¿Y si Guti no hubiera jugado en el Real Madrid?. El otro dia volviendo de Madrid de realizar un reportaje, cámara al hombro-ya os adelantaré algo-, me paré a pensar en un jugador, José María Gutiérrez, Guti. Aquel que me conoce sabe que no soy para nada subjetivo en este asunto. No me gusta Guti. Lo siento, pero no le trago. Creo que solo existen dos deportistas a los que odie al mismo nivel, Lebron James y Cristiano Ronaldo. No tengo explicación. Se me atravesaron en su momento de manera irrecuperable. No quiero negar sus cualidades, solo digo que no me gustan.

Pero no quiero hacer de esto una crítica a Guti. No discuto que sea un buen futbolista, con un gran último pase. Pero ya, no acepto más. No voy a aceptar el marketing realizado desde Madrid y sus medios de comunicación para ensalzar la figura a la altura de crack mundial. Han tratado siempre de poner a Guti a la altura de Xavi, por aquella manía madridista de ser siempre los que más. Pero esta vez no funcionó. Xavi es el mejor mediocentro del mundo y Guti tan solo un jugador muy irregular con un buen último pase. Lo siento señores del Marca, pero es así.

Eduardo Inda, director de Marca

Y por fin llegamos al punto cumbre. El diario Marca es el gran culpable de ello. Desde que Unidad Editorial se hiciera con el diario, y Eduardo Inda se convirtiera en cabeza visible del mismo, su tendencia favorable hacia el Real Madrid se ha multiplicado por mil. Pero este artículo no es para hablar del madridismo del Marca-algo que trataremos pronto-, sino para hablar de Guti. Porque, aunque sea de manera subliminal, nos han intentado colar a Guti como un Xavi, Cesc, Silva o Iniesta. Por ello, siempre se le requería en la selección. Pero Guti no es, ni ha sido uno de los cinco mejores medios de España. ¿Por qué iba entonces? Porque jugaba de blanco.

Por lo tanto, cada vez que lean la editorial del señor Inda hablando de que Guti es un genio para él, o al director adjunto del Marca, Santiago Segurola decir que el 14 blanco es un incomprendido y qué es un jugador fascinante; piensen que es la voz de la imparcialidad la que les habla. Esa voz rellena de peloteo cual pastel, cuya guinda es una jugosa exclusiva blanca. Así es el periodismo en este país. Este será mi mundo, y lucharé como pueda por cambiarlo.

Me quedo con una frase de Jose Ramón de la Morena: “nos han dejado sin partido”. Fue una pena que el árbitro castigara con tarjeta roja una entrada por detrás a Busquets. Es cierto que el jugador fue al bulto sin intención de jugar la pelota, pero no fue para tanto.

Lo cierto es que a partir de ese lance el partido se convirtió en un coñazo en toda regla. España, a pesar del resultado, nunca jugó al 100% desde ese momento. Una pena, ya digo. Porque antes, lo que parecía un homenaje al campeón de Europa, se había convertido en una encerrona. Los austriacos llevaban 8 días concentrados para el partido y vaya si salieron enchufados. Se pusieron por delante tras un jugadón por la derecha cuyo pase atrás terminó en la red tras rebotar en Sergio Ramos. La que le hacen a Busquets en banda es para hacérselo mirar. Un jugadón. España ni se inmutó y pocos instantes después el marcador era 1-2. Primero Cesc, tras un gran pase de Silva, y posteriormente Villa (que se acerca vertiginosamente a las cifras de Raúl), al aprovechar una asistencia de Initesta, pusieron por delante a España. Había sido un espejismo, pero el partido prometía. Hasta que en el minuto 26´, el árbitro le quito la salsa. Con 11 era difícil que Austria plantase cara a España. Con 10, sencillamente imposible. España siguió haciendo ocasiones y Villa, quién si no, materializó el 1-3 con algo de suerte. Debió disparar a la primera pero su control y posterior toque con la izquierda encontraron el único hueco posible bajo el cuerpo del portero. Sentencia y siesta.

La segunda parte no fue precisamente buena. Salió la segunda unidad y España nunca jugó como equipo. Navas se jugó todas las que le llegaron, y el medio campo no era el adecuado para mantener la pelota. Marchena y Cesc no pueden jugar a lo mismo y se notó. El equipo perdió pausa y entró al trapo buscando cada vez el último pase. Una lástima porque deslució un poco la cosa. En cualquier caso, Pablo y Güiza aprovecharon la ocasión para hacer su golito. Lo del gitano Güiza es de traca. Tuvo media en la segunda parte, y terminó en la red.

Para terminar me gustaría hablaros de Cesc. No tengo ninguna duda de que se trata de un gran jugador; muy aprovechable en la Selección. Sin embargo me da la impresión de que juega a otra cosa que los demás. Perdió miles de balones ayer; se ofuscó en pases imposibles y quiso encontrar el último pase a cada ocasión. A su alrededor, Xavi, Silva, Iniesta y Villa, jugaban a otro ritmo, la pedían y se iban para volver a encontrarse. Cesc nunca supo interpretar eso y fue una pena.

LA MANO DE HENRY

Al ver el resúmen de la injusticia le dije a mi padre que después de la que se lió por un globo, en mi opinión era mucho peor lo de la mano del jugador del Barça. No es que le pegue, es que se la acomoda escandalosamente antes de pasarle la pelota a su compañero. Es indignante que un árbitro profesional no vea eso. Es que simplemente no me lo creo. Pobres irlandeses, se beberían toda las pintas del mundo para olvidarlo…

The debate over Fab’s future is not about Fab; it’s about Club identity.  Crucially, Fab gets this.  This is why he has committed to the Arsenal and we are watching him achieve his ridiculous potential.  If not last year, it’s true this year: he knows Barca does not truy want him.  Barca just wants to say they were able to buy him.  But Arsenal (us) love Fab and Fab loves us -you can see it in the passion .  The putrid stench emanating from Old Camp, i.e. Laporte, is about the rise of Arsenal and the fall of Barca. So until Fab rips out my heart and grinds it into the pitch with his cleats, I’ll hear no more about him leaving; I’ll carry no insecurity.  I believe.  And so should you.  Fab is Arsenal, Arsenal is Fab.

Unfortunately, the battle over Fab is less about the man and more about the Clubs. Namely, Club identity and status.  The battle between Arsenal and Barca is not zero-sum; the Arsenal’s gain has been Barca’s loss, and not just Fab, but we’re talking competition for a global brand, culture, and leadership in how to play the game.  The Arsenal’s rise challenges Barca because it’s an English team, with money, organization and a global presence.  This discussion is much bigger than a blog, so lets just focus on the proxy battle of the day: Fantastic Fab.

The signing of Fab speaks to Arsenal’s new identity since the Professor has taken over.  Arsenal is now one of the big boys, not just in Europe, but globally.  Talent from all over the world know Arsenal and want to play for Arsenal.  Indeed, Fab’s story plays far and well to young talent in Brazil, Italy and Ghana.    On the other hand, the rise of the Arsenal didn’t occur in a vacuum.  While other teams also scour the world with global reputations, only Barca, essentially, held a special status for its way of playing the beautiful game.  Thus, while the talent pool has gone global and more teams have joined the elite, this particular war is strictly between A and B.

Over the last 15 years or so, the Arsenal identity has matured in very clear steps: (1) globalize the team, (2) develop young talent, (3) create a global brand and scouting network, (4) now, play beautiful football.  Put in more simple terms: win, win again, start to develop winners, then play how you want.  Fab fit into the latter stages of this plan.  The team was winning, a la the Invincibles, and the Arsenal formed a global brand.  Then, by bringing in a young talent through the ranks the Arsenal showed the opportunity existed for a young player.  An action that has been crucial to defining the Arsenal ability to identify and develop young talent.  Today, young talent choose the Arsenal because they see Fab’s story; and, they see one of truly global elite Clubs.  They also see a team that plays the kind of football they want to play: free-flowing and beautiful.

On other side of the coin, Barca was, well, Barca.  Already one of the global elite, Barca prided itself on developing talent.  This pride was their downfall.  Fab’s class of players was particularly talented.  As a result, the club could afford to ignore him.  Yes, Barca wanted to offer a contract, but football, like life, is about more than money.  Opportunity matters, especially to a young player trying to make his mark.  So Fab left to greener pastures, and this is where everything gets twisted by the Catalans.

Barca lost Fab because of Barca, not the Arsenal.  Barca lost a homegrown talent! to a team that sought to emulate Barca’s skills in developing young players.  But contrary to the whining on Las Ramblas, the Arsenal didn’t steal a player with Barca DNA; the Arsenal saw a diamond on the floor while Barca were too busy staring into their golden mirror.  What’s worse, the diamond doesn’t think the golden mirror is all that special after all.  Every year Fab’s interest in Barca fades and his commitment to the Arsenal grows.  Every year we are witness to a rising passion, a harder hitting player and a kiss of the badge that tells us the Arsenal is Fab’s home.

This puts Barca in a bad position.  Barca must try to prize Fab away; not because they need or want him, but because they lost him and haven’t been able to get him back.  They need to show they didn’t lose a homegrown player, they need to show they can develop talent (hence the DNA claim), they need to show they are a bigger team than the Arsenal; or, somehow, that B comes before A.

I suspect in the last year, Fab has come to realizes this.  In fact, his skill and leadership this year is a direct result of him finally becoming comfortable with himself, as a professional, as an Arsenal player.  Someday Fab may leave, for his swan song in his grandfather’s land, but I doubt that day is soon, nor would I begrudge him a retirement pasture.

Truly, the only threat to Fab leaving is a lack of trophies, not now, but next year.   Should the Arsenal go trophy-less this year, next year would be the big question mark as the pressure would increase.  Really, the question would be whether Arsene makes a big splash for new players and re-hauls the team next summer.  That being said, Fab is committed to at least two years because the Club committed to him.  Not winning trophies would say as much about Fab as about Arsenal.  Arsene built the team around Fab; something Barca, make no mistake, will never do.  At Club B, he’s a trophy to bring back lost glory; at the Arsenal, he is the glory.  And Fab knows it too.

-the student

Ya tenemos a las 32 selecciones clasificadas para el Mundial de Sudáfrica. Las últimas en obtener su billete han sido Argelia, Grecia, Eslovenia, Portugal Uruguay y Francia. Los bleus lo han conseguido de manera escándalosa.

En la ida habían ganado 0-1 en Irlanda. En el partido de vuelta, en Saint Dennis, Robbie Keane empató la eliminatoria, que se fue a la prórroga. En el tiempo extra llegó lo más escándaloso que se ha visto en un campo de fútbol desde hace tiempo. Falta frontal que bota Francia. Squilacci, en fuera de juego, intenta llegar al balón. La jugada se debería haber anulado ahí, pero no. La pelota le llega a Henry, que toca el balón con la mano ¡dos veces! Después, Gallas remachó en boca de gol.

Francia no debería ir al Mundial. Una acción tan grave y tan injusta no puede dejar a Irlanda sin Mundial, sólo porque su rival era Francia. Si la FIFA busca impartir justicia en el fútbol, debería repetirse la prórroga. Aunque nos habríamos ahorrado toda esta polémica (y lo que vendrá en los días próximos) si se permitiera el uso del vídeo en casos como éste. Podría funcionar con un cupo, como el ojo de halcón en el tenis. Mientras esto siga así, el deporte rey verá cómo se queda atrás tecnológicamente y se sigue calentando el ambiente con polémicas que podrían ahorrarse perfectamente.

P.D: España vive días dulces. Antes éramos nosotros los que íbamos a las repescas. Ahora, mientras otros se la juegan a todo o nada, la Selección española disfruta de un partido amistoso en su paraíso particular, Viena. Los de Vicente del Bosque golearon por 1-5 a los austriacos, con goles de Cesc, Villa (2), Güiza y Pablo Hernández. Con esta goleada nos despedimos de la Selección hasta marzo.

So recently we have won the last two games 4-1, against AZ and Wolves.

Fabregas scored 3 goals and Nasri, Diaby and Arshavin scored one each and finally, two Wolves own goals completed our impressive goal scoring form.

They were brilliant performances against ordinary teams. We have played outstanding football and the team seem to be playing for eachother.  Passing the ball, when they have the opportunity to turn and shoot, to a player in a better position to score.  Arshavin was the key man against AZ, with 3 assists.  He often looks very lazy in games, but what he does do with the ball is know exactly when to pass it and exactly who to pass it to.  He can beat a man and he can score goals.  Which is alot better than our last Eastern European wide man *cough* Hleb *cough*

Im not going to talk to much about the games because we played brillaint football and thats what you want to see.  I was impressed with Nasri’s finish against AZ, he showed real composer in his comeback start. Its nice to see we can score goals from all around the team.

However, one person who has been key to putting goals on a plate for other players, is RVP who was recently seen doing this….

Reports are saying 3-4 weeks and others are saying months.  Whatever it is it’s going to be a long time.  We have lost our lanky Dane to injury and god knows where Carlos Vela is.  So we are left with Eduardo anddd ermmmmmm ermmmm…it will give the chance for Sanchez Watt and other young strikers from our reserves.  I guess it could give the chance for Arshavin to play up front and show why he wants to play centrally.  Maybe not that far up the field but you never know with the little Russian he could prove to be a class striker for us.

So yes, if you want reasons for not playing pointless friendlies, look at RVP’s injury against the Italians.

However, saying that yesterday I watched our young Welshman by the name of Aaron Ramsey absolutley destroy the Scots.  He was on a different level to all the players on the field. Saying that all the players on the field were Championship players including Darren Fletcher, he couldnt carry his scottish team by providing an assist, a pre-assist (think Hleb) and a wonderful solo goal.

Thats all really, this post has particularly hard for me to write because I have recently broken my wrist playing football. I just fell over, and didnt realise until I was driving home that my wrist was swelling up at an alarming rate.  So no football for 6 weeks and maybe surgery after I have my cast taken off.  So my post will be short and to the point.

I HATE NOT BEING ABLE TO PLAY FOOTBALL. DAMN YOU POWERLEAGUE, DAMN YOU.

So our now good friend Kroenke Tonk Stan has today brought his holding in the club to 29.9%, edging him ever closer to the 29.99% threshold that would require him to make a formal offer for the club.

It’s interesting to see him edging closer to that mystical figure, but to be honest I don’t think that he will do anything until next May or June as waiting until then would result in him saving some £88m as he could buy shares at the £8,500 mark as opposed to the £10,250 (if my memory serves me correctly) that he would be required to offer should he hit/pass 29.99% before then as the latter figure is the highest sum he has paid for shares in the last few months and which takeover rules dictate that he would be required to pay.

No point in speculating any more at this point as due to Kroenke Tonk Stan’s silent ways we don’t really know what his plans are. All we do know is that he does things in a much more dignified and Arsenal-esque way than that big fat Uzbeki. If he does make a move at some point, the most important thing is that he doesn’t do it by burdening the club with huge debt like has happened to ManUre and Liverpool.

Last night saw us give AZ Alkmaar a good seeing to with a great performance from the team which saw two more goals from Cesc, who really is in fine form of late, with one each for Nasri and Diaby. It was good to put in yet another strong performance and we seem to have made the Emirates a bit more fortress-like this season, which is good to see. Perhaps it is finally starting to become our real home now, although Highbury will never be forgotten as it was such a magical place to watch a game.

Anyway, short and sweet today. Have things to do.

Take it easy. I’m off to listen to the Rolling Stones…

Example of a bad pun

Is it just me or does the sports media love to use terrible puns all the time? Recently with the World Series going on between the Yankees and Phillies, it seems that everyone has forgotten the letter “f” and replaced it whenever possible with the “ph”. Why? It’s far from clever and completely unnecessary. I’ll admit I do enjoy a good pun but they are so infrequent that I’m surprised when they come along. It’s like you spend your life target shooting tin cans and never see any game and all of a sudden a giant bull moose appears and you’re like “whoa that’s crazy”. Being a fan of a soccer team named the “Gunners” the media seems to want to use the term as often as possible. Such as “Is Cesc gunner leave?” or “Arsenal gunning for the Title”, it’s almost insulting that someone would think to themselves, yes that is the best title I can possibly think of for this article. It just blows my mind. I am begging anyone and everyone “please! STOP IT!!” Think of the children, they already have enough problems spelling and when they ask you why feat is spelled “pheat” just tell them the author is dumb and save them the talk about what puns are.

It’s November already! Pretty amazing how time flies! I know I say that all the time. It’s been one and a half months since the most drama unfolded, and truckloads have changed and happened since then.

I guess it’s right to say it’s sad, but some things just can’t go back to the way they once were. Letting go of all I’ve held on to… made things better. I don’t feel as stifled as before, and things at home are gradually returning to the way they used to be. That’s the difference between people you love and the people you like. With the people you love, you find acceptance. Then there is the whole forgive and forget, and living life like it used to be. That did not happen with everyone, because those feelings were too raw to understand and accept. I guess that’s why family is so important. And of course, my loved ones. Time is never disregarded. It is, and will always be, a crucial determinant.

It’s the people who take time to understand you who really love you after all.

I’ve been listening to the radio quite frequently of late because the radio’s always on in the car. Singing along keeps me awake in massive traffic jams!

Well, October was a really disappointing month for me. I didn’t get to do Oktoberfest or Halloween, and my 21st birthday didn’t turn out so well. I hope my bad luck left with the month!

My Halloween was pretty decent though! Cesc captained his first London derby against our bitter rivals Spurs. And he was awesome! We thrashed them 3-0 (could have been more if Eduardo hadn’t been so wasteful!!) and Cesc had a fantastic solo effort which culminated in a really nice goal. Robin netted twice, which was fantastic too. I think it had something to do with me and my wonderful jersey! I love the home kit!!

Speaking of football, Champions League is on tonight! I have to remember to check the score tomorrow when I wake up.. and not be late for school!! It’s insane when the rain doesn’t stop pouring down like a waterfall and you’re late and there’s no parking. Or maybe, it’s just what you call a typical day in Caryn’s life. I’m not exactly the luckiest person out there!!

Well, at least I’m done with my long essay! 1700 words is pretty amazing! I know I exceeded the word limit, but I’m past caring! The work is done, now sleep beckons!

Note to self: Study, study, study!

Hola!

We’ll start today’s blog with some bad news, which is not good, I know, but then, bad news is never good anyways. Erm. Let me get back to the news. Sky Sports latest says Gael Clichy has suffered a stress fracture in his lower back and it means he’ll be out of action for more than a month. I can clearly see, Kieran Gibbs getting ready to jog up and down Highbury Square and get ready for Arsenal’s next fixture, which is good, trust me. Competition for every place in the side is good.
In the same news column, Arsene has confirmed that St Nicko will be out for four weeks ‘at least’. Now, that is not good news for us, I tell you. I know many of you are like… “Hah! So what? We have Van Persie, Dudu and Arshavin” Right. I know. But my point is, we need a tall striker who can win balls from long goal-kicks, free-kicks, corners and who can mark tall morons like Peter Crouch in important matches. For the time being, the only tall guy out there is Abou Diaby. And that is more scary than ‘The Omen’ and ‘The Ring’ put together.

There is an amazing article on our captain at Goal.com. After seeing Cesc score that solo effort against Spurs, even I had this thought in my mind… “So, is he the best in the world now?” We shall wait. We shall see. Ohh, here is the article.

In some non-football news, Stan Kroenke edges towards the takeover threshold. I’ve no clue if that is good or bad news. If you think it is good news, and you have a reason for the same, please mail us to attheemirates@gmail.com

We’ll have more team news ahead of the match against AZ Alkmaar. For the time being, here are some training session snaps. Notice the huge grin on Gibbs’s face. Hehe.

We play Man Shitty on the 2nd of December in the Mickey Mouse Cup at their stupid ground.

I’ll be back with more, tomorrow.

Drink loads of water, adios!

~S~

Hola compañeros! ¿Cómo estás?

It is sad that the fun-n-frolic at The Emirates is over. We are not shouting pointless abuses at Sp*rs anymore. Robbie Keane is having a nice time playing foosball at Peter Crouch’s home as Ledley King motivates them by chanting the Sp*rs song which goes like this… “Weeee…….are the Spuds! Yes, weeeeeee… are the Spuds! We are always weeeeeeners! We are always weeeeeeeeners, but we always fuck up against the Gunnners! Ha Ha Ha! Yes, weeeeee….are the Spuds!” Some parts of that song is seriously disturbing, I tell you.

We’ll start off today’s blog with Van Persie mentioning his family life and how it has helped him in becoming a good footballer. We’ve clearly seen in the 13 years of Wenger’s tenure, the team has not only been disciplined on-field but has shown the same discipline off-the-field as well. And “that” brings about a different kind of respect for him and his players! Excellent!

As usual, we have some bull-crap coming from Sky, linking Eboue to PSG. There has been a total change in the guy’s attitude in the way he has gelled with his team-mates. The guy celebrates every goal with his mates and I recollect him giving a bear-hug to Arshavin during substitution against Sp*rs. That was so sweet, srsly! It seems, he says this… “One day I would like to play in Ligue 1. I like that league, there are a lot of surprises and developments.”. Yeah right. Who says such things? Ligue 1? Really? I don’t even consider that a league. In fact, I don’t remember anybody winning the “league” apart from Lyon in the last 62 years.

St Nicko has started dreaming about being a world-class striker, how he’ll take Arsenal to win a league treble, followed by an Euro and World Cup for Denmark picking up Golden Boots each time and how he’ll pick up the ‘Player of the Year’ for 5 consecutive years and how…Okay! It is good to have dreams, dry ones, ambitious ones and practical ones. I am not complaining.

Our captain has made a very important point about finishing off matches.
Cesc says…“On the days when we can’t score more, we need to kill the game off in other ways, by passing the ball more and keeping possession.”
Exactly! This whole story of ‘killing off games’ has cost us many a season. It has most certainly cost us Season 07-08’ afa I remember. We CANNOT repeat the same this season, if we are to lift the cup.

In other news, Wenger believes that Van Persie can reach the 25-goal mark. Let’s see, 28 games to go, 17 goals to score. Looks okay to me! But the point is, we need to win the league, it doesn’t matter to me if Vermaelen and Gallas score 15 each. WE WANT TROFEEEEEES!!

Our confident man wants to play against Man Shitty in the Mickey Mouse Cup, but I think Fran Merida is enough for those morons of Manchester. I am absolutely sure that Wenger won’t risk his front-man against ‘em.

We haven’t heard from the Arsenal physio about Bentner’s duration of the injury.

More from me, later!

Tener un buen día!

~S~

Hello to all of you reading this on a Sunday or Monday or maybe even 3 years time when you are caught reminiscing about this game making it 20 games unbeaten against Spurs.

Like the title says, 11 seconds, that is all it took for Spurs to crumble and fall to the knees (literally when Cesc went past half of the Spurs team for his goal).

To avoid rambling unnecessarily for the post here are the observations of the derby game pre, during, after match in no order.

1. A clean sheet in a derby match – makes this win extra special.

2. Spurs made defensive mistakes? So did we. Gallas handball anyone? The difference is we made it count, a sign of a top team.

3. That is 20 games unbeaten against the auld enemy. Precisely the reason why they are still playing catch up with us. I’ve lost count of how many Tottenham managers have indulged in trash talk like Redknapp’s pre match comments and fell away one by one.

4. The day will come when one day Spurs will end this record. But it takes nothing away from the fact that we have enjoyed, largely, 10 years of league bliss against them.

5. To put it into further context, even Man City beat their city rivals when they were a pretty awful side and didn’t have the financial clout they have now.

6. Keane’s big match comment was that their squad was on a par if not better than us…

7. …so how come Eduardo could have had a hatrick while Pavlyuchenko barely had a kick? Eating humble pie are we Keane?

8. This talk also lacked further substance considering Keane had failed to make it a top4 club in Liverpool.

9. Spurs aerial threat was emphatically taken apart by Vermaelen. Crouch won his share of the headers but they were meek efforts. It isn’t about how tall you are, but about the timing of the leap.

10. The fullbacks had an outstanding game. Clichy was superb on his interceptions and Sagna even managed to get 2 assists. Do you remember many occasions when Bentley and then later Bale causing us problems on the wing?

11. Song was commanding in midfield. His cause was helped further when Redknapp inexplicably decided to play Palacios in left midfield at the start. But take nothing away from Alex who got better and better.

12. Ever seen Fabregas so pumped up this season? Err, yes in almost all the games this year since he returned from injury back in April.

13. His goal reminded me of the one Henry scored against Spurs. Not as good but it still left Spurs on the knees in more ways than one.

14. 2 goals for Van Persie. Both with his weaker right foot, both very poacher-esque. Who says we haven’t got a fox in the box?

15. Towards the end Bassong fell to the floor, not because he was in awe of us but rather because he was injured. Don’t ask why but I felt sorry for him.

16. And then I remembered, one of our players got injured at White Hart Lane in February and the Spurs fans cheered him ironically. At least we had the dignity to not act in such puerile terms.

17.  To claim that we were turning on our team, prior to the goals, is to put an extremely negative spin on affairs. Our fans were awesome this game. End of.

Finally: this game was shown 4th on Match of the Day. I’m beginning to believe in that theory that someone at the BBC is a Spurs fan. How can a derby match be so low in the list? I’ll leave that and other aspects for you to focus on.

A great result against the Spuds yesterday, it has to be said! Albeit in the first half we didn’t play all that well and there were a number of passes not finding their target. That all changed in a mad minute just before the interval when a Robin Van Persie finish at the near post and a solo effort from Cesc straight from the resulting kick-off turned the game on it’s head.

I must admit that even when we got the third goal I still couldn’t relax given our tendency to be generous in defence. The manager himself appeared to feel the same and flung hi suit jacket at his seat in the dug-out in frustration.

Seeing the look on Harry Redknapp’s face twitching away on the bench was priceless. It was nice too to stick it to that muppet Robbie Keane for suggesting that Spurs have a stronger squad than ours. someone should tell him that an older squad doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a better squad. I’ve secured an exclusive picture of Robbie Keane which can be seen below.

Elsewhere our young Dane, who is now out for up to four weeks due to a groin injury that he picked up yesterday, is talking about how he intends to be the top scorer in the Premier League within the next five years. He isn’t short in self-belief or confidence. Let’s just hope that he can deliver and not just be all bluster.

Listening to the Arsecast on Friday, Arseblogger spoke about how he hoped we’d kill Spuds and Van Persie believes that he got his wish, albeit not literally, unfortunately.

Anyway, it’s been a great week for the club and I have secured myself a stone in the Armoury Square landmark, so all is good.

Apologies for the posts being sporadic, but trying to balance a job, a MA and a life means that time is at a premium. But, keep the faith.

Face à l’austérité généralisée pour cause de récession économique majeure en 2009, la société civile polynésienne souhaite vivement que les sacrifices soient équitablement partagés, ce qui est, en soi, une preuve de sagesse remarquable.

En effet, nos gouvernants n’ont pas (encore ?) devant eux une levée de boucliers telle que les sacrifices financiers sous forme de hausse de hausse des prélèvements obligatoires (impôts et taxes notamment) soient refusés par les citoyens. Nos compatriotes voient bien que la crise est grave et qu’ils sont prêts à se serrer la ceinture à la condition expresse de respecter le principe d’équité.

A la lecture des réactions des lecteurs et des auditeurs qui s’expriment dans nos médias,  les yeux se tournent systématiquement vers nos institutions ou certains organismes publics qui gèrent des ressources publiques ou quasi-publiques conséquentes. Le récent scandale de “l’aménagement de confort” du Ministre du tourisme, installé en plein milieu du GIE  Tahiti Tourisme, “organisme de droit privé”, aux dires de ce même ministre, les renforcent dans ce sentiment d’inéquité.

Commençons par nos Institutions du Pays. Qu’en a-t-il été en 2008 ?

En ce qui concerne le Gouvernement, près de 3 milliards de F CFP ont été nécessaires au fonctionnement de la Présidence et des ministères, dont près de 2 milliards de F CFP de charges de personnel ( membres de cabinets).

L’Assemblée de la Polynésie française a disposé d’un budget de près de 2,5 milliards de F CFP, budget qu’elle gère à sa guise.

Le conseil économique social et culturel a dépensé près de 230 millions de F CFP, dont 90 millions de F CFP de charges du personnel permanent. Il a rendu 10 avis, soit un coût de 23 millions de F CFP par avis. Il faut espérer qu’à ce tarif, ces avis aient été entendus par le gouvernement et l’Assemblée….

Le Haut Conseil a coûté 80 millions de F CFP . Il a rendu 20 avis et 13 consultations juridiques, soit un coût moyen supérieur à 2 millions de F CFP par « expertise », ceci pour que le Pays ait le privilège d’édicter des actes quasi-législatifs, intitulés « loi de Pays ».

Globalement, nous nous approchons du chiffre de 6 milliards de F CFP par an, soit plus de 1 % du Produit Intérieur Brut polynésien, PIB qui connaitra en 2009 un recul “historique” comme la Polynésie n’en a pas connu depuis des décennies.

Je m’étais déjà interrogé sur les “performances” de notre système institutionnel, ceci pour respecter la logique d’évaluation des politiques publiques amorcée depuis quelques années en France métropolitaine. Il faut bien constater que cette évaluation s’est arrêtée aux frontières de la Polynésie. Si, formellement, nos politiques publiques sont déclinées en missions et en programmes, les objectifs de ces politiques et programmes ne sont pas clairement identifiés. Et sans objectifs, pas de résultats ni d’indicateurs de résultats.

Si notre classe politique veut restaurer un blason bien terni auprès des citoyens, il faudra bien qu’elle rende clairement des comptes et démontre l’efficacité de son action législative, règlementaire et administrative. Rappelons en effet que, depuis la déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen du 26 aout 1789, chacun de nous a droit à cette information.

En tout état de cause, dans la grave crise dans laquelle nous sommes, il faudra que nos institutions fassent preuve d’exemplarité. On est encore très loin du compte…

By Joe, www.Bettingexpert.com

Another clash between Wenger and Benitez in the League Cup and only one will go through.

League Cup action this midweek and old foes will be meeting up at the Emirates. Liverpool will travel to North London to meet the Gunners in the League Cup quarterfinals. Both teams have different priorities over the tournament, Arsenal looks toward their youngster to shine and they usually deliver while Liverpool will certainly put on their fringe players after they poor run in both Premier League and Champions League.

If there was one cup that Arsenal have a good chance in every year then it’s surely the League Cup. It’s the way they approach this tournament by using mainly their hungry youngsters who are eagerly to grow up. Their youngsters have sheer quality too and no matter which players Arsene Wenger put on, they will certainly do well for the team. Some key players could be spare on Wednesday, while goal keeper, Almunia, Gibbs, Ramsey, Bendtner and Nasri could be well in the contention to start against Liverpool.

Liverpool ended their 4 consecutive defeats in all competitions by rounding their arch rivals, Manchester United, 2-0 at home last Sunday. It could be a sign of better form to come but Rafa Benitez knows this is certainly one of his least prioritized tournaments and most likely give several key players the night off or at least from the bench. Expect players like Daniel Ngog, Ryan Babel, Aurelio, Dossena, Plessis and Voronin to travel to London. Benitez will do his best with the team available but certainly will not risk his key players, like Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt or Johnsen, just for this tie. Javier Mascherano is suspended for this match.

Arsenal are left frustrated after slipping in West Ham and Alkmaar for not finishing the matches off, settling for a draw in both occasion. Liverpool could well use this weakness to land further progression in this tournament. If Van Persie plays then watch out as his form is excellent, scoring 6 goals in 5 matches. Last time these two teams met in the League cup, Arsenal ran out 6-3 winner at Anfield and expect another high scoring match. Check out Betsson as they are offering Arsenal to win at odds 2.15.

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With the international break over, the fixtures are going to start coming thick and fast.  It’s too bad I just found a job here in Toronto and will have to work during the Champions League games, instead of laying on my couch at 2:45pm with a beer in one hand and a joint in the other….  Anyways, I’ll probably find some way to watch the game at work (don’t tell the boss..)

We are definitely on a hot streak at the moment and long let it continue.  Although if we were to lose a game over the next little while this would be my choice.  That said, I don’t really think Wenger will rest many players since we don’t play again til Sunday.  He won’t want to take any unnecessary risks though and I can definitely see him resting one or two first-teamers, although injuries to Rosicky and Walcott somewhat limit his options.  This would be my choice:

Almunia

Sagna—Senderos—Vermaelen—Clichy

Cesc—Song—Diaby

Eboue—Vela—Arshavin

For some reason, Wenger doesn’t mind playing Eboue in an attacking role and, to be fair, he has had a terrific season so far.  I also think its time we give Van Persie a rest and let Vela have a run out.  RVP has probably had an exhausting couple of weeks on international duty and with the birth of his new daughter.  He is in red hot form at the moment and we will need him fit and raring to go against West Ham on Sunday.

Giving Senderos a game would be good for his confidence too.  We need him to be on his toes in case anything happens to our first choice defensive pairing.  If there’s an injury to either Gallas or Vermaelen, he is next in line to step in since Djourou is a long-term absentee.

I would take Arshavin off at the first opportunity.  He was supposed to be rested on Saturday but that injury to Walcott cut it short.  Also, I would expect to see Ramsey come in for Cesc at some point too.

Anyway, enough rambling.  Take care and enjoy the game.

peace

One of the things I hate about people, life if you may, is when promises are broken. If you can’t keep ‘em, don’t make ‘em! I once told my friend I’d visit him when he was living in a different city. But due to one thing or another, I never got around to it.

If we are to believe what Ramsey has said recently, Wenger is looking to start him in 15-20 games this year. On one hand it can motivate him to train harder and maintain a good lifestyle off the pitch. But what happens when around half way through the season he hasn’t featured much? Would he still be as determined?

The trouble is where would Ramsey fit in? He would say central midfield.

But how do you solve a problem like Aaron Ramsey when he has the likes of Song,  Diaby, Denilson and perhaps most significantly Cesc ahead of him? 20 odd minutes against Blackburn 2 weeks ago, was enough for me to realise that he, IS the clone of Cesc. IF he continues to improve that is. He consistently found his long passing range and looked a class apart.

 Dare I say it, is he in the unenviable position of wishing that Cesc gets rested or worse injured so that he gets his chance.

Last year he played a couple of games on the wings, mainly the right side. I guess this was due to the injuries we had. Then again, you sign for Arsenal playing in one position and become a legend in another position. Toure and Henry spring to mind.

Wenger also does it to improve the creativity of players. Ididn’t enjoy Diaby and Denilson on the wings. But they are now better players for it.

I believe a deep-lying playmaker role is ideal for Ramsey. Which means yes, I want him as alternative DM to Song. He is as heavy as Diaby and weighs more than Song and Denilson. And his upper body strength will benefit from the hours spent in Rugby training when he was young.

His stamina will only get better and better. Positioning wise, he has shown that he is disciplined enough to maintain certain zones in midfield.

If Man Utd can get away with Carrick as their DM, we would do just fine with Ramsey as our DM. And Ramsey if he fulfils his potential will be 10 times the player Carrick is.

He’ll have his work cut out though.

Coquelin has featured on the Arsenal news this week. I like this guy. He waits for the international week, when all the players have gone away, to say

 I want to reach the first team. (You better watch out punk)

 I added that last bit, obviously.

You like me, will grow to like Coquelin if he gets more opportunities. He made his debut last like against Sheff Utd and certainly enjoyed making the odd tackle or two. And they weren’t subtle tackles either. They were crunching tackles, the ones the fans love most.

I think the Carling cup is the best he can hope for this year. But you never know with Arsene.

Don’t worry, I’m not advertising any insurance here. Not sure about the odds but you’d be very unlucky to get hurt by a paper aeroplane that’s for sure. Seriously though, have you ever been hurt by one? If so, is it as bad as David James makes it out to be? This is what he said,

They were big flares, granted, but you could argue that someone throwing a paper aeroplane on the pitch might take someone’s eye out.

Seriouslllllly now David James, what? Just how big is this paper aeroplane? And how fast is this aeroplane going? Anything else we need to consider?

Sorry that was James’ take on the flares being thrown on the pitch in the Ukraine-England match.

Now, the FA are so incensed by this (excuse the unintentional pun) that they are complaining to FIFA. You might say, what is wrong with that?

Not much, except the fans here in England recently, sporadic as cases may be, haven’t been angelic themselves.

Coin throwing, inappropriate player/manager chants (made famous in Manchester) and then there was the famous football factory reenactment at West Ham, which still hasn’t been sorted out properly. How long does it take to catch people you already know of?

And then there is the small matter of the 2018 World Cup. England hardly have any friends in International football as it is. So why antagonise Ukraine and co further? After all, England had already qualified and not many people watched the game anyway? And no one was hurt?

Surely the Fifa don’t need any spicy details from England to assess the situation? It wasn’t as if the England team were upset about it either. James and Rooney almost wanted something more sinister to happen.

Why do I care about it so much anyway you ask? It is because if England don’t win the 2018 bid, Emirates won’t see World Cup football for a bit longer. And wouldn’t that a great shame?

The ‘Cesc to Barca’ campaign has begun slightly earlier than expected. Zzzzzzzzz. Seriously I want to say no more, my views on it are readable here.

Just to add though, considering Cesc’s family circumstances, you’d expect a little restraint in these transfer stories but no. Dignity is very hard to find these days. If you haven’t read already, third-gen.com has a great article on the Arsenal-Cesc-Barca triangle. (Fifa for rectangle?)

Theo played for England the other day, got a dead leg. No big deal says Stuart Pearce. ?Yeah it is alright saying that if you only deal with him once every three months. Kevin Garside has an interesting article on Walcott in the Telegraph.

A quick mention on Notts County and their decision to fire their manager McParland. Another proof of what happens when stupid people are in power. We laugh when stuff like this happens to our top rivals like Chelsea, Liverpool.

But is it the same at Notts County? The oldest league club nearly went bust around 5 years ago. Who suffers from this the most? The Fans.

We cry about missing football for two weeks, imagine life without Arsenal full stop. Sobering thought?

In a wonderful display of attacking football, Arsenal scored six goals from six different players to win against Blackburn Rovers at home. This came as a fitting tribute to Wenger, entering into his 14th year at the club with this match. Thierry Henry was also on attendance with his family to see the young Gunners take centre-stage despite going behind twice early in the match.

A 10/10 performance from our Captain Marvellous, Cesc was sexy throughout the match. He made 4 assists and scored one in a match which was probably his best in the season so far. He was all over the place. And he made it a point to the Gooners in the stadium that he is dedicated to this club and is not going anywhere in his goal celebration. What a player, what an attitude and what a vision!!!

It didn’t start all that well for Arsenal, when a pretty long free-kick taken by Robinson was headed into the goal as Mannone found himself in no-mans-land, advancing to collect the ball but not able to do so. This was probbaly his in-experience showing in the starting minutes of the match and I can only see him learning from these mistakes. Otherwise he had a wonderful match, not that he had much to do. Arsenal found parity soon through our goal-scoring machine, no not Bendtner, but Vermaelen . He was felled near the centre of the pitch, but referee waved played-on and the ball was nicely played on to an advancing Vermaelen by Fabregas and he rocketed a shot to the right corner with his impeccable left foot.

Against the run of play, again Balckburn found the net, this time a deflection of Gallas into the goal. That was pretty much of what Blackburn could do, other than a legitimate penalty shout, which the referee did not give. Not that it mattered in the end though. Almost immediately after the second Blackburn goal, Fabregas put through van Persie, who seems to be taking these kind of goals as a regular fare these days. Please note that by this time, Arsenal were playing flowing football, with our flair players Arshavin and Rosicky involved in the thick of thinigs. Again a nice lay-off to Arshavin on the left saw the Russian squeeze a goal past Robinson. So at that time the score read 3-2.

It was not over and the second half was again Arsenal at its attacking best. And this time, Fabregas in trying to feed van Persie first and then Rosicky, got the ball back from the Czech, chested it and hit a loose left foot shot for a goal. This was a deserving finish that makes the captain our join top scorer in the league with 4 goals along with Vermaelen. Enter Theo, and he must have been barely in when a good counter attack saw Arshavin pass the ball to Cesc, who had the vision to see Walcott coming on the right to lay the ball on his path. A neat finish from Walcott was all it required and that was what he did precisely. 5-2.

The captain was substituted to a thunderous applause and in came Bendtner and Ramsey to play out the final 15 odd mins. Bendtner got time to increase his goal tally with a glorious finish with his right foot, which was a nearly impossible stop for Robinson. All’s well and that ends well. Despite letting in 6 goals, Paul Robinson had a decent game otherwise it would have been some 8 or 10 goals!!!

Top scorers for Arsenal in the Premier League

Fabregas, Vermaelen – 4 goals

van Persie – 3 goals

Arshavin, Diaby, Eduardo, Gallas - 2 goals

Bendtner, Denilson, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott - 1 goal

Cesc Fabregas gave Blackburn the boot and then told pundits linking him with Barcelona to kiss-off.

Arsenal’s Spanish wizard netted once and set up four other goals in the Gunners’ 6-2 comeback win.

And the midfielder claimed he kissed Arsenal’s badge after scoring to show he is fed up with transfer talk.

Fabregas said: “I am committed to this club. It is my seventh season here.

“It is hard to hear people saying I am not committed. It was a good time to show I love this club.”

The playmaker, 22, claimed the Gunners can still improve — despite hitting six for the second time this season.

He said: “We did not do well in the first 10 to 15 minutes and were a bit shaky defensively.

“But after the goal we did well and it was a good game.

“We can do better — it is just one more game in the race for the title.

“I am happy with all the team’s performance.”

The Sun

Vermaelen, Van Persie, Arshavin, Cesc, Walcott, Bendtner.  6 goals from 6 different players.

Cesc was a 10 out of 10.  One goal and FOUR assists, unbelieveable.  Whenever you get a player who seems to dismantle another team singlehandedly, its difficult not to think “One man team”.  But that is definitely NOT the case.   We played so fluidly all over the pitch that the brilliance of Fabregas was galvanized by it.  He was simply given the platform to perform and my god did he take the opportunity!

But as I say, the entire team were terrific.  The link-up play was efficient and the finishing effective.

Vermaelen is quickly moving up the ranks as best centre-back in the league.  He already has 4 premier league goals this season (Vidic scored 4 for the entire previous campaign).  And what a strike it was!  Its amazing to think that’s already his second time scoring a goal like that.  What a player he is.

Some very cynical people will come out of that game and point at the 2 goals conceded and think we are still looking leaky at the back.  The only thing I can say to that is we didn’t at any time look rattled.  We always looked confident that we would score, which isn’t an attribute we’ve had in recent seasons.  Last year for an example, if we went a goal behind early, there were very real concerns that we would not necessarily get one back.  Todays second goal just made palpable how quickly we can turn it on when we need to.  We are scoring goals for fun and to think Walcott just made he first appearance of the season and we still have Eduardo and Nasri to come back.

Speaking of Walcott it was great to see both him and Bentdner get on the scoresheet.  And what beautiful goals too!  Hopefully that will open the flood-gates a little bit for Bendtner.  He looks like the type of player who needs the confidence of a really good goal before he starts to score on a regular basis.

It would have been a perfect weekend for us if Liverpool could held Chelsea to a draw, but they didn’t.  If I were a Liverpool fan, I’d be pretty annoyed by their performance today and wonder what the hell Benayoun has to do to get in the team ahead of Lucas.

Anyways, its time for another one of those dreaded International breaks. ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…….

peace

Greetings from a rainy Yokohama. The weather has been a bit rubbish over the past day or two, but still warm so I suppose I can’t complain too much.

The midweek Champions League game saw us dominate and beat Olympiakos 2-0 with goals from Robin Van Persie and Arshavin and assists coming from Eduardo and Cesc respectively. The Arshavin goal, although clearly offside, was a great finish.

Thursday saw Wenger become the longest serving manager in the club’s history and it is fitting that the man who has brought about the greatest seismic shift in the fortunes of the club and the quality of football that it plays should go down in history as our longest serving manager. Clubs that change their manager at the drop of a hat should take note; faith and longevity breads improvement and success.

This weekend sees us taking on Blackburn and that cunt Big Fat Sam. He couldn’t even bring himself to pay the boss any kind of meaningful compliment on his achievement. At least Fergusmoan gave the boss a better compliment. So, let’s hope that we stuff those cunts on Sunday.

Eduardo and Almunia are out of the game tomorrow, as are Denilson, Djourou, Nasri and Fabianski. However, Bendtner should recover from his car accident last Sunday and Walcott is in contention for a return to action. Arshavin has alluded to a niggling knee injury and let’s hope that is doesn’t escalate and keep him out of the side.

Elsewhere, Cesc says that the boss is a god, Xavi says that Cesc should zzzzzzzzzz. there has also been some talk that someday Henry will return to Arsenal in some capacity and I for one would love to see that happen. He was, and still is, a true Arsenal legend and for him to still watch reserve and youth games on Arsenal TV while in Barcelona shows that he still has a strong love for the club. Hopefully he can come back in some capacity after he hangs up his boots at Barca.

That’s about that for today. Take it easy.

Our best performance since Goodison Park, no question.  One could argue it was an even better performance because we were actually up against competent defending.  It certainly was our most attractive display this season and it was nice to see us play with some of that flair we have missed in recent weeks.

It was great to watch Arshavin, Rosicky, Cesc, and Van Persie all on the pitch at the same time.  Some of the link-up play was a joy to watch – we haven’t passed the ball like that, with such slick movement and purpsoe, for a long time.  I think Rosicky had a big influence on that.  He seems to bring Fabregas and Van Persie more into the game, almost galvanising them.  He was no doubt disappointed to be taken off, but we scored about 5 minutes after and the result was the most important thing.

Van Persie played his best game so far this season.  He seemed to have an extra yard of pace to him.  He actually looked like he could run very fast which I’ve never seen from him before.  He was also holding the ball up well and distributing efficiently.  It looks like he is starting to show the form we’ve seen from him in seasons pasts and that can only mean trouble for the rest of the Premier League.  Now all he needs is to fire in one of his free-kicks and we’ll definitely be in business.

Arshavin also played his best game for us this season.  He was taking on and getting past defenders with ease at times and it was great for him to get on the scoresheet.  He will definitely be a key player for us in the Champions League as he has that ability to unlock pretty much any defense in the world.

Next up its Blackburn at home in the league before another boring International break.  It’s also the official return of Theo Walcott.  More on that later in the week.

peace