You have to earn your corn now Arsene

Time to cut the crap Arsene!

With rumors rife that some sourcey fella heard a massive argument in the Arsenal dressing room, apparently a fair few members of the team are going to be dropped. (Wenger has since denied it of course). I think this is a total and utter fabrication as Wenger will put in taller players to deal with the aerial bombardment we will face from Rory Delap. The chances are that Diaby will replace Nasri and Bendtner may well come in for Van Persie, Gallas is also 'injured' along with Eboue. Maybe Djourou will get a game this time alongside Silvestre or Toure.

I wish Wenger would stop with the whole 'we have great team spirit' and 'we have great potential', 'we showed good strength in character' stuff in his press conferences because after years and years of it its starting to wear a little thin. I would be worried if all the squad were fine after that defeat, they should be having a go at each other because that way we can get rid of this arrogance, naivety and down right complacence. Its about time they learnt something. They are not even learning from the hard way this season.

They are going to need to literally use their heads on Saturday, otherwise this bowl headed mong will cause us all sorts of problems.

Im really looking forward to seeing the team selections because then we will get a real idea of how Wenger feels about 'that' draw, the Spuds loved it so much they are releasing another DVD! Dickheads.

This game against stoke is a real biggie, we have Manchester Utd next weekend and the boss has conceded that he is rotating with that game in mind:

"It is at the moment rotation without being detrimental to the balance of the team. We play again on Wednesday and then on Saturday morning against Manchester United."

I would not be at all suprised to see a very young line-up against Fener in midweek.

Wenger is already saying the big games will decide our participation in the title race this season.

I just want to point to your attention a quite fantastic point made by the 'Le Grove' blogger Pedro. It points out the convienient releasing of financial information and Wenger talking about transfers. Just around the time for season ticket renewals, and club level renewals. Interesting eh?

I qoute;

Do you remember back in February when Danny or Keith came out and announced record pre tax profits? It’s no coincidence that around the time that story came out the club sent out the renewal letters for Club level.

How about late May? Do you remember the stories that came out from the club that we needed a centre back, no more players would leave and the fans wouldn’t be disappointed by this summers transfer activities… well that ties nicely in with normal season ticket renewals.

The next nicely packaged portion of bullshit came from the AGM. Apparently their was such a lack of decent centre backs on the market this summer, AC Milan had to sign Phil (Who I am sure Arsene said was a great player).

I think someone inside Arsenal FC is very astute at spinning stories and is taking the fans for a bit of a ride. Dont bite off the hand that feeds you. Respect it.

Anyways, im not sure if i will be blogging tomorrow but il certainly be back soon.

T'ra.

The daft daft bastards

They are only going to release a DVD of the game on Wednesday night!!

Cunt.com

dear o dear o dear.

Still angry, still bitter, still think we need changes.

12 hours on from my blog last night and im still angry, there is an undercurrent in this Arsenal team that just gives opposition confidence. We are far too soft. Its not the result that makes me angry, its the manner of the result.

To have realistic title chances we have to go to January without dropping any points and stay undefeated, we play Chelsea and Manchester United. Do i see us winning both those games?

No.

I think we need a change of formation, we cant have a midfield of Walcott, Denilson, Cesc and Nasri because there is no defensive player protecting the defence, we cant have Diaby in there because he is an attacking player, Bischoff is a playmaker, Wilshere and Ramsey are far too young. Rosicky is not a defensive midfielder and Eboue isnt even a midfielder. Song looks ok but nothing special. Il spell out the point im making.

We. need. a. defensive. midfielder.

We. lack. balance.

We have to face facts, the team needs changing and Wenger didnt do his job over the summer.
One more trophyless season and an ever growing anti-Wenger contingent will get louder and louder.

We have to shut them up Arsene.

4-4 - Our nuts need a little tightening.

For one of the first times in the history of this blog i am going to have a moan at Arsene Wenger. His comments after the game have kind of made my bad mood darker. I'm going to nit pick here I'm afraid, like it or not.

“I believe that we produced an excellent game and the positive side is that we were really superior to Tottenham."

Well going forward we were pretty good, not excellent. I feel we could have been a lot more clinical with our finishing and decision making, again there was just too much overplaying. However now I'm going to get really critical.

"The negative side is that we didn’t win and I believe that was down to a lack of maturity. I would like to keep the positives tonight because I believe we were really outstanding and I don’t believe that the lack of maturity is linked to experience."

So it was down to a lack of maturity, but experience has nothing to do with it?

The meaning of maturity: The state or quality of being fully grown or developed.

Right young players are not mature; as they are young they are not experienced, as they have not played as many games as a 'mature' player. So there is a link Arsene. You just wont accept that we need a midfielder that has grown his pubes and knows how to damn well defend! We have to win something this season Arsene, its time to admit that letting Flamini go was a big error.

Wenger was also critical of our negative approach to the game in the closing minutes of the game,

“I believe we were too cautious, we wanted to keep the ball in a negative way instead of scoring goals number five and six."

Again, excuse making, we had a corner and Sagna wanted to take it short and keep it in the corner, Fabregas told him to go away and delivered it into the box, and Spurs broke away.

Times like that you just need to get to the final whistle, keep it in the corner or buy a cheap free kick, tick down the clock. There is no need to Ponce around weaving pretty patterns! So no Wenger, we lacked experience AGAIN, it was a stupid decision by Fabregas. Would any of the other top 4 teams to that?

I say this now and i mean it. No title for us this season. If we do win i will make a donation to the Arsenal Charity.

Now, the defence;

I could easily blame Clichy's naivety and Almunia's blunders but I'm not going to single them out.

I'm going to rate the defenders 1-10 and go through their game;

Almunia; Poor, poor game. Stark contrast to the Big Al we have seen this season, we was woefully out of position when that comb over cunt hit that 40-yard screamer. That was forgivable though. The second isn't so forgivable. Huddlestone hit a shot and Almunia hit it out into the path of Darren Bent, a schoolboy error for a goalkeeper, it hit him in the face but he should have got hands behind it. It didn't swerve a great deal and it looked like the Almunia of old. Poor. 3

Sagna; Didn’t do much wrong, not much to say really. No moments of brilliance or no moments of poorness. Not up to last seasons standard yet. 6

Gallas; Fantastic game in my opinion, little wrong. Makes a change really. Shows that he and Toure can't play together. Silvestre or Senderos would be his ideal partner. Nice goal. Could have closed down Jenas better if i wanted to be harsh. 8

Silvestre; He is improving every game i think, a good goal and didn't do too much wrong. MAybe could have closed down Jenas too. 7

Clichy; Fantastic until he got naive. Then the shit really hit the fan, he could have pumped it up to the corner but he decided to try and play pretty. He has not learnt from previous mistakes. 5

As you can probably tell i am not happy. For the first time i am doubting our ability to win things, today the team needed to win for the fans, you had your atmosphere at the start Arsene. The place was alive with Arsenal chants but the team didn't deliver until just before half time.

We need to be ruthless, the past 10-11 years has set the standard very high and at this rate we are going to get nowhere near those heights.

We finished teams off in the first 25 minutes of games in the glory years, now we are giving up good leads against our fiercest rivals.

People are getting fed up.

I am a member of the BBC 606 message board and this user has wrote a very good article;

Anyone else a bit disillusioned?

Ok firstly I want to say I love Arsenal and Wenger and would never support another team, even if we became as bad as Tottenham.

However...at the close of the transfer window when our rivals had strengthened and we had seemed to have weakened with the loss of experienced players such as Gilberto and Flamini without adequate replacements (in my eyes) I was absolutely gutted.

However I showed my faith and did my best to be positive that Wenger had something magic up his sleeve. I fear it may have been false optimism.

It annoys me that our fans pay the highest ticket prices in the world and our club are unwilling to spend the market rate for players worthy of our club. I'm totally for the youth policy and i'm glad we're not run like Chelsea/Man City but I think that our fantastic youth need to be supplemented with quality, experienced players from time to time. I know we are paying off the stadium debt but we still have more money than before the move.

Can anyone realistically see Arsenal win the league this year? I doubt it and thats because our strength in depth is so far behind Chelsea's and Man Utds. Our team couldn't win the ball back against Hull because we played WITHOUT a holding midfielder. Our team concedes goals to set pieces regularly because both our CBs are short in comparison to the physical forwards in the PL eg. Didier Drogba and Kevin Davies.

I love Wenger but I feel he is somewhat sacrificing the quality of our team in order to stubbornly prove a point. I just hope that he can strength in DM and CB in the January window as I cannot see a sustained title challenge this year.

Am I the only one who is becoming disillusioned that our great club is not going to see silverware again during Wenger's reign?
----------------------------------------------------------------
Update after 4-4 against Tottenham:

I still find the fact that we haven't got any proper holding midfielders or CBs who are commanding in the air ridiculous and results like tonight's show how bad it has become.

When will we learn to close out matches?

By 'Wengers Magic Hat.'

An enlightening article and i agree with pretty much every word of it.


To be honest I'm gutted we didn't win today. I feel let down, how many more times will we be disappointed?

Right, i apologize for any errors. Blogger is crap.

Anywhoo il be back soon.

Take care.

Time to mash those S*uds

Its time for the North London Derby, its time to take revenge for that beating we took in the Carling Cup semi-final.

You all know the S*uds have had a naff start to the season, but after Redknapp's arrival there they will probably be looking at this game in a totally different light to what they would have been looking at it a week ago.

They got their first win at the weekend and anything but a loss will be like beating us 10-0 to them. Wenger is of the opinion that despite 'arry's appointment, nothing much will change for a while;

"don’t think that [the new manager] will change a lot for this game.

“Certainly in the longer term future, the fact that Harry has taken over will change things for Tottenham. But I believe, in this specific game, it is more about how well we will play. That is more important than anything else.”

I think it will be a rejuivinated Tottenham team that will be chasing the ball all over the place, thats why i hope we attack and peg them back, an early goal would be fantastic to dent their confidence that would have risen after the Bolton win.

I think we need to have Song and Fabregas in the middle for today, Modric was dangerous at the weekend and we need a player to sit back and stamp on the little buck toothed rat, Fabregas on the other hand needs to be up the businuss end of the pitch doing what he does best.

I think we will start with Theo because he can try and get in behind the defence and cause mayhem, Adebayor is a constant threat, once described by Paolo Maldini as one of the toughest players he has ever played against. A compliment indeed. I think Theo will be rested for the two games after this against Stoke and Fener.

Adebayor wants to win this game for the fans. Saying;

"We know it is going to be tough. The fans love these games. We have to give everything, we have to make them happy and we have to win. We just have to win."

We do have to win this game, we have to win the Stoke game on Saturday and the Man Utd game the week after that. This is a critical part of the season, any dropped points will be punished, but tonight is a special night because we will be up for this game, the S*uds will too but i think we are out for revenge. Big time.

Hopefully the fans will turn the stadium into a couldron of abuse for the Tottenham players, and as i said, a goal in the first 20 minutes and they might just sit back and try to limit damage. They dont have the physical players to try and kick us, i think its time for us to get a little physical today against the likes of Modric, i dont mean kick him off the park, just using physical strength to let him know we are about. They will get dangerous if he starts scampering about.

Paul Merson thinks we don't want to win this as much as we want to win against Man Utd and Chelsea. Lets just say that 5-1 beating hurt. It pissed us off, its time to put them back into their place, i think over the last couple of seasons the NL Derby has been a fantasic game because the Spuds were after 4th, and they did get close once.

Maybe there is a certain amount of jealousy towards the success we have had, but there are a few Tottenham fans that are not deluded like the ones we so often laugh at, some are decent football fans and commend us on our style of football. Miss Goon is a Spurs fan and we were watching the West Ham game and she said;

"Adebayor is such a brilliant player"

Some praise indeed.

Tottenham are a team i dislike but they are not the worst team to watch, i would prefer to watch them over Liverfluke. I respect their attacking play and they respect ours.

Anyway i think tonight will be a close run thing, it all depends on the first 20 minutes i think, if we get an early goal i see us running out 3-0 winners. If it goes past half time and its still 0-0 anything can happen.

And i mean anything. No form book for this game.

Enjoy.

Ade turns the tide but will he match his ambitions?

Before todays game Adebayor set out his ambitions as clear as day. Win everything.

Now i not only think that is ambitious, i believe it is a pretty stupid thing to say, heaping attention on himself and with that attention expectations will follow.

But those comments must mean there is confidence in him and in the team, that is a good thing until it becomes over-confidence, arrogance and down right disrespect. Its good to see players confident but it has to be just right or the defeats by Hull and the likes will become more common. And by that i do not mean any disrespect at all to Hull.

It seems that faith in the team, by the players, is running high so lets hope that turns into those big silver things they call trophies.

Now, to the game. 65 minutes or thereabouts had gone, we had caused West Ham problems and their defence had been in pretty decent nick, Theo threatened and had gone close and Bendtner had had a decent effort clawed away by a brilliant Robert Green who always seems to up his game against us.

Then Diaby and Adebayor came on for Nasri and Theo, giving Van Persie the license to hover and pop up wherever he pleased. He hit a fantastic effort on goal that produced a splendid save from Green, he kept popping up on the edge of the area, causing big problems. Cesc was then fouled and VP hit a pile driver that smashed off the post, we were getting closer and closer.

Adebayor then appeared in the box, beat a defender and aimed a low cross towards Bendtner and the absolute Muppet of a defender prodded it into his own goal. West Ham's work was undone in a second.

Later on Adebayor was freed by a Bendtner pass, he rounded the keeper and finished quite marvelously with two defenders pretty much blocking the majority of the goal, cool, composed and clinical. That's the Adebayor we will need week in and week out to reach those ambitions he set up.

Fire us to trophies Ade, i dare you.

A good, solid and patient performance was praised by the boss. He said this reflecting on a 'big win';

"if we had come out of it with a frustrating 0-0 draw, we would have felt that we had wasted an opportunity

“We knew before the game that we couldn't afford to drop points today but I must say that West Ham can feel frustrated because they defended very well and gave absolutely everything today."

We had to win today, and we did. Liverfluke got very lucky again today, they are having a purple patch and are not managing to look the best team in the league. I doubt they will win the league and i think we will finish above them, Man Utd dropped points and Chelsea are only a point ahead of us now. We have had an inconsistent start and are only 4 points off the early leaders. That is really not bad at all i have to say, we are most definitely in the title race and 3 more points on Wednesday will go a long way to getting through a tricky week.

Wenger was particularly happy with Adebayor's impact from the bench, saying it shows his good attitude;

“What is fantastic is that he is a regular starter in my team and he fights very hard. Today he came on with 25 minutes to go and fought for every ball. That is more than any speech I can make."

And on team spirit he had this to say;

"We have a great spirit in the side and we have great quality"

But the boss was not done yet and gave an opinion on the development of Theo Walcott and how he envisages his improvement over the coming years;

"There is already a lot there but of course there is a lot more to come. We have all been 19, we were not all better at 21, but he will be better. “

He is in fantastic form at the moment and is now a key player in our team, if our team really lacks something sometimes its pace. Clichy and Walcott are our speed merchants and are a threat in every single game. That's why i think it is important to hold onto Armand Traore, he is one quick kid.

Right that's about it for now, onto a new feature i am starting on the blog.

I will sometimes write articles that i cant really write in the detail i want on the blogs. It will not be a weekly thing or anything like that i just want to make some points every now and again, they might not be about Arsenal in particular, they may just be about football and the issues in general. I hope you will read them as i will enjoy writing them. I'l keep you posted.

Thanks for reading.

Edit: First article is up, your thoughts? Click here.

Set the standards, Gallas out. The AGM, and more

In today's blog i will be covering a lot;

• The AGM
• Gallas and the fag
• Beckham training at Colney
• Blaise Matuidi
• And of course a preview of Sunday's London Derby.

The AGM took place on Thursday, (good summary here) and Arsene Wenger made a hell of a lot of points. By now you are probably up to date with what he said but i will go over the important points.

Peter Hill-Wood on squad investment.
Arsene on how to get the fans going.
Video technology is on Arsene's wanted list.
Hunt for the MD

Find all the articles here

Overall it was a positive AGM, Arsene spoke out for the first time about the fans and i feel that part of the lack of confidence is because we don't support them as much as we probably should, I'm not hitting out at the fans i just feel we could be a little more vocal when things are not going our way.

I don't go to many games so who am i to talk about it after all.

Now, the Gallas picture;

It took me a hell of a long time to find that!

Wenger has spoken here and here about it.

Now a captain is someone you look up to, the face of the club in many respects. He is the role model, the father figure.

Look at the picture, is he those things?

Is he heck!!

I call for him to be stripped of the captaincy and dropped, his attitude is a disgrace and I'm ashamed to see an Arsenal player like that, this is a club of class, our players do not stumble out of nightclubs in the early hours with fags in their mouths. I used to support Gallas 100% but now i think he just has to go, he must have lost all of his respect from his fellow players. Come on Arsene, it is a very bad example to our youngsters and it has embarrassed the club. Strip him of the captaincy.

Ive got a few comments of Arsene on the incident here;

“He has a responsibility as captain of Arsenal Football Club and [smoking] cannot be accepted.”

“It is a public job with a public responsibility,” he said. “That is exactly the same for everybody."

He then said this in my previously linked article earlier. Maybe trying to deflect some criticism off him.

Ive made my views clear, i will not comment on them any more unless absolutely necessary. I just hope he wasn't drinking and driving but I'm not going to make assumptions.

Update: This article seems to say its the early hours of the '25th October' and as that day is yet to occur, i am a bit sceptical of the purpose of this picture and whether it is designed to make mischief.

Last year when the MLS season finished in America David Beckham trained with the first team to improve his fitness in hope of England suggestion. This season the tabloids have been doing their usual crap churning duties and Arsene Wenger has said he will help Beckham but he won't take him on loan;

“I wasn't in touch with him at all and I'll certainly not [sign him] as a player for the Club,” Wenger said at Friday’s press conference. “Certainly not.”

“If he wants to be fit and practice, why not? But we have Theo Walcott who plays in this position and Emmanuel Eboue who plays in this position so we are not looking for a right midfielder.”

I don't see why we don't sign him just to have his leadership in the team, the time he would with with us would be important in the season, and with our seemingly lack of leadership, he could have been there to offer his advice and experience.

We have been linked to a January move for French midfielder Blaise Matuidi. I don't think we will sign him, i think there are probably better players out there with more to offer. Saying that, i have never seen him play. We have enough young midfielders and i think it is total and utter cal.

Our dearest Eduardo will be 'back in three weeks' according to Arsene at the AGM. It is truly fantastic news and i will be digging out the best comeback situations for him from months ago now.

Preview: West Ham v Arsenal

This will be a tough game but West Ham are another team struggling for consistently and they will not think twice about sticking balls into (no, not like that), the box for their strikers to get their head onto. Therefore, i think they will score at least one.

I think that we might go for the 5 man midfield again, it would be a good decision, carrying on the momentum from the midweek win and a win is vital to get 6 points from this weeks London derby's as we do play the Sp*ds on Wednesday, a truly stupid day for a derby.

I predict a 1-3 win. I just feel we will have too much in attack but i will be glad of a win, however it comes.

Right, that took a while.

Back soon guys.

Barazite suffers knee injury, Almunia's & Wenger's thoughts

"I am very proud of the team. The average age was 23 and I am proud because we came in and tried to dictate the game in a very heated atmosphere" - AW

Wenger was pleased with last nights performance, and perhaps i was overly critical yesterday. My analysis not helped by a cock up on the very first word of the blog! so my apologies for that.

Wenger pointed out that the average age of the side was 23, and taking that and Fener's home record into consideration it was a brilliant performance, the great man said;

"It was a very open game because the two teams were going forward. Fenerbahce are an attacking side and are very dangerous. Both teams were going forward 100 per cent but the fact we scored an early goal forced Fenerbahce to come out and we caught them many times on the counter-attack.

"It was open because we scored early and it forced them to come completely at us. Overall our pace, movement and technique made the difference and allowed us to take advantage of it but it was not an easy game."

"I am very proud of the team. The average age was 23 and I am proud because we came in and tried to dictate the game in a very heated atmosphere. It is very pleasing that they seemed to play with no fear. I am pleased to see it works. We came here and had a go. We started strong, we remained quite strong and we finished strong."

Some plum then had the shit brains to ask Arsene if he would ever manage Fenerbache, he spat back

"I have a contract with Arsenal until 2011."

Some people eh?

Captain Manuel also praised the performance, comparing it to a 'training match', a good performance by him probably won us the game. It sounds stupid but in a game like that a 2 or 3 goal lead can disappear in the blink of an eye. It was a terrific performance by him and maybe the captaincy gave him some extra confidence, he is a brilliant keeper on his day and i think he is here to stay for a while yet, even though he does have his critics.

Theo and Ade had their say after the game, Adebayor saying that the next step is to conquer Europe.

Now onto Nacer Barazite. I understand he suffered some knee damage yesterday but the extent is still to be found out. Young Guns has given the injury possibilities.

He copped a nasty tackle from behind and it is about time our technically brilliant players stop having to put up with plain crap tackling. It is suppost to be 'the beautiful game', i dont see anything beautiful about a fat Blackpool bastard taking out one of our best youngsters, leaving him on a stretcher.

We wish him well.

A big shout out to the Arsenal Ladies who have gone an amazing 100 league games without defeat, thats 5 years. They were last beaten in 2003 in the league. What a record. Well done!

Right, il be back Friday with an early weekend preview (we play sunday).

t'ra

0-5-1 - A decent away result

Fener 2 Arsenal 5

Not mixed from the lads, i think Wenger got his tactics spot on with Diaby playing in front of Fabregas in a surprise role, and he impressed. He has fantastic footwork and after a few neat touches he passed to Fabregas who slid Ade though and slotted home.

Moments later Theo was slid through by Fabregas again, he rounded the keeper and finished brilliantly after a bobble off the keeper forced him to an aquard angle. The boy is magic.

Sylvestre then got in way of Guiza, and it was 2-1. Utter shite defending and Almunia went mental at his defence, it was a shambles. We cant defend like this.

Long ball over top, set Diaby free and he slotted home nicely, a great display by the young Frenchman

Song, after half time, volleyed home, a nice finish, 4-1 and we are sailing! But...

A hoof over the top eluded Alex Song and Daniel Guiza flicked the ball beyond Manuel, again, shite defending. About as good as locking Gary Glitter in a children's home.

But, Ramsey hit a shot just outside the area that pinged in off the post in the dying seconds of the game, 5-2 and a first Arsenal goal for the Welsh hotshot, a fantastic week for him. A fantastic finish by all means.

A good win but not without worry. The Arsenal defence is shocking and the big teams may well be looking at us with relish after seeing how easily we gave goals away, it has to improve.

But, Fener were unbeaten in their previous 15 games at home in Europe and the win was no mean feat and was well deserved in the end, this is a team with a European championship winning coach at the helm, a World Cup winner in defence and a classy striker up front, a team that had beaten Chelsea, Man Utd, Inter Milan to name a few of the top class teams that have gone their and came home with nothing.

A good night, a good win but as i said, not without some defensive worries.

Back tomorrow with the latest.

Take Care out there.

Football is coming home - literally.

Well Saturday is here, kick off is in just less than three hours and i am really looking forward to this one. We still have the players out that i said on the previous blog and a team re-shuffle is bound to happen, i think the team will look something like this:

==============Almunia==============

Eboue=====Toure=====Silvestre=====Clichy

Denilson======Cesc======Song======Nasri

========Van Persie===Adebayor========

Van Persie had a knock over the international period so i don't expect him to play 90 minutes, maybe Vela or Walcott will come on after 60 or so minutes as Bendtner is out. Silvestre will make his first start in the absence of Captain Birds Eye, (no more capi) and Eboue should go to Right Back in the absence of Sagna. All except Gallas are expected to be back for the Turkish trip.

Theo will be rested after his international exploits, Wenger thought he was tired after the Sunderland game two weeks ago;

“We play Tuesday again so that would be four games in 10 days,”

“We have done our observation [tests]. They are not linked especially with the England matches but we do know how the individual players respond to repetitions of games.

“Before Walcott went away with England I already felt, after the Sunderland game, he looked tired. He’s the kind of player who plays with a lot of energy, every time he goes he goes 100 per cent.

If he does come on late i wouldn't rule out a goal for him because his against a tired defence can be very interesting to watch!

Arsene Wenger has compared Theo Walcott to Messi, saying that at Theo's age, he is a better player than Messi was;

“He’s different [to Messi at that age] and I think he’s more,”

“If you have to look for a weakness in Messi you would say it is his ability to run without the ball, behind the defender.

“When he takes the ball to his feet he’s like a Ferrari. But Theo is more a guy who has the timing to run off the ball and that is something that is difficult to find.

“We had Marc Overmars who was especially good at that and I’m a great, great lover of movement off the ball.”

And i am a great, great lover of Marc Overmars. A truly outstanding footballer, i still remember being in the Wembley crowd in May 1998 when he poked the ball through the legs of Shay Given. What a player.

Aaron Ramsey is close to the first team says Arsene, and he could be in line to feature today;

“He is close because he is in the squad tomorrow,”

“He is 17 and a half years old, you have to be realistic as well. I think nowhere in the world do players so young get regular chances in the squad as much as here at Arsenal Football Club.

“On top of that, you cannot rush me to make it any quicker.”

I think he has a brilliant future ahead of him. I cant wait til he is 20-21 and a first team regular. Him and Cesc in the same team and with the creativity they have is a truly orgasmic thought.

Expected debutant Silvestre will give us help defending free kicks according to Arsene, and Almunia still wants to play for Engerrrrrrland. (ATVO only).

Well, here's hoping for a nice 3-0 today, i doubt it though, i have been wrong with every prediction so far!

til' tomorrow and up the Arse.

Bad team news as we approach the trickiest week of the season so far

I will warn you now, what you are about to read will contain a lot of injuries!

Arsene Wenger spoke this evening about the state of the squad returning and the following are out of the visit of Everton and the trek to Fener in midweek.

Definitely out: Gallas (Hamstring) Bendtner (Ankle) Sagna (Knee)
Rosicky & Eduardo (Long Term)

Possibly out: Van Persie (Hamstring) Fabregas (Broken nose) Djourou (Concussion)

Well that is a right royal pain in the arse! The plus side of all this is that despite the break Fabregas should be alright for the weekends game, Wenger saying;

"It should not stop him playing. He is here now [at the training ground] and is being assessed."

Diaby will also be back in the squad for the weekend. I have a feeling Wenger will be really careful this time in bringing him back, building his fitness up gradually, maybe a few reserve games will do him good.

There will be one thing for certain and that is that its going to be a brutal week for the squad, many players put out 90 minutes twice this week and i would not be surprised to see a little bit of squad rotation with a very hardworking performance needed in midweek.

It seems we are always hit hardest by the international breaks, that's 5 injuries this time. Its damn unlucky.

It also seems Armand Traore may move on next summer if he does not get a guarantee of regular football. I found this quote particularly interesting though. He has been playing on the left side of midfield a lot this season but this, just maybe hints at the fact he prefers to play at left back;

"Obviously I want to play every game now but Gael Clichy is a great player in my position there at the moment."

Another youngster, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has stated their desire for first team football, i can really see this becoming a regular occurrence, especially when Merida, Lansbury and Randall are wanting first team football. We have to face the fact that many of them will leave.

I'm not really that eager to go over topics other blogs have covered but Fabregas's comments the other day do have me worried a little, maybe he is starting to get a little frustrated. However, the most concerning part is this phrase;

"We find it very hard to win matches, as we do not possess enough experience."

Winning is very much a habit and we are very inconsistent at the moment, that is down to the inexperience i am sure. But the question is, do we stifle youngsters with a more experienced player?

The answer, yes or no, will have people disappointed.

Right thats your lot, thanks for reading and i will be back with more team news when its about.

Players rushing injuries?, Gilbert career at Arsenal over?

First things first, apparently there have been some stories floating around about Rosicky's health, some reports go as far as to say Thomas is in hospital in London. But, his agent has rubbished these so called reports, saying;

What appeared in the press about Tomas being hospitalised in London is complete nonsense.

Well that told them! It just goes to show, never believe everything in the press. But as you know as well, don't believe agents either. In fact, don't believe anything unless it appears on Arsenal.com!

It seems he is progressing well, his agent saying that the reason behind his latest setback was his rush to get back playing again;

"Everything is going according to the plan. Tomas' first comeback was rash, now we are treating the situation more carefully.

This coincides with comments from Robin Van Persie today, it seems to be a common problem with our players, or maybe the staff;

"After my previous injury, I made the mistake at Arsenal of kicking the ball with all my force in my first training session,"

You would have thought that he might have been a little bit careful? a little bit? Or there would have been someone to tell him, or bloody well make him take it easy!? This is not the first time something like this has happened and i am pretty sure it wont be the last, anyway, it needs sorting.

He will be back for the Everton game though;

"But I do feel very good. I trained hard the last couple of days and all the tests were positive.

Going on to say;

"I just want to be fit and play as many games as I can. The entire pre-season went well at Arsenal and in the league too.

"Picking up a hamstring injury can happen to any player at the moment."

He is a luxury player, i think he thinks he is undroppable, i do feel he needs a bench spell to

A) Save his legs and minimise injury risk

B) To raise his game.

He is a fantastic player but i feel he could be better at times.

Now all you loyal Goon's the price of the Carling Cup game with Wigan is as low as a tenner a ticket. I was really looking forward to going til' i saw the date, Tuesday 11th November. My birthday! But, sadly i have an exam the morning after, maybe not the best idea.

Bollocks!

Now Kerrea Gilbert. I remember the first time i saw this right back and i liked him. He was young and had very good potential but when he had a few loan spells that broke down because of arguments questions were raised over his temperament and attitude. Sadly it appears his latest flip might just put the end to his Arsenal career. He was arrested on the 24th September and will also be charged with being drunk and disorderly in January of this year. It is the latest in a bad few months and years for young footballers, and in my opinion its because they have too much money. Michael Chopra has just came back after gambling problems, Jermain Pennant has spent time inside, as has Joey Barton. To much money to young.

I also have a few kind words for Alisher Usmanov:

Fuck off you lumpy fuckbag.

Back soon Arsers.

Injuries, Hleb is annoying me still, Gallas on the captaincy + Free Stuffs!

Afternoon Gooners, as the International break is the most boring time in the universe like ever i have left it off a few days to give you one big, informative Goon!

As you probably know, Van Persie is broken again, a hamstring injury i am told. What has he done this time? wrapped it round his neck and hung himself on it? Really, its getting really really stupid, maybe just maybe Arsene will have had enough and ship him out to Italy or something and try to cash in, he must have cost us millions in medical bills. Gallas is also injured, but his injury has not been met with the same attitude, the 'feduppiness' and dismay that Van Persie's has recieved or the same sort of attitude that an injury to Cesc would recieve.

Gallas has, for the first time described the incident at Birmingham last season, conceding he 'flipped his lid';

I made a mistake. I must admit I flipped my lid. We should have won that game easily.

"Before Arsenal, I spent six years at Chelsea. That team was capable of getting ugly wins. If we had an opportunity to win a cup, we would never miss it.

"There I became imbued with the winning culture, which doesn't exist yet at Arsenal.

"Of course, some of my Arsenal team-mates could not have appreciated my behaviour against Birmingham.

William. Shut up. This is Arsenal, not Chelsea, we are not a similar club, we are not run by some oligarch cunt with billions in the bank. We had a winning culture in the invincibles season but that was when the whole team were at their peak, this team is not even near its peak. Its bound to be inconsistant.

He also said he was made a scapegoat;

"The controversy about my captaincy? People had to find a scapegoat as we didn't win any trophies last season.

"So, they talked and talked again about the Birmingham match. Indeed I made a mistake. I must admit I flipped my lid. We should have won that game easily

Well you should be keeping your head held high, picking your players up. Not them picking you up, you are the leader so lead them. Its your responsability as captain of this great club to help them win things, something you are not doing at the moment.

O and Gallas, there are no easy games mate. Thats why we lost to Hull.

Now, when you think back to last summer when Hleb went to Barca did you consider that it might be part of a ploy to get Cesc there? Just think... They are best mates, its Cesc's hometown and he has confessed he loves the club. Something not right about that and now Hleb has tried to get Cesc at Barca, the cunt.

He said;

"We get on very well on and off the pitch. For me he is like a brother. We call each other a lot to talk about things,"

"He tells me he misses me at Arsenal and, without wanting to detract from anyone, I would love it if he came to Barca to be a part of all this.

"I will keep boring him until he changes his mind. If in the end he listens to me, I think it would be great for Barcelona."

He is a grade A prick and it looks as though he wont have his way though;

he doesn't stop insisting that he is very happy at Arsenal and with Arsene Wenger.

Thats 100% Cesc, honest and doesnt let people influence his decisions, unlike the mug that thought Barcelona was a hamlet.

This is a few days after the Spanish press yet again twisted the qoutes of an Arsenal player, claiming Cesc will leave at the end of the season.

Roy Keane has had a dig at Arsenal this week, claiming Arsene has little to do with the youth at the club;

"But you go on about the kids coming through but a lot of them have been bought from other clubs, not through the academy at Arsenal. It's the same with Chelsea."

Roy, to be fair some have been brought in from other clubs but there are a lot that have been raised at Arsenal, and just buying in a young player doesnt mean they are instantly fantasic, it takes years of teaching and nurturing. Cesc was good when he came but he is now great. Wenger has taught him a hell of a lot and it will be the same for Merida, Barazite and Ramsey to name a few.

Also, Adebayor has again gone back on a decision to retire from his country, he does like changing his mind. How much money do you think they paid?

Sagna has also said Arsenal need to defend much better. Not that we really needed to know that son!

Now for a little tip off on how to get a free, yes FREE Grolsh pint glass!

http://www.grolsch.co.uk/signup/?campaign=GLASS

Go to that site, register, and then enter GR50004 as the promotion code and the store as Tesco.

Bang, you have a free glass coming to your house!

Oh and a tip, it doesn't do the old 'You already have used this address'. So send to however many live in your house!

Any way of getting through the credit crunch!

No need to thank me! Leave us a comment.

Anyways il talk to you again soon.

Enjoy watching Theo tonight.

Ade committed to the Gunners - Bischoff set to feature.

Adebayor has declined Togo's offer to represent his national team, and has cited decision making and travel arrangements as the reasons for not going, he said;

"I have told Togo's governing body they have to change how they organise trips if they want me to play again,"

"I am not retiring for good as I love my country - but I had to wait at an airport for 14 hours on my last trip. It is not normal and I can't let it happen again."

I have to say im not a fan of this 'new Adebayor' that has started to emerge over the past year, in his first few seasons he was fine, didn't speak out at all really. Now, he seem to want to have his opinion on all the front pages. In this case it is indeed good news for Arsenal but he needs to be kept under control. He had big problems at Monaco and apparently caused quite a bit of trouble and we don't need those kind of players.

Now, if you remember we have a player on our books called Amaury Bischoff. He is actually set to feature in a reserve game today! Apparently he will take part in the game as part of his rehabilitation. Lets hope he showcases his talent.

Almunia has spoken about Theo Walcott's 'mean streak'. I hoped he was going to lay the smackdown on that linesman's candy ass on Saturday, maybe next time eh?

Anyway the Spaniard said;

"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.

"I tried to help everybody who comes to me and Theo is very nice. Sometimes he likes to speak to more experienced players, older players like me. I just spoke with him once, I told him he had to be a bit more aggressive and not so nice on the pitch because if people can kill you they will do so."

Well i doubt Martin Laursen would bring out a sawn off shotgun to take Theo out but on todays streets i guess you have to be prepared!

I Think Theo has been great this season, he has a big future and has banished my doubts about his developments. Those England goals have done him the world of good.

Now, the international break is nigh and there is not going to be a great deal to talk about, i will however update the blog whenever i can or when a decent story has emerged.

Enjoy the nothingness.

Back soon.

Pathetic, Just Pathetic.

"We were not smart enough to make the difference" - AW

Sunderland 1 - Arsenal 1
Ive just had the dis-pleasure of watching about 50 minutes of total tripe.

I don't know what has happened really, Sunderland are a second rate team and we only just managed to draw with them, it was a brilliant header from Fabregas but this team is packed with creativity but still managed to create very little. I think it is safe to say that until our league form picks up we can kiss the title goodbye.

Loyal fans have traveled for hours on end to watch these so called players win, a minimum expectation with all due respect to Sunderland, and what thanks do they get? A whole load of shite.

I could give a damn about the 'character' that might have been shown be scoring deep in injury time, what i care about is not taking control of the game and finishing it off quick. I wont go into Keane's anti football tactics but we should be winning games like that.

There is also the major point of Van Persie having a totally legitimate goal chalked off because the ball went out of play. Well it didn't, these officials are a fucking disgrace to the game. There, shove that up your wrinkly arse Platini.

Ive said this once and i will say this again, Van Persie needs a spell on the bench because its all well and good doing well in every other game, but what happens in the game that he plays shite in? Bendtner has been quality this season and was good when he came on bar one wild shot. He deserves a few starts.

Is it any coincidence that our best performance of the season against Bolton was without him?

People will say 'if that goal counted you wouldn't be saying this', well i would. Ive thought for a while that Van Persie has been inconsistent, just read my first few blogs. He needs to be aware that Bendtner is pushing him for a start and a few splinters wont hurt him. Actually on second thoughts, he would be out for 3 months of he got one...

As you can probably tell, I'm fed up. I thought our away day blues were over, in the past, finite, caput. But no.

I have just heard Arsene's interview and he is not happy, he feels that Sunderland had a 10 man defence and Cisse and also bemoaned their constant time wasting. But I'm not going to go on about them. True champions win those sort of games, true champions, or potential champions we are not.

The chances are that i will read this later and think 'what the fuck am i on' but i really couldn't give a shit.

Not good enough Arsenal.

Interview with a cultured left foot and a Sunderland preview.

The other day i had a discussion with Jogi's Warrior of 'A Cultured Left Foot'. I asked him about the Financial status of the club, the midfield, the kids and the Porto win.

How do you see Arsenal in 3-5 years time? And in the light of the well publicised 'credit crunch' will Arsenal benefit from other teams lack of profit and financial security?

Financially, Arsenal are better placed than most to ride out the current storm. I think in the short-term it is unlikely that the Board will recommend a sale of the club to the other shareholders, especially if Usmanov is involved. He, on the other hand, will not want to sell his stake unless it is for a profit, an unlikely scenario given that he paid too much for some of his shares.

Once you get to 3 - 5 years, there will be other circumstances to bear in mind such as the directors ages and other financial circumstances - inheritance tax, etc. - come into play. I would not be surprised if after three years, there is a new owner or someone else who has a high % stake in the club, such as Kroenke.

We all know about the fantastic 6-0 demolition job our kids did over Sheffield United, Just how good do you think that win was and who will make the grade at the club?

If you look at the team, few of them will not make it. Fabianski will take over from Alumina in the next two seasons, similarly Song and Djourou in the center of defence. Vela, Bendtner, Wilshere, Merida all have the potential to do so. If I had concerns, it would be over the likes of Hoyte and Gibbs where the current players - Sagna and Clichy - are young, on top of their game with more to come. It will then depend on whether the current 'reserves' are prepared to wait for their chance.

What is your stance on the midfield, its been highlighted as our most thinly covered position, should Wenger have bought or would it be a block for the youngsters coming through such as Randall and Coquelin?

I hope I am proved wrong but I think it is an area where Arsene needs to look at signing someone. Denilson has outperformed expectations - mine at least - but the season is not even a fifth passed so it is far too early to make a judgement on him. Wenger would not buy simply for the sake of it and he must balance the immediate needs against the long-term futures of the young players but if he can get hold of a world class central midfielder now, it is of benefit to them as the youngsters get chance to develop at a natural pace rather than being thrust into the limelight too soon.

What are our title chances, and silverware chances in general? and just how many games can we afford to lose in the league?

In the league, we have as good a chance as any. The team has the experience of last season to draw upon and if they can get some consistency going, they stand a good chance of winning some silverware. Crucial to the league will be the results at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford. Avoiding defeat is key, winning damages your rival. United proved last season that you can lose half-a-dozen games if you keep the number of draws down in the other games. If you win 26, draw 6 and lose 6, that is 84 points and you will be there or thereabouts.

How far does the Porto win go towards making up for THAT defeat by Hull?

To be honest, I don't think it does but then no win ever compensates for a defeat unless it is a two-legged cup tie. The Hull game is over, finished. They played well, got their result. We all move on. It is one less game that Arsenal can lose this season but at the moment, the saving grace is that we are winning all of the rest of our matches. Come Christmas when the top four have all played each other at least once, we'll have a good idea of the context of the Hull game. If they beat anyone else in the top four, people will feel a whole lot better.

I have to say he talks an awful lot of sense and i totally agree with the last statement. Arsenal needed to beat Porto for the fans and their own confidence. We cant get those 3 points back and never will. We just have to be even better in the future.

Thanks for your time Jogi.

Anyways, i gave some brief team news yesterday and nothing much else has appeared so i take it that its just the regulars out injured. I also expect Song to play in midfield tomorrow, we will need some extra muscle to deal with what is bound to be a physical approach from Keane's men. If RVP didn't make as bigger impression as he did in the week i would have expected Bendtner to get a game but i don't see how he could be dropped now.

I expect an Arsenal win and i have not got one result right as yet so I'm going for a 3-1 win. hopefully.

Arsene Wenger has supported Joe Kinnear in his rage against the scummy press saying this.

Wenger has also talked about the abuse he receives from opposition fans.

Id like to take this opportunity to say this.

You know the 'Adebayoooooor his dad washes........ and his mum's a .............' song?

Well i think that song is racist, saying someones African father washes Elephants for christs sake!

Now, once an Englishman gets this kind of abuse there is outcry! Why didn't everyone kick up a stink about the Adebayor chants? Arsenal fans were going mad but nobody listened, now its an English person everyone is listening. Double Fucking Standards. Totally out of order. I'm against any kind of abuse from fans that crosses the line. The Ade chant and the Sol abuse isn't crossing the line, its about 10 miles over the damn line.

Whats your stance on this? Drop me a line!

Right, il be back late tomorrow, sadly I'm missing the game again but il blog when Ive seen the highlights.

Til then Arses, il leave you with this.

A little bit of team news

There is not a great deal to talk about today. There is however some good news for Eduardo, who is expected back before Tomas Rosicky, Wenger has given us the latest;

"Eduardo is doing very well but is not close to play, Eduardo will be OK before Christmas, of course"

Its fantastic news, when he steps out onto the turf of the Emirates he will get such a good reception, he has handled the challenge that injured him with great grace and humility. He was probably wanting to tear Taylor's eyes out but acted with decorum and class. I for one will be on my feet when he makes his comeback, be it in front of my TV, radio, computer whatever. I will applaud the great man.

The latest on Rosicky was a lot less encouraging, sadly.

but Rosicky is a little bit behind him. [Eduardo]

"I monitor Rosicky's progress very closely but at the moment it is very difficult to put a date on his comeback. We are not pessimistic about the future of his career but we still need more patience. If he comes back before Christmas we have done very well but I think we can achieve that, that in December he can play again."

Well if Rosicky is due(ish) back in December maybe there is a possibility that Dudu will be back next month or there abouts?

Man that sounds good!

Sideshow Song is also expected to be back for the away trip to Sunderland at the weekend. We will need him.

Wenger has also issued some classic comments after Sol Campbell's abuse from the Yids the other night; the discusting sods racially and homosexually abused him.

AW said;

"Sometimes stupidity is contagious as well and sometimes in the crowd there is a competition to see who can be more stupid. That is why you should not let these people be together."

Very true, nobody should have to put up with that abuse. Ever.

I hope they catch the cuntsters.

Til tomorrow peepz.

Post match round up

“I think it was perhaps the most complete performance of the season.” - AW

After the win yesterday Arsene Wenger has praised the teams attitude. I feel it was a much better overall performance, despite the opposition being total and utter rubbish, but you can only beat the team in front of you and thats what they did in style.

Wenger said;

“We were focused. I thought at times we were a little bit too tense, especially at the start of the game. But we were focused and at that level, whether it is the Premier League or the Champions League that is vital. I believe that on Saturday we were caught by a lack of focus.

“I think the team is maturing and there is big potential in the side. We want to be intelligent and in the end you measure that on how well we do together.”

The start was nervy but that wasn't surprising, i feel the crowd didn't help, there were massive groans everytime a player made a mistake and that cant be nice at all. Saturday is done, this was a different game and we needed to get behind the team, im not having a dig at fans i just feel we dont help ourselves sometimes. Liverpool and Fenerbache fans make their staduims a couldron, so should we.

Theo and Cesc were picked out for special praise after a fantastic performance from them. The boss said;

[cesc]“I think he was outstanding tonight. He was good defensively and offensively and overall it was the ‘complete performance’.”

[theo]"Theo was dangerous again and he makes big progress and a big improvement. It was the response I wanted. It is half of the response of the week, the other half comes on Saturday"

The boss also confirmed that Theo is not injured. Great news.

Manuel Almunia has also praised the performance and expects it to be repeated at the weekend, the 'keeper is an important part of our team i feel, he is not experienced on the pitch but he has sat in many dressing rooms many times and offers the experience of knowledge and also experience of life to the younger players, some of whom have not yet seen 20 years of age.

He has though admitted attitude was our downfall against Hull;

"I think Hull deserved the three points because our attitude wasn't very good during the game."

Onto Van Persie now; he seems to have really pissed Sneijder off when he was at the Euro's, apprently their conflict stems from Van Persie taking a free kick 'against his team-mates wishes' Just seems the latest bust up in a long line of bust ups in the Dutch camp.

He has also been spoken about by Adebayor, who believes their partnership can fire us to glory this season;

"We are working hard for the team - he has got the same ambition as me,"

"We are here to help this team, we are here to help win something so I'm very pleased with the way he played against Porto.

"I gave him a pass and he gave me a pass. That shows there is a good relationship between the two of us.

"We are very happy and hopefully we can help this team win something this season."

Why not? on their day they are two of the worlds best strikers so they really should be firing us to glory! I have faith in them.

Well thats about it today. Join me tomorrow for an interview with Yogi's Warrior from 'A Cultured Left Foot'. A link can be found on the links section to his blog.

Thats it from me, take care gooners.