Is it just me or did it seem a lot darker than usual this morning? Stupid winter creeps ever closer. Get thee away from me cold weather. I do not heart it.
We have got Champions League action tonight (ITV4 and Setanta Ireland) against Steaua Bucharest and you can find the traveling squad here. Alex Hleb has travelled with the lads despite being injured after Mark Noble’s horrible challenge on Saturday. He faces a fitness test as do Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Adebayor and Mathieu Flamini on various knocks picked up against West Ham.
I can’t say I know too much about Steaua and how they might play. I only know that Gheorghe Hagi has recently quit as manager. Still, I’m not sure it matters too much. I read something recently with Nigel Winterburn saying that Arsene almost never changed the way we set ourselves for a game because of the opposition. If we can go there and play the kind of football we’ve been playing all season then we have a great chance of three points. It won’t be easy though, the boss admits we sometimes struggle in Eastern Europe and their keeper has described the game as a ‘cup final’ after they lost their first game to Slavia Prague.
Speaking of Hleb’s injury and the challenge by Noble, Arsene Wenger has called for referees to be given the power to issue retroactive punishments for incidents like that. I thought Noble was very lucky not to get a red card. He went in with both feet off the ground and took out Hleb’s standing leg. Our man is lucky his injury wasn’t a lot more serious than it was. Personally I think retroactive punishment is a must if video evidence shows a clear breach of the rules. We’ve spoken about it being used for diving and we’ve seen players punished after games if the video evidence shows an incident which has not been seen by the referee.
The problem comes with this rule that once the ref has seen it then that’s the end of it. I think it’s natural to assume that referees may not understand how bad a challenge was (or how good it was but it just looked bad in the heat of the match) until they see it again afterwards. I’d have no problem with punishments being handed out after games if they’re merited. The idea that you can get a second yellow after the game might be enough of a deterrent to stop some of the foul play that goes on.
Back to football and Arsene has played down claims of invincibility but has admitted he’s pleased with the way things are going at the moment. When compared to the side which went a whole season unbeaten, he said:
The challenge we face is the other team has been very, very consistent in the long term. That demands special stamina and motivation and that is something we have not proven yet.
Quite right, the season is still very young and there’s so much football left to be played. I do think there’s a danger of people getting carried away though and the fans as much as the players need to keep their feet on the ground a bit. That’s not to say we shouldn’t enjoy this at the moment because it’s impossible not to, but to try and keep some perspective when we do actually lose a game. It won’t be the end of the world.
Various reports this morning suggest Manchester United fan Alisher Usmanov tried to buy a significant stake of Liverpool before they sold the Americans. His PR has started with Sky Sports putting together some quotes about ‘Russian money’ and ‘the world’s best football club’.
‘What’s wrong with it?’, he asks. Sadly, I don’t have time and there isn’t quite enough webspace in the world to fit all the words in.
Finally, there have been whispers that Gilberto could be on his way out of the club in the January transfer window. At the moment these are only unsubstantiated rumours but we have spoken about the competition for places in the middle of the park. Personally, I think we’d be a bit mad to sell him as he offers experience and versatility with his ability to play centre-half. I hope there’s nothing to it but his lack of playing time this season so far has got tongues wagging.
Don’t forget the t-shirt competition. See yesterday’s blog for the question and email address to send to. The winner will be announced in the morning and I should clarify that the competitions are open to everyone, no matter where in the world you are.
Till tomorrow and come on you reeeeeeeds.
