Missing just a few….

Morning all..

So another year has passed and as we head into a new year, I just want to thank everyone who takes precious time out of their lives to be part of the Highbury House family. I also want to thank those who write posts, you will never know just how grateful I am…

A special mention for Wath too, without him, Highbury House wouldn’t be up and running today and I mean that. He was the one who made me think long and hard before committing to this site and I can’t thank him enough….. And he’s always lurking when Fido needs a walk so be afraid…..

The same goes for all of you, without you all, this place wouldn’t be what it is today and can you believe, HH is heading towards it’s 4th birthday in the summer.

So, Happy New Year to you all, I hope it’s a good year for everyone, one which brings good health and happiness to all……

Hope it kicks off well for Arsenal too as we take on Cardiff City at The Emirates today.

Changes confirmed for today’s fixture, some forced, some rotation but I think the manager has an eye on Saturdays game….

Starting of course first with Ramsey and Ozil who are out, and we lost Gibbs at Newcastle with a calf strain.

We have as well Monreal and Vermaelen who are not certain to be ready because they have come just back from illness, then we have uncertainty about Rosicky, Wilshere, Walcott.

We lost Giroud to an ankle problem at Newcastle so this morning will be more medical checks to see who will be available for the game.

Aaron Ramsey is set to miss the next three weeks, but I strongly suspect the others will be back at the weekend.

Anyway, we have a squad and days like today are when those on the fringe of the first-team will be called upon and need to deliver, if they can’t, why does Arsene bother keeping them. He must have faith in each players ability and as long as they all repay the managers trust, we should be strong enough to get three points against a manager-less Cardiff. No disrespect meant by the way.

Well, I’m not going to rabbit on about how the players need to give their all etc etc, they know that, we all know that too but this is the kind of game that can be tricky if players think it’s won before it’s even started.

The Cardiff players will be playing to prove that whoever becomes their new boss believes in them as no doubt he’ll be watching today and there’s nothing like a win over the league leaders to do that is there…

But there’s nothing like starting a New Year with a win at home and that’s exactly what we need today…

COYRRG’s – let’s kick 2014 off well and then pray Arsene is truthing about this ‘special’ signing he wants to sign…..

That’s it from me for another day….

0 thoughts on “Missing just a few….

  1. devilgunner says:

    Good Morning Lady, Sir, Gentlemen and Ladies.

    HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

    May this one be better than the last in all aspects.

  2. pryce says:

    Good morning to everyone.I pray for 3 points for the table toping boys today and I say happy new year to all gunners and to all hh family.

  3. GunnerDNA says:

    GM. Happy New Year to all. Wish this year brings to the warmth of love and illuminates your path of life towards a positive direction

  4. tsgh says:

    Good morning to the best football blog in the world and a happy new year to the faithful and to the boss lady herself.

    Without this site where else would I be able to post all my gibberish ‘stats’. πŸ˜›

    Now the transfer window has opened where is SYG?

  5. Joaquim Moreira says:

    good morning everyone!
    We need to win today to increase our confidence levels. (good, not just today, it is in all other games. interests But today more than the following)

  6. AndrewH says:

    Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks to rico and all the contributors and posters. A most interesting and friendly site that hopefully continues for a very long time.

    Not looking forward to seeing our bench this afternoon. Be such a waste if we don’t get the three points wouldn’t it?

  7. stevepalmer1 says:

    Morning all,
    HH coming up to 4 years, bugger me, how time flies. Happy new year to all, and of course your families as well i hope it brings you Health wealth and happiness. I would just like to say well done Rico, Wath’s advice at the start has been a blessing to all Gunner’s myself included, as i know many think i must be a Spuds fan, You have run a very good site for every day of all the 4 years and that takes commitment, The only time i have known you not open up is when you have not been well or on Holiday, We have been fortunate to have Wath who covers and gives us bursts of his amazing Knowledge,,One day he gave me the secret of his eternal youth GG i will always be grateful, I have of course had times where AFC has got right up my nose and i rant and rave, Rico and many others have slapped me down at times and made me think, When Rico says that this is the home of the Highbury House family, i believe she is right, we each support in our own way, the stats people relay information that few of us would look up, but they have and for our benefit, We have members who live thousands of miles away with information that many locals have not heard we have Women who have more passion than some of the players and their knowledge is second to none,and of course we have members who supply stream links for many who cannot otherwise see the game, we have the odd arsehole as well, but i will try and keep my comments short, For all of the guest writers and all of the Family keep up the fcuking good work and COYRRG’s

  8. potter says:

    Agreed Andrew these 3 points are just important in the points total at the end of the season. It would be easy to relax and spoil all the good work that has gone before. Whoever plays must be fully up for it and if it means fringe players getting on the pitch then it’s time for them to step forward and show why they are there.

    HNY to one and all.

  9. tsgh says:

    Sir SP1… your best post yet. πŸ˜€

    Happy and prosperous new year to you…

    AH, best wishes to you and your Mrs.

    JM- I hope to visit Cascais again God willing. πŸ™‚

  10. BrainwashedKev says:

    Morning All.
    Morning Rico.

    Interesting game today, a test of our squad depth.
    There are no easy games in the EPL, and despite some in the Press/Media, predicting an Arsrnal thrashing I’m still wary of underestimating the Welsh team…

  11. tsgh says:

    Wenger: “Lowest moment of 2013? Defeat at home to Bayern. High point of 2013? When we won at Newcastle in May.

    I wonder if Poldi will make it today as I hear he is quite down about Michael Schumacher…

  12. BrainwashedKev says:

    The squad available to Wenger, should be good enough to do the job.
    I’m hopeful of seeing Gnabry start as this kid could prove to be a marvellous asset to us in the second half if the season…

    Zelalem trained with the senior squad this week.
    Does that point towards his involvement today or/and the FA Cup at the weekend?

  13. tsgh says:

    Wenger: “You need a good memory (to remember our injury list). The good news is Chamberlain’s like a new signing.” lol

    Morning Kev- sore head? πŸ˜‰

  14. BrainwashedKev says:

    Hi Ginge. I’m joining my son at the game today, a great way to start the New Year…

    Despite my hangover, I am really looking forward to the game…

    HNY to everyone on HH…

  15. potter says:

    No unfortunately, Christmas and new year is for family and the trip to football today would have started at 10.00 am and finished about 9.00 p.m. my son and I felt It would have been unfair to leave respective wives with a house full and the tidying from last night all day whilst we tripped off to London. ( come to think of it :- A bad decision.) But don’t tell the wife, this is brownie points time.

  16. HenryB says:

    Hi Rico, and a Happy New Year to you and all on HH.

    Yet another year on the clock for the excellent HH blog, but after your years of brilliantly masterminding AR that is no surprise.

    Well done you – you are amazing! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

  17. BrainwashedKev says:

    Good point Ginge, Chamberlain will be like a ‘new signing’, yeah he really will be.

    I expect to see him have a great 2nd half of the season.
    He’ll be fresh and hungry to earn a World Cup spot.
    Beneficial to us methinks…

  18. Wavy says:

    Is this the year of the Ox? I really hope so.
    Cardiff are a potential matchstick over which we must not stumble!

    HNY to all the Housers, what a thoroughly good blog it is too. 4 years, as long as I have been workless! Certainly helps to wile away the hours of inactivity and inertia! Marvellous! Rico, you are a star!

  19. mog says:

    morning rico, and a happy new year to you and everyone at HH. just been thinking how often do teams sack there manager then get one of there best results of the season.

  20. DutchGooner10 says:

    SCHEDULE OF THE OTHER FIXTURES KICKING OFF AT 15:00

    http://cricfree.tv/live/index.php

    Just click the preferred match and the links will automatically appear.

    Wait 30 seconds for ads to close. Hit the small x-squares (tiny grey ones) to close pop-up ads while live streaming. Close chat session if your connection is slow or lagging.

    Cheers. Enjoy responsibly.

  21. AndrewH says:

    Not too weak?

    Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Flamini, Wilshere, Walcott, Cazorla, Podolski

    Subs: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Jenkinson, Rosicky, Ryo, Gnabry, Bendtner

  22. AndrewH says:

    Thanks tsgh. Ay least Wenger laughed when he made the Chamberlain / New Player remark. So I ‘hope’ he was joking, LOL

  23. devilgunner says:

    hiya Ginge.

    how are ya????

    Happy new year mate.

    shitty won. so we need to win as well

    good line up. but for me it would have been TR07 instead of Arteta. Hopefully Santi plays in the hole. but were would that leave JW??? out on the wing???

    unless its 4-4-2 with Theo and Poldi up front.

    the mind boggles a bit.

  24. tsgh says:

    staff= stuck*

    Hiya Dev… I am good mate… just having a lazy day getting ready for work tomorrow…

    Yourself and the lil prince running out of pillows again? πŸ˜€

  25. devilgunner says:

    ditto regarding Diaby.

    He has been so many times like a new signing that I think that with the amount of signing on fees he has had he can bale out the EU from all its debts. πŸ˜†

  26. devilgunner says:

    we called a truce mate……..until the missus mends them πŸ˜‰

    its car racing now. model car pullbacks and we do drag racing along the sitting room.

    for me its better the pillow fights since I win all the time. With car racing its always 2nd best for me.

  27. tsgh says:

    Poldi to score again…

    Arteta needs a goal too..

    Dev- not sure what set-up today…

    It depends on if Arteta is ‘sitting’ as usual… I think Poldi will lead the line

  28. tsgh says:

    Kev I heard you are in the VIP box next to Tan- tell Vincent Tan, the whole HH can a better job than Ole.

  29. devilgunner says:

    This match is crying out for TR07.

    Theo had another shot off target after some good work and pull back by Cazorla.

  30. tsgh says:

    I agree again Dev… there are spaces that could be exploited by a tactical aware player like him…

    TR07 the most under rated…

  31. devilgunner says:

    Its in games like today when you realise what amount of work Giroud puts in every game……which usually goes unnoticed.

  32. devilgunner says:

    the dippers have gone 1-0 up.

    there are so many spaces in front of Theo that its easy to put a couple of five a side pitches. Yet they keep passing the ball to him or behind him instead of putting it in space to utilise his speed.

  33. devilgunner says:

    and that is how we should have started imo.

    Cazorla and JW in front of Arteta with Bendy up front,

    One of Theo or Podolski should have been benched in favour of TR07 or Gnabry.

  34. agirlagunner says:

    Happy New Year Dev and Ginge.

    Our match has been dismal so far. How come we never seem to have an answer for teams that only want to park the bus?

  35. devilgunner says:

    some of the our passing in the final third is pub team level.

    AGAG……HNY to you.

    Bob John…..we do not have Gervinho to shoot. hell we have not had a clear shot ON goal so we could not even miss.

  36. devilgunner says:

    yes of course Cardiff will park the bus.

    but we are allowing them to do so. our players are not running in the right channels between the players and the departments

  37. tsgh says:

    Certain combinations never work in practice:

    Kanu and DB10
    JW and Sc19
    TH14 & Trezeguet
    MA08& MF

    It beggars belief that AW thinks MF can do what RAmsey or Diaby or TR07 do in the team…

  38. agirlagunner says:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Cardiff were to nick one past us, Dev. This is just so uninspiring.

  39. devilgunner says:

    Cardiff get their first corner of the game……

    We have had just one shot on target. 12 off target.

  40. tsgh says:

    I think Serge is the closest to Hleb we have in the squad…

    We can still win if Mr 75 minutes makes the right subs…

    I bet Rico is wondering why she did not sit in front of her fire instead… lol

  41. devilgunner says:

    Bendy and TR07 on for Flamini and Podolski.

    and incredibly its the 65th minute. who could have imagined it to be so.

    Everton 0-1 down to Stoke. Chavs 1-0 up

  42. tsgh says:

    Park needs to be on the bench instead of Ryo but Aw’s policy is shocking sometimes…

    Good save Scez…

  43. AndrewH says:

    What a flick from Wilshere!! Resilience I feel is coming up in post match interviews!!

    Had a spoof (I take it) message while watching feed that it had shutdown from Northumberland Police force! Anyone else got this?

  44. tsgh says:

    Back on top… yes… keep the faith Housers… lol

    Aw’s selection is still suspect… Why AW still tries Poldi as a false 9 is beyond belief but…

    MF should be a squad player and use as replacement for MA08 and not be played as a creative box to box midfielder… he is never skilful enough nor good at reading the game to do that job imho…

  45. szizzorhandz says:

    Happy new year to everyone, may it be filled with good health and joy as the lady of the house said and a goal driven one for the Arsenal. What a frustrating game this was, bendtner’s injury brings in a new set of problems for us, hope wenger realises that we really do need a striker this time.

  46. tsgh says:

    No Ah… but lots of virus in some of the feed… not blaming Dg btw… as we appreciate the links bro…

  47. tsgh says:

    I said it during the summer; if Aw will utilise his squad properly we can win the league…

    B-something was tipped as a future Laudrup for a reason…
    AW just needs to use his squad instead of running a few into the ground…

  48. stevepalmer1 says:

    Well fcuk me sideways, Have you ever been on a promise from a beautiful woman and three quarters of the evening has gone and she tells you she don’t feel well, and you think to yourself well fcuk my luck, then a little later she starts to feel better and you take her home and Fcuking bingo, well thats how i felt at the end of this game, expectation disappointment then elation , Arsenal are ageing me by the day but three points, reminds me of a pkt of 3 when their gone you know you have been a lucky sod, COYRRG;s

  49. potter says:

    2 – 0 , 3 points . Lets go home.
    Workman like not inspiring , I still don’t believe we can win the league but whilst we are pissing the rest off , lets keep doing it.

  50. arsenal11730 says:

    Nice win 3pts. Don’t care how.
    Must give a special shout to JW10 his best game in ages.
    BFG had 2 glorious chances.

  51. stevepalmer1 says:

    Sorry Ginge got carried away πŸ™‚ Apologies Agag, wasn’t aware there were any of the finer sex Posting πŸ™‚

  52. agirlagunner says:

    SSP, hahaha. πŸ˜› I always feel like my blood pressure shots up when I’m watching our boys play.

    Andrew, rico went to the match! πŸ™‚

  53. AndrewH says:

    Thanks agag, arhh that explains things! Should be an interesting report tomorrow πŸ˜‰ Hows It out East?

  54. tsgh says:

    Happy new year to you too Lee…
    —————————–
    I bet B-something is faking his injury… lol

  55. agirlagunner says:

    Andrew, it’s been a warm December. πŸ™ But I guess I prefer that to all that snow. πŸ˜‰

    Poor Bendtner. Can’t seem to catch a break.

  56. tsgh says:

    We have now won 22 of our last 30 Premier League games (71/90pts), since losing at Spurs in March, keeping 14 clean sheets along the way.

  57. tsgh says:

    Wenger has just said Bendtner has sprained his ankle and will be out for “weeks”.. so we now have Afobe and Park with Akpom going on loan next weekend…

    No more Poldi as the spearhead.. imho

  58. tsgh says:

    Chamakh, and B-something have now scored more goals from open play than Soldado…

    What will the spurds do without an arsenal reject i.e Ade da-whore….?

    Can’t believe Smalling now 25 y.o is an England international… tsk…

  59. tsgh says:

    Agag- we definitely left it too late… I am not sure there is any decent striker on the markety who can just walk in and improve us imho…

    Benteke or Bernatov maybe; Michu is out until February; Suarez definitely no…
    Yanited will not sell Chichito to us nor will Spurds sell Defoe to us.

    Players like Muriel, Koke maybe; I won’t mind Di Natale on a 2 year contract..

  60. devilgunner says:

    stevepalmer1 says:……………….Well fcuk me sideways, Have you ever been on a promise from a beautiful woman and three quarters of the evening has gone and she tells you she don’t feel well, and you think to yourself well fcuk my luck, then a little later she starts to feel better and you take her home and Fcuking bingo, well thats how i felt at the end of this game,

    oyyyyyyyyyyyy Sir Steve,

    that is not high class gentlemanly talk. nice gentlemen dont Fcuk the bingo……….. πŸ˜†

    dear oh dear. that had me LMFAO

    great win today.

  61. devilgunner says:

    the spuddies are winning with the Togolump scoring.

    now my dear friends………I know you will say none. but if you had a choice with the current team who would you welcome back…..the greedy badger or the guy with the first touch of a rapist?

  62. agirlagunner says:

    Maybe Berbatov is worth a punt, now that bendy is also injured, ginge. Benteke’s form of late has been atrocious, but I think he would be eager to impress at a new and big club. πŸ˜‰

  63. tsgh says:

    True re Benteke… his injury record this year shows he has Arsenal dna though. πŸ˜‰

    Agag just do us a favour and send a foto of you in one of your best choice shoes to Alaba for him convince Lew to join us instead… πŸ˜‰ πŸ˜›

  64. agirlagunner says:

    I’ll send him links to designer shoe houses; all those shoe models with great gams! πŸ˜‰

    Mourinho never stops talking, does he? Now, it’s about Mata being free to leave. He is in the habit of alienating his own players. Ronaldo, Casillas also come to mind. Mourinho just sounds really desperate these days.

  65. agirlagunner says:

    Welbeck has always been a diver. Not to mention Young and Rooney and Valencia and Nani… In fact, even Robin is a diver. I guess he belongs. πŸ˜€

  66. devilgunner says:

    If we get Balotelli expect fireworks. Whether they will be on the pitch or off the pitch is another story.

    But he is like Suarez……..high technical finisher but with a slimy reputation.

  67. agirlagunner says:

    Dev, but Suarez’s teammates seem to like him; Balotelli seems always to be having a bust-up with his teammates AND coaches.

  68. devilgunner says:

    who knows if he wil have bust ups with AW and the rest of the team??

    better take no chances methinks. but that is my head talking.

    my heart says………..GO FOR HIM.

  69. devilgunner says:

    come on spuddies. dont let us down today. stay organized and beat manure. then we will let you have a lap of honour before the game and we will give you champagne to soften you up a bit….and then we will bring you back down to earth.

  70. agirlagunner says:

    He’s too much of a live wire. We can’t afford that potentially disruptive personality in the team. But he does score loads of goals.

  71. devilgunner says:

    now Manure are 11 points behind us. hopefully they will drop a few more points to be out of every cup bar the domestic ones next season.

    now for us to face the spuddies in the FA cup.

    any bets that AW will start with the same team that started the game vs Cardiff today????

    I feel that he will play the same team which started today so that the players like Ozil, Giroud, Gibbs etc will have a good long rest….something around 15 days between last game vs NUFC and the game vs Villa.

  72. devilgunner says:

    its not a question of another chance mate.

    If AW gets it into his head that Poldi is a future number 9 then that is the way it will be.

    I think it makes sense that he starts with the same formation. But instead of MF it has to be TR07 while I would like to see Cazorla instead of JW with Gnabry on the wing. Then put in JW instead of CAzorla in the 60th minute.

  73. devilgunner says:

    I would go with

    Chezzer
    Sagna,Koscielny,Mertesacker,Monreal
    Cazorla, Arteta, TR07
    Gnabry, Podolski, Theo.

    Then put in JW for Cazorla/Gnabry in the 60th

  74. tsgh says:

    It’s amazing how TW14 went 30 games scoring only 5 goals and then since Nov 30th 8 apps (5 starts) 5 goals, 3 assists

  75. tsgh says:

    Sultan ‏@Sultan_l0 2h
    Wenger’s face when asked if we were going to sign a striker… – I think we all know what this means pic.twitter.com/KLOohOcxf7

  76. tsgh says:

    Wenger’s face when asked if we were going to sign a striker… – I think we all know what this means pic.twitter.com/KLOohOcxf7
    Retweeted by Renato
    Embedded image permalink

  77. rico says:

    Evening all, great three points, made hard work of it though…

    One thing is for sure, Arsenal are in dire need of a top class striker if we are serious about winning the PL….

  78. devilgunner says:

    Looking at the table its between the good guys (us), the bad guys (oilers) and the ugly guys (chavs) for the title.

  79. rico says:

    Guys, thanks for your kind comments on HH…

    Sp, had you been on the GG πŸ˜‰

    Hb, I didn’t realise you’d been on AR, such a long time ago now….

  80. agirlagunner says:

    rico, how was your day? πŸ˜‰

    Thanks to you and your Deputy Sheriff for keeping things ticking over even on days when there is simply no news or when it must be painful to write about Arsenal (and those days are many!). πŸ™‚

  81. rico says:

    At half-time devil, so was I but the second half, even as late as we left it, it always seemed liked we’d get one…

    agag, poring with rain, but well worth it – had a great time thanks πŸ™‚

  82. agirlagunner says:

    It did not look fun on the pitch with those horrid winds, rico, our players really labored; and it wasn’t fun for us until late late on. πŸ˜›

  83. rico says:

    I thought the first half was awful agag, but thoroughly enjoyed the second half, might have been because Theo was right in front of me…. πŸ˜‰

    I thought he was very good in the second half, no doubt some will disagree πŸ˜‰

  84. agirlagunner says:

    Theo’s goal was a “thinking” goal, rico; not one of his more usual “instinctive” ones. πŸ˜› He does score such good goals, doesn’t he?

  85. rico says:

    It was really good agag, as was Nik’s finish, he sure meant that to go in, just hope his injury is nothing serious. He worked hard when he came on, he wanted a goal…

    Nik and Tomas changed the game imho.

  86. agirlagunner says:

    AW got his subs right. πŸ˜‰ And five minutes early, too. πŸ˜€

    We would be so much better with a top top quality player, rico. I hope AW doesn’t delude himself into thinking that we do not need another one. Surely, Dortmund would rather sell us to us than a direct rival. Get out that check book, Arsene!

  87. ozgunner says:

    worrying to say the least – couldn’t get a shirt at anywhere other than Palace then we see our January answer –

    Wenger said: “It is January 1 so we cannot stop him [talking to clubs abroad], but he says he wants to stay here.

    “If he is focused on staying with us and his job, he is a great striker.”

    Great Striker????? He’s done nothing at club level his whole career ffs

  88. rico says:

    You’d like to think so. Berbatov is better than no striker this month but it would be nice to see a little more ambition, especially where we are in the pl.

    New post going up now…

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