Arseblog

Defensive injuries mount and other non-Arsenal guff

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:27:07 +0100

Another week, another day closer to the end of this interminable Interlull.

With Everton coming up at the weekend we may find ourselves short at the back (What, even shorter than we are already? Haha - ed).

We know Capi Golightly is out of the French squad with a thigh strain and now there are injury worries over Johann Djourou who seems unlikely to play for Switzerland in midweek. This will leave us with just Toure and Sylvester for the centre-half position, although Alex Song can play there too. Still, a change is as good as a rest, or something, but Djourou, even at his tender age, does appear to be a bit injury prone, doesn't he?

As well as that it seems Bacary Sagna is out of France's game this week (thanks, Ollie). No idea how serious the problem is but it'd be just typical if it was discovered one of his legs was about to fall off.

Robin van Persie's hamstring strain must have been quite mild indeed as he's being considered for Holland's game against Norway.

And Theo Walcott has called for England fans to be patient after his spectactular failure against Kazakhstan. After scoring a hat-trick against Croatia he managed a paltry no goals against Borat FC. Talk about a flash in the pan. Seriously, we should sell him. To Colchester. That's how low his stock has fallen.

At least he's not Ashley Cole though. Which is good. I remember meeting a man who was a Sp*rs fan who loved Phil Collins and every day he chewed chewing gum with his mouth open and his breath stank of garlic and Juicy Fruit and he was arrested for raping puppies and he was one of those people who would sit on a bus and play music from his mobile phone without using any headphones so all you got was this tinny racket and he always had crusted snot around his nose and he thought Tom Hanks was a great actor and Jeffrey Archer was a great writer and every time he'd talk bits of his garlic Juicy Fruit spit would come out and hit you in the eye and I remember thinking 'Well, at least he's not Ashley Cole'.

And that's really about all there is in terms of Arsenal news. Not much I know. But I am merely the chef, if the ingredients aren't up to scratch there's not a lot I can do about it. Today's ingredients have been soggy lettuce, a gone off strip of quick-fry beef and a potato with blight (which could cause me to emigrate at any moment). Speaking of moving I had a mad dream last night that I had moved back into my old apartment in Barcelona. Unfortunately I hadn't told the landlord and was worried that after moving all the stuff in he wouldn't rent the place to me.

Fortunately one of the moving men turned out to be a woman who was part of the Barcelona royal family (beats me - apparently she was working as a removal man just to prove to them she could make her way in the world) who took kindly to my offer of beer and promised to have her father, the king, sort things out with the landlord. Then I was riding down some steps on a quad bike and I nearly ran over a kid. Weird.

For those of you who have issues with this week's Arsecast on iTunes please make sure you're using the new and correct iTunes URL which is this one. There's also a bit of an issue with the RSS file which I'll try and get sorted later today, but in the meantime you can just download directly from Friday's post.

Right, hopefully there'll be more to talk about tomorrow. In the meantime you can amuse yourself in the warm brownosity of today's Arses

Stick your capi up your arse + Sunday round-up

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 10:49:30 +0100

Ahh Sunday, the Sundayest day of the week. I've just had rather a nice lie-in so I'm all set up for the day of sitting around, reading the papers, eating food and drinking wine and beer. Yes, in the same glass. I call it Cabeernet.

So, William Gallas. There's just no escaping this bloke, is there? If he's not not heading the ball or failing to defend simple set pieces or throwing tantrums in the middle of the pitch he's trying to make our team look like a pack of witless simpletons. Speaking about last season's Birmingham meltdown he said:

Of course, some of my Arsenal team-mates could not have appreciated my behaviour against Birmingham. I had to state my authority again and today when I motivate them before a match, they say; 'Capi, we need you, we are following you'.

Capi? CAPI? What is he, something out of Heidi or some outdated kids TV show?

'Oh Capi, won't you hear me? Capi, I say, Capi, is there anything I can do for you, Capi?'

Capi? Get. To. Fuck. And what does he mean about stating his authority? He has about as much authority as a terrified, newly qualified teacher in the remedial class. He then goes on to talk about the difference between Arsenal and Chelsea, where he spent so many years, let's never forget, saying:

Before Arsenal, I spent six years at Chelsea. That team was capable of getting ugly wins. If we had an opportunity to win a cup, we would never miss it. There I became imbued with the winning culture, which doesn't exist yet at Arsenal.

It fucking existed before you came along, you big cunt. And if you're the captain and you're going around making them call you Capi, isn't it your fucking job to ensure that culture exists? Imagine if he'd thrown that kind of a tantrum while at Chelsea, he'd have had his head kicked in by some of his colleagues, cunts though they are. Sitting on the pitch and abandoning your teammates is not the action of a winner, that's not how you 'imbue' a winning culture. It's the action of a self-indulgent, primadonna who has all the intelligence of a shoe. A tramp's shoe at that.

He reckons the criticism of him went too far. I don't think it went far enough. I don't think the club should have tolerated that kind of behaviour from the man charged with leading the team. He should have been stripped of the captaincy and quite possibly his skin. Then rolled around in salt. The cunt.

Honestly, he has all the leadership skills of a dead guide dog and we're seeing what happens when you fail to have leadership on the pitch. You lose games you should win. If affects the rest of the team and it's quite obvious we miss someone who will encourage people and get them going when a game is slipping away from us. The only thing I can remember Gallas doing is jumping up and down with anger when the Sunderland goal went in - obviously he was quite within his rights to do that because, for once, he wasn't responsible for us conceding.

Take the fucking captaincy off him. From what certain players have said it's obvious they don't see him as a captain and anyone who uses the word 'Capi' is just not somebody you want to have anything to do with. Capi? Fuck right off with your Capi.

The Gallas experiment has failed, Arsene. Accept it, change it, move on. Otherwise we're going to keep suffering.

The News of the World reports that Alisher Usmanov, the big, fat cunt, is considering selling his stake in Arsenal. Apparently the oligarchs have taken a massive hit in these trouble stock market days and he realises he's never going to take over now. The article also says that Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell have made it clear they want to sell their shares which is, of course, complete bollocks.

But how lovely would it be if Usmanov found himself strapped for cash and then Fat Tony sent his boys around to work him over to get it back and as he was being thrashed to within an inch of his life his fat, Man United supporting heart burst in his chest? Oh, it's the simple corners of the imagination that bring us so much pleasure. I bet Usmanov never had anyone call him 'Capi' though.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored four goals for Togo against Swaziland yesterday. Although anyone could score four against Swaziland. Apart from all the other players on the Togo team. There don't appear to have been any other Arsenal goalscorers yesterday.

Not much else happening so I'll leave it there for today. Enjoy your Sunday, the sun is shining here in Dublin so I might even wander into town and have a stroll around.

Till tomorrow. And remember, Capi is for cappers.

Adebayor's flip-flops, Hleb still an annoying twat

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:57:34 +0100

Good morning. It's Saturday and the Arsenal news has more or less dried up.

There are a load of internationals today in which some of our players will be taking part. Those games will typically last 90 minutes plus a bit of injury time in each half.

One man who had apparently retired from international football was Emmanuel Adebayor. He seems to spend most of his free time arguing with the Togonian authorities and after the last games he said he wasn't going to play for them anymore.

Yet new reports say he's going to go back because he's concerned about the future of the club. That man changes his mind more often than the weather. Than the weather changes, not the weather changes its mind because the weather doesn't have a mind. Apart from typhoons, they have a limited mind which experts say can change but not as frequently as Adebayor's.

11.45am, Adebayor household: That's it. I am never playing for Togo again.

11.46am, Adebayor household: Ok, I am playing for them again.

11.47am, Adebayor household: I hate porridge

11.48am, Adebayor household: Mmmmm, porridge. It's so good.

Perhaps we can give it a name. Someone who flip-flops, as they politicians might say, can be said to be 'Adebayoring'. Next time one of your friends goes back on a decision they've made you can say 'Hey, stop Adebayoring, you cunt'.

We should run a book on how many times he retires from international football during his Arsenal career. That's a couple so far, isn't it? I say five times, before he decides to leave us, then decides to stay just moments later.

Bacary Sagna makes some remarks about defence and says Arsenal 'went through' a bad patch. God bless his optimism but I'm not sure the use of the past tense is quite accurate just yet.

Alexander Hleb has been talking to the Spanish press and spoke about his close relationship with Cesc. El Mundo asked him if he'd try and convince Cesc to come back to Barcelona. He said:

I don't stop insisting that he should come back to Barcelona but he insists he's happy at Arsenal and with Arsene Wenger. I'll keep going till he changes his mind! If it did happen I think it would be great for Barcelona.

Dear Hleb,

cunt off and shut the fuck up.

yours most sincerely indeed,

arseblogger.

Right, that's that. I must procure things for a fried breakfast. Then fry the breakfast. Then eat the breakfast.

Till tomorrow.

ps - I'm aware the arses are completely fucked. Bear with me while I try to get it sorted. Thanks.

Injury woes, YouTube stars + Arsecast 95 with Amy Lawrence

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:19:53 +0100

Morning all, it's Friday. Hurrah for Fridays.

After yesterday's troubles you thought things couldn't get any worse for William Gallas, well, you were wrong. He's pulled out of the French squad with a thigh injury and apparently this has added to Arsene Wenger's woes.

It strikes me it might be quite convenient for the manager. He can change things around in his defence without having to drop his captain, which is always a difficult thing to do. That's providing the injury keeps him out of our games and not just the French ones, of course. If that is the case it'll be interesting to see who comes in. Will he bring in Djourou who will add height and pace to the centre of the defence or will he play it safe and bring in Sylvester to add some funk?

I know who I'd play and it wouldn't be the fishfaced disco queen but we all know how conservative Arsene at times. Nevertheless, it's an indication of how poor Gallas has been that nobody is bemoaning the injury in the same way we would if it were an important player like Cesc, for example.

Meanwhile Robert Pires has urged the French Football Federation to bring in Arsene Wenger to replace Raymond Domenech. There's no love lost between the two, Pires was not selected by Domenech because he was the wrong star sign (no, really) and, of course, Domenech is a poxy cunt who should be sodomised by an angry bear every day of his life. It's a good bit of a rant by Le Bob but I don't see Wenger in international management just yet.

You know the Interlull is well and truly upon us when you see stories like 'YouTube star linked with Gunners'. Of course my first thought was that we were going to sign the Chocolate Rain kid to add some depth to the midfield but apparently it's just some cunt who scored a good goal. The story was nearly interesting for a few seconds when I read the name of the team he scored against as Titburger but on second reading it wasn't.

If we could sign any YouTube star who would it be? If it were up to me I'd sign the motorbike that blew up Anthea Turner. That's the kind of attitude we're missing at the moment. We need to be more explodey, there's no doubt about it.

Lukasz Fabianski says he's happy enough on the Arsenal bench at the moment but insists he's learning and getting better all the time. He also talks about Tomas Rosicky (as Poland play the Czechs on Saturday), saying:

I hoped we would meet each other at international level this weekend, but that is not going to happen. I am very sorry for him. He loves football and Arsenal have missed him.

Poor old Tomas. But good old Lukasz. Well, good young Lukasz. And his bowler haircut.

Right, enough of the nothing and on to the something that is the Arsecast. On this week's show Amy Lawrence talks sense around my preposterous waffle, the Man in the Bar is there and there's talk of Bourbon creams. Don't ask me.

To subscribe to the Arsecast in iTunes simply click here, the direct feed URL is here, to download this week's arsecast directly - click here (16mb MP3). You can find the arsecast archives here. And you can listen directly below without leaving this very page.

As well as that there's a dedicated Arsecast hotline available all season long should you desire to make a comment, get something off your chest, share a song a chant or hilarious anecdote. Feel free to call it any time during the week, it'll go to voicemail and you can leave your message. The number from inside the UK is 020 3286 6360 or from outside the UK it's +44 20 3286 6360.

Finally for today, and as I completely forgot to put it in the Arsecast coz I am Johnny Forgetful at the moment - congratulations to David "Cassmahass" Casson, occasional arsebloggerer and friend of Boghog (which is not unlike friend of Dorothy I'm told), on his nuptials which take place today. Wishing you many hours of happiness.

Ok then Arsebandits, have yourselves a good Friday and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Times are tough for poor old Willy G (but at least he's not Kenny G)

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 07:06:11 +0100

Morning all.

Times are not good for William Gallas. By his own admission his recent form has been poor and I don't think there's an Arsenal fan in the world who would disagree with him. He says:

I would close my eyes if I would say I am strong. That would mean I don't recognise I did have a few bad performances - as recently with my club against Hull City. Maybe I feel a little tired.

Do I experience the most difficult period since I joined Arsenal? We could say yes. Above all I miss consistency. One match is good, the other one is not so good. However, I am doing everything to get to my best again.

To be honest, and being as fair as I can as I'm not much of a Gallas fan (I know, this is a shock to many of you), I don't think he's ever shown the kind of form people expected from him. Despite some important goals the defensive side of his game has been pretty underwhelming since he joined from Chelsea.

He's cost us goals and points this season and as captain he has to take responsibility for that. On the plus side it's good that he's aware of his lack of form and isn't trying to brush it under the carpet but as I've mentioned before I think there's an element of complacency in his game. He knows he's going to play every week no matter how badly he plays the week before.

However, you could also say that we're not set up to get the best out of Gallas, or Toure for that matter. Both of them prefer to play alongside a more traditional, physical centre-half and I don't think it's any coincidence that Gallas's best form at the club coincided with a run in the team beside Philippe Senderos. We've seen Kolo thrive beside both Senderos and Sol Campbell and Gallas at Chelsea was better at centre half because he had Terry as his partner.

To me that's the fundamental issue and until we do something about it we're always going to be vulnerable at the back.

To compound his woes this week PSG midfielder Jerome Rothen has written a book in which Gallas is called 'Mr Bean', accused of stealing from a teammate and being somewhat slow academically. Here's a sample:

At school he was a right wally – he would sit at the back of the class as far away from the blackboard as possible. One day the maths teacher gave us a test – she knew that William understood nothing about maths, so she allowed him to use the textbook. But even with the book under his nose he still only got four out of 20!

Rothen refers to Gallas a 'lovely guy' but as you might expect the Arsenal captain isn't too pleased about it and wants to go on TV to explain. It does seem a bit spiteful. I mean, he's hardly the first footballer to struggle academically and I think everyone of us would have stories we don't want aired in public about our school days. Like the bloke in my French class who begged to be allowed go to the doctor but the teacher wouldn't let him and when he stopped whimpering and passed out and was taken to hospital it was discovered he'd twisted his testicles and needed 26 stitches in his ballbag.

Anyway, there's an old French saying which seems to fit Gallas's situation. I just don't know what that saying is in French. In English we say C'est la vie.

Robin van Persie is out of the Dutch squad with a hamstring injury. Splendid, it was in this very international break last year that van Persie picked up an injury that would keep him out for most of the season. At least that happened in a game. This time it was in training. There's no news of how long he'll be out for but a hammy is usually 2-3 weeks for a regular strain. Of course Robin has probably Rosickyed his and will be out until infinity.

Rio Ferdinand says Manuel Almunia shouldn't be picked for England. This is weird. That's twice inside 24 hours I've found myself agreeing with Ferdinand (first here) and it's making me feel all funny. Bleurgh. He should make like David Byrne and stop making sense.

Right, not much else happening so I'll leave it there. More with an Arsecast, of sorts, tomorrow.

Till then.

Ramsey, transfer speculation and Sylvester's debut

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 07:30:20 +0100

Oh man, what a busy morning we have. Not that I'm trying to hype things up or anything but there's so much going on it will rock your socks, even if you happen to wearing open-toed sandals like some kind of priest.

Firstly, good news. It appears that Aaron Ramsey is going to be just as good as Cesc Fabregas. This is most timely indeed as it means we won't miss Cesc one bit when he goes back to Barcelona next Tuesday week for a world record fee of £13.99 and some Green Shield stamps. Welsh coach Brian Flynn says:

He can be whatever he wants. I see him as a top six Premier League and a top international player. He’s as good as Fabregas was as a 17-year-old. He’s moved to London and can establish himself in the Premier League.

We really haven't seen very much of him since his arrival but from what I have seen I can confidently predict that he is much, much better than either Denilson or Song and should be Cesc's partner from here on in. It's not that I'm setting the expectation level too high so much as desperately trying to build him up so it will inspire him to be completely awesome.

In all seriousness though I'd like to see him get a bit more playing time. The boss has spoken about what a great engine he has and maybe he's the one to provide that bit of high-tempo midfielding that we've been lacking in certain games this season. It's worth a try, isn't it? I mean, it's not like we have an abundance of riches for him to get past.

And even though it's only just October and the transfer window doesn't open until January The Sun is linking us with St Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi (OleOle link). If only Brian Moore were still alive.

"And here comes Matuidi ... blaising through the midfield..."

Mikael Sylvester made his debut for the club in the reserves game against Stoke the other night and he says he feels mighty real after getting some minutes under his belt. Reserve coach Neil Banfield said of his performance:

He has won so many trophies but he is still here flying out on the edge of the box and blocking shots. He is a credit to our profession and as a senior pro, it was first class, absolutely first class.

What a disgrace. Flying out on the edge of the box, blocking shots, winning tackles and no doubt he probably won some headers too. I hate the way these players come from other clubs bringing their scabby way of playing football with them. We'll soon knock those rough edges off him.

Banfield also talks about how the club will help young players who aren't going to make the grade at Arsenal find a new club. I suppose it has to be a big part of how the youth operation goes as so few actually make the grade.

Not much else happening as all our players are away preparing to get injured for their countries. The training ground is a quiet place. There's only Arsene, Almunia, Denilson and Rosicky who are passing the time by making Hallowe'en decorations. Rosicky's pumpkin Adebayor face is apparently quite terrifying and merely looking at it caused Tomas's good hamstring to snap right in two.

But don't worry, he's on course for a first team start in December.

2012.

Until tomorrow, Arsebandits.

It's alive! Cesc's quotes + Theo's character change.

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 07:05:21 +0100

Jesus Christ the rain here this morning is fierce.

Should I be worried that I saw an old man gathering two of each animal before heading for his self-built boat sitting atop a nearby mountain?

Is it a sign of the impending armageddon that Amaury Bischoff actually played a game of football? Something strange is going on in the cosmos, people. Torrents from on high and the Bisch is back. He played 56 minutes of the reserves 3-2 win over Stoke yesterday evening and did quite well by all accounts. The game also featured Mikael Silvestre for his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt and despite going behind we came back with goals from Francis Coq au vin, Jay Simpson and Rui Fonte. Report here.

With the players away the mischief starts a bit with quotes from Cesc appearing in the Spanish press. Speaking to Spanish radio he reportedly said:

I have decided to give my all to Arsenal and to give my maximum, I’d like to try and win more titles here, nevertheless we will see what happens next year.

Now, the other quotes about it being his dream to move back to Barcelona being a 'dream' are no surprise whatsoever. Home town club, one he supports, friends, family etc. We can all understand. The quotes about having a think about his future next year are mildly worrying though.

I have no doubt that Cesc wants to win things with Arsenal. No doubt at all. On the other hand though, if I was Cesc I might wonder how realistic that goal is with the current Arsenal squad. Anyway, there's one way of making sure that's not relevant and that's by winning something this year. And making him captain. And setting Gallas adrift on a tiny raft somewhere in the pacific attached to a boat in which lives a great big tiger. I honestly think that would make a big difference. And I'll even supply the tiger.

Manuel Almunia says that Theo Walcott adding an angry side to his game has added to his game. Apparently he exposed himself to gamma radiation and now, when he gets an angry, his clothes get too small and he turns all green. Almunia says:

Theo was too nice maybe in the last two years, but this season you can see that when he gets tackled he gets furious, and that shows you he has changed. I just spoke with him once, I told him he had to be a bit more aggressive and not so nice on the pitch because if people can kill you they will do so.

There's nothing like being in fear for your life to change your attitude. I used to be very nice but when I was told that people were trying to kill me I certainly became a different person altogether. Literally. I changed my name and everything.

There is nothing else to talk to you about this morning though. As far as the Arsenal goes that's it. So, if you'll excuse me I'll go get some breakfast, daydreaming of tigers and rafts and giant crashing waves and whales crossed with squids. I call them squales.

Till tomorrow.

Things to do during the Interlull

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 07:29:38 +0100

Once more into the Interlull we go, dear friends.

Our next game of football is on Saturday October 18th at 3pm. I ask you, in all seriousness, what the buggering fuck are we supposed to do until then? With only the late point against Sunderland to sustain us as well. That's like sending us on an expedition to the antarctic with just a half packet of Carr's water biscuits and a small piece of brie.

What are we going to talk about? Well, I've come up with some topics for discussion:

Theo's sideburns, cool or hirsute extravagance?
Who would win in a fight to the death between Eboue and a really cross Koala?
How the birth of William Gallas brought about the latest global recession
Guess how many beads are in Bacary Sagna's dreads
Is thinking you're a much better player than you are a good thing or a bad thing? In footballing circles this is known as the Adebayor factor
Denilson, is it really hair or does someone paint his head?
Who will score a wonder goal against us next?
Does Arsene need a new number 2? And should it be Macho Man Randy Savage?
If Cesc Fabregas stuck his hand in the fire would you do it too?
Carlos Vela, proof that refried beans are vital for a footballer's progression or simply a freak of nature?
Who will play for Arsenal first? Diaby, Rosicky, a sickly baby currently in an incubator in Great Ormond Street hospital.
Why the 'Wonder of you' anthem should be replaced by 'Smells like teen spirit'.
Jack Wilshere has become the most pube free footballer to score for Arsenal. Is this good or bad?

So that should be plenty to get us through until about 11am this morning. After that I really don't know.

I suppose I could mention Sp*rs getting beaten by Hull yesterday but seeing as we got beaten by Hull last week it'd be a bit lame. Plus getting your kicks at the expense of others is all well and good when you're sitting pretty yourself but we're not really at the moment so I won't.

I see Adebayor has quit Togo so he can concentrate on Arsenal. I suppose that's a good thing although his complete lack of interest in celebrating our goal the other day was a bit weird. Check the pictures - what's up with him?

Anyway, that's about that for this morning. There's little or no news, as you might imagine, so buckle up and get ready for the ride of your life. Sorry, I mean settle down in your old armchair with only one TV channel to watch for the next 12 days or so. And that TV channel is showing repeats of Heartbeat over and over and over again.

Oh man, it's gonna be fun. Till tomorrow.

Cesc saves the day but we lack quality in midfield

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sun, 5 Oct 2008 10:10:41 +0100

'The response continues at Sunderland' screamed the headline on the official site as they plugged an interview with Arsene Wenger.

Well, oooops is all I have to say. If that's what passes for a response these days then it's very worrying indeed. Only a late, late goal from Cesc saved us from slumping to our third defeat of the season and this stage of the campaign that would have been really a real kick in the bollocks.

As expected Alex Song came in to midfield and we played the same kind of formation as we used to in away Champions League games. Oddly though, Song and Denilson were the two holding midfielders, Robin van Persie was played out on the left and Cesc was given a floating role behind the lone striker, Adebayor.

This didn't work for a number of reasons. Firstly van Persie drifts infield too much. As a natural striker being out wide left doesn't suit him and I think it's madness to play him out there. Secondly, when you play this system your midfield is hugely important and when you take the best midfielder and play him where he's not going to get enough of the ball to influence the game you put yourself at a huge disadvantage.

In seasons past we've played this way with a midfield trio of Cesc - Flamini - Gilberto - with Hleb behind the striker. Now, to me there is a huge gulf in quality there. Hleb's natural position was that number 10 behind the striker and whatever you want to say about his lack of end product he was technically a very good footballer who had Cesc and Flamini/Gilberto pulling the strings behind him. When you ask Denilson and Alex Song to do that same work it just doesn't happen. They don't have the ability to dictate the game and feed the more creative players.

Then you have Cesc, the only midfielder at the club who can do that, in an unfamiliar role which doesn't suit him or the team. The manager was expecting Sunderland to be more attacking and bemoaned their defensive approach to the game. The question I'd be asking is if it was so obvious they were going to get men behind the ball why did we persist with a defensive formation ourselves? Make no mistake, that was Wenger at his most conservative - he knew we could not lose there so our approach was to first make sure we didn't lose. We didn't go there to win the game.

With the greatest respect to Sunderland, who worked very hard, if we had had the belief to go for the win I think we would have taken three points yesterday. Bring Song in by all means if you want to add a more defensive player to the midfield but leave Denilson on the bench. Play Nasri and Walcott who would have caused Sunderland more problems. Nasri in particular has great movement which would have been crucial against a tight defence. For all the talk of his faith in the squad and young players it seems to be like yesterday he didn't trust his players enough to go for a win.

That said we did have a goal disallowed when Theo's cut back was put in by Robin van Persie but the linesman, wrongly, said the ball had crossed the line. I don't necessarily agree with the manager when he said that everything has gone against us in the last two league games (Adebayor's legitimate goal against Hull being marked off as well) but to be on the receiving end of two poor decisions like that isn't much fun.

Nevertheless these happens in football, sort of like United's goal against Blackburn being allowed stand despite an obvious foul on the keeper, and you have to cope with them. We've had goals disallowed before but made those decisions irrelevant by scoring more. Bendtner came on for a very unhappy Walcott, Nasri came on for Denilson but despite bossing the second half I don't remember Craig Gordon having to work too hard. A couple of tame shots and one good save from van Persie after nice interplay between Adebayor and Bendtner. That was about it.

And there was an air of inevitability about their goal. A really fantastic strike from Grant Leadbitter but Alex Song was caught in possession just outside our box. Schoolboy stuff really. You can't legislate for a wonder goal like that but you can make sure you don't get caught with the ball in dangerous areas. Wenger threw on Vela for Song and it looked like another defeat against a team that, as so-called title contenders, you would expect us to beat.

There was late drama though. We won a corner on our right, van Persie whipped it in and Cesc Fabregas came bombing in to bury a header in the top corner. A most unCesclike goal but one that may prove to be hugely important. It also says a lot about the young man, he had the desire and spirit to get us something from that game. He is our leader on the pitch. He didn't have a good game by his standards but his quality shone through at the end.

Afterwards the manager talked about us being 'a bit flat' and lacking sharpeness but I think that only serves to fudge the issue. In my opinion we didn't win because we do not have the players to play that 4-5-1 formation, we weren't brave enough to play our normal game against Sunderland and our midfield lacks quality.

Apart from Cesc we just don't have players good enough in the middle. Song and Denilson are promising young players but not ready just yet. We lack experience and that little bit of cleverness that a more senior player brings. We've seen Cesc struggle this season and some of it is surely down to his late start after Euro 2008 but as the games go on we might find that it's the lack of a suitable partner that's having the most impact. I think we miss Flamini in a big way and you're quite entitled to think what you want about Flamini as a person but I'm talking about Flamini the player.

I think the manager really has to look very hard at the decisions he made this summer and while it's great to bring young players through it's not always the best way. Is throwing Denilson and Song in when they're clearly not ready the best thing for them or for the team? They struggle, the team struggles and it's a downward spiral from there.

Now, I know there's nothing we can do about this issue until January at least and I'm not really complaining. I just think that this issue exists and it'd be wrong to bury our heads in the sand and ignore it. Of course I hope we get our shit together and improve as a team over the coming weeks but I really think that come January the manager needs to spend some money because otherwise I think we're going to have these kinds of struggles all season.

Fulham, Hull and nearly Sunderland. For a team that wants to win the title that is massively disappointing and very worrying when you consider we have still to play the other top three clubs, plus the likes of Villa and Man City who look to be improving this season. It looks like these big games will be crucial if we want to stay in the race. We've made life difficult for ourselves and we're going to have to beat Chelsea and Liverpool and United if we want to the title.

There's an international break now and the manager won't see the players for a couple of weeks or so. Perhaps it will give him time to think about what we're lacking in terms of quality in various positions and in terms of leadership which was non-existent again yesterday. The one man who showed it is not captain because, according to Arsene, 'because he is a bit young and because we have a captain'. Hmmm.

The one positive I can take at the moment is that if there's a good time in the season to lose a couple of games and go through a bad spell it's now. You have time to recover, to claw back the points and league positions, whereas we all saw what losing at the business end of the season does to you. Bottom line though is that we can't afford to keep dropping points at this rate, otherwise the season will be over much, much sooner than we would like.

Have a good Sunday.

Sunderland preview, lots of mutual respect

blogger@arseblog.com (Arseblogger) — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 10:14:39 +0100

Good morning, I'm sitting here trying to battle through my hangover and get today's blog started. And not only do I have a hangover, I have a cold. Bah, stupid life.

It's Sunderland today the early team news we had yesterday is as relevant today. Or there's no new team news. Something like that. I wouldn't expect too many changes to the side that played against Porto, to be honest, but a change like Song coming in for Nasri or Walcott wouldn't be a surprise.

Arsene says that the response to the Hull game will continue today and the lads are going to have to be fully focussed against a team managed by a man who demands nothing less from his players. He was like that as a player too. It was interesting, and nice, to read Keane talking about Arsenal with such respect. We had brilliant battles with him and his United team down the years and in a way you miss games like those.

Of course every big game has its excitement and gets you worked up but when the Arsenal - United rivalry was at its peak it was something a bit special. For a player never afraid to get stuck in his philosophy for the Sunderland team isn't a Bolton style physical one. He says:

We can’t expect to kick Arsenal off the park. I don’t think that’s the type of team I want to build at Sunderland. We have to play good football against them.

There's more from Keane in this article here in the Irish Examiner. His comments about the generation of young players we have coming through are interesting too.

The boss returns the compliments about Keane to a certain extent and goes on to talk about some of the former Arsenal players who might make it in management. He talks a bit about Steve Bould and I think he might well be one to watch. I always loved Bould as a player, technically I thought he was a better footballer than Tony Adams, and when the inevitable happens and Arsene decides it's time to retire then it would be great to have someone who learned from him to take over and an Arsenal man too. Anyway, that's all a long way in the future, I would think.

Samir Nasri talks about facing his old mate Dribbly Sissy and how much he's enjoying playing on the left for Arsenal, saying:

This position suits me perfectly, I am a playmaker on the left wing. And I have Gael [Clichy] behind me who attacks a lot and helps me massively, he also allows me play in the middle.

A tough away game is something he hasn't faced yet due to this stop-start start so this will be a bit of a test for him. I think he's going to be really important for us because he gives us such great movement and an extra dimension in attack. Hopefully he can stay fit and really bed into the team from here on in.

Not much else to tell you really and my head is pounding. Here's to a good performance later on, it's on Setanta Ireland (I think) if you want to catch the game, and to three points. Fingers crossed.

More tomorrow.