An early blog this morning as I have a very early start. I’m not used to having to go outside this early. It’s a bit dark and weird and scary but see how I don’t neglect you? Other blog owners would simply not blog. Not me. I’ll get up even earlier than I have to to ensure your dose of my shite is dripping down your screens just like any other morning.
We’ll start with the news that Arsene Wenger has been charged with misconduct by the FA after being sent to the stands at half-time during the Portsmouth game on Saturday. He has until the 5th of January to respond to the charge and unlike the Alan Pardew incident this is one that it looks like he’ll be contesting. He said:
The West Ham game was a special game and after the game I said I was wrong and I regretted what I did and I accepted the punishment. I was amazed I was banned from the touchline in the second half, because considering what I have seen in the corridors the last ten years, it is difficult to explain. I will not accept any charge on that incident. I feel that strongly about it.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Despite his assurance that he didn’t swear or lose his temper he obviously said something to Steve Bennett to get ‘sent off’. He hinted at that when he said:
I didn’t lose my cool, I just said I just feel the reason the club has been punished was by decisions that are difficult to explain from officials.
Was he suggesting that there was some kind of direction from above as an explanation for the decisions that went against us or was he questioning, however subtley, the integrity of the officials? If so then he really needs to step back and take stock. Yes, some of the decisions have been shite but we have shite decisions made against us every season just like every other club. Perhaps Steve Bennett misunderstood what Arsene was saying and it will all be cleared up when he responds to the charge. However, he was warned about his future conduct just last week and the FA might not look kindly on this no matter what he didn’t do.
Ahead of tonight’s game against Liverpool Manuel Almunia reckons that they’ll be out for revenge after the 3-0 win we had over them in the league. In terms of the team it looks like we’ll respond to Liverpool’s team, which is going to be a strong one, and the main news is that Tomas Rosicky is likely to start. The boss said:
It will be a good team against Liverpool. There will be a few young players and a few players who need a game. Rosicky will play certainly.
Given the opposition, their current form and how hard to beat they’ve been at Anfield this season we just couldn’t risk playing as inexperienced a team as we might have had the opposition been ‘lesser’. We might have found ourselves on the wrong end of a result like we did against Chelsea in this competition a few years back. As well as Rosicky you’d have to think we’ll see the obvious changes like Senderos, Hoyte and probably Alex Song to give Cesc, Kolo et al a rest.
Rafael Benitez has taken a swipe at Arsenal’s youth policy, accusing us of buying up good young players and he says Liverpool can’t compete. He claims they were monitoring Diaby, Walcott and Denilson but simply couldn’t afford them. That’s probably because he was paying millions for shite like Jermaine Pennant and Bolo Zenden. We might bring in more youth than we produce but for Liverpool to cry poor mouth is fucking hilarious.
Anyway, a good result tonight would be nice even if it is just the Carling Cup. Not least because I’ll be watching with the Mug Smasher.
Arsene says he’ll discuss Jens Lehmann’s future in January or February and will only offer the German a one year deal because of his age. I think a lot of it depends on Jens’ motivation. Does he want to play for a year in the Bundesliga before he retires and at 37 he doesn’t have long left. I wonder will Arsene’s decision be swayed by what happened with David Seaman who was given perhaps two seasons too many at the club before the boss sought to replace him.
There’s been lots of discussion across the various sites and message boards about the club’s decision to ban flags from the ground. As someone rightly pointed out the players themselves will be disappointed that fans from their country can’t fly their flag to show have far they’ve come to support our team. For an example of what was banned on Saturday before the Portsmouth game click on the thumbnail here and see the flag that the French Gooners spent their money on to support Arsenal.
They were refused entry with the flag and that really is a bit shit.
And that’s about that. Don’t forget if you want to leave a message for this Friday’s arsecast I’m looking for you to tell me what you’d like the Arse Santa to bring to the club this Christmas. Just go to this page, record your message and Bob is, quite literally, your uncle.*
More tomorrow.
*Bob may not be your uncle at all.
