The day is going well I have to say. Started with some coffee and the photoblog earlier and then I met with blog regular fourstar for a traditional English breakfast of sausage, bacon, eggs, bacon, toast, and black pudding, made the old fashioned way, by Italians. It’s been about 3 hours and I’m still full. It’ll probably take an hour of walking to make me feel normal again.
In Arsenal news I’m starting to notice a trend; there are half a dozen high profile writers who basically do nothing but write pieces putting down Arsenal or Arsenal players. Most of these “writers” are formers players and they seem to love to wax nostalgic about the days when they could break ankles at will or some such nonsense. After reading today’s columns I’ve decided that Chris Waddle, Jaime Redknapp, Alan Hansen, and Tony Cascarino are the like the four horsemen of the shit-pocalypse.
Topless golf travel company shill and son of Harry “There Aren’t Enough English (insert one or more of: manager, player, owners) in the Premier League” Redknapp, Jaime has a paying gig over at the Daily Fail where he is paid actual British Pounds to write a paragraph like this:
Theo Walcott’s a very easy target, but I maintain that he will become a top footballer. He still needs more variation to his wing play. When faced with a full back who can match him for speed, he’s often too easy to mark. He needs to mix it up: come short, check, go inside, play one-twos and have more tricks. Pace alone is not enough. He played well against Burnley.
Maybe I’m just not getting it, maybe JR is just a comedian who has a keen grasp on the use of non sequitur’s for comedic effect. I’d probably use a 9 iron for the topless beach golf.
Meanwhile, former Liverpool player from the 80′s when Liverpool supporters were the most unbearable people on the planet, Alan Hansen, who very nearly cried on television when Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League is still going on about Theo Walcott. I think this is because he has nothing else to do. There are literally no other players in the Premier League who are eligible for the English national team and since the World Cup is Liverpool’s only hope for a trophy that’s the only topic left for him to write about. Arsenal won the league at Anfield.
And finally, there’s blog whipping boy Tony Cascarino who also is paid human money to write a terrible column. Today’s “fiver” is classic Cascarino; take an Arsenal player who had a bad game and say he’ll never be good enough. Tony’s target today’s is Bendtner and admittedly, after his profligate display on Saturday, Nicky is an easy target. But this is exactly what Tony does. He picks the low hanging fruit, eats it, and shits out a column. I haven’t used my international eligibility, I wonder if I could play for the Republic of Ireland too?
I’d suggest we all ignore them but when there’s almost no other news I think it’s perfectly acceptable to take a peek at their columns. If nothing else they are worth a laugh.
There isn’t any team news quite yet. John Cross from the Mirror tweeted today that Cesc is 100% injured and will not play against Porto. It’s a pretty big blow, if true, and further proof that International Friendlies are the worst thing since Jaime Redknapp’s last column.
Without Cesc one of our many other creative midfielders will need to step up. Who do you think can play in Cesc’s spot?
That’s it for today, I’m off to the National Gallery to look at some art and stuff. See you all later!
Arsenal News 24/7
Great to meet you again Tim. I won’t be having any lunch. Ooof.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
@fourstar, I managed a Parma ham and parmesan sarne by 4pm
Good use of the non sequiter motif there Tim. This reminds me of the Auclair article about the dumb assumption that ex players make good experts, as he said, “if you are horse does that mean you can be a jockey?”
The only exception to this being Ruud Van Nistelrooy, of course.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
@Chary, Mr. Ed
“I’d suggest we all ignore them but when there’s almost no other news I think it’s perfectly acceptable to take a peek at their columns. If nothing else they are worth a laugh.”
That’s what the internet is for. And this way, since you are not paying the daily fee for the paper, they are just about value for money……
Tim,
Thanks so much for making time on your journey with diary commentary and photo’s. Great Stuff!
Enjoy the balance of your trip.
Cascarino is consistently the worst. You should make a log of these articles and cite them once the slagged-off player has hit form. Go back a year and this lot were spouting that Song and Diaby were the worst midfielders in the league, that Gallas couldn’t be relied on to form a defensive partnership with anyone, and that Cesc was off in the summer. Oh and that Villa would finish top 4, and we’d be fifth.
As an example of the latter, the first time I went on Setanta Sports News (RIP), Steve Claridge said, I quote verbatim: “You [Arsenal] WILL NOT finish top four.”
Stick to division three, Stevo, or whatever they call it these days.
Btw, let me know when you’re next over here and we can get in a gingery Limpar pint or two (or ten).
March 8th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@Julian H, I’m going out prior to the Porto match, drop me a line if you want to get a pint. BTW: we should do a link exchange. I read your blog
March 9th, 2010 at 2:06 am
@Tim, Alas Sir, I’m leaving the country again at 10pm this evening so this is not feasible. But next time, perchance. Re: the links – we already link to each other, no?
My goodness, I normally have yogurth for breakfast. Re who will (try to) replace Jesus, I vote for Nasri. He is hitting a really good form as his assist for Jesus showed us.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
@Yan, I usually have cottage cheese and fresh fruit but this was a treat
@arsesession, 1+ on the thankful side of the pond! Thanks for taking us there.
Rosicky could step up. He’s a more traditional play-maker.
nasri will step it up again. he filled in very well for cesc vs. burnley. no reason why he cant’ do it against porto
Cascarino’s a c*nt weho was once sold for a pile of tracksuits, the sad loser.
Did you read about Harry Wetpants complaining about lack of English ownerships and British managers not getting enough chances! Father and son seem to get paid to cry and moan about everything non-british. But he will not say anything about Ferguson though or even English National team coach Capello.
btw, do spuds have a non-british owner? That braekfast looks delicious
March 8th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
@Chinmay, lol. I not only read Twitchy’s comments but SkySports had every manager in England comment on it today so it’s been in constant rotation
i wouldnt mind seeing rosicky play the fabregas role. havin said that nasri done a sterling job there on saturday i think thats the one possition we have plenty of cover. i would say arshavin but to be honest his last couple of games hes been a bit selfish but if he could stop the selfishness then i think AA23 would be intresting
Great looking breakfast Tim, makes me feel hungry all over again.
Noticed you put Bacon twice in your description. Was the bacon that good? (lol)
My vote for MF is Nasri with Song and Diaby as the accompanying instruments.
I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Provided we get a referee who A) knows the rules and B) is not biased against us.
We are clearly not the favorites of the Uefa political establishment. Hopefully we will not go away quietly.
you should of had fried bread with that…handsome
Liverpool on track to finish 7th. That’s not even Europa League, is it? Key stat against Wigan: Zero shots on target.
Wigan beat Liverpool 1-0. Wigan were excellent and Liverpool were very poor on the day. We need Liverpool to be better down the road and hopefully they will be. Wigan really deserved to win and they deserve to stay up because they try to play on the ground and they haven’t broken any legs.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Upcoming United v Liverpool is beginning to look rather easy for United now, eh?
March 8th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
@Patrick, There will be blood if today’s Liverpool show up at Man U and Chelsea. Wigan played with intensity and got their tactics right. Liverpool couldn’t make pass all night.
Last tie i was over i tried some black pudding, if i didn’t know what it was I would have loved it.
Something i haven’t seen anyone talk about was how extremely shaky Silvestre was at the back. Now i know he isn’t very good regardless, but he looked scared the whole time. He reminded me anytime Big Phil played against Drogba. Just overall nervous and will kick it out rather than calmly collecting the ball and sending an outlet pass. So glad Big Sol will be back for the trip to Hull.
So Fabregas is out but Song is, of course, available. Thinking about who is more important to the team if we want to advance tomorrow, I would think it would be Song. Even if Fabregas is unavailable, there is no question we can score goals on Porto but can we stop them from scoring? With Song we can.
Also, I think Bendtner starts. HE’S DUE FOR A HAT-TRICK! Question is, will anyone pass it to him?
Lineup prediction:
Almunia
Sagna, Vermaelen, Campbell, Clichy
Nasri, Song, Diaby,
Walcott, Bendtner, Arshavin
Bench: Fabianski, Denilson, Eboue, Eastmond, Silvestre, Vela, Eduardo
March 8th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
@Patrick, Rosicky?
March 8th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
@Gareth26GOONER, Exactly!! Where’s Rosicky in the lineup?
March 8th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
@Gareth26GOONER, you’re correct. I did forget about him. Strange. I don’t know why the Beeb left him out…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8555855.stm
March 9th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
…and a HAT-TRICK he got!!!
I just set that photo as my desktop wallpaper. Drool.
I think Tottenham could decide the Championship – looking at the final weeks of the 2009/10 season are shaping up to be fascinating. When was the last time we had 3 teams in serious contention for the Championship at this late a stage in the season AND at the same time saw the battle for 4th, and the final Champions League spot, as congested and wide open as it presently is? And in the middle of it all is Arsenal, much to the disappointment of many in the media.
After losing to Chelsea on 7 February, the media were lightning-quick to write off our chances. I never thought that to be the case. I personally thought that if we could come out of our nightmare run of matches (Villa, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool) within 6 points of the lead we might even be favorites for the Championship.
Instead we were 9 points behind, a big gap but by no means insurmountable given our run-in. However, even I have been staggered at how quickly the gap has been narrowed again, and in some ways we might indeed have to be considered favorites at this point (although I HATE saying that!!).
If we had a fully fit squad I wouldn’t hesitate to call us favorites. Another assumption made after the Chelsea match was that we would have to win the remainder of our games to be Champions. I didn’t think that was the case then and I certainly don’t think that is the case now. Points will be dropped by everyone. How many points each team will drop is the real question.
The game most people are looking at to “decide” the Championship is Chelsea-Man Utd on 3rd April. Sky will certainly build that one up to be a “Championship Decider” as they do. Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before. Let’s assume a draw in that one. If that’s the case then it effectively brings us even with the teams above us. I don’t think Chelsea will win that one, so the only other result I can see is a Utd win, and if that is the case I don’t think Chelsea will last the pace (that is just a feeling I have, there is no rational reason why!). My prediction is a draw however. So what of the other fixtures remaining for each team?
We’ve examined Arsenal’s fixtures in great detail. Most of us would agree that all of our home matches should be wins, with the only tough one being Manchester City’s visit towards the end of the season. A lot will depend on how they are doing in the League at that point. Will that game be essential for them finishing 4th or not? Our away matches are a mixed bag, with Hull, Birmingham, Tottenham, Wigan, and Blackburn presenting us with a selection of potential banana skins. The Spurs match is the one that stands out however.
Chelsea’s matches are just as interesting. Their only tough home match remaining is the visit of Aston Villa. However Chelsea still have trips to Old Trafford (where we already assumed a draw), Anfield, and White Hart Lane to come (as well as Blackburn and Portsmouth – ho hum, six points there).
Manchester United have a very interesting run-in as well. They have Spurs, Liverpool, Fulham (a bogey team), and Chelsea to come at home and still have a trip to Manchester City (as well as Sunderland, Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves away – more of those potential banana skins I’d say).
The presence of Tottenham on each schedule, in 3 consecutive weeks in April, is the most interesting part of the run-in as far as I am concerned. We get them first, then Chelsea and finally Manchester United. I’d give the advantage to Manchester United in that case, because when we play them they’ll still be fighting for 4th place, something they may no longer be doing two weeks later. But it could also work the other way as well. Tottenham have Manchester City for their final match of the season, so they will know that even with a poor result or two, they can still make up for it with a strong finish to the season (just as we followed losses to Utd and Chelsea with a win against Liverpool, salvaging that run of games).
One way or another, the 3 weekends from 10 April to 25 April look like they could go a long way towards deciding the Championship. Tottenham may not qualify for the Champions League, but they might just decide the Championship! How scary is that thought???
March 9th, 2010 at 5:06 am
@paul collings, Great post. So, between 10-25 april things will take an almost final shape. Looking forward to see us on top!