Barnet 0-0 Arsenal – 15/07/06 – (Friendly) 15 July, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Uncategorized.7 comments
I went into the game expecting to see goals, what I saw was a 0-0. To be fair it was really our reserve side that we played with only really Alex Hleb who played the first half who would break into our first 11. The return of Jeremie Aliadiere was quite promising, he looked hungry and was a threat to the Barnet defense, his finishing wasn’t 100% and had a few shots hit at the keeper. The 2 Barnet keepers were excellent though, they were under constant attack from the likes of Aliadiere, Bendtner, Lupoli and van den Berg had a few efforts towards the end. He was played out on the right wing and made a few runs cutting inside he looked ok but is definatly one for the future. The game saw a dissallowed goal for each team, our one with an impressive finish by Lupoli, a shame he didn’t time his run as skillfully.
The other new man O’Cearuill had a reliable performance and looked good being paired with Zinedine Cygan at the back. The main thing that stood out for me though was Alex Song. Why-oh-why did Wenger buy him? he was terrible and gave the ball away all the time, and this was against Barnet. I really cannot understand him, he really was terrible. The referee wasn’t brilliant either, I saw countless handballs and there was a blatent push right in front of me in the area, but the referee wasn’t having it, I let him know he was wrong…
To be honest I didn’t really go to see an impressive performance, I wen’t to see Arsenal again, and so did a couple thousand others. The crowd support was quite good, espcially in the “North Bank’ who were quite loud at times, I was sitting in the South Stand which wasn’t a great laugh, I wanted to be up the other end singing. We played in our new kit which looks quite nice I think, I know people have said they don’t like the gold stripes but I do, I think they look quite good and the cannon on the back of the neck is a nice touch.
Overall I thought we weren’t bad, it was a good day out, below is a photo of my view. Next week it’s Dennis’ Testimonial that’s the real one to look forward too.
Not One but Two New Signings 15 July, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Transfers, Uncategorized.57 comments
Don’t get too exited but yes we have signed two new players. However it’s a 17 year old and a 19 year old to add to he reserves, Wenger does alot of this and maybe in years to come these will be massive players for us. Anyway they are Dutch winger Vincent van den Berg and defender Joe O’Cearuill, I’ve spoken about van den Berg before on the site saying that he was having talks with Arsene and Dennis Bergkamp and had been offered a contract, that was just over a month ago and he has finally signed for us.
I’m personaly quite exited about this player, he played for Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredivisie but has impressed highly at under youth level. At the Fifa Under-17 World Championships in Peru last October he was one of the highest regared players and there were many scouts after him, and I’m glad it’s Arsenal who’ve captured him. There is no doubt he is one for the future but still, we have finally signed another player. The other man is O’Cearuill who we signed from newly promoted Watford, he played for our reserves towards the end of last season and did enough to impress and Arsene offered him a contract. I have added both players to the new squad page which I have also added some details for each player under their thumbnail. The two new youngsters are included in the 19 man squad for the trip to Barnet.
Ashley Cole’s autobiography had just come out in which has has hit out at Arsenal, with a bitter view on the club he ‘loves’. He gave his side on the story of the tapping-up incident with Chelsea.
“Arsenal hung me out to dry, using me as a scapegoat to get back at Chelsea, the board ‘rewarded’ me with an insult and threw years of loyalty back in my face. I’ll reveal the shattering truth about who fed me to the sharks. It changed my view forever on the club I regarded as family. Contract negotiations broke down and as a player I felt betrayed. I was on trial within football and it was Arsenal AND Chelsea versus me. I was fined for holding transfer talks with Chelsea and was synonymous with one of the biggest transfer scandals in soccer. I battle to clear my name and a secret deal keeps me at Arsenal.”
Basically Ashley, just fuck off. So what your saying is Arsenal forced you to go have talks with Chelsea? And then when you did, we were wrong to be upset that you did? Look mate, you’ve got too big for your boots, and Arsenal Football Club doesn’t like those sort of players, fuck off back to Chelsea where you belong. You obviously realise you are one of the best defenders in the world and think you can use that to do anything you like. You used to be one of my favourite players, but you turned into a cunt, I hope you enjoy your new Chelsea pay cheque.
Ok, enough on that, it’s making me angry. The Serie A verdict was released last night and it goes like this:
Juventus: Relegated to Serie B with a 30 point deduction for next season, fined €80,000, 04/05 & 05/06 titles taken away and not allowed in the 06/07 Champions League.
Fiorentina: Relegated to Serie B with a 12 point deduction for next season and not allowed in the 06/07 Champions League.
Lazio: Relegated to Serie B with a 7 point deduction for next season.
AC Milan: Remain in Serie A with a 15 point deduction for next season and not allowed in the 06/07 Champions League.
Haha! I’m not going to go into this in depth but this means a massive finacial loss for every club as not being tin the Champions League alone is about -£30m. Also Juve are going to have to work very hard just to stay in Serie B next season and not get relegated. The start with -30, if they got 70 points in thier campain I would give them 40 points which leaves them about 18th if you compare it with last seasons table. Also AC Milan will have to work hard because now it will be hard for them to even make UEFA cup this season. It makes it very exiting, and it also means we don’t have to face the top Italian clubs in the Champions League. Now there will be a big spending spree for club and however much they try to not sell, they will be forced to as they will desperatly need money.
Arsenal v Barnet Preview
Our first Pre-Season friendly of the summer kicks-off at 3:00 today at Underhill Stadium, home of League 2 side Barnet. I’m going this afternoon as I have done for the past two years, the first time I went it was 10-1 and last year it was 4-1 so I’m expecting to see goals, this year its not a very exiting squad list, the 19 players named are as follows:
Manuel Almunia
Mart Poom
Vito Mannone
Jeremie Aliadiere
Nicklas Bendtner
Matthew Connolly
Pascal Cygan
Mathieu Flamini
Kerrea Gilbert
Justin Hoyte
Alex Hleb
Seb Larsson
Arturo Lupoli
Fabrice Muamba
Joe O’Cearuill
Alexandre Song
Ryan Smith
Anthony Stokes
Vincent van den Berg
The only players I’m really looking forward to seeing are Aliadiere, Hleb and new signing van den Berg. The World Cup meant we couldn’t field a better known side but I suppose the players do need the rest. As for Barnet, well I know fuck all about their side apart from one player who sounds familiar, all I know is it will be a nice, sunny, relaxing afternoon where I will be seeing Arsenal once again, it’s exactly 60 days since our trip to Gay Paris, c’mon the Arsenal!
If you read yesterday I mentioned my brother said they had the new shirt at my local sports shop, well he actually just saw the training shirt, what a waste of time that was. Anyways, have a good day, I’m off to Barnet soon, maybe I’ll see you there?
