mukina2:

i hate him come and 'comot' your statement before i whoze you

Guys, Guys it was supposed to be a joke! I was just following up from the picture. . .haven't you noticed that no one is talking about a new contract for Silvestre. . .we've renewed what 11 contracts this summer?

As long as Gallas and Veramaelen stay fit. . .I don't reckon SIlvestre will ever get a look in.

I'll start with the annoying Uzbek who for some reason has increased his stake in the club to 26%, I wonder who's been selling to him? I'm sure it's in response to the movements of Silent Stan and as we draw closer to the New Year I'm sure we'll be hearing more from his people.

Tomas Rosicky's new contract looks like it will be signed in the next few days which makes me think that Arsene is hedging his bets to prevent any of our players from doing a runner like the Flamster! It's either that or he must think they are really good, you be the judge.

If you are reading this on the web then you'd probably notice that the browser address of the blog is now www.thegreengooner.com. If you have bookmarked the site you may need to change it. I was finally able to move most of the site data yesterday and to be honest it wasn't really that difficult to do. You may see slight differences with the links for the next few days but eventually I'll sort it out and also set up the forwarding from both old addresses just to keep the traffic coming in, meanwhile, thanks for your support.

I've gotta run to catch a wedding reception in a few minutes and nothing new seems to be on the radar. I guess I'll wait till I see the entire squad list for Anfield before we begin to talk tactics. In the meantime, I wonder why it had to rain this morning.

I must also mention that from tomorrow, the new email for the blog will be blog@thegreegooner.com so you may need to add it to your address book. I don't think the users migrated properly to the new site so you may have to re-register before you can post comments on the site.

Till tomorrow, Victoria Concordia Crescit.

I'll start with the annoying Uzbek who for some reason has increased his stake in the club to 26%, I wonder who's been selling to him? I'm sure it's in response to the movements of Silent Stan and as we draw closer to the New Year I'm sure we'll be hearing more from his people.

Tomas Rosicky's new contract looks like it will be signed in the next few days which makes me think that Arsene is hedging his bets to prevent any of our players from doing a runner like the Flamster! It's either that or he must think they are really good, you be the judge.

If you are reading this on the web then you'd probably notice that the browser address of the blog is now www.thegreengooner.com. If you have bookmarked the site you may need to change it. I was finally able to move most of the site data yesterday and to be honest it wasn't really that difficult to do. You may see slight differences with the links for the next few days but eventually I'll sort it out and also set up the forwarding from both old addresses just to keep the traffic coming in, meanwhile, thanks for your support.

I've gotta run to catch a wedding reception in a few minutes and nothing new seems to be on the radar. I guess I'll wait till I see the entire squad list for Anfield before we begin to talk tactics. In the meantime, I wonder why it had to rain this morning.

I must also mention that from tomorrow, the new email for the blog will be blog@thegreegooner.com so you may need to add it to your address book. I don't think the users migrated properly to the new site so you may have to re-register before you can post comments on the site.

Till tomorrow, Victoria Concordia Crescit.

I got one email from a guy who claimed to be a web designer. . .his website was offline. . . that's a no no

I'm open to suggestions though but I'd rather have either someone with Arsenal in their blood for the sake of the passion.

I'm more interested in building content first before designs though.

60 views and no response?

Someone has to be interested somehow!

60 views and no response?

Someone has to be interested somehow!

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!

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!

Simple request - contributors for www.arsenalnigeria.com needed.

Requirements; at least one of the following

1. Should be a Gooner
2. Should be passionate about Arsenal
3. Be well informed about Arsenal
4. Profficient in use of Go Daddy hosting tools.

Interested, please send an email to blog@thegreengooner.info or reply this post


Victoria Concordia Crescit!

Simple request - contributors for www.arsenalnigeria.com  needed.

Requirements; at least one of the following

1. Should be a Gooner
2. Should be passionate about Arsenal
3. Be well informed about Arsenal
4. Profficient in use of Go Daddy hosting tools.

Interested, please send an email to blog@thegreengooner.info or reply this post


Victoria Concordia Crescit!

@ slim are you going to do the preview on Wednesday or should I do it? I'll restore your access, I've got a different game plan now. Those Arsenal Nigeria guys are too slow for my liking, what do you say we NL Gooners develop the website on our own eh? Totally unofficial of course?

@All
In case you didn't know, I own the domain www.arsenalnigeria.com, what should I do with it, any suggestions?

Are you for real?

Do get accross to me tomorrow morning like you said

Cheers!

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.

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.

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’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

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>

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>

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.

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.

guess who's going on next on Fans Forum!!!

http://tv.arsenal.com

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.

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.

manmustwac:

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

Is it me or do you guys always over celebrate? With your 9 goals we've still scored more than you this season!

muki!

Christmas is coming oh! What can I get you?

Interested in any Arsenal merchandise?

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!

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!

@manmustwank

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

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!!

Slimshay has done it again. . .here's 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!!