Arsenal

William Gallas equalised in injury-time to salvage a draw and keep Arsenal Club on top of the Premier League after an absorbing clash with Manchester United Club.

Gallas turned Wayne Rooney’s half-hit effort into his own goal on the stroke of half time to give United Football club the lead.

Cesc Fabregas‘ cool finish put Arsenal Club level two minutes after the break, but Cristiano Ronaldo slid home Patrice Evra’s cross nine minutes from time. But Gallas then scrambled in Gael Clichy’s cross to earn a point.

Arsenal still on the top of the Premier League.

[Source from; news.bbc.co.uk]

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.

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.

Hello everyone. What a great day it is to be a Gooner! We’re at the top of the league five points ahead of United after yesterday’s 2-0 win over Blackburn. Even though our lineup was pretty much selected for us because of injuries the team came through and made it the perfect weekend, footballistically speaking. Chelsea are now eight points back with only twelve games to go. That is a tough position for them to be in. We still have to go to that shite hole they call Stamford Bridge and to Old Trafford but I think we can hold off both Chelsea and United if we keep playing with the same strength and passion we have this year up until now.

Our lineup wasn’t our best but it wasn’t our weakest either. Jens started in goal and had a decent game even though I can remember maybe two saves he had to make all game. Blackburn never really looked like threatening. Best chance was from a Bentley cross that McCarthey should have done better with but he must have remembered that he is a cunt because he didn’t hit it anywhere near the goal. By the way, if you watched that game, what on earth was with his hair? It looked like he was trying to copy Gallas’ haircut but longer, less-mohawky, and curlier. It was terrible.

In defense we had Sagna, Gallas, Senderos (playing with an injury), and Clichy. So a pretty strong defensive lineup and I think they old had a pretty good game. Senderos of all people opened the scoring in the fifth minute. We won a corner and he was marked by Benni McCarthey for some reason. All he had to do was run in front of him and Eduardo put it right onto his head and he didn’t disappoint. 1-0 to the Arsenal. Clichy spent most of his day marking David Bentley, the twat, so his runs forward weren’t as frequent. It certainly wasn’t his best game but it was solid. Sagna I thought had a really good game. On several occasions he out ran the entire Blackburn team to balls and sent in some decent crosses. He was also solid in defense. Gallas of course did very well and I have to say my next kit will probably be a Gallas one. Either that or Adebayor…who should I pick?

Midfield we had Flamini on the right, Gilberto and Cesc in the middle, and Hleb on the left. I thought Flamini was good, but would have been better in the middle where he belongs. Cesc wasn’t at his best. His passing was on and off, but he did have a decent shot at goal that just went wide. Gilberto should just go ahead and pack his bags. He doesn’t really bring anything to the team anymore from my perspective. He used to excel in the holding roll, but I couldn’t tell we had a holding midfielder most of the time this game. Hleb was magnificent. His dribbling was top class as usual but he even shot the ball! He had one rocket come back off the post when it would have been a goal and a left footed attempt that forced a save. Man of the match for me.

Up front we had Eduardo and Adebayor. Neither really had their best game, but of course Adebayor got his goal, which makes 12 in the last 9 games. That is just ridiculous. Keep it up big man. The goal came in the 90th minute to put the game beyond doubt. Hleb crossed from the right and Ade controlled and finished low into the left corner. That makes 19 League goals for him this year. Remember when a lot of people said he could never be a big scorer?

Here’s a little stat that Arseblogger dug up, pretty interesting:

On Feb 10 2004, Arsenal won 2-0 at home (v So’ton), TH14 scored his 19th of the season in the League; on the 11th, United lost at home (3-2 to Boro), and Arsenal went 5 points clear.

On Feb 11 2008, Arsenal won 2-0 at home, Adebayor scored his 19th of the season in the League, the day after United had lost at home, and Arsenal went 5 points clear.

After the match, ex-Gunner Frank Stapleton said Adebayor has become the “perfect striker.” He’s been so brilliant this year you just dread when his run of poor form will come but it hasn’t yet. He is such an important player for us now. Let’s just hope he can keep it up.

Adebayor says he is thankful to Thierry Henry for helping him in his development. Me too. Henry is busy pissing around in Spain and we now have the best striker in the Premiership.

Arsene Wenger spoke about how this squad is able to handle pressure and that is why we are at the top of the league.

Lastly, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue both may be included in the squad for the trip to Old Cuntford this Saturday. Glad to hear it.

Until tomorrow, later all.

‘Ello everyone. Just got done watching Manchester City beat Manchester United which made my day. That means if we win tomorrow we’ll go five points up which would be incredible. I’ve got a quick little preview for the match against Blackburn tomorrow and then a bit of news, so here goes.

The injury list is extensive. Robin van Persie is still out with his thigh injury. Who knows if he’ll ever come back. I can’t remember the last time he played ninety minutes. Djourou is out again with a groin injury. Senderos, Gilberto, and Flamini are both major doubts. Denilson, Almunia, Diaby, and Rosicky are also all out.

So the lineup pretty much sets itself with all of the injuries and I really can’t even think of who will play in the midfield. Lehmann will be in goal, then Sagna, Gallas, Toure, and Clichy I’d guess. Arsene said he’s hoping to get Kolo back from the African Nations Cup in time for the match so I’d think he’ll have to play. If not it will be Justin Hoyte. Midfield will have Hleb, Cesc, hopefully Flamini, and maybe Theo or Eboue. I don’t know what options we have in central midfield if Flamini can’t go. I would guess Arsene would move Hleb into the center with Cesc and play Theo and Eboue on the wings.

The international games really killed us with injuries. I think we should still have enough to beat Blackburn at home, but we will see.

Last time we played Blackburn was the second match of the year when Jens let one go through his hands and we drew 1-1. Well Lehmann will be in goal again so let’s hope he has his head on straight. Blackburn really are complete, utter cunts. I hope we destroy them.

Prediction: 2-0 to the Arsenal.

In a bit of other news, Mathieu Flamini talked about his contract situation, and says he is hoping to get something worked out soon.

“There are talks with the club and I hope everything will work out because I am happy here,”

“I like English football and I love Arsenal.”

So that’s good news because we all want him to stay.

That’s about it, here’s to 3 points tomorrow.

Update: Chelsea just drew 0-0 with the Scousers. So they aren’t making up any ground either.

As you know if you read this often, I am an American. I have to work very hard to watch matches because they are not on TV or radio often, and it clearly is too expensive to fly from Florida to London every week. I’m mentioning all of this because the Premier League governing body or whatever it’s called have proposed that by 2011 there would be one weekend in January where every team would go somewhere different abroad and play a league game. I can’t tell if I’m completely for or against this (and I really don’t think I could fully be either one), so I’m going to lay out two different viewpoints of why people are for or against this. Arsene Wenger says he is open to the idea, because you have to be innovative, which is true. If football had been the same for the last 100 years it would be far, far behind the times these days.

So first I’ll go over why I think it would be a good idea. First, as Mr. Wenger said in the story above, 90% of fans of a club will never get to see them play simply because of location or because of lack of funds. I have to watch my beloved Arsenal on a shoddy stream twice a week but I do anyways because I love the team. I can’t afford to go to London all the time and would give my left arm to be able to go see Arsenal. Contrary to what a lot of people think, mostly Englishman i suspect, there are fans that love Arsenal just as much or not more in other parts of the world than they do. I don’t think it would be a ridiculous notion to go and play one game out of the year in another country so that other people can finally do something they have dreamed of.

The first thing that pops into my head when I hear about this potential situation is the NFL. Last season, the New York Giants (now Super Bowl Champions) and Miami Dolphins played a regular season game in London. The game was successful because of a couple of reasons, which I think could also apply in this case. First off, the teams had a bye week the week after the game abroad in which to recover and get back on their normal schedules. This could be accomplished with the Premier League season as well. Maybe not a full two weeks off but if a match was on a Saturday they could have the next game the following Saturday back in England. Secondly, there is support for other sports abroad. If there were no NFL fans in England then the NFL would not have gone. Same thing goes for the Premier League. There are die-hard Arsenal fans in America I am sure, including my circle of friends who I know would pay and travel just to see the Gunners once.

Another reason it would work, and everyone seems to hate this reason, is it would provide more money in the long run. Not only would the teams be able to over-price tickets for the one match, but seeing a team play in person usually increases your likelihood to become a fully fledged fan if you are not already. This means more club memberships, more sold merchandise, and more people flying to England to see the rest of the matches. Money runs football these days, so we may as well get used to it. The best teams make the most money and get the best players. That’s just how it works.

So now I’ll go over the only real problem I see with this plan, and that is the whole idea of a 39th league game. First off, do you know how many matches Arsenal plays every year? I’m not sure either but I think depending on where you get to in the Cups its 60 games or so. One more is just not necessary. You already see injuries and fatigue setting in by the halfway point in the season, and to cram another game into January is ridiculous. Also, determining opponents would be a real problem. There is supposedly some system which would make the “Big Four” not have to play each other, but how would you feel if you’re Fulham, fighting against relegation and get drawn against Man United in Australia and have to play them three times that season instead of two?

Point is, if they want to make this work, the way to do it is to take one of the current games and take it abroad, don’t add another. Teams have enough of a work load over the course of the season to have to deal with long travel for another game. I would love to see Arsenal come to America, but if they are going to make it a 39th league game, I’d just prefer to see a friendly here.

Tell me what ya think.

This morning I woke up, hoping that there would be loads and loads of news to write about. Frank Lampard being hit by a bus, Robbie Keane being hit by a bus, Flamini signing a new deal…something great like that. Then I remembered it was international week and I was instantly uninterested in writing today’s blog. Just being honest, there is never anything to write about during these weeks, and on top of that half of our players always end up hurt. It’s a fackin’ friendly for shite’s sake. Take France vs Spain for instance. There is no way we can win here. No doubt Cesc will run into Gallas and they will both break each other’s legs and we’ll be missing two key players. I wish they would just ban internationals during the season. A week without Arsenal is like a week without pizza and chicken nuggets, and that is a very bad week indeed.

Mathieu Flamini played for France last night and sure enough, he went off in the 15th minute with an injury. It’s looking like an ankle injury so I’m really hoping he’ll be back soon as opposed to the 4-6 week type ankle injuries. Clichy, Sagna, and Diaby all also played for this France “B” team and Diaby apparently played with an injury so he’ll probably be out for four years or something. Luckily the other two made it through unscathed.

Also last night, Theo Walcott actually scored. No not for Arsenal of course but for the England Under 21’s. He then went on to say he’s “unfazed by his critics.” Well as for right now I’m one of his critics so I guess he isn’t listening to me. I’m not saying he can’t be a great player, I’m just saying right now I don’t think he brings much to the team. Disagree if you will but he has not been good this season. He needs time.

Gilberto pretty much said that he is going to have to move on from Arsenal at the end of this season. He’s not getting many games and is getting a bit sick of it. But really Gil, who should we bench? You can’t attack like Cesc and you haven’t been as good of a holding player as Flamini. It’s just how football works. If Flamini is out I’d expect him to get a run in the side. His experience would really help in the FA Cup and Champion’s League games although if Flamini is fit I’d fully expect him to be the one starting.

Alexander Hleb has been linked with Barcelona, and told them to piss off and he’d rather play for a Cameroonian B League Side.

“I can understand why Barcelona would be interested in Alex.”

“But Alex loves life at Arsenal. He feels he is at the best club in the world.

“He has the ideal manager, he loves his team-mates and loves London. Why would he want to leave?“

Also Sportingo has linked us with Charles N’Zogbia. I actually think he’s a good player but he was complete shite against us. It’s Sportingo though so take it for what it’s worth.

I guess that was a bit of a long one today but I really hate international weeks so I had to have that rant at the beginning. Until we see what tomorrow’s injuries are…cheers.

Morning all. Almost no news today so we’re just working with the little bit we have. I had to take down the Manchester City Highlights as apparently they were violating some law or another. I’m sure you can find them somewhere if you look hard enough.

First off is Jens Lehmann, who is still speaking about his starting opportunities. For once however, he is actually kind of positive. Instead of throwing Almunia and the team and manager under the bus, he speaks highly of them.

“I like the club, I like how we play, I like the fans and the team and I feel I can still win something with Arsenal,” Lehmann enthused.

“Why should I give up? There is still a chance of becoming No1 again. At this stage of the season the pressure is increasing and I know that experience will be very important later on.“

This is the most sense he has made yet in an interview this season. I personally don’t think he’ll get many more opportunities if Almunia is healthy, he didn’t have a bad game at all against Manchester City and it’s good to have him as cover should Almunia have another injury like this past week.

Cesc Fabregas talked about how the team would be “gutted” if they didn’t win the title this year. So would I.

‘We would be very disappointed if we didn’t win it. That’s certain.‘

‘Everyone is happy, everyone is working hard, we are consistent and that’s really important for a team like us.‘

That’s absolutely the right attitude Cesc. You have to want it more than all the other cunty teams trying to win it. I think Cesc dreams about the title every night honestly. It should help us keep this run going.

The Ivory Cost won 5-0 over Guinea in the African Cup of Nations even without Kolo Toure at the back, who says he is fearing burnout at the end of the season.

“It is a concern that if we get to the final or the third-place match I will go back to London after being involved in five games in about 18 days.”

“I have done this before but these are tough and physical games in a knockout competition.”

Is Kolo complaining about maybe winning the trophy for his country? It seems like it almost. We’ve played a lot of games in a short span as well so he would be just as tired playing for us. I want him back soon too but come on Kolo if you have a chance to win the tournament just keep your head down and keep playing mate.

Arsene Wenger says it will take 90 points to win the league this season. We already have sixty so it looks like we’re in good shape.

This is quite funny, have a look.

There’s really nothing else to talk about today. No match till next Monday against Blackburn, who i hate by the way. Till tomorrow then.

Hello all, bit of a brief one today as there isn’t all that much news ahead of the match against Man City tomorrow.

First off, Gael Clichy spoke about getting his first call up to the France national team. As I wrote yesterday, his play definitely warranted his first call up and hopefully he gets into one of the two games France will play. Evra and Abidal both also got called up so it’ll be a fight but if Domenech has any brains at all he’ll play him ahead of those cunts.

“Of course it is a big surprise, even if for some time I heard about it,” he said.

“I was paying more and more attention to the last calls.

“I knew after the training session when I had a message from my sister. It was a mix of joy, emotion and pride.”

Then he went on to thank Arsene Wenger and to say that he’s ready to play for France and hopes he gets to kick the shite out of Fernando Torres when they play Spain.

Arsene Wenger spoke about how he almost signed Cristiano Ronaldo before he joined ManUre. Now wouldn’t that have been something? Would we still hate him as much if he played for Arsenal? My head says no but my heart says yes because he is such a whiny twat.

“I knew about him, yes. We were very close,” Wenger said.

“One day I will tell you more about that story and you will be surprised.

“You will have to ask him how close it was.”

Wenger added: “He was here much earlier - he could tell you that if he wants.”

Bit of mystery there from Arsene…doubt that prick Ronaldo will ever say anything about it though. What a sack of shite.

As for news for the match it looks like Djourou, RvP, Rosicky, Gilberto and Manuel Almunia are out for the match. I guess it’ll be Mad Jens in goal then. Let’s see how he handles it. We also of course have Song, Toure, and Eboue out at the African Cup of Nations, so quite a depleted squad for this one. Senderos has done well though and Diaby looked good last game so hopefully they can keep it up.

Here’s to three points and a Man U loss.

And nobody deserves it more than he does. Raymond Domenech finally decided to see what the rest of the world could see and picked him for his squad to face Congo and Spain. I’m absolutely thrilled for him. He’s been talking about it quite a bit the last two years and he’s finally going to get his chance it looks like. With the exception of Cesc and Adebayor arguably, hasn’t he been our best and most consistent player of the last two seasons? I’m of the opinion that we have both of the best full-backs in the Premier League in Sagna and Clichy, and both will be playing for France.

Doesn’t this again show the brilliance of Arsene Wenger? I was against the signing of Sagna because we had Hoyte and Eboue and I thought we needed other positions more than we needed another right back but he has been brilliant for us and contributed so much to the team that I was once again proved wrong by the master. Clichy we bought for almost nothing, 250,000 quid, and look where he is at today. People accuse him of not working with the English talent and buying English players but how can you argue with that price for what he gives us game after game?

Mathieu Flamini was also called up to the France Squad, as well as William Gallas, and both of them also deserve it. Flamini had just an amazing game against Newcastle on Tuesday. Bloody brilliant goal with a superb assist as well. Gallas has been a fierce leader and has come up with some big plays for us.

So for news OUTSIDE of the France national team, we have a few other things.

Abou Diaby has signed an extension which will keep him at Arsenal until 2012. He’s a bit on and off for me, never really brilliant but sometimes quite good. He seems a bit lazy to me though in a lot of games. Great game against Newcastle though and I like resigning him.

Kieran Gibbs is going on loan to Norwich for the rest of the year. He’s a good young player and the first team experience should do him well, although playing for a team called the Canaries must be a bit rough.

Luke Freeman signed for us from Gillingham. He’s only 15 so he won’t be in the first team for quite a while at least, but hopefully he’ll be good and I reckon if Arsene says he will be then he will be.

“He is only 15, of course, so we need to be patient but he is a very interesting prospect. He is another one for the future.”

Today is Transfer Deadline day. I’m not expecting any signings at all and surprisingly I haven’t really seen too many rumors of potential signings. Of course we always end up signing someone when nobody thinks we will and it is usually someone nobody has ever heard of. I can’t really think of a place where we don’t have solid cover besides maybe the wings if Hleb and Rosicky are injured. Diaby and Walcott don’t really do it for me out there. But yes if there are any signings you’ll hear it here.

Cheers.