That familiar duck-like shuffle, the assured touch, a corking finish just like the old times. Even Pascal Cygan putting in a decent display (five years too late) with Valencia the opposition. Watching a recording of Saturday’s La Liga clash between Villarreal and Valencia was the highlight of my Monday night football viewing.

But first, 5pm and Ivory Coast v Nigeria. On BBC1 interactive. It’s times like these that football fans with terrestrial aerials really suffer. A football tournament bought with licence payers’ money only available to those who have digital receivers. Still, for those that did not catch it I can relay a game with a good number of chances, including a typical Kolo Toure free kick from distance that was going in, only to bend the wrong side of the post at the wrong moment. Toure played well, and Emmanuel Eboue did his usual thing of rolling around on the floor to an excessive degree after being touched by the opposition. Has this footballer got the intelligence to realise the more he uses theatrics, the greater the loss of any sense of credibility?

Apparently, Mali, in the same group as these two, are something of a threat, so losing this match makes life a bit edgy. Berti Vogts may be trying to instill some discipline into Nigeria, but it isn’t really working. Mind you, although Ivory Coast are the favourites to win this tournament, I simply can’t see it happening with their keeper, Barry. The man makes Paul Robinson look like a rock. I loved the constant din of a band in the crowd and wished they’d turn the pitchside microphones up a bit. I could hear a few brass instruments in there and things were really swinging. One of these days I will get to this tournament. 30 degrees in Ghana according to the commentator.

Watched the first half of the recorded Spanish match next. Pires opened the scoring with a fantastic curling shot from the corner of the area, so typical of a few he scored for the Gunners. They kept replaying it during the game and you couldn’t get enough. It brought back memories of the goals he used to score against Spurs, a mantle now taken up by Adebayor. Thoughts turned to this evening and the hope that somehow, the Gunners can buck the odds and get the required result at the Lane. More of that later.

Villarreal should have been about five up by half time but kept squandering great chances. I turned over to catch a bit of Liverpool v Villa on Setanta. I theory, In should have been gripped by this game. Two of the Premier League’s better sides. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I used to enjoy watching Liverpool on the level of entertainment. The way they passed the ball around, kept possession and controlled matches. Yet, gradually, I have lost motivation to tune into their games. One thing that I did register was the atmosphere at Anfield. Flat as a pancake. Villa fans, at Anfield, their team 1-0 down at the time, chanting, ‘Shall we sing a song for you?’ Troubled times indeed. The height of Liverpool’s ambition in the league this season is making sure they are in the top four. Granted that is a situation Arsenal were in for the last two seasons, but they hadn’t bought Fernando Torres for the best part of £30 million. So Europe itself will be where Liverpool’s season can be judged as a success. I’ll be more interested in watching when they play Inter, that should be quite a tie. I got bored of this game before the interval and put on the second half of the Villarreal match to catch some more Pires.

Villarreal ran out 3-0 winners in the end. Valencia made a fist of it for a while at 1-0 down, but what struck me was the commentator’s account of how things are unraveling at Valencia. They’ve had six managers in the last three years or something like that, this club that used to stick with their bosses until they were head-hunted by bigger clubs. Ronald Koeman’s the latest incumbent and has apparently told Albeda, Angulo and Canizares that none of them will ever play for the club again whilst he’s in charge. Oh dear. Presumably he felt that these players carried a bit too much authority than was healthy and arguments ensued. My feeling is that come the end of the season, the players will still be at the club, but Koeman will have been moved on. Something isn’t right at Valencia, and rather like Liverpool, the players are expressing that uncertainty on the pitch. Liverpool drew 2-2 in the end, dropping a further two key points and once and for all confirming this season’s Premier League will go to one of only three clubs.

Robert Pires was substituted about three minutes from time and gave his shirt to a young kid in the crowd. You can see he’s plainly enjoying football in Spain after missing most of his first season through injury. On that note, Edu – who was unlucky enough to have got injured again himself with fears he could be out for another long spell, was on the Valencia bench. I’m sure he will start a match soon, if only because Koeman needs to try something else to turn fortunes around. The club look as if they will do well to qualify for next season’s UEFA Cup as it stands, whereas Villarreal are on course for another crack at the bigger pot. What chance a visit of Pires to Ashburton Grove next season? He can check on the development of the flat he’s bought on the old Highbury stadium site whilst he’s at it!

To finish my football night, the last few minutes of Birmingham Reserves v Arsenal Reserves on Arsenal TV, and a clue to this evening’s line-up against Spurs. Mark Randall and Gavin Hoyte both played, suggesting the squad at the Lane won’t be as weak as some feared. Hoyte though, was guilty of what I can only describe as a genuine two-footed assault. And I don’t mean anything that could be described as a tackle. With Birmingham (fielding some experienced players such as Mikael Forssell, Stuart Parnaby and Gary McSheffry) 2-1 up, former Ajax player Daniel de Ridder fouled Hoyte. Hoyte landed on his back, but then, from the floor, lunched his studs into de Ridder’s chest with no little force. Fair play to the Dutchman for not making a meal of it, but the Arsenal defender’s actions were seen clearly by the linesman and he was rightly dismissed. Let’s hope that his older brother shows a bit more of a calm head this evening in a far more heated atmosphere…