Friday, March 29, 2024

Everton fallout + news round-up

Morning to you, the snow is beginning to melt here in Dublin, which is a good thing. This has resulted in much slush, which is a bad thing. If slush were a footballer it would be the lovechild of John Terry and Myra Hindley. Rotten stuff.

There’s no midweek game at the moment so the focus is still pretty much on what happened against Everton. Firstly the boss has addressed the rather odd situation when Denilson got a pain in his side and fell over, which led to an Everton counter attack and might have seen them make it 3-1 but for an Almunia save. He says:

I said to Denilson afterwards, ‘if that happens you have to commit a handball.’ I’m very serious. If you go down, and there hasn’t been a foul, you cannot ask Everton to stop their counter-attack and not to score.

I have to say I thought he should have done exactly that, or boot the ball into touch before collapsing like a drama student. Now, I know he got a right clatter sometime earlier from Phil Neville which I thought might have been a penalty, even if Neville did get the ball first. He took Denilson out at head height in the box which is dangerous play, surely? Perhaps he was feeling the effects of that but I think the rather public rebuke from the manager, and his post-game comments that they had no idea what was wrong with him, might suggest Arsene thinks he was capable of doing better. The player himself reckons he’ll be right as rain for the Bolton game.

With the transfer window well and truly open now and issues within the squad that need to be addressed Arsene says:

I’m looking. I said many times I have an open eye on the market and, if the right opportunities come up, we will do something. But, at the moment, I must say I’m still only looking.

I hope he’s looking hard this week in particular because with no midweek game it’s the most time he’s going to get before the schedule starts getting mental again. I’m told that the planned return of Bendtner in two weeks might be delayed a little and in that case he’s going to have to go for that striker. The defence is an absolute must in my view and above all else this is where we need to spend our money. Or, if we re-sign Sol Campbell, not spend our money. On his potential signing former captain Tony Adams says:

I don’t think he is a player Arsene would go for, he’s not of the age. Personally I think he could be a good option.

Which tells me two things. Firstly, Arsene will probably go for him and secondly he’ll turn out to be bad option. I loved Tony as a player but as manager and a pundit it’s like he’s got a reverse Midas touch. Everything he touches turns to slush. There’s gotta be a decent centre-half or two out there who wouldn’t cost a fortune. Don’t ask me to name names, I’m not the one with the extensive scouting network and the encyclopedic knowledge of footballers. Look at Vermaelen, how many of us had heard of him before he signed? It doesn’t have to be a superstar, it doesn’t have be someone playing at a top club, just a good player who can come in and give us the depth we need to continue the challenge for the three competitions we’re currently involved in.

There’s other stuff from Arsene this morning. Firstly he talks very vaguely about his future but I have to say at this moment in time, when he’s got 18 months left on his current deal, it’s not really that interesting, despite the best efforts of headline writers. Then he speaks about the African Cup of Nations in Angola and questions the motivation of some managers for wanting their players to come home. I can see where he’s coming from, to an extent, but when people are being shot and killed at a football tournament then I think there’s a natural reaction to want those close to you, players or friends/family, to get the fuck out of Dodge.

In other news Marouane Chamakh says he’ll let everyone know by the end of the month what he’s going to do. I’m sure, like me, you’ll be waiting with bated breath. Or to put it another way, going about the place not giving a fish’s tit what he decides.

Also in The Sun – Gavin Hoyte will stay at Brighton on loan until the end of the season.

And that’s about that. Have yourselves a jolly good Monday. More on our no new signings tomorrow. Hurrah!

Related articles

Share article

Featured on NewsNow

Support Arseblog

Latest posts

Latest Arsecast