december 21st
10.09 – Only 4 shopping days until Xmas®©™. Luckily for me I got a large percentage of the shopping done yesterday, I just need to buy a suitcase now.
I know some people are a little concerned with our form at the moment, and feel that we should be doing more than drawing against the likes of Fulham, Leicester and Bolton.
Obviously late equalisers are painful things at the best of times, but I much prefer them to late winners (scored against us, natch). Remember, we’re still the only unbeaten team in English league football, we’re top of the league (for now, expect that to change as Spurs put their arse in the air and take it from United today), and we’re in the 2nd phase of the Champions League. Traditionally we have a poor spell in November where we lose a game or two. That hasn’t happened, so we’re improving on our form from the previous season.
One thing I do hope for over the Christmas period is the return of Lauren to right back, which means Kolo Toure can go back to his best position in central defence. It also means Sol Campbell can play on his favoured side of the central defensive partnership, which is currently occupied by Pascal Cygan. Now, I have been critical of the bald lump before, but fair play to him, he’s improved a lot on the performances of last season – although that’s not a difficult task. However, I think that we should play our two best central defenders when possible, and to me that’s Kolo and Sol. It might be tough on Cygan, but he’s got to accept the fact he’s never going to be an automatic first choice, he’s just not that good. If he can come in and do a job without making the horrendous errors he made last season, then he’s got a good squad job. I’d also like to see Edu play some games in the midfield. I like Gilberto fine, but when Vieira is not 100% match fit and struggling a bit, he needs somebody alongside him who will take responsibility, who actively looks for the ball and can do something with it. Edu is creative, but works very hard and is as good defensively as his Brzilian mate.
Juan Pablo Angel anyone? Nah, didn’t think so. Kevin Hofland anyone? We’ll swap you a Cygan for your Hofland, PSV, and seeing as it’s crimbo we’ll chuck in a free Wiltord.
Right, I have to go suitcase shopping. “Excuse me, I’m looking for a suitcase big enough for a 10kg ham and more booze than a park full of teenagers on a Friday night.”
