BAFFLED BRUCE DEFENDS BECKHAM DECISION

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has today defended his decision to name former England captain David Beckham as his man of the match in his country's 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Belarus.


Viewers and pundits alike were astonished by his decision to hand the accolade to the LA Galaxy star, who had only played 35 minutes of the match. It seems even Fabio Capello was a little taken aback by the award, likening it to Barack Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace price just months after he was sworn in as US President.

However, former Manchester United captian Bruce, who was working for ITV as a pundit for the game, has claimed he chose the right man and is shocked by the "carry-on" that has followed the game.

He said: "It's incredible. When I was in the stadium, he came on to the pitch and let's be fair, for 50 minutes, it was dull, boring, uninteresting. That's the way I looked at it.

"David Beckham comes on to the scene, the whole stadium in unison rises to him and I thought, 'Blooming heck! Wow! Fantastic! Now Dave, what have you got?'.

"For me, for the 35, 40 minutes, he lit up Wembley, the way his attitude was, and I suppose that's why Mr Capello keeps picking him to go into the squad, to do something like that for him.

"Maybe he can't do it for 90 minutes. However, for me, he had an impact. That's the way I saw it, that's the way I called it."

Nothing to do with the United connection then Steve? It would seem that two goals is no longer enough to get you the man of the match award. Peter Crouch will have to buy his own bubbly this weekend.

SUPER SUMMER SIGNINGS

It would appear that Arsene Wenger has done it again. Recently named Arsenal.com player of the month for the second time in a row - Thomas Vermaelen is quickly proving himself a world class player and almost undoubtedly the signing of the summer.

You can throw the who's who of footballing talent into the mix and suggest that the signing of the summer is Cristiano Ronaldo, or Kaka or Xabi Alonso. At £80million, £55million, and £30million respectively it is hard to see how an overall bargain has been achieved there. At a mere £10million and a goal return of 5 from defence already this season, Vermaelen has shown that the megabucks are not always needed.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Darren Bent, who i believe has always been a quality player, is proving a snip at £16.5million. With a return of 7 goals in the league already this season, Bent is starting to show some of the form he once had with Charlton. At Tottenham, he had found his chances in the first team extremely limited, largely spent warming the bench for Robbie Keane or Dimitar Berbatov.

Steve Bruce has done some excellent summer business at the Stadium of Light, not only has he secured a guaranteed goal scorer and almost perfect strike partner for Kenwyne Jones, he has also grabbed one of the most promising English central midfielders in the country in Lee Cattermole, and Lorik Cana, one of the most solid midfield rocks in the French league last season for a combined £11million. With finds such as Wilson Palacios (albeit with a little help from Arsene Wenger), Maynor Figueroa and Hugo Rodallega, Bruce has already built a reputation for finding hidden gems.

Players like Sebastien Bassong and Alberto Aquilani may prove in time to be huge signings for Tottenham and Liverpool respectively provided they can stay injury free, but until now Thomas Vermaelen has certainly been this summer's "Super Signing".

EXPERIMENTATION TIME FOR PROFESSOR CAPELLO

The luxury of qualifying early for South Africa next summer gives Fabio Capello a chance to experiment and sift out some of the squad's aging deadwood. The next qualifier against Belarus will give younger players the opportunity to experience the competitive edge which a friendly can't provide.

With up and coming players like Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa and Jack Wilshere and Kieron Gibbs of Arsenal, Capello can now experiment with different strike partnerships, which up until now have failed to shine.

Against Ukraine, players like Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey once again showed that they have perhaps been handed one too many opportunities to prove their worth. Now it is time to try something new. Heskey looked hopeless on the ball, hardly winning anything in the air, and running into trouble on the ground. Even against Croatia, he made a strong case against himself, missing two clear cut openings. The huge problem with Emile Heskey that many people have is his lack of goals. The last two games have only moved to strengthen that view.

Rio Ferdinand, this season, has almost looked like fish out of water. Early signs were there to be seen - agaisnt Manchester City - giving the ball away, and failing to prevent Craig Bellamy from scoring from a tight angle. In Dnipropetrovsk, Ferdinand once again showed that he was not at his best, he almost looked clueless as the ball came over the top. He looked like a Sunday league player caught short because he had stitch from the beer he drank the night before.

If Capello thinks we can win the World Cup with Rio in defence and Heskey up top, he is very much mistaken. Time for a change, only two small changes, but he needs to start the experimentation now...before it's too late.

FABREGAS THE BEST CHOICE

Fabregas waits in the wings after Gallas is dismissed


This week Arsene Wenger named Cesc Fabregas as his new captain at Arsenal, and it is hard to see a better man for the job right now. In the summer, in my opinion, Wenger lost his two best natural leaders, in Gilberto and yes, Mathieu Flamini. This season it has to be noted that there is a lack of leadership in the midfield and no matter how good Fabregas is, last season that leader was Flamini. Unfortunately for Wenger, money appeared more attractive to Flamini than loyalty to a club that has made his career, something that can be said of Arsenal in many cases, Ashley Cole to name but another, and the Gunners boss, whether through want of trying or not, failed to find a suitable replacement.

Wenger said on Sunday before choosing his captain, "I don't believe too much in leadership. I believe more in good passing than a guy who jumps around with his hands in the air and plays the leader". In this case, i have to say i disagree with him, which is not something that happens often. When you look at previous Arsenal captains such as Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira, you would always see them shouting and waving their arms about to instruct the team. Adams by the way, as an interesting fact was 21, the same age as Fabregas when he first captained Arsenal. Good omen for the future perhaps?

Apart from Fabregas, it is hard to see another stand-out candidate. Obviously Kolo Toure is experienced, knows the club and in the past has been one of the best defenders in the league, however, in the last two seasons, he has been nowhere near the Toure of old and has been rather injury-prone. It is almost impossible for Wenger to make someone who will more than likely be out for half the season the club captain. The same goes for Robin van Persie. I believe that if Tomas Rosicky hadn't picked up the injury when he did and had made as big an impact as i think he would have done last season, i think he would have been a strong candidate for the role. He is more of a natural leader, as well as having captained his country many times in the past. Manuel Almunia has looked shaky recently and i have never agreed with a goalkeeper being captain as it is virtually impossible to lead a team from the penalty area. Other than those it is hard to find any other possibilities which is why i believe Wenger has made the right decision with what he's got.

CRISIS CALLS FOR ALL GUNS AT THE READY

"The worst week of my life" seems like an appropriate statement for Arsenal at this time, but as Arsene Wenger said "I've had worse". A week when a second home defeat seemed to confirm to fans that the Emirates was no longer a place where they just don't lose, captain and supposed leader William Gallas had hung out the clubs dirty laundry for all to see and the weaknesses and injuries of the team were the talk of most of the footballing world, it surely wasn't about to get worse. Manchester City and Robinho made sure of that. The defence looks like a bunch of school-boys against Premier League champions, and whats worse, it didn't look like anyone could be bothered.

Despite all this, Arsenal fan must remember that as one fan on 606 said "before Arsene Wenger we were not very good" and he's right, moreover calls from some for Arsene Wenger's head is ridiculous, as former Arsenal favourite Lee Dixon said "a great manager doesn't become a bad manager over night". One fan even ordered that Gallas be reinstated and Wenger dismissed. To compare the two's records at the club is like comparing a pint of Carling from the Herbert Chapman pub to a can of Asda's economy. A man who has turns around the club from "boring, boring arsenal" to a team who has been playing some of the best football in Europe for years, who until five years ago, had been winning things, and winning them in style. Then error-prone, past-his-best Gallas, who has done nothing but whine and moan and sulk in the middle of football pitches and back-stab his manager to try to get his own way. A complete no-brainer as to who i would keep as far as i'm concerned.



What Gallas did is completely inexcusable. A leader on and off the pitch, a role model is what he is supposed to be, but instead he sets an example that shows he has no regard for the club and shows him to be a pathetic coward. Great captains of the past like Frank Mclintock, Tony Adams and Patrick Vieira would not have even thought about it. Nobody but him will know what he hoped to achieve with this outburst, but all it did was made Arsenal the laughing stock of not just north ondon, but the whole of footballing England.

From now, it can only get better, with a reasonably safe Champions League game against Dynamo Kiev to come in mid-week, and a game which all will expect to be lost away at Stamford Bridge, the team need to pick themselves up and make the most of the rest of the season. One win next weekend will see a complete turn-around in the media and the dressing room. All these recent crisis talks means low-pressure on the Chelsea game and gives them more chance off pulling off a surprise win. Even if, as expected, they do lose, a good performance will do them the world of good and help drag back to where they want to be. The Premier League is all but gone now, but the Carling Cup, FA cup and Champions League are all still very realistic targets. In the cups, you only have to play well for one game, look at Portsmouth who won the FA Cup last season, and Liverpool who somehow managed to win the Champions League in 2005. Anything is possible with some optimism and a couple of decent January signings.

SHOOTING STARLETS TURN SOUR

From the good, to the very bad and slightly ugly in the space of four days. On Tuesday, Arsenal's young guns went out in front of a packed Emirates Stadium and demolished a full strength Sheffield United 6-0. Four days later and the so-called "first team" go out looking like they've just come back from a tough trip to Eastern Europe for the Champions League.

On an evening where much was expected of the stars of Arsenal, where they were due to show the kids that they're not the only ones who can play, came a huge disappointment. It's hard enough for Arsenal fans to take a 1-0 loss away at a battling Fulham side when their team played badly, but a 2-1 home defeat to a Hull City side who, four years ago, were in the lowest tier of league football in England, and who many people had written of as "no-hopers" for this season. Even when Arsenal had woken up in the second half, and nicked a scrappy, "un-arsenal-like" goal, they still managed to lose to an incredible performance from Hull. The fact is, the 100% that Hull go from every single player on the pitch for the Tigers, should still not have been enough to defeat the quality and strength of Arsenal. They knew lady luck was shining on them yesterday as William Gallas headed brilliantly against the bar and the rebound merely hit Carlos Vela, a superb hat-trick hero on Tuesday, and went behind for a goal kick. Verdict for Arsenal: must try harder.

All this meant that Chelsea took top spot, while Liverpool and Aston Villa climbed to second and third respectively, and Man United gained three of the seven points they were behind on Arsenal back after a 2-0 win over Bolton. In all, seven out of the top nine won, scoring 2 goals. The two teams that didn't win were Arsenal, and Man City, who didn't play. Not a good day at the office for Arsene Wenger and his boys.

GUNNERS SHOOT TO THE TOP

Arsenal yesterday fired their way to the top of the league, and today had their place cemented for the week by the result at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester United.

The Gunners, who started the match without the injured Samir Nasri and the benched duo Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, fell behind early on with a powerful header from Kevin Davies. However fought their way back with two in two minutes first from Emmanuel Eboue, then Nicklas Bendtner and the game was rounded of with a dazzling run from substitute Theo Walcott, who played though Emmanuel Adebayor to set up young Brazilian midfielder Denilson for the third.

From the kick-off, it always looked to be Arsenal on the up as they got their passing game going quickly.

Bolton had an early chance after a scramble and Kevin Nolan sent a 30-yard snap shot goal-bound, seeing it tipped over by Manuel Almunia.

The early indication was that Bolton were in for a rough ride and they only ever looked threatening from set-pieces or long balls into the box. This was proved the case on 14 minutes as Kevin Davies climbed higher than the hapless Kolo Toure to head home from six-yards. Gael Clichy perhaps should have done better as the man on the post.

Toure very nearly amended for his poor defending when moments later he sent a fierce half-volley just wide of the post.

This, it would seem, was the most Bolton had to give as they spent the rest of the game on the racks. Straight from the restart Arsenal looked hungry, and not long after, Bendtner played a magnificent one-two with Adebayor who proceeded to slot the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen, only to see it rebound back off the right hand post and back out.

Bendtner himself then saw a goal-bound shot hit Danny Shittu and from the resulting corner, Alex Song, unmarked, headed the ball against the left hand post.

Arsene Wenger looked frustrated, as did the Arsenal fans, who had decided the bad luck was his fault for leaving Walcott and van Persie on the bench.

It was all smiles a few minutes later after some more good play from Denilson, Bendtner slipped the ball through the gaping Bolton defence, to which Eboue latched onto to level the game with his first Premier League goal.

Just as Bolton had woken up after conceding the equaliser, they were picking the ball out of the net again as Bendtner turned from assistant to scorer after connecting with a delightfully weighted ball from Denilson.

Arsenal continued to press once again as Eboue and Denilson both went close. With half-time closing, Bolton took the ball up the other end and Nolan let loose a stinging volley that flew past Almunia's right hand post.

However, in stoppage time, the game took a sour note as Kevin Davies went in high and two-footed in Gael Clichy. The apparent touch on the ball may have saved Davies from a red-card as he escaped with just a yellow.
After the break, Arsenal again came out strongly as Alex Song came close with his effort from the edge of the box, but from then on it was Bolton who looked the more likely scorers.
Mustapha Riga, a second half substitute for Bolton almost made an instant impact, seeing his fine effort tipped round the post by Manuel Almunia.

With Bolton still going forward, as rare as it is, the Arsenal defence stayed fairly solid and they found no way through. As they pressed further, on came Theo Walcott to add pace to the counter-attack. Within ten minutes, he had picked the ball up on the halfway line and took off on a scintillating run, resulting in the game killing third for Arsenal through Denilson.

Walcott came close to making it four late on but had his shot saved from the finger-tips of Jaaskelainen, with Adebayor still screaming for the pass.

In all, it was a brilliant performance from Arsenal, but there are still some worries. Certain players like Denilson and Bendtner, as much good as they may have done yesterday, have a strong tendency to send stray passes out for throws or goal kicks, especially the former. The defensive partnership of William Gallas and Kolo Toure looks shaky at times, and just as a reminder, they haven't played anyone in the top 9 yet and still lost away to Fulham. They may be top, and they may be playing well and scoring goals, but don't get too carried away until they win a big game. You may be setting yourselves up for disappointment.