By Myles Palmer
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THE NEXT TWO Premiership games are at Middlesbrough on Saturday September 10th, then Everton at Highbury on Monday 19th.
Middlesbrough lost 3-0 to Charlton, and Everton lost 1-0 at Fulham.
Steve McClaren’s reaction was one of “shock, anger and disappointment.”
“None of my players did his job,” he said.
Danny Murphy has been a perceptive signing by Curbishley, and the on-loan Smertin is a Sixties half-back who tackles hard and uses the ball well.
Arsenal often win at Boro, and sometimes win spectacularly, but this time they will be facing a team on the rebound.
After 17 days off, and an international break, Arsene will only have a couple of days to tune up his Formula 1 football machine.
A weekend with every team playing, and Arsenal not playing, was weird. I cant remember a weekend like that.
Arsenal rejects continue to prosper.
John Hartson has six goals for Celtic, Voltz played right back in Fulham’s win over Everton, and Jermaine Pennant laid on goals for Jarosik and Heskey in Birmingham’s 3-2 win at West Brom.
Andy Cole scored the winner after Man City had gone 1-0 down to Portsmouth. City are second on 10 points after 4 games, two points behind Chelsea.
Cole-Vassael looks like one of those instant partnerships where two players just click.
I’m delighted Stuart Pearce is doing so well, since I am a bit sentimental about Man City, and we regard him as a local boy.
When my mate Eddie was 14 he played for Willesden Boys against Pearce, who was at Kingsbury High. A year later they played together for Brent Under-16s. Both became electricians and then Stuart began to play for Wealdstone.
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SUNDAY WAS a good day for armchair fans of cricket and football.
I had backed Chelsea to win at Spurs, Barcelona to win at Alaves, and Man United to win at Newcastle.
Chelsea were a bit lucky, Barca needed an ignition-man like Edgar Davids in their 0-0.They played some nice stuff, hit the post twice, keeper Bonano did well against his old club, but Barcelona (Eto’o apart) never really found top gear.
WAYNE ROONEY was off-form in the first half in Newcastle. He put two passes a yard from where they should have gone and another two passes TWO yards from where the ball should have gone.
Michael and his mates Ajay and Joel arrived here at half-time, delayed by “emergency engineering work” on a railway line in Kent.
“What was the first half like?” asked Joel, a United fan.
“Spiky. Rooney’s touch isn’t there today,” I said.
I had been flicking over to Trent Bridge, where England were losing wickets to Shane Warne and Brett Lee.
The inswinging ball from Lee which removed Flintoff’s off stump was awesome, but England’s new hero played across the line. I’ve never seen a fast bowler as pumped up by taking a wicket as Lee was after that dissmissal.
We stayed with the football, Van der Sar launched a goal clearance 70 yards, Boumsong and Taylor let the ball bounce, and Rooney went for it like a champion boxer going for a knock-out punch in a world title fight – zoom…..bang…1-0 !!!!!
Rooney accelerated and nudged the ball from his left foot to his right and slammed it past Shay Given with phenomenal authority, ferocity and finality.
Rooney is the real deal, the whole package : skill, vision, power, desire, wants it all, wants to win every game.
He will soon be up there with Shevchenko.
At the death Rooney carried the ball 50 yards and crossed for van Nistelrooy to make it 2-0.
IF VIEIRA had gone for £25 million in the summer of 2004, Arsene would have bid £25m for Rooney.
But PV4 didn’t go to Madrid and – let’s face it – Rooney was always gonna stay up North.
On the final whistle we switched over and watched an edge-of-our-seats finale with England winning by three wickets.
In the first innings, our batsmen played correctly, as they had been taught. Second innings, when the pressure was on, they batted instinctively, and got out, which made it nerve-racking.
If England draw at the Oval, we win the Ashes back.
Then we all had dinner on the patio and the boys went out to a bar in Willesden just after Ronaldo scored with his first shot in Cadiz. On this weekend every year Palmer Mansions becomes a a pre-Notting Hill Carnival hotel.
Brazilian coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo is serious !
In eight months he has made Real Madrid like Chelsea, but with duff centrebacks.
Madrid now have four bullies : Salgado, Roberto Carlos, Julio Baptista and Gravesen.
Four very hard players who can intimidate.
BAPTISTA wore No 8 and played on the left side of midfield in a formation which had Zidane central and Gravesen central as well.
It was almost a 4-1-3-2 : Casillas; Salgado Helguera Pavon Carlos ; Gravesen ; Beckham Zidane Baptista ; Raul Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has lost about 10 kilos. He looks gaunt. His face looks older, but his body looks younger.
Baptista has big shoulders, big chest, big hips, looked static, musclebound, inhibited, as if he was playing to orders, holding his position.
After 63, Cadiz’s Pavoni made it 1-1 from a corner, with the defence nowhere on the first ball and nowhere on the second as well.
Then Luxemburgo brought on Robinho, just signed from Santos for £16.5 million.
While Baptista is a bison, Robinho is a hummingbird, a high-energy play-creator who covers every blade in two-thirds of the pitch,
He chested Beckham’s long crossfield pass, found Ronaldo, who set up Raul for a tap-in and 2-1. Three points, thank you and goodnight.
Robinho is a flicky, tricky striker, very inventive.
Not as powerful and charismatic as Ronaldinho, but fun to watch.
Let me revise last week’s prediction about the Champions League : in 2006 it will be between Juventus, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern and ManRoonited .
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ON SUNDAY NIGHT BBC1 showed a drama-doc called Ian Fleming-Bondmaker, which was rather clever and daring.
Said Fleming, “Bond was born as a counter-irritant or antibody to my getting married at the age of 42. I wanted to take my mind off the appalling business of marrying so late in life. It was a rather dramatic step for a confirmed bachelor to take.”
As you may have guessed by now, all my heroes are novelists, not footballers.
August 30th 2005.