march 1st 2005
Welcome to a brand new month on Arseblog.
Well, it’s a full blown striker crisis…for tonight’s game anyway. Thierry Henry is ruled out with an achilles injury so he joins Dennis, José and Robin van Persie on the sidelines. That means Freddie Ljungberg will take one of the striker’s positions and I’m told Jeremie Aliadiere will join him with Cesc on the right hand side of midfield. Lupoli and Quincy are likely to be on the bench and I’d imagine we’ll see at least one of them as young Jeremie will find 90 minutes a bit of a task after being out so long with an injury. Senderos and Cygan continue in the centre of the defence while Manuel Almunia returns between the sticks as is the norm with the FA Cup. It’s all a bit makeshift really but with so many injuries and suspensions it’s not a surprise.
Some relatively good news regarding Robert Pires yesterday. It turns out his ankle isn’t broken, only very badly sprained, so he’ll miss two to three weeks. Obviously he’s out of next week’s game against Bayern Munich and maybe his lay-off will help him recharge his batteries a bit.
Goalkeeping target Silvio Proto has said he’s not that interested in a move to England and that he’d be more interested in a move to a big Belgian club (if such a thing exists). Fear not though because from the finest Swedish source I know I hear Arsenal are looking at a summer move for Rennes and Sweden number 1 Andreas Isaakson. Widely touted as a potential star on the world stage it’s believed Arsenal have had scouts watching him a number of times since Christmas and he really fits the profile of the kind of keeper we need to bring in this summer. If I hear more about this you’ll be the first to know.
In other news Ashley Cole has defended Robin van Persie reminding us all that young players do stupid things and his two yellow cards might have been costly but he didn’t kill anyone. Give the lad a break – some of the criticism he’s come in for has been way over the top. Steve Bruce has asked for magistrates not to jail Jermaine Pennant for his drink driving thingy last month saying living in Birmingham is punishment enough. Gilberto could be back this month after his long injury lay-off (couldn’t find a link).
And that’s it for now. Fingers crossed our patchwork lads can do Sheffield United tonight and get our season back on track. I fancy a Cesc hat-trick.
