May 17th
Oh well, the bad news we all feared came yesterday. Thierry Henry will miss the cup final after aggravating an achilles injury during the 7-0 romp against Everton. The announcement was made on Arsenal.con yesterday and the whole of the Gooner world wept knowing there’s no possible way we can beat anyone, let alone Manchester United, without him. We might as well not bother turning up. Coaches to Cardiff and hotel reservations have been cancelled and there’s a white flag flying from the top of Highbury as we speak.
My hole. Of course we’ll miss Thierry but we can’t get too downhearted about it. We have plenty of quality up front and we’ve shown in recent weeks that we can win games without him. All going well for José I’d imagine he’ll be starting up front with Dennis Bergkamp and we’ll have super-sub Robin van Persie to come on and score the three winning goals later in the game. Speaking to The Sun Thierry said “This is the biggest match I’ve missed in my career. It’s a major disappointment but the team can still win. I’ve had a problem with my Achilles since the start of the season. But it’s not just one, both of them are causing me pain and I am just not fit to play. I need a rest. I have played a lot this season and I’d like to think I’ve given my all. I just can’t go on.”
If anyone in the team deserves a rest it’s Thierry so let’s hope he gets himself back to 100% before the start of next season. In other news Patrick Vieira has pledged his future to Arsenal saying he’s happy at the club and has no intention of moving. Given that it’s cup final I’m biting my lip here but I figure you all know why. He also talks about playing United and Roy Keane and harks back to the tunnel incident at Highbury earlier in the season, saying “There is a lot of passion because the rivalry between the clubs is really high. I think it’s exciting – Manchester-Arsenal is like Barcelona-Real Madrid, it’s like Milan-Internazionale. As a player you look forward to it.”
The hearing into the Ashley Cole affair begins today and Cole’s agent Jonathan Barnett has slammed the club for releasing details of his extortionate demands when it came to renewing Cole’s contract. He said “I don’t respond to fairy-tales. It is completely irresponsible journalism. It is just scandalous what people are allowed to write without even checking their facts.”
Maybe it’s just me but that looks like he’s responding. Barnett is in for a tough time with Chelsea set to say it was he who initiated the meeting and Arsenal adding credence to that by saying he was motivated to do so because of the club’s refusal to meet his demands. Barnett’s job is to make as much money for his client, and therefore himself, as possible so he’s going to have a hard time convincing anyone he wasn’t running around with ££ signs in his eyes. Hopefully Cole won’t be too distracted ahead of Saturday’s game.
Ok, finally for today another giveaway from the blog that just keeps on scabbing prizes off people to give to you. This time my chums at goalhanger.com have provided one of these fab Senderos t-shirts. To win just answer the following question: From which Swiss club did we sign big Phil? Was it a) Servette b) Smurfette c) Dynamo Zurich. Answers by email to [email protected] and the winner will be announced on Friday.
Serious thunder and lightning here for the last 8 hours. Mental. I’m off on a wee day-trip. Till later.
