It's late, I've been skiing for three days (with the drinking and eating) and have just got back from the slopes so this will be quick..

Whilst away I saw the scores, got the texts and saw a brief glimpse of a Robin Van Persie goal (courtesy of France 2 TV - apparently the Plymouth goalie was French!). Tomorrow once I've come back down to earth I'll explore the FA Cup and what it could learn (or maybe not) from the French Cup (which I saw lots of over the weekend!).

Cheers

Due to an unexpected slice of excitement during DAY ONE of the TRANSFER WINDOW I've been told by a doctor (well I looked at an online service) to stay off alcohol and drugs for the month of January. In order to make life seem bearable I shall be spending the weekend in Champery doing a little R&R on the ski slopes. Have a good weekend watching the FA Cup, no idea what team Arsene will out out tomorrow but having seen Plymouth over Christmas I didn't see much to frighten us other than our ability to lose to teams with less ability but much more effort!

Bis Montag

So being down in the West country I found myself at the massive Championship game that was Plymouth versus Southampton yesterday. What can I say about the 2-0 win for the home side. Well as my friend said before the game, "It's two shit sides playing each other so a home win then". That's pretty much how the game panned out. Plymouth went 2-0 up with a decent header and a penalty, Southampton played pretty football but never looked like scoring and it got bloody cold. They do have an interesting player in Ryan Smith, who looks a little like Theo without being quite so quick but with more tricks.

Arsenal really shouldn't have anything to worry about from the Pilgrims but then having watched our Keystone Kops defending (yet again I hear you cry) last night you never know. I had predicted a 2-0 defeat last night as I just couldn't see us getting a result and so to be 2-0 up (even if it was "slightly" against the run of play!) was a major surprise. However, normal service was resumed with our inability to hold on to leads and though we would all have taken 2-2 before the game it's yet another sign of our frailties. 

On the plus side though we did show character to score two and fight even though we were out played. The other point is that Villa when 2-0 down did not make a substitution and I think (though they got back level) it shows how weak their squad is. We played with numerous injuries and suspensions and got something out of the game so maybe we should appreciate that for a change.

Today it's Boxing Day and that, of course, is the traditional day for getting away from the relatives for some much needed relaxation with your mates at a football match. Just because you can't get to see your own team or you're nowhere near home shouldn't stop that and today is no exception.

As I'm staying in Plymouth with relatives and a friend of the wife is going to the local game then I'm going along too. Whether Plymouth versus Southampton will impress me or depress me I don't know but I'll enjoy it anyway as you get  a couple of beers in plus the added benefit of great pasties!

So wherever you are today make sure you get to a game (if possible) even if it's something like:

It may not be the best way to discover the result of a match (or even try and "watch" the game's last 20 minutes) but persuading my wife to let me use her Blackberry whilst waiting to board a flight at Gatwick will suffice with a game like yesterday.

Of course I claim all the glory as I could only play 2 of my 3 strikers in my fantasy league side and with the psychology of "I'd rather he scored and we won than get points for my team", l left out Robin and the rest, as they say, is history. I'll need to remember this policy.

I've seen the highlights and a few things come to mind, yes Van Persie's first was offside but that has happened to us too many times against Chelsea so I'll take that with no feelings of guilt. Secondly, the EBJT (copyright The Fiver) and his so called tackle on Sagna. Apparently Sky refused to show it  despite spending hours on Eboue's tackle last year (cheers Arseblogger) and MOTD didn't talk about it after the game as per usual. What is it about England captains that gives them complete Carte Blanche to do what they like!!! Arseblogger also mentioned the Chelsea fans copying the United fans with their P#####hile chants (yes everyone knows it) and the Guardian did print a story about it today but didn't seem too keen to take it any further. It comes to a sad state of affairs when the only person speaking out about it was Alex Ferguson (even if it took him 10 years too many to say it!).

What's next - well we all know that is an impossible question. Our kids will have a tough game at Burnley this week and that's a team that is doing well and playing good football too. After that the first team will return against Wigan though after the last round maybe we should play the two teams in reverse this week!

Oh and we've got Plymouth in the cup which is fun as my wife comes from there and I'm in Plymouth Argyle for christmas where I will see their Boxing Day game against Southampton. I did also see the last game between the two sides in the cup when we won 6-1, I'll take that with a Jack Wilshere hat trick.