Morning all.
Having had a trial with us in the summer, 18 year old Bristol Rovers goalkeeper Matt Macey could be heading to Arsenal on a permanent deal according to Dean Jones of the Sunday People. Apparently Arsene Wenger is very keen to sign the youngster and the player himself would not hesitate to sign for us.
Apparently, he’s 6′ 6″ tall!
The Daily Star reckon Arsene Wenger will try again for Demba Ba in January too but I can’t see Jose allowing that move, he didn’t before the season began so now we sit firmly above them in the league, the player has no chance of a move to north London.
The last few seasons, well, since the invincibles disbanded in full really, Arsene Wenger has had to face endless questions asking when we are going to be stronger, when will be finally be able to face up to the more physical sides, when will we be able to defend better on set-pieces and of course, the major one is when are we going to end our trophy drought. There are of course many other stupid questions he’s been asked over the years but those I have mentioned have to be up with the favourites.
This season though, things to date have been quite different, we don’t look so vulnerable on set-pieces, we have matched sides like Stoke and Sunderland in the physical battles and apart from the opening day of the season, the newspaper journalists and media buffoons haven’t really been fed anything to whine about, in fact the questions been asked of Arsene Wenger are somewhat very different these days.
After our victory on Saturday, he was asked whether of not we really are title contenders:
Let’s see.
I think if we are in April this time competing for the championship we will be in a much stronger position than the years before.
He is spot on of course, yes it’s nice to see us sitting at the top of the league, especially as around this time last season and the season before, we were nearer the bottom of the league than the top, so this good start has been especially welcome. As is us winning our matches, when the so-called ‘big guns’ have dropped points. Before we’d witness their losses/draws and we would follow suit.
Next up for us in the league is WBA away, Norwich at home and then Crystal Palace away. Then we face Chelsea in the Capital One Cup at the end of October.
We kick November of with a home fixture against Liverpool followed by a trip to Old Trafford, sandwiched in between is a Champions League fixture in Germany against Borussia Dortmund.
WBA away will be tough and they will be very confident having just beaten Manchester United at their own ground. Both Southampton and Crystal Palace ‘should’ see us pick up six points but saying that, neither side should be taken for granted.
The tougher test will come in November and December when we face the so-called ‘big guns’ like Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea – if we can beat those three sides then we can head towards Christmas in a really good place.
I would have said ‘if we can beat the teams around us’ but those right now are Tottenham and Liverpool and we’ve already beaten one of those two. 😉
So, like Arsene Wenger says, let’s see what happens over the next three months and if head into 2014 somewhere very near to where we are, then maybe, just maybe we have a chance.
Especially if Arsene Wenger has a £40-50 million just waiting to be spent and he spends it!
Finally:
Chinese for three….
Nice way to celebrate his birthday, Mesut Ozil gave Per Mertesacker a treat for his journey home in the way of a Chinese takeaway, fellow German and goal scorer Serge Gnabry looked keen to join in..
Using Twitter to let us all know of his action, Ozil wrote:
Happy birthday @mertesacker29, you are a great friend and team-mate! #happybirthdayper #afc #topoftheleague #gunners.
Pre-birthday celebration in the bus after the 2-1 win in swansea, present: 3 points and #topoftheleague. happy birthday Per Mertesacker.
Good job Andre Santos isn’t still with us, the food would have been consumed before there was any chance of a photograph being captured….
That’s it for another day, have a good one…
😀 ha ha ha The Andre Santos line killed me.
Good read and I enjoyed reading that.
I can’t believe we are going to be playing Norwich almost exactly a year after they beat us 1-0 after an international break. (That defeat started our poor run until February…)
Serge’s made his debut on that day when he came on with 8 or so minutes to go; He proved to be the best player on that day with that cameo when he created the only attempt on target imho; But the performance and AW’s unwillingness to change the set-up until in the last 10 minutes made me question why I thought AW was an elite manager.
What I am trying to say in short is that the way we perform against Norwich after an interlude where most of our players will either come back on the Thursday morning with injuries will again define how far forward we have come…
Who can remember this story in 2009?….
I came across it and thought, hmm, maybe I see football the same way Cesc saw the game.lol.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1231548/Cesc-Fabregas-In-revealing-interview-Arsenals-genius-reveals-sign-Barcelona-fight-overcome-demons-slur-haunts-him.html
Back then Cesc thought, Ramsey was the one who would take his place in the squad if he did not up his game; He thought Jack should be moved to CM only when he was older…
It sounded like a comment from someone I know…lol
Cesc in 2009: ‘Aaron has really developed. Physically he is bigger and more powerful, as you could see when we played Liverpool in the Carling Cup. If I go to sleep I will wake up and find him in my place. No, it is true. Wilshere will be a top player, too, and when he gets a bit older they will move him into the middle. They just need a run of games to gain confidence and they will be a big part of Arsenal’s future. A future I hope to be part of.’
Nice post, I think Ba was more of a panic buy at the time, good player but surely we have time from now until january to draw up a list of more suitable targets.
The premier league games against liverpool and utd will be the real test if we are to become champions. I hope we smash utd at old trafford this year.
Happy birthday Per Metersaker wish many years to come.
Thanks re the post Ts & Andy…
I knew someone would chuckle about Santos Ts 😉
Re Ba, I suspect a lot will depend on what/how Bendtner does. He’s got to be played soon as Giroud needs a break.
interesting set of results again, the gate is wide open and our opening draw of fixtures have been very kind this year. We needed a good start and the fixtures have assisted big time – City and United look all over the place at the moment. Flamini walking in the front door was amazing for us as well. He’s been tremendous and a real mouthpiece in the centre of the pitch. Plenty of testing games to come and we’ll see where we are after a few of those I guess.
Ba would have been a good stop gap to a failed window of striker shopping Rico. Surely now with yet months of prep we can do better?
Ba’s extended family have to reduce their ‘Carte Blanche’ type request imho.
From what I have read and heard his agents are one of the most demanding agents you can deal with…
AW has always liked Ba, but there was no way even a ‘born-again’ AW would have paid £3M to his agents and another £1.5M to the chavs for a loan deal when the chavs paid £7M for him and he is a bench warmer…
Morning all, Very entertaining post Rico,
Lets face it, at the moment we have a false top position in the league, dont get me wrong we have got the points, but i would like to point out that we realy haven’t played anybody of note yet. Sure you are going to say Spuds and yes your right we did beat them but we were under exstreme pressure and we won but it was hard. The so called big teams have had harder starts than we have and thats why we head the table. I am taking nothing away from what we have done so far, but talking about winning the league is a long long way off yet. At the moment we have capitalised on their misfortune and when you look at the big picture we haven’t changed that much,. The Ozil signing has not changed us much and if i speak the truth i have not seen 42 millions worth out of him yet. Flamoni has been a good signing he has been the one at the moment who has helped us cope with Arteta and Oxlaid and Santi’s injury. That signing i would have said was a stroke of Genius but i guess that was sheer luck. I don’t kid myself that we have a league winning side by where we sit in the league, as some of those games we have played we have had our backs against the wall, we have got results because we have defended in numbers and i also feel we have had our fair share of luck. We can still make extra points with the next few games as we still are playing sides that we should win, if we do we give ourselves a cushion when we start with the big teams. I am hopeful that the big teams still have their little blips so by the time they play us we are points wise a couple of games ahead of them. The only thing i am feeling right now is the injured are now on the verge of a comeback and we can start to feed those in and take the weight off of some players. Spuds will only get better as they gel and the others can only get better, we have to up our game if we want to stay near the top. I know this sounds downbeat but we still have the same team as last year or almost and we never looked like winning it last year so we just have to keep our fingers crossed.
Stevep1 – peas in a pod we are. I agree 100%
tsgh – Arsenal had agreed the loan mate, it was Chelsea that pulled the plug not Wenger
Oz, we can do a lot better and I also believe that the Ba ship has sailed.
However, if Nik gets a chance and he starts scoring goals on a regular basis, I can see AW waiting until the summer…
Hi Oz, there are currently no strikers of the the calibre that will make some of us pump our fist in ecstasy on the market though.
The best striker thus far in Europe, Costa just resigned a new contract with Ath Madrid. Lew is all but a press conference away from joining the Bavarians. Wooney will not be allowed to join us at least I won’t count on it… Keisling who i rate is slower than OG12..
Benzema well, I do not rate and his chemistry with OG12 is like York/Cole without the goals. It will be like Toure and Gallas all over again imho… the club have come a long way and signing primadona’s is not the way forward imho…
In my opinion we should be going for a ‘Reus’ type of forward/winger.
I think one of our kids will step up… we do not need a prolific striker in the system we play… we just need our wingers to chip in with goals and our CF to work his socks off as OG12 doese and -52 did against WBA…
Thanks Sp – I am not sure I agree 100%.
Tottenham, all though it pains me to say it, look a very good side this season and I can see them beating Utd and taking points from City…
The fixture came at the perfect timing for us imho, they couldn’t select Eriksen (spelling) and others hadn’t chance to gel..
Chelsea and Man Utd are their to be beaten, City, well on their day they can beat anyone, they just blow hot and cold right now…
Hopefully Oz, i am wrong but…. 🙂
Rooney is available and I am beginning to think Adam was right, RvP wants to move too…
I’d take either of those two…
You are right re Mauren pulling the rug from under our feet last minute but we could have completed a permanent deal much earlier if the agreement had not been slowed down by his agents.
From what I heard on the Sunday after the Spuds game, it was Ba who came back to us to say he wanted to join us on loan instead of on a permanent deal because of the demands. He was even willing forsake his signing on fee…
We differ hugely Ts, imho, we need a prolific goal scorer to rotate with Giroud and the sooner the better.
I don’t think AW ever wanted Ba Ts, not until the last few days of the TW and only ever on loan…
Rico, i would be amazed if me and you ever agree’d 100% But that is only my view and what do i know 🙂
Wasn’t the late move for Ba all down to Podolski getting injured??
If AW rated him, he would have gone for him when he was available on the cheap.
The club wanted Suarez, Kroenke has admitted that and until he met with John Henry, they hoped to get him but after that meeting, we stopped our pursuit of him..
That’s what makes the world go round Sp 🙂
At least we speak from our heart and head eh, it’s mere opinion… Neither of us are right or wrong…
It’s good to differ, nicely 😛
SP1- I am as pragmatic as you are about our false position but I think you may be overlooking the important fact of continuity which we have lacked in the last 7 years.
Last season JW-Ozil- Arteta-Diaby had not played together before not even in pre-season.
The season before Song-Ramsey-Arteta had not really featured before the old trafford trashing..
The season before it was NAsri-Song-Cesc-Diaby.
This season we have a midfield being led by Ramsey with Flamini plugging the gaps as he knows the team and the way we play but even then we have seem disjointed…
I think some may think I am against Flamini signing but when you look bacvk I was one of the few like Kev who backed his signing originally and even commented on the fact that Pellegrini signed a 29 y.o Brazillian B-team player for £20M plus and he was considered a genius but Flamini was considered bad management because he was free…
All I am saying is that Ramsey is doing a lot of things for the team and is taking away a lot of the teams deficiencies including Flamini’s imho…
Ramsey is doing what Flamini did for us in 2007 this season and since 2007. I can’t see us beating any team of note with a Flamini/Arteta pairing… However, I can see us doing well with a TR07 and Flamini/Arteta…
Nice post Rico, i really njoy it!
Rico, a top striker will do for us no doubt,but I will say that all the top teams across Europe have their main strikers behind their midfielders in the goal scoring department.
Bayern did the treble with a decent striker but had Muller, Robben,Ribery scoring the goals needed.
Barca failed because Pedro and the likes did not contributer goals from midfield when Messi was being ”Celtic’d”.
My other team BVB’s goals are mostly coming from Reus and Pierre. Yes Lew’s goals tally went up to 7 this wekend due to a 5-0 win but..
Juve had to rely on a 20 y.o midfielder in Podga to score when they had Llorente and Tevez to name a few…
Morning all,
I still think Suarez is the best striker on offer. Rodgers admitted they would’ve accepted 50m.
So it all depends on how Liverpool do this season. They have a thin squad too and will struggle if they get injuries to key players.
As good as RVP is, I want him to rot at Man U.
Feels like a Karma situation for me.
Micko made a good point last night, it’s about time Ramsey played well 🙂
Now to get Walcott back and playing well… Could be a long wait ……
I sense Wenger will not buy anyone to challenge Giroud
Thanks Ramos.
Not being funny Ts, I only really care about what and how Arsenal do, those in Europe interest me very little until we play them…
Afc need a goal scorer, Suarez, Rooney or even Benteke for me as they have shown what they can do in the PL…
Hi Bradster, I can understand why you say that about RvP I really can but all he did was say what many fans thought and that was the club lacked ambition at the time of their talks…
bradster – I would take RVP tomorrow he gave nowhere near the lip Bendbloke and Flam did – He wanted trophies as all the greats do. Give Ozil 2 trophy less years and you’ll see.
Talkshite were running their mouth about Sturridge and Suarez being the best strike force since DB10 and TH14… ehhh… OG12 and Walcott were amongst the best across the whole Europe last season… in both goals and assist stakes.
Yes Walcott has had an indifferent 2013 but he will come back stronger (in the right games of course).lol
Why Oz? Because Podolski can fill in, or Walcott etc or the dreaded Nik B to be offered a new contract 😉
Hiya Ginge, You always talk sense mate, your knowlege on football is impressive. You can talk about the past as if it just happened and i must admit when i c,heck it out you are usually spot on, Where my memory is not what it was, i speak as i find. Last season to me has come and gone, nothing anybody can do to change it, but this season is a new canvas, i watch the games as intently as i can i tape most of our games so i can go over things that have caught my attention. I like to look at body language and also attitudes and one thing i do look at is workrate. Winning teams that work together and cover one another usually get something out of a game or a season, and i must say that what i have seen of our team in most of our games is they seem to have that togetherness. I feel that should these players continue as they are and dont drop that standard even if we have a bad result could win something this year. But you must think that as well. 🙂
Rvp has said nothing since his move either has he?
Why bother with them Ts, they talk bollards and dislike us, let them bleat on about them, leaves us in peace to go about our play quietly..
Morning all.
Torres for me.
Or Rooney.
Rico, I never said we should not buy a striker…neither of our views count really as we are not the ones making the decisions…
I am merely stating that it won’t be disastrous if we do not buy a top striker, so far as our midfielders continue to score; we have Poldi and Sc19 yet to fire on all cylinders.
Chelsea in the past won trophies with midfielders like Robben, Lampard scoring as many or more goals than Drogba.
Under AW we have had the top striker in the league on several occasions without winning any thing because our midfielders never scored when our striker couldn’t.
What I do agree on with you is that if we are going to buy a striker then they have to come from the EPL… you know well I was always in support of Benteke coming to us instead of some of the other high profile targets we were after for nothing else but for team dynamics.
I liked Suarez because I thought he could play behind the striker or on the wings as he does for Uruguay if needed.
RVP…never…..ever.
Fancy a player trying to dictate the transfers a club makes.
Arrogant prick and ungrateful……7 seasons where the clubs ambition was not an issue attests to that.
I hope he suffers at Yanited until retirement.
Ditto- SPI re 11:08. Even during the summer when it looked like the 1920’s in America I always maintained that our newly found team ethics and togetherness will give us an additional edge…
The rest is up to the likes of out luxury players delivering imho and lady luck…
Like you I like to rewatch games afterwards and it is amazing what you see when you know the results already…
😀 Scott… I thought you loved a Judas.
I misunderstood your earlier saying we really only needed our wingers to chip in then Ts 😉
I think it would be seriously neglectful not to sign a striker…
Striker and a defender who can fill in at right back and our squad would look very strong… imho of course..
Boo!! Good one, rico. 🙂 🙂 That RvP had darn well better not get lippy about us. He was paid millions over seven or something years for mostly being on the treatment table.
Happy birthday, Per! rico, you’re going to give Giroud a complex. It’s his birthday today and he doesn’t feature in your post!!
Haha Ginge.
Spot on Rico – I actually think he realises the value of a Rosicky to this team and that motivated the Ozil move – Do i think he’ll buy someone to challenge Giroud, no, he clearly is hoping to play the make do card again. Hopefully come January I will be eating my words
Hiya Agag, you always disappoint me with your tractor driving skills… you had one assignment i.e just drive over Judas’s ankles and you have failed miserably… You can’t blame Rico’s tools for your driving skills I am afraid. 😛
i watched a centre forward last night and i have watched him before Altidore or something like that i think he’s a yank but i feel he has some of the qualities that could be useful for us, anybody know much about him.
….And you are stalking OG12 again? Good on you Agag for remembering OG12’s birthday.lol
Good Morning to the Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
Rico – Another entertaining article.
Sir Steve – I agree with most of what you said in your 10:23 am post. However, what cost us so many points last season was dropping games against bottom and mid table teams we should have beaten easily. When we lost to Aston Villa a few weeks ago, I thought we were about to repeat that trend, but the boys have pulled up their socks and made the most of their subsequent games.
We do have an easier string of opening games than our nearest opposition, but the team seem determined to make the most of that and open up a gap between us and them. We should have a better indication of where we stand at the end of October.
On Wednesday our team with many second string players, including a few teenagers, beat WBA Saturday. On Saturday a near full strength ManUre couldn’t beat them, even though WBA were missing a couple of their first string players that faced our Young Guns.
As Rico pointed out, it is still early days, but things are looking bright and we have our walking wounded starting to return. I remain optomistic.
Ginge, must get a few more lessons. 😉
Hi, SSP. How are you? I didn’t know that people still “taped” shows/matches. 😛 😛 Sounds so 90’s. 😀
Hello, Ozzy and Scott! 🙂
agag what about all the players also paid millions who did nothing let alone playing a huge part in earning us 30m from qualifying for the ECL? He played nearly 200 games and scored nearly a hundred goals for Arsenal
SPI- I don’t know much about him but Jozy has been there and there about but has always been a Heskey type striker to me…
He played for Hull in 2009 I think… I will check whoscored later…
He puts himself about which any top team needs imho… nothing motivates midfielders than seeing a striker try his best…
If you remember, I thought $hitty would miss Tevez the most this season as he is the one who drove the team even as good as Pun is scoring goals…
My take is that Wenger must’ve told RVP something of the cash from sponsors that should come in but that we can’t spend it last season. He must’ve said he can’t wait so for me he got his trophy and that was his sacrafice.
It’s just strange for me that now that things aren’t going to plan he becomes injured when last season he didn’t have an injury.
oz, we’ve gotten rid of most of them, haven’t we?
agag mostly and what a painful and costly experience that has been 🙂
Brad, you make an excellent point… re ‘It’s just strange for me that now that things aren’t going to plan he becomes injured when last season he didn’t have an injury.’ 😀
That is my line of thinking but I know I am paranoid so… lol
There is no way you can proof type strains/injuries…
Either would do me too Scott..
Boo agag and thanks, how’s tricks..?
oz, exactly. 😀 And we wouldn’t want to return to that. Haha. I prefer Suarez. He’s great in that rubbishy team of his; and would be even better in ours. 😉
Hi, CG!! And Brad! How are you guys?
Ginge, I do check his twitter page. 😉 rico, you’d like his photo; hashtag: blue shirt and blue eyes or something. 😉
Oops re Giroud, serves him right for not getting a takeaway, or maybe a team-mate should have bought him one, then I’d have known 😉
Morning Cg and thank you…
WBA were very much under-strength when our young guns played them too, totally different side defeated Man Utd I think..
Oz – I hope you are too 😉
Cheers Ginge.
On the thing about RVP, as soon as a player leaves he becomes a Judas to the fans. RVP was a bloody good striker for us, granted he spent time on the table but he always gave his all for us even in his last year. Wenger wouldn’t have let him go if he felt he would help us in the future. They had many talks from what i read and it was a mutual agreement that he should go. 22 million was a good return for a player of that age. OK i agree it came hard to see him go up North but 22 million is hard to get i see that as good buisness and Giroud is not that bad not a Robin yet but he’s doing his best. I choked i must admit when we was short and Bendys name came about, but wold his name been down if Sanogo or Poldi had been fit, i doubt it Robin was a complete proffesional and i wish him well when he gets demoted.
BYT agag I agree 100% on Suarez, i think he’s the bees knees
Good morning HH, Ts I agree with u, Reus is a better option than any other player in the market now. I don’t want the team to be dependent on a centre forward to be scoring all the goals, secondly I do rate ba, I would prefer to use Ox, theo or pod as CF. Reus will take us to another level for sure, I think we should bid 35-40 mil for him in Jan.
stevep1 – i think we’re related mate ha! I agree on RVP, his transfer fee paid 5 years of his wages back if you want to get pedantic. Some fans hostility to those wanting better is surprising at times. The lad did well for us, very well, he might have messed up however 🙂
I don’t know if Arsene will buy anyone in January. I think it will depend on who is available.
He is no longer mandated to buy in the bargain basement, as he was in the past. He can now afford to buy in the upmarket boutique on the top floor. Arsene seems to have definite targets and doesn’t seem to want to accept seconds.
A lot will also depend on the form of our returning players like Podolski and Walcott as well as the progress of our youngsters like Akpom.
We have had some of best seasons when the scoring has been shared though the midield. Even when Thierry Henry was in his prime, we had the likes of Bergkamp, Pires and Vieira scoring ten plus goals apiece.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t buy another striker, but we may have to wait until next summer.
oz, I think, maybe women are just more vindictive than men 😀 , and I simply cannot wish RvP well. (shrugs)
SSP, I love that last statement. 😀
Gunnerdna surely we have to sell from midfield to bring more?
*i don’t rate Ba
SP1- To me I am a fan of the game first and foremost and through my love for football I started following Arsenal and Charlton by chance nearly 25 years ago but even then Dortmond, AS Monaco,Ajax and later Milan with Gullit and the likes were my entertainment value team.s…..
As I always say football fans are quick to say sell a ‘Gerv’ because he is deemed useless but cry when a decent player leaves… I stopped seeing football as a tribalism when I found myself amongst kids deprived of any meaningful future because of wars…
Don’t get me wrong, my Mrs my disagree when Arsenal lose and I am not my usual cheerful self but I do my best to remember it is only football after all…
Sister AGAG – I’m feeling great. How else could i feel after this past week;
Sunday we beat Stoke 3-1
Monday my youger son and his wife had their first child
Wednesday our Young Guns beat WBA on penalties
Saturday we beat Swansea 1-2
Short of winning the lottery, it can’t get much better than that.
I am with you Cg; buying a strike in January unless he is from Russia or from this league will be ineffective as most teams will only sell fringe players.
Teams struggling financially will hold unto their best assets until the summer before selling in my view…
I am always maintained we have the right number of players in most areas of the field but what matters most as SP1 has mentioned earlier is how we watch our backs. We need more ‘water carriers’ to win and as well lady luck has to grin on us too…
Talking about Russia, Scott I heard Honda has not signed the pre-contract agreement with Milan… I know you love him…
Congrats Cg… so another grandad in the house. lol
Top league scorers…
http://www.fresharsenal.com/top-scorers/
Morning Agag 🙂
Oz people will star talking 🙂
When i look at last year and this year i wonder if when Wenger sold RVP he also sent him off with a virus, slow acting yes but Rongkey one of the best strikers in the world in the same team as RVP Ego’s would be dented. Rednose held it together well but he knew trouble was brewing he slid down his foxhole and left his virus to infect Noisy came in and tried to paper over the cracks, Noisy couldn’t buy chips in a chip shop, and didn’t want to lose either of the top strikers in the world so friction has built up, the virus is in the computor and is eating away at the structure and Noisy has no computor skills Man i love it and people say Wenger doesn’t know what he’s doing ha ha.
I can’t see us getting Reus either, not unless we sell…
But I think we could get Suarez or Rooney in January if we offer the right amount…
Someone should have told RvP that your supposed to board the roller coaster on the level ground, not hop on just before it crests the high point. He can now look forward to riding the aging roller car all the way down, down, down to the end of the track.
ManUre have an aging team that lack creativity in the center of their midfield and will not be inspired to give that little bit extra by Moysey.
Such a shame, isn’t it?
Sp, you could get a job with the Daily Mail with that theory 🙂
Age wasn’t on his side Cg, how could a player of his quality go his entire career without winning something?
I hate him for leaving us but I’d welcome him back if we paid not even half of what we got for him….
Ginge – Thank you, but that is my third grandchild. My older son and his wife had twins a year and a half ago.
I’m hoping for a full team of eleven, but will probably have to settle for a five a side.
CG, wow, you have had an eventful two weeks. Make sure the baby is another Gunner!!
Rico, we can get Dzeko a better striker than Benteke (spelling).
It’s all down to personal choice on who is believed to be better Gdna. I think a big strong guy who can hold the ball up would suit us better, but that’s just my view.
Dzeko is playing regularly for City isn’t he? I doubt they’d let him move on but again, money talks…
AGAG – She’s a little young to indoctrinate, but she will be encouraged to play football and support the Arsenal.
My older sons twins sit with their dad on Saturday mornings to watch and chear on the Gunners.
5 a-side is the way forward- CG. 😀
I m with you on a lump upfront, Rico.lol
Especially as we are playing a lone striker up front…
I must admit I like the way Liverpoo’d are playing without a target man…
Rico – OG12 is “a big strong guy who can hold the ball up”. He’s already had a couple of assissts. I think we would be better of having a technical goal poacher like a young TH14 to compliment him.
Intriguing story…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2438552/My-grandfather-shot-Black-granddaughter-notorious-concentration-camp-butcher-seen-Schindlers-List-reveals-horror-familys-Nazi-past.html
Congrats by the way Cg 🙂
Or a fit and nippy Suarez Cg 😉
Ts, my view on Benteke is prob because of the way AW sets us up, he loves just the one striker up front as you say.
Cg, you know I’d love to see TW play up front, either there or on the left. The right side isn’t quite working imho…
Rico – I’m not angry that RvP left, but with the way he left. I’m tired of players treating the supporters like they are uneducated simpletons who will believe whatever lies they and their agents are willing to spin.
If he had been honest with us and said he was leaving so he could significantly improve his wage packet, most supporters would have accepted that. But don’t insult our collective intelligences by spinning some transparent fairytale.
Make sure no one puts another team’s kit on her when you’re not there to oversee, CG. 😀
Rico – Someone like Suarez would be ideal.
As for Theo, he will be fine once he scores his first goal or two and regains his confidence. He is a real confidence player. Too bad he couldn’t get a transfussion from our ‘Great?’ Dane Niki B.
🙂 Cg, if that truly was his only aim, then I would share you dislike for him, but I am not convinced it was.
After all, wouldn’t City have paid him more, but he turned them down.
🙂 Dg, that man has enough for the entire squad doesn’t he..
Sister AGAG – There is no fear of that. All three of my children are Gooners and wouldn’t accept such an insult to the/our Arsenal family.
Rico – Mankini lacked the gift of the gab that IS Auld Whisky Nose. Also, RvP would have had more competition at Abu Dhabi Citeh with their bloated squad.
However, I’m not going to lose any sleep worrying or fretting over spilt milk. It is behind me and I’m focused on our squad, not ManUre’s.
Ginge, i have seen Honda quite a few times v Australia, and except on one occasion, he has outplayed Kagawa every time…he is a ripper of a player.
Sorry to disappear…….my brother dropped in.
Now he is gone, back to important stuff 🙂
Spot on there Cg, I care little about other clubs and what/how they are doing. Arsenal are all what matters and what/how we do….
Scott – I hope your brother doesn’t visit our House. He might not understand your ‘family’ loyalties.
How’s he doing Scott after everything?
CG, he understands 🙂
Rico, this is my other brother…he has had his own issues.
Kidney failure years ago meant i was his favourite person…….perfect match for a transplant.
Hey, i only need one, right…..bastard still hasn’t paid for it, either 🙂
Anyway, THAT brother is getting there, step by step…thanks for asking.
It’s funny, i am now the boring one in he family…who’d have thought?
Still, they are both Gooners…to a lesser extent than we HHer’s…so they can’t be too bad.
Good man you are Scott… my type of man for sure…
God Bless buddy; very brave of you…
Crikey Scott, brave but totally understandable, see you are not all bad 😉 Glad to hear the other brother is doing ok…
Nah, it was easy……I just laid there and counted back from 10.
The surgeons are the champions.
Funny, he was told with all the drugs he was on, he’d never have kids.
Just had his cheeky son here as well 🙂
All good.
Strange that Vedad Ibisevic is currently leading the Bundesliga top scorers chart with 6 goals thus far… he has scored 113 goals in 278 games playing for the likes of Hoffeheim, Dijon etc…
Scott, not everyone could do what you have done especially as you have a child yourself…
I chickened out on bone marrow donation once ….
Dan Farr @bcfc_dann 15 Sep
“@KenWardFC: One brave boy from Wardens U14s when told last week his cancer had returned-“I fought it once I’ll do it again” get well soon
Ginge, i never, ever felt brave mate……..It was my brother.
Anyway, have a great day all, i am off for some kip.
Ps….i have no problems downing an ale or three when i come over 🙂
14 year old battling cancer…..that is brave.
https://twitter.com/LanaDawood/status/384635753961385984/photo/1
Night Scott…
A must read imho…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2437604/West-Brom-striker-Saido-Berahino-850-week-interests-Arsenal-Everton.html
We’re doomed… 😉
I’m off for a few hours too now, catch up later..
Night Cg..
I remember mentioning Berahino before our encounter with WBA last week … I thought he had potential to be in englands squad for Brazil…
Is it not funny that the media are saying that an apprentice like him should be earning more than 850k yet they complain about excessive salaries…
The same guys are rooting for him to join a team like Chelsea not remembering he will be nothing but a bench warmer like dozens before him who had the potential but followed the unguided advise of the media vultures and the rest was history…
Night Scott
Good Night Scott and Rico. I’m off to bed too. Have a great day everyone.
Keep the Faith!
It’s Giroud’s birthday today so Happy Birthday to him, 27 I believe
To be honest I think Townend is pretty darn good. I hear he’s taking Walcott’s place for the internationals. Not that I’m saying Berahino is bad and looks much better than Sterling.
I also think Zaha would’ve been like Ronaldo when he joined United under Fergie. Who knows how he’ll develop under Moyes and when he’ll get another chance to play.
Hi agag ;-), I’m well and enjoying the awesome spring weather here.
I like Townsend… He even looked better playing for QPR last season imo…
Betrahino is like a younger Defoe…
Leeds United have confirmed that their manager, Brian McDermott, has contacted Arsenal to enquire about the possibility of taking Serge Gnabry on loan.
Ha ha ha
Whereabouts are you from again. brad? 🙂 Dismal weather in Manila. Ick.
Ginge, Leeds can wish!!
Good night, CG! Sleep tight!!
For a team sitting on top of the tree our defensive record is quite questionable…
We literally have our first choice defenders fit but we have conceded 5 more goals than the scums down the road…
So again my question is …. is Flamini really doing a great job or a decent job? I would say he is doing a good job but nothing exceptional. Credit to him though he has had no pre-season and he is very fit/mobile for a 29 y.o. (Saying that Totti is 37 y.o has just become Serie A’s all time top striker) But considering 2 of our 3 clean sheets came in the CL when he was not involved and we have not really been tested defensively I would say there is more room for improvement.
Against OM I thought MF struggled especially in the first half… we only managed to win because of our boy wonder scoring the goals needed at crucial times. And that stupid and dubious penalty we conceded…
In my view, AW will be committing a capital sin if he were to start MF tomorrow against Insigne and Hamsik imho, taking into account the hole that was left in front of the defense against Swansea;
The mistake Laudrup made was not going 2 up front or playing Michu in the hole behind Bony… I believe that when he realised his errors he brought on Bony and went 2 upfront and they caused us some problems but it was a tad too late…
Against bigger and better teams we can’t afford to be conceding possession as we have done since we came back from the international break…
Night Agag..
Oh… you haven’t left yet.lol
The scums have scored only 6 goals thus far (7 less than us) but they are only 2 points behind us. A bit worrying I would say.. and considering the dippers have also scored less goals and conceded less than us with our reject in defense…
Ginge,it is concerning that we have conceded some very sloppy goals, but, considering that we are not even playing some key players due to injury; ours is not such a bad start.
Its not at all Agag,… it is encouraging considering the Villa performance on match day 1.
What I am trying to say is that we have our first choice midfield 3 and defence by most peoples estimation fit…
Most expect TR07 and Arteta to be squad players so in effect apart from Sc19 and Theo we are not really misssing any one who is a guaranteed starter…
We are scoring goals which is important but we are conceding a goal each match on average… there will definitely be games where we may not score first…
If we are playing Stoke at home and they get a higher percentage of possession than us then it is worrying in my view…
If you gave Chelsea, $hitty or even Napoli that share of possession then we will be doomed as we will either conceded yellow/red cards by chasing the game.
We just need to work hard at relinquishing control of games going forward especially when we start to get tired…
What the experts on TV say is that it is more tiring chasing possession than keeping possession. 😉
Evening folks, anyone home?
I take that as a no 😉
Night all, catch up tomorrow…
hiya,
Rafa Benítez: “Arsène Wenger is the best manager in the Premier League.
Hooray… the Mozart is back for tomorrow.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-who-s-fit-to-face-napoli-
Everton are playing like Ajax in the 80’s… lol
Interesting that Moyes was seemingly entitled to play negative football because of financial constraints but his replacement is utilising the same squad differently… lol
Ginge, there have been quite a few questionable penalties given against us, and one goal on the break v Villa when chasing the game and a man down…again due to a questionable decision.
I wouldn’t stress about our defence mate….they are pretty solid 🙂
Morning guys.
Talking about goal difference, last season after 6 games we had conceded only 4 goals with 2 against the Chavs but had scored only 9 goals albeit with 6 coming in 1 match against the saints…
We ended up with the 2nd best defensive record then but struggled to score goals when needed.
We need to tighten the back up a lil by all accounts imho…
Morning Scott…
Rafa saying AW is the best manager must be reverse psychology… lol
Evening..
I like westbrom Berahino… though I think we should try and lure sessegnon.. quality player, he has pace, skills, control and eye for a goal… he is good dribbler as well..
Surprised that Sunderland let him go..
He is poor man suares imo..
Everton playing really well… how far can they go I wonder..
Pardew really sucks…
Rico’s player Barkley looks a player this season… last season under Moyes he was a man marker.lol
Judge, Pardew is a spuddie so I want him gone asap… 9 year control and all. lol
Who ever thought Everton could string 4 passes together?
Another 7 years to go under Pardews for the NUFC fans…plus 3 more under Joe Kinnear. 😛
Hi Ts,
Re Pardew..
I think his French Legionnaires are doing everything to make that happen…
Soon I hope..
Rumours are Milan will entertain offers for their best player Mario Balotelli and we are allegedly keen… Wow.
A very good player who can be world class but…??
French Legionnaires. lol. How many English men has he got in hi squad today? A big clown he is…
The funny thing is, the first 13/14 are very good players and a better manager could do better than he is currently doing.
Maybe Alan Shearer can leave the comforts of the sofa of match of the day and manage his boyhood club.lol
Phew!!! I remember when we were all clamouring for Yanga-Mbiwa and Sissoko. It looks like Giroud was the only good thing Wenger saw in france. We dodged a bullet there.
Jamie Carragher the bin dipper. Comical….
Another so called expert on TV who can actually go out and coach younger players but would rather be on TV spilling cack.
Indeed Emma… not me though re. Yanga ;)…
Sissoko is still a very good player imho when he plays for France. He should have waited 6 more months and signed for a better club I think…
I was kidding re Yanga.. in Montpelliers title winning season I thought he was the biz-knees.. But if you remember when Mbiwa rejected us for Milan we thought that was an escape as he was poor before his move away…
ts – He(Sissoko) is completely lost in newcastle.
I guess the media are now beginning to realize that Mourinho has lost his special wand tang. Lukaku shouldn’t be out on loan, Mata shouldnt be on the bench and De bruyne should feature in the Chavs setup
tang > tag
Too many cooks I guess at Chelsea… I personally think Oscar is a better all round player for no.10; Jose should find a spot for Mata in the starting XI.
I wouldn’t write the special needs one off though… he will pull a trick when needed especially against us…
Cabaye comes on and scores…. a quality player he is, I still think he would have vastly improved us…
Good Evening all (Good Morning for Scott).
Ginge – Balotelli has the potential to be one of the world’s best players, but with his attitude and lack of maturity, he also has the potential to be one of the biggest and most tradgic wastes of talent. I’m not sure he is worth the risk. Also, he would be off like a shot at the slightest hint of a better deal from one of the ‘big’ European teams. He’s just another talented mercenary gun for hire.
Hi Cg, I agree with you on Balo… such a shame though…
El Sharawaay ws Milans best player before Balo joined but Balo has surpassed him. Which shows his talent… Oddly enough, he does not misbehave with the national team…
Carragher should stick with writing for papers If sport media is only what he wants..
He is really struggling verbally.. Incomprehensible at times..
It’s like he is trying to squeeze a big lump of turd out of his constipated arse..
Night gents and lady.
Ginge – Team chemistry has always been important with Arsene. So, I’d be surprised if he the risk with Mario.
By that token, I’m not sure how we ended up with Niki B. We did get him as a young teenager. Maybe Arsene thought we could ‘whip’ it out of him?
ts – That won’t happen this time around against us
Cg-I think Niki would have left if Lupoli or Aladierre had worked out…
Damn, Balotelli would test Arsenes man management skills to the limit.
If he got his head right, he would be a machine.
Good to see a few on at this hour 🙂
Later Ginge.
I would love to see the look on Bould’s face if AW said he was interested in Balo… lol
Good Night Ginge.
JMIM – The big problem with the chronically constipated is that they often oscillate between constipation and explosive diarrhea. With a turd the size of Mr. Carragher that could be very messy and possibly dangerous for anyone nearby.
Ginge – I can see Uncle Bouldy with his hand covering his face moaning “Oh Shit!”. Although Steve just might be able to rein Mario in. If so, he woulb be, as Scott so eloquently put it, a (goal?) “machine”.
I’ll catch you all tomorrow. Good Afternoon from me and Good Day Mate or Good Evening to you.
Bye CG.
Rumours (?) from Italy that Higuain is out of tonight’s game…
Don’t shoot the messenger. 🙁
If the rumor(s) were true, Higuain knows very well that he will be facing a different Arsenal compare to the one he faced during the Ems cup. It would be better for him to chicken out and not being expose to what our defense have in store for him.
Well said NG 🙂
Morning all…
Kosser kept Hig very quiet during the Erms cap… he was poor to be honest but still…
* cup even
Albiol and Hig were always doubts but it could be a ploy by Rafa… 😉
Benitez’s record visiting the Erm is W0 L5 D4 in the champions league.
Morning Ts..
New post up now..