The Goon Blog

Another home game, another win, another game with over three goals. Nearly three months into the season and we have not scored less than three goals in a home game in any competition, it shows just how strong we have been at home this season and any team visiting the Grove will be aware of this record and aware of how strong the squad we have is.

Some fans were of the opinion the AZ game could be a bit of a bore draw because of their perceived negative tactics, how wrong they were, we tore them apart and only conceded when the game was won and we got a little sloppy. Fabregas is having a hell of a season and was at the hub of all the good moves again, Arshavin created three assists and Nasri became our 17th goalscorer so far this season – this formation could allow him to get more goals too. Cesc has eight goals already this season and is one of the form players in world football at the moment, there is no other player I would rather have in midfield.

We didn’t draw the plaudits too much after the game because apparently AZ came and had a go attacking us, I don’t remember them attacking too much. Gabrielle Marcotti was reticent to give us any praise at all (is it just me or is his head slowly sinking into his torso?). Not that it matters though, our football did the talking again.

It was the first game that Kieran Gibbs has had to step into Gael Clichy’s shoes and I feel he will do a great job. Yes he will make mistakes but thats part of developing as a player, he has all the attributes needed and I think our crossing might improve on that side as Gibbs is a far better crosser of the ball. What are the odds on him becoming the 18th Arsenal goalscorer this season?

The day after I wrote about Stan Kroenke’s share gobbling, (check the commenter from the Colorado Rapids blog with a good knowledge of Kroenke) he moved again to purchase shares taking his ownership up to 29.9%, making him unable to buy anymore shares unless he makes an offer for the whole club, a takeover, or a takeover offer can’t be far off now and it would be nice to hear from him and to confirm he has good intentions.

Moving onto another game this evening away at Wolves and the matches sure are piling up at the moment, the injures are too. The current injury list reads: Vela, Walcott, Denilson, Traore, Clichy, Fabianski, Wilshere, Bendtner, and Djourou. Thats one hell of an injury list and until midweek Rosicky was also on that list, it just goes to show how strong our squad is this season, its not that we have more numbers of players but the quality of the players we have has improved.

The Wolves game is an important one, we need to take advantage of the fact that either United or Chelsea will drop points this weekend, we lost a couple of points at West Ham and need to make up for it here because opportunities like this do not come along all that often in a season.

The Wolves boss has come out and said they will have a go at taking the game to us but you just know they will sit back, its one thing saying you will attack Arsenal, its another to actually do it. I do think we could drop points in this game so we need to go there, get the job done and take the 3 points.

Fabregas, Arshavin and van Persie will hopefully continue their fine form, not forgetting Alex Song who is doing so well in the cleaning up role behind them – the unsung hero of the season so far. The boss has been hyping up van Persie who has been in fantastic form, scoring 8 in 9 games or something like that, one of the form strikers in the league and clearly enjoying his football, to be honest any striker with service from Cesc Fabregas would be enjoying his football.

It wont be a glamour game but it could be a really, really big three points. I’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with a round up of the game.

Til then.

I have wanted to write a piece about Stan Kroenke for a while now, about a year ago I wrote a story about the ownership of Arsenal just after Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith left the board.

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Early on Saturday morning I was listening to the World Football Phone In on BBC Five Live and their correspondent for North America was asked about Stan Kroenke – what he is like as a guy, what his intentions may be in the future and what we would want to get out of a club like Arsenal.

It is at this point that I would like to state that all the information I am using is garnered from the respective radio phone-in and in the case it is not, I will link to the information source in the text. This is so I can’t be accused of making something up.

The latest news on the takeover front is that Kroenke has upped his stake in the club for the second time in two weeks – he now stands at 29.6%. Another 0.3% and he will have to launch a formal takeover bid at the shares at the highest price he had paid in the preceding 12 months which is £10,500 each.

Stan Kroenke: Attitude

When asked about what Stan Kroenke is like as a business person he was described as the ‘opposite of Randy Lerner’ who is thought of in English circles as the model football club owner. Kroenke’s description was a frugal type who gives little away and has an attitude that engulfs the saying ‘its my way or the highway’.

The appointment of Ivan Gazidis was seen by a few people as a Kroenke appointment, and the correspondent hinted at it too and almost questioned whether Kroenke as a control freak.

Stan Kroenke: Aspirations

Kroenke would want to make Arsenal the number one supported Premier League club in America, an area of the world where football is not the number one sport and is dominated by support for clubs such as Barca, Milan and United. It is likely that Kroenke would want success faster than some fans may realise, and is one of the richest men in the world, but here is where the clash could be – the manager is known to embrace patience for success, a power hungry and demanding new owner with funds may well demand that trend is broken. I must state this is only hypothetical.

Stan Kroenke: Ambitions

The main thing Kroenke would look to get out of buying Arsenal FC is profit in the long term. After all he is a damn good businessman who hasn’t got where he is by simply giving his money away. He is frugal in his how much he invests though and has not been known to pump money into his investments, this is why some sections of the Arsenal support have warmed to him over Alisher Usmanov who has something of a murky background to say the least.

The words cost and cutting were mentioned alongside each other though, and then you have to wonder…will he just want to pocket every bit of profit the club makes for himself and not re-invest it in for example, new players and sell off valuable assets, again, players to use an example.

This is where he needs to break his silence and assure fans his intentions for the club are good, at this stage we know more about Usmanov than Kroenke, and whilst Kroenke has a history of investing in sport he is also heard to have been very ruthless in some respects.

There is the fact that he has still not actually paid for quite a lot of the shares, it is stated here he owes Danny Fiszman £50 million, and if you have an owner you want to know that they can afford to take the club over and don’t have to borrow money that would in turn, be shifted onto the club and turning into debt.

A few facts about Arsenal’s majority shareholder:

• his wealth is estimated to be about $3.5 billion
• Wife is the heir of Wall-Mart
• is the owner of professional basketball team Denver Nuggets
• owns professional soccer team Colorado Rapids
• owns professional hockey team Colorado Avalanche
• owns 40% of the St. Louis Rams professional football franchise

My personal view of Kroenke has changed a little since I heard that correspondent on the football phone-in, as I can’t recall the name of the guy I can’t look into him and see if he is friendly with the Usmanov crew and David Dein – it is possible that his opinion may be bias.

I think it is inevitable that Arsenal will be taken over in the next year, I also said this last year so I guess that voids my judgment on that matter.

I must state that if I had the choice of Usmanov or Stan Kroenke; I would pick Kroenke every day of the week.

If you have any information, an issue with what has been written or just an opinion please use the comments or contact me personally.

It looks like we have shut the Spuds up for another few months then with a performance that left even the most hardy Spurs fans noting that they had some way to go to catch up with us.

I had a very good feeling before the game, a feeling I hadn’t had since that 5-1 beating we took. Maybe it was confidence or just a sign of what was to come, whatever it was I liked it and enjoyed every second of this North London Derby.

We started off much the better team, passed it well and created a few half-chances. Cesc was denied by what I must admit was a quite breathtaking save from Gomez after he pounced on a deflection in the box, Arshavin had a pop and missed and within the first few minutes Bendtner somewhat belatedly had a dig from outside the box that wasn’t too far away. He had a good start to the game Nicklas, it was a shame to see him go off with another injury, he worked hard and was really looking to back up his comments in the press the day before, he had a goal in him thats for sure.

After all that it all started to go a little quiet, Spurs started to get into the game a bit and Alex Song made a couple of brilliant tackles to prevent them carving out chances, Vermaelen and Gallas were solid at the back and Clichy did very well defending higher up the pitch and making plenty of interceptions that gave us momentum going forward. It was Sagna that created the first goal though.

A tempting little cross was met by van Persie to tuck the ball away at the near post, despite what people may say Gomez never stood a chance and the movement from van Persie was first rate and a sign of his improvement in sniffing out chances. Its worth noting that not many of his goals recently have been the flashy sort we have so often seen from him, they are important ground out goals that you would expect Eduardo to score more than Robin.

Straight from the kick off Cesc dispossessed Palacios, shrugged him off, megged Ledfoot King and through the Spurs team before delightfully tucking away his sixth of the season already, it was beautiful and the Grove was in delirium. ‘arry claimed that none of the goals scored were good goals, if it was Ronaldo who had scored that goal the entire media would have sodden panties. It was pure world class.

Being 2-0 up didn’t take our foot off the pedal at all, we came out in the second half and carried on where we left off, it was effectively game over when Sagna siezed on the referee playing advantage to cross for van Persie who tucked the ball into an empty net after the Spurs defence did a great job of cocking it all up.

After that we could have added another three easily, Eduardo could have had a hat-trick and looked a little rusty finishing wise but his build up play was lively as always, Diaby attempted a header but somehow it managed to come of his shoulder. He has picked up a bit of stick for his performance but a little spell mid-way through the first half aside, I thought he had a good game. I wish people would get off our own players back and support them for once.

Old ‘arry was a bit grouchy after the game and claimed he’d received abuse off one Arsenal fan behind the dugout, I paraphrase: ‘He swore at me and with kids around that is not on’ – So when thousands of Spurs fans call Arsene a pedophile there are no kids around to hear it then? It was a man talking who had had his pride battered and his team had taken a beating for the second week in a row.

We moved into joint second place in the league table for a couple of hours and we are only two points off the top if we win our game in hand, we are doing pretty well thus far this season.

All in all it was a fantastic display, not full of beautiful goals but two very, very, good goals and one scrappy goal that ended it as a contest. At the moment we have the best passing central midfielder in the world and a matured van Persie who looks like he could get a fair few goals this season, 7 in 10 league games and 7 in 7 games. His slow start wasn’t all that slow in fairness was it?

We have to look forward to AZ on Wednesday now and hopefully we will banish the last minute equalizing demons of our Holland trip and secure knock-out phase football for after Christmas.

Till tomorrow.

So the big game is here at last and oh how lovely it would be to give these spuds a damn good mashing, we haven’t done so for a while and it would make it rather sweet.

You may think I’m wrong in calling the 4-4 game a defeat, but after getting so close to beating them only to see them haul it back, it felt like a defeat.

4-4 admit it, it hurt

On paper we should win, Spurs are without Defoe who is suspended and Aaron Lennon who has a knackered ankle, however they have Keane and Jenas in the side so that automatically means they will score at least one, Jenas always scores against us. Their defence should also be an issue, Woodgate got smashed in the face last week and didn’t look too healthy afterwards and was subbed, King only has half a leg as per usual so it will take quite some defensive performance from them to keep us out.

One thing Spurs will not do is sit back, they will have a go at us and that really does play into our hands. If the game opens up and Fabregas, Arshavin and van Persie get space they will wreak absolute havoc upon that Spurs defence, I would like to see Bendtner starting on the right but I can see us putting Eboue out there, Wenger knows in defence we are shocking and Eboue is a potential reinforcement.

I can see us lining up with Fabregas, Song and Diaby in the middle and I have no problem with that, Nasri certainly won’t start and there is a chance we might not see him off the bench tomorrow if he isn’t needed, we have Aaron Ramsey to come off the bench as an option too and again, if he comes into the game when there is space available he could cause damage – he is closing in on a start is Aaron.

Two of the front three pick themselves, Arshavin and van Persie who has scored 5 in his last 6 Premier League appearances so I would have a sneaky little punt on him opening the scoring tomorrow, either that or see what kind of odds there are on Vermaelen notching his sixth of the season, isn’t he due a goal? Eboue will probably start on the right ahead of Bendtner or Eduardo as I said earlier, I’m not sure on the fitness of Vela and with Rosicky still out there isn’t really anyone else to fit there.

Speaking of Bendtner, he is certainly one confident chap, he predicts he will become one of the worlds top strikers:

“Within five years I want to be the top scorer in the Premier League and I want to be known as a world-class striker. And it will happen. Trust me, it will happen. I look around at other players, I see my own ability and I can’t see anything that tells me it won’t happen. I’m sure people will think ‘What is he talking about?’ But as I have done before, and as I will do again, I will sit at the other end and laugh at those people when it is all done.”

He has the talent too, there are not many around like him and I said two seasons ago he could be better than Adebayor. I do like his confidence and his renewed work ethic; what is interesting is that when he talks about the incident with Adebayor at WHL he doesn’t make a meal out of it like you know the sliding arsehole would if he was on the receiving end. He is still young but he is improving – I wish people would get off his back. Add in his goals at international level this season and he has a very good tally and who would bet against him coming off the bench and scoring the winner – again?

This is our chance to really knock spurs down a peg or two; you have to hand it to them they have recovered well from their start last season and ol Twitch has done a good job but after unveiling their Ashburton Grove Mach 2 stadium plans they really do need teaching a lesson.

Manager, fans and players alike are all really, really up for this game. As fans we are owed for the disaster that was that 5-1 game, and the 4-4 debacle. I don’t think we have had a win against them since that game so a brilliant performance and a resounding win would send the Grove into another stratosphere tomorrow. It looks like we might have a slightly more interested Andrey Arshavin for this game too:

“Arshavin can change any game, anywhere at any moment so I believe he will have a great game tomorrow, he is a player I love, not only because he is talented but because he is efficient. I am confident he will have a big impact on the game tomorrow.”

Can he shut them up?

You may remember he was on the bench but unused for the game at WHL shortly after his arrival in January but he will understand how much this game means to us I’m sure. It will be his first North London derby and we could do with a Pires type who gets a compulsory goal against Spurs now that we have got rid of Adebayor who had a brilliant record against them. No pressure, Andrey.

Perhaps Wenger has the right attitude, he is almost taking the derby situation out of the game and just focusing on the three points up for grabs:

“We are in a strong position in the League and, above the derby, what is more important for me is to win the game because we want to win the title. I do not consider too much that we play Tottenham. I consider we can take three points to be in a stronger position in the League. That’s much more important.”

I can see where he is coming from, we need a victory after dropping points against West Ham, it meant that we couldn’t afford to draw this game and Spurs losing at home to Stoke last week means they can’t afford to draw or lose this game to keep up with us. It does all look towards a cracker of a game and I’m hoping I have nails left afterwards, I have a real feeling it could be one of those late mornings/early afternoons.

I can’t bloody wait for this.

COME ON YOU REDSSSSSS!!!!

till tomorrow.

Alright all,

I’m still half dying from Swine Flu here, its horrible I tell you, absolutely bloody horrible. Anyway, it didnt stop me from watching the lads the other night and what a great game it was, I really enjoyed it. It was entertaining and you got that feeling that anything could happen at any time.

In defence I was impressed with Senderos and surprisingly Silvestre, and fair play to both of them for knuckling down and working hard because there are many other players in their position who would be moaning about not having enough chances in the starting eleven, Senderos in particular who has been treated like something on the bottom of Arsene Wenger’s shoe.

I was very impressed with Aaron Ramsey who bordered on world class in my opinion, Fran Merida scored a belter of a goal, Bendtner was clearly rusty but his goal was the type of goal I love to watch with an emphatic finish at the end.

Most blogs have already covered the game so I won’t go much further into it but I think the decision for the boss to play some more experienced heads is an important one, it shows that he is taking the competition slightly more seriously and would be more than happy to really go for the trophy this season. There are some formiddable sides we could get drawn against though, how lovely it would be to give Citeh a hiding and knock them out of the cup at the Grove.

Speaking of Middle Eastlands, Adebayor has opened his big fat unwanted skanky fast talking trap again. Bugger off Ade – go spend your money on engraving the number 25 on the moon or something like that you utter clot.

Has anyone noticed that we could be fielding three different goalkeepers in three consecutive games? It is looking more and more likely that Manuel Almunia will reclaim the keepers jersey after Fabianski has tweaked a muscle and will be out for around a month, I thought he did well against Liverpool, his decision making was slightly less dodgy than usual and I wasn’t biting my nails like some kind of neurotic erm…nailbiter.

There is good news about the future of goalscorer Fran Merida though, he is wanting to stay with us (and rightly so) for years to come and said of a new contract:

“I am really happy here so hopefully everything is going to be OK. We are going to sit down and talk about [a new contract].”

He and Cesc seem to get along pretty well, they came to the club in similar circumstances and I’m sure Cesc helped him settle, Ive heard they are good mates and after Merida scored Cesc was the first one to leap out his seat.

Right so I will be back soon with a look forward to our game against the neighbours. Till then.

First up, apologies for my absence over the last few days, I’ve come down with swine flu and it is not the most pleasant thing under the sun, my skins gone pink and Ive even started oinking too. Its not good.

Anyway tonight we need to get back to winning ways after two draws, it might only be the Carling Cup but at the moment any cup would do for us. The squad is a mixture of youth, inexperience and incompetence so lets hope everything goes smoothly and Liverpool don’t name their first eleven. Gerrard is out of the tie and I doubt Rafa would be stupid enough to risk Torres but then again, it is Rafa, and he is stupid.

One name rather mysteriously missing from the squad is Carlos Vela who is running out of opportunities, he really has not featured much at all in his first season and a bit at the club, he is now 20 and might start soon getting itchy feet – the rumours are out there already about interest in him from Spain so it would be good to know why he isn’t going to be taking any part tonight. Could it be injury? Well he has had a fair few in his time with us.

The boss has confirmed that Nasri and Fabianski will start the game, I’d think Bendtner or Eduardo will too depending on who will get the most match time against Spurs on Saturday. It will be good to see Nasri back and he will give us that bit of class in the middle in the absence of Jack Wilshere. It is a shame not to see him play again but his time will come I am certain.

Last season we saw Nasri in a defensive role in some games and Arsene more or less confirmed that he might well be lining up next to Song in the future in a more defensive role in the center:

“I would say more in the defensive role now but, because he can dribble, he can play on the flanks too. He has pace and he can play in a role that is half a winger. A dropped winger who will come in sometimes, can go wide. But maybe it has to be balanced with a striker on the other side sometimes.”

It is a big season for him and he had a pretty good season last time out, at points he tailed off a little and went quiet but he has a lot of quality and it will shine through. He is the same age as Cesc, I think of him as being older than him the majority of the time.

It seems that this is the chance for Lucasz Fabianski to cement the number one spot with Almunia still out in the cold, its not a situation I think is for the good of the club or our trophy chances this season, I would go as far as to say it could well cost us silverwear if it is not sorted out. In the FA Cup semi last season Fabianski was at fault for at least one of the goals, there was only one goal between the teams. We need a class keeper, project youth does not cut it in that position.

Some of the younger members of the squad have been talking up the game today, labeling it as their chance to change and make their careers, it is a big game for the likes of Gilbert, Randall, Senderos (his appalling treatment will make the subject of a rather strongly worded blog soon) and Fran Merida – who Wenger described as “too good to go out on loan”.

I’m looking forward to this one tonight. If your going have a great time and be safe.

Till tomorrow.

Its not often I do things like this on the blog but there are some great products out there that should get some wider attention.

The Nike Arsenal hoodie is one item of clothing that will become very handy over the next few months as the winter sets in, so don’t freeze your arse off at The Grove when watching the lads play and get one of these from Soccer-Pro. It is one of a range of football hoodies that can be found on the Soccer-Pro website.

See a picture of the product here:

Again, this item can’t be found in the Armoury outside the Emirates stadium and it will certainly be cheaper from Soccer-Pro than many other shops stocking Arsenal merchandise.