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[Walter L.]

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Henry's lost his va va voom

BEN LYTTLETON


IF JANUARY was the month that ended Arsenal’s hopes of overtaking Chelsea at the top of the Premiership, February is their chance for some redemption. The month starts on Tuesday with the visit of Manchester United to Highbury, and ends with the trip to Munich to face Bayern in the Champions League.

There were glimpses in last Sunday’s win over Newcastle that Arsenal are coming back into form: the passing was slick and the defence less jittery than in the draw to Manchester City or the defeat at Bolton. But the Newcastle game did not banish all concerns: up front, Thierry Henry missed a one-on-one chance against Shay Given and then miscontrolled a Jose Reyes cross six yards from goal. Both were snap chances that we are used to seeing Henry snaffle in a second. Any other striker could miss the odd chance and it would be forgotten. Henry, though, has different standards from other strikers. He has now not scored for five league games, his longest Premiership scoring drought of the season and his worst run since November 2003.

Tuesday would be the perfect time to end the famine.

"One thing is for sure: out there on the field, I have never hidden and I will never hide," Henry warned. "Football is not just about the good times: to be able to appreciate the good moments, you also need to pass through the more difficult periods without running away."

Henry was not as guilty as his team-mates of under-performing after United ended Arsenal’s 49-match unbeaten run last October. He scored seven goals in his next seven games as Arsenal stuttered to draws against Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Brom. Compare that to Chelsea’s response when they lost their first game of the season, at Manchester City: they won their next eight games.

Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford - and the manner of the defeat - was clearly more emotive than that but their reaction to it did them no favours. Against the backdrop of the ‘Pizzagate’ scandal, Arsenal complained that referee Mike Riley made bad decisions and moaned that United had kicked them off the park. Both gripes were true, but the longer Arsenal harped back to it, the more their form became affected. Arsenal had not only forgotten how to lose but, more importantly, how to lose well.

The dilemma for coach Arsene Wenger now, is to avoid a repeat of last season, when Henry was not fully fit for the two biggest games of the campaign, the FA Cup semi-final against United followed by the Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea. Arsenal lost both. But Henry does not want a rest. "From time to time, having a little break would no doubt allow me to come back a bit fresher, but if the coach asks me tomorrow to sit out a game so I can rest, I’ll tell him no. That’s the way I am. For me, every game is important."

Chelsea could be the biggest beneficiaries after Tuesday. If they win at Blackburn on Wednesday and the two chasing teams have drawn, they will move 12 points clear of Arsenal, and 11 points ahead of United with 13 games left. That lead may allow coach Jose Mourinho to rest key players like Arjen Robben before crucial Champions League games. It is a luxury Wenger and Ferguson, who are realistically battling to avoid a third-place Premiership finish (and therefore a place in the Champions League qualifying round), will not be able to afford.

Wenger needs Henry to rediscover his form soon, and if not on Tuesday, then certainly before the Bayern game three weeks later. No-one at Arsenal would ever concede that the title race is over, but Henry - like Robert Pires before him - has made it clear where his priorities lie. "The most important thing of all is success in the Champions League," he told France Football magazine.

"Let’s be clear about it, Arsenal have never really shown much in Europe. It would be great to win it with Arsenal. That would represent a real victory in my eyes, because it would have been easy for me to win it with Real Madrid or a European mega-club. It would also be a first for Arsenal and that’s priceless. I think that winning the Champions League would allow us to step up to another level and to become the equal of the great European clubs. It’s the only trophy I don’t have and that the club doesn’t have."

Arsenal qualified as the top-ranked team in their group phase but needed a last-match win over Rosenborg to secure their place in the knockout round. Their previous performances - which included two draws with Panathinaikos and one with PSV - were unconvincing but count for little now. "We weren’t always in control of our destiny during the first phase, because too often we had the match under control and we were in no danger, only to end up being stupidly caught out and giving away draws," explained Henry. "We even allowed ourselves to be scared."

What Arsenal did not do, and in fact rarely do, is play a less-than-perfect game and still win. Henry wishes his team could "win ugly". "I don’t recall having won a match in a Champions League with Arsenal when we were bad. We can beat anybody, but the opposite is also true. We are aware of that, and that’s where we need to gain in consistency. We can turn a game into an exhibition and end up winning 5-1, but at the same time we can suffer a 1-0 defeat."

Juventus are the masters of winning ugly. "They do it a lot," he said, "with their defensive rigour and their three guys up front who make the difference. They are not always impressive but they win 1-0 or they lose 1-0, which doesn’t blow their chances for the return game. They manage to hold on to the essentials even when they are not particularly on form. We don’t. You can come out of a game against them thinking, ‘Yeah, so what?’ but you still lost."

The quality is not just an Italian one. "Manchester United also win those types of games when they’re not on top form and it’s the same for Chelsea. They’re not always brilliant, they don’t always score fantastic goals, but they get results." That is what Arsenal now need, starting in two days’ time.

The fixture list helps them later in the month, with Palace and Southampton providing the league opposition either side of the Bayern tie. By then, Henry may or may not be rested, but he should be scoring again. "When you play up front, it’s not always easy if you don’t have the legs," he said. "But as long as I can walk, then I can run. And as long as I can run I will try and give my best."

 

[Walter L.]

Well, not really about VOOM DBS, but it came on top when I did a Google search

 

[Bilodeaumj]

Grrrr... We owe you one Walter!

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

A search on eBay turns up sexy "va va voom" clothing and shoes. Shall we post that here too?

 

[Ncc1701]

And I thought I was the only with not much to do at work. Walter, please share with us your secret to living life independently wealthy and how youre able to have so much time to kill on Satguys.

 

[Walter L.]

And I thought I was the only with not much to do at work. Walter, please share with us your secret to living life independently wealthy and how youre able to have so much time to kill on Satguys.

The secret is to make your boss believe that the task you're working on takes more time than it actually does

 

[DarrellP]

Remember the old days of DOS when you had a "hotkey" that brought up a Faux spreadsheet or word processing document? Those were the days.

 

[Vicki]

Remember the old days of DOS when you had a "hotkey" that brought up a Faux spreadsheet or word processing document? Those were the days.

I remember...do you remeber the first (I think) IBM word processing progam called Displaywrite? That was my introduction to computers...on a dead terminal, no less.

Off topic, I think, but did you check out Groundhog Day on various channels, DarrellP? I'd like to hear your critique. Vicki

 

[DarrellP]

Vicki, don't tell me you are as ancient as I am?
Regarding Groundhog Day, I did a very quick check and all channels seemed to be about equal. I didn't have time to really analyze them but I was impressed by what I saw. There were no apparent compression artifacts or skeeters on any channel.
I had a friend over last night and I was going through all of the Voom HD channels that I get and I saw relatively little noise (except Equator as usual). If this keeps up, I just might start watching more Voom!

 

[mperdue]

I remember...do you remeber the first (I think) IBM word processing progam called Displaywrite? That was my introduction to computers...on a dead terminal, no less.

Off topic, I think, but did you check out Groundhog Day on various channels, DarrellP? I'd like to hear your critique. Vicki

Do you remember the Altair and the S100 bus?

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Do you remember the Altair and the S100 bus?

Do you guys remember mainframes only? Before micros? I got my undergraduate degree in computer science using punch cards and feeding them into a mainframe card reader.

Anybody remember the IBM 360 Model 91? Only 12 of them existed in the entire world, and they were the largest commercial computers with a whopping FOUR megabytes of RAM (wire core memory). We are talking late 1960s early 1970s.

Anybody remember slide rules?? heheheh

 

[Vicki]

Ohl God!!! Looks like we dinosauours need to star a "Good Old Days" thread...

Sad but true Darryll (and all)...yes, I'm as antique as anyone who remembers all this stuff...and I find myself starting sentences with "back in the good old days" far more often than I think I should! Perhaps we need to start at "Good Old Days" thread...I still enjoy talking about them!

Maybe they really were good old days...back when there was time to study the first lesson before the cirruculum changed...back when vision sparked support!!... back when...oh well...never mind right now...this old gal's too tired...gotta go to bed! :sleeo

Darryll, thanks for your update on PQ regarding Groundhog Day, sounds like at least a few of the problems from channel to channel may be coming under control.

 

[jayhawk33]

Don't Forget

I don't know about everyone else but to me this is best days. I grew up with Atari 2400, Commador 64 (hope I spelt that right) Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Playstation, Playstation 2 (sucks) & of course finally the god of game systems XBOX. You know I love video games & I probably always will but ever since I got my Va Va Voom set up, I have almost forgotten about playing my holy than thou XBOX. (Almost) Long live VOOM the King of HDTV

 

[riffjim4069]

Henry's lost his va va voom [/B]

For a moment I thought you were referring to Henry's World...my 3 year old daughter loves that show and loves Animania.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I don't know about everyone else but to me this is best days.....

Totally agree! THESE are the best days, but looking back is still fun.

 

[riffjim4069]

The real BREAKING NEWS will be when VOOM severs all ties with Cablevision. It's like trying to play pocket pool without pockets...

 

[voomvoom]

The real BREAKING NEWS will be when VOOM severs all ties with Cablevision. It's like trying to play pocket pool without pockets...

heh heh...

 

[jayhawk33]

What are Vooms chances of sticking around?

Tell me what do ya'll think about Vooms chances of sticking around after the end this month? I don't know if Voom can make it without Cablevisions support. I really & truely want to keep my HDTV programing but I'm really worried about the outcome. Why do things like this seem to always happen to me?

 

[Walter L.]

More Breaking News About Voom

The Flav va voom

Flamboyant manager Briatore is tasting F1 success again as unfancied Renault lead from front.

ADAM PARSONS


FORMULA ONE’S establishment are scratching their heads. Ferrari aren’t winning - in fact, they’re barely earning any points. Williams are near the front, but no better than that. McLaren, who have long expected to take advantage when Ferrari faltered, aren’t managing it so far. Instead, it’s Renault who are dominant at the moment. Really? Renault?

Well, yes, Renault. They are, simply, the team who have come up with the neatest combination of chassis and engine for the start of the season. Their cars aren’t chewing up tyres the way Ferrari’s do, and everything is holding together better than in the Williams. And what’s more, drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and, particularly, Fernando Alonso are doing a fine job.

It can’t last all season, of course. Renault will be reeled in by the opposition, especially if the new Ferrari is as good as some say. But there has been plenty of pleasure in seeing a change at the front. Alonso is the first Spaniard ever to hold the lead of the Formula One world championship.

But there is a bloodline of success behind all this. A decade ago, Benetton were on their way to their second world title in a row with Michael Schumacher at the wheel, Ross Brawn overseeing the technology and a perma-tanned Italian called Flavio Briatore running the team.

Schumacher and Brawn both left, though, and the run of success ebbed away. The Benetton family lost interest, Briatore lost interest and the team was sold. Renault took it over, started investing money, and brought Briatore back to run the place. And now, as success returns, so has another of Formula One’s distinctive trademarks - the Briatore grin.

Nobody does smiling quite like Flavio Briatore. It’s something to do with the contrast between his chestnut suntan and his high-white teeth. His shirt is normally unbuttoned just a little more than most people would choose, and his face mirrors his emotions quite beautifully. In triumph, he picks people up, hugs them, shouts with glee; in defeat, his face carries a frightening scowl and the pearly teeth disappear from view.

Yet in an era where Formula One is too often infested with sponsor-friendly inanities, with drivers who barely dare to express an opinion and cars that owe more to laboratories than workshops, Briatore offers something different. He is the team principal who acts like the mischievous young star, the volatile marketing man who some think would be the best successor to Bernie Ecclestone. He’s a throwback to Formula One’s forgotten era, when drivers seemed to party almost all the time. Except, of course, Briatore is not a driver.

But he is certainly very good at the partying bit. His appearances in the gossip columns have become something of a legend - he has dated such Hello! magazine luminaries as Naomi Campbell, Lady Victoria Hervey, Eva Herzigova and, apparently, Nicole Kidman. What’s more, his fling with the model Heidi Klum resulted in a baby, although their relationship had fallen apart before the child was born. On the very day Ms Klum was revealing her pregnancy to the world, Briatore was off dining with another woman.

Yet the trappings of playboyishness don’t stop there. He also owns some lavish properties, including a preposterously expensive nightspot in Sardinia called the Billionaires’ Club and a huge sprawling house in Kenya. He has a penthouse in Chelsea, a beach club on the Tuscan coast and a private jet.

What’s more, he also had a dizzying array of possessions that carry his initials embossed on them. Not just handkerchiefs and shirts, but even a four-poster bed. Apparently, Ms Campbell also had the letters FB tattooed on to her during their time together, a move that one suspects she has now come to regret.

Briatore wasn’t born the great playboy, but then again his life has hardly run along traditional lines. Although coy to talk about his background, he was actually brought up in the Italian mountains and spent his earliest years working as a ski instructor. But while whizzing around the slopes will have done wonders for his tan, it was never going to make him rich.

So instead he worked the stock exchange and made himself wealthy. He did some real estate deals, then bumped into Luciano Benetton, and began working for his clothing empire. Not, needless to say, stacking shelves or folding jumpers, but instead heading up the company’s rapid expansion programme, particularly in the United States. And what became obvious was that if Briatore knows about anything, he knows about marketing. Which is why Signore Benetton decided to unleash Signore Briatore on the Formula One team that the family had acquired. He wanted the sport to do more to boost Benetton’s image and to be part of its marketing programme.

The only trouble was that Briatore, as he cheerfully admitted at the time, knew nothing about the sport into which he was tumbling. Yet he already had his bullet-proof self-confidence and before the folk in the paddock even had time to learn his name, Briatore had got rid of the rest of the management team at Benetton and promoted himself from commercial manager to being, well, manager of everything.

"I knew nothing at all about Formula One," said Briatore, "but my commercial schooling was with Benetton, a very aggressive company. For us, the product was super-important because we were selling millions of items, but marketing was very important as well. In Formula One, nobody talked about marketing or lifestyle. Only technology, technology, technology."

It is the very nub of what makes Briatore unusual. Formula One is, indeed, full of people intrigued and obsessed with technology, but that’s hardly surprising in a sport where the slightest technical advantage can make the most enormous difference on the track. Yet Briatore was one of the first people to realise that the money to pay for all this was coming from sponsors. His logic then remains his logic now - that grand prix racing is driven by marketing, not engines.

He’s astute as well. Briatore was to spot the potential of relative unknowns such as Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso among others, and has at various times managed the careers of Alonso, Fisichella and Jarno Trulli. He bought the ailing Mecachrome engine company and made a fortune out of selling engines to teams who had nobody else to turn to. For all the smiles, he is more of an opportunist than anybody else in the sport.

Even now, he’s hardly the great champion of Formula One. "Sometimes if it was a choice between seeing a Formula One race or a football match, I would prefer to see a football match," he said before the start of this season. "We must give the sport back to the people. We need to give people what they want, and that is to see a real race."

Now, of course, his opinion has been rather changed by success in the opening two rounds, changed from hopefulness to bullishness at his rivals. "After two wins, we cannot wait to get a third in Bahrain. The sooner Ferrari bring in their new car, the better."

It is all grist to the F1 mill, this man who dates models, hugs his drivers and bates his rivals.

Yet he’s also doing a quite excellent job of pulling Renault together. Briatore may sometimes look like a figure of fun, but he’s not a man to be underestimated.

FAST FLAVIO: THE LOVES AND LIFE OF ITALIAN CASANOVA BRIATORE

1950: Born in Cuneo, Italy, the son of two schoolteachers.

1977: Goes to work for Luciano Benetton, whom he met on the floor of the Milan Stock Exchange. Heads up Benetton’s US operations by 1979.

1988: Attends his first F1 Grand Prix as a guest of Signore Benetton and agrees to work for the team the following year.

1994: Michael Schumacher wins the drivers’ championship with Benetton.

1995: Benetton take the F1 constructors’ title with Schumacher going on to win his second drivers’ championship.

1998: Leaves Benetton to set up Supertec Sport, which developed Renault engines for teams after the French firm pulled out of F1.

2000: Helps broker the deal in which Renault purchase the Benetton F1 team, and assumes a leading role in the new setup.

2001: Splits with supermodel Naomi Campbell after a two-year relationship and takes up with Lady Victoria Hervey. "I’m not going to be a trophy," declares Campbell.

2004: German supermodel Heidi Klum gives birth to a daughter, Leni. Briatore is the father, but the relationship ended while Klum was pregnant

 

[Vicki]

Walter L...from my point of view, that was just a little bit mean..funny as a crutch however...but I'll have to hunt you down and kill you if you keep that up, though...Vicki