After saturdays emotional day at St Andrews, Mathieau Flamini declared that he wanted to win the title for stricken Eduardo. But can Arsenal cope with all the pressure of the title race?
The William Gallas show that was premiered at the end of Saturdays game seems to show the cracks that are appearing at the Emirates.
Kevin Mc Carra, in his blog http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/02/26/arsenal_can_beat_anyone_includ.html makes the point that Arsene Wengers apparent success at bringing in young, raw talent and turning them into world class professionals is masking the instability and eccentricity of the Arsenal manager.
Gallas making a fool of himself was bad enough, and he was roundly criticised for his reaction, which the Telegraph on Sunday described as "petulant" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/24/sfgbir124.xml , however, the reaction of Wenger to the challenge on Eduardo showed a man who is under pressure.
The fact that Wenger, whose eyesight has consistantly let him down when major incidents occur, even saw this tackle is in itself an achievement. To state that Martin Taylor should never play again is beyond crazy, a view shared by http://www.epltalk.com/arsene-wenger-wants-lifetime-ban-for-taylor/ . Kevin Mc Carra thinks that Arsenals season is in danger of imploding. With crazy comments and pantomime antics of Wenger and Gallas, this could happen sooner rather than later.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Will Trappatoni be worth the wait?
After the sacking of Brian Kerr, John Delaney, CEO of the FAI, stood up and claimed Irelands next appointment would be a world class one. This of course never materialised as Ireland trudged through an abject and utterly disastrous European qualifying campaign. Now, two years after proclaiming a world class manager, have Ireland finally got just that?
His trophy record is impressive, 23 domestic trophies in some of the best leagues in Europe, in fact only bettered by Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson.
So, can the "Squadfather", as the Sunday World dubbed him yesterday, take Ireland out of the dark days of international football and towards the light of South Africa 2010?
Hopefully. He has a good core team to work with. Shay given and Richard Dunne give some solidity to the team, while Ireland now have flair, which they havent had in years, with Mc Geady, Hunt and Robbie Keane, if firing on all cylinders. Throw in a few up and coming players, Andy Keogh, Anthony Stokes, and the future certainly looks bright.
With Trappatoni's knowledge and experience it looks as if Ireland are starting to turn the corner, and all expectations will be on "Il Trap" come May time and the friendly with Serbia.
His trophy record is impressive, 23 domestic trophies in some of the best leagues in Europe, in fact only bettered by Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson.
So, can the "Squadfather", as the Sunday World dubbed him yesterday, take Ireland out of the dark days of international football and towards the light of South Africa 2010?
Hopefully. He has a good core team to work with. Shay given and Richard Dunne give some solidity to the team, while Ireland now have flair, which they havent had in years, with Mc Geady, Hunt and Robbie Keane, if firing on all cylinders. Throw in a few up and coming players, Andy Keogh, Anthony Stokes, and the future certainly looks bright.
With Trappatoni's knowledge and experience it looks as if Ireland are starting to turn the corner, and all expectations will be on "Il Trap" come May time and the friendly with Serbia.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Has Irish rugby turned a corner....again?
After 50 minutes of yesterdays six nations encounter the knives were out for Eddie O' Sullivan. Again.
Irelands backs were being cut apart at will by the dynamic back line of Heymans, Rougerie, and Irelands perennial assasin in chief, Vincent Clerc. The lowly performance against Italy looked like being eclipsed by a slaughter in the Parisian evening.
Somewhere, somehow though, irelands forwards decided enough was enough. New faces Jamie Heaslip and Bernard Jackman stood shoulder to shoulder with experienced men like John Hayes and David Wallace and drove at the French time and time again, their persistance paying off with two tries and nearly a famous, unlikely victory.
Once again though, Ireland come out of a bruising encounter as moral victors. Where do they go from here? According to bbc.co.uk Irish manager Eddie O' Sullivan has mixed emotions on the game yesterday, describing it as "Gut wrenching," but adding that he was "very proud of our players."
But can we say where Irish rugby is after this performance? No according to www.independent.ie who believe that the game against Scotland will be much more telling on this Ireland team.
With players like Paul O' Connell and Shane Horgan to come back into the team, Ireland rugby is not in the dire position that was being forecast after the Italy game.
They just need another game to show how far they have come.
Irelands backs were being cut apart at will by the dynamic back line of Heymans, Rougerie, and Irelands perennial assasin in chief, Vincent Clerc. The lowly performance against Italy looked like being eclipsed by a slaughter in the Parisian evening.
Somewhere, somehow though, irelands forwards decided enough was enough. New faces Jamie Heaslip and Bernard Jackman stood shoulder to shoulder with experienced men like John Hayes and David Wallace and drove at the French time and time again, their persistance paying off with two tries and nearly a famous, unlikely victory.
Once again though, Ireland come out of a bruising encounter as moral victors. Where do they go from here? According to bbc.co.uk Irish manager Eddie O' Sullivan has mixed emotions on the game yesterday, describing it as "Gut wrenching," but adding that he was "very proud of our players."
But can we say where Irish rugby is after this performance? No according to www.independent.ie who believe that the game against Scotland will be much more telling on this Ireland team.
With players like Paul O' Connell and Shane Horgan to come back into the team, Ireland rugby is not in the dire position that was being forecast after the Italy game.
They just need another game to show how far they have come.
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Hey and welcome to my blog!
Over the course of the next few months I will be updating this blog weekly, discussing sporting events that are making news at the time.
Enjoy!
Over the course of the next few months I will be updating this blog weekly, discussing sporting events that are making news at the time.
Enjoy!
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