Out of the mouths of footballers
Written by Paul Williams on Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Okay, so we've had two days of "life isn't fair and boo hoo hoo", so I think it's about time we moved on. Before I do that, however, let me just say this, I looked up the definition of "support" earlier and I saw nothing about blind faith, nothing about following someone over a cliff just because you support them.
Influenced by, though no doubt not as funny as Bill Hicks, nor as incendiary as The Clash, I'm not here to sit on the fence. In the words of Hicks, if I see a "piece of shit", I will say it. That is my right, as it is your right to disagree with me. But, please don't ever question my support for this great football club of ours, because I am consumed by it and would bleed canons if I was cut down the middle. As my family and friends would gladly testify.
It did occur to me though, as I listened to the Up For Grabs Now podcast yesterday morning, that perhaps I have gone the wrong way about this. Perhaps, I should have tried to find humour in what happened on Sunday. I'm sorry, guys and gals, I just couldn't do it. Though I did enjoy Keith Dover's would be plea to Stan Kroenke, "Don't piss down my neck and tell me it's raining!" I think what upsets me the most is that, reading Gooner 201 - the one that took in the aftermath of the Chelsea home match, I might as well have been reading about the Manchester United home match. True, Chelsea's unexpected draw at Hull gives us a big window of opportunity if only we could just lever that window up an inch or two on Sunday - bearing in mind our run in anyway, but when you look at our lads compared to the Chelsea and United teams, do we look like prospective champions?
Perhaps, paradoxically, this is something that will work to our advantage come Sunday afternoon. One thing is true, we may have a crock in goal and we may, at times, defend in a manner that would embarrass schoolchildren. But one thing we're not is a bad football team and, I don't suppose it will happen, but if Chelsea go into Sunday's match expecting an easy ride, they may yet be in for the mother of all surprises. Here's hoping.
Casting an eye over the official website, it seems that Keith Dover, my friend James and, indeed, myself are not the only ones who have been on a "Mugabe media lockdown". It's very quiet. Nothing about Jay Emmanuel Thomas, nothing now from the first team on Sunday's game - though there was something from Cesc earlier this week. A Nicklas Bendtner interview lifted from Sunday's programme, incidentally still unread and in my bag (what, no Tinkerbell? I demand my £3 back!), news of Sanchez Watt being loaned to Southend, Emmanuel Frimpong's desire to play for Ghana and Sol Campbell saying that his record of appearing in six consecutive international tournaments for England is going to be tough to beat. That is the tumbleweed blowing through Arsenal's corner of cyberspace this afternoon.
We could talk about Barcelona and Cesc, but frankly, I might as well just set up a blog called "Cesc is going to Barcelona- or is he?" and post on the daily updates we get from Spain there as despoil my blogspace here. And I'm not going to do that, so unless Cesc, or Arséne, tells us that he's going, I won't be mentioning another word on this. Or at least I will try not to.
Elsewhere, Football365 have definitive proof of the chocolate sunhattiness of Manuel Almunia with this stat that says there are 17 Premier League goalkeepers who have made more saves than he. Four of whom have played less games. Ah, you say, but what if those 17 goalkeepers are simply more overworked than Manuel? Well, bearing in mind that, of the top 8, only Manchester City and, by extension I suppose, ex-Arsenal target Shay Given (is that irony? I'm not sure) have conceded more goals than Arsenal this season, I would suggest that that isn't so. One of the comments on my blog on Arsenal Mania yesterday said that I hadn't suggested any ways to improve the team. Not that Arsène is listening to me, but just in case he is, here's one suggestion: drop the waiter.
In amongst all the "We're only the third best team in the country" angst, I neglected to comment on the "proof undeniable", to borrow a phrase from my favourite FBI agent, that Tottenham's bench is stronger than ours. Yes, it's so strong that they could afford to offload the very man who uttered those foolhardy words in the run up to October's North London derby, Robbie Keane, to Celtic! So Robbie joins his boyhood club, what's that? You thought he already did that at the beginning of last season? Yeah, funny that...
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