Jens, Theo And A Tad More
International Weeks are tedium filled at the best of times; Friendlies this early in the season have the X Factor to tip you over the edge. How many of the Arsenal squad will return with niggles and knocks ahead of Manchester City’s is unknown but think of a number, double it and then double it again. Matches such as these are to be blunt, a complete pain in the Arsenal, serving no purpose other than to boost Association coffers.
On the injury front, Physioroom reports that all of the injured members of the squad bar William Gallas will return this weekend which is a boost ahead of the City game, save for niggles picked up this week. This is an issue that the Football Authorities have to address, prior to the resolution of the Charleroi court case. There is simply too much football for the Clubs to accommodate with current squad sizes. At Arsenal, there has already been a stretch with injuries two weeks into the season. Of course, there is an argument that this is of Arsene’s own making, that it is his responsibility however the Authorities have a duty to reschedule the Footballing Calendar to ensure the highest levels of performance. If they do not then the list of those retiring prematurely may grow longer.
Well, that is not strictly true that Friendlies are entirely meaningless from a Club’s point of view. In the case of Theo Walcott, it has been his first full ninety minutes of the season and by all accounts, he was England Under-21’s best player. Well, that is what The Times and The Telegraph think anyway.
For Jens Lehmann, it is a chance to get his eye in again. He is interviewed in this morning’s Sun (it must have been hard for the Sub not to put the word ‘howitzer‘ instead of ‘howler‘ in the headline) and says,
I’m not at all concerned — because the mistakes I made were so simple that they have not made me doubt my basic ability as a goalkeeper
I can think of a fair few people who will disagree with that one, including the two visitors who arrived at this site using a search engine query of ‘Petition to stop Jehns Lehmann‘. What they wanted to stop him doing is unclear as the results were inconclusive. Conceding sloppy goals? Appearing on The X Factor? Seal Clubbing on his holidays? Who knows. Anway, back to Jens. He went on,
I know why it happened. But I’m not going to explain it because there are too many English people around and I don’t want to give anything away…After the first minute I had two very good games against Fulham and Sparta Prague.
It is this last part that is being forgotten; he did exactly that and error aside, on Sunday he looked as if he was heading back towards his best form for the Club. There is no doubt that he has the personal confidence to regain that and I suspect that Arsene will retain him as Number One on an ongoing basis, particularly as Gallas is injured, to bring in a new Centre Back and Goalkeeper could prove too disruptive for what has been an improving backline.
’til Tomorrow.
Posted on August 22, 2007, in Arsenal, England, Football, Premiership, Soccer, Transfer Gossip. Bookmark the permalink. 66 Comments.
![Blog This Here](http://www.blogthishere.com/button.png"style="height:15px;width:80px;border:0"alt="BlogThisHere")
A Cultured Left Foot 
I think your right. Internationals are a waste of time but you have to think of the millions of supporters who follow lowerd ivision teams, who probably look forward to them as an important park of the season.
Yes Yogi, too many internationals for the game’s good.
And yes, Jens did look quite solid in all the games and gave it all away with the howlers. Let’s hope he feels sufficiently chastened to put his nose to the grinding wheel without ado.
@ Karthic “nose to the grinding wheel” – I’d love to see Jens actually do that… come to think of it – maybe that’s what Fergie uses in the dressing room to give him that lovely complexion
Friendly internationals should be discontinued. Qualification for World cup and Euro/ANC etc should be via a 8 day minitourmanment at the end of the season, result no disruption to the real business.
Really good news on the Theo front
He has not seemed anywhere near a full ninety for ourselves, but along with the start at Blackburn he may be beginning to get up to speed. He is a vital part of our squad now, Wenger’s reluctance to acquire a futher winger comes down to a policy to blood youngsters and Theo will get more chances this season.
So for international friendlies I raise a glass, we may now see a more tuned Theo on the weekend.
Mind you today is tuesday and having generally despaired at internationals, friendlies or not, we may all have a far darker mood come wednesday night.
Great news on the injuries, a refreshed Ade may just take the pressure off Van Persie, who does not particularly enjoy running the line.
Thanks YW! We as fans have every right to feel upset about those errors made. But let’s not forget:
1. It takes enormous psychological strength and maturity to pick himself up after gifting that goal to Fulham and he did play very well in the remaining 89 mins, with a few good saves. The same good performance was also seen at Blackburn before and after the slip-up, which must have been even harder than in the Fulham game because it’s the 2nd time he made one. If everyone and hence every keeper makes mistakes, isn’t it even better if ours can manage to pluck up the courage and confidence to keep going despite these hard times?
2. Many people call for his Jens’ head. But do we know for sure if it’d do him good or bad if Arsene drops him now? Leaving him alone for a while may help. But getting a hiatus, i.e. both the lack of games and further drop in confidence, at his age would potentially leave him slim chance of coming back to his best. But if he’s given encouragement from the manager and the team (as Cesc said publicly), an experienced guy like him may just come back as we’re sure that he wants to prove himself and repay that faith.
3. With Gallas out, you’re right YW, it doesn’t sound wise to replace Jens in our backline which actually has been improving (bar those 2 errors and a few small ones) game on game since pre-season.
4. And as Arsene’s been saying, this young team need the combined experience of Jens, Gallas, Gilberto and Kolo. With Gallas and Gilberto already out, dropping Jens would take away experience from our already relatively inexperienced squad.
5. Like I said before, everyone makes mistakes. It’s “just” that those committed by a keeper are usually cost more than others. Have you not seen Cesc, for all his exceptional talent, made one? Experienced players like Rosicky and Hleb? As opposed to the perspective of making the culprit “pay for” his mistakes by sitting on the bench, I think we should think about how best we can help people learn from them and improve or at least not weaken the team by dropping someone unless necessary.
I don’t have a problem with Jens, he has used his quota of errors so there shouldn’t be anymore this season.
Theo did look good last night, with this kid it’s all about confidence, hopefully he can carry this in our games.
BTW the telegraph link is wrong.
Michael
Quick question. What if jens makes another blunder in the next few games?
It’s fine to keep backing Lehmann, but what would your opinion be if he drops another clanger in the next couple of games? Would you continue to back him, or is 3 the magic number to give someone else a chance? Where is the line?
good question Bergy
Hi Michael, thanks for your input. I didn’t watch the U21 game. Just read from the papers that Theo was very lively and Pearce said he “got past defenders for fun,” which was quite apparent all along, given his speed. But I’m more curious whether he managed to put in nice crosses as the final ball seemed to be one of his weaknesses as a winger at the moment. Did he seem improved on that front?
Well that’s it of course
Maybe some you are simply drawing the line earlier than others.
It’s not criminal to do so or to wait.
The question is what is best for the team? So i suppose those that are backing Jens like myself are believing he will not drop another clanger in the next few games.
Who knows?
Either way, keeper change and centre half change may be overdoing it for an improving defence.
It’s Arsene’s call if 3 big mistakes is 1 too much. I personally think so – yes 3 horrendous errors in 3 consecutive league matches does warrant a pause from the first team action. But for now, the nature of the 2 errors did seem (to me) like aberrations from Jens’ norm.
Under the circumstances (Gallas out, lack of experience in the squad, etc.), I still think he should be given a chance to learn from them.
But again, it’s Arsene’s call whether it indicates that age is taking its toll on Jens, or it’s just exceptional. Whatever Arsene’s decision is, I put my trust in him. Who are we to judge, right, and he’s there working with the players everyday. For now, I’d say let’s have some faith.
the supporters, the team, we all got scalded from jens’s errors. he knows it, we know it; can we at least get behind him? at the moment i feel like there’s a running bet as to whether he’ll make another ‘howler’, where people will be disappointed that he didn’t make one.
And why do you guys think Theo seems to perform well with U21 quite consistently, while he still struggles with us? If you watched the game, did he look like he could replicate those good performances with Arsenal?
Many players are brilliant with their clubs and can’t seem to do the same for their national teams (not hinting Lampard or Rooney as I don’t care about them) but Theo seems to work the other way around. Granted, the level of pressure is different in U21, and he’s all about confidence at this age. And for once I’d agree with Pearce, maybe he needs more 90-min games under his belt. Is that all it takes for him to become that winger we crave?
how concerned are you at how fragile our team is to injuries, or more particularly fearful of how thin we are on replacements?
I understand the decision to give Djourou some consistent game time by sending him out on loan but it seemed at the time (and now with Gallas out for 2 months more so) a risk to expose our depth. Lose one of our remaining CBs & will we be going to our (truly) second string, or throwing Gilberto or Sagna into the hole… ? Would that be unsettling then to the rest of the team balance?
And what of up forward. Last year we were found wanting when RVP and TH14 were injured for big spells. If RVP were to get injured again (God forbid!) & Ade away for a month, are Eduardo and Bendtner ready for consistent performances … and what if one of them got injured?
As for Jens, I think it is a bit early to take the Spurs approach to Martin Jol this quickly. He made a great save in Prague. He would have to be given a few more games.
Theo was good last night on both Wings, however that was against kids of a similar age and of poorer quality
He needs to be doing it against City on Saturday and the Spuds next week to prove the doubters.
Danny
Wenger’s reluctance to acquire a futher winger comes down to a policy to blood youngsters and Theo will get more chances this season
I am not sure about that, Theo is our only Winger and an unproven but developing, which in my view is a mistake
By that I dont mean playing Theo is a mistake but not getting additional wingers is!!!!
I back every player that wear the arsenal shirt . And i do hope jens is over his mistakes,he is a super keeper and have brilliant over the past 2 seasons. if our squad stay fit we have a very good chance to challenge for the title but if we lose a robin a toure then we have serious problems. Question do you guys believe our squad wil be strong enough come the acn? Toure eboue and ade wil be missing then.
Pat
We’ve agreed on this!!! Maybe it is, maybe it is not!!! I’m prepared to trust the boss, you are not so sure!!!!
Let’s not bloody go there again!
With regards to ACN, we basically need to fulfill a few conditions to mount a title challenge:
1. When Ade, Eboue and Kolo are out, their replacements in RvP, Eduardo, Walcott, Gilberto, Senderos, Sagna and Gallas ALL stay fit. And no major injuries to other key players – God save Cesc!
2. In case of short-term injuries to the remaining squad (touch wood!), we have a bit of cover if (a) Djourou does come back after the half-season loan spell without any extension at Birmingham and (b) at least 2 of Rosicky, Hleb, Walcott and Eduardo perform okay/well on the flanks. Basically we’re not safe apart from central midfield.
3. Ade, Eboue and Kolo come back unscathed in Feb. From there we continue our attempt to win the title as we put them right back in the squad smoothly.
4. We don’t get leapfrogged, or at least not get left behind, by the likes of ManU or Liverpool who don’t have their key players out to ACN. Admittedly ACN does affect us and Chelsea more than it does the other two. I think Chelsea’s worst – having mighty Drogba and Essien out means you take away 70% in their strength, while Mikel and Kalou don’t matter that much. That’s why it’s important that we hold the fort and not let ManU and Liverpool take advantage of our weakened squad.
5. I’ve had a brief look at the fixtures during that period. Thankfully we don’t face the big guys then, which ManU, Liverpool and Chelsea do face each other in a few occasions. But you never know about the cup games. So we need a bit of luck there as well.
What are the odds of having all these in our favour?
Having watch liverpool they very very good .they are gona be a very hard team 2 beat . Think they be in the top 2 hopefully behind us
I did watch Theo last night and he didn’t suddenly transform from the guy we’ve been watching. He did okay, no final ball, no quality. What’s encouraging is that Arsene’s right, is pace does seem to be returning. He was quicker against Blackburn, and pacy last night. But he doesn’t have a trick, so he’s never going to look good on the wing. I can’t understand Arsene’s approach at all towards playing him on the wing. He has every opportunity to pose a danger when thrown on as extra striker in the latter quarters of games, no danger on the wing.
International football, what a sham. The only matches / tournament that should ever be played is the world cup. No coaching, no practice, what a load of balls. When has an England team ever improved through practice. The team with the best players, in the best form, will win, it’s quite simple.
Guys it seems to me like only in England are international matches viewed as a waste of time! Club football has squeezed the juice out of your national team’s ability to compete on the world stage, and it looks to me that it’s doing the same to itself (RE: the lower leagues)! There are WAY TOO MANY games played in England period! Regardless of how much players are paid they are clearly being overplayed! INJURIES GALORE reigneth and not until the FA radically alters schedules will the shelf life of the better footballers be long enough for us fans to enjoy their talents and value-for-money paid. Even the super-rich clubs have to sellout & (possibly) mortgage their futures to have squads big enough be to handle a season’s load of football. U only have to look at the Italian league to see how sadly unbalanced & corrupt football can be.
But at least Italians don’t think INTERNATIONAL MATCHES ARE A WASTE OF TIME…maybe because they win trophies!!!
Viva Wenger, and may we sign Anelka & an exhuberant Left Winger!!!!
(PS: I am NOT Italian!)
Danny
You started it 🙂
Anelka is presently the BEST centre forward in France. He’s older & wiser and would be better off a Gunner than at Man U!
Anelka + quality Left Winger + returned Djourou +the young guns in-waiting (Merida, Barazite, Gibbs, Vela, Nordvelt, Fabianski, G.Hoyte, Sunu, etc) will more than adequately cover for Kolo, Ade & Eboue during the ANC. It’s a no brainer!
….Patthe & ethan are correct on this one
PS: forgive my inclusion of Vela, I was oversalivating……
I also was puzzled at the speed of walcott last season – he did not look as fast as the clips I had seen of him in his southampton days (when he looked electric). His shoulder injury explained a lot. Wenger analyses all the training sessions and his comments this week were very interesting as to how both Walcott and senderos lost significant speed (in Senderos case he certainly can’t afford that!) even after they had returned to training from their shoulder injuries stating “it was unbelievable how much the arms and shoulders contibute to running ability…”
Agree with prev. posts – he lacks the tricks and subtleties of top drawer winger but if he gets stronger and recovers top pace that will still be a fantastic prospect 9with time to develop his game as he progresses in the team) I too think he should be used as an impact sub in teh centre away from home as teams tire but I fear for his finishing and selection making from what I have seen of his arsenal career to date, in that position.
Jens has to remain in goal for next 3-5 games. We have shorn so much experience that I wouldn’t like to ditch more. Remember, in the last two seasons he has made very few howlers / even errors, or would someone like to point them out to me.
great blog!
Aman, why are you so interested in international football, or England doing well? What is the point. If I thought there were national teams out there that could play better football than Arsenal, or say, Barcelona, then I would be interested in international football. But that’s impossible. Club teams have the pick of all the best talent throughout the world. How could England ever be as good as Arsenal, when we can pick the best players from Brazil, France, Ivory Coast etc. It’s crazy. International football isn’t about entertainment, it’s simply about national pride. I have pride in my country, but I’m not going to lose sleep if England aren’t very good at football. Plus I can be very proud that the EPL produces the most entertaining football in the world. If you love football, then you love club football. If you’re not interested in football, you’re more likely to be interested in watching England.
Play less games, you’ve got to be joking? I don’t want less games. Arsenal are my interest, my hobby, why do I have to give up what I enjoy and pay for, so that England play better. If you say “no” to the people that pay the players wages, then football will collapse, along with the worlds interest in football. You can then have Frank Lampard giving all his time to England, in between working at McDonalds.
People don’t understand that football is about it’s customers, the supporters, nothing more, and nothing less. If they think the men that do DIY each weekend for 4 years in between the world cup, then go to the pub to watch it, complain that England are rubbish, before declaring that rugby is a proper man’s game, are the fans that need to be looked after, they’re naive in the extreme. International football must be more important right, because they get bigger viewing figures, yeah, its 20 million families watching who have no interest in football, or office workers trying to get a couple of hours off work.
h boy, couldn’t agree with you more, international football is a complete waste of time, i personally have zero interest and it amazes me when people expect fans to care more about england than arsenal. it’s all about the arsenal as far as i am concerned.
that fee for yakubu is seriously steep!!!! very average player.
Yakubu, pretty expensive. I suppose compared with the Bent fee, anything seems reasonable. Yakubu looked like a guy of potential at Pompy, now looks very average.
I think bent will be better value as he will score goals.
All these prices prove is that AW is absolutely spot on to look abroad for players rather than in England. Berbatov was several million cheaper than Bent and I know which one of the two represents good value for money. Hint: He isn’t English…
I dont have a problem with international games, the problem is that club football is now bigger, and more available. Champions league has moved the bar in televised football, and is shown more frequently. Managers moan when players are not selected for international duty, and then moan when they play.Maybe players could be selected from less fashionable clubs, so the need to change ten of them at half time is not as important.
so are you all telling me your not going to watch ENGLAND v’s GERMANY ?? none of you .. you all are treading on its arse-nal .. I agree a match vs latvia or some nation unknown YES waist of time , but against germany …
nar im ready and waiting !
Also as far as jens is conserned it could be good for us .
anyone wishing to discuss in detail TRANSFERS
all comment welcome
wenger has an issue with english players, is flamini and song any better than sidwell, is eboue better as a right midfielder than bentley or pennant. we got rid of upson and kept cygan. i know the english players above had certain issues but there is no doubt a pattern of his general disinterest for english players. i am no pro english guy but i do feel young foreign players will nearly always see arsenal as a stepping stone not a fullfillment of their career aspirations.
The answer is the Engish players’ attitudes Dan.
All those you mentioned were not prepared to wait for their chances. Pennant was/is just a complete twat. Upson was & is to this day always injured.
Don’t forget Paddy, TH14 were young when they joined & we had the best of them. I will also be surprised if Clichy does a Cashlie on us.
There will not be many better clubs to go to worldwide than Arsenal.
Cesc no doubt will go back to Spain at some point but he will be the exception rather than the rule.
Flint
Couldnt agree more. AW has said on numerous occasions in the past that the English players are not technically gifted enough for him at the moment. It is nothing to do with their nationality, more to do with the standard of coaching and the style of play encouraged therein.
Ethan
No I wont watch the England game tonight. A meaningless friendly, pointless game other than to swell the FA coffers. Then again Im not that enamoured with Arsenal friendlies but I will watch them.
YW
Well I will be watching it.
I really need some sleep!
when all stikers are fit we dont have room for Theo on the bench i think he should be loaned out till january. He dindnt seem fantastic last night good speed but very little else, and it wasnt against experienced defenders. As far as Jens is concerned I have a heart attack every time there is a corner or set piece, he punches out wildly and misses the ball.
They are a measuring stick !
if you actually enjoy the euros and world cups.. ,mclaren is having enough troubles working it out in fixtured games,so give the man a break for him its important and for us’ AS ARSENAL’ ,it matters little , only arsenal player we will see tonight MAYBE is jens .. and we can only hope for an injury 🙂
but if they where smart going on current form they might bring back Oliver .. 🙂
it would be good to see some injuries like a spurs player or 2 .. good clean fun … injury to owen ?
its all gooood !
sol gooner i agree with you on jens, for wenger not to buy a poom style replacement (but better)as a backup plan is a mistake . i think almunia is a good ‘shot stopper’ but has made fatal errors so similar to jens i cannot deside the lesser of the 2 evils …
give the young guy a run or go with an experienced goalie..
Everyone ones goalie is better than jens .. too mad .. too many yellows .. too much weird german *hit !
he’s a laugh to watch but the sad thing is he’s our player !
It appears there is a strong chance of Wilson Palacios coming
http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&u=http%3a%2f%2ftiempo%2ehn%2fmostrar%5fnoticia%2ephp%3fid%3d36867%26seccion%3d6
All very well and good but he is a Right Winger so will compete with Walcott and Eboue
Strange business, I know it is only reported to be 2m but even still why a Right Winger,
Just watched the England Game
Some positives but never good to lose to the old Enemy
Arsenal wise, it was another example of Jekyll and Hyde Lehmann, he made some good saves and for the majority of the time looked solid, but there were a couple of moments where his eratic style nearly cost them 2 Goals, luckily for them one fell to the out of sorts Owen and the other bounced Kindly
If we are going to persist with him, he really needs to shake this
Man you english really are a joke (im guessing your english right?
” Matches such as these are to be blunt, a complete pain in the Arsenal, serving no purpose other than to boost Association coffers.”
Any fan of football, loves to see there national team play, more so than any club team … and just becasue englands NT is rubbish, people liek you have to have a cry
why dont you state how arsenal only have one englishman in there team … thats another joke
on top of that, maybe thats also a major factor into why englands NT is rubbish
Once you get rid of this, maybe then you will see englands NT do well, and start to appreciate your national team
Well after tonight Jens must be rested, As far as Palacio goes how would he get a work permit
Ho hum.
Joe – read the post properly. The point is that there is no point to friendlies, scheduling games this early in the season serves no purpose other than as a money making exercise as witnessed by the large number of withdrawals from the squad through injury. As the leading authority on football, I thought you would have known this.
YW
Sol
The same thought crossed my mind about the WP. Mind you, it will be the same way as everyone else – on appeal!
YW
Just woken up.
What was the score?
Yogi’s Warrior — the purpose of frendlies, one, is to the the NT play, which i would rather see than any one else, second, its to get ready for all the euro qualifiers that are on in 2 weeks time
In addition, there were a few teams playing euro qualifiers tonight
again, for a NT to ever do well, they need to play together as much as possible
and you talk about money, yet all clubs are just build on money, especially clubs like arsenal
Joe
The purpose is to what? If the friendlies mean so much and are so valuable why were the top four from last season all playing on Sunday? Even before then there were withdrawals.
Of the team that played tonight, only Richards of the new faces has a realistic chance of being involved in the ECQ.
And if there were ECQ’s tonight, why not structure the whole tournament so that they take place on the same evenings?
The Clubs are built on money. They pay the players wages and are expected to pick up the tab when those same players get injured. Yet the FA’s of this world walk away having knackered up someone else’s asset, scot free and with no comeback. Yet the same Associations claim that there is too much football being forced onto the players whilst arranging friendlies when the season is a fortnight old.
McClaren would have been better served by a Training Camp. Prepare for the forthcoming ECQ’s and work on the players, making sure that they understand their roles because a number of them tonight did not have a clue. Actually he did learn one thing tonight. Any thoughts he had about being sure his Goalkeeper was in form went right out of the window.
YW
look like i said before, say what you want, but just becasue your NT is rubbish, you guys have to have a cry
if you guys were world champs, you would be saying how the NT is the most important thing in football, but becasue you aint, you dont
what i must ask, is if you are such a patriotic english man, why is it that you support a team like arsenal, what are everything but enlglish????
dont you feel its a bit of a joke?
Joe
The problem is the club game is now so superior to International football.
International football is now so sterile that a complete football nut like me wouldn’t be bothered if I saw it or not.
This was not always the case.
How many truly decent games were there in the last WC finals? 4 or 5 at most maybe with ALL of the England games being absolutely turgid.
If you support a good club all you worry about is are your players coming back unharmed & unknackered.
Flint McCullough —- see this is you big problem … only the english think this
you go to the true football nations of the world, and they would much rather see international football over club football
the world cup is still the biggest competition in the world
good games?? its all about winning … how many good games were played in last seasons EPL?? i watch EPl, la liga and seire A, and i can tell you that the epl produced the least number of good games compared to the othere 2 leagues
like i said, if england were the world champs, you would be saying that international football is far superior than club football
Why don’t you just stick with other nations then & leave us to enjoy our football as we like it best?
No if England won the World Cup playing as sterile football as Italy did, I would still say club football is far superior.
Joe
Absolutely the EPL produces turgid games. But you cannot watch that much if you think that Serie A and La Liga don’t produce the same number.
The English have *always* been more passionate about their club football. The only time we have not been is when the International Tournaments have been staged here.
But what was inspiring and good about tonight’s England v Germany game. The play was not technically superior, neither was there any tactical innovation to make you sit up and think ‘Wow!’ In short the game drifted because of the quality of players available to both managers.
Sure the WC is the biggest tournament. Because it is the only Global Tournament. The ECL is second behind it; hardly a recommendation for International Football.
For a man who supports a team who have been funded by corruption and are wholly foreign owned, a tad odd that you question Arsenal’s nationality…
YW
“The English have *always* been more passionate about their club football. ”
england dont know what passion is .. the EPL is a marketing tool, they overload people with it, and brain wash them at th same time
“For a man who supports a team who have been funded by corruption and are wholly foreign owned, a tad odd that you question Arsenal’s nationality…”
Corruption … im sure, where ever there is money, there is corruption …
“and are wholly foreign owned”
ummm please tell me how?
england is a bandwagon nation .. support only what they are doing well in at current time
appart from man u, liverpool, arsenal and chelsea, the rest of the 16 teams in the epl play rubbish football, with no skill or tactical or tecnical ability …. so yea, i can say la liga abd serie a, do produce much better quality football, thanthe epl
can i ask the last time you bothred to watch a game from serie a , or la liga?
and like i said before, how can you be a patriotic englishman, yet go for arsenal, when they only have one englishman in there team?????
I like most of the rest of the WORLD love most to watch INTERNATIONAL football. Truth is only a few big clubs can match up with the best 20 national teams. Honestly I love ARSENAL because of the QUALITY of play not because I’m a lifelong Gunner fan! The WORLD CUP is still THE BIGGEST sporting spectacle on the planet because MOST people (pure football enthusiasts & the millions of “others”) LOVE to watch the best teams compete on probably the most LEVEL terms! There were no frigging agents involved in perpetuating bullshit percentages, no clubsides worrying about injuries & insurance, and all this crap that nullifies the PURITY & ESSENCE of competition. The bigger values are eroding so fast from life that some of us on this blog sound so shortsighted & desperate with our need for our Gooner fix!
Again I must confess my love for ARSENAL is a love for the beautiful game. The highly intelligent, fair-minded, elegant, principled & pasionately entertaining way AW & his players conduct themselves on the football pitch.! Same reason why Brazil draws more fans than any other. LEGENDS that were and are still built primarily by WORLD CUPS! Clear as day
By the way, I’m NIGERIAN!
ps: Anelka + Left Winger still needed
Theo is mistake at this age.. he will need another 5 yrs to warrant a first team place
Joe
Quite the little fascist aren’t you. Oh dear and a tabloid one at that.
“can i ask the last time you bothred to watch a game from serie a , or la liga?”
Sadly for you, quite regularly what with being married to a Spaniard and having access to Spanish Cable TV. La Liga turns up its fair share of turgid games.
YW
Aman
What’s got lost in the diatribes from others is that I actually said I don’t like International Friendlies. I don’t have a problem with competitive International Football.
And it is not just International Friendlies that I don’t like, I am not a fan of Club Friendlies either, but at least they serve a genuine purpose in getting players ready for the new season.
YW
Pingback: Top Posts « WordPress.com