It’s a Robin van Persie flavoured blog this morning as he’s the one providing most of the copy. Firstly he’s done an interview with Setanta Sports in which he talks about his future and his ambitions.
He says he has a contract until 2011 which he will ‘respect’ and says he can’t really say any more about his future. That kind of a comment is often open to interpretation but I don’t think he’s saying it because he’s hiding something but because there really isn’t much he can say at the moment. I’m sure the club are working on a new deal which will keep him here as he heads towards his best years.
Of his ambition he says:
My aim is not to fight for fourth place. This is what we are involved in now and I accept that. But it is not my aim just to qualify for the Champions League. I want to win the Champions League and I believe we can. It is not just that I want to play in the FA Cup, I want to win it and that is what I have always said.
I want to win things and I think that is a good thing.
To be a top player you have to have that drive. It’s all well and good playing nice football, scoring nice goals but if at the end of your career you’ve got no medals, no trophies, then you’re not going to be happy.
He’s confident about the way the team is playing at the moment, saying:
I feel we are unbeatable. I go out there thinking we can win every game. Even when Newcastle drew level on Saturday, I never thought, ‘Oh no, we are not going to win’.
And of the poor results earlier in the season, he says:
I still look back at the dropped points from earlier in the season and it hurts. We are 10 points behind United and six behind Chelsea because we lost some silly points against teams we should have beaten.
I remember an earlier interview with him and he was talking about the Fulham game, how they got on the coach afterwards stunned, because what happened was not supposed to happen to Arsenal. Not the result, but the performance and how limp we were that day. It took another few performances like that to snap this team out of it, but the current run we’re on is miles away from that day at Craven Cottage.
In the video he acknowledges the impact of Arshavin, is looking forward to Theo and Adebayor coming back, and calls Cesc the ‘heartbeat’ of the team. I think, should he get through the Interlull injury free, he’s going to play a big part in the final weeks of the season. I can feel a goal spree coming. He’s been a bit off in the last few weeks but in the run-in, when every game is vital and we have Cesc back in the team, I think Robin will be the main man.
Elsewhere Andrei Arshavin is enjoying life at Arsenal so much he can see himself finishing his career here. I’m not sure what you can say about articles like that just weeks after the bloke has joined us but it’s good that he’s fitting in so well and feels part of things already.
Arsenal have allowed Emmanuel Adebayor to join up with the Togo squad on the strict understanding that he doesn’t play. He hasn’t kicked a ball for us since tearing his hamstring in the 0-0 draw with Sp*rs on February 8th. It would, of course, be no surprise if he played for Togo but it will be very interesting to see how he’s reintroduced to the squad when he is fit again.
Arshavin is playing well, van Persie too, Bendtner is beginning to grow in confidence and Eduardo is a clinical, game-winner. Maybe we’ll see a return of the ‘old’ Adebayor, one for whom running and chasing and harrying defenders was the norm. With such increased competition for places he might find that unless he works hard again he’ll spend more time on the bench than he might like.
Beyond that not much happening so finally a bit of shameless scouting. My Tuesday night Astro team (11-a-side) has just finished its winter season and our goalkeeper has now retired from football. Not because he’s a broken man having to cope with me as one of his centre-halves, I can quite categorically say that is untrue.
*cough*
So, we’re struggling to find a new keeper and if there’s anyone in Dublin who is looking for a game please get in touch. We’re looking for an actual keeper rather than someone who just wants to play in goals. The games happen on Tuesday evenings (kick-offs between 7pm and 9.30pm) and generally take place in Wesley College in Dundrum. The summer season kicks off in two weeks time.
If you’re a keeper and you think you might like to play, or if you know someone who be into it, please drop me an email to ‘thearseblog at arseblog dot com’.
I’d say we’re looking for Seaman but that would leave me open to far too many jokes.
Till tomorrow.
