October 15th, 2004 11:29am
gilbertosilver
Again.
To be fair, the man has a point. The United midfield around the turn of the millenium of Giggs, Keane, Scholes and Beckham was absolutely outstanding. It’s not surprising that they haven’t quite hit those heights since.
Rooney reminds me of Scholes, though. And Ronaldo can be as good as Giggs ever was. So United aren’t quite finished, and as Arsene points out, they “remain title contenders“.
Arsene has also taken time to lavish further praise on Jose Reyes. This bemuses me a little. Anybody whose seen our last few games knows that Jose hasn’t been firing on all cylinders. Part of me thinks that either a) Wenger recognises that Reyes is a confidence player and does as much as possible to boost his ego, or b) he wants to draw attention away from the precocious Cesc Fabregas. Hm. It’s an interesting one.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game against Villa: Freddie, Edu, and Gilberto are all out. That means that one of Pires or Pennant will likely play on the right. It’s an interesting test of Le Boss’ faith in Jermaine.
My guess is, he doesn’t have any.
October 14th, 2004 09:43am
gilbertosilver
Sylvain Wiltord, assisted by Patrick Vieira, and Thierry Henry were both on the scoresheet to ensure France’s victory over lowly Cyprus.
France, however, were not entirely convincing. It’s difficult to see how they’ve gone so far backwards since 2000. They have had such talented players, and in 2002 and 2004 they never came close to fulfilling their potential.
Now the spine of that side is gone. Desailly, Blance, Lebouef, Thuram, Makalele, and Zidane are all gone. he inexperienced Monaco pair of Givet and Squillacci have been drafted in at centre-back. Robert Pires is out of form and out of favour, and there was even talk that Thierry Henry might have been dropped tonight in favour of the livewire Sidney Govou.
It looks like their era of dominance over European football is definitely over. For now, at least. Though I’m sure that when Cygan, Clichy, and Aliadiere earn their call ups they’ll once again reign supreme. Ish.
Oh, and also, Ashley Cole put in a lovely cross for England’s winner in what was generally a pretty rubbish match last night.
That is all.
October 12th, 2004 01:22pm
gilbertosilver
“Jens Lehmann has been threatened with the sack by Germany for wearing the wrong gloves.”
That’s a truly phenomenal story.
Jens and the German FA have always a bit of a love-hate relationship, but I think this takes the biscuit. The sad thing is that Jens will never replace Oliver Kahn, much as Klinnsman is trying to make it a fair fight between the two. It just won’t happen.
Youngster Ryan Smith made his comeback last night. Did well, according to Neil Banfield, who (following on from the clothing based theme of today’s piece), said he “worked his socks off“.
There are no other clothing-based Arsenal stories, I’m afraid.
So, um, that’s it.
October 11th, 2004 10:45am
gilbertosilver
…which isn’t hugely surprising.
As Ronny himself says, “He is a great footballer.”
I think we might well see Edu leave this summer. His committments to Brazil are becoming a real difficulty – whereas before he was replacing Gilberto when he went off on his round-the-world jaunts, we are now losing the pair.
He has also failed to re-establish himself in the first team. At the end of last season, he and Gilberto were neck-and-neck in the battle to partner Paddy. Edu even pushed Gilberto onto the bench for a significant spell of big games. However, this season, his belated arrival means that Gilberto has firmly re-established himself as a key part of the side. Edu has also fallen behind another midfielder who has burst onto the scene with stunning success.
Cesc Fabregas. On July 31st I said, “If you want me to compare him to someone, I’d suggest a combination of Edu and Deco“. His similarities with our girly-haired Brazilian are obvious: gutsy tackling, outstanding passing, and a habit of arriving in the box at the right time. The main difference is that Cesc has time on his side. He is going to improve. Good though Edu is, Cesc has the potential to be even better. And what’s more, Arsene will certainly find it easier to keep the young Spaniard happy on the bench than he will Edu.
So if Edu leaves this Christmas, or even this Summer, don’t be too surprised.
He deserves first team football on a consistent basis. He’s a very very good player. And we love him lots.
Unless he goes to Man U.
More rubbish internationals this week. But apparently, Ashley Cole is really good.
Quick on the draw, Sven is.
October 9th, 2004 11:46am
gilbertosilver
Watch out world, Arsene wants a right-back.
I know it only says “defender“ in the article, but we all know he means right-back. He went for Trabelsi, Angulo, and others, and just about came up short.
Personally, I feel that Josemi of Liverpool is a superb full-back, and it’s a shame we missed out on him.
Now, as the winter transfer window rolls ever closer, speculation is starting up again. Names I’ve heard mentioned are Kieron Dyer, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wes Brown, and Pablo Ibanez.
Of these, I think Wes Brown is the most likely.
He would be very cheap, or perhaps even free.
He wouldn’t need to be converted a new position.
He is experienced in the Champions League.
He’s actually fairly good.
He is seemingly always injured, though. Hm.
Discuss.
Next Posts
Previous Posts
