By Myles Palmer
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THIERRY HENRY is out of the FA Cup semi-final with a groin inflammation that may be serious.
Campbell won’t play either.
Time for Jose Antonio Reyes to score one and make another, I’d say.
It’s a shock but the FA Cup Final will still be Arsenal-Man United.
Let’s face it, Newcastle are in bits right now. Morale low, short of bodies, Dyer and Bowyer suspended.
Rooney and Ronaldo should dismantle Newcastle in the other semi.
But in the unlikely event of that semi going the other way, Arsenal can beat Newcastle more easily than they can beat Man United
A MANAGER has to be a shock-absorber.
Arsene Wenger is good at absorbing shocks.
Graeme Souness isn’t.
At every club there are moaning players, conflicts, betrayals, big disappointments, selfish behaviour.
If Ashley Cole tapped up Chelsea and ends up leaving the best club in England, then that is self-defeating selfishness.
If Ashley wants to go he will go.
And Arsenal will still be the best-run club in England.
Not perfect – no club is – but the best club and the only club that could have built a new stadium in London.
By their actions, other clubs show you how classy Arsenal still is.
Souness confronted Bellamy, loaned him to Celtic, improved harmony.
Then Dyer and Bellamy had a fight. I know why but it can’t be published, not here anyway.
Then Laurent Robert slagged off his club, saying it was going backwards and played better football a year ago.
So Souness dropped him for Sporting in Lisbon and they lost 4-1 in the Uefa Cup.
He played Charles N’Zogbia, a French kid too raw to contribute.
When Dyer went off injured, you knew Newcastle would go out.
Without Dyer, they needed Bellamy and Robert.
If Souness had been a shock-absorber, like Wenger, he would have found a way of playing Robert last night and given himself a better chance of winning a game Newcastle started leading 1-0 from the first leg.
SHOCKS hit every manager every week and these guys are paid millions to absorb the shock and guide the ship.
Dropping Robert was an easy option taken by an angry man who wanted to punish a player.
OVERALL, The Premiership is an entertaining circus.
But I hate to see headlines like : Carragher says Liverpool is now a good enough club for Gerrard to stay at !
EXCUSE ME, JAMIE !
Liverpool FC was there long before Stevie G was born and it will be there long after he has hung up his big red boots.
It’s not about one guy, Jamie, you should know that. Keegan went, Dalglish came, Liverpool was better than ever.
But that’s the dumbed-down culture we now have. We got it from Murdoch and the Sun and Sky.
Sky culture is all about stars and superstars.
If Steve G is a superstar wanted by Chelsea, let him go there.
Chelsea don’t need him, so he won’t improve their team.
But Gerrard leaving Liverpool might improve their team in the long term..
The Sky-hyped star system is so pervasive now. It’s become a system of mind-control.
The footballers themselves are overwhelmed by the hype, the tabloid agenda, the system of glittering stars we are all supposed to drool over.
Carragher should know better.
He’s got it upside down.
Liverpool is a team with about 20 players and no player is more important than the other 19 put together.
April 15th 2005