The Goon Blog

Arsenal 3 Burnley 0

FA Cup 5th round – The Grove

I have the copyright to all Carlos Vela’s chipped goal finishes. From now on they are known as VelaChip©.

Sorry, awful isn’t it? This is my second attempt at writing the blog after 600 words somehow got deleted due to my Internet being of the equivalent speed of a mouse running on a wheel.

I’m sure you all know about the game so i will swiftly dodge that part and its  a fantastic result for us.

What can i say about Eduardo’s goal? it was sublime and i for one couldn’t believe what he managed to do, he knew what he was going to do from the instant Song played that lovely ball and he finished it with amazing accuracy. We really do have a hell of a striker on our hands here, hes not flamboyant in the slightest but he has so much talent and the most fantastic mentality to boot. A fitting captain for the day.

It means that we are one step closer to Wembley which will be a first for this side, Hull are up next but we really should beat them with comfort considering their current form and they will be concentrating on survival instead of the FA Cup which means it is even more in our favour, no excuses for not getting to the Semi-Finals. Then, anything can happen.

Wenger’s reaction to the game was full of praise, its a case of wham, bam, thankyou maam’ for the rest of the season, lets just get the job done and move on, we still have 2 trophies and a CL place to play for and that is more than we had to play for at this stage last season as we were already out the FA Cup.

The whole team did very well against Burnley and hopefully the confidence given to the likes of Song and Eboue will show into what is the most important part of our season, Eboue will hopefully be more composed in front of goal now whilst Alex Song was imperious and it was by far his best performance in an Arsenal shirt.

Sorry for the appalling blog but my internet connection made sure that i lost a 600+ word post! Thank you Tiscali. Cunts.

Roma build up starts tomorrow,

Up the Gunners

Good Saturday evening to you all.

I will start off with an idea that is either plain stupid or fairly good; time will tell i suppose. Anyway, without further a-do here it is.

Basically its just a bit of fun, i want YOUR Arsenal chants that you have recorded. They can be drunken, from the game, random chants or just a big old rant at something; either way i want you to record them and send them to me. Here is how you can do it.

• Record it on your computer with a microphone
• Record it on your mobile phone and upload it to your computer

Fairly simple? I hope so..

All you need to do after that is send it to me via my e-mail which is goonblogger@googlemail.com or upload it to YouTube and send me the link, either in the comments section or through my e-mail.

What i will do then is create a compilation of all the chants, put them into a podcast and post it on the blog. Its not a competition its just a bit of fun. They can be about anything too, Tottenham, Man Utd, any player or game you want. It is entirely up to you!

Please get involved because it will all be good fun.

Now onto tomorrows game against Burnley and it is likely we will see some faces we have not seen for a while, namely Theo Walcott and Eduardo who are in the squad for a game. I’m tipping one of them to start with Van Persie, Denilson, Nasri, Almunia and probably Clichy being rested.

Bendtner is likely to get another start up front with Vela or Arshavin alongside him, though i wouldn’t rule out a start for Eduardo.

It will be a tough selection for Wenger who must surely have one eye on our midweek game with Roma; of course, we would not have to look ahead to that so much if we did not waste chance after chance but that is in the past and we can’t rectify that.

Denilson really could do with a rest because he has made a hell of a lot of appearances this season; the most of any player. I am pretty sure he has not missed a game (in the league) since the defeat to Fulham at the start of the season, that’s quite some run of games!

All in all i expect us to win with something to spare and its a good chance for Bendner to show the form of midweek again against on of the leakiest defences in the Championship, with Arshavin looking for a start as he will be rested in midweek we will have the creativity for sure.

Its a chance for us to get to Wembley for the first time and we really can’t afford to blow it, if we do there are sure to be massive repercussions. We should not even contemplate it.

Stupid bloody FA Cup draw/setup/fixtures. Hull will await us if we win. I think its another home draw but can’t be sure.

Lets get behind the red army tomorrow.

Remember those chants.

Til Tomorrow – Up the Gunners!

He is back

Quite a bit over the last day or so and news that Theo and Eduardo are back in the squad for Sunday’s game, i will give you more on that in the match preview on Sunday morning/Saturday evening.

Anyway, a late late post here because I’m absolutely shattered and fell asleep before blogging so apologies if you came here expecting to see something earlier.

There was a bullshit story about Cesc going if Wenger goes which obviously meant ‘cue Man City rumours!’ in every office of every tabloid paper. Poor form really. Wenger came out straight away on the official site to rubbish such rumours and stated Cesc could stay until he is 32 and really secure legend status at the club, Wenger said on the speculation:

“I have never allowed anyone to question my commitment to this club, in the good and in the bad times, that has not changed in my mind, you have told me I am on their wanted list, I do not know if that is true or not. It is certainly not true because they have a very good manager in Mark Hughes. He is doing a good job. They have to keep confidence in him.

“On my side, I am contracted [with Arsenal] until 2011 and until 2011 I do not envisage to go anywhere else.”

Good to hear, and i expected nothing less. Whenever i have heard speculation about Wenger’s future i always rubbish it within seconds because he is a man of principle, one of the only in the game like that. Wenger will never cut short a contract, he will always see it out until the end. On Cesc Wenger had this to say:

“I hope his future will last longer than mine because I think he can still be here in 10 years. He should be one of the bases of this club. I think the Club should be built around personalities like Cesc and that’s why I hope he will still be here.

“He was born in 1987 and he is 22 years old in 2009 and at 32 he will still play.”

I really can’t see Cesc leaving for a long time, i just can’t visualise it. You know when you are watching a truly great footballer running with the ball such as Zidane and they never look like losing it? I just can’t see Cesc leaving for a long time.

Van Persie is Arsenal.com’s player of the month for the fourth consecutive month. Well done that man.

As you can tell from the picture at the top of the blog Cesc Fabregas is back in training, along with Mikael Silvestre, great news that he is back (Cesc) and he will give everyone a boost. I just can’t wait to see our captain back.

Our youngsters have done us proud by beating the Spuds on their own vegetable patch by 3 goals to 1, and they even had the vision to make it all the more painful for the spuds by leaving it ’til the dying moments before grabbing the winner and then putting the icing on the cake. J.E. Thomas looks a fantastic prospect!

The Fergie and Wenger love in continues.

Wenger has spoken about bans for malicious tackles and whilst i feel its hard to prove whether a tackle is malicious or not, the current system is a joke and needs to be changed. Especially for the likes of Kevin Nolan.

Right, more tomorrow with a match preview after that.

Up the Gunners

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,

In an exact reverse of yesterday, there is sod all around today.

There will be some team news later but i can’t really look forward in time. I guess the news about Eduardo’s latest injury should be first in line, it was bound to happen i suppose, two more weeks out for that man. He was in a way a victim of his own brilliance because if he had not have netted that penalty im sure Arsene would have had him off the pitch earlier than he did, i expect it to be a bit stop start with Eduardo for a good six months whilst his body adapts to the rigors of football at the highest level again. Wenger had this to say about the injury:

“Eduardo is out for two weeks, he picked up a hamstring injury two minutes before I took him off. What a nightmare. Nobody knows how it happened but I knew straight away after the game it would be a two-week job. It is nothing like he had before but I do know that little set-backs like this are part of being nine months out. After that long out, nobody plays six months on the trot. It is impossible. But at the same time it is a blow because, of course, he can score goals. He had shown that on Monday night.”

He will be back, i am sure.

The bad news is balanced out by good news though; Andrey Arshavin will play against Sunderland, i think i speak for every Arsenal fan when i say

PLEASE START HIM AHEAD OF EBOUE!

It will be good to see him on the pitch and it will be when i am 100% sure he is now our player! Wenger was coy when asked if he will start Andrey, i have a feeling he will though its more than possible Vela could be given another start after an impressive display against Cardiff on Monday night;

“He will be involved, but I have not decided what I will do with him yet. Of course, any new signing needs an adaption period in English football. The only question mark over Arshavin is whether he can have a positive influence on Arsenal’s quest for a Champions League spot in the final three months of the season. But, despite being in pre-season training with Zenit when he signed, his physical fitness should not be a problem. He is still working on preparation and he is not qualified for the game against Roma so we can give him another week of hard work, at the end of next week, that will be three weeks with us and one week with Zenit, that should be enough.”

So he starts then right? He will only adapt to the English game by playing week in week out so start him….please?

Don’t you realise Arsene that Eboue has driven us to madness?

Really.. do you understand that Arsene?

On the injury front the list reads; Eduardo, Abou Diaby, Mikael Silvestre, Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky.

Despicable for a club of Arsenal’s stature, they should have the medical team to keep our key players fit. I don’t think there is another team as big as Arsenal that has an injury list of this size, with players of this importance anyway. FIVE of our first eleven are in the medical room, thats five of our most influential players.

Truly awful.

Right, team news tomorrow, til then, up the Gunners.

Welcome, on what seems a fairly quiet day.

First up, and something that has really annoyed me is the Da*ly Ma*l playing the ‘Martin Taylor is innocent’ game again. Now we know he probably did not aim to hurt Eduardo in the way he did, he almost certainly wanted to shake him up a bit and let Eddy know he was there. The injury was not deliberate, but the tackle was. This is what the scummy press have said,

“When Eduardo fell one year ago, the finger of blame was pointed at Taylor for a mistimed challenge that left the striker with a double compound fracture of his right leg.

Arsenal’s Premier League aspirations were crushed. Croatia’s Euro 2008 dreams had similarly been dashed and a footballer’s career was on the line.

The graphic pictures of the incident only cast Taylor further in the role of the bad guy. Arsene Wenger’s scathing comments condemned him still further.“

Oh for fuck sake. Right, I’m going to take issue with the first bit of text highlighted in red.

‘When Eduardo fell” – You fucking what? He didn’t just fall over, for Christ’s sake his leg was in little bits and his foot was poking the wrong way, he didn’t just trip over a fucking mole hill! What do you expect him to do? Get back up on his feet (or foot), and give the poor innocent defender a hug and a kiss? Taylor’s foot was planted half-way up Eduardo’s leg as you can see here.

Oh poor Taylor! Eduardo just 'fell'

I sure as hell don’t call it ‘falling’. I call it an accident, but an accident that could and should have been prevented, and then Taylor should have been used to discourage the ‘roughing up’ tackles of the kind that caused it. I’m still livid he got a three game ban, but i might take that issue up in the future if we are ever faced with such an issue. I really hope we don’t. Now onto the last sentence.

“Arsene Wenger’s scathing comments condemned him still further” – Get the fuck outta here! How would you expect a manager to react after seeing his most in-form player with a snapped leg and dislocated ankle?

Press: ‘What do you think of Eduardo’s injury then?

Wenger: ‘Oh I’m sure the poor Taylor lad did not mean it at all, he might never play again, or be the same player but all that matters is Taylor’s state of mind right now. He might lose his foot as well but i all i want to do is say sorry to Taylor on Eduardo’s behalf for denting his confidence.’

Just imagine if it had just happened to Ronaldo, Fergie would not just have gone mental he would have been on the phone to Al Capone to send over a hit-man to hunt the player down. Wenger retracted his comments less than an hour after he said them, why make a fuss out of something that is totally irrelevant?

I am surprised Wenger did not explode and call Taylor a fucking cunt, i sure as well did at the time. If Eduardo was an English citizen there would have been outcry, but because it was the Englishman at fault, Taylor is the victim.

It sickens me.

So do articles like this piece of shit. This worthless idiot has since left his job but he basically says ‘Eduardo will be back but Taylor will always have the mental scars’. What a prick.

I have no problem with Martin Taylor at all, i really don’t. I don’t think he meant to hurt him at all, he wanted to make his presence knows which, sadly, is part of the game. The death threats he received were out or order and Taylor thanked Arsenal fans that supported him, and condemned those other fans that told him they wanted him dead;

‘I had an incredible amount of support from Arsenal’s fans. I’d like to thank them publicly for that.’

Right, that cast aside lets move on.

The Times have spoken to Eduardo about his recovery, he has said that Tony Colbert is like his ’second father’ after developing a close bond with him through his recovery, its a decent read.

The Da*il Ma*l are not done yet though and have proceeded to shit stir once again running an story saying that Theo Walcott is moving because we are only offering him 50K a week. Really, why do they hate us so bloody much and create shit article after shit article after total and utter wank article?

Shit paper

Shit story

Shit ‘journalist’

Its just total shit.

I’m not even going to link to it, it really is that bad, they are on the same level as the NOTW who aren’t half good at making shit up.

What do all you make of the Eduardo/Taylor ‘innocent’ story? I would love to know your thoughts.

Til Tomorrow – up the Gunners.

Don’t forget you can follow me and chat to me on twitter here.

“He always wanted more and this guy is small but has the mental strength of a mountain.”

Our man is back, and what a statement he put out last night. Mr Cool, Mr Clinical. I don’t know about you but his return almost put a tear in my eye, the crowd were the loudest ive ever heard and his second goal celebration summed up the man. He is a legend. And in his words, ‘it was the best day of my life’.

It was written in the stars, i did not think he would start but his return gave the team a massive lift by the looks of things, Bendtner was very lively, Nasri was livley, Gibbs was superb as was Sagna and Gallas is in the best form of his Arsenal career. Eduardo picked up where he left off.

I really, really admire him as a player and the personal aspect. The fact that he must have been in such unbearable physical pain when his leg broken, never mind the mental scars he must have. I myself broke my arm badly when i was playing football a few years ago, i still wake up at night and don’t move it as im scared it will hurt, the mental strength to overcome that, and the fear going into tackles is a massive massive thing. His determination and will to come back is truly inspirational and not just to Arsenal fans, not just to football fans but ordinary everyday people around the world. Arsene Wenger spoke especially about him after the game saying,

“I am not surprised he played well tonight. I didn’t play him as a reward for his excellent work; it was because in training over the past few weeks he has done extremely well. He made a big step forward two weeks ago when he found sharpness in front of goal and in his runs and he got rid of his apprehension in the tackles.

Wenger is not a man for the token appearance, he would not have put Eduardo onto that pitch if he did not think he was 100%. He continues,

“Of course it is nearly 12 months out and he has been extremely strong mentally during that time, I could never see one minute of doubt in his mind or one minute where he said ‘no, I don’t want to do it’.

Just highlights what i was saying a minute ago, a truly inspirational bloke and a role model for everyone out there, he is quiet, never speaks out of turn, never turns on his team mates, he has handled this situation with great elegance and dignity.

I would just like to draw attention to the missiles thrown onto the pitch, aimed at Fabianski. I saw a phone and a shoe thrown at him, hopefully they will find the bastards and force them to bow down to Fabianski and lick his shoes clean. Idiots

On a fantastic performance Wenger was proud of his side, and so was i. I have not seen us play like that since the game against Sheffield United in the Carling Cup and boy its good to see. Denilson and Song were strong in the middle and not one single player performed below par. When Van Persie came on we just saw how good he is, a fantasticaly taken goal and he almost set up Bendtner with a ball that is the ultimate strikers wet dream, it was that good. Wenger was in his element,

“We played the kind of football we love to play and it is good to see us play with handbrake off. We are now consistent, we are stable defensively, and we added tonight our drive going forward.”

It looked like it was all coming together and what a selection headache Wenger will have next weekend, its a very nice one all the same!

But our fantastic performance has overshadowed some slightly….darker, news.

Alisher Usmanov has aquired a quarter of Arsenal Football Club, its not good news, does he not get the message?

A statement from Shit and Piss read,

“We are pleased to have now secured over a quarter of the shares of Arsenal.

“We are committed long-term investors and supporters of the club and are comfortable that we are now in a protected position.

“We also welcome the strengthening of the squad and look forward to a successful conclusion to the season.”

Why can’t they go away?? Please, please, please just leave this club alone and stop wasting your money. Whilst you are at it increase the production of oil again so we can have our good prices back.

P.S. – You will not get a seat on the board.

Back to the good news and it looks like Cesc will be back with us very soon, though i doubt he will play against Roma, in the first leg at least. He has said,

“Over the last couple of weeks I have been going up into the mountains to work and it’s been hard but good for my muscles, I’m really happy with how it’s going, it’s looking good and hopefully in 10 days I can start to train with the ball, so it’s going a bit quicker than I thought it would. I can’t wait until I can touch the ball again, because it’s about eight weeks since I’ve kicked a ball and I think that’s the longest time of my whole life!”

He will be back in the changing room from now on as his recovery is in its final stages, its really starting to look like there may be some bright months ahead!

Just a note to you readers; you may have read some of Bendtners ‘comments‘ early on yesterday. If you read them you may have been buggered by some gutter journalism, its really sad isnt it, how they feel the need to screw over youngsters. For the record, Bendtner has denied the comments.

Right thats it, fuck off Usmanov, fuck off crappy journalists and most of all

Well done Eduardo.

Til Tomorrow – Up the gunners.