London and John Delaney in Dublin?

And so read the most arresting headline of the day post-Cyprus back home. The Irish Times lead bluntly, “Enough. Enough. Bring us the head of John Delaney.”

PHOTO: Ireland’s Robbie Keane reacts during their Euro 2008 Group D qualifying soccer match against Cyprus at Croke Park, October 17, 2007. REUTERS/Patrick Bolger

The hardest part of being England’s football manager is probably not managing the team. It’s convincing most of the 60 million people in England who think they can do the job better than you that they can’t.

Since England’s stunning 2-1 defeat to Russia in Moscow on Wednesday night, the position of Steve McClaren, the man who actually holds the job, looks untenable. And suddenly, everyone is an expert. But let’s quickly recap.

With 69 minutes played, England were leading 1-0. Russia were increasing the pressure but the defence was coping. A scribbled observation in my notebook reads: “Russia swarming, but nothing coming of it. Pavlyuchenko settling in slowly.”

Sol Campbell, recalled by McClaren in place of the injured John Terry, looked impregnable. Rio Ferdinand was playing superbly. Joleon Lescott, making his full debut, looked a little unsure at the start but grew in stature as the match progressed. Micah Richards kept Yuri Zhirkov totally subdued.

From my vantage point high in the Luzhniki Stadium England were keeping their shape well. True, Russia had upped the tempo in the second half, but what else where they going to do?

McClaren had inexperienced defenders Nicky Shorey and Luke Young on the bench alongside the vastly experienced Phil Neville.

This is now the crucial question. Should he have reinforced the England defence before the 69th minute when Russia equalised with the first of Pavlyuchenko’s two goals. Sixty million managers-in-waiting will have an opinion about that. But in that stadium, until Russia scored, the English press corps were largely united.

I didn’t hear any of them say, “McClaren, bring on the cavalry.” I did hear them say: “It’s getting hairy, but they can hold on.” They were of the belief that England were doing well  enough. Russia had not had a serious threat and England looked like holding out.

You see a different match on television. In the stadium England looked under pressure –but comfortable with it. Then they conceded two goals in four minutes and lost.

Massive telecoms problems in the stadium meant that many of us could not file our pieces for an hour or more after the match finished.  It gave us time to think, and for the pens of the more vitriolic to be sharpened to a knife point.

McClaren and the rest of us may or may not have seen the goals coming. But once they did, McClaren knew the daggers in the back would follow and they have.

Mike Collett, Reuters Football correspondent, who doesn’t want the job of
England football manager

PHOTO: England’s Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard leave the pitch after their team’s 2-1 defeat to Russia in their Euro 2008 Group E qualifying soccer match at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, October 17, 2007. REUTERS/Darren Staples

A long nightmare ended for soccer lovers on Thursday when their favourite sport returned to the front page of French sports daily L’Equipe. There was Thierry Henry, who had just surpassed Michel Platini to become France’s top scorer of all time with 43 goals after the two he scored in a 2-0 win over Lithuania in an Euro 2008 qualifier the previous night in Nantes.

Before that, for weeks, it had been rugby, rugby, rugby. In the news, on advertising boards, in talk shows … a sport normally restricted to the southwestern areas of the country was everywhere.

Soccer fans became tired of hearing that their rugby counterparts were better behaved, although that is largely true, and players were fed up being told that in rugby, nobody ever contests a refereeing decision and only the captain can talk to the ref, providing he does so politely. True, too.

Football surfaced now and again, like when New Zealand’s reserves played soccer with the Portugal players after hammering them in a pool game at the Gerland stadium, home to six-times French champions Olympique Lyon, or when it became known that Springbok wing Bryan Habana was named after Bryan Robson.

France would have liked to use football as an inspiration and emulate the national soccer team who lifted the World Cup on home soil nine years ago. Unfortunately, England and Jonny Wilkinson had other ideas.

However, after France beat Lithuania and England lost to Russia in Wednesday’s Euro 2008 qualifying action, nobody in the country was arguing about which sport really mattered.

On Thursday, kids who had been spotted playing with those strange, oval-shaped, pointy things a few days before were kicking proper footballs again. And public transport was on strike. Back to normal, at last.

Patrick Vignal, Paris

PHOTO: France’s Thierry Henry celebrates after scoring against Lithuania during their Euro 2008 Group B qualifying soccer match in Nantes October 17, 2007. REUTERS/Charles Platiau