February 4th
Still the Sol Campbell situation dominates the headlines with Arsene Wenger offering support despite the fact he hasn’t seen or heard from him since Wednesday. He said “I haven’t seen him since Wednesday night and I have no news from him at the moment. He is in a difficult period at the moment. And you can only help people if they are in touch. Will a few days to clear his head be sufficient? I think so. I do not know what the problem is. Frankly, really and sincerely I don’t know.”
Despite Robert Pires saying Sol had a big worry in his private life it seems nobody has been able to get in touch with him. Kolo Toure has even tried from the ACN but said “I have tried to phone him but it was hard to get him.”
The internet was awash with rumours about Sunday tabloid exclusives yesterday. Those stories certainly aren’t worth repeating because they are just rumours at the moment. If it turns out that there’s something to talk about on Sunday then we’ll talk about but until then there’s little point engaging in idle speculation.
Today’s Sun hints that Sol’s love life and a fling with designer Karen Millen (whoever she is) might the problem. The ubiquitous ‘worried pal’ saying last night “Sol’s head is messed up by what’s happening in his personal life. He’s emotionally involved with three women and is struggling to cope. He’s in a bad way and has obviously decided to go off the radar while he straightens himself out.”
Maybe it’s tangled love life, maybe it’s more serious as Goodplaya suggests, maybe it’s a little from column A and a little from column B, the bottom line is that we’re without one of senior players and a player, when on form, who has done great things for us. However, we haven’t really seen that player for a while but when the chips were down we needed him and he wasn’t there. Whatever it is that’s bothering him I think all Arsenal fans hope that he sorts it out and feels better. Where there’s a dividing between us is how this affects his Arsenal future and while a fit, healty and in-from Sol Campbell is a huge (no pun intended) asset to the squad it’s hard to imagine we’re ever going to see that again and whether, despite his personal problems, he deserves the trust of the manager again.
Certainly no amount of money can prevent personal problems but the kind of money that he’s paid brings with it certain responsibilities. If he wasn’t well enough to play maybe he should have said so before the game. Whatever is bothering him he should not have walked out of the club on Wednesday night. He has friends there, he has a manager and team-mates who will always support him because that’s what football clubs do and he has/had huge support amongst Arsenal fans but he’s made things difficult for himself by walking away and leaving behind the people who could help him and help him through whatever this problem is.
Anyway, what this has done is totally distract from the football side of things. Maybe that was good this week after the defeat to West Ham but we play Birmingham today with two defenders. It seems the manager will start with the back four that finished the West Ham game – Larsson and Flamini as emergency full backs. Robin van Persie is still struggling with a toe injury and is rested along with Freddie Ljungberg. New signings Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott are included in the squad though with the manager quick to praise the 16 year old, saying “Theo has looked lively and alert in training. He is playing with belief and he deserves to be involved based on his performances, not just on the supposed amount of his transfer.”
Which is exciting stuff and while one Arsenal career perhaps comes to an end a brand new one seems just about to start. Here’s hoping he can make the impact we all believe he can make.
After a couple of weeks without a game my team plays at 2 today and a win is vital to keep up the pressure on the league leaders. Till tomorrow, chums.
