I know football pundits are fickle but this really does take the biscuit.
Back in August, Tony Cascarino was confident that all Arsenal needed to slip out of their blip in form was a Saturday evening trip to Fulham. Because we were such a soft touch. Thankfully, I was reassured by the number of people who told me that Cascarino didn’t know what he was talking about.
Fast forward a few months and you get this.
If Roy Hodgson doesn’t win the Manager of the Year title this season then he should be pretty close to it. What Roy had done at the club is quite ‘amazing’ when you consider how close they were to relegation last season. He’s made them a very solid outfit and although they are quite predictable in the way they line up, a number of teams have struggled to handle them.
Bobby Zamora has received plenty of stick for his lack of goals but he does a good job for the side. The simple question is, are Fulham better with or without Bobby in the side and the answer is definitely when he’s in the side. Just like Emile Heskey when he was at Wigan, he didn’t score that regularly but the job he did benefited the side. I am sure his manager is more than happy with the job Zamora does for the side in terms of being disciplined and working hard when his team haven’t got the ball.
Roy got a lot of criticism for selling Jimmy Bullard in January but the fact that the team doesn’t seem to have missed him at all is testament to his decision to sell. The club got a good fee for a relatively old player and unfortunately for the Jimmy soon after his move he has suffered yet another bad injury. Manager’s have to make unpopular decisions and I don’t think anyone with argue with the sale now or the superb job Roy has done at Fulham.
Perhaps taking four points off the Gunners this season has changed his mind. Or he’s joined in with the Hodgson love-in after that victory over Manchester United. Normally, I’d be happy to take all the praise going for our manager because he’s a thoughtful, dignified and impressive football coach. But Cascarino can run all the way back to Stamford Bridge for all I care.
I have read Cascarinos column regularly through the season and his opinion of us and Roy Hodgson has changed dramatically through that time. Lets be honest, how many of us fancied our chances against Arsenal that day at home and if writing a piece about Arsenal that is probably what most neutrals would have thought.
Cascarino has been praising us/Roy pretty much since that time and said he thought we would be safe from relegation before Christmas so based on this I will take his comments as genuine praise.