Morning All…
For those of you anywhere near or in the UK, you will most likely be very much like myself and completely freezing. You know when it’s cold when the 7 heaters and oven don’t keep you warm enough… how on earth footballers play in this weather…! Going back to Tuesday’s game and there was a little side-kick in front of me – a little girl, aged maybe 7… who was more livid then most of the crowd… imagine the cutest little thing in the world saying “Ref, that should be a yellow card”… or “Ref, that was a ‘orrible tackle”…
So, the draw for the semi finals of the Carling Cup was made last night… after Birmingham beat Villa and Ipswich beat a relatively in form West Brom to set up a tie against no other than Roy Keane’s side themselves…. Ipswich vs Arsenal… should be a doddle hey?
There were some very unsavoury moments after the Birmingham game, which was very very disappointing to see in this day and age… after their game, there was a crowd invasion, a fight or 10, a flare or two and an ambush of a coach… not what the modern game is all about by any means.
Back to all things down at the Grove…
The key thing with this group of players is that we need to start winning things and if the Carling Cup is the thing that we win first, then let it be. Many people say that we normally don’t take the competition that seriously – but in actual fact, we’ve been in 5 of the last 8 semi-finals… now that says something surely? With our extremely young players on loan, and a few new faces in the first team, our Carling Cup has naturally been stronger this year than previous years – and with this season, we’ve all seen that Arsene is more focused on winning it than ever before…
But he’s not the only one who shares that sentiment… our bit part, sometimes dynamic, sometimes static midfielder, Denilson is certain we can win the Carling Cup – and that after that we can win the FA Cup, the Premier League and the Champions League…
“I think we can win it this season, and I want to win it this season because for five years we haven’t won any trophies. But now we are a little bit stronger than last season. Last season we lost some big games, and this season we are more experienced. We have a great team, we have young players, but quality as well. We have young players and we have character. We have to focus on every single game. If we focus on every single game we have a chance to win – not only the Carling Cup, but also the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Premier League, which are more important for us. Sometimes I feel sad because people say that Arsène Wenger won’t pay for experienced players or old players. If we work together and help each other, and give 100 per cent in training and games as well, we can win this year.”
I do love the positivity, but at the same time, I wouldn’t mind some acknowledgement of the really bad performances at home (losing 3 home games we really should have won), and what happened there… but they say you’re only as good as your last game and our last game wasn’t that bad at all!
In other news, Cesc has been in the news and also wrote in his programme notes that he won’t be rushed back into action – he will come back when he is ready… I wonder how his last couple of injuries have actually come about and whether they were related to being rushed back in the first place – and I suspect that they were very much so. Let’s hope both Cesc and Arsene learn their lesson and ensure Cesc is fit and raring to go when he’s back… in his own time – and in a way, he’s had a little winter break…
And finally in the Inter-Carling Cup / pre Fulham game… I had a very weird dream yesterday that I was in a room down at the Emirates devising ways of making money so we could buy a new player in January. On the right of me, I had Arsene Wenger playing darts – and on the left of me was Robert Pires… we were brainstorming ideas for raising money and my idea of signing snow wasn’t going down well… no more cheese before bed time…
Adios for now mes amigos….
