Highbury House

Morning all,

Arsène Wenger has been giving an update on the injury front ahead of the grand arrival of Blackburn Rovers for our FA Cup clash on Saturday.

Thomas Vermaelen is possibly back and should be in the squad. Jack Wilshere is having a series of tests before a final decision is made but he remains a big doubt. As does Laurent Koscielny. Like Wilshere, he is facing a fitness test before any final decision is made.

One who won’t be playing is Carl Jenkinson. He’s banned for just one match and Gibbs is a long way from a return to training.

Ramsey, Sagna and Diaby are all fit and healthy, as is Fabianski.

There is no point in risking either Wilshere or Koscielny for Blackburn, we should be able to ‘cope’ without them.

Talking of coping, Sagna believes we are not only coping without the man who left us in the summer, no, not Song, the other one, he believes we are better equiped in all areas than we were before. Whereas we used to rely on the one man scoring show each week, now we are scoring from all areas and have a different dimension to our game.

The squad is finally settled, and the new boys look like they have always been a part of this side. Speaking in French seems to have gone and English is the new language in the changing room. So it should be too!

Now we have some diversity. Everyone can score and everyone can be dangerous. It’s good for the team.

I think everyone’s settled well. It feels like they’ve always been here and they can score great goals at any time. Everyone is getting more confident.

We have a lot of fun and everyone tries to speak English, which is really important. If you want to get stronger as a team, you have to communicate well. Everyone’s trying to speak better and better.

About time too. At times we have looked like every player speaks a different language as the understanding between them was seriously lacking and from what Sagna is saying, we have a great spirit amongst the squad.

Is is the kind of spirit that can get this side to second in the league? We’ll know soon enough.

One thing we don’t need those is to hear players like Joel Campbell saying things like this:

To be in a country like Spain, playing in this league, means a lot, I want to keep playing well and keep progressing as footballer. I’ll focus until June and see what happens after that.

I’ll  give everything on the pitch for Betis and see what happens when the time comes. Arsenal are in charge of what I do. I’d also like to play for them but I’m very comfortable here and I’ll defend Betis with all my heart.
I’m trying to give my all for Betis, they gave me a lot of opportunities.

Why isn’t he saying he’s desperate to get to the Premier League and show all Arsenal fans why Arsene Wenger was right to sign him? Not ‘I’d also like to play for them’.

Sorry, but that isn’t the kind of player we need in our squad and if he isn’t really that interested in playing for Arsenal, then get rid of him now and sign a striker who wants to play in England, wants to play in the Premier League and most importantly, wants to play for Arsenal!!

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

Morning all,

So the old boy wants another return to the club he holds dear in his heart, the club he supported when he played for us and has done ever since. He doesn’t even care in what capacity he returns. So long as he gets back involved,

All I know is that I will be involved in the game for sure and hopefully be involved with Arsenal because that is the heart talking there, that’s the team that I support. Forget about me as a player, that’s the team I support.

‘In any type or shape, if I can go back to the club I would love to do it, but it’s not up to me. That would be a desire, more a desire than something that can be officialised, I still have two years playing here and then I will see.

But I would definitely love to be back with Arsenal.

As the media, pundits and some of us fans think Arsene Wenger’s best days are long gone and we need fresh blood at the top but Henry feels a little hurt by all this talk:

When you don’t win people are always going to question your work, your legacy and what you did before. It is sad somehow but that is the way the game is. What are you going to do?

For me, it is difficult to hear, difficult to see, but for me the boss will always be Arsene – always great for me and I know what he has done for the club.

That’s all well and good isn’t it, in fact it’s easy for him to talk about Wenger in such a away, when he was with us Wenger signed really good players to play alongside him. He won things during his career with us, of course his time with our club under Wenger was good.

Back in his day, Wenger was good, very very good!

Another man who was involved heavily in those days of glory is Pat Rice and yesterday he finally received  his MBE from fellow Gooner, HRH Queen Elizabeth II. What  a proud moment for a man who has given so much too football, and so much to Arsenal.

A true Arsenal man and his award, utterly deserved.

Cheers Ma’am

Finally, Bacary Sagna has held his up and admitted he’s not been playing well and he’s unhappy with his own performances of late:

“I’ve not been at my best, I am going to be honest — I am not very happy with myself.

“But this is football. This is a part where I need to get better and work more on my form. It has been a long time I’ve been working — since last summer, I didn’t really have a pre-season.

“I need to breathe a bit but, at a high level, you don’t have time to breathe because you have a game every few days and you have to keep going. I am looking forward to coming back to my best.”

He’s even suggested his mind is elsewhere when he’s off form:

You don’t focus 100 per cent on the pitch — you miss something to push forward.

You need somebody else to defend even better. When you are not at your best at this level, you feel it straight away on the pitch.

You need a bit of everything to turn it around. When you don’t perform as you used to, when you have been injured for so long, you need your confidence back and I was a bit low recently.

I am just looking forward. I am a professional so I know it can happen but not for too long because everyone is waiting for me to perform well and I am looking forward to do it.

All Arsenal fans will are looking forward to Sagna’s form returning as when he’s at his best, Sagna is one of the best right back’s in the game.

Mind you, if Saturdays performance was anything to go by, he’s certainly on his way back…

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

Morning all,

Not much to talk about this morning other than poor old Celtic got battered 3-0 last night in their first of two matches against Juventus. According to reports, our chief scout was there watching Victor Wanyama again.

Celtic now need a miracle to go through to the next round.

Talking of which, with Mike Dean reportedly in charge of our fixture against Blackburn on Saturday, we might need one too.

When exactly did we last win a match with him in charge of the whistle?

Here we go again with the off field ‘stuff’ and as is so often the case, Walcott is the one to voice his opinion after the weekend’s victory:

It was an important win. The three points have us on a high and we’ve got a nice week now without any midweek game.

A lot of players are back from international duty and need a bit of a break. Some may be rested for the FA Cup game, but that’s just as important as we want to go far in that competition. If we lost [at Sunderland], we would have been dwelling on it for so long, so I’m glad we didn’t.

We’re very confident of finishing in the top four. We can battle through any sort of situation. The teams around us are winning as well, but we’ve just got to make sure we look after ourselves and try to win as often as we can.

We’ll see where we are at the end of the season but we’ve got to show the belief we did at Sunderland. I felt there were a lot of winners in that dressing room and the boys were fantastic.

Nice words Theo but as we all keep saying, let’s not get carried away, take each game as it comes and keep quiet off of the pitch. Let other clubs do the talking, we just need to keep on winning.

But of course he is right about having a lot of winners in the dressing room, it really was a team effort which secured those three points. A loss or even a draw would have knocked the confidence the players did have and as we all have said, a victory in such a fashion really does more for players than a easy 5-0.

So as we are gathering confidence, those very noisy neighbours are starting to get a bit twitchy and without Arry as well!

Well that’s according to their keeper Lloris. He reckons last seasons collapse is playing on the minds of the players:

For the minute, the season has been promising, but the hardest part is yet to come because there are still a number of key matches to be played and we’ll have to be ready for that.

For the moment, we’re well-placed, though we’re not beyond a possible charge by Arsenal.

Last season we were ten points behind them but managed to claw our way back and overtake them in the end and finish third.

This season, the deficit is much less, just four points separate us, in fact just nine points are between us and Man City in second place.

There’s a lot to play for yet this campaign, we may not end it with a trophy, but we could sure as heck end it with a lot of pride!

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

Morning all,

Happy Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday – it’s official name. Either way, they’ll be plenty of pancakes consumed today I suspect, I know I’ll have my fair share later.

Does anyone else get the feeling that the worst has been and the better is on it’s way?

More than once over the last few months, someone has asked the same question and that is:

When did we watch Arsenal play well?

That question often went by unanswered. Whether that be because fans were sick of reading it, or they simply couldn’t answer it, I don’t know.

But ask that question today and what would you answer be?

Mine would be, Saturday the 10th February 2013 and I wonder if it’s the start of better things ahead. Of course I am not suggesting things have changed overnight, only a fool would do so. But if things are going to get better, that has to start somewhere.

I watched the game again yesterday afternoon courtesy of Sky Sports Football First and there were times that our attacking movement, passing and general play, was simply stunning. It had pace, accuracy and players worked so hard for each other. They made Sunderland look like a side so so far below them in quality.

I even saw Theo Walcott in possession, look up and then pass – and his pass found a team-mate. When did we last, or ever say that about him?

Once we settled and of course, up until Jenkinson got sent off, we played some of the best attacking football I have seen in a long while. Some of our best defending/goal keeping was on display too.

Another day, another ref, another keeper and we would have romped home, but as said yesterday, maybe that kind of result wouldn’t do as much for confidence as a hard fought 1-0 away from home.

Despite having lost Koscielny in the pre-match warm up, and already being without Thomas Vermaelen, Wenger resisted the temptation to even name Squillaci on the bench, let alone start him and that says a lot.

He’ll never wear an Arsenal shirt again in my opinion. We have Miquel back fit and Angha is more likely to be used than the Frenchman.

Arshavin is another, no place for him on the bench either. Maybe he’ll get a run out against Blackburn, maybe not but regardless, his Arsenal career is over. Added to that, Santos has now gone too, hopefully never to return and I very much doubt he will.

Other fringe players have also been allowed to leave on loan recently and I’m not sure many, if any will return and have a career at Arsenal.

Loan deals are not ideal of course but at least at lot if not all of the players wage is paid by another club. A wage which if it wasn’t so high in the first place, we would have been able to sell the players. Nevertheless, wages we are now saving, hopefully with the view of using the money to pay a few quality additions this coming summer. Players who will make us great again!

With Santos departed, Monreal being cup-tied, Thomas Vermaelen reported to possibly needing surgery on his ankle and Jernade Meade being injured, who on earth will play at left-back when we face Bayern Munich?

Simple!

Although a centre back by trade, 20-year-old Ignasi Miquel  has been working on his versatility, and is happy to play wherever he is asked to.

They’re making me get used to playing at left back, so it’s not that weird for me anymore.

Centre back is my main position so I’ve got no trouble adapting.

Playing left back is different, I have to get forward more but with time I think I’ve got used to it. It’s good for me to have two positions because it will give me more chances to show myself. I want the chance to show that I can fight for the first team. I have to make sure I take my opportunity if it comes my way and make the most of it.

There you go then, there is our new left back, well, for the Champions League at least……..

Have a good day all and enjoy your pancakes……

Morning all,

I’m still thinking about how well Bacary Sagna played in the centre of defence on Saturday.

This has been a funny old season so far for our French right back. He’s gone from being one of the best right backs in the game, to being the most inconsistent in the Premier League. Not the kind of performances we have been used to witnessing.

Pulling your socks up Sagna….

But on Saturday, we all watched the performances of old from him. he was here, there, everywhere. Whether that be with foot or body, he let nothing by him and with body came soul, and he sure had that.

He was immense!

So should he stay there?

Koscielny has been having a mare in the middle and we all know he can play right back and regardless of that, we have Carl Jenkinson and Nico Yennaris who are both good right backs.

No doubt the Jenkinson critics will now jump on and bleat on about how he’s not good enough, he could have cost us the game on Saturday, he should be sold etc etc etc…

Poppycock I say.!

He was hard done by on Saturday if we are to compare the other fouls which were allowed to go unpunished and this guy is a Gooner, he’ll give his all for Arsenal. Don’t ever forget that as it’s something many fans call for quite often.

Seriously though, if playing central gets Sagna back to playing at the top of his game, the team will only benefit. Wenger likes manoeuvring players around the pitch. This one could actually work!

This coming Saturday Jenkinson will be serving his one match ban in any case but we can expect so see a couple of changes to a side which will face Blackburn. Not too many though I hope, I want us to win this cup….

Personally I feel these next few few matches are huge and will play a huge part in how we finish the season. I’m not overly fussed about the Champions League fixture against Bayern, I’d rather we focussed on the FA Cup, winning our next two league matches and push on from there. Of course, if we happen to beat Bayern I won’t complain!

Sky Sports reported yesterday that the Vasco da Gama youngster Indio is heading to us for a trial.

I haven’t a clue who he is and I couldn’t find anything on Wikki about him either, all I could find was ‘the highly-rated teenage midfielder will spend a few days training with the Gunners and is determined to make an impression’.

Talking to Globo Esporte he said:

I’m anxious for this new stage in my life, I’ll spend a week at Arsenal. It will be cool, I hope I enjoy it.

Of course I have the dream of playing for a European club, but everything has its right time. It will be a good experience. I want to learn.

Do you know any more about this kid, if so, do share with us all……

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

Morning all,

Another day of nothing much in the world of football, let alone our fine club.

The new ‘all signing and dancing’ website is releasing as much news as they possibly can, thankfully, they seem to have finally stopped praising our new signing Monreal!

One thing they seem to have expanded on is the goal of the month competition. It’s all flash, shows all the results from the fan vote and even shows the video replay of the top two goals.

Stunning eh!!

Yes of course I am being ironic, it’s Friday and our boys are back playing tomorrow.

Back to the goal of the month for January, which has been awarded to Lukas Podolski for his equaliser against West Ham. A match we went onto win 5-1.

Ok, it’s was good,  but was it really better than the one Kieran Gibbs scored against Swansea? Or the one Wilshere scored against the same side in the FA Cup replay, or even Walcott’s against Chelsea, that was pretty good wasn’t it?

No is my answer, what’s yours?

Sticking with the website, Thomas Vermaelen has been talking about Saturdays fixture against Newcastle:

Sunderland away is always a tough game, I think we did well in the first game of the season at home against Sunderland. We couldn’t score but we were the better team and had the better chances.

I think Sunderland has a little bit more technical quality than Stoke. Stoke was always a difficult game.

We were the better side all over the game (last weekend). We had a few chances in the first half, but it’s difficult against them. They defend well and they’re strong. In the end I’m happy we could get the goal.

Weren’t we all glad we go the important goal?

Sunderland won’t be anything like what we endured last weekend. Martin O’Neil is a football man, not a man who employs bully boy tactics. Yes, they will be strong and they will defend well, we saw that on the opening day of the season but since then, we have improved our attacking game no-end.

Add that to the resolute way we defended at home against them and we could see us come home with all three points.

Back to the website, where the heck is the injury news recorded??

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

Morning all,

There should be a few fans, both from Brazil and England, who should hang their heads in shame.

On a night when a period of silence was to be observed as a joint tribute in memory of the victims of the Munich Air Disaster, the anniversary of Sir Bobby Moore’s death and the Santa Maria fire, a certain ‘few’ couldn’t keep quiet.

Shameful, it really was.

At times like last night it didn’t matter whether you like or dislike Manchester United, Sir Bobby Moore or West Ham. It matters not if you weren’t there, or didn’t know anyone in Brazil when that nightclub burned down.

Lives were lost and many family’s were left grieving after each incident. How could decent humans beings not want to be part of observing the memory of those lives?

Maybe the answer is in the question……

I haven’t watched England for a while but with both Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere selected to start, it seemed like a good idea to do so last night. It had nothing to do with Brazil being the opposition, honest! Well, maybe a little bit.

I enjoyed the game too. Watching Jack Wilshere boss the midfield and pinging accurate passes left, right and central was so pleasing on the eye, and witnessing Theo Walcott cause the Brazilian defence all sorts of problems was good too. Shame he didn’t grab himself a goal.

Joe Hart and Julio Cesar were outstanding in their respective goals and the latter, well if he is still at Qpr on the 31st August I will be amazed. He simply is an outstanding goal keeper and one we really should have tried harder to sign.

Elsewhere, Giroud, Sagna and Koscielny  were all involved at some stage for France in their 2-1 loss to Germany. Mertesacker and Podolski both had a run out for the victors. The tall one of the two played the entire match!

Monreal and Cazorla had a run out for Spain in their 3-1 victory over Uraguay and Tomas Rosicky featured for the Czech Repulic against Turkey in their 2-0 victory. Szczesny conceded a goal in Polands 2-0 loss to the republic of Ireland and I think that’s about it.

No news of any injuries to report although I did get slightly concerned when Walcott was hobbling about a bit for a while.

The younger players, well Chuba Akpom scored a first-half brace in England Under-19s’ win over Denmark. The striker, who has now scored five goals in four games at under-19 level, was substituted just before the hour.

And finally, Benik Afobe started and was replaced at half time as England Under-21s convincingly beat Sweden in Walsall.

That’s it for another day, and another boring international break is over.

Have a good day all…..