back on time to watch sunday night football
I WILL BE AWAY BUT BACK ON TIME TO WATCH BIG SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL... COME ON ARSENAL.. DON'T LET ADEBAYOR TO SCORE THIS TIME..
What do we know about Arsenal's next opponents?
Manchester City v Arsenal is on Sunday at 4pm.
Well, the biggest threat is David Silva, a two-footed magician who has now found his Valencia form.
While Carlos Tevez is very strong, sparky and determined, David Silva is exceptionally nimble in everything he does. Not many forwards with that much pace have his vision or the skills to hit runners so often and so accurately.
Manchester City beat Lech Poznan 3-1 on Thursday night and Adebarndoor got all three goals. He had not scored since their game against Aston Villa game in May.
Silva’s left foot cross allowed Ade to score with a glancing header from 10 yards and he slotted again for 2-0 at half-time. After Lech got back to 2-1, the Silva pass for Ade to make it 3-1 was pure magic. A Messi pass and his last of the match, as Roberto Mancini took him off to a standing ovation.
In City’s controversial 3-2 win at Blackpool, Adebayor was embarrassingly inept and Mancini pulled faces every time Ade lost the ball. The manager took him off and City scored within seconds. And then Mancini told the press now well Ade had played because he knew he had to start him in the Poznan game.
That Blackpool match should give Arsenal hope because the City midfielders could not get near Charlie Adam, Ian Holloway's £500,000 signing from Rangers, who gave them the runaround.
There were no goals for 67 minutes, then Tevez scored, sub Harewood equalised, Tevez immediately scored again, and Silva made it 3-1.Then Gary Taylor-Fletcher pulled another goal back in 93.
Carlos Tevez is good in big games. He dribbles thirty yards to make a five yard pass. His tenacity is phenomenal. He protects the ball with fire and passion and never cheats, never hides, never gives up, never gives the defender a breather.
I love Tevez. He’s one of the very best footballers I’ve seen in the past five years. He never moans that he's being treated like a piece of meat, although he has been. More than any other footballer : parked at West Ham, rented to Man United, where he ran his guts out to make Ronaldo and Rooney look good, and still they refused to buy him off Kia, his agent.
All along I thought that buying a striker from an agent was a precedent Sir Alex never wanted to set. Something in his DNA rebelled against that concept and United still miss Tevez. His stats did not tell the whole story. Or even half of it.
Carlos Tevez is special because he is one the few millionaire footballers who knows why he is paid all that money.
He grew up in Fort Apache, a housing project c reated by the junta prior to the 1978 World Cup, when the military dictators did not want the world’s media to see Argentina’s underclass, who were mostly descended from the indigenous Indian population. A few had escaped extermination when the country was formed. So they rounded up the underclass and stuck them in a 22-block zone that became known as Fort Apache, four miles north of the city centre. In this crime-ridden slum, where 30,000 people struggled, there were some football teams for youngsters. As a six year old playing “baby football" , Tevez learned how to be aggressive in defending the ball. But while he was in bed at night he was often frightened by gunshots.
As a kid in Buenos Aires, he was a Boca Juniors fanatic, and he joined Boca after the coach who discovered him got the job as their academy director. Carlos Tevez became South American Footballer of the Year in 2003 and 2004, signed for Corinthians in Brazil, led them to the title in 2005, and became the first player to win South American Footballer of the Year three times. Not everybody knows that.
Sunday is a massive game for Arsenal, as Fabregas has said.
With the skipper an hour into his comeback, and Vermaelen still out with an achilles, and Jack Wilshere suspended for the next three domestic games, Arsenal’s midfield might be relying too much on Nasri to hold the ball AND get shots in.
City’s attack and defence are strong but their midfield is weak and that's where Arsenal might win the game, even without Wilshere.
The only good thing about having a player suspended for three games is that you know when he’s coming back. If Wilshere was injured, you wouldn’t know when he was coming back. As it is, he can train a lot and play in the Ukraine on Wednesday, November 2 and get some match fitness for Newcastle at the Emirates on Sunday November 7.
As a gambler, I think City v Arsenal is one to avoid.
On this Friday morning, I don't have a clue how the game might pan out. I can't call it. Chamakh gets goals and I fancy him to score again at Eastlands. But City are far better than Shakhtar and Birmingham, even if they're not as formidable as Chelsea. They have England keeper Joe Hart, who can pull off very good saves. But you already know all that.
Oct 22, 2010