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Sir Taggart’s winning trump was the one he discarded last summer
WHO would have thought that the player that helped Sir Taggart take a step closer to another Champions League final would be somebody he sold, rather than bought? For all the money he dished out on Dimitar Berbatov, he must have been more thankful for palming Mikael Silvestre on to Arsenal during last summer’s transfer carousel.
Silvestre, rarely seen without a worried look on his face (I’ve only ever known such perma-confusion on the face of Charlie Brown off-of Snoopy, Bernie “I only arsked” Bresslaw and Phillipe Senderos) copped the assist for United’s winner on Wednesday night.
He unwittingly split open his own defence with a clumsy leg.
United are bound to score an away goal at Arsenal next week, meaning the Gunners’ route to Rome looks more and more unlikely. If the suddenly-good Manuel Almunia and suddenly-better-than-Ashley-Cole Kieran Gibbs had not played out of their skins, the deficit would have been worse. Silvestre had to take some of the blame for those four Liverpool goals last week as well, but shouldn’t be the only fall guy.
Kolo Toure only looks as assured as the player he is playing with at the centre of the Arsenal defence, so assured and confident next to William Gallas, a rabbit in headlights when partnered with Silvestre.
Arsenal are good at beating Middlesbrough at home – they now need to be good at doing the same to United as well. I’d love it if they did.
THE defeat against Man Utd on Saturday felt particularly painful.
Perhaps it was the stunningly bad penalty decision that turned the game on its head, perhaps it was playing so well and then crumbling so horribly, or, more likely, it was Wayne Rooney’s huge chumpy grin and Cristiano Ronaldo’s bulging, veiny neck as they celebrated their messy flurry of goals.
The winners and losers this season are continually being decided by Spurs (and referee Howard Webb). One week we doom Newcastle to relegation and the next we give Liverpool’s title hopes a faint boost, only to dash them again just like Nicklas Bendtner does to Arsenal fans every time he has a chance.
This week we face West Brom, desperate to avenge our miserable display against them earlier this season and boost our European hopes in the process – although whether we want or need another 10 games in our season is another thing entirely. What we do, of course, want is for a spectacular Manchester United performance to finish off Arsenal’s increasingly worrying European run once and for all. If I see Rooney’s huge chumpy grin and Ronaldo’s torso, or even Tevez looking like a madman who found a million pounds in his shoe, then I’ll be a happy man again.
Let’s just hope Berbatov doesn’t have to take a penalty. |
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