Super Rob talks robbery

As I mentioned, last night I went to a gig at the Bush Hall in west London. It was the first time in a long time that I'd seen an... well, let's call him what I think of him as, an old friend even though I've never met him. I first heard the music of Andrew Roachford as an 11 year old over twenty years ago. Not having seen him for seven years, it only took about ten minutes for me to be reminded as to why I've always loved his music. He has this way of making a big room feel like your living room, of course it helps when the room only has about 200 people in it. He should, in my opinion, be playing to far bigger audiences than that- I found it a little sad that he had to play a version of Wonderwall to get everyone listening, but that's a minor, minor complaint.

Oh, come on, it's taken you far less time to read that paragraph then it did me to write it. You can indulge me a little mention of this old friend on this Saturday afternoon. Another old friend is Robért Píres. Okay, I haven't met him either, but I'm guessing the majority of you reading this- that'd be everyone but the rather ridiculous Barcelona fans hanging around my blog like doggy doo on a beautiful white carpet- think of him as an old friend too.

In an entertaining Q&A with FourFourTwo readers, le Bob had a fair bit to say about his time at Arsenal. Although I think the passage of time has dimmed his memory a touch. For example he gets his dates mixed up when talking about Raymond Domenech not calling him up for the World Cup, saying,

"I don't know what happened. I was playing well with Arsenal and yet I didn't get called up for the 2002 World Cup."

It may have been a misprint, I guess, but we all know the reason that Píres didn't go to the 2002 World Cup was because he was on crutches after that horrible knee ligament injury he suffered. I suppose it's understandable he might have blanked that out, confusing it with his 2006 snub. It saddened me to realise that one of the best players we ever had never got to represent his country on the biggest stage of all whilst at his peak To miss out once, okay fair enough, but twice? That must have felt desperately cruel on him. He can laugh about it now, I suppose.

And the man himself says that the worst moment of his career was his substitution after 18 minutes of the 2006 Champions League Final. Whilst I felt, and still feel, for Bobby on that one, I think he had to realise that the decision wasn't based on anything other than who would be able to get up and down for 78 minutes and suffer the least. It didn't have to be "the end" for him at Arsenal.

He's obviously a player with real affection for the club, but his time at Arsenal is inextricably linked with Highbury Stadium, he has a flat there as most of you will know, of which he says,

"The other day when I was there I was almost crying. You look out at the pitch, which is now a garden. When you about what was there before it's... it's hard to see Highbury like that".

So say all of us, Bob, but it begs the question, "Why buy the flat in the first place?" Talking about two of the most pivotal matches in Arsenal's history, he has interesting opinions. First of all he talks about the 2001 Cup Final, described by a reader as robbery. He says,

"You can lose but not the way we lost. But you have to think about something else and get back to winning. A robbery? I don't know about that. When you have chances you have to to score and we didn't."

Out of that losing side came the 2002-04 team, probably the finest Arsenal team most of us have ever seen. It might have been regarded as the 2002-05 team were it not for a rainy day in Manchester. Of which Píres says,

"The 50th game, now that was a robbery! Oh yes. Definitely. That was a robbery... Unbelievable. If we'd drawn that game we'd have carried on for ages. That game hurt, it was hard to take. Against Man United too!"

I guess, time having passed and all that, it's fair to say he's probably spot on about both matches, the Manchester United came in response to a question about swapping a defeat in one game in the 49 game unbeaten run for the Champions League trophy. Obviously, that's a trophy you feel Píres regrets missing out on. Another regret of his is that he didn't learn to speak English whilst over here. It's amazing to think that he could have been here for six years and never done that. But then it's also amazing to think of all that he achieved whilst at the club. Cheers, Bob.

Do you think the Barcelona fans are still here now? Ok, let's talk a a little bit about Cesc. It seems that after the immediate positive reaction to his statement, there's been a bit of a backlash against him and the way the statement was worded.This has come via a few Arsenal blogs and in the media, with Des Kelly amongst others suggesting that the man should be stripped of the captaincy. I'm not really sure that the problem is, for me there was never any doubt that Cesc seriously wanted to leave, hence his silence over the last few weeks. Arsène Wenger even admitted as much last week when he said,

"I have known players who want to leave and then after they don't want to leave any more."

I don't think that quote, as with any Wenger quote, was made idly. So the disappointment being felt by some sections of the Arsenal online community is, in my view, only because these people were denying a self evident fact in the first place. Bottom line is, he's here, he's staying and he is, when all said and done, one hell of a footballer. Whether we only get to enjoy him for one season or longer is, at this a stage, a moot point.

Reading another FourFourTwo interview, this time with Marouane Chamakh, it struck me how things could be if we were a little more, dare I say it, French about the whole thing. Chamakh said of his "unforgettable" send off,

"... they (the fans) stayed behind me. They know I always gave my all and they're happy for me to be joining Arsenal. I'm delighted to have left on such good terms."

I think it's certain that when Cesc does go, sadly he won't be floating on a sea of goodwill. I guess the key difference is the amount of recent history we have with Barca, not to mention the fact that the French papers probably weren't full of people like Samir Nasri talking about how Chamakh has Arsenal DNA for the last year. There's some good stuff in this interview, though a lot of it has been covered earlier this week. The bit I liked most was, when talking about last summer's transfer speculation, he said this,

"I only wanted to join Arsenal but they would not pay the price Bordeaux demanded. Laurent Blanc told me I shouldn't join a smaller club like Tottenham."

Ah... the old ones are the best, eh?

Our final pre season game is, at the time of writing, just three hours away. And the goalkeeping conundrum, the real sticking point for many Gooners this summer, shows no real sign of being resolved satisfactorily. Both our Poles in goal will play at Fabianski's old club Legia Warsaw this afternoon, with boss Wenger saying that Fabianski has another opportunity to show he can "play number 1". It seems that Roger Chesney's future may yet lie in a loan deal. I suppose a brilliant goalkeeping display from him and the habitual Fabianski disaster could yet mean a rethink, but I think we all know now where this is headed. It feels like a car crash is coming, I just hope it isn't at Anfield in eight days time.

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