j'adore ...
One day I will write amazing things like this, for them.
Guardian Unlimited.co.uk: The Fiver
CAN YOU HEAR THE SILENCE?
Have you spotted what's missing from the build-up to Saturday's FA Cup final? It's not team news, since we've all heard that Thierry Henry is out and Gabriel Heinze is, like the existence of a tasteful suit in Jonathan Ross's wardrobe, very doubtful. It's something else.
It's certainly not opponent-baiting, because not only have cantankerous old codger Roy Keane and dive-happy Patrick Vieira been waving their knobbly sticks at each other all week, but today theirrespective managers have been at it too. And just hours after SirAlex of Taggart claimed that Arsene Wenger was lying when he claimed Henry definitely wouldn't figure, Wenger retaliated: "We're not liars, he can prepare his team to face Henry if he wants, but I can assure everyone that he's not going to play."
Even ruinous in-fighting is present and accounted for, with details emerging about proceedings at the Ashley Cole tap-up hearing: Lahn's Lahn En'n' Stannah claims that Cole's relationship with Arsenal is"at breaking point" as he's incensed that Gunners vice-chairman David Dein testified against him and reckons the club's lawyer "fed questions to the Premier League prosecutors". Their prediction? Cole,whose advisors also claim that Arsenal reneged on an agreement to bump up his wages to GBP60,000-a-week, could leave in the summer.
So what's missing, sadly, is this: the sight of an uncharacteristically vindictive Rafael Benitez laughing lustily as he whips out a machete and slashes through the hype to explain the true context of the rinky-dink eggcup on offer in Cardiff. Four months ago, Benitez was snootily told he was "arrogant" and "didn't understand English football culture" when he fielded a feeble team in a third round defeat to Burnley. But now, as Liverpool's well-rested troops prepare for the final of the only cup competition that really matters to big clubs any more, it's more obvious than ever that Benitez got his priorities right. Isn't it?
(I mean, isn't it? really?)
Guardian Unlimited.co.uk: The Fiver
CAN YOU HEAR THE SILENCE?
Have you spotted what's missing from the build-up to Saturday's FA Cup final? It's not team news, since we've all heard that Thierry Henry is out and Gabriel Heinze is, like the existence of a tasteful suit in Jonathan Ross's wardrobe, very doubtful. It's something else.
It's certainly not opponent-baiting, because not only have cantankerous old codger Roy Keane and dive-happy Patrick Vieira been waving their knobbly sticks at each other all week, but today theirrespective managers have been at it too. And just hours after SirAlex of Taggart claimed that Arsene Wenger was lying when he claimed Henry definitely wouldn't figure, Wenger retaliated: "We're not liars, he can prepare his team to face Henry if he wants, but I can assure everyone that he's not going to play."
Even ruinous in-fighting is present and accounted for, with details emerging about proceedings at the Ashley Cole tap-up hearing: Lahn's Lahn En'n' Stannah claims that Cole's relationship with Arsenal is"at breaking point" as he's incensed that Gunners vice-chairman David Dein testified against him and reckons the club's lawyer "fed questions to the Premier League prosecutors". Their prediction? Cole,whose advisors also claim that Arsenal reneged on an agreement to bump up his wages to GBP60,000-a-week, could leave in the summer.
So what's missing, sadly, is this: the sight of an uncharacteristically vindictive Rafael Benitez laughing lustily as he whips out a machete and slashes through the hype to explain the true context of the rinky-dink eggcup on offer in Cardiff. Four months ago, Benitez was snootily told he was "arrogant" and "didn't understand English football culture" when he fielded a feeble team in a third round defeat to Burnley. But now, as Liverpool's well-rested troops prepare for the final of the only cup competition that really matters to big clubs any more, it's more obvious than ever that Benitez got his priorities right. Isn't it?
(I mean, isn't it? really?)
posted by Hannah at 5:05 PM
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