We must beat Stoke in a week to forget 31 October, 2008

I’ll start off by apologizing for not keeping the site up to date recently, I’ve had such a long week including a long and expensive day trip up to London for Wednesday night’s game. We all know what happened though, there’s not much point in me going over it all again in depth.

I will say this though. We threw it away, it was ours to win and there is no one to blame except Arsenal for throwing it away. There was no leadership on that pitch, we needed someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck once we went 4-2 up and say, ‘Look, we’re going to take the ball down, play our own game, not fuck about, concentrate, play the game at our own pace and win this one out.’ However we didn’t have anyone on the pitch to do that. You look towards players like Cesc Fabregas to take tht role, but he was fucking knackered, with Denilson alongside him he had to play defensive midfield, attacking midfield & no.10. Emmanuel Adebayor thinks he’s a player of authority but he was fucking useless the other night, he couldn’t keep the ball to save his life. And the one person who’s job it technically is to take this role is no good at it; William Gallas is no Arsenal captain. He should’ve played out those final few minutes as if they were the most important of his career, but I saw no leadership from him, which would inevitably ruin his career…

He’s been dropped/injured/whatever you want to call it for tomorrow’s game verses Stoke, also Eboue could miss out. Now Gallas’ injury could be legitimate, but i doubt it. This is a perfect chance to drop Gallas and teach him a lesson.

Arseblog reports today that there were some harsh words said after the Spurs game and The Mirror reckon Gallas has ruled himself out after this.

There could be some squad rotation for tomorrow’s game. I can see Adebayor, Denilson, Gallas and Silvestre all missing out. There will be players hungry to come in and some of those from Wednesday night need to realize that there are others who will happily take their place.

This game at Stoke has come at a perfect time. They will be difficult to beat and it will take some spirit, which is exactly what we need to show right now.

There are so many possible options for the team tomorrow. There is the team that I, a pissed off fan would make or there’s the managers team. Here’s what I think Wenger will do:

Almunia (c)
Sagna – Toure – Silvestre – Clichy
Diaby – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie

Here’s what I would do if it were up to me:

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Djourou – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas (c) – Diaby – Nasri
Bendtner – van Persie

I’m tempted to start Vela in my team, and I’m also worried how tired Walcott is after Wednesday, but with Eboue possibly out then I don’t know who else we have. Almunia made mistakes on Wednesday but he also made some alright saves and we haven’t got anyone else ready for 1st team football.

From being quite happy with the squad last week I’m not feeling so great now. I’m just not happy with the spirt we have. I thought we were doing alright until Tottenham showed us up. Maybe we were tired, I don’t know. But something has to be done and this team has got to pull together.

The title race is probably mentally over for us, so we have to find something to fight for. I bet moral isn’t great at the moment to a win tomorrow is vital.

It’s weird, if we’d have held out those last few minutes against Spurs this match report would be a very up-beat one. But we didn’t, at that is the problem.

I don’t think the players will be down in the dumps. I think they will be really up for this one and keen to prove a point. Stoke should be worried, we will be angry.

I’m really interested to see how we play tomorrow. The players will know the fans are upset with them and they will know we will be looking for a reaction. It’s a traditional Saturday 3.00pm kick off so it’s not on TV in the UK. I was meant to be going but I can’t afford the trip so I’m going to have to pick it up on the internet.

Hopefully a match report to follow on Sunday. Thanks for reading.

COME ON ARSENAL!

West Ham Preview: The win is vital 25 October, 2008

So from being so close to crisis, we’ve almost got everybody back fit. In the week I told you that Gallas and Toure were now fit but now Bacary Sagna even has a chance of playing. Wenger describes it only as “a small chance”, which to me translates as: ‘He is fit, but maybe not 100%’. So I don’t see him starting tomorrow against West Ham, he could make the bench but I expect he’ll be saved for Tottenham next week.

With Sagna pretty much back that means it’s only Rosicky and Eduardo (who is back next month) out now.

After a fantastic performance against Fenerbahce, Almunia will be wanting to keep the armband but I’m afraid with Gallas’ return he’ll have to hand it back. It’s been a controversial week for the regular captain as he was caught smoking a cigarette (picture) whilst out one night in the week. Wenger has responded to it saying it is unacceptable and irresponsible, especially for someone who is supposed to be captain of the club.

Gallas himself admits he’s not been great recently and I think this whole smoking thing isn’t going to help his case. If it were up to me, I’d drop Gallas and give the Silvestre/Toure combination a chance. It’s never going to happen, whatever Gallas does Wenger still sicks with him. I don’t know what it’s going to take for him to lose the captaincy.

The formation in Turkey worked really well for us, but that was an away match in the Champions League, for which we are famous for working the 4-5-1. It would be tempting to keep it the same for tomorrow’s trip to Upton Park but I think we’ll resort to the traditional 4-4-2. I see van Persie coming back in alongside Adebayor which would mean we could always resort to a 5-man midfield if it wasn’t working.

Here’s how I see us lining up:

Almunia
Eboue – Toure – Gallas (c) – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Diaby – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

If it were up to me, Gallas would be nowhere near the side and I’d have Silvestre in there. And I’d give the captaincy to Almunia again, I’d really like to Cesc have it but at the moment I’m all for Manuel as skipper.

I hope Diaby keeps his place in the side. He also had a good game in Turkey so I don’t see why he wouldn’t be in there. He was substituted off early in the week which I suspect was to save him for tomorrow. Denilson hasn’t been great recently but with the competition for a place now with Diaby they’ll both improve.

If we wanted to go 4-5-1 then van Persie would just slot on the left of that midfield and Nasri would go into his more preferred central position.

West ham haven’t been in great form recently. When Zola took over they looked good but they’ve lost their last two against Bolton and Hull. We shouldn’t take anything from that though because we know West Ham will always be up for a London derby.

As always with the Hammers, they are ridden with injuries. They have Tristan, Ashton, Dyer, Spector and Gabbidon all out who will be missed.

They will be hard to beat though whatever team they put out, and with England International and Ex-Arsenal Matthew Upson at the heart of their defense. Arsene Wenger says he would’ve loved to have kept Upson but just couldn’t keep him in the reserves for years and years until he developed. Arsene admires his work and is in no way surprised that Upson has made a decent top-flight career. The manager goes on to talk about how telling a young player that they have to move on is one of the hardest parts of management.

It’s a 4pm kick off tomorrow and live on Sky Sports. I’m really looking forward to the game, I might go into Bournemouth and find a pub to watch the game or just pick it up on the internet at home. A good result is vital with United dropping two points today and with Chelsea playing Liverpool tomorrow. However, with Spurs coming up on Wednesday a bad result tomorrow might spark a few nerves going into the North London Derby.

Thanks for reading.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!

Gallas & Toure back, Sagna in 1 week & Eduardo in 3 23 October, 2008

We’ve received some good news today on the injury front. We were close to crisis with the amount of problems picked up on the international break but it looks like we’re getting back to full strength already.

Toure and Gallas are fit and Sagna should be back for Tottenham. That’s great news for our defense, especially after the not so great performance on Tuesday night. Whether they will come straight back into the side I’m not sure, but I think we’ll see at least one of them start on Sunday.

The biggest injury news today though is on Eduardo Da Silva. Wenger says he’s just three weeks away now until he sees competitive football. His recovery has been incredible from one of the worst injuries I’ve ever seen. I can’t wait to see Eddy run on the field for the first time since that horrible leg break, the reception is going to be incredible for him.

Van Persie’s been talking about how much we need Eduardo back. He says he’s an important player for the side because of his scoring record. Well to be honest Robin, if he’s only three weeks away then I’d be worried about your own place in the side. The Dutchman’s form hasn’t been great recently and I’m sure Eddy will be hungry to get back to action.

It was the AGM Board meeting today so there’s plenty of stories coming out from that. Apparently a Managing Director will be appointed soon after Keith Edelman’s departure. Hill-Wood explains that they’re taking their time to ensure they pick the right man for the job and not just make a quick decision and get the wrong person. Fair enough.

Wenger has called for video replays again. Surely, this is only a matter of time before we start using the technology available. I personally think it’s ridiculous that we aren’t making the most of this. Arsene has this idea that a manager would be allowed a number of appeals per half to make to the referee which would then be reviewed on video. It’s a nice idea but I think we should go down the rugby/cricket route: If the ref isn’t 100% sure then he calls for the video ref to look at the footage. Then again, the referee might still make wrong decisions by not looking at the videos so maybe Arsene is on to something.

When asked about the possibility of signings in January he gave the standard answer of not ruling anything out. He said that our target is to win this season and if an addition in January will help that then he will do it. However he wont think about anything until January 1st.

Ok that’s it for tonight. I have a load of work to do for tomorrow morning so I better be off.

Thanks for reading.

Fenerbahce 2-5 Arsenal – 21/10/08 – (Champions League) 22 October, 2008

What an odd game. An explosion of goals gave us one of our best away wins in Europe and one of the most exciting matches I’ve watched.

It was an interesting line-up but it was what I predicted. Arsene went with the 4-5-1 giving the license to the midfielders to get forward. You’d think the 5 man midfield would be quite defensive but in fact we had plenty going forward. Nasri and Walcott provided the pace, skill and width, with Fabregas and Diaby making things happen in the middle.

About Diaby had an excellent game. This was his first start of the season but it was justified. He looked very confident and capable going forward and was causing the home side a lot of problems. I once used to think that he was our replacement to Vieira but as Gunnerblog points out he has become more of a Hleb-style midfielder. Well done last night Abou, more of that please.

The home support was tremendous as expected. They were making some noise hoping it might spur on their beloved Fenerbache. And they nearly got off the the perfect start when Almunia made a great close-range block after just 2 minutes.

You could tell right from early on that this was going to be an exciting game, so I wasn’t surprised we went 1-0 up in the 10th minute. It was a great instinct through ball from Fabregas to send Adebayor and Walcott completely in the clear. Theo left it for Ade who was in a better position to take the ball on and he kept his cool to slot it under the ‘keeper.

It was a great goal and well worthy of a few replays, but we nearly missed the second just 70 seconds later. It was the same scenario again, Cesc saw the through ball opportunity and Walcott was there again to get on it. This time though he was under a bit more pressure from the defense; he chose to try take it round the ‘keeper but his touch took it away from goal and with the defenders getting back it looked like a hard one for Theo to put away but credit to him for another skilled finish.

So 2-0 up with 11 minutes gone and we’re laughing. Just two minutes later Nasri missed an incredible chance to make it three. Diaby’s good work going forward on the left found Samir with a squared ball through the area. He was in a perfect position and in space but somehow it didn’t come off.

We had completely shocked Fenerbache and their now deathly silent fans. Every attack looked like a goal-scoring oppertunity.

The home side weren’t playing too badly, we just seemed to have some kind of confidence and flair that couldn’t be stopped. Fenerbache did get forward themselves and they got one back in the 19th minute. A low and powerful cross came into the area, Silvestre tried to get something on it but in the end only managed to stick it past Almunia. A bad goal to concede and I’m sure that’s not the way Silvestre imagined he would score his first Arsenal goal.

I was scared that goal might knock our confidence but it didn’t in the slightest. Only a couple of minutes later and we’d restored our two-goal lead. Diaby got onto a through ball in the box, controlled it well and blasted a show low into the far corner. Another well-taken goal.

3-1, and only 22 minutes gone! It was mental. And you knew there was more to come.

Every time there was an attack (for either side), you thought this could be another goal. Both sides we’re playing attacking football which allowed the opposition to pick holes on the counter attack. Our defence wasn’t playing well at all which nearly got us in trouble a few times, however Almunia was having his best game in an Arsenal shirt that I can remember and cleaned up the mess.

The Song/Silvestre partnership wasn’t working well. Song looked out of place and Silvestre looked lost. Every time Fenerbache attacked I was worried. Djourou had only just returned from injury so I can understand him not playing but I’d be very surprised if he didn’t replace one of them for this Sunday’s match against West Ham.

Half time came and it remained 3-1. There had been 20 minutes without a goal, what rubbish! Thankfully, Arsenal made up for it by scoring just 4 minutes into the second half. Fabregas took a free-kick from the right into a busy area and it flicked up above the heads.

Song saw it onto his foot and volleyed it into the back of the net. Another nicely taken goal and he looked really happy with his first goal since Anfield in the Carlin Cup a few seasons ago.

Before that goal there was still just the smallest of hopes that the home side might be able to get back in it, but Song’s strike finished the game off. 4-1 up and playing the way we were, it didn’t matter that there was 40 minutes left to play – it was game over.

With just over 20 minutes to go we somehow managed to not concede. Almunia found himself in a one-on-one situation and rushed out to block it. The danger wasn’t cleared though and Clichy and Eboue were tested with goal-line saves to keep our three-goal lead.

Abou Diaby was taken off a few minutes after that and left the field to a standing ovation from all round the stadium. He had another excellent game which he can do from time to time. Let’s hope he can keep this going. He was replaced by Aaron Ramsey who was also impressive for the remaining minutes.

With 10 minutes to go Fenerbache did get a consolation goal which they probably deserved. Guiza went clean through, Almunia came out and he was lobbed, 4-2. Guiza had a great game, he was all over the place and did deserve a goal, this was about his 10th decent chance so maybe if he’d converted some more this could’ve been a closer game.

Towards the end of the match Walcott and Adebayor were replaced with Vela and Djourou, and there was just time before the whistle for the other substitute to add the 7th goal to the game. Aaron Ramsey picked up the ball on the edge of the area and shot well into the far bottom corner. His first goal for Arsenal and a decent one too to wrap up a very good 20 minute cameo from the 17-year-old.

So 5-2 the final score and what a game. The front 6 did incredibly well, a good selection by Wenger. However, top marks must go to Diaby and Almunia. I don’t know whether the captains armband inspired Manuel on but he had an awesome game. He’ll be upset he didn’t get to keep the clean sheet but he couldn’t have done anything about the two goals conceded. Almunia’s been talking about the strange nature of the game here.

The only slightly sour note would be Silvestre and Song’s partnership but lets not get too worked up on that. It needs to be sorted but I’m sure it will before the weekend.

Otherwise, it was a fantastic performance and one to be proud of. Arsene Wenger was very happy with the way we played and Adebayor has called for us to go all the way; well if we play like that every step of the way then we might be in with a chance.

Right I better wrap this up because it’s getting rather long. Thanks for reading and I’ll speak to you in the week.

Fenerbahce Preview: Add Toure to the injury list 20 October, 2008

We wen’t into the game against Everton with a few injuries but we managed to field an ok side. Nasri and Toure limped off on Saturday, Nasri’s recovered but Kolo is out.

That makes Gael Clichy our only first choice defender. We have got Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner back though, so it’s not all bad. You’d think Djourou would come straight into the side but I’ve read somewhere that Wenger will go with the defense that ended the Everton game.

I think Bendtner might come straight back in the side though. Neither van Persie nor Adebayor did especially great on Saturday and Wenger might choose to mix it up a bit.

He might even go 4-5-1 in Turkey, it’s a difficult place to go and being away from home in Europe I wouldn’t be surprised to see that formation. I really can’t call it, we could go with Adebayor or Bendtner up front on their own with Diaby making up a 5-man midfield. Or we could just go 4-4-2 with some combination of Adebayor/van Persie/Bendtner up front.

I just don’t know what Wenger’s going to do, but here’s my guess:

Almunia (c)
Eboue – Song – Silvestre – Clichy
Walcott – Diaby – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor

Almunia was captain against Everton so I guess it’ll be him again. However if it were up to me I’d go for Clichy or Fabregas; they’ve been at the club long enough and they’re both passionate about playing for the team. Age doesn’t matter, they have the spirit.

It’s a bit of a defensive formation on paper but if Fabregas gets forward along with Walcott and Nasri we should have a good balance. With van Persie and Vela on the bench we have plenty of options if things aren’t going our way.

I’m not too worried about our defense. Silvestre did alright on Saturday, he won a lot of headers and cut out a lot of attacks. Song isn’t too bad either in defense, he wasn’t so great at right back at the weekend but in the middle he can do a job.

As I said earlier, Nasri limped off against Everton but he should be fine for tomorrow night. He’s in the squad and he wouldn’t have traveled if he wasn’t able to play. Wenger has been talking about his impact in our side and how important he’s become in such a short amount of time. He was an important player in the second half comeback this weekend and it’s not the first time. When he plays, he makes a difference; we need him in Turkey.

This is not going to be an easy game. And to be honest with you, I’d take a draw. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, as long as we beat them on our own soil. Should be another good game though and one that’s going to go right to the wire. Fenerbahce are a passionate side and they never give up.

I’ll speak to you on Wednesday with the match report. Thanks for reading.

C’MON YOU GUNNERS

Let’s all laugh at Tottenham 19 October, 2008

I don’t know how they manage it.

Oh Tottenham Hotspur you do make me laugh sometimes.

Arsenal 3-1 Everton – 19/10/08 – (Premier League) 19 October, 2008

We’re back to winning ways thank god, but we got there in an odd fashion. We had injury problems going into the game so this was the team Wenger set out:

Almunia
Song – Toure – Silvestre – Clichy
Eboue – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

Not the greatest and not the one I would’ve picked to be honest. Not sure why Song was playing right-back, with that 11 I would’ve moved Eboue in there, Denilson out wide and play Song as the defensive midfielder.

I’m not really sure what Wenger picked worked to be honest. I think Denilson was supposed to be the ‘Flamini-type’ player with Fabregas roaming but it ended up with Denilson all over the place and Fabregas having to make loads of ground just to pick up possession.

A perfect example of this starting line up not working is when Everton opened the scoring after 9 minutes. Osman made a run towards the box and he was Denilson’s man, he just let him drop off and when Song wasn’t capable of holding the left winger it was a simple squared ball and tap in.

The build up to Everton’s goal was just horrible to watch, we let them pass it around as much as they liked and then we picked up no one as Osman slid in the opener. You have to partly point the finger at Denilson and Song, Denilson just didn’t even try to keep with Osman and Song should’ve really done better.

It was the worst start, and with Sunderland and Hull fresh in the memory I just sat there with my head in my hands. I thought, ‘oh no, here we go again’. We needed a goal quickly, I couldn’t go through us losing again.

We came so close to that equaliser just 5 minutes later. Cesc delivered a fantastic long ball from behind the half way line into van Persie. He took a touch to get to a 1-on-1 situation but in the end it was a good save from close range. Complete luck, Howard knew nothing about it at that range, van Persie should’ve stuck it inside the near post.

We were trying the long ball a lot but it wasn’t always working. It was quite scrappy at times, there were a few goalmouth scrambles that went unfinished and we lacked that final quality.

It was quite an open game, Everton were getting forward too and exploiting our mix-and-match defence. With 8 minutes to go of the first half Everton had about their 10th corner of the game…and they were getting closer and closer with each attempt.

Almunia came to claim it but didn’t even get close and Lescott rose to head into a seemingly open goal. Thankfully Clichy was back on the line to clear the danger.

Before the whistle went there was still time for Fabregas to hit a powerful long-range drive but that went just wide of the post.

So half time came and the boos rang around the Grove. I was booing the absolutely hopeless referee, however I bet a lot of those boos were for the team. They didn’t deserve that so I hope it was just for the officials. They were all hopeless, the linesman on my side was awful, he couldn’t keep up with Everton’s attacks and missed so many offisides. Also the referee gave some really odd decisions and was very inconsistent. He was doing us no favours.

Something needed to be sorted at half time. Arsene brought on Walcott for Toure who has suffered an injury earlier in the game. Eboue went to right back and Song moved into central defence.

Theo’s impact was immediate. He picked up the ball on the right and stormed down the wing despite pressure from three Everton defenders. He was eventually fouled and van Persie’s dangerous free kick (pictured above) was put out for a corner. That was whipped it and Silvestre found it at his feet just outside the box. He left it for Nasri who stepped up and smashed it low across the ground. Luckily it found its way through the legs and passed Howard into the back of the net.

1-1, and another decent strike from Nasri. This was the start we needed in the second half. The fans really needed a pick up and from here on to the end there was an incredible atmosphere inside the stadium. It was like the sort of thing you hear against United or Spurs, good stuff. Shows we can make some noise when we’re up for it but why don’t we just do it all of time?

We were really up for this now. We had our Arsenal back. With that goal and the encouragement from the fans we were looking for that second. It got a bit heated at one point when a load of tackles went flying in to win possession. One or two lost their heads and you knew that a bad challenge was on its way. Tony Hibbert was the offender and Denilson took the blow, Clichy reacted straight away and was punched in the face by Hibbert as you can see in this photo then the rest of the players started piling in.

In the end Tony Hibbert only got a yellow for his challenge and some how the ref justified that with a yellow card for Clichy. If you click on that link above you can clearly see the punch going in and the referee being right in front of it. How on Earth those two players received the same punishment is beyond me but there you go.

We had all the possession and all of the attacks but we were finding it hard to get that second goal as Everton had 10 men behind the ball. However after all that pressure we found a way through after 70 minutes.

Fabregas put Ade right through on the ‘keeper with a great little ball but for some reason he didn’t get the shot away. He kept possession though and played it back for Fabregas, his shot was saved but it looped up and van Persie nodded it in to make it 2-1.

Everton were never going to come back now. They’d lost. You could tell they were physically and emotionally exhausted. We kept the pressure on but tried to play with a little more caution, even still, Everton never really threatened.

I think their fans also realised it was game over and turned to the home fans for entertainment. I’m not sure how it all kicked off but there was a proper brawls going on down between the away fans next to the barriers and the Police. I’ve never seen anything like it inside a stadium in England before. Something must have happened to really set them off.

Left is a bad photo of it all but you can still kind of tell the police and steward presence down there trying to hold this back. Gilbertosilver from Gunnerblog was sitting down that end of the ground and he told me that the Everton fans were chucking coins and whatever they could get their hands on.

After a few minutes pretty much the whole stadium had clocked on to what was going on and all heads were turned to what was going on down in that corner; hence minutes 75-85 are a bit of a blur to me.

We made it 3-1 right at the end through Theo Walcott. He started the move off himself playing Diaby down the right to the by-line. He cut it back to Walcott who drove it low across goal into the corner. Another great finish like that from him and a well-deserved goal to reward his great second half impact.

So 3-1 the final score and three points finally in the bag, and with Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea all also winning it was vital we picked up the points. It was a really enjoyable game, much better than the last one I came up for. It was everything, a comeback, great goals, good football, lots of goals, fantastic atmosphere and a home win.

Next up it’s Fenerbahce on Tuesday night and it’s not looking good injury-wise. To add to all of those names that were out for yesterday’s game, Nasri and Toure also limped off. We’ll find out tomorrow the extent of those problems but we could be in trouble.

Thanks for reading. Speak to you soon.

Everton Preview: Injury problems force team rotation 17 October, 2008

Thank fuck that international break is over, not only was it very boring, but very costly. Players have returned in bad conditions and tomorrow’s starting eleven will reflect that.

Cesc broke his nose and van Persie picked up a muscle strain, but those two are fit. Gallas, Sagna and Bendtner are all injured, Djourou has concussion and Walcott is fatigued. Wenger says he hasn’t decided on Theo yet but he might have to rest him.

Diaby is back though, and Ramsey is apparently close to the first team after his recent good performances. However I don’t see Aaron being included tomorrow, midfield isn’t really the problem it’s the defence.

With Gallas, Djourou and Sagna out it looks like Silvestre will make his first team debut. He or Song will partner Toure at the back, I’m not sure who Arsene will pick to be honest. Maybe it will be Song because Wenger seems to like him.

So with all that taken into consideration, here’s my guess at the team:

Almunia
Eboue – Toure (c) – Song – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

I would give the armband to Cesc if it were up to me but I doubt Arsene will be so bold. I’ve put Walcott in the team because I think he’s gonna be fit and I really don’t know who else we’d play in there. Vela? Diaby? van Persie?

Even with all those absentees I don’t think that’s a bad team. Could be better – yes, but not that bad. If we were playing United or Chelsea I might be a bit more worried though…

As for Everton, they haven’t won in six matches but will be hard to beat because they are unbeaten away from home in the league. Tim Cahill is suspended but Phil Neville is expected to return.

I really don’t know what to expect from Everton, could be really easily beaten if we turn it on but at the same time they might be hard to play. We’ve taken one point from our last two games so 3 points tomorrow are vital.

I think we’ll be up for it. The manager will have told them how disappointing the results against Hull and Sunderland are and they will want to return from the International break with a bang.

Should be a good game, and by a sudden change of events I’m actually going to this one. I’m back now, writing you this from my London home and I’m really looking forward to going down to the Grove tomorrow. Last time I travelled up from Bournemouth we lost 2-1 to Hull, hopefully my journey back down to the south coast wont be so long this time.

Right then, I’m off. Enjoy the game everybody.

C’MON YOU REDS

International News: Ramsey’s screamer for Wales 15 October, 2008

Happy Wednesday, a day closer to having our precious Arsenal back. As you might guess, there’s not a great deal going on today, however tonight is the last night of the World Cup Qualifiers so it’s downhill from here.

The top story goes to Aaron Ramsey who had an inspired game for the Welsh U21s. Aaron set up one and scored an absolute belter but still drew 2-2 with England U21s losing the game on aggregate. You can see the highlights here and if you haven’t seen it already, it’s really worth checking out Ramsey’s goal. He picked it up about 35 yards out, took one touch and then blasted it under the bar from range. A goal out of nothing that the ‘keeper could do nothing about.

It wasn’t just the goal though, Aaron had a great game and even the opposition manager thought so and said he had to bring another man on just to try and keep ahold of him. His manager in the U21s was raving about him last week and maybe he was on to something…

Tonight though, we turn our attention to Theo Walcott as England take on Belarus. Theo didn’t have the greatest game at the weekend and will be looking to make up for that if he gets picked. After starting te last few games it might be a bit harsh on the boy if he were dropped for his last performance but I’m not expecting that to happen. Apparantly Alex Hleb wont be playing for Belarus tonight, thank fuck for that, cant stand to see his gurning face down the wing again.

However, the big question on everyone’s lips for tonight’s game is this. Can the England fans top their booing of Ashley Cole at the weekend. Good luck to those traveling to Europe for the booing.

Thanks for reading.

Dullest International Period Ever? 14 October, 2008

Fucking hell this has been boring.

Luckily for me, this International break has coincided with my laptop deciding it didn’t want to work. Maybe it knew, maybe it was saving me from having to come up with some shite to write on here. Who knows, but it seems to be back up and running and working fine now so here we go…

Even though I haven’t written a post in a week, there’s still fuck all for me to catch up on. I suppose the big stories in a time time like this is any injury news. There’s been a little bit this week, Robin van Persie picked up a knock which was hardly surprising but it cant have been anything serious because he’s fit again now.

Djourou and Gallas appear to be injured too but I have no idea the extent of these. Also, I swear I heard earlier in the week that Sagna was out? If those three were all out then we could have some selection problems for the weekend.

As with all of those injuries though, we wont find out anything until we get the players back on Thursday. Then they will be assessed by our own medical team and that’s when I’ll hear news of any injures. Until then we can only speculate and read what has been written in the press so I’m not going to get too worked up about it, I’m just going to wait until Friday.

If Djourou, Gallas and Sagna were injured though then I guess that we could expect a back four of: Clichy – Silvestre – Toure – Eboue. Not too bad but certainly not first pick.

Gael Clichy has been talking about a conversation with Dennis Bergkamp between the two when Clichy was out injured in 2005. Dennis said that if Gael recovered from his injury then he’s take Ashley Cole’s left-back position. How right he was, Dennis Bergkamp saw the cunt inside of Ashley Cole and knew that only he could solve this problem and Gael Clichy was the answer. Dennis, we salute you.

Also, William Gallas has told us that he knows that his own form has not been good enough this season. I’m glad he realises that because it’s very easy to just expect to be picked becasue you’re captain but his place in the side should be in jeopardy just as any other player who isn’t up to scratch. I doubt whether Wenger has the guts to drop him or not but hopefully he wont have to.

Gallas has said this is the most difficult period he’s gone through at Arsenal and he is frustrated about his consistency. Well as long as you can see that he gives 100% throughout the game then you can excuse a not-so great performance. However I do get the impression he just doesn’t give a shit.

If he has picked up an injury this week and someone else gets a little run in the team it might do everyone a bit of good.

Right that’s it for tonight then. Hopefully to speak to you tomorrow, see ya.

News Roundup + Competition Winner 8 October, 2008

Happy Wednesday people. Enjoying International week? Oh it’s great isn’t it.

The highlight of our week so far is some ex-Man United cunt playing for our reserves. He says he’s happy with his first performance for Arsenal and came through with no ill-effects. He mentions how Arsene asked him whether he wanted to play for the reserves or not before playing for the first team, maybe there’s a hint in there as to how highly he is rated?

Whatever the case, the reserve game on Monday night will have done him some good and he’s a step closer to making his Arsenal debut. I know I mention this every time there’s something about Silvestre but I still can’t accept him as our player. When Gallas moved over from Chelsea I saw him as an Arsenal player quite quickly. With Silvestre I still can’t believe it when I see him in an Arsenal shirt; maybe it’s because I hated him before he came to the club but I didn’t really care about Gallas, I was just glad to get rid of Cole.

Welsh U21 boss Brian Flynn thinks that Aaron Ramsey is getting to the same level as Cesc Fabregas. That’s a hell of a statement but you can say that the boy does look very good for his age. We haven’t seen much of him yet but I’m sure there’s much more to come from him. I’m not quite sure how much I agree with the comparison to Cesc though, when he was 17 he was already breaking into the Arsenal first team, Aaron’s got a little way to go yet but I can’t imagine i will be very long, he looks very mature for his age.

We are top of the league. The fair play league. Always nice to see our attitude towards football recognised when you see others treating referees so badly. Manchester United are down in 17th, says a lot for them. However Chelsea are in 3rd, which surprised me. They’ve obviously changed their attitude. And Spurs are in 2nd place so maybe Ramos has done something right after all.

Right so on to the competition winner. Last week I had a competition for a Arsenal Nike football provided by SoccerPro.com which was closed for entry last night at midnight.

I’m going to pick the winner now, live, as I’m typing. How fucking exciting? Right just going to open the random number generator. Right, you ready?…

It’s number 3! And third email down is Chris O’Gorman from…I don’t know yet I need to email him. Well done Chris, you correctly answered that Theirry Henry is the club’s all time leading goalscorer. Congratulations you fucking genius. I’ll email you in a bit and we’ll get the ball shipped out to you asap.

Thanks to everyone that entered though. It was the first competition on here where everyone got it right. So pats on the backs all round. I’ll try do another competition soon, they’re good fun.

Right so that’s it today. Thanks for reading and I’ll speak to you soon.

Silvestre and Bischoff make reserve appearance 6 October, 2008

It begins, it’s officially international week and you know what that means…pure fucking boredom. It’s hard enough for me updating the site at the moment and it’s going to be even worse when there’s nothing actually to talk about. Hopefully we’ll see Theo Walcott again at the weekend.

Anyway, getting sidetracked. We’ll moan about the lack of news when we get to it…

Amaury Bischoff and Mikael Silvestre played in an Arsenal shirt for the first time tonight as the reserves beat Stoke 3-2. Silvestre played the full 90 minutes and Bischoff only managed an hour but he’s just been out for a long time with injury.

I wasn’t able to watch the game and the match report hardly even talks about our two players making debuts. The extent of that is that Silvestre made a sliding tackle in a Stoke counter attack. That’s all we know…

Stil though, it shows us how close they are to being available. I didn’t actually realise that Bischoff was match fit, I thought he was still some time away. I’m interested to see what he actually looks like, he’s an unknown quantity; could be bollocks or he could actually show some potential. Hopefully we’ll get to find out in the next round of the Carling Cup.

Silvestre, we know what we’re getting really. I just see him as back-up really anyway. However if he turns out to actually be quite good for us then maybe he could work his way into the first team. I still can’t think of him as an Arsenal player.

Manuel Almunia’s been talking about Theo Walcott saying how his ‘no more mr. nice guy’ attitude has helped his game:

“Theo was too nice maybe in the last two years but this season you can see that when he gets tackled he gets furious and that shows you he has changed.

When he used to take a tackle he didn’t reply with anything, he didn’t say anything to the referee or the opposing player. He would get tackled and stay on the floor, and he would never say anything. Now I like him more on the field.”

It’s true. Almunia says that Theo likes to talk to more experienced players and I think it has helped his game. Theirry Henry has left his mark on Theo after he took him under his wing as his young apprentice. David Beckham was saying a few weeks ago that Theo asked him how he could improve his game and he said that he told Theo to be a little more selfish, more ruthless and it has helped.

He’s starting to get a few goals now and he’s not afraid to shoot. He’s improved his running down the wing and he’s just all round improved his game to become a much more dangerous player, opposition defenders must hate playing him.

Well that’s about it for tonight. Hopefully there’ll be something to talk about tomorrow. Don’t forget tomorrow is the last day to enter that competition for the Nike Arsenal ball. Make sure you get your entry in.

Thanks for reading.

Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal – 04/10/08 – (Premier League) 5 October, 2008

Praise the Lord for he has blessed us with Cesc.

A stoppage time header from Cesc Fabregas rescues us a point at Sunderland but that makes it 5 points dropped from two games against Hull and Sunderland. Shocking.

It was almost the team I expected however Alex Song started giving Nasri a rest on the bench. Song came in as part of a defensive 5-man midfield with van Persie out on the left.

Why on earth why we playing 4-5-1, it was incredible defensive especially for a game where the opposition had 10 men behind the ball at all times.

I spoke before the game about how we should have no problem beating Sunderland if we put in the same performance as against Porto. Well personally I didn’t think we played that badly. Sunderland had 10 players defending when we were in possession and it made it incredibly difficult for us to find an opening. We passed and passed and sometimes managed to create something but Gordon was hardly tested.

The first half was fairly open. Both sides had attacks but the home side probably had the better of them. They caught us on the break a few times and Almunia was called to make a couple of saves.

Half time came and it was still 0-0. I wasn’t too worried at this point. I thought that with Sunderland charging forward then hurrying back behind the ball would eventually tire them out and we’d get a late goal.

I was very patient but gradually I started to get worried. We had so much of the ball but were hardly working their goalie.

We did score what to me looked like a perfectly legitimate goal only for it to be ruled. Walcott made a darting run down the right and cut inside just managing to put the ball into the box before it crossed the byline. Robin van Persie came charging in and stuck it in the back of the net. It looked close whether Walcott kept it in or not but the linesman thought the whole ball had crossed the line. From Theo’s body language you could tell that he’d stretched to meet it before it crossed the line and he was not too happy about the decision after it was given.

It looked like it wasn’t going to be our day. Something needed to be changed and the manager opted to substitute Walcott for Bendtner. I just don’t get it. Theo wasn’t having the greatest game ever but at least he was trying and getting forward. He was one of our most dangerous players out there.

Sunderland were still getting forward but we were totally dominating, however those two lines of midfield and defense behind the ball were still making it difficult for us to get through.

With 15 minutes to go Nasri was finally brought on for Denilson and he looked lively. The other substitute Bendtner was doing well too, he was getting involved and played some nice passes.

With 9 minutes to go Bendtner gifted a chance to van Persie when he chipped a little ball over the defense which Robin ran on to perfectly. All he had to do was slot it past Gordon but somehow the Scottish ‘keeper managed to get something on it from such close range. I couldn’t believe it. What did we have to score?!

Sunderland made their first change of the game after 83 minutes bringing on Grant Leadbitter for Dwight Yorke. Two minutes later he found himself with the ball outside the bo after Alex Song lost it. He thought why not and blasted it towards goal. It was an unstoppable shot beating Almunia and rocketing off the under-side of the bar and into the back of the net.

I couldn’t fucking believe it. I was furious. An incredible goal, but we should’ve been 2-0 up by this point. I was lucky there was no one in the sitting room with me as I had to take my rage out on the sofa. For the rest of the game I sat there with my head in my hands wondering how this had happened.

As soon as the goal went in Wenger threw Vela on for Song for the final 4 minutes of normal time. We were attacking the Sunderland goal like mad but the home sie were doing their best to hold on.

The 4th official held up 4 minutes of added time, a life-line for Arsenal. We got what seemed like our last chance of the game when we got a corner deep into injury time. van Persie stepped up to take it and everyone but Almunia was thrown in and around the box. It had to be a good delivery and Robin whipped it right into the busy area; Gordon came out to try clear the danger but he got nowhere near it. Cesc showed his pure determination and made the run to find the header.

We’d salvaged a point, and you just knew it was going to be that boy Cesc Fabregas. Not a typical goal from him, a header from a corner but typical of his spirit. He never stopped fighting right to the end and that’s what you need. I love Cesc.

After the equalizer we had very little time for another goal but we were pushing for it. In the end the final whistle beat us to it and it finished up 1-1.

A draw was probably a fair result but we should’ve won that. So one point from our last two league games. Not good. This must be sorted out once we get back from the international break and next up it’s Everton.

Still, we can always just laugh at Tottenham. Ha!

Thanks for reading.

Sunderland Preview and Nike Arsenal Football Competition 3 October, 2008

So it’s back to the Premiership again tomorrow and after a terrible performance last weekend we will be looking to prove a point. Gael Clichy has said the team still have something to repay the fans with and will be putting in a top performance.

We need to play like we did against Porto, we’ve shown we can do it and we just need to re-create that week-in-week-out. They have no excuse not to.

Sunderland are a strong team now, Roy Keane has taken them away from the ‘relegated every year‘, ‘setting records for least points in the league‘ team and actually turned them into a decent side. However, they’re all fucking cunts though, trust Roy Keane to manage to build a team full of the cuntiest players in the game.

So we need to beat them. We cant have those Spurs rejects and El-Hadji Dioufs and Ferdinands in the least bit satisfied. We need to destroy them, embarrass them.

It’s not going to be easy though, not only has Keane created a team full of wankers, like himself as a player, but he has also got them all working with the same effort and determination that he showed at Man United. Clichy mentioned in that link above that we didn’t concentrate right until the last minute against Hull, well it’s going to be vital that they learn to do so against Sunderland.

In terms of team news well it’s pretty much the same. Song could return but Diaby, Bischoff, Eduardo and Rosicky are all still out. Wenger has put a return date of after the international break for Diaby, he says we should have Eduardo back before Christmas and Rosicky shouldn’t be too far behind him.

When we played Bolton away recently Wenger chose to leave out two of the more fragile and vulnerable players: van Persie and Walcott which I think might have been partly down to them being targeted for a kicking. I wonder if something similar will be done again tomorrow but otherwise I’m expecting the same starting 11 as against Porto:

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Gallas (c) – Clichy
Walcott – Fabregas – Denilson – Nasri
Adebayor – van Persie

Sunderland have a few players out, Tainio and Kenwyne Jones are the notable ones but other than that they’re full strength.

We need to be wary of their attack, our defense must be on top of their game. An attack partnership of Cisse and Diouf will fight for every ball and will be difficult to track. Also with Malbranque’s drive going forward they’re going to be strong up front. We need Gallas to have a good game and not make any sloppy mistakes or bad marking like he has shown recently, especially from set pieces.

It should be a decent match, and if we play like we did against Porto it should be a decent win. Being a Saturday 3:00pm kick off it’s not on TV over here. I don’t know my new town well enough to know a pub that will able to pick it up on the dodgy channels so it’s going to have to be Sky Sports News then Match of the Day for me.

Right now just quickly before I go there’s a competition for you. SoccerPro.com have given me a brand new Nike Arsenal Football to give away from their vast collection of footballs.

I’ve been given two Nike balls by SoccerPro.com, one for me and one for you for me to give away which is the official Arsenal ball for the season in Nike’s new style of ball. It’s quite a nice ball actually, I actually thought about keeping it for myself and giving you the other Nike ball but that would be mean. It’s a size 5 ball, not one of the mini ones, so good for a bit of a kick about or whatever you want to do with it…

All you have to do is answer this question and send your answer to me by email:

Who is the all time record goal scorer for Arsenal?

a) Theirry Henry
b) Igor Stepanov
c) David Seaman

Shouldn’t be too difficult but there’s always one…right so if you think you know it then send your answer to: football[at]the-cannon.com. Just replace the [at] with the @ sign. I’ll give you until Tuesday night to enter and I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday and hopefully get it send to you before the weekend.

Right, good luck with that and thanks for reading. Speak to you soon.

C’MON YOU GUNNERS!

Arsenal 4-0 Porto – 30/09/08 – (Champions League) 1 October, 2008

That was better.

It’s incredible how we can pull a performance like that out of the bag on demand after what we saw on Saturday. Hull was a bad, bad result and we needed to bounce back from that quickly. Arsene Wenger would have told the players this and he got the reaction he wanted.

In the players interviews afterwards it’s mentioned a few times about how they owed the fans after Hull. On Saturday there was no inspiration or commitment, last night we were overflowing with it.

It was a great performance, it need to keep that up now becasue there’s no use going on a nice little run then playing like shite and losing again. After Fulham we bounced back well but then we went back to our old ways last weekend and was punished for it. It can’t happen again; we lost 3 times last year and came close to winning the league, we’ve already lost twice this season.

Earlier this week Wenger said he might change the team around after Hull’s performance but he went for a change of attitude rather than personal. Nasri started ahead of Eboue, that was the only change but that was to be expected.

Adebayor and van Persie remained the chosen strike partnership and they rewarded the manager for his faith in them. They both scored two each and put in fine all-round performances.

It was a cagy start with both sides seeing attacks. We seemed to have more of the ball but Porto were equally as threatening. We had some decent chances in the first 20 minutes or so, Theo went clear in the box but he was at a bit of an angle and only managed to find the side netting and van Persie produced a low-curling effort from outside the box but that was saved well.

Porto were unlucky not to be ahead early on. They broke really well getting numbers forward, the ball was fed down the right wing and crossed in early. Cristian Rodriguez met it with a diving header into the ground beating Almunia but luckily it hit the bar. A few minutes later they hit a long-range shot which was well saved by Almunia and then from the resulting corner we somehow managed to not concede as Clichy cleared off the line.

It was getting tense, we needed a goal. So we went and scored.

Fabregas’ through ball sent Adebayor beautifully through on goal. He took it down the right to the by-line drawing the ‘keeper to the near post. Ade held it up waiting for van Persie to make his run into the box and it was a simple tap-in for Robin’s first Champions League goal in a year.

In the 40th minute we were two up. It was van Persie’s corner from the right which found Adebayor who had a simple standing jump to head home.

So we went into the break cruising 2-0 and playing well. We had a couple of scares with that counter attack and Clichy clearing off the line but once we scored on the half hour we were cruising.

Just three minutes into the second half Robin van Persie secured the win making it 3-0. He picked the ball up outside the area and made his way through the Porto defense with skill before poking it low into the far corner. A great individual goal and that was it, game over. There was still nearly 45 minutes to go but with the way we were playing you just knew it wasn’t long before we added a forth.

It really should’ve been 4-0 a couple of minutes later when Toure’s cross found Walcott about 5 yards out. Somehow he managed to put it wide. Minutes later Nasri found himself in a similarly good position but he missed too. Quite incredible we missed both of those, really should’ve been 5-0 so early in the second half but we carried on in search of the forth.

van Persie and Nasri were substituted after 65 minutes. Both had good games in my opinion, Nasri looked a little off his best but you couldn’t say anything bad about him. Those two were replaced by Bendtner and Eboue.

In the 71st minute we finally made it 4-0 after severely battering the Porto defense. It came from the penalty spot after Bendtner was stupidly hacked from behind on the edge of the area. Adebayor stepped up and made it four.

Vela came on for Walcott jsut after that and he looked very lively for the remainder of the game. He had one great chance late on when he took on most of the Porto defense only to lose the ball a few yards out. If we needed the goals I’m sure he would’ve passed it earlier but you could see he wanted his 4th goal in only his second appearance. Bendter almost converted the loose ball but it wasn’t to be.

So it finished up 4-0 to The Arsenal, smiles all round. A significant reaction to the Hull loss and you could say we’re back on track already. Next up it’s Sunderland away on Saturday which isn’t going to be easy but if we play like that we should be fine.

Make sure you check out the blog tomorrow as I’ve got a competition for a brand new Nike football.

Thanks for reading.