Before Bolton
Even I have to admit it’s getting a little silly – I’m excited already about the prospect of a game tonight! It’s getting so that I just live for football! (well for Arsenal anyway)
Manure versus Citeh
I watched the Man Utd versus City match last night and whilst the last 5 minutes were exciting for a neutral, it was a fairly anonymous match. The ref (Mike Dean) made it “the Mike Dean Show”
with his gift of a penalty to City that was never a penalty (but how many people are shouting Tevez down as a cheat, even though he clearly fell down with no contact in the area – hipocrytical
double standards really p* me off). Anyway, on the one hand I couldn’t care less about the result, on the other hand, if Man Utd can do a 2-1 at home, they could have an extra half-hour of play
(and maybe penalties) just 3 days before they play us. Wouldn’t that be nice? And given how badly they’re playing, and how we gifted them the win at the start of the season, there’s every
chance we can (should) turn them over!
To be fair, I thought both sides had their fair share of weaknesses. Without Bellamy, (and possibly Tevez), City just looked weak. Micah Richards (who incidentally looks like the lovechild of
William Gallas) had some good play too. But otherwise, City didn’t show much to be scared of. And United, whilst Shrek looked dangerous as always, otherwise looked very ordinary. Rooney, the
little thug should have had a booking for his abuse aimed at the ref late in the second half, and if he had more immediate punishment for losing his temper like that, maybe he’d learn to not be
such an awful role model to the young footballers of today. They’re learning that to get angry and abuse refs is a secret to success!!
Death of a Club
In the news it’s Portsmouth who have failed in court to get a winding up order against them dismissed. The winding up order, issued by the Inland Revenue basically allows them to close the
club, sell it’s assets off and help themselves to what they think they’re owed in unpaid tax. The BBC story
gives more details. It’s very sad that it’s come to this, partly because nobody wants to see the death of a premiership club (except Sp*rs, probably Man Utd, and maybe Chelski. Oh, and
Liverpool). But apart from them nobody wants to see that. Certainly poor executive management has brought them to that state of affairs, basically financial incompetence and living
beyond their means. The chances are that some businessman will step in and make it good, and I hope so. But at the moment it’s not looking good, and they could be out of business by late
Feb.
Look who their sponsor is – I wonder if they’ll be helping the players and staff find new jobs?
The interesting thing is what that will do to the Premier League! They can hardly bring another team in half way through the season, so they’d have to simply strike out the scores of those
teams who’ve already played Portsmouth, to be fair. Which would be highly unfair since both Aston Villa and ourselves have played (and beaten them) twice already this season!! And they
beat Liverpool! One way or another, it would totally screw up the league. The other way would be to say to those clubs that have played Portsmouth already that they should play that many
matches less (against whoever their opposition would have been at the end of the season). That’s Fulham and Blackburn for us, both of which we should have been looking at wins at, but
the wins in the bag already against Portsmouth would be okay. But even though that would be better for us, it still screws the league.
So, let’s all hope Portsmouth don’t go under, or the league’s going to end up a mess, which will of course, devalue our first league championship for 5 years.
Rugby
Sorry for the diversion, but my first sport for many years was Rugby Union. I couldn’t play football to save my life, and my dad (a keen rugby player) took me along to Gosforth rugby club,
where I grew up in my rugby life, through to colts and then to the third team, before I moved down south to London, and Gosforth were bought by Freddie Sheppherd and became Newcastle (but
that’s another story). Anyway, I wanted to commemorate in a little way the life of Bill McLaren, the “voice of rugby”, who died yesterday at 86 years old. I grew up playing against teams like
Hawick (where he came from) and listening to his commentary, which was wonderful, rich, evocative stuff. Football has never had a commentator like him sadly. Here’s the BBC page. If you never heard him, then you really missed something there. I guess the only equivalent in
Football would be if John Motson died.
Before Bolton
So, before Bolton, there was…. Bolton (for us) or Burnley (if you’re Owen Coyle). Pundits are saying that Bolton will play a weakened or at least much changed team in this match. That’ll be
interesting. If Coyle puts out a radically different team, it could devalue our win, but it could have a polarising effect on Bolton. It could make the people who play lift their game. I
wouldn’t bet against them getting a goal against us (especially if Almunia’s playing). Still…. it’s at home, and assuming we have Cesc fit, I’d go for a 3-1 win.
The likelihood is (and it’s been hinted at by both managers) they will play changed sides. Because let’s face it, we have a lot of matches coming up and we need to preserve their fitness, or
something. I know they give a lot in their matches, but I’m sure there’s an argument to be had that playing more matches increases your awareness and improves your skill. It’s like riding a
bike – the more you do it, the better you will be (or something). Anyway, I’m going for a changed side of:
- Fabianski in goal (please please please, with Manone on the bench)
- A back four of Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy (yes, you heard right, I reckon Campbell will get a game. And Clichy will get a start, but will only do 60 minutes, replaced by Silvestre
probably). - A midfield of Diaby (at the back in the Song position), Eastmond (he didn’t have a bad game last time out) and Fabregas (of course)
- A forward line of Arshavin, Rosicky and Eduardo in the middle. (with Vela on the bench)
I’d also see JET on the bench, but we’re getting pretty short of people at the moment, what with Merida taking a knock and Nasri and Ramsey out. So actually on reflection, not too
changed. The only different selection I could see would maybe be JET in for Eastmond. I can’t see Traore getting a game, not after the last two diabolical performances, though with Wenger you
never know!
I should think Coyle for all his talk of nice football will play Taylor, Robinson and Davies – three of the dirtiest cloggers you will ever see on a pitch. They didn’t manage to give us enough
injuries last time so I’m sure they will have instructions this time out! Really? What manager would instruct players to go out and ‘rough up’ another player? Every manager that’s who!! (except
Wenger)
And that’s it. Let’s get out there and kick their dirty northern cloggers’ arses.
I’ll be there tonight, in the Metro (next door to Holloway Road tube) from about 6pm if anybody’s interested in meeting up DM me for my number. I’ll be wearing a brown jacket and an Arsenal
scarf. Erm that probably doesn’t help does it 
Spare a thought
Before I go, spare a thought for the referee tonight. It will be Mark Clattenburg. That poncy f*ck*r. I’m sorry, but he’s awful, loves himself so much, and doesn’t like to give any cards, until
his first one and then he’s throwing them everywhere. What he does (and what you can expect him to do) is to let Bolton get away with foul after foul after foul, then the first time an Arsenal
player does an inocuous foul that should result in just a free kick at most, he’ll get his yellow out. He’s a certified tw*t. Maybe not as bad as Mike Riley or Mike Dean, but it won’t be pretty
you can guarantee that!