october 23rd
I didn’t see any of yesterday’s game yet so I can’t really comment on what everyone is talking about. We won 1-0 with a Robert Pires penalty but the main talking point was the second penalty which, by all accounts, was a bit of a joke. Instead of shooting Pires tried to pass to Henry, all perfectly legal, but only scuffed the ball and ended up giving a free kick to Man City.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger expressed ‘disbelief’ at what had happened, saying “He decided to do that because he was a bit insecure about taking the second penalty because it has never happened to him and he was scared to miss it.”
Well, if he was scared to miss it why didn’t somebody else take it? There are plenty of players in the team who could have scored it. Anyway, he’d already scored one so what’s the problem? A strange incident for sure and a waste of a goalscoring opportunity. If we had drawn that game 1-1 then it would have had some serious repercussions. I’ll hopefully get a look at it later today and comment further.
Update: I’ve just seen it. Ridiculous is the best word I have for it. Stupid. But we got away with it. It’s hardly the end of the world and we have the 3 points.
Thierry Henry said “I will now take the penalties – all of the time. I take all the blame, it was my idea. If it had worked it would have been a brilliant idea, but it did not work. I want to apologise to Arsenal fans because maybe it was not the right thing to do. It was not a lack of respect – maybe we should not have done it, but football is a game and it is entertainment.”
PIres said “It was Thierry’s idea, and something we had practised on the training ground. But I shouldn’t have done it. It was the wrong game in which to try it and I have apologised to the manager and the other players.”
True, it is a game but as a side we’re struggling a bit at the moment and we should probably keep the Harlem Globetrotters stuff for the last minute of the Champions League final when we’re 4-0 up against Chelski.
Amy Lawrence on Arsene Wenger. Interesting.
The Sunday Mirror says Chelsea will try and buy Henry, that Roberto Carlos thinks Real Madrid will sign Ashley Cole to replace him and that we’re keeping tabs on West Ham’s midfielder Nigel Reo Hokey Cokey.
Not a lot else happening. Might update if there is.
