Eduardo had a wonderful chance against Salzburg.
The score was 0-0 in the second half and Hleb wriggled clear on the left side and cut the ball back to Bendtner, who rolled it square to his fellow striker.
Eduardo sidefooted the ball, going for placement rather than power, and it went just past the post.There was no replay and I was on the phone at the time and I did not see how wide his shot was. But my impression was : somewhere between 5 and 12 inches.
A bad miss ? Yes, but not in pre-season.
My predictions will come on September 1, when we have the information on which to base predictions.
But I’ve got a gut feeling about Eduardo. He has exceptional balance, anticipation, desire and movement. Serene agility, Mercedes call it
In three weeks time, Eduardo will bury that chance. In six weeks, he’ll bury it blindfolded.
Eduardo will love playing at the Emirates and he will score hat-tricks. Not straight away, of course. But I’m putting him down for two hat-tricks between now and next May. He could be this season’s Berbatov.
First half, with two left-footed strikers, Arsenal looked somewhat different in what was a fast, lively game.
Like our citizen reporter Philip Brune, I thought the Dane linked better with Eduardo than the Dutchman did
I’d forgotten that Salzburg are coached by Giovanni Trappatoni and Austrian Champions and I’d not realised that the Austrian league has started and Salzburg have already played three games.
So Wednesday night was a good work out for the boys. The Salzburg goal came in 74 minutes from a shot by Janocko which was deflected – off Gallas, I thought.
Bottom line, for me, was that Fabregas and Gilberto were not playing. Without Fabregas and Gilberto, it’s not really Arsenal.
And that’s not a criticism of Diaby, who was powering forward and worrying well- organised opponents, and it’s not a criticism of Denilson, who was as mobile and tidy as ever.
Arsenal need Fabregas and Gilberto in the engine room.
Playing with Fabregas, who sees things early, Eduardo will score goals.
Arsenal’s first game is against Fulham on Sunday August 12.They have four more warm-up games, where the manager can experiment and tune them up. Some of those games might be easier than the Salzburg game. We shall see.
Congratulations to the Iraq football team, who have, amazingly, reached the final of the Asian Cup in Jakarta, where they play Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Having had a hopelessly inadequate preparation in Jordan, and with a Brazilian coach who has persuaded Shia and Sunni to work together and like each other, the Iraqis achieved a sporting miracle in Wednesday’s semi-final when they beat regional giants South Korea in a penalty shootout
However, as football supporters rejoiced in Baghdad, two suicide car bombs killed more than 55 fans who were celebrating in different parts of the city, and injured 135 others. As usual, man’s inhumanity to man is beyond belief, way beyond my understanding.We should leave.We should never have been there.Iraq will not survive as a country.
On a lighter note, I enjoyed the youTube video of the 1,000 prisoners in Manilla doing the choreography from Thriller by Michael Jackson.
It’s their No.1 video with 1.4 million views this week
The inmates also do Radio Gaga.
On an even lighter note than that, last night I came home from Book Slam a bit out of breath after walking fast from Willesden Bus Garage. Jan was watching the Andrew Neill politics show.
“Did you enjoy yourself?” she asked, smiling.
I didn’t reply immediately.
“You did enjoy yourself. You’ve got that look on your face.”
Book Slam digs up my thoughts and turns them over, so I’d like to keep going during the football season. It’s on Thursday nights, once a month.
I hope I don’t stay in and watch Spurs in the Uefa Cup.