The Goon Blog

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.

“We already have many young players so, if we buy, it will be somebody who is ready to play straight away. A loan deal could also be a possibility.

Elano Arriving?

These are the words of Arsene Wenger in his programme notes from the weekends game. They back up the news that we got saying Wenger was interested in bringing in unsettled Man Citeh playmaker Elano. Wenger has admitted that the loss of Cesc, Walcott and Rosicky has left a wafer thin squad on its knees and re-inforcements are needed urgently:

“Cesc is a long way from playing again, so are Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott, and these are three creative players that we count on at the start of the season. So what we might need is someone who can create a little spark.”

Elano is certainly a player that is more than capable of this, i really like him and was pig sick to see him in a Citeh shirt last season. He was on fire this time a year ago and would have walked into most top teams in Europe.

A name that refuses to go away is Arshavin.

I really really doubt Wenger would throw away £20 mil on a 28 year old with attitude problems, i think this is a smokescreen to shield what he really has up his sleeve because he is right when he says if you mention your targets their value increases along with interest in them.

A loan deal also suits the club because of the financial crisis and Wenger has admitted as much:

‘I can’t spend money I don’t have. The [global financial] crisis is upon us and we feel it at the club.’

One man we most definitely won’t be buying is Toure’s brother, Yaya. He has said he only wants to stay at Barca and can you blame him with them in their current form? No.

I think we will certainly buy in the transfer market and we need at least 2 midfielders, one out and out winger and a decent defender. I really doubt we will get all of them but Havard Nordveit is eligable to play for us from January 1st so he might be a shock solution and might get a game against Plymouth at the weekend.
Apart from that im not really going to speculate that much into new signings and all that so i’ll leave it there for today.

Take it easy.

Fabregas - Hopefully back for Saturday

Happy Friday;

Not much kicking about in all honesty apart from a story hitting the news claiming Chavski defender Alex is on his way out of the club. I like him, i think he is a bloody good defender, athough being a cunt for pretty much knocking us out the Champions League playing for PSV a couple of years ago!

We could do far worse than make an approach for him as he has decent experience, he is still pretty young and could be a very good partner for Gallas, Toure or Djourou. I couldnt imagine he would cost mega-bucks either, especially if he hands in a transfer request in the current economic climate.

Alex is claimed to have said,

“I told Chelsea a few days ago that I wanted to leave.

“There are many options. But I have to think them through and see if Chelsea will let me leave in January.”

There is the usual suspect mooted to be a destination (AC Milan), and Seville. Well we are better than both those clubs and for 10 million he would be worth a splash; especially if we can sell Bendtner for about 7 million, its time for him to move. Chelsea would make big profit after buying him for a dollar!

Another player linked with us is Hangeland, who Roy Hodgson admits could come to us if we come knocking;

“I’m not naive enough to say it’s impossible that a player will leave the club because I’m aware of our position vis-a-vis some of the other clubs in the division.

“If the day comes and I hope it won’t, we’ll do everything in our power to keep him – that’s the first thing.

Whilst also stressing there had not yet been contact made regarding Brende;

“I must also add that this is only speculation. We haven’t had any clubs contacting us about Brede”

I think there is too much smoke around Arsenal’s interest in defenders at the moment, no smoke without fire, as the saying goes.

There was also news that no less than five players could return for the Boro’ game, and by God do we need them, the players are;

Gael Clichy, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Bacary Sagna.

Our best players without doubt. I will preview the game in more depth tomorrow.

Silvester fish has been chatting about our chances of winning something this year and is optimistic we will win something, i think we can win something, we are more than capable its just down to whether Wenger respects the competitions left to play for. Basically meaning if he plays the kids in the FA Cup we will get knocked out, if he plays the kids in the Champions League again we will get knocked out, if he plays the kids in the Premiership we will lose; thus surrendering points to the bastards above us; thus meaning we will not stand a hope in hell of winning the league.

The lesson here; play the kids.

Im only joking at this point in time but Wenger really cant play them again, im fed up of hearing about the future and the “qualiteee” as Gooner14 so brilliantly puts it. We need to see a difference on the pitch and that has to be ammended in the January transfer window, if we don’t buy i think we are royally bolloxed. Im going over old ground here but its how i really feel.

So what do you think? Please do let us know your thoughts on possible transfer targets or your ideal player you want in an Arsenal shirt. If we can get some good discussion going it would be great and im sure me and Gooner will be around to chip in where neccessary and get rid of and kids who want to cause mayhem.

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

Back with a proper preview Tomorrow; Til then take care.

Over to you, comment away!

What god have we pissed off, seriously?

Theo has been sabotaged by Parker in Germany whilst “training” with the England squad, leaving us with Eboue on the right of midfield, not the greatest option when we need to score more goals than we concede. I think Ramsey could start coming into the equation as i really dont expect to see much of Wilshere until the new year;

A) As he has not signed professional terms yet

B) He is 16

These injuries are a right kick in the bum-conkers for Theo, he has had op’s on both shoulders now and lets just hope that he isnt constantly worrying about it thoughout his career, i think it is far from the career threatening injuries some crappy tabloids think it is. Wenger has confirmed his long absence;

“Theo had a dislocated shoulder and he had surgery today. He will be out three months,”

There you go, fuck off and back off you dirty tabloids.

We have two new injures this week as well, one affecting the team somewhat and another affecting the reserves;

Toure has pulled his calf muscle and is out of the Man City clash, that means that Eboue will probably go to right back if he is fit, if he is not fit i have not a clue who will play there; we are well any truly fucked. Eboue is out. it really is a sad state of affairs.

Wojciech Szczesny has bust both his arms and will be out for at least 3 months, i hope you have a speedy recovery kid. We can rule him out of playing right back then.

Arsene Wenger should ask for Theo’s wages to be paid for the duration of his injury, as arseblogger said, Wenger has said he is not willing to get compo for his injury as these things happen.

WENGER ASK FOR COMPO, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO UP TO 1.1 MILLION!

You say you have no money Arsene, use that money to fund deals in January. You wont though will you.

Gallas has been talking about trouble in the Arsenal camp and i guess it makes sense really. The players need a bloody reality check and realise when they are well off, most people are living in a recession, worrying if they will be in a damn job in a months time, this team seems so selfish its beyond belief. Take a look on the outside boys, its not all one big happy experience, you have your nice houses, flash cars and home cinemas. We have bills and unemployment. And families to feed.

Gallas says;

“When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player…complaining about him… and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us, There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.

I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I’m taking it all (the blame). It’s very frustrating, I’m 31, the player is six years younger than me.”

I believe Gallas, its like in school the kids have no respect for the teachers anymore. No matter what they think of Gallas they have to respect him as a fellow professional and Arsene Wengers decision to name him as captain. I could just imagine some players telling him to fuck off. That’s bang out of order and in order to succeed they must have respect, worrying times.

The manager has to sort it out fast. If it means selling players, do it.

Apparently there was also ructions at half time in the Tottenham game, and it looks like they didn’t listen to him;

“There was a problem at half-time. The only thing that I could say at half-time was, ‘Guys, we resolve these problems after the match, not at half-time.’

“We have to understand that to be champions, you have to play big matches every weekend and fight. We are coming up against teams who are not scared to play football against us, who are not scared to take us on at our place, and this is becoming dangerous for Arsenal.”

I do believe he is getting some undeserved flak, if he does his best its all we can ask for, maybe the problem lies with the other players not having common respect, its one thing you are taught to have at every team you play in, be it a school team or a Sunday team. Respect your team-mates and respect your opposition, no matter what you think of them.

The names Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Sunderland and Aston Villa speak for themselves.

Gallas wants the team to be warriors and they damn well need to be, not run around like a load of wet farts, for Christ sake play for the bloody team;

“We are not brave enough in battle. I think we need to be soldiers. We have to be warriors. There are teams who can do it well against us, and we have to be able to face up to these attacks.”

Make sure they listen you you William, you might not love the club but you are on their payroll, give 100% and try your utmost to get the rest of the team to do so.

I did find this rather funny, but also rather highlighting one of our problems at the moment;

“I have to win something this year. I have to win something, Arsenal has to win something. It’s four or five years since Arsenal won anything – 2004 (the league title). That’s nearly five years, and that’s not good.”

Actually, the FA cup was won after that (2005), the players need to know the club they are playing for, they should know the history behind the badge they are wearing.

In some better news it looks like next week Eduardo will be with the rest of the squad in training. Fantastic news!

“Victoria Concordia Crescit” – victory through harmony. Lets have the harmony eh?

Til next time.