₦airaland Forum

Van Persie scores the easiest goal he's had to score from a Robert Green error, nice cross from Sagna

5 in the last 6 games

pappilo:
any links to watch the match please UK peeps?

The game is on Sky if that's what you mean otherwise the other link would do!

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!

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!

debosky:
@ gooner

Relax mate. The post was wrongly tagged by the spam bot which targets spam posts so that's why you can't see your post. I have reported the matter to the admin so I expect it to be resolved soonest.

Accept my apologies on behalf of the admin.

Ok thanks,

Come on Nigeria! I'm wearing the Green White Green today!

As expected I was up at five-thirty this morning to get revenge at the neighbours for the weeks I’ve spent listening to the noise of their own generators. I figured I could get some laundry done and check out the news before morning plus it had rained at night so I didn’t have to bother about washing the car. The old Elemax has been blaring for two hours now and I’m loving it – as always. I’ve also had to retire my favourite pair of football boots this morning, they’d served me for erm… 8 months?and have now started to feel the effects of one too many encounters with flying studs, the cage and smelly feet! Thanks Steam! You were always the best! I’ve got a pair of Mecurials I got at the same time that I’ve never really used. That should serve me till Christmas when I splurge on the new CTR 360 or maybe even the Mecurial Vapor Superfly! If you’re wondering what this is all about, you shouldn’t be reading this blog. I just love my footie and like to strut about in style. If you think Bendtner is vain, try The Green Gooner!

That said, West Ham tomorrow is a perfect opportunity for us to get another 3 points on the road and hope that Utd and Liverpool play out a bore draw (cheeky!) that would see us go top should we win our game in hand and every other game till then. Daunting you say? At least Robin Van Persie believes it and so does Arshavin. Speaking ahead of the West Ham game, RVP had this to say;

“We’re very encouraged by other teams dropping points. When you look at last weekend, Liverpool lost three points, Chelsea lost. In our last eight league games, we’ve won six so it’s looking good for us. As long as we stay consistent against the smaller teams. We need to keep winning the three points against them. Last season we had some bad spells. We had four draws as well back-to-back so we have to avoid that.”

Our Russian ace also had this to say;

‘Arsene is extremely revered at the club and deservedly so. After all, with Arsenal he has won everything in recent history. There was a time when they were always winning. Maybe this time will come again. Suddenly this season, something could change. I hope this season will be better, but it has just begun. There is no order (from the board) telling us what they expect from us. We all understand well that the task we always face is to win.’

Although Arsene will wait till after today’s training session to determine if Nicklas Bendtner makes the squad, Tomas Rosicky has definitely been ruled out of tomorrow’s game as he has failed to recover from his injury. This could mean a chance for Nasri on the bench with Walcott still out. Nevertheless he’s asked us all to come to the game on Sunday to see who will be in goal! Speaking on the issue of goalkeepers, he said;

“I wouldn’t say Manuel is no longer our automatic first choice, but Vito has come in and done well. It is always difficult with these kinds of decisions. You could say our job is to be unfair sometimes to players. You don’t want to be but some time you have to, no matter what decisions you make sometimes you are unfair to one or two players.”

Enough said on that! I trust that Arsene will be able to strike a balance betweeen what is best for the team as well as the morale of individual players as we have several big games in the coming weeks and uncertainty is a certain way of dampening morale in a team. This comes on the heels of his revelation that he considered bringing Matthew Upson back to the club. He said;

“I knew when he left that he will make a big career, but at that moment when Matthew was here, he was impatient and that I could understand as well because I bought him at Luton and after a few years he didn’t play here. I didn’t stop him [going] because I knew he had qualities to play in the Premier League but he had players in front of him that stopped him. I knew he would [make it]. He had Premier League quality and had the potential to be international quality . He is there now because he is at the right age for a central defender and for a few years now he has not been stopped by injuries which was his problem for a while.”

If a young player is impatient, he may not quite understand why he isn’t playing and in eagerness seek a move elsewhere. Nevertheless if the quality is there, he will always be able to keep playing at the highest level and as they say, you win some you lose some! In some positive news last night, Heri Lansbury scored two goals as Watford beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 at home in the Championship.

Nevertheless, we face a West Ham team who have picked up only two points since the opening day of the season and face tremendous pressure from all angles to avoid being stuck in the relegation rut early on. A full match preview will be available on the blog tomorrow.

From next week, I will be joined on the blog by none other than slimgooner a.k.a slimshay from Nairaland. He’ll be starting off by writing the pre-match analysis for the next few weeks. This is in addition to the daily (hopefully) blog posts and hopefully we can take it on from there.

Till tomorrow…let’s spam the Sp*rs forum on Nairaland!

Cheerio!

As expected I was up at five-thirty this morning to get revenge at the neighbours for the weeks I’ve spent listening to the noise of their own generators. I figured I could get some laundry done and check out the news before morning plus it had rained at night so I didn’t have to bother about washing the car. The old Elemax has been blaring for two hours now and I’m loving it – as always. I’ve also had to retire my favourite pair of football boots this morning, they’d served me for erm… 8 months?and have now started to feel the effects of one too many encounters with flying studs, the cage and smelly feet! Thanks Steam! You were always the best! I’ve got a pair of Mecurials I got at the same time that I’ve never really used. That should serve me till Christmas when I splurge on the new CTR 360 or maybe even the Mecurial Vapor Superfly! If you’re wondering what this is all about, you shouldn’t be reading this blog. I just love my footie and like to strut about in style. If you think Bendtner is vain, try The Green Gooner!

That said, West Ham tomorrow is a perfect opportunity for us to get another 3 points on the road and hope that Utd and Liverpool play out a bore draw (cheeky!) that would see us go top should we win our game in hand and every other game till then. Daunting you say? At least Robin Van Persie believes it and so does Arshavin. Speaking ahead of the West Ham game, RVP had this to say;

“We’re very encouraged by other teams dropping points. When you look at last weekend, Liverpool lost three points, Chelsea lost. In our last eight league games, we’ve won six so it’s looking good for us. As long as we stay consistent against the smaller teams. We need to keep winning the three points against them. Last season we had some bad spells. We had four draws as well back-to-back so we have to avoid that.”

Our Russian ace also had this to say;

‘Arsene is extremely revered at the club and deservedly so. After all, with Arsenal he has won everything in recent history. There was a time when they were always winning. Maybe this time will come again. Suddenly this season, something could change. I hope this season will be better, but it has just begun. There is no order (from the board) telling us what they expect from us. We all understand well that the task we always face is to win.’

Although Arsene will wait till after today’s training session to determine if Nicklas Bendtner makes the squad, Tomas Rosicky has definitely been ruled out of tomorrow’s game as he has failed to recover from his injury. This could mean a chance for Nasri on the bench with Walcott still out. Nevertheless he’s asked us all to come to the game on Sunday to see who will be in goal! Speaking on the issue of goalkeepers, he said;

“I wouldn’t say Manuel is no longer our automatic first choice, but Vito has come in and done well. It is always difficult with these kinds of decisions. You could say our job is to be unfair sometimes to players. You don’t want to be but some time you have to, no matter what decisions you make sometimes you are unfair to one or two players.”

Enough said on that! I trust that Arsene will be able to strike a balance betweeen what is best for the team as well as the morale of individual players as we have several big games in the coming weeks and uncertainty is a certain way of dampening morale in a team. This comes on the heels of his revelation that he considered bringing Matthew Upson back to the club. He said;

“I knew when he left that he will make a big career, but at that moment when Matthew was here, he was impatient and that I could understand as well because I bought him at Luton and after a few years he didn’t play here. I didn’t stop him [going] because I knew he had qualities to play in the Premier League but he had players in front of him that stopped him. I knew he would [make it]. He had Premier League quality and had the potential to be international quality . He is there now because he is at the right age for a central defender and for a few years now he has not been stopped by injuries which was his problem for a while.”

If a young player is impatient, he may not quite understand why he isn’t playing and in eagerness seek a move elsewhere. Nevertheless if the quality is there, he will always be able to keep playing at the highest level and as they say, you win some you lose some! In some positive news last night, Heri Lansbury scored two goals as Watford beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-1 at home in the Championship.

Nevertheless, we face a West Ham team who have picked up only two points since the opening day of the season and face tremendous pressure from all angles to avoid being stuck in the relegation rut early on. A full match preview will be available on the blog tomorrow.

From next week, I will be joined on the blog by none other than slimgooner a.k.a slimshay from Nairaland. He’ll be starting off by writing the pre-match analysis for the next few weeks. This is in addition to the daily (hopefully) blog posts and hopefully we can take it on from there.

Till tomorrow…let’s spam the Sp*rs forum on Nairaland!

Cheerio!

slimshay:
@ Gooner, thanks man, i'll be honored. Hope im up to the task though, cos i'm always the first to say writing aint really my forte.

Done!

You've just been upgraded to Author mode. . .tell you what, you can start by writing the pre game analysis for each game.

Log in and see what features you have. . .any issues holler @ me on The Green Gooner Thread

Yo Slimshay!

Good one there! 

What do you say to helping The Green Gooner out once in a while?

Feeling a little lazy this morning, pulled a groin muscle at the astro turf yesterday so I'm not quite there yet. With no electricity and a faulty generator, I've missed nearly all the good footie in the last week. With the prospect of a working generator this weekend, I hope to renew all my subscriptions today; HiTV, IPNX and ATVO, I guess I also have to apologize for missing a few days on the blog, sorry?

Yesterday, Arsene turned 60! What can I say? Erm, nothing really that hasn't been said before. Everything that was said at the 13th anniversary still applies so let's not overflog the issue. What however was unique was the way he spent it; AGM in the morning, training ground in the afternoon (maybe), Europa League in the Evening (seing Everton get thrashed 5-0). All I can say is that Arsene is a complete football man.

His address at the AGM earned him a standing ovation from the audience who applauded both his contributions to the club, as well as the quality and content of his entire presentation. Unlike the apparently bumbling Peter Hill-Wood, Arsene and CEO Ivan Gazidis exuded a high level of confidence reflecting both a personalisation of the clubs values as well as the direction the club is headed.

As expected, Stan Kroenke was asked about his intentions for the club and as Dave Moyes responded when asked about his altercation with Victor Anichebe, he just smiled and refused to answer. Chairman Hill-Wood in an attempt to explain his silence referred to the fact that regulators from the takeover panel were breathing over the necks of the board and he was restrained from commenting due to the restrictions of the city code. He said;

"I believe that he is very happy as a long-term shareholder of the club. He sees it as a good investment and I agree with him. Getting involved in what his intentions may or may not be is not something I can discuss. There are rules and regulations and I have to be terribly careful what I say. Our lawyers have asked me to keep my mouth shut."

The Code states: "The person making the statement may [not] within six months from the date of the statement announce an offer or possible offer for the offeree company.

What this means is that if he says he will bid, he cannot bid for the club within six months. However, if he does not make any statements (public or private) on the matter, he may bid at any time. Dodgy you say? Let's wait to hear the reaction from Alisher Usmanov who did not attend the AGM. Methinks Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith might just hold the cards to who ends up taking over the club! Till then let's keep it all about the football!

So Andrei Arshavin could have joined Tottenham! Kini Big Deal! People forget he could also have joined Barcelona before that. What matters now is that he plays for Arsenal and seems to be enjoying it here. Ok he says we play the second best football next to Barca. Most people think the same so it's fair he's probably at the best place to express himself. He's a wild spark - that Arshavin and I like it. I believe his ability to voice his opinions will help him settle better both as a player and as a family man.

Nevertheless, Arsene is convinced that the long wait for silverware will end this season. Speaking at the club's AGM, he said;

"I know that we have not won a trophy for four years but we were very close. I believe as well that this team, this year, will do it. And when I said that it is not to please you, it is because I am really convinced of it."

"We have developed the team in the last four or five years with a tremendous amount of work to develop the players like we want. I believe strongly this year. I believe that this team is ready to go for it in the Premier League, in the Champions League and in the cups. I am convinced that we will perform throughout the season."

"We know it is very tight, so it will be down to how resilient, how consistent, how intelligent and how united we will be until the end because there will be periods where it will be a bit more difficult. It is not always about just pumping money into the teams. There is something more magical in our sport because it is a team sport."

It's no news that last year Arsene admitted that all was not well with the team and we needed one or two additions to the squad. The signing of Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen coupled with the return to fitness of Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo have added impetus to the belief as the team had played for nearly two years without the benefit of these players.

Personally, I believe that this year we are closer that ever and we only need to capitalise on our advantage. We are scoring many goals and as Wenger rightly said, we look like we will concede less goals this season. This surely are the major ingredients to a title-winning season. Fingers crossed then, we'll all see come May.

The Arsenal chairman was also quizzed about the financial impact of non-qualification for the Champions League emergence of Tottenham and Aston Villa as a threat to the Big Four. He said;

"We have always budgeted for not being in the Champions League one in every four years, so we are ready for it but I don't think it will necessarily happen. I don't consider them [Villa and Tottenham] rivals really. I think we are going to be up there."

On transfers, he had this to say;

"We haven't got $500 billion to put into the club, but over the last five years we have spent £150 million on players and brought in about £90 million through sales. Good players don't grow on trees. We have spent money, but not recklessly."

Fair enough for those who say we are a club in crisis!

Ahead of the West Ham game tomorrow, we are boosted by the news of Eduardo's return. Rosicky and Bendtner are rated at 50:50Speaking also on the return of Nasri and Fabianski and on injuries, Wenger said;

"It is possible [they will be included] but it depends on our needs. Ideally Nasri will need the game against Liverpool to be completely part of the squad again. So it depends on the urgency. Denilson should be available in four weeks and Johan Djourou will be March"

He's not definite on the issue of who will start in goal although he has offerred a clue by saying our goalkeepers are capable playing down the errors of young goalkeeper. All I've got to say on this is that I still expect Almunia to get back into the side. However, if Mannone starts then Almunia has been dropped! End of Story!

We play a West Ham team struggling for form at the moment and it's games like this that we need to simply kill the opposition. Pass them to death and bury them at home!

In some bizarre news, we've been linked with 19 year old Inter Striker Mario Balotelli and apparently Arsenal scouts watched him last weekend in Inter's 5-0 win at Genoa.

Anyways, that's all for today. More tomorrow

Feeling a little lazy this morning, pulled a groin muscle at the astro turf yesterday so I'm not quite there yet. With no electricity and a faulty generator, I've missed nearly all the good footie in the last week. With the prospect of a working generator this weekend, I hope to renew all my subscriptions today; HiTV, IPNX and ATVO, I guess I also have to apologize for missing a few days on the blog, sorry?

Yesterday, Arsene turned 60! What can I say? Erm, nothing really that hasn't been said before. Everything that was said at the 13th anniversary still applies so let's not overflog the issue. What however was unique was the way he spent it; AGM in the morning, training ground in the afternoon (maybe), Europa League in the Evening (seing Everton get thrashed 5-0). All I can say is that Arsene is a complete football man.

His address at the AGM earned him a standing ovation from the audience who applauded both his contributions to the club, as well as the quality and content of his entire presentation. Unlike the apparently bumbling Peter Hill-Wood, Arsene and CEO Ivan Gazidis exuded a high level of confidence reflecting both a personalisation of the clubs values as well as the direction the club is headed.

As expected, Stan Kroenke was asked about his intentions for the club and as Dave Moyes responded when asked about his altercation with Victor Anichebe, he just smiled and refused to answer. Chairman Hill-Wood in an attempt to explain his silence referred to the fact that regulators from the takeover panel were breathing over the necks of the board and he was restrained from commenting due to the restrictions of the city code. He said;

"I believe that he is very happy as a long-term shareholder of the club. He sees it as a good investment and I agree with him. Getting involved in what his intentions may or may not be is not something I can discuss. There are rules and regulations and I have to be terribly careful what I say. Our lawyers have asked me to keep my mouth shut."

The Code states: "The person making the statement may [not] within six months from the date of the statement announce an offer or possible offer for the offeree company.

What this means is that if he says he will bid, he cannot bid for the club within six months. However, if he does not make any statements (public or private) on the matter, he may bid at any time. Dodgy you say? Let's wait to hear the reaction from Alisher Usmanov who did not attend the AGM. Methinks Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith might just hold the cards to who ends up taking over the club! Till then let's keep it all about the football!

So Andrei Arshavin could have joined Tottenham! Kini Big Deal! People forget he could also have joined Barcelona before that. What matters now is that he plays for Arsenal and seems to be enjoying it here. Ok he says we play the second best football next to Barca. Most people think the same so it's fair he's probably at the best place to express himself. He's a wild spark - that Arshavin and I like it. I believe his ability to voice his opinions will help him settle better both as a player and as a family man.

Nevertheless, Arsene is convinced that the long wait for silverware will end this season. Speaking at the club's AGM, he said;

"I know that we have not won a trophy for four years but we were very close. I believe as well that this team, this year, will do it. And when I said that it is not to please you, it is because I am really convinced of it."

"We have developed the team in the last four or five years with a tremendous amount of work to develop the players like we want. I believe strongly this year. I believe that this team is ready to go for it in the Premier League, in the Champions League and in the cups. I am convinced that we will perform throughout the season."

"We know it is very tight, so it will be down to how resilient, how consistent, how intelligent and how united we will be until the end because there will be periods where it will be a bit more difficult. It is not always about just pumping money into the teams. There is something more magical in our sport because it is a team sport."

It's no news that last year Arsene admitted that all was not well with the team and we needed one or two additions to the squad. The signing of Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen coupled with the return to fitness of Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo have added impetus to the belief as the team had played for nearly two years without the benefit of these players.

Personally, I believe that this year we are closer that ever and we only need to capitalise on our advantage. We are scoring many goals and as Wenger rightly said, we look like we will concede less goals this season. This surely are the major ingredients to a title-winning season. Fingers crossed then, we'll all see come May.

The Arsenal chairman was also quizzed about the financial impact of non-qualification for the Champions League emergence of Tottenham and Aston Villa as a threat to the Big Four. He said;

"We have always budgeted for not being in the Champions League one in every four years, so we are ready for it but I don't think it will necessarily happen. I don't consider them [Villa and Tottenham] rivals really. I think we are going to be up there."

On transfers, he had this to say;

"We haven't got $500 billion to put into the club, but over the last five years we have spent £150 million on players and brought in about £90 million through sales. Good players don't grow on trees. We have spent money, but not recklessly."

Fair enough for those who say we are a club in crisis!

Ahead of the West Ham game tomorrow, we are boosted by the news of Eduardo's return. Rosicky and Bendtner are rated at 50:50Speaking also on the return of Nasri and Fabianski and on injuries, Wenger said;

"It is possible [they will be included] but it depends on our needs. Ideally Nasri will need the game against Liverpool to be completely part of the squad again. So it depends on the urgency. Denilson should be available in four weeks and Johan Djourou will be March"

He's not definite on the issue of who will start in goal although he has offerred a clue by saying our goalkeepers are capable playing down the errors of young goalkeeper. All I've got to say on this is that I still expect Almunia to get back into the side. However, if Mannone starts then Almunia has been dropped! End of Story!

We play a West Ham team struggling for form at the moment and it's games like this that we need to simply kill the opposition. Pass them to death and bury them at home!

In some bizarre news, we've been linked with 19 year old Inter Striker Mario Balotelli and apparently Arsenal scouts watched him last weekend in Inter's 5-0 win at Genoa.

Anyways, that's all for today. More tomorrow

We’ve got a big match up today and an opportunity to open up a gap at the top our our group in the Champions League. What may be interesting though is the amazing statistic that AZ have only lost once at home in 34 European ties. I think this could be a more exciting game than our previous two which were both nervy and uncomfortable ties.

With the Gunners seemingly in full stride in the league, I believe we shouldn’t be too hampered by the absences due to injury. While I expect Almunia to start in goal (sorry Vito), I wouldn’t be surprised if the boss chose to play both Sagna and Eboue (ahead of him on the right) with Bendtner, Rosicky, Eduardo and Walcott all ruled out.

The bad news yesterday was the fact that the Theo Walcott has been ruled out for three to four weeks following Liam Ridgewell’s hard tackle. The boss has also blasted Birmingham fans as being “stupid” for chanting Martin Taylor’s name after the tackle. He said;

“That was frankly atrocious. They [the Birmingham fans] will not be remembered for the quality of their taste with that kind of remark. I didn’t say a word [when I heard the chant], I just thought ‘that’s low’. ”

“Eduardo was here for the game. I don’t know how he felt about the chants. I just put that in the ranks of stupidity, you want to forget about it and not talk too much about it because there’s not a lot to say. With people like that, one starts to say something stupid, everybody follows, even intelligent people. People lose their identity together, and their sense of responsibility.”

Well said Arsene!

With Clichy back in the squad, it was cheering to hear that both Nasri and Fabianski are in line for a return to action with the reserves tonight against Wolves possibly at the Molineux. That surely increases our options and puts the other players on their toes to perform. No wonder Arsene phoned Chamakh to tell him he could no longer sign him when he realised he had too many players!

I’m very pleased at the way Diaby seems to be settling into the midfield with the absence of Denilson. Methinks come January when the Cameroon comes calling for Song, he’d fit right into a trio alongside Denilson and Cesc. I’ve always been a fan of Diaby and admittedly get frustrated when he makes one touch to many or takes ages to decide who to pass to. Nevertheless, he has shown that he has both the ability, and the vision to be part of a successful midfield trio and as it was with Song, Denilson and Bendtner, I believe he can blossom this year and possible make the French squad for South Africa should they get past their Irish hurdle!

Speaking earlier on, AZ coach Ronald Koeman pointed out an important point about Arsenal’s play this season. He said;

“We know Arsenal are very good and we know what we have to do. I saw their game against Blackburn and they could have scored 15 times! On the other hand, Blackburn had four excellent chances and scored twice. Arsenal, therefore, have defects. We must take the initiative, dominate possession and take the chances that come our way.”

This tells me that they are prepared to sit back and let Arsenal (the clear favourites in this tie) do all the playing and hope to catch them on the break and be clinical. I know our adventurous play has cost us a couple of goals this season, particularly against Manchester City but I believe that if we are clinical enough, we can put this tie to bed early on. Otherwise, we just have to outscore them! With the chances we are creating and the form of our attackers, that is all the more likely. Arsene had this to say;

“If we score goals, it is because we have the ball. To have the ball, you need to defend. That is why I believe we have a good team ethic, a good working attitude together. We all play on the same wavelength, which is why everybody scores.”

The boss also praised William Gallas’ contribution at the back this season as our ability to win games in the past has often been hampered by our defensive frailties. Our new defensive partnership has afforded big William the opportunity to be more expressive in his play (albeit defensively) as new signing Thomas Vermaelen is more than capable to sweep up the play and offer protective cover should Gallas venture upfront. Personally, I am of the opinion he still thinks he’s a second striker!

My research has shown that AZ are likely to line up in the traditional 4-4-2 formation with Hamadoui and Dembele leading the attack. I’m told that the key battle should be new dad Van Persie against Mexican Moreno in defence for AZ.

In some interesting news, Arsenal apparently sent former Captain Tony Adams as a scout to watch 16-year-old French striker Romelu Lukaku play for Andelecht at the weekend. Whilst I know next to nothing about him (like pretty much everyone else) he’s apparently being touted the next Didier Drogba! Wait! I thought that was Gael Kakuta?

First it was Atletico Madrid, now it’s Juventus who have set their sights on Emmanuel Eboue. Apparently, the Bianconeri are keen to reinforce at right back and consider him as an outstanding candidate for the position added to the fact that he also has an EU passport! To be fair there’s no chance of that happening as I don’t see Eboue leaving in January as it’s clear he loves the club and he’s hitting the form that saw him revered at Highbury in his first season at the club.

Our young guns on loan don’t seem to be doing to badly anyway, clocking up minutes; scoring goals; you know how it is! Erm ah yes! Jay Simpson grabbed his fourth goal in seven games as QPR ran out 4-0 winners against Preston om the Championship. Henri Lansbury played 90 minutes as Watford beat Middlesbrough 1-0 away at the Riverside. Gavin Hoyte also played 90 minutes as Brighton lost 2-1 away to Tranmere in League One. Good things, I hear you say!

For tonights game I’m going all out, I expect free flowing attacking football possibly with one or two early goals.

Probable Line up: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Eboue, Van Persie Arshavin

Subs: Mannone, Silvestre, Vela, Gibbs, Merida, Wilshere, Ramsay

Verdict: AZ 0 Arsenal 4

The match is live at 19:45 on Hi Sports 2

Till next time…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

We’ve got a big match up today and an opportunity to open up a gap at the top our our group in the Champions League. What may be interesting though is the amazing statistic that AZ have only lost once at home in 34 European ties. I think this could be a more exciting game than our previous two which were both nervy and uncomfortable ties.

With the Gunners seemingly in full stride in the league, I believe we shouldn’t be too hampered by the absences due to injury. While I expect Almunia to start in goal (sorry Vito), I wouldn’t be surprised if the boss chose to play both Sagna and Eboue (ahead of him on the right) with Bendtner, Rosicky, Eduardo and Walcott all ruled out.

The bad news yesterday was the fact that the Theo Walcott has been ruled out for three to four weeks following Liam Ridgewell’s hard tackle. The boss has also blasted Birmingham fans as being “stupid” for chanting Martin Taylor’s name after the tackle. He said;

“That was frankly atrocious. They [the Birmingham fans] will not be remembered for the quality of their taste with that kind of remark. I didn’t say a word [when I heard the chant], I just thought ‘that’s low’. ”

“Eduardo was here for the game. I don’t know how he felt about the chants. I just put that in the ranks of stupidity, you want to forget about it and not talk too much about it because there’s not a lot to say. With people like that, one starts to say something stupid, everybody follows, even intelligent people. People lose their identity together, and their sense of responsibility.”

Well said Arsene!

With Clichy back in the squad, it was cheering to hear that both Nasri and Fabianski are in line for a return to action with the reserves tonight against Wolves possibly at the Molineux. That surely increases our options and puts the other players on their toes to perform. No wonder Arsene phoned Chamakh to tell him he could no longer sign him when he realised he had too many players!

I’m very pleased at the way Diaby seems to be settling into the midfield with the absence of Denilson. Methinks come January when the Cameroon comes calling for Song, he’d fit right into a trio alongside Denilson and Cesc. I’ve always been a fan of Diaby and admittedly get frustrated when he makes one touch to many or takes ages to decide who to pass to. Nevertheless, he has shown that he has both the ability, and the vision to be part of a successful midfield trio and as it was with Song, Denilson and Bendtner, I believe he can blossom this year and possible make the French squad for South Africa should they get past their Irish hurdle!

Speaking earlier on, AZ coach Ronald Koeman pointed out an important point about Arsenal’s play this season. He said;

“We know Arsenal are very good and we know what we have to do. I saw their game against Blackburn and they could have scored 15 times! On the other hand, Blackburn had four excellent chances and scored twice. Arsenal, therefore, have defects. We must take the initiative, dominate possession and take the chances that come our way.”

This tells me that they are prepared to sit back and let Arsenal (the clear favourites in this tie) do all the playing and hope to catch them on the break and be clinical. I know our adventurous play has cost us a couple of goals this season, particularly against Manchester City but I believe that if we are clinical enough, we can put this tie to bed early on. Otherwise, we just have to outscore them! With the chances we are creating and the form of our attackers, that is all the more likely. Arsene had this to say;

“If we score goals, it is because we have the ball. To have the ball, you need to defend. That is why I believe we have a good team ethic, a good working attitude together. We all play on the same wavelength, which is why everybody scores.”

The boss also praised William Gallas’ contribution at the back this season as our ability to win games in the past has often been hampered by our defensive frailties. Our new defensive partnership has afforded big William the opportunity to be more expressive in his play (albeit defensively) as new signing Thomas Vermaelen is more than capable to sweep up the play and offer protective cover should Gallas venture upfront. Personally, I am of the opinion he still thinks he’s a second striker!

My research has shown that AZ are likely to line up in the traditional 4-4-2 formation with Hamadoui and Dembele leading the attack. I’m told that the key battle should be new dad Van Persie against Mexican Moreno in defence for AZ.

In some interesting news, Arsenal apparently sent former Captain Tony Adams as a scout to watch 16-year-old French striker Romelu Lukaku play for Andelecht at the weekend. Whilst I know next to nothing about him (like pretty much everyone else) he’s apparently being touted the next Didier Drogba! Wait! I thought that was Gael Kakuta?

First it was Atletico Madrid, now it’s Juventus who have set their sights on Emmanuel Eboue. Apparently, the Bianconeri are keen to reinforce at right back and consider him as an outstanding candidate for the position added to the fact that he also has an EU passport! To be fair there’s no chance of that happening as I don’t see Eboue leaving in January as it’s clear he loves the club and he’s hitting the form that saw him revered at Highbury in his first season at the club.

Our young guns on loan don’t seem to be doing to badly anyway, clocking up minutes; scoring goals; you know how it is! Erm ah yes! Jay Simpson grabbed his fourth goal in seven games as QPR ran out 4-0 winners against Preston om the Championship. Henri Lansbury played 90 minutes as Watford beat Middlesbrough 1-0 away at the Riverside. Gavin Hoyte also played 90 minutes as Brighton lost 2-1 away to Tranmere in League One. Good things, I hear you say!

For tonights game I’m going all out, I expect free flowing attacking football possibly with one or two early goals.

Probable Line up: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Eboue, Van Persie Arshavin

Subs: Mannone, Silvestre, Vela, Gibbs, Merida, Wilshere, Ramsay

Verdict: AZ 0 Arsenal 4

The match is live at 19:45 on Hi Sports 2

Till next time…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

We’ve got a big match up today and an opportunity to open up a gap at the top our our group in the Champions League. What may be interesting though is the amazing statistic that AZ have only lost once at home in 34 European ties. I think this could be a more exciting game than our previous two which were both nervy and uncomfortable ties.

With the Gunners seemingly in full stride in the league, I believe we shouldn’t be too hampered by the absences due to injury. While I expect Almunia to start in goal (sorry Vito), I wouldn’t be surprised if the boss chose to play both Sagna and Eboue (ahead of him on the right) with Bendtner, Rosicky, Eduardo and Walcott all ruled out.

The bad news yesterday was the fact that the Theo Walcott has been ruled out for three to four weeks following Liam Ridgewell’s hard tackle. The boss has also blasted Birmingham fans as being “stupid” for chanting Martin Taylor’s name after the tackle. He said;

“That was frankly atrocious. They [the Birmingham fans] will not be remembered for the quality of their taste with that kind of remark. I didn’t say a word [when I heard the chant], I just thought ‘that’s low’. ”

“Eduardo was here for the game. I  don’t know how he felt about the chants. I just put that in the ranks of stupidity, you want to forget about it and not talk too much about it because there’s not a lot to say. With people like that, one starts to say something stupid, everybody follows, even intelligent people. People lose their identity together, and their sense of responsibility.”

Well said Arsene!

With Clichy back in the squad, it was cheering to hear that both Nasri and Fabianski are in line for a return to action with the reserves tonight against Wolves possibly at the Molineux. That surely increases our options and puts the other players on their toes to perform. No wonder Arsene phoned Chamakh to tell him he could no longer sign him when he realised he had too many players!

I’m very pleased at the way Diaby seems to be settling into the midfield with the absence of Denilson. Methinks come January when the Cameroon comes calling for Song, he’d fit right into a trio alongside Denilson and Cesc. I’ve always been a fan of Diaby and admittedly get frustrated when he makes one touch to many or takes ages to decide who to pass to. Nevertheless, he has shown that he has both the ability, and the vision to be part of a successful midfield trio and as it was with Song, Denilson and Bendtner, I believe he can blossom this year and possible make the French squad for South Africa should they get past their Irish hurdle!

Speaking earlier on, AZ coach Ronald Koeman pointed out an important point about Arsenal’s play this season. He said;

“We know Arsenal are very good and we know what we have to do. I saw their game against Blackburn and they could have scored 15 times! On the other hand, Blackburn had four excellent chances and scored twice. Arsenal, therefore, have defects. We must take the initiative, dominate possession and take the chances that come our way.”

This tells me that they are prepared to sit back and let Arsenal (the clear favourites in this tie) do all the playing and hope to catch them on the break and be clinical. I know our adventurous play has cost us a couple of goals this season, particularly against Manchester City but I believe that if we are clinical enough, we can put this tie to bed early on. Otherwise, we just have to outscore them! With the chances we are creating and the form of our attackers, that is all the more likely. Arsene had this to say;

“If we score goals, it is because we have the ball. To have the ball, you need to defend. That is why I believe we have a good team ethic, a good working attitude together. We all play on the same wavelength, which is why everybody scores.”

The boss also praised William Gallas’ contribution at the back this season as our ability to win games in the past has often been hampered by our defensive frailties. Our new defensive partnership has afforded big William the opportunity to be more expressive in his play (albeit defensively) as new signing Thomas Vermaelen is more than capable to sweep up the play and offer protective cover should Gallas venture upfront. Personally, I am of the opinion he still thinks he’s a second striker!

My research has shown that AZ are likely to line up in the traditional 4-4-2 formation with Hamadoui and Dembele leading the attack. I’m told that the key battle should be new dad Van Persie against Mexican Moreno in defence for AZ.

In some interesting news, Arsenal apparently sent former Captain Tony Adams as a scout to watch 16-year-old French striker Romelu Lukaku play for Andelecht at the weekend. Whilst I know next to nothing about him (like pretty much everyone else) he’s apparently being touted the next Didier Drogba! Wait! I thought that was Gael Kakuta?

First it was Atletico Madrid, now it’s Juventus who have set their sights on Emmanuel  Eboue. Apparently, the Bianconeri are keen to reinforce at right back and consider him as an outstanding candidate for the position added to the fact that he also has an EU passport! To be fair there’s no chance of that happening as I don’t see Eboue leaving in January as it’s clear he loves the club and he’s hitting the form that saw him revered at Highbury in his first season at the club.

Our young guns on loan don’t seem to be doing to badly anyway, clocking up minutes;  scoring goals; you know how it is! Erm ah yes! Jay Simpson grabbed his fourth goal in seven games as QPR ran out 4-0 winners against Preston om the Championship. Henri Lansbury played 90 minutes as Watford beat Middlesbrough 1-0 away at the Riverside. Gavin Hoyte also played 90 minutes as Brighton lost 2-1 away to Tranmere in League One. Good things, I hear you say!

For tonights game I’m going all out, I expect free flowing attacking football possibly with one or two early goals.

Probable Line up: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Eboue, Van Persie Arshavin

Subs: Mannone, Silvestre, Vela, Gibbs, Merida, Wilshere, Ramsay

Verdict: AZ 0 Arsenal 4

The match is live at 19:45 on Hi Sports 2

Till next time…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

edoyad:
Silly you .
I missed it cos of a stupid marriage.

If there happens to be an Arsenal game on my wedding day, I'lll have a flat screen set up at the reception so I can catch it and make sure all the gooners attend too!

Last year I missed the Birmingham game cos I was trying to impress a lady. This year, I missed it because I was trying to make it up to a(nother) lady. What is it with men and women? Thanks to Biolabee though for calling to fill me in on the scoreline. The game ended 3-1 with a beauty from Arshavin at the end.

I figured we’d do ok, but like I said on Friday, I didn’t exactly expect them to roll over on the floor and beg for mercy. At 2-0 up we were cruising and once they scored, you sensed it would be a tense affair going into the second half. Theo Walcott was taken off in the first half after coming worse off a Liam Ridgewell tackle. You’ve got to feel for the young man only just returning from injury and this. Speaking on this, the boss had this to say;

“He has a bruised knee, it is swollen and difficult to assess at the moment. Is it a medial knee ligament that is twisted or just a kick? The fact that he says he felt a little unstable when he was running is not good news. We don’t know yet how much of his pain is down to the kick and how much is down to the fact he twisted his ligament. “

“We will assess the situation tomorrow morning. He will be scanned and if it is just a kick he has a good chance to play on Tuesday night [at Alkmaar]. If it is more, he will not play on Tuesday. I believe personally he will not be available on Tuesday at least. It is not a cruciate for example but it could be more than a week if it is a twisted ligament.”

Nevertheless from the highlights I saw, it was a pretty decent game and it was good that we were able to hold off their challenge and score a winner late on to put the game to bed. As expected, Gibbs slotted in at left back with Eboue coming in for Sagna at right back. I figure the boss may decide to start Bacary against AZ on Tuesday. I was rather surprised to see Almunia on the bench instead of Fabianski and Mannone in goal. Could this be a telling sign that the balance of power has changed? Or was this Don Vito’s chance for the second of his much needed consecutive performances to secure his place as Arsenal’s number one keeper? The boss was notably quiet on this. We’ll see! Otherwise, it’s On Your Toes Manuel!

Wenger was however quick to heap praise on Alex Song, who looks like he’s becoming our most important player defensively or otherwise. He said;


“He is strong and smooth. He is not rigid, he is agile. He is a slalom player and is not a straight-line player. He uses that very well, he has a good combination of strengths and agility and I believe as well he uses his technique in a very intelligent way. He likes a tackle. Cameroon people are strong, you know? In Africa they call them the Germans of Africa because of their strong bodies.”

In other news, Chelsea lost away to Aston Villa while Liverpool went down to a Sunderland goal that came off a beach balloon ironically thrown into the pitch by one of their own fans! You’d think they’d know where to throw and object like that! As it stands, we seem to be sitting pretty in fourth place with a game in hand, which if we come off with maximum points would lead us only one point off the pace, should Man City fail to beat Wigan today.
In other news, Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin have been nominated for the 2009 European Player of the Year award although I expect either Lionel Messi or (senitmentally) Ryan Giggs to win it.

The official Arsenal Magazine for November is out and it features Tomas Rosicky giving his first in-depth interview since his return from long term injury. The next phase of the Arsenalisation of the Emirates Stadium has also been completed with another set of Arsenal legends unveiled in the area around the armoury. Please visit Arsenal.com for pictures.

A provisional date of December 2 has been fixed for our outstanding game against Bolton and it’s probability would depend on the likelhood of either of the teams progressing to the next phase of the Carling Cup. My heart says we’ll beat Liverpool so the fixture computer better come up with something better. I’ll have more news on our loan stars tomorrow on the blog.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

Last year I missed the Birmingham game cos I was trying to impress a lady. This year, I missed it because I was trying to make it up to a(nother) lady. What is it with men and women? Thanks to Biolabee though for calling to fill me in on the scoreline. The game ended 3-1 with a beauty from Arshavin at the end.

I figured we’d do ok, but like I said on Friday, I didn’t exactly expect them to roll over on the floor and beg for mercy. At 2-0 up we were cruising and once they scored, you sensed it would be a tense affair going into the second half. Theo Walcott was taken off in the first half after coming worse off a Liam Ridgewell tackle. You’ve got to feel for the young man only just returning from injury and this. Speaking on this, the boss had this to say;

“He has a bruised knee, it is swollen and difficult to assess at the moment. Is it a medial knee ligament that is twisted or just a kick? The fact that he says he felt a little unstable when he was running is not good news. We don’t know yet how much of his pain is down to the kick and how much is down to the fact he twisted his ligament. “

“We will assess the situation tomorrow morning. He will be scanned and if it is just a kick he has a good chance to play on Tuesday night [at Alkmaar]. If it is more, he will not play on Tuesday. I believe personally he will not be available on Tuesday at least. It is not a cruciate for example but it could be more than a week if it is a twisted ligament.”

Nevertheless from the highlights I saw, it was a pretty decent game and it was good that we were able to hold off their challenge and score a winner late on to put the game to bed. As expected, Gibbs slotted in at left back with Eboue coming in for Sagna at right back. I figure the boss may decide to start Bacary against AZ on Tuesday. I was rather surprised to see Almunia on the bench instead of Fabianski and Mannone in goal. Could this be a telling sign that the balance of power has changed? Or was this Don Vito’s chance for the second of his much needed consecutive performances to secure his place as Arsenal’s number one keeper? The boss was notably quiet on this. We’ll see! Otherwise, it’s On Your Toes Manuel!

Wenger was however quick to heap praise on Alex Song, who looks like he’s becoming our most important player defensively or otherwise. He said;


“He is strong and smooth. He is not rigid, he is agile. He is a slalom player and is not a straight-line player. He uses that very well, he has a good combination of strengths and agility and I believe as well he uses his technique in a very intelligent way. He likes a tackle. Cameroon people are strong, you know? In Africa they call them the Germans of Africa because of their strong bodies.”

In other news, Chelsea lost away to Aston Villa while Liverpool went down to a Sunderland goal that came off a beach balloon ironically thrown into the pitch by one of their own fans! You’d think they’d know where to throw and object like that! As it stands, we seem to be sitting pretty in fourth place with a game in hand, which if we come off with maximum points would lead us only one point off the pace, should Man City fail to beat Wigan today.
In other news, Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin have been nominated for the 2009 European Player of the Year award although I expect either Lionel Messi or (senitmentally) Ryan Giggs to win it.

The official Arsenal Magazine for November is out and it features Tomas Rosicky giving his first in-depth interview since his return from long term injury. The next phase of the Arsenalisation of the Emirates Stadium has also been completed with another set of Arsenal legends unveiled in the area around the armoury. Please visit Arsenal.com for pictures.

A provisional date of December 2 has been fixed for our outstanding game against Bolton and it’s probability would depend on the likelhood of either of the teams progressing to the next phase of the Carling Cup. My heart says we’ll beat Liverpool so the fixture computer better come up with something better. I’ll have more news on our loan stars tomorrow on the blog.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

Nice one tayoccu . . .

Mukina2 can I do the one for Sp*rs on the 31st?

tayoccu:




Kroenke buys more Arsenal shares


is this good or bad?

I talked about this on the blog. . .you might want to scroll up a bit to my earlier post.

I've been following this saga for a while now. Allow me to jolt your memories a bit.

David Dein left the board because he disagreed with them over the clubs transfer policies amongst other things and sold his shares to Red and White Holdings owned by Uzbek Alisher Usmanov. Stan Kroenke was bought some loose shares and hovered around 12%. His intentions were unknown and the board preferred to act cautiously. After further discussions with the board, they both decided they had similar ambitions for the club

Relations with Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith who also owns about 15% of the shares soured and she was removed from the board last year. Coupled with the fear that she may sell off to Usmanov, Kroenke was invited to join the board and he increased his shareholding, buying off a substantial portion of stock from the Hill-Woods, the Carrs and Danny Fizman.

What is seems is that the board is comfortable with Kroenke as he is on the same page with them, policy wise. Kroenke who owns the Denver Nuggets and the Avalanche I think is known to be a clear headed fellow and the board will not be averse to him holding a blocking stake should Lady Nina attempt sell to Usmanov they would simply sell their shares to him  to give him control.


The Intrigues

edoyad:
And why isn't Vela incided ? They better not piss that off.

I put up the possible squad off the back of my head and I just couldn't fit Vela in. . .and I love the guy too. It's a toughie!

It certainly is refreshing to be able to be back writing the blog again after the international break. Is it me or does every thing seem to just grind to a halt when the players are away on international duty or what? Now I see why Almunia would at least want to play for England.
I wonder what he got up to at Colney with Silvestre and Rob the Chef! A great deal of activity has taken place in the last 24 hours that is definitely newsworthy and with our game against Birmingham tomorrow, there sure is plenty to talk about.

American billionaire Stan Kroenke is reported to have bought a further 90 shares of the club at £8,500 each to raise his stake to 28.9 per cent. I wonder who’s been selling to him? I am interested to see if this is another move to stave of Alisher Usmanov or whether it represents a long term desire to take over the club. Should his stake reach 29.9%, under stock exchange rules he would be forced to make an offer for the rest of the shares.

The boss is not too concerned about ownership, provided the club is run the way it should be. He said;

“As long as the club can be run as it is at the moment, it doesn’t really matter. Certainly at some stage, someone will get the majority of the shares. Once somebody reaches 29.9 per cent of the shareholding, they have to make a bid for the club.”

“Then he could gain over 50 per cent, and he will be the decider of the club, but he could still decide that the club should continue to run how it is now. I know at our club we have foreign owners who are billionaires, but it has no interference with the day-to-day management and running of the club. If one man controls the club, fine, but as long as the club lives within its own resources.”

Atletico Madrid have publicly declared interest in Emmanuel Eboue and young Fran Merida who is also reportedly a transfer target for Sevilla. I think we should be more worried about Merida than Eboue as since the Spaniard is out of contract in the summer, he might be tempted into a move back home if the prospect of first team football doesn’t look any likely. Our progress in the Carling cup might also play a factor in his decision to sign or not to sign. We’ll see.

Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Birmingham, the boss has revealed the latest injury news.
With Clichy a doubt and Eduardo still out, Cesc Fabregas is available to play despite flying home from the Spain squad to be with his sick grandfather. Great news is the fact that Samir Nasri could be fit to return against Liverpool in the Carling cup and Fabianski could be included in the squad for the first time (scary!) Almunia is also 50:50 to return. What does this mean for us tomorrow? Hmnn

Possible Squad: Mannone (for the last time), Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs/Traore, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Arshavin, Van Persie, Walcott.
Subs: Fabianksi, Eboue, Gibbs/Traore, Bendtner, Rosicky, Silvestre, Ramsey

I’m going out on a limb here but despite it all, I don’t think Birmingham will just roll over the floor and beg for mercy. They’ve just been promised £40m for players and wages in January by their new owner and in a way, I’m happy Eduardo misses this game as it may bring back horrific memories of that fateful February. What is worse though is the fact that the next time he may have to face them will be at St Andrews…ooh!

On the prospect of facing a free scoring Arsenal team, Birmingham boss Alex McLeish had this to say;

“It’s a challenge to us, isn’t it? We have been to Manchester United this season and people thought they might put six by us but we played very well there, we maybe could have got something on the day. We certainly deserved something at Tottenham.”

“There’s evidence there that the players can go and give good performances against the top teams. Arsenal are a fantastic football side, a delight to watch. Arsenal fans must love it watching that brand of football and it must be the dream of every manager to play football like that.”

By the way, Thomas Vermaelen has been named EA SPORTS Player of the month for the second month running scooping 39.4% of the votes ahead of Vito Mannone and Robin Van Persie. The club has also launched their offical app for the Iphone and Ipod Touch.

More tomorrow. Till then; Victoria Concordia Crescit!

It certainly is refreshing to be able to be back writing the blog again after the international break. Is it me or does every thing seem to just grind to a halt when the players are away on international duty or what? Now I see why Almunia would at least want to play for England.
I wonder what he got up to at Colney with Silvestre and Rob the Chef! A great deal of activity has taken place in the last 24 hours that is definitely newsworthy and with our game against Birmingham tomorrow, there sure is plenty to talk about.

American billionaire Stan Kroenke is reported to have bought a further 90 shares of the club at £8,500 each to raise his stake to 28.9 per cent. I wonder who’s been selling to him? I am interested to see if this is another move to stave of Alisher Usmanov or whether it represents a long term desire to take over the club. Should his stake reach 29.9%, under stock exchange rules he would be forced to make an offer for the rest of the shares.

The boss is not too concerned about ownership, provided the club is run the way it should be. He said;

“As long as the club can be run as it is at the moment, it doesn’t really matter. Certainly at some stage, someone will get the majority of the shares. Once somebody reaches 29.9 per cent of the shareholding, they have to make a bid for the club.”

“Then he could gain over 50 per cent, and he will be the decider of the club, but he could still decide that the club should continue to run how it is now. I know at our club we have foreign owners who are billionaires, but it has no interference with the day-to-day management and running of the club. If one man controls the club, fine, but as long as the club lives within its own resources.”

Atletico Madrid have publicly declared interest in Emmanuel Eboue and young Fran Merida who is also reportedly a transfer target for Sevilla. I think we should be more worried about Merida than Eboue as since the Spaniard is out of contract in the summer, he might be tempted into a move back home if the prospect of first team football doesn’t look any likely. Our progress in the Carling cup might also play a factor in his decision to sign or not to sign. We’ll see.

Ahead of tomorrow’s game against Birmingham, the boss has revealed the latest injury news.
With Clichy a doubt and Eduardo still out, Cesc Fabregas is available to play despite flying home from the Spain squad to be with his sick grandfather. Great news is the fact that Samir Nasri could be fit to return against Liverpool in the Carling cup and Fabianski could be included in the squad for the first time (scary!) Almunia is also 50:50 to return. What does this mean for us tomorrow? Hmnn

Possible Squad: Mannone (for the last time), Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs/Traore, Song, Diaby, Fabregas, Arshavin, Van Persie, Walcott.
Subs: Fabianksi, Eboue, Gibbs/Traore, Bendtner, Rosicky, Silvestre, Ramsey

I’m going out on a limb here but despite it all, I don’t think Birmingham will just roll over the floor and beg for mercy. They’ve just been promised £40m for players and wages in January by their new owner and in a way, I’m happy Eduardo misses this game as it may bring back horrific memories of that fateful February. What is worse though is the fact that the next time he may have to face them will be at St Andrews…ooh!

On the prospect of facing a free scoring Arsenal team, Birmingham boss Alex McLeish had this to say;

“It’s a challenge to us, isn’t it? We have been to Manchester United this season and people thought they might put six by us but we played very well there, we maybe could have got something on the day. We certainly deserved something at Tottenham.”

“There’s evidence there that the players can go and give good performances against the top teams. Arsenal are a fantastic football side, a delight to watch. Arsenal fans must love it watching that brand of football and it must be the dream of every manager to play football like that.”

By the way, Thomas Vermaelen has been named EA SPORTS Player of the month for the second month running scooping 39.4% of the votes ahead of Vito Mannone and Robin Van Persie. The club has also launched their offical app for the Iphone and Ipod Touch.

More tomorrow. Till then; Victoria Concordia Crescit!

I’ve been quiet for the last few days, not because I had nothing to say but simply because I didn’t want to get caught up in the moment of the frenzy surrounding Arsene’s 13th anniversary. You have the media criticizing Wenger for his policies on one day and praising him for his achievements on the next. Nevertheless, I must pay tribute to our longest serving and most successful Manager. In 1996 the headlines screamed Arsene Who? Three league titles and Four FA Cups later it’s all about ArsenAL Wenger. Two defeats in European finals and one in the Carling Cup admittedly leave a sour taste in the mouth but still there is more to achieve and in the end there can be only one verdict. “In Arsene We Trust!”

Arsenal Director Ken Friar has described Wenger as a very special man. He said;

“Arsenal Football Club owes Arsène Wenger a great debt in terms of putting us where we are today. Although there are many other people involved, it’s like a great meal – if there’s nobody there to eat it, it doesn’t get appreciated. And we’ve got 60,000 people eating the meal regularly.
He’s been remarkable and we’re very, very fortunate to have him with us. The 13 years seems to have gone so quickly and soon [October 22] we shall be celebrating the 39th anniversary of his 21st birthday!”

It is ironic too that Wenger’s first game in charge was a 2-0 away win to Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League on October 12, 1996. Given that we play them at home this weekend, it is sure to be a sentimental moment for the boss. In keeping with tradition, Nick Teale of Arsenal.com caught up with Andy Cryer from the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for the lowdown on Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers and he had this to say.

“In recent years they’ve been heavily beaten at the Emirates, last season especially it was so one-sided it was embarrassing. I think he’ll pick his strongest side come Sunday and he’ll go at it very defensively I would have thought. He’ll pack the defence, he’ll pack the midfield and he’ll try and frustrate Arsenal.”

“David Dunn is Rovers’ dangerman without a doubt. Everybody has known about his talent for a long time, he’s just had bad injury problems. Hopefully he’s through that now and I think they have found the right position for him just behind the striker in the hole, and he’s really enjoying life there. If Rovers do create anything on Sunday it will be Dunn that does it.”

After his car crash last weekend Nicklas Bendtner is available for selection as well as Theo Walcott in place of Eduardo who has had a recurrence of his muscle injury. On other players, Wenger had this to say;

“Manuel Almunia is not far, I will assess him Friday or Saturday but he looks unlikely to be ready. They (Lukasz Fabianski and Samir Nasri) should be back in training before the end of the break. Then they will need a little bit of time to get back but they have had very good basic fitness work so once they practice with the team again it will be a very short time to wait.”

Personally, I believe Vito Mannone is two consecutive performances away from becoming Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper. In all my years as a Gooner, I’ve never seen Wenger bench an in-form player. We saw it very recently with the case of Flamini in 2007/2008 where a backup player started so brightly that it was impossible to field the apparent first choices (Gilberto/Diaby). However, the news of Almunia’s impending recovery could mean that Vito might not get the benefit of two performances. Nevertheless, I stand to be corrected. We’ll see.

Talking tactics, I’d go for the same line up against Olympiacos save for Sagna coming in for Eboue at right back. Offensively, I’m comfortable with Rosicky on the right as it stands as it might be too soon for Walcott to start and Bendtner might still be too shaken to start.

My Verdict: Arsenal 3 Blackburn 0

Till next time. . .Victoria Concordia Crescit

I’ve been quiet for the last few days, not because I had nothing to say but simply because I didn’t want to get caught up in the moment of the frenzy surrounding Arsene’s 13th anniversary. You have the media criticizing Wenger for his policies on one day and praising him for his achievements on the next. Nevertheless, I must pay tribute to our longest serving and most successful Manager. In 1996 the headlines screamed Arsene Who? Three league titles and Four FA Cups later it’s all about ArsenAL Wenger. Two defeats in European finals and one in the Carling Cup admittedly leave a sour taste in the mouth but still there is more to achieve and in the end there can be only one verdict. “In Arsene We Trust!”

Arsenal Director Ken Friar has described Wenger as a very special man. He said;

“Arsenal Football Club owes Arsène Wenger a great debt in terms of putting us where we are today. Although there are many other people involved, it’s like a great meal – if there’s nobody there to eat it, it doesn’t get appreciated. And we’ve got 60,000 people eating the meal regularly.
He’s been remarkable and we’re very, very fortunate to have him with us. The 13 years seems to have gone so quickly and soon [October 22] we shall be celebrating the 39th anniversary of his 21st birthday!”

It is ironic too that Wenger’s first game in charge was a 2-0 away win to Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League on October 12, 1996. Given that we play them at home this weekend, it is sure to be a sentimental moment for the boss. In keeping with tradition, Nick Teale of Arsenal.com caught up with Andy Cryer from the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for the lowdown on Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers and he had this to say.

“In recent years they’ve been heavily beaten at the Emirates, last season especially it was so one-sided it was embarrassing. I think he’ll pick his strongest side come Sunday and he’ll go at it very defensively I would have thought. He’ll pack the defence, he’ll pack the midfield and he’ll try and frustrate Arsenal.”

“David Dunn is Rovers’ dangerman without a doubt. Everybody has known about his talent for a long time, he’s just had bad injury problems. Hopefully he’s through that now and I think they have found the right position for him just behind the striker in the hole, and he’s really enjoying life there. If Rovers do create anything on Sunday it will be Dunn that does it.”

After his car crash last weekend Nicklas Bendtner is available for selection as well as Theo Walcott in place of Eduardo who has had a recurrence of his muscle injury. On other players, Wenger had this to say;

“Manuel Almunia is not far, I will assess him Friday or Saturday but he looks unlikely to be ready. They (Lukasz Fabianski and Samir Nasri) should be back in training before the end of the break. Then they will need a little bit of time to get back but they have had very good basic fitness work so once they practice with the team again it will be a very short time to wait.”

Personally, I believe Vito Mannone is two consecutive performances away from becoming Arsenal’s first choice goalkeeper. In all my years as a Gooner, I’ve never seen Wenger bench an in-form player. We saw it very recently with the case of Flamini in 2007/2008 where a backup player started so brightly that it was impossible to field the apparent first choices (Gilberto/Diaby). However, the news of Almunia’s impending recovery could mean that Vito might not get the benefit of two performances. Nevertheless, I stand to be corrected. We’ll see.

Talking tactics, I’d go for the same line up against Olympiacos save for Sagna coming in for Eboue at right back. Offensively, I’m comfortable with Rosicky on the right as it stands as it might be too soon for Walcott to start and Bendtner might still be too shaken to start.

My Verdict: Arsenal 3 Blackburn 0

Till next time. . .Victoria Concordia Crescit

presido1:
Thank you very much, one guy with another user name posted this same picture last season. I can't remember his name but he was trying to sell Debosky some match day ticket at a higher price. Unless you will tell me you use two handles in here otherwise i still maintain those pictures are not yours.

Ha ha I remember this one. . . lol I remember that ahonohai was able to get tickets from Ticket Exchange and didn't go ahead with the RedAction tickets. Good memory

presido1:
Are you ahonohai?

What do you think?

presido1:
Wetin don do? if he is not ahonohai why are they using the same picture. Do gayners think spurs are idiots?
Let him come and clerify us otherwise what happened two yrs ago will happen again.

What happened two years ago? Bendtner scoring the winner at White Hart Lane?

And yes, we do think Sp*rs are a bunch of idiots!

Hmm. . .I guess I left this on for too long!

presido1:
Dude no be you dey for the picture naw? I have seen that pix b4 so stop possing with another person picture.

He he he. . .so tell me; where did you see the picture again? Facebook? My alter ego a****h**?

I must be really popular then!

Some people just make me laugh!!!

manmustwac:
@Gooner
do u even know where the emirates is? I bet you'll never reach there in your lifetime

~Gooner~:
Jerk off to this you friggin C**t

OK you've seen enough

manmustwac:
@Gooner
do u even know where the emirates is? I bet you'll never reach there in your lifetime

Jerk off to this you friggin C**t

Ok you've seen enough