november 25th
08.45 – Looks like he’s coming home.
Matthew Upson is set to return to Arsenal from his loan spell at Reading. Good news if you ask me. The nightmare scenario has happened. Sol will be out for the Man Utd game, leaving only Pascal Cygan, the Latvian Pascal Cygan that is Igors Stepanovs and an unfit Martin Keown for the centre half position. We’re worryingly short staffed in that department, and it’s been a worry all season.
Looks like Gerard Houllier has gone off Jerzy Dudek. You might realise that Houllier has a tendency to buy players, sing their praises, then discard them like a child who gets fed up with a new toy. Nick Barmby, Igor Biscan, Diomede, Westerveld etc can all testify to that. Well, after his heroic performances last season helped Liverpool to 2nd in the league, Jerzy Dudek has made a couple of errors, and instead of supporting his keeper, Houllier says “I’m not able to say whether Jerzy will be axed. We need to know how his confidence is because, like the rest of the team, he made some errors. We will have to see how he responds to what I have to say. There were a lot of reasons for the goals we conceded against Fulham but the keeper could have pushed the first shot round the post.”
Now, this is why Liverpool will not win the league. Houllier thinks he’s being ruthless, but he’s not. His players will come to think that he doesn’t believe in them at all. He’s always at it now. Steven Gerrard was rounded on by his boss last week, only for Houllier to try and worm his way out of it by having a go at Sven. I think he’s gone a bit mad since his operation.
Anyway, my point is this. We all know how close Arsenal came to signing Dudek last summer and we all know how much we need a new keeper. Maybe the best thing for us is for Houllier to unceremoniously drop Dudek, play Kirkland (the son of James Bond baddie ‘Jaws’) and let us nip and buy his keeper from him. Maybe we could nick that SS officer they have playing centre half too.
Francis Jeffers is off to Tottenham apparently. Word is Hoddle and AW talked about it after the 3-0 Gunner win in the recent derby game, Arsenal are willing to sell, Sp*rs just need to find £7m. How about a swap for Carr and Rebrov?
UPDATE: Hoddle admits his interest in Jeffers “There is no truth in this. We have not enquired about him and there are no plans to. I don’t know where it has come from.” Just what he said about Robbie Keane.
W’e’re wheeling and dealing today, oh yes.
