Everything he says gives me cancer. Here's his debut column for the Daily Mail
Arsenal reality check: Even Peterborough have beaten Reading... Cazorla cannot touch Silva or Mata... And why Messi is a bottler
Arsenal won 5-2 at Reading. So what?
The way Gooners are banging on about that result makes it sound like everything is OK at the Emirates. Breaking news – everything is not OK. Bradford knocked Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup. Arsenal are 15 points behind the Premier League leaders, and we’re not even halfway through the season.
More breaking news for Gooners – Theo Walcott is good, but he will never be at the same level the talismanic Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry achieved.
And Santi Cazorla is good, but over the course of a season he’s not quite David Silva, or Juan Mata. Both Walcott and Cazorla are players I rate highly, but both prove that Arsenal on the field have been starved of success and stripped of quality year after year.
The fans are desperate for a hero – when Santi played well, he was the new hero. Then Wilshere came back, and Santi’s form dipped and Jack was the man. Now it’s Theo. But the fans can’t really get behind Theo because they know the chances are he’ll be leaving.
On Monday night at Reading Arsenal won the first half when Reading got their tactics completely wrong. Brian McDermott changed things at half time and the 2nd half finished 2-2.
And at the end of it all it’s a great night out when your team wins away but what does a 5-2 win at Reading actually mean for a club like Arsenal? Not a lot really. Arsenal used to win big at Premier League cannon fodder on their way to the title or the double. It was a means to an end. Now the odd decent win is all the fans can look forward to.
A great club, with great fans who deserve better.
Arsene Wenger said that Monday’s win shows how strong Arsenal are.
The reality is that Arsenal beat Reading in the same calendar year Peterborough United beat Reading.
OLD SCHOOL? NO, BROWN
IS SIMPLY DIRTY
I’m neither a Leeds fan nor a Chelsea fan but here is one special reason why I’m glad Leeds didn’t make it to the semi finals of the Capital One Cup – Michael Brown.
As far as I could see he spent the whole game kicking and fouling opponents and playing very little football.
He seems to have built a career on nasty challenges.
Among those who have felt the full force of Brown’s brutality are Jacob Butterfield, Ashley Cole, Sean Davis, Jem Karacan, Theo Robinson, Jermaine Jenas and perhaps the worst foul I’ve ever seen - on Ryan Giggs in August 2006.
He launched a stamp on Giggs’ knee with the ball not even in the same postcode.
Amazingly he only saw yellow for it, so he’s lucky to have only received eight red cards in his career.
He’s been described as 'old school,' but he’s just dirty.
THE SECRET FOOTBALLER WHO JUST WANTS TO PLAY
Think all footballers are in it for the money? Think again.
Quite by chance I happened to sit opposite a professional footballer on a train recently. I didn’t recognise him at first, and when I did realise who it was I couldn’t introduce myself because he was listening to music. Then his phone rang so I thought I’d take the chance at the end of the call to say hello.
This ceased to be an option once I realised the nature of his conversation. He was telling his agent how gutted he was that he wasn’t getting a game.
To fill you in, he wasn’t injured, and isn’t a bad player at all. His manager just isn’t selecting him.
At first I thought he was another egotistical player who thought he had a divine right to be picked. But I was wrong. He just wants to play football.
From what I picked up, money was not an issue at all, he just wants to play football. The manager who won’t pick him isn’t the manager who signed him, so the player is now in a situation where he is getting paid but not playing.
From the outside it looks like he is taking money for nothing, but in his own words: 'I just want to play.' A decent young English player being held back by a club that should do the decent thing and let him go.
MAGNIFICENT MESSI HAS BOTTLED OUT OF BIG TEST
Never thought I’d say it but I’m disappointed in Lionel Messi. The best player on the planet, arguably the best player of all time, I’d happily pay a small fortune to watch him play.
But why sign again at Barcelona?
Messi has won everything at Barcelona, there’s nothing left to do there. So why not come to the Premier League so we can find out if he can do it out of his comfort zone?
His new contract takes him beyond the age of 30 so we will never see Messi at his peak playing anywhere else but Barcelona.
Scoring and winning has become easy at Barcelona for Messi. I wish he had accepted the challenge of signing for an English side. Is he scared of Stoke?
Lionel Messi – bottler.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250984/Adrian-Durham-Arsenals-Santi-Cazorla-touch-David-Silva-Juan-Mata--Lionel-Messi-bottler.html#ixzz2FafpbEwH
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Arsenal reality check: Even Peterborough have beaten Reading... Cazorla cannot touch Silva or Mata... And why Messi is a bottler
Arsenal won 5-2 at Reading. So what?
The way Gooners are banging on about that result makes it sound like everything is OK at the Emirates. Breaking news – everything is not OK. Bradford knocked Arsenal out of the Capital One Cup. Arsenal are 15 points behind the Premier League leaders, and we’re not even halfway through the season.
More breaking news for Gooners – Theo Walcott is good, but he will never be at the same level the talismanic Robin van Persie and Thierry Henry achieved.
And Santi Cazorla is good, but over the course of a season he’s not quite David Silva, or Juan Mata. Both Walcott and Cazorla are players I rate highly, but both prove that Arsenal on the field have been starved of success and stripped of quality year after year.
The fans are desperate for a hero – when Santi played well, he was the new hero. Then Wilshere came back, and Santi’s form dipped and Jack was the man. Now it’s Theo. But the fans can’t really get behind Theo because they know the chances are he’ll be leaving.
On Monday night at Reading Arsenal won the first half when Reading got their tactics completely wrong. Brian McDermott changed things at half time and the 2nd half finished 2-2.
And at the end of it all it’s a great night out when your team wins away but what does a 5-2 win at Reading actually mean for a club like Arsenal? Not a lot really. Arsenal used to win big at Premier League cannon fodder on their way to the title or the double. It was a means to an end. Now the odd decent win is all the fans can look forward to.
A great club, with great fans who deserve better.
Arsene Wenger said that Monday’s win shows how strong Arsenal are.
The reality is that Arsenal beat Reading in the same calendar year Peterborough United beat Reading.
OLD SCHOOL? NO, BROWN
IS SIMPLY DIRTY
I’m neither a Leeds fan nor a Chelsea fan but here is one special reason why I’m glad Leeds didn’t make it to the semi finals of the Capital One Cup – Michael Brown.
As far as I could see he spent the whole game kicking and fouling opponents and playing very little football.
He seems to have built a career on nasty challenges.
Among those who have felt the full force of Brown’s brutality are Jacob Butterfield, Ashley Cole, Sean Davis, Jem Karacan, Theo Robinson, Jermaine Jenas and perhaps the worst foul I’ve ever seen - on Ryan Giggs in August 2006.
He launched a stamp on Giggs’ knee with the ball not even in the same postcode.
Amazingly he only saw yellow for it, so he’s lucky to have only received eight red cards in his career.
He’s been described as 'old school,' but he’s just dirty.
THE SECRET FOOTBALLER WHO JUST WANTS TO PLAY
Think all footballers are in it for the money? Think again.
Quite by chance I happened to sit opposite a professional footballer on a train recently. I didn’t recognise him at first, and when I did realise who it was I couldn’t introduce myself because he was listening to music. Then his phone rang so I thought I’d take the chance at the end of the call to say hello.
This ceased to be an option once I realised the nature of his conversation. He was telling his agent how gutted he was that he wasn’t getting a game.
To fill you in, he wasn’t injured, and isn’t a bad player at all. His manager just isn’t selecting him.
At first I thought he was another egotistical player who thought he had a divine right to be picked. But I was wrong. He just wants to play football.
From what I picked up, money was not an issue at all, he just wants to play football. The manager who won’t pick him isn’t the manager who signed him, so the player is now in a situation where he is getting paid but not playing.
From the outside it looks like he is taking money for nothing, but in his own words: 'I just want to play.' A decent young English player being held back by a club that should do the decent thing and let him go.
MAGNIFICENT MESSI HAS BOTTLED OUT OF BIG TEST
Never thought I’d say it but I’m disappointed in Lionel Messi. The best player on the planet, arguably the best player of all time, I’d happily pay a small fortune to watch him play.
But why sign again at Barcelona?
Messi has won everything at Barcelona, there’s nothing left to do there. So why not come to the Premier League so we can find out if he can do it out of his comfort zone?
His new contract takes him beyond the age of 30 so we will never see Messi at his peak playing anywhere else but Barcelona.
Scoring and winning has become easy at Barcelona for Messi. I wish he had accepted the challenge of signing for an English side. Is he scared of Stoke?
Lionel Messi – bottler.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2250984/Adrian-Durham-Arsenals-Santi-Cazorla-touch-David-Silva-Juan-Mata--Lionel-Messi-bottler.html#ixzz2FafpbEwH
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