Consider and analyse.
Written by Paul Williams on Friday, July 30, 2010
The latest Barcelona blabber mouth to stick his oar in is their captain. Again. Carlos Puyol has today questioned the intelligence of an Arsenal board determined not to let their captain leave this summer, saying that a player who doesn't want to be at a club should be allowed to leave. Especially after seven years of great service.I believe this is what's known as the "guilt trip" approach. But I question the intelligence of a Barcelona campaign specifically designed to unsettle the captain and pressure our board into doing business. Though I wonder if Barca would have got their man a lot quicker if Keith Edelman was still in charge, the great disrespect that has been shown towards Arsenal has made Cesc's future a point of principle for everyone connected with the club.
I don't want to say too much more about this, I came perilously close yesterday to criticising a player that has been magnificent for us since day one and given everything for the shirt. I don't want to do that. Also, there is a video on Youtube that nails this situation perfectly in about three minutes, which is considerably less time than I've spent on the subject. Just type "Arsène Wenger v Sandro" into the search engine there and hilarity will ensue. Sport are reporting on their website that Cesc was due to have a 1pm meeting with Arsène Wenger today, which may or may not have taken place. Though the imminence of Arsène Wenger's pre Emirates Cup press conference leads me to doubt this somewhat. I can't imagine that Cesc is going to go into Arsène's office, tell Arsène he wants to leave and Arsène just says,
"Well, alrighty then!"
Not unless he's been possessed by the spirit of Jim Carrey in The Mask, of course. What I'm saying is that I'm not sure it' the kind of meeting you can squeeze in between training and a press conference. I might be wrong, however.
Ahhh, the Emirates Cup, the first sightings of Chamakh and Koscielny.This was my second taste of the corporate hospitality at the Grove in the space of a few months last summer- don't hate me, I got offered a freebie! We also got soaked after Arsenal's match against Atletico Madrid, but not before drinking some truly lush red wine. I won't be going this weekend, I won't even be watching in fact- not live anyway as my mum has very considerately arranged a barbie for the weekend. I wouldn't have gone anyway, I think that the ticket prices at Arsenal are expensive enough without spending £30 on a couple of meaningless games. I look forward to catching the Milan game when I return to civilization from beyond the M25 on Monday.
I'm surprised that Celtic have been invited back to the Grove so soon after their contribution to the media witch-hunt that appeared to do for Eduardo. Looking at the fact that tickets for this match are still available, it seems I'm not the only one, I mean, I know they were hardly at the forefront of it, but their hysterical protests at this one incident, in a tie they were 5-0 down after 180 minutes of, didn't really help. Can we look forward then, as we're not bearing grudges, to seeing FC "we don't conduct transfers in public" Barcelona at next year's edition of the competition?
Arsène has spoken about the centre back situation. I'm quite relieved to hear that he seems to be at the "consider and analyse" stage of proceedings. I'd hate to think there was no plan in action. It seems certain that at least one name, although (understandably) no names have been mentioned by the manager, is certain to come in, we may even get one more although, as Arsène says, we have players who can fill in there if needed. Interestingly, despite the fact that Nordtveit has been mentioned as an addition to the centre back ranks, Mr Wenger says that he believes the youngster needs "more experience". That's why he's been played at right back and centre midfield, so it doesn't seem likely that he will be under consideration any time soon.
Right, that's about it today. Depending what comes out of the press conference this afternoon, I'll try and write a pre barbie (in my case)/ pre Emirates Cup (in your case) blog tomorrow morning. If I don't make it back here then, enjoy the games if you're going- I'm sure they won't be anywhere near as ugly as the battering Spurs took at home to Villarreal last night!
On that note...
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