As if Arsene Wenger wasn't mad enought after reading my blog yesterday(he's a fan), Theo Walcott dislocated his shoulder while training with England. Walcott was taken to hospital(the English don't say a/the hospital, just hospital), and his shoulder was put back in place. This means Walcott will now be out of the Arsenal lineup for a number of weeks. Wenger has always been critical at the number of international breaks, and he will be livid to lose Walcott to training for a game that's only a friendly. It's about time FIFA did something to fix the club vs. country row(if FIFA weren't useless). This is the third international break since the Premiership season bega, and with global football(soccer) players are jetting to Africa, South America and Australia for matches. The international breaks definitely interrupt the rhythym of the season, and is a disadvantage to those clubs with international players from different parts of the world. One solution would be for fewer international breaks, that are longer in length. Many leagues have a winter break, and during this month they could play a number of matches. Also, instead of having qualifiers for the World Cup and the federation cups(Euro/African Cup of Nations/Gold Cup), why not make this into one long rolling qualifier. Four years to qualify for the World Cup seems a lot fairer than two. I'm sure Wenger will have some comments.
Alex Ferguson has been given a two-match ban from the touchline, and a £10,000 fine from the FA over his argument with Mike Dean during the Hull game. The FA made a big deal about the whole respect campaign, and it's impressive that they've taken this kind of action against the most well known coach in the game. Coaches have not been respecting the refs, and it will take a lot more bans like this in order to make them. As usual the FA undercut themselves, this time by starting the ban December 2nd. Ferguson misses a Carling Cup match against Blackburn(easy win), and then a Prem match against Sunderland. If Roy Keane and Ferguson had both been on the sidelines of Old Trafford, there would have been Rodney Dangerfield(no respect).
Didier Drogba was given a three match ban for hurling a missile(coin), in Chelsea's Carling Cup match against Burnley. Never mind that the coin had been hurled at by Drogba after he scored the goal. With Anelka in top form, the Blues won't miss him too much, but they are said to be unhappy and are likely to fine him £180,000(2 weeks wages). The ban was expected, after Carragher received the same ban years ago for throwing something into the crowd. Drogba has not had a great season with Chelsea, and there have been rumors linking him with Inter Milan and a return with Mourinho. Given that he couldn't play for them in the Champions League it is unlikely, but I doubt he has a long future at Chelsea.
One Liners
- Frazier Campbell scores for England U-21, is figuratively on fire
- Maradona won't apologize for Hand of God, says that England won World Cup on goal that didn't cross the line so they shouldn't be so proud
- Mourinho bemoans image of Serie A abroad, a boring game of thugs isn't a good image?
- Manicini says Real Madrid would be his dream job, Schuster already in talks to break lease on his flat in Madrid
- Doctor blames Madrid for not handling Robben correctly, the man is more fragile than a dozen eggs
