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.

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.

Arsenal 4 Porto 0

Well that was all rather nice wasn't it? A great response from the boys with Van Persie and Adebayor among the goals again, but, it should have been much, much more.

It started off nervy, Porto had some great opportunities that again exposed our very weak defence, Clichy had to clear off the line after Gallas lost his man, again. However, Theo Walcott terrorised the back line of Porto all night constantly running at them, looking for the killer pass and just plain pissing off his full back! I have to mention a stunning save from Manuel Almunia, Gonzalez let off a thunderbolt and he dived full stretch to his left to deny the Porto forward. A magnificent piece of goalkeeping.

The first goal was a very nice poke home for Van Persie after Adebayor slid the ball across the goal, he managed to get the ball out of his feel to slide it in at the near post. 1-0 and the fans wanted more. Much more.

The second was from Adebayor as he headed a fantastic cross into the ground that bounced up and out of the reach of the disparing keeper, Ade and Van are back alright.

Van Persie's second and Arsenal's third was a result of some simply horriffing defending, VP skipped round 2 players, was allowed to stroll past Porto's most experienced defender and prod nicley home. We were crusing and with 43 minutes to go a cricket score was possible.

This was when we had a whole host of chances, Walcott somehow missed an open goal, same goes for Nasri and Adebayor should have made it seven. You have to wonder what this team can be if they are more clinical. Walcott had the defenders shitting their panties and Nasri was a threat from range. Fabregas also pulled a save out the keeper with a shot from the edge of the area. He was truly immense. He cant be 21 can he?

Enter Vela, his first touch was to skip around 3 players, lay it off to Nikki B who just couldnt work the space to shoot. The commontater was shouting 'Watch this boy go' and the nations eyes were fixed on him. what a talent. Bendtner has looked brilliant too.

Adebayor made it 4 after Bendtner was felled in the box, sent the keeper the wrong way, cue dancing and badge kissing and the like. I want to see that more often Ade.

There was even time for cult hero Eboooouueee to do some step overs Ronaldinho would have been proud of, sadly the second time he tried it he trod on the ball. I love Eboue, he has his haters but he never fails to either enrage or entertain!

Overall, a very positive performance from the boys, the same defensive worries are still there but it looks like Wenger is going with the policy; you score more than you concede, you win. I hope it works! Saturday is not forgotten but Arsenal are well and truly mixing the cement i mentioned earlier and thank fook for that.

Take care out there.

Night.

A change of mentality

Well, that was all rather shite wasn't it! I'm sorry i have not been here for a few days, i will try and get someone to blog when im not available!

First things first, I think we were piss poor, Ive only seen the highlights and it was enough to make me sick, the pints of beer didn't help either but you can see why Arsene Wenger feels sick, i think that players that do not give 100% should be dropped from the squad. And if they do it again just get them the hell out of the team. I don't care if its Gallas, Adebayor, Van Persie or even Cesc, it just cannot be tolerated. They get paid far to much to piss around on a pitch and give 50%, at the end of the day the fans pay their bloody wages so they best sort themselves out or fuck off to Man City. Its Monday evening and im still fuming.

Now, Gallas. He feels that complacency wasn't an issue? It was clear to see the team thought they could smash a few in in the first 20 minutes, run around, look interested and be back home in time for tea and paella. It doesn't work like that in the Premier League. Gallas, sort your damn attitude out and lead the team. But, sort out your bloody defending, its shocking! that's about the third time he has made a mistake that has lead to a goal this season, it cant carry on. We are behind as it is and if we play like that against a Chelsea or Man Utd, we will get torn a new arsehole. The captaincy needs reconsidering because Gallas' attitude is poor, his defending is poorer and his captaincy is just plain crap. If Benitez managed this club he would have been played up front now and who knows, he might be more clinical than Adebayor, its not hard.

But the focus now switches to our game at home tomorrow night and god help up if we screw this one up. The manager has said there will be changes but denies they will be punishments to players. I feel Vela and Bendtner deserve to start up front, Vela has been fantastic since his return from Spain and Bendtner has been scoring also, they have showed commitment, something lacking on Saturday evening. Van Persie is a great player technically but is inconsistent, he has to improve and if he doesn't I'm afraid he may be on his bike. I feel we will go in with a 4-4-2 but whoever makes up the team i don't know, Song is out, Nasri back in and i feel the team will probably be pretty much the same. Maybe Bendtner being started in place of Ade would give him a kick up the arse?

I would love to see Djourou start instead of Gallas but i don't think it will happen, that is the one place that Wenger really annoys me. The partnership of him and Kolo does not work and it will hardly fill the team with confidence!

For once Arsenal will go into the Porto game as probably the most experienced side, no inexperience excuses now please, its time for this team to win something and they had better do after Saturday, and the performance at Fulham.

I am at a loathe to say this but this year, and by year i mean 2008, we have now turned in three totally half cut performances, the defeat at Old Trafford in the FA cup, the Fulham game and now the Hull game, its a habit that is starting to become more and more common and Wenger has to stop it, at the end of the day the buck stops with the players but Arsene has a big influence on them and therefore he has to take some of the blame too as he concedes.

Tomorrow the boys need to step up to the plate, a defeat today could well prove terminal in our Champions League campaign and after we have already flushed half out title hopes down the shitter we just have to win, and win well too. I don't expect a cricket score but i sure as hell don't want a 1-0.

I made the mistake of expecting a cricket score against Hull and i well and truly damaged my credibility as a blogger that talks sense. That was a mistake that wont happen again.

Ive cut the quotes out today as i wanted to add more of my view, the weekend was a step backwards, tomorrow has to be a step forward and its got to be twice as big.

Come on Arsenal.

Please leave your views on the game, your comments are needed to keep this alive!
I will come back to them in the following blogs!


Til' Tomorrow.

Blackburn put to the slaughter by rampant Gunners.

Blackburn 0 Arsenal 4
(Van Persie, Adebayor X3)
Goals here

Brief Summary
A fantastic Arsenal performance put them 2nd in the table after Van Persie and Adebayor put them to the sword. Theo Walcott showed why everyone is raving about him with a fantastic assist for VP to slot home in clinical fashion, Adebayor doubled the lead after a pinpoint Denilson cross was converted home. Later on in the 2nd half Eboue was felled in the box and later stretchered off, Adebayor stepped up and stuck it in the corner past Paul Blobinson. Late on Wilshere and Ramsey entered the fray and it was the latter that slotted a brilliant through ball to Adebayor who rounded fatty and completed the treble to send a message to their title rivals and send the fans into raptures.

Man of the Match: Denilson

The signs are good for Arsenal, the freeflowing football is back, Adebayor and Van Persie are firing, Theo Walcott is more dangerous than ever and confidence is flowing.

Some of todays moves oozed class enough to make you dampen your pantio's slightly and 4-0 was not a flattering score line. If i had to look on the negative side it would be defensive uncertainty, Santa Cruz was getting far too much space and Toure and Gallas were not spectators , they were busy.

Todays performance was certaily a message to our rivals and pundits, we are certainly underdogs this year but thats when this team is dangerous, we were underdogs against Milan and look what we did to them, this team is class and will continue to improve as the players get older.

We were without Nasri today and it shows how good Eboue was that we didnt miss him, i thought he had a great game and caused lots of problems, he certainly has improved and can no longer be used as a scapegoat by disgruntled fans.

Arsene Wenger said after the game;

"I think we did well and it was a good defensive performance. Just because we scored four goals, you may think it was all Arsenal, but Blackburn played well.

"They were dangerous as well going forward and we had to defend very well, especially on crosses in the first half.

"The second goal before half-time certainly was a big blow for them and, after that, three and four came logically."

"I believe that fluency is one of our strengths and to be clinical was very important today," he continued.

"We have found slowly our rhythm and our pace. We scored four against Twente, three against Newcastle and four today and we slowly get confident and physically ready to play."

He makes a good point about Blackburn, they did play well in the 2nd half and that goal just before half time was a sucker punch, it really put them down and after that it was all Arsenal really.

He also said that he considered resting Theo after his England heroics during the week;

"Yes, I rotate the players and I did rest completely Nicklas Bendtner, who didn't play at all.

"He had a little ankle problem and played two games for Denmark. We gave some time to Jack Wilshere, 16, and Aaron Ramsey, 17. It's good we have a young squad, but very talented."

It was good to see Ramsey who looked fantastic in his little cameo and Jack who didn't really see the ball in his 6-7 minutes.

Overall its been a good day for Arsenal Football Club, and a little mention to the match changing substitution of Nacer Barazite who helped Derby end their losing run. Ive heard he was fantastic.

Anyway back tomorrow, spread the word guys.

Til' Then!