Adebayor, An Old Footballing Clichy & JR Strikes Back

With international fervour swiftly passing me by, it is just as well that the Togo team coach is happy to pick Emmanuel Adebayor, for it seems no-one else is. Having approved of his departure to be Cheerleader In Chief, the Arsenal manager is apparently unhappy that Adebayor will play against Cameroon. As it happens, the return to fitness of Walcott and Eduardo almost negate those fears. If Adebayor aggravates his injury and is out for say, a week, we have different options. On the other hand, he could come back a little sharper than he was before.

I suspect Arsene would prefer he did not play and that the boy is fit for Manchester City as a substitute, perhaps starting in the Champions League quarter final first leg as a different option to Bendtner. Much will depend on his fitness, obviously, but more importantly, his touch. Villarreal are a similar team to Arsenal, the major difference appears to be their inability to keep things tight defensively with three clean sheets in their last nineteen games not being a record they will be entirely proud of. If Arsenal are to profit in Spain, a sharp Adebayor is essential if he starts although that assumes Wenger does not go with Eduardo instead.

Not that it matters because he is off to Milan thanks to a £35m bid being prepared that is in no way related to the bid of a similar amount last year that was talked up by Team Adebayor and no-one else. There is something about the Milanese and Arsenal though, they have to sign two of our players or none at all. Luckily they want Gael Clichy as well. Might be a bit of a problem on the cash front though as his Mr20% reckons Arsenal rejected a £23m bid from Manchester City in January which means the Italians would need to find around £70m for the pair. Still when they sell Kakakakakakaka to Real in July, it shouldn’t be a problem. Gael may like to ponder the point made in the Daily Telegraph about players who leave Arsenal. They are all doomed, I tell you.

It was with a warm heart that I read the translation of Samir Nasri‘s interview with L’Equipe. Aah but why, I hear you ask? Well, not just that he quashed the comparisons with Zinedine Zidane, just about the only thing he did not say was “I want to be the first Samir Nasri“, although that may have meant talking in the third person about yourself, a truly scary linguistic event. No, it was the use of the word ‘blather‘ by the translator. A good old-fashioned English word (from 1524, no less) that has disappeared into the ether of time, along with ‘tish‘, ‘tosh‘, ‘piffle‘ and ‘codswallop‘. There is of course, a derivation that is not much different in construct but it is an old Swiss word, ‘blatter‘, which is a harsher way of saying ‘full of sh*t‘.

Nasri though is looking towards a time when he can play more regularly in the centre of midfield, believing that the absence of a strictly defensive midfielder should not be a barrier to him partnering Cesc Fabregas on a more permanent basis:

I am not against playing in a more defensive role. I quite like it – you start from far away and you are face-to-face with the action. Is it exhausting to work from box to box? It depends with who you are playing with. Flamini and Fabregas were complementary with Arsenal last year. The second one should not attack often.

I see no problem with Nasri in the middle but to have him holding back to cover another player is not the most formidable barrier to a swift counter-attack at this moment in time. His choice to compare himself with Cesc and Flamini is not wide of the mark although I would cast him more of a Fabregas than anything else. Flamini had a solid grounding in the defensive role and was comfortable enough with its’ duties to play at left back. That is not a position that I would even vaguely consider Nasri for as it would a waste of his not inconsiderable talents.

John Radford no less, believes that Arsene may have been blattering on when he spoke of the title:

Well, Wenger is confident of his team all the time and while there are points left to be played for we can hope, but just to finish in the top four, after all we have put up with this season, would be brilliant. And who knows? Maybe we can finish higher. It is in our reach and we have to be confident.

Raddy was more optimistic about the Champions League and FA Cup challenges:

We’re still in the FA Cup and Champions League, and the way we are beginning to get our act together, I honestly think we can win one, if not both of them

Nothing like blind optimism, more of it from ex-pros turned pundits would not go amiss. Radford’s description of being in ‘dreamland‘ if old big ears is delivered and I suspect that a fair number of supporters would die happy men and women if it happened, completing the full set of trophies in a lifetime. Aah but what of the World Club Championship, I hear you ask. Well, technically, Arsenal did win that in 1989 or 1988 when they beat Independiente 1 – 0, I think, in Miami. Not the full blown FIFA version but a match billed as that nonetheless so having won the Premier League, First Division, FA Cup, League Cup, Charity Shield, Fairs Cup and Cup Winners Cup, the Champions League is the last trinket to adorn the trophy cabinet. And why list that little lot? No reason other than it is nice to remember a slice of the club’s history.

Anyway, off we trot from that. ’til Tomorrow.