The Goon Blog

If I was offered 1-1 after the first 45 minutes i wouldn’t have just bitten your hand off, id have probably kissed you. The first half was worrying, we lost Almunia and Gallas to injury and went a goal down, albeit a rather good goal from ‘Spazillian’ Marcos Senna but still, things were not looking at all good. But, one thing we have learnt over this season is that when Arsenal are down, they sure as fuck are not out.

Highlights | Wenger’s thoughts

It was the typical game of two half’s and as soon as the kick off was taken in the second you could see the lads intent, we had been lacking the final ball as we so often have this season but when the ball fell to Fabregas in a similar position as to where he found himself at the weekend for the second against Citeh, he floated in a similar ball to the Tognator who chested it up and hit a magnificent bicycle kick into the far corner. It was truly magnificent and there will not be many better goals scored this season, there is one thing you can’t deny about Adebayor and that is that in the big games he really turns up. The first half passed him by but the second was when he really came alive.

Adebayor has admitted that he didn’t really have a clue what he was doing, to be honest, I don’t care. It was genius:

“I’m really pleased with how I played – I don’t even know how I scored, but the most important thing is that the ball went in the back of the net. The most important thing is to play and do something good here and I think we have done that quite well.”

I’m sure he is head over heels with that goal.

Next week Villarreal will be looking to return the favour with an away goal but at the Grove you will always fancy us to score at least one, van Persie should be back along with Eduardo meaning our attacking threat will have doubled. We must be favourites to go through now but remember, we are only halfway and there is a lot more time left in the tie.

On the injury front we couldn’t have had a worse night, Gallas looks like he is out for a long time, along with Almunia who has an injury knock. Wenger said this about Gallas after the game:

“With Gallas, it looks quite serious and could be a medial knee ligament injury,” said Wenger. “We will have to assess it. I am not a doctor, but the first signs do not look too good.”

The diagnosis looks slightly better for Almunia:

”Manuel is a reoccurrence of an ankle injury, which probably will be a couple of weeks.”

That is a massive blow for us, the defence is not rock solid but the experience of William Gallas is vital, not only to the defence but the team too. You just have to wonder if he might have played his last game for Arsenal after the events of this season. We should get more information on Gallas over the next couple of days.

On Almunia – We can live without him but Fabianski is still yet to convince me 100%, he is a fantastic shot stopper but when the ball is crossed in he has a tendency to flap. At this stage of the season you do wish that we had an experienced number two to rely on…

One thing that i realised when i was watching the game was just how young our midfield was, Walcott 20, Song 22, Denilson 21, Fabregas 21, Nasri 21. I might not be bang on with those but its around the right area…that’s an average age of 21. Name a better midfield, or even a midfield as good as that, at that age, in Europe. I bet you can’t.

One lesson taken from today is that we really need to buck our ideas up in the first half in away ties, against Roma we paid the price for a sloppy start. We did it against Villarreal last night and we only just escaped after Ade’s equaliser.

Last night proved that Villarreal are no soft touch and are in this competition on merit, they were not the only team to prove that either with the Manc’s drawing 2-2 against Porto at home. I’m sure every Gooner will be hoping for a win at home for the red and white army along with a goal-less draw out in Lisbon.

That my friends, would be just perfect.

’til tomorrow.

Let me be concise. I. Am. Fucking. Excited.

Tonight’s game is in my opinion the most important of the season so far, we must score an away goal. That’s my thinking on it.

Villarreal are a team blessed with great technique and they really like to play football, this game is very winnable by all means but it is also very easy to lose because complacency will be punished at this stage of the Champions League. Much of the fanfare has been about us playing against the great Robert Pires again, a player i have admired for many years. I was so so sad when he left but i think the move came at the right time for him, he was never happy on the bench. Pires aside we have to watch out for Marcos Senna who is one hell of a player, its going to be a tussle between him and Fabregas for the control of the game and thats where i think the support from Song and Denilson will come in helpful, thats why i feel all three will start with Nasri coming in for Arshavin who is ineligible.

Much has been made about the ‘inexperience’ of our side but Almunia thinks we are well capable of progressing:

“It looks to be the season for the young players to be man enough to face all the big competitions we have. Players like Alex Song, Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott – when these players are 100 per cent fit, they can be mentally prepared to be totally professional, and they have the potential to win trophies. We can win every single game and we are here to do it.”

I am relieved that he and the others appreciate how good Villarreal are because if they go in with the wrong mentality we will be booted out. Simple as that. Al will have to be on his toes tonight.

Getting the attitude right has also been the topic of Toure’s comments, Toure being the only goalscorer in 2006 when we met them in the Semi’s:

“When we played them in 2006 they made us work hard. I was happy to score a goal in that first match but the second game was really difficult and in the end we were lucky that Jens saved the penalty. This time it is going to be really tight again. We have to concentrate and not think it is going to be easy. The atmosphere there is unbelievable, you can feel the pressure from the fans because they are so close. However, we are used to that in the Premier League, which is going to help us a lot.”

Focus is the order of the day. Personally, I think we will get that away goal and that would give us a massive boost going into the home leg. A cagey start will probably occur as both the sides eye each other up but with the defensive cushion of Song and Denilson we effectively have a back six if needed so the onus will be on not conceding, its probably as important as getting an away goal.

There is a lot of competition in midfield and this is welcomed by Denilson.

Our season is coming together now and it really is crunch time. Arsenal need to stand up and be counted out there in a stadium that an English team has never won before. We did it at Real Madrid and AC Milan, lets do it at Villarreal tonight.

Let me know your predictions, enjoy the game and i will be back fresh and early tomorrow.

’til then.

Happy Friday; its going to be an important day as we find out our path for the rest of this seasons CL.

Straight on to the first bit of teamnews for the barcodes at the weekend, Manuel Almunia should start after shaking off his injury from that despicable excuse for a man at the weekend. Meanwhile Cesc Fabregas and Eduardo have returned to full training once again and just miss out so they will be back for sure after the international break which is fantastic news for the team.

Now…the draw for the Champions League. I would love to avoid all English sides, both because they will be the hardest to beat and it would really piss of Platini and Blatter. If we see two all English ties we know the draw has been fixed.

I would just love to get Porto so we can give them another beating at the Emirates, it would be the best tie out there to get but something deep down inside me says we will get Liverpool again. I don’t know why but its just a gut feeling i have, hopefully its just something Ive eaten because if we did pull Liverpool we would be really up against it. I’m kind of hoping if we are going to get a really tough one that we get Barcelona because i think we can beat them, i really do.

I’m going to tell you something now and i can assure you it is 100% true, its as true as true can get. I was sitting on the toilet having a little daydream and i had this vision in my mind of Cesc slotting a last minute penalty in the back of the net in the Nou Camp. Take from that what you will.

The orange man of the moment Phil Brown has been handed a fine by the FA for a separate event a few weeks/months ago. I have a short message for him.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Take that you orange ear-set wearing bung taking big mouthed muppet.

Gloating out the way… we really could do with a nice draw in the CL because it takes the pressure off us a little bit in the FA Cup, it would be nothing short of a disaster to draw Chelsea in both cup competitions because they have  inflicted pain on us before in these competitions. No team can be under-rated at this stage but you really would fancy us to go through if we got pitched against Villarreal or Porto, we could beat Bayern Munich as well but their confidence will be running sky high after the tonking they gave Sporting Lisbon.

I will say it again though, i would love to play against Barca again – and knock them out with Cesc Fabregas scoring the winning goal with a Hleb own goal preceding it.

It might just be destiny. Later on we will find out. The draw is at 11am GMT so keep eyes peeled around that time.

My thoughts will be on twitter at some point so stop by for a chat.

Til tomorro’ and may the draw be lucky.

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!