By Myles Palmer
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ALEXANDRE HLEB looked a world class playmaker before he was injured against Scotland.
His second coming will be big news for the team and especially Robin van Persie.
Since Hleb was injured, van Persie has started playing well.
If he gets more passes, he will score even more goals.
The more goals he scores, the less you have to rely on Thierry having a good day every time.
The more goals van Persie scores, the more you can paper over the weaker areas in the team.
At least till re-inforcements arrive.
SINCE ASHLEY COLE will join Madrid, as I told you months ago, and since Cole and Clichy are not back till next year, Arsene should sign a left back in January.
MAXWELL of Ajax is among those who have been mentioned. I rate Maxwell, a tidy Brazilian, born 27 August 1981.
In April he was injured exactly in the same way as Pires, He jumped over a player and landed badly and snapped the cruciate ligament in his right knee.It wasn’t a foul, or even a tackle,just bad luck.
Maxwell was due to be out for eight months. He might be fit soon. He might be, in time, as good as ever.
He might be available.It might be a risky capture.
The prospect of Cygan at left back against Blackburn is worrying the fans, to put it mildly.
As I watched the Wigan game I was wondering whether I would play Sol at left back for the next six weeks.
Was also thinking that Van Persie is beginning to remind me of Roger Davies, a big centre forward for Derby, who could improvise but was not as fast as RVP.
One day in 1973 Spurs played Derby in an FA Cup replay and I was on the Shelf with my friend Tony and Spurs were winning but then Roger Davies scored a hat-trick and Derby won 5-3.
Some Spurs fans, who were leaving early, said to us, “Well deserved it, mate,” thinking we were Derby supporters.
We were just football fans who wanted to see an exciting game, but I suppose we must have been laughing and cheering Roger Davies as he took Mike England apart.
The Seventies, in football and rock music, was fun.
The Eighties, with Thatcher and Spandau Ballet, was naff.
But we had two kids and I had a lot of laughs with George Graham, so it wasn’t a completely forgettable decade.
November 25th 2005