The Arsenal Property Company is in a period of apology and explanation.
Forget the three remaining games. They realise that they have to explain what has happened since Birmingham on February 23.
Arsene is doing a Q& A with shareholders.
A friend asked me yesterday if he should go. I said, “If you want to stay mad at him, don’t go. If you do go, you’ll be won over, you’ll be converted. He is spellbinding.He’s very, very persuasive. You saw what he was like at the AGM and that wasn’t even Arsene at his best.”
Last week Reading marked man-for-man, although the papers didn’t note that, as far as I’m aware. Murty followed Hleb all over the field and eventually Hleb got sick of it and slapped him and that is “violent conduct” and a three-match ban.
The Independent says Senderos could be sold. In the right team, with a different training regime and a different dressing room, Senderos might become a good centreback. He has qualities. He has potential. He is 23 and still young enough to make it.
Champions League afterthoughts?
I was too hard on Reina. Having seen replays of Kalou’s cross and Riise’s own-goal sixteen times, it was a wicked cross, hit early and hard, a very, very nasty ball that Reina could not have dived for.
Memo to all forwards: If you’re losing a big game in the 95th minute, hit the same ball that Kalou hit at Anfield. It might pay off.
Overall, too much negativity in the 1-1 at Anfield and the 0-0 at the Nou Camp.
Rafa nullified Chelsea better than I’ve ever seen them nullified before and he deserved to win the game 1-0.
Torres was a bit tense in his first megamatch. This semi was the biggest game he’s ever played and, with everyone looking at him to make the difference, Torres tried to make sure and took a second touch and hit Cech, the best goalkeeper in the competition, and the man who might win the European Cup for Chelsea, despite his injuries.
It’s a very weird, artificial, political situation at Chelsea.
The 30,000 geezers, and the media, think that John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole are the brand. But they’re not. Chelsea is bigger than JT, Frank and Joe. But it’s not a big club. It’s a medium-sized club with 40,000 punters and a rich owner.
Chelsea are slight favourites now but Torres can be sharper and Crouch may be important. Against them, Essien and Cech, two players who win games. Abramovich might say : Get me to Moscow and I’ll give you £5 million each.
In Barcelona, Sir Alex tried to do tactics and made a fool of himself.
But he got away with a 0-0 after Cristiano Ronaldo, a man bursting with Latin pride, tried to take the coolest penalty of all time. He changed his technique and hit it wide.
Putting Park on the left and Rooney on the right was crazy, and having Ronaldo down the middle took away his raison d’etre. That stripped the team of what Ronaldo does best : to boldly join an attack at very high speed, or to initiate an attack at very high speed.
Cristiano Ronaldo is not just a big, fast, tricky winger. He is a momentum player who adds cannonball force to an attack. You don’t take an Olympic slalom champion and put him in the London marathon, surrounded by a crowd that gives him no room to accelerate and no spaces to explode into. That was utter bollocks by Fergie.
Ronaldo only linked with Rooney once in 94 minutes. After 72, Rooney switched to the left and we saw the real Manchester United for 25 seconds. That was exciting but it was only for 25 seconds.
Carrick said they had a game-plan and it worked. True. Sir Alex was super-cautious because he wants to win it once more than Sir Matt and hes been waiting nine years to win it a second time. His record in the Champions League is piss-poor and he knows it. He even jokes about it.
No Vidic, Nou Camp, scared of Messi, first leg – he locked the game up. He has two ignition-men, two sparky players who get his attack going. But he didn’t use either of them. He had Anderson on the bench and Rooney on the right wing, where he had never played before, and where he kicked the ball three times, if that
United will win the second leg, I’m sure. But they know a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford will put them out.
So far this week the biggest clubs have not produced spectacular football and that’s understandable because there is strife almost everywhere.
At Chelsea, the rift is between Grant and the players.
At Liverpool, the rift is between the owners.
At Barcelona, the rift is between the players, I gather, between Eto’o, Deco and Ronaldinho. Deco is still a helluva player, by the way. He’s not finished. Arsenal should buy Deco. He’s a lot better than Hleb or Flamini. He could take some weight off Fabregas and teach him a lot.
At Manchester United, there’s no rift. Just a team of champions and a manager who spent £53 million on Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves. He also got Tevez on loan and has to pay £20 million for him this summer. So Sir Alex has collected the strongest squad he’s ever had. No wonder nobody can beat them, even when he picks the wrong team. His players are so good, it doesn’t matter that he picks the wrong team.
Bottom line, then, a strange old week : Rafa nullified Chelsea and Sir Alex nullified Manchester United.
The second legs will be interesting and dramatic. I love big games where big players do big things.
Today I’ve seen the best thing I’ve ever seen on YouTube.
I’m serious.
This is the best thing I’ve ever seen on YouTube.
Check out the equipment the recording artists are using. Fabulous! So British ! So analogue !
This has made my May and May ain’t even started yet. I’m gonna watch this clip every day. It’s a tonic. It’s medicinal, like Van Morrison, like Miles Davis.