You are my Arsenal

What a couple of weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 14:43:00 +0000

Wow, so much has gone on since my last post over two weeks ago (slack I know, but blogging doesn't pay the bills in the same way work does), with yesterday seeing the arrival of many members of the first team squad at Buckingham Palace for tea and biccies with Lizzie. I must say, Julio looks awfully comfortable in this photo, and Denilson obviously hasn't taken to suppping dried up leaf water just yet. Give him time though, he's only been here six months.

So, 3-1 against the Spuds (which I went to, knocked out a fantastic write up afterwards, only to have my browser crash, deleting the post and leaving me too pissed off to rewrite it), 1-1 at Middlesbrough, 2-1 at home to Blackburn and a long-time coming 3-1 destruction of Fat Sam's piglets.

I'm not going to go into any of the games in much detail, mostly because of the amount of time that's passed since they actually took place, but in general I've been very happy with what I've been seeing, particularly from the younger players who are on the fringes of the first team and have really seemed to have found their feet at the top level over the past fortnight.

I'm talking in particular of Diaby (who impressed last season as well, but who none were sure would be the same player after that horrific injury), Clichy (who is playing regular first XI but is now really emerging from under the shroud of being known as Ashley Cole's stand in for the past however many seasons), and Denilson (who is quite clearly a Brazilian clone of Fabregas). These three have played a lot of first team football in the last two weeks and have each looked every inch an Arsenal player.

Each of these players coming through is important to the first XI, because of the positions they play in.

Clichy is repaying the boss' faith for not going out and buying a new left back apres Cashley. He's come on so much since marking down the left back berth as his own and if he keeps working on his concentration and defensive discipline he really could be an outstanding player. He has gas by the tankload and he just runs all day long. In the second half of extra time on Wednesday night I couldn't believe how he was still motoring up and down the far touchline. Fantastic.

Diaby is showing that we do have strength in depth in the Gilberto postion, and I don't think it will be that long before he displaces the Brazilian in that more defensive centre mid role. He gets stuck in, is an absolute shed, and has the grace and foresight Vieira used to show. There's no doubt that he's a better "footballer" than Gilberto, he just has to nail his positional awareness and defensive responsibilities.

And Denilson. Wow. The kid has so much tactical nous, allied with his obvious ability on the ball and super range of passing. Maybe it is an exaggeration to label him Fabregas Mk II so early in his Arsenal career, but he seems like a samba Cesc in every way. He's got the same fight in him that Fab has as well, which I always like to see. With Fabregas having played so much football this season already, Denilson is an obvious alternative in the more creative midfield role, and I think Wenger has the confidence to start him. There's an article from the Daily Mail which goes over his role at Bolton and also has some quotes about his lack of apprehension regarding his move to England. He's obviously a fan of English football and I think his style is best suited to the English league, and the fact that he didn't really stand out at Sao Paolo, according to Tostao, speaks volumes for that.

Other bits and bobs flying about include Robinho giving Tottenham a good kick in the ego, Gallas returning from a lifetime out injured (let's hope it's not too soon, again), Arsene giving Aliadiere yet more proof of his faith in him (right or wrong he's certainly shown what he's about recently), and Kolo still claiming his little brother is better than him (he's not).

So, Blackburn in the Cup tomorrow lunchtime, and I imagine we'll see another mix of youth and experience with an away day at PSV just round the corner. It'll be interesting to see exactly what side Arsene puts out. If he hadn't played 120 minutes on Wednesday, I'd be wanting to see Denilson.

Come on you Reds.

More injury woes before Spuds

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:56:00 +0000

Julio "la Bestia" Baptista has been confirmed as absent for tonight's game against the old enemy at the Emirates, and could well be missing for a couple of weeks. Which is a bit of a bugger really, considering that, with RvP probably missing now for the rest of the season, he would have had his eye on a regular spot in the starting XI, rotating with Ade Cool to partner Thierry.

Injuries have hit Arsenal like a plague over the past two season. Before then we were always fairly averagely listed on the injury table, but for some reason we've been hit for six off consecutive seasonal deliveries. I don't know if the Lewin clan are doing something differently on the physio table, or if, as has been claimed in certain areas, that Arsene is rushing players back from injury too early, but something's shifted recently.

Anyway, with Baptista added to the missing list, our side for tonight is likely to be a back five of Aluminium, Hoyte, Kolo, Big Phil and not-that-Traore; a midfield of YTW, Diaby, O'Silva and not-that-Denilson; with Adebayor and Prince Ali up front. I would think that the bench will contain Rosicky, Cesc, Randall, Poom and maybe, maybe Thierry. It'll be interesting to see if Arsene is confident enough to leave Henry out of the squad completely.

All this talk of an injury-ravaged Arsenal side has, of course, led to rumours that Arsene is about to plunder the market for a last minute "panic buy". Antonio Puera of Seville and the Czech defender Ondrej Mazuch have been mentioned, whilst we've apparently agreed to take young French striker Sunu on at the end of the season.

Whispers regarding Hearts' Scottish keeper Craig Gordon are doing the rounds as well. I have to say that I'd be very happy with Gordon being installed as Jens' long-term successor. He's that rare football oddity, a good Scottish goalie, and he's also a bit of an animal on Football Manager, so that's good enough for me.

So, a goaless draw would be enough for us tonight against the Lilywhites, but I fancy a few goals either way.

Come on you Reds.

Hallelujah

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:38:00 +0000

No time for a proper post today. Just wanted to share the news (if you haven't already heard it) that Alexandre Song has joined Charlton Athletic on loan for the rest of the season.

Lots of fans have complained about the stick that Song has received from some areas of the Gooner support. Whilst I completely agree that getting on a player's back when he's having a poor game helps no one, case in point when Alex (allegedly) got booed at Fulham this year, Song is patently not an Arsenal-level player yet, and I'm glad that he's stepped out of the hotly contested battle for a centre midfield berth. It's a clear signal that Denilson and Diaby are both rated higher, which has reassured me that Arsene isn't going senile.

Odds on the Addicks getting relegated have now shortened dramatically.

Tuesday quickie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 09:21:00 +0000

Right, just a quick one today, partly cos there's not much going on, and partly cos I'm busy.

I'll lead off with the UEFA team of the year (as voted by yours truly and other visitors to the UEFA website back in October, I don't know why it takes so long to collate the data) which features two Gooners in Cesc and Thierry.

It's pretty much the team I picked (although I had mad mad Jens in goal and Arsene as the gaffer) and considering it was voted for back in October I don't think you can argue with any of them that much. Some of my Man Yoo chums were whining that spaghetti head should be in there at right mid, and Gerrard should replace Cesc at centre mid, but Ronaldo, as expanded upon yesterday, did bugger all at the World Cup, and was relatively ordinary last season.

Arsenal reserves lost 3-0 to the Spuds last night, and young Henri Lansbury (he's English, despite the francophile spelling of his first name) got himself sent off. Lots of the players who would have played are in contention for tomorrow night's game, so it's not that surprising that a very young side was shown up.

The Daily Mail has run a story involving Cesc talking about clear the air talks following the one nil loss at Sheffield that has propelled us to a five game winning streak in the new year, scoring 17 goals in the process. It's good to see that a young player such as Fabregas is unwilling to give up on the title chase until it is statistically impossible. I also like where he talks about having an obligation to win something every season. What a great attitude the lad has, especially compared to other players of his age I could name.

Less than a week before the FA Cup tie with Bolton, Nicolas Anelka has come out to say that he'd like to return to Arsenal one day. I'm sure Walrus Face is thrilled about that. Here's hoping he bags an OG as well.

In closing it strikes me now that I haven't made mention of Lauren's move to Pompey, which is fast becoming an Arsenal defenders retirement home. I'll just reiterate what I said whilst the speculation was going on, to say that Wenger must've thought he would be the same after injuries kept him out for a year, that he has high hopes that Eboue will stop being a little twat and that Hoyte will become a better player, and that he didn't want to stand in the way of the nearly-thirty Lauren getting a two-year contract at a Premiership club. He was a great servant to the club, and did so well in taking over directly from an Arsenal legend (but rubbish pundit) in Lee Dixon. He was also the hardest bastard in our team, and when he and Vieira had a barney on the team bus, everyone's money was on the Cameroonian amatuer boxing champion.

Goodbye Ralph, and thanks for everything. Especially when you picked Cristiano Ronaldo up by the throat. That was ace.

Title race wide open?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 09:10:00 +0000

Well, no to be honest, but bloody hell did it feel good to do the domestic double over Man Yoo for the first time since 97-98 (as memory serves, and look what happened that season). However, whilst we were also 12 points back at one point that year, we had a game in hand, and there weren't three clubs sitting above us. That said, the results at the weekend have left the top of the table as interesting as it has been for many a year at this stage of the season.

Whilst the game was not the peak of technical attacking excellence that many a neutral will have been hoping for, I thought it was a full blooded, frenzied example of the Premiership's top teams going at it hell for leather at each other. Clear cut chances may have been at a premium, but there was some nice football on show (most notably from Fabregas, who is just a cut above) and some crunching tackles. Both teams defended very well, the goals scored aside, and I thought it was a cracking game.

It's days like this that make you glad you know so many Man Yoo fans (I think we all know our fair share), and it's rare that after a defeat, you find so many of them as gracious as I did yesterday afternoon. It was similar after the game at Old Trafford, and whilst I think that a draw would've been a fair result yesterday, we did enough to win it.

Thierry got man of the match, which is really quite beyond me. He maybe (I'm still not sure myself) should have had a penalty, and he scored a fine header, but other than that he was completely anonymous (as was Rooney, save for his goal and a fine strike that Jens tipped on to the bar). Personally I might have given it to Evra, who was excellent (although both Arsenal goals came from his side), or Ferdinand, or Fabregas. Sky's refusal to consider a player from the losing team as man of the match is ridiculous, especially in a game that was as tight as this.

I have to say that I was fairly unimpressed with a number of individual performances, particularly from the attacking players, although this might have something to do with the excellent defensive performances put in by both sides. Hleb had another of his "I want to play centre mid" games, and Adebayor brought nothing to our game (other than a quality cross for Henry in the first half. I'm getting really bored of people raving about him because he "runs his heart out". I saw plenty of examples of him loping around the pitch yesterday). On the United side I thought that both Carrick and Scholes contributed very little in an attacking sense, and I couldn't believe that the Ronaldo that turned up is the prohibitive favourite for player of the year.

I've been saying for a while now, within my circle of football-loving friends, that spaghetti head is yet to do it against the big clubs, in the big games, or on the big stage. He had a poor World Cup (where he was upstaged by the geriatric Luis Figo), has brought nothing of note to this year's Champion's League campaign (although neither did the other United players) and has not done the business against Arsenal (twice), Liverpool or Chelsea. As this is a claim that was put against Henry for a long time (which there is now stacks of evidence to disprove, but that's another argument) I think it's a little premature to carp on about him being the best player in the world right now. I'm sure he'll go on to put in top class performances against real opposition in games with real pressure, but he hasn't done it yet. He did nothing against us yesterday, for all his tricks and touches. I honestly can't remember him beating a player.

As mentioned earlier, I think that both back fours did well (Clichy gave a very good account of himself against both Giggs and Ronaldo) although Eboue's despicable gamesmanship flared up again. I really am growing a strong dislike for what seems like our first choice right back, and if he hadn't delivered a fantastic cross for the winner I would have been demanding to know why Hoyte was dropped.

The bad news that has tempered my mood following yesterday's huge win is that Robin van Beast, the lad who started our comeback, has broken his fifth metatarsal and it looks like we'll be without him until sometime in March. Considering he's our top scorer so far this season (and has weighed in heavily with assists as well) it's a body blow to the rest of our season, and my flat mate Jim the bindipper must be regretting not taking me up on £20 bet to see who would score more this season, RvP or Sloth's ugly brother (Dirk Kuyt for the remedial amongst you). I thought Robin's goal was the pick of the three yesterday, less for the finish, which was quality, but more for the way that Rosicky and Cesc battled to win the ball on the right hand side. More of that please lads.

So, the Spuds midweek in the League Cup. Shrek senior is already moaning about decisions that went against his (completely outclassed) side when we met last in the league, expect more before the game on Wednesday. I hope we send out the same side that destroyed Liverpool in the League Cup and give the Spuds' first XI a tanking.

Come on you Gunners.

Midweek Arse update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:24:00 +0000

Bit of a midweek clean up of stories doing the rounds today, and where better to start than the dispute which has led to nobody being able to buy tickets to either leg of the Arsenal v Spuds League Cup Semi Finals.

The Daily Mail reported yesterday that Mr Edelman and Mr Levy were each throwing their toys out of their respective prams over ticket allocation and pricing for the second leg of said match at the Emirates. According to league rules Tottenham are entitled to 15% of our total capacity, roughly 9,000. Edelman is arguing that, due to safety restrictions and extra crowd segregation methods necessary when the dirty Spuds visit the Emirates, that this is not possible, and has offered 5,000. In addition to this, Arsenal want to cut the ticket prices for this match, as we have done for League Cup matches for some time now. Spurs, who are entitled to 45% of the gate, want to charge full price.

Now personally I think that what Edelman's proposing in terms of ticket allocation is laughable and more than a little embarrassing. There may well be additional security measures that need to be imposed to keep the Lilywhites in their box, but do these measures really necessitate a 4,000 drop in possible allocation? I don't think so and I think that Edelman's just trying to get one over his Tottenham counterpart, which isn't necessary, and in fact hands Tottenham more respect than they deserve.

As for the pricing, the Spuds can go take a flying leap. We'll charge whatever the hell we like, thank you very much. I suppose the idea of getting 45% of our usual gate, which must dwarf their own, appeals to them very much, but they can't possibly believe that they should get a say in how we run our club. So get knotted Levy.

Speaking of Spurs, Cardiff City's on loan Arsenal fullback (and YamA favourite) Kerrea Gilbert will be heading to the Lane tonight for the FA Cup 3rd round replay that Cardiff earned at Ninian Park two weeks back. He expects to get a bit of stick, but is looking forward to another tussle with the old enemy. I've said it before, but it deserves repeating: I think Kerrea Gilbert should be first choice right back at Arsenal by the end of next season, especially if, as expected, Lauren leaves.

As talk turns to Ralph, there's a story going round that he's interested in a move to Lyon after quite sensibly rejecting a relegation battle with the Hammers. It'd certainly be a choice move for him, and offer him Champions League football too.

Seb Larsson seems to be about to make his move to Birmingham City a permanent deal, with reports in the press suggesting that £500,000 will be enough to make him a Blue. Personally I'm surprised at the price as I think he's a very useful and versatile player, who's probably just lacking a little in terms of being an Arsenal player. Still, good luck to the lad for the future.

Talk is beginning to turn to who should start up front against Man Yoo on Sunday, following professional "merker" Rio "am I Avid Merrion in one of his rubber masks" Ferdinand stating that the Mancs fear Adebayor above all others, as he feels Ade Cool gave them the most problems in the game at Old Trafford. If we take it as read that he's not talking about Henry because he didn't play in that game, it does make for an interesting discussion of who gets the nod out of RvP and Adebayor. I would play Robin, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that, if he's fully fit, we might see the Togonator starting alongside Thierry. We shall see.

What an utter shower of bastards

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 09:13:00 +0000

A very welcome 2-0 win over the bunch of total fuckwits that is Blackburn Football Club, their players, manager and supporters.

It was an away match against one of those cheeky, scrappy northern teams, the sort of game that we can't win, by all accounts in the media this season, and not only did we deal perfectly well with the combatative / heavy handed / cheating behaviour of the Blackburn side, we did it with 10 men for 77 minutes of the match.

Gilberto received the ball with his back to the Blackburn goal on the half way line. Robbie Savage flew in, from behind, fouling Gilberto at least twice before leaving him in a heap, and stood over his prone body. Obviously a little miffed, Gilberto flicked out a leg, which made contact with Savage's shin pad, and led to Savage tossing himself up ten feet in the air, doing a couple of barrel rolls whilst letting out a shriek that would rival Pavarotti. Rob Styles, being the dribbling feckless twat that he is, gave Gilberto a straight red (for violent conduct no less) and Savage a yellow.

Now, don't get me wrong, under the letter of the law Gilberto had to go, and I have no real problem with that except that on a another day with another ref he might have got a yellow. The fact is that, to the letter of the law, Gilberto now misses three games for violent conduct, which is a joke. The FA has to start looking at red cards individually. But they won't. Fuckwits. For example, Tugay's assault on Cesc, which only warranted a yellow card for the Turk, was far worse of a challenge.

Anyway, all of this is stopping me from talking about two excellent goals, the first a wonderful header from Kolo (who really should score more) from an Henry freekick and one a goal from Thierry, which almost supercedes superlatives.

Henry's goal was a perfect example of the best that our counter attacking football has to offer. Picking up the ball in our own half, Henry moved it down the left, drawing in three Blackburn players before exchanging a neat one two with Fabregas and spanking the ball past Friedel and in off the bar. Outstanding.

Plaudits to Arsene for maintaining an attacking formation when we went down to ten men, and not bringing on a defensive player for an attacker until the 67th minute. I like that Arsene decided we were going to win the game by pressing forward, and I also like the fact that Rosicky, Fabregas and Hleb operated in the centre together to great effect. Whilst some might say that our midfielders are a light touch, blessed with nought but technique really need to take another look. Fabregas is a battler in every sense of the word, and Tomas' workrate and dedication are wonderful to see. Hleb's problem is not that he is physically weak, but that he switches off too frequently. Anyway they did themselves proud on Saturday, and Clichy had an excellent game as well.

In other news Steve Bruce wants to make Fabrice Muamba's stay at St Andrews permanent. I'm not sure how this is news considering he's said the same about Muamaba, as well as Bendtner and Larsson, many times before. I imagine the only development would be if Arsenal are making noises like they are willing to sell. I think we could see Seb leaving, which would be a shame, but definitely not Bendter, nor Mumaba I would have thought, or at least not yet.

Savage is moaning that everyone's being too cynical, and that he didn't dive because Gilberto "definitely made contact" with him. When will players learn that contact is not the be all and end all of a player going down. If his missus gave him a peck on the cheek there would be definite contact, but you don't see him pirouetting through the air whilst crying for his mother then do you?

Reyes is moaning that he didn't play in the final of the Champions League last year. Whilst I did feel a little sorry for him at the time, and would actually rather have had him in the first XI than Pires on the night, he had clearly already decided that he would be leaving, and would have been the player subbed off for Almunia after Jens' red card anyway.

Take that la' - Part III: Enter la Bestia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 09:20:00 +0000

Well, what do you say about a game like that?

As my Liverpool supporting flatmate Jim put it, it was the strangest football match involving Liverpool he has ever seen.

Both managers decided to put out severely weakened teams following Saturday's exertions. I was expecting this from Arsene, but not from Benitez, who I expected to go out looking to win the game and maybe salvage a little pride. In reality it was Liverpool's team that was the weaker, purely because our second string players are of such a higher standard than theirs.

With only two legitimate first XI players in our side, being Kolo and Fabregas, and three in the Liverpool side, being Hyypia, Gerrard and Bellamy, we got the chance to see a lot of players who wouldn't normally be starting for either team. On the Liverpool side I'd never seen Peltier or Guthrie play before, but it was the Argentinian Paletta, who I'd seen before and thought looked a handy player, who stood out for all the wrong reasons. Quite simply Jeremie Aliadiere took him apart all night, and I ended up feeling bad for the guy.

Whilst with four goals Baptista is going to take the headlines today (including the one on this post), man of the match was undoubtedly the aforementioned Aliadiere. He simply ran the show, and once again we were treated to another dominant League Cup from the Frenchman, who just can't seem to transfer that quality into league performances. You may argue that he hasn't been given much of a shake in that department, but when a player is given five years of opportunities, however small, and has gone out on loan to Celtic, West Ham and Wolves, and done nothing at any of them, you've got to question his long term future. Personally I think he needs to move on, if only for his own sake. I think that Bendtner will be above him in the pecking order next season, and offers something legitimately different to Aliadiere, who has shades of Thierry, RvP and Walcott in his game.

Other key performances were Cesc, as always, Kolo, as always, and Almunia, who had no chance for any of the goals in my opinion and looked surprisingly solid for him. Song had a better than usual game, capped with a goal (that he knew almost nothing about), but I still shit bricks every time he's on the ball under any sort of pressure. Traore took a bit of time to get into the game, which is to be expected at his age, but grew into himself as the game progressed. Denilson looked handy but wide midfield is obviously not his position and I think he played there through necessity rather than design. As I was saying in yesterday's post, this again highlights our lack of strength in depth in the wide positions at the moment, which will only be excentuated if Freddie does head off to West Ham with no replacement coming in.

We scored six goals last night, and it was a great performance whilst not playing to our full potential. The first half inparticular, before we scored two on the cusp of half time, was not a dominant display, but we were better in the second and you've got to say, once again, that this young group of players has a fantastic future ahead of it.

Team news v bindippers and other gossip

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:16:00 +0000

So, Liverpool v Arsenal round three for the season, and although the official squad has not yet been announced, Diaby has been named as definitely being in the squad for tonight's game.

I can't stress how pleased I am, both for the lad himself and for the team. In the back half of last season, and noticeably in the Champions League when he got the opportunity, Diaby was showing just how far he'd come on since joining us in the January transfer window. He offers a more accomplished, technically able player in the Gilberto position, or a more physical presence in the Fabregas position, but either way he is a big player coming back into the squad who will only make us stronger.

As far as other team news goes I'm really not too sure what to expect. After going through to the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday, Arsene might be tempted to play a weaker team than he might have, although after losing on Saturday the scousers are more likely to put out a stronger team than they might have, so it's a bit hard to predict. I think we can expect to see Almunia, Djourou, YTW, Aliadiere and Adebayor (if fit) to start.

News that Lauren will not be in the squad tonight due to a toe injury is tempered by rumours that he's actually subject to a bid from West Ham. I would be very, very worried about Wenger's judgement if we sold him to the Hammers after waiting for him to get fit and add some much needed stability to our right hand side. Eboue patently isn't good enough defensively and is petulant and a bit of a cheat to boot. Hoyte I don't think is going to make the grade in the long run, and isn't better than Lauren. I think we'd be crazy to let Ralph go without an adequate replacement, plus of course we'd be losing the hardest bastard in the league.

Speaking of West Ham rubbing their greasy little jellied eel gripping mitts in anticipation over our players, Freddie is reportedly the target of another bid from the East End wideboys. Various news sources are quoting a price of £7m, which you would have to say is good business for a player on the cusp of 30, and who's performances have waned in the past couple of years. Whilst I would be sorry to see him go (and my mum would be positively suicidal) you'd have to accept that it's a figure that's hard for the club to turn down. I'd certainly be happier with that than selling Ralph, even though you could argue we're deeper at right back.

Others are arguing that we wouldn't need to replace Freddie right away, certainly not until the summer. I have to say that I disagree with that. At present we only have four legitimate wide players, and two of those, Rosicky and Hleb, don't stay all that wide, tending to creep inside and end up leaving us with a very narrow midfield four. With Freddie having lost a yard or two in recent times, our only real winger is Theo, and with him not playing anything like regularly, it's something that's been worrying me for some time. The automatic Ribery to Arsenal stories have already begun, but I don't think there's any truth in that.

Good news for Nicklas Bendtner, as his reported broken ankle turns out only to be a bad sprain, and he'll only miss the next four weeks, rather than the rest of the season. Fantastic news for a promising youngster who I think everyone has high hopes for. Personally I'm not sure whether it would do him more good to have another year on loan somewhere, maybe at Birmingham if they get promoted, or if he'd be better served as our fourth striker for next season. I'm sure Arsene's got some thoughts on the subject, I'll give him a call later.

So, a win tonight to set up a semi final tie with the scum.

Come on you Gunners.

Take that la' - Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:01:00 +0000

So, our second game against the bindippers this season, another victory, and another three goals scored. Our continuing string of good results against the other members of the big four continues, and although it wasn't particularly pretty, and despite some issues that I will be discussing further down, we were comfortable and deserving winners.

With the enforced absence of Fabregas due to suspension, Arsene set out a game plan to contain Liverpool with a narrow four in midfield, and play on the break. Whilst no one could argue that Liverpool had the lion's share of posession, they did precious little with it, and our stand in Manuel Aluminium had practically nothing to do in the first half, and wasn't really at fault for their only goal in the second.

The same could not have been said for Jerzy "I used to be a keeper, honest" Dudek, who had a bit of a mare and proved why even the slightly dodgy Pepe Reina is preferred. He should have done better with both Rosicky's second and Henry's solo strike, and I think Reina would have saved one or the other.

There were many shouts, not least from Alan Hansen (ex Liverpool) and Alan Shearer (professional twat) that Liverpool should have had a penalty, as after Xabi Alonso began his dive in the first half, he was brushed by Gilberto's knee. Absolute bollocks. Alonso did not leave his leg in to get caught, it wasn't clever forward play, he dived in an attempt to cheat the ref, and whilst a booking may have been harsh seeing as contact was technically made, it was never a penalty.

We scored three well crafted counter attacking goals, with the first, a fantastic first time strike from Rosicky following neat interchanges between himself and Hleb, being the pick of the bunch. I'm not going to bang on about what we did or how we did it particularly, suffice to say that we were not terribly impressive but played to a game plan and got the result, because I'm going to be the glass is half empty miser that I am and address some issues I have with a certain player.

I want to address Gilberto. There has been, for some time now, the belief that if you criticise Gilberto you either don't go to games, don't understand what he brings to the team, or simply don't understand football. It has become almost sacriligious to make any sort of negative comment about him, and particularly this season where he's started knocking in goals.

Gilberto is our most defensive minded midfield player. He sees a lot of the ball, he organises the midfield (or at least should do) and, along with Cesc, dictates the direction and pace of our play.

Unfortunately, Gilberto gives away the ball, whether through an inability to pass five yards to an Arsenal player, or through his insistence on dicking around on the ball so that he gets caught in posession, more than any other player in our team. Against Liverpool this was brough to the fore simply by the amount of time he had on the ball. Maybe it was due to Cesc not being there, and Gilberto feeling like he had to have more of an impact on the game, but it wasn't like he was trying fifty yeard passes and failing, he was failing in moving the ball ten yards sqaure to an Arsenal player whilst under no pressure. He was also at fault for Liverpool's goal, leaving Kuyt unmarked and moving towards the ball for no apparent reason. His tendency to lose concentration is at odds with his position as vice-Captain, which is, in my opinion, more a of a statement on his seniority than his leadership qualities.

I do not deny that Gilberto does an important job for us; he does it well and it is a job that is an absolute necessity to the game we play. We must, however, be able to find another player who can do that job whilst not giving the ball away at every opportunity. The away tie at Porto is probably the best example this season, in a game where posession was of paramount importance, and his complacency was as much a threat as Ricardo Quaresma. Case in point, the fifteen minutes after Liverpool scored their goal witnessed our midfield being unable to hold onto the ball and a lack of composure at centre mid, which is surely Gilberto's responsibility.

I cannot wait for Diaby to be back in full training (he had his first session last week) and start giving Gilberto some competition for a place that he seems to think he has a right to.

My second gripe is Emmanuel Eboue. I've been noting his severly lacking defensive performances for some time now, but that's now being outshone by his simply embarrasing gamesmanship. Hoyte is a better player defensively, and Lauren is surely a shoe in when he gets back to full fitness. In the long run I hope Kerrea Gilbert gets brought back from Cardiff and given a shot, because I rate him above both Eboue and Hoyte.

Right, rant over. A great result for us, if not a great performance. Bindippers again on Tuesday night.

In other news the soon to depart Arturo Lupoli scored a hat trick for Derby, Anthony Stokes is on the brink of a move to either Charlton or Sunders, and Nicklas Bendtner broke his ankle on the battlefield they call a pitch at St Andrews, probably ruling him out for the season and giving him little chance of securing the fourth striker berth at Arsenal next season.

And we've just drawn Bolton in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup. Of course we fucking have.

Arsenal happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:01:00 +0000

I am getting slacker and slacker.

Right, quick round up after our morale boosting demolition of Charlton (for which I had a ticket but was foolish enough to give it to my brother, who was down from Uni and hadn't yet been to the Emirates).

Chris Morgan, horrible cunt extraordinaire, has been charged for his sly punch on RvP during the Sheffield United game. Too right too, I was livid when I saw it on tele, and after Robin got booked for his protestations/running past Morgan and Morgan falling over, it's good to see this piece of work get his comeuppance. I also love the way that the Blades chairmen says that as it wasn't as bad as recent events involving Morgan, where he elbowed someone in the face for no particular reason, that he shouldn't be charged. What a load of bollocks.

Thierry is continuing to bang the drum for van Persie, saying he could go on to be one of the greats. I make no secret of the fact that I'm a huge fan of Robin's, and in fact got his name and number on my shirt this year. I've seen his potential inescapably attached to his fiery temperament and I've always been optimistic that he would turn that potential into quality, and he's certainly been markedly improved every season he's been with us. I like players that get angry and snarl and just want to win, and Robin's a winner.

Internazionale are sniffing around Gilberto. I have no idea why seeing as they have Vieira and Cambiasso, and are apparently looking at Barone as well. Everyone's favourite Irish-Brazilian has two and a half years on his contract, so nothing's going to happen til the summer anyway, if at all. Gilbert O'Silva will be over 30 by then though, and if Arsene sticks by his one year extension offers for players over 30 it'll be interesting to see if he sticks around.

Apparently Gigi Buffon might be off in the summer. I love his quote. There's arrogance and then there's Italians.

We have a Liverpool cup double coming up over the next week, and with our currently injury ravaged squad looking a little jaded I'm not overly optimistic. My flatmate's a bindipper and I will be subjected to hours of abuse should we be turned over. So lads, I'm begging you, put in a performance.

Now let us all pray to St Charlie of George, patron saint for putting one over the red half of Scouseland.

Amen.

Blackburn given the spanking they so richly deserve

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 11:28:00 +0000

Well, wasn't that bags of fun? The only annoying thing is that I was about half an hour from getting tickets to yesterday's game, and what a game to miss.

I don't much care what Mark Hughes had to say in his post-game interview, that the final scoreline flattered us and didn't bear a true account of the game. Yes, we scored three goals in the final ten minutes. Yes, Blackburn pegged us back to 3-2 and gave us a nervy five or ten minute period. However, we should have been 6 up before they scored their third, let alone after.

It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that we could have made double figures in goals scored yesterday, and quite comfortably too. Rosicky missed a good chance and had one cleared off the line, and I can't emphasise what an impact his attitude, passion and exuberance have on the rest of the team when he plays. Hleb should have scored a second, Fabregas could have had at least two, and despite bagging a brace, Dobin should really have taken a hat trick from the game.

The goals we did score were fabulous in their football and in their variety. After David "you can tell I'm not good enough for Arsenal, can't you" Bentley won a dubious penalty after Toure fell/was pulled over by Bentley and landed on the short arse Blackburn forward, Shabani Nonda stuck away the resulting spot kick. We equalised through a fantastic header by Gilberto from a very well struck corner from RvP. Blackburn had no one on the far post (and for some reason didn't remedy this at subsequent corners) and that was 1-1.

Hleb scored the next in what was quite simply a beautiful interchange of passing between him, the remarkably improved Adebayor, and the mercurial Fabregas. Once into the penalty area Hleb took two beautiful touches to beat his man and calmly sidefooted it past a stranded Brad Friedel. 2-1.

The third was a penalty, won by the impressive Robin van Persie and converted by the equally impressive Manu Adebayor. It was the lanky Togolese forward who put Robin in with a delightful flicked pass after receiving the ball from Fab, and after taking a touch and waiting to pull the trigger, van Persie was clipped by Neill and went down. I think it was a penalty. There was definite contact, enough to alter van Persie's stride and ability to strike the ball, even if his tumble might have been excentuated. Adebayor calmly slotted the spot kick. 3-1.

Then, at the start of the second half, we peppered them. We tore them apart. We should have had ten, as mentioned above. But we didn't, and after going to sleep at the back a header from Derbyshire came back off the bar and Nonda scored an overhead strike from close range. 3-2.

We then endured an anxious passage of play, during which RvP blazed over a relatively easy chance and a rather more difficult one, before he took possession of the ball in the right hand channel, moved inside into the penalty area, dummied to shoot on his left, dummied to shoot on his right (leaving Ooijer in a heap) and then curling a lovely left-footed daisy cutter into the bottom left hand corner. It was no more than he deserved from an outstanding performance in which he linked the play so impressively and seemed to be able to bring even the most wayward and overhit passes under his control. 4-2, but he wasn't finished there.

Some more lovely interplay between Adebayor and Cesc let the young Spaniard into the box, and instead of shooting, as he had done earlier in the half when he had an irate van Persie waiting for a pass, he found the Dutchman with a simple square ball and Dobin gratefully put away his second from eight yards. 5-2.

But the boys still weren't done. Cesc took a pass into the left hand channel, and proceded towards the corner flag, kicking out a few stepovers and body feints on the way. Robbie Savage obviously thought that Fab was intending to run time down in the corner, and wasn't having any of that, so he made a beeline for Cesc and looked like he was going to remove his left leg from it's socket. Seeing him coming a mile away, Fabregas simply stepped inside to his right whilst playing the ball through Savage's legs. It was a moment of beauty and a fantastic visualised metaphor for the different approaches to the beautiful game, one obviously being more beautiful than the other. Cesc then feinted inside another Blackburn player before taking the strike he was certainly entitled to. Friedel made a good save, but the ball fell to goal machine Mathieu Flamini and he put it away for his fourth of the season.

It's this kind of performance that makes an Arsenal fan so hopeful of the promise that this team holds for the future, but which also makes days when we don't perform so frustrating. I don't think it's possible to argue, even from a Man Yoo fan's perspective, that we don't play the best football in the Premiership, when we play. However our consistency is our downfall and we can only hope as the kid's progress and gain experience, they'll learn to grind out the wins, and not the draws, that you need when you're not firing on all cylinders.

It was a great display of what we are capable of, and with Watford on Boxing Day, I can only hope we get another emphatically won 3 points.

In other news (because I havn't posted for so bloody long) Mourinho is going to get away with what Arsene was punished for when he called van Horseface a cheat, Middlesbrough are looking to take Aliadiere on loan, Stokes, Bendtner and Lupoli all havn't scored in bloody ages, we're not going to buy anyone in January even though the papers won't stop talking about who we are going to sign, Paul Scholes scored the goal of the season yesterday, and Chelski seem like they have magical last minute goal-scoring powers. A deal struck with Satan no doubt

Lucky, lucky boys

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:53:00 +0000

Well, that was a painful evening's entertainment wasn't it?

Arsenal are through to the knockout stages of the Champions League after drawing 0-0 at Porto, and with Hamburg beating CSKA 3-2 we could even have lost and gone through. As it is we actually topped the group. But we were lucky.

We were piss poor from start to finish. Every fifteen minutes or so (although not at all for the first half hour) we'd put together a nice passing move which saw us into the box but not threaten to score. For the rest of the match we basically spent our time giving Porto the ball, and for the first 70 minutes at least they seemed well up for knocking a few past us, with Queresma hitting the post twice and looking dangerous all night.

There were appalling performances from many, abjectly average performances from the rest. Of the whole bunch I'd really only say that Kolo, Johann and Jens acquitted themselves with any degree of respectability. The midfield five, well, embarrassing is too kind an evaluation. Gilberto was particularly awful, giving the ball away once every five minutes like clockwork, more often than not by misplacing a five yard pass. Even Fabregas was giving the ball away, getting caught in possession a number of times. If you're playing five in the middle then surely you should be looking to maintain possession and dictate play. We looked lost.

In fact, some might say that we played like that because we don't know how to play a controlled, defensive, possession game, and to be honest I don't think we do. That said we shouldn't have been looking to play for the draw, which I think we did, and which worries me a lot. The approach to this game was all wrong, despite our claims that we would "go out playing to win".

I don't think having TH14 for this game would have made much difference to be honest, although it would have atleast provided us with an outlet once we regained possession, something that was shocking in its absence last night. Unless Clichy or Eboue bombed down the wing we had no one willing to overlap or make a run past the player in possession. Whilst no one wants to get caught out of position, if that were true then these two players are the LAST two you'd want caught out of position playing against a team utilising a 4-3-3 with very quick wingers, and with five in midfield you'd think that one of the men in the middle would be the one to make the run to create an angle.

Still, we're through to the last 16 and we live to fight another day. Man Yoo won 3-1 so they go through as well, and in fact all the English teams topped their groups, which is a nice statement about the Premiership. That said when you've got teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Roma and Inter Milan finishing in second place in their groups it seems it doesn't matter whether you qualify first or second, you're still going to have a tough last 16 match up.

Chim chiminy chim chininy chim chim Djourou is a doubt for Chelsea on Sunday, following a groin strain he picked up last night (you may have noticed Big Phil warming up at half time yesterday), which is a bit of a fucker as not only is he playing very well at the moment, but it means that our only fit and elligible centre half for Sunday is Senderos (who doesn't seem like he enjoys playing against Chelski, and particularly Drogba), as Kolo is suspended and Gallas is still recovering from injury. Puts us in a bit of a pickle does that.

Speaking of Sunday's game, you may or may not have seen these yet, but they're "special" banknotes to take to the Bridge on Sunday in honour of that all round nice bloke Cashley Tweedy.

I think that the mobile phone is a nice touch.

More rumours abound that we're going to spunk £6m on Glen "traffic cone" Johnson. Makes absolutely no sense when we've got four right backs (two of whom are English) who are at least as good if not better than Johnson already. So bollocks to that.

Diving, cheating bastards v Arsenal preview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:07:00 +0000

It can't have been two weeks since my last post, surely?

Actually, it can and is. I was off work last week, and whilst you might think that all that extra time not doing stuff would more easily allow for writing on here, I am a very very lazy guy, and I was up til god knows when watching the Ashes.

So obviously that was all worthwile. Fucking Ashes.

Anyway, it's the return tie against the diving, cheating bastards in Porto tonight, with both teams needing just the point to make certain of qualification to the knockout stage of the Champions League, although you won't see either side setting their stall out for the draw. It is a truly massive game, and we've got to look to get all three points, not only to guard against complacency but also because I'd really like it if Porto didn't go through.

With Thierry out for the forseeable future (I really must change my fantasy team) following all of this hoo hah over a fallout with Wenger, as well as longtime absentees Ralph and Diaby, and now Tomas Rosicky for god knows how long (becoming a little injury prone this lad) I fear we'll see the 4-5-1 deployed tonight. I don't like it, especially when Rosicky isn't available as I think he's really the player which makes this formation work, so I hope I'm wrong and Wenger goes for the 4-4-2 which saw us decimate the jokers for Totteringham and which we switched to in the second half against Hamburg, which ultimately saw us win the game 3-1.

With Thierry and Rosicky out, I think that YTW is more likely than ever to get a start in a Champions League game, whilst la Bestia is likely to play if we go with the 4-5-1. There really are too many permeatations to list for tonight's game, despite the players who we have out, so I'm not going to bother.

1-0 to the Arsenal tonight. Come on you Gunners.

We eat Hamburgers for breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:04:00 +0000

I don't actually eat Hamburgers for breakfast, if I did I would look like Fat Frank, but our boys finally munched their way through the Hamburg defence last night to take a deserved 3-1 victory, and leave us top of the group (on results between us and Porto) on 10 points. Goals from my boy RvP, the rather poor on the night Eboue, and la Bestia saw us overcome Rafa van der Vaart's early strike, which was quite simply a magnificent effort.

It was a massive game, and really a must win with Porto having won at CSKA earlier in the day to leave them, temporarily at least, sitting pretty atop the group. Anything other than a win would have left us needing to win at Porto in order to guarantee our progression. As it is we can get through with just a draw now, important to note considering our next match after the Porto game is away at Chavski.

A game which Thierry at least will be fresh for. His third booking of the competition (for absolutely fuck all) means he sits out that trip. Considering his form recently, and his poor performance last night, I'm not that bothered to be honest, but to be fair he's been stitched up by the refs in this year's competition.

Van der Vaart's opener was a majestic strike, making room for himself before wrapping his foot round the ball and sending it past a helpless Lehmann by way of the bar. We actually responded quite well, with Hleb inparticular looking more direct than usual, and after a nice interchange with Fabregas he took a touch, steadied himself and crashed a shot into the bar. Unfortunately, unlike van der Vaart, his effort did not find its way into the net.

We continued through the half in a positive style but we were lacking a penetrative edge, and I was begging for Arsene to do away with the 4-5-1 and let RvP plough his furrow up front as God intended. After the half time break I got my wish as we came out 4-4-2 with Freddie (who worked really hard all match but still looks a yard short) on the left and van Persie up front. After looking lively all match Fabregas span on the ball five yards outside the area, looked left, played the ball the other way to Robin with the outside of his right foot, and van Persie took the ball in his stride before lining up a strike to the far post, only to nonchalantly slide the ball near post on his weaker foot. 1-1 and despite Hamburg defending well, it was no more than we deserved.

Then, of course, with 25 minutes left to play Arsene took off van Persie and replaced him with Adebayor. I make no apologies for the fact, and my Dad will confirm this, that I went absolutely mental. Even more so when it became apparent that Henry was going to remain central and Adebayor was going to drift into wide positions. Why why why? Surely the whole point of playing Adebayor is for him to stay central and make a nuisance of himself (whilst trying not to fall over his own feet) to allow Henry to move into the wing positions that he can cause so much damage from, dragging centre halves across with him in the process. Alas no. Then with 15 minutes to play, the chant went up.

THEO! THEO! THEO!

Starting on the left in a swap for the knackered Freddie, he didn't get into the game much until Hleb came off for Baptista and YTW switched to the right wing. His first touch there was a ridiculous first time turn on the volley from a cross field pass that travelled 40 yards before beating his man only to have his cross cut out. He went on to supply the pass for Eboue's burst into the box and powerful strike which beat the keeper (and really shouldn't have) and the cross for la Bestia's first Arsenal goal, a thumping header from just behind the penalty spot. 15 minutes, two assists and some lovely flashes of what a player he's going to be.

I don't want to spend time on talking about what was poor last night, but both Clichy and Eboue, his goal aside (how the Sun gave him 8 out of ten and man of the match I'll never know) had a bit of a mare, and Thierry still doesn't look happy as a lone striker.

Man of the match? Cesc. At some points he was running round like a nutter and I was worried what this card-happy, and frankly bit of a twat ref might do, but he worked so hard, and taking aside a few occasions when he got caught in posession, he really drove the team on and showed a passion and fighting spirit that I really wish our captain would when things aren't going for us. He hit the bar with a cracking effort too. He was also responsible for my favourite moment in the match when he blew a kiss at a Hamburg defender who had just fouled him when we were 3-1 up, and for my second favourite moment when, after putting in a crunching challenge on van der Vaart, Fabregas got up and turned straight into the Dutchman. Cesc thought the hapless van der Vaart was squaring up to him and went absolutely loco, eyes bulging, knocking into him. Rafael looked like he was going to lose control of his bowels. Splendid.

Newcastle preview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 08:58:00 +0000

Well, the good news is that, after what seems to have been an age, la Bestia (hamstring) and Freddie (bit of cheese) are in the squad to face Newcastle tomorrow, following their recoveries from their respective injuries. Mad mad Jens is also fit having shaken off the heavy cold which saw him miss the 3-0 win over the Bindippers and Germany's midweek Euro 2008 qualifier against Cyprus.

The bad news is, following his departure from the Brazillian squad for "personal reasons", Gilbert O'Silva is not in the squad for tomorrow's game. Any real information on what's going on in the world of everyone's favourite Brazillian Irishman is very sparse, and I can only assume that something's happened to a member of his family, something he doesn't want the world and his brother to know about.

With Newcastle struggling for any sort of form at all, and us coming off a big morale-boosting win against Liverpool (the stupid International friendly break notwithstanding) I'd like to see something like this.

More than anyone in our squad, Fabregas needs a breather. He has so far played every minute of every game (excepting the League Cup) and, against the shambles that is the Newcastle defence, I should think we can afford to be without his creative nous. With Gilberto out and Denilson not in the squad for some reason, I'd like to see Flamini given the opportunity I feel he's earnt after the Liverpool game, and I'm desperate to see la Bestia in action. It's also a combatative central midfield pairing that I can see knocking lumps out of Scott Parker, which is nice.

With Tomas and YTW both injured, and the fact that I want to see a 4-4-2, it's a simple pick of Hleb and Freddie in the wide positions, with RvP and TH14 up front.

The back five picks itself, but following a full 90 minutes midweek for France, Gallas could see himself rested for Big Phil or Johann.

Speaking of which, Arsene has been speaking out on what a massive cunt Raymond Domenech is for playing Thierry and Willy for the full 90 minutes midweek, whilst only playing Makelele, Evra, Saha and other Premiership players for 45 minutes. I have to be honest and say that I detest practically everything about this Paul O'Grady lookalike, and I hope Arsene gave him a good slap from me.

Rotund Hungary and Real Madrid phenomenon Ferenc Puskas has died. A true legend.

Anything less than three points tomorrow will be a huge disappointment. Come on you Reds.

International friendly week / what Pardew did / the emancipation proclamation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:12:00 +0000

It's been a couple of days since my last post, partly due to it being international friendly week, which means that any interesting news or contentious issues which I could be reviewing or discussing are going to be relatively thin on the ground. The other reason that there's been no posts is that on Monday I was at work til 2.30am and on Tuesday I was at work until 4.30am, and have generally been working like a slave. Whilst the United Kingdom does not have written legislation banning slavery in the manner of the United States' emancipation proclamation I still think it's a bit off.

Anyway, Justin Hoyte scored the winner on Tuesday night for the England U21s, but unfortunately Theo Walcott picked up an injury when some young Dutchman trod on his hand. I'm still not sure how serious it is but apparently he's very doubtful for the weekend.

Thierry scored for France last night and Kolo played for the Ivory Coast as they beat Sweden, and whilst Freddie didn't get a game I'm very happy with that, considering he's been out for so long and I was worried that Sweden were going to rush him back into action before he was ready. Big Phil and Johann played for Switzerland last night as they lost 2-1 to Brazil. I can't find any indication as to whether our kid Denilson got any time on the pitch at all. I doubt he did but it's still a fantastic indication of the player's potential that he's 18, hasn't played a Premiership game or an U21 Brazil team, and yet he's already been part of the senior Brazil set up.

Further rumours on what were said by Alan Pardew to Arsene Wenger at West Ham two weeks ago are beginning to come out. The Online Gooner reports a story that some people reviewing video of the incident are now positive that Pardew said, amongst other things, "you French fuck".

If this is true, and I'm not saying that it necessarily is, then lots and lots of people, and pretty much every journalist and broadcaster in the country, is going to owe Mr Wenger an apology. Certainly Pardew's immediate apology makes more sense, and Arsene's refusal to speak on the matter, because unlike Pardew he has class. I for one would not be surprised at all, and this would follow Pardew's xenophobic comments about our squad make up from last season.

The Birmingham Post reckons that their three on loan Gooners could win the Blues the Championship. Personally I think Cardiff are going to push Birmingham into second place, but the kids will have a huge influence on their season.

Anthony Stokes has won praise from the RoI B team manager following his substitute appearance against Scotland B. Thrilling.

Craig Bellamy fancies Thierry Henry.

And that's it.

Take that la'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 09:52:00 +0000

A solid performance from the boys and goals from the Flim Flam man, King Kolo and Willy Gallas saw us to a 3-0 victory over the Bindippers, who have now lost their past five games on the road, leading everyone's favourite Spanish scouser to look even more anxious and flushed than ever.

On a sidenote, Jamie Carragher's face in this photo is an absolute beaut.

I didn't get to see the game live due to my having to work on Sunday (not to mention til 3am Saturday morning, stupid work) but having seen the highlights what struck me most was our determination and efficiency in front of goal. Again this is only from highlights, but it looked like Kolo had yet another fantastic game, and that the supposedly greedy, selfish, only in it for himself Robin van Persie got two assists and, his cheeky handball not withstanding, had another lively game. TH14 looked like he was getting back to his old self too.

When I heard that Jens was missing due to flu or a sore throat or something, I automatically feared a drubbing, but in all honesty Aluminium had hardly anything to do, with the Scouse only having two shots on target. That said Zenden should have done better with a header from six yards which went over the bar, and having two goals ruled out for offside, the second very marginal (although by this time we were three nil up with minutes to play).

The goals were well made. Flamini swept the ball into the net from six yards following fantastic build up play from Hleb and then Cesc. Kolo was then put through by a fantastically weighted pass from Robin. Lastly Gallas found himself unmarked from an RvP corner to nod home. Emmanual Adebayor came on and missed his customary sitter. One day he's going to learn how to put the ball in the back of the net, and he's going to score hatfuls. Or not.

In the end Liverpool were actually lucky to end the match with all 11 men, as Jamie Carragher should have seen a second yellow for an awful challenge on RvP, and part-time footballer, part-time young offender Jermaine Pennant made a wild tackle on the Flim Flam man. I'm glad he got heckled for his entire time on the pitch.

All in all a much welcome three points taken off one of the supposed big four.

Wenger has come out and spoken (finally) on the incident with Pardew in last week's game, stating that he was provoked. I wouldn't be surprised if there had been some sort of xenophobic comment from Pardew, but I think Arsene won't be letting anyone in on what was said any time soon.

Further plaudits have been forthcoming for Fabrice Muamba after another Man of the Match performance. As said before, could be a special kid this one. Nice that he's English too.

Everton preview / Anthony Stokes, goal machine

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 08:58:00 +0000

Right, Everton tonight and a chance for the first team fringe players and some of our younger than our usually young players to show what they're about. Last time we met Everton in the League Cup our boys spanked them 4-0, although that was at home with a full house behind them. I reckon Arsene will put out a more experienced side this time, but not too experienced, otherwise Everton might wet themselves and play 11 behind the ball all night at home. Hopefully when they see a younger Arsenal teamsheet they might actually be prepared to play football a bit.

I expect to see Senderos, Djourou, Clichy, the Flim Flam man, Denilson, Song, Walcott, Adebayor and Aliadiere amongst others, with Connolly, Traore and O'Ceurill on the bench. Allegedly (read: according to Arseblogger) we'll see young Fran Merida on the bench as well. The poor kid's already been dubbed "the next Cesc Fabregas" (which is a bit silly, Cesc's still only 19) but he's quality by all accounts and scored a stunning freekick against Spurs reserves.

There's a nice bit in the Telegraph about what top player Theo Walcott is going to be. I really do look forward to every opportunity I get to see him play, which makes it all the more annoying that tonight's match isn't on television anywhere in the world.

Speaking of televised football, I watched bits of Man Yoo going down 1-0 to Southend last night, through a lovely free kick from Freddy Eastwood. It's all the more funny because Man Yoo put out such a strong team, with Rooney and Ronaldo both starting. Southend keeper Darryl Flahavan pulled off some splendid saves to see the Championship strugglers home to a famous upset.

In the Scottish CIS cup, Falkirk went through against Celtic 5-4 on penalties, after our boy Anthony Stokes scored the equaliser in extra time. Stokes has now scored seven goals in his last three games and is getting a bit of a reputation as a goal machine. He's certainly earning rave reviews north of the border, winning the young player of the month Award for October.

I always felt a bit sorry for him last year in the reserves, because with Lupoli and Bendtner both starting up front he was often shifted out to the wing. Now we're getting a chance to see what he can do when he's playing in his preferred position. That's also three 18 year old goal machines that are all doing the business out on loan this season, which is great to see. The only problem is that conceivably only one or possibly two of them will make it at Arsenal, such is the high level of quality in the first team (although some would argue not in the goal scoring department at the moment). I have a feeling it's going to be Bendtner.

2-1 tonight. Come on you Reds.

We don't have a captain

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:53:00 +0000

The more observant amongst you might have noticed that there was no post yesterday, which is unusual for me as Monday is probably the one day I'm unlikely to miss, what with a game at the weekend and all. I was just still a bit too angry to post anything other than bile, directed at our manager, our players, the referee, the West Ham faithful, Jonathan Spector, and that horrible c**t Alan Pardew.

I'm not going to go into the game at length today, because that's not really what I want to talk about, but in short we didn't play well, we looked knackered from chasing a game for 90 minutes on Wednesday night, Wenger got it wrong with both the starting line up (should have rested players) and the bench (far too defensive, not enough attacking options), West Ham didn't deserve the win, Spector should've seen red, either straight red for his appalling studs up over the ball tackle on RvP or for a scond yellow for the stonewall penalty that should have been given against him, the twat who hit Robin with a coin should be found and beaten to within an inch of his life with a bag full of shrapnel, and Alan Pardew is a massive, massive c**t who, if I were the manager and he started jumping up and down in front of my face after scoring, I would shove a hammer so far up his arse that he would quite simply be dead.

No. What I want to talk about today is the fact that we don't have a captain.

This problem has been going round the fansites for a little while now, and really rose in prominence following Sunday's game. I've been saying it ever since Thierry Henry was made captain, which is a bit of a contradiction in terms.

Thierry Henry is a proud man, he's a winner and when he's at his electrifying best, he inspires all around him. But this is the problem, he is a captain who leads by example, he is not a leader, he's just a nice guy. When he does not play well, as has been seen for the majority of the season so far he goes missing. He sulks in his little corner of the field, fires scowls at everyone else on the team and does nothing to lift the other 10 players on the pitch. He is an empty shirt.

But of course he's the captain, and no one can give him a bollocking. Arsene obviously feels he can't sub him or drop him, no matter how badly he plays. On Sunday van Persie was looking much brighter than Thierry, looking like he could make something happen, and he was subbed for the laughably ineffective Adebayor with half an hour to play. He looked really pissed off, and I don't blame him. If anyone should have come off, it should have been Thierry, or maybe Hleb who was back to his "pandering to play in centre mid when he's supposed to be playing wide right" worst.

Before the whole "turning into a money grabbing twat" bit, I'd always hoped that Ashley Cole would eventually be made captain of Arsenal. He was the player who seemed to want to win more than anyone, who made every tackle count, who was a local boy who was an Arsenal fan from when he was a kid and who could fire the team up. In five years I can see Cesc making a fabulous captain. His fiery reaction at the end of the West Ham match was great to see and was in stark contrast to Thierry who went off smiling and hugging Teddy Sheringham, but right now he's too young, and still a little emotionally immature.

Right now the choice would be Kolo. Big Phil has obvious Tony Adams-like leadership qualities but he's young and with Gallas and Toure about he's not guaranteed a start. Kolo is our most consistent player in my opinion, and would be first on the team sheet at the moment, along with Jens. He works his bollocks off every match, throws himself infront of every shot, has words when words are needed.

Of course all this is irrelevant. As said above, Thierry is a proud man. I can't even imagine what taking the captaincy away from him would do. Would demand a transfer? Would he refuse to play? Would he just continue in his current ineffectual vein of form? Who knows, but we're not going to find out because it's not going to happen. Other players like Kolo are going to have to be willing to captain in all but name. Arsene needs to take Kolo and Jens aside and tell them to give Henry a tongue lashing when he needs it, because he needs to be told.

In all fairness the 4-5-1 system doesn't suit him. He's not a big hulking battering ram like Drogba, he doesn't like having to win headers and hold up the ball, and in turn we don't see the best of Thierry when he's playing up on his own. It means that if he does drift wide or come deep to pick up the ball, which is what his game is all about, there's no one left to knock the ball through to. I don't believe that Robin can play to his potential in this system either. He may play wide right for Holland but that is very much in a 4-3-3, and we play very much a 4-5-1. RvP is a striker, not a winger, let him play up front. Let's bring back the 4-4-2 for the Premiership and leave the continental 4-5-1 for the continental games.

Right, rant over for now. Everton preview tomorrow.

Right, this has got to stop

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:14:00 +0000

I've had enough. I'm not talking about our sumptuous approach play and lacklustre finishing, although if we could stick a few in the onion bag this weekend that'd be grand.

I'm talking about the bollocks that some "fans" are saying about other "fans", namely that the crowds at the Emirates are getting on the team's back if we're not 2-0 up after fifteen minutes, that supporters are shouting "shoot!" as soon as we cross the halfway lin, that we are, in fact, destroying this team's confidence.

Gunnerblog, what the fuck are you talking about? I was at the game last night, I thought it was one of the best crowd's we've had at the Emirates so far save for the few, and I mean few, boos at the end from Johnny come latelys. Areas of the ground that you don't expect to sing at all (such as the West Upper) were getting behind the side. When Thierry missed chances, the Thierry Henry chant was launched almost immediately. When RvP went close up went the Robin van Persie chant. I have no idea how many times other songs went round, not just in the Red Action section but all the way around the ground, simply because I lost count. We were desperately willing the team on, desperately trying to force the ball into the net through vocal power alone, and it really rubs me the wrong way when I see stuff like this.

Apparently the "abuse" Thierry and Hleb are getting is ridiculous? What abuse. I make no disguise of the fact that I was lamenting Hleb's inability to stay wide on the right to my dad, who was in the seat next to me, but I certainly wasn't shouting it at the player himself and didn't hear anyone else doing so either.

Thierry's programme notes pissed me off too, talking about how the fans shouldn't "groan" when we miss a chance. Why the fuck not? First of all it's an almost involuntary reaction. Secondly, Mr Henry, you're the worst culprit in the whole stadium. If a pass isn't inch perfect, if someone shoots when they could have passed to you, you fire them an icy gallic glare and have a couple of words. The point is that a brief "aarrrgghhh" goes through the crowd, and then we start singing again, and that's football.

I'm too pissed off to go through the match properly (or to give the ref the bollocking he so richly deserves), or go through today's news. In short Clichy was fantastic, Hleb's been attacked by the former Belarus captain, and Djourou's asked Wenger to stay for another ten years.

CSKA / sneaky Johann / Aliadiere off / my birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:28:00 +0000

So tonight, other than being the momentous evening of my birth, we take on the Russkies at our place, really rather needing a win. Team news is so far that Justin Hoyte might make it but Adebayor definitely misses out. It'll be interesting to see who Arsene deploys at right back if he doesn't make it, I'd imagine one of Gallas, Flamini or Djourou.

Speaking of Johann, it looks like he's been taking "how to be sneaky" lessons from Kolo, as it emerged yesterday that he too signed a new long term deal in the summer. He's been very impressive in the absence of big Phil (and the mammoth chasm created by fat Sol Campbell's departure) and it's nice to see his attitude and long term view are bang on. Also, I think it's worth pointing out, because many people don't realise, that he's absolutely massive (6"4 no less) and I do like having huge fuck off centre halves.

Aliadiere looks like he could be off in January as he thinks he should've played more. With the arrival of Adebayor he's firmly fourth in the pecking order (I'm counting Theo as a winger, not striker) and whether that's right or wrong isn't the point, it's what the boss wants, so I'm surprised he doesn't see this. He's always showed great promise but he's 23 now and didn't do the business at Wolves, Celtic or West Ham when he was out on loan over the past few years. That said we've got Lupoli and Bendtner to come back, so I don't really care.

Talking of Nicklas, he bagged his seventh of the season last night for the Blues as Birmingham ran out 1-0 winners over local rivals Coventry. If Aliadiere goes in January does this mean Bendtner comes back? Personally I think it'd do him more good to have a full season in Brum, but you never know.

And finally, what am I doing for my birthday? Why I'm going to tonight's game at the Grove of course.

Come on you Gunners.

Journalists are bastards, not much else

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 09:40:00 +0000

I'm sure by now you will have read somewhere about the alleged booing received by Thierry Henry at Saturday's game. Reading Arseblog this morning, the actual truth of the matter really made my blood boil a little.

Fucking journalists. I honestly don't know how they can get away with it, let alone look at themselves in the mirror every morning. Some of them are just absolute scum, and abusers of the fourth estate and its responsibilities.

Moving on, sneaky Kolo Toure actually signed his new contract ages ago, in the summer no less. Makes me wonder why the club decided to announce it now though.

Arsene has warned the lads against complacency and cockiness in tomorrow night's game against CSKA, saying that we were over confident when we flew over to their gaff. We certainly need to take the match very seriously, as three points here and at least a point against Hamburg would alleviate a tricky last tie away at Porto, with the following Premiership fixture being away at Chelsea, which a couple of the boys could really use a breather for.

There's a little piece in the Guardian about Nicklas Bendtner. It's not extensive but it's a decent article which comes away thinking he's a rather good player. I also think he' a rather good player.

Sodding Everton

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:50:00 +0000

Well, we got a point from an infuriating 90-some minutes against Everton on Saturday, but football was the real loser.

I was looking at some stats and, if they are to be believed, we had 78% possession. That's just ridiculous, and makes the fact that we only scored one goal (from a set piece) all the more frustrating. It was a good goal from RvP on a day when Thierry didn't really turn up, although I thought Howard, following on from some heroic saves from Fabregas and Rosicky, might have done better when he got a hand to it.

Their goal was, once again, down to a moment of comic defending, where Tim Cahill (of all fucking people, he's probably the most dangerous man in the team after Johnson) was left unmarked at a corner, it hit him and he then fired home from a yard out. Typical of our home performances this season, give the opposition one good chance early on, they take it, we spend the next 70 minutes trying to break down two rows of five.

We are going to have to accept that some teams are going to play that way against us. We all saw what happened to Reading, a side who have been playing very well at home, when they decided to play football against us rather than stick eleven behind the ball and kick us and waste time, so maybe it was predictable that Everton would do this if they managed to go a goal up.

However, Everton are a top six side. Everton have been playing well this season. Before the weekend's fixtures only Man Yoo had scored more league goals than Everton. And yet they still play the way they did. I suppose in some ways it's a complement that a side like Everton are so afraid of us, but it's worrying and a trend that's likely to continue. It's just a shame that both our new big lads, Adebayor and Baptista, were our injured on Saturday. It would have been good to see how they could've knocked the shape out of the Toffees.

The rumours linking us with a bid for Huntelaar just won't go away, as we're now being tipped to make a £12m offer in the near future. I still don't see it myself. Henry, van Persie, Adebayor, Walcott, Baptista and Aliadiere as well as Bendtner and Lupoli to come back, how on earth could Huntelaar even make the bench, let alone start a game?

Speaking of buying strikers we don't need, young Swiss lad Julian Esteben has linked himself with a move to the Arse in January, stating that we've had him watched a number of times. Again, I don't see it.

Arsene says he's in no hurry to sort out his new contract, which I suppose means we'll have to wait for next summer, and endure a whole host claims from other teams that he's signed pre-contract agreements to leave and go manage elsewhere. Wonderful.

HRH meets the lads, not much else

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 07:57:00 +0000

Not a lot going on this morning before tomorrow's game against Everton.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh (insert your own racist quote in the picture opposite) officially opened the new stadium in the Queen's absence (she had to pull out as she, or maybe the Duke, had done something to her back) and after touring the Arsenal Learning Centre and the Arsenal Museum met Arsene and the boys pitchside. Considering our over publicised integration of different creeds and colours from all over the known world, you'd have to think there's a story waiting to come out about something stupid his nibs will have said.

Injury news for tomorrow is the same as it's been for some time, with the added addition of Adebayor (that's some lovely alliteration) following Tuesday's League Cup fixture with the Baggies. The good news is that Diaby is on the road to a comeback, as he's back in training in a month, and says he knows what a hard job he's going to have breaking into the first team now that Arsene's bought two centre mids (three if you include Rosicky) since he last got a game. I've liked what I've seen of Diaby, and whilst I think he lacks Vieira's spirit I think he could become a similar player technically and positionally.

Everton have been doing well this season, and only Man Yoo have scored more league goals than they have (we've scored the same number, 15), and it'll be important not to take the game lightly. That said Arsene's almost certainly got an eye on Wednesday night's game at home against CSKA. Both are games that we really need all three points for, to keep our momentum going in the league and to get closer to safe passage through the group stages of the Champions League and avoiding needing to get something from our last game away at Porto. As most of the first team has had a rest during the week I'd expect to see a strong side tomorrow, with the only queries about what happens at the back, with Clichy and big Phil making it through Tuesday's game unscathed. I think we may well see something like this, but who knows.

I received the new Pro Evo in the mail yesterday (it's always nice when Play get you stuff before official release) and had a quick bash last night. They've made the dribbiling a bit more fluid compared to last year's, which felt quite rigid, but defending and shooting have both had the difficulty cranked up. Still, steered the Arse to consecutive victories over the Mancs. Nice to see that Arsenal are a licensed team again, so proper kits. Might have to do some editing though because Fabregas isn't close to what he should be.

Three points tomorrow. Come on you Reds.