Morning. Today’s date is 11.11.11. Unless you live in the US in which case it’s 11.11.11. Weirdos, putting the month and day in the wrong order.
And today is also kind of special because if you take the year you were born, add the number of the day you were born, then add 30, divide by 2, multiply it by your shoe size and then take away how long it’s been since Sp*rs won the league then you get … a number. It really works, try it.
In terms of the Interlull, well, we’re slap bang in the middle of it now. So much so that the lead story on the official site is one announcing some concerts by Coldplay in our stadium. I’m sure lots of people like Coldplay but then lots of people like Chelsea. However, I’ve discovered a great way of not having to worry about Coldplay. It’s not listening to Coldplay. Works a charm, I promise.
With regard to football and Arsenal news there’s a little bit going on. The chaps at arsenal.com are left with barely a soul around the place to talk to, hence a glut of Mikel Arteta articles. Well, it’s either him or Manuel Almunia, who sits alone on one of the training pitches whistling in a sinister, tuneless way. Nobody wants to disturb him.
There’s also a bit of focus on Ryo Miyaichi who talks about his progress. He says he’s happy to bide his time and develop at the right pace:
I am not in a rush. I was too shy and nervous when I first joined the team. Now I feel more settled living in this environment. Arsenal found an English teacher for me. I suppose I am improving, I can understand what the coaches say.
And the boss has him working on technique:
I learned a lot about the importance of first touch. This is particularly important to my style of attacking. Arsene Wenger emphasises this and I want to focus more and more on it too. We have a lot of training in tight spaces which makes me concentrate on how to make most of my first touch.
Clearly he’s come a long way in a short space of time but also, just as clearly, he has a lot of work to do to start forcing his way into the first team reckoning. A couple of 20 minute Carling Cup cameos are all he’s been given so far, and that’s understandable. Little over a year ago he was playing school football, then he went to Holland for a few months and now the Premier League. Those are some serious jumps in quality in just a few months so expecting a lot from him this season seems a bit unrealistic.
Nevertheless, Arsene says that players from Asia, and the US, are likely to become more common in Europe as the strength of the game grows there. He says:
These are two continents that I think will be the future of the game. America will produce more and more top level players and Asia as well. In these two countries they have an aptitude to have a team attitude and a hard-working attitude too. Once they get the education, they will start to produce good players.
Of course Arsenal have Miyaichi, and Park, and have had in the past Junichi Inamoto. This month we also welcome MLS star Brek Shea to the club. He’ll be training with us for a month or so and Arsene explains:
It’s a training period for him to see what his top level is like. Brek will train with the first-team when it is possible and practice with the best prospects of the Club as well outside of the normal sessions. There is not a better place than the Premier League to do that.
He also says he’d like to play him in a reserve game if possible but legalities and getting clearance for him to do that may not be possible. He’s obviously been watched by our North American scout, Danny Karbassiyoon, and identified as somebody who might fit in, so how he fares, in terms of his fitness, technique, quality etc will be quite interesting. We know there’s a gap between the MLS and the major European leagues but will we start to see more Americans make it in England?
I used to play football with an American guy in Spain. He was a very good player but he couldn’t really handle his drink. One afternoon, a sunny 2pm kick off in June, when the team had been out ‘bonding’ till 6am the previous night, he took off down the wing after about 10 minutes then stopped for a good old vomit before doing the rolling hand ‘substitute required’ motion. Total lightweight. Sure, you’re hungover. Sure, you’re dehydrated. And sure, it’s 35C but man up, for goodness sake.
I hope Brek Shea is better able to deal with things like that. Although times have changed. No more Tuesday Club. More likely to have Green Tea Wednesday. Or Smoothie Sunday. Quite how you’re supposed to create team spirit with drinks that taste like mud is beyond me, but there you go. That’s the modern game, I suppose.
Other than that absolutely nothing going on bar an interview with Francis Coquelin in which he says he’s going to fight for his first team place. It’s slightly at odds with the comments he made to France Football, of course, and to be honest it’s quite shocking to me that a footballer might say one thing one day and something completely different the next. I’ve never known this to happen before and I hope the young Frenchman hasn’t started an unwanted trend here.
Right, that’s yer lot. Have a good Friday, back tomorrow.
