As usual after a disappointing result, there’s been something of a wall of silence. Understandable, how much more is there to say about what happened against Hull? Still, we just have snippets to keep us going today until the manager meets the press in Belgium later on.
There’ll be the usual press conference ahead of the Champions League game with Anderlecht, and we should get the latest team news. Beyond the fact that Ospina is injured and Szczesny suspended, I’m hopeful there’s nothing too difficult for us to deal with. Fears over Jack Wilshere’s absence following his frustrated hack at a Hull player on Saturday (anyone worry he’d Gazza-d himself?) were played down post-game by Arsene Wenger who said he should be ready for tomorrow.
Sticking with Europe very briefly, and we’ve been let off the ludicrous UEFA charge of ‘insufficient organisation’ because Galatasaray fans managed to sneak some fireworks and flares into the ground for the 4-1 win earlier this month. What can we do if they choose to transport their pyrotechnics in Papillon style chargers?
As for Galatasaray they’ve been fined €50,000 and been told to pay us compensation with 30 days for the damage their fans did to the stadium. Seats were ripped up and damaged during the game so they have to pay us for the repairs, or else. That’ll teach ’em.
We might have Lukas Podolski back in the squad for tomorrow’s game – he missed out on Saturday through illness. It’s been a difficult season for him, having been almost shipped out and then played very little, but as I’ve said before, he’s a happy fella, like a dog with his head of a window.
So, when the BBC reported yesterday that he was a £10m target for Sp*rs in the transfer window, his response on Twitter was absolutely perfect.
Meanwhile, something from the far side of the pond where a journalist covering the Colorado Rapids, owned by KSE of course, lost his job for publicly criticising the team from his position as an MLS journalist. Deadspin have a transcript of some emails between Chris Bianchi and Tim Hinchey, the Colorado Rapids club president. Taking umbrage at a Tweet which sought to pin some of the blame on the Rapids dismal form on the board, Hinchey wrote:
Explain to me your point Chris or don’t ever reach out to me again. Period.
Bianchi wrote back:
That’s fine. My point is – and has been – the lack of depth on the roster, specifically defensively, standing pat at the transfer window, and in not re-signing Rivero has been more to blame than Mastroeni’s growing pains.
Uncanny! Lack of defensive depth? Transfer window stasis? Not signing a former player (the Rivero in question is Martín Rivero, who now plays for Chivas USA)?! All sounds a bit familiar, right? Anyway, it seems Hinchley, the President of a football club who you’d imagine might have better things to do, got the chap fired from his position with MLS Soccer. The pettiness of his last email is really something.
It’s worth noting that the Rapids haven’t won a game since July 25th, a 13 game streak without a win. Then, some enterprising fans, no doubt inspired by Manchester United’s ‘Bring back Ronaldo’ campaign, did this:
Wait until they get the bill for Stan’s Services, they’ll go bat-shit altogether. Anyway, fun times in Colorado right now, and while obviously this particular situation might be more down to Hinchley than Kroenke, it doesn’t reflect well on the owner.
There’s no way he could have such influence over here on a journalist, although to be fair to him, he’s worked it the other way with a few to ensure that he gets pretty favourable coverage. Let’s face it, on countless Arsenal blogs, fan sites and supporter’s association sites, there’s been plenty of criticism about the 3% ticket price rise and the payment to KSE which the board were unable to explain in any convincing way.
Yet, while touched on the papers, there’s been little criticism of it from people who have the largest platform (right now) to do that. Maybe it’s because of the way football is England, that we no longer bat an eyelid at an owner coming in and taking what he want, or running it in such a way that is detrimental to the health of the football club.
Which isn’t to say we’re at the same level of a Portsmouth, or even Man Utd with a load of debt leveraged on the club, but even so, the utter vagueness of that £3m payment was open to questioning from far and wide and instead we were told shareholders were warmly applauding Stan at the AGM. That £3m could have brought in a centre-half on loan, you know. (Thanks to Jeremy for the hat-tip on this one).
Right, final couple of things. Firstly, this week’s Arsecast Extra is ready for your aural consumption, replete with post-Hull analysis and a lively discussion on the best crisps (amongst other things). Secondly, and lastly, if you fancy winning a rather cool Huawei Ascend P7 Arsenal Edition smarthphone, check out the competition here – you have until Wednesday night to enter.
Righto, that’s that, more here tomorrow.
