ASHLEY COLE has said he wants to stay at Arsenal.
Do you think he is a traitor who should never play again ?
Or would you keep England’s left back at Arsenal ?
If you were Arsene Wenger, would you forgive him for meeting Jose Mourinho and Peter Kenyon in that hotel ? Do you want people like AC at your club?
The saga became boring a long time ago. That’s why I have not mentioned it for many months. I said that Cole would choose between AFC and his agent and he apparently chose his agent.
If he’d had good advice his agent would have said, “Stay at Arsenal on 55K, we can renegotiate later, you can become captain of Arsenal in the best stadium on the world.”
Instead of that, they met Chelski.
How gross was that?
How big a life-blunder was that for a player who has been an Arsenal supporter all his life?
I’M 99% SURE that if Flamini and Cole are both fit on May 17th, Arsene will play Flamini.
But you never know.
Seventeen days is a long time in football.
Flamini’s hamstring is only a pull, not a tear.
Personally, I don’t believe Ashley Cole has been injured all this time.And I don’t believe that he will play for Arsenal again.
But he might do.
Clearly, he would be a fool to leave, as would Henry and Pires
But he is a fool to employ the advisors that he employs.
And if Henry, Pires, Cole and Campbell all left this summer, there would be no senior players remaining except Gilberto and Lehmann.
Sunderland and Man City?
Two wins, of course.
LUCKY SPURS beat Bolton 1-0 today.
Spurs were outplayed by the methodical and rejuvenated Bolton in the first half.
Danny Murphy started instead of Jenas.
Spurs lack pace in midfield so it was clear that they would have to open up Bolton by cleverness, rather than a speedy break from midfield.
Robbie Keane went off injured at half-time and a reserve striker came on.
In 60, Aaron Lennon showed how to unlock a defence by taking the ball infield from the right side and giving it to Carrick, who took it wide again and found Lennon hanging back in space on the edge of the box.
Then Lennon zipped forward and drilled a low shot in for 1-0.An excellent goal. Sven should bring Lennon into his squad immediately and take a look at him.
IN 74, raw centreback Michael Dawson felled Stelios in the box. Dawson went for the ball, kicked the Greek before he reached the ball, and got away with it.
Replays showed it should have been a penalty.
If Spurs win at West Ham they finish above Arsenal for the first time in 11 years.
I’m still not buying the hype about the fantastic squad Martin Jol has put together. But he has done well with the limited talent at his disposal.
He has King, Keane and some useful players, and he has moulded them into more than the sum of their parts. That is the sign of a good coach. Spurs have been consistent and they’ve had a bit of luck in many games, as they did today
Spurs might perform respectably in the Champions League if they buy a striker, a midfield powerhouse and two fullbacks.
YESTERDAY I decided to try a Bank Holiday Saturday without football.
We rolled down the M40 and saw the red kites floating low over the highest ridge of the Chilterns, met our daughter Caroline and her pal Talia at Oxford station, lunched at the Boat Inn at Thrupp, ambled down the picturesque canal. I’ve always adored the English countryside, but round about 5 p.m. I always want to go home.
Then to South Park for a free festival promoted by C’s schoolfriends Neela and Rowenna, and other undergraduates.And sponsored by CND and various peace groups.
The day is billed as 2006 : A noughtie message : Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Never Again and it’s sunshine, local bands, Organic Vegetarian food, Mexican food, smoothies made while you queue, portaloos, kids sitting in circles playing percussion between the groups, toddlers romping around.
My favourite act is Talia, who recites three spicy poems in the Acoustic Tent.
“She reminds me of that lad who did Simply Everyone’s Taking Cocaine,” I remark.
When you get older you forget a few names.
“Murray Lachlan Young,” says Caroline, helpfully.
Caroline stayed with her friend Kierra at Wadham and we got home at seven and found that Wayne Rooney was crocked. My best friend phoned and told me what happened.
Then I saw the incident on Match of the Day and I was really, really glad I didn’t see it as it happened, glad I didn’t see Rooney cracking his metatarsal with 10 minutes to go when Manchester United were 3-0 down and the game was long over.
The instinctive warrior should have used some commonsense. This injury is horrific for Wayne, more than anybody.
So England lost Scolari on Friday and Rooney on Saturday.Can bad news get any worse?
Not unless Sunderland beat Arsenal.
And that will NOT happen.