Well, it certainly is ironic isn't it? That in a world with so many people having so many problems, a social worker would need to scrounge around for extra work because of diminishing hours? That's what I've been doing the past week or so and consequently two things have happened. One - I found a job (yay, me) and two - I haven't written a post in a week.
I could have written a "Man City Park the Greyhound" piece but that was done to death. And of course yesterday, our bench players drew Leeds in the third round of the FA Cup 1-1. We now have a replay on the 18th/19th of January at Elland Road. It's an extra match to play, but from what I read during the match (via ESPN commentary and Arseblog's live blog), it sounds like the Benchers could use the practice. Playing away at Leeds also means our boys will be playing in front of our away fans whom I suspect are die-hard and will do more to encourage those players who are struggling (Arshavin/Bendtner) rather than boo them. They both could use a boost from the 12th man in my opinion. As long as they are hustling - and my take on the match was those two were not slacking off - then I think encouraging our squad is our job. Not humiliating them.
Off that particular soapbox and straight onto another.
Let's talk about one of the subs who made a great impact when coming on...Theo. In the 90th minute, Cesc converted a penalty given to Arsenal because Theo had been brought down in the box. A few plays before that, Theo had ended up on the ground in the box also, but no penalty was given. After the match, Theo admitted he had dived in that incident trying to win a penalty call - and apologized.
“I am not the sort of player to do it but I own up to it and apologise. It is something I don’t want to see in my game."
He not only apologized to us fans, but to Wenger and Grayson after the match as well. And he's received some flak for it. On Twitter, fans are worried he won't get penalty calls after this admission. Some are accusing him of caring too much whether or not he's liked. There seems to be some admiration but it is grudgingly given. You know what I think? I think Theo acted like a grown up in an atmoshpere that is rampant with the attitudes of arrested adolescence. Instead of covering up a bad choice, putting on an air of indignation at the slightest accusation, or rationalizing that cheating is "part of the game", Theo owned up - without being prompted, mind you. When it comes to our children, we want them to be responsible, don't we? We want them to make constructive choices and display the ability to learn from their mistakes. Why would we expect less from an adult? Only in the sports arena would an admission and an apology be construed as "weak". Well, maybe sports isn't the only arena, but you know what I'm saying.
So Theo gets an unequivocal "well done" from this Gooner.
Onto other news, it looks as though Wenger will be delving into the market in January as Squillaci has a hamstring injury from the Leeds game and *sigh* my Vermie has had a set back. So reports John Cross of the Mirror anyway. The article also goes on to discuss our possible targets being Gary Cahill from Bolton, Mertesacker from Bremen Werder or even Jagielka from Everton. Bolton has a very small squad at the moment and I'm not sure if they would be willing to lose a player. Of course, Coyle wants Vela on loan, so maybe some sort of deal could be worked out. There's no news of injury to either player on the official website, but it's the weekend and the site usually doesn't put up any news until Monday. I'll be tuning in first thing. My British comrades of course, will get the jump on me - unless I get up at 3:00 AM which I don't foresee happening.
That's it for now. We have Ipswich on Wednesday for the Carling Cup and I suspect the squad to be a duplicate of the FA Cup barring those injured. Now that I am once again gainfully employed, I will turn by attention back to that which really matters...writing about Arsenal. Have a good one Gooners.
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