A short preview of Arsenal v Spurs.
Only 4 things to say. It’s a derby. It’s a derby. It’s a derby. And Spurs can’t handle Adebayor.
That’s what I think. Adebayor is too big and fast and strong for Spurs to contain.
Arsene Wenger put 17lb of muscle on Kanu and has put 14lb of of muscle on Adebayor in the last five months. We saw the way Chelsea’s Ben Haim bounced off Adebayor for that disallowed goal, which came after Ben Haim had tried to foul Adebayor, rather than the other way round.
I’m convincd that the Togo tornado will go through Dawson and Kaboul like a ten-pin bowling ball through skittles.
And Arsenal will be quicker all over a big pitch. Yes, Spurs look fitter now than they did under Martin Jol but they will struggle to keep up.
Having said all that, the derby might be close. As a spectacle, it may need an early goal by van Persie or Fabregas to open it up. But an early goal might be difficult to score. And I’m not saying Arsenal need an early goal. They know they don’t need an early goal. They just need a goal and they know they can score a late goal because they’ve done it so many times this season.
Juande Ramos will make London football more interesting, I’m sure. Did Ramos make Sevilla or did Sevilla make Ramos ? A bit of both, I reckon. But we never saw Sevilla win a Uefa Cup before Ramos. And he retained it too. No mean feat. Ramos is a formidable coach but needs more time to put his stamp on the team.
Tottenham Hotspur? Bring ’em on !
Manchester United play Everton, who handed AZ Alkmaar their first home defeat in Europe last night. A fine 3-2 win put David Moyes’s reserve-spattered side into the last 32 of the Uefa Cup, where they will play Brann Bergen of Norway. Spurs meet Slavia Prague again. Luckless Aberdeen drew Bayern Munich.
The United players will get back to what they do best, after their notorious Xmas party, from which they excluded their WAGS.
The bash was organised by Rio Ferdinand of Peckham, who collected £5,000 from each of 35 players to pay for the festivities and promised to invite 100 models, soap stars and party girls.
The players lunched on turkey in a restaurant, drank all afternoon at The Old Grapes pub with entertainment by two transvestite cabaret artists and five dancers, then repaired to a boutique hotel hired for £25,000.
The first I knew of this “party” was headline in a free “newspaper” that I picked up on a bus at 7pm on Wednesday night. The front page headline was GIRLS TREATED LIKE MEAT AT MAN UTD XMAS PARTY
How daft and naive are the girls who want to be pulled by a footballer at such an event? What did they expect? Ice cream and jelly ?
For all we know, some girls may have gone to that hotel with the express intention of sh*gging a star player and selling a kiss-and-tell story to a tabloid paper. We’ve been here before. We’ve heard too much about the “roasting” of football groupies. It’s becoming tedious because we’ve been here too many times already. Boys will be boys and playing football is a very boyish activity. Yes, this episode was sordid, squalid and sleazy – and Sir Alex is furious.
But, as I always say, they’re only footballers. Pundits and public alike always forget that important fact. They’re only footballers ! Can’t people understand that? They’re only footballers.
Of course, if the law has been broken, and a 26-year old woman has indeed been raped, then the criminal should be tried and sentenced accordingly. He should not be aquitted because he is a professional footballer.