Since there has been little or no Arsenal related activity between yesterday and today(apart from Chelsea hammering Blackburn to go top and Spurs losing at home), I might as well start with the news that on loan Arsenal Striker Jay Simpson scored again yesterday for QPR. In a thrilling 4-2 win over Derby, Simpson scored his sixth goal since joining the club on loan in the summer. The League One player of the year for the 2007/2008 season is sure setting alarm bells ringing at Colney with his performances. I sincerely hope his transition to the Arsenal first team will be smooth, and sooner rather than later possibly eclipsing the success of former loanees Bendntner, Vela and Djourou.

The Match Preview is courtesy slimgooner a.k.a slimshay.

[b]West Ham go into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Stoke. Arsenal go into this game on the back of 1-1 draw away to AZ Alkmaar having conceeded from what most followers of the game will call a last minute lapse in concentration. The manager would be hoping they have learnt another lesson added to the long list of lessons learnt over the developmental years.Last EPL match however was a 3-1 win at home to Birmingham who have now somewhat earned a reputation of hired thugs against Arsenal players. Ridgewell sending Walcott to a 3 weeks internship in medical school.

Arsenal have picked all points from the last 2 visits to Upton Park and will be looking to do same from this tie. With performance so far this season favoring this belief. Arsenal have scored more goals in a sigle match than West Ham have been able to manage in all games at Upton Park so far this season. Arsenal have 27 goals from 8 matches, a premier league record, averaging more than 3 goals per game.

All statistics aside however, Zola would probably tell his boys that there will be no better way to kick start a fumbling season so far by claiming a massive scalp.

Playing at home the Hammers will most likely stick to the principles of short passing through available spaces at a moderate pace which Zola has come to favour since taking over at Upton Park. Arsenal quite simple play this game better than West Ham does and are the premiership’s blueprint for this type of beautiful football.

Arsenal will have Eduardo available after suffering a thigh injury and missing the last 2 matches including a personally significant Birmingham tie. Rosicky and Bendtner(?) could also very well be in the squad. With an array of talent at Arsenal’s disposal and the continued increase in confidence and effectiveness of the newly adopted 4-3-3 system. I’ll have to say Arsenal will once again edge West Ham in yet another London Derby.[/b]

Asides from that, I’ll be ordering my very own stone at Armoury square today or tomorrow and encourage all who can to do and truly be together with the legends forever! I’ll probably be on Twitter and the match day thread during the game so if you’re online and don’ have Arsenal TV or can’t find a stream, please join me.

Here’s to a bore draw at Anfield and three points to the Gunners!

Till tomorrow. . .Victoria Concordia Crescit!

I don’t really want about yesterday’s draw with West Ham. Arsene’s comments sum it all up. He said;

“We complicated the game a little bit. We had five or six chances in the second half where we missed the final ball. That’s where we have to learn.”

“In football sometimes you have periods like that. When you make a problem of it, it becomes a real problem. We have to play the football we love and learn when we are leading to kill the games off and keep playing the way we want to play the game.”

We play Liverpool on Wednesday and when asked about the team, Arsene had this to say.

“It will be a mixed team. We want to win every single game we play, no matter who plays.”


In my humble opinion, I think Manuel Almunia has been dropped. If Fabianski turns out in goal then you know it’s a pretty dicey situation. Once I saw the line ups I figured the boss had made up his mind. You know he asked us all to see come to the game to see who would play and you figure he had a surprise in for us. I asked Arseblogger for his take on the goalkeeping situation and he had this too say;

“…my take is that Almunia has no future at Arsenal”

Cheeky eh? I thought Vito’s reaction to the freekick was splendid but unfortunately his save thrust the ball into the path of MOTM Carlton Cole who simply buried the header. I’ve scored goals like that and it showed his high level of awareness in the box. The penalty was inevitable and you’d think we should have known better. I can’t shout! The rest is on Twitter!

We’ve thrown away two points – fair play to West Ham Carlton Cole and Diamanti but with Utd losing to Liverpool yesterday (Ferdinand was shocking) we’re still close there and are still only third with a game in hand. Let’s see how the week turns out.

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit

I warned y'all but you refused to listen.
"Diamanti i i i i i i i "

It’s the Carling cup and you sense a feeling of Dejavu all over the place when you remember that THAT game in 2007 when we won 6-3 at Anfield with Julio Baptista scoring 4 and missing a penalty! Just hoping the tide won’t turn in their favour. Since the draws were made I have pondered on what shape the team will take and only last night I realised that Arsene’s Carling cup policy might actually favour us tonight as we might end up playing  a stronger team than we would usually see.

Now, Arsene claims he always plays the strongest possible team in the cup ties and is insistent he gives an opportunity to fledgling talent, blending them with players who are on the fringes of the first team and those returning from injury. The boss had this to say;

“Nasri comes back but Traore, who played in the last round is out, he has a groin problem. Fabianski will get a game too, he will start. But Jack had a knock on his ankle and will be out unfortunately. It is a question of days but we made a trial with him on Sunday and we are resigned to the fact he will be just too short to play. Eduardo and Bendtner will be back. But we still have Rosicky, Denilson and Walcott out.”

“I can play Samir where he is needed, [which] I would say [is] more in the defensive role. He has pace and he can play in a role that is half a winger, a dropped winger who will come in sometimes and go wide.”

It’s a shame young Jack Wilshere misses out on another showpiece opportunity after his heroics in the youth cup final last season. Anyway, so who do you reckon will start tonights game? Fabianski is definitely starting and with Hoyte on loan at Brighton and Traore injured, I’d go with Gilbert at right back and Gibbs at left back. We all know Senderos and Silvestre are going to be in defence. In the middle, I see the boss playing Nasri, Coquelin and Ramsey with Vela, Eduardo and Bendtner in the attack. Anything less and it’s dicey for me!

Speaking to the Guardian, Nasri spoke about his return from injury. He said;

“It has been difficult,  and now I need to play because nothing can replace the games. It was the first serious injury that I have had but I am really happy that I had a quick recovery. Everything is fine now.”

Talking tactics, Rafael Benitez has hinted that midfielder Alberto Aquilani could make his debut with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres likely to be out of the tie. He said;

“He will be with us. He is improving his fitness, so he’s in the squad. He cannot start at this moment but he will be there and maybe we can give him some minutes. If it’s possible, we will try to use him.”

Liverpool have not won away from home or scored an away goal since their victory at Leeds in the previous round so the odds are stacked agaist them in this area with Arsenal having a 100% home record this season, having won all seven matches played at the Emirates Stadium this season. Nevertheless, we have failed to beat Liverpool are unbeaten in the last seven league and cup matches played with record of 5 draws and two losses.

In some other news, Silent Stan is reported to have purchased a further 10 shares of the club at £8,500 each. We’ll see what happens!

My Verdict: Just watch the game!

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit

I think that after last night’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool no one can truly say that Arsene Wenger does not take the Carling Cup seriously. On the Arsenal website, the official match report said;

“This was not a young Arsenal side but it was very much a second-string”

One might argue that unlike in previous years, Arsene chose to field a much stronger team because of the opposition. However like I said on the blog yesterday, the even though the team make up was slightly different, the policy of fielding youngsters on the fringes of the first team and players returning from injury lay offs still remained.

It was good to see Nasri play a full 90 minutes after returning from a broken leg. I was a bit surprised to see him play in the attack as I had expected the boss to pair him with Coquelin and Ramsey in the middle. Nevertheless, debutant Craig Eastmond who got the nod ahead of Coquelin (who does look a bit like Thierry) was excellent for all 75 minutes he was on the pitch. Usually deployed at right back, I was impressed with the way he joined and linked up play in the holding midfield position.

We’d seen Gibbs before and know all about his abilities but I was a little concerned about how Gilbert would fare. At 22 you’d think he’d already be in the first team. However, although he was a bit shaky in the opening exchanges, it was clear that as the game progressed he grew in confidence and was more effective at right back. I wonder what the boss is thinking in that area. Cover for Sagna & Eboue?

The outstanding player on the Arsenal team for me was Fran Merida who showed more than just glimpses of his footballing ability. At times you’d think it was Fabregas on the pitch. But then, they both come from the same footballing school so you’d think they’d be similar players! His touches, movement and intelligence on the ball were a real asset to the Arsenal team on the night and it makes you understand why Arsene was reluctant to send him out on loan again this season. His goal was an excellent left footed shot which beat Cavalieri and went in off the post. He was also involved in our second goal feeding Ramsey beautifully who in turn released the ball to Bendtner who after his horror miss one-on-one with the keeper earlier fired a rifling shot into the roof of the net.

I must talk about our central defenders too. Silvestre and Senderos looked shaky at times with the former often beaten for pace and the latter reluctant to close down attackers. Nevertheless, I was impressed at their level of composition and their ability to control the game even though they kept passing back to the keeper early on. OK, maybe that had to do with the fact that Liverpool simply refused to open up the play to prevent us from playing Beautiful Football. However, each time they did, they were sliced open with some sleek passing moves. So were we also when we lost the ball and they broke out with counter attacks.

I was slightly disappointed at Ryan Babel’s performance on the night as he looked slightly off colour and a shadow of himself. Voronin was lively so also was Kuyt but the lacked the creative spark that Babel should have provided. The equaliser from Insua was a beauty and I don’t think Fabianski stood a chance with a shot of that quality…out of nowhere too! Alberto Aquilani made his much anticipated debut for Liverpool and looked sharp and even had claims for a penalty waved off late on after Senderos looked to have handled in the box.

Still, it was a worthy victory. I wonder who we’ll face in the next round as all teams in the quarter finals play are Premier League sides. It’d be interesting if we come up against Sp*rs. That should be an interesting tie.

On the win, the boss had this to say about the collective team performance;

“The experienced players played well, the young players played well. We had Craig Eastmond make his debut tonight in a holding role and everybody did well in every position. Liverpool came back to 1-1 and we still managed to win the game. That shows as well we have mental resources. It was more of a European Cup night than a Carling Cup night, quality wise. We have seen two very, very good teams who play at the top level.”

We play Sp*rs at the weekend and I’m sure more sparks will fly in our third London derby of the season. Slimshay should have the preview by tomorrow and that should surely spark life into the weekend. I’m playing football tonight and hopefully my new boots should spark some life into my game!

Till then…Gunners Rock!!!

by now you will have seen my post. hope i did well sha!!

slimshay:

by now you will have seen my post. hope i did well sha!!

Saw it; loved it!

Hi ya’ll as promised by Green Gooner, this is Slim with my first pre-match analysis, and my luck, the first being the North London derby. In truth derbies defy any form of analysis. But we’ll do what we will, so here goes….

In the run up to this fixture last season, the tall dude from Togo and captain Cesc Fabregas had promised the Arsenal faithfuls a game and result fit for the DVD collections. We did get a game fit for a DVD colletion, but for the results, erm…I’d rather file it under lessons in not letting the opponents come back into the game. Funny how we were just taught the same lesson again last week by another London derby.

In the final minutes of the game, Fabregas had received the ball somewhere in the middle of the park, and probably in an attempt to fulfil his promise seeing that the game was still at 4-3, he sought out the Togolese with a long pass. In retrospect, wrong decision, cos then the Spuds had the ball back in their possesion, and, what would we have, Modric hit a shot that went off Aluminia’s upright came back into play for Lennon to tap in for an equalizer. Moral of the story? Never try to pass the ball to the Togolese. Simply put he is a piece of….sh…Ok, off track, I’m here for the pre-match analysis.

Often at derby matches, pre-analysis, statistics and what not fly out of the window. All is left to watch and manipulate your emotions with are 22 men who seem to attack the game as if they have forgotten one and every mangerial instruction and are possesed by spirits of derbies past. The last time Arsenal met Tottenham, at White Hart lane, Eboue had a rush of blood to the head, and was consequently shown the approprioate color by referee. Forcing Arsenal into a defensive game to hold out for a goal-less draw.

In the last London derby played last weekend against West Ham, Arsenal gave up a 2 goal lead to draw the game 2-2 at full time, leading analysts to point out the complacency in the team and the inabilty to kill off or see through games in which opponents threaten resurgence after going down to Arsenal’s superior attack. Quite positively manager and players alike have identified this, not necessarily as a chronic problem, but as an issue that has to be dealt with and consciously taken care of if the need arises again. Especially as it had occured against AZ Alkmaar in the UCL mid-week before the West Ham game.

Interestingly at this point of the season Arsenal has won as many matches, drawn as many matches but have lost one less than the Spurs albeit with a game in hand. Interesting because at this stage last season, Tottenham couldnt even buy a win, while Arsenal where on a fumbling start to a very inglorious season. In as much as we might disagree, the Gunners go into this fixture against a better performing side than they met last season.

Arsenal, in the EPL has a 100% home record this season, seeing off oppositions with wide goal margins, the least return being 3-1 against Birmingham. In midweek, playing with a majority of second stream players, the team more than held theirs by defeating a resurgent Liverpool side 2 goals to 1.

The first came from an awesome 20 yard strike by Fran Merida that careened off the right upright into the back of the net while the second came off the left foot of Nicklas Bendtner after a series of neat passes. Returnee keeper Lukazs Fabianski however also contrived to let in an even more fabulous left footed strike from Emiliano Insua. In that game Arsenal also employed the services of Samir Nasri playing his first game this season after sustaining a long term injury in pre-season training. Also back in the starting lineup was Eduardo after coming on as a late susbstitute in the draw against West Ham.

It will be interesting to see how Arsene Wenger lines up his team against Tottenham come Saturday. With Mannone showing glimpes of inexperience, Fabiansky and ‘former’ number one Almunia also fit to play, who goes between the sticks on Saturday, like the date of the rapture, is known only to Wenger. We expect to see the usual backline of Sagna, Gallas, Vermaleen and Clichy. In midfield Cesc would assume his rightful place, alongside Song, I’d expect Wenger to go for Diaby ahead of Nasri not entirely cos of full fitness but as Diaby’s height offers defensive size in the middle of the park. In attack Arshavin who has been talking up his first derby action having sat out the last fixture as a substitute should start on the left of the 3 man attack, Van Persie in the middle while Eboue or Bendtner takes up the last slot on the left.

So far the Spurs possess the most impressive away record in the premiership this season, winning 3, drawing one and losing 1 of their 5 away matches. They come in to this game on the back of an impressive 2-0 win over Everton in the Carling cup. However they will be prosecuting this game without their leading goal scorer Defoe who still serves his suspension after being sent off against Portstmouth in their last away win in the EPL.

Media darling Harry Redknapp will look to get the North London derby spirit going, claiming 4 goals in his first acting as enough incentive. With the availabilty of gangly striker Crouch and the pace of Aaron Lennon, it will be expected that a number of high balls will be coming into the box from both set pieces and breaks down the right if allowed. Captain Robbie Keane, who incidentally has a good scoring record against Arsenal has been talking up the match. He indicated in his own opinion however that the teams are now more evenly matched than previous occassions. The game play on Saturday would indicate if this statement is true.

Deja Vu or Vu Deja: I write this pre-match analysis exactly one year to the day when the thrilling 4-4 draw was played at Emirates last season. The sunday before that we had gotten to play West Ham. In that particular game Arsenal defeated West Ham 0-2 away only to return home in the next game to give up a 2 goal lead to draw Tottenham. Last week Arsenal gave up 2 goal lead to draw West Ham at Upton park. If Arsenal does beat Tottenham by 2 goals it will be as close you’ll get to a reverse deja vu wont you say?

So look ye all forward to another definitely more than sure to be interesting North London derby…lot of qualifiers there eh?!!!! To the RED AND WHITE ARMY!!!!!

PS: Fabianski is reportedly out out with a 3 week thigh injury! Get well soon Pole, we need you in pole positions between the poles

It’s a quick one this morning as I’ve got a meeting at 10 with my secret high school hero just before we play Sp*rs in the early kick off. A major talking point as yesterday’s press conference was goal keepers. Arsene Wenger claims to have already chosen his keeper for today’s game. With the injury enforced absence of Fabianski, it’s a straight choice between Mannone and fit again Almunia. He said;

“I’ve decided who will start but I won’t tell you. I’m always tempted to start with Manuel Almunia, but he was sick for a long time and it takes some time to come back. A player who is on the bench wants to play. The job of a professional footballer is to perform well when he plays and when he doesn’t play do everything to play the next game.”

Methinks he might just fall into temptation and give Almunia another shot in goal. If not, then he surely is in deep trouble! It’s gearing up to be a highly technical game and I believe we are sure to see sparks flying in the 162nd North London derby. There was a full preview by slimshay yesterday which was really in overkill!!! I hope we do the same to Tottenham today.

Nevertheless, it’s heartening to know that we haven’t lost to Spurs in the League since 1999 and at home since 1993 as we have dropped only 4 points from a possible 30 in our last 10 Premier League home meetings with them. However, they are also unbeaten in their last four matches against Arsenal so today’s match is surely another one for the record books!

If you are at the game or watching it on TV, please remember to sing this song

What do u think of Tottenham,
S*it,
What do u think of s*it,
Tottenham,

We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham,
We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham,
We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham,
We are the Tottenham haters,

Key Players: Andrey Arshavin (Arsenal) and Robbie Keane (Tottenham)

My Verdict: A highly explosive game!

The match is live at 12:45 GMT on Hi Soccer.

Till tomorrow….Stand Up If You Hate Tottenham!!!

I’m really angry this morning! First it was Bendtner pulling off with a groin injury, then Eduardo missing a sitter he should have scored. The news that we play Man City in the Carling cup wouldn’t have been hard to take except that our game in hand will now have to be pushed further away and we’ll have to wait even longer before we can even think of going top pending a capitulation by the Chelski or Manure!

As if that wasn’t enough, I found out that the flashes and floaters in my left eye were not as a result of a hex by dayokanu or obertan but that the gel had moved and the light was reflecting of something it shouldn’t be. Then the doctor tells me she sees no breakages and I have wait it out unless it gets worse! Geez, I bet she wouldn’t have said that if it was here eye. She left me so dilated I couldn’t even cross the street properly.

Speaking of crossing, I haven’t been too impressed with Gael Clichy’s crossing this season and I feel he could be doing much better. He’s not going to have the chance anytime soon though as he’s had the unfortunate luck of pulling up with a stress fracture of the back. How does one get that? One man’s misfortune is usually another man’s blessing as Kieran Gibbs has the nod to start at left back for the next few weeks.

While we didn’t learn anything new about Spurs on Saturday. Apart from the fact that the win made it 1000 points for Wenger, it would be nice to remind ourself of a few things we already know about them.

1. Robbie Keane is a Arrow
2. Spurs are a sh*t team
3. Harry Redknapp has got a twitch!

Fancy them talking themselves up about a win at the grove just yet after how many (16?) years of trying! Bollocks! They need to get their heads checked every now and then when they come down the Seven Sisters Road.

Manuel Almunia was fantastic in goal apparently spurred on by a three-way race for first spot with Mannone and Fabianski. Oh and Eduardo should have lobbed Gomes when he was one-on-one with him. He had three options; lob, dribble or sidefoot. He took the easy option and unfortunately didn’t do a very good job. Smells a bit of a lack of sharpness. With Bendtner’s injury, he should start against AZ as the boss doesn’t yet reckon that Rocky is ready to start.

On some footie results last night Bayern lost at home to Bordeaux (Dayokanu where art thou!) and Chelsea and Man Utd came away with draws at home and away respectably respectivly!

Now Silent Stan has been at it again! He’s gone and bought another 427 shares to increase his stake in Arsenal to 29.6 per cent. The shares were purchased from the estate of Ernest Harrison, the British industrialist, at a cost of £3.6 million. All he needs is another .3% and he’d have to make a formal bid to take over the club offering not lower than the highest price he paid for the shares in the last 12 months.

Consequently, the Arsenal Supporters Trust has released the following statement. It is quite lengthy, but worth the read.

[b]“When Stan Kroenke first invested in Arsenal the AST sought a dialogue with him and visited Denver to inspect some of his other sporting operations. We saw first hand the sports marketing and property development expertise he could offer and successfully called upon the club to invite him to join the Board.

“Yet whilst the AST welcome Stan Kroenke’s involvement, we agree with the sentiment of Peter Hill-Wood’s statement at the most recent AGM that there is no need for any shareholder to launch a takeover of the club. The AST believes in plurality of ownership.

“If a takeover is launched by any party, we would seek urgent discussions with those involved.

“The AST has a good relationship with both Stan Kroenke and members of his team at Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE). We have stressed to them the importance of custodianship and that the club will be stronger if it has supporters directly involved in its ownership model. While we cannot vouch for their future actions we are encouraged that they have said they see the AST having an important role to play at Arsenal.

“The AST has repeatedly stated that we are generally opposed to a takeover and would fight any plans that require the club to incur debt to pay for a takeover as has happened at Manchester United and Liverpool.

“Two red lines that cannot be crossed are the use of debt secured on the club’s assets to fund a takeover and an ownership structure which excludes small shareholders.

“The AST’s own assessment of today’s development is that a takeover is not imminent and that today’s purchase is the consolidation of an existing position.[/b]

Well said! Now let’s get on with the football. Diaby was at the press conference with Arsene, so I assume he’ll be starting. Although the boss seems to have noticed what a majority of the Arsenal fans are upset with Diaby about.

“I must say he is attracted like a magnet by the opponent’s goal,” said the boss. This usually leaves us short at the back nevertheless, his good behaviour in the last few games may have something to do with Arsene having a private word with him. He continued;

“You do not want to take that out of the players when they are at such a young age but what we can be as well is a little bit more controlled. We do not need to have seven players running forward when you are 1-0 or 2-1 up with five minutes to go. That is something I have told him to take responsibility for in the team.”

I believe the lineup will be largely unchanged from the one that played Tottenham except for Kieran Gibbs at left back and Eduardo up front in place of Bendtner. The boss may also choose to rest Sagna for Eboue with more games coming in November.

I don’t expect anything less than a resounding victory over AZ tonight – more like a teach you a lesson kind of game! Still it’s important not to underate any teams in the Champions League as was the case with Manure vs CSKA and Bayern(!) against Bordeaux.

Apparently, Robin Van Persie has been watching AZ and says they are unpredictable. He said;

“It’s going to be strange because they are unpredictable. “They drew against an amateur side [recently] and lost at the weekend to Ajax. “They had a good first half but not so good second half. It is hard to know what to expect from them. If we win, we have ten points and have basically qualified.”

Juventus seem to have taken a fancy to Bacary Sagna while Benik Afobe and Fran Merida seem to be on their way to Spain if you believe the papers. Apparently, Barcelona are still seething from the loss of Cesc Fabregas and Fran Merida that they have set their sights on revenge by signing up the England U17 star for their reserve team. Apparently, a £5,500 deal has been reported.

If I were you Benik, I’d sit my arse at Colney and wait for my turn cos you’ll end up waiting for much longer before you get a look into that Barcelona first team! The Merida to Atletico Madrid story is old, but worth watching as he might just do a Flamini on us. Beware of the curse of the departing players. Only very few have ever done better elsewhere!

For some reason, Eboue wants to play for PSG, while great train robber Ronnie Biggs feels well enough to see Arsenal play at the Emirates. Cesc Fabregas has also been crowned October’s PFA Fans’ Player of the Month for top-flight…I wonder who will be the EA Sports Arsenal player of the month for October…Vote or Die!

The game is live at 19:45 GMT on Hi Sports

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

Tomorrow evening, we play Wolves away at the Molineux knowing that either of Manchester United or Chelsea will invevitably drop points in the title race on Sunday. As such, we must grab our opportunities as we have clearly failed to do in the last couple of seasons. Speaking to the press ahead of the match, Arsene had this to say;

"I'm focused on us winning the [Wolves] game, after I take any result [at Stamford Bridge]. For us you know that a successful season is to grab opportunities when you have them and we have a good opportunity to gain some ground on one of the two teams. That is what we will try to do."
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-we-must-grab-our-opportunities

It's games like this that we should show absolutely no respect for our opponents and simply destroy them. I'm looking at the league table and I see Wolves in 17th. Fair enough they just came up but Mick McCarthy has one of the worst records as a Manager in the Premier League (Sunderland anybody?). If we play the way we took the game to AZ and Spurs, they'd be toast for us by half time. The more we score, the better as it'll only boost confidence and morale and send out "Watch Out For Us" signs to all our opponents!

I'll pause here to watch to the prematch press conference

Ah! I've seen it! Nothing out of the ordinary except the fact that the boss wasn't too pleased that other clubs seem to be trying to destablise Fran Merida who is out of contract in the summer. Apparently, he's verbally agreed a new contract and all that is left is for him to sign it.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-merida-deal-ready-to-be-signed

Nevertheless, we won't be rotating centrebacks any time soon and I'm hoping we come out of November injury free with the international break coming soon. Good news on the horizon is the fact that Vela and Traore are close to making a return while Denilson and Theo Walcott are expected to be training in a matter of weeks.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-merida-deal-ready-to-be-signed
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/free-video-vela-and-traore-close-to-return

In some other news which Wenger cheekily described as been above his head, it has come out that Stan Kroenke has for the second time this week purchased more Arsenal shares. Significant though was the fact that 100 of the shares were purchased from Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood. As a result of this, Silent Stan has a beneficial interest in, and controls voting rights over 18,594 Shares, representing 29.9% of the issued Shares.

At this stage again, I can't shout! However, I am confident that whatever happens will be in the best interests of the club. Now the Hill-Wood family has been connected to Arsenal for over 70 years with current chairman Peter being the third generation of his family to serve as Chairman following his father Denis and his Grandfather Samuel. As such I am loathe to imagine that he would genuinely trade the heritage of the club for material wealth and leave us in the hands of the unknown. Oh that Stan would say a word! Still, Arsene knows!

Just a minute, I've just picked up on an article on the Arsenal website which makes for a very interesting read. I quote, albeit out of context!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/free-video-vela-and-traore-close-to-return

Mr Kroenke has confirmed that he will not increase his shareholding beyond 29.9% of Arsenal's issued share capital within the twelve months following the date of this announcement, save as specified in this announcement.

This was September 2008 after Stan was invited to join the board, a little over twelve months ago! Are we getting somewhere on this? Today I leave you to come to your own conclusion on this. Tomorrow, the football returns!

Till then, There's Only One Arsene Wenger!

Guy pre-match analysis ready. do i post any time soon. holla quick.

slimshay:

Guy pre-match analysis ready. do i post any time soon. holla quick.

Saw it. . . was great!

I’m not superstitious. Are you? Some people say Friday the 13th is an unlucky day; is it? Arsene Wenger thinks the converse that it is lucky and his seat number at the Emirates Stadium is 13. When I played for Home Science back in the day, my jersey number was 13 and I scored a hat-trick (ok the third was ruled out for a foul) on my debut and was pretty much Mr Prolific in my day. A bit like Sani Emmanuel of the Nigeria U25s U17s!

I’ve been quiet for about a week for a reason and it’s not like I don’t have anything to write about as such; there just isn’t very much happening everyday to make for interesting reading. Now putting all the little bits of the last week or so together, there’s quite a bit today so there’s a full load on the blog today and I’ll get right to it!

So we destroyed Wolves…’twas expected! Despite the fact that we were 3-0 up at half time I must confess that after 20 minutes I felt we could end up losing the game 2-0. They looked lively in the rain early on and threatened with set pieces with Kieran Gibbs (who needs to work on his heading) clearing off the line from Doyle and Berra missing a glorious attempt to put Wolves in the lead by miscuing his header (!). Two own goals later added to a Cesc Fabregas beauty (again!) meant we went to the break comfortable in the lead. After Arshavin made it 4-0, I couldn’t help the feeling that Wolves would score a late consolation goal from a set piece. By the way their fans were absolutely brilliant as they kept singing all the way throu. However, it looked as if Thomas Vermaelen ducked out of the way for the corner for Craddock to atone for his earlier own goal. Three points in the bag…sweet!

However, there seems to be conflicting news on Diaby who was forced off with an injury early in the first half. While Arsene Wenger was of the opinion that Diaby would be out for 3 weeks, French federation spokesperson Francois Manardo is of the opinion that he could still play a part in the crucial World Cup play offs against Ireland. He said;

“The tests he underwent this morning were satisfactory. He still needs treatment but he is not out (of the playoff). He is staying with us (at the training camp).”

This is sure irk Arsene who is often at odds with selfish National team coaches over player fitness issues. This brings me to another reason why Arsene Wenger doesn’t like November…injuries! There’s an international break at the moment and with 15 Gunners on duty, I’m a bit worried as on more than occassion, several of them have come back crocked. He said;

“I believe there is a period in November when you have a little more injuries than before. But we have a special case because we have some players [coming back] who have nearly not played this season. If you take players like Rosicky, like Walcott, like Nasri, it is a period where they can come into the team. Nasri played against Alkmaar, it was basically his first game, Rosicky has played three games and Walcott has basically not played this year.”

I guess that this year, we do have some cause for optimism as we’ve got players coming back from injury, ready to step in immediately if anyone does get injured so maybe this November will be different. On the International scene, I’m pleased to see that Vito Mannone has been called up to the Italian U21 squad for the first time. What a change in fortune for our little known keeper after a string of decent performances for the first team. Who knows, he may just be the next Gianluca Buffon!

Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas has been named EA Sports Player of the month for October. You’ve probably heard how good Fabregas is and how much he brings to the team and so I won’t bore you with all those details you’ve heard for the last few years. However, what is of note is the fact that this months vote was a close one between himself and Robin Van Persie with the poll ending 43.4 to 42 in favour of Fabregas. What this shows is that we have two players at the top of their game and the fans know it; end of story! Oh you thought I’d say more…nah I’ll leave that to the BBC Sports bloggers!

Our loan stars all featured over the weekend with Jay Simpson scoring again and Gavin Hoyte getting sent off for the first time in his career! One thing I must say though is that our loan stars this season are probably not yet quite ready to break into the first team, but are equally too gifted to be playing only reserve team football at this stage of their careers and need to be playing week in week out to keep up their game. Still, it’s worth noting that I strongly believe that if in the end Simpson or Lansbury (both English players) don’t end up making the grade at Arsenal, they do hae the quality to play at the top level and won’t be surprised to see them turning out for the likes of Birmingham, Wigan or Boro, teams known for always taking a chance on talent.

After the International break, we play Sunderland away followed by two home games to Standard Liege in the Champions’ League and Chelsea in the Premiership. It’s interesting to note that this games will immediately be followed by a Carling Cup tie away to Manchester City. Four goals against Wolves took Arsenal’s tally for the season to 36 in 11 games, a scoring rate which keeps them on course to become the first side to break the 100-goal barrier for a Premier League campaign. Nevertheless, Arsene Wenger is insistent that he will be “faithful to his policy” in the Carling Cup when we do travel to Eastlands. He said;

“It will be interesting, exciting and a good test. We will be faithful to our policy and of course put a team out who has a good chance to win the game. If you call a full side 11 top players, then we will play a full side. For me a full side means a team who has a chance to win any game.”

More on that to follow soon enough!

Finally, Nicklas Bendtner has been named as the Danish Player of the Year. I’ve always been a big fan of the young Dane and am glad to see that he’s begining to get some of the recognition he truly deserves. People forget he’s only 21 not noticing that he scored 15 in all competitions last season. Whilst he’s currently being played out of position on the wing, I am of the opinion that in a few years, if he remains consistent and works on his weaknesess, he has the potential ability to become European player of the year.  This I say without prejudice and from a neutral standpoint. Let’s wait and see…

Please spare a thought for Carlo Cudicini who suffered potentially life changing injuries after fracturing his wrists and pelvis in a horrific bike crash yesterday….yeah he plays for Spurs but I always thought he was a decent guy before he joined them. I wish him well and hope he can go on to live a normal life in the future.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

I hope all the haters are happy now… RVP got crocked after 10 minutes in Pescara and you have to wonder if it wasn’t really a well hatched Italian Job…consipiracy theories and all. Apparently he’s got a partially ruptured ankle ligament and even though I’m miffed, I think it makes it all a test of our strength in depth and unlike February 2008 when Eduardo got injured, I believe we do have the numbers to make it count. Sorry Robin, you’re going to have to sit this one out for a bit. The injury which leaves him out for around six to eight weeks will probably mean a rejig of our formation and by that I don’t mean tactics but people. With Bendtner and Van Persie out till the New Year it initially looks bleak, but when you realise we’ve got Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott, Vela…and young Sanchez Watt you realise it’s not so bad. Alright Arsene, take your pick!

More positively though on Saturday Aaron Ramsey was named Man of The Match in Wales 3-0 win over Scotland (yes the score was 3-0) in Cardiff despite playing only 57 minutes. He set up two goals and scored a third after waltzing through the Scottish defence after an error from Darren Fletcher! However, it looks likely that he will miss Wales U21 qualifier against Bosnia with a back injury…darn! I saw the goals, the boy is good! End of story, like you didn’t already know eh? Where are those idiots who said what it was they said anyway? If I catch ever catch that dayokanu running his mouth this week, it won’t be funny at all!

Liverpool have been surprisingly linked with a January move for Eduardo! Hmn…he’d be a good signing for them but the problem is that he isn’t going anywhere. You think he’d leave Arsenal, just like that? Or that we’ll sell him eh? Just like that? They’d have better luck signing Carlton Cole who is more of the player they need. You know he’s probably going to get a good run-in in the next few weeks with you know who out injured so I figure come January he’d be figuring prominently enough that he’d be crazy to leave. Besides, Chamakh dropped off our radar because of Eduardo’s return to form and you think we’d just let him go like that? I wonder what Martin Hardy has been sniffing lately.

In some strange news, it has also emerged that the woman driving the Ford Fiesta involved in the accident with Spurs goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini is an Arsenal Fan…what are the odds? Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll have a full round up on the internationals plus the latest injury news (where is Diaby?)
Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit

First it was RVP, now it’s Gibbsy who’s injured. He was pulled off after 21 minutes of the England U21s 0-0 draw with Lithuania and it isn’t looking good at all. Apparently, he hurt his right ankle in a tackle and will be assessed by medical staff at Colney today. Where does that leave us when our left back and deputy left back get injured? It reminds me of the 2005/2006 season when both A**ley Cole and Gael Clichy were both injured and Flamini had to be deployed at left back.

Our options at leftback are straight forward and would involve playing either Traore or Silvestre at left back to compensate for the injury. Between them, they have three appearances this season. Maybe we might just finally appreciate Silvestre’s experience this season when we through him into the mix against Liege, Chelsea and City. I left Sunderland out on purpose! Alternatively, we could play Vermaelen at left back and pair either Silvestre or Senderos with Gallas in Central defence. Either way, someone a lot of people do not like is going to get a game as I don’t see Traore ahead of anyone else in the pecking order.

The news that Robin Van Persie is flying to Serbia to seek the help of a Serbian Housewife to help his injury recovery is rather cheesy! Apparently, the trip has been sanctioned by the club who are keen to see their in-form star back to fitness sooner than later. The treatment involves massage with the fluid from horse placenta. What is of note also is the fact that her methods, using massage and vibration to bring about an improvement to soft tissue injuries in a matter of five to seven days, are increasingly being copied by some Premier League clubs. You can guess who tried to sign her up….City!

With the injury worries growing, Eduardo has said he is the man to fill Van Persie’s boots. Eduardo said;

‘I’m feeling good. At the beginning of the season I had a few injury niggles but I am OK now and ready to help the team rise to the top of the table, as well as progress in the Champions League. We are doing very well at the moment and I hope we can produce a big surprise this year.’
‘The boss knows our qualities and how they can fit into a formation. For me it is fine to play on the left or the right, no problem, the most important thing is to help the team and I feel good in those positions. It is a formation that gives us more movement and more creativity through the middle, although it is not easy because we have to balance defence and attack and that can be difficult.’

Hmnn…it shouldn’t be a big step up for him anyway and I expect we’ll have a clue as to which shape the team will change in the next few days. One certain thing though is the fact that Samir Nasri will not be filling in for Alex Song in January when he represents Cameroon in the Nation’s cup. Arsene said;

“No, [he is not a replacement]. I do not say that he could not, Samir is very tactically astute, but he is attracted forwards. He loves the offensive game. We have Denilson who can fill that role. He is more suited than Samir at the moment. Samir is more a player who has pace, is versatile around the box and can finish. It would be a sacrifice to put him down there. Also he has a little handicap in the air. He likes [that defensive role] and certainly, technically and tactically, he can do it but I believe he can be more efficient up front.”

I can’t wait for the international break to be over so we can have some decent football again. When news that Emmanuel Eboue wants to be like Eddie Murphy makes headlines on the Arsenal website, you know that someone at Highbury House is really bored! Anyway, they remembered to report that Gavin Hoyte has extended his loan spell with Brighton.

I’ve got some non Arsenal work to do at the moment so I’ll leave it there till tommorrow when we’ll know who else is going to the World Cup. Good luck to Arshavin, Gallas and Sagna…

Victoria Concordia Crescit

^^

manmustwac if you try this one more time I swear you'll hate your own thread.

If you really must do this, the Arsenal thread is available for that,

I warn you, fu**k off!

~Gooner~:

manmustwac if you try this one more time I swear you'll hate your own thread.

no wahallah i won't do again it i'll just tell the mod to delete it anytime u spam our thread.

~Gooner~:

If you really must do this, the Arsenal thread is available for that,

So you'll come and spam the spurs thread and your telling me not to retaliate against you but to go to the Arsenal thread when you {the spammer} have your own thread here?

~Gooner~:

I warn you, fu**k off!

why swear i guess your just a child at heart

From the bottom right to the top. . .hand bags really!

manmustwac:

why swear i guess your just a child at heart

Why swear not? It's Spurs we're talking about. . . why the hell not!!

manmustwac:

So you'll come and spam the spurs thread and your telling me not to retaliate against you but to go to the Arsenal thread when you {the spammer} have your own thread here?

Sounds fair to me since the basis of taunting is the football club at the moment. . . before it gets personal

Thanks to Slimshay for today's blog post

Maybe some would’ve wondered where my camera and chairmen rant from last analysis came from. Well it was from the agony of the corresponding feature to this one last season. Leadbitter had come in the second half to send some real long range lead missile to put some bitter taste in Arsenal’s mouth. As if staring at a loss wasn’t bad enough we had to stare at all manner of images of people who were oh so insignificant to our on-field despair at that moment. As recent history will have it, captain Cesc did the do from a corner kick which salvaged some honor for us, but only just.

Just at the beginning of this month, Arsene decided to tempt the fates. And like Leonides before him, they had been expecting him. Yet again they would not fail him. He didn’t need to wait long because November duely delivered injuries, the most celebrated, that to Van Persie. Even more newsworthy when he decided to go visit the Housewife of Serbia. Who, as we gather, gives the best massages in all of south-east Europe. I will not mention horse placentas in this write up….oops there you go. In all of these though, I’m yet to see anyone commend him for the will to try something unconventonal to get back in the mix fast enough. He must sense it like eveyone else (aparts fromt the media morons), even if they wont admit it, that this is Arsenal’s season.

Yet again Arsenal are put to the ‘test’ this time the question is how do we cope with a flurry of injuries.

Up front there is a like for like replacement in Eduardo. Truth be told Eduardo has been more comfortable playing in a 4-4-2 formation mostly as a second striker. Occassionally he took up the centre man role in the new 4-3-3 formation and didnt do badly either. A technically gifted player I’m not expecting him to have any problem adapting fast. Carlos Vela’s ransom (apologies to arseblogger) has been paid, so he’s back and fit to play. Quick on the ball, lethal on the finish, the only question mark yet again is adapting to the new system which vP was close too mastering. They both do not offer the height vP offered but hell, Arsenal do not hoof balls. *snigger* Can we just do away with equestrian innuendoes?

In the middle of the pack, Dennilson Neves is back in the squad. Under the placenta and handball radar he had been getting his fitness back up at London Colney. Extent of his fitness will however determine his deployment in this game. With Abou Diaby not confirmed, young welsh Aaron ‘Rambo’ Ramsey who contrived to singlehandedly teach the Scottish a footballing lesson will probably hold the fort alongside either of Dennilson or Song. Song’s yellow card situation has never been more important as this match. Chelsea come up next. Not to be alarmist, we need him for that match. Arsene has all but ruled Nasri out of a holding midfielder position.

Clichy is out, Keiran Gibbs is out, at least for this fixture, as a time frame has not been anounced for his return from bruised muscles and bones (how does someone bruise a bone without mincing the ‘meat’)? Anyways the options have been put foward, a like for like substitution in Traore, an experienced susbstitution in Sylvestre though without the pacy attack going forward, which in my opinion slightly distabilizes a 4-3-3 formation. Utilty man Eboue, who remains the only Arsenal player able to play in all positions on the flanks could also be put in there as we saw in the UCL a while back. A rather interesting one is to deploy Vermaelen to the left and pair Gallas with Senderos or Sylvestre, but why disrupt the awesome partnership of the centre halves. Those are the options, expect one of those. I’d go for Traore.

A couple of players might be needing a rest Andrey Arshavin, William Gallas and Bacary Sagna all took part in the two-legged World cup qualifying matches the latter 2 playin 120mins of football on wednesday. I know a couple of folks wont frown if Nasri comes in for Arshavin on the left of attack, Eboue comes for Sagna on the right of defence, but its left to see the reaction that’ll follow Senderos coming in for Gallas to partner Vermaleen at the back. In my humble opinion, if groans meet this particular substitution then our strength in depth should be flushed away as a myth. Sendoros is well able to do the job as we have seen twice this season.

Okay folks expect some rough football, by a good margin the Black Cats are the most indiscipline side in the current premier league season. They have gathered 23 yellow cards and 2 red cards in 12 league games. Oscillating striker Darren Bent does the goal scoring for Sunderland. They will however be missing midfield ‘enforcer’ Cattermole. Lorik Cana, who incidentally Arsene had looked at some years back, has been talking tough ahead of the tie. Repeatedly linked with Arsenal in the summer window, he would have taken up Song’s role at Arsenal. Erm, sorry, i think not, i’d go for Billong anyday. He’s back in their line-up after being the first player this season to cop a suspension due to accumalting 5 yellow cards. Steed Malbranque and Kieran Richardson offer strength and guile to their midfield.

Sunderland are no pushovers, Manchester needed some brotherly love to smuggle a point off them, though with the help of a now £477 inanimate ‘blom-blow’ they took all 3 gainst Liverpool. And herein lies their confidence that they can take all three against Arsenal, having shared the spoils 1 a piece last season.

Urban legend has it that we dont generally do well up north, we dont generally do well in November, we dont do well against physical sides…, well there’s a whole long list. Against the odds the Arsenal has matched on. And here is yet another opportunity to go in there, get the result and put some thoeries to rest.

Its the red and white army!!

It’s games like the one against Sunderland that make it a little difficult for me to get up in the morning and have something to say. It’s not like I’m upset or anything; for some reason, I actually expected us to lose. I’m used to seeing our players come back jaded from the international break and throwing an ardous journey to the North East into the mix wasn’t going to do them any favours.

One side of my head says I jinxed the lads as I had tweeted to Darren Bent on Saturday that I’d buy a Sunderland shirt with his name on it if he scored against us…apparently he scored the winner! Now I’ll have to turn out at Astroturf in those dreadful red and white stripes…and to think that I just got the full England strip. I’m sure we can work something out in that area.

Nevertheless, it was a pretty lame performance accentuated by the fact that it was an away game which according to Arsene if we had played at home we could have won…erm I say? I think I counted three or four attempts that we could have scored…wait a minute, if we’d scored them all we’d have won the game. Eduardo and Rosicky to me were the weak links surprisingly and I was a little disappointed with the way Song approached the game, it was almost as if he took his foot off the gas, faulty passes and missed tackles and all. Methinks he had his eye on the ref cos we all knew that if he got booked he’d miss the Chelsea game and we all don’t want that to happen.

Traore was confident in his play and I think he did very well at left back, although he did get booked for a cynical challenge late on. By the way the three chances I counted were Eduardo’s miscued flick to Song – missed, Fabregas’s cross to Vermaelen – beautifully volleyed over, Song’s cross to Arshavin – narrowly hits the side netting.

By the way I forgot all about Ramsey, he had a poor game and I don’t blame him. Nevertheless, the introduction of the trio of Arshavin and then Walcott and Vela after the goal sparked some life into the game and I was pleased to see that Walcott still has that blistering pace of his although he kept running ahead of the ball. I think the best solution there will be for the players to pass the ball ahead of him into space, further than usual so he’d run onto the ball, after beating his marker with pace. That said, Vela as usual did have a valid appeal for a penalty which wasn’t given otherwise we would have salvaged a draw.

Their gameplan was simple; sit back, soak up the pressure, and when you get the ball lump it up to Bent. I must say that the defenders did a good job of holding Sunderland up until Sagna gave away a needless corner. I’ve never seen a player get an assist for the goal he scores. Cross comes in, up goes Bent, he heads it and hits a player, comes back to him and bang! Goal to Sunderland. Fair play to the Black Cats though, you’ve got to take your chances and always have someone at the far post to nudge in the cross. Walcott and Vela had two chances where they dragged the ball accross the post waiting for a tap in which never came…where’s Gallas when you need him eh?

I won’t say we missed RVP too much as the team performance itself was a bit flat so he’d probably have played the same way everybody else did. Who knows? On that, the boss had this to say;

“I don’t think we missed anybody especially, no. We lost a game where we can only fault ourselves because we didn’t score, some players were not at their best and we gave a goal away on the only situation where Sunderland could score one today. It was on a set piece. I believe it’s more down to the fact that we made a big mistake on the corner because the game was there for the taking in the last 20 minutes. But of course, when you’re down, it makes it more difficult.”

The result leaves us in 3rd, 8 points behind leaders Chelsea with a game in hand and with that lot down the road winning 9-1 against Wigan to move level on points with us, we need to win our next game – which is against Chelsea to get us back on track. Notwithstanding, at the moment I believe that we need to focus on tomorrow’s home game against Standard Liege and take things one game at a time. They gave us a right shocker in the first leg and I expect them to be mauled tomorrow to give us the much needed confidence boost when we play Chelsea at the weekend. I don’t know about you, but if I were the boss, I’d be seriously thinking about playing Walcott down the middle for the next two games as his blistering pace should come in handy against the next few teams we’re up against.

Wojciech Szczesny joined Brentford on Friday on a month long loan deal and duly made his debut in their 1-1 draw with Walsall the next day. Did he even train? lol! Jay Simpson played 63 minutes as QPR lost a 2-0 away to Doncaster at the weekend with Henri Lansbury provinding the assist for Danny Graham to score the final goal of Watford’s 3-0 victory over Scunthorpe and Havard Nordtveit featuring for 90 minutes as a last-minute strike from Peer Kluge secured a vital away win for Nurnberg to Wolfsburg…sorry Martins!

The press conferences should take place later today and hopefully we’ll have a clearer idea tomorrow as to what shape the team will take against Liege.

Till then. . .Darren Bent for England! Victoria Concordia Crescit!

~Gooner~:

@manmustwank

when's the commemorative DVD comin out. . .lol!

You want to watch it so u ass anals players can learn how to score 8 goals in one half eh?

Let's start.

Silent Stan has bought another 10 shares; let's be quiet on this one eh? Right now I haven't got a clue as to what he's up to but I'm loving the ensuing drama he's creating. I shall not comment further on this today!

What was strange reading yesterday was Arsene's declaration that Carlos Vela was the single reason why Adebayor wasn't replaced? Now I'm a big fan of the Mexican and love the spark in his eye when he gets on the ball but once in a while there are things you hear from Arsene such as "I didn't see it" that make you wonder what's going on. He also had this to say;

“Vela is a fantastic talent and he is 20-years-old. We have invested a lot of time for him because we put him in Spain for two years, got him back and now we work with him every day. I believe he is a Robbie Fowler-type. He needs very little time to make a decision in the box. He is relaxed when he finishes and he has very short backlift. He is aswell left-footed and he is a similar size.”

I believe you can read two things into Arsene's statement. Either Vela is THAT GOOD or he is GOOD ENOUGH to be given a chance. I'd like to believe the latter with the hope that the former will eventually come true. I'll never forget his chip against Sheffield Utd in the Carling Cup - sheer quality. Quoting Arsenal.com; "Carlos Vela's time has come!"

With that at the back of our minds, the boss has stated that it is unlikely that the chase for Chamakh will resume in January as he choses to keep faith with the squad giving Carlos Vela of whom he says has given some good performances in training an opportunity to impress. In speaking about the squad, Arsene has insisted that his players must focus on having a big season with Arsenal and not about the World Cup. In interrupting a reporter who was asking a question, he had this to say;

"I must stop you there, the big season is with Arsenal, not at the World Cup. We do not pay players to go to the World Cup - we pay the players to do well for Arsenal. The first pride of a man is to do well for the guy who pays you in life, not to go to the World Cup."

I have to say that I agree with him on this because as professional footballers, your allegiance should be first to your club who pay your wages and then to your National Team when called up for International duty. There can be no more distraction than playing to the gallery. I believe that if you have a good performance for your club, it is inevitable that your country will come calling eventually. Add that to what Cesc Fabregas has been saying in response to more speculations about his future and you get the feeling that the boss has already spoken to the players on this. He said;

"I'm very happy where I am and there is very long season in front of us. The last thing I want to do is get disconnected from what I have to do which is to play football for my team and for the Club that pays me. I'm really looking forward to a great season with Arsenal."

On Theo Walcott, he had this to say;

"It has been really bad luck for him since the start of the season probably because of what happened in the summer. He had a lot of games and it has happened to me many, many times. When you play a long tournament in the summer sometimes it is difficult to come back and it has been frustrating for him. Maybe [he has been burned out]. He is still very young. When you hear his name it is like he has been playing for a long time but he's still only 20. When you make him play so many games at that age, I've done that before myself and it is difficult and sometimes you get those kinds of injuries."

"Now the most important thing is that he is fit, back, and now he can help us. He looks really good in training and he's very sharp. As soon as he starts getting games and minutes I'm sure he'll play a big part in our season because he's a really important guy for us."

Now that's the voice of a true leader. It's always good to hear confidence exuded from the players as it goes a long way to ensuring a good team spirit and unity among the players. Speaking to the press ahead of tonight's home game against Standard Liege, he mentioned areas the team have identified that more work needs to be done on.

"I think definitely the most important thing that we have to improve on is defending the set pieces. Our main priority is to go forward and score goals but when you see that you are creating chances but the ball doesn't go in, the most important thing is that as a team you don't concede. We know that we can score goals right up until the last minute."

The bottom line is that we must beat Liege and beat them well too. The news that Kieran Gibbs is back in the squad is heartwarming and I must say I'd be more confident with him at left back than Traore or Silvestre. Arsene also gave an update on the club's injury situation. He said;

“Van Persie and Bendtner, they are out for longer. “Clichy is not too far, I think two to three weeks. Fabianski will play on Wednesday night in the Reserves, so after that he will be available. Diaby had a recurrence of his calf injury so he is three weeks away.”

On Van Persie, I thought the placenta treatment was supposed to be working well, lol Maybe news that she's on the run over her taxes plus speculation over the source of the placenta may have hampered his progress. Who knows?

Kolo Toure has unwittingly fanned the smouldering embers at Eastlands by claiming he had to leave Arsenal after falling victim to a whispering campaign by a team-mate. We all know that team-mate was William Gallas and I really don't see the point of bringing it up again. So we'll leave it there for now shall we?

An unconfirmed report says Alex Song has signed a new contract to keep him at the club till 2015 but we'll wait for the official club statement on that before we get the balloons out eh

Talking tactics, you know it's 4-3-3

Possible line up; Almunia, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Fabregas, Ramsey, Arshavin, Walcot, Vela or Eduardo

My Verdict: Arsenal 3 Standard 0

I don't know if slimgooner remembered to do a preview. If he did you'd get it later in the day. If not, enjoy the game!

Till tomorrow, Victoria Concordia Crescit.

It’s official; Robin van Persie is out for four to five months. This morning, the club released the following statement;

“Robin Van Persie returned to Arsenal on November 22nd following an ankle injury sustained whilst on international duty with Holland. The injury was expected to keep him out of action for between four and six weeks.

“Upon his return, the Arsenal medical team conducted a thorough review of his scans, his early injury management and the treatment he had received. Having scrutinised these in detail and assessed the response of his ankle, the Club’s medical team concluded that further investigation and opinion was required.

“Advice was sought from the leading ankle specialist Mr Niek van Dijk, who confirmed that more extensive damage had been suffered than was first diagnosed. In order to repair his ankle, Robin will undergo surgery next week in Amsterdam to reconstruct the ligaments. The Club’s medical team anticipate that a full recovery will take between four and five months.”

Of course I’m disappointed, what else? I wish him a speedy recovery. Nevertheless, we need to get past this and focus on how we’re going to spend the most of the season without him. It is ironic that in the last period of 12-18 months, he stayed disaster injury free, has played his best football as the prong of our attack as well as the Netherlands team and it would come as a blow to them as any setbacks could put his World Cup place in jeopardy. On the other hand, he could recover right in time for the last 7-8 games of the season and be fresh for the World Cup…who knows?

One thing I do know is that it’s time for someone to step up to the plate and be counted. Our only other like for like striker is Bendtner and he’s sidelined at least for another three weeks. That leaves us with Eduardo and Vela to play in the middle. The boss has spoken of how he thinks Walcott can be a good central striker but methinks the time has not yet come. Eduardo was sharpest before his injury and although he’s fully fit, I sense there is a little more he can add to his game like banging it in rather than trying to chip the keeper all the time. I watched Vela on spotlight last night and I could sense that after all the frustration of the last few years, he’s ready to take up the challenge.

Before I say anything else, I think I have to make it clear that I don’t think that we need to sign anyone in January except of course Arsene finds an amazing talent at a bargain or half the first team and all the goalkeepers get killed when a meteorite hits Colney. My opinion is this; we’ve got strikers, let’s use them. If they can’t step up to the plate, they dont deserve to wear the Arsenal shirt so sell them in the summer – end of story! Anyway I reckon that they will come through when we need them. Besides, people forget we’ve got Jay Simpson who’s bangin in the goals at QPR and the small matter of Sanchez Watt who’s pushing hard for a starting place against Citeh next week. More on that later.

In the meantime, we have the little business of Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday. Much has been said about the solid combination of Drogba and Anelka – who Arsene didn’t really want to sell and their famous diamond formation and the media make you think that tomorrow’s game is a title decider. That said win or lose, this game really doesn’t have a major impact our fortunes this season. Realistically, there are only two or three teams who can come to the Emirates and pick up points – Chelsea, United…maybe Liverpool. Not forgetting that we already have 25 points in the bag, add that to 11 home games against teams we should beat i. 25 + 33 = 58. If you add 9 supposedly guaranteed away wins thats another 27 points plus two draws (2) and 2 points from the other games with the big four. Ignore my maths for a minute and its 58 + 27 + 2 + 2 = 89 points…good enough for the title? You be the judge!

The reason English teams have struggled against Chelsea is beacause the diamond formation is European and most Premiership sides aren’t used to coming up against it. However, I daresay that history favours Arsenal on this one.

March 4, 2008 - Milan 0 vs Arsenal 2 (UCL ); The diamond formation was obliterated…guess who was the manager then?

September 26, 2009 – Wigan 3 Chelsea 1; Rare Chelsea defeat…Wigan Manager Roberto Martinez is European!

October 17, 2009 – Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 1 (EPL); Diamond formation neutralised…Villa Manager Martin O’Neil has European experience!

I could add the recent UTd game as Flethcher and Carrick effectively snuffed the life out of the Chelsea midfield but then they’ll say Chelsea won.

Need I go on? We should have news of Gallas’ fitness later even though I’m ok with Traore at left back and Silvestre at Centre back for the sake of Experience should Gallas fail to recover.

My Verdict: Arsenal 2 Chelsea 1 …First Goal Arshavin.

I hope slim remembers to do the blog tomorrow…till then

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

This is why they call him slimshay;

This is it people, this is the one which they've declared will test our strength for real. Our third London derby of th t e season. We've not done too badly. The only disappointment in the London mini-league being the 2 points lost in the 2nd derby after being 2 goals up against 2nd to the bottom team. Our second tie in the top four mini-league. Against fellow 'top four' Manchester United, we put in a performance worthy of a win but came away with nought. Hopefully we get things straight this time around.

Last season, this fixture ended in an embarrasing deafeat at least for me. Our largest margin of loss at home since we moved to the Emirates. A game in which I dare say we played well but were effectively out muscled by the bullish Chelsea midfield and a theateric Drogba. Truth be told at that point in the season there was nothing left to play for except pride, which was further wounded on the day.

This time around there is more than enough to play for. The manager knows this, the captain has said as much. Arsenal are currently 8 points behind the Pensioners with a game in hand. An 11-point lead though not insurmountable is not mentally favorable for a team keen on mounting a challenge for the top position. A 5-point lead however, with a game in hand, is christmas coming a full month early. And like arseblogger says, we can whisper nasty things into their ears as we breathe down their necks.

Question mark remains over the fitness of Gallas but me-thinks its just Arsene's version of the miraculous healings experienced by Chelsea players after missing international fixtures. Gallas will play on Sunday, he's too much of a hot head to miss this one. Gibbs though will definitely be missing at least for the next 3 months, no thanks to the bruteness of Standard Liege in midweek. Can we just play football folks? Really. Arsene seems to nod in the direction of Eboue for the left back slot. Sylvestre might be more experinece than he, but his dynamism trumps Sylvestre's.

The midfield more or less chooses itself. Cesc, Dennilson, Song i expect to start. Rosicky we might see sometime during the match. The attack is a bit trickish. The pace of Walcott has often undone Chelsea, but judging from Tuesday, he's not really up for it yet. Perhaps he'd have gotten his mojo back in 3 days of training. Nasri in midweek looked fit and hungry enough. I'd give Eduardo the nod ahead of Vela in the centre of attack, his experience and better technical abilty will count for something against a defensively apt Chelsea side. Arshavin definitely makes up the triumvirate.

We cannot afford to lose. If for nothing else, its been pure heaven watching this self declared experts eat humble pie this season. A loss will act as a purgative and they'll be throwing up that pie and ya'll can quite rightly guess where all the gunk will be coming. There simply will not be enough print space for the i-told-u-sos and not-good-enoughs that will follow. So we'll save you some trouble folks, we'll gladly win this one, save you some emetic stress.

Oh, can someone please remind Walcott not to score the first goal. I'm sure ya'll know why. Yeah rite. Give 'em hell son!!!

To the Red and White Army!!!

<match reaction from The Green Gooner Tomorrow>

I’ve been rather quiet and miserable in the last two weeks. Since Robin van Persie got injured, we’ve lost 3 games, conceded 7 goals and scored none. Technical issues on the blog overshadowed any response I would have given but in perspective, I can truly say that deep down we didn’t really stand a chance.

The loss to Sunderland could be excused as a blip and Chelsea was understandable given the fact that they clearly had a better team than we did on the day. City were a different proposition as despite the fact that it was 0-0 at half time, you just sensed that on the night, age and experience would prevail. We came up against a team who’ve only lost one game all season fielding a bunch of youngsters and three first teamers and you expect to win? You must be senile! Arsene had always insisted that he was going to field younger players in the team and unlike against Liverpool when we had a more experienced side courtesy of a couple of first teamers returning from injury, City are clearly a better side that West Brom, Sheffield Utd or a second string Liverpool team. We played our strongest possible team, they played their best team and won on the night…end of story.

It is at this point that people tend to lose their cool and start to spew rubbish from their mouths…The strategy is not working, Arsene Wenger must go, Arsene Wenger is a miser, The team is not good enough, Arsene is disrespecting the Carling Cup, The young boys will leave in the next two year etc. They say all this without truly considering the background to this. Wait first! What team did you expect him to field against Citeh, Van Persie? (injured), Fabregas? Nasri? Eduardo? We’ve got a tough game against Stoke on Saturday followed by three consecutive away games to Olympiakos, Liverpool and Burnley not forgetting that we are currently sitting 11 points behind leaders Chelsea in the Premier League…my friend that clearly is the priority!

My anger is the fact that we conceded two goals due to mistakes made not by the young ones, but two experienced players who should know better. Rosicky lost posession on the wing and instead of tracking back and tackling he stood aloof and watched as Tevez ran through and rifled the ball to the roof of the net. Silvestre who had a good first half couldn’t make up his mind which way to turn and ended up being turned well by Wright-Philips who in turn scored a beauty. Eboue I think and Song watched as Bellamy stormed through them and set up Vladmir Weiss for their third of the night. Shocking…absolutely shocking!

With 6 bookings, we are sure going to get cited by the FA for failing to control our players and I am indeed worried more about Armand Traore who picked up his 3rd yellow in as many games than Song who was booked for the 5th time this season and is sure to miss the Stoke game via suspension! What was that by the way? Playing Song in defence alongside Silvestre? Whatever happened to Philippe Senderos? Does this surely mean the end for him? I like the fact that although we lost, the lads (especially Wilshere) were unafraid to stick into tackles all game long.

…I’m sleepy…more later!

I just found out that Chelsea got knocked out by Blackburn in the cup…hmn If we’d won we’d have come up against Manchester United…that is one game I don’t think we would be able to win with the young guns so it’s probably fair enough we got knocked out now eh?

What are our options against Stoke at the weekend? Walcott in the middle? You know haven’t scored in three games should Arsene be thinking of bringing in another striker in January. Chamakh (not likely), Gignac, Tardelli? You be the judge.

Till tomorrow…Arsene Knows

I missed the Birmingham game because I was trying to make you happy; ok I thought I owed you one at that point in time. Thinking the game was for 3; I was ok with seeing a movie I’d already seen with you at 3:45 just to make you happy again. And then you had to go get your clothes from the tailor halfway across the city and only get home at 3:30 and you expect me to be ok with leaving at 4 to see a 5 O’ Clock movie when I could be watching football on the telly? You must be joking. It’s God, Arsenal, Me and everyone else…If you can’t deal with it then “intimacy“ it!…And then you ask me to decide whether I still want to go or not? Of course I’d pick Arsenal over you anyday! What the “intimacy“? See ehn, if you think throwing a glass at me would get me change my mind, you must be joking. You know all you succeeded in doing was chip the paint on the RAV 4. When you calm down and are ready to be civil you know how to reach me.

Geez…that’s what you get for fratanising with someone who supports Man Utd. “Excretae!” I’m “urinated”

An interesting stat popped up recently which revealed that Arsenal hadn’t scored in the first 15 minutes of a match this season. True to form, after finally finding suitable parking and walking a couple of yards to one of many viewing centres I have identified for use on days like this, I arrived just in time to hear the fans shout Goal after Arshavin put us ahead in the 25th minute. I learnt that Cesc had earlier missed a penalty and after seeing the replay, I don’t think he looked confident enough to take the penalty. Maybe he was reflecting on the fact that it was his 250th game as an Arsenal player!

It was a nervy game and whilst Stoke never really posed much of an offensive threat with Beattie and Fuller on the bench, it was a rather physical game and I’m surprised we were able to cope quite well in the absence of the suspended Song. It was intersting to see Nasri slotted nicely into midfield (I think) and Eboue on the right side of the attack. At some point the lads I was watching the game with had to ask how was the top striker…Arshavin? Eboue? No one really knew as it seemed they were quite content with mixing it up and keeping it lively.

In our last two games, Arsene has made changes at half time which were not due to injury or sending offs but simply tactical decisions. While the decision to take Song off at half-time against Chelsea was puzzling. I could understand why he brought on Vela in place of Rosicky who to me was unimpressive and kept losing the ball. A spell on the sidelines should knock some sense into him. Senderos apparently is still alive and he reappeared on the bench today although as expected, Silvestre took his place after an(other) injury to Traore late on in the game. Is there a curse on our left backs or what? “Excretae!”

Whilst a few were unimpressed with Ramsey after his uninspiring display against Sunderland, I think he did quite well after coming on for Eboue who looked like he picked up a knock. While he still had one or two wayward passes, his finish after a neat one two with Arshavin was excellent. He already has 5 starts and 12 substitute appearances and is well on course to surpassing the target of of 15-20 games set by Arsene at the begining of the season.

Speaking to the press after the match, the boss had this to say on Arshavin’s central role

“When it works, they like it. I don’t think he was a fanatic to play centre forward but I am convinced because he has good body power and movement and good technique. He has intelligent movement and it worked today. He could have had two or three goals and overall he did very well.I have to try it again and to see if it works at home, away from home and to find as well a balance because I had many technical players around him with Rosicky, Nasri, Fabregas, Eboue, and all penetrating from deep positions. That is needed when you have a player like Arshavin. We will see but at the moment we do not have much choice with Walcott out, Bendtner out, Van Persie of course. But we could get Walcott back, we could get Bendtner back in two to three weeks. We had as well Diaby and Song out today, they should be available next week”

You can find the official match report here. - the links are on the blog

As expected Man Utd trounced West Ham and Liverpool drew nicely with Blackburn who could have easily won the game if they had a little more quality in their ranks. The surprise result was Chelsea losing 2-1 to Citeh! Should it really be a surprise? I don’t really think so after all they are a decent side and needed a big win like this to end their horrid run of 7 draws on the trot. While I would have preferred a draw, the result in a way gives credence to Wenger’s view that they would still drop points throughout the season. What this means for us is that we are now 8 points behind leaders Chelsea (6 behind Utd) with a game in hand and in 3rd place…at least until Sp*rs play – hope they lose too!

We need to build on this win and take it one step further next weekend against Liverpool as although it’s an away game, we play them at a time where the aren’t in the best of form and a solid result against them could serve as further momentum we need for a good run of games till January when we have an opportunity to strengthen the team as is required. Whilst I am confident in Arsene’s ability to act in the best interests of the team, I have been listening to various debates and discussions on the issue of transfers and the most lucid of them tow the line our major area of concern should not be attack (even though RVP is crocked till April) but rather defence. By the way the boss has ruled out signing either Dzeko (too expensive) or Chamakh (unavailable)

Our centre backs have been ever present this season as unlike the full back slots where the boss has shuffled between Eboue and Sagna (tactical) at right back and Clichy, Gibbs and Traore (injury) at left back, a serious injury to either Gallas or Vermaelen would leave us with the following immediate options – Silvestre and Senderos…inasmuch as I love to be objective on issues, it is clear that these two are not in the best of books of a majority of Arsenal fans and while I think Silvestre is able to read the game well and know what to do, his body is not always able to react as well as he wants it too which is why he often ends up chesting the ball to the opponent, or falling over in the box. Senderos has been out of the mix for so long that it was surprising to see him on the bench today. I don’t know, but I feel it is in this area we need to reinforce first. The player doesn’t need to be a World Class player like Gallas or the Verminator, but he must be efficient enough to provide sufficient cover for either of the two should they be injured. The boss keeps talking about a new contract for Gallas and Rosicky but he says nothing about Silvestre who’s contract also expires in the summer; that should tell you something!

You know what why don’t we just get maximum points from December then we can talk about transfers on 01/01/2010 eh?

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit.

On This Day…in 1886, Dial Square (later Arsenal) played their first ever game, a 6-0 win v Eastern Wanderers!

I could barely get out of bed this morning as my body still hurst from the three hours of football last night at the turf. Nevertheless, my brain is only just able to comprehend the thought that I could potentially have to attend up to three weddings tomorrow in different states.  I’ll play it safe and attend one reception in Lagos…the venue is conveniently located 10 minutes from where I live. It would have been a different story if our game against Liverpool was tomorrow and not Sunday…need I say more?

I skipped yesterday as expected cos there’s nothing to have been said then that I won’t be saying now. The lads did good against Olympiacos and even though they lost, they can hold their heads up proudly as they produced a tremendous performance for their ages…as we knew they would.

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how people who know next to nothing about The Arsenal Way can get on TV and criticize Arsene and his ways. Imagine Matthias Sammer going all off about Arsenal fielding teenagers in the Champions’ League. He said;

"It’s the Champions League, one of the most important competitions worldwide, and he plays with a bunch of Kindergarten players.  The UEFA rules allow him to do so but I can’t respect it. You have to pay a bit more respect to the Champions League. It’s the Champions League, one of the most important competitions worldwide, and he plays with a bunch of Kindergarten players.  The UEFA rules allow him to do so but I can’t respect it. You have to pay a bit more respect to the Champions League.”

Personally, I feel his statements are disrespectful to Arsenal and the players themselves. It’s not like Arsene was signing youngsters from the streets of Islington to play in Europe. Like he said, the rules allow it and the players were already registered at the begining of the season. What would you do if you had already won your group and you had a crunch league game at the weekend, most clubs would field a weakened team. What Arsene did was infact play a young promising side with the aim of providing them with the crucial experience they all say we lack and it was clear they didn’t look out of depth against the Greek champions who were clearly given a tougher task than they anticipated. It is clear that the spotlight is already on man of the match Aaron Ramsey.

Besides, what does he really mean by kindergarten players, Aaron Ramsey – Rising star of the Welsh National Team, Alex Song – Cameroon International, ACN Young Player of Tournament 2008, Jack Wilshere – England U21, brightest young star in English football, Carlos Vela – Mexico International, World U21 Champion, Theo Walcott – England International…need I go on? I need to know where he buys whatever it is he is smoking from!

Theo Walcott is of the opinion that he will be fit for Sunday’s clash  against Liverpool after needing treatment late on during Wednesday’s game against Olympiacos. I’m glad he added the when I was younger part though. Still he insists that he will play his heart out against them should he feature on Sunday. It was clear from the 90 minutes he featured on Wednesday that although he was match fit, he lacked sharpness and decisiveness. That my friends comes with playing regularly and I’m sure with a couple of games given our injury situation, he will be back to his best.

One player not making the trip to Anfield however is fan favourite Emmanuel Eboue. Eduardo and Diaby possibly could make the trip. How the team shapes up will be clearer in the next couple of hours after Arsene gives his press conference and till then we can no nothing more than hope we have as large a squad as is possible.

Carlos Vela by the way has signed a new long term contract with the club and while I admit he is a great talent, he really needs to work on his English as I believe it will help him a great deal both on the pitch and integrating well into life in England.

We need to beat Liverpool; end of story. How we will manage that, we’ll look at tomorrow but till then, we need to focus on the prize.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit

P.S
I finally figured out how to get the links working on Nairaland, I guess I should have just asked!

Stories,

What happens to Arsenal is what happens to a prophet who isn't respected in his own town, the English press always find an opportunity to take a dig at Arsene and Arsenal and that is the picture the outside world picks upon and label the club with. Would Sammer make the same statements if it was say Bayern who played those youngsters?