LAST NIGHT I heard two things.
One was exciting and the other was quite funny.
Walter Tamer, Mascherano's agent, was at the Emirates for the Zagreb game and today The Sun says Arsene hopes to sign Mascherano for £16 million.
If any midfield ball-winner is worth £16 million, Mascherano is.
He is 22, very fast, very tenacious, very technical.
Mascherano is a great player who can mark men, mark spaces, intercept brilliantly, win the ball with clean tackles.He is not big but he gets to the ball very quickly.
And his arrival would open the door to other Argentinian talents.
For me, Mascherano is a pressing player. He's the kind of guy who could have played for AC Milan in the glory days under Sacchi and Capello.
Arsenal could sign him for five years and play him for three years and sell him to Italy or Spain for £16 million.
SPURS drew Slavia Prague in the Uefa Cup !
So it's ENIC versus ENIC but Uefa says it's OK because while ENIC own 96% of Slavia, they only own 32% of Spurs.
Alas, ENIC PR man John Bick is on holiday. John, where are you, mate ?
And Spurs finance director Matthew Collecott used to work for Slavia.I think it's quite funny. If investment companies own chunks of various clubs, this is bound to happen occasionally.
MAN CITY on PPV at 5.15 ?
If Arsenal handle the physical side they will win by one goal.
If they don't handle the physical side they will lose by one goal.
The City of Dunne, Distin, and Samaras look quite resilent, but Vassell is a bozo whose confidence is wafter-thin, and Reyna is now as quick as Pat Rice.
Joey Barton could be their main man today.
Maybe Micah Richards will try another handball like the one he got away with against Portsmouth.
Or maybe Richards will do a Mellberg and head in a corner.
Last week Chelsea beat Man City 3-0 while playing at 30% of capacity.
ROSICKY is back for Freddie, which means he won't really be playing in the position where he can partner Fabregas.
I would be very surprised if Arsene bought Rosicky to replace Pires but he spends a lot of time figuring out the shape of his team.
He played Rosicky there in Zagreb and he didn't do that on a whim.He looks like doing that again.
The masterplan will be revealed in time, I guess. But not today.
Henry will be back, probably alongside Adebayor, who is one of Arsenal's most physical players. If only he could hit a cow's arse with a banjo.
STUART PEARCE has suspended his thug Thatcher after his near-fatal elbow on poor Pedro Mendes of Portsmouth in a 0-0 draw in midweek.
Pearce himself tackled very hard but fairly. He took the ball, the man and,sometimes, the linesman.But I never saw him use his elbow once in 15 years.
When Basile Boli nutted him off the ball, Pearce got up with a bloody head and played on and afterwards said live on TV, "It's a man's game."
WHEN I LOSE A BET on Arsenal, as I did on the 1-1 against Aston Villa, I stop trusting them and don't bet on them again for two months.
Since then I've had four bets and won four.
Last night's Super Cup game in Monaco is an exhibition friendly, so Barcelona played as if it was an exhibition friendly.
Seville played as if it was a real Cup Final and beat them 3-0.
As the ecstatic Seville players collected their medals, Ronaldinho, Messi and Deco looked seriously chastened.They looked quite sick.
FRANK RIJKAARD was thinking : That was a reality check for my boys !
President Laporta was recently re-elected unopposed.
Only an idiot would challenge a president who has won back-to-back titles AND the European Cup.
Yes, Barcelona are the best team in the world.But not last night.
Real Madrid coach Capello will have watched and wondered : Why are Thuram and Zambrotta not playing yet?