It's the food!

Good morning! There’s a ton of Arsenal news this morning ahead of the big Carling Cup match against our old rivals, Tater-tots-and-ham (as my GF’s 10 year old daughter calls them). But before we get started here’s a bit of a history lesson as to why Spuds will never be a top four squad.

First, there’s a rather lengthy puff piece on the Arsenal youth team. I am a bit perplexed by the article though, because on the one hand it’s obviously a puff piece on how great the Arsenal Academy is. But on the other hand, they make it seem like up until now the Arsenal Academy failed to produce any talented or skillful Englishmen. And go further by only mentioning Gibbs, Randall, and Lansbury. What about Ashley Cole, Steve Sidwell, David Bentley, Fabrice Muamba, Matt Connolly, Theo, etc. etc.? Maybe it’s cultural and I just don’t get it. But why would a writer spend the time and energy writing a puff piece on how awesome the Arsenal Academy is and then make it seem like this is a revelation? Is the notion that Arsenal is bad for England so ingrained in the British national identity that they just can’t see all that they have done for the national team? Maybe you, dear reader (yes, I’m talking to the one guy/gal who bookmarks my page) can answer this for me. Because it doesn’t make any sense. Also, they forgot about Almunia; future England keeper.

It’s exactly that youth team that will be playing against Spuds first teamers like Bobble-head, Keane, and King. And they are up for it. Fabianski is ready to become an Arsenal legend — who knows, maybe Juande Ramos will let Keane take another penalty and he can save it and live forever in the minds of Arsenal fans. FOREVER.

The Spurs players are telling the press how they are yearning for a victory. Juande wants it, Robinson wants it, Jenas wants it, they all want it sooo bad. Well, not all of them: Bobble-head is sitting in one corner glowering at his teammates for not passing him the lasagna. All kidding aside, this talk in the press is a bit worrying. It’s already a big match, against an old rival, in what’s probably Spurs only chance for a trophy, against a “weakened” Arsenal youth team. And now Spurs are saying things like “We’ve won nothing this century.” That kind of talk worries me because the fixture could quickly get out of control and turn into one of those ugly, emotional, scrums. I guess we’ll see. Maybe Spurs will play hard but fair. Somehow, when they are down 3-1, I seriously doubt it.

Mike Dean will be in charge and I don’t have a feeling about him one way or another. So, here’s to the ref having a good match. Cheers, Mike.

Unfortunately there’s still no reportable transfer news. There are plenty of rumors: Merida is supposedly set to go on loan to Sociedad. But, nothing is official. That includes news on Mad Jens, and Lasagna Diarra. Maybe Arsenal can send Lasagna to Spurs and then they could have Diarrhea. I know, that was bad. I apologize.

In news that is of interest to people who hate Chelsea (me) it looks like Mikel’s red card tackle on Neville is stirring up xenophobia, racism, and stupidity. Neville, in his infinite wisdom, blames foreigners for studs up tackles. He would know: he played with Irish foreigner Roy Keane when he “tackled” Alf Håland. It was clearly Alf’s fault for teaching Roy how to tackle like that.

I don’t know why he doesn’t just replace “foreigners” with “cunts.” Because then the sentence makes sense. Here, try it with the quote yourself.

I think he went for the ball. It was probably with his studs showing, but foreigners tend to tackle like that. I don’t think it was with any malice, but you cannot do that. That is the type of tackle we want out of our game.

See? “Cunts tend to tackle like that.” And it’s true! Mikel is possibly one of the cuntiest of cunts on a team replete with… erm, cunts. The pictures in that linked article really do show why Mikel should have something more than just a three match ban. And not just because of that one tackle. He does that ALL THE TIME. He did it to Gilberto, and it set off the riot in last year’s cup final. He did it to Crouch and it set off another near riot. But the problem is that there are at least three players on Chelsea who routinely tackle studs up. Honestly, the league should do something about Mikel and the whole team’s disciplinary record.  I think the whole team should get a three match ban.  This shouldn’t be a problem because they’ll buy or just rent some replacements.  But it will teach them a lesson.

Seriously, though, Chelsea are basically out of control and someone, like someone young with a promising career in front of him, is going to run into their buzz saw and possibly be permanently injured. Deal with it now, before it gets worse.

Unsurprisingly, Chelsea are unapologetic about it, in fact, they are saying “well he went for the ball!” Are you kidding me??? Just last week, they were calling for severe punishment for Eboue’s tackle on John Terry. Are they really that disconnected from reality? Wait, what am I saying… of course they are.

Enough of that. I guess I just hope something’s done before Arsenal’s Carling Cup final with them.

Ok, well, I’ll be at Doyle’s at 11:45 eating a sandwich, drinking a beer, and enjoying the Spurs match. See you there if you can make it.

Saturday, we’ll be having a gathering at the George and Dragon in Seattle. PM me if you need a lift.

I’ll provide a post match breakdown tomorrow as this is an evening match.

Oh yeah, one last thing, I got match tickets to the Blackburn game on the 11th of February. I guess I’m going to London town!

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