An extended break – a whole weekend not even thinking about football; people, it can be done. Especially when on the night before a wedding you are driving forty odd miles to find a suit for your kids when the hire company drops a ricket with their outfits. Suits You, Sir? Not when the waist is five sizes too big and the other ones trouser leg is so high that they could pass for shorts. Enough of my whinging.

It’s been a quiet weekend with the media obsessing over Beckham or pondering the future of two other clubs with Abramovich reportedly telling Chelsea to generate their own funds or Rafa Benitez playing Russian Roulette with his new paymasters. All of which is brilliant stuff because it diverts attention away from the fact that there was no meaningful news about Arsenal. Yes we sold Poom to Watford and Fabianski came in but that was all pretty much a done deal weeks ago. Oh, and Nigel Reo-Coker wants a move to Arsenal not Tottenham. £9m if Arsene wants to increase his collection of central midfielders. Craig Bellamy meanwhile became the 25,074th player to be linked with the club thanks to a hyeractive imagination and one that seems pointless in Arsene signing for he is not a 20 plus goals a season man, not good enough to oust RvP from the starting line-up, to my mind at least.

Fortunately, the politico’s of the football world have decided that the Close Season = The Silly Season. Michel Platini made a bizarre request for the G-14 to disband and join the UEFA family, dropping all of their legal actions against FIFA, claiming that they are making a spectacle of football in the eyes of the world. Well, perhaps Michel if the Governing Bodies were not so hell bent on extracting every last ounce of flesh from the players then you may find some sympathy for your ‘plight’. As it is, FIFA and the incompetence of the FA in England meant that Theirry Henry missed a large portion of the season through ‘wear and tear’ injuries, something that could have been avoided if the FA had the foresight to plan 2006 – 07 as the RFEF did in Spain. Once this weekend’s internationals are over, there are still two more La Liga matches to be played as well as the final of the Copa Del Rey. That did not happen here for reasons best known to the FA. They insisted that the season end mid May so that a pair of pointless friendlies with Albania and Brazil could take place.

Whilst the Spanish rest their players for a fortnight or so over Christmas, we have the ‘tradition’ to uphold of three matches in seven days. Why? Because of the League Cup taking up weeks when Premiership matches could be played. Yes, I recognise that Arsene did not play many of the usual starting XI in that competition but because of that tournament, the season loses four or five midweek fixture opportunities to make the Premiership less congested. With the heightened athleticism of players compared to their predecessors, the strains that they suffer become more repetitive when internationals are taken into consideration as well. Thirty years ago, it was nothing special when a player made sixty-odd appearances in a season. Nowadays, are there many capable of doing that year in, year out? No because the demands put on their bodies through the speed of the domestic game makes that nigh on impossible. With thirty eight fixtures domestically, another ten or so in Europe (assuming a QF berth is obtained) and the FA Cup, mid fifties in terms of club games is about the most anyone can turn out. However, add in Internationals and that becomes low sixties, unsustainable in today’s age. The time has come for some serious thinking to be done at the top level. Either the Premiership is cut by two teams or more or else it cannot be long before the names of Charleroi / Olympique Lyonnais are replaced by Arsenal or Barcelona as the Plaintiff and then the sparks will really fly.

’til Tomorrow.