It's All Arsenal

Porto 2 Arsenal 0 - Nothing much to make of it

2008-12-11T08:05:00.002+05:30

After the win against Wigan, Wenger was clearly planning to rest most of the players for this final fixture in the group stage. Toure, Clichy, Sagna, Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott, Adebayor and VanPersie were missing. I wasn't expecting much when Arsenal.com announced the squad. It was a clear ploy to rest some players.

Some will go on about how we finished second and that we'll have to face top teams in the next round. But in the end if we have to win the cup, we'll have to play the top teams anyway! If you look carefully at the standings, you'll see that there isn't much difference between the sides that finished first and second.

It's back to the league on saturday and it's Boro away. A fixture which has clearly not been our favorite for some time. Last time around we lost 2-1. It would hvae been 2-0 if it was not for the last minute consolation. In many ways it was similar to our performance against Stoke this season. One of the worst. With key players rested, there shouldn't be a factor of tiredness this time around. Boro will play an open game and if we're in the right mindset, we can win. One - nil to the Arsenal? Hopefully.!

Carling Cup jolly ride over

2008-12-04T14:30:00.004+05:30

I was expecting this. A tie away from home is always tough and poses a whole different challenge. It was too much for the kids and they just flunked. Burnley had the hunger to win the game more and that was clear during the game. We could have done better, especially Randall and Bendtner. Their goalkeeper had a nifty game and thwarted our forward line on several occasions. It's over anyway, no point arguing.

Now it's back to the league where we have to carry over the grit that we showed at the bridge. Wigan won't be an easy fixture. I hope the team has learned that from the past defeats. An immaculate record in December is needed to catch up with the leaders and the team needs to take it one game at a time.

PS: 21 of the 30 goals which Ronaldo scored in premiership was at Old Trafford. That doesn't mean he was spectacular away from home if some people think that was the reason. Ronaldo deserved it, i'll never question that. But Henry deserved it too. But the fact that he was not recognized is an anomaly.

Much needed win finally arrives

2008-12-02T19:06:00.002+05:30

Phew. Finally. We needed a break and there it is. A win. Against Chelsea at the Bridge. I can't think of a better 'break' that we could've got.!

It was a strange game. Both teams were never at their best, Arsenal were never at their passing best and Chelsea was never close the what they used to be at the Bridge. Chelsea dominated the first half where a silly mistake from Almunia saw us go behind after Bosingwa picked up the throw by the goalkeeper and whipped it in into the 6 yard box and a hapless Djourou turned it into his own net. There were no clear cut chances in that half and i never imagined that the fortunes would turn in the second half.

Up stepped Van Persie in the second half and scored a quickfire double to put us in the lead. The first was a clear offside, but the second was perfectly legal and an awesome finish too. I wasn't confident of a win even after that as Chelsea are known to batter the opposition hard in such cases. But the battering never came. In fact they didn't even manage a shot on goal after that.

It was a great feeling which would have been even great if we were the ones to end their run. This was a win which put a sigh of relief on the faces of all the gooners and most importantly, the players and Manager. I won't say that this will the turning point of our season until i see a winning run, which is exactly what we need now.

Meanwhile we have the Carling cup tie against Burnley away today. Again it will be the kids and it will be a tougher test for them as this is a tie away from home and Burnley are high on confidence after beating Chelsea at the bridge.

PS: Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or by a comprehensive margin. Which makes me ask this question yet again. Why was Henry overlooked during his prime years when he scored near 30 goals every season and created many. Does this award always go to the media darling? things certainly look so.

Man City 3 Arsenal 0. It's getting darker.

2008-11-22T22:33:00.003+05:30

Bummer.

It's been so hard. Harder than ever. We seem to be slipping deeper and deeper into a crisis and are in a desperate need for something to lift the players morale. Sadly nothing happened today that helped the players.

Without Fabregas and Adebayor, our team can do nothing. We as a team lack creativity. We seem to be passing around with nothing to aim for.And Long gone are the days of counterattacking by Arsenal. Now we concede more than ever on counterattacks. With Walcott injured, i believe Ramsey will be better at the right side of the midfield than Diaby. He clearly has more creativity and has a better range of passing. And Bendtner is only effective when he comes on as a sub.

Gallas was dropped for this game, rightly so after his outbursts during the past few days. Fabregas was suspended. Adebayor, Toure, Walcott and Sagna were injured. The absence of these five first team players weakened our squad and that was evident on the pitch. I just hope these defeats and injuries teach our manager a lesson.
I'm sad to say i've lost my confidence on Wenger for the first time. If he is to win it back, he needs to sort things out. He needs to spend some of that well saved money during January to bring in a center back and a defensive midfielder. This season is done and dusted. Now all we can do is concentrate our resources for the cup games. Oh, and hope for some luck.

We need a confidence boost

2008-11-20T18:18:00.002+05:30

After the win against i was hoping that this was the morale boosting win that will eventually our season around. Hope is a good thing as some one said, but it didn't last long in this case. Back to earth after a morale crunching defeat against Aston Villa at home.
Wenger maintains that it's too early to judge the title chances. I agree, but if we continue playing like we did against Villa, we will have to start hoping again. Hope of a good next season.

There were clearly no leaders on the pitch for us. No one to lift the team with a bit of aggression or some harsh words. A stark contrast to last season when we had Flamini bossing the midfield. And of course there was "bad defending" which has attained a bit of (in)consistency over the past few games. Villa were never in top form. We just refused to play. And we payed the penalty.

Next up we have Manchester City away and then Chelsea away. We need to win both these games to get us back on track. We are already nine points off the leader. Can't afford any more slip ups.

There is bad news including injury to Sagna and Walcott. Fabregas is suspended.

The players definitely need to sort things out. And it's Wenger's job to ensure that they do that. Only a clear run of wins can help us now. The optimistic in me is hoping for it.

Bad decisions cost another game

2008-11-01T22:23:00.002+05:30

Injuries to Sagna, Adebayor and Walcott. Red card to Van persie.
And another 3 points dropped.

No Walcott. No Nasri. Denilson and Diaby in their position. No one to help Fabregas in creating opportunities.

I'm gutted. Yet again. Wenger seems to be clueless. I can understand having confidence in the players we have. But in his case it seems a bit over the top. The DMC position still doesn't have someone who can do tha role effectively. Fabregas seems to jaded and running out of help. I was never a fan of Hleb, but i can say we definitely miss him. And most important Fabregas. Hleb used to have that touch of creativity like Fabregas which the current crop of players doesn't have. Nasri was never a replacement for Hleb. He was more of a replacement for Rosicky. Though Walcott gives us a bit of urgency, he doesn't always start like Hleb. Wenger seems to be interested in resting him more.

I hope Wenger learns something from these performances. We lack ideas as a team many a time. Things doesn't click. Not occasionally, but frequently. Wenger, buck up.

A Nightmare of a Result

2008-10-30T13:49:00.002+05:30

I watched the game yesterday. I went to sleep after that, almost weeping. I woke up today and the first thing i checked was if what i saw was just another nightmare.

Sadly, No. It is the truth. Arsenal 4 - Spuds 4. I know I'm not the only one gutted. And i don't think anyone would be more gutted after a result like this. All i remember is some Spuds player smacking the ball into the net. After that i was just. MAD. Almost threw away my new 500$ mobile phone away. Kicked at anything that came in my way.

I feel like blaming everyone. Even myself for enjoying beating them Spuds in FIFA 09 for 4-0. And i feel sorry for every Arsenal fan who was at the Grove watching this horror show during the last 5 minutes. If this is what i feel watching the game on TV, continents away, imagine what might have gone through their mind.

Arsene, please give us a good November so that we can forget yesterday. Please ask our team to stop giving us heart attacks.

And finally, if anyone has cared enough to read this, please ignore what you see in this blog. Everything is just outdated. And i'm too tired after yesterday to update it.

A tricky tie coming up

2007-11-22T19:27:00.000+05:30

England lost to Croatia 2-3 last day. Steve McLaren was sacked today. Tomorrow, we'll read how Arsenal were the sole cause for it. How Arsene Wenger brutally murders English talent. How he has something against Englishmen. How he and his foreign contingent degrade the quality of the England side and so on. I'll leave it to them to yap on.

The internationals are finally over and it's back to premier league this Saturday. We'll be playing Wigan Athletic at home. A simple tie, eh? I don't think so. Steve Bruce's move to Wigan maybe delayed, but Wigan will not be without the plan which is supposed to work well against Arsenal. It's simple isn't it? Just defend and defend and defend. With all your players.

We were up against teams with similar strategies, but then we had the creativity of Fabregas and Hleb. For this one though, we may be without both of them. Fabregas will have to watch from the terraces after he picked up his fifth yellow card in the last match against Reading. Hleb meanwhile picked up a knock while on international duty. *sighs*. The severity of the injury is unknown and the initial reports say that he could be out for two weeks. And that would be an absolute disaster. Without any doubt. Then there are injuries to Flamini and Diaby. So we'll be without our three most influential men.

Possible replacements are Gilberto, Diarra and Denilson. It could be Denilson and Gilberto if VanPersie is declared fit to play. Otherwise we might see the three of them. Presuming that Wigan will sit back and defend, it'll be a big test for our injury hit mid field. Arsene Wenger will be thinking over and over before deciding on the starting line up and formation. Will he risk Van Persie before he gets completely fit? Will he play Adebayor as lone striker with an unusual five in the mid-field? We'll have to wait to know.

There isn't much more news about Arsenal as most since my last post was reported again and again through several good blogs out there. So a short one this time around. *grins.

Points dropped, but points proved.

2007-11-09T16:59:00.000+05:30

Again and again. And again; I'm failing to post regularly. Not even for every match if not everyday. When the motivation is there, the resources wont be. And when the resources are there motivation won't be. And when both are there, I'm busy. Duh.

Leaving all the meaningless rants behind, let me talk about what I'm supposed to. Arsenal. As usual many things happened since my last post in which I murdered everyone with my pathetic rants.

I wasn't able to watch the 7-0 demolition of Slavia Prague due to my very lovable cable operators. I had to be content with live text commentary but the team's performance was sumptuous. Like the experts say, it looked like(and was) men against boys. Walcott and Fabregas bagged two goals each, while Hleb, Adebayor and an own goal completed the tally. Walcott drew much praise for his performance and so did Fabregas. Hleb put in another amazing performance and proved his critics wrong. Again.

Up next were Liverpool. At Anfield. The reds were in shambles after their away defeat to Besiktas, but they were much improved against Arsenal. An early goal by (None other than) Gerrard meant they were able to sit back and defend and attack on the break. Our players showed true character and vigour to fight back under adverse conditions. The equalizer came in the 8oth minute from Fabregas after brilliant play by Hleb. We certainly deserved to win, and came very close to it. This was supposedly our first big test and it was evident that we came out with flying colors. The fighting spirit and togetherness in the team was evident in the display at Anfield. Hleb summoned up another exhilarating display and the rarely praised defense did its duty wonderfully. 1-0 down away from home early in the game is always a tricky situation for the defense and they stood out that day.

Then it was Sheffield United it Carling Cup. At the Brammal Lane where we slumped to a 1-0 defeat last season after one of the worst performances in the near history. Wenger stuck to his policy and played the youngsters. Eduardo was given a start and he was quick to repay the manager for the opportunity. He scored in the 8th minute and again in the 50 minute, before Denilson's 69th minute goal which meant we were comfortable 3-0 winners.

And then came the much hyped Arsenal Vs Manchester United royal battle at the Emirates. The match didn't really live up to the expectations and to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with our performance. The first half was largely uneventful as ManU tried to break our passing game by deploying Anderson and Hargreaves in a defensive role. They succeeded in to a large extend and to everyones surprise, they even managed to get a goal. An own goal from Gallas in the first half injury time.
But the second half started with abang as Fabregas scored after some good work by Eboue and Sagna. From then on, it was end to end stuff and both managers tried to win the game by making some aggressive tactical changes. Walcott was brought on for Eboue and Eduardo for Rosicky. But against the run of play it was ManU who took the lead after some excellent work by Evra and Saha. Ronaldo was left with the job to tap in the ball and he did it without any mistake.
At this moment, i was devastated and so were many other gooners for sure. I sat infront of the TV, preparing for the worst when an excellent cross by Clichy produced a scramble infront of goal. Nothing was clear until the Ref blew his whistle for goal. And there i was screaming with relief. William Gallas was the scorer and the match ended 2-2. A Fair result perhaps, but not for me. I wasn't jumping with joy like many supporters as i clearly felt we should have done much better.
Looking back at the match, i can see an even bigger c*nt coming through ManU team. Anderson. What a sc*mbag. It was Fergie's turn to show who was even bigger (c*nt) as he complained that Webb was favoring Arsenal and that the ManU bench were receiving lots of abuse from people near the dugout. And then, he wants a cap on foreign players.! He might have forgot several facts in the bitterness of losing two points at the last minute. Webb was never favoring Arsenal. And might i say that no one with right mind would expect loving caring words from opposition fans when one is a c*ntbag like him.

Even though we dropped 4 points in these two matches, we have proved that we are definitely no push overs. We'll be definitely there in the title race, very much the opposite of what the so called experts predicted.

And finally, it was Slavia against Arsenal and it ended 0-0. There was nothing worth mentionable and i couldn't even find any highlights of the match. Arsene played a carling cup squad and the point was enough to see us through to the knock out stages.

We have Reading up next and meanwhile, let me finish the Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch". It's an absolutely amazing book that helped Arsenal equalize 3 times (pardon my odd belief that Arsenal will equalize if i watch the game with the book in my hand.!) in the last few matches.
And that's all i can summon today. Thanx for reading if you managed to stay awake all through this post.

Arsenal 2 - Bolton 0. Cable TV Blues

2007-10-22T17:20:00.000+05:30

I would have killed the cable providers if they were anywhere near in sight. Really. That much was my frustration.
Here' what happened. On Saturday there was a cricket match..(yawn), t20.. (still yawning) .. T20 is supposed to be the most exciting version of cricket. And I slept off almost half of it. Back to the scenario. Then there was Chelsea's match(YAWN..!) and last but most importantly there was Arsenal Vs Bolton live. Cricket was on national(channel 1, prime band). Arsenal's match was on ESPN(Prime band again, ch 26) and Chelsea's on star(ch 84), which is unbearably grainy and unwatchable.
Then cricket starts and the cable tv c*nts are now showing the same match on ch 1 and ch 26. and Chelsea match on 59 where its relatively less grainy. And Arsenal's match in the worst band, ch 86..! Now, why on earth do they have to show cricket on two frequencies? And why the hell do they have to put ESPN on the worst frequency. C*nts. F*ck off.. I'm getting a new connection ASAP.

Eh, a pretty boring and dragging rant i suppose. Anyway to the match. As anyone could guess, i couldn't watch the match because of all this. But the result cheered me up. A good 2-0 win over Bolton. I watched the highlights and i couldn't spot one shot on goal by Bolton. That was enough to convince me that they were playing 11 men behind the ball. They were fouling us whenever possible, thus stifling our attack. And the first half ended goalless.

In the second half came a double substitution which changed the match. Rosicky and Walcott were brought on and their pace and flair was enough to see us through. Toure opened the scoring with a long low powerful shot which crept in. Then the two subs combined to score the second. Walcott's pace seemed just too much for Bolton at that stage.

And that was it. We won 2-0. Bolton were never threatening and we deserved the points. Just imagine what it might have been as i couldn't see a single moment in the highlights with Bolton having possession. With Sammy Lee gone, they were back to what they do best, fouling. But that didn't pay off this time around.

It was good to see Walcott having a significant impact on the game. Some more performances like these and he'll surely get a start on the wings. Or maybe upfront.

With this win, we're top of the league. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manc's won their games and are keeping up the pressure. The next few matches in EPL will sure turn out to be very vital.

But coming up next is CL match against Slavia Prague. The cable tv c*nts wont show the channel, so I'll have to be content with highlights yet again. Bleh.

AGM and injuries

2007-10-18T18:54:00.000+05:30

The Arsenal board has announced that it will extend their lock-down agreement for 5 years till 2012 subject to certain conditions. As per this new agreement, the members who have agreed to this can sell to some permitted persons only until 2009. This includes family members and close relatives.
After this period, they can sell their shares, but only if the other members in the agreement decline to buy it. In effect the board members have a first option on the shares.

PHW spoke about the new investors and the board's stand towards a takeover and dividends.

“There has been much recent media coverage surrounding the share ownership of the Group, following the arrival of two new major shareholders in the past year. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasize to all Shareholders that the Arsenal Board is committed to the principle of developing the long-term stability of the Club through maintaining a business that pays its own way. Members of the Board are committed long-term shareholders and to strengthen the current position they have entered into a new agreement which replaces the existing lock-down agreement which expires next April."

There was also some benefits announced to the share holders which include many matchday discounts.

So that's about the AGM and we can be relieved that the fat c*nt won't takeover any time soon and that we'll be in safe hands for more time. The boards policy that the profits wont be divided among shareholders might not be popular with some hideous C*nts, but thats the way it's got to be done for a football club.

Now to injuries. Just when we were praying so that our players will come through the internationals unscathed, we get hit by an injury which we dreaded. One to RvP. The seriousness of the injury is not yet known as RvP is yet to undergo a scan. Senderos is also injured, but the return of Gallas means we might not be affected much. But upfront we're losing our in-form striker for god knows how many days/weeks. This is good chance for Eduardo and Bendtner and with matches against Pool and Manc's coming up, they'll have to get to form pretty soon. How I'd have loved if that f*cking injury hadn't happened.

PS: A detailed report about AGM by Arseblog.

The boredom....

2007-10-15T17:59:00.000+05:30

No EPL matches , not much news. Just some boring internationals. Boring boring weekend. I'd have spend my time doing bungee jumps if i could. But i ended up watching boring boring boring cricket.

If there is some news, it's outdated. Something like Jens mouthing off about Almunia when he should be working hard to get his spot back. And yes there's Barca trying and successfully suing Fran Merida for eh.. what? Not playing for them.. not signing a contract with them.. bollocks. A 17 year kid fined 2.1 million..! Time and again they prove they are utter c*nts. Well maybe they're trying to be more c*nty. Like trying to tap up Fabregas by talking shit in their spanish fecking tabloids.

I'm still fuming about the whole TH14 saga. It was those C*nts who regularly came up with stories of henry signing for them.

Speaking of TH, I'm quite surprised by his quotes about our club. Unlike other players who left, Henry has always spoken good about Arsenal. Unlike Ljunberg, unlike Viera, unlike wiltord, unlike c*ntly c*nt. Bleh..

The first set of international matches are over and we've came through without any injuries. Hopefully we'll get through next round of matches also. After that we have Bolton at home. How i would like to see bolton being thrashed. even if fat sam isnt there. Just whip em boys.

Winning run continues......

2007-10-05T11:07:00.001+05:30

Another win, another three points. Arsenal defeated Steaua blahblah away from home in a tricky tie and came away with a gritty win. The side showed lots of patience and composure to grind out this win. We were always the favorites but failure to take the chances created meant we won by just one goal.

Steaua had their chances but they failed to take them. Van Persie scored for Arsenal from within the box with a thumping finish on 76th minute. After some tests before the match, Hleb, Ade and Van Persie started the game.

Thus two wins from two games sees us on top of the group and we should be comfortably through. Next up it is Slavia Prague at home and 3 points from that match will help us to relax a bit for the rest of the fixtures.

Back to EPL, we have Sunderland up next on Sunday. There's no doubt that they'll put up a strong defense. But with all our form and ability i can't see us dropping any points this time around. It's another thing if Almunia decides to emulate Lehmann's mistakes.

There's takeover talk going on like always and i will not put my head into it. Not now.

PS: This post was done in 5 mins, and i hope that explains the great quality............

Arsenal doing very well... In my absence.. !

2007-09-29T23:25:00.000+05:30

It's been a long long long time since my last post... more than 20 days.. huh. thats pretty long a break.! Anyway, here i am; back but surely blogs will be at much less frequency.

We had many matches since my last post and we have won all of them. Quite a good showing by the team to win some important matches and enabling us a good start to the season.

First it was "top four tottenham" at shite hart lane. We went down after a free kick from Bale went in. Then we had a good goal from Ade and a thunder bolt from Fabregas and then a stunner from Ade. So we dumped spuds at their place and showed em whos the boss. They're still reeling the reeling in the relegation zone.. hahahahaha

Then came Sevilla with all the talk from Renato and Ramos on teaching teams how to beat us. Then went back after getting a good kick in the arse. A 3-0 win to us.

Next was Derby and a goal fest was expected. And thats exactly what we got. Ade chipped in with the first hat trick at the Emirates and Fabregas and Diaby's goals meant we thrashed em 5-0.

Then came big sam's Newcastle in the Carling cup. Wenger fielded a squad full of youngsters as expected and they showed fat sam the depth of our squad. 2-0 win for us. Fat sam was clearly bitter about it and with no one to blame, he went for the FA for not playing the fixture on Wednesday. Fat c*nt.

And finally, just hours back, we grinded out a 1-0 win at Upton park against West Ham. It was a tough fixture as predicted. A 13th minute goal from VanPersie was enough to secure the 3 points. The goal came from an Alex Hleb cross. Hleb got injured after a nasty tackle from noble. Gob knows how serious the injury is.

That's it for now. More posts later. Hopefully.

Arsene Wenger's new contract almost done

2007-09-07T07:53:00.001+05:30

It's great news for all Arsenal fans as reports are out suggesting that Arsene Wenger has agreed to a new deal. This deal will keep him in the club until 2010.

After the good start to the season, this is another good news that'll boost the team confidence and eliminate all uncertainties that existed. There were many claims during the pre-season that Wenger will leave the club after Dein was sacked. The rumors became strong after Henry's departure when he claimed that he left because of the uncertainty over Wenger's future. And to rub it into Arsenal fans, reports started flowing in that Fabregas was also leaving unless Wenger stays. Wenger has brushed aside any comments that he is not comfortable when Dein is not around by doing what he does best. By managing our club as usual. He signed more young prospects and for me it was pretty clear back then itself that he will stay here longer. For some reason it wasn't clear for Henry. Either Henry was making an excuse, or Wenger refused to reveal his plans to Henry. If it's the latter, it's suffice to say that Wenger wasn't keen on keeping Henry at the club. So far his departure has only brought positives in our matches and it'd be great if it carries on.

After selling his shares, Dein has been talking about how Arsenal needs to spend big to keep up with its competition. Wenger's reply was quick. He came out and said,

"We have a team that can develop in the next four or five years. I feel we make superstars. We have a feel for the game and the way we want to play football is linked to development and therefore you have to take your time a little bit"
"I have not seen a number of what you might call world class players. World class prices maybe but not world class players."

Dein may have best interests for the club and he might want us to spend big. But with Arsene at the helm, that won't happen. So what would he do? Sack Arsene? Or force him to spend big? These two options certainly doesn't seem like one in the best interests of the club. Dein is not wanted anymore and he can spend the rest of his time with the Russian oligarch buying oil companies.

With the international matches coming up, there isn't much happening other that some comments from Rosicky who bets he'll score more this season, while Giles Sunu says he rejected Chelsea and ManU to join his dream club.

I'm relocating in the coming few days and i have no idea if I can get a net connection soon to keep this updated. Until then......

Arsenal 3 - Portsmouth 1. Senderos sent off.

2007-09-02T22:58:00.000+05:30

Arsenal defeated Portsmouth 3-1 in a lively encounter at the Emirates to move up to second spot in the EPL standings. The goals came from Adebayor, Fabregas and Rosicky for Arsenal, while Kanu scored for Portsmouth.

Arsenal started with a 4-4-2 with Clichy, Senderos, Toure and Flamini at the back and Rosicky, Gilberto, Fabregas and Hleb in the middle while Adebayor partnered Van Persie upfront.

The first goal came early in the 8th minute when Adebayor converted the penalty which was awarded when David James brought down Van Persie when he was sent through. An early goal was just what Arsenal needed and the lesser pressure due to it showed as we played comfortably.

The second goal came from a corner when Gilberto's flick on fell into Fabregas' path and the Spaniard showed quick reflexes and sharp finishing to slot it home. The score stayed like that until half time with Arsenal looking very comfortable.

The second half started with two substitutions from Pompey as Harry Redknapp tried to bring his side back into the game. Early in the half, Senderos was sent off for bringing down Kanu when the Nigerian was through. The ref without any hesitation, showed the red card and Senderos was off. Almunia produced a good save from the resultant free kick, but the ball fell in front of an opposition player who shot it over the bar.

The sending off saw Arsenal change their formation as Gilberto moved to center back and we looked like playing a 4-3-1-1 with Van Persie playing behind Adebayor. Then in the 59th minute came the third goal when Rosicky's shot from a quickly taken free kick ended up in the net. Rosicky was unmarked and the quickly taken free kick really caught the pompey defense by surprise.

Even before the celebration's of that ended, Kanu scored at the other after a lucky deflection, but it was down to some poor defending from Clichy who failed to cut out the attack.Further substitutions followed as Hleb was replaced by Denilson and Van Persie was replaced by Diaby. Eduardo came on for Adebayor late on. Pompey tried their best to score, but they never converted their chances and Almunia was very good in the goal making some very vital saves. It ended 3-1 as neither side troubled the scores after Kanu's goal. The full match report is here.

In his post match interview, Arsene spoke about how the is super-ambitious and that the team always tries to go forward.
He also spoke about the reason behind signing Diarra,

"He was only one year to go at Chelsea, and when he didn't extend the contract I thought, he's a player we rate, so it happened very late. I would have thought that in the end Chelsea would extend his contract but when it didn't happen we found an agreement with Chelsea."

The signing was really unexpected after Wenger himself had told some time ago that we have too many midfielders when asked why Wilson Palacios didn't sign for the club. Anyway, if Arsene rates him and if he's available for decent price, there is no reason why he shouldn't be bought.

Caming back to the match, i feel we might have made some record by playing the most number of center midfielders at the same time in a game. At one time we had Diaby, Denilson, Fabregas, Rosicky, Gilberto and Flamini on pitch, playing at various positions. Thats six out of the nine outfield players. That just shows that our squad contains many versatile players.

Regarding the red card, i feel there was no doubt that it was a red card offense, but it wasn't entirely Senderos' fault. Some claim thats it was due to his bad positioning, but they forget that Kanu would have been offside if Flamini had positioned himself a little forward. It's a shame that he'll have to sit out for some games. He is a good prospect and he needed some matches to get back his confidence. This sending off also means we'll have to play Gilberto at the back for the next game which is away at Spuds. An important game it'll be and our defense will be put to a tougher test at the lane.

As another Game week got over, Spuds dropped points again after dominating at Fulham, while Chelsea lost to Villa at Villa park. Liverpool thrashed Derby, while Man U sneaked past Sunderland. Another team that has been doing pretty well is Everton. They have signed Yakubu and this time around they'll give a tough time for any opposition.

Diarra moves to Arsenal, Pompey preview.

2007-09-01T21:49:00.000+05:30

Lassana Diarra has signed on for Arsenal on the deadline day of the transfer window. The midfielder has apparently signed a long term deal with Arsenal and this late signing clearly shows how highly Wenger rates him. We already have a big enough contingent of center midfielders but Diarra is touted to be the replacement for Gilberto Silva once the Brazilian leaves/retires from the club.

Diarra later talked to the press about his transfer.

“I have great respect for the manager Arsène Wenger and am attracted by the style of football that the team plays. Of course I am excited by what the future holds and keen to play my part in helping Arsenal fight for trophies this season and for years to come.”

He was unhappy with the lack of first team action at Chelsea, but it's pretty strange that he chose Arsenal. Here the opportunities are restricted like at Chelsea as we have surplus of central midfielders.

Wenger also spoke about this deal.

“Lassana is a multi-functional player, making him a great addition to our squad. Not only is he hard working, he has a creative edge and is comfortable playing in the middle of the pitch or at right back.”

This transfer also throws doubt over the future of some players.

First, Mathieu Flamini. The arrival of Diarra won't help him at all in geting more first team action and it looks pretty sure that Flamini will leave in the next transfer window or the one after that. Flamster is a great squad player who has always given his best. I wouldn't like to see him leave, but he won't be pleased to be sitting on the bench. We'll hear more about him and his future soon.

Second, Gilberto Silva. It is pretty early to say that Gilberto's days at Arsenal are counted, but Wenger's policy of preferring young players over 30+ aged players throws doubt in my mind. Gilberto hasn't signed a new contract yet and he is supposedly unhappy with the captaincy decision. It would be foolish to let Gilberto leave soon but Wenger has his plans and we'll hear more about Gilberto's future in the coming sumer.

We recently had the Champions League draw and now it's the turn for Carling Cup. We drew Newcastle United and kept the tradition of drawing tough oppositions in league matches. Wenger will sure stick to a youthful team. The only question is whether he'll mix youth and experience like last time, or will he go for a full young squad.

We have lots of rumors about takeover, but I hate to go into those things as i hate a takeover even though it's headed by David Dean. The whole situation is a big mess and totally unnecessary.

Between all this, we have a match tomorrow against Portsmouth. It'll be played at the Grove and as always it's important to come away with a win. The likes of Kanu, Lauren and Campbell will return as they look set to start. It will be interesting to see what formation they go for, but the most probable one is a 4-5-1.
Coming to Arsenal team news, Alex Hleb is doubtful for this match as he fell ill and his inclusion in the squad will be a late decision. Hleb is a vital part in the team as we haven't signed any wingers and Walcott is still raw. We also have Sagna, Gallas, Eboue and Lehmann in the injury list.

Pompey will be tough to beat at it is important that our defense maintains its concentration throughout. Last time they visited, we went two goals down before fighting back to get a 2-2 draw. We need to win and i won't mind if its a scrappy 1-0.

Arsenal 3 - Sparta Prague 0, Dein sells shares

2007-08-30T22:55:00.000+05:30

Arsenal cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Sparta Prague to ensure a berth in the group stage of this years Champions League. An early goal from Rosicky and late goals from Fabregas and Eduardo meant the Gunners came out as comfortable 5-0 winners over two legs.

I couldn't watch the match and I feel it's better not to write opinions by just reading reports and watching highlights. So here's a good report. Have it!

Anyway, it's pretty nice to see our midfielders score more goals. If they can keep this scoring touch, we'd be far better as there would be less pressure on forwards. Eduardo played in the wings for some part of the game and from opinions, I've understood that he looked pretty lively there. In my opinion, he may play there in the left in the absence of Rosicky and that'll also help him to settle faster as playing on wings means seeing more of the ball.

But Arsene believes that he's a box player. So it's pretty sure that we'll see him more upfront rather than on the wings. Arsene was quoted saying,

"If you find Eduardo and supply him with chances, he will score goals. He's a box player."

which looks pretty true by seeing the goal which he scored against Sparta.

Cesc Fabregas meanwhile dedicated his goal to Antonio Puerta who passed away recently after a heart attack while he was on field. Football fans fans all around the globe are shocked by the death and I'm surely one among them after reading that he didn't even drink or smoke. He was a very fit person at 22 years old with a young wife and an about to be born kid. Very sad indeed.

In other important news, The Champions league group stages are drawn and Arsenal might face Puerta's team Sevilla. The winners of Sevilla Vs AEK Athens which was postponed after Puerta's death will decide who'll head to the group stage. The other teams are Steaua Bucharest and Slavia Prague.

It looks a relatively easy draw and Arsenal with all their quality should never find it troublesome to progress from this group. There'll some tricky away games but we should come out on top like we did against Sparta.

Meanwhile, David Dean has sold his shares to Red&White Holdings, a company co-owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov for a reported £75mill. Dean will be the chairman of Red&White holdings and even though they spoke that they don't intend to takeover any soon, their intentions are pretty clear.

Dean said,

"Today's announcement marks a significant step towards realising the vision I share with thousands of fans at home and abroad of making Arsenal the world's number one football club,

I have not lost my passion for the club, indeed, it is greater than ever. My ambition remains to play an active role in Arsenal again.

My immediate intention is to work with others to provide the financial resources necessary to turn the vision of Arsenal as the world's number one club into reality."

This sale of shares by Dein is sure to start another media circus claiming things about takeover bids from everyone including Osama Bn Laden. Be prepared. *Sighs

Arsenal 1 - Man City 0. More injuries.

2007-08-25T21:33:00.000+05:30

An 80th minute strike from Cesc Fabregas ensured Arsenal a home win over Manchester City. Earlier Robin Van Persie missed a penalty after Hleb was brought down in the box by Micah Richards.

The match was in many ways a reflection of our last season performances at the Emirates, only difference being a clean sheet for Arsenal. As usual Arsenal created many chances, but none of them were taken. But most of the credit should go to City defense, which stood up and fought hard against the attacks which came one after the another.

As expected Arsenal started with a 4-4-2. But there were surprises in the starting line up as Gilberto started at center back after Senderos suffered an injury just before the game. So it was Clichy, Toure, Gilberto and Sagna at the back and Hleb, Fabregas, Flamini and Rosicky in the midfield, while Van Persie and Adebayor played upfront. An injury (or not) to Lehmann meant Almunia started infront of goal. City played some line up which included Mpenza, Elano and Petrov while Giovanni started from bench.

Sagna was injured in the first half after an accidental clash with Flamini and he was brought off early in the match. He was replaced by Denilson who played in the center while Flamini shifted to right back. This latest injury and another one to Senderos during pre-match warm up means we have very less options for the coming games unless they recover fast.

The match saw plenty of chances created, most of them created by Arsenal, but City had a fair share of them as they tried to score on the break. The city goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichal looked very shaky in handling crosses, but Arsenal couldn't take advantage of it. The first half ended 0-0, but Arsenal should have taken the lead. The second half was similar to the first, but there was a period of domination by City and those moments were worrying indeed. Then came the penalty as Alex Hleb was brought down in the box by Richards. Van Persie stepped up, but struck a poor shot straight at the keeper as he went for power rather than placement. But with ten minutes to go, Cesc Fabregas scored from a difficult angle after some neat passing in the box. 1-0 to the Arsenal and there was no way we were going to lose from that position. The full match report is here.

Our front line had a pretty ordinary performance and that was largely down to some excellent marking by the City defenders Dunne and Richards. Rosicky had a very lively game and he didn't look like he was affected by the injury. Hleb looked good on the right and did well to win a penalty for us, before setting up the winner. Gilberto looked comfortable at the back and Almunia made some good saves and looked very assuring behind the defense.

It was a very important win and a well deserved one too as City showed lots of fighting spirit. One can take many negatives out of this performance, but to me the win was important and it's good to see us keeping a clean sheet. We can still improve on counter attacks and finishing, which will be needed for a good season.

Arsene Wenger to sign a new contact soon

2007-08-23T13:30:00.000+05:30

Recent reports suggest that Arsene Wenger is set to sign a 3 year contact within weeks. Peter Hill-Wood spoke to Daily star about the situation.

"Hopefully we'll have something to say in the next week or so.
The length of the contract is up to him, but hopefully it will be a two or three-year deal. "We certainly want to pay him what he's worth, but money is not the major stumbling block. There are just little pieces here and there to sort out."

This is great news for the Team, the Board and all the fans. Everyone has been waiting for this to happen and once the contract is signed, there'll be many relieved faces. This news also means rumors that link the players future to uncertainty in Wenger's future, will rest for a while.

Meanwhile, Wenger told the press that he is in no rush to appoint a new director of football. He had spoke earlier that how appointing a new director at the pre-season stage would be difficult for him. Now that the pre-season is over, it may be the best time for him to appoint a new man. But as long as he feels that Ken Friar is doing a good job, there is no reason to appoint a new director of football.
Wenger spoke,

"At the moment Ken Friar does this job and he does it very well,"I have known him since I have been here and, as long as he does that, we will not change now. We might look to employ somebody still, but not necessarily someone to be involved in the deals for the transfers."

Coming to transfer rumors, we are being linked with Wilson Palacios, a Honduran winger. It might be just another Palacio like prank and there has been no solid evidence so far.
If this signing does happen, i do hope he is better than Eboue and Walcott. Otherwise there is no point in signing him as he isnt much young either. Nobody knows much about this guy and we'll know soon if there's any truth in this story.

And Gilberto Silva has spoke to icons.com many things, including Henry's departure, Eduardo's arrival and the ambition of the club. He also said that his three week break after Copa America wont do him any harm.
When asked if Henry's frustrations affecting the team morale, his answer was this.

It would be a bit silly to speculate about "ifs and maybes". Thierry wasn't the only player unhappy with our problems last year and I don't think his dissatisfaction was any problem for the squad in terms of morale.

It's good that players are unhappy with the performance. Maybe that'll just help to motivate themselves this season. But if the unhappiness is towards the board or Arsene Wenger's policies, it'd be trouble. We all know that Gallas was really unhappy with our transfer policy until he was awarded the Captains arm band. And David Dean's departure haven't exactly helped the situations. Hopefully Wenger will sign the contract soon and ease some of the uncertainties that exist.

And speaking of uncertainties, we can't ignore our North London neighbors. Martin Jol's managerial position is under threat as it is reported that the board is unhappy with his performances(After only 3 games). They approached Sevilla manager Ramos with a lucrative offer but got turned down. And Ramos spoke to public that he was offered a deal form Spuds. Jol is unhappy with the board for not showing faith in him and players are unhappy with the board for not showing faith in Jol. As if the pressure from supporters wasn't enough, poor old Martin Jol now has the board looking to draw blood. Shame on you Spuds..!

Injured Gallas to sit out for three weeks

2007-08-20T20:34:00.000+05:30

After sustaining a groin injury in the last match against Blackburn Rovers, William Gallas is set to be sidelined for at least three weeks. This means we will be without proper defensive cover until Gallas returns. Senderos will partner Toure at the back until then.
I don't have any doubts that Senderos will perform well. He has partnered well with Tore in the past and he is very much capable of doing that again. He is strong in the air and will surely do well. He just needs to have 2-3 first team matches continuously. And the injury to Gallas means this a great chance for him to prove his critics wrong. What concerns me is the fact that we have no one to cover further injuries at the center back position. One more injury means we'll end up playing Alex Song in that position. Very worrying indeed.

After his mistake in the last match, Jens Lehmann is talking again; about how England players are mentally weak. It's good to see that he is trying to get involved in other things rather than get moody about his mistake. But enough is enough, one more mistake and he'll be, he must be out of the team. He might not be dropped for the next game, but there is a mighty good chance of that happening if he makes another mistake soon. Gooners from all over the world are enraged with his latest mistake and many are calling for his exit from the club. Wherever you go, whichever forum u read, same opinion can be seen.

Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas has came out showed his support to Jens.

“When I make a mistake I don’t like people shouting at me, I just have to think about what I did wrong and put it right. Now Jens has to think about it himself but of course we are all alongside him. He does not have to apologize. “This is a team. Since the beginning of the season we said we will always be together. We are together now and we are strong. We showed that at Blackburn. There was one mistake and we lost two very important points. But it is still very early.”

It's good to hear that the team is ready to shoulder the responsibility rather than point fingers. As I said in my last post, there was some bad defending from Flamini and Cesc, as they just stood and watched the ball being passed around rather than closing down Dunn. We definitely miss Gilberto and I cant wait to see him back in action clearing air balls and putting in well timed tackles.

There is ten more days for transfers and i have come to the conclusion that we wont sign anyone now. Seeing the current state of team, its obvious that we need a winger. Walcott hasn't matured yet, even though Wenger thinks otherwise and Eboue isn't doing much as a winger.
One player who has impressed everyone is Sagna. He has been great in the last three matches defensively and going forward. Another great buy from Arsene.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - Arsenal 1. Lehmann shocker

2007-08-19T21:41:00.000+05:30

Two games, Two mistakes, Two goals conceded. This time around Jens Lehmann won't be the happiest man in the dressing room after the game. In a very physical affair at Ewood Park, Jens Lehmann's mistake meant that we have dropped points for the first time this season after Robin Van Persie put us ahead.

Arsene Wenger reverted to a 4-4-2 after injuries to Rosicky and Eboue. Hleb moved to the left and Walcott on the right. New signing Eduardo teamed up with Robin Van Persie upfront. Blackburn put out a very attacking lineup, but it was soon clear what their intentions were. Right from the kick-off, the Blackburn players tried to rough up our players. And no prizes for guessing who was at his bloody best doing that. Robbie Savage. Mark Hughes may speak on and on about how his team is misunderstood and harshly treated by the referees, but these sort of showing by his team proves nothing but the fact the he loves kicking teams around. And thats exactly why Robbie Savage is in the team. That twat knows nothing other than fouling and intimidating people. And the referee for the game Alan Wiley never got hold of the game and he allowed Savage and his thuggish team mates to get away with many fowls.

It was a very physical affair and it was Arsenal who took the lead after a small scramble in the box. Friedel's mistake allowed Van Persie to slot in the ball to make it 0-1 and despite being not so convincing, Arsenal went ahead. Captain Gallas had to substituted after he suffered an injury and he was replaced by Senderos. The score stayed the same at Halftime.
The second half saw a resurgent Blackburn side proving that they can play Football along with kick-boxing. There were tackles flying around and most of them were intended purely to take out the player. Van Persie and Fabregas were targeted in particular and were never allowed time on the ball.
The Equalizer came from David Dunn who hit the ball from outside the box after some good passing movement. Jens made a real mess of it and the ball ended up in the net. 1-1. From then on the game opened up.
Blackburn skipper Nelson was sent off after pulling down Van Persie when he got through. Bendtner was brought on for Eduardo who couldn't make a big impact on the game.

Wenger in his post match interview, spoke that this was a game where we should have come away with a victory.

"We feel we have dropped two points because we were 1-0 ahead and had a few chances to score a second goal, But it was a good performance. We were resilient and dealt well with the long ball and the physical challenge they gave us."

He refused to criticize Lehmann saying,

"He feels very down at the moment because of course he knows his responsibility, A goalkeeper is there not to make mistakes and he will certainly be concerned, but what we have to worry about at this stage is to just prepare for our next game."

I'm really disappointed with a draw as we should have finished off Blackburn before they equalized. But it was a relief to see that the team responded well to the physical approach they had to face. Another match has gone and it showed some more weaknesses.
1. Lehmann. He should sit out a few games. A spell on the bench can only do him good.
2. Lack of Wingers. Walcott isn't much of a threat and Eboue isn't a winger. We need a new signing.
3. DMC position. The goal by Dunn showed us how much we missed Gilberto. There was noone to close him down. Even though Flamini does his best, Gilberto is just irreplaceable.

All is not bad for Arsenal as the other three clubs in the top four dropped points as ManU lost to Man City and Liverpool drew with Chelsea.

Wenger contract decision soon; Blackburn preview.

2007-08-17T22:54:00.000+05:30

When asked about decision over his contract Arsene Wenger's answer was this.

“We are very soon, Very, very soon.”

It'll be a huge boost to the team if he signs a new contact now and a slap on the face for Thierry Henry who said he decided to move on because Wenger's future is uncertain. His signing will bring a lot of relief to players as well as many fans. Everyone knows how important it is that he stays for more seasons. I never had doubt that he'll sign a new contract and i still don't have doubts over it. He brought up this team from bare bones and it'd be very strange if he left them now.

Wenger also talked about how we have young players with old heads.

“We have matured, We have a great togetherness and we fight for each other. You could see that the other night [in Prague].

"You understand some qualities are more important when you get a bit older. When you are younger you are a little bit obsessed by your own performance. When you get more mature you understand that different ingredients are needed to focus on and that is what we have learned."

It's true that our players cant be labeled as players without experience and maturity. Everyone of them have played a lot of games over these years and they have plenty of experience at the top level.

Coming to the Sundays away match against Blackburn, the team news says that we'll be without Tomas Rosicky and Eboue for this game, while Eduardo is fit again and has a good chance to start the game. It'll be interesting to see what team Wenger will put out. As Eboue is injured he will have to play both Walcott and Hleb. Hleb will probably start on the left and Walcott on the right. It could also be Diaby on left as Wenger has a habit of playing him there when we are short of wingers. The current situation really shows that we need one more winger in our team. Eboue hasn't impressed anyone with his performances in the last two games and Hleb and Walcott aren't much convincing either.
So for this match there is a good chance that we'll revert back to 4-4-2 with Eduardo partnering RvP who has been lonely upfront.
My prediction, a 2-1 win for us.

Sparta Prague 0 - Arsenal 2. Job almost done.

2007-08-16T02:21:00.000+05:30

Arsenal have won their away leg of the Champions League qualifier against Czech side Sparta Prague. The goals came in the second half from Cesc Fabregas in the 72nd minute and from Alex Hleb in the 90th Minute after a goalless first half. Gael Clichy setup the first goal while Sagna assisted in the second. The full match report is here. As usual ten sports decided against showing the match. And a shitty net connection meant i was left to watch the live score updates.

Wenger started with the same starting XI that played against Fulham, as expected. We had Eduardo, Adebayor, Diaby, Denilson and Gilberto out of this tie due to injuries. This win away from home is one of the important ones this season. It's only half time considering the two legs, but we can be pretty sure of a spot in the group stage.

Update: The goals can be viewed here.
[0-1] Fabregas 72'
[0-2] Hleb 90+'

Apart from that we had 'top four spuds' losing again, this time to everton only to find themselves at the bottom. First two games really shows how much Jol "wasted" on that team. And Mancs drew again, this time to Pompey after Ronaldo was sent off for a head butt. Seems he'll get a three match ban as a disciplinary action. Must be because i took him in my fantasy premierleague team.

Arsenal 2 - Fulham 1. Improvements needed.

2007-08-12T20:28:00.000+05:30

The new season has finally started and we've started with a win. A win that wasn't convincing at all. A win that showed everyone that there is lot of work to be done, on different fronts.

The starting lineup was the same which everyone expected with us playing a 4-4-1-1 with Hleb playing behind Van Persie. New man Eduardo Silva was dropped from the squad after a knee injury.

The first goal was scored by Fulham in the first minute, when Jens Lehmann tried to act smart on the ball. He received a back pass from Clichy and tried to pass it back to him even when Healy was in the way. He should have passed to Sagna, he didn't and went off-balance while trying to pass and made a real mess of it. Healy was left with the job to tuck the ball into the net and he did it without any mistake. So it was 1-0 to Fulham even before everyone had taken their seat.

From then on, it was the same old story. Arsenal trying to equalize only to miss several chances. Rosicky had a good chance after some good work by Hleb, but he dragged his shot wide. Another chance fell to Rosciky after some work on the right by Sagna and again the ball ended up on the wrong side of the net. Many chances followed and it looked like we were without any improvement on the finishing department.

Fulham meanwhile was not defending all the time, they had some pretty good chances and if they were taken the result would have turned out as something else. Our defense looked out of sorts on several occasions as their strikers were left unmarked at times.

The first half ended with a 1-0 scoreline and Arsenal continued their pursuit for the equalizer. Again there were so many chances. They fell to Hleb, Fabregas, Van Persie and Rosicky. But none of them were converted. Then when it looked like we'll be having another bad opening day, Toure went on a great run only to be blocked by Bocanegra. A penalty was awarded and Van Persie stepped up to convert it.
Then in the injury time we got a winner; from Alex Hleb who controlled a lofted ball from Fabregas to slot it home. Emirates erupted with joy and i can't explain how much happy I was.
The detailed match report is here.

Wenger in his post match interview commented that the team showed great fighting spirit and claimed that this was a result that could change a team's season.
He had an interesting comment about Hleb playing behind Van Persie.

"Hleb is doing very well in there, I felt that sometimes Van Persie was a bit isolated, when Bendtner came on and was supporting him it was a bit easier. But sometimes it depends on the games."

It was true that RvP looked isolated at times, and i definitely felt like we were missing Adebayor's presence. His work rate will only help RvP.

The first match brought to light many of our weaknesses and showed that we lacked a lot to compete for major trophies.
First, Eboue was just ok at right wing and it was definitely showing that we need a new winger. Someone who play very well in that position rather than just an ok performance.
Second, We need to improve the defense. Sagna seems to be solid, but the Toure-Gallas partnership was as shaky as ever. There were many occasions when our defending looked dreadful due to lack of communication.
Third, we are still very inefficient in using the set pieces. Nobody runs towards the ball and there isnt any determined attempt to head the ball.
Fourth, Jens needs to cut out his mistakes and improve his concentration.

Now onto plus points, Hleb looks great at the center, just behind the striker. He created a lot of chances, worked hard and showed good determination. He deserved his goal and i feel if he gets that role more, we'll see more goals from him.
Sagna looks solid at the back. He links up well with the wingers and looks like he has settled in no time.
Bendtner looks like he'll be very useful. He won several Aerial balls and showed immense power and determination to hold off the defenders after he came on. He might come very hand in those away matches when the opponent just tries to knock us out of the game.

In other matches, Chelsea and liverpool won their matches against Birmingham and Aston Villa. And Spuds lost against Sunderland. Serves them right.

Gallas is a changed man.

2007-08-08T19:40:00.000+05:30

William Gallas continued his pre-season form of talking by praising the team for a change. In one months time his opinion has changed from this, to this. Wenger might have promised him the captaincy band if he started talking sense. May he just gave him a nice clean advice - "cut it off".
Anyway its good to hear him say something that would help the team rather than pulling down their morale. And it's quite a turn around in his opinion when he says Arsenal are genuine title contenders.

“They are professionals and they have had one more year's experience behind them. As far as I'm concerned they will be ready this season. I realised that during pre-season. What I saw during the tournaments - against Paris St-Germain, Inter, Ajax and Lazio - it was different.
The spirit was different. Everybody fought for his team-mate and when you see that you realise. I don't know why it's changed but something clearly has. I can't call them 'the kids' - they're not kids any more - but the young players really want to win a trophy. They won't be bullied this season. They don't want people to keep saying Arsenal are just young kids ".

He certainly is talking sense this time. And i do hope he improves from his average performance last season to forge a good partnership with Kolo. It's a truth that injuries were a big problem for him last season. And he didn't get any pre-season training with Arsenal last year. So we might see the best of him this year. And it's very important that it happens because conceding silly goals was our biggest problem last season.

And another man who has been talking a lot recently, Robin Van-Persie, is backing Theo Walcott to shine this season.

“I have been practicing with Theo since June 18 and I can assure you that he is up for it big time, When we were doing tests over the summer it was very hard. We were running every day with the fitness coach and I could see it in his face he was really going for it.
“I like Theo has a person. He is a young man but I think he has big, big ambitions for himself to show his qualities. His ambition is one of the biggest things about him. He is just 18 but I see in him a big, big desire achieve his goals.”

Last season Theo looked pretty raw and rarely looked dangerous against good defenses. At a time when he was playing due to Hleb's injury, it was evident that we were lacking the intelligent support play on the right wing. He's still pretty young and it's evident that his best position is upfront. But Wenger feels he should play on the wings just like Henry did during his early times. Anyway, even if he doesn't score much, its important that he starts to fit in well with the passing style of play that Arsenal has.

In other news, new man Eduardo spoke about his life at Arsenal.

"The goal I scored against Lazio has made my life easier and made me more confident. I came to score goals but it is not easy in England. It is up to me to do the same things I did in Zagreb.
"Everything at Arsenal is great. The stadium is great and the training camp is something in my dreams. Everything is new around me but I'm not scared of it. I'm not afraid of anything. There are only three Englishmen in the Arsenal squad so another foreigner is nothing new to supporters."

By watching him in pre-season friendlies it was definitely clear that he has in it to succeed at Arsenal. He showed some good determination in the matches he played and he seems to have adjusted with the style of play quickly. If he can take some scoring burden off Van-Persie, it'll be a great help for us in the title challenge.

Finally, this'll get my vote for the worst article i've ever seen. And Sportingo for the worst site.! A fan generated Experience.. Pffft..!

One-Nil to the Arsenal

2007-08-05T21:02:00.000+05:30

Arsenal has clinched another pre-season trophy after a 1-0 win against Ajax. Robin Van Persie scored the 87th minute winner in a physical game which never looked like a pre-season friendly. Both teams wanted to win the match desperately and there was certainly many tackles flying around.
RvP in particular was target to some rough tackles from the Ajax players. He looked like he picked up an injury after he was stretchered off the pitch after a late challenge, just minutes after his goal. But to everyones relief he came back to celebrate the win.
I feel the team should be prepared for the rough treatment which it'll face in most of the league matches and this friendly gave the players a chance to show that they are capable of countering that approach. Van Persie escpecially will be targeted this season after Henry's departure. After all he our main man after Henry left.

After the match Van persie spoke about how Freddie Ljunberg wasn't exactly being nice after he left the club.
Robin said,

"If you play nine years at a club like Arsenal you can say some nice words. If you're coming up with excuses about Thierry's departure and about promises from the club it's a bit weak. I was disappointed and I know a few others were as well. He had a fantastic period, he was once the best player in England, so come on and say some nice things for this club, which is fantastic."

It good to see him blast some of those players who seem to enjoy having a dig at Arsenal after they leave. And he seems to be enjoying the pressure that he's under. If he can stay injury free this season, we can definitely expect some 20-25 goals from him.

Also, Fabregas who missed the game due to a throat infection praised Eduardo.

"He is very clever. He has a lot of skill and will do well for Arsenal this season."

Eduardo seems to have impressed his team mates already and its good to hear Fab praising him. It'll definitely help Dudu in settling into the team.
Eduardo didn't start in the game against Ajax, but when he came on created a good chance by muscling with a defender. He certainly looks like he's ready to hold off some rough challenges.

Afterwards Wenger talked to the press about how physical Ajax was and how the pre-season went perfectly for the team. When asked about further signings, his response was that he is not sleeping. With Hleb looking good in the center, i have a feeling that Wenger will go for someone who can play in the wings.
He also gave hints that talks are going on to extend his contract. For me, it's pretty clear that he'll stay. All the bull shit about him leaving was made by the media.

Arsenal face Sparta in Champions league qualifier

2007-08-03T20:55:00.000+05:30

The draw for the third qualifying round of the Champions League was today. And we are going to face the Czech side Sparta Prague. The rest of the fixtures can be found here.
It's a tricky tie and we need to be careful. They have improved a lot since we last met them. They even did the double last season. But with the players we have, we should defeat them easily. But with Arsenal, u never know.

Also in other news, Eduardo and Bendtner scored in 2-1 win over Lazio. We started with a pretty weak side and that was clearly seen in the performance. Eduardo impressed again and more importantly opened his goal tally for Arsenal. This was just few hours after he was granted his work permit.

The match showed that many of our players are still lacking the fitness levels. Fabregas, Rosicky and Walcott looked heavy legged and they definitely need to play in the coming matches if they're to get ready for the league in time.
Meanwhile spare a thought for Gilberto who'll be joining us late and with no pre-season training. I hope the lack of pre-season practice doesn't affect Gilberto like it affected Henry.

Moving on, Our injuries seems to have started before the season itself, as we have Adebayor sidelined due to a groin injury. He'll return to training next week itself, but its unlikely that he'll feature in the match; says Arsenal.com.
It'll a great chance for Eduardo to show what he can do in the premiership. Of course there'll be pressure as it will be his first competitive match for Arsenal. But if he can play well, it'll do a world of good to his confidence.

Arsenal can win the title....

2007-08-02T17:06:00.000+05:30

....if they can improve certain aspects of their game.

1. Defending

Yes, defending should improve. No doubt. Our biggest problem last season was conceding very easily. We often defend high up the pitch and usually it takes nothing more than one simple long ball to disrupt our defense. Some say it is due to lack of proper partnership in defense. I believe its due to lack of concentration. When teams frustrate us by packing the defense, our own defenders go up to support the attack and usually it ends up in a goal at our end if not always. There were too many errors which enabled the oppositions lone striker to score. The goals by Zamora and Dyer shows how we were lacking concentration.
Looking at the stats, it's clear that we've conceded more goals than other teams in the top four. 8 more than Liverpool and ManU, 11 more than Chelsea. If we can tighten our defense, we will definitely be closer to title.

2. Set piece defending and attacking

Well, set pieces has been our biggest problem for a long time now. We are weak in both defending and attacking set pieces.
Many of the goals which we conceded were from set pieces. Bolton were especially efficient in exploiting this weakness of ours.
What is the problem? Is it due to zonal defending which Wenger prefers? Or is it lack of players with height?
We definitely lack proper marking. Many of our players were ball watching rather than marking their players. Gallas says we should employ man marking because each player will know exactly who he will mark. Sounds good. But will Wenger use man marking or will he stick to zonal marking? Will we be better in defending set pieces, only time will tell.
We also need to utilize the corners and free kicks we get more. The only player who runs towards the ball to attack is Gilberto. Others are just like push overs for the opposition defense. Definitely Adebayor should improve. And so should our center backs. If we had someone like Vidic who attacks the ball well in set pieces, it'd have been great.

3. Finishing

Finishing. Another big problem that needs to be addressed. Last season we scored 63 goals in total. Compare that to 83 of ManU. Yes, we were without our top strikers for most of the season. But if we had taken our chances, we'd have ended up with lot more points. Many will point to Adebayor. But it's not just him. We saw how many chances our entire team squandered the last season.
The players who can finish a lot better in my opinion are Ade, Rosicky and Fabregas. And we need a lot more goals from them this season.
And it's nice to see smooth silky passing around the box. But i prefer seeing the ball in the net rather than that.

4. Utilizing the width of the pitch

Our wide players Hleb and Rosicky often drift inside leaving lots of space on the wings. It's true that we had Eboue and Clichy coming up to support the attack. But we were still not utilizing the width of the pitch. This means the opposition defenders only had to cut down attacks through the middle of the pitch. They just packed the defense and all we could do was pass the ball around the box without much penetration.
This can only be addressed by having a true winger in the side. And we are desperately short on wingers. Either Wenger has to sign someone who can play on the right, as Hleb seems so uncomfortable there. Or he could give Eboue an extended run in that position and see how he improves our attack(and defense).

5. Score early, start well.

One of the major difference between our unbeaten season and the last one was that we were not scoring early on. In fact we go behind early and from there it was the same old story. We attack, they defend.
We usually start the match with good aggression, but it was quite noticeable that we couldn't keep that aggression for long enough. Our smooth passing usually dies down after some 20 minutes. If we could just carry that aggression through the match, we can do a lot better.

6. Away form.

Our away form has been pathetic for the last few seasons. We won just 36% of the away matches last season compared to 63% of Chelsea and 68% of ManU. If we can get that win % above 60, we will definitely be there bidding for the title.
Our bad away form was mainly due to pathetic scoring in away matches. We scored just 20 in 19 matches while Chelsea scored 27 and Man United 37.

If we can improve some of the aspects if not all, we'll surely be much more closer to the title than last year.

Reyes to Athletico Madrid transfer complete

2007-07-31T21:43:00.000+05:30

He's gone. Finally. After more than a year of bitching and moaning, Reyes has completed his move away from London, to Madrid. Athletico Madrid. He didn't get his dream move to Real Madrid, but he must he happy.
Reyes, during his time at Arsenal had demonstrated what a skillful and talented player he is. Unfortunately he/his family couldn't settle in England. If he had stayed, he could have become a great player for Arsenal. Ah, lets just forget it.shall we?

We have been linked strongly with Lassana Diarra, but i doubt if there is any substance in it. The transfer might happen, but i can't see him featuring in our side packed with central mid fielders already. He plays at right back also, but we don't need more players there either.
There has mixed reactions to this rumor, some claiming that he's a quality player, while others deem him not good enough. I think this is just another rumor with may be a lil more substance. And i definitely don't want him at Arsenal unless Wenger rates him 'a quality player who can improve the squad'.

Kerrea Gibert has moved to Southend United on a 6 month loan deal. I'm afraid Kerrea's time at Arsenal is coming to an end. He is facing too much competition at Arsenal and i feel it's better for him to seek a new home.

Van Persie strike sinks Inter

2007-07-30T21:01:00.000+05:30

Robin Van Persie came up with a stunner to ensure a 2-1 win and the Emirates Cup for Arsenal. Arsenal controlled the game from start to finish and came out as well deserved winners.
The first half ended goalless even though Arsenal some chances. In the second half, we fell behind after a 62nd minute strike by Suazo. Arsenal responded with strikes form Alexander Hleb and Robin Van Persie to win the game. The Hleb goal came in the 67th minute and Van Persie's goal was in the 82nd minute.
Jens Lehmann returned to goal in what was a pretty strong side. Inter wasn't fielding their best team, but still the win left everyone in good spirits.
After PSG's 3-0 win over Valencia, it was clear that Arsenal needed to win the game to win the cup. And this 2-1 win after the late strike by RvP brought the first silverware of the season.

After the match, RvP spoke about the expectations in him and claimed he does not feel under pressure after Henry's departure.

“No, I don't feel the pressure at all, It's not my aim to be the top scorer. My aim is to play good football with this team. I think we showed that against Inter.
A lot of players are saying ‘oh, I have to be the top scorer’. But for me the first thing is to play football. Of course there are lots of responsibilities because you are playing in front of 60,000 people.”

It's good to hear that he's not feeling much pressure, because it's important that he remains fit and in form for the next season. I'm expecting at least 15 goals from him in the league. And i'm pretty sure he'll get there if he can avoid injuries.

Then we had Cesc talking about being not concerned by chasing pack. Well, not many people are concerned about spuds. Only the most pessimistic people fear about them. And about Liverpool, nothing can be told about their new signings until the season starts. They might flop, or they might be a hit. Who cares, if we play well that is.

And Reyes might end up in Athletico Madrid. Who cares.

PSG brushed aside

2007-07-29T20:55:00.000+05:30

The first match of the season at home results in a win. We beat PSG 2-1, thanks to goals from Mathieu Flamini and Nicklas Bendtner. The team put out was pretty strong but without any wingers. Diaby and Flamini were on the wings. I couldn't see the match, but after reading the reports it's pretty clear that Alex Hleb, Gael Clichy and Eboue had one hell of a game. Eboue played on the right wing after half time and looked threatening. With this performance, Wenger must have made up his mind to play him there sometimes with Sagna at right back.

Bendtner also had a good game. He showed glimpses of his talent and proved why there was so much interest in him. At just 18, he's a really good prospect. And the best thing about him is that he's got good physique along with speed and technique. We just have to keep him away from penalty kicks so that he doesn't miss more like he did yesterday.

The post match interview with Wenger was pretty interesting. He said he might sign more if he
finds the right players. There was questions about Anelka raised again, but Wenger any bid, but refused to deny interest in him. If he does sign him, we might see Eduardo on the left and Anelka upfront.

The Arsenal x Inter Milan game is going on and its 0-0 after 24 minutes. As usual I'm on live scores.

Elsewhere, Fabregas says he's ready to captain the side.

"While I respect the opinions of Henry and Ljungberg, I believe this team can fight for the title. What I say is not madness. We got to the Champions League final in 2005, often playing without players like Henry, Ljungberg and Ashley Cole.
I have matured very much over the last two years and I am prepared to be the leader of the team".

It's a good sign that a player wants to shoulder responsibility. And even at this young age, i think Fabregas has got it in him to lead the team. He has shouldered the responsibility last term and there were times when he virtually controlled the game all by himself. Anyway, we've got Gilberto now. And it's always good to have others who can share the leadership of the team.

And Reyes' transfer might not happen in the near future. And it might not happen at all. Lyon is showing interest but he's still crying for a move to Madrid. Poor boy.

Work permit blues

2007-07-28T20:41:00.000+05:30

Things should never go smoothly for Arsenal. That's the way it is. We'll have injuries, suspensions, "i want to go home to my Mama" players, and now wok permit problems. Eduardo Da Silva's initial work permit application has been turned down.
The club has appealed against it and I'm pretty sure he'll get the go ahead as he has played in a good portion of Croatia's matches and has featured regularly in Zagreb. If it gets turned down, well, things would just get even worse.

Onto other things, Arsene Wenger has admitted that Gilberto will be his first choice. Not much of a surprise there at all.

The Emirates Cup has started. Valencia has won the first game 2-0 against Inter Milan and Arsenal Vs PSG is going on now. 23 mins are over and no goals so far. I don't have tv coverage and a shitty connection means i can just sit watching the live scores.

Then we have Angel Di Maria who is not signing for Arsenal. I wonder if we were interested in him at all; like Martins, like Anelka, like Palacio, like Babel, like everyone else.

Gilberto should be the captain.

2007-07-27T19:36:00.000+05:30

Merlin's Beard..! William Gallas as Arsenal Captain..? Wenger certainly didn't mean it. Must be having a dig at him by saying this.

Ok, Gallas was the captain for the last friendly, which we ended up as the losing side; but what the hell has he got in him to captain our side? Nothing. Absolutely Nothing.
Gilberto should be the captain. Period. He deserves it for the leadership quality and fighting spirit he has shown in the last few seasons. And yes Kolo should be the vice-captain as Fabregas is a little young. And William Gallas can just sod off.

Speaking of Gilberto, he's set to miss the start of the season. He's is on a three week holiday and will return by August 7. He'll be missed for sure, but i guess Diaby, Denilson and Flamini are there to cover up.

We've been linked again to Angel Di Maria. How much of it is true, we'll see.

Freddie leaves, More takeover BS.

2007-07-24T18:13:00.000+05:30

Despite speaking that he won't move to another English club earlier, Freddie Ljunberg has moved to West Ham United. The fee is reported as £3m which is a good offer considering how little Freddie could do for us in the past two seasons.

It's sad to see him move out because he was such a loyal and important player. He always seemed to produce magic moments for which we love him. But sadly his edge was gone in the past seasons and his pace dropped. That meant less chances for him. So he had to move to keep a first team place. But a move to West Ham was least expected. I always had the feeling that he'd move abroad as he had stated he wouldn't like to play in england for any team other than Arsenal.
Anyway, all the best to him.

And coming to takeover, there is loads of bullshit running around as there are several reports about Stan Kroenke taking over, Several other about F1 supremo Ecclestone taking over and some about Stan working with Ecclestone to take over. Hilarious.! And Bollocks.!

The board members have came out and denied that there was any bid and also stated that they will resist any attempt to takeover the club. It was good to hear from them early or we'd have a media bollocking for two three days.

Now with Ljunberg gone, we definitely lack wingers. So i guess the boss will have to dip into the transfer market again. The delay maybe due to the Reyes situation, because there is still uncertainty over his future. Madrid are still bitching over the deal, so Reyes might end up at Lyon according to latest reports. I'm not interested in him any more. If there's anything I'm looking forward from him, it's the money from his sale; from which we can get a good winger.

Stan Kroenke loves the Arsenal Board

2007-07-20T15:51:00.000+05:30

Rumors say that Stan Kroenke is getting ready to table a bid to takeover Arsenal. They say that a bid worth £650m is going to tabled by Kroenke and former DoF David dean. And he wants to discuss with the board about it.
His chief marketing officer says,

"Mr Kroenke is a 12 per cent owner, he holds a significant stake in the club and he now looks forward to meeting the other board members.
It is an investment. Mr Kroenke has invested in Arsenal and is very excited about it. He has been meeting with the people from Arsenal for the past year and a half and he’s very fond of the way they run their business operation. He’s very bullish about it".

Looking for ward to meet the board. huh..? If he does table a bid, Arsenal should definitely trash it because we definitely don't want to add to our existing debts. While Manchester United may be spending staggering amounts in transfer market, their debts are also staggeringly high.
And most importantly, Mr. Kroenke isn't here because of the love of the club or football, he's here because he loves to make profit. If profit does come, that'll go his pocket and not to the club.

Yesterday we had our second pre-season friendly; against Genclerbirligi in Austria. We came out 3-0 winners, thanks to goals from Walcott and RvP. Walcott impressed a lot of people and so did RvP. And Adebayor put in another good performance and he was very much involved in the goals.
The new signings Eduardo and Sagna featured in this match. Sagna was in the starting XI and eduardi came on after 69 mins. Both looked good. Sagna was solid at the back with some good attacking runs and Eduardo showed that he has a flawless technique with some good touches.
The match report can be found here.

Onto interviews, Eduardo believes he needs to do more to prove himself at Arsenal.
It's truth that he can't replace Henry, but yes, he needs to get some goals to prove himself at Arsenal. The faster he settles in the squad, the better it is. He seems to have made friends with Eboue, Hleb, Denilson and Senderos. Now don't learn the antics from Eboue..!

Arsene Wenger says he was never interested in Nicholas Anelka.

“We have signed Eduardo. We don’t collect strikers, we buy the strikers we need. This season, we also expect Nicklas Bendnter to step forward and show us some aspects of his talent.”

That just about squashes some of the rumors. No Anelka, No Martins. Bendtner is our fourth striker. That's it. Even though we have Ade going for ACN, there is Walcott to cover up the striker position. So there really isn't cause for concern in striker department unless you believe we lack quality upfront. What we really need though is a left winger and I'm bored saying it again and again.

And it seems Ljunberg will be staying as Wenger believes his experience is an asset. I agree to this fact, but i am still of the opinion that we should sell Freddy and get a more effective winger. Freddy is too much injury prone and he's lost his pace a lot.

And finally, reports say we have signed some more kids. Angel Di Maria and Pedro. The pair will play at Salamanca on loan, the same club where Carlos Vela plays. Nothing official about it though.

Fabregas aims for Arsenal captaincy

2007-07-19T12:04:00.000+05:30

It is "One Year On" series on arsenal.com and as part of it, Cesc Fabregas was interviewed. He was asked a few questions including his thoughts on captaining Arsenal one day. And this was his response.

Everybody wants this kind of responsibility and 100 per cent me as well. It something that I have liked ever since I have been young and it would be no problem for me to be captain of this club.

It's good to hear from him that he wants to take more responsibility. And this might give us a good hint that he's here to stay. That's pretty relieving too. If he stays, in a few seasons he'll be the Arsenal captain for sure. Such is the enthusiasm and commitment from this gem of a player.
And when asked about the future of the club, this was his answer.

The future is looking good. We have very good young players and most of them are teenagers. We are all ready to fight for the League, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Carling Cup, for everything. We must fight for everything that is in front of us. We must prove we are not just young but that we are winners.
We know we have a lot to learn but also we have a lot of experience. There is no doubt that there is quality and if we all give 100 per cent and injuries respect us, I am sure we will have a good season.

Again, he has the optimism and belief in the team that Henry didn't have and Gallas doesn't seem to have.
Fabregas will be the most important player for us next season and it's quite important that he has an injury free season. We saw several times last season, how we lacked the creativity and drive in his absence. It's quite worrying that we don't have a good enough player to replace him, but with Denilson and Diaby improving there is hope.

Arsene Wenger has explained why he signed Eduardo and Sagna.
He clearly states that Eduardo was signed because we were a striker short after Henry left. And Sagna was brought because he can play on the right and left of defence and will be our first choice during ACN.
So it's clear that Wenger won't be deploying Sagna in DM role. And this is a good hint towards Eduardo playing upfront and not as a winger.

The next pre-season friendly is today against Genclerbirligi in Austria. Wenger had said earlier that there is a good chance that the new signings will feature in this match. Let's see.

The easiest route to the backpage of The Sun

2007-07-17T19:35:00.000+05:30

Well, a quick answer to my earlier post. "No". It was just another rumor which brought to light the seriousness with which The Sun reports transfer news.
Apparently some fans of Boca Juniors posted on several Arsenal forums that Arsenal have a bid on table for Palacio and so on. The rumor didn't take much time to spread and it ended up on the back page of The Sun. And just after 24 hours or so, the creators of this rumor came out and acknowledged that it is a rumor.
Anyways, well done mate, thats a load of traffic and what more, you made it into Sun and Daily Mail and many blogs.
Meanwhile Gunnerblog is trying to make it into tomorrow's paper. I won't bet against him.

Elsewhere, we have Arsene Wenger explaining the delay in the appointment of Director of Football.
"I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling,But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things. I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us."
So maybe we'll have someone after the end of transfer window.

He also gave hints that the new signings Sagna and Da Silva will feature in the Emirates Cup.
"There was no World Cup or European Championships this summer so most of the players have had a longer rest and I will select the team for the Emirates Cup matches from everybody who has returned training. That means that it will be the first time our new signings would have played at Emirates Stadium for Arsenal, and the sides we field will be very strong".
I can't wait to see them play for Arsenal and the Emirates Cup will give a good hint about what they're all about.

A lot of people expect Dudu to score a lot of goals this season. But Wenger has tried ease off some pressure off him by asking the fans not to compare Dudu with Henry. Wenger claims that Dudu is a completely different player and more of a team player.

Laterz..

Is Rodrigo Palacio the next summer signing?

2007-07-16T18:03:00.000+05:30

Rodrigo Palacio is the latest player to be linked with Arsenal. The rumors started from a Boca Juniors blog which has stated that Arsenal has agreed a fee with Boca. The Sun picked up this bit and reported that a fee around £15m has prompted Boca to agree the transfer.

Arsene paying £15m for a player. Strange. But stranger things have happened, so we can't be sure that this is just a rumor. Let's wait and see.

Meanwhile, we had our first pre-season friendly against Barnet at Underhill. We came out with a comfortable 2-0 win, a good way to start the season. Adebayor and Barazite were the scorers.
Denilson was injured after falling prey to a bad tackle, but the injury was reported as 'not serious'.

After the match, there was an interview with Wenger where he talked about filling the void TH has left and Reyes' and his own future. It was nice to see him take a dig at want away striker Jose Reyes.
"Despite the global warming England is still not warm enough for him."
A nice bit of sarcasm, Arsene.

Finally, an interview with Peter Hill-Wood where he says the club has never been in a better position. He must have meant 'Off the pitch'. Surely.

Exit talks - Freddie, Reyes, Cesc

2007-07-14T20:43:00.000+05:30

Recently there was some fresh interest from Real Madrid on Cesc Fabregas. Spanish clubs have this filthy habit of announcing everything in press, thus making more and more rumors to flow around in news sites. And Real Madrid clearly isn't an exception. They started this summer with dreams of Henry and Fabregas and Wenger. And so far much of the rumors linking these players have been due to the mouthing off to press by a Ramon Calderon or something like that.

Coming to Cesc, after reading his interview, one question that hit me was this. Did Arsenal agree a fee with Real for Fab and allow talks between them? If they did, I'd consider it as the stupidest decision ever. Of course the bid would have been accepted by board and not by Wenger, coz Fab himself says that Wenger convinced him to stay. A really careless decision by the board and a great decision by Fab.
Cesc didn't disappoint us, did he? He came out and denied that he is moving to Real, just what all Arsenal fans wanted to hear. Some say that he might leave soon. But my feeling; he's here to stay.
He also feels that we can do something special this season. We can, certainly.

Meanwhile, Freddy Ljunberg is being strongly linked with Fiorentina. Rumors linking him to Man City were shot down after Freddy's agent said that he doesn't want to play for another English club. I love Freddy and his attitude, but i fear it is time for him to move on for some other challenges.

And speaking of attitude, we have Jose Antonio Reyes who even after having a good spell with Arsenal, is refusing to return to London. Climate problems he says. Any way, Arsenal and Real are working on a deal and it'd be nice if Arsenal holds on for at least 10mill pounds. You won't get him for cheap, Mr. Ramon.

Bacary Sagna signs on

2007-07-12T21:18:00.000+05:30

It's official. Bacary Sagna has signed for Arsenal on a long term deal for an undisclosed fee.

Damn, why cant they just let us know the fee. So that leaves us with guesses about what the fee might be. The popular guess is that the fee might be around 7.5 m . So lets be optimistic that he's gonna be a good signing. This was his first interview after signing on for Arsenal and it's good to see that he's quite confident.

Now the million dollar question is, Where will he play..? Arsene won't spend 7.5 mill for someone to sit on bench would he? I certainly hope not. And and after listening to Wenger's comments about the signing,
He is a very capable defender and has played consistently well for Auxerre in recent seasons. He plays mainly at right back, but can also play along the defence or in midfield.
it just got more confusing.
One theory is that he will be backup to Eboue and first choice when he's away for African Nations Cup.
Another one is that he'll fill in the right back slot and Arsene will push Eboue up the field to play him as a winger. Strange eh?
Here's Another, He might be acting as a cover for Gilberto Silva as Abou Diaby seems more like an attacking player.
Another. He'll act as cover for Clichy.

My theory, Arsene brought him to pressurize Eboue to play well defensively and to act as cover for the entire back line. Hmm. Let's wait and see.

Will he ever shut up..?

2007-07-10T14:00:00.000+05:30

William Gallas. The worst signing Arsene ever did. Worse than Jeffers and Baptista.
He gets injured again and again. Blames the club for his injuries and starts mouthing off to media, the things which should not be told. And does he perform well when he plays..? Rarely.? So Mr.Gallas, who the fuck are ya to speak like this..?

'What is sure is that several players are questioning the club's future.

'Around us, all the teams are recruiting but what is planned to compensate for the departure of Titi Henry?

'I am not at Arsenal to play for third place. It is necessary to recruit players of reputation because the young players have many qualities but the season is very, very long.

'The young players are thirsty for victories but Arsenal must obtain results, win titles in this period. If not, we will have to change policy and do the same as the other teams: recruit with more means.'

If you want to know about the clubs ambition, go and talk with Wenger. Not with the press.! Show some common sense, or just fuck off. I'd be the happiest if he is sold this summer itself that'd bring the Toure-Senderos partnership which attained so many clean sheets in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, new Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has expressed his interest in Cesc Fabregas. And to make things clear, Cesc came out and said that he is very happy being at Arsenal. This boy is my favorite. Just love his attitude.

Freddy Ljunberg is being tipped again for a move out of Arsenal, this time to Fiorentina for 5.5m. Pretty decent amount it is and I'd be happy to see that transfer being done. And Flamini is being linked with Juve and Valencia. Lets wait and see what happens.

Damn you Henry, for making my design outdated

2007-07-10T13:12:00.000+05:30

Shite.

Now i have to change the design just because of you and your ambition to win everything which you think will come true with Barca only. I'm no expert in photoshop means I've got some work on my hands. Damn you again.

Its been a lot of time since i blogged; mainly because of my never ending exams. Now that i have time I'll just brush up the happenings.
Henry has left. I'm a bit disappointed, but at the same time I'm happy.
Disappointed because one of the best players who ever played for Arsenal has just left us. And for just 16m pounds..! It must have been due to contract buyout which every player can do these days.
Disappointed because the reasons he put forward for his departure were just lame excuses. Its not because Arsene Wenger's future at the club is in doubt and it's not because Double D was sacked. The reason was plain and clear, He was of the opinion that this young squad is unable to mount a title charge. End of story. Anyway thank you Henry, for all the goals, all the entertainment.

Just after the Henry departure, tabloids and newspapers were linking us to almost every striker in the world including Martins, Anelka, Tevez, Eto'o, Owen and many others. But they never sensed even a bit about Eduardo Da Silva, who Wenger signed for a reported 8m pounds. He comes from Dinamo Zagreb and he's the player who scored the first goal in the Champions League at the Emirates. Let's hope he can score a lot more at the Emirates.
This is an interesting signing as it's pretty unsure where he'll play. He can definitely play upfront as a striker and as a winger i feel.
Wenger's commented this. "He is a very good finisher and although he is predominantly a striker, he is a very adaptable player." Now with us being linked to martins more and more, it might be a possible that Da Silva might play in the Reyes role, shifting Rosicky to the right to pressurize Alex Hleb more. We'd definitely know it once the season starts and if we are lucky enough, before it.

Speaking of Reyes, Real has upped the interest in him seemingly. Once the deal is done, we might have another 10m to spend or to just decrease the debts.

Meanwhile, we are being linked strongly to Martins and Bakari Sagna.
Bakari Sagna may be in London to finalize the deal which would put some thoughts into Eboue's head about working on his defending. I'll be pretty happy if this goes through as I'm fed up with Eboue's antics and lack of sense of defending.
At the same time Martins might also end up at Arsenal as said here. He'll be a good signing, only if Dudu aka Da Silva is intended for the wings. And with Manu closing in on Tevez, we're short on options.

He either goes or he doesnt.

2007-06-16T15:21:00.000+05:30

Like an infinite loop, it stretches and its never ending. Henry to Barcelona rumors have become so common a news on sites that nobody bothers to read them now..! Does these rumors have any substance..? Some say yes and some say no. Some say that Arsene was in Paris, meeting some Barca official to discuss a possible move for Theirry in exchange for Eto'o or just cash. It maybe true and it may not be.
It all took a new turn when Henry had an interview in which he said he was shocked by Dein's departure and that it was a big mistake. He went on to say that he is an Arsenal player. But the words "I'll stay" that many Arsenal fans expected didn't come from him. The news papers picked on this and brought up a story that Henry wants big money signings at Emirates. So we are trying to keep Thierry happy so that he stays..!
We have a 40m warchest and we're trying to sign Trezeguet and Babel and Malouda just to keep Henry happy.!
Many Arsenal fans are disgusted with Henry's response to the rumors and rightly so. He should never have made comments about Deins departure. He is the club captain and he must know that his comments do no help in settling the team. And by refusing to commit his future, he puts the team in more dilemma. Yes he has been the heart and soul of Arsenal FC for a long time. But no one is bigger than the club Thierry.!
Apart from the Henry rumors, we have Ryan Babel who has been linked with us for 6m. He has expressed his interest to work under Arsene Wenger.
He said: "If I get the chance to train with Arsene Wenger it would be a dream. From when I was young I supported Arsenal - they style, the ambiance, how they show themselves on the field - everything."
Very well. Lets wait and see what Arsene does about it. Meanwhile he has signed a Norwegian teenager, Nordveit. A 16 year old defender, hardly a super super class player, but definitely one for the future.

The Media Circus

2007-06-05T22:52:00.000+05:30

Cesc Fabregas told El Mundo Deportivo: "I think that it's difficult to say no to Barca.

"I know Henry likes Barca, the problem is he loves Arsenal a lot for what the club have given him and the experience he has had at the club.

"Barca are one of the best clubs in the world, if not the best, and Henry is a great player. Barca always have the best players in the world.

"Henry has already won the World Cup and now he wants to win titles at club level.

"For me Barca are a top club, so are Arsenal, but it is up to Henry to decide what is the best for him."

Then this is what the media comes up with these.

Fàbregas hints at Barcelona desire.

Fabregas: Henry may leave.

Cesc: Henry fancies Barca move.

Cesc admits Henry has a poser.

Earlier, Carlo Ancelotti said this. "Henry is a great striker and among the players that we are interested in. Our wish is to acquire a midfielder and a striker this summer, but they are all difficult signings to make."

And then we have,

Milan put Henry on their wish list.

Henry: back to Italy?

Milan join Barca in the market to buy Henry.

What Cesc fabregas meant must be this. Barca is a good team and its difficult to turn them down. It's Henry's decision and he loves Arsenal.
And he goes on to say that Wenger has told him that Henry will be staying. Now, why does the press find it so convenient to forget about the staying part..?

Again Carlos Ancelotti just said that Henry is a quality player and one of the many players they are interested in signing. Now can anyone tell me about a football team that wont welcome Henry...? So whys the fuss over such an unimportant statement..?

Now what if Charlton boss Alan Pardew says Henry is a quality player..?
Pardew puts Henry on his wishlist.
Pardew looking to bring Henry to Charlton.
Henry set to enlighten Championship..
Blah..!

PS: Xavi must be a gay, He's started dreaming of Henry strip dancing...

ManU has signed three.. So what..?

2007-06-01T23:06:00.000+05:30

The recent signings of Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani by Manchester United has been the main headlines in EPL these days. They spent a reported 50mill to sign these three and their chief executive David Gill has given a hint that they might have finished their spending this summer.
Now why am i writing about this..? For that lets see how these three signings have affected the Arsenal fans. In almost every Arsenal forum and community, we can see people going bonkers about Arsenal's inactivity in the transfer market. According to them Arsenal are doing nothing and Wenger is doing nothing.
In truth, Wenger was in Spain, trying to sort out the future of Jose Antonio Reyes and possibly Carlos Vela. We must also consider the fact that the departure of DD has put more work on Arsene's shoulder. Although Ken Friar is helping Wenger, it wont be like the presence DD had as Arsene had a very good relation with DD.

Again, whats the date now..? If i'm not wrong its June 1st and there's still 3 months time for the transfer window to close. So the deals happening now are very early and well planned. Now some may say that Wenger is still unsure about who he must sign. But even if he has made out a transfer plan, that depends a lot on the future's of Jose Antonio Reyes,Mathieu Flamini and Alliadiere. Only by selling them, Arsene would get a decent enough transfer budget if he intends to sign a top quality player. So lets be patient..!

On to news, Alliadiere has been linked to Boro again. And news reports suggest that the deal is close to be done. Other reports suggest that we are trying to sign Morten Gamst Pederson. Pederson would definitely be a good signing as we really need a winger who can put some pressure on Hleb.

Apart from that we have the Togo-Ade saga going on. Apparently Ade has said that he hasn't received any official call from the national team, but the national team coach Stephen Keshi has ordered him to report for training or he'll drop him. And the Togo FA has come out and said that their notification to Adebayor was rejected by him. There's total confusion and i hope its sorted out soon. Even if doesnt play for Togo, i dont mind at all. We'll have him playing for us during the African Nations Cup...!

Henry transfer rumours again..!

2007-05-30T15:40:00.000+05:30

Guess what, Henry has been linked again with barca. This happens atleast 23 times a week and its getting very annoying too. This time its a swap offer; henry for Samuel eto'o plus 25mill. Good offer it may seem, but i dont think such an offer exists and even if it exists, i don't think Wenger will take it. Simple as that.

Meanwhile henry has come out again and denied the rumors. At the same time he is getting frustrated at finishing fourth and feels there is a need for more experience. Actually every Arsenal fan is getting frustrated that we haven't challenged for the title for the last two seasons and its good that he too feels so. When coming to youngsters, erm.. i have to disagree because the failure was not down to youngsters, but to the entire team which includes the seniors like Henry himself.

While Henry wants more experience, his strike partner Robin Van Persie feels the current squad can challenge for title next season and hopes that Wenger opts for continuity rather than drastic changes in the squad. Here, i totally agree and its good to hear from him after a long time. I hope he recovers soon and starts kicking some arse next season.

And as i leave, a lil bit about Bobby Pires as he has become a pivotal figure in the Villarreal squad after recovering from the horrible injury he had. He has started scoring goals and has helped them move up the table.

Not much news these days

2007-05-26T18:45:00.000+05:30

I have tried a new template and still trying to tweak it as its taking a long time time to load the pictures. And thanks to my excellent color sense, everyone might think that i did this at a gunpoint. Ok.. bad joke..! Any way thanks to Gecko and Fly and my friend Eappen Joy, for helping me with this template.

Back to Arsenal news, as i said there isnt much to tell. The lift of ban on Adebayor hasnt exactly brought smiles to Arsenal fans. The main reason for it is that he will be away on international duty playing the African Nations Cup next January. That time next season will be interesting and tough for Arsenal as we'll have Kolo Toure, Eboue and Adebayor away playing internationals. Lets wait and see.

Other than that we have arsenal.com confirming the signing of Lukasz Fabianski. Then we have news which is not confirmed but almost confirmed, that is move for Frank Ribery to Bayern, which means we wont be seeing him at Arsenal. And Andranik Teymourian claiming that Arsenal have shown interest in him. I have seen him play for Bolton, but i don't think he's better than Flamini and we definitely dont need more central midfielders.

Thats it for now..!

Strikers sign new contract, Cesc-Wenger rumours

2007-05-24T23:05:00.000+05:30

It seems Emmanuel Adebayor is having a very good time. He signed a new contract with Arsenal recently and now the latest news is that the Togo football Association has decided to lift the ban on him.
They say its due to demand from the population, the sporting public and the senior sporting authorities of the country.
Its good news for Ade and lets hope that all the row over the bonus gets over and everything falls back to normal for him and his national team.

Nicklas Bendtner has also signed a new contract and he cant wait to break into the first team. He says,
I truly believe that I can break through on that level, and I have had meetings with them where they have told me that I figure in their plans for the future.
He surely has high ambitions and it will be interesting to see how he will fit into the team next season along with the other three strikers.

Julio Baptista has atlast been told that he will have to leave Arsenal. He says Arsenal cant afford to sign him. Apparently yes, we cant afford more missed chances; simple as that.
Theres more news to cheer us up as Walcott has undergone a successful operation and he is eager to get back to training. Hopefully he can make more of an impact next season.

Now onto rumors. There are a lot, but just quoting the most stupid of em. Cesc's Agent has met up with Wenger at Madrid to discuss a possible move to Real Madrid. More rumors suggest that Cesc is infact following Arsene Wenger to Real Madrid.

Total bollocks..!

Gallas Vs Cole.

2007-05-21T13:24:00.000+05:30

This isnt a comparison of stats or how they did for their teams last season. Just a comparison of who can speak more bull shit.
First gallas comes out and says this.

Our young players have been given plenty of responsibility, but when you are 19 you can’t be good all of the time.

Yes, the young players have been given very much responsibility. But has the senior players with experience kept up their standards..? Take Alex Hleb, he's been pathetic this season; Take Rosicky, Ljunberg and Henry, they were no where near their best. And take urself Mr.Gallas, u werent even able to keep yourself fit. And when u played u weren't great either..!
So what does this Mr.Gallas do..? Talk about how chelsea pissed on him and how Arsenal lacks experience..! If you want to prove some thing, prove it with your performances and not with your mouth..!

And now onto Cole. He is saying that arsenal fans need to shut up. He says he was right to move to chelsea. Actually yes, he was right bcoz we dont need a backstabbing bastard in our team. The medals he won for chelsea this season, the two cup trophies; has he contributed anything on field..? NO..! he was an unused sub in th carling cup final and came on in the final few minutes in the FA cup. So u have done nothing more than the ball boys at Wembley. So shut up.. and we'll hate you as long as you live. simple as that.

Now there are some loads of bollocks about Henry leaving, Arsene leaving and the entire Arsenal team following them and more. Why even bother to talk about it..!

What Arsenal needs.!

2007-05-20T09:51:00.000+05:30

ok, i'm not an expert if its not football manager 2007. But still there are some opinions which i'd like to tell to Arsene if i get a chance. It's about transfers and its that time when people sit down and evaluate the last season and decide what we need for better performance next season. And how about me doing the same..! The season review would be very long so i'm just keeping it to what we need next season.

1. A good right back who can keep eboue in the bench. That'll help in showing eboue that he needs to defend to keep his place and that he needs to cut his theatrics and concentrate more on his football.

2. A good real Winger who runs at defenders like robben, ronaldo etc etc.. That'd give Alex Hleb some competition and a lil incentive to play well. Width is the point here and width is exactly what we missed last season. The absence of Pires and an in-form Ljunberg, we've suffered a lot in tems of goals from midfield.

As far as i'm concerned, Arsenal needs only two major additions. It'd be great if these two were some proven players in the age range 25-28.

And coming to who might leave Arsenal,
Freedy Ljunberg doesnt want to leave. But i seriously doubt he has it in him to do what he did some two years back.
Baptista has to go.
Aliadiere will go.
Flamini wants to go. I liked this player for his committed displays on pitch. But certainly Arsene feels that he lacks technically.
Senderos might go. They say he has offers from Juve. Anyway it'd be disappointing to see him go.
Lupoli and Muamba are already gone and no one cares about alex song.

So that completes my random thoughts just for now.. atleast.. blah..

Can he get any worse..?, Match review

2007-05-14T09:33:00.000+05:30

Yes im speaking abt Julio Baptista aka The beast aka Craptista aka Total Shit..! Missed a penalty yet again yesterday and i cant help being happy thinking that its his last match at Arsenal.. So, somebody just sponsor him a plain ticket back to Spain for all the good he has done for Arsenal..

So to match.. A very very weird team put out by Wenger and it was pretty clear from it that Almunia, Flamini and Aliadiere are heading out this summer. And maybe freddy too. No time for detailed match report and i havent seen the match.. So,

Lets bid Adieu to the great great craptista..! And thats for now..

Keeper Signing confirmed.

2007-05-11T23:19:00.000+05:30

Lukasz Fabianski, the polish keeper has been signed by Arsenal for a reported fee of $2m. Maybe more.. Thats or first signing for next season and i hope Wenger comes up with a good winger too. That'd help Alex hleb realize that he cant give away the ball as frequently as he does.. !
Coming back to Fabianski, Wenger says that he'll compete for first team place with Jens. Maybe he'll stay as a substitute for most of the matches if Jens manages to have a final flurry. Anyway this signing would have helped in making Jens realize that his first team spot is guaranteed no more. And as far as i know, Jens is a hero when he's under pressure for a first team spot..

Apart from that theres the usual Henry to Barca rumors which is absolute crap and i cant understand why Wenger was even concerned to come out to press and say that Henry will stay.. Anyway, clears things up..!
Fabrice Muamba has signed for Birmingham after impressing their boss during his season long spell at Birmingham. Good luck to him..

Team news for Pompey away says we might miss Ade, freddy is set to come back , while Rosicky is still injured.. This is a must win match and we should win by a good margin.. Not at all easy, but thats what we have to do to get to that 3rd spot which would be good considering we are 4th.. :P..! With Rosicky still missing and Ade set to miss out i cant really see us scoring much goals. It'd be very welcome if baptista comes up with the carling cup scoring again.. well theres nothing wrong in hoping.. impossible is nothing.. isnt it..? so even baptista can play well..!

Thats it for today.. Looking forward to the match..

Post Chelski thoughts

2007-05-09T15:04:00.000+05:30

Had the luck to catch the re-transmission of the Arsenal-Chelsea match. I'm still fuming about the voltage problem i had. How could it come back to normal right after the final whistle is blown.. fuck..!

Now back to the match, i had read some reviews and things like that and this is what i think..

About Chelski comments..

They say we're the new tottenham..! - We havent beaten them for 2-3 seasons... Ok.. Have u ever counted how many league titles u have won scumbags??

They say Arsenal fans were petty booing their players.. - Well atleast we didnt throw the fucking .. rotten eggs at you little fucks..!

They say the penalty and sending off was harsh.. F off.. that was a clear penalty ..!

Chelsea played like lions... Well im glad i could agree to one of ur opinions.., but with an edit.. u were playing good only after 80mins... the last 10mins only.. before that u were no better than us..!

About Arsenal..

Yes we were shite.. the truth is ,not good... and not bad.. We had the 1 man advantage and we didnt make use of it.. it was pass, pass pass pass pass pass.... as usual and no shooting.. It'd have been lot better if we had Rosicky, Vanpersie and Henry in the side. And yes, some real wingers..
We desperately need one on the right as hleb is struggling very badly. It was very clear watching the match that we lacked any sorts of width.. sometimes it was just eboue on the right side of the pitch.. erm...
One thing that i loved was the atmosphere. It was absolutely terrific comparing to the ones we had against fulham and westham.. How i hope we had the atmosphere like(only the crowd singing part.. ;)) westham had against their match with bolton.. And speaking of westham, i'd definitelt love to have tevez with Arsenal.. Its not that i have anything against Ade...!
And about player performances..
Lehmann was good.. no mistakes this time..
Eboue, better defending this time and as always, good going forward..
Toure.. good.. rock solid..
Gallas.. missed 2-3 tough goal chances and could have done better with essien when he scored.
Clichy.. Good as usual, nullified wright-philips till he put in good cross..
Diaby.. good , but expected more from him..
Gilberto solid as ever, good penalty..
Fabregas.. dependable as ever..
Denilson.. Improving..
Baptista.. Well.. u know what he does..
Ade.. a bit disappointing..

ok thats it for now.. and good to back writing again..

PS: John terry is a total bully..

Frustrating..!

2007-05-06T21:36:00.000+05:30

I wait all this week to watch this game and f***ing hell, theres no voltage...! Thankfully were leading 1-0 with a penalty and khalid boularouz is send off..! lets see what hapns..

Lazy Bones

2007-05-05T21:11:00.000+05:30

All righty... Im getting back for a post atlast..! Its been a long time since i regularly posted and lot of it is down to the Arsenal performance. After the carling cup exit, it was all difficult until we somehow got back into stride again.. A great derby match at Spuds that was very much enjoyable even though it was a draw, A win against bolton at home coming from behind with Cesc scoring atlast..! And now, another important match.. Against chelski at the emirates. One which i have been very much looking forward to.

I'm not confident about a win at all. And thats mainly down to the luck that scumbags chelskis have. They always have luck as their 12th man unlike Arsenal. But still hoping a win to finalize the title race and to rub salt into their wounds. One man i'd love to score tomorrow is Cesc. He should then run to the chelski scumbags who threw celery at him at the bridge and kiss our badge. That'd answer them.. And btw, i wont mind at all if the goals come from others.. lol.

Today watched Manu defeat Man City with a penalty ,also won by him. Its a foul, the merest of touches actually and he literally dived over. When france faced portugal, Henry won a penalty which many claimed that it was given only bcoz henry dived after the slightest of contacts. The look at this and look at the zillion penalties ronaldo has won. Its still "Ronaldo dint dive.. eh? "
It was a really pathetic performance by the mancs and they were lucky that vassel missed a penalty. Towards the end, Manu was wasting time like bolton. It was really a shame. The commentators say, "They really have the right to do it.. blah blah.." , but if Arsenal had done this,it'd be "its really shame that Arsenal are doing this.. blah blah.. " "wenger shud apologize blah blah.." bollocks..

So fingers crossed for tomorrow... Cmon Cesc, Cmon Ade... Cmon Arsenal...! Show hem scumbags whats football..

To be a fan..!

2007-03-26T08:08:00.000+05:30

Read this.

Really great article.

The Great FA

2007-03-22T08:26:00.000+05:30

Again and again the FA continues to show what a bunch of irritating people they are. Recently there was incidents in the FA cup replays involving chelsea and Manu players. And what does the FA do...? You guessed it right, they take no action..! If Arsenal was involved in any of these you can expect a 4 match ban..! Leftback will clear the situation for the time.

More injuries..

2007-03-21T10:59:00.000+05:30

Yes, more injuries..! now its theo Walcott who will have a surgery for his shoulder. This is terrible time for us with Henry, RvP and Ade out. Baptista and Ali has been terrible in scoring goals and when Ade comes back from suspension all the burden will be on him.
The loss at Everton was really hard to take. I didnt watch the match, but by reading the reports i guess it was better that i missed it.. If i was watching it, i would have smacked my head against the monitor.. Well that explains how the match went..!
:-|

Its been difficult.. kind of..

2007-03-17T23:37:00.000+05:30

Well we are out of all cups. Yes and it just kills any motivation u might have for writing something...! And that explains why i wasn't posting. From now on i dont think there will be any links to any article i guess. Strange times.. lol

PSV today, some thoughts

2007-02-20T20:56:00.000+05:30

Today, Arsenal travel to Eindhoven to take on PSV in the Champions League pre-quarters. PSV plays attacking football and they are at home, so it wont be an easy tie. At the same time, we can believe that there wont be any men behind ball defending. The match preview is here. This was the same fixture where Gilberto scored within 30 secs to set the record for the fastest CL goal. I hope we start like that..! Even if we don't win, its very important to get an away goal as that'd do a lot of good and security as we have developed a habit of letting in goals at home. The squad for the match has been announced and we're lucky to have hleb back.

In FA Cup we will get Manc City at home, that is if we win at Ewood park. Again the draw is good for us with spuds drawing Chelsea in what can be called a scum Vs scum. And for the first time this year in cup matches, Chelsea are getting a premier division side.

Back to some news abt Arsenal, Wenger is optmistic about Vanpersie return, hoping he might make it in 6-7 weeks. He also commented about the row between Cesc and mark Hughes.
So lets see what hapns in Eindhoven..

More fixture congestion; More tired legs

2007-02-17T22:16:00.000+05:30

It was Arsenal Vs Blackburn tonight and it was very much disappointing. A 0-0 draw was which means a replay. Last thing we wanted. The squad included only Almunia and Toure from the bolton match in starting XI, but we were looking very tired. Blackburn were back from their midweek fixture and they were tired too.

Now onto the match report. Arsenal started with Henry and Alliadiere upfront and Cesc and flamini in the middle with freddy and walcott on the wings. Senderos returned after the ban to the centre of defence with Toure. Hoyte and Gallas, who returned after a long time filled in as fullbacks. Almunia was on goal. This looked a fairly strong squad. Actually it is a strong squad.
The match started with Arsenal dictating possession with some slick passing and we had a good chance early in the first half. Henry had a high ball feeded into his legs but he skied his shot. Not very typical of him. At that time it looked like signs of things to come with the 6-2 win over em still in mind. But after that there wasnt any clear cut chances and we failed to get any decent shot on goal in the first half. Walcott again looked far from first team material. Henry with one of his very sulky displays which is becoming more frequent now. Freddy also looked out of form. And thus the first half passed by... *sigh*..

Onto second half, the game started slowly like the first half but as time moved Arsneal started creating more opportunities. Clichy came on for a tired Gallas and Adebayor and Rosicky replaced walcott and Freddy. Billy looked very tired and out of sorts. He needs more match practice. The game livened up a bit with these introductions. Almunia had no work until Derbyshire tried to lob him and did very well to keep it out. At the other end Rosicky was through on goal but couldnt squeeze the ball in as Friedel saved it with his legs. After that, some neat work by Ade put in Henry who tried to place the ball, but friedel got his fingers again. Hoyte shot on the follow-up was also saved by him and the ball somehow stayed out. It looked like it would be one of those days when everything goes wrong and it trned out to be so. 0-0 it stayed and we'll have to head to Ewood park for a replay. Oh yes, we had a penalty not given, as Alliadiere was brought down clearly, but i'm not gonna complain much as we didnt do much to deserve a win...

Arsene wenger was happy that Billy Gallas returned and didnt have any setbacks, but he was clearly disappointed with the fact that we'll have to play a replay. His post match comments are here.

Now some news and a surprising one. Apparently Fergy agrees with Wengers youth policy with foreign imports. Really surprising! Also Wenger says Henry, Gallas are unlikely to play the carling cup final unless there is a disaster.. In some other news, Cesc taunted Mark Hughes and enraged him.. He went to him after the final whistle and asked..
Did u really play for Barca..? When "yes" was the answer he continued, Thats wasnt Barcelona style play was it..? . Clearly some lack of respect, but i believe both parties will forget it soon.

Thats it for today. Later then..

Bolton Gunned Down, transfer rumors

2007-02-15T20:52:00.000+05:30

It was Bolton yesterday night and i had stayed up till 1:35 am to watch it. I had a feeling like we'll have a really tough one, but it turned out to be relatively easy. Bolton's most dangerous player, Kevin Davies was out injured. It was a huge relief for me when i learned he was absent. Wenger put out a young center midfield partnership of denilson and diaby and hleb and rosicky on wings. It was Ade and the Beast up front. And at the back it was Kolo, Gilberto, Djourou and clichy. I was wondering why Gilberto was playing at center back. It was a great decision by wenger to play him there as he was better in air than djourou.
The match got underway with an immediate Bolton attack but Arsenal got their footing soon and started to play some slick passing moves. We got an early goal scored by Ade, created by great interplay by hleb, denilson and Ade himself. After that Arsenal were simply playing the ball around and Bolton chasing it all the time. It was towards the end of first half that they got a decent chance and it cannoned off the bar. We were wasting a lot of chances and it was worrying as it was just a one goal lead.
In the second half Bolton started better and threatened but couldn't create any clear cut chances. Baptista had a lot of chances and he seemed to waste each of em and he looked out of form and touch. But he'll get better with more matches. Then came a penalty with Ben-Haim bringing down Baptista and the referee was right. But Gilberto blazed it over the bar and i was more worried. More chances followed and all were wasted. Ade wasted a great chance to score after rounding off the keeper. Now i was really worried. And my fears became true in injury time. Bolton scored from a corner and it really was poor defending.
It went to extra time and the first half went with out much events. But in second half Arsenal showed superior stamina and scored. It was Ljunberg who scored. He had come on for Hleb who i fear has pulled his hamstring again. Alliadiere came on for Rosicky and he was great all the time and created the goal. After that Arsenal continued their passing game and created more chances and we got another penalty. This time Anelka bringing down Ade after The bolton goalkeeper was upfield to attack a corner. Beast stood up and blazed it over.. omg..! not again..! But gladly we held on to score one more with a quick break and the game was in the bag. The full match report is here.
Rosicky was the MoM for me as he was outstanding all the time till he was taken off. Ade put in another great performance and denilson/diaby partnership did really well. After the match Wenger praised the grit in the team and it was Fat Sam's turn to moan loudly as he started to blame the ref for the defeat. I wonder if he is blind. The ref was absolutely spot on in almost all decisions and credit to him. Left back had a good dig at him here.

Other than the match some transfer rumors as Eto'o and Carson are linked with Arsenal. I honestly cant see the first one happening. But nothung is predictable.. ;)..! Other than that freddie says how he loved his return with a goal. I loved it too. Thats the freddie we all love and i hope he keeps his scoring boots on. I was of the opinion that he is performing very less every game and the last game showed me that i was wrong. Then, Arsenal is set to have tea with the Queen and a story of a young gun. Thats all for today..

Bolton preview; Random quotes

2007-02-13T22:18:00.000+05:30

Yes, Theres nothing much happening for today. Henry has been saying that his altercation with kirkland was a joke . Rightly..! I was really happy that he did that kirkland showing his spirit.
Again he has also commented about walcott saying that we should not put pressure on him as hes only 17. True..

Apart from that Justin Hoyte has been saying how he loves Arsenal so much and that it's a dream come true to play first team. He's had a good run and i remember many criticizing him, but i had faith in him that he'll do good and thats what he's doing now. The Cannon has been saying how he's similar to Ashley Cole... (The best of him ofcourse.. ;) ) Gunnerblog says about Danny Karbassion who has retired early due to injuries. Its so sad as hes only 22.. I wish him all the best for his future.. Robert pires has bought a flat at highbury square and we've been linked with Scott Carson.

Tomorrow we have the FA cup replay at Bolton and it'll be a very tough game for sure. I have a feeling like we should go for 4-5-1... arghh.. i'm not sure.. Wenger will decide.. :P. Freddy and Hleb are back in squad and thats some good news. But i doubt if they'll start as they might be lacking match fitness. It seems flamster is injured and Wenger is resting Henry.. i dont know why... And Djourou is available in spite of that blow to his nose. I dont know what to expect tomorrow and i hope we come good atleast this time at the Reebok.

And finally a classic from leftback.. Enjoy..!

Phil Dowd is pathetic, so too is Wigan

2007-02-12T08:35:00.000+05:30

Phil Dowd.. Whenever i see him refereeing he comes up with a display worse than the worst of Mike Riley..! He was displaying cards for HIS fun yesterday and had no control over the game. Made some terrible decisions.His decision not to allow Skoko back on the pitch, His decision not to give Heskey a penalty, his decision not to book Kirkland.. all of these were as pathetic as he is.. Last time i saw him in BLA Vs Scum match, he was just like yesterday, sending off Tugay for no contact on Ghaly.. (Another scum in his blood diver)

Now to the match. Cant really comment on the first half as i dint see it. But seeing the highlights, i feel Gilberto should have done better to block the shot. After that Jens kept us in game with a class save as he usually does. From the second half it was all Arsenal as we bombarded their defense. Wigan didn't just sit back and defend, they had their chances after the first goal, but couldnt utilize them. Their keeper, Kirkland... twat, moron.. was wasting time on each goal kick and dowd wont book him.. They were wasting time like hell and this beating is just what they deserved.

The full match report is here. The first Arsenal goal was for sure offside, and there were doubts about the second one also. But for a change, its nice to see decisions go our way.
The first goal came from a Flamster low cross which was nudged in by Hall.. 1-1..! At this point i was sure we'd win and i was damn right..! Henry had a go at kirkland for which he was booked. No complains, i would have done just the same and i loved that moment. After that from Baptista cross, we got the second goal..2-1.. it was a great cross and rosicky made no mistake and he was delighted and went to the fans and booked just because one or two fans touched him. Pathetic decision again..! Then Jens showed kirkland how annoying time wasting is, only to get booked.. Another pathetic decision...

After that i had the luck to see the post match comments from Wenger and Jewell. Wenger as usual praised the squads fighting spirit, character..blah.blah... What a liked is the part in which he says he din't see the penalty incident properly.
And then came Paul Jewell... The man who a lil over an year ago was going over the top over Wenger's comments about bad refereeing decisions and physical approach and branded Arsene and Arsenal as Whingers.. Now it was his turn to whinge on abt bad decisions by Dowd.. Haha.. And this was his response to the penalty decision. .. Why would Emile fall over when he is through on goal..? That's exactly what i wanted to ask .. Why would he fall over..? Because he was damn sure he wont be able to score and wanted a penalty and a red card for flamster. Perhaps Jewell will ask Heskey the same question..haha..!

Now what i was really angry about is the commentators and so called pundits comments. They say Henry's dig at kirkland after the equalizer was unsportsmanhip behaviour...! twats..! Wasn't kirklands time wasting unsportsmanship..? According to them.. no..! they say its his right to take time.. C*nts..! It's pathetic that we have to hear from them again and again..

One thing that concerns me is the teams lack of composure and finishing in the first half these days. We have to get that habit out soon or it will be disastrous. There are reports that Fabregas might have taken a knock on his knee which is very concerning. I just hope its not anything serious.
Thats for now. Later...

Wigan tomorrow; "Arsenal-colorado" tieup

2007-02-10T22:48:00.000+05:30

Arsenal has confirmed that it has entered into a tie-up with Colorado rapids. Intentions are to promote the Arsenal brand in USA.. It's not a takeover.. Just a partnership.. Thats what Wenger had to say..

Its Wigan tomorrow at the Emirates and we finally have someone returning from injury. Diaby and Baptista are back in the squad. The pre-match comments by Arsene are here. I just hope we dont mess this one up with one of those lousy first halfs which we consistently have now. It would be great to see a drubbing, and we have to be careful not to concede first...

Arsene responded to Steve Gibson's criticisms and have moved to brand international football boring. Something which i agree completely..! The friendlies are total crap just to inflict more injuries to the already stressed players....

Cesc has won the player of the month award and its good to see him get some rewoard for his fine form. Lol.. its good that the twat ronaldo dint get it for the third time.. F*ckin diver..!

Liverpool lost today 2-1 to Newcastle... So its a real chance to close the gap this weekend. ManU won 2-0 against charlton... Alex Song featured in this game and looked ok for me. But he looked lacking in pace and i seriously doubt he has it in him to replace gilberto. But its good to see him getting some premierleague experience.. Then Chelsea won 3-0 against boro. As usual, two of those were deflected goals.. lucky bastards..! Spuds lost..yay..! to Sheff Utd 2-1.. Good to hear that.. lol

Thats it for today.. Its some travelling to do tomorrow and the blog will be after that.. ;)

Takeover Rumours...

2007-02-09T18:23:00.000+05:30

There were rumors before and i was thinking this one would be just like that.. But it seems this time its a serious one and it's not a takeover, its something like a partnership blah blah... Its an American who is being linked. I have mixed feelings abt a takeover. We dont want to end up spending millions buying and paying wages and in the end lose the financial balance. And the least i want is someone who is looking to make just profit with no interest for the game.

Wenger has moved in quickly to deny that its a takeover. In his words, its just a partnership like the ones we have with beveren, celta vigo.. etc..

Apart from that Jens says he might be leaving to spain or germany. I respect him a lot and would like him to stay for one more season. But the one year policy wont help. WIll it..? Wenger might bring in a new keeper perhaps. Buffon still looks like a dream and i'm sure with Juve getting into Serie A next season(most probably) he might cost a lot. SO i doubt wenger will go for him. He as usual might go for some not so famous player. We'll see.

This week we had friendlies and thankfully for the first time ( in my memory), everyone has retutned without injury.. Huzzah...! We meet Wigan this Sunday in a must win match. We cant afford to slip up more with Bolton close behind.

Thats very much for today. For me its back to my project work(Some lil progress atlast) and TV and blah blah...

Where do i start...?

2007-02-08T21:27:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, while on my way to the stadium to watch the match... (Kerala XI Vs Sao Paulo FC) .. and yes expecting a one sided affair, i had this strange idea to start this bullshit. So here i am.
Ahh and before that, the match. I went there with my cousin(Gooner) and a friend of his (An Everton fan..! God, they are rare here..!) The tickets were pretty cheap and we got those for free courtesy of my cousin's parents.. hihi..
Met some old pals on the way, enjoyed those moments..! And we reached the stadium which was very near to my home. Me and my cousin had to wait for his friend and when he reached, we headed for our seats. I was wondering what the turnout would be.. There was a good enough crowd outside so i was pretty positive. Our seats were CHAIR-A and we got inside. All the seats were filled on that side and we moved to the opposite side and took seats near to the ground.
But i was disappointed that the ground was a lil away from the seats.
The teams were out practicing then and we had to wait and slowly the crowd was coming in. The upper galleries were nearly empty and more than half of the chair seats also. After sometime the ball boys came out and placed some footballs along the sidelines and we were wondering what was that for.
The teams came out and after the national anthems and team handshakes, The Kerala team members started to hit those balls to the gallery. Wow..! Great..! I asked my cuz to go a lil back incase any balls come our way. SO we were all positioned and it paid off..! One ball landed near us and we pounced. Damn, we were lucky.!
Then the match started with us sitting near the corner flag near the kerala post. As expected Sao Paulo had all the posession and were playing good passing game like Arsenal. But Kerala was out with 4-5-1 with men behind ball and Sao paulo found it difficult to get a breakthrough. The only good chance of the game went begging for kerala and meanwhile Sao paulo attacked again and again in vain. It stayed 0-0 till half time.
In the second half, again it was all them and kerala looked a very tired side and the visitors took advantage and opened the scoring. In the end it ended up 0-3. The attendance was near 10,000 which was a lil disappointing as we could have helped with some crowd support. I was really impressed with the passing game of Sao paulo and the gap in quality between the teams was clearly seen. I hope we will play at that level sometime...!
Thats for today, now some project work, RK and soccer news to pass my time. Ah.. forgot something.. Some Arsenal news.
Wenger says he wont manage after 67. Thats really sad and i'll miss his style of play. But thats a long way to go.. hihi...
England lost 1-0 to spain... As i wished... England are just a bunch of over rated players..!
Well, nothing else happening. And now thats for today.. ;)

About

2007-02-07T23:26:00.000+05:30

Its All Arsenal is place where i try to post about the Arsenal football club; a place where i express my thoughts, joy and frustrations. Started off in February 2007 after some thoughts that went through the lazy mind of mine.
The name Its All Arsenal was chosen to... erm.. never mind..!

About me, I'm from Kerala, a state in India. Finished my college and about to join for a work.

Contact

2007-02-07T19:21:00.000+05:30

For any reason you feel like contacting me, Just fill in this forum and submit. I'll get back to you as soon as i can.