This evening I watched two different matches at the same time: Man United versus Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal versus Man City.
Man United looked good in the first half. Smithy put up a spirited show, though I and my boy-cousins weren’t too sure what Scholes was up to. Things looked topsy-turvy when a defender scored, and Rooney dropped back in defence! However, Spurs started more strongly in the second half [at this point, I changed over to the Arsenal-Man City match] and equalised. One point each.
I’ve already accepted the fact that Arsenal may not win any honours this season or even the next, because their squad is lacking in depth and attitude. After watching the Pires penalty, I thought, OK, they need to score another goal to secure themselves. And what do they do? Screw up the next penalty. Of all people, Pires botched it up by tapping the ball instead of firing into the net. What a frickin’ waste. I’m not sure if that got Bergkamp annoyed (I would be, if I saw my team-mate squander a penalty that I earned). I’d love to hear the locker-room talk.
Elsewhere, it looked like 2-0 was the magic number – Fulham beat Liverpool, Wigan beat Aston Villa, and Blackburn beat Birmingham. I quite admire little Wigan and like reading their striker Jason Robert’s columns. This one is funny.
Tomorrow, the slaughter begins (Chelsea versus Everton).