THIS SUMMER there is no big tournament.
So there is no action, no real news.
Therefore there will be an avalanche of speculation all through May, June and July,
So it’s important for fans to understand how the media works.
A story in a Spanish paper will get picked up and repeated in a French paper, and then it will be repeated in an English paper.
But by the time we read it, the story is twisted and sensationalised. Whatever fragment of it was true has now been lost in translation. But it keeps the readers agog till the next lot of tosh can be concocted.
And that is what has happened with the £15million-Gallas-to-Real-Madrid story.
He’s an outspoken player but he is an Arsenal player. If he’s not happy about something, he’ll tell you. And I like that. You know where you stand with Willie.
But I can tell you categorically: William Gallas is not joining Real Madrid.
ANFIELD could be Athens before Athens, I fear.
Whoever wins on Tuesday night between Liverpool and Chelsea will be steely enough to win the Champions League in Athens on May 23.
If you’re good enough to beat Liverpool at Anfield, you’re good enough to win the European Cup on a neutral ground.
And if you’re strong enough to dump Chelsea out over two games, you’re strong enough to beat the winners of Milan v Man United in a one-off final.
And that would be a tragedy because football needs a Manchester United victory.Football needs a more entertaining winning model than Chelsea, Milan or Liverpool. Football needs Manchester United to be champions of Europe again.
Why? Because they play a vibrant game of attacking football and they usually play with width, and that allows their opponents to play.
Even if they go with 4-5-1 in the San Siro, United will play with flair and offer a goal threat throughout the game.And they always come to play, they are always physically committed,and they always keep going to the end. And if Vidic and Gary Neville and Ferdinand had played against Milan, Kaka would not have scored those two goals. He might have scored one.
Did I enjoy Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0 ?
Well, the first half was OK.
When Xabi Alonso’s studs rammed into John Obi Mikel’s groin, my mate Kevin said, “How is that not a yellow card? Markus Merk sent Drogba off after ten minutes in the Nou Camp for far less than that. “
Second half was rubbish, panic football by both sides, booting the ball 40 yards, as if the game was an FA Cup tie which ended tonight, rather than the first leg of a Champions League semi-final.
Rafa picked the wrong team. Zenden, Riise, Bellamy and Kuyt were useless, so Liverpool created almost nothing. One great save by Cech diving to his left to touch a Stevie G. volley round the post, a left foot shot that would have been a fantastic goal if it had gone in.
The first half produced more action than I expected in the whole game, with Chelsea having five chances and Joe Cole scoring a superb goal when Drogba collected Carvalho’s counter-attacking pass and turned Daniel Agger inside out before squaring the ball sweetly into Joe Cole’s run and Cole produced a world class finish on the stretch, knocking the ball inside the near post with his left foot, past the advancing Reina. That turned out to be the only goal of the game.
Typically, almost inevitably, Mourinho bitched about a penalty Chelsea should have been given. The handball by Arbeloa was deliberate but clearly outside the box. He’s won the game but he spoils it with his incessant nastiness.
Mourinho looks ill. He looks and sounds like a man with his head in a vice that is being slowly, cruelly squeezed..
Kevin thinks Chelsea play with ten men when Ballack is in the side, and he would have taken Shevchenko off at half-time and brought on Shaun-Wright Phillips. He likes Kalou a lot, thinks he’s hungry and skilful and positive.
He reckons Carvalho is the best defender since Franco Baresi. “How can he not be in the PFA team of the season? He’s better than Terry or Ferdinand !”
We didn’t talk about Arsenal v Chelsea on Sunday week because that is a long way off. Arsenal have to beat freefalling Fulham on Saturday, and Chelsea have to beat Bolton at the Bridge before going to Anfield on Tuesday night.
Before kick-off we talked about the death of Alan Ball.
Kevin said, “Alan Ball played in the first football match I ever went to. Arsenal v Liverpool, my uncle took me, I was seven. Alan Ball scored two goals, one a penalty. The only football I’d ever seen until then was on black and white TV. To see it in colour was great. That’s what I remember, coming up the stairs and seeing that green pitch. And the red shirts of the Arsenal players.”