By Myles Palmer
HE DID IT with Anelka, turning an unknown teenager into a Double winner.
He did it with Petit, a Monaco defender who joined Arsenal and became a World Cup winning midfielder.
He did it with Overmars and Henry, wingers who became goalscorers.
He did it with Vieira,who developed into the best player in English football.
He sees things in footballers that nobody else sees, so maybe Arsene can do it again with Kolo Toure.
The lad is a rough diamond. A high-powered utility player, a bit like Micky Thomas.
But if Arsene can turn Toure into a Premiership centreback he will save the club millions.
OK, that’s a big if.
It’s a stretch.
Toure’s distribution has to improve. So does his positional play.
All we can say right now is: Toure has skill,strength,bravery, pace, energy to burn.
He is excitable and can play like a bull in a china shop.
His biggest fault is that he tries too hard.
Many coaches find that easy to forgive.
I’m sure Arsene still believes that pressing is a great way to play, if you can win the ball and score two seconds later.
Arsene likes to press, likes to explode forward with fast passes, likes to overwhelm opponents with purple passages of explosive,athletic team play and killer finishes.
Half of football happens when you have the ball. The other half of the game is when they have the ball.
Arsene, like Arrigo Sacchi, like Capello, ain’t too happy when the other team has the ball.
He likes to win it back ASAP, so he loves players who can get to the ball very quickly.
Kolo Toure is a presser who naturally wants to win the ball, rather than wait for his opponent to give it to him.
Whether a slick team will play neatly round Toure, we don’t know.
That’s the manager’s call. That’s his job. To make those tricky selection decisions at the right time.
Meanwhile, he must be delighted with Jens Lehmann.
The new keeper shouts. He points. He organises at set-pieces. He keeps clean sheets. He gets better with every game.
After the first goal at Ibrox, an Edu shot that deflected into the top nearside corner, it was all over.
Poor Rangers had no chance and it could have been
6-0.
Lauren scored a penalty, rolling it down the middle,
but missed a second penalty doing the same.
Sol made it 3-0 with a header from two yards.
Rangers owe £62 million and made an operating loss of £19 million last season, a British record.
It’s a shame because Alex McLeish is a really good guy. And a very good manager.
This result is a big boost. Vieira signing a new deal would send Arsenal flying into Cardiff for Sunday.
You never know, Arsene might pick the first team for that game.
I watched Real Madrid play in heavy rain.
FC Tokyo are a rugged, stubborn club side, 4th in the J-League, halfway through their season.
Beckham deputised for Zidane, who has a slight hamstring strain.
Carlos Queiroz put Becks in central midfield with Makelele.
Figo on the right, Solari on the left, Portillo for Ronaldo, Raul Branco for Roberto Carlos.
Raul soon sent a cheeky,powerful header looping just under the bar, tipped over.
Beckham got a yellow card after 9, clipping heels as he raced back to cover.
He hit a terrific early cross for Portillo but the keeper just managed to dive forward and get a fingertip.
He delivered a fine free-kick onto Helguera’s head.
Then Madrid got a free-kick on the left , near the corner of the penalty area.
Becks hit a flat, fast bender across the keeper, who dived a long way through the rain but could not reach it.
Then it was suddenly 2-0 after a superb move, Portillo shooting, Solari knocking in the rebound after seeming to react in slow-motion.
Half-time, went upstairs to my office,phone rang, a football reporter wanted some help, we chatted.
Then I went downstairs to see if the game was still going.
It was 82 minutes and Becks was still on the field.
I sat down and the phone rang – another football reporter- and as I talked to him, fat boy Ronaldo scored a marvellous goal.
A sweet shuffle, 20 yards out, and a ferocious shot just inside the far post for 3-0.
Fat boy scored his first really spectacular goal of the season.He can’t sprint, but he can shoot.
As I said back in April,when they played Man United twice, Ronaldo’s shot selection is unbelievable, and the acuracy of his placement is surreal.
And he can shape to shoot, con two defenders into going for the block, then slip a little pass through for Raul.
Their interplay already has sparkle, finesse, surprise.
That rapport will be 50% better in their second season together.
At the moment, Golden Balls is feeling his way, jumping through hoop after hoop.
The hoops are : first free kick, first assist, first goal, first yellow card, first league goal, first league yellow, first away goal, first league assist, first injury, first time heis rested, first game for England as a Real player, first Champions League game, first Champions League goal, first Spanish sentence.
All those firsts will take months, so he’s got a long way to go before he settles in. It’s early days.
David Beckham has been a Real Madrid player for 35 days.
He has played in two positions in two games. And he has done well in both positions.
I’m pleased he is doing OK so far.
I think most of us are.
Still reckon van Nistelrooy will miss him hugely.
August 6th 2003.