I watched the Newcastle video to study three incidents.
1. The Steven Taylor goal.
Having studied replays of the goal from all angles, Almunia thought that shot was going wide.
When you see it from behind the goal, his right arm was not fully extended. He put his right arm down to break his fall, rather than go for a fingertip save.
HE THOUGHT THAT SHOT WAS GOING WIDE.
As I’ve said months ago, Almunia is a clown who has improved a lot. As I said weeks ago, he is the elephant in the room.
Almunia does not know where he is in his goal. He does not know where he is in relation to his posts. He never has known where he is and never will. He will never make a save to win you a game and it serves no useful purpose to pretend that he is an Arsenal goalkeeper. Of course, if the team plays very well, he will have almost nothing to do.
Incredibly, Almunia has offered to play for England. He is a year away from becoming a British citizen and would be eligible, as he’s never played for Spain.
“I would never close the door on people who have shown me so much affection,” he told a Spanish paper. “If I can lend England a hand once the time comes for me to be eligible — and I want to thank the country for the support it has shown me — I don’t see why I shouldn’t play for them. I don’t rule it out.’
And yet Almunia has previously said : I’m fortunate to be at a club like this. Too right, amigo ! That’s why Arsene has said today that Jens Lehmann will not be sold.
2. The Adebayor breakaway in stoppage time.
On 90.02, Diarra hit a brilliant 60-yard ball and Adebayor made a diagonal run which was covered by right back Habib Beye, and, as the ball bounced five yards outside the penalty area, the two players ran into each other.
Beye leaned into Adebayor and, after looking across to see where Beye was, Adebayor ran into him. Adebayor lost his bottle mentally as he was chasing that ball, so he looked for contact. If a striker and a defender are racing for a ball, the defender doesn’t have to get the ball. His job is to stop the striker getting it, so he will play the man if he can get away with doing that, and often does. The striker’s job is to get that ball and shoot, if he can shoot. But Adebayor looked across, to check where Beye was, so that he could measure how and when to run into Beye in a way that might look as if he had been brought down while trying to get the ball.
3. The second Adebayor incident (91.54) was far more blatant.
Again Diarra initiated the attack and forced Nicky Butt to pass the ball back to Shay Given, and as Adebayor spurted towards the backpass, he was bodychecked by Steven Taylor, allowing Given to clear. It was an obvious free-kick to Arsenal and referee Mike Dean was well-placed to see it. But he waved play on.
So that’s Adebayor. He does great things and terrible things.
He scored a power goal early on, at 1-0 up he ran offside and made Rosicky think he is an imbecile, then, when he should wallop the ball down the field, he gives it to Eduardo, who loses possession and Newcastle equalise. And then, in stoppage time, he bottled it mentally when chasing a long ball.
That’s a bad sign for the future because Arsenal’s games from now on will be more crucial, more decisive, than their games so far. Last season was 59 games. This season writes itself, as all seasons do, so we have no way of knowing how many games this season will be. I’m guessing and so are you.
Sky Sports News and the bookies are suggesting that the Ricky Hatton -Floyd Mayweather world welterweight title fight could be a draw, which is worrying.
Floyd is a boxer and Ricky is a fighter. My dad, an amateur middleweight who sparred in Liverpool with pros like Ernie Roderick, reckoned that a good boxer should always beat a good fighter because the fighter will waste too much energy as his punches miss their target.
Hype is a big part of boxing, so they have regularly touted recent champions as “the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
I’m not convinced that mouthy Floyd is one of the all-time greats but he has said he is better than Ali, which turned many American fans against him, while down-to-earth Ricky is a genuine working class hero whose house would never make it onto MTV Cribs. Manchester’s Ricky, who is a mate of Wayne Rooney, has more fans in Vegas than the champion.
I fancy Ricky because he is less conflicted outside the ring, and reckon he can stop Floyd in 6-8 rounds, if he doesn’t get cut too badly. His cuts man is a London cabbie.
If the fight goes 12 rounds, and Floyd gets a battering, the judges might score it a draw. British fans have always joked that you have to knock an American out to get a draw in Vegas. On this occasion, that decision will be beyond a joke. A draw would start a riot.
Good luck to Ricky.
And if Floyd wins it fairly on superior boxing skills, good luck to him.