Radio gaga as comments are foolish

I CERTAINLY hope that the Gunners aren’t as dismissive of the threat posed by Villarreal as Alan Green was in his “Luck of the draw?” comments in last Monday’s Irish Examiner.

According to the Radio 5 boyo, the Champions League quarter-finals are a foregone conclusion as far as Man U and the Gunners are concerned. You’ll know by now how much of a say Porto and Villarreal have had from last night, but if football was anywhere near so predictable, it would not be the punters on poor street.

Complaints forced Villarreal to reduce the cost of away tickets from e75 to a slightly less extortionate e70, after they fleeced Celtic and Man U fans of a similarly outrageous amount. We were entitled to a warm welcome, as it would appear that we’re subsidising their club president’s generous offer of free season tickets for the unemployed. As the town’s largest employer, this would appear to be a “let them eat cake” type sop for the locals. So if Fernando Ruig is forced to make fans redundant, they might struggle to feed their kids but they can still make Saturday’s game! However, with the return of Fabregas, we’ll be feeling fairly optimistic about a potentially thrilling denouement to this season’s campaign.

Despite a couple of worrying moments last Saturday against Manchester City, the Gunners were so imperious that it was hard to believe it was the same side that capitulated to a 3-0 defeat at Eastlands in November.

Mind you City were a pale shadow of the side infused with the euphoria of their newfound wealth back then, apparently already settling for the relative comfort of mid-table security. This could be a fatal mistake, considering anyone in the bottom half could be down in the relegation dogfight.

Nevertheless, Saturday’s somewhat perfunctory three points served as a reminder that Arsenal are an entirely different proposition with Cesc orchestrating midfield. Compared to the Gunners who couldn’t buy a Premiership goal back in February, we are suddenly a match for anyone.

There was even a silver lining to Van Persie and Diaby’s injuries, as in Robin’s absence, a five-man midfield appeared to be the best use of the resources available on Saturday. Despite this, Song still has to demonstrate that he’s capable of developing into something more than a stop-gap solution in the “water carrier” role, and Denilson, who apparently has had more touches of the ball than any other Premiership player, is yet to prove himself adept at providing sufficient defensive cover for Cesc’s creative instincts.

Should Le Prof return to playing 4-4-2 when we’ve a full compliment of players, it will be interesting to see how he plans on juggling all the midfield options available to him.

On the radio Bobby Gould made a crack about Arshavin rushing to take the corners on the sunlit side of the pitch, suggesting that it must be a novelty for a lad from the cold climes of St Petersburg.

Yet Shava was far from alone in having a spring in his step. Compared to the somewhat lardy-looking Kolo Touré who started this campaign, our stout Ivorian has reacquired the trim body shape and language of a player who’s once again capable of imposing himself on games.

Along with Adebayor’s return to goalscoring form, I was excited to open the post last Wednesday and discover our Wembley tickets. They’re bigger than any regular tickets, as if their size matches the significance of the occasion.

But suddenly I’m gutted to be going to Wembley to play Chelsea, knowing a win won’t provide us with the requisite opportunity to see the Arsenal lift a trophy. Bring ‘em all on.