Good morning, a very quick Saturday round-up for you.
As you’d expect there’s not a great deal going on. Only a story in the Daily Mail linking us with Everton’s Phil Jagielka. He’s a decent player and I’d certainly take him but I doubt Everton will sell. And at this stage I’d take just about anyone whose name I can spell with copy and paste, unlike that Lorient bloke.
The same article suggests that Eduardo is up for grabs, which really wouldn’t be a surprise. They name Aston Villa and Valencia as interested parties. I’d be sad to see him go, I have to say. That his Arsenal career was ruined by a piece of outrageous thuggery will always rankle, especially as he was beginning to really find his feet in English football, but the impact it’s had on him has been clear to see. He looked bright and sharp at the beginning of last season and then the niggling injuries caught up with him.
I watched Diaby’s goal against Portsmouth the other day when Eduardo pushed the ball one way and ran the other around the defender. It was in sharp contrast to the Eduardo who looked like he was running through treacle as the campaign went on, and when at the end of the season he wasn’t even getting a few minutes as a sub I think the writing was very much on the wall. I think Villa would be the wrong move for him, perhaps the slower pace of Spanish football would suit him better. If he stays with us all well and good, clearly the manager will see a place for him in the squad, but with Bendtner, Chamakh, van Persie and possibly Arshavin ahead of him, he might feel he’s best off somewhere else.
And another man who will find himself down the pecking order next season, if he’s still around, is Carlos Vela. He played for Mexico yesterday and was fairly anonymous. One or two bright moments aside he didn’t perform and was hauled off for a 37 year old who like he had eaten all the burritos. To be fair Mexico didn’t play well at all and only a piece of ludicrous defending allowed them to equalise. And even then I think Marquez miskicked it. South Africa’s goal, from Arsenal fan Tshabalala was a thing of beauty however, definitely the highlight of the opening day.
Then came France v Uruguay. I’ve seen some terrible, boring, tedious games of football in my time but this was right up there with the worst of them. France were utterly awful, lacking in any kind of creativity or flair, Uruguay were just an average team who didn’t have to worry about France at all. We saw the first red card of the tournament, a second yellow which could easily have been a straight red for a nasty tackle on Sagna.
The Arsenal players on display did ok, people are talking about how well Diaby played, but in reality he was just the least worst guy on display in a shockingly awful game of football. He, at least, looked like he had a bit of drive about him, even if he was guilty of his usual array of sloppy passes in the opposition half. I know Thierry’s legs have gone but if you chopped one of them off and replaced with a bockety old chair leg he’d be more effective than that Govou bloke. And not having the option of players like Nasri and Benzema meant France never looked like winning the game.
All in all not exactly a classic opening day for the World Cup, let’s hope for better today. We get our first look at Maradona’s Argentina, which should be fun. He’ll play Messi in goal and replace him with Claudio Cannigia or something. He’s mental. And later England v USA should be very tasty indeed, especially now that John Terry is responsible for covering all the pelicans with oil. Talk about grudge match.
Right then, that will have to do. I have to go for a run to test out my dodgy achilles. I hate running. It’s rubbish. Still, Mrs Blogs will run alongside me shouting like Rocky’s trainer inspire me to make sure I get to the end.
Till tomorrow.
