February 12th
I haven’t seen anything but the briefest highlights of the Bolton game but given the circumstances we have to be happy with a point. A late, late Gilberto goal cancelled out Kevin Nolan’s opener but we lost José Antonio Reyes with what Arsene Wenger fears might be a broken leg.
Bolton’s Abdoulaye Faye launched himself two footed at the ball and it seems that he caught José as he kicked the ball. It was a nasty challenge and Faye was lucky to only get a yellow. Afterwards Arsene Wenger was pleased with the point but was critical of Bolton’s tactics, gamesmanship and timewasting. He said “I think the boys have shown character and an outstanding performance until the last minute. It would have been a shame to lose again because it is a game that we could have won by three or four goals.”
On Bolton – “You would like the referees to show a little bit more authority to make the game respected. You know now that when you are 1-0 down the players will dive, at every change the player takes two minutes, at every goal-kick you have to shout to the referee to get the keeper to take it.”
Again, when you consider how makeshift the defence was there are positives to be taken and it’s something to build on ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Anfield. Hopefully we’ll have Kolo Toure and Emnanuel Eboue back by then.
Patrick Vieira astounds us all with his deep knowledge of the game by saying Thierry Henry could still leave the club. This is in a News of the World exclusive. The former captain says “Thierry will make the best decision for his career at the end of the season. I know he has not yet made up his mind but I don’t know what he will do. He may stay or he may go.”
Brilliant stuff that, Paddy. Cheers. He’ll stay or he won’t. He might have chicken for lunch or he might have fish.
Safety has been very quiet of late but something has been festering inside him as his new column ‘Dear Hammers‘ will reveal. You can check out the columnists archive here.
Right, that’s yer lot. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
