The Goon Blog

Morning All,

There isn’t a great deal happening in the wonderful world of Arsenal Football Club per se but today does in fact mark the beginning of an exciting yet equal testing week ahead for the club. Despite the upcoming games against Celtic midweek followed by those foul mancs, all talk still seems to be revolving around the Portsmouth Game (Rightly So).

John Utaka, claims to have been tripped by Gallas and our number ten then admitted to have committed the foul as well. He says:

“I asked Gallas and he said to me it was a foul. What can you say to that? It’s like everything is going against us. He was smiling, he knew it was a foul but it wasn’t his decision. It could have been 2-2, the game could have gone either way, but he then scored at the other end.”

“It was a foul because he pulled me from behind after I ran past him – he pulled me back. It was unfortunate the linesman didn’t raise his flag. I was shocked because on a good day it would have been given. We were unlucky and nothing was given.”

I’m not at all convinced, TV replays show Utaka clearly tripped over himself and both the linesman and the referee got it spot on, I can quite honestly label this the rant of a “skittish” klutz and nothing more.

I was reading around and I’d fancy we’d be finding out about the extent of Cesc’s injury either by today or by tomorrow. Senor Cesc has been speaking about his injury and blames Celtic for his predicament, he had the following to say:

“You never expect someone will kick you three or four times in the same place, which was my right ankle, but sometimes that happens. You have to accept it and all you can do is stand up to it, refuse to let it affect you and keep playing football. But I did have quite a few bruises after that game in Glasgow.”

You can’t argue with that, the overly physical approach by Celtic was poor and we’re lucky it isn’t anything more serious than I already is. The need for Fabregas at this critical juncture is immense and especially seeing as we’re a little light when it comes to replacing such a player, we’re really at odds. After such an impressive start to the season, we need to maintain it and that means taking those mancs down and doing it in style. It’s not an easy task but you can’t also argue with the fact that we’re fully capable of doing so and how important fabregas is to this cause. Fingers crossed our captain fantabolous can make it back as soon as possible, we are really going to miss him should this injury prolong.

Meanwhile, Arshavin has been talking about the dressing room talks Wenger had with the team during the half time team talk in the game against Portsmouth. Arshavin had this to say:

“We started the meeting well. I think that our two quick goals went a long way in deciding the game. Arsenal’s possession advantage allowed us to enjoy the game … Perhaps, after the second goal, we relaxed a bit. Arsène in the locker room told us about this. He reminded us that in the Premier League you cannot afford to be relaxed, because if you prematurely stop to fully concentrate on the game, this will immediately be followed by retaliation by the opponents.”

There isn’t any denying this fact that complacency has been the death of us in seasons past and it is alarming to see the signs of it so early in the season, but I’m hopeful the boss can sort them out.

Speaking of sorting out, we have roughly 7 days to go before the close of the transfer window. There isn’t a secret that we need to dip into the transfer kitty and buy us a player and there’s no secret where we need reinforcing either. We have had a few defensive scares in the games we’ve played so far and you can only imagine what better teams could do to us in that area. The boss has to sort it out and there aren’t any excuses not to either.

Finally, Tony Mowbray has been talking about the upcoming game against us and says he’s already picked his team;

“But I am pretty clear in my mind what my team will be next Wednesday. I understand that if we lose 2-0 again, I will be judged to have got the team wrong again but if we win 3-0 then hopefully everyone will be pretty happy.”

Kudos to you then, the article goes on and if you feel like reading it, here’s where you can do it.

Right then, thats the lot

Until tomorrow,

All Hail Arsenal.

Can He Do It Again?

The big game is here, its colossal, its hyped and it will probably end up 0-0.

Liverpool have not looked much better than us this season, they have had some dreadful results as well as us but they have squeezed out results that have put them 8 points ahead of us.

We need another of those big performances, but i think we are odds on for a draw, playing into Chelsea’s hands somewhat. Both sides have beaten United at home and Chelsea away and on those facts i predict a draw because you just don’t have this many wins when the top 4 play each other!

I think we have 4 key players that must perform, Gallas, Fabregas, your man in the photo and Adebayor.

Liverpool normally come to the Emirates to defend and park the team bus in front of the goal, maybe this season they will go with a different approach and counter attack hard, like Aston Villa did to such great affect. In that case our midfield has to win it for us, Fabregas and Nasri have to be in the game and create chances for Van Persie and Adebayor who have to be clinical, we cant afford to grass up chances and we are not in the position to ponce around playing pretty passes and weaving pretty patterns, we have to get that ball in the net, and defend like we have never defended at all.

Of course, we won’t do that.

I think we may see a midfield of Eboue, Song, Fabregas and Nasri. On a good day it will function perfectly well, Eboue can cause problems with his running, Song can actually find someone in the same coloured jersey and Fabregas and Nasri cause utter mayhem.

But, those days are very rare.

To put it frankly, we have to win. Any more points dropped and we will be trailing by 11 points before January, with 4 points ahead of us and we then go to Villa park to play them, which is arguably a bigger game than this!

Getting through the festive period with a 100% win rate would be fantastic, we would be sitting in a dangerous place and we will probably be strengthened in the transfer window, giving us the added edge we so dearly need.

But its premature to talk like that, we have one of the greatest and luckiest clubs in European history to beat, in the words of William Gallas, ‘we have to be warriors.’

Van Persie won the game at Stamford Bridge for us, we have to have another hero this afternoon, be it Fabregas, Almunia, Adebayor, Van Persie or even Jamie Carragher with his own goal record. We need someone to deliver.

A draw would make sense, a win would be fantastic but a defeat? Well, it would be another bullet into the heart of Arsene Wenger’s  experiment. Maybe the final heartbeat.

The Sunday papers have as usual, got an ‘Exclusive’ about a new signing at the club. This week its Andrei Arshavin.

Its not even speculation! Its utter rubbish! Not a single qoute, piece of fact or reasoning behind it.

Gutter journalism, pure and simple.

EXCLUSIVE: WE MAKE EVERYTHING UP JUST TO SELL A COUPLE MORE PAPERS!

A line you will never, ever see.

We have also been linked with a cheap 30 million pound move for Carlos Tevez, the reasoning for this piece of garbage is that his owner ‘advisor’, Kia Joorabchian has an executive box at the Emirates.

Mind, he is probably one of the only people that can afford one.

To wrap up, we have to beat them really, if we drop points it will probably be the point of no return, we are on the brink of reaching that point, we have to graft, fight and prove that this team is good and can fight for the title.

If your going, wear yellow in homage of Thomas 89′.

‘Its up for grabs now’

Choke on that bindippers

It sure is and lets hope we all rise to the occasion.

In the words of Arsene Wenger,

“Let them talk and [we will] play and show them that they are wrong,”

Lets do it for them

And them

Some people are not as fortunate as us

If your there, enjoy the game, if your watching on a stream i hope you find a good, crystal clear untakendown stream.

Just remember who’s day it is. Donate on the right hand side if you can spare a bit of change for those less fortunate.

Less of the preaching.

Lets show them Gooners!

Til next time, hope you enjoyed the read.