Self Destruction Blues
The fall - out from the Champions League and Theirry Henry's decision to remain at Arsenal continues. Over the weekend, Patrick Barclay and Hugh McIlvanney both chastised the Frenchman and Le Boss for their reactions immediately after the final whistle in Paris. Accusing the pair of being sore losers, both lamented the reaction and the absence of the "Corinthian Spirit", contrasting the reaction of the 1952 FA Cup Final losing side with the current version. Now forgive if I start off on one but there are several differences between fifty years ago and today. Firstly, if you put a microphone in front of a player roughly one minute after the final whistle, it takes a particularly calculating character to give a balanced opinion of ninety minutes play where one player has been sent off and one of your opponents goal was borderline offside, only settled with the use of TV replays. The more the media demands, the more their hypocrisy stinks when the criticise players and managers for giving honest opinions. The second observation I make is that I do not want gracious losers. To politely reply that your opponents played well and deserved to win on every occasion defeats the object of asking for an opinion. And that is what football is, a game of opinions. Some may be unpalatable to the few or even the majority but so long as they are honest, can one really complain.
Henry's decision to stay in London is drawing stinging criticism from the Catalan capital. The latest to question the wisdom is Johann Cruyff. The Dutchman ponders in direct language whether Henry will regret staying, pontificating that Henry should have taken longer over his decision. The general belief is that Henry has more chance of winning the Champions League with Barcelona than Arsenal. History does not substantiate this claim. Barca have only won this trophy twice, so a record of once every fourteen years indicates that Henry will be long retired by the time they win it again. At least Cruyff has some standing in the game to allow you to listen and think about what he says. Which is more than can be said of Belletti who at various points has berated Henry accusing him of being afraid of making the move, not even being in the top ten players in the world and generally offensive. Whilst this makes good copy and allows the club to try and gain face now that their arrogant lies of Henry's arrival have been exposed. Let us not forget that Belletti has fluked a Champions League winner so he deserves to speak his mind. That it shows him up for the footballing pigmy that he is, well, that's his problem. As for his own ego, that has now been suitably deflated from the fact that he is not good enough to get into Brazil's World Cup squad. And let us not forget, he was not considered to be of suitable ability to get into the starting XI of Barcelona.
More media revelations on the transfer front, Arsenal seem set to sign the whole of Crystal Palaces first team squad, the latest target is Gabo Kiraly. Before we get too excited about the Mighty Magyar gracing the Emirates, someone needs to make sure that the local Primark has a suitable stock of baggy, ill-fitting tracksuit bottoms in their shop. Meanwhile Fenerbache have denied that they will complete the signing of Sol Campbell this week. Hats off to Miles Palmer at the idiosyncratic Arsenal News Review for starting this one and getting the gullible fools of Canary Wharf to run with it.
One transfer that seems to be happening is Tomas Rosicky moving to The Emirates. According to reports, he has had a medical this week at Highbury and his representatives are close to agreeing a deal. In terms of the team, this would bolster the midfield substantially with experience. It would also enable Wenger to rest Fabregas and bring him on at slower pace, alleviating the risk of burnout.
Final squads for the World Cup have been submitted to FIFA and barring injuries, these are the players you will be seeing in Germany. In an interview, albeit brief, that was broadcast on Radio 5Live this evening. His observations about the England squad suffering from having too many foreign players in the Premiership will no doubt strike a chord with the many critics of Arsene Wenger. Whereas the naysayers appear to blame him for the problem, Cruyff observes that Spain suffers from the same influx. It is only in recent years that Spaniards have decided to move abroad in significant numbers, England being the current favoured destination influenced no doubt by the relative success of Rafa Benitez at Liverpool. Cruyff also compares the spending power of Chelsea with the advantages that Real Madrid and Barcelona have enjoyed in the Primera Liga. For those who do not believe it can happen here, I would observe that the Top Three of Primera Liga is pretty much sorted before the season starts, it is just a case of what order. Interlopers are relatively few and far between and thus far, the modern era of Spanish Football has not found a sustainable alternative - Deportivo are slowly climbing into the frame again after a few years away from the top. This is what Arsenal have to strive to avoid, disappearing into the multitude; something that Ashburton Grove will financially help the club to steer clear of but a haunting episode that can be glimpsed over the shoulder.
Todays Tunes feature erstwhile Peel favourites, Camera Obscura. This Scottish Quartet first came to my notice on Spanish TV, Conciertos de Radio 3, which those of you with Sky can find on Channel 802. A programme akin to the Old Grey Whistle Test, they feature 2 or 3 non-spanish bands a month.
These are from the bands Peel Session on 7th October 2003:
Greyhound Going Somewhere
The San Francisco Song
Thanks to the guys at The Perfumed Garden for posting this and other sessions up.
Henry's decision to stay in London is drawing stinging criticism from the Catalan capital. The latest to question the wisdom is Johann Cruyff. The Dutchman ponders in direct language whether Henry will regret staying, pontificating that Henry should have taken longer over his decision. The general belief is that Henry has more chance of winning the Champions League with Barcelona than Arsenal. History does not substantiate this claim. Barca have only won this trophy twice, so a record of once every fourteen years indicates that Henry will be long retired by the time they win it again. At least Cruyff has some standing in the game to allow you to listen and think about what he says. Which is more than can be said of Belletti who at various points has berated Henry accusing him of being afraid of making the move, not even being in the top ten players in the world and generally offensive. Whilst this makes good copy and allows the club to try and gain face now that their arrogant lies of Henry's arrival have been exposed. Let us not forget that Belletti has fluked a Champions League winner so he deserves to speak his mind. That it shows him up for the footballing pigmy that he is, well, that's his problem. As for his own ego, that has now been suitably deflated from the fact that he is not good enough to get into Brazil's World Cup squad. And let us not forget, he was not considered to be of suitable ability to get into the starting XI of Barcelona.
More media revelations on the transfer front, Arsenal seem set to sign the whole of Crystal Palaces first team squad, the latest target is Gabo Kiraly. Before we get too excited about the Mighty Magyar gracing the Emirates, someone needs to make sure that the local Primark has a suitable stock of baggy, ill-fitting tracksuit bottoms in their shop. Meanwhile Fenerbache have denied that they will complete the signing of Sol Campbell this week. Hats off to Miles Palmer at the idiosyncratic Arsenal News Review for starting this one and getting the gullible fools of Canary Wharf to run with it.
One transfer that seems to be happening is Tomas Rosicky moving to The Emirates. According to reports, he has had a medical this week at Highbury and his representatives are close to agreeing a deal. In terms of the team, this would bolster the midfield substantially with experience. It would also enable Wenger to rest Fabregas and bring him on at slower pace, alleviating the risk of burnout.
Final squads for the World Cup have been submitted to FIFA and barring injuries, these are the players you will be seeing in Germany. In an interview, albeit brief, that was broadcast on Radio 5Live this evening. His observations about the England squad suffering from having too many foreign players in the Premiership will no doubt strike a chord with the many critics of Arsene Wenger. Whereas the naysayers appear to blame him for the problem, Cruyff observes that Spain suffers from the same influx. It is only in recent years that Spaniards have decided to move abroad in significant numbers, England being the current favoured destination influenced no doubt by the relative success of Rafa Benitez at Liverpool. Cruyff also compares the spending power of Chelsea with the advantages that Real Madrid and Barcelona have enjoyed in the Primera Liga. For those who do not believe it can happen here, I would observe that the Top Three of Primera Liga is pretty much sorted before the season starts, it is just a case of what order. Interlopers are relatively few and far between and thus far, the modern era of Spanish Football has not found a sustainable alternative - Deportivo are slowly climbing into the frame again after a few years away from the top. This is what Arsenal have to strive to avoid, disappearing into the multitude; something that Ashburton Grove will financially help the club to steer clear of but a haunting episode that can be glimpsed over the shoulder.
Todays Tunes feature erstwhile Peel favourites, Camera Obscura. This Scottish Quartet first came to my notice on Spanish TV, Conciertos de Radio 3, which those of you with Sky can find on Channel 802. A programme akin to the Old Grey Whistle Test, they feature 2 or 3 non-spanish bands a month.
These are from the bands Peel Session on 7th October 2003:
Greyhound Going Somewhere
The San Francisco Song
Thanks to the guys at The Perfumed Garden for posting this and other sessions up.
posted by Yogi's Warrior at 2:33 pm
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