Yesterday’s post title was 7 reasons to be a Happy Gooner. Well today there’s an eighth reason, a massive 6 ft 7 German one.

We’re interviewing Arsenal centre half and all round good guy Per Mertesacker and thought we’d let you guys get in on the action too.

Just don't ask me what the weather is like up here.

So jot down what you’d like to ask Per and send it to us either on Facebook, to Mark, Andy or the new AFCBlog on Twitter, or pop it in the comments thread for this post and we’ll ask the best questions to the man himself.

What would you like to ask Per Mertesacker?

It’s always a great feeling to finish the day on the right side of a hammering, so to mirror our drubbing of Blackburn here’s seven reasons to be a happy Gooner.

1. This is a little tongue in cheek but looking back at our dreadful start to this season it’s nice to know we’ve hit the fabled 40 point mark and are now virtually assured not to be relegated.

2. Finally we recouped the minus six goal difference Manchester United took from us in the game we dare not speak of.

3. Alex Song is turning into quite the maverick. That was his  fifth assist in twenty games.

For a holding midfielder that tally is pretty impressive. And when we look at those instances in isolation and marvel at the manner of them, for a man who’s probably used to getting bloody noses from being that high up the pitch his classy and intelligent assists are remarkable.

4. People will point to Walcott’s paltry goal count for the season as a stick to beat him with, and while that number is pretty low, as a wide player setting up goals should be just as important for him. He got three today and by all accounts put in a good performance. He’s owed us one.

5. Where to start with the Ox? Hunger, drive and all the talent and potential to apply his innate skills. It’s going to be fun watching this kid grow at Arsenal.

But brace yourselves, there’s an incoming Wengerism heading your way. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain really is like a new signing. Still there? Good. Before today he’s rarely featured apart from some eye catching cameos but he still hasn’t played 90 minutes and with his little playing time in the league he’s produced one assist.

Wenger said after the match today that “He was not ready earlier in the season. He has made a big step in the last months.” Against Blackburn he was the man, and for all those asking where was our attacking purchase in January, well, there he is. Except we bought him in August. That’s just how we roll.

6. Ramsey / Rosicky. Rosicky was given a start in the middle and Ramsey finally got a deserved break. I’ve really felt for Aaron at times this year. Including games for Wales he has already played 36 times this season and we are only half way through. Fatigue and high expectation to run a midfield like Fabregas could is too much to ask, especially when we consider he still might not be fully back to his best after nearly having his leg kicked off.

He’s a great prospect who has needed a rest as he’s looked like he has run out of ideas in the final third of late. A little breather will stand him in good stead and it was made even better to know that Rosicky can step in and, judging by today, play just as good.

7.  Steve Kean, a charmless nobody who had the cheek to bask in his own supposed glory after Blackburn beat us earlier in the season,  giving interviews and attending football shows telling anyone who’d listen how he had scouted Arsenal and worked out how to beat  them. We scored half of their goals that day. So thank you Arsenal for sending him back to the wastelands with a seven-goal rout, the cherry on top courtesy of another goal from Thierry Henry.

Thierry passed to Robin, Robin passed it back. Thierry saw the gaping goal and said I'm having that!

In years gone by Henry wouldn’t have even looked up for the pass as he drove on toward goal concluding with his trademark side foot into the far corner.

Instead he staggered his run and gave it to RVP, the man who scores when he wants. He was probably content with just the three for the day and so he kindly gave it back for Henry to score his 228th Arsenal goal.

I’m loving every minute of Thierry coming home. Seeing his love for the club shine through is a disposition a lot of the other players could do with and aside from that his experience and advice will be a different kind of education for some of the players.

But it’s a bittersweet story, not only because this quick fling with the ex that got away will be ending soon because they’re going to go back to the rich American she left you for, but also because things are not quite the same. He’s carrying a few extra pounds and lost that jump start accelleration that saw him terrorise the league for all those years. No one will care though, he’s already scored more goals than Chamkh and he’s fat and old, but man, to have him in the shape he was in in 2003. We would be so lucky.

Without trying to spoil the party, we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s fair to say you can only beat what’s put in front of you but we haven’t been doing that of late, and today it was only Blackburn.

As much as I’m riding high on the buzz of seeing Arsenal run riot again it’s sobering to put put it in perspective. The fact that we went into this game without the expectation that we would batter them means we’re not completely on the right track.

But to improve we had to start at some point, and hopefully today was that day. Let’s push on from this, hit some form, and see how high we can finish.

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Икони на светци

After a stalemate on a cold dreary night up north we ended a losing run of three games in the league and almost immediately the daggers are out again for certain players, and as always, the manager.

It’s very easy to get angry in the aftermath of disappointment and failure, and since last night there’s been a hefty amount of vitriol doing the rounds. After some time to digest the game and it’s implications, I’ve decided to try something different with this post and turn the attention away from the team and put it on the people who really make the club: us.

Generations before Arsene Wenger arrived at Highbury and long after his succeeder departs the Emirates, the one constant throughout will be the fans. Without them, Arsenal–or any club for that matter–wouldn’t exist.

So what’s our role in the perverted story that Arsenal Football Club has become? To support? To buy merchandise? To turn up in our free time and jeer when things don’t go how we want them to?

While free speech is a notion that should always be advocated, especially if you’re paying one of the footballing world’s most expensive season ticket prices, there’s no reason why a bit of common sense and empathy can’t help someone bite their tongue.

Yet there was a twisted orchestra of boos as Arshavin replaced Oxlade-Chamberlain during the Manchester United game.

It’s debatable whether the ire was aimed at him or at Wenger’s decision to remove the impressive Chamberlain. What’s not in doubt is the where the jeers were directed at the Villa game before the match had even started as Arshavin’s name was called on the tannoy.

As Chamberlain left the field in the United match, it was obvious that the crowd were displeased at his removal. Players aren’t thick and of course he would have received their displeasure as a sign that he was having a good game and that probably made him feel pretty good about his own performance.

But it’s likely that anyone booing at his replacement didn’t stop to think what their actions might mean in the long term. Maybe that night when Chamberlain ran the game back through his head, a few thoughts crossed his mind. With the footballing world at his feet, this kid’s going to accumulate a lot of England caps and one day might set a major international tournament alight much like the vodka bottle-sized Russian did during Euro 2008 before we signed him.

Perhaps Chamberlain contemplated what would happen if he hit a bad patch, stopped scoring and started making mistakes. Are the same fans that lamented his removal last week  then going to be volleying insults at him as he leaves the field, only for him to arrive home to find death threats sent via Twitter just like Aaron Ramsey was subject to after the Swansea and Bolton games?

There was a lot of love for Andrey after he single handedly stopped Liverpool with four goals all those years ago. But not any more.

And all of a  sudden Arsenal doesn’t seem like a nice place to be playing the game at these days.

Over Christmas I was back home in London and my Dad gave me his ticket for the Wolves match. A draw and a flat performance was soundtracked by the worst experience I’ve ever had at a home game. Around my seat nobody was happy. Singing was only instigated by a pocket of die hard Gooners who are probably so afflicted with love for the club they go to reserve away games. Around me there  was only slagging off and moaning. It wasn’t fun.

While it’s a basic human right to be in a society where free speech is allowed in any form, whether it be booing, singing songs about an opponent player’s dad washing elephants, or even the freedom to enjoy the game in silence, surely it’s better to use that privilege not to spout hate at something we’re supposed to love.

Dennis liked Arsenal and trophies in equal measure.

In 2004 Dennis Bergkamp gave an interview recounting Arsenal’s title ambitions midway through the season. We had just lost two games in a row–games which saw us exit the Champions League and FA Cup–and suddenly our title bid was looking wobbly. The next game we went in at half time at Highbury losing 2-1 to Liverpool.

We won the game 4-2 and I’ll never forget Henry scoring a goal after a run so mazy Carragher fell over and headbutt Biscan in the balls. Dennis doesn’t mention anything like that in his interview but he does recall, “It was a little difficult at first but the atmosphere and the fans were just fantastic.”

Despite the comeback last week when we were 2-0 down to Villa at half time there was no such sentiment. Nope, just booing.

Bergkamp also once said, “I really like Arsenal. But you, do you really like Arsenal? Or just with trophies?”

Now is a time we should all be asking each other the same thing.

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**For the record I’m not asking anyone to remain silent and just accept things the way they are. Constructive criticism is a separate notion and something to be used to encourage us to continually want to improve–Arsene might claim to have poor vision whenever something controversial happens on the pitch but there’s been no instances of him being hard of hearing.

And of course it goes without saying, none of this is intended to reflect the actions and views of all Arsenal fans, only those who took part in the mentioned incidences.

BAM! You know what that sound was? The emphatic closing of the transfer window. And pfffffffffffft–that was the sound of Arsenal fans everywhere sighing.

There was much hope surrounding this window that Wenger would attempt to strengthen the squad, and after a January that saw us pick up zero Premier League points you’d think our backroom staff would be working double shifts trying to bring in some talent.

All that did happen was the signing of 19 year-old German attacking midfielder Thomas Eisfelder, whose seemingly only Youtube video is up on the AFCB Facebook wall if you want to have a look.

My lack of enthusiasm surrounding this transfer has nothing to do with the kid, hopefully he turns out to be a quality investment and maybe he’ll feature this year, only time will tell. Yet the dampened mood is back because we didn’t make an impact signing. Whatever you think of him now do you remember how awesome it felt when we signed Arshavin?

Willkommen! Arsenal new boy, Thomas Eisfeld.

There are silver linings to every cloud and I don’t think there’s too much cause for concern. This season started awfully–our worst start for 50 years–but after Wenger’s transfer rampage on the final day of the last window, we regrouped, strengthened in areas that needed it and went on a solid run that saw us enter the top 4. That run and form only came to an end after the injury curse struck again, which in turn is responsible for our recent run of bad form and tired, overworked legs.

I’m going to refrain form using the words “like” and “new signing” but important players are coming back. Sagna and Arteta made their playing returns in the game against Villa and news came out today that Gibbs had a successful training session.

Add to that the imminent return of Andy’s favourite forehead Gervinho and Chamakh from the African Cup of Nations, and all of a sudden our squad doesn’t look so threadbare, so all is not bleak. (Yes I do realise I put Chamkh in that list of hopefuls but I’m praying some warm weather did him good and he comes back rejuvenated.)

So, our actual business for the window looks like this:

INS: Thierry Henry (loan from New York Red Bulls), Thomas Eisfeld (£600,000 from Borussia Dortmund).

OUTS: Emmanuel Frimpong (loan to Wolves), Vito Mannone (loan to Hull), Luke Freeman (undisclosed to Stevenage), Sead Hajrovic (loan to Barnet), Sanchez Watt (loan to Crawley), Rhys Murphy (loan to Preston), Daniel Boateng (loan to Swindon), Ryo Miyaichi (loan to Bolton).

All the best to Luke Freeman with his future career who came to Arsenal with much promise but now leaves for Stevenage. Other than Frimpong who’s fast becoming a fan favourite wherever he goes, my pick of the bunch from our loaned-out players is Ryo Miyaichi. The much hyped Japanese kid needs some playing time and he won’t get it this season with the amount of experienced wide players we’ve got and the buzz surrounding the Ox. Hopefully a spell at Bolton will be as beneficial to him as it was for Wilshere who did the same loan deal, and will see him come back primed for the rigors of the Premier League.

Other than that there’s a big rumour doing the rounds that Arshavin is wanted by Russian outift Anzhi Makhachkala. The Russian transfer window goes on for another couple of weeks so we’ll hear more about that later on.

On a personal note I’m glad the window’s over and we can get back to concentrating on the football again. We’re away to Bolton tomorrow and after everyone around us in the league picked up points in tonight’s fixtures we need to make sure we do the same tomorrow.

How was your transfer window experience? Let me know by leaving a comment.  художник на икони

Three goals in seven second half minutes gave Arsenal fans the comeback they were all craving for and the team a trip to the north east to look forward to for the 5th round of the FA Cup.

It was the kind of schizo self-sabotaging performance we are not strangers to from the Arsenal but thankfully that summary only applies to the first half as the team came out assured with an enterprising second half show.

Other than Fabianski in goal it was as strong a fit starting 11 as we could have fielded and from the off we kept hold of possession well. Yet we never really looked like threatening and the first 30 minutes were pretty subdued aside from a stinging Vermaelen free kick and a shanked Walcott effort from inside the box.

In the meantime Villa looked disinterested with attacking and were quite happy to watch us knocking the ball around them in safe areas while they waited for their chance. Their opportunity came twice and they ruthlessly took both, one from a simple short corner headed home by Dunn, the other a good finish by Bent from an acute angle as he latched onto a through ball on the 45th minute. We may have seen most of the ball but we went in for half time reeling from two sucker punches.

I don’t know what was said/eaten/thrown at the team during the interval but it worked. We started with much the same emphasis on possession but this time we were turning it into some dangerous chances and Mertersacke’s header was cleared off the line from an early corner. Oxlade-Chamberlain was jabbing his way down the wing showing the kind of directness we’ve lacked at times while the movement off the ball from most of the forward players increased, and eventually brought around the seven minute turnaround. In a nutty nutshell, it went like this: two confidently dispatched Van Persie penalties came either side of a Walcott goal courtesy of a rebounded clearance that went in off his shoulder after he wriggled his way into the six yard box from the byline. It wasn’t pretty but who cares. If we’d lost by two penalties and a shoulder spectacular there’d be no sympathy for us from the critics, so I don’t see why there should be any grumbles when we win by such means.

Liverpool got a similar goal when they beat us at home this season so it was nice to see the comedy goal karma come back round in our favour for once.

Robin scores his first penalty with ease.

After we took the lead we looked comfortable in possession which was a good sign considering our tendency toward meltdown in the latter stages of critical games. Arteta made his injury comeback and excellently recycled the ball time after time, even slipping Henry through shortly after he came on, but his touch was poor so there was to be no Thierry magic in this round of the FA Cup.

In other good news it was great to see Henry on the bench talking to the younger players. At the Leeds game the camera showed him regaling Walcott, hopefully inspiring with tales of Champions League finals and league titles. Today he was smiling and chatting with Szczesny. Lord knows what advice he was giving the young Polekeeper–perhaps Irish fans will think it’s something to do with his handling–but I always like to see happy players and any words of wisdom he can impart to the team than all the better. I hate it when the camera pans to the bench and we are greeted by a silent row of emotionless faces while Wenger assassinates his latest Evian bottle.

All in all, a good day to be a Gooner, and as frustrating as it was to concede two sloppy goals at least we saw some resilience from the team, a spirit summed up best by kel’s comment in the previous post’s thread: “So at last we show some BALLS!!!!!!”

Well said.

And finally, a big welcome back to Bacary Sagna, man we’ve missed him.

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A rare evening for me not spent working on a Saturday night meant I could sit at home and shoot the breeze (albeit alone and in my head) about the state of play down at the Emirates and a few conclusions have been drawn.

Wilshere’s setback has made him anything but “like a new signing” and with only three days left of the open transfer window it looks like we are heading into the business end of the season with the same squad as we’ve had since the madcap close of the last one.

Looking at how that squad has performed and what they seem capable of achieving I can’t help but think that tomorrow is one of the biggest games of our season. To reach that conclusion, we first have to swallow a few bitter pills. Open wide.

The first one is actually quite easy, and won’t be a shock to the system; in case you missed it, we’re out of the Carling Cup already. It’s not a competition that particularly rocks my socks but it would have been nice to have won it last year if only to get that King Kong-sized monkey off our backs: “You haven’t won a trophy in 5 years!”, then, “You haven’t won a trophy in 6 years!” and now, “You haven’t won a trophy in…”.

The point is, we’re out of it and so that’s one cup we can’t lift in 2012.

The second capsule to induce in you Matrix-style revelations about the Arsenal mainframe is that the league is long gone too. Arsene admitted it a while ago, after the Old Trafford mauling I think, and it seems now that a Champions League spot will also be a big test. So a real title is out of reach and a made up one nearly is.

Which begs the question, since when has finishing fourth been deemed an achievement?

The third is that while we are still in the Champions League–I invite you at this junction to pause, face the general direction of Manchester and laugh–and as great as it is to play against Europe’s best (and second and third best) teams, the reality is this squad doesn’t look up to the task of winning it.

Unless Spain’s huge debt means they sell Real Madrid and Barcelona to China to balance the books, our chances are paper-slim. Let’s just enjoy what could be our Champions League swansong.

So, that trio of downers means the FA Cup is our best chance of success this season and it’s one I hope we pull out all the stops for, starting tomorrow. We’ve been on a downward turn for a while now and lifting a trophy could be just what the doctor ordered to get us fighting fit again.

I’m not one for predicting the squad the manager is going to play, I just hope he sends out an eleven to give a signal of intent to the fans that this team are still up for winning something. There’s been a lot of chat online about whether or not we should rest Van Persie and give some fringe players a run out so we can concentrate on the league and Europe. Claptrap.

Winning a cup–especially an esteemed one like the FA Cup–beats merely qualifying for the Champions League any day.

Enjoy the game wherever you watch it tomorrow, and let’s hope we’re still in the cup by the time the match review is being written.

– Mark

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Hello to all. Andy here.

You’ve surely all realised in recent times that I have not been contributing much at all to the blog.

It’s been a huge disappointment of mine that I haven’t been able to do so, but the simple truth is that work has got the better of me of late and I haven’t been able to put the same energy into the blog that I would like.

So all things considered, I have decided to changed my role on AFCB.

After discussing things with a good friend of mine Mark, a terrific Arsenal supporter who I met during my time in Berlin, I have decided to step aside and let him take over the reigns.

As he will tell you in his welcome message below, Mark will be handling the day-to-day happenings on the blog, news updates, match reports and all the stuff that recently, I simply have not had the time to do.

My input will be scaled into an editorial: managing the content on the site and contributing feature articles and opinion pieces on an irregular basis.

It’s been a tough old season for Arsenal fans, by far the toughest since I started this blog almost five years ago. But over that time we’ve forged such a great community of supporters on this blog and I don’t want that to be lost just because I have become a little bit too busy.

With Mark now on board I sincerely hope we can reignite the joy within this community and you as loyal readers can once again get the great content and interaction that you have come to expect.

As a final comment, if you are in any way inclined to check out the new online + design business I am now co-directing, which has been taking up most of my time, poke your head in at Moonshine Madness and take a look around. Most appreciated.

– Andy

Introducing Mark

Hey all,

My name is Mark and I was lucky enough to be asked by Andy to join the blog.

I’ll be chipping in with reports, news and all things Arsenal, so I’m using this post to introduce myself and tell you all a little bit about me so you don’t think someone’s jacked the site.

Until I was 11 I went to school only a goal roar away from our beautiful old stadium of Highbury, one which we never heard because only weird kids are at school on Saturdays at 3pm.

I’ll never forget the time Arsene Wenger kicked our playground ball back over the fence as he was on his way to lunch. Anyone who could kick a size 4 plastic ball with such technique as he displayed was destined to go on to achieve greatness.

Now I am living and working in Berlin, where Andy and I met, slowly losing my hair from ripping out chunks of it during the games as my Iraqi Goals stream freezes every time we play.

Apart from the dedication and hard work Andy puts in to run this page, what drew me toward wanting to be part of it was his tagline: Arsenal, with Love.

Right now supporting the team can be hard work, what with so many of the fans divided and throwing online invective at each other, coupled with poor performances and results.

The blog reminded me that even if you want Wenger out now, or if you’re willing to blindly follow him off a cliff, or even if you’re just this guy, we’re all bound by one thing: we love the Arsenal.

So I’m happy to be a part of it.

– Mark