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Quick note to all those writing in complaining about a lack of Mailbox - perhaps if you thought of something interesting to write rather than whining, then we'd have more mails to choose from - Love & hugs
Our Man On Gallas
Alan Tyers citing of Roy Keane as a reason to keep Gallas as Arsenal captain is ridiculous. Is he, perchance, an optimistic and especially devious Spurs fan?
Roy Keane was a great club Captain because he was such a dominant midfield player. He made himself available to take the ball and relieve pressure on this teammates. He played at such a high standard that you could visibly see the also rans in the Irish team turn world class when he was around. It wasn't hatred- it was that they didn't want to let him down.
He roared at them, but he also shouted encouragement. I remember seeing Yorke score his first goal for an age, after he'd fallen out of favour with Ferguson (rubbish goal, I recall), and Keane was first to him, repeatedly roaring "you're the man" in his face. He took blame when it was due him too.
He respected and earned the respect of his teammates. (See his glowing endorsement following Beckhams departure, and Beckhams reply).
If Keanes United had conceded a late penalty at Birmingham, you can bet your life he'd have reached the goal line two yards ahead of anyone else in case his keeper couldn't hold the shot. And his teammates would've loved him for it. Just a pity he didn't make that move to Juventus.
Andrew, Ireland
..."Mr Wenger hopes that the team will rally around the popular and decent Fàbregas, which is a strange and glaring psychological misjudgement from Mr Wenger"
Is it, balls, Alan Tyers...
John Terry, though an overrated berk, doesn't seem to be too unpopular within Chelsea who have had a pretty decent amount of success under his leadership, while Paolo Maldini never seemed to suffer too much in terms of picking up trophies as captain of Milan despite being loved by the media and players alike. Cantona preceded Keane as United captain and did OK, despite being adored by fans while the media loved his enigmatic personality.
Wenger had to get rid of Gallas as captain, his sulky behaviour and leaks to the press were further fracturing an already-split squad. I would suggest that the best response from the team would be for Gallas to go in January (and I happen to think he might anyway) and the team to then show him how united they are without him. I would also suggest that the pressure on Fab as captain is more that, as a decent bloke, he will more likely feel led to stay at the club than be whisked away. Yes, Henry left while captaining the team, but I don't for a second believe that wasn't without Wenger's say-so.
When I started reading your piece, Alan, I thought it was going to be along the lines of the parodies you do with John Nic. It was only after a little while it struck me you actually seemed to be serious...
Andy, Gooner in Colchester
UEFA Cup: Better Than The Champions League
After watching the Champions League this week and then watching the UEFA Cup games of Portsmouth and Man City, I have to say that the UEFA Cup is far more exciting and the competition is wide open. I used to really enjoy the Champions League but this year it's all very predictable and some of the games have been unbearable to watch (especially Liverpools I have to say). It's the same old story in terms of which teams will go through and the league tables speak for themselves.
On the hand, you wouldn't know who to place your money on in the UEFA Cup. I'm a Villa fan and over the moon that my team is in Europe and doing quite well and I never thought we would have beaten both Ajax and Slavia Prague away. The Portsmouth game was one of the best I've seen in a while. The players were really up for it and played some great fluid football. To add to it, the crowd were incredible and a far cry from the prawn sandwich brigade - these were proper fans appreciating that they were in Europe win or lose and singing their hearts out. After reading the mailbox for the last few weeks, I've become so bored of big four and their moaning plastic glory hunting fans that the UEFA cup has been a real breath of fresh air.
Andy Shiels
Blight On The Game
Just want to commend Sarah Winterburn on an excellent article about the blight on the game that is Mr. Sepp Blatter.
In the commercially-driven world that football now inhabits, it is simply mind-boggling that someone of his ineptitude and seemingly limited knowledge of the game has risen to the position of FIFA President. Sure, we get a few laughs from his pronouncements that women should wear tighter shirts, but he always strikes me as similar to someone who was given a big job because their father was the boss and everyone else is too afraid of the old man to point out that his son is an oaf.
The Morgan-Hume situation highlights this. As Sarah points out, Blatter was all bluster when Eduardo's leg was broken by an ill-timed (but not really malicious) lunge, due to the fact that an Arsenal player was involved. And now, when quite possibly the most despicable thing I can recall seeing on a football pitch occurs between two CHAMPIONSHIP clubs, the silence from Mr. Blatter (and indeed the FA) is deafening. Blatter has probably never even heard of the Championship, and I'd speculate that if Martin Taylor had broken Gavin McCann's leg in a Birmingham-Bolton game last season, there wouldn't have been a peep out of him either. His incompetence, ill-advised statements and inconsistency do nothing for the image of football when compared with sports like Rugby and Cricket, and here's hoping some of the FIFA delegates around the world have the balls to stage a coup or something, because I for one am sick of him.
Fergal (generic bracket comment), Dublin
A Word On Economics
So clubs may be considering lowering ticket prices and repaying fans for their loyal support over the years are they? Oh hang on, sorry, my fault, they are being forced to with the new VAT rate cuts, nothing to do with helping fans as they would have us believe. And whats this on top? a whole £1 off each ticket?! How will these clubs survive with such a loss in gate receipts? Heres a suggestion, freeze some of your players wages for a week. John Terrys for example, that would knock £3.50 off each ticket - in fact freeze Lampards too and thats over £6 off each home ticket - yowzer! How about Stevie G? Thats £3.30 off a ticket to watch your beloved Liverpool and sing some wonderful songs about rambling when you're winning. In fact, imagine if you cancelled the wages of all the luxury second string players that your club has signed in the summer who sit on the bench week in week out with little or no contribution - imagine how much ticket prices could come down! But alas, I am of course being ridiculous, players have mortgages and petrol to pay for too, Hummers dont run on water, im just a bitter supporter who cant even afford to go and watch Bolton anymore...
Chris The Majestic
Self-Correction
So hang on, Gallas' defence of himself is that he didn't threaten to score an own goal. He just threatened to play s**t. Ugh, and to think I sent an e mail to this site actually defending the guy earlier this week, and you printed it!
Tim 'I Thought We Got Rid of the Twunt That Wrote S**te Autobiographies' Stillman
Boro: Not Half Bad
I know this seems a bit of a random mail but,
Middlesbrough, normally they are only mentioned in the gambling advice my friend always says to me "Never bet on a match involving Middlesbrough". This is because they can lose to the worst teams on earth and then go beat United or Chelsea. Must drive Boro fans mad, Kinda like Arsenal now. But you know what,
Middlesbough aren't half bad these days, actually they're pretty decent. They have some good forwards and promising crop of home grown players. Gareth Southgate, who has been on a steep learning curve and who seemed out of his depth is looking a good young manager. They were the first to to win at Villa Park this season, it was a bit lucky considering Sidwells huge blunder but Boro had missed an absolute sitter before that.
They matched Villa in that game and were good value for their win. I really had considered Boro just one of the teams to make up the numbers, kinda like Blackburn are these days. But they could have an outside chance of getting a UEFA cup place via the league this season. Pompey and City seem adrift right now, Boro are stable. I think they'll do well in the next few years. We used to call them Villasbrough as we always hammered them, not anymore.
Conor Byrne
Walls: What Are They Good For?
It might seem a bit uncharitable to criticise David James, given the quality of Ronaldinho's free-kick, but the way he dealt with it raised a more general point about keepers.
Why do they bother having a 4 or 5 man wall cover one side of the goal if they're then going to go and stand behind it? If the buck-toothed genius can get it to dip perfectly into the top corner over the wall, you weren't going to save it anyway and you would surely have stood a better chance of getting one that goes in the other corner if you'd stood a few feet the other way.
One other question that arose from last night: can anyone name a player whose ability inside and outside the box varied more than that of Inzaghi? Utterly woeful even a couple of yards outside the box, a total predator inside it.
Ben Smith
This Makes Perfect Sense
Do you lot think that no one has ever come back from 10 points behind to win the league? Or are you just saying Arsenal don't have a chance in hell to hedge your bets? If they come back, then you're excited and happy, and if they don't, well, then you were right all along...
Adam Corbett
Worst. England Team. Ever
This has to be the worst collection of misfits ever to represent England...
1.Richard Wright (gave away a penaly against Malta on his debut I think)
2.Gary Charles (last seen driving a double decker bus around Nottingham)
3.Keith Curle (Proudly represented us in the 1992 Euro's what a debacle)
4.Anthony Gardner (yes he did actually win an England cap)
5.Paul Konchesky (Where is he now?)
6.Andy Sinton (Did he ever do anything? Lived his career on one good game for QPR)
7.Seth Johnson (Enough said)
8.Geoff Thomas (A journeyman, his audacious chip v France was legendary)
9.Andy Gray (remember him, last time I heard his name he was playing for Woking about 8 years ago)
10. David Nugent (one cap, one goal)
11.Michael Ricketts (seriously?)
Would make a pretty good Scotland team though.
Chris Nixon, HK
