All Things Footie | Thursday, September 27 | Jordan
Arse
There can be no excuses for Arsenal. Panathanikos were simply the better team, Kargounis was outstanding and will no doubt be the player to watch at Old Trafford on the 6th. The home defence was excellent and far to organised and calm for Arsenal to give the raucous support too much cause for concern. A Jeffers header and Ljungberg 20 yarder apart, there was no overly encouraging signs for the Gunners.
One thing has to be said though (and not by was of an excuse). The play acting, time wasting and general poor sportsmanship from the Greek side was unacceptable. A goal up with 10 minutes to go, you'd have to be naïve to expect the defending team not to take their time with throw ins, free kicks, goal kicks etc. But diving before tackles are even made and rolling around on the floor when there was absolutely no contact is disgraceful. A referee who owned a yellow and/or red card (as S. Pereira seemed to have left his at home), may well have been sucked in to showing crucial cautions to the 'fouling' player, thankfully the Portuguese official didn't seem interested.
It's understandable that Thierry Henry was a little miffed at the final whistle, though according to his manager did not use foul language to the ref so should escape censure - to a point anyway.
Hitmanen
In the other game involving an English club, Jari Litmanen justified his manager's faith in him above Robbie Fowler with an excellent display and a goal (plus one disallowed). Will Liverpool fans now turn on Emile Heskey to justify the (flawed) thinking that golden boy Fowler should be in the first team. I'm no fan of Heskey but he is the lesser of two evils at the moment - Fowler has looked half baked, slow witted and as as sharp as a butter knife in his recent displays. At least Heskey runs.
Transfer talk..... Leeds are apparently preparing a bid of �6m for Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour. With Kieron Dyer seemingly about to extend his contract at Newcastle, David O'Leary see's Parlour as a viable alternative. I wouldn't be surprised if Parlour left, with player like Edu and Junichi Inamoto waiting to breakthrough and Parlour's form being a little stale of late - he may see the move as an opportunity to rejuvenate himself - and at 28 years old he may not have many more opportunities.