november 22nd
08.55 – Over the past few months, I have strived to bring you the best Arsenal pictures I could find. I have scanned pics from my own collection, trawled the web to find the image du jour for your wallpaper needs, shamelessly used nepotism and called in old favours to get the right snaps, just for you, my loyal and most excellent readers. Now, having being sent this picture, I feel as if my work here is done. It’s not going get any better than this, let me tell you.
For your viewing pleasure, Thierry Henry celebrating in front of the Sp*rs fans after his wonder goal in the 3-0 win last weekend. Right here, right now. Ithangyew.
Patrick Vieira is off to Juventus again……yawn.
There’s an intersting article in the The Sun about how Fergie has spent £70m+ on 3 players, while Arsenal have spent £10m less on the entire team. Veron, van Punchalot and Rio cost close to £80m actually, and while all 3 are good players (although you have to doubt Veron’s appetite for the Premiership), it has failed to cover over the shortcomings in other areas. At times it seems as if Ferguson has been playing real life Championship Manager, spending fortunes just because he could. They compare his purchases to those of AW – as we’ve done here in the past – and the only player Utd have signed for a small fee that has gone on to be a success is Solskjaer in 1996. In the same period, Arsenal have bought Freddie, Vieira, Gilberto, Pires and Henry for the price of Veron.
This week, Utd have reappointed Terry Phelan as coach after downgrading him in the summer, and poached a coach (how poetic) from Sunderland in an attempt to reverse their current fortunes (not Quinton). It makes you wonder about the importance of Brian Kidd and Steve McLaren in Utd’s success, and casts serious doubts over Ferguson’s coaching abilities. Has his style of gruff, teacup throwing management seen it’s day? Do today’s multi-millionaire footballers have the same fear of the boss they did 10 years ago? It’s hard to believe they do, and while he will go down in the annals as a supremely successful manager – his record speaks for itself – he’s now in danger of doing a Cloughie and making the mistake of staying too long.
Team news for tomorrow – Bergkamp is fit, David Seaman could return in goal, Edu looks set to replace jet-lagged Gilberto in midfield while Super Oleg contuinues at right back in place of injured Lauren.
