Arsenal's number 9 and Kiwis

Apologies (to the zero readers!) for not blogging recently.
My world has been overtaken by an issue (read "incompetent fool") at work. This has coincided with a break from domestic football. So there haven't even been any decent matches to take my mind of it.

I promised myself I would never watch an England friendly again, after Sven took over and used them as an exercise in motonony and tedium. Nothing has really improved. I care when its competitive, because the players do - a bit. And I cannot wait for the World Cup. I love it, for the festival of football that it is. Regardless of whether England are there or not.

Until a few years ago,  I really struggled to decide what I would prefer - England win the World Cup or Arsenal win the Champions League. Now there is absolutely no contest. Its the UCL every time. I'd love to see England win the biggest tournament in the World, but I still enjoy the tournament as much without them.

Not overly happy about New Zealand qualifying for it though. How can they be there when Ireland or France won't? They were beaten at home by Fiji! And I don't care that this "home" game was actually away, as my Kiwi mate tells me. It's still a disgrace and it devalues the tournament. Still if you want it to be a "world" cup, then its the price we pay.

Apart from the disruption to the domestic game, especially when Arsenal were in such a rich vein of form, I hate the fact that we always seem to pick a heap of injuries.

I am a little worried about Gibbs' niggle picked up with the U21s. My biggest concern is RVP. Just when he was beginning to change my mind about who was the best striker in the premier league (I've always gone for Torres) he gets injured again!! Lets hope the placenta-massage or whatever it is works because we need him back.

Nevertheless. If you told the Arsenal faithfull (and especially the not-so-faithful who are too quick to criticise) that we had just bought Croatia's star player, a Brazillian who scored something like 83 goals in 111 appearances for his previous club and 18 in 28 for his national team, they'd go mental!

Now its time for Eduardo to step up and truly prove his worth.

I think he is outstanding and has the talent to do it. I'll never forget the goal he scored against Burnly in the FA Cup, nearly a year to the day after he broke his ankle. He used the same ankle to slice the ball (on purpose) in such a way that it improbably hit the top corner. I love poetic justice.

Sunderland away looms this weekend.

You broke your leg and now you're back And Darren Bent... is still crap. Eduardo Silva Arsenal's number 9. na na na na na na na na ........................