Tomas Rosicky was Borussia Dortmund’s playmaker.
Before that he was Sparta Prague’s playmaker.
He played in central midfield.
He was the brains of both teams.
He worked in a creative role, playing sharp passes short and long, spurting forward to score goals. He still does that job for Czech Republic.
With Fabregas sidelined for 10 days with a hamstring injury, why not use Rosicky in his natural position ?
Last Saturday’s Wigan game was stagnating because Fabregas was serving a suspension and it was 0-0 at half-time. Then Arsene switched Walcott out wide from his half-striker role, put Rosicky in the middle and Arsenal started to play and scored two goals
Why not use Rosicky in the middle at Villa Park? Because Aston Villa are much better than Wigan?
Because Villa are very physical and Rosicky will get lumps kicked off him? Not really. Rosicky is a spiky little player who puts his foot in and can look after himself and he’s played against rougher teams than Villa.
Arsenal are about to be asked some questions. There are moments in every season where you are asked a question and Aston Villa is one such moment, following on from Anfield and the 2-2 with United on November 3.
UEFA have banned Arsene Wenger from the touchline for one game, so he will be in the stand for the Steaua Bucharest game at the Emirates on Wednesday, December 12.
It’s his first touchline ban at Arsenal and it may be extended at a Uefa meeting on December 13 because he refused to leave the tunnel area. Frank Rijkaard was sent off in Lyon and went to the stand.
Without being in Sevilla, it was hard to tell why Arsene was complaining so often to the fourth official, although it was reported to be about theatrics by their players. Maybe Arsene was furious with himself for getting it wrong. Traore was being slaughtered by two men on Arsenal’s left flank but the manager didn’t switch anything, didn’t act to protect the lad by changing his team around, by going 4-4-2. No left back in the world could play against Alves and Navas on his own, let alone an 18-year old.
Lots of bad defending and tons of goals in last night’s Champions League games. Liverpool beat Porto 4-1 with three in the last 13 minutes.
Fernando Torres’s second, to make it 2-1, was the best goal of the week because of the context of the match, where Liverpool were struggling, and the importance of a breakthrough goal in a game Liverpool had to win to survive in the Champions League.
This kid Torres is versatile, brave, very direct. He can do everything, score every type of goal. He’s a power player, a reflex player, a touch player. His lightning turn onto Harry Kewell’s short, flicked pass took him into the heart of the Porto defence in an instant to score a stiletto goal. A killer thrust by a baby-faced matador who would walk into the Brazil team, the France team, the Argentina team, any team. His two goals nailed that game and that’s why Rafa paid £26 million for him.
Plus, Torres joined Liverpool to play in the Champions League. He will do it again in Marseilles to get them through. Something tells me Torres will be scoring some of the most important goals of 2008.
Strachan’s heroes beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 with the last kick of the game, by Italian Donati, once of AC Milan, a big goal but a deflection, so not as great as Torres’s second. Next Tuesday Meelan host Celtic and if that’s a draw, both qualify.
About 6.30 pm last night the Breaking News was the arrest of Harry Redknapp, Peter Storrie, Milan Mandaric, Willie Mackay and Amdy Faye, the Rangers player.
Harry arrested? Reporters have joked about his scams for decades but nothing has ever been proved and he’s now 60 and The Sunday Times had just devoted three pages to a Harry For England feature. Sure, everybody thinks “H” is the last of the old school rogues but he’s now regarded as a true working class hero, a national institution, by millions of people.
When my mate Hughie called and said, “It’s like arresting the Queen Mum !”, I was shrieking with laughter.
Hughie said, ” If an atomic bomb goes off, I want to be standing next to Harry. He’s a survivor.”
Redknapp, Mandaric and company were “helping police with their enquiries” into fraud by other people. Nobody was charged.
Last Saturday lunchtime, as I was watching a one-sided game between Newcastle and Liverpool, I got bored and wondered what my Premiership dream team would be, and started writing names on a newspaper.
I wanted a balance between keep-ball and explosive penetration, a team that could score from crosses as well as interplay through the middle. I thought about Evra, Clichy, Elano, Rooney and Cech, and in the end I was unable to choose a goalkeeper, as there is no outstanding keeper at the moment. Centre forward was between Drogba and Torres. The team doesn’t include any English players but there were, to my surprise, two from the British Isles. This selection, a work-in-progress, is one that nobody will like :
A.N Other : Sagna Gallas Vidic Bale; Ronaldo Fabregas Anderson Hleb ; Robbie Keane, Torres.