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It got pretty bad. Vd Vaart at one point, having been told he would be a backup, a reserve player, this tournament, had his bags packed and was ready to leave the Dutch training camp at Hoenderloo. It took many hours of talking with management and fellow players (of a certain clique) before decided to stay. The next few days he spent time leaking info to the press about the issues within the squad, and voicing very loudly his concerns and why he felt he had to be in the squad.  A large majority of the staff and the squad felt him to be a pariah, a problem, yet by the end, he was captaining and starting. Absolutely insane. The same thing goes for Huntelaar. Huntelaar had a good

Not that he did not know how to score. From his league debut against the Spuds on, he was a very decent goalscorer. He never really fit at Arsenal, where the tempo was too high and he was forced wide too often. With the new Arsenal, the Cesc and Na$ri-less Arsenal, the play is much slower, more direct, and seems to me to be more the sort of play Bendtner would thrive in. I always thought that in the German or Italian league, were there is just a little bit more time on the ball and generally more crossing into the box, he would do very well indeed. It is for that reason that I hope we don’t sell him too

Now recruiting girls, that can be quite different. Unless your daughter is super-sporty, the target age for indoctrination is in their early teens. They are boy-crazy. Guess what football teams are full of? Girls mix lust and football freely. We boys think this is terrible. We ridicule Twitter names like Mrs Ramsey, Mrs Wilshere, etc. as not being true fans. WE think they miss the point of the beautiful game. Yet, we spend almost as much time tweeting about girls and sex as we do about football. What hypocrites we are. When we go to a game, we

If we were to bring in Yann M’Vila, I struggle to think of the role Song would fit in. Is he a better playmaker than Wilshere? No. Is he better at linking up midfield than Arteta? No. Is he a better holding midfielder who keeps things simple than M’Vila? No. I am sincerely struggling to see why we would sign M’Vila. Sure, we could vary our options with him, but would any of the aforementioned players have any interest in being a backup? And this without the OX, Rosicky, Ramsey and Coquelin thrown in the mix. Naturally, I want us to sign

Qualitatively, I disagree that one offsets the other. A team striving to be the best should be able to both hold their own leads and comeback from being a goal down. However I will concede that statistically in terms of league points, they balance out. And emotionally too; for as soul-destroying a lost lead is, nothing stirs the blood like snatching a draw from

Having already exhausted the Eastern Bloc generalisations on Szcezney, I guess it would just be lazy to repeat them for here. Much of the same applies however given that Russia is basically Poland on steroids. However, rather than being the 'muscle', little Arsh will have sheer lunacy on his side. The on-loan Russian certainly has a bit of Norman Bates about him. The harmless looking kind that would lure you into a false sense of security - allowing you to think you've won. This would

Basically, at the heart of it most professional footballers are slimy, greasy dollar-hounds who will jump at a better contract with a larger salary and we just have to accept it. “They’re just like regular people,” we say, “anyone would jump at the chance to change jobs if they were offered more money!” Exactly, which is why I’m pleased to announce I’m leaving my job as a science professor to go and work in

Arsenal are headed into the off-season of 2012 facing a very similar situation. The future of our captain and star player remains very much up in the air., and a lengthy, drawn-out conclusion looms ominously on the horizon. Will he stay? I’ve got no idea. Whatever his choice may be, this time around we need to employ swift and decisive action. If he signs on the dotted line, then lets go out there and recruit some new faces. Podolski is an excellent start, and Yann M’Vila would be a brilliant acquisition - assuming the maelstrom of tales

if it’s a youngster breaking into the team then it has to be Oxlade-Chamberlain (which I’ve taken to pronouncing purely in a French accent: ox-lard sham-blon) and if it’s a first teamer developing it has to be Koz-chel-knee. I’m going to go with the former since I actually thought Kosasaurus was a beast last year and I want to award it to a younger player because I miss my childhood and deserve