A lot to catch up on

So hello, here we are and what a day.  It's Friday, yesterday was Thanks Giving, I'm sure we've all thanked accordingly and it's now on to the football.  Tuesday saw us take care of Standard Liege at home in the CL.  I was going a little crazy with my girlfriend being away for a week and here's what I ended up doing that day, an exact recording:

I woke up this morning with the groggy left overs of a night spent smoking endless, potent joints and drinking Simpler Times pig piss larger while fornicating wildly with my now departing girlfriend.  
     She's on her way home to Florida for Thanks Giving, leaving me for days I'll spend smoking dope like a chimney and drinking like a thirsty beast.  
     It's 2:45PM and my first Newcastle Brown after my 3 joints puts me a little behind schedule.  We've just kicked off and have fielded a strange but assuredly stron starting eleven.  
     Eboue and Gibbs are in at fullback, while Almunia stays precariously between the sticks.  We'll need our young Polack to get it together so we can see the back of Almunia, who can go retire early in Spain and spend his time fishing, drinking wine and smoking cigarettes.  Denilson comes in for his first match in a long time with Song and Fabregas in midfield.  Vela's central up front with Arshavin and Nasri outside him.  With our depth very much on display, let's hope we don't show a soft spot.
     My friend Josh is very late and a creepy Gypsy has taken his seet and is playing the accordion.  
     He's arrived and we've moved away from the music.  Arsenal are playing quickly and proficiently without too much penetration but you can feel a goal coming.
     Song takes an arm in the teeth.  Eboue dives when he should have stood up and scored.  Perhaps were it not so theatrical it would have been given, contact is evident.  But Eboue is rotten, maybe rotten to the core.  But he's our right back tonight and so we get behind him.  Also I think he's sometimes pretty good.
     They hammer the post, we were very lucky.  The ref gives a moronic, slobbering vegetable, drug induced decision to give them a free kick when their left back tripped their left winger.  Gallas/Arshavin should have scored from 6 yards out but headed over.  Arshavin's head explodes after the collision with the Frenchman who is also injured.  Arshavin is bleeding to death while holding a beach towel on his wound.  Another one of our troops injured by friendly fire in a battle with a continental enemy.  Gallas looks bad too.  Like a half cyborg half human cyborg out for brains.  
     Down to nine men now and Nasri scores clinically after their defender slips.  The injured return.  Gallas destroys a man's lower body in the box, nothing given.  They miss a free header from a corner.  Silvestre is warming up in a nightmarish scene on the sidelines, but could be a better option than zombie/rotob Gallas. 
     Fabregas shoots inches wide.  Arshavin gets smashed in the face, surely he's out for nine weeks.  We're putting on dazzling jewels and ruby flicks while the crowd watches on in amazement.  The enemy tries to smash us up to bits but we score again.  Our Brazilian bits one from 30 yards after being smashed in the torso.
     2 nil at half time, the one wounded return to the lines and are making the difference.  Godo value for our lead, it could be more.  Gallas off at half time to return to human form and the 95 year old fish man Silvestre steps in with Senderos receiving no pity or confidence.  Cesc shoots wide from 20 yards.  
     Second half notes are limited for various reasons.  Could have been more but it wasn't.  We win the game, we win the group, we play Chelsea Sunday.




Anyway, I think that sums up the match pretty well actually.  The win has come at a price though and you had to think it was only a matter of time before we were just torn apart by injuries, but this weekend is a bad time.  We're pretty ravaged and while we do have some good depth, we are exposed in some places and we could be in trouble on Sunday.

Already existing are injuries to, Djourou, Clichy, Fabianski, Diaby, Bendtner and of course RvP.  So, as it stood, we were down our starting left back, good thing we have 4 on the books, down our 3rd choice center back, with our next choices not so choice we're down to threads there, down 1 of a 100 midfielders and both of our established center forwards, one of whom is on the best form of his career.

Now Keiron Gibbs is having or has had surgery on a broken foot bone and Gallas is out with a swollen eye.  So, in step Silvester, the worlds oldest Gargantuan, French Fishheaded center back and Traore, an unconvincing, albeit speedy, 3rd choice left back.

Gallas isn't necesarily out for Sunday, he's just a doubt, we'll see what happens and we have a couple of good returners coming back to good effect with Denilson and Nasri.  No center forward is a kick in the pants though, lets hope that Eduardo can make up for our missing physicality, which'll be a hard thing to overcome against Chelsea. 

I do think that Gallas will recover and so our biggest problems will be at left back and at center forward.  Wenger may be tempted to play Silvester at left back to help out with the set pieces and because they really don't have a right winger, Ballack will always be cutting inside.  As long as we keep the ball off the ground and Eduardo is mobile, we should be OK up front.  Should Eduardo play on current form though and we may fall flat up front.  Chelsea are Chelsea, we know what we're up against.  Even if they're not at full strength they'll be strong everywhere.  Drogba and Anelka have given us trouble before and our boys at the back have to work hard to stop them on Sunday.  I'll love to see Verminator v Drogba battle.

Anyway, more about the players involved tomorrow.

Highbury86

Late Sunderland Review, Champions' League Preview

Hello,

We'll get right to it.  We lost to Sunderland.  We were without van Persie and had no ample replacement with Bendtner also out.  Eduardo was put in place but didn't fill the role adequately.  Nasri was fairly limp and didn't penetrate and Rosicky wasn't as active as we've come to expect.  Cesc played fairly well although he again struggled to find good deliveries from set pieces.  Diaby was missed as well with Ramsey filling in and playing far deeper than Diaby and not winning nearly as many tackles in the middle.  Song was our best player over all and we didn't play too poorly, just very, very flat and didn't penetrate as often as we would have liked.  That said we had a few chances that maybe should have been put away and I should also point out that without Diaby, either Nasri or Rosicky seems to me the better replacement as they have a spark and urgency going forward, where as Ramsey is a better replacement for Cesc. 

We let in a goal from one of their few chances.  Darren Bent reacted quickly after a fairly lucky deflection and we were 1 nil down.  It was hard to see us coming back at that point and the longer the game went on the less we looked like scoring.  Vela wasn't too great and when he went down the ref was spot on not to give a penalty.  We missed the final ball and the mobility and clever play of van Persie and a driving force in the midfield.  It's a true blow to our title chances, with each loss other losses seem bigger than before and should we not win today we could fall down a slippery slope as we have a tough patch ahead and need a couple of players back. 

Walcott, while ineffective against Sunderland will likely play today.  I expect them to hold tight and attack quickly.  Hopefully the game will open a little and we can get an early goal to settle the nerves.  Settled nerves and some assurance of our quality is needed tonight ahead of the now super crucial match against Chelsea on Sunday. 

It looks like we have Gibbs back and he may feature.  I wasn't very impressed with Traore at the weekend.  I also think Eboue will play and could provide a spark out wide.  It'd be nice to win the group and a win tonight will do that.  I'm looking forward to the match and am hoping for something of a pick up in performance and a rennaissance of creativity.  Let's hope whoever starts central today will do the business up front. 

Highbury86

Sunderland Preview plus some more

Hello everyone, it's been a while.  I've been super busy so haven't really taken any time out to write any blogs during the interlul.  The interlul has been and gone now and it was more disappointing than usual.  It had such great potential, some good teams playing each other for world cup spots and all that but the seeding system didn't do the spectacle any favors and I know there are a lot of people really slagging off Thierry Henry in just about the dumbest ways possible, but I have to agree with some of it.  He obviously did it on purpose and it's just about the worst kind of cheating.  There was a lot at stake and it was unfair to Ireland, but part of me thinks that he was just being a little cheeky and was surprised to get away with it.  Either way, the result wasn't good and I would welcome a long time ban.  All those people calling for him to have gone to the ref and admitted it during the game are mental and the rest of those who are saying he's tarnished his status as an Arsenal legend are super mental.  He hasn't played for Arsenal for a few years and this game, although there were a few of our boys involved, had nothing to do with Arsenal, so fuck off to those guys. 

van Persie's injury was another awful result of the interlul.  It happened in a friendly, which is just an extra kick in the pants.  He's bang in form and will be missed but let's hope that the horse placenta and bat seamon he's rubbing into his wound helps the situation.  Of course Bentdner's gone for a while too and so our only center forwards left are Eduardo and Vela, both tiny little dudes.  Loosing physicality is obnoxious and potentially dangerous but not near as obnoxious as seeing Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott, Vela, Fabianski and Almunia coming back only to see RvP, Bendtner, Clichy and Gibbs fall out.  It seems we'll never have a complete squad this season.

Sunderland today and while this wouldn't have been too much of a challenge in the past few seasons they've been running very well in this one and the fact that it's away will make it even more difficult.  Of course I think we'll have too much for them in the end but we'll have to be careful.  We're still capable of some goals, as any team with Vermaelen is, but we'll be depending on Eduardo, Rosicky and Nasri for them, with Arshavin on the bench after his World Cup disappointment. 

Ramsey has come in for Diaby in midfield and while I like to see him, I have to say that I don't like he and Cesc playing together, as they're just a bit too similar.  Cesc and Song will be along side him of course and at the back Traore finally gets his chance with the other two left backs injured. 

I feel it'll be a bit of a boring game for a while as they're sure to stuff 5 into midfield, which'll make for Rosicky and Nasri dropping back and no real opportunities to counter. 

Anyway, there'll be more on the van Persie and Rosicky stuff in coming blogs, for now we'll just watch the game at hand.

Highbury86

Late Wolves Review, the rest is catching up

So, a lot of catching up to do this afternoon.  It was a busy weekend for me and the premier league.  I had to tear up the floor boards in my kitchen and replace them with tiles while Man U played Chelsea, Liverpool played Birmingham (that was yesterday, not really the weekend) and we took on Wolves. 

The opening 20 minutes of our game was a little tense with the promoted team coming at us hard.  They pressed us hard and went forward very well.  All their passes were coming off all their players were working hard and they were getting in behind our Songless midfield but never really penetrated too much, except for a chance off a corner and another I can't remember. 

What was for me the best part of the match and a pleasure this season is affording us fans, is that you never really felt like we were going to concede.  And if we were to concede you just always feel that we have goals in us.  Lots of goals, not to mention that there was just no way that Wolves were ever going to be able to keep up that pace and intensity for much longer. 

They didn't score and somewhat against the run of play for the match that far, we scored from a corner.  Diaby had gone off for Song and it completely changed the complexion of the game.  Song broke up their play and as they kept coming at us, turned the back foot into the front in the midfield and we countered perfectly well and scored a second goal when Eduardo was put through by Ramsey.  He played an odd little chipped pass intended for the onrushing Robin van Persie, which seems harsh on young Ramsey who was the simpler option, but the ball popped off a defenders head and looped over the keeper and into the far post.  2 own goals, Eduardo our closest player on both and we were 2 nil up against poor old Wolves. 

We still had time to put away a 3rd in the first 45 minutes.  Cesc played the ball down the line for Sagna who went bombarding into their half.  Cesc went flying forward and the new and improved attacking Sagna played a ball into van Persie's excellent lateral run and he killed the ball with one touch for Cesc to run onto and finish for his 9th of the season. 

My recording ran blank for some reason at half time and so I only saw highlights of the second half but Arshavin scored a half decent goal.  So we hit four in another game and let in one in the last few minutes again too.  We're really flying on the goals tally and after United lost to Chelsea, we're up to 2nd in the league.  Liverpool dropped more points and really look out of the race, although you never really know. 

Our recent form has a lot of people saying a lot of stuff about us winning trophies, including Eduardo. In some bad news, it looks like Bendtner will be out for a while, as he has to have surgery on his groin.  I think at first glance this doesn't look all that bad, Danish player of the year or no, he's certainly not our most vital forward, but he is the only forward with some good physicality who's good in the air and so he will be missed in plenty of games.  But this could give Vela a chance to break into the team, but with Walcott on the mend and Rosicky and Nasri back who knows. 

More on our depth later in the week. 

In other news, van Persie has been named Premier League player of the year.  Congratulations to him, I'm not sure when the last time an Arsenal player was named player of the month. 

Highbury86

Wolves Tomorrow

Hello from hell on earth - Atlanta.  I hope I'm not rubbing anybody the wrong way but this place is awful and is getting increasingly worse.  I'm heading back to Denver as soon as is possible.  I will miss the BrewHouse, but such is life I guess.

I've got a terrible head ache this morning, likely brought on by the new stress brought on at work.  I'm always getting the stress run from my parents about graduate school so I'm used to the lengthy conversations we've been having but it was all compounded by the fact that my boss has now banned all talking or leaning at work.  "Stand at attention, always be standing at attention."  He's deathly scared of his bosses and is really pretty pathetic and it's part of why I hate this place so much.  My head is killing me anyway.

So, onto Wolves tomorrow.  They're 17th in the table and struggled in the beginning but have been picking up a little lately.  Not that we should be scared, despite what their manager says about coming at us.  I can't imagine that doing anything but opening up the park for us to spray passes and move quickly into holes and behind their defenses and score plenty of goals, which is exactly what I expect given our current form. 

Fabregas has been on fire lately, 8 goals and 11 assists in 13 games make him Cesc Fabregas statistically and the way he's been playing to achieve these statistics make him Cesc Fabregas all the rest of the time.  He's an excellent captain, proving wise well beyond his years in the press, leading by example on the park and no doubt in training and on the form he's in now he has to be the best midfielder in the world.  Robin van Persie can certainly attest.  Wenger's been singing about RvP lately too and he and Cesc really have been on great form and are playing some outstanding football while being very productive in the goals and assists department. 

In other good news we have no new injuries, a rather pleasant little surprise, although we don't have anyone back from injury either, but with Vela, Traore, Denilson, Walcott and Fabianski all very close, if we can just stay fit for the next few weeks we could be up to full strength, which no matter what trophies we win or how many goals we score, would be the feat of the season. 

Now, Vela will be on the fringe of the team and hopefully will get some time to prove himself because he has something world class in him and I think we'd all like to see it.  Traore might get some chances coming up with Clichy out and Gibbs in to deputize, which means that Traore will likely play in the Carling Cup and obviously for Gibbs should he need a sub.  Walcott should slide right into the team, especially with Bendtner out and Fabianski will give Almunia a worry, which'll be good for everybody.  Denilson's return is the most intriguing.  What does it mean for Diaby?  With Nasri and Rosicky back where will everyone slot in.  Diaby has been decent in his run in the team with a few goals but he really hasn't wowed anyone with his many giveaways and some slack defending.  
Rosicky has been on fire this season when he's played and is a certain starter, up front or in the middle is the question.  With Walcott being a likely starter you'd have to say in the middle.  But then there's Nasri who showed his class with a great goal in midweek.  Denilson is super efficient if not too spectacular and he's come along leaps and bounds and I think we've all come to like the boy.  So a rotation of top class attacking midfielders and forwards seems likely to continue but for the first time this season we look like we might have all our weapons loaded. 

Anyway, in other news the club have agreed a deal with the next Cesc Fabregas, Fran Merida but the deal is yet to be signed.  Finally, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, Kroenke has upped his stakes in the club to 29.9 percent, putting him a fraction of a percent away from his obligatory take over bid.  This doesn't mean that anyone has to sell to him but the fact that he's been so quiet is slightly suspicious.  We'll have to see how it unfolds. 

So Wolves tomorrow, should be another 3 points in the form we're in and I'm looking forward to some good football.

Highbury86

All but Through in the Champions' League

Morning everyone, hope you all enjoyed the game yesterday afternoon.  I couldn't watch it until about 1 AM because it was on during work, so I slept through a lot of it, but I've just watched it again and we were outstanding. 

Clichy sat out with a broken back and so Gibbs came in at left back.  Sagna was rested and Eboue slotted in defense on the other side.  I've said before that I thought Eboue would replace Sagna at some point in the season but I have to concede that I no longer think so.  Sagna has been on wonderful form, perhaps the best we've ever seen, barring that first month or so when he was on fire. What I think is going on is that they'll share time depending on the fixture.  When it's a bit more beneficial to have a flying forward attack out of defense then we're likely to see Eboue, when the more defensive minded and solid Sagna is required then we'll of course see Sagna.  A fine system that could really help us win some matches. 

Vermaelen and Gallas held down the middle and our current midfield 3 played with Nasri slotting in up front alongside van Persie and Arshavin.  Despite our injury issues we were able to put out a very strong side with a nice bench as well.  We really have some great depth all over.  We'll just forget about centerbacks and holding midfielders for now. 

We started brightly on what looked like a really cold night and could have scored on 3 minutes.  Song won the ball just inside our half and played to Cesc who turned very nicely on the half way line and fed it in to Arshavin who dinked it over to Diaby who passed it on to Cesc ahead of him who flicked it on over to Arshavin who played in van Persie whose right foot shot fizzed just an inch wide of the far post. 

We continued to dominate the first half with nice passing and good individual work on the ball to create space.  We didn't exactly attack with urgency and didn't really create many more clear cut chances but definitely deserved our 2 nil advantage at half time.  

We got our first on 25 minutes when the ball moved from our right all the way back to the middle of our defense for Gallas to storm forward and feed Fabregas on the left of the box.  He cut inside and hit a low shot and squeezed in on the near side with a fairly tame shot.  The keeper really should have kept it out but we're not complaining.  It was a lead that was coming and one that made the rest of the game very comfortable. 

The rest of the half was fairly slow and innocuous.  They got a couple of shots away but Almunia looked confident and they were never going to score.  The new slightly heavier Sami Nasri scored the second after 43 minutes when Arshavin turned neatly and slid Nasri in on goal between the center backs and he stop started both of them out of the game and drove forward to score neatly.  2 nil at the break.

It didn't take us long to find the net in the second half.  Just seven minutes in, Arshavin set up his second for Cesc's second as set went on to curl high into the net, over the diving keeper as he bore down on goal.  It was a very nice goal and a great finish for Fabregas' 8th goal of the season. 

A few minutes later they almost got back into the game when Eboue lost out in the air on the far side of our box and Pelle fired a volley in from close range but Almunia made a great reaction save to push it onto the bar. 

Largely due to the meek crowd, most of the rest of the game was played out rather clinically and at a slow pace but there were 2 more goals. 

Fabregas made way after 66 minutes to a standing ovation.  He was robbed a hatrick I feel but I'd rather rest him than give him the chance.  van Persie was replaced as well with Eduardo and Ramsey coming on. 

Gibbs hit a great right footer along the ground just inches wide on 67 minutes, and then we got our fourth with a sublime move that started with an Eduardo backheel on the half way line and saw Arshavin set up another, this time for Diaby, who curled into the top corner.  It was some goal, it really was beautiful football. 

The very productive Arshavin went off for the last fifteen minutes with Rosicky coming on. 

Our performance overall was excellent.  After our 3rd and 4th we slowed down a bit but we weren't playing narrow, we were using both wings in the same spell of play.  Our fullbacks were attacking plenty, Nasri, who's packed on a few pounds since last season, was very effective and Cesc was all over the place, having the kind of performance you maybe had once every 10 practices when you were a kid, where nothing was going wrong and you were bouyed and effervescent.  He ruled the game with some great turns, fine passes and 2 very nice goals. 

But still we couldn't keep a clean sheet, Almunia unable to keep out a low toe poke into the near post from the edge of the area. 

We're all but through after a fine game and so far, a few blips aside, our season is going swimmingly.  Wenger has had some things to say about the current team and Eboue is talking up Cesc.  Lets hope for a speedy recovery for Gael Clichy and look forward to Wolves at the weekend.  It's nice to have Nasri back and he's looking good too. 

Alkmaar Preview

Well, hello and welcome back to the Champions' League.  A win in our game and an Olympiacos draw or win in the other fixture sees us through tonight, something I'd put a lot of money on.  We've got some bad news ahead of the match with Bentdner and Clichy out for a while each with serious injuries.  Bendtner's groin will keep him out and Clichy's back is suspected of being fractured, which could keep him out for up to a month.  Gibbs will deputize and Wenger's praising the boy in the press.  No doubt the boy's talented and we all have a soft spot for him, as he's from London and seems to have a good head on him, but I don't know about this World Cup business and it may put some unnecessary pressure on him ahead of what could be a lengthy spell in the side. 

So we're now without Denilson, Clichy, Bendtner, Djourou and Fabianski and of course Theo, but on the plus side we have Rosicky and Nasri back in town.  Denilson should be the next to come back with Theo next and Fabianski shortly after.  It looks like Clichy's a month and Bendtner will be 3 weeks.  By then Gallas and Eduardo will be injured. 

One man who won't be injured who'll be providing our firepower tonight is Robin van Persie.  The man's on great form, scoring goals for fun in the last 6/7 and will be looking to continue his form.  He has been a rather streaky player and I don't doubt his scoring run will continue tonight. 

Arshavin will be looking to get a good performance for the first time this season.  He's been decent in some games and a little sub par in others, but he's really yet to hit close to his form last season. 

Nasri or Rosicky should certainly see some time tonight, as I'm sure Ramsey will, tonight may be the beginning of his usurping Diaby in the interim while Rosicky wiggles back into the starting 11.  I'm really hoping for a good performance from the team along with a nice hefty win.  Qualification for the last 16 will give us the option of resting some players ahead of some important league games so let's hope the Greeks come through and it happens tonight. 

Not much other than that.  There's no real need to talk about the other team.  They're not doing all that well in the Dutch league and I don't expect them to do us much damage at home.  I'm sure they'll be up for a fight but I think we'll just have too much for them. 

See you after the game.

Highbury86

Spurs to the Sword

Hello Hello,

It's Sunday morning and what an excellent Sunday it is.  Hope you all had a happy Halloween.  Atlanta's Halloween coincides with gay pride weekend so while the streets were busy the restaurant I work it wasn't.  It was a long, slow and boring night and my Jimmy Connors costume got me in more bother than anything else, I think it must have been the tiny shorts. 

The morning at the BrewHouse was much better however. 

Firstly, there was a lot of talk from Tottenham before the game.  Harry Redknapp talked about our young talent and our great youth system and how it's something Spurs want to try to emulate.  He also said that we'd be no match for Peter Crouch and essentially gave away their game plan.  Meanwhile captain Cunto Keano said:

If you look at the squads, you look at us and think, 'We're definitely on par', and the bench we have is probably a little bit stronger than their bench.

For me Robbie Keane isn't just a complete piece of shit, but he's in poor form and hasn't really been much of a player since he went to Liverpool.  I'm sure the fans were happy about what he's said but I can't imagine it did his teammates any favors.  Telling lies like that is always going to put your team under pressure. 

Wenger answered by saying opinions don't matter in the long run, it's results and performances and while didn't exactly perform we got the result. 

We went into the game in 3rd place on goal difference over Tottenham in 4th and with a game in hand.  We also went into the game with a few injuries.  Djourou is still out of course, as are Denilson and Theo, Fabianski very well may have started the game had he not been injured in his Carling Cup come back and arguably the biggest absence was Rosicky, who is in awesome form, probably our best player at the moment.  Spurs were missing a couple too so things were fairly even and Robbie Keane's thoughts would be put to the test as both benches had to do some filling in.

We started with Almunia back in goal, our regular back 4 and current midfield trio and Bendtner, RvP and Arshavin up front. 

The game started and we carved out a chance after just a minute with Bendtner shooting high and wide from the edge of the box, when he perhaps should have done better.  Then we looked a little shaky with Song handing them a corner with an awful wayward back pass.  As we cleared rat face cunt Bentley stuck his arm out and deliberately handballed Sagna's ball down the line and the ref completely bottled the booking he should have given. 

The game was pretty stop start and lacking in flow as we went forward in narrow attacks, always failing to use the far side and giving away the ball often.  Even so, they couldn't string anything together either and you could see that we were slowly taking control.  Then on 7 minutes, just 3 minutes after his bandball, Bendtly came flying in on Vermaelen and should have at minimum recieved his second yellow, but again Clattenberg completely fucked it up and gave no card.  It was comforting though to see Vermaelen glance over his shoulder and coolly mark the man he'll be murdering later. 

From then on Tottenham began to execute their game plan: high balls to Crouch in hopes of linking play up the park.  Crouch did win a lot of headers but nothing ever came of any of them with Gallas and Vermaelen playing the way we've grown accustom to.  Our play was better and more clever but still wasn't working with Diaby giving away the ball far too often and with Bendtner just totally off the pace, slowing the play down to grandmother speeds.  And that's the way most of the half went.  We were in control when we weren't giving away possession, they were playing the ball up to Crouch and we were getting it back and going forward.  On 13 minutes Clichy could have put a shot in on target but hesitated and chose to pass to Arshavin in a time that Gibbs or Traore would have been happy let fly.  Arshavin's shot was fairly tame and Gomes handled it easily. 

We got a free kick that van Persie played in dangerously but it curled past everyone and out for a goal kick.  On 20 minutes the pub went jumping as we were all certain we were going to score, but it wasn't to be.  Gomes stretched out making an unreal save after Arshavin's shot rebounded to Cesc off a defender.  Meanwhile Tottenham never created a clear chance.  On 28 minutes their little Gieco Gecko look alike left back gave the ball right to Cesc on the edge of the area and he found RvP running in on goal and with Bendtner free on the far post he hit a collosaly poor effort into the side netting from a tight angle. On the 34th minute with Bendtner knacked, they played the ball down the side he was defending and Vermaelen's timely sliding interception popped the ball into the air and into Almunia's arms very nicely. 

And then it came, Eduardo won a throw, Sagna took the throw, got the ball back and whipped in a cross to the near post for van Persie to half-volley home.  41 minutes gone, 1-0 to the Arsenal.  Then, amazingly, the replay ended and the screen showed Fabregas on the edge of the Tottenham box shooting, scoring and running off to celebrate.  "WE ARE THE GREATEST TEAM, IN THE WORLD!  WE ARE THE GREATEST TEAM IN THE WORLD!"  In the replay we saw van Persie nic the ball off their kick off.  The ball rolled over to Cesc and he dribbled 3 defenders, including a nutmeg on Ledley King and scored from the edge of the area.  It was some run and some goal and a perfect way to end the half. 

The second half wasn't as open as you might expect but it was a bit more open than the first.  In the 49the minute we could have gone 3 up as van Persie turned King twice before flashing a low cross across the goal mouth, just out of reach of Eduardo.  The ball spilled out to Diaby who, with no support, could only shoot into the defender at the near post.  From then on we passed fairly nicely, hanging onto the ball much better than we did in the first half.  On 52 minutes Eduardo had a 1v1 with Gomes and probably should have scored, but Gomes made a decent save.  We continued to play narrow, never using the blind side.  Every time they tried on any attack Vermaelen ate it up, he was massive at the back completely destroying their attacks time after time.  van Persie came into the game more in the second half and he really has improved as a center forward.  He holds the ball very well, his link up play is excellent and he's improved in the air, this is adding to his already excellent technique and finishing. 

15 minutes in we made it 3.  Spurs had just had a free kick and a corner, we broke down the right the ref played advantage after a foul and when Sagna realized play was still on nobody else did.  He crossed into the middle and the keeper and a defender missed it and van Persie finished slightly awkwardly to make it 3 nil.  Awful defending, I'd be livid at mu U10s for doing the same thing. 

We could have had more but Eduardo was profligate in missing another 1v1 with Gomes coming outside of his box he could have easily chipped him, dribbled him or finished on either side of him, instead it went wide. 

At the end of the day, nobody had a really great game, although Cesc and van Persie were excellent at times and I shouldn't discount Sagna who was very good all game, as was Vermaelen.  We didn't play all that well, but still could have won 6 nil.  I really don't think that Tottenham will threaten the top 4/5 and this game has put us well and truly above them, 3 points ahead with a game in hand and better goal difference. 

A nice win against our bitter rivals and we carry more momentum after our blips against Alkmaar and West Ham.  We have Alkmaar again in midweek, Wolves at the weekend and we've drawn Man City in the League Cup.  It's shaping up to be a fine season.

Highbury86

Arsenal Tottenham

Well, another big game, just about the biggest, Tottenham at home.  There's a lot to discus, the players missing from each side, the attacking verve each side has presented this season, the goals for the goals against, the player match ups all over the park, the long standing hate we've had for each other, the fact that a guy I used to coach with, one of my best friends is a Tottenham fan, the sitcom we wrote together, but to be honest, there's nothing to say.  It's Arsenal - Tottenham.

Good Result in Great Carling Cup Battle

Morning everyone, hope this finds you well.  I'm still fairly exhausted myself, that air mattress isn't doing me any favors and I feel like Jenn's just hamming up her flu now.  Nobody has the deathly flu like this for this long, it's like she's 6 years old or something.  I need a juice, will you make me soup, will you sit with me while I fall asleep, jeez man, I'm starting to wear thin. 

Anyway, the game yesterday wasn't televised over here so you had to watch it streaming online somewhere and the quality of my stream wasn't great.  But I could gather through the stop start, pixelated, 3:4 inch display that it was a cracker of a game.  It was end to end and fast, the pace and the quality were excellent with great play going forward from both sides, everyone had something to prove last night it seemed.  And the game produced 3 great goals. 

After a few chances each way early on, Liverpool may have been ahead but spurned their opportunities, one golden one with Degan hitting just wide when Senderos was sucked out of the middle.  But on 18 minutes my man Fran Merida put away a great goal in the near post top corner, striking first time from 20 yards after the fat and bootleg Manu Petit gave away the ball. 

They responded 8 minutes later with a wondergoal of their own.  I suppose it was a wondergoal, had it gone in either corner it certainly would have, but I guess that it fit in that small gap between the keeper and the crossbar right in the middle makes it impressive none the less.  Babel cushioned a great header down for the on rushing Ensua and Bendtner was far behind him as he controlled and volleyed from 30 yards beating Fabianski who was perfectly positioned under the circumstance. 

From then on it could have gone either way, we rushed forward, they rushed forward and there was some real quality.  We probably should have scored in the goal mouth scramble from one of our corners but in the end Bendtner could only shoot straight into the keeper after his original shot was hacked off the line. 

5 minutes into the 2nd half Bentner scored a good goal after some fine play from the midfield.  Merida was wide on the left, he cut inside and played the ball inside to Ramsey and after a moment of confusion with Bendtner, the Dane came away with the ball, held off his defender as he dribbled at goal and smashed the ball into the roof of the net, a very good forwards goal. 

Liverpool had two great chances when the fat and bootleg Manu Petit played 3 1-2s with Degan and then shot just wide; the other when they came forward and took apart our defense but Babel couldn't make contact with the squared ball with the goal at his mercy. 

Eduardo made a chance for himself with an excellent turn just inside their half and then a great turn of pace took him in on goal, but he hit wide.  Liverpool had a good case for handball late on with Acquilani tried on an overhead kick and it came off Senderos arm, which was extended away from his body.  We didn't get ours agains West Ham and Liverpool didn't get theirs last night so football karma has evened out in the strange way that it does. 

And that was it for the game.  We came out on top in a fairly even contest.  It was entertaining and exciting and some of our boys put in great performances, Gibbs and Gilbert in particular but so too Merida and the brave returning Sami Nasri, who we're all very happy to see back, my girlfriend especially. 

Wenger spoke about Merida, who I admit to having a great soft spot for.  He said:

I kept him because I felt he had the quality to break through, but when you look at all the players who did not play, of course the competition for players is very difficult.  Fran came to us at a very young age, but our school is in line with the way he was educated. He suits perfectly the way we want to play football.  It is always difficult to convince people we do not need players, but when you see them tonight, you understand why.


So we're off to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.  I'm not sure when the draw is but Man U, Chelsea and Tottenham all await. 

There's some stuff in the news about Gibbs being on Capellos radar for the World Cup.  There's not really too much to this, I'd be very surprised to see Gibbs go to South Africa.  There's some other stuff about Almunia coming in to reclaim his place against Tottenham.  This is an interesting situation, Fabianski is back and while he didn't exactly impress against Liverpool, he didn't make any mistakes to speak of and looked fairly comfortable over all.  His displays in the last part of last season won't do him any favors but Wenger rates him highly anyway.  Mannone was on form for a few games but I think it's obvious that he isn't turning out to be any new kind of wonder kid and with a few half mistakes under his belt and the overall feeling you get that something disastrous could happen any second will likely keep him out should Almunia come back in.  Almunia doesn't seem too happy about being left out but maybe with Fabianski pushing him compounding the time he spent on the bench, he'll pull out some performances and get back on form.  My feeling is that Almunia will get injured or be dropped at some point and Fabianski will come in as number 1 around March after some good performances in the FA cup. 

That's about that really. 

Until next time,

Highbury86

Carling Cup Preview

Halloo and good morning.  This may be a tired blog this morning, I've been sleeping on a small air mattress next to my bed where Jenny's sleeping with the worst flu on earth.  I'm working hard not to get it but it seems inevitable. 

Anyway, we've got Liverpool this afternoon and it looks like nobody's airing it in the States, so we've been reduced to scrambling around trying to find a stream online, unless we have the Arsenal subscription, in which case we're fine. 

Some good news today as Nasri and Fabianski are back in town.  Fabianski will start in the sticks  in what I imagine will be a pretty strong and experienced team.  Senderos and Silvestre will surely start in the middle at the back with Gibbs likely to play on the right.  It looks like Gilbert will start at right back with Hoyte not in the squad.  Ramsey will likely start but after that it gets fuzzy.  Eduardo and Bentner will play but I'm not sure they'll start, Nasri will play but again I'm not sure he'll start.  We're missing Jack Wilshere, which is very unfortunate and it looks like Carlos Vela isn't playing either.  Hopefully Merida will play and we can all get a glimpse of what he can do. 

Whatever team we play I'm sure we'll be better than Liverpool, who'll probably play their youth team as well and as we all know, they're not exactly famous for producing great players, Gerrard being the last player worth sticks that their academy produced.  We'll see how the game unfolds but I think our boys will have a nice spark with the return of some injured players mixed with players who'll want to displace them. 

I think we always look forward to Carling Cup games because they're so exciting for us.  We get to see our future playing in knock out cup tie games and don't they always impress.  What likely makes it even more exciting now is seeing the players this competition has helped produce with Fabregas being one of the best in the world, Alex Song patrolling the midfield, Eboue having turned into a nice utility man, Diaby coming to bear some fruit, Bendtner becoming a goalscoring international, Clichy becoming one of the best wingbacks in the world, then loosing form and now getting some of it back again.  Not to mention the players who've left the club having looked excellent in this competition, Adebayor, Kolo Toure and Flamini to name a few. 

And while other clubs take this contest a bit more seriously, fielding strong teams, particularly towards the semis and finals, we confidently stride through the entire competition fielding our exciting youth.  Were we terribly serious about winning the Carling Cup we'd play our first team but as it stands we use it as a means to strengthen our perpetually competitive team to compete for the big trophies while holding onto some success in the cup itself, making us the effective masters of the Carling Cup.  Don't worry about the fact that we haven't won it in years. 

There's some news floating around but nothing too worth getting into.  Wenger talks a bit about Nasri's position and about Merida but all in all it's quiet but for the game.  Kick off is in a couple hours, I'm looking forward to it.

Highbury86

West Ham Review

Sorry for the no preview and late review, I've had a busy weekend.  Anyway, we faced West Ham yesterday in 4th place, Tottenham lost in front of us and so did Man U, a win would have put us in 3rd place, 1 point behind Man U and 3 behind Chelsea and off the top with a game in hand and a far superior goal difference. 

We started out well and could have been ahead in the 2nd minute when Song dinked a great little curler over the defense onto van Persie's head.  He flicked it on and Arshavin probably should have scored but only managed to poke the ball across goal.  van Persie could only back heel off his other shin for a goal kick. Then in another attack we flew forward down the left and after he was released, van Persie hammered a good shot from a tight angle but Green saved at his near post fairly easily. 

Before we get too far into the game, we had Bendtner back fit and Nasri on the bench for the first time this season, which was a great sign, particularly with the team struggling to find an urgent spark.  Mannone kept his place in goal and then the regular team we've been putting out was fielded with the preferred back four, Song, Cesc and Diaby in the middle and RvP, Arshavin and Eboue up front. 

So, moving back to the game, after our very bright start the game settled down and West Ham were keeping possession well, working hard throughout the game, while we defended rather well and took every chance we had to get going forward.  Cesc turned on the half way line around 3 defenders and played Song into the West Ham half, Arshavin joined in and van Persie shot from the edge of the area striking Upson's outstretched arm.  It was a good penalty shout but I guess it could have gone either way.  Neither team was really dominating but we looked the more likely to score.  And we did in the 15the minute.

A great 1-2 down the right saw Sagna put in a killer cross that would have found van Persie had Green not gone for it, so he did go for it and only pushed it onto RvP's left with the goal open wide.  1 nil to the Arsenal and 5 in 6 for van Persie. 

The rest of the half was reasonably the same, they possessed fairly well, we went forward and didn't quite break through.  We were a little more dominant towards the end of the half and kept possession very well, leaving them with very limited chances to get forward and around 35 minutes in Cesc won a corner with a shot from outside.  van Persie sent it to the far post and the French half of the most free scoring center back partnership of all time headed home.  2 nil and cruising. 

The 2nd half was a little frustrating early on.  Again, they possessed well but couldn't get near our final third and we pressed forward but could never quite break through.  Cesc fired a great shot from 30 yards that went just wide.  Then we started to dominate play but still we were missing that second to last ball and just couldn't do it.  Then West Ham were awarded a very soft free kick when Hines wrestled Diaby to the ground after he was tackled.  Diamante took it and Mannone made a fairly good save to his right but pushed the ball right into the middle of the goal mouth for Carlton Cole to finish.

2-1 down and they were right back in it and you just had that bad feeling.  6 minutes later it happened.  First Parker drove threw several of our defenders before he lost track of his dribble and went down a few feet before Gallas nearly touched him.  It was never a penalty but their shouts were huge.  Then from a throw in on their right side Carlton Cole controlled the ball and with absolutely minimal contact, this again, was never a penalty but the ref gave it and they scored. 

2-2 after we totally dominant and heading for 3 points.  We played narrow, keeping the game in the thick and dense of it where we seem to thrive at opening up defenses.  Even so we never let the game open up for them to get any clear cut chances and we took advantage of a couple of chances we had.  We could have pressed more and added a couple extra goals but didn't and they got back in the game and then equalized in the 80th. 

A few minutes later Scott Parker was sent off for a handball after he had tackled Cesc.  Shortly after we should have scored when Sagna's excellent cross found van Persie for a free header he headed too close to the middle of the goal and Green got a leg to it.  And that was all we had, we couldn't even go on to dominate the last 5 minutes of the game, they looked more likely to score.  It ended 2-2 and despite the bad luck on the penalty, we really just threw the game away. 

Wenger had this to say:

It is, of course, a major missed opportunity. In our job, you do not have this luxury.  You need to get points when you deserve to get points and sometimes when you don't deserve to get the points.  We never got them when we deserved them - and that means we have not made the maximum of what we should have done.

Can't argue with that, we really could have used the 3 points, with Man City drawing too, this would have been a great chance to push on and put ourselves right at the top.  Oh well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARSENE WENGER

It's l'boss's birthday today and the 60 year old doesn't plan on slowing down.  I did a little bio on the man a little while ago and I'll give you a link to his life in coaching.  He is getting older, as we all do, but he's really getting up there in his 60's now.  Of course he can't coach forever, but it's really hard to see anyone coming in for him.  Who could possibly do the job?  There's not a single manager like him, not ever, not with his expert tactics, his shrewd transfers, his ability to turn unknowns into super stars, his relentless drive to create a sustainable football club.  Wenger's retirement will be the end of an era in football and the end of a world changing football manager.  But until then we'll have to enjoy him being around.  Even after he retires as manager it's hard to see him leave the club.  I'd think he'd be appointed to somewhere behind the doors of the club.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to our super boss.

Last night I had a dream that I had a dream that Arsenal beat Man U in the Champions' League semis, so I went and bet on the game and won tons of money.  It was fantastic, I married my girlfriend, made a poker parlor in my basement and spent my days watching football, playing poker and having hot tub sex with my smoking girlfriend.  Anyway, if we end up beating Man U in the CL semifinals and this blog stops, you'll know why.


Robin van Persie has been in the press warning his teammates against the mistakes we made last season, which is good I suppose, that's his job now as a senior player and vice captain.  He's right too, last season we cocked up against lower table opposition and had to go on a hell of a run to slide into fourth.  The season before we were storming through the league and had a bad run of draws towards the end and lost our chance of winning the league. 


Kroenke, having beefed up his shares to just 1 percent away from an obligatory take over offer has been keeping quiet about his position on what to do with his shares and if he's going to try and get in with a take over.  I think we all hate Usmanov, he's a slimy character rather reminiscent of really evil film characters, but I'm not sure that a take over from the quiet Kroenke would be all that good either.  I'll have more on this as it unfolds.

Nasri played an hour against Wolves reserves and could be back in the next few games, which would be great as he'd give us what's missing when Rosicky is absent.  With Almunia and Vela back fit Walcotts return will give us a big boost along with Nasri's.  We can't seem to shake these injuries, I wonder if we'll ever have a fully fit squad.

Right, now to the last order.  Starting this coming Tuesday, we'll be having guest posts.  Have something to say?  Say it here on ArseblogUSA, just write up your blog entry, try and keep it down to a page on word, email it to Arseblogusa@gmail.com and I'll pick my favorite and post it on Tuesday.

Right then, until later,

Highbury86

Just About the Most Boring Game In Years

Yesterday in a preview of the game on Fox Soccer Channel, Warren Barton said that we would play a 4-4-2, sit back and try to hit them on the counter and I said aloud in my living room, Go Fuck Yourself, we're going to play 4-3-3 and attack and batter them.  I was right about one thing, we played a 4-3-3.

We started with the Godfather in goal and our 1st choice back 4, our current 1st choice middle 3 of Cesc, Song and Diaby and RvP, Arshavin and Eboue up front.   We were missing plenty of players but still have such outstanding depth in attacking positions that we could still show quite a good side.  They started with who knows who these people are wearing Red and White all over the place.  Right from the first minute nothing we did clicked.  They broke up our play fairly well by fouling and closing down and being aggressive and not a single player on our side had what it took on the occasion to make something happen.  We defended well, even when they countered and looked to have 3v3 or 4v3 situations we managed to get plenty of players back and close them out of our defensive 3rd entirely.

In possession we could never find the far side and played down small channels our players created with small triangles and rectangles.  Then in the 8th minute we counter attacked with a 4v3 led by Arshavin with Diaby to his left and Fabregas and RvP on his right.  He played in Diaby whose cross seemed to miss Cesc in the middle but fell straight into the lap of an off-screen van Persie who cut inside 2 oncoming defenders but hit his curler far too close to the keeper.  When Arshavin ran into their half I felt we would score, but it didn't happen when it should have, a small flash of last seasons Arsenal.  It was only the 8th minute however, and there was still some time to turn on the style.

They carried on pressing us hard and we carried on being much like American movie makers, very much out of ideas.  In the 12th minute Arshavin slid in to intercept a pass about on the half way line and cleared it out for a corner to them, unbelievable, more signs of some of the old Arsenal.  But when Diaby didn't hand ball it and get sent off to lead to a penalty that went in, I figured we were looking OK and that we'd certainly go on to win.  But still, the half wore on and more of the same.  AZ keeping possession in the middle 3rd, us gobbling them up in the final 3rd, moving forward and loosing the ball because of lack of quality and vision and invention and then it'd start all over again. 

At some point in the first half Arshavin got the ball on the left corner of the box, cut inside his man and hit a quick curler that the way he does so well, but fell onto the roof of the net.  And that was about all we had.  Fortunately that was all they had too, hardly a sniff of a sniff of a chance as we defended as well as I've seen us do, although they really didn't have much invention either, although I'm inclined to say our defending had a hand in that where as in our situation, we were just fairly poor.

Then it came, on 34 minutes Arshavin, the king of offensive interceptions, nipped in to take the ball of their center back when he mis-controlled a simple ball.  He drove on, released van Persie who had made a scissor run with Cesc down the left of the box.  van Persie looked odds on to score but hit a perfect curling cross over to Fabregas who side footed in with ease.  It was a very well taken goal that was made easier than it looked, there were times that some of our boys wouldn't have scored that and it's a good testament to the quality our team has developed to have.

The half finished off the same way it had gone on but we were somewhat satisfied with 1 nil up away to the Dutch league winners.

The 2nd half was much the same.  van Persie made a crazy, needless, reckless tackle with both feed studs up on the half way line about 45 seconds into the half and probably should have been sent off but escaped with a yellow and until Diaby was almost very unlucky to score an own goal when a corner was swung in and fell just over Song's head right onto Diaby's shoulder and went over the bar.  Then there was the free kick that van Persie took that was saved.

We had a series of corners and free kicks too but due to poor balls in they were never threatening.  Late on van Persie was subbed for Vela who played right up the middle and I think that this was a turning point in the game.  It was great to see Vela play, especially as he came on looking all smiley, but without van Persie we had no height or physicality up front, so when balls were played long out of the back, we never really had any chance of keeping possession as he was just towered over in the air. Although he did win a very blatant penalty that wasn't given, which of course is that dash of bad luck you get in away performances like that sometimes.  Assuming we'd score the penalty, with RvP off I imagine that Vela would have taken it himself, it would have been 2 and their goal wouldn't have mattered.

Ramsey came on for Eboue and this was a game changer too.  It moved Diaby up front and I don't think any of us like him there, and Ramsey in the middle just wasn't cutting the mustard defensively and off the ball like Diaby was.  These two substitutions took away 2 vitals tools in relieving pressure and winning possession back.  Eboue wins the ball well up the park and also dribbles well and right at defenses, releaving the pressure nicely and Diaby was doing great work to get behind the ball and for the last 10 minutes it showed. 

They put the pressure on our box and eventually threw big balls down the middle.  Cesc gave away a needless free kick in the 3rd minute of stoppage time as the game looked to be wrapping up.  They launched it into the box, Diaby made an awful challenge in the air getting only just up to his markers shoulder about a yard behind him.  Their player cushioned a header down for the unmarked onrushing whatshisname and he volleyed into the top corner, Mannone never had a chance.  Although late on with big free kicks like that, a more experienced keeper would have come far off his line to cut it out as soon as possible.  Either way it was a poor goal to give up and a poor and boring affair.  It ends our winning streak, which annoys and gives us just the 1 point, while Olympiacos won and are now just a point behind.  I don't doubt we'll win the group, I just wanted us to run away with it.

We played without invention or much forward drive.  It was a great defensive display until the last seconds of the game and it's all cost us.  Had we played the way we can play and opened up the game we could have gone more than a goal ahead and that last goal wouldn't have mattered.  As things stood had we played the scrappy game we did without attacking shape or creativity and just not given away that free kick, 3 points would have been 3points.  But we didn't and it wasn't.

Diaby says we'll learn our leassons.

Wenger's annoyed about it too.

Oh well, I guess, I'm sure we'll have a better showing at home in a couple weeks.

Right then, more news tomorrow.

Highbury86

AZ CL Preview

Evening, I figured after I wrote a super late posting this morning, I would post a super early one this evening.  I'm sitting watching King of the Hill and read that we'll have up to 8 players missing tomorrow.  This prompted me to get to writing a preview.

The preview goes like this: AZ Alkmaar have been poor this season.  Koeman did Valencia no favors and it seems he's done the same to his current club by taking the Dutch League winners to loosing half their games 10 into the season.

We're in good form and this lot lost to the Greek lot that we battered but got just 2 goals in our last European game.  Despite the fact that we're going to be missing Djourou and Denilson in the long term department, Nasri and Fabianski for another week and Rosicky, Bendtner and Eduardo and Clichy being doubtful, I can't see us having too much of a problem.

I said this same thing about the Liege game and it should have been true there, but I think tomorrow will be a little more to our liking.  The squad is as follows: Mannone, Almunia, Sagna, Gibbs, Gallas, Vermaelen, Silvestre, Clichy, Silvestre, Arshavin, Merida, Wilshere, Ramsey, Fabregas, Eboue, Diaby and Song plus Vela and van Persie.

I'm not sure if Mannone's mistake on Saturday will put Almunia back in goal, but I have to imagine that Mannone will keep his place for the match.  The back 4 will likely be Gibbs, Gallas, Vermaelen and Sagna with a middle 3 of Song, Fabregas and Diaby with Arshavin, van Persie and Eboue starting up front.  8 players missing and not a bad team to put out at all, and it's got some exciting depth to it too with Wilshere, Merida and Vela waiting to make a difference and all of them capable.  This is a great occasion for some of those kids to make an impact.  The only weak spot in the squad traveling is in reserves for center back and I suppose maybe Mannone if he plays like he did against Birmingham.

9 points from 9 possible in our group and a draw in the other game will essentially wrap it up and give Wenger a chance to either rest some players in the upcoming games or really press forward and continue our momentum, which of course has been excellent.  I'm expecting a reasonably lively performance and a goal for Eboue.  Don't ask me why, I just see it coming.

Highbury86

Late Portsmouth Review

I'll go right ahead,

We lined up against Birmingham at home with Mannone keeping his place over the healthy again Almunia, Gibbs deputizing for the slightly injured Clichy and Sagna on the bench for a rest while Edoue slotted in at right back.  Vermaelen and Gallas continued to partner in the center of defense and our current midfield trio of Song, Fabregas and Diaby lined up in the middle.  Up front Walcott started his first game of the season on the outside of van Persie, while Rosicky played on the other side of the front three.

After a couple of good chances for the increasingly important Rosicky that went begging because of an unusual flaw in his technique, Theo was clattered hard in a challenge from Liam Ridgewell.  It wasn't a terribly unfair tackle but I doubt it would have been made against a Blackburn Rovers player.  It's the kind of tackle our boys have to take on all the time in every game and it's put Theo back out of commission, although we don't quite know for how long.  Before it did though, Theo came on some after treatment and sped past Ridgewell and down to the corner of the box after controlling a searching pass from Fabregas hit a great curler over to the far post the keeper did well to tip over.

We continued to dominate, they didn't really have much of a chance against our awesome passing, again we were playing super narrow with the occasional wing play from Walcott on the right.  He limped around the right side until he was replaced by Arshavin in the 33rd, a shame really, hopefully he's not gone too long.  Before he went off we got our first 2 goals.

We had been putting on the pressure and they played a poor clearance straight to Alex Song who dribbled forward nicely very well past a couple of defenders and played a ball just behind van Persie who controlled expertly to put the ball in front of him and finish low in the far corner for his 4th of the season.

2 minutes later Diaby put us 2 ahead after Eboue played Rosicky in on the right side of the box, he hit the ball low across the box and Diaby came in late and smashed into the top corner.  At that point it looked like we would go on to score another 5, as Birmingham could hardly touch us. 

But it wasn't to be, towards the end of the half an innocuous cross was headed straight upwards by Vermaelen and then Mannone was super weak coming out and dropped the ball for Bowyer to put away and make it 2-1.  Theo had gone off by then and Arshavin almost put us 3-1 up but Harte saved well at his near post.  Birmingham played with more verve and urgency but still couldn't do us much damage. 

The second half wasn't the reclaiming of the game performance we had hoped for.  van Persie hit the bar from an indirect free kick 10 yards out and that was about it until Arshavin scored a nicely taken cheeky curler.  We could have made it 4 but Harte made a great save from Diaby's close range shot and that was that.  Another 3 points.  Our 7th win in a row and we've climbed into 4th place, 1 point behind Spurs with a game in hand that'll put us into 2nd, a point behind United, should we win it. 

Again we played rather narrow and high up the park.  All the play came through Fabregas who was very good, and some through Diaby and Song who were both in decent form.  Gibbs and Eboue played well enough, although I would have liked to have seen some more forages forward from Gibbs.  He was at his best last season when he was climbing up the park with quick and mazy dribbles forward. 

Our forwards are scoring goals and Diaby has pitched in with a few from midfield, perhaps balancing out the contrast between he and Denilson.  Where Denilson rarely gives away possession and makes interception after interception, he doesn't score as many goals or get us forward as much as we'd all like.  Diaby gets us forward enough with some good and powerful dribbling but he gives away possession like nobody's business, so popping in with a few goals is a serious counterbalance. 

I've just discovered that Theo will be out for 4-3 weeks, which with Theo could mean anywhere between 3 and 8 weeks.  It sucks for him, he's pushing for a World Cup spot and we're pushing for trophies and we need Theo back for both but the boy's targeted every game and can hardly get a break.  This could still be his true break out season but he'll have to stay fit for longer than a week at a time for that to happen. 

There's some other stuff about Wenger not signing Barry or Alonso and he explains his buying senior players kills youth players stuff, and that's all really. 

Liverpool's crazy beach ball incident has put them in a bad position indeed.  You have to think that 1/2 more losses and they're out of the thing for sure, maybe even out of the top 4 and you can't see them avoiding defeats the way they're playing this season.  Chelsea's loss puts them on 2 losses like us, Man U's and Man City's ability to hang onto draws has kept them going but still they've dropped points where we've been picking them up.  We're on a good roll and have 5 games until Spurs.  Our league games are very winnable, as are our Champions' League games, our only really tricky fixture between now and then is Liverpool in the league cup.  I'm guessing they may put out a more experienced side in order to try and win some silverware and so we'll have to see how our younglings do. 

I'm excited for the 31st! 

We're climbing up the table and scoring goals for fun.  Come on you Arsenal.

Highbury86

It's well and truly over, Birmingham tomorrow

Hey Hey Hey,

The interlull has finally rolled over and died.  The World Cup in Europe is just about settled, after the playoff round, there's a couple of friendlies and then no more internationals for the rest of the season.

In some board room news Kroenke bought an extra 90 shares and is slowly accumulating shares in the club, which will hopefully block Usmanov in any take over attempt.  We've also been revealed as the 3rd richest club in the world.

Now for game news and of course we've picked up a few injuries over the international week and will be missing some players on Saturday.  Eduardo is definitely out with a thigh strain.  Diaby was injured but has recovered on time.  Nasri won't be available until Wednesday night, Almunia is 50:50, which means he won't play and Clichy is a doubt but may be available.  I think we could probably afford to rest him with Gibbs and Traore waiting in the wings.  Fabianski may be back in contention but I really can't see him or Almunia playing tomorrow.

Bar any colossal cock up, we should easily put away the 3 points and make it 7 wins on the trot.  Hopefully we'll get a lot of goals and add to our outrageous goal tally.  It's the first time we'll have played Birmingham since Eduardo's leg was smashed and this may be playing a hand in Eduardo's absence.

Brewhouse is playing the game at 9:55 ET, hope to see you there.

Highbury86

Finally, 2 days to go

Well, this is it, the final day before the preview of the next Arsenal game.  Thank god it's over.  England qualified a while ago so I really had nothing to watch this week, for all of you Russia, Portugal, Germany, Denmark and so on fans, I'm sure the interlull wasn't quite so boring.  Anyway, with nothing else of not to discuss, all I'm going to do is post this rather darling crayola poster my girlfriend Jennifer made as I watched extended highlights of Arsenal-Tottenham 2004. 

Internationals Week, Day 8, Season Review

Halloo everyone, it's Monday morning and we're deep into enemy interlull territory.  It'll take us another 6 days to get out, so in the mean time we'll do a little review of the season so far.

I think it can be said that we began the season with the fans in good cheer.  We were all very excited for the competition to start after a very comprehensive pre-season that saw us beat Rangers, Atletico Madrid and a host of other teams, after drawing our opener with Barnet.  Some youngsters got their feet wet, including the very exciting Jack Wilshere, the next great hope for England and Arsenal and some first teamers got back to the team while some were rested and some were injured. 

The Everton game was set to be a big clash.  Nobody really likes seeing Everton away on the first day of the fixture list and with only 1 signing we'd been written off our top four place by just about everyone in wake of Man City's outrageous spending spree, which saw the Adebayor and Kolo Toure out of the club.  I think we all agree that it was good to see the back of Adebayor, especially for 25 million, but it was sad to see King Kolo go, even if we did get 16 million for someone we paid 250,000 for. 

While we only signed 1 central defender, we got another back from loan and two players back from serious long term injuries in Eduardo and Rosicky, but lost Nasri, Fabianski and Djourou to long term injuries in the process.  And then more bad news, Rosicky was set to miss the first month of the season too.  So we started the game a little light in midfield and with additional injuries to Walcott and Vela, a little light up front and of course without our number 3 at center back and our number 2 in goal, we were light in those positions too.  Typical, we start a crucial season with some potentially crucial injuries and we've got Everton away followed by Celtic in the Champions' League qualifier. 

We start the Everton game well and play some nice stuff and then Denilson comes through with an excellent opener and a fantastically happy celebration.  Then Everton go to sleep on a couple of free kicks and Vermaelen scores on his debut and Gallas heads home too.  Cesc gets his first of the season just after the break and we're flying.  Then Cesc gets his second with a great individual goal, Eduardo poaches one in the last minute and we've hit them for 6 with 5 different scorers including a center mid who could use some goals, a forward just back to league play from a long long injury and, a debutant center back and the 3rd top scoring defender in premier league history. 

We couldn't keep the shut out but we scored 6 away to a good side on the opening day with a very complete and clinical performance and really zipped the mouths of our critics.  It was a happy day all around with Bendtner standing out as an ample fixture up front and will provide great competition for the returning Walcott, Vela and Rosicky. 

Next were Celtic in a deadly important Champions' League qualifier.  It wasn't exactly the fixture we wanted but we were certainly the favorites.  Kick off came and we were on fire again.  We pressed them hard and high and our new 4-3-3 formation was working a charm.  We could all see that it suits our players and even with Bendtner out on the right and van Persie central we were playing great football. 

It was all coming together and while we weren't breaking through we were really on top of the Scotts.  Song was outstanding, Gallas and Vermaelen were forming a great partnership with the Belgian standing out with great tackles and excellent aerial aggression.  We came through the game winning 2-0 with just about the jammiest opener you'll ever see after Cesc free kick cannoned off Gallas back and wrong footed Boruc in the Celtic goal.  We pressed on for a second and got it in the 70th minute or so after good work from Diaby led to a Celtic own goal.  The press said it was lucky but there was nothing lucky about it.  It was a fine build up and a killer ball, had the defender not gone for it Bendtner was lurking for a tap in.  2-0 away, job essentially done.

We played Portsmouth in our first home game of the season the following weekend.  With Portsmouth struggling we rested a number of starters, except for Cesc who for some reason played.  We never got out of gear during this game and played at training pace but still scored 4.  Diaby got the first 2 in a good performance from him and they were great goals.  Gallas got the 3rd and Ramsey finished nicely late on for the 4th.  We could have had a couple more but didn't finish.  The game finished 4-1 and we well and truly moving early in the season.

Then came the Celtic second leg and along with it some serious controversy.  Well, some silly controversy but it was controversial.   Eduardo dived to win a penalty on about 25 minutes and then dispatched it calmly after the hullabaloo afterwards.  We played well again and went at them but with less urgency than the 1st leg.  Eboue scored a nice goal and then Arshavin scored a very similar one not long after.  Eboue and Eduardo were fantastic, which were great signs that both of them had turned corners.  Eduardo was well and truly over his injury and Eboue was well and truly over being Eboue and was ready to be a professional. 

In the end the penalty was meaningless as we really hammered them over the 2 legs, they never stood a chance and were never really in for a sniff.  Over the 2 legs they had 2 shots on target, 1 of them going in in the last minute of the second leg.  Still Eduardo was suspended in a flame of UEFA inefficiency.  They had opened a can of worms they never had a chance to contain and so they overturned the suspension, which proved vital later on.

We were well and truly rolling and had built some nice momentum to take to Old Trafford, although we had lost Cesc to injury, something that for me proved vital.  The game against Man U started off OK.  For the most part we were canceling each other out with neither midfield able to really hold the ball too well.  We were the most attacking of the 2 teams and began to boss the game towards the end of the half but again found it difficult to use the width to create space.  Fletcher was on a rampage throwing tackles all over the place, including nowhere near the ball on several occasions with Michael Carrick following suit.  Of course Alex Song was booked for his first offense and that was the way the game went.  They got away with murder in around the 35th minute or something like that when Fletcher went flying into a tackle on Arshavin, getting nowhere near the ball and completely taking out the Russian before scooping the ball up with his arm and running off with it.  No penalty, the ref completely fluffed it.  Arshavin got the ball about 30 seconds later and drove forward and with nobody to close him down let fly from 30 yards and smashed the netting in the near post top corner. 

1-0 up at half time and we deserved our lead.  The 2nd half was much like the end of the 1st.  We were dominating possession and looked dangerous but were caught on the break by a great pass in behind Gallas for Rooney who charged into the box.  Almunia came when he didn't need to and Rooney went to ground a good two yards before the keeper got to him.  The penalty was awarded and it was much the same as Eduardo.  Almunia was booked and Rooney scored the penalty.  It was 1-1 but I wasn't all that worried as we looked the better team.  Then came Diaby's crazy own goal and we just couldn't break them down until the last second when RvP scored a goal that was disallowed.  Cue the super retardo moron ref show and Wenger was sent to the stands for kicking a water bottle in frustration.  He ended up being planted on top of the tunnel where he was ranked and screamed at abusively by the United fans for the remaining minute or so.  The ref was bad throughout and what he did to Wenger was disgraceful.  We lost a game we deserved a lot more out of and our momentum came to a screaming halt. 

The international break came after and we had time to collect ourselves before facing Man City.  This was another crazy affair in Manchester where inept refereeing hurt our chances.  We were on top of them from the 1st whistle to the last and managed to lose 4-2.  We were slightly unlucky on the 1st goal as it came off the post and back off Almunia, but really the keeper should have had it before it hit the post.  The free kick was questionable in the first place and Richards was at least a yard and a half offside. 

We brought it back to 1-1 with RvP scoring his first of the season after he was set up by the excellent Rosicky, making his first appearance of the season.  Throughout the game Adebayor was out to hurt our boys and stood on Cesc and wasn't even booked, slapped and kicked Song and stamped on van Persie's face.  At 1-1 we looked like the only team that would score as we pressed and pressed and they scored on the break, a poor goal to give up after Song should have tackled easily and Almunia maybe should have done better from Bellamy's shot. 

We pressed on and again looked like scoring and were caught on the break again and Adebayor scored an unmarked header and was finally booked after he ran 100 yards to celebrate in front of our fans.  Scum.  Then they scored another to rub salt in the wounds as we were pressing again.  We hit the post, had 2 cleared off the line, Given saved 3/4 times and really we could have come back to make it 3-3 had we not been scored on.  We finally scored and made if 4-2 and realistically could have made it 4-4 even but didn't and lost.  Another game we should have won where we were victims of terrible reffing, really really genuinely awful reffing. 

2 losses in 4 league games wasn't good, especially after our explosive start and we had the Champions' League to pick up some momentum again.  Almunia got ill and so we had to throw Vito Mannone into the action with Fabianski injured.  We all saw him in pre-season and weren't exactly impressed so I think we were all a little worried. 

There was nothing the young Don could do about our terrible start in Belgium.  We fell 2 goals behind inside 5 minutes.  Eduardo made a terrible mistake on the edge of our area and Cesc feeble attempt at a tackle saw them score the 1st.  They got a slightly fortunate penalty 3 minutes later and scored a truly bad penalty, had he gone the right way surely Mannone would have saved. 

We didn't come back very well, we were playing poorly but for 1 good moment from Diaby where he powered past 2 defenders and slid in Bendtner who took his chance well.  It was a crucial goal as it got us back in the game at half time. 

Then Eduardo made amends for his mistake and set up the equalizer from Cesc only good free kick of the night (there were many bad ones) with a nice flick for Vermaelen to score after a crazy offsides handball goal mouth sramble and scored the winner himself.  We turned a potentially disastrous result into a great galvanizing come back win away in the Champions League. 

Then, in a rather bland game against Wigan, we put away 4 again with Vermaelen scoring the opening 2.  The 1st a powerful header from a corner, the second an awesome top corner curler from the top of the box after a 1-2 with Eboue.  We didn't get into gear again but they couldn't touch us.  Oddly enough we could have scored about 10 in this game but the 4 did enough. 

Then our youngsters played West Brom in the Carling Cup and we were fairly fortunate to win the game 2-0 as we weren't looking all that good until they had a man sent off for slapping Jack Wilshere.  We scored 2 goals late on and saw Vela play and score for the 1st time this season. 

Then there was Fulham away.  This has proved a tough fixture the past couple of seasons and with Almunia still out we had to rely on Mannone to come good.  And come good he did.  He was awesome.  He kept us in the game with 5/6 fantastic saves.  We didn't play particularly well but weren't all that poor either.  A draw may have been a fair result through the course of the game, but when you compare chances then Fulham were certainly on top.  van Persie scored a great goal with a great touch and finish from Cesc sublime pass at the beginning of the 2nd half and that was enough after Mannone's heroics. 

Olympiacos in the Champions' League was next.  We battered them from the 1st minute on and could have won 24 nil but they threw 11 men behind the ball and kept us out until late on, but van Persie finished well in the 77th after a nice team move and Arshavin scored a great little Cryuff flick to finish them off.  Mannone came up with a couple of good stops in this 1 too as they threatened once or twice.  We were really superior and are looking well set to progress top of the group as the other teams keep drawing. 

Then there was Blackburn.  What can you say about this game.  It was our most complete performance of the season.  Although we were a bit shakey at the back for the 1st two, they were certainly avoidable and with some work goals like those will be cut out.  We attacked superbly and finished clinically and Vermaelen's goal was outstanding.  And then there was Cesc Fabregas.  He put in the most complete center mids performance I've ever seen from anybody at any level in any game.  If he continues to play like that for the rest of the year he'll win the world player of the year award.  He set up 4, hit the bar, had one cleared off the line, force 2 good saves and scored a peach of a left foot volley before he was subbed.  Bendtner finished off the scoring with a stonker from 20 yards and we're rolling again. 

Nasri is back in training, Denilson has been out and will continue to be for another month or so, which is a big loss considering his form, but one we can cope with.  Fabianski and Almunia are both back to give Mannone a run for the #1 spot which is well and truly up for grabs at the moment and we're as close to having a complete squad as we've been for years, minus Djourou or course. 

van Persie has hit his stride, Rosicky is in top form and the central defenders have formed a great and effective partnership.  If we can keep this momentum going and win the north London derby at the end of the month we'll be in good poise to continue through November and roll well and fast into our game against Chelsea.  Should we win that the title race will be well and truly on and tight. 

So, minus a couple of hickups so far, so great for the Arsenal.  It's as good a start to the season we could have asked for without being selfish.

Come on you Arsenal.

Highbury86

Internationals Week, Day 7, Arsenal boys going to World Cup

Morning everyone, I know we all hate the interlull because it deprives us of the Arsenal but there were some exciting World Cup qualifiers yesterday it has to be said.  England's was fun to watch, there was nothing Green could do about the sending off and with us down to 10 the game was well matched.  We were on top of the match for most of it but they were breaking well and we couldn't really break them down with Rooney being as selfish a player as I've ever seen and on one of the few occasions he wasn't Super Fat Frank missed his chance.  We've already qualified but Ukrain's win has hurt Eduardo's chances of appearing this summer. 

Congratulations to Nik Bendtner who will be going to the World Cup after Denmark beat Sweden, good for him, I'm looking forward to seeing him there. 

It looks like Tomas Rosicky isn't going anywhere this summer as Czech Republic don't really stand a chance, sitting in 3rd in their group.  It's a shame for him, he had a stonking World Cup last time out and then missed out on the Euro's because of his injury and now the World Cup because with his help through all the qualifiers Czech just couldn't manage. 

Arshavin and Russia were unlucky to lose to 10 man Germany, as they should have had a penalty late on.  They've clinched a play off spot though and will be seeded high so they'll have a good chance of being there. 

Gallas scored for France they smashed 5 past the Faroe Islands and won a play off spot so bar any cock up or injuries we'll see Sagna, Clichy, Diaby, Gallas, Theirry Henry and maybe even Nasri in the summer.  With their players they really ought to be a lot better. 

Alex Song and Camaroon beat Adebayor 3-0 to top their group and kill Togo's chances of traveling this summer.  Go fuck yourself Adebayor. 

Eboue has qualified with the Ivory Coast. 

For the U21's Theo set up Gibbs for England's first against Macedonia and Jack Wilshere took the corner that led to the second.  Gibbs scored an own goal as well, but never mind that, England won 6-3.

In some other news, it's not surprising to hear that Real Madrid are trying to poach two of our youngsters.  They're apparently going to try and sign Gael Clichy in the summer and like the looks of Fran Merida, who says he's flattered.  Who knows if there's any merit to any of this but I really can't see Clichy leaving.  I don't think any of us would like to see him go.  As for Fran Merida, I wouldn't like to see him go either.  He's an excellent prospect and has been touted as better than Fabregas at the same age, but as Fabregas is in his way and he's behind Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey in the pecking order.  He's much more likely to go but Madrid have a lot of center mids too and I can't really see him breaking in there before he does at Arsenal. 


That's all there is, here's another video,

Highbury86