I occasionally mention that the media make Saints sound like 'the opposition'. That is, the team we won't bother to name as opposition to the glamour club. Well, I just popped into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, and while I was waiting I turned the radio on. John Murray of Radio 5 was commentating on Arsenal. And he said more about Arsenal. And more. In fact, he didn't mention West Brom until I'd nearly finished making my tea. WBA are the home team here. You'd expect a little more attention be given to them. But no. Murray could also have said that WBA took the lead again. But instead he said that Arsenal went behind again. I stood there listening to his words and couldn't quite believe how one-sided the attention was. Not commentator bias, you understand, just a complete absence of mentioning the other team for long periods. WBA 3-1. Now don't mention them, John Murray.
Sad thing is he has done so much for that club , that when he goes it will not be with best wishes of all the fans , can't blame them either .
Ah, the commentating is getting a little more balanced now. What I mean is, they are now starting to talk about WBA more when the football is not in play. At least we know now who Arsenal are playing.
BBC's John Murray saying that if, at 68, Wenger can turn Arsenal around and create a title winning team, we'd all love that. Would we.? Well thanks for asking for my opinion, Mr Murray. Personally, I'm laughing my arsenal off at the moment.
Tony Pulis as your manager seems to guarantee that you'll be pretty solid defensively and score most of your goals from set pieces. Tried and tested method, every goal counts! WBA are doing very well indeed and it's looking like a tough ask for us to catch them now.
Leicester already two up at West Ham. Whilst I think they are a descipable bumch of people it's nice to see mr "it was never my fault" fonte suffer.
KUMB is going to be a good read (again) later. Poor things were on decent form as well until Fonte arrived.
I believe that under Wenger Arsenal have finished in the top four in the last 20 years. How many other clubs are there where this would be seen as a failure? It is interesting to imagine whether Sir Alex Ferguson's stock would have been diminished had he elected to remain at the helm of Man Utd. Had he worked with the kind of squad Moyes and Van Gaal had to work with, I wonder if it could easily have been Utd fans ringing up 606 to complain and suggest that it is time to retire. At least we still have the Arsenal fans to keep up entertained as they fall apart and become the 3rd best team in London. I think both clubs are in decline and neither seem to have the class of Chelsea who look like they will be dominated English football under Conte. There is no way that Wenger will ever be able to match teams like Chelsea or indeed Man Utd because both have the financial muscle to out compete them. Wenger revolutionized football in this country and you could attribute much of what have been done to take the sport to a higher technical level of him. That said, his lack of grace in defeat and arrogance make his recent failings ripe for ridicule and I totally agree with The Second Stain that his demise is proving to be immensely entertaining for anyone who is impartial. I see that at least one Arsenal fan has expressed the opinion that Arsenal should appoint Claude Puel as the new manager!! The only man for the job is actually Harry Redknapp and wish he could be brought in to finish off the job and lead them to relegation next season. Arsenal fans could do with a spot of humility and the Championship is the best place for them to experience it.
Wenger has stayed too long...probably should have left or moved upstairs with the FA Cup win as a final hurrah. Part of the problem is that funds were diverted for their new stadium and they are a tight run ship. They really needed to buy new players and let players who'd lost heart leave.
this fixture congestion problem does seem to be an issue - we got to the final in the league cup but didn't play in the europa cup knock-out stages or the FA cup later stages and yet we're 3 games behind most teams. Playing twice a week isn't good and neither is playing once a fortnight. International breaks for friendlies is also absurd. Not saying I could better but for the wages the FA pay I'd have a good go!
Not all the internationals next week are friendlies, though. Wales, RoI, Serbia are playing WC qualifiers.
Lukaku scores and pundits on final score say how he should stay Everton. If it was Saints they would say they should move. **** off.
Further evidence today that the current bottom three will be the final bottom three. Even more so if Swansea win tonight. Another good day for us though, aside from WBA. West Ham, Watford, Stoke all losing and Burnley drawing bottom of the table Sunderland.
But the lady also thinks Everton could challenge for top 4 next year, so... I think Everton have done well to keep hold of Lukaku for so long and Stones, but he is still not the finished article.
