So, here we go again then, off to Eastlands to play against one of the richest clubs around and we are more than likely to be up against one of the most greedy players we have ever signed and sold on! After his midweek performance, Lardybayor is bound to start against us today but should he happen to score we won’t see the repetition of his Usain Bolt impersonation that we all witnessed last season in the same fixture!
Mancini, who has been City’s manager since last December has warned the 26-year-old against another over the top celebration, telling him it’s better to stay calm. He also believes when we play well we are probably the best team in the Premier League.
I think he is right on both accounts, Lardy needs to wind his neck in and we are the best when we have a full squad but we haven’t got that today.
The players missing are, Ramsey, Frimpong, Koscielny, Wilshere, RvP and Vermaelen. I don’t count Almunia as being a loss!
Today we must be at our best and give Lardy no reason to gloat!
One thing that Wenger has confirmed though about Lardy is that it was his choice to get rid of the player and he doesn’t give too much time to what he gets up to, not after that incident and not now either. Inevitably last year’s controversy came up at Wenger’s pre-match press conference but Adebayor has not been on the manager’s mind.
Frankly, we never spoke about that incident, I am sure we have forgotten that. We are all focused on putting in a good performance on Sunday. We have played so many games since that we don’t even care about that now. Yes Adebayor did show loyalty, because when you accept to sell a player you cannot accuse him of not being loyal. A manager tries to influence the club’s life but as well the life of the player and when you can help a player to have a successful career and a happy life, you think you do your job.
Yeah right, more like he peed Arsene off with his constant talk about Milan, so he sold him to the highest bidder. Lardy wasn’t loyal, he wanted more money and was prepared to move anywhere in order to get it and Arsene is fibbing, just to keep the peace ahead of todays game.
So, onto today match, todays battles on the pitch, here’s the team they took to Blackpool for their last game and but for a very late goal by Silva they would have come away with just a point.
Joe Hart
Wayne Bridge
Vincent Kompany
Jerome Boateng
Joleon Lescott
Gareth Barry
Adam Johnson
Nigel de Jong
James Milner
Emmanuel Adebayor
Carlos Tevez
Substitutes
Shay Given
Pablo Zabaleta
Micah Richards
Patrick Vieira
Shaun Wright-Phillips
David Silva
Roque Santa Cruz
Balotelli and Yaya Toure are bot fit and could play a part in this game but neither are expected to start so assuming the starting eleven will be the same as last weekend, where are the key battles.
Song & Cesc v de Jong & Barry
Walcott v Bridge
Milner v Clichy
Johnson v Sagna
Tevez v all our defence!!
The only one that really concerns me is Milner v Clichy, we all know he is not at his best today and if he gives Milner an inch we could pay dearly. Johnson seems to be able to ‘perform’ for his country but not for his club so Sagna should be able to stop everything he tries. Both full backs cannot afford to let them get their crosses in, especially if Lardy gets his big fat ugly head on the end of anything.
I’m not going to mention Fabianski, we all know he needs to be at the top of his game today, he needs to be Fabby today and not Flappy! Tevez is the man to stop, I don’t care which defender stops him and I don’t care how they stop him (within the rules of course) but he cannot be given anything. If he is, he will make us pay dearly.
Joe Hart has gone off the boil a bit, he’s beatable and today I’m convinced we will see that happen on more than one occasion but only if we turn up with the right attitude. Every player needs to raise the bar today and come away from this game with something to smile about.
Wenger keeps telling the fans that we are not far off something special, well today we need to see a glimpse of what that something special is.
Blackpool showed us all how to score two against them, I think we will show Blackpool how to score three…..
Have a good day all, hope the games a good one and we win of course!
Morning all, gloves out today then, it’s a cold one 🙂
Morning, you forgot Aaron on the missing list Rico, shakes head in disgust, tut tut tut….!.
It’s not cold it’s lovely 😛
Morning WATH, i didn’t include him or Frimpong as we know they are long term and haven’t played yet 😉 don’t be picky… 😆
Its freezing! 🙁
Oh ye of little faith……….. Aaron is now def NOT long term, bet he’s back long before RVP lol 😀
Just gonna pop down the rd get the sunday papers, hmm def shorts n t’shirt weather…! 😛
Ok, i will add him just for you 😉
Morning all.rico johnson plays on the right meaning he’ll face clichy while milner plays on the left to face sagna.otherwise good post.
Morning KT, trust you 😉
Rico city play with inverted wingers who can turn to their stronger feet when in possession enabling them to execute shots from wide areas when cutting in which is a nightmare to defend against.this tactic has been perfected by robben as you saw in last season’s CL.
Typical woman has to go to excess and name Frimpong too lol 😛
KT, Milner and Johnson swap a lot so I expect them both to see Gael as a weak link…. they take it in turns to try roast him !!
KT, i think theyy will both switch, either way both our full backs need to be on form…
clichy especially….
Madrid were electric last night.mourinho has adapted his tactics.most of his players are quick and have abundance of flair and thats the way they are playing.they have excellent movement and incisive passing with özil conducting the orchestra.CR7 is on fire at the moment as he bagged 4 goals last night taking his tally to 10 goals.
KT, I understand what they both do, but neither milner or johnson seem to be at their best, the latter especially, does it for england but not for his club and mancini has told him to pull his socks up…
i am more concerned that city will start with yaya, de jong and silva….
WATH, just for you though, i thought you would like to see Frimpong too, it must be right 😉
KT, I am beginning to worry about you, in the week you watched madrid instead of us…. 😉
not keen on madrid or moanrinho and as for the winker – i wish they would get thrashed in every game…
Mancini doesn’t have the balls to play silva,de jong and Y.toure in the same midfield since his prime objective would be to deny us space while hoping to counter us.silva will play in the wings if he starts not in the middle.
Silva is a good littel player but the likes of which we can handle ( i think??? ) The physical side is what we need to cope with and be able to impose our passing game..! All will be revealed at 4…!
KT, appreciate he plays on the wings, just don’t want to see all three start in their midfield, including those on the wing. In fact I hope Silva plays no part today, his goal against B’pool was awesome, yes some was weak defending but…..
wouldn’t be surprised though to see the three satrt and barry on the bench…
all speculation though, yaya may be fit, but i’m just hoping he and silva are on the bench or left at home….
Against b’pool city struggled with two main aspects:quick passing and direct running.diaby was rested in midweek because of this game.his late running into the box can give them nightmares if he is on form.he can also draw city players creating space for cesc.Boateng and bridge couldn’t handle players running at them which is ideal for the likes of rosicky,theo and AA.
And roll on 4pm I say WATH
I think Joe Hart needs to throw the ball in the back of the net as well like a good Gooner boy that he is….! 😀
Rico silva will play either way.we’ll have to score first to force them to come at us opening up the game.we can then use our incisive passing and pace to counter them.we can also triangulate/rhombus them to death when we are ahead which would starve them of the ball which will reduce the threats posed by the likes of silva.
Funny you know, with all Citys money there’s maybe two players in there team, i wouldnt mind, Tevez and Given, how the hell are they above us, the others are Arsenal rejects or wannabees, if Arsene bought any of the others i could hear every body sigh why him.
3.0 or 4.1 no prob Chamakh Cesce Nazri Squashy & og
WATH 😆
To be fair KT, it matters not who plays, we need to concentrate on what we do, we need to take our chances and not faff around with too many passes in and around the area….
The word of the day is SHOOOOOOOOT!!!
Steve, I’d have Yaya, Tevez and Johnson…
No Rico I can’t stand yaya have never understood all the hype about him he has a huge arse and thats about it, luxery player who is up for it one game in 4… seen a lot of him and average imo…! if he was that good noway would barca of sold him end of…! I’d take Johnson he is direct and isn’t afraid to take players on…! I’d also take Hart cos he is a gooner and he is good…! the rest are just like the chavs just there 4 the money..!
Mark Randall has gone out on loan to Rotherham….
Boo we go to the Rich boys today
WATH, I don’t care if Yaya has a big bum, our midfield needs a player like him – If we had to have a keeper out Hart and Given, I would go with Hart however, his party tricks prior to the england game weren’t good and his form has dipped since….
Howdy Erick, rich in money, but poor in spirit 😉
Sorry Rico I could think of better options that yaya large arse….! 😉 lol
WATH, fairy snuff, Barca prob let him go for the money, city werer had, he’s worth less than half of what the paid for him…
who would you buy??
we are linked with DM, some french kid called Maxime Gonalons from Lyon…
but we don’t need kids, we have frimpong…..
Who i’d buy is all hypothetical cos AW won’t buy who I want which irritates me no end cos I tell him who to get everytime he calls…! There are a few knocking around to be honest but never really given it much thought cos you just know AW won’t buy a player most of us would like him to buy so have given up on my player wish list..!
That’s the sad thing WATH, you are spot on, he rarely buys a ready made star so it makes me wonder why i live with so much hope really…
maybe its time for me to put my wish list on the log burner ….
Morning guys easy you two you are making me miss JJ nwy Yaya is not the best player we could buy but we can get better
He’s def not the best player to buy Erick plenty around better than him and far better value…! If he’s on the 220k a week like they saying thats just utter madness…!
My wishlist Rico is in my head and thats where it stays !!
Hi again Erick, you vanished earlier 😉
my wish list is positions rather than players as i’m not well enough informed on the latter, i don’t really care about the name of the player as long he wants to play for arsenal and is better than what we have. all the time the likes of city, chavs and now manure pay silly wages i can’t see many ‘big names’ wanting to join us… But, if they do, then its for football reasons and that’s what matters…..
I’m glad Bellamy left.he was our tormenter-in-chief when we played them as he was their best counter attacking player.
Great player with a rotten attitude KT….
Rico me vanished 🙂 🙂 I was listening to you two and the wage thing is just silly 220k a week that is madnes no player is worth more than 100k but competition causes such things
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/453201268?-19387
Erick, have a read of this link, its a great write up by piers morgan…
3 out of 4 goals they scored against us last season were counter attack goals orchestrated by bellamy and SWP.They are not as good as chavs or even last year in counter attacks.
Something has to change in football oneday surely, £80million for Ronaldo is wrong, 220K a week in wages is also dreadfully wrong….
i’m surprised to read that wenger says that amount is ok if you can afford it…. but then maybe he is right, ‘if you can afford it’?
Can any club really afford to pay such high wages of vast transfer fee without loss….
Piers Morgan doesn’t like red nose at all…but what he said was true.the bully got bullied or in the animal kingdom the hunter became the hunted.
KT, i thought he spoke sense too, its a good article from him, for a change 😉
My dogs need a walk so catch up later
Afternoon Rico et al,
Nice upbeat summary. I am hoping that Theo plays today, and uses his speed in counter attacking like King Henry used to do.
A sneaky part of me has a doubts, if he starts falling over, tripping over the ball or passing backwards, I will throw WATH at the TV screen.
(I have named my cute, furry, octupus as WATH. With all his feet he can kick a lot of arse, especially Yaya’s!) 🙂
Hi RA.Rooney apparently turned down juventus when he realised the ‘old lady’ was just a nickname…
Crouch for a guy so tall is poor in the air with very weak headers.he has a very weak shot and loses the ball alot.
Evening all
Bout to get some kip so as to watch the game later.
COYRRR
KT,
So Crouch is weak in the air, has a weak shot and poor control. Sounds perfect for the Spuds! 🙂
Off down the pub, enjoy the game all………
Later WATH…
What a goal Manure have just scored, absolute class!
Hi RA and GG …
RA, you accusing Theo of falling over etc etc, tsk tsk tsk….. 😉
Hi Rico,
What me? 🙂
Manure did score a good goal, with Stoke’s 7′ tall defenders standing there watching the little guy scoring with a header! Que? 🙁
Of course, Neville has a special deal with ref allowing him to to make potential leg breaking tackles without getting a card.
He should have been sent off for an appaling tackle but did not get a yellow. Disgraceful!!
Neville is a lucky lucky man, that second tackle when he was already on a yellow should have been a straight red!!
Sorry RA, didn’t refresh before my Neville comment, shocking tackle!!
Off to get some refreshment before the game.
If any of our guys had produced a tackle like Neville’s it would have been a red card.
Then purple nose harasses the ref for the Stoke tackle after the Neville let off. He should get a red card too.
Imagine if Arsene had yelled in the ref’s face like that. He would never hear the end of it.
Later!
Spot on RA, double ‘manc’ standards yet again….
I’m off again too, laters all
Stoke have equalised!tuncay you beauty!
Silva, Yaya and de Jong all start …..
my fear has come true….
Lardy on the bench…
Team in full: Fabianski, Sagna, Djourou, Squillaci, Clichy, Nasri, Fabregas, Song, Denilson, Arshavin, Chamakh.
Subs: Szczesny, Koscielny, Rosicky, Walcott, Eboue, Gibbs, Bendtner.
Top reffing!! At last
Which followed a top save by Fabianksi….
we need to calm down, song could easily got a red card then too….
SAMIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
🙂
Where’s that KTR7, I’m sure that’s Milner trying to get by Clichy 😉
Get Song off, every tackle is late…. We cannot afford to go down to ten…
What a save yet again…
Woooot! I’m a happy girl and will dream dulcet dreams (laced with GG).
Didn’t we say we’d win, rico? And Bendy gets one too. I luv it.
Nikki b is my hero!
Hi agag, i wonder if your smile is as wide as mine 😆
and what a game Fabianski had, poor old Al 😉
You ladies owe me a hug.i predicted a cleansheet and a couple of goals!
I reckon Fabianski wears the sunnies 😎 and the leather jacket and feels oh-so-cool. He was massive tonight. 🙂
KTR7, no hug for you, agag and i are the only two that predicted a win…. 😉 😉
My MOTM agag, he was outstanding…
I also said fabianski will be immense…i was right.his reflexes are superb.
fabianski is awesome today. the point blank save (correctly ruled offside) is the best save ever this season.
I gave moneychester citeh too much credit; I was thinking Ade would score. 🙂
KT, no hugs. You were all coy about your scoreline. It’s us ladies who were all faith, etc. 😛
rico, we weren’t even playing particularly well. I thought we played better v. the Chavs. I am convinced those goals scored v. us were only lucky. 🙂
You ladies are not fair!i said we’ll score a couple,concede none and flappy to be immense.agag i saw clichy of the old in spurts,hope he returns permanently.
And Clichy was not bad 🙂 I feel it my fangirl duty to bring that up. 😀
KT, I will revisit last night’s post, and see if you did say all that…
Exactly my thoughts on Gael. 🙂
Our tiki taka game left them with cramps!cesc was right…team spirit will never be bought.
i guess man city would use the sending off as an excuse of the defeat, but arsenal performance is just flawless.
How effin good is nasri!!!fabianski has some of the best reflexes i’ve seen!and its on record in the archives.
When Robin and Rambo and TV5 are back, we’d be amazing. Add to that our purchases in January (I hope we go Dutch)? Scrumptious. 🙂 🙂
Nasri is, hands down, our team’s finest this season.
KC if we had scored first at the bridge we would’ve won no problemo…some passing triangles were just flawless!let them look for excuses but we dismantled them at home infront of their billionaire and legends!
AW Wants song to be our very own essien and today i saw why.
KT,
the man city dude was claiming they have more “winner” than us, such as PV4
i hope they have some humble pie for tml breakfast.
anyway, wat happened to diaby? why is he not involve today?
agag, you are spot on, we were off today, passing was poor and finishing wasn’t good – but… what we did today was play as a team, we dug in and fought for eachother… we were superb
KT, that will teach you, next time two ladies ask you to be up front you need to say yes and spill the beans 😉 😉
rico,
were u watching the game from home or some random pub?
how is it like watching the game in london?
I am on cloud 9, just so so happy to have gone up there and got all three points…
And WATH is very very right, Yaya Toure is sh*te, he is never worth £25Million pounds and 200k weekly wage….
I will never ever suggest he sign for us again…..
Rico but you have to admit i was spot on!once again fabianski; take a bow son!
Rico i cheered my team.right now i can’t even speak as my voice is hoarse.fabianski’s point blank save on ade’s offside header was top top class…
I just checked KT, you did say what you claim to have said. Still no hugs though, since you didn’t give us a scoreline.
rico, I did say we’d score 3. 🙂 🙂 I’m still not sure I like Song channeling the Brazilian in him and being all Songinho. Oh, and I thought Denilson was solid. I bet WATH is on a GG glugfest. Good for him!
Hello, kc. 🙂
i hope fabianski can maintain his good form. perhaps aw can save millions in GK department.
i think song had the best game in arsenal jersey. first yellow card was unavoidable, and he manage to keep his cool thru out the game!
KT, you did say he would make a great save, but you were wrong….
He made two 🙂
seriously, Mario Balotelli???
i think benjani can do a better job.
Song supported the attack and defense both in equal measure as essien does.thats the best i’ve seen him play so far this season.
rico,
i think fab made 4 great save tonite.
Rico and agag i was spot on…no need to deny it.it looks like shrek boy dodged a bullet…city were chasing shadows everywhere!
agag, you did, i thought we would nick it by a goal but to win the way we did…. just awesome….
Vincent Kompany though is top top class!…
KT, no, you should have come out and said it as you believed it, you were cagey 😉 😉
moving aside from all that, this side today did what they needed, dug in, played for eachother and for the shirt they wore, we can’t ask anymore than that…
i can’t really criticize any of them, iw as concerned that song would get a red card, but no, he scored a wonderful goal instead….
Djourou was all over the palce and off the pace. i am extremely gutted that AW opted for silvetre and Djourou instead of invest in V Kompany.
V kompany is one of the best CB in EPL and the TV5 + V kompany partnership is really mouth waterring
kc, thats wenger for you, how much did citeh pay for him??
i would pay 10mil + Djourou for hamburg…
anyway this is a great victory. and we shall cheer for Djourou n the team for the first clean sheet in months!!!
Defenders love to foul Chamakaka. Not his best game, but he really brings something different to us. I like it. 😉
rico, I hope our boys realize that this is how it’s done. Not all pretty passes, but some steel, too.
Some silly yellows though. How De Jong escaped one is beyond me.
Kc it seems we are in agreement on kompany.he has really grown into a beast at the back.AA was usual self-decisive.the moment where he tracked tevez to our penalty area filled me with joy…
chamakh had been so effective when getting penalty n fouls from opponents. i really hope that doesnt daamage his repo. he is decent player and hope he can maintain his scoring
This from teamtalk made me smile 🙂
Our captain thinks the man advantage a triviality:
“Even if they were 15 and we were 11 we would still go and win,” he added. “We always want to go forward and create chances but the way we played today, we were very difficult to stop. I think we were fantastic.”
Go, Cesc. Tell your boys to keep winning.
agirl,
did u keep track with denilson pass completion %? 🙂
i think he has a solid game too. i always rate him above diaby, but still i would love to have van der vaart than any of our midfield trio of diaby-song-denilson
agag, with you about chamakh, he does bring something to our side that we havent had in years, he’s a threat, defenders don’t like him nd he makes the most of it….
just need Erick to start liking him…. oh, and he scores goals… talking of which, chuffed for Nik to get on the score sheet, just what he and we all need from him, should give him confidence after being out so long….
how many times have we all said that agag, its about the result sometimes not the performance and today was one of those days…
wenger picked the right eleven today and i can’t belive denilson was in it 😉 😉
i was going to sit and write the match report for the morning but i can’t, i’m too elated 🙂
Right you wonderful people, I am off for the day….
Stay safe and be good…
Nighty night…..
kc, no. But KT tends to know all about stats and stuff…. I should tell you Denilson isn’t my favorite, but I rate him over Diaby, too. 🙂
rico, I think our style of play suits Chamakaka, too. 🙂 He draws fouls because defenders know he will try to get to the ball. He doesn’t have Robin’s technique, but he has an excellent work rate.
Erick will be convinced soon enough. Haha. And then we’ll buy him a shakie. 🙂
I wonder whether JJ was at the match. He goes a lot to away games, yes?
Good night, all. 🙂 Bank holiday for me tomorrow, which means I can stay up as late as I want. 🙂
Hey agag, happy holiday for you, have a lovely day and don’t forget HH will you – have a lovely day of resting, you nedd it 😉 😉
Get in!!!!!
Morning all, anyone around this fine morning?
New one up