Arsenal got into the knockout stages of the Champions League for the tenth straight year with a 2-0 win against Standard Liege. There were injury problems though after the match with Gibbs being sidelined for close to 3 months with a fractured metatarsal and this after he came back from a minor injury to feature in this match. Gallas had a clash of head with Arshavin and was subed midway. Wenger though in his post match interview has said

Gallas has a slight ankle problem and a swollen eye. I think he will recover from the eye and the ankle soon.

Though he didn’t mention by when, I assume he meant before the weekend match. Gibbs he said was more serious.

Nasri capitalised on a defensive slip up and slotted in the first goal. He along with Fabregas controlled the midfield throughout the match. The second came from a Denilson long ranger. Playing in his 100th match, Denilson took his chance and drilled a wonderf ul shot from outside the penalty box high into the box.

Fabregas earned a unnecessary yellow card in the fag end of the match which resulted in the Standard player being sent off for a “headbutt”.

So now all set for the season-defining sunday thriller against Chelsea.

Over the weekend there were a number of football internationals, I even talked about one in my Monday blog (England Vs Brazil). Now I want to talk about football internationals again, specifically Arsenal players always seeming to get injured in them. It’s true, at least one of Arsenal’s top players always gets injured during the international breaks. This time it’s the turn of Robin Van Persie whose leg has fallen off or something will be out for 6 weeks. Van Persie, by the way, has scored 8 goals in the last 9 games for Arsenal so at least he wasn’t in form. Wait…

It’s not just Van Persie though, Kieren Gibbs also got injured playing for the under 21’s and he is set to be out for a while as well. Bendtner aswell has to have surgery on his groin and will be out for a month. In fact, now I come to think about it, half of Arsenals team always seem to be injured. Lets go through the current injury list, so as well as Gibbs, Van Persie and Bendtner being injured so are; Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski, Wilshire and Djourou. And Nasri just returned from a broken leg and Rosicky was out forever with a mystery injury that lasted longer than the 100 years war.

What the hell is going on at Arsenal?! Do they practice with guns or something? Having listed all of the injuries though Arsenal are still second in the league and are doing nicely in all of the competitions. How long can that last with half the team out is a good question, only one way to find out really…

With RVP unavailable for a while, predictably, the consensus is that Eduardo will take the baton from the Dutchman. However, the way the media has chosen to focus on Eduardo is almost as if the guy has next to zero credibility compared to Robin.

Admittedly, the Croatian hasn’t been at his best (considering he is 26, I suppose we should wait another year at least for that).

Still, 2 goals and 3 assists in 12 appearances (7 of those as a substitute) isn’t the worst return for a man who was given a rather peripheral role. I also believe his deflected shot vs Wolves could have been awarded to him, although the striker in me would always say that.

The non-Arsenal world knows what Eduardo is capable of and within a few games, he’ll show just how small Van Persie’s boots really are.

Nasri won’t have the Song role in January

The reason being that he offers much more offensively. Putting him in Alex’s DM role means, according to Wenger, we lose out on that. Wenger also added Nasri is attracted forward and has a little handicap in the air compared to other players.

Interesting.

We could say the same about Diaby couldn’t we? “Attracted like a magnet to the opposition goal?” said Wenger after that AZ win. And some still think that Diaby can’t head the ball or at least in the right direction. I’m just saying. Don’t shoot the messenger as I’ve been quite supportive of Diaby since Denilson got injured.

Incidentally Denilson is due to a return soon isn’t he? Yeah, don’t forget this is the guy who was statistically the best (or 2nd best?) defensive midfielder last year. Sorry to dampen the anticipation of us signing that hard man in January. I can’t see it happening.

Back to the attracted-to-the-opposition-goal-like-a-magnet. I’ve just realized we could say that about every player on the pitch. Even the goalkeeper? Why not? You’ve seen Fabianski charge forward in his sweeping role haven’t you? There.

Eboue’s after football plans revealed!

Ah that would be his desire to be like Eddie Murphy. In his interview on the club website, Eboue says that he would “love to be an actor in Hollywood” as he always (tries) to make people happy.” Yes Eboue you make me happy but the sky is a thunderous grey when one you lose possession like a million times and two when you keep diving. You know, Hollywood wouldn’t be too impressed with his antics sometimes or would they? Maybe a role in pantomime beckons for Eboue after football?

I’ll leave with a joke from Eddie Murphy’s RAW that is applicable in Eboue’s case. Please note that they aren’t my views and where possible I’ve tried to hide the offensive sounding words. So no accusations of me being racist here now alright.

Eddie Murphy on race and dancers,

White people can’t dance. I’m not being racist; it’s true. Just like when white people say black people have big lips, it’s not racist; it’s true. Black people have big lips, white people can’t dance. Some brothers will be in the club and white people are like, “What are those n****** doing in here?” They watchin’ y’all dance. And they’re like, “Look at these crazy mutha******.” Y’all be stepping on people’s feet and hitting one another.

PS: There are good white dancers around. As a matter of fact I even taught one the basics of Salsa. Amongst famous people you have Mr Timberlake and that guy from X Factor, Olly. Feel free to leave your suggestions on the best dancer, regardless of skin colour.

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…

Tricked you

Ok. I’ll admit if you think that’s lame but that pretty much sums up the match doesn’t it. Andrey Arshavin had a blast as Arsenal met (thrash) Alkmaar in the Champions League encounter last night. Qualification is not mathematically secured yet but it would take a miraculous set of results for Arsenal not to go through.

For all of Ronald Koeman’s superb record against Wenger’s Arsenal, he knew that with the latest team he had, they have a mountain to climb to claim anything from this game. Alkmaar came into the game very much prepared to defend, defend and defend. These are the games which previous Arsenal squads have failed to break down. For the moment, we have not witness the same thing this season.

As expected Gibbs came in for the injured Clichy while on the other flank, our weekend assists hero, Bacary Sagna got the rest he deserved as Eboue deputised for him at right back. This allow Wenger to field Nasri and generally put out a more attacking side than he normally would in an European tie. While Eboue put in a steady shift, he does not seem to be himself yesterday. The exuberance was gone from his game and there was less forays into the opposition half than normally expected. Defensively I have no qualms. Was he sick?

Fabregas continued his wonderful scoring streak with another 2 well taken goals. First, he cut in-field and sent a low shot passed the despairing dive of Romero in the Alkmaar goal. The ball moved very slowly even on the watered surface but Romero’s reaction was even slower. It was perfect for us because it meant that Alkmaar would’ve to come out from their shell and we would have more space to roam.

His second early in the second half sealed the tie. Collecting Arshavin’s inch perfect through ball, he was too smart for the Argentinian keeper who was expecting a shot to the far corner when instead Fabregas chose the near post to plant the ball into the net.

Which makes me wonder just a bit. There’s always a tendency for professional players to shoot the ball in certain directions, which in a way makes it easier for the keeper to react when the movement of the ball is expected. If you think you can score this type of goal in the park or when playing with friends, then you are mistaken. As amateurs, we always need to emulate the professionals to look good. While sometimes for the professionals themselves, they need a little bit of Sunday football stuffs.

Nasri got the second goal towards the end of the first half. What I absolutely love about this goal is the way he just used his body movement to sent an Alkmaar defender sprawling without so much as moving the ball. Diaby scored a good breakaway goal late in the second half to seal a comprehensive victory for Arsenal that started with Eduardo’s mischievous back-heel pass for Arshavin. Diaby had another solid if not spectacular game in the middle of the park tonight.

Now, if you read my comments for this season, there has been many posts in which I was not happy with the contribution of Arshavin. In fact, this season as far as I can remember, he has underperformed in my eyes. Is the bar set too high? Were we spoilt by his performance in his first 6 months at the club? I don’t think it’s either. For someone who is as good as him, we need to expect a certain level of performance from Arshavin. What makes it even more disappointing is his workrate when his game isin’t working for him. However it was a different Arshavin that put on the no. 23 shirt yesterday. He was making the runs, being unselfish and tracking back when necessary. That 3 of the goals Arsenal scored yesterday can be contributed to him for the assist is an example of the kind of level he can perform. He won’t be able to that every single match but I sure would like to see more commitment and I’m hoping yesterday’s game will kick-start his season.

The European journey continues.

I’ll start off today with a little announcement, we have another author joining us at 1nil2thearsenal. Phatosas is a dedicated gunner whom I respect his opinions and thoughts on Arsenal and therefore will be writing here whenever he is inspired to write something about Arsenal. All of you who know me from the ESPN Soccernet board know him as well. Welcome him to our blog and don’t be afraid to give him some shit.

Anyways, back to the match. Arsenal put on a beautiful display of attacking football yesterday to beat AZ 4-1. 2 goals from Fabregas, with Diaby and Nasri adding on each themselves kept our 100% record at home in tact and let Wenger finally get up the upper hand on Koemen. With Standard getting a 2-0 result over Olympiacos we haven’t guaranteed passage onto the next round, but it gave us a 4 point lead in the group and we will surely continue on to winning it.

Recap:

Wenger put out the formation I predicted in the preview post, Almunia in goal with a Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelen, and Gibbs back line. Song, Fabregas, and Diaby in the midfield, with Nasri, van Persie, and Arshavin up front.

AZ came out trying to get a result, which was only playing into our hands and it didn’t take long for us to get our first chance. Arshavin, Diaby, and Nasri weaved through the midfield and found van Persie free on the right. van Persie’s shot forced a good save from a diving Romero.

In the 13th minute, Romero collected what, in the referee’s view, had been a back-pass. Almost the entire AZ side lined-up in the goal-mouth and inevitably blocked Van Persie’s effort.

We would open up the scoring in the 26th minute, when Gallas charged forward, exchanged passes with Arshavin and found Fabregas, who cut in to create a yard of space and unleashed a shot towards the corner. A few of his defenders blocked Romero’s view until the ball was almost in and all he could do was throw a weak hand at it. Even Fabregas himself was surprised that such a weak shot could just roll into goal. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

AZ started creating chances after the goal but lacked any kind of cutting edge and we soon made it a 2 goal lead.

In the 43rd minute, Gallas collected at the back, played a ball to Arshavin in the midfield who turned and charged forward. Taking advantage of the space he then played a great pass through to Nasri who weaved past the defender and slotted it home past Romero. A class goal to celebrate his return to the side, I had a strong enough feeling to put it in the preview post that he would.

It went in 2-0 at half and even the most optimistic AZ fan would admit the match was over.

Eight minutes after the break, even the most pessimistic Arsenal fan could rest after another flowing move with a touch of class to finish it off made it 3-0. Diaby snagged the ball from AZ in the midfield and fed Arshavin, who played the ball in between two defenders to find Fabregas who was charging down the left flank. Fabregas picked the ball up and smashed it into the net.

AZ had their best opportunity of the match soon after when Maartens Marten nodded the ball down for Graziano Pelle on the edge of the six-yard area. The Italian had time to steady himself and wrap his foot firmly around the ball. Almunia pushed the ball away onto to the post and out of danger. It seemed luck was even against AZ on this night.

In the 67th minute Wenger took advantage of the match being in hand and brought on Eduardo and Ramsey for Fabregas and van Persie.

Eduardo wasted little time making an impact, when Arsenal broke quickly and a back heel from Eduardo set off Arshavin who easily found Diaby, who with plenty of time to square up slotted it past the keeper.

After a few shots at goal from Ramsey and Gibbs, Wenger made his final change in the 75th minute bringing on Rosicky for Arshavin.

AZ would get some “consolation” in the 83rd minute, when after a corner at the other end, half our squad had their arm raised calling for the blatant handball penalty to be called. The ref missed it and AZ broke quickly, with only Ramsey back chasing Lens down. Almunia was expecting the midfielder to shoot across him, so when Lens played in a horrible slow shot to his near side he got caught in two minds and the ball snuck through.

But it was hardly enough to ruin a great night of footy from The Arsenal, who with the 4-1 victory take control of Group H.

Player Ratings:

 Almunia – 6 – Made some very good saves and a great one when he blocked the shot onto the bar, but really shouldn’t have let the goal be scored.

Eboue – 6 - Surprising from Eboue, he is normally either really good or really bad, but was very average tonight.

Gallas – 7 – Very strong defensively once again, and even started off a few attacks that resulted in goals when charging forward.

Vermaelen – 7 - Seems like we just expect it from the Verminator now, but he made a bunch of strong challenges and vital blocks and interceptions during the match.

Gibbs – 7.5 – Was very impressed with Gibbsy last night. He was excellent going forward and made some very good challenges including some great recovery. Was pushed off the ball a few times but overall held his own.

Song – 7 - Song surprised me as he put in a performance similar to what I would expect Fabregas to put in. Made a ton of long runs with the ball and played some good passes going forward. Wasn’t really needed defensively.

Fabregas – 8 - Fabregas continued his amazing form with 2 goals before being taken off.

Diaby – 7.5 - Diaby had a very good match. He worked hard, rarely lost the ball, and won the ball back multiple times. Topped off with a well taken goal, Diaby put in his best performance in a while.

Nasri – 8 - Instantly fit back into the side, moving all around the pitch and having good link-up play. Scored the goal of the night as he showed some fantastic ball control, balance, and finishing to score. I think I speak for everyone when I say welcome back.

van Persie – 7 - Had a good night linking up the midfield to the attack. Didn’t get a goal or assist but was part of every attack.

Arshavin – 8.5 - Man of the match for me. Showed excellent vision and technique all night as he constantly ripped the defense open with his passing. 3 assists speaks for itself, it was a great performance from Shava.

Subs:

Eduardo – 7 - Gets this rating solely for that nasty back heel to start the attack for the 4th goal.

Ramsey – 6.5 – Another performance where if you told me he was Fabregas I would believe you. Needs a start.

Rosicky – 6 -  Enjoyed a small cameo in his return from injury.

That’s it for today, Important match on Saturday at Wolves, want to get 3 points there so we can feel good about our chances going into the International break. Chelsea v ManUtd this weekend so something has to give above us. I’ll be back with a match preview.

Poll of the day:

Phew. Where do I start? I know, I’ll start with a Lithuanian most of you have forgotten about.

I was watching (albeit very briefly) Inter at Livorno the other day. It finished 2-0 to Inter btw. Big man Danilevicius (6ft+) came on as a sub for Livorno. The name sounded familiar and then it hit me. He used to play for us almost a decade ago, although his impact was as brief and unremarkable as that of Bischoff.

Also playing that Serie A game was Vieira of course, who I saw once in those 20 minutes of tedious viewing. It pains me to see him play for Mourinho’s joyless brand of football. That team is proof that a global XI doesn’t necessarily equate to the fun we have here.

What, they’ve won 3 titles in a row? To paraphrase a quote by Brian Clough, they can throw those medals away because they won them all by hypnotizing the crowd into thinking they won it with sheer entertainment, thus cheating them.

Anyway what they do is their business I guess. And so the results of the Arsenal hero of October 2009 are in. It was close. ish.

31 % cheered for Captain Cesc but the winner was Van Persie who scooped up 41% of your votes. The sparking trio of Ramsey, Eastmond and Nasri only took 2 % of the vote. For the record, Vermaelen came third and Song was fourth. Thanks to all who voted. Do you agree with those results?

We’re back to Champions League football on Wednesday night against AZ Alkmaar. The away fixture triggered an unexpected but statistically expected dip. We can’t expect our boys to win every game especially in handsome margins. However, we are back at the home of football so I fully expect our style and substance to end Koeman’s freaky little run against Arsenal and English sides in general.

In case you don’t already know, the negatives are that Bendtner and Clichy are out. For a while. The Dane has a groin injury while the Frenchster’s back problem has flared up again. Walcott is also out as is Denilson and Fabianski.

The good news. It’s very good. Rosicky is back in the squad as is Nasri I think. The additions of these two will aid the attack-defense balance. Our possession game is also helped if either one of them plays. I forsee them featuring at some point against Koeman’s team.

There aren’t any further injuries so the rest of the team picks itself really. I’m going for a 2-0 win to seal the qualification. Then we can sit back and watch the reserves for the other two remaining matches.

Hello Gooners. Hope you are all well this friday. Don’t know about you but I am super pumped up for this north london Derby. Not that I wasn’t pumped for it all these years….

..Living in a place about 200 miles from North london, it used to be pretty hard to develop that aversion for Spurs. I consider myself lucky to only have met and I’m not joking here, about 10 Spurs fans in my whole life. The aversion picked up momentum 3 years ago.

I met up with a few friends from school during the Easter holidays after we played Spurs for the last time at Highbury. One of my friends’ friend happened to be a Spurs fan. I didn’t know about this until the conversation drifted onto football. And then it kicked off (verbally). He began talking arrogantly about how Spurs were finally going to make the top 4 and how our domination was coming to an end. Well mate, its been three years and counting…

Another Spurs fan I met was on Christmas day. He was a distant relative of the family. I was wearing the 2000-2002 home shirt, the first Arsenal shirt I ever owned. So I’m feeling honoured to don the shirt of my heroes, having a lovely time with family and friends. Then suddenly someone points out (as if it needed to) that I was an Arsenal fan and that this would be interesting as he was a Spurs fan. Pretty sure that these guys don’t work for the UN by the way. For a brief moment or two the room went a bit quiet before the dude just shaked his head as if the idea of supporting Arsenal was so morally flawed and never bothered to speak to me (even though we’d never met before).

I do have a bit of sympathy for them. I mean to sing “We are the best” before every home game when they were languishing in mid-table all the time. And now they think they are Top4 material and even better than us just because they are a point behind us with the season not even half way…

Last year’s home result against them was one of the lowest points in my Arsenal supporting years so far. To talk about in any more detail is to sap any existing energy left with me. But what I can say is that result and the comments coming from the Spurs sections should be enough as a motivation tool for our lads.

As atmospheres for derby goes, it has blown hot and cold compared to other derbies in the world. Tomorrow our fans should ensure that we blow hot and the Spurs fans get the shivers.

Regarding team selections, Fabianksi is desperately unlucky as he probably would’ve played tomorrow. To throw in Almunia tomorrow with so little match practice is a bit risky. But it is the ideal opportunity for him to show his class. Rosicky’s injury is a massive blow to the balance of our side. Since he has been injured we’ve looked shaky in our last two games. Co-incidence?

Can’t speculate on what the team make up will be but I suspect it will be the same as last week. Tomorrow is too soon for Nasri to start and unlike Almunia he would have to do a lot of running at a ridiculously high tempo. Better for him to be on the bench and then be that match winner.

Spurs are missing Defoe (admittedly I player I respect for his goalscoring record), Modric and Lennon, both of who had a pretty decent outing last year at the Emirates. Bentley gets his only start this season tomorrow. £17 million, of that 7 million straight to us right? And this guy only plays against us. How sad.

I really don’t want to predict the score tomorrow, so would appreciate your thoughts on that, team selections, your experiences with Spurs fans all over the world and anything else related to this derby.

I may young but you boys can still learn from me

Good Friday to you. Sorry for the late post as I was doing a bit of traveling today.

Most would’ve expected Fabianski to keep the keeper’s jersey for this tomorrow’s North London Derby but unfortunately for the Polish custodian, he is again crocked by injury. This time it is his thigh which will sideline him for the next 3 weeks at the least. How he get that injury is beyond me. There was never a single time in which Colin Lewin needed to come onto the pitch to attend to Fabianski during the Liverpool game. So this one baffles me. Where then did Fabianski injured himself? The announcement was made the day after the game when the training hadn’t even started. Pity him though.

This situation worries me a bit. I was quite sure that before the injury occurred, Fabianski would’ve been the first choice to start the derby game. Now, Wenger finds himself in a hole. The decision now remains to choose from either Mannone or Almunia. If the boss chooses the latter, then he will have to retract back on his earlier decision not to restore the Spaniard immediately when he recovered from his chest injury. While I’m quite sure the boss was hesitant to further jeopardies the shattered confidence of Mannone who was at fault for Carlton Cole’s goal at Upton Park. Defenders like to play knowing they have a steady and consistent keeper behind them. Let me tell you, it is no fun trying to get use to different voice every week when a shout to “let go” or “kick it out” will determine whether the opposition forwards gets a chance or not. A department that definitely needs sorting out.

Other than qualification to the next phase of the Carling Cup, the match also brought about the return to fitness of Samir Nasri. His return cannot be underestimated as his flexibility to fit in any of the front 6 positions will be vital to the success of the team. It will take him a few more matches before he starts to click into full gear. Wenger has clearly liked what he sees in the defensive qualities of Nasri and has experimented him in that position towards the back end of last season. It might work given that Nasri has shown his delicate sense of positioning which is obviously vital when playing in the Song role. However I still think that his talent is better serve further up the pitch where his eye for a killer pass and shooting capabilities will come to the fore. Now that Rosicky seemed to be injured once again, Nasri’s return is in fact very timely.

One thing that the players need to learn from the same derby game last season is the good sense to play keep ball during the final minutes of the game when leading. The younger players have shown that they can keep their cool and not just rushed forward when there is a small matter of the clock to run down. Sanchez Watt did that to perfection during the Liverpool game. Already 2-1 up with just less than 2 minutes to go, he won the ball at the edge of Liverpool’s penalty box and went straight for the corner flag. I think most of us would understand if he had tried to take on the defenders and get a goal for himself considering he doesn’t get first team playing oppourtunities very often. But his greater team sense prevailed and time was duly played out. Now, that is something his more esteemed teammates might learn a thing or two from.

More Spurs preview tomorrow. I’m already filled with the excitement and can’t wait for the kickoff to come any sooner.

Arsenal 2 Liverpool 1 (Carling Cup 4th round)

Hello Gooners. Well that was close as well, just like the previous two games. Where was the 3-1 I predicted? As it turns out we didn’t need that third goal.

You won’t agree but for me Liverpool probably shaded it by virtue of the opportunities they created. Has any other team outdone Arsenal on that count at the Emirates before? And yet we found one extra moment of quality and unlike Rafa’s Reds, we made it count. Goes without saying, but that is all that matters.

At times we appeared nervous when defending. Benitez’s unusually positive squad selection was almost vindicated by his side’s directness in attack. They could and should have been ahead when Degen fired wide when he was put through by Ngog’s pass. We never even got out of gear at that point. If that goes in, we are looking at a totally different game.

Instead fast forward 10 minutes and a combination of a poor pass from Voronin and a great Song-like tackle from Eastmond, stealing the ball rather quietly, presented the ball to Merida. And he promptly smashed the ball in, the first of the stunning left footed strikes!  Cavalieri was beaten at his near post from the shot that hit the post and went it. It actually took me a more than a couple of seconds to figure that out when it occured live!

Something Liverpool have excelled at the Emirates at is replying swiftly. They levelled within 10 minutes. Degen’s ball found Babel who knocked it unwittingly for Insua. His shot gave me unpleasant memories of Bentley’s goal last year. Bendtner’s reaction could have been quicker and it annoyed me but I think tomorrow when he wakes up he will be just as amazed that Insua beat him to a nothing ball. Put it this way, he isn’t the quickest left back you’ll ever see.

The 2nd goal we scored was perhaps the best goal of the match considering it began in our own defensive area. There was swift passing good movement from about half of our 11 players. There was even determination to win and retain possession from Eastmond before the ball eventually landed to Bendtner who at one point in this move was fairly deep in midfield. The Dane was having a quiet-ish game (to put it mildly) before he beat his man with a tidy left foot finish.

Aaron Ramsey had an outstanding game. The comments after the match were that he and Fabregas couldn’t play together. Perhaps not in central midfield but Ramsey had enough skill and control to play on the wings. His passing at times was almost in the Cesc bracket. Towards the end he was tired but that would be a given considering how end to end this game was.

Nasri’s return was impressive. He did nothing new but whatever he did on the pitch today was done with a lot more confidence and purpose. Samir won’t start on saturday afternoon but is definitely a good option to have on the bench.

The debut of Eastmond was a surprise as I expected Coquelin to start. However he had a decent outing and crucially he had a say in both goals. Time will tell how this latest prodigy develops.

A key issue in the game was whether Aquilani’s overhead kick merited a penalty. No. The natural reaction of a human being is to protect himself from any incoming danger. Philipe didn’t want the ball to hit his face so merely tried to save his face from further scarring. And didn’t he try to sort of duck out of the way at the same time?

By the way if that 20 minute cameo is anything to go by, Aquilani is definitely a Alonso clone.

That chance was one of several that Liverpool had. It was too nerve wracking at times but our defence held firm.

And then we even managed to keep possession in the dying minutes of the match. Keep ball in the corner flag is not aethestically pleasing but it helps to get the result sealed. And we won a corner and couple of throw ins so it isn’t all that bad.

All in all a good win. We didn’t outplay Liverpool but psychologically it will do wonders for this team.

And out of the 7 teams that remain, 4 of them are our top 4 rivals. The others are Portsmouth, Blackburn and Spurs. So much for this being the Mickeymouse cup.

Yesterday The Boss stated in the press that the player we are all desperate to see be given a chance is ready to play. Yep, he says Ramsey has grown into a man and expects him to play 15 -20 games for the first team this season?? Well Arsene, he won’t reach the target you have set him if you don’t play him will he?? You have said now though and publicly, so can we please leave Diaby on the bench at best, and leave Eboue to play in his natural position at RB when you need him to and start to play the lad! After all, Ramsey is a natural midfielder isn’t he??

Nasri makes his first start tonight, so its ‘only the CC’ but I don’t care, the man is back and he could just be the other half of what has been missing the last two games. I honestly think with him and Tomas back fit we will return to winning ways in the league, starting with Tottenham on Saturday. Of course, the best thing about Nasri being back and Tomas being fit means that AW won’t have to play Diaby and won’t have to play Eboue on the left of midfield – Cripes, I hope he sees it that way too. Then of course we have Theo to come back too. That all sounds a little bit better….

Another player making his comeback is Fabianski – our No2 keeper – well he was, but now Arsene has said that the fight for the gloves is between Almunia, Mannone and Fabianski. He says ‘Mannone stays in goal at the moment as we are winning – yes, its as straight forward as that – simples’

‘Arry’ has confirmed Lennon is out for the little derby at the weekend which is good news as he is their biggest threat in my opinion, Defoe too as the lad is banned.

On to tonight, the funny accents are back in London as the kids take on Liverpool in the CC. The only news on the opposition front is that Stevie ‘woe is me me’ is out, Mascerano is out but their new £20M midfield man will be on the bench ready to make his mark.. Yeah right, he is unfit, has played for ages and he shouldn’t cause too much trouble, should he??

As London said last night, this result won’t make a lot of difference to the first team, but I for sure would start to feel a whole lot better if we can will this game tonight, and win it well. You never know, win, and the big boys sitting in the crowd watching may just learn something from them – I have always believed it’s never too late to learn, and you cant rule out footballers in that belief..

The difference we will see tonight in the team I think will be a crop of players who want to show how good they are, want to prove they are worth playing amoung the big boys, want to play for eachother and ultimately want to win at all costs. I don’t expect them to be strolling about tonight wondering what to spend their big salaries on, no, we will see a team that will be focused until the end, and I honestly believe they will beat The Dippers and go through to the next round.

My team would be

Fab/Almunia
Eboue Senderos Silvestre Gibbs
Ramsey Coquelin Merida
Nasri Eduardo Vela

Just read that Wilshere is out for the match

3-1 winners

Its Carling Cup time! The trophy that no big club wants to win, but if they win it they’ll be happy to gloat about it anyway. Visions of Mourinho celebrating back in 2007 when they beat us in the final still make me sick.

Rafa’s red revolution received a massive boost when they humiliated Utd on Sunday. That coupled with our own relative capitulation in our match suddenly makes this a more intriguing contest. It no longer seems to be a routine thumping of Liverpool like it was back in 2007.

I’m not sure how much Sunday’s results for both teams influenced Wenger’s thinking in terms of selecting tomorrow’s line up. Perhaps it has, perhaps it hasn’t. What is certain though is that Nasri and Fabianski will start.

Nasri’s return is much-needed. It will lead to a much more competitive midfield who mostly apart from Song were beginning to show signs of taking it easy. Fabianski’s start is not surprising as he has not played any games. Should he have a good game, I think Wenger will most likely throw him in forthe next match as well. As I hinted at in my previous post, the goalkeeping merry-go-round looks set to continue I’m afraid.

Joining them if you read what you believe from a questionable source of photo editing will be Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela. Rambo gets his mandatory Cup start as does Silvestre and Senderos. Traore’s injury means Gibbs comes in. That leaves Gilbert as Right Back and Coquelin in defensive midfield. The latter if he delivers becomes a candidate worth thinking about in January when Song goes to Africa for a month or so.

Kids XI? Not quite but it nevertheless looks a solid, solid team that should do the business. To me that is how we should play the Carling Cup. A blanket of experience sprinkled with a few of the very best youngsters. Curiously, Gilbert falls in the latter as a result of his 3 seasons on loan.  It is a shame Wilshere won’t be involved himself due to injury but we have to be patient with Jack. Very patient.

I don’t know what players Liverpool will use. There is the near certainty however that Torres, Gerrard won’t be involved. A firing Benayoun should also be rested. Which means that at some point we will see that Italian replacement for Alonso, Alberto Aquilani. Talented but a frequent visitor to the treatment room. The Rosicky of Liverpool?

I didn’t know much else about him but suffice to say my cousin a Liverpool die-hard fan, said he was Alonso but quicker. I suppose when you play £20 million for player who is injured for the first 2 months or so, he better be good. Interestingly, Aquilani turned down the chance to join us when he was younger. And I just noticed that later on in the post that very article shoots down my cousin’s assertion.

Sky’s love for our fringe players is most welcome, illustrated by their decision to telecast this game LIVE. Leave your pre-match thoughts whether it be squad selection or tactics or predictions. I’m going with a 3-1. Yes, the clean sheet woe will carry on unfortunately.

Samir Nasri is only a few days away from a first team return and i cant wait. The French international played 60 minutes for the Reserves on Tuesday night as part of his comeback.

Abou Diaby has been filling in for Nasri in recent weeks and has done “OK” but you never know what Diaby is going to turn up? One week he looks like a world class player, Big strong, hard to knock off the ball. And the next hell looks like Carlton Palmer with the ball glued to his boots.

Diaby can be fantastic one week and a nightmare the next.

Thats why I’m so happy to have Nasri back in the midfield and i feel this new 4-3-3 will work a dream with Song holding and Cesc and Nasri pulling the strings.

When Nasri returns he will be like a new signing for us and give the whole team a boost and i hope to the glory of winning the title.

Bienvenue de retour Samir Nasri

Jason Goldstein

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As the senior side were taking on AZ in Holland, the Reserves side were taking on Wolves. This was an important match, because it was the returns of Samir Nasri and Lukasz Fabianski, two players who could play a huge part in the success of the senior side this year. Banfield threw out this formation,

Hopefully Nasri starting in the midfield is a sign of things to come for him in the senior side, I think him next to Fabregas in our midfield would be very effective.

The action started in the 21st minute, when Coquelin’s hard work found Nasri in space who played a fantastic pass to Sunu who snapped it home. Fabianski made some fantastic saves before Wolves pulled one back through Richard Stearman’s header and the two sides went into the break level.

The Midlands side took the lead early in the second-half when Ashley Hemmings hit an unstoppable drive past Fabianski but Arsenal responded almost immediately when Watt struck following a good interchange between Kerrea Gilbert and Francis Coquelin on the right-flank.

Nasri was brought off in the 58th minute unscathed. The Arsenal side tried to found a winner but couldn’t get one past Ikeme, and the match ended 2-2. Bould’s side lost their 100% record in the league, but it was overall a successful night with the returns of Nasri and Fabianski.

Loan Watch:

Jay Simpson – QPR - Simpson continued his fantastic form for the championship side as he scored his 5th goal in 8 matches. Simpson volleyed in QPR’s second goal from the six yard box as they beat Reading 4-1.

Jay Emmanuel-Thomas – Blackpool – JET played 90 minutes as Blackpool beat Sheffield United 3-0. An impressive display throughout, he had many attempts on goal and assisted for the third.

Henri Lansbury – Watford - Lansbury played 87 minutes as Watford drew Ipswich 1-1. He played in the hole behind a main striker, and played in free kicks.

Wenger gave a full update of all our injuries today.

“Rosicky (knee) and Bendtner (groin) are 50:50 but Eduardo (thigh) should be back,” Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. “I would say only Walcott is definitely out.”

As for Fabianski and Nasri,

“It is possible [they will be included],” said Wenger. “But it depends on our needs. Ideally Nasri will need the game against Liverpool to be completely part of the squad again. So it depends on the urgency.”

And the long-term injuries,

“Denilson (back) should be available in four weeks and Johan Djourou (knee) will be March,”

So some good news overall. Having Eduardo back will be welcomed, we have needed a clinical finisher on the pitch the last few matches.  I would expect Rosicky and Bendtner to sit out. Considering Fabregas, Song, Diaby, Ramsey, and Wilshere can make up the midfield, the “urgency” probably isn’t high enough for Nasri to be involved. As for Fabianski, It all depends on Wenger’s thoughts on who should be the #1 keeper.  I would take the Denilson four-week evaluation with caution, will most likely be longer. And surprised to hear about Djourou, I thought that would keep him out for the season for sure, but if he is looking like March, we can definitely use him for the last three months of the season.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with a West Ham preview.

Poll of the day: Give explanation of choice in comments.

Today is an auspicious day as the longest serving manager in Arsenal’s history celebrates his 60th birthday. There won’t be any lavish parties or anything. I’m betting that it will just be a quiet dinner with the family and then straight to his desk to run through Tuesday’s draw at AZ Alkmaar. That’s just the person he is. If anything, he has shown more than anyone I’ve ever known that diligence do pay off.

So here’s a toast to you from the bottom of my heart. Big thank you to your parents who brought you up real fine. And a big thank you for you years at Arsenal which no doubt is a job that gave you more grey hair that you probably would have wanted at 60. I’ve already written 2 long posts admiring your achievements with our club and that would be enough, I guess.

At the same time that Arsenal played Alkmaar in Holland, the Arsenal Reserves also played their league game at Underhill. The draw procured also ended the Reserves winning start to the campaign. But the bigger news was that the match also saw the return to action of Samir Nasri and Lukazs Fabianski. The French playmaker has been out injured since the freak tackle during pre season training while Fabianski has been out since the friendly at Mestalla Stadium. Both came through unscathed and should continue their rehabilitation with more training with both being targeting the Liverpool game next week as their return to competitive action.

Nasri’s return will be a welcomed one. Although Arsenal have scored a hatful of goals already this season, Nasri still have a big role to play. As with the draw with Alkmaar, when there is 2 defensive players in the midfield which in this instance was Diaby and Song, sometimes the pressure and responsibility is too much for Fabregas alone to bear. And when his game doesn’t work, then Arsenal will find the creativity lacking in their game. For is Arshavin or Van Persie is to drop deep to collect then they will also lose the option up front when they have the ball.

For situation like this, it is wonderful to be able to bring on a player of the calibre of Nasri. I think he had a decent debut season last year and showed that when push comes to shove, he can deliver. With very good close control and the ability to glide past players, his vision is almost comparable to Fabregas. His pass for Van Persie last season at home to Liverpool was breathtaking. Which kinda bother me, cos Arsenal already have a player like that on the bench at Alkmaar in the mould of Jack Wilshere but unfortunately he did not get the shout to come on. With the players tiring and the game almost at walking pace, Wilshere’s introduction would have burst life into the game just like he did during the Emirates Cup. But then again, I guess we have to be patient with the young boy.

So lets raise our glasses to Mr Wenger. Happy birthday boss.

World Cup Qualifying is finally over, and what was supposed to be an exciting day, the normal suspects like Argentina and Portugal ended up finding a way in. At least we can return to all Arsenal for a while.

International Watch:

Gael Clichy, William Gallas, Abou Diaby, Bakary Sagna – France – WCQ - Clichy played 90 minutes as France put out a second string side that beat Austria 3-1. He played very well and controlled his flank along with Malouda. Gallas and Sagna were usused substitutes while Diaby was held out for an ankle injury.

Aaron Ramsey – Wales – WCQ - Ramsey curled home a free kick in the 80th minute to score his first Senior International goal as Wales beat Liechtenstein 2-0. A very good match for the 18-year-old, capped off with the goal.

Philippe Senderos – Switzerland – WCQ - Senderos started once again and played 90 minutes as Switzerland drew Israel 0-0. With the draw Switzerland earned a spot in next year’s World Cup, winning Group Two. Senderos was part of a defense that kept a clean sheet, his second good performance in a row as he looks to be setting himself up for the 3rd CB position at the club.

Thomas Vermaelen – Belgium – WCQ – Vermaelen captained his side to a 2-0 defeat to Estonia as they failed to qualify for the World Cup, finishing 4th in their group. Vermaelen played well but the rest of his side failed to show up.

Cesc Fabregas – Spain – WCQ - Fabregas sat out the match as Spain beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-2. The media reported that it was a “serious family issue”, but Wenger confirmed that he will be back to the club in time for this weekend’s match. Hopefully everything is alright with Cesc, sounds like a parent or sibling is sick or he has lost someone.

Andrey Arshavin – Russia – WCQ – Once again Shava plays some mouth-watering football only for the rest of his side to not show up. Shava tapped in Russia’s only goal in the 13th minute as they drew Azerbaijan. He was certainly the Man of the Match, playing in some beautiful passes in the first half and scoring the goal. Faded in the second half but overall a very good performance.

Nicklas Bendtner – Denmark – WCQ - Bendtner played 90 minutes as Denmark fell to Hungary 1-0. Denmark moves on to the World Cup after winning Group One. I watched this match, Bendtner played in a main striker role with 5 from midfield supporting him. Seemed to have the same issue he has been having at the club, doing great to get himself in the right spots, but not making a quick enough decision and ending up losing the ball.

Carlos Vela – Mexico – WCQ – Vela played 90 minutes as Mexico drew Trinidad and Tobago 2-2.

Alex Song – Cameroon – WCQ - Song played 90 minutes in the center of defense as Cameroon drew Angola in a 0-0 draw. Song did his part in helping keep a clean sheet.

Wenger held a Interview yesterday and went over all the recent Injury news.

“Clichy got a little knock on his ankle and Diaby was kept out of the French squad last night because of an ankle problem as well. But we believe the problem to Diaby should be very minor.

“Eduardo is not available, he is too far away. Almunia could be available for the game. It is 50:50.

“Fabianski is available and will be in the squad for the weekend. As for Nasri, I believe he could be back in the group for the Liverpool game. If all goes well he could be in the team.”

Overall some very good news. Clichy getting injured isn’t ideal, but I think most of us wanted to see Gibbsy get a match anyways, and Birmingham is a good match for that to happen. I’m not sure I wanted Eduardo playing against Birmingham anyways, so happy he is close to being back but not yet. Best news is certainly about Fabianski and Nasri, Fabianski maybe being in the squad against Birmingham, and Nasri returning against Liverpool. Interesting to see that Nasri is part of Wenger’s Carling cup plans.

Stan Kroenke has upped his stake in Arsenal once again.

The Gunners announced that Kroenke has spent £765,000 (US$1.2million) buying 90 shares to increase his holding from 28.7 to 28.9 per cent.

 Although 0.2 percent doesn’t seem like much, he is very close to the 29.9% mark where he would be obligated to make a takeover bid for the rest of the shares. I think Kroenke is a good man who knows how to run a Sports’s Franchise, so I’m not worried about it. Fiszman backing him really did it for me, because we all know Fiszman wants what is best for this club, and anyone is better than The Russian ManUtd fan cunt Usmanov. Kroenke has billions of pounds behind him, so it’s not like money is an issue.

That’s it for today, I’ll be back with a Birmingham City Preview.

Four more to go lads and no more

In yesterday’s news on the official Arsenal website, the “legendary” Perry Groves said that Arsenal could still afford to lose another four more matches and still end up as league champions. While I do not want to see Arsenal suffer any more losses in the league, there are some elements of truth to what he says.

At the start, the other challengers to the title have already dropped points and no team remains undefeated, and yet the league is only 8 matches old (7 for Arsenal). We’ve seen United losing at Burnley, Chelsea losing at Wigan and Liverpool (though I don’t necessarily consider them as challengers) have already lost at both Chelsea and Spurs. With only Man City probably the most consistent of the others but I doubt they will come good this season if any at all.

Like what Van Persie said earlier of the season, the championship will most likely be decided in the matches against the lesser lights of the Premier League. Having kept a 100% record against such teams thus far, the Dutchman may just be rambling about the right path here. So, inspite already lost to both Manchester clubs, we are still pretty much in the running to lift the trophy come next May.

This makes sense in a lot of ways, what with the rest of matches outside of the Top 4+1 contributing to a maximum of 90 points on its own. I do still believe that other than Man City, no other clubs have strengthened their squads sufficiently to increase their gap from Arsenal. If anything, I believe that keeping the same squad at Arsenal have led to the reducing deficit in the gap. We’ve shown on various occasion this season that we will not suffer against smaller teams that plays with 10 men behind the ball. But the dependency is all there to be seen.

Arsenal are currently riding on the form of their stalwart captain in Cesc Fabregas who have been providing the ammunition in situations where the games are tight and spaces are lacking. The real difference between this and last season is that currently he has support from Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin and eventually Samir Nasri (when he returns) when the great Spaniard himself is out of ideas. It’s fair to say that creativity will not be limited to just a certain individual and it will be tougher for the opposition knowing that there are other who could hurt them.

So, I will agree with you Perry. We cannot afford to lose, let alone draw against smaller teams and that hopefully will continue this weekend against Birmingham.

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.

Well we got our first loss of the season yesterday but thanksfully it wasn’t in any meanginful competition.  We are still playing for fitness and pretty much played through the whole squad.  When the real competition starts next weekend, I’m sure we’ll see a much stronger side.

I didn’t see the game, and didn’t read up much on it either.  I tend to do that when we lose.  Who wants to read a match report about a game you know you lost?  Certainly not me.  Especially a game as meaningless as this.

From what I did read however we were pretty blunt in attack, Fabianski saved a penalty, and David Villa scored late on.  It doesn’t sound as though we were completely abject but some fans will get their panties in a knot over it, I’m sure.  Wenger Out and that nonsense.

∞

Now that the Community Shield iss over, real football begins next week.  Our first game is against Everton away which is never an easy time for us.  Now, I’m not going to do a match preview yet, but I would like to weigh in on my thoughts regarding how the team will look for the season.  Wenger has already intimated he would like to experiment with a 4-3-3, a la Barelona.  I think he is on to something there as we definitely have the players to pull that off.  Below is how I think the team would look for most of next year if injuries weren’t a factor (a real pipe dream for us, I know):

Almunia

Sagna — Gallas–Vermaelen–Clichy

Fabregas–Song–Rosicky

Van Persie–Eduardo–Arshavin

Just waters your lips doesn’t it?  Tough call leaving Nasri over Rosicky, but I just think Rosicky offers more in terms of balance.  No doubt Nasri could also play a role there, but I would like to see him learn the position from Rosicky.  Now, we all know how much Rosicky is likely to struggles with injuries, but I’m just being optimistic.  Also, both Nasri and Rosicky are injured for the start of the season, so we will have a different line-up on Saturday, but I will post my team for that game in my match preview.

Til then, peace