Phew!!
Our boys don't half make things difficult.
Robert Green is awful for 36 games a year but seems to have absolute stormers against us and he continued this trend yesterday keeping us out with a string of top saves.
Despite having the likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, Chamakh, Walcott and Bendnter all having chances it was Alex Song that stepped up to save the day yesterday, throwing his bleach blond noggin onto a gorgeous Gael Clichy cross with just two minutes left on the clock to put Arsenal 1 - 0 up. At first I had a mixture of relief and disappointment, as Arsenal fans we are far too used to dominating games and then not getting what we deserved out of them and for 88 minutes it seemed that horrible 'should of been' feeling was going to haunt me over the weekend yet again. But as that final whistle went and the three points were confirmed I realised that the fact we are used to losing these games means that today we proved again that we have grown as a team and are finally learning from lessons that are being taught to us. Maybe, just maybe we have turned a corner.
I won't go through the game minute by minute as you will find hundreds of news reports or blogs that will do that however I'll point out some key points we can take from the result. The old saying goes, and I'm sure it will be repeated over and over again, "this is a game that last year, Arsenal would have dropped points" and to a point, those people are right. In games against teams that fought as bravely as the Hammers did yesterday Arsenal very rarely picked up all three points, it's a horrible truth but a truth all the same.
Yesterdays three points could show that we can now win those games that last year we fell just short and with those extra points gained we can possibly see a real title challenge.
Another point that may get overlooked is that yesterday marked our third successive clean sheet. Real credit for a clean sheet must go to the goalkeeper and two centre backs so the fact that we have had different trios in each of those three games is even more impressive. Not bad for a team who are missing their best centre back and apparently don't have a goalkeeper good enough for premier league football.
As we come into November, which is traditionally not a very good month for us, we can look forward to a month of fixtures that are all games that we should win but at the same time not be overly surprised if we drop points. We travel to Wolves, Everton and Villa while we welcome Newcastle and the Spuds for a good old fashioned Emirates spanking. These are five games we could pick up a maximum 15 points from, especially if everyone stays fit and we don't have to worry about the Champions league qualification, however, 11 points from those games - dropping points to Everton and Villa wouldn't be surprising, realistically we should be looking to take maximum points from every game until at least December 13th when we go to Old Trafford, Chelsea and Man Utd will not drop too many points over the season and we cannot afford to drop needless points against teams like those named above.
Anyway, back to yesterday, three point is three points and I don't care how we got them. It's time to keep enjoying that winning feeling and look forward to officially qualifying for the knockout stage in the champions
league on Wednesday against Shakhtar.
Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
West Ham Preview: More of the same please
Afternoon Gooners,
Arsenal are a team who feed on confidence and on the back of comfortable away wins against Man City and Newcastle within the last week, confidence should be the one thing we're not short of.
We bring our confidence back home this weekend and invite the troubled West Ham to join it. The Hammers are sitting on the bottom of the table and have only won one game in the league this year (quite humorously against Spurs) and considering our recent form I'm pretty sure they will not be looking forward to the trip.
Fabianski will return in goal and Koscielny should have done enough to regain his place in the centre of defense alongside Squillaci. Gibbs is out injured so Wenger's mini dilemma of who should be our regular left back can take a back foot with Clichy keeping his spot.
Alex Song recently came out explaining his ridiculous hair style, giving the credit to his girlfriend who told him there were too many players with dreadlocks and he should try something different, personally I think that's a cover a story and the truth is Wenger grabbed him by his legs and shoved his head down a recently bleached toilet and threatened to keep it there until he agreed to stop his pointless forward runs, Alex refused to agree and Wenger gave in to his losing battle once the hair turned white. Whatever really happened may actually be a good thing as his pointless forward runs are starting to produce an end product and against teams like West Ham he'll have the opportunity to continue adding to his goal and assist tallies.
Fabregas has built up game time over the last week and should now be ready to pull all our strings again and work his magic from the midfield, the question is who will be the third member of our midfield? Nasri has been outstanding recently and fully deserves a place in the team but with Walcott back, will it be a straight battle for the attacking spot or will Wenger move Nasri back into the centre of the park? I hope Nasri ends up playing next to Fabregas because that combo makes me stupidly excited.
Bendtner has come back in great form but I feel it's still to early in his return for him to start today so Chamakh should keep his place and Arshavin should return.
Goonerfish's lineup:
Fabianski
Sagna - Kocsielny - Squillaci - Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) - Nasri
Walcott - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 4 - 0 West Ham
Today should be a comfortable game for a team over flowing with confidence, as long as that confidence doesn't turn into complacency but I think our players will have learnt that lesson from the West Brom game.
I fancy Walcott and Fabregas to get on the score sheet again today in a game should again give us all that feel good factor for the weekend.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Don't forget you can follow me on facebook and twitter too
Arsenal are a team who feed on confidence and on the back of comfortable away wins against Man City and Newcastle within the last week, confidence should be the one thing we're not short of.
We bring our confidence back home this weekend and invite the troubled West Ham to join it. The Hammers are sitting on the bottom of the table and have only won one game in the league this year (quite humorously against Spurs) and considering our recent form I'm pretty sure they will not be looking forward to the trip.
Fabianski will return in goal and Koscielny should have done enough to regain his place in the centre of defense alongside Squillaci. Gibbs is out injured so Wenger's mini dilemma of who should be our regular left back can take a back foot with Clichy keeping his spot.
Alex Song recently came out explaining his ridiculous hair style, giving the credit to his girlfriend who told him there were too many players with dreadlocks and he should try something different, personally I think that's a cover a story and the truth is Wenger grabbed him by his legs and shoved his head down a recently bleached toilet and threatened to keep it there until he agreed to stop his pointless forward runs, Alex refused to agree and Wenger gave in to his losing battle once the hair turned white. Whatever really happened may actually be a good thing as his pointless forward runs are starting to produce an end product and against teams like West Ham he'll have the opportunity to continue adding to his goal and assist tallies.
Fabregas has built up game time over the last week and should now be ready to pull all our strings again and work his magic from the midfield, the question is who will be the third member of our midfield? Nasri has been outstanding recently and fully deserves a place in the team but with Walcott back, will it be a straight battle for the attacking spot or will Wenger move Nasri back into the centre of the park? I hope Nasri ends up playing next to Fabregas because that combo makes me stupidly excited.
Bendtner has come back in great form but I feel it's still to early in his return for him to start today so Chamakh should keep his place and Arshavin should return.
Goonerfish's lineup:
Sagna - Kocsielny - Squillaci - Clichy
Song
Fabregas (c) - Nasri
Walcott - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 4 - 0 West Ham
Today should be a comfortable game for a team over flowing with confidence, as long as that confidence doesn't turn into complacency but I think our players will have learnt that lesson from the West Brom game.
I fancy Walcott and Fabregas to get on the score sheet again today in a game should again give us all that feel good factor for the weekend.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Don't forget you can follow me on facebook and twitter too
Friday, 29 October 2010
Drooling as options start to outnumber injuries
Evening Gooners,
I still can't get over how much I've enjoyed the past week and the good news just keeps coming in. Arsene Wenger has announced that both Robin Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey should be back in training by the end of next week. He has however stressed that Ramsey is still much further away from a first team return, he said:
Ramsey is an entirely different case. Last season was supposed to be his introduction to the Premiership, playing in the Carling Cup and possibly a few sub appearances and if he really impressed a start or two in the league but this quickly turned into a season that our young Welsh wizard started to build a real reputation in the footballing world as not only a player with potential but a player that already could hold his own in a very competitive league and do it with grace, power and skill. I am really excited about Ramsey's career, especially when you imagine him playing alongside Wilshere in years to come
*drool, drool, drool - wipe mouth clean*
On the negative side of the injury world Kieran Gibbs will again miss "a few weeks" with a knee injury. It seems to be a strain rather than anything more serious so hopefully he should be fit again for the Carling Cup quarter final at the beginning of December.
Competition for places is really strong in our squad at the moment and I can't remember a time in recent history where our squad was so strong. The only players that Wenger doesn't have to think about putting on the team sheet when we have a fit squad are TV5 and Cesc, every other position has quality options and that can only lead on to good things.
I can't wait for the West Ham game to see some of these options take the field to destroy the Hammers but I'll cover that in the preview tomorrow.
Till then Gooners I'll leave you all drooling over the thought of a fully fit Van Persie returning to destroy the Spuds in a couple of weeks time.
Goonerfish.
Don't forget you can follow me on facebook and twitter too for more random rambling.
I still can't get over how much I've enjoyed the past week and the good news just keeps coming in. Arsene Wenger has announced that both Robin Van Persie and Aaron Ramsey should be back in training by the end of next week. He has however stressed that Ramsey is still much further away from a first team return, he said:
"Van Persie and Ramsey are very close to coming back to full training now,"I still can't believe how big and strong our squad is going to be once all these players return. Lets not forget we still have Vermealen watching from the sidelines too. Van Persie has always been one of my favourite players in an Arsenal shirt and I still maintain my view that if he had a full season without injury he would be proven as one of the best strikers in the world. You only have to look at his contribution to the team when he is involved, we went through a spell of about 6 weeks last season where Van Persie either created or scored every goal Arsenal scored. Chamakh has offered a huge amount to our team but I still cannot wait to see a fully fit dutch master filling out number 10 shirt again.
"They should be back in the group at the end of next week. Of course we should not set the same [recovery] time to Ramsey as Van Persie.
"Aaron will need a longer period to be completely match-fit. But Van Persie is not far away now."
Ramsey is an entirely different case. Last season was supposed to be his introduction to the Premiership, playing in the Carling Cup and possibly a few sub appearances and if he really impressed a start or two in the league but this quickly turned into a season that our young Welsh wizard started to build a real reputation in the footballing world as not only a player with potential but a player that already could hold his own in a very competitive league and do it with grace, power and skill. I am really excited about Ramsey's career, especially when you imagine him playing alongside Wilshere in years to come
*drool, drool, drool - wipe mouth clean*
On the negative side of the injury world Kieran Gibbs will again miss "a few weeks" with a knee injury. It seems to be a strain rather than anything more serious so hopefully he should be fit again for the Carling Cup quarter final at the beginning of December.
Competition for places is really strong in our squad at the moment and I can't remember a time in recent history where our squad was so strong. The only players that Wenger doesn't have to think about putting on the team sheet when we have a fit squad are TV5 and Cesc, every other position has quality options and that can only lead on to good things.
I can't wait for the West Ham game to see some of these options take the field to destroy the Hammers but I'll cover that in the preview tomorrow.
Till then Gooners I'll leave you all drooling over the thought of a fully fit Van Persie returning to destroy the Spuds in a couple of weeks time.
Goonerfish.
Don't forget you can follow me on facebook and twitter too for more random rambling.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Bring on the Toon: Newcastle preview
Another day, another cup.
Tonight's game has come a little early fro my liking. I'm still bathing in the great feeling from Sunday's victory at Eastlands. Hey ho suppose we all need to move on at some point.
Arsene takes our boys up north tonight for the Carling Cup clash with Newcastle. The Toon Army beat of Chelsea in the last round and it wasn't exactly a particularly weak Chelsea either so this should not be considered an easy game.
As you read around the news stories and blogs you can tell that Arsene is taking the Carling Cup a touch more seriously this year but it won't stop youngsters being involved. The fact is the gap between our youngsters and first team is shrinking all the time the players that were the young ones are now reserves or even better, considered regulars in the first team squad.
The third goalkeeper of the season should make his debut tonight. Szczesny has been banging on the door for a while (a little too publicly for my liking, but that's a different story) and has had a lot of hype built around him, tonight will be his first chance to live up to that hype and prove he's good enough to fight for our number 1 shirt.
As for the rest of the team, we'll see a few players coming back from injury looking to regain fitness and a few players who are on the fringe of the first team looking to stake their claim for a regular spot in the starting XI.
One of the biggest questions is who will take on the 'Fabregas' role. Fab and Nasri should be enjoying a rest tonight with at least one of them on the bench, hopefully not needed. Wilshere will be serving the second of his three game ban so I think Rosicky will be given the chance to play in what seems to be everyone's favourite position. Denilson should continue in midfield and fully expect Lansbury to get the chance to carry on where he left off against Spurs.
Walcott and Bendtner should both get starts on their bid to get match fit and it'll be a battle between Vela and JET to get that final spot and considering Wenger lustful comments about JET he may well grab that spot or on the other hand it may be Wenger making him feel good in preparation for telling him he's not starting. Koscielny should also return from injury tonight
Goonerfish's Line-up
Szczesny
Eboue - Koscielny - Djourou - Gibbs
Denilson
Rosciky (c) - Lansbury
Walcott - Vela
Bendnter
Score: Newcastle 1 - 4 Arsenal
I know I said this game won't be easy but I am going on the assumption that Newcastle will rest a few of their stars such as Carroll and Nolan as they did against Chelsea and our team contains enough players fighting for a place in the starting line up to really give it their all.
This may only be the Carling Cup but we need to keep up our winning momentum and lets be honest, is there a gooner in the world who wouldn't want us to win this competition?
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Tonight's game has come a little early fro my liking. I'm still bathing in the great feeling from Sunday's victory at Eastlands. Hey ho suppose we all need to move on at some point.
Arsene takes our boys up north tonight for the Carling Cup clash with Newcastle. The Toon Army beat of Chelsea in the last round and it wasn't exactly a particularly weak Chelsea either so this should not be considered an easy game.
As you read around the news stories and blogs you can tell that Arsene is taking the Carling Cup a touch more seriously this year but it won't stop youngsters being involved. The fact is the gap between our youngsters and first team is shrinking all the time the players that were the young ones are now reserves or even better, considered regulars in the first team squad.
The third goalkeeper of the season should make his debut tonight. Szczesny has been banging on the door for a while (a little too publicly for my liking, but that's a different story) and has had a lot of hype built around him, tonight will be his first chance to live up to that hype and prove he's good enough to fight for our number 1 shirt.
As for the rest of the team, we'll see a few players coming back from injury looking to regain fitness and a few players who are on the fringe of the first team looking to stake their claim for a regular spot in the starting XI.
One of the biggest questions is who will take on the 'Fabregas' role. Fab and Nasri should be enjoying a rest tonight with at least one of them on the bench, hopefully not needed. Wilshere will be serving the second of his three game ban so I think Rosicky will be given the chance to play in what seems to be everyone's favourite position. Denilson should continue in midfield and fully expect Lansbury to get the chance to carry on where he left off against Spurs.
Walcott and Bendtner should both get starts on their bid to get match fit and it'll be a battle between Vela and JET to get that final spot and considering Wenger lustful comments about JET he may well grab that spot or on the other hand it may be Wenger making him feel good in preparation for telling him he's not starting. Koscielny should also return from injury tonight
Goonerfish's Line-up
Eboue - Koscielny - Djourou - Gibbs
Denilson
Rosciky (c) - Lansbury
Walcott - Vela
Bendnter
Score: Newcastle 1 - 4 Arsenal
I know I said this game won't be easy but I am going on the assumption that Newcastle will rest a few of their stars such as Carroll and Nolan as they did against Chelsea and our team contains enough players fighting for a place in the starting line up to really give it their all.
This may only be the Carling Cup but we need to keep up our winning momentum and lets be honest, is there a gooner in the world who wouldn't want us to win this competition?
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Liverpool to Manchester: Lessons learnt.
Three points, three goals and a fantastic feeling for finally coming out of a weekend beating another top team.
Sunday afternoon almost felt like a make or break game for many fans, had we suffered a defeat after Man U and Chelsea both winning we would have really found ourselves on the back foot for the rest of the season and with the dreaded Christmas period coming up we cannot afford to have to enter a long run of games playing catch up - not because we don't have the quality to get through them but because we would not of had the confidence or 'winner' experience to see those games through.
As soon as Man City went a man down we had to leave Manchester with all three points and our boys did not disappoint. We showed against Liverpool on the opening day of the season that we could struggle to play against 10 men, we didn't spread the play, make Liverpool work hard enough or follow any rules that apply to playing with an extra man. At City we did everything right, they could not cope with our attacking play, we moved the ball over the entire width of the pitch and the boys in blue struggled to keep up with us.
So, what have we learned between Anfield and Sunday?
We have learnt that in Fabianski we have a good keeper who can make those important saves to earn us points. We have learnt that we have two players for every slot of the back four and any one of them can put in a performance. We've learnt that we have a more mature midfield with players showing more defensive awareness and ability, in particular Diaby. We have also learnt that our future is still very bright with the likes Jack Wilshere showing the footballing world just how much of a phenomenon he is going to be. We have learnt that we have a attacking force within our squad that would make most clubs jealous, the likes of Walcott, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin, Rosicky, Bendtner, Vela and lets not forget a certain Mr Van Persie give us plenty of options and all of them are quality options. Can you name another team in the Premier League with options like that? What about in Europe? We have learnt that Arshavin is lazy..... oh hold on, we knew that already but we have, thanks to Wenger pointing it out, learnt that despite his apparent laziness he has a massive contribution to our teams goals.
Arsene Wenger has also taught us ( a lesson that I hope continues on Wednesday) that he is taking the Carling cup a little more seriously by playing reserves rather than the youth team.
We have learnt that our injury curse is not going anywhere but in all seriousness, did anyone expect it to?
Samir Nasri has taught us that out number 8 shirt has found yet another superb occupant, he showed in pre-season that he had improved as a player and has done nothing to suggest he won't continue to improve.
We have unfortunately learnt that we still fall short against Chelsea but I for one am looking forward to the return leg of that game after Christmas. We outplayed them but failed to finish our chances. We have also learnt thanks to West Brom, we cannot underestimate anyone.
Lessons will continue to be learnt as the season progresses but from what we have seen so far we can be optimistic. The Man City game is not a reason to get over excited or complacent but the difference between that game and the game at Liverpool in performance, attitude and of course result has to be a positive note and a great feeling for everyone involved with Arsenal FC.
Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Sunday afternoon almost felt like a make or break game for many fans, had we suffered a defeat after Man U and Chelsea both winning we would have really found ourselves on the back foot for the rest of the season and with the dreaded Christmas period coming up we cannot afford to have to enter a long run of games playing catch up - not because we don't have the quality to get through them but because we would not of had the confidence or 'winner' experience to see those games through.
As soon as Man City went a man down we had to leave Manchester with all three points and our boys did not disappoint. We showed against Liverpool on the opening day of the season that we could struggle to play against 10 men, we didn't spread the play, make Liverpool work hard enough or follow any rules that apply to playing with an extra man. At City we did everything right, they could not cope with our attacking play, we moved the ball over the entire width of the pitch and the boys in blue struggled to keep up with us.
So, what have we learned between Anfield and Sunday?
We have learnt that in Fabianski we have a good keeper who can make those important saves to earn us points. We have learnt that we have two players for every slot of the back four and any one of them can put in a performance. We've learnt that we have a more mature midfield with players showing more defensive awareness and ability, in particular Diaby. We have also learnt that our future is still very bright with the likes Jack Wilshere showing the footballing world just how much of a phenomenon he is going to be. We have learnt that we have a attacking force within our squad that would make most clubs jealous, the likes of Walcott, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin, Rosicky, Bendtner, Vela and lets not forget a certain Mr Van Persie give us plenty of options and all of them are quality options. Can you name another team in the Premier League with options like that? What about in Europe? We have learnt that Arshavin is lazy..... oh hold on, we knew that already but we have, thanks to Wenger pointing it out, learnt that despite his apparent laziness he has a massive contribution to our teams goals.
Arsene Wenger has also taught us ( a lesson that I hope continues on Wednesday) that he is taking the Carling cup a little more seriously by playing reserves rather than the youth team.
We have learnt that our injury curse is not going anywhere but in all seriousness, did anyone expect it to?
Samir Nasri has taught us that out number 8 shirt has found yet another superb occupant, he showed in pre-season that he had improved as a player and has done nothing to suggest he won't continue to improve.
We have unfortunately learnt that we still fall short against Chelsea but I for one am looking forward to the return leg of that game after Christmas. We outplayed them but failed to finish our chances. We have also learnt thanks to West Brom, we cannot underestimate anyone.
Lessons will continue to be learnt as the season progresses but from what we have seen so far we can be optimistic. The Man City game is not a reason to get over excited or complacent but the difference between that game and the game at Liverpool in performance, attitude and of course result has to be a positive note and a great feeling for everyone involved with Arsenal FC.
Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Welcome home Eduardo - Shakhtar Preview.
OK Gooners, lets be honest, the only player that can dominate almost any preview for this game is Arsenal's ultimate 'what if' number 9, Eduardo.
As soon as Eduardo said his goodbyes to the Emirates in the summer we all knew that Shakhtar would join us in whatever group we ended up in for the Champions league. I am actually glad Eduardo gets a return, I'm also glad it is in the first half of fixtures where the environment will be a little more friendly. I wouldn't even mind if he scored, as long as we score three goals first. If he does score, he has said he won't celebrate because he respects the club. We love you too Edu.
On to the players that still play for us. Fabregas has been declared fit but Wenger has already said he may not start. I think Wilshere's red card at the weekend would of made up Wenger's mind for him, wilshere will not be available after tonight's game so will probably get a full 90 minutes before his three match rest.
Our defense still picks itself at the moment apart from left back. Due to injuries we should see our 2nd choice right back, our third and forth choice centre backs and to give him game time we should see our 2nd choice left back too.
Song is oddly probably the first name on the team sheet at the moment purely because he's the only player we have that can play in his position (no, I haven't forgotten Denilson, but he's too attacking). I don't see many other changes either except maybe Rosicky and Walcott being given starts unless Arsene Wenger is still playing safe with Theo in which case we'll probably see him introduces later on.
The big thing on Wenger's mind will be Man City at the weekend so for tonight expect a mix of making sure players are either ready or rested for our trip north.
Goonerfish's line-up
Fabianski
Eboue - Squillaci - Djourou - Gibbs
Song
Wilshere - Diaby
Walcott - Rosicky
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 4 - 1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Three point and we're as good as through and this should be an easy win for us as has become the norm for
home group games in the champions league but the next two games are far more important so expect to see
I'll finish today with a simple welcome home to Eduardo, lets join together and give him a massive welcome as we were unable to give him the farewell he deserved.
Goonerfish
As soon as Eduardo said his goodbyes to the Emirates in the summer we all knew that Shakhtar would join us in whatever group we ended up in for the Champions league. I am actually glad Eduardo gets a return, I'm also glad it is in the first half of fixtures where the environment will be a little more friendly. I wouldn't even mind if he scored, as long as we score three goals first. If he does score, he has said he won't celebrate because he respects the club. We love you too Edu.
On to the players that still play for us. Fabregas has been declared fit but Wenger has already said he may not start. I think Wilshere's red card at the weekend would of made up Wenger's mind for him, wilshere will not be available after tonight's game so will probably get a full 90 minutes before his three match rest.
Our defense still picks itself at the moment apart from left back. Due to injuries we should see our 2nd choice right back, our third and forth choice centre backs and to give him game time we should see our 2nd choice left back too.
Song is oddly probably the first name on the team sheet at the moment purely because he's the only player we have that can play in his position (no, I haven't forgotten Denilson, but he's too attacking). I don't see many other changes either except maybe Rosicky and Walcott being given starts unless Arsene Wenger is still playing safe with Theo in which case we'll probably see him introduces later on.
The big thing on Wenger's mind will be Man City at the weekend so for tonight expect a mix of making sure players are either ready or rested for our trip north.
Goonerfish's line-up
FabianskiEboue - Squillaci - Djourou - Gibbs
Song
Wilshere - Diaby
Walcott - Rosicky
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 4 - 1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Three point and we're as good as through and this should be an easy win for us as has become the norm for
home group games in the champions league but the next two games are far more important so expect to see
I'll finish today with a simple welcome home to Eduardo, lets join together and give him a massive welcome as we were unable to give him the farewell he deserved.
Goonerfish
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Fair press? Brum thoughts.
Evening Gooners,
Job done. I won't go through the game minute by minute because in all honesty it wasn't great. Basically, we kept the ball, missed some chances, Birmingham scored, Chamakh dives, Nasri scores penalty. Half time. Chamakh scores, Wilshere gets sent off, full time.
The result will not matter at all to the press today, as soon as the final whistle went you could almost hear journalists sharpening their swords to point at Arsenal and start swinging. I am not going to launch an attack at the double standards of the press or raise the fact that Arsenal seem to be harshly criticised for offences that are played down, put down to bad luck or just simply ignored when committed by players from other teams. I will not mention the contrast of the reaction to Eduardo's dive in our champions league qualifier and Ashley Young's double dive the very next night. I will not mention Drogba, Gerrard, Rooney or Ronaldo because they have never exaggerated a challenge let alone performed a full blown dive. I won't mention Shawcross or any Bolton player because they are not "that sort of player"
The truth is Arsenal are just dirty, violent, thuggish cheats and thank God it has finally been brought to the public eye.
*Stop, count to ten and breath*
OK back to the game, we were not at our best at all, but we did what we needed to, we battled the opposition and dug out a decent result. Wenger went for a bit more cover for his defense allowing Diaby to keep his spot in the midfield with Nasri positioning himself in a more attacking role on the right.
Arshavin seemed miles away yesterday, he failed to really get involved in the game at all. Wenger put it down to playing two internationals in the break but we all know far too well Arshavin has too many games on the edge of the action, there has to be a point where Arsene Wenger decides he has to go for a player more reliable in the big games which could see Rosicky finally take his place as a regular starter.
I thought Squillaci and Djourou played OK together but am still very much hoping that Vermealen hurries up and gets fit, we have missed him desperately.
Chamakh had a great game, yes he dived for the penalty, but he put in a solid performance, he linked up well, held the ball up, caused the defence all sorts of issues and continued proving that he is going to be an absolute class act in an Arsenal shirt. Jack Wilshere will be slammed for his challenge, he was, late and high and it was reckless. before the red card he was the most influential player on the pitch, in all honesty, the three match suspension will actually do Jack some good, as long as Cesc is fit again Jack can now enjoy a well earned break.
The biggest thing to come out of the red card is that both Jack Wilshere and Arsene Wenger have both said that it was deserved, Not like some managers who come out and say "he's not a dirty player", "the red card was harsh" or "some players just don't like to be tackled" Our little kid did what grown men couldn't and said yep, it was stupid and high, I deserved to go. Fair play to you Jack and just to continue with my theme of not mentioning press biased, I won't mention how the MOTD team would have chuckled and said, "he never could tackle" if it was Paul Scholes.
Anywho, as long as we ignore the rest of the press we can enjoy the feeling that only a victory can bring whilst we watch Man Utd and Chelsea fans sulk.
Till next time,
Goonerfish
Job done. I won't go through the game minute by minute because in all honesty it wasn't great. Basically, we kept the ball, missed some chances, Birmingham scored, Chamakh dives, Nasri scores penalty. Half time. Chamakh scores, Wilshere gets sent off, full time.
The result will not matter at all to the press today, as soon as the final whistle went you could almost hear journalists sharpening their swords to point at Arsenal and start swinging. I am not going to launch an attack at the double standards of the press or raise the fact that Arsenal seem to be harshly criticised for offences that are played down, put down to bad luck or just simply ignored when committed by players from other teams. I will not mention the contrast of the reaction to Eduardo's dive in our champions league qualifier and Ashley Young's double dive the very next night. I will not mention Drogba, Gerrard, Rooney or Ronaldo because they have never exaggerated a challenge let alone performed a full blown dive. I won't mention Shawcross or any Bolton player because they are not "that sort of player"
The truth is Arsenal are just dirty, violent, thuggish cheats and thank God it has finally been brought to the public eye.
*Stop, count to ten and breath*
OK back to the game, we were not at our best at all, but we did what we needed to, we battled the opposition and dug out a decent result. Wenger went for a bit more cover for his defense allowing Diaby to keep his spot in the midfield with Nasri positioning himself in a more attacking role on the right.
Arshavin seemed miles away yesterday, he failed to really get involved in the game at all. Wenger put it down to playing two internationals in the break but we all know far too well Arshavin has too many games on the edge of the action, there has to be a point where Arsene Wenger decides he has to go for a player more reliable in the big games which could see Rosicky finally take his place as a regular starter.
I thought Squillaci and Djourou played OK together but am still very much hoping that Vermealen hurries up and gets fit, we have missed him desperately.
Chamakh had a great game, yes he dived for the penalty, but he put in a solid performance, he linked up well, held the ball up, caused the defence all sorts of issues and continued proving that he is going to be an absolute class act in an Arsenal shirt. Jack Wilshere will be slammed for his challenge, he was, late and high and it was reckless. before the red card he was the most influential player on the pitch, in all honesty, the three match suspension will actually do Jack some good, as long as Cesc is fit again Jack can now enjoy a well earned break.
The biggest thing to come out of the red card is that both Jack Wilshere and Arsene Wenger have both said that it was deserved, Not like some managers who come out and say "he's not a dirty player", "the red card was harsh" or "some players just don't like to be tackled" Our little kid did what grown men couldn't and said yep, it was stupid and high, I deserved to go. Fair play to you Jack and just to continue with my theme of not mentioning press biased, I won't mention how the MOTD team would have chuckled and said, "he never could tackle" if it was Paul Scholes.
Anywho, as long as we ignore the rest of the press we can enjoy the feeling that only a victory can bring whilst we watch Man Utd and Chelsea fans sulk.
Till next time,
Goonerfish
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Bring on the Brum: Birmingam preview
Hurrah, real football is back.
Injury news seemed really positive a few days ago, but as we wake up to match day it seems we've got two in and two out.
Theo Walcott and Nic Bendtner both return to the squad but Sagna and Koscielny both miss out thanks to a thigh and back injury respectively. The scenario is far from ideal, gaining two attackers is great but in losing two defenders, the negative outweighs the positive, we have plenty of attackers available so we were not particularly short there however decent defenders are very hard to come by at Arsenal.
With Vermaelen still ten days away according to Wenger, it's going to be a big day for Johan Djourou who you have to assume will start next to Squillaci in the centre of defence. I like Djourou and think he could become a fantastic defender given a run of games and some confidence but that being said, I'm glad we're playing a team like Birmingham and not a Manchester club or Chelsea. I have a feeling he'll put in a good performance today.
Eboue is the other player to benefit from injuries. He will surely replace Sagna at right back, unless Wenger is having a look at some of our younger players ready for the Carling Cup game at Newcastle, then we may see a lesser known starter such as Eastmond or Nortveit, my money is on Eboue though.
Cesc is still short for a return so Nasri or Wilshere should take up his role joing Song in midfield. Nasri is a hard choice for Wenger when Fabregas is not in the team, not for selection because he's pure quality, but where to play him. With Fabregas in the team recently Nasri has been played on the right of an attacking three but when Cesc is not playing super Sam has proved his worth in that central position. It all depends on how Wenger shapes the rest of the side.
Although Bendtner and Walcott are back in the squad, I don't think we'll see either of them start the game. Walcott is more fragile than your Gran's finest china so Wenger will want to bring him on when the oposition are more tired and less likely to catch him and cause him as much of a physical challenge. Bendnter on the other hand will effectively be playing his pre-season over the next few games so I expect him to see no more than 25 minutes, probably replacing Chamakh who will probably be grateful for the break.
Goonerfish's line-up:
Fabianski
Eboue - Squillaci - Djourou - Clichy
Song
Wilshere - Nasri
Rosciky (c) - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 3 - 1 Birmingham
Birmingham will offer a physical game today as most lower clubs now seem to be doing when they come to the Emirates but they are not as strong as Bolton or Blackburn so I don't see them being able topush us about too much.
Today marks Arsene Wenger's 800th game in charge of Arsenal, I wrote my Ode to Arsene yesterday so won't go over just how much I love the man again but lets all hope that our boys can celebrate the event by sending the boys in blue back to Brum hurting from their beating.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Injury news seemed really positive a few days ago, but as we wake up to match day it seems we've got two in and two out.
Theo Walcott and Nic Bendtner both return to the squad but Sagna and Koscielny both miss out thanks to a thigh and back injury respectively. The scenario is far from ideal, gaining two attackers is great but in losing two defenders, the negative outweighs the positive, we have plenty of attackers available so we were not particularly short there however decent defenders are very hard to come by at Arsenal.
With Vermaelen still ten days away according to Wenger, it's going to be a big day for Johan Djourou who you have to assume will start next to Squillaci in the centre of defence. I like Djourou and think he could become a fantastic defender given a run of games and some confidence but that being said, I'm glad we're playing a team like Birmingham and not a Manchester club or Chelsea. I have a feeling he'll put in a good performance today.
Eboue is the other player to benefit from injuries. He will surely replace Sagna at right back, unless Wenger is having a look at some of our younger players ready for the Carling Cup game at Newcastle, then we may see a lesser known starter such as Eastmond or Nortveit, my money is on Eboue though.
Cesc is still short for a return so Nasri or Wilshere should take up his role joing Song in midfield. Nasri is a hard choice for Wenger when Fabregas is not in the team, not for selection because he's pure quality, but where to play him. With Fabregas in the team recently Nasri has been played on the right of an attacking three but when Cesc is not playing super Sam has proved his worth in that central position. It all depends on how Wenger shapes the rest of the side.
Although Bendtner and Walcott are back in the squad, I don't think we'll see either of them start the game. Walcott is more fragile than your Gran's finest china so Wenger will want to bring him on when the oposition are more tired and less likely to catch him and cause him as much of a physical challenge. Bendnter on the other hand will effectively be playing his pre-season over the next few games so I expect him to see no more than 25 minutes, probably replacing Chamakh who will probably be grateful for the break.
Goonerfish's line-up:
Fabianski
Eboue - Squillaci - Djourou - Clichy
Song
Wilshere - Nasri
Rosciky (c) - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Arsenal 3 - 1 Birmingham
Birmingham will offer a physical game today as most lower clubs now seem to be doing when they come to the Emirates but they are not as strong as Bolton or Blackburn so I don't see them being able topush us about too much.
Today marks Arsene Wenger's 800th game in charge of Arsenal, I wrote my Ode to Arsene yesterday so won't go over just how much I love the man again but lets all hope that our boys can celebrate the event by sending the boys in blue back to Brum hurting from their beating.
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Arsene Wenger: 800 games & moulding the English game.
800 and not out.
Arsene Wenger celebrates his 800th game in charge of Arsenal on Saturday as we welcome Birmingham to the Emirates, a record only beaten by Alex Ferguson at Man Utd.
Wenger first graced us with his presence sporting his massively over sized glasses on October 12th 1996 away to Blackburn. Two Ian Wright goals gave us the points that day and under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal FC went on to enjoy many fine years of success.
In Arsene Wenger's first full season in charge we collected the Premier League and FA Cup to complete the double.
Wenger's record in all competitions reads as P799 W465 D185 L149 that's a win % of 58% which is not bad at all and Arsenal fans have enjoyed watching the men in red scoring an impressive 1474 times, that's an average of 1.84 goals a game.
OK, that's the stats out of the way, if you want to find out more detailed stuff you will find it spread across hundreds of sites on the Internet, I'm gong to concentrate on Wenger the man rather than his stats.
Arsene Wenger in my opinion has not only changed the way Arsenal play but has changed the face of English football. When Arsene arrived from Japan, not a single person came out in the press to sing his praises, there wasn't even anyone to slag him off and tell us how he's nowhere near the man we needed for the job, in fact no one had heard of him - Oh how the world changes.
Arsene Wenger was the first manager to implement behaviours at a club that effected the players life off the pitch. He introduced new training regimes, he introduced new diets for his players, he stopped his players partying, drinking and behaving like..... well...... John Terry or Wayne Rooney.He even starting making players stay in a hotel the night before HOME games, this was the norm for most away games but to do it before home games was just pointless madness. Slowly but surely other clubs began to see the benefits of Wenger's crazy foreigners techniques and began to follow his methods. Before too long, other club's higher powers starting looking abroad for new managers in hope that Arsene Wenger's success could be replicated. If you look around premiership clubs today, they all follow Arsenal's model, they all put their players on a special diet, they give them fitness and weight goals during pre season, tried to stop the partying and yes, even started booking hotels for home games.
Arsene Wenger's shaping of the English league still hasn't stopped. He started concentrating on youth systems, I'm not saying he started youth academies but he did change the way the players were brought through. He was among the first to start looking abroad for talent which is now the standard, he was the first to play his youth stars in the league cup which he was absolutely slated for and now even clubs who's season objective is to avoid relegation in the Premier League play at least their reserves if not their youth team and now most recently Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are role models for every other club in regards to our financial structure, the perfect example being the new Liverpool owners asking for a tour of the Emirates and details of our financial structure before they bid for the Mersyside club.
Like it or not Arsene Wenger is not only the most successful manager in Arsenal's history but is the sole reason the Premier League is the league it is today. He has lost many 'fans' in recent years but Arsenal cannot wish for a better manager to lead us through future years and I for one still sing from the roof tops IN ARSENE I TRUST.
Goonerfish.
Arsene Wenger celebrates his 800th game in charge of Arsenal on Saturday as we welcome Birmingham to the Emirates, a record only beaten by Alex Ferguson at Man Utd.
Wenger first graced us with his presence sporting his massively over sized glasses on October 12th 1996 away to Blackburn. Two Ian Wright goals gave us the points that day and under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal FC went on to enjoy many fine years of success.
In Arsene Wenger's first full season in charge we collected the Premier League and FA Cup to complete the double.
Wenger's record in all competitions reads as P799 W465 D185 L149 that's a win % of 58% which is not bad at all and Arsenal fans have enjoyed watching the men in red scoring an impressive 1474 times, that's an average of 1.84 goals a game.
OK, that's the stats out of the way, if you want to find out more detailed stuff you will find it spread across hundreds of sites on the Internet, I'm gong to concentrate on Wenger the man rather than his stats.
Arsene Wenger in my opinion has not only changed the way Arsenal play but has changed the face of English football. When Arsene arrived from Japan, not a single person came out in the press to sing his praises, there wasn't even anyone to slag him off and tell us how he's nowhere near the man we needed for the job, in fact no one had heard of him - Oh how the world changes.
Arsene Wenger was the first manager to implement behaviours at a club that effected the players life off the pitch. He introduced new training regimes, he introduced new diets for his players, he stopped his players partying, drinking and behaving like..... well...... John Terry or Wayne Rooney.He even starting making players stay in a hotel the night before HOME games, this was the norm for most away games but to do it before home games was just pointless madness. Slowly but surely other clubs began to see the benefits of Wenger's crazy foreigners techniques and began to follow his methods. Before too long, other club's higher powers starting looking abroad for new managers in hope that Arsene Wenger's success could be replicated. If you look around premiership clubs today, they all follow Arsenal's model, they all put their players on a special diet, they give them fitness and weight goals during pre season, tried to stop the partying and yes, even started booking hotels for home games.
Arsene Wenger's shaping of the English league still hasn't stopped. He started concentrating on youth systems, I'm not saying he started youth academies but he did change the way the players were brought through. He was among the first to start looking abroad for talent which is now the standard, he was the first to play his youth stars in the league cup which he was absolutely slated for and now even clubs who's season objective is to avoid relegation in the Premier League play at least their reserves if not their youth team and now most recently Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are role models for every other club in regards to our financial structure, the perfect example being the new Liverpool owners asking for a tour of the Emirates and details of our financial structure before they bid for the Mersyside club.
Like it or not Arsene Wenger is not only the most successful manager in Arsenal's history but is the sole reason the Premier League is the league it is today. He has lost many 'fans' in recent years but Arsenal cannot wish for a better manager to lead us through future years and I for one still sing from the roof tops IN ARSENE I TRUST.
Goonerfish.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Sagna out & Emirates talk about screwing Arsenal over.
Evening Gooners,
Apologies for the lack of blog yesterday, I ran a half marathon in the morning and had exactly no energy left at so couldn't turn my laptop on let alone type anything.
Anywho, feel a little more human today so browsed through the blogs and Arsenal news and surprise, surprise, what's the first thing I come across, a bloody injury. Sagna has declared himself out of action for 3 weeks and as part of that missed France's game in the week. Eboue should be the one to step straight in and will certainly be looking forward to a run in the team and hopefully Birmingham could be a great game to come in to. It will suit Eboue to come back into the team in a home game against a team like Birmingham who will defend their hearts out giving our whole team plenty of chance to push forward and attack from all angles. I hope Eboue enjoys his run in the team but also hope Sagna gets back quickly, he has been one of our most consistent players and consistency is the main aspect we as a team miss from our game.
In other news, the head of corporate communications at Emirates, the very humorously named Boutros Boutros has given an interview to 'SportsPro' said that they are ripping us off with our shirt sponsorship deal. Ok, admittedly he didn't Phrase it exactly like that but as I read
I imagined him saying these things whilst stroking an overly grown goatee and chuckling to himself between sentences. Our current deal is only worth about £5.5million a year which is now peanuts
compared with the deals companies have with Man Utd, Chelsea and even the spuds who earn considerably more. (I don't know exact figures for the other teams so won't mis-lead you with finger in the air amounts) It's worth pointing out it was a UK record deal when we signed it but surely someone has to be forward thinking enough to know the deal would lose value and demanded a shorter term or set review periods. Either way we are currently being screwed and still have a couple of years left in the same deal.
If you want to read the quotes for yourself you can find parts of the interview here.
The other main talking points today are our little Jack Wilshere declaring he believes we're still in the title race........Good!! I'd never expect one of our players to ever say anything else, especially in October. The other is Nasri telling the world how he wants a central role. As pointed out by several other people including Arsene Wenger himself we have a wealth of players who want to play in that role and more importantly who are able to play in that role but a certain Cesc Fabregas will keep them from playing there simply because as skilled as our players are, they are not as good as Cesc.
I want to finish today by congratulating Benik Afobe. Our 17 year old striker bagged himself a hat-trick for England U-19 level against Cyprus. Even more proof that our youth system is producing some of the best talent this country will see over the next ten years.
Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Apologies for the lack of blog yesterday, I ran a half marathon in the morning and had exactly no energy left at so couldn't turn my laptop on let alone type anything.
Anywho, feel a little more human today so browsed through the blogs and Arsenal news and surprise, surprise, what's the first thing I come across, a bloody injury. Sagna has declared himself out of action for 3 weeks and as part of that missed France's game in the week. Eboue should be the one to step straight in and will certainly be looking forward to a run in the team and hopefully Birmingham could be a great game to come in to. It will suit Eboue to come back into the team in a home game against a team like Birmingham who will defend their hearts out giving our whole team plenty of chance to push forward and attack from all angles. I hope Eboue enjoys his run in the team but also hope Sagna gets back quickly, he has been one of our most consistent players and consistency is the main aspect we as a team miss from our game.
In other news, the head of corporate communications at Emirates, the very humorously named Boutros Boutros has given an interview to 'SportsPro' said that they are ripping us off with our shirt sponsorship deal. Ok, admittedly he didn't Phrase it exactly like that but as I read
"The shirt, yes, it’s worth more. But it’s like when you buy a house: you pay a heavy mortgage the first two or three years, then the value of the house starts going up and that’s where your value starts coming back."
I imagined him saying these things whilst stroking an overly grown goatee and chuckling to himself between sentences. Our current deal is only worth about £5.5million a year which is now peanuts
compared with the deals companies have with Man Utd, Chelsea and even the spuds who earn considerably more. (I don't know exact figures for the other teams so won't mis-lead you with finger in the air amounts) It's worth pointing out it was a UK record deal when we signed it but surely someone has to be forward thinking enough to know the deal would lose value and demanded a shorter term or set review periods. Either way we are currently being screwed and still have a couple of years left in the same deal.
If you want to read the quotes for yourself you can find parts of the interview here.
The other main talking points today are our little Jack Wilshere declaring he believes we're still in the title race........Good!! I'd never expect one of our players to ever say anything else, especially in October. The other is Nasri telling the world how he wants a central role. As pointed out by several other people including Arsene Wenger himself we have a wealth of players who want to play in that role and more importantly who are able to play in that role but a certain Cesc Fabregas will keep them from playing there simply because as skilled as our players are, they are not as good as Cesc.
I want to finish today by congratulating Benik Afobe. Our 17 year old striker bagged himself a hat-trick for England U-19 level against Cyprus. Even more proof that our youth system is producing some of the best talent this country will see over the next ten years.
Till next time Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Club Vs Country
A simple question forms the base of today's blog: Club or Country?
I remember years ago that England games formed just as big a part of my life as Arsenal games. I would look forward to them and get involved in game build up etc but now I see international games as a game that interrupts proper football and would be pretty happy if they didn't happen at all.
I was asking myself when did this happen? When did I stop caring about the 3 lions? When did Arsenal become my nationality? Is it the same for all Gooners?
I've mentally broken it down and I think I stopped caring about internationals a couple of years after Wenger took over and I think the only reason I got involved before then was because England consisted of players such as Seaman, Adams, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour and Ian Wright. So then I asked myself have I ever really supported England or just the Arsenal players playing for England? It is certain that my only interest in Tuesday's game is Jack Wilshere and my interest in the World Cup dropped massively as soon as Walcott got dropped.
Is it my detest for players like John Terry and Wayne Rooney as people that drive me away from my national team? I spend every other week cheering when players from Chelsea, Utd, Liverpool or City fluff their lines, make a mistake and drop points that I find it difficult to change my attitude for just a few games a year. I will punch the air in delight when John Terry gets sent off, Lampard or Gerrard miss a penalty or Rooney misses the open goal from 4 yards and I have to admit I will enjoy those moments whether the player wears their club shirt or the 3 lions of England.
If you're not sure whether you are more loyal to club or country then ask yourself this question, would you have preferred Arsenal win the Premiership last year or England win the world Cup? You said Premiership didn't you?! Me too. Now ask if you would prefer the FA Cup or the World Cup? FA Cup? yep, me too. Now the real test World Cup or Carling Cup?
Considering that most fans would now choose club over country the question has to be raised, where do the players loyalties lie? But that's a whole new blog.
For now I'll wait for the international break to end, hope that no Arsenal players get themselves injured, and look forward to proper football starting again next weekend. Maybe one day I'll start to care about the England team again but probably not until Arsenal's young stars come through in a few years time and we again fill half of the England team.
Where do you stand? Simple question, club or country?
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Don't forget, you can follow me on twitter or facebook too.
I remember years ago that England games formed just as big a part of my life as Arsenal games. I would look forward to them and get involved in game build up etc but now I see international games as a game that interrupts proper football and would be pretty happy if they didn't happen at all.
I was asking myself when did this happen? When did I stop caring about the 3 lions? When did Arsenal become my nationality? Is it the same for all Gooners?
I've mentally broken it down and I think I stopped caring about internationals a couple of years after Wenger took over and I think the only reason I got involved before then was because England consisted of players such as Seaman, Adams, Dixon, Winterburn, Bould, Parlour and Ian Wright. So then I asked myself have I ever really supported England or just the Arsenal players playing for England? It is certain that my only interest in Tuesday's game is Jack Wilshere and my interest in the World Cup dropped massively as soon as Walcott got dropped.
Is it my detest for players like John Terry and Wayne Rooney as people that drive me away from my national team? I spend every other week cheering when players from Chelsea, Utd, Liverpool or City fluff their lines, make a mistake and drop points that I find it difficult to change my attitude for just a few games a year. I will punch the air in delight when John Terry gets sent off, Lampard or Gerrard miss a penalty or Rooney misses the open goal from 4 yards and I have to admit I will enjoy those moments whether the player wears their club shirt or the 3 lions of England.
If you're not sure whether you are more loyal to club or country then ask yourself this question, would you have preferred Arsenal win the Premiership last year or England win the world Cup? You said Premiership didn't you?! Me too. Now ask if you would prefer the FA Cup or the World Cup? FA Cup? yep, me too. Now the real test World Cup or Carling Cup?
Considering that most fans would now choose club over country the question has to be raised, where do the players loyalties lie? But that's a whole new blog.
For now I'll wait for the international break to end, hope that no Arsenal players get themselves injured, and look forward to proper football starting again next weekend. Maybe one day I'll start to care about the England team again but probably not until Arsenal's young stars come through in a few years time and we again fill half of the England team.
Where do you stand? Simple question, club or country?
Till next time,
Goonerfish.
Don't forget, you can follow me on twitter or facebook too.
Friday, 8 October 2010
The Injury Lottery.
Here we go Gooners,
The international injury lottery starts tonight as Rosicky takes on Scotland, Arshavin takes on Ireland, Eboue takes on the force that is Burundi and Jack Wilshere will take a staring role in England U21's game against Romania before he joins the big boys in the full squad. Jack's double dipping is great for him but not great for Arsenal. Wilshere has appeared in every game so far this year and although he's nice and young it has to catch up with him at some point and it'll be Arsenal FC that suffers when he does. Sagna, Nasri, Diaby and Clichy will line up France and Chamakh faces Tanzania in tomorrows game and then all except Chamakh and Eboue have another game to look forward to in midweek so plenty of opportunity for someone to get injured, putting them out for the infamous 4-6 weeks that seems to be tagged to almost every injury we get.
All that being said this week will provide a nice break for some of our players like Fabregas, Bendnter, Vermealen, etc who will all be enjoying a weekend off to relax before returning next week to finish getting fit for the Birmingham game. I said yesterday how I was looking forward to the other side of this and I think this will be the strongest we have come out of an international break for a long time. I look forward to our spine returning.
I don't think that Van Persie will be back in time for Birmingham however Bendtner has declared himself fit and with a week for our medical staff to access him we should see him at least on the bench for the visit of Brum. Our mighty Dane will be really important over the next few weeks while RVP is getting fit. He will not however return in his best form, he hasn't played at all this year and it will take time for him to settle back into the game, hopefully not too much time though. That also goes for our other players returning. Players take time to get back to their best but our boys will need to do it quickly as after the international break we only have two games before we travel to Man City.
I am off now to cross my fingers and toes, pray to any Gods that'll listen and sacrifice a couple of goats to ensure all our players get through the week injury free
Until tomorrow,
Goonerfish
The international injury lottery starts tonight as Rosicky takes on Scotland, Arshavin takes on Ireland, Eboue takes on the force that is Burundi and Jack Wilshere will take a staring role in England U21's game against Romania before he joins the big boys in the full squad. Jack's double dipping is great for him but not great for Arsenal. Wilshere has appeared in every game so far this year and although he's nice and young it has to catch up with him at some point and it'll be Arsenal FC that suffers when he does. Sagna, Nasri, Diaby and Clichy will line up France and Chamakh faces Tanzania in tomorrows game and then all except Chamakh and Eboue have another game to look forward to in midweek so plenty of opportunity for someone to get injured, putting them out for the infamous 4-6 weeks that seems to be tagged to almost every injury we get.
All that being said this week will provide a nice break for some of our players like Fabregas, Bendnter, Vermealen, etc who will all be enjoying a weekend off to relax before returning next week to finish getting fit for the Birmingham game. I said yesterday how I was looking forward to the other side of this and I think this will be the strongest we have come out of an international break for a long time. I look forward to our spine returning.
I don't think that Van Persie will be back in time for Birmingham however Bendtner has declared himself fit and with a week for our medical staff to access him we should see him at least on the bench for the visit of Brum. Our mighty Dane will be really important over the next few weeks while RVP is getting fit. He will not however return in his best form, he hasn't played at all this year and it will take time for him to settle back into the game, hopefully not too much time though. That also goes for our other players returning. Players take time to get back to their best but our boys will need to do it quickly as after the international break we only have two games before we travel to Man City.
I am off now to cross my fingers and toes, pray to any Gods that'll listen and sacrifice a couple of goats to ensure all our players get through the week injury free
Until tomorrow,
Goonerfish
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Injury free Internationals & Super Rob returns.
International week how we love you.
This close to the weekend I am feeling an empty painful void as Premier league footie takes a break and our stars go away with their countries into a lottery of which one of our stars will snap a leg.
International week is an event I have grown to dread. We always seem to be 2 or 3 players short at the end of it and more often than not players that are starting to hit form i.e. Walcott.
However, a ray of light is starting to shine through the clouds as this time all our players are already injured. Walcott, Fabregas, Vermaelen and Van Persie will not take any part in this weeks Euro 2012 qualifiers, in fact, this time I'm looking forward to the other side of the internationals as two, possibly three of those names will be back in action when the real stuff returns. We could host Birmingham with almost a fully fit squad and I can't remember the last time that happened.
In other news, Bobby Pires has returned to the Arsenal training ground. He was released from Spanish club Villarreal in the summer. He's 36 now so I don't think we'll see a repeat of the Sol Campbell saga but it is nice to see Pires at the Colney again and his stories of success will only help our youngsters. Fans and pundits for a long time have said that no one in the Arsenal squad know how to win things, Bobby did and his experiences will be a huge benefit to everyone at the club. It's another smart move from Wenger and the former invincible can only increase the hunger in our young stars.
Another former invincible has been in the news today too. Patrick Vieira has come out and said thatArsenal Old boys Man City will not be able to win the league this year, however believes we can. It has also been suggested that he could retire at the end of this season. If he does it will be a sad day but Gooners will always remember that his best playing days were in our glorious red and wish him well.
Last thing today was actually brought up on Arsenal.com. Squillaci had the privilege of being our Captain at Stamford Bridge at the weekend in only his sixth appearance. This could possibly be a record for our club (excluding our first ever captain, obviously). Do you know of a player to captain us sooner? comment below and/or on Arsenal's website and share the knowledge. I actually think it's a shame if it is a record as our first four choices for captain were all injured but hey ho, a record's a record. Well done Squillaci.
Till tomorrow Gooners,
Goonerfish.
This close to the weekend I am feeling an empty painful void as Premier league footie takes a break and our stars go away with their countries into a lottery of which one of our stars will snap a leg.
International week is an event I have grown to dread. We always seem to be 2 or 3 players short at the end of it and more often than not players that are starting to hit form i.e. Walcott.
However, a ray of light is starting to shine through the clouds as this time all our players are already injured. Walcott, Fabregas, Vermaelen and Van Persie will not take any part in this weeks Euro 2012 qualifiers, in fact, this time I'm looking forward to the other side of the internationals as two, possibly three of those names will be back in action when the real stuff returns. We could host Birmingham with almost a fully fit squad and I can't remember the last time that happened.
In other news, Bobby Pires has returned to the Arsenal training ground. He was released from Spanish club Villarreal in the summer. He's 36 now so I don't think we'll see a repeat of the Sol Campbell saga but it is nice to see Pires at the Colney again and his stories of success will only help our youngsters. Fans and pundits for a long time have said that no one in the Arsenal squad know how to win things, Bobby did and his experiences will be a huge benefit to everyone at the club. It's another smart move from Wenger and the former invincible can only increase the hunger in our young stars.
Another former invincible has been in the news today too. Patrick Vieira has come out and said that
Last thing today was actually brought up on Arsenal.com. Squillaci had the privilege of being our Captain at Stamford Bridge at the weekend in only his sixth appearance. This could possibly be a record for our club (excluding our first ever captain, obviously). Do you know of a player to captain us sooner? comment below and/or on Arsenal's website and share the knowledge. I actually think it's a shame if it is a record as our first four choices for captain were all injured but hey ho, a record's a record. Well done Squillaci.
Till tomorrow Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Wenger's Chelsea summary & transfer rumours already.
Evening Gooners, two areas to cover today,
Firstly the official stuff. Arsenal send out official communication from time to time including Arsene Wenger's weekly view of the world. I was interested to see how he would approach the Chelsea result after publicly being very honest about our performance against West Brom. He must have been knocked for 6 by it as he started with
Arsene did then sound a bit more familiar with
He also payed tribute to Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby and rightly so, both players were superb.
Now for part two. We are exactly 88 days away from the start of the transfer window and already we are being linked with a number of players.
Mark Schwarzer has again come out seemingly determined to force a move in January. I;m sorry but I said this in the summer and I'll say it again now, Schwarzer is not better than the keepers we already have in our squad. I would honestly be surprised if we brought in a keeper in January, as long as we don't have a string of howlers from both Almunia and Fabianski then Wenger will stick with what we have.
A new pair of players linked with us are the Lukaku brothers. Romelu and Jordan both play for Anderlecht with Romelu Lukaku being the latest teenager to be called one of the most exciting youngsters in European football. Now I can't comment either way on the ability of these guys but surely, October 5th is too early to be considering such things. Arsene Wenger rarely lets his targets become common knowledge (Arshavin and Nasri excluded) so I can only assume this is a move by the brother's agent or Anderlecht themselves to remind other clubs that they have competition for the players so better prepare bigger bids.
I'm still hurting from the weekend so will leave it there today, but would like to add one more thing. To
all those fans who have reappeared calling for Arsene Wenger to be sacked, ask yourself two questions. Why would you sack the most successful manager in our history? and Who would you replace him with? No other manager will get more from these players, or understand what this clubs needs, so with due respect, sit down and shut up!!!!
Until tomorrow,
Goonerfish.
Firstly the official stuff. Arsenal send out official communication from time to time including Arsene Wenger's weekly view of the world. I was interested to see how he would approach the Chelsea result after publicly being very honest about our performance against West Brom. He must have been knocked for 6 by it as he started with
"I think we demonstrated on Saturday that you can play well and lose the match"I'm pretty sure we played Sunday but the point was valid. He went on to say
"The Chelsea game should have been over within a minute - we had the first two chances and we missed that header from six yards"I was surprised to read that last statement. Wenger has always been very protective of his squad and that sounded very negative. Could Wenger finally be losing patience with his players? I have a feeling that he is using the pressure from fans and the board to bring home trophies to put a bit more pressure on the players to deliver. If this is the case we will finally see how mentally strong our guys are and it may be the extra push everyone needs to bring some success back to our great club.
"we missed too many chances at that level and in the final third you need to be more clinical offensively and defensively. We had a great team performance and great energy. But we have to be more clinical to win titles - we can't lose a game like that"
Arsene did then sound a bit more familiar with
"I was not angry with my team. I felt sorry for them because they had an outstanding attitude and an outstanding display"
He also payed tribute to Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby and rightly so, both players were superb.
Now for part two. We are exactly 88 days away from the start of the transfer window and already we are being linked with a number of players.
Mark Schwarzer has again come out seemingly determined to force a move in January. I;m sorry but I said this in the summer and I'll say it again now, Schwarzer is not better than the keepers we already have in our squad. I would honestly be surprised if we brought in a keeper in January, as long as we don't have a string of howlers from both Almunia and Fabianski then Wenger will stick with what we have.
A new pair of players linked with us are the Lukaku brothers. Romelu and Jordan both play for Anderlecht with Romelu Lukaku being the latest teenager to be called one of the most exciting youngsters in European football. Now I can't comment either way on the ability of these guys but surely, October 5th is too early to be considering such things. Arsene Wenger rarely lets his targets become common knowledge (Arshavin and Nasri excluded) so I can only assume this is a move by the brother's agent or Anderlecht themselves to remind other clubs that they have competition for the players so better prepare bigger bids.
I'm still hurting from the weekend so will leave it there today, but would like to add one more thing. To
all those fans who have reappeared calling for Arsene Wenger to be sacked, ask yourself two questions. Why would you sack the most successful manager in our history? and Who would you replace him with? No other manager will get more from these players, or understand what this clubs needs, so with due respect, sit down and shut up!!!!
Until tomorrow,
Goonerfish.
Monday, 4 October 2010
I don't care if it's Chelsea, it's just 1 game.
I am still getting over my disappointment of Sunday, but only the result, not the performance.
We arrived at Stamford Bridge without Vermaelen, Fabregas, Walcott or Van Persie and despite the result, our team gave the better performance. We outplayed Chelsea throughout and we created chances and openings at a fairly regular interval but our downfall was that we failed to take any. Don't get me wrong, Chelsea defended very, very well but if we had that striker with the killer instinct of a Wright or Alan 'Smudge' Smith we probably would've at least scored. Chamakh seemed a little off but that is probably because of the amount of games he has had to play recently in a league he is still adapting to, Bendtner is almost ready now so he should help share the burden of replacing Robin Van Persie.
Chelsea won the game simply because they were more efficient with the possession they had. This is something that I feel comes with the experience of winning. We are not used to winning, we are used to playing very well and falling just short, we need trophies in our cabinet and the experience that comes with it. It is likely that victories in the league cup and FA Cup will come before the big trophies but in all honesty, I would be happy with one of those while finishing in the top 3 again this year. All we need is one trophy to get our players used to that taste of victory and more will follow.
Sorry, got off track there, back to the game. We have to look at this in as positive light as we can, as I see it, to truly complete you need to aim to win your home games against the big teams and avoid defeat away. A draw would have been a good result yesterday and the majority of Gooners would have been happy with that so we have lost only 1 point against that target. We drew at Sunderland whereas last year we lost there, 1 point gained. Get my point? It doesn't matter who we were playing it is only 1 game. I know that some may see it as an optimistic view but hey ho, I'm Goonerfish and that is how I roll, if you don't like it bugger off and be a miserable Scouser.
In my eyes, most of our players came out of yesterday's game in a good light, Fabianski was solid, Clichy is starting to get back to the player we know, Sagna put in a very under-rated performance, Diaby was like a new player, Wilshere continued to be the growing phenomenon that he is and Nasri gets better every game and has starting adapting his pre-season form in the central position to his more regular position of a wide attacker. As I said, Chamakh was below par, both centre backs struggled at times and Song wasn't...... um,...... singing.
Our players have an international break now to avoid getting injured and then come back motivated and ready to take on Birmingham where maybe, just maybe we should start seeing some players return.
Chins up Gooners,
Goonerfish.
We arrived at Stamford Bridge without Vermaelen, Fabregas, Walcott or Van Persie and despite the result, our team gave the better performance. We outplayed Chelsea throughout and we created chances and openings at a fairly regular interval but our downfall was that we failed to take any. Don't get me wrong, Chelsea defended very, very well but if we had that striker with the killer instinct of a Wright or Alan 'Smudge' Smith we probably would've at least scored. Chamakh seemed a little off but that is probably because of the amount of games he has had to play recently in a league he is still adapting to, Bendtner is almost ready now so he should help share the burden of replacing Robin Van Persie.
Chelsea won the game simply because they were more efficient with the possession they had. This is something that I feel comes with the experience of winning. We are not used to winning, we are used to playing very well and falling just short, we need trophies in our cabinet and the experience that comes with it. It is likely that victories in the league cup and FA Cup will come before the big trophies but in all honesty, I would be happy with one of those while finishing in the top 3 again this year. All we need is one trophy to get our players used to that taste of victory and more will follow.
Sorry, got off track there, back to the game. We have to look at this in as positive light as we can, as I see it, to truly complete you need to aim to win your home games against the big teams and avoid defeat away. A draw would have been a good result yesterday and the majority of Gooners would have been happy with that so we have lost only 1 point against that target. We drew at Sunderland whereas last year we lost there, 1 point gained. Get my point? It doesn't matter who we were playing it is only 1 game. I know that some may see it as an optimistic view but hey ho, I'm Goonerfish and that is how I roll, if you don't like it bugger off and be a miserable Scouser.
In my eyes, most of our players came out of yesterday's game in a good light, Fabianski was solid, Clichy is starting to get back to the player we know, Sagna put in a very under-rated performance, Diaby was like a new player, Wilshere continued to be the growing phenomenon that he is and Nasri gets better every game and has starting adapting his pre-season form in the central position to his more regular position of a wide attacker. As I said, Chamakh was below par, both centre backs struggled at times and Song wasn't...... um,...... singing.
Our players have an international break now to avoid getting injured and then come back motivated and ready to take on Birmingham where maybe, just maybe we should start seeing some players return.
Chins up Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Just the game! & Wilshere's inspiring words.
I'm was planning (and failed) to write today's blog early as we approach the Chelsea game as for the couple of hours before I'll be too nervous to write anything and at about six o clock I'm either going to be too happy, too depressed or too angry to write anything other than a pointless rant.
I've been browsing the blogsphere and news channels for Arsenal news to share with you good folk and realised there seems to be almost nothing about. The Chelsea game has taken over the entire Arsenal world and you know what? I love that.
I am not hearing stories of who we are about to buy. There is no mention of the the player we are about to sell for a ridiculously low price. Not a single whisper of any player's DNA (Get over yourselves Barca!!!!) and not one single player is being interviewed because our captain has slept with their wife (Yes, you JT you dirty thug). The point I'm getting at is that during the season this is how our Arsenal news should be, just the game.
The only news doing the rounds other than match previews is one of our players saying how great another one of our players is. The most recent is Samir Nasri praising Chamakh. Now of course all these quotes are in interviews so a public face has to be had and all the right things need to be said but then the world introduced twitter and some players in our young squad couldn't resist joining in on the trend. Jack Wilshere, Cesc, and Denilson are all on twitter, I think the Chamakh account is real and a load of our youth players are on there too. This is an excellent way for us fans to get a little view of what are players are like away from the press interviews for example Cesc's good luck messages to the team and letting us know he's gutted not to be playing, but I'll leave this incredibly short post with my favorite tweet, possibly ever, which was one I came across from little Jack Wilshere a couple of days ago, he tweeted
If that's not enough to get you up for today's battle at the bridge I don't know what is. I hope the rest of the team have that much fire in their bellies.
Back tomorrow with a match review hopefully praising our boys performance and celebrating being only 1 point of the top spot.
Goonerfish.
BTW, you can follow me on twitter too here and I'm also on Facebook.
I've been browsing the blogsphere and news channels for Arsenal news to share with you good folk and realised there seems to be almost nothing about. The Chelsea game has taken over the entire Arsenal world and you know what? I love that.
I am not hearing stories of who we are about to buy. There is no mention of the the player we are about to sell for a ridiculously low price. Not a single whisper of any player's DNA (Get over yourselves Barca!!!!) and not one single player is being interviewed because our captain has slept with their wife (Yes, you JT you dirty thug). The point I'm getting at is that during the season this is how our Arsenal news should be, just the game.
The only news doing the rounds other than match previews is one of our players saying how great another one of our players is. The most recent is Samir Nasri praising Chamakh. Now of course all these quotes are in interviews so a public face has to be had and all the right things need to be said but then the world introduced twitter and some players in our young squad couldn't resist joining in on the trend. Jack Wilshere, Cesc, and Denilson are all on twitter, I think the Chamakh account is real and a load of our youth players are on there too. This is an excellent way for us fans to get a little view of what are players are like away from the press interviews for example Cesc's good luck messages to the team and letting us know he's gutted not to be playing, but I'll leave this incredibly short post with my favorite tweet, possibly ever, which was one I came across from little Jack Wilshere a couple of days ago, he tweeted
" Feeling the pressure? No way. Feeling ruthless. Ready 2 burn down the bridge! "
If that's not enough to get you up for today's battle at the bridge I don't know what is. I hope the rest of the team have that much fire in their bellies.
Back tomorrow with a match review hopefully praising our boys performance and celebrating being only 1 point of the top spot.
Goonerfish.
BTW, you can follow me on twitter too here and I'm also on Facebook.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Spineless Arsenal face first real test. Chelsea Preview.
This is it. Our first real big test against credible title challengers comes tomorrow at Stamford Bridge.
Is it goes without saying that this close to such an important game we are riddled with injuries. we are missing the complete spine of our team with Almunia, Vermaelen, Fabregas and Van Persie are all set to miss out. Now can you imagine Chelsea without Cech, Terry, Lampard AND Drogba? No, neither can I. Plus that's not including Walcott, Gibbs and Ramsey who are all out too.
It's likely that Fabianski will be given the chance to continue in goal, hopefully he can take the confidence he will of gained from last week and have a stormer. He must know that he is just one mistake from a backlash from Arsenal fans so the time Almunia is out injured we will learn a lot about Fabianski's character, we all know he can be a great goalkeeper but now it's up to him to start showing it week in, week out.
In defence Kos and Squillaci will keep there partnership going in the centre of defence and the only other real question Arsene Wenger had was who would start at left back but in good ol' Arsenal tradition, Keiran Gibbs made the choice for him by getting inured, he will now miss the action for the next 3 weeks.
Midfield should be Arsene's hardest desicion. Song is almost certain to start but the two to join him may not be as easy to read, the main candidates will be Wilshere, Nasri, Diaby and Denilson. Wenger seems to like playing two more defensive midfielders in the centre when we're away from home against a decent team so I doubt we'll see Nasri and Wilshere together and think Diaby will get the nod ahead of Denilson.
Nasri however may get the nod to play further up the field on the right of our attacking triangle. Chamakh will almost certainly lead the attack but Bendtner is back in contention now so over the next few games he should help release some of the pressure sitting on Chamakh's shoulders...... but not at Chelsea. Our Russian magician should keep his place on the left of attack.
We have not kept a clean sheet since our 6-0 win against Braga and if we're being honest, I don't see Stamford Bridge as the place that it's going to change especially when Drogba seems to be guaranteed at least one goal every time he plays us. It'll be interesting to see who picks him up. Koscielny in my opinion isn't strong enough to deal with Drogba so I expect Squillaci to monitor him.
Goonerfish's line-up:
Fabianski
Sagna - Squillaci - Koscielny - Clichy
Song
Wilshere - Diaby
Nasri - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Chelsea 1 - 2 Arsenal
OK, so, the score is more from my heart than my head but we always seem to excel when the opposition are considered as such heavy favourites. I think Chamakh will own John Terry all day and should bag at least one goal for himself. I have always said that when it comes to games against the big teams you need to look for three points at home and at least a draw away from home so a point will be a good result this weekend but I think we have the ability to take all three, even without our spine.
What do you think Gooners, do we have enough to take all three points tomorrow? Leave your predictions below. Keep cheering Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Is it goes without saying that this close to such an important game we are riddled with injuries. we are missing the complete spine of our team with Almunia, Vermaelen, Fabregas and Van Persie are all set to miss out. Now can you imagine Chelsea without Cech, Terry, Lampard AND Drogba? No, neither can I. Plus that's not including Walcott, Gibbs and Ramsey who are all out too.
It's likely that Fabianski will be given the chance to continue in goal, hopefully he can take the confidence he will of gained from last week and have a stormer. He must know that he is just one mistake from a backlash from Arsenal fans so the time Almunia is out injured we will learn a lot about Fabianski's character, we all know he can be a great goalkeeper but now it's up to him to start showing it week in, week out.
In defence Kos and Squillaci will keep there partnership going in the centre of defence and the only other real question Arsene Wenger had was who would start at left back but in good ol' Arsenal tradition, Keiran Gibbs made the choice for him by getting inured, he will now miss the action for the next 3 weeks.
Midfield should be Arsene's hardest desicion. Song is almost certain to start but the two to join him may not be as easy to read, the main candidates will be Wilshere, Nasri, Diaby and Denilson. Wenger seems to like playing two more defensive midfielders in the centre when we're away from home against a decent team so I doubt we'll see Nasri and Wilshere together and think Diaby will get the nod ahead of Denilson.
Nasri however may get the nod to play further up the field on the right of our attacking triangle. Chamakh will almost certainly lead the attack but Bendtner is back in contention now so over the next few games he should help release some of the pressure sitting on Chamakh's shoulders...... but not at Chelsea. Our Russian magician should keep his place on the left of attack.
We have not kept a clean sheet since our 6-0 win against Braga and if we're being honest, I don't see Stamford Bridge as the place that it's going to change especially when Drogba seems to be guaranteed at least one goal every time he plays us. It'll be interesting to see who picks him up. Koscielny in my opinion isn't strong enough to deal with Drogba so I expect Squillaci to monitor him.
Goonerfish's line-up:
Fabianski
Sagna - Squillaci - Koscielny - Clichy
Song
Wilshere - Diaby
Nasri - Arshavin
Chamakh
Score Chelsea 1 - 2 Arsenal
OK, so, the score is more from my heart than my head but we always seem to excel when the opposition are considered as such heavy favourites. I think Chamakh will own John Terry all day and should bag at least one goal for himself. I have always said that when it comes to games against the big teams you need to look for three points at home and at least a draw away from home so a point will be a good result this weekend but I think we have the ability to take all three, even without our spine.
What do you think Gooners, do we have enough to take all three points tomorrow? Leave your predictions below. Keep cheering Gooners,
Goonerfish.
Friday, 1 October 2010
The future is bright, the future is Arsenal.
I'll start today's blog with a confession. From 11.15pm last night I was queuing at my local Asda for my copy of Fifa 11, I finally got home at about 1:00 in the morning, popped it into my Playstation and started my first FA Cup with the mighty Arsenal.
Now this isn't a game review, but one thing that made me think, was the quality of our squad. As I chose my starting 11 I couldn't help but notice the quality I was leaving out. If everyone is fit the the likes of Rosicky, Chamakh, Wilshere, Vela, Denilson, Bendtner, Gibbs, Eboue, Diaby would all struggle to get into our team, then if you consider who is in our team, Vermaelen, Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott, Nasri, Arshavin and so on you have to ask yourself the question "do we have the strongest squad in the Premiership this year?"
I can't think of another team that has so much quality in depth, ironically the one thing that Arsenal have been criticised for in past seasons. If we look at our rivals for the league title, Chelsea obviously have quality in their first 11 in the form of Thug Terry, Fat Lampard, Malouda, Anelka and of course Didier 'must score twice against Arsenal' Drogba, Essien and as much as it hurts to say Cashly, but who do they have that can step in in the case of an injury? No-one. Man Utd are even worse on paper, they have Rooney as the only real big talent in their team, not one other player in their squad would be a regular in Arsenal's starting line-up, they have a few players starting to emerge like we did 3-4 years ago but I think they are entering their transition stage now, once Scholes, Van der Sar and Giggs admit defeat to old age we could see a new era for Man Utd and not in a way their fans are going to like. It'll be interesting to see how much stick they get when they go a few years without silverware.
Next down the league is Man City who have attempted to buy everyone available aka Chelsea when Roman Abramovich was still interested in owning a football club so obviously they have a lot of talent but talented individuals do not make a quality team as i think they'll find out this year. Liverpool don't even warrant a mention, and the I'll let the spuds keep thinking that they have a decent squad.
I know that I am biased in my opinions, but what other team has a bench full of players that have all been capped at full international level and then a group of youngsters waiting in the wings with the ability of the Arsenal kids, no-one else has a Frimpong, JET, Lansbury etc etc.
My point is, that with the squad we have available to us surely we are scarily close to a fantastic era in Arsenal's history. Our team have been playing together for years now and that can only help the team as a unit (something Man City will not benefit from for a couple of years at least) and silverware cannot be far away.
Keep the faith Gooners, Other clubs are already copying our youth structures and financial plans, it won't be long until they wish they could copy our success too.
Lets hope our squad players can come in on Sunday and prove me right by spanking Chelsea at the bridge.
Back with a match preview tomorrow,
Goonerfish.
Now this isn't a game review, but one thing that made me think, was the quality of our squad. As I chose my starting 11 I couldn't help but notice the quality I was leaving out. If everyone is fit the the likes of Rosicky, Chamakh, Wilshere, Vela, Denilson, Bendtner, Gibbs, Eboue, Diaby would all struggle to get into our team, then if you consider who is in our team, Vermaelen, Fabregas, Van Persie, Walcott, Nasri, Arshavin and so on you have to ask yourself the question "do we have the strongest squad in the Premiership this year?"
I can't think of another team that has so much quality in depth, ironically the one thing that Arsenal have been criticised for in past seasons. If we look at our rivals for the league title, Chelsea obviously have quality in their first 11 in the form of Thug Terry, Fat Lampard, Malouda, Anelka and of course Didier 'must score twice against Arsenal' Drogba, Essien and as much as it hurts to say Cashly, but who do they have that can step in in the case of an injury? No-one. Man Utd are even worse on paper, they have Rooney as the only real big talent in their team, not one other player in their squad would be a regular in Arsenal's starting line-up, they have a few players starting to emerge like we did 3-4 years ago but I think they are entering their transition stage now, once Scholes, Van der Sar and Giggs admit defeat to old age we could see a new era for Man Utd and not in a way their fans are going to like. It'll be interesting to see how much stick they get when they go a few years without silverware.
Next down the league is Man City who have attempted to buy everyone available aka Chelsea when Roman Abramovich was still interested in owning a football club so obviously they have a lot of talent but talented individuals do not make a quality team as i think they'll find out this year. Liverpool don't even warrant a mention, and the I'll let the spuds keep thinking that they have a decent squad.
I know that I am biased in my opinions, but what other team has a bench full of players that have all been capped at full international level and then a group of youngsters waiting in the wings with the ability of the Arsenal kids, no-one else has a Frimpong, JET, Lansbury etc etc.
My point is, that with the squad we have available to us surely we are scarily close to a fantastic era in Arsenal's history. Our team have been playing together for years now and that can only help the team as a unit (something Man City will not benefit from for a couple of years at least) and silverware cannot be far away.
Keep the faith Gooners, Other clubs are already copying our youth structures and financial plans, it won't be long until they wish they could copy our success too.
Lets hope our squad players can come in on Sunday and prove me right by spanking Chelsea at the bridge.
Back with a match preview tomorrow,
Goonerfish.
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