A quick word on the week’s events and I think it’ll be very interesting watching Arsenal.com to see who gets ‘Player of the Month’.  Of course it should be Adebayor but given his recent behaviour might they fix it to give the award to someone else thus not to condone his recent violent conduct.  Who else is there though?  Maybe Hleb?

The boy’s scored seven goals this month, five in three consecutive games, that is outstanding form and he’s got a good shout for the Barclays ‘Player of the Month’ playing like that but again his behaviour will not be condoned by rewarding his talent.  I imagine they’ll take the easy option and give it to Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Another thing, where’s Paul Robinson when you need him eh?  He did so much for Arsenal during his time as No. 1.  I miss him.

If you look back two seasons at Real Madrid, in what was the last real season of the “Galacticos” era, 2006 was the year Real’s house of cards finally collapsed.  It’s strange how on paper you can have the best team the world has ever seen but eventually egos will take over and the team becomes it’s own worst enemy.  The likes of Zidane, Roberto Carlos etc. weren’t just too old but they had perhaps nothing left to prove.   

As an Arsenal fan I can’t help finding the final scene of ‘Goal 2: Living The Dream’ hilarious.  Set and filmed during the season in question it depicts Real winning the Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu by beating Arsenal 3-2.  The scene is clearly filmed during the actual visit of Arsenal in February 2006, and we all know what really happened that day.  Even better, I listened to the dvd commentary and it turns out that after that defeat the Real players had to then act out scenes using extras in Arsenal shirts of them beating Arsenal and winning the game.  Genius! 

But I don’t think this is the time to make fun of Madrid, they’ve come a long way since that 0-3 loss to Barca at the Bernabeu (a game often overlooked in England because of Arsenal’s result) and now it looks like those Spanish tables are quickly turning.  They look a different side under Schuster and the result at Camp Nou in December seems to sum up the season.  The egos have left Madrid and have infected Barcelona.  Henry, Deco and even Ronaldinho seem to be shadows of their former selves.  They’ve made their names already and clearly feel they don’t need to do it again.  Think what’s happened with Ballack and Shevchenko at Chelsea but with the whole team.  A real shame as Barcelona are a team I have admired from a distance for some time.  I think changes are in order down there. 

Speaking of egos at least Ronnie and Thierry have legacies to speak of, when someone with no glittering, trophy-laden career to speak of starts behaving like he’s too good for where he is the mind boggles.  I am talking of course about Mr. Dimitar Berbatov.  By far the most over-rated player in the premiership and he seems to think he’s too good for Tottenham.  Well I can’t wait to see his move (£30m!!!!???) to Man-U condemn him to a lifetime on the bench I really can’t, he’s no way good enough to make it in the top, top flight in my opinion.  A classic example of how a bad attitude can ruin a promising career.

Arsene Wenger says somewhere in the member’s area of the official Arsenal website about how everyone who has left Arsenal football club has lived to regret it.  Obviously he means it in the nicest possible way but looking at the more immediate and recent facts you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s more of a warning.

Robert Pires leaves Arsenal in June 2006 for Villareal and manages to break his leg ruling him out for a whole season, bad enough for any player but when you’re 32 and don’t have much playing time left it’s a slight pain in the buttocks.  Patrick Vieira left for Juventus and his house was gassed while he and his family were asleep leaving the burglars free to steal what they wanted, that is just terrifying.  Thierry Henry the poor bugger has been plagued by injury since he went to Spain and no matter how much the official Barca website chooses to gloss over it his first season at the club has been a massive disappointment.  Even the club’s president has come out and said that his transfer was a mistake and whoever decided to buy him should be punished.  Suddenly £16m doesn’t seem so bad after all. 

It’s not all people who I have sympathy for though, look at the results of the controversial Cole/Gallas transfer.  Gallas captaining the league leaders having scored six goals so far, Cole now not even a regular starter in a team who should think themselves lucky to be in the top four, hasn’t even come close to scoring (although contributed brilliantly to an own-goal last season).   The younger upstarts who believe their own hype at least manage mediocrity, Anelka has his pick of mid-table fodder, Bentley is doing great at Hughes’ over-rated new Blackburn side (wait for him to get a national call-up and then request a transfer to Chelsea, never to start a game again).  Of course there’s also Pennant who, erm, well you get the idea.   

It’s things like this that I wish players like Bendtner, Diarra and Diaby knew as well as I do.  I really rate these players and with us they could eventually become players of real quality, otherwise they’ll be the new Sidwells, Upsons, Larrsons.  Players that people “rate” but will probably never become anything special, never make a difference.  As Wenger pointed out in a recent interview no other big-club in the world gives young players a chance the way Arsenal do.  These kids need to see sense and fast, the curse of the Arse is an unforgiving phenomenon. 

Jens…  I’m saying this a friend… watch your back.

Ok, so let’s face it, Arsenal now are far better since the departure of Henry, his absence has liberated the younger players and they are now free to express themselves and it has paid dividends for Arsenal.  But really the way it’s been talked about recently has been insulting to the guy.  We’re talking about one of (if not the) best players the club has ever seen.  Or the Premiership for that matter. 

Thierry was a modern miracle of a player.  Yes he could be a bit of a cocky prick at times but for every time you’ve seen that think about the players who aren’t so great who behave even worse!  If one of the best players in the world is wrong to behave like that then who the f*ck do these people think they are.  Lampard, Barton and Anelka to name but a few, half the player he was and if they can get away with the way they behave then Henry can behave how he likes. 

Thierry was a shadow of his former-self last season and I think Wenger knew this, he knew letting him go was the right thing but if he’d done it in 2006 it’d be one hell of a PR disaster.  This season for Barca he’s been better than for Arsenal last season but nothing close to what he was for the Gunners in his peak, time catches up with all of us. He genuinely loved(s) Arsenal Football Club and even better than that he genuinely hated Spurs.  A true Gooner.   

It was painful seeing him in the form he was last year.  It was made worse when I was listening to our defeat to Fulham in November last year and the commentator was watching a Bolton game talking about Anelka and how “on his day, when he can be bothered, he’s better than Henry”.   Seriously, show me your 5-minute clip of Anelka “when he can be bothered”..…  and in return, I’ll lend you a 2-hour DVD

Think back to spring of this year, not too long ago and lining up against Blackburn at Ewood Park was (taking account of injuries and suspensions) the best Arsenal XI available.  That included a 17 year-old FA cup debutant in Armand Traore and the fearsome strike-partnership that was Julio (The Beast) Baptista and Jeremie (Mr Glass) Aliadiere.  Not to mention the 2^nd choice central defence of Senderos and Djourou and a bench that included Hoyte…  no, the other one (the 16-year-old).  While Chelsea bemoaned their injury “crisis” of missing two players Arsenal without Henry, Van Persie, Adebayor, Toure, Gallas, and Clichy were having to really scrape the barrel.  Fast-Forward eight months and we have the exact opposite problem, I can’t help feeling sorry for Gilberto Silva, joint player of the season last time (with Cesc) and he’s not only snubbed for the captaincy but finding himself second-choice altogether.  Is it wrong to say I’d almost like to see Flamini just take a tiny tiny niggle just to give Gilbs a chance (yes it’s very wrong because it tempts fate).

He’s dealt with it with fantastic dignity though so you have to give credit to him and it puts Lehmann’s behaviour in perspective.  He’s embarrassed himself completely and that’s very disappointing having been the hero in the Champions League not so long ago, if you’re wondering if he’ll still be around after January take notice that he never “expects to play” before a CL game.  Don’t want to get cup-tied now do we Jens. 

I have to say I’m very worried about the Carling Cup trip to Blackburn, we’ve struggled there in the last few years and the last time they really turned the cuntyness up to 11 (Savage stamping on Fabregas’ head etc), do our younger players have the stamina to deal with a team like that (especially since Mark Hughes seems to have brought in some actual football players as well now).  Speaking of Hughes his comments about Van persie (I can’t remember where I read it but some reaction to VP’s criticism of Blackburn saying “Van Persie’s not the whitest player”) were just hilarious, it’s not what he’s saying as he’s not far off but it’s who’s saying them:-  a vicious cheating-twat of a player who’s become a vicious cheating-oaf of a manager managing a team of vicious, cheating cunts.   

Nothing to say about the Man-Utd game that hasn’t been said already other than I’m really starting to grow fond of William Gallas.  He’s definitely improved as a player since he’s had a good run in the side (a lot of people have been doubtful of his partnership with Toure), having a big mouth isn’t always bad (his pre-slavia press-conference where they ask him about Chelsea is a delight), plus he’s attempting a Mohawk which is fantastic.