Morning everyone, slight *boilk* but nothing too major thankfully. Lots of stuff going on. As usual on a Friday Arsene kept the press entertained with the pre-Blackburn conference. He must be a godsend to them because he gives them so much copy. Where to start though?!
Lauren, I think. The boss confirmed that he wouldn’t stand in Lauren’s way if an offer came in for him citing the emergence of Eboue, Hoyte and Djourou during Ralph’s enforced absence. He said:
I feel we have too many players in that position now. It’s always the same. You make room for young players and then it is difficult to leave them out again.
Obviously the injury plays a part in this and with Lauren out of contract in the summer the boss has decided that he can go elsewhere. Personally I hope he goes back to Spain because I don’t think I’d like to see the man who throttled Phil Neville, kicked Cristiano Ronaldo higher in the air than anyone else I’ve ever seen, flattened Mido then stood over him taunting him, rolled that penalty in against Sp*rs and who was generally a double-hard bastard play for another Premiership team. Good luck wherever you go, Lauren, and thanks for everything.
One player who will be staying, till the summer at least, is Freddie Ljungberg. Of him AW said:
He will stay. I have clarified it with him and said, ‘Listen, you stay and that’s it’. I have spoken to him personally. He was a bit uncertain about his future, of course – there is a big competition here for every position.
To be honest I never saw the logic of selling Freddie during this transfer window. His career is certainly in a lull at the moment and whether or not he can get out of that at Arsenal remains to be seen. That said if a couple of Hleb, Rosicky or Walcott got injured our options on the flanks would be seriously weakened and to have sold a player with his experience would certainly be seen as a mistake in such circumstances, unless of course you brought somebody in but that, as we know, is not going to happen this month.
Another player who wants to stay is Jeremie Aliadiere but despite how highly the boss rates him it’s hard to see a future for him at the club. If he’s content to play when everyone else is injured or play in the Carling Cup then perhaps but you’d hope he had more ambition than that. The boss is aware of the problem though, saying:
Aliadiere? I want him here but can I keep him happy with enough games? My big problem at the moment is he deserves to play but there’s a lot of congestion in the squad.
With Henry, Adebayor and van Persie definitely in front of him, Baptista likely to be there too and the return of Bendtner in the summer I don’t think Arsenal is the place he’ll be playing football next season and hand on heart I don’t think we’ll miss him too much.
Onto tonight then and playing away from home on Pay Per View has led some fans to think there’s a kind of a curse against us. The last two ppv games were Sheffield United and Bolton so it’s true it hasn’t been a great time but your luck, if that’s what it’s down to, has to change sometime, doesn’t it? We recently played Blackburn at home and spanked them 6-2 but since then they’ve kicked on and won their last four games, as if that defeat was a kick up the arse for them.
It’s not going to be an easy game, they’re a physical side but I think we can cope. Of course David Bentley will try and prove something, perhaps he’ll pull on Kolo’s jersey again making him fall into the ex-Arsenal man which makes the ref thinks it’s a penalty. Benny ‘tied to a tree’ McCarthy will also need to be watched and Robbie Savage will be out for revenge after being made look like a total cunt by Cesc. Update: Thanks to everyone who informed me Bentley is actually suspended from this game. That doesn’t mean he’s not a little twat though.
Fingers crossed the lads can go get a result. Finally, Arsene Wenger has denied an FA misconduct charge after he was sent off during the Portsmouth game and has requested a personal hearing.
And that’s it. Have a good Saturday, the usual post-match stuff tomorrow.
