february 21st
Lots going on this morning, most of it centring around our old friend Demento starting his mind games. He made reference to Arsenal’s unbeaten reference being a ‘burden’, and that sooner or later we’d have to lose a game. Well, you don’t need to be Einstein to work that one out. He also made himself look an even bigger fool than normal by saying “I read this week that Arsenal could go into administration next year. You would hate to think anything like that could happen to a club with such tradition and history.”
Obviously he’d like nothing better than for his biggest rivals to go under, but we all know that. The fact is he must have been reading the Spoof Gazette, because I certainly didn’t see any such story this week, and I trawl most of the sites and news feeds every day for the blog. He’s making stuff up, and if he honestly believes that we’d spend up to £17m on Jose Reyes – with the threat of administration hanging over us – after being prudent in the market for so long then he’s as mad as someone who thinks they’d be given 50% of a £200m race horse without paying a penny. Oh. Anyway, it’s no more/less than you would expect from him at this stage of the season. Almost like clockwork he starts this crap every season, and it’s now just predictable and boring. He doesn’t know anything about how Arsenal is run, how our finances are run, how we spend or have spent our money. Fact is, Ashburton Grove is going ahead. The finance is all sorted out and an announcement will be made shortly. Work on the site has begun, and in a couple of years we’ll have a 60,000 stadium which will increase the manager’s spending power. We’ll never be as rich as United, but the gap will have been closed considerably. Taking into account Wenger’s ability to pinpoint players that fit well into his team and style of play, plus what he’s done on a shoestring budget up till now (Reyes apart), against Ferguson’s increasingly dodgy and desperate transfer dealings and obvious failings without a strong number 2, the future for Arsenal looks rosy.
Arsene Wenger meanwhile has laughed off talk of the ‘burden’, saying “We just want to win our next game. We have enough experience to know that what is important is what we do and not what other people say.”
Team news for today is that Edu is likely to start in midfield alongside Patrick Vieira, while a fit Gilberto could well start the game on the right hand side of midfield. With Ashley Cole out injured, the boss has also defended his decision to withdraw Sol Campbell from the England squad in midweek. “He could need an operation, but only if we don’t take care of it. I thought that if England had forced him to play, they could lose him for the European Championships.“
Good management if you ask me.
Jens Lehmann’s comments about Oliver Kahn have not gone down well at home in Germany, with the main man Franz Beckenbauer criticising the Arsenal keeper. Maybe it’s just me, and maybe it’s because I don’t live in Germany, but does Beckenbauer ever say anything good about anyone or anything? He’s always moaning, although he does have a point with regard to Lehmann’s comments. Coming ahead of an important time for his club, our keeper should be focussed on that, rather than trying to dislodge the obvious number 1 for Euro2004. Paddy and Ashley talk to the The Sun about AW, Arsenal and other Arsenal related matters.
Jermaine Pennant has been banned from driving for 16 months following his arrest for drunk driving. Just don’t take a lift to work from Jody Morris, Jermaine. I don’t know how to introduce pieces about Kolo Toure anymore. He’s just tops. Read about him in The Independent and I just love this quote “If some player acts like he is fighting, or bossing, you have to do something. If someone wants to give me a kick I will show him I am not his woman.”
I think that’s enough for a Saturday morning. Some brekkie, then I’m going to settle down and watch the match. More later.
