Little guys now the very height of fashion
As we leap two-footed into our first snap judgements of the Premier League season, we appear to be embracing the salad days of the little guy in English football.
After all these years of grousing that he had become extinct, banished into exile by caveman coaching, Eamo and Gilesy will soon find a little guy from the street at every corner.
Having almost conditioned their own short stock out of existence and converted what remained into scampering wide men, hugging the margins, the English are now importing small men hand over fist. And they are throwing them the keys to their football teams. It might be coincidence or it could be Spain’s great legacy. Five-foot-six is the new six foot.
Cazorla at Arsenal, Hazard at Chelsea, Kagawa at United where, to be fair, he can, literally, rub shoulders with long-time poster boy for petite, Scholesy.
Even Trap, who would rather, you’d imagine, put a wardrobe in the middle of the field than a small man, seemed to accept, with the belated and frustrated call for Wes Hoolahan, that we can’t always think big. Still, let’s see how Santi fares in Stoke this weekend.
