Rombling - Battles, Medicals & Fat Blokes
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- Created: Wednesday, 25 February 2009 03:20
- Written by The Rome
I try to not be a hypocrite, so even though I wouldn't want to question the wisdom of Martin O'Neill, I can't help but feel a tad disappointed by his decision to leave 8 first team regulars behind for our second leg match in Russia against CSKA Moscow. At the airport, the youthful squad containing the likes of Clark, Bannan, Lowry & Lichaj looked more like they were queuing up for their school dinner rather than depositing their luggage and the decision to rest so many key players is tantamount to conceding the tie & the UEFA cup.
In the past I have criticised the likes of Bolton & Portsmouth for not giving two hoots about continental competition. Both of those clubs strived so hard to qualify for Europe and may well never get there again, so for them to play weakened teams in September and October when the season was young and they'd been comfortably mid table just seemed like an awful waste.
In the biggest Anglo-Italian tet-a-tet since North Africa in 1940, three sets of English and Italian sides are set to clash in the second round of the Champions League over the next two days. Given the weekend’s Serie A action, how can ‘Our Boys’ expect to fare against their Mediterranean brethren?
Last Saturday I managed to get myself up to the Emirates stadium for Arsenal's league match with Sunderland. Despite the recent lack of wins for the Gunners, there was an air of excitement and anticipation, nearly all of which was attributed to the eagerness of witnessing the debut of Andrei Arshavin, and some of which was fuelled by a few ales at Finsbury Park before the game.