august 9th
Sorry, but hungoverness makes it short and sweet this morning.
We won the Charity Community Shield yesterday with a 3-1 win over Manchester United. Lots of good things to take from the game even if we have to say United were playing with their Champions League qualifier in mind. José Antonio Reyes looks like he’s really settled into the side and he was deservedly man of the match yesterday. He scored one, made one and waltzed through the United defence with a dribble that would have made Darren Huckerby proud before finishing into the side netting with a right foot shot that would have made Darren Huckerby proud. Can’t wait to see more of him this season.
Cesc Fabregas started in midfield, as we told you, and he didn’t even look slightly out of place.
He’s just 17 and his performance means he’s going to play quite a bit this season. Assured, calm on the ball, strong in the tackle and all round he looks very, very promising. Good stuff too from Jermaine Pennant who’s working very hard to make the most of his opportunity, and it’s nice to see. All in all a 3-1 win over United is always nice, but we can’t go all Houllier and claim this as a major trophy.
After the game Arsene Wenger made Patrick Vieira’s position clearer , saying “If Patrick is focused to leave, there will be an open door. He’s got until Saturday to make up his mind.”
Robert Pires seemed to confirm Vieira’s departure when he spoke to somebody from some newspaper sometime last week. Le Bob says “All the players wanted Patrick to stay. Arsenal without Patrick will be very different… but we can adapt to a life without his leadership. This is not the end of an era.”
All I can say is that after seeing the fantastic young talent we’ve got at the club it makes it less easy to understand why Vieira wants to go to Madrid. Still, as AW said during the week “I think any player who leaves Arsenal makes a mistake.”
It looks like we’ll complete the signing of Michael Carrick today. Good player in my opinion, needs to work hard to make his mark on this Arsenal team though, but with him, Cesc, Edu, Gilberto and Flamingo we have good options in the centre of the park.
That’s it. I have to go see a man about a dog.
