Philippe Senderos, the young Arsenal defender, has been thrown in the deep end this season, and he’s learned to swim the hard way, writes Jon Brodkin.
As Senderos headed home with one of Zinedine Zidane’s shirts earlier this month, he knew it had been a special night. Not only had Arsenal just eliminated Real Madrid, but in the stands had sat his father Julian, a Madrid fan who grew up in a village an hour from the Spanish capital.
”When I was younger I used to support them,” Senderos says. The Swiss kid, who idolised Fernando Hierro, the great Madrid captain, had helped to vanquish the team he once looked up to and had shown that he belonged.
Senderos has attracted plenty of criticism during this turbulent season for Arsenal, but not even his greatest detractors can dispute he played his part in two clean sheets against a team of high-class, if fading, superstars. It summed up the fine margins that separate heroes from villains when he sent a clearance just over his own crossbar in the closing minutes at Highbury.
He and the rest of the team take confidence from the triumph. ”It’s in those moments that you see the good players and the good teams,” Senderos says, ”so that’s why we are coming back and hopefully at the end of this season we will be where we belong.”
For now, the push for a top-four finish is the priority, and Sunday’s crucial win at home to Liverpool was the 15th consecutive match that Senderos had started. Who is to say he will not be in the team when Juventus visit at the end of this month, even if Sol Campbell is fit? Arsène Wenger demonstrated in his FA Cup final selection last May that he judges on performance rather than profile, and Senderos’s quiet public persona hides a highly determined and serious man.
When he mentions the posters he had on his bedroom wall of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and others, it dawns how much pressure and expectation has been placed on his young shoulders over the past two seasons. He turned 21 only last month, and Campbell’s absences have heightened the need for him to grow up as a footballer in front of an unforgiving media and public.
Doubts have been raised about the centre-half, not least on the occasions when Chelsea’s Didier Drogba has troubled him. But perhaps more significant is the faith put in him by Wenger, who resisted buying a defender in January even though he knew Kolo Touré was bound for the African Nations Cup. Senderos shrugs off the criticism he has taken.
”It’s always a test that football and life gives you,” he says. ”I just try not to listen because I know better than anyone if I have done well or not. I try to learn from my mistakes. Mistakes are going to happen in life and I’m sure I’m going to make more, like any other player, but the good players are the ones that learn from them and try to get better. There are some people who are going to like me and others are going to dislike me. I don’t mind that. I have to get better because I want to be at the highest level and take my place here.”
Senderos studies videos and talks to Wenger and more experienced teammates, including Campbell, to try to progress. He describes himself as a perfectionist and says the development of all Arsenal’s youngsters will be helped by the difficulties they have faced.
”In life there are always going to be tests and if there are more tests and experiences coming along you are always going to learn quicker and better,” he says. ”This season has been a great test and an opportunity for us to show what we are made of.”
He and the emerging players have bonded, not only on the field but off it. ”We stay together,” he says. ”We go to cinemas, to restaurants. We are good friends and it’s always good to have someone when we don’t have family next to us.” In football terms, they empathise. ”Every day it’s a battle, not just because we are youngsters but because in football in general you have to fight every day to stay at the highest place.
”All the youngsters take responsibility for what they do. Maybe people say: ‘The youngsters are too young. They don’t have enough experience.’ But how can you get experience if you don’t play? If people want to blame us or me, that’s no problem. We are strong enough. We play as a team. We are all together in here.”
Senderos’s own progress is being assisted by Martin Keown, the former Arsenal defender who is involved with the club while he takes his coaching badges. ”He’s been a great help because he knows all about the English game and about the club and its history,” Senderos says. ”He was such a good defender and he can always teach you tricks or things about the game. He’s always talking, always giving information when he is on the pitch training with us, which he does sometimes. He is always there behind us defenders to try to push us to the limit. Having him around is a very good thing.”
Another familiar face will be back at Arsenal soon, with Vieira set to face his former club with Juventus. Not surprisingly, that was the first thing mentioned in the dressing room after last week’s draw. ”He remains in contact with the others and when he’s there [on the phone] I have a word,” Senderos says. The thought of facing Vieira and Juventus is exciting.
”It will definitely be a massive night for him and for our club as well,” he says. ”We have a young team and a strong team. We have shown character and a lot of team spirit in this Champions League and lately in the league as well, so we are building something and we have to grow. Every game is an experience and a test and we have to learn from every experience.”
Senderos appears to be doing precisely that. — Â