Diaby returns & Jenkinson off? Szczesny’s a Gooner and Theo still hasn’t signed………

January 10, 2013

Morning all,

Just when we all thought the Walcott situation was drawing to a close and Wenger/Gazidis might actually be free to sort a couple of transfer moves out, Diaby only goes and plays for the reserves and doesn’t suffer a setback!

We all know what that means don’t we, but that isn’t the way to take our squad into and beyond the next few moths, let alone the next few seasons. For sure its good news as Manchester City come to visit at the weekend but Diaby won’t save our season, or any future ones!

Frimpong played yesterday too, although instead of playing in his usual role, he was shoved out onto the left and the little tough tackler was somehow sent off towards the end for a second bookable offence. I didn’t see the game but a full write up is here if you want to read it.

Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Coquelin also featured – as did Santos and Mannone. The Italian didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet as West Brom held the reserves to a 1-1 scoreline.

Talking of goalkeepers, what is Mannone still doing at Arsenal? Wojciech Szczesny has been talking about his life at the club:

Ever since I signed for this club, I’ve become an Arsenal fan, It feels like it’s more than me just playing and doing my best on a Saturday afternoon. I feel like I have a much bigger part to play at this club. It means that little bit more to me.

I think there’s a lot of players in this team that are genuine Gooners. You’ve got people like Carl Jenkinson, there’s Jack Wilshere, Emmanuel Frimpong – a lot of young players who really feel it’s the biggest honour they could have, to play for this club.

I think that’s very important for the future.

I think I improve with every single game, I get the experience that is needed for a young keeper, so it’s important for me to play as many games as possible. 

I don’t think about playing for any other club. I see my future at Arsenal Football Club. I committed to coming here at the age of 16, not to then leave at the age of 24. That’s not how it works for me. I think coming over to England at the age of 16 was the most important decision of my life and probably the best one, to date.

Szczesny ‘thinks’ a lot doesn’t he. ;)

Can’t believe he is just twelve games away from reaching his 100th for our club. A long way to go to match David Seaman’s Club record of 564 appearances in goal but he’s still only 22 years old so there’s plenty of time ahead for him.

He mentioned Carl Jenkison, another player who surely has a fantastic future ahead of him with us. A player born and bred with red and white running through his veins. Many think he should be playing at right back now with Sagna off his game but reports in The Sun this morning suggest that he could be about to go out on loan for a while.

Crystal Palace are reported to want him there but Jenks wants to stay in the Premier League…

Who could blame him.

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

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Posted by rico

Keeper, Midfielder and Striker linked & Pep’s ready Arsene. Seven fixtures in Twenty days.

January 8, 2013

Morning all,

The big news is that Pep Guardiola has had his rest, enjoyed watching football from the stands or at home rather than the dugout and now he’s announced that next season he’ll be back in management.

That is of course if any club wants him.

Many Arsenal fans see him as the ideal man to replace our current manager and many a rumour went around suggesting that he actually wants to manage Arsenal.

It can’t be denied that the reason many players have signed for us over the years has been Arsene Wenger as much, if not more than it has been about our club. Especially the French players and latterly the young players as they know he will give them their chance to play but those days seem to be fading. Even Lewis Holtby said he chose the Totts over us because of AVB.

Sadly, the days of players wanting to sign for a club because of who that club is have long gone it seems, it’s about money, trophies and a manager who is respected. Pep Guardiola is certainly the latter.

Didn’t Cesc Fabregas say that he was his hero and couldn’t wait to play under his leadership?

But, right now’s it’s Wenger we have and it’s Wenger to stay unless something quite drastic happens which forces either Arsene or the board to decide otherwise and his deep, strong squad have to play seven games in twenty days, (eight if we beat Swansea in the replay) starting with Manchester City at home on Sunday. How the heck will they cope?

We have already heard the ‘the players were a little bit fatigued’ excuses when we lose/draw after playing twice in seven days, so what is being lined up for an excuse if and when it’s needed will be interesting.

But by magic, we’ll have Diaby, Santos and Rosicky all ready to return as ‘new signings’, a couple of the reserve players that Arsene has recently said ‘will be able to step up very soon to the Premier League’ and of course, players who haven’t been used recently will just slot in and all will be fine won’t it?

No it won’t!

That’s my moaning over!

Rumours to finish with:

Fulham are again reported to be keen on signing Arshavin according to some of today’s newspapers.

Rumours are flying around that Theo Walcott is set to sign his new contract any day now. I’ll believe that when afc.com announce it!

The Daily Mail suggest we have been offered Napoli striker Eduardo Vargas on loan. The 23-year-old Chile international is surplus to requirements and has been in talks over a move to Sao Paulo in Brazil but in the meantime we can have him.

And finally Lucas Biglia together with Jack Butland and Celtic’s Wanyama are back on Wenger’s ‘interested’ list according to The Daily Mirror.

You know where there list ends up don’t you……
That'll be the 31st then......

That’ll be the 31st then……

That’s it folks…
Have a good day all…..

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Posted by rico

Just give Theo Walcott what he wants, before someone else does……..

December 30, 2012

Morning Gooners.

A 7-3 victory but there’s still cause for concern.

Would we have still turned on the style at the end had Newcastle been a team without so many injuries, or one who had more strength on the bench or indeed one who had not played just a few days before?

Sounds like us on another day doesn’t it?

We’ll never know now but as long as Arsene Wenger looks at the defensive frailties on display yesterday and takes them to the training ground to resolve, then ok. If he and Bould were watching the space gifted to Newcastle in the midfield and rectifies this by signing a DM in January, then ok  but if these two problems on the pitch continue, other sides will tear us apart.

Those gaping errors gifted Newcastle their three goals.

However….

We could only play against what/who we were up against and getting seven goals in the fashion we did in the end was a joy to behold..

All too often recently, the team have given us reason to moan,  moan and moan and as already said, they did it again yesterday at times but the difference was, they gave us a lot more to cheer about. The way we scored goals and finished the game off in so much style was simply stunning.

We scored seven goals and not one was a fluke…….

The first goal came after good work from Podolski on the left in our own area, he played a super ball down the left hand side into space, space  which Walcott was running in to. Theo then picked the ball up, ran on into the penalty area and curled his shot past Krul and inside the far post…

All done in front of the man he wants to emulate, Thierry Henry. Well that wasn’t a bad start!

Our second:

Sagna had pushed up and from just outside the penalty area, he played the ball to Podolski who was central and just outside the box. Podolski pushed the ball out left to Gibbs who crossed into the penalty area. Podolski totally goofed the return ball which then went onto Theo who had his back towards goal. A little turn, a little control followed by a placed shot into the roof of the net resulted in his second of the match!

Theo’s third was made of stuff which only pundits would brag about if scored by the Mancs or Chelsea… It really was stunning.

The last few days the world of football has had cause to question players attitudes, managers attitudes and cheats who try and earn penalties. (Bale tried again yesterday and got booked).

Walcott showed the better side of the game to grab his third and as Keegan said, ‘it was a combination of strictly come dancing and holiday on ice’. He did go on to say it was very good.

We had a free kick down the left, he played a quick one-two with Jack and with a defender left and right of him he drove through the middle, a sneaky tackle from behind floored him but he rode it well with a knee slide, got straight back onto his feet passed two more Newcastle players and chipped the ball passed Krul into the back of the net!!

Cant finish, isn’t a striker??

He also turned provider for Giroud with a wonderful cross at great pace from the right. The big Frenchman got himself into the right place, the Englishman supplied the right in-swinging ball..

Sublime…..

As was the strike from Oxlade-Chamberlain, a super struck shot into the corner of the net and to be honest, he’d not had the best of games but a goal will keep his confidence high.

Then of course there was the goal which Jack created from nothing really. Our loyal number ten burst through the final centre of the pitch after a ball played to him by Podolski. As he went into the penalty area, it looked like he’d lost his chance to cross but just before the ball looked likely to go out after pressure from a Newcastle defender, Jack whipped in a left footed cross right in front of the keeper. Coloccinii tried to clear it but his header hit the top of the bar and rebounded to Podolski who was there to head the rebound home…..

Giroud scored another for his second, another great finish and annoyingly for him, the woodwork stood between him and and his hat-trick..

We missed a few, we could, maybe even should have scored eleven but is anyone going to complain about that?

I didn’t think so.

What a way for the boys to end 2012 at The Emirates….

Much will be made of Theo’s celebration after the game and the way he thanked all the fans with the match ball in hand but ever since our young Englishman has been with the club, he’s always shown great appreciation for the fans, so yesterday was probably no different. If his contract renewal is being stalled just because he wants an extra £5,000 a week, surely it’s time for the club to give in and agree.

Sure as heck some other club will, especially after yesterday….

Now it’s over to the January transfer window….

Have a good day all…..

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No Walcott deal in Jan, Wenger won’t add players for fun & Not the best draw in the CL.

December 21, 2012

Morning all,

Arsene Wenger had to answer questions about Theo Walcott yet again yesterday, is he staying or is he going and the answer to the latter was:

No, that is for sure. My gut feeling is that he belongs to this club and that I hope he will sign for us. I always am convinced he will stay.

Then of course came the next question about the £100,000 he is reported to be asking for and is he worth it or will he get it:

You never fix yourself a limit on financial restrictions. At the end of the day, can you pay what the player wants? And does it fit with your wage structure?

I have always fought for the players to make money so I am happy when the players make big money. But it has to be made possible for the club to pay it.

I believe the board will follow my recommendation if it is possible. We have a wage bill that has to be respected. When we go overboard and higher than it is expected, I ask the board to do it and most of the time they follow my demands.

Since when has a manager told the board what to pay a player?

Anyway, Wenger seems confident Walcott is staying but sadly that means very little, he said Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and a few others would stay, but we all know what happened there.

Talking of the manager, his pre transfer window speech was also in full flow yesterday:

If we can add one or two exceptional players, we will do it. What we do not want to do is add players just because people put us under pressure to buy players.

That is where we have to be strong enough. If we find a player who will give us something special, we will do it, but that, in January, will not be easy.

We have money, and why should I not spend it if it is to find the right players?

There is certainly no point in adding players who are either identical to what we already have or who are no better than who we already have playing in that person’s position but, we have spaces to fill and Wenger really needs to fill them, especially if he wants us to beat Bayern Munich in the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

We last played Bayern in Europe in 2005, losing 3-2 on aggregate so we have a score to settle. The first leg at The Emirates will be played on 19th February, with the return match at Munich’s Allianz Arena on 13th March.

Don’t worry though, Pizarro is getting on a bit now……

Ray Wilkins reckons we will get knocked out, mind you, he reckons Manchester United and Celtic will knocked out too…..

What does he know eh?

That’s it for another day……..

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Arsenal open talks with Walcott and Huntelaar & Five new contracts set to be announced…….

December 19, 2012

Morning Gooners,

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, all five are expected to sign new contracts within days. Theo Walcott’s contract obviously needs sorting out and seeing Wenger finally playing him in a central role against Reading, that could mean all sorts of things. The main one of course is a compromise in negotiations of his position.

Each of the above are British, something we haven’t witnessed for a while and Five are English, even more unheard of for Wenger.

We could actually see Arsene Wenger fielding an Arsenal starting XI in the EPL containing five English players.

That’s right, FIVE… Heady stuff eh?

When did our esteemed manager last have the luxury of so many talented Englishmen to pick from in the Premier League…

A quick check, not scientific you understand, and (I think) the last occasion was during the 2002-03 season. Ten years ago…

The game in question was towards the end of a season that should have seen Arsenal crowned champions.
March 2nd against Charlton Athletic.

Those five Englishmen were:

David Seaman, Sol Campbell, Martin Keown, Razor Parlour and Francis Jeffers.

That season, Arsene used Ten English players in the English Premier League, the others being:

Ashley Cole,  Steven Taylor,  Jermaine Pennant,  Justin Hoyte and the unlucky Ryan Garry.

But if you know better, then don’t be shy, let me know, but remember, Premier League….

I might be mistake or even wildly optimistic, but I think that English clubs are gradually improving the techniques and development of their youngsters. We might not be quite up to the standard in Germany, France, Spain and Holland yet, but the gap is closing a little. Not as quickly as we’d like, but any progress, is in itself, progress…

Over the last few years, Arsene Wenger has not automatically been looking across the English Channel to his homeland and beyond for younger players, instead it seems that he is closely monitoring the Academy products of other English clubs.

It’s well known that Chris Smalling and Phil Jones were both on Arsene’s radar, before the Ogre of Old Toilet snapped them up. Of course, the ‘home-made’ product is preferable, those with Arsenal DNA and there’s a lot of talented and promising English youngsters coming along nicely in our own Academy.

Notwithstanding the five Englishman in the 1st team squad, we have a clutch of promising English youngsters on the brink of the senior squad.

Nico Yennaris is highly rated among Arsenal circle’s, closely followed by Benik Afobe and Chuks Aneke, both showing promise at Bolton Wanderers and Crewe Alexandra respectively. Behind that trio is Jernade Meade, Chuba Akpom and Jordan Wynter, they all have 1st team potential.

Whether of not Theo Walcott stays and keeps the number of English at five remains to be seen of course but many reports suggest that further talks have taken place. Let’s hope for a positive conclusion.

Let’s not forget, our five are all internationals too so those who once suggested Wenger was to blame for the demise of the English side, may just have rewrite their story but with a new twist!

Gossip as the transfer window draws nears:

The Times suggest that Arsenal have begun talks with Schalke over signing Klass-Jan Huntelaar!

The Metro suggest we are ready to swap Andre Santos for a River Plate midfielder Ezequiel Cirigliano, a 20-year-old Argentine who has been compared with Barcelona star Javier Mascherano!

The Daily Express reckon we are after Ajax defender Toby Alderweirel in January and let’s not forget that Zambia’s Stopila Sunza is soon on his way to Arsenal for talks about a move to us!!

Written by Allezkev

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Posted by rico

Which Christmas Arsene? Djourou looking to leave as five ready to stay.

December 16, 2012

Morning all,

Seems I missed the ‘Johan Djourou want’s Napoli’ story yesterday…

According to his agent, Djourou is surplus to requirements at Arsenal and was close to moving away before this current season started, now it seems he could be gone in January with Italy his preferred destination.

Djourou has been with us a long time now and surely if he was going to ever truly ‘make it’ with us, he would have done by now. He’s 25 years old and he should be playing football. Staying at Arsenal is not good for him or the club and having been the loyal servant he has, the club should now do the decent thing. That of course is to sell him. But don’t try and price another club out of the market, let him go for a sensible price and one that will ensure another club can pay him a good salary.

The same can be said for all our ‘deadwood’. Take Arshavin out of the equation, most we need to move on were signed either very cheaply or for free so the club won’t be losing much if any money when they go. What that will do of course, is save on the ridiculous wages they have been earning just for training and watching the others play.

I feel sorry for Djourou. Not because I feel is should be playing more often, mind you sometimes our defence have been so poor maybe he’d do no worse, but more because he has stayed loyal, he’s never knocked his manager or team-mates in the press and when he had a chance to play in the Champions League, Squillaci was selected ahead of him. Even when he did play last season, he was mainly shoved out at right back where he struggled and of course, what came next was criticism but he’s not a right back, and never will be.

In fact he’d a defensive midfielder really and maybe Wenger has missed a trick not playing him there instead of Coquelin when things have got pretty desperate. In my opinion, neither are good enough to be at the heart of our midfield but maybe Djourou could have given us a bit more stability.

Not as much as signing Capoue or similar would though!

Talking of signing, reports are rife that Jack Wilshere has agreed, and will soon sign a new £20 million, five-year contract. The 20-year-old England midfielder will be among five British players to agree new Arsenal contracts. Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Ramsey being the others.

Maybe even Theo Walcott will join in as the BBC report that talks are set to begin again and go into the New year.

Wenger’s update on the team news ahead of tomorrows game:

It’s difficult because some players are still not practising so I can still not tell you exactly who will be available on Monday. Koscielny should come into the training group today, with Walcott we don’t know but Giroud is back.

On Abou Diaby’s injury…

Slow progress. I cannot give you any fixed date because we are a bit in no man’s land on that front. He is working. We are waiting for him to come back but he is not ready.

On him playing over Christmas…

Over Christmas? Certainly not.

Which Christmas Arsene, he hasn’t played over one yet has he??

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

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Posted by rico

100 Up for Walcott if he plays & Rugby playing side Swansea head to London!

December 1, 2012

No other place to start really, other than the BSM pre-match march which begins at 1.30pm at the Bear Roundabout’ outside The Armoury.

For anyone who still doesn’t know what it’s all about, there is a link here.

We all have our own view about whether it’s right or wrong to be airing the clubs dirty laundry in public, or to give more fuel to the media to knock us with etc but as long as the march is kept within law, fans have every right to make their feelings heard.

Actually, make that feelings voiced, I doubt Stan Kroenke will hear anything that is said today…..

Onto the game against Swansea.

Arsene Wenger believes that the run of fixtures between now and the end of the year and says:

We will come back.

Now we have six games, four at home, and if we do well in this block I think we have a chance to come back. But of course it is vital for us to do well in these games.

He is right of course, it is vital and not just for the benefit of securing Champions League football!

Injury news:

Team news

Arsenal: Sagna (foot), Fabianski (ankle), Santos (abdominal), Koscielny (thigh), Diaby (thigh)

Some reports suggest a late fitness test for Sagna will determine whether he is to play or not and the same for Theo Walcott, but there is nothing on the official site to confirm that. If Walcott does play today, it’s his 100th in an Arsenal shirt.

Wenger has praised Thomas Vermaelen after his performance against Everton: to become Arsenal’s rock again after a star turn against Everton.

It was certainly his best game since the start of the season in this position.

That will boost his confidence and hopefully get out of his mind what happened before when he was not completely confident.

He was physically sharp, confident, calm and important for us.

Good, because we need his ‘calmness’ at the back, no more silly gifts to the opposition and our captain has had his fair share of those.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup has been preparing for today’s game by getting his side to play football with a rugby ball. What that is all about I don’t know but they certainly won’t be playing a ‘rugby style’ game today, they don’t play that way.

Hopefully Wenger has looked at the way they play and worked out who and how to play them and nullify anything they have to offer.

We play the big man up front so we  need to start supplying him a lot more than we have been doing of late. We play with two front wide men, so use them and stop trying to play everything through the middle.

If it’s not working, Wenger needs to change things around or at least make the substitutions earlier than he currently does, give those coming on a chance to change the game.

We need to find some consistency, stability, pace and with it, a string of victories with much much better team performances and the only way we will get that is through the players and their ‘leader’.

Possession alone doesn’t win games but the right tactics, the right mindset and the right attitude and commitment does!

And we need all of those things from now until May!

That’s it for another day……

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Slipping down the table as Wenger targets home form to save us….

November 29, 2012

Morning all

Here’s the team line up, including the timing of substitutions.

Wojciech Szczesny, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny (Kieran Gibbs, 4), Aaron Ramsey (Gervinho, 80), Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Santiago Cazorla (Francis Coquelin, 91), Olivier Giroud

Surprisingly, Wenger favoured Vermaelen at left back than Gibbs for this fixture, whether that was down to fitness or not, I don’t know.

We got off to the perfect start within the opening minute of the game, Walcott collected the ball just inside the Everton half, dodged a tackle from Jagielka, laid the ball off to Ramsey and continued his run on the left. The Welshman, returned a good ball back to Walcott who curled a right-footed shot into the far, top corner. A great goal, and who cares if it took a slight deflection?

Minutes later, Laurent Koscielny suffered what appeared to be a groin injury, so that’s him out for a few weeks now. He was replaced by Kieran Gibbs.

I don’t know whether the injury to Koscielny disrupted us but it certainly seem to lift Everton, even though it was so so early in the game. Slowly the home side raised their game, our right hand side was the target.

Just before the half an hour mark, Szczesny was called into action and any danger seemed to be gone but then Sagna played a dangerous ball to Arteta, causing him problems. Pienaar took advantage and the ball broke away into the path of Fellaini who shot past  Szczesny from around twenty five yards.

Should our Pole done better? I think so!

It was a funny old game after that really, we as usual saw a lot of the ball, but up front we were very tame. Whereas Everton often looked dangerous and on another day, would have buried the chances they created.

Jelavic missed a golden opportunity and Pienaar should have been awarded a penalty after being pulled over by Arteta.

It stayed at 1-1, another three points missed out on and with it, we dropped another place down the Premier League table.

A few pointers:

Cazorla was again too easily nullified

Arteta is clearly being wasted playing as a ‘defensive midfielder’ although he does a good job.

We seriously lack width apart from Walcott who could soon be heading off anyway.

We lack a cutting edge and we offered no real threat going forward.

We defended reasonably well apart for their goal and definitely got a way with a penalty!

Did Howard have a decent save to make the whole game..?

Wilshere had another good game. He tried hard to create but we just lack something as a unit…!

After the game, David Moyes said:

It was a certain penalty. We played against a really good Arsenal team and referees’ decisions often decide big games like this but we got nothing tonight. The players had to earn everything because we were never getting a jot from him.

Arsene Wenger said:

I thought 1-1 was a fair result and it is a good point here. The game was played with remarkable intensity and we had to show good spirit to get away with a point because Everton were really up for it. I am pleased with the spirit we showed.

We have played eight of our 14 league games away from home now – against both Manchester and Liverpool clubs – and if we play well at home we have the chance to come back. 

We had a few more chances on the counter-attack but we didn’t do well with the final ball. We could have been more clinical.

Where have we heard that before…….?

That’s it for today, home fixture up next so no excuses eh!

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Koscielny being sold in January? Wenger confirms he won’t be spending big in January!

November 28, 2012

Morning all,

Firstly, according to The Metro, Wenger has confirmed he won’t be spending big despite the money coming in from the new Emirates deal!!

If we get that amount of money from sponsors it is not charity, it is because the sponsors feel that we act in the right way and with the right values.  It is down to us to spend the money in the right way.

Wonder what he thinks the right way is? Wonder what the sponsors think about GIVING money to players who do nothing but run around in training? Is that considered to be the ‘right way’ to let money leave the club?

I don’t think so either!

Just in case anyone has missed the calendar story, Theo Walcott and Bacary Sagna have apparently been left off next years and of course that means they are both leaving in the near future doesn’t it? How can there be any other reason for missing them off, after all, we only have twelve players in the squad don’t we?

Lauren Koscielny is also missing, as is Carl Jenkinson, Gervinho, Arshavin, Diaby, Rosicky, does that mean they are all leaving too??

Crikey, even Squillaci hasn’t got his smiling face all over February!!

There are only twelve months in the year, not every player can have his face photographed and used can they?

Talk about adding up 2+2 and making it 12……

I’m sure I read somewhere that Walcott’s agent thought his player deserved extra in his pay packet because he was the ‘poster boy’ for the club, well maybe he doesn’t want to be the face of the club any more and that’s in the process of being removed, who knows..

As for Bacary Sagna, well his contract runs out at the end of next season so the club have a while to get that sorted, obviously  the sooner the better.

Quick mention for the Ladies, they will face Italian side ASD Torres in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League and once they have beaten them, either Geman side VfL Wolfsburg or Russian team WFC Rossiyanka await them in the final four! The first leg will be played on either 20 or 21 March, with the return game in Sassari on 27 or 28 March.

Good luck to the ladies, hope they can go on and make it to the final which is at Stamford Bridge on 23 May, 2013.

Meanwhile, the men face a tough opposition tonight at Goodison Park. Everton sit just above us in the league but a win for us would soon change all that. Regardless of the result, we really need to see the team start playing better, much much better than we have been of late.

Saturday was awful and no-one wants to hear a repeat of the two ‘chants’ the away fans were singing do they, more importantly, none of us want to see the kind of performance that would encourage the fans to want to make their feelings heard. And we certainly don’t want to see Francis Coquelin replacing a striker towards the end if we are needing a goal!!

I read this comment yesterday about our manager, it was written by Steve Wilson, a  BBC Match of the Day commentator:

Okay, Arsenal have not won a bean since 2005, but Wenger was a moderniser and a visionary when he first came to Arsenal and there is no doubt that the Premier League is more cosmopolitan and professional for him having been here. I also think he is a reminder that men who build a team are generally preferable to men who buy a club.

Everton are another club steeped in tradition, although they haven’t had great success over the years but then they haven’t had a lot of money to spend but manager David Moyes has spent wisely during his ten years in charge and many would say that all things considered, he has done very well.

But not against us…..

    Head-to-head

  • Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League games against Everton (W8, D2) since a 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park in March 2007 when Andrew Johnson scored a stoppage-time winner.
  • This is the 183rd league meeting between the two clubs, all of them in the top division of English football. Arsenal have 90 victories compared to Everton’s 54.
  • Arsenal’s 6-1 win at Goodison Park in August 2009 was the Toffees’ worst home league defeat since 1958.
  • The Gunners have recorded their highest number of Premier League wins (26) and goals (81) against Everton.

Everton

  • Everton have drawn five of their last seven league games (W1, D5, L1).
  • They have not lost at Goodison Park in 10 Premier League matches since a 1-0 defeat by Arsenal in March (W7, D3).
  • The Toffees have conceded 12 goals in their last eight games, failing to keep a clean sheet in that spell.
  • David Moyes’s side have scored 15 first-half goals in the league this season, more than any other team. They have also been ahead at half-time on an unrivalled six occasions.

Team News:

Thankfully, all the players came through the trip to Aston Villa unscathed, no surprise there really and Tomas Rosicky is finally back in training. He is fit and raring to go but tonight’s game is too early for him. He’s off to play a few games for the reserves to get match fit, Walcott however will return, as will Wilshere and Vermaelen.

So there you have it, now it’s all down to Wenger and his players.

If they ‘want it’ they will win, if they don’t they will get beaten, it really is that simple.

Maybe it’s time to look at the cannon on their chest and realise what it represents, look around at those travelling fans tonight, see the passion in their eyes, passion for a club which they have the privilege to represent!

Maybe it’s time they all, including the manager took a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and ask one question:

‘Can I do better’?

Of course they can, the real question is whether or not they have the guts and determination to do so….

And that is something I doubt……

Clearly the answer is yes and it’s about time they all started to do so!

We were the last side to beat Everton at Goodison Park, we must be the first to beat them there this season too…..

That’s your lot for another day….

 

308 Comments | Daily Bits and Bobs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

Bendtner considers Totts move! Walcott set to stay & lose the nerves!!….

November 19, 2012

Let’s start with Theo Walcott, none of us need his contract situation explaining but it seems like he’s going nowhere, well not in January.

When asked if Walcott would be staying until the end of the season, Wenger replied:

Yes, my intention has always been to keep Theo. We continue to talk and the ambition is to find an agreement.

At the moment, we don’t have that agreement, but we have until the end of December to resolve this. I am always optimistic. I talk to Theo every day, but not always about his contract. I let his agents deal with that.

Well I think that is sensible, what is the point in selling him for a pittance when we need him? We’d only have to replace him and that would cost a lot of money. In any case, he may yet sign on that dotted line, he certainly looks happy enough but then so did you know who before he left.

According to Sky Sports, Nicklas Bendtner wants to return to London when his current loan spell comes to an end, and he would not rule out following in the footsteps of William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Bendtner told bold.dk:

History is filled with examples of players moving between rival clubs and I can’t rule out clubs due to where I might have been in the past, it might not be the best idea but if the project matches my ambitions I would have to be interested.

Good luck there to Nik, he is certainly trying to ensure he never plays for us again.

Whilst talking about Tottenham, let’s go back to Saturdays game.

Many Gooners were whooping and cheering after the game no doubt. Before the game, many fans had little doubt that we  would send the pretenders home with their tails between their legs. Many said they were not in our league and the same fans suggested they never will be.

We can boast a good victory now that the game is over but whilst the game was 11 against 11 I didn’t think we looked very convincing. In fact we had gone a goal behind and could have quite easily conceded a second. We weren’t looking looking that good to me.

After Arsenal reject Adebayor got himself sent off, for what the referee thought was a straight red card tackle, the scales started tilting our way.

I am not going to argue whether I thought the challenge deserved a sending off or not but for a first tackle at such an early stage in the match, I was a bit surprised to see the red card being branded.

Personally, I have never thought that Adebayor was a dirty player he always seemed to me to be a very sporting kind of fella but it was a high tackle and rules are rules but I felt the ball was there to win.

Pundits and commentators were quick to point out that Adebayor was really pumped up for the game they felt that was the reason for the tackle. They also said straight away that if we went onto win because of the one man advantage it would be solely down to Adebayors rush of blood challenge.

I felt as if they were trying to tell viewers that there was possibly unfinished business between him and Arsenal FC which I don’t believe for one minute.

The game went on and of course the sending off made a difference, we came into the game, started to take control and we equalised fairly quickly and soon scored a second as Tottenham looked very shaky. They hadn’t come to terms with being a man down and despite doing all they could, they went in at half time 3-1 down.

During the break, AVB made a couple of substitutions but instead of trying to beef his defence up he set up to be more competitive and they did manage to stem the Arsenal flow for a while.

Inevitably though, we got a 4th goal  and at this point, I thought the opposition would collapse but credit where it’s due, they continued to attack our goal and managed to beat Szczesny to make it 4-2.

Arsenal players and fans were a bit surprised. I certainly was after our poor defending was again called into question and once Bale had scored, I was thinking that the game could yet end up being drawn. That is what our defending has done to my confidence or rather, lack of it.

Our fifth goal made me relax a lot more, knowing the points were in the bag!

Tottenham deserve full credit for never giving up they despite having been under the cosh since the sending off.

Arsene Wenger said after the game that he was very happy with the result. He praised several players but he also said that our confidence has been low of late and we were nervous out there.

5-2 with ten minutes to go and we still looked nervous, we tried to slow the game down, we tried to play keep ball and we even tried time-wasting tactics but the thing is we still looked vulnerable on the break. The result will go a long way towards boosting confidence but I still think we have problems which need addressing.

We should be confident, especially at 5-2 with ten minutes left of the game. We should have been battering on the Totts door, not allowing them to keep lightly tapping on ours.

Many supporters were singing the praises of Giroud but his lack of pace is very noticeable, the same can be said of Mertsacker, who was at fault for their second goal. His lack of pace cost us dear and I think it will again in the future.

We must lose our nervousness and let the free flow of our game rise to the surface again and get the pace back in our game that we found at times on Saturday, only when we are facing eleven players!

After all, we can’t play against ten each weekend can we……!

Written by Steve Palmer

233 Comments | Daily Bits and Bobs | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by rico

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