So the Premier League has moved into full swing and I have to say that I’ve been very impressed by Arsenal. A mate of mine, who’s a massive Gunner’s fan, sent out a long email before the season started saying how worried he was about how all the other big clubs had spent millions and how Wenger had let his best players go. Now I’m no Arsenal supporter but I had to reply and remind him that if there’s one thing Arsene Wenger can do its nurturing young talent; after that 6-0 result against Sheffield United it looks like I was right. They look to be the most exciting set of youngsters yet and I think they looked absolutely amazing…they even had a few British boys in there.
Arsene Knows
I think it’s a very exciting time for Arsenal fans, the secret though is to stay patient. If they expect too much too soon, they could ruin the atmosphere at the club. To be honest Arsenal fans have been spoilt by the number of great players they’ve seen recently, Vieira, Henry, Pires, Bergkamp and alike, it’s going to take time but maybe in a couple of years they’ll have a squad which is capable of dominating the Premier League for a decade. Arsenal fans just need to have faith.
Down at the Lane
I can’t get to grip with the situation down the road at Spurs. I watched their match against Portsmouth and I don’t really know what to make of their performance – it looks as though Ramos had been told to buy certain players against his wishes. They made a real mistake in holding on to Berbatov for so long, by then letting him go at midnight on deadline day they just didn’t give themselves a chance to arrange a replacement. I’m guessing, but I’d say that Ramos had little to do with bringing in Fraizer Campbell. The guy seems like a decent striker but he wasn’t even on the bench against Portsmouth at the weekend – given they’re lacking firepower that says a great deal.
Spurs Will Come Good
Ramos hasn’t yet found a way of incorporating his team of individuals into a unit. On the first game of the season he started with Bentley on the left, he’s now claiming that Bent and Pavlyuchenko are too similar to play together…surely they should have realised this before buying the Russian. I know it takes time for players to gel but I hope for Spurs fans that this isn’t turning into another Christian Gross affair.
On the positive side, I’m a big fan of Giovanni dos Santos. He looks a tasty player even if people are saying he’s a bit greedy on the pitch. I also think it’s crazy that Pavlyuchenko is being touted as the new Rebrov. The guy has barely been here five minutes; I doubt he even knows what side of the road to drive on! I know people always say that no club is too big to go down but I honestly think Spurs will be ok. It’s really tough for fans to be patient when you’re propping up the league table but I’m sure in time they’ll come good.
Geordie Madness
The Newcastle fans aren’t faring much better by the looks of things. You do have to worry for them. At some point a big club is going to go down and if they don’t get their act together it could be them. You can’t blame Joe Kinnear for taking the managers job though. He’s been out of the game for a while and he’s getting on a bit, in truth he would have been mad to turn it down. Joe has nothing to lose whatsoever, financially he’ll benefit and it could turn out to be the closure he needs on his managerial career. If Keegan had returned it would have been farcical.
Michael Owen said that the players have totally lost their confidence; they need to address this quickly. The longer the players don’t perform, the more the fans will get angry…looking down the line you have to think that if Mike Ashley gets really fed up with the abuse he’ll flog the club to whoever wants it without caring if they run it into the ground. It sounds as though he’ll make at least £50m even if he doesn’t get the original asking price; that’s not a bad day at the office is it? I’d love to have a bad day like that.
Still Confident in Fergie’s Boys
I’m not getting too worried about my beloved Manchester United. We had a similar bad start last season and ended the season as Champions of the Premier League and Europe. I’m always amazed when the boys on Match of the Day suggest that after 5 games a team is out of the title-race. 9 points is not a big gap at the moment, you could lose that inside a week over Christmas. Just you wait, once the festive fixtures are out of the way we’ll be back near the top. Until next time...