The Beauty of Football at it’s Worst

Well, I’ll begin with the match preview I promised for yesterday and move on to the match itself, which was altogether white knuckling beyond belief.

We started without our so far this season injuries and without Cesc. Rosicky is back in full training, which is good and early and he’s been called up to the Czech Republic team for the interlul. Should he play in that game, and he does have to play eventually, it should put him back in the reckoning for our squad in the next few league matches. There’s still no word on Djourou, Nasri, Fabianski and whoever else is injured.

In unrelated news Jay Simpson has been loaned out to QPR, I think, it could be Crystal Palace too, I’ve always got those guys a bit mixed up. It should be good for him, and while I like him I don’t really see any room for him in the current Arsenal structure.

Moving on, yesterday was to be a real test of our metal as we were without our captain and main ball mover and shaker and we were up against United at Old Trafford. They were without Rio Ferdinand and Edwin Van Der Saar, big losses too.

The game kicked off and for the first little while neither team could settle the ball, both lacking flow, the midfields just about canceling each other out with each set of midfielders making mistakes and giving the ball away too easily. We looked shaky at the back, particularly Gael Clichy, who I didn’t feel had a very good game, in fact it was one of his worst. Valencia couldn’t really capitalize though and United never really looked too threatening. As the half wore on we looked the better team. RvP was doing some good work, as were Denilson, Diaby and Song, we just couldn’t quite get the ball moving away from pressure, which is where Cesc would have come in handy. Given this fact, I wonder how we would have faired fielding 19 year old Fran Merida over Diaby. Merida is a crafty player who has obviously been watching Cesc intently as he is a very similar player and with his left foot he could have been a useful passer opening up angles that the others in midfield could not.

Eboue was getting involved and was active on both sides of the field, while Arshavin wasn’t really able to get going, loosing the ball on the dribble too often. He seemed to be getting frustrated with himself, though, and began working hard to reclaim the ball and to get it in to feet. He did so inside the box and cut the ball back as Darren Fletcher came sliding in. Fletcher’s momentum completely took Arshavin out and just to complete the flagrancy he scooped the ball up with his hand before running out of the box. Mike Dean had a clear view of the situation and gave nothing. It was a stonewall penalty and the decision not to give it is nothing short of inept. If that decision had gone against my U12 girls team I would have been furious, at this level, it’s inexcusable.

Not long after, only seconds in fact, Arshavin dropped off the edge of the area to collect the ball about 40 yards from goal. He moved forward, about 15 yards unchallenged and unleashed a frozen swerver to the near post top corner that Ben Foster could only push into the goal. The original Arseblog quite rightly says that had it been Almunia, there would be articles in the papers about his mistake. The commentary said nothing about Foster.

Now, it can be argued that while we got no penalty, we went on to score not long after and so the two instances cancel each other out. In fact, we may not even have scored the penalty because nothing is guaranteed in this sport, so the goal is better. There’s no telling any of that, should we have received the penalty and scored or missed, there’s no saying certainly that Arshavin wouldn’t have done exactly what he did not long afterwards. Likewise there’s no telling that on the flip side, we could have missed the penalty, RvP could have torn his hamstring doing it and a flock of terradachtals could have pillaged the stadium. But what it did do for certain was set a precedent. From then on the Old Trafford crowd was going to rule over the decisions. It was made clear that Mike Dean is not a strong referee, that he is scared to make correct decisions in front of a home crowd and really ought to be looked at as a candidate for Division 1. In Estonia.

Arshavin had had a chance earlier in the game from one of the several corners we forced. The corner was forced by an RvP blocked shot, which looked like scoring. The ball was half cleared from the corner to just beyond the penalty spot and the little Russian came to it first and under pressure got a shot off that looked to be heading to the top corner, but it sailed inches wide. I don’t think he could have been expected to do much better, I think if the shot had been on target that it would have been blocked as he was pressed very tightly from the front.

We finished off the half looking on top, we kept the ball fairly well and looked good value for our lead. They tried to counter attack but really didn’t have what it took to get past us with Gallas and Vermaelen making great tackles to stop their attacks. The second half was a slightly different game. Both teams looked a bit better but again we were the ones on top, just 4 minutes in we could have been ahead by 2. Arshavin skinned O’Shea with ease and crossed along the ground for van Persie who side footed the ball into the goal, oh wait, there was a quick leg by Ben Foster denying our Dutchman. People in the pub were furious about the miss but really it was a great save from Foster. We continued to keep the ball fairly well and while we were never peppering their goal, we were certainly creating more than our opponents, who created literally nothing.

After about 15 minutes it seemed we weren’t satisfied with the way things were going and rushed our attacks a bit. They were being broken up by the constant fouling from Fletcher and Carrick, neither of whom received yellow cards, in fact their fouls were rarely whistled. Meanwhile, Song was booked for his first foul about 5 minutes in, Gallas for a maybe deserved foul on Evra, van Persie for a perfectly good tackle (later on in the game Vidic made an identical tackle on the edge of the United area and there was no free kick or booking), Sagna for throwing his arm into the air at a bad decision and others we’ll get into later.

As we were pressing harder and faster and they were fouling more and more, Giggs sent Rooney through with a clever pass behind Gallas. Gallas couldn’t catch Shrek and Almunia came rushing off his line with Rooney going nowhere. Rooney kicked the ball ahead of Almunia and began to fall when the keeper was about 2 yards away. The ball headed for the stands at a pace no living man could catch, and Almunia’s momentum clashed with the already grounded Rooney. The ref, a full 20/30 yards away blew the whistle for a penalty and gave another yellow card to Almunia.

It was a dive similar to Eduardo’s and so we can’t really complain about it being given, although the ball was completely out of Rooney’s reach, which seems to be, by letter of the law, no penalty should be given. However, Almunia had no business coming out with Gallas recovering and Rooney likely unable to catch the ball in time to create a real threat.

With Almunia’s mistake, the weak ref, the home crowd and it being United, the penalty under the circumstances was inevitable despite Mike Dean being so far away. So, we’ve done it to ourselves. We know going to Old Trafford we’ll be up against 12.5 men and even though the ref did make it a full 13 yesterday, the real kick in the teeth is going to be the absurd contradiction in Rooney’s treatment in a dive scandal compared to Eduardo’s. The commentators said nothing, the papers will say nothing, and you better believe we will say nothing. Celtic is like a kid on the playground that got punched in the nose, he ran away crying and grassed on us to the principal. And even though a million kids have done it a million times and nothing has happened, the kid that did it to Celtic will be suspended for a week and none of the other kids will want to play with him. We’ve just been punched in the nose and we won’t grass. We’ll punch back with performances, goals and trophies. And so you’ll see nothing in the papers about Rooney’s dive, there will be no FA inquiry, there will be no suspension, there will be nothing but people talking about how clever Rooney is for having made the foul happen.



Anyway, Rooney put the penalty away and the score was 1-1 with 25 minutes to go. We then decided to go at them a bit more and we did get a couple of chances. We won a free kick on the right side of the box from good work from Diaby and Sagna and van Persie crashed it against the bar with Foster certainly beaten. He really must feel that things are going against him. He didn’t get a chance to take a penalty in the first half, he had a shot going in that was blocked by a defender, a shot going in that was miraculously saved by Ben Foster’s leg and hit a deadly curler against the bar with the keeper already beaten. This can only be looked at as a good thing though, as he’s due about 700 goals in the upcoming games.

Then, Eboue was left all alone on the far post and chose to try and control the ball instead of just hammer it, or come in for a header, and the chance went away with his poor control. Shortly afterwards he hit the floor, diving around Evra when he had already dribbled by him. I never really understand Eboue, I’ve been singing his praises, talking him up as a good player, one that I didn’t want to see go. He didn’t and I was happy and he seemed to be making me look very clever with some very good performances, then in a week where the whole club is under serious scrutiny in the wake of Eduardo’s dive against Celtic, he dives needlessly in a position that was never likely to be advantageous for us. Unbelievable really, he was rightly booked and pushed the water over the edge so to speak, as the club is now due a fine for 6 bookings in a match.

The game went on and United weren’t creating anything, they never looked a threat and hardly ever had the ball in our half. Then, Fletcher had the ball on the right touch line and Denilson came in to tackle and the Scott went to ground. Free kick, despite all of the similar situations, and to be fair even more clear cut ones, that went against us. Giggs floated the free kick into the 6 yard box with no attacker near it. Almunia chose to stay on his line and for some reason, some how Diaby headed the ball into the top corner. It was as if he had been bribed. It was totally gutting. We were 1 nil up, good value for our lead, looking like we were going to win by 2/3 goals, then 2-1 down after a dubious penalty and an outrageous own goal. A serious kick in the pants.

We had about 18 minutes to set things right and Diaby almost did so nearly immediately. He dribbled through 3 United defenders on the edge of the box and was clear in on goal. He looked odds on to score but dragged his shot wide with his left. After that we never really seemed likely to score. We came at them and came at them and they packed their box and we packed their half and they broke at us a few times and wasted a couple of good chances. We never carved out a good chance with Clichy and substitute Ramsey fluffing crosses when good deliveries were needed and Bendtner and Eduardo, also late subs, unable to make an impact. Then the electronic numbers board came up and flashed a big, glorious, red number FIVE. We had another 5 minutes to get a point, the least we deserved.

Again, when quality was needed, the deliveries didn’t come. When that something extra was needed, the second to last ball, the last ball, the finish, it never came. Then, finally a ball that could be challenged for. A cross came in from the left and Gallas rose from between two defenders to challenge, the ball fell to van Persie and he pushed it over the line. Que wild celebrations, the players on the pitch, the boys in the pub, Wenger in the dug out. A bottle broke in the pub and everyone fell entirely silent. We all loked up at the screen and there it was, a flag had been raised. The goal was disallowed for offside against Gallas.

What happened afterwards was a complete disgrace and I’ll refer you to www.Goodplaya.com and www.anotherarsenalblog.blogspot.com for the skinny and opinion on the situation with Wenger getting sent to the stands.

It was a dramatic match, one with controversy, good play, bad play, physicality and frustration. It was tough blow for Arsenal fans, a lucky relief for United fans and a wonderful spectacle for neutrals. It’s a game where the ref was poor and seemingly bias and where scenes were heated. It was a classic big four clash, a classic Arsenal United game and I’m happy to have seen it. At the end of the day, that’s the way the world works. In the season’s opening matches we’ve had a bit of luck go for us after years of it going the other way. And now it’s back to normal, it’s time to make our own luck. The ref influenced the game, that is certain, but not beyond our ability to fix it. Human error is part of football and it’s what helps make it the game it is. It’s what separates it from those boring passionless American sports, we don’t use video replays, we don’t have commercials mid-game, we don’t have managers challenging decisions and jumbotron screens showing what had just happened. We don’t wear pads when we play, our crowds don’t have just two chants, but 1000’s of songs for different players and teams and games. We live the best sport in the history of the world and while this result and match will be difficult to take on the chin, we have to as we have a duty to the game, we love football and, while it’s at it’s worst for the Arsenal, this is football at it’s finest.

Celtic stuff, Eduardo stuff, Man U stuff

Hello Everybody, Broadcasting Live From Somewhere, It's ArseblogUSA,

I've missed the last couple days because of running around Atlanta looking for a bloody job with the missus. She got hired and subsequently had to spend 3 hours filling out paper work during the second leg against Celtic. I ran around Down Town ATL looking for a pub that was airing the game and had no luck. It was hugely infuriating as I really don't feel you can call yourself a Pub if you don't show football matches! George's 11th St. Pub ought to burn to the ground. Or just change the name to George's 11th St. Terrible Service No Soccer Bar.

Anyway, I did manage to catch some extended highlights but don't feel, having read the match reports that I got an appropriate view of the game.

We played without Cesc, Diaby deputized but apparently wasn't on his weekend form. Our regular full backs came in and the awesome on the night Eboue came on up front along with Bendtner to flank Eduardo.

The 1st goal was touted as the most important thing in the tie, which I don't really think was ever true. If they got a goal, they'd still have to score 2 more to win the fucking thing.

The game looked to have started quickly and Celtic were definitely out to play, but we were just too good from the get go. They won a free kick with Maloni(sp?) doing some good dribbling but it hit the wall and we broke into their half in seconds.

We could have, should have scored really early with excellent work from Clichy and Eboue on the left working an opening for Bendtner, who put a really clever flick on target and forced a great save from Boruc. Eduardo had an open goal to put the ball into but curled his shot wide with his studs.

It seemed to me, having watched the highlights (heavy sigh), that we continued to pressure and the game was fairly open, although we didn't allow them much space in the middle with Song and Denilson doing good work.

We did score after I think 30 minutes, the highlights don't make it clear, and the goal is covered in controversy, we'll talk about all of it later.

Eduardo ran charging into the box and took the ball past the keeper and hit the ground after zero contact. A penalty was given and he dispatched it very coolly, despite having been given an earful from Boruc and some other Celtic players.

1 nil up and the tie was put to bed. We carried on pressing high and going at Celtic for the rest of the half where Bendtner saw a corner come at him late, giving him a split second free header, which he put wide. Celtic had had a goal disallowed for offsides, which it was by a mile. Eduardo hit an awesome curler to the far post from 30 yards after a great break from Eboue, but Boruc was equal to it with a fantastic save.

Celtic responded pretty well in the second half, Aiden McGeady went close with a 30 yard drive that curled away from the top corner, and to be fair it looked like Almunia had it covered.

Up the other end Eduardo should have scored another having beat two defenders with a great touch from Clichy's pass, but hit the ball badly wide with his right foot. Eboue scored our 4th of the tie after Bendtner's back heal flick to Diaby, who played the ball square to Eboue, who cut across his defender and slotted home with ease. A very good goal for an ever improved Eboue.

This goal must have really killed off the game as there weren't many highlights afterwards. Arshavin and Wilshere came on after Ramsey had already come on for Diaby. Arshavin scored having been on 2 minutes. Denilson charged hard through the middle having intercepted a pass, as he does so well. He lost the ball but Arshavin was on hand to nip in and play the ball to Ramsey who looked set to shoot as he cut a cute reverse pass to the little Russian whose swivel turn was excellent before he scored a la Eboue.

Ramsey came close to scoring but Boruc made a good save and that was about it. Except for that awesome Celtic goal with the last kick of the game.

We've finished the job, we're in the Champions' League again and we've been drawn in a very nice group, AZ Aklemaar, Olympiacos and some team from Belgium.

Now, all this about Eduardo is getting silly. No doubt you've seen the news and Wenger is bullish about UEFA's investigation. He's right in calling it a witch hunt. He's a foreign player, the worst kind because he's from 2 different foreign countries, and he plays for Arsenal, so naturally his scrutiny in this situation will be much harder than the scrutiny that has come down on English players who have been in the same situation. Oh, wait, no English player ever has been in this situation, because when one of them dives, it's OK. No talk, not pundits banging on about it, no Football Association investigations, no news papers, no nothing. Steven Gerrard is always going down easily, winning countless penalties for Liverpool with minimal contact, and still he's never put under the scope. Rooney's dive against the invincibles also comes to mind. There was literally no contact whatsoever and there was never an article in any newspaper and Gary Lineker and the rest of them on match of the day said nothing. Even other foreign players for other clubs don't get this kind of stick. Ronaldo didn't get anything like this even though he's a terrible serial diver. Drogba and Ballack are the scummiest players in football, diving all over the place, despite the fact that they weight 190 lbs each, not to mention how dirty they are otherwise, throwing elbows and putting in high tackles, etc. It's really ridiculous.

Speaking of other dirty things, what about Martin Taylor? He broke Eduardo's leg into 1000 pieces and all that happened was, "He's not that type of player," came out of every fucking mouth that could have said it. Same with Kevin Nolan when he stamped two feet down on Victor Anichebe last season. What about Steven Taylor? He came at Arshavin with an elbow to the jaw without an eye anywhere near the ball in our second game against them last year and he didn't even get a yellow card.

Speaking of yellow cards, isn't that the norm for punishment for dives? So give Eduardo a retrospective yellow and call it a day. I'm not defending Eduardo, it was a bad dive and lord knows I hate divers. It's ruining the modern game and I've thought for years that there needs to be some more serious action to try and phase it out. Players should receive lengthy bans and big fines for dives and so I wouldn't have a problem with this Eduardo business if it wasn't so full of blatant double standards. What about that UEFA cup game when Leeds lost in the semi finals to Galataseri, who eventually beat us in the final. Harry Kewell, who was on fire at the time, jumped over a Turk defender and jogged off. The ref ran over and gave him a red card, he turned around and saw the defender rolling on the ground clutching his face. The replay showed that absolutely zero contact was made and Kewell was cleared, but nothing happened to the Turk, I think it was Pepescu.

If they're going to ban Eduardo, they need to start doing to every player for every dive.

Right then, enough about that. Cesc is out for our trip to Man U tomorrow, which'll make things that much more difficult, it'll be a real test of Arsenal metal tomorrow. There's more news but we'll preview the game tomorrow.

Until then,

Highbury86

Celtic Preview

Hello Hello

Celtic today in our second leg of our so far successful Champions' League qualifier. We go home with a 2 nil advantage but still have to put in a performance to avoid something of a disastrous embarrassment. I think we shouldn't have a terribly difficult time today and while I'm hoping for an end to end flowing game with beautiful football and outrageous drama, I'm not expecting a blistering type of match. I think Celtic will be coming at us from the get go but we should weather the storm, which I expect is all we'll do, as opposed to attack them back and allow an open game. We'll hold tight for the first 20 minutes or so and then slow the game down with calm possession. We may sneak one before half time, which will effectively end the tie, but I don't fully expect us to score until the second period.

With Cesc out injured we'll probably see Diaby come into midfield, although Aaron Ramsey may come in instead. I think the back four will go back to normal and we'll see some rotation up front, maybe RvP will be benched with United in mind with Eduardo coming in, although I have a suspicion that Arshavin will be the one rested.

I predict we'll win 2-0 with Eduardo and Bendtner scoring. There's some other stuff going on but I don't feel like thinking of anything but this afternoons game. Speaking of which, I don't think that anyone would argue against the fact that this is an important and we need to make sure we get a favorable result, but I'd really like to get through this one without any injuries. They've already built up with Djourou and Fabianski being the most possibly immediately hampering, while Nasri and Rosicky being sidelined mean that we don't have a lot of experienced cover for Cesc. Walcott and Vela deplete our front line somewhat but we still have 4 in there plus Wilshere. An injury at the back or to Almunia will really fuck us and so I hope the game is played in the Celtic half for 90 minutes.

Anyway, kick off is at 2:45 eastern time and the game is FSC, I'll be at the pub,

Until tomorrow,

Highbury86

Several Blogs in One

Portsmouth at home out of the way, 2 league games, 10 goals for, 2 against, 7 different goal scorers, 4/5 assists for RvP, 6 points and a goal difference of +8 and we still haven’t really reached 4^th gear.

Today’s game was especially slow as we never really got out of 2^nd. From kick off it was as if we were training for a pre season game against a team of nuns. Before we get to that we have had some new injury news regarding Theo and Vela. Vela is out for a month with an ankle problem and Walcott’s back injury, originally thought to be just a couple of days of trouble, is turning out to be something a bit more bothersome. These injuries still leave us with 4 forwards, 5 if you include Wilshere.

Wenger made 4 changes to the team, which saw our first choice full backs give way to Gibbs and Eboue, Eduardo play for Bendtner and Diaby come in for the very in form Alex Song. The system was the same despite Setanta saying we were lining up with a 4 4 2.

The game looked won from kick off as I mentioned before and we essentially did win it by the 21st minute. We had made a habit of playfully strolling into the Portsmouth box and tripping over ourselves at the crucial time. Taking a bit too much time never seemed a dangerous prospect, however, as we were sure to score eventually, a feeling you never really got last year when we got chances and didn’t take them. The breakthrough came on 18 minutes from a quick attack that saw Eduardo speed past a defender on the left hand side with a basic school boys tap and run, he squared the ball behind van Persie and his tracker to an onrushing Diaby who buried the chance in the top corner. 3 minutes later Diaby scored again, this time from a very fast break from our box to theirs. Diaby initially broke up opposition play in our box and went flying into their half. Eboue was released down the right very nicely by Fabregas. He sped away from his man and into the box, the covering defender had to leave Diaby and as he did, Eboue squared the ball over to him and he tucked the ball into the bottom corner very nicely.

We carried on in the lazy style we chose to play the game and Portsmouth had trouble getting the ball back. They eventually did and forced a couple of corners and free kicks, which gave them opportunities to get the ball in the box. They did just that and they scored. The ball was raised high into the box, inside the 6 yard box in fact, and instead of stepping out to claim the ball, Almunia let Kabul sneak in front of him and head in a goal. It was a poor goal to concede, but even so, we never looked out of control. We did have a couple of bad moments in defense that will need to be sorted out before we play this weeks other games, but we also saw a terrific recovery tackle from Gibbs after he was beat in behind by the hapless Picquionne, who should have made more of his few opportunities.

Half time saw Fabregas off for Ramsey, because of a hamstring issue and the teenager deputized very well. He kept the shape and ball impressively, although he was under zero pressure. We scored 2 more in the second half before we brought on Merida, (who I thought was on loan) and Bendtner, who weren’t very affective, but to be fair they didn’t have to be.

Gallas scored for the 3^rd game running, another unbelievable goal that saw RvP head an Arshavin free kick towards the far post for Vermaelen to slide to and square across for Gallas whose attempted shot bounced off his foot and onto his face, off the post and in.

Ramsey scored in the 68^th minute to finish off the scoring after being put through very nicely by van Persie. It was nicely finished off by the youngster and saw us win our first home game of the season with an emphatic score that reflected the ease with which we won the game. We scored 4 goals without really getting moving and we could have scored more. James saved well from van Persie several times and some unselfish play from Bendtner late in the game would have seen another goal or 2. We weren’t as solid at the back as I would have liked but we were never under any real threat due to the terrible impotence of Portsmouth. It’s a win we can be happy with as we rotated the squad some.

There is a lot to be happy about at this stage, as we’re winning games, getting good results, putting in good performances and scoring lots of goals and not once have we been pushed to any sort of limitation.

We’ve never really stormed out of 3^rd gear, even in the Everton game I feel we weren’t at our most potent. The nature of our goals is another pleasing thing. We’re scoring from set pieces, we’re scoring from out of the box, from in the box, from nice moves and from counter attacks, the only thing that’s missing is scoring from a cross from open play, then we’ll have covered all of the goal bases. And of course if one of our forwards needs to score.

We have to be careful not to get ahead of ourselves though. Everything is swimming so far, a result on Wednesday will mean that a small part of the puzzle, albeit one with massive consequences, will be put in place. We’ll have a big game at Old Trafford on Saturday, by which time we would have played 1 more competitive game than our opponents. It may ultimately work in our favor as we’ll have built some good momentum should we get a win over Celtic in the second leg. However, should Cesc’s knock be a serious one and he’s out for 3 weeks, it may prove costly in our two games in Manchester. For now though, we’ll just focus on the game ahead,

Celtic on Wednesday,

Highbury86

Righto, that was the Portsmouth post game that was meant to be posted Saturday, I'm having internet issues so I am only now able to post it along with some new stuff to make up for lost time.

There isn't much Arsenal news at the minute, only that Cesc may or may not be out for a length of time that may extend to 3 weeks. Hopefully we'll have him for our weekend trip to Manchester, as I'm sure we can deal with Celtic without him.

Jolean Lescott has sealed his Man City ticket, selling for an outrageously inflated 24 million pounds! This should pave the way for Senderos' move to Everton, which should see us buying another center back.

Man City have made another buy this week, signing Silvinho from Barcelona, which for me is the last straw. I love Silvinho, I missed him when he left, he was awesome for us, it's too bad Cuntface Cole usurped him, although he did go on to be the best left back in the world for a time when he was still with us and still a seemingly decent guy. It was sad to see Silvinho go, but he did and we didn't hear from him again until he started winning trophies with Barca. I still care for his carrisma and the fact that he really seems like a great little bloke. I officially hate Man City now and wish them a horrible, firey death, except for the former King Kolo and Silvinho.

Alright then, there is some other stuff I could get very analytical about, but fuck it, not today. I'm looking forward to Celtic on Wednesday, come on come on!

Right then, later on,

Highbury86

Celtic

Hello and good evening,

we've now been to Celtic and done what AC Milan and Man U couldn't, beat them. Our first goal was super lucky, but particularly lucky for me as my bookie had a ball deflected off Gallas for the first goal at 5000 - 1 and I bet 5 on it.

The team line up made clear that all 3 of our injury worries came through and started, all 3 were good but Cesc and Song were the best players on the park all night.

The game started at a fierce pace, both teams going at each other, attacking very quickly and getting men behind the ball passionately and efficiently. Our class proved decisive in the end as we took over the game. When they got men behind the ball, which they did very well, we ultimately had the quality to cope. And on the back foot we had Song, whose immensity in our first two games is slowly making him my favorite player. I've been calling for a defensive midfielder to be brought in but if Song carries on like this I'll be eating my words very happily.

After 15/20 minutes we were in control of the game, although they never looked too far from dangerous when they had the ball. Arshavin and Bendtner worked very hard defending high and tracking back. Denilson was hot and cold doing some fantastic work and some not so fantastic work. Clichy and Sagna had sound appearances, getting forward very well and defending as needed. Vermaelen, although he did bite into a few dodgy challenges, was overall excellent. He was rock hard at the back, challenging for everything in the air and on the ground and was really committed and hard. Gallas was awesome all game too, making great tackles, winning 50/50s and getting forward like a crazy man whenever possible with Song dropping in to cover. Back up the front RvP wasn't having the best night and was mostly frustrated by some tight defending and some less than stellar attacking play from himself. But Cesc was great.

We got the first goal from a free kick that RvP rolled back to Cesc after El Capitan won the free kick, awarded for a late tackle by Gary Caldwell. Fabregas struck a shot from 25yrds or so and it looked heading for Boruc's hands until it hit Gallas' back as he tried to get out of the way. The deflection put the ball into the side netting of the far post leaving the keeper helpless. Celtic will feel unlucky but we shouldn't feel too lucky, at that point the goal had been coming and we were certainly the better team.

Half time went by and we carried on as we did before the break. 10 minutes was enough for Mobray and he brought on Fortune and McDonald for the ineffective and rarely supported Samaras and Massimo Donati, who had been working hard to keep track of Cesc in the middle. The changes were immediately effective as Celtic saw more of the ball and were eager to attack. They still never really threatened and our second goal came just after the 70 minute mark as Diaby, who had come on for the tired Arshavin, did some good work to evade a tackle just inside the Celtic half and dribbled towards the box. He fed the ball to the overlapping Clichy whose low hard cross was turned into his own goal by Caldwell as van Persie and Bendtner were in on goal behind him. It was a good attack and Caldwell needed to make a go at the ball.

The commentators will talk about how lucky we were and admittedly the first goal had more than a hint of fortune about it but the second was the type of goal that occurs quite often, the result of very good attacking play and to be honest, had Caldwell not scored on his own keeper, surely Bendtner would have scored anyway.

Besides the goals there weren't many chances in the game. Van Persie came close twice, dragging 2 shots just wide with his left and Denilson hit a curler just wide of the same post. Celtic had 1 shot on goal and 1 low cross cleared behind for a corner by Gallas. That was about it. We were well worth our win and gave a very good performance in a very good game. The pace was electric, the tackling was stiff, the football was very nice from both teams and the result is epic. We take a 2 goal lead to The Grove and have just about wrapped up the tie.

Our boys did well and every player on the park was effective except for perhaps van Persie, who had a mediocre game by his standards. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the injury count is, let's hope we came through relatively unscathed, although I'm sure there'll be 1 or 2.

We've got Portsmouth on Saturday then Celtic at home on Wednesday, followed by a trip to Old Trafford. After that it's a trip to the blue side of Manchester. We've come through 2 difficult away games well on top with great results and performances and have really made a statement. Another big win at home to Portsmouth and at least 2 points from the next 2 league games and a passage through to the Champions' League proper will have us looking very good indeed at the end of our tricky start. Of course we'd ideally like to win both games in Manchester, but a win over either with a draw in the other game will go a long way to silencing our critics and in building momentum.

So, so far so good with our tough start, let's keep it up and look forward to some good news in the week and another win at the weekend, maybe some business too, with the Senderos deal still to be completed and his possible replacement, along with Van Der Vaart if reports are to be believed.

Alright then,

Highbury86

Going to Glasgow

Morning Doug (likely my only reader),

we're at Celtic today in what could be an epic battle for Champions' League football this term. The Champions' League is vital for both clubs, which will make this tie very interesting. We've been in the competition for the last decade and beyond and likewise Celtic have been in and out of the CL for a very long time.

Ahead of the game we've got some injury worries. Diaby is back but Walcott and the rest are still out. They'll possibly be accompanied by Cesc, Denilson and Sagna. Sagna is obviously replaceable with a like for like swap with Eboue, but Cesc and Denilson are a different matter. You could say that Diaby will deputize for Denilson well but he may not have the discipline or possibly match winning clever awareness of the man/boy he's replacing. He does however bring some physicality and athleticism that Denilson doesn't have and he does have a good capability to get forward. Cesc will be a blow and should he miss, although he is the most likely of the trio in question to play, he will likely be replaced by Aaron Ramsey, who was impressive against Everton. Fran Merida may be on the bench even though I thought he'd be in Spain by now so should Ramsey flop we may have Fran to come in.

I'm certain we'll go with a 4 3 3 again with Bendtner, RvP and Arshavin up front. They'll have to be potent and work hard as Celtic will be playing with 12 men. The atmosphere will be unlike any other they've played against, but at the end of the day, these boys have played a lot of European football and are professional athletes and should be able to deal.

Celtic have been said to be likely to play a flowing style under Mobray tonight but Alan McGeady has other ideas,

“A lot of teams in the Premier League beat them last season by getting in and around them and not letting them play and that’s something we have to do.”

Should they play that nice football going forward and play that physical stuff getting back they'll be very difficult opposition indeed, but really, when they're getting men forward it'll be impossible for them not to leave space in behind and so I feel the game will be that much more open, which'll suit us very nicely. Our counter attacking was awesome against Everton and should we carry that on we'll have this one in the bag.

It'll be nice to have this one wrapped up after the away leg with Man U coming up 3 days after leg 2. Having said that, a draw or a 1 goal loss isn't the end of the world, particularly if we score an away goal because I really don't think Celtic will have what it takes to beat us at home.

Not much else to report, it's a bit scary that we're 1 game in and have 8/9 injuries, I suppose the mid week game makes the injuries seem worse as Cesc, Denilson and Sagna would all surely be fit for the weekend.

Right then, come on you Arsenal, the game is on Fox Sports Net at 2 ET and Fox Soccer Channel at 5:30 ET.

'Til Tomorrow

Highbury86


PS - doesn't Denilson look like the younger brother of Hull's Geovanni.

PSS - what's with Eboue working so hard to get in on the action when we celebrate goals

Well, then...

Everton 1 Arsenal 6, how about it. Pundits, in your face! Particularly those at Fox Soccer Channel in the States, fuck those guys, aside from Bobby McMahon, that place is full of morons who know nothing about soccer, even Warren Barton is clueless and he just retired. It's crazy that they get paid to talk about soccer, it's the equivalent of hiring a fridge repair man whose never looked inside a refrigerator, or something...right.

Anyway, we played a 4 3 3 as expected and in the absence of Diaby, Denilson played with Song and Cesc in the middle and in the absence of Djourou, Vermaelen started at center half.

It was a strange game, as we didn't hammer them like the scoreline suggests while we did outplay them quite absolutely. The opening 20 minutes saw little real football with the ball spending a lot of time in the air, but we coped admirably with a shocking aerial performance from our midfield destroyer Alex Song. He was climbing over Felaini and Cahill, winning most of the headers in the midfield for the entire game.

Nik Bendtner was looking lively during that cagey period and his hard work and eagerness paid off as he turned Baines inside out (which he did throughout) and moved the ball to Cesc on the edge of the box. Cesc was closed down by 3 Everton defenders as he teed the ball up for Denilson who curled a peach of a shot into the top corner. Howard had no chance and Denilson ran away dancing a hilarious dance as his teammates ran over to celebrate, a great scene that really showed wonderful team spirit with the absence of our old spirit killer Adebayor.

After that we killed Everton with our harrying and very good work behind the ball. Everton looked very below par but it was the same team that they fielded in the FA Cup final last year, with just the 1 change. And so it must have been because we out passed them and out worked them, not allowing them time on the ball with Song completely tearing their play apart and Denilson being his efficient, underrated self. Because of our far superiority we won plenty of free kicks as Everton lunged in from behind trying to catch up with our midfielders. Van Persie hit one of those free kicks to the far post where Vermaelen met the ball good and hard, placing it in the bottom corner of the far post, it was very Tony Adams.

We carried on our good work and won another free kick from the other side. Cesc delivered and while Joseph Yobo bear hugged Bendtner, an unmarked Gallas headed home. 3 nil at half time, we were cruising. We started the second half as we ended the first and scored after a few minutes. We were defending a free kick or corner or something and after the nutmeggiest move I've ever seen, Cesc finished well. Arshavin played the ball to Denilson (nutmeg), Denilson played the ball up to van Persie who played it across to a sprinting Fabregas (nutmeg) who left P. Neville in the dust and put the ball through Howard and INTO THE BACK OF THE NETTa!(nutmeg).

Cesc then scored his second, an individual goal that saw him pick up the ball midway in his own half from a throw from Almunia and dribbled through what seemed like an invitation only passage with Cesc's name on it, all the way to the edge of the Everton box to bury the ball low in the corner with Felaini hilariously chasing behind.

After that the game was over. Everton never looked interested and the slower game allowed us to make some subs with Celtic on Tuesday in mind. Bendtner came off for Eboue and van Persie came off for Eduardo who capped his premier league return with a very nicely poached goal, which he was involved in just before Arshavin hit the post. He put away the rebound and made it 6. Everton pulled a goal back but whatever. They weren't that good but we really put them to the sword as we were very efficient.

I mentioned that the game was strange, not only because we didn't get much of a run from Everton, usually such an industrious team. Not only because we won all the aerial battles, and Everton are usually such a dominant team in the air. Not only because we scored 2 free headers from set pieces, and usually Everton are so tight in their own box. But because in the last few years we've hammered teams, showered their boxes with fine quick play and peppered their goals with shot after shot and managed to lose or draw. Remember that game away to Moscow in the Champions' League? This game, we were clinical, efficient and had 7/8 efforts on goal and scored 6 goals. This is something I like very much. We never really got past 3rd or 4th gear and still skewered our opposition. This is a title winning trait and if we can do this type of thing week in week out, not win 6-1 but win well without really playing that tremendously, and still be very convincing then we'll surely be in contention on several fronts.

Besides the promise discussed just above, Song and Bendtner were excellent. They were the best players on the park, outshining their more flashy/famous teammates. The entire team performed well but those 2 were stand outs. Bendtner held the ball well, dribbled well, passed well and was eager and hard working, defending in his own box 1 second and taking on players in the other box the next. He really seemed to justify his selection as a wide forward as he won headers from and controlled long diagonal balls from the opposite side. Song was industrious and won the ball in the air like someone twice his height. His passing has really improved and his dribbling was very nice as well. Arshavin was quiet, as was van Persie for the most part and it really speaks to the quality of the side and the resources we can look forward to when we score 6 and only 1 of our front 3 get a goal. Goals from Fabregas is something that bodes well too and if we continue like this and use our depth well without getting too ravaged by injury and get consistent performances we'll be...well, we'll be title winners.

Having said all that it's important not to get too far ahead of ourselves and turn on the team should we fail to follow up our nice win with something similar. We've proved the punters wrong this weak and we'll have to do it the next week to avoid 'Arsenal A One Off' type stories. We've got a big game against Celtic at Park Head on Tuesday and let's hope we continue our excellent work in Scotland.

Highbury86


P.S. - Vermaelen made a very good debut and seemed commanding in the back, forthright and brave in a challenge, up for a challenge, loves a challenge. He was calm on the ball too and was super composed, even in his own box. Good goal too, welcome to the team dude.

It finally starts!

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL




**See www.arseblog.com for a proper good blog
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FOOTBALL

Season Preview

Every big team blog did a season preview yesterday and the Arsenal ones are commenting on Wenger's interview to the Times today, which is very interesting, as well as discussing the new injury news, which I admit is not good. We'll be doing our season preview today with an Everton preview tomorrow. It's a big game no doubt and we'll tackle all the issues.

So here we go, as ever, we'll start at the back. Almunia will again hold his spot at number 1. I always liked him as under study to Jens but haven't been all that pleased with him as our first choice. He's had some very good performances, excellent performances in fact, but they are too few and far between. There are a lot of keepers better than him in our own league and those great performances aside, he's not been all that impressive. He's 31 now and will improve with age I'm sure and I really hope he has a good season, but mistakes like the ones he made against Chelsea the season before last seem to go overlooked and if he continues like that, as opposed to the way he played against Man U in the first semi last season, we won't have much of a chance of winning trophies, no matter how the other boys do.

His understudy is Fabianski, who I do like for a number of reasons, but am worried about for some others. He commands his box well and comes for crosses like a madman, he's brave and strong that way. He sweeps up behind the defense, as he plays a high line and with a defense that plays a not always successful offsides trap, this could be a match winning trait. His shot stopping, however, leaves much to be desired. In the Carling Cup semi against Spurs he let in at least 2 of their goals and we know about that goal he let in the FA Cup against Chelsea. The second goal he let in in that game proves that even his sweeper style needs improvement. He's got a ways to go but when he gets there I think he'll be something, but only if his shot stopping improves enormously.

With the current keeper structure it seems that Almunia will be number 1 until Fabianski can step up, which may take a long time, unless of course Fabianski gets tired of waiting and goes to Wolfsburg or something like that. And so it seems that we're stuck with Almunia until we're unstuck, which means that if you don't like him, (like me), tough titties. Now, I don't mean to put the guy down, I think he's a top class professional and does very well to lead the team, he seems a nice guy, a good guy, a good pro, and he is of course our best keeper, he's just not the class of keeper I'd like to see at our club.

Now, ordinarily I don't think I'd spend much time on the 3rd and 4th choices between the sticks but due to Fabiasnki's 2 month injury, should anything happen to Almunia, who I hope will be locked in a padded cell between games, we'll have to field either Mannone or Sjrktpz09tyu, the 19 year old Pole. Mannone wasn't very impressive at all and I haven't seen Svbcdk76tyulpq play but he's 19 and can't possibly be ready to face Rooney or Drogba or Torres. This may prompt Wenger to make a Mart Poom type of signing, some 50 year old keeper who can deputize for 3 games if need be.

In defense we have some great full backs in Clichy, Sagna and Eboue and some good pushers at left back with Traore and Gibbs. I've said before and I maintain that Eboue will regain his spot at right back at some point this season because of his superiority going forward. Sagna is awesome too and the two are set to have an epic battle for starting right back. Clichy had a poor season last year and still wasn't all that bad. He made some mistakes that were costly and wasn't the force going forward, defending high in the midfield, making timely interceptions and turning defense to attack quicker than anyone in the league, but he was still one of the best in the prem in his position. If Clichy can get back to his best and if he, Sagna and Eboue can get some goals from fullback they'll be the best 1-2 punch fullback combo in England.

Center half seems to be a major weak spot of ours and I think we're all glad to see that Wenger has said he'll be looking for a defender should Senderos leave, which seems to be held up by the transfer, or non transfer, of Jolean Lescott. Should we keep Senderos we may not need to address our worries at center back but if he goes, and I do think he will, we'll hopefully bring someone in and push Silvestre to 5th choice so his games will be limited.

Having said all that, our first choice pair looks like Gallas and Vermaelen. Wenger likes to ease in his new boys and it looked like Djourou would stand in until it was Vermaelen's time but now that he'll be out for 4 weeks Wenger will have to choose between Vermaelen, Silvestre and pulling Song out of midfield. With an injury to Diaby, pulling Song out of midfield doesn't seem an option, so it's a recently injured, brand new Vermaelen or the disaster that is Silvestre. I hope very much it's the former, but something tells me it'll be the fish man. This is exactly the dilemma that has Wenger in the market for a replacement for Senderos.

I've said before that all I've seen of Vermaelen are videos of him scoring goals from corners and winning headers at the back. Knowing Wenger he'll be technically sound and so I do think he'll be good for us, but having to be played straight away may hurt his progress, as if he's not immediately successful the fans and the media will be all over him and Wenger. You have to feel for Djourou, he looks good and this should be the season where he steps in and steps up to become first choice for next season as surely Gallas won't sign a new contract. I do feel that both Djourou and Vermaelen will come through, but if it'll be in time for them to make an impact and help us to success we'll have to wait and see. One thing that is looking good as far as those two go is that we shouldn't be beaten straight down the middle with long balls all that easily any more. Should these guys do what we're all hoping and should big Phil stay or be replaced, I think we'll look strong in our weakest spot.

Speaking of weak spots, central midfield was an obvious problem last season, perhaps our greatest and with 3 candidates, we still look shaky. Song is our obvious first choice and with his progress last year he looks quite good, but is quite good good enough? His tackling is quite good, his passing is OK, his heading alright (stellar considering he's 5'4") and he's not much of a dribbler. If he has continued to progress at the same rate as he did last season I think come the end of this season he'll be very close to being able to compete as one of the leagues best, but again, is that good enough? Behind him are Diaby and Denilson.

It seems that Diaby will be playing along side him in a more advanced role, but he'll be called upon to be a destructive force in there at some point in the season I'm sure. There's no doubt he's capable, he can be a classy player with good skill and pace and good aerial ability, he can tackle too. His passing can be absolutely inexcusable at times and it seems that's his major downfall and at times the downfall of the team. Of course his record with injuries isn't good either with a broken leg followed by a series of niggling injuries never allowing him to have a run in the side. He has a chance this season to play in his preferred position and should he perform he'll be able to keep his place and maybe turn into the player Wenger signed him to be. Should he not do it this season then I don't see a future for him at the club.

Denilson is the interception master, making more of them than anyone else in the premiership last season. He is an efficient passer and rarely gives away possession, his inventive passing isn't bad either, but you do get the sense that he's too cautious that way at times. His tackling is subtle but decent and he can be a fantastic dribbler, despite his lack of pace. Where he falls short (get it) is that he's a tiny, little man. He can't be much taller than 5'5" and hardly ever wins a header and while he surely doesn't way much more than a bag of flour he can get thrown about. I very much like Denilson and his stats are good, we win more with him on the pitch and as I said before his passing accuracy and interception rate are second to none. He'll be very good coming off the bench this season and should progress well, Wenger needs to solidify his role in the midfield a bit better, as he's something between a Gilberto and a Cesc, perhaps with their combine intelligent as he's clearly a very clever player.

Cesc doesn't need much talking about as he's Cesc Fabregas, our main man, our captain, our world class heart beat. Cesc wasn't in great form last season before his injury but going into that spell he had played around 300 games between us and Spain and at 21 that's a whole lot to take on. His spell on the sidelines, a small summer holiday and some very entertaining games in the Confederations Cup and a fine pre season should put him back on track and we should expect a good season from him I'd say.

Cesc's stand in will probably be Ramsey until Nasri and Rosicky recover and at that point there'll probably be some rotation in the middle three. Ramsey looked good at times last season when he was played wide, his good dribbling and willingness to go at defenses was very promising, but he was unfortunately not so good looking in the middle. With two others around him for support and another year under his belt he should be better suited. Nasri and Rosicky will be in there too when their fit and we should look for some good work from them, Nasri at least, this season may be a ginger one for Rosicky who may by the end of the season be playing regularly, or may not. Nasri, before he came here, was just about the most promising young player in France with some terrific performances, he was an outrageous dribbler trying on all the tricks and scoring some great goals too. We've seen that he's capable of scoring goals and is a good physical presence despite his size, this could be his season if he comes back from injury to good effect and displaces Diaby in the middle.

Wilshere may also see some time in the middle, but I see him as part of the front 3 when he comes on. Now, if we can get 30 goals from midfield between the 5 regulars who are likely to be there, it should go a long way to getting us some much needed points and an even more needed trophy. Diaby can score when he's playing, we've seen some great goals from him. Nasri can score too and perhaps with a more central role he'll be able to add to his tally. We'll need Cesc to recapture the form and style that saw him score 10 goals the season before last. Song will have to put in a couple, as will Rosicky and Ramsey. We no longer have wingers regularly scoring 12 goals and up so it's all on these guys.

Up front we're stocked to the ceiling. Our starting 3 looks like Bendtner, RvP and Arshavin. RvP spent less time on the bench last season than ever before and scored a decent 20 goals, I think we all hope for a similar season from him, maybe one with a few more goals. Wenger has called on him to be more head strong and lead the team and with a leading role at the club we may see van Persie transform into Super van Persie. Let's hope.

Bendtner had a good season last year, proving the boo boys wrong with some well timed goals and decent performances. He scored 15 goals last season and was joint second top scorer. This says a few things to me. One is that we need to score more goals and we need more goals from our forwards, our second top scorer should be getting more goals than 15 out of 59 appearances and with the missed chances Bendtner had last season I think we can expect it. He'll be played wide, which I don't think is a position that'll suit him and maybe this'll hamper his goal getting.

Arshavin, we've seen is world class and can score with both feet from anywhere. He can bring the ball forward from midfield and really dribble. He'll always work for a goal and I think he may be our top scorer should he stay fit.

Speaking of top scorer, Eduardo could do the job if he can get regular games and fully recover from his injury and follow up injuries. He's a fine finisher, we've all seen that, you give him 2 chances he's liable to score 3 goals and let's hope we'll see that form. He's got pace and can play across the front 3 and will be used as utility front man. Let's hope we can get the best out of him this season and he'll chip in with 20 plus goals.

Theo Walcott will play a big part this season too and his pace and dribbling will serve us well and with a World Cup coming up he should be eager to impress. We've seen that his finishing can be excellent and he's a great set up man, with his ability to hit teams on the break by speeding past all 10 players and passing it across the 6 yard line to a thankful forward. This type of play will help us kill games that other teams are chasing should we be under pressure.

Waiting in the wings will be Vela and Wilshere. We've all seen their class and they should be able to come on to good effect when needed. Wilshere of course will be used cautiously in order to help the boy develop. Vela wasn't involved much in pre season, but he had a fine showing at the Gold Cup in America where he was Mexico's best player in the tournament and I really hope he can climb the pecking order and get some more games in as I really feel he has the potential to be something world class given the chance. Van Persie and Eduardo are ahead of him in the general order but he's also behind in the tricky left footer department. I hope he can get in and get some goals and prove himself.

We've got games thick and fast right from the offset and we need to get through the early part of the season in a good position with the Champions' League qualifiers and stiff opposition in the prem. At the moment we have 6 injuries, two of which are miniscule and will be a matter of days, Diaby may even play tomorrow. 3 are lengthy and 2 not too bad. That's a nice spread and the season hasn't even begun. Let's hope for swift recoveries and no new injuries.

We'll need to take points from games this season where we dropped them last season. Fulham, Stoke, Spurs, Villa, Hull, etc. It'd be nice to carry on our record against the big boys but we can't necessarily expect to, although Liverpool and Man U look do weaker opposition. I've heard that this season is about points and trophies for us, that we need results, even a cab driver I had a few days ago told me that he swapped Arsenal for Chelsea because Chelsea seemed more ambitious, "It's about scoring the goal (Nigerian accent), you score when you can, you score with your hand! It's not about the football, about the style, it's about the goal!" Fuck that and fuck him! For me, what we need are the performances, the goals and results will come. Last season not only did we not win enough games, we didn't play well enough.

Having said all of this, I'm very optimistic about this season and with a couple more signings I think we'll be the part. In Arsene we trust, we love you Arsenal we do, come on you Arsenal!!!
I can't wait until tomorrow, Arsenal, I love you.

Highbury86

Spurs analysis

CUNTS

The Mancs in Blue

Without much going on and with an ill brother I have to take time out from holiday to post the Man City analysis. Without much to report other than the fact that there isn't much to report we'll get right to it.

The more I look at their squad and manager the less I worry about their threat. They played some blistering performances and gave us a good thrashing at Eastlands last season but to be honest, that defeat just speaks to how bad our dip in form really was.

We'll start at the back and in Shay Given, they have a very good keeper, although he's no longer in the worlds best 10 for me. They have our old boy Stuart Taylor as back up, which seems a shame for poor old Kasper Schmeichel who showed so much promise under Sven. Micah Richards is a quality full back on his day but his momentum seems to have dropped off and he hasn't been in form for some time. If he can recapture his form this season he'll be a force in the league, as part of a new breed, a huge, fast, strong type of super athlete who can jump 5 feet in the air and with good touch to boot. In the middle of defense, so far they have Kolo and Richard Dunn with Onouah waiting behind. We all know about Kolo and his drop in form, his loss of pace and all that. We'll see what he can do with a new challenge, he may be invigorated and recover his talent for some time, but to be honest, I'm sad to say that I doubt it'll last and he's likely only to get worse. Richard Dunn has always been OK, never a world beater, but efficient. He's certainly not a trophy winning center back, neither is his pairing with Toure. At left back they have Wayne Bridge, who is good and capable going forward but can be easily beaten on the back foot.

Cover in these positions is where they're likely to fall short at the back. With the disaster that is Tal Ben Haim their 4th choice center back, they'll be so very easy to penetrate should anything go wrong with their first choices, although their depth in the center of midfield may see Vicent Kompany moved back there and he is a very good player in both roles. Zabaleta is also capable of deputising well at full back, but I have doubts about the little I've seen of Garrido, their young sub left back.

In the midfield they're strong and oddly weak at the same time. With Robinho and Wright-Phillips on the wings they can be devastating. But with Robinho and Wright-Phillips on the wings, they can be gash. Wright-Phillips is a very hot and cold player and Robinho has some seriously bitchy personal issues that seem to overtake his football. They don't have much by way of cover for these two, only Petrov it seems, and he of course will be up for the challenge. But, injuries in these positions will hamper their progress badly, although they can move around their formation should such a thing happen. A switch in formation is never ideal and so this could be a major part of a possible downfall.

In the middle of midfield they have a wealth of talent with Kompany, Ireland and...wait a minute. While they have a lot of center mids are any of them really title winners? Nigel de Jong is so over rated it's not funny. Just because he's an international doesn't mean he's any good. He's another player who has somehow benefitted from media hype, like Ibrahimovic, like Darren Bent for a time, like Danny Alves. These players are talked up as the best in the world in their position (not Darren Bent of course) but really their very average. Danny Alves can hardly put a pass on target, it's ridiculous, I'm a better right back, and I play center mid. Then there's Gareth Barry, who had a very good season when moved to the middle a couple of years ago, but to be honest I didn't find him all that impressive when I watched him last season. Maybe he had a mediochre year and will bounce back, but maybe he's just on the decline.

Vincent Kompany I feel is very good and I wish we had landed him when we were connected. He's big and strong and good in the air. He's a very good tackler and is a quietly efficient passer. Stephen Ireland is a crazy fucker but bloody hell is he good. He was super consistent last year in his man of the match type performances and for me, outshone Robinho as Citeh's best player. He pitched in with some goals, he ran box to box, his passing was excellent, especially his penetrating passes and he pitches in with the tackles too, he's likely to be the main man next season. With these two in the middle of midfield and Barry floating along they should do well in midfield battles through the season, whether or not they can do it against the big boys we'll have to see. And whether or not these are the players they'll have there we'll have to wait and see, like I said before, Kompany may be moved to center back should Sparky not land Jolean Lescott or somebody else.

Up front they've got Benjani, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Tevez and Adebayor. I doubt Benjani will be in the frame all that much. I can't really see him getting a game over the others. Bellamy was an unbelievable signing, what was Hughes thinking. What a shit eating twat and with all the money in the world that's who you sign? Santa Cruz is alright but he won't win you titles. Not in England anyway. Tevez I think is pretty overrated himself. He'll always work his ass off and fight until the last whistle, but he'll also spend half the game running down loose balls that have bounced off him because he's got the control of Niklas Bendtner. He can deliver that quality though and when he comes through he can really come through, it's just that for me, it's not really often enough. We all know what Adebayor is capable of, in both directions. He can be fantastic, run down defenders, work like Tevez and deliver quality with good skill and pace. And he can be a total lazy cunt. I think we'll likely see something in between and if he can link up well with Tevez it could be devastating at times. Although it could be hilarious at times too.

They've got a big squad and have some other players in there like Michael Johnson and Kelvin Etuhu who may or may not feature and who may or may not come through to good effect.

It seems to me that Hughes hasn't done a whole lot of homework and has spent a lot of money on a bunch of players who are quite good but not all that good, with a few exceptions of course, he's bought Bellamy who is total shite and Kompany who is very good. He plays interesting tactics, which require his players to get behind the ball in defense and move the ball quickly in attack, similar to Man U. I don't think that they will have what it takes to make a serious challenge to the top 4, but we'll wait and see. The window still has over two weeks to go, but still, to get a thrown together team, even with super star talent, to gel and win things will take time. Time and more money and when that happens you see the true color of the super mega billionaire owners, they can get hard headed, they can become unreasonable and should this happen it could mean the end of the new Citeh.

Head to head our full backs will be the difference and do the business. Wrighty-Phillips and Robinho won't spend much time in their half and Clichy and Sagna, Eboue and Gibbs will get in behind them and push us forward and that'll be that. Diaby and Song will have to work hard and be athletic and Cesc will have to be Cesc. Our forwards will be too much for them at the back and if they're not, then our other forwards will be. I'm looking forward to the game more than most and I'll be rolling in the isles when Bendtner scores 2 and Adebayor gets subbed off at half time.

Highbury86

Valencia review

Well, just as I was preparing a whole thing about how Bobby Charlton said that friendlies are important because they can be used well to build momentum and that England won the world cup by winning all their friendlies for a couple of years beforehand, we loose our last friendly of the summer.

Our line up is likely to be our likely starting line up in the beginning of the season according to l'Boss. I like our starting line up and think it's probably the way to go until some of our boys get to full fitness and get more acquainted with the squad.

I didn't see the game but having read the match report, it seems that the opening was unsettled due to the harsh weather with heavy rain and the remainder of the first half was generally even, with a few chances here and there for both teams. The second half saw a lot of changes as Wenger played all his available players except for poor Aaron Ramsey who sat the whole game out.

Apparently we should have scored twice in the opening five minutes but didn't take our chances and were then out run by Valencia for the rest of the game. They scored in the 73rd after we failed to clear a free kick, it was Valencia's third shot at us that ended up going in. Old habbits die hard I guess. And then as the game died off David Villa added one in the 90th after having had a penalty saved by Fabianski, which'll do wonders for his confidence no doubt.

There wasn't much commentary about individual performances but the text suggests that Van Persie was our main man getting most of our chances. Eduardo got one or two that he uncharacteristically spurned.

It seems to me that after making 8/9 changes at half time the game swayed in their favor and we weren't able to adequately compete. This doesn't bode entirely well but it's not the end of the world either. With Ramsey remaining on the bench, Denilson out of the squad and Rosicky and Nasri in the physios our second string has more to offer than those who came on in the second half today. With the possible addition of 1/2 more we'll be all the stronger. Not to mention the fact that we won't be making 8 subs every game and our second string won't be playing all together all the time, they'll be mixed with the starters and will be more able to make a difference and develop well. It is, however, slightly discouraging because our squad is so deep and promising, it's like having to take a few steps back after having worked so hard to take a couple steps forward.

Of course this was a friendly and it did, more than anything, give l'Boss one last chance to look at the team and contemplate a line up before the start of the season. There'll be more commentary Monday after I see some highlights and we'll spend the rest of the week looking over pre-season, looking forward to the start of the season and finishing off the reviews of our rivals.

Highbury86

Valencia preview (sort of) and Saturday stuff

Hello ladies and gentlemen, in the midst of a slightly awful couple days I give you the Valencia skinny. Now, these days aren't so bad on the Arsenal front, but at home, Jesus! Yesterday afternoon my girlfriend and I went out for about 4 hours and returned home to roast a duck. The old lady went to our bedroom and found our batch of "special cookies" fallen on the floor with teeth marks all over the lid of the container. This of course was worrying but we figured that the dog would have smelled the things and gone running in disgust, as they certainly aren't appetizing. So, we tracked him down and found him underneath a bed in another room staring into space and shaking like it was -1million degrees. I did some research online and eventually called a vet. They said that the "special" toxin combined with the chocolate chips in the cookies didn't bode well for poor Hunter, an 18lb Kli Kai, (tiny Huskey), so we took him in. They kept him over night doing all the things they do to dogs in this situation, which apparently isn't all that uncommon. We collected him today thinking all would be well but he's very worse for ware. We took him back to the vet and got more tests done and his liver is capable of passing the poison but man is he poorly. He's currently tucked under a bed, staring into space and drifting in and out of sleep.

And so goes my weekend, this isn't a good sign of things to come, especially since it's Jennie's Birthday tomorrow, 23 hurrah! Hopefully this won't have any affect on the Arsenal game. Valencia are a big club with a lot of history, outside the El Classico, they're the biggest club in Spain. They finished 6th last season, 25 points back of Barcalona, loosing 12 games in the league. They do however, have David Villa and David Silva, two of the most exciting players in Europe. They've been targets for big clubs as Valencia has some money issues that need resolving. Both players remain at the club however and will be testing our defense as we speak.

David Silva will be a big threat down the wing and will test Eboue and the rest on the right today. David Villa is a quality finisher, a quality player that can score an array of different goals, although he is very left footed. At one point he went to the press and basically asked Wenger to sign him, of course we didn't, as you know, and we'll see what kind of impact he'll have today.

I haven't watched much of Valencia but I think, that like most Spanish sides, they'll play a technical style that will cater to their best dribblers while attempting to move the ball over short spaces efficiently. Our speed of play might prove too much for them going the other direction and while this game will be the most competitive we've played in pre-season, I don't think we'll have too many problems. Of course, this isn't the point, it's more so to look at the players, solidify a line up and one last push to full fitness.

We travel with a deep squad, the starters being Almunia/ Eboue, Gallas, Djourou, Clichy/ Diaby, Song, Cesc/ Arshavin, Bendtner and Van Persie. The bench has all the rest of the fit boys, except for Denilson, who I have to imagine sustained an injury somewhere and isn't fit, or perhaps Arsenal.com just cocked it. Walcott is in and so is Fran Merida, which is strange as he's going on loan next week, but there's no Carlos Vela. This is slightly displeasing, as I was hoping to see more of him this season.

It looks like Eboue might be taking over at right back sooner than later and if Vermaelen doesn't get fit soon and Djourou plays well, we may not see Vermaelen get his spot until later.

There isn't much other news. A little more stuff around about Hangeland and Chamack, but nothing else, besides an Almunia interview where he comments on the former King Kolo and Cesc, which will surely be taken out of context and brandished all over.

Come on you Arsenal! Next week Everton! Until tomorrow.

Highbury86

Wilshere/Rooney, Transfers, CL draw, Rosicky

Bonjourno folks,

Another day in the world today, which sees the confirmation of Tomas Rosicky's hamstring injury. Wenger said that to win the battle, Rosicky would have to get through the first two months of the season injury free, clearly the battle has been lost, but in a war with injuries I do think that Rosicky will come out on top. 6 weeks out will be absolutely gutting for the guy and I feel for him. It's sad and along with the injury to Nasri, may leave us a little light for attacking options in the midfield trio, but it's not the end of the world. We'll see them both towards the middle of September and they'll be eased into the squad a little bit later than we had hoped for. Will this move Wenger into the transfer market? No, he's already there, but not for a replacement for Rosicky and Nasri.

"We can still make do with one or two players more. One could be in the defensive areas, and one in the attacking areas. We make a few enquires for players, but we are nowhere near to signing anybody at the moment."

The attacking signing is likely to be Chamack, seeing as we've increased our bid to 7.5m, although if Bordeaux don't go for that I don't think Wenger will increase the bid so we may see Kalou in for 8m instead. I would personally rather have Kalou seeing as he has premier league experience and that I actually know something about him. They'll both be going to Africa in January for the African Cup of Nations and will do so every two years so long as their countries qualify and this, should the Chamack deal fall through, may prompt AW to forgo the signing altogether. And at the end of the day I'd rather that happen so Vela and Wilshere can be given the nod instead.

The defensive option is a slightly trickier prospect. I'd like to say that Senderos deal looks just about done and dusted but with the papers commenting on David Moyes being upset with Man City about their pursuit of Jolean Lescott and the Mancs responding with Sparky Hughes basically saying 'Here's 22m, take it or leave it', Lescott may remain at Everton, which may see them retract their interest in Big Phil the Swiss. Should Senderos stay then the defensive signing would surely be a defensive mid. It won't be Patrick Vieira as l'Boss has essentially dismissed that option. It could be Matuidi, but I haven't heard anything about that recently.

Wenger goes on to speak about Senderos as well as having monitored a possible replacement with Hangelaand:

"At the moment there’s an interest from Everton [in Senderos] but he is still our player. He has an opportunity to go because he has one year to go on his contract. We will see what happens in the next week. If he goes, and if there is an opportunity, then we will look. But we still have…five centre backs. We’ve had a look at him. We have not contacted Fulham or contacted Hangeland. We have not made our choice so it is difficult to talk about names right now."

In other transfer news, Wenger has decided to let Fran Merida join Levante in the Spanish second division for the year, a strange piece of business considering his form in pre season and the injuries to Rosicky and Nasri. We do have Ramsey in that position for cover so I suppose we'll look forward to seeing him play a bigger role this season.

There's a little bit about Jay Simpson possibly going out on loan for another year, which would suit him and probably do him some good seeing as we have 96 attackers and are looking to bring in one more. Birmingham have tried to borrow Traore but Wenger shut the door on them until the end of the window so he can properly assess his full squad as he plans on changing his policy and doing business until the window closes,

"We make a few enquires for players, but we are nowhere near to signing anybody at the moment.

"Usually the transfer market only speeds up from August 26 up to midnight on August 31 – and especially in the last two hours."

Our squad now as it stands, I feel is quite full, minus that hard man. We have a plethora of talent up front, although no seriously proven goalscorer besides RVP, but even he only got 20 odd goals in all competitions last season. We've got a good set of dudes for the midfield trio (except for the hard man of course) good options at fullback and with Phil still at the club fine cover at CB. And in September we'll have two additions to the team in Nasri and Rosicky and while they're likely to play squad roles for the first month or so of their re-introduction, they'll be essential members of the squad by the end of the season.

Moving on there is stuff in the papers about Wenger saying that Wilshere is similar to Rooney when he came on the scene, throwing the boy under the bus a little bit, but he knows how to manage talented youth so I won't say anymore.

We've drawn Celtic in the Champions' League qualifier. I think we should go through but that away leg won't be easy for our youngsters, the atmosphere will be intimidating and you know they'll be physical. Remember the days that you would look ahead at the fixture list and not have a worry in the world? You'd be comfortable in the knowledge that Vieira, Petit, Overmars, Bergkamp, Adams and the rest would take care of business. Weren't those days wonderful.

Highbury86

A whole bunch of stuff on a day when there really isn't that much stuff

Mornin' Mornin',

There isn't a whole lot going on with us at the minute, us as in Arsenal, although not a whole lot going on with me and the brother either. In fact, I haven't heard from him in a week and he hasn't written a post in a couple. I think he's probably off in Santa Barbera boozing and womanizing, as you should when you're that age. Hopefully he's alive and will contribute soon.

Anyway, I was looking back at a couple of past blogs and saw that I've made a couple of mistakes. Mistakes in opinion and mistakes in fact, there are tons of writing errors but I won't be addressing those. I had said that Eboue and I are the same age and that I feel that I've matured a great deal this past year and am maturing even now as I type. I had written that this is a sign that Eboue may do the same and will be more of a disciplined footballer this season. Turns out that Eboue is over 2 years older than me at 26 and is well over due. This could mean that he isn't going to mature at all, that he's missed his window, but it could also mean that he'll make up for lost time and start acting like a 26 year old professional, (think Xabi Alonso last year or Kolo Toure a couple of years ago).

Moving on, I also got our proposed formation wrong when I did the Liverpool analysis and head to head battle. I didn't pay too much attention to the fact that we had played a 4 3 3 in a couple of friendlies at the time, now it seems obvious that we'll likely be playing the 4 3 3 most of this coming season. I also didn't take into account squad depth and how that'll make a huge difference. I will discuss squad depth in a coming blog, but I do feel that ours probably pips theirs. In the attacking department it's no question. In the area that we're the lightest (central midfield) they do have a good depth of players, with their acquisition of Acquilani, who I don't rate as highly as most, (he's certainly not the answer to the void left by Alonso), Mascherano, that Brazilian troll Lucas, old Arsenal target Plessi (I think he was anyway) who I watched play against Oslo yesterday looks a good prospect (like a slightly better Alex Song) and of course Gerrard can always drop back and play his natural role.

OK, that's done and dusted, and in totally unrelated news, in fact it's not related to English football at all, and I guess it's not really news either, I read an article about Sebastian Deisler, the former Bayern Munich man who retired at 27 because of the depression that the pressures of the modern game gave him. I admit to having suffered a bit of depression here and there myself, quite heavily at times. I had a difficult time turning it around but with perseverance and a life that is ultimately too good to be depressed about, I overcame. I still get it here and there, as I'm sure a lot of us do, and I tell you what, the one all curing thing that would help me to never be depressed again would be the offer of a professional contract and a call up to play for England, so I'm a little perplexed at how football caused the guy to get so down as to retire and to be honest after reading some quotes by Deisler, I'd like to go to Germany and kick him. He said something like, (not direct quote) "I looked outside my house in Berlin where I had a Mercedes in the drive way and thought to myself, 'Is this it? Is this what it's all about'." Go fuck yourself.

Alright, that's off my chest and now to stuff a little more Arsenal. Atletico Madrid say that Eboue is their "dream signing" and that they'll be making efforts to take him to Madrid. We turned down a wealthy Fiorentina side and are likely to do the same to a skint Atletico. Speaking of Atletico, what's the big deal about Sergio Aguerro? I've watched him half a dozen times and he's never done anything.

Rosicky is said to be out for 6 weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered in training. I'm not sure that it's true (remember the confusion over Eduardo) and I'm not all that surprised. If it is true it sucks for all parties involved, Arsenal, Tomas, Czech Republic and the fans, but it's not the end of the world. It'll mean his recovery will be a month behind and we'll see him in action more towards the middle of the season. Nasri will be back around the same time and will probably be playing regularly before Rosicky and will help supplement that area. And there's always Fran Merida and our 97,000 forwards. And if it's not true, harra!, the status is quo.

Speaking of forwards there is more news about Chamack and that we've apparently upped our bid to 7.5m. I can't imagine l'Boss paying more than that if this offer gets turned down. Zidane said that we had made a 17m pound bid for Huntelaar before he went to AC Milan for 22m. If this is true it means that we're definitely in the market for a forward and will likely sign one before the season starts. With no new news on Kalou our striker is likely to be Chamack. The chairman has a bit to say about this revealing that Wenger has money to spend on one or two players, so long as it's not ridiculous. I'm not sure how to scope that, is ridiculous 14m for Xabi Alonso, or is it 30m for De Rossi. (The De Rossi speculation is just that and I don't like him anyway, I'm just saying.) Judging by our reported bid for Huntelaar, (if Zidane really did say that and if we really did make that bid), I suppose the scope is broader and it may mean that Wenger is finally willing to spend a bit extra in the market.

A forward that is actually at the club is saying that he'd love to see Patrick Vieira back. RVP talked in a press conference during a charity event at a childrens' hospital about what a good captain and leader Vieira was and how he helped Robin during the one year they played together. It seems that more and more people are getting behind the signing of Vieira and I'm sorry to say that I'm not one of them. I loved Vieira, he was remarkable, perhaps the best in the world at his position in his day, he's a legend and I think we should leave it at that. We should let him keep his legacy, which I'd say is worth more to him and Arsenal than any more time he can spend in our shirt. I doubt he has the legs left anyway, playing an average of something close to 20 games a season for Inter the past three years won't have helped him. Mourinho said that no contact has been made and so I don't think it'll be happening anyway. Besides, I still want Sissoko.

Lastly and leastly, the draw for the Champions' League qualifier is tomorrow. We'll be playing one of 5 teams: Atletico Madrid, Celtic, Anderlecht, Fiorentina or FC Timisoara. I'd say we're easily the best team in the group and will be the most feared, but I'd still prefer to avoid Madrid and Fiorentina. Celtic shouldn't be a difficult prospect as any team managed by Tony Mobray is fucked all over, Anderlecht I think are easily beatable but as you may have guessed, everyone's preferred opponent is of course Timisoara, who haven't won a European game since 1990.

Hasta Manana,

Highbury86


PS. Wasn't it sad and a bit funny at the same time to see Kolo Toure jump up and down with flailing arms in frustration at Rangers' winning goal in Man City's friendly yesterday.

A little stuff and Chelsea analysis

Hello reader(s),

Nothing much new in the Arsenal world today. ArsenalAnalysis has some stuff about Eduardo and how good he feels and how he's set to play for Croatia soon against Belarus after our game against Valencia. Personally I think another game before the season starts will help Eduardo get back to it, especially since I don't think he'll be featuring that much in the first couple of months of the season.

It looks like Pirlo is set to stay at AC Milan, which means that the Cesc to Milan stuff was completely made up, as I'm sure you all know. Hangelaand is cup tied for the Champions League after playing in a Europa League qualifier for Fulham, which makes the likelihood of him coming to Arsenal just about nil. Apparently we've had a bid for a center back from Sevilla turned down, although I can't find anything about it other than on the original Arseblog. It could be total nonsense or we may actually be in for the type of player we actually need. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to sell Senderos and then buy a player that's a bit less rated at 5.3m pounds, as opposed to Senderos' fee, which is upwards of 6. If I were to bet I'd say we won't bring in anybody. I guess we'll see.

Now onto our rivals, firstly Sir Alex has said that Liverpool won't be able to carry on their title bid this season, saying that last season was their best in 20 years and to carry that on won't be easy. You can see why too, they've sold Xabi Alonso to Madrid, who, if they can defend, could be something to be reckoned with. I don't rate their manager as highly as everyone else does and with board room interference I can see that whole situation getting very messy. Alonso was sold for 30m or so, which is a huge price in a crazy market, which has been upset by two massively spending clubs. We could have signed him last summer for less than half of that but Wenger wasn't willing to spend more than 12m. He would have been a terrific signing, but, oh well.

Ferguson goes on to say that Chelsea are his main rivals for the title. And now moving on with our rival analysis we hit the dark side, the evil empire in blue. Chelsea have had a funny couple of years. Mourinho left after loosing to a very well organized Villa and some board room stuff and the players seemed upset. They all loved Mourinho and I suppose you can see why, they had a little fraternity. They were like the assholes from "Animal House", sitting around they’re frat house living room, wearing cardigans and smoking pipes while they reflect on their superiority and mock the guys who aren’t as good. You can just imagine Ballack, Lampard, Terry and Malouda laughing at a little boy in a Chelsea shirt in a wheelchair after they tricked him into thinking they were going to sign his ball.

In stepped Avram Grant. Jaba the Hut’s cousin had no real established European managerial pedigree. I think he came from some board room position, he may even have been the clubs sporting director. He’s obviously an intelligent man and seemed capable of managing the assholes he was in charge of. He took those assholes to the final of the Champions League where they lost on penalties and to within a point of the Premier League title and still he was sacked.

In stepped Big Phil Scolari. A manager of high caliber and reputation. He’d won a world cup, some Brazilian titles and a couple of Copa de Libertadores, the South American version of the Champions League. His eminent arrival was announced in the middle of the European Cup and subsequently Portugal, who he was managing at the time, went from potential tournament winners, having put in some blistering performances in the group stage, to sadly eliminated pre Modonnas.

Big Phil arrived in time for Chelsea’s pre season, where they toured Asia and had some other games. They stormed through their pre season with new singing Deco looking a fantastic buy, particularly as he only cost 8m pounds. They opened their league account in the same way and went over 20 games unbeaten, including their pre season. I can’t remember where it all went wrong for them, I guess a string of losses and draws in games they were supposed to win and when their chances of winning the title looked grim, out went Big Phil Scolari.

In stepped Gus Hiddink, a good friend of Abromovic and a quality international manager. Over the past several years he’s turned countries never known to have anything to do with football into forces at world and European cups. Australia, South Korea, Russia, and of course his good work with The Netherlands. He turned things around for Chelsea who challenged fairly well at the end of last season. It was too late, however, and they didn’t win the league, although they took home the FA Cup, a trophy that we used to win regularly.

Chelsea are hoping that they’ve finally found an answer to Mourinho’s departure with Carlo Ancelotti. He was a hell of a player and is now a savvy tactician, having won one Scudetto, and always going deep in the Champions League, having won it a couple of times.

His squad at AC Milan was getting on and they never looked like they were making progress with a seriously aging back fou…everything, Pato and Kaka being exceptions of course. The move looked good for all parties, as he’s clearly capable of managing high profile players, maybe because he was such a talent himself.

Looking at his squad at Chelsea he has a lot of internationals, most of who are 28 or older. They’ve got some younger guys like Petr Cech and Essien and Ivanovic and some youngerer guys like Kalou and Obi Mikel (who I think is really very good and will give Essien a good fight this season) and some really young guys who I doubt will be anywhere near the first team, except for maybe Mancienne.

They are well stocked in pretty much every position with four center backs that would all likely be first choice at Arsenal. They’ve got Drogba and Anelka and if they let Kalou go they’ll be a little light up front with only youngsters like new signing Daniel Sturridge to cover, although I suppose that Shevchenko can come good, but I doubt it. (A real shame what happened to him, he used to be one of my favorite players.) They do have a slight problem in midfield however, with an overstock of central midfielders without a lot of width. They’ve brought over Yuri Zhirkov who’ll help with that, it’ll be interesting to see what formation they choose to play.

Chelsea’s major problem for the last few season, for me, has been that balance in the middle. Essien is deployed as a holding mid, when he’s much more useful given license to run from box to box, an all action player, Patrick Vieira in his hay day but with more pace and goals and less height of course. Obi Mikel is a much more natural holding mid and he’s very good at it. He surrenders possession a bit too often but does very well to stifle the opposition. They’ll surely be competing this season. Ballack and Lampard are essentially the same player, except that Ballack is good in the air and a total, complete and utter despicable piece of shit, perhaps the worst in football, although Drogba gives him a good run for his money. Playing Ballack and Lampard together will never win you the league, although I suppose it has come close. Deco was supposed to be the last piece of the Chelsea puzzle, a skillful player capable of individually getting the team into positions they may not otherwise be able to collectively. He turned out to be a flop and his lengthy injury has basically ended his time as an impact player at the club I think.

Malouda seemed to come good towards the end of last season, but he isn’t a natural winger, like Joe Cole, he’ll never really give you that defense splitting width, he’s more likely to wonder in field.

Their players are quality even if they are total cunts and if Ancelotti can get the correct balance in midfield and Anelka and Drogba can continue to work together well and stay injury free then the depth at the back will do the rest. They’ll be a very scary prospect that way, but this isn’t Serie A or the Champions League. English teams need more than tactics and well executed game plans, they need that something extra, that something special that comes from camaraderie and spirit, that comes when you’re up against it and need to work together to get out. Like movies where aliens take over the world and previously warring countries have to come together to fight and save the world. That’s something I don’t see Chelsea having and certainly something I can’t see Ancelotti instilling. His style is slow and boring and he likes to grind out games, which I suppose will suit Chelsea but I don’t think it’ll give them what it takes. To be honest I quite like the appointment the more I think about it. Chelsea playing snoozers all season and getting bad press will make me feel better when we give up a 2 goal lead in the last three minutes of a game.

My concern in head to head battles with Chelsea is that if we play a similar 4 3 3 as we have been, as they do, they will have the edge in physicality and when there is a man for man marking situation it’ll count for that much more. Should we play a 4 4 2 and really expose them down the wings with our awesome wingers and if our skillful forwards can wriggle free of Alex and Terry to finish we can beat them well and good, not the way we did last season with a sub par performance and an offsides goal, although it did make up for the one that Robin scored against them a few years back that shouldn't have been disallowed, but with a real performance, an attractive display, a spirited display. They'll be the Aliens, we'll be the world.

I guess I just don’t see Song and Denilson being able to take on Ballack, Lampard and Essien. Diaby is capable but has never shown any signs of materializing and he’s fucking injured again! And of course, either way, we’ll have to see if Vermaelen and Co can deal with Drogba, who on his day can be near unplayable, he’s so strong and good in the air.

We won’t play until November and by then the league will be shaping up nicely and both teams will have established their formation and style of play and we’ll have a much better idea of what we are and what we’ll be dealing with.

Highbury86