At least our newest signing has amazing abs.
If you're looking for a 2000 word masterpiece, you're not going to get it. Sorry kids. It's the Mickey Mouse Cup, it's youngsters and reserves, and I have a La Liga article due for Goal.
I am very much looking forward to seeing the kids and reserves, though. For both teams, actually. I'm a huge Spurs fan, but I'm really a football fan first and a Spurs fan second. As much as I don't want Arsenal to have success into the future, I'm actually very excited to see Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Craig Eastmond, Rhys Murphy, Henri Lansbury, Emmanuel Frimpong, Havard Nordveit, etc. These kids are entertaining, at the very least.
But of course, I'm more excited to see my boy Sandro.
I know we have other kids and reserves that we're excited for, but I feel like Sandro's my kid, in a way. Ignore the fact that we're the same age. When I heard that Spurs were rumored to be pursuing him, I started watching Internacional games. I watched him play great games throughout this year's Copa Libertadores, doing a fantastic job of containing Juan Sebastien Veron and Hernanes. I got more and more excited to see him in a Spurs kit the more I watched him. Today, that dream should become a reality.
Harry Redknapp has admitted that he did not watch Sandro in person before signing him. He trusted his scouts, which could be a good or bad thing. It's entirely possible that I have watched more tape on Sandro than Harry. This might scare you as a Spurs fan, but rest easy. He's a £10m player. If he's a massive flop, it's one of those things that couldn't have been prevented. He's a supremely talented player who Harry would have still paid that much for if he had seen him 50 times.
As for today's game, excluding Sandro, I'm not going to get that worked up. It's a derby, yes, but it's also the Carling Cup. Neither team should really brag to the other fans if they win. If one of our kids makes a silly mistake and allows a silly goal, I'll laugh it off. If the opposite happens, I'll think "poor kid" instead of laughing at the Gooners. It's the Carling Cup. It's fun. Let's not get too worked up.
I've got a bet of a 6 pack of beer on the match with the management over at The Short Fuse. Because of that alone, COYS!
(Projected lineups are pointless and probably total bullsh-t, but let's try anyway)
Projected Arsenal Lineup (4-3-3, L to R): Flapianski / Gibbs, Squiggles, Djourouououou, Eboue / Eastmond, Wilshere, Lansbury / Nasri, Vela, JET
Projected Spurs Lineup (4-4-1-1, L to R): Pletikosa / Naughton, Bassong, Gallas, Hutton / Kranjcar, Palacios, Sandro, Dos Santos / Modric / Pavlyuchenko