The Goon Blog

Right, im pissed off, down, confused and i don’t have a clue what is wrong

What do we do with a team that dont score?

with this side. But, some people are calling for Wenger’s head, i bet they were happy with this line up when they saw it.

————-Almunia————-

Sagna—Toure—-Gallas—-Clichy

——–Diaby——Denilson—–

Arshavin——Nasri——-Vela

————Van Persie————

Its the line up everyone has pretty much been calling for with all our injuries. Wenger chose that.

So where did he go wrong here? I think its wrong to blame him for this loss personally because its the best line up available, its the players that are dragging us down. We saw on Tuesday what they can do but we have also seen what they can’t do, be consistent. All the people that are angry at Wenger, leave off him. He did all he can, its down to the guys on the pitch and if Van Persie is saying he is off if we don’t get into the CL places then he is a hypocrite because he passed up tons of chances, he did that last weekend too. He is a fantastic player but if he is going to stress out about Vela not getting a pass to him, but then going on to miss 3 or 4 chances he could have scored, then i do lose respect for him.

I don’t think we will get into the top four, Ive said it before and i am saying it again now. Look at the fixtures.

Villa’s next 12 games:

Stoke-H – win
Man City-A – draw
Tottenham-H – win
Liverpool-A – lose
Man Utd-A – lose
Everton-H – win
West Ham-H – win
Bolton-A – draw
Hull-H – win
Fulham-A – win
Middlesborough-A – win
Newcastle-H – win

8 wins out of 12 i think. 26 points i estimate

Arsenals next 11 games:

West Brom-A – win They are hopeless
Blackburn-H – draw Allardyce team, says it all
Newcastle-A – draw Always find it tough there
Man City-H – win Hopeless away
Wigan-A – draw Very hard to beat
Liverpool-A – draw shut out i think
Boro-H – draw Find it tough against them
Pompey-A – win I think they are going down
Chelsea-H – win Big game, always perform
Man Utd-A – lose So much better than us
Stoke-H – win Just have too much for them

5 wins out of 11. 20 points i estimate

If im right there we could well end up fourteen points behind Villa. I just can’t see us scoring past a Sam Allardyce team that will come to defend, i can’t see us winning at Newcastle away, Wigan away or Boro at home…

We can probably go another nine games unbeaten but that won’t get us into the CL, its the points that matter.

I have been very negative but how can we be positive after having so bloody many goal-less draws at home in the league? It is a joke.

Our only hope is winning the CL and i really do not see that happening to be honest, stranger things have happened though, we did lose away at Stoke and at home to Hull….

It seems that even Wenger is starting to have doubts over his side getting into the top four;

“I don’t want to speculate about that at the moment. Today’s result doesn’t help and it is certainly a big blow for us.”

In other words meaning, ‘we are up shit creek without a paddle’. His other post match comments were as annoying as normal and you can find them here, i don’t really want to write about them as i will probably get this blog removed for eccessive use of swearing.

I have also noticed Nasri going the way of Hleb, not in cuntyness but in non-shooting style. There was a point where he was in the box and had a clear shooting chance and he cut inside on his left foot, should have shot then, turned again onto his right, should have shot then, and then back onto his left and then lost it. That could so easily have been a goal. Van Persie’s finishing was woeful and Toure looked a liability consistantly muffing up the offside trap. I do worry with him in defence.

Clichy had a shocker, even by his standards this season. There was one point where he just gave up chasing the defender! I really do feel that Gibbs is really knocking on the door for a run in that position, Clichy has been awful.

Another thing… when will we learn how to cross, or, if we are going to cross it into the box, have someone there that can head the ball on target?

Common sense is at a premium in this team.

The new chant will be; ‘nil nil, to the Arsenil’. Catchy.

Right, thats it. More tomorrow

Up the Gunners.

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!