december 15th
09.33 – So, at the end of a ‘great week’ Arsenal sit top of the league following yesterday’s 1-0 win over Blackburn.
Arsene Wenger was full of praise for the defence, having coped very well with Blackburn’s pressure. Jens Lehmann had a very solid game, Kolo Toure again impressed and set up Dennis Bergkamp for the only goal of the game. Le Boss said “We relied on an outstanding defensive display. Kolo Toure and Ashley Cole were outstanding and so were the central defenders and the goalkeeper.”
So, that’s everyone then. Graham Souness is always quick to praise Arsenal when he’s punditting around on Sky, but he’s also a big moany bitch when he feels like it, and he takes a bit of a pop at Robert Pires which Arsene Wenger refutes.
It seems that Capital Gold have stopped broadcasting the matches via the internet, so yesterday I stumped up for arsenal.com plus. If anyone from arsenal.com reads this, please advise the commentator that anything that brushes off the microphone makes a terrible noise on the radio. It sounded like the collar of his jacket, or maybe his big, bushy beard, was scratching off the mic all the time. Annoying. Still, I’m sure my £25 will go straight into Arsene Wenger’s transfer kitty.
Speaking of Mr Wenger, it was nice to read this over the weekend. “As a manager, this could be my last job. I do not feel that I have to move in a couple of years. I feel a club like Real Madrid is a different job. At Arsenal, with a new stadium, I believe I can help this club become one of the top three or four clubs in the world.”
Dennis Bergkamp on the Henry stories – “The club have said he’s not for sale and that’s fantastic for the players as well as the fans. There haven’t been many players like him in 100 years of football, with all the qualities and skills that he has.”
Arsene Wenger on the Henry stories – “It can take 10 years to build something special up and five minutes to destroy it. We’re a big club; why should we sell a player to Chelsea? It’s ridiculous.”
Tony Adams on practising being a manager as a kid, in the middle of a really good interview in the Guardian about his start as manager at Wycombe Wanderers. “I played this yellow Porche at inside right. . .fantastic! Two overlapping pencils at right-back and left-back. I had this little yellow pencil in the middle, lovely touch, nice left foot. I loved being a manager even then.”
Poor old little yellow pencil never did quite achieve all that he should have in the game. Fell in with that small green soldier crowd. They were always a bad lot. This is my last week in work now – classes until Thursday, crimbo party on Friday, then it’s hols until January. There are some good things about being a teacher. I’m heading back to Ireland for the festive season, so updates won’t be as regular as normal from next week, but I’ll do my best, as sobriety and other things allow.
