This is of course a football blog, you come here (I hope) for what always tries to be a fairly light-hearted and amusing update on something or other to do with the world of football. You don't come here to hear my political views, nor am I in any way informed enough or, frankly, reasonable enough to put my view across in a way that is likely to do anything other than cause offence, come across all sanctimonious, or trip me up with my own lack of logic or reason.
But then, what's this, they cancelled the England game?! Hold on a gary second - does that make it football related?! Woop de do, leeeet's rant...
Only joking kids, I'll spare you my theory. Instead I wanted to muse on two things:
Numero the first: why the bloody hell was there an international friendly pencilled in for 3 days before the start of the season anyway?! I know they have always held one around this time of year - usually against Holland to be fair - but does anyone, anyone ever really get any benefit from it? It might be a chance to blood some new players in an unimportant game, but they will most likely be shunted in a few weeks for the proper matches at the start of September. It might be a chance for fans to get to see their heroes, except now England only ever play at Wembley so it's no help to the majority of the country - plus many of them are days away from finding the money to fund their real addiction, and stumping up for an England game is too much to ask. It might also be a chance for players to get an early run out, but will any of them want to go full pelt and risk injury so close to the start of the day job?
I move that this fixture should be scrapped from the international calendar, anyone who supports my cause should go and smash a shop window and steal something. Apparently it's how we get our feelings across these days.
My second blugget - that's a blog nugget by the way, tasty aren't they - is the apparently rather hefty fee paid by Arsenal to secure the talents of Southampton winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. As a Saints fan I'm probably in a better position than many of you reading this to know what Arsenal are getting for their money, and my feelings are a little mixed.
On the face of it, I've few doubts about Chamberlain's ability to do well at the highest level. He has an impressive physical presence for someone so young and small - he is stocky and strong and this will help him compete in the same way (though not to this extent) that Wayne Rooney did when he came through at 16. Defenders will want to smash him but when they realise he is solid they might have to come up with a better idea. As well as this, he shows an exciting tendency to attack in a very direct manner - running straight at players and skinning them was a frequent sight for the Saints last year; plus he is able to finish well, some of his 10 goals last season were quite spectacular. In the impressive list of young talent that my club has developed in recent times, I would place him behind Gareth Bale, who was so incredibly influential to the team at just 17; but probably ahead of Theo Walcott.
And there we come to the key. Theo Walcott.
I am of the opinion that if Walcott had moved to somewhere other than Arsenal when he left us at 17 in 2006, he would be one of the stand-out players in Europe by now. Manchester United in particular, but also he would have been a good fit for Aston Villa back then also. The reason for this is that Theo played with such devastating pace and lethal intent - all he ever wanted to do was score when he got the ball. In the Championship, he murdered defences for half a season near enough, and Arsenal should have simply seen his strengths and exploited them. Alex Ferguson would have thought, right - get him on the last defender and let Scholes and Giggs send him through, goal time. Instead, Wenger - and this is to his credit in some ways - saw the fact that Theo did not have the greatest touch, and also his distribution could be improved. His direct style was at odds with Arsenal's wannabe tiki-taka possession and so Theo was apparently instructed to change his approach.
The player I watched for the first year or two at Arsenal seemed constantly to be curbing his instinct and desperately trying to do what he has been asked to do, even though to be quite honest he is not the best at it.
My fear for Chamberlain, and perhaps for Arsenal if they repeat what I believe to be their mistake with our last superstar, is that Wenger will try and coach him to be a player in the mould of Fabregas, Nasri, Wilshere, Ramsey etc. He does not need to do this - let him off the reins and tell him to do his stuff. If this happens, then he could well be a big player in a year or two. Just don't ruin another one, we can't keep sending them to you!
So, in the next few days I'll be posting my Premier League previews, starting tomorrow with a look at the teams who I believe will be slogging it out at the bottom of the table. Don't miss it, it'll be a riot...
Final word: the pictures from London and my home of Croydon have made me disgusted, angry, sad, and above all ashamed. England is in one hell of a mess right now and the view from so far away does not look pretty. Hope you all stay safe and unaffected by the appalling and mindless actions of the idiot minority.
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