Saturday 10 October 2009

Betcha.

Saturday, 10 October 09

England played their under 21 game against Macedonia last night and it was an eventful night for their 3 Arsenal players. The bad news first of all is that Theo Walcott got a dead leg and was taken off at half time as a result. Depending on the severity of the injury we may or may not have him available for the home league game against Birmingham this day next week. I've had a dead leg myself in the past and I did manage to play football a week later after working all week long so if it's not too bad it will be quite possible for him to play.

The good news from last night's game was the performances of both Gibbs and Wilshere. Gibbs scored the first goal in a 6-3 win and he was involved in the build up for 2 or 3 of the other goals. On the down side he also managed to put through his own goal but overall he performed very well. Wilshere also played very well and his talent was obvious for all to see last night as lesser players struggled to keep up with what he was trying to do at times. It's great to see how much talent both of them have and they have to be pushing for some more time in the first team. There is a school of thought that Clichy should be replaced by Gibbs as his form over the last 18 months has not been up to the standard that it was prior to that. There are also an awful lot of fans who would love to see a lot more of Wilshere as the manager continues to slow play his introduction to the team.

It's very strange heading into a Saturday afternoon and knowing there's no Premier league football to watch or listen to. I miss the good old days when internationals were played on A wednesday night and league games were played on the Saturday before and after. Now the players are with their countries for a week before a game is played but they only return to their clubs on a Thursday morning at the earliest before a Saturday afternoon match. It's a little bit crazy that the clubs pay the players wages and club football is far better and far more interesting to the fans but FIFA and UEFA continue to have so much control over every thing that happens. Of course they're doing it for their own interests as they continue to line their pockets and refuse to bring in technology that would improve the game for their own stupid reasons. I long for the day when the clubs that pay the players wages have more control over those same players and the amount of international games played is decreased but I can't see that happening in the near(or even distant) future.

I suppose I'll watch Ireland play Italy tonight as I'll be in a friend's house play some poker and I'm sure the match will be on. I have a few friends who are going to the game and they go to every home Ireland match in Dublin at least. I spoke to one of them after football last night and I told him I find it hard to watch Ireland attempt to play football after watching Arsenal every week. He agreed about Ireland's style of play but Trappatoni has a style of play with which he thinks he can achieve some level of sucess with a very average Irish team. If they make the runners up spot in the group they will have a good chance of making the World Cup next year and it will be one huge party over here when the World Cup is on if they make it. That's it for today.

Here's a clip of Alex Song showing how well he has started this season.

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And to finish today's title track from New Model Army. I betcha I'll end up bored to tears watching Ireland tonight and I also betcha that our bad start to this international break with injuries will continue.

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See You Tomorrow.

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