How quickly things change in football

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
14 Mar	3:00 PM	P	Blackburn Rovers (H)	4	0	Win

How quickly things change in football. Emmanuel Eboue, who appears to be garnering something of a cult following now, has been held up by the boss as an "example" to our wayward centre forward, Nicklas Bendtner. He also revealed that a new contract for Eboue has been "tied up" for some time. Argh. I'll have to swallow this, but will swallow it gladly if Eboue can maintain his current contribution to the side.

On that note, it may have been just me, but Eboue's late goals on Saturday struck me as the equivalent of watching someone get beaten up across the street and then running over to kick them whilst they're bleeding out their eyes. Which is all the sweeter given the opposition and combative nature of the opposition on Saturday.

A nature that resulted in Andrey Arshavin needing 4 stitches in his ankle at half-time, hence the celebration with the newly appointed club doctor Gary O'Driscoll, and Manuel Almunia sustaining a sprained ankle as a result of Diouf's ludicrous, largely ignored by the media, tackle. Interesting to see Arsène say that Jens probably would have head butted Diouf, as that's exactly what Sam Allardyce said he did do. but then Big Fat Sam didn't see the tackle as anything other than "silly". And to think this man wonders why he didn't get the England job. It is truly a stain on the national game that he was even considered.

Birthday boy Theo Walcott was next in line for managerial props, being described as "incomparable" from a year ago. I think he was truly impressive on Saturday in that he got clattered early, but didn't let it affect him, he just got up, got on with his game, kept coming and kept coming to show what I already felt about him, that he will not, unlike certain past Gunners, be kicked out of the game.

Someone you could say is a bit like that too, is the new boy. Of course, he showed that in the way he had those stitches and then came back out to score that wonderful goal. The manager feels that he has shown tremendous strength of character, moving from being the star of Zenit, into a foreign country and adapting so quickly. In crediting his toughness, perhaps the manager highlights an overlooked factor in why he worked so hard to get Arshavin in.

Yes, he can play football, but he can also take the rough and tumble. For this team, seen as a soft touch by so many, maybe that was ... not the most important thing, but something necessary to take the team on a level, to make them newborn.

User Comments

theiceman10

Posted on 18 Mar, 2009 at 05:02 PM - Reply

eboue with another contact what a joke!!!!!!!!!!!worst player ever along with bendter,song,denilson,diaby the list goes on wise up wenger these are not first team players and never will be!!

Jed

Posted on 18 Mar, 2009 at 04:44 PM - Reply

Only one thing needs to change at Arsenal:

DROP N. BENDTNER

Rob G00ner

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 01:22 PM - Reply

Hopefully Eboue will turn out as a sort of Martin Keone character - Keone used to get terrible stick from the fans early on in his Arsenal career but later became a hero. In fact if it wasn't for his intimidation of horse face van nistolroy then we may not have completed the season unbeaten as ManUre surely would have scored that penalty. I only hope Eboue ends up being a similar heroic and instrumental charater to our success.

sulazu

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 10:07 AM - Reply

Even though Eboue seem to have improved a little bit, but i'm still not convinced yet. I think Wenger should concern himself more on securing Van Persie's & Walcott's future at the Arsenal than quickly tie up Eboue with another contract. He should also consider Jay Simpson for the first team come next season ahead of Bendtner as he certainly wont be as wayward as Bendtner.

Zohaib

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 06:11 AM - Reply

Absolutely fantastic bit of writing Paul ! Keep up the good work. And the English media is as much of a disgrace as Diouf and Sam Allardyce. As are Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan.

Deloren

Posted on 17 Mar, 2009 at 01:49 AM - Reply

What I found disgusting during the game was the fact that the referee werent protecting the players enough. Theo was clearly getting manhandled like crazy. If this were to continue to next season England is going to lose a promising star who has the talent to deliver in the highest stages of World Soccer.
And even more disgusting is C ronaldo is getting tackled as hard still gets more protection.
This has to STOP.

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