Mashed Spuds and Dubai or not Dubai, That is the Question
After a weekend that was a bit blurry, a ton of work meetings, and a fire alarm, I am finally able to sit down and pour out my soul to you chums. Well, I’ll tell you about some stuff, how about that.
Biggest news of the weekend (to me anyway) had nothing to do with Britney’s breakup with K-Fed or her new buddy Paris Hilton, rather it was the 3-0 drubbing that Arsenal gave to their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspurs (Sperz, Spurz, Scum, Spuds, etc). This fixture is one of the biggest in Arsenal’s season and was even more important this year as it was the first derby in the new stadium, the Gunners had been struggling lately thus needing a win, and well, we all hate the Spurs! As previously detailed in an earlier post, the Gunners have been lacking some leadership, drive, and physical presence. Well, they came into the match Saturday with some fixes to these issues. First, even though Henry was benched because of injury and had been reported to have had a bust up with Wenger (which turned out, again, to be media hype bullhockey), he showed true leadership by being in the tunnel with the team to give last minute pointers and encouragement. He also sat with the team to lend his support and was the first to congratulate Ade on his goal. In regards to physical presence, it is tad hard to grow and bulk up over a week, but the Gunners addressed what they could control and put in tons more hustle and closed down Spurs players, thus giving them little room to work. Plus, they got stuck in and took the tackles. Freddie Ljungberg hasn’t had the best few seasons and has been plagued by injuries, but on Saturday he ran all over the pitch, got stuck in, and took the fouls on him in stride. Freddie had been crowing that the younger players weren’t giving their all, but he finally stepped up to the plate and got stuck in himself to lead by example. It was good to see an active Freddie again.
As to the match itself, it seems that the recent bad luck and poor calls against the Gunners finally were evened out a bit. The first goal was a great one by Adebayor who was put through on a long ball by Toure. The flag stayed down and Ade went 1 v 1 with the keeper, stayed cool, and slotted it home on the right side of the net. A review of the play showed Ade just level with two Spurs defenders. Now, if it had been Henry, I imagine it would have been an offside call. This was a situation where the linesman could have gone either way and mostly the flag goes up, but a bit of change in our mojo kept the flag down. Lovely for us and 1-0 to the Arsenal. The second and third goals were penalties which Gilberto put away with power and precision. The Spuds may have been a bit hard done by on the first one as Chimbonda appeared to get a toe on the ball when he took Rosicky down, but a tackle from behind in the box on a player who is driving for goal is likely to earn a penalty. The second penalty was also a tad soft, but van Persie was being kicked and pushed for about 15 yards when he was finally tripped up inside the box. Either way, the luck finally turned for the Gunners and we got a well deserved win. Even without the calls, the Spurs looked awful and showed little sign of leveling. After the match, manager Martin “Tony Soprano” Jol felt the same way:
“The decisions didn’t help but I can’t complain about them because that would be stupid after the way we played.”
The Gunners will take this win and newfound belief in themselves to Porto where on Wednesday they play the final Champions League group fixture. The Arsenal are on 10 points along with Porto, and CSKA Moscow are on 8. A draw or a win will see us through to the knockout stages. A loss could still see us through, but CSKA would have to lose to Hamburg, and that isn’t likely. Porto are a tricky side and won’t be as timid as they were on their trip to Ashburton Grove. I’m hoping they play for the draw and we can sneak in a late goal to clench it and go top of the table.
Another big story making the rounds on the English backpages is the potential buyout of Liverpool by foreign investment group Dubai International Capital for about £450million. Liverpool Chairman David Moores and Chief Exec Rick Parry have rejected several previous offers from a couple of Americans, the Thai Prime Minister, and what I find interesting, a local Liverpudian who already has a small stake in the club. So, instead of keeping the club in English hands, the powers that be at Anfield want to hand it over to a foreign group. I have nothing personally against DIC, especially as they are owned by the Dubai government, which owns Emirates Airline (the new Arsenal sponsor) but I wonder what all of this foreign ownership will do to the League and the sport. We’ve all seen what Roman Abromovich’s influence with Chelsea has been, though that may be a somewhat one off. But this influx of foreign investment may start to create even more disparity between the clubs which will bring down the overall quality of the league, at least in my opinion. We’ll see what happens, and hopefully (but most likely) the Arsenal will remain in English hands and not be sold out to the highest bidder.
And as a final bit before my hands cramp up in carpal tunnel, it appears that Jürgen Klinsmann will be named head coach of the U.S. men's national team within two weeks. There has been no official announcement yet, but this is the word on the street. Of course, it should
n’t come as too much of a surprise as immediately after the World Cup rumors were flying that the German would take over. He is a perfect fit for the club as he’s won the Cup as a player and took Germany to the semifinals last summer (though I felt the should have been in the finals). Also, he already lives in southern California and is engrossed in American life and sports training. Hopefully he gets the job and can reverse the unravelings of Arena. He has a lot of work to do, that’s for sure.
Adios.
Biggest news of the weekend (to me anyway) had nothing to do with Britney’s breakup with K-Fed or her new buddy Paris Hilton, rather it was the 3-0 drubbing that Arsenal gave to their North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspurs (Sperz, Spurz, Scum, Spuds, etc). This fixture is one of the biggest in Arsenal’s season and was even more important this year as it was the first derby in the new stadium, the Gunners had been struggling lately thus needing a win, and well, we all hate the Spurs! As previously detailed in an earlier post, the Gunners have been lacking some leadership, drive, and physical presence. Well, they came into the match Saturday with some fixes to these issues. First, even though Henry was benched because of injury and had been reported to have had a bust up with Wenger (which turned out, again, to be media hype bullhockey), he showed true leadership by being in the tunnel with the team to give last minute pointers and encouragement. He also sat with the team to lend his support and was the first to congratulate Ade on his goal. In regards to physical presence, it is tad hard to grow and bulk up over a week, but the Gunners addressed what they could control and put in tons more hustle and closed down Spurs players, thus giving them little room to work. Plus, they got stuck in and took the tackles. Freddie Ljungberg hasn’t had the best few seasons and has been plagued by injuries, but on Saturday he ran all over the pitch, got stuck in, and took the fouls on him in stride. Freddie had been crowing that the younger players weren’t giving their all, but he finally stepped up to the plate and got stuck in himself to lead by example. It was good to see an active Freddie again.
As to the match itself, it seems that the recent bad luck and poor calls against the Gunners finally were evened out a bit. The first goal was a great one by Adebayor who was put through on a long ball by Toure. The flag stayed down and Ade went 1 v 1 with the keeper, stayed cool, and slotted it home on the right side of the net. A review of the play showed Ade just level with two Spurs defenders. Now, if it had been Henry, I imagine it would have been an offside call. This was a situation where the linesman could have gone either way and mostly the flag goes up, but a bit of change in our mojo kept the flag down. Lovely for us and 1-0 to the Arsenal. The second and third goals were penalties which Gilberto put away with power and precision. The Spuds may have been a bit hard done by on the first one as Chimbonda appeared to get a toe on the ball when he took Rosicky down, but a tackle from behind in the box on a player who is driving for goal is likely to earn a penalty. The second penalty was also a tad soft, but van Persie was being kicked and pushed for about 15 yards when he was finally tripped up inside the box. Either way, the luck finally turned for the Gunners and we got a well deserved win. Even without the calls, the Spurs looked awful and showed little sign of leveling. After the match, manager Martin “Tony Soprano” Jol felt the same way:
“The decisions didn’t help but I can’t complain about them because that would be stupid after the way we played.”
The Gunners will take this win and newfound belief in themselves to Porto where on Wednesday they play the final Champions League group fixture. The Arsenal are on 10 points along with Porto, and CSKA Moscow are on 8. A draw or a win will see us through to the knockout stages. A loss could still see us through, but CSKA would have to lose to Hamburg, and that isn’t likely. Porto are a tricky side and won’t be as timid as they were on their trip to Ashburton Grove. I’m hoping they play for the draw and we can sneak in a late goal to clench it and go top of the table.
Another big story making the rounds on the English backpages is the potential buyout of Liverpool by foreign investment group Dubai International Capital for about £450million. Liverpool Chairman David Moores and Chief Exec Rick Parry have rejected several previous offers from a couple of Americans, the Thai Prime Minister, and what I find interesting, a local Liverpudian who already has a small stake in the club. So, instead of keeping the club in English hands, the powers that be at Anfield want to hand it over to a foreign group. I have nothing personally against DIC, especially as they are owned by the Dubai government, which owns Emirates Airline (the new Arsenal sponsor) but I wonder what all of this foreign ownership will do to the League and the sport. We’ve all seen what Roman Abromovich’s influence with Chelsea has been, though that may be a somewhat one off. But this influx of foreign investment may start to create even more disparity between the clubs which will bring down the overall quality of the league, at least in my opinion. We’ll see what happens, and hopefully (but most likely) the Arsenal will remain in English hands and not be sold out to the highest bidder.
And as a final bit before my hands cramp up in carpal tunnel, it appears that Jürgen Klinsmann will be named head coach of the U.S. men's national team within two weeks. There has been no official announcement yet, but this is the word on the street. Of course, it should
n’t come as too much of a surprise as immediately after the World Cup rumors were flying that the German would take over. He is a perfect fit for the club as he’s won the Cup as a player and took Germany to the semifinals last summer (though I felt the should have been in the finals). Also, he already lives in southern California and is engrossed in American life and sports training. Hopefully he gets the job and can reverse the unravelings of Arena. He has a lot of work to do, that’s for sure.Adios.
posted by Cameron at 7:24 AM
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