It bugged me yesterday about the Makita International tournament and I’d forgotten how many of them there were in the late eighties and early nineties. Hardly surprising given the opposition that any can barely be remembered but for those who were interested, the 1988 Tournament I referred to yesterday contained 4 - 0 and 3 - 0 victories over Tottenham and Bayern.
So to this morning’s papers and I feel that I ought to warn everyone that there is optimism in the following paragraphs.
“CAUGHT!” screams the News of the Screws backpage. Arsene had dinner with DD on Thursday so must be up to something. Apparently, they spoke about Arsenal (Shock! Horror!); Thierry Henry was mentioned (Gasp!). And that’s it. Oh well aside from being the first time that they had met since he left (Doubtful!). Inside, there is an interview with Cesc - the boy must be after writing a column in there, he’s featured so often - which talks very positively about the coming season. The tagline of ‘Ljungberg and Henry have it wrong‘ gives you the angle. Talking about his future and how he wants to be remembered - ‘like Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp…The fact is Henry is now part of Arsenal’s past, just like Vieira‘. Speaking of what he has learnt in his time in the first team,
At the start of my Arsenal days, we enjoyed a lot of success but not last season. That is quite important to me because a player should approach the game understanding the harsh realities of what can happen. Overall my aim is for the team and not personal success
Looking ahead he commented on money spent by others - ‘these cannot guarantee success‘ - and how he believes that ‘this year we are set to spring many a surprise‘. He’s ‘nearly convinced‘ Arsene will sign another deal and that his own future was decided for him when AW told him ‘how necessary I am to the team‘. He finished with,
I would love to captain Arsenal. It is a mater of enormous prie to me because the fans are always with me and that support is very valuable. I know how the fans suffer when we lose
He ought to pop over here because there are those who suffer when we win.
A small snippet in the same paper reveals that Denilson won’t return to Brazil to play football because he can achieve everything he wants to at Arsenal. The same paper regurgitates the signing of Luka Modric for £11m which surfaced a few weeks back although then he was a January signing.
The Mail informs us that Glenn Roeder is being considered for the DoF job which could be true. The considered bit. Maybe it is as likely as Gerrard Houllier who was apparently at The Emirates yesterday. Maybe it will be neither as apparently Arsene feels it unfair to bring someone in with Kroenke in the background.
The Sunday Mirror reports that Lassanna Diarra is going to sign this week for £2m which is a drop of £2m since the story first broke; maybe that’s the way to judge the rumours in the press. If the price goes up, it’s happening; down, it isn’t. Although God Knows what anyone makes of Jose Antonio Reyes who Marca proclaimed would be a Real player on Monday or Tuesday. The same paper now says the same days will see him as an Atletico player with the fee being €12m, a third higher than it had been eight hours earlier. Fair play to them though, they are trying to find a club for Reyes because he isn’t going to Lyon as neither he and his fiancee speak French (Really???) and she will have a child to look after this year. I presume she is expecting although they could have been referring to Reyes, I suppose.
So to yesterday. It proved that there are some players who are further from fitness than others. Clichy looked as if he is ready and raring to go; Senderos the same, barely putting a foot wrong in the game. Toure has some way to go, possibly his poorest forty five minutes in an Arsenal shirt. Elsewhere, the second half combination of Eboue and Hoyte in the second half did well, Hleb looked far more comfortable in the centre of a 4-5-1 than he does on the right. Indeed that change of formation, enforced through absences, was another poke in the eye with a sharp stick for those who believe AW never has a Plan B. Hell, there was even a Plan C with long balls going into Bendtner. A nervy performance, understandably, from him in the first half improved in the second. His lay-off to Flamini showed good positional sense and awareness of others and his first touch improved as the game went on. His goal was welcome for the manner it was scored in more than anything else, I cannot remember the last one where we fed off the scraps of a header won at a corner. The good thing is to have come through with no injuries and knowing more about the fitness levels, PSG were comfortably ahead in that stake which is understandable given their season starts next week. A final mention should be for Manuel Almunia who I thought had a generally outstanding game, a display that possibly means that the replacement for Jens is not quite so clear cut. For those who want a detailed match report, read a paper although Amy Lawrence has a good piece in today’s Observer about the performance and this season coming.
’til Tomorrow.
