Indeed I did. I'm sitting here watching Juve v Ajax, and can't help wondering to myself: when was the last we had a goalkeeper leave us only for us to regret it? Just about never, really. Not recently anyway. We'd always been pretty good on that front: Lukic, Seaman, Lehmann - we had the best of them, and they moved on or retired at the right times.
But not Manninger. It was unfortunate he never really had a good run in the team the 4-5 years he was at the club, but looking at him right now, I wonder if he would've been a good solid goalkeeper for us right now. I rate him quite highly - much like the Juicy Arse-kaleinens of the world.
Anyway...we have a stirling line up in Almunia, Fabianski, Mannone and Szcecesezeny, so we shouldn't complain.
It's been as interesting a mid-week as Arse-less midweeks can get. Champions League, and it was nice to see Chelski lose. They'll have a 2-1 defeat to chase at home, just like us - and for the neutral, I think ours should be a slightly easier bet. It was kinda heartening to see Fulham beat the UEFA/Europa Cup Champions in Shakhtar Donetsk, which says something about the depth of the Premier League.
Something of more relevance is of course Stoke beating Manciti in the FA Cup, and more importantly, taking 120 minutes to do it. Now let's just hope that (a) they're dead beat on Saturday evening, and (b) they'll take their feet off the pedals with an FA Cup run in mind.
Elsewhere, all sorts of other funny news coming out of Manciti. Our best mate Adebayor has been hit with a FOUR (!) match ban, and this of course comes on top of Paddy's own three-match ban too. Ha. And to think we're the only team so far this season not to have had a red card. Rather poetic, methinks. But dang, this just means Manciti will probably get turned over like a dead rat at lunch-time at the Bridge on Saturday.
On the Arse front then: According to Sagna, destiny's on our side as far as the League is concerned. Asked if we could win it, Sagna figures..."why not? There is destiny and I am sure this is Arsenal's one and I am sure we will celebrate at the end." Hmm. OK. Roger that. Good to know that at least he's confident of some form of celebration in May.
Did anyone that little exchange between the Dutch coach and Arsene? Basically, the same people who thought RVP wasn't really injured thought that he might be able to put on his boots while his ankle was still in plaster in early April, and Arsene basically said *%#!*?! off in the nicest way possible. What is it with the Dutch national team anyway??
Speaking on the walking injured - looks like the Arsh is getting a longer rest than he thought he might get. Wasn't it the man himself who thought he might have been back for the game v Sunderland? Anyhows, he's getting a little longer breather, which might not be a bad thing for him.
More worrying is Billy's injury. I suppose Sol ain't too bad an option for Stoke. We need someone to give that Ricardo Fuller a right fist in the kidneys, so why not Sol? Wonder how the team has been training for the game this weekend. Shouldn't be too difficult. Just get Clichy to stand on the edgeof the penalty box and hurl in those throws straight at Sol and gang. We should get the hang of it after a bit. If not, there's always the option of trodding on Rory Delap's fingers. Otherwise, we are for all intents and purposes "injury-free". This basically means we have 60% available. I'll put some money on an Arse win, but won't at all be surprised if something much more disappointing were to transpire.
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