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Despite the best comeback since Lazarus this weekend, I reckon Arsenal will finish 2nd or more likely, 3rd this season. There are three reasons for this in my opinion.

1) Lack of quality depth in the squad (particularly defence)

As has been highlighted in recent weeks, when the likes of Toure are out, there is a lack of quality cover in the team. Senderos is error-prone and Djourou is out injured. Hoyte is not a centre back, and Song is erratic. Once Eduardo got knacked, only Adebayor was the only consistent goalscorer, with Van Persie only just coming back from injury. Rosicky is made of glass and Diaby is no goal-getting midfielder. Some players are excellent, such as Sagna, Fabregas and Clichy but you don’t see the continuity that Man United or Chelsea (or Liverpool to an extent) have.

2) Hleb

Despite a good early season and a good performance against AC Milan (fuelled by ice cream apparently), he has reverted to form; “All show, no go” said my Gooner mate. “Why won’t he fucking shoot” he added.

3) Eboue

Can someone explain to me what this bloke adds to the team? He can’t cross, he can’t tackle, he doesn’t score, can’t defend and generally appears irrelevant. During the Chelsea game the other week he was being booed – was this by the Arsenal fans? His histrionics must be embarrassing to Arsenal fans, and his behaviour in general is pretty disgraceful. Walcott is a much better option, he can take players on a bit more and scores goals from time to time.

What Arsenal appear to lack is a big player – someone like Torres, Ronaldo or Henry. The sort of player that other teams would look at and think “I hope he’s not in the team today”. Arsenal will probably spend about 12 quid in the summer, buying some unknown players and turn them into multi-million pound assets and watch them be linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid every day for the rest of their careers but I reckon they could do worse than blow some decent money on two or three experienced individuals; Gallas and Rosicky are the only proven players bought recently, others such as Eduardo, Sagna and Walcott haven’t done it yet.

The season for Arsenal is not over yet, but the three games against Liverpool are extremely significant – aside from the fact that they have to go to Old Trafford in the League. They’ll still finish above Tottenham though, despite what was written in the meeja back in the Summer….

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I’d love to comment but just the idea of Ian Wright, a man famous for his self-control and discipline, coming up with a four point plan to bring respect back into the game has just rendered me speechless.

What next? The Yorkshire Ripper’s dating guide?

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I read some funny stuff in the papers this morning about Javier Mascherano’s ‘crazed rant’ at Old Trafford yesterday, most of them seeming to ignore the fact that he only went mental after being given a red card that he didn’t deserve.

The first yellow was harsh, in my opinion, but I can see why the referee would give it. It looked a lot worse than it actually was and no contact was made.

The second was absolute bullshit though. Firstly Fernando Torres was booked when he was being kicked in the back of the legs - I assume his booking was for daring to say something to the referee. Mascherano came over and quite clearly said ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?’, bemused at Torres’ yellow card. He didn’t swear, he wasn’t aggressive, he didn’t call the referee a ‘fucking cunt’, which seems to be something only Wayne Rooney or Ashley Cole can get away with.

For Bennet to give him a yellow card for dissent there is an absolute mockery. Players should be able to engage with officials provided they do it in the right way. Ok, you can say he shouldn’t have come over but he didn’t come charging, he didn’t act in an aggressive manner, he merely wanted to ask the referee why Torres was being booked after a series of fouls on him.

Let me ask you this - would Bennet have sent off Steven Gerrard in that situation? No. Would he have sent off Rooney or Ferdinand? No.

I’m all for players respecting the referee but at the same time the referee has be able to communicate with players. If Mascherano had called the ref a name, questioned his parentage, told him he was a shit ref, or was in any way foul and abusive then I’d have no problem with the red card. He did none of those things and to my mind the red card was way out of line. If Bennet had been having a problem all game with Mascherano, as some of the papers suggest, he should have either told the Liverpool captain to control his player, or simply tell the player himself to keep his mouth shut. A little communication goes a long way.

As it was the game of football was ruined for the neutral and now Mascherano faces a long spell out for his behaviour after the red card. It’s easy to understand his frustration and it’s easy for Bennet to make an example of a foreigner who has paid for the price for the referees general relucatance to properly discipline England players for their onfield antics.

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Tottenham - what were you thinking? A spectacular 4-4 draw may of been salvaged due to a late Robbie Keane strike but the decision to play highlights from your Carling Cup success before the game is utterly baffling. Why give Chelsea even more ammunition after their pathetic 2-1 reverse?

All said and done though, what a game. We were even given more reasons to dislike Ashley Cole and Pascal Chimbonda!

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From a thread on the Liverpool echo.

Rumour going around draw has been leaked….. this is no doubt rubbish but if Rumour is true it’s LFC - arsenal and Chelsea - fenerbache and manure v roma
No bookies will take bets on the draw either……. 

This was posted at 10.28am. The draw for the Champions League took place at 12.10pm.

Lucky guess or something more sinister?

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It may be a couple of days old now, but Michael Owen may want to look a little closer to home if he is worried about his Engerland place; it’s got very little to do with Newcastle’s (woeful) form – if Capello drops him, it’ll be because Owen himself is not playing well. Right now, Defoe is a more viable option in my opinion alongside Rooney.

If you look at the rugby, Jonny Wilkinson has been dropped for the national team, and in the cricket Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison have been dropped. Why? Because they aren’t performing. Owen isn’t performing. The goals Owen has scored in the past are just that – in the past.

It appears that little Michael is more bothered about his place in the national team than helping King Kev out of the quagmire that surrounds Newcastle right now. He maintains that his club is his main focus, but the word “contract” has already been bandied about. He’s two years into a deal worth in excess of £100K per week, and has scored five goals in 24 games (19 starts) this season. Not a good return. The only way they are going to do anything (i.e. survive with a modicum of dignity) is if they score more than they will inevitably concede in each game, and the problem is that Owen is one of only two real options for them. Smith isn’t going to do it, and don’t get me started on Ameobi. Martins has had a stop-start season, interrupted by the African Cup and injury but he is class - a full season will show that. Viduka can’t play more than two games in a row because his head and arse are too big and you can’t rely on the evergreen Shay Given to keep the score down.

KK has to run the changes in the summer, starting at the back and remove the dead wood brought in by BFS; he also needs to keep hold of N’Zogbia and Milner who are, in my opinion, the two best outfield players in the team. Newcastle fans are among the most loyal, but there will come a time when enough is enough.

It comes down to options; Newcastle haven’t got many as KK didn’t spend during the transfer window (why not Kev, why not?) but Engerland do.

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Received to my email just moments ago:

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How would I be able to prove that I’m interesting to take up such a splendid offer? And apparently they receive 300,000 entries per month. That’s a lot of entries, I guess that’s somewhere in the region of 10,000 posts per day.

Oh, they mean visitors do they? Or hits? Or page views? Who can tell?

Message to Caught Offside, if you’re going to pay people to try and rig search engines for you, try and ensure they’re not cretins.

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Some weeks back Real Madrid had an 8 point lead in the race for the Spanish title. Barcelona clawed them back to just 2 points but in the space of a couple of weeks the gap is 8 again.

A tepid performance against Villarreal last night saw them lose 2-1 and without Lionel Messi they look pedestrian in attack. Remarkable when you consider the front three last night was Ronaldinho - Eto’o - Henry. The former Arsenal man was so poor he was hauled off with about 25 minutes to go, Barcelona one down, for the 17 year old Bojan.

The Spanish adventure isn’t really working out for Thierry, is it? He’s scored some goals but has never looked even close to reaching the heights he did at Arsenal. Say what you want about unfamiliar systems and having to adapt to a new country but Henry is a hugely experienced world class player going from one top club to another. He looked like he didn’t much care last night.

A rot has set in at Barcelona now. Rijkaard looks likely to move on in the summer, or be moved on. They seem stale, even with young talent like Bojan, Dos Santos and Messi coming through.

To have opened up the title race again and then let it slip so badly is definitely the sign of a deep malaise at the club. Two years ago Barcelona were ruthless and, while they wouldn’t have found themselves 8 behind in the first place, they certainly wouldn’t have capitulated like they have in recent weeks.

It’s Madrid’s title to lose.

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One 4-0 can be put down to having a bad. A second 4-0 defeat inside a week is perhaps a sign of some problems at a club. But three 4-0 defeats in a row is as clear a sign as you’ll ever get that a manager has lost the dressing room.

Sure, the opposition was decent but after two 4-0 defeats and the next match against one of your fiercest rivals you’d think the manager would be able to get some sort of reaction from his players. He didn’t and Hammers fans must be absolutely miserable tonight.

Would be very interested in the thoughts of West Ham fans. Is Curbishley still the man for job? If, as it appears, he isn’t, who do you want to see come in?

Update: Just to confirm I’m not interested in the thoughts of idiot Spurs fans who are on a wind-up and think they’re the world’s greatest team since winning the Carling Cup. Yes, the Carling Cup.

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Just why are FIFA so resistant to the idea of introducing technology to football? They’ve scrapped trials of goal-line technology, and instead are to train extra assistants to stand behind each goal.

If FIFA were in charge of cars, they’d still have people walking in front of them waving flags.

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