Morning all. It looks like all the rain in the world is about to fall here. Gah.
We start the week sitting 6 points clear of Aston Villa after Man United’s last gasp victory yesterday. Watching United win is never much fun but I suppose needs must and anything that makes a top 4 finish more comfortable for us has to be ok. A bit of breathing room is nice.
We don’t have any team news for tomorrow as yet but the manager has said there’s a ‘little’ chance for Robin van Persie and a ‘small’ chance for Samir Nasri. I wonder how he makes the distinction between little and small. Is it like midget vs dwarf? I suppose there’ll be doubts about Theo too as he finished the City game sitting on the bench holding a rather large ice-pack on his knee.
Fingers crossed they’ll all make it though. Having that bit of extra quality, even on the bench, would be invaluable, and, of course, we go to Spain without Andrei Arshavin who is cup-tied.
The manager, in his infinite wisdom, has put aside all transfer and contract talks until the end of the season, claiming the team needs to be 100% focussed on the games ahead. He says:
I believe it can be distracting. It is a period when you have to be completely in to be successful. You cannot be half in and a little bit out, or 90 per cent in and a bit out, because that 10 per cent you can miss at an important moment of the game. I believe it is for us to be professional and to know what is important and when. We have to show maturity and get rid of all the talks that are not helping us to win the games.
Makes sense. There’s so much to be decided on the pitch in the next 6 weeks that off the pitch stuff can surely wait. There’s nothing more important than the next game and all that. The Mirror reports that the manager suprised the players and took them paintballing. Ahh, paintballing. There’s nothing like shooting someone in the face with a pellet of Dulux Crimson Sunrise® to foster team spirit.
Back with a bang Emmanuel Adebayor is hungry. Not for pies. Not for some kind of fancy cous-cous dish. Nor for a giant steak or a side of bacon. No, he is hungry for trophies. He says:
When I came to this club from Monaco in 2006, I was told by my friends and team-mates I had a great chance of winning something. But for the last three years I’ve gone on holiday having not won a trophy and with an empty heart.
So now it is time to achieve things, starting with two games against Villarreal. We have to believe we can do it. I will do everything I can to play in the last four of this competition.
And then the last two, hopefully. There aren’t too many members of this squad who have won trophies really and the hunger to do so should be a huge motivation for them. They should all be starving for delicious, home-made, still warm, crunchy trophies. Yes.
Do we want our players going around all summer with empty hearts? No we do not. For that means our hearts are also empty. Apart from all the blood and bits that block up our arteries and what have you. If we see the Adebayor of old, the one who re-emerged from his semi-hibernation earlier in the season, then our chances of full hearts are much greater.
So that’s really about it for this morning. As I’m flying to Barcelona this evening and then down to Valencia and then Villarreal for the match, I won’t be blogging for the next couple of days. You will, however, have the pleasure of Tom’s company for the pre and post-Villarreal blogs. If I can find wifi I’ll try and update the Twitter a bit, but data costs when roaming would bankrupt a sheikh so don’t count on it.
Hopefully I’ll see some of you in Spain and here’s to a good result tomorrow night. Until Thursday, cheers.
