It’s good that the clocks went forward so there’s more daylight to watch the incessant rain teem down.
Not a lot going on unfortunately, other than the rain. Aaron Ramsey scored one and assisted one for Wales last night and I think I saw some people say he might have picked up a groin injury but there’s nothing concrete on that. Tomas Rosicky played for the Czech Republic and that’s about as much as I know there.
Today Germany are in action against Georgia in Atlanta which should see Mesut Ozil involved.
Ireland face Poland in a game which is likely to see Wojciech Szczesny on the bench again. His lack of regular playing time means he’ll lose his place to Lukasz Fabianski, a man who left Arsenal because of his lack of playing time behind Szczesny.
Some papers suggested there were going to be showdown talks between him and Arsene Wenger, but we’ll have to see what happens. Weirdly as Szczesny is now ‘relegated’ to the role of cup keeper, he could find himself in line to play in a cup final – whereas last season, while he was the undisputed number 1 at the club he had to sit on the bench and watch Lukasz Fabianski get the nod.
I mean, I get the idea of playing your second choice keeper in the cup to an extent because you want them to feel involved and keep up a bit of match practice, but when you have a game as important as a cup final you should play your best possible XI regardless of tradition or being nice to a chap. You might give a young/less experienced/lower quality striker a run-out in the early rounds but you wouldn’t play him in the final behind a guy who is obviously better.
It’s water under the bridge now, of course, but I would have picked Szczesny for the final against Hull in May. If that made Lukasz Fabianski sad because of the great part he played in getting us there, I would have said, “Thing is L-Dude, you’re leaving the club this summer because basically I think Szczesny is better than you and you know that, so I’m under no obligation to give you a nice send off because you were, essentially, just doing your job.
“You did it well, as well as a very highly paid professional should, and thanks a million for the penalty saves in the final … really appreciate that! Here’s a nice card and a lemon drizzle cake I baked myself, but the number 1 keeper is getting the nod.”
For a manager generally so thoughtful about the future and the impact his decisions have on players, their confidence and everything else, I thought it an odd decision to play Fabianski that day. A decision made more on superstition than common sense, but maybe that’s just me. Anyway, on a quiet day it might give people something to argue about.
Meanwhile, at the Emirates later Brazil take on Chile – a game being presented as the clash of Alexis v Neymar. I’m sure it’ll be a fun event with balloons and party-poppers galore. Once our man comes through unscathed that’s all I care about. Maybe a goal at ‘home’ against Brazil might just be the thing to fire him up for the final part of the domestic season. Fingers crossed.
Right, more coffee. No point dragging the arse out of this one for any longer. Have a good one. And remember, your kitchen clock is probably wrong.
Till tomorrow.
