Derby 2-6 Arsenal – 28/04/08 – (Premier League) 30 April, 2008

We won! Hooray! If someone had said to me before the game that Derby would score two, I would’ve been quite scared; it was one of those games that you expect to win but in the back of your mind you have that horrible thought that we could just lose.

My day started at half two when I was picked up from Watford. My mate and I thought we’d make an early start, get up there early and beat the traffic; lucky we did we found out there was an accident on the M1, phew. So we got up there about five-ish and had a little drive around the area of the stadium.

Pride Park was in the middle of an industrial estate, surrounded by JJB Sports, Frankie & Benny’s, KFC, Burger King etc. There was even a Starbucks built into the outside of the stadium. Quite surreal and characterless when we’re used to our stadium in Central London between houses.

So we got parked up and waited at one a little local’s bar for our other mates making the trip up. We headed over to the stadium after a few beers and a discussion about the recent 5-a-sides tournament, our slim chance of winning the league and what we thought of the game. Had another quick beer inside the ground before kick off.

I found out that my seat was right on the edge of the Arsenal fans. I was on the right hand side, the edge next to the corner of the singing home fans. I thought ‘this’ll be fun’.

The strange evening began when the 2 minute warning. Their Wonder of You
was some dance track I can’t remember but this was interrupted by: “RAMS FANS, THIS IS YOUR TWO MINUTE WARNING!” In the style of that movie previews guy. Me and my mate just stood there rather confused.

Anyway, we started with pretty much the team I thought expect Denilson started ahead of my choice, Gilberto. However it soon came clear that the young Brazilian was not the right choice, fair enough Wenger was giving him a game but he was being bullied all over the park.

The game took a few minutes to get underway, simply because Derby decided to push us over every time we picked up the ball. However to be fair whenever we didn’t manage a little time in possession we couldn’t do much with it.

In the first 20 minutes, wither side could’ve been one up. We’d smashed it over the bar twice and thanks to some poor defending we allowed Derby a couple of chances too. However we took an unsurprising lead after 25 minutes. It was a defensive error when a clearance went straight to Bendtner; he played a one-two with van Persie before slotting it home. Fair play to him for scoring under pressure and having quick reactions but it really was a simple goal.

However the lead didn’t last long, 6 minutes later we’d conceded. Savage took a free kick out wide and swung it in dangerously. We failed to clear it and McEveley kicked it into the back of the net inside a busy area. It was a sloppy, sloppy goal and really quite embarrassing.

We needed to score quickly and we tried our best, van Persie and Fabregas both had decent shots but I was dreading going in at half time tied at 1-1. However we regained the lead 6 minutes from half time. Toure’s long ball into van Persie was perfectly weighted and timed, unlike Derby’s offside trap, Robin took a touch, was one-on-one and slotted it in nicely past Carroll. Quite a nice goal really but if their defence was any good; he never would’ve been allowed that time and space.

So we went into the break leading (thank God) but I wasn’t all too convinced. Derby had been playing their socks off, this was their last hurrah before they went down, their last chance to do something special. However their football was more special needs. We hadn’t been playing well though and if we were playing another side on the night we could well have been loosing at this point.

The Derby fans had spent the final part of the first half chanting, “Adebayor, Adebayor, his Dad washes elephants and his Mum is a whore.” He wasn’t even on the pitch. Not only is that a crap insult there was nothing to provoke it, apart from maybe a hat trick against them in the home game…wankers.

However he came on at half time, replaced by an injured again van Persie. Jesus Christ! Apparently the substitution was only precautionary, but still!

Adebayor’s inclusion inspired the team. His work rate and energy is invaluable to us and it was making a telling difference. We had a few chances as the second half got going. However we were taking control of the game, we were like the bigger kid holding the little kids head at arms reach while they tried to run at us, we broke no sweat.

It took until the 59th minute for the next goal to come. Walcott drove to the by-line and cut it back for Eboue, he slid it across to the back post and Adebayor came sliding in for our third. He quite clearly had heard the chanting from the Derby supporters and ran over to that corner holding his hand to his ear. They in return booed him and started up that song again. Meh.

So it was 3-1 now, and it looked like game over. We should’ve added a 4th soon after When Walcott went clear through on goal but his curling shot into the far bottom corner went inches wide. Eboue had a decent chance after that too, but, you know…

In the 77th minute it all went Pete Tong when Derby made it 3-2. Earnshaw had only been on the pitch a few minutes when he broke clear and slotted it past Fabianski. He proceeded to do some stupid little dance when any other side would’ve ran the ball back to the halfway line hoping for another goal.

The Derby fans were in full voice now, they thought they had a chance, but we were having none of it. Less that two minutes later Walcott was down the other end of the field and with a little bit of skill he found a second of space in the box and curled a shot into the far corner. He certainly made up for his miss a few minutes earlier, a well-taken goal. The best thing is, which my mate pointed out, that he didn’t lose his confidence after that miss and wanted another chance to score, this boy really is improving.

4-2 now, with just over 10 minutes to go. The announcer proudly addressed the fans with the 33,003 attendance, another sell out at Pride Park. Fair enough, it’s not the easiest thing in the world going to Derby. However I lost any respect for the fans when they answered this with: “Loyal Supporters! Loyal Supporters!” Seriously?! I mean it’s one thing to be proud of the support but you don’t go singing about it, it’s not very humble. What a bunch of cunts directing that to us when we’ve sold out every single match home and away this season and there’s all us Gooners standing behind the goal on a Monday night after losing the title quite embarrassingly to be honest. Go fuck yourselves.

Seconds after this, we made is properly game over with Adebayor making it 5-2. He went back to the corner of the Derby fans and he and Eboue mocked Earnshaw’s stupid little dance 3 minutes earlier. The home fans started to leave, and we sang them off with their: “Loyal Supporters! Loyal Supporters!” chant. Not as loyal as they make out then.

On the 90 minute mark Adebayor completed his hat trick. That’s three goals in each game against Derby this year, a feat that’s never been accomplished in the Premier League before, nice one Ade. He went clear through on goal past a tired Derby defence. For the first time in the game Carroll decide to come out and Adebayor skipped past him slotting it into the empty net. It was another little celebratory dance with Eboue and then an acknowledgment of the Arsenal fans that’ve supported him so well this season.

So the final score was 6-2, a nice little thrashing but I feel bad that we let in two goals against these useless pricks. We didn’t play really that well but it just shows you how fucking awful Derby are. It was sort of played like a friendly, we never really got into top gear but to be fair we never really needed to.

We got back to the car and headed back down the M1 and I arrived home about half 12, not bad little day out. I’m definitely going to miss these away trips; I’m not going to Sunderland so it’ll be my last for a little while.

Finally, I’d just like to mention that Derby are a bunch of cunts. The team themselves are a bunch of slow, old bullies whose only tactic against a team like ours is to kick them off the ball. We were simply a class apart and there wasn’t anything they could do to stop us. However their fans are even worse. It seemed like they’d studied a Spurs song-sheet before the game and tried to insult us as much as they could. Half of their songs didn’t even make any sense or were completely irrelevant to what was going on in the game.

They are the Tottenham Hotspur of the north and I fucking hate them. Before, I felt a bit sorry for Derby this year. I’d never seen them play before as I missed the home game and never followed any of their other matches, but their quality of football is shocking. They’re on course to set a record for the lost points achieved in Premiership history and I hope they fucking do it, they totally deserve their position in the league. Good riddance.

Right I really need to go to sleep now, thanks for reading.

We need Tony Adams back 26 April, 2008

“I’ve not been offered nothing here [Portsmouth], I’ve not been offered anything elsewhere. I want to keep learning and wherever that takes me it takes me.

I always tried to lead by example [at Arsenal] and get out there and make sure they realised they were playing for the Arsenal. I tried to install in the team a kind of ‘over our dead bodies’ kind of attitude.

I just feel that people don’t realise that the best back four win the league. The last two seasons Manchester United have had the best back four and, before that, John Terry and his men were fantastic for two years.

We’ve kept more clean sheets at Portsmouth than Arsenal have, but I’m not going to question the great man [Wenger].

I love the club, it was part of my life for so many years and if anyone at Arsenal wants to invite me back, I’m willing to give it a shot. I’m fully prepared and willing to do what I have to do.”

These are the words from Tony Adams after talking to Setanta yesterday. Tony is currently Harry Redknapp’s no.2 at Portsmouth but that contract runs out at the end of the season and he’s hinted he might go looking elsewhere to further his career.

I wasn’t always sure what the situation was with Tony and Arsenal, he didn’t turn up for the last day at Highbury and there was a rumour that he didn’t get on with the club, or something along those lines. However these new quotes suggest there is no problem and he’s love to work at the club if he were asked.

Wenger came out recently saying he wasn’t happy with our defence…so…why not snap up Tony Adams? Arsene suggested he could be in the market for a defender, but I don’t really see why; Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Sagna should be a great back four. With a bit of help, they should be unbreakable.

When Steve Bould came in as a defensive coach in 2006 we formed a record breaking back four in Flamini, Senderos, Toure and Eboue! They went through most of the Champions league with a clean sheet, and with an in-form Lehmann behind us it was no surprise we made it to the final.

So, I’m thinking, bring Adams in as a sort of no.2/defensive coach. If he could do something like Stevie Bould then hopefully we can learn to be tighter at the back. It would be a nice boost to see Tony back at the club too, the fans would love to see Mr. Arsenal return home. It would be great if Tony worked his way up at Arsenal and took over from Wenger in a few years time.

I dunno, I hope Wenger has a little think about it, I could be completely wrong but it’s an idea. I reckon Adams might be looking for a proper managers job but if he’s interested in working for Arsenal I think we should get him.

There isn’t a lot of other news about. Man United have just lost to Chelsea 2-1. It means the two are level on points and it will go right down to the wire. Some of the complete optimists I know have told me we can still win the title, heh! If United lose their next two games, Chelsea draw one and lose won and we win our next three we would be champions! It’s not impossible, in fact it could happen, but it is a long shot!

Luka Modric has signed for Spurs. A few people linked him with a move here but I don’t think Wenger was ever interested. He’s Eduardo’s mate from Zagreb but not anymore, I can confirm Da Silva rang him up this morning simply saying, “Cunt” down the phone then hanging up. Spurs have paid something ridiculous for him; the money will be coming from the Berbatov sale I guess. Funny they’ve wasted all their money on a player when they’re desperate for a player in another position. Oh well.

Right I’m off, have a nice weekend.

Friday Update: Hleb & Flamini latest 25 April, 2008

Happy Friday! And it’s a busy (I miss-typed that ‘busty’ there, no it’s not a busty Friday I’m afraid) one as usual so I’m just going to get on with it…

Wenger is sticking to his deadline of April for Flamini’s contract Arsene still believes that he wants to stay but Matty’s got 5 days and 5 hours to sign something or it’s bye-bye. Arsene has made it clear that there is an offer on the table; it’s now up to him:

“I respect our wages structure. We do not pay – a little bit more, a little bit more. We have made an offer. We think it is decent and that is it.”

Personally, I think Flamini is still deciding where to go. If the above is true, then Mathieu would’ve told Arsene that he’s not interested and we would’ve heard by now, unless we’re just not being told about it. If he still hasn’t made his mind up, then he’s leaving it very late and I’m sure a few of us are going to be a little bit pissed off with him even if he does stay.

It still looks like we won’t find out until the 1st May. I just want it over with to be honest.

Alex Hleb’s future is in doubt too and this week Inter have publicly come up saying they are interested. However at today’s press conference Arsene Wenger has told us he’s not happy about that. He says that he’s had no contact with Inter Milan and for them to come out with these comments “is not acceptable”. He says it’s actually illegal but he hasn’t reported it to FIFA.

Arsenal News Review is reporting that Hleb has gone but to be honest with you I don’t really listen to what he has to say. He says he has a trustworthy source where he has got this information but I’m not deciding anything until I’ve seen it on Arsenal.com.

After this interview with Thierry Henry there has been a bit of talking about him returning to England. He hasn’t had the best season with Barca but he’s going to put that right with a screamer at Old Trafford isn’t he? Yes he is. Wenger was asked today whether he’d consider taking back Titi and he didn’t rule it out. I think there is a lot of respect between the two guys and he says they often watch each other’s teams on TV and trade helping tips. I don’t think Thierry would ever come back to Arsenal in a playing role, however we could do with a left winger…

Next up we face Derby, that’s on Monday night. I’ll preview the game on Sunday but Arsene’s said he might play Fabianski. It would be nice to see him given a chance and I think this might be the right time. Flamini could return to action but I think that’s about as likely as him saying he’s play for us for free from next season.

Oh yeah, and just to add insult to yesterday’s post, we have another player out for the season. Bacary Sagna’s brilliant season is over. It’s been a tragic one with the loss of his brother but he’s moved to the Premier League in great form. He was one of our players of the season this year and we’ll all be looking forward to him returning in August.

Right, I think I should go down the pub now. Thanks for reading.

“Three midfielders ruled out for the rest of the season” 24 April, 2008

That was the headline I was welcomed with on Arsenal.com when I got home from work today. I just huffed and thought, ‘here we go again…’

I was thinking though, how many times have I seen similar headlines on the official website this season? I mean I could just go through the news archive but that would taking fucking ages and I cannot be arsed. We’ve had such terrible luck with injuries again this season. I’d go as far to say that if we had more players to pick from at some times of the season we could’ve gone on to win the title.

I mean if van Persie hadn’t been out for most of the season, he would be challenging Ronaldo at the top of the Golden Boot charts. His injury struck at a time when he was scoring for fun and playing with such flair; it looked like it was going to be a great season for Robin. Eduardo’s injury, seen above was not only emotional, but he came just at the time when he was settling into our side and scoring goals. If he had stayed fit we probably would’ve had that bit of extra something to push for the title.

Rosicky’s been out for most of the season too. Like van Persie, he was in good form at the beginning of the season; I think I remember him having an excellent assists-per-game ratio. Thanks to his injury problems, we’ve been stuck with Eboue on the wing and we all know how badly we’ve suffered from that.

The headline above though, from arsenal.com, is really exaggerating the real story. Their “Three midfielders ruled out for the rest of the season” article is really news we know already; it’s just the fact that, that is what stuck me as soon as I logged onto the computer today. It was sort of like an insult I guess.

Anyway, it’s saying Hleb, Diaby and Rosicky are out for the season. Hleb, we found out the other day picked up a suspension for that slap in the Reading game, Rosicky we knew about ages ago and Diaby picked up an injury against West Ham reserves on Monday, we’ve now found out he won’t be risked in these final few games.

The only recovery is Manuel Almunia but Arsene says, “I have not decided what I will do with the goalkeepers yet.” He recently hinted he’ll give Fabianski some action in these last few games so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him face Derby.

In other news there’s this strange article with Arsene saying he won’t accept disrespect. He says he can take a bit of criticism, that’s natural, but he’s come out with these strong words:

“People say you make mistakes, well that is professional. When people say you don’t know what you are doing, that is a little bit disrespectful.”

I don’t really know what he’s referring to, to be honest. Most Arsenal fans accept that we lost the title year down to a bit of bad luck and the young players not having the confidence and that bit of extra strength in the final stretch. I thought his comments were a bit out of the blue and I’m a bit confused to be honest.

And finally, Havard Nordtveit believes he can be the man to fill Wenger’s defensive vacancy. Wenger said the other day he could possibly be in the market for a new defender after losing the lead in so many games this season. Nordtveit has been brilliant for the reserves this season, however he doesn’t even turn 18 until June! Here’s what he said:

“Of course I want to be that player. It is up to me to show them what I have. My first season has been very good. It was not so happy in the start with my injury but I am pleased to be back regularly in the Reserves, and to be captain. We got a smashing result on Monday night so it is just going upwards.”

You’d think that Wenger would be looking for a World Class, proven defender to solve our troubles, however Harvard is hoping he looks closer to home. I wouldn’t be that upset if Wenger did decide once again to simply promote a youngster when we need a play: This guy is the nuts. He says his target is the pre-season games and then just go from there. Not a bad idea mate.

Right, that’s enough for today. Speak to you tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Hleb & Flamini look like leaving but Walcott wants to play 22 April, 2008

Apart from some bits from Theo Walcott, everything I have to tell you today is pretty crap, so if you’re feeling a bit sad tonight I suggest you move along. There are some strong links suggesting Hleb and Flamini will be leaving this summer and two more injuries to report. Bullshit.

I’ll start with the Alex Hleb story. This all started in Milan, and the night before the game when the players were allowed the evening to relax, it seems Alex Hleb sent his time talking to Inter Milan. Out came this cover-up story that he went to go and get ice cream with his agent. Right.

True or not, the rumours have come and not gone. This week Arsene’s had to give his own opinion:

“I believe Alex will stay but you cannot stop the rumours when players are in this type of situation, but I want Hleb to stay like everybody else. You can go to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but you have no more guarantees to win trophies. And from this season we should get the belief we can win trophies and come back to win the title.”

The fact that he’s had to come out and say this to me suggests that those links with a move away are very real. Also, Wenger doesn’t deny the stories here, so maybe something is going on. His statement above is reminding Hleb that players who have left Arsenal haven’t always found the grass greener, and this side we are building here are very capable of winning trophies.

I don’t want him to go, but I wont be too upset if he does leave. He’s one of those p layers that can be brilliant one day and shit another. He would need to be replaced though. If he does leave this summer, then we’ve seen the last of him in an Arsenal shirt because he’s been banned for the rest of the season.

Another top midfielder linked with a move away is Mathieu Flamini. Juventus, have today confirmed they are very interested in signing him the team which he supported as a boy. From tomorrow, Matty has a week to sign a contract with Arsenal or he’s outa here.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this to you before, but I’ve been told that after the game on Saturday he was in the tunnel celebrating the win with the players. This seems like good news to me but I’m still lost about Flamini’s future, I have to admit though that I think he must be leaving now. We’ll find out in 8 days though…

My mate brought up an interesting worrying point today. Hleb and Flamini are Cesc’s best mates at the club and with Fabregas constantly linked with a move home to Barcelona it’s not looking good. More on that though once we find out about Alex and Mathieu I guess.

There’s another midfielder with his future in doubt, and that’s Gilberto Silva. The Brazilian captain says he’s going to have a nice chat with Le Boss about it once the seasons over. I always thought he was going to leave, but I think he’s going to probably stay now. Especially with the futures of Hleb and Flamini still unclear.

I’m going to get the bad news over and done with and tell you that Djourou and Diaby were injured in last night’s reserve game against West Ham. No idea how long they’ll be out for but apparently they aren’t major injuries but they were taken off mainly not to make it worse. The final score was last night was 2-0 in a game in which 16-year-old Jack Wiltshire stole all the attention. The youngster had a great game and to top it off he got one goal and one assist; both were fucking brilliant. One to definitely get exited about.

Walcott has said this week that he’s desperate for Wenger to start considering him as a first 11 player. Wenger described his performance against Reading as “his most complete game”. He’s made a big step this season and I’m quite sure he’ll get a big chance to come into this side next season. Arsene also said that he asked Theo to make his game more aggressive and powerful and in that link he admits he’s done exactly what he’s asked of him.

Theo has said he’s tired of only coming on as a sub all the time and wants to make the impact over a whole 90 minutes. His personal target was 20-25 starts this season, so far he’s on 17 and I’m quite sure that Wenger will use these last three games to give him a chance to prove his worth; so he looks on course to make that target of 10 starts.

It’s getting to the case now where you have to ask, “What more does Walcott have to do to get a start?” Maybe the only thing/person standing in his way is Alex Hleb, but maybe he won’t have that obstacle for too much longer…

It’s going to be one exciting summer.

Friday News & Reading Preview 18 April, 2008

It was a busy press conference for Arsene Wenger today, with lots of stories coming out from this afternoon’s chat to the Media. The subject of Mathieu Flamini’s future came up and Arsene has issued strong words saying he has a deadline of 12 days for Flamini to make his mind up:

“We are getting close to yes or no. He says he wants to stay and I believe him. But as long as he has not signed, for me, he is free to sign where he wants. We have set ourselves a target until the end of the month of April to finalise the situation, one way or the other. That’s an absolute deadline because afterwards we have to make decisions about whether you have to move on the market because you don’t have much time left.”

So if it’s not done by the end of this month, it’s not happening. It’s good that Arsene has taken this no nonsense approach: You either stay, or you don’t. We all want him to stay, fans and staff, and Arsene says Flamini to stay. It’s just become an issue of money now. Matty wants to stay but he wants a decent wage for it, fair enough, but if he’s taking the piss then Wenger’s got to let him go.

Wenger has left it late to get this finalised so I’m not surprised he’s given an April deadline. That only gives him a couple of matches in May to look at possible replacements. There are a lot of Flamini-style players out there but this season he has been one of the best. He will be missed, but not irreplaceable; I’ll be upset if he goes but lets just get it sorted yeah? He’s out injured at the moment so he’s got plenty of time to think about it.

Flamini is one possible high profile departure, Gilberto another, Lehmann wants to go and I think Hoyte does too. There could be a few players on the way out but Wenger promises there will be signings. He wants to keep the squad together, that’s his priority, but he says he’ll add two top signings on top of that. The more departures, then the more signings…I hope anyway, the squad’s thin as it is.

For once, it looks like Wenger’s going to get the chequebook out but he says he won’t be buying two forward players. We’ve been linked with David Villa this week but Wenger’s been playing down the rumours. However he says he likes the player and never actually ruled out a move for him in the summer. We could do with a striker at the moment but if Robin stays fit and Eduardo makes a good recovery then it’ll probably be a bit of a waste.

In that link above, Wenger talks about our defensive problems and hints that he will make a signing in that department. He says we’ve gone ahead in so many games but not won and that’s what has cost us.

Gallas is the latest addition to the defence a couple of years ago and started this season well as the new captain however we’ve fell apart in the latter stages of this season and his captaincy has come under scrutiny. Wenger’s said today that he will think about who should wear the captain’s armband next season but it does seem likely Gallas will keep it. He did well at the start but I’m for a change to be honest. Who? Flamini if he stays, Toure if he’s got it in him, Cesc is pretty inspirational but still young, I dunno.

Senderos had a bad game against Liverpool and got a bit upset about it, that’s why he was left out of the Man United game. Wenger said he wanted to give him a rest, and allow him time to refresh his mind and start again. I think that’s fair enough. He could feature again tomorrow alongside William Gallas who could be wearing the armband for one of the last times; he’s how I see the team:

The team really could be anything, with the title race over it doesn’t really matter all too much, but we still have things to play for: pride, the fans and 2nd place. I think he should play Song, give him these last few games to see whether he’s ready to step up next season. Lehmann will start as Almunia failed today’s fitness test.

I’m not going to fully preview tomorrow’s game, as this is a pretty long post already. However I will say this quickly. We need to win, if we want to challenge Chelsea for 2nd place we need to put the pressure on them. Anything other than a win tomorrow and we’ve pretty much secured 3rd place for ourselves.

I don’t expect Wenger to play this one uncontested, he will get his players up for this game and tell them how important it is we keep on going. As I mentioned he other day, the fans will be coming to this expecting to see a decent display of football, they want to come down to The Grove and enjoy the football, not get depressed by a poor performance against Reading. The travelling side really need the points so we can’t sit back.

I’m playing in a 5-a-sides tournament in the morning with the guy’s from Arseblog. Gilbertosilver from Gunnerblog will be there and Arseblogger is playing too, I’ll be sure to give him a kick for you. I’ve got to go and dig out the shin pads now and get my stuff together so I’ll wrap this up, but I’ll let you know how it goes soon, and of course there’ll be a match report of the Reading game too.

Right I’m off now, thanks for reading

Come on Barca! 17 April, 2008

It’s just occurred to me watching the Everton vs. Chelsea game that I hate those Russian cunts (well, by ‘just occurred’ I don’t mean I’ve only just discovered my hatred, I mean I’ve just remembered how much I don’t like them). That got me thinking about Man United, because I fucking hate them cunts too. Then I was thinking, who would I rather want to win the title? I don’t really care to be honest, but honestly I just know that United have got it in the bag.

However, they’re both in the Champions League Semi Finals along with Barcelona and Liverpool. It’s gutting that we’re not in it but one of those four teams are going to win it. Now, I hope you’ve eaten already, because what I am about to say is not for the faint hearted: There is a strong possibility of a Manchester United vs. Chelsea Champions League Final in Moscow.

Fuck me that isn’t nice.

Could you imagine that? It would be horrible; it would be like choosing between having AIDS or Cancer. Seeing that little knob Ronaldo lift the European Cup would make me sick and seeing Chelsea crowned the first London club to lift the trophy would be a disaster.

If the final was between the current top two teams in England, I don’t think I would be able to watch. I wouldn’t want to ever found out who won and I’d somehow try and block out any memories of May 2008.

So my words to you are: “Come on Barca!” They’re our only hope now. Even though my dream was to beat them in this year’s final I now have to cheer on the Catalans. I could deal with Liverpool winning it again, I mean, they’ve done it before and it wouldn’t be so much of a big deal compared to either United of Chelsea lifting the cup. Could you imagine John Terry lifting that thing? Just picture it now. Fuck.

Thierry Henry is our only hope now, his side faces the best side in the world at the moment in their Semi Final and we need Titi to come up with the goods. It would be a bit sad to think that in order for a top player to win the Champions League they have to leave Arsenal, but I’d take that over anyone else winning the European Cup.

[Oh fuck Chelsea just scored, Essien]

I’m going on here, but basically, I’d quite like to see Thierry win it. He deserves it, and I know we all still love him. Arsene wants Henry to win it too but he admits that Man United will be the favourites against them.

I’m predicting a few ‘you should support the English teams in Europe’ comments to this post. Well, no I shouldn’t. I hate Chelsea with a passion, I loathe Manchester United just like any other Arsenal fan and Liverpool are just Bastards; although out of the three I must say I do have to favour the Scoucers. If say Watford were in the Champions League Semis, I’d support them. Or if Barnet made it, I’d support them. If Celtic were still in it I’d be supporting them too. But like fuck will you hear me shouting, “Come on United!”

There’s not a lot of other news that has caught my attention. Denlison’s fit but Almunia faces a late fitness test for the Reading game. Sagna, Flamini, Rosicky and Eduardo are all still out. I’ll talk about Saturday’s game tomorrow though. Until then people.

Oh yeah and I changed the top banner again, had some problems with it so changed it back to this one. I like.

Still Proud 16 April, 2008

Hello there, I’m back from my week in Colorado and since we last spoke we lost 2-1 to Man United which I’m sure you know already. I’m not going to do you a match report; it’s a bit late now. However there are a couple of things I’d like to say:

We played so much better than them, especially in the first half and we should’ve taken our chances.

Van der Sar made some great saves and if it weren’t for him it might’ve been a different story.

Both United’s goals were from set pieces, we managed to stop them scoring in open play but we were punished for those two sloppy mistakes and the home side made the most of them.

The main point though, I’m so proud of our team and our fans. After the final whistle all you could hear was an incredible noise from the travelling fans after the Man Utd fans had been taunting them. It was amazing.

We lost, we’re out of the title race, but I’m still incredibly proud. I wore my Arsenal shirt all day Sunday and I wanted to wear it all day Monday too but it smelt a bit. I love this club and I know we’re going to bounce back; I think next year will be our year. I always thought it was going to be since about 3 years ago, hopefully we’ll learn from our mistakes this season.

Let’s forget about Sunday’s game now, and indeed Tuesday’s. Nothing we can do now except enjoy the rest of the games this season and have fun without the pressure of needing results.

We’ll still give it everything though; we can still fight for 2nd place, which is important too. Automatic Champions League qualification is a big boost however I’m not really that bothered if we go come 3rd, it’s only an extra two games.

I’m looking forward to the Reading game on Saturday, it’ll be a nice day out and although we’re all going to be a bit upset that we’ve got no trophies to play for now, everyone’s going to be in a good mood and just enjoying watching The Arsenal. Also, I’m playing in a 5-a-sides tournament that morning with the guys from the Arseblog forums, that’ll be a laugh.

Right, I’m still tired from the travelling so I’m going to leave it there. Nothing really much to talk about anyway. Speak to you tomorrow.

Flamini injured. Oh bollocks. 11 April, 2008

Hello there, from the snowy mountains of Colorado. I’ve just got in from an exhausting days snowboarding and I thought I’d pay you lot a visit. You’re probably all drunk right now, it’s still early afternoon here so maybe you’ll tune in with a lovely Saturday morning hangover; if that’s the case, g’mornin to ya.

Well the big news at the moment is, typically, bad news. Mathieu Flamini is out for three weeks with an ankle injury. Fuck. He picked up the knock late in the first half of the game against Liverpool and was replaced by Gilberto Silva. I don’t think the Brazilian captain had a bad game; and by that I mean I wasn’t shouting at the TV, “Gilberto you fucking useless knob stop giving it away!” So he’ll probably start alongside Cesc against Man United. Our other options are…oh wait, we don’t have any do we Arsene? Diaby’s suspended, Denilson’s injured, Diarra? Who? Obviously if we had two Cesc Fabregas’ we’d play both of ‘em but we’re not that lucky.

So we’ll be missing Flamini for a few games, he’s played almost every one this season so realistically he could do with the rest. Hopefully, he’ll use this time off to have a good thing about his future. We really want him to stay: the fans, the board, the manager, the players and Flamini’s bank manager. If he decides to move on, fair enough, not a lot we can do about that. I hope he’ll stay though. However it looks like the decision is up to us really as the big rumour is that Flamini has asked for quite a bit of money. Nothing we can do but sit and wait, PLEASE STAY MATTY WE LOVE YOU.

In other news, there was the shocking story that Arsene might actually buy an established player this summer. You’re thinking, ‘wasn’t April Fools a couple of weeks ago?’ Well this is true, Le Boss says he might strengthen in one area with a decent player and not just some unknown youngster. I think it’s pretty vital we do if we want to win the title next year, so: Phew.

Wenger’s been playing down the hype on Theo Walcott after his great performance on Tuesday night. He really made a massive impact and he set up our second goal. Arsene’s said that his performances aren’t fluent though ad nobody was talking about him last weekend. He’s got a point but he definitely looks like he’s improving though and Arsene said he could one day be ‘world-class’.

Right that’s your lot for this Friday. I’m aching and I want to rest. I might speak to you tomorrow to preview the United game but I’d say it’s more unlikely than likely. So if I don’t see you then I’ll speak to you after the game at some point; lets hope it’s with a great big smile on my face. Thanks for reading.

See ya later 9 April, 2008

Right I’m off for a bit, I bet your sick of football by now anyway so I call it a good timed holiday. We got knocked out of the Champions League last night to lucky, lucky Liverpool. If you’ve missed it, my match report is below this post.

I’m gone for a week skiing/snowboarding in Colorado. Breckenridge if you’re wondering. It means I’m going to be away for that cruical Man United game so first job once I get out there is to find a decent sports bar. Although I have a feeling it’ll be full of Man USA fans.

So you’re going to have to do without my build up and read one of those other websites out there. Yes, there are other websites. I’m sure you’ll manage.

I’ll probably be able to find a computer out there but even if I do, I don’t think I’ll really be arsed to write anything. Maybe I will, if you’re lucky. Suppose I better with the United game this weekend.

Right I’m off to the airport now. Speak to you soon people. Bye bye.

Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool – 05/04/08 – (Premier League) 6 April, 2008

1-1 again? Fuck. We needed to win that one, I thought we could win, but the performance wasn’t up to it. Man United have drawn this afternoon too but who out of you lot are really focusing on the title right now? I know I’m not…

Both teams rested players as expected. We played Hoyte and Traore as full backs, Walcott started on the left and Gilberto made up a 5 man midfield supporting the lone striker, Bendtner. Otherwise it was as expected. Liverpool were changed too, Crouch started alongside other subs including some bloke called Plessis, the no.47; so shit his name wasn’t even on the back of the afternoon’s programme.

It was a quiet opening to the game, neither side really creating much. Crouch did hit a decent long-range effort, which was well saved but apart from that it was pretty dull. We had a couple of chances but nothing really worth noting.

The first half was crap, from where I was anyway. It was being played like it didn’t matter, nothing like you might have thought the way Wenger was speaking in the week about how we’re still in the title race.

Our first real chance came about 10 minutes before the break; a mistake from the Liverpool defence and Fabregas powered a shot when the ball was loose, nothing came of it though. However a few minutes later we created a decent chance. We were breaking when Carragher intercepted a ball to Walcott but instead it found the path of Bendtner. He took a touch but then he shot was really poor and Reina had no trouble. An opportunity you would expect a striker to deal with much, much better.

Neither side was really playing that well but it looked like we were just getting going though. So obviously that’s when Liverpool got their opener…the move started right at the back with Reina who punted it long. Crouch controlled it for Benayoun who played the one-two and the English striker turned and shot on the edge of the box. It was actually a quite good effort from Crouch and the ball went right into the bottom corner making it very difficult for Almunia.

So we were a goal down at half time. Not happy at all. Something had to be changed. We were doing nothing with ball and were basically looking a very expensive waste of space. We had that promising spell towards the end of the half but that was cancelled out when Liverpool scored.

We started the half well, and we found the equaliser 10 minutes in. Traore was fouled out on the left and Fabregas was getting ready to whip one in. It looked a crowded area and there were lots of targets for Cesc to aim at. Unsurprisingly, it was the big man, Bendtner who got there first and fired us back to 1-1 with a great header. After thinking earlier in the game, ‘He’s just a shit Crouch really isn’t he?’ I now loved the lanky Dane. He hadn’t had a great game but you have to hand it to him, he does have great talent in the air.

The goal woke up the team and the crowd. It’d been a very sombre mood inside the Grove up to this point and once we scored we awakened. It was a decent atmosphere in there now and the team were playing off it. We still needed another goal though, and just before the hour we made our first change.

Adebayor was getting ready to come on just before we scored but Wenger decided it was still right to bring him on and push for that second goal. Hoyte was the replacement and he was not a happy man being taken off. I sit the opposite side of the pitch but it was quite clear he was having a bit of a strop. It might be frustrating for him but he wasn’t good enough I’m afraid and that’s that really.

We were really going for it now; we needed that goal to get the spirits up but we were well and truly on top now. We had to push for that second goal and we gave it our best shot. We were finding it hard to get through though and our next notable chance was a long-range drive from Flamini, which forced a save out of Reina in the 70th minute.

It was looking good for us but I was still worried about our defence. We needed to score but conceding another would be disastrous. There was a little scare when we went down to 10 men for a few minutes, Gallas picked up a knock on the head and ran straight down the tunnel. He disappeared for a few minutes but came back and carried on. Not sure what he was doing, sorting out a contact lens? Cleaning up some blood? Having a quick piss? I don’t know, but in that time Liverpool were on the attack and it was a bit worrying.

For the final period of the game Liverpool had fresh legs up front in Torres, Voronin and Gerrard and we looked tired. They so easily could’ve punished us and I could just imagine Torres coming up with a late winner. Hleb came on for a knackered Flamini, there were probably a number of players could’ve done with the early bath but Arsene opted for Matty who’ll certainly play a big part on Tuesday night.

We pushed and pushed but the goal just wouldn’t come. In the final minute of extra time the ball somehow found its way to Hleb but he couldn’t react quick enough and get the shot away, the danger was cleared and the whistle was blown.

In the end it was disappointing walking out of the stadium with only one point; after all of that pressure it was hard to believe we didn’t find a goal. However when you look at the bigger picture you have to say it wasn’t a good performance over the whole game. Yes we had some good spells but that’s not good enough. We missed our 1st team players yesterday and we’ll be grateful to get them back on Tuesday night.

Clichy will be back, Sagna might, Hleb will be back, so will Adebayor and van Persie has a good chance. Build up to come in the week tomorrow in a game which will pretty much make or break our season. This is massive. Milan performance anyone? Yes please.