An End of Year Debacle

I'm in Toronto at the moment visiting family over the new year. What is odd about North America is the near total absence of interest in football in spite of the immense availability of matches on the tv.

My family have a massive plasma and several football channels that will be familiar to any North Americans reading this... Fox Soccer Channel, Gol TV and of course Setanta. Unlike the UK, all matches are shown on the tv... somewhere.

Gol TV in particular is a revelation. I woke up one morning to a broadcast of Arsenal TV, which seems to be that stuff the club put on the website writ large on normal broadcast tv. I digress.

But in spite of the massive tv and near appalling selection of football noted above, I have been doing what I normally do in London and visit my local to watch the Arsenal. For instance, I watched the Watford match at a bar nearby called Scallywags. I, 5 Nigerians and a truly soccer challenged chap in an Arsenal hat, shirt, scarf... etc etc... went absolutely bonkers in that bar when Van Persie saved our blushes late. Loads of Liverpool fans (sic) sat amongst us offering heavily North American accented windups (sic) about the Arsenal selling Henry while we were being held by Watford. Warmed over Arsenal news (sic) from mid 2006 passes for banter in Toronto apparently... but I digress.

Let's just say that the Van Persie goal created havoc in the bar... with us having had to listen to scouse (sic) banter/Watford cheering for the entire match. It felt as though we had done Liverpool 3-0 at the Grove again... with me walking out of the bar, into a sunny Toronto afternoon, telling that lot "good luck in the cups".

Flash forward to yesterday. I arrived at the bar for about 11.45am, to see Reading pull one back against United and Liverpool hang on to their victory over the scum at Three Point Lane. The bar was absolutely rammed.

Of course, the Liverpool and Tottenham fans (sic) all stayed to watch the Arsenal (there were only two other Gooners in there... someone start a FUCKING supporters club... geez) at which point it was pointed out to me that Scallywags was the home of both a Liverpool AND a sp*rs supporters (sic) club. Imagine my *delight.

In spite of our run (sic) of late, any proper Gooner will tell you that Sheffield United away sends chills down the spine (whereas Juventus, Real Madrid, Manchester United... I digress). We knew what would happen yesterday. I've gone on and on about this before so I wont repeat myself (again). The current Arsenal side lacks bottle for these tough matches sometimes. The sight of Rosicky jumping out of tackles and Morgan running roughshod over our players really wound me up. Why did it take Cesc Fabregas' arrival for someone to put in a tasty challenge? Of course, he has now accumulated 5 yellows and with it a well earned one match rest. My point is that the likes of Vieira, Petit and Parlour absolutely relished the sort of match we found ourselves in yesterday and would MATCH the aggression of the likes of Sheffield United until our class prevailed. Cesc Fabregas should NOT be our toughest, most aggressive player. We need Lauren back post haste... and even Freddie likes to mix it up on occassion. Gallas... Diaby... etc etc. We need our toughness back. Now. We may be young but battles like yesterday win leagues. Im babbling... Im furious... Gilbertosilver said all the points I had about yesterday so I'll leave it there... but in an emotional year which saw us leave our traditional home, go to Paris for the Champions League final, pip sp*rs to the final CL spot, say good-bye to some old friends (Bobby, Sol, Genius), bid adieu to others (Zinadine Cygan) as well as throw out our rubbish (Jose, and Cashley)... I would have thought yesterday could have been a day to say good-bye to such an eventful year.

It was not.

Sundry musings.

Hoyte is not good enough to play for the Arsenal. That is absolutely clear. Also, we do not lack for right backs. I have no idea why Gilbert was loaned out to make room for Hoyte. He's quick but has the first touch of a rapist (sic).

One small bright spot about yesterday. Was it just me or did Denilson really really impress in his few minutes on the pitch?

Happy New Year. Roll on 2007.