So today’s the last day you’ll have the pleasure of my company, and boy have I got an exciting, riveting, and downright shocking set of stories for you!
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Oh, wait, no. The other thing. Tumbleweed. Dust bowl. Vast nothingness of outer space. The dry, sandy emptiness of the Sahara desert. The bottomless depths of the Mariana Trench. The gaping hole of morality, integrity, and conscience in the empty souls of politicians around the world. That’s right. The complete opposite of what I just said. There’s nothing much happening at all. We should really just all save ourselves the bother, stop here, and not waste each other’s time.
But no! I shall painfully persevere on. Just for you.
Firstly for today, it seems that Olivier Giroud is to be offered a new contract. In spite of the manager spending a lot of money on an attacking option this summer, and it being an area no one was in any doubt we needed to strengthen, the extremely handsome (but never dreamy) 27 year old is facing the reward of a two year extension. No doubt the merest prospect of Giroud being handed a new contract will make some folk on Twitter very, very angry indeed (and why are contracts always “handed” to people?), but in my view he deserves it. Like pretty much all players, except possibly Dennis Bergkamp and maybe Thierry Henry, not to mention the, erm, aforementioned dreamy one, Giroud has his limitations, but he’s also come on leaps and bounds since he joined, and his ability to hold the ball up and bring other players into the game is very important to the way we play our football. I expect we’ll continue to see the type of counterattacking game that’s developed over the past season or two, replacing the maintain-possession-at-all-times mantra of the years before that, so when the ball is brought out of defence quickly, we need a centre forward that’s able to hold onto it and draw our midfield options into play.
He was also integral to this, so if you’re one of those people that’s unfeasibly enraged and annoyed by Giroud, simply watch it again and just ssssssshhhhh.
New boy David Ospina has given his first interview to the club’s official site, talking about the excellent performances he and his team mates put in at the World Cup, how he expects to adapt and cope in England, and former Columbian keeper, Rene Higuita. I like how the interviewer asked him about his brother-in-law, James Rodriguez. Nice work there. We’ll have him before too long as well. Absolutely.
Other new boy Calum Chambers has also given an interview to the official site (which given how similar in content it is to the quotes reported yesterday, may actually be where they came from). He talks about the history of the club being a factor in his decision to join, the opportunity to follow in the footsteps Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, working with Arsene Wenger, and the games against Arsenal last season. He comes across as being very excited about the opportunity he’s got, and like most of the players coming through the Southampton academy, he seems like a well spoken young man.
There was something of a storm in a teacup yesterday, when Chambers was photographed in training wearing the number five shirt, which belongs to Thomas Vermaelen, of course, but it seems much ado about nothing if you ask me. I don’t think that specifically is an indication of whether the Belgianator is likely to remain with the club. Perhaps he will go, although it’ll leave us with a serious problem at centre half if he does, but I don’t think Chambers wearing his shirt number is quite The Sign. I can well understand the captain’s disappointment at not playing – about which he’s always been a consummate pro, never making a fuss – and I’ve read some other people that think he’s already gone, but I think we’ll need to wait a little longer and see on that one.
In tenuous transfer tittle tattle, supposed defensive midfield target Morgan Schneiderlin has been told by Southampton that he won’t be leaving this summer, causing him to have an outburst on Twitter, in stark contrast to the professionalism and dignity demonstrated by Vermaelen. If he’s going to be like that about a proposed move to Sp*rs, I’m not sure he’s someone I want in our team particularly badly. I’d still have Khedira in an instant, but it’s all gone a bit quiet on that front.
The rumours about us being interested in Douglas Costa persist, which if true would represent some epic trolling by Arsene Wenger with regard to Cesc Fabregas. But I doubt they are true, so let’s not speak of it again until it happens. Or not.
Finally for today, I’d like to point out that it’s days like these (as well as on a wet Wednesday in February up north etc etc), that I do marvel at the commitment and effort that Andrew puts into writing this blog every day, and has done for the past 12 years. For the price you’re paying, you really should appreciate it a whole lot more than you do. 😉
Until next time, campers. In the meantime, and if you’re so inclined and really have nothing better to do with your time, you can follow my nonsense on Twitter at @arseblog_tom.
Cheers!
