By Myles Palmer
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Big news today :
Arsene says Sol Campbell must fight for his place.
He is sticking with Senderos and Toure for the visit of Spurs on Monday night.
In the past, Arsene has been welded to his pecking order.
He upset fans by twice dropping Manninger to bring back Seaman. He has always favoured his senior players because they knew each other, so when they were fit again, they always played.
Not this time, it seems
This, to me, is radical – a conceptual leap.
Sure, Sol is desperate to play.
But why change a winning team?
On Campbell, Arsene said, “He is a massive player but he has to fight for his place. I rushed him back a few times and it did not help him. Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos have done well and we will keep our defensive stability.”
HE DID NOT admit having keeper Paul Robinson on trial, so we don’t know for sure on that one, but Arsene said he “has improved a lot as a goalkeeper. He looks much more mature now and much more settled. He seems very determined in his approach to the game and getting into the England national team has helped speed up his progress and he now looks like a very good goalkeeper.
“Do I regret that decision? I could have so many regrets because you miss so many players in your career. You would always be thinking what a dream team I could have had if I had taken him or him or him.”
Like me, Arsene is glad Spurs have improved, since rivalry is good.
“I think Tottenham are on the up and Martin Jol has done well since he took over. I think it is healthy for them to be challenging because it always helps push you on.”
Kanoute, will he be a big threat to Arsenal? He does a few spectacular things, but I don’t really rate him. Mido is no world beater.
In January 2004, Arsene had to choose between Defoe, a fox in the box, and Jose Antonio Reyes.
A couple of months back I was told that when Vieira decided not to go to Real madrid, Arsene spent a long time on the phine to Michael Carrick, explaining why he did not now need him.
Is Carrick good enough to play for Arsenal? I know Spurs fans who say he’s not.
A player to watch closely in this game, I think.
Expect a tight game with Arsenal winning by one goal.
Lehmann might make a couple of saves from Robbie Keane.
THIS WEEKEND was one where late goals saved all my bets.
Gudjohnsen scored in 88 minutes to give Chelsea a 3-1 win over Fulham. I had them to win by two goals.
Both scored by guys whose fathers were pro footballers : Lampard and Gudjohnsen.
I’m fond of Villarreal, a balanced team who are fourth in La Liga, and I tuned in to Real Madrid-Villarreal to see Reina, the keeper linked with Liverpool.
Reina AINT good enough to play for Liverpool !
Luxemburgo has broken the mafia by dropping Guti and Figo and moving Raul to midfield.
The elegant, artistic Riquelme is usually fun to watch, a playmaker and pace-maker.
Here he played a good pass to Diego Forlan, then Pavon beat him to the ball.
But in 28 the ref gave a very harsh penalty and Riquelme blasted it straight down the middle for 0-1.
Second half started, Beckham crossed beautifully, Samuel headed wide of an open goal.
Then Riquelme had a break that put him one-on-one with Casillas – and he bottled it.
He passed left to Forlan but the pass took Forlan too wide and he fired into the side-netting.
In 70, Beckham found Zidane with a crossfield pass and the big genius Zidaned to the byline and Zidaned the ball to the far post for Ronaldo to nod in.
Then Samuel was sent off for an elbow on Jose Marie.
But Ronaldo picked out Salgado, whose finish was fantastic. The ten men were 2-1 up.
Then Zidane was sent off the 95th minute.
THIS MORNING I was pottering around, as you do on a warm Sunday morning.
Went round to get the paper and saw John, my gambling greengrocer who said, “I’m only 80 quid up on yesterday’s bets, so I’m just gonna do more than two goals in the game – Portsmouth v Southampton, and Man United v Newcastle.”
Then I bumped into Adam, my TV producer pal. Hadn’t seen him for a while.
Told him I’d loved his Buildings of Britain programme last Monday night, said I thought the script was very sharp.
He said he’d been in Jordan and Egypt and was going for 10 days to Pakistan.
So we chatted about Al-Queda for a while and then I wandered home and had bets on those two games – more than two goals – and Googled Ghost Wars, a book Adam had mentioned, then went downstairs and the Portsmouth game was 19 minutes in and I had missed three goals.
The score was 2-1 so I sat down just in time to see Niemi roar crazily out of his penalty area and Lua Lua make it 3-1 and 4-1.
The game finished 4-1.
Southampton will now be relegated after 27 years in the top flight.
Later on, Manchester United did not look capable of scoring in 27 years.
Darren Ambrose put Newcastle 1-0 up in 25 after Tim Howard miskicked.
Heinze went off with a badly twisted ankle.
Andy O’Brien and Alan Smith were wrestling so much I wondered whether the ref should put judo jackets on them at half-time.
ROONEY had not scored in 8 games and Man United had not scored in six and a half hours of Premiership football.
And then, a big header came out of Newcastle defence from Peter Ramage and Rooney hit a thunderous volley from 23 yards which no keeper in history could have stopped.
A strike of maximum technical perfection and maximum rage : it contained all the frustrations of the last 8 games.
It wasn’t a goal, it was an exorcism.
VOLLEYS THIS GOOD come along every 20 years.
Farkas in 1966, Van Basten in 1988, Rooney in 2005.
If Nike filmed 50 football stars for a month they wouldn’t get a better body shape than Rooney had when he hit that ball.
I doubt if Shevchenko, being taller, could have hit the ball so hard or so accurately.
It zoomed under the bar, seven feet off the ground, and was still rising when it hit the back of the net, with Shay Given still in mid-air.
THEN WES BROWN headed in a Giggs corner for 2-1.
Brown’s first goal in 117 Premiership games.
We are now witnessing legendary warriors crumble before our eyes: Alan Shearer went off after 66, Roy Keane after 76.
Bergkamp, once the scourge of Spurs, comes into that category.
Does DB10 have another great goal in him?
Which player, in the whole world, could replace Bergkamp at Arsenal ?
Wayne Rooney !
April 25th 2005.