Definitely. I don't believe for a second Arsenal would buy Barry though. Not for £18m. How did they get on in t'Emirates Cup yesterday?
Emirates Cup results. Day One: Hamburg 1 Real Madrid 2 Arsenal 0 Juventus 1 (Trezeguet was off-side!!!) Day Two: Hamburg 3 Juventus 0 (Absolutely crazy final minute. Olic scores, Juve mess around from the kick off so Hamburg nick the ball, run past a completely static Juve defence and Olic makes it 3-0 in less than a minute) Arsenal 1 Real Madrid 0 (Adebayor penalty and much badge kissing afterwards) So, based on the 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 1 point per goal system, Hamburg win the Emirates Cup, Real second, Arsenal third, Juventus last. Everyone goes home with a win. Arsenal probably should have beaten Juventus, Juve only really had two chances and both were offside. The big news out of the tournament is that Wesley Sneijder damaged his cruciate ligament and may be out for several months. This may accelerate Real's bid for Cristano Ronaldo. I am more impressed with Jack Wilshire every time I see him. Guess what, England fans, he's fast, he's strong, he can beat people with skill and pace, he's fearless going in to challenges and he's left footed!
Being ENGLISH he will either never get played at Arsenal or get his skill and attacking nature beaten out of him at international level like with Rooney who I swore once used to run at defenders and make them looks awful.
Wenger has promoted Wilshire to the reserves at 16, two years ahead of schedule. The last player he did that with was Cesc Fabregas. Standard progression at Arsenal is Academy, U18s, Reserves, First Team. He has skipped the U18's entirely. Of course Arsene will take his time with him, but there's no need to rush him and end up with him being the next David "Now Now Now!" Bentley. If he's got his head on straight and doesn't demand everything handed to him on a plate like Bentley did then he'll be a big success at Arsenal.
Interesting, Liverpool's Sebastian Leto has had his Italian passport revoked. This means he has had to apply for a work permit as an Argentinian and the Department of Work and Pensions has turned him down. He has now signed for Olympiakos on a two year loan deal.
To be fair I didn't watch too much of Arsenal, but I got the impression he didn't give the defence too much confidence. He didn't appear to dominate his area, and usually seemed rooted to his line like a good old English shot-stopper. Just my possibly ill-formed opinion Benitez rumbled once again! If he were any good, he would have finished above Arsenal and won more trophies than Arsene. Hang on a minute...
Yeah, it's disappointing really. Supposedly the Italian government are cracking down on south Americans invoking their Italian ancestry, and there were question marks over the validity of his passport. He's highly rated at Melwood, and has looked pretty good with the reserves and in pre-season. He couldn't play for most of last season as well. Apparently Torres raves about his service from the left.
Don't mean to be rude but that's correct - it is an ill-informed opinion. Almunia was the least of our problems. Counting Champions League, UEFA Cup, top flight domestic league and cup trophies Rafa Benitez has won 7 in his time at Liverpool and at Valencia. Arsene Wenger has won 11 in his time at Monaco, Grampus Eight and Arsenal. And Arsenal finished third this past season, Liverpool finished fourth.
Fair enough, I'll take your word for it. I find goalkeepers are the hardest for the neutral to get a good idea of - you are only likely to remember when things go wrong, or the brilliant saves. Wenger admittedly has age on his side, having managed for over ten years longer. In the past four years, when they've both been in charge of English clubs, Benitez has been the more successful.
Though given the relative strengths of the two squads in 2004, I'd say he had a much bigger job to do. You'd just had the most incredible season (hell, I wanted you to win), with a team brimming with world class talent, whereas we'd scraped fourth, played truly awful football, and our best player was already on a plane to Madrid. Anyway, lets hope for a better season for both teams.
Or better still, both of them, and Chelski and Man Utd, both fail miserably for a variety of reasons, and the cups go to Wigan, Stoke, FC Twente and Aberdeen! Just kidding. I'm not a "top 4"-ophobe really. Although if Liverpool or Arsenal DO win the Premiership this year, my life will be unbearable such will be the level of gloating my supporter-friends. Although, again, in saying that, Chelsea and Man Utd are now both missing some of their best players (I'm using the term loosely as regards Rooney), so maybe if Arsenal and Liverpool start well and continue it into say December or January (as I believe they did last year until Reading and Boro were visited) maybe they WILL get a better shot at the title this time! ETA also Arsenal fans, have you noticed that it seems traditional now at this time of year for all the pundits and media to write off your team and claim Tottenham will finish above you this coming season? It was idiotic last year, and for it to be happening again this time is insane.
Nobody can say we didn't have a "shot" at the title. We came up four points short and had leads at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge that would have done it.
True. You seemed to utterly shatter after the Birmingham game though, and that run from that game onwards cost you ultimately. BREAKING NEWS! RANGERS are OUT of all European competition this year! They lost 1-0 to Kaunas earlier today. Apparently they were playing for the draw. If that's true, I am really glad they're out - their play in Europe annoyed me last year and now it's cost them both the UEFA Cup final and any Euro action all season long. I wonder if the headhunters will start calling for Walter Smith to be sacked...
I don't deny that. The idea that Arsenal somehow lack experience does make me laugh though, especially when we're being told that young players can't make it at the club either.
^Well, Manchester will be for sure. They, at the very least, should have been playing a good few games behind closed doors for that.