Sections of Thierry Henry’s programme notes have been widely reported in various papers over the last few days. No doubt you’ve read the full thing already but it’s worth linking to anyway because it’s hard to disagree with anything he says. It goes back to the whole supporters v fans thing and it must be hard on the team when they’re trying to get a goal to see vast swathes of empty seats because some fans can’t be arsed to stay till the end.
I realise there are always people who leave early and that there are some difficulties getting away from the new stadium. I also understand that there are people who have long journeys to make and 5 minutes can make a difference to their trip home but fans expect 100% commitment on the pitch from the players. They expect them to put their body on the line week in, week out. That’s normal. It must be a pain in the arse for the players though when some of the people who have such high expectations of you can’t be bothered to stay in their seats an extra 5 minutes to cheer them on, to perhaps help them to get a goal.
If fans are the twelfth man then some of ours at the moment are more Stefan Malz than Marc Overmars. Today’s Independent suggests Henry is walking a ‘fine line’ after what they call a ‘broadside’ at fans. While not as bad as that twat from the NoTW it’s still shit-stirring, if you ask me. What Henry said was measured, thoughtful and had its basis in truth. He wants the fans to get behind the team for 90 minutes plus injury time, not 85. It can make a difference. We want the new stadium to be a fortress, a place where the opposition won’t enjoy coming but that’s not just down to the 11 players on the pitch, a huge amount of that has to come from us.
Anyway, it’s far better to get these things out in the open and deal with them rather than let them fester and cause problems in the long term. The captain speaks here about what he said in his notes, the missed chances and that it might well be Rosicky, who is gutted by his miss, that wins us the game on Sunday. There are also quotes from William Gallas and Gael Clichy.
With regards to team news for Sunday it looks like Adebayor has a 90% chance of being involved after his thigh injury. Ljungberg and Eboue will both still be out though.
Robin van Persie says he wants to become a better all round player. He says:
I have not set myself any objectives, but I have focused myself on improving my distribution and passing. I want to help my team-mates, I want them to trust me in every situation and know that I am there to help them on the pitch.
I know he had some problems with attitude before, which I always felt were blown way out of proportion, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders now and that can only be a good thing.
We’re giving a trial to a Chinese player called Mao Jianqing, according to reports. Also on the radar is Japanese midfielder Shoo Tchucunt.
I asked you, in a very tough competition question, if Perry Groves’ fantastic ‘We all live in a Perry Groves world’ was better than Ashley Cole’s piece of shit book. Everybody got the question right apart from one person who is obviously a complete loser this morning. There are 6 winners of a copy of the book and, thanks to the Random Number Generator they are as follows:
Barry McKermitt, Martin Hester, Paul Roberts, Maria Kilcoyne, Tim Symonds and Jane Tuckwell.
I’ll be in touch with you lot for addresses etc later on. Now, onwards to the usual Friday helping of audio bollocks that is the arsecast with thanks to classicfootballshirts.co.uk
This week I talk about the Perry Groves campaign and hopefully, fingers crossed, I’ll have the man himself on next week’s arsecast to talk about how much better his book is than Ashley Cole’s, there’s a blogchat with Gilbertosilver from gunnerblog.com, a bit about your superstitions (complete with cheesy music!), your questions, Arsene Wenger Hawkins and a bet of week from bluesq.com
You can download directly here. I’m still waiting for the arsecast to be added to the iTunes music store. Not quite sure what’s going on there to be honest. They said it was only a test podcast and to resubmit when I uploaded the real thing. It obviously wasn’t a test though and when I try to resubmit they tell me it’s already been submitted. Anyone got any hints on this?
Anyway, that’s your lot. More tomorrow ahead of the West Ham game on Sunday.
