Just to be straight with you, i am a massive fan of Arsene Wenger, i admire him and its not too often i criticize him but today is one of those days I’m afraid. I think he cocked up.

For those of you that don’t know, we had a goal-less draw with Cardiff City of the Championship. The damn Championship. We played poorly and the only player i saw with intent was Van Persie who really did not want to face another game, or to put it another way, he didn’t want another game to drag this team through.

Arsene Wenger has a big problem in the motivation department if im honest with you,it seems the players are never up for the games against opposition that isn’t fellow top four or Tottenham.

Do you remember the days where we could come out of the tunnel trying to finish the game in the first twenty minutes? The times we did that we had someone like Tony Adams or Patrick Vieira who were a massive presence and were very, very motivational players. We lack that kind of player now, and the emphasis of motivating the side now falls on Arsene Wenger because at the moment we really lack that motivation and drive at times we really need to nick wins, save games and end potential bannana skins early.

Another point that i have spoken about before is the decision to give the captaincy to Kolo Toure, i think it was a massive mistake.

The reason is Kolo is not assured of his team place, yes he is one of the most experienced players out there but he has been crap over the past year. Gallas has a big shout to be in the team instead of him as much as i hate to say it. I have covered this before so I’m not going to go over old ground but its just my opinion on the matter.

Today i thought Wenger made a mistake by not giving Adebayor a start today. He has not played as many games as Van Persie recently and he is in desperate need of games, but for some reason Adebayor was on the bench and Bendtner was partnered with Van Persie. I really don’t see Wengers logic here because i accept we need creativity but why not stick Nasri behind the strikers?

If Van Persie gets injured we are royally fucked and we really need him for the next two games that come in quick succession.

Yesterday – and today so far – have been rather silent on the Arshavin front as he gets his inevitable mention here.

I take it two ways – no not like that you dirty minded arsebandits- either the deal is over, kaput, done, dusted and having had a big F slapped on the documents or negotiations are so intense nobody has managed to shout their mouth off. I think it might be the latter as Zenit would have inevitably been mouthing off if the deal was kaput.

Right im sorry its been such a negative blog today, i really do admire the big man Wenger but i do feel he has made a few mistakes recently.

But on the plus side we are still on this unbeaten run, we kept a clean sheet and… and… and… and…

We still look rather tepid, like a wine that has been corked, like a tea bag left in the cup for too long. Like a saggy carrot. We are looking rather anemic.

Just one thing that has rather pissed me off this weekend is the FA are an English association for English clubs. Why are we playing a Welsh side in an English competition? That also play under Welsh FA rules? What do you think of that? Let me know because I’m not so sure i support it.

If they want to play in our competition they should bloody well play under our crappy associations rules!

Thats your lot today from the rambling git i am. Why you read this i don’t know.

Well, ’til next time.

Hope the Christmas Shopping hasn’t emptied your wallet yet!

Last week The Goon broke exclusive news of Stan Kroenke’s plan to take over Arsenal. Today it has emerged that Alisher Usmanov, the clubs biggest shareholder, has no interest in buying the shares of Lady Nina because, quite frankly she wouldn’t sell to him in a million years. Usmanov has said:

“I haven’t seen her and so far she has not announced that she wants to sell. There is no point in discussing something that doesn’t exist.”

Firstly take everything this mongrel faced criminal says with a ton of salt. Plain and simple Usmanov can’t afford to buy another 50 millions worth of shares because a lot of his money went down with the Russian stock exchange. He lost billions.

You can find his interview here, don’t believe everything he says.

Adebayor has also spoken about the treatment the side got on Sunday and has branded Alonso’s tackle on Cesc as dangerous:

“You can see the tackle on Fábregas before he went off was a little dangerous but there was no card, not even a foul.”

I feel the tackle was 50/50, Cesc came off worse and he is really due a nasty injury, hopefully Guilliem Blague is wrong when he says the injury is worse than first feared:

“there is a real fear that Cesc has torn a cruciate ligament in his right knee – meaning he would face closer to three months, rather than three weeks, on the sidelines.”

I hope he is wrong, he got the information from a Spanish radio station that allegedly spoke to Cesc after the game, hopefully its just the Spanish media playing us.

Solution?

If he is out for a long time we have a problem, who do we play in the middle? Denilson? Nasri? Bischoff? Ramsey? The depth problem is there for all to see, we have Cesc or nothing, no matter how well they played after Ade’s sending off they will not re-create that again, the scenario will not occur at Villa Park on Friday to inspire them like they were inspired on Sunday. Tomorrow i will put forward a list of possibilities that could fill that role taken by Cesc, be sure to return for that as i will try and analyse the situation as well as i can. There should also be much more news on the injury to our captain.

There is also speculation kicking around that Man Citeh’s Elano is set to join on a six month loan deal, with a view to a potential move in the summer, there is something about this rumour that might just be true, a Wengerism. Elano could play in the Champions League as he has only represented Citeh in the UEFA Cup (i think), and there would be no significant money paid out to Citeh, making the finances look good for when they are published.

I think he is pure class, he does not get on well with Mark Hughes but who would? His man management skills are poor and this shows by the Brazillian’s at Citeh all being frozen out. I think it is a possibility.

Wenger ruled out the possibility of moves for Tevez and Arshavin in his own fairly blunt way after the Liverpool game:

“No, no, and no.”

No spin there from Wenger, its a shame he can’t always be that blunt about things, there is also mutterings of an Edu return.

Not gonna happen im afraid.

The title race took another turn today; Chelsea failed to beat Everton meaning its ‘as you were’ before the weekends games, the only difference being Man Utd have an extra game in hand and it looks like they could well take another Premiership Title if they take advantage of this seasons strangeness.

Im going to have news to break of the future of this blog very soon, i can assure you its very positive news and there are changes afoot. I’ll keep you fully posted.

Right, i need sleep.

Til next time, leave me your thoughts on how this place can be improved and your opinions of the latest happenings at this great club.

T’ra

Update: Its bad. 4 months out for Cescy. Its true, been confirmed.

What a prat

Well that was a game and a half, its pretty much 3 in the morning here and I’m still pretty miffed with what i saw, not from Arsenal, but from a referee that isn’t fit to referee a pub game on a Sunday afternoon.

The start was cagey, everyone was a bit on edge and the first bit of controversy took just a minute, Triangle head Keane scythed down Gael Clichy, and if that was an Arsenal player that committed that challenge he would have been sent off right there and then.

Lucas fouled every time he tackled one of our players, no less than 6 fouls in the first half alone, Webb was waving his finger at him but failed to pull out his cards to the Brazillian. Wenger pointed this out after the game:

“I believe that (Lucas) Leiva made foul after foul without being booked. I don’t agree with the kind of attitude here today.”

Then Adebayor received a joke of a yellow card for protecting the ball, i admit it was a foul but it was not warranting of a yellow. Lucas had made about three fouls by then and has only received a finger wagging, this was Adebayors first foul.

We were 1 up when Nasri picked out Van Persie with a stunning long range pass, he controlled the ball expertly and lashed the ball home with his ‘chocolate leg’. Outstanding from one of the words most gifted footballers, maybe his second half of the season will be the best of his career, he has the world at his feet if he fulfills his potential.

Triangle Head

Triangle head then drew the bindippers level, a very good goal i do admit, a long pass over the heads of our defenders put triangle head through and he lashed the ball home on the half volley, just as we thought we were going to throw the title race wide open…

Alonso then slid through Cesc and damaged his medial ligament, meaning he faces three weeks out, with the Villa game up next he couldn’t have picked a worse time to do our captain. The bastard.

It could be a blessing in disguise, if Wenger gets a good support act for Cesc in midfield in January, a fresh Cesc and a decent midfield companion could cause havoc, short term pain for long term gain?

Adebayor was then dismissed for a tackle that was not even a foul. The arm was out to balance, he was defending the ball which is waaay within his rights and his studs were nowhere near Arbeloa’s leg. The Liverpool supporting referee then proceeded to send off our striker.

It infuriated the crowd, for the remainder of the game all you could here were boo’s it inspired the Arsenal and we came alive, they had determination, belief and lots of fight. The atmosphere came alive.

Sadly we couldn’t pinch the winner but 1-1 is not a bad result.

Adebayor described Arbeloa’s theatrics as like him stabbing him, he certainly reacted like it:

“I hope when the referee watches it on the TV, he will see it was a foul but I didn’t deserve a card. It was a mistake from him. He said it was for the leg [rather than a flailing arm that caught Arbeloa in the face] but if I don’t put my body in there I would never score a goal in this league. We have to protect the ball, which is normal and that’s what I tried to do.

“The defender threw himself on the floor as if I put a knife in him. Of course I’m annoyed. We are all here to play and if you win or lose you have to do it with 11. I cannot say he cheated but what he did wasn’t fair play at all.”

Ade didn’t remonstrate with the referee, i think he was in too much shock, how on earth could Howard Webb get it this wrong?

Lucas got his yellow after comitting far worse fouls, and more importantly three times more fouls!

It was clear what team Howard Webb supports, his performance in the Liverpool Utd game was pretty dubious as well.

Impartial?

He is about as impartial as Jamie Redknapp commenting on the North London Derby.

Alan Green of the BBC was an utter disgrace too, he found fault with everything to do with Arsenal, Wenger’s anger was a ‘disgrace’ according to him. After Rieira deliberately elbowed Van Persie who was understandably peeved with him, he said ‘we are all used to his (Van Persie’s) antics by now’, he also found fault with the fans for giving Howard Webb stick for his rubbish decisions and gave the fans more stick for shouting abuse at Liverpool players.

Now, he is supposed to be impartial. What is with all the Arsenal hating?

Now i have a message for Alan Green, your wages get paid by Joe Public, many many thousands, possibly millions are Arsenal supporters so i suggest you quit the bias and start treating the listeners with a bit of respect and give us a bit of honest commentary.

There was a fuss in one of the stands when a Liverpool supporter in the Arsenal section celebrated, i hope he got ten tonnes of crap kicked out of him because that is plain stupidity on their part, Alan Green called the Gooners ‘diablolical’ when it was suggested that he would have been in for some rough treatment.

If you were in that stand feel free to shed some light on the issue!

Right, Wenger reaction tomorrow

Til then.

Ade - Our Talisman

Morning all, whatever hour this reaches you!

News has broken recently that Mark Van Bommel is available for a small amount of money, the sort of signing Wenger might just feel will add the experience and quality to the team at the moment. PSV, who want him back there from Bayern Munich have said they are worried an English team is after the Dutchman,

“Van Bommel never said ‘no’ to PSV, but if he can join a big club in England, like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United, he will go there.”

I know im speculating at the moment but you just have to hope Wenger gets somebody dont you?

Meanwhile Adebayor is talking a hell of a good game, claiming that every game is a ‘massive game massive game massive game for us’,

“We have done that so the most important thing is just to keep focused against Liverpool.

“If we think because we have beaten Man United at home, Chelsea away we are going to win easily against Liverpool then we have got everything wrong.

“Every weekend comes a massive game, massive game, massive game for us. (Each is) the game of the season.

“We all know how important this is for the club so we will just try to keep our dreams alive.

We know that Ade, but its nice to know that one of the players knows that. I really do think we have a leader emerging here, he is starting to speak more about the club and the situation we are in at present. Maybe he along with Cesc and Toure are the backbone of the dressing room, God only knows what would have happened if we lost him in the summer…

We have also had the sprout headed wanker that is Harry Redknapp saying we will not win the title this season, now if that isnt motivation to our team to go out there and win every game from now on to prove to that old prick that we are a much better team than those arsebashers up the road, i dont know what is.

Arsene, read them his qoutes, read them the fucking riot act, do anything, just get them motivated and instill that never say die attitude we really miss.

It was also the day an Arsenal legend totally proved he knows nothing about this club now, Vieira said,

“What is important to Arsenal is to keep the fluid football they are playing at the moment.

Fluid football? i do not recall seeing us break over the halfway line, passing it sideways and backwards again ‘fluid football’. I think its a joke to be honest, anyway he went on to say,

I think what they need to do is to work more as a team when they don’t have the ball.”

That i do agree with, its just a shame that the players we do have are not good enough to do that, Alex Song is just not good enough at the moment, I like Denilson but i don’t think he is the right player for that role. He has natural attacking instincts so why stifle them? We need an enforcer, a defensive or holding midfielder. We need Flamini back but that is probably totally out of the equation.

Ive also got this little beauty thanks to Gooner14, its what the team will be getting for Christmas this year!

Now i wouldn’t like that in my stocking!

Now its Eduardo’s return tomorrow and i for one will be searching the internet for a stream; if anyone has any ideas where it will be streamed please drop us a comment and il keep you fully updated with any links that i find?

Give us your opinion on the Van  Bommel link, ‘arry’s and Vieira’s comments, and do you think Ade is a leader in the team?

That should keep you busy! ‘Til tomorrow!

Adebayor will be key

Well, to the Riverside we go searching for another three points to keep us to within a sniff of the leaders. It is by far the most important game of the season so far and anything less than three points could inflict terminal damage that will well and truly end our title campaign before Christmas; and that really should not be happening to Arsenal Football Club.

The man to your left will be a matchwinner if there is one to be had, he showed he has composure against Wigan and we really, really need him to be on form against Boro’ who have been a thorn in our side for the past few seasons, ever since we tonked them 7-0 really. Are they still angry at us?!

Creativity will be a big part of the game; Boateng has moved on and he played a blinder against us last season and with him out the way there may be a bit more room for Cesc to operate in the middle of the park alongside Alex Song who has a point to prove.

A big performance here will fill the team with confindence that could fire us through the festive period and potentially close the gap on the frontrunners, we have the skill to do so; Van Persie will be very important, we need some of his set pieces to start nestling in the net because goals like that are key. They can decide titles or Champions League places.

At the time of writing it is still unclear whether Sagna will play or not, Eboue will step in if neccessary with the other defenders being Gallas, Bodybutter and Clichy. Hopefully they can keep the trap shut because another clean sheet could win us this game, an early goal conceded and we will drop points in my opinion, this side does not have the steel and flair it did last season when going in front against Arsenal was pretty much a death sentence!

A lack of height in the Boro’ defence could be expolited by Adebayor but you have to ask yourself; who will be able to deliver those crosses too him?

Denilson – Gets too central when out wide

Cesc – CM

Eboue – Well.. its Eboue.

Diaby could be starting on the left and Denilson on the right; that means one thing, we will be ploughing up the middle of the pitch where Boro’ will load the field and we will be left clueless and confussled with all those young brains out there getting a little overheated. This is what worries me.

Thats why we have to look at Van Persie or Adebayor, maybe even Cesc for a moment of magic, a blistering free kick, a stunning volley or a lovely pass to put Adebayor through on goal to *holds hands together* score.

Arsene Wenger seemed to think we need to gamble to win games like this;

“When you lose more games you can less afford the draw and you are always in the position where you have to gamble with half an hour or 20 minutes to go.

I wish he would suprise everyone and give Wilshere a start on the left, he would scare the living shite out the defender because of his naivety, he will run at them time and time again, whilst also being a strong boy for his age.

He has also said the squad should believe in themselves and not listen to the negative press around,

“If there is a doubt, there is a doubt. Everybody can doubt your ability but what is important is that you believe in your ability and show it on the football pitch.

“I believe that with such a young team, the minimum you can do is to be behind them, be proud of them and help them. To always ask them if they are good enough, personally I don’t think that helps the team. It is the first question that I have been asked since the first of July to the first of May.

“I don’t know why we are always in that negative culture. In every single press conference it is exactly the same. We have not to be affected by the scepticism around the team, we want to show that kind of strength.

“We believe in ourselves.”

Wenger; three years without a trophy usually means questions are asked, a team with five losses after 16 games challenging for the title means questions are asked. Just come out and say we need to do better!

The ‘zee teem is yooung’ excuse does not wash anymore!

On the transfer front, Wenger is being his usual coy self. I think he will but and he is playing a game, he commented,

“I won’t answer that question [about the transfer window],” said Wenger.

“If I say yes and I don’t do it people will ask why I haven’t done it. If I say no and we lose one game people will say I am crazy because I didn’t want to buy. In England every problem is sorted out by buying a player when you lose a football game.

“We have a team where most of the players are 20 or 21. Instead of saying that they have a fantastic future, OK maybe we haven’t had the consistency until now, but we are not disastrous. We have 29 points and are in the position to come back.

“Instead of saying let’s believe in these players, everybody says you have to buy five or six players.

“It is difficult to get any rationality into the analysis that we face at the moment. We are qualified in the Champions League but I am speaking as if we are absolutely nobody.

“If you look in the last 10 years Arsenal have qualified every time but I still have to answer the same question every year.”

Sorry for the long quote. Anyway, if he says he is going to buy prices will go up, clubs will see we are desperate and will knock up their prices from 7 mil to 11 mil. If he stays quiet the other clubs will not have a clue if Wenger wants one of their players.

He had better buy now or i will look a right chump!

Right; thats your lot. A good morning read for your early birds, for you not so early birds, unlucky you may have missed it!

Gooner14 will be blogging next so over and out til Monday i believe, have a great weekend, hope you find lots of un-cunty streams and drink plenty of the amber nectar.

Til next time! – leave me all your thoughts on how you think we will fare!

“Don’t forget, you can get ‘The Goon’ news and views sent direct to your phone for free, ‘Click Here’ for details.”

There has apparently been speculation over Fabianski’s future at Arsenal with PSG linked with a bid for the young keeper. His agent has said he is not surprised by the speculation but he is staying here;

“Sometimes other clubs ask about Lukasz, but he is under contract at Arsenal,”

“He has another three-and-a-half years to run on his contract and he is very happy at Arsenal.

“He is a good situation playing recently for Arsenal and he is also due to play for Poland next week.

“He is working hard at Arsenal and step-by-step he will become Arsenal’s No.1 goalkeeper.”

Well that’s nice to hear isn’t it?, a player that wants to stay at Arsenal come what may, i feel the difference is that a keeper does not really start regularly until after they are 24-25. Their career span is different from outfield footballers.

Adebayor is touch and go for the Villa game according to Arsene, who will have a selection dilemma if he is fit to play and his replacement Bendtner has said he thrives under pressure. I think there is no point in risking Ade and we may as well stick him on the bench and give him 20 minutes at the end of the game.

Abu Ogogo has gone on loan to Barnet FC, he seems to want to prove he is Arsenal quality and good luck to him, he wants it so why not try? its a fact of life that if you try you stand a better chance of getting what you want.

Arsene has been speaking about wonder kid Aaron Ramsey, he is a hell of a prospect. We will have to wait and see if he will be Cesc’s successor but I’m sure that is a long time away so I’m going to stay off that topic, i feel Cesc will teach Ramsey and he seems an intelligent kid who has his head in the right place, and Wenger is right, there really is no other place for him other than Arsenal;

“You look at the age of the players at Arsenal who play in the Champions League, the decision is easy to make for a player like Aaron,”

“If you are good enough here you will play, no matter how old you are and this is what I wanted him to know.

“I told him that I will not buy five or six players ahead of him but I might buy one or two because we believe he has the potential to play for us instead.”

Arsenal are a unique club, no other club works this way, its very rare a talent gets blooded in at 17, but like Cesc, if you have the talent, you have it all. This is the way i like Arsenal to run and i think that there are many many many many trophy laden years ahead of us. I look to the future with great excitement, most other clubs cant because the finances could go belly up, or the players may not end up being good enough.

Anyway back to Ramsey, Wenger thinks he is special and posesses the mental strength to not be fazed by their opposition, like the majority of Arsenal youngsters;

“What I like is that he is not fazed like many of the young players,” It is one thing to have talent but it is another to express it under high pressure and that is very important. He is a very focused boy, very serious and he can fight.

“I believe he has something special. He has the work-rate, he has the spirit and he has good vision. He has all the physical and tactical ingredients to become a great midfielder. He still needs to develop his technique but he has what is needed to become a top-level player.”

He has that Britishness that is just, well.. British. But Brits very rarely have a player with this amount of ability and talent and that’s no bad thing.

I dont know about you but i think he will make it and be a Arsenal star. You can have your say in the comments.

And there is some fantastic news about Eduardo, he is two or three weeks away from a comeback. What a  recovery that would be for the number 9. I cant wait to see him. There is something special about him, something that every Arsenal fan recognises, he works his socks off, is a model professional and has never spoke a word out of anger. His injury was a freak, it happens to a minute amount of footballers and i have heard stories of him visiting players in Sunday Leagues that have had similar injuries. The guy is a legend and will get a massive cheer when he is back out on the Emirates pitch.

Finally Theo Walcott has done his nice guy image no damage at all by paying a visit to the Teenage Cancer Trust Unit at University College hospital. The charity is the Arsenal charity of the year and im sure they need all the help they can get and its a very very worthy cause. Theo Walcott said it inspired him so donate and see if it inspires you helping out Teenagers with cancer.

See the banner on the right hand side of the page

All you need do is click.

I have 3 columnists that will start very soon, i hope you enjoy reading their views. I have put an old article of mine up there already, why not take a read?

I am also going to form a partnership with the creator of ‘The Ashburton Tavern’ off the BBC’s 606 site. There will be a page dedicated to it and its a daily debate about the current issues of Arsenal FC. Ill keep you posted with that.

Anyway, ive got stuff to do so il be back tomorrow morning with a match stream and a preview.

Til Then.