Roll on, September 2.
It’s close. It’s only six days away. It’s so close I can almost touch it.
By then we’ll know where we are in regard to Arsenal’s prospects compared to the prospects of other English clubs.On September 2 I will be able to say something about 2008-2009 and how it might go.
August is a frustrating month for me because, try as I might, I don’t see it as a football month. I see it as a holiday month. I usually think of cricket, the Algarve, having my birthday party in Portugal, the Bank Holiday, and the Notting Hill Carnival.
So I see September as a football month that comes after the holiday month, and that’s when I start to get into the new season, although how keen I am on the new season varies a lot from year to year, and has varied a lot over the last 30 years. My enthusiasm is NOT a constant.
Inevitably, my friends talk about the new season. One called yesterday. He’s a Gooner, a season-ticket holder, a journalist who lives in North London.
He said, “I’ve heard two things. I heard Arsene told Nick Hornby that he’d prefer to sell Adebayor, and take the money. Because he thinks Bendtner will develop better. And I heard that he will sign Xabi Alonso on deadline day, but only if Gareth Barry goes to Liverpool.”
This is the kind of gossip that Arsenal fans swap all day long, all through July and August. And we all have to wait and see. And many of us believe very little of what we hear.
For instance, would the Arsenal manager really tell an author his transfer plans? Would he tell him what he really thinks about his most controversial player?
Personally, I agree with what Arsene allegedly told Nick Hornby. I reckoned that if he got an offer of £25m for Adebayor, he’d sell him in a heartbeat. I was told by another Gooner that he turned down £19m but I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t follow these sagas day by day or hour by hour.
Also, my habit of mind is : Just because I agree with a fragment of transfer gossip, and want to see it happen, it doesn’t mean I believe it.
On Xabi Alonso, that bit of unreliable info would explain the AW remark that Martin O’Neill called “bizarre”.
When Wenger was asked about Barry, he said he was always interested in Barry.
By that he may have meant : I’m interested in Barry because I’m interested in him being sold to Liverpool. Because that means I can get Xabi and keep Cesc happy.
It’s all guesswork and I do not relish another another six days of guesswork /gossip/speculation. For me the new season starts when the transfers stop.
For Arsenal, August is a Champions League qualifying month and we tend to take qualification for granted. That’s always risky, even against Holland’s fourth best team, FC Twente.
Early last week I thought Fabregas would play against Fulham and Arsenal would win 2-1. Instead, he didn’t play and they lost 1-0, which triggered an explosion of anger and despair.
Next week is an international week. So Arsenal need to beat Twente and then beat Newcastle. Because they don’t want to go into a two-game international week off the back of two disappointing results. Professional football is about results. It’s about players, teamwork, team spirit, and results.
When I’m talking about results I often characterise them as sequences because I’ve long believed that games are not really separate. A list of results makes each game looks separate – and they are separate. Every game is different, not least because the circumstances of every game are different. And that’s where Myles’s Theory comes in : Myles’s Theory postulates that every football match contains the previous match and is affected by the previous match. Because football is 90% confidence. It’s a game of sequences because it’s a game of confidence. And AW’s Arsenal have demonstrated that more vividly over the last 12 years than any other team. When Arsenal are winning, they play very well and can beat almost anybody. But when they lose, they often go to pieces and can’t pass the ball 15 yards and may not win again for two weeks or four.
Yes, I went to Carnival and had a good time and I’d been back home for four hours by the time the Tactical Support Group began to smack people in the face with their riot shields. When I arrived in Hazelwood Crescent, a young black girl was dancing to a reggae song which had a great groove and an incredible vocal performance. I leaned down to shout in her ear.
“Who is singing this song?”
“Tarrus Riley,” she replied.