Morning all. At this early stage it seems that all our players came through the internationals without injury and the only effect will be fatigue. Typically, Thierry Henry played the full 90 minutes for France but maybe this time 90 minutes might just be what he needs as he tries to get back into the groove.
Cesc played for about 20 minutes as England got beaten by Spain in a friendly. Other than that I’m in the dark and happy not to see ‘Injury mightmare for Arsenal as X, Y and Z miss the rest of the season’ headlines.
One man on his way back from injury is Freddie Ljungberg and he says the reason he’s stayed so long at Arsenal is because of a ‘special bond’ amongst everyone at the club. He also reveals his admiration for Arsene Wenger and that the pain of last year’s Champions League final is a big motivator this year. He says:
I think we played really well and it still really hurts that they scored the winning goal with just ten minutes to go. It’s hard to take and I can’t stop thinking about it. Pain is never good but this pain is good for us because we are hurting and we want to go one better this year and win the final. It makes me angry when see that goal, I would like us to play Barcelona again this season.
Quite. I’d like to play Barcelona too. I’d very much like to beat Barcelona. I would love it if we beat them, love it etc etc.
Arsene Wenger reveals his big obsessions:
I’m obsessed by things like retiring and death. What drives me on is that belief that tomorrow I’ll do things better and be a better person than I am today.
It’s quite an interesting interview in today’s Sun.
The Mirror suggest Juventus will launch a summer raid for Gilberto Silva. Can’t see it myself, I have to say.
In tomorrow’s Arsecast there’s a blogchat with the Man from East Lower in which we discuss the takeover of Liverpool and the likelihood and impact of such a thing happening to Arsenal. On that theme Safety has written a new article called ‘Celebrity sugar daddy on ice…get me out of here’. Read it here.
If you have thoughts about the fact that three of England’s top 4 clubs are now owned by foreign billionaires and what this might mean for Arsenal please drop a quick email so we can get some opinion for tomorrow’s Arsecast. Should Arsenal resist any takeover bid? Would we get left behind if we didn’t seek investment from the likes of Sheikh Mustapha Million? Emails to arsecast@[remove]arseblog.com
Update: I have a mountain of emails already so no more required! Thanks to everyone for getting in touch. A great cross section of opinion.
And that’s that. Quite cold and a little bit snowy here today. More sleet than snow which is absolute rubbish. Sleet is crap. More tomorrow.
