To many people in North London and beyond it doesn't seem fair that Arsenal don't seem to be getting the credit (and points) they deserve for playing the most beautiful football in this green and pleasant land. Infact the whole debate reminds me of a discussion I had with my friends about basketball when I was just a child. I'm sure you can all remember the Harlem Globetrotters and their unimaginable skills. We were all absolutely convinced that they were by far the greatest basketball players the world had ever seen and knew that had they decided to enter into any competition with any other team, especailly in the NBA, they would surely win hands down. Now that I've grown up however, I realise that any game, and especially this great game of ours is not won by tricks and flair alone. If points were given out for breathtaking passing, youthful exuberance or fancy tricks the whole essence of what the game is about would change. In training sessions we could concentrate on passing drills and the defenders could forget about clean sheets and look forward to rushing forward playing one, twos with abandon. If Arsene has his way we'll shorten the game to 60 minutes, award bonus points for keepy-uppy sessions at half time and decide the tie based on the points out of ten awarded by a bunch of judges for, content, artistic flair and originality. I am sick and tired of having to listen to the Professor trying to turn the Premier League into some kind of cross between Olympic Ice Skating and Strictly come Dancing and constantly moaning about how no one is letting him do it. Of course I may be wrong, perhaps the world is ready for the Emirates Globe Trotters after all. I just wish that if that's what they want to be they choose to do it somewhere else.
