Us And Them
‘IN what counts as a rite of passage at Highbury, the Mail says that Jose Antonio Ryes has been charged by the FA with violent conduct.
| Reyes hears about the violent conduct charge |
If ever the player wanted to bolster his Arsenal credentials after being tricked into revealing his dream to play for Real Madrid, a ban from the game is a decent way to start.
The Spaniard should be fired up for the Gunners trip to Germany where they face a Bayern Munich side in fine form.
The Mail previews this Champions League game and concludes that it will be a stiff test for Arsene Wengers team.
But, as the Telegraph notes, nothing fuels a teams fire more than a siege mentality, and Wenger is keen to play on just that notion.
Claiming that the media do not fully appreciate the quality of his dynamic team, the Frenchman said: We simply have to fight against this. No matter what we do, it is all negative in the press.
The us against the world approach may well stand Arsenal in good stead, but surely the game of the night is Chelseas trip to Barcelona.
The Times says the Chelseas coach Jose Mourinhos credentials will tonight face a Spanish inquisition, a predicable pun based on nothing much.
Mourinhos credentials are not what is in any doubt it as only last year his unfancied Porto side won the Champions League; what is in doubt is how his new Chelsea team can fare.
The other question of the day, and the main poser as far as the Mail is concerned, is how serial offender Michael Lewis made it onto the pitch during Burnleys FA Cup tie against Blackburn Rovers.
Theres a nice picture of a tattooed Lewis dressed oddly in Tshirt and gloves knocking the helmets off a couple of constables as he attempts to show what a complete berk he is (success) and get at some of those Rovers players (failure).
Going up against a couple of professional sportsman smacks of an ingrained deep-seated idiocy that Lewis clearly posseses in spades.
For, as the Mail says, at the time of his one-man pitch invasion, Lewis was banned from every football ground in the land.
In the language of the police, Lewis has previous.
But that did not stop him getting a ticket to the game and a seat in the stands.
Nor his picture in the paper…’
Posted: 22nd, February 2005 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
