The Crow - Young duo are our future (just like I said they were!)
Published: 5 May, 2011
ARSENAL
IT’S not for me to compare myself with the internationally renowned football genius Arsene Wenger, others can do that. (Regulars will obviously recognise I last used that line in March 2008, thanks for your loyalty.)
But in last week’s column I suggested Arsenal should build the team around Wilshere and Ramsey. Go to the cat litter tray, check the text, I wrote it right here. Last week.
And what happened next? Ramsey and Wilshere ran the show on Sunday as Arsenal beat Manchester United, possibly future champions of England and Europe. Ramsey scored the goal and you hardly noticed the absence of Cesc Fabregas. These two guys offer a bright future for the Gunners, if Wenger can keep them together that is.
Sometimes during action replays of Arsenal mistakes you can see Wilshere in the background looking puzzled at his team-mates, bemused by their inability to do simple things. Like kick. Or jump. The frown he had in the Carling Cup final said it all. No wonder he’s keen to try and win something with the England kids this summer. Fabregas has done his fill of frowning and you can’t argue that he hasn’t earned a move. Wilshere and Ramsey on the other hand haven’t played through Arsenal’s horror show of goalkeeping bungles, missed open goals and the near misses at silverware in recent years. The money men of Chelsea and Manchester City won’t interest them until they have. Let’s hope in three years’ time, that’s still the case.
RICHARD OSLEY
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
HARRY Redknapp was humble in defeat as Spurs’ meagre run at Stamford Bridge carried on with a 2-1 loss.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer said that although Frank Lampard’s attempt did not cross the line and Salomon Kalou’s goal was offside, Chelsea deserved the win!
How much do we pay him a year?
Rival fans will flap and crow and have a good laugh about those decisions, until it happens to them. Though if Gomes could catch we’d be talking about something else!
Another example from the weekend is Nemanja Vidic’s handball for Manchester United against Arsenal. He wasn’t punished because every official on the pitch apparently missed it. My question is how? If Arsenal had lost: could you imagine Arsene Wenger saying, “it was an honest decision by the linesman but a wrong one?” Before you hear those lyrics come out of his mouth, he’d be a ball boy for Spurs, Thierry Henry would be back in the Arsenal side playing well and George Graham would be installed as defensive coach.
I could see from my sofa that the ball wasn’t over the line and I didn’t need a video replay to see that Kalou was offside throughout the whole passage of play leading to that second goal. Yet, here we are in 2011, still having to endure human errors that undeniably change games.
It’s time for some accountability. You cannot expect players and fans to show respect to officials that persistently demand more column inches than the game itself.
TONY DALLAS