Can someone tell the world that it’s now May 19th and therefore it should be warmer than 5C (real feel -1) in the mornings? Thanks. I’m bored of this weather now.
Funny stuff last night as Chelsea got stuffed by West Brom. That was pretty funny in itself but Cesc’s red card was downright hilarious. I have no axe to grind with him in general, but the Sunday League style sending off was just too funny. He booted the ball into the head of another player from about 25 yards away as Diego Costa was being Diego Costa. That sparked more pushing and dim-wittery before the red produced the card. Fun times, watch here.
I think there should be more fun red cards in the Premier League. We’ve had a couple this season. Steven Gerrard’s against Man Utd was particularly good, and Newcastle’s Steven Taylor probably got one for an obvious sending off offence but before the ref could issue it he fell writhing to the ground pretending that he’d been nipple pinched by an opponent or something.
As far as I can remember we’ve only had two in the league. Calum Chambers at Stoke (harsh) and Olivier Giroud v QPR (daft). Mathieu Debuchy got one in the Champions League too I think but that’s about it, and they were all fairly bog-standard, run of the mill affairs. If there’s a place we can improve next season it’s ensuring that we bring some creativity and panache to our red cards. Sort it out, Wenger.
With almost everything in the Premier League almost done and dusted, it’s no wonder that the transfer stuff is starting early – especially when you consider the summer break is barely two months long. The Raheem Sterling news this morning, coupled with Theo Walcott’s contract situation, will no doubt have people speculating about some kind of deal there – but I suspect he’s more likely to go to Man City who need English players. Plus they can pay whatever it takes to make it happen and turn Sterling into the new Jack Rodwell.
Walcott spoke yesterday about his time on the bench, admitting it was frustrating, but refused to touch on his contract situation. In spite of what the manager hinted at about keeping him even if it meant his contract running down, I think the club will make a decision about him this summer. If no agreement can be found, I think his availability will be made known and a replacement sought. It wouldn’t be summer without some kind of transfer saga, eh?
Meanwhile, from West London comes news regarding Petr Cech with Jose Mourinho basically saying it’s out of his hands where the keeper ends up this summer. That may well be the truth but if he came up to me this morning and said it was Tuesday and that my name was Andrew I would be automatically inclined to disbelieve him and go seeking the truth like a crazy Mulder.
I don’t think there’ll be any shortage of takers for a keeper like Cech this summer, so regardless of what Mourinho says about his future, it’d still surprise me if Chelsea countenanced a deal to us.
Update: Cech’s agent has said this morning that his client would be open to a move to us (along with Man Utd and PSG). So make of that what you will.
James and I did have a chat about the potential keeper situation this summer on this week’s Arsecast Extra. He mentioned that the word is Man Utd are looking at Hugo Lloris to replace the Madrid-bound David de Gea, but I do wonder if the manager is inclined to bring in a keeper if he wouldn’t have a go at this one himself.
Sure there’s the whole crossing the North London divide thing to contend with, but if he can convince Sol Campbell to do it, then bringing on board a fellow Frenchman who would be less bothered by the rivalry shouldn’t be an issue. The issue, of course, is price. Stories of a €20m release clause in his contract are reportedly false, and while they’re always prepared to let their best players go, they don’t do it on the cheap.
Speaking of transfers and what have you, reports yesterday suggest that we’ve snapped up a French wonderkid from RC Lens. 16 year old Yassin Fortune is a striker/attacking midfielder (depending on where you read about him), wanted by Manchester United amongst others, and France Football said yesterday a deal had been done.
I for one would like to be the first to welcome the new Gilles Sunu/Rui Fonte/Arturo Lupoli/Quincy Owusu-Abeyie.
Meanwhile, the line-up for this summer’s (if summer ever arrives) Emirates Cup has been announced. The teams involved are Villarreal, Olympique Lyonnais and Wolfsburg. That means Gabriel and Santi Cazorla facing their old side, a glorious return home for TGSTEL (assuming he wakes up on time and doesn’t miss the flight), and the Ligue Uuuuuuun runners-up.
Not exactly the most glamorous opposition of all time but still three decent sides and it is just a warm-up/training exercise for the new season. Still, we’ve got actual midweek to contend with this week as Sunderland visit tomorrow evening.
I suspect there’ll be a few changes from the team that drew with United as the manager looks to keep things fresh, but we can touch on that in tomorrow’s blog. Some extra reading for this morning in the Tactics Column as Anam looks back on the Old Trafford encounter, don’t forget to tune into the Arsecast Extra, and there’ll be more from me here tomorrow.
Until then.
