december 21st
Well the most interesting thing this morning is that Thierry Henry finished second to Ronaldinho in the FIFA World Player of the Year award. While it would have been nice to see an Arsenal player win this it’s not a big deal really. We all know that Thierry scored more goals than Ronaldinho, created more than Ronaldinho and won more than Ronaldinho. One day our man will get the recognition he deserves and even if he doesn’t we know we’ve been watching the best player in the world for some time now. The man himself said “I’m happy to win this [second place] award but the main thing is always to win things with your team and I would rather win the Premiership again or the (UEFA) Champions League.”
In other more important news José Antonio Reyes has been ruled out of the Christmas schedule with a minor knee injury while there’s better news as Freddie Ljungberg looks set to return to the squad after his headache problems.
The Sun reports, not in great detail, that Arsene Wenger will refuse to play fit again Edu because fit again Edu won’t sign a new deal with the club. Is he cutting his nose off to spite his face with this one? It’s hard to tell. If Edu doesn’t want to sign and wants to go somewhere then that’s fine, but although I have no doubts about his professionalism there is the problem of his mind being elsewhere. He could sign a contract with Valencia, for example, and for the next 4 or 5 months of the season a bad performance doesn’t make any difference to him. I’m not suggesting he’d slack off or anything like it, but there’s no pressure or motivation to perform. On the other hand with Gilberto out for so long and two relative rookies in Cesc and Flamini then we could use his experience. Whatever happens I’m sure the boss knows best.
Elsewhere Jens Lehmann says he’s happy to stay at Arsenal and fight for his place, saying “I’m working hard and I assume I will play again soon.”
In the Independent James Lawton asks ‘What’s happened to Patrick Vieira?‘ and although I can’t abide Lawton, the way he writes and his constant use of Manchester United as a yardstick for all that’s good in the game, I do have my own worries about our captain which I may elaborate on at a later date. I’m just too tired this morning and frankly having even vaguely similar thoughts to Lawton has made me feel quite ill and dirty. Even stats won’t make me feel better.
I think I need to lie down again. Finally, may I just take the time to call the people who live underneath me and who have been hammering on their ceiling since 8am this morning ‘utter, utter cunts’ and I wish them plague and pestilence this festive season.
