Morning all.
I could envision myself getting to know another culture and language.
Any chance of Spain?
That was a goal earlier, but that is unrealistic due to the financial crisis.
So why not England? “I would be the fourth German at Arsenal, that wouldn’t be so bad.
That was Bayer Leverkusen’s Gonzalo Castro talking to German football magazine, 11 Freunde.
The right sided full back/midfielder is under contract until 2016 but it seems he’s keen to seek pastures new many years at his current club. He’s a tiddler at just under 5′ 8″ tall but if Arsene Wenger is looking for a new right back, who knows…..
So Jackie boy is fighting back from his ‘naughty corner’. Having been snapped in the press with ciggy in hand, in order to try and deflect attention from himself, he posted this photograph on Twitter yesterday.
Jack went on to leave a comment saying:
But for the record… I don’t smoke!
Good, I’m glad he doesn’t, it’s not good for him, his partner and certainly not his two young children.
But my question is, why do people use other people’s naughtiness, failures or something else similar in order to justify something that they have either done or got wrong or, something has not gone the way they wished it to?
How many times to football fans say ‘At least X, Y or Z has lost as well’ after we have dropped points?
What other people/clubs do bears no relevance to what either Jack or Arsenal do, life and football is all about doing what is right or doing the best one/they can in order to succeed.
What Jack Wilshere has done is stupid, either by smoking or by putting himself in a situation where he’s been caught on camera in possession of a lit cigarette and no-one else is to blame but him. Posting a photograph of Zinedine Zidane smoking is rather silly in my opinion, if not for any other reason than the man has already retired and to this day is considered to be one of the footballing greats.
Or is that what he’s trying to say? If Zidane was as able to smoke and was as good as he was, then so can he?
But then again, Jack said he doesn’t smoke, so why didn’t he just leave it at that…..
Whatever the answer, I bet he’s had his knuckles slapped by Arsene Wenger as he won’t want the player or the club to be in the press right now for wrong reasons.
However, his antics may have just secured him a nice deal with Electronic cigarette company Neo.
Their director Estée Oren said:
As a professional footballer and a role model to millions of young fans, we can understand the controversy caused by Jack puffing on a cigarette.
So we have offered him a significant sum today to officially endorse our product as a healthier alternative to smoking.
Pff!
Going back to Arsenal, when we lose it hurts and if any of the other clubs around/above us lose the same day/weekend, that hurt doesn’t lessen in fact, it’s worse as is means we’ve missed out on a huge chance to either gain points on them, catch them up, or even overtake them.
So far this season, when others have lost, we have capitalised on those losses and that’s why we sit top of the league.
There’s a long long way to go for sure but if we carry on as we are, we could go a long long way…
That’s it for another day…
Morning all,Good read Rico. Seems to me that jacks trying to earn a few bob, who cares if he smokes, we have loads of midfielders if he should run out of puff. Zidane showed what a burk he was when he butted someone in his last game,and that’s probably was caused by trying to pack up smoking.
Morning Rico. A good, topical post. I wonder how players smoking is viewed in other countries? We all know how bad it is for you -apparently in the US it is still the number one killer. But, travelling abroad, I have noticed that it seems almost mandatory as so many people seem to do it. Last time I was in Cyprus I swear that people on the beach were smoking three at a time. Whole beaches have been constructed from fag ends there.
If the furore stops Jack from lighting up again then it will probably have been worth it.
good morning!
was a stupid idea from JW
come on Arsenal!
Morning Adam, Sp, JM and all. Thanks re the post.
Sp, my own view is that it’s crazy for a sports person to smoke, their career is a short one in any case and he’s jeopardising his fitness and in turn, his place in the Arsenal side.
Adam, I have been abroad in years but the last time I was, I’m sure there were more smokers than non….
Like you say, hopefully now he’s been in the press, he’ll quit and I don’t believe he or anyone would stand with a cigarette in hand and mouth simply for fun…
I see Kenny Dalglish has high praise for us…
And Suarez has no intention of signing for us according to his international team mate Cavani…
I read an article earlier concerning this that said ‘jack was a disgrace’ and I advised him what an idiotic overreaction it was. This article made more sense to me , relatable … well played, well played !
Welcome and thanks Shield. Ultimately, it’s down to him what he does in life but if wants to stay at the top until he’s in his mid/late 30’s, smoking isn’t the way to go…
Morning rico, what jack did was very silly what was he thinking posting zidane’s picture? Heard wenger saying wilshere’s place is not guaranteed and he can’t play as an attacking midfielder….it’s up to him to change the mind of the boss
Morning Snaparse, he’d have been better keeping quiet, apologising to AW and keeping his head down…
Exactly rico….but hey he’s just a kid right? Let us hope he has learnt from his mistake and improve on his game
He’s 22 years old, a father of two, he’s no kid any more Snaparse…
That’s me done for a few hours, have a lot to be doing today..
Catch up this afternoon, have a good day folks..
You are right rico….there’s no excuse and to think he has kids?
You get the feeling that Jack isnt the sharpest tool in the box,he knows the media are waiting to pounce but he still puts himself in position to get bad publicity.We really dont want a great player like him going off the rails.Hopefully Wenger can sort the lad out with kind words rather than the big stick ,which could have a negative effect on Jack and make things worse.
Nice one Rico good post, as usual.
Speaking of Tiddlers, I am of similar height, breadth is a bit of an issue, but in this day and age 5’8″ is small.
Last weekend I ‘bumped into” Nice OFC, in Nice, as they entered the Hotel I was staying in, prior to their game with Guincamp, (Nice won,1-0, incidentally) what struck me was not awe, but the size of the players, their height. I would say not one of them was less than 6’ tall. Now I know that a good small ‘un will always beat a big ponderous ‘un, but these men were athletes lean, sinuous and muscular. We seem to have gone for the smaller player lately, not a bad thing but the Nice team drowned me and I think would, even at my most aggressive have made me less than keen to get stuck in! Then again ………Billy Bremner……..Jonny Giles……….Peter Storey, all relatively small.
But big players do seem to litter the leagues now, a sign of the times, better diet, more hormones pumped into the meat we eat etc. etc.
Jack W would probably be 6’ too had he not got bandy legs and stunted his growth by too much smoking, at an early age!
We will never know. Will smoking damage his ability, I doubt it, but in this day and age smoking is hardly de riguere, is it?
Just a subsequent thought. Do you think that there is a designated smoking area at Colney or even the Erms? All the smokers together doing the nicotine bonding thing before, during and after training or a match, no pun intended!
Whatever next?
Looking at this weekend fixtures, I don’t see a lot of joy from our competitors.
We gotta assume that all our rivals will probably take 3 points.
That means we need maximum points from West Brom to go into the Intetlull in top position…
Crazy game at the etihad….anyone watching?
yes, I do.
Lukaku it’s a very interesting player and not so expensive
Good morning HH, Man City is a very good team, team selection is there problem.
AFC PressWatch™@AFCPressWatch 2mPlayers on #AFC’s Radar: Yoeri Tielemans, Michy Batshuayi and Aleksandar Mitrovic. They’ve all been watched by arsenal Scout Ty Gooden.
Good read…
And a good afternoon too…
AW on JW’s position:
The Arsenal manager no longer sees Wilshere as a natural ‘No 10’ – despite his shirt number – and thinks his new role can help the 21-year-old rediscover his trademark “burst”.
“Deep-lying midfielder or wide [are his best positions] because higher up he is less comfortable at the moment. He doesn’t like to have his back to goal, he likes to face the game…
Ty Gooden, pretty sure I saw him playing in the Arsenal Youth team…
Ts, what’s good mate, what are ur thoughts on the Liverpool game?
Just lounging Dna… Hi Kev
The liverpool game?? I expected the dippers to whip Crystal Palace….
Hello Ginge.
There won’t be any suprise results today.
Kev, Sunderland have a chance against United. Lol
Kev, I won’t mind a Sunderland surprise but that will be asking for too much I guess…
BM are over running Bender and his Bayer 04 crew.. still 0-0
Sunderland 1-0 up.wow
Hi ts….watched the bvb match and i think hummels is overrated…subotic is the better defender between hw are u?
Evening…
What a day, busy busy and then got home this afternoon and no phone connection. I did wonder why there was a BT van up the road 😉
Hey ho, the garden centre and Waitrose benefited 😉
Hi Rico,
Snap not bad at all buddy. And you? As an under cover BVB fan I always tell anyone who will listen Hummels will be nobody without Subotic lol… don’t get me wrong he is a good footballer but defensively he is a bit like TV…
Kroos just scored for BM… I do not understand why he is so underrated by Sammer and Eifenberg and most BM fans and ultimately the footballing world?
Sidney Sam just equalised… Neuer howler…
Make sure it is actually BT not the folks beside the river trying to tap your phone.lol
Hi Ts.
Ya i understand what your trying to say……he is technically good but his position and awareness is poor..im good too…hi rico
And ts i am an undercover real madrid fan…lol…i know you guys don’t really like them but….
Raffael covered nearly 13km today against 10 man BVB.Wow
😀 Snap…
Lol ts…i know right
Never been a RM fan but I have to admit Raul, Zouzou, Zamora, Hieero and Carlos were true greats.
Snap- how much do you rate Hig?
Rico, I take it you do not get your internet from BT?
Ts he is a top class finisher that’s all….he does nothing creative to me and he is not a decisive player ala suares,aguero etc but he can finish like any striker around he just doesn’t have the all round quality that’s why mourinho didnt use him against barca and the big boys IMHO
Hi snaparse.
Ts, I am with Bt.
Can’t really understand moyes decision to keep leaving kagawa on the bench for ffs….he is like the most creative guy in their squad
I agree, he was just an exotic D. Bent to me…
My biggest worry about him was that he lacked fight when needed but I must admit I did not follow the whites so…
What do you think of BM’s hierarchy’s attitude towards Pep? I can see him joining Yanited if things remain the same for both Moyes and him…
Ok? but you had internet but no landline?
No, I had neither, hence only being on HH now. Came home a lot earlier and had no phone so went to garden centre etc.
Anyway, its all working now…
Now I need to get something to eat.
Because Moyes is still stuck on traditional football… how many top mangers play 2 true wingers as wingers?
Its like Pellegrini insisting on playing 2 in midfield…
I understand now…
Rico, Havard Nordtveit, was immense in DM for M’gach
ts bayern is a very good team almost perfect if u like and i really like toni kross he is very good tactically and also very effective more so than thiago(can’t still understand why pep signed him) lahm is another superb player(the best fullback the game has ever seen imho) all in all they are a very impress unit and i think they are going to win the league and ucl(not betting on it dou) between not bad from the young lad from united
AW missed that one didn’t he Ts.
Night – catch up tomorrow
Gervinho! What’s s a player!
@JM. Did he score again?
New post up..