I did think long and hard about calling today’s post, ‘Idiots in abundance’. I was not referring to the brief intervention by some trolls last night but more to the fact that in reality, your average English footballer should obey the old adage about children; they should be seen and not heard.
Take David Bentley for example, and a few people I have encountered have suggested taking him somewhere with a baseball bat. Personally, I think that is a bit extreme and should not be condoned, especially as every time he opens his mouth, he simply puts a different foot in it and gives the distinct impression that any intellect he possesses is in severe danger of dying of boredom.
Were I one of Bentley’s advisors, my first question would be, ‘What the hell were you thinking when you said that about Walcott’ and the second would be, ‘Please, for the love of God, never speak to the press again’ on the grounds that he is making himself into a cartoon caricature of the stereotypical English footballer. Mentally challenged would be a polite description.
Bentley’s career may be resurgent in recent months and he has had lows as well as highs to gain experience. Sadly for him, the lows are largely self-inflicted. Walking away from an international tournament at any time is not a bright idea but to do so when it is too late to call up replacements is fundamentally stupid and disrespectful to the other squad members.
However, one has to question the value of his wisdom. He and Lassana Diarra are cut from the same cloth; neither has the stomach for the battle to gain a regular first team place at a big club nor the patience to wait for their chance.
Theo Walcott meanwhile has shown considerably more patience and already been rewarded by more pitch minutes for Arsenal than Bentley achieved in his time at the club. He also has considerably more dignity that Bentley in his media interviews. And he has more chance of making it Arsenal than Bentley ever did.
I have but one question for the Blackburn player to answer. At four years younger than Bentley currently is, Cesc Fabregas has made nearly two hundred first team appearances with as many players in his way to the first team; so why did Bentley take until two years ago to register fifty for three clubs? A conundrum that not even Carol could solve…
Onto much nicer things; Happy Birthday, Mathieu Flamini. So would one be correct in assuming that a welcome present would be a phone call from your Agent that says agreement with the club over a new contract has been reached? As Jean-Luc Picard was wont to say, ‘Make it so’.
Flamini typifies the desire that Arsene has built the squad upon,
Milan was a great game and I have more and more confidence now. But what is important for a player is to play and I am playing and game after game I am becoming more and more confident. I want to take more responsibility
All I will say is that if his form is that of a player who is not filled with self-belief, then he is a young man who could turn out to be very special indeed. And at a minimum, a damn sight more media-savvy than David Bentley.
Eduardo meanwhile has found himself to be the centre of some substantially scurrilous rumours, to the extent that Arsene has had to drag himself away from directing his eloquent barbs at Bentley to refute claims being made. The depths to which the media plummet have now gone through the Earth’s core and simply put, enough is enough. Eduardo’s comments about the length of his recuperation are being misinterpreted so badly that wars have been started over more accurate translations. Nowhere in any interview that I have seen has he said he fears being out for fifteen months, only that others opinions are range from nine to fifteen months.
The reaction to the injury is telling; Arjen Robben might only be out for a month or so but the tackle made on him has been condemned throughout Spain with no sympathy for Quique Alvarez ,the perpetrator. Contrast that with the reaction to Taylor…
Ahead of the Wigan game, it seems that the treatment room is more crowded. Arsene noted that Abou Diaby has a calf strain following on from the Milan game, Theo Walcott amongst others played in a practice match – why??? – alongside RvP and now has a thigh problem and will not feature at the weekend. Kolo Toure and Alex Song seem closer to returns and surprisingly, Tomas Rosicky seems to be on course for a return, possibly next weekend, but more likely the match after.
‘til Tomorrow.
