Tag Archives: soccer

Fanuary – another last one…..

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Morning all.

There’s not really a lot going on at the moment, as we count down to Sunday’s crucial game against Man City. Le Boss might poke his head around the door at the press centre in London Colney, but that’s probably it. He knows he’ll be asked about player availability, transfers and Theo, so nothing new at all I suspect.

With that in mind, I thought I’d re-post a blog on Fanuary that good olde Oaf12 did last week, but unfortunately we were poor in our communication and I posted something shortly thereafter. So let me hand him the floor and tell us who he wants to see with the remaining window days ticking down. Take it away Steve…

Hey party people oaf12 here!

So with all the excitement around the Fanuary series it seems mine was missed – queue the world’s smallest violin :(

The sad truth is that it was actually rejected the the evil bendtnersnettercousin who decided that it didn’t contain enough detail, which was fine. However, he also decided not to bother telling me…….pure evil I tell you!!

Anyway enough of him and back to me, you and the second final Fanuary :)

Enjoy.

Do you honestly think we are going to sign a number of players in January despite similar promises in previous seasons?

Really unsure about this one…..I’m usually very positive but I find it hard to see us signing a quantity of players after (by our standards) such a busy summer.

I know to us fans there are a few areas that obviously need strengthening / back up but what is so gloriously obvious to us isn’t always picked up by the boss – like the fact that Gervinho really isn’t a striker!

As usual we aren’t any the wiser with Wenger saying things like “Can I say we will be active? Yes. Can I say this will be concrete? No.” or statements about his main priority being getting Theo to sign before looking elsewhere – for all we know this night not happen until the end of the month, if at all.

I will remain hopeful though; let’s hope it pays off…..

Do you feel Wenger needs to buy a ‘big’ player in January in order to make a statement to the fans or just make the right acquisitions?

I don’t think it would hurt, yet I don’t think it is a necessity. I would have included Cazorla & Podolski as big players and I think that’s the level I would like to see us look at more – i.e. not Messi / Ronaldo level but still top class players. I would have definitely included Huntelaar within this level but he has signed a new deal at Schalke now :(

I know it’s not likely but a signing like Lewandowski or Cavani would be one hell of a statement and would be a great boost to the team. It would be a nice middle finger to players such as RvP and Nasri too.

The only negative would be that if they performed we would then need to worry about how long we keep them for, not a nice thought but unfortunately a reality at the moment!

Which position needs the most strengthening and which player would you sign to improve this area of the team?

I would say up top and cover out wide. Regardless of results and how we have been playing the stats are positive towards the number of goals we concede; we are just missing that clinical player up top to finish the job for us. Could this be Theo? Maybe – but should we put our eggs in a basket that may potentially be gone before too long, I’m not sure.

I’m also puzzled as to why Giroud seems to be playing fewer games since he looked like he had hit a bit of form….

I would have LOVED to see Huntelaar come in for two reasons 1) He is pretty damn clinical and is used to being the focal point up top 2) He doesn’t seen to like van Loser (as my son calls him).

With him out of the picture one of the two I mention above would be nice. I can’t see this happening though so let’s hope we pull another gem from somewhere…..hmmmm. We should have snapped up Ba.

Squad wise we need a keeper (I don’t even want to think about an injury to Szczesny right now some decent back up / competition like Butland, or us making it worse by him playing with one like last season), a left back (would love to see Baines come in but Shaw at Southampton has also impressed but the my hinder Meade) due to Gibbs’ fitness record and maybe some steel in midfield. I don’t have anyone in mind for this so can only point you in the direction of Ben’s post as he clearly has a preferred choice here.

I’d like to see Eisfeld get some game time too though.

Are we still in a situation of where we need to sell before we can buy?

I don’t think so but that’s probably not the view from the club. It would be good to get some of the players off the wage bull to make room for some of the above – unfortunately I would probably include Diaby is this.

It looks likely that Chamakh, Squilacci and Djourou may be out which is good for both them and their careers but also for our wage bill.

With Diaby my main concern is his injury record. Every time he comes back seems to coincide with a transfer window and he is hailed as ‘a new signing’ he then plays one good/great game out of 5 but is worshiped for this before getting injured for a few months just as the transfer window shuts.

We cannot rely on this and must sign reliable players and see his (and possible Rosicky) fitness as a bonus as and when it happens.

Saying that, knowing our luck, should these players leave they will probably never have an injury again and go on to play consistently for another team.

Do we need to sign replacements for potential summer outgoings in this transfer window?

Yes, without a doubt! Theo has actually been a bright light so for this season. We’ll need to replace him should he go and the sooner that is done the better. I’m sure that if he stays one extra man in the squad won’t derail the whole team.

Squad players (Chamakh and co) always need replacing but hopefully with more quality so that we can actually use them. Bringing Gervinho on or rotating him as a starter is really hindering us at the moment. His form at Lille and some of his early form shows he is obviously capable but at the moment he can’t even kick a ball cleanly – kind of important for a footballer – and constantly just runs into defenders. A decent winger to replace him and having the Ox (to remove some pressure) as back up would make a real difference.

Sagna is still one of the best right backs about (despite recent strange form) so if he heads off young Jenks will need some help and ideally another potential mentor. The French right back Debuchy impressed at the Euros and if he was willing to go to Newcastle…..

Would you like to add anything?

It’s been such a frustrating season so far as I had such high hopes for this team as on paper we look very good.

I don’t think major surgery is required (I seem to find myself saying that every year) but wouldn’t say it will be a simple key-hole job either.

We need to stop putting blind faith in players such as Diaby and also need to be harsher when assessing ability / form. Gervinho gets 90 mins when he is less effective up front than Mertersaker would be – this needs to stop.

I know I have focussed on our attack more than the defence but for me a strong attack really does help the defence. They are out under less pressure and there is always a focal point, conceding a goal isn’t as soul destroying and actually if you look at our (1st choice) defenders individually there are plenty worse players out there but not piles of better ones.

We also need to stop paying the mid-tier of players so much money so that clubs aren’t put off by their wages. We seem to have this the wrong way round – our worst players can’t find new clubs as their wages are too high, yet our best players could go to Liverpool and get more money.

Seems odd to me…..

Thanks all, until next time.

oaf out

Southampton: fire not fizzle required

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Morning fellow fans of the fabulous North London red and white football team known to us all as ‘The Arsenal’. It’s a New Year. A fresh start. A time for resolutions, plans for new beginnings and an opportunity to write history.

At the end of 2011 I was glad to see the back of it from a footballing perspective. With 2012 now consigned to the ‘what was once, has now past’ part of footballing memories I have stored away like my old Arsenal programames in my shed, I am now ready to start afresh with a New Year and a renewed vigour of hope. As you can tell from my vivacious opening to this blog, I’m excited about what this year could achieve for Arsenal. How long will that excitement last? I’ll tell you come 8pm tonight.

Yes folks, the start of a New Year heralds an almost instant opportunity for the current squad to lay down a marker for how 2013 will pan out. Should we see three points and a dominant display against a dogged Southampton, then the optimism I have shall continue into this weekend’s FA Cup tie to Swansea. Should we fizzle out like an overpriced November firework bought from a back alley merchant on the A10, then I upset the fire of excitement might just be extinguished quicker than we all hope.

The team news is pretty much as we expected. Barring the usual afflictions to the usual suspects (Diaby must surely now be looking more like Kevin Spacey before we find out he’s Keyser Söze than ever before with his dodgy knees and ankles), we’ve got an almost full complement to choose from at St Mary’s today. It is enough to send you giddy with excitement I tells ya. So we can expect to see Szczesny (Thanks to JackGoonerski for keeping me on my toes!) start with a back four of Sagna, Gibbs, Vermaelen and I suspect a return for Big Per at the heart of the defence. The three musketeers of Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshire will continue in the heart of the team, but the decisions up top will be more challenging. In fact, you’d probably say it would be easier for Le Boss to start with those that haven’t got a hope in hell of making the squad and work back from there. Arshavin: you’re cut. Gervhino: you’re out. Chamakh: I saw some good hustle with that Shisha during the week, which is why it was so hard to cut you.

I think Arsene will plump for the same three that started the game against Newcastle on Saturday. How could you not in all fairness? All three were on the score sheet and the contract rebel himself grabbed another hat trick. It is harsh on Giroud, who could have also have had a hat trick had that pesky crossbar not conspired against him, but you can’t drop a player that has just bagged three goals. In addition, I suspect that Theo and The Ox may just have that little extra juice in their tank by way of an incentive against their old club. I still expect Giroud to have some role to play, but I think it may be just to that of a second half cameo.

Southampton are a team that have no trouble scoring goals – an unusual positive for a newly promoted side to the Premier League – but plenty of problems keeping them out of their own onion sack. Nigel Adkins doesn’t really seem to be confident in any of his keepers and, having spoken to a couple of Saints fans over the last few weeks, it is their defence that they really worry about. Having conceded three to Stoke a few days ago, you cannot say that our attackers will be too concerned about how they might create chances, but when you’ve got players like Lambert who can be a handful, their attackers will be thinking they will get a few chances against an Arsenal team that conceded three against a tired-looking Newcastle. Puncheon has also been a potent player on the right-wing and I suspect that Ba and Marveux’s goals against us will give him hope that he could do a bit of ghosting in at the far post if Gibbs is found wanting again. There could be a positive in the absence of their captain Adam Lallana through injury, who I rate really highly; he is a technically good player and a creative spark that they miss at times. Ramirez came with the reputation (and probably the wage packet to boot), but it’s the young Englishman who I’ve been more impressed with.

We need to be quick off the blocks today. There needs to be the urgency we saw against Reading and the clinical finishing of Newcastle. Southampton will give us chances to break them down – of that I am sure – but there needs to be players that take those chances. It may have only have been a few days since our last game, but Southampton have the same issues as us, probably more so given that they also played on Boxing Day, so excuses of fatigue will not be taken kindly too should the players not show they are up for this fight. We can’t afford to be lacklustre in the first half and spray the ball across our back four for 40 of the first 45 minutes. We need to be laying down a marker. Especially when you look at some of our upcoming fixtures. January is going to be a tough month, so we need to make sure that there are no more slip ups. We’ve already had too many draws and too many defeats. I very much doubt Reading (playing the Spuds), Fulham (against West Brom) and Newcastle (against Everton) will do us any favours, so we need to make sure we’re keeping track of those around us by winning games – even winning ugly will do at this time of the year.

Mercifully, the TV gods have allowed us gooners to have a late kick off, which means that many of us will be able to shake off any New Year’s Eve partying by the time kick off arrives. Sing up for The Arsenal gooners, and here’s to a very Happy Neew Year.

A Suburban Gooner Goes Abroad – Barcelona Vs Granada

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Hola, buenos días !!

Perdidas mí?

I hope everyone is well !! – Lets get going….

I would like to class my self as a Barcelona ‘Follower’, obviously using that term loosely. An arm-chair fan if you like. I have been watching their games since I can remember. Something about them I can’t describe got me hooked as a child…A drug? that’s the wrong word I want to use, more of a footballing aphrodisiac. Only in recent years has our love for this great team been dented…CescGate. *SMH*.

Ive recently taken sone time abroad and my latest excursion from these shores was my third trip to the great city. Taking in the Stadium tour on both previous occasions. PAH! im beyond that now….I wanted more! I want the Magic and pronto…

7.30PM – Arrived at Les Corts Metro Station, after advice from an English speaking man in the near bar we just had 5 pints in. (If you didn’t know, Camp De Les Corts was Barcelona’s home until 1957 before eventually moving to the Camp Nou) I had that same buzz…as if I was going to the Emirates…It almost felt like I was cheating…

We didn’t know where we were going, so old faithful came to the forefront, you guessed it – we followed the crowd. ‘The Crowd’ had a different vibe to it. Obviously I couldn’t understand what they where saying ;) My spanish peaked in my last year of school. I heard the word ‘Messi’ over 100 times in the short walk from the station. As we got closer, hundreds of kids running around kicking a ball around…The majority had better technique than the England midfield.

My first thought after seeing the stadium was – Colosseum. Traffic whizzing around the gigantic monster, cheering, flag waving. All added up to make an absolutely amazing atmosphere.

I can’t tell you the feeling I had at the first sighting of the pitch. Walking up the small, yet pointless staircase. Peering over the edge into the ‘light’. The mecca of football. It felt…Like home *Slaps my self*..Pull your self together boy!

To tell you the truth I missed the warm upsI was so engulfed with the noise, the colours. A. Kid. At. Christmas.

Kick Off – I don’t think I have ever seen the ball move so fast…COMPLETELY different live. The ball moved from full back to full back within seconds. *When you where kids I don’t know if you remember… but a game we played – 10 passes before you could score a goal… well they did 10 within seconds* They are technically perfect.

The first player to catch my attention out of the cluster of stars was Valdez. VALDEZ I hear you say?? He is better than some of our players with the ball at his feet. At one point he got swarmed and he just effortlessly rolled the ball on to his left foot and laid the ball of to Pique. Easy. PAH.

The first goal was absolutely marvellous..Cuenca glides, that’s all im going to say on that boy. I wasn’t a massive fan..BUT that boy has something special..He floats. Cuenca cuts the ball back to who else??….’MESSI MESSI MESSI’..and he heads the ball down to Xavi who smashes home.

The second..Cuenca again…beats his man (for fun). Whips the ball across and the little magician is waiting to pounce at the back post and absolutely smashes the ball in. The noise the post made was immense. A sublime goal to equal the record.

Fair play to Granada, they did fight back. But it was meant to be Barcelona’s night…. And im not here to talk about them.

‘The Chip’ – I sat for hours after the game trying understand how he did it. To execute ‘that’ within milliseconds… is beyond genius. He plucked it out of the air and with a swing of his wand, it just floated it WITH pace over the goalie into the empty net…That doesn’t even make sense. neither does trying to explain a goal of that quality. The angle I was sat at was perfect viewing. Football-wise the best goal I have ever seen. I haven’t even mentioned Alex Song’s…I mean Dani Alves’s pass. The whole thing was outstanding. A perfect goal. ENHORABONA LEO ! ENHORABONA…

The Forth – Iniesta spins on a sixpence and with an amazing defence spilting pass..sets messi free, who then races to the by-line and smashes the ball at the keeper as hard as he can from an extremely tight angle. The ball falls to Tello who places the into the bottom right of the goal. My mate Tello is an unliveable talent. The first thing that was so eye catching was, how broad he is. He looks like an Athlete. Ronaldo esque. As I have said in previous posts about him. So confident on the ball, beyond confident. He is a natural with an Athletes body. A magical combination. The boy WILL be a star. Mark my words.

The Fantastic Fifth – Dani Alves’ passing range is breath taking. He literally owns the right-hand side of the pitch. Easily one of the best players in the world. Pep has taken him to an unbelievable level. The through ball to Messi goes past four players, yes FOUR players. Messi glides past the keeper and with three defenders rushing back towards goal…He places the ball into the top of the net.

That rounded off my night, let alone theres.

What an Experience, its defiantly going to become a regular part of my life…

Cheers for reading

Be Happy

Ben

(Check out Photos and Highlights below)

Barcelona vs Granada

Does Arsene actually know?

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Morning all,

So with the adrenaline-fuelled last-gasp nature of our victory against Newcastle finally wearing off, we find ourselves in a happy place looking up at the teams above us rather than down at some of the teams that could catch us. I know that there is a long way to go, and that we should be careful when dusting off our abacuses to tott up the poultry, but it feels good to dream of a possible return of St Totteringham’s Day this year after it looked like the celebrations would be held on ice for so long.

Let’s get this straight though; Spurs have an easier run towards the end of the season than we do. Yes, they play Chelski away, but the remainder of their games are quite winnable. In contrast, we still have challenging games at home to Chelski and Man City, and away to Everton and Stoke, to name but a few. But the important thing right now is that we’ve reduced what appeared to be an insumountable points gap difference between the olde enemy to just one measly point. And my statement above that is so true about Arsenal i.e. better to be looking up than down, also rings true for the Spuds, who would have preferred to be in a more comfortable position given their season pre-March this year.

As for us, the victory on Monday has rightly been hailed as a great morale booster and testimony to the cahonies that this Arsenal team has found from somewhere. Dare you even say it, but this ‘mental strength’ that Le Boss has been so insistent about over the last two years has suddenly manifested itself in the form of last-gasp wins. Quite where it has manifested from I am not sure. Perhaps Abou Diaby has been sitting on it since August. He spends so much time in the treatment room that he forgot he had a whole batch of ‘mental strength’ for the team sitting in his Evisu jeans all along. And now the perma-crocked Frenchmen is dishing it out like John Terry’s libido.

So after ruefully mocking every time Arsene has unfurled his banner of ‘mental strength’ about this current Arsenal team, it appears we are starting to see a few cuttings of what Arsene has seen over the last couple of seasons. We’re finally getting some evidence that Le Boss’s rose tinted specks might just only be a shad of off white tint. If we can continue this good run for the rest of the season, who knows what might happen in the race for third? Maybe Arsene…

All jokes aside, it does make you hope (as much as it does wonder), that after the trials and tribulations of most of this season, the boss was actually right all along. Perhaps this team does have ‘mental strength’ after all. No more so has this determination and relentless drive been more evident than the excellent form of Tomas Rosicky of late. A supposed squad player who looked like he would sink away into the haze of overseas football, 2012 has seen a rejuvenation of the man. He has come to form the beacon of example for this recent run of form, winning tackles defensively, driving the team forward offensively and even chipping in with the odd goal in the last few games as well. Many of us doubted his impact, but I think all Arsenal fans are happy to be proved wrong. Wenger believed in him. So much so that he’s just signed a new deal. Some people may see this good run of form as very coincidental given the timing of the contract extension, but surely we all know by now that contractual negotiations are a long process? This will have been on the table for some months, with various wranglings, discussions and concessions on both sides. So perhaps it is a testament to the club that this extension has coincided with Tommy’s return to form. Perhaps, just perhaps, Arsene might know after all?

I remember being at Uni and being chastised by mates supporting other teams after Wenger famously said before the 2002/03 season that he believed that Arsenal could potentially go unbeaten for the whole season. The media decided to archive that quote and reel it out after every defeat (which to be fair, there wasn’t many) that year to rub salt into the wounds. So when the Invincibles season actually happened, one season after that quote, before the start of the year Arsene admitted he would not make the same mistake and give the media hacks another sound bite announcing our invulnerability. 38 games and 0 defeats later, he must have sat in his office after the red and white tape had been cleared away and smiled. ‘Stick that in yer pipe and smoke it’ would have been my preferred commentary, but AW never mentioned it after the invincible year. Perhaps Arsene did know after all?

So now we come into something of a lull. Out of the FA Cup, we have a weekend off from football. Not that we want it, but who knows how beneficial it might prove to be? Everton played last night in a hard-fought derby, and play again at the weekend followed by us in midweek. Who knows? We might see some tired legs from the blue scousers? Maybe Arsene knows?

I’ve been critical of the boss this season. I’ve admitted that I’m not sure if he can spearhead the team to where we want them to go. And I’ve lambasted some of the late, or non-existent transfer dealings of the last few windows. I’ve questioned about whether his age coupled with his stubborn desire to see his ‘project’ through would be the ending of our time at the top tables of world football. But do you know what? Maybe my cynicism and doubt was unfounded? Maybe he just knows? Ultimately it is the league position at the end of the year that will determine whether he has managed to salvage what has been a pretty shocking season in the most part. I’ve always said that i’d give him until the end of the season before I decided whether or not I felt he actually knows what he’s doing or whether it’s time to move on. Watch this space and we shall see where we are come May.

Transfer mug: redundant blogging

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Do you know what? I should just stop making judgements on football transfers. It’s not very productive and when things happen not as you expect it invariably comes back to bite you in the arse.

Yesterday I decided to give my thoughts on the Podolski situation, talking about the fact that only one media outlet had made the assertion that the Cologne player would join us in the summer, but by the end of my working day my rhetoric was about as accurate as a piece of Piers Morgan inspired Arsenal article. I said only one outlet was reporting it – then every outlet did. I said I didn’t believe we would pay £100k per week, then a friend reminded me of the ways around how Arsenal could pay that sort of money. I also said that we were halfway between one transfer window and the next, and the same friend informed me this happens quite a lot in German football. By 11am I’d written a dated piece that was already yesterday’s chip paper! Thanks a lot Dan ;-)

All jokes aside, if as expected the deal goes through, it looks like a good piece of business and will give us the additional firepower we need to try and get an assault going on the title. However, there remains a big, prolific, Dutch, ‘scoring when he wants’ ‘if’ in what I say. Robin van Persie.

Mancini waded in to the RvP contract situation in the press by statin that Man City are always interested in great players and would certainly consider RvP should his contract issue not be resolved. On one hand, he is not really saying anything new. Given the goals the Dutchman has this season of course he is one of the bet in Europe. But some Arsenal fans have not taken kindly to his public declaration. Particularly when you consider that it was similar declarations and behind closed doors conversations with the Nasri camp that led to the Frenchman’s eventual departure for a ‘double your wages’ offer. So by starting to make the mind of ‘put the feelers out’ comments that Mancini made yesterday is clearly a way of saying (without actually saying) ‘if you want an offer you can’t refuse, we’ll give you one’ to RvP.

Arsene was apparently unhappy with the comments, if you believe the Evening Standard, and probably quite rightly so if it makes the contract negotiations all the harder. But to me I think Robin’s signature will have little to do with the kid in the playground with the most expensive trainers and clobber, and more to do with the ambition that the club show. Which is why the Podolski deal, if done quickly and announced as soon as the window opens, could prove to be a handy bargaining chip. Expensive, but handy.

One assumption I don’t really want to be considering is that Podolski is the direct replacement for Robin. I’m told by the same friend that shattered yesterday’s content (;-) that Podolski is VERY left footed. Whilst that is reminiscent of our captain, I am hoping it is purely coincidental. After all, if he was very right footed and so was RvP, would we have the same thoughts? Probably not. I also like hearing that he has played all across a front three and so could slot into any of the forward positions. That is certainly positive news and shows that he is clearly a typical Wenger-style player.

Whatever happens with the deal, I’m sure that one thing is for certain that still remains accurate from my comments yesterday – Arsenal won’t announce the deal until the transfer window opens.

There you go Arsenal.com, go and prove me wrong today you sly buggers.

Happy Friday all.

Pride suitably restored

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A night where we all wanted history to be re-written, ultimately may have fallen on sadness at another cup exit. But by golly, didn’t we give AC Milan the jitters yesterday.

Let’s get one thing straight: no gooners realistically expected us to be in with a shout of qualification to the next round. No team in the history of the Champions League has managed such a feat before and although AC Milan had fallen foul in the past to spirited fightbacks in the guise of Deportivo and Liverpool, yesterday was not to be such a historic occasion.

We all knew that the first fifteen minutes would be key. Score one, and the dream is alive. Concede, and the dream is shelved, for another season at least (we hope). So when Laurent Koscienly nodded in within the first 10 minutes, hearts began to believe that something was possible. And this team also believed it too. The ball skipped across the surface, the passing was slick and the desire was clearly evident. RvP forced a great save from Abbiati, Rosicky probed and dictated the play in what was most probably the best game he’s had since his long injury spell. More performances like that and it will be hard to see how Aaron Ramsey will get his place back after his injury lay off.

So it was perhaps justified that the mercurial Czech midfielder was the one to further fuel the passion and intensity of the Emirates faithful with a finely taken second. As the Milan defence dropped deeper and deeper, retreating into their own box, a blocked shot fell to Rosicky who showed the most composed of finishes by slotting the ball in between the Milan keeper and his near post. The north bank erupted and text number two was duly despatched to the management: “it’s on. Again!” it simply said.

Once more into the breach the Arsenal team pressed. In unison, each player spurning one another on. Every defensive header, catch by Szczesny, block by Kos, greeted with applause, whist every Milan touch was howled with disapproval. This is what we were used to in hostile atmospheres like Turkey and Greece, but the UK? The crowd motivated the team and the team motivated the crowd. It was the best atmosphere I have experienced since being a season ticket holder. So when Chamberlain nipped in between two defenders and was bought down inside the box, RvP drilled us into a frenzy with two minutes to go.

Forget the final score. Forget that we’ve gone out of two competitions in a fortnight, this was Arsenal at their most awesome, explosive best and the best 45 minutes we’ve had this season. Every Milan player will have known how tough that game was. Even though the performance was ultimately fruitless, we need to remember that this Milan team has blitzed their own league this season. They have turned over a team and are full of confidence. And one thing they did tonight was underestimate just how good Arsenal can be. Sure, after tonight’s performance we’ll wonder “what would have happened had Van Persie chipped the keeper” and scored in the second half, but all I’m taking from this game is the positives.

As the final whistle went, you could see the players were dead on their feet. They had given everything in search of glory and the crowd duly rewarded their efforts with chants long after the final whistle had gone. Yes, we were shocking against Milan and ultimately that first leg abomination has cost us dear, but every player that played last night deserves respect this morning.

Let’s also not forget that we were battling a twelve man in the referee, who gave every foul with a flick of a boot or a flailing of the arms. He was terrible all night and should not be officiating Europe’s Premier competition. But such is life, we’ve all been used to ineptitude from UEFA officials for some time now and we just have to accept it.

In terms of Arsenal for the remainder of the season, one can only hope that this result spurns the team on to greater things, to a successful attack on fourth spot and, who knows, maybe we could even try to give Spurs a run for their money in third. We now have just under a week until we meet Newcastle at the Emirates and continue our rescue mission on this season. All I know is that, if we play like that for the rest of the season, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

I feel real pride to be an Arsenal fan this morning. I hope you do too.

A footballing utopia cake

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Another weekend sails off into the sunset, with another working week tap, tap, tapping at our doors. But what. A. Weekend. In footballing terms anyway. As an Arsenal fan, you as well as I got our domestic league utopia this weekend. If you are similar to I, a victory for Arsenal is obviously the first priority in terms of making it a happy footballing weekend. It’s your bread and butter. It’s the sponge part of the cake if you will. But in order to get one of those multi-tiered cakes with coloured icing and perhaps some edible characters on top, you need to have your rivals dropping points as well. This weekend we got a four-tiered layered cake with coloured icing and a massive edible Arsenal cannon on top.

We beat a Champions League contending rival (Liverpool).

Our closest Champions League rivals slipped up away from home (Chelsea).

Our geographically closest rivals slipped up at home (Spuds).

An outsider for Champions League contention slipped up in their local derby (Newcastle).

With all of the above happening it really couldn’t have been a better weekend and the fact that we are now looking up at Spurs in third space (4pts), as well as looking down at Chelski in fifth (3pts), I am hoping that it can build not only the physical momentum that we want in terms of picking up points, but also the psychological momentum as well. I read on Twitter last night that there is a big difference between looking up and chasing and looking down and being chased. I think we’ve fallen foul of that in the past and our own mental fragility that the team has shown by collapses in seasons past can be transferred to our local rivals this season. I also think that this Arsenal team, more than any other, is susceptible to bouts of some form of footballing depression. We get into ruts that appear to spiral us further and further down the rabbit hole and as last years end of season collapse showed, we can’t always rely on ourselves to get us out of it.

So perhaps more than anything the fact that we have a target in front of us (finish third in the league) despite being effectively out of all competitions is a good thing. In a way, the fact that we suffered such a drubbing against Milan could be seen as a positive. The players now have nothing to lose on Tuesday. A defeat will be greeted with “oh well, we knew we were practically out anyway” and a victory that puts us through will be seen as some form of miracle and put the teams confidence to an all time high. Had there been just one goal in it and we’d fall foul to a last gasp Milan winner tomorrow night, think how confidence sapping this might have been?

As it stands the damage to confidence from the first leg has been done. And we paid for it through FA Cup defeat to Sunderland. We readdressed the confidence levels with a morale boosting victory over Spurs and followed up on Saturday with, had we been a Stoke, Fulham or Aston Villa, the media would have called ‘gritty’ performance against the scousers. We need to continue that league form next Monday against Newcastle and then hope Everton do us two favours within about 10 days: turn up and play Spurs off the park, then don’t turn up when we line up against them after the FA Cup weekend a week later.

In terms of the rest of the Arsenal related news, there will be no doubt be some stuff trickling through during the course of today regarding the squad for tomorrow night, with one man in particular wanting to be available despite leaving the field on a stretcher on Saturday: Mikel Arteta. He spoke of the incident which saw Jordan Henderson getting away with on-field assault and revealed he actually can’t remember much after the initial impact. I think Arseblogger said it in his blog that it was a pretty disgusting action by the Liverpool player, and possibly it was also equally as disgusting that Sky thought it a ‘nice touch’ that he patted Arteta as he left the field on the stretcher. Henderson knew what he was doing and he didn’t care. It didn’t even get shown on Match of the Day, which pretty much sums up the media thoughts on the matter.

We’ll also probably find out a bit more on the Verminator, who took a few knocks against Liverpool but looked to come through ok. Unfortunately for us, he has a national team coach in the Raymond Domenach model, who doesn’t see why he shouldn’t have played Vermaelen. I don’t think Wenger is annoyed with the fact he played, more that he played 90 minutes. And for the Belgian coach to say he was forced into the action because another player was sent off is pretty ridiculous for me. What, have you only got two central defenders in your whole national team squad? Of course not. He could have bought off Vermaelen but he chose not too.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. Enjoy your slice of football utopia cake. I hear it goes down well with a glass of ‘gloating’ Chablis.

Pressing to achieve Anfield 89 repeat

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Happy Friday fellow worshippers of the Gun. Hope it finds you in fine fettle.

In some form of parallel twist of fate I actually picked up a minor groin/abdominal injury playing five-a-side football on Wednesday, one day before RvP supposedly picked up his knock. The good news for him was that he was able to shake off his slight concern, where as mine is making me shrivel up my face like a prune every time I try to dismount from my bed in the morning. But then again, he is a whole year younger than me so I guess it’s his recovery time that is feeling the benefits (yeah right).

Anyway, Arsenal, that team we all adore. Those boys in red and white that are as good as some form of explosive and don’t even get me started on Harry Redknapp’s mother. Today Le Boss will give his pre-scouser presser and no doubt he’ll give us an update on the returning players from international duty. Having heard that Vermaelen played a full 90 minutes in midweek I’m sure Wenger will not be 100% happy with the Belgium national team manager, but I guess one positive we can look at is that he should be fully fit for tomorrow. Unless Gibbs has literally fallen apart humpty dumpy style, he’ll continue in the team as well and then the only other injury concern will be the fitness of Rosicky. Hopefully we’ll see the spirit and urgency of Sunday’s game repeated tomorrow.

I think that word ‘spirit’ is quite crucial. We have to show the desire and passion to go to Anfield as if we are about to be knocked out of a competition, or dare I say it, it was the last game of the season and we had to win in order to win the league. Evoking those memories of Anfield 89 would be mighty handy come 12.45pm tomorrow. A good old 90 minute tape of the game back in the 80s to remind the players of how much effort it takes to win a league, but also the great rewards you get as a result. That is what we want and that is what we need. All too often we have seen the players just look, well quite frankly, not up for it. Now is the time when they have to show that we can actually win back-to-back big games. We haven’t done it for countless seasons so let’s make a start of some kind of recovery tomorrow.

For me the biggest factor in whether we win the game will be that magic word ‘pressing’. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do providing you have the fitness. You don’t need the ball control of Lionel Messi, you don’t need the range of passing of Fabregas, you just need to have a good pair of lungs and fit enough legs to chase down your opposition and make them fall foul of that tennis phrase ‘unforced errors’. If every player chases down their marker or the nearest player to them, the opposition will make mistakes. We’ve seen it with other teams doing it to us and we’ve seen our team do it to the opposition. Unfortunately though, not often enough. On Sunday, after we went two down against the old rivals, every single player stood up to be counted and said in the most Gandalfy (Lord of the Rings Wizard not to be confused with the former Libyan dictator) way “YOU SHALL NOT PASS”. That is what we need tomorrow. We have the players. They have the fitness. No we just need the application so we can head back home with three points tucked neatly underneath Arsene Wenger’s arm.

Just finally from me today, some news emerging that Niklas Bendtner fancies a bit of Russia in the form of Anzhi or Zenit. To be honest, providing they cough up the roubles I couldn’t care less. Bendtner might be a better option than Chamakh or Park but he’s clearly shown he doesn’t want to be deputy and so we should say thanks and cheerio. We need to get players like that off the wage bill and by sending him far away next season it also reduces the possibility of him to get the same disease every other player gets after leaving the club: the ability to score goals against us on a frequently annoying basis.

More on the match tomorrow. Peace out home boys (and girls).

The Arsenal finances myth

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Hello hello you lovely people you. You’re looking fine and dandy on this mild Tuesday morning, I must say.

With the dust now well and truly settled on the weekends action, all thoughts were turned yesterday afternoon to the announcement of the clubs financial results. As the AST predicted and many of us guessed, the results showed a very healthy pre-tax profit of £49.5million with cash balances of £115million. When you compare this tithe £6million odd that we lost in the same time last year, it seems a good year to financially. But then we all knew that, didn’t we? We have ‘not been great on the field but have been raking it in off it so that’s all right’ would be the mantra being sung by many fans yesterday and today, but I suspect we’d have seen a few more mutinous fans expressing their angst if we hadn’t have seen such a display of grit and determination as we did against our old foes this weekend. As it was, I’ll bet the old boys network (OBN) at the top of the Arsenal pyramid were half happy for the team and half happy for the positive PR feeling that they could ride the back of with these set of results.

But here’s the thing – nobody is really fooled by the profits announcement. Everybody knows that £55million of that profit was through selling off two of our best human assets and is nothing more than a short-term injection of cash. It is not as if we have another couple of Cesc’s and Na$ri’s to ash in on. And if we did, you can bet your last penny (or cent if you’re a silent owner somewhere in the world) that we’d offload them in the summer. In fact, I bet the OBN are half expectant that when RvP doesn’t sign his new deal they’ll be able to cash in on another asset, buy a cheaper alternative and portray their ‘self-sustaining’ model as a measure of good business and a well run club.

I’m sorry, but anybody with a wage bill as high as ours but with some very very average squad players as we have, is not as ‘well run’ as everyone thinks. You only need to look at some of the players we have on loan away from us to see that. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see the club post losses every half a year, but this myth about how great we are at running a tight ship has to be put to bed.

I know that I am comparing apples with pears when I say this, but we made £55million on two players (not including the Eboue, Clichy and other smaller deals) and we only post £55million? Last year our losses were £6million which appeared to be a minor blot on an otherwise clean and fresh copybook. Take away those two sales and we’d be looking at another loss of £6million. Two financial swallows doth not a summer make I know, but unless we sell another big asset next year, if we only spend what we recoup in the summer we could effectively be looking at three years in a row. To me that is worrying and could potentially be an ominous sign for the future of the captain of the club if you ask me. If we have to spend what we make, how much budget do you think the manager will get from the sales of Almunia, Arshavin, Bendtner, Vela, Denilson and co? I’ll wager that those players in isolation would only fetch around £20million, but we didn’t manage to offload most of them last summer, so how are we going to do it now?

In addition, we also have to consider what a lack of Champions League football will do. It’s been said a lot before about the money made through Europe’s elite competition, but if we spend next year out of it, even the sale of RvP won’t salvage a positive P&L and balance sheet. With an owner increasingly looking like he cares as much about his investment as Chris Hune cares for speeding fines, we have a lot to be concerned with, finance-wise.

I’m sorry to go all doom and gloom after what was such a great weekend for the club, and I’ll switch of the ‘Neg-o-meter’ tomorrow and in prep for the Liverpool game, but right now I’m wondering how the club is going to readdress the balance of improving the playing staff whilst maintaining their own frugal grasp on the purse strings.

Until tomorrow.

A true ‘game of two halves’ – happy Arsenal days

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Morning all.

I have to say these are the blogs that all bloggers love to write. This is why we got into this mugs game. Today is a happy day for gooner bloggers everywhere as we get to write positive things about our beloved club and get to drive the dagger in further about our fiercest rivals.

The match certainly didn’t start that way however. All pre-match talk was about how Spurs had wrestled the ‘inge of North London’ tag and were now the best team. Gareth ‘monkey man’ Bale had said as much in a pre-game newspaper article. I don’t think Wenger is the ‘pin up an artist in the dressing room’ type, but you can be sure that some of the players would have heard of the commentary from the Welsh international and ultimately, by Jove they responded.

As I said, it couldn’t have started worse. Within four minutes Adebayor had found Saha after Kos slipped whilst pressing the Togolese, and the Frenchman took a couple of touches and hit a shot that deflected over Sczsceny and into the goal. It was poor for us to be cut open initially by the Spuds, but there was a huge slice of luck with the goal.

The fans clearly feared a grim day. But where I was sitting we picked ourselves up and continued the chanting. We were the 12th man and we still had a job to do. And to be fair the team started to react. I would say that after about 10 minutes the rest of the game was Arsenal in the ascendency. So what happened on 34 minutes was classic of how our season has been served to us: with a slice of steaming poo pie.

Le cocks were awarded a penalty. A bale through from Modric found Bale and Gibbs in a straight dart, and whilst a normally fully fit Gibbs might have got there, on this occasion Bale got in just in front. As he bore down on goal, Gibbs slid in, didn’t get the ball but certainly didn’t touch the man, and Scz came out to narrow the angle and also not touch Bale. Cue the beautiful Tom Dalyesque dive from Bale and a Mike Dean wave to the spot. The ‘referees assistant’ on the far side to us who had a better position than Dean, but he didn’t raise his flag. Dean even went over to discuss the decision but decided to give Bale the benefit of the doubt. Now, I don’t watch Spurs play to often, but I’ve seen Bale dive a few times and get away with it. So why hasn’t he been chastised? Even Match of the Day didn’t mention it in post match commentary. It’s amazing how much leeway you get as a golden child from the British Isles. Adebayor side footed the ball home and we were left with a big climb to get back in the game.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I have a secret weapon good luck charm. Whenever my charm is at the Emirates The Arsenal win, usually by three clear goals. My charm has been to Watford at home (3-0), Bolton (4-1), Blackburn (6-2) amongst other games. My secret charm: The Management. She’s always said to me she wanted to go to a big game and so this weekend, with Jamo unavailable for comment, she took her place in the crowd.

At 0-2 down I wondered if she had lost her lucky streak. At 2-2 I rubbed her face for more luck. At 5-2 the guy behind me told me to give her my tickets for the rest of the season.

The first two goals in the first half for us were crucial for our fightback. Had we gone in at half time two down we might have not been so jolly this morning. But it was Bacary Sagna that got us ‘Bac’ on track. RvP’s right footed shot cannoned off the post and fell to Gibbs out wide. He slotted the ball to Arteta for the little Spaniard to dink into the middle for Sagna to nod home.

Cue the fightback.

Sagna’s goal was on 41 and we were level on 43. A captain’s man of the match performance from RvP was topped off with a fantastic curling strike from just outside the box that left Friedel with no chance. As the half time whistle blew we were all square and the half time pint could be supped with relative happiness. But the best was yet to come.

The second half saw goals from Rosicky and two from Walcott to finish off a dejected Spurs. There was even time for a pantomime villain in the shape of Scott Parker to get his marching orders for a second yellow card. The only annoying thing was that it looks like Vermaelen picked up a knock, but I’m sure we’ll find out more in the coming days.

Now, to some praise giving. Both Rosicky and Walcott have had (rightly so in my opinion) serious questions raised about their inclusion in the team. But yesterday Rosicky was like the old player we knew in that midfield four with Hleb, Fabregas and Flamini. He was busy, worked the ball really well and even got his first goal for about two years. He came very close to winning the MOM award but overall it was Robin’s impact and overall awesomeness that pipped the Czech midfielder.

Walcotts performance was a classic footballing ‘game of two halves’ cliche. In the first half he was quiet on the verge of anonymous. He couldn’t pick a pass at all and I think that he probably would have been hauled off at half time if we were behind. But the second half he was more like the Theo we all want to see. Direct running, splitting defence and showing some great composure (although for one of the goals his first touch was nearly a tackle!) to score goals four and five for The Arsenal.

Overall the whole team deserves a big round of applause for the courage they showed to restore a two goal deficit. We lost a two goal lead against Spurs last year at home, so justice was served with yesterday’s fightback. It would be farcical to start making ‘turned the corner’ comments, as we still have plenty of games to play, but this victory will do great things for the teams confidence and bring a big lift to everyone associated with Arsenal. The most important thing is that we now look towards Anfield next weekend and hope that we pick up a/some points against the Scousers.

Happy Monday all.

P.S. season ticket waiting list for my lucky charm. Anyone know a way they can fast-track her in for next season?