Luis Nani: what a berk
So, we may have finally officially lost the title but at least we don’t have to put up with anyone like this…
Oh, wait…
…oh well.
If one wins the double the other wins exactly as much as Arsenal
So there you have it. Not only will Manchester United or Chelsea be winning the English Premiership this season but one of them will be winning the Champions League as well. One word comes to mind: ‘greedy’.
Seriously though, it’s incredible how close either side are to achieving the coveted League-Champions League double given how difficult this task has proven to be in the past. What’s just as incredible is the fact that if one of the sides achieves it then the other will come away from this season with exactly the same amount of silverware as Arsenal. None, if you hadn’t already realised. As has been said a lot over the past few weeks by many people trying to make sense of where it all went wrong for Arsene Wenger’s side, it’s very much a fine line between success and failure at this level of football.
Personally I was hoping for a Barcelona-Chelsea final with the Spanish side eventually running out the winners. The team I least wanted to make the final was United - oh, how I despise them! - but I guess one out of two isn’t bad, especially considering the dreaded Liverpool-United final was avoided. And much as I hate to admit it, Barcelona’s toothlessness up front means United are deserved finalisists. The same can be said of Chelsea, who were just too clever and experienced for a previously fortunate Liverpool side that should never have been in the semi-final in the first place.
Who do I want to win? Well, I have to admit I’ll be a one-eyed Blues supporter on May 21. Much as I have disliked them in the past and still do to a certain extent, the burning hatred I have for Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo and the respect I have for both Michael Ballack and Mickael Essien as well as Avram Grant makes it an easy choice.
Having said that, should Chelsea sneak the league then I might have to reconsider my choice. Either way, it should be a cracker of a game and much as I dislike the two teams involved, I do enjoy a good game of football.
As you can guess there’s not much Arsenal news floating around at the moment and virtually all of it focuses on the Mathieu Flamini contract saga. While there is still no official word on whether he is staying or going the suggestion is that he will be playing for the club against Everton on the weekend. Very, very interesting.
Should the Frenchman go then it is, of course, essential that he is replaced. Or is it? GilbertoSilver at Gunnerblog thinks the club may already have a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings. Can you guess who it is? And no, it’s not Philippe Senderos. Or Emmanuel Eboue. Sigh.
Before I go it might be worth pointing out the recent addition of the ‘Twitter’ comment box in right-hand sidebar of the blog. Basically I’m just going to use this little widget to convey my more impulsive thoughts during the course of the day as well as to communicate more directly with the regular readers of the blog. Let me know what you think and if you’re already a Twitter user, be sure to add me. If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about then you can check it all out here. Any feedback would be welcome and appreciated.
While I’m at it I might also add that if you’re a Facebook user (which I’m sure a lot of you are) then be sure to stay in touch with blog via the Arsenal FC Blog Readers group. Cheers, and have a good one!
What do you think?
Have your say on a potential United/Chelsea double or Flamini’s contract by leaving a comment.
My final plea to Flamini + Dimitrov to sign?
Six goals scored, two conceded and all-in-all it was a stroll in Pride Park for the Arsenal boys against Derby. So much of a stroll that I can’t really be bothered talking about it, so I won’t.
What I will talk about is how wonderful it is for the club to still be in with a chance of winning the Premiership with two games to go. However improbable the chances are of Arsenal actually winning it the simple fact that mathematically they can shows the improvement that Arsene Wenger’s side have made on last season. As such, they should be commended for their efforts.
Moving along to the Mathieu Flamini situation now, and the manager made a rather inconspicuous comment regarding his future as an Arsenal player in the press conference following the Derby game.
“I’m waiting for him to come back to me and tell me whether he’s going.”
As the blog was out of action for so long I’ve yet to give my opinion on this but essentially for the past two weeks I have been crossing my fingers, toes and various other parts of my body in the hope that Flamini will stay. I’ve said time and time again that I thought he was the best player at the club this season and and to lose him would be a real shame.
Nevertheless, the club does have wage structures in place and if they cannot keep him without adhering to what is in place then neither the manager nor the club can be blamed for letting him go. This is more down to how much Flamini really enjoys playing for the club and playing with his mates and I will be holding out until the last second that he will make the right decision, which is of course to stay at Arsenal. Either way, I’m sure we will see how things pan out very, very shortly.
In the off chance that Flamini might be reading this can I just say to him, “Please, please, pleeeeeeeease stay! Pleaaaaaaase!” Glad I got that off my chest.
Other bits and pieces to come out of the Derby game was news of another potential Robin van Persie injury and the manager’s praise for 30-goal Emmanuel Adebayor. It’s all quite run of the mill sort of stuff and not really worth going into in any more detail.
What is worth going into is the relatively exciting word on the street that 20-year-old Bulgarian winger Nikolay Dimitrov may be signing from Levski Sofia. I ran a story way back in January saying that Dimitrov was trialing with the club and given this report I just have a funny feeling that he will be signed soon. Having said that, I had a funny feeling back in January too and it didn’t amount to much so as with the Flamini situation we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully he doesn’t turn out to be another Rodrigo Palacio.
That’s all for today. Can you believe that the boys are still in with a chance of winning the league? It’s utterly, utterly bizarre in my opinion.
What do you think?
Have your say on the win over Derby, Flamini or Dimitrov by leaving a comment.
Four Arsenal players named but one harshly excluded from the PFA Team of the Season
As you’ve probably already worked out by now, the blog is back online. As I said in yesterday’s brief apology post, I’ve been battling with some technical issues that effectively forced the blog offline but I’m happy to see they have since been rectified. I have to say it feels good to be back.
Somewhat surprisingly - considering the way Arsenal’s season has hit the proverbial brick wall - there’s been a hell of a lot of talking points over the past couple of weeks, including Mathieu Flamini’s and Alexandr Hleb’s potential departures to Italy, the mystery over who will be captain of the club next season, potential transfer targets for the summer as well as the fact that thanks to Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday, Arsenal are still a mathematical chance of winning the Premiership. I know when the word ‘mathematical’ pops up in the context of winning things it usually means it’s a long shot - and make no mistake, it is - but it’s still a little bit exciting nonetheless.
I’ll have more to say on some of the other talking points another time, but before then I want to discuss the big news of today; that of Cesc Fabregas being voted as the PFA Young Player of the Season as well as being voted into the Team of the Season alongside three other Arsenal players; Emmanuel Adebayor, Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy.
Fabregas’ awarding of the Young Player Award is definitely a funny one considering that one of the other candidates, Cristiano Ronaldo, was deservedly voted as the overall PFA Player of the Season. I can’t really see how someone can be voted as the best player in the league and not then win a virtual sub-category of the same award if they are eligible. I know footballers tend not to be the most intelligent people on the planet so maybe that explains how this could have happened.
Regardless, it is a great tribute to the consistency and overall effort that Fabregas has shown throughout the course of the season and I am delighted to see him get the award. Fabregas was the one who really got the ball rolling for the club with a number of important goals in the early part of the season and his partnership with Flamini was a key factor in Arsenal’s title charge. After receiving the award the little Spaniard dedicated the trophy to his teammates as well as the supporters of the club.
“This is for all the team, and all the fans, because all together we have had good season even though we haven’t won anything at the end. This is thanks to them as well.”
I’ll be the first to say ‘Cheers!’ and I hope you will too. He’s always shown a great respect and understanding for what it means to play for Arsenal, Fabregas, and never seems to take things for granted which I particularly like about him. Hopefully he can use the Young Player award to springboard onto getting the Overall Player of the Year next time around. I wouldn’t put it past him.
As for the other three - Adebayor, Clichy and Sagna - their places in the Team of the Season are also pretty hard to argue against. Clichy and Sagna were two of Arsenal’s most consistent performers this season, playing with endless energy and creativity whilst still remaining rock-solid at the back. Although a third Frenchman, Patrice Evra, might see himself as a little unlucky to have been ousted for Clichy I do feel that the Arsenal man has been the more important contributor to his side. As for Sagna, the speed with which he settled into Premiership football was remarkable and given that he was just one of two ‘major’ signings for the club before the last season you have to say it was money well spent and further vindication of Arsene Wenger’s ability to turn unknowns into superstars.
The inclusion of Adebayor will, of course, polarise opinions. There is a group of supporters who think he is pretty useless and another group that see him as a pretty handy player and I must say that I very much fall into that second group. He’s been a monster for the club at times this season and the trouble he has caused defences along with his impressive goal tally more than warrants a selection in the Team of the Season.
Flamini a harsh exclusion?
It is interesting to note that while Arsenal had four players in the Team of the Season, Manchester United had only three (Ronaldo as well as Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic) while Chelsea - who could well win the league - had none. I think that says a lot about the consistency of some of the players in the Arsenal side as well as illustrating the dependence that Wenger placed on too few this season.
I have to say as well that although I feel that Arsenal don’t deserve to have five players in the side I do find it a bit hard to believe that Mathieu Flamini was excluded from the team given the absolutely outstanding season he has had for the club. I’d even go as far to say that I think Fabregas can count himself a little lucky to be named ahead of his colleague and good friend. You can check out the entire list of award winners as well as the PFA Team of the Season here.
Arsenal do, of course, have a game to play tonight against Derby County and the way the Rams have gone this season anything less than a win for Wenger’s side would be nothing short of an embarrassment. There’s not much more to say other than it’s an away game and Lukasz Fabianski will be making his debut in the Premiership. I’ll be watching it and for whatever reason I’m actually looking forward to it. After all, a win and the boys are only four points off the top! The league is still on I tell you! Heh heh.
As I said before, it feels good to be back and I assure you there will be more tomorrow. Cheers.
What do you think?
Have your say on the PFA Team of the Season by leaving a comment.
The Arsenal FC Blog will be back tomorrow…
Hey all, Spanish Fry here.
Just a quick word to let you all know that the blog will be back up and running as of tomorrow. I’ve been battling with some technical issues that essentially shut things down for a couple of weeks which I sincerely apologise for.
I wish I could have sorted things sooner but computer issues are not really my strong point and I have only just recently fixed it all up. I’ll have a match preview for the Derby game up tomorrow and things should be back to normal from here on.
Thanks for your understanding and patience.
