Ramblings of a Brit abroad

Well, here we are 3 weeks into the new Premiership season and 2 clubs already have a “Vacancy” sign on the Managers door.

Alan Curbishley has walked away from the Hammers and Kevin Keegan away from Newcastle, and to be perfectly honest, who can blame them. Back when I was a lad, a manager was a manager, he bought and sold players, he picked the team, he had total control over training methods and staff and therefore he kept his job or was fired based on his results. The Board was there merely to advise if necessary and to provide the readies for a dip into the transfer market if the Manager deemed it necessary.

He certainly didn’t have the owner tell him who to buy, who to sell, or worse, be told that a player had been sold without his knowledge. I suspect the tone of the conversation from both Mssrs. Keegan and Curbishley was ” I don’t need this B******s, I’m off… find your self a new puppet.”

Quite frankly, I applaud the pair of them. Sir Alice certainly wouldn’t put up with that kind of c**p and I’m pretty sure that Professor Wenger wouldn’t either.

So who will be next off the managerial Merry-Go-Round. Mr. Scolari perhaps, Certainly, Abramovich has a lot more influence on the team than he would let on. How will Mark Hughes get on with his new paymasters ? How long will Levy at Spurs give Ramos?

There are some Managers who I would bet my house on, not leaving this season. Martin O’Neil, Rafa Benitez and David Moyes for example, along with Ferguson and Wenger, but the rest… not so sure.

Well, that’s it then. Another season is pretty much over and the Gunners Silverware cupboard is once again looking pretty sparse. Not so long ago they were flying high with a good lead and looking like the team to beat.

Looking back there was one defining moment where it all came unraveled. Saturday 23rd February 2008 at around 3.03 pm. That was the moment a bone shattering tackle on Eduardo by Taylor of Birmingham freaked out the team to such an extent that including that game, Arsenal picked up just 8 points from the next 21 available. With Man U and Chelski only a few points back, you just cannot give up that kind numbers. As a young team, it was a shock to all around and you could see on the Arsenal players faces that they were shaken. Confidence is everything when you are chasing a title and they just seemed to lose it.

There are a few other factors which I think may have contributed to this seasons poor run in. The lack of a fit Van Persie has been obvious all season. Sure, Bendtner and Walcott will come good but they are not quite in RVP’s class as yet. Rosicky’s constant on-off fitness has also been a blow. Thank heavens for Fabregas and Flamini who held the midfield together as a near constant.

Speaking of Flamini, what is he thinking. Off to AC Milan as a free agent. I think I saw him called “FlaMoney” on one blog. At best, he will be a bit part player at Milan. He’ll drop down the pecking order for starts both at Milan and more than likely, France. He will regret leaving…. they all do…. one day.

So, to the future. Our young guns will go for it again next year. A year stronger and a year wiser. We need to strengthen. In the keeping department we should be OK. We need to bring in a world class central defender. Toure and Gallas are OK but Senderos has been found wanting on more than one occasion. Flamini will be missed but I am sure that one of several youngsters could fill the gap. Denilson looks a good prospect but maybe he needs to toughen up a bit.

No doubt Carlos Vela will be called back from his loan at Osasuna. He looks a great player and one for the future.

Maybe we also need one more proven goalscorer. I know the name of David Villa has been thrown into the ring but I think he’ll probably go to Madrid. Lets hope Eduardo recovers well and is available early in the new season.

One last thought. This season has gone very quickly, but I have still missed Challenge Lawro. Come on BBC, flash some of that outrageous license fee and get it up and running again “Bigger and Better” as promised.

Much like Arsene Wenger, I refuse to concede the Premiership title. It is still there to be won. I would be the first to admit that after the Gunners 1-1 draw with Liverpool yesterday, things looked bleak, but then wouldn’t you know it, Boro went and upset the odds again. Annoying isn’t it. They just seem to raise their game when the big teams come to town.

As I see it, this weekend’s big winners were Chelsea who now sit only 3 points behind United and with Arsenal playing United next weekend and United still to go to Chelsea, this is far from over.

With all 3 teams still involved in Champions League stuff as well, this could be one of the best run ins in recent years.

Add to this an FA Cup final between Portsmouth and Cardiff, no wonder this is the greatest game on the planet.

At the start of today, the odds of both Manchester United and Chelsea being out of the FA Cup must have been huge.

Whilst United were at home, they were playing Portsmouth and would have been odds on favourites to take the tie handsomely. Unfortunately, Harry Redknapp has a habit of dumping United out of the Cup and he went and did it again today. By all accounts, United had the lions share of the game and could have had it wrapped up by half time, but missed chances and more heroics from David James kept Pompey in it. With the second half drawing to a close, Tomasz Kuszczak, on at half time for the injured Van de Saar, brought down Baros inside the area and was sent off for his trouble, although replays show he was not even close to being the last defender. Sulley Muntari dispatched the resulting penalty past stand in keeper Rio Ferdinand for Pompey to record a famous win. Apparently Sir Alex is not happy as only 4 minutes of stoppage time was played where his watch indicated 17 minutes according to one Darren Adams.

In the other game, Chelsea were even bigger favourites to beat Barnsley, although the Yorkshire team had already knocked out Liverpool in an earlier round. Again, the Premiership side had most of the ball but scores were level at half time. Chelsea fell to a sucker punch when a long ball was played into the box by Martin Devaney and Kayode Odejayi outjumped Cudicini in the Chelsea goal to power the header home. Chelsea laid siege to the Barnsley goal for the last 20 minutes but to no avail.

So 1-0 defeats for both Chelsea and United. Favourites for the cup now must be Portsmouth. It’ll be interesting to see what the semis throw up after tomorrows games.

Tonight in Milan, something had to give. Arsenal had never been knocked out of Europe by an Italian team. AC Milan had never lost at home to a team from England. The odds were pretty favorable on a Milan win. Nobody mentioned that to Arsene and his merry band of youngsters.

For the first 15 minutes, it looked like the odds were right with Milan having the majority of the ball, but slowly Arsenal go back to their game and started passing the ball. What was most unlike Arsenal was the tenacity that they were showing in the tackling. Of course, the Italians did their usual and went down like sacks of spuds thrown from the back of a grocers lorry at Covent Garden but it didn’t seem to rattle the Gunners. Fabregas hit the bar, Diaby went close, Hleb was caught on the very edge of the box for what looked like a free kick at worst but got booked for diving. The first half finished honours even.

The second half started well for Arsenal with the same kind of commitment shown in the first half. Milan were being outplayed and you could see it in their faces. This shouldn’t be happening at home.

Finally the breakthrough. Fabregas picked up the ball just inside the Milan half and headed forward. The defenders backed off and our Csec thought he’d have a go from all of 30 yards. It skidded off the turf and past the giant Milan keeper who was a little slow getting down. With only 9 minutes left, Milan had to push forward and were caught on the break by a great run from the recently introduced Walcott who skipped past a challenge and centered for Adebayor to fire into an empty net.

On the night the right team won and it was a night for the youngsters. Of course, Fabregas looked the world class player we know he is, Walcott looked sharp when he came on, so much so that Milan moved Maldini from his duties on that side because of his pace. Also a word about Pato of Milan. At 18 years old, it looks like there is another Brazilian sharp shooter that needs to be watched. I have seen him play a few times now and he has always impressed.

But tonight is Arsenals night. I wonder who we’ll get next.