All Things Footie | Tuesday, August 10 | Jordan
Something old, something new
Yep, it’s been a while again, but what can I say? I’m a busy man!
Firstly, you may have noticed a slight change to the navigation on the right as well as a new section. Following on from the rebranding of the first division to ‘the Championship’, the old ‘stuff’ section has now become ‘downloads’. Amazing eh? In a slightly more exciting addition (though I emphasise ‘slightly’), a brand spanking new Resources section has been added. The idea of this area of the site is to collect information that may be of use to us, the fans.
The first inclusion in the Resources section is a route planner—for those of us who make the arduous journey to strange new towns regularly. After typing in your postcode and selecting the club you’re travelling to, one click of a button magically whisks you away to the RAC Route Planner with all the relevant fields filled in for you. It’s not the most groundbreaking piece of software conceived in the 21st Century, but we hope someone finds it useful. There are a few planned additions to this page soon, but at all things footie we always welcome any suggestions for anything you, the fans, would find useful to have pooled in one place. Leave a message in the comments below of contact us using our feedback form with any ideas you have. Maps of each stadium? Nearest train stations? Pubs? What do you want to see? Thanks in advance.
So, on to football. Sunday’s charity shield was probably the most open and enjoyable charity shield for as long as I can remember; end to end football, countless goalscoring opportunities, four goals, and a chance to see some up-and-coming players on both sides. I don’t think I can be accused of bias if I say that Arsenal were by far the more impressive side on display, in particular the Spanish pair of José-Antonio Reyes and Fracesc Fabregas. I’ve been saying for weeks that Reyes will be a revelation in 04/05—one for the fantasy football teams—I think he’ll outscore Henry and be Arsenal’s ‘main man’ this season. You mark my words.
Fabregas on the other hand is an altogether more surprising proposition. Despite having only recently turned seventeen years old, he’s played an unusually large amount of football for Arsenal—both last year and in pre-season—beating off competition from more established youth players at the club, as well as recent signings such as Mathieu Flamini. I think it may be the Rooney syndrome that David Moyes knows only too well; where the manager doesn’t want to rush a player into the first team at such a young age, but where ability and performances make it inexcusable to do otherwise.
On Sunday afternoon, against big opponents, in a showpiece game, ‘Cesc’ Fabregas demonstrated remarkable composure and efficiency on the ball coupled with an instinctive tenaciousness and ability to time a tackle. He outshone Djemba-Djemba and Roy Keane in the middle of the park, and one could detect the formation of an real understanding with Gilberto. It’s not a one-off either, last year in the Carling Cup he bossed a midfield containing Paul Ince and Alex Rae in a five-nil win over Wolves, and he’s been composed and sharp throughout pre-season. I believe he’s a very special player.
It wasn’t all one-sided of course, I was impressed by Alan Smith’s contribution for United, and his goal was as sweet as the proverbial nut. Tim Howard made a couple of exceptional stops and Djemba-Djemba impressed in spells; Paul Scholes looked pretty sharp too. I still have no idea what was going through Alex Ferguson’s head when he signed David Bellion, and Forlan really is nowhere near Manchester United class. Mikael Silvestre is a liability at centre-half, not bad as a recovery player, but far too easily torn to pieces when a player runs at him. The Nevilles were characteristically dodgy when really pushed for answers to questions asked by Jermaine Pennant and José Reyes.
The biggest gulf between the two sides from this author’s point of view, was the quality of the younger players. Where Arsenal had Fabregas, Reyes, Pennant, the electic-eel-like Ashley Cole clone Gael Clichy, Justin Hoyte, Robin van Persie and unused sub Phillipe Sendoros; United had Chris Eagles, Jon Spector, Darren Fletcher and Kieron Richardson. In my eyes—and maybe they’re skewed ones—Arsenal’s youngsters were and have been infinitely more impressive.
I’ll put together my usual prediction roundup later this week, so don’t forget to check back thursday or Friday.