november 11th
The draw for the last 8 of the Carling Cup was made last night and it sees Arsenal drawn against…yep, you guessed it, Manchester United at Old Trafford. Arsene Wenger will resist the temptation to use senior players and will stick with the kids, saying “It would be criminal to drop them, I can’t do it.”
Ferguson’s comment on the draw “The FA will be delighted with that. Oh dearie me. Mine’s a pepperoni, hold the anchovies.”
The games will take place on either the 30th of November or December 1st. Chances are this one will be on the box too.
Robert Pires was unsurprisingly left out of the French squad for next week’s friendly against Poland. Not good for France but good for us. He also reveals he’s been battling the effects of a kidney infection and an ankle injury which means he hasn’t hit the kind of form we know he’s capable of. He’s not worried about the recent dip in the team’s form either, saying “There is no need for alarm. The squad is the strongest I have known since I came here. We have cover all over the team and everyone saw how good the young players are.”
Edu on his broken foot – “I am devastated. I just want to be playing games and to get this injury is so disappointing.”
AW talks about Quincy and how he’s matured as a player. He also talks about how the FA won’t let him have Quincy on the back of his shirt and this is a botheration because his surname is so difficult to pronounce. In fact it’s so difficult not even copying and pasting will do it. You need to be sneezing to pronounce it properly.
Chelsea have revealed their new logo. This might have been more appropriate. Artificial pitches will be sanctioned by UEFA from next season onwards and chief Lennart Johansson has urged Arsenal to kit out the grove with one. He says “The quality of artificial surfaces is now much better, certainly much better than a lousy grass pitch in England in December.”
He’s obviously never seen the pitch at Highbury then. And he calls himself an Arsenal fan. I suppose it will be a bit of a worry though. The space between the stands at Highbury allows the pitch to grow as well as it does. With the Grove much more enclosed it’ll be interesting to see if the groundstaff can keep the lawn as immaculate as they do now.
And speaking of artificial pitches, it’s football tonight. I predict a 12-8 win for my team.
