Arsenal's Wheels & Juande Ramos

Arsenal's Wheels

The discussion has lately reared its head , will Arsenal's wheels come off? They've kept to the pace at the top of the Premier League, to the 4th round of the FA Cup and the Second Phase of the Champions League. So they are having a great season, so far, and one terrible defeat to Spurs shouldn't change that. But much more so than United or Chelsea, the Arse' have the ability to implode and fall away in the league. Wishful thinking? No.

Wenger, despite sitting on millions of pounds, will not spend any money on the squad during the transfer window, seemingly in the belief that various never-will-be's such as Senderos, Hoyte and Walcott will be enough to get them through a tough league and cup program until May. Gilberto looks finished, suffering either from poor fitness or motivation. If the over-achieving Flamini gets injured, who comes in, Gilberto, Diaby, Song? At centre back, the problems have long been known. Gallas and Toure have been good together, but Senderos is a waste of space and Djourou doesn't seem to have made any progress despite his loan spells.
Similarly, up front, Bendtner has shown flashes of potential, but more is needed. Walcott needs to apply his talents, Van Persie has had a litany of injury problems which only leaves Adebayor and Eduardo up front to score the goals.
So, that's a fair amount of weaknesses in the squad, which Wenger will not address, and I have the feeling that it will be their downfall this season. Ok, they won't finish fifth, but I feel they won't win anything either.

Juande Ramos
After their disastrous start, Spurs have achieved a UEFA cup place already this season, by virtue of qualifying for the Carling Cup Final against Chelsea.
[EDIT - the losers of the Carling Cup final will not get a UEFA Cup place, if Chelsea win, and they have already qualified for the CL, then the place will go to 7th in the league]
It's a bit too simplistic to say that Jol's team would have blown it, but Ramos has impressed so far. If the serious Spaniard can get a top half finish and a good run in the UEFA Cup, it will be an excellent platform to build for next season. How different things could have been for Jol if King was fit....

Mark,

Okey Doke Football Podcast is [usually]available every Friday morning, subscribe here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OkeyDokeFootball

JJ is off on his working holiday this week, a supersub hasn't been found, so I'm afraid there will be no podcast this week, but we'll back next week with more lame jokes, obscure Anchorman, Seinfeld & Father Ted references and tales of bold footballers from the tabloids...

In the meantime, check out the Irish minister for Sport showing off his football skills in Africa, at least he is better than Tony Blair, but neither will live up to the excellent Boris Johnson in a seniors 'friendly' against Germany

Paul Robinson & The Rocket

Who's that idiot with a desperate look on his face? Why, it's every opposition's favourite goalkeeper, Paul Robinson. The latest in a list of calamities occurred last night as he dropped a cross, allowing Villa to score. A freekick later exposed his inadequacies further, poor positioning of the wall and himself gave away another soft goal. This man has done more than anyone else to try to lose Jol his job this season and how is he rewarded? Constant selection and the England No. 1 jersey. Tottenham have been a disaster at the back this season, making a mockery of rubbish predictions of 4th place (i.e. mine) but with Lardy Robbo in goal crumbling to pieces at the sight of a cross into the box it is hard to see it getting much better in the short term. Jol should be smart & ruthless and bring Cerny into the team but doesn't it strike you as strange that Robinson has been the most vocal backer of Jol? I wonder why that is....

The Champions League is on tonight and the most interesting encounter is Man Utd vs Roma. Roma have conceded plenty of goals lately (not least a 4-1 loss at home to Inter) but should be a bit more savvy this time round. United's lineup will again be interesting, a miserly defense and flukey 1-0 wins are OK in the opening weeks of the League but I get the feeling that they need to improve quickly to stay in the title race. The loss of form of some players is alarming from United's perspective - Rooney, Tevez, Scholes & Giggs have been poor by their standards, while Ronaldo is in the 'could do better' bracket. They are relying on their defence heavily, and with Hargreaves scheduled to play tonight, I can't see much luck for Roma, and sooner or later, United will click past 2nd gear - unfortunately for neutrals, probably not tonight.

Arsenal are off to Bucharest to play Hagi's former charges in what should be a leisurely stroll while Lyon take on Rangers in a much more interesting match. Rangers got off to a flyer by beating Stuttgart while Lyon took a 3-0 pasting away to Barca. Lyon have had a poor start to the season, not helped by injuries in goal and defence (or by the fact that Alain Perrin, former Pompey 'supremo' is the man in charge). Walter Smith has turned around Rangers and I'm taking a punt on a draw here, with the wonderfully named Jean-Claude ('The Rocket') Darcheville to be fit and throw his considerable weight around.

Mark,
http://www.okeydokefootball.com

Is Jol under pressure?

Howdy Folks,
Mark here.

I'm just wondering, after yet another season of under-achievement at Spurs - is Martin Jol under pressure now? Will he be sacked? If not, should he be sacked?

I've been a fan of Jol since he came, but Spurs have had a so-so season. It's no disgrace to lose to Sevilla last night, or to Chelsea in the Cup for that matter, but Spurs fans have a good reason to expect more from the team. They are currently in seventh in the League which is definitely not good enough. Consider the money Spurs have spent, then compare that to Bolton and Everton ahead of them. Alternatively, consider the quality of players in the 3 squads... Players like Berbatov, Defoe, Keane, Lennon, King & Dawson wouldn't look out of place in any Champions League team. When you consider that an integral part of Everton's team is Lee Carsley, likewise at Bolton, the old timers Speed and Campo, you can see the point I'm making.

In short, I hope Jol turns it around next season, Spurs play good football, have quality players and it would be interesting to see them in the Champions League, especially instead of Bolton or Everton, God forbid!

**************************

Our weekly podcast is online since last night (http://libsyn.com/media/okeydokefootball/odf12Apr07.mp3) where we discuss:
Premiership & Champions League results. We discuss Man Utd blowing the title in 1995 in the Moment section. Pub Talk featuring the issues of the week: A good oul headbutt story to make the heart grow warm, Chris Coleman, silly transfer news, UEFA 'Suits' and loads more.

Feel free to leave your thoughts on the show and any footballing matter below, or as always, you can email comments@okeydokefootball.com

Thanks,
Mark
http://www.okeydokefootball.com