Arsenalteranga

Back to back defeats to Sunderland and Chelsea

2009-12-01T11:28:00.001Z

Arsenal lost two games in a row at Sunderland and at home against the blues.
The Sunderland defeat was very difficult to take, we started well, created some chances via Cesc and Rosicky. Eduardo had some chances as well until Sunderland got over physical with little fouls that home teams can get away with and the fans got behind them which changed the game a bit. Still we had enough quality to beat them and it was very frustrating to lose the game in the end.
As for Chelsea, it was a strange game. We dominated possession and play from start to finish had some decent chances against a top team, failed to convert them and really conceded stupid and weird goals. That was expected the minute I saw Drogba playing against Porto as I know he put some spell on us since he came to England as we were the only team to beat back then, since he always "enjoys" his time against the mighty gunners. Some may think I am starting a conspiracy thing but I know for facts what he did and I am sure as long as the spell doesn't break he can only be on the winning side against any Arsenal eleven. That said I will try my freaking best to break it and I recommend all gunners fans around the world to try the same.
About the game though many may have questioned the lack of fire power without Robin. Off course there were some openings from which Eduardo beneficed that you know Robin would have buried but we all know Eduardo is also one clinical Dude. In this type of game as soon as you go behind it becomes difficult and with two goals behind you can really forget it. And no one can convince me that their first two goals were not plain luck. All really went for them during the game which bring me back to the Drog SPELL.

Arsène Wenger keen on Messi plus international round up

2009-10-15T11:28:00.001Z

Commenting for French television TF1, Arsène Wenger hinted on numerous arsenal insight. A part from helping on some Austrian words, he talked about Clichy and his slipping problems. He went on to talk about a Bayern Munich prospect a left back of Philippines and Nigerian origin playing for Austria.
Asked about his interest on Messi, he said who wouldn't want Messi in his team? He believes his problem with the Argentine national team is linked with the fact he has been trained so one-dimensionally in Barcelona since his youth. He said he likes to play youngsters in different positions to help them mature and adapt more quicker in new environment or system. Asked if Arsenal can match the big boys on getting players of Messi fees he said, if Arsenal chooses to spend few teams can match them from now.
The reporter told him :" Arshavin scored for Russia, does that please you?" Wenger said :"No, I would be pleased if he did not play." He was very concerned when Clichy got a knock in the game.

So in yesterday's international : Ramsy scored the only goal of a 2-1 losing Wales. Arshavin scored the equaliser for Russia. Clichy played 90 minutes for France. For a complete international review check http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/international-watch-

More good news to Arsenal with Samir and Messi

2009-10-14T10:10:00.002Z

Samir Nasri is due to return to action very soon. I like Nasri, he is a tidy player. I have known him while he was in Marseille. He is a very talented player. He did not show half his potential in his first season but nevertheless it was a pretty good season if you ask me. He played as a winger (right or left) but I believe he is a much better central midfielder. That's where the boss will try him, I believe.

Gabi Heinze has told some French television about the likely move of Messi to Arsenal. According to the Marseille center back, Messi is very excited about playing in the premier league and was asking questions to both Heinze and Teves about life in England, Arsene Wenger... They all agree the English League is the most competitive and exciting league in the world. Meanwhile, Ivan Gazidis and Juan Laporta are believed to be in advanced contact over the Messi transfer. The Arsenal CEO is ready to add more funds to the 70millions pounds reported earlier with Arsenal considered the third richest club in world football, the ex-american tycoon believes in order to surpass Man U and Real Madrid, Arsenal needs to invest heavily on one or two stars. The idea of a front three of Messi, Arshavin and Van Persie is too good for even Arsène who was a bit reluctant in the beginning.
More news are piling up on the Messiah. He is apparently not happy at Barcelona after losing his two best friends in Ronaldhino and Eto'o. In Argentina, he is blasted by the critics while he agrees with Maradona of the need of change. For the record Messi has a buyout clause of around 200 million pounds but Arsenal officials are lining a very healthy bid with interesting options that may tempt the calan giants. Pep Guardiola is believed to support the deal as he feels young Pedro is ready to take over with Iniesta coming back to form and other youngsters coming through meanwhile Barcelona are lining up a bid to bring Robinho who could replace Messi on the short term.

Exciting news despite international break!

2009-10-13T16:21:00.000Z

The international break is the worst thing that can happen to our football. It becomes worse if a whole week of two games are pressed out of it.

As it went, the international it is, Arshavin captained a losing Russia team against Germany meaning Russia will go through the play-offs just like France with Gallas a scorer in a 5 nil win over Faeroe Island. Vermaelen captained a 2 nil winning Belgium team just like Rosicky who assisted one of the Czech goals. Senderos bagged a brace for Switzerland while Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott got injured.

The good news come from Argentina where Messi has told friends and relatives he hopes to join the premier league which is the best league in the world. He is believed to only want to play for Arsenal in the PL as they are the only English club that plays football the right way. Meanwhile Ivan Gazidis, the Arsenal Chief Executive and Arsene Wenger are lining up a 75 million pounds january bid plus Fran Merida for the Argentina ace. Barcelona are also keen to get Fabregas but with the player reluctant to go back to Spain for the meanwhile, the Catalan giant wants first option on Cesc if he is ever to be sold by the gunners. Maradona thinks moving to North London could be very beneficial to both Messi and Argentina as he thinks new tactics and environment would help Messi get better as an individual as a team player.

Affair to follow!

More teachers may be required

2009-09-14T14:04:00.000Z

For another trip to Manchester the gunners play well just to suffer another defeat and while suffering a lack of justice from the referee and lack from ... hem Lady Luck I guess.
We started very well the game. Gallas should have scored from Van Persie corner. And when City got a free kick on the right side of our defense, Micah Richards from an offside position heads a nothing ball towards our goal. I thought ALmunia could walk slowly to catch the ball instead he dived missed the ball who bounced off the post and on him for the opening goal.

After the goal things got even we still dominated the play and possession for the rest of the first half.
The second half started in similar fashion with us getting much of the ball. Rosicky made his first appearance in EPL since only God knows when and minutes after coming on he put his marks on the game. I though thought we substituted the wrong player. I thought he should have come for Diaby instead of Denilson. Anyway Rosicky found Van Persie on the edge of the City box and the Dutchman did so well: getting away from Lescott and finding the bottom corner for a splendid equalizer.

At that point Adebayor got crazy, he started kicking, stamping and I still could not believe how he finished the game. Actually I do know. Referees are incompetent in England. But there's another reason: the players don't make enough fuss of incidents. When Adebayor stamped Cesc I thought had it been Eboue Adebayor would be at least booked. When he kicked Song from behind I was sad to see Song resisting to show he is man enough. Had he rolled down screaming Adebayor was off instead Song was the one booked when he lost possession and kicked back the monster.

But you see him stamping Van Persie you do realize how much this Adebayor guy is an animal. That is nothing short of crimininality!

During all this period I don't know how we manage to not be ahead as chances were created after chances but when Cesc tried to find Clichy with a rather cheap pass possession was lost and when Richards beat Song on the left back position Bellamy put City ahead again. That relaxed the animal a bit and he was trying to mock or players dribbling left and right.

But if there was any doubt about the animosity of Adebayor it was cancelled as soon as he scored like all ex-gunners do against Arsenal. He ran 90 yards to provoke the away fans. You would think if not for the supporters that constantly backed him during his Arsenal days he would have too much respect to Arsène Wenger, the man who brought him when he was nothing roting the Monaco bench. He taught him, trained him and gave him the perfect opportunities to be a good player. For years he was a liability to the team but Le Boss kept faith on him and he eventually became good. He then offered him three times his initial salary from 25kp to 80kp per week! Calling this guy an animal is an insult to every single beast out there.

They eventually scored a fourth goal while we lost shape and discipline. Rosicky got one back and Van Persie found the post and had another shot just cleared. We had in the last three minutes or so enough chances to level the game but it was not to come.

I don't know why I still feel rather confident in this team but I had a good feeling about this season. We paly much better than last year and we can only get better with Arshavin, Walcott, Nasri, Wilshere and Vela still to bring more to the side. Another good sign is Van Persie finding his feet in the lone central role. He is being a revelation in the last couple of games.

Arsenal against the world!

2009-08-31T10:26:00.005Z

They all said Arsenal would do peanuts this season. They all like it when money is traded without responsability. They like it when xenophobia rules. They like it when bad people laugh. They like it when good people fail.
For a week every single bastard in world football was rubbing it into Arsenal for what they believe was a dive from Eduardo against a Celtic team who was heavily losing a game they could never win. From Platini to nobody everyone was on how to punish the cheating Arsenal striker. I remember when Pires got a penalty against Portsmout back in 2004 how he was made the biggest cheat in football too. What is more disgusting in this time though is the targeted Eduardo. This is a lad who got one of the most severe injuries in football from a Taylor challenge that almost ended his footballing career. He spent 18 months and is still to play normally. You can understand the psycholgical block he can have when seeing a fat keeper going into your feet. He never even apealed for a penalty. So there was no way he should get the treatment he recieved. Now the stupid UEFA are charging him for simulating a foul so he is facing a two match ban. I hope they ban him. That will highlight their incompentency to anyone who still believes they have any decency.

If the Eduardo incident is disgusting what happened Saturday was just a work of satan and of the highest order. We played manchester united off their own backyard. They were scared, out of thoughts and out of ideas. We were better in every department and Mike Dean, the stupid cuntish referee sent by the incompetent FA. Let's just remember he was charged for betting in the game. So you must belive he put his money on the stupid mancs that being the most forgiveable explanation of his behaviours. United chased shadow for a good part of the game and decided as usual to kick the gunners as their ever so found solution against Arsenal since the Invincibles. Valencia, the new toy of Ferguson wasted no time in going into red card offenses from the start of the game: kicking, elbowing and even using some martial arts waza without getting the smallest punishment from the referee. But off course as soon as Alex Song made a nothing challenge on a Man U player was I surprised to see a yellow branded with so much emotion from the mean Dean. But when Fletcher two footedchallenged Arshavin in the penalty area I was so concerned with the little russian's ability to get up. That is a life threatening tackle in my book. And Fletcher to say I got some of the man and some of the ball. Incorrect! You got all of the man and handled the ball! The tackle is a red card offense! The "denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity" is another red card offense. A bad tackle in the 18 yard area is a peanlty, handling the ball in the penalty area another penalty. So Fletcher made an offense that warrant two red cards and two penalties! What happened next? LUCK, said Fletcher! Cheat; The referee cheated Arsenal and waved play on. Dean said litterally "did anything happen? Play on lads." The russian fella showed the whole world he has grits something the xenophobic FA and Mancs truly lack. He picked himself up and scored a beauty though he clearly was injured the moment that piece of cunts from Scotland tried to murder him. He played on but was suffering and had to come off later in the game.
If that was not farcial enough what happened next was truly amazingly wonderfully farcial. The big bull from Everton playing for Mencheaters United answering from the name Rooney ran, kicked a ball out of play and fell with his thousands of pounds worth of fat on poor Almunia's fingers. The referee ran fiercely to point to the penalty spot to give Man U their first chance to shoot on target. The Fatbastard from Austin Powers dispatched the penalty as he just saved the world from Allien Invazion or more like saving the day for Dr Evil's evil empire. They were all like muwhahhahahahha muwhahhaa muwhahhahah. Dr Evil is safe for another day!
And when Diaby misplaced a header to trump his own keeper. They asked themselves. From 0 chance we scored two goals how evilful can you get!
They still have time for another comedy as Wenger has no reason to kick a poor bottle of water. The bad frenchman kicked a British bottle of water! How dare he? Where's the queen? This Great Britain we serve our queen with dignity and there's no place for continental people who kick the citizen Water Bottle. So Wenger gets a red card. Wow what a day for the United Kingdom. A team full of foreigners beaten. We gave them six yellow cards and one red one while we kicked them with only three yellow cards to live with. Great Day! Great Victory! They all deserve a knighthood!

Arsenal finishes Scottish job and awaits CL draw before super saturday showdown against Manchester United

2009-08-27T12:47:00.002Z

Yesterday I missed the first half of the game as the electricity was missing as usual at this period of time in Senegal. I ran home early just to realize that all my efforts were for nothing.
Thank god just before the break of the fast it came back and I saw one nil to the Arsenal while people were heading down the tunnel. I waited for the half time highlights and saw the penalty incident which did not impress me at all. I hate diving. I hate it more when our players do it. Well I would love it if they won penalties against Manchester United or Liverpool as they have done it against us and we got no sympathy.
In the second half I saw some nice moves, nice football and three very good goals. The first one was great. Clichy found Bendtner on the left wing and the Dane back heeled the ball in Diaby's path. The leggy Frenchman cut the ball to Eboue who moved it to the free space in his right before sending a low drive to the left sidefooting the goal keeper. Nice football, nice goal!
The ever so impressive Denilson showed some brilliant staff intercepting, dribbling passing and running into space. He failed to follow Bendtner when the new number 52 trumped the goal keeper to cut back for the Brazilian. He set Vermaelen with a cute little flick a-la Zidane and it was him again at the heart of the second goal of the half and the third for the gunners. The Brazillian won the ball dribbled a couple of players before losing possession for a second. Arshavin got the rebound, found Aaron Ramsey who gave him back the ball. The Russian genius turned on himself and found the back of the net with a lovely drive. This was a typical genius goal that only the likes of Arshavin, Bergkamp etc score on regular basis.
Ramsey came off moments later through injury and we finished the game with ten players. In injury time Celtic got one back when Donati met a far post cross with a nice volley that hit the inside of the post and went in for a consolation goal to the visitors.

The champiosn league draw is today. We are in the first pot along Barcelona, Manchester, Chelsea, Liverpool, AC Milan, Bayern and FC Seville. This means we won't be in the same group as those clubs but we would not face the other english clubs anyway. One club from the second pot will be in our group those clubs being : Real Madrid, Inter, Lyon,CSKA Moscow , Porto, AZ Alkmaar, Juventus and Rangers. Another club from the third pot will follow : Olympiakos, Marseille, Dinamo Kiev, Stuttgart , Fiorentina, Atletico Madrid, Bordeaux and Besikta. The last club should be from Wolfsburg, Standard Liege, Maccabi Haifa, FC Zurich, Rubin Kazan, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni and Apoel FC.
A group of Arsenal, Rangers, Besiktas and AFC Unirea would do for me but Arsenal Real Madrid Fiorentina and Wolfsburg is also tasty not easy but entertaining.

On saturday is the big showdown against Manchester United at Old Trafford. The young guns will face their biggest test so far and we are all very confident going into this game. In the injury front it doses not look good for the central midfield where Cesc is a doubt while Ramsey is out. Nasri is also out but Rosicky may be available. The Cech did not play a competitive game since january 2008 so even if he is available he would only play a couple of minutes at best. Van Persie and Arshavin were rested with this game in mind and I hope they will respond to that. Manchester may be fresher as they did not play in midweek with the home advantadge so naturally they are favourites. But don't write us off!

Up the gunners!

Home sweeet home and ramadan eid mubarak!

2009-08-24T14:57:00.004Z

The first home game of the season was on the card on saturday afternoon when the Portsmouth were the guests at the Emirates Stadium.

While an ARSENALISATION process has began in the new stadium, the young guns started their home campaign in similar fashion to the two great away games already played.
Wenger made four changes to the side that brushed aside Everton 6-1 on the EPL first game and won confortably away to Celtic 2-0. Eboue and Gibbs started respectively as right back and left back to replace Sagna and Clichy. Song was rested and Diaby was on along Cesc and Denilson. Eduardo took the left wing position where Arshavin used to operate. The little Russian genius was on the right side previously occupied by Bendtner who was rested too.

Despite the changes the gunners took only 17 minutes to find the net curtosy of a lovely combination between Eduardo and Diaby. Cesc found Eduardo with a delicious chip on the left wing, the Croazilian made a fool of the pompey right back and cut inside for the unrushing Diaby who slided home a sweet opener.
The arsenalisation of the stadium consists on putting efforts and bringing arsenal tradition into the stadium with more color, more painting etc. But a couple of minutes from the opening goal a second one from a counter attack so reminescent of old arsenal was to follow. A free kick was cleared by ABou Diaby, the ball was picked by Arshavin who found Cesc. The captain released EBoue on the right who found Diaby in the penalty area and all the the Frenchman had to do was to slot the ball in the net. Exquisite counter attacking football from old arsenal leaves that was the trademark of the great invincibles. Later after the match Wenger compared Abou Diaby to the engine of that great team: Patrick Vieira.

Just before half time the teammates of Pape Bouba Diop found themselves with one goal when Younes Kaboul jumped on Almunia to head his goal. Cesc came off at half time with a suspected hamstring injury and was replaced by Aaron Ramsey the Welsh teenager sensation. Gallas got his usual goal. He has scored in every competitive game so far. An Arshavin free kick was flicked by Van Persie to the far post, Vermaelen tackled the ball back accross goal where Gallas hit the ball on his own face and in the net. Later Van Persie found Ramsey with a neat pass and the Welsh International trumped the pompey keeper with ease.

First home game of the season 4-1 without forcing our talent and while resting some key players is a good day for the gunners long may it continue.

The strikers still didn't score but we can't complain! Twelve goals in three games while Van Persie and Arshavin the two best players of the last campaign are still searching their form. Next is the return leg of the champions leaghue qualifier against Celtic on wednesday before the big shock when we visit Old Trafford on Saturday to entertain Manchester United.

So happy ramadan to you all. And up the gunners!

Goals are coming but not from the strikers yet!

2009-08-22T22:17:00.002Z

Arsenal played two games scores eight goals and Eduardo is the only forward who stroke. Some believe the formation is not suiting the likes of Van Persie, Arshavin and Bendtner, others believe it’s just a matter of time before they find their scoring boots while I think most of the gunners would care little as long as the goals keep on banging in.

So the questions to ask are the followings:
- What are the explanations to the small goal return from the strikers?
- Will the goals keep on flowing for the gunners?
- How long will it take the strikers to lead the scoring line?

I can think of three reasons to explain the lack of firing power from the front line.

The first is Van Persie leading the attack. Not because it is hard for him to score goals as twenty goals last term would witness but because he plays very differently from your traditional number nine. Where most of football forwards will ask for the ball into the space they are running in, allowing them to get through on goals, RVP wants the ball at his feet as he almost always will be able to create space for himself or for others in the tightest of situation. The midfield trying to release him through in goals will not often be a successful move to make him score.

The second reason is the number of openings the front three create for the midfielders who frequently join the attack. Arshavin, RVP as well as Bendtner are all very creative and all can entertain more than a defender while still getting away with a lovely flick or pass, this will always allow the central midfielders to get into great goal scoring situations.

The third reason is a communication one and habits. While the midfielder will learn to know the best aspiring balls for the strikers, these strikers also have to know how to get the best out of their partners and to provide them the best of themselves. Arshavin is nowhere near his best and his understandings with RVP and Bendtner are nowhere near perfect. For the meanwhile Robin is going to need some getting used as a lone center forward with Arshavin and Bendtner upping their game from the wings.

As for the goals I believe they will keep on coming, whether it’s from the strikers or the other players is another question but the way we are playing at the moment guarantees goals.

So the most important question, I would believe, is when would our attackers start scoring goals. I think as soon as the communication passes well they will have opportunities. Another important factor for strikers is also the first goal when it comes everything seems to get into place and they will fall like rain in august.

Pompey could be a good opportunity for the attack to get going, let’s pray it becomes the must needed break point for them!
Up the GUNNERS!

1-6 ; 0-2 Away day gunners rock !

2009-08-20T14:10:00.001Z

Two games away from the Emirates Stadium and 8 goals for the hot guns with one against, Arsenal starts the new season in a wonderful fashion!

The 2008/2009 finished with a sour note for the North London faithful and more agonies were to follow according to pundits and football experts especially after departures of two first teamers who headed to the blue sky part of Manchester in Adebayor and Kolo Toure while Thomas Vermaelen was the only new face in the Wenger side. So the so called football experts along with some doomers gloomers supporters believe 2009/2010 is going to be a hard one for the red and white team from N5.

But Wenger kept his cool and kept telling whoever wanted to hear, his team is full of quality and will challenge for honors in 2010. Medias and supporters have been laughing at the “deluded” manager who some believed was just trying to cover the financial woes of the club or board messes.

Now that the season has started, much to the delight of every football fan I suppose as actions, as they say speak louder than words, will flow every couple of days. Arsenal was handed a tough opening schedule as the first premier league game was away to Mersey at the Everton venue followed by a champions league qualifier at Celtic park before welcoming Pompey at home and going to the first big shock of the season at Old Trafford against the champions followed by another visit to Manchester against the new riches of the EPL.

So first game of the season: Everton away! The blue side of Liverpool finished one place and nine points below Arsenal in the last campaign. Arsenal written off by all football experts were to be given a first taste of defeat on the opening day as the most optimistic of the gunners cause could barely back a draw against the Evertonians. But 25 minutes were all that was needed for everybody to realize that Wenger does have a point to put so much believe into his young side. Letting Adebayor go means Bendtner will have more playing time and more responsibilities and he did start on the right side of a three men attack. He received a long ball from Almunia and brought down before going past two opponents and laid the ball to Fabregas. The gunner captain showed enormous awareness to lay perfectly the ball to Denilson and the young Brazilian midfielder sent a perfect curling shot in the bottom corner of the net for a splendid Arsenal opening. Denilson along Cesc and Song complete the midfield three of the new 4-3-3 formation deployed by Le Prof.

Two quick goals from set pieces by the two center backs Thomas Vermaelen called the Verminator by the fans and William Gallas as the first half finished 3 nil to the good for Arsenal. The second half started and barely two minutes on the clock before Cesc scored the first of a fine brace. Denilson unleashed Van Persie on the left and the Dutch ace found the captain with a delicious pass and the Catalan born with a low drive between the legs of the advanced Tim Howard trumps the Everton keeper for Arsenal’s fourth. Fabregas will later score the second after running sixty yards with the ball before finding the net with a another low drive. Five nil and Wenger brought on Eduardo and Ramsey resting Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. The Croatian born Brazilian known as the Croazilian for the fans had time to nick a sixth goal for the gunners after a lovely work from Arshavin who nut-mugged Yobo before finding the post with a toe poke. The Croazilian tapped in the rebound. Louis Saha did get a consolation goal for the Merseyside blues before the final whistle. So it was 1-6 away to a rival while Liverpool lost on opening day against our local rival the Hotspurs, Manchester united could only beat new boys Birmingham one nil at home while Chelsea needed an injury time fluke goal from Adebayor to see off Hull City.

The second fixture on the gunners’ fixture was a visit to Glascow where a champions place is at stake against Celtic. The Scottish giant have not lost to an English side for over 25 years when Nottigham forest the only English side to beat them came worthy winners. Since both Liverpool and Manchester United have tried and failed to win at Celtic Park. The atmosphere at the Scottish venue is believed to be very intimidating and one of the very best in Europe. And the crowd responded well to their reputation from the start of the game but far from intimidated the young guns fought very hard and came back worthy two nil winners with Gallas and an O.G goal enough to prepare the return leg with a with a good lead.
What a start for Arsenal! Come you gunnerz.

My 4-3-3 is better than yours!

2009-08-19T14:56:00.001Z

Arsenal starts the season with an awkward non conventional 4-3-3 formation. The Dutch invented formation is played anyway but Arsène’s way. It’s mostly a ball possession dominating game when most of the play is camped inside the opponents half where good dribbling wingers and overlapping full backs more than often make the difference.

Now let’s look at Wenger’s 4-3-3, there are no traditional winger. But before looking for those playing on the wing, let’s look at the center forward position occupied by Robin Van Persie. We all know that the Dutch is not the strongest striker, who can bully defenders on his way nor is he the all pace attacker. But he is capital in the 4-3-3 of Arsenal as the lone striker. He makes everything click with his movement but most importantly with his abilities to pick other players while in a very uncomfortable situation. His flicks and passes will help the team open any defense especially with options on the wings and from the joining midfield duo of Cesc and Denilson. What people also don’t realize is that RVP is one of the very best players when it comes to create space for himself or his teammates in the very tightest of situation.

One trait though that this formation has with the traditional 4-3-3 is the pressing effort the players put. And I have been very impressed with Arshavin in that regard but you also have Bendtner , Denilson and Cesc who are all excelling in the Energy spent in that department. While Song is making his mark as the tackle winning master, Denilson is winning a fair amount of balls back by intercepting balls and reading the dribbling direction of opponents. With our ever strong full backs and now Vermaelen showing he may be the defender we all wished to have and Gallas playing his best, defensively we have never been better under Arsène Wenger.
But I believe the biggest benefit is the departure of Adebayor, not that he wasn’t a good striker, but because we tended to change our way of play out of facility maybe but the “hoof it to Ade” from Touré and Cesc was hamming our game big time not counting the number of time Adebayor would kill the flow of the attack with his wrong choices or irritating offside positions. It’s so nice to see us move the ball from back to front with triangles and diamond passes.

Bendtner on the opposite wing of Arshavin could also be one deadly weapon as the Russian is the best if not the only good crosser of the ball at the team and Bendtner the best header; it really makes sense for the Danish to be attacking the little guy’s crosses from the extreme right rushing into the penalty box. Another trait of Bendtner on the wing is to use his body strength against smaller full back opponents as we witnessed against Everton especially knowing that for all his big stature the Dane is quite sound technically. This gives us a safe long ball option as a long ball down in the middle of the opponent’s defense is more often than not dealt well by big and strong center backs.

There are early days for this formation and I believe many players will offer a lot more than they are doing right now especially Van Persie and Arshavin. Opponents will also get time to study it more but the early signs are very good and may it continue!

Stike, strike...

2009-07-30T17:15:00.002Z

I went on strike for the past few days. Today I will talk about the striking options of the club.
You have three types of strikers: the goal poachers, the chance makers and the hard workers.
In Arsenal we have Robin Van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner, Eduardo Dudu Da Silva and Carlos Tevez. We also have Arshavin, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Samir Nasri, Abou Diaby and Thomas Rosicky who all operate as second or wide strikers.
Whether in a 4-4-2 or in a 4-3-3 Van Persie has shown he can operate quite efficiently as a wide forward, a second striker or a main centre forward as he has done for Holland and Arsenal. Back from his best ever season judging by the stats, most of the expectations will be on him. He scored 20 goals last season and assisted a further 10 in the league but I believe like many he could and should do a lot better if not in stats wise in playing style wise. He did not use his dribbling capabilities as well as he could. Not scoring from free kicks was a let down. But to truly be the monster he can easily be, he needs to grow in stature and becomes harder to knock off balls. I have very high hopes on him as he can go on to be one of the very top best players out there. I hope this will be his year as our trophy hunt hangs a lot on his slim shoulder.
Bendtner frustrated more than one Emirates’ faithful in last campaign with his goal missing capabilities but he more than won amend with his key goals especially away from home. He finished with a very respectable goal return and for a third option he did better than anybody else in the league. But judging by his international status and his confidence level he needs to deliver and now! With Ade departing he has his opportunity to show how big he can be. I have a lot faith on him facing this season. If there’s one player to tip for a bright season he has my vote.
If many of our up front players are known for their wastefulness in front of goal, one who can never be found guilty of wasting chances is the Coazilian number 9. Eduardo Dud is the best finisher in the league and if he can be fit he will give another dimension to our attack as the only barometer for attack is goal and he sure knows how to get one.
Another one who is believed to be clinical is young Vela. He did show a lot of nerves and technical abilities in his carling an FA cup exploits. He scored delicious chips and showed glimpses of his great potential in some of his rather limited first team opportunities in the league. How much stature can he grow this upcoming season, I would not be able to answer but judging by what I have seen of him so far he could do a decent job for once a while for us.
Another young forward is Theo Walcott. In a 4-3-3 formation he will play a lot as a wide attacker but in a 4-4-2 I can’t see him playing a lot as a striker. Nevertheless with his pace and his rather good finishing he is a player who could do very well up front.
The second striker role the one that is supposed to link the midfielder with the goal getter and create chances is a position all Arsenal players believe they are born to play. Arshavin wants to play there, so do Diaby, Rosicky, Nasri, Wilshere, Van Persie, Bendtner and even Cesc has played there a couple of times.
I believe this a position which despite the departure of Ade seems well balanced with quality, profile diversity as well as in numbers. But as a team with an attacking style we need to score high goal numbers to be successful. We need to score far more than anybody else to stand a chance of being champion!

Wenger, what Winger?

2009-07-27T11:34:00.002Z

Wenger, what Winger?

I want to talk like a wicked pundit. A winger wins you championship it’s as simple as that. If you look at the great championship winning team and you take off their best winger they become ordinary. Chelsea lost Robben and never won the league again and the only time they got a great run last year was when Malouda started to play like a true one. Manchester United lost Beckham while Giggs started to feel the years and they became casual until both Ronaldo and Rooney started to pour in some truly great wing performances. Liverpool challenged when they had Riera. AC Milan has never been the same since they lost that Serginho bloke. Barcelona sold Giuly and struggled until Dani Alves came alone as one of the best wing back of the game combining well with Messi. Without great Overmars or Pires seasons we have seemed hopeless.

It’s easy and quite simplistic to draw the picture like that but it can show us how important a winger is if you want to put your hands on the championship. I believe to be a great team you need one great winger at least. Of all the players Wenger put on the wings and they are a lot only Overmars was born to play the role. Pires did better than everybody else but only because he was a special player. Both Pires and Ljungberg were attacking central midfielders who were used from the wings. They both succeeded only because they had the attributes. A winger needs to precise, aggressive with the ball, to dribble, to assist and to score but more than anything to define the space in which the team plays. A winger needs to know when to narrow or to widen the attacking surface. They both excelled at that with great acceleration.

Of the current lads Arshavin looks like the safe bet for a truly great championship winning winger. Rosicky is as closed as you can get but Wilshere looks like a born winger and I hope he won’t be changed into a central midfielder or a half striker. Nasri can be a decent one while Walcott goes from sublime to mediocre between two actions. It’s not bad to help players learn their trade from the wings but only you always have to make sure you don’t have a mediocre player at each side of the field. Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Wilshere sould be the first choices wingers and bringing another would definitely not hurt our championship aspirations.

Now let’s compare our wing situation with those of our main rivals. Manchester United are left with Nani, Park Ji Sung, Rooney who’s gunning for a striking role and Giggs. Liverpool have Benayoun, Riera, Kuyt and Babel to call while Chelsea have Malouda, Joe Cole, Ballack or Belletti to use. Real Madrid may be able to use Ronaldo, Robben, Kaka, Sneijder or the likes of Van Der Vaart, Higuain and Drenthe. In Messi, Henry, Dani Alves, Seydou Keita and Iniesta Barcelona does not seem to lack options neither does Inter Milan with Mancini, Quaresma and the likes of Milito and Balotelli. I think Barcelona and Chelsea still look seem to have the best options if you consider their side backs. We may not be far but would need Arshavin to deliver and the rest to step up big time.

Arsenal the central midfield

2009-07-24T18:21:00.000Z

This is meant to be a first of a serie to assess the team. It’s still pre-season so faces may still come or go. I am starting with the central midfield as it is the most critical part of a team in general and ours particularly because of the serial loss of Edu, Vieira, Lassana Diarra, Flamini and Gilberto in three to four years.

The players who are believed to be occupying the central midfield are Cesc Song Denilson Diaby Ramsey and to a lesser degree Nasri and Rosicky.

Last year Denilson played there more than any other player. Let’s look back at his time in the team at that position though he did play as a winger a couple of times. He started the season brilliantly (West Brom, Twente, Blackburn, Newcastle, Bolton…). At this period he was by a mile the best overall player on the pitch for us. I believe his pre-season was a bit tougher than the rest almost playing 90 minutes of all the preparation games. That meant he was better equipped than most from the start but it also meant he was more likely to get burnt than the rest. But for whatever reason he lost form badly. The good thing about him through out the season was when he lacked confidence he had the presence of mine to play it simple with the passes and positioning himself very well to win balls with less efforts. The critics never rested on his case comparing his every move with Flamini. The lad lost confidence and only was it at the end of the season from his second half appearance against Chelsea in the league at home, did he get back to his best. He finished well in my opinion. With the statistics he got and the way he really stood in the games I mentioned, one has to agree that the kid has talent and though he will never play like Flamini he can offer much more than the Frenchman but only on his own way.

While Denilson was losing form during the course of the season Alex Song was going from strength to strength. I have always doubted the lad’s chances to make it as a central midfielder. I always thought he was only suited to CB. Because of his lazy air his weird running I thought he lacks the stamina to become a CM. But he showed so much urgency at some point of the season, marking well bringing the ball forward and even assisting and scoring goals. His assist for the outrageous goal of Eduardo in the FA cup was great but I prefer the back heel to Eboué against Blackburn at home if my memory serves me right.

While Denilson and Song showed a lot of promises one player that failed miserably was Diaby. He was favoured for the CM post alongside Cesc when Flamini left and it did look like it was his to lose during pre-season before he got injured missed the start of the season came back rusty and never could impose himself. He played more as a second striker or a winger but overall a part from some glimpses here and there he did little to convince the gunner world. His away performances against Fener, Newcastle and Aston Villa were the only times when he could hold his head high.

Ramsey is another player who has shown a lot of promises during the short carling campaign. He did well for Wales at under 21 and at senior level. But during his first team opportunities I had the impression he was trying too much to impress as shown in Cardiff though you have to consider the emotional effect of that game. I believe he will turn out to be an excellent player for us but I cannot say when that is more likely. And now is our time to deliver so he will need to perform at his highest best when called upon.

Cesc Fabregas is not just our best CM he is the player in our squad, he is the star. He will be mentioned every time the best players are talked up. Even though he did not perform last year at the level he consistently showed from day one he is undoubtly one of the best midfielder in the Premier League and in Europe.

There are also Nasri and Rosicky who could do a job sometimes there but these four are supposed to be the midfield core team. Now if you compare them to those of the top teams in Europe what do you get? Manchester has Fletcher, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes and Anderson. Liverpool has Gerard, Alonso, Mascherano and Lucas. Chelsea has Obi, Lampard, Ballack and Essien. Inter has Muntari, Cambiasso, Vieira, Stankovic and Zanetti. AC Milan has Flamini, Gattuso, Ambrosini, Seerdoff and Pirlo. Juventus has Cissokho, Melo, Thiago and some youngster. Barça has Yaya Touré, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Seydou Keita. Real Madrid has Lassana Diarra, Mouhamadou Diarra, Guti and Gago.

When you look at that Barcelona, Chelsea and AC Milan probably seem to have better options than the rest. While we, Man U and Liverpool are around the same level.

If you compare it to our invincibles when we had Vieira, Gilberto, Parlour and Edu you cannot say we are far as Parlour was getting old and Edu was injury prone. If Denilson and Song and it’s a big if can really step up and reach their potential we will be as fine as ever but if none of them get to the required level we are as good as dead.

So who’s ready for the gamble?

The big project

2009-07-23T17:07:00.002Z

The good year with the questions

We are in May 2004. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal is crowned champion of England. Probably the best champion the league ever knew. Wenger has a strong army with lot of weaknesses at hand and at sight. The squad did not have much debt as highlighted by the cup exits, the team is building a new stadium while loaning heavy debts and consuming a big part of their every year incomes as the sponsorship deals were front loaded. I will use the economic situation but I mostly want to talk about the football. Wenger had Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Cole, Kolo Touré, Gilberto, Edu, Vieira, Parlour, Ljungberg, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry and Reyes as reliable players. That’s fifteen players plus the likes of Cigan and Pennant, Clichy or Aliadière, but fifteen! You don’t have money, your squad is thin, your players overachieved both physically and mentally and your fans are accustomed to success and greatness. What do you do?

The start of the project

Le Prof chose to go the young way. The likes of Van Persie, Eboue and Flamini joined the likes Cesc, Reyes, Clichy and Aliadiere. And the youth experiment began. With the inflated transfer market the big wages for players and the success of Fabregas things got accelerated. At start of 2004/2005 campaign, Cesc and Reyes delivered beyond expectation. With the development of Cole and Anelka at Arsenal and the likes of Trezeguet, Thuram, Weah etc at Monaco, Wenger knows he is in a field he masters. The 2004/2005 finished in disappointment but in no mean was it a bad season. The defeat at home against ManU and the CL exit against Bayern aside, it was a great season with the youngsters seemingly showing they can be trusted. And trusted they were when Vieira got sold following a rather average season and on a huge wage but most notably following the explosion of young Cesc.

The leaderless team

By losing Vieira the team lost a big leader and strong character on and off the field. There were still people that could be called to help out on leadership and mental strength with the likes of Campbell, Lauren, Bergkamp, Ljungberg, Cole and to a lesser degree Henry and Pires being around. But the 2005/2006 season was known for the injuries the old heads suffered Campbell was injured physically and mentally for good parts of the season, so were Cole and Lauren. Without those, the Vieira loss became even bigger. A bad league campaign was saved by a great CL campaign the best we ever had in our history setting a defensive record on the way with Eboue Senderos Toure and Flamini in front of Lehmann.

The new home

The 2006/2007 was the first season at the Emirates. The start was marred by the departure of Cole for money with Pires and Campbell leaving as well while Denis Bergkamp had retired. Henry was the only one the youngsters could look up to and he is not such figure and was injured for most part of the season. Van Persie who was showing tremendous form was also injured and we finished without any good striker. Adebayor was clumsy at best but Gilberto step up and saved the day in many occasions. While the season was not great at all, the only source of joy came from the younger guns who reached the carling final and gave Chelsea a real game of football. That also meant they deserved more trust and some chances to make it here.

The almost year

Although a couple experienced signing have been made (Hleb, Eduardo and Rosicky), most of the Wenger buys since 2005 are very young to say the least. With Henry and Ljungberg gone, Gilberto relegated on the bench alongside Lehmann, Touré was the only survivor from the invincibles. 2007/2008 is the year where the youngsters are all alone exposed in front of the world to show what they can do, trusted as they are by one the best managers of the game. And from august to march it seemed they would deliver they exploded. Some injuries some luck or lack of it and some weaknesses all coming out at the very wrong time meant the greatly announced year was another disappointment at the end.

The failed year

After coming so close to clinching success, Wenger saw again the core of the team slipping through his fingers losing almost the entire midfield of the team. If Hleb Diarra Gilberto and Flamini left, Rosicky injured the whole season, Cesc missed four month along with Theo Walcott. Sagna Clichy Cesc Flamini Adebayor and Hleb were the top performers of the “almost year” but they all disappointed through their absences or poor form or combination of the two. Because we were so closed the previous year and fell away from that level the sentiment of failure is zoomed to maximum. Some players become scapegoats (Adebayor, Silvestre, Denilson, Diaby, Eboue etc) and Wenger becomes subject of strong criticism from pundits and fans.

What next?

When you work so hard and come so close to success but fail what do you do? You need to take some distance and assess the situation. You need to know what went as planned and what did not go so well. They say experience is the sum of someone’s failures. Though we have failed quite a lot since the invincibles but you can’t deny the fact that we are learning and the reasons of our failures seem to be the same, they sure are very different. I still believe like many that this is the make or break season for this project, I think even if we failed and have to rebuild from scratches every gunner should be proud of it. A lot of great projects have died but that does not take away the fact they were great project indeed!

Pre season on going!

2009-07-23T12:07:00.003Z

Arsenal are currently in Austria preparing for the upcoming very decisive season. Two friendly games have already taken place but honestly I haven't watched any not even a highlight to say anyting about them. At this period, only the money grabbing low class clubs are trying to make these games look serious. Thank GOD we are not one of them. Arsenal are known for their rather traditional approach to pre-season. We usually gather at Colney with the kids and some first teamers then we play with Barnet before heading to Austria/Hungary for a couple of weeks and then back to some tournaments (Amsterdam or Emirates plus another friendly or two).

I love to think of Arsenal as the ideal student at school who is always on time, does his home work, respects the teachers and the rules and gets the best marks. They won't always be the most successful in life afterwards but they will always get a decent living and pride from what they did and how they did it. At the other end you will find the cheating, coward, selfish and opportunistic ones who may end up with a lot of money and power. I know which one I would prefer my son to be.

Enough with the philosophy and pictures, let's talk about the football even though there's little of it for the time being. The transfer window has been opened for over six weeks now, we have signed one defenderr Thomas Vermaelen that is, from Ajax for 10 MP. We have also sold Adebayor to Manchester City for 25 MP. Armand Traore and Philipe Senderos are back from loan. We are linked to a host of players and every man and his dog seem to know who Wenger should buy, who he should not buy, who he should sell who he sould not sell...

Unlike many supporters I tend to believe the man knows what he has and what he can get. I think in this climate that's more important than knowing what you need. The simplistic one will tell us we need a central midfielder they call defensive minded midfielder more than anything and that we have been needing it since the Flamster and Lassana Diarra and Gilberto left the club. The importance of knowing what you have and what you can get is that it allows you to distance yourself from going crazy looking for every player that looks like one. You need to assess if the tareget player is going to fit in your team and is better than what you have and can add something subtancial.

Wenger has gone into a road in which it is so important to get really good players and no average signings. Look at Sylvestre, here is an average experienced player we bought. Compare him to a player like Djourou who is an inexperienced potencially good defender. With his inexperience he is just as average as Sylvestre and while he can progress to become a very good defender Tweety will stay average. Tweety was at a big club so we knew he was average but if he was at Fulham or Stoke we would think of him as good. No offense to Silvestre, Fulham or Stoke, it's just an example.

When you want to buil a young team you only should buy super players. I would rather buy an Arshavin for 20 MP than a Cana + Upson + Scott Parker for 10MP.

In the last january window we got Arshavin and there were a lot of eyebrows raised. He wasn't something we needed apparently and look at what he did and how he is now looked as one of the positive things at the club by those who were crying for their DM.

If I have a swipe for le Boss it is the way he failed to hold on Lassana, Flamini and Hleb. Even if I can understand the situation with all of them it is not forgiveable to lose them all in the same year as far as I am concerned. For Flamini he was on his way out before blossoming but we needed to tie him up in January at least before letting Lassana go.

Abdoulaye NDIAYE

Arsenal Legend has his CL medal

2009-05-28T15:18:00.004Z

Arsenal legend and all time top goal scorer has his CL medal and hopefully one year before the gunners will put their hands on the prestigeous trophy.

Thierry Daniel Henry joined Arsenal in 1999 from Juventus as a pacy winger and was transformed by Wenger into a sublime center forward. He went on to beat Ian Wright goal scoring record for Arsenal which was 186. Henry went on to get 226 goals for the gunners. His elegant style of running and finishing was his trademark as the gunners cruise into perfection when they went an entire season without defeat in the premierleague. Henry was the main hero netting 31goals in the process. His goals at Highbury against Liverpool that year was sublime to say the least. He led the gunners into their first ever CL final in 2006 with exceptionnal winning performances on the road against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, Juventus, Ajax and the likes. Arsenal was defeated in that final in Paris by Henry present partners who will have to thank him for the trophy as the King missed a couple of chances to put the game beyond the catalans. After a 2006/2007 season to forget mainly because of injuries he left the gunners to join Barcelona.

Arsenal supporters will always have a place in their heart for the King of Highbury TH14. Well done vava-voooom!

The young guns complete double

2009-05-27T11:58:00.004Z

The young arsenal guns complete the double. After winning the academy league, they have won the FA youth cup with a 6-2 aggragate demolition of the young scousers.
James Shea goal keeper, Craig Eastmond and Thomas Cruise full backs, Luke Ayling and Kyle Bartley center backs, Francis Coquelin - Emmanuel Frimpong - Jay EmmanuelThomas - Jack Wilshers - Henri Lansbury midfielders, Sanchez Watt - Giles Sunu and Rhys Murphy forwards got the better of liverpool in a two legged tie where the talent of the young guns were to much despite all the heart and determination shawn by the Liverpool youngsters.
The young arsenal team play so much like the first team with fierce movements and passes. They can be very aggressive off the ball to press the opposition team where Coquelin really excels. JET is another talented youngster who really have all the attributes to be a huge player for us : athletism, skills, shooting and passing abilities with more discipline he will soon get to the first team. Sanchez Watt is another one regarded as someone who will be a notch.
The star of the youth team is though Jack WILSHERE. The boy already has some first team football at 16 of age. He has champions league and premierleague football under his belt. He was one the 10 stars of the under 17 european championship despite only playing two games. You want to see brilliant technics, close controls, dribblings skills, shooting abilities, awareness and vision for a pass : look no further than this young lad. He is already being compared to Messi and Iniesta so you know he has to be good.
The great thing about the youth team is that they are full of young british lads. These guys are the first graduates of the arsenal academic of Wenger-Brady-Bould.
Usually few players come out of youth system and establish themselves in the first team when it comes to great clubs. But these youngsters have given me the slicest of hope that we actually may see at least 4 to 5 future arsenal stars and a couple of squad players from them.
I also believe when the time for Wenger to move comes up we may not need to look any further than Brady-Bould.

One season to remember or to forget?

2009-05-26T13:57:00.003Z

2008/2009 ended with arsenal going four seasons without a major trophy. Four trophyless seasons for Wenger's young team. In 2005 Vieira scored from the spot kick against manchester united during the shoot-out in the FA Cup final in what was his last kick for the gunners to give us what is up to now our last trophy well we did win some Amsterdam and Emirate cups in between. We were very close in 2006 with the CL final and 2007 with CC final and last year with the league. But this time we never were close. We finished 4th with 18 points short of manchester united, got knocked out from the CL and the FA cup on the semi finals by ManU and Chelsea.
The positives are though we did that whith a very young team younger than last years and with all our major players short of form. Fabregas was exhausted after the EURO he won with Spain, Ade was way off the pace as was Gallas for most part of the season until november when he got stripped off the armband. Van Persie was injured when he was on top form and many players did very well for their first full season in the top flight mainly Denilson, Song, Gibbs and Bendtner. We have further better news in the first arsenal academic graduates being well and truly destined to greatness having won the under 18 league they are on the verge of completing a fantastic double by winning the FA youth cup with the likes of Wilshere, J. E. Thomas, Sanchez Watt, Henri Lansbury, Ayling, Bartley and Coquelin catching the eye. We also went 21 unbeaten in the league when the CL qualifying spots seemed away from us. But the biggest positive has to be Andrei Arshavin. The little russian joined us in the last day of the january transfer window and was an instant hit. He fitted well in the team right away and gave another dimension to our attack. His four goals at Anfield against liverpool were the highlights of his successful arsenal start. The arrival of Gazidis on the board is also a very welcome one as Wenger was truly overwhelmed by all the charges put on him after David Dein's dismissal.
After losing 4-1 on aggregate against manU in the CL semi and 4-1 at home to chelsea in the league, Wenger met the shareholderes in the most controversal meeting he ever had with arsenal supporters. The discussions were heated and exchanges got hot. I think that may be the blessing the club needed. The manager fell offended and the supporters put a march for him on the last game of the season. This put both the supporters' and the manager's backs on the wall. I believe it gave us all something to think about! The support has been pretty poor at the Emirates and the Boss did make some decisions hard to back up.
I may be alone on this but I don't think we need major investment on the team but we need not to have a major loss either. By the start of the 2009/2010 season we will have Arshavin, a one year of full season on their belt Denilson and Song, probably a fit againn Eduardo and Rosicky. We will have a better Almunia. I think he is the reason I believe so much on Denilson and Song, after coming into theframe last year where he seemed average at best he turned to be a great keeper this year. Next year we will have a summer rested Fabregas and Van Persie. And most definately I would expext a bit of Wilshere, Ramsey, Vela and the likes.
We have to know that world class players are very expensive and I would rather have an average looking home player that can be world class than a just more than average experienced player that cost a fair bit of money. When you buy those players you get three problems. You won't win anything with them, they will destroy the development of your potencially world class youngster and by spending the part of the money you have, you won't be able to get an Arshavin type of player when he is available.
I know this summer will be very hot and I hope we, gunners, will be warmly enjoying it.
Have some teranga.

2007/2008 season review

2009-03-05T12:35:00.002Z

What a start of a season that was and what an ending of it!

The start was so good I stopped writing into the blog in order to not jinx it and the ending so bad it was so difficult to get over it and publish my thoughts.

Before the start of the season, I did not have the smallest hope we would make anythning of the season. Thierry left after what was an abysmal 2006/2007 season.

The first game was a bit bizzare, home to Fulham and we were leaded thanks to a Lehman mistake and in the last few minutes we turned things around and won 2-1. But from there we almost never looked back, playing, scoring goals, winning games and winning with style. Bacary Sagna turned out to be a beast of a right back for us while Clichy was playing superbly along his side of the field. Flamini came as a revelation in a genuine midfield with Cesc scoring goal after goal after goal after goal, did I mention that Cesc was scoring many goals? Adebayor stepped up on the forward line to score a career high. We were promised a very delicious season with the young guns also dominating in the carling cup. Beating the spurs at the Lane with fantastic goals from Cesc and Ade after being one down at half time, breaking our longest overall unbeaten run, man, were we having fun.

Then something happened.
A c*nt name Taylor made something happen.
It was in Birmingham where something really happened.
I thought I got over it but I am feeling emotional right now. We lost something that afternoon. Needless to go all over that game but we lost a clinical finisher, we lost two points, we lost some confidence and we lost some grits and some team unity. After that we were never the same. Lady luck also said goodbye and we scrumbled like a beach castle. The game was over, our season was over. Plenty of joy and plenty of disappointment. The most joyful moment has to be the Sanciro win over AC Milan, and the worst has to be somewhere between losing to tothenam on the Carling semi, or the loss against liverpool on CL quarter and losing the game and Sagna to Chelsea in the league. I would go with the CL exit at anfield.

Two games, two victories and two HLEB

2007-08-17T12:02:00.000Z

Sparta Prague 0-2 (0-0) Arsenal : CL 3rd preliminary first leg

A very physical game, saw the new arsenal goalscorer Goaleksander Hleb is the name, netting his second goal in a row again during injury time. This game started slowly but was marred with strong tacles from the Tcheque players, really send-off offences. But luckily this is not last season and our boys are ready for the fight. And when Cesc gave back to Repka as hard as he was giving, the latter was off and to make matter more delicious, the young lad went on to open the score with a great finish after a great play from Clichy. I said it before we are finally getting the ball back from the opponents own half and that was the source of the opener. Clichy stole the ball some yards outside the Sparta penalty box, escaped a couple of challenges beautifully before setting up Fabregas who took it superbly. Then in the dying seconds from a sparta corner Lehman released Bakary on his wrong side, the frenchman sprinted up the field, set up Hleb who trumped the sparta back with a lovely touch. Two very good goals: one with a short building and the other with a devasting counter I say good start for the "another transition season".

Arsenal 2-1 (0-1) Fulham : Premierleague opening day

A Lehman gaff 50 seconds from kick off gave Fulham the lead against us at the Emirates stadium but a hard fighting arsenal side stole all three points when Alexander Hleb netted in the 91st minute to seal victory for the gunners. Arsène started as I expected with the 4-4-1-1 formation having Hleb in the hole. The game was bizzare because of the clumsy start but we are just supposed to be too good to Fulham at home though if the other fixtures can reveal something it is that this season will be a hard long one for everybody because there are lots of improvements in all sides.
Back to the fulham game, after conceeding before the minute mark we created as usual bags of chances and at that moment it was very difficult not to think : different season same old arsenal with Rosicky, Hleb, Fabregas and even the good finisher Robin failing to convert clear cut chances and referee waving away clear penalties. But I remember Wenger pointing he wants more attacking impacts from the center backs and honestly at that time I was thinking that more defensive impact from the CBs should be issued but how was I glad to see Kolo busting a forward run that finished with Bocanegro bringing him down in the penalty for Robin to almost tear the net for the equaliser! And then Hleb finished in a lovely manner a Cesc Fabregas pass with a subblime strike for an opning 3 vital points.
So we started with a 4-4-1-1 formation, conceeded very early through a stupidity, did settle fairly then revert to 4-4-2 with about 20 minutes to go and scored twice to seal the victory.

Football is back with arsenal!

2007-08-10T13:08:00.000Z

The king is dead Long lives the King
First of all what a summer that was??? I think no arsenal fan will be able to forget about 2007 summer, I know I won't. The king of Highbury is gone to the Nou Camp, long live King Robin! We lost the all time leading scorer of the club when nobody would have thought it. Well that's football for you.
Life after Vavavooom
Now we are heading for the 2007/2008 campaign without the charismatic, moody, nice guy who always banged goals for us. Henry's gone, Freddie is off after Vieira and Pirés left earlier, so now the invincibles page is completely turned. We are facing a new era, a new team, a new ARSENAL. This summer we signed three 'senior players' : Fabianski(a polish goalkeeper), Bakary Sagna( a french right back) and Eduardo DUDU Da Silva(a brazilian born croatian dazzling striker). If the pre-season is anything to go by we may very well surprise a few. But saying that it is very unusual for us, arsenal, to start a season and winning is the only way we would surprise! It is insane to say the least. What we know is to go to a season favourites for the league and favourites for the CL. But this time it is all like : "We will surprise all by challenging!" What the...??? Is this really Arsène's Arsenal really. Well I am afraid it is and not many gunners seem too worried about the situation. It shows in terms of reputation we have hit rock bottom what is it like in terms of potentiel an football? One thing for sure is until the season starts no matter how good a team seems to be it is all reputation and potentiel and thankfully only results on the pitch will matter. So like everybody I willl talk of formations, potentiels and chances for arsenal facing the new season.
Wenger had tested a lot of things during pre-season giving some glimpses about the new look arsenal. First we saw our classic 4-4-2 formation with Ade-Van Persie up front during the first warm-up games. We also saw the formation with Eduardo-Bendtner as well as Eduardo-Van Persie lined up as the two strikers. But noticeably we have seen, a 4-4-1-1 formation with Hleb in the hole, and Eboue as right back, formation in which the boss seems to have a lot of trust. In this formation however, it is so difficult not to worry about the source of goals. With one striker one can argue the goal threats seem limited but what is to really appreciate about this formation is the goal scoring chances we create and the matter which we create them. What is interesting is we create goal chances in so many ways that to me this looks very promising : we finally get the ball back from opponents half to have a go at them, we can build slowly, we can hit teams on the counter as efficiently as ever, and the lone striker is not having his back on goal trying to hold the ball for midfielders to join, no no nope, the midfielders bring the ball with them and make it easy for him to move well and get the ball where he wants; and our possession is even higher and the team more, much more compact making it harder to hit us be it with long ball or counter attack. It is a nice formation and I am very interested to see how it will go though I believe we may only see it in Europe and big games.
Let's see what it will be like when fulham visits the Emirates this sunday 11:00 (GMT Dakar Time). Ade is possibly out, Gilberto is definately out and some players may well be short of fitness : Cesc, Walcott, Rosicky. I still believe the team may look like this :

---------------Lhehman

Sagna--Gallas----Toure----Clichy

Eboue---Cesc----Denilson--Rosicky

-----------Hleb

-----------Van persie

or

---------------Lhehman

Sagna--Gallas----Toure----Clichy

Eboue---Cesc----Denilson---Hleb

------Van Persie--Eduardo

Either way it will be a great match and I can't wait.

Come on ARSENAL! 5-1 to the arsenal, anyone??

Season Review

2007-06-06T16:34:00.001Z

A bizzare season when only a trophy lacked from arsenal comes to an end. We had seen all, have been through every type of emotion only really a trophy was missing.

From a very disapointed start, we had a great win at Old Trafford(the first since 2002). Then we went on to be a squad without fear, with "unlimited" debt as the youngsters were just too good destroying spurs, bolton and liverpool. It was all Arsene's arsenal. Other coaches moaning about Wenger's privelegies : Benitez "I don't have the ressources of arsenal to buy players"(sic), Mourinho whining about lack of funds and lack of time to achieve Arsene's level of football... It was the greatest part of the season to be an arsenal fan.

Then came the Carling Cup final where the lads were too sublime! Playing one of the best performance of this season with a top top class display against an overwhelmed experienced multimilionnaire chelsea first team squad. It was a mad display from the yougsters with Theo scoring a gorgeous first arsenal goal in Cardiff. A goal TH14 would have been proud, he was proud of that goal punching the air from the stand. Chelsea for all their super class midfielsers did not know where the ball was. Then a goal from Drogba, from an offside position bring Chelsea back in the game. In the second half nothing seemed to change, the kids from North London dominating possession, creating chances after chances but failing to score and put the game out of Chelsea's reach. Then an unlikely accident occured to somehow destroy arsenal's remain of the season. Abou Diaby the best player on the pitch that accidently kciked J.Terry on the head, the chelsea captain lost conscience, Diaby in tears and all the kids were shaking in shock. Diaby's game was over, so was arsenal final or just should I say arsenal's season was over. A defeat to PSV in the chapions league and an FA cup defeat to blackburn meant it was a trophyless season again from arsenal.

This season has seen some arsenal displays that were just breathtaking, man U home and away, chelsea away aswell as the CC final, liverpool demolition partiess, blackburn, trashing, reading away, CSKA moscow home... Some fan killer displays sheffield united away, psv, blackburn fa cup....

Some unbelievable individual performances : Ces Fabregas how many(XXXX), V. Persie(Charlton away what a goal!, blackburn trashing, watforld away...), TH14(reading, blackburn away, boro away), Rosicky(liverpool away), Hleb(this guy is skillful, he has been arsenal brilliant at time, sleeping in oyher times).

If ther is a lesson from this season it is that big games don't win you trophies small games do.

With this side we can no doubt win it all next year but we definately need to stop dropping points from lesser opponents!

Up goes the arsenal!

Busy at work and results

2007-04-13T13:01:00.000Z

Busy at work and bad late results kept me away from writing. I am back and back are the Arsenal. We will play Bolton tomorrow Saturday 14th 15HGMT.
Meanwhile Thierry Henry has said again that he is going to stay for life.
Robin Van Persie may come back before the end of the season very unlikely though.
An american buying into the club. Another takeover in England??

International break sucks

2007-03-27T14:26:00.000Z

I hate international break the display sucks. I want my arsenal back. I almost forgot the bad path we went through before this long break. A lot of news about arsenal did circulate this couple of days.
We have a possible american takeover here, denied there.
Then Gilberto is linked to Juve.
Only one official news we are going to sign another young french starlet. His name is Sunu from ligue 2 outfit Chateauroux. He will join next summer.
Henry is bored with life without football. I can't wait for the next game.
It is against liverpool at Anfield on march 31st.

Lessons Merseyside lost

2007-03-19T14:25:00.000Z

Sunday was a long day. We lost to Everton in a rainy day. The game itself was pleasant to watch a lot better than the Astan Villa one. Again without a class striker on the field the play lacked purpose and cutting edge. Baptista can not make it at Arsenal and Aliadiere is also closer and closer to the exit. The team lacked speed at Goodison Park with Gallas and Gilberto at the back the pace is not there, Diaby, Fab, Baptista are no Vavavoooms. The field was heavy and we could not get our game going though we were still amazing keeping possession and passing the ball.
This season overall is teaching us how much we have been relying on Heny and how much of a big player Van Persie needs to be in order to lead the front as he has to for upcoming seasons.
I believe Baptista will go to Madrid and Reyes sould come back, we will have Bendtner who will have a very big challenge and hopefully one or two big additions in the squad(a Ribery and a goalkeeper would do). Now with Reyes, Ljundberg, Rosicky, Hleb, Ribery(sic) we would have a lot more options wide as the Emirates is quite huge compared to Highbury. Henry, Van Persie,Walcott, Bendtner and hopefully Vela leading the front line we have smart and clinical strikers. I don't quite know what to do with Adebayor. He can be a good option to have but I believe his terrible shot and lack of finishing power may just be too much for us specially now he thinks he is a big player and needs "guarantees" to sign a new contract even though he runs his socks off. Anyway out of Baptista, Aliadiere and Adebayor if only one has to stay he will have to be Ade.
What I don't know is how to deal with the midfield and thank God I am not Arsene Wenger. Diaby and Denilson are really making cases for themselves. Is Gilberto a guaranted starter? Another year for Clichy is very much welcome and hoping for an injury free Eboue the back four picks itself with Clichy-Gallas-Touré-Eboué. Djourou and Big Phil will serve the bench.

Friday

2007-03-16T08:39:00.000Z

I love fridays because it is the last working day of the week and also I always get the shape of the week end on friday. With the news starting to run you can always know if it will be a good week-end or or tough one. Touré will be back for the Everton game, Rosicky may start and Hleb is also back. When Hleb and Rosicky play our game is so fluent. I cannot wait for the sunday game anymore it will be a good passing game for us no matter what the results will be though we need the three points because now our dream is to finish second.
Come you gunners!!!!

After match(against Villa)

2007-03-15T13:30:00.000Z

The Villa game was one of the most frustrating game of arsenal I have watched this year. The rythm just wasn't there. The lads gave their all but could not get their passing going. We won 1-0 from a fluke goal by Diaby. At least he made the run and we have always been asking players to run inside the box so well done Abou Diaby. The game was tense and there were a lot of missed chances. We should have scored a lot more but they also should have scored a few themselves something like a classic 5-5 or 5-6 would have been a lot more accurate.
Fabregas showed some wonderful passes at time and Rosicky brought some class in the game. Aliadiere ran a lot but never was composed enough to be decisive. Baptista was horrible. Gallas did lead with example and Gilberto did fine. Hoyte played very well and Denilson was ok. All in all a win is always good and I am pretty happy with the 3points. Todday I could not wake up correctly and I was late at work. Looking to sunday for the everton game where another 3 points are expected.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

2007-03-14T19:10:00.000Z

30 minutes to go until arsenal plays aston villa in villa park. As always I am very excited but fairly nervous.