Morning to you from snowy Dublin where the inclement weather appears to have banjaxed my upload speed. Hopefully the Arsecast will have completed by the time I finish writing this.
We’ll start with Marouane Chamakh who isn’t letting the fact he’s done well and scored some goals ease him into the comfort zone. He says:
Whatever happens I hope to continue my progress. I give 200%, I play with my heart, I’ve got guts, I give everything I’ve got. Personally, I am happy, but I can do better.
Which is just what we want to hear. I don’t want to draw comparisons with Adebayor, given the way he turned out, but you can’t help but be a little cautious. I think we know there are differences in character, Adebayor came with a bit of reputation for being difficult, Chamakh does not. He appears to be a much more sensible, level-headed chap. And it took Adebayor some time to convince people of his merits as a player, what with the missing open goals and that, but for the most part Chamakh has already found favour because of his goals and effort.
Nevertheless, once bitten all that, when Adebayor’s reputation soared, so did his ego and it was allowed to get out of control. From headbutting teammates – and kind of getting away with it because he was important and scoring goals – to the off-field antics which included non-stop parties featuring midgets, orgies, decadent fondue and rampant dancing, he got totally carried away with himself.
I don’t see that happening with Chamakh. Hopefully his desire to improve and do better is so he can improve as a player, and as a person, for the benefit of his team rather than just to massage his massive ego/bank balance. It’s easy to work hard when you feel you’ve got something to prove, the minute you think you’ve done it all it will start to go wrong. But so far so good for Chamakh, keep it up, and if someone comes along and says “You know what you need? Car seats with your shirt number in the headrest”, tell them to move away from you whilst inserting their mickey up their own chuff.
Meanwhile Aaron Ramsey talks about his comeback and his loan to Forest:
I’m here to get back to 100% and hopefully win as many games for Forest as possible. I want to try and get them going in the right direction. I felt alright and I’m still a way off playing 90 minutes, but my fitness is coming along nicely. I’ve been out for nine months and these are what these games are for.
Having initially been somewhat dubious about the loan move I have agree it’s probably the best thing for him right now. It allows him to get match fit and come back to us in January as player ready to stake a claim for a first team place. It’s easy to forget the progress he was making last season before being Shawcrossed, he was becoming a regular starter and a midfielder with an eye for goal. Fingers crossed all goes well for him at Forest.
Manuel Almunia’s injury problems continue with the Spaniard unable to fully extend his elbow, according to the Guardian. In his absence the pecking order has certainly changed, he’s become a forgotten man almost, and it does show how timing can affect a player’s career (and I don’t just mean coming for a cross and getting it wrong). Fabianski will feel he’s done well enough to keep his place and Wojscez©® hasn’t put a foot/glove wrong when he’s played so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. I suspect a January move but with a lot of games to play we’ll have to wait and see.
There’s not much in the way of team news ahead of tomorrow’s game. Samir Nasri reportedly has a bit of a knee problem but it shouldn’t keep him out while beyond that it appears it’s just the usual suspects out. With the return of van Persie and Bendtner to the squad I wonder if the manager will be tempted to fiddle with the formation a little bit to accomodate an extra striker. I’m sure that’s something he’ll be asked about in his press conference later on which you can see on ATVO.
Also worth mentioning that all the players are donating a day’s wages on Saturday to the club’s charity of the season, Centrepoint, while Denilson is paying for somebody to go on a trip to Dubai, which is a nice gesture. They’ll also have these fetching hats on display, modelled by the Russian ambassador himself.
And although I never listen to Talksport, I think it would be good if people were aware of the comments made by one of their presenters, Adrian Durham, after Russia were awarded the WC in 2018. Whatever you think of that decision to suggest Arshavin should be booed and not let back into England is beyond stupid. How can you boo him if you don’t let him back in?
In seriousness though, comments like this go beyond the usual wind-up shock-jock nonsense. Obviously the best way to counter this kind of rubbish is to switch off that radio station when he’s on but I’m sure some people will complain to Talksport, some will make a complaint to OFCOM while others might directly contact advertisers to express their unhappiness.
Anyway, I’m merely a conduit for information. Time for this week’s Arsecast and I’m joined in the show by Jim Campbell from The Football Ramble podcast to talk about Carling Cup, home form vs away form and one of the most pressing issues surrounding the team at the moment. As well as that we’re at home with Eboue, Arshavin’s there, Internet Joe gives you his 30 second round-up and, funnily enough, some Talkshite radio.
Not forgetting your chance to win a Savile Rogue scarf as well as telling you who won last week’s neck warmer. Franky, I think the Arsenal players should wear them instead of those black things.
You can subscribe to the Arsecast on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too. To download this week’s Arsecast directly – click here (22mb MP3) or you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.
[audio:http://arseblog.com/podcasts/arsecast_episode178.mp3]And that’s about that for today. A full preview of the Fulham game tomorrow.
