R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I hate it when professional athletes start complaining about a lack of respect.

Now, Ashley Cole - who only just wants to be loved - is saying that he left Arsenal because he was being dissed by the team management, who apparently forgot to tie his shopping cart full of money bags with a pretty pink bow or some such thing. And he went to Chelsea, not because of greed or disloyalty, but because he wanted to win trophies. Yes, it's as if he was transferring from Leeds or Leicester, not a team fresh off the Champions League title game.

Look, Princess, anyone who says they transferred to Chelsea for any reason other than Roman Abromovich's checkbook is a cheeky liar. Why is it so hard to just say, "hey, I had a chance to cash in big time. I'm 25. My value is going to start going down soon. My agent told me this was the time to capitalize on my value as a football player."

Wenger says that Baptista will be a potent force for Arsenal. New back William Gallas says that he is ready to help them return to winning ways. Both sound good to me. Let's start today, boys.

Halftime Report
Watching the first half of Arsenal V. Middlesbrough was enough to make me pull my hair out. The Gunners can't buy a goal. Hell, they couldn't load the ball on the back of a truck and drive it across the goal line. All posession, and no net. Sound Familiar? They had shot after shot after shot and were either wide of the mark or denied by Mark Swarzer, who is having a brilliant game. A flat defense led to a crap goal by Middlesbrough, so if they don't figure out how to squeeze that huge ball between the narrow posts, they are going to go down to a crap team and be in a hole so deep that 10th place will look like a good finish! I'll bet Thierry's glad he stayed for this.