Loads of comments lately, some abusive, some supportive, some whacky.
Many say : striker Niang of Marseilles isn’t that good. And I accept that is probably the case.
We have many thousands of wonderful readers and we get marvellous emails.And we have done for the last 10 years.That is why I keep writing here, as much as I can. Which will sometimes be not a lot. Won’t be a lot over the next 22 days. But I will do, as always, as much as I can.
I should say this : I do not write to provoke a reaction.
Yes, I let my frustration show. I still get angry.
My mistake, sometimes, is to write five minutes after a match has finished.
From: cescational
Date: Mon Apr 14, 2008
Subject : way off the boil
As good as some blogs are, you are getting under the skin of many fans. If 26 goals is not good enough from a person who has been playing upfront alone for 46 games+ is not good enough, I don’t know what is. You seem to think that football is a game of championship manager where you can just say “5 in, 5 out”. Well, it’s not. Take it from a guy with an economics degree, studying for his masters, there’s more to players than a price tag.
From : Face
Date: Apr 14, 2008
Subject: You must be joking?
Niang?
Ligue 1 is the 5th best league in Europe. Had he been a real class act, he would have been snapped up long ago by a top spanish/german club.
Benzema is a must buy, he is tailor-made for this Arsenal team. Young, direct, rocket fast, powerful, clinical and French.
Makes me laugh when people go on about how good Adebayor is and how he has got 20 league goals this season… my retort ? Michael Chopra would have scored at least 25 with the service this team gives the strikers.
Subject: Adebayor the clown
From : Phil Brunetti
Date : April 16, 2008
Tell me, Myles, what gives you the right to call 26-goal Emmanuel Adebayor “a clown”?
I check this page everytime I’m on the computer because I respect your view on the game and on Arsenal in particular, especially as you have frequently come in to contact with Arsene Wenger himself, which is alot more than can be said for the many thousands of Arsenal “fan” sites, 99% of which are complete bollocks.
However I was dumbfounded to read what you wrote about Adebayor’s performance on Sunday and about the man in general. Yes, he missed a couple of chances but tell me what striker doesn’t do that in a big game? Did Thierry Henry stick his one-on-one away with 20 to go against Barcelona in Paris? No he did not. Wayne Rooney missed a couple of sitters on Sunday as well, is he a clown?
Sometimes I just feel as if all you’re doing is trying to provoke a reaction, which is what you’re getting here, so well done.
Adebayor has been unplayable at times this season. The way he led the line against AC Milan in the San Siro, especially first half, was exemplary. Lest we forget that the man is 23! 23 years old and in his first season as Arsenal’s no.1 striker he bangs in 26 goals, most weeks being played up there on his own. He’s also developed the knack of scoring in big games, such as on Sunday and against Liverpool last week, even when things weren’t always going for him. Even if he doesn’t score/misses glorious opportunities/is a “clown”, the defenders he faces will not have had an easy 90 minutes dealing with his pace and physical strength.
What evidence have you amassed to suggest that Nicklas Bendtner is “BY FAR” Arsenal’s best striker? Even if he was, you later go on to say that Arsenal “actually have no strikers”, something of a contradiction there, but that’s beside the point. I don’t have a problem with Bendtner, I think he provides an option when required and he could well turn into a fine player, but on the basis of this season then that sort of statement is ridiculous.
My final point surrounds your last post, about the Marseille striker (dare we say his name). If he’s 28 and that good, then why is he still playing in France? Surely Arsene would have snapped him up a long time ago if he thought anything of him?
I understand alot of what being a football fan is about are opinions, and whether we agree or not with each other’s is part of the fun of following a team. However, what upset me was that I have respected your opinion over the years, but with statements such as the clown one, I am starting to forget where that respect came from. I just find it rude, more than anything, to label someone who has clearly given us fans many good moments this season a “clown”. It’s symptomatic of the way fans have become of late.
People base their opinions on the last game, then decide someone’s awful and needs replacing, then go and find out who’s scoring goals in some obscure European league, then type him into youtube and all of a sudden there’s our solution. Arsenal may have come up slightly short this season, but my word the boys gave it a fucking good go didn’t they? I, for one, have no complaints about any of the players (yes, Eboue hasn’t been great but imagine having 60,000 people on your back every week?) and certainly not about the manager.
So my message to you Myles, and to all those other Arsenal fans who have been quick to crucify Adebayor et al, is SHOW SOME RESPECT. They gave it everything, and it wasn’t quite good enough, but next year and in the years to come it might just be.
Thanks very much.