march 17th
20.50 – Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal. Robert Pires, you are my hero.
Another goal from Edu, who popped up in the penalty area again after Schmeichel had spilled a Wiltord shot. Vieira tried to kick the ball and the great Dane’s head off and it rebounded to Edu who sidefooted home. They got a penalty, and I can’t remember the last time he saved a penalty, but Seaman stuck out a huge hand and made a brilliant save.
Then, a long ball from Freddie found its way to Bob, who flicked it over Boateng, let it bounce a couple of times and then lobbed it over Schmeichel who was only a couple of yards off his line. A superb goal, from a superb player who must surely be playing the best football of his life. A shoe in for the player of the year awards. The bookies have stopped taking money on him now.
As usual, Arsenal made me endure the last 20 minutes after Dion Dublin (tenuous link to Paddy’s day joke) scored for Villa. But we hung on, my nails are shorter and my hair slightly more grey.
And what a laugh Pires was on Sky after. The reporter asked him a question and he made a sound like a startled goat and said “Daveed, you speak”. When he got the bottle of champagne for MOTM he made the same noise and said “Fank you, I am sorree, my eenglish is very bad”. Also, Igors has a song. “Igors Stepanovs, la la la la la” to the tune of Brown Girl in the Ring. I think Utd fans sang that to RVN until they copied the Kanu thing instead.
Second in the league with a game in hand. A happy Arsenal fan tonight.
11.00 – A happy Saint Patrick’s day to you all. May your potatos be firm and blight free and your Guinness cold and smooth. Everyone’s a little bit Irish today, some of us are a bit Irish everyday, but that’s another story.
Had a funny dream last night that I was playing in the over 30s World Cup, which was taking place in a dsitrict called ‘Little Holland’ in some town in Spain. I was playing with Dennis Bergkamp and I kept making these sensational runs forward and every single time, Dennis would pass the ball just a few inches too far ahead of me. He kept getting really cross, and blamed it on the fact that he had to drive a bus to get to the tournament. Which was a lie. I had to drive, and I don’t even know how to drive. Anyway, it was all going well until half time came around in one of the games, and I realised my football boots were actually made from uncooked chicken fillets. I had to retire from the tournament before I caught samonella.
A further thought on ITV – their website is completely unbrowsable because of the annoying pop-up ads that keep appearing. Yet more proof they’re nothing but a two-bit operation. With all that money they can’t get their website to work…..just like their football coverage.
Villa v Arsenal later – I remember in this fixture a couple of seasons ago, some bloke tried to parachute into Villa Park, missed, landed on the roof, tumbled onto the pitch and had to have his legs amputated.
I think it should be compulsory for the entire Leeds squad to parachute into Elland Road for their home games.
Sláinte.
