Do you remember "the good old days"when teams played on Christmas Day and Boxing Day....and had to travel.Did them no harm(?) it seemed........and a couple of games over Easter......In those days I don't think players worried about their haircuts! When they scored it was an embarrassing handshake or pat on the back....I wonder what Bobby Smith would have made of goalscorers sliding to the cornerflag or sucking their thumbs?
QPR midfielder Joey Barton says the current Arsenal side has "no spine or character". Manager Arsene Wenger marks 18 years in charge of the Gunners with a London derby at Chelsea on Sunday. Commenting on their poor away record against top Premier League sides, Barton told BBC Radio 5 live that rival managers "had Wenger on toast". "In big games they get under his skin and work them out tactically," said Barton. "Psychologically, the managers of these big clubs are usually top managers and I think they've had Wenger on toast. Sir Alex Ferguson had him on toast in the end and Mourinho's got him on toast now. That's what costs them." (Taken from the BBC Football website) What can I say?
Que the Dick Barton Special Agent Music. And no I am not THAT old, I have just heard some re runs. Big Smithy will remember!
I don't think that many Arsenal fans would disagree with Barton's assessment, though they probably won't appreciate it coming from him. Arsenal needed to do a bit more business in the summer and should've brought in a better holding player, another centre-half and maybe another striker, too. Missed a trick by not bringing back Fabregas, especially as he joined Chelsea, instead. They seem to have too many similar players, something which we probably suffer from as well. Watching the likes of Ozil and Cazorla stuck into wide roles to accommodate others must be frustrating as hell. Sticking with Diaby, Podolski, Rosicky and possibly even Arteta and Flamini instead of freshening things up looks to be costing them. Sanogo would probably have benefited from a Premier League or maybe even Championship loan, as long as he was starting regularly. You have to wonder how long Wenger's got left if Arsenal don't mount a serious challenge for either the Premier League or Champions League this season. They've got the finances to compete now, so what's holding them back?
Spurf. You won't believe this,but me and the wife are actually watching a dvd series.....Dick Barton Special Agent. Do you have a crystal ball.......?
The decision to sell him and loan out Holtby leaving us with no cover or serious competition at no. 10 does look silly now. Ah, hindsight. But he had no future at Spurs if he was just going to be playing on the left. As a dedicated 10 though he looks very good, but how many games did he play in that position at Spurs? He never got a serious run in the team, let alone at no. 10 IMO. It could be too that he is one of those players that thrives off the confidence of being guaranteed a staring spot every week, a luxury he was unlikely to be afforded with Eriksen at the club.
I don't know how long I banged the drum about giving Gylfi a chance. It makes me feel a little sick. I loved one of the objections to him, too, "He does nothing but score." Yeah, that's right. And then we complain that our players don't score. Could it be because if all they do is score, we get rid of them? Incidentally, just in case you thought officiating in the PL was something other than a farce. Luke Shaw scythes down Hibbert in the box as the last defender and doesn't even get a yellow, when it was nailed on red. There is no way Everton could be awarded the penalty without Shaw getting a card, a red card for that matter. He absolutely denied a clear goal scoring opportunity. What's the point of playing the game if you make no effort to see the refs enforce the rules? Why not just award Man U the win rather than making players extend themselves to no useful purpose? There is no way that kind of farce could have happened in a US sport. The ref would be demoted. And now Falcao looks far offsides when he scores. I didn't have the best angle so I'm not certain, but no replay and not a peep about offsides from the announcer may tell its own story.
Things are still quite compact across the PL table (inconsistency etc) . Only Chelsky and Citeh look as if they will pull clear quite soon.
watch the Leicester v United game for bad ref, today the ref was a bit whistle happy but apart from that he had a good game and you think Falcao was offside lol. You need to read the rules about the offside rule darling.
Chelsea and Arsenal fighting each other. Plus ca change... This time it's the coaches though, somewhat bizarrely. I say just leave 'em to it!
Chelsea fans alternating between singing Jose Mourinho's name and Arsene Wenger, We Want You To Stay. Painful for the Goons.
Danny Welbeck with a ridiculous two footed launch at Fabregas. Lucky escape, as he only gets a yellow.
Apparently the Chelsea v Arsenal game was delayed because some of the Goons let off flares in the street and in the ground: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Ban, points deduction, fine, burn the stadium to the ground.
If the Spanners win with at least a GD of 2 today, that could cause a bit of extra angst amongst our neighbours.
Wenger threatening Jose with his bottle and Jose threatening Wenger with his handbag.Go to it,girls!!!!!
Arsenal... LOL! It's nice to know that, as much as we might be struggling at the moment, the Goons are worse! All hail, the North London Power-Shift!
