Morning all.
Just one more sleep to go!
Ok I’m not going but I’m excited, our boys are off to Wembley!
But they won’t win if they don’t show the opposition some well deserved respect and that’s exactly what Arsene Wenger intends to do:
For us what is very important is to win the semi-final and it’s important we focus on that.
After that we play against an opponent that has done well in this competition. They have beaten Man City at Man City so we want to focus on that and make sure we can go through. We respect highly for Wigan for what they have done and the best way to go to the final is to do that.
You win when you produce a quality performance. We have, in this competition, produced top quality performances so just let’s continue with that.
We have a team who has a lot of experience. We are in a competition where we have a great opportunity, we play against a good opponent but it’s a great challenge for us and of course we want to take the opportunity to go in the final.
Good, glad to hear it because I think that the last time we got to a cup final, everyone, including the manger and fans thought us winning was a forgone conclusion.
He also confirmed he’s given up all hope on the PL title:
We are back at Wembley and it’s great. It’s an important competition. You know we will not fight for the championship any more [this season], so it’s the only competition.
Maybe next year Arsene, we will finally have a squad which will see us still in the race for the PL at this stage of the season.
Who’s fit for tomorrow?
I cannot give you concrete team news because we have so many uncertainties about Chamberlain (groin), Gibbs (ankle), Rosicky (thigh). There will be last-minute decisions on those three players. They are all 50:50.
50/50 is not good, I hope the odds are a little better than that and all three are ready to play because they are crucial to our game and if they aren’t, who on earth will come in?
Ozil and Koscielny are still out. I think the earliest to come back for Koscielny could be Tuesday and for Ozil it could be next Saturday. That would be a boost because at the moment we have too many players out and it’s important we get them back. We know that at this period of the season, the number of players we had out is too many.
I’d hoped Laurent Koscielny would be back for this game, we are at our best when he partners Mertesacker at the back. He’s not, which means Thomas Vermaelen needs to be a bit more focused and on the ball than he was last Sunday.
Diaby is back to full training next week. He could be available soon, maybe in a couple of weeks.
The cynics amongst us would say that’s perfect timing for a World Cup call up, I say it’s perfect to help us get a Champions League, stay fit and then be sold.
On Ramsey.
He is ready to start and certainly I will decide to start him because Flamini is suspended.
On Fabianski.
Fabianski will play in goal. It’s not a difficult decision because it’s a decision that has been made for a long time.
On whether Fabianski would play in the final…
Let’s play on Saturday. You play football on your merit and your performance and he has turned up with top-level performances until now in every single game. He has done extremely well. He has been man of the match in the three games he has played.
On Wilshere…
It’s all going well but he has not started to run. I think that’s planned for next week. At the moment all is going well.
So there you have it. I’m not sure whoever was asking the questions needed to talk about the final, crikey, we haven’t even kicked off the semi yet so that is a long way away.
I recall in 2011 there was a similar situation when Arsene was asked whether or not Cesc Fabregas would collect the Cup even though he was out injured…
We all know what happened next……
COYRRG’s
I’d given up on the title on the 1st February!
Good read…
On the title winners so far as the bin-dippers or the chavs don’t win it, I won’t be displeased…
Last summer I ways talking about Rakitic and Bacca of seville… Carlos already has 20 goals this season playing for Seville and with just a £25M release clause we should be getting in there before Sevile play in the Uefa cup finals and then the pundits start taking notes…
Rakitic is another ball playing midfielder who likes to get behind opposition defence; He was ratde higher than Navas too…
AW presser….Wenger on Everton: “2nd goal was offside, 3rd goal was foul, our goal was onside. It’s time for referees to turn up
1st September for me Rico. 🙂
Thanks Ts, same here, City for me if it can’t be us, which it can’t…
Clutching at straws, that’s Arsene! But Sanogo’s goal was a good one…
Trust you Adam 😉 😉
You miserable lot…….i never gave up on the title til Aaron was injured 🙂
Morning all.
Rico. The champagne is on ice for the FA Cup. In fact it’s the same bottle I put in the fridge just before the CL final. 🙂
Adam, when win, bring it over to Oz……i still have that ’39 port.
We will make day of it!
Scott. It’s a deal mate. 🙂
We have got to win this F.A Cup….
With you there brudder….
Morning Scott…
🙂 Adam – can’t believe you didn’t drink when we secured 4th that year, or was it 3rd?
Spot on Lee, for many reasons.
Actually Rico I am serious about it. I stuck a bottle of Louis Roederer Crystal in the fridge a few days before the CL final and it has remained there ever since. A symbolic reminder, every time I open the door.
Brother Lee will be more than familiar with it I am sure. 🙂
I believe you Adam, honest….
I doubt that Rico. But it is truer than true. 🙂
Next Year…Next Year….Next Year….there’s always Next Year Arsene!!! O and morning all! lol
I know Adam… lol
Morning Bt62, never arrives though does it.
De rigeur Adam…. I’m a Billecart Salmon man, just a man of simple pleasures!
I like Salmon, with Hollandaise Sauce and Jersey Royals….
Satanic verses?
I didn’t need to duck for that one to go over my head… lol
Take the blonde syrup off!
It’s grey these days! 🙂
Quiet here today, nerves must be kicking in…. lol
We just need to start the game at pace, get an early goal then counter them as they come at us…. simples!
Absolutely, start as we mean to go on and put Wigan on the back foot from the off.
Start slow, sideways and backwards and it will be a long 90 mins…
I may have to drink strong European lager at pace tomorrow!
Who is going to give us pace on the pitch me asks………..
Adam, I’d have smashed that crystal the next day so as never to have a reminder of that CL final that I have erased from memory… never ever felt so empty walking out of a stadium like i did that night…..!
Just the one??
Give me a few days to answer that one Wath….
There was me, all these bloody years, thinking that it was all Wenger’s fault….
His lack of ambition in the transfer market.
His poor substitutions.
His, at times, abject tactical nous.
His stubborness and dithering.
No, it wasn’t Wenger, it was bloody Adam!!!
And his bottle if Cava or whatever… 😉
Simple answer?!!!
Adam and Mrs Adam enjoy a glass of 2006 sparkling wine, straight out of the fridge ‘tonight’….
Get rid of the jinx tonight…
Start a fresh, tomorrow….
Afternoon All/Rico/Wath…
Afternoon Kev….
Whatever the result, tomorrow or hopefully in the final, Wenger is still gone in the summer, I reckon…
Hi Rico, my boy is gonna be up there at 11am tomorrow.
Well good luck to him.
I’m just gonna take my time. Bus & tube, get there about 2.30/3pm…
5.07pm, what a pixy ko time.
Nobody but nobody gives a flying feck about the fans…
FA, I fcuking hate ’em….
Overpriced tickets.
Overpriced programmes.
Overpriced and rubbish food/drink in stadium.
And come the final, all the tickets end up with the corperates and the touts.
FA, fcuk ’em…
I’ve a bad feeling about Saturday, early flight in the am,to much time for drinking before the match and no sofa to hide behind!! lol.Maybe could hide behind a bar! At least Ramsey plays,something to look forward to,lack of pace really worries me and the lack of fight.Artita really scares me, anyone else heading to Wembley?
I’m still not convinced he’s about to walk away Kev, but….
I’d get there at 5pm Kev 😉
Bt62, it’s better to feel that way than over confident. If we win, you’ll be pleasantly surprised… 😉
UEFA has cancelled the rule that would have prevented Coutois facing his parent club Chelsea…
RM vs BM without CR07…
Rico. not much chance of being over confident,havn’t had much confidence in anything Arsene and Co. have done in years.With the exception of making money of course and the ability shoot themselves in the foot. Could be the reason for a lot of injuries! LOL
Good Ts… Now the PL must follow suit..
Bt. Me neither but I think we can win… IF they turn up…
I think only two things are certain tomorrow……
IF we turn up we will win…..!
IF we don’t turn up we will lose…!
All from “Waths book of Wisdom”
Young defender Julio Pleguezuelo has signed professional terms with the Club.
The 17-year-old has been a mainstay of the under-19s and under-18s this season. He helped Arsenal reach the UEFA Youth League quarter-finals, and has played a key part in the Club’s FA Youth Cup run, which now sees them face Chelsea in the semi-finals.
A Spain youth international, Pleguezuelo joined the Gunners from Barcelona in summer 2013.
Everyone at Arsenal would like to congratulate Julio on his first professional contract and we look forward to his continued progression with the Club.
I’d echo those words of wisdom Wath…
Actually… A 3rd thing is certain… Micko, Lee and Kev will ALL be pissed…!
Maybe Adam too if we win….. 😉
Watched the Arsenal v Chelski semi last night,Akpom played the lone striker role and scored a thunderous left footed strike.Chelski scored twice,thus taking a 2-1 advantage to the Emms next Thursday.It’s live on ITV 4 me thinks.
I’m hoping to watch the second leg Bt62
Am shitting my self guys. I just keep having this premonition that we ll be turned over. In my dream last night I saw a sea of red jerseys slumped on the pitch grieving. God help us. Can’t take Birmingham mack 2 guys. I ll probably kill myself. Morning all
Bit extreme there goonster 😉
You sure you weren’t reliving the Man Utd CL game?? lol
Arsene pulls different excuses out his arse every interview, it’s so boring. How about for once he just admits to the farce of a second half of a season he has majorly contributed too?! Everton were by far the better team, admit it!
Re akpom, the lad looks the business, is he actually going to get a chance? Would prefer to see him start tomorrow ahead of any of our other ‘strikers’.
Rico am freaking out. My nerves are at its limit. A bottle of cognac didn’t help. What to do….what to do.
I switch off during his interviews these days Lewis, he seems more intent on either trying to justify a loss by blaming someone/something else, or talking about what other clubs are doing…
Perhaps if he paid a lot more attention to what is really going on at Arsenal, we wouldn’t have just gone through such a dreadful run of results…
Not sure cognac will help you goonster…. lol
Same here Lewis… The boy looked disinterested in the later part of the game…
This is one reason why some of our boys do not step up or progress as they deep down assume they will never make it…
True Rico, but if the FA follow suit Jose and the richer clubs who stockpile players might start changing tact…
Bt62, young Crowley struggled to support Akpom later on in the game…
I like Crowley but he needs some steroids… 😉
Maam how do you do it? You re so calm while am tearing my hair off by the way am going bald. Saw my hair line receding. Am getting old y’all. Arrrhhhhhg. Am getting old. Where is that cognac? I swear if we don’t win this fa cup……oh who am I kidding? Will they even let me get so close to arsene to spit in his oat meal. God help me.
Good Ts, then perhaps they will stop signing so many players in the first place…
Getting stressed before we even kick off won’t do anyone any good goonster, what will be will be….
I might not be quite so calm if we lose mind you…lol
Nipping off for an hour or two, lata’s
Wath, 2.26.
Spot on amigo… 😀
Calm down Stan
The Ox and TR07 trained today… only Gibbs was missing it appears
Afternoon Rico and the house.
Ginge photos on the main site show Gibbs training today.
Bellerine Torral and Eslfeld also trained with the squad.
Having watched the game last night I find myselve thinking what has Zelalem got that makes everone thinks he is so good.
To me his performance last night was shocking he was lazy ,looked disinterested and was often brushed aside by the chavs.
I cannot remember him producing one pass to the two up front and if we are to reach the final he should not play in the game next week. Meanwhile I think Chuba has moved up a gear and Poldolski would have been proud of the goal he scored.
This boy will become yhe next one to join Serge as a first team squad player.
Rant over .
Akpom looked very tired towards the end of the Chelsea match and they will want him for the return . So I guess he will get a rest till then.
Sanogo will be on the bench and the quiff will star which might be a problem.
Ginge, they all trained, as did Bellerin, Toral and one other I forgot…
What does it say, about the last 5/6 years of Wenger’s stewardship, when we see the complete lack of enthusiasm on this blog, about what is a huge game for our club tomorrow?!!!!!!
Afternoon Rick and all..
Very good point Kev, a couple of years ago, it would be buzzing…
Maybe we or just I have scared everyone off…. 😉
You heard from Devil lately??
Think it tells how much trepidation we have re tomorrow. 50,000 supporters should make enough noise providing that they are all behind them . I just hope that if it goes a bit pear shaped they stay behind the team and don’t get on the managers back.
I hope so too Potter, FA Cup semi-final at Wembley isn’t the best time or place. The team need the fans.
Tbh Potter, with expectations so low among the fanbase, if it does go pearshaped, they’ll be a 50,000 collective shrug of the shoulders. And then talk will move onto what holiday destination they’ll be spending their season ticket re-newal money on…..
Rico, Coach is very busy, but I reckon he’ll be here tomorrow, as will Dutch and a few others.
Thanks Kev, I hope they are…
I just have this feelings that we will win tomorrow.
Fingers crossed you are right Sukky…
I seriously think we are going to thump Wigan!
Flamini might if he was playing… 😉
I think we are going to win too….
I’m off to have a Friday night in front of the box…
Have a good evening all.
Catch you semi-final day 🙂
Night….
Night Rico.
Taking into consideration the recent comments/criticisms of some of Arsene Wenger’s policies by Santi Cazorla, I’d be quite amazed to see him in the starting XI at Wembley tomorrow afternoon….
Morning all…
Beautiful sunny morning, perfect for an FA Cup semi final at Wembley 🙂
Kev, if Wenger is that shallow and can’t see that all Santi has said is true, then the man is truly one pompous buffoon!
Morning Rico and all. I can’t wait to travel on the tube to Wembley today and I am looking forward to the journey home too.
Look for me on the telly. I shall wave. 🙂
Morning Adam.
I shall keep an eye out for your red trousers…
Morning Rico and the House.
Adam I feel certain all gooners will enjoy today.
My probleme is I can only watch it on ITV
Morning Rick, me too. Although I might have to pop behind my sofa at some stage 😉
Lucky Girl Rico ,
If I did that I wouldn’t be able to get up.
See you latta.
🙁 Rick, you have a good day, catch you later no doubt…
New post up now….