So Barnet have been dispatched 4-0, the league title is ours! Well, maybe not, I always try to get very unexcited by pre-season results, they often bear no relation to how the team will perform when the real season commences. One thing that one can glean from the early fixtures is how Arsene is lining things up and who he sees in which roles for the coming year.
Interestingly Nordtveit was deployed at right back and the young Frimpong was given a first half run around in the centre of the park, one thing learnt is that in won't be a lack of physical power that stops the young centre midfielder from making the grade. It was also good to see Kieran Gibbs and Johan Djourou back fit. Pronunciation is set to be a huge problem for anyone commentating on an Arsenal game this year, the likes of Szczesny and Koscielny will not make life easy for pundits this year.
The lack of a No1 keeper is a slight concern. Szczesny is clearly the long term prospect, but for me Almunia is still by far the best of the bunch. Fabianski has been woeful and I have not been at all convinced by Mannone. Arsene is hinting that more may well happen in the transfer market and possibly a goalkeeper is in his mind; we still need more reinforcements at centre back, after all if Campbell doesn't sign on as looks likely, then we only have three recognised centre backs at the club (Vermaelen, Koscielny and Djourou) and given that one of these is just coming back from long term injury, this is not enough for the long hard season ahead.
Eduardo may be off and that makes sense given his failure to recover from that shocking Taylor thuggery at St Andrews, we have a decent array of attacking players at the club, this is why I am not keen on the club attempting to sign Joe Cole, as well as this player being overrated, we have an abundance of attacking midfielders and there is simply not a need for paying huge wages for someone who plays in an area in which we are already so well equipped.
Finally I thought I would respond again to those who seem unable to criticise Spain at all for their consistently dishonest approach throughout the world cup. There is no doubt at all in my mind that Spain were rather fortunate with refereeing decisions all the way through the competition and this was also the case in the final. The feigning of injury contributed massively to numerous soft Dutch bookings and the eventual red card for Heitinger, Iniesta was a recurrent culprit with numerous shocking dives but Villa's pathetic rolling around gave him claim to being the biggest cheat of them all.
The Spain apologists seem all to keen to point out the bad tackle by De Jong while ignoring similar filth from the likes of Ramos and Puyol. Spain have the better players and were the better team, I don't deny this, but to deny that their game involves routine cheating is to deny reality I'm afraid. That's all I am trying to say and I have genuinely lost a lot of respect for Spain over the course of the tournament as a result of these antics, they are rather reminiscent of Barcelona aren't they? The way they go to ground expecting a free kick after no contact but are happy to tug shirts and cynically clip ankles while expecting the opposition to stay on their feet is nothing but massively hypocritical and unfair. Not a surprise given how many Barca players are in the Spanish side is it?
Monday, 19 July 2010
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Webb, cheating and a very sour taste
Overall I enjoyed a lot of the world cup, there was some very decent football and some good entertainment all round. However the final was symptomatic of the deep malaise in the modern game and of a tournament tarnished by a lot of diving, cheating and gamesmanship.
The tabloid and general media reaction to the final was poor and far from objective. No doubt Spain have the better bunch of players, however Holland were their match for a lot of the game and were done in the end by some despicable cheating from Spain and some very poor officiating from Webb.
The Dutch were unfairly portrayed as thugs in order to conveniently ignore the routine Spanish diving and feigning of injury. De Jong's tackle in the first half was no worse than Puyol's, as many Spanish players as Dutch players were lucky to stay on the field.
Some of the play acting from Iniesta and Villa in particular was beneath contempt. Iniesta should never have been on the pitch when he scored the winner, he had been guilty of at least four blatant dives and one clear kick out off the ball which ref Webb chose to ignore for no good reason. Heitinga's first booking came from Villa's pathetic theatrics and double pike dive, his second yellow came from Iniesta's fondness of gravity. Webb lost control of the game in the second half and started rewarding the Spanish diving, this was the beginning of the end of the game as a footballing contest.
Spain reminded me of Barcelona, happy to foul at one end but so keen to go to ground when the boot was on the other foot that it reduced the game to a joke. Iniesta may be a great player, but he is also a despicable cheat, routinely and quite deliberately acting in order to get his fellow player sent off. I used to like Spain for the way they play the game, now I can no longer stand to watch the routine cheating that has become so integral to the way in which they play. Spain may have won the World cup but they have lost the respect of many neutrals for the gamesmanship that they exhibited in the final.
The tabloid and general media reaction to the final was poor and far from objective. No doubt Spain have the better bunch of players, however Holland were their match for a lot of the game and were done in the end by some despicable cheating from Spain and some very poor officiating from Webb.
The Dutch were unfairly portrayed as thugs in order to conveniently ignore the routine Spanish diving and feigning of injury. De Jong's tackle in the first half was no worse than Puyol's, as many Spanish players as Dutch players were lucky to stay on the field.
Some of the play acting from Iniesta and Villa in particular was beneath contempt. Iniesta should never have been on the pitch when he scored the winner, he had been guilty of at least four blatant dives and one clear kick out off the ball which ref Webb chose to ignore for no good reason. Heitinga's first booking came from Villa's pathetic theatrics and double pike dive, his second yellow came from Iniesta's fondness of gravity. Webb lost control of the game in the second half and started rewarding the Spanish diving, this was the beginning of the end of the game as a footballing contest.
Spain reminded me of Barcelona, happy to foul at one end but so keen to go to ground when the boot was on the other foot that it reduced the game to a joke. Iniesta may be a great player, but he is also a despicable cheat, routinely and quite deliberately acting in order to get his fellow player sent off. I used to like Spain for the way they play the game, now I can no longer stand to watch the routine cheating that has become so integral to the way in which they play. Spain may have won the World cup but they have lost the respect of many neutrals for the gamesmanship that they exhibited in the final.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Is it Christmas? (Not for Barca it ain't)
They say good things happen in threes and it appears that this may well be the case. One of the least unexpected transfers of the summer was concluded as Laurent Koscielny joined the club. I like the sound of him as Arsene describes him:
William Gallas has turned down a new contract, what a great shame and I couldn't be sadder to see such a benign influence leave the club. Gallas has been a problem wherever he has been, it is a bit of running theme and I really think his departure is a very good thing for Arsenal football club in a number of ways. Gallas is not mentally strong, he is a disruptive tosser and good riddance.
Read this and enjoy it, please savour every word and gloat as you have never gloated before. Barca's finances are in about a healthy a state as a mouldy corpse's maggot infested colon:
Oh deary me, my heart bleeds for them, it really does. They need an emergency loan to pay their staff? They are drifting towards Tottenham creek without a paddle, it couldn't happen to a nicer club, could it?
"Koscielny is a central defender with great ability who performed extremely well last season for Lorient. We identified him as a very strong centre half, who has made big progress very quickly. He has shown he is mentally strong, he's a fighter and a very strong competitor. Koscielny is a great addition to our squad."
William Gallas has turned down a new contract, what a great shame and I couldn't be sadder to see such a benign influence leave the club. Gallas has been a problem wherever he has been, it is a bit of running theme and I really think his departure is a very good thing for Arsenal football club in a number of ways. Gallas is not mentally strong, he is a disruptive tosser and good riddance.
Read this and enjoy it, please savour every word and gloat as you have never gloated before. Barca's finances are in about a healthy a state as a mouldy corpse's maggot infested colon:
"We found a club in debt, with liquidity problems. At this point we have to take a loan to pay the wages of the players"
Oh deary me, my heart bleeds for them, it really does. They need an emergency loan to pay their staff? They are drifting towards Tottenham creek without a paddle, it couldn't happen to a nicer club, could it?
Monday, 5 July 2010
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Saturday, 3 July 2010
Rosell - the new Laporta
How amazingly tedious is this whole Cesc to Barca story becoming? The collective of scum that passes for a football club named Barcelona appear to have even less class than some imagined, their vice-president feels it is appropriate to say:
This is outrageous. They are talking about a player who is under a long term contract with another club, they should be sanctioned for such disrespect for the rules. Sandro Rosell has followed this up with:
Well Sandro you c*nt, if you won't pay a decent fee then you won't be signing Fancesc Fabregas, he is our player and under a long term contract with us. End of. Seeing as we're on the topic of c*nts, at last the England team are being portrayed as the selfish morons that they are. Irrelevant of their ability, it is clear that they are an egotistical group of primadonnas who let down the country with their lack of effort.
"Our objective is for him to become a Barcelona player this summer."
This is outrageous. They are talking about a player who is under a long term contract with another club, they should be sanctioned for such disrespect for the rules. Sandro Rosell has followed this up with:
"We won't pay an unjustified sum, we won't lose our heads over this business."
Well Sandro you c*nt, if you won't pay a decent fee then you won't be signing Fancesc Fabregas, he is our player and under a long term contract with us. End of. Seeing as we're on the topic of c*nts, at last the England team are being portrayed as the selfish morons that they are. Irrelevant of their ability, it is clear that they are an egotistical group of primadonnas who let down the country with their lack of effort.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Nonsense and general rambling
I am an angry man. The stupid transfer rumours continue and everyone continues to be really surprised that England aren't that good as if it's a sudden thing. Mertesacker? Sack of sh*te more like, he's a donkey and I'd rather see Mikel Silvestre back at the club next season. The good news is that Cesc has hinted he may well be with us for another year or two, but that's hardly a surprise given Barca's c*ntliness is it?
England are not bad but they aren't great, our record over the last couple of decades is reasonable. Some people seem to think we were amazing in Italia 90 but that's just the trick of the retrospectoscope, we scraped through and rode our luck, Cameroon and Belgium were arguably far better than us. We were good in 1990 but we could have easily done the same this year with a different draw and a bit more luck, after all if Lampard's goal had been given who knows how Germany would have reacted, it is on these moment's that history is changed.
The media chat a lot of horse sh*te. The reason for England's mediocrity is not the foreign players in our league, it is the clogging style of football that hampers the development of good young technical players and that sees the likes of Ryan Shawcross prosper. English youth football is too result based and too macro, it needs to be based on skill and technique. The Premier League is exciting but there is not enough protection for technical talent, it leads to cloggers like Robbie Savage prospering at the expense of genuine talent.
Watch and take note of the recent world cup games. The best sides are far better technically than England, they have a different type of player that we so rarely produce on these shores. The possession of the football is the key and England are simply not good enough at this. We are too slow, too sluggish and too pedestrian by far. It is time we stopped blamed foreigners for our problems and started addressing the malaise in our game.
England are not bad but they aren't great, our record over the last couple of decades is reasonable. Some people seem to think we were amazing in Italia 90 but that's just the trick of the retrospectoscope, we scraped through and rode our luck, Cameroon and Belgium were arguably far better than us. We were good in 1990 but we could have easily done the same this year with a different draw and a bit more luck, after all if Lampard's goal had been given who knows how Germany would have reacted, it is on these moment's that history is changed.
The media chat a lot of horse sh*te. The reason for England's mediocrity is not the foreign players in our league, it is the clogging style of football that hampers the development of good young technical players and that sees the likes of Ryan Shawcross prosper. English youth football is too result based and too macro, it needs to be based on skill and technique. The Premier League is exciting but there is not enough protection for technical talent, it leads to cloggers like Robbie Savage prospering at the expense of genuine talent.
Watch and take note of the recent world cup games. The best sides are far better technically than England, they have a different type of player that we so rarely produce on these shores. The possession of the football is the key and England are simply not good enough at this. We are too slow, too sluggish and too pedestrian by far. It is time we stopped blamed foreigners for our problems and started addressing the malaise in our game.
Monday, 28 June 2010
The case for video technology
Firstly one must say that England thoroughly deserved to lose to Germany yesterday, we were utterly woeful almost to a man. The one man to come out of the game with some credit was David James who pulled off a series of fine saves. The reasons for England's failure are many, in my opinion a big reason is the lack of tricky technical players available because of our overly physical and clogging domestic league, international football is a completely different game, so players who are excellent in the Premiership are often not excellent at international football. The lack of pace demonstrated by our centre backs was also rather key.
Now onto the main point that is how the idiots in charge of football at FIFA have not introduced the use of video technology to wipe out clear refereeing errors. Blatter and his corrupt cronies in FIFA continue to resist video technology at all costs, yesterday proved why this approach is so so stupid and wrong. England had a goal not given when it was at least a foot over the goal line, a video referee would have easily cleared this up and the score would have been 2-2. Why do the morons running the game resist the use of technology when all other sports use it with good effect? Blatter and his fellow numpties should hang their heads in shame, they should now have no place to hide.
Now onto the main point that is how the idiots in charge of football at FIFA have not introduced the use of video technology to wipe out clear refereeing errors. Blatter and his corrupt cronies in FIFA continue to resist video technology at all costs, yesterday proved why this approach is so so stupid and wrong. England had a goal not given when it was at least a foot over the goal line, a video referee would have easily cleared this up and the score would have been 2-2. Why do the morons running the game resist the use of technology when all other sports use it with good effect? Blatter and his fellow numpties should hang their heads in shame, they should now have no place to hide.
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