Good morning, more snow again yesterday but good news everyone! It’s only -8 this morning. Bad news though, I seem to have some kind of cold. Dennis giveth, Dennis taketh away.
Further to yesterday’s blog about Nicklas Bendtner The Mirror reports on a cheeky Lazio bid to bring him in on loan in January while The Sun says ‘pfffshaw, Bendtner’s going nowhere’. There’s just no way he’s going to be allowed leave the club in January. We all know Robin van Persie is a furious stare from an opponent away from months out and to expect Marouane Chamakh to carry the burden for the rest of the season is unfair and, essentially, a bit dense.
It’s interesting to read Jack Wilshere talk about his role in the team this season. At younger levels he played much further up the park and didn’t really have the defensive responsibility he has with the first team. He says:
It helps that I can work on defensive things as well as my attacking game. This year I’ve become, if not a holding player as such because I still like to get forward, more aware of the defensive aspect.
And as such will become a better player for it. Eventually I see him playing further forward but clearly the manager has tried to make him a much more rounded player, one who can get forward but one who knows that’s only part of the game. And funnily enough it’s kind of at odds with some of the comments the manager made a couple of weeks ago about the team’s focus on defence. Anyway, in the long run it’ll do him a lot of good.
And he showed he’s got a nice way about him too. As Man City hothead lunatic mentalist spacehopper asylum-dwelling madman striker Mario Balotelli told the world he had no idea who Wilshere was when he picked up an award, Jack was savvy enough to respond very nicely. And a comparison between the two shows Balotelli is really talking out of his loopy arse.
The manager has spoken about a couple of loan players but his comments about Henri Lansbury are encouraging for the young man. He’s really impressing on loan at Norwich which is what he’s got to do if he wants to make it with us. You might remember another highly thought of young player went there on loan some years back and got into trouble for acting the twat and causing grief. Turns out it wasn’t an act and if Lansbury needs anything to keep him focussed he should look at what has become of David Bentley since. It’s impossible to argue with the fact that being a Sp*rs reserve is exactly what he deserves but it should certainly act as a warning to those on the verge of a first team breakthrough.
Speaking of which, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas in January. As Lansbury makes progress on loan, as Afobe makes progress on loan, he’s standing still with reserve team football. More than once the boss has hinted that it’s only attitude and application that’s holding him back, not talent, and you have to think he’s got to go out for the rest of the season if he doesn’t want to fall behind.
Meanwhile, reports of Alisher Usmanov triggering a takeover bid seem wide of the mark according to The Guardian. Good news really. Usmanov remains, for me at least, a man of dubious character and integrity whose first response to anyone looking into his background was to threaten them, this blog included, with legal action.
The super-injunction was issued – then became famous when footballers used them to try and prevent people finding out they’d been having affairs with the girlfriends of their best friends. So, when you think about, Alisher Usmanov is the John Terry of owners. Not much more needs to be said really.
And that’s about that for today. Sorry to leave you with the repugnant image of Alisher Usmanov having sex with Wayne Bridge, or something, so here’s a little video to help you forget. And remember to check out the Arsenal Video page in times of intense boredom.
Dennis giveth:
Till tomorrow.
