I believe that Emmanuel Eboue may actually be a retard, well, either that or crazier than a shit-house rat.
Seriously. I’ve said it before and I think it still holds true. His career is a veritable cornucopia of various antics on the pitch. It’s well documented that at times Eboue just loses his mind. It could be anything from an Eric Cantona-like flying challenge on an opponent to some bizarre mimicry of Adebayor’s celebration in front of Arsenal fans at City. So, yes, we all know that Eboue is pretty much a retard. In fact, no one is more acutely aware of this fact than Arsenal fans who have to watch as he implodes once or twice a year into a million little insane pieces and then genuflects in front of the referee begging for leniency.
He’s a crazy retard.
But so is Wayne Rooney and I don’t see headlines like “Rooney in CHEAT STORM!!!” or “Rooney compounds idiocy by punching corner flag after insanity of hurling ball at Phil Dowd.” No, instead the press was happy to equivocate and let Ferguson make excuses for his player’s horribly behavior and never once called them out.
So pardon me while I try not to give two fucks about The Independent’s hatchet job on Eboue. Eboue may be a crazy retard but he’s our crazy retard and if you’re expecting something approaching fairness from me (an Arsenal supporter) while simultaneously showing your own bias, well you can eat a whole huge bowl of spotted dick.
Because he simply went back to work after the fans took the piss out of him last year, Eboue has earned my respect and some newspaper’s biased headlines isn’t going to change that.
Speaking of Stupid…
My hero is Jimmy Carter. If Jimmy Carter went on CNN and said “Tim should have shown more class when he celebrated his victory” I would be devastated. I would literally re-examine my life and what I wanted to do with it.
So, I fully expect Adebayor to feel like the turd he is after his hero and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry basically ripped him a new one for his classless display in front of Arsenal supporters at Eastlands.
That statement and his actions after moving to Barca are why Henry is a hero and will always be a hero to Arsenal fans. Adebayor’s statements and his actions after leaving for City are why he will always be a loser to Arsenal fans.
I didn’t want to talk about this issue any more, but I think it’s appropriate to let Thierry Henry have the last word.
Major Leg Surgery
I had the “pleasure” of watching the scintillating 0-0 draw between the Seattle Sounders and Chivas USA last night and it was pretty much the worst officiated match and the dirtiest match I have ever seen played by two teams, and I saw Sheffield United cheat their way to a 1-0 win over Arsenal.
The fouls are basically constant which means that teams, even if they had the required skill level and tactical awareness, are incapable of putting more than two passes together before someone is basically attacked by a defender. Add in that they play on a plastic pitch which makes the ball bounce wildly once lofted at all and the resulting play goes like this:
Ljungberg to Montero, Montero fouled.
Free kick, resulting in…. a throw in to Chivas.
Chivas lump the ball forward, it’s headed away by the defender to a midfielder, who heads the ball toward the sideline, where it is headed by a Chivas player, who heads the ball to a Sounder who… heads the ball out of play.
Throw in to Chivas, which results in a foul.
The free kick is taken and there’s some jersey holding as Chivas try route 1 for the 100th time, oh look an elbow, followed by a retaliatory kick, then some shoving, and a near scrum. Yellow card to the Chivas player.
Wash… rinse… repeat…
78 minutes of fouls and throw-ins, 12 minutes of passing. The broadcasters could, seriously, cut away to commercials and the fans at home would probably only miss a throw-in followed by six consecutive headers which ends in a foul.
That said, I called it Major Leg Surgery (MLS) for a reason; the ubiquitous fouling consists of some of the hardest fouls I’ve ever seen. There were at least two red card tackles which either went unpunished or ended up with a yellow. Incredibly, I think the league feels like it’s cracking down because there were four matches in the MLS yesterday which garnered a jaw dropping 21 yellow cards and three red cards.
In five matches this season Wigan Athletic, the EPL’s dirtiest team (so far) has only managed 14 yellow cards.
The MLS needs to address this and the plastic pitch issue, if they don’t then I’m afraid even the rabid Seattle fans will look elsewhere for entertainment. No one wants to pay to see sloppy play, dangerous fouls, constant headers, and ubiquitous throw-ins, do they?
Manchester Derby
Unfortunately the Manchester Derby did not end in a singularity opening over Manchester and sucking both teams and their supporters into an alternate universe. Instead it was a display of what I called at the start of the season: Man U are a very dangerous team, with a very shaky defense. What I didn’t foresee is a Manchester City team that actually plays like a team. Albeit a team with a non-existent midfield and a very shaky defense.
Still, today’s 4-3 result in the Manchester Derby certainly signals that this season is going to be one hell of a ride. Now, if Tottenham could just beat Chelsea…
Right, I’m off to make some breakfast and then play some football. See you tomorrow for a Carling Cup preview.
(No, I’m not ‘rooting’ for Tottenham, but rather against Chelsea. Frankly, it’s a win-win situation for me as long as one of the two loses.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.