By Myles Palmer
________________________________________________
MY BEST FRIEND Doug called from Antibes and said, “They don’t look like Manchester United.”
And I said, “To me, they haven’t looked like Man United since he sold Beckham.”
Sir Alex has lost the plot with his signings in recent years.
Veron was a flop and upset Scholes, Forlan was almost as good as Kaba Diawara (the striker Arsene had on loan), Bellion only has pace, and Djemba Djemba is a crude warrior.
IT IS LOGICAL that Wayne Rooney should sign for United, although Gooners do not want to see that.
Rooney is better than Gazza, Hoddle or Bryan Robson.
None of them played for England at 18.
Rooney is the finest footballer England has produced since Bobby Charlton.
Like Jose Reyes, he is a team player with huge skill, bottle and vision, a footballer who can improve those around him, and score thrilling goals
Will Rooney have a big career and win 60 caps?
Who knows ?
I recall a comment by Jimmy, one of my Irish builders and an Arsenal season-ticket holder.
“Is Rooney fourth generation?” I asked.
“County Down, fourth generation,” said Jimmy. “I’m worried that he might go the same way as Gazza. I’ve seen his grandad on TV at 7.15 in the morning with a pint of beer in his hand.”
FREDDIE had two sparkling assists in the 4-1 win at Norwich on Saturday night, a game I missed on PPV as we went to see Neela’s new play for the National Youth Theatre at the Lyric, Hammersmith.
Watching the Norwich game on Football First on Sunday morning, I started to think about the science behind the artistry and the way that individualism is propelled by harmony, by stability, by work that builds on past work, by collective confidence that just grows and grows.
Arsenal’s style now looks wholly explained, like a thesis, a book : The Avenues of Counter-Attack, by Professor A.Wenger.
REAL MADRID are still feeble, but Owen came on as a sub for the injured Raul and his measured cross allowed Ronaldo to chest the only goal of the game in Mallorca.
By contrast, BARCELONA were electrifying, even without Ronaldinho, who has injured ankle ligaments.
They won 2-0 at Racing Santander.
Madrid owned 50% of Samuel Eto’o, but allowed him to sign for Barca, a big mistake, since Eto’o is far superior to Owen.
But Owen has the clean-cut image needed for this Age of Marketing.
Barcelona have replaced Reiziger with Belletti, a Brazilian right back, and have signed three winners : Giuly from Monaco, Larsson from Celtic and Deco from Porto.
Right now there are two fabulous attacking teams in Europe : one coached by a Frenchman in north London, one coached by a Dutchman who won everything as a player with AC Milan.
Let’s hope they meet in the Champions League. It could be a classic.
And Arsenal owe them one, after that 4-2 defeat at Wembley.
August 31st 2004.