Good morning from a wonderfully sunny Dublin. It doesn’t happen often so I’m having 3 tons of sand delivered this morning and an inflatable paddling pool is at the ready for that authentic at the beach experience.
Sandwiches with a sand filling, highly chafed gooch and torn in half coke can hidden until you step on it to come later this afternoon.
Not much happening really. Arsene has been speaking about our pre-season which will be just like all the other pre-seasons. Players report back, run about a bit, off to Austria for the training camp, some games, the Emirates Tournament, and then the season starts. Arsene is targetting a good start though, saying:
The league title is a marathon, in which we had a bad start, and when you are running against people who are quick, it is difficult to catch them up. That is what we want to change next season – we want to start strongly, it is very important. The first part of the season was terrible for us – we lost five of our first 14 league games.
Meanwhile, Cesc has hinted that Arsene has been dusting off his chequebook and will spend. He says:
We definitely need to improve in some areas and do better as a squad. I believe that, next season, we will be stronger. We will see what happens in the summer, but the boss knows what is missing and I am sure he will do something about it.
And at this moment in time that’s all very reassuring. I do think there’ll be some wheeling and a dealing this summer though. Today’s Mirror speculates that it’s the end for Eboue with Atletico Madrid willing to take him off our hands (although at the moment 55% of readers think we should keep him according to the poll just there to your left).
They also talk about AC Milan wanting both Gallas and Adebayor and to me it would be no surprise if both those players left. Adebayor has been in the spotlight recently while Gallas has been out of the glare due to his injury. Funnily enough he probably played his best football ever for us when stripped of the captaincy earlier in the season but there’s a lot of baggage there and I think he’ll go – which makes it even more vital than the boss buys well in defence (because I’m hoping he takes Sylvester with him wherever he ends up. Maybe not even as a player, just his house boy or something).
Beyond that not much happening. It’s FA Cup final day today, a shame we’re not involved, but I’m hopeful of an Everton win. 91st minute, it’s 2-2, the ball drops 35 yards out, Fellaini, his afro flattened by the Wembley heat, steps up, catches it on the volley and it goes at 134mph at the goal where it hits Ashley Cole straight in the face, flattening his features and making him look like a man whose face is made out of a pancake, wrongfoots Cech and trickles over the line causing John Terry to collide with the post and burst into flames.
I love Cup Final day. Have a good one. More tomorrow.
