Good evening readers,
Sorry about the lack of blogging during the week, once again I was very busy and getting hold of a laptop these days is proving to be a challenging task. Anyway theres plenty to get through.
I'll start of course with Wednesday nights 4-0 victory over the Toon. To be honest I wasn't too blown back by the scoreline as some people might have been. Chris Hughton was always going to play a slightly weaker side ahead of the big derby game they have on Sunday and Arsene already said he was planning to play a strong side. I was expecting nothing less than a victory and for once to go through 90 minutes without my heart going into overdrive. Too much to ask you might say?
We started off brightly and should have been ahead inside the first minute, Tomas Rosicky playing through Carlos Vela who's tame effort was beaten away by Krul. Moments later Bendtner had two shots scrambled away as it looked to be a long night for the Magpies. A goal looked inevitable at that point but the game seemed to go a bit flat after those chances, we played our usual passing game and looked for openings but Newcastle stood firm. Then they almost stunned us as Szczesny missed what seemed a routine clearance completley leaving Ranger with an opportunity to put the Toon Army ahead but the ever reliable Koscielny closed him down well. Shortly after Alan Smith rattled the bar with a 25-yard effort, replays showing Szczesny somehow got a fingertip to it. This little period got the home fans going but still Newcastle never looked like taking the game to us. On the stroke of half-time we struck a killer blow, Bendtner's header didn't look like the most threatening attempt on goal until Krul somehow let it through his legs, Ryan Taylor headed it off the line back onto the keepers head and the ball hilariously ended up in the net. It gave our men a big boost going into half-time.
We began the second half comfortably keeping possesion, again the home side didn't look like coming close to scoring. Not long in we doubled our lead. Djourou's header set Walcott clean through on goal and he dinked the ball over the keeper beautifully, it was good to get an early second because at 1-0 there is always the danger of teh opposition coming back as us Arsenal fans know too well at this stage. There was a bit of controversy in the goal, Nicklas Bendtner who was in an offside position as Theo raced through, collided with a Newcastle defender. Some say it was deliberate and clever, big Nick himself says he was just turning around to try and set himself up for a tap in. It's hard to say to be honest, make what you want of it. Not long after the home side nearly clawed themselves back into the game as Ryan Taylor's free kick was fantastically saved by Szczesny.
It was clear Newcastle hadn't given up on this game yet as Hughton then brought on Carroll and Gutierrez Jesus look-alike. Arsene responded by introducing who other than Cesc Fabregas, it was nice to see that he let Rosicky keep the captains armband when he came on. I was slightly worried though about our defenders ability to cope with Carroll and rightly so. At times his strenght was just too much and thanks to a few good saves from the keeper, last ditch tackles and poor misses, we managed to keep him abay and in typical Arsenal fashion we punished their inability to take chances as Cesc raced onto a poor throw-in from Guthrie, he fed Bendtner who finished superbly to finally kill off any hope of a comeback for the Magpies. Five minutes later Theo capped off a good night with another tidy finish. It was great to see himself and big Nick hitting the net like they'd never been out. It gives Arsene a headache ahead of this weekends game.
I've drawn up a list of player ratings from Wednesday's game below. I'll do it after all games from now on, it's marked out of 10 and theres just a little comment after to sum it up.
Szczesny: 8 - Fantastic performance, I knew he had talent but based on that display alone he really does give Wenger something to think about.
Eboue: 7 - Solid game, was forced to switch to left-back after Gibbs' injury and didn't seem out of place.
Koscielny: 8 - It's like this guy has been playing in England for years, fantastic positioning, impossible to get past, really bright future in an Arsenal shirt if you ask me.
Djourou: 7 - Nervy first off but settled in and was comfortable overall.
Gibbs: 5 - Forced off early on with knee injury.
Eastmond: 5 - Looked nervous and never seemed composed on the ball, has a lot of work to do to make it here.
Denilson: 7 - Decent game, kept the ball and tracked back well.
Rosicky: 7 - Always a threat to Newcastle, pushing for a regular spot now.
Walcott: 8 - Man of the match, superb display, two goals, Newcastle defence will dread seeing him again in a few weeks at the Emirates.
Bendtner: 7 - Looks like a player with a point to prove, good to see.
Vela: 5 - Needs to start putting the hard work in if he wants to have a future here, that being said I don't think the left-wing is his best position but he's got no chance of pushing MC, NB or RVP for a starting spot in my opinion.
Subs:
Fabregas: 7 - Came on, gave his all and set up Bendtner's goal, a true captain and role model to all the youngsters.
Sagna: 6 - Played practically the whole game due to Gibbs' early injury, was comfortable until Carroll came on.
Emmanuel-Thomas: 6 - Was hoping to see more of this beast but looked bright in the few minutes he was on the pitch, nearly got set through on goal by Cesc.
A fantastic moral boosting victory in the North-East but atentions quickly turn to West Ham tomorrow afternoon and Wenger has already warned the team against complacency and rigthtly so. We were on a similar sort of run going into the West Brom game, didn't bother turning up until the last 15 minutes and payed price. We have got to approach this game with the same tenacity as we did to the City game last week. I know that can be hard but if everyone gives 100% then thats all we can ask of.
West Ham come into this game on the back of a 3-1 win over Stoke City in the Carling Cup so their confidence will be on the up, our job is to knock it right back down. Koscielny is back so he should come in for Djouroum below is how I think the team will line out:
Fabianski
Sagna - Squillaci - Koscielny - Clichy
Fabregas - Song - Denilson
Nasri - Chamakh - Arshavin
As you might have noticed, Koscielny is the only change I've made from last weekends victory at City. I think Wenger should stick to that team. I know a lot of people want Walcott to start at the expense of Arshavin but I can't see it happening. First of all Arsene will probably start him on the bench anyway after playing the whole 90 minutes on Wednesday as he is just back from injury and also after praising Arshavin last week he's hardly going to drop him now is he? Either way we have so many attacking options in the team now it sends a chill down my spine just thinking about it. Before pundits took shots at us saying we don't have strenght in depth, where are they now? We've got three taleneted keepers battling it out for the number one shirt. Four quality defenders going at it with Vermaelen the only In the full-backs position Gibbs and Eboue are turning the heat on Clichy and Sagna, thats good to see although Gibbs has just been ruled out for a few weeks. Then in midfield your going to have Diaby, Denilson, Rosicky and Ramsey looking for that final role in midfield alongside Cesc and Song. Up front you have Walcott and Arshavin going at it, Vela and Rosicky could fall into that category too. Nasri is a guaranteed starter for me and then you have Bendtner, Van Persie and Chamakh as options for the main striker. There is mouth watering competition all around. We just have to hope we can stay clear of a few injuries and focus on mounting a serious title challenge.
Anyway, I think I've said enough for one day, hoping to be back tomorrow with a positive report on the game. Heres to three valuable points, till then Gooners!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Objective: Maintain Form
Good morning readers,
I'm still buzzing after yesterdays game, there is still some andrenaline in the tank but I don't want to get too carried away as I tend to do at times. Last season when we eat Villa 3-0 at the Emirates I honestly thought it was going to be our year. Then we had the setback of losing to United and Chelsea consecutively but after that we went on another good run and brought the margin back to four points I think and looked in poll position to overtake the front two. However, lady luck decided to curse us with injury problems (bitch I know) and that was our downfall. Injuries, injuries, injuries something spoken too often about Arsenal.
I don't want to go into detail about the reasons behind our unnatural amount of injuries with some people critisising the medical staff and all. In my opinion thats completley unfair as they have no idea about what goes on behind the scenes, it is complete rubbish based on no evidence whatsoever. The manager said earlier this week he believe it's down to a mixture of bad luck and poor tackles which is understanding but still, if the latter were a reason then why aren't the other 19 teams in the league suffering the same problems we are. I said I wouldn't go into too much detail so lets close the matter there.
Now as the heading of this blog says, we must now maintain a good run of form. So far we have had, lets say for example three good results on the trot and then messed it up by being humiliated at home by West Brom. That is entirely unacceptable if you want to challenge for the league. I cannot explain how damaging that result was. Three crucial points there for the taking and complacency cost us. In a way it was a good kick up the arse but one that shouldn't have been needed. Now we have to keep focused, give 100% every game and hope others drop points. On the plus side, we are picking up points in places we didn't last season, most notably the result yesterday and the point we took at the Stadium of Light and it is vital we continue to do so.
November is a massive month and will show our title creditentials aswell as our ability to come back from a midweek game in Europe and perform on the weekend again. The month starts off with a tricky trip to Ukraine to face Shakhtar Donetsk again. I know we strolled past them at the Emirates but I guarantee they will be far more difficult to defeat on their own soil. Wenger might well rest a few star players for that game and rightly so as we have massive games domestically and we only need a point to qualify after all. After that midweek game we host Newcastle whom we also play this Wednesday, more on that later. That is one of the games we will look at as a should win game but by no means an easy one. This is followed by two difficult tasks on the road, Wolves and Everton. We thumped both last season at their grounds but infairness we caught them on bads days. No doubt we will have to work our arses off as we did yesterday to come away with three points, more so for the game at Goodison. Then we're back at the Groove for you know what, the North London Derby. No need for extra motivating ahead of this game, one thing we must be aware of though is that Spurs are a completley different team now. They are now looked at as a member of the top four and have signed some quality players, most notably Van Der Vaart. A win against them would be sweet and a huge moral booster. We're on the road again after this as we head to Portugal to face Braga. Again, the game at home was easy but we will need to be on our toes for this one. I suspect Arsene will play a very youthful side. The final game of the month sees us head to Villa Park. You can guarantee we won't go here and pick up three points before being made to work. We have a decent record there in recent years, can't remember the last time they beat us on their turf and I hope I will be wondering for many years to come.
Now as yo can see from the above, November will be very difficult and like I said a test of our title creditentials. Most of you will look at this month nervously but I'm looking in it in a positive way. Obvioiusly thereare no easy games but at the same time all those games are winnable, am I right? We can beat all those teams if we perform to the best of our ability. Plus we will have several key players back for the majority of them. Arsene said Van Persie, Vermaelen and Ramsey will all return next month so we should be very optimistic.
I know I'm gone a bit ahead and we should really be concentrating on the present but it's good to look ahead and be positive. Now, we head to St. James Park Wednesday night for the Carling Cup. Wenger said yesterday in his post match interview he will field a "good" side and hinted a few of the players we saw yesterday will play again. That's "good" to hear if you ask me, it really sounds like he is determined to bring in trophies this year. Not that he wasn't before but now that he's not fielding teens you get the sense he's very eager to end this drought. I honestly think we have a huge chance of lifting the League Cup in March. (I think thats when the final is on?). Think about it...Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have all been knocked out. The only team I look at cautiously is United and with Wenger promising to play a strong side there is no reason why we can't win it plus imagine the boost it would give us in other competitions.
Earlier I was flicking through the Sky Sports website looking at comments from Paul Merson before yesterdays games, it made me laugh. He said he expected Stoke to take surprise United and for City to beat us. Could he have been more wrong? To be honest you'd never think he used to be an Arsenal player the way he cririsises us time and time again, must be the cocaine eh? hehe
In other news Wenger once again praised Fabianski for his display yesterday and rightly so. The man has been on fantastic form. It's amazing how something like a penalty save can bring your self-beleif back. I'm delighted for him and would be happy to have him as number one. The official site gave him the man of the match award, Sky Sports opting for Cesc, I'm not too sure who I'd have picked. Cesc himself said he didn't deserve it for his penalty miss but I reckon that has no bearing on a players all round performance, Nasri was also fantastic, it's a difficult choice.
Anyway, I hope to be back in the next two days with a preview ahead of Wednesday night's game. Until then you can keep up to date with my latest thought via my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Thanks for reading.
I'm still buzzing after yesterdays game, there is still some andrenaline in the tank but I don't want to get too carried away as I tend to do at times. Last season when we eat Villa 3-0 at the Emirates I honestly thought it was going to be our year. Then we had the setback of losing to United and Chelsea consecutively but after that we went on another good run and brought the margin back to four points I think and looked in poll position to overtake the front two. However, lady luck decided to curse us with injury problems (bitch I know) and that was our downfall. Injuries, injuries, injuries something spoken too often about Arsenal.
I don't want to go into detail about the reasons behind our unnatural amount of injuries with some people critisising the medical staff and all. In my opinion thats completley unfair as they have no idea about what goes on behind the scenes, it is complete rubbish based on no evidence whatsoever. The manager said earlier this week he believe it's down to a mixture of bad luck and poor tackles which is understanding but still, if the latter were a reason then why aren't the other 19 teams in the league suffering the same problems we are. I said I wouldn't go into too much detail so lets close the matter there.
Now as the heading of this blog says, we must now maintain a good run of form. So far we have had, lets say for example three good results on the trot and then messed it up by being humiliated at home by West Brom. That is entirely unacceptable if you want to challenge for the league. I cannot explain how damaging that result was. Three crucial points there for the taking and complacency cost us. In a way it was a good kick up the arse but one that shouldn't have been needed. Now we have to keep focused, give 100% every game and hope others drop points. On the plus side, we are picking up points in places we didn't last season, most notably the result yesterday and the point we took at the Stadium of Light and it is vital we continue to do so.
November is a massive month and will show our title creditentials aswell as our ability to come back from a midweek game in Europe and perform on the weekend again. The month starts off with a tricky trip to Ukraine to face Shakhtar Donetsk again. I know we strolled past them at the Emirates but I guarantee they will be far more difficult to defeat on their own soil. Wenger might well rest a few star players for that game and rightly so as we have massive games domestically and we only need a point to qualify after all. After that midweek game we host Newcastle whom we also play this Wednesday, more on that later. That is one of the games we will look at as a should win game but by no means an easy one. This is followed by two difficult tasks on the road, Wolves and Everton. We thumped both last season at their grounds but infairness we caught them on bads days. No doubt we will have to work our arses off as we did yesterday to come away with three points, more so for the game at Goodison. Then we're back at the Groove for you know what, the North London Derby. No need for extra motivating ahead of this game, one thing we must be aware of though is that Spurs are a completley different team now. They are now looked at as a member of the top four and have signed some quality players, most notably Van Der Vaart. A win against them would be sweet and a huge moral booster. We're on the road again after this as we head to Portugal to face Braga. Again, the game at home was easy but we will need to be on our toes for this one. I suspect Arsene will play a very youthful side. The final game of the month sees us head to Villa Park. You can guarantee we won't go here and pick up three points before being made to work. We have a decent record there in recent years, can't remember the last time they beat us on their turf and I hope I will be wondering for many years to come.
Now as yo can see from the above, November will be very difficult and like I said a test of our title creditentials. Most of you will look at this month nervously but I'm looking in it in a positive way. Obvioiusly thereare no easy games but at the same time all those games are winnable, am I right? We can beat all those teams if we perform to the best of our ability. Plus we will have several key players back for the majority of them. Arsene said Van Persie, Vermaelen and Ramsey will all return next month so we should be very optimistic.
I know I'm gone a bit ahead and we should really be concentrating on the present but it's good to look ahead and be positive. Now, we head to St. James Park Wednesday night for the Carling Cup. Wenger said yesterday in his post match interview he will field a "good" side and hinted a few of the players we saw yesterday will play again. That's "good" to hear if you ask me, it really sounds like he is determined to bring in trophies this year. Not that he wasn't before but now that he's not fielding teens you get the sense he's very eager to end this drought. I honestly think we have a huge chance of lifting the League Cup in March. (I think thats when the final is on?). Think about it...Spurs, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool have all been knocked out. The only team I look at cautiously is United and with Wenger promising to play a strong side there is no reason why we can't win it plus imagine the boost it would give us in other competitions.
Earlier I was flicking through the Sky Sports website looking at comments from Paul Merson before yesterdays games, it made me laugh. He said he expected Stoke to take surprise United and for City to beat us. Could he have been more wrong? To be honest you'd never think he used to be an Arsenal player the way he cririsises us time and time again, must be the cocaine eh? hehe
In other news Wenger once again praised Fabianski for his display yesterday and rightly so. The man has been on fantastic form. It's amazing how something like a penalty save can bring your self-beleif back. I'm delighted for him and would be happy to have him as number one. The official site gave him the man of the match award, Sky Sports opting for Cesc, I'm not too sure who I'd have picked. Cesc himself said he didn't deserve it for his penalty miss but I reckon that has no bearing on a players all round performance, Nasri was also fantastic, it's a difficult choice.
Anyway, I hope to be back in the next two days with a preview ahead of Wednesday night's game. Until then you can keep up to date with my latest thought via my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Thanks for reading.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Class Overcomes Cash
Good evening readers, actually no, fantastic evening readers!
Coming into today I honestly would have taken a draw, we were coming up against a well organised City side who seem to have come on leeps and bounds since last season. Eastlands is now a daunting place to go as Liverpool and Chelsea have found out already.
Our preperations were dealt a slight blow as Abou Diaby was injured in the warm up. It wasn't a massive dampener because we had Denilson to come in who has impressed me in the few games he has played this season.
City came out all guns blazing, David Silva's early flick forcing a fantastic reflex save from Fabianski. It looked like one of those days where the opposition would do all the pressing, eventually score and leave us chasing the game for the remainder of the match. I mentioned in my preview that we might need a bit of luck to pull off a win and boy did we get it. Just five minutes in Marouane Chamakh was set clean through on goal only far Boyata hauling him down. Clattenburg had no option to send him off as he was the last man back. It left us with a huge advantage but we have struggled to take advantage of this situation before and losing a player to a red card can often spur a team on so I remained cautious.
From there we pressed City, some slick passing and quick movement tormenting their defence. The first goal was always going to be crucial and thankfully and finally in a big game, it went our way. Nasri and Arshavin playing a neat one-two before the Frenchman thumped home to leave us with a valuable lead. City responded immediately and almost equalised when Micah Richards cut inside Djourou only to fire his shot wide of the left hand post. Despite playing well and looking dangerous whenever on the attack and having the man advantage, I was still wary of the threat posed by the Blues. Then the opportunity to put clear daylight between the sides arose when Kompany brought down Fabregas in the box. It was a blatant penalty but seemed too good to be true and my instincts were right as Hart saved. It wasn't what you'd call a poor penalty but it was at a good height for the keeper. That was more or less the last piece of action in the first half, the crowd were desperate to lift the players.
It was really important that we came out in the second half and controlled the tempo as we did for the vast majority of the first half and so we did, keeping the ball well and looking as threatining as ever going forward. We were now begininng to over-run them in midfield as Mancini took off Yaya Toure at half-time replacing him with left-back Wayne Bridge for some reason, Italians eh? We carved out an early chance but Cesc's effort was tame and straight at Hart when he should have done much better. Not long after Tevez was forced off with an injury being replaced by our good old friend Adebayor, otherwise known by prick or cuntface.
Adebayor's introduction seemed to lift his side, David Silva forcing a tremendous save from the strangely on-form Fabianski. Just as the Citizens seemed to be getting a foot hold in the game, Fabregas's through ball was cut out by a City defender falling to Alex Song who toe-poked home brilliantly to send the away fans into ecstacy. It was a goal celebrated in joy and a bit of releif too because you knew City always posed a threat despite being a man down.
Wenger then decided to bring in fresh legs in Rosicky, Walcott and Bendtner, Cesc, Arshavin and Chamakh going off. We were now looking in total control with fifteen minutes remaining. I never thought for one second the game was over but City looked a side with no heart, no urgency, a team of individuals. With only two minutes of normal time remaining we broke on the counter attack, Nasri cutting in from the left wing before playing in the unmarked Bendtner who finished well. Game over and at this point all the nerves were gone and we could finally relax and enjoy giving it to those City cunts.
Fabianski still had a few saves to make to ensure he kept a clean sheet. The Pole truly is in sparkling form and it's great to see considering all the critisism he has taken during his time with us. I honestly have never doubted his ability as a keeper. For me the only question mark was his mental state. He always seemed to be nervous about making mistakes, now he looks a changed man. It's amazing what a few games can do for a player. In my opinion he has done more than enough to keep Almunia out of the side, for the time being at least.
Anyway, Cesc earned the man of the match award. It was a tough call, Song, Nasri and Fabianski had magnificent games too but this boy is well and truly speical. I probably should start calling him a man now because he has matured so fast in such a short space of time.
After the match Wenger praised his side and thinks we have matured a lot since last season. To be honest there are plenty more games and tests to overcome before we can start analysing that but take nothing away from Arsene and the players, credit where its due and they did us all proud today.
I won't brag any longer, we have until Wednesday for that, for now though I'm off to celebrate with a few pints. Till next time, take care and enjoy the win.
Coming into today I honestly would have taken a draw, we were coming up against a well organised City side who seem to have come on leeps and bounds since last season. Eastlands is now a daunting place to go as Liverpool and Chelsea have found out already.
Our preperations were dealt a slight blow as Abou Diaby was injured in the warm up. It wasn't a massive dampener because we had Denilson to come in who has impressed me in the few games he has played this season.
City came out all guns blazing, David Silva's early flick forcing a fantastic reflex save from Fabianski. It looked like one of those days where the opposition would do all the pressing, eventually score and leave us chasing the game for the remainder of the match. I mentioned in my preview that we might need a bit of luck to pull off a win and boy did we get it. Just five minutes in Marouane Chamakh was set clean through on goal only far Boyata hauling him down. Clattenburg had no option to send him off as he was the last man back. It left us with a huge advantage but we have struggled to take advantage of this situation before and losing a player to a red card can often spur a team on so I remained cautious.
From there we pressed City, some slick passing and quick movement tormenting their defence. The first goal was always going to be crucial and thankfully and finally in a big game, it went our way. Nasri and Arshavin playing a neat one-two before the Frenchman thumped home to leave us with a valuable lead. City responded immediately and almost equalised when Micah Richards cut inside Djourou only to fire his shot wide of the left hand post. Despite playing well and looking dangerous whenever on the attack and having the man advantage, I was still wary of the threat posed by the Blues. Then the opportunity to put clear daylight between the sides arose when Kompany brought down Fabregas in the box. It was a blatant penalty but seemed too good to be true and my instincts were right as Hart saved. It wasn't what you'd call a poor penalty but it was at a good height for the keeper. That was more or less the last piece of action in the first half, the crowd were desperate to lift the players.
It was really important that we came out in the second half and controlled the tempo as we did for the vast majority of the first half and so we did, keeping the ball well and looking as threatining as ever going forward. We were now begininng to over-run them in midfield as Mancini took off Yaya Toure at half-time replacing him with left-back Wayne Bridge for some reason, Italians eh? We carved out an early chance but Cesc's effort was tame and straight at Hart when he should have done much better. Not long after Tevez was forced off with an injury being replaced by our good old friend Adebayor, otherwise known by prick or cuntface.
Adebayor's introduction seemed to lift his side, David Silva forcing a tremendous save from the strangely on-form Fabianski. Just as the Citizens seemed to be getting a foot hold in the game, Fabregas's through ball was cut out by a City defender falling to Alex Song who toe-poked home brilliantly to send the away fans into ecstacy. It was a goal celebrated in joy and a bit of releif too because you knew City always posed a threat despite being a man down.
Wenger then decided to bring in fresh legs in Rosicky, Walcott and Bendtner, Cesc, Arshavin and Chamakh going off. We were now looking in total control with fifteen minutes remaining. I never thought for one second the game was over but City looked a side with no heart, no urgency, a team of individuals. With only two minutes of normal time remaining we broke on the counter attack, Nasri cutting in from the left wing before playing in the unmarked Bendtner who finished well. Game over and at this point all the nerves were gone and we could finally relax and enjoy giving it to those City cunts.
Fabianski still had a few saves to make to ensure he kept a clean sheet. The Pole truly is in sparkling form and it's great to see considering all the critisism he has taken during his time with us. I honestly have never doubted his ability as a keeper. For me the only question mark was his mental state. He always seemed to be nervous about making mistakes, now he looks a changed man. It's amazing what a few games can do for a player. In my opinion he has done more than enough to keep Almunia out of the side, for the time being at least.
Anyway, Cesc earned the man of the match award. It was a tough call, Song, Nasri and Fabianski had magnificent games too but this boy is well and truly speical. I probably should start calling him a man now because he has matured so fast in such a short space of time.
After the match Wenger praised his side and thinks we have matured a lot since last season. To be honest there are plenty more games and tests to overcome before we can start analysing that but take nothing away from Arsene and the players, credit where its due and they did us all proud today.
I won't brag any longer, we have until Wednesday for that, for now though I'm off to celebrate with a few pints. Till next time, take care and enjoy the win.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Manchester City vs Arsenal Preview
Hello readers hope you are all well.
Tomorrow we take on City in what looks like a mouth watering clash on paper, but I think it could be a tactical game on City's part, I'll explain as I go through the blog.
Over the years going to Eastlands was looked at as a routine win. Up until four years ago they were an average side, grateful to retain their status in the Premier League at the end of every season. Then in 2007, former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra took over the club, pumping millions into it's transfer budget. It was the beginning of a new era for the club where they finally looked to break the what seemed at the time "unbreakable" top four. They made some decent signings at the time but none to suggest a title challenge, despite the arrival of Robinho they still had too many average players to challenge for the title, the top four seemed a realistic target and they couldn't even accomplish that in Shinawatra's reign as owner.
Then in September 2008, the football world was stunned when Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed a takeover which costed them £200m. These guys put billionaires to shame, it would prove a major turning point in the future of Manchester City. It was obvious now that they meant business and the rest of the Premier League took note. Ever since that day we have seen the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, James Milner, Jerome Boateng, Aleksander Kolarov, David Silva and many more top class players head north to join the Blues revolution.
People make a good point when they label City as "failures" because despite spending millions upon millions over teh last couple of seasons, they still cannot break into the top four. Last season they were pipped to 4th spot by Spurs. This season however, they have invested big time and it looks to be paying off as they have only lost once so far this season, that of course being an away game. Beating them at Eastlands will take some doing this season but it's not impossible. Like every team they have their flaws, and we are more than capable of exposing them.
First of all I know our recent record at Eastlands is not pleasant on the eye but that will only wetten the players appetite to get a result tomorow. Now back to City's flaws. Now, the best time to play a Manchester City side is at the beginning of the season because more than likely at that time they are trying to gel five or six new players into the side. We saw them struggle big time in the very first game of the season away to Spurs, somehow escaping with a 0-0 draw, all the new signings failing to make an impact. Luckily for them, only one of the new signings started on defence and he went off at half-time. Speaking of defence, that's my next department of the City side comes under question. Mancini has roatated it so often this season they don't even have a strongest back four mainly due to players coming in and out with injuries. Jerome Boateng and Micah Richards are battling it out for the right-back position, Kolarov, Bridge and Lescott for the left-back spot while Kompany and Toure have formed a solid partnership at the heart of the defence but still, injuries to them dosen't help and hopefully it will work to our advantage tomorrow. I understand Toure and Kolarov are both doubtful so we'll wait and see.
Now for my predicted line-ups, I'll start with ourselves:
Fabianski
Sagna - Squillaci - Djourou - Clichy
Fabregas - Song - Diaby
Nasri - Chamakh - Arshavin
As for my predicted City team:
Hart
Boateng - Kompany - Toure - Bridge
Toure - De Jong - Barry
Johnson - Tevez - Milner
There are plenty of ifs and buts in those predicted teams so I'll analyse them.
First of all, we know Fabianski will start as Almunia has failed to recover from his injury. Wenger confirmed that Barcary Sagna returned to training in his press conference so I'd expect him to win his place back tomorrow. Koscielny and Vermaelen remain sidelined so it looks like Squillaci and Djourou wil partner each other for the third game in a row. There is a question mark over whether or not Clichy will be dropped for Gibbs. Gael's performances haven't been horrendous but his positiong has been called into question over the last couple of months and I honestly worry for him tomorrow. You have to be on your game coming up against Adam Johnson, he has burned so many full-backs this season it's been frightening. I'm glad Wenger has to decide and not me. Moving onto the midfield. Song has a massive task tomorrow to cover the defence and that is why I think Wenger will give Diaby the nod. He tracks back more than Rosicky so I'm fully expecting him to start, his responsibility will also be to cover the defence, more or less a box to box midfielder. Cesc got a run out Tuesday to get the sharpness back and I'm praying that he is on his game tomorrow. We badly need him to perform to the best of his abilities, the difference now against Chelsea is that we can finally get the proper service given to Chamakh. On either flank I'm expecting to see Nasri and Arshavin. Wenger talked about Andrey's stats yesterday and how he creates more chances than any other player in the league. It's good to read on paper but we still need him to put in a bigger effort, espeically tomorrow because you can guarantee Boateng will try and bomb forward whenever the opportunity arises. Then you have Chamakh, who has impressed so much up to now, if given the right service tomorrow, there is no doubt he will do damage. Theo Walcott and Nicky Bendtner will probably start on the bench, if things aren't going as planned we have two major threats right there.
Now to quickly analyse the possible City team. I suspect Mancini will approach this game with caution as he always does against the top sides. He knows we pose the threat of ripping teams apart on the counter attack which is why I'm predicting he will go with three holding midfielders in the centre of the park. Toure and Barry are slightly more attack minded than De Jong but rest assure Mancini will make sure they aren't caught out. The wings is what worries me the most, the thought of Milner and Johnson running at our full-backs almost makes you literally shit your pants. Sagna and Clichy will have to be on their toes for the 90 minutes aswell as getting proper cover from Nasri and Arshavin which is hard to see but we'll remain optimistic hehe. I suspect Tevez will start up front on his own but then again you have an on formish Adebayor on the bench who is raging to have a go at Arsenal. That's where the headache arises for their manager. I'd love nothing more than to see him abused for 90 minutes but I'm more focused on getting out of there with a positive result.
So it's obvious what is required for the game tomorrow. 100% effort from everyone, tracking back and keeping the ball well and perhaps a slice of luck espeically in this sort of game where City will try to keep it as tight as possible. You can read my thoughts as the game happens my following me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ArsenesArmy or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Arsenal-News/128634437183981
Heres to three valuable points and a long hard party tomorrow night, till next time Gooners!
Tomorrow we take on City in what looks like a mouth watering clash on paper, but I think it could be a tactical game on City's part, I'll explain as I go through the blog.
Over the years going to Eastlands was looked at as a routine win. Up until four years ago they were an average side, grateful to retain their status in the Premier League at the end of every season. Then in 2007, former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra took over the club, pumping millions into it's transfer budget. It was the beginning of a new era for the club where they finally looked to break the what seemed at the time "unbreakable" top four. They made some decent signings at the time but none to suggest a title challenge, despite the arrival of Robinho they still had too many average players to challenge for the title, the top four seemed a realistic target and they couldn't even accomplish that in Shinawatra's reign as owner.
Then in September 2008, the football world was stunned when Abu Dhabi United Group Investment and Development Limited completed a takeover which costed them £200m. These guys put billionaires to shame, it would prove a major turning point in the future of Manchester City. It was obvious now that they meant business and the rest of the Premier League took note. Ever since that day we have seen the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, James Milner, Jerome Boateng, Aleksander Kolarov, David Silva and many more top class players head north to join the Blues revolution.
People make a good point when they label City as "failures" because despite spending millions upon millions over teh last couple of seasons, they still cannot break into the top four. Last season they were pipped to 4th spot by Spurs. This season however, they have invested big time and it looks to be paying off as they have only lost once so far this season, that of course being an away game. Beating them at Eastlands will take some doing this season but it's not impossible. Like every team they have their flaws, and we are more than capable of exposing them.
First of all I know our recent record at Eastlands is not pleasant on the eye but that will only wetten the players appetite to get a result tomorow. Now back to City's flaws. Now, the best time to play a Manchester City side is at the beginning of the season because more than likely at that time they are trying to gel five or six new players into the side. We saw them struggle big time in the very first game of the season away to Spurs, somehow escaping with a 0-0 draw, all the new signings failing to make an impact. Luckily for them, only one of the new signings started on defence and he went off at half-time. Speaking of defence, that's my next department of the City side comes under question. Mancini has roatated it so often this season they don't even have a strongest back four mainly due to players coming in and out with injuries. Jerome Boateng and Micah Richards are battling it out for the right-back position, Kolarov, Bridge and Lescott for the left-back spot while Kompany and Toure have formed a solid partnership at the heart of the defence but still, injuries to them dosen't help and hopefully it will work to our advantage tomorrow. I understand Toure and Kolarov are both doubtful so we'll wait and see.
Now for my predicted line-ups, I'll start with ourselves:
Fabianski
Sagna - Squillaci - Djourou - Clichy
Fabregas - Song - Diaby
Nasri - Chamakh - Arshavin
As for my predicted City team:
Hart
Boateng - Kompany - Toure - Bridge
Toure - De Jong - Barry
Johnson - Tevez - Milner
There are plenty of ifs and buts in those predicted teams so I'll analyse them.
First of all, we know Fabianski will start as Almunia has failed to recover from his injury. Wenger confirmed that Barcary Sagna returned to training in his press conference so I'd expect him to win his place back tomorrow. Koscielny and Vermaelen remain sidelined so it looks like Squillaci and Djourou wil partner each other for the third game in a row. There is a question mark over whether or not Clichy will be dropped for Gibbs. Gael's performances haven't been horrendous but his positiong has been called into question over the last couple of months and I honestly worry for him tomorrow. You have to be on your game coming up against Adam Johnson, he has burned so many full-backs this season it's been frightening. I'm glad Wenger has to decide and not me. Moving onto the midfield. Song has a massive task tomorrow to cover the defence and that is why I think Wenger will give Diaby the nod. He tracks back more than Rosicky so I'm fully expecting him to start, his responsibility will also be to cover the defence, more or less a box to box midfielder. Cesc got a run out Tuesday to get the sharpness back and I'm praying that he is on his game tomorrow. We badly need him to perform to the best of his abilities, the difference now against Chelsea is that we can finally get the proper service given to Chamakh. On either flank I'm expecting to see Nasri and Arshavin. Wenger talked about Andrey's stats yesterday and how he creates more chances than any other player in the league. It's good to read on paper but we still need him to put in a bigger effort, espeically tomorrow because you can guarantee Boateng will try and bomb forward whenever the opportunity arises. Then you have Chamakh, who has impressed so much up to now, if given the right service tomorrow, there is no doubt he will do damage. Theo Walcott and Nicky Bendtner will probably start on the bench, if things aren't going as planned we have two major threats right there.
Now to quickly analyse the possible City team. I suspect Mancini will approach this game with caution as he always does against the top sides. He knows we pose the threat of ripping teams apart on the counter attack which is why I'm predicting he will go with three holding midfielders in the centre of the park. Toure and Barry are slightly more attack minded than De Jong but rest assure Mancini will make sure they aren't caught out. The wings is what worries me the most, the thought of Milner and Johnson running at our full-backs almost makes you literally shit your pants. Sagna and Clichy will have to be on their toes for the 90 minutes aswell as getting proper cover from Nasri and Arshavin which is hard to see but we'll remain optimistic hehe. I suspect Tevez will start up front on his own but then again you have an on formish Adebayor on the bench who is raging to have a go at Arsenal. That's where the headache arises for their manager. I'd love nothing more than to see him abused for 90 minutes but I'm more focused on getting out of there with a positive result.
So it's obvious what is required for the game tomorrow. 100% effort from everyone, tracking back and keeping the ball well and perhaps a slice of luck espeically in this sort of game where City will try to keep it as tight as possible. You can read my thoughts as the game happens my following me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ArsenesArmy or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Arsenal-News/128634437183981
Heres to three valuable points and a long hard party tomorrow night, till next time Gooners!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Strolling through Europe, injury update & City
Good evening readers,
Apologies for the lack of blogging recently. It was difficult to get hold of a laptop and when there was one available, it was quite early in the morning and lets just say I like to get as much sleep as I possibly can. Anyway, plenty to get through.
We'll start with Tuesday night's victory over Shakhtar. As I mentioned in my previous blog I was fairly confident going into the game. We were on the back of a decent win against Birmingham so confidence levels were pretty good plus we have a fantastic record at home in the Champions League. I was rather cautious about our ability to keep their attackers abay but how wrong was I to worry eh?
The game started off not so much as we would have liked. Shakhtar allowed us no space to pass and move, the manager's plan was obviously to crowd out the midfield to prevent us from opening them up through the middle. They were looking pretty solid defensively and I thought it was going to be one of those games where we would have to dig deep to grind out a result. However, in the 19th minute a routine catch for the keeper turned into a moment of panic in the Shakhtar defence after he spilled it, Djourou slid in and Alex Song's cheeky flick somehow found it's way past the dumbfounded keeper to give us a welcomed lead. After that Shakhtar realised there was no point sitting back anymore as they were already a goal down and of course we are masters at catching teams on the counter.
The second goal wasn't exactly a result of the opposition committing too many forward. Alex Song exchanged passes with Eboue down the right wing before crossing for Samir Nasri who brought it down and finished well, 2-0 and we were cruisiing going into the break. Shakhtar had offered nothing going forward.
The Ukrainans began the second half brightly as Luiz Adriano was set through one on one with Fabianski but the Pole saved well. It was a bit worrying how easily the defence was cut open, cannot afford to lose concentration on Sunday. The miss would prove costly as the same man dragged Djourou to the ground ten minutes later giving us the opportunity to kill the game. Up stepped Cesc and he steered it beautifully high into the net. This allowed Wenger to take off the captain to rest him for Sunday's game, on came Denilson. Moments later was one of the cheers of the night as Eduardo was introduced to the game, his first time setting foot in the Emirates since his sad departure. It was a heart warming reception which I'm sure touched the Croatian.
His introduction failed to lift his own team-mates though as Jack Wilshere played a lovely one-two with Rosicky before beautifully dinking the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. The goal literally took my breath away, to be pulling these things off at the highest level as an 18-year old is truly incredible. What a talent he is and what a future he has ahead of him, it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it.
Shakhtar were well and truly being taken apart and it wasn't finished there. Twenty minutes from time, Sammy Nasri played the ball into Chamakh, whom the whole stadium and himself thought was offside, he even had time to look at the linesman before finishing and replays showed he was indeed onside, credit to Nasri for the super pass. What were supposed to be our most our toughest opponents in the group were being made to look like amateurs. Theo Walcott was then given a run out to regain some match fitness before Sunday's huge game.
Then the inevitable happened. Shakhtar attacked down the right wing, Jadson played a high cross into the box for who else to finish only Dudu. It was probably the first ever time I've clapped a goal that we've conceded. As promised he didn't celebrate but that didn't stop the fans from doing so. He left without getting the chance to say goodbye so this was most definately a better send off.
That was that as far as the game was concerned. It leaves us heading into our next game away to Shakhtar needing a point to secure the inevitable qualification. There is still the job of finishing top but you suspect Wenger will use the remaining games to rest a few key players. Heres how the group looks after the game:
Again sorry about the messy digits but you get the idea.
Now moving on and to the promised injury update. As usual the news is...well...it's pretty damn crap! Laurent Koscielny will more than likely miss the City game meaning Djourou and Squillaci will probably partner each other at Eastlands, interesting to see how they get on. Manuel Almunia is still out but is nearing a return, that's not to say he's guaranteed he will win his spot back, Fabianski's form lately has been exceptional. Now for the sickening news, not only will Vermaelen and RVP miss the game but Wenger has confirmed they will both miss another couple of weeks, too typical for my liking. The boss expects Vermaelen to be back in three weeks while RVP maybe ready for mid-November, I'll echo the word maybe! Obviously Aaron Ramsey won't be back till next month but there is some welcoming news, Bacary Sagna has made a speedy recovery and might well start Sunday.
Of course this injury news isn't ideal going into one of the biggest games of the season but that's all part of supporting Arsenal to be honest, we have to get used to it and fight with what we have. We still have more than enough quality to beat them and I know we can. It's going to be very very difficult, chances will be limited, Mancini hates conceding and against a top side like us it wouldn't surprise me if he played three holding midfielders. Chelsea have already lost there which says enough about how hard it is to go there and win but the players will go there full of confidence on the back of two good results.
Plenty of other news, most interesting is Wenger's press conference yesterday. I know a lot of fans think we've done very well to hang onto Cesc this season and reckon he's as good as gone next year. Well the boss thinks quite the opposite, in his opinion Cesc loves the club and may stay for years yet. One things for sure, next summer is going to be very interesting. Arsene also reveals he has funds to spend in January, the big question is will the cheque book leave the pocket? To be honest I don't think even he knows that, it depends on a lot of factors for example who's available? What price? Who is injured? etc so again we will have to wait and see.
For extra news and views you can follow my Arsenal page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Arsenal-News/128634437183981
Or you can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ArsenesArmy
Thats it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with a more detailed preview of the City game.
Till then, thanks for reading.
Apologies for the lack of blogging recently. It was difficult to get hold of a laptop and when there was one available, it was quite early in the morning and lets just say I like to get as much sleep as I possibly can. Anyway, plenty to get through.
We'll start with Tuesday night's victory over Shakhtar. As I mentioned in my previous blog I was fairly confident going into the game. We were on the back of a decent win against Birmingham so confidence levels were pretty good plus we have a fantastic record at home in the Champions League. I was rather cautious about our ability to keep their attackers abay but how wrong was I to worry eh?
The game started off not so much as we would have liked. Shakhtar allowed us no space to pass and move, the manager's plan was obviously to crowd out the midfield to prevent us from opening them up through the middle. They were looking pretty solid defensively and I thought it was going to be one of those games where we would have to dig deep to grind out a result. However, in the 19th minute a routine catch for the keeper turned into a moment of panic in the Shakhtar defence after he spilled it, Djourou slid in and Alex Song's cheeky flick somehow found it's way past the dumbfounded keeper to give us a welcomed lead. After that Shakhtar realised there was no point sitting back anymore as they were already a goal down and of course we are masters at catching teams on the counter.
The second goal wasn't exactly a result of the opposition committing too many forward. Alex Song exchanged passes with Eboue down the right wing before crossing for Samir Nasri who brought it down and finished well, 2-0 and we were cruisiing going into the break. Shakhtar had offered nothing going forward.
The Ukrainans began the second half brightly as Luiz Adriano was set through one on one with Fabianski but the Pole saved well. It was a bit worrying how easily the defence was cut open, cannot afford to lose concentration on Sunday. The miss would prove costly as the same man dragged Djourou to the ground ten minutes later giving us the opportunity to kill the game. Up stepped Cesc and he steered it beautifully high into the net. This allowed Wenger to take off the captain to rest him for Sunday's game, on came Denilson. Moments later was one of the cheers of the night as Eduardo was introduced to the game, his first time setting foot in the Emirates since his sad departure. It was a heart warming reception which I'm sure touched the Croatian.
His introduction failed to lift his own team-mates though as Jack Wilshere played a lovely one-two with Rosicky before beautifully dinking the ball over the keeper and into the back of the net. The goal literally took my breath away, to be pulling these things off at the highest level as an 18-year old is truly incredible. What a talent he is and what a future he has ahead of him, it sends chills down my spine just thinking about it.
Shakhtar were well and truly being taken apart and it wasn't finished there. Twenty minutes from time, Sammy Nasri played the ball into Chamakh, whom the whole stadium and himself thought was offside, he even had time to look at the linesman before finishing and replays showed he was indeed onside, credit to Nasri for the super pass. What were supposed to be our most our toughest opponents in the group were being made to look like amateurs. Theo Walcott was then given a run out to regain some match fitness before Sunday's huge game.
Then the inevitable happened. Shakhtar attacked down the right wing, Jadson played a high cross into the box for who else to finish only Dudu. It was probably the first ever time I've clapped a goal that we've conceded. As promised he didn't celebrate but that didn't stop the fans from doing so. He left without getting the chance to say goodbye so this was most definately a better send off.
That was that as far as the game was concerned. It leaves us heading into our next game away to Shakhtar needing a point to secure the inevitable qualification. There is still the job of finishing top but you suspect Wenger will use the remaining games to rest a few key players. Heres how the group looks after the game:
| Clubs | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Arsenal FC | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 9 |
| 2 |  FC Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 3 |  SC Braga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 9 | -7 | 3 |
| 4 |  FK Partizan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 0 |
Again sorry about the messy digits but you get the idea.
Now moving on and to the promised injury update. As usual the news is...well...it's pretty damn crap! Laurent Koscielny will more than likely miss the City game meaning Djourou and Squillaci will probably partner each other at Eastlands, interesting to see how they get on. Manuel Almunia is still out but is nearing a return, that's not to say he's guaranteed he will win his spot back, Fabianski's form lately has been exceptional. Now for the sickening news, not only will Vermaelen and RVP miss the game but Wenger has confirmed they will both miss another couple of weeks, too typical for my liking. The boss expects Vermaelen to be back in three weeks while RVP maybe ready for mid-November, I'll echo the word maybe! Obviously Aaron Ramsey won't be back till next month but there is some welcoming news, Bacary Sagna has made a speedy recovery and might well start Sunday.
Of course this injury news isn't ideal going into one of the biggest games of the season but that's all part of supporting Arsenal to be honest, we have to get used to it and fight with what we have. We still have more than enough quality to beat them and I know we can. It's going to be very very difficult, chances will be limited, Mancini hates conceding and against a top side like us it wouldn't surprise me if he played three holding midfielders. Chelsea have already lost there which says enough about how hard it is to go there and win but the players will go there full of confidence on the back of two good results.
Plenty of other news, most interesting is Wenger's press conference yesterday. I know a lot of fans think we've done very well to hang onto Cesc this season and reckon he's as good as gone next year. Well the boss thinks quite the opposite, in his opinion Cesc loves the club and may stay for years yet. One things for sure, next summer is going to be very interesting. Arsene also reveals he has funds to spend in January, the big question is will the cheque book leave the pocket? To be honest I don't think even he knows that, it depends on a lot of factors for example who's available? What price? Who is injured? etc so again we will have to wait and see.
For extra news and views you can follow my Arsenal page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Arsenal-News/128634437183981
Or you can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ArsenesArmy
Thats it for today, I'll be back tomorrow with a more detailed preview of the City game.
Till then, thanks for reading.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Crucial Week Ahead
Hello readers!
So the day began as I expected it to, I decided to watch goals on Sunday this morning and guess who was one of the guests? None other than Roger Johnson, another little cunt I cannot stand. He's just one of those players you immediately hate, he looks like a prick and in this case you should judge the book by it's cover.
Anyway having him on the show was always going to get my blood boiling and so it did as he bitched about Chamakh and what not, the crew showed clips of "wreckless tackles" on our part and nothing about Brum. Well they did show Johnson himself elbowing Chamakh in the head which was quickly laughed off by all and instead they decided to focus on what a great header it was. (Ahem pricks) I think I'll close the matter there before I go on one of those rants about players I cannot stand hehe.
Back to the point and as todays heading says, it is very much a crucial week ahead. We will get a good idea of the current injury situation. Wenger said before the Brum game that Cesc had a little chance of playing Tuesday night so I'm hoping that means he will definately be available for City. I think we can cope without him mid-week, after all Wilshere's three-game ban dosen't count in Europe. I'm also interested to find out the extent of Koscielny's back injury, Arsene didn't seem too worried about it so I'm assuming it's just a minor problem. Now it's unlikely Vermaelen and RVP will play any part in the week ahead but I'm still anxious to know more about their recovery progress. Tommy has been nursing an achilles injury which you have to be very careful with because they can be easily aggravated so it's understanable tha the medical staff would be slow in bringing him back. Likewise for RVP, this time they want to make sure he is 100% before letting him return to action and rightly so, the poor man seems to be made of glass. We can't hide from the fact that his injury record is worrying but at the same time we can't do nothing about it, certain players are just injury prone and have to live with it.
The difference this season though is that we have another top class striker to fill in for him, that of course being Marouane Chamakh who played a part in both goals yesterday. No disrespect to Bendtner but this guy brings something different to our game. He links up well, he already has an understanding of the way we play, he's strong on the ball and good in the air. The latter of his strenghts in my opinion we don't get out of him enough simply because we don't put a lot of good crosses into the box. Nasri, Diaby, Rosicky etc like to work the ball into the box while Sagna and Clichy's crosses are about as consistant as RVP's fitness. (Sorry Robin!) Against Chelsea, the rare balls that were put into him caused worry in the Chelsea defence, he beat Terry to every ball so you can understand my frustration at the fact that we don't use this tactic more often.
Thats enough of that, now back to point on the huge week ahead. I've already talked about the injuries, next is the importance of beating Shakhtar on Tuesday night. The group currently looks like this:
Sorry about the messy digits but you get the idea. A win would all but see us through, even if we were to get a draw which would be disappointing but I'd still fancy us to go through, however, a win would allow Wenger to rest some key players for the remaining games of the group, and when you have the luck of an Arsenal player, rest is key. I'm pretty confident of picking up the three points but the Ukranian side are not to be underestimated, they have pulled off a few giant killings over the years so take nothing for granted. Of course Eduardo will make an emotional and surprisingly quick return to the Emirates, it would be nice if he started, not so nice if he scored, for us anyway. I can't see anything other than a win for us, hopefully I'll be back with more on the game tomorrow.
My third and final reason as to why this is such a crucial week for us is of course because of the trip to Eastlands we face next weekend. I don't want to focus on it too much right now because we have an equally important game midweek but I cannot stress how important it is not to lose. Thankfully we cut the gap between ourselves and Chelsea to five points yesterday which was a more important result than people gave it credit for. Had Chelsea won yesteraday and if we lost next weekend with them picking up an inevitable three points at home to Wolves, we would be staring at a ten point gap. If we were to lose next weekend we will probably be eight points behind, not ideal but it could be a lot worse as I explained just there. Hopefully it dosen't come to that though, Blackpool showed today that by just playing your game in a positive fashion you can cause City plenty of problems. Thr tangerines were extremely unlucky not to take anything from the game, class eventually told in the end. If we go there, hopefully with Cesc in the side too, I think we can cause them major problems, they are still geling and defenders are coming and going out of their team like yo yos, theres no consistancy with Mancini's line-ups and I think that might well be their downfall next weekend. Anyway like I said I don't want to go into too much detail when we have a match before it so I'll stop there.
I think I've gotten through just about everything I've needed to for the day. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a better preview for the Shakhtar game. If not you can keep up to date with my latest thought via my twitter account: http://twitter.com/ArsenesArmy
Thats about it for now, till next time, take care Gooners!
So the day began as I expected it to, I decided to watch goals on Sunday this morning and guess who was one of the guests? None other than Roger Johnson, another little cunt I cannot stand. He's just one of those players you immediately hate, he looks like a prick and in this case you should judge the book by it's cover.
Anyway having him on the show was always going to get my blood boiling and so it did as he bitched about Chamakh and what not, the crew showed clips of "wreckless tackles" on our part and nothing about Brum. Well they did show Johnson himself elbowing Chamakh in the head which was quickly laughed off by all and instead they decided to focus on what a great header it was. (Ahem pricks) I think I'll close the matter there before I go on one of those rants about players I cannot stand hehe.
Back to the point and as todays heading says, it is very much a crucial week ahead. We will get a good idea of the current injury situation. Wenger said before the Brum game that Cesc had a little chance of playing Tuesday night so I'm hoping that means he will definately be available for City. I think we can cope without him mid-week, after all Wilshere's three-game ban dosen't count in Europe. I'm also interested to find out the extent of Koscielny's back injury, Arsene didn't seem too worried about it so I'm assuming it's just a minor problem. Now it's unlikely Vermaelen and RVP will play any part in the week ahead but I'm still anxious to know more about their recovery progress. Tommy has been nursing an achilles injury which you have to be very careful with because they can be easily aggravated so it's understanable tha the medical staff would be slow in bringing him back. Likewise for RVP, this time they want to make sure he is 100% before letting him return to action and rightly so, the poor man seems to be made of glass. We can't hide from the fact that his injury record is worrying but at the same time we can't do nothing about it, certain players are just injury prone and have to live with it.
The difference this season though is that we have another top class striker to fill in for him, that of course being Marouane Chamakh who played a part in both goals yesterday. No disrespect to Bendtner but this guy brings something different to our game. He links up well, he already has an understanding of the way we play, he's strong on the ball and good in the air. The latter of his strenghts in my opinion we don't get out of him enough simply because we don't put a lot of good crosses into the box. Nasri, Diaby, Rosicky etc like to work the ball into the box while Sagna and Clichy's crosses are about as consistant as RVP's fitness. (Sorry Robin!) Against Chelsea, the rare balls that were put into him caused worry in the Chelsea defence, he beat Terry to every ball so you can understand my frustration at the fact that we don't use this tactic more often.
Thats enough of that, now back to point on the huge week ahead. I've already talked about the injuries, next is the importance of beating Shakhtar on Tuesday night. The group currently looks like this:
| Clubs | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal FC | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
| 2 | FC Shakhtar Donetsk | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | FK Partizan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
| 4 | SC Braga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
Sorry about the messy digits but you get the idea. A win would all but see us through, even if we were to get a draw which would be disappointing but I'd still fancy us to go through, however, a win would allow Wenger to rest some key players for the remaining games of the group, and when you have the luck of an Arsenal player, rest is key. I'm pretty confident of picking up the three points but the Ukranian side are not to be underestimated, they have pulled off a few giant killings over the years so take nothing for granted. Of course Eduardo will make an emotional and surprisingly quick return to the Emirates, it would be nice if he started, not so nice if he scored, for us anyway. I can't see anything other than a win for us, hopefully I'll be back with more on the game tomorrow.
My third and final reason as to why this is such a crucial week for us is of course because of the trip to Eastlands we face next weekend. I don't want to focus on it too much right now because we have an equally important game midweek but I cannot stress how important it is not to lose. Thankfully we cut the gap between ourselves and Chelsea to five points yesterday which was a more important result than people gave it credit for. Had Chelsea won yesteraday and if we lost next weekend with them picking up an inevitable three points at home to Wolves, we would be staring at a ten point gap. If we were to lose next weekend we will probably be eight points behind, not ideal but it could be a lot worse as I explained just there. Hopefully it dosen't come to that though, Blackpool showed today that by just playing your game in a positive fashion you can cause City plenty of problems. Thr tangerines were extremely unlucky not to take anything from the game, class eventually told in the end. If we go there, hopefully with Cesc in the side too, I think we can cause them major problems, they are still geling and defenders are coming and going out of their team like yo yos, theres no consistancy with Mancini's line-ups and I think that might well be their downfall next weekend. Anyway like I said I don't want to go into too much detail when we have a match before it so I'll stop there.
I think I've gotten through just about everything I've needed to for the day. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a better preview for the Shakhtar game. If not you can keep up to date with my latest thought via my twitter account: http://twitter.com/ArsenesArmy
Thats about it for now, till next time, take care Gooners!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Three Crucial Points
A very early good morning to you all.
Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, didn't get much access to a laptop lately and the one time I did I had an entire blog written out, it was a preview to the Birmingham game and then the laptop decides to randomly shut off. Yes it was quite stomach turning to spend a good half an hour typing away and just like that it disappears but lets not dwell on it eh?
Anyways attentions to the game. Before the match I didn't care what the performance was like aslong as we grinded out the three points in the end, it was a bigger game and a harder task than people gave it credit for. The manager knew it, the players knew it and the majority of the fans knew it so it was important we got off to a good start and we did so, starting off as we do in all of our games with some slick passing, lots of movement etc but at times lacking the killer extinct.
The first chance fell to Chamakh, he exchanged passes with the sublime Wilshere but his eventual shot was well blocked. From there on it was a case of threatening to do damage, but never really going ahead with it and in typical fashion we were punished. A high cross from Keith Fahey finding it's way onto the head of one of our worst nightmares, a 6 foot 8 inch striker and of course he found the back of the net, Fabianski or the defence couldn't do much in all fairness.
I wasn't as worried as I was when we fell behind to West Brom game though, the reason being we were by far the better side, doing all the pressing, asking all the questions. Birmingham had barely threatened up to thos stage. Zigic nearly got a second a few minutes later, a long ball headed across the box by Roger Johnson, bounced in front of Djourou and Squillaci before the big man fired over much to the relief of the players.
That was about as good as it got for the Blues as far as attacking the opponents goal is concerned and once again we began to dominate. I knew a goal before half-time would get the andrenaline flowing and the opportunity finally presented itself when Scott Dann brought down Chamakh in the box. You have to admit he went down far too easily but there was minimal contact. Make up your own mind. Anyways up stepped the ever reliable Sammy Nasri and he dually converted, 1-1 and the crowd finally found it's voice. At half-time I was far more optimistic.
And boy was I right to be, we came flying out of the traps in the second half, and were rewarded sooner than I expected, Wilshere chipping a short pass into Chamakh, who did a random twirl confusing the hell out of Stephen Carr before rounding Ben Foster to finish and off I ran out in the garden celebrating like a kid on Christmas day, well perhaps a little wilder than that hehe.
From there on we absolutely controlled the game, there wasn't a hint that Birmingham would get back into it. The fans did however grow impatient with the lack of shooting, which was understandable, we didn't want the blood pressure going through the roof for once, surely not too much to ask. Wilshere drove an effort over the bar which never really had Foster worried. Wenger then brought on Rosicky for the disappointing Arshavin, little mozart looked fairly lively and had a decent pop at goal, infairness to the man, he is doing his part to stake his place in the team. Diaby and Arshavin, watch out! Bendtner was then brought on for Chamakh and failed to make an impact really, you could tell he was lacking match practice but that will come back to him no doubt.
The game ended on a sour note unfortunately, Wilshere mis-controlled a pass from Eboue and went sliding in with studs showing to try and win it back, he went over the ball and caught Zigic on the shin, staright red no doubts, we have to accept it. You can be assured the media will start bullshitting now about how Wenger talks about other players when he should watch his own. It is quite different, Wilshere is young, he has to make mistakes to learn from them and become a better player. I remember when Arsene first introduced Cesc to the team, he made a few silly tackles but he learned from them and look at him now, one of the most disciplined players in the Premier League. The players Arsene was pointing out were the likes of Shawcross and Paul Robinson. Experienced players who despite severely injuring several players continue to make wreckless tackles. There is no excuse, they will never learn and the FA needs to do something right now.
I know I drifted away from the game a bit there but the point had to be made, anyway we held on in the end, my heart could finally rest, I'm sure I speak for all of us there. Main thing was we had earned three valuable points and it got better, United threw away another two goal lead to draw with our old friends at West Brom and Chelsea were held by Aston Villa, in fact they were lucky to get a draw. So, ground made up but we need to stay focused and stick to our job, we have City next week at Eastlands, the only team to beat Chelsea so far, it's going to be a massive task to go there and take three points but far from impossible. We have the quality to beat them, Cesc should be back and hopefully RVP will play some part. We simply cannot afford to lose it thats for sure, I don't want to focus on it to much because we've Shakhtar midweek at the Emirates where a win would almost certainly see us through \and I fully expect the win.
I know theres a lot of news to catch up on from last week so I'll just briefly run through it. Aaron Ramsey returned to training with the first-team, you can see the pictures on the official website and I have to say, seeing him kick a ball again is great to see, I', delighted he's back and he himself is aiming to return to action next month. The other good news is that Bobby Pires is training with us at the moment so he can regain his fitness after being released by Villareal over the summer. Wenger has already ruled out re-signing him because of the whole squad rule thing now and he dosen't think he needs him.
Well I think thats about that for today, enjoy the rest of your weekend folks, I hope to be back with another blog before the Champions League game midweek, till then!
Apologies for the lack of blogging lately, didn't get much access to a laptop lately and the one time I did I had an entire blog written out, it was a preview to the Birmingham game and then the laptop decides to randomly shut off. Yes it was quite stomach turning to spend a good half an hour typing away and just like that it disappears but lets not dwell on it eh?
Anyways attentions to the game. Before the match I didn't care what the performance was like aslong as we grinded out the three points in the end, it was a bigger game and a harder task than people gave it credit for. The manager knew it, the players knew it and the majority of the fans knew it so it was important we got off to a good start and we did so, starting off as we do in all of our games with some slick passing, lots of movement etc but at times lacking the killer extinct.
The first chance fell to Chamakh, he exchanged passes with the sublime Wilshere but his eventual shot was well blocked. From there on it was a case of threatening to do damage, but never really going ahead with it and in typical fashion we were punished. A high cross from Keith Fahey finding it's way onto the head of one of our worst nightmares, a 6 foot 8 inch striker and of course he found the back of the net, Fabianski or the defence couldn't do much in all fairness.
I wasn't as worried as I was when we fell behind to West Brom game though, the reason being we were by far the better side, doing all the pressing, asking all the questions. Birmingham had barely threatened up to thos stage. Zigic nearly got a second a few minutes later, a long ball headed across the box by Roger Johnson, bounced in front of Djourou and Squillaci before the big man fired over much to the relief of the players.
That was about as good as it got for the Blues as far as attacking the opponents goal is concerned and once again we began to dominate. I knew a goal before half-time would get the andrenaline flowing and the opportunity finally presented itself when Scott Dann brought down Chamakh in the box. You have to admit he went down far too easily but there was minimal contact. Make up your own mind. Anyways up stepped the ever reliable Sammy Nasri and he dually converted, 1-1 and the crowd finally found it's voice. At half-time I was far more optimistic.
And boy was I right to be, we came flying out of the traps in the second half, and were rewarded sooner than I expected, Wilshere chipping a short pass into Chamakh, who did a random twirl confusing the hell out of Stephen Carr before rounding Ben Foster to finish and off I ran out in the garden celebrating like a kid on Christmas day, well perhaps a little wilder than that hehe.
From there on we absolutely controlled the game, there wasn't a hint that Birmingham would get back into it. The fans did however grow impatient with the lack of shooting, which was understandable, we didn't want the blood pressure going through the roof for once, surely not too much to ask. Wilshere drove an effort over the bar which never really had Foster worried. Wenger then brought on Rosicky for the disappointing Arshavin, little mozart looked fairly lively and had a decent pop at goal, infairness to the man, he is doing his part to stake his place in the team. Diaby and Arshavin, watch out! Bendtner was then brought on for Chamakh and failed to make an impact really, you could tell he was lacking match practice but that will come back to him no doubt.
The game ended on a sour note unfortunately, Wilshere mis-controlled a pass from Eboue and went sliding in with studs showing to try and win it back, he went over the ball and caught Zigic on the shin, staright red no doubts, we have to accept it. You can be assured the media will start bullshitting now about how Wenger talks about other players when he should watch his own. It is quite different, Wilshere is young, he has to make mistakes to learn from them and become a better player. I remember when Arsene first introduced Cesc to the team, he made a few silly tackles but he learned from them and look at him now, one of the most disciplined players in the Premier League. The players Arsene was pointing out were the likes of Shawcross and Paul Robinson. Experienced players who despite severely injuring several players continue to make wreckless tackles. There is no excuse, they will never learn and the FA needs to do something right now.
I know I drifted away from the game a bit there but the point had to be made, anyway we held on in the end, my heart could finally rest, I'm sure I speak for all of us there. Main thing was we had earned three valuable points and it got better, United threw away another two goal lead to draw with our old friends at West Brom and Chelsea were held by Aston Villa, in fact they were lucky to get a draw. So, ground made up but we need to stay focused and stick to our job, we have City next week at Eastlands, the only team to beat Chelsea so far, it's going to be a massive task to go there and take three points but far from impossible. We have the quality to beat them, Cesc should be back and hopefully RVP will play some part. We simply cannot afford to lose it thats for sure, I don't want to focus on it to much because we've Shakhtar midweek at the Emirates where a win would almost certainly see us through \and I fully expect the win.
I know theres a lot of news to catch up on from last week so I'll just briefly run through it. Aaron Ramsey returned to training with the first-team, you can see the pictures on the official website and I have to say, seeing him kick a ball again is great to see, I', delighted he's back and he himself is aiming to return to action next month. The other good news is that Bobby Pires is training with us at the moment so he can regain his fitness after being released by Villareal over the summer. Wenger has already ruled out re-signing him because of the whole squad rule thing now and he dosen't think he needs him.
Well I think thats about that for today, enjoy the rest of your weekend folks, I hope to be back with another blog before the Champions League game midweek, till then!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Less Injuries - Amazing
A quick blog before I head off to work then. There is good news on the injury front this week, yes you read correctly GOOD NEWS I know. Nicklas Bendtner says he is confident of being fit to play a part against Birmingham on Saturday. Whether he will or not remains to be seen, Theo Walcott will also play if you believe what you read. Manuel Almunia says he is hopeful of returning but will Arsene drop him after two decent displays? It remains to be seen and he will have a lot of questions to be answered in his press conference.
Right sorry about the shortness of only my second blog but I am indeed in a hurry so hopefully I'll be back before Saturday with a bigger and better preview of the Birmingham game.
Till then, have a good day.
Right sorry about the shortness of only my second blog but I am indeed in a hurry so hopefully I'll be back before Saturday with a bigger and better preview of the Birmingham game.
Till then, have a good day.
Monday, October 11, 2010
New Blog is here
A very good morning to my fellow Gooners out there, I'm after a few beers so I shall make it a quick one to kick things off. You may already follow my "Arsenal News" page on Facebook, if you don't heres the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Arsenal-News/128634437183981 and of course you can follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/connorz09. I will try and update the blog as often as I can, hopefully after Christmas I will get into a routine and you will all know when to expect a new blog, until then I will inform you on Facebook and Twitter.
Anyways back to Arsenal now and reports in France say Bacary Sagna picked up an injury Saturday night on International duty and is expected to be out for around 3 weeks. I think I speak for all of us in saying I'm not the least bit surprised, our injury record over the last few years speaks for itself. On the bright side it's a chance for Eboue to show us what he can do. He made the position his own after Lauren left a couple of years ago but a dodgy run of form led to Wenger bringing in Sagna. Perhaps a chance now to win it back?
In other news Arshavin put on a decent showing Friday night as Russia edged out the boys in green 3-2 much to my disgust ha ha. Not sure how the others got on but aslong as there are no more injuries I really couldn't give a fuck!
I'd like to congradulate young Jack Wilshere for picking up the EA Sports Player of the month award for September. To win it at his age is just fantastic really, an 18 year-old breaking into the first team of a top four side really is something. Credit to Arsene of course for handling his progress well, I just hope the pressure of playing for England dosen't effect his confidence like it did to Theo.
Well I think thats about it for this morning, I'm off to catch a few hours sleep. Hopefully I'll be back before Saturday to give my preview for the Birmingham game.
Till then Goooners!
Anyways back to Arsenal now and reports in France say Bacary Sagna picked up an injury Saturday night on International duty and is expected to be out for around 3 weeks. I think I speak for all of us in saying I'm not the least bit surprised, our injury record over the last few years speaks for itself. On the bright side it's a chance for Eboue to show us what he can do. He made the position his own after Lauren left a couple of years ago but a dodgy run of form led to Wenger bringing in Sagna. Perhaps a chance now to win it back?
In other news Arshavin put on a decent showing Friday night as Russia edged out the boys in green 3-2 much to my disgust ha ha. Not sure how the others got on but aslong as there are no more injuries I really couldn't give a fuck!
I'd like to congradulate young Jack Wilshere for picking up the EA Sports Player of the month award for September. To win it at his age is just fantastic really, an 18 year-old breaking into the first team of a top four side really is something. Credit to Arsene of course for handling his progress well, I just hope the pressure of playing for England dosen't effect his confidence like it did to Theo.
Well I think thats about it for this morning, I'm off to catch a few hours sleep. Hopefully I'll be back before Saturday to give my preview for the Birmingham game.
Till then Goooners!
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