Various different types of news presented in pretty much the same way
37 comments September 29th, 2007
Team news for West Ham
The usual suspects of Rosicky, Lehmann, and Gallas are still out, and they’ve been joined by Eduardo and Song, whilst Theo Walcott is rested.
Emmanuel Eboue, against all the odds, is fit to play a Premier League match. However, at the time of the writing there are still a few hours for him to slip on a banana skin and pick up some sort of long-term injury. If, by some miracle, he manages to avoid the injury-curse that has followed him throughout his Arsenal career, he could take up one of the wing positions, with the other going to Alex Hleb, who is also fit to return.
Other than that, I’d expect Cesc and Flamini in the middle of the park. At centre-back, it’s a straight choice between Senderos and Gilberto (who Arsene has moved to publically reassure) to partner Kolo, with Sagna and Clichy joining the defence and Manuel Almunia continuing in goal.
Upfront, top scorer Emmanuel Adebayor will be partnered by Robin van Persie. Nicklas Bendtner will be on the substitutes bench.
Takeovery stuff
After Red & White took their stake to 23% (within about 1% of becoming the club’s largest shareholder), Peter Hill-Wood and Keith Edelman held a “constructive meeting” with Farhad Moshiri – Red & White’s chairman David Dein was pointedly not invited to the meeting. The Telegraph suggests the board are no closer to knowing just what Usmanov’s intentions are, so it’s hard to understand in what way this meeting was “constructive”.
Don’t forget to sign this petition to enforce a more rigorous ‘fit and proper person’ criteria for owners of football clubs.
Martin Jol is a potato-headed idiot
Read these recent comments from Jol:
“I feel we have more talented players than any other club. It’s totally different at Arsenal. Gael Clichy has been playing there for years, getting used to his role behind Ashley Cole. Cesc Fabregas was there for three or four years. They are all on the bench and come on when things are going well. Against Middlesbrough I played Michael Dawson, 22, Younes Kaboul, 21, Gareth Bale, 18. That is probably the difference still with the biggest clubs.”
Fabregas was there for “three or four years” before becoming a regular? Entirely untrue. And so what if you played with three players below the age of 22? The average age of our team that beat Derby 5-0 was just 23. We beat Newcastle’s first team with a side averaging an age of 21.
Your players aren’t as good as ours. Anyone can see that. And if they are, the distance between the clubs simply underlines your failings as a manager.
Arsene talks about players who’ve left
If we weren’t doing so well, this tale of Thierry’s departure would be a bit of a sob story. As it is, it just affirms my belief that Henry leaving was the best thing for all parties.
Also, Arsene has forgiven Freddie Ljungberg for slagging us off when he left. Which is nice.
And one who almost signed
Dean Ashton. It’ll be interesting to see who turns out to be a better player: Ashton or Bendtner?
Final thoughts on today
I think this is possibly the trickiest game we’ve had this season. Away from home in a cauldron of a stadium, up against a very talented front two in Bellamy and Ashton, and suffering with a few injuries. If we could emerge with three points, I’d be absolutely delighted, but a draw wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Good preview from a West Ham perspective here.
Phew. That’s your lot. Come on Arsenal.
