Arsenal begin talks to sign Gonalons. Prove you are staying Arsene & It’s time to forget him…..

April 28, 2013

Morning all.

Let’s get the gossip out of the way.

The Metro claim we have opened talks to sign Olympique Lyon’s French international Maxime Gonalons. He’s 23 years old and believed to be the player who will finally replace both Song and Diaby.

Iker Casillas is back in the headlines for a summer move to Arsenal. He’s not played since January having fallen out with ‘The Special One’ and could be on the move. However, it’s more likely to be the manager on the move and the player staying put.

Nigel Winterburn is like all of us, he wants Arsene Wenger to spend big this summer and finally show a bit of proper intent in the transfer window. That way, he and all of us will know if his intention is to sign a new contract and remain Arsenal manager for the new few years.

First he needs to trim the wage bill and get rid of ­players like Bendtner, ­Arshavin, Schillaci, ­Chamakh and other fringe ones.

That will free money to bring big names to the club. If he does that it will tell us a lot about whether he stays.

I believe Arsene is the right man for next season. But there will be a ­restriction on the amount of money he can spend.

Arsenal haven’t bought a £30m player before, so if they do it will be a big sign that he continues.

He doesn’t really go for the big established £30m players. Around £15million is probably his limit.

That’s all for the summer.

Simple task ahead for Arsenal from now on, win all our matches and we will get at least 4th spot.

Starting today of course against the newly crowned Premier League Champions….

Giroud is the only player missing from last weekend’s squad. He is serving the first of a three match ban.

Who Arsene Wenger selects to replace him remains to be seen, maybe he’ll be bold and try something different, I like different.

We haven’t got the big target so we can stop trying failing to get a good cross into the box. Maybe try and beat with a bit more play on the ground, use the wide areas and they hit them hard with shots from distance, De Gea is dodgy, test him hard and often.

I hope Podolski and Walcott start up front, with the younger of the two scaring the old man Rio in the Manc defence with his pace. We know Theo can shoot, we know he can score too, he did both earlier in the season and did well.

He just needs to do it again today, but better than ever before.

Podolski, well he has a left foot which on it’s day is simply awesome and good enough to match most but like Walcott, we need him to remind us today all just how good he is……

Surely Oxlade-Chamberlain has to start? He’s direct and dangerous and causes defences problems.

Why? Because he’s prepared to run at them and through them. If Vidic plays, he won’t like that and he’s always good for a penalty…..

The midfield has a huge part to play…

Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere, Cazorla, Arteta. Who gets left out?

At the back, well that five picks itself and that’s no disrespect to Gibbs or Jenkinson.

Today isn’t about RvP, the guy Merts says, he and his team-mates missed, who questioned so many times how he could hurt them in the way he did, how the leader of the pack both on and off the pitch could walk away to a rival.

Well he did!

He’s gone, he got what he wanted, Arsenal seemingly got what they wanted and after the game today, fans and players need to forget him. He’s history, just like so many other players who have left us for greener grass.

We are Arsenal fans, ok we favour players as they arrive and perform so well over the years with us, but when they depart, Arsenal will remain and what is paramount today, what should be every day is who is our present and our future, not who was our past!

Whoever faces Man Utd today has to give their all, they have to fight from start to finish and come out victorious.

Spirit, passion, desire, attitude, collective spirit, resilience etc etc, we have heard them all from the manager and players after we have huffed and puffed our way to victory over a team in the bottom half of the table.

Well it’s about time we heard those words after beating a side who is not only in the top half of the table, but a team who are sitting top!

I’m sick and tired of us losing to Fergie and his mob, I’m sick and tired of losing to them on our own soil.

The rot needs to stop.

We have the players, if we can apply the right tactics, the right commitment from all who play, we can and will win….

Over to Wenger and the team…….

I hope it’s a good day……

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Posted by rico

Gotze, Capoue and Reina all in this summer! Wenger’s inspiration secures the points….

April 14, 2013

Morning all,

Just a bit of gossip up first and that is about summer transfers and the football journalists believe that Wenger will be making a record £30million bid for Borussia Dortmund’s Mario Gotze. In addition to him Wenger is considering a £10m move for Toulouse midfielder Etienne Capoue and the keeper he wants is Pepe Reina.

Those will be the three in and the rest of the squad will be bolstered by the younger players.

There you go, transfer window all sorted by some of Fleet Street’s finest here….

Doh!

Back to yesterday and what a meal we made of that!

During the first half we had something like a 75% v 25% of possession.

We had chances to score, not just any old half chance but, really good chances.

But, a heavy first touch, a badly directed shot or just pure inability to finish looked like it would cost us dear.

Gervinho showed a some nifty footwork but when presented with at least one golden opportunity to give us the lead, he was awful. Saying that, had other players had more about them, they would have been ready to pounce onto his misplaced shot!

Ramsey was also guilty of missing out of getting on the score-sheet. Some think his overall performance warranted a man of the match award. Sorry, not for me!

Giroud hit the crossbar, well, his attempt bounced off the top of the crossbar, Cazorla had a shot from distance saved and Giroud forced a save from Bunn when he tried to nod on a cross from Sagna.

0-0 at half-time, how I never know. But that line is all a bit too familiar…

Ten minutes after the break, Kai Kamara was felled by Kieran Gibbs just outside the penalty area and from the resulting free kick, Snodgrass curled in the perfect cross from the right. Defender Michael Turner was first up to head home! Where exactly were our defenders?

Mmmmm – now that wasn’t part of the script!

For once, Arsene Wenger didn’t wait too long to respond, the wasteful Gervinho was taken off, as was a very unfit looking Jack Wilshere and on in their place came Walcott and Podolski. Both players also looked a little off of their game, especially the German who missed a chance to control and bury a cross into the back of the net. Another chance went missing for our number 9 when the Norwich keeper saved down by his feet. The same two players were involved again, but again, Bunn saved well by tipping the shot onto the bar…

It wasn’t meant to be was it?

Actually, it was and the media will hate it.

A penalty decision was given our way. Alex Tettey had made a spectacular clearance with an overhead kick following yet another corner of ours and this was followed by a bit of shirt pulling on Giroud by Kamara. All seemed a bit 50/50 to me, but Mike Jones took the word of his man on the line and up stepped Arteta to bury the penalty.

1-1

Phew, surely now we’d go and secure all the points I thought even though time was running out.

Chamberlain came on in place of Sagna and he had an immediate impact. His fine cross from the by-line set up Giroud, although some suggest it was an own goal by Bassong, the former Tottenham Hotspur player….

Any doubts were then buried when an offside Theo Walcott pressed into the box and played the ball to Podolski. He’d obviously been on the pitch long enough to settle down and do what he does best and he did….

His shot, low and hard found the net to put the game beyond any doubt.

Many mischief makers will suggest that every goal we scored had a bit of good fortune behind it, well who gives a flying one??

How many times have we been on the receiving end of decisions similar to what we witnessed today?

Far too many to mention is my answer!

How many times have we said that footballing sides build their own luck?

We did that yesterday!

But, we had many many chances, by half time we could easily have been two, maybe three or more goals up but we weren’t.

Yesterdays result wasn’t luck, we earned it over 90 minutes..

Actually, I think Wenger earned it for us because every single one of his substitutions played their part in securing our victory..

So well done to him…

Another word from me has to go to Fabianski – he made a couple of top class saves at crucial moments in the match.

Maybe one of which kept us believing we could win all three points, so well done to him I say…

Third we wanted, third we now are.

Let’s step it up on Tuesday against Everton and make sure we stay there…….

Have a good day all…..

 

 

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Posted by rico

Keeper confirms summer exit! 4th up for grabs today, if we WANT it…….

April 6, 2013

Morning all,

Let’s get the gossip over with first, that the stuff we all read and then forget as all what it written in the red tops and broadsheets is all made up for one reason only.

Victor Valdes has told FourFourTwo magazine he’s definitely leaving Barcelona in the summer:

It’s hard to imagine wearing another shirt, but I’ve been this for 11 years. I will leave Barca.

One year as Barcelona keeper is like three years at another team. the pressure is immense.

Not really sure I agree with that, I doubt he has too much to do during most domestic matches he plays. Of course that will automatically mean we are after him. We could do better!

Onto today, that’s what matters more.

Walked wounded:

For West Brom it’s midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu, he’s been their heart and soul of midfield recently but he’s ruled out of today’s clash through suspension. He serving the first of  a three game-ban for his red card received for violent conduct during the 3-1 away defeat against West Ham last weekend.

For us it’s all about Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby missing. Two of those are back soon though, next weekend hopefully.

So all pretty good news really as we continue that exciting battle with clubs around us for a top four finish, well, top three is the place we need, especially if the club are to go full steam ahead with all these supposed transfers this summer… Cough!

Stats courtesy of the BBC website:

Head-to-head

  • West Brom have won just two of the 13 meetings between the sides in the Premier League, with their only home victory coming in October 2005.
  • Arsenal needed a pair of penalties from Mikel Arteta to win the reverse fixture at the Emirates earlier this season.

West Brom

  • West Brom’s home record this season is the sixth best in the Premier League (W9, D2, L4). At this stage last year they were the 17th best (W4, D2, L9) on their own patch.
  • The Baggies have yet to come from behind at half time to win a game this season (D1, L9).
  • They have won one of their last four league games and just three in 12 in the Premier League since back-to-back wins over the festive period.
  • However, they need just one more win to set an outright club record of 14 Premier League victories in a single season.

Arsenal

  • The Gunners are the best in the Premier League at defending winning positions. They have surrendered only four points this season.
  • Arsenal also have the best second-half record in the Premier League, outscoring their opponents on 17 occasions and only being outscored twice.
  • Gervinho’s goal against Reading means he had scored in back-to-back Premier League matches for the first time.
  • Santi Cazorla has scored four times in his last five league games.

This has been a week where once again, we have had to read players comments about how good we are of late, how we will grab that top four place before the season etc etc.

Well as usual, I wish they’d secure a place in the Champions League before taking about it, at least to the media anyway.

Keep everything in the changing rooms and on the training pitch. I’m not saying they shouldn’t believe they can achieve at least a top four place, just stop bragging about it until it’s done…

The players say they need to finish in the top four, well they have eight games left to prove they WANT to get there.

They have the ability, they obviously have belief, now we need to see more of the WANT.

It won’t be easy today, in fact it’s going to be tough against a side which has a good back four, a good goalkeeper and a guy up front who can cause problems to any side.

On our day though, we have plenty of players who can cause any side problems, we can defend too and even Fabianski is showing a side of him we haven’t witnessed often enough.

Make today about what we can do, nothing more, nothing less….

COYR’s….

Have a good one all…..

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Posted by rico

A flattering 4-1 score-line & Remembering Rocky………

March 31, 2013

Morning all,

The man, The Arsenal man, the man we all miss……….

Most people on here know I have affinity to Reading so I’m not going to bleat on about yesterdays game.

All I will say though is, how on earth did we allow them to nab a goal?

Reading getting just one goal on the score-sheet was flattering, we battered them from start to finish and had some of our players been able to finish, we would have been into a double figure score-line.

It really was that one sided.

Hopefully though, conceding that one goal though will keep Wenger’s feet on the ground and he’ll realise that our defence, although better of late, is far from perfect!

Gervinho, Cazorla, Giroud, and Arteta were all on the score-sheet on a day when three of them could have easily tripled their own goal tally.

Three points we wanted, three points we got and now I want to wish Reading all the very best and hope, even pray, that they can go on a defy all odds and stay in the Premier League.

For us, well we all know it’s about finishing as high up in the league as we can. We are currently 2 points behind Chelsea in 4th place and four points behind the Totts in 3rd place, but with a game in hand over them.

We just need to keep focussing on us, keep on winning and see what happens as we head towards the end of the season.

Then we need to make a few changes, sign a couple of top top players, and players who have the colour of Arsenal running through their veins to make us much much stronger next season. Players who will show each week that they are prepared to put their bodies on the line for our great club, not bottle a challenge or a tricky situation.

One man who did have that red and white blood running through him was David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle and twelve years ago today, he was cruelly taken from this world having suffered and finally lost the battle against that evil disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

He lived Arsenal, he breathed Arsenal and he cried for Arsenal when he found out he days at the club were over….

When he passed away, fans cried. Cried for his loss, cried for his wife, his children and the rest of his family. They’d lost a husband, father, son, brother and a great friend….

We lost our Rocky, one of the best…

At seven minutes past the hour yesterday, Rocky’s face lit up the big screens at The Emirates, fans stood, applause began and all in memory of our old number seven. The Reading fans joined in too, it was one of those moments when football didn’t matter, respecting Rocky’s memory did.

David ‘Rocky’ Rocastle – today and every day, may peace be always with you……

That’s it for another day folks…..

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Posted by rico

Seaman or Lehmann? Didn’t see that coming but it’s good being wrong sometimes…..

March 17, 2013

Morning all…

First up is from The Daily Mirror, reports are that Wenger is considering bring in a new goalkeeping coach and it could be either David Seaman or Jens Lehmann. I hope this is true, none of our keepers ever seem to improve do they, in fact, they appear to get worse. A huge dose of help is seriously in order and either of these two keepers would surely make a difference. My preference would be Seaman…

Talking of keepers, ours kept another clean sheet yesterday to help us notch up a second 2-0 victory in a matter of days. It wasn’t a ‘bad’ defensive display but there were a few little mistakes made which need taking back to the training ground tomorrow morning!

Monreal nabbed himself a tidy goal. Who cares if it got  a slight deflection off of Williams, you have to take a shot to be in with a chance, and that’s what the Spaniard did.

1st of many Monreal....

1st of many Monreal….

If that picture is slightly blurred, then you obviously drank too much last night! Thanks Lee….

Monreal looks happy doesn’t he? As do this Spanish trio.

Spanish eyes looking happy.....

Spanish eyes looking happy…..

That’s a posh team bus – but if they wanted to watch the rugby, they should turned around. Or maybe not as it turned out but hey, they wouldn’t have cared.

Anyway, back to the match.

This was our lot, starting line-up and subs:

Fabianski, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Diaby (Ramsey 71), Walcott (Gibbs 85), Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Gervinho 71) and Giroud.

Unused Subs were: Szczesny, Vermaelen, Rosicky and Coquelin

Credit to Arsene Wenger, he had the balls to leave both Vermaelen and Szczesny on the bench after the Bayern victory, but surprisingly, Rosicky was replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain and Diaby replaced Ramsey.

Monreal slotted straight back into his left back position which was to no great surprise, especially as Gibbs took a nasty knock midweek.

An early wake up call came our way when Ki Sung-Yueng played an inch perfect pass through our defence, who were again playing far to high up the pitch. The ball found Rangel who was offside, however, play was allowed to continue but thankfully, his shot went wide.

Jonathan de Guzman was the next Swansea player to take advantage of so much space our defence left behind them as he played the ball through Michel. He spun Mertesacker but his shooting boots let him down, just!

Swansea didn’t have it all their own way, we were starting to get more into the game, keep the ball more and look like we had something to prove. Santi Cazorla, the player some seem to think doesn’t fit in, was causing all sorts of problems for the home side, and forced Vorm into making a good save from a shot from distance. Yes, ‘a shot from distance’!!

But, it was young Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who came the closest to breaking the deadlock, he had to endure watching two chances on goal brush the woodwork. On another day he’d have scored two goals and walked off feeling as high as a kite.

We were on the up as half-time came and we looked like a side who would come out in the second half and tear Swansea to shreds…..

However……..

Anyway, Wenger decided he’d seen enough, Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey came on for Diaby and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

I can imagine the thoughts going through most fans minds when that happened!

On 75 minutes, that was all forgotten I suspect. Cazorla did a little bit of fancy stuff down the left, played the ball into Giroud who made a bit of a fluff up, but, there was Monreal to fire home to make it 1-0….

Ok, not quite fired home, more like a scuffed shot, a deflection and then the back of the net, but as I said earlier, who cares.

We cry out for scrappy goals, we cry out for players to shoot whenever they can. Monreal did and we went 1-0 up!

Gervinho had a chance to make it 2-0 soon after, but his shot was well saved by Vorm but the Swansea keeper could do little to stop the goal which clinched all three points.

As the home side were trying everything to grab a point, possession fell to Ramsey, who just about managed to find Gervinho in acres of space. He, against all odds, and despite trying so hard to hit the keeper with his shot calmly finished to secure all three points !.

Seriously, he needed that goal!

Well, I for one didn’t see that result coming. I truly believed that we would be lucky to come back from Wales with a point.

Sometimes, I love being wrong!

Let’s not get carried away though, two good results are something to build on, not brag about. Well not yet anyway.

Next up is Reading at The Emirates, but that’s not for a while, the boring International stuff is back…

But at least we go into this one on the back of a victory…..

All fingers crossed for two away victories in London later today…..

That’s it for another day, have a good one….

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Posted by rico

Was that Arsenal defending? So close, but yet so far…

March 14, 2013

Morning all,

Sort and sweet this morning, bit of a rush….

Why after the big games, and this season the cup games, are we left talking about Gervinho? Oh, or the referee!

Both mucked up on the night, kind of feel sorry for Gervinho, he did so well to get through on goal and then suddenly, someone moved the bloomin posts!

The referee, well if I started, where would I end. Some of the Bayern players would look more at home on a 20 metre board than on a football pitch and the referee fell for it!

Another annoying bit was Arteta at the end of the game, when we looked like we could take game in the dying minutes, that twerp kept giving away free kicks, and the one we had which he took, he really wasted…..

Anyway, that’s my moaning done.

After all the pre-match huff and puff over Arsene Wenger’s team selection, lo and behold, Walcott, Cazorla and Mertesacker all started and Rosicky came in for Wilshere. Gibbs slotted back into defence which left Vermaelen on the bench.

The perfect start after just three minutes when Theo crossed and Giroud fired home. That shut the homes fans up, but our incredible away fans were in fine voice as always. Credit to them for travelling and getting behind the team on a cold night.

As expected though, the home team gradually crept into the game, but they were far from the side which destroyed us at The Emirates. But then again, we were far from the same side who played them that night.

We seemed more organised, certainly when defending and Bayern were pretty much reduced to taking long shots at the goal, most of which went high or wide. Fabianksi was called upon a few times and I don’t think anyone will be too disappointed with his performance, he looked confident, much more confident than he used to and a couple of saves were quality. The best was possibly to prevent Robben deep into the second half…

Although Bayern were having more chances, we had plenty of our own too. Giroud and Gervinho were guilty of missing theirs, the latter really should have been buried and had it been, the final 15 minutes would have been electric.

Up popped Koscielny on the 85th minute to head home and the scores were level.

All we needed was one more to get that desperately needed away goal.

It wasn’t to be on the night, but my word, they tried.

I’ll leave you to praise/criticise players in the comments….

Have a good day all…

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Posted by rico

Bould’s ‘spat’! Every picture tells a story! Three points, but didn’t we make a meal of it!

February 24, 2013

Morning all,

What a meal we made of that fixture!

And don't we huff and puff sometimes, especially at home??

And don’t we huff and puff sometimes, especially at home??

Why do we do it to ourselves eh, is it nerves, lack of confidence, lack of belief in each other or simply lack of guidance on the training pitch?

I don’t know, but whatever it is, it needs to be rid of or rectified.

If not, well we all know where we will end up at the end of the season.

But, we got three points, and boy did we need them, and that’s just to keep up with the neighbours. Lucky for us, Everton, who were threatening to steal a Champions League spot for the first time (I think) lost, so now we have a bit of breathing space in 5th place.

Can you believe all that, here we are, knocked out of both domestic cups, on the verge of a Champions League exit and praying for a miracle in the league to happen so that we can secure a place in the Champions League.

And trust me, the way we played yesterday, we need a miracle. We were at times, simply woeful and our defending/keeping for their equaliser was an embarrassment!

Yet Arsene Wenger was pretty happy at the end:

on the performance…

The result was vital today because it was absolutely important to win the game, we could not afford to drop points for two reasons. The first is that we are in a catch-up situation in the Premier League and [secondly] we have come out of two massive disappointments.

But it was interesting as well to see that we were focused, united, a bit nervous and you could see we played a little bit with the handbrake in some situations because the second goal didn’t come. We were also strong because when Villa came back to 1-1 we found the resources to respond and win the game.

The regret we have is that we could have scored many goals today and created an unbelievable number of chances and didn’t score. But I am proud of the attitude of the team because we went through some difficult days and responded in a united way.

on the race for the top four…

We cannot drop points, I have said that many times after the Chelsea game. That is what is in our minds, no matter where we go and who we play.

I am not 30 years in this job at the top level and going to be destroyed by people saying I don’t know what I’m doing

on the past week…

What is most difficult is not the critics, it is that we lost the last two games. I am not here to lose games, I want to win. What hurts me the most is that we lost to Blackburn at home and Bayern at home. When people come to the Emirates, they are not to go away with wins.

All the rest concerns me less. Of course [it has been difficult], but you do your job and focus on the next game and try to win it. That is what we did. I am not 30 years in this job at the top level and going to be destroyed by people saying I don’t know what I’m doing.

I have been in this job a long time and what is important is that we have responsibilities and we have to stand up for them and get the team ready to go into the next game ready to fight.

Wenger went onto talk about how good Santi Cazorla was, well that’s because he scored both goals which won us the match. Yes, he is good, very good but even he has off days, he certainly did against Bayern Munich and that hasn’t been the only time either.

We did hang on, and we did grab all three points but is this really what OUR club has become?

We don’t deserve to witness us just about managing to get three points against a team who sit in the bottom four of the league do we?

Aren’t we better than that??

Did anyone notice what Steve Bould got up to during the game?

Just as Akers and Wenger go towards the touch-line to make changes, Steve Bould spat his chewing out in the same direction and the look on his face wasn’t a happy one…..

Unlike Carl Jenkinson, check this photograph out to see what Santi’s winning goal meant to him – it’s here.

The other three pictured, well. Every picture tells a story I guess….

That’s it for another day…..

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Posted by rico

Missed chances cost us dear… Again!!

February 20, 2013

Morning all.

Where to start??

Another tough day at the office, and an even tougher result to absorb.

Here goes nothing……

We got off to a flyer for 5-6 minutes, creating a few chances with some fantastic football, but then the reality set in.

The most awful of crosses results in an awkward, bobbling ball to Kroos who finished it with as crisp a strike as you could hope to see.
The cross could have ended up anywhere, but it landed at the feet of a Bayern player, and more importantly, and unmarked one, who did the rest.

It was another in a long list of games we have fallen behind to an early goal, and teams like Bayern do not often let a lead slip, so we knew things were going to be tough from there.

It got worse through another goal conceded from a set piece.

Zonal marking – blame it or don’t, it is your choice, but any defensive system or set up only works when the defenders attack the ball or pressure their opponents,and, as is so often the case, we did neither.

Going 2-0 down meant there was no realistic chance of coming back, and our rash of early yellow cards made it that touch harder. From there, Bayern stepped up a gear, and were by far the better side for the majority of the first half, though we did have some good moments.

Half time came, and I think most of us believed changes needed to be made at that stage.

Unfortunately, Wenger disagreed.

It is impossible to say this definitely cost us, as we did have a promising spell early in the second half, and even managed to score a very soft goal via Podolski, proving that even the best of defensive units can make a hash of things, occasionally.

However, we definitely looked better when Rosicky came on, and some brilliant play, a world class move even, involving Tommy and others almost saw Giroud score a cracker, but it was not to be. If that at had gone in, we more than likely would have gone on to win the game, as we had some serious momentum, but as is always the case, when Arsenal make an error or waste a chance, we pay dearly.

Bayern scored a third and it was all over.

We had little luck go our way, but that is becoming the case too often to be coincidence.

We need to start making our own luck, and giving the opposition minimal chances to hurt us, and until this happens, we will continue to rue our “misfortune”. In the return leg, we have nothing to lose, so can go all out, but would need an early goal and send off to stand any chance at all.

Somebody mentioned the fact that it will be interesting to see how we go under no pressure in Munich.

I do not raise this to single the author out, or to ridicule the comment, as I agree with it, but the problem is we play in competitions where the pressure is always on, and a single lapse more often than not costs a goal.

Our guys must learn to handle the pressure and expectation, and if they can’t, must be moved on and replaced with players who know how to win.

I believe the players we put out there are good enough, or can be, but I wonder if THEY believe they are.

Certainly they are not playing to their full capabilities as a group, and that is obvious for all to see.

In spells we proved more than an equal for Bayern though, and that in itself is a positive, but consistency has been lacking at Arsenal for several years now, and that is one hell of a negative to overcome.

Jack, well he is our biggest positive and our biggest asset. We need one or two new players of his quality, and we need them soon, because a player that good deserves to have a top squad around him.

We lost, and 3-1 at home is never a good result of course, but over all, I don’t believe we played that badly, we just played a better side who took their chances and we did not.

Still, a 3-1 loss which could easily have been a 2-2 or 3-2 win at least says we are not a million miles away from the level required, but until we get those few top class players, and start finding some consistency, we will remain not good enough.

We can now focus on beating the other mob into 4th spot, and like it or not, it is probably all we have left to play for, though not a trophy!!

I will leave the player ratings for everyone else to discuss.

One last comment.

I did not see one single instant where our boys threw in the towel or did not try. Playing terrible football and not trying are two vastly different things, and I think too many see them as one in the same. They are not and the look on our guys faces after the game showed they are hurting, so criticise their performances, but not their endeavour, please.

Written by Scott from Oz.

385 Comments | Match review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

Vermaelen to Barca & Moyes set to replace Wenger? Lowest crowd ever witness a shameful day for Arsenal Football Club!!

February 17, 2013

Morning all,

Two rumours to begin with. One is that Barcelona are interested in signing Thomas Vermaelen in the summer, the second is David Moyes is being touted to replace Arsene Wenger, that is of course, according to The Daily Mail. Vermaelen, well if we do business with Barcelona ever again we must be mad but if they want our captain, they can have him. He’s becoming injury prone and he’s certainly been accident prone this season. Replace him with Sakho and we’d be fine.

Anyway, that’s all for the summer, a summer which could see many changes…….

Back to yesterday:

Firstly, that must be the lowest crowd of the year. I reckon about 45,000 and an atmosphere of complete indifference that gradually gave way to one of frustration and then anger. And they witnessed, for the first time ever under Arsene Wenger, our club being knocked out of the FA Cup by a side positioned lower than us in the league.

Ryder Cup hero and Arsenal fan Ian Poulter was far from amused, after the loss he tweeted:

‘Utter c**p Wenger that’s your lot you have to go, take a bow you’ve done an amazing job over the years but enough is enough …’ 

Just like in the Capital One Cup, Gervinho missed a golden opportunity to have made the end result so very different.

Arteta was guilty of missing a great chance but to be honest, those two weren’t alone.

Koscielny headed a chance wide early on and there was a small whisper for a penalty as a ball into the area from Rosicky appeared to hit the arm of Scott Dann.

Just before the half hour mark, Rosicky fired in a corner which Diaby met well but his header was well saved by Kean.
Vermaelen was the next to see his header from another rosicky corner, cause problems for Kean, but it wasn’t to be.

As half-time approached, we really should have gone in 1-0 to the good, a super ball from Rosicky into the path of Gervinho down the middle and towards their penalty area. All the Ivorian had to do was chip the keeper and make sure his shot was on target.

Hopeless!!

Hopeless!!

We had plenty of the ball in the first half but were back into our sideways style. Coquelin was an accident waiting to happen, Diaby quite frankly, looks better on the treatment table, Giroud was back to his “running in glue” style but Gervinho? What can you say about this bloke? A disaster as a footballer who I doubt could roll the ball across the line from 6 inches if he was the only bloke on the pitch. And yet, destined to become symbolic of Wenger’s last years perhaps.

Ok, so a poor first half, but no problem really.

Play with pace and forward momentum in the second half and the goals would come. That seemed to be Wenger’s plan anyway. The game kicks off again. No change. No matter how fast the ball was played out of defence, there was good old Abou to slow everything down to a snail’s pace and he twisted and turned, debating each option several times before pushing a three yard square pass too far and conceding possession for the hundredth time. His other thing today was to have such a bad first touch that he lost control, slipped over and gave it away. Truly awful.

Ok. Ten to fifteen minutes in and nothing has changed.

This is where you earn your money Wenger. Make the decision! Go on, make the bleeding decision. Well, you know the rest I am sure.

Our ancient manager, steeped in tradition of the five million games he has managed before, stared like rabbit in the headlights trying to preserve his players for Bayern Munich.

Then Chesney, tired of being a bit part player pushed the ball out to some lumbering Blackburn forward and 1 nil it was.

Cue Wenger remonstrating that some plank was wasting a few seconds. Arms waving wildly, he cut a truly pathetic figure and Diaby responded by slowing the game down to a crawl for the umpteenth time. Oh no. Too late. We lost.

I tell you, fine Gooners, yesterday was a shameful day for Arsenal Football Club.

Wenger rolled the dice and he is in danger of losing the bloody lot.

Beyond awful really. Just dire and really pathetic…

Thanks to Adam for the piece after the Gervinho photo…….

251 Comments | Match review | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

We wanted to see ‘proper’ defending, we got what we wanted!!

February 10, 2013

Morning all,

Well it all started wrong didn’t it when Koscielny broke down in the warm up which meant Arsene Wenger was forced into making an early change.

We lined up – including subs:

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Monreal, Arteta, Wilshere (Diaby 50), Ramsey, Walcott (Miquel 87), Giroud, Cazorla.

Subs Not Used: Mannone, Rosicky, Podolski, Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Sent Off: Jenkinson (62). Booked: Jenkinson, Walcott.

Within minutes of the start, Sunderland had a chance but N’Diaye headed over the bar, then straight afterwards, Walcott had his first chance of many, but as he did with the rest, he missed. Well, Mignolet saved. Same scenario followed within moments.

Cattermole went into the book for a shocker on Ramsey, many other referee’s would have had no problem in brandishing a red card and rather stupidly, Carl Jenkinson followed him into the book soon after too for a naughty one on Jack Colback!

The next real effort on either goal was from Giroud, his shot was dragged just side of his far post. Soon after, Sessegnon watched on as his shot went wide of the post.

End to end stuff but how wrong was I in suggesting Sunderland would be very much different to Stoke?

Ramsey was the next to have a shot, and from distance which was refreshing and he wasn’t far off either. That one may have been saved but soon after, Cazorla to made it 1-0 with a super finish.

Wilshere had weaved his way through the middle, his pass found Walcott who then laid the ball off to Cazorla. The Spaniard then buried his chance into the back of the net….

Szczesny then saved well from a Danny Rose and Walcott scuffed yet another chance not long before halt-time, he had time though to see another chance saved by Mignolet.

Half time came and went, as did Lee Cattermole!

Within minutes of the restart, Jack was fouled yet again and this was one too many for him to suffer. He was replaced by Abou Diaby. Just like every game these days, our young Englishman seems to be the target of ‘rough treatment’, yesterday he started the game heavily bandaged, he finished it barely walking. Wenger reckons it’s short-term, days in fact and we have to hope he’s right.

Sunderland had a few half chances, Sessegnon saw his shot blocked by Arteta and both Larsson and Johnson had crosses defended well by us.

Giroud saw yet another chance go wide and then up the other end, Fletcher saw a thunderbolt shot miss the target. Cazorlas had a couple of chances in quick succession, both missed the intended target and then a big moment in the match took place.

Carl Jenkinson caught Sessegnon and with it came a second yellow card. We were down to ten. Our already frail defence was even more frail.

Or was it??

We had a couple of chances to kill the game off, Walcott was guilty of finding a post when it appeared easier to find the net and we missed a couple more chances to kill the game off too. Sunderland had the majority of chances once we went down to ten men and my word, did we witness a ‘backs to the wall defending’ display or what?

Szczesny kept goal like a composed goalkeeper and how good was his save from Gardener’s header? Stunning, that’s how good and that wasn’t the only great thing he did when we were being battered!

Mertesacker and Sagna defended like their lives depended on it, Ramsey, Giroud and Cazorla to name just three, were all back helping out too.

That was thirty minutes of do or die stuff, that was thirty minutes of doing our club proud, that was thirty minutes of hanging on in there and making sure we EARNED three points.

And boy didn’t we earn them…..

That’s the kind of display which builds confidence.

That’s the kind of display which might get Kroenke his 4th spot…..

Have a good day all…..

107 Comments | Match review | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

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