Oh how I laughed yesterday when these words from Big Sam broke in the news.
There is a problem with perception. Arsene is seen as a sophisticated Frenchman while I’m just a rugged English centre-half from the Midlands with an accent to match, but is Arsene more advanced than me in terms of coaching? Not a chance.
Dream on Sam, you will never ever be anywhere near as good as Arsene Wenger! Will England be ready to hire him when Capello steps down? Will Manchester Utd be chasing his signature when Old Fergie retires? I think not!!
Next up in the Premiership for us is a visit from West Bromwich Albion. They have just walloped Birmingham 3-1 at home so this will be another tough test on Saturday. WBA are certainly not a team to be taken for granted and I don’t expect us to do so. At least the fine turf at The Emirates will be fed and watered well before 3PM arrives, unlike Saturday just gone!
Prior to Saturday though we have a ‘Denilson’ kind of trip, that is, we travel sideways, or just a short passing distance WHL. Tuesday we face our North London rivals in the Carling Cup, a competition that Arsene Wenger uses to test his youth. Well, that didn’t pay off last season and we need a trophy. I hope Wenger gets his mix right on Tuesday, sway towards more experienced players and just give a few of the youth/reserves a game. Play those who are really on the edge of breaking into the first team.
We don’t need any defeat and we certainly don’t need a defeat against them. I don’t care if they are in need of a new DVD to release at Christmas, they cannot be allowed to do that at our expense!!
Don’t muck this up Arsene, winning breeds winning and we, no matter which eleven get selected need to keep winning, but all I ask is that you don’t select an eleven who deep down you know can’t win. They don’t need it, they won’t benefit from it and our fans certainly don’t want it!!
One thing that came out of the game on Saturday is how little faith some have in Gael Clichy (except of course our resident blogger, agirlagunner) Many feel his standards have dropped and its about time Kieran Gibbs took his place.
I’m not sure Gibbs is ready yet but I also agree that Clichy is prone to the odd mistake, Saturday was one of those days.
So, Gibbs or Clichy for you guys and gals?
Talking of the younger players, the reserves and youth have been forgotten by me over the last few days. Bouldy’s babes won 3-1 at home against Aston Villa and the reserves travelled to a very rainy Manchester and drew 1-1 with the City side. The ladies also notched up a good win in a friendly match away against Gillingham. For more news on all of these matches, please click the link in the sidebar.
Suggestion is that Arsene Wenger will have a kitty of £50M to spend in the January transfer window. Of course he won’t spend it all, we know that. But it’s reassuring to read he has that kind of money available if we need to sign just one or two players – especially when we are sitting just a point behind the Chavs on the 31st December and need another Arshavin kind of signing to lift us up as we head for the finishing line.
At the same time, we are also due to announce that we are the best-run club in the Premier League as we continue to lower our £236m debt and announce an expected turnover of about £220m.
So now you can loosen the tight purse strings Arsene, do away with your old Ebenezer ways and do what’s right!! But that is another story, expect it to be discussed in January 🙂
Staying with Arsene Wenger, the FA are expected to charge him today after his clash with 4th official Martin Atkinson on Saturday. If they do, he could very well land a lengthy ban. I still maintain that his ‘push’ on Atkinson was silly and totally unnecessary. Just what effect could this have on the team?
That’s about it, have a good day all…..
Morning….
Morning Rico!
You know darn well old ‘Arry will field a strong team against us because he takes any trophy seriously and is playing at home ground whilst AW will want to stick to his guns of “planet youth” to give them the experience and to avoid injuries on the senior squad.
Its gonna be a tough one….
Morning T-buzz, suggestion is Arry is struggling with players, all games i suspect…
i hope we see denilson, vela, wilshere, squilli, eboue, nordveit, gibbs, chesney, jet, chamakh, rosicky, and a few kids..
Any game against the swamp dwellers down the rd should be treated the same “win at all costs” it them end of…. Play our best team and smash them to bits then play the kids when its a team that don’t have the same meaning as a NLD…!. Pride bragging rights and just winning are the only things that matter.
Morning WATH, its goning to be a tough one alright but you know wenger won’t play his strongest side.. i don’t know why not though, a cup is a cup….
He mugged us off the other year when they beat us in the semi 2nd leg, that 5-1 game was pathetic gave them the avenue to celebrate like they’d just won the world cup brings out dvd’s and the like and yet its our biggest rivalry and he needs to realise that and pick the team accordingly simple as that, this game matters never mind if it was for an oxo cup or played on the marshes win play em off the park and lets smash em with our best team simple as that.
Can’t agree more WATH, why is the CC not as high a priority as the FA Cup, I don’t get it really, a cup is a cup and we need one.
In any case, winning builds confidence and we need that if we are to get something this year, shame wenger doesn’t see it that way..
New Avatar WATH 🙂
watch yer rico
Hi rsd, quiet old day today…..
Monday blues………..slow day….
Everyone in the office here look like zombies….
Still no news on Cesc’s injury?
Fat sam…what a mug lmfao.
Im sick of all the wenger bashing and two bob Arsenal fans falling for all the media spin.
They are trying,to turn us against the man and i for one aint falling for it.
We are written off by them and yet utd drop points against everton and nearly throw,away the game against a poor liverpool team and are still regarded as they can win it and yet we are not??
It is T-buzz, nah, no news yet on cesc, any news re messi’s injury, he picked a bad one up last night ….
Hi islington, good to see you here…
Fat Sam is living in dream world…
Im worried about Arsene’s team thou tomorrow.
I hope he picks a strong team.
i know he’s having the scan today prob have to wait until wengers presser for spuds game unless cesc tweets it himslef but i doubt it
Thanks rico,
I will always hate that fat pie eater.
I still think we have looked like title contenders and i think we will go very close this year…The media hasnt even spoke about the way we are dealing with all our injury’s…It’s always negative spin,to make us look we are a club in crisis.
Anyone watch that sunday supplement???….My day’s lol
Rico,
Messi’s injury might be a 2-3weeks recovery, according to that Spanish fella that always feels he’s the ‘Word’ on Skysport’s La Liga. No broken bones i believe….
me to IG, we need to start with eleven who can thrash the pants off them….
ig, every club has injuries and they get highlighted, the media just spin over ours, alwasy have, look at last season…
rsd, thanks, what time is AW’s PC, do you know??
Hunter or Ballange (spelling) 😉
2-3 weeks, thats long enough for Madrid to gain 9 points on them 🙂
Yeah rico,
Thats the one, Guillem Balague, always has a look like hes just had a dump in the skysports men’s room! lol
Morning all.Vdv is saying spurs are bigger than us…yeah right!
Did Ath. Madrid draw at the weekend, rico?
Hi KTR7, VDV is as mad as Fat Sam 😉
Lost 2-1 T-buzz to Barca, would have been 10-1 if their keeper hadn’t been on form, he only 19yrs old…. Next Spanish No1 there….
David de Gea Quintana is his name, 6′ 3.5 inches of pure class…
Twitcher reckons no Gallas tomorrow, no Chorluka
Bassong in defence but twitcher says he doesn’t know who will partner him but it wont be gallas and he wants to protect his players for the CL…
Yeah right, first eleven tomorrow then for the swampies…
Rico i hope we stuff the yids!
Spot on KTR7, big time – glad Gallas isn’t playing, that would overshadow the game…
Its our turn, wenger has just got to get the right team out there… and in the right frame of mind..
No doubt gallas would’ve scored rico.
‘morning rico. bad weekend for me, none of my teams won and two (not arsenal) were embarrassed. what can you do, there will times like this.
fat sam’s comments do not merit even the courtesy of a response…as for saturday’s match, i was as frustrated as anyone that we dropped two points in the 95th minute – but i thought that equalizer was inevitable. perhaps i am in the minority, but i did not think dowd was that bad – song should have been smarter having already picked up the yellow. and the four minutes was a minimum – after what happened at goodison last week, wasn’t it inevitable that at least one ref would try and make sure not to end a match as one side was in the process of attacking.
i was going to actually write a post about arsene’s rather undignified press conference, but decided not to. i get that he is frustrated as the rest of us, but i just wish he would stop moaning about things he cannot control. our team didn’t show up for the first half and hardly deserved the interval lead. rosicky’s wasting that penalty only added to my sense that we would not be able to hold on, and so it proved.
regardless, i am not going overboard about this. below-par performances are inevitable over the course of a season and last season i do not think we would have come away with even a point. i just wish arsene would not piss and moan about every little thing that does not go our way – leave the crybaby act to red nose.
i am more worried about cesc – hamstrings are pretty unpredictable and who knows how long he will be out? even if he is not out for too long, what are the odds he may be rushed back when not quite ready? our track record in that area is not that good.
i agree that we should field a strong side tomorrow – this is not just “any” cup tie. injuries will force our hand to a certain extent, but i do not want to see a side packed with kids. i don’t think sending the youngsters out to get their brains beat in by the spuddies is beneficial to their full development. we’ll have to see what side he puts out.
Thats why i don’t want him to play KTR7…
Hi oliver,
I wish you had wrote a post about wenger as I am pretty fed up with him too. Moans all day long about unfair play, rightly so but then behaves as he has done when we let a lead slip….
Yes I know he was angry, aso was I, but to behave the way he does sometimes is tedious and not very gracious imho….
Rico, AW always acts like that to take away the deficienies thats in the team when we can’t defend a lead or do something poorly…!
This weekend Aw was unusually quiet and i wish he stays that way kind of similar to Ancelotti.he may be speaking the truth but the media will always misrepresent his views to sell papers.all we hear is that wenger is against tackling/physicality but he is a fan of that part of the game.he has gotten a hammering all week in the media and rival blogs so its better for him to lay low for a while and stay off the headlines.
WATH, i’m getting a little tired of it though – all he does is give more fuel to the likes of sky etc….
he should have done that ages ago KTR7, maybe we wouldn’t have the southern softie label now if he had…
Makes us out to be like the mancs Rico in that we expect to win and get all the decisions etc etc it’s crap, grwo up and get on with it and teach your defenders not to panic !!
Thats my view too WATH, if he has issues about saturday, tell the team or do as we have all suggested and thats get a great defender in to coach them, goodness knows why Bould isn’t doing it now.. grrr – I am claming a bit, just need to spank the yids tomorrow then Saturday will be a little less painful….
It’s as you say Rico very tedious when his reactions are that of a spoilt little boy cos his team didnt do what they should of done and he wants to blame anything and everyone else but his players or himself.
SHow a bit more class I say as he normally does but his reactions are becoming far to predictable when we lose or something happens thats been on the cards all game.
It totally undermines all the greatness he has done for us….
Rosicky has apologised for missing his penalty…we will feel much better if he skins cole and unleashes his trademark shots into the top corner in the 94th minute…
Boo! rico, hahaha. Clichy has to play better, there is no denying. He needs to have a run of games where he’s nothing short of great. Silence the doomsayers a little.
Like I said, Gibbs is good but not yet ready. He will displace Clichy at LB in time. People are building him up now, but once he makes a mistake in a high-profile match, people will be complaining about his naivete, and crying for his head.
Plus, it’s hardly a ringing endorsement of Gibbs that he’s second to Cashley for the England NT– it’s not exactly like England’s spoiled for choices. 🙂 🙂
Clichy needs 2b dropped…………
As much as I hate Cashley, Clichy can’t tie his boot laces…!
Oi, WATH. I feel a very vicarious ouch for Clichy.
I read your “loverboy” comment too. 😡
Oh would that people could temper the harshness… 😉
Boo, hiya agag, sorry i couldn’t resist 😉
KTR7, I like your last comment 🙂
Sooo quiet. How those 15 seconds must have worn us out. 🙂
Think your right agag… 😉
I wonder how it will go for AW though. That push was, to be honest, embarrassing. 🙁
Has he been charged by the FA yet agag?
It was for sure, a man of his stature should know so much better, sometimes he really naffs me off….
And what idiotic comments from VDV.
“I know Robin van Persie and he told me when we were together in the national team what a big game it is,” Van der Vaart said. “But there was no banter over who is the bigger club. Spurs are the bigger club!”
I wonder from under which rock VDV crawled… It’s a fine line between “trying to endear” yourself to fans, and being an “absolute arse”. 😉
Not that I’ve heard, rico. But I suspect he would…
VDF has slotted into the rivals well hasn’t he, all mouth and no fitness 😉
The FA have to charge him today I think agag, if they are going to. If no news that good mean they are letting him off….
good = could
Rico we need the Anfield AA at Stamford bridge if we are to win.hola agag.
We’re being linked to Given again. Jesus Navas, too. I think we’re linked to every player from here to there to Kingdom Come. 🙂
We need the Anfield AA in every game KTR7, i still think his fitness is not what it should be….
That Anfield AA seems… a lifetime ago now, KT. 🙂 If he at least looked like he was enjoying his football, I wouldn’t half mind him or… his official website. But when the mood strikes AA, he truly is unplayable.
agag, for once i watched a bit of spainsh football last night, if there is a keeper out there who will be awesome it has to be David de Gea Quintana of Athletico Madrid…. At 19 is is just amazing….
He and Chesney could fight it out for themselves for Almunia’s shirt 🙂
Do you rate him KTR7???
You know, La Liga games are no longer shown here 🙁 … I got several cable subscriptions to get more footie action; and the same games are shown now. Pfft… And I can’t be bothered to look for a stream. 😉
I shall check him out though, rico.
The Stains would have slaughtered AM agag but for him, dodn’t know if it was a one off as i dont normally watch the tainted ones… be interesting to see what KT says…
You went into moderation, sorry 🙁
It’s the firefox/google chrome/ie crash thingie, rico. 🙁
no worries agag, thats computer life for ya 😉
Arsene Wenger has been charged with using insulting and/or abusive language and behaviour amounting to improper conduct.
Is anyone around??? Otherwise I’m offski 😉
Sorry, rico, around this time, you’re usually just stuck with me. 😉
Le Prof was such a Le Prat. It’s one of the few times, I haven’t cared for how he comported himself. Tbh, his ‘I didn’t see it’ comment amuses me no end. But this?? 🙁
WTH? I meant, his “I didn’t see it” comment…
That’s ok agag, we can talk food 🙂
I’m cheating tonight with dinner, lawrence dallaglio has brought out some wonderful fresh tomato based sauces, i’m having the barbera red wine one tonight with pasta 🙂
That’s not sold here, I think. But it sounds good. I hardly ever do the grocery, but on the few occasions I did, my mother marveled at the “instantness” of my puchases. 🙂
You’re a very busy bee, aren’t you?
😆 agag, I like that – i’m not such a busy bee really… some days it gets hectic, others are better… but the hectic is the two 4 legged ones, they are a nightmare right now, chewing everything in the garden…. 🙁
Rico i do rate De Gea the A.madrid highly.
I thought you might KTR7, he’s bloomin good….
I like to simplify, rico. 🙂 I realized after much experimentation and some minor disasters that I shouldn’t inflict my cooking on others. I’m meant to be cooked for, I think. 🙂
I can’t imagine not having pets though. 🙂 Seems like we’ve always been running a mini zoo.
BTW, there are pasta recipes with vodka. You might want to try some, rico.
I shall check De Gea out. It’s only here that I’ve heard of him, I think.
Agag watch more footy and you’ll see him.actually A.madrid had intended Sergio Asenjo to be their number one last season after he had a storming U21 Championships but he failed to live up to expectation.madrid and barca were desperate to land Asenjo but they couldn’t guarantee him regular footy.
That’s the trouble with young talent and needless hype. (ahem)
Will sure do, KT. It was also from you that I first heard of Ozil; and look at where he is now. 🙂 I hope Madrid kick the pants out of those stains. And with Messi out… ha.
pasta with vodka, not for me agag 🙁
Thats why we love you KTR7, you know all there is to know in euro 🙂 we are very lucky…
agag, i hate seeing injuries, but messi….. 😉
Haha. I didn’t think you’d be convinced. I am off now. It’s 2 am where I am. 🙂
As for Messi, ah. Karma is sweet. I await in lipsmacking anticipation what shall befall Xavi, Iniesta, and Puyol. Pique’s face got smashed a couple weeks ago, right? Serves him right.
Nighty Night agag
Indeed he and Barca will be repaid 🙂
I’m going for the day too – see you all tomorrow
Night Night and stay safe….
Morning peoples, internet probs this morning, new post up in a couple of minutes….