The Goon Blog

Right sorry to have to tell you this but i am back!

Sorry for not writing yesterday but i was literally so sleepy i felt like i was just about to drop into a coma. I hate winter, i wish i could hibernate like a hedgehog, it would be a lot warmer too. Anyway, less of the rambling and onto the news.

I will go straight onto the transfer speculation from the Mirror concerning defender Raul Albiol, it claims Wenger is chasing the 23 year old. To be fair, i have seen nothing of him and any information any of you readers have you could share in the comments, we have Senderos returning at the end of the season by the looks of things, with Gallas looking more likely to stay along with Kolo Toure and Djourou third choice with Song and Fishface able to slot in there as well it would add great depth to that area. Is it rubbish? We will have to wait and see.

Some breaking news is in. Abou Diaby…. IS FIT.

I mean, he can actually play in his second game in a row!

If he continues in the vein of form he was in against Roma he adds a different dimention to the team, he has great talent and i hope he can fulfil it. He is injury prone and because of this he is inconsistant but if he, like Van Persie, can get a good run going we could see him develop into a very fine player indeed. Good luck Abou, you are going to need it.

Our 18 year old defender Havard Nordveit is being linked with another loan spell abroad, i wonder if going home for a period of time at that age may be a bad move. Once he goes he might decide he does not want to up roots for a second time at such a young age, any move like that will need thinking through a lot in my personal opinion. He is a very good prospect and he is apparently developing well, a Carling Cup spell next season would be ideal for him.

On the financial front its looking rosey, but im sure that this recession is going to get worse and worse, if the experts are anything to go by it looks like it could even end up a depression and that could have massive effects on the football industry as a whole. As things stand at the moment we are making good, healthy progress but a season without CL football could give that a right, hard, painfull kick in the metaphorical bollocks. Lets just see what happens there IF it comes to it. Right now we have to be positive.

Wenger has a chirp about some of FIFA’s new ideas. Surfice to say, he doesn’t like the majority of them. You know why? Because they are utter shit.

Wenger has also said once again that he bid for Kalou from Chelsea, we knew this and because of some comments from Kalou its ended up in the media again; coy, Wenger said this:

“I don’t know what I will do at the end of the season. But you are right, we tried to get him last year. But Chelsea refused and I have never spoken to him [Kalou]. I just asked Chelsea if we could talk about him.”

Not no, not yes, who cares? Its February and lets concentrate on the players we have at the moment. Kalou is not even that good.

Here, Wenger admits that the side have got to create a ‘positive vibe’ around the Grove, i think he understands why some fans are getting annoyed but also points out that the press are partly responsible for some of the pressure they are under saying that they bring up the trophy issue every time. He has a point, but success is usually counted in trophy’s im afraid.

Manuel Almunia is world class says Arsene Wenger; he is a good keeper but not in that bracket yet. Ive said this before but the mental part of a keeper is very very under-rated, keepers like Cech and Casillas have a massive reputation and that will always be in the strikers mind. With Almunia that is not there yet, he has another 9 years left at the top level and that is long enough to develop that. Wenger also backs Bendtner to come good, whilst he has the ability and his attitude is improving he has got to start netting the chances or i really feel the fans will force him out which is really not a nice thing for a 20 year old. I hope he fulful’s his big potential.

Now onto the game later and  really think we can, should and will win this one. Im not going to go too deeply into it but to get fourth, we have to win tomorrow or it really is goodbye CL. I would love to see the Roma formation played again with Arshavin on the right, it would be more of a 4-2-4 formation without Eboue, very attacking and it will win us the game if we play that way.

3-0 i reckon. Though i did say that last time…

Just a moment left to thank gooner14 for his great new icons in the sidebar, you can sign up to a bloggy mail-list or join me on twitter for the expletive ridden rants best not posted on here!

Right, more tomorrow

Up The Gunners!

I will bring you all the financial and team news tomorrow.

Im busy, shattered and i cant write a decent blog for shit.

I will be back tomorrow for sure.

Up the gunners.

Arsenal 1 – 0 Roma

Champions League Round of 16

First Leg (Emirates)

Finally something really good to write about, the showing of Arsenal last night was not one we have seen often, or at all, this season. Fast, slick, creative and solid at the back. The only thing lacking was a bunch of our best players and a clinical striker. Luckily, Robin Van Persie was at his imperious best. It was like watching Megan Fox strip, it was that good.

Ive been critical of a few players but nobody really put a foot wrong, its easy to say ‘Bendtner should have had six!’ or ‘Eboue will never score again’ but both of them played an important part in a fantastic performance. I was saying to Gooner Chris from Gooner Talk before the game that i hoped Eboue would not start as he is a disaster, Chris told me that would not be the case and so it turned out.

Nasri was a little magician all game, he created a hell of a lot and gave the Roma midfield and backline hell, Denilson was a brick wall in midfield and Diaby was, dare i even whisper it, actually i will whisper it,

Vieira like

Van Persie converts

in the middle of the park. Eboue also came to the party with a display of strength, mental strength too and pace. He nearly wrapped it up with a goal that he should have taken but his lack of confidence told, it was a good display from the ‘pass master’.

The backline was solid as a rock with Almunia, Gallas and Toure keeping up their good form, Clichy also showed signs of regaining his own form.

Cometh the game, cometh the hour, cometh the man with Van in his name. He won a penalty after putting himself in a terrific position totally bamboozling the Roma defence and won himself a deserved penalty, he slotted it away with consummate ease.

After that we bombarded Roma and despite them slightly growing in confidence and ambition we replied ourselves with chance after chance. Sadly we did not really kill them off but they never looked like scoring.

Manu misses

On the whole we are stronger away from home in Europe, on our run to the final a few years ago we beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeau and last season we beat AC Milan at the San Siro, i think it would be also helpful for Wenger to remind Roma of what we did to them, and what Thierry Henry did to them, in their own back yard a few years back. We have a capable of doing that in Van Persie.

The team will also be stronger with two of our players currently out due back by then, maybe three if Theo Walcott is back. Its looking up.

This side has shown what it is capable of and whilst Wenger will be disappointed we did not put the game practically beyond Roma with a couple more goals, he can be pleased with his side. I even saw him say ‘for fuck’s sake’ after a Bendtner miss!

He had this to say,

I think he is being a bit overly negative there for once, im sure he is a bit frustrated but this team has shown what he knows it can do and maybe he is just trying to keep their feet on the ground.

There will be negativity in the press later saying we will be punished for our lack of potency in front of goal, i doubt Man Utd will though and they did not even manage to score!

Five Live have already said they have the advantage now but do they really? One Inter goal could fudge it right up for them, whereas an away goal for us might just secure the tie.

An away goal is one of the most valuable things in games like this because it puts big pressure on the other team.

Right, thats your lot, cheers for reading.

Til Tomorrow!

'Tis nothin'

Up The Gunners!

Hello all. This is a massive, massive game and one we have to support our players through.

I’m saying this after days of saying we are not good enough, i mean what i have said, this side has only proven they are not title contenders and they will get lucky to take fourth place. But tonight the crowd has to get that adrenalin going, stand up and let the Arsenal know they are supported.

The majority of gooners are classy and support this club through think and thin, this period of history for Arsenal Football Club is sorting the wheat from the chaff as far as fans go. Any fan that does not appreciate what Arsene Wenger has done for the club is totally and utterly deluded in my view; i don’t like what he says sometimes, hell, i even criticise the guy, but he is an Arsenal great and always will be.

This brings me on to so called Arsenal ‘legend’ Frank ‘hand in transfer request when the going gets tough’ Mclintock. He said today;

“Wenger has lost the plot”

It gives shite sites like this more ammo, and he should know better.

If you don’t want to support the club fuck off! Don’t be blinded by some of the bullshit it emits, but don’t turn your back in times of difficulty.

What happened to British grit?

If you are going to the game today stand up and sing proud, fuck the stewards, they are cunts. If 58,000 people stand up and sing what the fuck can they do? Ban the fans?

That would cost them money…

Lets make it a cauldron of Arsenal chanting, that would get this team revved up and it would rattle the Italians who, despite Wenger’s comments, will be playing for a clean sheet im sure.

The reality is that this squad will not change between now and the end of the season, no matter how many people complain. Complain at the end of the season because right now all you will do is damage the teams fragile confidence.

Yes, we have played shit, but lets support them to try and make them that little bit better, it could be what counts at the end of the season.

I know you may be thinking, ‘corr, this is a really shit post’. Well, it is, Ive been doing a lot of them lately because I’m busy, tired and quite frankly wanting something new to write about because this season has been the same story nearly every week, I’m just going to grin and bare it!

Back to the game and we have to keep a clean sheet, thats rule number one. Anything more than that is a bonus so i would not rule out another 0-0, im not going to predict anything because it will probably backfire with a massive shitstorm behind it. I am staying shtum.

Bakary Sagna has said he see’s the fans fustration and calls for the fans to realise that this team are only human, he is right. If Eboue gets played as a center forward and plays shit, who gets criticised? Eboue. Who decides to play him there? To be fair, he is accepting his self called ‘failings’.

But its just another PR attempt by the club. Like that Eboue interview after the Sunderand game. It really gets on my tits.

Wenger has also given a rather strange interview with the guardian.

Right its sleep time for me and im going to be roaring on the Gunners tomorrow.

Come on, get behind them, nothing can be changed now so lets just live with what we have and try and make the best out of it.

Add me on twitter where i will be chatting insane crap every now and again!

UP THE GUNNERS!

Morning all – another day of shitness from me im afraid;

I looked at an article on skysports.com about our very own Denilson. He seemed to say that we are winning the games we need to, thus meaning all these drawn games are utterly pointless and we don’t really need to win them. In his very own words;

“I believe we are way more resilient. Since January we have been quite balanced and we have been winning the games we need.”

I’m afraid we have not been doing that Denny; draws are ok sometimes but all the time? Its getting rediculous now.

But, there is always the chance that some little short, hairy meddling bastard has taken his words out of context, we saw it happen on a big scale with Bendtner last week. I like Denilson, he is a nice person and a player that does have a lot of potential, he recognises this and says his game has improved since making the switch from a squad player to a full blown starter, one that has made the most appearances in an Arsenal shirt this season,

“I feel I have improved a lot and every day there is room to improve more. Nobody is perfect and I wish I could perform brilliantly every match, but I always do my best to stay on in the team. I have been given the opportunity and I believe I am making the most of it. I know about my potential and I am still working to stay as long as possible in the first team. When you arrive at the training ground you have to forget everything outside and focus on your job – you have to think not only about yourself, but also of the team and the manager who is the one giving you that trust.”

Many gooners do not rate him, i don’t know why they don’t. He will be a fantastic midfielder, not all players progress at the rate Cesc does.

I think much of our recent problems have stemmed from a lack of ambition, our central midfield is vital to our game but without Cesc who could pick out a runner a mile off, we have no attacking ambition in Denilson and Song who are defensive orientated. Nasri is no Premiership central midfielder whilst Arshavin is not a central midfielder of the type we need, he is just fine out wide.

Its not only on pitch we lack the ambition, its off it. It seems the board are quite content with the top four and a green coloured figure in the financial reports. As pretty as that colour is i would rather it be the Premiership we are aiming for rather than a number.

The day we become a club obsessed with figures is the day this club turns into what i hate.

Arsene Wengers criticism of Sunderlands ‘team bus’ tactics is very untactful. He is in the results businuess, not an entertainment businuess and no matter how much me moans he aint going to change anything. He said,

“They put a lot of men in front of the ball, with one striker up front, like everybody does here. You can give them credit, they defended well, but I do not want to go overboard because if everybody plays like that it would be very boring in the Premier League.”

Its the way it is now, if its going to get your side points you are going to do it. Didn’t we just defend for most of the game at Spu*s? Get used to it Wenger, moaning more makes you look like a prat and you are not a prat, you are a great manager.

He is expecting a more open game against Roma. They will come and defend then.

Right, sorry for the shit blog.

Back with a preview tomorrow, don’t miss it.

Up the gunners.

I tell you what, Arsene needs some new spectacles or a decent pair of contact lenses because one thing is for certain, he is on planet zog when it comes to this team. After the shambolic performance yesterday he said;

“Our attitude was spot on and overall we had great determination and put them under pressure.”

Our attitude was shit, we had no urgency at all. Anyone can see that. We did not want to win that game as much as Sunderland wanted a result out of us, all after it started so brightly with Arshavin getting a start, having a couple of fizzing chances and then Robin Van Persie missing a chance that he would normally have stuck away. Lets just say if it was Eduardo there i would have steaked a hell of a lot of money of the ball ending up in the back of the net.

Moan about their defensive tactics Arsene, moan about the referee, moan about the pitch, moan about the rough tackles, moan about injuries but just accept this.

We. are. not. good. enough.

If we can’t beat Sunderland, West Ham, Hull and Sp*rs at home we don’t deserve to be in the top four at the end of the season, even if we have beaten Man United and Chelsea.What does that count for when we slip up to the (with all due respect), shit teams.

We have a midfield with the creativity of a brick barring Andrey, Our other main creative players simply do not turn up sometimes. Van Persie didn’t really feel like it today by the looks of things, Nasri was anonymous and you would have needed a bloody secret agent to track down Niklas Bendtner.

Our crossing was woeful, Sagna was good in defence but whenever he crossed the halfway like he left his talent in the other half of the pitch. It says something when a central defender is your most attacking forward in the last minutes of a game doesn’t it? Yes, I’m on about William Gallas.

We are looking fine in defence but what good are 0-0’s doing to us? I would much prefer a 3-2 scoreline because we would actually get three points. Its been FOUR games without a win now in the league and in all competitions we have scored five goals in the last six games, with four coming all in one game.

Its truly despicable.

I have been trying to be upbeat but every time i try i get disappointed, sooner or later people are going to snap and Arsenal, there is no point in freezing the season ticket prices for a fourth year running because at this rate, there are going to be spare ones next season if we are not careful. Fans are getting really narked at this team not giving 100% and living their cushy lifestyles with their bleached hair, cars with ‘25′ embroided on their seats, slick motors and pink, orange, green and powder puff boots. Joe Bloggs out there is listening to another six thousand people getting laid off and becoming unemployed, going back to their families saying they might lose the very roof over their heads.

Will they really care about a bunch of overpaid thick twats kicking a football about? Especially if they are not even trying.

Everyone that watches football, be it at the ground, pub, armchair or radio is paying a tiny bit towards these players wages, its escapism, but its getting to the point where people are thinking, you know what. Fuck em!

If they gave away a weeks wages between everyone that has lost their job in the last few weeks they would be much, much more comfortable. For example, if Ade really is earning 110K a week, that would probably keep every family that has had someone laid off in the past month fed for an entire year.

A message to all the Arsenal players.

At least look as if your trying? Please? Hell, you might even need more Mango moisturiser to soften those legs of yours that may get caked in mud?

Sort it out, or fans will vote with their feet.

Sorry, many fans won’t agree with me im sure, not many do. Its what i think, i reckon its true. Do you?

Up the Gunners.

Til Tomorrow.

Hello all, looking forward to the game today – i fancy a good win.

First up Arsene Wenger thinks that we have emerged from a ’sad period’ at the club, starting with the Eduardo injury of which tomorrow is the anneversary of the event. I’m of the opinion that the win against Cardiff marked a big rise of spirits at the club, and it can’t be a coincidence that it was the return of our Crozillian striker. After this, Arsene Wenger called for the tackle to be left in the past as it does neither Eduardo or Taylor any good to keep bringing it up.

The injuries seem to be, gradually, petering out with the last of our big guns returning in 3-4 weeks time, that being Cesc. Wenger said;

“Rosicky looks very good in training, he looks unbelievably strong. Fabregas looks good, Diaby will come back. Rosicky is three weeks, Cesc four weeks, Theo two weeks.”

All are looking very good in training according to the boss and it will be a massive, massive lift to get them back. Lets hope and prey there are no setbacks for any of them along the way.

Now, onto our angry African that goes by the name of ‘pass master’. Wenger, once again, has defended the guy and said that Eboue’s apology makes everything better..

“On the first yellow card, he was not aggressive, he was clumsy. On the second yellow, he was guilty. He knows he has been treated like somebody who is guilty and he’s apologised for that.”

So if i went out and found the nicest car i could find and stuck a brick through its windscreen, but then left a note saying sorry it would be fine?

Wenger actually loves this guy, WHY?

*Eboue punches player*

“im sorry boss im sorry! i’m talented but i just wanted to win so so so badly it all boiled over and i got myself sent off again! – i won’t do it again boss i promise!”

*runs to Wenger*

“Ohh bless you Manu, i’m sorry that ref was such a bastard. You will play zee first game once your suspension ends”

*hugs Wenger*

“Thats top boss! cheers!”

-First game back

*THWACK! Eboue punches keeper*

Its the Ebou-a-go-round. What does Wenger see in him? If he starts Eboue over Andrey i might just get a little angry, after all, who is the talented one?

Eboue of course! Wenger seems to think so;

He has been punished, he has learnt from that, he is still a young player and he is a talented player.”

grrrr…

Arsene has talked up Andrey though, comparing him to Freddie Ljungberg, Maradonna and Pele in the ….height…stakes! If he is half as good as the latter two and as good as the former i will be one happy bunny!

“Yes he is quite small,” said the manager. “I think Arshavin is 5ft 6ins. But what is amazing in football is that people are always concerned about size.

“But if you take the best players in the world you had Maradona who was 5ft 7in and Pele, 5ft 7ins – so it is not a handicap.”

No pressure there then! Poor bloke ain’t even played yet! When it comes to him settling in Arsene praises his characteristics and considers them perfect for a Russian to adapt in this country, hopefully they are because he will probably become a very important mainstray in this side. Wenger commented,

“You can never be sure 100 per cent about any player, but he has personality, class and vision. In football those are the most important things. Yes, there has always been a question mark about whether Russian players would make it over here or not. I believe there is a culture-shock. It is not like coming from Wales! But I have watched him many times over the seasons. It wasn’t only at the Euros, I saw him against Munich, Real Madrid and a few other games. Also Russia is a massive country. He played for years with a club which wasn’t successful but in the last few years everyone has started to speak about Zenit.  Today, he is a super player in Russia and that is not easy. It means you’re an outstanding player and you must have some talent.”

Right, on the game later i think we should start with a midfield of Nasri, Denilson, Song and Arshavin – Im saying that because the defence of Sagna, Toure, Gallas and Clichy is probably a certainty along with our strike force of Van Persie and Bendtner. Arshavin starting would be fantastic, and Vela coming on on the hour mark would be even better.

I predict a 3 or 4-0 win for us today. It is crucil that we do not throw away more points or it would be certain curtains for the season.

Up the Gunners,