By Myles Palmer
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SUNDAY’S BIG GAME is bigger for Man United,who need to restore credibility by beating Arsenal.
But there is far too much talk about Sunday’s game and Sky are hyping it up like it’s Borg-McEnroe II.
Without Rio, and facing their old boy Poborsky, United will be hoping Ruud and Roo can score the goals that keep them ahead of Lyon in Group D.
It’s not inconceivable that Lyon could win in Turkey, even though Fenerbahce are sometimes formidable there.
ARSENAL ARE EXPECTED to put Reyes up front and restore Edu to a Ljungberg-Fabregas-Edu-Pires midfield.
Reyes has the balls to get shots in from central positions and he will definitely win free-kicks, and maybe a penalty.
Sunday’s first half interplay was poetry in high-speed motion and that form would destroy the Greeks.
Can Arsenal reach that level in an away game?
No. But Arsene values the gutsy runs of the scrapping Swede, who makes up in determination and mental brightness what he lacks in technique.
When fiery Freddie has his head down, Arsenal can’t flow like they did last Sunday.
Thierry says we have to make Europe fear us.
And maybe they will if they give Panathinaikos a good tonking.
Not worried about the game. I expect Arsenal to win.
BY THE WAY, I’ve heard that Arsene was in for Defoe or Reyes.
Defoe can play one position, Reyes can play three, so he went for Reyes, even though he was more expensive.
THE MUTU cocaine story?
It’s been going on for 3 days and it already seems like 3 weeks !
An unhappy boy, Mutu lost his wife and kid after a divorce, goes clubbing to numb the pain, then spends big money on cars and a yacht to try and buy happiness.
It is sad. His gifts are being wasted.
He needs help to put his life back together again.
MICHAEL OWEN to score against Dynamo Kiev?
When the erratic Shovkovsky is in goal, anything can happen.
I rate Kiev and fancy them to get a draw in Madrid tonight.
BARCELONA might rock the mighty Milan with their fresh,buzzy style.
Samuel Eto’o can get past Nesta and Maldini, I fancy.
Clearly, AC Milan have played together for a lot longer than this Barcelona side, they know the Champions League inside out, and they have many players who can score : Seedorf and Pirlo as well as Kaka, Shev and Tomasson.
LIVERPOOL v Deportivo is on ITV2 tonight.
Time for Harry Kewell to do something.
OVERALL, a fascinating week in prospect.
I’m in a good mood, having heard some interesting gossip and seen two fine singers last night.
Mean Fiddler, Monday night in old London town, an audience of fiftysomethings and fortysomethings, everybody’s been at work all day, and Rodney Crowell has done about 70 minutes of his songs, ranging from straight country to roadhouse boogie to a rolling ballad he co-wrote with Roy Orbison and Will Jennings, to some lovely acoustic tunes.
The band’s a bit rusty, as they have not done a gig for a while, the set needs a lift, so he says, “If you’re a songwriter, people always ask : What’s the one song you wish you had written?”
And the band thump into the ultimate rock song by the ultimate songwriter and have fun with it, the fans singing “juiced in it!” with great relish.
As in :
“You’ve gone to the finest schools, alright, Miss Lovely,
But you know you only used to get juiced in it,
You never had to live out on the street,
But now you’re gonna have to get used to it.”
Everybody has a favourite line and mine is : “You used to be so amused/At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used.”
A solemn young brunette held up her mobile phone as Rodney sang, “How does it feel? How does it feel?”
If she was calling her Dad, he probably wished he was with us.
Rodney introducing his boys two-thirds of the way through the anthem and then they cranked it up into a rocking climax.
We all wish we had written Like a Rolling Stone.
So it was an above average Monday night, seeing Rodney Crowell put a smile on the faces of 700 parents.
Met him in the dressing room before the gig.
Rodney Crowell is as gracious off the stage as he is on it.
He did not remember the phoner we had done, but he wouldn’t.A working American musician meets more people in a month than most of us meet in a lifetime.
As I’m going out of the hall I notice that I’m walking next to Slaid Cleaves, the support act, so I have a chat with him.
Often play his Wishbone CD.
He had a band at his Borderline gig in May, but the songs sounded even better with just Slaid and his wonderful guitarist Jeff Plankenhorn.
October 19th 2004.