Just about visible underneath a looming baseball cap, Spike Lee was at the Emirates on Saturday, watching Arsenal comfortably put four past a struggling Wigan side. The news delighted BBC’s Jonathan Pearce. Immediately identifying the director, Pearce, predictably enough for a man noted as devoted a cineaste and lover of Lee’s earlier more visceral and challenging films as he is, wondered if any other buffs amongst the audience remembered 1989’s ‘Do the Right Thing’.
It seemed to mark an exciting new direction for edited highlights coverage, the commentator as a cultural prompt, and had many looking forward to the next time the Gallagher brothers appeared at a Manchester City home game and the inevitable subsequent discussion on what went wrong with ‘Be Here Now’. Until Pearce went and spoilt it.
“He’d love if Ian Wright was still playing,” was a disappointing follow up. As a pun (Wright/right...aaaaaaah) it’s lacklustre, fairly unimaginative, and, as all puns ever, utterly nonsensical if stared at long enough for its fundamental lack of logic to become apparent. But at least he tried; certainly one has more faith in his ability to unify the twin forces of football and cinema than Nick Lowe or John Motson- whose painfully awkward silences, signifying a man way out of his star spotting depth, whenever a non-football related personality- Steven Spielberg say, or the entire cast of Tootsie- appears on our screen come cup final day are a thing as traditional as the losers collecting their medals first and ‘Abide With Me’.
Pearce was in freewheeling mood throughout the day, mingling with the famous faces, operating in the setting of choice for most being invited to comment on a comfortable home victory for Arsenal. Lacing the appreciation of the home side with a heavy dose of condescension for the away one, at one point, with Wigan well behind but keeping possession in Arsenal’s half, he began reeling out adjectives like a drama student in an improve exercise: “This is what managers want to see at 3-0 down: application, commitment, endeavour, character.” Undoubtedly true. Though, going forward, it may be an idea to not wait until you’re 3-0 down.
Elsewhere on Saturday, was Hull and Birmingham game, where- presumably as a nod to the recently remastered and rereleased Beatles albums- the game took place in the dead space between ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘Inner Grove’ on side two of Sergent Pepper’s.
But Saturday was, as Saturdays so often are nowadays, a pre-Sunday warm up. The Manchester derby was fab: thrilling, dramatic and a nice counter to all the smug people that sneered when City signed Craig Bellamy. Bellamy has long been the most underrated player in the Premiership, gifted, quick and a better finisher than most imagine, he storms around the pitch with apparent hyperactivity problems, but his positioning is deceptively astute. His two goals yesterday were the type of goals that everybody assumes Carlos Tevez scores regularly, despite the fact that Tevez, er, doesn’t, and opts instead to hare around the pitch artlessly, ostensibly looking for, but rarely winning or retaining, the ball, like I used to do during P.E at school to avoid having to do a lap of the pitch afterwards for lack of effort (also: application, commitment, endeavour and character). The ying to Bellamy’s yang, the amount of coverage and petty bickering given to Tevez in the build up to the game is inexplicable for a player as plainly average as he clearly is.
Bellamy was the Manchester City striker this week selected to win himself a suspension for over-excessive fan interaction. This is a real shame for Mark Hughes, rapidly running out of striking options. Money can’t legislate for everything, but better news comes from Sky’s Jamie Rednapp: “Manchester City have...the stadia to compete,” he said before the game. Most teams can only afford one.
Chelsea/Spurs was fun too, Tottenham deserving credit for having a go, and unlucky to lose by three. Certainly an improvement from the days of Jose Mourinho complaining of them parking the bus. One Five Live commentator made comment on the transition: “The bus is moving today!” Mixed reading of Mourinho’s words are not uncommon but I certainly never seen Spurs actually as the bus; not least because the Inter manager tended to favour rich imagery over crude metaphor. Though, as ever, your mileage may vary (as, I suppose, if the wireless is correct and I’m wrong, will the bus’) and this one looks set to run and run. Or not, as the case may be.
Post from: Premiership Today Football News
Premiership Review (19th-20th Sept)
