Squeaky bum territory

I was on my way to bed last night, and dreams involving CIA spies and cats - not in the same dream, obviously, that would have been really disturbing. Anyway, my phone vibrated and a tweet from "johncrossmirror" gave the happy news that club captain Cesc is set to return to the Arsenal side on Saturday having returned to training. Not that the guys haven't coped well in his absence, which the lateness of the winner against Hull aside, I think they have. But we are very definitely in "squeaky bum" territory now and the return to the ranks of our midfield maestro can only be a good thing, I think you'll all agree.

Of course, that wasn't the only good news last night as Chelsea, turfed out of Europe at home, again, reverted to type with Didier Drogba getting himself sent off for the third Champions League campaign (exit?) in a row and John Terry berating the 4th official as he left the pitch. I'm not going to indulge in this too long, but it must have been difficult for the Chelsea players - the majority of whom, let's face it, all played for José Mourinho, to come up against exactly the kind of barrier they used to be themselves. Mourinho's tactical planning; Internazionale's play, Wesley Sneijder's quality and the lethality of Samuel Eto'o will ensure that nobody will enjoy playing against them in the quarter finals.

On the subject of Chelsea, for my sins, I was attempting to download the Times' Game Podcast this week when I came across the following paragraph on George Boateng's Bruce Lee impersonation at the weekend. Written by Tony Cascarino, who as we all know is a Chelsea old boy and arch Arsenal hater, it said: "Martin Taylor's tackle on Eduardo da Silva was gruesome, Ryan Shawcross's on Aaron Ramsey horrendous, but George Boateng's on Bacary Sagna on Saturday was the worst, a career-threatening lunge. It should have been a straight red card, not a second yellow. The FA should add further games to Boateng's one-match ban, perhaps up to five. It was that bad."

Which is fair enough, I think you'll agree. But wait a second, you may recall that two days after the Shawcross tackle, Cascarino said this: "There's a difference between an awful injury and an awful challenge. Ryan Shawcross's tackle on Aaron Ramsey was mistimed but not malicious — the same as Martin Taylor's on Eduardo da Silva two years ago. Let's not hang the Stoke City defender out to dry because poor Ramsey was simply unlucky. I don't even think the tackle deserved a red."

Words fail me. It's almost as if Cascarino went to his default setting; which is, presumably, "Arsenal are whingeing about nothing" in the immediate aftermath of the Shawcross incident and then spoke to someone with more than two brain cells in his head, like Patrick Barclay maybe, who carefully explained to him - in words of no more than two syllables each just what was so "horrendous" about Aaron Ramsey leaving the Britannia Stadium with his leg in pieces. Whatever happened, it shows a singular lack of judgement from the fake Irishman.

Speaking of judgement failure, I'm wondering what possessed Armand Traore to talk of his desire to represent PSG one day. On the face of it, nothing he has said is too different from Cesc's comments about one day returning to Barcelona. But... but when you know that Keiran Gibbs is out for the season, when there are rumours flying around about Gaël Clichy moving to Madrid in the summer - not rumours, incidentally, that I'm sure I believe - is it really necessary to say something like this: "If people from PSG contact me this summer, I would listen carefully to what they have to say."

He does add what the Guardian's Sid Lowe would no doubt call a "caveat", saying: "But I think it's too early for me to go to PSG. I prefer to stay longer in England. But God willing, I'll come there later. I really want it."

But he doesn't seem too focussed on his current club who, you may have noticed, are currently involved in a triple threat tussle for the Premier League title. Perhaps he merely sees the writing on the wall in the shape of Gaël Clichy, who is still only 24 and a truly exciting prospect of a 20 year old Keiran Gibbs.

According to the official site, Alex Song got a bit excited watching the Hull game at home with his young son at the weekend... Apparently he was: "...like a crazy man, I jumped everywhere. I was watching it with my son and he did not know what was happening. But when Nicklas scored I just said 'yeeeeeessssssss'."

Apart from being grateful that Song and son were not in the Clapham sub I watched the game in - Song Jr would have been scarred for life if they were - it's great to hear the message repeated that these players do care as much as we do. I guess the scent of unlikely triumph has the players as excited as if Angelina Jolie, or thinking of an ex-player, Beyonce had taken a stroll through the training ground: "The mentality has changed for us. Everyone has in their head that we need to do something this year. It is very important for us."

For me, it's like the players lacked that belief in the face of Manchester United's dominance of the domestic league and the juggernaut that is Abramovich FC and they needed something to fire up that belief. I suppose, in that context, it's understandable that fans have also struggled to believe in their team. But I think it's time to start believing now and then, perhaps, Bendtner's goal at Hull will join the pantheon of less heralded late strikes currently featuring on Arsenal.com that have helped us to win the league.

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea