Isolation flank

You may have detected yesterday, in my writing, someone who was a bit fed up with life. Call it a blue Monday, today things feel much better. We were talking about Theo yesterday, weren't we? I wonder, at the risk of repeating myself, if the manager is deploying him in a position where he isn't going to improve much more, in some sort of isolation on the right flank. I also wonder if the team really play to his strengths. I'm not saying they should, but Theo doesn't really fit into the possession, possession, possession style of the team, he needs to be released early and be put in behind the opposition defence. From time to time, at least. Of course, Theo is soley responsible for what happens once he gets behind the defence and it is there that he simply must improve. But as we covered yesterday, he knows this.

The dozy idiot has Keeganed himself today though, with a return to the stadium where his season was cut in half last time around on the horizon, he has told Arse.com that he feels as "as anything" he's felt. Good one Shaggy! It feels as though it is now written in stone that this time next week, we will be talking about Theo's latest injury woes, let's hope not. For all his deficiencies as a footballer, and boy does he have some, his pure pace is something that defenders find quite frightening and so he offers something different to the more lateral contributions of Nasri and, to a lesser extent, Rosicky.

But that's enough about Theo Walcott this afternoon. Onto a couple of old boys.

One of whom, much as we now hate to remember that he ever played for the club, is the Judas who decided to leave his boyhood club over five grand and has now been revealed to be a serial cheater and sext pest - when your wife is Cheryl Tweedy, that has to mark you out as a bit lacking in the brains department doesn't it? - I refer of course to Cashley Ole. He is apparently livid at being dragged in by Chelsea to explain his conduct - which Chelsea are laughably said to believe has dragged their name through the mud. Chelsea and mud? There's more mud on that football club than at a Land Rover off-road rallying day. Anyway, Chelsea want to know, at the same time as patting John Terry on the back and giving him a cup of tea and some biscuits after his marital indiscretion(s), what Cashley's been playing at.

Subtext: Cheating on your missus is okay, even if it is with a team mate's wife - just as long as you don't involve the club's media officer.

I must admit I can see why Cashley's feeling a bit victimised and may now be wanting to leave SW6.

I feel a bit dirty now at devoting so many sentences to him, so let's talk about Gilberto Silva who will be returning to the Grove with Brazil in a week's time. As an aside, Randall asked me if I was gonna go to this and I said that £37 seemed a lot of money to spend just to go and yell abuse at that pikey, Robbie "our bench is stronger than Arsenal's" Keane. That's a no, by the way. Anyway Gilberto says that Arsenal "need to acheive" their first trophy to increase their confidence. I guess this could be construed, and possibly might be, as an indirect criticism of the boss' prioritisation of the Champions and Premier League (though, not neccessarily in that order) above the two domestic cup competitions. I prefer to think of it along the lines of Gilberto saying what everyone else has been saying, which is that Arsenal need to win something, no matter what and then more glory will follow. So, I suppose it is an implicit criticism of the boss taking two competitions out of the quation before we've even begun. Ho hum.

Gilberto, a guy who I think was underappreciated when he was good (2003-05) and then overestimated when he wasn't, for example the gnashing of teeth and wailing when he was snubbed for the captaincy at the beginning of a season where he was clearly going to be first choice no longer, is clearly another of those guys who let Arsenal Football Club into his heart. He says that he is still in touch with the players and then, this line which is just a heartbreaker,

"It's impossible to point to just one thing I miss because I had a great time at Arsenal. I fitted in well with the culture at Arsenal."

I read that and I think "legend". I also wonder why, at a time when we'd already lost Flamini and Diarra, we felt we could let Gilberto go and then have half a season suffering as Alex Song and Denilson initially struggled to come to terms with the massive void left at the heart of our midfield. Okay, so one of those guys is still struggling to a certain extent...

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