february 11th
So I rushed home from work, leaving behind me pre-intermediate students with their heads full of comparatives and superlatives, so I could listen to the second half of Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Southampton. Having paid my money to arsenal.com a few weeks ago, I was confident that top class radio coverage would await me and entertain me for the second 45 plus stoppage time.
Nope. Arsenal.com had no commentary last night. No matter how many times I tried, Windows Media Player would spit back the very helpful ‘An error has occurred’. Nice one. Thankfully the UK based people in the arseblog IRC channel who had access to an old fashioned wireless kept the many of us who had paid for arsenal.com’s radio commentary up to date. I’m not that interested in downloading goals, or seeing interviews with Igors Stepanovs about his time at Beveren, or all the other crap in the Arsenal Plus area. The only thing I want Arsenal Plus membership for is listening to the games and when it doesn’t work, it’s more than a bit annoying.
‘What about the game?’, you say. Well, I dunno. I only know what I read on the IRC channel. Henry scored his 100th Premiership goal, Southampton huffed and puffed, Jens made a couple of good saves and refrained from whacking Kevin Phillips, Jose Reyes had a poor first half and was better in the second before being replaced by Clichy, Ray Parlour clattered Danny Higginbotham and as he was lying, gasping for air, the very life force of him draining away, Henry scored his 101st Premiership and lots of Southampton players went mental. Or something. No doubt Gordon blew his ginger little top, but don’t ask me for more details as arsenal.com robbed them from me.
More stories about Real Madrid wanting Thierry Henry flashed around the newswires yesterday. Well, they can want in one hand and shit in the other and see which gets full first. How many times does he have to say he’s happy at Arsenal and won’t be going anywhere? After last night’s game Arsene Wenger described him as “World class, a top player.”
Tell us something we don’t know, boss.
He has also hit out at Real Madrid and the underhand way they conduct their transfer dealings. They’ve acted the bollox over so many transfers, Anelka, Figo, even Beckham, and the boss says “If I want a player from Real Madrid, I would call Real Madrid first, I wouldn’t come out in the newspapers first. It’s unfair to his own players firstly and, secondly, it’s unfair towards Arsenal. You’d expect a bit more class.”
I like the last line, but let’s face it, when it comes to Real Madrid and their Galactico purchasing, none of us really expect any class at all, do we?
So Arsenal are 5 points clear at the top of the table, for now. Manchester United play Boro – who knows, our smoggy chums might just bore a result out of Old Trafford – while Chelsea take on Portsmouth.
Finally for today, with thanks to NostalgicTV, we’ve got 3 DVD copies of the 1971 FA Cup final to give away. You get the full 90 plus extra time, Charlie George’s famous winning goal and celebration, plus loads of stuff like pre-match TV coverage, on-pitch celebrations and much more. To win, you just go to this page and answer the relatively simple question. The competition is open until next Tuesday, Feb 17th. Winners to be announced on Wednesday 18th.
Papa’s got a brand new arse.
