The Hammers are in for a hammering 4 November, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Premiership, Transfers, Uncategorized.6 comments
I can’t wait for tomorrow’s game, Sky Sports 1, 1pm. I think we will be angry from Wednesday’s inability to finish and will stick at least three past Alan Pardew’s struggling West Ham. I think we will perform well as we did in the week but hopefully we will learn from our mistakes in front of goal and put in an excellent performance; I’m expecting something along the lines of what happened at Reading. Wenger feels it wasn’t our system that stopped us from scoring, it was just bad luck and sometimes in football you get ‘one of those nights’. Adebayor is in the squad for tomorrow however Eboue will not be fit in time but is expected to be in the squad for the Carling Cup clash with Everton on Wednesday.
I see the team lining up the same as against CSKA Moscow with RVP switching between the wing and striker throughout the game. Van Persie has said he wants to improve his distribution game and has been getting a bit of stick for it especially from Thierry Henry. This is what Robin had to say:
“I have not set myself any objectives, but I have focused myself on improving my distribution and passing. I want to help my team-mates, I want them to trust me in every situation and know that I am there to help them on the pitch. It is important for a striker to work hard for the team – that can be through goals, assists or just being there for your colleagues.”
I think this is a part of Robin’s game that needs working on and he needs to learn to be a little less selfish in front of goal. It’s not a really bad problem; it’s just that sometimes there is a better option than the one he takes. However it is refreshing to see a player not passing the ball when there is a clear shot.
In the summer we were linked with Nigel Reo-Coker but Wenger says we did make a bid. Wenger is an admirer of the West Ham captain but didn’t go as far as to try and buy him:
“I like Reo-Coker but we never made a bid to West Ham for him. He has a good work rate, technique and power. He has physical power. In the middle of the park he uses that very well, he is very incisive and wins the ball. He did that against us last year.”
We were also linked with Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez before they signed for the London club on transfer deadline day. The two Argentineans signed from Corinthians somewhat controversially and were expected be a massive hit for the club and turn them into a side fighting for European places. However the Argentine internationals have been poor for the Hammers and were left out of the side’s win against Blackburn last weekend. I was one of the Gooners that wanted Arsene buy these players in the summer, not so much Tevez but more Mascherano, I’m so glad now that Arsene didn’t. I don’t know whether they are getting poor service at West Ham and the quality of the players around them are effecting them, or if they are just shit. I do not know.
Arsenal’s least favourite striker in the whole Premiership, Teddy Sheringham, might be playing tomorrow. He was successful at Spurs at Man Utd, which automatically makes him the most loathed player in the world. Also because he is a twat too. Anyway, he might be playing which I welcome, hopefully the old man will break his leg or something and it’ll be something more for the travelling Gooners to shout at.
Arsene Wenger has been having a go at FIFA over the new home-grown players rule. In a few years time FIFA are looking at making a rule of having at least 6 ‘home-grown’ players in a 16-man squad. Obviously this is a problem for Arsenal and our manager has been having his say:
“I am very unhappy because it is not linked to what I like. You must always say to a player: ‘You play because you are better.’ I have always done that in my life. This is not right. What can you tell a supporter who pays money to watch your team? ‘His first touch is not good, yes, we know. But he is English, what can you do?’ I would like to say: ‘Listen, is he English, South African, French or South American? He is a good football player’.”
“I would never like to feel as a player that somebody is better than me but sits on the bench just because he does not have the right passport. I am really concerned that when you love football, you cannot act this way. You have to be big enough and capable enough to tell a player: ‘You do not play because you are not good enough’. Elite sport is first about quality. I would not like to say that I paid £2 million for a player just because he has the right passport. At that level of money, you just have to be good enough to play and not be protected. That is what I fight for. I would prefer to say that you make £4 million per year as a player because you are good enough, rather than say I give you £2 million because I need you and you have the right passport. I do not find that right, and that is not respecting the fans who are paying £60 to watch a game. You are telling them ‘Yes, okay, he is not good enough. But we have to play him because he is from the right country’. We want to be an elite sport, well paid, and so we have to accept it is just down to quality, nothing else.”
I understand the reasoning behind FIFA’s new vision but it really is insane that we must play an English player because he is English when we have a much better Brazilian player now on the bench. It’s like saying at the World Cup You’re only allowed to select players from your own leagues. Brazil would be rubbish as most of their players play in Europe. It’s just mad. A home-grown player can be many things, I don’t 100% understand what makes a player ‘home-grown’. Apparently our French left back, Gael Clichy counts as ‘home-grown’ because he has been with us since a young age and has been living in the country for a long time. My readers have told me before who counts as a ‘home-grown’ player but I’m still not sure. Hopefully FIFA will re-think the rule anyway and we wont have to worry about it at all.
And finally, all-time France leading goal scorer Michael Platini thinks Thierry Henry did the wrong thing not going to Barcelona. Thierry signed a four year deal before the World Cup to stay at Arsenal instead of moving to Champions League winners, Barcelona. Platini thinks he made the wrong choice:
“I sincerely believe he made a mistake in not signing for Barcelona. I told him so and said the same to Barca president Joan Laporta. Henry would have grown a lot at Barcelona. Thierry Henry is a truly great player and is on the verge of over-taking me as a goal scorer for France. However, he hasn’t achieved the same category of other great stars. Why? Because he lacks playing in a great team and winning titles with his club like he has done with France, where he has been European and world champion.”
Titi has won plenty of silverware at Arsenal thank you and I’m sure he’ll win plenty more. Platini is a footballing legend but he is also a knob. Go away, Henry chose to stay at Arsenal because he loves the club and wants to help us move on to greater things.
That’s enough for today, have a good weekend.
Thierry, we didn’t boo you 30 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Premiership, Transfers, Uncategorized.5 comments
I’m rather shocked today because this article says that we booed our captain Thierry Henry on Saturday. I’m proud as a Gooner that we don’t sink to those levels, you see alot today teams being booed off by their own fans but never have I known Arsenal doing that. Apparently in the 66th minute Rosicky worked hard to get the ball to Henry but then he lost the ball easily, they may have been “aaaaaargh” sounds from the crowd but I could not hear a “boo”. If you were one of those people you should be ashamed really, it’s not going to help anything, ok it is frustrating when Henry is not on top of his game and it seems like he’s not bothered but booing won’t help that. Hopefully it is just a bit of journalistic exaggeration when Russell Kempson said, “boos rained down from the top tiers.”
However, Henry did have a little pop at the Arsenal fans saying their cries of ‘shoot’ are not helping us. He is right, alot of the time at games you hear people screaming ‘shoot’ when we are a ridiculous distance from goal. For example at the weekend Kolo Toure had just passed the centre circle when people were shouting, “SHOOOOOOT!” He responded to this by going for goal, ok it was on target but it was about 45 yards out and had nowhere near as much pace as it would’ve needed to make Howard struggle. I think we started these pleas of “SHOOOT!” when we passed it around the box and indeed inside the box endlessly, then it was right for us to scream ‘shoot’, but not when we are just in the oppositions half. I’m sure for the players it is frustrating because they will be hearing the cries but will know it will be impossible to score from their position. A few weeks ago I think these shouts helped, especially with Alex Hleb who’d find himself set up for a shot on goal but would square it and most of the time, lose possession. So, I think we either need to stop screaming ‘shoot’, or just use it for when we are actually in a shooting position. This is what Titi had to say about it:
“I would die like that, playing that type of football. There are no questions about that, no questions. I don’t know if the fans are frustrated. I keep on hearing them shouting ‘shoot’. “I don’t know what they’re trying to say or trying to do, but I think they’re getting sucked in by what some people are saying. We scored some amazing goals at Reading last week and nobody said ‘shoot’ then. Against Everton, we created the same chances, but the finishing wasn’t what you expect. That’s just the way it is. Fans are fans and like to express the way they feel. That’s the way it is, but as soon as we came back into the game 1-1, we went forward.”
He has always played the sort of football of passing it around beautifully for the perfect goal, he loves it and he is (most of the time) great at it. So he’s right about saying he’ll never stop playing the game like that, I don’t blame him. But we are not telling him to just ‘ave a dig whenever he gets the ball, I think we as Gooners love the style of football we play and fans from other clubs admire it too. It’s just sometimes it doesn’t work out and we have to have a shot more especially in the last few minutes of a game where we’re trying to find a last minute goal. I know Arsenal players and staff have read arsenal blogs in the past, hopefully someone will read my little shitty one somehow and tell Thierry that we didn’t boo him and we love him and especially love his football. I just don’t want our captain to feel that the fans don’t like him and are booing him. Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.
Recently Wenger said he feels the squad needs no more additions in January but I think this might have slipped the medias attention as we’ve been linked with Ahmed Apimah Barusso, Julian Esteban, Chinedu Ogbuke, David Beckham (again) and even Ruud Van Nistelrooy! None of which (apart from the last two which are just ridiculous anyway) I have ever heard of or can spell their name.
Arsene Wenger has said he’s not looking for a contract extension at the moment, on his 10 year anniversary he said that he won’t be here for another decade but would like to stay a bit longer. Here’s what he had to say recently:
“I have no plans to talk about a new contract anytime soon. At the moment I’m happy and first I want to see how far I can take this side. I’m confident I can go very far with the new team I have here. The contract is a really minor problem for me at the moment.”
I’m not bothered about this, we learnt with Henry last year that there is no rush to sign a new deal; Arsene will probably wait until the summer to have a think about this one anyway.
No more real news, only this caught my eye. It’s Ashley Cole talking about how he’s afraid that there might be hurtful chants when he goes over to Spain. Just wait ’till you fucking make the trip to North London you twat 
Ok, see ya later, have a good day.
Ashburton Grove now ‘officially’ opened, but not by the Queen… 27 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Cup Games, Transfers, Uncategorized.5 comments
Yep, all those games that you thought had happened at our new ground didn’t actually mean anything because the stadium wasn’t even open yet. However yesterday our new ground was finally opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen was meant to be doing the opening yesterday but she picked up a back injury and is going to be out of action for a few weeks, luckily The Duke was able to slot right in…
Enough of that, really is quite a silly story. I mean if we did the officially opening before we’d played any games then okay, or even if it was after DB10′s testimonial, but now is just a stupid time to do it really, oh well. As you probably know I’ve been away for a few days and there’s been quite alot of news. I’ll start with the 2-0 win over WBA in the Carling Cup. I was surprised at the strength of the side and Wenger confirmed that he wants to do well this year which is nice, in the last couple of years the bigger teams have started to take this cup more seriously as Chelsea are making it very difficult to snatch the Premiership off them. It was a strong line-up but it was Aliadiere who stole the show, he bagged a goal in each half to take us through to the next round where we face Everton.
We risked it a bit with fielding a strong team and we were punished for that and now Adebayor will be out for three weeks after picking up a thigh injury after just 25 minutes. This isn’t a huge blow for us as Van Persie can fit in as the 2nd striker to Henry. However it does mean we’re a little tight for options up front and maybe after an impressive performance Aliadiere will be the back up striker on the bench. The 23 year old hasn’t had the best luck at Arsenal, when he joined all those seasons ago he looked like a great prospect but he never really developed as he should’ve. This was mainly to do with many injuries in his time at Arsenal and he spent alot of time out on loan at different clubs including one at Celtic, which lasted about a week. He does seem to be better this season than he was before but still he’s going to have to do very well to break into the team, a good performance mid-week and this injury to Adebayor might be exactly what the Frenchman needs. He feels he has a future here but I still think he’ll look for a permanent move to a smaller club in the summer.
Before I left for Scotland I mentioned that Toure might be signing a long-term deal at the club and he has, it hasn’t been confirmed yet how long the new deal is, all we’re told is it’s ‘long term’. This is more great news for the club, the past couple of weeks have been great for an Arsenal fan (apart from Moscow…) and hopefully things continue to be good for us. Ooh to, ooh to be, ooh to be a GOONA!
The only bad piece of news that came out whilst I was away was that Wenger will not be buying the January transfer window. This summer was very frustrating will the lack of signings but Arsene made up for it on the last day with the arrival of Baptista, Denilson and Gallas. I still feel there was room for one or two more in January but I’ll stand by Wenger.
And finally Thierry Henry has said Ashburton Grove feels like home now. The new ground changed from something new and exiting to a ‘home’ for me a few games ago, Titi says the first couple of games were a bit strange but everything feels right now:
“At the very beginning it was a bit difficult because we all miss Highbury, even people who don’t support Arsenal or don’t play for Arsenal knew it was special. On the other side, you can see it’s an amazing setting here. The pitch is great, the stadium is great. The first two games were difficult for me, now it seems like we have a home.”
We’ve done well at home recently and hopefully we can continue that form tomorrow as we face Everton, a match preview of the game tomorrow, I think that’s enough typing for today…Thanks for reading. Have a good Friday.
No Blog until Friday 23 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, The Cannon News, Uncategorized.4 comments
I’m off to Scotland for a few days and there won’t be a post before Friday, which will mean no match report on the reserve game against West Brom on Tuesday night. I’m sure you’ll cope for a few days and I’ll try post an update this Friday with a bit of a preview of the Everton game the next day. Anyway on with what news there is today.
After our 4-0 thrashing of Reading yesterday I said I wouldn’t blame us for thinking of the title and Arsene Wenger has been doing exactly that. This is what he had to say after the game at The Madejski when asked about our title ambitions:
“I feel strongly that the hunger is there, the quality is there, the competition is of a very high level but we believe we can do it. Let’s see how consistent we can be and I think we will be, but we go from game to game now and give everything in every game like we always do, but we believe we can do it. I said that recently we have played some very good games and the team is really getting better and better, the understanding is better, the movement is better and we just want to keep improving.”
“We played well, we had a good start and then after of course our technique made the difference and once we were 1-0 up we had many chances and counter-attacks. They remained dangerous on set pieces and as well on some crosses but overall I feel we dominated the game well after. The last 20 minutes the concentration dropped a little bit and the fatigue came in after we played in Moscow but overall I am very happy with the performance.”
Nice words from ‘Le Boss’ and I’m 100% there agreeing with him. I believe this season can be a successful one, we just need a few performances like yesterday’s and a bit of luck along the way. The ability is definitely there, I just hope we can improve on last season’s fourth place. We scored some beautifully worked goals yesterday and Arsene had his comments on them too, he was asked which one was his favourite out of the four:
“Maybe the third one because it was a team goal, and coaches love them, but overall it was van Persie’s one maybe. But the first goal was a good goal as well because Thierry took the ball well from Cesc on surprise, and the Hleb one. They were all good goals but as a manager maybe you choose the one where you have most of the players involved.”
Personally my favourite goal was Alex Hleb’s; the build up was beautiful, and the bullet finish into the roof of the net topped it off for me. They were all nice goals yesterday but for me, Hleb’s was the best.
Kolo Toure picked up a little back problem yesterday and looked to be in some pain, I’m not sure yet if he’s going to be out for any period of time but if he is, Phil Senderos is back to fill in for him now but also Gallas can play centrally with Clichy out wide. So there are lots of options if Toure has to take a rest so I’m not really worried about that. He’s a massive player for us so it brought a smile to my face when he said he’d like to play here for life:
“I can see myself staying here for the rest of my career. Why would I want to leave? I love my football, my family is settled here and the club is ambitious. It is fantastic here. I have played with players who, five or six years ago, I was watching on television back in the Ivory Coast – people like Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. One day I would love to captain the club. Thierry is doing a fantastic job, he is a tremendous leader. But one day, yes, I would love to.”
I think Kolo would make a great captain and a good successor to Henry, he is four years younger than our current captain so it is possible for him to get given the armband next. After that I think it’ll be Cesc but lets not think too far ahead. Fabregas just signed a long-term deal to stay at Arsenal so it’s great that Kolo wants to join him in doing so.
There were rumours that there was a confrontation between Henry and Van Persie over the Dutchman’s selfishness. Arsene has dismissed these reports saying there was no big argument between the strikers:
“Strikers always get frustrated, but I don’t see any problem with them. Robin has improved tremendously. When he came here he was not in the team at Feyenoord, and is now a regular in the Dutch national team. That tells you the strides he has made and I think he is a great player. He [van Persie] got frustrated on one occasion on Tuesday. He showed hesitation, touched the ball again and then it was too late as the keeper had come out. But that can happen.”
I know that Henry gets annoyed with Robin, you can see it when he’s on the pitch and I don’t blame him really. Sometimes Robin makes the wrong decision and Thierry will let him know that. He’s only young and he’ll mature which will help in striking situations but for the time being Robin just has to have a little think about his options first. I don’t think there was an argument between him and Henry but I wouldn’t be surprised if Titi told him about it in the dressing room. Especially after the CSKA Moscow game when he’s just been disallowed a perfectly good goal and most probably still angry.
There’s another quote from Wenger here, this time involving video replays. I am a big believer in this and Arsene thinks it should be a part of the game too. He spoke to the BBC yesterday but the decision in Moscow was still on his mind:
“There is not just a place for it, there is a need for it. If you love football you want justice to be respected. It becomes suspicious when people see things that don’t happen. You can question the honesty of people and we do not want that in our game. When referees see things that don’t exist it is hard to accept. With a video you can you can check that it is a regular goal. Why refuse when the help is there? It becomes a weakness from referees if they don’t accept it.”
“I would have preferred he [the referee for the Moscow game] said: ‘Video please, I want to see suspicion of a hand-ball’. “It does not look at any minute like there is a suspicion of a hand-ball when you watch the game. How can he come to that conclusion? It is very difficult to accept.”
I don’t know how the FA and FIFA feel about video technology but I think along with most footie fans it must be introduced. We all complain when referees make the wrong decision so why not eradicate that with replays? There is that argument that it’ll add long pauses in the game but isn’t that what extra time is for? I really don’t see a single valid reason why we shouldn’t have it and with all the technology we have today it would be a great way to further the sport.
That’s your lot for today and indeed for the next few days. Have a good week, enjoy the West Brom game, I’ll see you Friday I guess.
Arsenal 3-0 Watford – 14/10/06 – (Barclays Premiership) 15 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Premiership, Uncategorized.4 comments
Well we came out 3-0 winners in the end and was a comfortable victory really, I don’t think Watford have what it takes to survive the drop this season, they really just don’t look like a Premiership side. I went into the ground at about 1-ish, as soon as the gates opened, to put up the flag. Took forever too put up because of its size but when I walked around the stadium to have a look at it, it looked so small and insignificant. I’ve had quite a few people say they saw it and a few low-quality pictures, any more would be much appreciated 
. Apparently they have started putting up banners and stuff today along one of the concrete tiers, once they’re put up I don’t know if you’ll be allowed to hang flags. It’s something I haven’t done before and maybe if I sit upper tier in the future I’ll do it again.
On to the game, and Theo Walcott got his first start for Arsenal and made some nice little breaks but alot of the time the final ball wasn’t perfect and nothing came of it. He played on the left wing with Rosicky taking the right, I think he was played there because we had Gallas at left back and he’s not really an attacking left-back winger that’ll get down the flank, so Theo was there to do that job. One thing that stood out early in the game who a spectacular effort by Kolo Toure, we won a free-kick a few yards forward from the centre circle, I thought we might just take it quickly and start playing it around or cram people into the box and ping a ball in but Kolo was having none of that and had goal in his sights. The ball was tapped off to him and he unleashed the shot which swung well wide but was nice to see a bit of ambition to shoot from range, even if it was 40+ yards from goal.
There was a bit of a scramble early in the first half where Rosicky found himself with the ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a shot, Foster made the save and the angle was too tight for Adebayor to score. An early scare for Watford but credit goes to Ben Foster. There were a few times when an Arsenal player was put through one-on-one with the ‘keeper, the first opportunity fell to Cesc Fabregas who was put through by Walcott. Cesc side footed it past Foster and had an empty goal to shoot at with a bit of an angle but he only managed to hit the side netting, probably should’ve been one-nil there but there were more opportunities to come.
Watford’s best chance came in the first half with a bit of a goalmouth scramble in the box. Ashley Young was at the near post with the ball and Kolo Toure just threw himself at the shot to stop us going one nil down, from the resulting corner Marlon King (Gooner) smacked it over the bar, no trouble. There wasn’t much action for a while and the next chance came after about half an hour, Rosicky was put through on the right and made a cutting run to make himself a shooting opportunity, it was a great strike going into the far corner but Foster just managed to stretch out to it and make the save. However we finally went 1-0 soon after that, thanks to Jordan Stewart. Fabregas crossed in a beautiful ball over on the left from a free-kick to the far post, Adebayor got a head to it and Kolo Toure was jumping to finish with Stewart, I thought Kolo got the touch but apparently the last touch came off the Watford defender.
Towards the end of the second half Henry found himself one-on-one with the ‘keeper and chose to go for the far-right corner along the ground, it just went wide. He might have been disappointed not to score there but was given a chance a few minutes later. Lehmann smacked to ball up field, Adebayor flicked it on for Titi who manage to get by Demerit and had just the ‘keeper to beat once again. This time round he chose to slot the ball underneath the Man United loanee ‘keeper and Arsenal went into the break two nil up.
Not much really happened at the beginning of the second half, a few chances but nothing really worth mentioning. Theo came off on the 63rd minute to an amazing reception, he didn’t have the best game of his life but he showed some exiting little moments, good for him to get his first start. He was replaced by Hleb who I thought would start but Theo did a good job. Not long after that substitution Henry found himself though with just the goalie to beat, this time he went right up to Foster, and then squared it to Adebayor who had a simple tap-in into an empty net. Three-nil Arsenal, good night.
Gael Clichy made another step towards full fitness after his long-term injury as he came on for Bill Gallas with ten minutes to go, Gael got a great reception and I’m sure everyone is glad to see him back in the team and I think that maybe next week he can start for us and Senderos cant be long behind him. Watford had a couple of chances at the end but Lehmann did well and kept his clean sheet. The game finished 3-0, a fair reflection on the game where we dominated consistently. Our next home game is Everton on the 28th, until then we’ve got three away games against CSKA Moscow, Reading and West Brom in the Carling Cup. See you later people.
Arsenal Reserves 2 Charlton 1 11 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.5 comments
Phil Senderos and Gael Clichy are well on their way back to the Arsenal 1st team as both got a run out in the 2-1 win over Charlton reserves. Big Phil got a full 90 minutes and Gael was replaced on the 72nd minute by Armand Traore. I was quite a strong side that included Almunia, Denilson, Merida, Song, The Beast and Aliadiere. The game was behind closed doors at the London Colney training centre yesterday afternoon, I was actually passing it on the way home when they would’ve been playing but in recent years they’ve put these bastarding trees up so you can’t see a thing.
We nearly were a goal down very early but Matthew Connolly blocked Marcus Bent’s shot on the edge of the six yard box. We didn’t start the game well however we were one nil up after 25 minutes after thanks to an own goal from Souleymane Diawara. Gael Clichy put through a great ball for Baptista, but his first touch was a poor one, Diawara intercepted it, and in the process he put the ball into the near post. One nil to the Arsenal.
Julio Baptista was showing exactly why he is nicknamed ‘The Beast’ and made a powerful run beating two defenders and unleashed a shot which was blocked by their ‘keeper Stephan Andersen and then Diawara managed to knock the ball away before Aliadiere could double the lead. Fran Merida continued his excellent run of form and grabbed our second ten minutes after the break after coming on at half time for Mark Randall. The young Spaniard blasted a low shot from range which just beat the outstretched Anderson. It sounded like a really nice goal and will be another reason to include Fran in that Carling Cup squad.
After then it was pretty much all Arsenal, Senderos had a header, Denilson smacked a thirty yard screamer which was tipped over the bar and in the 80th minute Efrem set up Traore who found himself one on one with the ‘keeper but his shot was blocked to keep it 2-0. However Charlton scored four minutes later, Nathan Ashton got the ball on the half way line and made a surging run down the left flank. He dribbled past a few Arsenal defenders and then passed to Ambrose in the six yard box, Almunia got a hand to his shot but it wasn’t enough and the Ex-Newcastle man had put Charlton in with a fighting chance.
Fortunately it finished up 2-1, it was just a friendly but nice to see Arsenal winning wherever possible. Hopefully Baptista has impressed enough to get some sort of a run out on Saturday, everyone else I don’t think will make with clash with Watford. Can’t wait ’til the weekend, these internationals are so annoying and can’t wait to get back to the Grove. I’m sitting upper tier for the first time and I’m gonna be doing my bit to cover up the blank concrete. I’ve joined 5 flags together which should cover up quite a bit, I’ll get some pictures up before the weekend so you can look out for it.
There are more internationals yet though, there was probably some last night and there’s some more tonight. England play Croatia at Dinamo Zagreb’s ground tonight but the under 21′s beat Germany 2-0 last night with two late goals from Theo Walcott. Theo replaced Agbonlahor in the 77th minute to try and change things and scored in the 84th and 90th minute to beat rivals Germany. For the first goal he made a great run and took the ball down well from a ‘hoofed’ pass and finished well in the sorner of the net. The second was a fabulous run for most of the pitch and again with a great finish past the German ‘keeper. Both goals were very Theirry Henry-esque, and any player would have been proud of them, it really must have been great for any Gooner watching and I hope he can do similar for us in the red of Arsenal. Those two goals sees the England under 21′s through to the Euro Championship in Holland next summer. Well done Theo.
The last bit of news is from Arsene Wenger who reckons Arsenal can become the biggest club in the world. His ambition when he came here was to take Arsenal to the next level but ten years ago he didn’t imagine us to become this successful. However ‘Le Boss’ isn’t stopping here:
Arsene Wenger:
“My project is to dominate the English league and to dominate Europe. Nowadays Arsenal is a club superior to what I could have imagined at the beginning. When we built our new stadium we talked about a capacity of 50,000, then 55,000, then 60,000. Now we are asking ourselves already if it is too small. That could seem pretentious, but I believe that if you don’t give real ambition to a club it will not take off. At Arsenal, I even have more freedom than a lot of other English clubs. That is why I refused opportunities like Real Madrid. I am like an animal that has a lot of freedom and then you want to keep him on a leash.”
Arsene is a great manager and has done so much for this club, when I first started supporting Arsenal we’d be happy with making the European football places. Now that’s a must and we try to come first every year and nearly won the biggest prize of them all last year. Hopefully Wenger can take this club even further and win the Champions League, all I know is he is the man to do it. I think 60,000 is too small for small for us too. Maybe they can fill in the curves at the top with seats one day?
That’s all for today, enjoy your internationals tonight, if you’re into that sorta thing. Have a good day.
Ljungberg injured in international! 9 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Transfers, Uncategorized.9 comments
Grrrrr
I was thinking to myself, this international break wont be so bad unless one of our players gets injured. And god damn it Sweeden have injured their captain Fredrik Ljungberg! He picked it up in the 2-0 victory against Iceland and may have made it worse than it was but not coming off:
Freddie Ljungberg:
“It wasn’t a blow, but I got the injury when I was running. It got worse and worse, but it was an important match and I didn’t want to go off. Hopefully, I will get an X-ray. But right now, it does not feel very well. I will talk to the boss and see what he feels. As captain, you should follow the side, but at the same time, Arsenal might want me to come back for treatment.”
You’re damn right we want you back at Arsenal. It doesn’t sound too bad really and luckily we’re got players of quality that will take his place. It’s just annoying though and I bet Wenger is fuming.
England drew 0-0 with Macedonia, which dare I say, was quite funny. We were in desperate need of a goal in the final few minutes and we took of Rooney! He was so crap and I hope this run of form continues for him, I loathe Rooney and to see him doing shit makes me happy. England play Croatia on Wednesday, they’ll need to get a good win to get people to forget about Saturday’s performance. Shaun (Ian) Wright-Phillips did well when he came on late and looked like the only player bothered to play and have a go at Macedonia. If they cant put any effort in to play why should I put the effort in to watch them? What they need is more players like SWP who are young and fearless and want to have a go at the opposition.
It does beg the question why Theo Walcott isn’t playing. I was really happy when Sven selected him for the world cup, and praised the Swede for having confidence in him. Theo didn’t get one taste of a game and spent his time warming the bench. However he reckons that world cup inclusion will do him good:
Theo Walcott:
“I didn’t expect to go to the World Cup but it was a brilliant experience for me. Ronaldo went to a World Cup when he was just 17 and also didn’t play but look at him now. Just watching how the England players prepare for games, watching them train, watching Wayne was unbelievable. There is another World Cup in four years, so, hopefully, I’ll be there again.”
He’s right what he said about Ronaldo, and how great it would be if he turned out like that. I’m sure you all already know how exited this player makes me. Hopefully he can get a bit of international experience with Steve McLaren (and not get injured), it will only do him, and his country good.
I thought the Ashley Cole and William Gallas argument was over but it’s sparked up again; and I’m sorry but it’s Arsenal this time. Arsene Wenger has spoken about his anger over the tapping-up and said he’ll give his side of the story in the future:
Arsene Wenger:
“What was really annoying was they contacted Ashley Cole two or three days before a match with Manchester United which was a crucial game for us. I’ll talk about what happened later for there were things said in that meeting that were impossible for Arsenal to accept.”
Also Bill Gallas will make a video about Chelsea so people can know exactly what they’re like:
William Gallas:
“I want people to know the truth and the only way to do that is go to on TV. That way nothing can be misconstrued.”
Well it’s fair to say Chelsea are knobs. I said I’d put this to bed a while ago but I thought this was worth reporting on, especially when there’s no news…
Gunnerblog reported that we might somehow be getting Ribery in some sort of strange deal. He’s be the natural replacement for Freddie Ljungberg who’s getting on a bit now and he’d be the main competitor with Tevez and Rooney for the ugliest premiership player. I don’t know how true this is about Ribery and it’s extremely likely to be absolute bollocks but it’s still interesting.
Anyways, I think that’s all the news I can conjure up for today. It’s desperate times for an Arsenal website and arseblogger is calling on drastic measures. I hope to update soon, it’s not so much to do with college, but more to do with the lack of news. See you when I see ya.
Senderos and Clichy return 4 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.21 comments
Phil Senderos and Gael Clichy made their Arsenal returns last night in the 2-1 reserve win against West Ham. This is great news for Arsenal, not sure if they’ll be 100% fit and available for the Watford game but at least they’re back playing football.
The Watford game may be too soon for these two’s 1st team return but it won’t be too long now. Clichy will slot right in at let back and Senderos will be the first to replace either Big Willy or Kolo.
It will be nice having some players back from injury and be able to play people in their proper positions and play quality players too. Senderos we all know is a rock in defence, Clichy we’ve seen less of thanks to Ashley Cole but he’s pretty much the french, faster, younger, better, less cocky, straight and less money-grabbing version of Cole.
Wenger has said RVP is a more physical player now. When he first joined us he was the weak little skilful player, now he has got some strength in him he is a much better player. Robin is going from strength to strength at Arsenal and I hope it continues. I’ve never thought of Van Persie becoming a world class player but I suppose he does have the potential there, he’s only 23 so hasn’t reached his peak yet.
Nick Bendtner is having a great start to the season on loan with Birmingham but has said he won’t return to Arsenal unless he’s guaranteed at least a place on the bench. It going to be difficult for him to fit in there just at the moment but if he stayed with us a bit longer this boy could be an amazing player. If he stays at Birmingham his talent will be wasted and will never develop into his full potential. If he can see past 1st team football just for a little bit and think about his future hen he should come back to Arsenal. We have some great coaches here and with their help they will turn him into a top player. I do fear that he’ll stay at Birmingham but hopefully he gets a loan extension rather than a permanent move.
Lastly, Arsene Wenger has been telling us we are strong contenders for the title. I dream of he day we lift the Premiership again, is it this year? I know we have the quality and potential to go all the way but we need a bit of luck along the way. We had a poor start to the season but that’s over now and since the United win we seem like a different team. However, if you asked me if I’d prefer us to win the Premiership or the Champions League, I’d say the Champions League. After the heartbreak in Paris it’s something that all Gooners want so badly. We’ve had a taste of the Premiership title; we know what it’s like. Our new target is Europe. Hopefully we’ll stuff Barca on the way to Athens.
Of course both would do just nicely but I’m not picky. I mean come on, all I’m asking for is the Champions League. We’ve played well in Europe so far, lets hope the run of form continues. But for now, lets keep pushing in the Premiership and see where a couple of win will take us.
Bear with this me in the drought of Arsenal news. Those evil internationals have stolen it…it’s tough times for a blogger. See ya when I see ya.
Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! 2 October, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.4 comments
I am currently in the queue on the online ticket booking queue trying to buy tickets for the spurs game. I’ve been in the queue for about 20 minutes and the status bar has only gone a third of the way. At the same time I have got the box office number on redial which is constantly busy. The system that they used last year was so much better, you posted one application on the internet in a time period, didn’t matter when in the time slot. Then the 38,000 applicants who’ve been to the most games get tickets.
Now it’s just a constant rush from 9:30 all day, luck that Monday is my day off from college ay. When tickets for Real Madrid came out I was secretly ringing the box office under the table with a hands-free kit all lesson. In the end I didn’t get tickets but I tried. Hopefully I’ll get through this time; the online ticket box office looks my best bet, the status bar is nearly halfway now, I’d say it’s about 4/10ths done.
I thought as I am waiting I might as well post on The Cannon, should be another half an hour at least before I get through on the online box office. Anyway you don’t really want to know about me trying to get tickets, you want the blog. To be fair there’s not that much news, with it being internationals next weekend all talk’s about England, which doesn’t really concern Arsenal. I’m not the only one upset about the internationals though, Arsene Wenger has had a little rant saying that these games are very disruptive to a season:
It is terrible. The international teams play Saturday and Wednesday and when they come back we do not have enough time with them. We have asked before if the international teams can follow the same schedule as club sides and play on Saturdays and Tuesdays but nobody has done anything about it. I have calculated that over the next 10 months, our players will be away with their countries for 100 days. That is just not acceptable. We have to live with it. But we are the ones who employ the players and yet they spend all this time away from us. It is simply not logical. There needs to be a better compromise than the one which currently operates because this one is not in favour of the clubs at all.
I didn’t realise there was a game on Wednesday too. That’s ridiculous. That means the players will be back Tuesday but not train as they had a match the previous night. Then Friday they will do some pre-matchday light training and have to swap up on the opposition, and then the next day it’s the match. It’s mad. Luckily it’s only Watford but if we don’t take 3 points then Wenger will no doubt point the finger of blame on the internationals.
One player who is to do with the England setup at Arsenal is Theo Walcott, I think he’s playing for the under 21′s this week and Gilberto has been talking about the new teen sensation:
It’s very important that he can set up goals. It’s this kind of thing that makes the difference in a good player. It doesn’t matter if he’s young or not when he can bring important things to the pitch and do his job like he did when I scored the goal against Aston Villa. He needs to play freely and not have a lot of pressure put on him, but I think he can handle the pressure especially with the way Arsène works with the young players. He’s only 17 and he needs time to improve and to grow but the more he trains with us and the more he plays, the more he will grow in confidence and I think very soon he will be ready to play.
He looks very good. I think you have seen him enough times playing for Arsenal to see he’s very confident when he gets the ball and he’s the same when he trains with us. Myself, some other experienced players, and Arsène, talk to him a lot. We tell him to train and train and train and that when he gets the opportunity to play he must do the same kind of things he does in training.
OH MY GOD I JUST GOT THROUGH!!! Fuck it was just a message saying there's a technical error, fuck. Got all exited then and everything. The online thing's about 6/10ths done now...
Anyway what Gilberto was saying there is that we can’t expect everything from Walcott when he comes on and to just give him some time to develop. We all know he can produce, just don’t expect it. Imagine if you were playing at Ashburton Grove in front of sixty-odd-thousand Gooners and only being 17. It’s alot to ask of the boy. Bert’s also saying that this kid is amazing and yes, he’s worth getting exited about him but we’ve got to just let him do his stuff. One day Theo’s going to be our best player, no doubt in my mind at all.
Arsene also had a word on Van Persie’s 2nd goal at Charlton:
It was outstanding, quite unbelievable. Nobody expected that. When Eboue crossed I did not see anybody in the box so it thought, like many times, we have nobody in there. Then suddenly Van Persie arrives. Technically it was perfect, with full pace and power. I felt the ball would go over the bar at the start, then it finished in the top corner. It is the goal of a lifetime.
That’s summed it up nicely, nothing more I can say to that.
Ok, that all there is for today. I’m going to continue trying to get my Spurs tickets. AHHH I JUST GOT THROUGH AGAIN!!!
I’m now pressing buttons to a recorded voice, now I’m in a queue …AH! NOW IT’S RINGING!!!
Still ringing…
Oh come on! Now it’s another recorded message! FUCK!!! Now they’re saying tickets don’t come out until half 11…the cunts. I woke up this early for nothing? Oh well…guess I’ll try again at half eleven.
Anyways, yeah. That’s all today’s news. I’ll let you know how I get on trying to get tickets. Have a good day.
Happy Anniversary Arsene 28 September, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Uncategorized.6 comments
10 years ago today the Premiership’s greatest ever manager joined the Premiership’s greatest ever team.
It’s been an amazing ten years under Arsene Wenger, I vaguely remember his arrival. I remember having Bruce Rioch and then no manager for a little while, the fans were calling for a big name, someone who could take this team to the next level. What we got was some unknown Frenchman, he was meant to be quite good and had just come from a spell in Japan. I wasn’t annoyed with his appointment but I thought he’d be crap and wouldn’t last until the end of the season. He had a steady first season with us, he had lots of new ideas and it looked like a new Arsenal. The following season though his plans kicked in and he won the League and FA Cup double of the 97/98 season. It was a great time for the club and Arsenal were the most feared team in the land. We won the charity shield at the beginning of the 98/99 season and we were tipped to get back-to-back titles…instead Man Utd did the treble. Shit.
"Arsene Wenger's magic, he wears a magic hat. When he saw the double, he said I'm having that."However we didn’t have to wait long for our next double. The 2001 to 2002 season delivered the Premiership and FA Cup once again, and we won the league at Old Trafford thanks to Wiltord. There was no doubt that in Wenger’s first few years at Arsenal he had turned us into a UEFA cup place battling team to a team which everyone feared and were genuine title threats. After Manchester United European triumph it was now the target to improve on our Champions League form, Arsene didn’t quite master it and we were knocked out unluckily a few times. Gooners’ didn’t expect us to win the Champions League but it was on our to-do list. At the present time we were delighted with our domestic progress. Before the 02/03 season Arsene came out saying he thinks we could go a whole season without losing. It was a bit of a crazy target and surely it couldn’t be done. We didn’t have a terrible season: We won the Charity Shield and the FA Cup, but it wasn’t the unbeaten season Arsene wanted.
"Arsene, give us a wave. Arsene, Arsene, give us a wave."However the Gaffer’s wishes were granted the season after when we became the 2003/2004 Premiership Champions after completing the whole campaign without a single loss. It really was an amazing achievement; something that hasn’t been repeated since and I hope it won’t for a long time. I was there at Highbury on that last day of the season against Leicter when we went a goal down and the unbeaten record was in doubt. Luckily we came back to win and it was an amazing day. It’s one of my favourite Arsenal memories, we went fuckin’ mental and so we should have. A whole season without losing one game. Pretty amazing when you look back on it. I remember the trophy celebrations from that day and the Upper tier of the North Bank was actually bouncing up and down. It was Arsene’s vision from a year before, nobody took him seriously when he said it but one he achieved it everyone respected him. And the best part of that Premiership title win was the fact we secured it at the shit hole…WHL’04
"We won the league. At White Hart Lane. We won the league at White Hart Lane. We won the league at the shit hole, we won the league at White Hart Lane."I was also at the game where Arsene won his next trophy, the FA Cup final 2005 in Cardiff. I think it was the birth of the new Arsenal we know today, we played a 4-5-1 and left out Campbell in favour of Senderos. We didn’t play very well but we still came home with the goods thanks to converting all of our penalties and Lehmann stopping Scholes’ effort. Since then we haven’t won anything else but I think last season was quite special. It was the last year at Highbury and beating Spurs to that 4th Champions League place with the last game at our famous ground. Really was a special day. It still gives me goosebumps thinking of it, especially the sound of “We are the North Bank Highbury etc…” ringing around. Even though it was quite a poor finish of fourth place I think that was forgiven by making it to the Champions League Final. Arsene deserves alot of credit getting us to Paris, he mastered the 4-5-1 for us and worked out how to beat Real Madrid and Juve amongst others to make it to the final. In Paris we were unlucky on the night, don’t want to go into it but I think we’ll get another chance very soon to add to our European trophy cabinet.
"Arsene. Give us a wave. Arsene, Arsene give us a wave."That was quite emotional recapping on those last ten years, it’s been really exiting to be a Gooner and it’s all thanks to Arsene. I love this club. I love Arsene. But it’s not just the silverware he’s brought us, think of all those amazing signings he’s made. It’s too hard to list them all but he’s made so many minor/cheap signings that have emerged into world class players. To name a few: Thierry Henry, Jens Lehmann, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas, Marc Overmars, Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira. Those names are just a small percentage of players Arsene has raised and I hope for many more in the near future.
It’s been a fantastic decade with the club and I’m not surprised that David Dein has said he’s got a job here for life. Arsene said last week though that he wont be here for another decade and a move to Africa is one option. I’d love for Arsene to stay here or another 10 years but I don’t blame him for wanting a change.
I could go on but I think that’s enough for today. This has been one of my most enjoyable posts on The Cannon and I feel really proud to be a Gooner right now. Thanks for all the support on the comments recently, I really appreciate it and I read every single one. Bear with me at the moment whilst I’m at college but I’ll do my best to keep the site updated. A preview of he Charlton game to come, until then.
Arsenal Reserves 2 Pompey 0 20 September, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.6 comments
I decided to go to the Arsenal v Portsmouth reserve game at Underhill tonight. I wanted to go for three reasons: Walcott, Merida and Denilson. It was the Brazilian kid’s debut in an Arsenal shirt and I’m sure many eyes at Barnet were on him. I did take some photos but I can’t find the bloody connector to send them to the computer, I’ll put them up if I find them.
I was late but I didn’t miss the first goal, as I walk walking along the front of the north terrace to find a place to stand I saw Walcott rocketing down the left wing at some pace. He managed to beat the defender and cut inside and delivered a short cross to Aliadiere who was waiting in the 6 yard box and it was a simple header from the Frenchman to make it one nil to the Arsenal. Aliadiere was impressive tonight and looked threatening whenever he got the ball. He also got the second goal which was quite a nice finish but he did seem quite selfish at times and wanted to take every free kick. But yeah he was good but to be fair it was against Pompey reserves. Theo also impressed in the first half, he was subbed after 45mins to beat the autograph hunters but in the 3/4 hour he did play he looked dangerous. He showed off some silky skills and some blistering pace, I can’t believe the boy’s only 17, he’s going to be one of the Premiership’s top players in his future. He might play a part on Saturday but I don’t see him starting a game for a while yet but he still has got something to offer us.
Denilson had a good game; he played some good balls and controlled the middle of the park well. He seemed to know where everyone was and knew exactly what option to take, he didn’t mind having a go at their defence either. Certainly an ambitious play, definitely one for the future. Unfortunately he didn’t last the full 90 minutes as he picked up and injury in the second half, he was fouled by one of the Portsmouth players, it didn’t look to serious but he was brought off anyways as a precaution. The Pompey reserves were quite dirty actually, there were tackles flying in all over the place and some quite bad ones, they had one man sent off for two yellows. Hopefully Denilson’s injury isn’t too bad.
Randall also stood out for me, he played some pin-point balls and some clever passes. Whenever he got the ball he was good and could possibly be man of the match. Another star of the night was Fran Merida; it was my first look at the kid and he looks like quite a skilful little player and a battler. Not afraid to have a go at people and has the ability to do it too. He also has a great determination; he lost the ball a couple of times but worked his arse off to try get it back. It’s really easy to compare the ex-Barca boy with Cesc but they are really similar players. Fran is a bit quicker but they have the same kind of attitude and flair in centre midfield. Looks like another young prospect for the future and it’s going to be exiting watching the development of this kid.
Our defence looked pretty solid too, the captain Connolly looked good as usual, and I think he’ll be a big player for us in the future. He was joined in the back four by Justin Hoyte who’s pushing for a place in the first team. He played well and got forward a few times, a good performance like this is always good especially in front of the watching Arsene Wenger who had a whole stand to himself and Stevie Bould.
Was a good evening in all, I go to quite a few reserve games as they’re just around the corner from Borehamwood and they’re free. If you’ve never been maybe you should, they play their home games at Barnet’s Underhill stadium and games are usually on a Monday night at 7pm. Definitely worth a peek, it’s also worth checking out the line-up on Arsenal.com beforehand, sometimes you get some big stars playing and in a couple of weeks we’ll probably see Lauren, Senderos, Diaby and Clichy as they look for match fitness after their injuries.
The only other real piece of news is Arsenal’s financial year’s results. That’s really not the sort of thing that interests me as a fan so if you want to know anything about it you’re gonna have to read it, all I know is we’ve got a massive debt but I’m not too worried about it. Oh yeah and another thing, Edelman has just said there’s 32,000 people on the season ticket waiting list which made me quite sad, I don’t know when I’ll get mine 
More build up to the Sheffield Utd game to come this week, until then.
The season starts now 19 September, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
We haven’t really found our feet yet this season and I think the confidence from beating the old rivals will help us push forward. Wenger has put our slow start down to the World Cup and he’s probably right. Some players only joined up with the Arsenal squad a couple of weeks before the season after a long a tiring summer in Germany. Henry picked up an injury after making it all the way to the final and is suffering from that now. He should be back for Saturday but he might be rested again.
We’ve proved we can beat the top teams now we just need a convincing win this weekend to let people know our ambition for this season. First place is still in our sights but it’s going to be a hell of a battle to get there; this could be our year, I wouldn’t have said so last week with the start we had but and couple of wins in the bag and you never know. We’ll have a look at the table standing after a few more games in, it’s hard to predict anything this early. I mean Pompey have won every game and haven’t conceded but I don’t see them as champions this year…
I also hope Adebayor can take the confidence he’s gained from scoring the winner on Sunday and use it to become a great player for us. Gunnerblog has a good piece on him and it’s true what he says about him thinking he’s Kanu. Our ex-Nigerian is Manu’s idol but he is not the same player at all; they are both tall and African but the similarities end there. I’ve never been his biggest fan but I hope he can prove me wrong and get a few goals this term. I know Henry likes him, they work well together but I think most people would rather see Titi paired with someone else.
Jens Lehmann also had a big input in Manchester with a series of fine saves but he’s being questioned by local police after kicking his water bottle into the crowd. He was being taunted by the United fans, we all do it but to a limit; Jens was being called a Nazi and other crap so the kicking of a water bottle is nothing really. It’s all a load of crap and I’m surprised that the Manchester police don’t have anything better to do really.
Ray Domenech has said he can’t believe Chelsea got rid of William Gallas and has called him the best defender in the world. There’s no doubt we’ve picked up a great player here and any striker in the world is going to have trouble getting past Gallas and Toure. The French coach had this to say:
I can’t believe what Chelsea have done. I can’t believe they let Gallas go. For a coach, he’s the best defender in the world. Look at the positions he can play – anywhere along the back line, all with exactly the same ability. If I had been Jose Mourinho I would never have done it. Any club lucky enough to have William should never allow him to leave. Since I’ve been French coach, we’ve lost only one game, against Slovakia this year – and that was the only one in which he didn’t play.
And finally Porto midfielder Raul Meireles will be fit for their trip to The Grove a week today. I’ve sorted my ticket out for the game and I’m looking forward to another night of Champions League football at Ashburton Grove.
Thanks for reading, see you soon.
Fuck off Ashley Cole 13 September, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Champions League, Uncategorized.6 comments
I swear every time I go onto the sky sports website there’s a new rant about Arsenal. Alright we get it, you didn’t like it here; just leave it at that. It’s mainly lies anyways and I didn’t even bother reading the latest one. It’s something to do with our youngsters. Enough of your bollocks mate, I can’t be bothered with you until you got something interesting to say, fuck off back to Chelsea.
Right, onto more important matters and Cesc Fabregas has shown us what a little legend he is by agreeing on a whopping 8 year contract. Cescy is one of the most important players here and he’s only 19, imagine what his future holds with Arsenal. It doesn’t mean he’s definitely staying here for at least 8 years, that’s just the length of his contract. Of course he can leave but whoever wants him will have to fork out big bucks. I remember not so long ago Cesc saying he wants to become an Arsenal legend, well mate, you are well on that path.
Tonight sees us face Hamburg in the Champions League group phases. Thierry Henry will not take any part in the game as he’s picked up a minor injury. I’m not that bothered about that, I think we’ve got ample quality to beat Hamburg without Henry. He was feeling the injury on Saturday but had an injection before the ‘Boro game, I think he’s being allowed time to recover before we play Man United. One man who’s trying to push his way back in the team though is Justin Hoyte, he was a bit iffy last time he played and I’d prefer Gallas to Hoyte any day. I expect it to be the same back four as the Boro game, I think that will it for a while until our injured players return.
The midfield is another story though, I suspect Wenger might go for 5 across the middle and one striker. It’s just who will get a place in the midfield. Theo Walcott might be one of them and he might get his full Arsenal debut tonight. However I reckon he’ll come on maybe at half time, or on about the hour mark. I hope the 5 man midfield includes Cesc, Gilberto, Baptista, Rosicky and Ljungberg/Van Persie. RVP has done well for Holland on the right wing so maybe he could do a job there for Arsenal but personally I’d prefer him to be our lone striker but I think Wenger will go for Adebayor. Baptista would play there but I’m not so sure if Wenger will pick him, I think he’ll be ideal for Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford.
The main thing you’ll notice tonight won’t be the team or anything like that, it’ll be the shirts. We will be wearing a special shirt for tonight’s game because as part of UEFA’s regulations two teams that play each other cannot have the same shirt sponsor. It’s a quite strange rule I know but it does mean we’ll be sponsored by ‘Dubai’ tonight, and when Hamburg visits The Grove they’ll change their sponsors. It’s a really weird rule and you have to wonder why UEFA have it, I don’t remember this ever happening before but it will be interesting.
The game is on Sky Sports Extra and I hope its the main feature game, I’ve got NTL and I think that’s got the channel but you can’t do the red button multi-screen thing. So I hope I can find the channel/it’s the main game otherwise I’m going to have to find somewhere to watch it. Anyways, enjoy the game, I think 2-0 to us. C’MON THE ARSENAL!!!
Brazil v Argentina today 3 September, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Uncategorized.6 comments
Not much other news today as all our players are off on internationals, England won 5-0 yesterday, it’s weird not having any Arsenal players in the team now. I suppose Theo will be there soon. So today is the first international staged at The Grove and it’s a big one, Brazil v Argentina. Gutted I haven’t got a ticket but I’ve got to go to work anyways, it’s on BBC1 so I’m gonna record it.
The full squads can be found here but they include Cicinho, Gilberto Silva, Julio Baptista, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Robinho, Samuel, Mascherano, Gonzalez, Rodriguez, Riquelme, Tevez, Messi and Delgado. Should be a great game to go to, if I was going I’d support Brazil imply because they’ve got two Gooners in the team. There will be a massive Arsenal following at the game mixed with the Samba of Brazil and the passion of Argentina. I wish I could go but I suppose I’ll watch it all later.
It will be the first time our new signing Baptista will play at The Grove and I’m sure he’ll get a magnificent reception along with Gilberto, hopefully he’ll grab a goal just to make the day even more special. If you are going have fun, I hope to go to another International at the Grove in years to come, I don’t understand why they don’t play some England matches down here instead of them all being up in Manchester.
I really can’t think of anything more to say, I’ve got work in an hour so I better get ready…see you later!
Reserves make a flying start to the season 29 August, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Transfers, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Normally I go to the reserve games as they are just round the corner for me in Barnet, but I couldn’t go to this one as I had work. It was a strong team for the season opener against Charlton which included Almunia, Cole, Cygan, Traore, Flamini, Song, van den Berg, Walcott, Aliadiere, Adebayor and Connolly who captained the side. We came out 4-0 winners with Aliadiere and Adebayor getting two goals each. Theo Walcott had a very good first half and set up Adebayor’s first goal and then won the penalty for his second. In the second half he was a bit quieter but was still effective at times; I think Wenger is right about his match fitness and isn’t strong enough to play a full 90 minutes yet. The main surprise in the line-up was Ashley Cole, he got booed a couple of times but the sad thing was he was very good and set up our first goal.
I’m gutted I didn’t get to go to this game; the next one is Spurs away on September 11th. Another Arsenal team had a good result recently as the ladies team beat Fulham 14-0! Yes that’s fourteen! That now gives the ladies a goal difference of +17 after only two games of the season. Just imagine if the men’s team had a start to the season like that…Oh well, at least that means ‘Arsenal’ are going to win something this year. However Tomas Rosicky is not worried about our slow start to the season, he reckons we were unlucky to come away with no points at the weekend and should have scored a few times. He realises we’re already 8 points behind Man U but thinks the team will click into gear soon.
There’s only today, tomorrow and the day after for Wenger to get out his chequebook and as usual we’ve got some strange links from the tabloids. The Mirror says we are poised to make a £4m bid for 17 year old Gareth Bale from Southampton. The left back was a room-mate of Theo’s and Wenger might be set to make it his second youngster bought from the saints, The Mirror reckons we will buy him and then loan him back to Southampton for at least a season. It’s not a totally ridiculous story and could actually be true. The Sun however, just after linking us with a £16m move for Javier Maschero is now saying we’re going to make a £17m move for Carlos Tevez. He’s set to play in the Brazil v Argentina friendly at the weekend and The Sun says the plan is to unveil him to the fans as an Arsenal player before the game. Ok then.
That’s all the news there is today, oh apart form Arseblogger finally makes his move from Barcelona to Dublin today…if you call that news. Catch ya later!
Home Tomorrow 17 August, 2006
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Just a really quick one. I just thought I’d say that I’m coming home tomorrow morning, I’ll be back to normal blogging from then on, I can’t wait. I can’t belive Cole still hasn’t gone and Reyes looks like leaving in the next few days. OK, a proper write up tomorrow, have a good day.
I found an Internet cafe! 6 August, 2006
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Since I’ve bin away we actually signed someone! Fran Merida the 16 year old has joined from Barcelona and scored on his debut against Borehamwood where we won 4-0. In the other game against AZ Alkmaar we won 3-0 with Gilberto, Adebayor and RVP scoring.
There’s still nothing on the Cole situation but I did hear on Sky Sports News yesterday that he’s happy at Arsenal and is looking forward to the new season…hmmm we’ll see. Also Gallas’ Agent has said that we’re interested in him.
Well I really must go, I’m going to run out of time. I’ll probably come back here later in the week to do an update. Untill then
No real news… 3 August, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News, Uncategorized.3 comments
Which is kind of a good thing as I have to leave for work very soon. The only piece of news which caught my eye was that a friendly match between Brazil and Argentina will take place at Ashburton Grove on 2nd September. Should be an interesting one, I’m sure they’ll be lots of Gooners after tickets, I might go, I never get to Internationals and would be a good one.
Jose Mourinho has said he fears Arsenal and Man U more than Liverpool. Last season Rafa Benitez’s side finished above us and some people seem to think Arsenal are on the decline. I hope we do put in a strong challenge for the title, and if we won it somehow that’d just be amazing.
Arsenal Ladies beat Everton 3-0 last night to win the Community Shield with the goals coming from Smith, Chapman and Davison. It’s nice to see one Arsenal side up where they should be. Also last night, Dinamo Zagreb beat Ekranas 5-2 making it 9-3 on aggregate. The away leg at Zabreb will be played on Tuesday 8th Aug.
We’ve got two games tomorrow, one at 6:00pm (GMT) against AZ Alkmaar to open their new DSB Stadium, and then at 7:30pm we play my home town, Borehamwood in what’s officially an Arsenal XI fixture. The one against AZ should be the more exiting one but I’ll keep an eye on both scores.
Right I really have to go now, I’m going to be late for work. Have a good day people.
Schwadorf 1-8 Arsenal – 31/07/06 – (Friendly) 31 July, 2006
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I didn’t manage to catch the game but what I missed was a nine goal thriller, I went to Arsenal 10, Barnet 1 a couple of years ago, that was good. The game saw Reyes, Fabregas, Van Persie and Gilberto all had their first appearances this season with RVP getting two of the goals. The other goals came from Johan Djourou, Kolo Toure, Nicklas Bendtner, Alex Hleb and two from Emmanuel Adebayor. Schwadorf were very exited for the game, they are only a third division team and the local town was full of excitement about to play the runners up in Europe.
We started brightly though and nearly took the lead in the fourth minute with Gilberto the bar with a header from a Jose Antonio Reyes corner. However in the sixth minute it was 1-0 to the Arsenal; Van Persie got around the goalkeeper and simply finished into the empty net. In the tenth minute we nearly scored from a corner again, this time Toure from a Reyes corner which Thomas Reitprecht had to clear off the line. 5 minutes later though Reyes provided another great corner and Djourou made it 2-0 with a powerful header. Nice to see Arsenal producing the goods from corners again. The home side nearly narrowed the lead with Christian Schandl going just wide of the target twice and Oliver Lederer forced a fine save out of Almunia. However the home fans hopes of bringing it down to a one goal lead were shattered when RVP put in Adebayor who beat the keeper to make it three. Then with the last play of the first half he got another goal to take Arsenal in at the break 4-0 up.
Wenger reshuffled the team with seven changes at the break including Armand Traore who I have been very impressed with recently, Song who had a great game the last time he played in Austria and Hleb amongst others. Two subs provided a goal almost immediately after coming on with Hleb and Song working a good play for Van Persie to finish with a nice half-volley. It was nearly 6-0 four minutes later when Thomas Zingler blocked a shot from Aliadiere which was going in at the far post, despite Zingler’s efforts to keep his team going down further, it was 6-0 a few minutes later when Kolo Toure’s deflected free kick went into the back of the net.
Arsenal had a succession of close shaves after that with Poom having to run back to his goal and then make a save from Labaska’s shot, and then from the resulting corner Karol Schulz smacked it against the inside of the post. Nearly a goal for the home side who would so desperately love a consolation to reward their efforts. With half an hour to go, Wenger brought off all the players that were left on from the first half, one of the players brought on was Nicklas Bendtner who scored from close range after being set up cleverly by Alex Hleb. Then on the 84th minute, the scorer and provider of the seventh switched roles with Bendtner setting up Hleb to make it 8-0 to Arsenal.
There was a bit of a fairy-tale finish for the Austrians with Labaska scoring from close range with only three minutes left on the clock, the home crowd loved it and all were happy at the Sportzentrum Stadium. It was good for Arsenal to be back on form but if you think about it, beating an Austrian 3rd division side by seven goals with Eboue, Toure, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb, Reyes, Van Persie and Adebayor in your team isn’t that amazing; but still, it was nice to see Arsenal banging in some goals. Our next matches are on the 4th August, where we play AZ Alkmaar and my home town of Borehamwood in the same day.
Just a quick one 31 July, 2006
Posted by lasagnechef in Transfers, Uncategorized.8 comments
I have to go out but there just time to do a really quick post, there’s not that much news anyway so it’s alright. Jose Reyes has denied the rumours saying he’s off to Madrid.
“I don’t know where these words have come from. But what I would like to say is that I am very happy at Arsenal. At the moment we are all training hard in preparation for the new season and I am excited about not only playing at Emirates Stadium but also helping Arsenal to challenge for honours.”
Not too convincing, I think Jose does want to go to Madrid but he is happy at Arsenal at the moment. If an offer did come up from Real Madrid then I’m sure Jose’s eyes would light up but for now, he is our player still. The same can be said about Ashley Cole, his dream is to get lots and lots and lots of money so he can buy lots of nice watches and cars and houses blah blah blah…but at the moment, he too is still our player.
We play Schwadorf today, no time for a proper match preview I’m afraid. It’s our second friendly of our pre-season tour of Austria after beating SV Mattersburg 2-1 on Tuesday. Kick off is at 4pm UK time and it will be shown on Arsenal TV Online. You might see some better known faces this time round as the last match saw the introduction of Rosicky, Toure and Adebayor amongst others.
I really have to go now, have a good day people. C’mon the Arsenal!
