1-0 To The Arsenal
‘CHELSEA have inherited Arsenals old mantle of winning ugly, starting off the Premiership season with two 1-0 wins while the Gunners have been scoring for fun.
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| The Lionel Blair of football |
But last night the roles were reversed as the Blues started off their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 at Paris St Germain, while Arsenal got past PSV Eindhoven by the only goal.
Such is Arsenals hold at the moment over broadsheet football journalists, who compete to outdo each other in their adulation for Thierry Henry et al, that Jose Mourinhos men barely get a look in.
As befits a paper whose origins may be in Manchester but whose heart is in north London, the Guardian makes no mention of Chelsea on its back page.
They are relegated to the also-rans inside as the paper dwells on every kick of Arsenals nervy 1-0 win, which came courtesy of an own-goal just before half-time.
The tabloids, however, focus on Didier Drogbas brace for Chelsea and the goal celebrations, which (says the Mirror) may cost him a Uefa ban.
Drogba mocked the PSG fans, who had jeered him all night, imitating Pauletas goal celebrations and blowing kisses at them.
But, says the Sun, his actions did not impress his manager.
Back to the broadsheets and the build-up to Fridays Ryder Cup has already started.
The Independent is banging on again about Tiger Woods poor record in the team event, comparing him with the brilliance of Colin Montgomerie in this form of golf.
Monty has won 16 of the 28 matches he has played, with five halves and only seven defeats. Woods has won only five of 15, losing eight matches and halving two.
All of which will count for precisely nothing come the weekend, although it gives the hacks something with which to fill their columns in the meantime.
The other obsession of the journos is how the American crowd will behave.
European captain Bernhard Langer tells the Telegraph that he is preparing his players for the worst after the excesses of Kiawah Island in 1991 and Brookline in 1999.
Meanwhile, US captain Hal Sutton says he is done with apologising for the scenes last time the cup was played in America.
Then, the US players and wives ran onto the 17th green to congratulate Justin Leonard for a crucial putt just as Jose Maria Olazabal was lining up his own putt to keep the match alive.
If the same circumstances presented themselves again, he said, the players would not have run onto the green, but the truth of the matter is that we are going to be ourselves this year.
Its not the players being themselves that the Europeans are worried about its that elements of the crowd will also be themselves.’
Posted: 15th, September 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
