december 18th
So it’s Bayern Munich in the first knock-out stages of the Champions League. Not the worst draw we could have had but they’re always going to be a tough side to come up against. The last time we played Bayern was probably one of the worst European performances of AW’s reign even if we did scrape through to the next phase after being beaten. The boss is hoping for an improved performance (and result) against the Germans and was quick to defend our European form. He said “We know we are not as dreadful as everybody says we are in Europe. I concede that we have not won it, but when I saw the (draw) announcement it said only three teams have not lost a game – Inter Milan, Juventus and who? Arsenal.”
Good work. Bayern also deals up the battle of the keepers, Lehmann v Khan and even though our German is out of the team Arsene Wenger has been quick to praise his reaction after being dropped. He’s also ruled out a move for Ledley King during the transfer window. Myles, over on the fake ANR, has been told the deal is done and dusted, and to be fair I heard there might be something in it too (although I can’t see us spending £22.5m on a central defender), but the boss seems to be quite definite. In fact he’s suggesting he won’t be spending anything at all during the January window preferring instead to give opportunities to Flamini, Senderos and Hoyte. I’m not 100% sure I believe him. We will be bringing in Eboué, and it’s possible we might see Marco Né if Edu’s situation sees him leave in January. You might remember similar denials last winter and then we went out and bought José so while I’ll take AW’s word as gospel on most things when it comes to transfers I’m not sure he always tells the truth (in public). It’s a bit of tricky one for a manager. We’re talking about young players with great talent here who won’t improve unless they play. Signing more established players basically closes the door on their Arsenal futures so let’s hope they can step up to the plate when needed.
One transfer story that can definitely be knocked on the head is the one linking Ashley Cole to Real Madrid. Double-D says “He is our player and we intend to keep him our player. It must be feeding time for the agents.”
And that’s about it for this morning. Tomorrow’s game against Portsmouth is on the TV. I’m off to get a haircut.
