ODDLY, the two clubs who work most closely with ProZone, the match analysis company, are Arsenal and Bolton, who meet in the FA Cup on Sunday.
The work that the company does with clubs is highly confidential, obviously, but I’ve heard a whisper :
the ProZone points tally achieved by Cesc Fabregas against Spurs were among the highest ever scored by a Premiership player.
That will not surprise you.
But this will : Denilson was only 17 points behind Fabregas.
BIG SAM?
What will Big Sam do on Sunday? What will his competitive strategy be?
Well, Big Sam will have talked to Sir Alex, his mate. And Bolton will not give Arsenal as much space as Spurs did. He knows that if you give time and space to talent, you will suffer and lose.
Big Sam isn’t coming to lose, so he will do what United did last Sunday. Start at a high tempo, press Arsenal in groups high up the field, disrupt their rhythm, stop those first-time passes in triangles.
Why let them do that? If you let them do that, you will get hammered. It would be a totally silly to do that. It would be a wholly uncompetitive strategy to do that.
On diagonal balls into the box, Bolton are lethal, so Senderos will have to do very well in the air on Sunday.
And if it’s 1-1 with three minutes to go, Big Sam won’t take off his best forward, as Sir Alex did. If he wants a replay, he will keep attacking, not invite Arsenal to finish, as they did when they attacked the flank where Cristiano Ronaldo had just vacated.
I’m going to this game with Ian Grant, and we’re hoping to have some fun. Whichever one of us gets home first will write the match report.We’ve never liked Bolton very much. We’ll see how solid Arsenal are in defence. And we’ll see if they have sufficient cutting edge up front.
Arguably, Arsenal allowed Spurs six chances and two half-chances, before drawing 2-2.
As everyone knows, Arsenal play an attractive game, but you don’t get points for artistic impression. You only get big crowds and good reviews.
While hordes of very senior journalists write silly blogs in Davos, and get wined and dined by lobbyists and multinationals, sportswriters have gathered in Dusseldorf to see if Johansson, 77, will beat Platini, 51, in the Uefa presidential election.
Davos is a business circus that never achieves anything, but Dusseldorf is a dangerous event.
There are 52 member nations in Uefa and 52 votes – and Johansson will get 36 votes.
It’s a simple event to understand : Uefa are the good guys of football administration and FIFA are the bad guys. Havelange was a nightmare and Blatter was his henchman and learned all the Brazilian’s tricks, and now Platini is Blatter’s henchman. The slippery Swiss will be pulling out all the stops to help his ally, but that will fail.
Platini wanted to outlaw tackling a few years ago, which tells you all you need to know about him.
If Platini wins, it would be a catastrophe.Uefa would be finished.
As I said, it’s simple : Johansson can be trusted. Blatter and his friends cannot be trusted. A vote for Johansson is a vote for integrity.
I’ve got a busy day today and if I come home tonight and find that Platini has won, I’ll give up hope for the only sport I love. But I’m not gonna worry. Never been the worrying type. Lennart will win.
12.30 pm Bad newsflash : Platini won.
Is it the end of football as we know it? Will Uefa change Platini?
Will office change Platini ? Office sometimes changes people.