Senderos must beat demons to get Swiss on a roll

When Swiss coach Jakob "Kobi" Kuhn unveiled the national squad for Euro 2008 on Tuesday, all eyes were on Arsenal defender and one-time wunderkind Philippe Senderos who suffered a bitterly disappointing season with the Gunners.

The 23-year-old moved to north London from Geneva side Servette in June 2003 for just 500,000 pounds and was quickly hailed as a rising star whose defensive skills were likened to Arsenal legend Tony Adams.

He even wore Adams's fabled number 6 shirt.

Born to a Swiss father and Serbian mother, he is a cosmpolitan and bookish figure who in many ways calls to mind more Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger than Adams, a renowned hellraiser in his younger years who now helps other sports stars battle alcohol and other addictions.

But Senderos has struggled with injuries after dislocating his shoulder in Switzerland's World Cup finals clash with Ukraine in 2006, and was also reported to be "mentally shattered" after Arsenal went out to Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals last month.

British tabloid The Sun reported that Senderos "broke down and cried" after the Reds beat the Gunners 4-2 at Anfield, denying Arsene Wenger's side any hope of silverware for the third consecutive season.

The Swiss defender was blamed for Sami Hyypia's Kop equaliser in the Anfield defeat.

An Arsenal insider told the paper: "Senderos seems to have gone mentally at the moment. He is in a bit of a mess." Even though Senderos is said to still enjoy the support of Wenger, many in the British press consider him a busted flush after Arsenal finished third in the Premiership.

Senderos is "a lumbering figure who toiled to convince that he can live up to expectations," according to the Guardian, while fellow broadsheet the Independent said his performance "fail(s) to justify what a cold jury would say has been excessive faith by Wenger."

But it could yet be too early to write off Senderos, who has shown mental and physical resilience in the past, particularly after his debut season at Highbury was mostly spent on the bench due to injury.

"There are a lot of things worse than being injured," he told the Observer newspaper in 2005.

"I wasn't sick, I just couldn't do my work. I kept myself occupied.

You have to keep feeling like you're in the team," Senderos said.

With other Swiss national stars like striker Alexander Frei also putting in somewhat lacklustre performances in recent months, the travails of Senderos do not bode well just a month before kick-off.

But as Kevin Keegan so presciently said, football is a "funny old game," and it would be rash to write off Senderos completely.

As the youngster told the Observer himself: "Life is like a road with lots of roundabouts, if you doubt your ability you can easily take a wrong turn." "You need to stay faithful to keep going in the right direction."

Sapa-AFP