News Round-Up

- The main talking point of the day has obviously been the actions of Emmanuel Adebayor during Saturday's demolition of Arsenal. Nothing i might add hasn't been covered in a hundred other places, so i'll keep it as simple as possible. Yes, he has let himself down, and moreso the club ahead of an important game next week, but the vilifying of the boy is blatantly over the top. He was thoughtless to celebrate so extravagantly infront of their supporters, but they didn't cover themselves in glory either, at the time of the incident or beforehand. The way he's been treated by elements of their fanbase over the last year or so, especially some of the, well, let's just say more unsavoury comments, well, it's a bit low, so to some extent i can understand his reaction, it was silly and uncalled for, but heat of the moment and all that. A slap on the wrists will suffice. The van Persie incident should probably result in a three-match ban.

- Bookmakers William Hill have released their odds for any possible suspension. The common consensus, both there and elsewhere seems to be that four games is the most likely scenario. They're offering 9/2 that he won't receive any ban, 6/1 for one game, 5/1 for two, 4/1 for three, 7/2 for four, 9/2 five, 13/2 that he'll miss six and 14/1 for seven plus. Mental.

- Two Championship managers have today sprung to the player's defence. Middlesbrough's Gareth Southgate said of the incident "I stand in the dug-out and get abuse at away grounds, players get abuse at grounds and yet when the boot is on the other foot, we are quick to jump on people's backs. I don't go for people saying it's totally out of order. The wind-up goes both ways. If you give it, you have to take it". Ipswich's Roy Keane, still looking for his first win at the Portman Road club, added "He probably knows he’s done a bit wrong. The Arsenal fans were clearly frustrated with his behaviour, but players make mistakes. When he scored he got a bit carried away. We shouldn't go overboard on him. I think we should go easy on the boy. He’s apologised and from my point of view, if he was one of my players I’d hope everybody would leave it at that".

- Stephen Ireland has assured fans he will be fit to play in next weekend's derby at Old Trafford. He seemed well off-the-pace yesterday, understandable carrying such a knock, but we could certainly do with him, especially bearing in mind we'll probably be without £75m+ worth of forwards. Cheers, Browny.

- The reserves' Senior Cup tie against United, due to be played at Altrincham FC a week on Thursday, has been called off.

- Tickets for the League Cup tie at home to Fulham are now on open sale, available from either the ticket office or Ticketline, but not through the official website due to maintenance. They're priced £15-£25 for adults, £10 for seniors and a fiver for kids.

- Martin Samuel, one journo who definitely seems trying to stay on the club's good side after a succession of fair articles, wrote a good piece for the Mail (it's a shitrag, i know!), outlining how pathetic some of the claims by French clubs against English sides for stealing young players are. I think clubs need protection, but it's especially hypocritical for people at these clubs to point fingers and make accusations of 'child trafficking' when they're essentially giving legally-binding contracts of employment to lads just in their teens. The idea that a thirteen-year-old could sign a sort of pre-contract, a contract tying them to a future one, just strikes me as preposterous.

- The academy lads got back to winning ways on Saturday, mauling Boro 5-0 at Platt Lane. John Gudetti grabbing a hat-trick, with Ahmed Benali & Harry Bunn also on the scoresheet. The ressies make the short trip to Wigan tomorrow night with Glyn Hodges' side hoping to keep up their 100% record after wins against Hull and Everton.