Goodplaya on Friday: please win, f*****g w****r?, seeds, cards and a lot more
Blimey, it’s Goodplaya on Friday on a Friday morning! Wonders will never cease.
Please please please just win. For me.
The absence of Alex Song is a worry. It always seems to be the way that your most reliable performer picks up a knock or a ban when you need him most. I know I’ve said it before, but blimey, I can’t believe I’ve just written that.
When we were playing well the fact we were having to wait a while for the first goal (not one in the first 15 minutes all season), mattered little. Now it’s more of an issue because as we’ve seen in both the Chelsea and Spurs games, the first goal is vital.
The team I’d go with? Almunia (on the premise you may as well at least be consistent with who you choose), Sagna, Traore, Gallas, Vermaelen, Cesc, Denilson, Ramsey (not immaculate, but we could do with a bit of spark), Arshavin, Eduardo and Rosicky.
Arsenal TV’s Friday night show and tomorrow’s Stoke matchday show are available for free on the official web site this weekend and I’ve also got a six month subscription to the station to give away. To be in with a chance, simply tell me at GOODPLAYABLOGremove these lowercase characters@GMAIL.COM what was vaguely remarkable about the goal Ian Wright scored to beat Man City 1-0 at Highbury in the 1992-1993 season. If you were a Gooner at the time it’s a nice trip down memory lane. If you weren’t it’s a good chance to consult the online histories and swot up on your knowledge.
Arsene was a little bit disparaging in his assertion that Didier Drogba doesn’t do a lot but he did at least find time to slip in a “goodplaya” comment when he said: “He’s a good player.” That one will join the other 50 odd rotating to your right.
The handshake
I’m not someone who believes a handshake is a human right, as I’ve said before. If he was indeed called a f*****g w****r (as reports suggest) by Hughes then he was entirely right to tell him to get stuffed.
Nobody, least of all a man who has achieved zilch as a manager, talks to Arsene Wenger like that. I know it’s not the way he does things but my frustration is Arsene didn’t come out and say that was why he’d refused the shake.
I suspect the reaction would have been quite different and Hughes, who wasted no time in broadcasting to the world when Cesc had a go at him, would have suddenly looked a lot less clever.
Farce 1
Forgive me if I’m being really, really thick here but surely the whole point of rankings is that they provide an objective representation of who the best teams are, precisely to avoid a stitch-up?
Yes, seedings for individual tournaments in tennis will vary from the rankings according to the surface it’s being played on. But in football’s case this system should have been worked out years ago and stuck to.
Farce 2
Vennegoor of Hesselink was two yards out at the time. Yet it seems when you’re that near the goal it no longer counts as a clear goalscoring chance and no red card was shown and nobody batted an eyelid. Bizarre.
… is a greedy…..
I suspect the reality is it makes little difference either way. Ian Wright also reckons we’re only booing Cole because he’s a good player.
Could the more simple explanation be that playing Chelsea seems the opportune moment to remind Cole that many people still regard him as a greedy little s**t?
Goodplaya responds
Raj says:
Goodplaya says
It’s a fair point, though it’s also a risk that teams such as Chelsea regularly take. I suppose in the case of central defence, the problem is we lack cover.
Bill says:
Goodplaya says
You do worry that had we been 2-0 up at the Bridge they would have got back into it.
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