₦airaland Forum

~Gooner~:
Having some issues with the site this morning.

I think I may have been attacked by dayokanu and a bunch of obertans!

~Gooner~:
Yesterday morning, the club released it’s financial results for the year ended May 31, 2009. The highlights are as shown below.

•Group turnover increased to £313.3 million (2008 ‐ £223.0 million) reflecting income generated from cup competitions and property sales.

•Match day revenue was increased to £100.1 million (2008 ‐ £94.6 million), mainly as a result of progress to the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup semi‐finals.

•Operating profits (before depreciation and player trading) in the football business were £62.7 million (2008 ‐ £59.6 million)

•The completion of sale of 208 (2007 – Nil) private apartments at Highbury Square contributed £88.0 million of revenue (2008 ‐ £15.2 million) and boosted the operating profit from property activities to £7.8 million (2008 – Nil).

•Profit after tax of £35.2 million (2008 ‐ £25.7 million) was a record for the Group.

•Since the end of the financial year there have been a number of further positive developments in relation to the Group’s Highbury Square project. Of the 655 private apartments in the development, sales have now completed on 445 units with a cumulative sales revenue value of £172.4 million. The balance on the bank loan used to fund the project has been substantially reduced to £47 million and agreement has been reached to refinance the loan and extend its term to December 2010.

What else can I say? Business is Booming! It is however important to note as CEO Ivan Gazidis points out that the although financial success of the club forms the basis for on-pitch success of the team, the club only exists because of the football side of the business as progression to the simi-finals of the FA Cup and Champions’ League last season contributed tremendously to the brilliant results achieved.

He was also quick to point out that all profits are reinvested into the club and there are no shareholder dividends. Significant investments include the record signing of Andrey Arshavin as well as the acquisition of Thomas Vermaelen in the summer. The long term futures of 8 first team players was also recently secured and this is an ongoing process. Quoting him;

“The manager will only invest in players that have quality and will add value to the squad. He won’t spend just because he’s got the money.”

“Clearly, the Club already has a first class stadium, an excellent world‐wide reputation and outstanding core support. Football is a hugely competitive and fast moving business and we must ensure that Arsenal is not just keeping pace but setting the pace, both on and off the field. The Club is superbly positioned for the future and I am tremendously excited about the opportunities we have ahead of us.”

We are fairly resilient on the football side as despite the freezing of ticket prices, there was also a slight increase in retail and commercial revenues which is commendable given the harsh economic climate. The outlook for the current year is tremendously optimistic and with the addition of new personnel to the Senior Management Team on the business and commercial side, our financial future looks bright.

With UEFA and the Premier League breathing down the necks of clubs to shape up their finances, I’m glad that the club has an efficient business model which is essentially self sustaining on the football side without the recourse to external funds. For instance, in the event that Highbury Square should make a loss and the development on Queensland Road should stall, it will in no way affect the football side of the business. However profits, (which seem already certain) will automatically be ploughed back into the club. This I say is a win-win situation!

I know that there are many who say that the club is run as business and not as a football club and while I admit that the first part is true, the second part is equally as true as these financials have proven that the driving force behind our success is the performances of our team on the pitch. The mere fact that the shareholders do not receive dividends is an indication of their thinking that the football not profit comes first. All in all, I am positive that we are in good hands and hopeful that in the not too far future, our prudence will be rewarded with the ultimate success in the League or cups.

Till then, there’s only one song we should be singing; it’s In Arsene We Trust! The manager has also been quick express his pleasure at the results. He said;

“I am encouraged by the fact that the financial results are good because on my side I try to contribute to that. I am quite proud that I work in a company that is in a strong financial situation. I have always worked in clubs which make money and I would not feel that I do my job well if we lost money at the end of the season.”

“However the sporting side is always the most important thing. To be completely happy you have to do well on the sporting side but never, no matter what happens, can it be accepted from any manager that to do that you put your club in trouble."

Arsenal Chairman Peter Hill-Wood also closed the door on any prospects of a rights issue as proposed by Red and White Holdings. He said;

“In the final analysis I believe it boils down to a decision about whether it is appropriate to raise money from shareholders to purchase registrations and pay the wages of footballers. “This is not something that Arsenal has ever done previously in its history and it would be at odds with our ethos of running the club as a business which is self-sustaining and pays its own way in the world."

In some shocking news yesterday, Denilson has been ruled out for two months with a back injury suffered during the game against Man City on September 12 while Nicklas Bendtner will miss tonights Champions’ League clash against Olympiacos after crashing his car on Sunday. Fortunately, he only suffered some minor bruising and was advised not to train yesterday.

Talking tactics now, with the absence of Denilson, it seems clearer now that Diaby is set to get an extended run in midfield. While I prefer to see him stuck up front just behind the strikers, I admit he clearly has abilities and all he needs to do is to be more decisive on the ball and use his body size more often in play apart from during set pieces. That said, the only change I forsee ahead of tonight’s game is either Eboue or Eduardo on the right.

Olympiakos will be missing attacking midfielder Luciano Galletti and striker Matt Derbyshire, who are both injured and I suggest it might affect the way they line up against Arsenal tonight.

The game is live at 19:45 on Hi Soccer in Nigeria.

Hasta Mañana…Victoria Concordia Crescit.

~Gooner~:
I believe Arsene has a selection worry ahead of tomorrows game against Olympiakos in the Champions’ League. The return of semi-fitness of Walcott and Arshavin and the availability of Rosicky, Eduardo and Vela leaves us with an abundance of attacking options. With Van Persie a guaranteed starter in attack, I wonder who Arsene will go with to flank him on either side.

Walcott is not yet fully fit to start and Arshavin doesn’t yet have the strength to trackback to support Clichy all game long. He may yet decide to stick with Bendtner on the right and Eduardo on the left for the first half as we seek to put the game to bed early on. Diaby is probably going to get another run in midfield again unless the boss has other plans that involve Eboue or Ramsey.

Personally, I’d like to see Arshavin dropping to the bench as he was awful in Saturday’s game as the Guardian Chalkboards contrast his performance to that of Nicklas Bendtner.

Of note also was the fact that his inability to track back to support the full back resulted in the majority of the Fulham crosses coming in from the left side of the Arsenal defence. He does have Vito Mannone to thank after pulling off tremendous saves to keep Arsenal in the game. Last season, we would have lost the game 4-1.

I’m happy to see us gring out wins like this. What this shows is that not only do you need a good defence, you also need quality between the sticks. Many Arsenal supporters have on player they do not rate as qualified to play for the Gunners. Usually it’s either Bendtner, Eboue, Silvestre or Diaby. For me Vito Mannone was almost in that category. After Saturday’s performance, I believe Mannone has permanently left that class as on more than one occassion on the blog, I have questioned his credentials to be a top flight goalkeeper.

Now, he has much more than the benefit of doubt as the top spot is available for the taking. As every third choice goal keeper at Arsenal knows as I said yesterday, you never know when next you’ll have the chance to play in the first team again. Manuel Almunia can tell you that from experience after playing only one Premiership game in three years following his nightmare performance against Man Utd at Highbury in 2004. Meanwhile Mannone has hailed it as the best game he has ever played (only 5 if you get your stats right). He said;

“That’s the best game I have ever played. When I have played in the past it wasn’t so important,” said Mannone. “In the first-team you have to show what you can do and I think I did that. My favourite was the double save in the first half when I went to my right. It gave me a lot of confidence.“

“It hit me in the face so it has made me a little bit uglier but I want to improve my confidence. It’s better to have lots of saves to do than to have nothing to do for 80 minutes and then make one save. That’s more difficult than making saves in a row.“

“I always try to stay relaxed. The boss told me to stay relaxed, use my technique and play as in training. It was a good performance by the team. We showed a lot of character in this game. When you come away you have to show you can play physically, you can play on the floor and we got our chance and scored.”

In some other news, Carlos Vela has been linked with a loan move to Spanish side Xerez in January. I don’t think that will happen if we are still in the Carling Cup at that stage of the season. Hopefully, we’ll have some more news today after the press interviews ahead of the game tomorrow.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

~Gooner~:
[center]On Your Toes Manuel – 27/09/09[/center]

Yesterday, even though the game against Fulham ended one nil to the Arsenal, it was all about Vito Mannone. For a third choice goalkeeper, you never know when next you’ll have a chance to play in a first team game. Arsene Wenger elected to rate him 10 out of 10. He said;

“I believe we will give him 10 out of 10 because everything he did was right. For a goalkeeper that is most important. He stopped everything he had to stop, didn’t make any wrong decisions and overall he has shown he has the potential to be a very good goalkeeper.

“He is goalkeeper No 3 but goalkeeper No 4 is exceptional as well. I believe Wojciech is quality and he has shown that against West Brom and I gave Mannone the advantage because he’s three or four years older and has more experience.

“Until the next game he is No 1. In this job you have to go from game to game. He has played a fantastic game today and the consistency is the first sign of quality.

“He kept us in the game in some unbelievable situations. You say that keeper sometimes look unbeatable. Today he looked like he could make the save needed every time.”

Wenger’s comments about giving Mannone the advantage over Wojiech tally with my thoughts, but I must admit that I never rated him any good until last night. He was simply exceptional! His reflexes and decision making were key in keeping us in the game yesterday. If he keeps this up who knows, we just might have a fight on our hands for the top keeper slot!

With Arsenal being drawn against Liverpool in the Carling cup, the boss also insists that he would not change his approach to the tie. He said;

“It doesn’t change my approach. I always try and play a team who has a good chance of winning. We are happy to be playing at home, of course, today I is very difficult to predict who we will play because next week is an international break and the Carling Cup game is between two Champions League games. We will have to see who is available.”

I guess when the time comes, the boss will do what he thinks is right for the team. Probably a decent mixture of young and old.

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit

ty_sante:
hello, you can try and visit my own web not that other one <it belongs to an online blogging teacher friend> Check www.box-18.com and tell me. I can help one way or the other.

slimshay:
Meanwhile anyone knows where ~Gooner~ is at? Havent seen him lately.

edoyad:
^^ True talk . Missing his sermons.
Victoria Concordia Crescit

edoyad:
^^ Mk2, any time i read his blog/posts, i come out invigorated, like i just attending a good service with inspiring non properity message

edoyad:
So as the Mod/Wenger of this thread it is your duty to go and bring him back . Because unlike Adebayor he is still wanted here

mukina2:
he will come soon

~Gooner~:
[center]What to do? – 25/09/09[/center]
I don’t even feel like writing today’s blog! Some idiot on a bike ripped my back bumper off this morning and I didn’t find it funny at all. Good thing though that it was only the pins that came off or I’d have had his head for breakfast.

Arsene Wenger has responded to criticism from Bordeaux President Jean-Louis Triaud that he acted unfairly in his pursuit of Maroune Chamakh. He said;

“The communication between the president of Bordeaux and myself was very clear – I kept him informed on everything that happened. “It’s very difficult for me to understand any statement of that kind from him. But if he is ready to make a comment, I’m ready to sit down with him here and explain to you what he said. Then I will answer eye to eye.”

“The boy is fantastic but, in my career, I have made nearly 200 transfers and that means nearly 400 have not happened. That is part of any deal. It’s not because they are under pressure in Bordeaux that we have to explain everything that happens.”

However, Wenger played down the possibility of making a new bid in January stating that Eduardo had made a fantastic recovery from his injury and that Bendtner had just signed a contract extension. Nice one!

Phillippe Senderos has admitted that returning to Arsenal in the summer felt like “coming home”.  After a disappointing loan spell at Milan, he looked set to leave the club during the transfer window. However, he made his return to competitive action for the Gunners midweek against West Brom in the Carling Cup. He said;

“I had a few possibilities, but in the end it wasn’t the right thing for the Club or me. I’ll say this to anyone – I love London and love Arsenal, and wanted to stay here, but obviously I need to feature around the team.”

Andrey Arshavin is set to return against Fulham tomorrow and we hope to have Robin Van Persie fit and possibly Theo Walcott on the bench. Walcott too was keen to speak on his fitness. He said;

“I’ve trained all week. Hopefully I can play some part at the weekend, and we’ll go from there.  I’m not going to look too far ahead. I’ll concentrate on the weekend and then if I put in a good performance then I might get a start on Tuesday, but it’s a good Arsenal team to get in at the moment. I’ve got to train well and then see where it takes me.”

With Citeh losing to a late Michael Owen goal last weekend, Arsene Wenger is insistent that that the rules that govern stoppage time should be clearer to avoid any controversies as was seen in the Manchester derby. Hopefully, the game should be wrapped up by then.

In some other news, Higbury Square was officially opened yesterday with Arsène Wenger, Club Directors and players from Arsenal’s past and present gracing the occasion. After 93 years as a football ground, I’m sure the new residences will create lasting memories for years to come.

Young Dutch Midfielder Oguzhan Ozyakup has also signed professional terms with the club. We wish him all the best for the future.

For some reason tickets to the home game against Olympiacos on Tuesday have gone on General Sale. I wonder what’s on TV that night? Non members have a great opportunity to purchase tickets directly for this game.

Tomorrow, we shall talk tactics.

Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit

ty_sante:
Your blog looks very nice and good as well, but i believe you should still learn a bit about blogging from www.blognownow.com. I'm not condeming but its constructive. The blog is alright.
The theme also looks sport like.


box-18

~Gooner~:
Yesterday afternoon, I tweeted that if I was still stuck in traffic by 7pm I’d get off the bus, get on a bike and race home in time for kick off. At 7pm I was ready to roll but the only problem was that I was in the middle of third mainland bridge without an empty bike in sight…By 7:45 I was closer home but it was already too late to think of getting on a bike in a lonely area so I decided to call Biolabee for an update on the starting line up.

“Diaby is playing Oh!” were the first words he muttered and then spoke in hope of a win. Two minutes later, I called him back and was stunned to hear we were a goal down and had just conceded a penalty. “Goal, they’ve scored! He shouted back! I just knew that Jovanovic guy had something to do with it.

Half an hour later I arrived home to the usual darkness (thankfully the generator had been fixed earlier in the day) and turned on the TV. I wasn’t too impressed with the exchanges I saw and kept wondering why we kept giving the ball away. Wenger looked livid and the players looked visibly shaken, I learnt it was Eduardo giving the ball away with a needless back flick that led to the first goal and an unfortunate Gallas incident resulted in a penalty…Flashback to Man Utd last season and I wondered how much longer I could take.

Enough of the story telling. The only way we could have gotten back into the game was to pull one back just before halftime. This we did thanks to some good work from Diaby freeing up Bendtner on the right to slot past the Standard keeper.

Giving credit to our hosts, they were keeping us under pressure and we seemed to lack creative intent in the final third. Each time we got the ball we always seemed to pass it out wide in anticipation of a cross then pass it back again. . . pointless stuff in my opinion.

It was interesting to see Rosicky on the right and Eduardo on the left with Bendtner in the middle. With Sagna being rested, I assumed it was to also good to allow Eboue (who was again rather wasteful) space to overlap and send crosses into the box.

A crucial block from Clichy was all that saved us from conceding a third early in the second half. I must say that in all fairness Mannone wasn’t really tested at all in the match and while the first goal was rather unfortunate, the second was a penalty which you know was a penalty. If Almunia is still out by the weekend, it will be interesting to see how he performs in a meaningful league game against Wigan at the weekend.

I won’t bore you with too many details about a match which ended with Vermaelen bundling home a Cesc Fabregas’ set piece after good work by Song to keep it in play even though he was miles offside and it looked as if he handled the ball and a deserved winner by Eduardo kneeing the ball off a Fabregas corner. It wasn’t our greatest performance ever, but it was one that showed great strength to comeback from going down so early in a game. The full match report is available at Arsenal.com

Early in the second half, Tomas Rosicky played a pin point 50 yard pass to Nicklas Bendtner which required a perfectly timed tackle from Mangala to prevent an equaliser. Although he was taken off after 70 minutes, it shows he still has great quality and only needs to improve on his match fitness to reach the great heights we know he is capable of attaining.

Just before we equalised, I noticed Wenger signal to Pat Rice that two subs were to be made. With the ball out of play, the referee seemed to signal for the sub to be made as Wilshere and Sagna were already on the touchline. For some reason, he changed his mind and asked for play to continue. We scored straight from the corner and Wenger decided to keep Eduardo on in hope of getting a winner. Eduardo scored a minute later. All I can say is that sometimes, you need to take a gamble at crunch time and yesterday, Arsene’s gamble paid off. He said;

“I wanted to put one more offensive player on and take Song off. When I saw we had a free kick I did not do it because I know Song can be dangerous on free kicks. Then after we scored, I did not make the substitution.”


Speaking after the game the boss was quick to highlight the importance of the win. He said;

“When you’re at a big club, you cannot afford to have too many defeats on the trot. “After being 2-0 down, this will strengthen belief within the group”

“We could not afford to concede a third goal but had to try to come back to 2-1 at least before half-time – which is what we did. In the second half, the game dropped a bit in physical intensity. When they got tired, we got some set-pieces and took advantage.”

Liege Coach was not so impressed. He said;

“We started very well, but were not strong enough mentally to continue the same way in the second half,” he said. “We sat back in midfield, so all the pressure was too much for us.

“Arsenal had good help from the referee at their second goal – two players were offside and there was also a handball. This was the moment when they got more motivation and we lost ours, but the biggest problem was we have to play better.”

The win moves Arsenal to the top of the group with Olympiakos only managing a 1-0 home win over AZ Alkmaar. Let’s consolidate!

In other news, US-Vietnamese Star Lee Nguyen is set to train with the Arsenal reserves for a month in continuation of the club’s partnership with Vietnam league team Hoang Ahn Gia Lai. A University of Portsmouth psychologist Dr Paul Morris has also provided a four-point guide to help referees spot a diving footballer. Sounds interesting…throw the book at Ronaldo!

Not surprising though is the fact that Citeh have accepted the charge of violent conduct brought against Emmanuel Adebayor…they’d be stupid not to!

We’ve got Wigan at the weekend and a preview would be in line tomorrow or Saturday morning before I fly to Port Harcourt for Mabel and Franklin’s wedding…I’m on the wedding train!

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit!

ahonohai:
Is this going to be an everyday thing?

mukina2:
you nor dey hear word ni?

olabukola:
At this rate if Citeh manage to win anything this season or next some of you will write to FA to transfer the winning to Arsenal.

~Gooner~:
The big news of the morning is the fact that either Vito Mannone or Wojciech Szczesny will make their Champions’ League debut against Standard Liege tonight. In all honesty, it looks like Mannone will get the nod but with what I’ve seen of both keepers, I’d prefer to start Wojciech in goal. The manager had some words to say about the young Italian keeper.

“At least he’s played one, and he did quite well. It will be quite a heated atmosphere. It is a big challenge for a young boy to come into a Champions League game with such pressure. But I am confident. If you look at the number of shots we have conceded recently, it is not that many.”

Apparently, Manuel Almunia seems to have picked up a chest infection while Robin Van Persie and Denilson picked up knocks against Citeh at the weekend. One surprise though was the inclusion of young striker Sanchez Watt. I’ve written about him several times on the blog and I’d be interested to see feature at some stage of the match. He’s an exciting young talent and I’m pleased the boss is confident enough to include him in the European squad.

I must confess that I know very little about Standard Liege. Historically our joint record win in Europe was a 7-0 bashing against them in 1993. However last season, I watched both legs of their Champions’ League qualifying tie against Liverpool and must say that they really can play football. As Belgian Champions for the last two years, they will be looking to impress in the group stages. Nick Teal of Arsenal.com caught up with Het Laatste Nieuws reporter Kristof Terreur for the lowdown on Standard Liege and he had this to say;

“Standard play football technically well, their game has lots of passion. They have a defence with tall, strong guys, a midfield with technical players and two complete attackers who are fast and strong. 
Standard fans create a South American atmosphere at the stadium.”
“Everybody will be singing all the time, like they used to in England some years ago. Last year in Liverpool, there was more atmosphere from the 5,000 Standard fans than from the 40,000 home fans at Anfield, and the Liverpool fans were very impressed with them.”

They will however be without influential captain Stephen Defour who suffered a broken leg at the weekend and has been ruled out for three months. One man however, we will be keen to avoid is Axel Witsel who was recently suspended for 8 domestic games for a vicious tackle that smashed his opponents leg into two, he is however short of match practice though! That’s one man  Eduardo will definitely be avoiding!

Arsene Wenger has also claimed a bias from referees towards Arsenal has been created as a result of the Eduardo incident. He said;

“What I feel about it is we didn’t get the penalty at Manchester United with [Andrey] Arshavin and it was a direct consequence of what happened with Eduardo. We didn’t get the penalty at Manchester City with Gareth Barry either, and it was a direct consequence of that. Eduardo didn’t get a penalty when he played for Croatia against England and that was a direct consequence of that as well. It’s the referee’s problem. What you expect from the referee is to make the right decision in any circumstances and I don’t believe they will have to consider that case. That case has been judged. I believe in life you live with your own conscience and if Eduardo is convinced himself that he’s been touched that is the most important thing. We had the forensic expert who proved he had been touched.”

Talking tactics, I don’t expect us to line up differently from our new 4-3-3 formation. Barring any last minute knocks, I expect to see Diaby slot into the middle with Fabregas and Song with Rosicky taking up an attacking role on the left flanked by Bendtner and Eduardo down the middle. I think Eduardo is better suited to the lone striker role than RVP and it will be interesting to see how the attacking trio combine against Liege who are undefeated at home in 2009.

Possible Line up: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Diaby, Fabregas, Song, Bendtner, Eduardo, Rosicky

Prediction: Arsenal 2 Standard Liege 1

You can follow me all day long on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thegreengooner as well as on the Arsenal vs Standard Liege Matchday Thread of Nairaland.com The game is live at 19:45 on Hi Sports 2 in Nigeria.

With Thomas Vermaelen calling it all a circus, I leave you with Wenger’s comments about Emmanuel Adebayor’s behaviour over the weekend.

“You ask 100 people, 99 will say it’s very bad and the hundredth will be Mark Hughes. Was I shocked? Yes, I think it was a very bad challenge, surprisingly bad. I didn’t expect him to do that. Why do you think the FA charged him?“

“I do not rule anything good or bad out for human beings. He deserved to be charged. I was surprised there was so much animosity in his attitude. ”In a few years he will realise Arsenal has been good for him.”I played football and I know exactly, in a fraction of a second, when you master your body, when you leave in or you move out.
“You know exactly at that fraction, I can injure somebody or I can not injure somebody and you ease off or you leave in.

“In England, you have many cases where the players leave in, less now than 10 years ago. “I have seen some challenges from 10 years ago where if you do that in the street, you would go to jail.”

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit

~Gooner~:
The big news of the morning is the fact that either Vito Mannone or Wojciech Szczesny will make their Champions’ League debut against Standard Liege tonight. In all honesty, it looks like Mannone will get the nod but with what I’ve seen of both keepers, I’d prefer to start Wojciech in goal. The manager had some words to say about the young Italian keeper.

“At least he’s played one, and he did quite well. It will be quite a heated atmosphere. It is a big challenge for a young boy to come into a Champions League game with such pressure. But I am confident. If you look at the number of shots we have conceded recently, it is not that many.”

Apparently, Manuel Almunia seems to have picked up a chest infection while Robin Van Persie and Denilson picked up knocks against Citeh at the weekend. One surprise though was the inclusion of young striker Sanchez Watt. I’ve written about him several times on the blog and I’d be interested to see feature at some stage of the match. He’s an exciting young talent and I’m pleased the boss is confident enough to include him in the European squad.

I must confess that I know very little about Standard Liege. Historically our joint record win in Europe was a 7-0 bashing against them in 1993. However last season, I watched both legs of their Champions’ League qualifying tie against Liverpool and must say that they really can play football. As Belgian Champions for the last two years, they will be looking to impress in the group stages. Nick Teal of Arsenal.com caught up with Het Laatste Nieuws reporter Kristof Terreur for the lowdown on Standard Liege and he had this to say;

“Standard play football technically well, their game has lots of passion. They have a defence with tall, strong guys, a midfield with technical players and two complete attackers who are fast and strong. 
Standard fans create a South American atmosphere at the stadium.”
“Everybody will be singing all the time, like they used to in England some years ago. Last year in Liverpool, there was more atmosphere from the 5,000 Standard fans than from the 40,000 home fans at Anfield, and the Liverpool fans were very impressed with them.”

They will however be without influential captain Stephen Defour who suffered a broken leg at the weekend and has been ruled out for three months. One man however, we will be keen to avoid is Axel Witsel who was recently suspended for 8 domestic games for a vicious tackle that smashed his opponents leg into two, he is however short of match practice though! That’s one man  Eduardo will definitely be avoiding!

Arsene Wenger has also claimed a bias from referees towards Arsenal has been created as a result of the Eduardo incident. He said;

“What I feel about it is we didn’t get the penalty at Manchester United with [Andrey] Arshavin and it was a direct consequence of what happened with Eduardo. We didn’t get the penalty at Manchester City with Gareth Barry either, and it was a direct consequence of that. Eduardo didn’t get a penalty when he played for Croatia against England and that was a direct consequence of that as well. It’s the referee’s problem. What you expect from the referee is to make the right decision in any circumstances and I don’t believe they will have to consider that case. That case has been judged. I believe in life you live with your own conscience and if Eduardo is convinced himself that he’s been touched that is the most important thing. We had the forensic expert who proved he had been touched.”

Talking tactics, I don’t expect us to line up differently from our new 4-3-3 formation. Barring any last minute knocks, I expect to see Diaby slot into the middle with Fabregas and Song with Rosicky taking up an attacking role on the left flanked by Bendtner and Eduardo down the middle. I think Eduardo is better suited to the lone striker role than RVP and it will be interesting to see how the attacking trio combine against Liege who are undefeated at home in 2009.

Possible Line up: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Diaby, Fabregas, Song, Bendtner, Eduardo, Rosicky

Prediction: Arsenal 2 Standard Liege 1

You can follow me all day long on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thegreengooner as well as on the Arsenal vs Standard Liege Matchday Thread of Nairaland.com The game is live at 19:45 on Hi Sports 2 in Nigeria.

With Thomas Vermaelen calling it all a circus, I leave you with Wenger’s comments about Emmanuel Adebayor’s behaviour over the weekend.

“You ask 100 people, 99 will say it’s very bad and the hundredth will be Mark Hughes. Was I shocked? Yes, I think it was a very bad challenge, surprisingly bad. I didn’t expect him to do that. Why do you think the FA charged him?“

“I do not rule anything good or bad out for human beings. He deserved to be charged. I was surprised there was so much animosity in his attitude. ”In a few years he will realise Arsenal has been good for him.”I played football and I know exactly, in a fraction of a second, when you master your body, when you leave in or you move out.
“You know exactly at that fraction, I can injure somebody or I can not injure somebody and you ease off or you leave in.

“In England, you have many cases where the players leave in, less now than 10 years ago. “I have seen some challenges from 10 years ago where if you do that in the street, you would go to jail.”

Till tomorrow…Victoria Concordia Crescit

FBS:
Na lie. we[i] is[/i] on top.

FBS:
can you imagine? This clearly shows how biased and blind you muppets are. Dishing out what you cannot take and now asking for a ban for his (Ade's) celebration?

cheap plug in