Wenger has to buy a striker.
He will buy a striker. He will buy one soon and we’ll all hear about it.
With John Terry issuing a communique, saying that he is staying at Chelsea, as I always thought he would, Kolo Toure will go to Man City, as I predicted here last Monday morning.
Also, I think it’s time for Wenger to do something radical and imaginative. He did it in 97-98 when he switched defender Petit into midfield, and turned Overmars into a goalscorer.
He was radical again in 2007-2008, when he dropped Brazil’s captain Gilberto and promoted Flamini to give the team the tempo that sent them flying to the top of the table for six months. By admitting that Fabregas-Gilberto was not a good pair, Wenger propelled the team forward in a bold way. What he did was imaginative but also cruel. It made Arsenal’s style younger, more energetic, more collectively efficient and penetrating. If you haven’t got Vieira-Petit-Parlour to win the ball, you need the whole team to win the ball.
Last season was horrible and forgettable, with only one highlight, the acquisition of a little Russian who is now the finest player in the Premier League, following the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid for £80 million.
It’s now time to do something radical and imaginative with a team whose style has become too predictable.Wenger now needs to make Arsenal a bit different and he can do that by signing someone who doesn’t duplicate what he has already.
There is mounting speculation about his possible targets. I have strong views on some of the targets mentioned but those will keep for another day : the day they’re signed.
Stevie G is Stevie free after a Merseyside jury of five men and seven women acquitted him of affray, despite nationally-screened evidence to the contrary. He admitted he was seven-tenths drunk at the time of the fracas and admitted punching a man because he refused to play a Phil Collins record he had requested.
The comments by the judge were amazing. Judge Henry Globe, QC, said, “The verdict is a credible verdict on the full facts of this case.” He told Gerrard, “You walk away from this court with your reputation intact.”
Still, I like Stevie, who has never been a wild man off the field. He wasn’t invited to Rooney’s stag party because, as Wayne said at the time, he’s so boring. They are still good friends and Stevie did not mind Wayne saying that. He knows it’s true.
Fortunately, I’m not neurotic about football and don’t depend on any team for my sense of well-being.
In the summer I relish the chance to spend more time on other obsessions. There is always plenty to do, lots to talk about, including other sports like cricket and tennis. Beating Australia at Lords was fun and made a change, and I still think Andy Murray is the best British tennis player of my lifetime, by far. His upper body is a work-in-progress. He is 23 and time is on his side. He will win Wimbledon.
Amir Khan is now WBA world light-welterweight champion. He beat Andreas Kopelnik over 12 rounds in Manchester 10 days ago. He fought a controlled fight and won convincingly but still looks young and vulnerable, as if a good left hook will knock him flat on his arse. To keep the title he will have to train very hard and mature a lot.
In another era, when there were plenty of good boxers, Khan would have had a much longer amateur career and learned his craft. He was our only boxer at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and he got to the final. He was 17 and Mario Kindelan was 34. The Cuban, a superb craftsman, won on points.
Kopelnik, a German-based Ukrainian, is a compact counter-puncher with a solid guard. There were no knockdowns but Khan won it by a street and he looks stronger at 10 stone than he did at 9stone 9. Kopelnik was throwing haymakers in the 11th because a KO was the only way he could win.
Bottom line, Amir Khan is still gauche.
He’s had 22 pro fights and won 21 but he’s only boxed 85 rounds professionally.
He can learn important techniques in the gym but he needs fights against opponents he can learn from, guys who can test him and stretch him but not knock him on his arse, like Breidis Prescott did. Prescott knocked Khan out in 54 seconds last year.
Crucially, Khan,22, has had the bottle to relocate to Los Angeles and work with trainer Freddie Roach. He needs to be in the USA. In my view, he needs to improve a lot more. He has sloppy moments because lacks the experience that gives you true ringcraft. I worry about the lad. He is still too easy to hit.
Away from sport, literature and music, my first three loves, I love to read about the guys who think they are the masters of the universe.
This article is the best I’ve read in Rolling Stone since 1971.