By Myles Palmer
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I EXPECT Arsene to go with a solid midfield in Prague tonight.
Since he has few options the team will probably be Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Senderos, Clichy; Fabregas, Flamini, Gilberto, Pires; Van Persie, Reyes.
Van Persie is a big awkward beast who might baffle the Czechs and score an outrageous winner.
Reyes needs a goal, as I keep saying, and at the very least his skills should earn some free-kicks.
ARSENE has said Thierry Henry can come on as a sub, if needed.
“He’s physically fit and has worked hard but may be rusty in decision making. Ideally I would play him for half an hour against Sparta and then against City. I knew we would miss him. He’s been out 37 or 38 days and he’s still our top goalscorer. When you look at the game against West Bromwich we had 17 shots on goal and they had four, yet we lost 2-1.”
Sparta Prague boss Stanislav Griga has just taken over and he has no experience of the Champions League. This is his first game.
Sparta are in disarray, a team on the way down, just as FC Thun are a team on the way up and could give Ajax a shock tonight. Ajax were thumped 3-0 at PSV last weekend.
Half an hour for Thierry Henry would allow him to feel part of it again and he might be ready to start against Man City on Saturday.
Arsenal have had their worst start to a Premiership season since 1994 and Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at The Hawthorns was their first league defeat there since 1973.
So, domestically, Arsenal are breaking the wrong kind of records. Having been extraordinary for much of the last nine years, the team has become ordinary again.
The loss of Hleb and Ljungberg is a savage blow.
And Arsene has expressed horror at a Belarus team willing to play Hleb, their star, in a nothing game when he was injured and needed his cartilage operation a week sooner.
MAN UNITED will beat Lille, even without the suspended Rooney. But they will miss Rooney big time, and might stutter for a while before winning comfortably.
That game is on ITV and the Arsenal game is on ITV2.
BAYERN MUNICH play Juventus, who have Vieira missing with an injury.
Incredibly, these giants had never met in Europe till last season, when they played two group games.
Juventus won both games 1-0 and they’re now saying the veteran Del Piero is back on form.
First goalscorer? Try Ballack.
BARCELONA go to Athens to play Panathinaikos without Giuly, which won’t hurt them.
I’ve been watching Giuly closely for two years. He is not good enough to play for Barcelona.
Arsenal reject Sebastian Viera is the keeper for Villareal, who host Benfica, an all-Latin clash which might be fascinating.
Benfica seem to be on the way back, and Nuno Gomes can score a goal against anybody, but Villareal may have come a bit soon for them.
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BBC Radio 2 DJ Bob Harris introduced Slaid Cleaves’s second set at the Borderline last night.
Slaid is touring Europe with his guitarist Gurf Morlix, an Austin legend who has produced many of Bob’s favourite albums.
There are some memorably poetic songs on his latest album, Wishbones (like Drinkin’ Days and Quick As Dreams) and Slaid is a charming, chatty performer who tells you who he is between the songs. That’s a lost art these days.
He noted that a reviewer in Glasgow “was not impressed with a folk song in which only one person died.”
A good-looking boy with a beard, Slaid grew up in Maine and brought up onstage his childhood pal Rod Picott, who is now a songwriter. They had a garage band, the Magic Rats, which played Bruce Springsteen songs.
Slaid told us about the first gigs they saw.
“He took me to see Boston in 1978, and he took me to see the Who in 1979, at Boston Garden. We were fourteen, fifteen – man, that was exciting !”
I reckon Slaid could make it on his next album, if it’s as good as Wishbones.
Another album is overdue, as the man himself admits.
October 18th 2005.